Green County, Wisconsin - Chapter 4: First Settlement of the County, 1884

Chapter 4: First Settlement of the County

Among the questions which naturally interest the citizens of Green county of to-day is this: "Who were the first settlers within its limits a)id where did they locate? There is a cariosity always manifested by those who come after the pioneers, not only to learn their names and their place of settlement, but also the dates of their arrival. Especially is the time of their coming a matter particularly desirable to be known. The county itself, so far as the people constitute it, begins then, although its formation and organization did not take place for some years subsequent to their arrival. The better to understand the first settlement of the county and the condition of things at that time in this region - let us first consider, in a general way.

Early Times In Wisconsin

It is difficult, if not impossible, to convey to the present generation a correct impression as to the actual state of affairs in Wisconsin, even if we go no farther back than the existence of Wisconsin Territory; since, except among pioneer settlers, there is nothing in its experience that furnishes a standard for comparison. The most it can conceive is a vast and fertile region as yet unsurveyed and scarcely penetrated by the white race, without settlements, roads, bridges or population, except in ' a few widely scattered and detached farms, hamlets and villages, clustered generally about military posts. In 1830, the population west of Lake Michigan by census enumeration aggregated less than 3,000, which in 1840 had only increased to 30,- ^45.- When the capital was locRted rat Madison, what is now Green county, contained but very few permanent white settlers, and many others now teeming with industrious multitudes were then wholly unoccupied. Isolated communities was the rule, to which there was no exception, and lack of means and routes of travel scarcely permitted other than slow and most difficult communication. Gi'adually, however, mail service was secured, and the swell of incoming immigration brought the early settlements nearer and nearer to each other. The movement at first slow, yearly gained in intensity, until the waste places were nearly all absorbed. It was fortunate for Wisconsin that State-organization did not take place until the financial affairs of the country had settled down upon a safe business basis, and wild and reckless enterprises received no countenance. The bitter experience of the States formed out of the old northwest territory served as a lesson and warning, which was not lost when the essential features of our proposed constitution received a preliniinary discussion. At one period, these States can scarcely be said to have had either credit or resources, while their debts, incurred for works which even when completed scarce paid the cost of repairs, were out of all proportion to the assessed valuation of proj^erty. As late as 1843, the State of Ohio sold its bonds at fifty cents on the dollar to raise funds to meet obligations, while the bonds of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois were for several years quoted in market at from twenty to thirty cents, with few or no buyers. Such was the penalty paid for embarking the public credit in wild

Except about military posts, and with slight other exceptions, permanent settlement first began in Wisconsin about 1826, in the Lead Region, or present southwest counties, and for many years, population pressed in by way of the Mississippi river, before the route by the great lakes was fairly opened. For a long period Galena was more of a commercial mart for supplies for the interior of Wisconsin ihan Milwaukee or other lake ports, while Chicago was scarcely known in that connection. The southern States were at first more numerously represented than the eastern. Lead mining had developed into a great leading industry on one side of the territory, while agriculture was commencing on the other. The two streams of settlers finally met about midway, but several years elapsed before the eastern current largely predominated. As a result, the diversity of interests, ideas and modes of thought between the two sections were much more striking in early times than at present. Time, which has obliterated so many pioneer landmarks, has not even yet effaced the peculiar characteristics of the two sections.

Naturally, the first efforts of the pioneer era were directed to securing channels of communication with the interior and outer world. Laws for surveying and marking out roads were among the first enactments of the territorial legislature. Canals were projected from several of the lake ports, among which may be mentioned one from Slieboygan to Fond du Lac; another from Milwaukee to Rock River, and thence by way of the Four Lakes to the Wisconsin; while the Fox and Wisconsin river route was universally believed destined to become the great central channel of commerce. To the buoyant imagination of the time all rivers of any size were deemed navigable, wliiie their branches were regarded as routes for future canals. So many village and city sites wbrfe laid out and platted, whose names eren are now wholly lost, that the present realization is almost a blank by comparison. It was a period of vast projects, limitless enterprises, and chimerical speculations which has had no parallel. All this, too, when the population imported most of its provisions, and, except the product of lead furnaces, exported nothing.

Railroad projects received early attention, and charters were actually granted before even highways were laid out in many places from lake ports to the interior. Often the line and terminal points were not even indicated. Among the earliest efforts in this direction was a memorial to Congress, passed in 1840, asking for the survey and construction of a railroad from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river. It was not until ten years later that any of our existing routes were definitely decided upon, companies really organized, and Avork of construction seriously commenced.

The period from about 1830 to 1837 was one of great and almost limitless financial currency expansion. In that year, in the States east of us, it reached a natural culmination, followed by a crash that speedily carried down most of the banking institutions in the United States. The Banks of Green Bay and Mineral Point, the only ones within the Territory, ended in the same way, and for some years the early settlers had little or no currency other than the small sums brought in b}" newly arrived immigrants. In the southwest counties or Lead Region, citizens of all classes combined and refused to receive or use anything but gold and silver as a measure of exchangeable values. Immigration, which had commenced coming in a flood soon after Territorial organization, was not only checked, but actually recoiled eastwai-d, and it was not until about 1843-4 that the current turned westward again, since which time it has known no abatement.

Pioneer settlers in the Northwest, if they cannot be said to have witnessed the exodus of nations, liave certainly been spectators of the ifigrbss of multitudes so vast in number as to well deserve that name. "Within the limits of a generation in point of time, they have seen almost limitless wastes of forest and prairie, in natural and normal wildness, changed from a desert to the home of teeming populations, possessing every appliance of art, and every advantage of moral and material improvement. Looking upon the mighty movement in gross, it might be said with truth that representatives of all Europe had marched upon western America. But the invasion was peaceful - the march a silent one. The hosts encamped upon the waste places so quietly as scarcely to awaken surprise. Experience of the mighty change grew, indeed, to be habitual. . It was not until it ended in particular localities that it began to attract much attention. The frozen north equallj" with the semi-tropical south have been almost equally overrun - and yet the impulse has as yet scarcely known pause. It is to continue until the world's populations, productions and perhaps means of livelihood, reach an equilibrium. Like the glacial era in geological records, it is the grand mixing of diverse peoples - the abrading force, grinding prejudice against prejudice, religious system against religious system, nationality against nationality, until from the ultimate product there shall spring, as we believe, a higher development and nobler race to elevate the career of humanity. History furnishes no parallel to this wondrous movement. It will ever stand out single and isolated as the greatest event in human annals.

Pioneer settlers found and opened the way for the teeming multitudes that have followed. The early comers were almost exclusively of American birth and parentage. At the period of the conventions to frame a State constitution, foreign emigrants composed but a small per cent, of the population. They had gained a foothold, indeed, but in were no part a controlling authority. Pioneer experience,therefore,wa8 unique in its way - in all its conditions and surroundings, unlike the present. It could occur bfut dntte, and will bfe reprodntietl tu no future generation. It was a Golden Era, the twilight of the morning of the birth of mighty States, and must ever remain one of the most interesting chapters in our history. It is for this reason that its details, liardships, purposes and modes of life, hopes and expectations, interesting even now, will, as the years progress, be esteemed more and more valuable. They err sadly who think such records puerile, or of small value. The future will cherish and perpetuate them as the choicest gifts this generation can confer.

Before entei'ing upon a consideration of the first settlement of Green county, we must premise that this county was, when the first settlers came, for a short time a part of Crawford county, but soon became, most of it, a portion of Iowa county, and so remained for over seven years - the very years of the early settlement of not only the last mentioned county as it is now constituted, but of the present Lafayette as well. To correctly understand the history of the first settlement, thei'efore, of Green county, we must first take a birds-eye view of early times in the neighboring counties of Iowa and Lafayette; for the histories of the three counties, as to their first settlements, are most intimately blended.

When the country south of and immediately adjoining the "Wisconsin river, but extending so far away from that stream as to reach the present State of Illinois (including all of what was Iowa county when it was first constituted by name and boundaries), was first visited by the whites, it was apparently a derelict region. la the middle of the eighteenth century, however, the Sacs and Foxes had taken possession of it, they having settled down on the Lower Wisconsin, from the Fox river countr3^ These, in time, gave way to the Wirinebagoes, who occupied this territory when pioneer settlers began to invade this region, and was recognized as their land by the United States government in sub^iequent treaties.

By an act of the Legislative council of the Territory of Michigan, approved Oct. 29, 1829, to take eifect the 1st of January following, the county of Iowa was establislied, embracing all the present State of Wisconsin south of the Wisconsin river, and west of a line drawn due north from the northern boundary of Illinois, through the middle of the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers; in other words, it included the whole of what was previously Crawford county lying south of the Wisconsin river. By the same act Samuel W. Beale and Louis Grignon, of Brown county, and Joseph M. Street, of Crawford county, were appointed commissioners to fix the county seat of the new county, and were required to perform the duty on or before Jan, 1, 1830, and tile their written decision with the county clerk. The place designated by them was to become the county seat. But should they not agree, or should they be prevented from performing said duty, then the county seat was, by this act, temporarily established at Mineral Point. Terms of the Territoral district courts were ordered to be holden on the first Mondays of June and December of each year.

Mineral Point became the county seat; but prior to Wisconsin becoming a Territory the records give but little information as to the election or action of county officers. Commissioners and a sheriff were chosen, however, as is shown by the sheriff's bill for jailor of $85, at |15 per month, presented in 1831, which bill was rejected by the board as exorbitant. This year also the board selected a lot for a jail, and let the contract for building the same to John Brown for $538, to be completed by the first Monday of May, 1831, George B. Call going security on the contract. Economy seemed lo prevail in those early tiiues, as will appear in the fact that for copying original county records and furnishing a blank book for the purpose, M. G. Fitch received the sum of $i, and each member of the board received seventy-five cents a day for his services. Samuel W. Btale, who was appointed by the Legislature as one of the commissioners to locate the county seat, presented a bill for $100 for forty days' services, and it was reduced to |65 and paid.

By an act of the sixth legislative council of the Territory of Michigan, approved Sept. 6, 1834, the eastern boundary of Iowa county was changed to "the principal meridian dividing the Green Bay and Wisconsin land districts." This took from Iowa county a strip of territory three miles wide on its eastern side, and made what is now the range line between ranges 8 and 9 the boundary line on the east. In 1835 the people of Mineral Point subscribed $575 for the purpose of building a court house, and the sheriff was directed to contract for its erection. The building was to be twenty-four feet square, two stories high, the lower story eight feet and the upper seven feet high; to be built of hewn oak logs, with oak floor one and one-fourth inches thick. The upper story was to be divided into four rooms, with plank partitions. Three rooms were to have one window each, and all the doors were to be hung with good butts and screws. The upper rooms were to be ceiled with one-half inch plank, dressed on the under side. The judge's bench was to be raised two feet, with steps leading to it.' There was to be one table, seven feet long and three feet wide. Seats for a jury were to be provided in both stories. The building was to be well stocked and painted with lime mortar, furnished with good and sufficient sash for the windows, with good glass put in with putty, and the shingles to be of pine, eighteen inches long and four wide.

By an act of the Territorial legislature of Wisconsin, approved Dec. 8, 1836, Iowa county was, as already shown in this chapter, divided and re-organized. That portion lying west of the fourth })rincipal meridian was set off as Grant county. All that part lying east of the range line between ranges 5 and 6 east was made a part of Green and Dane coutities. The reranining part of the old county of Iowa cOnsti-

By a treaty, concluded at Prairie du Chien, Aug. 1, 1829, the Witmebagoes ceded to the general government a tract of territory lying south of the Lower Wisconsin. This included the present county of Iowa, and opened the way to permanent settlements. Previous to tliis time a few had located here, being led hither by the reports of the lead diggings. The first actual settlement was made in the spring of 1828, by John Hood, who, with his wife and son, three years of age, came from Missouri, and settled at Mineral Point, camping at first in a cabin made of poles covered with bark, until a sod house could be built, in which to live more securely. This sod house was ten by twelve feet on the ground, and in it was born their second son, on the 29th day of November, 1829, being the first white child born in the county. This child was named John Tlieophilus Lawson Hood. Mr. Hood at first engaged in labor for others who soon opened mines there, and at times prospected for himself, until, finally, he struck a rich "lead," which he worked until his death, in 1841. Mrs Hood is still living at Mineral Point, on the ground they first occupied. Hood's family were here during the Black Hawk War. Hood was a lieutenant under Gen. Dodge, His wife, who was a dead shot, carried a rifle on her shoulder every time she stepped out of doors during the entire war. By taking the log houses, a log fort, called Fort Jackson, was built at Mineral Point; a cannon (six pounder) was procured, and forty-two women, with very few men to protect them, remained in this fort three months. No battles were fought in this locality, and all escaped injury by the Indians. At tlie same time a fort called Fort Union, was built at Dodgeville, into which during the hostilities, the women and children of that region were collected for safety and defense.

In the spring of 1828, almost immediately after the family of Hood had settled in their bark house, Nat. Morris came to tiiis point, and soon struck a rich vein of mineral, the first discovery at this place, owing to which circumstance, the locality was called Mineral Point, which name it has retained to the present time. By the month of August of that year, J. W. Blackstone had associated himself with Mr. Morris, and, as they employed two men to dig in their mine, it made seven persons at the Point at that time. During the summer and fall of 1828, Messrs. Gayond & Wright opened a store in a small log house. They Avere the first merchants in the county. A Baptist minister by the name of Roberts settled here with his family in 1828, and was the first preacher in the county; he failed, after years of efiiort, to organize a church society. D. M. Parkison built a log house of good size, in the fall of 1828, which was kept as a hotel by John T. Sublet, and was tlie fii'st hotel in the county. At this house the fifty-third anniversary of our national independence was celebrated in 1829. John B. Terry settled here in 1828 for the purpose of mining, and afterwards built asmelting furnace, the first operated in the county. In 1830 Mr. Terry farmed a little, two or three miles west of the Point. Dr. Manegan, from Missouri, settled here in 1828, and was the fir.st physician in the county. The second physician was Dr. Jestine, who came in 1829. A Mr. Miller settled liere in 1828, and afterwards built a mill a mile or two south of where the railroad depot now stands. This was the first mill in the county. Miller ground grain into feed for animals, made corn meal, but no bolted flour. The grain ground at that time was hauled from Galena, as was flour and provisions. Before the winter of 1829, the settlement had swelled to considerable proportions, all, or nearly all, eager to plunge into the earth and bring up the wealth til ere buried.

of the present county and commenced farming; all had their families, but Moore being a little in advance, his wife was the first white woman in this part of the county.

In 1829, a Mr. Parish settled in the western section of the county with his family, consisting of his wife, five sons and two daughters. One daughter, America Parish, married Daniel Moore, and the other, Levi Sterling who was the first sheriff of the county. One of the sons, Thomas Parish, became a smelter, the other farmed; but it was not many years before the family became scattered. About this time, E. P. Goodsell found lead in this region and with others engaged in mining with good success. Soo!i after their labors commenced, Moses Meeker built a smelting furnace at this point. In the spring of 1832, Black Hawk with a party of Sacs and Foxes crossed the Mississippi from the other side and prepared to re-assert his claim to disputed territory. At the first wai'- whoop the miners and settlers from all this region hastened for some stockade or fort, and with them went the few inhabitants of this county; collecting at Mineral Point, Dodgeville, Blue Mounds, and other places of security. Although there were no "glorious victories," or "inglorious defeats" within the present limits of Iowa county, yet it was the scene of many a flying "Modoc," and pursuing "Jonathan." The Indians were soon vanquished. Black Hawk taken prisoner, and the war ended by the combined strategy and efforts of Gen. Henry Atchison and Col. Ilenr}'^ Dodge. As soon as hostilities were over, the settlers again looked up their scattered axes and picks and began anew tilling the soil and searching for lead.

Prior to 1836 all the mining was done in shallow diggings, which amounted to little more than picking up surface lead; at least, the most extensive mines were but a few feet deep. Although the first "lead" was discovered in the county at Mineral Point, by iSlat. Morris, in 1828, still the mining was shallow, owing to the great abundance of lead near the surface, and the want of facilities for deep mining. In 1836 three "leads" were discovered two and one half miles north of Mineral Point, by Holmes, Martin and Bennett, by whose names they were known. These mines were not deep, but their yield was abundant. From this deeper mining commenced in and around Mineral Point, and up to 1840, in addition to the mines already mentioned, there had been opened Bracken's mine two and a half miles south of the Point, Fragasca's mine a little to the east, and the Terrill mines, Mc- Knight's mine, and the Irish mine at Mineral Point. As, at that date. Green county had been organized two years, it is unnecessary to pursue further a consideration of the Iowa county mines, or the history of that county itself.

The county of Lafayette was, from the time of its first settlement, a part of Crawford, until 1829, when Iowa county was formed. It was then a portion of Iowa until it was set off as a separate county, with its present name and boundaries, by the Territorial legislature of Wisconsin, Feb. 4, 1847.

The project of separation by the formation of two counties out of Iowa, had been agitated for some years before it was effected. It was favored by the people at both extremities, north and south, but persistently opposed by those in the central portion, contiguous to the proposed line of division. It was put in motion in the fall of 1845, by a public meeting at New Diggings, at which a petition to the Legislature was prepared, and a committee appointed to circulate it for signatures. The Legislature responded by the passage of. an act, Jan. 31, 1S46, defining the boundaries of the proposed separate counties, and enabling the people to express their wish more fully upon the question ot division in the manner defined, by voting either for or against the proposition at the annual election in September, the Legislature endowed it with legal force and effect by the act of Feb. 4, 1847.

Under provisions of the same act, taking effect May 1, 1847, the county of Lafayette was fully organized for county and judicial purposes. It was also provided that all officers heretofore elected for the county of Iowa, residing within Lafayette, should be officers of the latter until their terms expired, and that the remaining officers to which it was entitled should be chosen at a special election, on the first Tuesday of April, 1847. The county wa.s assigned to the first judicial district, and terras of court were directed to be held thereafter at the seat of justice, in September and April of each year.

So much for the political history of Lafayette county. We now proceed to give a sketch of its early history, to understand which is so necessary to a just comprehension of that of the county of Green.

Upon the first advent of miners and settlers to this region, it was occupied by the Winnebago Indians, who gave the intruders frequent trouble by their unfriendly disposition until 1828, when they threw open their territory to the United States, and the next year ceded all their land south of the Wisconsin and west of Sugar river to the general government by the treaty of Prairie du Chien, and withdrew to the northward and eastward

The United States began the survey of public lands in this section by running the base line, or line between Wisconsin and Illinois, from the fourth principal meridian eastward to Lake Michigan, in 1833, and immediately thereafter proceeding with the sub-division into townships and sections of the territory embraced in this county, which was completed by 1835. In that year, the lands were brought into market at Mineral Point, but the mineral lands were reserved from sale, being worked under regulations elsewhere mentioned, until 1846, when they also were put upon the market.

The early settlement of Lafayette county, was induced by the discovery of lead ore. Galena was the "hub" of the Lead Region, from which point explorations were made iu all directions. Wherever a discovery of mineral was made, there a settlement sprung up, composed largely of fortune hunters, who generally made but a temporary stay, but a portion of whom became permanent and influential residents. All were engaged in mining, or in accessory operations.

In 1824, the "new diggings" near Fever river, in the southwest part of the county, were discovered by a prospecting party from Galena, consisting of Duke L. Smith, George Ferguson, and Kve or six others, and were at once occupied. In 185G, Ferguson, and John and Cuyler Armstrong, were the principal occupants of these mines, which proved to be immensely rich.

In the towns of New Diggings and White Oak Springs, mining was commenced in 1827 and 1823 by Amos Looney, Mr. Deering, J. W. Blackstone, James Collins, Samuel Scales, R. H. Champion, and others.

The first white persons known to have made a permanent settlement in the county, were Henry and Beon Gratiot, two Frenchmen from St. Louis, Mo., who settled at what was called Gratiot's Grove, in the year 1826, and commenced the business of mining and smelting lead. This point became famous as "Fort Gratiot" during the Black Hawk War in 1832, as a place of safety for families. It was about two miles south of the present village of Shullsburg. Henry Gratiot became Indian agent for the United States government, and had great influence with the Winnebagoes, who inhabited this country. On the lotii day of February, 1827, James Woods, John Woods, William Chilton, Andrew Clarno, Thomas Chilton, Hugh Mc- Geary, and Augustus Chilton, left Springfield, 111., on foot, with the view of settling or laboring in the "Lead Region" of Wisconsin. They traveled on foot, carrying their supplies on their backs, fording streams, wading through swamps, sleeping on the ground, with scant covering, and sometimes in the snow or rain, during a journey of twenty days, at the end of which they arrived at Gratiot's Grove, on the 7th day of March,

1827. From this point most of the party scattered to different points; some returned to Galena and others to their homes in Illinois, but James and John Woods engaged to drive a team for the Gratiots, who wanted one man, and gave James Woods $12 a month with board, and his brother John, his board, so the two brothers became settlers at this point. Andrew Clarno afterward settled in what is now Green county. During the trip from Springfield to Galena, Clarno was taken sick, and it was necessary for his comrades to carry him, which they did faithfully until reaching Galena. Here they found James Kendall and family, also a Mr. Rendezbarger and family, whose son was an artist, and his son-in-law, a doctor, probably the first physician who ever saw this section of country. Rendezbarger and family were Swiss, highly cultured, and came here from the settlements of the Red river of the north. Those already mentioned, with a few laborers, constituted the inhabitants of this region in the spring of 1827. GeorgeSkillinger, Anthony Miller and Crawford Million, with their families, came the same summer. Skillenger and Miller soon moved further east, and commenced farming in the present town of Wiota.

Jesse Sliull settled near the Gratiots, and opened valuable mines. The village of ShuUsburg was named in his honor. Absalom and Elijah Townsend and James H. Earnest, were other early settlers in this part of the county.

Fortinetus Berry, from Sangamon Co., 111., Avith his family, settled at Gratiot's Grove, in the fall of 1827, and the year following commenced farming, a little south of the settlement. One of his daughters was the first wife of Charles Lamar.

William S. Hamilton, son of the celebrated Alexander Hamilton, settled in the presenttown of Wiota, in 1827, for the purpose of engaging in mining and smelting. lie built the first furnace in the county, except Gratiot's-, and did the first farming in his settlement. This settlement was known as "Hamilton's Fort," being a place of resort for the settlers when Indians were troublesome, especially during the Black Hawk War. Hamilton platted a village near the northeast part of the present town of Wayne, in 1827, and gave it the Indian name of Wiota, hoping to induce sufiicient sett'ement to become a village and hasten the improvement of that section, but as all wlio came to this region, at that time, thought only of making their fortunes by mining, they settled where mineral had been found, and this early enterprise of Hamilton's failed, although the aboriginal name, Wiota, was retained for a village.

In 1828, two men by the names of Collins and Kemp, settled near Hamilton, in the present town of Wiota, and opened a mine. Two brothers, Robert and Samuel Paxton, and Eli Shook, soon followed and commenced mining. George Carrol, Ezra Lamb and James Mc- Knight, had settled and commenced farming here, by 1830.

Jameson Hamilton, from Indiana, settled on the banks of the Pecatonica, at the sight of Darlington, in 1827. He made a claim and farmed. He sold most of the present town site, or first town plat, in 1861.

James and Dennis Murphy commenced mining in the southwestern part of the present county, in what is now the town of Benton, where still exist some of the most valuable mines.

In 182S, a Mr. Eastman settled in the northwestern part of the county, in the present town of Belmont, and commenced farming. The same year Col. Moore settled further east, at the present town of Willow Springs, where in 1831, his son Alphonzo was born, who was the first white child born in the county. Col. Moore afterward settled at Belmont and engaged in hotel keeping at the old capital, near the center of the present town of Belmont. John Ames settled about four miles south of Darlington, in 1828, and commenced mining, moving afterward to Iowa, in 1838, where he became quite a prominent public man.

Daniel M. Parkinson settled in the north part of the county in 1828, with his family. The settlement was called Willow Springs, and Mrs. Parkinson was the first white woman at this settlement. Parkinson was held in high esteem by the people of the county, who often elected him to offices of trust. He was repeatedly elected representative to the Territorial and State legislatures. John Ray and wife settled here in 1828, and Ray, with a Mr. Fretwell, engaged in keeping a hotel and grocery. Mrs. Ray was noted for her religious zeal.

James Collins, John W. Blackstone, Samuel Scales, Capt. Funk, Mr. Deering, and Amos Looney, settled in the south and southwestern parts of the county, in 182V and 1828, all for the purpose of mining, in connection with which interest they became prominent. Blackstone was a lawyer, whose merits soonhecameknown; although he did not at first engage in the practice of his profession, he was chosen to fill places of trust, both legislative and judicial. James Neagle, an Irish lavvyer, very eccentric and not a little audacious, settled here very early and commenced mining. He afterward engaged in his profession, however", and was noted for his quaint remarks in court, and a disposition to have the last word. At one time, he went so far in his peculiar style in Judge Dunn's court, at Mineral Point, that the judge, finding it impossible to quiet him, imposed a sharp fine for contempt. This action broughttemporary quiet to the odd son of Erin, but presently he rose and said in broad Irish brogue: "May it please the court, I may be permitted to say, your honor is much more impregnated with dignity, this morning, than usual."

The settlement of the present town of Fayette was commenced in 1828, by Mr. Duke, who opened the mine known as Duke's diggings, which for many years gave an abundant yield of lead ore.

Daniel S. Hawley settled in the present town of Argyle, where he farmed, and afterwards built a mill and hotel, the first hotel and mill in this part of the county. In 1830 J. C. Saxton opened a store at the same place, and by 1833, Joseph Shook, William Brazzell, a Mr. Cunningham and others, had commenced farming.

James Kendall, from Gratiot's, settled in the present town of Kendall, in 1829, and commenced farming. He built a mill for grinding grain in 1833. This was the second mill built in the county, the first having been built in 1835, on the Pecatonica, at the site of the village of Gratiot (a place entirely distinct from Gratiot's Grove), by a Mr. Curtis. Mineral was found here, and Robert C. Hoard built a smelting furnace in the year 1851.

Owing to the menaces of the Winnebago Indians, there was no rapid influx of population into this country for two or three years after the discovery of the lead mines. The unfriendly disposition of the savages culminated in the outbreak at Prairie du Chien in June, 1827. At the same time they threatened a murderous descent on all the frontier settlements, and consequently nearly all the miners located in this region precipitately abandoned these outposts and concentrated in Galena for safety. The troubles were quieted by the march of Gen. Atkinson's troops to the Wisconsin portage in August and September, when the miners resumed their occupation. At the same time the reports of the war and the return of the volunteers under Atkinson to Illinois, had spread the fame of the lead mines far and wide, and men immediately flocked hither in great numbers. This and several succeeding years were noted as years of wild expectation and adventure, second only to the gold excitement in California, with them between 1823 and 1828 are attributed to that cause. These were quieted, however, in 1828, when by treaty they gave the government permission to occupy the mineral region for a compensation of $20,000, but did not cede these lands until the next year. This was the end of the VN'innebago trouble, but in 1832 a more serious danger threatened the destruction of the isolated settlements - the incursion of Black Hawk with his formidable band of Sacs and Foxes from the Iowa country into the lower valley of Rock river. The concentration of United States forces and Illinois volunteers from the south and east upon the rear and flank of this enemy, forced him back upon the Lead Region, but the resistance here offered, added to the pursuit in his rear, compelled him to seek safety in the timber and swamps of Jefferson county. The more important incidents of this struggle in Lafayette county may be briefly summarized. In April, 1832, information of Black Hawk's crossing into Illinois having reached the Lead Regions, Daniel M, Parkison was dis{)atched to Dixon's ferry, to ascertaii if his intentions were hostile. Returning will information confirming previous reports of danger ahead, a volunteer force was organized, of which Col. Henry Dodge became commander. Defenses were constructed at Hamilton's place, Gratiot's Grove, VVhite Oak Springs, Shullsburg, Diamond Grove, Elk Grove, at the residence of D. M. Parkison (Fort Defiance), and at Seelhorst's at the southwest extremity of Elk Grove, all in Lafayette county, and elsewhere. During the early part of June, matters became still more serious, Dodge's volunteers visited Rock river, and after an interview between its commander arid Gen. Atkinson, returned and were dismissed to their homes, with orders to be in readiness to re-assemble on a moment's notice. This occurred on the 14th. The same day the Indians surprised a party of seven men at work in acorn field on Spafford's farm, near the mouth of the creek of the same name, a few miles southeast of Fort Hamilton, killing five, the other two making their escape by extraordinary activity. The alarm was instantly spread, and a detachment from Fort Defiance proceeded to the scene of action and buried the dead. On the morning of the 16th, Col. Dodge arrived at Fort Hamilton, where the volunteers had been ordered to assemble. A few moments after his arrival, a German named Apple was fired upon within a short distance of the fort by the Indians in ambush, and instantly killed. The men at the foi't, twenty-nine in number, hastily mounted, under Dodge's orders, and galloped after the now retreating band of savages, who retired eastward toward the East Branch of the Pecatonica, about five miles distant, when, finding that they would be overtaken, they posted themselves within a horse-shoe bend of the stream under the banks of a small pond, and awaited the onset. After fording the river and approaching the position, the . men were dismounted, and leaving four in charge of the horses, four others were detached in different directions to watch the movements of the enemy. Twenty-one advanced to the attack in open order, with trailed arms, and when within a few yards of the concealed enemy they received their fire, which, however, was not well directed, and only three men fell. A charge was instantly made, and before the Indians could reload they were all shot down, seventeen in number, not one of them escaping. The loss of the assailants was three killed and one wounded. The Indians made no further hostile demonstrations, and a few days later Posey's Illinois detachment and the miners' battalion united their forces at Fort Hamilton, and proceeded from thence by way of the four lakes to join Gen. Atkinson and the main army at the foot of Lake Koshkonong. During this time Hamilton made a trip to Prairie du Chien, in order to secure Winnebago allies against Black Hawk, in which he Avas only partly successful, returning with a number of that tribe with whom he accompanied the expedition previously mentioned. The conclusion of the Black Hawk War was the end of all Indian disturbances in this region.

Tiie people now began to employ themselves in various kinds of business at the settlements or villages, and agriculture soon claimed its legitimate place among the industries of the county.

In 1825 a superintendent was appointed for all the mines claimed by the United States in the upper Mississippi district, with authority to prescribe rules and regulations for the government of those engaged in working them. Under these regulations a lot 200 yards square was allowed to every two miners, and one in addition for every two hands employed. The miners staked off these lots at pleasure, on any unoccupied ground, and held them only during occupation; but, by giving a bond of $5,000, a miner's lease to a half section for three years could be obtained. They were allowed the free use of timber for building and fuel, and smelters were allowed sufficient to carry on their works; but no permission was given to use timber in any other manner. Miners were restricted to the sale of their ore to licensed smelters, but could obtain a smelter's license in the same manner as other persons, by entering into $10,- 000 bonds to pay the government a tenth of all the lead manufactured. Farming was permitted free of rent wherever it did not interfere with the timber required for mining purposes. These regulations passed away when the lands were brought into market, and mining became the business of private individuals, companies or corporations, under the same general laws and regulations prescribed to other business.

Among the first to give prominence to this industry in Lafayette county were J. W. Blackstone, Col. James Collins, Jesse Shull, Henry Gratiot, Samuel Scales, Amos Looney, Beon Gratiot, Buck Deering, Absalom and Elijah Townsend, James Earnest, James and Dennis Murphy, Robert and Samuel Paxton, M. Duke, a Mr. Kemp, and William S. Hamilton. After many years of varying success the mines in the eastern part of the oounty -^-cre measurably abandoned.

Having thus considered the condition of the pioneers in Wiscot sin while the latter was a Territory, and having sketched briefly the early history of Iowa and Lafayette counties, let us now^ proceed to examine the cause w^hich first led adventurers to what is now the county of Green. The object of their coming was the newly discovered El Dorado -

The Lead Mines

Undoubtedly the first miners in Green county were Indians of the Sac tribe; at least, it is not known that any mineral was taken out of the earth here before they came in possession of this part of the country - they and their kindred, the Foxes. There is no positive record left behind them of their having been visited in the region round about hereby white men while engaged in mining; but local traditions among the Winnebagoes, who followed them, fixed the J sites, in at least two places, within the limits of i the ])resent county of Green, as "Old Sac Diggings." One of these, it is quite certain, was on what was afterward (and still is) known as the south line of the southeast quarter of section 27, in township 4 north, of range 8 east, in the i town of Exeter; the other was, probably, what ' was subsequently known as "Skinner^ Diggings," on the present section 3, in township 2 north, of range 7 east, near the northeast corner of the northwest quarter of that section (in wliat is now^ the town of Monroe).

"In the beginning were the lead mines. The Sauk, or Sugar River, Diggings, were situated a little over a mile southwest of the present village of Exeter."

This, without explanation might convey the idea that the mines, when first discovered by the whiteSj were rcorAed by the Sacs; but the Winnebagoes had been in possession of this region a number of years before the existence of the "Sugar River Diggings" became known to civilized miners, and had worked them in their crude tnannfer - though known tb them and to

"The sqnaws," says Miss Bingham, in her history before referred to, "were the first miners, but they had neither the knowledge nor the tools- to make their labor very profitable. With such instruments as they could make, they picked out the surface or float mineral; and when their excavations became too deep to step into, threw in a dead tree, on which they climbed up and down. When a vein ran under the rock, they dug it out as far as they could reach, built a fire in the hole thus made, and, when the rock was heated, cracked it by pouring on water."

"In 1826 there began to be a great deal of talk about the lead mines of southwestern Wi.'-- consin. In 1827 the interest in tliem was as general as the interest in the California gold mines in 1849; and there was such a rush 1o them from all parts of the country that somi - times the boats that came up the iMississip))! fr^n St. Louis could not carry half of those whe w\anted to come."

. The difficulty of correctly obtaining the fact? concerning the first coming of settlers to this county is very happily described by Miss Bingham in the preface to her history:

"Before the days of newspapers in a new county, the county and family records are almost the only means by which the dates of important occurrences are preserved. Nevertheless, when a country has been settled fifty years, each man, by reference to the dates set down in his family Bible, and to the year in which he came, is able to fix a great many other dates tlius: 'Barber and Newcomb had been here a year when I came, in 1837. Holland came the

*They were also called, at an early rlay, "McNutt Diggin^rs," try the whites. They are so named on some of the early maps pi' the Gre'Q ounty region. But the narorf ' '^ugarRiVefr Dig^iofeS" Awn fcWk tihJ -jflaVe cff tfc Wtoars.

next spring. Smith came the year our baby died, and that was 1838. Brown must have come in 1837, for it was the description of the country, in his letters, that induced the Smiths to leave Illinois. Jones came the 10th of September, 1839. That was the day Tom was born, and I remember Jones was camped right in front of my house, because some of his cattle had given out.'

"Alas, that the good mother of the house must shake our faith in her husband's chronology in this way! 'No, Pa, that was the day Mary was born. I know, because Mrs. Jones said 'twas a pity she wasn't a boy, she had such a good head.' There is always a possibility that dates arrived at by the course just illustrated may be wrong; but usually there is also a great probability that they are right, and when the same dates are obtained in two or more families, the probability becomes almost a certainty. In proportion to their number, their correctness is disputed not nearly so often as the correctness of later dates which are verified by the newspapers of their time."

The First Settlers

The first settlement within the limits of what is now Green county, was in the year 1827. The first settlers were Messrs. Boner and McNutt. They located at what was afterw^ard known as the "Sugar River Diggings," in the present town of Exeter - on the east line of the northeast quarter of section 34, of the government survey. Here they erected a log cabin.

The sole object of these venturers was to trade with the Indians, and to that end they were provided with some goods, such as were prized by the savages, and with that necessary companion, an interpreter, whose name was Van Sickle. Here the Indians had mined for lead.

It would be a reasonable supposition, that, where so few had penetrated the wilderness, with no opposing interests, a feeling of mutual friendship would prevail, to the extent that each individual would extend to each and every member of their little community all the pi-otectidn in liis power; foi' such has been the experience of so many primitive, frontier settlements. But in this case there was a tragical departure from this rule. McNutt, in 1828, maddened with whisky, entered his trading cabin, and without any known provocation, deliberately murdered his partner, Boner, with an ax; literally chopping him to pieces. Van Sickle, their interpreter, paralyzed with fear, ran for his life, and while fleeing, was shot at repeatedly by McNutt, with a rifle. Van Sickle made his way to Blue Mound, a settlement about eighteen miles to the northwest, and gave information of what had occurred. Hardly had he arrived there, when McNutt made his appearance, on horseback, and delivered himself up, confessing the murder. The territory now constituting Green county, being at that time a part of the county of Crawford, with the county seat at Prairie du Chien, McNutt was taken to that place, tried, and acquitted. This was the first white man killed, so far as is known, in this county. Soon after, the few settlers assembled at the trading-house, and gave the mangled corpse of Boner as decent a burial as circumstances would permit. The grave was the first dug for a white settler in the county.

The exact date of the killing of Boner, by McNutt, is unknown though it must have been in 1828 and before the 7th of July of that year; as is seen by the following extract from the records of the supervisors of the county of Crawford, Wisconsin:

"At a session of the supervisors of the county of Crawford, and township of St. Anthony, held on the 7th day of July, 1828, present, John Marsh, John Sinipsoti and Dennis Courtois, supervisors of said township, was presented the account of Pierre Lembert of $1.50, which was allowed; and Dennis Courtpis, account of |l ; John Simpson, of $1; John Marsh, of |1, and Joseph Brisbois, of $2, which was allowed.

"Upon the representation of the sheriff that the prison is insufficient for the safe keeping of D. McNutt, a prisoner confined on the cliarge of murder, a request was made to the commanding officer of Fort Crawford to take the prisont-r into his custody for safe keeping. The court adjourned until the first Monday in September next, at 10 o'clock a. m."

In 1829 William Deviese built asmelting furnace near the Sugar River Diggings, which was afterwards held and used for some years by two men named Kemp and Collins. Deviese must be considered the first permanent settler in Green county. The date of his first arrival was Aug. 12, 1828.

In 1830 Andrew Clarno took up a claim in the southwestern part of the county, about six miles from what is now the city of Monroe, but did not settle there until the spring of 1832.

Around his pioneer home cluster many important incidents. Joseph Payne and William Wallace became Clarno's neighbors, by erecting a cabin near by, and making their home therein. Thus a pleasant neighborhood had commenced to grow, when, in 1832, the Black Hawk War brought consternation to the little settlement. On the 5th of May, 1832, they all left their homes in great haste before the approaching Indians. Hardly had they reached a safe distance when the smoke of their burning homes arose in curling volumes above the tree toj^s. A few hours later and they would have fallen a prey to the remorseless hate of the followers of Black Hawk. The first sad, dreary night they spent on the ground now occupied by the county seat, often startled by the whoop of the savage, in hourly expectatioji of falling victims to the prowling foe. Fortunately they were not detected. In the dim, gray light of morning they hastened away, and arrived at " Hamilton's Fort," now Wiota, where they tarried the second night. Thoy then made their way westward to "Fort Gratiot," where they remained in safety until the close of the war. When the tronblps had ceased they returned to their ruined homes, rebuilt their houses, and commenced to lay the foundations of that prosperity which aftei:wards was the reward of their trials and industry. Clarno's home became the resting place of many subsequent adventurers, who sought and obtained homes in that vicinity, and lielped to swell the population of the settlement. As is the case in all new settlements, each vied with the other in making every new comer welcome, and in rendering all needed aid to the seekers of new homes, Clarno lived to a good old age, and was a leading man in the county until his death, and left a worthy family to enjoy the fruits of his enterprise. His son, O. H. P. Clarno, now (1884) owns valuable estates at the old settlement. Some of these early settlers have left the State, while the descendants of others are scattered through the county,engaged in varied pursuits.

It should be borne in mind that it was over four years after the Black Hawk War before the county of Green was created; and that immigration, which, immediately after that conflict of arms ended, began to increase, was, during those four years, to Iowa county - of which the present Green county formed a part. In her -'History of Green County," Miss Bingham, in speaking of the Black Hawk War, says:

"To the new comers, as to the earliest settlers, those who had participated in the war ever appeared as heroes. For years the one unfailing subject of conversation, the subject which never grew old and never was out of place, was the [Black Hawk] war. Every incident was told over and over again. There was a man named Bennett Million, who used to play the fiddle at the dances in Monroe. He, with a number of others, had been surprised by the Indians, somewhere near the Pecatonica, and chased by them. The fright made one of his companions insane, and several others were killed. Mr. Million saved himself by rolling in the mud until so covered by it that he could hide on the ground. His experience was interesting and exciting, and many a time, in later

In the year 1834 Nicholas Cornelius, of Illinois, and Hiram Rust and Leonard Ross, from the State of New York, came to this county. Ross finally settled at Exeter, in the northern part of the county, and Rust took land in the vicinity of the present city of Monroe, where he lived engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death.

The same year John W. Deniston and Abner Van Sant came to this county, and settled about three miles southwest from Monroe, where they built cabins, and erected the first flouring mill ever operated in the county. About this time settlers began to arrive in greatei- numbers, and farms were opened up in many parts of the county. Many Avho had been led here with the hope of gaining speedy wealth by miningoperations found their labors amply rewarded iu the fruits of well-tilled soil.

In 1834 George W. Lot, a Pennsylvanian by birth, came from the lead mines to the westward and made a settlement in the southwest c(«rner of what is now the town of Cadiz.

In the spring of 1834 James Biggs and wife moved from Union Co., Ohio, to Wiota, in what was then Iowa county (now Lafayette). They staid there one year and then moved to what is now the town of Adams, Green county. This was the middle of June, 1835. They settled on section 8. They had not a neighbor at that time within ten miles. The first one who followed Mr. Biggs was William Brazel. Mr. Biggs was the first settler in Adams; and Mr. Brazel, the second.

The town of Jefi^erson as now constituted had its first settler - Jonathan E. Clark - on section 32, in 1835. In the autumn of the next year he was followed by David C. Bridge, who built on section 20.

An Englishman, John Mitchel by name, was the first to locate in what is now the town of Mount Pleasant. The exact date of his coming is unknown, although it must have been before 1837.

It was probably in the early part of 1837 that Daniel Baxter settled in what is now the town of Spring Grove. Then followed, the same year, Eli Kline; these two were the first settlers there.

During the month of November, 1837, Josiah Pierce moved into a cabin in what is now the town of Washington, and was the first settler within its limits.

There was a claim made by John Moore, from Ohio, in 1839, on section 20 - the first in what was afterwards (and still is) the town of Decatur. Thomas Chambers, his son-in-law, followed him the following year; also John J. Dawson and Samuel Rowe.

It was in the year 1841 that the first location was made in the present town of Albany, by James Campbell. The next comers there were Hiram Brown and Samuel Mitchell.

The year 1842 was the one in which, for the first time, a settler made his home in what is now the town of Brooklyn. The name of this first comer was W. W. McLaughlin.

New Glarus was settled before 1845 by James Parkins and Daniel Morley, but these were not permanent settlers. As is well known, the first to settle there permanently were emigrants from Glarus, Switzerland.

We have seen that between 1827 and 1845 was the period of the first settlement of Green county - less than a score of years. By the time the Swiss had got a foot-hold in the county, every surveyed township had ocgupants and the county at large a considerable population. Says Miss Bingham:

"Iowa county was partially surveyed before the war, much earlier than would have been necessary had not the lead mines brought it into notice. In 1835 the land was brought into market, and many settlers came to the county in 1835-6. Probably nine-tenths of those who came now or any time before 1840 came from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania or Virginia. It is difficult to ascertain the States oftheir nativity. A very large proportion of them came from Illinois, but they had gone there a few years before, when ' Eelinoise ' was the boundary of the civilized world. The Indiana immigrants were, many of them, born in Ohio, and many who came from Ohio had spent their earlier years in Pennsylvania or Virginia. At this time hardly any one came directly from New England, but some who were by birth the children of New England came from New York State. The settlers of 1835-6-7 endured privations of all kinds. The nearest markets were Mineral Point, Galena and Fort Winnebago. The difiiculties of going to market were increased by the fact that the streams, which a few years later were shallow enough to be folded, were now so deep that teams were obliged to swim across them, and the banks were so steep that travelers carried shovels with which to cut them down. One might travel days at a time in southern Wisconsin wiihout seeing a house, and dismal prophets had foretold that this state of things must continue,"

"By 1844 one-third of the land in the county was entered. Soon after the land came into market, a great number of acres, including much timber land, were bought by New England speculators - a proceeding that the settlers regarded as iniquitous. All non-residents who owned land were called speculators, and opposition to speculators was held to be an essential element of loyalty to the county. The usual form of opposition was stripping the timber from the land of the obnoxious class. To a great extent it was the speculators' timber that fenced the farms, and kept the cooking stoves and saw-mills running. Ordinarily, wood cut from any speculator's land was good enough; but a speculator owning land east of Monroe died, and (as though his death was an addition to his former indignity to the settlers), from that time until the timber was all used, his land, known as "dead man's land," was the favorite place of supply in this part of the county. Until 1844 the speculators made no effort to defend themselves, but in that year a number of them engaged J. A. Bingham to prosecute every one found cutting their timber,and for a time the old hatred of speculators was forgotten in the new desire to resist a citizen who dared to become a representative and defender of the obnoxious class. For a year or two it seemed as though the more the timber cutters were prosecuted, the more they developed a martyr-like persistency and a very un-martyr-like aggressiveness. These qualities might have reached the heroic, had not the courage of the choppers wasted away so rapidly that their conduct became the laughing stock of the county.

"A brother of Thomas W. Thompson once came from New York to visit him. At Milwaukee he hired horses and a covered carriage for the remainder of the journey. Before his visit in Sylvester was over, he wanted to see the county town. He started, but lost his way. Presently he saw three men and three loads of rails standing in the road before him. Before he was near enough to askfor information, they all started. Two of the men had horse teams, and they soon disappeared. Mr. Thompson then called loudly to the man with the ox team to stop, but the more he called, the more the man pounded his oxen. Psychologists may well tell of the strange influence which, under favorable circumstances, a man who concentrates his mind on one thing is capable of wielding, even if he does not utter a word. In this case the circumstances were favorable, and the concentration was perfect; and, in an incredibly short time, both oxen and rails seemed to have been inspired with the belief that only a speculator would ride in such a fine carriage as that which was coming behind him. The oxen galloped, and the rails flew off at the sides, and the last Mr. Thompson saw of the driver he was clinging with both hands to the wagon, from which the last rail was gone, while the oxen were making time to which Mr. Thompson, in his amazed and bewildered condition, was entirely unable to bring his high-spirited horses."

Many of the early settlers have passed away, but they have left a posterity who honor their names, and are doing their share towai'd building up and sustaining the social fabric of the county. The pioneers who remain in "the land of the living" feel a commendable pride in the advancement and prosperity of their county, which, though less rapid in growth than some of its neighbors, has, nevertheless, moved forward to the goal of success with certainty. They can look back to the time when miles intervened between neighbors; and, following the widening path to the present, can see that the population of that day has increased and multiplied many hundred times. They can rejoice that they are surrounded by a thrifty, upright, lawabiding people.

There is no better way to bring before the mind's eye the general facts as to the history of any country, or portion of country, than to study old maps of the region under consideration. We give the result of such a study in so far as Green county is concerned, beginning with the first map ever published of this immediate locality, known as a "Map of the United States Lead Mines, on the Upper Mississippi River, 1829."

On the map just mentioned, of course Green county is not laid down, as the county was not in existence for seven years thereafter. But within what are now its boundaries, are designated two localities where there are lead mines - only one being named. That one is called "McNutt Diggings." There is a road leading off in a southeasterly direction from these "Diggings," called the "Chicago Trace," It crosses Rock river in the State of Illinois, where there is represented a Winnebago Indian Village. There are two Indian villages located within what are now the limits of Green county - botli Winnebago. One is called "Spotted-arm's village;" one is on the east side of Sugar river, some distance above the State line;* the other (Spotted-arm's village) is on the west side and farther up the stream on the trace leading from "Hamilton's" in what is now Iowa county, to Green Bay. There is a trace running up the east side of Sugar river through the whole extent of the present county. The Pecatonica is given as "Peek-a-ton-oke."

The next map examined is the one known as "Peck and Messenger's Map of Illinois, and Part of the Wisconsin Territory, 1835." On this map, all south of what is now Green county, Wisconsin is "Jo Daviess county," Illinois. The range lines in the Wisconsin Land District are given and also the township lines. The Pecatonica is marked "Peekatonokee."

The second map containing matters of interest, is that denominated the "Map of the Territories of Michigan and Ouisconsin." By John Farmer, 18H0. On this map, two "diggings" within the limits of the present Green county, are denominated the "Old Sac Diggings."

In 1835, "Sugar river" appears for the first time on any published map. There were two maps printed in the year just mentioned representing what is now the county of Green along with the residue of the surveyed part of "Wisconsin Territory," although, at that time, there was, in fact, no such "Territory." From the Indian village on the east side of Sugar river on one of these maps, there runs a road northeasterly to Lake "Kushkanong;" anotlier northwesterly to "Blue Mounds;" and a third west to "Shullsburg.' The Pecatonica is named "Peekatonokee."

Burr's "Map of the Territory of Wisconsin" 1836, is interesting as containing a line of a "Proposed Rail Road from Wisconsin City to Mineral Point," running along from Rock river to Mineral P(nnt near the northern boundary of the present Green county.

There are several printed maps of 1838 having "Green County" noted thereon. In each of these, the Indian village on the east side of Sugar river ("White Breast's Village") gives place to "Centreville;"* and "New Mexico" stands prominently forth as the county seat of the county. From "Centreville" one road leads southeast to Beloit; one northwest through "Livingston" to "Blue Mounds;" one west to "Hamilton" in Iowa county; and one southwesterl}'^ to "New Mexico," - where it branches, the north branch running through "Peekatonokee" to "Wiota" in Iowa county, and the south branch to "Avon," and thence west to "Gratiot's Grove."

*Concerning this "paper city," Miss Bingham says: "Upon the plat of Centreville, which was exhibited in Milwaukee, Detmit, and the eastern cities, were represented steamboiits, churches, warehouses, and blocks of stoi-es. Thus pori rayed, the place was the cans - of many a yearning for a western home, ancl a brisk sa.eof hiyh-priccd business lots and four ac e out lots began. Careful, prosperous farmers and tadesmcn, wealthy speculators, and penuysavins" laborers all embraced the oppoitunity to make a good investment, and purchased leal estate in what the agents called the growing, bustliny city of Centrexille. One by one the purchasers learned that they wt re the victims of a fraud, that their land was no better than mLuht have been bought at the .government price. And so undesiratile did it seem, when the unsettled static of the country was n)aiie known, that although their titles wei-e unquistionablj- good, yet, so far as can be asceitained, not one of the purchaser's of Centre\ille lots ever claimed a foot of the much lauded City, or ev'er settled within the limits ol Decatur township. Th(' pliu;e had indceJ been surveyed and divided, as the plat showed, but the red stakes marking these divisions were the only marks of their presence which white men had ever left in the so-called city.