OF HISTORY MARCH 1939 VOLUME XXII NUMBER 3 PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BYTHE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN THE STAT* HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN is a state- aided corporation whose function is the cultivation and en- couragement of the historical interests of the State. To this end it invites your cooperation; membership is open to all, whether residents of Wisconsin or elsewhere. The dues of annual mem- bers are three dollars, payable in advance; of life members, thirty dollars, payable once only. Subject to certain exceptions, mem- bers receive the publications of the Society, the cost of producing which far exceeds the membership fee. This is rendered possible by reason of the aid accorded the Society by the State. Of the work and ideals of the Society this magazine affords, it is be- lieved, a fair example. With limited means, much has already been accomplished; with ampler funds more might be achieved. So far as is known, not a penny entrusted to the Society has ever been lost or misapplied. Property may be willed to the Society in entire confidence that any trust it assumes will be scrupulously executed. THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY is published quarterly by the Society, at 116 E. Main St., Evansville, Wisconsin, in September, Decem- ber, March, and June, and is distributed to its members and exchanges; others who so desire may receive it for the annual subscription of three dollars, payable in advance; single numbers may be had for seventy-five cents. All correspondence concerning the magazine should be addressed to the office of the State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin. Entered as second-class matter, January 1, 1927, at the post office at Evans- ville. Wisconsin, under the act of August 24, 1912. VOL. XXII, No. 3 March, 1939 THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY PUBLICATIONS OF THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCON- SIN. JOSEPH SCHAFER, Superintendent and Editor COPYRIGHT, 1939, BT THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETT OP Wisconsin- CONTENTS HENRY SIGOURNEY BUTLER ... Francis H. BeGroat 253 HENRY SIGOURNEY BUTLER ... .Mrs. Burr W. Jones 258 JUNIUS THOMAJS HOOPER Edgar G. Doudna 265 A WISCONSIN PIONEER IN PHOTOGRAPHY A. C. Bennett 268 THE OLD INDIAN AGENCY HOUSE ASSOCIATION .Louise Phelps Kellogg 280 A SOLDIER OF THE IRON BRIGADE Margaret Rym Kelley 286 SOCIAL LIFE IN WISCONSIN: PRE-TERRITORIAL THROUGH THE MID-SIXTIES .. LMlian Krueger 312 DOCUMENTS: Abner Morse's Diary of Emigrant Travel, 1855-56 , . Bayrd Still and William Herrmann 329 EDITORIAL COMMENT: The Place and Date of Jeremiah Curtin's Birth .. 344 BOOK NOTES 360 THE SOCIETY AND THE STATE . Louise Phelps Kellogg 366 The Society as a body is not responsible for statements or opinions advanced in the following pages by contributors. Paid for out of the Maria L. and Simeon Mills Editorial Fund Income Previous numbers of the Wisconsin Magazine of History are indexed in the International Index to Periodical Literature to be found in many public libraries. JUNIUS T. HOOPER, HENRY S. BUTLER CURATORS WHO DIED IN 1938 HENRY SIGOURNEY BUTLER FEANCIS H. DEGROAT N 1883 Henry Sigourney Butler located at Superior, Wis- I consin, then a village, for the practice of his profession, the law. Completion of locks around the rapids in St. Marys river at the 'Soo,' enabling navigation from the lower lakes; and the project of a railroad from Lake Superior to Puget sound, led to the vision that the head of Lake Superior would become a great commercial and industrial gateway, which previously, for several decades, had been only an outpost of John Jacob Astor's American fur company and its pred- ecessors. Upon extinguishment of the Indian title to the region in 1854, throwing open the lands to settlement, some of the foremost men in the nation, prominent in business and public life, including W. W. Corcoran, a Washington banker, donor of the Corcoran art gallery; several United States senators; members of the president's cabinet; mem- bers of congress; and financiers, joined forces to promote and develop a townsite at the most favorable location, and to press for federal influence in securing appropriations for harbor improvements and public surveys, and, as well, to further the scheme for such a railroad. Advance agents se- lected and acquired a vast area, laying out a townsite there- on, of which the promoters styled themselves the 'Proprietors of the Townsite of Superior.' A small settlement was made, but the panic of 1857, the Civil war, and the period of 'hard times' following in the early seventies distracted attention from that ambitious undertaking. However, in the early eighties, the unrivaled advantages of Superior's location received revived interest. Construe- 254 Francis H. DeGroat [March tion of the Northern Pacific railroad had been undertaken westward from Oarlton, in Minnesota, situated above the falls of the St. Louis river, dividing the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Working likewise eastward from Puget sound the line was completed in the fall of 1883. At the time of Mr. Butler's arrival, the Northern Pacific railroad company had gained entrance to Superior as an eastern terminus; and also had in prospect an extension of its line eastward to Ashland, Wisconsin, on the south shore of take Superior, to earn its congressional land grant. As ari inducement thereto the 'Proprietors' had given the rail- road company, as a bonus, approximately one half of their land holdings. Very early after his arrival, Mr. Butler was engaged in behalf of the railroad company in clearing up and perfecting titles to the extensive properties donated, and in procuring rights of way for entrance to the yards and wharves, and the extension eastward. The 'Proprietors' having held their interests in 'undi- vided 27thy it is noteworthy that W. W. Corcoran held an undivided ll/27thB interest in the townsite which, aside from This own shares, he held 'in trust' for several United States senators and others, then prominent in public life, namely, two shares for Stephen A. Douglas, United States senator from Illinois (who bestowed his name upon the new county carved to embrace Superior); one share for John C. Breck- inridge, United States senator from Kentucky; one share for William A. Richardson, United States senator from Ill- inois; two shares for Jesse D. Bright, United States senator from Indiana; and also fractional shares for others of less note, as congressmen and federal officials. Some future his- torian may find in this a commentary on the politics of the time. To relieve the difficulties attending partition among so many owners, a corporation, Superior consolidated land 1939] Henry Sigourney Butler 255 company, was organized in 1889, with a capital stock of $3,600,000, issued in exchange for the interests of the 'Pro- prietors/ their grantees, assigns and donees, which consoli- dated all of the interests concerned, and of which Henry S. Butler became secretary and general counsel. On coming to Superior, he found Charles L. Catlin, who had lately been private secretary to Caleb Cushing, repre- sentative in congress from Massachusetts, similarly em- ployed as attorney for the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railway company (a subsidiary of the Chicago and Northwestern railway company), which also had sought entrance to Superior. About 1885 the two formed a partner- ship styled 'Catlin & Butler/ and forthwith, because of their connections, entered upon an extensive practice, numbering among their clients the two railways mentioned, of which they were local counsel; and also, shortly afterward, the Duluth south shore and Atlantic railway company, which had projected a line from Duluth to the 'Soo'; large landed interests (among which were those of Frederick Billings, at the time president of the Northern Pacific railroad com- pany, later incorporated as the Billings estate corporation, managed by Mr. Butler until his death); grain elevator companies, flour mills, banks, and lumber companies; in short, most of the enterprises established in a rapidly grow- ing city and the surrounding territory. In the mid-eighties a rival townsite, known as the townsite of West Superior, was organized by General John H. Hammond, backed by James J. Hill, and a number of wealthy New York residents (one of the investors in which was the father of President Franklin D. Roosevelt). The firm of Catlin & Butler being retained in that behalf, it fell largely to Mr. Butler, because of his experience, to see to the acquisition of properties, the litigation of disputed titles, and so on, in aid of the project. 256 Francis H. DeGrout [Mareh In 1889 the rival sections were united and incorporated as the city of Superior. The discovery and development of the near-by iron ranges in Minnesota brought to the firm large and valuable interests to be dealt with; connections with which, as counsel, Mr. Butler maintained till death. In 1891 the firm's practice had so extended that the need of assistance was felt, and Carl C. Pope, a southern Wis- consin lawyer, joined, under the style of 'Catlin & Butler & Carl C. Pope.' Colonel Pope retired in 1894, and in the mid-nineties Thomas E. Lyons, a distinguished member of the Wisconsin bar, joined the firm re-styled 'Catlin, Butler & Lyons/ who remained until his appointment in 1911 as a member of the Wisconsin tax commission. Mr. Catlin died in 1901, but the surviving partners con- tinued the firm name until Mr. Lyons withdrew. After this Mr. Butler, with the aid of office assistants, continued alone, until advancing years made necessary taking a partner to shoulder old, as well as new, responsibilities. In 1933, L. R. MePherson, a former city attorney, united with him, under the style of 'Butler & McPherson/ which firm continued un- til Mr.