volume one Pages 0 to 388

1838 to 1850 Pages 0 to 73

Native Americans left Their Mark: Mounds 1 A Surprise Discovery at Man Mound 4 Ben Franklin, Northwest Ordinance, and Baraboo 8 "One More Day and we Eat the Dog" 12 The First Christian Service in the Valley 14 Circuit Riders Once Brought Christianity to the Valley 16 They Don't Make Men like This Anymore 18 Frontier Justice among Men and Boys 20 How Settler's Invoked Frontier Justice 22 The Prescott Brigham County Building? 25 Augostin Haraszthy, the Ubiquitous Count 28 Claim Jumper Cheats Widow Peck 30 Claimant's Association Fights Injustice in 1847 32 Claimants Strike, Supreme Court Strikes Back 34 Roseline's Descendants are Numerous 36 Old Picture show Early Merrimack Ferries 38 The Great Indian Scare of 1844 41 A Copycat and a Farce in Sauk-Prairie 44 Steamboats and a Murder in Sauk City 47 Ferries and Toll Bridges in Pioneer Times 51 Baraboo' s First School was Pretty Drafty 54 Baraboo' s First School, and a Teacher in Love 56 The Female Seminary "Lost on the Baraboo" Baraboo gets a Schoolteacher in 1850 59 The New Schoolteacher Dances, gets Married 61 What's in a Name in Sauk County? Quite a Bit 63 Reedsburg's Unusual Baby Contest 66 No Dogs or Booze Allowed in This Parade! 69 So When Was Baraboo's Centennial? 71 1

THE NATIVE AMERICANS LEFT THEIR MARK--MOUNDS Yesteryear Revisited By Bob Dewel

After our record snow Canfield melts (and we hope and trust Canfield was the local it will), look closely around surveyor as well as historian, your yard. Are there any and was pictured in a previous unusual humps or rises? If article. He lived in Baraboo so, you may be sharing your and Sauk County during most lot with a thousand-year old of its first 50 years, and Indian Mound! Check today's carefully recorded his map and descriptions for the observations of the growing locations. colony along the banks of The 1872 Map the Baraboo River. His Last week s article on histories are a treasure for bypass highways featured an those who followed 1872 map of the village of him--Butterfield, Cole, Baraboo, drawn originally Derleth, Goe, Lange, etc. by historian Canfield. Not all counties have had Actually, it was only a portion such diligent and prolific of a larger map, and today's recorders of man and his map is a continuation of the work on earth. map shown last week. Canfield was a close The left hand edge of today's and accurate observer of his map is the same as the right surroundings, including an edge of last week's map. intense interest in the Native Therefore this map represents Americans who came before that part of Baraboo east us. Part of the result is of Elizabeth street, between what you see on the map--his Water Street and Eighth Street. drawings of Indian Mounds. It was virtually uninhabited Mounds countryside in 1872, but the Mounds come in an endless area now contains hundreds variety of sizes and shapes, of homes and a thousand or it seems, and appear to reflect so citizens. the ancient Native American's The reason that this close association with birds is of interest is that the and animals, actual or 1872 map shows a large number imagined. Some mounds of Indian Mounds, carefully represent serpents, bear, drawn in by Canfield. The deer, and sometimes totally mounds occupy the area North unidentifiable shapes. of the Circus World Museum Note that the map shows (CWM) grounds and parking an Indian Council House lot on Water Street, and extend directly across Water Street as far north as Sixth Street. from the present CWM parking Eighth Street is shown as lot. rt was in this very area a country road, while Water that Eben and Roseline Peck Street and the Baraboo River crossed the Baraboo river are at the bottom edge of on horseback and tried to the map. In the upper right establish a claim in 1838. corner, well out of town in They were driven back across 1872, is the Sauk County the river by the Indians, Fairgrounds. but returned the following year to establish a claim 2

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Sauk County Fairgrounds

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Contributed

A large number of Indian Mounds were carefully drawn on an area north of Water Street near the Circus World Museum and 1872 map by a historian named Canfield. They occupy an extend as far north as Sixth Street.

without incident. Abe Wood An area north of the and Wallace Rowan built their Council Grounds is marked dam about a mile upstream "Indian cornfield", apparently in the Ochsner Park area that at the junction of Second year also. Thus the Pecks, Street and Washington. A Woods, and Rowans were the Freestone Quarry is shown first settlers in the area near the crest of College known as Baraboo Rapids. Avenue . j r- .- -- ..

Street river, and also on an area about where Flambeau is located today. There is ' also an Indian Cornfield plotted in the vicinity 0£ Twelfth Avenue and Crawford Street. Haskins Park once contained a mound. There is also a cluster of mounds in the lowlands by the Water Works, near the junction of Hill Street and Lake Street Well preserved and readily visible are Indian mounds at Devil's Lake State Park, Also on the map is a though one of the hotels once plotted area called Litchfield, occupied the end of one mound. this being a developer's effort Mounds once existed between to either add to or rival Baraboo and Devils Lake, indeed the growing village. His plot all over the county. But effectively blocked eastern the most famous Indian Mound extension of Third and Fourth is yet to be discussed in Streets, a problem that exists the next article, and it lies all over Baraboo. The only near to Baraboo. real through street is Eighth Meantime, next time you Street, though Second Street mow your yard (surely the has the potential to be a snow will melt someday), that East-west artery. Too many slight rise in the terrain developers have been allowed might represent the toil of to have streets vacated, a Native American as long blocking efficient movement as a thousand years ago. This throughout the city. was his way to try and Not on the map understand his world. We build Shown on othe r parts churches and mosques and of the original map, but not synagogues, still seeking included here, are Indian enlightenment. 4 A SURPRISE DISCOVERY AT MAN MOUND Yesteryear Revisited By Bob Dewel

In a recent i tern in the only about 100 survive. It Wisconsin State Journal, is said that buckets made we learned that a planned of skins were filled by hand, road construction in Ozaukee scraping up the soil with County has been halted. clam shells or sticks or The reason: it is believed antlers and carrying it to that a rare dragon fly has the site. breeding grounds in the area As early as July, 1859 about to be graded, so work Canfield surveyed Man Mound has been halted, at least and a similar mound at Lavalle, temporarily. (NW 1/4 of NW 1/2 of Section 36, T How times have changed! 1 3N), the only ones known Sometime in the Nineteenth to be in Wisconsin. There Century, Sauk County road the arms are outstretched, crews thought nothing of and the horns more vertical. grading away the lower legs The arms and legs seem of Sauk County's most famous unusually full also. Indian mound of all, the Man Canfield's investigation Mound of Greenfield township, included accurate measurements some three miles east of of the Baraboo area effigy, Baraboo. This Naderizing (to which still had its legs and use a very modern term) cut feet at the time. It. was the effigy off at the knees, discovered to be 21 4 feet the straight highway grid long, the head 80 feet long, being deemed more important and the legs only slightly in those horse and buggy days. longer. The figure is Their amputation was apparently depicted as walking not quite complete, however! westward. Projecting from More on that later. the head are two hornlike Wm. H. Canfield appendages. It was Baraboo's The body itself is greatly indefatigable historian, elongated, the arms and legs surveyor, and qntiquarian, being short in proportion Wm. H. Canfield, who first to the torso. Canfield's drew attention to Sauk County's drawings and measurements bountiful supply of Indian are prized possessions of mounds. Those in Baraboo were the Sauk County Historical illustrated recently in an Society, and were donated article published on January by Canfield himself. 8. Most of the mounds are In a July 30, 1976 article shaped like fanciful birds in the News Republic, Ruth or animals, and are believed Burmeister stated that Canfield to have been constructed 800 traveled 11 in a cart pulled to 1 000 years ago by unknown by his faithful horse, Pedro. 11 effigy mound builders, probably He made over 4000 farm and for religious purposes. land surveys, traveling over Historian Lange says 20,000 miles. there were well over 1000 Canfield's method of mounds in Sauk County, though surveying of the man mound was to run a straight line 5

over the middle of the figure lengthwise . At intervals of ten feet measurements were made to the sides of the body at right angles to its length . As can thus be seen in the drawing, at the end of the right arm it is ten feet to the edge of the body , and the arm at that point has six feet of width . The Purchase It would be 48 years 15 8 before Man Mound would be 16 set aside as a small park , t / '/ ,, 8 now minus the lower legs . . By 1905 the area was overgrown ' with vines , brush , and small , J 14 , 15 trees. Three Baraboo men, News editor H. E . Cole , banker Jacob Vanorden, and A.B . Stout I 4 13 14 determined that the effigy should not be lost , as had 11 14 the similar mound in Lavalle, 0 long since plowed over . 1 Baraboo farmer Abram ,, ' 12 Boege was indeed planning This is the man mound 'near 10... to cultivate the land , but Baraboo, as drawn and mea- 11 11 a fund was raised jointly sured by Wm . H. Canfield. 10 by the Archeological Society 10 and the Sauk County Historical 1. 11 Society t o purchase the plot on October 12 1907, for $225. In those days contributors were listed by name and amount , even for church contributions. In the case of the little park . some 6 0 persons , mostly from the Milwaukee Archeological Society , had contributed a dollar each . Of the 20 persons who 11 14 11 contributed five dollars each , nine were from Baraboo, only ,, two from the rest of the county . Among those nine were Luise Gattiker , who within 11 eight years would contribute the courthouse clock memorial 12 6 , mentioned in another article . Banker Jacob Vanorden a lso contributed a bronze plaque , 145 still in good condition today, and it credits Canfield for 6

his efforts. The News published to the south of the head, a letter from Canfield, now and that there are other mounds age 88, elderly and retired, in the neighborhood. Also thanking Vanorden for including of interest are certain his name. Canfield died in branches of two trees, where 1913 at age 94. limbs were bent down grossly The Dedication out of shape to mark Indian Of interest is that the trails of the early 1800's. Wisconsin Legislature Some rock formations suggest apparently took a field trip a ceremonial place in the to Baraboo for the dedication woods nearby, she adds. A of the park, which several modern religious group, the hundred persons attended. Baha'i faith, held a ceremony Some speeches were given in at Man Mound in December, the then new red brick 1 971, citing a legend that schoolhouse on the southeast the mound represents a holy corner of Second and Oak, man corning. In 1 91 2 a Persian now gone. Others were in Divine did pass through on the then new courthouse, still a train, but did not visit extant, which housed the the mound. He died in an historical museum at that Israeli prison in 1931. time. Across the road was the Weirich farm, where in well over a decade later Daunene Weirich, now Jelinik, would be born. She now lives in the greatly remodeled and enhanced Man Mound Schoolhouse, adjacent to Man Mound Park, over which she keeps a watchful eye. Gone is the viewing platform and some of the playground equipment, but the form of the body can still be made out. The Feet are There? The surprise is that the road graders failed to destroy the feet of the effigy, and she knows where they are 1 As may be surmised, they are directly across the fence to the north. Though the outline of the feet is gone, researchers from the university concluded their lo ca ti on some years ago, in 1989 , by testing the different soil found in the effigy. For many years the adjacent land wa s an , AM Wisconsin'sPioneer Archeologist. orchard. DR. INCREASESE A.lAPHAM •• Daunene says a small round mound has been found 7

Perhaps we shouldn't Man of Earth, what secrets be too surprised when do you hold? considering the effort which What were they like, drove these ancient aborigines those builders of old? to build mounds. As one wag Did you share their commented after reading the dreams, or were you part article on mounds in Baraboo, of a Fear that clutched at every heart? "Look around you--we build mounds too, mounds of snow Were you a kind God, did you love in every par k ing lot". Hopefully our mounds won 't your children, looking down from above? last a thousand years. As we ponder the mystery of the Or are you seen in striding pose, mounds, we can consider the poem by Arlene Hoege, As you struck terror with your blows? which reads as follows: Man of earth, what secrets do you hold? What were they like, those builders of old? 8

Ben Franklin, Baraboo, and PBS Yesteryear Revisited By Bob Dewel

Friends know that this writer is an unabashed admirer and promoter of Benjamin Franklin, whom we regard as the real father of our country. We will spare you the overwhelming evidence for our claim in that respect, but do want to call the reader's attention to the special TV series on Franklin to be presented on PBS on Tuesday November 19 and Wednesday Nov. 20, at 9 P.M. each night. It is true that these Yesteryear Revisited articles deal mainly with the history of Sauk County and Baraboo, and you may think that we are challenged in presenting Ben Franklin as part of local history. Giving it a try, lets concentrate on his activities beginning with the French and Indian War, and leading up to the Northwest Ordinance Had the French settlements and of 1787. claims prevailed in the mid-west, we A Territory of France would be comparable to Quebec A little history lesson is needed today, militantly pro-French and here. Wisconsin, and indeed all of what speaking that language on the streets of we call the upper Midwest, (or at least our city. The French and Indian Wars that part east of the Mississippi River), changed all that, for the British and their was from the early exploration days until American colonist allies won, and the 1755 the possession of France. French territory became nominally British, traders and explorers passed from the including Canada as well as the upper Fox River to the Wisconsin River at mid-west. Portage, and no doubt camped Although already a man 50 years overnight on the Sauk Prairie or of age, Frankllin obtained from local elsewhere in the county. farmers, with his own signature, the 150 Later two French brothers wagons and 259 horses used by appear to have established a trading Braddock in his and Washington's ill post at near the mouth of the Baraboo fated march into the wilderness. It was River where it joins the Wisconsin River with the greatest of difficulty that Ben near Portage. After a bitter fraternal got the British to compensate him for the fight, one of the men changed the destroyed wagons. spelling of the name from Barbeau to His other activity during the Baraboo, and that name was French and Indian Wars included raising subsequently applied to the river, and to and leading a militia, and building a fort the rapids in what we now call the City and stockades. The war -dragged on of Baraboo. into 1763, when the Treaty of Paris French and Indian War granted Canada and everything east of the Mississippi, including Wisconsin, to the British. 9

Part ot theBritish Empire It is said that, thanks to Franklin's Though the colonies had strongly success, there were more Frenchmen at supported their British rulers in this war. the final and decisive Battle of Yorktown hardly a decade would pass before the thanthere were American revolutionary colonies were in revolt. The rebellious soldiers. In the peace negotiations with Continental Congress chose Ben Franklin the British. the shrewd Franklin tried to as its ambassador to France in hopes of get Canada ceded to us. This was a gaining French aid to defeat the British ploy to make sure we got all of the South and gain independence. Franklin's and upper mid-west, including what is success in this matter is legendary. now Wisconsin, and Baraboo. obtaining not only massive loans of money to finance the Revolution. but eventually involving significant French land and sea forces. 1 0

AT THE CIRCUS WORLD MUSEUM

VISITING WITH THIS WRITER

AT THE AL RINGLING THEATRE

BenjaminFranklin in Barabooboo, 1991 1 1

This marble s t atue is inside a domed building in Philadelphia . It is the This writer welcomes Ben same size as the Lincoln Statue in the to Baraboo Lincoln Mem orial in Washington D.C .

The Norlhwest Ordinance Admittedly, Franklin's connecti on On his return after the Revolution. to Sauk County and Baraboo is indirect. Franklin, now a man of nearly 80, was but his work in the French and Indian elected President of Pennsylvania. War helped to eliminate the French from There was no United States as we know it the upper mid-west. Without his skillful for seven years after we gained our enlistment of the French on our side, the independence, only a loose and weak Revolution might well have failed, and association of the colonies under an the British would not have been agreement known as the Articles of eliminated. We might be singing "God Confederation. Its major Save the Queen." accomplishment was the Northwest Had the French and Indian War Ordinance of 1887, which called for not effort failed, we might well be greeting less than three or more than five states people on the streets of Barbeau with to be carved out of the upper mid-west "Bonjour,Monsieur/Madame, bienvenue territory. au Barbeau"! We don't even have a One of those states, of course. street named after Benjamin Franklin, was Wisconsin. some 60 years later. As though W. Howard Taft got one! President of Pennsylvania, Franklin must Meantime. don't forget the PBS have been instrumental in that Colony's special on Tuesday November 19 and approval of the Northwest Ordinance. Wednesday Nov. 20, both at 9 P.M. Meantime, the French hod had the annoying habit of sticking around in the wilderness, with their trading posts. and one was the Barbeau brothers mentioned above, from which we got the name of the river and of the city. 12 ''One more day . . . and we eat the dog"

byBob:Dewel . Lower Town.offered the Count Haraszthy house. said to be worth What was the burning question the fortune of $3,000. Upper ToWn of the day in the 1840s in the little countered with a number of lots outpost of civilization which now considered to be· worth more than constitutesSauk County? that. and became the county seat in No, it was not the rights or 1844. However, when the deeds of wrongs of commercial develop- the latter wereexamined., their ment ~·all commercial develop- terms werewere not acceptable, espe- ment, what there was of it. was cially to the rival LowerTown. welcomed with openarms! No, it wasn't dams. Anyone knew that if a river had sufficient "Shall we shoot the dog?" *Preston Brigham rapids, you bui1t a dam or two and While the rivaliy between the "As is reported in an article in .harvested nature's abundant sup- two towns escalated, a committee the booklet. •"The Benefactors of .ply of free and non-polluting ener- of five was appointed to "make an Baraboo,"· the Baraboo Mills set- gy. Besides, the mill pond was a exploration of the interior (largely tlement appeared to offer a com- sourceof ice, to be stored in straw unknown) of the county and ascer- promise, with its beautiful location for use well into the summer. tain whether the land was fit for and burgeoning saw miJis. The And no,it wasn't building high- settlement." Of the six members, clincher was when tavern operator ways. You just cut a path through four were from Baraboo, including and stagecoach driver Preston the forest - and who would want Wm. Canfield the historian, and Brigham purchased the land now to bypass a village or settlement the irascible Abe Wood. known as downtown Baraboo anyway?It wouldn't be neighbor- "The committee started on this "with his own money" and donated ly. exploration on the l 0th of it to the county, an entity which : (Little did they dreamof inter- November 1845. Count existed largely on paper at that state highways, andthe 1960 argu- Haraszthy's mare and a week's point. It is to be noted that ment over whether Baraboo would provisions, a shotgun, two rifles Brigham ·did not reside in the get an interchange on County A. A and a bird-dog constituted the out- Baraboo area, but in Sumpter neighboring city was rumored to fit ... [later] the Count took the township. Baraboo became the want all traffic routed to them via halter off the mare and told her to county seat in 1846. Highway 12, but Lt. Gov. Olson go home to her colt ... later, with Because of his donation, denied this at a Kiwanis meeting. one day's provisions the explorers Brigham was allowed to name the He was from Wisconsin Dells.) started for the primeval forests." new village, and he chose Adams, No, the burning question was "The next day Wood shot (at) a due to his admiration of John not one of the above. It was, sim- deer but did not get it, and apar- Quincy Adams, sixth President of ply, where would the county seat tridge, which the Count bagged, be located? had to suffice for dinner, supper, *Prescott On the surface, the question and breakfast for six stalwart men. seemed moot. A commission Another day passed with nothing appointed by the legislature of the but water to drink, and the next territory that would later become breakfast and dinner also were a Wisconsinhad pretty well decided blank. It was proposed to shoot the the issue. They recommended that dog that night for dinner, but Capt either the Upper Town (Prairie du Moore's trusty rifle brought down Sac) or the Lower Town (Sauk a fine yearling buck, and the fast City),"whicheverwould make the was soon tenninated." largestdonation"be given the on or. 13

the. United States, then only a nauon for 59 years. The name was later changed to Baraboo because chere was already a settlement .by the name of Adams. . ."A two-story log courthouse and 1a1l was built, about where the Al Ringling Theatre is today, and vil- lage founder Abe Wood became one of the early inhabitants of th e jail - at least until nightfall, when he dug his way out via the dirt floor. Thus the rivalry of the Sauk vil- lages became a boon for the Baraboo river settlement Being a county seat was considered a bio boost for a village, bringing hotels, harness shops and livery stables, and eventually county offices and employees. SaukCounty grew from a pop- border of Juneau County nine ties." ulauon of 102 in 1840 to 4,372 in miles deep to Sauk Councy, thus The newer brick structure. with 1850, with Wisconsin not becom- making Reedsburg even more cen· additions, served until December ing a state until J 848. Soon staoe tral co Sauk County and perhaps 27, 1904, when it too succumbed lines opened as well as ferries adding a few voters to their cause. to fire . This brick build ing had across the Wisconsin River. This political move was reversed been enlarged with what was Railroads would soon appear in in 18853. In 1855 the Legislacure called the West Addition. the southern border and the North- was persuaded to hold a referen- By coincidence the county eastern border of the new county dum in the spring, but Baraboo board had, a month previously, - but not in Baraboo until J 870. came off victorious in· that elec- voted to expend $ l 00.000 on .a tion. new and more suitable ed ific e. The Reedsburg War This building was completed in Baraboo's future as the county Early Courthouses 1906, and is the stately neoclass ic seat seemed assured, but not to the The first courthouse was said to structure which graced the square folks in newly platted Reedsburg, resemble a huge dry goods box, alone until 1962, when the west founded in 1848. Those folks but was erected hastily to help addition was added. Somewhere looked with envy at the modest secure Baraboo's claim as the along the line the present clock increasein commerce and prosper- county seat. It soon was replaced belfry was added, a gift according ity tn Baraboo which followed its by a slightly more elegant struc· to old timers, who remember it as selection as county seat. They rea- ture costing $5,000, which, it was having a gold roof. soned that Reedsburg was nearer predicted, would bankrupt the The 1980s and 1990s saw con- the center of the county, and covet- county. Tnis brick building was troversy as to the erection of what ed the honor and advantage. only 40 by 20 feet, and was soon is now the new West Square Tempers ran hot, and in I 85 l enlarged by an addition. It Building, a re-run in some respec ts Reedsburg "took the position that replaced the temporary building on of the controversy of 150 years no rafts or logs would pass over the north side of the square, which ago. It stands on ground once their dam en route to Baraboo." A burned on the night of July 4, donated to the county by Preston mounted and anned delegatio n 1857. That structure had been used Brigham. Later he re-purchased from Baraboo, supported by a for school, church, funerals and some of the land across from the United States Deputy Marshall, dan ces. Once there was a conflict square for a commercial enter- made their way to Reedsburg and in reservations, with both church prise. the Reedsburg dam was cut away. folks and dancers. the latter pre- Brigham would be surprised at This has also been called the \'ailing th anks to the fiddler the structures on the public square, sawmill war. drown ing out al l opposition. and also on the iand he once After the new brick structure owned on the West side oi Relocate the County Seat? was built on the square, the old Broadway. He would also be Taking another tack, Reedsbura bu ildi ng became a printing office , proud, lhough there is no plaque convinced the State Legislature in and then a saioon before tire and acknowleding his generosity and 18852 to attach a strip of the lowe r smoke ··cleaned it of al! impuri- trust. 1 4 The first Christian service in the valley

times he did noble work. His preacher's horse, named ~little over 66 years ago presence in a settlement Judge, showed more opposi- as a group of men were work- meant great activity. He per- tion to the whiskey barrels ing on a dam across the formed marriages, baptized than some modem judges do Baraboo river, a young man infants, preached sermons, to those well filled ... The appeared on the scene of served at funerals, and Lord attended the Word, and activity. When it became caught up with all he had from tbtl~ YO.®£?' FuJJert.on known that he was a minis- missed sincehis last visit. commenced to seek the ter, he was not very cordially Usually his only salary was Savior.'" received, but as he talked his food and perhaps a little The circuit rider often had with the men and helped produce or clothing." a territory involving 200 them the best he could, they Fullerton was a circuit miles of travel, on trails looked on him with more rider of the Methodist faith. hardly marked through the favor, and soon one of the The first to preach in Sauk forest and wetlands, some- men took care of his horse, County was the Rev. John times having to lead his and he was received with Crummer, who appeared in horse. Sleep might come in a good frontier hospitality." the Sauk City or Prairie du makeshift lean-to with snow Sac areas in 1840. Some 1 covering the sleeper's blan- So wrote William Little in claim that the Rev. James G. ket. about 1906. Though it is not Whitford was the first. Like During one of Crummer's an eyewitness account, Lit- Fullerton, all three men were sermons in a log cabin, a rat- tle's story could valid, for be Methodist circuit riders, a tlesnake crawled between he could have known some of characteristic of that church one of the logs. Also, in an the original workers as elder- in the 19th century. exaggerated report, he stated ly men. Also, Roseline Peck, Whitford was not only that the mosquitoes were an original settler, had only present at the first wedding, huge, "a great many of which been dead six years when he was the groom, marrying weighed a pound." this was written. the widow Sarah Sayles at He also may have known the Teel home on the prairie First service in Baraboo some of the workers' descen- below the bluffs. Aswas indicated in the dants, who told the story. In Being a circuit rider was first paragraph of the article, any event, we know who the not an easy vocation. Despite young man was who came our mythical view of Amer- The first Christian service in upon the 2-year-old settle- ican religion in that century, the Baraboo Valley did not ment in 1841. His name was most people were not affiliat- occur until two years after the Rev. Thomas M. ed with any denomination, the first settlers arrived in Fullerton, a Methodist circuit and religious membership the area. Butterfield relates rider, and to him goes the was almost the exception. that "the Service was in the honor of preaching the first Crummer, an immigrant log cabin of William Hill, Christian service in the from Ireland, upon arriving which stood ten or fifteen BarabooValley, on Oct. 16, at Mineral Point for the con- rods east of what was then 1841. More on that later. version ceremony of Thomas known as Draper's Mill, both Fullerton, was greeted with a half a mile above the ford The circuit rider- the outcry of "'Here comes on the Baraboo River. The World Book describes the Methodist minister.' At circuit riders thus: "The cir- once there appeared on the cuit rider, or traveling scene a drunken, howling preacher, was often selected mob. Soon they threw stones because of his ability to and rolled empty whiskey 'exhort.' Rather than for his barrels into the street ... the religious training. But some- 1 5

Circuit riders were traveling preachers who performed many religious rites.

'The sermon was from 2 ley. None of them professed Corinthians 5:20, and then' Young Fullerton apparent- to be Christian except were 11 persons present ly passed muster, according Draper. After that my none of whom confessed to the account which begins . Christianity except Mr. . appointments were regularly this article, for he not only filled except once, when the Draper, who was a Baptist." helped with the work on the Mrs. Valentin B. Hill con- roads were impassable." dam, but one of the men took fim1 ed that the first sermon It is from this humble care of his horse, a signifi- was in her home by Thomas beginning thatthe First cant gesture of acceptance. Fullerton, in the winter of United Methodist Church of Fullerton was the first of 1841-42. Incidentally, herson Baraboo traces its origin and many circuit riders of many Ichabod B. Hill wasthe fir~t its claim to be the first denominations to visit the white child born in the val- Christian church in Baraboo. villages of Sauk County. ley, on Jan. 9. J 842. A brass plaque on a stone on· Their lot was hard, but one the southeast comer of they bore cheerfully. Now, Fullerton himself kept a Broadway and Fifth Avenue there are still areas where copious diary, and confirmed commemoratesthe location one minister or priest serves many years later, in an of its firstrough log building. several congregations as of address to the Old Settler's It seems likely that 24- old, with one big difference. Association, that "My first year-old Thomas Fullerton, They travel surfacedhigh- visit to Baraboo Mills was like young men in so many ways instead of Indian trails. October 5, 1841. Notice of my generations in history, Fullerton would be envious coming had not been given, sought to endow his exhorta-. of the easier lot of the travel- and we therefore had no tions and scripture quota- ing pastor of today. So would meeting. An old man, Dr. tions from his sermons with his pony. Draper, was some way inter- a patina of age and maturity ested in the mill, and it was and wisdom by growing a called Draper's Mill. He full beard on his youthful invited me to come and face. We do know, from a establish meetings there." photo which will appear in Fullerton then relates the the next article, that he still had the beard in the 1860s service mentioned above or 70s when the picture was saying it "was certainly the taken. opening of the Gospel for the first time in the Baraboo val- 1 6 Circuit riders once brought Christianity to the frontier

The preceding article told BOB moved to Snake Hollow, Wis., of the first Christian service DEWEL now called Potosi, being occu- in the Baraboo Valley, by the pied as a salesman. Rev. Thomas Fullerton. His He was licensed to efforts resulted in a small YESTERYEAR "exhort," or speak, and his Methodist Association, to ·REVISITED employer, one George which the First United Madiera, gave him a pony Methodist Church in and saddle and bridle "and Baraboo traces its beginning. · all you need besides, and go The rrapid growth of the with taxes and preferential in the name of the Lord." In settlement into a village and treatment. Their churches July 1841, he was licensed to the subsequent development are empty, compared to the preach, after five months of of a county government in vitality of worship in our exhorting. 1842 and statehood in 1848, country. Life was not easy for a cir- brought adherents of other cuit rider, whose c;harge usu- denominations to the cultur- Fullerton's challenge ally covered some 200 miles. ally and philosophically Establishing a church on In his first visit to the Sauk starved residents. The the rough frontier was not Prairie he found but one Baptist and Congregational an easy task, as young habitation on the trail groups were established in Thomas Fullerton learned betweenMineral Point and 1847, followed in 1851 by the when only11 people showed the prairie. There the home of Teel" Presbyterians. up for his first service. Some- and tavern "Father was the focal point for all The Episcopalians were how the group survived, activity, and the entire area close behind, arriving in though his ministries only south of the bluffs had but 1853, with the Wesleyan and occurred about every six Evangelical United Brethren 270 inhabitants in 1841, weeks. folks in the 1870s. The first including the colorful Count Catholic Mass was held once In later years Fullerton Haraszthy. a month in a hotel beginning was invited to return and . Fullerton's territory includ- in 1850, and in 1860 they speak at the Old Settlers' ed Muscoda, Blue Mounds, bought the original annual meeting, where his Honey Creek Mills, Sauk Congregational church, a remarks were preserved in Village and others, a 200- small red brick structure on print by historian Canfield. mile loop with virtually no the southwest corner of Oak Much of the rest of this arti- roads and few Indian trails. and Second Streets. , cle will describe Fullerton A temporary bridge built Many local churches were and his experiences, as typi- across Honey Creek in 1841 not established until the cal of the circuit riders of was welcome, since before middle of the 20th century, many of the denominations. that his pony had to swim and Baraboo now numbers Fullerton was a native of the creek while Fullerton at least 24 congregations. Christian County, Ky., and took his baggage across on a This wide range of devotion was born in 1817. Shortly log. With regard to the pony, was typical of the rest of the after his birth his mother Fullerton states that "some- U.S., where religion has became insane, and at age 17 times my pony concluded flourished thanks to the neu- his father was thrown from a that it was as easy for me to trality of the government horse and killed. A kind walk and carry my luggage and the Constitution. In con- Presbyterian family provided as it was for him to carry trast, most European govern- sustenance and religious that and me too." ments support one church inspiration, but at 19 he Fullerton found he was not 1 7

welcome in Lower Town, soon to be renamed Haraszthy after the count, and eventually named Sauk City. The Germans there "had little sympathy for our forms of religion." In 1842, a Congregational minister cameto Upper Town, now Prairie du Sac, to serve a Presbyterian church there, the ministries of those churches being interchange- able. He was the first perma- nent pastor of the village, and was supported by the often The Presbyterian Home ill. Rev. Missionary Society to the Thomas tune of $700 a year. Fuller- Fullerton, ton was only paid $100 a Following a.circuit year, and the Presbyterian his year in man allowed as how Fuller- rider, preached that charge, he the first Christian ton had room for improve- was assigned, ''far hence ment. sermon in the Baraboo to the gentiles, that is among Valley as a young man. This Fullerton writes at length the Chippewa Indians at the about the Teel homeon the picture shows him 30 years head of Lake Superior." His later. prairie, where Badger Army career, mostly in Wisconsin, Ammunition Plant is now spanned 40 years. The year located. He considered . he departed this area he friend, "I am at peace with Mother Teel as more than a married a girl from Fayette God and His Church. I am mother to him, saying "No and fathered six children. only waiting till my charge. poor itinerant minister ever Over the years, he served All is well." met with more generous hos- congregations in Fond du And so it was that pitality than I did at the Lac, Mineral Point, Hudson, Christianity came to the 'Methodist Tavern,' and my New Richmond, Mazomame, rougli and rugged settle- time there is among the most Brodhead, Prairie du Chien ments of the Wisconsin fron- cherished memories of my and Shullsburg. While in the tier, not with a flourish of life." Minneapolis area he also heavenly trumpets and gold In his year in our area served as register of the and jeweled robes, but in the Fullerton traveled some United States Land Office. way of its master riding into 3,500miles with his pony, Jerusalem - a plain man of often on foot, and preached Reverend moves on God on a pony. nearly 299 times to congre- By 1882, however, he was gations ranging from two destitute, the fate offar too Bob Dewel's column is a people to 30. He said the peo- many men of God in his weekly feaiure of the News ple were generally very poor, time, and went to live with a Republic. and newly married, but son in Iowa. He wrote to a exceedingly kind, for he was Talesfor the Sesquicentennial They don't make men like this anymore by Bob Dewel attests to his pres- he had given his name anc.J abruptly depart- ence in the settle- "A terror he was, with a character as ed for California. In his 20 years in that ment that became state, Count Haraszlhy allained considerable rude cmd as varied as the roughly rising Baraboo. talused hills and deep rock-lined ravines of prominence in the General Assembly and as the region of his adoption .. . while they assayer of the United States Mint in San The Prairie Francisco. He also had agricultural pursuits, lasted, his tantrums struck fear to the timid AristocraJ members of the little colony ... Abe pos- particularly in the growth of grapes using The story of Chinese laborers. One wonders if he was the sessed an open-hearted generosity and a Count Haraszthy is father of the California wine industry. cerrain rude sense of justice - (yet)his wild really a story of In 1848, Haraszthy left for Nicaragua, outbursts of lemper shocked the communi- Sauk Prairie rather ty." where his promotional talents surraced. than of Baraboo. Cole in his "Standard History of Sauk However, the Count However in 1849, he disappeared forever, County" has several pages devoted to Abe did play a major role perhaps drowning while exploring the Wood, including the above quotations. Cole in the ·selection of unknown areas of that country. astutely observed that "men sometimes Baraboo as the His village of Haraszthy later became seem to renect in a remarkable degree the County Seat, and he known as Westfield, and finally as Sauk allributes or their surroundings," listing the even opened a store City . . steely 4uartzile bluffs as a corollary as well here in the new capi- as the wild nature or the largely unexplored · tal of the county in Observations area or Sauk County in the 1840s. Abe the 1840s. It is hard to picture the courtly and Wood was on the commitlce that explored A previous article refined Count exploring the unknown areas the rough countryside of Sauk County and told of the commit- of Sauk County in the company of the selected the BarabooRiver rapids area as the tee of six men. who impulsive and barely civilized Abe Wood, locntion or the new county scat. considered shooting when they selected Baraboo as the site for Wood is reported lo have been blue-eyed the dog for food the .county seat in 1844.·The Count was dri- and red haired, six feet tall, with an unusual- while exploring the ven by his resentment of rival Prairie du Sac, ly large head and six toes on one foot. He unknown wilds of chosen as the first county seat over the vil- wore pantaloons patched so often that the the county. The lage named after himself. It is hard lo think pant legs had been "amputated above the From "Abe Wood' by Cole Count was a mem- of the untutored Abe Wood as a land specu- patrh and sewed in place again," with the Abe Wood ber of that party, lator for the Baraboo Rapids area, but he, patch on the back or the knee . Some ques- along with Abe too, helped in making the choice. tionec.J whether he was coming or going, but They were trying to leave the stricken Wood and historian Canfield. Because of the Yet these two men, accompanied by sur- not to his face! man with a very reluctant landlord when importance of his presence. we include the Early in life this Kentucky-born woods- they saw that the steamboat was pulling Count as one of the true frontier characters veyor-historian Canfield and three other .. men (and a nervous dog) mac.le the selection, man came to Wisconsin, locating at the away without sounding the bell. Dumping . of the Baraboo area. Portage Fort area, where he kept a grog the poor sick man on the landlord's· A refugee from Hungary following the perhaps because or the beautiful setting in shop. When he killed a Pawnee Indian due doorstep. the Baraboo Rushers swam to the failure of the democratic revolution led by the Baraboo River valley. The deal was to some dispute. the uproar that followed boat anc.l commandeered iL Louis Kossuth, the Count swept into the cemented when Preston Brigham, a resident was silenced by his marriage, later solem- With a nourish of his tomahawk, Abe Sauk Prairie in July, 1840, and quickly of Sumpter township rather than of Baraboo, nized by Ehcn Peck, lo a Native American assumed control or the steamboat, crying, became a respected civic leader and promot- provided "Withhis own money" the cash to woman from the Madison settlement. She "The Baraboo Rushers are not to be trifled er. He was known lo Rev. Thomas Fullerton, purchase the land now known as downtown already had a hnlf-grown daughter, and in with," and relinquishing control only when however, as rather pretentious and erratic, Baraboo. ll was he who gave the area its first 1837 they produced a girl. In 1839 they the boat neared St. Lnuis. but popular. name, Adams . . drifted into the Baraboo Rapids area as its Eventually Wood's Indian wife and her At -various times Harasz.thy operated a Both Wood and Haraszthy were gone in a first settler, though Wallace Rowan and first child departed, leaving Wood's child ferry, a steamboat. dairy, pig and sheep decade, .one to his final resting place in an Eben and Roseline Peck should perhaps Margaret with him. Because of his violent farms, as well as stores in Baraboo and the unmarked grave, and the other. lo greater share that distinction. reputation, Margaret was given special con- Sauk Prairie area. Actually; his settlement giory in Califomia, followed by disappear- Abe Wood's stonny personality and sideration by the other settlers. was modestly named Haraszthy after him- ance in a foreign county. Only Brigham, fea- great physical strength dominated the more Later, in Abe's absence and while still a self in what is now Sauk City, and was sur- tured in an earlier article in "The Benefac- timid members of the growing settlement. teenager, Margaret was married to Charles veyed at the time by Canfield. tors of Baraboo," lived out his years in our Historian Canfield felt Abe's wrath after a W. Perry of Milton. Abe was so incensed In 1844 he promoted his village of area, serving in numerous.county offices. perceived slight al a community picnic at that he shut his son-in-law up for a period of Haraszthy to be the county seat, but Prairie Unmentioned so far the other mem- Skillet Creek. Canfield eluded Wood at the time, but eventually relented and the trem- du Sac won the election. Its honor was are bers of the selection committee which Eben Peck cabin, so Abe in his anger leaped bling groom was freed. short-lived, for the Count, defeated in pro- upon the Peck dining table and "kicked the Shortly after this, Abe fell from a horse- moting his village, joined and perhaps even selected the new county seat; Canfield's cups and plates right and left to destruction." drawn wagon and after five weeks of agony formed the committee which_ selected the "Sketches of Sauk County" affords him Apparently the Pecks did not challenge him. died from a head _injury His burial place in Baraboo Rapids as the county seat, as_ some recognition. Other less colorful mem- Al another time, Wood and three com- Albion did not a receive a marker, and its reported in a previous article. bers of the group of six were Edmund panions took passage on a :Mississippi location is now unknown. Wood, however, ' -Despite his frontier surroundings, the Rendtorff of Sauk City, and Thomas steamboat, and a crewman came down with . lefta lasting impression on the settlement he flamboyant aristocrat wore a stovepipe hat Remington and Levi Moore. You will find the dreaded cholera. When no one else on founded, and it was not all bad;: He loved _and prowled the forest wearing "a green silk the latter two names on streets in Baraboo. the boat would assist in putting the unfortu- children, and also on occasion dispensed hunting shirt wilh. a wide silken sash of However, nowhere in Baraboo will you natc man ashore, Abe thundered, "Where is rough but fair justiceon his follow seulers. -flaming red!" find an Abe Wood street, a Haraszthy Park a blanket, the Baraboo Rushers will take His strong physical attributes and overpow- Unaccountably, on Christ_mas Day of or a Brigham building. Are we failing to him ashore. We 're not afraid of man or the ering personality dominated the settlement, 1848, the Count and his wife and- six chil- honor our founders in the coming sesqui- dcvil, much less a gripe in the stomach." but to this day only a plaque in Ochsner Park dren pulled up stakes in the village to which centennial-plus-10-year aanniversary? 20

Frontier justice among Too often we have have a glori- BOB fied view of the early settlers on the American frontier, and forget DEWEL that Baraboo too was once an outpost on the frontier in the men YESTERYEAR 1840s and early 1850s. REVISITED The territory north and west of the Wisconsin River had only recently been opened up to set- tlers from the young United The duel States, then only 50 tumultuous As in all cultu.res, disputes and years old. This followed the often arose in the frontier days, unfortunateBlack Hawk War, of and a court system of sorts was which Sauk County had a part. organized locally. Sometimes, Life on the frontier called for though, the judges abandoned hard work and self-reliance, and legal protocol and applied a dose boys also common sense. It also of common sense as they saw it, attracted the boisterous and rightly or wrongly. untamed element who had failed Such was the case when a dis- to fit into the more decorous pute arose between Archibald Eastern c;oast society. Barker and Captain Finley.This Baraboo had its share of these was the first law suit in Sauk a dead man' and blazed away characters, already discussed in County, and the Justice of the with both barrels of his old shot our recent "Highlights of Peace was D.C. Barry. gun." Captain Finley, thinking Baraboo History" booklet, Continuing disputes between the he had been shot, cried out "oh" untamed men like Abe Wood and two men had culminated in the but in a little while "saw the adventurers like Count lawsuit, as related by Harry joke, and the matter was settled Haraszthy. It also had its Ellsworth Cole in his "History of over a bottle of whiskey." upright citizens like Preston Sauk County." Cole writes: It might be noted that there Brigham and Albert Ochsner as "After hearing their jangling seem to have been no lawyers discussed in "The Benefactorsof until he got tired of it, (Barry) present at this rendering of fron- Baraboo" booklet in 1987. proposed ... that Finley and tier law! Barker Street in Unfortunately it is often the Barker fight it out and not both- Baraboo may be named after Archibald Barker, or perhaps boisterous and untamedwho er him; that he had a couple of make the history books. Witness pistols made out of a gun barrel after an attorney, John Barker. Abe Wood's notoriety compared by Hosey King that would make to that of his partner and co- good dueling pistols." Another famous duel founder of Baraboo, Wallace Apparently there was We may be surprised that Rowan. Rowan probably provid- favoritism on the part of Judge there was a duel in the Baraboo ed stability to t he wild Abe Barry, for "he gave Barker a area at this time, but the local Wood, but Rowan was buried knowing wink." Barker insisted duel occurred only 40 years after unceremoniously somewhere in on his old shot gun. Barry and the most famous duel in the present residential area of Levi Moore, a prominent citizen, American history, that between West Baraboo in an unmarked were to be the seconds, but they Al exander Hamilton and Aaron grave, "forty rods northwest of loaded the guns with powder Burr in 1804. Imagine this scenario if you the dam" in 1846. Unlike Wood only, no balls! we know little of Rowan's life in Cole continues: "At the word can: It is 1993, and immedi ate Baraboo. 'whell and fire' Barker quickly past Vice President Dan Qu ayle wheeled and hallood out 'you are has challenged Secretary of the 21

. CONTRIBUTED The first courthouse in Baraboo, located about where the Al. Ringling Theatre is today. .

Treasury Lloyd Bentsen to a duel, the result of years of politi- c al differences. Secretary Bentsen, his honor not to be tar- At any rate, we are thankful nished, accepts the challenge. It that Quayle and Bentsen did not is understood that a manly engage in a duel ,unacceptable appearance at the duel is the today but still acceptable' at the real requirement, and that the time of the Baraboo duel! opponents may suddenly become . bad marksmen that day. Their Rowan and the kiss honor assuaged, the duel is over We mentioned above the rel a- and they retwn to public life. tive anonymity of Wallace Such was riot the case in 1804 Rowan, but there is one story as far as Burr was concerned about him that is of interest. It Like Quayle, he too was a former seemsthat he had two sons who, vice president. He, instead of in brotherly fashion, had Jefferson, could well have been engaged in a dispute with each our third president after a series other which had led to blows. of tie votes in Congress but Rowan "happened to witness Hamilton, a former secretary of .the altercation. He stepped in the treasury, had reluctantly between them, took each by the thrown his support to Jefferson collar, and mildly walked them despite their political differences! into the house," relates Cole. Note the similarities in the Quelling their protestations of offices Quayle and Burr had innocence and righteousness, he put one on each side of the room held, on the one hand 1 and the offices that Bentsen and and assembled his rather large Hamilton held. family. He then "told the boys to meet halfway and kiss, with At any rate,Burr wassmarting their heads up and pleasant." from . derogatoryremarks by. Rowan, unsatisfied with a Hamilton, and aimed to kill. ·surly performance, had the oscu- Hamiltondied in a few days. He latory encounter repeated, and mightwell have been president the greater compliance by the instead of Madison, following boys settled the matter. Jefferson's two terms. This would .Such was frontier justice have changed the course of among men and boys. American history, for unlike Jefferson, a man of the people Hamilton espoused the aristocra- cy and his governing style would have favored therich and power- ful. This. is a continuing struggle mAmenca! 22 How settlers invoked frontier justice

"Theenraged settlers fol- Baraboo's early settlers lowed him finally to Sauk, had made their claims under BOB wherehehad taken.refuge, what they thought were DEWEL takinghim from his bed one those rules. They were stormy night and forcing him angered to learn that the to begin with them, on foot, a government had now pro- YESTERYEAR return journey to Baraboo. claimed those lands as for RE YI SITED On the way, after repeated sale "on the 20th of threats of hanging, they November next, without giv- rolled him in a mud puddle,· ing the usual notice of six and that brought him to months, as has always been Despite the bravado, by terms." . done, thereby denying the late summer 1847 some of The circumstances leading settlers of timely notice." the settlers' lands had been to the above action are not claimed by and assigned by all that different from the the government to others scams which are attempted Claimant's Association notably the lands of Roseline un all of us today. The differ- Peck. On Aug. 10 the ence is that while we have Thus read the.proclama- Claimants Societymet at a access to an array of govern- tion of the Baraboo picnic table in a grove, and mental agencies to protect us Claimants Association, was addressed by the ever- or go to bat for us, the set- organized on Sept. 7, 1846, present Count Haraszthy. tlers had no ready access to and chaired by Alexander The resolutions which were the law, and the resulting Crawford. The matter was drafted specifically named compromise was called fron- serious, for it appeared that local residents Chauncey tier justice. Even when the lands occupied for years by Brown, a man named law was present, the settlers early settlers such as . Esterbrook, and Simeon had a way of deciding things, Roseline andEben Peck, and Crandall. as a U.S. marshal learned cleared and improved·over during the sawlog war in those years, could be taken It stated that "as Chauncey Reedsburg. from them by a stranger, or Brown has chosen to seize Here then is a story of how even a friend. upon and enter lands that justice was meted out in The proclamation contin- embracing all the improve- early Baraboo in 184 7-but ued, "it is unanimously ments of widow Peck, it is. the bad guy eventually won! resolved that we will be in resolved that we will defend readiness to·protect each and protect each·other that Land claims other in our respective we will prevent any andall All of the western lands.in claims to the utmost of our those days were originally power." Nearly all local set-. owned by the U.S. govern- tlers signed, including the ment, which in turn allowed irascible Abe Wood, historian its citizens to explore and Harvey Canfield, and some mark out claims on parcels 56 other men. All signatures of land under most circum-· are male. Missing is the stances. name of Eben Peck, Roseline's husband, who may have already left for California and possible death. 23 ing, rolled in a mud pud- in entering lands (claiming ing possession dle, and returned to them) as the others had. In of the lands Baraboo. order to secure herself a thus He is probably home, she borrowed rnoney entered by lucky that they at fifty percent interest and Chauncey did not think of purchased an eighty acre tarring and piece." Roseline feathering him, Peck a common The Browns punish- Chauncey Brown seems to _. ment have remained in the area atthe despite the indignity he had suffered at the hands of the irate Claimants. He had two sons, William and George, and they appear to have claimed the water power in the area of what is now the Baraboo business district south of the river. Indeed, this must have been the Brown family who founded the viJlage there, which took the name of Baraboo. There \ ~ were a few Jots on the north . .. ,. . . . side of the river also...... In improving the grist mill, Brown Jr., one Ester:brook ,' time. George was killed when a and Simeon Crandall." It was Brown who had timber fell on hlm, and his The resolution concluded claimed Roseline Peck's land, estate was administered by ominously that the and atthis point he deemed his father, Chauncey. There Claimants Society would it wise to deed the land back seems to have been lingering "use our best endeavors to to her. This was done by the animosity toward the punish any person or agent entire party returning to the Browns, for Swisher, in of such person who shall Sauk villages, where the speaking of a fire that attempt to take possession of deed back to here was com- destroyed the grist mill, says, or improve such claims." pleted. Somehow she had to "myself and a few others Strong talk indeed! pay some money in the bar- were fully satisfied in our gain. . own minds that it was the Taking action Does it sound like frontier work of an incendiary, and Bella French Swisher, in justice triumphed here? who he was." An enemy of "American Sketch Book", Read on: ''The matter did not Brown? Her secret is not reports that at that point it end here. The deed, having revealed. was decided to force Simeon been obtained by force, would Even the venerable H arvey Crandall to listen to the reso- not stand in law, and by tak- Canfield was subjected to an lution, and he was carried to ing the matter into the attempted claim jump. the spot and lain on thepic- co urts, Brown won the case. Someone erected a building nic table. He attempted to "Nor was this all. The on his cl aim, but the escape, "and would have money whjch was paid Claimants Society is said to done so had not an enthusi- (Brown) for the land was have quickly torn it down astic dog who had the never returned (to Roseline), and burned it. Swisher says thoughts of the settlers at that the official (who held it that wi th a few exceptions, heart, seized and detained for safekeepingkept it. The the Society was generally him." Crandall then relented law suit was in court fi ve victorio us, even "though the and made a satisfactory set- yearsand cost Mrs. Peck law was not on their side." tlement with the original several hundreds of dollars. landowners. Besides al l this, not being Other villages Chauncey Brown had fl ed able Lo prove herhusband's Canfield established the toSauk Prairie, and it·was-·· death(Ebcn··was at the time villaageof Lyons, now known . he that was taken from his reported massacredon the asWest Baraboo, in 1846. At bed, as told in paragraph wayto California), shedid t hat time the vi llage of one, threatened with hang- not havethe same advantage Adams (now Baraboo), could 24

The widow Peck hardly be called a village, It seems that the one per- even though it had a some- son who suffered the most what precarious bold on the from claim jumping was connty seat and a minimal Roseline Peck. She was the frame building for the pur- first woman to enter the pose. Canfield, a surveyor, BarabooRiver valley, arriv- felt that the site to the west ing with her husband about was a more likely spot for a the same time that Abe village to arise, and laid out Wood and Wallace Rowan Lyons with great hopes. came upon the scene.Wood The central square was . is generally regarded asthe named after DeWitt Clinton, fonnder of Baraboo, or at with whom he had worked least the first resident. on the Erie Canal. Lyons Within 10 years or soafter fared better than did their arrival, Roseline had Manchester, a proposed vil- outlasted Rowan and Wood lage in the area near the and her husband, and is present sewage disposal regarded by some as the real plant. Another part of pres- fonnder of Baraboo. Indeed ent Baraboo seems to have she lived in the area for been laid out as Litchfield. some 60 years, until her Money could be made in death in 1899. Roseline .those days by land specula- Street is named after her. tors, who platted out a myth- She was a plucky woman ical village and publicized it, to have outlasted somany sometimesdeceptively, to assaults onher .squatter's prospective settlers from the claim,and.became highly. east. regarded in the community for compassionate care of sick individuals. Presco Fax356-2866T he BarabooSun Thursday, July 24, 1997 Page 11 The Prescott BrighamCounty Building? By.r.Bob .ewel '. thal Bri gham was an early and devotes several pages tu Brigham as "withhis own money, and deed- enthusiastic c iti7.en of Baraboo, in "Onlyin Sumpter." Brigham left cd it to the County.' ' Later , A recent article in the Sun but the fact is that he didn't even no will, but a modest estate went to Bullerfield corroborates lhe story. about the Warner MemorialRoad live in Baraboo,but in the Town his son and daughter. Therecords ll seems likely that Brigham wrote briefly mentioned a .rescott of Sumpter southof the bluffs! arc preserved in the Sauk County off the debt, for the time is too Brigham as t1 prominent Baraboo Actually, the first name of the HistoricalSociety. short for the County to organize benefactor, without explanation. village surrounding the new and raise taxes, nor would No one has asked, sowe decidedit courthouse square was not Canfield, publishingat the time, waslime ro write of him. Baraboo. Butterfield reports: "All these years dare to misrepresent the facts. ''The County C ommiss io ners until his death, Besides, they eve n let Prescott .. The Prescott* Brigham County plattedit into a villag and called Brigham name the town! Building." it Adams,in considerationof Mr. Preston Brigham But there is another interesting That is what this author suggest- Brigham's high regard for the remained a loyal tum to this story, and th is fact is edthey shouldname lhc newcoun- renowned Massachusetts fami ly certain.On 11 - 16-47, Sauk County tyy bui ld in g on the square in of lhat name." This refers to our booster of Baraboo sold lols 1,2, 11 , and 12 to Prescott Baraboo.I even sent a neatl y com- second and sixthPresidents. Brigham. These arc the very lots posed proposal to the County Thesewere heady times in the and Sauk County." now occupied by lhc new county Board . little settlcmenls on the prairie. building! If lhere arc ghostsin the Their lackof responsewas deaf- Wis onsin was not ycl a state. Unfortunate ly there is one little new building, we'll know who it ening; only one member even The questio n of whe re to locate hitch in Canfield's story! A study is , won't we? commented on the idea. I have to the county seat o f the fledg ling o f official records shows an inden- No, the county building will said quartersection(nowt e court- admit that deep in my heart I knew county had preoccupied the early ture to Brigham on 12-31-46 for never be known as the Prescott ho use square in downto wn the proposal wouldn'tbe accepted. settlers. Disputes in the Sauk- $200 withinterest at 12 percent for 13ri gham courthouse annex. The Baraboo) in his name with his own Aftter all, the name Prescottton Prairie communities led to 18 months. Hut it also shows, on courthouse square will never be money, there bei ng no funds in the Brigham docs not often fall from appointment o f a commissinn lo 11-23-46, a mortgage already for known as Brigham square. But a treasury, and subsequently deeded the lips o f Sauk County residents scout out the unoccupiednorthern $400. The latter sum was a huge plaque some where would be nice. it lo the county." these clays. But there were reasons part of the area. Theirexr>erienees, amount of money on the frontier. 111c quotation is from Canfield , for mysuggestion. and subsequent battles over the In those days customers at Sources of information: "Outline Sketches of Sauk location. arc a story in themselves, Drigham's Inn paid 25 cents for a That lack of name recognition ounty,'' 186 1, page 18 . Historian not to be told in this account for full dinner. so $400 represented a -H islorians Canfield, was notalways the case.Time was Canfield was a contemporary of lack of space. fortune. Butterfield,Cole,and Erhart when everyonein lhe young coun- Prescott Brigham, which gives the Suffice to say that Barahoo's Also, lhc Deed is from lhc Mueller. ty knew him personally. They story added veracity. The state- first resident , Ahe Wood, w as soon United States lo Sauk County, not -The Sauk Counly Historical knew hi m as the stagecoach jchu. ment is repeated by later h istorians incarceralcd for attempting to to nrigham. hut Lhe pial of thearea Society Museum Theyknew him as the proprietor of Butte rfield, Cole and the late shoot the land agent. That night is filed under an inn in the town of Sumpterand -.- -.. ... Erhart Mueller. Abe simply removed a floor board Brigham's name, asthe mail carrier.Theyalsoknew and dug hi s way under the walls of not the county's. In

*Prescott him as amusicianwho sang m the the ramshackle jail. Presbyterian choir in his native "Actually, the first Reedsburg challenged the loca- Massachusetts before he moved tion of the county· seat in 1852, here. name ofthe village with some help from the state leg- County also knew Prescott Sauk surrounding the new islature, but the effort failed. Soon Brigham as the first Register of the wooden courthouse burned, to Deeds, ancl as Judge of Probate. courthouse square be replaced by a somewhat more . Indeed, he was a Commissioner on was not Baraboo" elegant brick structure in 1856. It the first county board, the board too burned at the turnof the centu- which 150 years later declined lo ry, and was replaced by the hand- recognize him! Canfield continues: "The some classical courthouse which Perhaps the board cannot be County Commissioners plotted the still serves. blamed. The once familiar name in quarter section into a village plot. During all these years until his Illustrationco•Jrtesy of Sauk County would be awkward There were realized. from the sale death in 1862 at the age of 82, Sauk County Historical Society as the name of a building, and his of lots $4000. A fair sized court- PrescottBrigham remained a loyal The old court house time of recognition had Jong since house of wood, two stories high, booster of Baraboo and Sauk passed. and · a sham wooden jail (were County, serving in ·many capaci- -The Baraboo Carnegie Public But there is still another reason built) in April 1848. The court- ties. He died in his daughter's Library to recognize Brigham, for he made house was built on the north side home in the Town of Sumpter, -Judge James Karch a significant beneficial contribu- of Fourth street," apparently where respected for his years of service· -Sharon Dithmar, Sauk County !ion to our county. In April 1846, the Al. Ringling Theatre is now. to the area. The late Erhart Mueller Abstract and Title Preston Brigham "purchased the One might infer from the above

*Prescott 27 Prescott Brigham

See page. 12 28

his estate there. He remained in the Augostin Horoszthy, the village named Horaszthy (now Sauk City) Ubiquitous Count until Christmas Day, I 848. At this time Yesteryear Revisited he abruptly lleft for California. Wisconsin By Bob Dewel The Count apparently had a personality described in more than one Although we have mentioned article as restless and erratic. This proud Count Horaszthy frequently in other Hungarian nobleman was recalled in articles, a packet of material submitted 1925 by the Sauk City Journal as restless, by Fred Galley of Galley Studios, energetic, and self-contained, but with Portage, calls for a more complete a romantic disposition. He "flitted from examination of the life of this pioneer one undertaking to another with an Sauk City promoter. erratic abruptness that was really heroic. Actually the Count's career is so His courtly, dignified manner, aristocratic varied that some obituaries do not even manner, and lofty mean (mien) was mention his years in Sauk City. From his familiar to the older residents of the early career in Hungary to his eventual locality." prominence in California, followed by his These qualities account perhaps activity in Nicaragua, his life presents a for his remarkable accomplishments in fascinating story of which his time in Sauk Sauk County. He had a village platted, County, though significant, is only a and modestly called it Haraszthy. He small part of the narrative. was the first to plant hops in the county. Hungary For a time he had control of the We start at the beginning, about operation of a steamboat on the l 000 A.D., when according to one Wisconsin River, as well as a ferry boat. account, the Haraszthy forebearers An expert horseman, he adapted well to were Huns, uncivilized hordes from the frontier Wisconsin, becoming a trader steppes of Russia who overran much of and a hunter. Sauk City was not the Europe. Actually, the first Huns came only village he founded, for Roxbury, in 500 years before that, and by 1848 the Dane County, can make the same descendants were civilized and often claim. cultured individuals, as was the Count. Though there is little reference to As a young man he was Columbia County in the papers we important in Hungarian government, first have, the Historical Society there as one of the bodyguards of Emperor recognizes him as an important area Ferdinand, and eventually as private personality. Baraboo, however. has secretory to the Viceroy of Hungary. significant ties to the Count, who However, he fell in with the Hungarian seemed at times to be everywhere. He Freedom Fighter Louis Kossuth, and established a store in the river settlement when the rebellion failed in 1839, both called Baraboo Rapids, perhaps the first were forced to flee. store there, with Bamboo's first absentee Then, as now, the United States ownership. was the refuge for the disenchanted Perhaps his most significant and discontented, and the Count contribution to Sauk County was the brought a number of settlers with him, location of the county seat in Baraboo. settling first near Koshkonong, and then, Due to rivalries and obfuscation in 184 I, in what is now the Sauk City between the villages of Haraszthy and area. Prairie du Sac, described in an earlier In 1842 he obtained permission article, on ad hoc committee headed to return to Hungary to bring his wife and by the Count explored the largely family to the area, but hod to abandon unsettled lands north and west of the 29

Sauk area, and designated Baraboo as the preferred location for the new county seat. Among those also serving on the committee were historian Canfield and Baraboo's erratic founder, Abe Wood. California and Nicaragua Count Haraszthy's importance is illustrated by several references to him on the Web (Google-Haraszthy) . In California he was quickly elected Sheriff of San Diego, but it was his work with viniculture that distinguished his career there as founder of the California wine industry. He served in several capacities as a public official, including Superintendent of the San Francisco mint, and as a state Assemblyman. He also was a founder of the San Diego Masonic Lodge. In the l860's he became interested in the Central American nation of Nicaragua, spending considerable time there engaged in a sugar plantation. According to several reports, he met his death in 1869 by falling into a stream and being devoured by an alligator. It was a violent end to the restless but productive life of an erratic but inspired man.

PORTAGE Historical Society 30

Claim Jumper Cheats Widow Pec k Yesteryear Revisited By Bob Dewel

Here's the scenario for this story: It is 1847, and women not only cannot vote, they have no property rights. The husband of a pioneer Baraboo lady has disappeared, leaving her status as a married woman in question. Although she and her husband had previously staked claims to property on the grounds above the Baraboo Rapids, the claim is being "jumped" by an unscrupulous claim jumper. What's more, the primitive state legal system is supporting the claim jumperto the distress of the abandoned if not widowed lady. What is she to do? Well . It is all true, and it happened in the frontier settlement called Baraboo Rapids then. We 've touched on this story before, but recently it was carefully researched and chronologically explained by none other than our newly reelected State Assembly person, Cheryl Albers, as part of a law school graduation requirement. The 50 page essay is highly documented, including a few minor references to the articles by this writer, for which we thank her. 31

Roseline Peck There is a lot to this story, and we may not get it all in one article but let's begin with Eben and Rosaline Peck, the first married couple to settle in Baraboo Rapids. They had a son, Victor, and a baby daughter, Victoria, and like all early arrivals in America's western expansion,, they "staked a claim" to some land. This seemed to be in accordance with the laws and customs of the times. They developed the property, clearing their 80 acres of land for a cabin and adjacent gardens, and lived there for seven years. Rosaline did, anyway, but Eben, in 1845, left for California and the gold rush, never to be hear from again. Albers explains it best as follows: "Rosaline Peck lacked 'personhood' status. At the age of 39 Rosaline was husbandless but not exactly widowed; she had one young daughter to care for, though her son was almost an adult when her husband, Eben, left in 1845. Although she had been 'in-charge' of their public house operation for decades, Rosaline could not own real estate, nor could she make a will or transfer real estate to her heirs. When the government put her property on the market, she was unable to buy it. Her legal existence was merged with that of her husband, and she could not represent her own interests in court, and her husband was nowhere to be found." Chauncey Brown Jr. Enter the villian! Chauncy Brown Jr. was the son of an apparently respected local promoter. His father, Chauncy Sr., developed much of what is now Baraboo's south side, even including property near the corner of Ash and Water streets on the north side of the river. Young Brown realized that rosaline's staking a claim was not legally sufficient for ownership of a piece of land. Though it was rare, filing a legal claim to an early pioneer's staked property did happen, and the Widow (?) Peck seemed a likely target. The year was 1847, and others in the community who had staked claims became nervous, partly because of their precarious legal status with regard to their land, but also because of the high regard in which Rosaline Peckwas held. She was for many years the "welcome wagon" of those days to strangers and newcomers, sheltering them in her own home for a time. She also was the local medical authority, with various salves and ointments and lotions and other remedies. Partly out of that regard, but perhaps more for their won protection, a Claimants Association was formed. How the association took the law into its own hands, to no avail. Js described in the next article, which will follow in a future issue. 32

the local signers included such early Claimants Association pioneer names as Levi Moore, and Fights Injustice in 1847 Canfield and Luther Peck-apparently Yesteryear Revisited no relation to Rosaline. The Vice-President was the By Bob Dewel irrepressible Abe Wood, generally recognized as the founder of what As related in the previous article became Baraboo. This is somewhat in about Baraboo in 1847, Rosaline Peck dispute, since the first settlement to bear was husband-less and had no property than name was that of Chauncey Brown rights, even to the land they had staked Sr., mostly on the south side of the river, out seven years previously. They had whereas Abe was in the western part of built a cabin and developed their 80 what is now Baraboo, unincorporated acres of land, but now their claim was then. being "jumped" by Chauncey Brown, Jr. The stage for further Other early residents in the confrontation was set in Moy, 1847. settlement were alarmed, mot only Albers reports that Chauncey Brown Jr. because of the injustice to the Widow "purchased from the United States the Peck, but because some of them also Sauk County property which Rosaline had no real claim to their property other (and her missing husband Eben) hod than that they had "staked a claim" a made improvement on valued at $300 few years before. to $500", a large sum in those days. As a result, a Claimants Brown Jr. "received a copy of the deed Association was formed with some 56 - from the register of land office in Mineral signatures, even including that of Point." Chauncey Brown Jr's father, also a This called for another resident. Another leader was the declaration from the local citizens, irrepressible Count Haraszthy of the again with several "whereas'." They village of Haraszthy, now Sauk City. stated that "it is resolved that we will As was explained in the first defend and protect each other, that we article, Assembly person Cheryl Albers will prevent any and all persons from recently researched the matter deeply, taking possession of the lands thus and presented a discussion of it entered by Chauncey Brown Jr., and amounting to some fifty pages. We punish any person or agent of such thank her for approving our plan to persons who shall attempt to take review this interesting part of our early possession of or improve such claims." history. The document is too long to Rosaline's land was apparently reprint, but in surprisingly correct located in the general neighborhood of legalese of the day, and after several the present pumping station and "Whereas', the document stated the Manchester Road, on the south side of case for the settlers. They claimed that the river, lands later occupied by the "for the purpose of securing to ourselves Manchester Mill. This is known as the our just rights, and to protect our lower oxbow area, referring to the loop improvements, it is unanimously resolved or bend in the river at that point. that we will be in readiness to protect At about this same time, each other in our respective claims to Chauncey Jr.'s brother, George, hired a the utmost of our power." surveyor to plat some thirty lots adjacent They stated that a claim should to and west and north of the Peck claim. consist of "not more than 320 acres, in This was a legitimate claim apparently, two legal subdivisions, for the purpose of and he named the area "Baraboo". It farms or settlement only, and not for included a few lots on the north side of speculations." In addition to the Count, 33

Abe Wood, The First Settler

the river. at the present junction of Ash and Water streets. There is no proof that Gorge Brown was in a conspiracy with Chauncey Jr., though the proximity of their claims makes one wonder. The remaining citizens did more than wonder, taking their ire out on Chauncey Jr. in the manner of men in a frontier settlement. Their rather violent methods will be reported in the final installment of this review. 34

Claimants Strike, Supreme Court Strikes Back Yesteryear Revisited By Bob Dewel

In this the third and final {finally!) episode of early Baraboo and its claim stake residents, we write of the rough nature of frontier justice, and its fate in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. Readers will recall the two previous articles in which the Widow Peck, in an age when women had no property rights, had her 7 year old cabin and 80 developed acres "jumped" or legally claimed, by Chauncey Brown Jr., the villain in our story. State Representative Cheryl Albers has researched the matter in depth, and a copy of her research is available at the Sauk County Historical Society for those who want more details. As she reported, a Claimants Association had been formed by the leading local citizenry, and they were incensed at Brown's efforts to claim by legalistic means the widows property as his own. The Claimants Act As reported in Cole's Standard History of Sauk County, and condensed by Albers, November 23, 1847 was not one of Chauncey Brown Jr's better nights. Cole says that on that night Rosaline's brother-in- law Luther Peck, BCA President John Crawford, and others "illegally and with force ... dragged" Chauncey Brown Jr. from the Prairie Du Sac house/hotel of Marcus Warren "with nothing on but his shirt." He was "urged to make a deed to the widow Peck" of the land, although Brown Jr. "kept refusing." Subsequently 15/20 men took him "up the street", a threat was made to throw him in the river, but instead Brown Jr. "was rolled in the mud and snow up to three times." The thoroughly chilled Brown was then taken to Fife's Tavern where notary public Cyrus Leland awaited, "with deed ready-prepared to be executed." Luther Peck offered $100, and Brown stood mute but apparently in acceptance of the deed. Brown was now allowed to leave the tavern, and apparently never returned to claim the $100. It now being midnight, the group left and the tavern closed for the night, after one of its more unusual activities. In an earlier article (Vol. I, page 21), we report a similar application of frontier justice to one Simeon Crandall, as reported by Belle Swisher in an early account. It involves a picnic table and a dog. Albers research apparently found little of note on this or other matters in the ensuing three years, a notable exception being the accidental death of Chauncey Jr's brother George while putting up an addition to the mill. The Legislature acts There were, however, two important events in 1859. The first was the action of the state legislature granting women sole ownership rights in real estate, rent issues, and profits. This was of little consolation to Rosaline Peck, for that same year Chauncey Brown Jr. filed suit against her and Abraham (Abe) Wood seeking to void the 1847 deed, due to Brown's allegation of "duress, force, and fraud" and other allegations. The matter dragged on until 1853, when the Circuit Court ordered the deed null and void. Albers reports that Rosaline was ordered to "quiet title and deliver up the property to Brown Jr.". To make matters worse, the State Supreme Court upheld in the ruling in December, 1853. The action of the Claimants Association was declared to be "a case of the most lawless violence and mistreatment." Brown was lightly reprimanded for claim jumping when other land was available. Brown takes possession By 1855 Rosaline had sold her cows, and borrowed money at 50.interest (!) to purchase other property. Rosaline had not suffered the last of her troubles even yet, for 35

following a break in the Bassett and Pratt dam. William Brown took charge and pulled together 500 men to save the dam. They cut down timber to save what was left of the dam. Rosaline later stated that the stand of timber was hers. and that the timber cutting was done by "rich capitalists" who never even thanked her. Chauncey Brown Jr. died Dec 6, 1865 but Rosaline, having achieved the love and respect of the community, lived until 1899, passing away at the age of 91 , "a woman of some wealth". In her essay, Albers poses the question- who walked the high ground in this matter? Rosaline achieved respect and prominence in the village, "loved by all and hated by none ... willing to extend the hand of friendship, hospitality, and financial assistance to others." Albers says Brown is not afforded further mention by any of the early historians. Th is is the last of three articles which admittedly only skim the surface of Albers ' research. The Sauk County Historical Society has a copy of her 53 page research article for those who hunger for additional information. We again thank Representative Albers for making the material available for review.

Tarring and Feathering 36

year old son, Victor, who later grew up in Roseline Peck's Baraboo, Victor's son was Curry's father's first cousin, hence the family Descendants are connection. More on the Peck Numerous descendants in a moment. Here we learn for the first time Yesteryear Revisited about Abe Wood, later Baraboo's By Bob Dewer erratic settler and claimant as its first founder Abe was in charge of building Regular readers of Yesteryear a cabin for the Pecks in Madison, which Revisited will remember frequent was unfinished when they arrived but references to the troubled life of pioneer became sort of a boarding house and Baraboo woman Roseline Peck. We also probably tavern for the workmen. know how her Baraboo land claim was It was here that Roseline Peck jumped by Chauncey Brown. Now we gave birth to a girl on Sept. 14, 1837, the can report that she was the subject of first white child to be born in Madison. similar misdoings previously in the then The child was named Wisconsin Victoria very little village of Madison. Roseline Peck, and we have written about her has been pictured several times in and her first husband, Attorney N.W. previous articles Wheeler. She did not have children, but There is also much more to be her brother Victor did, and that is how learned from recent articles by Ross the Peck line was continued to this day. Curry of Wisconsin Dells, which Roseline's husband Eben served appeared previously in the Dells Events as justice of the peace in the little village newspaper. Curry was a long time staff of Madison, and we learn from Curry member there, and now writes well that Peck performed the marriage of documented historical items: He has Abe Wood and an Indian maid, the daughter of Chief DeKaury (Decorah). generously allowed us to add to our The wedding date was April 3, 1838. knowledge of Roseline and her sometimes tragic life. Actually, as we Eviction twice Frontier life seems fraught with shall see, Curry is related by marriage to the Peck descendants, and is on misdeeds, and Curry reports that. while in Madison, "After clearing 80 acres, occasion in touch with them. breaking sod, putting in fences Roseline in Madison buildings, and other improvements: It all began in Wisconsin's Judge Doty showed up and said he had pioneer days, when Roseline (Willard) sold them the wrong piece of land and Peck, wife of Eben Peck, both of they would have to move off." Vermont, arrived in Wisconsin in 1836. Regular readers will recall that a While running a boarding house in few years later, with Eben gone, Roseline Belmont in 1837 they were approached was also evicted form land in Baraboo _ by the Territorial Governor, Judge Doty. which she had developed similarly, and He convinced them to move to what again had to start over, this time without was to become Madison and provide a husband. Eben had left for Oregon similar services for the surveyors and and was never heard from again-- others who were building a capitol though some claim he was later located building there. and found to be remarried and with a Though expecting her second new family. child, Roseline traveled there from The Descendants Belmont, ridirig all day the second day We have chronicled Roseline's on an Indian pony, and camping in story in previous article, but now have wagons in a snow storm along the way. information on her descendants. It was Accompanying the Pecks was their 3 37

Roseline Peck's monument was cleaned and reset a couple ofyears agoby the folks at Walnut Hill Cemetery. Her daughter Victoria is buried beside her, as is her first husband N.W. Wheeler, whose monuments nearby.

her son Victor who married Elizabeth the Pecks as far back as Vermont, from Curry. Victor was for a time the owner of which Eben and Roseline emigrated. the Sauk County Democrat newspaper. Phillip is the great great grandson of They had a daughter Anna who later Roseline Peck. lived in Rock Springs, and a son, William Roseline would be proud to know Ross Peck. Curry says that there were of her extended family of descendants, many descendants of William, and the and we are appreciative that Curry has descendants "are scattered across shared the information with us. Curry Wisconsin and some out of state." writes that he is a seventh generation Sauk County resident, the first Curry's Ross Curry has had several arriving in 1845. Curry has produced contacts over the years with one of the several local area history books, descendants, Phillip Peck, his second available from him or on sale at Book cousin once removed (Curry's World. His books apparently sell better grandfather's sister married Victor Peck). than mine, which are for sale at Corner Phillip is a UW graduate and engineer on Wisconsin and the Village Booksmith! who w as employed for 30 years by General Electric, and he has researched 38

Old pictures show early Men·imac Ferries Yesteryear Revisited By Bob Dewel

The on-again, off-again saga of the Merrimac Ferry has occupied the local news for several weeks now. As of this writing, the ferry is not operating, but hopefully will be by the time this article is published. To be helpful to the ferry powers that be, we offer a short history of the ferry service, which has operated in Merrimac since 1847, some 156 years ago. Perhaps today it will be necessary to resort to the original manner of operation, without gasoline or diesel motors, and using the power of the river as described below. Chester Mattson was the first ferry operator, having been commissioned to establish both a ferry and a road. His name was honored in Baraboo recently when a new and very short spur road was constructed connecting Lake Street and Old Lake Road. It was named the Matt's Ferry Road. As was reported in more detail in an earlier Yesteryear Revisited article in 1999, no dam formed Lake Wisconsin in those days, but even so the Wisconsin River was a formidable obstacle to travel, and the ferry was very welcome. It was operated, somewhat as it is today, by connection to a cable. The cable was 1200 feet long even then, and was composed of three inch Manilla rope. Pollution free power was supplied by the rapidly flowing water pushing against the small ferry boat, which was held at nearly right angles to the current. The latter provided enough of a push to propel the boat forward, guided by the rope cable. The crossing is said to have required 20 minutes. According to Goe in "Many a Fine Harvest", the ferry was motorized in 1900 using kerosene for power. In 1924, Sauk and Columbia Counties took over joint operation, hence the name Colsac for the vessel. The Prairie do Sac dam was constructed in 1914, but the railroad bridge has been there since 1870. The ferry service outdates them both.

Goe, Many a Fine Harvest Credit: Carolyn Siberz The Ferry in about 1915 r--

-

A different day 41 The great Indian scare

The incongruity ofthe.cul- "Baraboo is in flames, and tures led tonuch fear - the Indians are massacring among the settlersespecially. of 1844 all .the people." It was a-situat10n ripe for Such was the cry of a serious misunderstandings, aspen, .and faltered.What panic-stricken settler, Mrs. andthat happened in 1844. should I do?' AgainI gave Shew, as she fled in her Both Butterfield in his the· advice Takecare of your- nightclothes to the Brewster "History of Sauk County" self,"' he said. home north of the bluffs. and Bella French Swisher in By this time Taylor had The cry was taken up by "The AmericanSketch Book" reached to lower part of the her sister-in-law, Mrs. relate the story, as told by prairie settlement, and he Brewster, who then came James Taylor, later of Spring and some other men then over the bluffs bare-footed Green. returned to the bluffs, where and out of breath to spread Swisher's acconnt was pub-. "There was terrible· confusion the alarm. Thus began the lished about 1875, and by this time ... Thomas Tabor great Indian scare of 1844, a Butterfield's shortly after- made provisions for his wife perfect example of how a ward, and the acconnts are to make her escape - in harmless encounter can be identical, with direct quotes some wagon, I think, to amplified into a crisis. from Taylor, who was present where they were thinking of when Mrs. Brewster arrived. making a place of defense." The treaty Butterfield probably copied Despite the somewhat infa- Swisher's account, but in The fort mous 1837 treaty relegating 1875 the story was already It developed that people all Native Americans toter- 30 years old, and perhaps were collecting at Uncle Bill ritories west of the embellished by time and Johnson's for self-protection, Mississippi, many of them retelling. - bringing old guns and pitch- had returned to their home- forksand "such treasures as land in Sauk and other coun- The scare they possessed." In all there ties. Like all returns home At any rate, as related in were about 150 people, with after an absence, things are the opening paragraph, the "the women and children not the same, and the panic-stricken Mrs. Brewster into the cellar and the men sparsely settled territory for- arrived, "having come over to stand battle." merly theirs now seemed, in the bluffs barefooted, bring- By early morning, with no their eyes, to teem with ing the news that old sign of the Indians, "we held white settlers from the East. Richard Clark had been a council of war, and conclud- In truth, things really had killed by the Indians, and the ed to send a scout to recon- changed, for the county 'savages' were coming this noiter the grounds in the . which had no white residents way," Taylor said. neighborhood of (supposedly in 1837 had some 13,614 Like Paul Revere only 79 deceased) Uncle Clark's souls by 1855. Baraboo's pop- years before, alarmed men house ... but not a soul dared ulation is not known, but it mounted steeds and rode to act as a scout except John was large enough to have through the countryside of Grey," who started out alone .. several saloons, since it was the fertile prairie below the After an hour and a half this same year, 1854, that bluffs, the prairie itself passed, a company of men the women of the town initi- named Sauk after an Indian headed. by David Baxter ated their whiskey war - tribe, to warn the populace. formed a scouting party to mentioned in .another article. The advice given was to look for him. In a mile they At any rate, it was an "take care of yourself ... wag- found him and heard his uneasy meld of cultures, with ons could be heard going story, after which a remark- the settlers wary of the every direction." able thing happened. Indians and their return, Taylor himself then went The scouting party put and the Indians curious to a neighboring farm, pro- spurs to their horses and about the settlers and anx- cured a pony, and made the rushed back, crying: "The ious for samples of new foods rounds of the neighborhood. Indians are upon us!" The and material goods, so unfa- When he told Philo Barber's women and children fled to miliar to their former way of brother the news, "The the cellar, and "stout hearts life. strong man trembled like an stood in anticipation." 42 "But from John Grey we learned the true story," Taylor reported. "He had Curiously, on another page Butterfield tells a slightly been to Uncle Clark's house. stopped at the home of a It w.as not burned and Uncle alteredstory He. quotes Mrs. Harrington, warning Taylor as gomg to a Ben Clark had no remembrance her of the impending mas- of being massacred. In fact, Johnsonfarm,, not Williams,. sacre in Baraboo. "But she Also, on the morningaft;er he had seen no Indians. concluded that if such was the scare, the assembled Baraboo slept peacefully, . the case, they would have men, "determined to have a undisturbed." The people dis- work enough for one night; smell of gunpowder if they persed, and by daylight the and she went to sleep again could not win any glory fort was empty! regardless of the warnings." .. . Theexplanation . . Taylor ends his story with this explanation:"It seems from what I ·can learn that Mrs. Brewster had started, barefoot, over the bluffs to Sauk Prairie on business, and had met an.Indian who had frightened her. Uncle Clark that day had been burning some brush-heaps, and the great smoke led Mrs. Brewster to believe that the house was burning. Her . imagination did the rest." Swisher, in her "American Sketch Book," adds that someone duringthe melee

. . ..

Pictured at top is a Native American delega- above in later years is "the fort" where fright- tion that · petitioned the govemor. Yellow ened settlers gathered during the great Indian Thunder appears in the lower right. Shown scare of 1844. 43

(and commanded by Taylor, amazement and consterna- who saidl .. . 'Make ready, tion which the Indians must aim, fire' ... and an old mus- have felt. One can imagine ket was fired. Since then Mr. two or three of their number Taylor has been known as gathered in the shadows as the General." the "fort" was developed at the Bill Johnson homestead, And the Indians? marveling at the confusion. It can be assumed that the Perhaps they wondered if alarms, midnight riders and they should rouse their rushing wagons did not Native American families, escape .the attentionofthe sincethe whiteman ·seemed Native Americans in:the to be acting as if the wdrld area, for even:among .the was corning to an end. If they strange invaders from the did so, a wise chief must . East, such goings-on in the have waved it off as another· night were not their normal crazy action of the unpre- manner of operation. dictable white man. One can imagine, then, the i .

UNCLE BILLY Johnson's , •. INDIAN S CARE O F 18 ,J4 44 A copycat and a farce

• BOB • • DEWEL in Sauk Pra1r1e YESTERYEAR REVISITED Quickly dressing the chil- dren, she and her brother As in -the previous incident and a roomer set out for the the year before, the Sauk settlements in the dead Winnebagos, as they were of night. They reached A called then, had unknowing- You'd think that the Indian Jameson's and urged him "to ly gone about theirbusiness. scare of 1844, described in alarm the neighbors, for the The problem of differing cul- the previous article, would people were all massacred at tures remained, but the les- have taught the settlers a Baraboo." . sons learned perhaps made . lesson, but on Aug. 13, 1845 Canfield says that the peo- . slow progress possible. a very similar incident took pleinv.olved were considered The settlers' fears werew not place in the Sauk Prairie .to betruthful, so "from house entirely groundless. Only 13 area, promoted by a Baraboo to house (Jameson) went, . , . years had elapsed since the monomaniac. and others went, and in a so-called Black Hawk War. A monomaniac is a person short time the whole settle- Originally defiant early in obsessed or pre-occupied ment was in a boil of excite- 1832, the.Indians were soon with one subject, to the point ment." in flight across Wisconsin of irrational behavior. We see and Sauk County, pursued it today in women's clinic The scene seems almost identical, except for location, by U. S. government troops. bombings and in the current Now, 13 years later, many postal worker and school to the scene the previous year in the bluffs area. Here had infiltrated back into the shootings. We also see copy- territory despite a rather catactions ·when a bomber or people headed for the Sauk villages, alarming others controversial tieaty, raising a shooter is "successful" in 'concerns among the settlers. his action, such as born b along the way, and even the area below Lower Town, now threats by those who want to The real altercations get into the act. called Sauk City, was routed out. Curiously, the real alterca- This was the case w,ith a Eventually "before daylight tions duringthese early Baraboo man, unnamed by times ·were not between Canfield in his "History of all Sauk was rendezvouzed NativeAmericansand white Sauk County," who created (sic) at Upper 'lbwn (Prairie settlers,but disagreements havoc in Sauk Prairie with du Sac)." Count Haraszthy among the settlers them- an Indian scare like that of was chosen captain, and selves. Mentioned in previ- the previous year, which had scouts were sent out, feeling ous articles was the saw-log involved Mrs. Shew and Mrs. their way to Baraboo. war in 1851 or 1852 between Brewster and the people in Meantime one person was Baraboo and Reedsburg, the bluffs. It is reported in wounded when the black- with the U.S. marshal detail in Belle French smith's gun went off by mis- detained in jailfor a time. Swisher's "American Sketch take. Also mentioned previously Book." The scouts, of course, found was the whiskey war of Baraboo inhabitants""at their 1854, in which Baraboo The alarm usual employment, and ladies were fined for invad- This person alerted his sis- entirely ignorant. of the ing local saloons and destroy- ter, who lived six miles north intense excitement" that had ing all alcoholic beverages. of the Sauk Prairie area, been created. The Sauk Prairie area with a claim that "the Curiously, it was not con- itself, in its early days, had Indians were burning the sidered to be a practical joke, houses and murdering the for "it was evident that the peopie at Baraboo Valley - intention was good and came that he saw the flames and from a monomaniac." heardshrieks from the peo- ple." 45 rent quesnon of taxation or express their thoughts and other compensation for thee an extended battle between growing land ownership of experiences. residents and river raftsmen tribal lands - future histori- Hence this poem by one Samuel Shaw, whose 17 vers- in which the lawyer for the ' ans can deal with this mat- latter had to flee to ter! es have been reduced to the Prairie du Sac to It appears, though, that the more essential ones for this avoid an unknown only Indian "uprisings" in story: and certainly unde- sired fate at the Indian War on Sauk hands of the local Prairie mob, armed with by Samuel Shaw cudgels. Butterfield says the German Good sir, attend residents were slow and hear a friend, to anger, but formi- chant forth a dable when the occa- measured ditty. sion required it. Droll things Ill tell which once The Winnebago befell As for the Indians, Around Sauk Prairie many had returned to City! their traditional hunting grounds in Sauk From Baraboo hills, County after their o'er rocks and rills, forced removal to Iowa Hard by the Devils and Minnesota. Among Lake, sir, them was Chief ' Yellow

Black Hawk

At dead of night, in sore affright, Ran men o'er bog and brake, sir. Sauk County were in the Thunder, who had to return imagination of one woman Without a gun, to Sauk twice but eventually owned a and in the troubled mind of a theyrun considerable acreage on man. and.tell a fearful story; County A just south of the Poem .Tbe scalpingknifewas tak- interstate highway. Like the Settlersin those. days had ing life, whites, he and others paid among them several people around lay corpses gory. taxes. of high educational back- The Winnebago, now called grounds. Since the frontier The news did spread, and Ho-Chunk, are now large wasalmost completely lack- roused from bed landowners, and employ mg m cultural opportunities A score of sturdy yoemen; more people in the casino say nothing of our modern ' Upon their feet and in the than ·any other industry in TV and its endless commer- street, the county. This writer is not cials, or of radio, or of motion To fight the Indian foeman. qualified to address the cur- pictures, those persons of educational quality often resortedto prose or poetry to 46

Through woods and rills, o'er rocks and hills From friends to friends the O'er prairie dell and fern, news extends, sir, And Parson raised a To Baraboo where owls broomstick; hoo, hoo, E'en aged dames caught Did go Sauk Prairie men, war-like flames, sir. While Satan twirled the drumstick. To seat of war they now repair, No Indians there were On moonlight green, there prowling; soon was seen One Peter Funk, that night A band of valiant freemen; lay drunk, Armed for the field with and raised a hideous howl- sword and shield, ing. And guns in moonlight gleaming. The which was heard by talking bird, In martial ire, with eyes of Who for his life did scrab- fire, ble; All ready at command, sir, On that dread night, in 'Tis right at first t;o know horrid fright, the worst, Did scare us with hisgab- Are Indians out in band, ble. sir, The public mind rejoicedto Then they propose where find sun arose No danger thence was To send and watch their pending, motion; The fright was bad, no The matter sift, ask Red fight they had, Menif The dread of carnage end- For fight they have a ing. notion? The clash of arms no more alarms, Blind peace smiles on our prairie; Far, far from strife, runs every life, Altho' our fortune vary. 47

warehouse for several days, hoping for Steamboats and a Davis to cool down. The Murder Murder in Sauk City When Davis appeared in town a Tales jfrom Earlier Days few days later with a double barreled By Bob Dewel shotgun, Millard obtained an old musket loaded with buck shot, but remained hidden in the warehouse, taking up a In many previous articles we position in a window. When Davis have written of murders and lynchings approached the warehouse, Millard involving Sauk County people in earlier took aim and shot him with six volleys, days. Now, in a clipping in the Southard five of which struck Davis in the breast, scrapbooks at the Sauk County Historical producing instant death. Society, we find another murder which Millard then went outside and many found justified, and for which the gave himself up to the law, now admitted murderer served only two belatedly ready to participate in the years before being pardoned! feud. He was put under guard in a small The story, by Robert Richards, hotel between the street and the river. was published on August 2, 1924, but Soon it was necessary to transfer him to concerned his memory of events in 1847, Baraboo, the procession including three when Richards was apparently in his militia men whom Richards says were teens. ft seems that among the county armed, oddly, with swords! At the foot residents was the "Hunter Davis" family, of the bluffs the militia men stopped at Davis being a hard drinking man from the Pabst tavern for beer. The sheriff and the general area of Honey Creek. He Milliard proceeded up the bluff road, also was a good hunter with a the latter being in handcuffs. reputation as a dead shot. On the way up, the wagon or Living in Sauk City was another buggy broke down, and the sheriff large and powerful man and operator could not fix it without help. No sword- of the livery stable, named Bill Millard. bearing militia being in sight, the sheriff Richards says of him "I doubt very much asked Millard "ifhe would promise not to if he ever fired a gun before the attempt to escape if he took off the shooting" though this is hard to believe handcuffs so he could help him." Millard about a man in those frontier days. The agreed, and soon they were back on Davis and Millard families were the way to Baraboo. The guards apparently on familiar terms, as Mrs. apparently never appeared after their Davis came to the Miflards one day, stop at the Pabst tavern. saying that Davis had been abusing her Millard's sentence was for five in his drunken state, and had threatened years at Waupon, but in two years he to kill her. She wanted them to come was pardoned. Richards says Millard home and stay with her that night, to learned to read and write in prison. which they agreed, Davis being in town Upon his return to Sauk City, he "sold and drunk. everything he owned, his son-in-law did What happened at the home is the same, also his brothers, and they left not stated, but the next day Davis Sauk and have never been heard from appeared in town with a rifle, since. " The fate of Mrs. Davis was not threatening to shoot Millard on sight. given. Millard disappeared for several days, but Steamboats and fistfights Davis would not relent in his threats, and Sauk City was a river town and a the local officials did nothing to deter frequent stopover for loggers and him in his proclaimed quest for murder. riverboat men. Richards recalls Richards says Millard hid in the Gilmore steamboats making regular runs to as far 48

Shipping on the Wis consin River

Sauk County Historical Society Itis hard to believe that a boat this si.e could go all the way to Portage Sallk County .is torical So ciety 50

up the river as Portage, there being no dam at Prairie du Sac at that time. The ubiquitous Count Haraszthy was owner of one of the boats. Richards recalls rafts full of lumber and logs, and Sauk City was a convenient place to stop for prov1s1ons. He says that when they tied up for the night the saloons did a big business. Fights were inevitable among the rough and tough raftsmen. often with the locals of Sauk City. Richards says the locals once retreated to an enclosed area, and when the raftsmen tried to climb over the fence, the local men smashed their fingers with clubs. There were similar groups of men who floated logs down the Baraboo River. Only recently, within the last year, an old house on Lyn n St. in Baraboo was torn down. I am told it once was a frequent overnight stop for the hard working and hard drinking Baraboo River men. It was probably not in good enough condition to be saved as an historical si te, but if only the walls could talk, I would have enough material for a year of columns, though perhaps somewh t censored. 51

Ferries and Toll Bridges in Pioneer Times Talesof EarlierDays By Bob Dewel

Suppose it is 1840. You are moving your family from Ohio to the newly opened land called Wisconsin. Friends or family who went ahead have written of the glories of the new area, with lakes and forests and virgin prairies not found in abundance in Ohio. Like most Americans of the time, you are seeking a better life for your growing brood. All of the family has been packed, along with your meager worldly goods, into a covered wagon, pulled by two ornery oxen and perhaps with a mule tethered in the rear. There are no roads to follow, only the wagon trails of those who preceded you, and only a rare cabin to relieve the wild horizon. Haphazard settlements are often more than a day's travel apart. What is perhaps your greatest obstacle in this lonely trek? Not mountains, for the land is basically flat or slightly rolling. Wild animals are startled by the racket produced by your wagon as it lumbers along in the rutted trail you are following, and do not prey upon you. But the rivers are erratically either at flood stage or, hopefully, placid. Even when placid, rocks under the water and swirling eddies threaten to break a wheel on the wagon or wash away the contents if it tips. The greatest challenge of all, in this hypothetical trip, is the Wisconsin River. The Flatboats Fortunately your fellow Americans are skilled workmen and canny entrepreneurs, and in some areas one can find a ferry, or even a bridge. Such was the case in Prairie du Sac and Sauk City, both of which developed river crossings soon after the land west and north of the river was opened for settlement. We have already written about later ferry crossings at Merrimac, spelled Merrimack then, including pictures (my Section 1-68), and will confine this discussion to the Sauk-Prairie crossings. A newspaper article from Oct 25, 1923 quotes a pioneer Sauk City settler, P.J.R. Post, as saying that the first flatboat was built in 1839 by Berry Haney, and was poled across the river. Count Haraszthy, of whom we have frequently written, purchased the rights on October 14, 1844. Foot passengers were carried across the river in a skiff, the lease holder now being Robert Richards, with John Hawley steering the flatboat. By 1844 Prairie du Sac already had a bridge of sorts, and the competitive Saukites persuaded the legislature to grant them the necessary rights to build a bridge despite opposition from Prairie du Sac (were they called Sacites?). First Brdge The village committed $2500 to the project, which included a causeway, but early attempts failed and Post says that it was 1860 before Marcus Warren completed the work, now in association with H. Miller and others. There were a couple exchanges of ownership, and then a freshet washed away the two spans. The date of this loss is not given, but they were replaced and apparently served until 1866, when Miller sold the enterprise to Mr. Stengelhammer. A heavy storm washed out the span and causeway in 1878, and this time the bridge was rebuilt with steel girders. The village stood for $5000 of the $9000 cost. It was a progressive city council Steel bridge Finally, in 1888, a sturdy steel bridge spanned the river, with a new feature, tolls with a toll gatherer. This bridge served until 1922. Records show that The tolls for the first year came to $1,848.35 and on the first day it was used by 16 teams, two single teams, one rider, one foot passenger(?) and five cattle, that day's take being $5.02 52 53

In contrast, on the last day in 1922, look at the change: 27 6 of the new automobiles, four motorcycles. only one horse, and five foot passengers. the take for that day being $196.78 The die was cast for America's love affair with the gasoline motor in those 34 years, little knowing the problems big oil and foreign oil would present to our generation 80 years later. But imagine it in the eyes of our Ohio immigrant if he was still alive in 1922-change unimaginable to him in those early days. Recent bridges The 1923 newspaper account speaks of the new 1922 bridge as the "present one" which indeed it was for over 40 years. It is remembered as having sides to high you could not see the river, and a dangerously narrow passage for the automobiles which crowded its lanes. It was replaced sometime in the 1960's, but that bridge was in turn replaced during the last decade or so with a wider and safer structure The demands of traffic made it necessary to widen it to four lanes two or three years ago. One wonders. with its history of five crossings, if there will ever be a permanent structure. This writer once crossed a bridge in Spain in a tour bus. It was built of stone by the Romans nearly 2000 years ago. They don't build them like that anymore!

In 1920 the bridge on the right was new. It was replaced in the 1960s, and that replacement bridge was widened to four lanes in 2007 54

conducted a school privately on the south side of Baraboo, in an old log building. His curriculum consisted of Baraboo' s First School reading, writing, spelling, and elocution the first year, with grammar and was Pretty Drafty arithmetic added the second year. His Yesteryear Revisited salary was in the form of gifts, perhaps By Bob Dewel $25 per month, and he was said to have "fine manners, but not extra smart." A bachelor, Hart became Suppose your child returned from enamored of one of his pupils, Eveline their first day of school and said that the Gilson, age 14, and they were married. cracks in the walls were so wide "you It was the first white man's marriage in could throw a cat through the cracks the Baraboo valley, according to and not touch a hair." Canfield. They lived in a lean-to This conversation could have attached to the school. Among the happened with regard to Bamboo's first pupils were Eben and Roseline Pecks schoolhouse. The story about the wide children, Victor and Victoria. Victoria cracks is perhaps exaggerated with Street in Baraboo is named after Victoria time, but it was also said that the Peck, about whom we have written in doorway was so small you had to stoop the past .. to enter, so the building must have been It is believed Hart taught for only very crude. one year in Baraboo, then at Sauk City, The First Public School and then back to the south side of the On June 22, 1844 Wallace village with about 30 pupils. Other early Rowan, Lewis Bronson, and historian-to- teachers included D.K. Noyes, R.P. be William H. Canfield had selected a Clement. and Wm. H. Joy. After it was site at the suggestion of Eben Peck. It abandoned as a school. the building was located, after some discussion, on was sided with boards and became a "Seventh Avenue slightly east of the dwelling, on Seventh Avenue. corner of Birch, on the south side of the Union Village School street, facing north." One account The rapidly growing village soon locates it at 327 Seventh Avenue. It was required more commodious quarters for later used as a dwelling, though during a school, and in 1850 a two-story frame its time as a schoolhouse it was also used building thirty five feet square was on occasion as a courtroom, town hall, erected in Block 38, on the north side. and general meeting place. This is the present location of the This article was inspired by Veterans Memorial area on Third Street. someone who brought a description to By 1869 the 1850 building had the office of Dr. Matt Colby, but it long been inadequate, and a three develops that it was a typewritten copy story brick school with cupola was of the account by Cole in his "History of completed in 1871 (Butterfield says Sauk County." At the outset, Cole says 1870), at a cost of $33,000. It was said to the cracks in the logs were filled with have a capacity of 870 students. though batten. The blackboard was all of 2 1/2 not by modern standards. This by 5 feet in size, with no desk for the apparently was mostly a grade school teacher, and the students sitting on until 1877, when high school curricula backless benches. were added, thanks to a grant from the The first teacher was E.M. Hart, State Commission of School and an acquaintance of Eben Peck, residing University Lands. It is this building which recently in the Prairie du Sac area. It is burned in February, 1906, and was said that Hart had the previous year replaced by a red brick school in the 55

same block but facing Oak Street. now gone also. One of the teachers at this time was the many--talented William Canfield. Records at the Sauk County His torical Soc iety show that he kept meticulous records. with expenditures of as little as 3 cents for pencils listed. An inventory included l 00 pens. valued at a total of $1 .00 Cole lists all of the Superintendents. up to and including the legendary Kingsford. Both Cole and Butterfield have detailed accounts of the early schools. In 1882 the village, newly incorporated, set plans for three grade schools, one in each of the three words. Meanwhile the 1850 schoolhouse seems to have been moved to the NW c orner of Ash and Fourth Streets. Early pictures of that street show a small building in the distance, with a cupola. It is said to have been used by the city for the primitive fire fighting equipment of those days. Butterfield lists the total sc hool taxes. beginning with $138 in 1859 to $5,069 in 1879. Of the latter. $4020 was the total outlay for teacher salaries. A follow-up article will discuss city and county attempts at higher education. from the l850's to 1967.

First SchoolhouseIN B ARABOO The fi rst schoolhe>use in Baraboowas of Jogs and built in 1843. It stood on Seventh Avenue between Birch andWest streets. Drawing by Ronald Hargrave 56 Baraboo's first school, and

BOB DEWEL a teacher in love

YESTERYEAR The tenure of the first ings," which later were sold to REVISITED teacher, E.M. Hart, created a the Episcopalians, and were great deal of interest. located at the present comer Canfield reports that "Mr. of the-Episcopal Church loca- Hartcame to Baraboo a bach- tion. Butterfield says, "As the The recent article about the elor of about forty years of public schools grew into favor Baraboo Collegiate Institute age; but a lass . of fourteen . and became more popular ... raises a sufficient number of years a pupil in his first the st.ate of private -·schools questions that a review of schooi at the 'Boo" - Miss began to wane and the doors early schooling in Baraboo Eveline Gibson - softened of the Female Seminary were and up his ,stoic seems appropriate. A pleas- warmed finally closed." ant surprise was the discov- heart, and the ChiefJustice of There were a few other ery that the 1997 high school Baraboo - Don C. Barry - short-lived operations. Maria tied ·fast the hymeneal knot. annual staff did a remarkable Train's school in 1854, and This was the first white job, under the guidance of Miss Hathaway and her man's wedding in the Mrs. Chickering, in chroni- school for Masters and Misses cling the first graduating Baraboo Valley." in 1864 are examples. class in 1872. More on that . By 1870 the growing village Canfield concludes, "School found it necessary to build a later. advantages have always been new schoolhouse at a cost of ample at Baraboo." Early private schools $33,000. Located on block 38, which later would be the By 1844 it was evident in The class of 1997 present Civic Center location, the little village .of Adams It is not every year that a it had three large rooms, serv- that education of the commu- high school annual rises ing as a high school. By this nity's youth must be above the usual, but to a lover time according to school addressed. Historians Can- of the 1997 Baraboo some 736 children history, field and Butterfield say the records, High School annual, the were eligible to attend first school was a private Minnewaukan, achieves that Barabooschools, of which 534 enterprise of one E.M. Hart.A stature. It ttook a chance did. There was also a school building was planned in the perusal in. a barber shop, building on the south side of present Ochsner Park area, while waiting for the tonson- the river for elementarystu- with Canfield, Rowan, and al skills of John McNabb, to Bronson as sponsors. How- dents, ·replacing an earlier introduce this writer to this ever building had hardly board shanty building there. publication, which celebrates begunwhen the site was According to Canfield, the 125 years of high school in moved at the suggestion of Baraboo schools were among Baraboo. . Eben Peck, to the approxi- the best in the state, but the The first page, for example, . mate present neighborhood of school system "must grow features the class photo mon- West Elementary School, better and stronger, or it will tage of the class of 1872, which was then virtually out- deteriorate, for there is no Baraboo High's first gradua- side the city limits. stand-still point in this fast tion class. There were all of 10 age." Apparently everygener- This first building was graduates, and the news ation thinks that its age J.S report from the Baraboo mentioned in a previous arti- one of rapid change! cle as being so crude that "you Republic read as follows: "The could throw a cat through the exercises consisted of the The female seminary .reading of essays, declama- cracks without touching a Contemporary to the Col- hair." By 1850 a newer build- tions, &c., by the graduating legiate Institute was the class .. . (they) were well ing corrected some of these Baraboo Female Seminary, defects, and was two stories, received and delivered, with organized in 1856 and char- only a few failures in memo- · but it was later moved to the tered by the Legislature. A northeast corner of Ash and denominational school spon- rizing." Fourth, as it was replaced in sored by the Presbyterians, 1870 by an even better build- the seminary had "fine build- ing. 57

Above is a bird's-eye view of northwest Baraboo circa 1890. Note the schoolhouse near the center of the draw- ing. Pictured at right is the class of 1872, the first high school class to graduate in Baraboo, as it appeared in the 1997 Baraboo High School Minnewaukan yearbook. The wreck of Baraboo There are perhaps 100 quotes from the 1872 Republic and other papers, to give a flavor of the old times to the present class. All were a result of diligent searches of old newspaper files in the Sauk County Historical Society and the Baraboo Carnegie Library. For exam- ple, on Jan. 22, 1873, the Republic reported the "Wreck of the Baraboo," as follows: "We regret to announcethat the Pullman Palace car which was named in honor of our village was wrecked ... it was thrown fromthe ttack and dragged a few feet on a rail fence, the spokes of which penetrated the side of the coach and pushed through the roof It is now in Chicago 1997 BARABOO HIGH SCHOOL MINNEWAUKAN undergoing repairs." 58 Events year-by-year There is ,also a chronology of events a selection of which follows: • .:1858 - Corner Drug Storeestablished • 1865 - National intro- ductionof thepotato chip . .• 1866 - Baraboo Baseball Club formed patriotic uni- . forms . • 1866 - Minnewaukan House opensat Devils Lake •. 1867 - Fire wipes out entire cityblock : • 187! - Fire on Dec. 3 destroyssix stores • 1872 - Fire in meat mar- ket at Fourth .and Oak levels seven·stores • 1874 - Devils Lake steamer now carries 150 pas- sengers. Belle Case taught({/ Baraboo High School, picturedhere • 1876 - August Ringling beforeii burned down in J 905, during the 1880-1881 schoolyear. establishes harness shop on Oak Street ply because the latter would tion werefollowed by estab- • 1878 - Fire on Oak not get out of bed at such a lishment of high school cur- Street destroys more busi- late hour on Sunday night ricula. nesses and retail oysters. For such There were also valiant Not all the stories were an offense, the perpetrator efforts made to establish even from the Baraboo Republic, ought to have a whole basket higher education with the: but manyare pertinent to the of these quinces M & S are Baraboo Collegiate Institute times they were depicting. In selling at one dollar per bas- and the Female Seminary. 1877 the Omaha Herald pub- ket crammed down his Though . the latter two lished "Tips for ·Stage Coach throat!"The editors of the day attempts failed for lack of Drivers," as follows: expressed opinion at will benefactors,. the hunger for 'The best seat in a stage is throughout the paper then! local higher education sur-· the seat next. to the driver. If Home remedies were com- vived, and was fulfilled near- the team runs away, sit still mon sources of information in ly a cep.tury later with the and take your chances. Ifyou those days. Bear fat was used establishment of "Boo U" by jump, nine times out of ten to massage sore muscles and ·joint action of Baraboo and callouses. Squash and pump- you will get hurt. Don't smoke Sauk County. . kin seeds could be dried and The class of 1997, taking a strong pipe inside the coach. ground to cure stomach note that they were the 125th Spit on the leeward side. worms, butter and sugar and class to graduate from the Never shoot on the road as ginger- together eased chil- local high school, saw fit top the noise might frighten the dren's coughs, and skunk oil pay tribute to the early edu- horses. Don't grease your could be used to make hair cators and students of the hair, because travel is dusty." grow on a bald head! middle of the 19th century in . Usually it is the Baraboo Conclusion a respectful and significant Republic which is quoted, .. manner. Their efforts pro- There is . a relationship often about a local happening. between the two somewhat duced a book which belongs On Oct. 30, 1872, it printed' unrelated themes of this arti- in the history section of a library as well as in the school the following report: "Some· cle. The first. theme was the scalawag without the fear of determination by theearly annuals section. the law, 'last Sunday night settlers, hard as life on the It would appear that the cast a stone through the frontier was, to establish as Baraboo public school system handsome transparency of best they could suitable edu- continues to fulfill the hopes Michelstetter and Son, sim- cational facilities. The early of its founders of long ago. attempts· at primary educa- 59

Baraboo gets a Schoolteacher in 1850 Yesteryear Revisited By Bob Dewel

It is the impossible dream of every historian to be transported back to an earlier era, and to interview people on their home turf, in their own time period. Such is the case in regardtothe early history of Sauk County and Baraboo, for too often our knowledge of the past is confined to second hand information. We are lucky to have the copious writings of Wm Canfield, including his rather complete reports of the Old Settlers Society meetings. But oh how we would like to personally interview Abe Wood or Eben Peck, for example! Well, we have the next best thing, memoirs of an early schoolteacher, in her own words. This is contained in a long personal letter from Mrs. C. C. Remington to the newly formed Sauk County Historical Society. It was read to the group on Feb. 6, 1907 by Emma Gatticker. Four Day Buggy Ride In the entire very long letter, the schoolteacher's maiden name is not given, but a search of Historical Society records reveals it to be Maria Train. At the invitation of a Baraboo Methodist minister, James Flanders, the 18 year old girl arrived in Baraboo after a four day open buggy ride from Milwaukee over unmarked trails and bogs. As was the custom in those days, before taverns and roadhouses, the travelers sought shelter by "arriving at a small village (Aztalan) at dusk. We drove up to the most hospitable looking house and requested a nights lodging." They were generally well received, except at one small cabin where she remained awake all night in fear of the owners, but without incident. Taking the ferry at Dekorrah, 'they arrived in Baraboo on the evening of the fourth night, entering the village at its eastern boundary at the time, this being the intersection of Fourth Street and East Street. Their destination, however, was a low story and a half house On the comer of Sixth and Birch, the home of the Rev, Flanders who had invited her to come and start a school. Maria describes the location of several pioneer homes in 1850, such as Dr. Cowles, Asa Wood, and Ed Hart. It was not long before the Flanders home was purchased by a Mr. Taylor, well known to historians as the builder of Taylor Hall and other business buildings. Her First School Maria Train opened her first school in the log and slab Methodist Church, the only church building in the village, on the SE comer of Fifth Avenue and Broadway. Despite its rough construction, she considered it well ventilated and spacious, with open space outside for a playground. In winter she was not so pleased, with the fire requiring attention constantly. Often the wood was too green to bum properly. The student fire boy, George Perkins, later became a Congressman from Iowa. Maria is able, 57 years later, to name all of her first pupils, with some of their subsequent life history, though she lives, 57 years later in her old age, in Olympia, Washington. Maria must have been a person of some means, even at 18, to hire a driver and buggy for the four day journey. In addition, after her first year in the settlement she purchased a house on Sixth Street near Oak for her school. It later became a part of the Female Seminary, of which we have written previously. Again she is able to name all her pupils, including a boy from "Under the Hill (the Walnut and Water Street area) which was then and for many years afterwards regarded as a locality of ill repute." Despite her advanced age at the time of her reminiscent letter, she tells of several real estate transactions in the city, of interest to local historians. We also learn of .aria

in a

buggy

like

this

-/:- - - the marriage of General Haraszthy,father of the Count. He departed for California with the Count. leaving his wife behind, a seemingly common practice in those days. It is curious that Maria makes no mention of the pioneers who founded what became Baraboo. Eben Peck and Abe Wood were gone, but Roseline Peck was still present and would live another 45 years or so . Yet to come were the Reedsburg or Sawlog War and the Baraboo Whiskey Ladies who raided the local saloons. The population of the entire county was only some 4372 in 1950, with the heaviest population living south of the bluffs. Reedsburg was just getting organized. Baraboo could boast of its first newspaper, the Sauk County Standard, which would soon fail. It would be five years before the Baraboo Republic would produce its first issue in 1855. There is more to Maria Train's story, including her advantageous cour1ship and marriage. the pioneer social life, and the 1001 Club. Stay tuned! 60 0 61 The New Schoolteacher Dances, Gets Married Yesteryear Revisited By Bob Dewel

As related in the previous article, Maria Train arrived in Baraboo in 1850 as the new schoolteacher, and in 1907 wrote a long descriptive letter of life in the little settlement. It appears that the 18 or 19 year oldbecame a part of the fabric of life in the area, not only as a teacher but as an acute observer, with an excellent memory even 57 years later. Inventing their own amusements It is hard today to imagine the Baraboo world of 1850, a world without radio, television, CD, or DVD, a world in which individual and group initiative provided the entertainment. There were no city ball parks, river walks, soccer fields, or playgrounds, nor did the inhabitants even expect such extravagant services. There was no theatre, and hardly any meeting places except the Methodist Church, and later the Taylor Hall. This did not stop the young people from inventing their fun. Maria speaks with some embarrassment about a game of blind man's bluff, played in the dining room of a small hotel. She remembers that "some of the young men who would not stay caught took their coats to the tailors the next day", presumably tom in their attempt to get away. There were outdoor concerts on the square, and dances, both played by the Parrish band, sometimes with Jim Badger fiddling. The dances were old fashioned quadrilles and country dancing. Maria says they "utilized even the dullest of amusements ... and there was a spirit of good comradeship which ensured harmony and made light of all obstacles.'' In the winter there were sleigh rides. The local Scene The only practicing physician at the time was Dr. Cowles "noted for his skill in diagnosis and his prompt and energetic measures in an emergency. He was kind and charitable, and a great friend of the Indians, whom he never turned way, sometimes keeping several for the night on his kitchen floor.'' By now the Methodists had been joined in their endeavor by the Presbyterians and Congregationalists, who worshiped together "in the old Court House, on Fourth Street, north of the square. That building was later used as a saloon, and finally burned." Perhaps it is one of the saloons which the whiskey ladies assaulted in 1855! Early Baraboo actually had a photographer, using the daguerreotype method, and he kept a gallery of his work. Maria, writing in 1907, says she still has some of the pictures, and historians wish they had been preserved and donated to the Historical Society. There was also a Miss Jackson, later Mrs. Harrison, who was a milliner, though Maria indicates she had little imagination in the design of hats. Maria also writes about Lum Parish' livery stable, located within plain sight of her school. She says that "often times, as the time drew near for school closing, the knowing glances and smiles of certain pupils, who from the windows had seen a young lawyer come for horse and buggy, warned me to prepare for a ride." He was C.C. Remington, who on August 12, 1852 would become her husband. He died in 1878, but Maria lived to the age of 83, dying in 1916. One of their children married Mr. Olin of Madison, after whom Olin Park is named. . Clubs and Women's Rights We've written before of clubs and organizations in the early days, such as the Skillet Creek Bachelors Club, the Arachne Club, and Koshawaga. Maria writes with regard to another earlier organization, called the 1001 Club. The reason for the name remained a mystery to her, though some wags called it the "1000 rascals and one honest 62

man club."' She speaks of irregularly timed meetings, no women's auxiliary and mystic rites, and "woe to the helpless stranger who was lured into its doors for initiation." Passersby spoke of "sepulchral groans, long drawn out and terrible," issuing from the meetings, and indeed someclubs were reported to have grotesque initiations in those days. Even in those early days there was a modest women's rights movement, and Maria tells how a group of ladies improvised a wagon or hay rack with seats along the sides, and hired Lum Parish as theirdriver for a trip to Delton. What distinguished it was a flag with "Women's Rights" printedon it in large letters. This is said to have "excited considerable comment and criticism .on the part of some of the men." Seventy five years would pass until a new generation of women succeeded in gaining the right to vote. This completes our "interview" with Maria Train Remington. Her long and informative letter in 1907 shows her to have been a charming and delightful lady. C .C. Remington, later a judge, and with a Baraboo street named after him (or them!), was a lucky man indeed. We too are lucky to have her memoirs of those earlydays.

Tis photo take in 1911, is probably typical of the school in which Maria taught. It was the Lower Wilson Creek School in Troy Twp., Sauk County What'sin a name'in 63 Sauk County? Quite a bit

Because of their relative Let's suppose that some If the names sound unfa- size and location, Prairie du parts of Sauk County history miliar, they once were the Sac and Haraszthy (now were just a little bit different common names of these Sauk City) seemed logical - that certain name changes towns and villages in the contenders, and each prompt- had not taken place. that In early history of the county. ly offered a proposal, a pro- case, the courthouse would For various reasons, the motional package not totally standnot where it is today, changing sands of the politi- unlike the modem day TIF but in a county seat city cal history of the county have d1stncts used to adjust the named Adams. changed the names to those city to the arrival of new Directly to the west of we know todayinthe memo- industries or facilities. The Adams would be the village of ry of many is the relatively town offering the best incen- Lyons, and to the east the vil- recent time when Kilbourn tives in this case was to win lage of Manchester. Five changed its name to the county seat. miles further east, near the Wisconsin Dells, part of unsightly quarry on Highway which is now in Sauk County. Prairie du Sac offered sev- 33, would be the village of eral choice lots as their Garrisonville. Early Baraboo inducements for locating the North of Adams, on County So what happened? Why courthouse. while Haraszthv offered the relatively elegant A, would be the thriving were the names changed? tounst mecca and railroad There is a story for each of the home of Count Haraszthy, ·center called Newport, where changes. Let's start with the founder of the village. Prairie the Hiawatha stopped regu- county seat, once named du Sac was chosen in 1844 by larly - a larger city than Adams, then Brooklyn, now the legislative committee Adams. Nearby is the Sauk Baraboo. appointed to make the deci- County portion of the village Located on the rapids of the sion. of Kilbourn. Baraboo River, this area once However, a close examina- Off to the west on Highway supported four or five dams tion of the deeds to the lots revealed what August 33 would be the rival town of providing pollution-free Babb's Prairie, known for its power for the lumber and Derleth, in his county history, Butterfest celebration each flour mills. It was known in calls a "thrifty joker." The lots summer. Coming back to the early days as Baraboo were to revert to their origi- Adams on Highway 136, one Mills, more of a description of nal owners if the county seat would pass through Ableman what was here on the river werelater moved. The provi- and pass near Bessemer at than as the name of a village. sion was ingeniouslyworded Shales' Corners.On the other :Eventually a speculator so that it was difficult to 'dis- hand, if one went south from named George Brown platted cover the deception." Babb's Prairie on Highway a village, with lots mostly on Outraged by this sub- terfuge, citizens of Haraszthy 23, you would come to the south bank of the river, and the Baraboo River valley Logtown. which he named Baraboo organized a search party to after the river. So, where does On the river on Highway 12 select a new site and have a the name Adams come in? on the way to Madison, one referendum. would cross the river bridge Their efforts attracted the as you left the village of The first county seat The earliest settlers, Eben attention of Prescott Haraszthy, noted for the area Brigham, a prominent and Roseline Peck and Abe cow Pie throwing con tests Sumpter tavern keeper and ever year. Following north on Wood and Wallace Rowan, had arrived in 1839, with stage driver who "purchased the river on Highway 78, one the said quarter section (now their operations on the north would come to Mattson's ferry much of downtown Baraboo) side of the river. By 1844 the in the village of Merrimack, in his name with his money, spelled with a "k." county had enough residents that the Territorial there being no funds in the Legislature was petitioned to treasury, and subsequently organize a county by resi- deeded it to the county." dents of Prairie du Sac. 64

B A B 0 0

IRONTON,...

E A FREEDOM BEARHONCREEK Y Mentioned in this map are six Sauk County townships circa 1849 (the EN small divisions mark SPRING GRE present townships).

Adams and Brooklyn . Baraboo, could not long rest According to historian Baraboo Never on its laurels. Newly develop- Canfield, who was on the The name BrooklynAreally ing Reedsburg to the west coveted the amenities, pres- scene, Brigham, because he caught on, and finally Adams- tige and business advantages gave the money,was allowed Brooklyn was consolidated by the post office with Brown's of the seat of government, to select the name of the arguing that it was more near county seat. He chose Adams- Barabooonthesouth sideof the river,to becomeBaraboo, the geographical(but not pop- because of his admiration for ulation) center of the county. the Massachusetts family of Two business districts developed, and some old- Thus arose a rivalry compa- that name which produced ·rable to that between Prairie two of our presidents. tirners are. adamant that the area on Walnut Street across du Sac and Haraszthy. Soon this created a problem the river is properly and his- Reedsburgtakes its present for the post office, for there torically named downtown name from David C. Reed, was another Adams in Baraboo, and the business who was attracted there in Wisconsin, in what later district around the court- 1847, when he learned of the became Adams County to our house, being higher, is proper- discovery of iron. Copper in north. For a period of time the ly called upt.own Baraboo. If small amounts had already local Adams settlement was so, the present "Downtown been found in 1845, but gave called Brooklvn. In fact Baraboo" would properly out after two tons were though, there wasa township change its name to "Uptown extracted. named Baraboo then which Baraboo!" included the Reedsburg area, but not Baraboo! Both names County seat controversy were eventually changed, Selection of a countyseat with Baraboo Township now was an important matter in and around the area of the then, and the new county city of the same name. seat, Adams-Brooklyn- 65

says 1851) when, according to Reedsburg seems to have Derleth, "some of the settlers first been settled in 1844 in postulated that logs destined the area formerly known as for Baraboo could not pass Babb's Prairie, named for over the Reedsburg dam ... James Babb, who built there logs belonging to George and in 1845 as the first settler to Edward Willard of Baraboo till the sod in the area. An were gleefully confiscated by Indian ford of the river led to Reeds burgers." the constructionof a dam and The result was a deter- mill, and at this time the mined and some say armed township of Reedsburg was delegation from Baraboo carved out of what was then which arrived in Reedsburg the township of Baraboo, with with a U. S. marshal. The the voting precinct named marshal cut away part of the Baraboo! dam, allowing passage of the A change is explained in logs. Interestingly, the mar- "Reedsburg Remembers" as shal had been summoned by follows: "Thename Baraboo, Reedsburg people! In their for the township, became anger they arrested him, but objectionable as there was a cooler heads prevailed. Incidentally, Reed left in 1849 village by that name on the for Pike's Peak and was not rapids of the river ... the post heard from again, as did office was called Reedsburg Baraboo's Eben Peck! (in 1849) ... therefore the This was the last major con- township of Reedsburg was frontation between the two organized." A stage arrived cities, and since then both three times a week from have prospered along with Baraboo. the county. Baraboo undoubt- Those residents, believing edly benefits some from the that Reedsburg could wrest county seat locations and the the county seat from university center, and has Baraboo, persuaded the emerged as a regional shop- Legislature in 1852 to add an ping center. extra row of townships onto Reedsburg has done very the northern border of the well with its MATC branch, county, thus obtaining more the county hospital, and other votes. This was reversed in amenities, and enjoys new 1853. In 1855 a referendum industry and prosperity. Both failed and Baraboo retained cities are a credit to the count- the county seat. ty. In the meantime, Prairie du The sawlog war Sac and Sauk City continue Tempers flared in 1852 to flirt with the propositionof ("Reedsburg Remembers" merging, as do Baraboo and West Baraboo. At least we do not have to refer to Haraszthy, Lyons, Brooklyn, and Babb's Prairie.

Other names of towns in the county will be considered in a subsequent article. 66

The rules of the contest are not spelled out, but a number of questions Reedsburg' s arise. Was there a starting date? What was to prevent a couple from jump- Unusual Baby starting the contest, so to speak? Would a premature birth count? It seems Contest probable that time was factored in, and we suppose there was a rule that only a baby born at least nine months after the Talesof Earlier beginning of the contest would qualify, giving every one a fair and even start. Days This would rule out any pregnancies already on the way, as By Bob Dewel having an unfair advantage, thus defeating the purpose of the contest Let's admit from the start that we and its real estate prize. It appears, have only a newspaper clipping to though, that there were no such events support this story. Moreover, it is anticipated anyway, hence the need reminiscence, published on 2-28-1929, for the scheme to increase the some 80 years after the event in population. question. There is some authenticity, The Winner however, for the story appears in "A The article continues: "There History of Reedsburg and the Upper were some 18 married women in the Baraboo River Valley" published by village who could enlist in the enterprise, Merton E. Krug. In any event, the story is and the sequel shows that nearly all too good to pass up. made up their mind to go into the real Reedsburg 's Problem estate business, since 15 babies were It seems that the very early born during the succeeding year." The settlers of Reedsburg had a problem. article does not so indicate, but it is This was perhaps in 1849, for David Reed presumed that the .18 husbands of the had settled there in 1848. The problem ladies were enlisted in the endeavor. was that for two yeas after the initial The winner, the Mother of the first baby, settlement of the proposed village, only was Ms. Jacob Mowers, who gave her two babies had been born. This meant son the interesting name, Rowdy. J. that the prospects for growth and Rowdy to be exact. expansion, and presumably David Unfortunately, there is a problem Reed's sale of lots, were bleak indeed. with our story, for it seems that the stork The article continues: "It was the was occasionally visiting the Reedsburg villagers' sentiment that the Barabooites settlement during the contest reported stopped all travelers and offered them upon above. We have a clipping inducements to settle there ... which was written by O.D. Brandenberg, a Baraboo very commendable to the enterprise of youth who had become editor of the Baraboo, though adverse to the growth Wisconsin State Journal in the early of Reedsburg. Founder David C, Reed, 1900's. His undated article asserts that whowas always ready for emergencies, Reedsburg's first child, born in 1848, was hit upon a plan to increase the named Josephine Shepard, and that a population by home culture, and baby boy, Thomas Babb, was born in accordingly offered a choice of any 1848. These children probably arrived unused village lot to the woman who before the target date of the contest. It presented the town with the first baby." is possible that David Reed felt that this Contest Rules was was not the rate of population 67

These are two of seven Log cabins featured in the Pioneer Log Cabin and Museum located two miles East of Reedsburg on Highway 33. They Would nave been considered elegant accommodations in the newly Platted village of Reedsburg in 1849 68 growth to which his little village aspired, Theatre, Boo U, and the nearby Intl thus the baby contest. Crane Foundation, as well as the nearby Mid-Continent Railway Museum. Reedsburg has a Pioneer log village, a Reedsburg and Baraboo Rockwell exhibit, MATC, and the 400 Perhaps this story illustrates, in an bicycle trail. Both cities are a credit to early way, the competitive nature of Sauk County and Wisconsin. But only Reedsburg. It was in this period of yeas Reedsburg had a baby contest, with that Reedsburg tried to wrest the County real estate as the prize! Seat away from Baraboo, even persuading the legislature to temporarily attach several towns of Juneau County to Sauk County to obtain votes. Another notable event then was the Reedsburg (or Sawlog) war, in which logs floating down the river and destined for Baraboo were temporarily impounded at the Reedsburg dam by local hotheads. I wrote extensively about both of these events in earlier stories, and mention them here only to remark on the early competitive nature of Reedsburg. As late as the mid-1990's, hardly a decade ago, Reedsburg was unsuccessful in attempting to move significant parts of the County Offices to Reedsburg. In recent years they have shown a competitive nature in bringing industry to their city, comparable to the successful efforts made by Baraboo in the years following WWII. A population discrepancy remains, however, with Baraboo alone having about 3000 more citizens, plus its closely attached neighbor, West Baraboo, with well over 1500 more citizens. An unusual number of Baraboo- related persons reside outside the city limits also. Baraboo, in the opinion and observations of this writer, currently remains complacent and only moderately interested in being competitive for industry and growth, Baraboo, the Gem City, is so- named by some because of its jewel-like setting amid the Baraboo Bluffs and on the Baraboo River. It boasts the very remarkable Devils Lake near the city limits, and a surfaced scenic Riverwalk in the city. The city is fortunate to host the Circus World Museum, Al. Ringling 69 No Dogs or Booze Allowed at This Parade! Yesteryear Revisited By Bob Dewel

What is your nomination for the oldest continuous event in Sauk County, not counting government or churches? What event has apparently had regular observance since 1839? And, what event in Sauk County had not just a mention but an entire segment devoted to it on a national television network? Our nomination is the annual Fourth of July celebration now held in tiny Witwen. Historian Erhart Mueller lists this event in detail as beginning in 1839 and running to the time of publication of his book in 1986. The event is known to have continued since then to the present time, and this year will be no exception. It gained fame in 1980 when Charles Kuralt of CBS featured it in a segment of his Sunday Morning program. Actually, in the early days it was an area cooperative event, being held first in 1839 "with the entire population of the hamlet (Prairie du Sac) of 25 persons in attendance." reports Mueller. Other early records are missing, but by 1879 the observance was held at the Evangelical Church Camp Grounds, with the churches in Black, Hawk, Honey Creek, and Denzer in charge. Activities A 1882 entry in John Dorms' diary notes that "in the morning we fired guns and then the boys came together and fired things up for the day. We put a flag on the bluff, made a nice stand and seats and a jing swing. In the evening there were fireworks. " By 1885, Mueller reports, "there followed a series of yearly picnics alternating mostly between Black Hawk and Witwen. 11 Sometimes the festivities were held at someone's farm, with ball games, fishing, speeches, oratorical contests in German and English, and music by the Black Hawk Band. Later there were car races. By I 9 I 5 Witwen had a band stand, complete with electricity from the dynamo at the Witwen Roller Mill. Here a tug of war over the mill race assured that half of the men spent the rest of the afternoon in damp clothing. In 19 I 6 there was a balloon ascension, plus trapeze artists on exhibition. In 19 I 8 Witwen built a tabernacle, and future observances have generally been held in or near Witwen. Black Hawk's final turn at holding the celebration appears to have been in 1920. Always the event was a join effort of the three Evangelical Churches in the area. Witwen So, what and where is Witwen? It is located on County E between County PF and 0, some ten miles west of U.S. I 2. There appears to be a grand total of I 8 to 20 houses in this settlement. No business place was discernible, not even a tavern, but Bill Schuette, in a recent report in the Historical Society bulletin, reports there once was a store, a creamery, a school, a garage, and a blacksmith shop. There even was a telephone office, and a mill. Witwen was first settled by Gaudenz Witwen in I 856, and after development over the years it even had a post office for a time, starting in 1892. And what about the national television coverage? Charles Kuralt of the CBS Sunday Morning program visited the hamlet in I 980, giving nat.ional coverage to the Parade and its American flag "made of red white and blue satin dresses worn by eight members of the Sauk County Extension Homemakers. 11 It is not every day that national TV takes note of events in our county. Mueller notes that August Derleth of the Sauk Prairie area also immortalized the event with accounts of his visits in 1939 and 1942. This Year's Parade The parade is on the Fourth of July, at l 0:30 A.M. This is not your ordinary regimented parade. however. There is no pre-registration, and if you have a vintage 70 car. or some sort of float. just show up with it, we were told. Do not. however. bring your dog to Witwen. and do not bring alcohol in any form. Do bring a lawn chair, and an empty stomach. for the Black Hawk and Denzer United Methodist Churches will be doing a chicken Bar-b-q with all the fixings. Go early. as you may have to park a mile or so away from Witwen, and take a shuttle bus if one comes along. It is a century and a half of tradition in Sauk, our remarkable county.

WitNen in earlier days

It is a half mile to the first house . Are there hopes for industrial e x pansion? 7\ So when is/was Baraboo's Sesquicentennial? by Bob Dewel ery of Devils Lake, and of seeing CWM pond have been decimated : Justice of the Peace, Judge of the name Adams because of his the Baraboo valley through a clear- with the destruction of the con- Probate, County Commissioner admiration for President John Some cities know exactly when ing at the lake, Peck was intrigued. crete dam. Thirty years ago anoth- and Register of Deeds. The Qunicy Adams. However, in 1852 and by whom they were founded, Peck knew that this was what he er modem dam, designed by Frank Commissioners were paid seventy- the post office dropped the name even to the day. It usually occurred had been looking for, and with Lloyd Wright, was destroyed with five cents a day when meeting. It because of a conflict with the vil- when a developer arrived on the Alban as his guide,. they proceeded great difficulty in the general area , was Brigham who would supply lage of Adams in the county of that scene, staked out his claim and to the area. Peck staked out a plot of where Wood and Rowan had ' his own money to purchase what is name. mapped out his dream city with a on the north side of the river, near their dam and sawmill. now downtown Baraboo and the Also, in the mid- I 840s a land grid of streets laid out according to the lower rapids, in what is now Van Slyke' 's work came to Courthouse Square, and deed it to speculator named George Brown the land north of the Circus World naught, for high water in June the fledgling county. Wisconsin the compass. platted a village on the south side Those developer were really Museum. 1840 destroyed part of his flimsy was not yet a state. of the river, but including 34 Jots land speculators, and they pro- There was a problem, though, effort. Eben Peck obtained a court Meantime Rev. Thomas duced glowing pamphlets replete for the Native American village of order validating his claim, and Van Fullerton, a Methodist circuit rider, on the north side near the present with imaginary buildings and nav- Winnebago Chief Caliminee was Slyke apparently slunk out of had arrived and preached the first Ash-Walnut street and the river. igable streams. None of these were directly adjacent, and the area was town. Peck and his wife Roseline sermon in the Baraboo valley. However Cole, in "History of evident when the sight-unseen filled with dozens of Indian and family moved to the area, Fullerton soon organized the first Sauk County," states: "on the 14th buyer arrived on the scene with his mounds. Butterfield, in "History of apparently the first white family to church in the valley also, in 1842. of January, 1849, the board of wagon load of family and provi- Sauk County," says the Indians do so. It is now the First United county commissioners ordered that sions, and a horse or oxen. "manifested a strong displeasure, Methodist Church in Baraboo. the village plats of Adams and Such was not the case with and obliged the intruders to re- Baraboo be consolidated under the Baraboo, whose first white settlers cross the river." Platting two name of Brooklyn"! The real unifi- (the Native Americans were Undaunted, Peck returned in villages cation came in 1866, when they already here!) had only one inter- the fall of 1839, accompanied The little settlement was were united under the village char- est - harnessing the abundant by his wife, Roseline, and; ..known then as Baraboo ter name of Baraboo. water supply offered by the falls in while here met Abraham ,Mills or Baraboo Rapids, the Baraboo river. It was only after Wood and Wallace with two sawmills, So when was the dams were built and sawmills Rowan. Those men Rowan and Wood's, Baraboo Founded? became active that developers immediately started/ and Pecks. Rowan As Carol Sorg pointed out in a died in 1846 and was appear to have recognized the pos- building a dam to the/ recent letter to the editor, there are upper rapids, which buried "40 rods sibility of developing a communi- many dates which could be consid- ty. now divide Baraboo Northwest of the ered as the founding of Baraboo. We in Baraboo do have, howev- and West Baraboo. dam" in an Here few: er, rather complete accounts of the There was an Indian !unmarked grave, are a first settlers, written by historians village in the West\ somewhere in what I . I 839 - the first permanent who were contemporary to the Baraboo area, but as is now West settlers arrive. time. Historian Canfield soon Wood was living with /Baraboo. Wood died 2 .1842 - 14 families and the arrived on the scene arid knew the "a Winnebago woman, in 1855 near Milton first church. pioneer settlers. He wrote his said to be a daughter of after falling out of a 3. I 844 or 1846 - George "Sketches of Sauk County" only the Chief, DeKaury," he wagon and striking his Brown plats his village. 22 years after Baraboo was found- was not driven away. head. His wife had 4. 1846 - PrescottBrigham ed. Butterfield published his vol- Wood remained during the already returned, in 1850, donates land for Adams. umes in 1875. Both writers pro- winter of 1839-40, the first with one of their daughters 5. 1849 - County consolidates vide extensive information about resident, along with the Pecks, to her Native American tribe. two villages as Booklyn. the early settlers, and also about of what is now Baraboo. A small Like Rowan, Wood's grave is 6. 1852 - Post office changes lhe village developers. marker in Ochsner Park denotes unmarked. the location of Wood's cabin, and Mrs. Roseline Peck name of Adams to Baraboo. Roseline Peck docs not give the 7. 1866- Villages officially The Dambuilders the dug-out area was still visible in date, but sometime after they set- chartered as Baraboo. ln 1839 Eben Peck was a resi- recent years. The Wood and tled here and fenced in their land, 8. 1882 -- City of Baraboo is dent of :he lillle Madison sctlle- Rowan dam and saw-mill were Growth "my husband left on the pretense incorporated. mcnl. Nine years would pass completed in the winter of 1841- By 1842, according to. Canfield of going 'to Oregon and claiming In all but the latter three before Madison would be desig- 42. Rowan's cabin is believed lo in his "Sketches of Baraboo and the offers they held forth to set- Instances, our sesquicentennial nated as the location for the state have been in the present Attridge Greenfield,'' there were 14 families tlers. From that time I have strug- capitol, but at that time there was Park area. living in the I ittle settlement, gled alone to raise hisfamily." time has already passed. It would no settlement to the Northwest of Peck, meantime, had his trou- including Canfield himself and his Roseline Peck stuck it out, saw the seem, however, that the greatest Madison. An exception was one bles. A James Van Slyke appeared family. There were also a contin- railroad come in 1870, and lived claim to the origin of Baraboo James Alban who, with his family, on the scene and proceeded to gent of bachelors and widowers, until 1899. To Roseline, therefore, goes to the first permanent settle- occupied a small cabin near the "jump" Peck's claim to the lower all presumably working at the goes the honor of being the sur- ment in 1839, with Roseline Peck, south end of the present prairie rapids area. Enlisting the skill of sawmill. vivor of the original settlers of the the most permanent settler. south of the Baraboo Bluffs. They James Maxwell of Walworth Canfield became County region. If that is the case, should not were the first permanent residents County, Van Slyke began building Surveyor in 1844, and also school Prescott Brigham's donation of next year, 1999, be observed as our of Sauk County. his dam in 1840. One wonders if commissioner along with Prescott land for a county courthouse in Sesqui-plus-ten anniversary in When Alban appeared in remnants of that dam can be seen Brigham of Sumpter township. 1846 gave hitn the honor of nam- some manner? Madison with talcs of the discov- now that the placid waters of the Brigham subsequently became ing the platted area, and he chose Any volunteers????

Sesquicentennial Notes -How Sauk County came to be by Harold Willis part of Illinois Territory. rather than townships, which was south of it, and Eagle and County. Baraboo Sun In 1818, Wisconsin became the eastern counties had. In Baraboo were in the northwest- In 1853, the township of Flora part of Michigan Territory and 1839, Prairie du Sac was made em part of the county. At that was changed to Fairfield. In It so happens that Sauk was divided up as part of three the county seat of Crawford time, Sauk County included 1854, the townships of County is slightly older than the counties - Michilimackinac. County. In 1841, a petition to land now in Richland, Juneau Merrimac (from Kingston) and state of Wisconsin. It was Brown and Crawford. Presenl- the territorial legislature was and Adams Counties. Franklin (from part of Honey formed in early 1848, but day Sauk County was part of granted to separate Sauk In 1850, the township of Creek) were created. The before that, what was it called? Crawford County. County from Crawford County, Eagle was eliminated and the township of Washington (from The land that we now inhabit On April 20, 1836, Wisconsin and in 1844, another petition to townships of New Buffalo, Marston) followed in 1855; was originally claimed by Territory was formed, but ii organize Sauk County was Flora, Spring Green, Dellona, Woodland, Troy and Excelsior native Americans, and when included more land than pre- granted. Reedsburg and Freedom were in 1857; Bear Creek In 1858 Europeans settlers arrived, the sent-day Wisconsin. It was In early 1848, more counties created. and Ironton in.1859. In 1861, Ho-Chunk (recently called the divided into eight counties, but were officially added to In 1851, the townships of part of the township of Winnebago) lived and hunted only four of them were in the Wisconsin: Chip pew a, Marston, Winfield, Jackson, Kingston was changed to here. Before they came, the present state - Milwaukee, Columbia, LaFayette, LaPoint, ·Quincy and the Dells were cre- Sumpter, and part of Marston Sac (Sauk) and Fox tribeslived Brown, Iowa and Crawford. Richland, Sauk, St. Croix, ated. Jackson and Qunicy was changed to LaValle. Since here for a time. Native Sauk County was then still in Waukesha and Winnebago. were part of present-day that year the number of town- American peoples often did Crawford County. Wisconsin became a state on Juneau County and the Dells ships and their names have claim regional territories, but On Oct. 25, 1836, 15 addi- May 29, 1848. At first, the extended into present-day remained the same, with only they had no conception of tional counties were formed: county seat of Sauk County Adams County. Also, the Dells minor boundary changes. someone owning the land. Calumet, Dane, Dodge, Fond was the village of Prairie du was. changed to Baraboo, and Those are the highlights of The French first claimed du Lac, Grant, Green, Sac. In 1849, the county seat Prairie du Sac was split into the many political changes that Wisconsin as part of the Jellerson, Manitowoc, was moved to Baraboo and the Lower Prairie du Sac and brought about modern-day Northwest Territory (northwest Marquette, Portage, Racine, county was subdivided into six Prairie du Sac. Sauk County. It must have of the Ohio River) in 1796, and Rock, Sheboygan, Walworth townships - Honey Creek, In 1852, the townships or been fascinating living in those all of Wisconsin was within and Washington. In those Prairie Du Sac, Kingston, Greenfield and Winfield were times. -....] Wayne County. On July 4, early years, the counties in the Eagle, Brooklyn and Baraboo. created, part of Brooklyn was 2 1800, Wisconsin became part southwestern part of Brooklyn was in the northeast changed to Baraboo, and other of Indiana Territory, and on Wisconsin used the older sys- corner or the county (including changes were made in town- March 2, 1809, we became tem of county commissioners the city or Baraboo), Kingston ships now mostly in Juneau Skillet Creek Falls should have been a state park, or At least a wayside