Iowa County, Wisconsin - Chapter 10: Pioneer Reminiscences, 1881

Chapter 10: Pioneer Reminiscences

Memoik, By William R. Smith - The Pecatonica, By William Penn Smith - First Impression OF THE Mines - By W. P. Ruggles - By T. M. Fullerton - A Bridal Trip.

Memoir By William R. Smith

The country, after passing over a natural meadow through which the head waters of Pipe Creek Run, is hilly, with some remarkable rocky eminences, woody dells and deep ravines, altogether a romantic country, with abundance of rich land, natural meadow and fine timber. Four or five miles from Helena, the road descends abruptly from the high wooded hills, and one of the most splendid views in the country opens on the traveler. An amphitheater of meadow or low prairie, encircled at a point where he enters it with high and bold hills andjutting rocks, surmounted with oak openings, lies in broad expanse before him. This meadow is about half a mile wide, and about four miles long to the base of the amphitheater, along which flows the Wisconsin River. On each side, as the road winds through the level plain of verdure, there are deep indentures in the surrounding hills, forming numerous small meadows, or little green coves, interspersed with groups of forest trees, and exhibiting the dwarf willow, the well-known companion of the limpid spring. Several small streams unite in the center of the meadow and form a considerable water-course, emptying into the Wisconsin at the base of the plain. In looking around on the face of the encircling rocky hills, the fact that this great body of lowland was once the bottom of the lake, or an expansion of the Wisconsin River, appears evident. The action of the water has woven a distinct line on the face of the perpendicular rocks and the exposed stony face of the hills, and the semblance of a corded line can be traced all around this expanded low prairie ; also around the various extentions and indentations of the little coves amongst the protruding hills and eminences. The meadow land is of the richest alluvial quality. The traveler, after leaving behind him for many miles immense tracts of wood and uncultivated prairie, feels as if he was transported at once into some happy valley, and surrounded by the residences of a rich population.

Some small inclosed fields near the Wisconsin River give good promise of plentiful crops of corn and potatoes. Not far from the bank of the river is erected a house, for a store, near which I observed some Indian graves lately made. Immediately on the bank, a large building was put up by the United States Agent superintending the lead mines, and was intended as an office and storehouse for tlie deposit of Government lead received from the miners and smelters. From this place it could readily be shipped down the Wisconsin to St. Louis or up the river to Fort Winnebago. This building is going to decay, and I am informed that all the land in this beautiful valley is entered, or located, including the Government buildings. From this point, the road bends abruptly to the east along the bank of the river, and a ride of two miles or thereabouts through the site of the town of Helena brings you to the shot-tower and buildings belonging to the Wisconsin Shot Company. Here is a large lumber-yard, the lumber being chiefly of pine and brought down the Wisconsin River. Several machanics' shops are erected and workmen employed. The Shot Company have a very large assortment of goods and merchandise in their store which is here kept. On the river bank there is now being built a storehouse of about 50x70 feet, the basement story is of stone from the river beach to the top of the bank, and the upper story of frame.

The shot-tower is worthy of a description. It is built on the summit of a rocky hill on the bank of Pipe Creek, near its entrance into the Wisconsin. The hill has a perpendicular face next the creek, and a gentle descent southward and westward by which wagons may reach the summit. One hundred feet from the base of the rock there is a ledge or landing-place ; on this ledge rises the shot-tower, of frame, eighty feet to the roof, giving to the base of the cliff a fall of one hundred and eighty feet. A well or shaft has been sunk through the sandstone rock for one hundred and twenty-nine feet, and a lateral drift or entrance, ninety feet in length, seven feet high and six feet wide, has been cut from the bank of the creek to the perpendicular shaft. A basin, seven feet in depth, is sunk below the surface of the entrance shaft, and, being supplied with water, forms a well for the reception of the hot shot as it drops from the furnace.

A small railway is erected witiiin the lateral drift communicating with the well, and extending to the finishing house, which is built on the bank of the creek, immediattely opposite the entrance to the shaft. On this railway, the shot is carried in small boxes or cars, from the well, by a horse-power, into the finishing house. The shot was then carried into a rotary cylindrical oven, where it was dried and transmitted into the polishing barrel, whence it was passed to the separating sieves, after which the several sizes were weighed, bagged, and packed in kegs for shipment. The steamboats embarked the commodity direct from the door of the finishing house. This establishment would do honor to any old settlement in the East, and the public spirit of the proprietors deserves remuneration in the profits of their business. I am informed that five thousand weight of shot is the usual quantity made per diem by one set, that is, six hands. This company is the owner of a large body of mineral and timber land. One of the partners, Benjamin L. Webb, resides here, and superintends tlie concern. From the shot-tower hill, the view down the Wisconsin River, for thirty or forty miles, cannot be surpassed in beauty ; the winding of the broad stream through and amongst the numerous wooded islands which cover its surface, until the briglit sparklings of the waters, seen at intervals in the almost interminable cliain of islands, is totally lost in the distant horizon. The high and bold outline of the hills in the Indian country, north of the river and extending westward to the Mississippi, all present a delightful subject for a painter.

From " Observations on the Wisconsin Territory, chiefly on that part called the ' Wisconsin Land District,'" in the summer of 1837: "A small branch of the Peketonica runs through a ravine or narrow meadow at Mineral Point, in a southern course, receiving in its way many fine springs, until it unites, about five miles below the town, with the main branch of the same river, about two miles above the furnace and establishment of Richard McKim, Es(j., to which he has given the name of New Baltimore. His smelting furnace, saw-mill, workmen's house and his mansion, are situated on the western banks of the Peketonica, which is liere a considerable stream ; a mile west of the New Baltimore flows another large branch, on which is built Kindle's grist-mill. The natural meadow at New Baltimore, and for several miles above, is unrivaled for fertility of soil and beauty of scenery, not only in its own features, but in the general character of the hills and bluffs bounding the lowland. The broad, deep and clear Peketonica winds its way through the wide expanse of low and level prairie and meadow, covered with high grass, and composed of a soil which is complained of as being too rich for any small grain, but which is unrivaled for the production of corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and all esculents. This meadow extends from the borders of Diamond Grove, near Col. Bequette's, widening in its course southward, and bearing the several branches of the Peketonica on its bosom as low down as the junction of the Eastern Branch, near the old Indian town of Wiota, in the neighborhood of the diggings of William S. Hamilton, formerly of New York, but for some years a Wisconsin pioneer. From Wiota, I am informed, the river is navigable, and, imioed, boats have been laden with lead and sent from New Baltimore and the Cedar Bluffs, about a mile below, by Charles Bracken. This is the most extensive range of fine meadow which I have visited ; it is about thirty-five miles from Diamond Grove to the forks at Wiota, and a more delightfully beautiful and rich body of land is not to be desired than the country through which the Peketonica flows.

'' In the immediate neighborhood of Cedar Bluffs, about three miles from New Baltimore, is a small village called Willow Springs. Here are three or four dwellings, and the store of Mr. Dillon ; an old smelting furnace is also here, now disused, as it was built on the first plan, called the 'log and ash ' furnace. This crude manner of smelting lead by the earliest settlers has given away to the improved cupola and oven furnace, and the blast furnace.

" A great public road from Mineral Point to Gratiot's Grove passes by the Willow Springs, and this will always be a main road through this part of the Territory, in its principal direction, with perhaps a few changes in parts, where experience will correct early adoptions of convenience. " Leaving Willow Springs and passing in a northern direction over a high prairie with oak openings, about three miles, the country becomes highly interesting. Here are to be found many farms in the best and most profitable state of cultivation. Farmhouses and barns and stables with other outhouses announce a good settlement, and that the farmer not only knows how to live, but does live well. The kindness and hospitality which I experienced during several days' residence and excursions in this delightful section of country, will be held by me in heart-felt recollection. Not only in their domestic circles, intelligent conversation, good collection of books, and weekly receipt of news from the far East did we find (Dr. Smith and myself), intellectual luxuries which were the more grateful because unexpected, but the readiness with wliich we were accompanied in our excursions through thecountry by these gentlemen gave us not only the means and the comforts of traveling, but the information without which, as strangers, we should have been greatly deficient.

"On the subject of attentions and hospitalities received by my son and myself during our stay in the country, and in very many excursions through it, I should be wanting not only in correct feelings of recognition of, but also in respect to, the many friends and acquaintances which we formed. Delicacy alone forbids me to speak publicly of the kindnesses we have at all times and in all places experienced. Messer Grove, Parish's, Helena, Dodge's Grove, Mineral Point and New Baltimore live as bright spots on memory. The inhabitants and the inmates of those places named, will duly appreciate the motives by which I am actuated, when I forbear to say more.

It is worthy of remark that in all places where I have been in Wisconsin - in the comfortable dwelling-house, in the town, in the snug and neat farm house or in the log cabin - I have always found books and newspapers ; of books, many standard and historical works, together with the new novels; of newspapers, those of New York, Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia were common, and generally the State papers of the former home of the Wisconsin emigrant. Amongst the literary papers, I often found the excellent publications of our friends Godey and Alexander, of Philadelphia; the Saturday News is much liked.

" From the farm of Charles Bracken, the road passes over a part of the extensive prairie which reaches to the Blue Mounds, and, on this road and near it, there are numerous valuable diggings, particularly those of Messrs. Bracken. South of Bracken's, the main road to Dixon's Ferry, in Illinois, passes several excellent and well-improved farms, particularly that of Maj. Sheldon. A mile or two south of Sheldon's, we enter a fine body of woodland, called the Indian Reservation, surveyed for the half-breeds, but not, as is said, in conformity with the treaty, and, consequently, the surveys will be lifted and re-located.* These tracts are in number, in this neighborhood, forty, of a mile square each. Of course here is, in one body, 2.5,600 acres of the finest timber-land and arable soil in the Wisconsin Land District. This land will, no doubt, be in market shortly, and the farmer's attention deserves to be turned to this part of the country. Claimants, by improvements, are already making their locations in these reservations, but the land having been reserved and never offered for sale by the Government, I think the existing pre-emption laws will not reach the cases of settlements on them made at this day, and such locations may be of no avail.

"Passing through this well-timbered country for about seven miles, the union of two branches of the Pecatonica, at a point of land high and covered with wood, overlooking the beautiful natural meadow before described, is located the village of Otterbourne. This location is excellent ; the advantages of wood, water, public roads, most excellent land and delightful scenery, give promise that, in time, Otterbourne will prosper; at any rate, it deserves to become a town. Independent of the localities named, there is an excellent saw-mill and all convenient buildings within a few hundred yards of the newly laid-out town. This saw-mill has fine waterpower, with abundance of timber in the neighborhood. Water-power for a grist mill can easily be obtained here, and, as far as my judgment goes. Nature has done as much for this mill seat as for any I have seen in this district. With such advantages, if a few good mechanics, blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, stone-masons and laborers would seek their good, they may obtain town lots here at a very low rate, and the village of Otterbourne might thus immediately spring into life.* About seven miles below Otterbourne, on the Pecatonica Kiver. a beautiful and advantageous site has been selected for a town ; it has been laid off in lots and is called ' Gratiot.' At this point, a saw-mill and small grist-mill, designated as Sheldon's Mills, although the grist-mill was built by the late Col. Henry Gratiot. This location possesses many ailvantaces, there being a large body of good prairie land near it yet unsold, and a considerable tract of timber land is also adjacent. This spot, by a great bend in the Pecatonica River, is rendered the nearest point on the river to Galena, to which place there is already an excellent road ; the whole distance, to within three or four miles of Galena, being on a prairie ridge. The proprietors of the mills contemplate erecting, during the next year, a stone grist-mill in addition to the one now in operation. The water-power for the works is furnished by the Wolf Creek, which enters into the Pecatonica at this place.

" The Pecatonica country is one of the best-watered sections I have ever seen ; the various branches traverse delightful prairies and rich bottom lands over a wide extent of country. Fine water-powers are numerous on these branches, and on the union of the East and West Branches, a few miles below ' Hamilton,' at Wiota, the old Indian town of Win-n-shek, a chief of the Winnebacoes, a noble river is formed. This stream, after receiving Sugar River, empties into Rock River, a few miles below the Territorial line, in Winnebago County, 111. The improvements of the rapids of the Rock River will go far to render this river perfectly safe for steamboat navigation. The General Government owes this section of country efficient aid as a matter of general importance more than of local appropriation.

First Impressions Of The Mines

In an old publication, of which there are now but few in existence, written by the English traveler and geologist, G. W. Featherstonhaugh, F. R. S.. F. G. S., called " A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotar," he gives a very vivid description of his visit to the lead mines of Wisconsin in 1><37, and, without reserve, gives bis impressions anil observations regarding the country and inhabitants as they appeared at that time. Some of the remarks are doubtless ;vs mucii the result of prejudice as they are of the actual condition of things; yet there is but little doubt that the mining country and the miners then presented a picture which those of to-day can scarcely comprehend. In speaking of the country which he p;issed through while en route for Mineral Point, he says : " Regions of this character, whilst possesseil by the Indians, have much interest attached to them, tiie traveler's movements are not without a touch of interest, and at nigiit when his camp is properly fixed, there is cleanliness and comfort to be obtained. But the advancing tide of white population, amongst which we had now got, had destroyed every chance of these ; the miserable low taverns were kept by greedy, vulgar adventurers who had come into the country to torment it with what they call diggings, a name they give to the rude shallow shafts, a few feet deep, which they sink in search of metal. Nothing could exceed the ignorance and filthy habits of the working miners, the greater number of whom being witliout skill, and becoming finally disappointed in their expectations, had f illen into the lowest state of poverty." Of the driver and the stage at that time he says : '- The driver of our vehicle was a droll Cockney Englishman, about five feet high and near sixty years old, born in London, who, by his own account had never had either father or mother that he knew, and who had picked up his living in the streets there from his fifth year." After knocking about here and tliere he had " at length reached what may be called the pathos of all human desires for an Englishman, the situation of driver of this most wretched stage, as he called it, which was dragged by two lame, miserable horses through a country without the vestige of anything like comfort.

" At tiie top of his strange physiognomy was stuck the filthy remnant of what had once been a fur cap ; about his neck was a disgusting handkerchief that had never been washed ; an old, ragged, red blanket coat, thrice too large for him, covered his person, and beneath its ample .skirts appeared two odd boots that had been patched and repaired so often that, as he said, they had been made nowhere. One of them, he remarked, was so plaguy large that he had cut a hole in the foot to let the water out, and the other was such a blessed sight to small, that he had cut a hole in that to let his toes out. Everybody we met seemed to know him except one person who said, ' Gineral, I guess its a toss up whether your horses or your stage break down first.' "

Mr. F. was enabled to attend at a trial for murder while he was at Mineral Point, and gives his impressions of the proceedings, describing the appearance and condition of the ''court " and attendants without reserve or apology. Being an Englishman almost fresh from his native land, and used to the austerity and pomp of its court of justice, he could, in all probability, only regard the one he describes with feelings of repugnance, and which doubtless gave tone and color to all he says ; yet, beyond a question of doubt, as is now illustrated by the courts in the Western mining camps, the entire proceedings were anything but what they now are, or even what we can fully recognize them to have been. But virtue and the supremacy of the law in accordance with the mandates of reason and the needs of humanity, is a natural result which time, through the changes from barbarism to civilization, compels and fosters ; and though in an early day the methods of administering justice in this locality may have been crude in effect, and inadequate at times to the magnitude of the offenses committed, yet at present the country stands redeemed from those errors as much through the efforts of the very men who committed them, in some instances, as by any other means. And then as now the people's opinions and the local customs were always, to a great extent, the laws which influenced the pioneers, who were standing almost outside of the pale of civilization.

Says Mr. F.: "I had heard much of a trial for murder that was to take place in the evening, and, as amusement and characteristic manners are usually to be found on such occasions, especially in the Western country, I went to the court house which was a log building made of squared timber, it was but a sorry exhibition of a court of justice, dark, and filled with filthylooking men spitting about in every direction. The prisoner was an impudent ill-looking fellow of the name of McComber, and, it appeared on the trial, that in a revengeful spirit, for some supposed injury, he had stealthily followed up one Willard A. W., nephew of Gen. Dodge, the Governor of the Territory, and, seizing his opportunity, had shot him. The court was my old friend with his breeches on; but sorry I am to say he was ill-dressed, excessively dirty, unshaven, and had his jaws tied up in an old silk handkerchief, having, as he told the jury, "got the mumps.'

"The Prosecuting Attorney who summed up exceeded all the pleaders I ever listened to for absurdity of language and bad grammar, and had evidently come from the very lowest class, the following was one of his grave passages intended to be very impressive :

" 'Yes, gentlemen of the jury, he is proved to have been maliciously and aforethought contriving this here business. He was seen walking up and down, backwards and forwards with solemnity, and, to make the act more solemn, he did the solemnest thing a man can do when he is coming to a solemn thought, and determines on it by the smoking of his pipe. Yes, he concluded by the smoking of the pipe, and, if that beent as you may say, putting the cap atop, why then I don't know what is.'

"The twang, the appearance, ami gestures of the orator are wanting to do justice to this eloquent passage. At the conclusion of this speech the court adjourned.

" The next day or evening, when the court convened, a sealed verdict was sent in, finding the prisoner guilty, but," as Mr. F. states, "the Judge was in such a state of into.xication as to be unable either to address the jury or to deliver sentence; therefore, at the suggestion of Prosecuting Attorney, the court was dismissed. The most of those present were greatly dissatisfied, and even the prisoner appeared to feel oppressed by the turn of affairs."

The next day, after breakfast, he says : " I returned to the court house to witness the conclusion of this disgraceful affair. The Judge arrived and took his seat, with that wretched and haggered appearance that individuals bear who are far advanced in mania a potu, and after a few absurd phrases, sentenced the murderer to pay a fine of $300, and to be imprisoned until the fine was paid. The disgusting farce being over, the convict was conducted to the log hut which was appointed to be the jail, and as soon as they opened the door to let him in, I saw him make a couple of grand somersets, the last of which carried him into his lodgings. These consisted of a solitary log house, with one room on the ground, and a window with some bars ; no sooner had they locked him in than he began to crow with all his might. His numerous friends now went to talk to him at the window, and during the day, brought him food and whisky. In the course of the night he evaporated, and so ended the affair ; for as to apprehending him a second time, few persons would be found willing to attempt that, it being universally known that when frontier bloods of his caliber once imbrue their hands in blood, they entertain no scruples about taking the lives of those who come with hostile intentions against them."

I am what the "Pukes," "Suckers," " Hoosiers " and "Wolverines" used to call in early -days a d - d yankee. My infancy, childhood and early manhood were passed in the town of Barre, county of Worcester. State of Massachusetts, near the historic town of Rutland, where the captured soldiers of Burgoyne were imprisoned, together with the Hessian hirelings, during the later days of the Revolution. I have often seen the old barracks where they were kept. Within ten miles of my home towered up famous old Wauchesett, which is to that country what the Blue Mounds are to this, and which has been celebrated in the annals of old Massachusetts from days immemorial. From this elevation, the bonfires of Bunker Hill could be seen during the days from ITTo to 1781, when a few daring aspirants for liberty were fighting the mighty struggle which made the nation and secured us of to-day the privileges of a free and united people. I will be pardoned, in view of the present grandeur and extent of the United States, for entertaining a feeling of pride at the thought that my grandfathers were both engaged in the Revolution, one on land and one on sea. I now have in my possession the powder-horn which Daniel Ruggles carried at Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and at other places. The other, Zenas Phinney, an old sea captain, served with distinction during the struggle. While I was yet a small boy, the the war of 181ii broke out, and during that time my father was one of the minute men. I remember on one occasion, how a neighbor and my father were talking about war matters in front of the house, when the roar of artillery came to our ears very distinctly from the direction of Boston Harbor, 110 miles away. It was a beautiful and clear day in September, but we could not believe that it was the sound of cannonading until the arrival of the weekly mail in the neighborhood informed us that a British man-of-war had at that time been in pursuit of an American privateer.

I lived on my father's farm until I was twenty-one, going to school winters (when it stormed), so I did not enjoy the advantages of Yale or Harvard, but nevertheless, I managed to pick up enough information to enable me to hold my own against the world in after years. My father was of the Puritanical stock, and, as a matter of course, was very largely imbued with strong notions as to the value of time, etc., and consequently I was required to work early and late, from year's end to end, during week days, and go to church on Sundays. Thus were passed my boyhood years, tilling the rocky and sterile lands of the old Bay State ; and we had to work, or the alternative, in any case, would not have been agreeable ; yet I was not unhappy. If we worked hard, we also played hard when we had the chance (which was not often), flow

I remember the happy evenings the young folks often had when gathered around the huge old-fashioned fire-place, telling stories and cracking jokes while we cracked hickory nuts, walnuts and butternuts and roasted chestnuts and drank cider. Sometimes we would send to the nearest town and get a fiddler and have a dance. Nearly every house had a big dining room, so we had ample room to cut a pigeon-wing and what-not. Such a thing as your waltzes, polkas, schottische and the like were utterly unknown in those days. I can well imagine the look of horror that would overspread the countenances of our grandmothers if they were to see their descendants go whirling around the room, frisking and gliding with scarcely a beginning or end. When I reached my majority, I, like a large part of the youth of New England, hired out by the month to make my fortune (board and clothes, washing thrown in). I first worked for a Presbyterian Deacon, where I very soon learned the orthodox facts of that faith as well as the caliber of the man. I remember once of cracking some butternuts on Sunday, and receiving a lecture for the same. One day I was out plowing corn, when the old gentleman came into the field, and, after looking about awhile, he came up to me complaining because there was one row of corn less in the field that year than there Was the year before. When I was a young chap, the great occasions of the year were training days, when all hands, both great and small, turned out to do duty for Uncle Sam. Many a sham fight have I participated in, but never had an opportunity to smell powder in a genuine engagement. At that time, I was a popular aspirant for fame, and enjoyed the distinction of being Captain of a company, and with the other officers had to set up for the boys, which cost me all told each year about $50, nearly half of what I earned. So much for glory. At last, when I was about twenty-eight, I was elected Major of my regiment, but I had by that time become inflamed with a different ambition. The heyday of youth is soon over, and I determined before mine was done to strike out for a new country, where there was not so many competitive Yankees to strive against. A younger brother, Daniel Ruggles, an officer in the United States Army, and who afterward, greatly to his discredit, became a Major General in the Confederate service, was then stationed at Fort Winnebago, now Portage City. While on a visit home, he gave me a most glowing description of that country, which decided me as to the course 1 should take. After bidding farewell to many of whom I never again saw, in the spring of 1886, I embarked on the stage which passed my grandfather's door, and started, as I told them, to see the Mississippi River. The old gentleman rather discouraged my ardent e.xpectations by shaking his head and telling me that in all probability I would not live long enough to make the trip, so very far did it then seem to be to the distant West.

At Albany, I left the stage and took the cars, on the first track laid in the State of New York, which were to transport me to Schenectady. Here we had to descend a hill, being ballasted by a car-load of stones on a side track, like a stone in the end of a bag of meal, which equalized the weight while we were descending, and which afterward drew our car back to the top of the hill. That was one of the old-fashioned contrivances which are now almost forgotten in the history of railroading. From Schenectady, I went to Buffalo on a canal-boat, then took the old steamer Monroe, whicii went thrashing and groaning along with a walking-beam, and came through to Detroit. The vessel was loaded with Eastern people, who, like myself, were going out West. This trip of 1,000 miles was a very prosperous one, as nothing of moment occurred to mar the course of the journey, unless it was the sea-sickness which kept two-thirds of the passengers stretched out from morning until night " casting up their accounts." At Detroit, I shipped aboard the brig Indiana for Cliicago, where I arrived in the month of June. I thought when I got tiiere that I was about at the end of the world for me, and would not have given a dollar for the whole town, but then was when I missed a fortune. There were six or eight lonesome looking log cabins, some Government buildings, and a little old tavern, which was standing the last I knew five years ago, and nearly the entire country for ten miles around was covered witli water from three inches to two feet deep. In fact, it was a regular marsh. At this time, a stage wiis running through to Galena, which had only made thus far three or four trips, 30 that you could hardly discern the wagon tracks in the long prairie grass. On the stage with me were several passengers, among whom was George W. Jones, Territorial Representative at that time. We had to stop overnight twice on the way, and here we first began to experience the real vicissitudes of a frontier life. The meals were generally bread, bacon and coffee, our couch a sack of hay, and similar pillow if we had any, with a blanket for a covering. At Galena, all was then bustle, the place being full of miners. I stopped there a day or so with Aaron Adams, the only tavern-keeper; then started with G. W. Jones for Dubuque and to see the Mississippi. The last-named place was then only a small village, with a mining and trading population. At this time, the strangeness of my situation struck me very forcibly. The people and their ways of doing and speaking were very different from what I had been accustomed to. The idea of calling a shilling a long bit, and a ten-cent piece a short bit, and a five-cent piece a picayune, was to me odd enough. I remained in the vicinity of Dubuque and Galena for the next two years, working for Mr. Jones, and, during that time, did not see more than two or three Yankees. Nearly every body and thing was Southern. Although I got along with the Southerners, yet we couldn't mix, especially at that time, when sectional politics ran very high ; but. as I was mightily in the minority, I usually managed not to obtrude my opinions to too great an extent.

In March of 1838, I first set foot in Iowa County, and came into the town of Ridgeway, bringing with me $100, a horse and an old stub-and-twist shot-gun. These articles constituted my all of worldly wealth. However, as for the future, so long as I had my health I did not care, for I was sure of pulling through all right in the end. I then went to work for Mr. Morrison, who was one of the very first comers into the county or town, at $20 per month, but that was not so much for a young man as was 810 per month in old Massachusetts, for everything that we bought here then was very expensive. I worked for Morrison that summer, and, during the same time, met with my first serious mi^^fortune. One day, while we were working in the hay-field, a party of Indians came along and stole my horse and one belonging to Mr. Morrison. While we were returning from the field, we met the rascals riding them off; but, as soon as they saw us, they put whip to them and away they went. As quick as we could, we gathered a party of miners together and started in pursuit, and traced them as far as Madison, but did not find them. Eventually, I proved up on my nag, and, through the help of Mr. Jones. Gov. Dodge and others, I received from the Government the amount paid for the animal, which was deducted from the annuity of the tribe to whom the thieves were known to belong. In the winter of 1838, 1 worked for my board at another of the old pioneer's, George W. Ilickcox (a New York State man), who has been under the sod for many years. He was one of the best men we had in the county at that time or that have since come forward.

In the spring of 1839, I went to work on the old Ilickcox saw-mill. As soon as that was done, lumber was sawed, and, in 1840, the old grist-mill, well remembered by nearly every pioneer within fifty miles or more, was built. During tlie greater part of the time I was with him, I had to drive team, and such a team I never saw. Mr. Hickcox had previously hired five different Southerners to drive his cattle, but, after a day or two, the fire-eater, on tiring of useless oaths, would be exhausted to no effect, and then they would abandon the post of driving "them ar cussed steers" to some other poor fellow. So, finally, I came in for a share, and managed, from having been used to driving cattle when a boy, to get along with them, but, as the millwright said, they never would stand nor were safe unless chained at both ends. I stayed with Mr. Hickcox until the fall of 1841, then quit. But, when I came to figuring-up my worldly goods, I found that, after having worked hard in the lead regions for five years, I had but a precious little more in hand than when I started to come here. After looking the situation over, I must say I felt blue - no home and but little money. For the first time, I became rather despondent and had a mind to strike out for the flesh-pots of old Egypt. But better thoughts finally prevailed. I decided that the thing for me to do was to strike out and get a wife and start in on a new plan for myself. Accordingly, I donned my sweetmeats, a pair of skin-tight blue broadcloth pants and swallowtailed coat'of the same style and color, with huge velvet collar and brass buttons, tied up a change of garments in a handkerchief, clapped on my old bell-crowned stove-pipe hat, and my preparations for the journey were completed. From Mr. Hickcox's I went to Madison on the stage and thence took foot and walker's express to Milwaukee, which took several days. On the route, an inquisitive traveler, noticing my apparel, asked me where I was going, to which I replied, " I am in search of an old maid that I have never seen." In fact, I was going after a wife whom I had never seen, but, through the introduction of mutual friends, had corresponded with a young lady and had decided to have her, provided she would have me.

I took the steamer Bunker Hill and reached my destination, Huron, Ohio, on the 2Gth of October. That very evening I called on the lady, being introduced by a friend, paid my devotions, proposed on the spot, and, to make a long story short, was accepted. The following Sunday, October 31, we were married by Father Gurly, the celebrated Methodist pioneer circuit rider. This was the last marriage ceremony performed by the old veteran. A few friends of the bride were present, but there were no cards nor wedding gifts. The whole affair was done on tiie Western plan of promptitude, without much love-making and less time to break the engagement ; but, one thing is certain, neither of us regret the step then taken, for we have lived as happy a life together as often falls to the lot of men and women. Within a week or two after the marriage, we returned by steamer and team to our future home. The following winter I worked out, and, in the spring of 1842. 1 went to Illinois and bought four yoke of cattle, the first I ever had the pleasure of owning. Within a few months after, a wagon came on from Ohio for me, and I was ready to go to work for myself. For the next four or five years I broke land, hauled lead to market, and did whatever I could to get on, which, considering the times, was very fair. In June, 1843, the first forty acres of my present farm was entered, and, the same year. I built the first frame house in the town and the one that I now occupy, and where I expect to end my days. In the days that I teamed it, I went through enough, it seemed to me, to kill any one. Day and night I was going, rain or shine, heat or cold - nothing stopped me ; but that was the way every one had to do if they made more than a living at that time. Many are the nights that I have laid out, and sometimes been lost in a storm when I never expected to get out alive. When I first located on my farm, my neighbors in the country round would laugh at me, and ask if I ever expected to see a road running through this part of the country. I was then wont to tell them to wait, for we might yet live to see the travel going this way through to Madison. And sure enough, when the railroad came through to ^lazomanie, the stages were taken off the old route, and were put on a new route which passed my door, and for several years my place was one of the principal stations on the way. The rush of travel at that time was tremendous; four-horse post coaches came through each day, some of the time loaded down with men, women and children going on to the new country.

When the lands in the northern part of the State came into market, in 18')2, purchasers had to go to Mineral Point to make their entries, and many a night at that time every available spot in my house was occupied, as many as forty having stoppeil overnight. I might go on and tell volumes of interesting anecdotes and episodes, but it would be a twice-told tale. At last, after more than forty-three years of toil in the home and land of my choice, 1 find myself an old man. Nearly all of those who were then about me in the heat of the strife, have either moved away, or have paid the debt of nature, which I, erelong, will be called upon to pay. I have been an interested witness of the grand improvement made in Iowa County not only, but have lived to see a wonderful change eflected throughout tlie entire country. In my youth, the idea that nearly all of this grand country would be tiireaded by railroads some time, was thought to be absurd, and such a thing as the telegraph had not been heard of I remember, as an illustration, the first pair of shoes made wiili pegs which I saw ; how people laughed at the notion of sticking leather together with wood, but that was nothing compared with hundreds of changes and improvements that have been wrought within the last sixty or seventy years. I sometimes find myself wondering if the ucxt half-century or more will he productive of so many new and useful inventions as have come into use during my life. I think not. It does not seem probable, yet it may be possible. But, whatever may transpire, I have learned to think that it will be as it should be, and with that, all ought to be contented.

My first siglit of Iowa County was March 19, 1841. It then included all the territory now in La Fayette County. I shall confine this paper chiefly to matters pertaining to the Methodist Episcopal Church. At that time. Mineral Point charge or circuit embraced Dodgeville and Peddler's Creek, now Linden ; but for want of preachers, Hamilton's Grove Circuit was added that year, all under the care of Rev. James G. Whitford, whom I came to assist on the added part. Mr. Whitford lived in a small house, rented for tlie purpose, next north of the old brewery in Mineral Point. My preiiching places were chiefly in that part of the county now called La Fayette. They were Parkinson's Settlement (Fayette), Hamilton's Grove (Wiota), Father King's, Wolf Creek (Gratiot), James' Woods, Kentucky Grove (one and one-half miles northeast of where Darlington now stands). Willow Springs, and Garrison's (four miles east of Dodgeville). On this circuit Mr. Whitford preached occasionally, and I, sometimes, at his appointments.

On my first visit to Dodgeville, I was directed to call at the bachelor's cabin of John and Sam Hoskins. with whom lived Thomas Webster and another young man. There was no chapel. They conducted me over the ridge to the west, to the house of Squire James, where our meetings were held that year. The Hoskinses lived in the " Hollow," as the north part of Dodgeville was called for years. After meeting, a friend conducted me by a bridle path across the brushy prairie to Peddler's Creek Chapel, nearly half a mile east of the present village of Linden. It was a log house, with no ceiling, the roof inside serving for that purpose. There was an Engliih pulpit, reached by a step-ladder, and when in it, the speaker had his feet on a level with the heads of a standing audience, and had barely room to stand in his box, for it was about three feet wide and as many deep. His words were the " droppings of the sanctuary " if they reached the people. But there were praying hearts beneath him. and he seldom found an easier place to preach. \t Mineral Point, the old log-church still served for a place of worship, but soon gave place to a stone chapel, which was half of the present work-shop near the new church. It then, when first built, faced the town. Afterward it was enlarged to its present size, and the roof turned north and south.

In 1843-14, I was the Pastor at Mineral Point, including Dodgeville and Peddlers' Creek. There was no parsonage. Rooms were hired for the preacher of N. Coad. The first part of the chapel above described was then finished, and was considered a very fine thing. In it, on my first Sunday, I heard for the first time instrumental music in a church, and it converted me from doubts of its propriety. It was within the altar railing, and consisted of a bass viol, by George Priestly, a clarionet and two flutes.

For several years succeeding this, my home was in Dodgeville. By this time the chapel, now used as a parsonage, liad been built in the Hollow. The schoolhouse in Dodgeville, north of the old burying-ground. a small frame was used by Presbyterians and others, and sometimes bv us for occasional religious services.

At this time, also, 1845, Mineral Point had ass>umed the importance of a station, and Dodgeville and Linden constituted the Dodgeville Circuit. The Bennett Chapel was built about this time, and we had also occasional meetings at the Baker settlement, north of Linden, and at Garrison's.

Mining interests increased during these years, and many emigrants came from Cornwall, England, from Wales and Norway, and the material welfare of the country advanced rapidly.

A serious drawback occurred in 1849, in the California fever, which carried away many good citizens and members of the church. And one bad feature of this excitement was the great sacrifices many made. Property was sold for almost nothing to raise means to get away with, and many died on the plains.

But the worst blow Dodgeville ever received was the cholera of 1850. Early in the season, it broke out at Wingville, and our Dr. David Sibley, a good physician and a local preacher in the Methodist Church, was sent for to attend the first attacked, a Mr. Storms, formerly of Dodge- ville. When he arrived there on Friday, he found a panic, and many other cases. By Monday morning his medicines were exhausted, and he was taken himself. His fleet horse brought him home by 10 o'clock, but in collapse. lie died by 3 o'clock P. M. The citizens came in the rain at lO o'clock and put that body, which had been coffined, in the grave, in the absence of and against the remonstrances of his wife. A few weeks after, a man in the Hollow went into the mine at 8 A. M., was brought home about 10, put in a rough box and buried at 4 P. M. The panic began. They died with cholera and fright so fast that there were sometimes five bodies at the burying-ground at once. "Jack " Knight and a few other fearless souls remained all day long at the old cemetery, interring them as they were carted hither, few of them in coffins, and most just rolled up as they died and hurried away warm with animal heat. About five hundred fled to the high prairie northeast of Linden, but a terrible storm of wind and rain in the night blew away their tents and coverings, and they were saturated with water. Some fled to Highland and died there ; others returned to die at home. A well man or woman could be found nowhere. In six weeks, 136 out of about nine hundred of population were buried, most of them in very shallow graves. This closed the old graveyard, and came very near closing Dodgeville. During nearly all that fearful time, I was abed, for I was among the first victims. Within a year after, and ever since, I have been fully convinced that panic killed more than the cholera, and that hasty burials killed many. My own experience was that to overhear the word pronounced by one at a little distance partially paralyzed me. And such was the general fear that it brought on the bowel symptoms, and the paralysis following brought the cramps and collapse.

A Bridal Trip

The following sketch is from the pen of Mrs. Daniel Ruggles, who dates her frontier experiences in Wisconsin from the fall of 1841. Mrs. Ruggles then came to the town of Ridgeway a young bride, where she has since lived, having been one of the very first women in the town, and, up to date, one of the last, with the prospect before her of many more years of usefulness in the enjoyment of the fruits of the past years of labor and deprivation : '' My coming to Wisconsin," she says, " was in itself quite an episode in my life, as I not only left the home of my youth and severed the warmest ties of friendship, but I also was going on my bridal tour, after the marriage experiences which my husband speaks of in his reminiscence. I remember, as it it were but yesterday, our embarkation on the Great Western on the 7th of November, 1841. Every nook and cranny of the huge vessel was seemingly crowded with emigrants, who were, with the exception of one young lady, all men. The weather was so intensely cold that the decks had to be covered with salt to keep off the ice ; and, what with the cold weather and a pork-and-potato diet, my voyage, although a ' bridal tour,' of necessity, was not very agreeable.

Having visited Fort Detroit, and taken a look at Mackinaw on our way, we finally, on the Ist of December, landed at a sloughy place with a few shanties and one hotel stuck up, known as Milwaukie. Here ray husband found a man with a team, who was going to Hazel Green, in Green County, whom he hired for $10 to take us out to Ridgeway. The next morning, we embarked on a new but not more agreeable conveyance, and started for our future home.

'' The details of that journey, if fully given, would almost fill a small volume, so I will mention only a few incidents. Every old settler knows full well how agreeable the journey must have been forty years ago to one utterly unused to roughing it. On the way, we stopped at the little hamlet of Prairieville, which has since become a famous watering-place, known as Waukesha ; also at old Fort Atkinson and Troy, where we found an Eastern family, and, as much or more to our liking, a comfortable bed.

" We stopped over one night near Madison, sleeping in one corner of a room thirty feet long, that had twelve beds set up in it, with the heads all to the north ; it is to be presumed for convenience sake, rather than to have them toward the North Star. I did not sleep much that night; the variety of snores was too much for my nerves, and effectually banished Morpheus from behind the curtain that separated my bed from the others. At Madison, we were entertained by James Morrison, a genial landlord, who, it is said, was one of the very first settlers in this country. Tliat same evening, we stopped at the ' Campbell House,' in the town of Cross Pliiins, Dane County, where seventeen others also stopped the same night. They were members of the Legislature, and iimong them was Maj. Rouiidtree, of Platteville. I presume, if any of them should see this, that they will remember the occasion, and how the landlady had to walk out on a plank to the fire in order to keep out of the water in the kitchen. At Blue Mounds, or Brigham's Place, we were kindly cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Parks, who have since lived in Iowa County, and have been reckoned among the best of my friends.

" During the winter of 1842, well remembered among the old settlers on account of the early fall of snow wiiich did not leave until the last of the following .Vpril, I lived with the family of George W. Ilickcox, well known as one of the noblest men of the early days. That year, the Governor of the Territory issued a proclamation for Thanksgiving. Mr. and Mrs. Hickcox being Eastern people, were only too glad to continue the favorite customs of their native New England, anil at once invited in a few friends, atid thus was celebrated the first Thanksgiving in this seetion of the country. Among those present were John Messersmith and wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Parks. On Christmas Day, we all went to Mr. Messersmiths', where were assembled a goodly representation of the pioneers of the surrounding country. Those who were there that arc now living will well remember the affair as one of the pleasantest of ' Lang Syne.'

" In the spring of 1843, ray husband bought four yokes of cattle, at $50 per yoke, and began work for himself, teaming, breaking, etc. On one of his trips to Milwaukee, he purchased articles for housekeeping; then we moved into a cabin formerly owned by James Morrison and began living under our own vine and fig-tree, so to speak. During this season, the house where we now live was built by Judge Wilson, and on Christmas Day we moved in, and have lived here happily ever since. At that time, our nearest neighbors were five miles distant, and all of our friends commiserated us that we were so foolish as to settle in such an out-of-the-way place.

'- In January, 1844, Judge Wilson was married to Amanda Wigginton, and boarded with us the next summer. I remember at one time during that season how we got out of candies. The prospect of sitting in the dark to look at each other not being pleasant, I thought I would see what I could do to provide a light; so taking a trumpet- weed, I drew in a tape, then poured in tallow, and thus succeeded in getting as good a light as we were wont to have before such a thing as kerosene oil was known.

The first years that we lived in this valley, deer were very plenty, and hunters from Mineral Point, Madison and Jancsville used to come out here and stay weeks at a time. Among those who came quite often, who were very successful, were the Messrs. Lathrop, O'Neill, Sublitt, Toay, Fields, the Kelleys and Van Meters. They generally came to have a big time ; telling yarns and playing seven- up were the amusements of the evenings. At one time, there were seventeen dressed deer hanging in the trees near the house, the victims of those fun-loving Nimrods. The first women besides myself in the valley, which might then have been termed the vale of lonesomeness, were Mrs. Bassett, Mrs. Dodge and Mrs. Martell.

"The cholera of 1850 was the most terrible affliction that has ever visited the county since I have resided here. It raged in Mineral Point, Dodgeville and Highland, creating fearful havoc among the people. At that time, our house became a sort of rendezvous for a good many families. I have always thought it a judgment of God visited upon the people for their wickedness and unclcanliness. However, the good suffered alike with the bad, as is always the case.

1860, I took a trip East, and. for the first time, rode on the cars, at that time a .some what novel experience. Who could have predicted forty or even thirty years ago that this country, then almost perfectly wild, would be at this time so completely settled and cultivated, and supplied with almost every necessity of the highest civilization. ' I never think of it that I do not wonder what our successors of fort v years will witness."