It’s Friday. You know what to do.
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THE BLACK RIVER COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN
What was the Black River Country like? What of its past and of its potential as viewed by new settlers? The Black River Country is the drainage area for the Black River which flows some 140 miles in a southwesterly direction and empties into the Mississippi river near the present city of La Crosse. This was Indian country, heavily covered with some of the finest white pine timber in the state. In 1843, when James Bruce had first come to the Wisconsin Territory there were no settlements in all of this region. Not being prairie soil it had failed to attract the central European or the New Englander looking for available agricultural land. But there were those who were looking for other resources such as furs and timber to meet eastern demands; and away from the river there were indeed hardwood areas and openings which might be conducive to those settlers.
The question of who came first to this country is not easily answered. “History tells us that less than 30 years after the notable explorations of Nicolet in 1634, two of his countrymen visited the Black River, in the winter of 1659-’60” so says Horace Merrill in his U. of W. thesis entitled An Early History of the Black River Region.
In 1818 or ’19 a French trader by the name of Rolette headed an expedition, which was fitted out at Prairie du Chien. He succeeded in reaching the present site of Black River Falls where he erected a saw mill on Town Creek, supposed to be the first built in Wisconsin. It was burned by the Winnebago Indians before it could be put into operation, and the lumbermen were driven down the river. This was Indian territory until 1838 when it was ceded to the government by the tribe. 1839 saw the first real settler arrive in the valley. Abner D. Polleys, in his Pioneer Days In The Black River Valley relates this arrival quite in detail. He tells how Robert Douglas disembarked on the sand beach where the Black River joins the Mississippi just north of La Crosse. He follows Douglas’ journey up the river to the point where the Village of Melrose now stands. Polleys writes as follows:
“Robert Douglas claimed squatters rights on land 30 miles up the Black River from La Crosse in 1839. His brother joined him later and together they hitched the first yoke of oxen to the first breaking plow to turn the first furrow on the first farm in Jackson County and also the first farm above Prairie du Chien on the Wisconsin side of the Father of Waters.”
Douglas had come to America in 1837, then 22 years old, from Dumfries, Scotland. He became one of the early influential citizens of Jackson County. Readers would find Polleys’ account of Douglas’ overland trip on foot to Prairie du Chien, the nearest settlement, for supplies most interesting.
The extremely fine growth of white pine for which the Black River valley was famous proved a strong attraction to early lumbermen. Jacob Spaulding, the first to actually settle at the Falls on the river, arrived the same year that Douglas broke ground at Melrose. With a crew of seventeen men Spaulding founded the settlement of Black River Falls and constructed for himself a double log cabin. He also built a sawmill and began to cut timber. Spaulding became the second farmer in Jackson County when in 1841 he established a farm at the settlement.
Early in 1841 a group of Mormons, followers of Joseph Smith, who proposed to build a worship center at Nauvoo, Illinois, left their City for the pine woods along the Black River; their aim being to cut timber for their new Temple. Traveling up the river by boat they selected a good area to cut. Unfortunately they started cutting trees in an area supposedly staked out by Jacob Spaulding. By the time Spaulding and his men arrived they had already cut over 300 trees. A battle ensued ending in the Mormon’s return to Nauvoo. They came back to the Black River Country however and bought part interest in Spaulding’s mill. By the summer of 1843, one hundred fifty Mormons, many with their families, were working in the woods twelve miles above the Riffles, north of the Village of Hatfield. On October 12, 1842 a raft containing 90,000 board feet of lumber and 24,000 cubic feet of logs arrived at Nauvoo from the Black River Country. When Joseph Smith was killed, June 27 – 1844, and the word reached the camp, work ceased and the Mormons left, abandoning the logs that were cut. Some of the Mormon families however returned to the Black River region and settled permanently in Jackson and Clark Counties.
Transportation at this time was largely by river. Long, narrow-keel boats were used to bring in supplies from La Crosse. Steamboats were tried but not proved to be practical. The first extended highway was surveyed and built from Prairie du Chien during the years 1846 to 1848 by way of Viroqua and Sparta to Black River Falls. This road was extended north in 1850 to Stillwater, Minnesota and became a mail route with a post-office at Black River Falls. Postage on a letter at that time was 25¢.
The covered wagons and stage coaches began to appear on this road in 1854 and by the mid-sixties as many as 100 coach and drayline teams might spend the night at Black River Falls. From here they crossed on the ferry, at Dumfries, later known as Melrose. After the bridge was built at Black River Falls they would continue their journey southward to New Lisbon or Sparta, there to reach the nearest railroad.
In Jackson County Dates with Destiny, Mrs. Betty Epstein adds this interesting note, “So important was the need to water these teams that a tax relief was granted to those settlers who would set up and maintain watering troughs along the highway.” The railroad did not come to Black River Falls until 1868, thirteen years after the Cartters and Swifts arrived.
For a look at early agriculture we turn again to Merrill’s thesis:
“Little was done to advance farming along the river during the early 1840’s but an added inducement to agricultural settlement came with the completion of the Government Land Survey of this area in 1847. Land was entered for sale at the government land office, first at Mineral Point in 1848, later at La Crosse, price $1.25 per acre.”
Merrill continues, “In 1855 (according to census figures for Jackson County) there were 1098 people in the county and 5 years later in 1860 there were 4,170 a gain of 280%. Most of this increase came in 1855 and ’56 by people interested in agriculture. Contributing to this influx of settlers was the added price of wheat which took a phenomenal jump as a result of the Crimean War. Eastern families had a desire to get west where better wheat could be grown. Dairying was also coming into the east and farmers were revolting against having to change to a new economy. The majority of farmers moving into the Black River Falls area were from western New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. They were coming by 3 main routes.
(1) Up the Mississippi river as far as La Crosse or Trempeleau following from there the Black or Trempeleau rivers.
(2) By land routes from the north.
(3) From across the state. – – –
The panic of 1857 and crop failures checked further settlement during the decade.”
Many families spent some time in the settlement known as Black River Falls before moving onto the land. In 1856 the population of that town was 1,000 and in 1860 it was only 600. But Black River Falls itself was developing fast. Arletta L. Jones in her 1924 thesis entitled Settlement and Development of Black River Falls, Wis. says:
“Visitors to the village in 1856 went home and reported that ‘what Pittsburgh is to Pennsylvania, we believe the Falls and its additions will be to Wisconsin.’ The reason for this now apparent rash statement was that a blast furnace was being built just north of Black River Falls. One of the first deposits of iron ore in Wisconsin to attract attention has been uncovered here. As late as 1846 no other body of iron ore seems to be known of in the state. – – – Forty men were employed after the company was organized in 1846.”
The deposit proved to be to difficult to mine economically due largely to the perpindicular nature of the veins of ore.
Lumber production was near its peak in 1856, totaling in that year 35,000,000 bd. ft. By 1853 the entire area was part of the Town of Albion as it had existed when a part of Crawford County. It had been established in 1849. By the end of 1856 six towns had been organized in the county, namely – Albion, Price, Alma, Bristol (later called Melrose), Springfield, and Hixton. The twenty-first town was not organized until 1939.
The first towns organized from the original town of Albion were all located on the west side of the Black River and it was in this area that James Bruce centered his attention in search of a likely home site.
This morning’s paper brought the easiest target to me.
There is an article (I don’t know how long the link will be good; azcentral seems to not like being linked) that talks about the length a particular zinc-supply company has gone to ensure a couple of things: that the penny is still used, and that the mint continues to use zinc as the core for the pennies.
The company, Jarden Zinc Products, has paid lobbyists to kill bills relevant to their industry – one, in 2006, that would have made the penny extinct (legislation that would have rounded transactions to the nearest nickel) and now they are lobbying against the ability of the United States Mint itself to decide what materials to use in the minting of coins, in order to best keep costs down (it currently costs 1.7 cents to make a brand new penny, and nearly 10 cents to make a nickel). This would, in effect, cause Jarden to lose their number one customer. According to the article, Jarden has been paid more than $170 million dollars between 2004 and 2006 under a contract with the United States Mint. Also according to the article, the change in legislation would save the American taxpayer $100 million annually.
This is, in my opinion, a clear case of the greater good being usurped for a special interest. Going back to a pure supply-an-demand model, a single zinc supplier is being kept alive (or at least highly profitable) by law, rather than by market forces. If the legislation passes, and the Mint is allowed to choose the materials, then the free market would drive the costs, not an ironclad contract.
This is an example of Common Sense being allowed to drive a need instead of a network of backroom deals. This is, in the end, how I would urge the entire government to do business – by best price, not best friends.
In other news, papers have been filed for the creation of casework by cary, inc., a custom-woodworks firm. Finally, a boss I can’t disagree with and that I can have a reasoned discussion with when he makes a boneheaded mistake.
Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, support Warriors for Innocence, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!
Go here. Buy a shirt, wear it on Fridays, and declare your support for the troops.
Today, I have on my “Lightning Sharp” polo – I’m going to be out and about, doing some final collecting on the delivery contract. Paul‘s right – I should wear a jacket with these things when I’m elected. That will really look sharp. Sues, I may need to order a few more of these shirts in about a year and a half.
I’ve come to realize that with a child as young as MEG (7 months and 1 week, thanks for asking. She’s a real cutey. I’ll get some pics up soon.) my posting is going to be sporadic. I had quite a few great ideas over the last few days, but I couldn’t get in here and get them “on paper” so to speak, since MEG likes to help with the keyboard action.
Weight update – I’ve plateaued at about 197. Can’t seem to drop anymore right now, but I’m hoping the fact that I’ve quit drinking soda again (note – watch for Coka-Cola to restate a quarterly profit soon) will help me break past that and keep dropping.
Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, support Warriors for Innocence, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!
Legislation has been passed here in the state of Arizona to raise the state minimum wage.
Federally, they are considering the same thing.
I am not in favor of raising the minimum wage. People say that by raising the minimum wage, we are giving a “raise” to people who are working for minimum wage. I say we are enabling the people who are working for minimum wage to stay working for minimum wage.
Minimum wage, or entry level, positions are just that – entry level. If you are still working for minimum wage six months after you have started a job, then something needs to change. Your job, your employer, your drive – something.
Liberals are all for raising the minimum wage – it allows their main allies and bestest of friends, the illegal immigrants (invaders) to keep a low profile. If the minimum wage is not raised, and border laws are enforced, then perhaps the youth of the United States would be empowered to get that entry level position that an illegal has been camping in for the last five years. A combination of no increase and enforcement would drive the illegal invaders back where they came from, opening up a whole need for fresh recruits to fill the positions that “No American will do.” This vacuum of people to fill these positions would (gasp!) force some liberals to actually work hard labor for the first time in their lives, since they would no longer be needed to extol the virtues of having illegals do these jobs, and besides, how many doom-saying economists does this country need, anyway?
Once a young person of United States citizenry is hired at a minimum wage job, then reality kicks in rather quickly and they develop the motivation needed to further their station in life – which is, after all, the basis for fulfilling the American Dream.
Next week – I’ll chat about economics again – see if I can get another rise out of some book-bound economist who has never held a real job in their life.
Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, support Warriors for Innocence, and write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008!