Wisconsin Historical Society

Another La Crosse Pioneer's
Statement

By John S. Harris1

I started on foot from East Troy, Wisconsin, early in the
spring of 1851, having with me a good rifle, a well-trained bull-
dog, and carrying a carpet-bag containing a change of clothes.
On arriving at the Dells of the Wisconsin, I found that a new
bridge was being built across the river at the narrowest place,
and that the roads, where there were any, were so muddy as to
make travelling difficult. So I stopped off at that place and
took a job of grading on the bridge approaches to prepare it
for crossing with teams. Most of the time I boarded with a Mr.
Gates; later, at a hotel at the foot of the Dells.

In the latter part of June, I arranged to accompany a young
man by the name of Chapman, and we started on foot for La
Crosse, travelling on an Indian trail, as at that time there was
no road thither, and it was reported that but one wagon had
ever gone through on that route. We camped out nights, tak-
ing no provisions with us but bread, depending for meat upon
shooting pigeons and partridges, which were plenty on the divide
between the Dells and Sparta. At one point on this divide the
Indian trail branched, and we lost two or three days' time
by going in the wrong direction down into the Kiekapoo Val-
ley, and had to go back to the point where the trail branched
and start again.

When we arrived in Sparta, our provisions were entirely
gone, and we could get no breakfast until Mr. Pickett, who was
erecting the first log house in Sparta, returned from La Crosse

i This narrative was written by John S. Harris, a La Crosse pio-
neer, being dated at La Cresce'nt, Minn., January 7, 1901. It fur-
nishes several interesting details of life in early La Crosse, sixty
years ago.—ED.

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