| |
The natural fauna of this
section of the state, with the exception
of some of the smaller animals, has largely
disappeared with the
destruction of the forests. Of the large game
only the deer remaining,
and that has to be found in the regions farther
north. Elk, moose,
antelope and caribou are among the species
mentioned by the earlier
records of which there are probably no specimens
remaining. Buffalo
remained in Wisconsin until 1825 and there is a
claim that one was
shot on the St. Croix river as late as 1832.
These animals had a range
of the whole northern forest, which up to a
comparatively recent
period included the greater partion of La Crosse
county. The coulees
and ravines running down to the streams were the
natural haunts of
wolves and wolverines, and these lingered upon
the outskirts of
settlements after many other of the wild
denizens of the forests had
disappeared and are in fact still abundant in
parts of the county.
The last reports show that bounties were paid
on twenty-three
foxes and seventeen wolves killed in the county
during the year.
Most of the wolves were killed in the town of
Farmington, and two
of the foxes within the city limits. The
nearness of the bluffs and the
intersecting ravines account for the latter
fact. Six wild cats were
also killed during the year. The actual number
killed probably far
exceed these figures, as many wolves and foxes
are killed on which
no bounty is paid. The clipping off of the ears
spoils the pelt for a MEMOIRS
OF LA CROSSE COUNTY 21
rug, and many prefer the unmutilated skin to the
bounty. Many
amateur hunters also like to retain the entire
pelts as trophies. Furriers
of the city also report the pelts of other
animals captured or killed
in the vicinity, the lynx, mink, muskrat,
pole-cat, and the smaller
animals, the woodchuck, coon, rabbit, squirrel,
etc. As these are
sold directly to the furrier the county has no
account of them. It
is evident from these reports that the native
fauna is not yet extinct.
CHAPTER II.
INDIAN AFFAIRS.
INDEFINITE BOUNDARIES OF INDIAN DOMAINS -
LIMITATIONS OF THE
ALGONQUIN FAMILY - WESTERN WISCONSIN A
NEUTRAL GROUND -
OCCUPATION BY THE WINNEBAGOES - INDIAN GAME
THE ORIGIN OF
THE NAME "LA CROSSE" - ATTITUDE OF THE
INDIANS TOWARD EARLY
SETTLERS - TREATY OF 1837 - INDIAN CAVE IN
BARRE TOWNSHIP -
INDIAN VILLAGES - MOUND BUILDING IN LA
CROSSE COUNTY.
The Wisconsin Indians, - of whom the
principal tribes belonged to
the Algonquin family, - at the time when this
region became known
to the whites, grouped themselves about the
upper lakes, Green Bay,
the Fox and Wisconsin rivers and southern
Wisconsin along the Lake
Michigan shore. The Algonquins were
circumscribed in their wanderings
by the relentless enmity of the Iroquois in the
east and the
Sioux or Dakotas in the west. While the
Chippewas, even from an
early day, occupied the region bordering on Lake
Superior, south to
the headwaters of the Menominee, Wisconsin and
Chippewa rivers,
the country immediately south was for a long
time neutral ground,
occupied only by occasional hunting or war
parties. Thus it appears
that the present territory of La Crosse county,
while frequently visited
by different tribes of Indians, was not the
settled abode of any during
the earlier period of which we have definite
knowledge, the fear of
the savage Sioux across the great river
effectually holding in check
the permanent establishment of any of the
Wisconsin tribes of the
Sacs and Foxes or even Winnebagoes, who were
more friendly with
the Sioux, whose wanderings in the land between
the Mississippi and
the Wisconsin are most frequently noted.
With the encroachments of the whites upon the
ancient hunting
grounds in eastern Wisconsin, there was a
gradual moving westward
of the Indians, and at the time when the
settlements began in La
Crosse county it had come to be considered the
territory of the Winnebagoes.
They wandered through all the country between
the Wisconsin
and Mississippi rivers and the site of La Crosse
had come to
be a winter camp where their festivals or games
were held.
One game in particular was played on the
little prairie above the
river, a game of ball was adopted by the whites,
and which with some
modifications has become the national Canadian
game. It was called
la crosse by the French Canadians, owing to the
resemblance of the
curved netted stick used by the players to a
bishop's crozier or crosse.
Although there are several plausible theories as
to the origin of the
22
MEMOIRS
OF LA CROSSE COUNTY 23
name of the county and city, the fact that
the site of the present city
was a place where this game was annually
celebrated has been accepted
by the most careful students of Wisconsin
history as the true origin.
Henry E. Legler, in a little volume entitled
"The Origin and Meaning
of Wisconsin Place Names," gives the etymology
of La Crosse as
doubtful, but quotes the legend of a cross found
fastened to a stump
by the first settler, Nathan Myrick. This,
however, seems an unlikely
derivation, as the French word used to designate
a cross is croix and
not crosse which is used to indicate a bishop's
crosier. It seems
likely that, although the two words have a
common origin, if the story
of the finding of the cross at this point were
true, that the name would
have been La Croix and not La Crosse.
While the capture of Hennepin by the Sioux,
and later the abandonment
of the post on Lake Pepin indicates that the
savages resented
the earliest intrusions of the whites into this
territory, yet their
sanguinary encounters were principally between
the various tribes who
lingered about the borders of this neutral
ground rather than with
the white intruders. When the permanent settlers
came the Winnebagoes
manifested some irritation at their
encroachments, and a number
of instances are recorded where their hostile
attitude caused some
uneasiness to the first comers; where property
was taken, men
threatened and women frightened.
This was, however, never the scene of the
cruel and murderous warfare
whose records form so large a part of the early
history of eastern
Wisconsin. This was doubtless due to the fact
that the Black Hawk
War had demonstrated to the Indians the
hopelessness of a warfare
against the whites rather than to a radical
change in the nature of the
treacherous savage or of his grasping and
unwelcome neighbor.
The rumor of an Indian uprising, following
the New Ulm massacre,
spread in a curious manner over all of
southwestern Wisconsin between
the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers and La
Crosse did not
escape its "scare." The uneasiness of the
Winnebagoes and their
gathering together at different points gave some
foundation to the
rumor. The tension of the times, the absence of
the men from many
isolated homes, together with the general
knowledge of Indian characteristics,
made a situation which required only a slight
impulse to
bring to the hysterical point. This impulse was
sometimes given by
genuine fear, sometimes by a practical joke, and
under which head
the La Crosse "Indian scare" came has never been
definitely decided.
Fortunately nothing serious developed, and the
only inconvenience
which the early settlers experienced, beyond
that already noted, was
occasional petty thieving and begging.
By a treaty concluded November, 1837, the
Winnebagoes ceded all
their land east of the Mississippi to the United
States government,
agreeing to remove to Long Prairie, Minn.,
within eight months.
They were gathered at La Crosse for the removal,
and came with
little trouble. In a few months, however, most
of them had returned,
and, as the Indian scare of 1862 showed, there
were large numbers of
them in the state at that time. They were
subsequently removed to a
24
MEMOIRS OF LA CROSSE COUNTY
reservation in Nebraska, from which some of them
also returned.
There were still wandering bands of them in the
forests of their old
haunts as late as the seventies. At the present
time only a few stragglers
remain, objects of curiosity to the younger
generaton of to-day.
An interesting and characteristic record of
the earlier occupation
of this region by the Indians is found in a cave
in Barre township.
The first account of it was published in the La
Crosse Chronicle of
June 14, 1879. It was discovered by a young man,
Frank Samuels,
on his father's farm, about eight miles
northeast of La Crosse. Originally
it was an enlarged fissure in the soft Potsdam
sandstone and is
situated near the edge of a small marsh which is
surrounded on all
sides except the north by a high ridge of this
sandstone. The original
opening was near the level of the marsh and was
about fifteen feet
wide, being in reality, only rock shelter with a
western exposure.
The roof is an irregular arch extending about
thirty feet back, and at
the time of discovery was about eight feet in
height, above the layers
of sand, which were a number of feet deep. The
cave was carefully
examined by an expert geologist, the layers of
sand removed and examined,
revealing the fact, through the alternate layers
of ashes, that
the cave had had four different periods of
occupation with considerable
lapses of time between them.
The most interesting fact in connection with
the discovery of the
cave, however, is that concerning the rude
carvings and drawings
on the walls of the cave. There are rude
representations of the
buffalo, elk, lynx, rabbit, heron, a man with
bow and arrows in the act
of shooting, another with plumes or feathers.
These are referred to
the third or fourth period of occupation, from
their height upon the
walls, and also the fact that portions of the
carved rock had scaled
off and were buried in the sand layers. In the
second and third layers
of sand were found pieces of pottery, the
earlier plain, but the later
ornamented on the outer surface. From similarity
of work these
carvings are supposed to be the work of the
Sioux. The front of the
cave was closed by a landslide, at least a
hundred and fifty years
ago, as indicated by the growth of trees upon
it, and the antiquity
of the drawings variously estimated as from
three to eight hundred
years. If La Crosse county and the vicinity was
originally the hunting-
ground of the Sioux and they were driven across
the Mississippi
by inter-tribal wars, it would be a reason for
their determined hostility
toward the tribes that attempted to supplant
them, and explains
why this region was for so long a neutral
ground.
Careful accounts of the discovery of the cave
and its examination
and copies of the carvings were made for the
Wisconsin Historical
Association, and are preserved in their
publications.
There are a number of authentic accounts of
the later occupation
of La Crosse county by the Winnebagoes,
preserved by the Wisconsin
Historical Association, among them the journal
of Capt. T. G. Anderson,
during the War of 1812 and following the capture
of Prairie
du Chien by the British. During August and
September of 1814
there are repeated orders sent to Little Corbeau
and his band to meet
at the Praire La Crosse and there await further
orders.
MEMOIRS
OF LA CROSSE COUNTY 25
Moses Paquette, the government interpreter
for the Winnebagoes,
also locates several Indian villages of that
tribe; one, the village of
Big Canoe, on the La Crosse river where West
Salem now stands.
Snake Skin (Waukoncauhaga), had a village in the
early times at
the headwaters of De Soto creek, below La
Crosse. Spoon Decorah
also stated, "During the Black Hawk War my
father had his lodge
near La Crosse," and also, "My father, Winnebago
Black Hawk, had
a hunting lodge on the La Crosse river, near
where Bangor now stands."
The relations of the Indians and the whites
are shown by reference
to the early papers where the former are
frequently spoken of in a
half-friendly, half-contemptuous fashion. On May
3, 1853, a white
man named Will Sutcliffe was rescued from
drowning in the Mississippi,
by an Indian called "John," for which service he
was rewarded
by the citizens with a new red blanket and a sum
of money. This
Indian sometimes took part in the street
exhibitions of native dancing
and music and was a skillful dancer.
On July 26 of the same year, the Democrat, in
commenting on the
presence of the Indians in the neighborhood,
said: "They appear
harmless and inoffensive, and are dangerous only
to game and an
occasional porker. They pay no more respect to
the game laws than
some of our own hunters."
Of the occupation of La Crosse county by that
earlier people
known as the "Mound Builders" there is
considerable evidence.
Frederick W. Putnam, in a report of an
archaeological excursion in
Ohio and Wisconsin in 1883, says:
"It is well known that the earthworks of
Wisconsin, between Lake
Michigan and the Mississippi river, are
remarkable from the fact
that a large proportion of them are in the forms
of animals and men,
a fact that is of great ethnical importance when
we remember that
such effigy mounds have not been found in
adjoining regions. The
only works in North America with which they are
at all comparable
are three in Ohio, known as the 'serpent mound'
and the 'alligator
mound' and 'Whittlesey's effigy mound' and the
two 'bird mounds'
in Georgia.
"In Wisconsin the effigies of animals and men
are very numerous*
and there is scarcely a lake or river from Lake
Michigan to the
Mississippi on the borders of which they cannot
be traced in large or
small groups. They are entirely of earth and
stand out in low relief;
those visited being from two to four or five
feet high, although
generally they were of great linear extent."
In the same report Professor Putnam describes
his visit to the
"turtle mound" in what is now called Myrick Park
in the city of La
Crosse, and the three small conical mounds near,
which were carefully
and scientifically explored by trenches dug the
whole length and
width, two feet below the surface on which the
mounds rest. The
*See "Man-shaped Mounds in Wisconsin", by
I. W. Lapham. Wisconsin
Historical Collections, Volume IV, page 365.
(1859)
26
MEMOIRS OF LA CROSSE COUNTY
effigy mound was only about two feet in
height, but evidently reduced
from its original proportions by the action of
the elements and the
trampling of men and beasts. In the center of
this mound remains of
a human skeleton were found, which was the first
record of the finding
of human remains in an effigy mound. There also
were found
fragments of a pottery vessel, a chipped stone
implement and several
flint flakes. In the largest of the conical
mounds human bones and
a few potsherds were found. In this case the
burial had been made
on the summit of the mound and was of the class
called "intrusive,"
that is, it had no connection with the object
for which the mound was
raised. The park authorities wished to preserve
the mounds, so after
the examination the trenches were carefully
refilled, great care having
been taken during the examination to preserve
the outlines.
A very similar account of the La Crosse
mounds is found in the
seventeenth report of the Peabody museum of
archaeology and ethnology.
Recent discoveries along this line in
Trempealeau county, not far
north, suggest that La Crosse county still
presents an unexplored
field for the archaeologist, as in places where
the ground is still
covered with timber, mounds slightly raised, may
pass unobserved by the
eye which is not trained to accurate
observation.
An article in the La Crosse Tribune of
January 21, 1907, by G. H.
Squier, of Trempealeau county, speaking of the
prehistoric mounds
in that county, discovered by John Dye, formerly
of La Crosse, says:
"The mounds of Trempealeau and La Crosse
counties form a typographic
unit. Externally they differ somewhat from the
mounds in
the eastern part of the state. The mounds are
built, apparently, for
religious purposes."
The platforms which were discovered on the
crest of the Trempealeau
bluffs were about twice the size of the temple
site at Aztalan, Jefferson county.
CHAPTER III.
TERRITORIAL AND
PRE-TERRITORIAL HISTORY.
EARLY CLAIMS TO THE TERRITORY - LA CROSSE COUNTY
ON THE HIGH -
WAY TO THE NORTHWEST - EARLY VISITORS -
BRITISH DOMINION -
TREATY OF PARIS, 1783 - CLAIMS OF VIRGINIA
- JURISDICTION OF
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT - ORDINANCE OF 1787
- TERRITORY OF
INDIANA - VISIT OF MAJOR PIKE - TERRITORY
OF ILLINOIS - INDIAN
RENDEZVOUS IN 1814 - JURISDICTION OF
MICHIGAN TERRITORY -
DIVISION INTO BROWN, CRAWFORD AND
MICHILIMACKINAC COUNTIES
- INFLUENCE OF THE BLACK HAWK WAR -
WISCONSIN TERRITORY.
The annals of the territory now known as La
Crosse county, previous
to its legal existence under that specific name,
in the history of the
state and its fragmentary story during the
territorial days, is the
history common to most of the great northwest.
The nominal Spanish
claim, the French regime, the British
domination, made little impress
upon this part of the state that has remained to
the present day.
It is, nevertheless, a matter of pride to the
native Badger that his
state shared in that early romantic period. Even
while the Puritans
and their immediate followers were reproducing
on the Atlantic coast
the prejudices and theological quarrels of the
Old World, through
the vast forests of northern Wisconsin, across
the prairies of the
south, through the coulees of the Mississippi
valley and along the now
historic waterways, the coureurs des bois
voyageurs and adventurous
priests had found their way. Neither the
Puritans of rock-bound
New England, the cavaliers of Virginia nor the
Spanish conquerors
of California can present to the seeker after a
picturesque setting for
historical romance a more attractive field than
is found in the early
history of this state, and it is upon this
foundation of romantic
adventure that the later superstructure of
authentic history is based.
Of the part that the region under our
immediate consideration played
in that early day there is little record. Of
necessity, however, La
Crosse county and its immediate vicinity must
have come under the
observation of the very early explorers and
their contemporary trappers,
churchmen and other seekers after conquest, fame
and wealth
in this virgin forest. Following the natural
highways of the Wisconsin
and Fox rivers to the southwest and the
Mississippi to the
northwest, the line of travel and exploration
passed by, and, without
doubt, sometimes tarried at points within the
present limits of La
Crosse county; for it is a historical fact that
the sites where the
27
28
MEMOIRS OF LA CROSSE COUNTY
principal cities and towns of Wisconsin are
located had natural advantages
which indicated them as the points for the
erection of the earliest
trading-posts, and even before the advent of the
whites the native
tribes had already noted their strategic or
other superiority.
The earliest visitor to this region of whom
we have authentic record
is Father Hennipen, who, in 1680, under orders
from La Salle,
set out to explore the upper Mississippi. He was
accompanied by two
voyageurs, Accau and Anguil, and they passed the
mouth of the
Wisconsin, the present site of Prairie du Chien,
the mouth of the
Black river, and, a little below Lake Pepin,
were taken prisoners by
the Sioux and taken north to the present site of
St. Paul. In the
autumn of the same year, Du l'hut (also given Du
Lhut and Du Luth),
coming south from Lake Superior, met Father
Hennepin, and the
two traveled together, returning to Green Bay by
the Fox - Wisconsin
route.
In 1683, La Sueur and in 1685, Nicholas
Perrot came by the Fox -
Wisconsin route to the Mississippi, ascended the
river, exploring its
immediate vicinity. The latter wintered on the
east bank of the
river about a mile above the present village of
Trempealeau, and
twenty miles from the present site of the city
of La Crosse. It is
altogether probable that La Crosse county, the
upper part of which
lay within a few miles of his camping-place, was
visited by him at
this time. Four years later Perrot took
possession of the St. Croix,
St. Peter and upper Mississippi valleys in the
name of the French king.
La Sueur continued to trade with the Sioux in
the upper Mississippi
valley until about 1702, his last journey having
been made from Louisiana.
Perrot had a small fort near the mouth of the
Chippewa river
within the present limits of Pepin county, which
he maintained for a
number of years. In 1727 a subsequent attempt
was made to establish
trading relations with the Sioux, and Fort
Beauharnois, a stockade
and trading-post was built on Lake Pepin, but
after a period of
ten years the enterprise, and with it the fort,
was abandoned on account
of the hostility of the Sioux.
In 1763 the territory of New France,
including the present state of
Wisconsin, was ceded to the English, and shortly
afterward (1766)
the noted traveler, Capt. Jonathan Carver,
visited the northwest
country, passing up the Mississippi, and
sojourned for a time near
St. Anthony's falls.
By the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, the
territory east of the Mississippi
was ceded to the United States and although
Wisconsin was nominally
under the jurisdiction of the United States from
the time of the
treaty, yet it did not come into full control
until two years subsequent
to the Jay treaty of 1794, and the first claim
to the territory
was carried over from the colonial period and
was advanced by Virginia.
The Virginian claims, however, were very soon
ceded to the
general government, and in 1797 was passed the
famous ordinance
for the government of the Northwest Territory,
with Arthur St.
Claire commissioned governor.
MEMOIRS
OF LA CROSSE COUNTY 29
After the division of this region was
commenced the present state
of Wisconsin was, in July, 1800, attached to the
territory of Indiana.
Three years later the first authentic account of
the present site of La
Crosse and the vicinity was given by Maj.
Zebulon M. Pike, the
distinguished explorer, who visited the country
September 12, 1805.
In March, 1809, Wisconsin was, with the
exception of a small fraction
(the greater part of the peninsula lying between
Green Bay and
Lake Michigan, now included in Door and Kewaunee
counties), transferred
to the territory of Illinois, and remained under
that jurisdiction
until the admission of Illinois as a state in
1818, when it was attached
to the territory of Michigan.
In the meantime the War of 1812 had occurred.
This was carried
into the frontier settlements of the Mississippi
valley by means of the
hold which the British had never relinquished
upon the Northwest
Territory. Its chief interest in this connection
is in relation to Prairie
La Crosse which was used as a rendezvous for the
Winnebagoes under
Chief Little Corbeau, and by the directions of
Capt. T. G. Anderson,
an officer with the British command at Prairie
du Chien.
In 1818, by a proclamation of Lewis Cass,
then governor of Michigan,
the area included in the present state of
Wisconsin was divided
into Brown, Crawford and a part of
Michilimackinac counties. The
last included the northern part of the state,
the division line running
east and west about sixty miles south of the
present city of Ashland,
and a part of the northern peninsula of
Michigan. Another line running
north from the Illinois state line through the
Fox - Wisconsin
portage divided Brown county on the east from
Crawford on the west.
In 1829 Iowa county was set off, including all
that part of Crawford
county south of the Wisconsin river.
As the county of La Crosse was not created
until after the admission
of Wisconsin as a state, whatever of historic
interest attached to this
section was recorded in the annals of Crawford
county, and during
this period most of the events of importance
centered about Prairie du
Chien. An exception is noted in the visits to
Prairie La Crosse, in
1817 and 1823, of Maj. Stephen H. Long, of the
United States army,
who records a friendly reception by the
Winnebago Indians who were
camped there.
There were, however, some events worthy of
record in this history
as bearing upon the development of the section
as a whole, rather than
upon any particular locality; one of these is
the Black Hawk War.
Although La Crosse county was not the theater of
this war, yet the
event had an important bearing upon its
development in common with
the rest of western and southwestern Wisconsin.
The knowledge of
the country which that event made public, was
immediately followed
by a tide of immigration which made its way up
the Mississippi. Between
the settlements in the lead regions and the
fur-bearing country
of the great northwest, the traffic increased,
and beside the boats that
followed the windings of the river, trails were
cut through the forest,
one of the earliest passing up on the eastern
shore, and through the
present site of La Crosse.
30
MEMOIRS OF LA CROSSE COUNTY
One event, notable as foreshadowing the
line of commercial development
was the coming of the first steamboat up the
river in 1823.
The great flood of 1826, when the river rose
twenty-six feet, was also
a notable occurrence, although the destruction
of life and property
were slight in comparison to what would have
been had such a flood
occurred a few years later.
In 1836 the prospect of the admission of
Michigan as a state had
a direct bearing on the fortunes of Wisconsin,
as it was at that time
that the territory was set apart under a
separate jurisdiction. Henry
Dodge, born at Vincennes, Ind., October 12,
1782, who had associated
himself with Wisconsin history during the
exciting epoch of the Black
Hawk War, was commissioned governor and
superintendent of Indian
affairs by President Jackson, his commission
dating from April 30,
1836. The subsequent disputes concerning the
boundaries of Wisconsin
belong to the history of the state rather than
to any county, the
only fact of local interest being the fixing of
the Mississippi as the
western boundary, by an act of Congress,
approved June 12, 1838.
During the next decade which preceded the
admission of Wisconsin
as a state there is little to record. Prairie La
Crosse was principally
known as a camping ground for parties, both
whites and Indians, following
the river trails to the northwest. A Frenchman
named La
Batt, or La Bath, established a trading-post
just south of the present
city, but remained only a short time. Later
events belong to the
founding and development of La Crosse settlement
into a village and
later a city.
In a government report prepared by Iosepho
Nicholas Nicollet in
February, 1841, and printed at Washington, the
Black river is called
the "Sappah" river, and the two principal
openings between that river
and the Mississippi are called "Old Mouth" and
"Broken Gun Channel."
From the accompanying map it would appear that
the country between
the Mississippi and the Wisconsin was at that
time practically unexplored,
the only stream marked being the La Crosse
river, which is
called the Prairie a la Crosse river. All of the
streams in the upper
Mississippi basin have, on that map, Indian
names, and of those that
are retained in the present nomenclature most of
them have the spelling
modified. Minnesota, for instance, is spelled
'Minisotah." The
Indian name for the La Crosse river was the
Mazwina river.
CHAPTER IV.
VILLAGE OF LA CROSSE.
LOCATION - FIRST SETTLER - ARRIVALS PREVIOUS TO
1845 - PLATTING OF
VILLAGE - ARRIVALS BETWEEN 1850 AND 1853 -
RAPID GROWTH
OF 1853 - LAND OFFICE - STATISTICS OF
1853-54 - NATIONALITY OF
EARLY SETTLERS - ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION -
RAILROAD PROJECTS
- PROFESSIONAL MEN OF 1854 - GROWTH OF
BUSINESS - PERSONAL
SKETCHES, NATHAN MYRICK - H. J. B. MILLER -
JOHN M. LEVY -
HARVEY E. HUBBARD - SAMUEL L. SMITH -
SAMUEL D. HASTINGS -
THEODORE RODOLF - CYRUS K. LORD - COL. T.
B. STODDARD - SOME
EARLY MARRIAGES.
The founding of the village of La Crosse
antedates any general
movement toward settlement in the outlying
districts by a number of
years, and as the history of that period is
confined to the little outpost
of civilization on Prairie La Crosse, that will
be considered before the
later movement which included the larger
territory.
The derivation of the name, according to the
best authorities, has
been already given. Its location is in latitude
43° 49' and longitude
west from Greenwich 91° 15'. It is in the
western part of the county,
upon a small plateau, some forty feet above the
water level. This
little prairie contains about thirteen square
miles, being about seven
miles long and two and a half wide in the widest
part, and is backed
by lofty bluffs. It was known in the early days
as Prairie La Crosse,
or, as some of the early writers give it, a
Prairie a la Crosse, or Prairie
de la Crosse. From the river the land originally
rose gradually to
the height of about forty feet and was then
level or gently undulating.
The soil is sandy, light and loose near the
river, darker and more compact
about the center and having a strip of very
fertile soil directly
under the bluffs.
Bluffs on both sides of the Mississippi
river, - on which the city is
built, - here rise to the height of five hundred
feet, ascending gradually
until within sixty or seventy feet of the summit
where there appears
an outcropping of perpendicular rock, above
which are hilly slopes
covered with hazel bushes and other shrubs
interspersed with groups
of oaks. The valley between the bluffs on
opposite sides of the river
is at this point four or five miles wide, and
the outlook from the vantage
ground of the bluffs is inexpressibly beautiful.
Within the present limits of the city both
the Black and the La
Crosse rivers empty into the Mississippi, and
this conjunction tells the
story of the growth and prosperity of this
metropolis of western
31
32
MEMOIRS OF LA CROSSE COUNTY
Wisconsin, now the second city in population
and commercial importance
within the borders of the state.
The record of the city proper begins with the
advent of Nathan
Myrick, a native of New York, who arrived in
November, 1841. He
came up the river on a flat-boat, from Prairie
du Chien, and brought
goods for trading with the Indians. The latter
were not pleased with
the prospect of farther encroachments on the
part of the whites, and
at first, by their hostility, seriously
interfered with Myrick's plans.
Later they became more friendly and he
transferred his goods from
Barron's island, where he first located, to the
mainland. In February,
1842, he built the first cabin on the present
site of La Crosse, now
the northeast corner of State and Front streets.
The same year
Myrick formed a partnership with H. J. B.
Miller, another native of
New York, and the following year he returned to
the east and was
married, bringing his bride to his frontier
home. Mrs. Myrick was
accompanied by a young friend, who not long
after married Mr. Miller.
A little daughter born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller in
1847 was the first
white child born in the county.
The first survey of the land was done under
the direction of Mr.
Myrick who hired Ira Brunson, a surveyor of
Prairie du Chien, to
come up in the summer of 1842 and lay out the
town site. This preceded
the government survey of the land, and was
therefore not
recorded, but the survey covered the original
plat of the village. The
land did not come into the market until 1848,
when the first settlers,
Nathan Myrick, Samuel Snow, Asa White, J. M.
Levy and Peter
Cameron went to Mineral Point, where the land
office was then established,
to enter their claims. The official plat of the
village was made
by William Hood, in 1851, under the direction of
Lieutenant Governor
Burns.
Mr. Myrick gave the following as the early
arrivals in La Crosse
county, who, however, did not remain in the
vicinity of La Crosse,
but went on up the Black river to engage in
lumbering: Horatio
Kurts, a Mormon, came in 1841, in company with
Myrick on his first
trip to Prairie La Crosse; in 1842, Jonathan
Nichols, James O'Neil,
H. McCollom, and some others; in 1843, John
Morrison, William and
John Lewis, Andrew Shepard, Valentine Thomas,
and William Douglas;
in 1844, Thomas and Peter Hall, William Pauley
and Andrew
Ferguson. All of these were lumbermen and made
but a transient stay
in La Crosse. In 1844 the entire population of
La Crosse consisted
of the Myrick and Miller families, Asa White, an
Indian trader with
a squaw wife, Dr. Snaugh, known as the "Dutch
doctor," another
Indian trader, and Dr. Bunnel and his family.
Lafayette Bunnel had
arrived in 1843 or 1844, and had taken up a
claim adjoining Asa
White's. Newell Houghton, who was killed in the
New Ulm, (Minn.),
massacre, came in 1844, also John Nagle and
Charles Nagle, who
took up claims south of the State Road coulee.
About the same time
several Swiss families came into the county.
There have been in all
a considerable number of Swiss immigrants in La
Crosse county, although
not many came directly to this point. Most of
them moved
MEMOIRS
OF LA CROSSE COUNTY 33
on from the Swiss colony in Sauk county. Peter
Cameron, Samuel
Snow, J. M. Levy, E. A. C. Hatch and George
Fetherline are other
pioneers who came before 1845.
In 1845 and 1846 there were a good many
arrivals, but few tarried
at La Crosse. The lumbering points on the Black
river held out
greater inducements and gave promise of greater
returns than the
sandy prairie with its scrubby oaks. Other
immigrants attracted by
the farming lands in the coulees and smaller
valleys, also passed
through La Crosse without tarrying.
For the first few years the settlement was
slow and the outlook
anything but encouraging. In 1845 the total
white population was
twelve. The Douglasses, a family of four adults,
came in that year.
In 1846 J. M. Levy, an Englishman, visited the
little frontier post
trading with the Indians, and shortly after
opened a little tavern there.
In 1847, Timothy Burns, afterward lieutenant
governor, passing
through La Crosse, perceived its commercial
possibilities, and purchased
a half interest in the business of Myrick &
Miller. To him is
really due the honor of founding La Crosse, for
he engaged a surveyor,
William Hood, had the village platted and put in
operation
the forces which began its prosperity. In 1850
he brought his family
and spent the remainder of his life in his
western home. The survey
was completed in May, 1851, and recorded on July
9, following. The
first building erected after the survey was John
M. Levy's store.
In volume IV of the Wisconsin Historical
Collections, printed in
1859, - when the events recorded were still
fresh in the minds of the
participants, and before the prophecies of La
Crosse as the second city
of Wisconsin had approached fulfillment, - there
is the following brief
but comprehensive review of the situation in the
late forties.
"There was but little advancement in this
settlement, except an
occasional settler in the vicinity, until the
year 1850, when some men
of enterprise, among whom were the late Timothy
Burns, T. B. Stoddard,
F. M. Rublee, S. D. Hastings, C. A. Stevens,
Robert Looney
and several others, called the attention of the
public to the favorable
position of La Crosse in a commercial point of
view. About this
time, they with several others, brought their
families to the place.
Previous to this Lieutenant Governor Burns,
being convinced that the
place was destined to become a large commercial
town, had moved
there with his family, and purchased one-half of
the Myrick and
Miller claim - I think in the year 1847 - and
got William Hood, a
surveyor, to survey a few lots, which he
disposed of on easy terms to
actual settlers. To him, more than to any other
man, is La Crosse
indebted for her favorable start and growth."
Lieutenant Governor Burns' outlook on the
situation was not, at the
time, shared by all of the pioneers. Harvey E.
Hubbard, a young attorney
who came in the summer of 1851, and who was for
many years,
a leading citizen of La Crosse, was little
disposed to remain after a
few months' experience, but was urged to do so
by Timothy Burns.
He was offered his pick of the lots on the river
for $100, and ten or
twelve of the best lots on the prairie for $25
apiece. Mr. Hubbard
34
MEMOIRS OF LA CROSSE COUNTY
excused himself from buying on the ground
that he had no money
and did not want to run in debt. Burns told him
he would give him
a bond for a deed and he could take his own time
for payment,
whereupon Hubbard responded, "I wouldn't give
$25 for all the sand
knobs on the prairie." Timothy Burns did not
live to see his hopes
realized, but Mr. Hubbard saw the wildest dream
of those early days
far surpassed.
The village of La Crosse in July, 1851,
consisted of the following
buildings: a small board shanty at the foot of
State street used for
freight; a small log-house at the corner of
State and Front streets,
used by H. J. B. Miller as a residence, hotel
and postoffice; a long, low
building on Front street used as a bowling
alley; an old barn near the
present location of the Cameron House; a small
frame building on the
corner of Front and Pearl streets was used as a
hotel by Simeon
Kellogg and was called "The Western Enterprise";
one small frame
building on Front street was used as a
law-office by Stevens and
Cramer, and opposite it F. M. Rublee had a frame
building partly
constructed; north of Kellogg's hotel was the
store and residence of
J. M. Levy, in front of which was a small lumber
yard; between Pearl
and Jay streets was a small frame building, and
a log-house occupied
by a German named Fetherline; south from there
was the log-house of
Thos. D. Stoddard and on the corner of Second
and Pine streets was
the log-house of Valentine Deininger; these with
two or three claim
shanties comprised all the buildings of La
Crosse in the summer of
1851. Front street was a dirt wagon road running
parallel with the
river, the banks of which were at that time high
and irregular and
could be reached only by footpaths at the end of
the present State
and Pearl streets. There were high sandhills on
Second and Third
streets and the footpaths running eastward
across the prairie wound
about to avoid them.
During the next three or four years settlers
came in not only to
the village of La Crosse, but began taking up
farms in the outlying
country. From 1850 the progress was rapid and
steady, although it
was a period of transition which was
discouraging to those who were
not able to look a little way into the future.
As the settlers began
taking up the lands the Indians retired into the
more distant forests;
with them also disappeared many of the most
valuable fur-bearing
animals which had up to this time been the great
wealth of the north-
west. The settlers were poor, led a
hand-to-mouth existence, and had
nothing, in the early years, comparable in value
with the furs of the
Indians, to barter with the traders. It was a
dreary existence, without
the comforts of civilization and far from a base
of supplies and only
men and women of heroic mold could have remained
and carved their
fortunes out of such unpromising conditions.
In April, 1851, F. M. Rublee, a native of
Vermont, came, was
pleased with the location and the next month
located and went into
business. That year the village was organized,
the land came into
the market, and the claim shanties with which
the prairie was covered
began to give place to bona fide homes. The
character of the early
MEMOIRS
OF LA CROSSE COUNTY 35
comers may be suggested by the fact that four
or five of the mayors
chosen after La Crosse had attained the dignity
of a city were selected
from the group who came in the early fifties,
among them Col. Thomas
B. Stoddard, the first mayor; David Taylor, John
M. Levy and Alex.
McMillan. Among others who gave character to the
settlement and
were prominent in the annals of the city were
Albert La Due and
Chase A. Stevens, early editors; Howard Cramer,
B. B. Healy, B. F.
Reynolds, H. J. Miller, Walter Brown and Judges
Geo. Gale and S.
S. Hastings. The last two had much more than a
local reputation
and were well and widely known throughout the
state.
In 1853 the New York Tribune noticed the
little, ambitious faraway
settlement and prophesied that "La Crosse must
figure as the
second city of Wisconsin," and the settlement
did its best to make
good the faith reposed in it. It reports "Hotels
crowded. Everybody
busy but the doctors," and again, a little
later, reference is
made to Chicago as "Getting to be considerable
of a village, but it
has one drawback, - it is almost too far away
from La Crosse." By
May of 1853 twelve or thirteen new residences
had been put up and
improvements made on four or five others, and J.
M. Levy built a
wharf boat 86 by 26 feet, with a warehouse and
receiving-room. This
last greatly facilitated the handling of goods
and produce.
In answer to certain allegation made by one
of the steamer captains
reflecting somewhat on the claims of La Crosse,
the state tax of $936,
which "was not only assessed, but paid in silver
and gold" is quoted.
Later in trying to prove another point this
claim to consideration is
weakened by the assertion that the property of
La Crosse was grossly
over-assessed. There was, however, no refutation
of the fact that
during the season immediately past (May, 1853),
that the La Crosse
merchants paid out between $6,000 and $7,000 in
freights.
Among the settlers of 1853 were Dr. Wolf and
his family from
Indiana, who arrived June 5, and had temporary
shelter erected before
sundown. Others were a company of immigrants
from the vessel
William and Mary, which was wrecked on the coast
of Florida and
deserted by her officers. The passengers were
rescued by a wrecking
schooner and taken to New Orleans, and a number
of them found their
way up the river. Their misfortunes appealed to
the citizens and they
were cared for and helped to secure homes in the
vicinity of La
Crosse. Much credit was due to the officers in
the newly opened
land-office in this as well as other instances.
Certain citizens of La Crosse claimed the
appointment to this land-
office, but they went to outside parties, Cyrus
K. Lord as register and
Theodore Rodolf as receiver. The fealty to local
claims is exhibited
in the following comment: "Although we had no
personal affection
for the applicants, yet we'd rather had them
than appointments from
abroad. We understand that Messrs. Lord and
Rodolf are excellent
men and that they and their families will both
be valuable acquisitions
to the village." Noticing their arrival the
following week the Democrat
"assures our citizens that there is nothing to
complain of in the
appointments. They are sterling Democrats who
have done good
battle in the cause of their country."
36
MEMOIRS OF LA CROSSE COUNTY
The editor was right upon this assumption.
These officers remained
and became two of the leading and |
