Men of Progress. Wisconsin. a Selected List of Biographical Sketches and Portraits of the Leaders in Business, Professional and Official Life
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Library of Congress Men of progress. Wisconsin. A selected list of biographical sketches and portraits of the leaders in business, professional and official life. Together with short notes on the history and character of Wisconsin Men of Progress. WISCONSIN. A SELECTED LIST OF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF THE LEADERS IN BUSINESS, PROFESSIONAL AND OFFICIAL LIFE. TOGETHER WITH SHORT NOTES ON THE HISTORY AND CHARACTER OF WISCONSIN. EDITED BY ANDREW J ACKSON ALKENS AND LEWIS A. PROCTOR MILWAUKEE: The Evening Wisconsin Company. 1897. F580 .A29 copy 2 Copyrighted, 1897, by The Evening Wisconsin Company. PREFACE. The Publishers of “Men of Progress” have endeavored to supply a biography of the men who are active at the present time in the affairs of the state, and who are conspicuous for the part they play in the progress of the day. It has been a laborious and difficult task to interest some men of this character in the work. In such cases the publishers have supplied the data from sources accessible to them. If omissions are found of persons entitled to appear in this work, either on account of inefficient canvass or indifference of such persons, further editions may be printed with the omissions supplied, if there appears to be any demand for such. Men of progress. Wisconsin. A selected list of biographical sketches and portraits of the leaders in business, professional and official life. Together with short notes on the history and character of Wisconsin http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbum.19127 Library of Congress HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 9 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. The history of Wisconsin's existence as a state, which will be formally celebrated in 1898, compasses a period of only fifty years; yet there are aspects in which Wisconsin is not new. Geologists teach that the Laurentian formation, comprising the northern portion of her domain, is the oldest land in the world. Jean Nicolet, Champlain's explorer and ambassador to the Winnebagoes, came within the borders of Wisconsin in 1634. This was the fourteenth year after the Mayflower discharged her cargo of Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. Beginning thus almost coevally with New England to be a theater of operations for the white man, Wisconsin had a long and picturesque career as a part of New France, then as a part of English province of Quebec, and then as a part of the expansive domain nominally attached to Virginia, which, when ceded to the United States by the Old Dominion, was erected into the Northwest Territory. But for the brilliant victory of Gen. George Rogers Clark and Vincennes in 1778, the tactical importance of which has until lately been generally overlooked, the vast tract of country from Lake Huron to the Mississippi might not have been conceded to the United States by the treaty of Versailles and Paris in 1783. Under the American flag, Wisconsin was successively attached to the territories of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, prior to the year 1836, at which time she entered upon the independent territorial existence that culminated when she was admitted to statehood in 1848. The people of the young republic did not at first appreciate her richness of their heritage in these parts, and were slow to take possession. England gave up her hold reluctantly, prolonging her influence through adroit dealings with the Indian tribes for some time after she had equitably lost her rights. She held military occupation of the Fox and Wisconsin waterway—the great commercial highway between the lakes and the Mississippi—as late as 1815. It was in the following year that garrisons of United States troops were Men of progress. Wisconsin. A selected list of biographical sketches and portraits of the leaders in business, professional and official life. Together with short notes on the history and character of Wisconsin http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbum.19127 Library of Congress established at Fort Howard and Fort Crawford, and that Wisconsin began to be exploited in the interest of Astor's American Fur company. Meantime, in the southern part of the territory, miners were making their way into the lead region. The physical characteristics of Wisconsin peculiarly fit it to support in comfort and wealth a large population. It is a land rich in varied natural resources, situated in the heart of a continent, and yet in two directions a gateway to the sea. Three hundred miles in length from north to south, and 250 miles in width, its area, exclusive of water surface, is estimated at 54,450 square miles. Geologists describe it as a swell of land between three notable depressions—the basins of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and the Mississippi. Its lake-shore line exceeds 500 miles. Its highest summits rise little more than 1,200 feet above its lowest surfaces. The waters of Lake Michigan lap its eastern boundary at an altitude of about 578 feet above the level of the sea. There are few abrupt elevations. The highest general level is within 30 miles of Lake Superior. A remarkable diagonal valley, occupied by Green bay and the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, traverses the state from cast to west, not far from the center. The ice of the glacial period, which invaded the eastern and northern portions of the state, eroded the basin of Lake Winnebago and the valley 10 of the Rock river, besides forming the depressions now occupied by 2,000 or more minor lakes in the northern and eastern portions of the state, and piling up the chain of drift hills extending obliquely from Kewaunee county to the Illinois line, known as the Kettle range. In the order of their dominance, the characteristic geological formations of the state, in addition to the Laurentian and granitic rocks, are the Potsdam sandstone, the Niagara limestone, the copper-bearing series, the Trenton and Galena limestone, the lower magnesian limestone, the St. Peter's sandstone, the Huronian iron-bearing series, the Cincinnati shale and Hamilton cement rock, the latter cropping out in a tract reaching from the Milwaukee river to the lake shore, immediately north of Milwaukee. The soils of Wisconsin are varied, but for the most part highly fertile and easily tilled. The greater part of the state was originally covered by forests, but the early settlers in the south and west found considerable areas of prairie, interspersed with woodland. Oaks, poplars Men of progress. Wisconsin. A selected list of biographical sketches and portraits of the leaders in business, professional and official life. Together with short notes on the history and character of Wisconsin http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbum.19127 Library of Congress and hickories were the prevalent trees of this region. Along the eastern border was an extensive tract of heavy timber—maple, elm and ash. The northern part of the state was unbroken forest—pine, hemlock, spruce and hardwoods. Many large water-powers exist in different portions of the state. The climate of Wisconsin is temperate and healthful, with summers warm and diversified by light rains and clear skies, and winters somewhat severe, but relatively dry and stimulating. The mean summer temperature varies from 70 degrees in the south to 60 in the north; the mean winter temperature from 25 degrees to 15 degrees. Wisconsin in the days of Indian occupation was a land of plenty abounding in game. Its lakes and streams teemed with fish. It was famous for its wild rice, which the natives prized as an article of food. That its aboriginal inhabitants were above the lowest plane of savagery is indicated by the monuments of the mound builders, and the copper implements which they contain. Testimony to the same effect is borne by Jonathan Carver, the first Anglo-Saxon explorer of the region, who says, describing “the great town of the Saukies,” on the Wisconsin river, which he visited in 1766: “This is the largest and best built Indian town I ever saw. It contains about ninety houses, each large enough for several travelers. These are built of hewn plank, neatly joined, and covered with bark so completely as to keep out the most penetrating rains. Before the doors are placed comfortable sheds, in which the inhabitants sit, when the weather will permit, and smoke their pipes. The streets are regular and spacious, so that it appears more like a civilized town than the abode of savages. The land near the town is very good. In their plantations, which lie adjacent to their houses, and which are neatly laid out, they raise great quantities of Indian corn, beans, melons, etc.” Two hardy voyageurs. Radisson and Groseilliers, following in the footsteps of Nicolet, spent the winter of 1654 with the Pottawatomies in the vicinity of Green Bay, and subsequently made extensive explorations in Wisconsin, the result of which they communicated to King Charles II., in the interest of the English fur trade. Père Réne Ménard. The first of the Jesuit missionaries to enter Wisconsin, perished in the wilderness Men of progress. Wisconsin. A selected list of biographical sketches and portraits of the leaders in business, professional and official life. Together with short notes on the history and character of Wisconsin http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbum.19127 Library of Congress of the Lake Superior region, in 1660. Père Claude Allouez, another of the followers of Loyola, five years later founded the mission of La Point du Saint Esprit on Chequamegon bay, and afterward the mission of St. Francis Xavier on Green bay. In 1673 Père Marquette and Louis Toilet traversed the Fox and Wisconsin waterway and discovered the Mississippi. La Salle, du L'Hut, Hennepin and Le Sueur were in Wisconsin between 1679 and 1683.