FEB 5 1923 LIBRARY W Charles Eliot Perkins PREFACE. THIS HIS WORK was commenced with a specific object in view, which was to place upon record, in a reliable manner and in permanent form, whatever incidents of importance have transpired within the region of which La Fayette County is now a part. As a necessary preliminary to this work, a brief history of the entire district now known as Wisconsin is given, together with such valuable facts concerning the antiquities of the Northwest as science has revealed. Following along this plan of labor, the history of the Lead Region, with an ample geological and mineralogical sketch thereof, is detailed from trustworthy sources. The more local records embrace the narrative of settlement in the early times that tried the courage and endurance of the heroic pioneers; a recital of the bravery of La Fayette's citizen-soldiers in the Indian wars; a description of the characteristic deeds of the representative men of the county, and a complete delineation of the events of the past half-century. In the history of the county will be found incidents, reminiscences and anecdotes, which serve to spice the more statistical portions of the work. In the preparation of this volume, many men of experience have patiently examined. record books, intelligently conversed with pioneers, and carefully compiled the fruits of their industrious researches. The chief value of the history lies in the fact that not only was the original matter gathered first-handed from the participants in many of the scenes, but in the fact, of still greater importance, that the proof-sheets have been submitted for correction to many of the oldest settlers. Herein is furnished a truthful reflex of the times and deeds of by-gone days, and it is hoped that the present generation will feel that pride in the work which future generations are surely destined to do. The publishers are aware that all persons cannot be pleased, but impartial and conscientious efforts must eventually be accepted at their true worth. Upon that faith is this volume submitted to the public with confidence. Thanks are herein expressed to the scores of Pioneers, the County Officials, the Clergy and the Press for the uniform courtesy extended the compilers. FEBRUARY, 1881. THE PUBLISHERS. CHICAGO: CULVER, PAGE, HOYNE & CO., PRINTERS, 118 AND 120 MONROE STREET. HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. BY C. W. BUTTERFIELD. I. WISCONSIN ANTIQUITIES. The first explorers of the valleys of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi and its tributaries, seem not to have noticed, to any considerable extent, the existence within these vast areas of monuments of an extinct race. Gradually, however, as the tide of emigration broke through the barriers of the Alleghanies and spread in a widely extended flow over what are now the States of the Northwest, these prehistoric vestiges attracted more and more the attention of the curious. and the learned, until, at the present time, almost every person is presumed to have some general knowledge, not only of their existence, but of some of their striking peculiarities. Unfortunately, these signs of a long since departed people are fast disappearing by the never ceasing operations of the elements, and the constant encroachments of civilization. The earliest notices of the animal and vegetable kingdom of this region are to be found in its rocks; but Wisconsin's earliest records of men can only be traced in here and there a crumbling earth-work, in the fragment of a skeleton, or in a few stone and copper implements-dim and shadowy relics of their handicraft. The ancient dwellers in these valleys, whose history is lost in the lapse of ages, are designated, usually, as the Mound-Builders; not that building mounds was probably their distinctive employment, but that such artificial elevations of the earth are, to a great extent, the only evidences remaining of their actual occupation of the country. As to the origin of these people, all knowledge must, possibly, continue to rest upon conjecture alone. Nor were the habitations of this race confined to the territory of which Wisconsin now forms a part. At one time, they must have been located in many ulterior regions. The earth-works, tumuli, or "mounds," as they are generally designated, are usually symmetrically raised and often inclosed in mathematical figures, such as the square, the octagon, and the circle, with long lines of circumvallation. Besides these earth-works, there are pits dug in the solid rock; rubbish heaps formed in the prosecution of mining operations; and a variety of implements and utensils, wrought in copper or stone, or moulded in clay. Whence came the inhabitants who left these evidences to succeeding generations? In other words, who were the Mound-Builders? Did they migrate from the Old World, or is their origin to be sought for elsewhere? And as to their manners and customs and civilization-what of these things? Was the race finally swept from the New World to give place to Red men, or was it the one from which the latter descended? These momentous questions are left for the ethnologist, the archæologist, and the antiquarian of the future to answerif they can. 20 Inclosures and mounds of the prehistoric people, it is generally believed, constituted but parts of one system; the former being, in the main, intended for purposes of defense or religion; the latter, for sacrifice, for temple sites, for burial places, or for observatories. In selecting sites for many of these earth-works, the Mound-Builders appear to have been influenced by motives which prompt civilized men to choose localities for their great marts; hence, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee and other cities of the West are founded on ruins of pre-existing River terraces and river bottoms seem to have been the favorite places for these structures. earth-works. In such localities, the natural advantages of the country could be made available with much less trouble than in portions of the country lying at a distance from water-courses. In Wisconsin, therefore, as in other parts, the same general idea of selecting points contiguous to the principal natural thoroughfares is found to have prevailed with the Mound-Builders; for their works are seen in the basin of the Fox river of the Illinois, in that of Rock river and its branches, in the valley of Fox river of Green bay, in that of the Wisconsin, as well as near the waters of the Mississippi. While a few circumvallations and immense mounds, such as are common to certain other portions of the United States, are discoverable in Wisconsin, yet by far the largest number of earthworks have one peculiarity not observable, except in a few instances, outside the State. The fact is revealed that they are imitative in form— This characteristic is a very striking one. All these, for convenience, are usually classed resembling beasts, reptiles, birds, fish, man. under the general name of "animal mounds," although some are in the similitude of trees, some of war clubs, others of tobacco pipes. Generally, these figures are in groups, though sometimes For what purpose these earth-works were heaped up-they rise above the they are seen alone. surface two, four, and sometimes six feet-or what particular uses they were intended to subserve, is unknown. It is, however, safe to affirm that they had some significance. A number resemble the bear; a few, the buffalo; others, the raccoon. Lizards, turtles, and even tadpoles, are outThe war eagle, and the war club has each its representative. All lined in the forms of some. this, of course, could not have been a mere happening-the work of chance. The sizes of these One near Cassville, in Grant county, very complete in mounds are as various as their forms. Another in Sauk county, quite its representation of an animal, supposed to be of the elephant species, was found, upon measurement, to have a total length of one hundred and thirty-five feet. perfect in its resemblance to the form of a man, was of equal length-a veritable colossus; prone, it is true, and soon to disappear, if it has not already been destroyed, by ravages of a superior civilization. In portions of Wisconsin, as well as in a few places outside the State, are found earth-works of another kind, but quite as remarkable as the "animal mounds," which, from their supposed use, have been styled "garden beds." They are ridges, or beds, about six inches in height and four feet in width, ranged, with much apparent method, in parallel rows, sometimes rectangular in shape, sometimes of various but regular and symmetrical curves, and occupying fields of from ten to a hundred acres. The Mound-Builders have left many relics, besides their earthworks, to attest their presence in Wisconsin in ages past. Scattered widely are found stone and copper axes, spear-heads, and arrow-heads, also various other implements-evidently their handiwork. As these articles are frequently discovered many feet beneath the surface, it argues a high antiquity for the artificers. Whether they had the skill to mould their copper implements is doubtful. Such as plainly show the work of hammering, indicate an art beyond that possessed by the Red men who peopled America upon its first discovery by Europeans. In a few instances, fragments of human skulls have been found so well preserved as to enable a comparison to be drawn between the crania of |