Alma City

Alma City

It has a length of five miles in a straight line north and south, but consideraly more, along the Mississippi. Its width is greatest on the northern boundary line, and least on the line between Sections 2 and 11, the corner of Sections 1 and 2, 11 and 12 being close to the Court House, only 6.80 chains from the Mississippi. It is bordered on the West by the river, the course of which at that place is fully described in " Topography." On the Eastside it joins the Towns of Alma and Belvidere, the former of which comes into the actual city on the corner above described, a few lots having been laid out around the Southwest corner of Section 1. On the South the Town of Belvidere also adjoins, while along the Northern boundary line the Town of Nelson extends. For about five miles high and steep bluffs extend, there being no level land between them and the river and sloughs, except the bottoms or islands. The city proper, is situated on the slope of the bluffs, and has but two streets running in the direction of the river, though quite a number crossing them, of which, however, but few are practicable, though some of them have been put into such a condition between Main and Second Streets as to afford communication. Second Street is from 50 to 60 feet above the level of Main Street. The railroad, running close to, or in fact upon part of Main Street in the Lower Addition, it was found necessary to build a graded road from the junction of Main Street with North Street, to the junction of Hill Street with Second Street in order to prevent accidents to teams becoming frightened by the approach of trains. Of the founders of the place a lengthy account has been given in the chapter on Early Settlement and Pioneers. What wa 5 the "Village, and is now the City, of Alma, was part of the Town of Alma, which was organized in March 1856, or rather by the Annual Town meeting and election in April of that year. This election was held at the house of John Marty accordto resolution of the county board. In 1868 it was found desirable to dissolve this connection and the place was incorporated as a village. Owing to some defects in the charter, which could not readily be amended, the citizens applied for a city charter, which was granted by the legislature ot 1885. The first Mayor of the new city "was Martin Polin; he was succeeded by Charles Schaettle, jr. The present Mayor is Hon. John W. DeGroff. The different parts of the city were laid out as follows: Plat of Ahia May 1855, recorded in Vol. 4, page 57. Victor Prohsfs Addition May 6, 1855, recorded in Vol. 4, page 67.

Probst and Wenger^s Addition May 8, 1855, recorded in Vol. 4, page 61. All these parts were laid out by A. W. Miller, who is now a resident of Durand, Pepin Co.

All_ these were laid out or platted by L. Kessinger. The Upper Subdivision consists of different parcels of land laid out at different times, all situated in Lot 2 of Section 2 Township 21, Range 13, lying East of Main Street and North of Walnut Street. This plat was recorded for the convenience of describing these parcels by numbers, thus obviating the long desciiptions in assessing the sarnie, into which errors would almost unavoidadly have crept at sometime or other. See Vol. 34, page 198. Within the corporation, but about two miles north of the actual city is the

Village of North Alma, situated in Section 26 and 27 of Township 22 Range 13. It was laid out April 1, 1870, recorded in Vol. 16 page 417. This village was laid out by L. Kessinger, b}^ order of Francis Palms of Detroit, Mich., who was one of the principal stockholders of the Beef Slough Co. Camp No. 1 and the offices of the Mississippi River Logging Co. are situated upon lots. The

The lives of the pioneers of Twelve Mile Bluff, as the place was called in former times are described in the chapter on Pioneers. After their time others began to arrive. One of the most important families was that of John Marty, consisting of himself and wife and one daughter. The latter was married to W. H. Gates," February 23d, 1856, the second marriage on record. The Martys, John and his brother Nicolas, arrived in 1851. There seems to have been but little activity in any thing until the place was laid .out in lots. The business of the early settlers was making shingles and getting out cordwood. About the same time with the Martys Mathias Hammer, now of Lincoln, arrived. They got their mail from Reeds Landing, Minn., and did all their dealings of store goods at Galena, 111., giving their orders to the steamboat captains, who "would bring the goods on the next trip up the river. The goods needed at that time included provisions of all kinds, flour pork, etc. beside^ articles of clothing and tools for work carried on. The first business opened at Alma was a saloon, kept by a man named Beyer, who had come from Keokuk, and it was located in a shed adjoining the house or shanty of John Marty. In 1855 the following houses were built: By Gates, J. A. Hunner, John Hemrich, Philipp Kraft, J. R. Hurlbuit and E. E. Heerman. They were all along Main Street, above Olive Street, except that of J. R. Hurlburt which was on the corner of Second and . Orange Streets. Hurlburt and Kraft opened hotels, the former the Alma House, the latter the Wisconsin House. The brewery of John Hemrich was also built the same year. ; About a year or perhaps two before that time Rudolf Beiner had arrived and taken lodging in the old shanty built originally b ! V. Probst and J. C. Waecker, and in company with John Marty he laid out the Lower Addition. Most of the above information I have received from Mr. Gates, who was for a long time a prominent citizen of Alma. He was of versatile talents, and undertook a great many things, without, however, achieving any decided success in any particular one. Among other things he kept hotel in both, the Alma House and after that the Sherman House, after the latter had been built. He was elected Register of Deeds in J 857 and Sheriff in 1863. I think he kept the first store in the place in the house on the- corner of

Orange and Main Streets, which is at present occupied by Mathias Ruben as a bakery and fruit store. Mr. Gates was also elected to many local offices, and, I think, was the first chairman of the Town of Alma. He is now a practicing physician at Gary, Deuel Co., Dakota Territory. He was also the first postmaster of this place, the office having been established in 1856. This office, the establishment of which shows, that the place had become of some consideration, has since its establishment been administered by the following gentlemen:

M. W. MacDonnell, 1885 to present time. About the time- of the establishment of the postoffice there was some population present. Of the arrivals of 1854 we may name Abraham Schmoker, Nic. Gilomen, Anton Ulrich, Gottlieb Iberg, Gottlieb Kurz and others. Hon. Jonn A. Tester arrived Aug. 9th, 1856, and commenced mercantile business in company with Peter Polin, who did not, however, arrive until 1857. This firm did in spite of the small beginnings, soon command the confidence of the settlers far andnear, and did very great service in the development of the country. The late Lyman J. Clafiin, one of the very first settlers of Gilmanton in a conversation which I had with him nearly twenty years ago, called them the fathers of the upper part of the county, without whom the settlement would have languished and have been crippled for many years. The sudden death of Mr. Polin in Nov. 1870 led to a dissolution of the firm in 1873, Mr. Tester establishing a new business in his present place in Nov. 1874. Speaking of the development of the place, we find, that after the first period of pioneer times, and a gradual increase of the population in the village as well as in the surrounding country, the place grew rapidly,, and soon did much more business, especially in the grain line, than would be supposed from its apparent size. It was especially the integrity, diligence and perseverance of the above named firm in the disposition of farm produ<;ts, to which Mr. Clafiin alluded in^his remarks above cited. This rapid development attracted competition and a few years later Iberg and Bro. established their business and in 1861 erected the brickbuilding, which was afterwards their store and dwelling house, until they sold out their interest and Tester and Polin took possession of it and the warehouse opposite on the bank of the river. The situation of Alma for shipment of wheat and other staple products and the distribution of all the commodities of trade was not surpassed by any place between La Crosse and St. Paul on the eastern bank of the river, as long as there were no railroads in the neighborhood. At the time when wheatfields were rapidly extended, the yield was heavy, and occasionally prices extremely high, the whole of this staple produced in the Beef Eiver Valley up^to Mondovi and vicinity, from Canton Nelson and Maxville, poured into our warehouses, as also a considerable share from Big Waumandee, all of Little Waumandee and the greater part of Belvidere.

It will not be necessary to go into detail in regard to our manufacturing enterprises as they are sufficiently described in the proper chapter. The same may be said in regard to roads leading to the city and from it. I refer the reader to the chapter of transportation.

With regard to schools, public and secret societies and churches and the press, the reader is also referred to the proper chapters. The incidents of the struggle for the county -seat, or as the fastidious would say, metropolitan honors, will be found in their proper place in the chapter on Organization . There is, indeed, hardly any topic not entirely local, that has not already been discussed in previous chapters, and these need not be repeated. What is said here in regard to the City of Alma applies with more or less force to almost every town and especially to Fountain City. Hence there is nothing left to relate than the few local events. - Turning back to pioneer times, I have to state on the authority of Mr. Gates, that the first birth of a child of white parents was that of Mr. and Mrs. Wengert, which was probably in 1852. The first marriage was that of Mr. Gates himself and the next that of Abraham Schmoker. Until 1855 the population was all in and about Alma, especially in summer time, but in the winter it was scattered about the different islands, engaged in chopping wood and hauling it, mostly on hand sleds, to the bank of the Mississippi. Christ.

Wenger and Joseph Richard were the first to attempt farming. Wenger moved to his farm in a canoe up Beef River. Richard took his stove to pieces, and carried it with all his household goods on his back to his location. There were at that time no practicable roads. New arrivals, who settled outside of our limits will be mentioned in the Town of Alma, It was about this time that the name of Twelve Mile Bluff was exchanged for that of Alma. The story of Mr. Gates finding this name in an Atlas is absurd. He told me many years ago, that abo.ut the time when the plan for laying out a village plat was maturing, the news of the battle on the Alma in the Krimean war arrived in this part of the country, and the name took his fancy and was proposed and adopted, for its shortness and easy spelling, I suppose. I defy any one to find that name in any common school atlas even at the present time, except in Wisconsin, to say nothing about times more than thirty years ago. Even in Mitchell's School Atlas of 1858, which gives a very accurate map of Wisconsin the name is not mentioned. - As in many other places the wheat business began to assume its gigantic proportion early in the sixties, and the credit of its thorough organization in this place belongs to Fred Rabbas and his brother Henry, who had made their preparatory experiences at Milwaukee and Two Rivers in the eastern part of this state, Of course, they were not alone, but for a time they prevailed. Neither of them acquired a fortune out of it, but that does not concern any one else. The year 1861 brought the war. Among those who enlisted in Company H, of the sixth Wisconsin, were many Alma boys, or rather men, among them both members of the firm of Tester and Polin, but seeing that one at least must stay at home, the lot fell on Mr. Polin to do so. Mr. Tester went to the field, A fair start had been made, and the village as well as the town advanced rapidly. The separation - and consequent incorporation has already been mentioned. The further progress of the place does not offer any salient points. We must, however, except the organization and subs'iquent operations of the Beef Slough Co. and its eventual successors. But this is sufficiently related in the chapter on Transportation of which the history of Beef Slough Co. etc. is a subdivision. That the event contributed very much to the development of the village, then just incorporated, p.o one will deny, but that at present the management of affairs tends to a diminution rather than an increase of the benefits the city might receive from the presence of so many persons at work etc., is also manifest. In 1858 or perhaps '57 the first Bchoolhouse was built, which very soon proved to be too small. In 1868 a new one of brick was erected, a model of inconvenience in its arrangements, which were, as necessity soon demanded' gradually improved. For nineteen years this schoolhouse had been used when in 1887 a new one was erected, of which I spoke in the chapter on Education.

Our streets, that is those two, which especially deserve the name, were, of course, laid out for the convenience of those who lived here at the time, and as they did not need much, and never expected the expansion of business of future times, the situation of these streets was not remarkable for a very judicious selection. In many places Main Street was overflowed at every annual freshet and it took in the course of time many thousands of dollars to raise it above highwater mark. Even the infringement of the railroad upon a considerable part of Main Street in the Lower Addition would have been entirely avoided, if that street had been laid on the hillside instead of close to, or rather into the river. Such things are more easily avoided, than they are remedied.

The population of Alma is German as to nationality or descent, there being less than one-fourth of American or other elements intermixed, though more, perhaps, at the present than at any previous time.

In going, however, along the streets and hearing the young folks talk, you would doubt that assertion. And what an English one hears, especially what grammar! - In relating incidents of early settlement everybody seems to think of commercial establishments first and last. But mechanics are a class as useful and respectable as any other. I can not give a very extensive list of such among the early settlers. John A. Tritsch and his brother were probably the first blacksmiths, William Mueller was the first tinsmith and hardware dealer. John Marty was a tailor, but I doubt whether his services were much required at first. Beiner was a cooper, but little of that trade was in demand. The first shoemaker was John Hornung, probably the best employed mechanic in the place. Other mechanics were probably present, but they did not find very constant work. Fritz Rail now of the town of Nelson was the first carpenter of any renown. John Spany built the old brewery for John Hemrich, a log concern, and when done he remembered, so the story goes, that he had forgotten to put in windows. Andrew Hemrich was the first and for a long time the only butcher, who had at first about as much trouble to find cattle for butchering as he had to find people to sell meat to. The article on the City of Alma has grown long, but, as I have pointed out before, much more than related here may be found in other chapters concerning thii place. I may close with the remark that we now have all arrangements of civilized life usually found in places of the size and situation of our own. There are dissatisfied people everywhere, hence here also, and improvements might be suggested, and may in course of time be effected. The historian is not a prophet, and the light he attempts to throw on the future is only the reflection of the past, and he is not expected to apply too much of that upon things in existence. So much of this article as relates to the combined history of City and Town of Alma will not be repeated in the history of the town.

The parts in Range 11 formerly belonged to the Town of Waumandee, and were added to Alma on account of their position, which demanded an outlet through adjoining parts of Alma. But with the exception of these, the Town of Alma ran from the East line of T. 22, R. 12 to the Mississippi and included all of T. 21, R. 'l3, at first and much more than now even at the time of the incorporation of the village in 1868. The surface of the town is very much interrupted and consists of the Beef River Bottoms and the side valleys of Hutchinson Creek down to Mill Creek on the left bank, and the lower part of Trout Creek and all of Pine Creek

Valley on the right bank of Beef River. The slopes are generally quite steep toward the creeks but there are terraces between these steep slopes and the higher bluffs. On these terraces the best farms are situated. Some farms are also situated on the top of the bluffs. The town is in general well watered. The Beef River Bottom is, especially close to the river, wooded. The other parts of it consist of swamp meadows interpersed with dry stretches, on which very good grass is grown. Part of the land in. Hutchison Valley is sandy, but where the declivities permit cultivation, the soil is excellent and produces abundant crops in all the other valleys.

The history of the town and that of the village were, one and the same, until the valleys br.mching off from Beef River began to be settled. The first two settlers Wenger and Richard have already been mentioned. It must be remembered that land could not be bought or pre-empted before the middle of Sept. 1853 in any township north of 20.

Naturally this prevented attempts of settlement, and may be considered as one cause, why there was no exodus into the country from the village before 1855. In that year there were a number of new arrivals, among them Jacob Meter, Ulrich Wald, Peter Margreth and Jacob Wald, all of whom settled in the Mill Creek Valley. They were followed in 1856 to 1858 by John Mahlmann, John Weinandy, Jacob and Peter Wald, Conrad Moser, sr., and David Jost, all of whom located upon the branches of Mill Creek Valley. Theodore Meuli came from Waumandee and located in Section 16, Math. Hammer on Pine Creek, and Victor Hery across Beef River. In the course of time the town filled up and schools and other necessary institutions were organized. As to the first school see table in the chapter on Education and as to the mill see Manufactures. Of the singing society " Arion " I have said enough in the chapter on Public Societies. The first marriage in the town is claimed the one of Joseph Richard to Anna Maria Marky July 1st, 1857; see No. .-21 of Earlier Marriages. This, however, is doubtful, since that of Math. Hammer to Elizabeth Regli precedes it by almost a year, and Hammer was -at that time a resident of the town. (See 13, E. M.) Whether or not the daughter of Theodore Meuli said to have been born in 1857 and having died about a year afterwards may be considered as the first birth and the first death we can not now determine to a certainty. I am inclined to think that a man by the name of Marolf, who died by his own hand, was the first person, who died in the Town of Alma. He lived on John Alleman's place and died in 1857. In regard to Agricultural statistics the reader is referred to the chapter in which I treated of the Agriculture of the whole county. The population of Alma belongs almost exclusively to the German nationality either by immigration or descent. The main artery of travel and transportation is the Beef River Valley Road, and on this there are at present two taverns situated, one at the entrance to Trout Creek Valley, kept by Andrew Joos, and the other about two miles Northeast of it, the Halfway House kept by Michael Meuli. I take the opportunity here to say that it is entirely superfluous to discuss in these short histories the points that must occur in every town alike, such as roads, schools, agriculture, manufactures, churches, population and such things, since the same have been sufficiently treated of in their appropriate chapters. This rule will be applied to the history of any town.