Arlington Village

Arlington Village

building where the United States Hotel was built in 1851. The Deans, of Madison, had a store near Carpenter's. " Dick " Veeder had removed from the bank of the Wisconsin River, and was keeping hotel near the present City Hotel. He was the only hotel-keeper within forty miles who sold any other liquor than whisky. Besides these, we remember Dunn, McFarlane, Clark, Whitney, Judge WalswOrth, who had married Pauquette's widow, and kept the ferry, living where S. W. Borden now lives, or, rather, had his small office and a barrel of whisky, exactly where Borden's house stands. I remember the barrel distinctly, because I was running section lines on the Baraboo, and, as the expense of crossing and recrossing the river to Carpenter's was $1, I sometimes stopped with the Judge, and, as he had a few Indians for guests, and said Indians were partial to fleas, I explained to the Judge that I was only a moderate drinker, and would prefer the office. I was allowed to sleep on the floor.

There were at that time but few people in the county, among whom were Mr. Gay, of Belle Fontaine, James Bonney, Mr. Brice, who had a large family of girls, and, I believe, all " schoolmarms," for a short time only, as the matrimonial market was active, and shilling calico looked like silk. I asked Carpenter where I could get my linen " lilified." His reply was, " If you hear of a d - d homely woman, promise to marry her, and you may get it done." Doubting his authority, I made siege to Mrs. Carpenter and her girl, who were both remarkably good-looking, and the bundle came back washed ; but, remember, I was then only twentyeight years of age ; but the girl got married speedily, and, one Saturday, Carpenter and myself visited the Prairie. Perhaps it was in the town of Scott, or Randolph, but then known as Portage Prairie, from Lake Emily to a great distance east and south. We found the girl and her terms, which, besides a good salary (which was expected), she stipulated a journey home by Carpenter's team each Saturday, and a return journey Monday ; and it being Saturday, we returned. Carpenter agreeing to send his team again Monday. Such was " modern hired help " in 1848.

In journeying to and fro, we only call to mind the Welsh settlement in Caledonia, " Daddy " Robinson at the mouth of the Baraboo, who was a genius in many respects, and who could impart more animation to a crowd of promiscuous people than any man 1 ever saw, except Henry Ward Beecher. Jamison kept a hotel at Poynette, where, in the basement of his log house, we could hear the best songs of Robert Burns executed in a masterly style. Dekorra had quite a huddle of buildings. Wilson had settled in Dekorra, Fred Curtis and Low in Lowville. Lots of Welsh were arriving, who first settled in groves, bordering upon the prairie, many of them without teams, and foot-paths were more observable across the prairies of the eastern portion of our county than wagon roads, as the Welsh never neglect the assembling of themselves together. The towns of Marcellon, Scott, Randolph - indeed the entire eastern or prairie portion of the county - had many settlers just arrived, among whom were a sprinkling from older States and England and Scotland.

In 1851, I again visited Portage and arranged to have my buildings put up in Pacific. Came this time by team. Stopped at Birdsey's Hotel, in Columbus, which, being the oldest and most populous town, had, up to this time, been the county seat ; it had been removed to Wyocena, where it stayed a year, and was afterward removed to Fort- Winnebago, the records being kept in the barracks and the courts held there. A Wyocena farmer had brought a load of oats to Birdsey, who, having the stage horses to feed, was the only man in the county known to buy oats regularly for cash, which was hard to get in those days. Birdsey saw at a glance that a sale of his oats for cash was vitally important to the Wyocenean, and turning around to the farmer, his eye gleaming with mockery, said to him : " Why don't you sell your oats at the county seat ? " The man and his load returned. But what a change was here in Portage ! I found a young city on the Menomonee land, where the center of Portage now is, and all the adventurers in the State were here. The regular day's work in " Gougeville," as it was then called, was to punish a respectable amount of whisky, have several knock-downs and fights, jump at least six claims, and have as many lawsuits daily - a good school for young lawyers and pettifoggers. I found the canal partly dug. I found half of my big white-oak trees from the

Baraboo alongside of the new locks then building, and McNeal, the contractor, and the Canal Commissioner, willing to pay for the same, but insisting that, as it was a State work, the State had a right to take its material where it could find it. Wonderful to tell, before I had fairly settled, railroads, which were hardly known west of Buffalo in 1850 (which reached Chicago, I believe, in 1851), "came as the winds come," impelled by a conviction among our farmers which amounted to an insane desire to mortgage their farms to build railroads and thereby obtain a permanent fortune. Of course, the population of Portage, adventurous from the first, continually changed, we losing many excellent men who have shone elsewhere, among whom we will name Chief Justice Dixon and Judge Pulling, also C. J. Pettibone, now of Fond du Lac, a merchant prince there and the hardest competitor the writer remembers. The first introduction resulted in the mutual conviction that we two should fight for patronage.

I think the settlers of Columbia County generally were as good and as practical men as any in the State ; the best of these, however, chose the prairie, and, of course, those who settled in the sand had less means, and, perhaps, less merit. The result, however, has shown that Pacific and Lewiston farmers, where they invested in stock, dairy and corn-raising, have succeeded remarkably upon small means, and a dealer in agricultural implements tells mc that his promptest customers are in Pacific, Lewiston, Caledonia, Dekorra, Fort Winnebago and towns rated second-class, their crops and stock together seeming to insure success, with less disappointments than among more extensive wheat-growers.

Xi. By William T. Whirry

From a retrospective point of view, it seems but yesterday that the stillness of centuries on prairies and openings was broken by the advent of the pioneers ; but a present view (1873) dispels that illusion, and discloses the fact that the writer is the oldest settler of the English-speaking population of the town, and very forcibly reminds us that our old settlers are rapidly passing away - some to their last long homes, and some to the new homes in the West, and with them much that would be interesting and instructive to posterity ; and it is also to be regretted that the history of the town was not written years ago, when the actors were all here and able to refresh each other's memories with the trials and incidents inseparably connected with a pioneer life, and which will never be heard of more ; yet it is well to save from oblivion what we can while we can ; a few years hence would be too late. A quarter of a century makes great changes in a new country, and those who reside here now know but little of the trials and privations connected with the early settlement, but something might be imagined from the fact that in those times there were no roads, no stores, no post offices, no mills, no schools - nothing but a vast extent of beautiful, boundless country, just as nature had fashioned it, and the first settler might have exclaimed, " I am monarch of all I survey."

The nearest post office [to the town of Randolph] was at Watertown ; there they went for groceries.; to Watertown or Janesville to mill ; to Columbus to vote, and to Fond du Lac to attend district conventions; our Senate and Assembly Districts (then called Council and Representative), even as late as 1846, consisted of ivhat was then the counties of Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Brown. Marquette, Fond du Lac, Portage, Calumet and Winnebago, nearly one-third of the State. Then, again, imagine the difference in living, for in those days wheat flour was a very scarce article, because but few could raise any wheat until they had been here two seasons, one to break up the land and rot it, and another to raise the crop in ; and, if a family got out of flour, there were no stores to go to in order to buy more, and but seldom any money ; nothing to do but borrow (unless, as was sometimes the case, all hands were out), until some lazy ox team arrived with all the grists of the neighborhood, after an absence of perhaps a week or more. Buckwheat and cornmeal was extensively used, the former sometimes ground in a coffee-mill and screened through a cloth and made into pancakes, and when they had flour they frequently had nothing to mix with it but water, and no meat, potatoes, butter or milk, to eat with it, and, after it was baked, it was as hard as a stone; but it had one redeeming quality, it would keep well,

SO that the getting-up of a meal was a simple operation after the bread was baked. The cook was not puzzled to know whether the meal would suit the taste of all or not ; there were no side glances cast around the board to see what delicacies were put on to tempt the appetite ; no one said "Not any, I thank you." Hard tack was all that they expected and hard tack they got, and they were satisfied, and believed that man's natural wants were but very few indeed. Again, all the schooling their children got, was what they were taught at home by some one of the family or by any female they could find who could read, write and cipher, and could be spared a few hours a day to instruct them, which was a rare thing, as they had all too much work to do ; for as soon as a settler had selected a piece of land, the first thing to be done was to provide shelter for his family, which, with some of the earliest settlers, was done by setting some crotclies in the ground and covering the tops with poles and wild hay, and the sides in the same manner, making a primitive shelter, impervious to wind and water ; and in some instances, if the family was large or they took in boarders - which was frequently the case in consequence of newcomers arriving - they would make bedrooms in the same manner but on a smaller scale, just high enough to creep into, and just long enough to lie at full length, and with the ground covered with hay; and though they didn't exactly live in clover it was the next thing to it - they lived in hay and were comfortable and contented, and when night came they would creep into their nests and sleep soundly, while packs of cowardly, hungry wolves rent the air with their unearthly bowlings, for the reader must bear in mind that, for a number of years, the large gray wolves were quite numerous, and that the smaller prairie wolves were very plenty, running in packs and howling all night long ; and also, as a matter of course, deer were very plenty, but when the deer left or were killed off, the wolves left also. But to return - a few who came late in the season, or were not able to build a house in time, and, dreading the cold winter, would dig a hole in the ground and cover the top with boards or hay, and in such a burrow or dungeon they passed their first long and dreary Wisconsin winter, and patiently, yet anxiously, awaited the approach of spring. How they passed their time must be left to the imagination of the reader, for even a log house must be a palace in comparison with a hole in the ground. To one of these subterranean dwellings a surveyor came one day in the spring, according to appointment, to survey the land, but a heavy snowstorm had fallen during the night, and he found the place with difficulty, and only by shouting and waiting until those below had heard him and dug their way out through the heavy snowdrifts. But after these temporary shelters had been provided, the next thing to be done (and that was their highest ambition at that time), was to build a log house, which was done by cutting and hauling the logs, splitting out some oak shingles, or hauling some logs to a mill to be sawed into boards for floor, roof, etc., making it a hee, rolling up the logs and chinking and daubing the interstices with mud or clay. Every one helped cheerfully, and it is pleasant to think how proud evei'y one was to have such rude hovels to live in ; and many did live in them for years, quite comfortable and happy. Some of our well-to-do farmers, who now live in stately mansions, recollect with pleasure the many happy years spent in that old log house, with parlor, kitchen, bedroom and storeroom, all in one, with its pole ladder to mount up into the chamber, which was another single room of low dimensions, perhaps divided off with quilts, blankets, etc., and it would puzzle many a good housewife now to stow away so many mortals as used to find accommodations in that old log house, for if travelers or emigrants came along they were welcomed in a spirit of hospitality seen nowhere at the present day. Taverns had been left behind, and it was considered a pleasure to divide what little they had with them, and to those who thought of settling there to assist them in looking up land, nearly all seeming to try who could do the most to help the stranger in a strange land ; and it cheered up many a one who was fatigued and discouraged with the trials they had undergone since leaving a comfortable and perhaps luxurious home elsewhere. These were times that tried men's souls, and bodies, too, for there was work to be done which money could not purchase if they had it ; but money was a scarce article, so that all hands had to work, and they did work with a will. Fences had to be made, which required some hard work pounding to split the logs into rails, and before they could raise a crop the land had to be broken up, which required five yoke of oxen attached to a stout breaking plow ; and then, after they had raised a crop of wheat, it had to be hauled by teams all the way to Milwaukee, over roads which would now be called impassable, and only to get from 40 to 50 cents per bushel ; and many times it has taken the proceeds of a load to pay the expenses, as will be recollected to the sorrow of many an old settler. The writer remembers an instance of a man who stopped on his place while going to Milwaukee with a load of wheat, and stopped again on his return, about two weeks after, stating that he had spent the proceeds of his load, and had been compelled to borrow $5 in order to enable him to return home. After that, can any one wonder that the railroad swindlers and their agents succeeded so well in getting nearly all the farmers whose farms were unencumbered to mortgage them and be thus cheated.

It is hard to tell who were the first white persons who ever set foot on territory now constituting the town of Randolph; but there is not much doubt that they were hunters, for a Frenchman, who died about three years ago near Lake Emily, over one hundred years of age, was wont to relate to the writer that these prairies and the adjacent lakes and marshes used to be a favorite resort of Canadian hunters, of whom he was one, who used to come here annually, over fifty years ago, in quest of furs, etc., at which time deer and other game were very numerous ; and in 1846, in one of my rambles, I found on an island in the marsh, on Section 1, the bleached skull and about one-half of the bones of a human being scattered about in different directions ; they had probably Iain there a number of years, as every particle of flesh and sinew was gone. I took the skull and jawbone, and kept them in the granary for a number of years, but they were finally stolen. All who saw the skull were of the opinion that it was the skull of a white man, but whether it was the remains of some early pioneer or hunter who had been killed by his companions in a quarrel, or had lost his way and perished, or whether brought there a captive by the Indians and killed by them and devoured by wolves, no one could tell ; it has remained a mystery, and, probably, always will. It is possible that, had he lived, he would have figured in this sketch as the first settler in this town, if a white man, of which there is not much doubt, as it is well known that the Indians take great care of their dead. About the time these bones were found, there was an Indian encampment near Lake Emily, and while there, one of their squaws died, and they bandaged her body up with matting, etc., and kept it up a tree for about two months while they remained there, and when they left they took it with them, so it may not be amiss to call him the first settler; at any rate, he was settled, and so we will leave him. To most persons, it may seem hard tobe disposed of thus, but, as Byron says : " What matters where we fall to fill the maws of worms ? "

Yet, we all wish to have our remains kept together and to be decently buried when we die ; yet methinks that when Gabriel blows his trump at the last day, and the dead come forth from their graves, this poor fellow will have quite a job to get his bones together.*

Hamilton Stevens, who first located at Lake Emily, selected the first land in the town of Randolph, in 1843, on Section 24, afterward sold to A. B. Alden. Said Stevens had three daughters, named Emily, Maria and Sarah, and it is said the three lakes of those names were so named by him - the first in Dodge County, the second in Green Lake County, and the last in Randolph. He made a business, principally, of locating land, and would show new-comers Government land, make a bargain, settle them on it, and then post off to the land ofiice to enter it. A good joke is told of him : A road had been recently laid out to Columbus, through the timber in what is now Courtland, and the trees had the usual mark of the letter H, signifying highway. The new-comers asked what H meant. Stevens replied, in his usual rough, bombastic way, " Hamilton Stevens, by G - d ! " His companions were, of course, astonished at his great wealth, as they imagined, for in their travels they had seen that H so frequently that they concluded that Stevens had bought out Uncle Sam, or, at least, that portion of the United States which was situated in Wisconsin.

* Since the above was written, I havo been infurined of the following incident, which may be a solution of the mystery : In 1839, on© of the soldiers of Fort Winnebago left on a drunken spree, and never returned. He was Jast seen by the mail.carrier, near Wyocena, in a nude state jiiid inajine, A 6e;irch for bim discnvered only his clothes. He was never beard of more.

Xii. By Amplius Chamberlain

In September, 1849, Mr. Levi Thomas, W. R. Clough, Mr. Bemus and myself, all of us from Elkhorn, Walworth Co., Wis., started with two yoke of oxen and a lumber wagon, taking along sufficient cooking utensils, blankets and provisions, preparatory to camping out. We started north by way of Whitewater, Fort Atkinson, Lake Mills, Waterloo and Columbus to Portage, or what was better known at that time as Fort Winnebago. Then there was but one store at Portage, and that was kept by Smith & Wilson, the former of whom died in Portage a few years ago. Wilson is now a resident of New Lisbon, Juneau County. That store and the old Veeder House, a part of the old City Hotel, constituted, I think, all the buildings at Portage. Carpenter and Sylvester were keeping each a tavern one mile below, on the flat. The old Franklin House stood midway between the Wisconsin River and Fort Winnebago, and was kept as a hotel. Thomas Reynolds, since better known as Col. Tom Reynolds, of Madison, had just commenced work on the canal at the fort. We looked about Portage for a day or so ; then continued on our journey over what was then known as the " old pinery road," and at that time that was the only road leading north into the pinery. Claims had been taken along the line of that road, and settlers (a few of them) living on the claims.

Among the most prominent between Portage and Walsworth's place was E. F. Lewis, who is now living on the same place where he made his first claim. He lived for some time under the cover of his wagon-box for shelter, and, by the way, I retain a reminiscence of my first night's lodging at E. F. Lewis'. He had then moved into a part of his new log house ; had one room, where they cooked, ate and slept - all his guests, as well as his own. family. Before going to bed that night, we kille 1 three good-sized rattlesnakes between the sleepers of an unfinished addition he was building to his house. After this excitement was over, we all went to bed in one room, and I was contrasting in my mind the changed situation from my own home at Elkhorn and where we were there. As I was about going to sleep, I heard a wagon drive up full speed, several persons get out and walk into the unfinished part of the house, and open the door into where we all were. The first word spoken or sign given that I heard was, " Rise, Jupiter, and snuff the moon I" Lewis understood how it was, and struck a light, at the same time saying, " What's up now, Walsworth ?" It was Walsworth, whom all old settlers of this country will recollect. The first thing was a bottle of whisky, which Walsworth had possession of, and every one in that room had to rise up and take a drink, nationality or sex not being allowed as an excuse.

We continued our journey on the pinery road as far' as Walsworth's place. At that time, there was no actual settlement made north of the old pinery road for some miles. A few claims had been marked out, but not occupied. The claims which include what is known as Briggsville were taken by two men named Aaron Town and Jonathan Butterfield. Mr. Town had gone back to New Hampshire for his family, who did not arrive on his claim until March, 1850. Butterfield was stopping at Walsworth's. This Butterfield was a man of rather more ability naturally than the common run of first settlers, and was from one of the finest and most respectable families in Orange County, Vt. I was well acquainted with most of his relatives, but had lost sight of him for years, and never knew where he was until I found him at this time. He was an old bachelor, and was one of the party that came across the country from Milwaukee to Madison at the commencement of building the State capitol. He helped to get on the first timber for the first capitol building in the State. After leaving Madison, he made a claim on Portage Prairie, I think in Leeds. He sold to a man by the name of Bralley, and then made the claim including ground on which the village of Baraboo is built. He held this for a year, and sold, I think, to a man by name of Brown. His next and last claim was known as the water-power claim, ani included the ground on which the village of Briggsville is built. Whisky was his worst enemy, and he had been so long away from society, and so much addicted to drinking, that whatever good qualities he might at some previous time have possessed, seemed to have been wholly undermined. He seemed but a wreck of better days. One of his last remarks before his death conveyed some idea that he was almost certain that it would be all right with him, and was characteristic of his mode of living. After he had been on a spree of a week, he came back to his boarding-place on Saturday, broken down and nearly used up. The lady where he was boarding, through kindness, talked to him of his course of living, saying : " You are getting old, Mr. Butterfield ; and without any of your relatives about you, and but few friends that take any special interest in you ; and you are a man capable of better deeds, and should be laying up something to help you in case of long sickness and to prevent your becoming a public charge." His answer was ready and quick: " I shall never trouble my friends in sickness nor become a public charge. I shall die quick when I die." This was on Sunday, and on Monday morning he started to go to the mill (we had got a mill at this time running at his old claim, now Briggsville) ; on his way he met two men in the vicinity of O.xford inquiring the way to Portage on the new pinery road (at that time we had a new river line out from the mill to Portage, which is now known as the newpinery road), and, as Butterfield had interestetl himself considerably in the new road, he offered his services in piloting them over it to Portage, which they accepted. When within about two miles of Portage, they heard Butterfield make a rather strange noise, and, looking around, they saw he had fallen back from his seat and was dead - thus verifying the saying he had made to Mrs. Litchfield the day before. He was taken back, and buried on the banks of Small Lake, near Briggsville, on the last ground claimed by him. At the time we made our claims, the subdivisions into sections of the land had not been completed by Government. All that was necessary to be done to secure a claim was to look at some land, get on some high point and claim what you could see, mark your corners, blaze your line, build your claim shanty, move and live upon it within a certain time, being careful you did not encroach on any other's claim. At this time, we seemed out of any judicial law district, still we were, as we considered it, under still higher power, being under the three existing claim laws of this country, dealt out by the high court of Judges Walsworth, Tulls and Smith. Many a novel scene have I witnessed transacted in those high courts, which would be interesting, perhaps, to those not acquainted with this sort of government. It was all very well in its time and place in the absence of a better form, but 1 think they sometimes overreach, as some of our first settlers found out to their sorrow, one or two of them having served quite a time in the old Marquette County jail on account of holding on too long to claim law, and until LTncle Sam overtook them. At this time, we made claims near the Town and Butterfield claims, that is, Thomas and myself. Bemus did not like the situation, and returned to Elkhorn. W. R. Clough, father of the present Principal of the Portage High School, settled in Portage, and lived there until his death, in 1869.

At this time (1849), no families had moved on their claims north of the pinery road. In October, 1849, I returned to Walworth County, and, in January, 1850, I moved with my family, which consisted of my wife and one child. Mr. Levi Thomas returned to Elkhorn in 1849, and remained there, never returning to his claim. Our nearest neighbors were three miles away, until the spring of 1850, and we had no road from the old pinery road to Neenali Creek. Mr. H. S. Thomas, Mr. Robert Thompson and Mr. Town, with their families, came in 1850. That same season a dozen or more families arrived and made settlement Mr. A. E. Briggs came here from Shoreham, Vt., in the fall. He and myself purchased an interest in the waterpower claim of Butterfield & Town, and commenced work on the dam, which was the commencement of improvements at Briggsville. We first built a saw-mill, having to haul all our lumber and supplies from Portage ; started a store, having to haul the goods by team from Milwaukee. In 1853, Hiram and Lysander Chapman, who came from the State of New York, took an interest with us, and commenced building a tlouring-mill. About this time, Mr. William Murphy arrived and commenced selling goods, and is a well-to-do and flourishing merchant at that place now. Soon after, Mr. L. Waters came on from Vermont, and built a store and commenced business. He sold and went to Randolph, Columbia County, and Charles Waldo is now his successor, and is doing a good business at that place.

The first hotel there was owned and kept by Charles Mason. The first lumber manufactured after getting our saw-mill running, was some heavy oak plank and joists, to be used in the building of the first jail erected at Portage. The plank was taken, on a flatboat, down the Neenah Creek to Fox River, and thence up the Fox to Fort Winnebago. When the surveyors made the subdivisions, the land overflowed, by reason of the dam, was platted as Lake Mason.

For some time after the first settlement, in the absence of regular attorneys, Mr. R. S. Thomas and myself had to assume the position of pettifoggers. Sometimes, our village Justice and high court in those days used to get tired, adjourn court and take a rest or go to sleep. In the mean time, the attorneys, jurymen, witnesses, plaintifi" and defendant would engage in a social game of seven-up. It has happened that, when the court woke up, he found all hands gone. During the social game, the parties all became reconciled, and, by advice of able counsel, the case was settled, and the court beat out of his fees.

John Brickwell, now of Portage, was one of the first settlers, having made a claim between Lewis and Walworth, on the old pinery road. He took his first lessons in the justice business and law practice when living on his claim, but was not the Justice I have referred to, that used to adjourn his court to take a nap.

During the winter of 1837, I was employed by James Duane Doty to survey and stake ofi" the capitol square, now usually designated " the park," in Madison, and some lots in the vicinity. On the 17th of February, John Catlin and I started from Mineral Point to perform this work. We spent the first night at the house of John Messersmith, about twelve miles east of Mineral Point, where we engaged his son George to go with us. Before we again started, we were joined by Josiah A. Noonan, who desired to have some surveying done in the same vicinity. I kept a diary while absent, and I find these entries therein :

"February 17. Bought surveying-chain, shirt and gloves, and same day started, with John Catlin, for Madison, and stayed at Messersmith's. J. A. Noonan joined us, bringing a letter from Judge Doty. Noonan will go with us to Madison.

" February 18. Bought, at Ebenezer Brigham's, provisions for the excursion, at $15, and went on to Steel's, on Hanly's Creek [near what is now Cross Plains Station, on Black Earth Creek, town of Cross Plains, Dane County], Noonan and George Messersmith in company.

" February 19. Went to Michael St. Cyr's, and finished Noonan's work on north side of Fourth Lake [now Lake Mendota], and slept at St. Cyr's.

" February 21. Finished Noonan's meanders on Third Lake [now Lake Monona], and he paid me $70 for myself and Catlin. Then we commenced work for Doty, at Madison.

" February 22. Continued Doty's work, at Madison. Camped there, and at daylight were driven oif by a severe snowstorm. We went to St. Cyr's and spent the day.

" February 26. Returned to Madison and finished all of Doty's work west of canal, and then went to Wallace Rowan's and slept, having paid St. Cyr $13.50."

Rowan lived about twelve miles south of Fort Winnebago at that time, where now is Poynette, Columbia County. He lived in the ordinary log house of those days. We slept on the floor. There was no appearance of his having just arrived there, though I cannot say just how long he had been living at that place.

From Rowan's we went to the Wisconsin River ; followed down that stream to Helena, and thence went to Mineral Point. I am positive this was in February, 1837, both from my recollection and from documentary evidence in my possession.

Xiv. By Charles Aviiittlesey

We arrived at Fort Winnebago late at night, having made one hundred and forty miles in two and a half days. [This was in September, 1832.] Fifty miles of this day's travel lay in a rolling prairie, over which a two-horse carriage traveled in company ; although no road had been constructed, nothing occurred to hinder the process of a vehicle except an occasional marsh. On the right of our track lay, at irregular distances, the Fox River, amd " Opukwa," or Rice Lakes, which were distantly seen as we rose the swells of the country. The garrison is at the portage, between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, on a handsome rise, overlooking the immediate valley of both streams. This valley is a meadow or swamp, about a half a mile across, over which the waters of both channels mingle, in time of flood, floating boats from the valley of the Mississippi to the valley of the lakes. Goods destined for posts on the Upper Mississippi, from the East, are here carted across and committed to the current of the Wisconsin. This river has capacity for steamboat navigation, but is filled with movable sand bars from the portage to its mouth.

From the fort there were traveled roads leading to the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien, or Fort Crawford, at the mouth of Fever River, near Galena, and at other points. After two days' rest, we took the route for Galena by way of the " Blue Mounds." At the distance of about fifteen miles in a southwesterly direction, the traveler discovers that he has, imperceptibly, attained an elevation commanding the timbered valley of the Wisconsin, and from which the stockade and white houses of the garrison are distinctly visible. On the east and northeast, the Baribou [Baraboo] hills rise out of the flat woodland and stretch away northwardly toward Lake Superior. He stands upon an eminence of five hundred feet, sloping gently down on all sides, covered with waving grass. On the east and south, as far as the eye can distinguish, he perceives a succession of similar hills, their rounded summits ranging irregularly around - not a tree, nor a stone nor any fixed object to be seen in the whole prospect. In the spacious valleys that intervene, millions of small flowers mingle their bright colors with the green of the meadows, chastening and ruralizing the scene. An excitable person would exclaim at the sublimity of such a scene, having the grandeur of a mountain without its loftiness, and the command of the sea without its monotony. A painter would pass from the grand outlines and dwell with delight upon the beauty of its details.

It was through such a country, varied by a few small lakes, that we spent this day. We startled a plenty of grouse, and frequently saw the deer quietly feeding on the hillsides, secure from our rifles in the distance. The sight of a prairie wolf was not an uncommon thing. This animal differs materially from the common wolf, being less in size, of a gray color, and wanting in speed. The former feeds upon the mice and small animals of the low prairie, seldom assaulting the farmyard. He is less ferocious than the fox-tailed wolf, and may be soon overtaken with a fleet horse. Their uniform practice in regard to us, after running away at a moderate step a couple of yards, was to face about and examine the company. There were no Indians along the route.

Xv. By Freedom Simons

My father, James H. Simons, was a soldier of the war of 1812. I was born in the wartime, when my father, with others, was fighting for liberty ; hence they gave me the appropriate name of Freedom. Sardis Dudley, my wife's father, was also a soldier, and both were pioneer settlers of Cayuga County, N. Y. I started from Cayuga County, N. Y., on the 6th day of September, 1842, with my family, consisting of my wife and three children. I came by way of the Erie Canal and the great lakes. We anchored in the Bay of Milwaukee, a halfmile off" shore, on the 17th of September, 1842. There were no docks nor piers there, at that early date, and our only chance of getting ourselves and goods on shore was by a small boat, called a lighter. We thought we had paid our fare to Milwaukee, but here was an additional expense. We were pulled over the sand-bar and up the Milwaukee River to Dousman's little, one-story warehouse, which, at that period, accommodated all the freight business of Milwaukee. As there were no public conveyances inland at that early date, the best thing we could do was to charter what was known in those days as a "sucker team," a huge canvas-covered wagon, drawn by five yoke of oxen. After hard, weary traveling over broad marshes, crossing bridges made of tamarack poles, in six days we arrived at Prairie du Sac, the place of our destination.

In the spring of 1843, after experiencing an extremely cold and snowy winter, we moved over the Wisconsin River, into Dane County, and settled in what is now the town of Springfield. Ours was the only house between the outskirts of Madison and the Wisconsin River, a distance of twenty-two miles. North, toward Fort Winnebago, the nearest house was fifteen miles, near where the village of Poynette now stands ; while south, toward Mineral Point, we had neighbors within eight miles. In the fall of 184-3, a few settlers came in.

In the spring of 1844, I took part in the election. The voting precinct consisted of all the territory between the Fourth Lake and the Wisconsin River. At this first election, west of Madison, seven votes were polled. I was elected Justice of the Peace, and, through the influence of John Catlin, of Madison, received, the same year, the appointment of Postmaster.

In 1845, John M. Babcock, with a large family, George 0. IJabcock and I. R. Waterberry came to the Territory. That year, I moved and settled on Section 32, in the town of Dane. I also took part in the organization of that town, and was elected to the ofiice of Assessor in the spring of 1846. The tide of emigration having fairly set in in this direction, what was known as Ohio Settlement, from Ohio, was commenced. This was a valuable acquisition. It is seldom that a community is made up of men and women so well qualified for pioneer life. All the men were of a high moral character, and deeply imbued with a Christian spirit, and possessing a liberal education. They wielded a powerful influence in shaping the moral and religious sentiment of the community. There were six men that came first - Miller Blachly, the old gentleman. Dr. Eben Blachly, Jackson Luce, Bell Blachly, William Dunlap and Samuel Bell. Miller Blachly died October 10, 1850. Miss Sarah Blachly was married to Rev. Mr. Bradly, of Siam, in November, 1848. There were many privations, trials and hardships to be endured by the pioneers, and this settlement was no exception to the rule. As one of the important incidents connected with our isolated condition in 1844, I will relate that Capt. Sumner, from Iowa, with seventy cavalry, suddenly, without any previous notice, came galloping up to the door of our house. A short consultation with the Quartermaster served to explain their sudden appearance and quiet the fears of the ladies of our household. They were from Iowa, sent out by the Government to capture the vagrant Indians that had escaped from Turkey River, Iowa, where they had formerly been located by the Government. Many of the Winnebagoes, disliking their location, had wandered back to their old hunting-grounds. Fortunately for the Captain and his men, and for myself also, I had killed a beef the day before, and the Quartermaster wanted nearly the whole of it, with twenty-two hundred of hay for the seventy horses. The next morning, after paying liberally in silver coin for all their trouble, they sounded the bugle and departed, with many thanks for their hospitable entertainment. They made their way to Fort Winnebago, the place of their headquarters for nearly two months, while they were gathering up the vagrant Indians. After capturing about two hundred, they returned by the same route, and camped a little north of my house, with the main body of the Indians, while the old chief, De Kau-ry, his wife and sister, were sent on by team to our dwelling to lodge for the night. These three old people were not prisoners, but went voluntarily, and were well cared for. They were very old, and nearly blind. I shall always remember the stately, gigantic form of the old chief as he came in. We had, what was common in those days, an oldfashioned chimney and a large, open fire-place. It was a cold December night, and as the old chief beheld the comfortable, blazing fire on the hearth, he, seating himself, Indian style, on the floor before it, stretched out his hands and cried out, " Wah I" It was a real pleasure to see the venerable old man enjoy himself at my fireside. His ancient-looking, historic face seemed lighted up with joyful thanks for the kind care received. The next morning, Capt. Sumner and his troops, with the Indians, came along. Noticing the Indians carrying their own guns, I said to the Captain : "Don't you fear they will make you trouble? " "Ah!" he said, " I make them pack the guns and I pack the locks."

Another startling incident of that year was the appearance of a few straggling black bears. As I was, one day, dragging on my prairie farm, on Section 32, about one mile from home, I saw a large black bear jump over the fence and put off through the openings. I immediately jumped on to a horse and went to the house, and thence rallied the neighbors. Three or four men constituted the whole party, but they captured old bruin and brought him to my house before sundown. Soon after, another made his appearance in sight of the house. Some passing traveler sighted him. My wife called to me, but when I came the bear was not to be seen. Nothing daunted, I took down the old musket and sallied out like a mighty Nimrod, though there was not the least prospect that the old flint-lock gun would go off; but, lucky for me, I did not see bruin. While I was absent, the bear came around the hill to the house, and within three rods of the front door halted. My wife stood in the door and called to the children to come and see the bear. The animal, from fright or some other cause, sprang up a tree a few feet, but soon came down and trotted off, and was not seen again in the vicinity.

Our oldest son is said to be the first boy born in western Dane. In this year, I made my first trip to the Dekorra Mill, which is worthy of record as showing some of the trials of pioneer life. Two families of the Babcocks were living in the house with us, they having just come to the country from St. Lawrence County, N. Y. I had raised my first crop of wheat that year, and, one Friday morning in September, started to find Dekorra Mill. I had heard of it, but had never been there. I knew there was an old Indian trail from Fourth Lake to the Wisconsin River, at Dekorra, and that this deeply worn Indian path crossed the old military road somewhere between my place and Esminger's or Poynette ; that this Indian trail was used as the Dekorra road. So, taking my horse and one of Mr. Babcock's, I started out, and found the Indian trail ; but before night there came up a furious thunderstorm. Just before night, I came to Rowan Creek, and behold, the bridge planks were all burned off the stringers. Here was a dilemma. The wind was blowing furiously, and the rain was pelting my horses unmercifully. I could not go ahead, neither could I go back, for the night was setting in dark. I fixed up my horses and load as well as possible ; but by this time it was so dark 1 could see my way to the bridge only by the flashes of lightning, while the rain was pouring down upon me. I crossed over on my hands and knees on one of the stringers, for I had seen a shanty on the other side, but it was not inhabited. I thought I might find the mill if I could keep the wellworn trail, and find shelter. I could also make inquiries if there were some other crossingplace. But I .saw no sign or light ; and, after traveling two or three miles, I turned back to the creek, spent the night in the old deserted shanty, glad to see the morning light. I started out the second day to find Dekorra Mill ; took my back track to the military road, then by Poynette. The distance was about twelve miles, but I could not get my grist till in the night. So on Sunday morning I must go home, if I did break the Sabbath, for there were three families at home and no flour. When I arrived home, I found they had brought the old coffee-mill into requisition and actually ground wheat enough to make griddle-cakes for the large family. George Babcock declared they had had one good square meal.

After living about eighteen months on our prairie farm, and digging fifty feet for water, without success, I got discouraged and sold out, and, attracted by the cold springs of Spring Creek, I bought three " eighties " on Section 4, along the line of Columbia County, and moved on to them in the spring of 1847 ; but, with no market nearer than Milwaukee, there was little encouragement in raising wheat at that early period. Being attracted by the prospect of a smart little town at Lodi, I accepted Judge Palmer's proposition of a donation of two lots on which I was to build a hotel and put up the back wing 16.x24, with a " lean-to " 12x24 ; I moved into it in January, 1849.

About half-past 7, in the forenoon of a summer's day, 1835, we passed the West Fork [Neenah Creek] of Fox River, said to be ten miles from the American post of Fort Winnebago. The stream had now diminished to about twenty yards in breadth. From this point, we had frequently to struggle through the wild rice, which had all but choked up the channel in various places, often paddling through the straw as if we were going through an inundated wheat-field. About 8, I landed at a sand-hill, about eighty feet high, along which some bowlders of primary rocks and limestone were lying. Ascending it, I observed several others in various parts of the country ; but whether they have been produced by blown sand, or are the remains of ancient beds of incolierent sandstone, I could not ascertain. There was, however, an occasional appearance of stratification, which favored the last opinion.

Here we breakfasted, and starting again about 9 A. M., got so entangled in the rice-stalks and canes, ten feet high, that we could see nothing around us whatever. The channel was altogether obliterated, and the water became very shallow. Paddling became out of the question, and we all took to warping the canoe through by hauling upon the tall stalks, upon a course by compass for Fort Winnebago. My fear was that we should work the canoe into an immense rice-field, like that of the Lake Apachquay [Puckaway], and be very much embarrassed to extricate ourselves. Certainly, if night had overtaken us in this situation, we should have had to pass it in the canoe; but, after two hours' hard work, we got into clear water, and soon after - 11 A. M. - had the great satisfaction of seeing the American Hag waving in a strong northwest breeze from Fort Winnebago. We now paddled away for the post, and, reaching it soon after noon, I landed and presented myself at the quarters of Maj. Grant, the commandant, a very gentlemanly person, who received me with the kind hospitality with which American officers always receive travelers. This gentleman had been a long time on duty in the Northwest country. The dinner went off very pleasantly, and, when it was over. Dr. Foote, the very intelligent Surgeon of the garrison, was kind enough to walk with me to some of the sand-hills I had seen in the morning. It was so long since I had seen any rocks in place, that I was rather at a loss about the geology of the counti-y, and was exceedingly anxious to find out whereabouts I was. We had a very agreeable walk, during which we sprung several very large grouse [Tetrao Cupido). These birds seem to flourish on this high, dry land, for Fort Winnebago is most conveniently situated upon the dividing summit that separates the Atlantic streams from those that flow into the Gulf of Mexico - one of the first flowing at the foot of the fort, and the Wisconsin being distant only half an hour's walk.

The sand-hill we first reached was about sixty feet high, and was formed of sandstone in places, rather incoherent, with the strata horizontal, and pleasingly colored with streaks of red oxide of iron. The inspection of this outlier at once explained a great deal of what I had been observing for some days, but which I could not understand for want of the key. It was evident that an immense area of country had been, in ancient times, covered with a stratified arenaceous deposit, slightly coherent, and that this had been broken up and carried for the greater part away, when the waters had retreated in a violent and tumultuous manner. I found afterward, that, although the Wisconsin empties itself into the Mississippi, passing the fort at a distance short of two miles, yet, that the elevation of the ground betwixt the Wisconsin and Fox was so slight, that once in six or seven years, when the flood of the Wisconsin is high, its waters overcome the difference of level, and flow back into Fox River, so that a barge can at such times pass from one stream into another. I do not therefore hesitate to believe that all the country, including the great lakes and the Mississippi, have, at a remote period, formed one great area of fresh water. One of the consequences of the removal of the ancient strata is the present depression of the surface of the country, the prevalence of wild rice marshes, and the deposition of sand over a great portion of the general surface. This loose sandstone reminded me so much of that which exists in the lead region of the State of Missouri, which I visited in 1834, that it

Struck me for the first time that the same formation might extend to the lead region of the AVisconsin Territory, a fact that I should soon have the best opportunity of examining into.

Fort Winnebago, which, like all the American frontier posts, is an exceedingly neat place, is built upon an elevated piece of land, with Fox River and the rice marshes connected with it in front. To the southwest there is a range of hills, called Bonibou [Baraboo], which form an agreeable object. The fort is inclosed with a square picket, and contains two block-houses. At the period when this part of the Indian country was first occupied by American troops, the post was no doubt no more than adequate for defense against the Indians ; but, now that they are reduced to a state of insignificance, it would seem unnecessary to maintain a garrison there much longer. There is a military road not yet completed, which passes near to the post, leading from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien ; it is a wide path, cut out of the forest, with the stumps of the trees razed close to the ground, and the streams are traversed by good bridges, this branch of the military service of the United States being always well performed.

Having got a comfortable night's rest in the fort, I rose at 5 A. M., and, taking my towels, etc., went down to the river to wash myself, and see what my men were doing. They were all comfortably under the canoe, except one man, who slept in the tent to take care of the hutin. At 7, I was called to breakfast with Maj. Clarke, and afterward went to Dr. Foote's quarters, who presented me with a very large conch-shell {cassis c), taken by him from a very ancient and lofty mound, resembling those at St. Louis and on the Muskingum. The last appear to be the oldest monuments of this kind in the country, and have been attributed by some persons to a race of Indians that preceded the present red men ; this shell, therefore, which I believe is not found at any point nearer than the Mexican side of the gulf, would seem to indicate the country whence the race came that consti'ucted the mound.

At 8, A. M., I bade adieu to the officers of the garrison, and turning my back upon the waters that flow into the Atlantic, I crossed the portage, and advanced to those that empty themselves into the Gulf of Mexico. The portage was a dead flat of black mud and sand, measuring exactly 2,650 paces ; it took me exactly twenty-eight minutes to walk across it. The canoe and luggage were conveyed to the shore of the Wisconsin in an ox-cart, and launched upon the river as soon as we reached it. It was a powerful, black-looking stream, resembling the the Arkansas, with broad sand-beaches, the whole breadth not appearing at the point where we struck it, on account of some islands which masked it; but it soon exhibited a breadth of 250 yards. After struggling so many days as we had against the current of Fox River, an exertion requiring' so much care and labor as to keep down a great deal of enjoyment, it was exceedingly gratifying to find ourselves, on one of the most lovely mornings imaginable, carried down stream by a strong current of about three miles an hour, independent of our paddles ; and all very much exhilarated, we went joyously and noisily down the waters tliat are tributary to the Mississippi, roaring out our chansons as we shot rapidly past picturesque islands and graceful banks of a noble river I had never been upon before - a feeling of peculiar enjoyment to me.