Iowa County, Wisconsin - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read), 1881 (part 2 of 2)

It was ascertained, some time after these events, that the Indians had simply exchanged with some man, a saddle of venison for Wizena's dress, which they then gave to a little squaw, about the same size. When they were attacked at the ferry, they were bringing the wounded man to the Doctor at Arena. This man had formed an attachment for an Indian squaw, and it was about her he spoke on the night of Mr. Belezer's disaster in the marsh.

Little Joe had been left by his master in charge of a man in Dubuque. It was ascertained by the hotel register, that he there had a little boy with him, but who was not with him in Galena, where he next registered his name. The Abolitionists then hunted Joe up, and, under a writ of habeas corpus, proved that Smith had voluntarily left him there. He was accordingly set free, and was sent to his Uncle Sam in Canada, Wizena, having testified that Sam had been uniformly kind to her, and had often told her that he stayed by her only to keepher from getting into worse hands.

The Wixnebago War - Captuke of Red Bird - Fikst Settlement, Dodgeville - Van Matre Survey- First White Women - Peddler's Creek and Dallas - Mineral Point - Early MERcnANDisiNG - First Marriage and Birth - First Farming - First Mill - Blue River - Ridgeway - First School and Physicians - Old Helena - A Visit to Helena in '36 - Furnaces of '27 and '28 - The First Census - Territorial Roads - First County- Schools - County School Work Since 18-13.

The outbreak known as the Winnebago war has been ascribed by historians to two causes- One reason assigned was the brutal treatment received by a party of squaws at the hands of river boarders. On sifting this report to the foundation, it was found entirely baseless, and made from whole cloth by the sensational narrator. The true incentive to revolt is found in the summary fate of four Winnebagoes, who, charged with the murder of eight Chippewas, were adjudged guilty, and were condemned to run the gauntlet at the hands of the injured tribe. The action of the commandant of Fort Snelling in thus delivering prisoners into the remorseless grasp of a hereditary enemy was deprecated, but this did not alter his line of action. As a result, the Winnebago prisoners met with a summary fate, and their scalp locks soon dangled from tent-pole of the Chippewa avengers.

Highly incensed at this deed, Red Bird, a Winnebago chief, led a war party against the Chippewas, at whose hands he suffered defeat, being repulsed with severe loss. Looking around for a new enemy, he found cause for resenting the encroachments of the whites in search of lead on the Indian Reservation, between Galena and the Wisconsin River ; then all his belligerent rancor was aroused, and selected war parties of young chosen braves were seat forth to scour the country. Previously, in March, a peaceful sugar-maker from Prairie du Chien, named Methode, together with his wife and five children, had been murdered on Yellow Creek, twelve miles from Prairie du Chien. This deed of cruelty, having been related at the settlements, revived all the tales of horror connected with border warfare, and incited the men to unite for mutual protection. The old feeling of enmity, smoldering since the struggle of 1812, was fairly aroused, and a war of extermination was freely canvassed among the whites.

On the 28th of June, 1827, Red Bird, and two savage accomplices, We-kaw, Chic-hon-ic visited the house of Registre Gagnier, three miles from Prairie du Chien. There were in the house at the time, Madame Gagnier, her husband, a boy three years old, a daughter aged eleven months, and an old discharged soldier named Solomon Lipcap. Accustomed to their visits, the Indians were received with the usual display of friendliness, and were asked to eat. They assented, and signified a desire for some fish and milk. While Madame Gagnier was preparing the meal, she heard the click of Red Bird's rille, followed instantly by the discharge, and the body of her murdered husband fell at her feet. At the same moment Chic-hon-ic shot and killed old Lipcap. Seeing We-kaw lingering about the threshold, Madame Gagnier seized his rifle, which she wrested from him ; but, from trepidation, she could not use it. Accompanied by her oldest boy, and carrying the rifle, she ran to the village and spread the alarm, and a party of armed men returned with her, and recovered the bodies of the two murdered men. The infant, which hail been left covered up in the bed, was found, on the floor underneath it, terribly mangled. The helpless child had been scalped by We-kaw, who had inflicted upon its neck a severe cut to the bone just below the occiput, made in wrenching otF the scalp. Extraordinary as it may seem, she eventually recovered, and at latest accounts was still living, and the mother of a large family.

Red Bird and his companions hastened from the scene of this butchery to the appointed rendezvous near the mouth of the Bad Axe River, wiiere, during their absence, thirty-seven warriors, acknowledging Red Bird's authority, had gathered together, and received the red-handed raur-. derers, with loud-voiced demonstrations of joy. A keg of liquor was broached, and, as the spirits decreased, in like proportion did tlieir own volatile spirits ascend, until they were weakened and infuriated by the protracted orgie. On the third day, the last drop of liquor was consumed. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon, they were indulging in the excitable scalp-dance, when they descried a keel-boat in charge of Mr. Lindsay returning from Fort Snelling. Forthwith, it was resolved to effect her capture, and put the crew to the knife.

There were two boats, Mr. Lindsay's being a short distance in advance of the second. The boats had descended the river as far as the village of Wabasha, where an attack was expected. The Winnebagos were on shore, in full-view, performing the war-dance, and they saluted the crews of the boats with a chorus of derisive cheers ; but did not attempt to molest them. By this conduct, the boatmen were thrown off their guard, and tempted to relax the stringent vigils they had adopted. Owing to a fierce head wind, requiring the full use of the oars to make any headway apparent, the boats parted company, and hugged the shore, to gain the protection of the land. Several French Canadian voyageurs, disliking the appearances of things on shore, cautioned the crews to keep in the middle of the stream ; but their words were not heeded. The boatmen professed a profound contempt for the Indians, and boldly plied their oars with renewed energy, so as to effect a landing at the encampment at the mouth of the Bad Axe. The boats, in model and size, were similar to ordinary canal-boats, and the rising gunwales furnished protection to those on board from the use of small arms. As the leading boat, the Oliver IL Perry, approached the shore, the air suddenly resounded with the blood-chilling and penetrating cries of the war-whoop, and a volley of bullets poured upon the deck. Happily, the Winnebagoes had not recovered from the effects of their debauch, which told in the unsteadiness of the fire. Of sixteen men on deck, only one man suffered at the first fire. lie was a negro named Peter. His leg was dreadfully shattered, and he afterward expired from the wounds. The whites, convinced of their peril, concealed themselves behind the low bulwarks, and suffered the boat to drift at the mercy of the wind and waves. A second volley was delivered instantly, killing an American named Stewart, who had risen to return the first fire. The protruding musket indicated his position, and he died with a Winnebago bullet through his heart, with his finger on the trigger of his undischarged gun. The boat now grounded on a sand-bar, and the Indians, encouraged by the inertness of the crew, sprang into their canoes to complete the massacre. A daring sailor, named Mandeville, and recognized by the pseudonym of Saucy Jack, assumed command of the crew, consisting of ten effective men. He sprang into the water, his daring example being followed by four resolute fellows, who, by united exertion, released the boat from the sand-bar, and pushed it into ileep water. The balls rained around with the density of hail ; but, by persistent effort, the boat was rapidly propelled on its course down stream and arrived next day at Prairie du Chien. The casualties of this engagement - were two of the crew killed, two mortally and two slightly wounded. Thirty-seven Indians were engaged, of whom seven were killed and fourteen were wounded. An examination revealed the presence of 6H3 bullets in various parts of the boat. The other keel boat, commanded by Capt. Lindsay, passed the Bad Axe about midnight. The Winnebagoes opened fire, which was promptly returned. In the darkness, no one was injured, and the boat passed down in safety.

On learning the news, the inhabitants of Prairie du Chien were greatly alarmed. They abandoned their houses and farms and crowded into the dilapidated fort. A military company was organized, with Thomas McNair, Captain ; Joseph Brisbois, Lieutenant, and John Brunei, as Ensign. Express messengers were dispatched to Galena and Fort Snelling for assistance, and the equipments were put in a good state of repair. The swivels and wall pieces were found and mounted, and blacksmiths were employed to repair the condemned muskets. The effects of the startling news are discussed by D. M. Parkinson, in the following words : " The reports being spread over the country, a scene of the most alarming and disorderly confusion prevailed; alarm and consternation were depicted in every countenance ; thousands flocking to Galena for safety, when, in fact, it was the most exposed and unsafe place in the country. All were without arms, order, or control. The roads, in all directions, were lined with frantic, fleeing men, women and children, e.xpecting every moment to be overtaken, tomahawked and scalped by the Indians. It was said, and I presume with truth, that the encampment of fugitives at the head of Apple River, on the first night of the alarm, was four miles in extent, and numbered three thousand persons."

An old and almost obsolete edition of a " History of the Indian Wars in Wisconsin," furnishes the following corroborative testimony. The author is unknown : " The people of the mines took the alarm, so that in two days there were not less than three thousand men, women and children who fled to this place (Galena) for safety. These Indians had made many threats against the miners, and had at different times ordered them off, and told them to quit the diggings, saying the ground they were digging on was theirs. This news (Lindsay's engagement) coming at this time, when they were apprehensive of mischief, gave them an alarm and caused them to fly to Galena for safety. They forsook their rude habitations and assembled at that place in order to assist in defending each other. There were a few forts built in the more thickly settled parts of the mines, and some of the most fearless citizens occupied them. There was a committee of safety appointed in Galena, who corresponded with all parts of the mines and adopted measures for the safety and protection of all, and, in the meantime, had some strong blockhouses built at Galena. The people, likewise, who were able and willing to bear arms, volunteered, and formed themselves into companies and chose their own officers, ranged the country and kept a good lookout, for fear the Indians would steal a march upon them and take them by surprise."

Through the active exertions of Col. Henry Dodge, the workers in the lead mines organized a company of mounted volunteers, numbering nearly one hundred men, well armed and mounted.

Capture Of Red Bird

Maj. Whistler, of Fort Howard, arrived on the 1st of September, 1827, at Fort Winnebago, now the site of Portage City. His force consisted of Government troops and a company of Oneida and Stockbridge Indians, sixty-two in numbei% mustered in by Ebenezer Childs and Joseph Dickinson. On the other hand. Col. Snelling was in command at Fort Crawford, whence he directed the movements of the troojis and the miners under Col. Dodge, scoured the country on both sides of the Wisconsin, driving every Indian before them. Soon after Maj. Whistler's arrival, he was informed tiiat the Winnebagoes were encamped, within a short distance, on the Wisconsin, where Portage City is now located. A few days later, a body of warriors were descried, with the aid of a field glass, to be approaching the military camp. The Indian party bore three flags. The two in front and rear were the American flag, while the center was a flag of truce, borne by Red Bird in person. As they approached the Fox River, -a loud, monotonous chant was heard. Those familiar with Indian habits proclaimed it to be " Red Bird singing his death song." Arriving on the banks of the river, a halt was made, and a barge was sent across to receive the delegation, and an escort of soldiers was provided to convey them within the lines.

Ascending the bluff, Kar-ray-mau-nee, a distinguished chief, was in the van. On arrival at the camp, order was called and, Kar-ray-raau-nee, acting as spokesman, said : " They arc here. Like braves they have come in: treat them as braves; do not put them in irons." The military had previously drawn out in line, the Oneida and Menomonee Indians in groups on the left, the band on the right. A little in advance of the center, stood Red Bird, and the miserable We-kaw, while those who had accompanied them formed a semi-circle on the right and left All eves were riveted on the noble form of Red Bird. In hcicht, he was about six feet, straight as an arrow and faultless as a model. His form was symmetrical, and as graceful as an Apollo Belvidere. His face wore an easy expression, combining dignity and grace, associated with a majestic mien. His face was parti-colored, being painted on one side red and on the other with an intermixture of pale green. He was clothed in a Yankton suit of dressed elk-skins of immaculate white, and as soft and pliable as the finest kid. It consisted of a jacket ornamented with fringe of the same material, the sleeves being cut to fit his finely molded arm. and leggings, also of dressed elk-skin, the fringe of which was varied and enriched with blue beads. On his feet, he wore moccasins, and, on each shoulder, in place of an epaulet, was fastened a preserved bird. Around his neck he wore a collar of blue wampum, beautifully mixed with white, which was sewed on to a piece of cloth, while the claws of a panther or wildcat, with their points inward, formed the rim of the collar. Around his neck were also hanging strands of wampum of various lengths, the circles enlarging as they descended. In one hand, he held the white tiag, and in the other the calumet of peace.

As he stood in princely grandeur before the military tribunal, with features as immobile as stone, his direst enemies could not conceal the admiration they secretly felt for him. According to the Indian law, of a scalp for a scalp, as immutable as the ancient Jewish penalty, of " an eye for an eye," Red Bird had committed no crime against his own crude laws of justice, and, consequently, his conscience was at rest. Innocent, in his own simple soul, of murder, he was read}' to meet death, and accepted the fate that was to transport him to the happy hunting-grounds of the Great Father without a tremor.

When Red Bird and We-kaw were told to sit down, the band struck up Pleyel's Hymn. All wii.s hushed in silence. At the conclusion of the melody. Red Bird extracted from his pouch kinnikiniek and tobacco, cut the latter in the palm of his hand, struck a fire on a bit of punk with iiis flint and steel, lighted it, and smoked in serene silence.

Kar-ray-mau-nee then spoke substantially as follows: They were required to bring in the murderers. They had no power over any except two ; the third had gone away, and these had voluntarily agreed to come in and give themselves up. They interceded for kind treatment, and besought that they might not be put in irons. He concluded by offering twenty horses in in atonement for the loss of human life at the hands of their tribe. The Indians were cautioned regarding their future conduct, and recommended to appeal their quarrels to the Great Father for settlement, ami were promised that the felons should not be ironed.

Having heard this. Red Bird stood up, and, advancing two paces toward Maj. Whistler, said : " I am ready." After a pause he added : " I do not wish to be put in irons; let me be free. I have given away my life; it is gone." Bending and taking a pinch of dust between his fingers, he blew it away, repeating as he eyed the vanishing dust - "Like that ; I would not take ft back; it is gone." Having thus spoken, he threw his hands behind his back, and marched directly up to Maj. Whistler. A platoon was wheeled back from the center of the line, when, the officer stepping aside, Red Bird and We-Kaw marched through the line, in charge of a file of men, to a tent provided for them in the rear, where a guard was set over thera. They were afterward committed for safe keeping to the post at Prairie du Chien, there to await their trial for murder in the regular court of justice.

Very soon after the surrender of these prisoners, Gen. Atkinson's troops, and the volunteers under Col. Dodge, arrived at Fort W^innebago. Gen. Atkinson, on receiving assurance of the friendly feeling of the Winnebagoes, discharged the volunteers, assigned two companies of regulars to the occupation of Fort Crawford, and ordered the other regulars to their respective stations, while he returned to Jefferson Barracks.

In the following spring. Red Bird, We-Kaw and Chic-hon-ic were tried at Prairie da Chien, before Judge J. D. Doty. They were convicted and sentenced to pay the extreme penalty of the law on the 28th of December. Red Bird died in prison, and his two accomplices were liberated on a reprieve from President Adams, who granted it on the express stipulation that the tribe would cede the land then in possession of the miners. For the loss of her husband, and the life-long mutilation of her child, Madame Gagnier was granted two sections of land for herself and children. The Government furthermore agreed to pay her the sum of $50 per annum, for fifteen years, to be deducted from the annuity of the Winnebago Indians. Thus ended the outbreak which threatened to become a war of extermination to the miners thei* in the country. At the conclusion of peace, the miners returned to their deserted claims, and sought for mineral in the uninterrupted enjoyment of security to life and property.

First Settlement Dodgeville

Concerning the arrival of the first white man in this county, reports are conflicting and liable to mislead a superficial observer. Undoubtedly the country was unsettled before the year 1827, or only populated by roving bands of Indians and trappers who, in pursuit of the chase, were led throughout the broad West. One good result of the Winnebago war was to demonstrate the mineral wealth of this region and open up the land for the pioneers who began to come in in hordes soon after. The first persons to improve the discovery were Gen. Henry Dodge, Jesse W. Shull (the founder of Shullsburg), John Ray, who afterward settled at Willow Springs, and James M. Strode, of Galena, 111., all of whom arrived at the present site of Dodgeville on the 3d day of October, 1827.

However, it is generally acknowledged that Ezra Laramie and a man by the name of Putnam were the discoverers of the lead mines, with a few other pioneer miners, and that prior to the arrival of Gen. Dodge and those mentioned, they were located here just below the spring, and had thrown up two small log cabins, where they lived in a crude state of civilization. At that time, there were a considerable number of Winnebago Indians on the ground. They greatly preponderated, and outnumbered the whites by ten to one. Through the medium of Martin Van Sickle, a transient trader and dealer in pelts, the Indians were informed that Gen. Dodge was a chief of some rank among the white men, and they accorded him a salute in keeping with his supposed exalted station. As Dodge approached them, they ran and immediately seized their guns, formed in line, and fired a salute over the heads of the new-comers. The General was accompanied by four negro slaves, who chose to accompany him under a promise that they should equally share their master's fare and be liberated some years thereafter. The second day after their arrival, lots were staked off, and every individual of the party engaged in the construction of a double log cabin for common use. The modus operandi followed was to excavate a hollow in the hillside, and then to erect on the outside a wall of logs, and roof in the inclosed space by roughly hewn logs, resting one end on the outer wall and the other end buried in the hill. Warned by the treachery of the Winnebagoes in the late war, the new-comers warily proceeded to insure their own safety by constructing a blockhouse on the hill above the hut. Inclosing both buildings and an area not exceeding seventyfive feet square, was a stockade composed of palisades set in the ground to a depth of two feet, and standing eight or ten feet above the surrounding surface. This afforded a shelter and protection and was at least a warm if not comfortable domicile. The only other improvement was to build a few miners' cabins at this point.

The following day, Gen. Dodge held a council with the Indians, who at that time were encamped on the Jenkins Branch, and engaged in smelting lead and making bullets for their winter hunts. He told the chiefs and braves that the wiiites had come there with peaceable intentions, for the purpose of mining and smelting, and that if they behaved themselves they should be treated with amity and would also be presented with various articles of utility. If, however, they declined to accept friendly overtures and wanted war, they could have it upon cheap terms. If they killed or wounded any of the whites, they were threatened with a severe retaliation. To these propositions, a ready assent was given, and ever after the Indians, with one or two notorious exceptions, were steadfast friends.

Dodge's party was fortunate in finding mineral during 1827, which turned out to be an extensive body, afterward known as the " Patch Diggings." A rude log furnace was immediately constructed, and, before the 1st of March, Gen. Dodge had manufactured and hauled to Galena some $3,000 or $4,000 worth of lead. The price ruling the market at that time was $5 per hundred pounds.

In the same fall, James McRaney, Jacob Hunter, Charles Galloway, Daniel Moore and James Sayles, acting in co-operation, made a claim. All these claims were for " patch " diggings. During the same season (1827) the firm, Putnam & Lamb, entered a claim nearly half a mile nortliwest of the court house. Tiiese di<]ru;in<;s were sheet lead, and have since been owned bj various miners, who have worked them intermittently, and usually with profit. Charles Gaines and James Wooley openecl a mine nearly a quarter of a mile north of the court house plot, near what has since been called "dirty hollow." They also built a furnace, a little east of Dodge's furnace, the same j'ear.

Van M.Atre Survey

Late in the fall of 1827, the Van Matre brothers, Jef and Louis, discovered, on Section 5, Town 5, Range 3, a rich paying lode. Afterward, Abe and John became associated with them, when they made what to this day is recognized as the Van Matre survey, which was one mile S([uare, comprising half of Section 5 and one-half of Section (3. According to the old Government mining rule, two men could hold and work, under the supervision of the United States Agent, two hundred yards square, and, on a survey, the law required the presence of at least twenty men to hold it. They worked the land until 1829, when evidences of a failing supply induced them to forsake it. During the two years the survey was mined, the yield, which was very heavy, was sold to Gen. Dodge for smelting. Tiie land now is used for farming, and only very feeble attempts are made to raise mineral. Other diggings, limited in extent, were at that time scattered over the country near the present site of Dodgeville, but none of these individual mines held out long. The Indians retained possession of a valuable mine on the Sugar River, which they operated in their primitive way, principally to supply lead for their own uses. Information of the lead found here being bruitel abroad, attracted many miners thither, who remained for a time, but finally drifted elsewhere without effecting any permanent settlement.

First White Woman

The first woman in the little settlement, and the first woman to grace the county with her presence and exert the mollifying influence of her sex, was Miss Eliza Van Sickle, sister of the Indian trader of the same name and of a miner known as Jake Van Sickle, an early settler. The next woman was Mrs. John G. Parrish, a Kentucky lady, who immigrated to the lead mines in the vicinity of the town of Milllin, in the fall of 1827. Mrs. Thomas McRaney appeared early in the spring of 1828, at the Dodgeville diggings, and thenceforward the gentler sex were numerously represented in the current population that set in that year.

Tlie first death occurred in 1827, among Henry Dodge's household, the victim being one of the negro slaves who voluntarily accompanied his master from Galena, 111. The next death, and the first white man to die here, was James Journey, who expired in the spring of 1828. He was buried in the old cemetery, near Dodgeville.

Peddlers Creek And Dallas

Mineral was likewise discovered at Linden, in the fall of 1827, by Patrick O'Meara, familiarly known as the " Dodgeville peddler." He circulated all through the mining country between Galena and Dodgeville, retailing his wares to all who stood in need of such trifles as pins, needles, cloths and general small wares. By a fortuitous mishap, if such an anomaly could exist, O'Meara was overtaken one night by darkness and compelled to camp on the banks of what has since been called Peddler's Creek, a short distance west of the present village. While collecting fuel for his camp-fire, he accidentally stumbled across a piece of lead ore, displaced by the burrowing of a badger. He pursued his journey to Galena, where he confided his secret to a bosom friend, Morgan Keogh. Together they returned to the location and prosecuted mining on the creek, near its intersection with the Galena and Dodgeville. Tiiis has since been known as " Peddler's Creek," in deference to the peddler whose discovery rendered that section famous. They erected cabins, and continued to exhume mineral for several years ; then, owing to un- propitious fortune, they removed elsewhere. Keogh erected his cabin in a grove of timber, which has since been known as Keogh's Grove. John G. Parrish, from tlie blue-grass region of Kentucky, settled in Mifflin, on Section 16, late in 1827. He built a hut for himself and family, and engaged in mining and teaming. He only remained here for five years, when he returned to Galena, where ho was stricken with the cholera and died. In the summer of 1828, Abel Clapp, a Missourian, and Joseph B. Hunter and Thomas Simpson made their debut and located claims on the old Indian camping ground, subsequently the platted site of the village of Dallas. There the first furnace in the town of Mifllin was erected by Joseph B. Huater, who continued mining and smelting until the death of his partner in 1832. ,

Jiixeral Point

The vicinity of Mineral Point was settled in the fall of 1827, but, owing to the number of contending statements, no accurate idea can be gained of the first actual settler. The honor has been claimed for William Roberts, R. C. Hoard and others. None, however, supply corroborative testimony of the justice of those claims, and therefore public opinion relegates the honcjr to John Hood and wife, who are generally accredited with the distinction of having made the first permanent location. They removed to Iowa County from Missouri, and settled in Mineral Point in the spring or early summer of 1828. This first place of abode was a hastily constructed hut, made by extending two poles from an overhanging bank, and covering them with bark to shed the rain. A sod house, measuring ten by twelve feet, was afterward erected. The first lead in the hill, whence the town derives its significant name, was struck by Nat Morris and Messrs. Tucker and Warfield. They struck it rich, to use a localism, and the news was quickly bruited abroad among the miners then engaged in the Illinois fields. R. C. Hoard and John Long, who rank among the first arrivals, built the first furnace two miles east of the " Point." Several others were added during this season. About two and a half miles from Mineral Point, in a northwesterly direction, a mining camp was established in 1828, under the dignified appellation

Lucius Langworthy and brothers and James Brady. The camp was located in a hollow at the confluence of two creeks, flanked on both sides with a scrubby growth of wood, which formed a regular jungle for the busy mosquito. Barrel town, another diggings a little south, was established in the same year. Abner Nichols was one of the first in this section.

Early Merchandising

The first store and stock of goods were opened in Dodgeville in the spring of 1828. This place at that time must have ranked high as a commercial standpoint or distributing center for the miners, as we find that three fairly stocked "stores " were in full blast in Dodge's mining camp, whereas, for fifty miles north or south, not a single article, barring mineral, was offered for sale until the growing importance of Mineral Point induced a merchant to select it as an eligible location. Quail & Armstrong were the pioneers of trade. Early in the spring of 1828, they brought in from Galena a general stock of provisions, groceries, clothing and mining implements, and opened a shop within the present boundaries of Dodgeville. In the summer or early autumn, Erastus Wright, accompanied by an assistant or associate trader named Guiard, rented a log house in Mineral Point, wherein they made the first sale of goods witnessed in that section.

To Dodgeville again is bequeathed the honor of having had the first mechanical industry in the county, in the form of a blacksmith-shop, which stood about the center of Iowa street, in front of Stratman's present paint-shop. There were two blacksmiths working together named Chatsy and Manlove.

First Marriages And Births

In 1829, Miss Lovey Roberts, the daughter of Elder Roberts, the first preacher in the county, and one of the very first settlers at Mineral Point, was married to Joshua Brown. These, it is asserted, were the first nuptials celebrated in the county, bat a doubt has arisen regarding priority, owing to the claim of America Parish, who, it is alleged, was married as early as 1828, to Daniel Moore, in the town of Mifflin, or what is now called Eden.

An equally interesting event, and one that in the estimation of many overtops all other social occurrences in importance, was the birth of the first child in what is now the town of Mineral Point. This natal curiosity was the offspring of Mrs. G. D. Ferris, who gave birth to a promising girl baby in 1828. The child was baptized with the euphonious title of Hannah.

A quaint document, the first marriage license issued in the county after organization, is found among the county archives. Herewith we give transcript:

East Molnds, February 12. 18.30. .Mr. John L. Chastirn, please to let D. Ferris, Esq., have license to marry Mary Ann McCoiraick and Thomas Walsh, both of Michigan Territory and Iowa County. Thomas Walsh,

First Farming

Prohibited by the fallacious policy of the government from forming or developing the agricultural resources of the country, husbandry languished and was not pursued by the early settlers, who were forced to devote their whole time and attention to mining. In 1828, paltry patches of land adjoining the miners' diggings were broken, or, rather, dug up and planted with garden truck, in hopes of realizing a variety to the monotonous diet of pork and beans. The first attempt to follow farming as an industry was made in 1820 by Capt. J. B. Estes, who broke forty acres in the town of Linden. James Jenkins broke land on Section 21, Town 6, Range 3, Dodgeville, in 1829. William Kirkpatrick performed the work. John Messersmith settleil on a farm in Dodgeville, Section 24, Town tj. Range 3, in 1829, and established an extensive farm. In 1830, Bennett, Honey and Jerry Lycan broke 100 additional acres for Capt. J. B. Estes. A greater portion of this was never fenced in until other men entered it. This hind was famed for its luscious strawberries, and people flocked thither from all arouml to partake of the rich fruit. The first crop of wheat and oats was garnered by Capt. J. B. Estes on his hundred-acre farm, in 1831, in Town 6, Range 2 (Linden). The seed was obtained from Illinois, by John Lindsay, who is yet living, a settler of 1828.

The following paragraph from the Miner s Journal of 1837, goes to show the redundant fertility of thesoil when even only rudely cultivated. Our prairie and hazel lands have produced this season an unusual quantity of this delicious fruit (strawberries), and, in some places which were favorable to their growth, they have equaled in size the production of the best cultivated gardens. The following is the size of five berries taken from the top of a pailful which were gathered in a field in the vicinity of Willow Springs : One, two and a half inches in circumference, three two and five-eighth inches, and one three inches. The cultivation of strawberries should be attended to in our territory, which in soil and latitude is so favorable to their growth.

First Mill

In 1830, a man by the name of Walker built a small mill two miles northeast of Mineral Point, on the old Dowd place, for a Mr. Miller, who conducted it for two or three years, grinding grain into feed for animals, and making corn-meal. He not having adequate facilities to supply bolted flour, the inhabitants of the county were supplied from Galena.

Blue River

The western section of the county was first visited as far back as 1826 ; one F. X. Brisbois, a French Canadian half-breed, arrived from the portage on a prospecting tour. It is unknown what measure of success was meted out to him, neither are there any living persons now in the county who can conjure up more than a passing recollection of this individual. Capt. Silas Jones was the succeeding adventurer, to whose skill and enterprise the present town of Highland is indebted for much of its prosperity. Capt. Jones arrived in the Blue River Precinct, on the ground now occupied by Centerville, in the latter part of 1827. Capt. Jones built the first smelting furnace here in 1828. His title was gained during the Black Hawk war when he was of the Blue River Fort. After him, during 1827, a large number of miners came in and started what have since been known as the " Centerville Diggings."

Ridgeway

Following the belts of mineral deposits, the miners swarmed into the mineral regions of the eastern quarter of the county in the spring of 1828.

J. B. Skinner settled in this town in 1828, and within a short time started a furnace, with Jacob Pate, who entered the town at the same time. In honor of the erection of the first furnace in the vicinity, the locality was dubbed Patesville.

Hugh R. Porter came to the town in the same year, and entered a smelting claim on the land which, to this day, has preserved the name of Porter's Grove. In the fall, James and William Morrisson built a " double-eye " furnace. About the same time, Thomas McRaney a " single-eye " furnace southwest from the Little Blue Mound, at the junction of Mound Creeks. The Rankin brothers also came in 1828, and, in 1829, sold their diggings to William Garrison and Patrick Horine ; hence the name Garrison's Grove.

J. D. Ansley smelted the first copper in Iowa County as early as 1835, and the ruins of his works are still visible about three miles south of Mineral Point, on the line of the railroad adjacent to the Mineral Point Branch. Another furnace was erected on the East Fork of the Mineral Point Branch, two miles from the depot, by Kendall, Preston & Co.

In 18.51, the first agricultural society was established in Iowa County, with II. L. Lefiingwell. President ; Henry M. Billings, Levi Sterling, P. O'Dowd, John Hand, F. J. Dunn and G. Goldthorp, Vice Presidents; Samuel Crawford, Treasurer, and William K. Smith. The society held its first meeting and fair October 1, 1851. This society is now supplemented by the Southwestern Agricultural Society, with headquarters at Mineral Point.

Various social organizations were perfected between the years 1850 and 1860. The most prominent association was the Miners' Co-operative and Protective Union, composed of miners from Green, Dane, La Fayette, Iowa and Grant Counties. The workings of the society were purely beneficial, being intended to benefit wives and families of deceased miners, to assist them in illness, and generally to protect individual mining interests. An art association existed here about 1857, but, owing to the more absorbing cares of business, it did not survive the second year.

First School And Physicians

The first school in the county was taught at Mineral Point in 1829 by Mrs. Harker and Beulah Lamb. The attendance numbered eight pupils, whose fiicilities for mastering the simple rudiments of the English language were plain beyond description. The schoolhouse was a wretched log cabin, with rough-hewn timber walls. 'The seats were made by inserting four wooden pegs in slabs of timber. The floor was composed of rough, puncheons, and pens and ink Were novelties beyond the flightiest imagination. With the institution of a school, the highway was paved for the reception of the arts and sciences. In 1828, Dr. E. Loof borrow appeared in Mineral Point from Gratiot's Grove, but did not tarry long in the budding town. He was succeeded by Dr. Mannegan, of ALssouri, who permanently located at Mineral Point. Dr. Morrison made his appearance about the same time at Helena. On the north side of the county, Dr. Justine settled at Dodgeville during 1828, also.

Old Helena

The settlement of the northern section is almost parallel with the earliest claims in the south or central portion of the county. Advantage was taken of the Wisconsin River to transport merchandise and convey the raw products to market. The brightest prospects were freely canvassed, and, in the temporary location of the county seat at Helena, we witness the presumptuous overreaching of an a?piring community. As early as 1828, a village was laid out, surveyed and staked, in what is now known as McHutchins' place. This was laid out by Gen. Dodge, Col. Moore, McRaney and others, and is conspicuous only as having been the first village platted in the county. Several cabins were erected that fall by miners from Dodgeville, Mineral Point and surrounding locality. Here were built, in 1829, the first boats launched from the shores of Iowa County. The crafts were of the flat-boat type, the only kind for which the shallow waters of the river were navigable. The lumber was sawed by John Lindsay and Mr. Morrison, the work being done with a pit or whip saw, where one man stood in a pit and the other on top of the log. The first boat was built by MeCaul and Judd. Later in the same year. Collyer, Lay, Dunn and the Morrison brothers built a flat-boat. The logs, from which the lumber was sawed, were obtained from the opposite banks of the river.

The first attempt to inaugurate a manufacture suitable to this region was made here in 1833, when Daniel Whitney, Platte & Co. undertook the manufacture of various grades of shot. A tower was erected at the mouth of Mill Creek, and for many years it afforded a home market for quantities of lead. Owing to the instability of the lessees and the frequent transfer of the proprietorship, the manufacture gradually weakened, and finally ceased. The United States Government located officers here in 182!' for the collection of lead rents. Frank Guion was subagent, representing Col. Wight, of Galena. A building was subsequently erected in which were kept military supplies until 1833, when the premises were abandoned and the supplies disposed of to the miners.

G. W. Featherstonhaugh, who voyaged down the Wisconsin in 1836, thus sums up his Helena experience : '' At 9 o'clock, A. M., wc reached a shot-tower belonging to Mr. Whitney, on the left baak of the river, and landed. there to breakfast. As soon as the canoe was fastened to the shore, we trudged to the agent's house, to which the name Helena had been given. Mr. Whitney's nephew and wife received me civilly, and insisted upon entertaining me with breakfast, which, when I had dispatched, I went to see what they called the shot-tower, where lead, brought from the lead districts of Wisconsin, not many miles off", is cast into shot of various sizes. This shot-tower was not one of the ordinary columns tiiat rise to a great height from the surface, but was a cylindrical excavation, ingeniously made in an escarpment of the incoherent sandstone, 200 feet in height. The lead was melted at the top, and afterward poured down to a chamber below. The whole contrivance did great credit to the proprietor. From the top of the escarpment, I had an extensive view of the Wisconsin, with the broad bottoms of fertile soil on each side of it, forming, altogether, a rich valley about two miles in breadth, once occupied entirely by this flood, in the ancient state of the river, ami which liad contracted itself into its present channel, either upon that last retreat of the waters of the country, or from its diminution by the gradual drainage of the country. * * * In treating, however, of these physical phenomena analytically, a distinction is to be observed. Some of the valleys may have been formed on the general retreat of the ocean from a continent, on its first appearance, and some on the retreat of an inland sea of fresh water, such as that which has produced the valley of the Wisconsin, with its coves and dells coming into at right angles, all abounding in natural and beautiful plantations of trees and shrubs. But, whether these fine vales are owing to one cause or the other, it is evident that they have both been instruments, in the hand of Providence, to embellish that surface of the earth which was to be inhabited by the human family.

Mr. Whitney's agent informed me that galena was found within twenty miles of the shottower ; and, in examining some of the highest parts of the escarpment, I found a sparry, calcareous rock, resembling that in which the galena is found in the State of Missouri - a fact which led to the inference that the galena of this district might also be inclosed in equivalent strata. I left Helena at 11 A. M. The morning was beautiful, and, having made a good breakfast, I went gliding on and enjoying the scenery. Near 1 P. M., we came up with a mass of sandstone, which had fallen off from an escarpment about thirty feet in height, for about two hundred feet in length ; the water had underworn it, and, being loose and incoherent, it had peeled off, leaving a sniootli fiice. About 2 P. M., we stopped at a little cove to let the men dine, at a place where I found what I had not met with before - an industrious family in a clean wigwam. About 2:30 P. M., we were afloat again, and soon passed a fine stream coming in from the right bank (Pine River). Tlie country here wa? remarkably beautiful, the slopes of the banks gracefully Wfioded, and occasionally interrupted by coves. For a distance of about three miles, the escarpments were about two hundred and fifty feet high, the rock every now and then jutting out and taking a castellated appearance. It was evident, from the manner in which the sections presented themselves on the banks, that the surface of the country in the interior must be very undulating. I observed, too, that the incoherent structure of the sandstone had been favorable to Indian talent; the figures of deer, men and horses, sometimes well executed, being cut in it, and, sometimes, painted with a red bole. The swallows had availed themselves of the softness of the rock by picking holes and building their nests there in innumerable quantities. This loose texture of the rock is to be detected also in the tops of the hills, which are gracefully rounded off, the incoherent rock having yielded to the action of the atmosphere. In these parts of North America, the arenaceous beds are of immense extent, and it goes beyond the power of man's imagination to form even a proximate idea of the ancient state of things which existed before the particles of sand, now so loosely combined, formed an integral portion of the hard, quartzose rock from which they seem to have been derived. How remote that period must have been from the present! About 6 P. M., we stopped for the night at a bold bank, up which the men had to carry the butin to a commodious encampment.

Subsequently, in 1837, the same author wrote: " On reaching the shot-tower on the bunk of the Wisconsin, I found everything much improved since my visit there in 1835. Although called a tower, it was, in fact, a perpendicular cylinder cut from the top of the escarpment through the incoherent sandstone to a depth of one hundred and eighty feet, and the adit below from the surface of the escarpment to the water-tub was ninety feet long. Their method in the manufacturing of shot was to put ten pounds of arsenic to every one thousand pounds of galena, to make the lead brittle and disposed to separate ; three-fourths of this arsenic evaporates whilst melting, and does not combine with the lead. The lead, when melted a second time, is poured through a perforated ladle, an<l falls from the top of the tower into the water below in all sorts of sizes and shapes. When taken out and dried, it is poured over ;) series of inclined planes, separated by small troughs. Those globules which are quite orbicular, run over all the planes, while the imperfect ones waddle along, and, being sometimes double and having no spring in their movements, drop into the troughs and are melted over again. The perfect shot are finally sifted in a machine containing various drawers with their bottoms perforated in holes of all sizes, from buckshot to mustard-seed. This machine is moved by the hand. The shot, when separated into sorts, is glazed and put into bags.

Rut a very short time ajjo, the whole country was a wilderness, containins; only a few roaming Winnebagoes, and already the white men have establisheil a well-conducted and prosperous manufactory. Having got something to eat at the house, we lay down to sleep on the floor and surrendered ourselves to myriads of pitiless mosquitoes.

" What with the mosquitoes and the heavy thunder and rain that were performing almost the whole night, I rose at the dawn sleepless and feverish. Tiie Wisconsin River, which interested me so much when I came down it in my canoe in 1835, was as beautiful as ever. Having got a cup of coffee, we left its banks about U A. M., and returned to our guides, where, taking leave of our hospitable friends, we proceeded on our return to Mineral Point, which we reached about 4 in the afternoon."

James Estes hail a log furnace four miles northwest of Dodgeville, in 1828. James and William Morrison's furnace, at Porter's Grove, in Ridgeway.

The firm of Tay, Collier k Dunn had a furnace about one and one-half miles west of Messersmith's furnace, in the town of Dodireville ; built in 1828.

The First Census

The first census enumeration was made in 1834 by Levi Sterling. Then there were 5,400 white persons residing in what is now the State of Wisconsin ; 2,633 of whom were living in the County of Iowa.

Aside from the above, it is impossible to arrive at accurate deductions in the absence of the census books, but herewith are appended the names enumerated in four districts by P. F. Dillon, and returned to the County Clerk May 16, 1838. This census was taken according to an act approved December 30, 1837 :

Territorial Roads

By act approved December 9, 1836, Draper Ruggles, Joseph Payne, Noah Davis, Joseph Kelly and Andrew Kline were authorized as Commissioners to ^y out a Territorial road commencing at James' Ferry, in Rock County ; from there to Rockford, passing through Centerville. New Mexico, White Oak Springs, in La Fayette County, and thence to the Mississippi. The road was simply marked by blazing trees. The road was to be platted and a plat filed in the office of the Clerk of each county.

The first Territorial road of 1837 was laid out under an act approved December 30, 1837. John Moore, John Van Matre, Andrew Kline, Thomas Chilton and Robert C. Hoard, were appointed Commissioners to lay out a road commencing at the north boundar}' line of the State of Illinois, in Town 1, of Range east, and running thence on the nearest route to New Mexico, in Green County, and by way of Wiota, in La Fayette County, Mineral Point, in Iowa County, and Belmont, to the Mississippi. They were to begin the work on the first Monday in May, 1830, at Mineral Point, and complete it as soon as possible. This road was to be kept in order by the counties through which it passed.

By act of January 11, 1838, John Dowling and James Sproule were authorized to build a toll bridge over the West Pecatonica, at a point near their furnace, providing that said parties made good macadamized roads over the flats at that place.

Under a Legislative enactment, approved June 23, 1838, William Baldwin, Dennis C. Neal and James Kendall were appointed to lay out a Territorial road between Mineral Point and White Oak Springs, now in La Fayette County, where it united with the old Territorial road laid out in 1836. The road ran by the way of Kendall's Mills and New Diggings. Work was to be begun on the second Monday of August, 1838.

On June 23, 1838, Lewis Curtis, W. J. Martin and G. W. Hickox were appointed Commissioners to locate two roads ; one from Mineral Point, through Elk Grove to Galena, and another, from Mineral Point easterly, to intersect the military road near Blue Mounds, running from Prairie du Chien to Green Bay.

By the same act, R. C. Hoard, John Messersmith, Sr., and H. L. Dodge were appointed Commissioners to establish a road from Mineral Point, through Dodgeville, to Helena, on the Wisconsin River.

Charles F. Legate, Henry M. Billings and C. Moore were appointed to lay out a road from Mineral Point, through Diamond Grove, to the Wisconsin River.

Education is the invisible monitor that controls our existence, and teaches us to discriminate between moral obligations and the insidious advances of evil. Without knowledge, ni:in would be a helpless barbarian, deprived of all icsthetic sense, to appreciate the beautiful that meets the range of our vision, and equally powerless to encompass the dominating beauties of creation. The groveling savage, content with the fleeting pleasures of a day, and reckless of what tlie morrow will bring forth, is but a type of besotted ignorance. Environed, as we are, with educational facilities; with schoolhousos multiplying in geometrical proportion, the senses fail to grasp the incalculable advantages gained in the possession of even rudimentary instruction.

That knowledge alone, circumscribed as it may be, is sufficient to teach us how to approximate the value of earthly and ethereal entities. Wisconsin is predominant in the character of her scholastic institutions, and annually their importance is augmented by the perfection of details governing the cliscipline and management of rural schools, supervised by the County Superintendent of Education.

According to an act adopted by the Legislature at an extra legislative session convened in August, 1839, the county was divided into sixteen school districts, in conformity with the provisions of the enactment. At a subsequent meeting of the Board of Supervisors, the number was increased to twenty-one. The limits of the various school districts, and the first inspectors elected, appear below.

School District N^o. 1. - To comprise Town No. 1, and south half of Town 2, Range 2 east. Inspectors - James Howe, James Murphy, Abraham Looney, R. II. Champion and Charles Gear.

District No. 2. - The north half of Town 2, and the south half of Town 3, Range 1 east. Inspectors - Charles Dunn, John Messersmith, Sr., D.J. Seeley, Alexander Willard and Justus DeSeelhorst.

District No. 3. - North half of Town .3, ami Towns 4 and 5, of Range 1 east. Inspectors - John Moore, F. C. Kirkpatrick, James Wiswell, John Newman and C. DeLong.

District No. 4- - Towns ti, 7 and 8, of Range 1 east. Inspectors - Thomas D. Potts. D. E. Piirrish, Moses Darnell, Moses Meeker and Lemuel Gillam.

District No. 5. - Towns 1 and 2, north of Range 2 east. Inspectors - John W. Blackstone. Samuel H. Scales, Henry Smith, Fortunatus Berry and Charles Gratiot.

District No. G. - Towns 3 and 4, of Range 2 east. Inspectors - Francis Vivian, R. W. Carson, Benjamin Denson, Abner Westrope and Joseph Hatch.

District No. 7. - Towns 5. 6, 7 and 8, of Range 2 east. Inspectors - John B. Terry, Stephen B. Thrasher, Paschal Bequette, Charles F. Legate and Alex Blair.

District No. 8. - Towns 1 an(i 2, of Range 3 east. Inspectors - R. H. McGoon, Benjamin Funk, Francis Clyma, Alexander Moore and Peter Corrish.

District No. 10. - Town 4 of Range 3 east. Inspectors - Charles Bracken, John Loofborroft", Robert W. Gray, James Ilitchkins and John Smith.

District No. 12. - Towns 6, 7 and 8, Range 3 east. Inspectors - Henry L. Dodge, John Jenkins, John Lindsey, Robert S. Black and Thomas Jenkins.

District No. I'f. - Towns 3 and 4, Range 4 east. Inspectors - Jesse Miller, William Parkinson. John Van Metre, William Burrett and M. G. Fitch.

District No. 15. - Towns 5, 6, 7 and 8, of Range 4 east. Inspectors - George W. Hickox, James Morrison, John B. Skinner, John Metcalf and William Garrison.

District No. 16. - Towns 1 and 2, Range 5 east. Inspectors - James McKnight, James McMurtry, Benjamin Million, Thomas Chelton and Henry Johnson.

The first organized movement to foster education is noted in 1841. A ta.x of $2,967.50 levied by the County Board of Supervisors, for the support of schools and erection of schoolhouses. This year the first school return furnished proof of the existence of seventeen school districts, comprising 76-3 children of school age. Divided into districts the school population was as follows: District No. 1, 100 scholars; No. 2, 40; No. 3, 76 ; No. 17, 41 ; No. 7, 53; Apple River, 14; Union District No. 9, 77; No. 11, 143; No. 12, 42; No. 13, 42; No. 14, 51 ; No. 16, 32; No. 17, out of 13 and 16, 62.

County School Work Since 1843

The County Board cf School Commissioners was organized April 23, 1844, when the first meeting was held. Only two Commissioners, James I. Bawden and William Baldwin were present. The subject of re-organizing the existing school districts, and establishing them on a recognized basis of operation occupied the meeting. The question of collecting rents on mineral mined in school lands, and issuing licenses to miners was determined, and a notice was issued requesting the Trustees of the several organized school districts to meet the Commissioners at Mineral Point in May, 1844. All persons interested, where the country was not districted into school sections, were asked to be present at the same time and place, furnisheil with a plat of their district as organized, or a plat of any district that was to be set off into a separate district. Also to recommend to the Commissioners such persons as would be reliable to collect rents on mineral, where mineral was raised in any such section, and to guard against trespass. Teachers who had not submitted to an examination and received certificates, were also notified to attend.

Districts that had not chosen Trustees were ordered to hold an election on Monday, May 13, 1844, and elect one Clerk, three Trustees and one Collector. All free white male inhabitants, over twenty years of age, were qualified to vote.

At the ensuing meeting, twenty school districts were organized. Teachers' certificates were granted to Edward Sullivan and Croyten Sargent. A number of petitions for leasing school lands were received, and, pending the issuance of leases, mining permits were granted to Israel Woodward & Co., Andrew Roberts, Broke & Simpson, David & J. F. Roberts, James L. Clark, G. F. Rock, John Ryan and A. A. Townsend & Co. At another meeting, all School Trustees were appointed legal agents to collect this rental, and they were ordered to report to the Commissioners, at their next session, the disposition made of all mineral in their district ; that they take charge of the 16th Range nearest them, and to report trespassers and the amount of damage committed, and to report any person then settled on the 16th Section, " as it is impossible for the Commissioners to personally superintend all the forty 16th Sections in the county."

In September of the same year, the following school districts were laid off: Coon Branch District No. 4 ; Benton District No. 3 ; New Diggings Precinct No. 1 ; ' Mill Seat Bend District No. 2 ; White Oak Springs, Corrish District, Barreltown, Upper Diggings, Union, Hunter's, Whiteside Branch, Fever River, District No. 1, Town 18, and Prairie District.

The receipts from lead rents in 1844 amounted to $383.65, which was distributed amongst the several school districts at the rate of 18 cents per scholar After allowing for 1,921 scholars, the balance, $37.40, was passed to the credit of school accounts for 1845. On petition. Blue River District, in Town 6, Range 1 east, was attached to Towns 6 and 7, Range 1 west, in Grant County, for school purposes.

During the past year, three new schoolhouses were built, and two of them furnished with the latest style of patent seats. There are, however, several schoolhouses in the county totally unsuited for school purposes. Some of these are in wealthy districts, that, according to the County School Superintendent's report, can present no excuse for not building new schools, except a mistaken idea of economy. On the whole, the buildings and surroundings will compare favorably with any in the State. Those in the western and northern parts of the county wero highly eulogized, on their neat and comfortable appearance, by the State Superintendent in his address before the Institute of Dodgeville, in August, 1879. One hundred and seventy-eight applicants attended the annual spring and fall examinations.

The compulsory system has been a dead letter, so far as this county is concerned, not a single instance of enforced attendance having occurred. This is not due to the fact that tiie parents not all law abiding in this respect, but it must be attributed entirely to the indifference or lack of inclination to enforce it on the part of school officers.

The Institute at Dodgeville was, in many respects, the most successful ever held in the county. The work was principally primary, and was just what a large majority of the county teachers needed. The attendance was 125, with an average attendance of 1<I2. Nearly all the districts have adopted series of text books, and present appearances indicate that ttieir introduction will soon become general. From observation and comparison, it is believed that the schools are in a fairly progressive state, and will compare favorably with those of surrounding counties. Much remains to be done by teaciiers, school officers and friends of the public school system, to elevate the schools to the highest standard to wiiich they can attain.

The county is now divided into 10- school districts, all of which have conformed to the State laws by furnishing an annual report. From these reports, it is found that the number of children of school age in Iowa County aggregates 8,211, of whom 4,205 are boys, and the remainder (4,006) are girls. Of 1,718 children in the district, between the ages of 4 and 7 years, 1.197 attended school. Between the ages of 7 and 15, there were 3,886 pupils, of whom 8,449 were reported in attendance at school. The number of teachers engaged to marshal the foregoing, aggregates 201, inclusive of males and females. Situated in the different districts of the county are Vii> schoolhouses, with the most commodious located in the village of Dodgeville, with a reputed capacity of 1,450 pupils; Clyde claims the smallest, with accommodations for 200 scholars. The value of school property is estimated at $44,580, with apparatus valued at $1,902. The average salary disbursed to male teachers monthly, is §29.8.3 ; to females, $21.36. There is a high school at Avoea, operating under a curriculum, having one male Principal, and two female teaciiers. This school was established in 1876, and, during the past, averaged an attendance of 39 pupils.

A teachers' institute was held at Dodgeville August 28, 1880, under the conductorship of D. McGregor and Abbie White. The session was continued for nine days, during which time 125 teachers attended.