Sauk County, Wisconsin - Chapter 20: Merrimack and Loganville, 1918

Matt's Ferry and the Ferry Road - North Western Reaches Merrimack - Village of Today - Recollections of Matt's Ferry - Town of Westfield and Loganville.

Previous to the coming of Chester Mattson in 1847, who started Matt '8 Ferry at what is now the Village of Merrimack, only one enterprise had been established which had any lasting effect on the progress of the locality. That was the gristmill built by H. Searl on section 4, about two miles to the west on what is now known as Searl 's Creek. The mill and little dam were swept away by a freshet within two months from the time the improvements were made, and it was about two years thereafter before David King purchased Mr. Searl's water rights and erected another mill. After running a few years that was burned, and then Mr. King tried his hand again by building a sawmill and a distillery in the same locality.

But the most promising prospects centered at the crossing of the Wisconsin River further east. During the winter after his arrival at the locality in 1847 Mr. Mattson secured a charter from the Legislature authorizing him to construct a state road and operate a ferry. He laid out the road, got his ferry in operation, and was soon busy transporting teams and passengers over the Wisconsin at this convenient crossing. He started a tavern and in 1849, when he secured the establishment of a postoffice at Matt's Ferry on Matt's Ferry Road, the few houses were called Colomar, after the Postmaster General of the United States, from whom Mr. Mattson had obtained his commission. In the same year James Flanders entered a large tract of land in the neighborhood for his brother, W. P. Flanders, who soon came on, and not only came into possession of that tract, but bought Mattson 's interest in the town and ferry. Mr. Flanders also built and opened a store and a hotel and was for quite a long period the leading citizen of the village.

For several years after the North Western reached Merrimack, which had been christened after the town, the village promised to become a considerable shipping point for livestock, grain and produce. The first railroad bridge was built in 1871, and the iron structure which replaced it was completed in 1877. A bridge nearly 2,000 feet long - that also gave Merrimack some standing!

But although the early promise of Merrimack as a leading commercial center, even of Sauk County, has not been realized, it is a pretty little village of about four hundred people, with a bank, a mill and several stores, and quite a prosperous ferry. The latter institution no longer transports livestock, teams and slow-going foot passengers, but rather half a dozen autos at a time. Its owner no longer depends mainly on the current of the Wisconsin River to propel his craft across, but operates it by means of kerosene engines. Merrimack is in the route of the Lincoln Highway which runs up the Baraboo Valley, and in its busy season the ferry transports as many as two or three hundred automobiles daily. Since the Wisconsin River improvements, also, and the forming of the artificial lake at this point, numerous sportsmen and tourists have been drawn thither, many tracts of land have been bought at and near Merrimack for summer residences, and on this score even there has been quite a revival of business and hope among the residents of the locality.

Merrimack has a Methodist Church and a good village school of several grades. Among the societies which have local organizations arc the Modern Woodmen. Mystic Workers, Beavers and Royal Neighbors. Its Community Club and Red Cross branch are doing their parts in encouraging a civic spirit and making a relief contribution to the swelling international fund. No corner of any county in the United States is exempt from the operations of that vast benevolence.

As the residents of Merrimack are still almost as proud of their modern ferry as they were in the best days of the old concern, the following paper contributed by John D. -lones, a resident of Chicago when it was written in 1913, is of special interest. He writes as follows:

"My text will be found iti the Sauk County History, published in 1880 by the Chicago Historical Company. Speaking of early settlers, it says of Chester Mattson : 'He came in 1847 and during the ensuing winter succeeded in getting a charter for state road and ferry. Soon after this the road was regularly laid out and very soon we find a stage making regular trips over it, and Mattson engaged in transporting teams and passengers over the river. The road was known as Matt's Ferry road. Mattson started the second building in the place for a tavern but did not finish it. Soon after (1849) W. P. Flanders came on, and within a short time purchased Mattson 's interest in the tavern and ferry for $700. About 1853 or 1854 Mr. Flanders finished building the hotel which had been started by Mattson.'

"My personal knowledge of Matt's Ferry begins in the fall of 1856. At that time the hotel was doing a thriving business, as delays in crossing the river on the small ferry boat made it necessary to stop there for meals and often lodging. My father, H. M. Jones, had a livery business in Madison and frequently passed over the road from Madison to Baraboo with passengers. Stopping often at this hotel he was impressed with the opportunity to make money in its ownership.

"We found also that Mr. Flanders came from the same section of New Hampshire that he did, and this helped him into the purchase of what he afterwards found to be a gold brick of the rankest kind. The purchase price was in the neighborhood of $3,000, an amount of money which, if invested rightly on the prairie he crossed to get to Matt's Ferry, would have made him independently rich.

' ' The fact that the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad was extending its line from Portage to La Crosse (which was finished in 1858) was the reason Mr. Flanders wanted to sell out. This escaped ray . fathers observation. This extension completed, all through travel by way of Matt's Ferry ceased and both the hotel and ferry became unprofitable to their owners, although continued by one and another for many years afterward.

"The state road spoken of in my text with a few minor changes can be traced from Madison to Baraboo by the line of the telegraph, at first known as the Bankers' and Merchants', but later bought out by the Western Union Company, which accomplishes the object of its construction. Leaving the village of Matt's Ferry the road used to run in an almost northerly direction through the lot occupied by the old tavern (now the property of Mrs. Behrens) up east of the present schoolhouse. through lands once owned by H. Behrens. A. Halbman and L. Premo, coming into a road running east and west along the foot of the Baraboo bluffs near the Thomas Degan place.

"This old road can probably he traced yet by the difference in the growth of grain sown on it and by its side. This road had been changed shortly before we came to Matt's Ferry, as it is at present, but the old road was also used and one of my earliest memories is that a butcher, Mr. Pratt, nf Baraboo, driving over in a cutter, stopping at the tavern and telling of having seen two deer a little distance back. My father took a shotgun loaded with buckshot, went back a few rods, found the

"The name of the village, Matt's Ferry, was changed by Mrs. J. Q. Train to Merrimack (spell it with a k, please) after Merrimack County, New Hampshire, in 1855, but the old name clung for a long time and probably old guide boards are still in existence pointing to Matt 's Ferry as one of the peculiarities of the Wisconsin river.

' 1 The Wisconsin river has several peculiarities, a few of which I will mention. It is a river of great volume and swift flowing, subject to large freshets from melting snow and heavy rains. If confined to steep banks, Cc^"/ as many rivers are, great damage would follow from these periods of Lg&j&\ extra volume and we hardly ever, with the exception of the Dalles, find " high banks on both sides of the stream Opposite a high bank of clay *" or sandstone, we generally find a stretch of low bottom land, of more or less width before coming to high ground, and this affords room for the waters of the freshet to spread out and avert damage that otherwise, i fe +*y re*** must occur. Another peculiarity is the changeable current or channel, ' ^jj where today you find a good, deep channel, a year from now one may r * find shallows or even dry land. Sand is constantly being washed down - in larger quantities, of course, during a freshet, and whenever an obstruction is offered to the current, you will find the sand settling and finally forming a permanent bar if the obstruction remains. This fact led to expenditure of quite an amount of money by the government in so-called river improvements, building wing dams of brush and stone out into the river, to form bars of sand, and in this way narrow and deepen the channel so as to make navigation possible. -

"It looks to me at this distance to have been a very foolish waste of money, although at the time I was enjoying a little extra patronage in consequence of the employment given customers, and I thought it a n very wise undertaking. These deposits of sand are left above the water ^r^'^ " when the river falls to normal volume, and soon the seeds of willows, cotton woods, maples, birch, elms and other soft wooded trees take root and in a short time we have a forest of young trees, and the bar becomes an island or a stretch of bottom land.

"Our old friend, Fred Lang, had extensive nurseries on these bars, bumming them in bundles, loading cars and shipping them out for sale to the early settlers of South Dakota. I do not think any of them could have lived long, as they require much water and do not find it in sufficient quantity on upland.

"To operate a ferry such as Mattson installed, it is necessary to have a strong current and a constant channel all the way across. Anyone on terms of intimate acquaintance with the Wisconsin river knows few , -/ > places have their requisites. The one ideal spot is the one Mattson selected. This is now occupied by the Chicago & North Western Railroad bridge.

some sixty feet above the river bed. On the opposite side is a small area of bottom land separated from the main land by Spring creek leading into the river a few rods further down.

\tff to the West Point side. After a while this bridge was washed away and another ferry was used across the creek nearer the landing of the river ^ ferry. In high water this bottom land would be inundated and teams would have to ford to the bridge, unless too deep, in which case the ferry boat would be detached from the overhead cable and poled to and from the bridge. The modus operandi of the river ferry was very simple. Use of the current was to propel the boat across. A strong cable was suspended in the air squarely across the current from shore to shore. To this cable the boat was attached by lines, starting on windlasses at each upper corner of the boat, and attached at the other end to larger pulleys in wooden hoods, running on the overhead cable.

"The operator, after pushing the boat off the shore, would wind up .c* the line on the end of the boat in the direction he wanted to go, until to give one or two encouraging shoves with a pole to start the ball rolling and this would start the pulley to rolling on the cable as far as it could, the current would swing the boat over to a right-angle position and the momentum of the boat would carry it farther. This would cause the pulley to make another run and so on like the pendulum of a clock until the crossing was made. Often such headway would be made that the operator would have to slacken the speed by lowering the end of the boat wound up to nearly right angles with the large cable.

"As the current 'did the work' like the 'Gold Dust Twins,' it must be constantly on the job. Hence the necessity for having the right place to operate a ferry. The boat used was a flat bottomed scow, some forty feet long and sixteen feet wide, having wooden aprons or platforms that could be let down to enable a team to drive onto the boat. Two double teams was about the limit of its capacity. Passengers on foot either rode over when teams were crossing or were carried over in skiffs. In busiest times it required two men to operate this ferry, but in dull times one man was captain and crew. The cable across the river at first was a three-inch manilla, heavily tarred to protect it from wear and weather. It was attached on the Merrimack shore to a large upright windlass, sufficient extra length being left on the windlass to permit of its lowering into the water, deep enough to allow the passage over it of any steamboat. The windlass was fastened to two strong horizontal bars firmly bolted to two large white oak stumps. The other end of the cable across the river ran over an upright timber some forty feet high, braced by a tripod of timbers and from there down to a large rock. It was no easy job to raise and lower this cable and it took several strong men to do it. Steamboats generally came in close to the Merrimack shore where they could pass under the cable. This old manilla cable would sag in dry weather, becoming taut in wet weather and sometimes would get so low as to catch onto the sleeping houses of the rafts. One day it stripped one off entirely and so enraged the raftsman that he swore he would cut it down his next trip. He kept his promise by attempting to do so, but only cut it badly enough to cause it to break some time afterward.

"In its place Mr. Flanders, at quite an expense, put up a wire cable fAiU r woven same as the cables in the suspension bridges. It had not been long in place when a boat passing down the river called for a lowering of the cable, but, as usual, was told to come inshore and pass under, which, in attempting to do, lost a portion of its smokestack. The next day, when returning up the river, they called again for a lowering of the cable. Mr. Flanders again told them to come in shore and pass under. They refused and called again for the cable to be lowered or they would pull it down. Mr. Flanders laughed at this threat, telling them the cable was wire and would hold their boat suspended in air, if necessary, before breaking. Their answer was to steam up and throw a heavy manilla cable over it and then requested again that the cable be lowered. Mr. Flanders again refused and starting down stream at full speed they broke the cable as easily as if it had been a pipe stem.

"Here was trouble sure, and the purchase of another expensive cable seemed unavoidable. At this juncture Nathaniel Burgess, an old salt water sailor, modestly suggested that he thought he could splice this cable even if it was wire. He was given permission to try, and succeeded so well that the cable was still in use the last I knew. Mr. Flanders was so overjoyed at this great saving to him that he opened his heart and also his purse and gave Mr. Burgess a quarter, which, I think, proved to be a good one. It would take many pages to write half my memories of happenings in connection with this ferry.

"It was in truth 'the key to the situation' and about all that in any way relieved the stagnation of the little town. The arrival and departure daily of the stage, running from Baraboo to Madison was an event that commanded the attention of every man, woman, child and dog in the place. People who were never known to get a letter arrived ahead of time and watched the postmaster change the mail, inquiring of him if there was anything for them, going away openly doubting his veracity f <*--*/ when he said 'No.' This stage carried passengers as well as mail and i'W' it was a long, uncomfortable day's ride to Madison, where now the trip can be made in an hour in comfort.

"It comes to my mind how I once crossed on this ferry going to visit a boy friend who lived just across the river. The river was high and the bottom land between where the ferry stopped and the bridge was under water. Too bashful to ask to ride I attempted to wade. Finding the water too deep, I mounted an old slab and with a pole undertook to ride there, with the result that my slab slipped from under me and I was dumped in water over my head. I did as most do when supreme aid is wanted, and called on God to help me. My prayer was answered in the usual way, by my helping and swimming in some way to a stump, which I crawled upon and called lustily for human help, which was soon given me by some men passing in a boat. I was taken to the bridge and went on my visit, although wet to the skin. I couldn't swim for a long time after this and was never noted as a leader in prayer meeting. Nor was it a case of early piety as the ferryman, in answer to my mother's rebuke for allowing me to make the effort, said he told me to stay on the boat and I told him to go to - , as I could take care of myself. He was known as a man of veracity, so I never disputed him.

"Indians were more often seen in those days, and they made regular trips to Madison to draw the annuities and supplies. They could cross without charge when no paying custom was waiting. The time they had to wait was used by the squaws begging from house to house, the bucks lying on the ground smoking and grunting, the boys shooting pennies from split sticks with bows and arrows. The few boy friends I had and myself would study their bows and arrows, how they were made and trimmed, how they held them when shooting, and copying after them as well as we could. When these Indians returned from Madison decked out in their new bright green, red and blue blankets and fresh paint on their faces, they were a sight to be remembered.

"I call to mind the crossing on the ferry of the first volunteers from Baraboo, who enlisted for ninety days expecting the trouble would all be over in that time, the remark of a southern sympathizer that he hoped they would get their heads broken, he having to retire to save his own. I also remember their return after Bull Run had taught its lesson. Again 1 recall the crossing here of the company from Delton, going to join the Twelfth Wisconsin. They had to wait in crossing and built a bivouac by the river, around which they gathered, and we boys close enough to listen to what their captain, who had seen service, told them of what was in store for them. Many had their wives, and I was old enough to realize the agony they endured in parting, perhaps forever. That war was what General Sherman afterwards said it was. I knew them. These are but a few of the many things so firmly impressed on my mind as never to be forgotten."

The first scattered settlers of the Town of Westfield selected their homes only four years before Chauncey P. Logan built his log cabin on the southeast corner of section 8, near Narrows Creek, on the site of the village which afterward took his name. That was in February, 1854. R. B. Balcom soon joined Mr. Logan and the two, with their families, lived together for several years. A number of others came in the summer of 1854 and during the season William Palmer erected the first frame house in the village. Mr. Logan and S. N. Kinsley, another of the new arrivals, commenced to build a dam and sawmill, and in the following spring the mill commenced sawing and a postoffice was established at the settlement called Loganville. As Mr. Logan thereby had enough honor, Mr. Kinsley was appointed postmaster. The two then built a schoolhousc at their own expense, which the district afterward bought and Mr. Kinsley was the first to teach in it.

Rev. S. A. Dwinnell, a Congregational minister, held the first religious services of the village in Mr. Logan's log cabin, the Baptists and Presbyterians organized churches within the next five years, and in 1861 Messrs. Palmer and D. J. Mackay added a gristmill to the other useful institutions of Loganville. In the meantime the German Lutherans had organized churches several miles southeast of the village, and the societies were afterward induced to move their headquarters to Loganville. As the country developed around it in an agricultural way the village was recompensed for the loss of its sawmill by the establishment of other industries. It has now a flour mill, an auto, repair shop, a milk receiving station, four or five good stores, and a bank. The last named - the Loganville State Bank - was founded in November, 1915, and there has been no change in the following management: William Riggert, president; C. Kocnig, vice president; John Riggert, cashier. Its capital is $10,000; surplus, $2,000; undivided profits, $1,500; average deposits, $140,000.