← Fifty Years In The Northwest

VI. ST. CROIX COUNTY…

Part 3 of 8 · William H. C. Folsom · Public domain text

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Contents (53)
  1. Opening under 1 min
  2. Preface about 2 min
  3. Introduction about 20 min
  4. Introduction under 1 min
  5. Chapter I about 1 min
  6. II. STILLWATER AND ST. CROIX COUNTY about 1 min
  7. III. BIOGRAPHIES about 1 min
  8. IV. POLK COUNTY about 1 min
  9. V. POLK COUNTY--CONTINUED about 1 min
  10. VI. ST. CROIX COUNTY about 2 min
  11. VII. PIERCE COUNTY about 1 min
  12. VIII. BURNETT, WASHBURN, SAWYER AND BARRON COUNTIES about 1 min
  13. IX. ASHLAND, BAYFIELD AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES about 1 min
  14. X. PINE COUNTY about 1 min
  15. XI. KANABEC, ISANTI, AND MILLE LACS COUNTIES about 1 min
  16. XII. CHISAGO COUNTY about 2 min
  17. XIII. BIOGRAPHICAL about 1 min
  18. XIV. WASHINGTON COUNTY about 2 min
  19. XV. WASHINGTON COUNTY--CONTINUED about 1 min
  20. XVI. STEARNS, ANOKA AND SHERBURNE COUNTIES about 2 min
  21. XVII. BENTON, MORRISON AND CROW WING COUNTIES about 1 min
  22. XVIII. AITKIN, CARLTON, ST. LOUIS, LAKE AND COOK COUNTIES about 1 min
  23. XIX. HENNEPIN COUNTY about 1 min
  24. XX. RAMSEY COUNTY about 1 min
  25. XXI. BIOGRAPHICAL about 1 min
  26. XXII. DAKOTA, GOODHUE, WABASHA AND WINONA COUNTIES under 1 min
  27. XXIII. MISCELLANEOUS BIOGRAPHIES under 1 min
  28. Appendix about 3 min
  29. II. , page 32, read Stillwater and St. Croix County, instead of Counties under 1 min
  30. Chapter I about 53 min
  31. II. STILLWATER AND ST. CROIX COUNTY about 32 min
  32. III. BIOGRAPHIES about 48 min
  33. IV. POLK COUNTY--DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY about 34 min
  34. V. BIOGRAPHIES about 1 h 7 min
  35. VI. ST. CROIX COUNTY about 1 h 21 min
  36. VII. PIERCE COUNTY about 55 min
  37. VIII. BURNETT, WASHBURN, SAWYER AND BARRON COUNTIES about 28 min
  38. IX. ASHLAND, BAYFIELD AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES about 19 min
  39. X. PINE COUNTY about 42 min
  40. XI. KANABEC COUNTY about 18 min
  41. XII. CHISAGO COUNTY about 1 h 1 min
  42. XIII. BIOGRAPHICAL about 29 min
  43. XIV. WASHINGTON COUNTY about 1 h 6 min
  44. XV. WASHINGTON COUNTY--CONTINUED about 54 min
  45. XVI. STEARNS, ANOKA AND SHERBURNE COUNTIES about 44 min
  46. XVII. BENTON COUNTY about 37 min
  47. XVIII. AITKIN COUNTY about 24 min
  48. XIX. HENNEPIN COUNTY about 54 min
  49. XX. RAMSEY COUNTY about 31 min
  50. XXI. BIOGRAPHICAL about 1 h 3 min
  51. XXII. DAKOTA COUNTY about 24 min
  52. XXIII. MISCELLANEOUS BIOGRAPHIES about 13 min
  53. Appendix about 3 h 38 min

Continue:

VI. ST. CROIX COUNTY

Jan. 9, 1840, the Wisconsin legislature created a new county out of Crawford county, including territory west of the Chippewa river, extending northward to the British possessions, and named it St. Croix. By the same act, a day was designated for an election, at which a county seat was to be chosen and county officers elected. "Mouth of St. Croix," now Prescott, and Caw-caw-baw-kang, now St. Croix Falls, were designated as voting places. Two places only were voted for, "Mouth of St. Croix," and Dakotah, Brown's claim, now Schulenberg's addition to Stillwater. Dakotah was chosen by a vote of forty-five to thirteen. The returns were made to Prairie du Chien, county seat of Crawford county, and certificates issued to the county officers elected by C. J. Leonard, clerk of Crawford county. The legislature had at the time of creating the new county made it a probate district, Philip Aldrich being appointed judge.

The history of the county until 1848 has been given elsewhere, as connected with the early history of Stillwater.

The admission of Wisconsin Territory as a state in 1848 divided the county, giving it the St. Croix river and state line as its western boundary. The Wisconsin portion of the old county was consequently left without a county seat, while the portion west of the St. Croix had a county seat, but was without state or territorial jurisdiction. Congress, however, declared Wisconsin territorial laws to be still in force in the excluded territory, and they so remained until the organization of Minnesota Territory. Soon after the admission of Wisconsin, that part of St. Croix county within its limits was reorganized for county and judicial purposes, and a new county seat chosen, located in section 24, township 29, range 19, at the mouth of Willow river. This county seat was at first called Buena Vista. On Sept. 9, 1848, the county commissioners, under the law creating the county, held their first meeting at the county seat, in the house of Philip Aldrich. The commissioners present were Ammah Andrews, chairman; W. H. Morse, and W. R. Anderson, clerk. Philip Aldrich was appointed treasurer. Four voting precincts were established, Mouth of St. Croix, Willow River or Buena Vista, Osceola, and Falls of St. Croix. These early commissioners performed duties of the most varied character incident to the government of a new county. There was as yet no county seal, and they were required to draw with the pen upon legal documents a scroll representing a seal, and to use other forms, appliances and devices without legal precedent.

At the second meeting of the county commissioners Osceola was represented by Harmon Crandall, he having been absent at the first meeting of the board. Moses Perin was appointed collector. License for selling intoxicating liquors was fixed at twenty dollars per annum. The rate of taxation was fixed at seven mills on the dollar. The first state election in the county was held at Buena Vista, Nov. 7, 1848. One hundred and fifteen votes were the whole number cast in the county. The following officers were elected: Senator, James Fisher, of Crawford county; representative, Joseph Bowron, Buena Vista; county commissioners, Wm. H. Morse, Ammah Andrews, Harmon Crandall, Buena Vista; county clerk, W. Richardson, Buena Vista; register of deeds, W. R. Anderson, Buena Vista; judge of probate court, Alvah D. Heaton, Osceola; county treasurer, Philip Aldrich, Buena Vista; coroner, Wm. O. Mahony, Osceola; surveyor, Alex. S. Youle, St. Croix Falls.

At the commissioners' meeting, Feb. 28, 1849, the county was divided into the following towns: St. Croix Falls, Buena Vista, and Elisabeth. At an election held Sept. 3, 1849, Hamlet H. Perkins received forty-nine votes for judge, and Joel Foster forty-one. Mr. Perkins was drowned at St. Croix Falls soon after, and the governor appointed Mr. Foster to fill the vacancy. Judge Foster held his first court at Buena Vista. Daniel Noble Johnson was appointed prosecuting attorney in 1849. James Hughes was appointed in 1850. The first district court was held in August, 1850.

At a special meeting of the commissioners in 1849, James Hughes and J. M. Bailey were appointed a building committee to make estimates for the erection of a courthouse and jail. At the special meeting of the commissioners, Jan. 15, 1851, the town of Kinnikinic was organized. They had also under consideration the erection of county buildings, and appointed Ammah Andrews to erect the same. Otis Hoyt, for non-attendance at this meeting of the board, was fined fifty dollars, but the fine was subsequently remitted. The legislature of 1851 changed the name of the town of Buena Vista to Willow River, also of the town of Elisabeth to Prescott. At a subsequent meeting the contract with Ammah Andrews to erect public buildings was rescinded, and Daniel Mears was made special agent to build a jail, and three hundred and fifty dollars was appropriated for that purpose. The town of Rush River was organized Nov. 13, 1851. At the request of petitioners, the town of Leroy (now Osceola) was organized Nov. 9, 1852. A day was fixed in 1852 to vote on the change of name, Willow River to Hudson. The name Hudson was adopted by a two-thirds majority. The legislature of 1853 created from the territory of St. Croix county the counties of Polk, St. Croix and Pierce, Polk being located on the north, Pierce on the south, and St. Croix occupying the central portion of the original St. Croix county, and retaining the county seat.

St. Croix county, as at present constituted, lies on the east bank of the river and Lake St. Croix, forming, but for slight irregularities on the western line, a parallelogram. It includes townships 28 to 31, and ranges 15 to 19, with fractions of range 20 on the west. The surface varies from gently undulating to hilly. The bluffs along the lake are not precipitous, as on the Upper St. Croix, but are even and continuous, with gently rounded slopes. From the river, eastward, the country is broken and somewhat hilly; the central portions are rolling prairies on which are fine farms, and the eastern portions are level and originally heavily timbered. The eastern tier of townships is covered by a heavy growth of timber known as the Big Woods. The timber is composed of basswood, maple, butternut, several species of oak, and a sprinkling of white pine. The soil is a rich clayey loam and well adapted for grass, grain and root crops. Good building and limestone crop out in places. The county is well drained by the St. Croix and its tributaries, Apple, Willow and Kinnikinic on the west and Rush river on the east. Of these tributaries Apple river is the largest. It rises in Polk county, where it is supplied by numerous lakes, enters St. Croix county and passes diagonally across the northwest corner and empties into the St. Croix river a few miles above Stillwater. Willow river rises in Cylon township and empties into St. Croix lake, just above Hudson. This river passes through a deep gorge in the limestone rock, a few miles above its mouth, falling in its passage over several ledges of rock, producing falls famed far and near for their wildness and grandeur. Kinnikinic river in the south part of the county is famed also for the beauty of its scenery and for its waterfalls. It passes into Pierce county and then, uniting with its southern branch, flows into Lake St. Croix. Rush river rises in Eau Galle, and turns and flows thence to Lake Pepin. These streams have unfailing supplies from springs and small lakes. There is a remarkable formation in the Kinnikinic valley about seven miles above River Falls, called the Monument. It is a ledge of pure white sandstone rock, nearly circular, and rising to a height of sixty feet. It stands on a natural elevation far above the level of the valley and so forms a very conspicuous and curious object. The base is forty or fifty feet wide, and the summit is a turret-shaped mass of rock about fifteen feet wide and as many high. The part upon which the turret rests is dome-shaped, its sides worn by the rains into deep furrows. Years ago a tree grew upon the summit. The soft sandstone is being gradually worn away by the winds and rains.

HOW THE SCHOOL LANDS WERE SELECTED.

Philip Aldrich was appointed commissioner in 1848 to locate the state school lands in St. Croix county, at that time including Polk and Pierce counties. It is said that Dr. Aldrich would climb to the summits of the highest mounds, and, casting his eyes east, west, north or south, would proclaim such and such numbers or sections as school lands. Where all were so arable and fertile there was no use in discriminating. At the division of the county in 1853 the part designated as St. Croix county was subdivided into three towns, Buena Vista or Hudson, Willow River and Kinnikinic or Troy. As the population increased these towns were divided and subdivided until they numbered twenty-three. We append their names and dates of organization. Where more than one name is given the last is the present name:

Buena Vista, Willow River, Hudson 1849 Malone, Troy 1851 Rush River 1851 Pleasant Valley 1851 Somerset 1856 Hammond 1856 Star Prairie 1856 Dayton, Malone, Kinnikinic 1857 Cold Spring, Richmond 1857 Erin Prairie 1858 Brookville, Eau Galle 1858 St. Joseph 1858 Cylon 1859 Warren 1860 Springfield 1860 Emerald 1861 Stanton 1870 Cady 1870 Baldwin 1872 Forest 1881 Glenwood 1885

Some changes were also made in the boundaries of the towns. No progress was made in the erection of county buildings until 1856, when a contract was made by the commissioners with Ammah Andrews to build a court house for $14,300 on the ground originally purchased of Moses Perin. The final cost was $20,045.

ST. CROIX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

An important event to the county was the organization of the St. Croix Agricultural Society, in 1857. Beautiful grounds were chosen on the bluffs one-half mile south of the city of Hudson. The annual fairs of this association, formerly held in rotation at various points in the county, now limited to the grounds south of the city, have always been well patronized and successful.

POMONA GRANGE.

The Pomona Grange of St. Croix county holds quarterly meetings at various points, alternately. There are subordinate granges at Hudson, Richmond, Hammond, and Warren. There is a co-operative store in the city of Hudson which is well sustained. These granges are in a flourishing condition.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

At the taking of the last census there were 2,289 farms in St. Croix county, containing 202,588 acres of improved land, valued at $7,015,198. The farm implements were then placed at a valuation of $346,374; live stock, at $810,525; and all soil products at $1,815,266. The stock numbered 6,272 horses, 319 mules, 442 oxen, 5,624 cows, and 6,149 other cattle.

The average yield of products throughout the county can be fairly placed at these figures: Wheat, 1,375,000 bushels; oats, 800,000 bushels; rye and barley, 35,000 bushels; corn, 200,000 bushels; potatoes, 150,000 bushels; hay, 20,000 tons; cheese, 180,000 pounds; butter, 350,000 pounds.

During the past few years agriculture has steadily increased while rapid strides have been made in manufactures, so that the totals would be quite materially enlarged now over those of 1885.

MANUFACTURES.

In manufactures the statisticians have the county down for 112 establishments with a capital of $740,197, utilizing materials to the amount of $1,105,203, evolving products to the sum of $1,488,192, and paying $107,469 in wages per annum.

As to manufactures, in round numbers there is produced in the county: Lumber, 50,000,000 feet; shingles, 18,000,000: laths, 7,000,000; furniture, $120,000; barrels, 125,000; flour, 160,000 barrels.

ST. CROIX POOR FARM

Is located in the northwest part of Kinnikinic, section 11, on each side of the Kinnikinic river. It was purchased in 1870 for $1,000, and the probable present value is $10,000.

FIRST TAX ROLL OF ST. CROIX COUNTY, 1848.

ST. CROIX FALLS.

=========================================================== NAMES. | AMT. PROPERTY. | TOTAL TAX. ----------------------------+----------------+------------- John McKusick | $1,500.00 | $10.50 Leach & McKean | 5,400.00 | 37.80 Edward Johnson | 1,115.00 | .81 Falls of St. Croix Company | 59,700.00 | 417.90 Dexter & Harrington | 2,585.00 | 18.09 A. W. Russell | 405.00 | 2.83 Edward Worth | 199.00 | 1.39 Peter Lombair | 40.00 | .28 Serno Jonava | 75.00 | .52 J. McLanglin | 2,204.00 | 15.43 Wm. Town | 144.00 | 1.01 J. Cornelison | 75.00 | .52 George De Attley | 50.00 | .35 S. Partridge | 418.00 | 3.37 Dan Foster | 30.00 | .21 A. Livingston & Kelly | 185.00 | 1.29 John Powers | 21.00 | .14 Thos. Foster | 10.00 | .08 George Field | 45.00 | .31 Adam Sebert | 240.00 | 1.68 Weymouth & Brother | 130.00 | .91 S. S. Crowell | 150.00 | 1.05 Lewis Barlow | 103.00 | .72 I. S. Kimball | 30.00 | .21 Philip B. Jewell | 7,235.00 | 50.64 Kent & Mahoney | 3,631.00 | 25.42 H. Crandall | 219.00 | 1.53 Daniel Coite | 85.00 | .57 M. M. Samuels | 375.00 | 2.62 W. H. C. Folsom | 800.00 | 5.60 W. W. Folsom | 210.00 | 1.47 J. Sanders | 207.00 | 1.45 G. W. Brownell | 1,755.00 | 12.28 Richard Arnold | 205.00 | 1.45 Wm. R. Marshall | 15.00 | .10 Dr. Palmer | 10.00 | .07 Joseph Lagroo | 25.00 | .17 J. Bascan | 25.00 | .17 B. Cheever | 1,100.00 | 7.70 H. H. Perkins | 2,000.00 | 14.00 Levi Lagoo | 50.00 | .35 M. Shults | 2,000.00 | 14.00 +----------------+------------ Total | $94,801.00 | $1,642.72 ------------------------------------------------------------

WILLOW RIVER.

=========================================================== NAMES. AMT. PROPERTY. TOTAL TAX. ----------------------------+----------------+------------- James Purinton | $800.00 | $5.60 Wm. R. Anderson | 75.00 | .52 Samuel Clift | 15.00 | .10 Joseph Kelner | 15.00 | .10 P. D. Aldrich | 195.00 | 1.36 Moses Perin | 240.00 | 1.68 Ammah Andrews | 409.00 | 2.86 John B. Page | 1,128.00 | 7.89 Lewis Massey | 185.00 | 1.29 Joseph Lagrew | 190.00 | 1.33 Wm. H. Nobles | 299.00 | 2.10 Lemuel Nobles | 40.00 | .28 Milton E. Nobles | 339.00 | 2.37 John Collier | 125.00 | .87 Philip Aldrich | 361.00 | 2.52 Peter F. Bouchea | 136.00 | .96 A. Smith | 105.00 | .73 McKnight | 149.00 | 1.03 Wm. Steets | 143.00 | .79 Joseph Abear | 38.00 | .24 +----------------+------------ Total | $4,949.00 | $38.71 ------------------------------------------------------------

MOUTH OF LAKE ST. CROIX.

================================================================== NAMES. |AMT. PROPERTY. | TOTAL TAX. ----------------------------+---------------+---------------------- Thomas M. Finch | $176.00 | $1.23 Mrs. Lockwood | 1,181.00 | 8.27 Freeman, Larpenteur & Co | 300.00 | 2.10 Frank Trudell | 50.00 | .35 Louis Barlow | 600.00 | 4.20 Fog & Crownenbald | 2,625.00 | 18.39 I. L. Minox | 183.00 | 1.26 J. R. Rice | 545.00 | 2.81 G. W. McMurphy | 425.00 | 2.97 H. Doe | 340.00 | 2.38 Wm. Kimbrough | 60.00 | .42 W. H. Morse | 135.00 | .61 Wilson Thing | 385.00 | 2.69 W. C. Copley | 50.00 | .35 Willard Thing | 164.00 | 1.15 George Shagor | 1,000.00 | 7.00 George Barron | 180.00 | 1.26 Joseph Monjon | 235.00 | 1.64 Joseph Monjon, Jr. | 60.00 | 42.00 Henry Thaxter | 75.00 | .52 Aaron Cornelison | 325.00 | 2.27 James Cornelison | 265.00 | 1.85 Lewis Harnsberger | 75.00 | .52 ----------------------------+---------------+------------------ Totals | $9,434.00 | $68.91 ==============================================================

The above roll was published in pamphlet form, certified to by Wm. R. Anderson, clerk of board of county commissioners, and an order issued to Moses Perin to collect such taxes, and pay over to the treasurer of St. Croix county. The amounts were duly collected.

HUDSON CITY.

The first settlement in St. Croix county was made on the present site of Hudson city in 1838 by Peter Bouchea, Louis Massey, Wm. Steets and Joseph Lagroo, Frenchmen, who subsisted chiefly by hunting and fishing, but who also raised garden crops of corn, beans and other vegetables. These people were contented and jovial, fond of dancing and social enjoyment. Beyond the mere pleasure of living they seemed to have but little care and were without enterprise or ambition. More enterprising and industrious people followed them to the new settlement, and as the public lands were not open for entry until 1848, settled upon the lands and made some improvements, awaiting patiently the time when they could acquire a legal title. The original claimants of the town of Buena Vista in 1848 were Peter Bouchea, Louis Massey, Wm. Steets, Joseph Lagroo, Joseph Lenavil, ---- Revere, Ammah Andrews, W. H. and M. V. Nobles, John B. Page, Philip Aldrich, and W. R. Anderson. These parties, after the survey and prior to the entry of the land, made an equitable division of their claims. Peter Bouchea and Louis Massey were then delegated to purchase the lands, which they did, Bouchea purchasing the southwest quarter of southeast quarter of section 24, township 29, range 20, and Massey, the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 24, township 29, range 20. Deeds were then made to the various claimants according to the original agreement. The first individual survey of lots was made on Massey's entry, Harvey Wilson, of Stillwater, being the surveyor. The village thus platted was at first called Buena Vista, but some confusion arising as to the title of lots in 1851, the legislature changed the name of the town and village to Willow River, which, by vote of the people in 1852, was changed to Hudson. The original proprietors of the village of Buena Vista were Paschal Aldrich, James Sanders, Moses Perin, James R. Patten and Joseph Abear. Additions were surveyed in 1849 and 1850 by Gibson, Henning and others. To avoid confusion we shall discard the earlier names applied to what has since become the city of Hudson and speak of it solely by its later and better known name.

In 1840 the locality, as seen from a passing steamer, seemed a wilderness of orchard oaks and maples, filling the valley of Willow river, and clothing the slopes of the hills. A closer view might have revealed an occasional shanty, a cabin of the first French settlers, with small gardens, the whole inclosed by high picket fences as a protection against strolling Indians. Seven years later loggers were at work on Willow river under Capt. J. B. Page. The same year a couple of frame houses appeared in the oak openings. The first was built by W. H. Nobles, which is still standing and is occupied by Mrs. Col. James Hughes. The second was built by Ammah Andrews and is now occupied by Horace Champlin. In 1848 James Purinton commenced a saw mill and dam at the mouth of Willow river, which were not, completed until 1850. In 1848 Wm. H. Nobles started a ferry over the lake. James Purinton opened a store and Moses Perin built a hotel and boarding house, which stood opposite Champlin's present livery stable. In 1849 Miss Richards, from Prairie du Chien, taught the first school. Mrs. A. M. Richardson, the wife of the Methodist minister, the second. A school house was not built until 1855. John G. Putman built the Buckeye House, corner of First and Buckeye streets. Horace Barlow built a residence. Mr. Stone also put up a store building. The first attorneys, Daniel Noble Johnson and Col. James Hughes, commenced practice in Hudson in 1849. The first public building stood on the lot now occupied by the Methodist church. It burned down in the spring of 1851, and an account of the fire, as published at that time, stated that the "court house, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational and Episcopal churches, together with the high school buildings, were all consumed." It is but fair to say that there were no regular church organizations at this time, but occasional services by local and transient ministers. Rev. Lemuel Nobles, a Methodist minister, preached the first sermon in 1847. The first society organization was that of the Baptists, Rev. S. T. Catlin, pastor, in 1852. In the same year Rev. A. M. Richardson was regularly appointed as pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1855 the First Presbyterian church was organized under the pastorate of Rev. Chas. Thayer, and Rev. Wilcoxson became the first rector of the Episcopal church. In 1856 Rev. Father McGee took charge of the Catholic church. In 1857 Rev. C. H. Marshall was called to the pastorate of the Congregational church. A Norwegian Lutheran church was organized in 1876. All of these church organizations have good church buildings, and the Catholic church has a flourishing school connected with it. School interests were not neglected by the early settlers. A good school house was built in 1855 and graded. The first deed recorded covering Hudson property was by Louis Massey and Frances, his wife, to Wm. H. Nobles; warranty; consideration, $67.18; situate in east half of southwest quarter of section 24, township 29, range 20.

CITY GOVERNMENT.

Hudson was incorporated as a city in 1857, and the first municipal election was held in April of that year. The city was divided into three wards. A. D. Gay was the first mayor. The following were the first aldermen: First ward, James B. Gray, Milton V. Nobles, J. M. Fulton; Second ward, Alfred Day, R. A. Gridley, Chas. E. Dexter; Third ward, Chas. Thayer, N. P. Lester, N. Perry. The remaining city officers were: City clerk, O. Bell; city attorney, Cyrus L. Hall; surveyor, Michael Lynch. At the first meeting of the city council, after the appointment of committees on by-laws, bond sales, salaries, etc., license for selling intoxicating liquors was fixed at fifty dollars per annum for hotel keepers, two hundred dollars for wholesale dealers, with various grades for retail saloons. The first license issued was to John Cyphers, for keeping saloon and billiard hall.

MAYORS OF HUDSON CITY.

1. A. D. Gray, 2. Alfred Day, 3. Silas Staples, 4. John Comstock, 5. S. N. Clough, 6. A. D. Richardson, 7. C. R. Coon, 8. H. L. Humphrey, 9. J. H. Brown, 10. Simon Hunt, 11. Lemuel North, 12. C. H. Lewis, 13. H. A. Wilson, 14. A. J. Goss, 15. P. Q. Boyden, 16. D. C. Fulton, 17. M. A. Fulton, 18. Samuel Hyslop, 19. Sam. C. Johnson, M. D. 20. Wm. H. Phipps.

CITY SCHOOLS.

Graded schools were established in 1859. They have ever maintained an excellent reputation. In 1860 Charlotte Mann was chosen principal, and taught the eight ensuing years. A new school building was completed in 1887 at a cost of $25,000. This building is devoted to high school purposes. The schools of the city are graded. There are eleven departments and twelve teachers. Each ward of the city has a separate building. The school fund amounts to about $5,000 per annum. The schools are under the control of six commissioners.

A MILITARY INSTITUTE

Was organized at River Falls by Prof. J. R. Hinckley, and shortly afterward removed to Hudson, and a building worth $7,000 erected for its accommodation. In 1880 it was purchased by the Catholics, and it is now known as St. Marys Academy.

MILLS AND MANUFACTORIES.

The first saw mill, as already noted, was completed in 1850. It was known as Purinton's saw mill. Other saw mills were built, but destroyed by fire. We have no record of ownership and losses, but estimate the aggregate of the latter as near $100,000. The Willow River mills, built in 1867, consist of two flouring mills, with a capacity of four hundred barrels per day. Connected with these are a large elevator and cooper shop. The present proprietors are Cooper, Clark & Co. The invested capital is $150,000. The Hudson Lumber Company, in 1883, built a saw mill, below the steamboat landing. This mill has a capacity of 18,000,000 feet per annum, and has a planing mill attached. It is complete in all its departments, manufacturing all classes of lumber, from timber to mouldings. The capital stock amounts to $100,000. The officers are H. A. Taylor, president; C. R. Coon, vice president; M. Herrick, secretary; F. D. Harding, treasurer; S. W. Pierce, superintendent. The Hudson Foundry and Machine Shop was established in 1870. The North Hudson Foundry and Car Shops are doing a fine business. The Hudson Carriage Works were established in 1885, and the Hudson Furniture Manufactory in 1883. The amount invested in this enterprise is $180,000, and it furnishes employment to one hundred men. C. R. Coon is president of the company. There are two breweries--Moctreman's, established in 1857, and Yoerg's in 1870.

BANKS.

The St. Croix Valley Bank was organized in 1855. It was a bank of issue, payable at Gordon, Wisconsin. It closed in 1857. The Hudson City Bank, organized Sept. 10, 1856, went into operation under the general law of Wisconsin, capital stock $25,000, secured by Michigan and Missouri state stocks. J. O. Henning was president and M. S. Gibson, cashier. It soon closed. The Farmers and Mechanics Bank, a state bank, went into operation in 1857 and closed the following year. The Hudson First National Bank was organized in 1863, with a capital of $50,000. The first officers were John Comstock, president; Alfred J. Goss, cashier. The officers in 1888 are John Comstock, president; A. E. Jefferson, cashier. The surplus fund is $53,000. The directors are H. A. Taylor, H. L. Humphrey, John C. Spooner, A. L. Clark, F. D. Harding, A. T. Goss, and W. H. Crowe. The Hudson Savings Bank was organized in 1870, with a capital stock of $50,000. Alfred Goss, president; A. J. Goss, cashier. Alfred Goss died in 187--, but the bank is in successful operation, the son still retaining his father's name as head of the firm.

THE OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES HOSPITAL.

The beautiful private hospital which takes the name of America's popular poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes, was opened June 7, 1887. The credit of this hospital scheme is entirely due to Dr. Irving D. Wiltrout, of Hudson, who for some years has been assiduously at work maturing the plans. The owners are Dr. Wiltrout and the Johnston Brothers, of Boardman. The site is upon a beautiful wooded slope of Willow river, about a mile from its mouth, overlooking Lake Mallalieu, an expanse of the river, and a broad sweep of the St. Croix with its undulating banks, commanding the most delightful and extensive views. The building is lighted by the Mather self regulating, incandescent system of electricity. The dynamo, engine and boilers are located in a fireproof brick structure, some distance from the building proper, communicating with the hospital by an underground passageway. The hospital is under the direction of the following board: President, A. J. Goss; first vice president, John Comstock; second vice president, John E. Glover; secretary, Thomas Hughes; treasurer, Rev. M. Benson.

WATER WORKS.

The Hudson water works, supplied from Lake St. Croix, are situated upon Liberty Hill, in the rear of the southern part of the city. They are owned by W. S. Evans. The hill is two hundred and seventeen feet above the lake, and commands a magnificent view of the surrounding country. The summit is easily accessible. The city is also well supplied with water from artesian wells, which were sunk to a depth of five hundred feet, and afford a flow of two hundred gallons per minute.

HOTELS.

The principal hotels are the Chapin House, first built in 1867, but twice destroyed by fire. The last structure was erected in 1879, by H. A. Taylor. The Tracy House was built in 1867, the Seely House in 1873, the Commercial Hotel in 1875, and the Central House in 1876.

THE GREAT FIRE.

May 19, 1866, Hudson city was visited with a destructive conflagration. Sixty-four business houses and twenty-five residences were destroyed. It was probably the result of accident or carelessness. It commenced in the rear of H. A. Taylor's furniture rooms and printing office, and spread with such rapidity that it was with the greatest difficulty that merchants and others were able to save their valuable papers. The wind blew a gale and the flames spread and caught in every direction. The fire occurred fortunately in the daytime or it might have been attended with a frightful loss of life. As it was, there were many narrow escapes. The total losses from this fire were $325,000, on which there was but $75,000 insurance. A destructive fire occurred in 1872, destroying the Chapin Hall House, valued at $50,000, and other property to the value of $35,000, on which there was but $15,000 insurance. During the same year another fire occurred, destroying 30,000 bushels of wheat and the furniture of the Chapin Hall House, which had been saved from the previous fire. The loss was estimated at $60,000 with $16,355 insurance.

SOCIAL AND BENEVOLENT ORGANIZATIONS.

St. Croix Lodge, A. F. and A. M., founded 1855; Colfax Lodge, No. 85, I. O. O. F., founded 1856; Hudson City Lodge, No. 486, I. O. G. T., founded 1867; Ladies' Library Association, founded 1868; St. Croix R. A. Chapter, founded 1874; Y. M. C. A., founded 1875; Nash Lodge, I. O. G. T., founded 1877; Temple of Honor, founded 1877; St. Croix Commandery, founded 1879; St. Croix Lodge, A. O. U. W., founded 1880; Equitable Union, founded 1880. In addition to the foregoing there is a volunteer fire company, a boat club, an old settlers' club, a bible society, a building and loan association, and a cemetery association.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

LOUIS MASSEY came of a long-lived French-Canadian family. His father lived to the age of one hundred and seven and his mother to one hundred and five and he himself lived to the age of ninety-nine years. He was born in Canada, near Montreal, in 1788. In 1805 he left home to enter the service of the British fur traders at Detroit. In his eventful life he had many adventures and passed through many perils. He was once arrested with his employer by the American authorities and once made prisoner by the Indians. In 1812 he entered the employ of the notorious Col. Dickson, and, while with him, made a trip from Detroit by way of Mackinaw, Green Bay, Fox and Wisconsin rivers to Prairie du Chien in a birch canoe. He made two trips in mackinaw boats from Prairie du Chien to New Orleans and return. In one trip he was four months making his way from New Orleans to St. Louis. He made one voyage in a birch canoe from Montreal via Ottawa river, Georgian bay, Lake Huron, St. Marie's river and Lake Superior to Fond du Lac, at the mouth of St. Louis river, via Sandy lake and the Mississippi river to Lake Winnibagoshish, and another from Fond du Lac to Brule river, across to St. Croix river, thence to the Mississippi, and by way of St. Peter's river to Lake Traverse by canoe. In 1818 he entered the service of the American Fur Company, and lived at Fond du Lac, the headquarters of the company, for ten years. There he was married to a sister of Peter Bouchea. In 1828 he settled on the reservation near Fort Snelling, where he was held in such estimation that, on the expulsion of the settlers, the officers of the Fort assisted him in his removal to Willow River, whither he came in 1838 with Peter Bouchea. Wm. Steets and Joseph Lagroo soon followed them. These four were the first settlers in Hudson. Mr. Massey lived at his old home with a son-in-law, Richard Picard, until his death, Oct. 14, 1887. His only child living is Mrs. Picard.

PETER BOUCHEA was born at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, about 1815. He spent his early life in the neighborhood of Lake Superior, was married to a daughter of ---- Bruce, and came to the mouth of Willow river in 1838. Mr. Bouchea had been educated for the Catholic priesthood. He was a truthful, intelligent, reliable man and filled some positions of responsibility. He had many stirring adventures and was once wounded by Indians and cared for by Gov. Cass, of Michigan, at Detroit and Fort Gratiot. He died in 1875, at Fort Edward, on the north shore of Lake Superior.

WILLIAM STREETS came to Willow River in 1838, a refugee from the Fort Snelling reservation. He was frozen to death in the winter of 1851.

CAPT. JOHN B. PAGE came from Piscataquis county, Maine, to the St. Croix valley in 1844, and engaged for awhile in cutting pine logs on Willow river. While rafting on the Mississippi he met, and after a brief courtship married, a woman who returned with him to his home on Willow river and who survives him. Mrs. Page had some reputation as a (Thomsonian) physician. They made their home in Hudson in 1847. Their daughter Abigail was the first white child of American descent born in Hudson. Abigail married George Bailey, and their sons, George W. and David, were for a long time residents of Hudson, and have but lately deceased. Mr. Page died Feb. 11, 1865.

DR. PHILIP ALDRICH, although not a permanent settler till 1847, was an occasional or transient visitor, and had made a land claim in section 24. He took a deep interest in the affairs of the pioneer settlement, and at his house many of the public gatherings, political and social, were held. He was the first postmaster, and, in the exigencies of the service, sometimes carried the mail on foot. While a resident of St. Croix Falls in 1844, he was appointed probate judge. In 1848 he was appointed treasurer of the county of St. Croix, and at the election in November of the same year, elected to that office. Dr. Aldrich was born in New York in 1792, and died at his home in Hudson, March 16, 1858.

THE NOBLES FAMILY settled in Hudson in 1847. Rev. Lemuel Nobles, the father, was a Methodist local minister, and in 1847 preached the first sermon at the mouth of Willow river. He came originally from New York, lived a few years in the valley and removed to Michigan, where he died. His children were William H., Milton V., John, Mrs. Battles and Mrs. Morton S. Wilkinson, deceased. Wm. H. became a resident of Minnesota and a noted man. His biography is given elsewhere.

MILTON V. NOBLES was born in New York in 1818; removed to Michigan; was married to Matilda Edwards, Sept. 2, 1846, in Stillwater, and came to Hudson in 1847, where he followed lumbering until 1860, when he returned to New York and located at Elmira, where he resided until his death. While at Elmira he became an inventor and took out several valuable patents. His fortunes varied, and as is frequently the case with inventors, at one time he was wretchedly poor. In the midst of his galling poverty he sold one of his patents for a beautiful homestead in Elmira. Mrs. Nobles had not been informed of the transaction, but with her husband had visited the occupants of the homestead. Mrs. Nobles could not but contrast this pleasant home with her own poverty stricken surroundings, and in inviting her entertainers to return the call, told them plainly that she lived in a very humble home, and feared she could not make a visit pleasant to them. At this point the host stepped forward, and, by a preconcerted arrangement, presented her a deed to the mansion and grounds--a joyful surprise.

JOHN NOBLES, the youngest son, returned to Michigan and New York, where he became a Methodist minister. Some time subsequently he removed to Colorado, where he died.

JAMES PURINTON was born in 1797, in Tamworth, New Hampshire. He was married to Mary Mann, in Sandwich, New Hampshire. He afterward removed to Maine. He came to St. Croix Falls in 1842, and leased the St. Croix mills, and some time after became part owner. This venture not being successful, he removed to Willow River in 1847, where he built a large dam across the river, and with others erected a saw mill on the point of land between the lake and river. This venture was not successful and the mill property passed into other hands. Mr. Purinton was an experienced lumberman and an active, energetic man. The north side of Willow River, in which he was so much interested, became afterward quite valuable on account of the centralization of shops, depots and business of the West Wisconsin and North Wisconsin railroads. Mr. Purinton died in Hudson in 1849, leaving two married daughters--Mrs. ----Graves and Mrs. James McPhail.

AMMAH ANDREWS was born in Herkimer county, New York, in 1801, and passed his early life in that place. In 1829 he was married to Laura Andrews, and in the same year moved to Michigan. He came to Hudson in 1847. Mr. Andrews was a carpenter and took some important building contracts. He was one of the first commissioners of St. Croix county under the state government, and also one of the first school directors. He has been an active and influential member of the Methodist Episcopal church the greater part of his life. He has three sons, now living in Nebraska, and one daughter, the wife of F. D. Harding, of Hudson, Wisconsin. Mr. Andrews died Jan. 5, 1888.

JAMES WALSTOW.--Mr. Walstow was born in Nottingham, England, in 1815; was married there, and came to Hudson in 1849. He removed to Nebraska in 1863.

JAMES SANDERS was born in Devonshire, England, in 1818; came to America in 1841, and lived for years in New York. In 1844 he married Mary Walstow, removed to St. Croix Falls in 1845 and to Hudson in 1850, where he opened and improved the first farm in the present St. Croix county. Mrs. Sanders died in 1873. She left two sons, William and Walstow. Mr. Sanders removed to Osceola in 1880.

J. W. STONE was born in Connecticut in 1800. He came to Hudson in 1849 and opened the first store the same year. He died in 1860.

JOSEPH BOWRON was born Aug. 1, 1809, in Essex county, New York. His parents were from Newcastle on the Tyne, England. His mother was a member of the Society of Friends. She died when Joseph was five years old, and he was reared by his aunt until nineteen years of age, when he engaged in business for himself in Lower Canada. Some time afterward he removed to the United States and obtained work on the Illinois canal. He next removed to St. Louis, and from thence, in 1841, to St. Croix Falls, where he acted as clerk, scaler of logs and mill superintendent. He was a member of the first state legislature of Wisconsin, in 1848. W. R. Marshall had received the certificate of election, but Mr. Bowron successfully contested the election. Mr. Bowron removed in 1848 to Hudson, where he attended to general collections, and served as justice of the peace. In 1849 Mr. Bowron was married to Celia Partridge, of Columbia county, Wisconsin, who died three years later. In 1854 he was married to Rosanna Partridge, who died in 1863. Mr. Bowron died April 10, 1868, leaving two children, who now reside in Kansas.

MOSES PERIN was born in 1815; came to St. Croix Falls in 1847 and to Hudson in 1849. He was the first collector of St. Croix county. In 1853 he built a warehouse and saw mill at Lakeland, Minnesota. The warehouse was burned, and the saw mill removed. In 1847 Mr. Perin removed to San Diego, California.

JOHN O. HENNING was born at Bellefonte, Centre county, Pennsylvania, in 1819. His great grandfather was the first settler in that county. In 1825 his father removed to Ithaca, New York, and there the youthful Henning received his education at the academy. During the excitement of the Jackson administration he became an ardent Democrat, and, that he might enter more fully into the political strife of the day, learned the printer's trade and devoted himself more or less to newspaper work. He visited the Mississippi valley in 1838, remained some time at St. Louis, Missouri, Springfield, Illinois, Burlington, Iowa, and some other places. In 1846 he established the Journal at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and in 1849 removed to Hudson, Wisconsin, where he still resides. He served eight years as register of the United States land office at that place. He represented St. Croix county in the assembly of the Fourth Wisconsin legislature and has held many other positions of trust. Mr. Henning was married, Jan. 29, 1840, to Fidelia Bennet. Mrs. Henning died June 27, 1886, aged sixty-six years.

MOSES S. GIBSON was born in 1816, in Livingston county, New York. He received the rudiments of a common school education. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits a large portion of his life. He settled at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1844, but afterward moved to Fond du Lac. He represented Fond du Lac county in the constitutional convention in 1847. He was appointed receiver of the United States land office at Hudson in 1849. In 1856 he was married to Carrie F. Gilman. During the Rebellion he acted as paymaster, United States army, and was assigned to the department of Missouri, with headquarters at St. Louis. In 1878 he was appointed assistant in the sixth auditor's office, Washington, District of Columbia. Mr. Gibson has led a busy and useful life and has acquitted himself well in the various positions of responsibility to which he has been called.

COL. JAMES HUGHES.--Col. Hughes was born in Prince Edwards county, Virginia, Oct. 12, 1805. He received a classical education at Hampdon-Sydney College, Virginia, studied law, and was admitted to practice in Virginia. He came to Ohio in 1835, and was elected to the legislature in 1838 and 1839. He was married in 1839 to Elisabeth Mather, in Jackson county. He remained in Ohio until 1849, publishing successively the Jackson Standard and the Meigs County Telegraph, both Whig papers. In 1849 he came to St. Paul and brought with him the first printing press and outfit in that city, and established the Minnesota Chronicle, which subsequently united with the Register. The first number bears the date June 1, 1849. In November of the same year he sold his interest in the Chronicle and Register and removed to Hudson, where he established the St. Croix Banner, the first paper printed and issued in the St. Croix valley. Mrs. Hughes was associated with him in its management. They subsequently published the Hudson Republican. Mr. Hughes died at Hudson in 1873, leaving a widow and eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Of the sons, Eleazer is a farmer in St. Croix county; Geo. R. is engaged in the real estate business in St. Paul; Edward P. is a lawyer in Anoka; James S., a surveyor; Chas. V. is manager of the Western Telegraph Company; and Lucius A. is a telegraph operator in St. Paul.

DANIEL ANDERSON was born in 1806, in New York; received a common school education, and removed with his parents to Macoupin county, Illinois, in 1820; was married in 1831 to Eliza Hoxsey; lived in Dubuque in 1847 and 1848, and moved to Hudson in 1849, where he followed merchandising until 1876. He was county treasurer in 1877 and part of the year following. He died July 1, 1878: Mrs. Anderson died in September of the same year, leaving a daughter, Medora, wife of Alfred Day, of Hudson, and one son, Jarret, now a resident in Montana.

ALFRED DAY was born in 1824, in Vermont, and came to Hudson in 1849, where he engaged in the real estate, farming and livery business. Mr. Day was married in Hudson, to a daughter of Daniel Anderson. He died in St. Paul, Nov. 18, 1880, leaving a widow, three sons and two daughters.

DR. OTIS HOYT.--Dr. Hoyt was born in Sandwich, New Hampshire, Dec. 3, 1812. His parents were George and Mary Hoyt. Both grandfathers were soldiers in the war of the Revolution. He received a common school education; prepared for college in the academy at Fryburg, Maine; graduated at Dartmouth in 1833, and from Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, in 1836. He practiced his profession at Mason, New Hampshire, and Framingham, Massachusetts, until 1846, when he entered the service as surgeon in the United States army during the Mexican War. In 1849 he came to St. Croix Falls, and practiced medicine. In 1852 he removed to Hudson. The same year he was elected to the Fifth Wisconsin legislature, as assemblyman. In 1862 he entered the United States service as surgeon of the Thirtieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, but was on detached service most of the time. For awhile he had charge of the hospital at Camp Randall, Madison, Wisconsin. He was examining surgeon of 11,000 recruits, and was medical director at Bowling Green and Louisville, Kentucky. He was eminent in his profession, yet public spirited, and engaged at times, successfully, in real estate and railroad enterprises. As a physician, it is said, to his credit, that he was impartial to the last degree, and as prompt and punctilious in visiting the log cabin of the poor man as the parlor of a state or government official. He was married in 1837 to Mary King. Two children were born to them, Charles and Mary (Mrs. H. A. Wilson, deceased). Mrs. Hoyt died at Framingham. In 1843 Dr. Hoyt was married to Eliza B. King, sister of his first wife. Their children are Ella Frances, married to Dr. Chas. F. King, Hudson; Annie, married to Dr. Eppley, of New Richmond; Hattie, married to ----Wyard, Crookston, Minnesota; Ida, a teacher at Stillwater, and Lizzie, married to Rev. W. R. Reynolds, of Hudson. Dr. Hoyt died at his home in Hudson, Nov. 12, 1885. Mrs. Hoyt died Oct. 1, 1886, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her remains were brought to Hudson for burial.

S. S. N. FULLER.--Mr. Fuller was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, in 1814. He removed to Harford, Pennsylvania, with his parents when six years of age. He was educated at Harford. He studied law and was admitted to practice at Montrose. He practiced at Great Bend, Pennsylvania. He came to Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, in 1844, where he was seven years district attorney. He came to Hudson in 1857, removed to Iowa in 1865 and died at Logan, Harrison county, Iowa, in 1851. He was married to Clarissa A. Day in 1841, who with one son and four daughters, all married and resident in Iowa, survives him. He was district judge some years for the St. Croix Valley district.

MILES H. VAN METER was born in Kentucky in 1810. He received a common school education and learned the trade of a builder. He was married to Mary P. Litsey, in Kentucky, in 1830, moved to Illinois in 1836 and to Hudson in 1850. He has six sons and two daughters. Abe C. is editor of the St. Croix Republican at New Richmond. Two of his sons are in Illinois, three in Dakota. Mrs. Van Meter died in 1875.

PHILIP B. JEWELL was born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, Oct. 25, 1816; was raised on a farm; obtained a common school education; in 1841 was married to Hannah J. Fuller, and in 1847 came to St. Croix Falls, where he lived until 1851, when he removed to Hudson. He engaged in lumbering and piloting on the St. Croix. At the beginning of the late war he enlisted in the Twelfth Wisconsin Infantry and served during the war. In 1874 he was appointed inspector of logs and lumber of the Fourth district. Mrs. Jewell died in 1875. He married, as his second wife, Ellen Restiaux.

JOHN TOBIN.--Mr. Tobin was born in Ireland in 1818. His father died in 1830, and he came with an uncle to this country. He settled at Marine in 1842, and in 1853 came to St. Joseph's township, where he resided until his death, Jan. 22, 1880. He was married in Illinois in 1848 and his widow still lives at the old homestead. Of twelve children seven are now living.

HORACE A. TAYLOR, son of Rev. Adolphus Taylor, of Norfolk, New York, was born in 1837. His father died in 1842. At the age of ten years Horace was earning his living on a farm. At thirteen he came to River Falls. Some time after he returned East and spent four years on a farm. Returning to Wisconsin he established a stage line between Prescott and Hudson. In 1857, with his brother Lute A., he established the River Falls Journal, and, in 1860, purchased the Hudson Chronicle and changed its name to the Hudson Times. Four years later the Times and the North Star were consolidated under the title of the Star and Times. Mr. Taylor is a man of energy and enterprise and has engaged in real estate transactions on a large scale. He is a man of quick perceptions and of ready wit and has been honored with some important public positions. He was for some time state agent of railroad lands. He was appointed consul to Marseilles by President Garfield in 1881, but resigned the position in 1884. In 1860 he was married to Lizzie Madden, of Chicago.

JEREMIAH WHALEY was born in 1818, in Castile, New York. His father dying he aided in caring for his widowed mother. He was married in Pike county, New York, in 1839, and came to Hudson in 1851, where he engaged in the mercantile and real estate business and acted as postmaster. Mr. Whaley died in Hudson in 1884, leaving a widow, two sons in Michigan, one in Pipestone, Minnesota, and four daughters.

SIMON HUNT was born in Camden, Maine, in 1826. He lived at home until seventeen years old; acquired a common school and academic education; served an apprenticeship of five years at boot and shoe making in Georgetown, Massachusetts, and came to Hudson in 1851. He was married to Jane C. Arcy in Maine in 1854. Mr. Hunt has served as mayor of Hudson and was for several years superintendent of schools. Mrs. Hunt died in 1880.

JOHN S. MOFFATT was born in Tompkins county, New York, in 1814. He received a common school and academic education. In 1844 he was married to Nancy Bennett. He removed to Hudson in 1854, and was in the land office several years. He is a lawyer by profession; has served thirteen years as police justice, and eight years as county judge.

JAMES H. CHILDS was born in Montear county, Pennsylvania, in 1825; came to Wisconsin in 1848; settled in Hudson in 1849, and engaged in the real estate and lumbering business. He was married to Elisabeth McCartney, in Hudson, 1860.

WILLIAM DWELLEY was born in Foxcroft, Maine, in 1816; came to the St. Croix valley in 1850, and settled in Hudson in 1854. Mr. Dwelley was an explorer, scaler of logs, and surveyor. He died April 8, 1885.

JAMES M. FULTON--The ancestors of Mr. Fulton came from Scotland and settled in New York about 1770. His father served in the army during the war of 1812 and died while in the service. James M. Fulton with his family came to Hudson in 1854, where he died, March 30, 1858, aged about forty-six. Mrs. Fulton still lives in Hudson.

MARCUS A. FULTON, oldest son of James M. Fulton, was born in Bethel, Sullivan county, New York, in 1826. He came with his parents to Hudson in 1854, and engaged with his brother in the mercantile and real estate business. He was elected to the state senate in 1866 and 1867. In 1878 he was elected mayor of Hudson. He has also served on the board of education, and as alderman. He was married in 1863 to Augusta Ainsley, who died in 1876. In 1877 he was married to Adelia Frances Ainsley.

DAVID C. FULTON, second son of James M. Fulton, was born in New York, February, 1838. He came to Hudson with his parents, and, after completing a common school and academic education, engaged in mercantile and real estate business. Mr. Fulton has been elected to various important positions. He was mayor of Hudson one term, supervisor of St. Croix county three years, member of the board of education, alderman, and member of the state assembly (1873). He served three years during the Civil War as captain in the Thirtieth Wisconsin Infantry, and was promoted to position of major. Since the war, he served six years as one of the board of managers of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers, and is now serving, by appointment of President Cleveland, as United States marshal for Western Wisconsin. Mr. Fulton was married in 1866 to Minnie Champlin.

N. S. HOLDEN was born in 1822; was one of the early settlers of the St. Croix valley, and for many years a citizen of Hudson. He followed surveying and scaling. He died suddenly, July 4, 1882. He left a widow, two sons and four daughters.

WILLIAM H. SEMMES was born in Alexandria, Virginia. He came to Hudson in 1851, and practiced law, as a partner of Judge McMillan, in Stillwater. He was a young man of great promise, but died early and much lamented, Sept. 13, 1854.

STERLING JONES was born in Steuben county, New York, in 1812. He removed to Indiana in 1833, and in 1835 was married to Elisabeth Sines. They removed to Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1847, and to Hudson in 1850. Mr. Jones died in 1874. Mrs. Jones, five sons and two daughters are still living. Edwin B. married a daughter of Rev. W. T. Boutwell. Jerome B. married a daughter of Rev. Wm. Egbert, of Hammond, and resides in Hudson. He has been sheriff and treasurer of St. Croix county and has held town and city offices. The remaining sons, George R., Henry B. and Harvey J., and the daughters, Eunice M. and Sarah E., are married and reside in Hudson.

D. R. BAILEY was born April 27, 1833, in Vermont. He attended Oberlin College, Ohio, and graduated in law at Albany Law School, in 1859. He was collector of customs at Highgate, Vermont, from 1860 to 1864. He practiced law at St. Albans, Vermont, ten years, and was state representative in 1866 and 1867. He was a delegate to the Republican National convention in 1878, and a member of the Vermont senate from 1870 to 1872. He made his residence in St. Croix county in 1877, where he resided till 1883, when he removed to Sioux Falls, Dakota. While in St. Croix county he engaged in farming, lumbering and manufacturing.

HENRY C. BAKER was born in 1831, in Genesee county, New York; graduated at Albany University, New York, in 1854, and was admitted to the bar in 1858, and came to Hudson in 1859. He has practiced law continuously since; has also held many town and county offices; has been attorney of the various railroads centring in Hudson, and is now attorney of the Minneapolis, Soo St. Marie & Atlantic railroad. He was married in 1860 to Ellen M. Brewster.

MERT HERRICK was born in Orleans county, New York, in 1834. He received a common school education. He came to St. Croix in 1857; was married in 1859 to Lois P. Willard; enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War in the Thirtieth and later in the Fortieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served during the war. He has held the office of treasurer of St. Croix county for six years. He is at present a member of the Hudson Lumber Company.

D. A. BALDWIN, president of the West Wisconsin railroad, built a fine residence on the shore of the lake, north of Willow river, in the latter part of the '50s, and did much to promote the interests of North Hudson, which he surveyed into village lots in 1873. D. A. and H. A. Baldwin erected a commodious hotel in North Hudson in 1873. The hotel was subsequently sold to H. A. Taylor and removed to Hudson, where it was known as the Chapin Hall House. Mr. Baldwin removed from Hudson when the West Wisconsin railroad passed into other hands.

JOHN COMSTOCK was born in Cayuga county, New York, in 1813. When he was twelve years old his parents removed to Pontiac, Michigan. He here served an apprenticeship of three years to a millwright, and afterward engaged in business at Pontiac until 1851. He came to Hudson in 1856, and was city contractor six years. In 1863 he founded the First National Bank of Hudson, in which he has ever since been a director. Mr. Comstock has been engaged in many public enterprises and has been uniformly successful. He is one of the most reliable and substantial of the business men of Hudson. He was married in 1844.

LUCIUS P. WETHERBY was born in Onondago county, New York, October, 1827. At eighteen years of age, he went to Weston, New York, where he studied law with Martin Grover and W. J. Angell. He was married in 1849 to Sophia Antremont, and in 1856 removed to Hudson. In 1860 he was elected judge of the Eighth district, Wisconsin, and served six years.

JOHN C. SPOONER.--Mr. Spooner was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, Jan. 6, 1843. He was educated at the district schools until 1859, when his father, Judge Spooner, removed to Madison, Wisconsin. This removal afforded the son an opportunity of entering upon a course of classical instruction in the State University, which he would have completed but for the Civil War. In 1864 he enlisted as a private in the Fortieth Wisconsin Infantry. He did honorable duty at the front until compelled by sickness to retire from the army. After having served a short time as assistant state librarian, and having been restored to health, he raised a company which was attached to the Fiftieth Wisconsin Regiment, and became its captain. His regiment was sent to the Missouri river to do service among the Indians, and was stationed at Fort Rice, Dakota. In July, 1866, it was mustered out of the service. He then returned to Madison and commenced the study of law.

When Gen. Lucius Fairchild was elected governor, Mr. Spooner was chosen as his private and military secretary. He held this position for eighteen months, when he resigned and entered the office of the attorney general of the State as assistant. In 1870 he removed to Hudson and began a general law practice. The following year he was elected a member of the state legislature. While a member of this body he vigorously championed the State University, which institution was at that time in sore trouble. His service in this matter was afterward recognized by the governor, who appointed him a member of the board of regents of the university, which position he still retains. He was for twelve years general solicitor of the West Wisconsin Railroad Company and the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Company. In May, 1884, he resigned. Mr. Spooner stands deservedly high in his profession, and has acquired eminence also as a political speaker.

The Wisconsin legislature elected him to the United States Senate, January, 1885, and he at once took rank among the most eloquent and able members of that body. He is of small physique, not weighing over one hundred and twenty-five or one hundred and thirty pounds, has a dark complexion and a smoothly shaven face, and is possessed of great bodily as well as mental energy.

THOMAS PORTER.--Mr. Porter was born in Tyrone, Ireland, in 1830; received a common school education, and learned the trade of wagonmaker. He came to America in 1855; served three years during the Civil War as a private in Company A., Thirtieth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers; moved to Hudson in 1871, and represented St. Croix county in the assembly in 1885.

HERMAN L. HUMPHREY was born at Candor, Tioga county, New York, March 14, 1830; received a public school education, with the addition of one year in Cortland Academy; became a merchant's clerk at the age of sixteen, in Ithaca, New York, and remained there for several years; studied law in the office of Walbridge & Finch, was admitted to the bar in July, 1854, and removed to Hudson, Wisconsin, where he commenced practice in January, 1855; was soon after appointed district attorney of St. Croix county, to fill a vacancy; was appointed by the governor county judge of St. Croix county, to fill a vacancy, in the fall of 1860, and in the spring of 1861 was elected for the full term of four years from the following January; was elected to the state senate for two years, and in February, 1862, resigned the office of county judge; was elected mayor of Hudson for one year; was elected in the spring of 1866 judge of the Eighth Judicial circuit, and was re-elected in 1872, serving from January, 1867, until March, 1877. He was elected a representative from Wisconsin in the Forty-fifth Congress as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Forty-sixth Congress. During the past three years he has devoted himself to his profession in Hudson. Mr. Humphrey has been twice married. In June, 1855, he was married to Jennie A. Cross, in Dixon, Illinois. Mrs. Humphrey died in January, 1880, leaving two sons, Herman L., Jr., and William H., and three daughters, Fanny S., Mary A., and Grace J. Mr. Humphrey was married to Mrs. Elvira Dove, at Oswego, New York, October 1881. In 1887 he served again as a member of the assembly.

THEODORE COGSWELL was born in 1819, at Whitehall, New York. He received a common school education and learned the trade of a painter. He removed to Stillwater in 1848 and to Hudson in 1861 and to St. Paul in 1882. He was married to Augusta B. Kelly in 1855. His son was for many years editor of the Hudson Republican.

FRANK P. CATLIN is of Revolutionary and Connecticut stock. His father entered the war of the Revolution at eleven years of age as a musician. He served seven years. His discharge is signed by George Washington. Mr. Frank P. Catlin is the youngest of fourteen children. He was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1815. He was married in 1840 to Elizabeth Dubois, who died in 1852, leaving three sons, Charles L., Frank E. and Fred. Mr. Catlin was married to his second wife in 1857, who died in 1872, leaving one son, William W. Mr. Catlin moved to Green Bay in 1840, to Green Lake in 1844, and to Hudson in 1849, having been commissioned by President Taylor as register of the Willow River land office. This position he held four years. Mr. Catlin spent some time traveling in foreign lands. In 1868 he removed to Ripon, Wisconsin, but returned in 1870 to Hudson, where he still lives.

CHARLES Y. DENNISTON was born in Orange county, New York, in 1832; graduated at University of Vermont in 1852; studied law in Iowa in 1853-54, and came to Hudson in 1855, where he engaged in real estate and insurance business, in which he has been quite successful. He was married in 1856 to Maria A. Coit, of Hudson. Mrs. Denniston died Aug. 31, 1886.

A. E. JEFFERSON.--Mr. Jefferson came from Genesee county, New York, to Hudson in 1859. For the past fifteen years he has officiated as cashier of the Hudson First National Bank.

SAMUEL C. SYMONDS was born in 1831, in Hooksett, New Hampshire. He graduated at the University of Vermont in 1852 and the ensuing year came to Hudson, where he taught school and studied law for three years and afterward engaged in the real estate business and subsequently officiated as county judge four years. He was married in 1860 to Mary C. Bloomer. In 1886 he was commissioned postmaster of the city of Hudson by President Cleveland.

JOHN E. GLOVER, an old citizen and successful lawyer of Hudson, has gained a prominent position amongst the solid business men of the city by his untiring industry, combined with rare judgment and knowledge of men. In addition to his law business he is an extensive operator in real estate, flouring and lumber mills.

LEMUEL NORTH, a reliable merchant of Hudson, a public spirited citizen and a kind hearted man, merits the respect which his townsmen accord him. He has been successful in business.

EDGAR NYE, much better known under his nom de plume "Bill Nye," was born in 1846. When a boy he came West with his parents to the Kinnikinic valley. Mr. Nye studied law and practiced some years in Laramie City, Wyoming Territory, where he obtained a national reputation as a wit from his connection with the Laramie newspaper known as the Boomerang. Mr. Nye's mirth-provoking sketches have been published in book form. His parents still live at River Falls.

WILLIAM THOMPSON PRICE.--Mr. Price was born in Barre, Huntington county, Pennsylvania, June 17, 1824. After receiving a fair education, he came West, and in 1845 settled in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, where he at once entered upon the occupation of a lumberman. In 1851 he was elected to the assembly as a Democrat, but on the organization of the Republican party in 1854, he united with the organization, with which he remained during the balance of his life. In 1853 and 1854 he was judge of Jackson county; in 1855 he was under sheriff. He was a member of the state senate in 1858, 1870, 1878, 1879, 1880, and 1881; a member of the assembly in 1882; was collector of internal revenue from 1863 to 1865, and held many local offices in his county. For many years he was president of the Jackson County Bank. In 1882 he was elected to the Forty-eighth Congress; was re-elected in 1884 to the Forty-ninth, and in 1886 to the Fiftieth. He died at his home at Black River Falls, Dec. 6, 1886. He was a man of immense energy and endurance; and was ever ready to do his full share of labor in all places. As a public man he acquitted himself well. In addition to business tact and energy, and practical common sense, he was a public speaker of unusual readiness and ability. In private life he was a generous hearted man, strongly attached to his friends, and greatly respected for his sterling qualities of character.

E. B. BUNDY.--Judge Bundy was born in Broome county, New York, in 1833. He received a common school and academic education and attended one year at Hamilton College. He came to Dunn county, Wisconsin, where he practiced law until 1877, when he was elected judge of the Eighth Judicial circuit, to which position he was re-elected and is still serving. He stands high in the estimation of his associates and the people as a judge, and not less high in social life.

BALDWIN.

This town is coextensive with township 29, range 16. It was set off from the township of Springfield and organized Dec. 3, 1872. Wm. Whewell was chairman of the first board of supervisors.

BALDWIN VILLAGE,

Located on the West Wisconsin railroad, on the west boundary of the township, has a population of eight hundred, about evenly divided between the Norwegian and American elements, the latter being principally from Vermont. The Bulletin, a lively weekly paper, established in 1873, is published by B. Peachman. The graded school has three departments, with two hundred and twenty-five scholars, under the control of Prof. J. E. Brainard. The school building cost $4,000. A state bank, organized in 1883, has a capital stock of $25,000, and a surplus of $12,500. F. A. Decker is cashier. Baldwin has one elevator, of 750,000 bushels capacity, two flour mills--one with a capacity of two hundred and fifty barrels per day, built at a cost of $55,000; the other of one hundred and twenty-five barrels, at a cost of $20,000; one creamery, one cheese factory, one tannery, a good town hall, capable of seating six hundred persons, four good church buildings--Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Congregational--and over thirty stores or shops. The water supply is ample, the village being furnished with public cisterns and wells, and having an excellent fire department, with hook and ladder company. The village is surrounded by a rich agricultural country.

WOODVILLE VILLAGE

Is situated four miles east of Baldwin, on the West Wisconsin railroad, at the junction of a branch road extending into Pierce county. It is the centre of heavy lumbering operations, and is a flourishing village. It has one church.

CADY.

Cady is the southeastern township in St. Croix county, and occupies township 29, range 15. It is drained by Eau Galle waters. Amongst the first settlers were Irving Gray, Charles, John, and Brazer Bailey. A post office was established near the centre of the town in 1860. D.C. Davis was first postmaster. A branch railroad traverses the town from northwest to southeast. There are two lumber mills. The town was organized in 1870. The supervisors were William Holman, Charles Palmer and Mead Bailey. The village of Brookville is on the west line of the town.

CYLON,

Including township 31, range 16, lies on Willow river. It is a rich and populous township, consisting originally of mixed prairie and timber lands. The first settlement in this town was made in 1855. The early settlers were Otto Natges, J. Smith, H. Fouks, E. Johnson, George Goodrich, S. W. Beel, and J. Tomlinson. The town was organized in 1859. The supervisors were C. A. Hall, chairman; John Sweet and John Gibson. A post office was established in 1861, Mrs. John B. Gibson, postmistress. The Wisconsin Central railroad passes through the southwest, and the North Wisconsin through the northwest part of the township. There are four church buildings, one on section 18, one near Cylon post office, and two in Deer Park village. This village, a station located on the North Wisconsin railroad, is a wheat buying centre of considerable importance, and has several business houses. The school house is one of the best buildings in the county outside of Hudson. The Catholics and Methodists have churches here.

EAU GALLE,

Township 28, range 16, is drained by the Eau Galle and Rush rivers. We have not the date of the first settlement, but it was amongst the earliest in the county. The first settlers were William Holman, Andrew Dickey, Joseph Barnish, and Uriah Briggs. The town was organized in 1858, with the following as supervisors: Wm. Holman, ---- Babcock, and ---- McCartney. A post office was established in 1853, of which W. Holman was postmaster. Mr. Holman built a saw mill the same year, the first in the region. There are now six, mostly lumber mills. The township is traversed from north to south by a branch of the West Wisconsin railroad. Wildwood, a thriving station on this road is the headquarters of the St. Croix Land and Lumber Company, a stock company with a capital of $300,000. The town of Eau Galle has one church building belonging to the evangelical society.

EMERALD

Includes township 30, range 16. It is drained by the waters of Willow and Menomonie rivers, and was originally covered with pine and hardwood timber. It was organized in 1861. The Wisconsin Central railroad passes through the northeast part of the township and has one station, Emerald. A high mound is a conspicuous object near the centre of the township.

ERIN PRAIRIE.

Erin Prairie, township 30, range 17, lies on Willow river. John Casey entered the first land in 1854. The first house was built on section 17, in May, 1855, by John Ring. Among the settlers of 1855, of whom there were about twenty families, we have the names of Michael Hughes, Peter Queenan and James, Michael and Thomas McNamara. The town was organized in 1858, with the following board of supervisors: Richard Joyce, chairman; Alexander Stevens and Peter Queenan, and Wm. McNally, clerk. Richard Joyce was first school teacher and first postmaster.

There are now two post offices, one at Erin Centre village, and the other at Jewett's Mills, two and a half miles apart. There are at Erin Centre one store, one wagon shop, one blacksmith shop, and a Catholic church; at Jewett's Mills a store, a saw, a planing and a flour mill, all run by water. There are six good school houses in the township. It is traversed by the Wisconsin Central railroad.

FOREST,

Embracing township 31, range 15, occupies the northeast corner of the county. It is heavily timbered with pine and hardwoods, is a new town and is fast being converted into an agricultural district. Willow river has its sources in this town. It was organized Dec. 10, 1881, with S. D. Love as chairman of the first board of supervisors.

GLENWOOD,

Set off from the town of Emerald at its organization in 1885, embraces township 30, range 15. It was originally a pine and hardwood region. Its waters flow eastward into the Menomonie. The Wisconsin Central railroad crosses the township from east to west. Its only station is Glenwood. It is being rapidly settled and has already some good farms and several saw mills. H. J. Baldwin was the chairman of the first board of supervisors.

HAMMOND

Includes township 29, range 17. It is drained by tributaries of the Rush river. Of the first settlers were the Peabodys, James R. Ismon, Rev. Wm. Egbert, Rev. George Spalding, Mert Herrick, John Thayer, Mrs. Adams, John Nelson, and Thomas Byrnes. The town was organized Sept. 16, 1856, with A. G. Peabody as chairman of supervisors and John G. Peabody, clerk. It is now a prosperous farming town. The West Wisconsin railroad passes through the south part of the township.

HAMMOND VILLAGE,

Located on the line of this road, in sections 27 and 28, has seven hundred inhabitants. It is situated on a commanding elevation, giving an extended view of the rich farming country surrounding it. It has a school house, built at a cost of $2,500, with rooms for three grades, and one hundred and seventy-five scholars, one elevator of 20,000 bushels capacity, one first class hotel, the Gardiner House, Odd Fellows', Good Templars' and Grangers' halls, and three church buildings, with parsonages--the Catholic, Congregational and Methodist. The village contains about twenty-five stores and shops. The water supply, on account of the elevation, is from wells and cisterns. Rev. George Spalding preached the first sermon and was the first merchant in the village. Hammond was incorporated Sept. 20, 1880, with J. B. Fithian as president of supervisors and John W. Owen, clerk.

JOHN THAYER was born in 1809, in Worcester county, Massachusetts, from which place he moved to Ohio, and, after residing there fifteen years, came to Wisconsin and settled at Hammond village. He has been twice married, his second wife still living, and has one son, Andrew P. The father and son are engaged in merchandising in Hammond.

REV. WM. EGBERT was born in 1815, in Oneida county, New York. He obtained a common school and academic education. He spent his early life in New York City; came to Indiana in 1837 and to Hammond, Wisconsin, in 1856. The first trial in Hammond was before Mr. Egbert, as justice of the peace, in 1856. He has been for forty-one years a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been twice married, his second wife still living. He has four children.

HUDSON.

Hudson includes sections 7 to 36, inclusive, of township 29, range 19. Willow river flows through the northwest part. The North Wisconsin and West Wisconsin railroads pass through the township. It is one of the handsomest and richest farming townships in the State. It was organized as a town in 1849. Its history is given in that of the county of St. Croix and in the biographies of its early inhabitants.

JAMES KELLY was born at Osnabruck, Ireland, where he grew to manhood. In 1850 he came to Hudson and located on a farm, where he prospered, and became an honored citizen. In 1857 he married Catherine, daughter of Wm. Dailey. He died at Turtle Lake, Barron county, Wisconsin, of injuries received from a rolling log, Feb. 19, 1888, leaving a widow, three sons and one daughter.

DANIEL COIT was born in Vermont in 1801. He learned the trade of a house carpenter; came West as far as Galena, Illinois, in 1845, to St. Croix Valley in 1848, and to Hudson in 1850. He died in Baldwin in 1884. He was a man of eccentric manners, but upright life.

JAMES VIRTUE came to Willow River Mill in 1849, settled in the town of Hudson, and died in 1874.

THEODORE M. BRADLEY was born in 1831, in Jackson county, Illinois. He lived three years in Lafayette county, Wisconsin; came to Osceola Mills in 1850, and to Hudson in 1867. He has engaged chiefly in farming. In 1857 he was married to Margaret Wilson. They have two sons and three daughters. Mr. Bradley died in 1887.

WILLIAM DAILEY was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1800; came to America in 1819, and settled in Hudson in 1849, where he lived, a successful farmer, until his death in 1867. He left five sons--William, Guy W., Jacob, Edward, and Asa, all farmers, industrious and prosperous, all good citizens, and church members, all married and settled in St. Croix county. Guy W. represented St. Croix county in the state assembly of 1877. In 1866 he was president of the St. Croix Agricultural Society.

ROBERT AND WILLIAM MCDIARMID, brothers, came from St. Stevens, New Brunswick, and settled in Hudson in 1851, on a farm in sections 10 and 14. By industry and perseverance they have become independent, and own fine farms, with blooded stock, improved agricultural implements, and all the appliances for successful farming. Robert married in 1857, and has three sons and three daughters. William married Laura Rabold, in 1860, and has three sons and four daughters. William has been chairman of the county board of supervisors several years.

WILLIAM MARTIN was born in Vermont, in 1800. In 1846 he moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, and in 1851 to Hudson, where he engaged in farming. He was an exemplary christian man, and a member of the Baptist church. His son, Geo. W. Martin, succeeds him on the farm. He died in 1885.

PASCHAL ALDRICH was born in the state of New York, in 1820; came to Illinois with his parents in 1826; was married in Illinois, to Martha Harnsberger, in 1841, and came to Marine in the same year. He returned, for a short time, to Illinois, and again moved to the valley of the St. Croix, settling at Hudson in 1846, where he died in 1860, leaving three sons and five daughters.

KINNIKINIC

Originally included nine towns of townships 27 and 28, from St. Croix lake east. By the setting off of Pierce county from St. Croix, the towns in township 27 were stricken off, and the territory has since been reduced until comprised in township 28, range 18. It is a wealthy agricultural township. Its surface is agreeably diversified with undulating prairies and high hills. The Kinnikinic, a beautiful and clear winding stream, drains it from the northeast. The famous Monument Rock, an outlying sandstone formation, is in the centre of this township. From the summit a magnificent view may be obtained of this fine farming region. The farmers have fine dwellings and barns, and the town has numerous school houses; one church is located on section 15. The history of the town, as far as we were able to obtain it, may be found in the biographies of the Mapes brothers.

DUNCAN MCGREGOR was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1821. His educational advantages were limited. He emigrated to Canada while yet a youth, served seven years in the British Army, and was one year in Canada during the Papineau Rebellion. He was married to Jane Morse, in Canada, Jan. 31, 1848, and in 1849 removed to the United States and settled at River Falls, where he still lives on the homestead which he pre-empted. Mrs. McGregor was the first resident white woman, and Mr. McGregor the second person who settled at the Falls.

His mother, an aged lady living with him at the Falls, at one time found the house surrounded by over a hundred Sioux Indians, who commenced plundering the garden of everything eatable. Mrs. McGregor bravely confronted and drove them away. The only crops in the valley at the time were those of Messrs. Foster and McGregor.

Mr. McGregor learned in early life the trade of a mason. While a resident of River Falls he followed farming except during a few years in which he kept a hardware store. He was three years county commissioner of St. Croix county. He has three children living, Roderick, Malcolm and Neville.

W. B. AND JAS. A. MAPES, brothers, from Elmira, New York, landed at Willow River Sept. 7, 1849. They proceeded at once with an ox team and cart, on which last was placed all their worldly goods, to the valley of the Kinnikinic. Having selected a claim and erected a temporary shanty, William B. returned by river as far as Galena, for a breaking team, wagon and plow, and other farm furniture and provisions, while James remained to make hay. After the brother's return, a substantial winter cabin was built. The ensuing spring they broke ground and raised a fair crop, consisting of 80 bushels of oats, 200 of buckwheat, 100 of corn and 100 of potatoes. The winter of their arrival, Duncan McGregor came to the settlement and spent the winter with Judge Foster. In the fall of 1850 came Ira Parks and family, and settled on lands adjoining the Mapes farm. This family and others were entertained by the Mapes brothers, with genuine frontier hospitality. Among the families coming in at this time were those of Dr. Whipple, Mrs. Sprague, Lorenzo Daggett, and the widow of Josephus Medley, of Stillwater. This year came also the Pomeroy brothers, Luke and Frank, from New York State, and J. G. Crowns, James Penn, and William Tozer, from Illinois. During 1851 several families settled in the valley, among them James Chinnoch and Elisha Walden, from Ohio; Alanson Day and John Scott, from Pennsylvania; the brothers W. L. and J. E. Perrin, single men, from New York State, and Mrs. Lynch, from Illinois. Previous to the settlement of these families there were no young ladies in the town. The arrival of fifteen young ladies, mostly marriageable, produced a flutter of excitement among the lonesome bachelors of the colony, and the services of Rev. S. T. Catlin were soon called into requisition. The first couple married was James A. Mapes and Eunice E. Walden, in 1852. The next year W. B. Mapes and Catherine Scott were married. In 1852 J. W. Mapes, a younger brother, joined the colony. In 1857 G. W. Mapes located a Mexican War land warrant on adjoining laud. W. B., J. A. and C. W. Mapes had also Mexican War land warrants.

In 1860 J. W. Mapes sold his farm and returned to New York, enlisted in the One Hundred and First Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served through the Peninsular Campaign under McClellan, and afterward in North Carolina, where he was captured at Plymouth, April 23, 1864, and taken to Andersonville, where he died, June 30, 1864. W. B. Mapes sold his farm to Chas. Davies and removed to Macon county, Mississippi, in 1866, at which place he died in 1877. His widow and five children still reside there. C. W. Mapes sold his farm to G. I. Ap Roberts, and kept store for awhile in the village, and in 1879 removed to Sussex county, Virginia, where he still resides. He has four children living. Jas. A. Mapes still resides on the old homestead. Mr. Mapes was honored with an election to the office of treasurer for St. Croix county in 1883 and 1884.

PLEASANT VALLEY.

Pleasant Valley includes the west half of township 28, range 17. It is drained by the headwaters of the Kinnikinic. The first settlement was made Sept. 19, 1856. Among the first settlers were Sheldon Gray, Asa Gray, S. W. Mattison, and Allen Webster. The town was organized March 30, 1857, with Peleg Burdick as chairman of supervisors. The first school was taught in 1857, by Miss Mary Munson. A post office was established in 1866 with Peter Hawkins as postmaster.

RICHMOND.

Richmond is a rich agricultural township, consisting chiefly of undulating prairie land. It is included in township 30, range 18. Willow river flows diagonally through it from northeast to southwest. The following persons settled within the present limits of the town prior to 1855: Eben Quinby, Lewis Oaks, James Taylor, Harvey Law, Norman Hooper, J. J. Smith, A. S. Kinnie, W. R. Anderson, Francis Kelly, Clinton Boardman, S. L. Beebe, the Beal brothers, E. P. Jacobs and E. W. Darnley.

The town of Richmond was organized in 1857, with the following officers: Supervisors, Robert Philbrick, chairman; C. A. Boardman and Harvey Law; clerk, W. M. Densmore; assessor, W. R. Anderson; treasurer, G. W. Law. The first post office was established at the house of Joel Bartlett, who served as postmaster. This post office was known as the Richmond post office. It was a small affair. The first mail, brought on a mule's back from Maiden Rock, contained but one letter. The first quarter's commission amounted to but one dollar and fifty-nine cents. The post office case contained but four boxes, five by six inches in size. This case is preserved at the Republican office, as an interesting relic. Small as was the office, and meagre as were the receipts, the postmaster was able to employ a deputy, F. W. Bartlett. By way of agreeable contrast we give the commission for the first quarter of 1886 as $674.89.

BOARDMAN VILLAGE

Is located on the east bank of Willow river and near the western boundary of Richmond. It is a flourishing village. Its public buildings are a Methodist church and a large school house. Boardman has a good flour mill. Everything in the village bespeaks enterprise and thrift.

GRIDLEY VILLAGE

Was platted by Gridley & Day in 1857, and, together with Fremont village, platted by Henry Russell, was incorporated in the village of

NEW RICHMOND

in 1878. The first officers of the new village were: President, F. W. Bartlett; trustees, B. C. B. Foster, Wellington Pierce, Thos. Porter, Peter Schore, S. M. Bixby, Geo. C. Hough.

NEW RICHMOND CITY

Was incorporated in 1884. It includes the northwest quarter of section 2 and the northeast quarter of section 3 of township 30, range 18, and the south half of section 36, township 31, range 18. This latter half section originally belonged to Star Prairie, but is now attached to New Richmond. The first election was held April 8, 1884, at which the following officers were elected: President, Ward S. Williams; aldermen, First ward, F. W. Bartlett, Geo. A. Gault, Th. Gaskell; Second ward, A. L. Greaton, A. H. Stevens, J. C. Sabine; Third ward, John Halversen, D. H. Dodge, H. F. Fall; treasurer, L. Taft; clerk, W. F. McNally; assessor, D. A. Kennedy.

The city is beautifully located on a level prairie. The streets are from eighty to one hundred feet wide and bordered with maple, elm and boxwood trees. The city lots and grounds attached to the residences are beautifully adorned with shrubbery and flowers and are without fences. The commons and unoccupied spaces in the city are covered with a luxuriant growth of white and red clover, filling the air with its pleasant odor, and suggesting the title of "Clover City." It has many fine business buildings and tasteful residences. It is in the midst of a fine farming country, on the banks of a beautiful stream, Willow river, and two railroads, the North Wisconsin and Wisconsin Central, furnish abundant means of communication with the outer world. It has one steam saw mill with a capacity of 60,000 feet per day, and a water power flour mill with a capacity of one hundred barrels per day.

The Bank of New Richmond was organized in 1878, with a paid up capital of $35,000. In 1885 the bank did a business of about $8,000,000. The bank had a surplus in 1886 of $9,000. It has an extensive agency in flour, wheat and other agricultural products, also in lumber and real estate. The officers are: President, F. W. Bartlett; vice president, Mathias Frisk; cashier, John W. McCoy. The annual business of the city amounts to $12,000,000.

The city has a high school, established in 1884, with six departments. The building cost $12,000. The Baptists, Catholics, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, and Methodists have church buildings.

There are several fraternities here, including the Masonic, the Odd Fellows, Good Templars, Women's Christian Temperance Union and Catholic Knights of St. John. There are also a hook and ladder company and a library association. There are two cemeteries, one belonging to the masonic order.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

BENJAMIN B. C. FOSTER was born in New Portland, Maine, in 1816. When seventeen years of age he bought his time of his father and commenced life for himself. He lived eight years in Atkinson, Maine, where he taught school and engaged in farming. In 1842 he was married to Charlotte S. Gilman. In 1852 he went to California where he remained three years. He came to New Richmond in 1855 and built a saw mill and dam, and a board shanty in which he lived with his wife and two children. Around the mill has since grown up the beautiful city of New Richmond. The first school taught in New Richmond was taught at the house of Mr. Foster by Amanda Dayton. In his house was organized the first Sunday-school, the first sermon was preached in it and the first school meeting was held there.

ROBERT PHILBRICK was born in Old Town, Maine, in 1814. He learned the trade of a millwright, and in 1847 moved to North Hudson. He was married in 1851 to Frances Cook. They stood on a raft, afloat in the St. Croix river, just below the Falls, while Ansel Smith, of Taylor's Falls, performed the ceremony. Mr. Philbrick removed to New Richmond and built a frame house in 1855. The house is still standing. One daughter of Mr. Philbrick is the wife of D. L. Nye. Amaziah, a son by his first wife, is a stonemason. Alice M., daughter by his first wife, is married to John McGregor. Mr. Philbrick died prior to 1865.

LINDEN COOMBS came to New Richmond in 1855, built the first hotel in 1856, and some years later moved away.

EBEN QUINBY was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire, in 1809, and came to New Richmond in 1849, where he has since continuously been engaged in farming. In 1865 he was married to Mrs. Philbrick, widow of Robert Philbrick.

LEWIS OAKS was born in Sangerville, Maine, in 1826; came West in 1846 and to New Richmond in 1854. He is a farmer.

HENRY RUSSELL was born in Vermont in 1801. His ancestors took part in the Revolution. He was married in Vermont, lived seventeen years in New York, came to Hudson in 1853, and to New Richmond in 1857, where he bought the pre-emption made by Robert Philbrick, and had it surveyed and platted as the village of Fremont. He died in 1878. Mrs. Russell survives him and is now (1886) eighty-five years of age. Their sons Alexander and Austin are prominent citizens of New Richmond.

JOSEPH D. JOHNSON was born in Huron county, Ohio, May 12, 1829. From eight years of age he was thrown upon his own resources. The greater part of his youth was spent in Michigan. In 1848 he removed to Winnebago, Illinois, where he married Marcella L. Russell. He settled at New Richmond in 1853. One son, Ezra O., is editor of the Northwestern News, at Hayward, Wisconsin, and one daughter is married to Frank F. Bigelow.

JOEL BARTLETT was born in Hebron, Maine, in 1804. He received an academic education and became a teacher. He was principal of a high school in Bath, Maine, before he was twenty-one years of age. In 1825 he went to Harmony, Maine, where he was engaged in lumbering until 1848. In 1830 he was a member of the Maine legislature; in 1849 and 1850 he followed lumbering in Fairfield, Maine, and then removed to New York where he lived six years. In 1858 he came to New Richmond, where he has since led an active business life. Mr. Bartlett was married in Maine in 1826. One of his sons, J. A., is a Presbyterian clergyman in Centreville, Iowa. He graduated at Waterville College, Maine, and practiced law three years in New York City before entering the ministry.

FRANCIS W. BARTLETT, the second son of Joel Bartlett, was born in Maine in 1837. He received an academic education, and has been an active and successful business man. He came to New Richmond in 1858, and served as register of the land office at Bayfield from 1861 to 1867. He was married in 1867 to Mary J. Stewart, of Pennsylvania. He was engaged in the coal trade in Milwaukee three years, and two years at Detroit and Toledo, but returned to New Richmond and is now president of the New Richmond Bank, and dealer in furniture, hardware, etc.

GEORGE C. HOUGH was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, in ----. He has led a somewhat adventurous life. He served awhile as a soldier in the Black Hawk War under Gen. Dodge. Afterward he went to Missouri, graduated at the State University, and engaged in lead mining and prospecting. He went to California in 1862, where he practiced law. He returned in 1876, and located in Richmond where he still resides.

SILAS STAPLES was born in Lisbon, Maine, Sept. 18, 1814. He came to Hudson, Wisconsin, in 1854, took charge of the Willow River mills, buying a quarter interest at $20,000, including 5,000 acres of land on Willow river. In 1856 he sold his interest to Jewell and Bodie, of Maine, for $55,000, and for three years carried on a banking business in Hudson. In the winter of 1859-60 he removed to New Richmond. In 1861 he returned to Hudson and put up a shingle and lath addition to his saw mill. He built a flouring mill at New Richmond in 1864. He built large dams on Willow river for driving logs, and carried on lumbering operations until 1868, when he removed to Canada and carried on milling and lumbering enterprises four years, at Collins' Inlet, Georgian bay. In 1872 he returned to Hudson and to a farm, and was also engaged with Mr. Gibson in mercantile business. In 1873 he returned to New Richmond, and, buying a half interest in the mill, took charge of it for one year, then removed to Stillwater and took charge of his brother's (Isaac Staples) saw mill.

In 1875 he removed to Elk River, Minnesota, and took charge of a farm. The next year he returned to New Richmond, where he settled his family and bought a half interest in a saw and grist mill at Jeweltown. He also built an elevator there with a capacity of 20,000 bushels.

Mr. Staples was married in 1837 to Hannah Williams, of Bowdoinham, Maine, who died in 1838. He was married in 1841 to Abigail Ann Rogers of Oldtown, Maine, who died in the spring of 1845. He was married in the fall of 1846 to Nancy D. Gilman, who died in 1873. He was married to Mrs. Nancy B. Jamison in the fall of 1874. He has six children, Charles A., Silas G., Nellie B., Nettie, Edward P, and Lizzie G.

HENRY M. MURDOCK.--Dr. Murdock was born at Antwerp, New York, in October, 1823. His father, Dr. Hiram Murdock, moved to Gunning, at which place the son attended school till he was fifteen years of age. The father moved to Pulaski, New York. Henry studied medicine with his father until he was nineteen years of age, then attended medical lectures at Castleton, Virginia, where he graduated at the age of twenty-one. After practicing three years at Dexter, and after a co-partnership of seven years with his father in a drug store at Pulaski, he came West and settled in Stillwater, where he bought the drug store and business of Dr. Carli. In 1858 he went to Taylor's Falls and practiced medicine until the spring of 1860, when he removed to Hudson and formed a partnership with Dr. Hoyt. In the fall of 1861 he accepted the position of assistant surgeon of the Eighth Wisconsin, and served during the war, having been promoted meanwhile to the position of brigade surgeon. In 1866 he removed to New Richmond, where he has since resided, having now retired from business. He was twice married, in 1845 to Cornelia A. Sandford, who died childless, and in 1865 to Sarah J. Allan. His children are Cornelia A. and Henry A.

STEVEN N. HAWKINS was born in Galway, Ireland, Dec. 26, 1846, but while he was a mere child his parents emigrated to America; remained a few years in Connecticut; came West in 1855, and made their home in Pleasant Valley, St. Croix county. His early life was marked by the usual vicissitudes of life in a new country. He tried for a time various occupations--farm work, rafting, sawing lumber, teaching, and, during the later months of the war, was a volunteer soldier. He managed to secure a good education in the common schools and at the River Falls Academy. He studied medicine and surgery a few months, but devoted himself chiefly to teaching until 1872, when he engaged in a mercantile enterprise at which he continued four years, but at the close of that period found himself obliged to suspend, with an aggregate of $5,000 against him. This he afterward paid, but he concluded, perhaps wisely, to change his occupation. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar, July, 1876. In this profession he has achieved an enviable success. In 1872 he was married to Margaret Early, of Alleghany county, New York. They have had four children, the first of which died in infancy.

RUSH RIVER

Occupies the east half of township 28, range 17. The first settlement was made in 1850. The following came in 1850-51: Daniel McCartney, Amos Babcock, Joseph King, Stephen Claggitt and Z. Travis. The town was set off from Kinnikinic and organized in 1851, with Daniel McCartney as chairman of the board of supervisors. At his house was held the first election.

Woodside has one church and several buildings, is near the centre of the town, and New Centreville in the southern part. The date of settlement is second to that of Hudson. It was traversed by the old Hudson and Prairie du Chien stage route. It was originally a mixed timber and prairie district.

SOMERSET

Occupies sections 1 to 18, inclusive, of township 30, range 19, two sections of township 30, range 20, and all of township 31, range 19, lying east of the St. Croix river. The surface is generally undulating, but along the St. Croix and Apple rivers abrupt and hilly. The first settlers were French colonists at Apple River Falls in 1851. They built a school house and Catholic church upon the bluffs below the falls. The latter is a conspicuous object as seen from the St. Croix river. The falls of Apple river, about one and a half miles above its junction with the St. Croix, is one of the finest of the Wisconsin waterfalls. Apple river traverses the county from northeast to southwest. The Wisconsin Central railroad crosses the southern part. The town of Somerset was organized Sept. 19, 1856, with Thomas J. Chappell as chairman of supervisors. Mr. Chappell was also appointed postmaster in 1854 at Apple River Falls.

SOMERSET VILLAGE,

Located about three miles above the Falls, has a good improved water power, a flour mill with a capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels per day, and a saw mill, built and owned by Gen. Sam Harriman, the founder of the village. In 1856 a church and school house were erected at a cost of about $12,000.

SAMUEL HARRIMAN.--Gen. Harriman was born in Orland, Maine. He spent four years in California, engaged in mining and lumbering, and dug the second canal in the State for sluicing purposes. He came to Somerset in 1859, and has ever since made it his residence. He is one of the founders and platters of the village, and built most of the houses, including the hotel and two stores on the east side of Apple river, and all the dwelling houses on the west side. He has been remarkably successful in the various pursuits to which he has turned his attention, and may well be considered a man of remarkable executive ability. He has a farm of five hundred and fifty-five acres, and his agricultural and stock products are second to none. As a lumberman he has cut 3,000,000 feet per year. He has a rotary saw mill with a planing, lath and shingle mill attached, and under the same roof he has a flouring mill and six run of stone; he has a large store in which he keeps a general stock of merchandise; he has also a cooper shop, where he makes his own barrels, a warehouse and a blacksmith shop. He has also an excellent stone quarry on his premises.

We look in vain for his name in the Wisconsin blue book, or among the list of office holders. He has been too busy to turn aside in quest of political preferment. We believe, however, that he was commissioned as notary public by Govs. Taylor and Smith. When men were needed for the defense of the country he left his interests to enlist as a private. His military record is brilliant. He enlisted in Company A, Thirtieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, June 10, 1862, was made captain on the organization of the company, which position he held till Feb. 16, 1864, when he was commissioned colonel of the Thirty-seventh Wisconsin Infantry. This regiment was recruited by Col. Harriman, he having been commissioned for that purpose. Its services on many a hard fought field, and especially about Petersburg, is a matter of well known history. Its most memorable action occurred on the thirtieth of July, just after the explosion of the mine under the enemy's fort. Col. Harriman, with the Thirty-seventh Wisconsin, was ordered to occupy the dismantled fort, which he did under a heavy fire, and the walls had been so leveled as to afford but slight protection from the enemy's batteries. While in possession they repelled all attempts to dislodge them until four o'clock the next morning, when, receiving no support, the Thirty-seventh Regiment,

"All that was left of them,"

fell back to the line. At roll call that evening, of two hundred and fifty men that answered to their names before the action, only ninety-five responded. The remnant of the regiment was attached to a new brigade, of which Col. Harriman was commissioned commander. On the tenth of September, the war having ended, the tattered flag of the Thirty-seventh was returned to the governor of the State and Brig. Gen. Harriman returned to private life and his business enterprises.

The general is a genial, kind hearted man, fond of a good joke and story, even though they are at his own expense. He narrates of himself, that when mustered out of the service at Washington he was addressed as General Harriman; on his way home he was saluted as colonel; when nearing Wisconsin, he was hailed as major; in the State, as captain; in St. Croix county and at home as Mr. Harriman; when met by the boys, they greeted him with "Hello, Sam."

ST. JOSEPH

Includes the three lower tiers of sections of township 30, range 19, fractions of range 20, and the six upper sections of township 29, range 19. Willow river traverses the southeast corner. The surface varies from undulating to hilly. In the eastern part of the town is Balsam lake, a picturesque body of water two miles in length. There are also two high elevations of land, or ridges, that serve as conspicuous landmarks. The earliest settlers came in 1850, and located on farms in different parts of the town. St. Joseph was organized in 1858. The North Wisconsin railroad passes through the southeast corner of the town.

HOULTON.

Opposite Stillwater, on the shore of the lake, is a platted village known as Houlton, which has improved much during the last few years. J. S. Anderson & Co. built a large saw mill at this place, which has changed ownership several times. The residences of the village are on the high bluffs overlooking the lake, and commanding from a point two hundred feet above the level of the water a most magnificent view, including Stillwater, Hudson and Lakeland.

BURKHARDT VILLAGE

Is situated upon Willow river, just above the Falls. Joseph Bowron and others built a mill here in 1851. The mill property changed hands many times, and finally passed into the hands of Burkhardt. In March, 1887, the mill was consumed, with a loss to Mr. Burkhardt of $100,000, an immense loss, representing the earnings of a lifetime; but with tireless energy Mr. Burkhardt went to work rebuilding, and, it is to be hoped, will soon re-establish his thriving business. There is one church near Burkhardt.

SPRINGFIELD,

At its organization in 1860, embraced its own territory and that of Baldwin, set off in 1872. It now includes township 29, range 15. It was originally covered with pine and hardwood timber. Within the last few years it has been improved and much of the timber land is used for farming. It is drained by the headwaters and tributaries of Rush and Menomonie rivers. The West Wisconsin railroad passes through the southern tier of sections, and a branch road, leading southward into a pine district, has a junction at Hersey. Most of the early settlers were Union soldiers. Among them were S. T. Adams, Thomas Ross, Isaac Burgitt and Capt. Rogers. Springfield was organized Nov. 15, 1860, with J. R. Ismon as chairman, and Perrin and Hall as supervisors.

HERSEY.

The village of Hersey, located on section 28, is a station on the West Wisconsin and branch railroad, has a lumber mill, and is a flourishing village.

WILSON VILLAGE,

Section 35, is also a station on the West Wisconsin road, and an important manufacturing place. The village is owned and controlled by the Wilson Manufacturing Company, which has a capital stock of $150,000. There is one church in the village.

STANTON

Was set off from Star Prairie and organized Dec. 30, 1870, with Trueworthy Jewell as chairman of supervisors. It is a rich prairie town, well drained by the waters of Apple and Willow rivers, and well cultivated. The North Wisconsin railroad passes southwest to northeast through this town. Star Prairie village lies partly in this town and partly in the town of Star Prairie. There are two church buildings in the town of Stanton.

STAR PRAIRIE,

Township 31, range 18, was organized Jan. 28, 1856. At its organization it included township 31, ranges 17 and 18, and north half of township 30, ranges 17 and 18. The first election was held at the house of B. C. B. Foster, in New Richmond. Apple river flows through the town from northeast to southwest. Cedar lake, in the northeast part, furnishes at its outlet a good water power. Among the first settlers were the Jewell brothers, Ridder and sons.

HUNTINGTON VILLAGE

Is located near the outlet of Cedar lake and on the stream by which the waters of the lake are borne to Apple river. It has a large flouring mill.

STAR PRAIRIE VILLAGE,

Lying partially in sections 1 and 12 and partially in Stanton, has a saw and flouring mill, a hotel, a school house and two churches, with some fine residences.

HON. R. K. FAY, born in 1822, came from New York to Wisconsin in 1849, locating at Princeton, where he resided for nine years, most of the time engaged as the principal of the high school at that place. He was a man of sterling character, who is remembered as an able teacher and public spirited citizen. He has been assemblyman from Adams and St. Croix counties, and a county superintendent of schools, and has taught school forty-nine terms. When a member from St. Croix county, he introduced the bill requiring the constitutions of the United States and of Wisconsin to be taught in the common schools. He died at his home in Star Prairie, Jan 5, 1888. Five sons and five daughters survive him. His wife died about three years ago.

TROY,

Township 28, range 19, and fractional township 28, range 19, consisting of about three sections, lying along the shore of Lake St. Croix, has a fine frontage of bluffs overlooking the lake, with rich, level prairie lands stretching away eastward. The Kinnikinic river flows through the southeast corner of the township. It was organized in 1851 as Malone, the name having been chosen by the Perrin brothers, who came from Malone, New York, in 1851. The name, some years later, was changed to Troy. The Hudson & Ellsworth railroad passes diagonally through the township from northwest to southeast.

The village of Glenmont, section 25, township 28, range 20, lies on the shore of Lake St. Croix. It contains a large saw mill, built by the Lord brothers. It has since changed hands.

The village of East Troy, in section 36, has recently been annexed by legislative enactment to the city of River Falls.

JAMES CHINNOCK, the first settler in Troy, was born in Somersetshire, England, in 1810. He officiated twelve years at Bristol Harbor, England, as superintendent of docks and vessels. He was married in England to Harriet Owens; came to America in 1841, lived in Ohio until 1850, when he came to Hudson and immediately located a claim within the present limits of Troy. He raised the first crop in the town, and built the first house, of stone, for greater protection from the Indians. Mr. Chinnock made his home upon this farm until his death in 1870. He left a widow and four sons, three of them farmers in Troy. One son, James T., has been register of deeds for St. Croix county from 1885 to 1888.

WILLIAM LEWIS PERRIN was born in 1825, and with his brother came to Troy in 1851, where he has since lived. He has been a successful farmer and public spirited citizen, and has filled offices in the town organization. He was married in 1855 to Julia F. Loring. They have three sons and one daughter.

WARREN,

Township 29, range 18, is a rich prairie town, drained by the tributaries of Kinnikinic and Willow river. George Longworth and family, of Waukegan, Illinois, settled here in October, 1855. In the year following, Lyman and David Sanford, brothers, came from Ohio, and made their home here. Mr. Longworth, in 1856, broke the first ground on land now within the limits of Hudson. Henry M. Sanford came in the spring of 1857.

Warren was organized as a town in 1860, with the following supervisors: Beach Sanford, George Frissell and Seth Colbeth; L. J. Sanford, clerk. A post office was established in 1860, and Mrs. Beach Sanford was appointed postmistress, at Warren village, now Roberts. The village of Roberts is located on the West Wisconsin railroad, which traverses sections 19 to 24, inclusive, of this town. It contains one elevator, one storage house, one feed mill, one cheese factory, one machine shop, one syrup mill, several stores and shops, one hotel, one school house, one public hall, and one church building belonging to the Congregationalists.

No intoxicants are sold in the village. The first school was taught in 1859, by Jane Sanford.

JAMES HILL was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, Feb. 15, 1825, and settled in Warren, St. Croix county, in 1863, where he engaged in farming and dealing in grain. He represented St. Croix county in the Wisconsin assembly of 1878-79-80.

TOWN PLATS LOCATED IN ST. CROIX COUNTY.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NAME OF | TOWN | DATE OF PLAT. | SURVEYOR. | PROPRIETORS. VILLAGE. | LOCATION. | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Buena Vista |Hudson | In 1849 | Harvey Wilson |Louis Massey & | | | | Co. New Centreville|Rush River | Mch. 26, 1856 | Geo. Strong |Daniel | | | | McCartney. Hammond |Hammond | July 15, 1856 | A. W. Miller |Hammond & | | | | Spaulding. De Soto |Hudson | Aug. 15, 1857 | |Aptemards | | | | Burkhart. Somerset |Somerset | Aug. 28, 1857 |Geo. Strong |Harriman & Reed. Glenmont |Troy | Jan. 5, 1858 |C. N. Bates |M. Bank, Lake | | | | St. Cx. Huntington |Star Prairie| Sept. 24, 1858|E. W. McClure |John Brown. Gridley, New} | | | | Richmond and} |Richmond | 1857 | |Gridley & Day. Fremont } | | | | Troy |Troy | Dec. 29, 1859 |J. A. Short |Cox & Powell. Boardman |Richmond | July 5, 1866 |W. R. Anderson |Beebe & | | | | Boardman. Star Prairie |Star Prairie| June 15, 1870 |John McClure |Simonds & | | | | Millard. Baldwin |Baldwin | Mch. 14, 1873 |H. J. Baldwin |D. R. Bailey. Roberts |Warren | Jan. 4, 1875 |Geo. Strong |Comstock, Platt | | | | & Co. Deer Park |Cylon | Jan. 25, 1879 |J. W. Remmington|J. A. Humbird. New Saratoga} | | | | Springs } |Stanton | Sept. 17, 1878|John McClure |A. P. Muggey. Hersey |Springfield | Dec. 24, 1880 |Geo. Strong |L. T. Adams. Cylon |Cylon | Sept. 16, 1884|Alfred Pierce |Beebe & | | | | McNarama. Emerald |Emerald | July 13, 1885 |Alfred Pierce |Hurd Brothers. Glenwood |Glenwood | Jan. 2, 1886 |H. J. Baldwin |Glenwood Manf. | | | | Co. Wilson |Springfield | 1886 | |West Wis. Manf. | | | | Co. Woodville |Baldwin | 1886 | |Woodville Lumber | | | | Co. Wildwood |Eau Galle | 1886 | |St. Cx. L. & | | | | Manf. Co. Brookville |Eau Galle | 1886 | |Wood & Decker. Houlton |St. Joseph | Not recorded | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VII. PIERCE COUNTY

This county, named in honor of President Pierce, was separated from St. Croix county in 1853, and organized by the same act that created Polk county, and gave to St. Croix its present limits. It contains about six hundred square miles of territory, lying east of the Mississippi river and Lake St. Croix. It is somewhat triangular in shape, the river and lake forming the hypotenuse, and St. Croix, Dunn and Pepin bounding it by right lines on the north and east, Pepin also forming a small part of its southern boundary.

The scenery is picturesque and varied. Along the river and lake is a series of limestone bluffs, broken at intervals by ravines and valleys, and leaving the impression upon the mind of the traveler on the Mississippi of a rough, broken and inhospitable country, than which nothing could be further from the truth. Beyond these rugged escarpments of limestone and out of sight of the traveler, the country stretches away toward the interior as an undulating prairie, with meadows and rich pasturelands, with occasional forests, the whole watered and drained by an intricate network of streams tributary to the lake and river, and the three larger streams, the Kinnikinic, which empties into the St. Croix and Big rivers, Trimbelle and Rush, that empty into the Mississippi. Some branches of the Chippewa also take their rise in this county. These streams uniformly have their source in springs and their waters are consequently pure, cold and invigorating, flowing over beds of white sand or pebbles, and in their downward course forming many ripples, rapids, cascades and some beautiful waterfalls. Their total descent to the bed of the Mississippi is about four hundred feet. Pierce county has no inland lakes within its limits, nor any indications of their previous existence. The soil is formed chiefly from decomposed rocks or ledges worn down by the abrading forces of water and wind, of frost and heat. The rivers in their downward course have excavated broad valleys, having originally precipitous bluffs on either side, and even bluffs once islands in the midst of the streams. These, by later agencies, have been smoothed to gentle slopes and rounded into graceful mounds, towering sometimes as much as eighty feet above the valley or plains. In some places mere outlines of sandstone or limestone rock are left, turret-like, on the summit of a mound, as monuments on which the geologist may read the record of ages gone. As the character of the soil of a country depends upon the composition of the rocks underlying it, and those removed from the surface, reduced to soil and widely distributed, we give what may be considered as the section of any one of the mounds near Prescott in the order of the superposition of strata:

At the base--Lower magnesian limestone 250 feet. Above the plain--Upper sandstone 50 feet. On the summit--Trenton, or shell limestone 30 feet.

Over a great part of the county the Trenton and limestone are worn almost entirely away, and their former existence is attested only by a few mounds, bluffs and outlines. Drift is not often met with. The soil may be considered as formed out of drift, now removed from its original position, and out of the sandstone and limestone. It is, therefore, soil of the richest quality.

By the same act that created the county of Pierce, passed March 14, 1853, Prescott was declared the county seat. The town board of Prescott was constituted the county board. The commissioners were Osborn Strahl, chairman; Silas Wright and Sylvester Moore. At the first county election, Nov. 15, 1853, one hundred and ten votes were cast. The following were the officers elected: County judge, W. J. Copp; sheriff, N. S. Dunbar; treasurer, J. R. Freeman; clerk of court, S. R. Gunn; clerk of board, Henry Teachout; coroner, J. Olive; district attorney, P. V. Wise; surveyor, J. True; register of deeds, J. M. Whipple. Mr. Whipple was authorized to transcribe the records of St. Croix county up to date of the organization of Pierce.

The first assessment in the county, in 1853, amounted to $24,452. At the meeting of the supervisors, Jan. 18, 1854, the district attorney was allowed forty dollars per annum as salary. Courts were held wherever suitable buildings could be obtained. During this year Judge Wyram Knowlton, of Prairie du Chien, held the first district court at Prescott. The first records of the court were kept on sheets of foolscap paper, and fastened together with wafers. The first case before the court was that of "The State of Wisconsin, Pierce County, Wm. Woodruff vs. Chas. D. Stevens, August Lochmen, and Chas. Peschke, in Court of said County. In Equity." On reading and filing the bill in complaint, in this case, on motion of S. J. R. McMillan and H. M. Lewis, solicitors for counsel, J. S. Foster, it was ordered that a writ of injunction be issued in the case, pursuant to the prayer of said bill, upon said complainant. Some one, in his behalf, filed with the clerk of said court, a bond for damages and costs in the sum of $1,700, with surety to be approved by the clerk or judge of said court. The first document recorded in the county is an agreement between Philander Prescott and Philip Aldrich, wherein Aldrich agrees to occupy lands adjoining Prescott's, at the mouth of St. Croix lake on the west, and David Hone on the east. The second document is a deed, conveying a tract of three hundred and twenty acres of land from Francis Chevalier to Joseph R. Brown, the land lying near the mouth of Lake St. Croix, and marked by stakes planted in the ground, and adjoining Francis Gamelle's claim, dated July 20, 1840.

In 1857 County Treasurer Ayers became a defaulter to the county in the sum of $2,287.76, and to the Prescott Bank, $4,000. In 1861, by act of the legislature, the question of changing the county seat from Prescott to Ellsworth was submitted to the people. The vote as declared was six hundred for removal and three hundred and seventy-three against it. Technical objections having been raised as to the legality of the vote, the subject was submitted to the people a second time in 1862. The vote for removal was confirmed. In 1863 the district system was adopted and three districts were established by legislative enactment, but in 1870 the county returned to the original system by which the board of supervisors was made to consist of a chairman from each one of the town boards. A poor farm was established near Ellsworth in 1869, at a cost of $3,600. The county board also appropriated $31,000 for county buildings at Ellsworth.

The finances of the county have been admirably managed. In 1885 there was no indebtedness, and a surplus in the treasury of $5,000. The educational interests are well cared for. There are over one hundred school districts in the county, with well conducted schools, and generally with good substantial buildings. The school lands of St. Croix, then including Pierce county, were appraised in 1852 by Dr. Otis Hoyt, ---- Denniston and James Bailey, and the lands at once offered for sale. Settlers' rights were respected. The county issued $5,000 in bonds to aid in establishing the normal school at River Falls.

RAILROADS.

River Falls has direct communication with Hudson by a branch of the Chicago & St. Paul railroad. In 1885 the Burlington & Northern railroad route was surveyed and established, entering the county on the shore of Lake Pepin, and running nearly parallel with lake and river to Prescott, where it crosses Lake St. Croix near its mouth, on a bridge, the total length of which is 520.5 feet, with one draw span 367.5 feet in length, and one piled span of 153 feet. This bridge was completed, and the first train entered Prescott, May 31, 1886. The grade of this road does not exceed fifteen feet to the mile.

MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS.

The Grand Army of the Republic have posts at the following places:

No. 72, A. W. Howard Post Rock Elm. No. 117, I. M. Nichols Post River Falls. No. 118, Ellsworth Post Ellsworth. No. 189, R. P. Converse Post Prescott. No. 204, U. S. Grant Post Maiden Rock. No. 209, Plum City Post Plum City.

The following are the village plats of Pierce county, with date of survey and location:

Prescott, town of Prescott 1853 Kinnikinic, town of River Falls 1854 Monte Diamond (Diamond Bluff), town of Diamond Bluff 1854 Saratoga, town of Isabelle 1855 River Falls (Greenwood and Fremont), town of River Falls 1856 Maiden Rock, town of Maiden Rock 1856 Warren, town of Maiden Rock 1856 Trimbelle, town of Trimbelle 1856 Franklin, town of Trimbelle 1856 Martell (Rising Sun), town of Martell 1856 Beldenville, town of Trimbelle 1857 Trenton, town of Trenton 1857 Plum City, town of Union 1858 El Paso, town of El Paso 1858 Esdaile, town of Hartland 1870 Rock Elm, town of Rock Elm Centre 1876 Hogan, town of Trenton 1886 Bay City, town of Isabelle 1887

ORGANIZATION OF TOWNS.

The following is the chronological order in which the towns of Pierce county were organized:

Prescott[B]. 1853 Greenwood (now River Falls) 1854 Martell 1854 Isabelle 1855 Trimbelle 1855 Diamond Bluff 1855 Clifton 1855 Oak Grove 1856 Perry (Ellsworth) 1856 Spring Valley (Maiden Rock) 1857 Trenton 1857 El Paso 1858 Hartland 1859 Union 1861 Salem 1862 Rock Elm 1862 Deerfield (Gilman) 1868 Spring Lake 1868

CLIFTON,

Situated in the northwestern part of the county, contains a little over thirty full sections of land, those on the St. Croix having a somewhat irregular boundary. The surface is somewhat broken where traversed by the Kinnikinic and its tributaries. It includes twenty-four sections on the west side of township 27, range 19, and fractional township 27, range 20. It was established in 1855. Its first board of officers were: Supervisors--Geo. W. McMurphy, chairman; Osborne Strahl and G. W. Teachout. C. B. Cox was the first postmaster, in 1852, at a place called Clifton Mills, from which the town afterward derived its name. This post town is situated on the Kinnikinic, in section 18, township 27, range 18 west. It has one grist mill and two saw mills, belonging to Cox, King & Goodsall. No intoxicants are sold here. The Glenwood saw mills, having a capacity of 3,000,000 feet, are located on the lake shore. In 1868 a limestone quarry was opened on the lake shore, by Oakley & Nichols. In 1881 the firm became Oakley & Hall. They have a patent kiln and good machinery, and some seasons have manufactured as much as 5,000 barrels of lime.

GEORGE W. MCMURPHY was born at Newcastle, Delaware, in 1821. In 1845 he came to St. Croix Falls, and in 1848 to Clifton, where he pre-empted the beautiful homestead which he still holds, and where he has successfully followed the business of farming. He has been repeatedly elected to town and county offices. In 1848 he was married to Maria A. Rice. Their children are Augustus (resident of St. Paul), George (a physician living in Ortonville, Minnesota), James A., Robert, Albert and Edward, and two married daughters. Mr. McMurphy is a member of the Congregational church.

OSBORNE STRAHL was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1818; came to Galena, Illinois, in 1838, in 1845 to Mauston and Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and to Chippewa Falls in 1847. During these years he followed lumbering. In 1850 he came to the town of Elisabeth, St. Croix county, which on subsequent division of towns and counties left Mr. Strahl in Clifton, where he has been engaged in farming. He was married in 1860 to Rebecca McDonald. They have two sons, Wm. Day, living in Dakota, Howard P., in River Falls; three daughters, Mabel, wife of Joseph M. Smith, banker at River Falls, and two daughters unmarried. Mr. Strahl filled various town and county offices.

CHARLES B. COX was born June 25, 1810, in Chenango county, New York. He learned the trade of a miller, lived in Ohio seventeen years and came to Clifton in 1849. He built at Clifton the first saw and grist mill in the Kinnikinic valley, in 1850. He changed his residence to River Falls in 1854, where he lived till 1874, when he removed to California. During the year 1851 he ground three hundred bushels of wheat, the sole product of the valley.

EPHRAIM HARNSBERGER was born in Kentucky, Nov. 21, 1824, moved with his parents to Illinois in 1832, and to Prescott in 1847, where he pre-empted a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres. He was married at Alton, Illinois, in 1858, to Lizzie Johnson. Their children are Charles, Sarah Etta, and Jennie.

DIAMOND BLUFF

Is a triangular shaped town, the hypotenuse being formed by the Mississippi river. It contains ten sections and three fractional sections in town 25, range 18, and five sections and five fractional sections in town 25, range 19. It is traversed in the eastern part by Trimbelle river. The town was established in 1857, and the first town meeting was held that year at the home of David Comstock. The town board consisted of: Supervisors--James Akers, chairman; Wilson Thing and C. F. Hoyt; justice, S. Hunter. Susan Rogers taught the first school. This town has the honor of claiming the first white settler, aside from traders, in the Upper Mississippi valley. He came to the site of the present village of Diamond Bluff in 1800, and named it Monte Diamond. We give elsewhere a somewhat extended account of this ancient pioneer, with some speculations concerning him and his descendants that are plausible enough to warrant their insertion. In historic times a post office was established here in 1854, called at the time, Hoytstown, from C.F. Hoyt, the first postmaster.

On the organization of the town the name was changed to Diamond Bluff. Quite a village has since grown up around it. The first frame house was built in 1855, by Enoch Quinby. The first sermon was preached by Rev. J. W. Hancock, a Presbyterian minister, for some years a missionary among the Indians. The first birth was that of Mary Day, in 1851, and the first death that of Daniel Crappers, in 1854.

CAPT. JOHN PAINE.--Jack Paine, as he is familiarly called, was born in England, and for the greater part of his life has been a seafaring man. For the past thirty years he has been a steamboat man on the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers. He has been married three times: first in Rhode Island, second to Mrs. La Blond, of St. Louis, and last to Miss Ressue, of Diamond Bluff. He came to Diamond Bluff in 1848, with four children of his first wife, his second wife having died childless. He is now living with his third wife in La Crosse. They have three children.

JOHN DAY was born in Martinsburg, Virginia. In 1850 he and his wife and three children, with Allen B. Wilson and his wife, came to Diamond Bluff. Mr. Day is well known as a fearless and enthusiastic hunter. In 1852 he had a close encounter with a large black bear, which, after a desperate struggle, he killed with an axe. The Indians considered Mr. Day as "waukon," supernatural, averring that their bravest warriors would not have attacked singly so large an animal.

SARAH A. VANCE, the wife of Mr. Day, was born in Kentucky. The Vance family were famous pioneers, and some of them were noted Methodist preachers. Miss Vance's first marriage was to John R. Shores, by whom she had two children, one of whom, Isabella, became the wife of A. R. Wilson.

ALLEN R. WILSON.--Mr. Wilson was born in Kentucky; spent his early boyhood in Shawneetown, Illinois; was married to Miss Shores at Potosi, Wisconsin, April 16, 1848, and in 1850 came to Diamond Bluff. Mr. Wilson took great interest in politics, was an ardent Republican, and was among the first to volunteer his services for the suppression of the Rebellion in 1861. He enlisted in Company B, Sixth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers, and fell in battle, Sept. 14, 1862, at South Mountain. Mr. Wilson was well informed, a close observer of political events at home and abroad, and was a brave and efficient soldier. He left five children.

E. S. COULTER.--Mr. Coulter is a Virginian by birth. In early manhood he traveled extensively as a book agent, and finally settled at Diamond Bluff, where he successfully engaged in farming and dealing in wheat and merchandise.

JAMES BAMBER, ex-musician in the British and United States armies.

JACOB MEAD, ex-shoemaker, ex-soldier and miner, a man of superior natural and acquired talent.

CHARLES WALBRIDGE came to Diamond Bluff in 1852.

JACOB MEAD died in 1884, leaving a large property.

CHARLES F. HOYT, with his wife and one child, came to Diamond Bluff from Illinois, in 1853.

ENOCH QUINBY was born at Sandwich, New Hampshire; was married to Matilda Leighton, originally from Athens, Maine. Mr. Quinby and his wife came from Pittsfield, Illinois, to Diamond Bluff in 1854.

THE FIRST SETTLER.

There is a pretty well grounded tradition that the first white man who found his way to Diamond Bluff was a French Vendean loyalist of the army of Jacques Cathelineau; that he fled from France in 1793 or 1794, landed at Quebec, and was traced by his enemies to Mackinaw and Chicago, where they lost his trail. He came to Diamond Bluff in 1800, and named it "Monte Diamond." He had for his housekeeper the daughter of an Indian chief. He died here about 1824. After his death the Indians always called the place the "Old White Man's Prairie." E. Quinby, of Diamond Bluff, to whom we are indebted for this account, adds: "All the additional evidence I can give in regard to this pioneer is that prior to 1793 his wife died, leaving him one daughter, who was deformed. A former friend of his had a beautiful daughter of about the same age of his own. After the uprising and defeat of the Vendeans, they became enemies, and he, to save his life, took his former friend's daughter, instead of his own, and fled to this country. The father pursued them as far as Chicago, where he saw his daughter in company with some Indian girls, and having on her person some ornaments once worn by her mother. He at once seized her and carried her back with him to France, and the old Frenchman found his way to Diamond Bluff." Faribault's son,[C] now living somewhere in Minnesota, wrote me a few years since, inquiring about the old Frenchman, saying that his grandmother claimed that her husband was a French nobleman, and that he lived near Lake Pepin. He believed the old Frenchman was his grandfather. The above statements were communicated to the late Capt. Orin Smith, of Galena, Illinois, Allen B. Wilson and myself, in 1854, or in 1855, by an old Frenchman then residing at Potosi, Wisconsin, who claimed to have seen and gathered these facts from the old man himself. Capt. Smith was well acquainted with the Frenchman at Potosi, and gave the fullest credence to his account.

EL PASO

Occupies township 26, range 16. It is drained chiefly by Rush river and its tributary, Lost creek, on the west. The two post villages in this town are, El Paso, located in section 5, and Lost Creek, in section 3. George P. Walker was the first settler. He built the first house and raised the first crop; Thomas T. Magee came in 1855. In 1860 the town was organized, Thomas Hurley and Geo. P. Walker being supervisors. In 1862 Mr. Magee built a saw and flour mill in section 5, and platted the village of El Paso. In 1875 he removed to Clear Lake, Polk county, of which town he was the first settler. Clara Green taught the first school in El Paso, in 1861. There is one Catholic and one Lutheran church in the village. The name El Paso signifying a crossing, is of somewhat obscure derivation.

ELLSWORTH

Was organized under the name of Perry, March 3, 1857, but in 1862 it received its present name. It occupies a central position in the county and includes township 26, range 17. This is a rich farming town, originally timbered with hardwood. The surface is elevated and gently undulating. It is drained on the east by the tributaries of Rush river, but has no large or important streams. The first supervisors were: P. M. Simons, chairman; Caleb Bruce and Wilson Kinnie. The first settler was Anthony Huddleston, who came April 23, 1856, and pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 20. On November 26th, of the same year, came Caleb, Elihu W. and Eli T. Bruce, who pre-empted farms on sections 18 and 19. During the same year Wilson and Norris Kinnie and David Klingensmith pre-empted farms in sections 18 and 19. Lilly, Miscen, Russ, and Campbell came also in 1855. The first log house in the town was built by Anthony Huddleston in 1855. Norris Kinnie built the first in what was afterward the village of Ellsworth. The first school house, a log building, built was in 1857, and Mary Filkins, now Mrs. G. H. Sargeant, of Minnesota, taught the first school. The first marriage was that of Charles Stannard and Mary Leonard, in 1855. The first birth, that of the twin children of Wilson. Both died. The first death of an adult was that of Mrs. Jacob Youngman in the winter of 1855. The post office was opened in 1860, with Seely Strickland as postmaster.

ELLSWORTH VILLAGE.

The original owners of the southern half of section 18, and the northern half of 19, Norris Kinnie, Eli T. Bruce, Henry P. Ames, and Wm. Crippin laid out and platted the village of Ellsworth in 1862. Wm. Crippin, built a frame hotel there in 1860. C. S. Dunbar opened a store in 1861. The prospect of Ellsworth becoming the county seat gave a great impetus to business enterprises. This was decided by a popular vote in 1861, but owing to some technical defects was resubmitted to the people of the county in 1862, and then definitely decided. In the year 1862 the citizens of Ellsworth built a log house in which the first terms of court were held; meanwhile the county officers had their offices in the basement of Crippin's hotel. The permanent county buildings were not erected until 1869. They are built of stone and cost $60,000. In 1863 a frame schoolhouse took the place of the old log structure, and in 1874 a commodious brick building was erected, at a cost of $5,000.

The Methodists, Lutherans and Catholics have church buildings. There is one newspaper, the Pierce County Herald, edited by E. F. Case and E. S. Doolittle. The Barnes saw mill built in 1867, burned down and rebuilt, has a capacity of about 5,000 feet per day. A branch railroad, built from Hudson to River Falls, was extended to Ellsworth in 1885. The depot is one mile from the village. The Pierce County Central fair grounds, containing seventeen acres, are located near the village. The grounds are inclosed and are covered with a fine maple grove, in the midst of which is a large flowing spring. D. W. Woodworth was first president of the fair association. Ellsworth has two handsome cemeteries, Maplewood and the Catholic.

The village itself is beautifully situated on an elevated plateau originally covered with hardwood timber. The streets are tastefully adorned with maple trees.

ANTHONY HUDDLESTON.--Mr. Huddleston is of Irish descent. He was born in West Virginia in 1804; had but limited educational privileges; lived for a part of his life in Ohio and Indiana, and settled in Ellsworth in 1855, being the first settler in the town. He was a house carpenter for over sixty years. He was a member of the Dunkard church sixty-two years. He was married in 1826, in Ripley, Indiana, to Susannah Whetstone. They have three sons and six daughters living.

PERRY D. PIERCE was born in Harpersfield, Delaware county, New York. He traces his lineage to ancestors who came across in the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth Rock. He received an academic education, studied law with A. Reckor, Oswego, New York, and was admitted to practice at Cooperstown in 1843, practiced in Albany three years, and in 1854 came to the St. Croix valley, locating first at Prescott, where he served as district attorney for four years, and county judge eight years. He was married in 1860, to Lua E. Searsdall. He is now a resident of Ellsworth.

HANS B. WARNER, of Ellsworth, Pierce county, was born at Gulbrandsdalen, Norway, July 12, 1844; received a common school education; is by occupation a farmer; emigrated and settled in Dodge county, Wisconsin, in 1853, and thence removed to Pierce county in 1855, where he has since resided. He enlisted in March, 1864, as a private, in Company G, Thirty-seventh Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry; was wounded and captured in front of Petersburg, Virginia, July 30, 1864, and was held a prisoner of war in Danville and Libby prisons until paroled, September, 1864; was discharged from service on account of wounds received in battle July 18, 1865. He has held various local offices, and the position of county clerk of Pierce county from January, 1869, to Dec. 21, 1877, when he resigned, to assume the duties of secretary of state, to which office he was elected in 1877, and was re-elected in 1879, serving in all four years. He was elected to the state senate in 1882 and served until 1886. His home business is farming and real estate. He was married in 1866, to Julia E. Hudson.

GILMAN.

The town of Gilman includes township 27, range 16. The postal villages are Gilman, section 10, and Olivet, section 36. Gilman was organized as the town of Deerfield, in 1868, but in 1869 the name was changed to Gilman. The first supervisors were Oliver Purdy, Caleb Coon, Bardon Jensen. The first school was taught in 1870, by M. L. Maxgood. A Norwegian Lutheran church was built in 1883, at a cost of $1,500. There are six school houses with an aggregate cost of $2,000. The first marriage was that of Caleb Coon and Cenith Preston, in 1867. The first birth was a child of this married couple. The first death was that of Mrs. Rufus Preston. The first post office was at Gilman, U. F. Hals, postmaster. The first settlers were B. F. Gilman, in 1859, still a resident; N. B. Lawrence, soon after, now removed; Rufus Preston and family; Joseph and Caleb Coon and families, in 1865, still resident. J. R. Maxgood, B. Jensen and son, E. B. Jensen, the Matthieson brothers, Z. Sigursen, H. Bredahl, S. J. Goodell, Nels Gulikson, M. O. Grinde, Albert Martin, P. Vanosse, and T. B. Forgenbakke are among the oldest citizens.

HARTLAND.

Hartland occupies township 25, range 17. It has one post village, Esdaile. It has one saw mill and a factory for the manufacture of hubs and bent wood work, operated by Charles Betcher, of Red Wing, Minnesota, which gives employment to seventy-five men and ten teams the year round. The village of Esdaile has also two general merchandise stores and a hotel. Hartland was organized in 1859. The first supervisors were A. Harris, chairman; Joseph Sleeper and R. M. Sproul. Amongst the first settlers were Augustus E. Hodgman, section 24, 1854; James Buckingham, section 28, 1854; Lewis Buckmaster, section 1, 1853. The first school was taught in 1858, by Mary Ann Stonio. The first post office was at Esdaile, Hiram Patch, postmaster. There are three church organizations, Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran (Norwegian), with buildings valued at from $700 to $1,000. There are nine school houses, ranging in cost from $500 to $1,400. The Good Templars have an organization.

ISABELLE.

Isabelle consists of the two upper tiers of section 7, township 24, range 17, the lower tier being much broken in outline by Lake Pepin on the south. It contains also fractions of sections in the third tier. Bay City, on the shore of the lake, is the postal town. It was organized in 1855. In 1869 it was annexed to Hartland, but in 1871 it was re-established. The first chairman of supervisors was John Buckingham. The election was held at the house of Abner Brown. Charles R. Tyler and Lorenzo D. Philips settled here in 1854, and built a saw mill where now stands the thriving village of Bay City. Saratoga plat was laid out upon this ground in 1856, by A. C. Morton. A. J. Dexter was the original claimant of the land. Mr. Morton purchased the land which covered a part of Bay City from the government. A surveyor named Markle was employed by Morton to run the lines, which Mr. Dexter considered an intrusion upon his rights, and he shot Markle. Dexter was tried before Judge S. S. N. Fuller, in 1855, was convicted, and sentenced to prison for life. After a few years he was pardoned by Gov. Barstow.

MAIDEN ROCK.

Maiden Rock occupies the four upper tiers of sections of township 24, ranges 15 and 16, except such portions on the southwestern corner as are cut off by Lake Pepin. It contains about forty sections. The town was organized under the name of Spring Valley, in 1857. Its postal villages are Maiden Rock, on the lake shore, section 15, range 15, and Warren, also on the lake shore, section 7, range 15. The site of Maiden Rock village was purchased from the government in 1853, by Albert Harris and J. D. Trumbull. In 1855 they erected the first house, and in 1856 built a saw and shingle mill. J. D. Trumbull platted the village in 1857, and christened it Maiden Rock, from the celebrated rock of that name a few miles further down the lake. Among the first settlers in the village were J. H. Steel, J. D. Brown, John Foster, and Joseph B. Hull.

The first hotel was run by G. R. Barton, in a house built by J. D. Trumbull. This hotel has since been enlarged and is now the Lake View House. The first marriage was that of A. J. Smith and Corinda Eatinger, in 1857; the first birth was that of Ida Trumbull, in 1858, and the first death that of William Trumbull, in 1858. The first school was taught by Lottie Isabel, of Batavia, Illinois. The first sermon was preached by Rev. James Gurley, a Methodist preacher from North Pepin.

A post office was established in 1856, of which J. D. Trumbull was postmaster. The receipts the first year were eleven dollars, the expenses, fifty dollars, paid by the postmaster. The town of Maiden Rock has six school houses, one saw and one grist mill.

CHRISTOPHER L. TAYLOR was born in Oneida county, New York, in 1829; came to Chicago at an early day, and to Maiden Rock in 1868, where he engaged in manufacturing. He served as county supervisor for eight years, and as member of the Wisconsin legislature in 1876. He removed to St. Paul in 1880, where he still resides. He is a dealer in real estate.

MARTELL.

Martell occupies township 27, range 17. Joseph Martell, John Dee, Louis Lepau and Xerxes Jock, Frenchmen, were the first settlers. They located here in 1847, and remained till 1860, when they moved further west, allured by the attractions of frontier life. Martell was organized in 1854, with the following supervisors: Amos Bonesteel, chairman; M. Statten and R.J. Thompson. The first school was taught in 1857, by W. Bewel. Martell is the postal village. The first postmaster was O. Rasmunson. There are two evangelical Lutheran churches in the town, built at a cost of $3,500 and $5,000. There is also a good town hall, valued at $600. The Martell Mutual Insurance Company is in successful operation.

OAK GROVE.

Oak Grove includes township 26, range 19 (with the exception of section 31 and parts of 30 and 32), and six sections of range 20, in all about forty sections. It is drained by Big river. It was set off from Clifton in 1856. Hart Broughton was the first chairman of supervisors. It contains a flouring mill on Big river; Catholic, Lutheran, and Methodist church buildings; that of the Catholic cost $4,000, and has a school attached. There are seven school houses. Big River is the postal village. John Berry was first postmaster. The first settlers were (1848) the Thing brothers, the Harnsberger brothers, the Cornelius brothers, Rice, Schaser, McMurphy, Rissue, and the Miner brothers.

LEWIS M. HARNSBERGER was born in Kentucky, April 18, 1822, and moved with his parents to Illinois, where he lived nine years. He came to Prescott in 1846, and pre-empted a farm in Oak Grove, where he has since continuously resided. He has filled many public positions creditably. He was married to Annie Jeffreys, of Illinois, in 1860. Their sons are Ephraim, Lewis and John.

PRESCOTT CITY

Is beautifully located at the junction of the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. The business portion of the city is on a terrace at the base of the bluff, and between it and the river and lake. The public buildings, churches, school house and residences are chiefly on the upper terrace, or bluff, and command an extensive view of the valley of the two rivers, the whole forming a landscape of unrivaled beauty. The advantages of the position are by no means limited to its picturesque surroundings. Prescott, from its position at the junction of the two rivers, was early recognized as an important point for the reshipping of freight and re-embarkation of passengers. The St. Croix, which comes in from the north, rises within a few miles of Lake Superior, and after running a course of two hundred miles, empties its waters into Lake St. Croix, twenty-four miles above its outlet. The lake is navigable at all times to Stillwater and to Taylor's Falls at the Dalles. The Mississippi comes in from the northwest, and is navigable to St. Paul, a distance of thirty miles. The two channels at the junction are each about 1,000 feet wide, with an average depth of fifteen feet, and the banks slope to the water's edge, or stand in some places in vertical ledges, thus forming a natural quay along the entire front of the city. The quay, or landing, is semicircular in shape, the upper terrace, or bench, about one hundred feet in height, is likewise semicircular, the convexity being toward the river and lake. The crest of the terrace is worn down by the rains into ravines, leaving rounded points, or promontories, on the summit of which the ancient mound builders have left traces of their peculiar art. The first settlement of Prescott was made by Philander Prescott, Col. Thompson, Dr. Emerson, and Capt. Scott, the three last named being army officers at Fort Snelling. Mr. Prescott, acting as agent for the others, made the claim in 1836, remaining three years to hold it, when it was left in the care of Joseph Mosier until 1851.

In 1837 seven acres were broken and fenced, constituting the entire landed improvements within the present bounds of Pierce county. In 1849 one hundred and fifty acres were improved. Geo. Schaser and H. Doe were the first resident farmers. From 1838 to 1849 a trading post for Indian supplies was kept by persons holding the claim. W. S. Lockwood opened a store in 1842, and other improvements were made. As the army officers were called to other fields of labor, Mr. Prescott soon found himself in sole possession of the original claim, he purchasing their interests, and in 1849, when the lands had been surveyed by the government, he entered sixty-one acres. In 1853 Dr. O. T. Maxon and W. J. Copp purchased a greater part of the town site and surveyed and platted it as the city of Prescott. A charter was obtained in 1857. A post office had been established here in 1840, called the "Mouth of St. Croix," but it was removed across the lake and named Point Douglas. The post office was re-established at Prescott in 1852. Dr. O. T. Maxon was first postmaster. The number of persons who came that year to Prescott is estimated at about one hundred and fifty.[D] Mr. Schaser platted an addition to the city of sixty-one acres in 1855. When the city received its charter the following officers were elected: Mayor, J. R. Freeman; aldermen, First ward, N. S. Dunbar, Thomas Dickerson and Seth Ticknor; Second ward, Hilton Doe, George W. Oakley, N. A. Miller; president of the council, Seth Ticknor; justices of the peace, I. T. Foster, O. Edwards; city attorney, P. V. Wise; city surveyor, Wm. Howes; superintendent of schools, Thomas Dickerson.

Wm. Schaser built the first frame house, and Mrs. Wm. Schaser was the first white woman. Their daughter Eliza was the first white child born in the new settlement. The first marriage was that of G. W. McMurphy to a daughter of Mr. Rice, April 24, 1848. The first death was that of W. S. Lockwood, in 1847.

When the county of Pierce was organized Prescott was designated as the county seat, and so remained until 1862, when, by popular election, Ellsworth was chosen.

In 1856 Messrs. Silverthorn & Dudley started a saw mill, which they operated until 1861, when Mr. Dudley purchased his partner's interest, and erected a flouring and saw mill.

A wagon and carriage manufactory was established by F. Menicke, in 1862, the Prescott brewery in 1866, by N. P. Husting, and the Prescott machine shops in 1876, by H. B. Failing. The City Bank of Prescott was organized in 1858, Charles Miller, president; W. P. Westfall, cashier; capital stock, $50,000. It closed in 1862. The National Bank was established in 1877, by W. S. Miller. The first school in Pierce county was taught by a missionary named Denton, at Prescott, in 1843. In 1851 Miss Oliver taught a private school. In 1853 the first district school was established. The school board were: Directors, M. Craig, George W. McMurphy; treasurer, N. S. Dunbar; clerk, Dr. O. T. Maxon; teacher, Miss Matthews. The first school house was built in 1854. A building for a graded school was erected in 1859. A high school building was erected in 1847, at a cost of $20,000.

The first religious society was that of the Methodists, organized in 1853, under the labors of Rev. Norris Hobart. Their first building was erected in 1856. Its dimensions were 20 × 32 feet, ground plan. In 1868 they erected a building 40 × 70 feet, ground plan, at a cost of $4,000.

In 1854 the Baptist church was organized by Rev. E. W. Cressy.

In 1854 the Congregationalists organized, with Rev. P. Hall as pastor, and in 1855 built a brick church, 40 × 50 feet, ground plan.

In 1855 the Presbyterians organized, and in 1866 built a church.

The Lutheran church was organized in 1865, by Rev. C. Thayer.

Under the preaching of Rev. M. Guild the Episcopal church was organized in 1872. Previous to this date Revs. Breck, Wilcoxson and Peabody had labored from time to time. The Catholic church was organized by Rev. Father Vervais in 1860. In 1868 a church edifice was built.

The following social and benevolent orders have organizations in Prescott:

Northwestern Lodge, A. F. and A. M organized 1856 Prescott Lodge, I. O. O. F " 1868 Lodge No. 319, I. O. G. T " 1876 Prescott Juvenile Temple, No. 108 " 1877 Prescott Temple of Honor " 1878 Converse Post, G. A. R. " 1884 Pierce County Agricultural Society, O. T. Maxon, president " 1859

The Agricultural Society has fair grounds just east of the city, well arranged, with a half mile race track, and buildings in good condition. Fairs are held annually. Pine Glen cemetery is situated on the bluff half a mile below the city. It was established in 1856. Nature has done much for the site. The view of the Mississippi valley is unobstructed for a distance of from twelve to twenty miles on the south, and to the bend of the river bluffs above Hastings. The grounds are handsomely laid out and adorned with shrubbery.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.

Prescott has suffered severely from fires. The following is a partial list of losses:

Lowry & Co., saw mill loss $3,500 Todd & Horton's mill " 2,000 Stevens, Lechner & Co. (1854) " 3,000 Fire on Main street (1871) loss $22,000 Fire on Main street (1872) " 12,000 Fire on Main street (1874) " 12,000 Redman, Cross & Co., flour mills (1877) " 40,000

The latter was insured for $20,000. Total loss, nearly $75,000.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

PHILANDER PRESCOTT was born in 1801, at Phelpstown, Ontario county, New York. Late in the year 1819 he came to Fort Snelling and remained there, or in the vicinity, the greater part of his life. From his constant association with the Indians, especially with the Sioux, he learned to speak their language. He was also related to them by his marriage with a Sioux woman. This fact, added to his influence among them, and being a man not only of a high character for integrity, but well educated and intelligent, he was able to render the officers of the Fort much service. He made a translation into the Sioux dialect of a number of English and French hymns for the use of the mission schools near Prescott. He gave his children an English education. In 1835, while acting as Indian interpreter, he came to the present site of Prescott, and in conjunction with several officers of the Fort, he acting as their agent, laid claim to considerable territory, and made some improvements in the shape of log buildings. When the army officers were sent to other posts, Mr. Prescott purchased their interests and held the claim. In 1849, after the government survey, he pre-empted sixty-one acres and laid out what he called the city of Prescott. He resided here and at the Fort alternately until his death, which occurred in 1862. He had been sent by the government on a peace mission to the Indians in rebellion, met them at a point near Mankato, and was cruelly assassinated by those to whom he had ever proven a true friend, and whom he had every reason to suppose friendly to him.

GEORGE SCHASER is a native of Austria, and came to the mouth of the St. Croix in 1841. In 1842 he returned to St. Louis and married Christine Bucher. Mrs. Schaser was the first white woman resident in Prescott. Mr. Schaser built the first frame house in the settlement, in 1844. This house was regarded for many years as the finest house between Prairie du Chien and St. Paul. In 1855 Mr. Schaser surveyed an addition to Prescott on land he had pre-empted in 1849. In 1858 he built the brick hotel known as the St. Nicholas. Mr. Schaser died May 3, 1884, leaving a widow, three sons and one daughter. His sons are Henry, Edward and George A. His daughter Emma was married to Capt. John E. Ball (deceased 1881). An older daughter, Eliza, the first child born in Pierce county, was married to E. W. Haviland, and died in 1880, near New Orleans.

WILLIAM S. LOCKWOOD, a native of New York State, came to Prairie du Chien in 1833, and to Prescott in 1842. The year following his family followed. Mr. Lockwood died in 1847. His widow, Georgiana Barton, was married to Orange B. Walker, of Marine Mills, and died at Marine, Oct. 9, 1885.

JAMES MONROE BAILEY was born in 1824, in Sullivan county, New York, where his youthful days were passed. He came to Prescott in 1849, where he has since been engaged in farming, mercantile and real estate business. He was married in 1856, in Prescott, to Nettie Crippin. They have one son, Victor, and two daughters, Myrtle, wife of E. L. Meacham, of Prescott, and Jessamine. Mr. Bailey has a very pleasant home in Prescott. He has filled various offices, among them that of treasurer and clerk of St. Croix county, prior to the organization of Pierce.

ADOLPH WERKMAN was born in Germany in 1826; came to America in 1847, and to Prescott in 1848. He was married at Prescott in 1856.

JOSEPH MANESE (alias Joseph Abear) was of French extraction and a native of Lower Canada. While yet a youth he came into the Lake Superior region, where he was employed most of his time in hunting and trapping by the fur companies. His history, if written in full, would abound in stirring incidents and adventures. He was a man of unusual strength and activity, and in disposition light hearted, vivacious and gay even to hilarity. He died in Prescott in 1884.

HILTON DOE was a native of New York State, and came to Red Wing, as Indian farmer, about 1840. He settled in Prescott in 1844, in sections 9 and 10, pre-emptions subsequently surveyed into town lots. Mr. Doe married Miss Daily, in Illinois, in 1844. Mrs. Doe died in 1860, Mr. Doe in 1884.

LUTE A. TAYLOR, a young man of decided talent, a good classical scholar, a brilliant writer and humorist, came to River Falls in 1856, and in 1857, with his brother Horace, established the River Falls Journal, which they continued to publish jointly for three years, when Horace removed to Hudson and established the Times. Lute A. removed to Prescott, taking with him the material of the Journal office, and established the Prescott Journal, which he edited and published until 1869, when he removed to La Crosse and published the La Crosse Leader until his death, which occurred in 1872.

Mr. Taylor was a correspondent of various papers and an entertaining lecturer. As a conversationalist and wit, he was without a rival. A slight impediment in his speech, if anything, added to the humorous effect of his pithy sayings. He is well remembered in the valley of the St. Croix. A volume containing his biography and some characteristic sketches has been published since his death.

JOHN HUITT, a Canadian, came to Prescott in 1847, and erected the first blacksmith shop in the village. He was married in Prescott to a daughter of Joseph Mosier, and subsequently pre-empted a quarter section of land on Prescott prairie. He built a saw and planing mill on Trimbelle river. He died at Trimbelle in 1873.

JOHN M. RICE was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1805; was married in 1828, in Massachusetts, to Mary A. Goodenough; came in 1837 to Marine, Illinois, and in 1847 to Prescott. Mr. Rice was a house carpenter, but followed also the business of farming. He was an upright man and a member of the Congregational church. He died in 1878, leaving one son, David O., living in Prescott; a daughter, Maria A., wife of G. W. McMurphy, of Prescott, and a daughter in Illinois.

AN INDIAN BATTLE.

The feud between the Sioux and Chippewas originated in prehistoric times and from causes not now known. It has been a tribal vendetta, continuous and relentless, with the advantages in favor of the Chippewas, who, in the course of time, have steadily forced the Sioux westward from the Sault Ste. Marie to the Mississippi at Prescott. We give the following account of one of their battles, being an Indian version, translated and written out by Philander Prescott. This fight occurred in 1711, on the site of the city of Prescott. As the Indians had been supplied by the French with firearms as early as 1700, there is nothing improbable in their alleged use on this occasion. But for the story:

"The Chippewas, a thousand strong, attacked a camp of eighteen Sioux lodges by night and killed most of the warriors. The women and children fled to the canoes, and, jumping in, pushed from the shore, but, in their hurry, without paddles. A large eddy in the river carried the canoes round and round, and, as they swept near the shore, the Chippewas seized them, pulled them to the shore and butchered the women and children. A few Sioux warriors had fled up the bank of the lake, where they hid in crevices and caves of the rocks. The Chippewas discovered their hiding places and killed all but one, who rushed from his retreat, and, diving again and again in the lake, swam for the opposite shore. As often as his head appeared above the water the Chippewas fired a volley of bullets, which fell around like hail, but harmlessly. The bold swimmer finally reached the opposite shore unharmed, when he gave a whoop of joy and disappeared in the thicket. The Chippewas, filled with admiration at his daring exploit, returned his farewell whoop with interest."

RIVER FALLS

Occupies township 27, range 18, and a tier of two sections from range 19. Trimbelle river drains the eastern portion and the Kinnikinic the northwest. Its early history is identified with the history of River Falls city, its first settlement. It was organized in 1854, as Greenwood, but in 1858 the name was changed to River Falls. As River Falls city was not incorporated until 1885, we shall give its early history in connection with that of the town.

The first settler was Joel Foster, in the fall of 1848. In 1849, came D. McGregor, James and Walter Mapes; in 1850, Messrs. Hayes, Tozer, Penn and Parks, and not long after the Powells and Clark Green. These early settlers chose locations at, or near, the present site of River Falls city, and along the banks of the Kinnikinic, which here, owing to its numerous waterfalls, offered unusual facilities for milling and manufacturing. The first crop was raised by Joel Foster, in 1849. The first saw mill was built in 1851 by the brothers N. N. and O. S. Powell, just below the site of the present Greenwood mill. This was burned in 1876. In 1854 the Powell brothers platted the village of River Falls, called at first, Kinnikinic, setting apart for that purpose two hundred acres of land. This plat included the upper waterfalls within the present city limits. The largest water power they donated to C. B. Cox as a mill site, to encourage settlement in the village. The brothers co-operated in building up the village, amongst other things building a frame store and stocking it with goods. This was the first store in the Kinnikinic valley. They dealt also in real estate and lumber. The name of River Falls, as applied to the village, dates from the establishment of the first post office, in 1854. Charles Hutchinson was the first postmaster, and the office was held in this pioneer store. J. S. Rounce, in 1870, built the first foundry in Pierce county.

The water powers of River Falls have been extensively utilized, many saw and flouring mills having been erected at various times on the Kinnikinic. Of these, in 1886, the more notable are, the Junction mills, owned by Freeman, Rhyder & Co., with a capacity of 400 barrels daily, and a barrel manufactory attached, which gives employment to 40 men and turns off from 300 to 400 barrels daily. The Greenwood mills, owned by Geo. Fortune & Co., capacity 50 barrels; the Cascade mills, owned by the Baker estate, capacity 50 barrels; the Prairie mill, built by C. B. Cox in 1858, and now owned by J. D. Putnam, capacity 150 barrels.

In educational matters River Falls has taken and maintained an advanced position. The first school house was built in 1854, by seven men, at a cost of five hundred dollars. Helen Flint taught the first school. In 1856 a joint stock association was incorporated as "The River Falls Academy." A building was erected, 36 × 66 feet, ground plan, and two stories in height. Prof. Wilcox was the first principal. This school was maintained as an academy until 1860, at which time it was superseded by the free schools. In the fall of 1879 the building was destroyed by fire. Subsequently a commodious brick structure was erected in its place at a cost of $15,000. Excellent private schools were maintained by Hinckley, Cody and Baker, for five years during the '60s. The State Normal School, of which a more extended account is given elsewhere, was established here, and a building erected in 1874, at a cost of about $65,000, the people of River Falls and other towns contributing to this fund $25,000, with private subscriptions to the amount of $12,000, and a donation of ten acres of land. Of the $25,000 River Falls gave $10,000, Troy $4,000, Clifton $3,000, while Pierce county contributed $5,000, and Kinnikinic, St. Croix county, gave $3,000. The building, a handsome brick, four stories high, including the basement, stands on an elevated plat of ground in the southeastern part of the city. The first board of instruction consisted of W. D. Parker, president, with the following assistants: J. B. Thayer, conductor of teachers' institute; A. Earthman, history, geography, music; Lucy E. Foot, English literature, reading, spelling; Julia A. McFarlan, mathematics; Margaret Hosford, Latin and English literature. Model department, Ellen C. Jones, teacher, grammar grade; Mary A. Kelley, teacher, intermediate grade; Lizzie J. Curtis, teacher, primary grade.

The following are the churches of River Falls, with date of establishment and name of first pastor when known: Congregational, 1855, Rev. James Stirratt; Baptist, 1857, Rev. A. Gibson; Methodist, 1858; Episcopal, 1871, Rev. Chas. Thorpe; Catholic, 1875, Rev. Father Connelly; Seventh Day Adventist, 1881.

With the exception of the last named, these church organizations have good buildings. The Congregational church building erected in 1857 was superseded by a building in 1867 that cost $10,000. This was destroyed by a tornado in 1868, but has since been rebuilt at the cost of the building destroyed, and a parsonage has been added at a cost of $2,000.

A Sunday-school was established in River Falls in 1853, and the first sermon was preached, in 1850 or 1851, by Rev. Julius S. Webber, a Baptist missionary. Rev. John Wilcoxson, an Episcopalian, held occasional services as early as 1859.

ASSOCIATIONS.

The following are the social and benevolent associations of River Falls, with dates of organization: Masonic Lodge, June, 1859; I. O. O. F., 1872; I. O. G. T., March 15, 1877; Juvenile Temple of Honor, March 15, 1877; Temple of Honor, March 31, 1878; A. O. U. W., 1878. The hall, fixtures and charter of the Odd Fellows Lodge was destroyed in the fire of 1876, but the lodge was rechartered the same year.

THE BANK OF RIVER FALLS

Was organized Jan. 1, 1874. ---- Bartlett, president; Joseph M. Smith, cashier. Capital, $15,000. It was reorganized in 1883, under state law, R. S. Burhyte, president; W. D. Parker, vice president; J. M. Smith, cashier. Capital stock, $35,000. Total business in 1885, $5,770,733.98.

HUDSON & RIVER FALLS RAILROAD.

This road was built in 1878, the people of River Falls contributing $60,000 to its construction. The road is ten miles in length. In 1885 it was extended to Ellsworth, a distance of twelve miles.

RIVER FALLS BOARD OF TRADE

Was established in 1884. A. D. Andrews, president; C. H. Keys, secretary.

FIRES.

In 1875 the Metropolitan Hotel, costing $15,000, and other buildings were burned; loss $30,000. The insurance was light. In 1876 a large portion of the town was destroyed by fire.

RIVER FALLS CITY.

River Falls was incorporated as a city in 1885. At the first election for city officers, held April 7th, three hundred and nineteen votes were cast, and the following persons were declared duly elected to the positions named: Mayor, A. A. Andrews; treasurer, G. E. Pratt; assessor, E. H. Daniel; aldermen, First ward, W. W. Wadsworth; Second ward, L. M. Rosenquist; Third ward, R. N. Jenson; Fourth ward, L. Styles; marshal, R. N. Bevens; city clerk, Allen H. Weld. The license for the sale of intoxicants was fixed at $200. The population of River Falls in 1886 was 1,700. It is a lively, prosperous city, planned on a liberal scale, with wide streets, well shaded with ornamental trees. The mills have reservations by which they are separated from the business part of the city. The beauty of the original waterfalls is somewhat marred by the mills and their debris. Originally they were very beautiful and picturesque, and were widely celebrated, and much visited by the lovers of Nature. Of these falls there are four, two on the south branch, one on the north branch, and one some rods below the junction of the two streams. The falls were not noted for their grandeur, but rather for their quiet beauty, the water falling over ledges but a few feet in height, and so broken in two of them as to present the general appearance of a succession of stairs, or steps, of unequal elevation, over which the water falls. An interesting feature at the junction of the two rivers is the cave in which the pioneer settler, Judge Joel Foster, with his negro boy, spent the winter of 1848-49. From his cave cabin he had full view of the falls on the two streams, no less beautiful in their winter dress of gleaming icicles, with the frost-whitened boughs of the willow and alder drooping over them, than in their summer brightness. The judge has told me that he loved, almost worshiped, this spot. The cave cabin stood about one hundred feet from the sparkling stream. There, in the early morning, he could cast his line, and have for his regal breakfast the speckled trout. Above him towered a precipice crowned with evergreen trees, and around him, on the borders of the streams, were the elm and maple, and an undergrowth of alder and birch. There certainly could have been no fairer scene in the West. To-day no traces remain of the old cave cabin. The Junction mills have effaced the more beautiful and poetic features of the scene. The judge has passed away, and found a grave on an elevation overlooking his old home and the scenes he loved so well. The judge, although a friend to progress, and active in advancing the material interests of the locality in which he lived, was unalterably opposed to the movement to incorporate River Falls, and did all he could to defeat the measure. When the incorporative act had been passed, he moved outside of the city limits, declaring that he would neither live nor die within them; but having been fatally injured by an accident, he was brought back to his old home, and died within the city.

THE FOURTH STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT RIVER FALLS--HISTORY.

The constitution of the State, adopted in 1848, provides "that the revenue of the school fund shall be exclusively applied to the following objects:

"First--To the support and maintenance of common schools in each school district, and the purchase of suitable libraries and appurtenances therefor.

"Second--That the residue of the income of the school fund shall be appropriated to the support of academies and normal schools, and suitable libraries and appurtenances therefor."

No effort was made to take advantage of this provision of the constitution for the endowment of normal schools until 1857, when an act was passed providing "that the income of twenty-five per cent of the proceeds arising from the sale of swamp and overflowed lands should be appropriated to normal institutes and academies, under the supervision and direction of a 'board of regents of normal schools,'" who were to be appointed in pursuance of the provisions of that act. Under this law, the income placed at the disposal of the regents was distributed for several years to such colleges, academies and high schools as maintained a normal class, and in proportion to the number of pupils in the class who passed satisfactory examinations, conducted by an agent of the board.

The law under which these schools are organized provides that "the exclusive purpose of each normal school shall be the instruction and training of persons, both male and female, in the theory and art of teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good common school education, and in all subjects needful to qualify for teaching in the public schools; also to give instruction in the fundamental laws of the United States and of this State, and in what regards the rights and duties of citizens."

REGULATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE NORMAL SCHOOLS.

Tuition is free to all students who are admitted to these normal schools under the following regulations of the board of regents:

First--Each assembly district in the State shall be entitled to eight representatives in the normal schools, and in case vacancies exist in the representation to which any assembly district is entitled, such vacancies may be filled by the president and secretary of the board of regents.

Second--Candidates for admission shall be nominated by the superintendent of the county (or if the county superintendent has not jurisdiction, then the nomination shall be made by the city superintendent) in which such candidate may reside, and shall be at least sixteen years of age, of sound bodily health and good moral character. Each person so nominated shall receive a certificate setting forth his name, age, health and character.

Third--Upon the presentation of such certificate to the president of a normal school, the candidate shall be examined, under the direction of said president, in the branches required by law for a third grade certificate, except history, theory and practice of teaching, and if found qualified to enter the normal school in respect to learning, he may be admitted after furnishing such evidence as the president may require of good health and good moral character, and after subscribing to the following declaration:

I, ---- ----, do hereby declare that my purpose in entering this State Normal School is to fit myself for the profession of teaching, and that it is my intention to engage in teaching in the schools of the State.

Fourth--No person shall be entitled to a diploma who has not been a member of the school in which such diploma is granted, at least one year, nor who is less than nineteen years of age; a certificate of attendance may be granted by the president of a normal school to any person who shall have been a member of such school for one term; provided, that in his judgment such certificate is deserved.

As an addition to the work of the normal schools, the board of regents are authorized to expend a sum not exceeding $5,000 annually, to sustain teachers' institutes, and may employ an agent for that purpose. Institutes are regarded as important auxiliaries and feeders to the normal schools. At present one professor from each normal school is employed conducting institutes every spring and fall.

The normal school fund now amounts to over $1,250,000, and yields an annual income of about $100,000. It will be increased by the further sale of swamp lands, and will prove ample for the objects for which it is set apart.

In 1865 the legislature divided the swamp lands and swamp land fund into two equal parts, one for drainage purposes, the other to constitute a normal school fund. The income of the latter was to be applied to establishing, supporting and maintaining normal schools, under the direction and management of the board of regents of normal schools, with a proviso that one-fourth of such income should be transferred to the common school fund, until the annual income of that fund should reach $200,000. During the same year, proposals were invited for extending aid in establishment of a normal school, and propositions were received from various places.

In 1866 the board of regents was incorporated by the legislature.

JOEL FOSTER.--Judge Foster was born at Meriden, Connecticut, Dec. 15, 1814. He was liberally educated. He came to Edwardsville, Illinois, in 1830, and to Hudson, then known as Buena Vista, in 1848. After a careful exploration of the country he made choice of the valley of the Kinnikinic, and made him a home in the fall of 1848, at the junction of the two branches of that stream, and within sound of its beautiful cascades. He was the pioneer settler of the River Falls of to-day. He built the first dwelling house, raised the first crops, and ever proved himself a worthy citizen, first in every good work and enterprise. He was a man of far more than ordinary intelligence and moral worth, was temperate, industrious, public spirited, sagacious and independent. He has filled many positions of responsibility, amongst them that of judge of St. Croix county. During the Mexican War he served as a quartermaster in Col. Bissell's Second Illinois Regiment. Judge Foster was married at Chicago in 1856 to Charlotte Porch. He died at his home in River Falls, Aug. 9, 1885.

JESSE B. THAYER was born Oct. 11, 1845, in Janesville, Wisconsin; was educated at Milton College in 1870, and is by profession a teacher. During the Rebellion he served in the Fortieth and Forty-ninth Wisconsin Volunteers as a private. He served five years as principal of the public schools in Menomonie, and since 1875 has been connected with the State Normal School at River Falls as conductor of institutes. In 1885 he was elected to represent Pierce county in the state assembly.

A. D. ANDREWS.--Dr. A. D. ANDREWS was born in Lowell, Maine, Sept. 21, 1830. He graduated at the Chicago Medical College in 1860, and in 1861 was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry, of the famous Iron Brigade, with which he served up to the battle of Gettysburg. After retiring from the army he came to River Falls and engaged in milling, in which business he successfully continued until 1880, when he retired. He was elected state senator in 1878. He was appointed a regent of the Fourth State Normal School in 1877. He died at his home an River Falls, after a short illness, July 23, 1885. He was mayor of the city at the time of his death.

JOSEPH A. SHORT.--Mr. Short was born in Madison county, New York, April 16, 1806. He learned the trade of a millwright. He visited the East and West Indies. He came to Milwaukee in 1842. In 1849 he went to California, but returned in 1854, and settled in River Falls, where he built a saw and planing mill, laid out an addition to the village and in various ways promoted the interests of the settlement. Mr. Short was a member of the Methodist church sixty years, and of the Masonic fraternity fifty years. He was married Aug. 25, 1831, in New York, to Olive Prossen. He died at his home, May 6, 1886, aged eighty years, leaving a son and three daughters.

ALLEN H. WELD.--Prof. A. H. Weld, widely known as a pioneer educator, and as the author of an excellent grammar, was born in Vermont in 1810. He graduated at Yale College. He came to River Falls in 1858 and taught the first graded school in the village. For two years he was principal of the high school at Hudson, and for six years was superintendent of schools in St. Croix county. He was a member of the state board of regents nine years, and was prime mover in securing the location of the State Normal School at River Falls. The excellent character of the schools in St. Croix county, and the high educational position of River Falls, are due to his untiring effort and wise direction. Mr. Weld was a member of the Congregational church and a consistent Christian as well as a progressive, public spirited man. He died in 1882, at his home in River Falls, leaving a widow and one son, Allen P.

ALLEN P. WELD was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, in 1839. In 1859 he graduated at Dartmouth College. He studied law and was admitted to practice in 1867, at Albany, New York. He taught school at Albany three years, and came to River Falls in 1859, where he is a dealer in real estate. He was married in 1872 to Alice Powell, daughter of Lyman Powell.

GEORGE W. NICHOLS was born in 1795, at Braintree, Vermont. His father was a soldier in the Revolution. At the age of seventeen he enlisted and served in the war of 1812. He lived in Vermont fifty years, in Massachusetts ten years, and in 1855 came to River Falls, where he engaged in farming until he was eighty years of age. He was married in Vermont to Deborah Hobart, who died in 1874. His sons George H. and William H. reside in River Falls. They were soldiers during the war of the Rebellion. His son Isaac N. was a member of Capt. Samuels' company, and was killed at Perrysville, Kentucky. The Grand Army of the Republic post at River Falls has his name. He died in 1887.

W. D. PARKER--Prof. Parker was born in Bradford, Orange county, Vermont, in 1839. He received a common school and academic education. At the age of sixteen years he entered the Janesville High School, and four years later graduated. He taught two years in Janesville, four years at Delavan, and one year in Monroe, Green county, Wisconsin. In 1867 he visited Europe, after which he taught two years at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He was superintendent of schools five years at Janesville. In 1875 he was elected to the presidency of the Fourth State Normal School at River Falls. In 1886 he was elected state superintendent of public instruction. Prof. Parker was married to Justine B. Hewes, of Chicago, in 1869.

THE POWELL FAMILY.--William Powell, the father, came to River Falls in 1849, where he lived with his sons until his death, Nov. 30, 1865. His second wife was the widow of ---- Taylor, and the mother of Horace and Lute Taylor, the well known journalists. Mrs. Powell died in July, 1884.

LYMAN POWELL came to River Falls with his family in 1855. He was married to Lucinda Taylor, sister of Horace and Lute Taylor. Mr. Powell died at River Falls, Nov. 9, 1872, leaving a wife, two sons and five daughters.

NATHANIEL N. POWELL, the second son, born May 11, 1827, in St. Lawrence county, New York, came to River Falls in 1849, and pre-empted the northeast quarter of section 1, now a part of the site of River Falls city. He was married to Martha Ann Hart, Sept. 28, 1842, at Hudson. He died at River Falls, Sept. 28, 1862, leaving one son and one daughter.

OLIVER S. POWELL, the youngest son, was born June 19, 1831, and came to Hancock county, Illinois, in 1843, where he lived eight years. He had no great opportunities for gaining an education. He came to Stillwater in 1849, bringing with him the first threshing machine north of Prairie du Chien. He threshed the first grain threshed in the county in the fall of that year, for Fiske, on a farm three miles below Stillwater. In November, 1849, he located in River Falls, pre-empting the south half of the southeast quarter of section 36, town 28, range 19, lands lying just north of those claimed by his brother, and which afterward became a part of River Falls. Mr. Powell was a representative in the state assembly in 1870-71-72, and was a county commissioner many years. He was married in 1860 to Elmira Nichols. They have three sons, Harvey C., Newell N. and Lyman T., and four daughters, Lucy M., Sarah H., Amy E., and Miriam.

NILS P. HAUGEN was born in Norway in 1849; came to America in 1853 and to River Falls in 1854. He graduated in the law department of Michigan State University in 1874. Mr. Haugen was phonographic reporter of the Eighth and Eleventh Judicial circuits for several years, and a member of the assembly from Pierce county in 1879 and 80. He was elected railroad commissioner for Wisconsin in 1881, and re-elected in 1884. In 1886 he was elected representative to Congress.

H. L. WADSWORTH was born July 10, 1821, in Erie county, New York. He learned the trade of a shoemaker, came West in 1846, and settled at River Falls some time in the '50s, and engaged in farming. He has filled many positions of trust in the St. Croix valley, and in 1867 represented St. Croix county in the assembly. In 1841 he was married to Miss A. R. Baldwin. Eight children have been born to them.

ROCK ELM

Includes township 26, range 15. It was organized as a town Nov. 16, 1866. The first town meeting was held at the house of J. Prickett. The first commissioner was Sylvester Fox, chairman. The post offices are at Rock Elm, on the western line of the town, section 19, and Rock Elm Centre, sections 16 and 17. At the latter place is located Rock Elm Institute, a school of high grade, founded in 1880. Harrison Lowater is the principal. The town is well supplied with schools, there being as many as nine within its limits. Among its first settlers were Loomis Kellogg, Charles A. Hawn and Sylvester Fox.

SALEM.

Salem occupies township 25, range 16. It is drained by Rush river. It was organized as a town Jan. 13, 1862. First board of supervisors, C. C. Carpenter, Eben White and J. H. Shults. The first school was taught in 1857, by Thompson McCleary. The first marriage was that of Harvey Seeley and Kate McKinstry. The first child born was Sarah Fuller. The first death was that of John McCleary, Sept. 2, 1863. The first post office was established at Rush River, May 1860, Joseph Seeley, postmaster. The first settlers were Jeremiah Fuller, from Ohio, and W. Wells, 1846; Harvey Seeley, 1848; Thomas Boyle and James White, 1854; John F. Davis from Ireland, 1856 (town clerk twenty years); John H. Brasington, from Pennsylvania (town treasurer fifteen years); Eben White, James Walsingham, John Strong, H. M. Hicks, from Pennsylvania, 1858; John Foley and brothers, from Ireland, 1856; James H. Shults, Joseph Seeley, H. C. Brown, John McClure, from Ireland; C. C. and Ira W. Carpenter, from Connecticut, 1858.

Mrs. Fuller, the wife of the pioneer, was here over six months, during which time she did not see a white woman.

SPRING LAKE

Is the extreme northeastern town of the county, occupying township 27, range 15. The post offices are Oak Ridge and Spring Valley. The town was organized Nov. 10, 1868. The first town meeting was held at the house of A. M. Wilcox. The first supervisors were: W. D. Akers, chairman; Jonas Nebb; Levi Hess, clerk. The first school was taught in 1866, by Agnes Harriman. The Methodist and Baptist churches have organizations, and the Methodists have a building worth five hundred dollars. The first marriage was that of H. M. Wilcox to Mrs. Kate Rice, of Lake City, by W. D. Akers, justice of the peace. The first child born was a daughter of Ole P. Gardner. The first death was that of Leota Wilcox, in 1864. The first postmaster was B. H. Preston, 1871. The first settlers in the order of their coming were James Gilmore, O. P. Gardner, George Wilcox, John Francisco and W. D. Akers.

TRENTON.

Trenton contains about twenty-eight sections, those on the Mississippi having very irregular boundaries. Twenty-four whole sections lie in township 25, range 18, and the remainder in township 24, range 18. Trenton, in section 33, township 25, is its post village. Trenton was organized in 1857; James Akers, chairman of supervisors. Wilson Thing, the pioneer settler, came in 1848.

TRIMBELLE.

Trimbelle includes township 26, range 18. Its post villages are Trimbelle and Beldenville. It was organized March 2, 1855. Its supervisors were F. Otis, chairman, and Aaron Cornelison. Among its earliest settlers were the Cornelisons, F. Otis and M. B. Williams. It has four saw mills and one flouring mill, five school houses and one church (Methodist).

MARTIN B. WILLIAMS was born in New York in 1812. He received a common school education, and at the age of sixteen years was thrown upon his own resources. He learned the trade of blacksmith. He was married in New York, and has four sons, Clark M., Frank T., G. Glen and A. Judd. Mr. Williams is one of the pioneer settlers of Trimbelle, and has held many public town and county positions. He served as treasurer of Pierce county four years. He has been a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church for over thirty years.

UNION.

Union consists of township 25, range 15. It is drained by Plum creek. It has two post offices, Plum Creek, in section 24, and Ono, section 6. It was organized Aug. 15, 1863. Among its first settlers were Eleazer Holt, Hiram N. Wood, and Capt. Horst, who made their homes here in the early '50s.

FOOTNOTES:

[B] In 1849 the town of Elisabeth was organized by St. Croix county, and included what is now Pierce county. The first board of supervisors were William Thing, chairman; Aaron Cornelius, and L. M. Harnsberger; clerk, Hilton Doe; treasurer, Geo. W. McMurphy. In 1851, by legislative enactment, the name Elisabeth was changed to Prescott.

[C] A member of the well known Faribault family, after whom the town of Faribault has been named.

[D] NOTE.--When I touched at Prescott in 1845, it was generally known as the "Mouth of St. Croix," though by some called "Prescott's Landing." The residents were Hilton Doe, a farmer; Geo. Schaser, boarding house keeper; W. S. Lockwood, merchant; Joseph Mosier, an Indian trader or storekeeper. The principal trade was with Indians.

VIII. BURNETT, WASHBURN, SAWYER AND BARRON COUNTIES

BURNETT COUNTY.

Burnett county was named in honor of a genial, kind hearted and eccentric lawyer, Thomas Pendleton Burnett, of Prairie du Chien. It is somewhat irregular in outline, and is bounded on the north by Douglas, on the east by Barron, on the south by Polk and Barron counties, and on the west by the St. Croix river. It includes townships 37 to 42, range 14; from 38 to 42, range 15; from 38 to 41, ranges 16 and 17; from 37 to 40, ranges 18 and 19; from 37 to 38, range 20. Seven of these townships bordering on the St. Croix are fractional. Much of the soil of the county is a sandy loam admirably suited to cereals and vegetables. Some townships in the southeast are first class wheat lands. The timber is mostly a thicket-like growth of small pines, constituting what is called pine barrens. The southeast portion of the county is timbered with hardwoods. It is drained by the St. Croix, Trade, Wood, Clam, Yellow, and Namakagon rivers, with their tributaries, and with the Wood lakes (Big and Little), Mud Hen, Trade, Yellow, Spirit, and numerous other lakes. There are besides many thousand acres of marsh land. These marsh lands are by no means valueless, as they have given rise to a very important industry--the growing of cranberries. There are fine deposits of iron. Large tracts of bog ore are found in townships 38 to 41, ranges 16 to 19. There is an abundance of wild meadow land, easily drained and profitable to stock growers.

The settlers of this county are, for the greater part, Swedish and Norwegian emigrants, an intelligent, moral and religious class of people who, while they cherish the traditions, manners, customs and language of their native country, still readily adapt themselves to American institutions, taking kindly to our common school system and to other distinctive features of their adopted country. A liberal spirit has characterized these people in building roads, bridges, school houses, churches, and making other public improvements. They have succeeded well also in their private enterprises, the cultivation of farms and the building of homes.

ORGANIZATION.

The county, originally a part of Polk, was set off March 1, 1856, and included also at that time, and till the year 1877, the present county of Washburn. It was organized in 1865. The first county officers, appointed by the governor, were: Judge, Nimrod H. Hickerson; clerk of court, Canute Anderson; register of deeds, Peter Anderson; treasurer, S. Thompson; sheriff, Martin B. Johnson; district attorney, Jacob Larson. Grantsburg was selected as the county seat. The first county supervisors, consisting of Michael Jenson, chairman, Thore Ingebritson and Peter Anderson, met Jan. 24, 1865. The first election was held at the house of Nimrod H. Hickerson, Nov. 7, 1865. The first frame house in the county was built at Grantsburg in 1865, by W. H. Peck. The first crops were raised in township 39, range 18, by Charles Ayer. The finances of the county have been managed discreetly. The state drainage fund was judiciously expended. The first deed recorded in Burnett county was a tax deed from Polk county to Simon Estonson, of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 35, township 38, range 19. It bears date Jan. 20, 1866.

THE PINE BARRENS.

So prominent a feature in Burnett and other counties in Northwest Wisconsin, consist of sandy stretches of undulating, though sometimes of level lands, sparsely covered with a growth of young pines, generally of the Black Prince variety. In some places, where the trees are crowded thickly together, they are not unlike immense cane-brakes. The trees, from their proximity, have grown very tall and slender. The lateral branches, crowded together and deprived of sunshine, have perished early and the growth of the young trees is chiefly vertical. The lower dead limbs remaining attached to the trunks give the young forest a peculiarly ragged and tangled appearance. There is abundant evidence to prove the existence of ancient pine forests where these pine barrens are now the only growth. In fact some of the larger trees are still standing, and the charred trunks and decaying remnants of others. The gradations from the younger to the older growth may be very plainly seen. Fire is undoubtedly the efficient cause of the stunted and irregular growth of the pine barrens. The matured forests are destroyed by fire, and are succeeded by the young pines which are further reduced and injured by annual fires. It is a mistake to suppose that the soil of these barrens is necessarily poor. Many of them have a black, sandy soil, capable of producing fine crops. In most of them there is a dense undergrowth of blueberry bushes, producing annually millions and millions of bushels of their small but luscious fruit.

MURDERS.

Burnett county is not without the traditions of lawlessness and murder that tarnish so many frontier settlements, and here, as elsewhere, the primal cause of most of such crimes is whisky. Whisky maddens the brain and nerves the arm of the assassin. Whisky hardens the heart and blinds the eyes to what is right, and the sale of whisky on the frontier, authorized or unauthorized, in nearly all cases the latter, is the bartering of the human life for gold. The money received for it is the price of blood, although in some instances the seller himself may be the victim. It is whisky that does the work.

Jack Drake, a whisky seller at Wood Lake, whose outfit was supplied by Samuels & Partridge, naturally of a quarrelsome disposition, was especially so when under the influence of liquor. On one of these occasions he was killed by a half-breed known as Robideau, and his body was buried on the shores of Little Wood lake. Robideau was imprisoned a short time at St. Croix Falls, but being carelessly guarded, easily made his escape and was not heard of afterward. What did it matter? It was only the result of a drunken row.

The body of a murdered stranger was found by a crew of men working on Little Wood river, in the spring of 1843. He had left Superior City with an Indian guide for St. Paul, and was not afterward seen alive. His land warrants and watch, which had been taken from him, were afterward recovered, and the Indian who had been his guide was himself mysteriously assassinated the following spring.

GEEZHIC.--At Wood Lake, Burnett county, Wisconsin, lived in 1874 an aged and blind Indian woman who calculated her pilgrimage on earth by moons. All traces of her traditional beauty as an Indian maiden had long since departed. Shriveled, decrepit, bent, she was the impersonation of all that is unlovely and repulsive in age. Taciturn and sullen, her mind lethargic and dull, she seemed but little more than half alive, and could not easily be aroused to the comprehension of passing events, or to the recognition of those around her. She must have been very old. When aroused to consciousness, which was but seldom, she would talk of things long past. A light would come into her sightless eyes as she recounted the traditions, or described the manners and customs of her people, and spoke with evident pride of their ancient power and prowess when her people planted their tepees on the shores of the "Shining Big Sea Water" (Lake Superior) and drove their enemies, the Dakotahs, before them. Her people wore blankets made from the skins of the moose; elk and buffalo, with caps from the skins of the otter and beaver. There was then an abundance of "kego" (fish) and "wash-kish" (deer). There were no pale faces then in all the land to drive them from their tepees and take their hunting grounds. Of course there had been occasional whites, hunters, trappers and missionaries, but the formidable movements of the now dominant race had not fairly commenced. Counting the years of her life on her fingers, so many moons representing a year, she must have numbered a score beyond a century, and she had consequently witnessed, before her eyes were dimmed, the complete spoliation of her people's ancestral domain.

The physical features of the country have undergone a change. The towering pines have decayed or been leveled by the woodman's axe. Some of the small lakes have receded, and tall grasses wave and willows grow where once the "kego" sported in the clear blue waters. "The sun drew the waters up into the heavens," but the old shores may still be traced, by the fresh water shells that are crushed by the foot of the explorer, and by the ineffaceable mark of the water breaking upon the beach and undermining the rocky ledges.

A few Indians still linger on the old hunting grounds and about the graves of their fathers, but as a race they are doomed, and the time is not far distant when their only memorials will be the printed or striped rocks that are found along the streams and lakes, and here and there the sunken graves of the vanquished race.

THE FIRST MISSION.

In the autumn of the year 1833 the first mission was established in the St. Croix valley, at the outlet of Yellow lake, in Burnett county. This may be considered the first actual movement in opening the way for white settlements in the St. Croix valley. The good and indefatigable laborers, who came away into these western wilds, spent many years in this valley endeavoring to improve the benighted aborigines. Their labors were successful, until the bane of the human family--alcoholic drinks--was introduced by the corrupt border traders. Rev. Fred Ayer (since a resident of Belle Prairie, Minnesota, and a member of the convention that framed our constitution), Mrs. Ayer, with Miss Crooks (afterward Mrs. Boutwell) as teacher, arrived at Yellow Lake Sept. 16, 1833. Miss Crooks opened her school on the twenty-fourth, with eight scholars. This was evidently the first school in the St. Croix valley. This mission was under the patronage of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Thirty or forty Indians came to the trading house, a mile from the mission, for the purpose of obtaining ammunition and moccasins for making what is called the fall hunt. During their visit at the traders', Mr. Ayer had the opportunity of explaining the object of his mission--schooling their children, and aiding them in agriculture, planting their gardens, and furnishing them with seeds. To the objects of the mission all listened with interest, but, as the chiefs were not present, no reply was made to Mr. Ayer. After obtaining their supplies from the traders, they dispersed for their fall hunt. The school in the meantime progressed, and frequent opportunities occurred for giving religious instructions to adults during the winter. In April some twenty-five families encamped near the mission; many were interested in the objects which the mission proposed. In the spring of 1834 four families made gardens by the mission and schooled their children; three of the families belonged to the influential in the band. One of these, the chief who visited Washington during the administration of Adams, was Gis-kil-a-way, or "Cat Ear."

The Indian mind is suspicious of the white man. Waiingas, "The Wolf," another chief of considerable note, was prejudicing the minds of his friends against the whites. He openly declared that if the Indians would join him, he would burn the mission house and drive the teachers from his country. On one occasion a party of Indians, including this hostile chief, passed the evening at Mr. Ayer's. The chief closed his speech at midnight with these words: "The Indians are troubled in mind about your staying here, and you must go--you shall go; not only I say so, but all here present say so!" The next morning all the Indians assembled. The trader, the late Dr. Borup, and his wife were present. The Wolf and his party were determined to expel all the whites. The friend of the white man, Cat Ear, took the floor and shaking hands with Dr. Borup and Mr. Ayer, began a speech of half an hour's length. Pointing to The Wolf and to two other chiefs sitting side by side, he says: "I speak for them. Look at them. To them belong this land. Since last evening we have considered this subject. We have changed our minds. The Great Spirit made us all--made us red--you white. He gave you your religion, manners and customs--he gave us ours. Before we saw white man we dressed in skins and cooked with stones. You found our land on the map and come--since then you have clothed and provided for us. Why should we send you away? We only should be the sufferers--all of us tell you to stay--again we say, stay. We do not wish you to go; no, no--we say to you all, stay; you may plant and build, but the land is ours. Our Great Father has sent you here--we are glad--we will tell you why we fear the whites--we fear you will get our land away. If this room were full of goods we would not exchange our lands for them. This land is ours and our children's; it is all we have."

The mission at Yellow Lake had been in progress two years. Several families had listened with glowing interest to religious instruction, schooled their children, and cultivated gardens near the mission, when Mr. Ayer visited the band of Indians at Pokegama. Here were some thirty-five or forty families in the year 1835. The chief and two or three families expressed to him a desire to settle down and school their children. They requested him to come and bring all with him who wished to come from Yellow Lake. The reasons that induced him to Pokegama were, first, the means of subsistence were more abundant, both for the Indians and the mission family--wild rice and fish in particular; this being the case the Indians could be more stationary and send their children to school. Second, the soil for agricultural purposes was superior to that of Yellow Lake. As one of the leading objects of the mission was to induce the Indians to settle down and adopt habits of civilization, this object could be better attained at this place than at Yellow Lake, where it was comparatively sterile and sandy. A third object gained would be to locate in the midst of a larger number of Indians, with whom we could come in more frequent contact, and last, but not least, put the mission in a nearer point of communication with St. Peter, from whence all the family necessaries were obtained at that day. These reasons, together with the solicitation of one of the chiefs, and his permission to build on his land, and use his wood, water and fish, led Mr. Ayer, in the fall of 1835, to remove to Pokegama.

For the continued history of this mission the reader is referred to the history of Pine county.

CHIPPEWAS OF WOOD LAKE.--A small band of Chippewas, as late as 1870, lingered about Big Wood lake, unwilling to leave their old hunting grounds. Though brought directly in contact with civilization, they adopted its vices, otherwise remaining savages, taking no part in cultivating the soil or educating their children, contented to live and die in the old fashion of their race. They subsist, as far as possible, by hunting and fishing, and are by no means above begging when occasion may offer. They retain their annual dances and festivals, at the occurrence of which other bands join them from a distance. A dance with its accompanying feasts occupies generally about ten days, and is conducted according to rigid formulas. These dances are intended as representations of hunting, fishing or fighting, and are honored accordingly. They are accompanied with music upon rude instruments, and a weird chant in guttural and nasal tones, which may be understood as a poetic recital of their deeds or expression of their feelings. Their dead are buried in conspicuous places. The graves are decorated with splints of timber. A pole with rags and trinkets is planted near the graves. There is nothing that can long mark their resting places or keep them from being desecrated by the share of the plowman.

GRANTSBURG

Was founded by Canute Anderson, in 1865, in section 14, town 38, range 19. He built a flour and saw mill, the first in the county, a good hotel, and opened a store. It became the centre of trade for the county, prospered continuously, and now (in 1886) contains a good court house, built at a cost of $7,000 (burned December, 1887), a school house, four churches, two hotels, five stores and numerous shops and dwellings. There are two resident lawyers and one physician. Grantsburg is the terminus of the St. Paul & Duluth (branch) railroad, completed in 1884. The scheme of building a branch road to connect with the St. Paul & Duluth railroad at Rush City was long cherished by Canute Anderson, and through his efforts the road was finally built. The county voted $20,000 bonds, at seven per cent interest, which bonds the state of Wisconsin cashed. The road was graded from Grantsburg to the St. Croix river in 1878, from Rush City to St. Croix in 1882. The St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company built the railroad and assumed the bonded indebtedness, payable in fifteen annual installments. Cars ran to the St. Croix river in 1883. The bridge over the St. Croix, completed in 1883, cost $20,000. The road was opened to Grantsburg Jan. 22, 1884. At this opening over a thousand persons were present, five hundred of whom came in on the train. Canute Anderson made an address of welcome, followed by James Smith, president of the road. Congratulatory letters were read from Hons. S. S. Fifield, Henry M. Rice, and W. H. C. Folsom, the tenor of which was highly complimentary to Mr. Anderson, and full of hope for the future of the railroad and its terminus.

CANUTE ANDERSON was born in Norway, 1830. He came to America in 1851, and three years later settled in the northeast quarter of section 2, township 37, range 19, making a large stock farm, part of it being a fine natural meadow, with running stream. In 1858 the first post office in the county (called Anderson) was established at his house, and he was appointed postmaster. In 1878 he represented Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and Polk counties in the legislature. He is and ever has been a master spirit in his county, using all his influence to further the interests of his adopted home. Many of the early settlers were poor,--strangers in a strange land,--and for them Mr. Anderson's house was ever a resort. It was also an intelligence office, where the inquiring immigrant could obtain reliable information as to the country and its resources, and facilities to the settler. In 1860 Mr. Anderson was married to Catharine Nelson, daughter of Magnus Nelson, one of Burnett county's first settlers.

THE HICKERSON FAMILY came from Ohio to Wisconsin. Nimrod H., the oldest brother, settled on Wood river in 1859, built a saw mill, kept a hotel and established a post office on the St. Paul and Bayfield stage route in 1860. Mr. Hickerson went to California in 1875, and died there. Joel, the second brother, is a merchant at Grantsburg. He served during the later years of the Civil War as a soldier, Company C, Seventh Minnesota Volunteers, and was pensioned for disabilities. He was married in 1868 to Mary Anderson. Perry D., the third brother, keeps a hotel in Grantsburg. He was also a member of Company C, Seventh Minnesota Volunteers, and with his brother was mustered out at the close of the war, and has received a pension for disabilities. He was married to Ellen M. Anderson, daughter of Peter Anderson. They have eleven children. Newton, the fourth son, lives in Grantsburg. He was a soldier in Company D, Twenty-first Ohio, during the war. Was wounded and totally disabled. He has no pension. He is unmarried.

THE ANDERSON FAMILY.--The four brothers, Peter, George, Hans and Martin, with their aged parents, came from Norway and settled in Grantsburg in 1883. The father but recently died. The mother is still living, having reached the extreme age of ninety-seven years. During the last six years she has been blind. Peter Anderson was married in Norway in 1846. His wife died in 1877, leaving three sons and four daughters. He was married to his second wife in 1878. Peter has served as county supervisor, and filled other offices. The brothers have been active in promoting the interests of their town and county.

ROBERT A. DOTY was born in Niagara county, New York; lived some years in Genesee county, Michigan, and settled in Sterling, Polk county, in 1865. He subsequently became the first settler in the town of Marshfield, Burnett county. He was accidentally killed in 1879 by being thrown from his wagon. His widow and two sons live in Grantsburg. John H., the oldest son, resides on the old homestead in Sterling.

THE CRANBERRY MARSHES.

The cultivation of the cranberry is an important industry in Burnett county. The berry is raised chiefly in townships 38 and 39, ranges 17 and 18. The writer of these sketches visited the localities named in 1873, and although there have been many changes and improvements since then, the description quoted from an essay read before the Horticultural Society will still be generally applicable:

"The scene on approaching these marshes, where the native cranberry was found, before the white man had commenced to improve them, was picturesque in the extreme to those who have a taste for Nature's handiwork. There are extensive tracts of land covering thousands of acres, dotted here and there with islands of young pine and points of highland projecting in various shapes into the marshes. It reminded me of an ocean bay, in a calm, only changing the ocean water color to endless green. There are in these marshes somewhere from one to two townships of land, on which cranberries were then growing, or susceptible of being improved so that cranberries can be raised thereon. One township contains 23,040 acres. The parties operating on the marshes I visited already have some 30 or 40 miles of ditch made, averaging 5 feet at the top, 3 feet at the bottom, with an average depth of 4 feet, at a cost of about 75 cents per rod. These ditches are to drain the water from the marshes when desired. They have dams across these ditches, to flood the marshes when desired. The flooding of the marshes aids in subduing the wild grasses and other incumbrances, also is essential to the growth of the berries. On these marshes, wherever the flowage is killing the grass, the vine is rapidly spreading, without transplanting. Undoubtedly they would yield a quicker return by transplanting. Large tracts of these lands, which, at this time have no vines, are bought by companies, mostly from the cranberry lands in Eastern Wisconsin, who are experienced in this business, and know what they are doing. They openly declare that vines can be grown on these marshes, where sufficient water can be obtained and controlled to flow the lands. Mr. Irvine informed me that this flooding process, and the manner in which it was controlled, was the key to success. I examined the effect which one year alone had accomplished, as these companies commenced operations in 1872. It surprised me when I saw the mode, and heard it explained, that so little was generally known of this business. After the marshes are subdued, dams and ditches built, there is comparatively small cost in raising the fruit until the harvest, when men, women and children flock in from the farming countries to pick, to pack, to store, to dry, to box, and convey to market. An expert will pick from five to ten bushels per day by hand, no rakes being allowed. In 1873 these marshes had an abundant yield. These companies paid to outsiders one dollar and fifty cents per bushel. There are several companies operating in Burnett county. They have made and are making substantial improvements, in building roads, dry houses, dwelling houses, etc. The past year a saw mill was erected for sawing staves for barrels, lumber for boxes, etc. These marshes are about twenty miles east of the Superior railroad."

WASHBURN COUNTY.

Washburn county was organized in 1883, and embraces townships 37 to 42, inclusive, and ranges 10 to 13, inclusive, a total of 24 townships. It is drained by St. Croix waters with the exception of the southeast corner, which is drained by a branch of the Chippewa river. It has been a rich timbered region and large forests of pine still remain. The greater part of the county is adapted to agriculture, and is settling rapidly. Two lines of railway traverse the county, one from south to north, and the other from southwest to northeast, giving the county excellent facilities for transportation and marketing of products. The county is divided into two towns, Bashaw in the south and Veasie in the north. These towns were organized in 1877, while Washburn was a part of Burnett county. The first supervisors of Bashaw were: L. E. Thomas, chairman; John Arbuckle and John McMullen. The town of Bashaw was the first settled. John McMullen settled in township 38, range 13, in 1872, in Bashaw valley. He married a member of the Hart family, old settlers of the town. He died in 1878. L. E. Thomas was the second settler in Bashaw and in Washburn county, and has been officially connected with the town and county organization. He is a native of Michigan, and has followed lumbering and farming. L. E. Thomas built the first house. Nellie Raberge taught the first school in Bashaw, in 1881. Miss Raberge has since become the wife of Milton Stratton. The first post office was established in 1880, Mrs. Malcolm Dobie, postmistress. The first sermon was preached by Rev. Ellingwood. G. P. Pearly was the first physician; A. L. Bugbee, the first lawyer. Messrs. Hart, Baker, Gardner and others have large farms in Bashaw valley. By the act organizing the county,

SHELL LAKE

was made the county seat. It is beautifully located on the shores of Summit lake. It has a court house, built at a cost of $11,000, in 1885, one of the most tasteful buildings of the kind in the St. Croix valley. The town is built on railroad lands, purchased by the Shell Lake Lumber Company, and by them surveyed into lots. The streets are from sixty-six to eighty feet wide. A restriction in the deeds to the lots and lands against the sale of alcoholic drinks has been continuously violated. In 1883 the town board fixed license at five hundred dollars, a plain violation of the original agreement.

A fine school building with four apartments was built in 1885, at a cost of $5,000. Prof. Halphyde is principal of the schools. The Episcopalians and Catholics have church buildings. The Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians have church organizations. The Masons, Good Templars and Knights of Labor have organizations.

Summit lake, on the west bank of which the town is situated, is about two and a half miles broad by three and a half long. It has bold, gravelly shores. The water is deep, clear and pure. The slopes surrounding it are covered with evergreen, and hardwood timber. One small steamer floats upon its waters.

The first board of county officers was as follows: Treasurer, Leander E. Thomas; clerk, Frank B. Nelson; sheriff, James Wynne; attorney, Frank Gudette; register of deeds, Albert L. Bugbee; judge, L. H. Mead; clerk of court, A. Gibson; superintendent of schools, Clara Stratton; surveyor, Patrick Kelly. The first circuit court was held in June, 1883, Hon. S. S. Clough, presiding. The county has two court terms for the year, in June and December.

The Shell Lake Lumber Company was organized in 1880, under Iowa laws. It is composed of C. Lamb and David Joice and sons, of Clinton, Iowa; Laird, Norton & Co., of Winona; Weyerhauser & Dinkeman, of Rock Island, Illinois; S. T. McKnight, of Hannibal, Missouri; D. R. Moore, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Their mills are located on the northwest side of Summit lake. They have a capacity of 50,000,000 feet per year. The capital stock amounts to $500,000. Employment is furnished to 250 men. In 1880 the hour system of labor was adopted. A narrow gauge railroad, twelve miles long, supplied with two locomotives and fifty cars, is used for bringing logs to mill. This road has a steel track and 3,000 feet of piling. The refuse burner of the mill is 20 feet in diameter and 102 in height. There are 63 tenement houses to accommodate the laborers. A. H. Earle superintends this vast concern.

Sawyer creek obtained its name from Seth M. Sawyer, of Stillwater. This stream flows into Yellow river, five miles from Summit lake. It rises from springs three hundred feet from the lake, and one hundred feet lower down, and may be considered its subterranean outlet, as visible outlet there is none. The lake, literally a summit lake, the receding and descending slopes, the springs uniting to form a larger stream, form a peculiar landscape, quite park-like in some of its features, and worthy of being converted into a park.

SPOONER,

In the township of Veazie, on the north branch of the Yellow river, township 39, range 12, is a dinner station on the North Wisconsin railroad. The railroad company have fitted up an elegant eating house, and a few neat buildings, the nucleus of a much larger village, cluster around it.

VEAZIE VILLAGE

Is in township 41, range 10, and has a post office. The town of Veazie, occupying the northern part of the county, was organized in 1877. Millions of feet of pine timber have been gathered and marketed from this town, and it is estimated that 150,000,600 feet still remain. Ames and Sinnot station are in the township of Veazie.

SAWYER COUNTY.

Sawyer county was organized March 9, 1883. It is comprised of townships 37 to 42, and ranges 5 to 9, inclusive. Of these townships twenty-five are drained by Chippewa waters and five by Namakagon river. The county is heavily timbered with pine, though vast quantities have been taken and marketed. The county seat was located at Hayward in the bill organizing the county. The county officers, appointed by Gov. Rusk, were: Sheriff, A. Blaisdell; clerk, C. H. Clapperton; register of deeds, H. E. Ticknor; treasurer, R. L. McCormack; county judge, H. W. Hart; attorney, N. E. Ticknor; superintendent of schools, Miss M. Mears; surveyor, W. J. Moulton; coroner, E. G. Gregg.

The court house was built in 1885, at a cost of $18,000. The county at its organization assumed the following indebtedness:

To Ashland county $25,000 To town of Ashland, Ashland county 1,870 To town of Butternut, Ashland county 2,050 To Chippewa county 1,900 To town of Flambeau, Chippewa county (disputed claim) 5,000 To town of Big Bend, Chippewa county 3,000 To town of Sigel, Chippewa county 2,000

Outside indebtedness, total $40,820

All this indebtedness, with the exception of the unsettled claim of Flambeau, Chippewa county, has been paid. Since its organization the county has expended $30,000 on roads to Chippewa waters. This, added to the cost of the court house, $18,000, a school house for the town of Hayward, $6,500, town hall for Hayward $5,000, makes a total of expenditures for the county within the past three years of $106,420, a remarkable sum for a new county with so sparse a population to pay, but not so remarkable when we take into account the immense value of its lumber products and standing timber.

Hayward is the only town in the county. Its first board of supervisors were: A. J. Hayward, chairman; Thos. Manwarin and Michael Jordan. A. L. McCormack was first treasurer, and C. C. Claghorn, clerk. The village is situated in sections 21 and 22, township 41, range 9, upon a level pine plateau on the north side of Namakagon river, a tributary of the St. Croix. The village was platted in 1883, but a post office had been established the year before, C. H. Clapperton being the first postmaster. The first marriage in the town of Hayward and county of Sawyer was that of Fred Emmons and Mary Lindmark, in 1883. The first birth was that of a daughter to Al. Blaisdell. The first death was that of Nels J. Eggin. Rev. A. Safford preached the first sermon. Anna Shafer taught the first school. E. G. Gregg opened the first store. H. E. Ticknor was the first lawyer and J. B. Trowbridge the first physician.

The first school house, built at a cost of $5,000, was burned. There was an insurance of $4,500. A new building was erected at a cost of $6,000, with three departments, and with steam heating apparatus. Prof. F. A. Nichols was the principal.

The Congregational church at Hayward is one of the finest church buildings in the Northwest. It is built in the Queen Anne style, with circular seats, the whole finished in exquisite taste. Senator Sawyer, after whom the county was named, contributed a town clock and bell worth $1,000. The Catholics have a church here, and the Lutherans an organization. The Odd Fellows and Knights of Labor have organizations.

The Sawyer County Bank was organized March 9, 1884, with a capital stock of $200,000, divided equally between three stockholders, R. L. McCormack, A. J. Hayward and E. H. Halbert, the latter being general manager and cashier. The bank deals in real estate, abstracts, insurance and general monetary business. The business transacted for the year ending June 6, 1886, amounted to $3,000,000. The bank building is a substantial brick. The Hayward Lumber Company has a mill on the Namakagon river. The water power has a fall of eighteen feet and a flowage of about three miles. A sixty foot channel has been left through the flowage for slucing logs. The saw mill has a capacity of 35,000,000 feet per annum. It has a planing mill attached. The company is composed of T. F. Robinson, Weyerhauser & Dinkeman and R. L. McCormack. Mr. Weyerhauser is president of the company. Mr. Weyerhauser is also president of the Rock Island Lumber Company and of Weyerhauser, Dinkeman & Co., of Rock Island, and is a stockholder in Renwick, Crosset & Co., Cloquet, Minnesota, Shell Lake, Barronett, Masons, White River, and Chippewa Falls Lumber companies, and is president of the Beef Slough Boom and Chippewa and Mississippi Logging companies. Mr. Weyerhauser is the most extensive holder and owner of unoperated pine lands in the West, or probably on the continent. The stockholders of the Hayward Lumber Company are all men of wealth accumulated by their own industry. Mr. R. L. McCormack, the resident stockholder and manager, is admirably adapted for the position he holds. Mr. McCormack was a citizen of Minnesota for fourteen years, and a member of the Minnesota legislature in 1881. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1847.

Dobie & Stratton, contractors for pine stumpage on the Lac Oreilles Indian reservation, reside in Hayward. They cut 28,000,000 feet of logs in the winter of 1885-86.

MALCOMB DOBIE, of this firm, is a native of Canada. He came to the St. Croix valley in 1864, and was married to Harriet Stratton, at St. Croix Falls, in 1874.

MILTON V. STRATTON, brother of Mrs. Dobie, was raised at St. Croix Falls, and engaged in business with Mr. Dobie. In 1886, his health failing, he removed to California.

BARRON COUNTY.

Barron county was formerly a heavily timbered tract of country, but is now being rapidly cleared and settled. It is well watered by the Red Cedar and its tributaries, and has many beautiful lakes, among them Turtle, Beaver, Chetek, Red Cedar, Rice, Bear, and Long lakes. The county was first established as Dallas county, in 1859, and attached to Polk for judicial purposes. In 1868 it was organized for county and judicial purposes, and the county seat was changed from Manhattan to Barron, section 26, township 34, range 12. By act of legislature in 1869, the name of the county was changed to Barron, and the county seat was called by the same name, in honor of Hon. Henry D. Barron, then judge of the Eleventh circuit. It comprises townships 32 to 36, inclusive, and ranges 10 to 14, in all 25 townships. Barron county has three railroads, on the lines of which thriving settlements have sprung up. The railroads are three, the North Wisconsin, a branch line of the Omaha, and the Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic. The North Wisconsin railroad passes through the northwestern part of the county. The Chippewa Falls & Superior City branch of the Omaha enters the southeast corner, and traverses the county in a direction west of north. The Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic passes through the middle of the county in a direction from east to west.

TURTLE LAKE TOWN

Was organized in 1879. The village of Turtle Lake is situated in sections 30 and 31, township 34, range 14. It contains a large saw mill with a capacity of 40,000,000 feet per annum; a union depot, used by the North Wisconsin, and Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic railroads, and stores, shops and dwellings, all new. The Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic railroad was built through the county in 1885, and completed in 1887.

BARRON,

The county seat, is a growing lumber town, with farming lands to the south. It has a population of over 1,000. The "Soo Line" railway has a station here.

PERLEY VILLAGE

Is located also in Turtle Lake town, in section 8, township 34, range 14, and on the line of the North Wisconsin railroad. It has a large saw mill with a capacity of 16,000,000 feet per annum. The village is beautifully located on Horse Shoe lake.

CUMBERLAND VILLAGE

Is situated in the town of Cumberland, section 7, township 35, range 15, on Beaver Dam lake. It is pleasantly situated, and is the largest village on the line of the Northwestern railroad. Its appearance gives evidence of enterprise and thrift on the part of its citizens. The Beaver Dam Lumber Company have here a saw mill with a capacity of 24,000,000 feet per annum. Cook & Co. have a saw mill (burned and rebuilt) with a capacity of 6,000,000 feet. The village has a bank and one newspaper, the Cumberland Advocate, first issued in 1880 as the Herald.

Cumberland was organized as a village in 1881, and organized under a city charter in 1885. The population is now about 1,700. The mercantile business will aggregate about $500,000 annually. The aggregate output of lumber is 30,000,000 feet, while other industries aggregate $200,000 per annum. There are four churches, one graded school of five departments in which students are prepared to enter college. There is here one banking house.

SPRAGUE

Is a village in Cumberland, on the Northwestern railroad. It has a saw mill with a capacity of about 15,000,000 feet per annum.

COMSTOCK,

In Cumberland, on the Northwestern railroad, has a shingle mill and saw mill, the latter having a capacity of about 5,000,000 feet.

BARRONETT,

In Cumberland, is located in township 36, range 13, in the midst of a well timbered region. Its saw mill, directly on the county line, has a capacity of 25,000,000 feet. M. Bowron has a farm adjoining the village of 250 acres, improved and yielding tame grass.

De Graw and Granite Lake Mills are also located on the Northwestern railroad.

Turtle Lake, Scott's Siding, Cosgrove, Barron, the county seat, Cameron and Canton, are on the Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic railroad.

Chetek, Cameron Junction, Rice Lake and Bear Creek are located on the Omaha branch.

CHARLES SIMEON TAYLOR.--Mr. Taylor was born in Geneva, Wisconsin, October, 1851; graduated at the Wisconsin State University; studied law and settled at Barron, Barron county, in 1876, where he practices his profession and edits the Barron County Shield. He was elected member of the Thirty-seventh Wisconsin assembly in 1885-86 and represented the counties of Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and Washburn.