Historic Sites Along the Great River Road
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Historic ſites along the Great River HISTORIC SITES ALONG THE :* GREAT RIVER ROAD 3W. Histo §§§hs Twº Ǻ º à ^p.- OF VV15C 'g by Lynn A. Rusch Archaeological Assistant and John T. Penman Associate Curator of Anthropology STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN April 1982 & º F Ş. º, * C r) ©y WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORT 7 Madison, Wisconsin 3.2 P. 35. TABLE OF CONTENTS * * * ! ----"w Abstract Acknowledgments List of Tables List of Figures page INTRODUCTION . HISTORY OF AMERICAN SETTLEMENT IN THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI WALLEY . HISTORIC SITES IN PEPIN AND PIERCE COUNTIES . Pierce County History . Pierce County Historic Sites . 10 Pepin County History . 17 Pepin County Historic Sites . 18 HISTORIC SITES IN BUFFALO COUNTY . 22 Buffalo County History . 22 Buffalo County Historic Sites . 24 HISTORIC SITES IN LACROSSE, TREMPEALEAU, AND VERNON COUNTIES . 39 Trempealeau County History . 39 Trempealeau County Historic Site . 41 LaCrosse County History . 42 LaCrosse County Historic Sites . 44 Vernon County History . 45 Vernon County Historic Sites . 46 SUMMARY . 48 MAP REFERENCES . 51 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 54 Figures List of Publications ABSTRACT In June 1979 the State Historical Society of Wisconsin began an archaeological survey of the Great River Road with funding provided by the Wiscons in Department of Transportation. Survey for prehistoric and historic sites continued in the summers of 1980 and 1981, and at this writing 236 prehistoric sites and 52 historic sites have been recorded along the G. R. R. in western Wisconsin. Some information has been published for the prehistoric sites found during this survey, and the present report presents data for the historic sites recorded from 1979 through 1981. Historic features such as houses, cemeteries, and bridges are presented along with their date of use. Recommendations for further research are presented in the concluding chapter. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This is the third annual report regarding results of the Great River Road survey. As in past years many individuals have aided in our research. David M. Stemper, Benjamin W. Ford, and Carolyn Croy-Riggs have processed artifacts and field records. We appreciate Robert P. Fay's review and comments on the manuscript. Michael Doyle of the Alma Historical Society provided guidance and enthusiasm during all three years of our fieldwork, and Dr. Orl in Anderson willingly aided our research in the Stockholm area. David Dahlk, Wisconsin Department of Transportation, gave great care in printing the reports. Funding is provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for both the fieldwork and the corresponding analysis time. COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Melchoir brewery and hotel, Trempealeau County. ii LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1 Nineteenth Century History of the Upper Mississippi Valley .. 4 TABLE 2 Population of the Wisconsin Portion of the UPPer Mississippi Valley . 7 TABLE 3 Artifacts from Pepin and Pierce County Sites . 14 TABLE 4 Artifacts from Buffalo County Sites . 32 TABLE 5 Artifacts from Buffalo County Sites . 36 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE l Modern Map of the Upper Mississippi Valley FIGURE 2 Upper Mississippi River Valley in 1856 FIGURE 3 Map of Historic Sites in Pepin and Pierce Counties FIGURE 4 Carish House; Prescott, Wisconsin (Pierce County) FIGURE 5-7 Doe House; 606 North Lake Street, Prescott, Wisconsin FIGURE 8 Smith House; 331 Lake Street, Prescott, Wisconsin FIGURE 9–10 Site 2519-01 and Pi—73, Pierce County FIGURE 11 Artifacts from Pierce and Buffalo Counties FIGURE 12 Site 2519-13, Pierce County FIGURE 13 Site 2517-30, Pierce County FIGURE 14 Site 2416-07, Pierce County FIGURE 15 Pierce County Historic Sites FIGURE 16 Pepin County Historic Sites FIGURE 17-18 Flemming House, Pepin County FIGURE 19 Map of Site Pe-22 Showing the Flemming House, Pep in County FIGURE 20 Map of Historic Sites in Buffalo County FIGURE 21 Site 2313-31, CCC Camp structures 4 & 2, Buffalo County FIGURE 22 Site 2313-31, CCC Camp structures 3 & 5, Buffalo County FIGURE 23 Site 2313-30, CCC Wing Dam, Buffalo County FIGURE 24-25 Site 2313-35, Buffalo County FIGURE 26–27 Site 2213-09, Buffalo County FIGURE 28-29 Site 2213-16, Buffalo County FIGURE 30 Site Bf-57, Camp #1 of the Beef Slough Co.; Buffalo County FIGURE 31 Log sorting works on Beef Slough, Buffalo County FIGURE 32 Shear boom on Beef Slough, Buffalo County FIGURE 33 Site 2213-36, Buffalo County FIGURE 34 Site 2112-17, and Site 2012-05, Buffalo County FIGURE 35 Artifacts from Buffalo County FIGURE 36 Site 1911-06, Buffalo County FIGURE 37 Site 1911-22, Buffalo County FIGURE 38 Map of Historic Sites in Trempealeau and Vernon Counties FIGURE 39 Melchoir Brewery and Hotel, Trempealeau County FIGURE 40 Melchoir Brewery and Hotel, Trempealeau County iii INTRODUCTION Archaeological Survey The State Historical Society of Wisconsin (S.H. S.W.) received a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Wisconsin D.O.T. in April 1979 for the purpose of assessing the archaeological resources of the Great River Road which parallels the Mississippi River. A site survey program to locate both prehistoric and historic features began in June 1979, and fieldwork has continued on a seasonal basis through August 1981. While the major emphasis of this program has been to locate prehistoric sites, historic remains have been noted as well since many of the latter are being destroyed at the same rapid rate as the earlier Slte S. The survey area which is approximately one mile (1.6 km.) wide extends for 150 miles along the federal aid portion of the Great River Road which is in the area between Prescott and DeSoto. Historic Site Survey During the 1979 and 1980 field seasons several historic sites were documented for the area between Alma in Buffalo County and Prescott which is at the Mississippi-St. Croix River confluence (Figure 1). Additional survey was conducted in 1981 from Alma southward to DeSoto in Vernon County. However due to time limitations, less emphasis was placed on recording historic sites. To date, 236 prehistoric sites and 52 historic sites have been recorded in the Great River Road project area between DeSoto and Prescott. Approximately 80% of the land designated for survey in this six county area has been completed. - Methodology At the beginning of each survey season, landowners within the project area were asked for permission to survey their property. During this interview informants were asked if they had knowledge of any prehistoric or historic sites on their land. If landowners granted permission to survey their land, crews conducted surface reconnaissance, collecting any artifacts that were observed. Historic structures and landowners' artifact collections were photographed as well. During the course of site survey attempts were made to relocate houses that appear on the earliest plat maps for the area. Township, Range and Section lines are depicted on these maps which were made by the Surveyor General's Office from 1843 to 1852. These maps also show features such as houses and are commonly referred to as Original Land Maps (O. L. M. 1850). -- 1 -- While the majority of the sites have standing structures, many are represented by foundations or surface artifact scatters. Sites with extant buildings have been entered into the Historic Preservation Division (S.H. S.W.) files, and their site numbers designate location. Thus, the Petersen house which is in Section 18 of Township 23 North, Range 15 West is designated as site number 2315–18. Sites which only contain foundations or artifact scatters are considered archaeological and have been recorded in the Wiscons in Archaeological Codification file. The scheme of this trinomial system is a designation of state, followed by county abbrevation, and site number within that county. Therefore the Eichman site, 47-Pi—89, is the eighty-nineth site recorded for Pierce County, Wisconsin. Artifact collections from the archaeological sites are curated in the Museum Division (S.H. S.W.), as are all fieldnotes and maps. One cannot necessarily determine from tax rolls whether or not there are buildings on a particular property, therefore date range of site occupation has been gleaned from land ownership and M. R. C. (Mississippi River Commission 1902) maps. In cases where artifact collections or cultural material is present, these objects have been used as an additional indicator of occupation span. Since terminology for historic artifacts is relatively standard, artifact descriptions are not presented here. Terms used for ceramic types and bottle glass may be slightly modified from previously published sources (Price 1979, Newman 1970). Although the majority (80%) of the Great River Road has been subjected to survey, the number of recorded historic sites does not represent a corresponding percentage of the historic sites that are actually in the area. Towns such as Alma (Anderson-Sannes 1980), and Trempealeau (Kriviskey and Zeitlin 1981) contain several historic Structures and have received previous attention. Since the archaeological survey crews avoided urban areas, buildings in towns such as Fountain City, Genoa, and Maiden Rock were not recorded. Analysis of structures in these fine old river towns must await future research. -- 2 -- HISTORY OF AMERICAN SETTLEMENT IN THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI WALLEY "To the Great West; Its Future Prospects; Nothing slower than a Locomotive Can Overtake Her" C. B. Cox's July 4, 1857 toast at River Falls (Weld 1909: 491). At the outset of the nineteenth century, Indiana Territory encompassed the region between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 placed the west bank of the Mississippi River in American hands. Within six years Illinois Territory was carved from what had been the western portion of Indiana, and while the Americans laid claim to the entire region known as the Northwest, British influence was strong.