Vernon County, Wisconsin - Chapter 11: Formation and Organization of the County, 1884

The territory now included within the limits of Vernon county wan first a part of Crawford county. The last mentioned county was formed by proclamation of Lewis Cass, governor of Michigan territory, Oct. 2G, 1818. An east and west line passing near the northern limits of what is now Barron county, separated Crawford from the county of Michilimackinac on the north ; a line drawn due north from the northern boundary of Illinois, through the mid- die of the portage of Fox and Wisconsin rivers, was the boundary line between it and Brown county on the east.. It was bounded on the south by Illinois, and on the west by the Mississippi river, the western limit of the territory.

In 1829 Iowa county was formed, embracing all that part of Crawford county south of the Wisconsin river, and including the islands therein. In 18.34 Brown county was extended -westward to the Wisconsin river above the portage, leaving that stream the boundary of Crawford county on the east, as well as south. These are all the changes of boundary that were made while the county remained within the jurisdiction of Michigan territory. Wisconsin territory was formed in 1836. The northern portion of it had previously been embraced in the counties of Michilimackinac and Chippewa. The dividing line between the State of Micliigan and the territoj-y of Wisconsin left the organization of those counties within the former, and extinguished them so far as they lay within the linuts of the latter; and, in 18.38, the district of country thus vacated, lying east of the Mississijipl and Grand Fork rivers and north of the original county of Crawford, was attached to and made a part of that county for judicial purposes. Thus it was that Crawford county had its limits virtually extended to Lake Superior and the British dominions, on the north. Afterward, counties were formed at different times out of its territory until, in 1851, it was reduced to its present limits by the erection of La Crosse county, and also of

"Sec. 1. All that portion of the county of Crawford lying between sections 19, 20, 21, 22 2.3 and24 in township 11 and township 15 north, of ranges 2, 8, 4,5, 6 and 7 west, be, and hereby is organized into a separate county, to be known and called by the name of Bad Ax; and all that portion of Crawford county lying north of township number 14 north, of ranges 2, 3, 4, 6, 6 and 7 be, and hereby is organized into a separate county, to be known and called by the name of La CroBse.

"Sec. 2. On the tirst Tuesday in the month of April next, the electors of said counties of Bad Ax and La Crosse shall, in addition to electing their town officers, vote tor and elect all officers necessary for a complete county organization, and the county officers so elected shall qualify by bond and oath as presciibed by law, and enter upon the duties of their respective offices upon the third Monday of May, and continue in office until the first Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and fiftytwo, and until their successors are elected and qualified. It is hereby made the duty of the clerk of the board of supervisors of the county of Crawford to make out notices of such elections to be posted in the respective counties upon the publication of this act; and the sheriff of Crawford county shall cause the said notices to be duly posted as in other general elections.

"Sec. 3. The county of Bad Ax shall remain one town until the board of town supervisors shall divide the same into three or more towns and the supervisors, town clerk and town treasurer njay act as and be county officers for such offices respectively.

Crosse shall be organized for judicial (and) county purposes, and for all purposes and matters whatever, and the county of Chippewa shall be attached to the county of La Crosse for judicial purposes. The circuit court shall be holden in the county of Bad Ax on the third Monday of May and fourth Monday of November of each year, and in the county of La Crosse on the fourth Monday of February and the fourth Monday of August of each year. "Sec. v. All writs, process, appeals, suits, recognizances, or other proceedings whatever already commenced, or that may hereafter be commenced, previous to the third Monday of May next, in the county or circuit court of Crawford county, shall be prosecuted to a final judgment, order or decree, and execution may issue thereon and judgment, order or decree may be carried into execution in like manner, and ihe sheriff of said county shall execute all process therein, in like manner as if this act liad not passed, anything in tliis act to the contrary notwithstanding.

"Sko. 8. The returns of all elections provided for in this act shall be made for the county of Bad Ax to the clerk of the board of supervisors of the present town of Bad Ax, who shall issue certificates, within ten days from the time of holding sucli election, to the persons elected to the respective offices. The returns for tlie county of La Crosse, shall, so far as county officers are concerned, be made to the clerk of the board of town supervisors for the town of Albion, and said clerk shall issue like certificates of election within fifteen days after said election, to the persons duly elected.

"Sec. 9. The county seat of the county of Bsid Ax shall be at such place as the board of supervisors shall designate, until a place shall be permanently located by election upon that subject, and the qualified electors may vote at any election for the permanent location, and the place (designated by ballot) that shall have a majority of all the votes cast upon that

"Sec. 10. The location of the county seat of La Crosse county, is provided for by this section. George H. Walker, Speaker of the Assembly., j)ro tempore.

"Sec. 1. All that portion of the county of Crawford included within the following boundaries, shall form and constitute, and is hereby organized into a separate county to be known and called by the name of Bad Ax, viz: Beginning at the northwest corner of the county of Richland, thence running south on the range line between ranges 2 and 3 west, to the northeast corner of section 24, of township 11, north of range 3 west, thence west on the section line to the boundary line of this State, in the main channel of the Mississippi river,thence northerly on the boundary line of this State in the said river, to the point of intersection of said boundary line and the township line between townships 14 and 15 north, thence east on said township line to the northeast corner of township 14 north, of range 1 east, thence south on the range line between i-anges 1 and 2 east, to the southeast corner of township 13, of range 1 east, thence west on the township line between 12 and 13 to the place of beginning. And ail of that portion of the county of Crawford lying north and northwest of the said county of Bad Ax be, and hereby is organized into a separate county to be known and called by the name of La Crosse.

Upon the passage of these acts, the proper steps were taken to organize the county as provided therein. An election was held on the first Tuesday of April, 1851, to choose all the county officers necessary for a complete county organization (a list of which is given in a subsequent chapter); and the officers so elected were qualified by bond and oath as prescribed by the the law then in force, on the third Monday of May following, and on that day they entered upon the duties of their respective offices. At the same date, the first circuit court was holden, as will hereafter be more fully explained; so that then the wheels of the county organization were all set in motion. Vernon county, therefore, as to its civil organization, dates from the third Monday of May, 1851.

As provided in the organic acts of the county, a county seat was designated by the board of sujjervisors, until a place should be permanently located by an election by the qualified voters of the county. The place designated by them was tlie village of Vivoqua; and it was here, therefore, that the various officers entered upon their duties and the circuit court held its first session.

It was provided in the act of March 1, 1851, that "the qualified electors might vote at any election for the permanent location" of the county seat; and the place (designated by ballot) that should have a majority of all the votes cast upon that subject, should be the permanent county seat for the county. Some thought the election, when called, ought to be by the county board of supervisors. Looking to the calling of such an election, the following

"We, tlie undersigned, citizens of the county of Bad Ax, request the supervisors of Bad Ax county to call an election on the 10th day of January, 1852, * * * for locating the county seat.

But this petition, either because the board thought the day set was too soon, or that they doubted their authority to call an election, was not acted upon by the supervisors.

To remove all difficulties and doubts concerning the calling of the election and fixing upon a day when it should be held, the Legislature passed as an act, which was approved by the governor on the 14tli of April, 1852, in these words:

" The pieople of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : "Sec. I. The qualified electors of the couTily of Bad Ax shall be and are hereby authorized to vote for the permanent location of the county seat of said county, at an election hereby autiiorized to be held therein on Tuesday, the 25th day of May, 1852, and polls shall be opened at the usual places of liolding elections, which shall be conducted in the same manner as is provided by law for conducting general elections.

Sec. 2. The sheriff of said couiily shall give at least ten day's notice of said election by posting or causing to be posted three written or printed notices, in public places in the vicinity of each place where the polls are to be lield, which notice shall state the object and the lime and place of holding the same; and the affidavit of the person or persons posting the same shall be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors previous to the canvass by the board of county canvassers.

"Sec. 3. It shall be competent and lawful for each qualified elector, as specified in the first section of this act, to vote at said election for such place as he may think proper to designate, for the permanent county seat of said county; each ballot to contain the words written or printed or partly written and partly printed: "For permanent county seat (naming the place)" and no vote shall be thrown out by the in. specters for any irregularity, if the intention of tliy elector is clearly specified.

"Sec. 4. The votes given at such election shall be canvassed by tlie inspector.";, and returned as provided by law to the clerk of the board of supervisors, within one week from the time of holding said election.

"Sbc. 5. On the Tuesday next succeeding the election, the board of county canvassers, as chosen under the provisions of law, shall meet at the office of the clerk of the board of supervisors of said county, and proceed to make an estimate and statement of the voles cast, as follows: They shall make duplicate statements, written out in words at length, of the whole number of votes given ai said election, and the names of the places voted for for county seat, and the number of votes each said place received, which said statement shall be certified as correct, and attested by the signatures of the said county canvassers, one of which statements shall be filed in the ofiice of the clerk of the board of supervisors and recorded in a suitable book provided for that purpose, and the ether shall forthwith be forwarded to the secretary of State, to be by him tiled in his office, and the said secretary shall forthwith publish in the newspaper in which the laws of the State are officially published, a certified copy of such statement. If it shall appear from the statement so made, that any one place has received a majority of all the votes cast at such election.

"Sec. 6. If, upon, canvassing the votes as provided for in the preceding section of this act, it shall appear that no place has received a majority of all the votes cast, then a new election for choosing a location for permanent county seat, shall be held on Tuesday, the 29th day of June, A. D. 1852; and the sheriff shall cause like notice to be given of the election so ordered, and proof of the posting up of such notices shall be made as is provided in section 2 of this act; which notices shall also contain the further statement of the names of the two places having the highest number of votes for permanent county seat at the preceding election, and no vote cast at such second election shall be counted unless it designate the name of one of the two places having the highest number of votes at the previous election.

"Sec. 7. The votes cast at such second election shall be canvassed by the inspectors and returned to the clerk of the board of supervisors within one week after such election, and on the Tuesdiy next succeeding such election, they shall be opened by the county canvassers, and duplicate statements thereof made, and a certified copy of such statements shall be published by the Secretary of State, as provided in section 5, and the place having the highest number of votes at such election, shall be deemed and declared to be the permanent county seat of said county.

the permanent county seat of Bad Ax county shoulfl be located. There were but two places competing for the prize - Viroqua and Springville. Viroqua won; and tlie county seat has ever since remained there.

The name given to the county by the Legislature wlien it passed the bill for its formation was suggested by Thomas J. DeFrees. Although it proved to be an unfortunate suggestion, it was one very natural to be made ; as this part of the county of Crawford previous to the formation of Vernon, formed a part of tlie town of Bad Ax;besides the principal river which rises within its limits was known by the same name. It was because this stream was so called, that gave name to the battle fought below its mouth between the Americans and the Indians under Black Hawk - "Battle of Bad Ax" - as explained in a previous chapter. And it, too, gave name to the town of Bad Ax. It may be said, therefore, that the county was named from the Bad Ax river, a description of which has already been given.

We now come to the origin of the name; and here we are met (or confronted) by three dift'ei-- ent traditions, or, more properly speaking, theories.

(1.) It has been claimed that the term "Bad Ax," is derived from the Indian word 31iiinesheik, the Indian name of the river. But, while it is true, that the Indians called what is nOw known as the Bad Ax, by the name Minnesheik, it is not true that the meaning of the latter is Bad Ax. It lias no such signification in the language of any of the tribes who have for the last 200 years, inhabited this region of country.

(2.) It has been stated that the origin of the name was because of the failure of the Indians who lived at the mouth of the river, to make good axes ont of the stone to be found there, on account of their softness. But the Sacs and Foxes and the Wiunebagoes were furnished with steel implements by the fur-traders long before either of these tribes lived upon the

Mississippi, or any of its branches. This tradition, therefore, must fall to the ground, for the reason that the name was never applied to the river until the Winnebagoes took possession of the county, as will hereafter be fully shown. But there is another reason why the theory is an absurd one, and that is, the present race of red men do not make stone axes. It is the work of a forgotten people.

(.').) It has often been stated that the term /)«(/ «,r, as applied to the river, is a corruption of the French bateaux, the story being, that a French trader once anchored hjs bateaux at the mouth of the stream, and the Indians ever after applied the term they heard him pronounce frequently, to the river. But, this theory has evidently been started by some one who had no knowledge how bateaux is pronounced. No French trader would give the sound of ks to the .); in the word, but would pronounce it bat-oze; and this certainly, could never have suggested bad ax. And to make the matter still more absurd, it is said the Indians could not pronounce bateaii.r at all, but gave the word as near as they could, which sounded to English ears a,s bad ax. Now, any one who has heard a Sac or Fox Indian or Winnebago speak French, will testify that the word bateaux can be pronounced by an Indian perfectly, and with ease. It may be stated, therefore, with certainty, that the origin of the name, as ap]i!ied to the Bad Ax river, i'i wholly unknown.

Nearly all the early maps of the upper Mississippi river have the Bad Ax noted on them, but by a different name. It is always called "R. au Canot," that is, "Canoe river." It is sh marked on Senex, 1715; De Fer, 1 7] 8; Howen, 1752; Popple, 1773. On the following maps, it is noted as "Canoe River;"' Kitchen, 177:^; F.iden, I 777; Pownal, 1779; Jeffrey, 1779; Lewis, 1795; Map United States, 1804. It first appears as "Bad Ax river," on Farmer's "Map of uuisconsin," 1830. It is also seen on Burr, If^'iO; on Mitchell, 1838; and on Ilinman, same date. It is evident, therefore, that the first name given to the river was Canoe, and that the name Bad Ax, is a modern one. one that was not applied to it until after the TTinnebagoes took possession of this portion of the State.

The name Bad Ax proved to be an unpopular one and the project of changing it had been impressed on the minds of some of the prominent citizens of the county, for a lengtli of time. The word seemed, and in truth, did sound " Bad"-ly at home and abroad ; and, it was thought, it served to discourage emigration. The papers abroad took it up and advocated a change. The follow is from the Chicago Tribune of 1861 :

"The general impression gained of Bad Ax county is an unfavorable one. It is looked upon as a back woods country, out of the way and out of the world. It is also looked upon as a rough, hilly country, of rather poor soil, and destitute of i)rairies and water - in fact a country where a man must dig out an existence by hard labor, and get a poor living at that. Such I am warranted in saying is the general impression, for, having been somewhat of a traveler on the Mississippi, I have heard its character freely commented upon by travelers, as they were passing bj its western border. There has been much misapprehension on this point, and I think it has all arisen from the 'Bad' in its name.

"Withcuit going into the history of the name, or why it was given to this county, and the river which runs through it, I will say that "Minne- .sheik" is said to be the Indian word for "Bad Ax," and the probability 'ih, that another year will not elapse before the name of Bad Ax will be changed tor that of the pretty sounding Indian name - "Minnesheik." The people of this county feel that there is something repulsive in the name "Bad Ax," and inasmuch as they have just as fine and as rich soil as there is in Wisconsin, thej' propose to have hereafter, as a good name. They believe tliere is really something in a name, and they want a good one."

Exactly when the first proposition was made to have^the name of the county (Bad Ax, changed is unknown ; and it would be of little importance if it could be determined. It is certain, however, that as early as 1856, it had commenced to be agitated in a public way. A lady correspondent of the Western Times, in a communication appearing in the issue of Oct. '25, 1856, says :

"In a July number of the Times (not found), I noticed a proposition to change the name of our county. As the subject has been broached allow me to 'agitate' the matter a little further. I expected to see the name of Fremont or Dayton, or some other hero proposed for a substitute. It is all right and proper that those men should receive all the honor their friends would confer upon them. Indeed, I hope Fiemont will be elected to the Presidential chair, and I would vote for him myself if you men would let me. But while I would give him due credit for his valor, there are heroines, or one at least, in your village (of Viroqua) that has displayed courage equal lo that which would .explore the Rocky Mountains or face a cannon's mouth.

"A woman who would be the first to settle in the wilderness, among savages and barbaiians, without a female companion, deserves the respect and honor that would be acceded to a man that had been 'through the wars.' As a tribute of our respect, I motion that the name of our county be changed to that of Ellen. I think it would be a pretty name ; at the same time it would show to the woman that we appreciate her services in commencing a settlement in this rich and beautiful county.

"The name as it now is, is ridiculed by 'Yankees,' only that they think it should be 'Bad Acts' instead of 'Bad Ax.' Give us a name that we need not be ashamed of."

"W# have always been in favor," says the Northwestern Times, of Nov. 7, 1860, "of changing the name of this county - its present name is without any good origin and without mean ing. We have used all the means in our power to find out the origin or cause of its present name, and we think Judge Knowlton the best authority.

"He says that when this whole region was populated by Indians, a French trader came up to the mouth of the stream known as Bad Ax, in a bateaux loaded with goods, anchored his craft there, and opened trade with the redmen. The Indians could not pronounce the name bateaux, and the nearest they could come to it was to utter a sound which degenerated into Bad Ax. After this, the stream which the Indians called Minneskeik, was called Bad Ax*, and when the county was erected it was called Bad Ax county; and now we have Bad Ax county. Bad Ax city, Bad Ax village. North and South Bad Ax rivers - Bad Ax enough to chop all humanity to piecesj.

"If the name,'' continues the editor, "of our county must correspond with tradition, let us change it at once back to Bateaux, and give it a name that has some meaning. But we are in favor of giving it a good one while we are about it; and we have no particular objection to calling it Minnesheik, after its principal river, though we could select a name that we like better than this. But let us have a name that strangers will not pronounce with a thrill of horror as they do the name of Bad Ax."

"A few days since, having received an invitation from a friend to accompany him on a speech-making trip, I turned my horses heads towards the county now known as Bad Ax. I had been here once before and was then agreeably surprised at the nature and character of the country that was opened to my- vision. Judging from the name. Bad Ax, I had been led to believe that the county was bad - de- cidedly so. I had supposed that it was not only rough, but all timbered, and of a rather thin and poor soil. As to my suppositions and conjectures, erroneous as they have been, I believed they were the same as entertained by the community generally. I have traveled not a little on the Mississippi and have heard travelers express their opinions, and then most always given with a shrug of the shoulders, as though there was something repulsive in the name. Bad Ax.

"The people of this most nourishing county feel that there is something in a name ; and they feel justly that they have been entirely lost sight of; that they are regarded as in the back woods and of not much account ; and they are inclined to think it is on account of the 'Bad' there is in the name of their county ; for, certainly, there is nothing bad in its soil.

"Minnesheik is said to be an Indian word for Bad Ax ; * and in all probability, application will be made at the next session of the Legislature for a change of name; and, if granted, Bad Ax county will follow the example set in other portions of the State, of adopting and retaining the more euphonious and prettier sounding Indian name, and of discarding such a senseless, jaw-breaking appellation as 'Bad Ax.'"

Finally, when Jeremiah M. Rusk was in the Legislature, in 1862, W. F. Terhune prepared petitions and circulated them throughout the county for signatures, asking the Legislature to change the name, but without designating a substitute. And here we introduce a letter of Gov. Rusk, addressed to the editor, explan.itory of what followed :

"Executive Chamber, Madison, Wis., October 29, ISB-S. "Dear Sir : "Mauy of the leading citizens of the county believed that the name Bad Ax was a detri- *Thi8 is an error ; it has previously liecn discussed in thi« -hapter.

ment to the future prosperity of the county. The Hon. William F. Terhune went east about 1859, and when he returned he was thoroughly convinced that the name of the county was a great detriment to it, and from that time he strongly urged the change. An eifort was made to change the name in 1800. In 1861 I was elected to the Assembly, and a very strong petition was signed and presented tome, urging the change to something else, but not designating what. At that time I was not very favorable to the change ; but when the Legislature convened I became thoroughly convinced that the name was a detriment to the county. When- ^ever I rose and addressed the chair, and the speaker recognized "the gentlemen from Bad Ax," every body in the chamber turned to look at the member to see if he looked like the rest of tlie members. I immediately wrote Judge Terhune to select a name and I would do what I could to make the change. Judge Terhune sent me the name "Vernon," and the bill was presented and passed that Legislature.

J. M. RusK.i' Mr. Terbune found much trouble in selecting a new name that was pleasing to the people. Some thought it should be Wheatland ; others suggested Minnesheik, as already noticed ; and other names had advocates. Finally, Mr. Terhune hit upon the name of Vernon as a kind of compromi-ie. The reason for its suggestion was that the root of the word (greenness) was applicable not to the people but to the general appearance of the county, covered as it was in many ])lace8 with green wheat fields. Besides this, the word was eu))honic and carried with it a pleasing association with Mt. Vernon the home (as is well known) of the Father of his Country, during his lifetime. These considerations induced Mr. Terhune to believe that the word would be, as it proved, generally accepta- V)le to the inhabitants of the county ; and he sent it forward as Gov. Rusk states in his letter just given.

"Sec. 1. The name of Bad Ax county, in this State, is hereby changed to Vernon county, and by this latter name tlie said county shall be called and known in popular nomenclature and in law, in all places and for all purposes ; and whenever, in any law of this State, and in all deeds, mortgages and public records, the words "Bad An" occur, having reference to said county of Bad Ax, (now county of Vernon) said words shall be construed and understood in the same manner as if the word "Vernon" were l)rinted or written in lieu thereof.

A correspondent of the Vernon County Censor, in writing to that paper, March 10, 1869, thinks the change of name worked a great change in the prospects of the county. He says : -

"For many years, the county, of which Virocpia is the county seat, labored under a great disadvantage in consequence of her taking to herself a name that had neither meaning nor sense. Why the settlers of the county suffered the name of Bad Ax to be fa.stened on them cannot now be ascertained. That the name blasted the county so long as it was retained, is a fact patent to all. As soon as the name was ch nged to Vernon, the whole county began to flourish, and now Vernon county has no small influence in the State. She has quite an array of public men, too, whose names are well known throughout Wisconsin ; such as Rusk, Priest,Purday, Graham, Terhune, Butt, Newell and others."

About the ye.ar 1S59 there began a county seat war of a mild form in Crawford county. The southern portion of thiit county wanted it to remain at Prairie du Chien while the northerners desired to have it removed to Dagget's Knob. The result was a ''secession movement" at the village of De Soto which lies in both Crawford and Vernon (then Bad Ax) counties. The denizens of this village and the country round about took it into their heads to form a new county out of the northern part of Crawford and southern part of Vernon. Could this be accomplished, then De Soto would be just the place for the county seat, of course.

Pursuant to notice, then, the citizens of tlie towns of Wlieatiand, Sterling and Franklin, in Bad Ax county, and of Freeman and Utica in Crawford county, held a meeting at the school house in Sterling, on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 1861, "to consider the propriety of certain changes in the dividing line of said counties," but in reality to promote a new county movement. The meeting was called to order by Dr. Bean, of Sterling, in the chair, and J. C. Kurtz, of Wheatland, secretary. The chairman, in some appropriate remarks, stated the object of the meeting. He was followed by Messrs. Crittenden, Carlyle, Ferguson, Sterling, McMinn, Cate and others; when, on motion, a committee of three, consisting of A. Carlyle, C. G. Allen and A. Crittenden, was appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the wishes of the meeting. The committee submitted the following resolutions, which were adopted:

That, in the o])inion of this meeting, the present line dividing the counties of Crawford and Bad Ax - -dividing township 11 - is detrimental to the best interests of the inhabitants of the south half of said township I 1, now situated in the limits of Crawford county and that the said county line should be removed to tlie line between townships 10 and 11.

Ax and Crawford counties would be materially promoted by the establishment and organization of a new county, with the county seat located on the Mississippi river."

A committee of three, consisting of J. C. Beny, of Wheatland; C. B. Whiting & Co. and D. A. Bean, of Sterling, was then appointed to draft a map designating the boundary lines of the proposed new county and to a meeting when practicable "to determine on the same." But this ended the new county movement in that region.

By the year 1866, so great was felt to be the inconvenience of being so far from the county seat as were the inhabitants of the six eastern towns of the county, that they made a protracted effort to have tlie county divided, so that Hillsborough, Greenwood, Forest, Union, Whitestown and Stark, with adjoining towns, either on the north, east or south, as they might be able to obtain them as companions, would form a new county. Petitions were sent in to the Legislature in favor of a division. But it was soon found that nothing could be got from adjoining counties to help on the movement - nothing could be got from the north; nothing from the south; and finally the two towns to the east which had been confidently counted upon, could not be had.

But the friends of the new county were not disheartened, and at once concluded that they would form a county out of Hillsborough, Greenwood, Forest, Union, Whitestown and Stark - six towns - proposing, however, to remain attached to Vernon county for judicial purposes, so as to avoid the expense of erecting county l)uilding8, and a bill was introduced in the Assembly at Madison for that purpose. But the principal argument against the new measure was that, if the towns remained attached to Vernon for judicial purposes, they would derive little or no benefit from a separation, as the principal necessity for it was the inconvenience of attending court so far away as Viroqua; so

A bill, supported by numerous petitions, was, in 1870, introduced into the Assembly by Mr. Bennett, for the erection of a new county to be called Sheridan, and to embrace the towns of Hillsborough, Greenwood, Union, Forest, Whitestown and Stark, in Vernon county; the towns of Wellington, Glendale, Clifton and Wilton, in Monroe county; the town of Wonewoc, in Juneau county, and the town of Woodland, in Sauk county. Petitions circulated in some portions of the proposed new county also called for the town of Sheldon, in Monroe county, but these received a limited circulation.

Had the bill passed, four counties would vote on the question, as all those named came within the constitutional provision. "No county with an area of 900 square miles or less, shall be divided or have any part stricken therefrom, without submitting the question to a vote of the people of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of the county voting on the question shall vote for the same." Vernon, Monroe, Juneau and Sauk all contain areas wliich make this constitutional provision apply to them.

In the eastern part of Vernon county the people were quite generally in favor of the measure; and it is probable, that had the scheme reached a vote, the six towns in Vernon county would have been in favor of the new county of Sheridan. But the bill did not pass even the Assembly; so the movement was strangled in its early infancy; and Vernon county of to-day (1883), is exactly, in extent, the Vernon county formed by the act of March 1, 1851; but in all else, how changed!