JACKSON COUNTY

PHYSICAL FEATURES

This county is in the western part of the State, in the second tier of counties from the Mississippi River, and about the center of that portion bounded by the same stream.

The surface presents great diversity being divided by numerous ridges into high and low lands. The soil in the central and eastern portion is a sandy loam, interspersed with numerous swamps adapted to hay growing, where also are found extensive cranberry marshes. The soil of Trempealeau Valley is especially rich and the home of many of the wealthiest farmers in the county.

The entire region is abundantly supplied with water, while numerous streams furnish complete drainage; the Black River and its tributaries draining the eastern and southern parts, Trempealeau and its affluents the western and northern districts; Black, Trempealeau, Beaver and Beef rivers each having its course through the valley lands and each separated from its neighbor by a series of ridges, forming divides, four in number, which are tillable only to a certain extent. The county is about equally divided into land susceptible of the usual cultivation, that adapted to hay growing and cranberry culture, and a portion that is a sand bed.

The first is productive of all the cereals of the latitude, especially wheat, with quantities of rye, oats, barley, hops and potatoes. Grasses grow luxuriantly, while clover, wild and tame hay return large crops. Apple, peach and pear do not flourish in this region, but small fruits and vegetables grow in abundance. In later years the finer breeds of horses, cattle and hogs, have been introduced into the county, and considerable interest has arisen in that direction. All kinds of game is found, and wolves are occasionally captured, whereby sheep-folds are less liable to be visited by these mutton-loving animals, and premiums are secured for the scalps of the carniverous beasts.

Railroad facilities are good, there being the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, completed in 1869, which enters the county on the third township west of the southeast corner and departs from the second east of the northwest corner, crossing the county diagonally, with a branch line completed to Neillsville, in Clark County, during July, 1881, and the Green Bay & Minnesota, finished in 1874. It enters centrally on the east, and describing a curve two miles to the north, enters the Trempealeau Valley; passing thence southwest it departs at a central point on the western limit. The junction of the two roads is at Merrillan.

The only one of the Lower Silurian formations occurring in Jackson County is the Potsdam sandstone, which forms the basement rock of the southern portion, the Archaean rocks rising to the surface in the northern portion, and the bed of Black River. The peculiar irregularities of the line of junction between the two formation, the extension southward along the stream valleys of long strips of crystalline rocks, the corresponding northward extension, along tlie divides of the sandstone and the difficulties met with in tracing the boundary are very apparent. The larger portion of the sandstone area in eastern Jackson County is within the region of heavy timber, chiefly pine. In the western part small pines mingle with the small oaks that are characteristic of nearly all of central Wisconsin, the growth of timber in nearly all of these portions being scant and small and associated with a loose sandy soil. On the Northern part of the divide between Yellow and Black rivers, however, the sandstone is deeply buried beneath clay drift, as a result of which excellent clay soils, and a heavy growth of hard wood timber are to be found. Usually the sandstone of Jackson County is but a thin covering upon the crystalline rocks, which appear in all of the deeper stream valleys. High bluffs of the sandstone, however, occur, carrying its thickness up in to the hundreds of feet, and bearing witness to the great thickness which once must have existed. Along Black River, from Neillsville to Black River Falls, sandstone is quite frequently exposed in or near the banks of the river, the bed of which is on the crystalline rocks. On the southwest quarter of Section 3, Township 24, Range 2 west, west of the river, is a sandstone outlier 175 feet high, and about one-third of a mile in length, the upper portions of which are perpendicular ledges of bare rock. The sandstone is heavily bedded, indurated, coarse grained and light colored. From the summit of the bluff a number of other similar outliers can be seen, dotting the country to the west and south and one or two to the north. At Black River Falls, the crystalline rocks are largely exposed, the river passing through a gorge in the gneiss and granite. The ground rises rapidly from the river on both sides, especially the western, and on both sides the granite and gneiss are overlaid by sandstone. At the top of the hill on which the High School building stands, wells pass through eighty feet of sand and gravel into sandstone. Opposite Ledyard's old mill in the bend of the river below the village, twenty-five feet of sandstone overlie the gneiss. The sandstone here is the usually coarse crumbly rock and includes layers of greenish and reddish shale, the lowest layer being a fine conglomerate eight inches in thickness. 

Near the railway depot on the west side of the river is a quarry in the sandstone layers belonging just above those exposed at the mill. The quarry face is fifteen feet high and traversed by strong vertical joints. The stone is heavily bedded, much indurated, of a light color, and composed of alternating very coarse and finer grained layers, all being composed of rolled grains of glassy quartz. Some of the layers show cross-lamination. About a mile southeast of the depot is a very bold sandstone outlier, rising about 250 feet above its base. In the lower slopes the sandstone is mostly concealed. Above is a perpendicular, jagged crest, over 100 feet high, the prevailing rock, on which is a white to buffcolored, fine grained, firm sandstone, composed of subangular to rounded quartz grains, and containing near the top numerous iron stained impressions of obolella polita, but no shells.

About one mile west of Black River Falls, on the road westward to the Trempealeau Valley, is an exposure of thin bedded, coarse, brownish, crumbling sandstone, with numerous white fragments of shells, which, in some of the layers, make up most of the rocks. The outcrop appears to be 130 to 150 feet below the obolella sandstone of the bluff near the depot. In the various exposures in the vicinity of Black River Falls we have a total thickness of sandstone of about 350 feet, with two fossil horizons made up, one 200 and the other 300 feet above the gneiss base upon which the pile rests, and both showing obolella polita.

On the west side of Trempealeau Valley, in Jackson County, is a peculiar isolated bluff, known as " Silver Bluff." At the east end the bluff is 165 feet high, the lower slopes being covered with a talus from the ledges above. Near the summit is exposed a horizontally and very plainly bedded, hard, white quartzite which rings like steel when struck with the hammer. The layers are alternately thin and thick, and brownish weathered, and include interstratified layers of variable sandstone. The quartzite shows distinctly lines of lamination, and has a very plain granular texture, being composed of grains of vitreous quartz which appear as if fused together, and is quite translucent. Following the bluff along the brow of its southwest face, the quartzite layers are seen to continue for about a third of a mile, when a sudden rise in the bluff of eighty feet exposes thin bedded, firm, dark reddish brown, highly ferruginous sandstone, of a medium grain, and composed of rounded grains of glassy quartz, which are stained, both externally and internally, by iron oxide. On the north flank of the hill, at the same elevation as the quartzite on the opposite side, an eight-inch layer of hard white quartzite is seen between heavy beds of white or variable sandstone.

INDIAN OCCUPATION

The larger portion of Jackson County was originally the home of the Winnebagoes. Like most other Indians, but little is known of their origin and history. They are supposed to have come from somewhere on the Pacific coast, and during their progress eastward, encountered hostile tribes, with whom they engaged in war until their numbers were reduced to less than 2,000. In 1839, they were visited by Nicollet, on the shores of Green Bay. They afterward occupied the country about Winnebago Lake, the Wisconsin and Black rivers. In 1832, a small portion of them participated in the Black Hawk war. In 1848, they were removed to Minnesota, from Iowa, but afterward be came possessed of a reservation in Blue Earth County, Minn., south of Mankato. They were well satisfied there, and made considerable improvement, but the massacre of the whites, in 1862, by the Sioux, put a veto upon their progress. About this time, the antipathy and indignation of the whites against all Indians, caused the Government to repossess itself of lands, and remove them to Crow Creek, in Dakota.

In 1872, a memorial was presented to the Wisconsin Legislature, asking for the removal of Indians remaining in Wisconsin to their reservation. Congress made two appropriations, aggregating $86,000, for that purpose, and the largest proportion were removed in 1874. About 200 still remain in Jackson County, living on East Fork and Morrison's Creek. Some are engaged in agricultural pursuits, while others secure a precarious existence by the sale of berries, fish, etc. The number, however, is diminishing annually, and within the next quarter of a century it is believed the race will become extinct.

SETTLEMENT

The earliest accounts of settlements on Black River date back beyond the memory of the proverbial oldest inhabitant, and are shrouded in obscurity. Legendary lore asserts, that as early as 1818, an expedition was fitted out at Prairie du Chien, under the direction of a French trader named Rolette, and after many adventures by flood and field, succeeded in reaching the present site of Black River Falls. At that time the territory bordering on, and contiguous to Black River belonged to the Indians, who held title until 1838, when the same was ceded away. The Winnebagoes claimed the land from the east fork of Black River went (west?) to the Wisconsin River and Beef Slough, on the Mississippi; thence south to the mouth of the Wisconsin River. The Menomonees were located on the east side of the last named river, and the Chippewas occupied a vast extent of country north of the Winnebagoes and east of the Mississippi.

Upon the arrival of Rolette at the Falls, he erected a small saw-mill on Town Creek, to the rear of Squire's restaurant, but before it was fairly in operation the Winnebagoes burned the structure, and drove the lumbermen off down the river. From this date there was no attempt made to effect a settlement at the Falls for a period of twenty-one years. In the early Summer of 1839, an expedition was organized at Prairie du Chien for the permanent settlement and improvement of the water-power at Black River Falls. The company, which consisted of Jacob Spaulding, Isaac Van Austin, Hiram Yeatman, Joseph Stickney, Alonzo Stickney, Robert Wood, Andrew Wood, Robert Sawyer, Patrick Linn, Richard Woleben, Jeremiah D. Spaulding, John McGarom, Daniel McLain, John P. Knight, Levi Tylson, Joel Lemon and John Angle Miller—seventeen in all—arrived at the Falls, August 27, of that year, and commenced the building of a sawmill, which was completed and began operations the succeeding Winter.

Jacob Spaulding and the Woods were partners, the remainder who came with them being employes, and many with Mr. Spaulding continued in the country. Mr. Van Austin subsequently returned to Trempealeau Prairie, west of the Falls; the Stickneys to a point within a brief journey to the Falls; Yeatman to Lewis Valley; Sawyer to Chippewa River, where he shot a man and was imprisoned, and Lemon to Lytle's, where he was killed, in 1852, in attempting to snub a raft.

Prior to the building of the mill, which stood on Town Creek, very near the point where the bridge now spans it, the company began the erection of, and in a short time completed, a double log cabin, located on the south bank of Town Creek, north and a little east of the present site of the Freeman House, on Water street.

Late in the Fall of 1839, James O'Neill, with his brother and a limited number of assistants, came on to the river from Prairie du Chien and located for the Winter in the bottoms of what is now known as Robinson's Creek, where he was engaged in getting out timber. About this time, Jacob Spaulding, accompanied by Andrew Wood, Joseph Stickney and Hiram Yeatman, departed in a canoe for Prairie du Chien, where Stickney and Yeatman disembarked. Wood and Spaulding, however, continuing to Warsaw, Ill., where they purchased the necessaiy irons and machinery for the mill at the Falls. Wood visited Quincy, where he remained during the Winter; but Spaulding returned to Prairie du Chien by steamer, thence hastened to Black River for the keel boat upon which he made his first journey hither, to convey the supplies he had in charge; but the Indians had stolen the craft, which was recaptured near Decorah's village, a crew obtained and a start made for the supplies. These were obtained, and a start made for home; but upon reaching Winnesheik, the boat was frozen in, and Spaulding made his way to the Falls on foot. Here he rigged up what were called "moose sleds," in those days, calculated for a single ox, and returned to Winnesheik, where, procuring the cargo fast in the ice, he once more started for the Falls, reaching there in due time without serious delay. Shortly after his return, Menomonee, with a party of forty bucks, arrived at the Falls, for the express purpose of forcing the whites to yield their claims and depart. They remained quiescent, as it were, for a few days, living off the whites, but finally peremptorily demanded that Spaulding and his comrades should vacate their claims and leave. The latter, however, had made up his mind to stay, and managing to get the Indians in one part of the double log-cabin, by strategy, armed his companions and ordered Menomonee with his band to evacuate, which he did without delay, and was afterward a firm friend of his whilom foe.

About the last of February, 1840, the supplies ran out, and Robert Wood, accompanied by the " hands," sought the lower country, leaving Spaulding alone in the wilderness. He was determined that his claim should not be abandoned, and, with his rifle, supplied himself with what meat was necessary to sustain life, dieting upon upon game, until the 21st of March. The country was overrun with elk and deer, the creeks were dammed by beavers from source to mouth, and no difficulty was experienced by the self-imposed hermit, in procuring that which he sought. The river opened in March and the Woods brothers returned with a party of eight men, including William Paulley, who shot Moses Clark some years after, at Neillsville. Soon after the arrival of this assistance, the mill on Town Creek resumed operations, and the Woods, concluding to dispense with the services of Spaulding, ejected him from possession and interest in the venture. The latter, however, proceeded to Prairie du Chien, where he procured legal process, and, returning with the Sheriff of Crawford County, was again placed in possession as joint tenant.

Before the opening of Spring, James O'Neill moved to the mouth of Perry Creek, where he got out the frame of a mill, and, in the Summer, Horatio Curtis, with Jonathan Nichols, arrived in the country and located at the mouth of what has since been known as " Nichols Creek,'' twelve miles below the Falls. About this time, Robert Douglas, William and Thomas Douglas came into the county. Robert and Thomas located a farm in the present town of Melrose and commenced putting in a crop—the first farm opened, and the first crop raised in Jackson County. The property is still owned and occupied by Robert Douglas, Thomas residing at Danville, Wis., and William near Walnut Bend, Ark.

The next year, Andrew Sheppard, with John Valentine, arrived and commenced lumbering operations below the Falls, and in the Fall Spaulding and the Woods raised the frame of their second and larger mill on the present site of the saw-mill of D. J. Spaulding, which was not operated, however, until the following Spring, by which time it became clearly apparent that Spaulding and the Woods could not dwell together in unity, and the former purchased the latter's interest in the business for 400,000 feet of sawed lumber, payable in three installments, at Quincy, Spaulding assuming the firm debts, which amounted to about $5,000. The Woods then left the country, and were no more heard of, except in connection with subsequent attempts to regain the property thus transferred.

The years 1810-11 closed upon the settlers without the occurrence of noteworthy incidents beyond those happening in a new country, excepting the arrival of Jacob Spaulding's family, which consisted of a wife and Dudley J. Spaulding, his son. She was, presumably, the first white woman to settle permanently in Jackson County, and her daughter, Mary J. Spaulding, who was born the same season, was claimed as the first birth; but this is an error. She still lives, the wife of S. P. Jones, one of the prominent merchants of Black River Falls. The advent of settlers into this almost undiscovered land, as elsewhere in northern Wisconsin, was not frequent in those early days, and improvements kept pace with the arrivals. But the high price of pine lumber became an inducement in time, and to this, more than the excellent farming lands in the eastern and western portions of the county, is the building up of the county to be attributed.

The first birth is claimed for the wife of William Douglas, who accompanied her husband on a raft down Black River. When they reached Snake Bend, she was taken ashore and made as comfortable as the circumstances would admit, when the child was born, its advent being witnessed and the mother congratulated by a number of Mormon women who came up the river at the critical moment, and, landing, contributed their services to the occasion. The patient and child were removed without delay to the husband's home, near North Bend; but death, with its skeleton finger, touched the new dispensation ere it reached its father's house, which became a house of mourning. This was, doubtless the first death in the county, though it has been heretofore supposed that the decease of Harrison Gillette, who resided up the river from the Falls, in the Winter of 1846-47, was the first.

Early in the Spring of this year (1841), these identical Mormons from Nauvoo, under the charge of Elders White, Curts and Miller, came to the river to obtain lumber for their temple, and a claim of Jacob Spaulding was unceremoniously jumped by them. Upon being informed of the summary procedure, Spaulding secured a force of twenty men and came up with the interlopers after they had felled not less than 300 trees. Upon interrogating the Elder as to his rights on the premises, the latter responded that he would cut when and where he pleased. Spaulding replied with equal emphasis, and marshaling his forces, gave the Mormons ten minutes to vacate their occupation. They loaded up their plunder and marched off, heading down stream, with doubts as to the Lord's supremacy that high up Black River. When this was brought to the knowledge of the Mormons who were located on Nichols Creek, and had purchased the interest of Horatio Curtis in the mill there, they became exceedingly wroth, and sent a messenger to Nauvoo for men and guns. Spaulding hearing of this, communicated with the commander at Fort Crawford in person, and asked for assistance in case of trouble with the Mormons. He was assured of aid in the anticipated emergency, and the Mormons hearing of this, suspended preparations for war, and engaged in the more remunerative pursuits of peace. The following Spring, Spaulding sold them the Falls property for $20,000, payable mostly in lumber. It consisted at that time of the little mill on Town Creek, the cabin first built, a large mill, built, but not furnished, a small frame boarding house, one other log cabin which stood on the corner of Main and Front streets, and a blacksmith shop.

These " Latter Day Saints" were very devout it is said in all the outward observances of their peculiar religion, and had preaching every Sabbath, at which all the sect and many strangers were in attendance. Upon one occasion, Paul Knight, a well-known Gentile millwright, considerably intoxicated, strayed into the church at tlie exact moment when Elder Lyman White promulgated as his ultimatum that he "would rather go to hell willingly, than be forced into heaven." This unexpected conclusion aroused the inebriated Paul, who raised himself from the bench on which he was sitting, and shouting "Bully for you by G—d," fell prone upon the floor, a frightful example of the effect of new and original theological ideas suddenly developed in men of Knight's sensitive nature and impulsive temperament.

In 1844, when the death of Joe Smith reached the Falls, the Mormons re-transferred the property to Spaulding, and returned to Nauvoo to aid their brethren in avenging the death of the Prophet.

Among the arrivals in 1841, were: Thomas Hall and Peter Hall, brothers, from Canada, and commenced lumbering about six miles north of the Falls, where they built a mill on what has since been known as Hall's Creek, the following year. Francis M. Garrett came in 1842, as also did Samuel Wright, Benjamin Wright, Augustus Harrington, at present a resident of Chicago, where he is employed as counsel for the Northwestern road, William K. Levis, Sylvester Abbey, George R. Gillenger, the first carpenter, E. L. Brockway, and some others. Few engaged in agricultural pursuits, those who came devoting their time, capital and skill in lumbering. Quite a number of mills had been erected by Douglas, Levis and others, and the Mormons while in possession of the Falls finished up the larger saw-mill this year, and in 1843 or 1844, erected a commodious warehouse, besides some half a dozen dwellings, on the property. The wants of the people were few, the base of supplies at Prairie du Chien, 160 miles distant, and these wants, according to an old account book of a trader at the Falls in 1842-3, largely made up of whisky and tobacco. There is a legend that the cargo of a keel-boat in those days would consist of ten barrels of flour, five of pork, and twenty-five of whisky. All used the latter as a beverage, and if there were exceptions, they were so few that the rule still held good. Flour or pork might give out without causing alarm, but let the whisky jug fail to "gin down," and the camp was in an uproar, subdued only by a fresh supply.

During 1843-4, emigration to the lumber district was by no means numerous; Silas A. Wilcox arrived with the Mormons. Hamilton McCullom came in the former year, and Joseph Clancy, John Law, who came from Maine, and was accounted the most expert oxdriver on the river, commanding the highest wages of any man in this vicinity ; Andrew Grover, who served as a lumberman, as also as a pettifogger in justice's courts; John Monson, an honest, genial, quick-witted Irishman, who settled on what has since been known as "Monson's Creek," eight miles below the Falls, and doubtless others whose names, nativity and characteristics have not been preserved.

At the close of the year 1844, there were eight sawmills in operation on the river, though all were not within the present limits of Jackson County. But one of these was supplied with other than an up-and-down saw, the propelling power being the old-fashioned flutter-wheel, by which the manufacture of logs into lumber was a question of time and patience.

The Winter, Spring and Summer of 1845, came and went without any particular change or incident worthy of mention occurring to any of the settlers in Jackson County as at present described. During the Summer, Levi S. Avery, among the first carpenters to locate in the village arrived; the same season, Hon. William T. Price, who has labored so devotedly in behalf of his adopted home, and accomplished so much in that connection, anchored here. Like all new comers, he engaged in lumbering, and to a greater or less extent has been engaged in extensive operations of that character. Aside from this, he has been a successful lawyer, judge, legislator, merchant and operator, and is known as a man of the most undaunted nerve, as also the most unimpeachable character and integrity. The Fall of this year, C. R. Johnson came up Black River to Douglas's Mills, in the employ of John S. Lockwood, of Prairie du Chien, but removed to the Falls the following Spring, when he engaged as a hand to Spaulding. He is today a prominent lawyer, having passed through the various gradations of laborer, school teacher, student, soldier and advocate. Among those who came in during 1845, in addition to the above, were: Amos Elliott, Samuel Papple, Michael C. and James Conlon, Moses Clark, Zedekiah Root, Aaron Work, Joseph Gillinger, Ward and James Chandler, Abraham Mericle, L. T. Judd, Henry Atkinson. John O'Connell, James, William and Lemuel Hall, and possibly some few others.

Life in those days is represented as having been decidedly exciting, as also eccentric. Inebriety was the rule, sobriety the exception. The man wlio refused to drink was an enemy of the human family, and room made for him as for a leper. Card playing supplemented this vice, and large sums of money were nightly lost on combinations made up of " bowers " and " high low jack." Those who are familiar with that condition of affairs in new countries will hardly reconcile the present absence of these agencies in Black River Falls with their frequency forty years ago.

In 1846, the lumber commerce of Black River in Jackson County was estimated at from four to six millions of feet, part of which was rafted through Gibbs's chute, opened this season. At that time, the white women about the Falls were limited to Mrs. Jacob Spaulding, Mrs. Hiram Yeatman, Mrs. Joseph Stickney, Mrs. Joseph Clancy and Mrs. Henry Elmer, or " Barbara," as she was more familiarly known in those days.

Mrs. Stickney, nee Van Ostrand, was married this year at Prairie du Chien, where she resided, Mr. Stickney going thither to secure a wife. His was the first marriage of a permanent resident of the county. In the Fall of 1846, the first marriage of residents of Jackson County occurred at the house of a man named Browning on the East Fork. William Levis was one of the contracting parties, and R. R. Wood, a Justice of the Peace, witnessed the contract, but the name of the happy bride can not be recalled. It might be stated in this connection that the marriage of James O'Neill and Isaac S. Mason to the Misses Douglas, on March 7, 1847, at North Bend, is claimed as having been the pioneer matrimonial ventures in the county. But authorities contend that Levis anticipated their action by several months, and thus obtained precedence.

At this time, the improvements at the Falls consisted of a frame boarding-house, 18 x 26, with a tolerable high roof, under which, upon a double loose floor there generally slept of a night from thirty to forty men, mostly "spoon-fashion." Mrs. Elmer, or "Barbara," did the cooking, and her bill of fare was made up of bread and fried pork for breakfast and supper, with bread and pork boiled for dinner. There was also a double log house where Hendrick's barber shop now is, a single log house at the corner of Main and Water streets, a blacksmith shop at the south end of the bridge over Town Creek, kept by one West, whose wife was known to the public, in the expressive vernacular of the times, as " Short and dirty," a frame barn where Sawyer's clothing store now is, and a double log house on property now occupied by the Agricultural Society for exhibition purposes. At North Bend there was the Douglas mill, a boarding-house and small clearing attached. Robert and Thomas Douglas resided near the present village of Melrose, where they had improvised some limited improvements. At other points where mills had been built, there was some evidence of settlement and improvements, but they were primitive. This year the 4th of July was first celebrated at the Falls, the ceremonies occurring on the hill to the west of the village. A procession was formed early in the day, and headed by a wheelbarrow on which was laden a ten-gallon keg of " Black-strap," being a composition of whisky, syrup and water, headed for the grove, where, after preliminary proceedings, a man named Burton read the Declaration and Andrew Gruver orated. At the conclusion of these formalities, the keg became an objective point for the celebrants, nearly all of whom, according to the chronicler of the event, became as " drunk as pipers."

From this it will be apparent that the observations above made in regard to the habit of drinking throughout this region in those days was not exaggerated. It was universal. In the pineries, in the settlements, on the hustings, at weddings, births and funerals, as also in the courts of common law and chancery, toddy was an inseparable concomitant. Justice Jacob Spaulding held court in his store, the curule chair being the counter, upon which he sat, listening to the impassioned eloquence of Andrew Gruver and H. McCullom, who were alone in the field as lawyers, and accustomed to hurl legal and rhetorical thunderbolts at the court, between drinks. The latter were frequent and always sweetened, a decanter of liquor invariably standing on a barrel head within reach of his honor, counsel and jury, alongside of which brown sugar and tin spoons were ranged invitingly.

Late this season, the Shanghai House, on the present site of the Freeman House, was completed and occupied. It was built by Jacob Spaulding, and was the most prominent house on the river, having a frontage of sixty feet on Water street, two stories high, finished outside and in with dressed lumber, and regarded as a masterpiece of design and finish. Its distinguished name was not affixed to it by the proprietor, but was affixed by others some time after the completion, and on the principle that a man who was better dressed than his neighbors would have been designated as a "Shanghai." After being completed, the hotel was opened by Isaac Van Nostrand, who came to the Falls this year with his wife and two daughters. The opening was a grand affair and was attended by people who came from a distance of one hundred miles to be present. Dancing was kept up for fifty hours, and the quantities of the "Pike" brand of whisky consumed at the bar appeared only to aggravate the intense desire of every individual to enjoy a good time generally, and they did it.

During this season, Parson Snow and wife wandered into the county, and located a claim on Snow's Creek, embracing what was afterward known as the farm of Captain Kitchum. Snow instituted the first religious meetings on the river, which attracted considerable attention. He preached what he claimed was Baptist theology, and despised whisky as a beverage, although it is not of record that he ever declined any for the stomach's sake. Some years afterward, he removed to Iowa, where it is reported he was convicted and sent to the penitentiary for horse-stealing.

Among others who came in during 1846, was Isaac S. Mason, who became part owner of the Perry Creek mill property; Ebenezer Dickey, Joseph Clancy and wife, Richard Hulett, the Perry brothers, John Adams, who had first made his appearance in 1843, but went elsewhere, whence he returned, George Nelson and family, Eliphalet Hunt, who made the first settlement in Trempealeau valley, where he took up land upon which the present site of Alma Center has since been established, W. H. Marshall, etc.

The year 1847 is remembered for the sudden, unexpected and remarkably unprecedented rise of the Black River. It was the highest ever known to settlers, being twenty-two feet above low-water mark. The large saw mill of Spaulding's at the Falls was carried away, and the wreck floated off in pieces with the logs intended for Summer use. The Falls was thus left without a mill, but immediate preparations were made to erect a successor on the site of the ruins, which was completed in 1848 by Thomas Patterson, in early times well known as a member of the Lower Falls mill of Patterson & Brockway.

This year the first school enterprise aud efforts to procure religious services at the Falls were undertaken. Mr. Spaulding fitted up a room in an addition to the old boarding house, which was opened by C. R. Johnson with fourteen pupils, sent by Jacob Spaulding, Hiram Yeatman, the Wilsons, Henry Elmer, and Isaac Van Nostrand, respectively. The religious interests of the place were not sought to be conserved until the following Summer, when the Rev. R. R. Woods was stationed at the Falls, who remained in the vicinity for years, though not infrequently he was obliged to send to the bar-room adjoining the Shanghai House dining room, in which services were held, for some one to start the tune of the morning hymn. Upon the breaking out of the Mexican war, school sessions svere discontinued, Mr. Johnson, the teacher, abandoning the ferule for the musket, and enlisting as a soldier at Galena, in Capt. Holden's Company B, Twelfth United States Infantry, the only recruit obtained in Jackson County.

During this year the first Government surveys of the Black River country were commenced, the contract being for the "running out of township lines." In 1849, the lands about the Falls came into market, and Andrew Wood took out a pre-emption, with which he secured a United States patent for the quarter section of land covering the water-power and all the improvements at the Falls. He claimed that Spaulding had failed to pay him and his brother for the property, as agreed, and he adopted this summary course of procedure to recover what he was justly entitled to. When Spaulding heard of the pre-emption and entry thus made, he proceeded to Milwaukee, and caused the arrest of Wood for perjury. The latter was acquitted, however, when suits and counter suits were instituted by both, which lasted many years, but in 1860, the assignees of Wood compromised their claims with Spaulding, by which the latter secured all his improvements and the larger share of the water power, besides a fair moiety of the land, the title to which had occasioned almost endless litigation. The assignees had their share at once replatted, and for the first time in the history of the village a good paper title could be had for property therein. Previous to that, Spaulding's bonds for deeds were all that could be had, and they were not considered a sufficient guarantee to warrant the expenditure of much money, consequently improvements in the village, which languished along without much increase in wealth and population until within the past fifteen or twenty years.

During 1848 and 1849, the village received but few additions to its population, nor was the county more fortunate. At the beginning of 1850, the total number of inhabitants is said to not have exceeded 150, of a permanent character. These were principally as follows: E. K. Golf, Luther Nelson, Andrew Meek and family, David Robinson, Mahlou and William Levis, James Buchanan, his niece. Miss Julia Campbell, now Mrs. W. T. Price: Buchanan opened the first store after Spaulding's; Sylvester Abbey, James McLaughlin, B. F. Johnson, Albert Tuttle, Charles and Darwin Whipple, Dr. Gibson, George Cottrill, James Hall, Parker Adams (the first lawyer), Peter Trudell, etc., all of whom came between 1847 and 1850. In addition to these, there were those who have been mentioned as having become residents at an earlier day.

The village improvements were chiefly confined to Water and the eastern end of Main streets, those in the County being limited to mills and accommodations for lumbermen; of these there were Douglas's mill, the mills of Nichols, Sheppard & Valentine, James Perry, Brockway & Patterson, Spaulding's, T. & P. Hall's, Hambleton's, put up by John Adams in 1846, and maybe one or two others that have been forgotten.

In 1850, a mail route was established from Prairie du Chieu to Stillwater, and a post-office was established at the Falls, with W. W. Bennett as Postmaster. It was kept in the residence afterward occupied by Albert Tuttle, which was the first dwelling house in the village ornamented with a coat of paint. United States postage on a letter was twenty-five cents, newspapers being carried for somewhat less. The previous year a State road had been surveyed from Prairie du Chieu to Willow River (now Hudson), aud Jacob Spaulding, Hiram Knowlton and James Fisher appointed commissioners. During the latter part of that Summer they began their work, which was concluded, in October, to the Falls. At the time of their arrival there was a perfect dearth of all kinds of stimulants, but the commissioners possessed an untapped keg of whisky, taken with them as an antidote for snake bites. During the evening, the keg was tapped, and all became very merry. [The anecdote connected with this event, while amusing, is hardly proper for these pages.] Publisher

The arrivals during 1850-51-52, save those mentioned, were not numerous. Among those who came in, however. Dr. M. P. Bennett and Joseph K. French must not be omitted. The former was the first of the regular faculty that emigrated to this section, intending to remain in the country permanently, and as a frontier physician he has always been regarded as a success. The latter resided at the Falls until his death. He is represented as a rough and ready lawyer, a keen, sharp practitioner, technical to the last degree, according to the practice as it then existed. Had he lived, he would have made his mark in the Northwest as an able jurist and successful lawyer.

During the session of the Legislature of 1850-51, Bad Axe, now Vernon and La Crosse counties, was set off from Crawford County, La Crosse including the Black and Chippewa River territory. A town organization existed in Albion, which comprised the present county of Jackson, with Jacob Spaulding, Chairman, and Albert Tuttle, Clerk of the Board, and C. R. Johnson, Justice of the Peace. The improvements were not numerous, and the arrivals equally unsatisfactory in 1852, the most important event of that year, it is said, being the opening of a store at the Falls by Horatio Curts and James M. Garrett, under the firm name of Curts & Garrett. In the Fall of 1852, the first county ticket was nominated at Black River Falls, in anticipation of the organization of the county, which was made up of Thomas Hall for Judge, C. R. Johnson for Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, H.. W. Hickox for Register, James M. Garrett for Treasurer, P. Adams for District Attorner, Levi Avery for Sheriff, H. Curts for Coroner, and P. Adams for Surveyor. It failed of an election. In 1853, Jackson County was

duly organized by an act of the Legislature, passed in that year, with full powers after January 1, 1854, and the following ticket, in opposition to the one cited, was overwhelmingly elected: William T. Price, Treasurer; L. S. Avery, Sheriff; and C. R. Johnson, Clerk of the Board, of the Circuit Court, and Register of Deeds.

During this year two hotels were erected, at opposite corners on Main Street, by M. P. Bennett, M.D., and occupied by P. H. Howell, I. S. Mason, aud Joseph Popham, respectively; it was burned down while owned by the latter, during the Spring of 1879. The other was first kept by T. J. Hill for a number of years, then used as a tenement house, since then as a store-room for merchandise. In 1854, there was an immense emigration to Trempealeau Valley, which had in previous years attracted attention by reason of its splendid agricultural resources.

Lying on either side of Trempealeau River, the valley extends the entire length of that stream to its mouth, a distance of some forty miles, varying from one to three miles in width, with a soil which is not surpassed in the State for the production of wheat, oats and potatoes. Those settling there included the Pedrick and Holmes families, Joseph Berti, Samuel and Peter Hoffman, Jacob R. Sechler, John Morrill, etc. James and J. M. Vincent, and Noah Deuel located in Albion Township; Harvey E. Brewer and William Horswill in Irving; Hugh B. Mills in Manchester; John Edmunds built a mill three miles below the Falls, and Harrison Burchard, Dr. Van Herset, R. D. Squires, H. A. Buck, W. W. Buck, George F. Haswell, J. V. Wells and others located in the village and vicinity in 1855. A stage line to La Crosse was also started this year, and Ledyard & Farnam opened the largest stock of goods ever brought to the Falls.

The county was originally one town, that of Albion. But, in 1855, the apportionment of townships was begun, and has since been continued up to the present time as follows: Alma and Bristol (now Melrose) were set off November 16, 1855; Springfield and Huelon, November 11, 1856; Irving changed from Spruce two days later; Manchester, March 23, and Northfield, November 13, 1857; Gordon Valley, March 8, 1868; Millston, June 20, 1874; Franklin, February 25, and Sullivan, December 31, 1878.

During 1856, many of the prominent business men who identified themselves with the material interests of the village and county began operations at the Falls. S. W. Bowman opened a grocery on Water Street, in connection with Oliver Crossett; John and H. D. Parsons abandoned farming in Trempealeau Valley, opened a stock of goods in the "Emporium Store buildings;" James Barber and family removed to the Falls and opened a dry goods store; Carle C. Pope came in May and passed a season in the law office of Jolinson & Price — afterward he hung out his shingle, and was subsequently elected District Attorney; the Shanghai House was this year "bonifaced" by Trudell & Austin; H. E. Prickett was proprietor of a drug and stationery store on Water Street; Deacon A. J. Smith came in between two nights this season, but was in later years obliged to leave the Falls between two days, to avoid personal inconvenience by reason of scandalous charges against his moral character. J. V. Wells, who located here the previous year, began business in 1856, as dealer in tin and hardware. P. A. Potter settled in the county in the Fall, and John Specht, Jolin H. Clapp with his family, Julius Schur, the first baker, and others, located in the village.

This season the Methodist church was erected, and the Jackson County Banner, the first newspaper published at the Falls, was introduced to the public by Charles Stewart, its editor and publisher. The year showed a gratifying increase in population, improvements, educational, religious and miscellaneous interests, that were checked by the panic which came the year following.

From 1857 to 1865, the growth of the county was retarded by financial difficulties, calamities in the nature of extensive conflagrations in the villages and loss of crops in the country, by the war and a combination of circumstances against which no defense could have been urged. In 1857, a court-house was commenced, but its completion estopped by a visitation of the flames, in which its destruction was complete and irreparable. This is but one instance of the embargoes that were placed upon movements for building up and developing the county and village. June 8, 1858, the "Little Frank," Capt. Robert Douglass, landed at Ledyard's mill, the first steamer to arrive at the Falls. Yet there were some who braved the combinations and began business here, have since met with a success proportionate to their undertakings.

Ulrich Oderbolz still operates the brewery he opened that year, and the Presbyterian church then erected still stands. But there are few incidents and fewer facts regarding progress here during these three years than at any previous period. The arrivals during that time are stated as including: Thomas Stewart, Jacob Postweiler, P. Roddy, Anton Wemglier, Frank Cooper, W. A. Thomas, James Darrow, R. G. Pope, Stephen

Richards, Oliver Le Favre and others, most of whom settled in the village.

The population of the county in 1860 is stated at 4,170, and when the note of war sounded in their ears, one year later, responses to calls for troops were liberal, and composed of the type of men who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on the Potomac, in the Southwest, at Nashville, and with Sherman on his march to the sea. Among those who went out under the first call was Capt. William Moore, W. S. Darrow, S. A. Wilcox, ? O'Neill, ? Hussey, C. P. Johnson, C. Taft, S. S. Story, D. Douglass, J. Clancy, C. Franse, C. Shenck, P. Trudell, E. Douglass, James ConIan, R. Grange, R. Squires, J. Q. Conlan, S. Kenyon, F. Reitz, C. Reitz, N. M. Clapp, O. H. Clapp and L. Spaulding. The county had companies in the Fourth, Tenth, Fourteenth, Fifth, Thirty-seventh and Fortyeighth regiments, and the draft was but lightly felt, owing to the fact that the quota assigned was, in nearly every instance, filled.

During the war, but little occurred to attract the attention of settlers from the great panorama which was passing before the world; those at the front were unfamiliar with facts as they happened at home, while those at home took no note of time or circumstance disconnected with the strife and struggle in progress, in which nearly every citizen of the county was directly or indirectly interested. Beyond a large delegation of Norwegians, who came about 1862, and settled in Melrose, Irving, Franklin and Springfield townships, it is not believed that many came into Jackson during the decade in which the war was the most prominent object. During the past ten years, the growth of the county has been gradual, but of a character both substantial and valuable.

To-day, with a population of 15,000 and upward; with a total of 615,120 acres of land, of which but 70,000 acres are under cultivation; with a water power unsurpassed in the country, quarries of inexhaustible resources, iron mines and excellent railroad connections, Jackson County offers inducements that must in the near future attract the multitude.

The first session of Court held after the organization of Jackson County sat in a building used for school purposes, located a short distance to the right of Popham's present stable site. This was in 1854. In 1857, the County Board contracted for the erection of a Court-house, on the second table-land west of the present structure. It was approaching completion, all remaining to be done was to add the finishing touches, when, on the morning of June 30, 1857, it was discovered in flames, and before aid could arrive to prevent its destruction the building was in ashes. The burning of this improvement was the work of an incendiary, and aroused, as well it might, the deepest feelings of sorrow and indignation in the hearts of the people. A meeting of citizens was held on the afternoon of the following day, at which a committee was appointed to report the names of those suspected to be implicated, and whose presence was dangerous to the peace and dignity of the village. The committee reported the names of Calvin Young and lady, Abe Carr and lady, and Billy Smith and lady. The latter male was arrested, taken to a grove a mile from the village and twice strung up, with the hope that he would confess, but without results. The parties warned immediately left the vicinity, and were no more heard of. Subsequent to this calamity, buildings about the village were occupied for Court purposes, until 1862, when a new Court-house and jail, the latter insecure and unpretentious, were erected near the present county, buildings.

In 1878, the Legislature authorized the county to borrow $20,000 from the State for the purpose of building a Court-house. In addition to that amount, the County Board levied a tax sufficient to raise $5,000, to be used in erecting a jail. Work was commenced at once, under the direction of a building committee composed of Hon. W. T. Price, H. B. Cole and W. S. Darrow, who returned a balance unexpended out of the original amount put into their hands. The contract was let to Nolan & Wilcox, of Janesville, who sub-let portions of it, and completed the structures the same year. It is two stories high, with a neat cupola; of cream brick ornament, with cut stone facings. The first floor is used as county offices, the second story being devoted to the occupation of the Court room proper, neat, cozy, and capable of being well lighted and ventilated. Its cost, furnished, was $18,667.

The jail is two stories high, of Milwaukee brick, containing one set of cells for female prisoners, one set for insane persons, one set for prisoners of a mild type, and one set for prisoners of dangerous and violent disposition. It is conceded by all to be one of the strongest, neatest and most convenient jails in the State, is well ventilated and lighted, and so situated that inmates are able to enjoy the advantages of pure air and sunlight, so necessary to those living in confinement.

Jackson County has nothing more to wish for in respect to county buildings.

Previous to 1880, the paupers of the county were cared for by the authorities of the town wherein they were severally to be found. In that year a new dispensation was agreed upon, and in the Fall the County Board negotiated the purchase of 206 acres of land, situated on Squaw Creek, about two and one-half miles west of the village, from W. S. Darrow, for a consideration of $2,500. The improvements at that time consisted of a substantial farm-house, with the out-buildings usual to similar enterprises, and these not being considered sufficient, the county erected an addition to the main house, in 1881, at a cost of $1,000.

At present there are four inmates, one of which is insane, for the support of whom an average of $52 each it is estimated will be required. This, together with $700 paid the overseer annually, is derived in part by appropriations by the County Board, and in part from the product of 100 acres of cleared land, which is cultivated. The institution is in charge of Martin Clark.

The Jackson County Agricultural Society was organized at a meeting of citizens convened at the Courthouse, in Black River Falls, on Monday, July 24, 1867, at which Hon. W. T. Price was elected president, F. Simpson, secretary ; J. V. Wells, treasurer, and one vice-president from each town in the county, The association secured a lease for ninety-nine years of forty acres of land from D. J. Spaulding, at a nominal rental, upon which expositions have been annually held since the year of the society's organization. The present officers are : W. T. Murray, president; B. J. Castle, secretary, and J. H. Mills, treasurer.

The Press—The Press of Jackson County, limited in some respects, exerts a healthful influence for good, and has been liberally patronized by the inhabitants since the first journalistic issue, now more than twenty-five years ago. Early in 1856, the need of a weekly journal of current events was experienced throughout the county, and through the efforts of Hon. W. T. Price, who contributed largely of his means for that object, the Jackson County Banner was issued in May, to supply the demand: Charles Stewart officiated as editor (though C. C. Pope, of the Falls, is said to have acted in that capacity in limine) until the ensuing Winter, when the sheet was sold to D. J. Spaulding and F. O. Brainerd, the latter being editor. This continued until July, 1865, at which date J. A. Watrous secured title to Spaulding's moiety, becoming sole owner in October of the following year by the purchase of George W.Brown the interest in the paper sold him by Bramerd. In December, 1866, Frank Cooper bought a half interest, and the morning after the transfer was made a serious conflagration damaged his purchase, its escape from total destruction being accomplished as the result of united endeavor. In September, 1869, Hon. W. T. Price purchased Watrous's share, the latter removing to Fond du Lac, and one year later Cooper became sole owner. In 1871, C. J. Cooper became associated as publisher, remaining until 1873, when he retired, and was succeeded by George F. Cooper, who still participates in the profits of the business, which is conducted under the firm name of Frank Cooper & Son.

The Banner enjoyed the field without opposition thing until 1875, when the Independent, which had been established at Viroqua, in 1872, by T. C. Ankeney, was removed to Black River Falls, and its publication begun. On May 5, 1877, the Wisconsin Leader was issued at Merrillan by B. J. Castle, who conducted its publication alone for six months, when R. H. Gile became a partner. The same year Ankeney sold the Independent to F. J. Bowman, and on June 29, 1878, Castle disposing of his interest in the Leader to Gile, purchased the Independent, and thenceforward officiated as editor and publisher, in which capacities he is at present busily engaged. All these papers are Republican in politics.

In 1880, another journal was added to the list, the Jackson County Democrat, by T. F. Holliday, a handsomely printed and newsy paper, Democratic in politics, and giving evidence of the care that is bestowed upon its weekly issue.

LOGGING AND LUMBERING

Actual observation is necessary to give even a tolerable idea of the magnitude of the lumbering interests in the Northwest. The capital, talent, energy and muscular force employed is immense, aside from the enormous amounts invested in machinery. It has given im

pulse and character in every branch of business, its influence permeates every grade of society and it would be scarcely more than a pardonable exaggeration to assert, that secular and religious education has a " piney "' flavor about it that can be found nowhere else. It has shaped the destiny of many men, who have emerged from the surf of obscurity on its tidal wave and ridden into wealth and opulence.

The logging and lumbering interests of Jackson County are confined to the townships of Albion, Alma, Sullivan and Millston, and are conducted on the most liberal scale, principally by Trow & Co., C. N. Paine & Co., Hayden & Smith, Putnam & Owens, Nichols & Co., Hugh B. Mills, Elliott & Burchard, Wm. Oleson, E. L. Brockway and Andrew Sheppard, severally of Oshkosh, Sparta, Juneau County and Black River Falls. The aggregate amount of lumber in the rough thus obtained is not less than 26,000,000 feet, requiring the services of 400 men, at an average pay of $1 per day each. The following table, prepared by Senator Price, will furnish an adequate idea of the immensity of the business:

Value of raw material, 26,000,000 feet at $1.50 per thousand = $390,000
Value of same in lumber at $10 per thousand, less value of raw material, or actual value of the wealth thus created - $3,510,000
Wages of men - $120,000
Cost of supplies, including meat, flour, vegetables and groceries - $380,000
Cost of creating - $500,000
Net profit on 26,000,000 feet - $3,010,000

All of which cost of producing is expended in the county, and $300,000 of which remains here. From which will be seen the value to the Falls and surrounding villages, as also to be country at large, is something almost beyond belief.

To Speak of the immense army of men and teams with their logging supplies, that will soon throng the great thoroughfares to the pinery regions, is to mention a single item in the great enterprise of lumbering. From daylight till dark this prodigious outlay of animal and human pjysical force is kept up with uninterrupted flow, when the woods are abandoned to the howling wolves that haunt this peculiar field of civilization.