Madison City (part 3 of 20)

" With regard to the several additions to Madison, laid out around the eastern and northern shores of the Fourth Lake, the towns may not for some years meet the sanguine expectations of the several proprietors, but it may with truth be said, that in whatever proportion population may increase in all or any of these places, compared with other parts of the Territory, there cannot be found in any part of Western Wisconsin situ¬ ations more healthy, and more fertile, or prospects more beau¬ tiful in respect to land and water scenery, than around and in the vicinit}7 of the Four Lakes; this region must in a short time be thickly inhabited." * * * *

It will be noticed the predictions of Gen. Smith have not all been fulfilled; while the city of Madison has become all that he anticipated, the Catfish is not yet navigable for steamboats and not very likely to be for years to come - the projected canal across the city, was abandoned, which also may be said of the various cities laid out on paper around the lakes. Many persons

Hon. J. T. Kingston, of Necedah, Wisconsin, informs ns that about the 20th of December, 1837, in company with S. B. Pilkington, he passed through Madison, from Racine. He arrived here the next morning, and proceeded north to the Wis¬ consin river. The prospects of Madison did not at all appear promising at that time to him, and the business of mining was the only one that held out any inducements to immigrants.

The Legislature of the Territory met for the first time in Madison, on the 26th of February, 1838. The capitol was not yet in a suitable condition to receive the Legislature, so that the members of the Council met in the little room on the left side of the hall of the American Hotel, and the House of Rep¬ resentatives in the basement dining room, in which permanent organizations took place. In the basement room Gfov. Dodge delivered his first message at the new seat of government. A resolution was adopted appointing a joint committee to exam¬ ine the public buildings, and report their condition, together with the probable accommodation to be afforded the Legisla¬ ture. The committee reported the next day that they had the assurance of the Commissioner, Mr. Bird, that the Representa¬ tives Hall and Council Chamber would be in readiness on the succeeding day for the Legislative Assembly. They also re¬ ported that the keepers of the three public houses would be fully prepared, during the week, to accommodate the members, towit: at the Madison House, two rooms that will accommodate six persons; at the Madison Hotel, two rooms that will accom¬ modate four persons each; and at the American Hotel, eight rooms sufficient to accommodate twenty-six persons; and, fur¬ ther, that not more than fifty persons can be accommodated with sufficient rooms for the transaction of business. A few days later, two rooms on the south side of the capitol were pro¬ nounced in readiness for the reception of the wise men of the Legislature, representing 18,130 inhabitants, the population of the then Territory of Wisconsin. The counties of Green,

Dane, Jefferson and Dodge were represented in the Council by Col. Ebenezer Brigham of Blue Mounds. Speaking of the Representatives Hall, Col. Childs says: "The floors were laid with green oak boards, full of ice; the walls of the room were iced over; green oak seats, and desks made of rough boards; one fire-place, and one small stove. In a few days the flooring near the stove and fire-place so shrunk, on account of the heat, that a person could run his hands between the hoards. The basement story was all open, and James Morrison's large drove of hogs had taken possession. The weather was cold, the halls were cold, our ink would freeze - so that, when we could stand it no longer, we passed a joint resolution to adjourn for twenty days, and I was appointed by the two houses to procure carpeting for both halls during the recess. I bought all I could find in the Territory, and brought it to Madison, and put it down, after covering the floor with a thick coating of hay. After this we were more comfortable."

Judge J. Gr. Knapp, in his " Early Reminiscences of Madison," in speaking of the first Legislative Session at Madison, says: " Having organized the Legislature, the next question was for members, officers and lobby to find places to eat and sleep in. Though we paid metropolitan prices, it cannot be said that we had exactly metropolitan fare. But men were remarkably accommodating in those early times, and without a grumble could eat ' hog and hominy ' or 1 common doings ' when 1 chicken fixings ' could not be had, and they could occupy a ' field bed' when they were required to sleep 1 spoon fashion.' A frontier life is a mighty leveller - much like poverty mak¬ ing men acquainted with strange bedfellows. The 1 school section ' of the 1 American,' embracing most of the garret, was marked into lodging places by cracks in the floor, and its other rooms were equally crowded. At the Madison House, only six men were placed in a room sixteen feet square, and four others had a place at the fire during the day and evening. The floors of the Madison House were also nightly covered with shake-downs for travelers and transient visitors. Happy were those men who could find places in the few private houses

Gen. Geo. P. Delaplaihe, a well known citizen, removed here in September, 1838. He was engaged for a time with Jas. Morrisoh as a clerk the Commissioners1 Store.

' For the sake of preserving some additional facts connected with the early history of Madison we may add, that the first Neiv Years was duly commemorated at the hospitable house of Mr. and Mrs. E. Peck; and her husband's brother, Luther Peck, could discourse sweet music from the violin; and a dance was inaugurated, which lasted two days and two nights. In those days, with but a weekly mail, and that sometimes irreg¬ ular and uncertain, and but four families in the plate, some show of sociality and good cheer became necessary, to chase away the ennui that might otherwise have crept in during the long and tedious winter.

The first wedding in Madison took place at Mr. Peck's, on the 1st of April, 1838. The happy bridegroom was Jairus S. Potter, better known as Lohg Potter, a tall lank fellow, to contra-distinguish him from Horace Potter, denominated Short Potter; and the bride was Miss Elizabeth Alleh, who worked in Peck's family. Gen. Mills procured a pretty bouquet of early flowers from the high sandy ridge dividing Third and Dead Lakes, to grace the occasion, and Mr. Peck, who was a justice of the peace, tied the matrimonial knot, which was followed by a dance, Mrs. Peck officiating on the violin, except when she herself tripped gracefully over the floor, when Mr. Ebeh Peck was her substitute. Mr. Potter remained in Madison until his death, about 1841; and his widow has long since passed away. Gen. Mills, Darwih Clark, and Mrs. Prosper B. Bird, who were present, speak in terms of pleasant remembrance of this primitive wedding; and Gen. Mills adds, that the spring of 1838 opened unusually early, or he would not have been able to procure the beautiful bouquet of wild flowers to grace the wedding festival.

lished here, Josiah A. Noonan* was the editor and proprietor, who had the usual enterprise of frontier printers in getting his office opened.

Mr. Noox ax had ordered a press and material from Buffalo to come by way of the lakes to Green Bay, and thence up Fox river on barges to Fort Winnebago, whence it was to have been carted over-land to Madison. The bill of shipment came in due time, but weeks passed, and nothing was heard of the material. The season was getting late, and no press. Finally Mr. Noonan engaged Mr. Hyer to mount a pony, and go to Fort Winnebago, forty miles distant, and make inquiry about the missing material, and if nothing was heard of it, to con¬ tinue on to Green Bay. There were then no roads, no guides, no regular stopping places; by the route taken there was no clearly defined track between Madison and Fort Winnebago, and but one stopping place, a half breed's house, within ten or twelve miles of the Fort. But from Fort Winnebago to Green Bay there was a good military road, running east of Lake Winnebago, affording a good route, and convenient stopping places among traders and Indians. On reaching Fort Winne¬ bago, Mr. Hyer gained information that convinced him that the press and material had been thrown overboard, in a storm, in Lake Huron, off Mackinaw; but it was months after the unfortunate event before its fate was fully known. Satisfied that it would be useless to look further for the missing printing material, Mr. Hyer started back the next morning for Madi¬ son, reaching there that night, and gave such information of the matter as he had been able to learn. This led Mr. Nooxax

* Josiah A. Noonan, Esq., was a native of Montgomery county, New York, and educated as a printer, with Chas. S. Benton, of Little Falls, New York. In 1836 he removed to Michigan, and in 1838, after the location of the seat of government, to Madison, Wis., and was publisher of the " Wisconsin Enquirer," and elected territorial printer. In 1840 he removed to Milwaukee and published the " Milwaukee Advertiser " and afterwards the " Morning News." He was subsequently appointed Post¬ master, which position he held a number of years. He was subsequently interested in the Humbolt Paper Mill, near Milwaukee, and more recently has removed to Chicago, where he is the publisher of the " Industrial Age." to purchase the u Racine Argus' ' and transfer the material to Madison, followed immediately by the publication of the " Wis¬ consin Enquirer ," the first number of which appeared on the 8th of November, 1838, and on which Mr. Hyer set the first type. With a single hand press, and scarcely any conveniences, this little office issued a newspaper, the bills, journals, reports, and laws of the Legislature, including a revision of the laws then in force. It was published in a room over the Commis¬ sioner's Store on King street. It was a six column weekly and commenced its career full of spirit and energy. In the intro¬ ductory, the editor says: w With party politics we shall not for the present take any very active part, believing that there is nothing in the situation of the Territory that makes it neces¬ sary for the newspapers in it now, to burthen their columns with labored discussions of the common political questions of the day."

The paper, however, was not long free from politics. The greatest strife was of a local nature. Parties at that day, had not become fully organized. In April, 1839, Mr. C. C. Sholes became a partner. Other changes took place subsequently. George Hyer, J. Gillett Knapp, Harrison Reed, David Lambert and Barlow Shackleford were interested in its management. It was discontinued after June, 1843.

1839. - An election for Board of Commissioners of Dane county, was held in May, at Madison, which was the only voting place, and Simeon Mills, Eben Peck and Jeremiah Lycan were elected. At their first meeting, May 15, at the Madi¬ son Hotel, they chose La Fayette Kellogg, Clerk; John Sto¬ ner, County Treasurer; Wm. A. Wheeler, Assessor; R. L. Ream, Register of Deeds; David Hyer, Coroner; Adam Smith and J. Ubeldine, Constables. On the 25th of May, Gov. Dodge appointed John Catlin, District Attorney; Isaac H. Palmer, Judge of Probate; N. T. Parkinson, Sheriff; Isaac Atwood, Public Administrator; G. P. Delaplaine, District Surveyor, W. N. Seymour, Justice of the Peace, vice S. Mills, resigned, and John T. Wilson, Auctioneer.

which time most of the persons elected presented their bonds, which were accepted. On the 16th two election precincts were established, one at Madison, and the other at Moundville (Bine Mounds); at the former, Prosper B. Bird, Darwin Clark and J. S. Potter were appointed Judges of Election, and at the latter, Prescott Brigham, J. C. Kellogg and Sidney Carman. On the 4th of June, G-. P. Delaplaine filed his bond as District Surveyor, and N. T. Parkin¬ son, as Sheriff. On the 5th of July two supervisors were chosen; No. 1, Edward Campbell, No. 2, Horace Lawhience and H. Lawrence, Chas. S. Peaslee and Isaac Atwood to act as commissioners to lay out a county road in the direction of Fort Winnebago. Tavern licenses were fixed at $20 at Madi¬ son, and $12 in other parts of the county. On the 6th of July, the Clerk of the Board was authorized to receive proposals for the erection of a county jail, 24 feet long, 18 feet wide - two rooms - one story high, of square timber - walls eight inches thick, and Simeon Mills was directed to make a loan of $1,000 to defray the expenses. On the 22d of the same month, Robert L. Ream was elected Clerk of the Board, vice L. F. Kellogg re¬ signed. Bids were received for the erection of the jail from P. W. Matts, Geo. Vroman, J. S. Potter, Nelson Hart & Co. Isaac Atwood, A. Rasdall, David Hyer, Thos. Jackson and N. T. Parkinson, ranging from $1,139, the bid of J. S. Potter; to $2,000 - that of A. Rasdall. The contract was awarded to Mr. Potter, who, failing to give bonds, it was given to N. T. Parkinson, for $1,348. The building was erected on lot 10, block 113.

On the 25th of May, 1839, the " Enquirer " contained an ar¬ ticle respecting Dane county, in which the whole population was estimated at three hundred, more than half of whom re¬ sided at Madison. This was doubtless too high an estimate, as the population by the census of 1840 was but 314. The village then contained two stores, three public houses, three groceries and one steam mill - in all thirty-five buildings. The same article states that prices had ranged during the year then passed as follows: Corn, $1.25 per bushel; oats, 75 cents; potatoes,

Geo. O. Tiffany and Simeon Mills advertised, September 20, to run a stage semi-weekly from Milwaukee to Madison in connection with the established line to Mineral Point.

As a matter of curiosity we give the names of the voters at Madison precinct, as taken from a poll list, August 5, 1839, now in possession of Darwin Clark, Esq. Some of the voters were not residents of the village, but living outside of the lim¬ its. At that time but few farms were cultivated; land was abundant and at moderate prices, and the voters were located but a short distance in the country : Berry Haney, A. A. Bird, Geo. A. Tiffany, John Vosburg, Geo. Vroman, Wm. N. Seymour, Darwin Clark, W. W. Wyman, W. G. Simonds, Dr. Almon Lull, John Catlin, John T. Wilson, Simeon Mills, Abel Rasdall, W. G. Van Bergen, Ebenezer Brigham, N. T. Parkinson, Chas. H. Bird, Jeff. Kinney, Samuel Chappell, Zenas H. Bird, Reuben Brown, Abram Wood, Lucius Ham¬ mond, Prosper B. Bird, Isaac H. Palmer, Eben Peck, Thos. Jackson, Jona. Butterfield, Chas. S. Peaslee, Josiah A. Noonan, R. L. Ream, W. B. Slaughter, Geo. H. Slaughter, J. Pelkie, Adam Smith, A. Wakefield, W. A. Wheeler, W. Ho ad ley, David Hyer, H. Lawrence, J. F. Potter, Geo. Ba¬ ker, Oliver Armell, John Stoner, John Betts, Henry Fake, N. C. Prentiss, Nelson Hart, Thos Perry, Isaac Atwood, Hiram Fellows, Richard Palmer, and Luther Peck. Total, 54 voters.

The u Madison Express " was the title of the second paper established in Madison. The first number was issued on the 2d day of December, 1839. W. W. Wyman, editor and publisher. It was a neatly printed six-column weekly paper, starting off in support of the then Territorial administration, and claiming to be devoted to the advancement of the best interests of the people. In 1840, it was enlarged to a seven column paper, and came out decidedly in favor of the Whig party, raising the name of Wm. H. Harrison at the editorial head - declaring for Harrison and Reform. The paper continued with marked success until May, 1848, when it was temporarily suspended. In 1848 the office was purchased by David Atwood & Royal Buck, and the publication was resumed. The further his¬ tory of this and other Madison newspapers will be hereafter continued.

u My first recollections of actually seeing Madison and its surroundings carry me back to the summer of 1838, when after a rapid reconnoisance for a canal from Waupun to the head of Duck creek, I came to Madison as a delegate to a Territorial Congressional convention. Our road then ran on the west side of the Fourth Lake (the lakes were numbered, and had no spec¬ ial names in those days), and over the high prairies in the western part of Westport and Vienna, coming in at the paper "City of the Four Lakes," through Mandamus and around the south end of the lake, so as to enter the present road near the stone quarry.

" But two roads, then, led from the capitol out of town, the one west, partly along State street and University avenue, to near the residence of A. E. Brooks. There it parted, one run-

* Hon. Jos. G. Knapp was born at New Lebanon, N. Y., Sept. 21, 1805. He studied law, and removed to Wisconsin, landing at Green Bay, Novem¬ ber 20, 1835. He came to Madison, 1839, and was editor and proprietor of the Wisconsin Enquirer in 1842. He was elected by the Territorial Legislature January 29, 1846, Superintendent of Public Property, suc¬ ceeding Hon. John Y. Smith, and was re-elected February 9, 1847, and March 9, 1848, to the same office. Mr. Knapp practiced law in Madison until his appointment in 1861, as Associate Judge of the Territory of New Mexico. This appointment he held until 1863, when he returned to Wis¬ consin. Judge Knapp has written much for the newspapers and periodi¬ cals on agricultural and scientific subjects generally. He removed to New Mexico in 1873, and resides at Mesilla.

ning southwest, leading towards Green county; the other con¬ tinued west beyond the second railroad culvert, at which place it branched for Blue Mounds and Fort Winnebago. The Green county road branched again beyond the Dead Lake, for Hume's Ferry over Rock river. Janesville was then scarcely begun. This then, and long after, was the road to Rock and Wal¬ worth counties. The east road forded the Catfish river nearly where the bridge now is, and branching soon after, one led to Cottage Grove, where it again parted, one to Lake Mills, and the other to Fort Atkinson. The main track followed near the present road to Sun Prairie, and thence to Lake Mills by way of Marshall, then called u Bird's Ruins."f It was by this line the first workmen arrived here from Milwaukee. Near the u T6 " farm, an Indian trail ran by the Prairie House. Horace Lawrence lived there then, in a little house, keeping " bach." This was the only house between Madison and Rowan's. The trail crossed Token creek a mile above the present village, and then ran over the prairies, striking the military road at Row¬ an's, now Poynette. By this trail I returned from Madison. Then there were no roads in the direction of Columbus, Beaver Dam and Waupun. In fact those towns were then unsettled, and the lands unentered at the land office.

Then the " City of Four Lakes " J had a very decided adf Bird's Ruins had its name in this wise : It had been observed by Col. Bird's party who passed there in June, 1837, that it would make a desi¬ rable location; and as Bird's trail was for some time the only route of travel between Milwaukee and Madison, Zenas H. Bird, a brother of Col. Bird, took down his small building in Madison, about the spring of 1839, and re-erected it at the crossing of Waterloo creek, and moved there, with the view of establishing a tavern at that locality, and put up a much larger frame for a house; but by the autumn of that year, other routes of travel begun to be opened, and Mr. Bird regarding the prospects as unpromising, abandoned the premises, and returned to Madison ; arid left to the action of .storms and weather, the building, in the course of two or three years, fell to the ground - and hence the place was named Bird's Ruins. The village of Hanchettville, since changed to Marshall, subsequently sprung up there. Mr. Bird, an early hotel keeper, died in Madison in 1843.

vantage over Madison. That city, owned mostly by Virginia gentlemen, had houses and people; Madison had no such luxu¬ ries, but it had an energetic proprietor. To-day one is a city with a Mayor and common council, four storied stone and brick blocks, with moss on the roofs, railroads, Nicholson pavements, macadamized streets, sidewalks and stoned gutters, plenty of debts and taxes, thronged streets with noise, dust and jostlings of business, conflagrations and fire engines. The other city is a wheat field, or grown up to brush, with less houses than it had in 1836.

The anniversary of National Independence was celebrated in due form (1839). John Catlin, Esq., was President, A. A. Bird and Simeon Mills, Vice Presidents. The Declaration of Independence was read by Geo. P. Delaplaine, and the Ora¬ tion by Wm. T. Sterling. The celebration was a "great suc¬ cess." Volunteer toasts were given by S. Mills, A. A. Bird, G. P. Delaplaine, R. L. Ream, D. Clark, A. Smith, C. Peaslee, E. Brigham, Wm. N. Seymour, L. F. Kellogg, Geo. Hyer, and others. Some of the toasts were very severe on the politi¬ cal actions of Gov. S. T. Mason, Acting Governor, who was for some reasons exceedingly unpopular. Of this celebration, Judge J. G. Knapp, who was present, remarks: " The Madisonians having determined to celebrate the Fourth of July, and to vary for the occasion the usual diet of bacon and fish, " Uncle Ab," of the " Worser," had agreed to deliver them a fat steer for the occasion. The evening of the third came, and Nichols also, boisterously happy. Individually he had commenced an¬ ticipating the good feeling, which the keg he carried in his wagon, intended primarily for the "Worser," but ultimately de¬ signed, after quadrupling its cost in favor of. that institution, for the Madisonians, whose whistles had long been dry. Men drank " Peckatonica " and " Rock river," in those days, and thought there could be no feast without it. * True to his trust, Nichols had brought the steer, and tied him in a thicket to a burr oak tree, near the intersection of Dayton and State streets, where none of the hungry men could see it. Then taking one more drink from his " pocket pistol," he advanced to the crowd of loungers and longers; for the whisky of the u Worser" had long since failed, and all were remarkably dry. The keg was unloaded and tapped in less time than I can tell it, and all hands summoned to drink. So the Fourth of July began, as it not unfrequently happens, on the third. The tethered steer was forgotten, in the joy that whisky, as meat, drink and lodging, prevaded the crowd; and none enjoyed it more than u Uncle Ab " himself. The Madisonians, next day, celebrated the Fourth in due course. They marched in due form to martial music made by two squeaking fiddles.f Fiddlers and men at the head, and women at the tail of the line. Geo. P. Delaplaine read the declaration, and William T. Sterling deliv¬ ered a short hut broad winged eagle oration. After which the procession reformed in close order, and with "double quick" marched back to the " Worser," and to the public dinner of ba¬ con and fish, the diet of other days, except they had whisky to drink. They eat, they drank, and they danced to the cheery notes of the fiddles, and were right merry.

Three days after, when the keg was empty, and no more whisky to he had, "Uncle Ab " sobered of, and bethought him of the steer tied to the burr oak, and that instead of having been served up on the National feast, he was still under the tree. There it was that the butcher's knife released him at once from his three days' fast and from life; and he served to vary the daily diet of bacon and bread on common days of the year."

A school was taught by Mr. Edgar S. Searle, in the sum¬ mer of 1839. Mr. Searle continued one term, and was succeded in the summer of 1840, by E. M. Williamson. These gentlemen and their successors, taught in a small building on the corner of Pinckney and Dayton streets. The building is described as having a wooden frame, the inner walls of brick and entirely destitute of the modern conveniences of school houses at the present day. Four sticks driven into - sometimes through - a slab, and convex side down, formed movable seats. Mr. Williamson taught the boys only, his school numbering about six pupils. The girls were taught at the same time by a Miss Pierce, in an old building, situated in the vicinity of Dean's new block. At this early date, thirteen pupils comprised the membership of the Madison schools. Mr. Williamson con¬ ducted the school two terms, and was succeeded in the winter of 1842, by Mr. Theodore Conkey.

On the 14th of December, 1839, Edward Campbell adver¬ tises he had purchased the stock of Catlin & Mills and was pre¬ pared to supply the wants of the people in this section, that they need not be dependent on Mineral Point, Galena and Mil¬ waukee for supplies; and November 26, N. T. Parkinson & Co., advertise the " Madison Exchange " on Doty's corner, half way between the American and Madison Hotels. These two merchants are the only persons who advertised in the Madison Express , the others were small dealers. In November, David Brigham & Thos. W. Sutherland advertised a law office and land agency.

The first steps taken for the establishment of a church at Madison were as follows : A paper was drawn up in the follow¬ ing form with the accompanying signers, on the 25th of July, 1839. E. M. WiLLiAMSONvEsq., has kindly furnished a copy of the same:

"We, whose names are hereunto attached, believing the Holy Scriptures to be the word of God, and deeply feeling the import¬ ance of maintaining divine services in our town, and preferring the Protestant Episcopal Church to any other, we hereby unite ourselves into a parish of the said church for the above and every other purpose which is requisite and necessary to the same.

" Signed by John Catlin, J. A. Noonan, Henry Fake, H. Fellows, M. Fellows, A. Hyer, H. Dickson, H. C. Fellows, Adam Smith, A. Lull, Almira Fake, La Fayette Kellogg, George C. Hyer, J. Taylor, A. A. Bird, David Hyer."

We find that John T. Wilson and Elias J. Williams were in business here as blacksmiths, in 1839. In December Mr. Williams retired. Catlin and Noonan advertised a general land office business; W. N. Seymour & J. T. Clark, attorneys, D. Brigham & T. W. Sutherland were practicing law and land office agency. Jas. Morrison advertised the American Hotel for sale August 31, 1839, and on the 2d of September, it was advertised by Kintzing Pritchette by his attorney M. M. Strong. The title of this property even at that date was in dispute, and was not settled until many years afterwards. Ed¬ ward Campbell advertised that he had purchased the stock of Catlin & Mills, and proposed continuing the business. Mrs. Louisa M. Sawin, formerly Miss L. M. Brayton, says that in u In the latter part of April, in the year 1838, I first visited Madison. I traveled there in company with Mr. Wells, who, with a two-horse team, was supplying the people of Madison with produce from his farm in Green county. Madison then consisted of not more than a dozen houses, built and in pro¬ cess of erection, counting every cabin and shanty within three miles of the capitol, and was the only market for Green county farmers.

" Mr. Wells and I left Monroe, then called New Mexico, in the morning, and reached Grand Springs, near Sugar river, late in the afternoon, and camped there for the night. This was before the land there was entered by Mr. McFadden, and the Springs had not yet been named. We built a large log fire,

* Robert L. Ream was born in Centre county, Penn., October 16, 1809; emigrated to Ohio in 1832, and from thence to Wisconsin. While a resi¬ dent of Madison he held a number of offices. He now resides at Washing¬ ton, D. C., and has held, for a number of years, a position in the General Land Office.

(to keep off the wolves, as Mr. Wells said), and fried our ba¬ con and boiled our coffee. The aroma from our dainty dishes must soon have filled the atmosphere, for the prediction of Mr. Wells was verified in an incredibly short space of time, by the surrounding of our camp with prairie wolves in droves. Then commenced such a snarling, fighting, barking and howl¬ ing as I never heard before or since. They made the ' night hideous,' and kept up the music with a thousand and one varia¬ tions until morning's dawn. During the night we chopped down more trees, cut them into logs, and kept up a rousing fire, the roar and crackle of which made a splendid accompani¬ ment to our opposition concert in camp, which consisted of negro melodies and camp-meeting songs, which we had learned from the Hoosier prairie breakers in Greene, where it had been my good fortune to serve an apprenticeship at prairie break¬ ing. Thus we spent a sleepless night (my first night in Dane county). We struck camp early next morning, without bid¬ ding our recently made acquaintances a very formal adieu.

"We found the then traveled road very crooked and winding, and running at almost all points of the compass, and when within five or six miles of Stoner's prairie we halted and took observations. After determining the proper course to take in the direction of Madison, I went ahead with an axe, blazing trees. Mr. Wells followed with his team. We struck the prairie where George Yromax's farm was afterwards located. The road which I then blazed was afterwards adopted by the public and traveled for many years. After passing through the prairie, we followed the old trail to Madison, where we ar¬ rived the second day.

" Having business at Fort Winnebago, and there being no travel in that direction, I was compelled to make the journey alone, so I negotiated with Mr. Ubeldi^e for a roan-colored, bob-tailed Canadian pony, with cropped mane, large ears and white belly. Mr. Ubeldi^e kept the only livery stable, and this was the only horse to be hired in Madison. On this im¬ posing steed I seated myself next day, and started for the fort, forty miles distant by the trail. There was no wagon road from Madison in that direction, and the only two houses be¬ tween there and the fort-were those of Wm. Lawrence near Token creek, and Wallace Rowan's hotel on the military road, some thirty miles distant from Madison. At this hotel I put up for the night, and being not much used to that particu¬ lar kind of locomotion, was very tired. Rowan's wife served me bountifully with hoe cake and bacon. I then went to sleep and slept soundly until towards morning, when I was aroused by several cocks crowing simultaneously in close prox¬ imity to my bed. I did not discover until daylight that the foot rail of my bedstead was the roost of Mr. Rowan's chickens.

" I remained the next night at Fort Winnebago, and pick¬ eted my pony on a grass plot near the hotel, giving him about thirty feet of rope. The hotel was the only house where trav¬ elers could be entertained outside the garrison. Mr. Henry Merrill and his family lived in it. I found the accommoda¬ tions excellent. An amusing incident occurred there that night which I cannot help mentioning. In the room in which I slept were four beds, one in each corner, and all curtained. I occupied one of these beds, and it appears that the other three were occupied by gentlemen and their wives. In the night we were all aroused by a cry of robbers, thieves, Indians, etc. All started up at the alarm, the ladies shrieking with fright. The room was dark, and in the confusion we ran against each other very amusingly. When a light was struck, the scene was ex¬ tremely ludicrous - ladies in their night clothes looking like affrighted ghosts, some of them clinging to the wrong man; men without any night clothes, and very little of any other kind, making frantic exertions to find out the cause of the dis¬ turbance. The supposition was, that some soldiers had been on a carousal, and had mistaken the hotel for the garrison ; but, under the charge of Capt. Lowe, such a breach of the regula¬ tions would never have been allowed; and the cause of the alarm was not satisfactorily explained.

night; the blood was still oozing through his perforated skin. Then, and not until then, did I realize the true force of the ex¬ pression 'thicker than mosquitoes.' The atmosphere was lit¬ erally filled with them. In those days, persons in the habit of traveling much, were obliged to protect their faces and heads with gauze or mosquito-bar vails, so very great was the annoyance of these insects.

" It often happens that the government troops in these west¬ ern outposts become badly demoralized and mutinous. When watched so closely that they cannot safely carry bottles or jugs of liquor into quarters, they resort to every imaginable means of smuggling it in. They have been known to saturate their blankets, overcoats and other garments with whisky obtained of the sutler, then pass the guards unsuspected, and, after reaching quarters, wring out the whisky and drink it.

" Shortly previous to my visit to the Fort a mutiny was threatened there. Capt. Lowe was in command. The sentinels at the gate refused to obey orders, which was reported to the captain. He made his appearance in due time, and demanded an explanation. As the sentinel whom he suspected for disloy¬ alty was performing some extra evolutions which the captain did not care to exactly understand, he suddenly raised his right foot, and dexterously brought it with full force against the head of the sentinel, and brought him sprawling at his feet. This improvised tactic - (not in the manual) - was so demonstrative that the mutineers quailed before him, and at once subsided into submission, and no further attempt at mutiny was made during his command at the Fort.

" Returning to Madison, I spent the next night at Mr. Rowran's, slept in the same bed, and as before was awakened at cock crowing. At the dawn of day I discovered what I thought was a small flock of sheep, scattered around on the floor, but on closer observation, I found they were Indians. They had come in during the night from some trading post, where they had

" From Madison back to Monroe there was no mode of con¬ veyance, and I made this journey on foot in one day. It was then fully forty miles by the meanderings of the road. There were no bridges, and I was obliged to wade Sugar river and its tributaries as well as several large marshes, in some of which the track lay knee deep under water, and I suffered severely with the rheumatism in consequence thereof.

u Aside from the promising prospect of Madison as the seat of government of a great state not far in the future, I became so infatuated with the natural beauties of the place, that I soon determinated to make it my home. Like an emerald gleaming among pearls it nestled amid the clear placid waters of the F our Lakes, and the view from the undulating surface of the country around, was a setting well fitted for the unsurpassed jewels, not unworthy of comparison with the famous views from the shores of Lakes Como and Magaire or the Bay of Naples in the old world.

u In the latter part of May or June of the same year I made another trip to Madison, when I negotiated with Mr. Peck for the Madison House, and in the month of June removed my family there and took possession as the landlord. This was the first house in Madison, now passed from our view into chaos, the shadow only remaining - it has been photographed - was not an isolated cabin, but comprised two log cabins built of oak logs, each cabin twenty feet square, one and a half stories high, the inside hewed slightly with an axe to straighten the walls, the cracks between the logs chinked and daubed with mortar. These cabins were set about twenty-four feet apart, the space be¬ tween them boarded up, roofed with oak plank, battened with slabs and floored with puncheons, as was also the balance of the house. There were plentj^ of doors and windows. The grand hall between the cabins made a spacious dining room, answered well for a ball room, and was often used for holding caucuses and secret councils under lock and key. On the north side there was also a cabin built of logs, shed shape, called a lean-to; this building, made a large kitchen and room for servants. I take that haclf, there were no servants but the mistress of the house. The hired help occupied it when we had any. To this we built an additional room of frame work boarded with shakes and roofed with shingles, for a family room.

" The pioneers of a new country before the era of railroads, telegraphs or mail facilities, can only realize the domestic trials, troubles and turmoils incident to a back wood's life. Fortu¬ nately there were few lady travelers on account of the great in¬ conveniences in modes of travel and accommodations on the road.

" There was a number of Indian wigwams around us, some in sight of our doors; at first Mrs. Ream lived in great fear and dread of them, and attributed her peace and the success with which she gained their good graces, to a large bunch of pea¬ cock feathers which she had brought with her, and dealt out to them one by one. They seemed to have a talismanic effect. We made repeated endeavors to civilize them and teach them to be of service to us, but their utter disregard to cleanliness and innate laziness baffled all our efforts. Hired girls were out of the question, and the stronger sex were consequently of¬ ten to be seen bending gracefully over the cook stove or washtub, as well as cleaning and scrubbing. On one occasion we were happily relieved for some weeks by the assistance of twoyoung ladies, the Misses Peirce of Green county. Their help was invaluable to us, but it seemed so, also to others, for they both soon returned to be married to worthy men of their own county. One became Mrs. Rust, the other Mrs. Rattan, both well to do farmers' wives. Next there came along a Teutonian named Schwartze, with a kit of cabinet maker's tools upon his back, which he had packed all the way from Milwaukee to Galena, expecting to find work there but failed, then returning by way of Mineral Point, reached Madison broken down, dis¬ couraged . and disheartened and without a penny. I think it was on the 4th of July, 1838, when he arrived, at any rate the people ot Madison were holding a jubilee of some kind, and a ball was coming off at the Madison House. Our newly arrived guest desired to engage in the festivities, provided he could borrow some clean clothes suitable to the occasion. These were soon forth coming from our wardrobe, and when properly ar¬ rayed he became the grand attraction of the occasion, and ex¬ hibited his accomplishments by waltzing a long time with a tumbler filled with water on his head. He was nearly sixty years of age, but as agile and as active a boy of ten. As we could converse with him in his native tongue, he was loth to leave, and more from sympathy than anything else, we engaged him to make some articles of furniture, such as could be wrought from oak or basswood lumber as we had no other kind. Among other useful articles that he constructed was a wheelbarrow. When he had finished his mechanical labors we employed him as head cook at the rate of seventy-five dollars per month, and he was also to keep the household furniture in repair. He was exceedingly kind and clever all the time, looking out for our interests. He remained with us several months. I remember one strong blustering day in the fall, Judge Doty and Col. Morrisom arrived with their ladies. They had traveled all the way from Mineral Point without rest or refreshment and re¬ ported themselves, tired, cold and hungry. With orders to get the best supper the house could afford, Schwartze was soon in the dough up to his elbows and some one else was directed to build a fire in a large Franklin stove standing in the best room, which had been placed at the service of our distinguished guests. There had been no fire in the stove during the past season, and it was not discovered until the smoke gave warning that there was a large crack or fissure in the back of the stove. The fact was soon made known to Mr. Schwartze, who felt bound to . see everything about the house in good repair, ran with an un¬ baked loaf of bread in his hands, clapped it on the crack in the stove and filled it up, thus stopping the smoke for the time be¬ ing. He returned to the kitchen congratulating himself upon his ingenuity in improvising so readily this cement. As soon as the stove became heated the dough baked and burned, thus causing a denser smoke than before, and the ladies were obliged to leave the room. Mrs. Ream, who was somewhat more prac- tical in an emergency than the German cook, soon mixed another cement'of salt, ashes and vinegar, which answered the purpose well, and the weary travelers were soon quite comfort¬ able in their room.

"Not long after this, our Teutonic friend, having earned enough money to make a payment on his lot in Milwaukee, disposed of his kit of tools, left for his home in Milwaukee, and we worked our own way as usual. Our customers and pa¬ trons were not at all fastidious. They were satisfied with clean beds, good board and genteel treatment, and this we al¬ ways provided to the fullest extent of our ability. There was by this time a large amount of travel through Madison, and some sixty or seventy men at work on the capitol. We boarded a large number of them, and our house was often crowded, so that floor room could not always be had at 4 two pence per square foot,' and the difference between the bare puncheons and shakedown was, 4 you pays your money and takes your choice.1

"We found it necessary to make many improvements to get along. The first of importance was sinking a well on the premises. When the shaft was excavated there could be no one found to build the wall, and I was obliged to do it myself. I used cobble stone, and made a good job it. Having met with success as a well-maker, I turned oven builder, and built an out-door bake oven of clay mixed with straw, which required the same kind of labor and material that caused the children of Israel to rebel against their taskmasters. The oven was a suc¬ cess also, and answered us and our neighbors until Fkank Shaw came from Mineral Point and started a bake shop across the street. Shaw was a genial Frenchman and full of fun. The building he occupied was about eighteen feet square, two stories high. The upper story was used as a lodging room, and the lower story as a bakery and grocery. We kept a temper¬ ance house, and Than's grocery profited largely by it, as both bread and whisky could be had there on reasonable terms. "Than" unabbreviated, means Nathaniel T. Pakkinson, who was afterwards elected sheriff of the county, and held the sheriff's office in this bake-shop grocery. There was as yet no prison in the county, and when the sheriff made arrests or brought in prisoners, they were at once presented at the bar, treated, and placed in the care of Shaw as jailor, with orders to feed and treat them well; they were then put upon their parole, with orders to report themselves at the bar at least three times a day. It is but just to say that these prisoners rarely forfeited their parole, the kind and liberal treatment they re¬ ceived at the hands of the sheriff as well as their custodian Shaw, endeared them to these officers; and there was no grumbling or cutting down, or disputing sheriff's accounts in those primeval days.

u Covalle and Pelkie furnished us with daily supplies of fish from the lakes until we were sufficiently skilled in fishing to procure our own supplies. Shooting pickerel in the Catfish river soon came to be one of the grand sports of the time. When the fish 4 run up 1 they are shot in shoal water in large quantities, which is done by simply discharging your loaded piece at the fish; neither ball nor buckshot will penetrate the water over an inch or so, but the fish are stunned by the re¬ port and concussion of the water, and, in a twinkling, are on their backs and easily captured. Spearing fish was the next best sport, and many nights have I spent at the outlet of Fourth Lake when the channel was narrow, and a single log which was used for a footbridge spanned the stream, in spearing fish of almost every kind. The water was very clear, and with a good brush fire on both sides of the stream, sufficient light was furnished to see all the fish as they swam by. From the foot bridge you could spear all you wanted. It was not an unusual thing for Ed. Geokge and myself to return with our boat loaded to the water's edge with fish of many different kinds as the reward of one night's labor. Fishing with a spoon hook was also a favorite sport, and, when winter came, we fished with scoop nets through holes cut in the ice. In those days we always fished for fish - never for fun.

espied a red fox near the water, on the lookout for game ; being ourious to know what he was after, I kept some distance where I could watch him unobserved. Suddenly he sprung into the water and hauled out a large pickerel, longer than himself, and commenced tearing it to pieces. On my approach, he disap¬ peared with a part of the fish in his mouth, which he had torn from his prey, leaving the back bone plainly exposed half its length, and the fish still alive, although high and dry out of water. That fox must have been hungry, for I had not gone far from the place, when I saw him stealthily retracing his steps to finish his meal.

"During the summer of 1838, we had some very violent thunder storms in Madison. An Englishman named Warren, employed in building the capitol, was killed by lightning near our house. Another serious accident of that summer was the falling from a scaffold on the capitol, of a man named G allard, who broke his leg. These men were boarding with us, and de¬ pendent upon us for nursing and attention as well as burial. Another boarder, named Simons, was prostrated a long time with typhoid fever. In those times the duties of surgeons, physicians, nurses and undertakers, were only a few of the ex¬ tra duties which devolved upon the proprietors of public houses.

"Jonathan Butterfield, of Topsham, Vermont, and his partner Pinneo, who carried on a shingle factory toward the Sugar Bush, were the kind of pioneers it necessarily takes to build up a new country. They were good workmen, and use¬ ful in their way, and when on a bender, they were the liveliest as well as the noisiest boys in the country. Near our house stood a large oak tree, the one under which Mr. Peck's family had camped when they first landed in Madison. This was a beautiful tree, valued for its shade as well as for its beauty and from association. Butterfield knew how we prized it, and when strapped , and his credit gone, his last resort was an on¬ slaught on this old tree with an axe, and the only condition on which he would stop from damaging it, was to give him an order on Nelson's or Than's grocery. In this manner, to save the tree, we were repeatedly obliged to compromise with him ; then Pinneo came in for his share of the spoils. Some of the old settlers of Madison will remember the time when Pinneo, on a spree, without hat; shoes, coat or vest, captured an old white horse which had been turned out on the common ~to recruit, mounted the animal bare-backed, minus bridle or hal¬ ter, in his right hand holding extended the jawbone of some defunct quadruped (either horse or ox), and proclaimed himself Sampson in quest of the Philistines, as he dashed through the most prominent streets of the town, creating a decided sensa¬ tion. There were then no police or constable to interfere with any kind of sport or amusement one chose to indulge in.

"Another odd character of those daj^s was Baptiste, the half breed Frenchman, living with some Indians in the adjoin¬ ing woods, who had a natural propensity to possess himself of valuable articles, such as axes, handsaws, hammers, hatchets, shovels, etc., almost any articles for which we had daily use. He often came to know if we had lost anything, and if we had, would at once commence negotiations for the missing article. His terms were from one half to two-thirds of its value. When the contract was concluded to his satisfaction, he would imme¬ diately go to camp and return with it, stating that some had In¬ dian had stolen it. My wheelbarrow was valuable as well as very useful. It was made by a Milwaukee cabinet maker and cost me twelve or fifteen dollars. One day it disappeared. Bap¬ tiste had taken the precaution to ascertain its value beforeproposing terms for its surrender. We failed to agree on the price to be paid for its restoration, and I never saw my wheel¬ barrow again.

" Impelled by purely philanthropic principles, we once un¬ dertook to civilize, Christianize and domesticate a wild Winne¬ bago Indian squaw, who answered to the euphonious name of Lenape. This young squaw was about thirteen years old when brought to us in the usual filthy Indian costume. After theablution process had been performed, and the vermin extri¬ cated from her head, she was dressed in citizen's attire and really made an attractive figure. She was expected to assist in some domestic duties, and at first evinced quite a desire tcv learn, but the charm lasted but a few days, when she suddenly dis¬ appeared, and when next seen had donned her native costume,, and returned to her wild, roving indolent habits.

" The Indians were very loth to leave their old fishing and hunting grounds in the vicinity of the lakes, and for several years hovered around in camps in the neighborhood of Madi¬ son, and it frequently happened after obtaining liquor, thah they became very noisy and troublesome, particularly in their' dexterous mode of thieving, which 4 was almost equivalent t<y professional slight of hand performances.

" The following good story is told of Cal-i-ma-hee, an old Winnebago head chief, who was invited to Washington to ar¬ range some matters between his tribe and the Great Father. Cal-i-ma-hee was accompanied by a second chief named Shake'. During their absence from Wisconsin they had learned to talk some English, and had paid some attention to the rules of eti¬ quette. When they returned they were furnished with new blankets, plenty of trinkets and money to pay their way home,, also an order from the War Department on the commanding of¬ ficer at Fort Dearborn, Chicago, for two horses to carry them. They left Chicago in' grand style, the old man considerably in¬ flated with vanity and importance at the attention paid him, and we hear no more of them until they arrive at Blue Mounds, - which place they reached about 'noon. Cal-i-ma-hee knew Brigham, for he was known by everybody in the country, The chief thought he had found a good opportunity to display thepoliteness as well as shrewdness he had learned from his pale face brothers on his recent tour to the National Capitol. Riding up to the house he accosted the old hero thus : " How! Howf

Brigham." Then dismounting he presented his man Shake, saying, "Brigham, Mr. Shake;" "Mr. Shake, Brigham/' Pointing to the house, he said, " Brigham, dinner; " then to the stable, " Brigham, horse, corn." " Big man, me." Mr. Brigham kept a bachelor's ranche and did his own cooking, but to expedite matters for his most important guests, he called in one of his workmen to aid in preparing dinner. From the manner in which they devoured the victuals it was consul- sered doubtful whether they had broken fast between Chicago ^nd Blue Mounds, a distance of over two hundred miles. After dinner, Cal-i-ma-hee called out, "Brigham, horse." The horses were brought, the Indians mounted, saying, " Brigham, good bye," and rode off at full speed. Mr. Brigham, finding himself badly sold, remarked to the bystanders that he thought ihey might have paid him something after putting him to so much trouble, especially as the chief had made a display of a quantity of silver coin furnished him by the Government to pay his expenses.

" For many years the Winnebagoes had made the head of the Fourth Lake their winter camping grounds, from which lo¬ cality they sallied out in small parties for the purpose of fishing -and hunting. Their camps were distributed around on the streams in the vicinity. Sugar river was one of their favorite places of resort for game.

" Mr. Brigham relates the following singular incident which took place some years before Madison was located. He - Mr. Brigham - happened to be at the camp at the time, which was situated on Sugar river crossing, near Grand Springs. An aged Indian became reduced by sickness and disease. He had the consumption and was failing rapidly. The medicine man of the camp had exhausted his best skill on the patient in vain. The chiefs of the tribes were summoned in consultation. The spirits were invoked, and an incantation held with them, accompanied by singing and dancing, and, when concluded, the decision arrived at was, that the sick man must be removed to the headquarters at Four Lakes. The snow was about a foot deep at the time. Hunters were sent out to kill a buck, which they did, and brought into camp next day. The animal was carefully skinned by the squaws, and the invalid securely sewed np in the green buckskin and tied to the tail of a stout pony. In this manner he was dragged to the Four Lakes camp a dis¬ tance of about twenty miles. As the narrator did not accom¬ pany this novel expedition, he was unable to say whether the .-subject so tenderly cared for was killed or cured.

cinity of Madisqn, by orders from the government, to their res¬ ervation west of the Mississippi, much to the relief of the citi¬ zens, for close contact with them soon removed every spark of the romance and poetry with which they had in our imagina¬ tions been surrounded from the reading of Cooper's novels, and other like literature.

" As yet there was little farming done or produce raised in Dane, and I was obliged to make sundry wagon trips to Green county, to procure butter, beef, pork, potatoes and other kinds of vegetables to keep our house going. There were then no bridges on the road to Monroe, and there was difficulty in crossing the streams. To be 'stuck' with a loaded wagon was a daily occurrence in almost every stream on the road. When 'stuck,' it generally became necessary to cany your load out on your back, or with your hands by piecemeal, deposit it on the further bank, then, with your horses hitched to the end of the wagon tongue, where they would most likely get dry footing, you unust wade into the water waist deep with a sapling to pry out the wheels: by this means, with considerable language more expressive than elegant, directed especially at your horses, you reach dry ground and then re-load; but when your stock consisted of potatoes and turnips in bulk, and you had nothing but a wooden bucket at your service with which to transfer your load, you can imagine the amount of philosophy it re¬ quired to do this good naturedly, and more especially in a wet or rainy day, and the probabilities very strong that you would have to repeat the process at the next stream.

"I shall always remember one particular occasion on which I was returning from one of these periodical trips. After much persuasion, I had induced my good sister, Mrs. McFadden, of Grand Springs, to fill a patent pail with choice fresh butter, wTiich I carefully stowed away in the back part of my wellloaded wagon. Any one living in Madison at that time may possibly realize the value of a bucket of nice dairy butter. The owner would be envied by all his neighbors for being the fortunate possessor of such a prize. I drove along happy at the thought of being able to cater to my guests to the envy and jealousy of others, and enjoying in anticipation the wel¬ come I would receive on reaching home with it. But, before long, I experienced the sad truth of the old rhyme,

There were many boulders and deep ruts in the road, the wagon jolted and the bucket of butter rolled out, I driving carelessly on, unconscious of my loss. I had traveled some four or five miles before I missed my treasure. As soon as I made the dis¬ covery I unharnessed one of my horses, mounted him bare¬ backed, and went back at a cantering speed, and reached the ill-fated spot where I had met the sad misfortune, just in time to scare off a pack of wolves that had not only devoured the entire contents of the bucket, but had actually eaten the greater part of the bucket itself, it had become so impregnated with the golden butter.

u We were very much troubled for help during the first year of our sojourn in Madison. To spend four or five days in tra¬ versing Rock and Green counties in search of a cook or cham¬ bermaid, and return without one, and be compelled to turn in and assist in doing your own cooking, and make your own bed, required the cultivation of much patience and fortitude, which bordered on genuine heroism.

u To provide for the winter I had a large quantity of hay cut on the marsh east of the capitol, between the lakes. The grass was best at the lower end of the marsh, but the surface was so underlaid with quicksand, although it would support a man it would not an animal. After the hay was made we found we could not approach it either with horse or ox teams. We overcame the difficulty by placing crates or racks on two long poles fastened together in style of a stretcher or handbarrow, and fastened clapboards to the bottoms of the boots of the carriers, who could then carry out large loads, and thus we saved our crop.

u During the summer of 1838, a two-horse stage line was put in operation from Mineral Point to Madison, owned by Col. Ab. Nichols. The distance was about fifty miles, and the only post offices on the route were Dodgeville, Ridgeway and Blue Mounds; the latter point was made the midway or half-way house, where passengers and horses were fed on the way. The line was afterwards extended to Fort Winnebago, and Rowan's made a stopping place on the route. At Madison we enter¬ tained all the stage passengers and most of the drivers. With the latter we always kept on good terms, and were often under obligations to them for kind favors in bringing our supplies of groceries and other things from the 4 Pint,' or 4 Shake-rag,' as they called it.

44 Tom Haney drove in the first stage from the Point. He kep this head quarters at the ' Worser,' in which the stage pro¬ prietor was interested. Tom was a good friend of ours, a hail fellow, exceedingly obliging and accommodating. He had and deserved many friends. In extending the stage line to Fort Winnebago, a span of extra horses were required at Madison, and it was arranged that Tom Haney should bring them through one at a time. Accordingly one extra horse was duly entered on the way bill with orders for the proprietors of the stage house in Madison to take charge of the animal, and look out for another by the next stage. Tom set out as usual with his stage load of passengers from Mineral Point, and the extra horse lashed to the hind axle-tree with a stout windlass or well rope. All went well and smoothly - Dodgeville, Ridgeway and the Mounds were all left in the distance, Nine Mile Prairie was passed and the woods entered. Some distance this side of the Prairie there is quite a descent from a high rolling plateau down into the valley, which is nearly on a level with the Lakes. The slope is not steep but gradual. The rains had washed the ruts so that it became necessary to make another track on the hill side. These tracks diverged in the valley at the base of the hill in the shape of a letter V, and about half way up the hill formed a junction similar to the V reversed or the letter A without the bar. In the junction, or the apex of A, stood an oak tree. Usually there is nothing significant in an oak tree, especially when the surrounding forest is com¬ posed of oak trees. They may stand on either side of the road or beween the two roads, they are simply forest trees placed where they are by Providence, subservient to the use of man,, but this one placed at the forks of this road had its mission to perform, as we will soon see. Persons accustomed to traveling in stage coaches know that when a the driver approach a city, a station or even a postoffice, they resort to fast driving. Tom Haney was not behind his fellow Jehus in that line. Now, having reached the brow of the hill, instead of putting on the brakes and driving down slowly, as careful drivers should have done, he started his team with a yell and crack of his whip and came rattling down at full speed, the stage taking the road on one side of the tree and the extra horse the road on the other. The rope brought the horse with such sudden force against the tree as to break his neck. The extra horse was not receipted for, nor was the other sent by the next stage. When Haney reached Madison his feelings were something akin to those of your humble servant when he found the wolves had devoured his butter rolls.

"Extravagancies such as this, with many other unforseen mishaps and direlections of drivers, created the necessity of placing agents upon the route. The first agent, or superin¬ tendent rather, of this two horse enterprise, was Jonathan Taylor, accompanied by a tall, lean, lank Kentuckian, whom he introduced as Micajah Thacher, a new driver. We found Thacher a most obliging fellow, well posted in horse flesh, as drivers generally are. Mr. Taylor hailed from Wabash, Indi¬ ana, a noble specimen of a Hoosier, remarkably good looking and generous to a fault. Although somewhat deficient in education he was possessed of good hard sense, and a remark¬ able knowledge of men and the world. He was very shrewd at a trade and soon evinced fine business qualities, which, with his kind heart and frank, open countenance, made him very popular. He quartered with us and an attachment for our family soon sprung up, and he remained with us nearly ten years. After the stage line passed from Uncle Ab's hands, Mr. Taylor commenced the world with a two horse team pur¬ chased on credit. He hauled goods from Chicago and Mil- waukee to Madison, and in the winter season brought sled loads of Mackinaw trout from Green Bay, carried them to the Point and Galena, returning with articles needed at Madison r Fort Winnebago, Fond du Lac and Green Bay. I have not time to follow his career, sufficient to say he prospered, and now lives on Fifth Avenue in New York city and counts his wealth by hundreds of thousands.

" Being desirous of adding something useful to the Capital city in the way of domestic animals, I brought some fine shoats from Green county - the first brought to Madison. They thrived well and increased rapidly in numbers. When autumn came and acorns were plenty, I turned them out to forage for themselves. The drove wandered down to the lake shores, and when I thought them in a sufficiently good conition to kill, I undertook to drive them home, but to my utter astonishment I found them perfectly wild; they would neither be led, driven or coralled. So hunting parties were made up and my beautiful porkers were hunted down with dogs, shot and captured as wild game, and once more we had to depend on Green county for supplies for the winter. Col. Daniel Baxter furnished us a great deal of acceptable produce that winter. *

" The next season I procured some pigs of a more domestic? breed, and kept them penned close to my house near to the old cabins, but in spite of neighbors' dogs and all tht care I could bestow on them, they were carried off by the prairie wolves.

u The wolves continued to annoy the people of Madison verjr greatly until we petitioned the county authorities to pass an order fixing a bounty on their scalps. The Board of Com¬ missioners finally yielded to this request and established a. bounty. A wolf hunter soon turned up in the person of W illiam Lawrence. He undertook to catch them with steel traps, but as 4 their name was legion,' he found that process entirely too slow and resorted to poison. By a skillful dis¬ tribution of strychnine, he succeeded in soon bringing in a large number of scalps and leaving a large number of their '

" In the fall of 1838, the first session of the Territorial Legis¬ lature was held at Madison, and with it came crowds of people. The public houses were literally crammed - shake downs were Looked upon as a luxury, and lucky was the guest considered whose good fortune it was to rest his weary limbs on a straw or hay mattress. We hired some feather beds from Mr. Nute of Jefferson county and paid ten dollars in advance for the use of each during the session.

" Among our boarders that winter I remember the names of the following members of the Legislature: Col. James Max¬ well and 0. Beardsley of Walworth county, Morgan L. Martin and Alex. J. Irwin of Brown county. Then there were Ben. C. Eastman, Joseph G. Knapp, Peter B. Grignon, Theodore Green of Green Bay; who officiated as clerks, re¬ porters, etc., of the Legislature. Mr. Knapp says these were the 4 aristocracy of Wisconsin.1 We thought so too and Treated them as such.

44 We had then no theatres or any places of amusement, and the long winter evenings were spent in playing various games of cards, checkers and backgammon. Dancing was also much in vogue. Col. Maxwell was very gay, and discoursed sweet music on the flute, and Ben. C. Eastman was an expert wiolinist. They two furnished the music for many a French four, cotillon, Virginia reel and jig, that took place on the pun¬ cheon floors of the old log cabins, that were enjoyed, probably, quite as much as are now the round dances and Germans on the waxed floors of fashionable dancing halls, to the witching strains of Dodsworth's fine band. Want of ceremony, fine dress, classic music and other evidences of present society life, never deterred us from enjoying ourselves those long winter evenings.

44 Log cabins stand no chance in competition with new fash¬ ionable hotels - rivals of Delmonico's, Fifth Avenue and the Grand Central - not that patrons fared any better than at the cabins, but 44 the aristocracy,11 the unerring barometer of the in all countries and in all places, soon gave convincing proofs .of the decline of business, and that shakedowns were no more necessary and puncheon floors absolutely vulgar, then, in our anguish of soul, in the language of Othello, we found our 4 oc¬ cupation gone ; ' and as we were Micawber-like 4 waiting for something to turn up,1 the mail, a much rarer visitor then than now, brought us a letter enclosing an agreeable surprise, which was nothing more nor less than a commission from Governor Dodge, appointing me to the office of Treasurer of the Terri¬ tory of Wisconsin. This was done at the instance of our good friend 4 Uncle Ab.,1 of the 1 Point,1 without our knowledge. The salary was fixed at sixty dollars per annum, and no steal¬ ings. I accepted, gave bonds, entered upon the duties of, and continued acting as such officer, until my bond mysteriously disappeared from the archives of the executive department. By this act of prestigitation, I was teetotally cleaned out and exterminated from the high and honorable position as Treas¬ urer. I have not the slightest recollection of a single dollar of money ever passing through my hands as disbursing officer of the Territory, yet some important financial paper transactions took place. The issuing of the Baxter bonds to complete the capitol were perhaps as important as any. These were signed by your humble servant as Treasurer, and countersigned by N. C. Prektiss as Commissioner of Public Buildings. They were issued on fine paper, and passed current in Chicago.

44 In the meantime, Dane county was organized according to the laws of the Territory. At the first election, in 1839, I was put in nomination for the office of Register of Deeds. We had then no party politics to influence and control elections. My competitor, Darwik Clark, was considered a good man. He came to Madison with Bird's party of laborers to work on the capitol, had shared their hardships, toiled with them, and claimed their votes, whilst I had come there with my family to reside as a citizen. I was the candidate of the resident popula¬ tion, and was sustained by them. We both ran on our merits 'and good standing in the community. We canvassed the county fairly, honorably and without the slightest attempt at disparagement of each other. No canvass could have been more fairly or honorably made. After the canvassing, I re¬ ported to my friends that I would he elected by a majority of one. I was advised to re-canvass, which I did as thoroughly as before, and arrived at the same result. It was insisted that I should use means to turn some of my opponent's votes in my favor. This I positively refused to do, stating that I would rather be defeated than resort to anything underhanded to ob¬ tain my election. I was perfectly willing to risk my election with a plurality of a single vote. On counting the votes after the poll, I found myself elected by a majority of two votes, which much surprised me and remained a mystery until some time after, when a friend explained to me, after exacting a promise of secrecy on my part, that the extra vote was ob¬ tained by strategy to make my election sure.

" Dane county is composed of what was originally a part of the counties of Milwaukee, Brown and Iowa. The titles to the lands lying within these counties had been recorded in the original counties. Under an act of the Territorial Legislature, it became my duty, as Register of Deeds, to have these records transcribed for the use of Dane county. In the prosecution of these labors, I visited Milwaukee and Green Bay on horseback, and made arrangement for the transcripts of those portions of the records necessary. In the county of Iowa I did the tran¬ scribing myself, often working twelve, fourteen, and sometimes sixteen, hours a day. This work was well and satisfactorily done. No more than ordinary (and I think less), fees were paid for this work in county scrip, and nothing for expenses of travel, so that no money was made by the operation. At the next election I was nominated for reelection, but this time more than one vote was covered by strategy on the other side, and I was defeated by a small majority.

" On a beautiful Sunday morning, when the religious com¬ munity of Madison were assembled in the Representative Hall m the capitol, attending divine service, a servant came hastily from the American House to the door of the Hall, and inquired* for Dr. Lull, who was called out with Mr. Fake, the landlord of the hotel. On perceiving them hurrying across the park, Mr. Sholes and myself, with several others, followed and over¬ took them as they reached the house, where we were informed that Mr. Dukcomb, one of the* guests, had locked himself in his room, stood up before the mirror, and deliberately cut his throat with a razor, the act having been witnessed by a servant in the backyard, through the windows, which were open. We were not long in forcing the door open, when, to our horror* we saw this man Dukcomb standing on the floor with his throat cut from ear to ear, the bloody instrument still in his hand, which was instantly wrested from him. Both main arte¬ ries and the windpipe had been severed. He looked like a mad¬ man. The sight was awful. Mr. Fake fainted. Those most resolute took hold of the man all covered with blood, which was still flowing from his throat and gashes in his arms, and laid him on the floor, where it took the united strength of four men to keep him. He could not speak, hut wrote with a pen¬ cil on paper, ' all I want is to see my wife ,' which dying request could not he granted. The scene is as vivid in my mind as if it had happened yesterday. He had been observed to act strangely in the morning, and tried to persuade his wife not to go to church, hut she feared to remain with him.

" It was discovered that he had cut the arteries of both arms and had written his name on the walls of his room with his finger dipped in his own blood, and had broken open his wife's trunk and sprinkled her clothes with it, and scattered them over the floor. He expired in about twenty minutes after we entered the room. Jealousy was the only cause ever assigned for the dreadful deed, and it was considered very fortunate his wife had absented herself, or in his frenzy he would probably have murdered her also.

" Our good neighbor, Mr. Rasdall, once owned a valuable gray horse, hut from long usage and old age, the animal became useless, and was turned out to browse; when through with life's weary wanderings, he had reached that period so graphically expressed in the song of the departed soldier: he hied himself to the summit of an elevated knoll of ground on the Third Lake shore, in a southwesterly direction from our house, and there, in full hearing of the melancholy murmurings of the waters, as the waves rolled against the shores, he laid himself down and gave up the ghost ; the soft and balmy breezes from that direction, not exactly perfumed with the rose or lavender, gave us timely warning thereof. Scavengers, there were yet none, and in the absence of other or better authorities, we engaged some boys to perform the act of cremation on this defunct quadruped. Affuneral pyre of dry brush was built over the subject and the torch applied, this ended only in smoke; another, and another fire of the same material caused a denser smoke, perfumed with unambrosial odor; finding our first experiment at cremation proving a total failure, we caused a pit to be dug, and the unconsumed remains of the horse, with the smouldering ashes, to be swept therein and covered up, when the air soon became purified. This spot was for a long time protected by a flag staff and penant erected there by the boys of the village, who also buried sundry favorite dogs and cats on the same ground, always with a procession ;and military honors; they called it the hecatombs.

" Father Quaw, a very clever old gentleman, made his first appearance in black, he was the advance guard of the clergy - a Presbyterian, hailing from the British Provinces. After¬ wards, the highly esteemed Bishop Kemper visited Madison, and organized an Episcopal Church there. It will by found by the records of that church, that I was appointed a vestry¬ man of that organization. I was also pressed into service as the leader of singing choirs at religious meetings of all kinds and in all places, and it was understood that my house was open and free to all traveling clergymen, of any and all denominations, and there were not a few who availed them¬ selves of this information.

" The foregoing reminiscences of transactions occurred dur¬ ing the second and third years of my residence in Wisconsin (my first year was spent in Green county); most of these scenes transpired more than thirty-five years since, whilst many, very many others have passed entirely from my memory.

Chapter Iv

Dane County Affairs, 1840 - Protestant Episcopal Church un¬ der Rev. W. Philo - National Anniversary, 1840 - Congrega¬ tional Church Organization - Settlers, 1840 - Rev. Dr. A. Brunson's First Visit - Improvements, 1841 - Dane County Residents, 1841 - Schools - Killing of Hon. C. C. Arndt - Newspapers, 1842-5 - Visit of J. A. Brown and Dr. Goodhue - Census, 1843 - Kentucky House - Madison, 1843 - Newspapers - Improvements : Schools, 1844-5 - Madison Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons - Protestant Episcopal Church History CONTINUED - NaRATIVES OF R. W. LANSING AND H. A. TENNEY.

The year 1840 commenced under as favorable auspices as could have been expected. The attention of the settlers was early drawn to the necessity of public improvements, and social and religious privileges. As will be seen, two church organizations were established, a select school opened and also a debating club. Madison was then an isolated place, and while the lands adjoining were rich and productive, there was no cash market, and produce hardly paid the expense of trans¬ portation to the Lake ports. There was no scarcity of eatables, as fish and wild game were abundant, but not much to pur¬ chase articles of necessary expenditure.

On the 14th of January, 1840, the County Commissioners, Eben Peck, Simeon Mills and Jere. Lycan, made a report of the receipts and disbursements of Dane county, from the time of its organization to that date. As a matter of interest, this, the first report of Dane county is given:

His Toby Of Madison And The

To amount paid out on contract for building jail, 1,239 56 To amount of expenses for October term of district court, elections, cost of assessment, fees of officers, bounty on wolves, expenses of criminal prosecu¬ tions, coroner's inquests, etc., - 938 17

In the spring of this year, definite action was taken for the organization of the Episcopal church, the preliminary steps for which, had been taken the year before.

Rev. Washington Philo, a minister of that church, on the 9th of March, addressed a letter to the u Gospel Messenger ," in which he gives an account of the meeting held to organize the same. This valuable letter is as follows: u Rev. Sir: Whatever relates to the prosperity and exten¬ sion of our Zion, can never be uninteresting to devout and con¬ sistent churchmen. I therefore send you a brief extract of the minutes of the proceedings of the citizens of this town, con¬ vened at the Capitol, for the purpose of organizing a Protest- ant Episcopal Church, on the 8th inst. The Rev. W. Philo presided: and after the object of the meeting was stated by him, and some few remarks made by W. T. Sterling, J. A. Noonan and others; on motion of John Catlin, Esq., Thos. W. Sutherland, Esq., was chosen secretary of the meeting. The names of the gentlemen present, entitled to vote by the rules of the society and disposed to act, were then recorded in the minutes.* u The chair then proposed, and J. A. Noonan, Esq., seconded the proposition, and the meeting enacted, that this society shal be known and designated as the u Apostolic Church."

" Our friends in the East may see by the above, and other like demonstration, that their brethren in the Far W est are not idle; but are doing what they can for God and the church. And if we do not exhibit that augmented increase in our numbers that our brethren do in the East, it is because the Far West is newer, the population more sparse, and demoralizing influence more inveterate. The church in this station has obtained a good beginning, for a place so new, changing, and of such a diversity of religious opinions. It is not, I believe, quite three years since the first dwelling was erected. Some families re- main in town but a few weeks, and others a few months, till they can conveniently settle on farms in the country. The in¬ habitants now here are mostly from the east, and have brought with them (as is generally the case), their old religious notions and prejudices; and among them are those who belonged to as many as six different denominations. But there were, when I came, but two communicants of the church, and but two or three others acquainted with our truly excellent liturgy. It is our sincere and earnest prayer to Almighty God, that He, of His bountiful goodness, would prosper these feeble beginnings, and further them to his own glory, evangelical piety and per¬ manent, primitive and apostolic principles and usages. W. P."

Mrs. Henry Fake and Mrs. David Hyer were church mem¬ bers. Religious services were held in the old capitol building* Rev. W. Philo having been engaged, as stated, clergyman.

In a number of the Wisconsin Express we find a notice that on Christmas evening, 1840, a donation party was held at the house of Rev. Mr. Philo, the Episcopal church missionary, which was well attended, and many presents bestowed on the worthy minister.

Mr. Philo preached at Madison for about a year, and was succeeded by Rev. Richard F. Cadle, formerly of Green Bay* who supplied the church for a time. The further history of this church will be continued hereafter.

The Fourth of July, says the "Express" passed off here in a very peaceable and quiet way, although attended with every" demonstration which its recurrence is calculated to call forth on the part of a moral and religious, and yet patriotic people. We had no party political celebration - no Tippecanoe gath¬ ering - no drinking of "hard cider," and " harder brandy," which doubtless were the order of the dajr in most parts of our country, but we had a very orderly, and of course very respect¬ able, little assembly of citizens at the Capitol, where, after re¬ ligious services by the Rev. W. Philo, the Declaration of In¬ dependence was read by T. W. Sutherland, Esq., in a manner highly creditable to himself, and a very appropriate and impres¬ sive oration delivered by the Rev. Mr. Slingerland.

The u Madison Express" of July 18, complains that wheatonly brings fifty cents per bushel, and that it is often dealt out to hogs and cattle for want of sale. We note that on the 4th of September, Wm. N. Seymour and Julius T. 4Clark had formed a law partnership and law agency.

The Madison Lyceum had weekly meetings for debate, during, the year, and on one occasion, in May, the subject was whether it was desirable for Wisconsin to claim admittance into the Union as a state, if she obtains jurisdiction of the disputed territory.

La Fayette Kellogg, Esq.,* a well known citizen of this place, was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court of the Terri¬ tory, on the 11th day of August, 1850. Mr. Kellogg has re¬ tained the same office, with a short intermission, to the presenttime, 1874.

* La Fayette Kellogg, Esq., son of Rowland Kellogg and his wife Sarah Titus, was born at Elizabethtown, Essex County, New York, and was ed¬ ucated at the same place. Came west in 1838, and spent nearly a year in the lead mines at Mineral Point, and returned to Madison in the summer of 1839 - held several town and county offices until August n, 1840, when he was appointed clerk of the supreme court of the Territory, which office he held until the State Government was organized, when from continued ill health he was obliged to give up all kinds of business until December, 1851, when his health having improved, he again took charge of the office as Deputy Clerk, and discharged the duties of the same until the organiza¬ tion of the separate Supreme Court in June 1853, when he was again ap¬ pointed clerk, and has held that office to the present time, (1874.) He wasalso elected chief clerk of the House of Representatives at its session in 1845, and was re-elected at the session of 1846, 1847 and 1848, and was al¬ so elected Secretary of the first convention to frame a constitution for the' then future State of Wisconsin, which constitution was rejected by a vote of the people on the first Tuesday of April, 1847.

almost, if not really the planting of a church in the wilderness. At the time of its organization, there was no other except the Episcopal, within fifty miles in any direction. The church was organized in what was the Library and Court Room of the old capitol, under the direction of Rev. Elbert Slingerland, a mis¬ sionary of the Reformed Dutch Church. Twelve communi¬ cants partook of the Sacrament. In spirit it was a Congrega¬ tional church from the first; but in compliance with the wish¬ es of the first pastor, it took the name of the " Dutch Reformed Church," adopting it with the provision that the form and con¬ nection might be changed when a majority ot the members de¬ sired it. Besides the minister, there was but one officer in the church, a ruling elder, and that office was conferred on David Brigham, Esq. Mr. Slingerland preached from June, 1840, to June 1841. On the 13th of June, 1841, in order to connect itself with the Presbyterian and Congregational Convention of Wisconsin, by an unanimous vote of all the members then res¬ ident here, the church adopted the name of the Congregational Church in Madison, and resolved thenceforth " to be governed and regulated by the established rules of such churches as were then known in the Territory." Mr. David Brigham was chosen Deacon and Clerk of the Church under the new arrangment. The following persons were members at this time, and as all but one of them partook of the first communion referred to, they may be considered original members : David Brigham, Mrs. E. F. Brigham, W. N. Seymour, Mrs. A. M. Seymour, Mrs. M. A. Morrison, Mrs. E. Wyman, Mrs. C. R. Pierce, Mrs. A. Catlin, Mrs. Slingerland. Rev. J. M. Clark, of Kentucky, then took charge of the church, and preached here till July, 1843; and w~as succeeded by Rev. S. E. Miner, of New York, who began preaching under the auspices of the Home Missionary Society; at this time the church had no set¬ tled place of worship, and some efforts were made to erect a church building. For a time, they worshipped in the old cap¬ itol, occupying alternately with two or three other denomina¬ tions. Then they obtained the use of a log house, the old building erected by Mr. Eben Peck, and known as the " first house built in Madison," and met there for some time. The erection of a new barn, sometime after seemed to offer such superior and attractive accommodations, that the little church made this its temple, and " Christianity went hack to the stable in which it had its origin." After great effort and self sacri¬ fice, subscriptions were received to encourage them to build a house of worship. The building was erected on lot 10, block 108, on Webster street, and was dedicated in 1846. P. H. Van Bergen was builder. It was built of wood, with seats for 250 persons, and cost about $1,800. In October, 1846, Mr. Miner, resigned his pastorate. He was succeeded October 20, 1846, by Rev. Chas. Lord, * of Independence, Missouri, who was in¬ stalled October 20, 1852, by advice of an Ecclesiastical Council, and the church became self-supporting. Mr. Lord, was pastor of the church until the spring of 1854, when owing to infirm¬ ity of the eyes he was obliged to resign. He was succeeded in 1855, by Rev. N. H. Eggleston, of Plymouth church, Chicago.

Rev. Mr. Slingerland, on the 1st of November, 1840, wrote a letter to Rev. B. C. Taylor, the Secretary of the Board of Missions of the Reformed Dutch Church, which was published in the New York Christian Intelligencer , the organ of that de-

* Rev. Charles Lord was a son of Rev. Henry and Fidelia (Graves) Lord and was born at Williamsburg, Hampshire county, Massachuetts, January 27, 1816. He graduated at Amherst College, 1838; Andover Theological Seminary, 1842; ordained at Booneville, Mo., October, 1841; Home Mis¬ sionary in Missouri and Wisconsin, eight years; installed at Madison, Wis¬ consin, October 20, 1852; dismissed May 8, 1854; installed over Second Church Whateley, Massachusetts, March 20, 1856; dismissed June 14, i860; installed at Buckland, Massachusetts, i860. He married August 30, 1843, Clarissa Lois Wright, daughter of Luther and Sarah Wright of East Hamp¬ ton, Massachusetts, by whom he has had three children; viz: Sarah D., born March 29, 1845, married Robert B. Hall of Brooklyn, New York; Alice C., born July and died July 1853, an<3 Henry C., born October 14, 1854. Rev. Mr. Lord died at the residence of his daughter, March 28, 1872, in the 57th year of his age.

nomination, in which he gives an account of the organization of the church at Madison, and his ministerial labors in the ad¬ jacent country, with an interesting account of the Territory of Wisconsin, the state of society, and the adaptation of the country for settlement. His letter is lengthy - the following extracts are taken from it:

"It is with great pleasure that I transmit to you an account of my mission since August 1. I feel deeply indebted to the Providence of God for preserving both my family and myself in the enjoyment of health, which, of all earthly blessings, is 'Heaven's best gift to man.'

" During this quarter, I have preached at Madison every al¬ ternate Sabbath, and the rest of the time in the vicinity. On the morning of the 4th ult., we consummated the organization of a church at this place, with two male and seven female members, which number we hope to enlarge at our next com¬ munion. I dispensed, upon this occasion, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, and feel assured that all the services were duly appreciated by this infant church. Some professors from abroad, members of the Presbyterian Church, being present, commemorated with us the death of our common Lord. In the evening, the ordinance of baptism was administered to an infant of one of our members.

" I am happy to state that we have a good attendance upon the Sabbath, and also upon all the appointments made in my former report. In the month of August, during an extra ses¬ sion of the Legislature of this Territory, I called a meeting, the object of which was to obtain a history of the rise and progress of churches in different parts of the Territory. The meeting was well attended, and of great interest. It appeared that many churches which were formed of the fewest possible materials, have grown into considerable influence, and are now exerting themselves in the most laudable manner in promoting the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. It appeared also that revivals of religion had been enjoyed during the past year in several places, particularly at Prairie Village, near Mil¬ waukee, at Racine, and at Platteville, in Grant county.