Trempealeau County, Wisconsin - Chapter 14: Place Names, 1917

Trempealeau County is rich in place names. Some are picturesque and original, others are commonplace and duplicates of those found in other localities. Some are the names of national heroes, some perpetuate historic incidents, some are fanciful and poetic, some are descriptive, and hundreds bear the names of early settlers. Some were chosen dehberately, and some are the result of natural growth. Some are very old, dating back to the explorers and fur traders, while others are very recent, and have not yet become entirely fixed. For the most part the origin of the names is known, though there is yet much research to be done to determine who applied the names, and when and under what circumstances they were first applied. The following list is a brief summary of the subject, its purpose being to form a basis for future study and investigation :

Arcadia is the name given to the township by Mrs. David Bishop, who was afterward Mrs. Sarah Mercer. It was suggested by Noah Comstock from the real or fancied resemblance of the valley to the state of Arcadia in ancient Greece, a beautiful locality, the inhabitants of which, according to the ancient poets, enjoyed a peaceful and happy life.

Burnside was named after Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside (born 1824, died 1881), for a short time commander of the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War.

Caledonia is the Latin name for Scotland. It was applied to the present township by Alex, and Donald McGilvray, and other early Scotch settlers.

Dodge was named from William E. Dodge, philanthropist ; a prominent financier for many years in New York. He was associated with John I. Blair, Moses Taylor, Joseph H. Scranton, E. F. Hatfield and others in the construction of the Green Bay & Western Railroad and was also connected with many philanthropic institutions and at one time was the treasurer of the Protestant Syrian College at Constantinople, Turkey.

Hale is named from George Hale, its first settler. He was born in Glastenbury, Conn., and came to Trempealeau County in 1858, settling about nine miles above what is now Independence.

Preston was named from Susan H. Reynolds, the wife of Edmond M. Reynolds, one of the earliest settlers of Preston Township. Mrs. Reynolds came of the old New England family of Prestons, and at the first town meetings Mr. Reynolds proposed that the town be named in her honor.

Sumner Township was named after the distinguished American senator and statesman, Charles Sumner (born in 1811, died 1874), who was one of the leaders of the abolition party and a confidential advisor to President Lincoln during the Civil War.

Trempealeau is a corrupted form of the French phrase, La Montagne Qui Trempe Dans L'Eau, meaning the Mountain that is Steeped in Water. This name was applied as early as 1731 and possibly earlier. It was the French translation of the Winnebago word, Hay-nee-ah-chah, the Soaking Mountain. The Sioux name was Pah-hah-dah, the Moved Mountain.

Unity. When this township was organized Dennis Lawler felt that he was entitled to the honor of having it named after him, but P. B. Williams, another early settler, wished to call it Unity, which was the name of the town in Maine from which he had come. Upon the suggestion of Noah Comstock the matter was decided by lot, and Mr. Williams drawing the longest "cut" named the town Unit.

Blair was named from John Insley Blair of Blairstown, N. J., a stockholder in the Green Bay & Western. During the Civil War he advanced the Federal government over $1,000,000. He presented $6,000 to endow an academy in his home town ; he assisted in the building of Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, and he was a large contributor to Princeton University and Lafayette College. He also built more than a hundred churches throughout the western states. Mr. Blair died at his home in 1899 at the age of 97 years. The village of Blair was originally platted as Porterville.

Eleva was named by R. P. Goddard of Mondovi, Wis., on the suggestion of Mr. Gates, who formerly lived there. The origin of the name is unknown to Mr. Goddard, but he thinks that Mr. Gates found a place of that name in France.

Independence was so named because it was platted during the year of the Centennial celebration of American Independence. It is thought that Giles Cripps first suggested the name.

Osseo was started in 1856, and was named by Robert C. Field, one legend says from the Spanish word oso, meaning bear, while another says it came from an Indian word ossi, meaning stone or stony place or stone on stone or having relation to river and stone. The name is used by Longfellow in his Song of Hiawatha. He called Osseo the Son of the Evening Star, and has him, when apparently a very old man, turned into a very handsome and attractive young man. Where Longfellow got the name is not now known. A fanciful explanation given by some of the early settlers is that an Indian, seeing the improvements made by the white men, exclaimed. Oh ! See ! Oh ! thus giving the name Osseo.

Trempealeau Village is named from Trempealeau Mountain. James A. Reed settled here in 1840 and opened his cabin as a tavern. The name Reed's Town or Reed's Landing came to be applied to the place. When the village was platted in 1852 it was called Montoville, the significance being Mountain ViUe.

Whitehall was probably named by Benjamin F. Wing, who platted Old Whitehall. Probably it was named from Whitehall in New York, though it may have been named from a hall painted white. It is possible, also, that

Coral City was at one time a flourishing hamlet located in section 18, Pigeon Township. The construction of the Green Bay & Western Railroad in 1873 blasted its hopes of future greatness. At one time Coral City had its Main street. State street. Public square and prospects of a prosperous future. It had several general stores, shops, hotels, saloons, a good hiiU; in brief, all the equipments for a lively, busy country village. But later its business was absorbed by the I'ailroad towns. The Wright brothers, Phineas and Benjamin, may be credited with beginning the town. They built a flouring mill in the summer of 1863, and other places of business soon followed. Egbert Carpenter, C. E. Scott, Andrew Olson, Ryland Parker, Dr. Shelden and Seneca Johnson are well remembered names of some of its business men. Granville McFarland, one of the men employed in building the dam for the mill, is probably more responsible for the name given to this place than anyone else. While digging dirt on the north side of the creek for the dam some queer-looking rock was found. McFarland, it appears, made Pheaneas Wright, who headed the enterprise for building the mill, believe that the rock was coral. Mr. Wright, who was one of the best and most straightforward men in the country, not knowing he had been imposed upon by a practical joker, platted the village and called it "Coral City." The village was noted in the early days for its law suits, which served not only to settle disputes, but also afl:orded highly seasoned amusement. Some of the trials in the justice court there lasted for over a week. The noted flood in March, 1876, entirely destroyed the mill built by the Wrights, but the following summer another mill took its place. This mill and some sightly houses are now all that remains of a once flourishing settlement.

Porterville, the name under which Blair was originally platted, was named for Richard Porter, who settled on land now occupied in part by the village, June, 1855, and died July 26, of the same year, as the result of an encounter with a band of wolves near Galesville. His son, Duke Porter, platted the village in 1873, and gave it the name of Porterville. But when the railroad established a station near his plat, they gave it the name of Blair.

Strum was named by Congressman William T. Price for his friend, Louis Strum, of Eau Claire, Wis. Under the first Cleveland administration the hamlet was called Tilden, for Samuel J. Tilden, the statesman, but on Jan. 1, 1890, was again changed to Strum.

Centei'ville is named from its geographical location on Trempealeau Prairie. It was originally called Martin's Corners from an early settler.

Dooney's Siding was named from James B. Dooney, present general agent of the Green Bay. It has a wood yard, a stock yard, and a railroad platform and switch. It is an important shipping point for wood and stock, and considerable lime and the like is shipped in.

Dewey's Corners was the name applied to Old Arcadia, from the family of that name prominently identified with its early history. J. I. Dewey, son and nephew of the original Deweys, is still a resident there.

Hegg is in the upper Beaver Creek country, which was naturally settled later than the lower valley. As late as 1871 a postoffice was established in K. K. Hallanger's residence, and Mr. Hallanger was appointed postmaster. The name chosen for the postoffice was Hegg, in honor of Colonel Hegg, commander of the Fifteenth Wisconsin Norwegian Regiment in the Civil War. A short time after this a general merchandise store was opened at Hegg, which is still doing a thriving business.

Iduna. This was the name of the post office established in French Creek Valley in 1899 and which flourished for a short time under the management of John Hovre as postmaster, but ceased to exist when rural routes were established in the vicinity. As Mr. Hovre is still conducting a general mercantile business where the postoffice was located, it is quite probable the name will continue to live, notwithstanding Uncle Sam has shut up shop at that particular place. The tendency to invent a fictitious origin where the true origin is unknown, is well illustrated by a current legend which by some has been accepted as truth. The legend is this : That after the petition for the establishment of a postoffice had been granted, the Postoffice Department sent Mr. Hovre a blank asking him to suggest three names for the postoffice to be established. Hovre, being short on inventing names, and likewise on grammar and spelling, decided to let the government select the name, and wrote across the blank, "I-dono," and sent the paper back to Washington. Whether the department officials misread the final vowels or for the sake of euphony changed them, the legend does not state, but it informs us that the government practically adopted Mr. Hovre's negative reply as the name of the postofRce. Legends properly embalmed by time and fii'mly established in the affections of mankind, unless harmful, ought not to be ruthlessly destroyed. But this particular legend is of too modern birth to have acquired any special sanctity and as the writer is familiar with the true origin of the name, he feels in duty bound to dispel the romantic illusions created by it. When the government blank, already mentioned, was received by Mr. Hovre, it was sent to A. H. Anderson, who had assisted in getting the government's consent to the proposed postoffice. Knowing that this is a big country, with an almost unlimited use for new names, the writer at once turned to his Norse Mythology, and selected three names and sent them to the PostofRce Department. Among fhese was the name "Iduna." According to our Northern Mythology. Iduna was the custodian of the apples of immortality which the gods tasted from time to time to perpetuate their youth. Loki, the spirit of evil, once stole the golden apples, which caused great grief in Valhalla. Iduna's husband was Bragi, the divine bard.

Russell was named from William Russell, who came to the county in 1864 and located in Burnside. When the postoffice was opened in Burnside Township there was considerable controversy over the name. About 20 years ago the office was moved to Chimney Rock Township, where mail was received three times a week until the office was discontinued by reason of the establishment of the rural delivery system. The school district is still known as the Russell district.

Scotia was a postoffice which flourished for a while in section 7, Caledonia. The name indicates the nationality of the eai'ly settlers of that neighborhood.

Skillins' Corners. In 1860 Moses Skillins settled about five miles above Ai-cadia. In 1862 came his brother, Hiram Skillins, a Baptist clergyman. The creek flowing through his farm was called Skillins' Creek and the vicinity came to be called Skillins' Corners. When the postoffice was established the name was changed to WiUiamsburg.

Williamsburg was a name given when a postoffice was established at Skillins' Corners in 1866 with William B. Arnold as postmaster. Mr. Arnold suggested the name for the fact that three WiUiams, himself, William Eastman and William Boorman, all lived in the vicinity.

The Beef or Buffalo River in the days of the French explorers took the name that Hennepin in 1680 applied to the Chippewa River. "Beef" is a corruption of "Beeuf ," the designation applied by the early French explorers to the American buffalo. The R. de Beeufs appears on the earliest maps, though in some of them it is evident that the Chippewa River is meant.

The Black River was called R. Noire, by Hennepin in 1680, and has since borne the English translation of that word. Hennepin says that the Sioux called the river, Cha-be-de-ba or Cha-ba-on-de-ba. The modern Sioux, however, called it Wat-pah-zappa or Minne-sap-pah, meaning Black Water or Black River.

Beaver Creek. Tradition says that two Frenchmen (probably the same Joseph Rocque and companion from whom French Creek was named) wintered on Beaver Creek above Galesville in the days of the trappers, and there caught a large number of beavers. Willard B. Bunnell and James Reed also caught many beavers there and gave the creek its name.

Cedar Creek was named by Willard B. Bunnell and James Reed. In the early days it was the haunt of many deer. The creek was named because of the abundance of dry red cedar used by Mr. Bunnell and Mr. Reed in "fire hunting."

Elk Creek was named in 1842 by Willard B. Bunnell and William Smothers while on a hunting expedition. The valley of Elk Creek is usually called Pleasant Valley.

French Creek, according to Winnebago tradition, was so called from the fact that Joseph Rocque, the father of Augustine Rocque, once maintained his wintering ground in that vicinity while hunting and trapping in the Beaver Creek Valley.

Pigeon Creek was named by Willard B. Bunnell and William Smothers while on a hunting trip. Bunnell then lived at Reed's Town (Trempealeau) and Smothers at Holmes' Landing (Fountain City). Of the great flocks of pigeons that frequented this vicinity in the early days L. H. Bunnell says : "I was returning in a canoe from a trip up the river (in 1842) and as I came in sight of the oak timber then growing on the Wisconsin side below the site of the lower bridge, I saw clouds of pigeons settling to roost, when crash, would fall an oak limb, and then a noise would follow like the letting off of steam. It did not occur to me at first, what it was that made the latter noise, but as I approached nearer, and saw limb after limb fall, some of them very large size, and then heard the increased noise, I saw, and heai'd, that it was numberless pigeons breaking down the limbs and chattering in glee at their having overloaded and broken them down. Some of the young Sioux were watching the 'roost,' to see if any had commenced laying, for some were already building nests, and when I told James Reed of the Indians being there and not a shot fired at the pigeons, he told me that the Indians never disturbed pigeons or ducks by shooting at them when nesting, and that the life of a man doing so would not be safe among the Sioux, as the whole tribe would feast upon the squabs as soon as big enough. The pigeon roost extended for 25 miles below La Crosse, as reported to us by up-coming steamboats, and where there was heavy timber, the same scenes were repeated that I had witnessed - the whole length of the roost being about

45 miles. Pigeons are easily disturbed and driven away when they commence nesting, but when they begin to set, they are not so easily scared."

Pine Creek was named after the towering scattered pines which grew in abundance in that vicinity, some of which stand today, one being utilized by a farmer as a tower for his windmill, a little south of the Pine Creek church, the central building in Pine Creek village.

The Big and Little Tamarack creeks were named from the abundance of tamarack timber grown along their banks and in the bottom lands and adjoining. Al and Abe Holcomb, two early settlers, built a sawmill on the prairie near their homes to manufacture this timber into lumber for building and fence purposes. The old mill was doing business in 1870 and remained many years later to serve a very useful purpose, when its site and building were put to use as a grist mill by Squire A. Pickett, later purchased by John Bonum and Stephen Richmond, and Bonum's interest conveyed to Blackhawk Johnson, who in 1878 purchased the whole property and continued the milling business a number of years. The mill and power are in recent years nearly unknown.

Trempealeau River received its name from Trempealeau Mountain and Bay. It was called by the Winnebagoes Ne-chann-ne-shan-ah-ga, or overflowing stream, and by the Sioux Wat-pah-dah, the moving stream.

Trout Creek or Trout River was named by Willard B. Bunnell. As the Sioux seldom fished, but confined their activities in this line to spearing large fish with a spear, the spring creeks were filled with trout of good size. In the early '40s Mr. Bunnell once caught six dozen trout in Trout Creek in a few hours. The larger trout were caught in the main stream, but they did most of their spawning in Little Trout Creek.

There are no natural lakes in Trempealeau County, but the streams are dammed in many places, forming artificial lakes. Trempealeau Lake, so called, is merely a portion of the Mississippi River.

Marinuka Lake is an artificial body of water formed by the mill dam at Galesville. Charles E. Freeman (letter to Stephen Richmond, Jan. 21, 1912, now in the possession of the Trempealeau County Historical Society) says: "At the head of the lake at Galesville, on the property known as the Arctic Springs, is the headstone that marks the resting place of Marie Nounka, a granddaughter of One-Eyed Decorah. She died in 1884, and in the old Galesville Independent for the week beginning Oct. 5, 1884, there appeared the following notice: 'Death of an Indian Princess - The Princess Marie Nunka, granddaughter of the great chief Decorah, died on the morning of Oct. 4, 1884, at the Arctic Springs, and was buried at midnight of the same day on a point of land belonging to the springs property. An impressive ceremony was performed with only the light of the moon to shadow forth the dusky figures of the red men and the few spectators present. Wallace Parker, John Sheely and Charles E. Freeman prepared the grave, as the relatives are not allowed to help in this part of the cei-emony. G. Y. Freeman wishes to state that any desecration of the grave will be resented by him to the full extent of the law.' A good head- stone was placed at the head of the grave and the facts of her genealogy engraved upon it. In the summer of 1911 the body was removed across the little creek and is now resting about a rod south of the road. Mr. Gardner and son, Bert Gipple, Dr. Mailer and myself, with one or two others, assisted in the transfer of the body to its new resting place. A few years after her death, on motion of A. A. Arnold at a meeting of the village board, it was decided to christen the little lake at the edge of the village Marinuka, which is an abbreviation of the woman's full name, Marie Nounka. Byron Olds has written and pubhshed a song entitled, 'By Marinuka's Moonlit Shore.' "

Chapultepec Peak is named from Mount Chapultepec, Mexico, at whose base, two miles from the City of Mexico, the Battle of Chapultepec was fought Sept. 12 and 13, 1847. Charles J. Cleveland, whose father was a veteran of that battle, was an early settler of Big Tamarac. In the spring of 1856 he located at Big Bend, in charge of the lumber and rafting business of Thomas Douglas. In one of his trips to La Crosse in 1856, he purchased a rifle, and instead of returning home by the usual route, he sent his team by a hired man, and returned by way of McGilvray's Ferry, traveled through Galesville, up along Beaver Creek, and crossed the divide into Trempealeau Valley. He observed a mountain on the top of that valley, which appeared to him to resemble the description of the Mexican mountain described by his father. He therefore called it by the name of Chapultepec.

Chimney Rock is a towering, ragged pile, caused, as other similar formations in Western Wisconsin, by the erosive action of the wind, snow, frost and rain, wearing away the surrounding formations and leaving the rock in its present shape and condition. The work of erosion is still going on. The rock is the highest point in the vicinity. It was originally called Devil's Chimney and was a landmark to guide the traveler of the early days. The rock is now obscured by trees.

Decorah Peak was named from the Indian dynasty of Decorah, of which extended mention is made in the Indian chapter in this work. The name is variously spelled, the form "Decora" being possibly in more general use in Trempealeau County than the form "Decorah" used in this history. Charles E. Freeman writing to Stephen Richmond on Jan. 21, 1912 (manuscript in the library of the Trempealeau County Historical Society) says: "I remember quite distinctly a visit my parents made to Decorah's encampment at the mouth of the Little Tamarack, when I was very small. My father saw him and tells me that he was lying down, resting upon his elbow. He was naked to the waist, and was the finest specimen of manhood he ever saw, tall, big-muscled and having the appearance of a bronze statue. He was nearly blind and was very old. There is a legend that a battle was fought on the Black River, just south of Decorah's Peak, and that after Decorah's warriors were beaten he hid himself in a cave of the peak until it was safe for him to make his v/^ay to Prairie du Chien. In confirmation of this, Bert Gipple, editor of the Galesville Repubhcan, tells me that when a boy attending Gale College, he, with several others, accompanied a man from Washington, D. C, over to the Peak and was there shown a place where Indians had been buried. The boys dug into the mound and found a confused mass of many skeletons in a very mouldy and decomposed condition. One skull, however, was well preserved. This they took home and gave it to the Winona High School to place in their museum. This mound is about 40 rods south of the Peak. Mr. Gipple says he looked for the mound some years after this and found it only with the greatest difficulty." The Prairie was originally called Scotch Prairie, but gradually assumed the name of the Peak.

Oak Openings, or The Openings, was the name applied by the early settlers to a stretch of land embracing parts of Caledonia and Trempealeau townships. The name is self-explanatory. The fall and spring fires since the earliest time had swept down the valleys and the bluff's and over the Prairie from the northwest, dying out when they reached the southern part of the Prairie, where they encountered the region of sun-dried and wind-swept sands. Thus safe from fires, and protected by the Mississippi and Black rivers, the timber made a struggle for life in what was a small desert, converting it into a desirable tract for agricultural endeavor.

Trempealeau Prairie is one of the distinctive geological features of the county. The causes that have made the Prairie are explained by George H. Squier elsewhere in that work.

Whistler Pass is one of the remarkable geographical formations of the county. The winds from the northwest sweep through it with great force, and with a whistling sound that has caused many to make an incorrect guess as to the origin of the name. It has been said that Selfus Spain, an early settler of Cross Township, in Buffalo County, and later a resident of Fountain City, gave the name. He and his family crossed the pass in 1856, having to chain all the wheels to get his wagon down the bluff. He camped at the foot of the bluff on the north side, and during the night noted the moaning and whistling of the wind in the depression of the hill over which he had just passed. However, the name of W^histler's Pass had been given some time previous. Reese Whistler had filed on a claim in section 14 in 1853, but so far as is known did not then settle there. In 1855 Martin Whistler settled in Pine Creek Valley and opened a trail over the hills into a branch of Tamarack Valley to meet the road leading to Trempealeau, his market-place. This trail became the main road into the upper part of Pine Creek Valley and later was the main road from Trempealeau to Arcadia. The portion over the divide toward Whistler's place was known as Whistler's Pass. Ichabod Wood, also an Englishman, came and settled near Whistler within about a year. Of the unusual scenery in this vicinity Dr. Pierce has said : "Last August we drove up the west side of Tamarack Valley and over Whistler's Pass. It was a lovely day, cool and refreshing, and breezy, and the farmers were busy in the spreadiflg harvest fields cutting grain. From Whistler's Pass it was a beautiful sight down the Tamarack, and off on Trempealeau Prairie. Field after field of yellow grain spread out over the country and here and there the grain was shocked. On the stubble fields the red wild buckwheat showed its gaudy color. Far across the prairie the Trempealeau bluffs loomed green against the blue sky. Then we turned and on the other side of the Pass, in Pine Creek Valley, a new panorama opened to view with broad fields of golden grain and green meadow lands. What scenes one encounters along the country road, among our cozy Wisconsin hills in the summer time. Strange-shaped bluffs peering down with their green slopes adorned with grazing herds of cattle, rocky peaks with their white limestone, and then the little valleys, the woodland haunts and waving grain and rustling cornfields."

Trempealeau County is filled with valleys and cooleys, all bearing a local name, usually the name of the first or most prominent settler in the locality. The names of hundreds of these vales are yet to be gathered by the earnest historian of future years. The origin of a few of the typical names is here presented :

Abraham's Cooley, six miles north of Galesville, is named from Abraham Madson, a native of Norway, who came to Trempealeau County from Coon Valley, Vernon County, in the spring of 1863 and here spent the remainder of his life. Following Mr. Madson the early settlers in the valley were Andrew Anstensen, Ole Olson Sorgendahl, Johanes Nelson Berge, Andrew Lebakken and Christian Breningen.

Borst Valley was named after Martin W. Borst, who located several sections of land there at an early date and opened up hundreds of acres of this choice soil to grain and tame grass.

Holcomb Cooley was named after Al and Abe Holcomb, who purchased or by homestead claim took up lands there from which they removed the timber to their sawmill on the Prairie. A son of Abe Holcomb, Henry Hibbard, lived on these lands in the fall of 1870 and for several years afterward.

Hungary Valley, also called Latsch Valley, takes its name from the large number of Hungarian Poles who settled in the valley from 1865 to 1870, the first to come being Frank Pellowski, whose sons, Jake, Frank and Barney, are all prominent men in the county.

Lake Cooley is named from Henry Lake, who settled there in 1856 and secured extensive tracts of land. He was widely noted for his hospitality,

Latsch Valley was named in honor of John Latsch, a native of Switzerland, who in 1856 settled near the creek at the mouth of the valley which is located a few miles above the present village of Dodge. He later became founder of the firm of Latsch & Son, wholesale grocers at Winona. From 1865 to 1870 a number of Polish and Hungarian settlers located in the main valley, and the name Hungary Valley came to be applied. By some the whole valley is called Hungary Valley, by some it is called Latsch Valley, while others apply the name of Latsch Valley to the region where Mr. Latsch settled, and the name Hungary Valley to the main portion of the vallej'.

Lewis Valley is named from Captain John D. Lewis, a veteran of the Civil War and of the Colorado Indian campaign, who settled in the valley that now bears his name, in May, 1866. He lived in the valley the remainder of his life and became one of the county's leading men.

Niffin Cooley, the valley of Niffin Creek, which flows into Lewis Valley, is named from Lewis Niffin, who took a claim on the creek, four miles above Arcadia, and remained there about a year.

Norway Cooley was so named because all its early settlers were of the Norwegian race. The first to arrive was Knudt Leofson Strand, who is still living there on his old homestead. Mr. Strand, who came to America with his wife and one child in 1861, had located in Vernon County, Wisconsin, where he heard such favorable reports of Trempealeau County that he resolved to investigate them. With a friend named John Gunderson he came to the county in the summer of 1863 and, selecting a pleasant location in Holcomb Cooley, the two men began cutting hay. But hearing of good land to the northward they started out on a further trip of exploration and after a long tramp reached the mouth of one of the most beautiful cooleys they had ever seen. Here Mr. Strand determined to locate, and accordingly went to La Crosse and filed claims. In the following spring he came back and built a hut, also a shed as shelter for some stock he had brough' with him. In June of the same year, 1864, he brought his family and began in earnest the task of developing a farm.

Reynolds Cooley, Preston Township, was named from Edmond M. Reynolds, an early settler. The ridge over which the early settlers came into this valley from the Ettrick country is now pierced by a great "cut" to allow the passage of the Ettrick & Northern Raib-oad.

Travis Valley is named from Joshua Travis, an Indian herb doctor who settled in the valley at an early date. The valley is often incorrectly called Traverse Valley, but the man's own signature shows the correct spelling.

Tromp Cooley is named from John Von Tromp, a carpenter by trade, who in 1855 settled on what is now the Bernt Peterson farm. He afterward sold and secured a farm across the Trempealeau River at the mouth of the valley which has since been called in his honor. He afterward moved to Iowa.

Thompson Valley was named after three brothers by the name of Thompson, who settled there and opened large farms now the homes of their children.

Vosse Cooley is in the southeastern corner of Trempealeau County. Nels Anderson Evangorhougen settled in the valley in 1856. He was known as Vosse Nels and the valley took his name.