Iowa County, Wisconsin - Chapter 4, 1881

Chapter 4

MiNEKAL Discoveries and Limitations - Indian Treaties and Abuses - First Miners and Early Deprivations - Life IN THE Diggings - First Land Districts - Claim Restrictions AND First Entries - Projected Railroads and Canals - Hard Money "Wealth - First Roads and IIiohways - Chronicles of the Cholera, '49 and '50 - The Second A'isitation, "51 - Lank Swindling Schemes.

Mineral Discoveries And Limitations

The discovery of lead mines in this county date back to the earliest settlement of the Southwest. Early voyagers, who explored the Territory in the eighteenth century, found the decayed remnants of rude log furnaces, which it is surmised were constructed and operated by the Winnebago Indians. Where the first actual mining was done is buried in oblivion, but the history of the old Irish diggings demonstrates, beyond cavil, that mineral was there raised long before the first pale-face mustered sufficient temerity to cross the dividing ridge, the rubicon that outlined the reserves of the Winnebago Indians. The dividing ridge is a prominent elevation of the prairie land, extending from east to west, and passing within a range of two and one-half miles from the village of Shullsburg. This natural line of demarkation was generally known by the miners to be the limit of territory where they could mine ; that further to the north being reserved exclusively to the Indians. An infraction of this rule was seldom attempted, as there was danger of its resulting in death.

In 1827, the hitherto sacred soil was invaded by a host of adventurers, who concluded terms whereby the Winnebagoes, in consideration of a certain sum of money, granted them the coveted privilege of mining. These private treaties were not respected by the United States Government, which resented the intrusion of the whites and, unsolicited, interfered between the Indians to eject the settlers. This action was precipitated by information of rich lodes which were affording a magnificent yield of ore. In May, 1828, the miners were visited by Thomas McKnight, Assistant Superintendent of Lead Mines, with directions from his superior oflScer, Lieut. Martin Thomas, of the United States Army, stationed at St. Louis, ordering all miners to retire west of the ridge which separates the waters flowing into the Mississippi from those of the Pecatonica or Rock River. A few days thereafter, Mr. Marsh, sub-Indian Agent, arrived in the mines, from Prairie du Chien, with orders from Gen. Street, agent of the Winnebagoes. directing the miners to retire to the lands ceded to the Government. They were offered the option of paying a percentage on the mineral raised, which, if acceded to, the miners were to have their claims ratified. The injustice of this was so palpable that a great outcry was raised by the miners ; they claimed, with an assumption of equity, that the United States was not empowered to interfere with the Indians, or to e.xact any lead rent other than that to be paid to the Winnebagoes. Despite the manifest want of principle, the Government enforced the demand with a contingent of soldiers, who threatened to dispossess the miners should they not concede the rents. Indignant at this ruthless and high-handed proceeding, numbers of the settlers packed their " kits " and voluntarily abandoned their diggings, sooner than submit to any unjust enacttions. The Indian Agents were entertained by Henry Dodge, in the best manner the country afforded. On being apprised of their mission, he informed them, in a determined tone, that, having negotiated a treaty with the Indians, by which they allowed him to remain, on condition that he paid a rent equivalent to that demanded by the Government, he would not leave the territory unless driven off by a superior physical force. He also agreed to exert his influence, which was known to be great, to preserve peace along the frontier. Mr. Marsh readily admitted the justice of the claim, and reposing an unlimited confidence in the good faith of Gen. Dodge, who predicted the early purchase of the disputed country, they withdrew. The threat that a body of regular soldiers would be marched against the miners was never carried into execution.

Indian Treaties And Abuses

By the treaty of 1829, executed at Prairie du Chien, the Indian title was extinguished to all land south and east of the Wisconsin River. By the treaty of 1837, with the Winnebagoes, ratified by Congress the following year, the Indians sold all their lands east of the Mississippi. This treaty was conducted at Washington by Yellow Thunder and two other junior chiefs. Satterlee Clark accompanied them as interpreter. It is asserted that these chiefs were inveigled into signing a treaty which stipulated that they should remain in possession of the ceded land for eight months, whereas the Indians were informed and led to believe that they were treating for an occupation of eight years. Even when affixing their marks to the treaty, they firmly protested against the act, and asseverated their want of authority to cede the lands of their tribe. When the terms of the treaty were subsequently expounded, the Indians were moved with righteous indignation, and refused to leave their homes and the graves of their ancestors. Yellow Thunder declared he would never go, and on a plea of insubordination was confined in Fort Winnebago. He soon after recovered his liberty, and visiting the Land Office at Mineral Point, entered forty acres of land in his own behalf on the west side of the Wisconsin, about eight miles above Portage. At the Land Office, he inquired if Indians were debarred from entering land. The reply was to the contrary, so Yellow Thunder, the head chief of the Winnebagoes, secured a homestead, declaring that he was going to be a white man.

In 1840, troops were sent to Portage to remove the Wintiebago Indians. The detachment consisted of a s(juad of the Eighth Regiment of infantry, under the command of Gen. Worth, and a part of the Fifth Regiment of infantry, commanded by Gen. Brooke, with Gen. Atkinson as commander-in cliief. There were three interpreters employed - John T. De la Ilonde, Antoine Grignon and Pierre Meneg. The latter was sent in quest of Yellow Thunder ami Black Wolf's son, inviting them to the rendezvous to get provisions. As soon as they arrived, they were seized and incarcerated in the guard-house with ball and chain attached to their legs. This measure was adopted on a false understanding tliat the prisoners were inciting their companions to revolt, but as soon as Gov. Dodge came they were released. Two hundred and fifty families were thus removed. The scene of the final parting of these simple children from the sod of their forefatliers is thus pathetically described by an eye witness : " Two old women, sisters of Black Wolf, and another one came up, throwing themselves on their knees, crying and beseeching Capt. Sumner to kill them ; that they were old and would rather die and be burietl with their fathers, mothers and children than be taken away, and they were ready to receive their death-blows. Capt. Sumner had pity on them, and permitted them to stay where they were, and left three young Indians to hunt for them. A little further on, we came to the camp of Ke ji-(iue-we-ka and others, when they were told to break up their camp, put their things in the wagon and come along. After they had thus deposited their little property, they started south from where we were. The Captain bade me ask them where they were going. They said they were going to bid good-bye to their fathers, mothers and children. The Captain directed me to go with them and watcii them. We found them on their knees on the ground, kissing the ground where their relatives were buried and crying very loud. This touched the Captain's feelings, and he exclaimed, "Good God! what harm could these poor Indians do among the rocks !"

In 1844, Capt. Sumner came again with his dragoons to hunt the woods for Dandy, a delinquent Winnebago ciiief, who had evaded the officers heretofore. He was found at the head of the Baraboo, and the Captain made him ride on horseback, and fastened his legs together with ox-chains. Resenting this latter indignity. Dandy asked to be brought before Gov. Dodge, at Mineral Point. The request was granted, and, on obtaining the interview. Dandy desired a private council, which was likewise given. Then Dandy took from his bosom a Bible, and askeJ the Governor, through the medium of an interpreter, if that was a good book. Gov. Dodge, astonished at tl\e presence of the Bible in such hands, inquired regarding the ownership, but the old chief dogmatically reiterated his question, with the reservation that after that was answered, he would satisfy all suspicions.

The Governor then told him he could not have had a better book than the one in his hand. '-Well,' said Dandy, '"look that book all through, and if you find that Dandy ought to be removed by the Government to Turkey River, then I will go right off; but if you do not find it, I will never go there to stay. The Governor was not to be entrapped by the wily Indian, whose trick was barren of result. He was then chained up and taken to Prairie du Chien. His legs and feet were all swollen, and lacerated with the action of the chains, and he could not walk or tread the ground for two or three weeks. When he had recovered sufficiently to move around, his re.noval to Turkey River was ordered. In the temporary absence of his escort. Dandy escaped into the woods, where he was allowed to roam at liberty.

First Miners And Early Deprivations

After the cession of the Indian Territory, the country was rapidly settled by miners attracted thither from all parts of the world. Never before had such a fever of emigration seized the people, who flocked here in unremitting numbers. The leading pioneers were of American birth, a large majority of whom came here from Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana. Sturdy Irishmen and miners from the Great Consols, Carn Bray, Batallack, East Whealrose, Dalcreath and other Cornish mines, as soon as news of the great discoveries of lead and copper reached their ears, started in hordes to try their fortunes amid the wilds of the New World. Representatives from almost every rank of life could be found here, from the lofty representative of European capital to the poor white trash of the distant South ; from the collegian and religious recluse to the habitues of the worst social infernales known to civilized life. Men of genius, education and lofty ambition were not few, as evinced by the character of many of the representative men of the State in after years, a majority of whom belonged tu the lead regions. They worked, suffered and fought beside the stalwart Englishman, the shrewd Yankee, the chivalrous Southern fire-eater, the impetuous Frenchman, the hardy Scotchman, the humorous Irishman and sober Teuton ; a band of determined adventurers united by their common peril, and the one pervading impulse and pursuit. The price of lead in 1828, reigned at §.5 per hundred pounds, but a year later the rate declined to a little less than half of that sum, disappointing and ruining the hopes and expectations of some eight or ten thousand explorers who had flocked to the mining regions. The effect of this stampede was especially detrimental to the interests of Dodgeville, as nearly all the miners in that locality shouldered their tools, and, before 1830, the once thriving settlement of twelve to fifteen cabins was reduced to one store. The huts were torn down for fuel, and the prospectors drifted away to more prosperous centers. Consecjuent on the diminished price of lead, the population of Iowa County, then embracing what has since constituted four or five counties, dwindleil down to only a few hundred inhabitants.

By a mistaken policy of the War Department, nobody was allowed to cultivate more than an acre and a half of ground. This region was only looked upon as valuable for the mineral product of lead and copper. The fallacious idea prevailed, that, if the country was plowed, and the ordinary crops grown upon it, no leads could thereafter be discovered ; the idea being that a certain wild growth of grass and shrubs, particularly the " masonic weed," indicated the existence of crevices of lodes and patches of mineral. This restriction upon agriculture was afterward repealed; but, before farming became general, the prices paid for all sorts of produce and bread, stuffs were exceptionally high ; $1 per bushel for oats, potatoes, corn, turnips, and beets was frequently demanded and freely paid, as the supply was exceedingly limited, if not poor in quality. Flour was scarce, and cracked corn was more generally used. When the staple of life could be procured, the cost ranged from two to ten hundred pounds of mineral. The winter of 1828 was exceptionally severe, and great privation and suffering were engendered by the sudden "low dip" that locked the rivers in ice, and cut off the winter supplies, at the time en route, on Mississippi steamboats, to the mines. A French trader at Galena happened to have a fair supply of flour in store, and, takinrr advantage of the temporary embarrassment, he raised bis prices until flour attained tlie enormous figure of $20 to $30 a barrel. The consumers were forced to make the best of the unsatisfactory arrangement ; and as, in the depressed condition of the country, following the depreciated price of mineral, few could afford to indulge in the luxury of bolted flour. Various substitutes were employed until relief was obtained in early spring. An unfailing supply of good fresh fish was one of the bounties of a beneficent Creator, bestowed upon the hardy miners. The Pecatonica River and the larger tributaries abounderi almost with a surfeit of fish ; and, in those days, the piscatorial artist was not satisfied with complacently holding a pole in a horizontal position over the turbid waters for hours without procuring a "bite." Fine kingly trout, perch, bass, catfish, eels, buffalo, muskallonge and other excellent kinds were found in all the streams coursing through the county. Buffalo, muskallonge and catfish of enormous size were brought to Mineral Point daily, and peddled on the streets at purely nominal figures. Many of these fish weighed from twenty and thirty pounds upward.

Life In The Diggings

When, in 1832, Black Hawk invaded Illinois, spreading death and desolation in his trail, he took a position on the Rock River, some miles east from Madison. The settlers were convulsed in a tumult of alarm, and fire-arms were eagerly sought after. (For particulars, see in third chapter.)

The inhabitants lost the entire spring and summer in defending and building the stockades and block-houses erected throughout the country. On the restoration of peace, adventurers and explorers swarmed in threefold numbers, and mining was prosecuted with an energy unknown since the years of 1827 and 1828. Freed from all care on the score of Indians, the miners scattered their claims all over the surface of the land. In every direction within scope of the eye, heaps of mineral refuse blackened and disfigured the verdant hillsides, and the clank of the windlass made merry music to the accompanying sounds of the crowbar, pick and drill. The price of mineral was more favorable to the miners. An undoubted era of prosperity had commenced; money was plentiful, and it was dispensed with all the lavish prodigality for which miners have become famous. Groceries, gambling hells, poker dens and faro banks marked the progress of civilization. The discovery of a good lead invariably led to a sudden rush of settlers, after intermittent toil, would as speedily relinquish their claims and remove elsewhere. Riotous carousing, gambling and other bacchanalian revels marked the nights and served to distinguish them from day. Sleep or rest was a superabundant luxury that few deserved, and no one indulged in until the exhausted system, robbed of strength by the assimilation of vile " fortyrod " and " fusel oil," would sink down and recuperate in the arms of "'nature's sweet restorer." Knifing affrays and shooting matches were of daily occurrence, as, with a superfluity of animal spirits, the air was impregnated with the germ? of strife. The wild, reckless dare-devils courted danger for danger's sake, and woe be to the man who intentionally or otherwise proffered an insult to an associate miner. In all probability, he would die '- with his boots on " in a brief space of time, unless, perhaps, he was an adept in handling a rifle or revolver. In this cheerful state of affairs, graveyards and cemeteries would suggest themselves to the Yankee speculator as aftbrding a good investment. On the contrary, public cemeteries were sparingly patronized, as private graveyards were located all over the country. Usually, the unfortunate duelist was buried in his tracks, without even an apology for a coflin to screen the lifeless remains from contact with the cold earth. Yet, withal, the miner was a whole-souled, expansive-hearted individual, inclined to be generous to a fault. He would share his last crust with a stranger, and the interior of his cabin was always hospitably placed at the disposal of a new arrival. He gave of his last without a murmur, and expected the same token in return. In such a community, the free and ea.sy relations of life would have shocked the innate delicacy of one of the cloth, but, as preachers did not prove indigenous to this uncongenial soil, the passions of the mining community flamed unrestrainedly for many years. In the giddy maelstrom of existence, each man rushed blindly forward in search of mythical wealth. Delusive dreams of abundant mineral was the ignis fatuu» that spurred them on and supported the artificial life of super-excitement. " A computation of the number of adventurers who achieved success and wealth would form only an infinitesimal proportion of the glaring aggregate whom riches eluded.

In 1833 and 1834, the irregular mode of living furnished numerous victims to the inroads of cholera, nearly every case of which proved fatal. The bloody flux, in an epidemic form, swept the mining region and scored a host of conquests. The diminution in the population by these contagions was more than counterbalanced by the heavy influx of settlers. The rich agricultural lands were oftering remunerative returns for the labor and capital invested. The false theory that a rugged mining country was incompatible with the growth of luxuriant crops, had, by this time, been exploded, and many persons were induced to forsake the precarious livelihood of a miner for the contented and fruitful labors of a pastoral life. Agriculture and mining together received an impetus from the incoming tide, and the eff"ect was mutually profitable. About this time, the Territory was districted into three land districts.

First Land Districts

By an act of Congress, approved June 26, 1834, two new Land Districts were established in Northern Illinois, called the Northwest and the Northeast Districts, and two in Wisconsin, called respectively the Wisconsin and the Green Bay Districts.

The Northwest District embraced all the territory in Illinois north of the dividing line, between Townships 12 and 13, north of the base line, and west of the dividing line between Ranges 3 and 4, east of the Third Principal Meridian.

Tlie Wisconsin Land District embraced all the territory in the then Territory of Michigan south of the Wisconsin River, and west of the north-and-soutii line " along the range of line next west of Fort Winnebago." (This was the line between Ranges 8 and 9 east.)

The fourth section of this act reads as follows: " The President shall be authorized, as soon as the survey shall have been completed, to cause to be offered for sale, in the manner prescribed by law, all the lands lying in the said land districts, at the land offices in the respective districts, in which the land so offered is embraced, reserving only Section Sixteen in each township; the tract reserved for the village of Galena; such other tracts as have been granted to individuals and the State of Illinois; and such reservations as the President may deem necessary to retain for military posts, any law of Congress heretofore existing to the contrary notwithstanding."

The Land Office for the Wisconsin Land District was established at Mineral Point, by the same act, and John P. Sheldon was appointed Register, and Joseph Eneix, Receiver.

The survey having been completed, the President, on the 7th of July, 1834, issued his proclamation for the public sale, on the second Monday of November, 1834, of all the lands west of the Fourth Principal Meridian (which now constitute Grant County). Appended to the proclamation was a notice, in the following words: "The lands reserved by law for schools or other purposes, are to be excluded from sale. All tracts of land on which lead mines or diggings are indicated to exist by the official plats of survey, together with such other tracts as, from satisfactory evidence, to be adduced to the Register of the land office, prior to the date of sale, shall be shown to contain lead mines, shall be excluded from sale."

A few months later, another proclamation was issued by the President, for the public sale of all the lands in the district, east of the Fourth Principal Meridian, at the land office in Mineral Point, in the year 1835. A notice similar to the foregoing was appended to this proclamation.

The "official plats of survey" only indicated the existence of such "lead mines or diggings " as were observable from the surveyed section lines at the time of the survey - two years or more before the public sale - consequently, the mineral discoveries made after the surveys, and many of those in the interior portions of the sections, made previous to the surveys, were not " indicated to exist by the official plats of survey."

Very few "other tracts" were "shown to contain lead mines" by "satisfactory evidence, adduced to the Register of the Land OfBce prior to the date of sale."

The result was that all the lands in the district were offered at public sale ; but the land officers refused to receive bids upon the few tracts upon which lead mines or diggings were indicated to exist by the official plats, or by " satisfactory evidence."

Immediately after the public sale, a regulation was adopted by the land office, and acted upon by them, that private entries might be made of what were denominated the " reserved lands," whenever the application was accompanied by the affidavits of two persons, stating that there were no discoveries of lead ore on the tract applied for, and that the same was not occupied by any smelter of lead ore.

The practical effect of the course adopted in reference to the sale of the public lands in the Wisconsin Land District - by the Government officers, as well those at Washington as the local officers at Mineral Point, and, as well, at the public sale, as by the mode adopted of permitting private entries - was, that so large a proportion of the lands containing lead mines passed into private hands, that the occupants under leases from the Government, of the remaining tract8» upon which mines existed, refused longer to comply with the conditions of their leases.

Claim Restrictions And Fir.St Entries

Doubts existed of the right of the Government to enforce the terms of the leases ; and, as there was, at least, no disposition manifested to do so, by common consent, the payment of rents, either by miners or smelters, went into immediate disuse, and no rents were paid after the first public land sales.

The whole amount of land reserved by the Government from sale was estimated at one million acres. Owing to the difficulty of collecting this rent, it was for several years abandoned. Efforts were ultimately made by the Government to collect lead rents, which resulted, according to the message of President Polk, as follows : Amount expended in collection, $26,- OOLll ; value of lead collected, $6,354.74 ; loss to the Government in four years, $19,756.37. Many veins or mines of lead having been discovered after the sales, on lands of private individuals, the value of public or reserved lands was depreciated, and the miners thereon subjected to the imposition of an unjust tax. To remedy this evil, it was suggested to Congress to dispose of these reserved lands on the same principle that other lands were disposed of.

The Register of the Land Office at Mineral Point, in a letter to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, dated March 23, 1838, says that among the regulations for the government of the mining country, there was one whicii required that a mining lot should be two hundred and twenty yards square (ten acres), and bounded by lines running due east, west, north and south. The usual course adopted by persons wishing to try their fortunes in the business of mining, was to seek out an unoccupied spot where they supposed they would find lead, and commence digging. If they found ore in sufficient quantities to warrant a continuance of labor, they would measure off their ground and fix corner stakes, and thus continue their work until they traced their discovery to a valuable vein or sheet, or found it to be delusive. " In a large majority of cases, the labor expended in these attempts to discover lead entirely lost ; and there are instances where men have expended years of labor and large sums of money, and have never had the good fortune to discover a valuable vein or sheet of ore ; consequently, the property of a miner in a valuable vein or discovery of lead ore, is held inviolable by most of the residents of the county. Its sacredness is recognized by the courts and juries of the county; and he clings to it with a tenacity that will admit of no relaxation. The lots claimed would probably embrace about five thousand acres, and are the sole dependence of numerous families. Their value has been discovered by the labor and perseverance of the miners ; and, were they dispossessed of them by Government, their families would be reduced to want. It is thought the miners have a just and equitable claim on the Government for aid and protection. They accepted its invitation to labor upon its territory and to develop its wealth ; they have staked off and labored for years upon some five or six hundred ten-acre lots, and have paid

The first entry of land was made in the county by Peter Alphonse Lorimier and Paschal Bequette, who entered eighty acres on the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 22, Township 5. During this month, thirty entries of land were recorded. In 1836, there were nearly three times as many entries made. In 1837 and 1833, the entries were diminished fully fifty per cent, and, in 1839, they fell off rapidly, owing to the stringency that affected the money market. The number of entries in 1840, was reduced to sixteen by the general depression in all circles of trade. In 1841 and 1842. nine and two entries, respectively, were recorded, thus reaching the lowest stage. After this an improvement was manifest, and the entries increased to five in 1843, about fifty in 1844, until the maximum was attained in 1847. The office was moved to Muscoda in 1841. Eventually, when the lands of Northern Wisconsin came into the market, another office for that district was opened in Mineral Point. The first land entries, in their order of precedence, were made by the fallowing : P. A. Lorimier, Paschal Bequette, Benjamin Seguin, Francis C. Kirkpatrick, James Kirkpatrick, Joseph Hawkes, George Sparkes, William Bennett, William Prideaux, Mark Terrill, James Fiddick, Edward James, James Prideaux, Andrew Hughes, Jesse W. Kirkpatrick, Richard H. Kirkpatrick, Stephen B. Thrasher and Thomas McKnight,

At the first session of the Territorial Legislature, commenced at Belmont, October 25, 183tj, the capital seat was located at the city of Madison, then platted in the Four Lake region by an act of the Council and House of Representatives. As soon as Gov. Dodge had affixed his signature to the bill, there was a tremendous rush made for the Land Oflice at Mineral Point, to enter eligible corner lots, and invest loose capital in land in the newly located capital. The town plat of Madison was divided into twenty shares, one of which was offered for §200 in cash.

In February, 1837, Judge Doty, of Green Bay, came to Mineral Point, and engaged a surveying party to proceed to Madison and survey the adjoining territory, with a view of platting the western addition to Madison. The pirty consisted of Moses M. Strong, Civil Engineer, with John Catlin and George Messersmith as assistants. They started out with a sleigh and team of horses, furnished by Messersmith, and arrived at Madison the second day after leaving Mineral Point.

Projected Railroads And Canals

The spirit of enterprise was rampant in 1835 and ensuing years, when many bold engineering schemes were projected. Some of these were Utopian in their conception and utterly inadequate to the wants of a rising country, and were so burdened with estimated costs that the people, for an instant, never, soberly considered them, while others certainly merited and received consideration. But, in a few instances only, was anything done of a tangible or permanent character, as those who usually originated the schemes desired to realize rather than to invest capital. Gov. Dodge, in his message of 1836, makes mention of constructing a canal through from Madison to Arena by way of Middleton and Black Earth Creek. There might have been a memorial presented to Congress in furtherance of the scheme; at any rate, several speculators, including Moses M. Strong, purchased considerable tracts of land at the supposed outlet on the Wisconsin.

The Belmont & Dubuque Railroad Company was chartered in the same year to construct a line of railroad from Belmont to the nearest and most eligible point on the Mississippi, with power to extend it to Mineral Point and Dodgeville. After enjoying a series of vicissitudes, vying in perplexity with the career of the Mineral Point Railroad, this line was built to the present station of Calamine, in 1868, where it unites with the latter railroad, under the management of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company.

The Pecatonica & Mississippi Railroad Company wa^^ chartered in 1839 to build a railroad from Mineral Point to the nearest and most accessible point on the Mississippi. The line never appeared, save in the heated imagination of the projectors.

The costliness and magnitude of an enterprise necessary to the survey and construction of a competent line of railroad discouraged all further attempts in that direction, and turned the attention of the engineering fraternity to the improvement of the principal water-courses. It calculated, that, at a nominal outlay, the Pecatonica River, by several cuts and a system of locks, could be transformed into a profitable channel for slack water navigation. A company, called the Pecatonica Navigation Company, was incorporated in 1839 by the Territorial Legislature to improve the navigation of the Pecatonica from Mineral Point to the Illinois State lipe. After the charter was procured, a survey was made, which demonstrated the unfeasibility of the project, and the scheme was abandoned, as were many others insufficient in importance to deserve mention.

Hard-Money Wealth

The currency in circulation in Iowa County has always been above reproach, barring the stigma of the Mineral Point Bank failure, which resulted disastrously to a number of those who had intrusted their savings to the care of that institution. One reason generally assigned for the unusual stability of Iowa County, in currency questions is, that gold and silver was the chief circulating medium in early times. Wildcat, or paper money, subject to repudiation, was scorned by the people, who held aloof and refused to countenance the innovation upon their ancient usages. Sovereigns and five-franc pieces were the principal medium of exchange, and the people, gifted with deeply rooted ideas of the value of bullion, clung tenaciously to the gold pieces. These coins were introduced into the county through real estate proprietors, who secured British gold by depositing land certificates in pledge.

Receipts from the sale of mineral shipped abroad were also instrumental in sustaining a solid gold currency. The inflation system of banking was instituted in 1836, and the country was flooded with an illimitable amount of promissory notes which, supported by no valid securities, possessed no greater value than that represented in avoirdupois at the paper-makers. This hemorrhage of paper notes suffused the entire country, with the solitary exception of the mineral district where the miners, true to the conservative instincts of their British lineage, refused point blank to accept it. The exceptional freedom enjoyed in this respect elicited the following notice from the Territorial Gazette, in 1837 :

'- We have before reraarkeil substantially, and we now repeat, that there is no other portion of the United States that has suffered so litde from the pressure of the times as Wisconsin Territory; we mean Western Wisconsin particularly; of the eastern part, we cannot speak with certainty, but of the west side we can, from close observation and personal knowledge. The truth is, that we have scarcely felt the pressure. We have, it is true, heard much of it; it has been run:^ in our ears from abroad ; but our sufferings (if they deserve the name) have been most in apprehension, or sympathetic in their character. The wild spirit of speculation which reigned here a year or more ago, has, it is true, been checked (and so much the better for that), but the ordinary and regular routine of business has been conducted pretty much as usual. There have been no mercantile failures which could properly be attributed to the times ; no stoppages of payment ; no curtailment of business; no relaxation of industry; no pretermitting of enterprise, and, in a word, very little of anything real to interrupt, in a degree worthy of notice, our steady onward march to prosperity and greatness. We have not, too, as many have, been cursed with that bastard trash, the pretended representative of money commonly denominated ' shinplasters.' Bank notes, for the most part of good and solvent banks, have not been wanting for the ordinary transactions of business, while silver change - dollars and half-dollars - have been abundant enough for all purposes. A Benton mint-drop, too, has been occasionally circulated among us. Thus, while the old, rich and populous States have been organizing, under the pressure of the times, we have been so far from it as to forbid a murmur of complaint. While a silver dollar cannot be seen at the East in the interval of a month, and then only exhibited as ' a cure for sore eyes,' as the saying has it, here its jingle may constantly be heard upon the counters of our merchants and in the purses and pockets of our citizens. Our crops, which were abundant and of the best quality, awarded fair cash prices, and, indeed, so far as we are concerned ourselves, were it not for the murmurings of complaints from abroad, which will always meet with a sympathetic response from generous bosoms, we should hardly know there was any distress existing in the land."

In 1841, a contraction in the currency led to a financial panic throughout the West. In 1843, recovery was speedy, and, with an unwonted elasticity, affairs resumed tlieir wonted channel. The final crisis, in 1857, was borne with the same ease that distinguished the county in previous financial convulsions, and the citizens emerged from the panic with unshaken confiilence in home monetary institutions.

First Roads And Highways

The advancement of the mineral interests of the lead region, were the almost insu" perable obstacles encountered in the transportation of ore to shipping-points, and receiv ing. in return, merchandise. The highways were merely blazed tracks through the wilderness, which were at times rendered impassable by storms of rain and snow. The shortest existing route from Milwaukee to Helena and Mineral Point, was by way of Green Bay, and thence up the Fox River and down the Wisconsin River. No attempt, be it ever so feeble, was made to ameliorate the passage by reducing grades or macadamizing the boggy sections of the road. Old corduroy roads were constructed in the more densely settled regions, but, in the trunk roads running to Galena and Milwaukee, the freighter was obliged to feel his way with every precaution in his power. The streams were unbridged, necessitating circuitous voyages to reach fording places. In the springtime, when the streams and water-courses were swollen with the dissolved snows of a winter's accumulation, and filled with running ice-cakes, the teamster's life was in imminent peril. The clumsy ox-team and cumbersome wagon of antique mold, were the only means of carriage, and for weeks these vehicles, with their patient tractive power, toiled and labored through a desolate region, untenanted by man, and through an impenetrable depth of " forest primeval."

A story, aptly illustrating the difficulties that environed early traveling, is related by Hon. Henry Merrell, who started from Mineral Point on March 21, 1837, for a trip to Chicago, where he arrived on the 26th inst. " One season," he says, " I arrived at Mineral Point on my way to New York, and found Messrs. M. M. Strong and John Catlin were going to Chicago, and they proposed we should all go together and strike a straight line for that place. We started and went to the East Branch of the Pecatonica, and found it full of running ice. So we concluded to encamp there, as we always went prepared with our blankets, etc., for it ; and, the next morning, we could build a raft and float our baggage over. In the morning, we cut down a small pine-tree and made two stringers of it, and picked up some dry limbs, putting them across ; but we found it would not hold up our saddles. ' Well,' said Mr. Strong, ' we can swim our horses across twice, and so get our baggage across,' and he prep'iired himself, putting his papers in his hat, and swam his horse across. Leaving his hat on the opposite shore, he returned. By this time he shook like an aspen leaf We rolled him up in blankets, and he lay down by the fire, trying to get us to try it, but we declined. I told him I could swim ray horse across once, but I would not try it twice, and the only way for us was to go by the West Branch and around by Rockford. After urging us until he found it no use, and getting warmed up, he mounted his horse and went over and got his hat and papers. Returning, we mounted and rode over to the West Branch. There we got a canoe, and, putting our baggage in, swam our horses over by passing several times ; thence we went to Rockford. One night we came to what we supposed was a ravine full of water running from the prairie. Strong was on the lead. I, watching his horse closely, thought he stepped as though there was a causeway he was going over. Catlin said to me, ' Here is a narrow place, I believe I will try it.' I answered, - I see Strong has got over very well, I will follow him,' which I did, and Catlin followed me. But a little further on we came to a house we were to stay at overnight. When we rode up, a man asked us which way we came, and how we got over the bridge ; we told him we had not crossed any : when he said if we had gone ten feet either side, we would have plunged into thirty feet of water. Strong tells the story that our horses crossed the stringers, the bridge being carried

As early as 1840, I. A. Lapham, State Surveyor, alluding to the inconveniences attendant on the transportation of mineral from the mining districts, writes: " The great object which it is most desirable to attain, by works of internal improvement in Wisconsin, is the transportation of the 5.5.000,000 pounds of lead, copper and shot produced in the mines in the western part of the Territory, and adjacent portions of Iowa and Illinois, to the shores of Lake Michigan, and the supply of that ' mineral district ' with merchandise by way of the great lakes. This, and the transportation of the surplus agricultural products of the intermediate country to market, and the supply of goods to the interior population, it is believed, can be best accomplished by means of a railroad from Milwaukee to the Mississippi River, a work entirely practicable.

For want of this improvement, the products of the mineral country have been transported to the Mississippi River, and, thence by way of New Orleans and New York, back to Milwaukee, 150 miles from where it was produced. It is calculated that, in this way, the citizens of the mineral country have actually lost in useless transportation of their products, a sum which would be sufficient to construct this road.

The cost of transporting lead by wagons from Mineral Point to Milwaukee in the summer, when the drivers can sleep in their wagons, and their cattle can find an abundance of feed on the open prairie, is about 50 cents per 100 pounds. At other seasons, it varies from 50 cents to $1 per 100 pounds. At this lowest rate, the fifty-five millions of pounds, if carried on a railroad, would yield an income of $275,000 per annum, which would be sufficient to pay the whole cost of the railroad in a few years. But, if we take into account the increase of business consequent upon this improvement, the merchandise that would be carried in return, the agricultural and other products that would be transported on tlie road, and the toll derived from passengers, we cannot resist the belief that this prospect is one that must soon attract the attention of capitalists, even if the people of Wisconsin should not exert themselves mucli to accomplish so desirable an improvement."

The above and subsequent treatises on the normal wealth of this country, induced capitalists to visit the much-lauded Golconda of riches. Their visits bore fruit in after years, when various lines of railroad were projected and carried through to completion. The principal lines are those of the Chicago & Tomah Railroad, the Chicago & Galena Narrow- Gauge line, the Belmont & Dubuque Railroad, and the main arteries that enter the mineral district - the Mineral Point Railroad, and the Milwaukee >& Madison line which traverses this county from northeast to southwest. Now the swiftly gliding locomotive has revolutionized the commerce of the land, and the once solemn and impressive forests reverberate with the whistle and whirl of the express train as it rapidly speeds on toward the metropolitan cities, bearing its burdens of life and death, hopes, joys and multifarious passions. The slowly throbbing freight train has displaced the patient oxen, and now bears to the markets of the world the valuable ores fresh from their clayey or rocky beds.

Chronicles Of The Cholera, '49 And '50

The Asiatic cholera fiirst visited the Southwest in 1849 and 1850, and ravaged the country with a violence unequaled in medical history. All the horrors of the celebrated London plague, were reproduced with manifold sufferings. The populace was panic-stricken, and people fled in every direction, with but a single thought - escape - controlling their fugitive footsteps. Parents forsook their offspring, and children abandoned their suffering parents. All order was set at defiance, and an inchoate justice dictating self-preservation, governed the actions and feelings of the survivors. Every man for himself, and Dieu pour tous was the egotistical voice of selfish utterances. Hamlets ami the smaller burgs were depopulated in the panic. The smiling fields off'ered an inviting asylum to the refugees, who swarmed into the more healthful sections, and camped on the open prairie, free from the deadly miasma, the inevitable forerunner of the disease. In the cities and villages, the air was odorous of a thousand disinfectants, and a pall of gloom and mourning enshrouded the inhabitants in a reserve that bespoke sore bereavement. The fetid atmosphere of tlie hoHows and ravines breathed the mephitic organism of the charnel house, and permeated the system with a penetration that sank into the vitals. Synonymous almost with the gold fever, the dual effect was palpable in the attenuated ranks that flocked the busy marts of trade. Between the two fires, all bu.siness was at a standstill, and the disheartened people, rela.xing courage, offered unrestricted freedom for the inroads of insidious disease.

The Asiatic cholera first appeared in New York City in the spring of 1849, having been communicated by some emigrants, whose condition escaped the glance of the quarantine officers. From the metropolitan city, the disease overran the Southern States, and, following the course of the Mississippi, was imparted to that fertile and hygienic region called the valley of the Mississippi. There, the fell destroyer insinuated itself through the low-lying districts in ravines and hollows, to the lead region. Man's influence, combined with the most powerful agencies of science, were thwarted in every opposing move. Unchecked, the plague swept forward, to the dismay and consternation of physicians. From Galena, the germs of contagion were spread to White Oak Springs, thence to Highland. In the latter place, the havoc was terrible, and the citizens were mowed down by the unsparing scythe of death, with a rapidity that opened many a gaping swath in the community. In less than three weeks, sixty-nine deaths were recorded, when the malady disappeared, in the same unaccountable manner as it appeared.

In Mineral Point, the advent of the dread messenger was heralded by the sudden sickness and appalling demise of Mrs. Phillip Bennet, who lived on Hoard street, and John Prideau.x, Sr. These deaths occurred June 29, 1849. Both cases were superinduced by imprudence in overheating the system, and sudden strictures occasioned by imbibing ice-cold drinks. Mrs. Bennet manifested symptoms of cholera at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Medical assistance was summoned, and the usual antidotes administered. They were powerless to avert death, which carried off its first victim within twelve hours. Mrs. Bennet left five children in destitution. The second case, that of Prideaux, Sr., developed under the following circumstances : Prideaux had been mining, working in a close sultry atmosphere all day, until every muscle and fiber in the body was debilitated. In this super-heated condition, he returned home, and retired to a cool underground spring house, where he drank a glass of ice-cold buttermilk, and almost instantly comi)Iained of intense pain in the abdomen. This attack was followed by acute diarrhcea, and before four hours had elapsed a second victim was enumerated among the fatal cases of cholera. To attempt to trace the contagion, would be futile. A commensurate understanding of the dreadful epidemic can only bo entertaineil by those who manfully withstood the storm, and waited in chastened patience for the silver lining to the cloud of their discontent.

The first case that disturbed the halcyon repose of the rc-^^idents of Dodgeville, occurred in Norway Hollow, three miles east of the village. Mrs. Eaton first succumbed, and her fate was only the first of a powerful host, who followed her to an untimely grave.

The majority of incipient cases were relieved when medical precautions were wisely followed ; but, when the physical powers had collapsed, and the case was attended with corrugated surface, the patient's fate was sealed. He or she was doomed to die. The first premonitory symptom was acute diarrhoea, which, in those days of plague, was considered an infallible indication of the germs of contagion in the system. The favorite specific administered was a compound of laudanum, tincture of camphor, and pepper, or a very little opiate. Brandy was sparingly doled out by the physicians, but copiously assimilated by the majority of citizens, who considered this liquor the best antiseptic.

It is a noteworthy fact that the greatest tippler in Mineral Point - a certain peripatetic whiksy-barrel, facetiously termed the " Coinrao lore " - escaped unscathed. His filthy habits were, notoriously, town gossip ; yet, notwithstanding his constant exposure, day and night, to the fury of the elements, his fondness for an oozy couch in the gutter, and general disregard for sanitary rules, he emerged from the plague unshorn of his physical powers. In contradistinction are numerous cases where men of strong temperance proclivities, refusing to stimulate their sluggish blood with the proffered cordial, sank to the grave.

The Second Visitation, '51

In 1851, the cholera returned with redoubled vigor, and decimated households and communities. Those who, on the first visitation, had braved an attack, now fled, terror-stricken ; but the country homes and farmers' residences offered no protection, as the doors were resolutely closed to all intruders.

Wingville, in Grant County, was first assailed. Cholera appeared there in a rambling rookery, originally intended for a miners' boarding-house. When the mines were exhausted, the miners removed, and the building was converted into a tenement-house. Under the house was a large excavation, or cellar, used by the tenants in common to bestow the refuse and garbage of the various households. One day, after a furious summer shower, the cellar was inundated, and the decomposed vegetable matter floated around on the surface. Under the indirect heat of the sun's rays, the fetid mass emitted an overpowering odor, that assailed olfactory organs at a considerable distance. The miasma was perceived on Saturday afternoon, and, on that night, several of the inmates were attacked with cholera. A special messenger was dispatched for medical help, to Dodgeville. Dr. Sibley responded, in hot haste, to the urgent call, but, before he arrived, six patients had paid the debt of nature.

Dr. Sibley, irrelevant of his personal safety, remained in the tenement, eating and sleeping there, and constantly breathing the vitiated air. His compassionate soul was stirred with the heart-rending scene, and he exerted himself strenuously to mitigate the suffering and alleviate the dying pangs. Under this incessant mental and bodily strain, his constitution weakened, and afforded a foothold for the insidious disease, and lie finally resolved to return home with a lady companion, Mrs. Storms. In passing through Montfort, Wis., he was accosted from Beemer's tavern, and, on solicitation, parted with his last quantity of medicine - a very efficacious remedy, of which he alone possessed the secret. On nearing Dodgeville, when within three miles of the village, Dr. Sibley began to feel faint. Mrs. Storms called to some men employed shingling an adjacent house, to succor the Doctor. They lifted him tenderly out of his buggy and carried him into the house, where he expired in a few minutes, a martyr to his profession. The date of his death was August 23, 1851.

The malady extended from Grant County to Highland, where it did terrible execution, killing sixty-nine persons within a month, and driving nearly all of the citizens and both doctors out of the place. A sanitary committee was organized, under the management of Amasa Cobb. Bonfires were kept burning, cannons fired off regularly, and disinfectants used in profusion ; but to no avail ; nothing could stay the ravages of the fearful messenger of death.

The first case at Mineral Point, in the second year, was that of a man and his wife from Dodgeville, who had come to pay a friendly visit to some relatives living on the high hill near the mill. They arrived on Saturday night, and were buried on the next day.

Among those who labored earnestly in their profession and maintained a vigilant watch while their professional brethren were fleeing the doomed country, were Drs. Van Dusen and J. H. Vivian, of Mineral Point, and Dr. Burrell, of Dodgeville.

On May 8, 1851, Eber Polk, Samuel Thomas and P. W. Thomas, J. P., organized under Chapter 26, of the Revised Statutes of Wisconsin, as a Board of Health of Mineral Point. The effect of this organization was soon apparent in the purified alleys and cleansed sewers, and the removal of nuisances which no longer saluted the eye with an offensive display, or greeted the nostrils with a redundant rancidity.

Following is a diary kept during the cholera, which, although not professing to mention one-fourth of the fatalities, covers the progress of the contagion in Mineral Point and locality :

June 2y, 1849 - Two fatal cases of cholera. Mrs. Phillip Bennet, on Hoard street, was taken with cholera at 3 A. M., Wednesday, which terminated fatally in twelve hours.

August 10 - Twelve have died of cholera ; 20th - Death of Mrs. Laurancy, wife of Gardner Lamps, and of Arran J. Minor, a brother-in-law of Mrs. Lamps; 27th - death of Joseph James ; 28th - Mrs. Joseph James. Mrs. Catherine Wasley; 30tli - Richard Crocker, Sr., Mrs. Eliza Mcllhon, Johnson Smith, Mrs. William Lancaster, James Richardson, Mrs. Mary Gunderson, Luke Swayne and wife, Nicholas Curry and three chihlren.

August 5 - Mrs. Elizabeth Meadows, Dr. David Ross, John Thomas. Amelia Nebeldine ; 6th - Mrs. Thompson, Mr. Hamilton; 17th - An unknown child; 10th - Mr. Allen; 13th - Rachel Meadows; 14th - Elizabeth Smith; loth - J. Ramsay, J. Oleson ; 16th-^A child of Phillip Eaton; 19th - A child of Mr. Troy, a Galena teamster ; 20th - Mrs. Dr. Ross, Mrs. Hoskins ; 21st - An unknown Charley, confectioner ; 22d - Frank Healey, Luke Avery, Josejih, a colored man; 23d - Thomas Stuzaker, a child of Mr. Oats; 24th - Two children of Mr. Tompkins; 25th - An unknown German; 27th - William Thomas; 28th - James L. Vance, Mi's. Hornbrook, Mr. Jacka ; 29th - An unknown German, J. Garreta Pulford; 30th - Mr. Schenoneh, Elizabeth Tompkins and two children ; 31st - Mrs. Murrish, an unknown miner.

September 1 - Mrs. E. Harris; 2d - Thomas Terrill,Sr.; 3d - A son of William Thomas; 5th - Mr. E. Phillips, Mr. Harris; 8th - Cromwell Lloyd: lOth - A child of Joseph Lampshire, a child of Ed Prideaux ; 11th - Mrs. John Champion; lOth - Richard Gundry; 17th - A son of R. Gundry, Thomas Riddell; 21st - Mrs. Ann Pryor; 27th - Three children of Abraham Goldsworthy; 28th - A child of Edward Cornish, Charles Nauveldon. William Edwards, a child of Thomas Vincent, Thomas Hambley.

L.4Nd Swindling Schemes

During the Territorial days, and even for many years after, land speculation and swindling of all kinds ran rampant. Various devices for entrapping the unwary into purchasing valueless lands, were the most common as well as profitable methods of fleecing the uninitiated. The lands were graded according to their relative value for farming or mining purposes, at prices ranging from 50 cents up to $1.25 per acre. Some rogue would come along and enter the very cheapest that he could get, which was always at the best very poor, then, with his patent in his pocket, he would repair to some Eastern city professing to be a business man, desirous of making a purchase of goods for the Western trade or to take into the mineral regions, where he owned large quantities of very valuable land, which, as a matter of course, he desired to exchange or to use as security in part, at least, for his purchases. This ruse was very often successful ; but the worst feature of these affairs was that those who ordinarily made such e.xchanges, were people who wanted to obtain lands "out West" to live upon, and who were thus, in some instances, stripped of everything they had, for. in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the lands were utterly untillable, or, if they were tillable, they would not even raise beans.

Another trick very often attempted and sometimes successful, was in this wise : A stranger come into the country and announce his intention to purchase land. No sooner did it become known what his object was, than he received numerous attentions both from rogues and honest men, who were anxious to show him around and assist him to make a desirable selection. If he was so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of a "professional," his fiite was very likely sealed. He would be "dined and wined " and marched around to his heart's content, and would be shown the very best land in the country, nearly all of which was sure to belong to his guide, or to have been placed in his hands for sale. But, as said guide was very desirous of having the country settled up by men of enterprise and intelligence, he would sacrifice personal interest and let the land go at the nominal price of §1.25 per acre, or what Uncle Sam charged. Accordingly, where a sale was effected, a deed would be drawn or contract entered into, for certain lands which were, of coarse, numbered to suit the man of intrigue, and represented 50-cent land. Then our artful swindler would have a few preliminaries to settle before the business w.is -concluded, which would cause some delay, but the purchaser could, if he desired to do so, find a safe place of deposit for his money until the business was concluded, so that a perfect title to the land could be given. The titles were usually all right, but alas for the lands, when the buyer " looked where they was they was not there."

Of land speculators there were very many, who, beginning with a little money, realized before the harvest was over handsome fortunes. Their business was done on an eminently safe plan ; but, in the majority of cases, it was no less a swindle than any other robbery. A poor man would come into the country and look around until he found a desirable location. Then he would make a pre-emption claim, and " trust to luck " to pull through and pay for it. Often this would commence the struggle for bread and for a home, which generally found him at the end of his year just where he began. The next thing to be done was to obtain aid. Having made some improvements, this was an easy matter ; all that he had to do was to go to the capitalist, let him enter the land, he giving a bond for a deed when the purchase money and a liberal interest was paid, according to the conditions of the contract. The programme being settled, the next thing to be done by the capitalist was to make the entry, which, in nearly every case, was done with soldiers' land-warrants purchased at one-fourth or less than that of their value.

In doing this, the speculator ran no risk, nor indeed did he feel it at all necessary to go and look at the land, for in no case would a person be willing to improve and run in debt for worthless land. In the event, if the land was redeemed, well and good, the land merchant would make at the least 400 or 500 per cent on his investment. Otherwise, equally well and good, for he would have the land which was certain to be as good as any to be obtained. Many other schemes for making money out of the ignorant or unsuspicious were in vogue at that time, but those spoken of were the most notorious and generally successful. So it is that villainy fattens on the labors of honorable industry.