Pioneering in La Crosse

with provisions. We learned here that a family named Brown
were living three miles north of Sparta on the road to Black
River Falls. "We thereupon went on, and at this house, about
10:30 in the morning, we partook of a royal breakfast of fried
pork, cornbread, and blackstrap molasses.

The next day we struck Black River at Robinson's mills, and
finding that a raft of lumber was about to be run out and down
the Mississippi, I engaged a passage to La Crosse, where I landed
on the morning of July 7 or 8, and on that same day began
work on the old Black River House, which was being built by
W. W. Bennett. The frame was already raised and the roof
on, but the sides not enclosed, when I arrived. I made the win-
dow sash and panel doors for the house by hand, and believe it
was the first work of that kind done in La Crosse. As soon as
the building was enclosed, I made a number of bedsteads of
pine lumber, procured hay to fill the bedticks of a German
living out near the foot of the bluffs. I used fine shavings for
pillows and Mackinac blankets for bedding. Bennett started
up a first-class hotel.

The bar consisted, at first, merely of a barrel of whiskey with
a tin cup on top; but a little later two kinds of brandy were
added—one genuine cogniac, and the other manufactured on the
premises out of whiskey and burnt sugar. Bennett would not
let a drunken man drink on his premises, and would not sell
drinks on Sunday; neither would he receive paper money in pay-
ment for drinks or hotel bills. Only gold or silver was cur-
rent with him. He would take copper pennies in change, but
to get rid of them would go out and heave them into the river.
If the river should ever go dry, a considerable mine of copper
would be found in front of Spence's drug store.

About this time, La Crosse and other upper Mississippi points
were having a boom. The steamboats "War Eagle" and "Me-
nomonie" were crowded with homeseekers and business men
looking for places to better their fortunes. These boats gener-
ally arrived at La Crosse about midnight, when a number of pas-
sengers were sure to stop off. Hotel facilities were so limited
at that time that Bennett managed on the nights of the boats'
arrival to have all beds vacated as soon as the approaching
boat whistle was heard, ready to be filled with new arrivals.

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