Potosi Town

Potosi Town

Location - Origin of the Village - The Settlement or the Village - Willis St John - The Postmaster - FiEST Bieth - Eakly Life in the Mines - Mitkdees-Potosi Receives its Name - A Duel - Incoeporation of the Village - The Early Mining Interests - The Schools - The Press - The Village Post Office - Religious - Business Enterprises- Societies - Cemetbeies - Adjoining Settlements - Dutch Hollow - British Hollow - rocktille.

location. Preliminary reference to the early settlement and progress of Potosi Village must necessarily be made to the town of which the village is to-day the prime factor. The town of Potosi is bounded on the north by Lancaster, on the east by the towns of Harrison and Paris, -on the south by the Mississippi River, and the west, partly by that highway, and partly by Waterloo. It is centrally located in Grant County, with an area comprising 34,109 acres, of an assessed valuation, in 1880, of $362,887.

Origin Of The Village

Section 34 upon which the village is located was donated by an act of Congress, approved June 15, 1844, to the State, for the purpose of improving Grant River. This was further provided for by subsequent legislation, and Nelson Dewey, Henry L. Massey and James B. Freeman were appointed Commissioners to survey the same. The survey was completed by James E. Freeman and Henry L. Wiltse (the latter subsequently becoming Surveyor General in the Land Office at Dubuque), the sub division appropriated into in and out lots, the former containing two and one-half acres each, while the latter were each sixty-six feet front, by 120 feet deep. The survey was completed and filed in the office of the Register of Deeds of Grant County, June 19, 1845, and deeds issued to purchasers by Gov. Henry Dodge, attested by John Oatlin, Secretary of State, the proceeds being used in the construction of a canal from the Mississippi to the Grant River. The work has remained uncompleted, however, owing to the exhaustion the fund, and has never been of much practical utility to the town, save for tugs and woodboats, and some other purposes during high water.

The lower part of the village, comprising the section whereon Hail's brewery is now situated, called Van Buren, with Lafayette still southward on the left bank of Grant River, previous to the building up of Potosi proper, were the principal business portions of the town. The former place is known as the "Van Buren Entry," having been originally entered by Joseph Wooley and Robert Templeton prior to 1849. It was reserved from sale for a time by the Government on account of being mineral lands ; , but, as the story goes, witnesses were hired to go -over it blindfolded, then taken to the land-office and sworn that they had been all over the ground and could see no mineral. This may or may not be true, but the sections were never of any great moment as mining ground, and the Government lost nothing in the sale of these rough -and broken points.

The surface of the town, it may be said, is mostly of a rough, broken character, being traversed by many deep ravines or hollows, which debouch into the valleys of the Grant and Platte rivers. The best arable land constitutes the southern part of Boice Prairie. The soil is a rich gray loam, well adapted to the growth of corn, as also the principal cereals, and being embedded upon a substratum of clay, retains its moisture for a great length of time in dry seasons. Along the bluffs of the Mississippi, and upon the farms which reach out to the borders of Grant and

Source changes here: from History of Grant County Wisconsin, by Castello N. Holford, published 1900; 8,409 words in this source stream.

Potosi Town

First Comers - The Jim Crow Murder - Potosi's Growth - Latimer's Duel and Death - Potosi's Canal - 1 The Town's Decline - Town Officers - Village Officers - Murders, Suicides, and Acci¬ dental-Newspapers - Schools - Churches - Socie¬ ties - Dutch Hollow - British Hollow -

First Comers

It is said that mineral was found in 1829 on the hill opposite the present Catholic church, at the foot of a tree which had been blown down, but nothing definite is known about it. In the same year Thomas Hymer built a cabin at the mouth of the hollow near the present railroad station, but did not remain there long. In the spring of 1832 William S. Anderson built a log cabin in the valley. Terrence Coyle had previously built a cabin near where British Hollow now is and lived in it with his wife and three children - one of them a son named Peter, who was afterward somewhat prominent there. In the spring of 1832 a number of miners came to the valley and located a mining camp there. The doings of this party are described by one of them, Hawkins Taylor, in a letter published in the Dubuque J Times in 1879 : "A few days before I reached Galena the surveyors in Wis¬ consin discovered lead on a bra'nch about two miles from the Mis¬ sissippi River where Potosi is located. The excitement in Galena was then very great over the new discovery and our party, that had got acquainted in the East, started for the discovery at once. Of our party were Sam Druen and Hayden Gilbert. We stopped one night at Gilmore's, near Siusinawa Mound, and the next day we got to the mines. We made little shanties of logs, generally split, and covered with elm bark, and bunks two stories high. Our bed and covering was a thick Mexican blanket, but what good sound sleep we had ! All of us were confident of striking a lead very soon. Each had a tin cup and we had a common coffee pot. Our meat was mess pork. We made our own bread. The huts were scattered for a mile along the branch, generally four men in a hut. There were about sixty miners in camp and only one quarrelsome man, an Irishman named Maloney, and his spite was against Free Williams, a peaceable man and weakly. In the midst of our happiness news came to us one evening that the Indians had defeated Stillwell on Rock River and were then making their way toward the Mississippi and would most likely pass down the Platte and rob the stores of De Tantebar at his town and Loren Wheeler at Gibraltar, and also take in our camp. Cox, then Sheriff of Grant County [it was Iowa County] had sent a messenger from Mineral Point to give us the warning. Within ten minutes of the time the news reached our camp more than forty miners were at Major Ander¬ son's camp. He had been an old Indian fighter and with one accord we went to him to be our commander and adviser. I learn that he died recently in Dubuque. There were some fifteen or twenty Irishmen in the camp who had come from Galena in skiffs and a pirogue. They had brought their provisions and tools in this way, and when the alarm was given they naturally went for the vessels, that were in a branch of the river about a mile from the camp. Maloney, the bully, got behind, and the last of the party had got out into the stream be¬ fore he got there, but he jumped in and was barely saved from drown¬ ing. Free Williams joined Stephenson's company of dragoons and made a brave soldier. By morning our party had dwindled down to thirteen. We then went to De Tantabar's on the Platte, and a man named Cornwell, a Virginian, and I went down to Wheeler's, who " had a horse and joined the dragoons." Finding that the Indians were in no hurry to come our way, we went back to our diggings. I have no record of the names, but we had with us then Major Ander¬ son, a man by the name of Hillis, Ham and his nephew, Theiskell, Ten¬ nesseeans; a man by the name of Cook, from Mississippi; Cornwelh and Nehemiah Dudley, from Vermont. Dudley was the ugliest man, I think, I ever saw, but, notwithstanding the antipathy that was then universal in the Mississippi Valley against Yankees, we all liked Dud¬ ley. I have never heard of him since I left the Mississippi, but 1 have often thought of him. We built a blockhouse of large hewn logs and kept a supply of provisions on hand in case of an attack by the In¬ dians. We mined through the day and slept in our blockhouse at night. It was on the high ground north of the branch, and 1 under¬ stood some years ago that there was a Catholic church near by, and that the old shanty I had lived in was standing near the church."

Willis St. John came at the same time and discovered a cave contain¬ ing a large quantity of mineral and also a great many snakes, from which circumstance the valley was called "Snake Hollow," a name it long retained. " St. John's Cave," as it was called, turned out a very large quantity of mineral and St. John was long a prominent person in the settlement, but in his old age he became poor and despondent, although rich in the esteem and good-will of all his neighbors. He died in 1853.

James P. Cox, then Sheriff of Iowa County (which included all of what is now Grant County), spent some time here in the summer of 1832, and afterward made his home here until he removed to his farm five miles south of Lancaster, a homestead which he called "Waukon." He was quite prominent in public affairs. He died in 1866.

In the fall of 1832 Wheeler & Price (G. M. Price, afterward a prom* inent man at Cassville) opened a store in the new mining camp. In 1833 Ruel Morrell, who afterward settled in the Hurricane, and Rob¬ ert Porter, who afterward had a mill on Grant River iaBeetown,came to the Hollow. Porter was a blacksmith and did some work sharpen¬ ing miners' tools. John Lyon came in 1834. Mrs. Davies, of British Hollow, and Mrs. Peter Woodhouse, of Bloomington, are daughters of his.

In 1835 there were many new comers, some of whom remained for life. Among them were John Van Dyke, who died there April 5, 1883, aged 71 , and Jefferson Toulouse, who became a smelter in Rigsby Hol¬ low, and who had been a voyageur or trapper in the service of the Northwest Fur Company. With him, or not long after him, came sev¬ eral other Frenchmen, some with families, who had been in the service of the Northwest Fur Company at Pembina: Guyon, Montpleasure, Gau¬ tier, Fourchette, Robideaux, Cornique, and Thibeault. Some of these names were afterward anglicised in spelling, as, Gotier, Freshett, and Tebo.

Some of the new comers in 1836 afterward became prominent in other places. " Thode" Barber, soon after¬ ward and still a resident of Lancaster, was one; another was Celestin Kaltenbach, who became the dean of postmasters in the United States, holding that office from Apgust 8, 1837, to the time of his death, March 18, 1891, with the exception of the time between 1862 and 1870. Before coming to Potosi he had mined for three years about Dubuque. On coming to the " Hollow/' he started a store (in the location then, known as Van BnrenJ which he. carried on for more than fifty years. He held several town of¬ fices and was so much esteemed in the community that to hundreds his advice or admonition was law. He was 78 years old at his death. Another comer this year was Samuel Morris, who had been living at Dubuque and was carrying on a little store there in 1832 when the soldiers under Lieutenant (afterward President) Jefferson Davis came and drove the miners from the place, which was then Indian land. In a few years he went to Cassville and carried on a store there for many years, and then returned to Potosi, where he died September 27, 1891. He was a rough and rugged frontiersman, but intelligent and highly respected. Also in 1836 came David Goodrich, who spent the rest of his life in Potosi and died there March 18, 1891, at the age of 84. "full of. years and honor;" and Bartimeus White, who, after mining several years, settled on a farm near Lancaster, where he still lives at the ripe age of 89 ; and Sylvester Brawner, a pioneer miner of Potosi, now past 90. Stephen B. Chase first came to Potosi in 1834, then returned to Dubuque, came back to Potosi in 1836 and- lived there many years. He was in an early day superintendent of the county poor-farm. He died in Lancaster February 14, 1887. Elisha E. Brock and Tarlton F. Brock, afterward county officers, came some time before 1836. David Gillespie, since a well-known justice of the peace, Robert Templeton, William Garey, William Clark, Joseph Woolley, Henry B. Uppena, W, T. Ennor, William Woods, Mrs. Fulton, Myron Harper, Joseph Petty, Peleg Hull, James White, George Maderie, Simpson and Tyre Oldham, Alexander Walker, and John and Ira Dodson came in 1836, or perhaps some of them a year or two before. James F. Chapman, a surveyor and afterward a prominent man, came with his family, and Braton Bushee, with his family, this year. Chapman moved into a cabin built by Peleg Hull. He long afterward went to Colorado and died there in 1895. It is said that on December 19, 1836, the first white child was born in Potosi : Mary, daughter of Celestin Kaltenbach and his wife. She grew up in Potosi, married Hyman Block, a merchant, and went to St. Louis to live.

in another store there. The famous "Long Range" was discovered this year. Andrew J. Greene came this year with his family and spent the rest of his life there, dying September 11, 1899, aged 84. John Woodhouse with his numerous family, who afterward helped materi¬ ally to populate Beetown and Tafton, came this year. Other comers were James Threlfeld, Patrick McKenney, Thomas Mudd, Richard Wilmott, William Casey, Alexander Polkinghom, Owen McLaughlin, and P. F. Dillon, afterward a well-known resident of Lancaster, who went to California and died there. Mrs Pulton had a large story-anda-half building put up and leased it to a man named Kibbe as a tav¬ ern, subsequently called the Bell Tavern. Kibbe did a rushing business for a while until he had to " skip out " to escape one of his previous wives from whom he had not been released by law or by death. A post-office named Van Buren was established here this year with C. Kaltenbach as postmaster. According to some accounts, Peter Coyle was postmaster for a few months early in 1837, with his office at "the Head of the Hollow." The Lafayette Mining Company, composed of Louis Baton, William B. Sheldon, Morgan L. Martin, and F. K.O'Ferrall, was organized this year and began operations on Section 28, Town 3. Range 3. The village of Lafayette was laid out in the spring of this year, by Samuel B. Rountree and William Clark, upon Grant Slough, near the present railroad station. The slough was then nav¬ igable for large steamers, and this was long the port of Potosi. John R. Coons opened a store at Lafayette, afterward conducted by the firm of Coons, Woolley & Co. Cook & Brenneman, Millechop & Co., and Braton Bushee also opened stores there.

In 1838 Jonathan Craig came' in and put up a warehouse at Lafay¬ ette. John Spenseley and Matthew Ham had been running a furnace on Section 33, near the present village of Potosi, and this year they sold k to Thomas PaHiser, Joseph Woolley, and Joseph Petty, who en¬ larged it. The landing at Lafayette was becoming an important port. Questions of titles to mines brought on litigation, and David T. An¬ derson and H. C. Green came in as lawyers. The physicians were Drs. C. D. Crockwell and Allen Hill. Among the new comers were Enos P. and Henry Wood, who had settled in Town 3, Range 4, in 1837 ; Blias Dean, who settled on Section 4, Town 2, Range 3 ; Henry Snare, Wil¬ liam McDaniel, Jacob D. Merritt, Abram Morgan, William McDonald, Thomas Harrison, Alexander George, Bdward Lull, and William A. Coons, who settled in Lafayette ; Green Bandy, who continued to live

The legislature of 1838 had granted a charter to James P. Cox and Justus Persons to run a ferry from a landing in Dubuque County to Osceola, a place that was hardly more than a name, on the bank of the Mississippi, a mile or so from Lafayette. The County Board, at its April session, 1838, granted Cox & Persons a license, fixing the rates of fare. This ferry has been described on pages 42 and 43.

Thu Jim Crow Murder

In 1838 occurred the "Jim Crow " murder, which created great excitement, not only in Potosi but throughout the county. The Long Range, referred to on page 517, was discovered by one Phipps, who failed to find the main body of mineral and sold to Moore & Watson. The wealth soon developed in the lode tempted some persons to try to obtain forcible possession of it, and to accomplish this they enlisted two or three of a gang of ruffians who then infested the settlement, ready for any evil deed that promised plunder. The owners heard of the design, and to guard against it they gave a " fighting interest " to James Wagner, better known as "Jim Crow," a man of enormous strength and brave as he was strong. As an opening move John Calder appeared on the ground, with a rifle, and claimed the mine. Jim Crow snatched the rifle from Calder's hands and kicked him off from the diggings. A few days later the principals in the plot, Samuel Rountree, William Clark, and Cyrus Harper, and their retainers, Jacob Derrick, William Cooley, and Lindsay Evans, all armed, approached the mine. Jim Crow was ready, heavily armed. Raising his rifle, he ordered them to halt. Knowing that if they came on Jim would shoot and shoot to kill, the gang halted and tried to parley ; but Jim sternly ordered them to shut their mouths and get off the range, and so great was their dread of him that, although six against one, they obeyed.

But the matter was not ended. Several days later Jim was sitting one evening in Owen McLaughlin's "grocery" and Cooley, Derrick, and Evans entered. They exhibited no hostility to Jim ; on the contrary, they asked him to drink. But as they were leaving the room Evans suddenly drew a pistol and shot Jim through the heart.

Evans, Derrick, and Cooley were arrested ; but their employers were men of prominence and influence and the preliminary trial was a farce - the assassins were set at liberty.

But the outrage aroused the people and the gang were again ar¬ rested and brought before Justice Nelson Dewey at Lancaster for trial. They brought strong influence to bear to clear themselves, but they found the Governor-to-be of quite different stuff from thePotosi justice, and they were sent to Prairie du Chien for safe keeping until their trial in the district court. But they soon got free on a writ of habeas corpus, granted by Judge Dunn, much to the dissatisfaction of the majority of the people.

The gang, including Rountree, Clark, and Harper, were compelled to leave the settlement. A meeting of the citizens also discussed the question of driving out Dr. Allen Hill, a friend of Rountree and Clark. But the Doctor himself took the floor with a rifle, and with great de¬ cision, enveloped in a good deal of profanity, informed the meeting that they could not drive him out and should not discuss the matter, and that he should shoot the first man that made a movement or spoke a syllable in an attempt to drive him out. The meeting at once adjourned informally, each man getting out of the room as quickly and quietly as possible.

In 1839 there was considerable improvement. Simon E. Lewis, Solon M. Langworthy, and James P. Chapman opened stores: A Methodist church was built. A log house for a Catholic chapel had been built in 1836. Among the new comers were William Hewitt, Hi¬ ram Hallowell, Henry Webster, Ezra Hall, Isaac Martin, William Hosmer, William Kinney and Alfred Kinney, and the families of these; also, Thomas Smith, Samuel Yenowine, Myron Patterson, C.C. Drake, Briar Davis, Charles Davis, Newton Morris, Robert Bulman, Hiram Weld, William W. Wright (who afterward opened a farm three miles north of Potosi), A. W. Emery, and Cornelius Kennedy, a Revolution¬ ary soldier and a teacher.

In the spring of 1 839 the village of Van Buren was laid out by Joseph Woolley, Thomas Palliser, and Joseph Petty, although the place had for two years had a post-office and several buildings. Kalten bach that year added a tavern to his store. The city of Osceola was laid out by James P. Cox and the plat filed April 3, 1839. It was a magnificent plat on Sections 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15, Town 2, Range 3, and took in the entire river bottom from the main stream, across the sloughs, and part of the bluffs, south and east of Lafayette. The city did not materialize and the county records fail to show the sale of any

In 1840 Woods & Massey (H. L. Massey, for years one of the County Commissioners) opened a store. In 1841 S. M. Langworthy built a brick residence - the first brick building in the place, and Lang¬ worthy & Massey put up a frame store building. Among the comers in 1840 and 1841 were Joseph Palliser and William Longbotham. The former engaged in smelting and the latter in smelting, mining, and farming.

By act of the legislature approved February 19, 1841, the village of Potosi was incorporated (this and Platteville, incorporated the same day, being the first incorporated villages in the county) embrac-. ing the settlement called "the Head of the Hollow," Van Buren, and Lafayette, the first election to be held at the house of C. Kaltenbach.

In 1841 James White built a stone blacksmith shop. In 1842 John Simplot built a brick house ; in 1843, the Wisconsin House (later the residence of J. W. Seaton) was built; in 1842 the hotel later called the Banfill House was completed by Cox & Groshong and occupied by James Hudson. At this time there were two stores in Lafayette : those of Braton Bushee and D. McKenzie; one in Van Buren : that of George Maderie; in Potosi there were several, among them those of I.G. Ury, Langworthy & Massey, S. E. Lewis & Co., Lowther & Dyer, and Cook & Brenneman. In 1843 "Madam Ents, late of Galena," put out her sign as milliner.

From the report of the port of Potosi April 29, 1843, we learn that "the steamer Rapids arrived April 24 from St. Louis with mer¬ chandise and sundries and twenty-five passengers - steamer Osage from St. Louis arrived - departures : steamer Rapids for St. Louis April 25 ; steamer Osage for St. Louis April 26, with 3,000 pigs of lead. Stock of lead on hand today, 15,000 pigs - our furnaces all in blast. Freight to St. Louis 12%c. Price of lead $2.12% cash."

As mining was the first industry, furnaces were the first manufac¬ turing plants of Potosi. The first one was built by Ham & Spenseley in 1834 in Rigsby Hollow. In 1837 they built a blast furnace. The French furnace was built in 1839. In 1840 Jonathan Craig built a furnace at British Hollow, and Thomas Taylor had a furnace at Osceola.

In 1845 Potosi boasted of three churches, two of them (Methodist and Presbyterian) of brick, a fem&lersemhtary, a male academy, 8 drygoods stores, 2 drug-stores, 1 clothing store, 1 hardware store, 4 cab¬ inet shops, 4 furnaces, 6 "groceries," 3 blacksmith shops, 1 chair shop, 2 brick-yards, 1 tan-yard, 1 Kvery stable, 1 fanmng-mill factory, 3 physicians, 1 jeweler, 2 bakers, 2 tinners, 2 tailors, 25 joiners, 12 ma>- sons, 1 painter, 1 barber, a Free Masons' lodge, an Odd Fellows' lodge, and 1,300 population. At that date Potosi was the largest town in the western part of the State and ranked with Galena for both whole¬ sale and retail trade. The river towns and trading posts clear up to Fort Snelling laid in their supplies from Potosi. The lumbermen from the Kickapoo and Wisconsin, the surveyors from the Dubuque and Mineral Point land offices, and the hundreds of teamsters coming up from Illinois in the spring with their ten-ox teams to break up the prairie, all obtained their supplies at Potosi. Galena and Dubuque were as jealous of Potosi as of each other, and employed runners to divert the trade from Potosi.

This busy town was strung out for about three miles along a val¬ ley so narrow as to give room for only one street. Goodhue said of it : "It seems to be a question whether the creek or the street has the right of way down the hollow." After a heavy rain the creek decidedly had the right of ,way and the street was "sidetracked " for a time.

A formal duel and a subsequent informal shooting affair which greatly excited the inhabitants of Potosi at the time was one in which an Englishman named Charles Latimer was the principal figure. Con¬ siderable feeling had been stirred up by the efforts of some persons .to have the law permitting foreigners to vote after a three months' resi¬ dence in the State repealed. Latimer, as a foreigner, of course, op¬ posed the repeal. One of his strongest coadjutors was Peter Coyle, an Irishman and a justice of the peace for the precinct of Potosi.

Latimer was discussing the matter with some heat in a saloon, and took occasion to set off American character and peculiarities in a manner very distastasteful to some of his hearers, among whom was Thomas Gloster, a Kentuckian, who knocked Latimer down. The En¬ glishman got up and fearlessly continued his remarks and Gloster knocked him down again, giving him a very black eye. Latimer then drank several glasses of liquor in a short time, and then addressed Colonel White, a Kentuckian, in a very irritating manner, and White took bis turn in knocking Latimer down. This occurred on Saturday night, February 17, 1845. On the next morning Gloster went to Latmer, acknowledged that his acts bad been without sufficient provoca¬ tion, and begged his pardon, and the matter seemed amicably settled. On Monday morning Colonel White received a note from Latimer, asking him either to acknowledge publicly that he had injured and insulted him without cause, or fight a duel. White agreed on the meeting and the time was fixed at early the next morning. Gloster acted as second for White and Celestin Kaltenbach as second for Lati¬ mer. On the scene of combat the friends of the parties persuaded them to refer the dispute to a committee, who reported that it was a mis¬ understanding and no apologies from either party were necessary.

The affair might have ended here had not ill-advised friends of Latimer led him to believe that Gloster still had dangerous designs against him, and half-crazed by drink and excitement, he easily believed it. So, on the next Friday morning, be armed himself with three pis¬ tols and a bowie-knife and sought his supposed eoemy. He met Glos¬ ter and fired a pistol at him and missed. Gloster said he was unarmed and Latimer told him to go and arm himself. Gloster went into a saloon and procured a double-barreled shotgun and came out, finding his enemy waiting for him. "1 am ready," said Gloster. The other drew a pistol and snapped it, but it missed fire. He then, drew a bo¬ wie-knife and advanced. Gloster fired both barrels of the gun at short intervals, retreating as he did so. The second shot gave Latimer a mortal wound.

Gloster was tried and acquitted on the ground that be acted in self-defense. The justice, Peter Coyle, was severely censured for not arresting Latimer when it was evident that he was armed and hunt¬ ing for blood.

Latimer was a brilliant but dissipated man, an attorney of much ability. Although an Englishman, it is not true that he irritated Americans by boasting about England, as he had himself taken up arms against the mother country in the "Patriot War" in Canada, and for this reason was a fugitive from that country.

Among the citizens of Potosi and vicinity at this date who have net been before mentioned were William Hull, attorney, T. J. Emerson, Dr. G. N. Bicknell, Edwin Bicknell, Mrs. Emeline Fisher, Dr. Bennett

An act of Congress in June, 1844, had been obtained, appropriating a section of land for the improvement of Grant River in the town of Potosi. The legislature of 1845 appointed commissioners who were to cause Section 34, Town 3, Range 3, to be surveyed into lots, and to decide upon and award preemptions. The lots were to be appraised and sold. A receiver was appointed to receive all money paid for lots and give certificates of such payments, which entitled the purchasers to receive from the Governor of the State patents for the lots. The com¬ missioners were also to cause a survey and estimate to be made of the improvement provided for by the act of Congress and report at the next session of the legislature. The money was to remain in the hands of the receiver, to be applied to the improvement in such a manner as the legislature should direct.

The commissioners submitted their report to the legislature of 1846, together with the report of the receiver, from which it appeared that they had caused the section to be surveyed into village lots and "outlots;" that they had examined and determined all claims to pre¬ emption rights presented, the valuation of- which had been assessed by persons appointed by the Surveyor-General, and that they had, in pursuance of the act of the last session, sold all the lots in said section of land; that the aggregate amount of all the sales was $4,130.64; that the expenditures under the said act of the legislature were $1,- 405.21, leaving a balance in the hands of the receiver of $2,725.43.

The commissioners also submitted a report of Captain Joshua Barnes, U. S. engineer, superintending the improvement of the Du¬ buque harbor, who, after making an examination and estimates of the several different plans of improving the harbor of Potosi, recom¬ mended a direct cut from the Mississippi River to Grant River slough, the cost of which he estimated at $20,041.

The reports of the commissioners, receiver, and engineer were re¬ ferred to a committee of the House, of which Thomas P. Burnett was chairman, which reported that: "Although the cost of the proposed canal greatly exceeds the funds now available for its construction, and it may seem a large sum to apply to such a work, yet the committee are of the opinion that the importance of the improvement to the western part of the Territory is of such magnitude that the work ought to be undertaken, and a commencement made with the funds now applicable for that purpose. The sum will be very nearly or quite sufficient, according to the estimate that has been made, to pay for the clearing and grubbing of the ground and making the first course of excavation. This much of the work can be completed daring the pres¬ ent year, and it may reasonably be expected that Congress will appro¬ priate a sufficient sum to finish the improvement after it shall have been commenced."

The legislature approved the report of the committee and ap pointed James P. Chapman a commissioner to expend the money in the hands of the receiver, upon the plan recommended by Captain Barnes. The legislature memorialized Congress for an appropriation of $17,316.02, but no appropriation (not even the odd two cents asked for) was obtained.

The same legislature gave James P. Chapman an exclusive charter for a ferry across Grant and Mississippi Rivers at the place of this im¬ provement.

Mr. Chapman made his report to the legislature of 1847. The first work performed was the clearing and grubbing of the line of the canal, which was let to the lowest bidder at $688.20. He reported that the estimate of the engineer of the amount of excavation to dig the canal to the depth of six feet below the average surface and fifty feet wide at the surface was 31,027 cubic yards - One hundred feet wide double that amount. To dig the canal four feet deep and fifty feet wide would require 17,315 yards of excavation.

The citizens of Potosi at a public meeting requested the commis¬ sioner to limit the excavation to fifty feet in width and to make it as deep as the funds would admit of. He accordingly adopted that width, and let the contract for 14,000 yards at twelve cents per cubic yard. He reported that the contractor had completed 11,000 yards and would complete the remaining 3,000 yards by the first of April.

In 1847 the Henderson Block, a fine three-story brick building, was put up. Potosi celebrated the Fourth in 1848 "withgreatdclat," as the newspapers said, A county official in his diary exhausted his adjectives in describing the splendors of the fireworks and the dance, where ''the fight shone o'er fair women and brave men." Potosi was then at the zenith of her prosperity, but the era of her rapid declineand permanent depression was soon to open. It came with the rush to the California gold-fields. To describe the effects of this exodus on Potosi would be to repeat our history of the county and of the towns of Lancaster and Platteville during this period. Then came the cholera, and this dreadful scourge completed the depopulation the California exodus began. Another cause of Potosi's decline was that Grant Slough filled up with mud and steamers could no longer come up to the Lafayette landing, so that Potosi's river trade went to Cassville and Dunleith. A bridge was built across the slough in the winter of 1860-61, and a road made to the river bank, but it did not save the trade of the town. The phenomenal agricultural develop¬ ment in the county during the fifties did not revive Potosi, because most of her area was of rude and rocky bluffs, and the prairie in the north part of the township became tributary to Lancaster.

Potosi is one of the original towns formed in 1849.* It consists of Town 3, Range 3, and the part of Town 2, Range 3, lying on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi. In 1899 the assessor found 32,734 acres of land assessed at $196,404; 754 houses, 2,661 cattle, 694 sheep, and 2,592 swine.

Among the justices of Potosi precinct in territorial times were : Peter Coyle, Win. McDaniel, and James Chapman, 1843; Samuel Morris, 1844; David Gillespie, O. Cole, and C. K. Lord, 1846.

Town Officers

1888 - Supervisors, John J. Tobin, A. W. Emery, Wm. Mechler ; clerk, E. M. Wilmott; treasurer, R. H. Kendrick; assessor, Ben. Els¬ camp; justices, A. Wilhelm, A. W. Emery; constable^, C. Kreizer, Henry Schroeder, John Bimler, George Campbell.

1897 - Supervisors, clerk, and treasurer same as in 1 896 ; assessor, Thomas Welsh; justices, E. M. Wilmott, Wm. Uren; constables, James Jackson, Henry Kreizer, Henry Schroeder.

The charter of the village given in 1841 was withdrawn in 1854. There is no record left from which to ascertain the names of the village officers of the first corporation. The village was again incorporated in 1887. Following is the roster of village officers since that time :

Village Officers

1891, President, John A. Neaville; trustees, W. H. Hunt, Horace Hymer, J . R. Campbell, A. Schumacher, J. J. Duve, Theo. Runkel ; clerk, Wesley Hymer treasurer R. H. Kendrick : marshal, Ben Bier ; police justice, W. A. 9prague.

Murders, Suicides, And Accidents

Homicides have not been numerous in Potosi. Besides the two kill¬ ings already described, the most noted one was the murder of James Short in 1837 by a man named Gardner. The body was not discovered for a longtime. The murderer was hanged at Jacksonville, Illinois, three years afterward for another crime and confessed to this one.

Robert B. Turner killed his brother Albert with an ax in a mineral hole near the village, November 29, 1873. There was considerable evidence of insanity, but the slayer was convicted of murder in the first degree.

way. The next morning Alex, was found dead in a creek with his head in water six or eight inches deep. Ed was tried for murder but was acquitted, as it was supposed that the death was caused by the drunken man accidentally falling into the water and drowning.

John Hail, who owned the Potosi brewery, committed suicide April 28, 1881, by shooting himself with a pistol. No cause for the act was known.

In the latter part of June, 1895, an old man named John Dunstane, living alone near Rockville, committed suicide by shooting him¬ self through the head. He had a cancer and despaired of cure.

Joseph Ott, an apprentice in the Potosi flour-mill, was carrying an empty sack, when a revolving shaft caught the strings of the sack, winding up the sack and the boy with it, crushing him. He was thrown with such force that his boots and socks were stripped off and thrown across the mill.

Joseph Kitto was killed May 15, 1896, in a mine near Rockville, by a tub of water falling on him. He and his partner were bailing out the mine, and the tub got loose from the rope before reaching the top of the shaft.

The very narrow valley in which Potosi is situated is favorable to floods. A memorable one occurred in August, 1851, but without loss of life. Another occurred August 13, 1862, in which Peter Kaltenbach, a brother of Celestin, was drowned. His body was found half a mile from where the flood had engulfed him. At the same time a building was washed away in British Hollow.

The Potosi Republican. - This paper was begun in May, 1847, as a Democratic paper, edited and published by Lucien B. Leach. It was a four* page paper with five wide columns (16 picas) to the page. With Vol. 2, No. 15, the names of Seaton & McKee appear at the head. J. W. Seaton and David McKee were a combination of talent sufficient to make a bright and able paper, and that is what the Republican was. The slashing editorials and withering invectives of Goodhue's Whig Herald had no terrors for such able knights of the pen as the Potosi pair. McKee's name, however, appeared on only two num¬ bers, when the style changed to Leach & Seaton, and with Vol 4. No. 28, Seaton alone At the close of Vol. 8 Seaton, retired, lea vine

Edwin R. Paul to attend the dying struggles of the Republican , for when the end came, August 14, 1855, Potosi was sutfering such a bus¬ iness depression that it could not support a paper.

The Potosi Signal. - This paper was established by David McKee and Robert McKee, the first number issuing July 13, 1852, from an of¬ fice in the Langworthy building. The McKees were bright, able men and they made a spicy paper ; but they began in the very hight of the California exodus, and the decline of Potosi was so rapid that the pa¬ per was very short-lived. As no files are preserved, no further partic¬ ulars can be given.

In 1838 Cornelius Kennedy, a Revolutionary soldier, opened a school in Potosi. Among his pupils were Henry B. Coons, Samuel Coons, John Coons, Mary Coons, George Langley, William W. Forbes, Harriet Forbes, Amanda Bushee, and Johri Long Kennedy taught one year with satisfaction, and was succeeded by a teacher named Eayers, who taught in a cabin at Van Buren. During this year, as we learn from the report of the County Board the next spring, sixty -eight pupils attended school in the "Snake Hollow " District. In the spring of 1840 G. C. Drake began school and taught six months at Van Buren and then moved his school to Bull's Tavern at Lafayette. After that a Mr. Johnson taught in a building formerly used as Clark & Wood's saloon. C. S. D. Crockwell followed in the old log Metho¬ dist church, and he was followed by Miss Emeline Fisher. Business tending toward "the Head of the Hollow," school was taught there in a log cabin by Edward Storey and others until 1846, when the brick school-house was built at a cost of $1,500 and a Mr. Cameron, said to have been a brother to the ex-Senator Angus Cameron, employed to teach. In 1847 James W. Seaton- came to Potosi and was placed in charge of the school in the new brick house. He was an earnest and able educator and in the two years during which he was in charge he "set the pace " which his successors strove to follow, and it was a rapid one;

Hon. Jambs W. Seaton

In 1867 a new and more commodious brick school-house was erected - not because the population had grown, for it had shrunk - but because modern ideas of common-school education had expanded. This new building on Northeast Street is two stories high with rooms for three departments and cost $7,500. Thisschool is at present under charge of Prof. Bohn ann Misses Spaulding, Medley, Fure, and Holl.

In the early forties there was what was called a female seminary, by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin, in the Catholic parson¬ age, with about fifty pupils.

The Methodist Church. - This society was formed in 1839, when a class was formed with Thomas Clayton, leader, John Crockwell, Catherine CrockWell, George Maderie and his wife, James R. Short and his wife, John Pedlar and his wife. That year a brick building which the Mormons had built was bought and occupied as a church for five years. In 1850 the building afterward known as Temperance Hall was built and occupied as a church until 1877, when the society was dissolved. Among the resident ministers were: J. G. Hudson, 1853; B. B. Russell, 1855; Robert DeLap, 1856; Wm. Summersides, 1859; Richard Burge, I860; W. Thomas, 1876.

St. Thomas Catholic Church. - This society was organized in 1836. Celestin Kaltenbach, Peter Coyle, Michael Lawler, John Tobin, and the families of these, with some others, were the original members. Mass was said at the houses of members until 1838, when a log chapel was built near the present church. The sawn timbers were brought from Hough's mill on the Platte. A log dwelling for the priest was also built on the opposite side of the street and was recently standing. Thechurch bad no resident priest until 1840 Services and ceremonies were occasionally conducted by Father Matthias Loras, B»hop of Dubuque, and Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, resident priest at Galena.

Since then the resident priests have been : Father James Causse, from 1840 to 1854. Father Perrecton and Father Martin Hobbs, temporarily in 1851 and 1852. Father J. N. Brogard, from 1854 to 1857. Father M. W. Gibson, from 1857 to 1861. Father Peter J. Voissen, temporarily in 1860. Father G. H. Brennan, temporarily in 1861. Father W. C. Verhoef, from 1861 to 1865. Father T. M. Albers, from 1865 to 1867. Fathers Nuits and Vivaldi, temporarily in 1867 and 1868. Father Thomas Hodnett, from 1868 to 1871. Father Joseph Kleiber, from 1871 to 1873. Father J. A. Mueller, tern-

The affiliated Catholic societies are the Catholic Knights, the Mu¬ tual Benevolent Society, and the Married Ladies' and Young Ladies' Societies.

ing), 35X56, with a lofty spire. The corner-stone was laid October 3. A brick parsonage close by the church had been erected in 1845. The cost of church and parsonage was $11,000.

The Congregational Church. This society was organized as the first Presbyterian Church of Potosi, December 20, 1840, by Rev. Sol¬ omon Chaffee. Dr. Gallagher preached occasionally in 1840-41. He wrote to his friends in the past that he was preaching in a theater in a place called Snake Hollow ; boarding with a Universalist, and his horse was stabled in a ten-pin alley. The first resident minister was Rev. W. E. Boardman, who came in July, 1842, and left in 1844. Rev. Calvin Walker came in October, 1844, and staid two years. Rev. H. Freeman followed him, remaining two years. Rev. Edward Morris came in October, I860, and staid six years, and was followed by Rev. E. M. Lewis, previously a Baptist preacher, who remained five years. Rev. Nicholas Mayne, a convert from the M. E. Church, preached from 1861 to 1871. Rev. James F. Mitchell preached from September, 1872, to August, 1874, when he was succeeded by Rev. D. W. Gilmore in 1875, for four and a half years and Rev. John Willan tor two years, Rev. E. M. Corey for four years, and these were followed by Rev. W. A. Griffith and Rev. Aaron Breeze, who came in 1896 and still remains.

The first regular election was held under a dispensation November 15, 1844, and the following officers were elected: G. W. Bicknell, W. M.j'H. R. Colter, S. W.; George Medary, J. W.; Thomas Palliser, Treas.; Wm. H. Hood, Sec.; S. E. Lewis, S. D.; D. N. Hull, J. D.; J. H. Barnett, Tiler. These officers, although they entered upon the discharge of their duties December 19, 1844, were not installed until January 24, 1845, after the charter had been received. At the close of 1845 the lodge had thirty members. Among them were Samuel Downs, John Penman, Samuel Alex, James Prideaux, Joseph Woolley, Ezra Gleason, Joseph Petty, Cyrus K Lord, Charles Hewitt, Thomas Taylor, Wm. McDaniel, James F. Chapman, Lewis Reynolds, B. F. Forbes and Al¬ exander Polkin horn.

Concord Camp, No. 2726, M. W. of A. - This camp was organized February 6, 1895, with the following officers : E. C. Thomas, V. C.; W. H. Thomas, W. Adviser; Horace Hymer, Banker; T. H. Runkel, Clerk ; Frank Ott, Watchman ; F. H. Grimm, Sentry ; T. B. Ennor, Physician. The present officers are : Fred Grimm, V. C.; j. P. Gibson, W. A.; W. H. Thomas, Clerk; E. C. Thomas, Banker; John R. Camp¬ bell, Escort ; T. B. Ennor, Physician ; Louis Marcue, Watchman ; W. Skaife, Sentry; E. A. Berge, Manager three years.

The Potosi Brewery. - This institution employs more men and brings more money into the place than any other one business institu¬ tion. It'is situated near the site of old VanBuren, about three-fourths of a mile from the railroad station. It is a two-story stone building, which cost $10,000. It was built in 1855 by Gabriel Hail, and oper¬ ated by him until his death and afterward by his heirs. Adam Schu¬ macher is now the proprietor, and carries on the business.

Potosi Flour Mill. - This was established in 1879 by Chris Peacock and G. Y. Bownas. It had four runs of stones and a titty horse-power engine, and cost $5,000. With the decline of wheat culture in the county the operation of the mill was discontinued. On the night of May 5, 1895, the building, which was then in use as a furniture warehouse, was destroyed by fire.

Among the early settlers of Potosi Major John R. Coons was prominent. He was born in Kentpcky and in 1808, while a boy he came to St. Louis, which was then a small French village. In 1827 he came as a clerk to Gratiot's Grove in Lafayette County. He took part in the Black Hawk War. In 1836 he came to Potosi, or rather Lafayette. Here he put up the first frame store building in the place, shipping the material from Cincinnati by river. This pioneer building is, or was a few years ago, a stable on the farm of Nicholas Bonn. His prosperous career as a merchant in Lafayette was cut short by the panic of 1837, when a house in Galena with which he was con- nected, failed, dragging him down with it. He never recovered from the disaster, but financial disaster could not obscure his good quali¬ ties, and he lived and died in Potosi with the esteem of all its inhab¬ itants.

Dutch Hollow

In 1836 Henry Kreizer and Godfrey Kreizer settled there, Henry being a butcher and furnishing beef to the miners. The old Kreizer cabin' still stands and is occupied by Godfrey's grandson. Opposite this across the ravine was the cabin of Peter Ott, partly a dug-out. It was used as a "grocery" and dance-hall. Another early settler was Bernard Markus, a noted musician. Peter Zens, Markus's brother-inlaw, was another early settler, both living to a great age. David Gillilan was another old settler who came in 1842.

In 1845 a Catholic Society was organized in the Hollow by Father Andrew Tusch. In 1846 the society built a brick church which they occupied for thirty years. Rev. Nicholas Thiele came as pastor in 1851. In lb76 the building of a large brick church was begun, and it was dedicated in 1877. It is a magnificent church, worthy of a city of considerable size, and it cost $25,000. It* is 48X110 with a spire 135 feet high.

British Hollow

Terrence Coyle was the first settler, having built a cabin and oc¬ cupied it with his family before the spring of 1832. When the county was organized the Hollow was put in a precinct distinct from Potosi and named Pleasant Valley (see map on page 135). George Ballantine, afterward a prominent citizen of Patch Grove, was a miner there in 1840. William Webb came there in 1842 and lived there until his death in 1889, aged 76. W. H. Hunt came there in 1844 and kept a store many years, and then removed to Potosi. He died in Colorado in 1887. William Vance opened a hotel there in 1841. JohnS. Sumner came there in 1843. Thomas Davies came there in 1844 and still lives there. At one time there were several stores in the place and much business was transacted, but it has suffered even more decline than Potosi, and now it has only one store, kept by P. J. Blindert, succes¬ sor of Ivey & Webb, in the post-office as well as the store. There are three saloons in the place.

About 1850 a brewery was started in British Hollow by Joseph Udelhoven. In 1858 he sold it to William Mohrenberg, who afterward associated Samuel Stephens with him in the bpsiness. It did not pay and was discontinued about fifteen years ago.

It is of frequent occurrence in a declining town that buildings no longer profitably used are insured and then there is a mysterious fire. It speaks well for the honesty of the citizens of Potosi, British Hollow, and Rockville that their houses no longer in demand by a declining population have not thus disappeared from the scene. The most se¬ rious fire on record in British occurred February 11, 1876, when the saloons of Joseph Pugh and James Thomas and a vacant building were burned.

The settlement has a Methodist Episcopal church, a frame building 25X30, built in 1859 at a cost of $600. It is in the Georgetown cir¬ cuit and is supplied by the ministers of that place.

The settlement has done well in educational matters. In 1868 the citizens built a stone school-house 27X36 at a cost of $1,200. A wing 21X31 was built* in 1875 at a cost of $1,200, for the use of a primary department. This school has always stood high in efficiency. It is at present conducted by Prof. Frank Cenfield and Miss Matie Seaton.

This little village is three and a half miles from Potosi on the Lan¬ caster road. The first settler was A. W. Emery in 1832, Samuel Druen in 1832 or 1833, D. C. Phillips, the discoverer of the f< Phillips Range," in 1844; Joel Stephens, Birch, and Chester in 1845; Thomas Carthew, Edward Ivey, Andrew Jackson, Hudson Smith, James Jackson, the Allisons, Bradley, and some others in 1847. It was at one time a lively mining town, but it is now a quiet hamlet with one store, three saloons, and ten or twelve dwellings. The original English settlers in the vicinity have been largely replaced by Germans. The post-office is kept by Thomas Carthew, successor to John Carthew in the store as well as the office. The place has a frame school-house 26 by 36, two stories, intended for two departments, built in 1872. Only one department is now carried on. Miss Lizzie Marcue is the teacher.

The M. E. church was built in 1845 and belonged in the George¬ town circuit. Services were long ago discontinued and the little church stands open and dilapidated by the roadside.

In 1850 a Presbyterian church society was organized composed of both Americans, English and Germans, but in a few years the Ameri¬ cans and English withdrew and joined the church at Potosi, while the Germans organized a new society. It has a small brick church build, ing which cost $1,000. The following pastors have resided here: Revs. John Buelly, J. Liesfeldt, J. Burk, A. C. Starck, W. R. Mundhencke. It is now supplied with ministers resident at Platteville. The trustees are Henry Kuester, Chris. Vespermann, and Jacob Kundart.

St. Andrew's Catholic Benevolent Society was organized February 28, 1875, with the following officers: Wm. Mechler, president ; Anton Zeller, vice president; Theo. Mikesch, secretary; John P. Friesen, treasurer; W. Schmitz, marshal; C. Simon, assistant marshal.