Rock County, Wisconsin
October 30, 2017 | Author: Anonymous | Category: N/A
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in 1838. Shot tower at Helena. The keel boat. Cordeling. Rock County, Wisconsin Cordeling ......
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ROCK COUNTY
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WISCONSIN ANew History of its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up To Date HISTORIAN AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
WILLIAM FISKE BROWN, M. A., D. D . •
BELOIT, WISCONSIN
ASSOCIATE EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS
Hon. A. A. Jackson, Judge C. L. Fifield, Doctor S. B. Buckmaster, Supt. H. C. Buen, Prest. J. G. Rexford, Hon. H. L. Skavlem and Horace McElroy, Esq., of Janesville. and Prof. R. C. Chapin, Hon. F. F. Livermore, J. B. Dow, Esq., and E. C. Helm, M. D., of Beloit
IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I
ILLUSTRATED
PUBLISHED BY
C. F. COOPER & CO. CHICAGO 1908
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INTRODUCTION
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History is an endeavor to make the past live again in the present. Time tells the truth, and it is to be regretted that much of what is called history does not. A true record of the past enriches the present and is valuable both for warning and for guidance. It is ~ike a mariner's chart, on which are noted the rocks and shoals where vessels have been wrecked and also the safe channels, which brave hearts have found for all future voyagers. Or it is like those records and surveys of early explorers, from which have been made our present maps; so that where the pioneers slowly sought their way with uncertainty and danger we can now go surely and safely. And this knowledge of the past, called history, not only increases our present enjoyment and efficiency, but also encourages us to bravely face the future and enables us to deal with it; more wisely. The past honorable record of Rock county both tends to awaken gratitude for what our predecessors have done and also stimulates us to make some good progress ourselves for the benefit of those who are to come after us. So each successive historic record becomes both a mirror and a measure of the times, therein treated, and also a challenge and a help to better times. Two. years ago the publishers of this work, adopting the plan of having a topical history of Rock county, asked me to select twelve associate editors, able and prominent men of the county, who should each write a chapter along the line of his especial interest and information. We have, therefore, from one of the ablest and most cultured lawyers of Janesville, that elaborate paper on the "Evolution of Rock County," which shows the thoroughness and exactness that characterize Hon. A. A. Jackson's professional as well as literary work. Lawyer Horace McElroy, of the same city, an abstractor of titles, has given us in the "Forgotten Places" a unique service, which no one else could have done better if as well. More than any other man in the county Hon. H. ~. Skavlem, of Janesville, knows about the Norwegians. Judge Charles L. Fifield, historian of Janesville;
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iv
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
J. G. Rexford, president of the First National Bank; Dr. S. B. Buckmaster, Superintendent H. C. Buell, ex-president of the State Teachers' Association; Prof, R. C. Chapin, of Beloit College, our veteran county supervisor; F. F. Livermore, and the experienced clerk of the Beloit school board, were each and all very manifestly masters of the topics they treat. A knowledge of our manufacturing interests, however, might not seem to be within the line of ordinary legal experience. But the experiences of J. B. Dow, Esq., of Beloit, and of Lawyer A. E. Matheson, of Janesville, have not been merely legal, as their illuminating, respective records show. The Editor is proud of all his associates and of each and all of their contributions to this history. We are indebted also to Mr. Horace White, of New York, for the use of papers from his pen, and to ex-Congressman L. B. Caswell, of Fort Atkinson; Hon. Ellery Crane, of Worcester, Mass.; Dr. T. C. Chamberlin; of Chicago University; F. W. Coon, of Edgerton; Professor Shaw and Rev. Frank Jackson, of Milton; E. B. Heimstreet, George Sutherland, Esq., and Mayor S. B. Heddles, of Janesville; Prof. G. L. Collie, Banker Walter Brittan, C. B. Salmon, Charles Rau, L. S. Moseley, of Beloit, and to Ira P. Nye, of Eureka, Kas., for interesting contributions or information. The several papers by women authors, the reminiscences of I. T. Smith and the "History of the Janesville Press," by the late A. O. Wilson, were taken from the original manuscripts, deposited in the State Historical Society library building at Madison. The Editor is acquainted with all the previous histories of this region and both appreciates and acknowledges his indebtedness to them. By thorough research he has sought to correct their mistakes, add new material, some of it unique, and bring the whole record up to date. That excerpt from the records of Stonington (Vol. I, page 80) and the "Marriage Register" of Rev. Dexter Clary (page 265) are especially valuable "finds." Our Chicago publishers, C. F. Cooper & Co., who in their recent "History of Oshkosh" were said to have produced the best book of the kind ever issued in Wisconsin, determined to make these two volumes even better. They hav~ chosen, therefore, a paper free from that excessive glaze, which is so trying and injurious to the eyesight, have used new and clear type and have given careful attention to the printing, indexing and bind· ing. A thousand pages without a single printer's error would
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INTRODUCTION.
v
be almost a miracle. That these two volumes of more than a thousand pages approach very nearly to that miraculous perfection means most unremitting watchfulness on the part of both Editor and publishers and all concerned. The many steel-engraved portraits produced by the same firm and their careful printing of the various half-tone cuts, all on "inserts" of special paper, add much to the beauty and also the value of this work. The Editor is personally responsible for the biographies of twenty Beloit citizens and for about a dozen others, such as those of Governor and Mrs. Harvey, Miss Frances Willard, Justice Whiton, Judge Prichard, Dr. T. C. Chamberlin, Lawyers Whitehead, Patterson, McGowan and several more. The portrait of William B. Strong, of Beloit, facing the title page of Volume I, and that of Chief Justice E. V. Whiton, of Janesville, which begins Volume II, present honorable examples, respectively, of our business and our professional citizenship. We, who have labored together on this new "History of Rock County," have tried to make it accurate, interesting, clear, usable and fairly complete to date. It is for the reader to Judge how far we have succeeded and to approve or condemn at his pleasure. WILLIAM FISKE BROWN, Editor-in-Chief. Beloit, Wis., November -, 1908.
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LIST OF PORTRAITS Babbitt, Clinton ................ 76 Brown, D. D., William F •.... o. 402 Carle, Levi B ..... 18 Child, Harold W .. 8Il2) ~ Child, William W 46._ Crosby, George H .. o. o. o. 288, Doty, George W ... o. o.. o. 416 Dowd, Rex J ... 92 Fox, Cyrus D •. 442 Gault, Charles A .. 108 Hackett, John . 122 Hansen, Edward F. 182 Harvey, Gov... 502 Henry, John B.o. 454. Jackson, Ao A .. o. 64 Leonard, Horace J .. 154 Lewis, Franklin F.o o. o. 468 Lovejoy, Allen P .. 168 McLaughlin, Charles ... o. 486 McLenegan, H. H .. 198 More, Robert .. 470 Moseley, Lucius So. 212 Myers, Peter .• 258 Palmer, Dr. Henry. 302 Pollock, David H. 318 Putnam, Jesse C .. o! . 332 Reigart, Amos E .. 350 Rexford, John DeWitt ................................ :. 138 Salmon, Charles B ....... 242 Strong, William B .. Frontispiece Thompson, John ... 32 Warren, Jo Ho .. 364 Wheeler, Leonard H.o. 228 Wheeler, William H. 386 0
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TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. GEOLOGY.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 13·21 Paper of T. C. Chamberlin, condensed by the Editor. The island of Wisconsin. Succe88ive layers of rock. Underlying sandstone, water bearing. Artesian wells. No coal measures in Rock county. The Glacial period. Formation of Rock river valley. The Kettle range. Cause of our many lakes. Abundance of springs. CHAPTER II.
THE PICTURE MOUND BUILDERS AND LATER INDIAN
argill.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FORGOTTEN PLACES ... .. ....... . .............. 49·63 Horace McElroy.
Van Buren. Saratoga. Warsaw. Caramana. Wisconsin City. East Wisconsin City. Newburgh. Kushkonong. End of the boom in towns, 1837·57. Old Indian mounds at L. Koshkonong; in Milton; Porter; Fulton; Rock; Beloit township; city of Beloit; towns of Turtle and Janesville; in Newark, Avon, and at Afton. Prehistoric implements, lasting. CHAPTER V.
THE HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY . . ......... 64·126 A. A. Jackson.
Norse period. Spanish. French. English. Colonial period. Roanoke island and tobacco. James river, 1607. Virginia. Mas· sachusetts' (·laim to thiR region, 79. Mayflower compact. De· scendants in Rock County. Connecticut settlements. The unique 1
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
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Stonington record. Settlers on the Ohio. George Washington makes and 10_ Fort Necesaity. Fort Duquesne. Braddock's defeat. Charles De Langlade. Wisconsin a part of Quebec. The revolution begun. George Rogers Clarke secures Illinois. ms biography. The sovereignty of Virginia northwest of the Ohio. The war of revolution ended in 1783. Patrick Henry. Territorial Period.-The northwest territory. Ordinance of 1787. First settlers in Ohio at Marietta, 1788. Election of representatives to a general _mbly, 1798. Knox county embraced Wi8COnsin. Laws p8888d. Provision as to new states. Indiana territory, formed in 1800, includes Wisconsin. Governor Harrison. The territory of Michigan formed, 1805. Territory of TIlinois, 1809, covers Wi8COnsin. Gov. Ninian Edwards. Nathaniel Pope. Hull's surrender of Detroit, 1812. Capture of Prairie du Chien by the Brimh, 1814. State of Illinois, 1818. Change of north boundary, 108. Three counties formed west of Lake Michigan, MichiIimackinae, Crawford and Brown; the latter includes this region. The Black Hawk epi80de, 111. Distinguished men connected with it, 113. 1834. Milwaukee county formed, including this region, 114. N. Wia. given to Michigan. Lewis Ca88, 116. Territory of Wis., 1836. General Dodge, governor. Cen8U8. Population of Milwaukee county. Dec. 3, 1836, Madison the capital. Dec. 7, 1836, Rock county formed. Dec. 7, 1837. Town of Rock equals the county. Territory of Wisconsin limited. Feb. 13, 1839, Rock county organized. State constitutional convention, 1846, at Madison. Delegates from Rock county. Constitution adopted, 1848. Governor Henry Dodge. The twenty towns. High rank of Rock county, 126. CHAPTER VI.
HISTORY
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BELOIT _............•................• 126-195 The Editor.
Indiana, Stephen Mack, Thibault. Caswell's account of him. 1832, lIrst recorded visit of white men. The Inmans, 1835. Firat visit of white womeD, 1836. 1¥s region a natural paradise. 1836, Caleb Blodgett, Hackett, Goodhue. Saw mill, 1837. Dam on Turtle creek. The race. Horace White's account. Begin. nings of Beloit. The New England company. 1837, Dr. White, O. P. Bicknell, R. P. Crane's diary, $2,500 paid. Blodgett's double log house. Old account book. First bridge over the tur· tIe. Alfred Field's arrival. Hardships of travel. Mrs. Crane carries infant Ellery, 138. Settlers from Colebrook and Bedford, N. H. The Rock River house. The self-acting ferry. Adventure of.Iittle Horace ~te. Webster Moore loat. The names Turtle, New Albany, BelOit, 141. 1836, Rock county. Names of early settlers. CroabY'1J cabin. Aug. 13, 1837, lIrst public religious service, led by Horace Hobart. Settlers of 1838. Dr. D. K. Pearson's story of the Cheney girls, 143. 1839, Hopkins' survey based on Kelsou's. 1840, Rev. D. Clary, Benjamin Brown and wife, their Puritan ancestry. Family record. The Fiskes. First brick yard. Brown's atore. No spectacles in Rockford or Freeport. Beloit supplied. H. Burcbard. Hon. Horatio C. Burchard. Edward L. - - - . Charles Peck. Firat house, west side of river, 1843, Hackett. David Merrill's account of early days, 150. Central bridge, 1842. Seconcl house, west side, 1844. Steamboat up the Rock, 1844. First things in Beloit. Kelsou's survey, 1837. First locomotive, 1853. Growth of the village. Incorporated, 1846. First village officers. Census of 1846. The old stone church. Difficulties about land titles, 157. Lllw suits, Gardner va. Tisdale, Dillingham VS. Fisher. Judge E. V. Whiton.
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CONTENTS
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Abraham Lincoln. Ruful Choate. Daniel Cady. Beloit journalism. CenlUl 1848 and 1855. The city incorporated 1856. Goodhue family. Fint mayor. Second mayor, Waterman. State street Ifty-Ive yean ago. Fint police jUltice, A. Taggart. Paper makinlf begun. Ear7 manufactures,. milla, schools. The Archftn Bomety. Bome 0 its famous members. Beginnings of churches, secret societies. Fire department. Postal facilities. Beloit in war time. Memorial Hall. Memorial Day, 1879. Beloit 36 yean ago by Dow. The Tornado of 1883. Other dis· uters. Railroad bonds. Additiona. South Beloit. Lateat im· provements. Biography of Wm. B. Strong, 192·195. CHAPTER VII.
..
REMINISCENCES.................................. 196·201 L. B. CaswelL
In 1838. Club Law. Indians. Canoes. Fint school. Doctor Luke Stoughton of Janesville. Early settlen. Wild rice. CHAPTER VIII. REMINISCENCES .•••••...•...••..•....•••••..••. 202·231 I. T. Smith. (From the original manuscript.) Chicago 1834, 1837. In Milton, 1837. Land sale, 1838. People honest. Exploring in Dane county. Too much turtle. Fint judge, Irwin. Firat wedding. Account of a tramp in 1838. Shot tower at Helena. The keel boat. Cordeling. Indian treaty at Prairie du Chien. Mannen of the times, Hagerman, Brown. Boating lead to St. Louis. The trapper Jarvey. Gold on the ArDn888, 1837. Supper and lodging eighteen cents. The Indian treaty at Chicago, 1833. Hammond 'a revolver. CHAPTER IX.
COUNTY GoVERNMENT .•....•......•..••....•..••.. 232·288 By F. F. Livermore.
Retrospective. History. Superviaon, 1842. No politics. Court HOUle, 1870. Record for long service, Simon Smith, Murill, Bailey, Bowlea, Eager. CHAPTER X. RocK CqUNTY ScHOOLS............................. 237·243 The Editor. Fint inspecton. FIrat and Second districta. Progreaa during past five years. Frances Willard School. Central diploma eum· ination. Compulsory attendance law, 1903. School board con· ventioDl. Annual Teachen' Inatitutes. Bonus to progresaive achools. Flag raisings. CHAPTER XI. BELOIT SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL TBACBDS .•••.••.••..• 244·256 Paper by Horace White, the Editor. Firat school charter, 1837. Fint school, 1838. Fint school house, 1839. Old stone church, Dr. White. Early teachers, east side. Fint recorded Beloit joke. Humphrey's ariatocratic school. West Bide schools and teachen, 1851. Building of Union No.1, James W. Strong, 1852. Childs, Crane, Dustin. Female Seminary and teachers. A. J. Battin, Supt., 1855. C. C. Keeler 'a certi1leate. J. H. Blodgett, Montague Buckley, Kerr. Forty years of Beloit City School District, by E. C. Helm. Choosing Bite for Higb School. NamP.8 of IUcce88ive superintendents. Kemben of School Board, Principals, Kindergartens, 1892.
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
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Naming the schools, 1865. Prescnt property. H. Beach. Growth the last twenty years.
Story about Wm.
CHAPTER XII. JANESVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS...................... 251·262 By Supt. H. C. Buell. Beginnings. The brick building, 1845. Janesville Academy. Regular Principal. Public Achool System. List of Principals. Members Board of Education. School Buildings. The High School. Kindergartens. Reminiscences. 9HAPTER XIII. BELOIT CHURCHES......•.....•.................. 263·281 The Editor. First Congregational. Rev. Mr. Clary's valuable Record of Mar· riages, 1840·1850·1865. Second Congregational. First Presbyte· rian, W. Side Presbyterian, German Presbyterian. St. Paul's Episcopal. St. Thomas R .. C., Saint Jude's R. C. First Baptist. First M. E. The Five Lutheran Churches. Gridley Chapel. Chris· tian Scientist. Disciples Church. Lutheran Valley Chureh. CHAPTER XIV.
THE JANESVILLE CHURCHES ...................... 282·298 The Editor. First M. E., Court Street M. E., Central M. E., Corgill Memorial, Congregational, First Presbyterian, St. Patrick '8, Dean McGin· nity, St. Mary's R. C., Unitarian, First Baptist, Trinity Epis' copal, Christ Episcopal, St. Paul's Lutheran, Norwegian Lutheran, United Brethren, Christian Scientist, St. Peter's, English Luth· eran, German Evangelical Lutheran, Y. M. C. A.
CHAPTER XV.
BELOIT COLLEGE•.•............................... 299·311 Prof. R. C. Chapin. The Beginnings. President A. L. Chapin's account. Prof. Bush· nell's story. Hon. Horace White's Reminiscences. FOllr Eporhs in the History of Beloit College: 1, Formative; 2, the War Era; 3, Period of Intensive Growth, 1873·1886. Alumni Help. Science emphasized. Diversified student activities. Percentage of grad· uates in the different professions. President Chapin resigns, 1886; 4, Era of Expansion; New President, Eaton; D. K. Pear· sons, J. W. Scoville. Many generolls gifts and givers; Pearsons Hall, 1893 ; New Science Course; Athleti~ Instructor, 1894; co· education, 1895; Fraternity Houses. Advance in the last ten years, 1897·1908. Three new buildings. Emerson Hall, 1898. New Gym, 1904. Carnegie Library, 1905. Attendance increases from 196 to 341 in 1908. Endowment becomes one million dol· lars. Beloit contributes ten tbousand. Changes in the faculty and in the curriculum. Track athletics; basketball. Interstate oratorical contests and victories. Greek play; German, Latin, Shakespearean plays. Musical Association. Biograpby of Presi· dl'nt A. L. Chapin. Milton College. By Prof. Edwin Shaw ..................... 318·324 Founder. Early years. Wm. C. Whitford. Academy f8ClT, Company. His" l'±lises surrendered 4+19. Electrici ty. CHAPTER XXX_
THE PRESS OF BELOIT .......................... 634-638 The Editor.
The Beloit Messenger, ]846. Beloit Journal, 1848. J. R. Briggs, editor. ]856, B. E. Hale, editor, Republican. 1857, a weekly Democratic paper, the Herald. De Lorrna Brooks. Beloit Times, N. O. PerkilFAr, Courier. 1860, Prr£ccc publishers. Hale & Co. sold and lelFAeC1rdidated in 1860; Bound file April March 27, 1862; l'llll'lCll'llllCllFA :Published by Barrrl! 1864, A. Pain, 1866, Beloit 13T;r.ried by Charles absorbed. 1869, crrk,res the name "
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
10
T. O. Thompson and J. B. Dow. E. D. Cae. 1870, The Free Press, C. Ingeraoll, N. O. Perkins. 1871, Again absorbs the Jour· nal; N. O. Perkins editor until 1873. Henry F. Hobart, editor with Ingeraoll. 1878, Hobart, sole proprietor. 1878, Evening paper, Daily Herald, Albert Ayer. 1879, First Daily Free Preas, by Henry F. Hobart. 1882, C. Ingeraoll again owner of Free Press; A. Ayer, city editor. 1903, M. C. Hanna, partner. 1907, Free Prees Publishing Company. Semi·weekly Begister, 1870. The Graphic, Democratic weekly, 1877. O. H. Brand. 1819, Julina A. Trensdell on the Free Preaa. 1883, The Outlook, F. F. Livermore, editor and owner. 1886, The Daily Citizen, Bev. F. A. Marsh, editor. Later, the Daily News, management by D. B. Worthington, 1897. At firat independent in polities, Republican sinee 1900. T. C. Hendley, 1906, Daily News PubliBhing Company. 1907, The new building on Fourth street. The Beloit College Monthly, 1853. 1875, The Round Table and College Monthly. 1877, Bound Table, weekly, by Areham Ba· eiety. CHAPTER XXXI.
SXALLEB CITIBS, VILLAGES
AND
TOWNS ....••..• 639·111
Clinton, 1831. Early settlers. Churehea. Cong. Bap. M. E. Ger. Lutheran. R. C. Ev. Luth. Norwegian. Seeret aoeieties. A. F. and A. M. I. O. O. F. Grange, and other fraternities. :roBto1liee, Clinton, Bergen. Norwegians. Newapaper, 645. The village incorporated. Manufacturee, 599, 612, 664. Banking, 641. 8ehoola. BdgBt'flm, 648. Churehea. 8oeietiea. Banb, 649. Tobacco market, 650, 411. Pioneers of Edgerton, 651-660. B11Gft81Iille (The Editor.)Firat eettlement and settlers. Storea, hotels, banka. A. S. Baker. Manufacturing, 662. Churches. 8ehoolL Fraternal orders. Eager Library. Baker Profit Shar· ing Company,. 664-668. Yillaga. Afton, 668. Avalon, Avon Center, Cookaville, Emerald Grove, Footville, Fulton, Hanover, Indian Ford, Johns· town, J. Center, Koahkonong, Lima Center, Magnolia, M. Sta· tion, Milton, 673. Milton Junction, Orford, Rock Prairie, Spring Valley, StebbinsviIle, ShopieN, 678. Union, Avon, 679. Beloit, Bradford Center, Clinton, Fulton, Harmony, Janeaville, Johna· town, La Prairie, Lima, Magnolia, Milton, 693-700. Newark, Plymouth, Porter, Rock, 104. Spring Valley, Turtle, by Mary S. Porter, 701·710. Union. Tobacco and beets in the county. R. F. D. Good roads eommi.ion. CHAPTER XXXII.
CoURTS
AND LBoAL
PaoI'ESSION ••••..••....••.•••• 712
1839, Second District, Justice Irwin. Roek County Circuit Court, Judge E. V. Whiton. Firat District, Judge Doolittle. Keep, Dnnwiddie, Noggle, Lyon, Conger, John R. Bennett, 715. Grimm, County Courtz... D~. White, 1839. Israel Cheeney, Bailey, Thompkins, Jordan, vanielL Firat county judge, James Arm· strong, 1849. Pritchard, Sale. Court hOUle, 716. B61IC1& GIld B... Biograpbical sketchea. Irwin, Whiton, 718. Spooner, Doolittle, Baker, Keep, 722. Nog'fle, Lyon, Conger, Bennett, 730. Dunwiddie, Grimm, A. P. Pnchard, Matt. Car· penter, 735·738. I. C. Sloan, Patteraon, Todd, 740. Pease, Eld· Nd,e, 745·748. C. G. Williams, Hyzer, MOBeB Prichard, A. Hyatt SDllth, Sutherland, Malcolm Jelrria, William Ruger, Burpee, Bhoda Goodell, Fethers, Winans, 158. Woodle, Hudson, G. R.
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Peek, W. M. Tallman, J. B. Casaoday, 764·767. Tompkins, Sale, Whitehead, 769. B. M. Palmer, A. M. Fisher, H. McElroy, 772. Hendricks, Cleland, C. D. Bosa, T. S. Nolan, Angis King, M. O. Mouatt, William Smith, A. E. Matheaon, 780. C. L. Filleld, J. De Witt Rexford, 782. McGowan, 783. CHAPTER XXXllI. BolO:
INVENTIONS AND INVENTORS 01' ROCK CoUNTY ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 789·792
The Editor. Appleby's twine binder. Miller's ear coupler and bu1fer. Warner's auto meter. Wheeler's self-regulating wind mill. Merrill'l building paper. Houston's turbine wheeL Olmstead'l drive well point. Felt adding machine. Fox's inventions. Gesley's plow. Appleby'l cotton picker. Lipman's oiler. Holcomb'l engine. The Dann gate. Woodru1f's tonr,el818 buckle. The Parker pen. Withington wire knot. Harm' wire. binder. CHAPTER XXXIV.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
(Bee Indes.). . • . . . . • •
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HISTORY OF
ROCK COUNTY I. ROCK COUNTY GEOLOGY. (Condensed by permission from an article by Dr. T. C. Chamberlin, now of Chicago University. Revised by Prof. Collie, of Beloit Oollege.) The history of Rock county properly begins with that of the earth beneath us, for the kind of a country that is ours by nature has largely determined its later growth and prosperity. It was eagerly sought by a superior class of settlers and promptly developed growing communities partly because it was, as one pioneer said, "a natural paradise." The surface of Wisconsin is an open book to those who can read the signs of nature and the various kinds and layers of rock, laid slantingly one over another from south to north, tell the story of the earth's changes at this region as plainly as if the record had been printed in letters. Our state is not mountainous nor monotonously level but intermediate between these two extremes. Situated between three notable depressions, Lake Superior on the north, Lake Michigan on the east and the Mississippi valley on the west, it slopes generally from north to south and slightly to the east and west from a central swell of land. The 13
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HISTORY OF BOCK COUNTY
surface is that of a low dome, the highest point, about 1,800 feet above the 8ea, being near the line of northern Michigan between the headwaters of the Montreal and Brul6 rivers; the southeast and southwest sides showing a gentle decline towards the south side or base, where our county is situated and is, at the state line, about 600 feet above sea level. The physical history of Wisconsin, as recorded in its various layers of rock, shows that in son:te remote period when even the Rocky Mountains had not emerged from the ocean, this part of the continent also was beneath its surface. For unknown ages our territory was a shallow arm of the sea, which by constant washing against shores farther north and with the help of other forms of erosion, deposited beneath ita waters great muses of sediment thousands of feet ill thickness. These deposits were nearly horizontal and became hardened into sandstone, shale and other forms of sedimentary rock. ' At the next stage of time and apparently because the cooling of ,the eart,h's crust caused contraction and a wrinkled surface, some tremendous pressure from beneath, accompanied by the escape of heat, swelled up these deposits, crumpling them, solidifying and crystallizing them and, raising them above the surface of the oeean, produced here an island, the first appearance of Wisconsin. That island was largely composed of granite, gneiss, syenite and other hard crystalline rocks and, from the extent of those rocks as exposed, seems to have occupied what is now the north central part of our state and a part of upper Michigan, extending also into Minnesota. All the rest of the state as well as most of the United States was still under water but slowly rising. That island must originally have been higher than the present surface, because the ten or eleven difterent lay"rs of rock in Wisconsin, as now exposed, stand highly inclined from north to south and we see only their edges, the tops of the folds of which they were once a part having been worn oft. Through untold ages there had to be successive periods of the wearing away and depositing of material on the bed of this shallow sea, and successive stages of slow eleV'ation and solidifying of this sea bottom before the complicated stone foundations of our state and county were laid. The carbonaceous matter in Bome of the rocks ,shows that there was early marine vegetation, and the successive strata of limestone evidently resulted from
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shell fish, extracting lime from the sea water and building that lime into their shells, which would ultimately be deposited in the mud of the sea bottom. The accumulation from these sources through unknown ages gave rise to a series of shales, sandstones and limestones whose combined thickness is several thousand feet. A period of special upheaval and earth heat changed the shales to slates or schists and the carbonaceous matter in part to graphite and associated with these deposits extensive beds of iron ore. The strata were much twisted and folded (as appears moat plainly at Negaunee and Ishpeming in upper Michigan), and our Wisconsin island with its adjacent ocean becbJ was further elevated and its extent enlarged. The Penokee iron range in Ashland COUDty belongs to that most ancient time and its upturned edge, forming a bold rampart for sixty miles aC1'088 the country, is our nearest approach to a mountain range. Still farther north through openings in the earth's crust melted rock seems to have been poured out in many different eruptions, which spread over an area about 300 miles east and west by 100 miles north and south. Between some of these tremendous outbursts there were such long intervals of time that the ocean waves then wore down this new rock into sand, granite and clay, which became hardened into sandstone and conglomerate beds, the whole series of which is several miles in thickness. This is the rock of the copper regions. The native copper and silver there was not thrown up suddenly in a melted form, as once supposed, but was deposited in veins or deeply reaching cracks in the solid rock by chemical action. After that Archean or very old age came another long period, in which the sea wore down the rock again. At the north side of this Wisconsin island, on the margin of what is now Lake Superior, but which seems then to have been a part of the primeval ocean, the water, acting on copper and iron bearing rocks, produced a red sand, which became the red standstone of that region. On the south shore of our island the wave action, spent mainly on quartzites and granites, produced a light colored sand and sandstone. This deposit, at least a thousand feet thick, occupies a broad, irregular belt, extending east and west across the state, being widest in the central part and bordering the original island area on the south like a rude crescent. It slopes
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
gently south from the original core of the state, underlies all the later formations and may be reached at any point in southern Wisconsin by boring to a depth which can easily be calculated because of the regular dip of that stratum. The water from the northern half of the state continually soaking into this porous rock makes it a water-bearing formation, an unfailing source for artesian wells and pure water. The artesian well on the old fair grounds just east of Janesville secured a full supply of water from this rock. The flowing well in the valley from which the city of Janesville gets its present water supply draws from the same formation at a depth of 1,060 feet. (That well, on the fair grounds, was sunk to the depth of 1,033 feet, of which 350 feet is drift material and the lower part, 683 feet, is Potsdam sandstone. The water did not rise to the surface, but required pumping.) The interbedded layers of limestone and shale, by supplying strata impervious to water, make this rock also a source of many springs. The accumulation of this layer of Potsdam sandstone was followed without marked disturbance by a long continued deposit of magnesian limestone rock, varying from fifty to 250 feet in thickness on account of changes of level in the upper surface. Then after yet other ages the wash of that ancient ocean formed and laid down silicious sand, which hardened into rock, filling up the valleys in the under limestone and leveling the whole surface. This formation also is water-bearing and supplies several artesian fountains. Some unknown change in ocean conditions then led to the deposit of a layer about 120 feet thick of limestone, alternating with clay, which became shale. This Trenton limestone, so caned, contains many of the most ancient fossils, and also, in southwest Wisconsin, zinc and lead. The deposit of limestone continued with some changed conditions, which built on that yellowish Trenton limestone a bed, 250 feet thick, of a light gray, somewhat crystalline stone caned Gelena because it contains much galena or sulphide of lead. This deposit occupied the southwestern part of the area of our state and a broad north and south belt in east central Wisconsin. By this time our geologic island had considerably increased in size and the southern part ~f Wisconsin, including our county, was now above the ocean, tor a time.
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ROCK COUNTY GEOLOGY
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Then followed a slow deposit of clay with some shell material, resulting in various colored beds of clay and shale, in some places 200 feet thick. The fossils in this shale show that it was formed ages before the coal measures. A knowledge of this fact would have saved the costly labors of some who have dug into this shale in the hope of finding coal, which, it may be remarked, does not occur in any Wisconsin rock. One promoter, indeed, once reported that he had found coal within the bounds of Rock county, but the coal came from his shaft in assorted sizes, indicating a mine that was too good to be true. The next age was that of the deposit of iron ore in fine particles like flax seed, in various basins, notably along what is called Iron ridge, where the deposit is twenty feet thick, also at Hartford and Depere and Black River Falls. This age was followed by our island's greatest era of limestone formation,' in which were laid down beds nearly 800 feet thick. For the accumulation of such a deposit from the shells and secretions of marine life long ages of time must have been required, beyond our comprehension. Much of this Niagara limestone (so called because the same formation is found at Niagara falls) was built up with the skeletons of the minute coral, with mollusks like oyster shells and with those stone lilies, called Crinoids, really sea animals, which left a limestone skeleton that was like a water lily on its stem. The very ancient three lobed crustaceans called Trilobites, also abounded, and the formation was like that of reefs near the surface of the ocean. This we know because the coral does not live very many feet below the surface. This limestone occupies a broad belt next to and west of Lake Michigan. Near Milwaukee on Mud creek and near Waubeka in Ozaukee county is found a thin-bedded slaty limestone, which is supposed to represent that somewhat later age, called Lower Helderberg. This closed the Silurian age of the earth, so called because these formations were first observed near the home of those ancient Britons, the Silures, in Wales. During this age there had been no great disturbance of the earth's surface here. Our Wisconsin island was gradually emerging from the ocean and increasing its size by concentric belts of limestone, sandstone and shale. This region of the earth's crust slowly bulged up enough to bring about all of the territory of our state above the ocean. Then at
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
last our county again appeared as dry land, but not anywhere yet with its present surface. Next came the Devonian era, or age of fishes. After an unknown period of time, during which the upper Silurian and lower Devonian strata, as found elsewhere, were formed, the eastern margin of our island was again submerged and a deposit of magnesian limestone mingled with silicious material laid down there, which reveals the fact that this part of the world then came into a new life-era. Before this age there had been all kinds of shell fish in these shallow seas, but apparently nothing with a backbone. This cement rock, however, belonging to the Hamilton age of the great Devonian period, contains various remains of that lowest class of vertebrates, fishes. The original deposit seems to have been much worn away and that part which remains occupies only a limited area on the lake shore immediately· north of Milwaukee, extending inland about half a dozen miles. There is enough of it, however, to mark the geologic time of day. At the close of this Hamilton period our land rose again, the ocean retired southward and there are no signs that it ever again covered any part of our state. Rock county was at last permanently dry land. The rock foundations were all laid. This preliminary history of the rock foundation of our state appears thus quite plain and regularly progressive. Starting with a north central island of the most ancient crystalline rock, layer upon layer of stony material was piled around it quite regularly on the south side, adding belt after belt to the growing margin until, as the whole was gradually lifted up, the increasing island extended far beyond the limits of our state and became part of the rising continent. Then followed the coal making period when this northern zone had a warmer climate and tropical forests waved over Illinois and Pennsylvania and the other carboniferous regions and when, through long ages of alternate advance and retreat of the ocean, successive layers of coal and the coal rocks were formed, but not here in Wisconsin. Next came the age of reptiles, when gigantic dinosaurs and other now extinct monsters lived in the central part of our continent, but none of them here, so far as any record shows. After all that spending of centuries followed the Tertiary age, when the general surface of the earth by slow stages at last approached a condition suitable for the habitation
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ROCK COUNTY GEOLOGY
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of man. Through all these three eras our Wisconsin island appears to have kept its old level, experiencing no further radical change except from erosion. Wind and rain and river, frost and heat and the chemical elements, acting through the long centuries of such unmeasured duration, however, would file away the outcropping layers of rock and must have worn the surface into an old age of jagged roughness, as yet utterly unfit for human occupancy. Then followed the glacial period, that great ice age, nearest to the time of man, and Wisconsin was in it. Indeed, to the mighty ploughing and harrowing which this region then received is largely due its present beauty, fitness and fertility. The vast ice sheet, which then covered the northern part of our continent (as all Greenland is covered today), moved slowly and irresistibly southward, reaching over the northern half of this state. That gigantic ice mass, shod with boulders, acted like a mighty gang plow, ploughing and planing down all the rough places and pushing the broken material into the hollows; it polished and grooved the solid rock, carried along southward the rolled and rounded, erratic fragments called boulders, and when melting spread still farther south over our state the finer material composed of pebbles, sand and clay. Lines engraved on the rocks show that three great glaciers were at work here. One enormous mass of ice ploughed along the bed of Lake Michigan; another immense ice stream pushed southwest through the trough of Lake Superior and down Minnesota, while a third glacier ploughed out Green bay and the valley of Rock river, leaving the southwest corner of our state apparently untouched, and in its former rough condition. Then for some reason as conjectural and unknown as that which caused the ice age, North America began to steadily grow warmer and warmer. Those great glaciers or ice masses melted backwards (as the glaciers of Switzerland and Alaska are doing today), leaving the rock and earth material they had been carrying heaped promiscuously over the surface, giving it new hills and valleys. In this process, how long continued no one knows, there seem to have been many halts and slight advances of the ice for a time and then larger retreats through at least four great eras, so that the broken fragments of rock, called "drift," were occasionally pushed up into high ridges along the southern edge of the. ice field. That remarkable range of hills
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HISTORY Ol" ROCK COUNTY
called the Kettle range, which winds east and west across the surface of our state, was produced in this way. It is a historie mark of the south edge of the glacier and a sign that the ice remained there for a long time until some new and comparatively Rudden change of climate melted the glacier rapidly and caused a new stage of its retreat. The water flowing under the ice, and more or less confined by it, scooped out in the rock, and other surface material beneath, troughs and hollows, which are now the beds of our unnumbered lakes and ponds. (There are more of these spring water lakelets in Wisconsin, especially in the southeastern part of the state, than in any other part of the globe, of equal area.) This superabundance of pure water, by absorbing deleterious gases tends to purify the air and is one cause of our especially healthful climate. The melting of so much glacial ice produced vast torrents of water flowing southward. From the Lake Michigan glacier a mighty stream was the manifest force, which carved out what is now the valley of the Illinois river. Lesser streams dug out the valley of the Wisconsin and that of our Rock river. About this time seems to have occurred a depression of the continent north of us, for that land during the glacial age must plainly have been much higher than it is now. This depression apparently marks the origin or at least the present shape of the great lakes, and their change of drainage from southwest to northeast. The level of the lakes occasionally changed so that their waters advanced somewbat upon the adjacent shores and deposited that red clay that borders Lakes Michigan and Superior and occupies the Green Bay valley as far up as to near Fond du Lac, but the general level of our state remained unchanged. All this ploughing and harrowing of our territory by glaciers and their subsequent melting left the surface roughly smoothed out and covered with a sheet of boulders, pebbles, gravel, sand and clay, somewhat unevenly distributed. In general, however, the ice and water flowing south dropped the heavier masses first and then the lighter, spreading over the lower part of the state those great beds of gravel, clay and sand which characterize our county and have helped make it fertile and easily habitable. Then storm and frost and the other erosive forces, which are still at work, through another age of time harrowed the surface yet more finely and prepared it for the growths of our present
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ROCK COUNTY GEOLOGY
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vegetation. With the land permanently raised above the ocean and a suitable and settled climate, came, finally, those trees and plants and grasses, whose decayed remains, slowly accumulating through ages, became the rich soil of southern Wisconsin and prepared this region for occupancy by the later animals and by man. The whole eastern half of Rock county was once a great glacial valley, from 300 to 400 feet deep, such as may now be seen from the Northwestern railway train as it approaches Devil's lake, Wisconsin, from the south, that great valley having been but partly filled. In the later geologic time our Rock county valley was completely filled with boulders, pebbles, gravel, clay and sand, and fertile earth formed on the surface of the drift. Back and forth over this surface Rock river and Turtle creek have cut their respective channels until finally the river has worn its way to the limestone ledges at the west edge of the old chasm and the Turtle is still changing its channel back and forth along the eastern side of that old valley. Under this surface water is constantly percolating through the drift material from the Turtle valley towards and into the bed of Rock river, feeding it with innumerable springs. In a large group of these springs is I1Dlk the ample well, which from only about forty or fifty feet below the surface, supplies the east side of Beloit with this naturally filtered drinking water, famous for its purity and healthfulness. W. F. B.
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II. ANCIENT OCCUPANTS. THE PICTURE MOUND BUILDERS AND LATER INDIAN OCCUPANTS. By
W. P. Brown. The first human occupants of this region of whom we have any record were the effigy mound-builders. They deserve notice because they have left us a definite history of themselves, not carved on stone like the ancient Egyptian or the Aztec, not impressed on clay tablets like the Assyrian nor written on perishable materials like the accounts of later nations; but built in the form of large, significant and enduring mounds on the surfaee of the country. Those mounds do not give a record of dates or any historic narrative, but they do reveal the occupations and interests of that ancient people and something of what they believed and did not believe. As ancient historic earthworks are found most abundantly along the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, it has been inferred that the people who made them came from the South and were at some later age driven back or exterminated by those somewhat similar races, whom we know as the Indians. Wisconsin, however, was the especial home of the picture mound builders, especially the southern half of our state, as there are no effigy mounds north of the Fox river. This region of Rock county also was evidently, for these first families, a favorite location. Within our state the ancient mounds of different kinds already reported number about 2,000. Doctor I. A. Lapham maintained that there were four successive periods of aboriginal and Indian occupation here: 1. The effigy mound builders. 2. The people who made the long mounds and large garden beds. 3. The builders of the round and conical 22
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THE PICTURE MOUND BUILDERS
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burial mounds. 4. Those who made com hills, the later Indians, who have been seen and noted here since 1634. At Lake Koshkonong the ground still shows signs of six successive periods of occupation. First, that of the effigy mound builders; second, that of the long mound builders; third, the Indian village period of the Foxes and Winnebagoes; fourth, the period of the Indian trader and the blacksmith j fifth, the period of the invading American general, Atkinson, and his army; sixth, the American settlers. A really historic map of Rock county, for which the labors of our Wisconsin Antiquarian Society, especially those of Mr. George A. West and H. F. Skavlem are now preparing the way, should include the location and detailed shape of all the effigy, long and round mounds, permanent garden plats and burial mounds; the old Indian trails, one from Beloit across the prairie to Delavan lake, one from Rockton through Beloit (or Turtle) up the Rock on the east side to the Janesville region and a similar trail on the west side of Rock river; also the trail from that Black Hawk grove just east of Janesville, to the west side of Lake Koshkonong and then across a group of effigies north towards the four lakes or Madison region. It should also locate the route of General Atkinson when he pursued Black Hawk through this region of east Beloit and Janesville to the east side of Lake Koshkonong; and then after adding the old wagon roads and trading posts. might give besides the section lines, city and town sites, the rivers and modem railroad lines. That the effigy builders were more ancient than the makers of the garden beds and round mounds appears from the fact that some of these com hills and garden beds have been made on the top of the ancient effigies, showing that the later people had no regard for the sacred character of those totems of the earlier races. Another proof of the priority and antiquity of the picture mound builders is found in the fact that, while the later Indian inhabitants of Wisconsin had an abundance of copper implements, these are very rarely found in the effigy mounds. The typical relic of the aborigines of our state is the stone axe, of which so many beautiful specimens are shown in our state Historical Library Museum at Madison and in the notable Logan
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
museum of nearly 6,000 ancient implements at Beloit college, secured by Dr. George L. Collie. (Another fine collection has been made and is still owned by one of our writers on this history, Horace McElroy, Esq., of Janesville, Wis.) The emblematic mounds also are generally flatter and lower than the round burial mounds, the former being apparently more worn down with age. Immediately north of the astronomical observatory of Beloit college is a symmetrical turtle mound about thirty feet long, facing west, and there is another turtle mound on a hill threequarters of a mile southeast of this. A couple of rods west of the interurban road and two mites north of Beloit, besides several groups of long and animal mounds, there is a beautiful bear or buJfalo mound, sixty-four feet long, the animal being represented as lying on his left side facing south, with the feet toward the river. In our county there are also effigies of the catamount, buffalo, fox, squirrel, beaver, goose and eagle. These effigy mounds represent animals and birds, which were evidently then found in this region. They indicate first that the mound builders, like the Indians known to us, were a race of hunters and agriculturists. That they attached superstitious importance to at least some of these mounds is also suggested by their proximity to village sites, as though conveying in some way protection; and is further suggested by the very large size of some of the mounds and by their conventionally extended lengths. The celebrated man mound near Baraboo (four miles northeast) is 214 feet long and forty-eight feet wide across the shoulders, and may represent the Dakotan god, Hekoya; the wings of an eagle mound on the east side of Lake Koshkonong have a spread of 250 feet; the tail of a panther mound on the west bank of that lake is extended 360 feet. A squirrel effigy on ground (formerly Governor Farwell's) adjoining the insane asylum at Madison, represents the animal sitting erect, about thirty feet long; but the tail of this effigy, measured along its curves, extends some 300 feet. The Indians known to us believed in a future existence and therefore buried with their dead warriors weapons, ornaments, implements and other pOlSessions, the presence of which with the remains was supposed to be of use to the departed spirit. That these mound builders had no such belief Dr. Lapham con-
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'l'HE PICTURE MOUND BUILDERS
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eluded because such personal possessions are not found in the burial places ascribed to them. And further, as art requires for its development both time, unity of effort and peaceful opportunities, these artistic picture mounds plainly tell us that this southern part of Wisconsin was once occupied by an industrious and united people, like our Indians, but peaceful among them- , selves and for a long time comparatively undisturbed by enemies. (As corn is a tropical plant and the mound builders came from the south, it is possible that they first brought that valuable product to this locality.) The long mounds, occurring elsewhere, but most common in southern Wisconsin, seem to belong to a later race but have not yet been satisfactorily explained. The theory of Rev. Stephen D. Peet, the distinguished editor of the "Antiquarian," that the long parallel mounds were game drives, is not accepted by Wisconsin scholars. These mounds are usually straight, of equal height and width throughout, from one to five feet high, about ten feet wide and from fifty to a thousand feet long. They are found associated in groups with effigy and conical mounds, sometimes with the latter alone. Some of them are wholly solitary and located on high ridges as at Gotham, Richland county, Wisconsin; others cross each other in the form of an X or an opened pair of scissors. That they were not defensive works is manifest from their location and arrangement, and excavation has shown that they were not burial mounds. The finding of fireplaces near the surface on a few of the long mounds has caused some to consider them long house-sites for one large clan or fraternity. About the year 1700 A. D. La Harpe wrote that "the cabins of the Indians along the Yazoo river were dispersed over the country upon mounds of earth made with their own hands." A Spanish record published in 1723 says that the Florida Indians erected elevations for their villages. "The natives constructed mounds of earth, the top of each being capable of containing ten to twenty houses." The mounds raised to be occupied by lodges seem to have had a variety of shapes, often quite extended. Those long mounds in the Beloit college grounds and along the river road about two miles north of Beloit may have been formed for that object. The question about them is not yet fully answered.
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
The round mounds, however, some of them being of historically recent origin, are proved by excavations to have been mostly burial mounds. It is now generally concluded that these mounds were made by the Indians historically known to us or by their ancestors. This links the more ancient occupation of our territory to the life here of the tribes whose names we know. The remarkable crowding of many different Indian races or families into this region of Wisconsin, not long before the French explorers came, was due to influences widely separated and far distant from each other. In the distant west the dreaded Sioux or Dakota Indians, extending their forays eastward, drove many weaker bands across the Mississippi from the west. a.v a similar process the growing power and far-reaching war expeditions of the dreaded Iroquois or Five Nations of the Mohawk valley led weaker tribes like the Hurons in Canada ~nd also the Illinois and Pottawatomies and Miamis south of the lakes to flee westward and seek safety in this region. Among the Algonquin tribes near Lake St. John in Canada was one, whose totem or tribal emblem was the fox, called in their native tongue, Watagamie. Hence their name, Watagamie, in French, Reynards; in English, Foxes. These fled to the west with another tribe, their kindred by many marriages and by similar language and customs, called the Sauks, who left their name to the great bay of Lake Huron, Saukenong (Saginaw). Both tribes passed beyond the Huron to Lake Michigan and so into the region west of it. Part of the Foxes and Sauks settled along Green Bay, some of them being called Musquakees, from the "Red Banks" where they lived, ultimately passed up the Fox river to the Wisconsin and controlled that portage. Another branch going south along Lake Michigan to the Chicago river and the Desplaines and further inland settled along that other Fox river, which still bears their name and controlled the portage across between Lake Michigan and the head waters of the Illinois river. Before them the Ottawas, Menomonees and Ojibways or Chippewas had also come into this region and the latter tribe had conquered and were holding the country immediately lOuth of Lake Superior. Winnebagoes also, who were of the Dakota stock, had come from the northwest and were living about Green Bay as well as in the lead regions at the southwest
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THE PICTURE MOUND BUILDERS
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near the Mississippi. There were also Mascoutins, Kickapoos and Miami, all apparently driven to this region in the effort to escape powerful foes. When in 1634 Jean Nicolet, leaving Quebec in New France, by a voyage of a thousand miles along the Great Lakes in a birch bark canoe reached Green bay, he found there Winnebagoes (meaning" Men of the salt water," because they claimed to have formerly lived near the sea), and going up on the Fox river, visited the Mascoutins, or men of fire, so called by the French because they periodically burned over large surfaces of the country with prairie fires, who seemed to live in peace with the Foxes. Thence going south he found apparently in this region and further south the Illinois, and so in 1635 returned to Quebec. In the year 1658 two French adventurers, Radisson, on his third voyage among Indians, and Gr08eilliers, traversed Lake Huron and, after a fight between Hurons and Iroquois on one of the Manitoulin islands, saw the dead eaten and living captives burned with fire. Going westward to Green bay they spent a winter with the Pottawattomies, who were then living in that region, and found them abundantly supplied with game of all kinds, fish and corn. In 1659 they visited the Mascoutins and there heard of the strong Sioux and also of the Crees, who in summer lived by the shore of that "salt water" in the north (Hudson's bay). The Mascoutins seem to have guided them to the Wisconsin river, which Radisson called "the forked river," grand, wide and deep and comparable to our own great river, the St. Lawrence, says a description made at the time of his reports. They returned along the southern shore of Lake Superior and by the Ottawa river to the St. Lawrence. On a fourth voyage Radisson visited the Buffalo men or Sioux, west of the Mississippi, and returned in 1662 to Canada with about $37,000 worth of furs. To avoid being plundered by the French governor, Radisson escaped to Boston and thence sailed to England. Thus was revealed to English-speaking people this beautiful country. Later the representations of Radisson and Groseilliers and an expedition under their guidance to Hudson's bay, "the salt water" of the Crees and Winnebagoes, led to the formation of the famous "Hudson's Bay Company," which sent its agents all over this
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HISTORY OF ROCK
COU~TY
northwest country after furs and so, thouyh unwillingly, led to dev{'lopment that hZ%:5 much Thf, dac Indians, wht) tages l%:Yes to the from by tht:; in Canada U777~'7g~'ti to destroy them. The Foxes and Sauks had many battles also with the Winnebagoes, both claiming this region. Black Hawk, who was a Sauk chief, said in his old age, "I loved that Rock river valley, I loved my corn fields; I fought for them." In 1716 a French expedition from Quebec, the first hostile that ever ine%:hed eegion, fought n7~ar the present little Butte the war, continuvd years, resulted Ivuce, made at 1726, betwe
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