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THE CHRONICLES 



OF 



MILWAUKEE: 



BEING 



A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE TOWN FROM ITS 
EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT. 



♦ -»-' 



Here's freedom to him that •would read, 

Here's freedom to him that would write ; 
There's nane ever feared that the truth should be heard 

But they whom the truth would indite. 

— Old Scotch verse. 



BY J±. C. WHEELER. 



MILWAUKEE: 
Jermain & Brightman, Potiishers, 207 East Water Street. 

1861. 

■ 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1860, by A. C. Wheeler, in the 
Clerk's Office of the District Court of the State of Wisconsin. 



• 



CONTENTS, 



Introduction 9 

CHAPTER I. 

In which the intelligent reader makes progression by going backward nearly a 
century, and discovers the original owners in fee of Miliokie ; together with 
other interesting but unimportant matter 13 

CHAPTER II. 

Some Accounts of the Early Traders at Mahn-a-wau-kie, and their Difficulties — 
Telling how Peshano, the Poet, came to Lose his Scalp, and how a Trans-River ■ 
War came of it, and what became of Mash-e-took 18 

CHAPTER III. 

Visitors from Green Bay — Jacques Vieau — First Trading Post — Solomon Juneau, 
in a Hunting Shirt, Yiews the Location of the Future City — Feels no Ambitious 
Inspiration — Commences his Labors — Where that First Cabin was Located 22 

CHAPTER IY. 

Domestic Troubles in the Family of Pe-sha-no, and how an Innocent Doctor suf- 
fered thereby — Progress of the Dawn 27 

CHAPTER V. 

Bursting of the Seed — What Green Bay thought of the Plant — Some Affectionate 
and Antique Nonsense in regard to that Village — The First Citizens — The 
Death of O-nau-ge-sa 31 

CHAPTER VI. 

Interesting Letters Written from Milwaukee in 1836— The Slidell Family and 
their Troubles— The Murder of Ellsworth Burnett 37 



Tl CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Disposition of the Slidells — Arrival in the Settlement of "a Character" — Adven- 
ture of Mrs. Purcell with the Indian 48 

CHAPTER Till. 

Daylight on the Settlement — The First Newspaper — Printers and Pioneers — Mr. 
Juneau's Steamboat Investment 56 

CHAPTER IX. 

Tim "Wooden — His Last Words — Jasper Tliet's Adventure with the Indians — 
Hickory Bullets and Grey Wolves 65 

CHAPTER X. 

Revulsions of 1837 — How the Sectional Difficulty Originated — Byron Kilbourn 
and Solomon Juneau Contrasted 73 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Rapid Growth of the Settlement — Antoine Le Claire — Investments at She- 
boy-gan — Col. "Walker — Experience of Gen. Crawford. 85 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The "Want of a Harbor — Mr. Kilbourn's Proposal — Delegates — Subsequent Mis- 
takes in Locating the Harbor — "What the Subsequent Mistake Cost the Town 
—The Opinion of Col. Rufus King &8 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Caleb Wall Keeping a Hotel — Reminiscences of tha Old Milwaukie House — A 
Land Customer — Mr. Wall's Newspaper 105 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Milwaukie Courier — How Juneau came to be Removed from the Post-Office, 
and how Mr. Noonan came to Take His Place, with an Interesting Account of 
the Dreadful Newpaper "War that Followed — The Killed and "Wounded 112 



CHAPTER XV. 

A Ramble Through Milwaukie in 1842 — Means of Travelling — Roads — Count Har- 
asthy— The Fourth of July 120 



CONTENTS. Vll 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Milwaukie and Rock River Improvement — Manufactories — An Appeal to 
the Citizens of Milwaukee in Relation to the Roads — Superiority oT Plank 
Roads to Rail Roads— Some Account of Egbert Herring Smith, the Poet 127 



CHAPTER XVn. 

Bridges— Bonds of Disunion— Predictions of the Major— A Smash-Up at Spring 
Street and the Consequences — Action of the West Side Trustees — A Public 
Meeting — The West-Siders get out their Cannon — Down with Byron Kilbourn.. 141 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

A Legend of Market Square — A Small Row on the West Side, in which the Rela- 
tive Positions of the Wards are Discussed Warmly, and* the Major Beaten — 
Further Action of the Trustees in Regard to the Bridges 158 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Destruction of the Menomonee Bridge — "Proposition of Tax Payer" — The De- 
struction of the Dam — Better Peelings — Action of the Trustees 171 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Charter— Incorporation of the City — Its First Mayor and Officers — The In- 
augural Address of Mayor Juneau — Valedictory — The Election of 1847 — Excite- 
ment in Regard to the Constitution — Its Rejection and Burial 179 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Change in the Name — Hunting Wolves at Wauwatosa — Personal Reminiscences 
—Charter Election of 1848— Election of Byron Kilbourn— His Inaugural— The 
Proposed Harbor 194 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Administrations of Upham and Walker — The Jenny Lind Club — E. G. Ryan as a 
Satirist — Organization of the Detective and Police Force — William Beck — Dep- 
uty Sheriff Page 211 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Sherman M. Booth— His History— The Glover Rescue Case— Booth's Arrest— The 
Revulsion of Public Sentiment 225 



• • » 



Till CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Churches — The Catholic and Methodist Societies — Preachers — Congregational 
Church 243 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Some Account of the Milwaukee Newspapers — The German Press — Mr. Dom- 
sehcke's Ten Week's Agony 252 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
The City Indebtedness 260 

APPENDIX. 
Milwaukee in 1S61 274 



INTRODUCTION. 



-♦- 



Perhaps there are those who suppose that the collecting of 
enough data and facts to form the basis of a work, even as un- 
pretending as this, is mere pastime ; that the compiler has mere- 
ly to open his plan, as the keeper of a dove-cote would open his 
window, and the necessary facts will fly in and do their own 
cooing. Such persons are egregiously in error. If there is 
anything savory or pleasant in this local pie, the birds were 
all hunted separately up and down musty and yellow files, and 
no two of them were killed with one stone. The ingredients 
were dug from hidden corners, trapped in the public domain 
and caught in private grounds. The amount of labor under- 
gone in preparing these unsatisfactory sketches was Herculean. 
Many of the necessary facts were drawn from unwilling mouths 
as dentists draw teeth — with much reluctance on the part of the 
patient and great trouble on the part of the operator. So bit- 
terly opposed were some to even opening their mouths, that 
the Author at first was fain to believe that the early history of 
the City had formerly been the witness of a monstrous iniquity 
in which all the first inhabitants were implicated. They evad- 
2 



X INTRODUCTION. 

ed him; were always "out" when he called, and did'nt know 
anything when they were in. No solicitor, with a pocket full 
of bills, could have swayed the masses as did our Compiler 
when he started on his mission. But after a few days he found 
that this reluctance proceeded from modesty and not from in- 
iquity. The worthy Old Settlers, however agreeable to the 
handing down and however liberally inclined towards posterity, 
were not froward enough to have a finger in the pie. They 
were not going to hand themselves down otherwise than by 
their deeds. When this was fairly understood, a greater part 
of the prospective difficulty vanished. It was so much easier 
to overcome modesty than suspicion. There was an alphabet 
of "first inhabitants" to see" all of whom had rare and racy 
statements rolled up in their memories. As this alphabet was 
not as consecutively located as are the educational A B C's — 
A residing at Chicago, and B at La Crosse, and as every in- 
dividual of them endeavored to dispose of the Author by what 
the Common Council calls, a reference, that is, A referring him 
to B and so on — the reader may easily conceive that the road 
to prosperity and fame was, to all intents and purposes, a hard 
and long road to travel; and before the Author had got to the 
first mile-stone an evil genius whispered to him to shake the 
dust of the Chronicles from his feet, and go to Pike's Peak. 
Happily for posterity, Minerva — or the Corresponding Secre- 
tary — hung a chaplet out of the Historical Society's window: 1 , 
and thus encouraged, he pushed on. But he wishes it under- 
stood here that the highest niche in Wisconsin's Temple of 



INTRODUCTION. xi 

I 

Eame could not induce him to "do" another Chronicle unless 
the benign Goddess herself consented to pay his mileage. 

To such men as Col. Walker, Byron Kilbourn, Elisha Starr, 
H. Kirk White, Jonathan E. Arnold, Joshua Hathaway, Wil- 
liam Brown and a host of others, the Author is indebted for 
all that is of any material value in these pages. Their liber- 
ality in furnishing documents and references is second only to 
their generosity in trusting the work to so inexperienced a 
workman. These men need no literary monuments. Milwau- 
kee itself is the cenotaph which will bear witness to their 
exertions when these pages shall have been forgotten; but the 
Author feels it to be due that the obligations should be thus 
publicly expressed, if for no other reason than that of mere 
justice. 

It may seem a worthless undertaking to pen the history of a 
city but fourteen years old, and yet it must be evident to all 
that the record is worth preserving. Unexampled as has been 
the rise of Milwaukee, her history, in a measure, is that of the 
western country, and there is reason to fear that this very 
rapidity of growth is fast obliterating the early foot-prints of 
those men who were first in the field, and who bore "the burden 
and heat of the day." The Pioneers of Milwaukee are worthy 
of a richer pedestal than the present affords, but let us hope 
that the material gathered here, may, at some future time, be 
remodelled by a master hand into a fitting memorial, and the 
rough sketches which are only outlined may yet be filled-in 
with the glowing tints of a true artist. It is enough for the 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

Author of the "Chronicles" to know that he has gleaned a 
few truths for preservation which will become valuable as the 
living witnesses pass away from among us — mellowed under 
the hand of Time into mementoes, when Death shall have 
spirited away the present generation. Everything that re- 
lates to our early history is worth preserving, and it lias been 
the object of the Author to present what facts have come to 
his knowledge in as readable a shape as possible. In pursuance 
of this idea one personage only, that is fictitious, is introduced, 
and that for the purpose of connecting the events and giving 
character to what would otherwise be a mere collection of sta- 
tistics and dates. It is not necessary to point out that char- 
acter, the intelligent reader will see at a glance who it is. The 
rest of the book is matter of fact. 

In presenting this book to a Milwaukee public, the Author 
asks no indulgence; his object, he must be permitted to say 
is a good one, and those who do not admire the execution 
have the same privilege to grumble that he had to write 



THE 



CHRONICLES OF MILWAUKEE. 



CHAPTER I. 



In which the intelligent reader make3 progression by going backward nearly a cen- 
tury, and discovers the original owners in fee of Miliokie ; together with other 
interesting but unimportant matter. 

We ask the reader of these pages to walk with us down 
East Water Street, on a pleasant afternoon, when throngs 
of richly dressed ladies and bustling merchants render the 
promenade anything but undevious. 

Stores, which are not inaptly called palatial, line the thor- 
oughfare, and their plate glass windows are gorgeous with the 
hues of costly merchandise, and all the ornamental luxuries of 
a high state of civilization. The music of the bells on the 
street cars, the voices of newsboys, the tramp of many feet and 
the rumbling of coaches and omnibusses ; will remind you that 
you are in a metropolis. There are over sixty thousand souls 
around you, and if you saunter up to the top of the Newhall 
you may cast your eye on three sides and see naught but the 
white houses and intersecting streets, growing dim in the misty 
background; with the smoke of an hundred factories curling 



14 THE CHRONICLES 

up lazily, and the flags of countless vessels undulating in the lake 
breeze; white marble residences, towering spires, massive ware- 
houses, gorgeous hotels; the din and bustle of the city will 
come up to you with realizing power while you look down upon 
the picture, and as you linger to watch the sunlight on the 
sails of some inward bound vessel from Buffalo, or Collingwood, 
or Chicago, or to mark the approach of the fuming steam- 
ship, whose dark sides rise proudly over the foam as she heads 
for the harbor, or perhaps to follow the tugs which move up 
and down the river like so many shuttles — we ask you to take 
a glance at the same surroundings in 1785. 

Presto! Handsome brick blocks and stately edifices resolve 
into dark forests. Brilliant avenues into swamps and muddy 
trails. Where but just now the whistle of a propeller sent forth 
a column of steam, the curling smoke of a wigwam alone 
marks the bank of the river. You are to recollect that Wash- 
ington is president now of the young States; that peace has 
but recently spread her wings over the continent, and that you 
are not only in the backwoods but thousands of miles from 
civilization, with trackless forests intervening between you and 
the cities on the Atlantic coast, and these forests are swarming 
with savages. If you wish to visit the society of your fellow 
men you must sail for a couple of hundred miles in a canoe, to 
Green Bay, where there are a few traders and missionaries, or 
journey on to Mackinac. You are so far removed from society 
that you can very readily conceive it to be impossible ever to 
return. To the east stretches the dark waters of the sailless 
lake, bounded on the other side by the wilderness of Michigan. 
To the west of you lie the sombre masses of forest, enclosing 
the tribes of red men, and pregnant with the sanguinary stories 
of centuries past. 

It is true that many years before, the venturesome Jolyet, 



OF MILWAUKEE. 15 

with two Miami's, had, under Count de Frontignac's direction, 
pushed his investigations up the Fox and down the Wisconsin 
Rivers. Marquette may have been here before you, and at 
odd intervals, fur traders and reckless Frenchmen may have 
pushed their bateaux ashore for brief examination, but none of 
them remained. The Indians were undisturbed up to this time 
by settlers. 

You will observe that where you have been accustomed to 
look for the most populous portion of the town, the lake washes 
in for half a mile, and the long swell bends the wild rice in 
picturesque furrows. The third ward is under water. The 
route that Michigan Street will yet take, lies at the foot of 
steep bluffs which run east and west, and on the top of which 
are spread the oak openings of the primeval seventh ward. 
There is a winding trail running through the timber by the riv- 
er's side, which is the incipient East Water Street. It crosses 
the high hill to the north of you, and disappears in the forest 
beyond; the hill is yet to be Market Square, and the spring 
that now trickles and sparkles down its side will eventually be 
covered with a corporation pump. 

Across the clear blue Mahn-a-wau-kie, embowered in low foli- 
age and flowers, lies a waste of stagnant waters, with protruding 
clusters of alders, and stretching out into a morass of tamarack, 
towards what are now the hills of Kilbourntown. 

Such is the appearance of the original town of Mahn-a-wau- 
kie. The Indians who have settled and made it their home 
for some period in the dim past, are known at Mishamakinak 
and the other French posts, as a most treacherous and cruel 
tribe; or as Col. D. Peyster, in 1779, styled them, "those run- 
egates of Milwakie, a horrid set of refractory Indians." At the 
mouth of the river, half a mile below what is now the harbor, 
was then the Indian town. The lodges are scattered about on 



16 THE CHRONICLES 

the sand, and conspicuous among them, stands the half hark 
and half log tenement of Alexander Lafraniboise, from Mack- 
inac, who sells a bad quality of rum, together with hatchets 
and trinkets to his neighbors for furs and such marketable com- 
modities as the forests afford. The present lord of the domain 
is O-nau-ge-sa, who is a Menornonee, with respectable red and 
white connections at Green Bay, and who delights in a breech- 
clout and Chinese vermilion. According to our best authori- 
ties, however, this aboriginal settlement was founded by the 
Sacs and Foxes, and O-nau-ge-sa was a renegade whose supe- 
rior craft and eloquence won upon the strange tribe, and they, 
in accordance with Indian customs, allowed him to usurp the 
position of chief. What fragments of history bear his red re- 
flection, are highly laudatory of his kind disposition and worthy 
character, and as he never killed any but his enemies, and was 
particularly abstemious in regard to white men's blood, provi- 
ded the white men were traders and brought each a cask of 
rum, why we shall not asperse the historical gentleman's 
escutcheon. 

As to the original name of the place, we have a word to say: 
As no two savages or historians have yet precisely agreed upon 
one proper title, we can hardly be expected to settle the matter 
definitely however. 

The earliest mention made of the place is in Lieut. James Gor- 
rett's journal, September 1st, 1761;^ in which he states that "a 
party of Indians came from Milwacky" Col. D. Peyster, whom 
we have already quoted, writes it "MUwaMe." In Dr. Morse's 
report of his Indian tour in 1820, he states that " Mtl-wah-hie 
was settled by the Sacs and Foxes, and the name is derived 
from Man-na-wa-kie — good land." Grignon has been told by 
an old Indian, that the name was derived from a valuable aro- 
matic root, called Man-wau, which was found here, and hence 



OF MILWAUKEE. 17 

Man-a-wau-kce, or the place of the Man-icau. But as there is 
no valuable aromatic root found in this county that does not 
grow elsewhere in the State, and as Mr. Grignon, immediately 
afterwards, states that he had also heard that the title meant 
simply "good land," we are compelled to discard the vegetable 
derivation. Louis M. Moran, one of the interpreters of the 
Chippewas, has caused to be printed in the collections of the 
Historical Society, the fact that Milwaukee is pronounced Me-ne- 
au-kee, and its signification is "rich or beautiful land." Joshua 
Hathaway assures us that Milouaqui is the name given by the 
early French traders, who probably derived it from the Indian 
name of the river, Mahn-a-wau-kie. He also asserts that the 
word is of Pottawattamie origin. Another writer claims that 
the river was originally called Milkoki, and the Indian town 
derived its title from the river. 

It is not to be wondered at that the English, (who eventu- 
ally got possession of the place,) after many futile attempts to 
determine which of these names was authentic, concluded to 
adopt one of their own, which should partake somewhat of the 
sound of all, and called the place Milwaukee. 



CHAPTER II. 

Some Accounts of the Early Traders at Mahn-a-wan-kio, and their Difficulties — Tell- 
ing how Pe-sha-no, the Poet, came to Lose his Scalp, and how a Trans-River War 
came of it, and what hecame of Mash-e-took. 

The intelligent reader lias caught a glimpse of the "Howl- 
ing Wilderness" where our labors commence. Fifty years 
will have to roll away with our canvas before the few seeds, 
which adventurers may drop on the sterile shore-, will gerrni- 
mate and spring up into civilized life. The sombre shades of 
barbarism will hang over the vicinity for years, finally fading 
into a mellow background of promise — wreathed with pro- 
phetic fancies that will startle even the wondering savages, 
who sink away from the sight. 

Laframboise continues to sell rum and hatchets, and having 
amassed quite a number of furs, he goes back to Mackinac. 
Through his representations his brother came west and' built a 
new trading-house further up the river. The latter Lafram- 
boise was highly pleased with the country. He became the 
best of friends to O-nau-ge-sa, and carried on a prosperous 
business for several years. There was an Indian named Pe- 
sha-no, a rival of O-nau-ge-sa, who returned to the village 
about this time. He had been led to follow JJe Langlade, in 
1779, and after a long campaign had deserted and come back 
to his native tribe. There is reason to believe that Pe-sha-no 
had become thoroughly disgusted with war. For tradition 
says, upon his return, he "set up" for an oracle, or poet, and 



OF MILWAUKEE. 



there is extant a couple of stanza of his, which, if translated 
would not he unlike the following, hy Byron : 

When a man has no freedom to fight for at home, 

Let him combat for that of his neighbor's: 
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome, 

And get knocked on his head for his labors. 

To do good to mankind is the chivalrous plan, 

And is always as nobly requited. 
Then battle for freedom, wherever you can ! 

And, if not shot or hanged, you'll be knighted. 

Pe-sha-no, we have said, was an ancient rival of the 
great O-nau-ge-sa. Shortly after his return, he succeeded in 
rupturing the friendship which existed between the trader 
and the chief — whether by means of a satirical epic, written 
on bark, or by a threat to roast the white man alive, if he "got 
the chance," we cannot say; but the confidence of the Me- 
nomonee being withdrawn, the pale-face became involved in 
difficulties with his neighbors, and he finally retired from busi- 
ness, with what little stock had not been stolen ; managing, by 
the most consummate dexterity, to depart in peace, with his scalp 
in the original position nature had placed it. 

Not long after, Pe-sha-no, in an indiscreet hour, disclosed to 
some of O-nau-ge-sa's followers, that he had been the cause of 
the trader's troubles. Perhaps he boasted of it. A feud wa3 
the consequence. 

Pe-sha-no finally removed to Me-quan-i-go-ish, with a few 
admirers, where he built a very superior lodge and took to him- 
self a wife. About a week after he had completed his arrange- 
ments for domestic felicity, in due accordance with the ideas of 
a sentimental savage, he was found by the side of his rustic 
paradise with a deep wound in his side and without any scalp. 
Thence sprang one of those family quarrels for which our red 
predecessors were famous. The doctrine of "an eye for an eye 



20 THE CHRONICLES 

and a tooth for a tooth" was adhered to with rigor enough to 
have furnished an additional proof of the Isrealitish origin of 
the race. The animosity of the two sections, one at the mouth 
of the river and the other at Me-quan-i-go-ish, ripened into a 
war, which seems to have been a continual source of gratifica- 
tion to the Mahn-a-wau-kies and of great annoyance to the Me- 
quan-i-gos. It was the origin of a sectional fight which was 
afterwards continued with greater bombast but less loss of life 
by their white successors on either side of the quiet river. 

The first opportunity that presented itself for revenge to the 
outraged followers of Pe-sha-no was when Laurent Fily arrived, 
in 1805, with a new and copious supply of Green Bay dry 
goods and provisions. It was then that one Mash-e-took, an 
ardent admirer of the crest-fallen Pe-sha-no, conceived the plan 
of inducing this trader to come out to Me-quan-i-go-ish for 
furs, under a promise of very large and profitable trades. He 
did succeed in bringing him half way, when, from some reason 
or other, Fily became suspicious and turned back. Mash-e-took 
then boldly threw off all restraint, and with the aid" of a couple 
of similarly disposed rogues, he succeeded in carrying the cap- 
tive to the lodge of the crestless Pe-sha-no, and there extract- 
ed a promise from him that he would return and cause 
to be transported to the poetic shades of Me-quan-i-go-ish 
certain stipulated barrels of rum, together with incredible 
quantities of trinkets and fire-locks, on condition that his life 
was spared. 

There were numerous dark intimations accompanying this 
agreement, that any failure to comply with all the requirements 
would but too surely be followed by the vengeance of his captors. 
After promising faithfully to transfer all his goods to Me-quan- 
i-go-ish, M. Fily returned, and set about the fulfillment of his 
pledge. The Mahn-a-wau-kies looked on with astonishment. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 21 

K 

The audacity of the proceeding confounded them for awhile, 
but when Mash-e-took, one of the Me-quan-i-gos, was discover- 
ed helping Fily pack up his goods, the war broke forth, and 
Mash-e-took, seizing a powder-horn, threw it into a pile of em- 
bers and scattered the coals of fire in every direction, setting 
fire to the goods and house. Not content with this, he rushed 
upon Fily, aud seized him by the throat with the intention of 
taking his life; but Match-e-se-be, a brother of O-nau-ge-sa, 
completely frustrated his designs by shooting him through the 
arm. Wounded and exasperated, he fled from the place, and 
carried the news to the expectant Me-quan-i-goes. From this 
time there was a continual feud between the two Indian tribes. 
The Mahn-a-wau-kies, however, had the advantage, being sur- 
rounded by the blessings of ruin and provisions which were 
debarred their inland enemies. Some time after, a roving com- 
pany of Pot-ta-wat-ta-mies joined Pe-sha-no and his company, 
and, if tradition is to be relied upon, they led a highly erratic 
life, not at all in keeping with the character and teachings of 
their leader, the poet. Their pastimes only being interrupt- 
ed by the Mahn-a-wau-kies, who dropped down upon them at 
intervals and selected a scalp or two out of their number. 



CHAPTER III. 

Visitors from Green Bay — Jacques Vieau — First Trading Post — Solomon Juneau, in 
Hunting Shirt, Views the Location of the Future City — Feels no Ambitious Inspi- 
ration — Commences his Labors — Where that First Cabin was Located. 

O-nau-ge-sa, who, as we have before intimated, was a gen- 
erous and kind-hearted savage, depended for some years after 
this on the annual visit of Jacques Vieau for luxuries apper- 
taining to his exalted position. His urbanity and generosity 
to the poor outsiders about Me-quan-i-go-ish were always height- 
ened by the appearance of a new trader, whose supplies, these 
rebels might hunger and thirst after but could not touch. 

It can readily be seen that the venturous fellows who came to 
Mahn-a-wau-kie in these early times, were possessed of . conside- 
rable courage as well as hardihood. The untamed O-nau-ge- 
sa ; represented might — in savage ethics, might is generally 
synonymous with right. The nearest trading post was a niiser- 
/able settlement called Eschikagou, at the mouth of Skunk 
River, some ninety miles across dense forests, to the south. 
For supplies it was necessary to go all the way to Mackinac, 
which was then the head quarters of the American Fur Com- 
pany. Here, at Mackinac, the traders generally rendezvoused 
in June or July, after a winter's campaign, and obtained fresh 
goods in August. Many are the tales of strange adven- 
ture and hair breadth 'scapes which have been recounted 
about the old Fort at this place, which, if gathered up and 
shaped into a book, would put to shame even this startling and 
veracious narrative. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 23 

Jacques Vieau was a man of some nerve, therefore, for lie 
built a trading post up the Menomonee, two miles, just where 
the Green Bay trail crossed the river, and on which is now the 
property of Mr. Larkin. The sand heaps at the mouth of the 
Mahn-a-wau-kie, with the one or two bark wigwams and the 
scarcely better tenements that had been erected under the su- 
pervision of French wanderers, offered no attraction to him; 
and so we find the first trading post, which was destined to be 
a permanent one, located away off to the west. Here Mr. 
Vieau, (who coming from Green Bay, a place already somewhat 
advanced in civilization and Christianity, had more refined ideas, 
perhaps, than his neighbors,) built a log house, a magazine and 
a repository for furs. All three of these structures were stand- 
ing in 1836, and if the popularity of this work warrants it, 
the second or third edition will be illustrated with spirited en- 
gravings, one of which will be a true representation of that 
trading post. 

Mr. Vieau, it will readily be seen, meant business, and when 
it is stated that he took measures to pre-empt and claim the 
whole quarter section on which he had located, it will be fur- 
ther seen, that the stable character of his edifice, was not such 
a bad idea after all, though perhaps entirely at variance with 
the habits of pre-emptors in general. Unfortunately, however, 
for the honest intentions of this worthy gentleman, his claim 
was afterwards set aside by the general land office, the depart- 
ment deciding that all those lands south of the river were not 
subject to pre-emption. 

Mr. Vieau made regular trips to Green Bay in the summer, 
and continued to return to his post on the Menomonee regu- 
larly. 

From this time up to 1818, there was very little of historic 
interest transpired. The Indians flitted about the bluffs, and 



24 THE CHRONICLES 

when a companion died they lit their funeral fires on the buri- 
al-ground at the foot of Michigan Street, and danced their wild 
orgies between the lurid flames and the dark midnight on the 
lake. 

Could the reader have seen Milwaukee then he would have 
beheld the still expanse of forest and opening, rendered pic- 
turesque by these beings — mayhap in an encampment, or it 
may be gathering the "wild-oats" in their canoes, where now 
Commerce has piled up monuments of brick, and mechanism 
thunders night and day. 

A few years later, however, and there might be seen leaning 
against the door of Jacques Vieau's log house, a young man 
attired in a calico hunting shirt and corduroy pantaloons. His 
countenance is rather pleasing, not from any beauty in its out- 
line, but on account of an open, frank expression, which is at 
once indicative of a generous nature and a steady will. This 
is Solomon Juneau, clerk for Jacques Vieau, his father-in-law. 
He stands in the door-way of the cabin and looks listlessly 
across the great marsh to the east, and up to the oak-covered 

i 

bluffs beyond ; nor does it once occur to him, that in the short 
space of a few years, the bayou beneath his eyes will be swarm- 
ing with vessels, and that a populous city will be crowning the 
eminences, with wealth and magnificence. Young Juneau does 
not for a moment allow his youthful enthusiasm to soar into 
even improbabilities ; and therefore he does not, as many would 
have done at his age, imagine himself mayor of the prospec- 
tive city, with wealth spread out on either hand and thousands 
of people honoring and respecting him. Not being a visionary 
young man, his fancy sees no Utopia on the green banks of the 
Mahn-a-wau-kie. There is no mirage to deceive him. The out- 
lines of a few duties to be carefully performed are enough for 
his comtemplation at present. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 25 

\ 

This is in 1818. Mr. Hypolite Grignon, is already here, 
and James Kinzie is expected, with a large stock of goods from 
the American Fur Company. There are three other white 
persons in the settlement, and this constitutes the entire white 
population. Chicago, or " Eschikagou," contains two white in- 
habitants outside the fort. Detroit is composed of French and 
half-breeds, and has one brick house, which was built by Gov. 
Hull. There is one miserable little steamboat on the Upper 
Lakes, called the Walk-in-the- Water, which makes the round 
trip, from Buffalo to Detroit, once in two weeks, but never 
ventures into the unknown waters past Mackinac. The unex- 
plored wilderness of Wisconsin lay about them. If the treach- 
erous natives, in a moment of vindictiveness, came out of their 
lurking places and shot down the trader, they had but to fall 
back into the recesses of their own forests, and pursuit or pun- 
ishment was impossible. The Indians at Mahn-a-wau-kie, too, 
were very difficult to manage. At one time O-nau-ge-sa would 
seem to wink at the overbearing disposition of certain bullies 
of his tribe, and the violence must needs be overlooked by the 
sufferers from it. Treachery lurked under the guise of friend- 
ship, and the scalping-knife was worn nearest the heart. 
Discretion was the higher law, and it required all the shrewd- 
ness of the white men to preserve their own standing in the 
community as traders. O-nau-ge-sa levied an exorbitant tax 
on the whiskey, amounting to several gallons a week, for him- 
self and his courtiers; and to refuse the regular supply, or 
to demand money therefor, was equivalent to a casus belli, at 
which the scalping-knife leapt from its lurking-place, and the 
lords of the forest put on their most fiendish paint. Whiskey 
swayed the red masses. A copious libation pacified them, but 
brought with it the demand for more — and more made demons 
of them. When under its influence, all the dark villiany of 



26 THE CHRONICLES 

their nature came uppermost — and to refuse to satisfy their 
drunken thirst, but precipitated matters. Therefore was cun- 
ning greatly exercised by these early traders, in order to save 
their own lives as well as to preserve their goods and chattels. 
These Mahn-a-wau-kies were incurable thieves : they would 
at all times rather steal than trade, and it is but justice to say 
that the fear of the white men's guns alone saved the early 
trader's stock from rapid depletion without equivalent re- 
turns. But in 1818, the first grey streaks of the dawn of 
Milwaukie were visible. So faint were they that O-nau-ge- 
sa, with all his natural watchfulness, did not then notice them. 
They were to gradually brighten into the rosy tints of civiliza- 
tion, as the night of barbarism would sink away in the west. 
Solomon Juneau prospects up and down the river, and finally 
finds a green spot at the foot of a long wood-covered hill, 
that rises to the east, and here he builds his own cabin,* 
with the river between him and the opposite swamp. 



* This house stood where Allcott's drug store now stands, or perhaps ten feet 
further west, but not on the site of Ludington's block. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Domestic troubles in the family of Pe-sha-no, and how an innocent Doctor suffered 
thereby — Progress of the Dawn. 

Pe-sha-no, then the sage of Me-quan-i-go-ish, as we have he- 
fore intimated, had married. The chosen one of his heart was 
a French woman, from Fort Howard, who had probably en- 
trapped his savage affection during his campaign with De Lan- 
glade. Pe-sha-no had two children ; both boys. The youngest 
representing the white half of the alliance, and the eldest the 
copper colored. It is not at all strange that the paternal re- 
gard should settle rather heavier on the darkest of these 
pledges. We will not say that the father actually disliked his 
last born, but a little domestic row occuring one day between 
himself and wife, he incidentally flung a tomahawk at the pet 
of the family, and split the infantile head open. 

Here was a family breach; Mrs. Pe-sha-no, however much 
accustomed to such incidents, seems to have taken this as an 
unwarrantable act, and she resolved to obtain a divorce. 

The State of Indiana was then in an incipient condition, and 
she was compelled to work out her own divorce with fear, and 
trembling, which she did — packing up her extra furs and moc- 
casins, and setting out one moonlight night for the Bois Gris 
Swamp — now the Menomonee flats — accompanied by her re- 



maining son. 



She scorned the protection of O-nau-ge-sa. Her white-blood 
had been aroused and she appealed directly to the traders. 



28 THE CHRONICLES 

It is uncertain in what way they assisted her; but some 
time after, she inhabited a rude tenement on the banks of 
the swamp, with her son, depending on his and her own exer- 
tions for support. Pe-sha-no did not follow her. Content in 
the belief that her affection would ultimately bring her back 
without any exertion of his, he seems to have instructed his 
followers simply to avoid her. 

The son, however, was a young scapegrace. He disliked 
the retirement of his mother, and associated, unbeknown to her, 
with his father's people daily. In 1820 she received intelli- 
gence from Green Bay. They were in need of her services 
at the Fort, and a liberal offer was made to her to return, accom- 
panied by a friendly letter from Dr. Madison, the surgeon, at 
the Fort. The boy faithfully, or faithlessly, transmitted this 
intelligence to his father, and then the fires of jealous!^ and, it 
may be, love were aroused. Pe-sha-no became tragic, vowed 
she should not return, and practised flinging his tomahawk for 
an extra hour. The wily boy assured him that the medicine 
man at the Fort had commanded her and she would obey. 
The chief replied in gutteral anger, "never !" and then com- 
missioned Ke-tau-kah to look after the medicine man. 

Mrs. Pe-sha-no had no means of getting to Green Bay, and 
sent word accordingly to Br. Madison. Some months after, he 
wrote to her that he would be down in the spring and would 
see her and make arrangements. This was all duly imparted 
from mother to son and from son to father. 

In the spring, Br. Madison set out from the Fort, having 
obtained leave of absence to visit his relatives in Kentucky. 
When near what is now Manitowoc the stealthy Ke-tau-kah 
struck his trail and followed him. "When the opportunity oc- 
curred he discharded his gun and shot him in the back of the 
neck, killing him instantly. Ke-tau-kah then started for Me- 
quan-i-go-ish. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 29 

There is no probability of Pe-sha-no's having broken out 
into exultation when his sanguinary messenger returned. Ke- 
tau-kah had no message to deliver. His return was evidence 
that he had completed his errand. 

The poet and chief, when he saw his emissary ride slowly 
into the camp, attired himself in his most attractive beads, ad- 
ded a few extra daubs of paint to his visage, and set out for the 
lodge of his lost one. 

He informed her that the medicine man had been shot, and 
requested her to repair immediately to Me-quan-i-go-ish and 
resume her former duties. To all of which she replied with a 
decided negative. Pe-sha-no might go back, she would never 
live with him again. She did not doubt the depth or fervor 
of his affection, but he had a careless way of flinging his toma- 
hawk about. She would live and die with her son anions white 
men. 

The chief claimed the lion's share of the offspring. The 
son was his already by possession — that interesting red idea be- 
ing at the time at his father's birch palace, taking the initiato- 
ry lessons in shooting ; the assertion therefore that the son and 
mother would die among white men was insulting. What 
were the white men ? Some half-dozen traders. Were not 
his followers as plenty as the leaves of the forest ? The white 
men were dogs. 

To which Mrs. Pe-sha-no replied. That the white men were 
no dogs. That the red men were grasshoppers, that would 
swarm for a while and die out before the hot breath of the 
white man. She pointed with her finger along the shimmer- 
ing surface of the stream, and told him, in a short time the whites 
would be thicker than the wild-oats that lined the river; that 
the red man's voice would be hushed, and the lodges of the 
English would be planted thick on his burial-grounds. 



30 THE CHRONICLES 

Then Pe-ska-no, with dilated nostril and lofty air, answered 
that the Winnebagos, the Pottawattamies, the Sacs, and the 
Sioux, were brothers. The Manitou had given them the green 
fields and valleys, and the white men were thieves; and, said 
the poet, the red man hates thieves. The Great Spirit hates 
them. They will dry up as prairie grass, and the fire of the 
red man will burn them. 

After this threatening speech, he gave his primitive toga a 
hitch, and with slow dignity took his departure. The woman 
immediately started for the settlement. Wending her way 
through the tamarack, she came out on the river about where 
Spring Street now is, and sat down upon a log to watch the 
movements of two or three men on the opposite bank who were 
busily engaged in the erection of a house. 

Shortly afterwards, she beckoned to one of the men, and he, 
unfastening a canoe, pushed it out into the stream. The wind 
blew it across some distance below, and the woman getting in, 
paddled herself over. 

There is no doubt that she informed of the murder of Dr. 
Madison. Ke-tau-kah was afterwards given up, and was exe- 
cuted at Detroit, in October, 1821. 

The allusion of Pe-sha-no to the brotherhood of the differ- 
ent tribes, and the dark hint of vengeance, may have been the 
first intimation the whites had of the powerful combination 
which was even then being talked of, and which afterwards 
assumed so dire an aspect to western settlers in the Sauk war. 



CHAPTER V. 

Bursting of the Seed — What Green Bay Thought of the Plant— Some Affectionate 
and Antique Nonsense in Regard to that Village — The First Citizens — The Death 
of O-nau-ge-sa. 

Solomon Juneau was now trading in a settled sort of way. 
In fact his trading-post began gradually to assume the distinct- 
ive features of a store. The two companionable settlers at 
Eschikagou, Mr. Kinzie and Col. Beaubien, had other compa- 
ny. Win. S. Hamilton and others passed through Mahnawau- 
kie on their way to Green Bay with cattle. Traders made 
more frequent visits. In a word the faces of strangers were 
seen quite often. And so on till '32, when the Sauk war 
broke out. A war which resulted in the complete removal of 
most of our old friends, the savages, beyond the Mississippi, 
and brought into notice at the east the beautiful country in 
Wisconsin. 

What do we see then ? The first indication of the flood we 
find' in the Green Bay Intelligencer and Democrat, of Septem- 
ber, 1835, which is as follows : 

"The Milwauky : a correspondent at the mouth of the 
Milwauky speaks of their having a town already laid out; of 
selling quarter acre lots for five and six hundred dollars, and 
says that by fall there will be one hundred buildings up ; that 
some fifty people are living there. A gentleman supports a 
school at his own expense. A clergyman is about taking up 
his abode among them. 



32 THE CHRONICLES 

•■Albert Fowler, Esq., is appointed Justice of the Peace, and 
their County Courts will be organized at the next session of 
the Council. Land speculators are circumambulating it and 
Milwauky is all the rage." 

How complacently this old moss-covered town of Green Bay 
looked down on the settlement at the mouth of "The Milwau- 
ky." It never entered into the venerable conception of that 
place, that ''The Milwauky" would spring up into a populous 
city with magic celerity and outstrip even the imaginations of 
the most sanguine Yankee Doodles that ever preached of lib- 
erty and progress to an English audience. 

Venerable old Green Bay ! whose history reaches far back 
into the misty records of the Jesuits, beyond the ken of modern 
chroniclers. There should be an antique relish in thy appear- 
ance, and there is ! The mouldy charm lingers about the old 
Fort and among the aged trees in the streets. The placid 
river washes time-eaten houses that look quaint among the villas 
and cottages. Long before the States rebelled, the cross was set 
up on this beautiful ground, and the voice of melody was heard 
rising to the Piety. It would seem as though some of the 
original serenity of devotion yet lingered about the place. But 
even while this is being written, they talk of spiking down the 
iron rails along the river, and soon the scream of the locomo- 
tive will echo around the pallisades of Fort Howard and the 
driving trains will go spinning along the Valley of the Fox, 
only to drag this delightful town out of its retirement and 
make it discordant with the profanation of enterprise. 

Milwaukee County was set apart from Brown County in the 
month of September, 1834, at which time there were not white 
inhabitants enough in its extended borders to fill the offices 
necessary to its organization. 

A majority of those who did reside in the county were 



OF MILWAUKEE. 33 ^ 

speculators, who only lingered to make a "hit/' and then they 
would return east. At the time we speak of, Milwaukee Coun- 
ty embraced the present counties of Milwaukee, Washington, 
Waukesha, Jefferson, Racine, Walworth, and Rock, and large 
portions of Green, Dane and Dodge. The county was divided 
into two townships or precincts — Milwaukee and Root River ; 
the one extending over the northern and the other over the 
southern portions of the county. The population of this vast 
region at this time was not one thousand; and yet, as we have 
stated, emigration had set in, and speculation was rife. At 
Janesville there were two or three log houses ; at Skunk Grove 
there was one, and at Mukwonago remained many of the orig- 
inal followers of Pe-sha-no, the poet. 

I^fcris safe to say the people of Mahn-a-wau-kie were in the 
enjoyment of a degree of happiness that has not been vouch- 
safed to the place or to its people since. Col. Walker came, 
Byron Kilbourn came, William Brown came, and as Mr. 
Holton, somewhat impressed with the magnitude of the 
thought which included these three bodies, exclaimed in his 
address before the Chamber of Commerce — "Behold the 
men !" 

We now find Mr. Juneau entering one hundred and thirty 
acres along the east bank of the river, and commencing the 
building of a residence further down. A reckless man, by 
the name of Burdick, dug out a ditch and laid the founda- 
tion of a house away off in the wilderness of Kilbourntowu, 
subject to attacks at any moment from wild beasts or wilder 
savages. Mr. Juneau had commenced laying out lots on 
East Water Street. Mr. Edgerton was busy surveying. A 
few stakes had been driven, and another enterprising man 
was raising a spacious structure on the same street, to be 
called "The Cottage Inn." 



34 THE CHRONICLES 

We say the inhabitants were happy. They bought and 
sold lots; speculated, bargained, and were all duly impress- 
ed with the responsibility of rich men. We say all, but 
must omit Mr. Juneau. He, it is true, accumulated the 
filthy lucre, somewhat faster than his neighbors even, but 
it is but justice to say he was not actuated by any undue 
desire to acquire either money or power. During the most 
of the time, he was to be found in his store, while the ex- 
citement without was running high, and real estate was en- 
gendering the most felicitous flow of language. He was one 
of the few who worked regardless of the promises of the 
future. Not so with the majority. "The Milwauky" was 
an Eldorado; corner lots and claims were to be secured or 
disposed of. Every third man had the map of an imagina- 
ry city in his pocket, which was to be thrown into market 
just as soon as he realized his immense fortune in"Milwau- 
ky." Work was out of the question; money and credit were 
plenty, and people had as much as they could conveniently 
attend to in superintending their chances of an income. 

Col. George H. Walker had located himself on the point 
south of the river. Mr. Kilbourn was building a house at 
what was soon to be the corner of Chestnut and Third Streets. 
Mr. Juneau occupied the tract of land lying on the east side 
of the river. The two latter had entered and paid for large 
tracts, and it is reasonable to suppose each was intent on 
raising an immediate city about himself. Col. Walker im- 
mediately laid the corner stone of his metropolis, in the 
shape of a solid log house near the river, and Mr. Hath- 
away was there entertained and feasted on the luscious duck 
and savory wild-turkey during the intervals of his survey- 
ing labors. The means of communication between these 
three founders were not as plenty as might be imagined. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 35 fc 

To cross tlie river at The Point, it was first necessary to 
wallow through a small quagmire, and then trust to the 
piece of hollow log, which, for the sake of euphony, was 
called a boat — a treacherous craft by- the way, and given 
to evolutions in the hands of inexperience, not at all dry or 
humorous. After having landed on the terra infirma of 
the opposite region, there was a long and diversified path 
to pursue before the half-dozen houses of Juneau appeared. 
It was the same way at the Spring Street ford. Horses of 
tried muscle sometimes swam the stream, but the "dug out" 
of Mr. Juneau was the usual means of transportation, the 
passage occupying considerable time if the river was high, 
and the passenger was not well aware of the hardest spot 
in the opposite swamp. 

Mr. Sanderson had a log house near where the Police 
Station now stands — a suburban residence — and Mr. Juneau 
had put up a small frame house, to be used as a post-office 
and justices' court. 

Speculators were indeed "circumambulating" the town. 
Men from New- York and Massachusetts came and sniffed 
the air and examined the soil of the promised land; they 
swam their horses down East Water Street to look over at 
the wide-spread prospect which lay back of Walker's rustic 
house. A few of them were sportsmen, and while hunting 
for claims hunted turkeys and even deer in the Seventh 
Ward. 

It was during this premonitory fever of enterprise, that 
O-nau-ge-sa was taken sick; tradition says he was poisoned 
by an emissary of Pe-sha-no, but we cannot vouch for the 
correctness of such report. He was taken sick at a miser- 
able lodge in Wauwatosa, and struck with a premonition of 
his end, demanded to be led to the hills which overlooked 



36 THE CHRONICLES 

his former domain. We can imagine the noble ravage on 
the top of Spring Street Hill, casting a pensive glance over 
the budding town, in that contemplative attitude which has 
since become familiar to us by all the atlases and school 
books which treat of the progress of civilization. 

He died soon after, and was buried one stormy night on 
the bluff overlooking the lake. One or two of the settlers 
saw the wood piled up, the flames curling and darting in 
the wind, and the dusky forms of a few faithful followers 
moving in the red light, and they knew it was a burial ; but 
it may never have entered their minds that the weird-ceremo- 
nies were being performed over the ashes of a sovereign, or 
that the scene was the last glare of a broken dynasty. But 
so it was; O-nau-ge-sa was laid to sleep in the Third Ward, 
and if the lake has not taken his bones into its bosom for 
safe keeping, the jar and jostle of improvement have long 
since ground them to powder. 



•s 



H A P T E R V I 



Interesting Letters Written from Milwaukee, in 1836 — The Slidell Family and 
Their Troubles — The Murder of Ellsworth Burnett. 



"Thirty-Six" was a wonderful year for our settlement. 
It brought with it a great company of "solid men," who, 
while they intended to make as much money as possible, 
were determined to make the place their home and throw 
their influence in behalf of its future prosperity. Not only 
did capitalists arrive, but a number of industrious mechan- 
ics from eastern cities, hearing of the promised land, emi- 
grated with their tools. Many of these men have gone 
through the natural transmutation and are now "solid men" 
themselves in turn, with children ready to journey further 
west and go through the experience of their fathers. 

On the edge of the tamarack swamp, which skirted the 
western bank of the river, a man by the name of Slidell had 
bought a piece of ground and commenced the erection of a 
house. This man was a carpenter; he had recently set out 
from Detroit to seek his fortune in the new Territory, leav- 
ing his wife behind until he should have gained a foothold. 
He purchased his land of Kilbourn, and set about the 
erection of a small frame house, with such help as he could 
pick up. In June of that year he wrote as follows to his 
wife : * 

*The purely personal and private portions of those letters are omitted. 



38 THE CHRONICLES 

"Milwaukee, June 9th, 1836. 
"My Dear Jane, — 

"I am now pretty comfortably situated. The lot I bought 
is on the west side of The Milwaukie, which is the side the 
town will be on. It is not quite a mile from the river. I 
have got part of the roof on the house since I wrote you 
last. The house is not as large as our old one, but we can 
add to it after a bit. As I told you before, this town is 
going to be a thriving village, and that pretty soon, judging 
by the way folks begin to come in. Mr. Juneau,* that 
lives on the other side, said to me only yesterday, while I 
was doing a job for him, that in two years there would be 
three hundred houses built. This is good news for me, and 
I guess can be relied on. Juneau is a fine man. He owns 
about all there is of the east side. He has a trading-house, 
as I believe I told you. While I was fixing his shelving 
for him, there came in three Indians to trade. One of 
them was a fierce fellow and did a great deal of jawing — 
as I made out afterwards — about a blanket, which he said 
the clerk had cheated him with. The clerk laughed at him 
which made him worse; he opened the blanket that he 
had twisted round his shoulders, though the weather was 
hot enough to roast eggs, and pointed to where it was torn. 
The clerk said something in the Indian tongue that made 
the savage tearing mad; he caught up one of the hatchets 
which were kept for sale and made for him. I felt a little 
nervous myself, and the clerk jumped over the counter and 
run. Just then Juneau came in; he went straight up to the 
savage, and calling him Bill, ^stroked him on the cheek in 



* Spelled in the MS., '\Tnneua." 



OF MILWAUKEE. 39 

a playful way. The Indian put down the hatchet and ap- 
peared to cool off very quick. Thinks I, if I was as big 
as you are Mr. Juneau, I'd pitch him out doors neck and 
heels. But the Frenchman understands these red skins bet- 
ter than I do. When they were going out, he took down a 
heavy Mackinac blanket and threw it over the head of the 
cross savage; he (the Indian) pulled it down under his arm, 
but not one of them ever looked back or said a word, 
though the present was a handsome one; but that's their 
way. 

''That was more than I'd a done, for these Indians are a 
rascally set of cheats. Not long ago one of them brought 
in a lot of smoked chickens and sold them to a new comer, 
for prairie-hens, and when he got away with the change it 
was found out that they were a neighbor's chickens that 
had been stolen only a few nights before, and fixed up to 
make them look wild. You need'nt let the Indians frighten 
you, though, for except stealing, they never trouble the white 
folks. 

"Your Affectionate Husband." 

Slideii's house was located but a short distance from the 
site of Spring Street. The building way a comfortable one, 
built at his leisure moments, and surrounded by a pleasant- 
ly diversified country. There is no doubt that Slidell was 
enthusiastic in his praises of the new country; and it appears 
from his letters, that he used all his eloquence to induce 
his wife's brother to come out and join him. The follow- 
ing letter evidently had that object in view: 

"My Dear Wife, — 

"I've had the rheumatism in my arm since I last wrote 



40 THE CHRONICLES 

to you, but I have got the house done and a garden spot 
fenced in. The best way for you to .come is to take the 
stage to Saint Joseph and there the schooner "Western 
Trader." The weather will be fine for sailing and you will 
get here a week sooner than by going round. Tell Pinck- 
ney the town is surrounded by the best of timber. I am 
sure he will make out well here. They say that brick-clay is 
plenty here too, but I guess not, at any rate it will be after 
our time when they work it. If jou. can get Pickney to 
come I should like it. He will never find a better located 
town," &c, &c. 

The result of Slidell's correspondence was, that Pinckney 
came out; but Mrs. Slidell, for some reason or other, re- 
mained behind for some months after. Pinckney was great- 
ly disappointed in the town. His anticipations were far 
ahead of the reality. It may be said, indeed, that he was 
one of those men who love to be dissatisfied, and who have a 
constitutional leaning towards '• miserableness." We get an 
inkling of the understanding, existing between the brothers- 
in-law, by the following letter, written to the sister some 
two months after Pinckney had arrived : 

"Milwaukie, August 3rd, 183G. 
"Dear Jane, — 

"Joe has got me out here, and here I am, and a more 
miserable, God-forsaken place I never saw. The town — or 
what there is of it — is right in the middle of a swamp. 
You can't go half a mile, in any direction, without getting 
into the water. It's a pretty deep mud-hole all over. The 
river is a great thing I expect, but when you have to pad- 
dle over it three or four times a day in a "dng out," it's 



OF MILWAUKEE. 41 

a nuisance. Joe has got his house away out beyond the 
swamp where the wolves can get over the fence, and the 
town can never reach hirn. But there's no use in my say- 
ing anything to him. He's in love with the place and you'll 
have to come; though if I had my way, I'd rather have you 
stay in old Detroit, where I wish I was now. 

"George Pinckney." 

As might have been foreseen, this unfriendly description 
was the cause of a rupture between the brothers-in-law. 
Mrs. Slidell was not slow in informing her husband of her 
brother's views, and a personal quarrel sprung out of the 
affair. Pinckney, removing on the east side of the river, 
leaving Slidell sole tenant of the house beyond the swamp. 

The latter, however, did not long remain alone, for his 
wife joined him, and with her came a young woman, called 
Allie Deminge. Miss Deminge, during the journey to Mil- 
waukee, became acquainted with a young man who was com- 
ing to the same place. They grew very intimate before their 
destination was reached; but it was not until the Slidells and 
Miss Deminge were domesticated in the new house, that the 
stranger learned he had a rival in the person of Pinckney,' 
an old admirer of the young lady. 

Ellsworth Burnett was a young man of many admirable 
traits of character, and soon formed a circle of friends. His 
genial disposition and his aptitude to learn and be of ser- 
vice in any position, peculiarly fitted him for a new settle- 
ment. He soon ingratiated himself into the favor of in- 
fluential men, and set about a novitiate course of surveying. 
The relationship which soon existed between Ellsworth Bur- 
nett and Miss Deminge, was of a nature to warrant consid- 
erable romance. Many moonlight nights saw them floating 
4 



42 THE CHRONICLES 

in his canoe along the margin of the Menomonee, and many 
more might have witnessed his late departure from Slidell's 
house, to walk the somewhat lonely route homeward toward 
the town. There is something due to the memory of this 
young man; and the present historian, however feeble his 
efforts, cannot pass over this part of the narrative without 
an attempt to do him justice. His parents were living in 
Michigan and were poor. It seems as though his industry 
was stimulated as much by the hope of securing a home for 
them as by other incentives. He communicated his plans 
fully to Allie, and together they entered into the undertak- 
ing. 

Whether or not Burnett brought any " means" with him to 
Milwaukie is uncertain, but in a very short time he was in 
possession of enough money to enable him to enter a small tract 
of land, for which purpose it was necessary to go to Green Bay. 

George Pinckney was at this time employed by Capt. Geo. 
Barber, who was building a schooner on the river above Kil- 
bourn's house. Since Miss Deminge had been an inmate of 
Slidell's house, Pinckney had sought on several occasions to 
mollify his brother's feelings in regard to himself and had so 
far succeeded that he made frequent visits to the place; the men 
treating each other civilly if not affectionately. During one of 
his calls he "proposed" to Allie, and was astounded to find she 
was already engaged to Burnett. Pinckney was not a man to 
suffer extremely from the pangs of unrequited love. Instead 
of contemplating suicide, he set about meditating revenge, — 
and that upon Slidell who had allowed Burnett free access to 
his house, and had undoubtedly prejudiced the lady's mind in 
regard to his brother from motives of personal vindictiveness — 
at least so this man reasoned. 

There was nothing startling followed. Pinckney pursued his 



OP MILWAUKEE. 43 

• 

round of labor and shunned the house and brother. Burnett 
spent his evenings with Allie, maturing praiseworthy plans; 
dreaming, mayhap, of a future which seemed golden from the 
reflection of the present. In consummating their projects, as we 
have said, it was necessary for Burnett to go to Green Bay. 
This was no insignificant journey in those times. It then tak- 
ing four and five days to reach that far off land office with a 
good horse, and the journey was fraught with many risks. 

However he was determined to go. MissBeminge, his intend- 
ed wife, the night before he started, tried to prevail upon him 
to relinquish the journey, by saying that the object could be ac- 
complished by commissioning one of the several men who were 
continually travelling between the two places. 

" But that is not the way to do business," answered Burnett, 
" there is no one that I can trust with my private interests, or 
who would accomplish the work as I would myself." 

" There is your friend, Mr. Hathaway," the girl continued. 

The young man laughed — "Allie," he said, "you are afraid 
of the Indians — but it's a foolish fear. The Indians will not 
trouble me — they all know I'm a harmless fellow — besides I 
might travel the route a dozen times and not meet one." 

" I know better," replied Miss Deniinge, " since the murder 
of the Indian by the sentinel at Fort Winnebago they are great- 
ly excited — I should rather you would not go for other reasons." 

"What other reasons?" 

"Pinckney !" 

"And pray shall 1 relinquish my chance to get the land, to 
stay here and look after Pinckney V 

"I* think so", answered Allie, quietly. 

Burnett thought of this after he started, but at the time he 
laughed and joked the young woman on the subject. 

On the eighth of November he started with a man by the 



44 THE CHRONICLES 

name of Clynian. They were driven to Prairieville, where the 
teamster left them to pursue the rest of their way a-foot. 

On the afternoon of the second day they reached Rock River, 
and came upon a wigwam at what is now Theresa in Dodge 
County. The only occupant of the place was a squaw whose 
liege lord was absent. Attached to a tree in the river floated 
a bark canoe, however, and Clyman proposed to appropriate it 
with a view of facilitating their journey. The Indian woman 
vehemently opposed this, but Burnett tossed her a half-dollar 
and the two getting into the canoe paddled away down the river. 

The day following Burnett's departure from Milwaukie, the 
brothers fell out. Pinckney, unable longer to contain his wrath, 
accused Slidell of being dishonest. Words ran high between 
them, and finally Slidell put Pinckney out of doors. 

That night, as the family were about retiring, an Indian known 
as "Bill" though his proper name was Shaw-ag-ough, knocked 
at the door. This Indian had frequently associated with Pinck- 
ney; accompanying him on hunting excursions and teaching him 
certain wood-craft, in consideration of whiskey received. Sli- 
dell's first impression, when he opened his door and saw this 
grim picture, probably was, that his presence was in some way 
connected with his former difficulty with Pinckney. "Bill" 
made some scarcely intelligible importunity which Slidell under- 
stood to be a request to come into the house and he ordered 
him away. "Bill" did not comply with the request but made 
another unintelligible speech and Slidell knocked him down, 
and shut the door. 

About half an hour afterwards, a score of savages appeared 
in front of the house, and made night hideous with their gib- 
berish. Slidell had always been afraid of the Indians, and this 
demonstration rather appalled him, though it was perhaps more 
laughable than frightful, as the savages were unarmed and con- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 45 

tented themselves with going through a strange medley of howls 
and dances. 

The next morning Slidell went to Juneau for advice, fearing 
that the Indians would burn his house or murder him in his 
sleep. Juneau promised to see "Bill" and talk to him. The 
afternoon of the same day — the 10th of November — as Slidell 
stood in front of Juneau's house — news was received that Bur- 
nett had been murdered, and Clyman a moment after appeared 
to tell the story. 

About two hours after the two men had left the wigwam on 
Rock River, as has been related, the Indian proprietor thereof 
returned with his son, a boy- about fourteen. His rage at learn- 
ing of the taking of his canoe by white men was unbounded, 
and he immediately proposed to his wife and son to follow after 
and kill them. The squaw, who was probably still under the 
novel effects of the half dollar, objected, and the boy was in- 
clined to side with the mother. 

The Indian first whipped the boy soundly with his gun-rod, 
and having gained the consent of the squaw by the same or some 
other summary process, the two started in pursuit of the white 
men. By crossing the country, they cut off some five miles of 
the distance and overtook the young men about dusk, only a few 
miles below Theresa. They had pulled the canoe up on a bank, 
and had taken possession of a bark wigwam. As the stealthy 
foes came up to the encampment, they saw Burnett inside the 
hut preparing to light a fire; a moment after, Clyman came out 
and leaning his double-barrelled gun against the door of the 
house, started off to gather fuel. Just then Burnett discovered 
the Indian and shouting to Clyman he said : 

"We shall have company to-night!" 

His companion looked around and seeing the savage, replied : 
" We shall have to bring our canoe up to the house/' and went 
on gathering fire- wood. 



46 THE CHRONICLES 

The Indian approached the wigwam. This Clyman was 
conscious of, but he paid no attention to his movements, 
until, hearing the report of a gun, he turned suddenly, and 
beheld the Indian near the hut, beckoning to him urgently. 
Supposing that Burnett had accidentally discharged his pis- 
tol and wounded himself, he threw down the wood and start- 
ed to return. He had not run three rods before he saw the 
savage deliberately take up his gun, which had leaned 
against the hut, and aim it at him. It was then and not 
till then that the treachery flashed upon his mind, and with 
it the astounding truth that Burnett had been murdered. 
The deadly weapon was still pointed at him, and turning 
about, he ran in a tortuous course without knowing whither 
he went. He heard the report, and felt a wound in his arm, 
but he still kept on, impelled by a sudden love of life which 
gave him new strength. When the remaining barrel was 
fired, he felt the stinging shot against his back. It was not 
quite dark, and an almost impenetrable swamp lay before him, 
but wounded as he was, there was no alternative. Plunging 
into the brush he groped his way — now sinking knee-deep in 
mire and now enclosed with undergrowth that in the darkness 
promised no outlet. After the most superhuman efforts he 
escaped from his pursuer, and on the afternoon of the next 
day arrived in Milwaukie and gave the alarm. 

A party of sixteen, among them was Slidell, started im- 
mediately for Rock River. They found the wigwam, bloody, 
and perforated by a bullet — but the remains of Burnett were 
not discovered; and, save the destruction of the Indian's 
lodge at Theresa, no vengeance was taken at that time. The 
Indians surrendered the perpetrators about two weeks after the 
event, and they were conveyed to Green Bay by a detachment 
of dragoons. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 47 

It was not until 1854 that the remains of this unfortu- 
nate young man were found, thrust in a hole near where the 
murder was committed. They were pointed out to Narcisse 
Juneau, and identified; but strange as it may appear they 
were never properly interred. 

Mr. Joshua Hathaway, of this city, wrote to Theresa, and 
offered to pay the expense of burial, but there is reason to 
believe that the bones of Ellsworth Burnett lie bleaching, to 
this day, along the shores of Rock River. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Disposition of the Slidell's — Arrival in the Settlement of "A Character"— Adven- 
ture of Mrs. Purcell, with the Indian. 

The feelings of Allie Deminge may be imagined. We 
shall not attempt to portray them. However much the nar- 
rator's or the reader's sentimental proclivities may be violated, 
truth compels us to state that she eventually married Pinck- 
ney, and they removed to Prairie du Chien. With this fact 
before us, we confess it is difficult to do justice to the feel- 
ings which Burnett's sudden death may have occasioned. 

With Slidell, the effect was somewhat singular. Coupled 
with the demonstration made before his house, the news con- 
firmed him in the belief that the Indians intended to mur- 
der the whole family, and no reasoning could shake him in 
this particular. 

Pinckney's thoughts of revenge were dissipated by the un- 
expected tragedy, at Theresa, and he now deliberately went 
to work to get possession of Slidell's property. With a great 
deal of natural shrewdness he augmented by all the means in 
his power, his brother's fear of the Indians; and as this in 
itself was not sufficient to induce him to leave the place, he 
endeavored to discourage him in his hopes of the town, and 
finally had recourse to deeper and more iniquitous plans. In 
company with a couple of lewd fellows he spent much of 
his time hunting and hanging around the hotel. 

It was about three weeks after the murder of Burnett that 



OP MILWAUKEE. 49 

Slidell sold his house to a Mr. Purcell and went to Prairie du 
Chien, Miss Deiuinge accompanying him. 

On the fourteenth of June 1837 Ashe-co-bo-nia, the Indian 
who had murdered Ellsworth Burnett, was brought from Green 
Bay with the boy— Ush-ho-ina, alias Mach-e-oke-mah — and 
the former was sentenced to be hung on the first of September. 

They were both confined in the jail. The record of their 
commitment is still to be seen — but were subsequently discharg- 
ed by order of Governor Dodge, January 22d, 1838. 

This jail was a log structure, situated a little west of the pre- 
sent site. It was presented to the town, together with the ad- 
joining grounds, now a park, by Mr. Juneau. The original log 
building is still standing in the present jail yard, and is partial- 
ly enclosed with the original log stockade. 

There came about this time a gentleman whose name was 
Mason D'Omro. He attracted attention at once. His was the 
style, deportment, carriage — to elicit popular favor. Somewhat 
portly, somewhat ruddy : well dressed, affable, thoroughly post- 
ed on every conceivable subject from the Bosicruscian Myste- 
ries to the intricacies of "old sledge;" with that stately dignity 
which is the result of physical proportion and study, he was a 
man to be looked up to by the crowd. 

Mr. D'Omro soon became the oracle of a certain set who 
never could discover anything themselves, or were unfortunate 
in making deductions, and very soon those who were his inti- 
mates called him "for short" — " Major Doruo" — a name by 
which he ultimately became better known than any other. 
There was a little mystery about the man, which probably added 
to his popularity. He rented a small house on the east side, 
and here Mrs. D'Omro presided, unknown to all but the few 
lady acquaintances who saw fit to cultivate her friendship. No 
one ever knew his history, or his means at command. He did 



50 THE CHRONICLES 

not seek employment, seemed to have pocket-money enough, 
and was therefore voted a good fellow. The Major was about 
forty-five years old, and made frequent allusions to his services 
in the "last war." His failing, or his forte, was the desire to 
make himself popular with everybody. It is true, he may have 
lacked the certain amount of moral courage, which is requi- 
site to oppose ; at all events, he never opposed anything unless 
every body else did, and was never known to express an 
opinion in favor of a minority. 

There are such men in all communities. Men who travel 
about in slippers for fear of treading harshly on somebody's 
principles; who side with all men, no matter how diverse, in 
hopes that all men will side with them. Moral cowardice is 
always the touch stone of such characters. Their mothers never 
learned them to say No, and so they go through life nodding 
and smiling like mandarins, upon every person they meet, not 
from a happy or genial disposition, but from a politic principle 
that it is best to keep the right side of all, principles or no 
principles. 

It is a fact which ought to be pretty well-known by this 
time, that such men are altogether more successful than they 
deserve to be. We see them in the pulpit, stroking down 
their hearers with velvety hand. Guaging disagreeable truths 
to the bias of sinners, fitting reproof in complimentary 
phraseology and feeling rewarded in] the conviction that they 
have not ruffled a feather of any dove in the cote, and con- 
sequently raised no personal dislike. They get to be editors, 
and run up the motto: Neutral in politics and religion, as 
though there were any other department where their espe- 
cial "independence" was needed. They get into politics and 
religion too, and in the former they nominally shoulder a 
"great principle," but put it in their pockets when its pub- 



OP MILWAUKEE. 51 

licity will conflict with Tom, Dick and Harry, and as these 
three last individuals have multiplied wonderfully and filled the 
earth — the independent editor keeps his principle in his pock- 
et pretty much all the time, and when the opposition is strong, 
he refers to it (the principle) in just such terms as will involve 
both parties in inextricable doubt as to whether he means to 
keep it or get rid of it. Of late, this has got to be called tl con- 
servatism," which is a misnomer. Neutrality is a better word. 
Cowardice would perhaps be nearer the truth. The man who 
has an honest opinion which he keeps in his throat to be 
coughed up in different shapes for different friends, ought to 
be choked to death with it. The true conservator labors for 
the maintainance of those principles which sustain and bind 
society or government together. The labor supposes oppo- 
sition, and is only successful in meeting opposition; but the 
neutral avoids opposition. His conservatism is a salve for 
friend and foe; his war-cry in the battle of life is a lullaby 
and his whole genius is expended in living, writing and speak- 
ing, so as not to commit himself with either side. 

The most acute reader of character had never been able 
to fully make up his mind whether the Major was a Van 
Buren man, a Webster man or a Harrison man, though the 
friends of each claimed him. 

The Major's wife formed the acquaintance of Mrs. Pur- 
cell, the wife of the man already mentioned. It was the 
custom with these two excellent ladies to visit each other 
frequently, although their homes were' a great ways apart. 
Purcell was in the Government employ, and much of his time 
was spent away from home. 

The residence was sufficiently lonesome at all times but at 
night particularly so : the howling of the wolves in the tim- 
ber near by, not being of that dulcet description to soothe 
one's melancholy. 



52 THE CHRONICLES 

One night Mrs. Purcell sat .at her table sewing. Her 
friend had promised to come up, but had disappointed her. 
Under such circumstances she felt that the lonesomeness of 
the place had a fresh intensity. Disappointment generally 
heightens our appreciation. 

The night too was stormy and dark. Mrs. Purcell was not 
a robust woman. The frontier was, in fact, no place for her; 
but her husband's fortunes were her's also, and she could 
willingly forego the many luxuries of an older town to be 
with him. 

As she sat sewing, listening to the wind that came up 
from the lake, and the occasional long-drawn howl of a wolf, 
which would be answered by the distant baying of a dog in 
the settlement, she looked up, her attention attracted by a 
slight noise at the window, which was in the front of the 
house. She saw that the shutter was opened, and placing 
her sewing on the table, she opened the window to fasten 
it. As she did so the wind blew out the flame of the can- 
dle and she was in darkness. Having secured the shutter 
she set about striking a light. At that time matches we're 
scarce and poor, and it took her some time to ignite a bit 
of paper. While in the dark, and preparing to re-light the 
candle, she accidentally glanced toward the window, and there, 
in the transient star light, she saw, or fancied she saw, 
the hideous face of an Indian against the pane, he holding 
open the shutter which she had just fastened. 

Mrs. Purcell was a woman of good sense, she neither 
screamed nor fainted. The few Indians that hung about the 
town were regarded as harmless, but she knew they were vin- 
dictive and unscrupulous. She remembered in an instant the 
murder of Mamtou, which had been related to her. She 
reflected, as she went on endeavoring to obtain a light, that she 



• \ 



OF MILWAUKEE. 53 

9 

was alone — her nearest neighbor was Mr. Pettibone. The 
Indian might be bent on mischief, and if such was the case, 
her situation seemed to invite his attention. After she had 
succeeded in getting the candle lighted, she questioned whether 
it had not been an illusion ; but no reasoning could shake off 
the frightful remembrance of the red face glaring in upon her 
through the glass. She placed the candle on the mantle, care- 
fully securing it from the wind by a large book, and with a 
nervous but determined hand raised the sash, and once more 
pulling the shutter to, drove a large nail through the hasp. 
After she had let down the sash she felt confident that the 
shutter had been tried by some one on the outside. Re-seating 
herself at the table, Mrs. Purcell endeavored to continue her 
labor with the needle, but her hand trembled so that she laid 
by the cloth and sat for a few moments endeavoring to calm 
her mind and reason herself out of her fears. But it was of 
no avail. The whole proceeding was too stealthy. She was 
known to be alone — and above all, that horrid face at the glass ! 
As the conviction became grounded in her mind that the 
Indian was bent on mischief, she came to the hasty and some- 
what unwise conclusion that his object could be nothing less 
than to murder her, since, she reasoned, I have nothing to 
tempt the cupidity of a savage. She was either not aware that 
the Indian would take a great deal of trouble to steal a com- 
paratively worthless object, or her fears clouded the knowledge. 
It suddenly occurred to her then, that the shed at the back of 
the house ran up to within a couple of feet of a chamber 
window, which latter had no shutters, and was but temporarily 
fastened. No sooner did this occur to her, with the possibility 
of her enemy getting in by that way, than she grasped the 
candle and opened the door leading up the stairway. As she 
did so, a noise above sent a chill to her heart. The savage 



54 THE CHRONICLES 

was already in the house, or was at that moment effecting an 
entrance. 

For an instant, Mrs. Purcell stood irresolute, and then with 
womanly desperation she pushed the heavy table against the 
door of the stairway, and taking from a secretary a small ebony 
ruler, round and resembling somewhat the barrel of a pistol, 
she awaited the descent of the Indian. It was several moments 
that this woman stood thus, expecting to see the savage burst 
into the room and murder her Just as she had begun to hope 
that her apprehensions were without foundation, the table was 
pushed into the room by the opening of the door, and the sa- 
vage deliberately entered. As he saw what appeared to be a 
pistol in the hands of the woman, he uttered a gutteral "ugh!" 
and stopped. This was a perilous moment for Mrs. Purcell; 
her safety seemed to depend on his mistaking the piece of wood 
she held in her hand, for a fire-arm. The light from the one 
candle was very feeble, and there was some probability of this 
being the case. As the savage stopped, she saw that he was, 
what is called, "half drunk." Keeping the ruler pointed at 
his breast, she motioned with her left hand for him to leave the 
house. He turned and went to the door, unlocked it and even 
opened it. Mrs. Purcell, supposing that she was now rid of 
her guest, lowered her arm, and as she did so, exposed to the 
Indian the nature of her weapon. He laughed in a peculiar 
gutteral manner, closed the door and again approached her- 
All hope was now gone; the poor woman dropped the ferule 
on the floor as she saw the glare of the eyes and beastly ex- 
pression of the wretch's face as he moved toward her in a 
crouching attitude, much as a panther approaches its victim. 
However, he had not taken three steps before voices were heard, 
and the next moment the door was thrown open and the portly 
form of the Major stepped over the threshhold with Mrs. 
D'Omro on his arm. 



OP MILWAUKEE. 55 

This would have been the time for Mrs. Purcell to faint; but 
as we are not writing fiction, and are limited to facts, it is our 
duty to say that joy at her deliverance did not overcome her, 
but as the Indian turned his head to see who had entered, the 
lady caught up a chair and brought it down with damaging 
effect to the furniture across his shoulders. 

The scene which met the worthy Major Domo, as can easily 
be imagined, rather astounded him. His first ejaculation was: 

"Thunder and lightning ! what's to pay!" 

As the chair descended, he gave signs of backing out and 
leaving the "coast clear." But Mrs. Purcell's tongue being 
loosened, she found speedy means of enlightening them as to 
the real state of affairs, and as the Indian stood with his arms 
folded, apparently indifferent as to what turn matters would 
take, the Major proposed a compromise. 

"The rascal wants some whiskey, that's all," he said. "It's 
best to get along with these fellows as quietly as possible, so 
give him a tumbler of rum and tell him to come again, and he'll 
go away friendly." 

This was the Major's advice. Mrs. Purcell strongly opposed 
it, and while they debated the point, the savage deliberately 
walked out of the door. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

t 

Daylight on the Settlement — The First Newspaper — Printera and Pioneers — Mr. 
Juneau's Steamboat Investment. 

/The year 1836 saw the settlement on the high road to pros- 
perity. Settlers broke ground on either side of the river. /" 
Several, more courageous than the rest, planted themselves in 
the centre of the marsh which is now the Third ward : among 
their number was a German named Bleyer, who, like a Robinson 
Crusoe, looked out from his cabin on the water and felt un- 
doubtedly very dubious about a city ever springing out of the 
bottomless mud with which he was surrounded. The gentle- 
man lives on the same lot (which he bought of Juneau) yet, 
now encircled with good solid ground, and a populous ward. 
He has raised a family of boys, all of the sturdy western stamp, 
and one, Mr. Lewis Bleyer, is foreman of the office, where this 
book was published — the first child of German parents born in 
the county. 

Mr. Stein, the gunsmith, perched his house on the hill where 
market square is now, and looked over the rice-bound river to 
where Kilbourn and Vliet resided. 

V Speculation, which had been impending, broke out. /Vessels 
anchored in the bay, and boats, canoes and batteaux plied 
industriously from them to the shore. The Indian trails had 
been widened into roads. Mr. Sylvester Pettibone had ploughed 
up and commenced to fill in the main thoroughfare with soil, 
taken from a bank opposite where the Xewhall House now 



OF MILWAUKEE. 57 

stands. The grass was trodden down. New blood was being 
infused into the settlement. The merry ring of the hammers 
was heard on all sides. A post-office was wanted. The hotel 
was not sufficient to accommodate the strangers, and a new and 
larger one was commenced at the top of the hill which is now 
Wisconsin Street. Mr. Juneau, finding his log house insuf- 
ficient to accommodate his trade, commenced the erection of a 
large frame warehouse.* 

f Capitalists, mechanics, and even editors came. Strange faces 
were met on all the streets, and a pleasant bustle, ominous of 
the future, began to be heard, s 

The log house which Mr. Juneau had originally erected on 
the corner of Wisconsin and East Water Streets, for a trading- 
post, was a rude structure of unhewn trees. It faced the south, 
and had been formerly surrounded by a stockade for protection 
against the Indians. At the eastern end a shed was attached. 
This building formed the first gathering point and exchange 
for the merchants. When the frame storehouse was completed, 
the attraction was merely transferred from one to the other. It 
was about the door of this house that the business men and 
idlers congregated to hear the news and to "dicker." It was 
here that the mud-splashed postman from Green Bay or Mani- 
towoc rode up, and throwing his reins over the old pickets, told 
the price of land and furs, and who had died in the north since 
he last appeared. It was here that the tri-weekly mail from 
Chicago lumbered up, and while the worn-out horses were at- 
tended to by George Tiffany, the clerk of Mr. Juneau, the first 



* This building is still standing, it having been moved by Mr. Ludington when the 
brick block was built on the corner of East Water and Wisconsin. The building 
stands on East Water street, and is occupied by Mr. Noyea as a furniture factory. 



r 



8 THE CHRONICLES 



instalments of Gen. Jackson's message, the progress of the chol- 
era, or news of fresh Indian trouble,?, was dealt out. 

Here were wont to congregate, only twenty-five years ago, In- 
dians, pioneers and sailors, to hear long expected tidings, which 
had floundered through mud and forests and over prairies for 
weeks before they reached the settlement; on the same spot the 
merchants and multitude generally, now read from a bulletin the 
news of the world, which comes fresh and Quivering over the 
wires from every point of the compass, once a-day. 

It must not be supposed that this town had arrived at the 
dignity of two hundred people without a newspaper. 

We all know that a newspaper is inseparable from an Ameri- 
can settlement, With the meeting-house up goes the press, 
though the motives which prompt these two engines of civili- 
zation, are generally very different. There is scarcely an in- 
corporated swamp in the country without its weekly organ, 
either a "Banner of Freedom" or a "Herald of Liberty," and 
there is never a Lyceum lecture nor anniversary speech which 
does not represent the press leading off the van of civilization, 
a primal necessity of the intelligence and taste of the back- 
woodsmen who preceded it with their axes. 

The truth is, the first newspaper in a settlement is not de- 
manded by the people. The intelligence is as yet centered in 
a few land holders, whose profits are prospective, and who hang 
all their dependence on immigration. The starting of the first 
newspaper is a speculation. The real estate needs an organ, 
and the heaviest man invests liberally in the nearest " second 
hand " press ; agrees to take a thousand copies of the sheet, and 
a journeyman printer is induced to try his fortune at the thing. 
Then he learns the tug of war. Then he finds how little of 
the Herculean strength he possesses, and how poor a martyr he 
makes. Then his superhuman efforts to drag the pre-emption 



OF MILWAUKEE. 59 

out into the genial position of a county seat, or the full blaze 
of incorporated splendor, he finds are appreciated only by the 
owners of the pre-emption. 

A very instructive volume might be written oh the sufferings 
of printers who have been thus seduced into forlorn recesses by 
sanguine land holders, and who have afterwards undergone all 
the miseries enumerated in the catalogues of destitution and 
slavery. But they generally cling with a feline tenacity both 
to life and to the paper. Through all the mutations of trade, 
through privation, through every crisis, they raise their hebdorn- 
adal'song or wail, sometimes making merry at their own ago- 
nies, at others, stimulating the settlement in a new enterprise, 
and all the while begging in vain for "wood and potatoes" 
Precarious as seems the existence of the puny sheet, it be- 
comes apparent that there is a store of vitality in the journey- 
man printer; a fund of endurance and perseverance which is 
the true " stub and twist," that no adversity can break. He 
is a man of wire. He can go for days without food like the 
camel, when he has to cross some pecuniary desert, — he may 
suffer, but the paper shall not ! And if, in the course of na- 
ture and the fever and ague, he goes from the case to another 
world, or gives up the ghost in the editorial chair, there are a 
score of others just as tough and unflinching as he was, who 
will only wait for his body to be carried out, to come from the 
refinements of larger towns and take his place. 

There is not a malarious county seat of two houses and a 
liberty pole, so unhealthy, so abandoned, or so far removed 
from the pale of civilization, that an editor cannot be found to 
risk his life, (if not his sacred honor,) in the attempt to make 
a prosperous city of it with his pen and rollers; and it is no 
more than justice to say that, wherever they make the attempt, 
their efforts and results are more praiseworthy than praised, 



60 THE CHRONICLES 

and more successful than the superficial public perception 
always admits. 

With the issue of the first newspaper, a change takes place 
in the settlement. A conscious dignity pervades the freehold- 
ers. The town is no longer isolated. Paper currents begin to 
flow out in all directions. The social organism becomes con- 
crete. The slip-shod officials are circumspect out of regard to 
the record. Resolutions, carefully worded, and redolent with 
the advantages of the town, sprout from public meetings, and 
the poorest and most illiterate seem to feel that the first move- 
ment of that press which struck the first copy, stamped the 
wilderness with the distinctive mark of civilization. 

Then we begin to hear of the specific and superior advan- 
tages of the place. If a log school house is opened, it is with 
a rhetorical flourish that includes the "salubrious climate," 
and the "natural resources," as well as the "magnificent future 
which is to dawn upon us." And there is reason in all this 
inflation, as the future actually proves. 

In the latter part of the year 1835, I). H. Richards, who 
was in Chicago with a view of purchasing the Chicago Demo- 
crat, was induced to visit Milwaukie, and after some examina- 
tion he concluded that the latter place offered superior advan- 
tages, and decided upon establishing a press. On the 14th of 
July succeeding, the " Milwaukie Advertiser" made its appear- 
ance, on the west side. Mr. Richards made an arrangement 
with Col. Hans Crocker, who for some months was the sole 
editor. 

The difficulties attending the establishment of this, the first 
sheet in Milwaukie, were very great. Journeymen printers 
had to be brought from New York, and a year's supply of 
paper laid in. In appearance, it was, however, a respectable 
newspaper, and among the first contributors we find the names 



OF MILWAUKEE. 61 

of Byron Kilbourn, I. A. Lapham, Dr. L. I. Barber, J. H. 
Tweedy and J. A. Noonan. 

It was not till the next year that the east side was blessed 
with an organ, although the population in this section greatly 
preponderated. Mr. Juneau advanced the money, and in 
June, 1837, Mr. John O'Kourke came from New York with 
material for the "Milwaukie Sentinel." Mr. J. W. Chub- 
buck, now the accomplished editor of the " Central Wisconsin," 
"set" the first type, and struck off the first number of the 
p a p er — then considered a remarkably well-to-do sheet, but in 
fact very cadaverous and sallow by the side of itself to-day. 
This sheet threw its weight in favor of the east side, and the 
west warders soon found it was no paper weight. 

We find in an early number of this paper the following 
advertisement, which may be worth perusing: 

INDIAN GOODS. — The subscriber has received from the American Fur Company, 
and offers for sale on commission, a large and complete assortment of GOODS 
adapted to the Indian Trade, and now offers for sale cheap, at his residence, in the 
East Ward, among which may be found the following articles, viz: 
30 pieces blue, fancy, gray and white st Cloth, 

4 pieces Stroud, Broad and Narrow Cord, 

2 pieces fine Scarlet Cloth, 

3 pieces 'White and Blue Molten, 
50 pairs Three point English Blankets, 
75 pairs 2% do 
15 pairs 2 ~ do 
20 pairs % do 
'lb pairs 1 do 
10 pairs Large Scarlet 

5 pairs Large Blue 
100 pieces Prints, various patterns, 

4 pieces Black Silk Handkerchiefs, 

30 pieces Domestic Stripe and Plain Cotton, 
Together with Powder, Ribbons, Silver Work, 
Ornaments, Beads, Vermillion, Wampum, Worsted, 
Hatchets, Bridles, Saddles, Looking Glasses, 
Combs, Hawk Bells, Flints, North West Cutis, 

Rifles, Cartouch and Scalping Knives, and all sorts of Indian Fixings, which 
will be sold for Furs, Skins and cash. Cash paid for Furs of all kinds. 
novS SOLOMON JUNEAU. 

The prospects of a still larger immigration had induced sev- 
eral of the prominent men to entertain the idea of building a 
first class steamboat for the lake. A Mr. Hotaling, not long 



do 


do 


do 


do 


do 


do 


do 


do 




do 


do 


do 



62 THE CHRONICLES 

after the subject was opened, came to Milwaukie and induced 
Mr. Juneau to invest heavily in au enterprise which seemed to 
have rested altogether on the hypothesis that the people of 
Buffalo, N. Y., were as anxious that the Milwaukie folks 
should have a steamer as they, the Milwaukie people, were 
themselves. It could be built better and cheaper at Buffalo. 
It was imperative, and all put plausibly with reason ( Sauvitcr 
in modo.) Mr. Juneau invested heavily. 

For some reason, the Buffalo people did not afterwards evince 
the same anxiety to complete the undertaking that was man- 
ifested in Milwaukie. The thing dragged heavily, and final- 
ly Mr. Hotaling came again and applied to Juneau (fortiter 
in re) for an advance of ten thousand dollars. He had al- 
ready furnished seventeen thousand dollars, but with a lib- 
erality that was characteristic, he gave Mr. Hotaling a draft 
on the Green Bay Bank for the additional sum. 

This steamboat, which was known in an apocryphal way, 
as " The Milwaukie," was a most unfortunate affair. It cost 
Mr. Juneau the four lots upon which Young's Block now 
stands ; the lot, sixty by twenty, where the Sentinel building 
is located, and the lot, one hundred and twenty feet square, 
nearly opposite, all of which were put into "The Milwaukie," 
and failed to ballast her. A couple of years passed away, 
the matter growing more dubious all the while, when a par- 
ty, among which were Captain Cotton, Captain Caswell and 
Duncan C. Reed, on the third of July, left Milwaukie and 
proceeded to Buffalo, as they said, to bring back " The Mil- 
waukie" ('•/' et armis.~) 

They actually accomplished the feat. Getting possession of 
the vessel, they fired her up and started for home. Her ap- 
pearance was hailed with delight by the people of Milwau- 
kie. They flocked to the mouth of the river to enjoy the 



OF MILWAUKEE. 6 



9. 



spectacle which would be presented when the noble steamer 
leaped the sand-bars and performed all of Hogarth's curves 
in the great aquatic wiggle necessary to get into the stream. 
She got aground on the bar* and ignominiously refused to 
" budge" for several hours, during which time the enthusi- 
asm and the steam went down. 

The litigation and vexation which followed were enormous. 
The worthy gentlemen who brought the hulk all the way from 
Buffalo, did not seem to be aware that she towed a very dis- 
agreeable law suit after her, or they might have left her in 
the Porte du Morte. She was afterwards sold to Mr. New- 
bery, her engine taken out and put into the " Nile," which 
was subsequently destroyed. The litigation eventually result- 
ed in a compromise. Mr. Newbery making a settlement with 
Mr. Stevens, the first party from whom the boat had been 
taken. Mr. Juneau receiving about one-eighth of his orig- 
inal investment, inclusive of a large amount of steamboat fur- 
niture, niattrasses, &c, which he removed to his dwelling. 

About a week after the adventure of Mrs. Purcell, with 
the Indian, the same savage was murdered on East Water 
Street, in front of Wm. Brown's store, in a drunken melee, 
by two men, Joseph Scott and Cornelius Bennett. This In- 



* About two years ago a small package of old and scarcely legible letters, bits of 
newspaper and scraps of manuscript, were sent to the Sentinel office, by a build- 
er, well-known in Milwaukee; who, in an accompanying letter, stated that he had 
found them under the flooring of an old house, in the Fourth Ward, which had 
just been torn down. Among those papers was the following epigram, which it 
now occurs to us must have had an allusion to 6ome such occurrenco as that just 
related. Had the major said it the author would have reaped the credit: 

Our good man is happy, when not on the sea — 

When the wind blows from the South, 
And though he's as pleasant, as pleasant can be, 
Of late he's much dawn in the month. 



64 THE CHRONICLES 

dian's name is recorded " £ Manitou," but this is evidently a 
mistake, it may have been Manitou or Maniton. Scott and 
Bennett was examined before Justice N. F. Hyer, and con- 
veyed to the log jail by H. M. Hubbard, the first Deputy 
Sheriff of Milwaukee County. * 

The Indians were very much excited in consequence of 
this murder, and fears were entertained that they would seek 
to avenge the death of their comrade, by killing some of the 
whites. They collected in a body about the store of Mr. 
Juneau and even threatened the town because the white men 
were not given up to them. Mr. Juneau, however, suceed- 
ed in pacifying them with presents, and promises that the 
prisoners would meet with strict justice. 

On the night of the twenty-sixth of April, 1837, the 
white men escaped from the jail, by jumping over the pick- 
ets, and made their way to Indiana, where Scott was sub- 
sequently hanged for another criminal offence. 



* The sheriff of the county was appointed by the Goxernor of Michigan, and re- 
sided at Green Bay. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Tim Wooden, His Last Words — Jesper Vliet's Adventure with the Indians — Hicko- 
ry Bullets, and Grey Wolves. 

Tim Wooden was one of those original characters who 
are always deserving of notice. Where he came from, few 
ever knew. He seemed to have developed with the country, 
and had insensibly become part and parcel of the west side 
characteristics. Tim had two peculiarities. He was pro- 
foundly stingy, and lazy to a point that was almost sublime. 
The precarious livelihood which he may be said to have ac- 
cepted rather than earned, was the result' of wood chopping 
and occasional "jobs" for the settlers. He is said to have 
set over a pile of wood for several days, undetermined 
whether to commence the labor or to leave it; and had been 
found asleep in the stable, leaning against the horse's flank, 
with the currycomb in his hand. His first appearance be- 
fore the public, was as the proprietor of a " dug out," on 
Walker's Point, where he consented to paddle travellers over 
for a consideration, though at considerable risk, for he fre- 
quently gave way to an internal struggle between his two 
failings while in the middle of the stream, and if laziness 
conquered, the astonished passenger might expect to drift 
half a mile down the stream, while the pittiless Charon wrapt 
himself in a profound indifference which only the offer of a 
considerable sum would effectually dispel. 

A rather laughable account is given of Tim's method of hunt- 
ing coons. 



6G the chronic; 

Jesper Vliet, at this time a mere lad of twelve or fourteen, 
but already quite a N imrod, probably shot more coons than any 
other person in the settlement. His father's house stood upon 
what is now called Quentin's park, but what was then known 
as "The Knoll." Youna: Vliet had heard that a man living 
twelve miles north, owned a fine "coon dog", and fully appre- 
ciating the value of such a treasure, he started out to find the 
owner. A walk of twelve miles was a very insignificant feat to 
the youth of those days, Vliet found the owner of the ani- 
mal and was shown the dog, a splendid specimen of the canine 
race, being a colossal stag-hound. The man went into a pane- 
gyric over the hound, and gave such a glowing description of 
his coon-hunting qualities that Vliet was in raptures. The ani- 
mal, as though wearied with such fulsome praises, yawned con- 
tinually, showing his great white teeth. A trade was concluded, 
and young Vliet started for home with his acquisition, feeling 
more like a lord than ever before. He had his rifle with him, 
thrown into the hollow of his arm, and trotting leisurely behind 
him was the dosr, which ever and anon he turned round to 
speak to in an affectionate manner, giving the string about his 
neck a playful jerk which was always responded to by a yawn. 

It so happened that just about nightfall he reached a piece 
of swamp, and emerging from a strip of brush, to cross what 
is called a "swail" by means of a felled tree, his quick eye 
caught sight of a hugh grey wolf which had just placed his paws 
upon the opposite end of the log to cross the ditch. Vliet's 
blood was fired in a minute. Grey wolves were no mean ene- 
mies, and their skins were worth a fortune to a lad. He step- 
ped back into the brush, and felt a new dignity come over him. 
Patting the hound on the head, he proceeded to encourage him, 
and then unfastened the thong from his neck. "Fun" — that 
was the canine's name — yawned in acquiescence, and stretched 
himself out on the ground. 



OF MILWAUKEE. )7 

The wolf stood almost erect, with his feet on the log. He 
had seen the boy and the dog, and was undetermined how to 
act. Vliet had no bullets; they were scarce in the settlement 
at times, and always cost money. He, however, had a substi- 
tute. In his pocket were a few hickory balls, neatly rounded 
and smoothed with a jack knife, which ingenuity had often 
made answer for lead. Putting one of these in his rifle, he 
drew it upon the wolf with a true aim, and had the satisfaction 
to see the hugh animal spring into the air and fall over on his 
back. Then he called upon "Fun" and was about to run out 
on the log to complete the work. The hunter was surprised to 
find " Fun" on his back, with his feet quivering in the air, and 
his body undergoing all the spasms that accompany a "fit." 
Supposing the poor canine to be taken ill, the boy re-loaded his 
rifle with another hickory bullet, and succeeded in dispatching 
the wolf, after which, to his great joy, Fun rapidly recovered. 

Several other instances which occurred soon after, convinced 
our Nixnrod that "Fun" was subject to spasms whenever there 
was danger, and as it is the only instance on record of a hunt- 
ing dog being regularly overcome by cowardice, we have 
thought it worthy of mention, for the benefit of those nat- 
uralists and savans who give more attention to quadmmana 
than they do to himana. Jesper Vliet, however, still believed 
that "Fun" would retrieve his honor with the coons, and some 
time after, in company with a young friend and Tim Wooden, 
they started for a coon hunt. It seems their custom was to 
start the dog into the timber to tree the coon, while the men 
stayed behind until the barking announced that the game was 
discovered. As Fun was supposed to au fait in the coon 
business, he was sent out, and on all occasions he remained out 
until he was recalled, and no one ever heard a bark or a howl 
from his well-trained jaws. Finally, as the hunters grew sua- 



68 THE CHRONICLES 

picious; they, on one occasion, sent Wooden into the timber to 
see what the dog was "up to," and as Wooden did not return, 
they started themselves, and at length found Fun curled up on 
a bed of leaves, under a tree, fast asleep, and Wooden near by 
" doing likewise." This was another new trait in the canine. 
It was now but too apparent that on all former occasions he 
had availed himself of the opportunities to take a nap, leaving 
his master in the pleasant expectation of his treeing number- 
less coons. Whatever reputation Fun may have lost as a hun- 
ter, it is certain he gained in proportion as a " cunning dog." 
Perhaps the best of the story is the lesson which the brute 
taught Tim — how to cheat his employers out of an extra nap. 

One other instance of Tim Wooden's peculiarities, and we 
leave him. His laziness partook of the nature of sublimity on 
certain occasions. There is no doubt that had he been elected 
Member of Congress,. and had a fly lit on his nose he would 
have moved the appointment of a committee to brush it off. 
It is related that a party of Menomonees — who probably un- 
derstood his character — once enticed him out to Milwaukie 
Falls,* and then led him to believe that they wanted his scalp. 
They fastened him to a tree and piled wood around him. with 
all the semblance of true ferocity, and made preparations to 
burn him. 

When the arrangements were completed, the chief approach- 
ed Tim and whispered in his ear that the whites had former- 
ly shown considerable mercy to him, and in return he would 
cut his bands and let him return to Milwaukie. provided he 
never informed who did it. 

"W^alk twenty miles!" ejaculated the heroic Tim, whom 



* Now Grafton. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 69 

fire could not intimidate. " If you lend me one of your horses, 
HI agree to it ! " 

This story may be taken with all allowance. The author 
of this work does not believe it, and can not consistently 
expect his readers to, but it illustrates Tim's character very 
well. 

It is, however, true, that Wooden was afterwards employ- 
ed at logging in the vicinity of the Falls, and had one of his 
legs broken by the desent of a log down the side of a hill. 
When the tree started, Tim .was informed of the danger in 
time to avoid it, by the shouts of his companions, but it seems 
he was undergoing one of those internal struggles, and rather 
than expend so much vital force in jumping, he let the log 
come, which broke his leg. 

Tim died with the cholera, a few years later. When in 
the last stages of the disease, one of his west side friends ap- 
proached him and said : 

"Tim, I believe you are dying." 

To which the hero yawned, and replied : 

" I ain't doin' anything else." 

These were the last words he ever uttered. 

Some time after Vliet's adventure with the wolf, he par- 
ticipated in another, with the Indians. 

While leaning upon the fence, about his father's house, one 
evening, a savage came up the road and addressed him in bro- 
ken English. His appearance denoted long travel, and when 
he said that he came all the way from Canada, the boy did not. 
doubt it. His moccasins were worn so that the toes protruded 
— his leggins were torn and incrusted with mud. There was 
that, however, in his mien which betrayed the chief. There 
was an encampment of Indians some five miles to the north- 
west and this he was in search of. Young Vliet offered to 



THE CHRONICLES 

ide him to the lodges, and the two set out together, but not 
until the boy had brought the wanderer a cup of fresh milk 
and a slice of "johnny cake" from the house. In the route 
they passed the swail where Vliet had formerly shot the 
wolf, and as the boy related the adventure, to his compan- 
ion, he noticed the admiration which gleamed from his dark 
eyes. 

On arriving at the encampment, or "planting ground," the 
boy saw at once that the stranger was a chief of great renown. 
The stoical reception did not prevent him from becoming 
aware that the arrival of this distinguished guest had lone 
been expected, and that unusual ceremonies were about to be 
performed in his honor. Young Vliet was anxious to get 
away, but the Indians would not permit it. They passed 
him the " Kin-ne-hin-nick" to smoke. The squaws offered 
him venison, and taking his seat outside of the circle of war- 
riors, he became a silent spectator of the proceedings. 

They smoked in silence, not simultaneously but consecutive- 
ly, the pipe being passed from mouth to mouth in order of 
rank, the distinguished guest being allowed to inhale the pre- 
cious weed first. The curiosity of the boy led him to hope the 
chief would give an account of himself and his travels, but, 
however anxious his red brethern may have been to hear his 
recital, no one importuned him, and naught save a few gutteral 
"ough's" escaped from their lips with the Kin-ne-hin-nick va- 
pour. 

At length the chief rose, and with him the assembly, and 
then commenced a wild scene of rejoicing. Each of the men, 
seizing a brand from the fire, flourished it over his head, join- 
ing in a wild dance, shouting in a terrific manner. 

However exciting this display, it soon became wearisome to 
Vliet, and he made another attempt to leave the camp. The 



OP MILWAUKEE. 71 

Indians, who gathered about him, endeavored in their limited 
English to persuade him to stay; one savage said : 

" Makec fay with warrior and shoot wolf." 

But the boy preferred to shoot wolves about the settlement, 
and replied that he would not go with them. 

" Makee go !" said the Indian with much meaning, at 
which young Yliet laughed in an incredulous manner. 

" Makee go, and come big warrior." 

"No, I thank you," said the boy, "my white friends 
wouldn't think of it. 

"Not want shoot wolf?" 

"Yes, but my father wants me home again." 

It was evident from this that the stranger had told them of 
his prowess with the grey wolf, and also that it was their in- 
tention to retain him in their band if possible. Another sa- 
vage tempted him by a description of the Butte des Morts 
Lake,* where they intended to remove their encampment. But 
their persuasions were of no effect, the young man was deter- 
mined to return. As a last inducement, one of the squaws 
sung him a song in no siren voice, accompanying herself on a 
gourd. This touched Vliet's pride, and, having a tine voice, he 
proposed to sing himself, if only to show them that they knew no- 
thing about the art. The rude beings gathered around, and the 
boy placed on a log with the glare of their fires lighting up his 
form and features, proceeded to sing for them in a clear music- 
al voice the time-honored strains of "Old Lang Syne." 

He saw that they were pleased, and though no applause fol- 



* If the accounts are to be believed, this lake must have been a paradise for sports- 
men. According to Mrs. Kinzie's narrative, the folks avoincs or wild rice grew in 
great profusion, and the duck and teal congregated on the banks in countless flocks. 
So tender were the birds from eating this food exclusively, that it was necessary to 
shoot them when flying low, otherwise the fall would dash them to pieces. 



72 THE CHRONICLES 

< 

lowed him, except the characteristic "ough" and the senten- 
tious "good" by the chief, he felt encouraged to make another 
exhibition of his vocal powers. He then sang u The harp that 
once through Tara's halls;" the savages listened as though spell- 
bound and the spirit of the song, if not the phraseology, seem- 
ed to be understood. 

When he had concluded, the men took up their torches, and 
one of them signified to Vliet that he might now go, and they 
would accompany him. This they did, escorting him to his 
father's gate, with torches, making the first torch-light proces- 
sion that had probably ever passed over the soil in honor of a 
white being. 



CHAPTER X. 

Revulsions of 1837 — How the Sectional Difficulty Originated — Byron Kilbourn &ad 
Solomon Juneau Contrasted. 

4 

• The Spring of 1837 brought with it the gloom of a financial 
revulsion. The bright anticipations of the spccrlators were 
doomed to disappointment. Where but just now was the fever 
of trade, succeeded stagnation and depression. /Immigration 
fell off. Currency, such as it was, elicited only suspicion. The 
sanguine holders of real estate looked at their lands, but pur- 
chasers were " ridiculous to think of." It was doubted whether 
the payments already due, could ever be collected. Money 
disappeared from the settlement as effectually as though some 
financial St. Patrick had published a ban. Michigan "wild cats" 
poured in to supply its place, making about as good a substitute 
as a bill of fare will for a dinner. 

Men, when they begin to starve for money, like wolves, begin 
to howl. The man who howls the loudest, is conceded to be 
the most hungry. " Hard times" was the solo and chorus. No 
other string could be touched until this was fingered to pieces. 
The doors of improvement were close shut and barred as though 
the outside crisis was infectious. The hitherto sprightly settle- 
ment, full of the vigor and strength of enterprise and ambition, 
was effectually muzzled and tied up for the season. Then came 
the croakers who follow like the pilot fish in the wake of a crisis. 
They had "always predicted it." — "Did'nt we tell you sol" — 

6 



74 THE CHRONICLES 

" Milwaukee will never amount to a third-rate village." — " Spe- 
culation has eaten its vitals out already !" 

/ Quite a number of settlers sold out and made claims in the 
interior, and to this the croakers pointed as a sure beginning 
of the ultimate extinction of the settlement. One or two dis- 
covered that nature never intended a town to be built here. 
The location was surrounded by swamps, which were sacred to 
the fever and ague. Man, presumptuous man, was now paying 
the forfeit of his folly ! Several of these pilot fish also assert- 
ed that "so long as Kilbourn insisted on building up the west 
side, no reasonable person could expect to see a town. The 
two sides were separated, the intention was to build two cities, 
and a man with half an eye might see that one would cut the 
other's throat." 

This accusation in regard to Mr. Kilbourn was repeated in 
different shapes and always unjustly. 

In November, 1834, Byron Kilbourn, who had travelled all 
the way from Columbus, Ohio, on horseback, in company with 
Garret Vliet and others, came down from Green Bay on an In- 
dian pony and made his entree into Milwaukie. They had ex- 
perienced numberless hardships on the route from the Bay, 
and one beautiful morning the party appeared on the summit 
of what was then Chestnut Hill, over which the street of 
that name now passes. 

The picture presented to them from this summit was refresh- 
ing. The ridge of the hill upon which they stood, ran off gra- 
dually for nearly a mile, when the spur was lost in the level 
ground. Beyond was the location of the future Milwaukie, 
now a tract of alluvium, diversified by a few eminences, which, 
for want of a better name, might be called bluffs; the blue 
stream, winding between rice-covered banks and spreading out 
into a marshy lake before it reached the sea. Indian planting 



OF MILWAUKEE. 75 

grounds and oak openings marked the level country, and beyond,, 
the white surf of the lake gleaming, as it broke on the almost 
desolate shore. 

At this time, the Michigan Street bluff commenced, just 
opposite where the Newhall House now stands. On its sum- 
mit, were planted thick the graves of the former lords of the 
soil. On the opposite side of the river — skirting the little 
tributary of the Milwaukie River — ran what was called the 
Menomonee Hill, a greater part of which has since been con- 
verted into bricks, some of which have found their way into 
New- York, and even England. The brow of this bluff was 
marked by an Indian village; the lodges of bark and brush, 
appearing bold and well-defined against the winter's sky. 

All this was visible to the travellers on Chestnut Hill, the 
smoke of the wigwams curled up lazily, and a canoe here and 
there glided among; the thickets of the wild-rice. There was 
nothing to tempt the lover of civilized comforts in the view, 
and however pleasant to travellers, who had long been buried 
in forests, it was hardly such a scene as would have made an 
artist enthusiastic. But Mr. Kilbourn's was a practical eye. 
It measured the swamps, and followed the graceful curve of 
the river, and he came to practical, and, as the future revealed, 
truthful conclusions before he had reached the end of the spur. 

What those conclusions were, became evident in his imme- 
diate steps. A survey of the locality, in which the geograph- 
ical and natural advantages were all noted, led to his purchase 
of a tract on the west side of the river, with a mile and a half 
of water-front, and an infinity of morass. No sooner had he 
secured his patent than, with characteristic energy, he com- 
menced the necessary steps for the redemption of the land. 
To many persons this would have been an unpromising under- 
taking. A tamarack swamp, bristling on its outskirts with 



TO THE CHUONICI.ES 

black alder and ash, would not inspire a sluggard with many 
hopes of founding a city, The reader need not suppose that 

this was all the work of a few days, Long and tedious trips to 

Washington and to Green Bay were to be undergone, and the 

only three railroads in the country were in Massachusetts;* 

labor was seareo.and it was, therefore, a year later before actual 
operations were eommer.eed. Mr. Kilbourn entered into a 
eontraet with two men. named Parsons and Wood, to clear 
the swamp; during the winter of '86, another eontraet was 
made with parties to construct a stationary bridge over the 
Monoiuonee. Those constituted the most important prelimi- 
naries, and having completed the arrangements, Mr. Kilbourn 
started for Washington tO OOmplete his business with the IV 

Iment. 

During his absence, a run i riginated on the opposite 

side oi' the river, that he WSfl a mere speculator and would 
never be soon in Milwaukee again. 

It was then customary for the c - to meet at tie post 

office, a small edifice put ■ Mr •' at of his 

hoi d where A. O. T. Breed kept the letters, together with 

a mo supply v( smoked rewire, salt pork, molasses, 

■.ml whiskey. Here the gOSE - OVCT their pi; es. di>- 

CUSSed the intentions oi' the r.ew-<. omer on the other side, and 

many Bage and BUS ens surmises were thrown out. The 

genera) conclusion o( the two or three wiseacres who ruled 

the "roost" in this, as in all other c Wl - thai Mr 

Kilbourn was a sharper. Parsons was bold that he had a 
pretty pood thing of it. if his man ever came back, but — 



*BwlM tad Protldtace R. K. opened June 2, lS."v>. V \ston ami IawvII, Jan* 

T, a- \ I'm*:.".: :\ .'..: Worcester. Juljf v. of the sang year. 



OP MILWAUKEE. 77 

Then followed a clause for the supply of such deductions as 
might come easiest. 

"Kilbourn was a very fine man, but" — 

" He had given out a terrible fine job to Parsons and 
Wood, but" — 

"They might make a snug thing of it, if he ever paid them 
anything, but" — 

"People who came and bought so much land and went off 
to Washington, generally sold out before they got back. There 
wasn't fthe slightest doubt of Mr. Kilbourn's corning back, 
but"— 

One man suddenly remembered how queer he had looked 
when making the bargain with Parsons. He remarked "how 
cute he seemed out of the eyes — he'd noticed it before in 
sharpers." 

And that reminded a venerable gossip of respectable mien, 
"that an honest man would never have been so precious careful 
about having the job all sprung beforehand, if he was coming 
back again, to tend to it." 

In this way they accumulated their huts and sagacious obser- 
vation, until Kilbourn became, to all intents and purposes, a 
butt himself, and, to Parsons' credulous eyes, expanded into 
the proportions of a monstrous speculative griffin, from whose 
clutches he had only providentially escaped. Nothing posi- 
tively derogatory was said, but a great deal was laid open to 
inference. The west-sider was anatomized every night. Know- 
ing fellow-:, with pleasant corners to their eyes and prophetic 
angles to their mouths, would ask of Parsons — 

" Heard anything of your man since ?" 

Parsons, from a continual habit of answering the question 
in one way. got to shaking his head negatively all the while, 
as though Byron Kilbourn and his wickedness had turned it. 



78 THE CHRONICLES 

" You couldn't catch Mm clearing the swamp ! Do you think 
I'm a fool ? Poor men couldn't work for nothing, not a bit 
of it." So Parsons did not clear, because he believed Mr. 
Kilbourn had. 

Wood, however, was just stubborn enough to commence his 
part of the job in the face of a positive swindle. In fact he 
snapped his fingers in their faces, though when at the post 
office he joined in, and out did all of them in insinuations, and 
the next morning would be at work among the tamarack. 
Wood was one of those individuals who have false drawers in 
their systems, in which they keep their own opinions locked 
up safe, and who act without any other papers than those 
properly endorsed by their own judgment. 

He worked along, though the season was drawing to a close, 
and nothing had been seen of "that man." 

The party, to whom the contract of constructing the bridge 
had been given, got out the timber, which was floated down the 
stream, moored within gun-shot of its destination and left, until 
a turn in events should offer some encouragement to go on. 

The spring freshet came and washed the logs out into the 
lake, which was the only turn given to the matter. Parsons 
congratulated himself on being a wiser man than certain other 
folks. AVood was looked upon as too stubborn to know what 
was for his own crood. 

When the matter had become settled beyond all controversy, 
and "our man" was talked of with sundry nods and winks and 
"I told you so's," he, "our man" himself, turned up in a very 
natural and business-like manner, as though his coming back 
had been a foregone conclusion from the first. He found a 
greater portion of his tamarack in the state of picturesque and 
primitive chaos in which he had left it. Parsons opened his eyes 
the widest of all, though he stretched them even a point fur- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 79 

thcr, when the wiseacres assured him, they had never meant 
what they said about Kilbourn, it was only a way of talking 
they had. Whether Parsons believed them or not, we do not 
know. If he had the average amount of common sense, he 
knew they lied as all wiseacres do, as soon their predictions turn 
out to be false. 

Mr. Kilbourn was now compelled to undergo an additional 
outlay, to get the land cleared in a season when the marsh was 
almost inaccessible. We have alluded to these facts, unimport- 
ant in themselves, to point out what seems to have been the 
first indication of a sectional feeling, destined afterwards to be- 
come a local curse. 

Mr. Kilbourn was then, as now, a man of good judgment, 
quick perceptions and a great deal of executive ability. What 
he planned, was executed without regard to public opinion, in 
the confidence which his experience had taught him to place in 
his own judgment. The plan of building up the west side was 
a practical one, the result of a keen appreciation of the advan- 
tages of the location and an assurance of his own power to ex- 
ecute. There is not an act of his during the early history of 
the town, which displayed a desire to make separate cor- 
porations of the east and west side. The same enterprise 
which characterized Juneau in a less practical degree, induced 
him to lay off the plat in lots. Self-interest, which induced 
the improvements, never would have suggested a division of 
the incipient city as a means of strengthening either section. 
That he afterwards became identified with those citizens who 
resented what was thought to be usurpations of power by the 
east-siders, and entered into all the local difficulties with what- 
ever bia3 his residence in the west ward may have caused, is 
not only likely,' but true, and yet there is nothing to show that 
by word or deed Byron Kilbourn ever advocated or aided any 



80 THE CHRONICLES 

echeme which was detrimental to the ultimate interests of the 
town as a whole. 

Mr. Juneau and himself occupied from the first, conspicuous 
and important relative positions, but they not only never became 
rivals in the full and better sense of that term, but there is 
reason to believe, were warm personal friends until Mr. Juneau's 
death. 

They were men widely different in character and in mental 
organization. Juneau was an impulsive, generous and whole- 
eouled Frenchman, with few of those harsher qualities which 
are essential in the business man. He seems never to have 
been governed by policy, but always by his heart. His excel- 
lent sense was not always wisdom, nor was his discretion always 
Buffered to outweigh his feelings. Of a lofty and honorable 
nature, he too, was credulous, and being honest himself and sup- 
posing all who professed to be his friends were honest also, he 
was frequently swayed by other minds, even after his own had 
been made up. Such men are generally the victims of their 
friends. Nor was Mr .^Juneau entirely an exception. A cer- 
tain few managed to retain his confidence early in the history 
of the town and to use it on many occasions for their own self- 
ish ends. His simple but stern integrity forbade any attempt 
to make him recognize or consort with villany, but his credulity 
was not proof against deceit. His straight-forward mind com- 
prehended only truth; the intricacies of diplomacy and the 
maze of politics were distasteful. Here we see the broad dif- 
ference in the men. Mr. Kilbourn possesses a comprehensive 
mind, a strong will and an executive brain; a positive organi- 
zation, fitted by nature for contact with every phase of 
humanity; quick in measuring an antagonist, fertile in expedi- 
ents, with a great deal of that worldly wisdom, which in small 
matters often amounts to prophecy. Both men honorable, but 



OF MILWAUKEE. 81 

one governed in worldly matters by an established code, the 
other by generous dictates which not unfrequently brought him 
no return, but the satisfaction experienced in their performance. 
They were widely different in intellectual acquirement. One 
was a frontier man whose education had been received amid the 
vicissitudes of a venturesome life ; the other a man of that ac- 
quired intelligence and refinement, which is the lore and law 
of education, — and yet these two men came together, and never 
a suspicious or unfriendly thought disturbed the relationship 
which sprung up, until selfish tongues poured into the ears of 
one the scandal of maliciousness, and even then the friendship 
was unbroken. They transacted business, entering into private 
arrangements for their mutual benefit, transferring claims and 
sustaining an understanding which was strangely at variance 
with the sectional discords, that rased about them. 

Mr. Kilbourn commenced the improvement of his land with 
a vigorous determination, and in a little while the two solitary 
houses belonging to himself and Garrett Vliet, were separated 
by a score of others. The Menomonee Bridge was built, the 
swamp was cleared, and before the east siders were scarcely 
aware of the fact, a steamboat was plying on the river and a 
newspaper had been started. The inevitable results of en- 
terprise and energy were here to be seen, and a few of the east 
siders grew alarmed. The opposite shore was going ahead too 
fast — true there was every indication that the east side was to 
be the central and business portion of the city, but the pros- 
perity on the other shore awoke a jealousy in the minds of a 
few, and as they could not communicate their sentiments as 
freely as they liked, they baited them with a few plausible 
lies, in which Kilbourn was the principal sufferer, and tlie 
credulous swallowed all. 

In 1837, when the fever of speculation had passed off, and 



82 THE CHRONICLES 

with it all the money, the dissatisfaction, as we have seen, took 
a local direction. The general prostration seemed to threaten 
the town with decimation; many moved out and made claims 
in the interior. The few who came were discouraged,* and 
either pushed on further or returned. 

But this pause in affairs was only to take a fresh start. 
The country was gradually rilling up around. Captain Gilbert 
Knapp had commenced at Racine, and there was now a 
flourishing village there. Charles Durkee, and others, were 
building up Southport — now Kenosha. Fond du Lac, where 
Thomas Green had erected the first log house, in 1836, was 
also growing. The villages on the lake shore showed signs of 
life, and there was still a gradual increase of settlers, though 
the number was less than during the excitements of the pre- 
vious years. 

At this time, Matthew Keenan, who has since risen by his 
own honorable exertions to a conspicuous position, was a mere 
lad, and superintended the barge which formed the only apol- 
.ogy for a ferry at the foot of Wisconsin Street; performing 
the laborious task of propelling the vessel by turning a crank. 
From this humble commencement, Mr. Keenan, by perse- 
verance, has become a wealthy and influential citizen, being 
one of the many instances in the history of our city of men 
with those essential requisites of self-respect and determina- 
tion, making a fortune and a character in a few years. 

Mr. Kilbourn had built three vessels. The " Badger," a 



*I made my way first to Wisconsin, in the fall of '3S. I spent one day in Mil- 
waukee — much of what is now the Third, Fourth and Fifth Wards were suhmerged 
— no side-walks — no streets. Speculation had raged through the years of '36 and 
'7, and now everything wa3 prostrated. And surely a more desolate, down-to-the- 
heel, elip-shod-looking place could scarcely be found than Milwaukie, in October, 
1S38.— E. D. Holton's Address. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 83 



steamboat, built to carry passengers to and from the steamboats 
in the bay, — and the schooners " Savannah" and "Bolivar." 
In '38, he built the steamer " Menomonee," to ply on the riv- 
er. The new hotel, on Wisconsin Street, "The Bellevue," 
was in operation and doing a good business; two or three 
small taverns were also established on the west side. 

The organization of the town on the east side in 1837, re- 
sulted in the election of Solomon Juneau, for President, and 
Samuel Henman, Win. A. Prentiss, George D. Dousrnan, and 
Dan. Wells, Jr., for Trustees, and H. N. Wells, Clerk. Al- 
most simultaneously the west side was organized as Kilbourn- 
town. Byron Kilbourn, President; James H. Rogers, John 
H. Tweedy, William R. Longstreet, and Daniel H. Richards, 
Trustees. This distinct organic relationship was natural, and 
at once developed the rivalry and jealousy of the settlers on 
either side. The moment that two towns were in existence, 
side by side, a tussle commenced for supremacy. Though, as 
we have said, Kilbourn and Juneau were not only not conspicu- 
ous in the acts of petty hostility, but actually deprecated the 
feeling, and were instrumental in bringing about an act of 
the Territorial Legislature in 1839, by which the two towns 
were consolidated as the Town of Milwaukee with two wards — 
the East and West. 

On the 18th day of May, 1839, an election of Trustees of 
the Town of Milwaukie was held, and Elisha Starr elected 
President. This consolidation did not eradicate all sectional 
feeling. There were those who said the west siders had 
brought about the union to reap the benefits which were ac- 
cruing to their neighbors, and certain of the west siders avow- 
ed that it was the work of those on the opposite shore who 
wished to get all the power in their hands and do as they 
pleased with both wards. 



84 THE CHRONICLES 

This species of sectionality is become a characteristic of the 
Americans. For want of real enemies abroad they draw ima- 
ginary lines and quarrel grandiloquently among themselves, to 
work off an overpressure of vitality. Not only the nation, but 
states, communities, sects and families, all have a Mason and 
Dixon's line, which affords all the healthy recrimination that is 
essential to the stimulation and prosperity of the contending 
opposites. It may be looked upon as excessively foolish by 
foreigners, who hear "eternally" of "dissolution," "civil war," 
aggression, repulsion and state rights, and who wait through a 
long decade in expectation of seeing the belligerents annihilate 
one another, only to be disappointed ; but what foreigner can 
understand the peculiar institutions of our political and social 
organization ! Some of them — calm observers — chant a mono- 
logue on tranquility and harmony, as though life was not a fight 
and tranquility not death. The very harmony of our system are 
its beautiful discords, its recuperative antagonisms and delight- 
ful theoretical wars, affording remunerative employment to a 
whole army of industrious editors, statesmen and essayists. 

Americans must ferment; and this leaven of excitement, 
which leavens and lightens the whole lump, is undoubtedly as 
essential to our happiness as alcohol is to the inebriate. The 
moment an American ceases to tremble with attraction and re- 
pulsion, he is of no more value than an unmagnetized needle, 
and he should turn about and go to England where one may 
vegetate in a kind of silent political oysterdom, undisturbed bj 
coming catalysms. 

The Milwaukie river was the dividing line with our settlers. 



CHAPTER XI. 



The Rapid Growth of tho Settlement — Antoine Lo Claire — Investments at She-bojr- 
gan — Col . Walker — Experience of Gen. Crawford. 



A 



The increase of population in the settlement, from the date 
of Juneau's first arrival to 1837, is unexampled in the history 
even of western cities./ We have seen the traders put up their 
temporary huts ; Solomon Juneau builds himself a log house, 
not with any hope of a populous city springing up about him, 
before he shall have fairly become acclimated. We have seen 
a trading post expand in four years to a lively town; from a 
mere cache for furs and trinkets to a hive of industry. In 
1834, the city was a waste of swamp and beds of alluvium, on 
which a few stunted oaks clustered and trembled in the north- 
west wind. The population was savage. Indian huts rose along 
the margin of the streams, and the only cultivation was in the 
miserable planting grounds above the marshes. In 1836, par- 
allel rows of stores were to be seen through the oaks. A lib- 
erty-pole (from which the name of Martin Van Buren flutter- 
ed) rose above the bluffs. Vessels were anchored in the bay, 
and the beach was alive with strangers and storekeepers, and 
freighted with goods. The very topography of the country was 
changed in the course of a few years, and solid ground, cover- 
ed with tenements, rose out of the water. The hills lost their 
timber and smiled with gardens. The bluffs gave way to streets, 
and the river teemed, not with Indians gathering wild rice, but 
with adventurers from the east, attracted by the prospect of 



86 THE CHRONICLES 

making a fortune. In 1834, there were not a dozen white 
settlers in the place. In 1837, the population was between six 
and seven hundred. But, even at this period it must not be 
supposed that the transformation was complete. The travellers, 
who came up the stream on the little " Badger" or "Menomo- 
nee" from the vessels in the harbor, saw little to encourage 
them, until they had reached that portion of the place which 
was opposite Kilbcurntown. 

The city was approached by nearly two miles of tortuous 
channel, through a wet morass ; the little steamers having to 
paddle through the maze of wild rice and grass from the 
mouth of the river to Wells street. * 

The two or three trails, which were afterwards converted in- 
to roads, offered no inducements to travellers, unless they car- 
ried bridges with them and had a large stock of horse flesh 
to fall back upon. 

When we take into consideration the almost inaccessible po- 
sition of Milwaukie, with no harbor and no roads, her growth 
is astonishing, and succeeding years were more productive still 
of wonderment. To those who have grown up with the place, 
its rapid progress is not so apparent; but if one of the early 



* These steamers were curiosities in their way, and if in existence at this day of 
floating palaces, would be put in glass cases and kept as mementoes of a former age. 
They were limited by two or three authorities to one. two and three horse power, 
and it is said, the whole town was notified of their approach by the "most diabolical 
puffing and blowing and paddling, which stirred up the river and washed away the 
banks." The trip from Kilbcurntown to the mcuth if the river was quite a voyage, 
and when the wheels were not tied up by the wild grass, was a safe and expeditious 
one. The west-siders were justly prcud of their steamers, and when, at a later day, 
they went into the towing business, express agreements were made with the captains 
of the sailing vessels, that no canvas should be hoisted while being towed, for on one 
occasion a reckless captain had hoisted his jib, and to the horror of all on shore, and 
despite the furious paddling of the little steamboat, had actually sailed away with 
her into the lake. 



OP MILWAUKEE. 87 

traders, who knocked at the door of the wilderness in the be- 
ginning of the century, should return now, his surprise would 
be proportionate to our increase. 

Such a case has occurred. In 1804, Le Claire, in company 
with John Kinzie, (father of John Kinzie, late of Chicago,) 
established a trading post here and sold trinkets to the Potta- 
wottamies. 

Antoine Le Claire accompanied his father. He was but a 
youth, but all the impressions received were deep. There were 
eight other traders here at this early day. In 1810, Le Claire 
went to Peoria, 111., where the boy was taken prisoner by Un- 
ited States troops under Captain Craig, and sent with others to 
Alton. Here he became government interpreter. Along side 
of the Father of waters the boy grew to manhood. Where 
now stands the beautiful city of Davenport, he built the first 
house and saw the successive mansions rise about him, until he 
was surrounded by a city. He still resides at Davenport, and 
the following, which appeared in the Davenport Gazette of 
September 3d, 1860, informs us of the interesting visit we have 
alluded to. 

"A few weeks since, Antoine Le Claire retraced his steps for 
the first time toward the scenes of his childhood. Chicago and 
Milwaukee were visited; but what a transformation had taken 
place ! The trading posts, where only a few human beings of 
his kind had been wont to gather, composed of rude frontier 
structures, and marking the outposts of the white man's desire 
of expansion, were swallowed up in palatial structures, and 
running over with the swelling tide of traffic. People wero 
hurrying to and fro intent upon gain. Gaudy equipages flaunt- 
ed along the lake side, and the glitter and show of fashion, all 
so unlike fifty years ago, were there. Even the land-marks 
were gone — the rivers seemed diverted from their channels — 



88 THE CHRONICLES 

and the solemn old lake, once so musical along its far extend- 
ing shores, was changed into a mere passive agent for the bene- 
fit of man. A feeling of sadness must have come over our old 
friend whilst searching for some token of bygone days. Mr. 
Kinzie, the son of the first settler of Chicago, and Col. Russell, 
who was formerly stationed at Rock Island — these gentlemen 
he saw. — They were all, we presume, who could be found, hav- 
ing any very direct connection with the olden time. 

11 Fifty years ago ! In this advancing country, and fast age, 
that seems a long, long while back. However, let our " Old 
Settler" go where he will in his green old age, we doubt much 
whether he will find any spot so beautiful, or yielding even a 
tithe of those attractions which cluster around his own round- 
topped hill at the foot of the Upper Rapids, overlooking our 
promising and thrifty city." 

In 1836, our friend, the Major, went to Chicago, and be- 
came interested in the City of Sheboygan. * He was led to 
believe that this place was destined to become the metropolis 
of the north-west. A sale of lots took place in June, and he 
invested. On returning to Milwaukie, he was eloquent of the 
northern city. By ratiocination he had become convinced 
himself, and by the same means he tried to convince others. 

Several were at last prevailed upon to believe that She-boy - 



* We are in possession of a letter from a deserving gentleman who informed us 
that the origin of this name is as follows: An Indian squaw presented her hus- 
band with girls instead of boys, much to his disappointment, twice in succession. 
On the birth of the third child, which was also a girl, he exclaimed, on first seeing it: 
"She-boy-again." And thus gave a name to tbe place. This is about equal to the 
newspaper derivation of Osceola's name — it being said that an old lady, seeing him 
pass through her 6treet, exclaimed, "0, see, oh la." We have heard intelligent 
men frequently attribute the names of cities and localities to chance expressions, 
but we seldom came across more ingenious fabrications than these two. Sheboygan 
is a Menomonee word signifying a hollow bone. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 89 

gan was, after all, cut out by destiny for the " Queen City" — 
as were St. Louis, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and all other " Queen 
Cities" — and an agent was employed to go up to the young 
metropolis, secure the land, and otherwise transact all their 
business, which was to lay them broadside to on the great 
speculation. This agent was met by a person or persons at 
She-boy-gan who put money in his purse and promised him a 
slice of the prosperity if he was careful on his return. When he 
came back to Milwaukie he was so completely overcome with 
the glories of the northern city, that it was some time before 
he could find words to express himself in answer to the rapid 
inquiries of those who had invested. It was geographically 
unsurpassed : topographically indescribable. In promises rich, 
in resources boundless, and salubrious beyond belief. It 
was destined to outstrip Chicago, and even Milwaukie. 
Was not it's location far ahead of either of these places? 
Would travel ever float down to the bottom of the great wa- 
tery cut de sac } Lake Michigan, when it could secure all 
the objects for which travel was used by stopping half way. 
She-boy-gan was variously the Gateway City, the Queen City 
and the prospective metropolis of the north-west already. Lots 
were worth seven hundred dollars, and to-morrow would be 
worth eight. Coal was reported on one side of the town-plat 
and lead ore on the other. Mineral springs were hinted at. 
The timber was second only to the cedars of Lebanon, and 
with Green Bay at one extreme, and Milwaukie at the other, 
any fool could see that the town between the two was to be 
the town after all ! 

So the agent finally found words to relieve himself. Man- 
aging to throw in a hint or two about the stampede which was 
soon to take place from the other cities on the lakes. The 
Major felt like a new man. He concentrated his means for a 
7 



92 THE CHRONICLES 

west, many of the old fogies rubbed their spectacles and u bless- 
ed their souls " in astonishment. * 

In 1837, the indications of a healthy growth were many, 
notwithstanding adversity had overshadowed the firmament. A 
census would have shown a population of about 700. Four 
years before, on the 25th of October, Col. G. H. Walker had 
left Chicago, and pushed his way through the wilderness and 
built a log house on the Point that now bears his name. His 
nearest neighbors then on the south, were at Chicago ; on the 
we3t, a man by the name of Brown, who had settled in the 
four lake country, and Jeremiah Brigham at Blue Mounds; 
on the north, excepting Juneau, there were none nearer than 
Green Bay. How rapid the change ! Then. John Yieau, or, 
as the Indians called him, u Jombo," had a trading hut up the 
Menomonee, and Solomon Juneau another up the Milwaukie — 
now, there were storehouses on both rivers, stocked with a va- 
riety of goods, adapted to civilized life as well as savage. 

Then, Mr. Walker "paddled his own canoe" — a very supe- 
rior canoe, by the way, and called the Eclipse, because it over- 
shadowed anything of the kind in the country — now there 
was a bridge about to be built over the Menomonee, and two 
or three steamers passed his house regularly. 

Perhaps no one of the early settlers, fought a harder battle 
for a foothold on Milwaukie soil, that did Col. Walker. When 
he started from Chicago, in October, and, by perseverance, 
reached Root Paver, his party lost the trail, at a place that 
has since been called Skunk Grove. 



• Here is a paper, the "Milwaukie Daily Sentinel." published way off in the wilds 
.of Wisconsin, asking the courtesy of an exchange. 

Ouly to think a daily paper among wild Injuns and hears! 

Richmond (ra.) Star, February 20th, 1845. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 93 

Here the winter was passed, amidst the savages, prairie 
wolves, and the constantly recurring storms. A rude cabin 
was put up and the stores stowed away. In this tenement, 
Col. Walker made the acquaintance of the Wisconsin Indians, 
and here awaited with as much patience as could be mustered 
— the coming spring. On the night of November 12th, 1833, 
as Mr. Walker was asleep in this cabin, he was suddenly start- 
led by the most terrific yells, and as he started from his bed, 
twenty or more savages burst into the house. He sprang for 
his gun and knife, and bringing the former up to his should- 
er, the quick sharp click of the lock told his intruders that he 
was prepared. The chief of the band immediately shouted to 
him not to fire as they did not wish to molest him. 

" What do you want, then ? " asked the Colonel. 

" The good spirits are having a fight," answered the Indian, 
u and we want powder and bullets, to frighten away the ene- 
mies." 

This was inexplicable of course, to the white man, but be- 
fore he could receive any explanation, they had broken open 
his stores, taken a keg of powder, and were gone. A moment 
after, he heard the rapid and continuous reports of their pieces 
outside. 

When he had thrown on his clothes, and issued into the 
open air, that grand and magnificent spectacle, seen all over 
the States, on that night, burst upon his view. The night was 
calm and clear, and the over-arching heavens were irradiated 
with the myriads of meteors, shooting and corruscating with a 
splendor never before witnessed by the dwellers on the earth. 
A great proportion of the meteoric bodies moved in a south- 
westerly direction, and there those swarthy forms of the sav- 
ages, rendered ghastly by the unnatural light, were grouped, 
industriously loading and filing their guns in the same direc- 



92 THE CHRONICLES 

west, many of the old fogies rubbed their spectacles and " bless- 
ed their souls " in astonishment. * 

In 1837, the indications of a healthy growth were many, 
notwithstanding adversity had overshadowed the firmament. A 
census would have shown a population of about 700. Four 
years before, on the 25th of October, Col. G. H. Walker had 
left Chicago, and pushed his way through the wilderness and 
built a log house on the Point that now bears his name. His 
nearest neighbors then on the south, were at Chicago; on the 
west, a man by the name of Brown, who had settled in the 
four lake country, and Jeremiah Brigham at Blue Mounds; 
on the north, excepting Juneau, there were none nearer than 
Green Bay. How rapid the change ! Then. John Vieau, or, 
as the Indians called him, '• Jombo," had a trading hut up the 
Menomonee, and Solomon Juneau another up the Milwaukie — 
now, there were storehouses on both rivers, stocked with a va- 
riety of goods, adapted to civilized life as well as savage. 

Then, Mr. Walker 4 * paddled his own canoe" — a very supe- 
rior canoe, by the way, and called the Eclipte, because it over- 
shadowed anything of the kind in the country — now there 
was a bridge about to be built over the Menomonee, and two 
or three steamers passed his house regularly. 

Perhaps no one of the early settlers, fought a harder battle 
for a foothold on Milwaukie soil, that did Col. Walker. When 
he started from Chicago, in October, and, by perseverance, 
reached Boot Paver, his party lost the trail, at a place that 
has since been called Skunk Grove. 



* Here is a paper, the "Milwaukie Daily Sentinel," published way off in the wilds 
of Wisconsin, asking the courtesy of an exchange. 
Only to think a daily paper among wild Injuns and bears ! 

Richmond. {Ya.) Slur, February 20th, 1845. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 93 

Here the winter was passed, amidst the savages, prairie 
wolves, and the constantly recurring storms. A rude cabin 
was put up and the stores stowed away. In this tenement, 
Col. Walker made the acquaintance of the Wisconsin Indians, 
and here awaited with as much patience as could be mustered 
— the coming spring. On the night of November 12th, 1833, 
as Mr. Walker was asleep in this cabin, he was suddenly start- 
led by the most terrific yells, and as he started from his bed, 
twenty or more savages burst into the house. He sprang for 
his gun and knife, and bringing the former up to his should- 
er, the quick sharp click of the lock told his intruders that he 
was prepared. The chief of the band immediately shouted to 
him not to fire as they did not wish to molest him. 

"What do you want, then?' ; asked the Colonel. 

"The good spirits are having a fight," answered the Indian, 
"and we want powder and bullets, to frighten away the ene- 
mies." 

This was inexplicable of course, to the white man, but be- 
fore he could receive any explanation, they had broken open 
his stores, taken a keg of powder, and were gone. A moment 
after, he heard the rapid and continuous reports of their pieces 
outside. 

When he had thrown on his clothes, and issued into the 
open air, that grand and magnificent spectacle, seen all over 
the States, on that night, burst upon his view. The night was 
calm and clear, and the over-arching heavens were irradiated 
with the myriads of meteors, shooting and corruscating with a 
splendor never before witnessed by the dwellers on the earth. 
A great proportion of the meteoric bodies moved in a south- 
westerly direction, and there those swarthy forms of the sav- 
ages, rendered ghastly by the unnatural light, were grouped, 
industriously loading and firing their guns in the same direc- 



94 THE CHRONICLES 

tion, under the conviction that some great enemy of the celes- 
tial powers was located in that quarter. 

The chief came up to Mr. Walker and asked him if he was 
not frightened. 

"No," answered the Colonel. 

"Did you ever see anything like it before?" 

"No." 

"Don't you think the good spirits are having a fight with 
bad spirits down there?" pointing in the direction the meteors 
were taking. 

Mr. Walker endeavored to convince the savage that the 
firing was a great waste of powder and shot, by explaining 
how far away the meteors were, and how far short of the scene 
of disturbance their bullets fell; but though the simple-mind- 
ed red man listened attentively to all, he was not convinced. * 

It was not until the 20th of March, 1834, that Col. Walk- 
er arrived in the settlement, and set about his preparations for 
pre-empting, by putting up a substantial house. 

During the same spring, Dr. Bigelow, Paul Burdick, Al- 
bert Fowler, Quartis Carley, and a man by the name of Lans- 
ing, came over the same trail, and were entertained at the 
hospitable log mansion of the colonel, before being ushered 
into the smiling wilderness of Milwaukie, beyond. In the 
autumn, of '34, Mr. Walker built a frame warehouse, on the 



*This incident gives a very good view of 6avage simplicity, in matters of pre- 
turnatural character. 

The Indians all over the State were pitifully frightened by this meteoric dis- 
play; accounts, afterwards received by Mr. Walker, from Fort Winnebago, Prairie 
du Chien, and other quarters, stated that the natives were rendered almost fran- 
tic with fear, in some cases, and in others seemed as if paralyzed with terror. In- 
deed it is well-known that many of them died through the effects of fear occasion- 
ed by this memorable meteorological exhibition. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 95 

site of the present handsome brick mill of Messrs. Nichols & 
Britt — paying seventy-five dollars per thousand for the lum- 
ber. On the 20th of August, '35, the whole settlement went 
to Green Bay to be at the land sale. * 

The land, which Mr. "Walker entered, was subject to a long- 
contention. There were others who had obtained what were 
called "float rights" upon his pre-emption, and it was not till 
1842 that a special act was passed by congress, permitting him 
to enter the section. Judge Burt who, in running the town- 
ship lines, found the colonel on the tongue of land that juts out 
to the north, was the first to give it the name of "Walker's 
Point." 

Since that time the place had passed successively through 
the phases of a clearing, a settlement and a village, and was 
now a town. A few years more, and it passed into the full 
magnitude of a city, completing its corporate growth in less 
time that even the most sanguine would have dared to hope. 

In connection with the steamer "Badger," previously men- 
tioned, there is the name of Gen. Crawford associated, whose 
experience on the river, at an even earlier period than this, 
entitles him to consideration here. 



* The land sale that year, at Green Bay, was a most exciting one. The settlers 
bivouaced under the trees and passed resolutions adverse to the "speculators" and 
"sharpers." The land office was connocted with an adjoining building, by a sort 
of passage-way or bridge, some ten or fifteen feet from the ground, up on which 
the excited crowd forced its way. There was one individual who had been point- 
ed out as a sharper, and the duty of watching him devolved upon Col. Walker. 
The two got on this bridge together, the latter had provided himself with a ropo 
noose, the end of which trailed among the crowd below. At the first intimation, 
from the man, of the nature of his profession, the Colonel hinted to him that if ha 
persisted in his attempts he would put the noose over his head; and said he, point- 
ing to tho end of the rope, among the people below: "I will not be responsiblo 
for the consequences." This summary method had its desired effect, and the bid" 
ding was not interrupted. 



96 THE CHRONICLES 

Mr. Crawford, in October, 1836, came from St. Lawrence 
County, N. Y., and stopped at Detroit. In November, he set 
out for Michigan City, which was reached after travelling four 
days. From this place he set out for Chicago, and on arriving 
at the latter town, secured a team and headed for Milwaukie. 
It was in December that the smoke of Col. Walker's cabin 
greeted him over the tree tops, and winter was howling in no 
inviting manner through the gullies and over the bluffs of the 
settlement. The river was frozen, but after "recuperating the 
'inard man" at the ever open house of Mr. Walker, he pushed 
on over the stream, and, in the midst of a furious snow storm, 
wound his devious way through the marsh, finally reaching 
that "snug harbor," the Milwaukie House, where "entertain- 
ment for man and beast" was announced in Reman characters 
on the outsi'de. Two or three days satisfied Mr. Crawford with 
Milwaukie, and he was fortunate enough to secure passage on 
a first class lumber wagon for Chicago, by paying the teamster 
six dollars. This trip occupied six days, and the travellers 
were upset, buried in snow drifts and out o' nights with a run- 
ning serenade from the surf on the beach and the wolves in the 
timber. At Racine they slept on the clay floor of the only 
house, and at Southport bivouaced under the wagon. 

At Michigan City a company had been formed for the pur- 
pose of starting a line of boats on the lower lakes, and Mr. 
Crawford was induced to become their agent. He afterwards 
went to Detroit in this capacity and purchased the steamer "'De- 
troit," spending the winter in fitting her up, and in February 
1837 commenced making regular trips on Lake Erie, and so 
continued until the ice left the harbor of Buffalo, which was on 
the 20th of May, when he sailed for the latter place, and, a3 
soon as a cargo could be obtained, set out for Milwaukie, arriv- 
ing here on the I4th of June, 1837. He afterwards made re- 



OP MILWAUKEE. 97 

gular trips between Milwaukie and Michigan City, touching at 
Racine, Southport and Chicago. On the 25th of October, he 
got out of wood and anchored off Southport. A storm came 
up, the passengers were anxious for their lives ; a meeting was 
called in the ladies' cabin, to consider what was best to be done. 
The water was rising in the hold, and the general opinion 
seemed to be that the boat should be run ashore. Captain 
Crawford refused to beach the steamer, until his anchor broke, 
when she was headed for the shore, and the passengers and 
freight all landed safely on the sand. * 

In the year 1838, he became the agent for Farnsworth & 
Brushj* of Green Bay, and continued in their employ until '39, 
when he made an arrangement with the west side trustees of 
Milwaukie, to run a small steamboat, the Menomonee, up and 
down the river. Contrary to his own wishes, he was not allow- 
ed to "land" on the east side, until the opposition boat, the 
Trowbridge, was brought from Michigan and put on the river.t 

In 1840, Mr. Crawford retired to his claim just beyond the 
city limits, where he still resides, a hale and hearty farmer. 



* In a letter, which Gen. Crawford writes us, he says: "Milwaukie was a small 
place when I came there in 1S37. George J). Dousman, Solomon Juneau and Peter 
Juneau each had frame houses. I always landed my goods at Kilbourn'a wharf near 
Chestnut street bridge. I recollect seeing at one time during the season of '37, while 
lying at thi3 wharf, persons cutting brush just opposite at or near the end of the 
bridge, and it was not an hour afterwards, when they had a shanty erected right in 
the swamp. David Hollister rented Juneau's warehouse that year, Levi Blossom and 
Delaplaine were clerks." 

f Wm. Farnsworth was in 1813 one of the agents of the American Fur Company* 
and was one of the early visitors at Milwaukie during the reign of O-nau-ge-sa. 

Wm. Farnsworth was lost on the Lady Elgin, September 8th, 1860. 

See Smith's History of Wisconsin. 
t X " I recollect one very bad night, when I was tied up at the month of the river, a 
Eteamer, I think it was the "Dewitt Clinton," captain Squires, anchored in the Lay. 
A number of the citizens were anxious to have me go out, but I refused,' and eight of 
them started in a small boat and were drowned in the attempt to reach the steamer. 
—Gsn. Craiuford 's letter. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Want of a Harbor— Mr. Kilbourns Proposal— Delegates — Subsequent Mistakes 
in Locating the Harbor— What the Subsequent Mistake Cost the Town— The Opin 
ion of Col. Rufus King. 

The necessity of a harbor was felt from the moment that 
vessels began to visit the town. They were compelled to an- 
chor in the bay, at considerable risk, and goods and passen- 
gers were conveyed to the shore in batteaux. Occasional- 
ly a small craft attempted to get into the river, and general- 
ly floundered about on the bar for several days in consequence. 
Numerous vessels had been damaged while in the bay ; several 
had been sunk, and by far the greater number passed the 
town entirely, for fear of the shore. A pier was talked of, but 
it was not till 1842, that Horatio Stevens, of New-York, built 
the first, at the foot of Huron Street. The necessity of a safe 
and commodious harbor was felt by all, and in '39, when the 
Territorial delegates were nominated, Byron Kilbourn, who 
had, from the first, strenuously advocated the making of a 
"straight cut," was presented as a suitable representative. 
This subject of the location of a harbor became the issue be- 
tween the two candidates — Kilbourn and Doty — in a great 
measure, and the sectional feeling was developed at the ex- 
pense of the former. Mr. Kilbourn was opposed to the loca- 
tion by government of a harbor at the mouth of the river, and 
his friends asserted that Doty was not. This was as decided- 
ly contradicted by the other party. Doty was elected, and 



OF MILWAUKEE. 99 

here the matter rested for a great while. Congress — the Major 
said — was deaf in her north-west ear. The Appropiation Bill 
came up in the House, in 1843, and was violently opposed, by 
a few southern members. Matters looked dubious, and atten- 
tion was given to the construction of piers, into the lake. 
The newspaper appeals to Congress fell off gradually, and pub- 
lic feeling settled into a state of morose disquietude. On 
St. Patrick's Day, of this year, the Major stood in the middle 
of Milwaukie Street, at its intersection with Wisconsin, lean- 
ing against an ancient guide-post, which had long occupied 
this position.* The Major was intently occupied in watching 
the procession which was passing, in honor of the day. What- 
particularly attracted his attention was the sleigh load (it 
was a wintery day and snow had fallen the night before) of 
young girls, from St. Peter's Church. While thus engaged, 
he was joined by a friend, whom he called the Colonel, and 
the following dialogue ensued: 

Colonel: "Well, Major, it's quite lively. Signs of better 
times, as soon as the cold weather is over." 

Major: "The times are always good, Colonel. It's only the 
medium, through which we look at them, that changes — a change 
in the atmosphere like." 



* " Woodman, Spare that Post !" — We understand that some improvement zealots 
have set on foot a subscription for the removal of the guide-post near the middle of 
Milwaukee street, at its intersection with Wisconsin. We speak of this as & guide- 
post, although not positively such, because it has the negative quality of showing 
people, who run or ride against it, that they are not in the right track. This, of a 
dark night, and in the absence of street lamps, is a valuable quality. Besides, it has 
been the common butt of the town for some time past, and has suffered itself to be 
run upon with exemplary good nature. It has long occupied a prominent stand, too, 
in our city, and may be said to have grown gray in the public service. This surely 
gives the post a good pre-emption claim. Will our corporation undertake to jump it? 
— Milwaukee Sentinel, 1846. 



100 THE CHRONICLES 

Colonel : " Have you heard any tiling from Washington 
lately?" 

Major: "Why no, the truth is, I don't expect to hear any- 
thing and consequently don't cock my ears that way. Some of 
the folk hereabout have had their heads turned so long in that 
direction that they have rusted fast." 

Colonel: "And with good reason too; that harbor bill is go- 
ing to make Milwaukie." 

Major: '-Well, there we differ." 

Colonel: "What ! not absolutely necessary !" 

Major: "Yes, but we'll never get it, don't you see ! When 
Congress builds a harbor for us, I'll give you a supper, Colonel." 

Colonel: "Perhaps you have some information that the rest 
of us know nothing about, but I heard said that Juneau had a 
letter from Doty, saying it was all right ! " 

Major : "All the information I have, is what has been pub- 
lished and talked of here for the last year. A man sometimes 
has convictions which, though hard to explain, are conclusive 
and inevitable, and of the one or two things which I do know, 
Colonel, this is one, we won't get any appropriation ; just mark 
my words. Places, like some men, get a brand of ill luck, and 
that's the end of them for all they ever amount to. In the first 
place, this ought to have been the capital of the territory, but 
it isn't, is it? Then the Madison people bought up the mem- 
bers from the other side of the Mississippi, and that was the 
end of Milwankie. Now there's Chicago on the south, and 
Sheboygan on the north, and we're a mere go-between 
Colonel: "Then you think, we're a 'gone up town? 

Major : " To all intents and purposes. In ten years Madison 
or Sheboygan will be the metropolis of the state. You see, 
we're too near Chicago!" 

Colonel: " I don't think so, but perhaps you're right. If we 






OF MILWAUKEE. 101 

had this harbor, I don't believe there would be a better port, on 
the Lakes. I've heard Capt. Caswell say so." 

Major: "Well, don't worry yourself, Colonel. We won't 
get any appropriation this session. This thing 's settled." 

The Major uttered this with his customary air of grandeur, 
which was intended, if it did not always impress the beholder 
as much as the wisdom of his words. As he concluded, a knot 
of men was observed on the opposite corner, among whom 
were Elisha Starr, J. E. Arnold, H. N. Wells and Wm. A. Brown . 
they appeared to be talking earnestly, and our two worthies 
started to learn the news. In answer to the question of the 
Colonel, one of them answered: "Hav'nt you heard the good 
news ? The harbor bill has passed and is a law ! It appropri- 
ates $30,000 to Milwaukie!" 

The Major laughed in a hearty manner, called it a good joke, 
and poking his friend in the ribs, exclaimed : 

"No, sir, you can't get the supper so easy, Colonel I" 
It was so, however ; the appropriation had been made, and 
immediate steps were taken to get up a celebration. On Wed- 
nesday, March 22d, the event was duly rejoiced over by a pro- 
cession of citizens bearing appropriate devices, after which an 
oration was delivered by Mr. Arnold. A dinner was eaten at 
the Cottage Inn, and a ball, given at the Milwaukie House in 
the evening, completed the celebration. 

The certainty of possession, now gave rise to fresh troubles 
in regard to the location. It soon became rumored about that 
the bill fixed upon the mouth of the river as the position of 
the harbor. Juneau was said to have received word from 
head-quarters, to that effect, and a great deal of uneasiness 
among the citizens was the consequence. 

Captain T. J. Cram, of the Topographical Engineers, was 
commissioned to superintend the work. No sooner had he 



102 THE CHRONICLES 

undertaken a survey of the spot, than it was said he was hos- 
tile to the interests of the town, and consequently would not 
locate the improvement in such a manner as would best con- 
duce to its prosperity. It was also said that he was a Kacine 
man, owning a large amount of real estate, west of that town. 
Could he do justice to Milwaukie ? This new excitement 
grew apace; and finally, one Saturday, the Trustees had a spe- 
cial meeting, and after considerable deliberation sent their 
clerk, with a note, to Captain Cram, requesting that gentle- 
man to inform them of the probable location of the harbor. 
This note was framed in a strictly diplomatic manner, and was 
answered by the Captain in the same style. He replied that 
it would be improper for him to divulge what was intended 
only for the Topographical Bureau, at "Washington. 

The citizens then took the matter up. They assembled, and 
sent a committee to wait on the gentleman, but the commit- 
tee fared no better than the clerk had done. His reasons 
were deemed insufficient, and the more energetic citizens pro- 
posed to send a man to Washington, instantly, as a represen- 
tative of their interests, to ask of the Department that a corps 
of able Engineers might be selected to locate the harbor. A 
resolution, to this effect was adopted, and on the Monday fol- 
lowing, Mr. Stowe started for the Federal Capital. 

Pending the embassy, Captain Cram was ordered to Ohio, 
to superintend certain public works in that State, and Captain 
McLelland, of Washington, received the appointment. 

The new harbor was begun, and brought partly into use in 
1844, having been located at the mouth of the river, over a 
mile from the town. Its practical operation soon convinced 
all who were unprejudiced, that the location was a grevious 
mistake. It became apparent, too, when the mischief was all 
done, that public interest had been sacrificed to private ends, 



OF MILWAUKEE. 103 

and that the ruinous feeling of sectionality which had enter- 
ed into the business, from the first, had resulted in a stupen- 
dous misfortune for all. The very agitation and bickering 
about the location had resulted in the harbor being placed 
where it was, Congress specifying in the case of Milwaukie 
alone, where the improvements should be made. 

The Milwaukie River runs east, towards the lake, and 
when within a few yards of the beach turns south, and mean- 
ders for a mile, leaving a strip of land only intervening be- 
tween the two bodies of water. The better judgment of 
practical men had long pointed out the bend as the place to 
make the harbor, by cutting through the strip of sand and 
allowing the river to flow on in a straight course into Lake 
Michigan. 

But, as we have seen, private interests had brought about a 
different result, and the harbor was located a mile below. 
Piers were built out into the lake, and vessels were obliged to 
work their way up the narrow stream under all the disadvan- 
tages of adverse winds and a shallow channel. 

Col. Rufus King of Albany, who visited Milwaukie in 1845, 
wrote as follows to the Albany Evening Journal under date of 
July 10th : 

"There seems to have been some want of judgment in the 
improvements, which the General Government has made at Mil- 
waukie. The river, where it passes through ihe town, runs a 
pretty straight course and so continues until within a few rods 
of the lake, where it makes a sudden sweep to the south, winds 
along for a mile or so, and finally turns into the lake. If the 
beach had been cut through at the first bend, (and some years 
since, the river discharged itself into the lake at this point,) 
vessels coming into Milwaukie, would have been enabled to 
lay a straight course from the mouth of the river up into the 



104 THE CHRONICLES 

heart of the town. But, instead of doing this, piers have been 
built out a thousand or twelve hundred feet into the lake at the 
present mouth of the river, and a mile or two from the business 
part of the town. Sailing vessels are frequently baffled by 
head winds in this circuitous channel j the distance, too, of the 
government piers from the town is so considerable, that piers 
have been built by a company a mile nearer, and within these 
most of the steamers land." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Caleb Wall Keeping a Hotel — Reminiscences of the Old Milwaukie House — A Land 
Customer — Mr. "Wall's Newspaper. 

The old Milwaukie House, that stood for a number of years 
on the bank at the corner of Main and Wisconsin Streets, 
fell into good hands in 1842. Caleb Wall came from Spring- 
field, 111., with the determination of starting a temperance hotel. 
His eye fell on this stately building, and he commenced a 
(l dicker" with Messrs. Hurley and Ream, then its proprietors. 
The result was, he bought them out and commenced his opera- 
tions for the establishment of a hotel on moral principles. 

The place was refitted and thoroughly replenished with all 
the modern accessories of comfort. Before throwing open the 
doors, a code of laws, for the government of the establishment 
and its happy inmates, was made out. This code was drawn up 
carefully, and among other excellent things expressly stated, 
that all " Guests of this Hotel shall be in at ten o'clock every 
night," it being a maxim with the host that those who could 
not comply with so simple and judicious a condition, were un- 
worthy the hospitalities of the institution. The starting of a 
hotel on such a plan, attracted considerable attention. The tem- 
perance people, as is customary, said a great many fine things 
in praise of the proprietor, and then put up at another house. 
The moral men pointed to Mr. Wall as an example worthy of 
imitation in other cities, and then concluded it wouldn't pay. 

The proprietor, undeterred by insinuations, pushed forward 
8 



106 THE CHRONICLES 

his humanitarian plan and caravansary, posted his code conspi- 
cuously, put on an inviting but implacable air, and swung open 
his doors. 

It is curious to look over the old register of that hotel at 
this day, and see the names of men who have since become 
lions, mayors, justices, aldermen and M. C's, and to learn that 
they utterly failed to comply with the reasonable request, that 
they should be in bed by ten o'clock post meridian. The pro- 
prietor was firm in his resolve, and punctually at the appointed 
hour locked and barred the doors. But it appears, the guests, 
while they admired the system, were unable to comply with its 
demands. Long confirmed habits were not to be broken like 
reeds, and the guests, unable to enter in at the door, had re- 
course to ladders and ropes at night, by which means they got 
in at the back windows. 

It is said that on waking one night, and looking out of his 
window, the worthy proprietor was so astonished to see half 
his boarders at work raising a heavy ladder against the piazza, 
that he modified the code and gave them another hour. It had 
hitherto been understood that the guests should not only be in 
at a seasonable hour, but that every man in the garrison should 
present himself in a certain accountable condition to avoid 
scandal. This was another breach in confirmed habits. How- 
ever, the modification in regard to the hour led to others, and 
by insensible degrees the house underwent a transit from one 
extreme of temperance to the other extreme of intemperance, 
until it became the most notorious jolly and reckless institution 
in the town — the boarders doing just exactly as they pleased — 
and the old building itself reeling night after night with the 
mad revelry of gay parties and gushing music. The Temper- 
ance Hotel at last rejoiced in a bar with decanters, and then it 
was discovered that a majority of the guests had suddenly re- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 107 

formed in one particular and evinced a decided reluctance to 
being out late, and some of them were opposed to being out 
at all. 

The Milwaukic House, under Mr. Wall's administration, bore 
the name of being the most comfortable and home-like institu- 
tion in the western country. The proprietor spared no expense 
to make the house popular. The table groaned under luxuries 
brought from Detroit — in a word, the proprietor was altogether 
more liberal than the law of No. 1 allows, and sunk several 
thousand dollars in the place, or to use a parliamentary phrase, 
"laid them on the table." It was, however, sustained for a 
long time in the very best of style. What is known in the 
newspapers as the "youth and beauty" of the town, assembled 
here at the then fashionable parties, the music being fur- 
nished by a negro-band composed of the cook and barber with 
their assistants. Mr. Wall retains a very pleasing recollection 
of those halcyon days, and insists, even to this day of AbeFs 
and Major Robinson's, that he never heard better music than 
those darkies discoursed. 

The house was frequented by most of the business men who 
were on the look-out for customers j it being at that time the 
head-quarter for the better class of strangers, and no small 
amount of trading, swapping and exchanging of real estate 
took place within its wooden sides. There are a great many 
pleasant stories told by the old citizens of this house, and some 
which are not so pleasant, but we are happy in being able to 
say that the former are in the preponderance by far. Many 
were the practical jokes planned and executed by men who have 
since wrapped themselves in legal and even clerical solemnity, 
and who no longer joke before folks. It is said that, when the 
butter came on strong, every man inserted a five cent piece in it, 
so that when the worthy host came round, he found it bristling 



108 THE CHRONICLES 

with a silver remonstrance. It is also said, that many of the 
boarders contracted the curious habit of being carried up to bed 
at night, and sleeping late the next day, undisturbed by all ter- 
restrial noises, completely engulfed in their own. There is not 
a man left of the pleasant circle that used to gather about Wall's 
hospitable board, but will delight to go even further back and 
with infinite zest tell the immortal story of Col. Crocker and 
the oyster supper, the whole plot and point of which are that 
the oysters at this grand banquet turned out bad, and the in- 
vitees went away with their stomachs empty and their fingers 
on their noses. 

Caleb frequently made a trip to Chicago, (whether to enjoy 
the scenery, of which he is an ardent admirer, or to do a little 
"running," for his popular house, is now uncertain,) with his 
friend, Captain Howe. On one occasion there was a large par- 
ty on board, returning from that city; among them were many 
distinguished strangers. Inquiry was made of the Captain as 
to which was the best house in Milwaukie. The polite and 
affable Captain (captains as well as hosts are, theoretically, al- 
ways polite, &c.,) referred the interrogators to the proprietor 
of the best house in the town, "who fortunately was aboard." 

Caleb made a speech. He did not commence with the crea- 
tion of the world, and trace the history of all the hotels from 
the time that Abraham entertained the angels unawares, to 
the successful establishment of the Milwaukie House. He 
was utterly regardless of the splendid opportunity to put in a 
few sentences on hospitality, but contented himself with a 
concise welcome, a brief description, and a delicate reference 
to the hotel, "where/' said he, "it is customary for all the 
big bugs to stop." The subsequent experience of the stran- 
gers at the Milwaukie House so fully corroborated Mr. Wall's 
statement, in regard to the big bugs, that a series of resolu- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 109 

tions, bearing witness to the truthfulness of his statement, were 
drawn up. This may have been one of those little things 
which have helped to establish that gentleman's reputation 
for veracity. 

Our friend, the Major, spent an evening at the Milwaukie 
House, occasionally. During one of his visits he encountered 
a new corner] by the name of Thome — a well-dressed and in- 
telligent stranger, who at once entered into conversation, and 
exhibited considerable anxiety to learn all about Milwaukie, 
its prospects, the price of its lands, and their locations. The 
Major had not yet disposed of what he called his She-boy-gan 
dirt, and he immediately blossomed out in full color with 
facts and figures, in regard to the northern city. The stranger 
evidently had plenty of money and was anxious to purchase. 
The Major had not a superabundance, and was anxious to sell, 
hence the affinity. The stranger ate dinners with the Ma- 
jor — they smoked and imbibed claret together, but could 
make no bargain. Thorne informed his new friend that his 
father had recently died in the east, and had left him a large 
fortune, on condition that he should convert it into a farm 
and devote his time to agricultural pursuits. It was, there- 
fore, his intention, if a suitable location was found near Mil- 
waukie, to carry out his father's plan, and if the Major would 
put him on "the trail" of a man who had the land to sell, 
he, Thorne, would not object to, investing a few of his dol- 
lars at Sheboygan. This suited the Major, and he applied to 
Caleb Wall, and Mr. Wall, with the idea of accommodating 
his guest, introduced Thorne to Col. Walker, who "just had 
the land." Mr. Walker escorted the stranger about, day 
after day, furnished champagne, and horses, and information. 
Showing him regularly once a day over the tract lying to the 
south and west of the town. Mr. Thorne exhibited all the in- 



110 THE CHRONICLES 

terest of a farmer, in cattle, and fences, and harvest hands, 
making dilligent inquiries and noting down all his facts in a 
memorandum-book. He, however, did not make up his mind 
to purchase, though he avowed such was his intention, and 
persisted in drinking the Colonel's chanipague, with the most 
gentlemanly indifference. Finally, Mr. Walker said to Wall : 

"I don't believe, your man has any money !" 

" Don't you ? " answered Caleb interrogatively. " He owes 
me forty dollars for board. I'll soon find out." 

Mr. Wall accordingly politely intimated to Mr. Thorne im- 
mediately that, having to pay a bill, he would like to have some 
money. 

Mr. Thorne said: "Oh, certainly, when ever you want it, you 
can have it; I'll hand it to you in the afternoon," and went on 
reading the "Commercial Advertiser" and smoking his cigar 
with true monied nonchalance. 

The next morning the host repeated the request politely, and 
was again answered with "Oh, to be sure, I'll bring it down 
for you." 

Another day passing, and Mr. Wall's moderation having be- 
come known to all men, he informed the man that the time had 
arrived when money became necessary, and if not forthcoming, 
he would lock up his baggage forthwith. 

Thorne displayed a great deal of honest indignation, talked 
about cashing a draft, and several other equally impossible things, 
but Mr. Wall locked up his trunks under the impression that 
he had " never a red." 

A few nights after this, Thorne burglariously entered the 
room he had formerly occupied, and in which his trunks were 
locked, by means of a ladder put up to a back window, and suc- 
ceeded in carrying off his clothes and boots without paying for 
ihem. Mr. Walker laughed about the whole affair as a good 



OF MILWAUKEE. ' 111 

joke, but the Major felt very sore. He had had hopes of his 
own, which this Thorne had pierced, and they all went out like 
miserable bubbles. 

Mr. Wall sold out the Milwaukie House at auction, in 1844, 
and the establishment fell into the hands of a Mr. Jones, of 
Waukesha. 

Mr. Wall is now, after the lapse of so many years, doing 
business on the same spot. Almost every corner of any pub- 
licity in the city has rung with the echoes of his voice, and al- 
most every desirable location has ministered to his prosperity. 
In all his changes he has exhibited shrewdness, if not positive 
wisdom, and has gathered moss all the while he has been 
rolling. * 

In 1847, Mr. Wall published a little monthly sheet, called 
"The Magnet," in which gems of thought and the "City cash 
store" alternated pleasantly from beginning to end. We have 
a few specimens of it before us, now yellow with age, but still 
pregnant with the geniality and thrift of the original editor. 

Mr. Wall has identified himself with all the practical schemes 
for the improvement of our city, and is extensively known all 
over the state as a liberal and hospitable gentleman. 



* The only instance of Mr. Wall's shrewdness having failed him, is in the case of a 
man who brought him a quantity of tea, upon which Mr. Wall advanced ninety dollars. 
It was then sold at a good advance, and the customers discovered, that each box was 
filled with tan bark, inclosing a small tin tube, under the testing hole, which tuba 
contained all the tea. This actually took place and ia one of Mr. Wall's best stories. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Milwaukie Courier — How Juneau Came to be Removed from the Post-Offic^ 
and How Mr. Noonan Came to Take His Place, with an Interesting Account of 
the Dreadful Newspaper War that Followed — The Killed and Wounded. 

In 1841, Mr. Richards disposed of the " Advertiser," to 
Josiah A. Noonan, who changed its name to the "Milwaukie 
Courier." There had been, for some time previous to this, a 
strong desire on the part of those east siders, living in the re- 
gion of what is now the Seventh Ward, to have East Water 
Street graded through the hill, which commenced at Mason 
Street and run up nearly an hundred feet towards Oneida 
Street. For some reason, the friends of this measure did not 
succeed in getting it carried out with the ease they had an- 
ticipated. There seemed to be opposition somewhere, and 
Solomon Juneau was finally pointed out as the man who ob- 
jected to and delayed the consummation of the plan. This 
was made credible, by certain interested persons, who pointed 
to the improvements being made in the Third Ward, along 
Michigan Street, and attributed them to Juneau's friendship 
for the Irish Catholics. This little difficulty ultimately grew 
into an issue which resulted in an election for President of 
the Board of Trustees, in which each party interested had a 
ticket of their own. Long before the election took place, how- 
ever, there had been other changes which it will be well to 
notice. The " Sentinel," as we have seen, was started in '37, 
by John O'Rourke; it passed into the hands of Mr. Harrison 



OP MILWAUKEE. 113 

Reed, in ; 38. In 1841, Jonathan E. Arnold became the can- 
didate of the old whig party, for Congress, against General 
Dodge. The "Sentinel" was a warm supporter of Arnold, 
against the " Courier." The party feeling ran high. Each 
candidate had zealous friends and every exertion was made to 
advance the interest of the relative parties. What was the 
surprise of the whigs — to wake up one day and find the 
"Sentinel" in the hands of the democrats. It was charged at 
once that Mr. Reed had been bought and the ofiice was 
thronged by exasperated partizans. There is no truth in this 
statement. II. N. Wells had simply taken possession of it un- 
der a chattel mortgage — that was all, and Mr. Wells was a 
prominent democrat. However, the result was the same. 
The name of Mr. Arnold disappeared from the head of its col- 
umns and that of Gen. Dodge took its place — Clinton Wal- 
worth being installed in the editorial chair. 

This was more than the whigs could endure. A meeting 
was called, a committee appointed, and Elisha Starr sent to 
Chicago to purchase material for a whig organ. Mr. E. G. 
Ryan was then editing the " Chicago Tribune," an able 
sheet under his management. A difficulty had a few days 
previously occurred, between Mr. Ryan and the Chicago post- 
master, and Mr. Starr found the former gentleman closeted 
with his own thoughts, having abjured the world for a series 
of days, and in a good condition to be persuaded to give up 
journalism. Arrangements were completed — Mr. Starr buy- 
ing out the concern, paying five hundred dollars down and 
the rest in notes, and returned to Milwaukie with the forms 
of the "Tribune" and a quantity of the reading matter al- 
ready in type, and the "Milwaukie Journal" appeared, to the 
great relief of the whigs. It was managed by a committee, 
and lived during the campaign — long enough to see Gen. 
Dodge elected delegate, and then quietly expired. 



114 THE CHRONICLES 

Mr. Starr afterwards published the "Gazette" and again the 
" Sentinel and Farmer," and still later we find him on the 
"Sentinel and Herald," and after that on the "Sentinel and 
Gazette," occupying all the positions of honor from chief editor 
to " commercial "*ao4 reporter. The " Gazette" and the " Cou- 
rier" were professionally inveterate enemies. The paper bullets 
that passed from one office to the other, were too laughable to be 
deadly, though aimed with great violence and precision. We 
find the Gazette calling the Courier the " slush tub," and the 
Courier retorting by an equally delicate title of "spittoon." 
These "love-taps" were continued until the time of which we 
have spoken. In 1843, the election for president of the board 
of trustees came off. At this election John M. W. Lace, a 
friend of Juneau's, was accused of dropping sixty tickets into 
the hat instead of one, and a "flare up" was the consequence- 
It was then declared that Juneau was determined to do as he 
pleased. Pixley, Paine and others were offended and reverted 
back to certain old charges, which had formerly been made or 
talked of against Mr. Juneau as post-master. However unjust 
the course of these men in trumping up the charges, there is 
reason to believe that a greater part of the charges themselves 
were well founded, being accusations of a general unfitness for 
the position, and a complaint that he did not give the office his 
personal attention. 

With all his admirable traits and noble characteristics, he 
was not the strict business man, with that keen appreciation 
of system, which was absolutely necessary in the office now 
fast becoming a large and complicated entrepot. His son, 
Paul Juneau, was the clerk, and to all intents and purposes act- 
ing post-master ; against him rather than his father the com- 
plaints should have been lodged. An organized movement to 
dispossess Mr. Juneau, resulted from the little difficulty in re- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 115 

gard to the grading. A. D. Smith, then a new comer, was 
furnished with the charges to engross and forward to the post- 
master general. The choice of those who wished to oust Mr. 
Juneau, was divided between Col. J. S. Rockwell and A. D. 
Smith. Mr. Noonan took no very conspicuous part in the op- 
position. He opposed the claims of Smith on the ground of 
his being a "Doty man," but he made no exertion for the ap- 
pointment of either. Some months passed, and the general 
agent of the Department came around to investigate the charges. 
Whether there was any collusion between the agent and Mr. 
Noonan, no one can say. There is nothing to verify or render 
probable such a supposition, but it seems, when the agent re- 
turned to Washington, he advised the Department to disregard 
the claims of both Rockwell and Smith, and appoint J. A. 
Noonan, which was accordingly acted upon, and Mr. Noonan 
received the appointment. 

When the news reached Milwaukie, there was a stir ! Aston- 
ishment, disappointment and mortification broke out in a long, 
continued howl. Mr. Noonan himself was surprised. He de- 
clared, that he did not desire the position, but his friends advis- 
ed him strongly to accept it, and he finally consented. The 
"Sentinel," it may be easily conceived, redoubled its attacks. 

Some idea of the intensity of the wrath which burned, may 
be formed by the following elegant extract, written by George 
M. Shipper, which is taken from that sheet : 

"The character of Mr. Juneau is irreproachable. He is 
literally the father of our territory, but more emphatically that 
of Milwaukie. His fortune, his early associations, his sole am- 
bition, have been centered here in Milwaukie. From his ear- 
liest boyhood, he has remained the steadfast friend and supporter 
of western interests and western rights. Here, ret Milwaukie, 
where now stands a flourishing village, where the periogue float- 



116 THE CHRONICLES 

ed in the waters of the Menornonee, laden with its tawnj 
brethren, where the shores echoed back only the cry of the sa- 
vage or the wild beasts, scarcely less dangerous than he. Sol- 
omon Juneau, the man whom John Tyler now treats so dis- 
dainfully, was the only white man, that inhabited the wilderness! 
"When nature actually reposed, and the prairies of Wisconsin 
seemed as if asleep, preparatory to the calls which destiny had 
decreed should be made upon our fair soil, after a conquest by 
a free, enterprising and generous-hearted pioneer, Solomon 
Juneau is to be ejected and disowned. Inhabitants of "Wis- 
consin territory — citizens of Milwaukie — adopted countrymen — 
sons of the Emerald Isle — will you suffer it ! ! — Will you re- 
main dormant and see the main pillar of your church dese- 
crated and trodden under foot by such a soothless insulter as 
Noonan ! Irishmen, brother foreigners, will you permit it ! 
Shall the recreant Tyler defile our very sanctuary by his unholy 
and damnable intrusion ? No ! We anticipate the ready re- 
sponse, which rankles in the bosom of every son of the Green 
Isle ! Then do your duty ! Stand by, for now is the hour of 
oppression. Let your voices be heard and let not its mighty 
war be drowned, till the vile fiend and shameless courtier, 
Noonan, shall have been buried deep in its surges. 

"We will not appropriate a very lengthy paragraph to the dis- 
posal of Xoonan — a being who is content to drudge and drivel 
in the performance of the meanest services of the Tyler party, 
for the miserable boon of a little despicable gain and infamous 
notoriety. He is a mere worm, the loathing of a party; like 
John Tyler, he knows no moral principle, and his thoughts 
never soar above the filth on which he feeds and revels. A 
mean and sneaking disposition is his characteristic feature — 
who. with his foul breath and pestilential influence, contami- 
nates the community, and, like the Harpies, mentioned by the 



OF MILWAUKEE. 117 

Roman poets, pollutes everything lie touches. We notice this 
creature merely to show that the insult of thrusting him upon 
us is received with ineffable contempt by every resident in our 
town. Did the reckless vagabond think that he could hold 
the office of post-master in Milwaukie without incurring the 
displeasure of every citizen ? This contemptible editor — this 
living transcript of total depravity, was well aware of the in- 
dignation such an event would arouse should he make the 
avowal, and hence his stealth into the affections of Capt. Tyler. 
We presume that honorable and high-minded man of all par- 
ties in this conimunity will duly appreciate our feelings, but 
as to that vagabond of a Noonan we ask no sympathy from 
him and will not accept common courtesy or common justice 
at his hands. Let him live and die, and with that prince of 
traitors, John Tyler, go to the grave without the benefit of 
clergy." 

A meeting was called at the Court House, and quite a num- 
ber assembled — or as the " Sentinel" said: "The citizens 
turned out en masse" which probably means the same thing. 
William Pitt Lynde was appointed Chairman, and William A. 
Prentiss, Secretary. Then followed the inevitable resolutions: 

"Resolved, That a committee consisting of five persons be 
appointed by the Chair, to report resolutions for the considera- 
tion of the meeting, and Francis Randall, Rev. Mr. Kundig, 
Walter Burke and Harrison Ludington were appointed for 
that purpose. 

" The committee retired for consideration, and during their 
absence the meeting was ably and eloquently addressed by S. 
D. Dillaye, William Pitt Lynde, Francis Randall, Rev. Mr. 
Kundig;, Jonathan E. Arnold and others. 

"The following preamble and resolutions were reported by 



118 THE CHRONICLES 

the committee appointed for that purpose which on being read 
and considered, were adopted unanimously. 

Whereas, We have heard with no less surprise than regret 
and indignation, that Solomon Juneau, Esq., one of our old- 
est and worthiest citizens has been removed, without plea, 
apology or excuse, from the important office of Postmaster at 
Milwaukie, and that a man has been put in his place, who is 
the least in the estimation of the people. Therefore 

"Resolved, That the appointment of Postmaster is one in 
which the citizens of Milwaukie are each and every one of 
them deeply interested, and their wishes are entitled to a re- 
spectful consideration by the appointing power. 

"Resolved ', That Solomon Juneau, Esq., late Postmaster at 
this place, enjoyed in his individual and official capacity, our 
entire confidence, and we know no sufficient reason for his re- 
moval and deeply regret and condemn it. 

"Resolved, That the clandestine and underhanded removal 
of Mr. Juneau, against the expressed wishes of this commu- 
nity, as signified by the written remonstrance of more than one 
thousand of its citizens, and the appointment of Josiah A. 
Noonan, is in our opinion against the unanimous wishes and 
feelings of this community, abhorrent to our moral sense, and 
but another evidence of the intention of the present adminis- 
tration, in sudsidizing the press, to corrupt political morals, 
and silence the free expression of public opinion. 

"On motion of William A. Prentiss, it was 

"Resolved, That five hundred copies of the proceedings of 
this meeting be published in hand-bill form for distribution 
among the people, that copies thereof be forwarded to the 
President of the United States, and to each member of his 
Cabinet and that the same be published in the 'Milwaukie 
Commercial Herald' and the 'Milwaukie Democrat/" 



OF MILWAUKEE. 119 

Now the war was at its height. The consequences seemed 
dreadful — but indefinite. The charge upon John Tyler and 
J. A. Noonan by this brigade of citizens was terrible — but 
only in appearance — the effects were unimportant. Mr. Noonan 
retained the office, made a most efficient Postmaster and John 
Tyler seems to have taken no notice of the clamor. So much 
for the vox populi in this case. The tornado swept harmless- 
ly over. The " Sentinel" came down to its usual strength, and 
Solomon Juneau became a Democrat! Then it was that Mr. 
Noonan and others nominated him for Register of Deeds and 
succeeded in electing him. 

In looking over this affair now, undistracted by popular 
clamor and unprejudiced by interests, we can see in the re- 
monstrance of the people, not an antipathy to Mr. Noonan, but 
their unqualified regard for Mr. Juneau. It was actually con- 
sidered an insult to the community to remove him from office. 
All the generous impulses of the masses were appealed to, and 
that nice discrimination, which is only another name for jus- 
tice, was lost sight of entirely in a burst of passion. The ar- 
ticle just quoted was evidently written in the heat of that 
passion and its bitterness, which borders on scurrility, is only 
laughable now. 

Mr. Noonan was re-appointed Postmaster, by Polk, and 
appointed again by Pierce, served in all through three ap- 
pointments, conducting the office to the satisfaction of the 
business public and the community generally. 



CHAPTER XV 

A Ramblo through Milwaukie in 1S42 — Means of Travelling— Roads — Count Harasthy 
—The Fourth of July. 

If we start from the top of Chestnut Hill and walk down to- 
ward the town at this date, 1842, we shall find that a great 
change has been effected in the appearance of the place since 
1836. Capt. John Anderson is building a dam across the 
Milwaukie river of the most substantial character. A canal is 
being dug along the western bank of the stream. These are 
the improvements of the Milwaukie and Rock River Canal 
Company, of which we shall speak more extensively hereafter. 
At the bank at the foot of Chestnut Street we shall encounter 
the little steamer "C. C Trowbridge/' * 

Yv'e pass down "West Water Street, and there are just four 
stores on that thoroughfare. "We cross over the floating bridge 
at Spring Street, which measures our specific gravity plainly 
by sinking under us into the stream. 

Arrived in the east ward, we look over the small wooden 
tenements, that range up Wisconsin Street, and see the hill 
beyond and the yellow bank, on which stands the Milwaukie 
House, whilom the Belle vue. The square, which now Van Cott's 



* This serviceable craft we»t out of use in 1844 or '45. But the engine, if I mistake 
not, has kept on its puffing ever since, just as when it ran up and down the river, and 
drives the machinery that has planed the floors of more than half of the houses of 
this entire city, at the establishment of J. B. Smith k Co., in the Fourth Ward. — 
E. D. Holton's address be/ore the Chamber of Commerce, 1858. 



OF MILWAUKEE 121 

building overlooks, was then without a brick building, and even 
the wooden buildings were not contiguous. To stand on the 
north-west corner of Wisconsin and East Water Streets, where 
now the Juneau Bank is located, and where then the frame 
warehouse of Messrs. Ludington & Co. stood, one could obtain 
a very fine view of the Seventh Ward, with its stunted oak trees 
and primitive cliffs, ravines and knolls. On the opposite corner, 
south, is the clothing store of Cary & Taylor. Adjoining it on 
East Water Street is the store of Higby & Wardner ; passing 
down we find J. & L. Ward; Robert Davis, fashionable tailor; 
George Bowman ; Richard Hadley, boots and shoes. These are 
about all on that block; opposite them we find Mr. E. D. Hol- 
ton ; on the corner of Wisconsin and East Water Streets, with 
two or three modest dwelling houses and a meat market, the 
latter kept by Owen Aldrich. 

Below Michigan and nearly on the site of Mitchell's bank 
stood the residence of Solomon Juneau, a large frame building- 
and a few rods further south, the Cottage Inn, kept by Mr. Vail, 
and the Fountain House, by N. P. Hawks. There are eleven 
or twelve stores in town, all told ! The plank sidewalks in 
East Water Street remind you of a corduroy road. But, there 
is a healthy stir that is observable ; Michigan Street is the fash- 
ionable avenue, Horatio Stevens is building a pier at its ter- 
minus on the lake, and presently we shall have the steamers 
landing their passengers on our old burying ground. Eleven 
stores, all of which did not cost as much as one of the splendid 
structures that now may be found on any of the same streets. 

Mr. Holton has given us a small directory of the professional 
men at this time, which reads as follows : 

The lawyers were Messrs. Upham and Walworth, on Wiscon- 
sin Street, near Main ; Wells, Crocker & Finch, on Wisconsin 
Street and just above Juneau's old warehouse ; Graham & 



122 THE CHRONICLES 

Blossom, corner of Wisconsin and East "Water Streets ; Chas. 
James Lynde, over Jones jewelry store (where Van Cott's now 
is,) ; J. E. Arnold, opposite the Milwaukee House, on Wiscon- 
sin Street; Francis Randall, over Cary & Taylor's store, on the 
corner of Wisconsin and East Water Streets. 

The physicians of that day were : Messrs. Dr. E. B. Wol- 
cott, Dr. Proudfit, Dr. Hewett, Dr. Bartlett and Dr. Castleman. 

The Rev. Lemuel Hull was rector of St. Paul's church; the 
Rev. Stephen Peet, of the Presbyterian church; the Rev. Mr. 
Bowles, of the Methodist Episcopal, and Rev. Father Mor- 
rissey, of the Catholic church. 

Cyrus Hawley was the Clerk of the Court. 

Rufus Parks was Receiver, in an office on Main Street, above 
Wisconsin. 

Col. Morton was Register, in Roger's block. 

Daniel Wells was Deputy Sheriff. 

Gov. Farwell was the tinman, and worked at his bench, with 
Cady & Farwell. 

Mr. Clark Shepardson was the blacksmith, and worked at 
the anvil — his shop standing where the Newhall House now 
stands. 

Mr. Ambrose Ely was the shoe maker. 

C. D. Davis was the livery keeper, near the Walker House. 

Col. James Murray was the painter, next to Owen Aldrich'g 
meat market. 

Elisha Starr and Geo. 0. Tiffany were stage men. 

Matthew Stein was gunsmith, under the hill by the spring, 
now Market Square. 

George Dousman did storage and forwarding at his present 
place of business. 

Doney & Mosely were founders, on the site of the water 



OF MILWAUKEE. 123 

power, and possibly Turton & Sercomb may ha^e then been in 
business. 

I. A. Lapham was land agent in the west ward, and Joshua 
Hathaway in the east. 

B. H Edgerton and G-arret Vliet were the surveyors. 

Harrison Reed, Esq., published the Sentinel, weekly, in a 
small wooden building somewhere about where Bradford Bro- 
thers' store now stands. 

Daniel H. Richards published the Advertiser, weekly, just 
above where the Republican House now stands, in the second 
ward. 

Alexander Mitchell was banker in the west half of the office 
of Davis & Moore. 

In the summer of this year Rev. Mr. Lemuel Hull built 
the first brick dwelling house of consequence on the corner 
of Wisconsin and Jackson Street, and Mr. Charles C. Dewey 
built the first block of brick stores during the same summer, 
on East Water Street. 

The roads leading to the town were not much to boast of. 
There was the Green Bay Road winding away to the north m 
The Waukesha and Mukwonago Roads — running west. The 
Kilbourn Road leading to the south-west, and the Racine Road 
passing south. In 1841 Mr. Hesk opened a wagon track 
north-west to Fond du Lac. These roads were mere openings 
through the timber, with logs laid across some of the streams 
— and varied occasionally by stumps and hollows. Still the 
tide of immigration passed through these channels with unceas- 
ing flow, spreading out over the rich country to the west. 
The means of getting to Milwaukie through Michigan and Il- 
linois were little better. Tho road leading through the latter 
State from Detroit to Chicago, was the main thoroughfare, and 
was traversed by stage-coaches, only one remove from the dil- 



124 THE CHRONICLES 

ligence of another age and country. The Milwaukie papers 
contained accounts of the delay and accidents continually hap- 
pening on this route, with now and then a card signed by out- 
raged passengers who were upset and afterwards detained at 
St. Joseph, until their patience evaporated. The road from 
Jacksonburgh to St. Joseph was acknowledged by all to be 
next to impassible, and travellers who passed over it without 
being frightened out of their "seven senses," were reserved 
for other torments afterwards. It would seem, too, that the 
delays were not confined to the roads. We find the following 
paragraph in the "Milwaukie Commercial Herald/' of Octo- 
ber 6th: 

"No mail east of Chicago seems to be the principal news 
about these days. About every trip the U. S. Mail Boat, the 
"Champion," breaks down. We received our papers this 
morning, by the "Great Western," which, notwithstanding 
she is three or four days behind her time, gives us three or 
four days start of the mail." 

These were all slight impediments to immigration, and save 
the occasional grumble of the newspapers and the growls of 
the travellers were unproductive of any consequences. Peo. 
pie would come, though they risked their lives in Michigan 
and suffered the pangs of detention at Chicago. Even a 
Count was thrown upon our shores, with the flood tide of trav_ 
el, — as the papers said, a "real Hungarian Count, who had 
left Hungary on account of his participation in the Polish 
Revolution, and made a 'straight wake for Wisconsin/" He 
was reputed rich* had been intimate with such men as Met- 
ternich, Prince de Joinville and Esterharg — therefore, civility, 
in his case became obsequious, and hospitality whole-souled. 
The right hand of fellowship was presented to him from every 
part of the city, and he probably thought Milwaukie was er- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 125 

erything she had been represented; unless, indeed, he encount- 
ered the town's "runner," at Buffalo, who did the thing up 
to those westward bound folk who passed through that place 
in such a manner as to leave little chance for realization. 
Count Harasthy purchased teams and agricultural implements, 
and after a few week's stay in Milwaukie, started for Rock 
River, to commence farming. There were a great many curi- 
ous stories in circulation about the Count at this time, which 
originated in his eccentric manners; few of which, however, 
had other than a partial foundation in truth. It was said that 
soon after leaving Milwaukie, his wagon got into a hole, from 
which all the ordinary methods of extrication failed to move 
it, and that he built a fire under his horses and smoked his 
pipe deliberately while they got him and the wagon out of the 
dilemma. 

At Rock River he located himself — near the Koshkonong 
— upon a beautiful tract of land; built a comfortable house, 
purchased oxen and set about breaking up the land. After a 
few week's labor, he was informed that he was improving the 
wrong "quarter," which fact, subsequent examination proved 
to be true. Shortly after this his dwelling was consumed by 
fire, and there were those stupid or malicious enough to de- 
clare that he had resorted to the same trick practiced upon 
the horses, to extricate himself from the new difficulty. His 
next destination, we believe, was Sauk Prairie; and not long 
after he was understood to be in command of a little steamer, 
at Aztalan, which, after making a few trips on the Wiscon- 
sin, led the enterprising German to push his exploits on the 
Mississippi. 

The summer of '42 saw the town branching out into enter- 
prise. The blossoms of speculation were giving way to the 
fruits of utility. Taste and refinement were becoming visi- 



126 THE CHRONICLES 

ble — those flowers that spring only when the attrition of 
crude life has accumulated enough of the richer soil in which 
to take root. 

On the Fourth of July we shall find the town arrayed in 
festive colors, and — not a military parade nor a firemen's tourn- 
ament — but a procession of sabbath school children, forming 
in front of the Presbyterian Meeting House and marching un- 
der the direction of Major Holton, to the corner of Wisconsin 
and East Water Streets, where a circle is formed and a tem- 
perance ode sung. This is only twenty years ago, and how 
would a temperance ode on the ''Fourth"' sound now at the 
same place? The ceremonies of the day consisted of a pro- 
cession under the direction of Gen. Graves, assisted by Cols. 
Clyman and Wolcott, a prayer by the Piev. Mr. Watson, read- 
ing of the Declaration of Independence, by John Hustis, and 
an oration by Rev. Mr. Miter, after which a dinner was served 
at the Cottage Inn, under the supervision of Mr. Harriman — 
and a beautiful shower finished up the day. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Milwaukie and Rock Payer Improvement — Manufactories — An Appeal to the 
Citizens of Milwaukie in Relation to the Roads — Superiority of Plank Road3 to 
Rail Roads— Some Account of Egbert Herring Smith, the Poet. 

As early as the summer of 1836, Byron Kilbourn, of Mil- 
waukie, with the assistance of several other gentlemen, com- 
menced a series of examinations of the country between Mil- 
waukie and Rock River, with a view to the construction of a 
canal. Having satisfied himself as to the practicability of the 
works, Mr. Kilbourn attracted public attention to the scheme 
by a series of articles, written by himself and published in the 
"Advertiser," in '37. A bill was introduced in the first legis- 
lative assembly, at its session held at Belmont, in 1836, praying 
for a charter of incorporation for a company, but no action was 
taken upon it at that time. The articles of Mr. Kilbourn 
aroused public attention, and again, in 1837, petitions were 
forwarded to the legislature, (then in session at Burlington,) 
for the passage of an act of incorporation. 

The company was incorporated in 1838. The capital stock 
was to be $100,000, with the privilege of increasing the amount 
to a sum not exceeding one million of dollars, should the same 
be found necessary to the completion of the works. * 

In 1842, the dam was built just above Kilbourntown, by 



* For a full history of this company, minute iff not impartial, see Smith's History 
#/ Wisconsin, Vol. III. 



128 THE CHRONICLES 

Capt. John Anderson, and in December of that year, the water 
was let into so mnch of the canal as had been constructed, viz : 
from the dam to its present terminus in the second ward, just 
above the Chestnut Street bridge. A celebration accompanied 
this event, and a very able oration was delivered by John 
Hustis. 

This finished portion of the canal was immediately invested 
with a great deal of interest to capitalists, and the next year a saw 
mill was built upon it by Samuel Brown and Benjamin Moffat, 
and Mr. Bathbone put up a large grist mill, which were short- 
ly after followed by a woollen factory. The water power was 
looked upon as the most important element of the present and 
future prosperity of Milwaukie. 

The dam, 430 feet in length and 18 feet high, gave a water 
way of 400 feet. The established rent for the water was $75 
a year for 100 cubic feet per minute. The lots between the 
canal and the river, 60 feet front by an average of 130 feet 
deep, were worth from four to eight hundred dollars. 

The history of the Milwaukie and Bock Biver Canal is long 
and unsatisfactory, and hardly appropriate to a work of this de- 
sultory character. The company, after its incorporation, ap- 
plied and received from congress a grant of land, commonly 
known as the canal grant, and subsequently, the legislature and 
the company becoming involved in a mesh of difficulties, con- 
cerning the grant and the money accruing from the sale of the 
lands, the work stopped, and all that remains at this day of the 
Bock Biver canal, is the still substantial dam, the guard lock 
and one mile of canal, which empties itself into the river just 
above the Chestnut Street bridge. 

Byron Kilbourn, having been the originator of the enterprise 
and having been prominent in its prosecution from the first, 
much of the odium attending its failure attached to him, 



OF MILWAUKEE. 129 

though there is no one even at this day, who is not willing to 
admit that, had the work been consummated according to Mr. 
Kilbourn's original views as then set forth, the town would 
have been incalculably benefited. From its inception, in 1836, 
to its abandonment, in 1842, there had been violent opposers 
of the measure, men who were actuated by interests in rival 
schemes, and who were inimical to Kilbourn and the west 
ward. The rivalry of the sections was brought out and the 
improvements made the ground work of fresh accusations be- 
tween the two sides of the town. 

Wm. R. Smith, in his documentary history already referred 
to, after giving a long account of the company, sums up his 
own history, as follows : 

1st. That the Territorial Legislature did incorporate the Ca- 
nal Company and clothe it with full authority to construct and 
maintain a canal from Milwaukie to Rock River, giving; it 
complete and entire jurisdiction over said work, or so much 
thereof as should be completed within ten years from the date 
of the act, and that the powers and privileges of the company 
" are" perpetual unless voluntarily surrendered. 

2d. That these powers and privileges were fully confirmed 
by Congress. 

3d. That the Legislature did authorise said company to 
apply to Congress for an appropriation of land to aid in the 
construction of the canal. 

4th. That the company, in presence of such authority, did 
apply to Congress, and did obtain the grant of land commonly 
known as the canal grant. 

5. That in making said grant, Congress confided to the Le- 
gislature, as trustee, the disposal of the land, and the applica- 
tion of the proceeds thereof to the construction of the canal 
and for no other purpose whatever. 



130 THE CHRONICLES 

6th. That the Legislature did undertake to perform the 
duties of trustee, in pursuance of the act of Congress, and did 
sell a considerable part of said land and did apply a part of the 
proceeds thereof in payment of work done on the canal. 

7th. That after having undertaken and exercised the duties 
of trustee and having given countenance and aid to the canal 
for about four years, the Legislature did refuse to apply the 
further proceeds of said land in aid of said canal, and did re- 
fuse further to perform the duties of trustee in that behalf. 

8th. That the Legislature did appropriate the funds arising 
from the sale of said land, in the nature of a loan, to purposes 
other than in aid of said canal, viz : to the payment of debts 
contracted by the Territory, and to pay the expenses of two 
conventions to form a constitution amounting to 880,000 or 
upwards, and for other purposes required by the necessities of 
the Territory until the amount of some 8120,000 or $130,000 
of the proceeds of the lands sold were disbursed for public 
purposes not contemplated by the act of Congress, but in clear 
violation of its provisions. 

9th. That $31,876 97 have been paid the Legislature out of 
the canal fund in aid of the canal. 

10th. That the company paid on the canal $24,868 36. 

11th. That provision is made in the act of Congress, to vest 
in the State of Wisconsin, in fee, the said land, or so much 
thereof as shall remain unsold at the time of its admission, 
subject to certain conditions, viz : that the land shall be sold at 
not less than $2 50 per acre ; that the canal shall be completed 
within ten years from the date of the grant (June 18, 1838) 
or that the State shall pay the price for which the land was 
sold; but that to make effectual these provisions (to secure 
the benefits offered and to incur the liabilities imposed) it was 



OF MILWAUKEE. 131 

necessary that the State should make a formal acceptance of 
the grant by act of the Legislature after its admission. 

12th. The acceptance of the grant by the State was rendered 
impossible because more than half of the land had been sold 
at^$l 25 per acre, and because the time for completing the 
canal expired in June, 1848, a few days after the meeting of 
the first State Legislature under the constitution. By the pro- 
visions of that constitution the unsold canal lands have been 
appropriated to the endowment of common schools. 

13th. It having then, been rendered impossible for the State 
to accept the grant unconditionally, which was necessary to 
give the State control over it, it follows that no power over 
the subject can be exercised by the State, consequently two 
only of the three of the original parties to the grant now re- 
main, viz : the United States and the canal company, the 
Territory having merged in State government." 



In 1844, the subject of roads became a very important one 
and was agitated accordingly. The Kilbourn road, which we 
before alluded to, had not turned out as well as was expected, 
and the others were scarcely as good. In this connection we 
cannot help presenting to the reader the following article, pro- 
mulgated in June, 1844, and addressed "to the people of Mil- 
waukee." It conveys a good idea of the feeling and state of 
affairs at that time : 

u You feel justly proud of your town. Its superior natural 
advantages compared with any other point on the lake, its cen- 
tral position, and its rapid improvement have been the theme 
of eulogy over the whole country. Are you contented to sleep 
upon the high reputation thus attained, and suffer Racine and 



132 THE CHRONICLES 

Southport to draw away from you the whole trade and business 
of the interior ? If so, sleep on. If not, AWAKE, and do 
something to prevent it, while it is yet in your power to main- 
tain your former standing. You all know that the prosperity, 
if not the very existence of a town depends upon the trade and 
commerce and business of the country around it. This trade 
and commerce and business is now being diverted to Racine and 
Southport. Do you doubt it? Ask Judge Miller, Mr. Gilbert, 
and others, who have recently been there and witnessed it- 
And if you will not believe them, go and see for yourselves, 
and you will be satisfied that it is so. At both of these places 
they do now and have ever since last fall, paid a higher price 
for wheat and farmers' produce than has been paid here, and 
have each purchased double the quantity to what has been 
bought here. Go there, and to Racine particularly, and you 
will find them wholesaling their goods to merchants at Madison 
and other places in the interior, nearer Milwaukie than them, 
and retailing them to the farmers of Milwaukie county. Go 
there, and you will find as the natural result of their increased 
trade and business, facilities and means commensurate with its 
importance to the interest and prosperity of their towns — ware- 
houses adequate to all the wants of the country, and roads in 
all directions in good condition at all seasons of the year. To 
the latter particularly are they mainly indebted for their aston- 
ishing late increase of business and general prosperity. It is 
to this cause alone that we must ascribe all the advantages 
which they now reap beyond their former proportion, and al- 
most wholly at our expense. Where, now, are the scores of 
teams conveying lead and copper to, and the merchandise and 
lumber from our wharves, which two years ago filled the vessels 
of our merchants and business men with an equivalent for 
ready cash, and daily enlivened our town? Gone; entirely 



OF MILWAUKEE. 133 

gone j some to Southport and Racine, and the balance down the 
Mississippi. And why? Because the roads — all the roads 
leading to this place during more than half the year are nearly 
impassible even with empty wagons. To this cause, tenfold 
more, to this cause alone than all the rumors of the small pox 
here during the last fall, is to be traced and ascribed the de- 
creased trade and business here, notwithstanding all the vast in- 
crease of country population and the low prices at which goods 
have been sold here. It is of no avail to the people — the mer. 
chants, mechanics and other business men of this town, that 
the country fills up even to suffocation, and though we sell our 
goods at half their cost, if the people in the country cannot 
reach us with their products, or only at such labor and expense 
as takes away from them all the benefits and advantages of their 
trade with us. An unfortunate mania has for years past taken 
possession and seems still to engross and enthrall the minds of 
our best business men in respect to the true causes of our town's 
prosperity. All — all, is ascribed to the shipping interest — to a 
harbor, and even a particular location of that harbor. To so 
great an extent has this erroneous belief carried them, that 
they have procured the passage of an act authorizing the cor- 
poration to make a loan of money for that purpose, and even 
voted to raise $15,000 to be so applied; and this, mind you, 
while the roads in every direction are left in such condition as 
to render not only an additional, but any and all harbors en- 
tirely useless. The indispensable importance of good roads is 
not unappreciated by some, who manifest the most culpable in- 
difference to their improvement, but they argue in this wise : 
They say that in a few years we must become a state ; that then 
we will be entitled to half a million acres of public lands ; and 
that then we will sell these lands and apply their proceeds to 
the making of a good railroad from the Mississippi river to this 



134 THE CHRONICLES 

place. And are you sure, Mr. Donothing, that the people of 
Green Bay and their supporters, and the people of Racine, 
Walworth and Rock will consent to have their equal and just 
proportion of these proceeds applied to making a grand rail- 
road, or that they will consent to have that railroad come here ? 
Even if you were sure of such a result in the end, we do not like 
the project. It is too much like that scheme of a few bank- 
rupt speculators among us, who advocate the application of the 
canal lands to the same purpose. We are not only opposed to all 
such plans of building up our town, but we are also opposed to 
all railroads for such a new country as ours. A good turnpike 
or McAdam road is worth forty railroads for the country, 
through which it passes. The best and only way to build up 
a town, is to build up the country around it. It is the small 
traders and mechanics, who furnish the farmers what they 
want, and who, in turn, consume their surplus produce, and 
who, by these means, are mutually beneficial to each other, 
which in time, and sometimes quickly too, makes a town large 
and prosperous. Those who desire to come among us from the 
east will come, though we have but one harbor, and even that 
be half a mile further around ; and those who have any surplus 
produce here to send off, will be able to ship it at once." 



We could not very well omit making mention in these pages 
of a poet, whose fame about this time became a : ' household 
word." Egbert Herring Smith, settled at Oak Creek, near 
Milwaukie, as early as '36 or '7, and made a claim. He after- 
wards taught school in a log house in the same place. His 
was a peculiar idiosyncrasy, and no less peculiar was his per* 
sonal appearance. Green goggles, a limping gait and an un- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 135 

sophisticated air were the characteristics of the young man. 
"We say young, though the verdure of over thirty summers 
had given him a tinge of its hue. Mr. Smith would have 
vegetated undoubtedly to this day in rural retirement had not 
the Fates in the form of three or four respectable but never-to- 
be-forgiven gentlemen of Milwaukie, whispered in his ear the 
soft and seductive allurements of fame. 

Mr. Smith, in an incautious moment, displayed a "poeni" 
of his own composition. 

The friends were enraptured with it, and as true friends will 
— gave Mr. Smith some good advice — viz., to publish it — to 
cultivate his talents, to devote himself to it — to show the world 
that genius flourished in the west. The first Hesperian fruit 
that resulted from this cultivation, appeared in that literary 
orchard, the " Sentinel." It was called, " Lo ; the Poor Indian," 
and though it partook somewhat of the gait of the author, 
must be admired by all. We give it as we find it : 

The Indian, on the high bluff stood ! 
Alone, and nobody round him, 

Save tenants, of the ancient wood, 
That always did surround him. 

He folded his arms and lit his pipe, 
And smoked awhile to ease him, 

And took a long, last look about, 
On things most like to please him. 

He took a good look of the village and town — 
With its thousands of houses and people ; 

And cast his bold eye up and down, 
O'er many a mansion and steeple. 

Then, folding his banket up close, 
ne heaved a long-drawn sigh, — 

And, casting his eyes up above him, he iaid: 
"0, that the poor Indian might die! 

" To die and be at rest away from the foe — 
Who follow my track night and day; 
To forget in thu grave, my race's woe — 



136 THE CHRONICLES 

For this, I hereby pray." 

Then, throwing one mere look adown, 
He gathered his blanket tight, 

And, taking one long, unwavering step, 
Filing himself off the height ! 

One of the reviews of this poem is altogether too good to be 
lost — one must accompany the other. It appeared in one of 
the Milwaukie papers simultaneously with the " poem." 

"We present to our readers, this morning, the famous poem 
of our distinguished citizen, Mr. Smith; the production of 
which places him at once among the first poets of the age. 
The perusal of it will not fail to discover 'internal evidences' 
of genius such as animated and inspired the bards of other 
ages. The poem is short for an epic, but brevity is the very 
soul of wit and poetry, and we are happy to note that our bard 
has simply said all he had to say and stopped. It is not per- 
fect, though approaching perfection. The author is a young 
man and this, his first attempt, should be regarded leniently. 
What we say is prompted by the best wishes for his ultimate 
success in the path of renown which he has chosen. In this 
spirit we shall take the liberty of offering a few suggestions 
and correcting a few trivial errors, which it seems to us the 
poet has fallen into. In the first place the measure is not 
adapted to the full expression of ideas which the author had. 
He was evidently cramped by the mechanical limits of his 
lines. Blank verse, for instance, would have given a much 
better opportunity for the expression of the fine thought in the 
second line, 

"Alone and nobody round him." 

It might be rendered, 

"Alone and nobody round bim, 
Except himself.* 



OF MILWAUKEE. 137 

And the same may be said of the first line of the second stanza. 
How much fuller and broader the same idea becomes when let 
out — 

"And of the town and village then he took 
And of the city — one long squint.'' 

But we will not presume to illustrate our ideas. Ours is not 
the lyric pen. The line as it stands evinces an insight into 
human nature which belongs to the poet alone. No one but 
an Indian could ever be expected to see a town and village in 
one settlement — and one settlement is meant, for the next line 
reads — 

" With its thousands " &c. 

So that in the words there is a delicate allusion to the prophetic 
power of the savage who saw the present village and the pros- 
pective town. 

In the fifth line there is a very "clever conceit," 

"He folded his arms aDd lit his pipe." 

How he lit his pipe we are at a loss to discover, unless it was by 
his eyes before he " cast them up and down," as we are assured 
in the second verse he did. This mysticism is rather a fault 
in so young a writer. Shelley may have written his best things 
so that nobody understood them, but would they have been any 
the less meritorious for being less mysterious ! And so in this 
case. If our author had informed us how the act was con- 
summated, with his arms folded, we should not have to tax our 
memory for all the legerdemain tricks we had ever read of as 
being performed by the aborigines. The "throwing" of first 
one eye, and afterwards both of them comes under the same 
objection. If the poet wishes us to understand that he tossed 
them up to amuse himself, very well, but is it not very much 
like an encroachment upon the ridiculous to contemplate this 
10 



138 THE CHRONICLES 

noble savage, standing on the verge of a bluff, meditating sui- 
cide ; his mind sombre with thoughts of dissolution, an uncer- 
tain hereafter, or perhaps a lingering death at the foot of the 
bluff — and tossing up Ms eyes, as boys toss up apples ! We 
think so, and it is justly chargeable to the occasional obscurity. 
In this case the perspicuity was sacrificed to the music of ver- 
sification. The poet was misled by his ears. They are evi- 
dently developed disproportionately. 

In the management of the catastrophe, Mr. Smith redeems 
himself. There is no obscurity here, the most stupid reader 
will not hesitate and ask whether the red hero rolled down or 
walked down — "he gathered his blanket tight" — to prevent 
himself from presenting the appearance of a spread eagle in 
his descent — and taking one step he flung himself. . He had 
taken a comfortable smoke; made all the necessary observations 
on life, death, &c; amused himself with his eyes for awhile, 
and all was over — of course we mean over the bluff. There 
can be no doubt that the efforts of Mr. Smith's maturer years 
will outshine these, his maiden productions. There is a charm 
about his writings that we have never yet discovered in any 
American poet, and we predict for him a name high in the an- 
nals of Literature and Song, if he but labors and polishes. 
Before we close this article we take this opportunity to say that 
a gentleman has informed us that the Plot of Lo the poor In- 
dian is founded on fact. A year or two ago Mr. Smith himself 
picked up a short clay pipe on one of our bluffs, near an Irish- 
man's shanty, and from this little incident has he woven the 
beautiful story of "Lo I" 

In a short time, Mr. Smith became the most notorious man 

in Milwaukie. The papers "set him up," and he was dubbed 

"Laureate." Poem after poem followed "Lo," all of similar 

genius," until the thing became so flagrant a "sell" that even 



OP MILWAUKEE. 139 

the people of other cities smelt the mouse and presumed to 
laugh. Every body praised Smith, every body being fond of 
jokes, especially such colossal jokes as these. The especial 
patrons of the poet advised him to write an epic, and he finally 
consented. The result of his labor in the heroic field was a 
book of 274 pages, entitled 

MA-KA-TAI-ME-SHE-KIA-KIAK, 

OR BLACK HAWK. 
AN EPIC POEM. 

This was published in good style in 1848, in this city. A 
copy of it may be found on the shelves of the Young Men's 
Library. A portion of the poem is devoted to Milwaukie, 
which portion commences in this wise : 

"Delightful village of Milwaukie, 

I went in November your beauties to see ; 

Leaving my home and the land of my tillage, 

To visit this early and new founded village. 

I entered your courts, the jury I saw, 

And all your attorneys and counsellors at law 

The learned judge enthroned looked sedate and complacent, 

The sages of law sat smiling adjacent." 

It was through the advice of his admirers — or pretended 
admirers — that Mr. Smith was led into this speculation; and 
when the book appeared they did not desert him. Resolu- 
tions of thanks were tendered him ; long and flattering notices 
beset him, and the book sold. The thing became so flagrant, 
that at last, one or two, not appreciating the joke or else tired 
of it, went to Mr. Smith and solemnly assured him that the 
public were u running a rig" upon him — making a scape-goat 
of him — and so forth. Mr. Smith referred to the receipts of 
his book, and replied : "Not much, I guess." 



140 THE CHRONICLES 

And in truth, lie was right, for the book sold as no epic 
ever sold in the western country since. He travelled down to 
Chicago, but his fame preceded him. He was met by ad- 
mirers, on all hands. The freedom of the city was voted to 
him, and eulogistic articles appeared in the journals — Mr. 
Smith, either oblivious of the true state of affairs, or purposly 
"keeping dark" — and selling his books all the while. Criti- 
cism was dumb ; and for once, the common herd, as well as the 
literati, became interested in poetry. 

Perhaps the best joke of all, transpired in 1853, during 
the height of the literary excitement in England, over the 
poet Alexander Smith, whose volume of poems was subse- 
quently published and read by all lovers of the true and beau- 
tiful. During this furore, over the Scotch Smith, the Mem- 
phis Appeal started the story "that Alexander Smith, over 
whom the eastern people were making such an ado, was, in 
1846, a seedy and neglected individual in Wisconsin; the butt 
for ridicule of all the literary people, and that, after seeking 
in vain through all our principal cities for a just appreciation 
of his merits, went to England where he became famous/' 
This confusion of the two Smith's was actually copied, and 
doubtless believed by hundreds all over the country. 

Whatever became of the laureate we do not know. As noth- 
ing has been heard from him since his epic, he is doubtless re- 
posing on his laurels, undisturbed by the ghost of a murdered 
vernacular. 



CHAPTER XVII 



Bridges — Bonds for Disunion — Predictions of the Major — A Smash Up at Spring Street 
and the Consequences — Action of the West Side Trustees — A Public Meeting — Tho 
West Siders get out their Cannon — Down with Byron Kilbourn. 



The little " Menonionee," that paddled her way up the river 
with much noise and smoke, and carried her living freight 
from the steamers in the bay, had fallen into the habit of land- 
ing her passengers only on the west side. As Byron Kilbourn 
owned the west side and the steamboat, it was perhaps natural 
that the first growl from over the river should be levelled at 
him. What feelings of rivalry already existed, were quick- 
ly developed by this recurring circumstance. The natural 
advantages ■ were in favor of the east side, but this seemed to 
be turning the tables with a vengeance. " Only let us get at 
the strangers first," said they on the east, "and they will 
never buy on the west." But now it seemed out of the ques- 
tion to get at them first. It would not do to sit down and see 
the immigration passing up the stream and pouring into Kil- 
bourntown. It was aggravating, too, for those who lived on 
the east side to^be carried away up to Chestnut Street, and have 
to walk half a mile" back. 

Then an old cry arose for bridges ; and then one or two ad- 
vised Juneau to put on an opposition boat — but Juneau had 
already had some experience in steamboats, and did not enter 
into the spirit of the last proposition with the alacrity that 
had been expected. 



142 THE CHRONICLES 

It is curious to note the playful animosity, which had all 
along; characterised the sections, now becoming: tinctured with 
a bitterness that sprung from fancied injuries received. 

Certain of those on the west-side, had all along proclaimed 
that the east-side was unhealthy ; that foul miasms hung over 
the houses; that the inhabitants lived on frogs, which the 
Frenchman had learned them to eat, and that many of them 
died and were buried at night, so that the world should not see 
their depletion. The east-siders had retaliated by calling them 
"country people," who had to cross the river to get into 
town; who had no court house, no jail, "no nothing," but 
Byron Kilbourn. One enthusiastic partizan had gone so far 
indeed as to propose the establishment of a quarantine at 
the point where the west-siders crossed the river. But 
these charges, which were harmless, now became shotted with 
real opposition. The landing of passengers on the west-side 
woke up a slumbering resentment, which finally settled into 
a general demand for bridges. 

The first bridge had been built, in 1839, at Chestnut Street, 
and in 1843 Mr. Rogers, Pettibone and others, constructed a 
floating bridge or raft at Spring Street. This was carried 
away by a freshet, and a substantial bridge was built in the 
spring of '43, after much consultation; and it seemed as though 
the wooden bonds, which spanned the river at these two points, 
instead of uniting, tended rather to separate the sections. 

In all the discussions on the comparative merits of the ques- 
tion, the Major Domo took a conspicuous part. His was the 
highest chair at Sherwood's, when the west-siders were to 
"catch it." Not that the Major presumed to lead the oppos- 
ition ; he lacked the moral courage and independence, that 
would shape opinions into conviction or confirm his listeners 
in their belief. He was rather an oracle with a felicitous flow 



OF MILWAUKEE. 143 

of language, if not of ideas, and was given that position which 
belongs to the best looking, but not the " smartest" man, i. e., 
the chair, as we see the best looking, but the poorest actors 
and actresses made kings and queens. 

No one presumed to know more, and certainly no man ever 
ventured to say more and mean less than this local hero ; but 
it was always said with fervor, and those who listened, though 
they failed to see which way the matter leaned, were conscious 
of its importance, and generally gave a hearty but bewildered 
assent. 

" Gentlemen, " he would say, knocking the ashes from his 
cigar with his little finger as he held it daintily up. "Gentle- 
men, all divisions of sentiment are to be frowned down. Di- 
visions are abominable anywhere; in a town whose growth 
depends on harmony, divisions are murderous. We all agree 
that another bridge is necessary ! Can any man accuse me 
of being opposed to the interests of the town, because I say, 
we are all in favor of bridges ? No, sir. I was the first to 
say to Kilbourn: 'Byron, that ferry is behind the age; what 
did it look like to see Mat. Keenan working on that scow at 
that enlightened period of our history ? ' Gentlemen, we got 
a bridge, not such a bridge perhaps I should have suggested, 
but we got one. Perhaps there was'nt a fight over that bridge, 
and perhaps there was. If my memory serves me right, all 
the lawyers in town got up briefs on it, besides one or two 
from Chicago; two or three juries sat on it, committees in- 
vestigated it. Leaders were made out of it, until exhausted 
it tumbled down ; and then what did they do ? why, they float- 
ed part of it down to Spring Street and made a ticklish kind 
of a raft; they tied the pieces together, so that by wading and 
jumping a person might get over. Nobody seemed to regret 
it, when the freshet took it out into the lake." 



144 THE CHRONICLES 

This illusion to the first Spring Street bridge was in the 
main correct. It was averred that to cross it safely the teams 
had to start half way up the hill and dash across with all possi- 
ble speed, before it sunk under them. 

The Major was a confirmed east-sider, but he took no inter- 
est in the sectional quarrel. His was the "law and order" 
card, that being the best paper to pass among all parties with. 
It may have been that association gave him a bias, but he was 
too guarded to evince anything but his admirable and lofty 
disinterestedness. When the freshet carried away the raft at 
Wisconsin Street, the public voice was in favor of a substan- 
tial bridge at this point. Those on the west-side especially 
approved of such a work, as the Post-Office and general business 
houses on the east-side were at this point. As soon as our friend 
discovered which way the tide set, he became eloquent in favor 
of a bridge, and when, in 1843, a subscription was started and 
money solicited to commence the work, he gave it out in his 
own peculiar way, that his potential voice had done the work, 
though it is an equally well established fact, that his own po- 
tential name never appeared on the subscription list. The 
bridge itself was a wonderful structure with an immense draw 
and great " floating bastions," something after the style of dry 
docks now in use on the river. Its completion was signalled 
by a select little anniversary, and Marshal Shunay was install- 
ed keeper. It was regarded with much pride, and for several 
days was travelled immensely. There were a few who de- 
nounced the work as unauthorized by law, and a grumble from 
a captain now and then arose about the obstruction of naviga- 
tion, but the bridge seems to have been conceded generally to 
be a necessity. 

In 1844, Mr. Daniel Wells and others proposed another 
bridge, and actually secured the erection of it at Oneida 



OP MILWAUKEE. 145 

Street. From this time the feeling of the two sections 
became very acrimonious. The Major, who could see as far 
into a mill stone as any man of penetration, predicted trouble. 
As we have said, he was a little ambitious of being a seer, one 
of those social prophets who see the shadows of coming events, 
because they have nothing else to look after, and who take 
especial delight in making dignified assertions in an emphatic 
manner, and which assertions sometimes turn out to be correct, 
but more frequently do not, though in the latter case the 
prophet has shrewdness enough to make the failure another 
proof of his penetration. 

The Major read the "Sentinel" and "Advertiser" at Sher- 
wood's, where pork and beans and whiskey formed the nightly 
attractions to the " fastest" of the town's people. The loungers 
at this-then-fashionable resort became accustomed to the Ma- 
jor's eloquence. It formed one of the characteristics of the 
place, almost as unctious as the savory pork and as substantial 
let us kindly hope, to many, as the beans. It has been said 
that the proprietor of this place held out inducements to the 
Major to frequent his house, by telling him when the compa- 
ny adjourned, "to never mind it — wait till next time" — and 
when the "next time" came persistently forgetting all about it 
— these inducements being held out, it is said, with the idea 
that the Major's presence added an additional touch of respec- 
tability to the establishment and helped the digestion of the 
beans. 

The Major predicted trouble. 

"I tell you, gentlemen," he would say, wth a deliberate 
wave of the hand, partly to fan away the tobacco smoke and 
partly to give effect to his words — "I tell you this bridge ques- 
tion isn't settled by any means. Is the East Ward to support 
all the bridges ! That's the point ! Of course not ? But 



146 THE CHRONICLES 

will the West Ward support her share. No, sir ! We have 
seen it already. Because we have assumed the support of one 
is that any reason we should impoverish ourselves in taking 
care of all when they are of equal benefit to our neighbors ? 
You see how the thing is, who's to pay the fiddler ! If the five 
gentlemen of the West side say — we won't pay for your 
bridges — what did you build them for ! what shall the five 
gentlemen of the East side do ! come, that's the question ! Put 
their hands in their pockets and toss out the money ! Perhaps 
so, but the people have something to say about that ! Its a 
knotty question, gentlemen." 

The ten gentlemen alluded to were the trustees of the two 
wards who met in common council but did very little in com- 
mon. Each five being as distinct, so far as co-operation was 
concerned, as the digitals on either arm of the physical 
body. There were two separate corporations to all intents 
(each tolerating the other,) which formed the town gov- 
ernment. They of the East side claimed the right to do as 
they pleased in regard to their locality, and the West side 
looked with jealous eye on any interference with their affairs. 
Common good, if not common sense, was overlooked — disre- 
garded entirely for "home interests." 

As the major said — who was to pay for the bridges, that 
was the question — ultimately to be resolved, so far as the struc- 
tures themselves were concerned, into the more epigrammatic 
question of " to be or not to be." The East side had hitherto 
contributed mainly to the support of all the bridges, but the 
precedent never anticipated the multiplication of bridges inde- 
finitely, and since the erection of the Wells Street bridge, at 
the foot of Oneida Street, there were those tax-payers who 
stoutly asserted that ere long the whole stream would be shut 
out from the light of day by over-arching Eialto's, whose costly 



OF MILWAUKEE. 147 

device and absurd luxuriance would involve the East siders in 
bankruptcy and ruin — unless the West siders paid tlieir share. 
The worthy folk of Kilbourntown said they had not the " re- 
motest idea of paying for what they didn't want, but what, in 
their opinion, was a nuisance." Thus matters ran along until 
the spring of 1845, when the badinage and sarcasm which had 
been shot across the unconscious waters were turned into threats 
of deeper meaning. The colloquy carried on may be summed 
up thus: 

u Are you disposed to pay your share for sustaining the 
bridges ?" 

"What, and let you keep on building them ! We don't want 
the bridge." 

''You do want it, but are too niggardly to pay for it." 

"It's a nuisance — an obstruction to navigation and an ex- 
pense — " 

" It's a luxury. People need not walk a mile now to cross 
the river when you obstinately land them on the West side." 

"If it's a luxury you can afford to sustain it." 

" And you shall help us." 

"Never — tear the old thing down first." 

This style of bantering was prevalent not only among the 
private citizens but among the public functionaries. The old 
feelings of envy and jealousy were now fluently poured forth 
over the bridge at Oneida Street. If they snapped at each 
other before, it was from principle, but now interest entered 
into the strife ; pockets were assailed directly, and as corpora- 
tions have pockets (if they have no souls) the war promised 
to be a campaign and not a battle. Open threats were made of 
violence, and though laughed at privately, were publicly 
responded to in the same bravado spirit. 

On the third of May, Capt. Corbitt brought his schooner in 



148 THE CHRONICLES 

contact with the Spring Street bridge and partially demolished 
it, tearing away the draw entirely.* This took place on Sat- 
urday afternoon, and as soon as it became known a sensation 
was produced on the "West side. The East siders said it was 
accidental and resulted from the negligence of the bridge 
tender in not hanging lights out — but it was boldly asserted 
by the opposite neighbors that a "pony purse'' had been made 
up to induce Capt. Corbitt to commit the act. Though he was 
arrested, and after an examination before Justice Walworth, 
was bound over to answer before the District Court, nothing 
ever was done. The suit was hushed up or dropped, thus 
establishing in the minds of many the truth of this assertion. 
The people of the West ward were highly incensed at the out- 
rage, and Mr. Kilbourn, when the broken bridge was 
shown to him, and the excited bystanders asked him what was 
best to do now, replied, " lie down and let the East siders walk 
over you." This was understood to be both an injunction to 
do no such thing and an implication that it had already been 
done. On the night of May seventh, the Board of Trustees 
being convened, Mr. Moses Kneeland, from the West Ward, 
introduced the following preamble and resolutions : 

Whereas, The Chetsnut Street bridge was originally built 
by the county and suffered to go out of repair and out of use; 
and whereas, the said bridge, as regards the business and con- 
venience of the people of the West Ward, is deemed by them 
and the corporate authority of the said ward to be an insup- 
portable nuisance; and ichereas, in their opinion, there is no 
lawful power possessed by any person or corporation to main- 
tain such bridge ; therefore 



*A young German, who came to Milwaukee only two weeks before, walked off this 
broken bridge, a night or two afterwards, and lost Lis life. 



OF MILWAUKEE 149 

"Resolved, that the Committee on Streets and Bridges in. 
the West Ward, be and they are hereby authorized and required 
to remove out of the river, so much of the old county bridge 
and all appendages thereto as occupy or in any manner ob- 
struct the free navigation of the Milwaukee river, west of the 
middle of said river, and for that purpose to employ the 
necessary laborers, either by the day or by the job, as they 
may deem expedient. 

"Resolved, That the expense of removing the western part 
of said bridge be paid out of the general fund of the West 
Ward, together with all expenses incidental to such removal, 
or in any way growing out of the same, incurred by or under, 
or on behalf of persons aiding and assisting in such removal." 

There were present at this meeting Messrs. Holton, Church, 
G-ruenhagen, Kilbourn and Kneeland from the West Ward ; 
and from the East Ward, Messrs. McClure, Prentiss and Up- 
mann. According to the act passed February 15th of the 
same year, the corporate limits of the town has been changed 
and a South Ward added, being all that part known as Walker's 
Point ; accordingly at this meeting were present the following 
gentlemen duly elected trustees from the new South Ward, viz : 
David Merrill; Geo. H. Walker; Lemuel W. Weeks; Wm. A. 
Hawkins, and James MaGone. Mr. Holton, the president, 
was in the chair. The introduction of these resolutions, re- 
taliatory as they were, could not fail to produce some sensation. 
A debate immediately arose. Mr. Prentiss, of the East Ward, 
took exception to their passage on the ground, that one ward 
had not the power, under the act of incorporation, to declare 
what was a nuisance, without the assent of the whole board. 

Mr. Walker, of the South Ward, moved that the preamble 
and resolutions be laid on the table, but the president decided 
the motion to be out of order, and leave was given to Mr. 



150 THE CHRONICLES 

Kneeland to withdraw them. The latter gentleman, however, 
merely struck out the words in the preamble, declaring the 
bridge to be an "insupportable nuisance/' and again presents 
ed the resolutions, when Mr. Prentiss moved to lay them on 
the table, and the president again deciding, as it was purely 
a local matter, appertaining only to the West Ward, that the 
motion was out of order. Mr. Prentiss spoke at some length, 
asserting that the boundaries of the East and West Wards were 
confined by the charter to the east and west bank of the Mil- 
waukie river, and, said he, " the local authorities of the wards 
separately, not extending any further, I shall be compelled to 
appeal from the decision !" 

Mr. Geo. H. Walker here rose and remarked that the ques- 
tion had assumed a new aspect, and he felt great reluctance 
in giving his vote. It appeared to him to have assumed a 
legal shape, and therefore he did not feel competent to decide. 
The decision of the president, so far as it related to the bound- 
ary, he thought was correct, for in his opinion the corporate 
powers of the different wards must extend to the centre of 
the river, and not as contended by some to the margin only. 
Mr. Walker also stated, that he did not intend by the vote he 
was about to give, to determine the right or power of the 
West Ward to interfere in any manner with the bridges upon 
the river, but simply as to the question of jurisdiction. 

The decision of the chair was finally overruled, and Mr. 
Kneeland withdrawing his resolutions — Mr. Kilbourn present- 
ed the following : 

" Resolved, That the Committee on Streets and Bridges, in 
the West Ward, be and they are hereby authorized and required 
to remove out of Chestnut Street so much of the old county 
bridge and all appendages thereto, as occupy any part of said 
street, and for that purpose to employ the necessary laborers, 



OF MILWAUKEE. 151 

either by the day or by the job, as they may deem expedient." 
This resolution was adopted ; the West Ward alone voting. 
Mr. Gruenhagan immediately tendered his resignation as a 
member of the Committee on Streets and Bridges, for the 
West Ward ; and Mr. Kilbourn was appointed to fill the va- 
cancy. 

The news of the action of the Trustees was not circulated 
on the east side — owing to the late hour at which the Board 
adjourned. The primitive habits of the people sending them 
to bed shortly after the sun disappeared behind the Menomonee 
Bluffs. The two or three who lingered at Sherwood's, bristled 
up properly at the news, but that the " country people " would 
dare to carry out their resolutions was not believed ; and so 
after a short consultation, the select party sunk back into con- 
viviality, and when midnight spoke from the town-clocks a 
sonorous voice might have been^heard, issuing from the Res- 
taurant, burdened with the then popular words, of " Dandy 
Jim, of Caroline." 

Early the next morning, however, rumor arose with the in- 
habitants. Ere the shutters had all been taken down or the 
matutinal bell had evoked^ the hungry boarders, it was report- 
ed that the west siders were digging away the Chestnut Street 
bridge. Very little time was allowed to elapse before the cit- 
izens were running about in a high state of excitement; or, as 
the Major expressed it: "Like hens with their heads off/' 
Have you heard it? Is itfso? Have they dared? became 
the interrogations at every corner. A crowd gradually collect- 
ed about the corners of East Water and Wisconsin Streets, on 
the east side ; and an impromptu meeting appointed a commit- 
tee to repair immediately to the scene of operations, and learn 
the truth of the rumors. 

Meanwhile, the excitement grew. The sexton of the First 



152 THE CHRONICLES 

Presbyterian Church having accumulated a great amount of 
contradictory intelligence, from the various corners, came pri- 
vately to the conclusion that some unfathomable horror had 
burst somewhere ; and seizing his only weapon — the bell rope 
— he rung out a wild and weird alarum, which was caught up 
by the bell on the Milwaukee House, and re-echoed in a series 
of metallic yelps, that indicated to the peaceful inhabitants 
that a [crisis had taken place in something, somewhere, and 
they were all expected to turn out and hunt it up for them- 
selves * 

The hubbub seemed to augment by its own exertions, and if 
the il Promised Land " had been located across the river and 
there had been one plank to reach it, the attempt to nefarious- 
ly destroy that link could not have created more of a ferment, 
in less time than did the equally unwarrantable attempt of the 
West siders to cut off communication by grading away the 
terminus of Chestnut Street. 

The Major, as he came down the street accosted the sexton, 
who, bathed in perspiration, was tugging at the bell rope as 
though it was the thread of all the trouble and he was intent 
on unravelling it, and desired to know where the fire was. 

"Fire!" said that official, with a gasp as though all the 
breath had been rung out of him, " Fire ! it's ten times worse 
nor a fire. They're tearing down all the bridges. Civil war's 
come to pass ! " 

"By Jupiter, gentlemen, that's serious !" answered the Major, 
not to the sexton for he had relapsed into another fit of ring- 
ing, but to himself, and hurried towards the common gath- 



The bell on the Milwaukee IIou3e did more public duty than any other piece of 
metal in the town. Summoning people to dinner, to church, to public meetings, to 
fires, and ringing a roulade whenever a steamer appeared in the bay. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 153 

ering point. As he emerged upon East Water Street, 
he saw the crowds of people gathered along the walks and 
growing denser towards Wisconsin^ Street, and his eye caught 
the outline of a figure on horseback that not only looked like 
Levi Blossom, but through the medium of an excited atmos- 
phere, like Gen. Jackson, and when it lifted its arm and point- 
ed with its finger in the direction of Kilbourn's house, at the 
moment that the horse reared — even bore some indistinct re- 
semblance to a cut he had seen somewhere of Buonaparte 
crossing the Alps. As he passed along, an excited young man, 
very red in the face, rushed up rather wildly and caught him 
by the lappel of the coat, and demanded in a quick perempto- 
ry tone — 

"Do you know where I can get any clock weights !" 

"Clock weights!" repeated the Major, "Do you take me 
for a Yankee peddler? what on earth do you want with clock 
weights ?" 

Without waiting to answer the question, the young man 
darted across the street and disappeared in a jeweller's shop, 
leaving the Major staring after him, under a full conviction of 
his insanity. " Clock weights." he muttered, as he mingled 
with the crowd, "what a fool." 

The committee or delegation that had been sent to Chestnut 
Street bridge, found the rumors to be correct. Sure enough 
a score of men, with teams, were digging away manfully at the 
street on the west side, and fast rendering all. connection, be- 
tween the apron of the bridge and the bank, a matter of history 
and memory only. Mr. Harrison Ludington, who was one of the 
delegation, remonstrated with the laborers. He informed them 
that the people of the east side were in a state of great excite- 
ment, as they thought the act unwarranted and illegal. "So 
great is the feeling of opposition," he added, "that I should 
11 



154 THE CHRONICLES 

advise you to look out for your teams, as some of the mob 
may shoot them." 

The committee hurried back to report, but the grading went 
on, and the platform connecting with the bridge fell in. Im- 
mediately after the departure of the committee, certain of those 
then and there employed on the west side did cause to be cir- 
culated a shameful report that the east siders had theatened 
to shoot their teams, and were coming over in a body to per- 
form that gratuitous iniquity. A report that did not tend to 
allay matters, but had rather a contrary effect, for a crowd 
gathered about the men at the bridge, determined to protect 
their hearth stones and liberty with their latest breath, aided 
and abetted by bludgeons, muskets and horse pistols — all of 
which meant that they intended to back up the west siders in 
their attempt to render the bridge impassible. 

The popular commotion was raging when the deputation re- 
turned ; a dangerous sea of humanity, agitated by diverse cur- 
rents, and lashed into general fury by winds of passion. The 
Major saw this — his natural discreetness took the alarm, and 
had it not been for an uncontrollable curiosity to see and hear, 
he would have returned to the quiet of his own domicil, until 
the storm had blown over. When the gentlemen, who had re- 
turned from the bridge, made an official report, and with un- 
sparing, and exaggerated terms, told how the west siders were 
ruthlessly destroying the property of the town and throwing 
disgrace upon the community, by their reckless and defiant 
measures — the waves of this sea leapt up, and the ominous 
sound of a coming tempest whistled about his ears. He heard 
one man propose, in a stentorian voice, to ride Kneeland on a 
rail, and a score of undiscoverable throats assented to the pro- 
position, with blasphemous earnestness. He saw a crowd drag- 
ging a small field-piece down Wisconsin Street, followed by a 



OP MILWAUKEE. 155 

greater crowd of men, gesticulating violently — and then he saw 
— yes it was all plain now — there was the young man with the 
clock- weights ! They were to be used for shot ! He heard the 
figure on the horse, direct the men in charge of the gun, to aim 
it at Byron Kilbourn's house, and he would touch it off. He 
heard another insist that the mob should proceed immediate- 
ly to Mr. Kilbourn's residence and bring him across the river 
— by force; and the mob shouted like wild beasts, and seemed 
to sway and toss about in a mad delirium of purpose, to do 
something outrageous and irremediable. The Major saw that 
Byron Kilbourn was the obnoxious person to whom the un- 
thinking populace attributed all their mischief. He knew, too, 
that the mob, if once put in motion, would shrink from no 
deed of violence — the responsibility of individuals was lost in 
the general exasperation — that the crowd would commit every 
unlawful act, perhaps even murder, as a mob — while the mem- 
bers of it as men, would shrink from the commission of a pet- 
ty offence at another time. He saw that passion had over- 
whelmed judgment, and a few fiery words, the appearance of 
a leader, would precipitate matters, and launch the community 
into a chasm of difficulties and disgrace, that years could not 
efface. What was his delight, then, to see Jonathan E. Ar- 
nold appear above the centre of the angry citizens, and wait- 
ing until the noise and commotion had somewhat subsided, 
proceeded to address them. 

The position of an orator at such a time is one of great 
responsibility. If he possesses the spark of eloquence, he may 
ignite the slumbering fires with the electric potency of hie 
breath and start the train, which is to end in consequent 
dire and deep ; or he may sway the motley mass with a magi- 
cian's power and, like the Master stretching forth his handover 
the angry billows, say, peace be still — the passions stand at 



156 THE CHRONICLES 

the beck of the speaker, and words aptly chosen will fall like 
oil upon the waters. 

When Mr. Arnold commenced to speak, there was an in- 
stant hush of other voices. That mornins: Kilbourn's daughter 
had died, and he alluded to this, deprecating the threats which 
had been made of violence toward that gentleman. As he 
proceeded, his voice grew strong and rung out clear and trum- 
pet-like over the heads of the populace. He appealed to them 
as Americans, as citizens, as fathers, and while he did not 

9 

exonerate those who had overstepped the limits of discretion 
already, he boldly branded the man, who would dare to tear 
a father from the corpse of his child, as a coward and a savage, 
unworthy the safeguards that civilization had vouchsafed. — 
Reason came and took the place of impulse ; men whose judg- 
ments had been obscured, were reclaimed by the judgment 
of the speaker. The more violent felt ashamed, and when 
Mr. Arnold disappeared from the temporary rostrum, the 
crisis had been averted. 

It was agreed that the meeting should adjourn until four 
o'clock and await the action of the board of trustees. 

The feeling was still strong against the west siders. Con- 
tinuous rumors, always exaggerated, were circulated about fresh 
acts of violence, and persons, interested in a riot, were busy 
inflaming the lower class with silly stories. At four o'clock, 
the crowd again gathered about the corners. They were again 
addressed by J. E. Arnold, H. N. Wells,* and others, who 



* A story has been told us, •which in the main is undoubtedly true, that E. J. Ro- 
berts, now a prominent citizen of Detroit, came to Milwaukie, in 1836 or ; 37, and 
landing from the boat, came up East Water Street, just as J. E. Arnold was addressing 
a crowd in relation to some bridge trouble ; after transacting some business, he re- 
turned to the east and did not visit Milwaukie until 1845, again happening to come 
up East Water Street just as J. E. Arnold was in the midst of a popular speech on the 
bridge question. Mr. Roberts rubbed his eyes and made this exclamation to a friend : 
"Great heavens, hav'nt they adjourned that meeting yet! " 



OF MILWAUKEE. 157 

displayed the proper spirit, and again the crowd dispersed after 
much talk and considerable boasting. 

The board of trustees met the same day pursuant to a call, 
only one trustee from the West Ward, Mr. Church, being 
present. The first act was the introduction of an ordinance, 
by Wm. A. Prentiss, for the preservation of " certain bridges" 
and the streets connected therewith, which ordinance, the re- 
cord informs us, was "read and adopted," Mr. MaGone, of the 
South Ward, immediately offering the following : 

Resolved, That Edward D. Holton be, and he is hereby re- 
moved from the office of president of this board ; 

Resolved, That the board now proceed to elect a president. 

These resolutions were adopted, Messrs. Merrill and Walker 
alone voting in the negative, and Lemuel W. Weeks was elect- 
ed president of the board of trustees. 

The next morning the " Sentinel" denounced the acts of the 
west siders as lawless violence admitting of no apology or 
palliation, and went on to state that "in this country where 
the people make the laws, they certainly ought to abide by 
them." A sage summing up — at which all the sagacious citi- 
zens on the west side nodded their heads and poked the paper 
in their pockets, and the wiseacres of the East Ward made 
the remark "just about so." It being the acme of perfection 
in a newspaper to be able to please everybody — the popularity 
of this sheet began. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

% 

A Legend of Market Square — A Small Row on the We3t Side, in which the Relative 
Positions of the Wards are Discussed Warmly and the Major Beaten — Further 
Action of the Trustees in regard to the Bridges. 

A few nights after this the Major found himself on the 
west side among a crowd of violent talkers. What induced 
him to venture into the enemy's country, is not plain at this day. 
Gentlemen of leisure sometimes have migratory habits, which 
come upon them strongly at night. The Major was one of those 
benevolent individuals, whose "good dispositions" are like so 
much quicksilver, and he moved about wherever his inclina- 
tions led him, or his benevolence found an opening for his vocal 
wisdom. The place at which the Major now shone was called 
'• Leland's." one of those cosy, but homely apartments with 
bottles banked up on one side and an intervening counter, 
behind which the business smile of the host shone with chronic 
affability; where the ambrosia in summer was suggestive of 
mint and in winter of lemon skin. The company on this 
occasion was not large. There were four in the room, besides 
the Major and the proprietor; two were young men, mainly 
intent on smoking very bad cigars, and the other two were 
intelligent looking gentlemen, who had allowed the sociability 
of the place to fasten them together, with the Major, over a 
little table, at one extremity of the room. One was apparently 
a stranger, and was interesting his two companions with remin- 
iscences of early experience. As the conversation may not be 
without interest to our friends, we propose to listen to it. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 159 

"You say," said the Major to the stranger, "that you came 
to Milwaukie in '36." 

"Yes, I came in '36 from Green Bay, but I had been here 
before in '33, with a party of government surveyors, on their 
way to Illinois. In '36 I fell in with a few friends at Green 
Bay, who induced me to come to Milwaukie. I stopped at the 
Bellevue House — Starr kept it ; I remember distinctly, because 
he charged me twenty dollars for my sojourn of a little more 
than a week." 

"I think it's likely I have met you there," said the Major. 

" Very probable," replied the other. " I did not stay long, 
but went to Racine, and afterwards had a hand in the removal 
of the Indians west of the Mississippi." 

"That reminds me," said the other, "of the old story you 
used to tell about the Indian Convention. I wish you would 
spin that yarn for the Major, here — he loves a good Indian 
story about as well as any man I know of — hey, Major." 

"Should be glad to hear it," said the Major, in his most 
affable manner — and calling for a renewal of the liquid ambro- 
sia — the three moved their chairs closer together, and the 
former speaker, said : 

"I don't know, gentlemeu, as the story will interest you 
particularly, though it did me very much when I first heard it, 
and I have thought several times that it would make a very 
readable affair for one of the magazines and with more authen- 
ticity than two-thirds of the Indian stories afloat now-a-days. 

" When the Indians were removed, I was sent, in company 
with others, to take charge of a party of them; during our 
journey through Iowa, I became very intimate with one, who 
was called " Powder," though I believe his proper name was 
"Pough-gow." He was a very intelligent savage and spoke 
English quite well. From him I learned the following legend 



160 THE CHRONICLES 

or history — whichever you please — and which he said he had 
often heard repeated by the older members of his tribe. I 
took considerable interest in the narrative, as I said before, and 
got him to repeat it at several different times, so that I remem- 
ber pretty ruucrTall the details, and it amounted to about this : 

"It seems that a good many years before the white people 
found out Milwaukie, the different tribes in the Territory, or a 
greater part of them, had a sort of yearly gathering at this 
place, for what special purpose I don't know, but it was a con- 
vention at which they smoked and discussed matters of gener- 
al interest, formed new alliances and transacted national bus- 
iness. This annual gathering lasted sometimes a month, and 
there was some natural product, animal, vegetable or mine- 
ral, which they used to gather here and take away with them, 
to be used as food or in their incantations. I always imagined 
it was part of their secret rites, for nothing could ever be 
learned of the Indians in relation to it; and I was once in con- 
versation with an old trader who confirmed me in the belief, 
by saying that he had heard Indians say, on the Mississippi, 
that they would be buried on the Man-wau-kee." 

" There is every reason to believe that this locality was a 
sacred or neutral ground, consecrated to some of their Deities," 
remarked the Major ; " indeed, I think I have heard as much 
somewhere. I don't think any very large tribes ever resided 
permanently here, and yet there were thousands of graves 
found along the bluffs, and in digging up the southern part 
of the town a few years ago, the soil was packed with their 
bones. Then there are whole rows of tumuli along the Me- 
nomonee — " 

" Yes, exactly," said the former speaker, who saw that un- 
less he interrupted, the Major would carry off all the honors 
of principal speaker. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 161 

"As I was saying, they had a sort of fraternal celebration 
here. Previous to one of these gatherings, there had been a 
war raging between a number of the tribes. They had track- 
ed and killed each other for a number of months, and no doubt 
added all the horrors of their peculiar training to the feuds. 
But when the time for assembling came around, they laid down 
their arms, buried their hatchets and set out for the Mil- 
waukie to have a pow-wow in peace, and recruit their energies 
for a fresh dash at each other. It seems that the convention 
was taken up this year mostly with the consideration of their 
quarrels, and an abandonment of the old differences was ad- 
vocated by most of the oldest and worthiest of the chiefs. 
There was one, however, As-kee-no, a Winnebago, who oppos- 
ed all the plans for a reconciliation of the tribes. Some old 
and deep rooted grudge against the Menomonces prevented 
him from joining the rest in the great scheme for their own 
amelioration, and while he was willing to live out the remain- 
ing term of the convention, according to rule, in a decently 
harmonious way, he avowed his determination to commence 
the scalping business again as soon as the time expired. 

"As-kee-no, with his tribe, or that portion of it that acknowl- 
edged him leader, had their wigwams along the edge of the 
bluff or bank that used to run north and south on Market 
Square. He had a daughter, who was represented as the most 
beautiful squaw in the country. I have heard her name, but 
forget it ; it was something very musical — " 

" Say Law-re-sa, or Chow-chow/' interpolated the Major. 

"No, it was something like Nis-o-was-sa. We'll call her 
that at all events. She was an Indian belle, very graceful, 
very handsome, and had a score of brave lovers in all the 
tribes. Nis-o-was-sa had been thrown among the missionaries 
in the north and had imbibed some notional ideas of chris- 



162 THE CHRONICLES 

tianity, which influenced her life to some extent, and caused 
her to be regarded among her own people as a favorite with 
the Good Spirit of the white men. 

' ; Well, As-kee-no, withstood all the intreaties of the chiefs. 
In vain they talked and reasoned — he was determined. On 
the last day of the convention, the warriors and orators as- 
sembled on the bluff (where As-kee-no had encamped,) for a 
final deliberation. All the tribes had come to an understand- 
ing, except this faction of the Winnebagos, and this last 
meeting was to decide whether their plans were to avail any- 
thing. They made a great many speeches. One chief, who 
came from the north and was regarded as the most eloquent 
and brave of the nation, appealed to the stubborn Winnebago 
in very fine figures He told of the necessity of being brothers ; 
that the Manitou had given them the wolf and panther to 
fight; that their enemies came from the east; that their 
hatchets never were made to be dipped in red blood, but were 
fashioned for the white hearts of their foes. The Good Spirit 
made them all with red faces to be brothers of one family ! 

" As-kee-no replied that the Menomonees had insulted his 
father; they had called the Winnebagos clogs, and told them 
they f lived in the dirt like the beaver and smelled like the 
musk-rat. The Menomonees had called them a nation of 
squaws ; big words were not sharp like an arrow, that As-kee- 
no should heed them, but he would show the Menomonees 
their own scalps in his lodge, that were taken by his squaws 
from their warriors. He admired the system of brotherly 
love marked out, but thought the quickest way to realize it, 
was to scalp all the Menomonee chiefs, roast the young men, 
and carry off the women. 

" Nis-o-was-sa was present at this council. She heard the 
speeches one after another, and seemed to realize that her father 



OF MILWAUKEE. 163 

was the great obstruction to the reformatory movement. She 
heard his obstinate and vindictive replies, and while she knew 
that most of his tribe would acquiesce in his decision — 
she also knew that they were not of his mind At the con- 
clusion of her father's speech there was a long silence — the 
council smoked gravely and mutely for some minutes, and at 
last a chief replied ; he was followed by several and finally the 
old brave from the north spoke again. He rehearsed the 
miseries of intestine war and painted the advantages of peace, 
and by a clever management of his subject made it appear that 
hereafter all the miseries and troubles of the red men would 
be attributed to As-kee-no who was the only chief in the coun- 
try who opposed the remedy. No animal wars against its 
kind, said the old orator. The Grood Spirit never intended that 
his children should. It was left for the pale faces to butcher 
one another in wars. He pointed to the graves along the 
bluffs and to the angry lake and told them how their false and 
unfraternal passions, like the boisterous sea, leapt madly on 
regardless of consequences, impelled by the winds of hatred — 
and told them this hatred had peopled the shores with the 
bodies of their warriors that were sent by the Good Spirit to 
lead the young men on the war path. 

" Nis-o-was-sa caught the spirit of the old chief, and linked 
the schemes of the Indian orator with the greater doctrines of 
peace and brotherly love that she had learned from the mis- 
sionaries. She saw that the wisest and ablest of the warriors 
were opposed in the measure by her father alone. 

"After the orator had ceased and when the customary time 

for silence had expired, As-kee-no again rose and with 

even more bitterness than before reiterated his intentions. 

Let those who would be women before their enemies go/ he 

said, 'and put on pigeon feathers and plant their corn; my 



164 THE CHRONICLES 

arm is not weak that I should ask mercy or friendship of the 
Menoinonees, nor is my hatchet broken that I should use soft 
words to those who hate me. Let my brothers go, I have said/ 

" The disappointment of the council at this termination of 
its efforts was suddenly turned to surprise, as the gentle Nis- 
o-was-sa glided out from behind her father, and confronted the 
assembly. It was a great breach of Indian propriety, this in- 
trusion into the council of a woman, and Nis-o-was-sa knew it, 
but she was a general favorite, and before the surprise had died 
away, she spoke. Said she: 

"' Our chiefs all know Nis-o-was-sa whom you have called 
the ' Day-sleep ' — she is a woman and her tongue knows not 
the wisdom of the braves in council ; but she has talked with 
the medicine men of the pale faces, and he has sent her to 
whisper a word to her friends. Nis-o-was-sa has listened to 
the words of wisdom that have been spoken. They are good. 
They please the Good Spirit. Is there a Menomonee who dare 
say that Nis-o-was-sa does not love her father ! Has she not 
followed him on every trail and watched him when the warriors 
slept ! ; 

"Here the girl inclined her head against her father's shoulder, 
and the chief, surprised and curious to know what she meant 
to do, remained in statue-like position evincing no disposition 
to interfere with her. 

u 'Is there a chief who will say Nis-o-was-sa does not look 
up to her father as the flower looks up to the sun ? ' 

"A grave chief, whose white locks contrasted finely with his 
red cheeks, replied : 

" ' There are none to answer the ' Day Sleep ; ' but her words 
are for the lodge and not for the council. Let her father send 
her away! ; 



OF MILWAUKEE. 165 



Ui 



He will not!' said the girl, 'you want peace and the 
Great Spirit grants it — see?' 

"Quicker than a flash of electric light, she grasped the 
knife from her father's belt, and ere he had time to avoid the 
the blow — she had plunged it into his heart; and while the 
round arm was bathed in the paternal blood, she straightened 
it out with the majesty of one deified by a high enthusiam — 
saying : 

" 'Now let the Menomonees and the Winnebagos be friends/* 
and walked proudly and slowly out of the assemblage. 

"And there you have the story; it is to be regretted that 
nothing more is known concerning the woman; who, if she 
had been born in Greece, would have monuments erected to 
her memory at this day." 

"And how do you know there are not green monuments 
erected to her here ? " asked the Major. " The county is illus- 
trated with their history wherever soil could be heaped into 
mounds." 

The conversation on this topic was interrupted here, by the 
entrance of several men ; who were talking, as they appeared, 
about the bridge difficulty. They were rather noisy, and 
mingled with those in the room in a rude manner. Before the 
Major was well aware of it, he was drawn into conversation 
with one of them on the popular topic, and when in the mid- 
dle of a pacifying and conservative speech, which rather reflect- 
ed upon the east siders as a matter of policy — he was shocked 
to find that he had been mistaken in the man, who was an 
east sider, and that the attention of all in the room had been 
attracted to him by his remarks. With his customary tact he 



*The author is indebted for the outline and location of the above sketch, to Col. 
James Stanley, late of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and novf a resident of St. Louis. 



166 THE CHRONICLES 

reversed matters, and made the west side go up in the balance, 
whereupon he was snapped up short by another of the party 
who boldly declared that he (the Major) was the identical man 
who had threated to shoot the teams a few days before ! 

"Gentlemen," said the Major, looking at the young man 
who had made the rash assertion, " I wish you to understand 
that I as yet have not identified myself with either party in 
this foolish squabble. I believe I need not state where my 
sympathies are. (Here he glanced alternately from one to the 
other, to assure all that the sympathy was general.) But it ill 
becomes any man to set up for a partizan, where the interests 
are general. There is no doubt that the west siders have been 
wronged; (the east sider's lips parted, and the Major quickly 
added) but who will say, the east side has not also suffered ! " 

" I will ! " said one of the party. 

The Major looked around and saw that his two friends had 
departed, and discretion rose in consequence. " Gentlemen, 
allow me to observe, that we have all been wronged, and the 
only way to right ourselves, is to proceed calmly and cooly — " 

"Did'nt you say the other day," asked the young man with 
west side proclivities, "did'nt you say at the time of the muss, 
that the men who would break down the bridges, ought to be 
hung ? w 

This was a severe test for the Major; he had made some 
such remark when surrounded by excited east siders, and there 
was no denying it. 

" I said, gentlemen, that the men, who, without a just pro- 
vocation, would by mob violence, obstruct, destroy, mutilate or 
impede — " 

"Oh, gammon!" interrupted the young man; "you stood 
by when Ludingtoc came down from Kilbourntown, and you 



OF MILWAUKEE. 167 

heard liim tell what they were about, and if you did'nt give 
it to the west siders fair and square, then I'm a liar ! " 

11 Gentlemen, allow me!" 

" The east siders are cut-throats," extemporized the speaker 
with much emphasis. "They threaten and bully and hav'nt 
the courage to cross the river without bringing a pack of lies 
with them to smooth matters over." 

"Gentlemen, allow me!" persisted the Major. 

u Oh yes, they advocate law and order, and you're their text 
book, ar'nt you ? — but they don't intend to cheat us out of all 
that makes a town, do they ? They don't want to have all the 
business and trade on their side of the river, and keep us hang- 
ing to their outskirts like a kite's tail to wiggle which way 
they like, hey? They don't want to fasten on to us with 
bridges, and tell us that the country behind must cross the 
river to find a market, and if we say a word, they don't want 
to tear down the dam and upset the manufactories — do they ? 

"Gentlemen, if you will allow me !" 

" They come over and put out our fires for us, don't they ! 
They don't ridicule us or nothing of that kind, do they? They 
don't do just as they please in every thing, building bridges 
and then asking us to support 'em, and when we show any 
spunk, they don't get out a cannon and fire it and talk about 
lynching us for it and then send such as you, to preach law 
and order, do they ! " 

" Gentlemen, if you will allow me." 

" Well, we'll allow you. Now blow your trumpet, and may be 
Juneau will put you in his post office next year, or make you 
present of a hatchet to knock your brains out with — when 
they get through with you." 

Here spoke up an east sider, whose blood was boiling with 
a hot indignation: 



168 THE CHRONICLES 

" It's all an infamous lie — there never was any trouble until 
a party of your law breakers, with Kneeland at their head, 
undertook to destroy the public property." 

These words produced a sensation. The moving of chairs 
and shuffling of feet announced that those present imagined 
a crisis had arrived in the conversation. Some one deliberately 
asked, "did I understand you to say I am a liar!" but the 
question not being answered with the precision and sententious- 
ness embodied in a monosyllabic affirmation the catastrophe was 
delayed, and he of the east side proceeded : 

"I want you to understand this. If there are any villains 
about, they are on your side of the river. Bluster as much as 
you like, you cannot find a man in the east ward who has de- 
stroyed a plank of your property." 

"Then they didn't point the cannon at Kilbourn's house 
and get ready to fire it?" said the negative young man, with 
his knuckles gathered up in the palm of his hand as though 
he was afraid they would fly off into somebody's face. "They 
wer'nt stopped only by being told that Kilbourn's daughter 
was lying dead in the house." 

Then as if a new and important idea struck him, he added 
in a higher key : 

" You never destroyed a plank of our property, eh ! by that 
I suppose you mean to say that we destroyed your property at 
Chestnut Street — if the bridges are your property, what do you 
want us to pay for them for?" 

It was evident from the looks of those around that this was 
considered a well put question. An insult is sometimes not so 
poignant as a question unanswerably put. The east sider was 
incensed and spoke accordingly, bringing up the averted crisis. 

In thqse "good old times" men called each other liars even 
as they do now, but they always coupled with the language the 



OF MILWAUKEE. 169 

ability to give or receive a straight-forward, manly pummelling. 
Of late the custom has degenerated into a pitiful resort to 
letter-writing and public backbiting, but then if there was 
"bad blood" they "had it out." It was, therefore, but a few 
moments before the Major found himself surrounded by a 
scene of rough and tumble sport, which grieved his temperate 
heart sadly, and as the candles were knocked off the table, he 
essayed to feel his way through the opposition and darkness to 
the door. The proprietor of the place, however, got there before 
him, and, raising his voice, he shouted "murder," and added 
a few gratuitous exclamations about the east siders going to 
tear his house down. Several citizens answered the call, and 
just as the Major was issuing from the place, his hat was 
knocked over his eyes and he received several calamitous 
indentations in the ribs, whether from friends or foes he never 
knew as the hat made him as blind as the goddess of Justice — 
or a bat. He made but one remark, and that was " Gentle- 
men, allow me," and as no allowance was made, he started like 
a shell from a mortar for the Spring Street Bridge, and did 
not lessen his speed until safe within the confines of his proper 
ward, when he felt of his ribs, looked at his hat and remarked 
with that wisdom for which he was remarkable — 
"Gentlemen, there is trouble brewing." 



On the fifteenth of May the Board of Trustees met. There 
were present the following gentlemen : from the East Ward, 
Messrs. McClure and Prentiss; from the West Ward, Messrs. 
Church, Gruenhagen, Kilbourn and Kneeland ; from the South 
Ward, Messrs. Hawkins, MaGone, Merrill, Walker and Weeks. 
12 



170 THE CHRONICLES 

The following resolutions, which were laid on the table on 
the 14th of May, were called up and adopted : 

Resolved, That James H. Rogers be and is hereby author- 
ized to remove the floating draw from the bridge at Wells and 
Oneida Streets, unless the principal owners shall object thereto, 
and place the same in the bridge at Chestnut and Division 
Streets, and from the west of said bridge last named, he is 
authorized to construct a permanent way. 

Resolved, That if the removal of said draw should be resist- 
ed, so as that he may not be able to obtain it, then that he be 
authorized to repair the Chestnut Street bridge by the con- 
struction of a new floating draw, and that the materials, now 
in said bridge and draw, be appropriated to said Rogers in part 
payment of the expense of making said repairs, but no other 
appropriations to be made by the East Ward. 

Resolved, That the bridge at Wells and Oneida Street be, 
and the same is hereby discontinued as a public bridge. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Destruction of the Menoraonee bridge — Proposition of "Tax Payer" — The Destruc- 
tioh of the Dam — Better Feelings — Action of the Trustees. 

The next morning after the Major's misadventure in the 
West Ward, Mrs. D'Omro approached the bed where he lay, 
holding a paper in her hands. She leaned over and called him 
by name. He answered by performing what rhetoricians call 
the "fallimr inflection" through his nose. Once more she es- 
sayed to waken him, with better success. 

"Come, my clear, it's nearly noon, and your coffee will be 
stone cold a-waitino;." 

The Major performed a slow longitudinal revolution and, 
opening one eye at a time, murmured : " Gentlemen, allow 
me!" 

"See, here," interrupted the wife, holding up the paper; 
"look at this, perhaps it will bring you to." 

It did bring him to. His eyes dilated as he read the poster. 
It was a call upon the citizens of the East Ward, who were 
desirous of vindicating and maintaining their rights, to meet 
on the Old stamping ground. 

" Ludington wrote that ! " said the Major. 

" Never mind who wrote it. You keep out of the fuss," 
was the response of his wife. "Get up and eat your breakfast 
and do, for heaven's sake, let the bridges alone." 

This was the morning of the twenty-eighth of May. The 
citizens, obedient to the call, assembled about the corners of 



172 THE CHRONICLES 

Wisconsin and East "Water Streets to the number of several 
hundred. Among the number was one Watson, a blacksmith, 
and a man, by the name of Hawkins, an engineer. The for- 
mer carried a sledge in his brawny arms, and the latter a screw 
wrench, weapons ( Quoad hoc) that were to be used as the im- 
pulse prompted, either in pounding the west siders or in dis- 
mantling the bridges. 

The cannon was brought out again and fired, and again the 
community gathered about the corners. In the crowd were ma- 
ny men, since conspicuous in public life, and all seemed equally 
excited. The animosity had been nurtured and fed, and now 
it run over. Ludington inadvertently proposed to "let down" 
the Spring Street bridge, and ere the words escaped him, 
Hawkins, the engineer, started in the direction of the struc- 
ture, and Watson followed with the crowd at his heels. Hawk- 
ins undertook to unscrew, with his wrench, the bolts holding 
up the draw; the crowd cheering him on, and many of them 
running about in search of instruments to assist in the demo 
lition. Watson came up, at this moment, and giving the iron 
rods two or three heavy blows with his sledge — separated 
them and the draw dropped into the water. Then went up a 
wild cheer from the mob, as though this foolish destruction of 
property were invested with all the honor of a heroic action. 

The barriers were now broken down and the popular torrent 
could not be stopped by words of mouth. An individual, fa- 
miliarly termed Bill Porter, led off. Some one shouted, "Let 
us tear down the Menomonee bridge! Come on!" and away 
rushed the mob. Such a motley and dangerous crowd had 
never before passed through the streets of the quiet town. 
Several were on horses and assumed the duties of aids ; riding 
hastily to and fro and issuing loud directions; others found 
bars and axes and accumulating as they passed along, the East 



\ 



OP MILWAUKEE. 173 

Ward was entered. Here, Isaac Walker and Moses Kneeland 
undertook to stem the flood, and the consequence was a per- 
sonal rencontre between these two gentlemen, and two of the 
most conspicuous of the mob, William and James Porter. 
However, the Menomonee bridge was attained and was tri- 
umphantly overthrown, knocked down — taken to pieces. * 

Having vented their spite on the inoffensive timbers, this 
crowd of citizens immediately felt better. Some of them 
laughed, others joked, and all of them came out in the best of 
spirits, as though they felt ashamed of themselves, and were 
laughing at their own folly. 

This was in reality the only real action which took place in 
the Bridge War. The campaign for months afterwards was 
continued, but was confined to the newspapers and the Board of 
Trustees. The individual, who is known in the newspaper col- 
umn as, u Tax-Payer," had a great deal to say and was answer- 
ed by an equally popular writer, known as, "Another Tax- 
Payer." "Citizen" contributed, and "Law and Order" did 
some very fine things in a conservative spirit. Here is an ex- 
tract from one of "Tax-Payer's" articles: 

"We must take a firm stand on this question ! nor must we 
rest satisfied with any specious pretences and promises on the 
part of the LOUD OF THE MANOR on the west side ! We 
have had too much of them already ! The time for such 
things is past ! Let the East Ward — as the law of last winter 
authorized it to do — erect a solid, permanent bridge at Cherry 
street and SWEEP AWAY ALL BELOW THAT POINT ! 



* A gentleman, who was an eye witness of the destruction of this bridge, has 
informed us; that he saw one fellow with an ax cleaving and scattering one of the 
logs after it had been pulled from the structure — and so entirely carried away with 
the excitement was he, that he literally foamed at the mouth. 



174 THE CHRONICLES 

A glance at the map will show that the course here re- 
commended, although attended with a large expense — an ex- 
pense which we are little able to bear, is yet one which we 
can accomplish, and will tell on these Spring Street gentlemen, 
who are the instigators of this outrage — and not upon them 
only, but upon all that part of the West Ward, lying between 
Spring and Chestnut Streets. All that need be done in the 
way of making streets, is to extend Water Street some 1500 
feet in the river, and erect a permanent bridge upon wooden 
bents, and bridge the canal, and the work is done. If perad- 
venture Cherry Street should also be made, the western travel 
could leave the Prairie Village road about one-half mile west 
of the river, and taking that street, get to Milwaukee by a 
route which would not depend upon the caprice of any dictator 
or his satellites. Let our Trustees, as we doubt not they will, 
meet any conciliatory measures which the Trustees of the West 
Ward may propose, in a spirit of conciliation, but don't let them 
be gammoned, nor yield one inch as to the Chestnut Street 
bridge — a bridge built by the special sanction of our Legisla- 
ture — whose legality has been established by a Judicial deci- 
sion, and to put which in good order and successful operation, 
our citizons have contributed so much, both from their corpo- 
rate and their individual funds. TAX PAYER. 

The two sections for several days remained in a state of 
seige — those who passed from one side to the other, were 
understood to carry white flags with them, to be displayed at a 
moment's warning. 

At one time during the war, the east siders threatened to 
tear down the dam, and the threat had been taken to heart by 
those on the west side, who did not stop to think that the dam 
was constructed of trees imbedded and impacted together in 



OF MILWAUKEE. 175 

tlie most durable manner, and a few of the west side Spartans 
resolved to defend that dam with their lives. Of course no 
one ever dreamed for a moment of putting so laborious a threat 
into execution, but the east siders claim to this day that they 
assembled one night and sent two spies (Moore and Gove) over 
into the enemy's town to reconnoitre, and to return at the 
firing of the cannon. They were further instructed, so it is 
said, to inform the west siders that the people of the East Ward 
were arming and preparing to go up and demolish that dam. 
These spies, it is said, proceeded cautiously within the lines of 
the enemy's town and approached Kilbourn's house. They 
saw a sentinel marching up and down before the door with a 
musket, and they saw Mr. Kilbourn lift a sash, and looking 
out, make some inquiry to which the sentinel responded in a 
mechanical way, "all's well/ 7 and Mr. Kilbourn's head disap- 
peared. Having found a number of willing ears they told the 
stor} 7- — how the east side was all up in arms, and how at the 
signal shot from the cannon they were to march to the dam 
and destroy it; as they concluded, the report of the cannon 
was heard, and the spies hurried away. As might be expect- 
ed, in a very little while the West Ward was in a state of great 
excitement. Lights were seen passing quickly and flashing 
here and there in the river; the sound of voices was heard and 
it was known on the east side that the joke was working well. 
A number of the East Ward people, it is said, stole up on 
the east side to the dam during the night and found a great 
number of excited Kilbournites there, armed and equipped, 
keeping watch over the dam, and to this day the story is rela- 
ted with infinite gusto by certain worthies as one of the best 
jokes ever heard of, while others will insist that an attempt 
was actually made upon the dam, and nothing but the imposing 
array of stout hearts there assembled — saved it. 



170 THE CHRONICLES 

After several months of war, a feeling of compromise b<: _ 
to be evinced, and on the night of December 31st. 1845, the 
belligerents met by their representatives in the corporation 
meeting, and a general desire to settle all the difficulties arnica" 
bly. was apparent. Mr. Prentiss offered the following resolu- 
tions: 

Resolved, That a committee of two members of this board, 
from the East, and two from the West Ward, be now appoint- 
ed, whose duty it shall be, to issue proposals for the construc- 
tion of new and permanent bridges across the Milwaukie river 
at the places hereinafter mentioned, and to enter into contracts 
in behalf of the said wards, with the lowest responsible bidder, 
for the erection of the same during the present winter : 

1st. A double-track bridge at the foot of "Wisconsin and 
Spring Streets, twenty-eight feet wide, with two draws, (one 
on each side of the river,) seventy feet long; a walk for foot 
passengers on each side, and a suitable house attached there- 
to, to be occupied by the attendant of said bridge. 

2d. A bridge, twenty feet in width, to connect Water and 
Cherry Streets, to be constructed without a draw. 

Resolved) That the expense of constructing, sustaining and 
attending said bridges, shall be apportioned between said 
wards, as follows : 

1st. The East Ward shall pay five eighths, and the West 
Ward three eighths of the expense of constructing the bridge- 
at Spring and Wisconsin Streets, and forever thereafter, each 
of said wards shall pay in proportion to their respective tax 
lists, for repairing, sustaining and attending said bridge. 

2d. The West Ward to construct the bridge across the canal, 
bayou, and the street, across the island, and the East Ward 
the bridse, and a continuation of Water Street to connect said 
Water with Cherry Street; and thereafter said bridge across 



OF MILWAUKEE. 177 

t river and bayou to be kept in repair, and sustained, by 
contributions in proportion to the respective tax lists in each 
of said wards. 

Resolved, That the said bridge at Chestnut Street may be 
removed from the river, and the materials used by the two 
wards in the construction of the work above agreed upon, be- 
tween Water and Cherry Streets. 

Resolved, That the members of the West Ward do hereby 
stipulate and pledge the faith of the said ward, that they will, 

or before the day of next ensuing, construct 

and open a good and passable road or avenue, suitable for the 
passage of loaded teams, from the Milwaukie river, by Cherry 
and Vliet Streets, to intersect with the Prairieville road; and 
the members of the East Ward do stipulate and pledge the 
faith of the East Ward, that Water Street from Division Street 
to the bridge at Water and Cherry Streets, shall be construct- 
ed, as soon as the avenue is made from said Cherry Street to 
the Prairieville road. 

Resolved, That the bridge at Wells and Oneida Streets may? 
and shall remain in the river, until the work above mentioned 
between Water and Cherry Streets, and the opening of said 
Cherry and Vliet Streets, is completed and ready for the public 
travel, at which time the said bridge is to be vacated. 

Resolved, That in case the foregoing resolutions are adopt- 
ed, it shall be, and is hereby expressly understood and agreed, 
that the "vexed question" in relation to bridges between the 
East and West Wards, is permanently and forever settled, and 
the faith of the said wards pledged to carry said resolutions 
into effect, and abide the pledge contained in this resolution. 

On motion of Mr. Prentiss, the first blank was filled with 
the word "first," and the second blank with the word "Sep- 
tember." 



17S THE CHRONICLES 

These resolutions, with some unimportant amendments, were 
adopted, and from this time the excitement rapidly died out. 
The old Spring Street bridge, one pleasant day in 1S50, (it 
was Thursday, the seventh day of March.) actually tumbled 
down under the weight of three loaded wagons and horses, and 
teamsters and vehicles were precipitated into the river. A 
'number of citizens rushed on the end of the structure to wit- 
ness the action of those in the water — when, lo ! the end gave 
way and some fifteen persons were soon paddling and dashing 
about below; happily, boats were at hand and all were pulled 
out alive; but the break sealed the doom of the old bridge. 
In March, 1846, James H. Rogers built the present bridge, at a 
cost of 32,900. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Charter — Incorpoi-ation of the City — Its First Mayor and Officers — The Inaugu- 
ral Address of Mayor Juneau — Valedictory — The Election of 1847 — Excitement in 
Regard to the Constitution — Its Rejection and Burial. 

On Monday, January 5th, 1846, the people of Milwaukie 
were presented with a City Charter, for their approval. There 
were many who thought and said it was folly to make Milwau- 
kie a city before the Territory became a State. There was al- 
so one or two objectionable clauses in the Charter. One was 
the Section providing that none but free white male citizens 
and aliens, who have declared their intentions, who shall have 
paid taxes, performed highway labor or served as firemen for 
six months previous to any election, shall be entitled to vote 
thereat. This virtually excluded a member of good citizens 
from voting, and was opposed. There was another clause, pro- 
viding that one-third only of the Aldermen should be elected 
annually, and when so elected they should hold their office for 
six years. This, too, was objectionable. What might not Al- 
dermen, with evil minds, do in these years ? As the papers 
said, " They might throw a bridge across the river, at the 
foot of every street, or take them all away, or shovel half the 
town into the lake and ditch the other half like a field fortifi- 
cation. 

It was, however, presented to the people. 

The whole number of votes polled in the city were 975. The 
majority in favor of the Charter was 311. The South and West 
Wards voting almost unanimously for it; the East Ward giv- 



180 THE CHRONICLES 

ing a majority of 144 against it. This was a small vote. The 
election for Trustees, took place at the same time, and 1,222 
votes were pulled. 

During the same month, the Legislature passed the Act of 
Incorporation ; and on the 24th of March, at a Democratic 
caucus, Mr. Solomon Juneau was nominated for Mayor. There 
were four candidates for the office, and the vote at the caucus 
stood as follows : 

D. J. A. Upham, 10 first ballot; 11 second ballot; 10 third 
ballot; 9 fourth ballot. H. N. Wells, 5 first ballot; 3 second 
ballot; 3 third ballot; 2 fourth ballot. J. H. Rogers, 2 first bal- 
lot. Solomon Juneau, 3 first ballot; 11 second ballot; 12 third 
ballot ; # 14 fourth ballot. 

On Tuesday, March 31st, the Whig Convention — at which 
Win. A. Prentiss presided — nominated John H. Tweedy. 
Every ballot being cast for him. 

The two tickets then stood as follows : 

Whig Candidates. — For Mayor, John H. Tweedy. 

First Ward. — Aldermen, E. Cramer, E. G. Dunham, H. 
Ludington. Justice of the Peace, J. T. Smith. Constable, B. 
H. Caswell. 

Second Ward. — Aldermen, Cicero Comstock, J. A. Phelps, 
S. D. Cowles. Justice of the Peace, Emery Greenleaf. Con- 
stable, Lyman Fluskey. 

Third Ward. — Aldermen, Wm. Brown, J. Davelin, R. G. 
Owens. Justice of the Peace, John F. Rague. 

Fourth Ward. — Aldermen, Ira E. Goodall, Erastus S. 
Marsh, Sumner R. Johnson. Justice of the Peace, Charles 
C. Savage. Constable, Jacob Gintz. 

Fifth Ward. — Aldermen, Loton H. Lane, Peter X. Cush- 
man, Jr., Giles A. Wait. Justice of the Peace, Sidney S. 
Childs. Constable, Joseph Headley. 



OP MILWAUKEE. 181 

Democratic Candidates. — For Mayor, Solomon Juneau. 

First Ward. — Aldermen, J. B. Smith, David George, 
Joshua Hathaway. Justice of the Peace, J. B. Cross. Con- 
stable, J. A. Leibhaber. 

Second Ward. — Aldermen, Byron Kilbourn, Egbert Mose- 
ley, George Abert. Justice of the Peace, T. D. Butler. Con- 
stable, David Knab. 

Third Ward. — Aldermen, W. W. Graham, Richard Mur- 
phy, Nath'l P. Holman. Justice of the Peace, Alex. Mathie- 
son. Constable, Patrick Guerin. 

Fourth Ward. — Aldermen, L. P. Crary, Moses Knee- 
land, George G. Blodget. Justice of the Peace, Charles A. 
Tuttle. Constable, John Mitchell. 

Fifth Ward. — Aldermen, L. W. Weeks, David Merrill, 
Richard M. Sweet. Justice of the Peace, John Mc'Collum. 
Constable, R. H. Bryant. 

The election was held on the first Tuesday in April. The 
polls being opened at the following places: First Yv f ard at Mil- 
itary Hall, Francis Randall, George A. Tiffany and David 
George, Inspectors ; in the Second Ward at the Mansion 
House, Egbert Mosely, L. H. Cotton and J. F. Gruenhagen, 
Inspectors; in the Third Ward at the Tremont House, James 
Kneeland, Andrew McCormick and Win. A. Prentiss, Inspec- 
tors ; in the Fourth Ward at the Trustees Hall, Ira E. Goodall, 
Sidney L. Rood and Geo. G. Blodget, Inspectors; in the Fifth 
Ward at the Cottage Inn, Lemuel W. Weeks, Robert Allen 
and Ackley Carter, Inspectors. The polls were opened at one 
o'clock, p. M., and remained open until "five." 

Tweedy received in the First Ward 133, Juneau 207; in 
the Second Ward Tweedy 72, Juneau 171; Third Ward 
Tweedy 86, Juneau 214 , Fourth Ward Tweedy 61, Juneau 
91; Fifth Ward Tweedy 52, Juneau 66; for Tweedy 404; for 



182 THE CHRONICLES 

Juneau 749; the whole number of votes polled being 1,153 
Mr. Juneau's majority 345. 

Three Aldermen were elected from each ward, as follows : 
First Ward, John B. Smith, Joshua Hathaway, A. W. Hatch; 
Second Ward, Byron Kilbourn, George Abert, C. Comstock; 
Third Ward, W. W. Graham, Nath. B. Holman, Bichard, 
Murphy; Fourth Ward, Moses Kneeland, Leonard P. Crary, 
Geo. G. Blodget; Fifth Ward, L. W. Weeks, A. Smart, P. N. 
Cushman, jr. 

This was a " clean " Democratic victory. The Whig organ in 
announcing the result said, " our Loco Foco friends ' served us 
out' and no mistake. It is a great comfort when one is beaten 
to have the work done up thoroughly. It will be seen that in 
this view of the case, the Whigs have abundant ground to be 
satisfied with the result." 

On Friday, April tenth, the new Common Council assem- 
bled at their rooms, and the oath of office was administered to 
the Mayor elect, Solomon Juneau, by Lindsey Ward, Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees. His Honor, the Mayor, in 
turn administering the oath to the Aldermen elect. The 
Council having been organized, Solomon Juneau proceeded to 
read the following inaugural address :* 

Gentlemen: — It is made my duty by the charter under 
which we have our existence as a municipal corporation, to 
recommend to you, in writing, such measures as I may deem 
expedient and calculated to advance the interest of our city. 

In performing this duty, I feel conscious that my burden is 
light, knowing, as I do, that those with whom I am to co-oper- 
ate are well versed in all matters pertaining to our welfare. 



*Written for Mr. Juneau by H. N. Wells. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 183 

However, as it will be expected on this occasion that I should 
make some general remarks relative to the course to be pur- 
sued by us, I shall proceed in as brief a manner as possible to 
lay before you a few general matters that I think should 
receive an early attention at your hands. 

The confusion incident to a change of government, has ren- 
dered it impossible for me to lay before you a correct state- 
ment of our financial condition, but prudence would seem to 
dictate to us the propriety of ascertaining at as early a day as 
possible the precise state of the financial affairs of the city, 
and all proper efforts in future should be directed to keeping 
our expenditures within our means, and if it is ascertained 
that we are in debt at present, no time should be lost in taking 
such measures as will be best calculated to insure at no distant 
period a final liquidation of all just claims against us. 

Our commercial interests should receive a proper share of 
your attention, and every facility should be afforded those en- 
gaged in commercial business, to transact the same in a prompt 
and efficient manner, and nothing should be wanting on the 
part of the city, to render the whole of the commercial part 
of it easy of access to the vessels navigating our lakes. 

Proper measures should be taken to render easy of access 
our city to every part of the country around us, and a due 
sense of self-respect would seem to suggest to us the propriety 
of keeping our streets and sidewalks as clear from impediments 
as the business of the city will penult. 

Such measures as in your wisdom you may think meet, 
should be taken to preserve the health of the city; and no- 
thing should be left undone that would have a tendency to re- 
lieve the distressed and destitute who are incapable of provid- 
ing the means of comfort and support for themselves. 

The Fire Department should receive your festering care, and 



184 THE CHRONICLES 

everything should be done that is calculated to render those 
volunteers, serving the city in the capacity of firemen, secure 
from injuries by the explosion of powder or other explosive 
matter. 

The subject of gaming should receive your attention, and 
nothing in your power should be wanting to secure the youth 
of the city from the wiles and devices of the gambler. Nor 
should he who is so far regardless of the morals of a commu- 
nity, as to prostitute the energies of his mind and body to gain- 
ing a livelihood by openly following the illicit business of gam- 
ing, be permitted to range our streets, unwhipt of justice. 

This much I have thought proper to suggest as being of a 
public and general nature, trusting fully to your wisdom and 
experience in rightly directing all things relating to our wel- 
fare, and in framing such ordinances as will be best calculated 
to advance the interest of the city, fully assuring you, that 
you will have my cordial co-operation in every thing tending 
to promote our common good; and that all in my power will 
be done to have the laws of the territory, and ordinances of 
the city, properly observed and faithfuMy and impartially ex- 
ecuted. 

In performing the duties of presiding officer of your body, 
I shall have to ask your indulgence and assistance, knowing 
that my want of experience in presiding over deliberative 
bodies will be sensibly felt by me, and without your indulgence 
and friendly counsel I can scarcely hope to execute that part 
of my official duty in a manner satisfactory to myself or the 
public. < ■ ' — - 

Solomon Juneaus administration was marked by nothing of 
unusual interest in the ci£y. The common council was a most 
efficient body of citizens, as will be seen by the names. They 
were all intelligent and industrious men, and assembled punc- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 185 

tually at their post once a week, to transact the city's business. 
Solomon Juneau took the Mayor's chair with little or no 
knowledge of parliamentary rules. He had never before pre- 
sided over a deliberative body. His education and associations 
had been apart from conventional forms. Still, he was a man 
of good " sound sense," quick perceptions and rather modest. 

He did not preside at the council after the night of its 
organization, (the reason advanced was that he was necessa- 
rily absent from the city much of his time attending to Indian 
affairs) and J. B. Smith was elected acting Mayor. There is 
considerable of the romantic in this honoring of a man for qualifi- 
tions of a pioneer and for his virtues. And such was the case. 
He had little or no knowledge of politics; had been reared, one 
might say, in the wilderness; was without experience in muni- 
cipal matters and possessed little of the executive ability dis- 
played by others of the old settlers, and yet there were many 
admirable traits in his character, and there was something- 
fitting in the election of the founder of the city and the man 
universally respected, to be the first Mayor of the city. 

On retiring from the office of Mayor, Wednesday, April 14, 
1847, Mr. Juneau delivered the following valedictory: 

Gentlemen : — Before I vacate this chair, I wish to make a 
few remarks to your honorable body. When I first set foot on 
this soil, some thirty years ago, I little thought that during my 
age and generation I should behold such a sight as now pre- 
sents itself. Then the red man was supreme monarch of the 
place on which our delightful city now stands, the plains and 
the rivers of Wisconsin belonged to him and were subject to 
his wild control, but now the scene has changed ; the war 
whoop of the Indian has given way to the mild counsels of 
civilized and intelligent men; the wigwam is supplanted by 
massive and ornamental structures ; the place of the bark canoe, 
13 



186 THE CHRONICLES 

which was then the only craft that floated upon the waters of 
the noble river that meanders through the heart of your city, 
has been filled by the hundreds of vessels propelled by wind 
and steam, that now annually visit our shore and enter our 
harbor, laden with the commerce of the East and bear off the 
surplus produce of Wisconsin. 

< ; Here we behold a city of twelve thousand inhabitants with 
her beautiful streets and walks, her fine gardens, and splendid 
buildings and her intelligent and enterprising population, 
where eleven years since the soil was unbroken. 

" I have been a resident of your city from its first commence- 
ment to the present day, and trust gentlemen you will do me 
the justice to believe that its interest, growth and prosperity 
have ever been and still are my dearest desire j that it may 
continue to increase in size and population is my sincerest 
wish. That we may have wholesome laws and the same well 
administered, will be my earnest prayer when I shall have 
retired from the honorable and responsible station to which the 
partiality of my fellow citizens has elevated me. 

In yielding up the trust reposed in me, I cannot but feel a 
proud satisfaction that it is to pass into the hands of a gentle- 
man whose abilities, integrity, high standing and long tried 
virtues among his fellow citizens, fully entitle him to the confi- 
dence they have placed in him. Allow me then to tender 
through you to my fellow citizens, my sincere acknowledgments 
for their support, kindness and indulgence which I have re- 
ceived at their hands. I was conscious at the outset that my 
experience had not been such as to qualify me to discharge 
the duties of the office I now hold, either in a measure satis- 
factory to the public or myself, but notwithstanding you have 
received but little aid from me, I am satisfied that the public 
interests have not suffered from want of an able and faithful 



OF MILWAUKEE. 187 

representative in the Common Council, and for the prudent, 
judicious and economical administration of the affairs of our 
infant, yet growing and prosperous city, the city are indebted to 
your wisdom and intelligence. I regret that other avocations 
have allowed me to preside so seldom over your deliberations,, 
not that I could have hoped to aid or benefit you, or those 
you have so ably and faithfully represented, but because I fear 
that my absence may have been construed into an indifference 
to the interests of our city. 

Again offering you, and particularly the gentleman who has 
with so much ability presided over your deliberations during 
my absence, my grateful acknowledgements, and my best wishes 
for your individual health and happiness, I cheerfully give up 
the chair that I occupy, to the gentleman whom the people 
have chosen to succeed me. 

Thus ended the administration of Solomon Juneau, the first 
Mayor of Milwaukee — with a benediction upon the town, if we 
may be allowed to put that title to a valedictory, which is mere- 
ly an expression of hopes and thanks. 

In 1847, H. N. Wells and Geo. H. Walker, were nominated 
for the Mayorality, on the issue of a State Constitution. Geo. 
H. Walker being in favor of the adoption of the State Consti- 
tution, and H. N Wells opposed to it. The latter was elected. 
The vote standing as follows : 

H. N. Wells, 278 First Ward; 161 Second Ward; 272 
Third Ward; 129 Fourth Ward; 134 Fifth Ward. Total, 
974. Geo. H. Walker, 233 First Ward; 174 Second Ward; 
162 Third Ward; 55 Fourth Ward; 37 Fifth Ward. Total, 
657. 

The following gentlemen composed the new Board of Alder- 



men, viz : 



188 THE CHRONICLES 

First Ward. — James B. Martin, Nelson Ludington, Victor 
Schulte. 

Second Ward. — Owen Van Dyke, I. Walter, E. N. Mes- 
singer. 

Third Ward. — B. H. Edgerton, John Furlong, R. G. Ow- 
ens. 

Fourth Ward. — J. H. Rogers, Ira E. Goodall, Henry 
Sayrs. 

Fifth Ward.— L. W. Weeks, W. A. Hawkins, G. A. Wait. 

The two parties, the constitutionals and the anti-constitu- 
tionals, were very much excited during this campaign, and 
many and loud were the speeches made commendatory and de- 
nunciatory. One evening a collision took place between them 
on East Water Street. The anti-constitutionals held their 
meeting at the Milwaukie House, and the constitutionals at the 
United States Hotel, on the corner of East Water and Huron 
Streets. The former party marched down, past the United 
States Hotel, and after parading on the Point, returned, when 
the collision occurred. John Fillmore had provided the anti- 
constitutionals with chair backs for torch staffs, and on ar- 
riving at Michigan Street, the line being broken, a street 
row occurred, and the chair backs came into use. One dis- 
tinguished citizen was found under a wao-on, and tradition is 
very contradictory as to the cause, one saying that he was 
knocked under it, and the other, that the law of self-preserv- 
ation like the law of gravitation attracted him thither. Geo. 
H. Walker took a conspicuous part in the campaign, and was 
a hearty supporter of the constitution. He, and the constitu- 
tion, however, were sadly beaten. 

On the night of the election, the anti's formed a procession, 
and carrying the constitution in a small coffin, marched down 
to Walker's Point to the residence of the candidate, and pro- 



OP MILWAUKEE. 189 

posed to perform funeral ceremonies over it and then inter it. 
Mr. Walker was kindly invited to participate in the ceremonies, 
which he did, eulogizing the remains and predicting that, when 
the full returns were in, it would rise phoenix-like from its 
ashes, and become the living guardian of our liberties, &c. 
But it was fated to be otherwise ; it never rose. 

The common council of this year appears to have been very 
severe in the enforcement of its rules : we find in the record 
the following account of the manner, in which absentees were 
treated : 

Mr. Graham moved a call of the House and the motion pre- 
vailed. 

The doors being closed and the roll called, the following 
Aldermen answered to their names, viz : Hathaway, Hatch, 
Smith, Graham, Murphy, Crary, Kneeland — 7. 

Absent : Aid. Blodget, Kilbourn, Abert, Comstock, Holman, 
Sweet, Weeks, Cushman — 8. 

On motion of Mr. Crary, the Marshal was dispatched after 
the absent members. 

After an absence of an hour, the Marshal returned and re- 
ported that he had found one or two of the absent members 
and that they refused to attend. 

The Acting Mayor having resumed the chair, 

Mr. Crary moved that the City Marshal, with the Captain 
of the Watch and such other force as he may deem necessary, 
be directed to enforce the attendance of the absent members 
of the Board forthwith. 

Which motion was carried unanimously. 

The Marshal, with six Watchmen, was accordingly dispatch- 
ed after the missing members. 

At half-past 11, Aid. Blodget appeared and rendered an ex- 
cuse for his absence, which was accepted. 



190 THE CHRONICLES 

Mr. Hathaway moved to dispense with further proceedings 
under the call, which motion was under discussion, when, at a 
quarter before 12, the Marshal returned with Aid. Sweet, and 
reported that he had called at the house of Aid. Weeks who 
refused to attend the summons of the Board and, shutting the 
door, defied the power of the Marshal to break it open. The 
Marshal, doubting his power in the premises, returned for 
further instructions. 

Mr. Crary hoped that the Marshal and City Watch would 
be again dispatched after Aid. Weeks and compel his attend- 
ance forthwith, using the necessary force therefor. 

Mr. Sweet was in favor of having all the missing members 
brought up. He should like to see a full Board here, once. 

The Chair informed the Alderman from the Fifth that he 
was in the custody of the Marshal at present and could not be 
permitted to address the Board. 

Mr. Hathaway desired to know, if the Board could direct 
its officers to break into the house of an Alderman and bring 
him, by force, to the meeting. 

Mr. Graham had no doubt that, if the Board could compel 
the attendance of the members, it could direct its officers to 
break into the houses of members and bring them hither by 
force. — The question involved the rights and privileges of the 
Board and, indeed, their very existence. Aid. Weeks had set 
the authority of the Board at defiance, and he (Mr. Gr.,) for 
one, desired to try the question, now, whether any one member 
could treat the Council in this contemptuous way, with im- 
punity. 

Mr. Crary argued to show that, under the rules, the Board 
had full authority to compel the attendance of absent members 
and to use all necessary force to secure this end, though it might 



OF MILWAUKEE. 191 

be doubtful, under the Common Law, whether they could break 
open a door for that purpose. 

Mr. Blodget took a similar view of the question. 

Mr. Graham, in reply, insisted that the Board would make 
a perfect humbug of the business, if they did not compel, at 
every hazard, the attendance of Aid. Weeks. 

The question being then taken, the motion to dispense with 
further proceedings under the call was lost. 

Mr. Sweet, being then called upon for his excuse, stated that 
he had left the Board, because he supposed the business was 
concluded, and without any thought of casting disrespect on 
the Board. 

Mr. Blodget moved that Aid. Sweet be excused on paying 
his fine, which was carried. 

Whereupon Aid. Sweet walked up to the Clerk's office and 
was about to pay his fine of 50 cents, when Aid. Blodget did 
it for him. 

The Marshal was then again directed to proceed with the 
City Watch and compel the attendance of Aid. Weeks. 

At 2 A. M., the Marshal and Watch returned and reported 
that they could not get at Aid. Weeks without breaking open 
his door. 

After some conversation as to what the Board should do 
next, 

Mr. Hathaway moved to dispense with all further proceed- 
ings under the call, which was lost as follows : 

Yeas — Aid. Hathaway, Smith, Blodget — 3. 

Nays — Aid. Hatch, Graham, Murphy, Crary, Kneeland, 
Sweet — 6. 

Mr. Blodget moved to adjourn till Friday evening, at 6 
o'clock, and that the Marshal be directed to have Aid. Weeks 
here. Lost, ayes — 3, noes — 6. 



192 THE CHRONICLES 

Mr. Hathaway again moved to dispense with the call. Lost, 
ayes — 3, noes — 6. 

M r. Crary moved to adjourn. Lost. 

Mr. Hathaway once more renewed the motion to suspend 
the call. He thought it was about time for the Board to come 
to some conclusion. 

Mr. Blodget did not believe in spiting ourselves. We might 
as well own up beat at our own game. For one, he did not 
believe in sitting up all night and waiting until Dr. "Weeks got 
through with his nap and came to the Board. 

Mr. Crary was in favor of going through with the matter, 
now that the Board had gone so far. 

The motion to suspend the call, was then put and carried. 

Aid. Blodget offered the following resolution, which was 
adopted unanimously. 

Resolved, That the conduct of Aid. Weeks in leaving the 
Council without a quorum this evening, and virtually adjourn- 
ing the same, when requested to remain, and refusing to attend 
the call of the House when made and personally notified by 
the Marshal, is deserving the severest censure. 

That this Board, in view of such conduct, do request the 
Mayor to strike the name of said Weeks from all committees, 
except ward committees, and the City Attorney is hereby di- 
rected to commence suit immediately against him for his fine. 

A. Floyd was appointed Watchman in the fourth ward, D. H- 
Lambert in the fifth ward. 

Aid. Graham introduced an ordinance to compel the attend- 
ance of absent members, which was read three times and 
passed. 

And then the Board adjourned till Thursday evening next, 
at 5 P. M. 

At the meeting on Thursday, Sept. 11, subsequently, it 



OF MILWAUKEE. 193 

again appeared that no quorum was present, and Mr. Graham 
moved a call of the house. The doors were closed and the roll 
called and the following; gentlemen answered to their names : 
Hathaway, Hatch, Smith, Graham, Murphy, Crary, and Knee- 
land. The following were absent: Blodget, Kilbourn, Abert, 
Comstock, Sweet, Weeks and Cushman. On motion, the Mar- 
shal was dispatched for absent members. After an hour the 
officer returned and reported that he had found one or two of 
the absentees and that they refused to attend. Mr. Crary then 
moved that the City Marshal, with the captain of the watch 
and such other force as he " may deem necessary," be directed 
to enforce their attendance. This was carried unanimously 
and the Marshal and watchman accordingly went in search of 
the delinquents. About 11 o'clock, Aid. Blodget appeared 
and excused himself, and the Marshal appearing also Mr. 
Crary hoped that he would be sent back for the other mem- 
bers. It does not appear, however, that the worthy Aldermen 
could be coerced ; whether they were indulging in the legen- 
dary turtle soup, which is said to become a necessity to men 
who assume municipal honors — or whether they were employed 
less profitably to themselves and more profitably to the public, 
we of this day cannot say. But we know from the record left 
us that the worthy gentlemen who composed the city govern- 
ment at this time, were both able and willing and had the 
interests of the infant city at heart, as their labors so well 
demonstrate even to this day, when in our choice of men we 
are not always similarly blessed. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Change in the Name — Hunting Wolves at Wauwatosa — Personal Reminiscences — 
Charter Election of 1843 — Election of Byron Kilbourn — His Inaugural — The Pro- 
posed Harbor. 

The orthography of the town's name proved a source of 
much perplexity to many of the citizens from the earliest 
period of its history. The question upon which much argu- 
ment and research was expended was whether the terminal 
syllable should be hee or Me. It was contended that Me was 
the French manner of writing the word by a number, and as 
stoutly contended by others that hee was the original Indian 
word, that should be adhered to. Byron Kilbourn, among 
others, maintained that Me was the proper terminus. The dis- 
pute that followed was like many others, it resulted in a differ- 
ence of opinion, and for several years one side of the town spelled 
and printed the word kee, and the other side spelled and printed 
it kie. There is no means of settling this question even at this 
day — though common usage has made hee the fashion. Those 
who love research may enjoy themselves in reading the long 
and to us dry essays about the derivation of the term which 
are embalmed in the racks of our newspaper publishers. It 
was another case of tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. The 
French and Aboriginal were each to be respected. The word 
itself was a mixture of both and the only wonder to us is that 
people who stickle about the orthography of this town do not 
benefit the State by a laudable endeavor to give appropriate 



OF MILWAUKEE. 195 

names to other localities where they are needed. There are 
now two Rock rivers in the State, two Fox rivers, Springvales 
without number, and a whole list of Greenfields and Bloom- 
fields and Richfields that might be improved by a little admix- 
ture of either French or Indian and prove in the end a benefit 
to the dead letter office. 

The question seems to have been settled by the publication 
of certain laws which adopted the kee form; though it is not 
certain now that the friends of kee did not buy up the law- 
makers. It was printed kee, and one obstinate publisher of a 
newspaper, who persisted in inserting the i, in the terminal, 
had his office entered one night, and the obnoxious tl i" felon- 
iously abstracted from the heading of his paper; after which 
the sheet was compelled to appear with an extra lt e" This 
was the downfall of the kie's, and henceforth MikvaufesM be- 
came popular. Now, we never see the old word, unless we get 
a letter from down east, where they look upon an old map for 
information and see the town designated as Milwaukie. 

Milwaukee was now a vigorous city. In the spring of this 
year, '48, there were more sail vessels building at this port than 
any other on the Upper Lakes. At the ship-yards of D. Mer- 
rill & Co., in the Fifth Ward, a barque was building, of three 
hundred and fifty tons, for Merrill & Sweet, to be called the 
"Nucleus;" also a schooner of one hundred and nineteen tons, 
for Theodore Newell, of Southport, to be called the " Muske- 
gon." At the ship-yard of Capt. Geo. Barber, near the mouth 
of the Menomonee, in the Fourth Ward, there was building a 
schooner, for Thorson & Arnold, of one hundred and fifty tons, 
the "Twin Brothers," and another for Geo. D. Dousman, of 
one hundred and ten tons. In the Second Ward, S. A. Hub- 
bell was building a three-masted schooner, for Perkins & Hub- 
bell, of three hundred and fifty tons. The schooner, "Michsel 



196 THE CHRONICLES 

Dousman," was also on the stocks being lengthened eighteen 
feet, to make her a vessel of two hundred tons, so that al- 
together there were now on the stocks and soon to be launch- 
ed, new vessels, the tonnaee of which, in the a^Te^ate, 
amounts to one thousand, three hundred and seventy-five tons? 
all of which belong to this port; and there were employed, in 
the ship-yards, one hundred and forty-five men. The popula- 
tion of the city was 16,000. 

Only two years before, the sportsmen went out to "Wauwato- 
sa to hunt wolves ; and but a little while before this date — of 
which we now write — there were companies of men who went 
weekly, on hunting expeditions, just west of the city. In- 
deed, we have a poster before us now, printed in '47, setting 
forth that a meeting of the Sportsmen of Greenfield, Wau- 
watosa and other towns, will meet at Carron's, on the Madi- 
son Road, on Wednesday, the 29th inst., for the purpose of a 
drive, from thence to the Mukwonasro Road, through the 
great swamp. It adds : " As this swamp is well-known to be 
the hiding-place of wolves and bears, and other animals, which 
it is proposed to exterminate on the above day — rare sport may 
be expected. Citizens, who join in the expedition, will be un- 
der the direction of a superintendent, appointed for the day." 
Jolly times! Let us not cavil at those who love to talk of 
"good old times." The pioneers may indeed, "bear the heat 
and burden of the day," but do they not, after all, realize a 
solid happiness, that we, who came after, never feel ? Look at 
them in the wilderness! or in the settlement. They have stolen 
the ruddy glow of the Indian summer and put on the sturdy 
air of the old oaks. And in the young city, isolated — without 
rail-roads, without telegraphs, without lecture committees and 
without any of the artificial shocks that thrill us in our elec- 
tric contact with the world. Jolly, is a very good word — 



OF MILWAUKEE. 197 

slightly English, perhaps, and apt to be considered intemper- 
ately, but good for all. It would, perhaps, astonish the happy 
dogs of this day and generation to get a peep at the amuse- 
ments of the sober town, at its immaturity. 

During the first years of its settlement there was not a poor 
man in it. Such a wealthy, munificent set of happy fellows 
could not be found elsewhere. They were all oppressed with 
riches ; money was actually a drug. They paid it out to the 
host of the Milwaukee House, not as you or I at this parsimo- 
nous age would dole out dollars, but by the bundles. They 
paid a fiddler fifty dollars to come up from Chicago and help 
them dance They never said, " that's too high a bill" — even 
though it were a pyramid of charges — they said, " what's the 
damage, stranger?" out came the wallet. Has not Alexander 
F. Pratt told us how Juneau, during the first era was worth 
$100,000 " with a fair prospect of doubling it in a few months," 
and how every body was worth as much in proportion ! The 
same gentleman assures us that he has seen Juneau go into his 
store in those days and take from his drawers ten thousand 
dollars, the proceeds of one day's trade, and put the money 
in his hat. He also saw the hat once playfully knocked off in 
a crowd and the ten thousand dollars flew in various directions 
and nobody thought it worth while to pick them up.* This 
was the golden era. The age of dross, and quarter sections. 
But the succeeding eras were as pleasant if not as bright with 
specie — the gradual accumulation of a city — the slow receding 
of crude life before the blandishments of art — when Gr. Gr. Dous- 
man hunted turkeys on Wisconsin street and many who are now 
rheumatic, and perhaps frosted with time's powder — used to 



*See Vol. 1 of Historical Societies collections Reminiscences of Wisconsin, by 
Alex. F. Pratt. 



198 THE CHRONICLES 

trip the light fantastic at the Bellevue and play poker at the 
Cottage Inn — jolly times and worthy men. They paid their 
one hundred dollars ;i a-piece" for their lots and now would 
not take five thousand for them, for they have held them 
through all the mutations, worked on them and lived about 
them, helped build up a city on them. The amber of a blessed 
climate has preserved most of them fresh to this day and all 
are honored and respected. 

We said "no telegraph." We find in the Milwaukee Senti- 
nel of June 28th, 1845, the following timid shadow of one : 

11 Startling as may appear the announcement and visionary 
as the prediction may seem, we prophecy that within a period 
of three years a direct communication, by the magnetic tele- 
graph, will be established between Milwaukee and the Eastern 
cities, by which intelligence can be transmitted in ten 
minutes!" 

" Startling announcement." On August 31, 1860, Senator 
Seward sent the first telegram over the wires that reached St. 
Paul, and ere the present generation shall have passed away 
the electric currents will be leaping over the great Desert and 
down the Pacific slope ! 

Hunting wolves. What a setting does the mere announce- 
ment give to our city. Wolves, wilderness, thickets — wild and 
impenetrable. Forest paths blazed through ancient timber; 
dark coverts where Indian legends linger; mounds and muddy 
trails ; cities planted but separated by long and painful stages ; 
a domain in which the surveyor who drives his stake startles 
the wild fowl with a scream, and whose ax is answered by the 
baying of ravenous throats. But a little while, and now the 
city stretches out its fingers of enterprise and improvement, 
spins its iron web over the wilds and sends its car spouting fire 
at every seam out into the wilderness, to sow villages and farms 



OF MILWAUKEE. 199 

and make a harsher but plcasanter music with its iron whistle. 
A little while and 

"Thou shalt hear 
Distant harvest carols clear 
Rustle of the reaped corn. 
Sweet hirds antheming the morn, 
Acorns ripe down pattering 
While the farmers laugh and sing." 

The charter election of 1848 resulted in the election of By- 
ron Kilbourn for Mayor, over Rufus King, the latter nominat- 
ed by the Whigs, and the former by the Democrats. The 
Democrats elected their entire ticket; King receiving 881 votes, 
and Kilbourn 1079. Ghas. Geisberg was also elected City 
Treasurer over Orlando Alexander • and Chas. A. Tuttle City 
Attorney over J. Emmons. 

Mr. Kilbourn, in his inaugural, April 12th, advocated in 
strong language the advantages of railroads, and devoted con- 
siderable time to the necessity of a harbor. The latter portion 
of his address embodies so much that is instructive in relation 
to the history of our "straight cut/' and sets forth the necessi- 
ty of a safe harbor so explicitly that we can do no better than 
give it here. 

" Great inconvenience is experienced by the shipping inter- 
ests in consequence of the peculiar condition of things about the 
harbor. This is an interest of too much magnitude and of too 
much importance to the city, to be neglected. It is not ne- 
cessary for me to inform the board, why, or how, the govern- 
ment piers came to be located where they are, as any retrospect 
on this subject would not remedy the evils and inconveniences 
which have been imposed on the city, by an improper, if not 
corrupt use of government power, in the hands of subordinate 
officers. If the government or its agents have done us in- 
justice, the city authorities have it in their power to remedy 



200 THE CHRONICLES 

the evil, by constructing piers, and an entrance into the river, 
at the site as surveyed by Lieuts. Center and Ptose, and there- 
by furnish an easy and convenient entrance into the river for 
all steamboats and vessels visiting this port. 

Estimates for this purpose have been heretofore made and 
submitted to the board, and the necessary tax has been author- 
ized by a vote of the qualified electors of the city. The people 
by such vote have declared themselves in favor of the proposed 
work, and it becomes the duty of their representatives in this 
board, to devise the ways and means, and the best and most 
advisable mode and manner for carrying into effect the wishes 
of the people. It has been heretofore proposed to make a loan 
for this purpose; and if such a course should still seem the 
better one, by the board, I should freely co-operate in carrying 
out your decisions. But the expense will be so small, in com- 
parison with the present means and resources of the city, that 
it may be well questioned, whether it would not be the better 
course, to levy a tax, say, to the amount of one half of one 
per centum per annum, for two years, and apply the proceeds 
directly to the performance of the work; without resorting to 
a loan, subject to all the expenses, uncertainties, delays, and 
difficulties, attendant upon the obtainment and payment of a 
loan, and the annual interest thereon. 

With the proposed additional cut, between the river and 
the lake, our harbor will be beyond comparison, the finest and 
most convenient of any similar work on the whole range of 
the Lakes. The new channel being half a mile from the old 
one, with a broad and deep river uniting them, steamboats 
and craft of all kinds, bound up or down the lake, can enter 
at either one, as may be the most convenient; and in case of 
stormy weather, the piers of both channels, extending far in- 
to the lake, will produce between them comparatively smooth 



OF MILWAUKEE. 201 

water, making the entrance to the north one, more easy and 
safe, than if the other had not been constructed. There is no- 
thing imaginary in the suggestion, but it is a fact beyond contro- 
versy, that, if the proposed channel were constructed, the en- 
trance to this port would be more safe, certain, and easy, than 
to any other port on the lakes; and it would, for that reason, 
be more generally sought for, as a refuge by navigators, than 
would any other port. Such a fact alone, would be worth 
thousands of dollars annually to the place, and would go far 
to remunerate the expense incurred by our citizens for the pro- 
tection of this branch of our trade. But the fact, that, by 
means of this improvement, steamboats can readily enter the 
river in all weather, and in all their trips up and down the 
lake, will throw into the markets, the stores, the shops, the 
taverns, the groceries, the wood-yards, and the hands of in- 
dustry, in every shape, known and unknown, an amount of 
business, which will annually repay to the city, not only its 
expenditures, necessary to accomplish the enterprise, but will 
leave a large surplus every year in the hands of our citizens, 
over and above the entire cost of the work. 

" It can be shown from good data, that Milwaukee actually 
loses for want of this improvement, more than fifty thousand 
dollars, per year, or more than twice the amount that it would 
cost to make the harbor complete; and furthermore, that it 
has been subjected to this loss for years simply because we 
had not energy enough to make an expenditure of some $15,- 
000, some years since, whereby it might have been saved. 
While an entire apathy on this subject has pervaded our coun- 
cils, our sister town of Racine, has been setting us a beautiful 
and praiseworthy example of public spirit and appreciation of 
her true interests. Without a fourth part of our means and 
resources, the people there, bravely entered upon the uudertak- 
14 



202 THE CHRONICLES 

ing of making a harbor for themselves; and nobly did they 
accomplish it. Without data, I state from information, that 
in one year, a tax of five per centum, was levied on all the 
taxable property of that place, by the vote and free consent of 
the citizens, almost, if not quite unanimously expressed ; and 
as freely and promptly paid by tnem. Other taxes were levied 
at different times until, as I understand, the amount of $25,000 
was raised, and the harbor completed. Now if Milwaukee, 
would at this time, raise a tax of only one per centum, on the 
taxable wealth of her citizens, the object would be accomplish- 
ed at once; or if she will for only two years levy the inconsid- 
erable tax of the half of one per cent, the work can be done, 
and no individual will scarcely feel that it has cost him a dollar; 
while ail branches of industry will feel sensibly its invigorating 
influence. If in addition, we take into consideration the 
enhanced value of real estate which this improvement will pro- 
duce in all the lower Wards of the city, its cost will be found 
to be so small, that it will sink into insignificance. 

" It is presumed that this subject would have commanded the 
attention of our people, and especially of our public men more 
strongly in times past, had it not been for some counteracting 
influences which directly or indirectly, properly or improperly, 
were made to bear upon it, through mistaken views of local 
policy. Some of those owners of property, more particularly 
interested in the southern portion of the city plat, have sup- 
posed that it would operate injuriously to their peculiar inter- 
ests, if a new channel were made at the proposed site. This, 
it is believed, was a conclusion, without a sufficient reason, and 
if true, ought not to be permitted to operate to the prejudice 
of the business interests of the whole city. But you, gentle- 
men, are called upon by every just sense of public duty, to look 
upon Milwaukee as one and in divisible in all her interests, and 



OF MILWAUKEE. 203 

in all her measures of policy. The time has nearly arrived, 
and every friend of our prosperity should hail with delight the 
time, when we can all feel, that the prosperity of any one part 
of Milwaukee is a common benefit to the whole. — Time was, 
and only a brief space since, that Milwaukee consisted of three 
little villages, each feeling that all the business and all the 
wealth of the place should be concentrated on her four corners. 
But brief as has been the space of time, we have seen those 
little villages brought together, and constituting now a city of 
some fifteen thousand people; and within another equally brief 
space, say twelve years hence, we may confidently anticipate 
a population of forty thousand people; provided always, that 
Milwaukee is true to herself, and that you, gentlemen, and 
your successors, faithfully perform your duty. Let us then, 
here, and at this time, pledge ourselves to use our best exer- 
tions for the general welfare — let us have no local legislation, 
except for those purposes which are local in their nature; and 
let us finish what our predecessors have so well begun, the 
union and harmony of the city. This has ever been with me, 
individually, an ardent aspiration, though in the heat of public 
controversy, there have been those who misunderstood my po- 
sition, or were unwilling to award to me this merit. I now 
place it on record in this public manner, and hope that our 
official acts will prove the truth of our professions, by the re- 
suits of our measures." 

Acting upon a suggestion of his honor, the Mayor, the 
council adopted a resolution, appointing a committee of three, 
to examine the site for the new harbor, and to estimate the 
cost of the contemplated improvement. The Mayor placed on 
that committee: B. H. Edgerton, 1. A. Lapham, and J. B. 
Vliet. On the 24th of April, their report was published. It 



204 THE CHRONICLES 

contains much valuable information obtained from personal ob- 
servation of the locality. They said: 

"An examination of the effects produced by a storm on 
our own shore and upon the government pier, has brought to 
our knowledge some important facts, which we deem it right 
to communicate to the board. AYe do this with great con- 
fidence, for having had our attention called to the subject on 
many former occasions, and having devoted much time to the 
investigation of the phenomena which should be considered in 
deciding upon the location and construction of harbors upon 
Lake Michigan. Among these none are more important than 
the configuration and direction of the adjoining coast, and the 
direction of the piers, as compared with the prevailing storms. 

"The waves that beat against the shore during this storm, at- 
tained a perpendicular elevation of five feet above the ordinary 
level of the water; and if we suppose the depression between 
them to attain an equal depth below, the waves must have run 
with an aggregate elevation of ten feet, and with the velocity 
which they acquire would be sufficient to produce very marked 
and decided effects upon the shore, and upon such works as are 
exposed to their influence. They broke over the ridge or 
beach that separates the lake from the marsh, above the mouth 
of the river, in many places depositing large quantities of sand 
in the marsh At one place, a gap was formed, six hundred 
feet long, nearly down to the level of the water Through 
this gap the waves rushed with great violence into the marshy 
bayou on the opposite side. 

" Accurate meteorological tables kept for a number of years, 
confirm the observations of sailors and others, that nearly all 
of the severe storms on Lake Michigan, came from the north- 
east. The waves, therefore, strike the western shore oblique- 
ly, and cause what is called a 'travelling beach/ or the motion 



OF MILWAUKEE. 205 

towards the south, of the sand and pebbles along the shore. 
This effect is not so apparent at this place, (owing to its situa- 
tion, at the bottom of a bay,) as at Chicago and other points. 
It is this 'travelling' that causes bars to form across the 
mouths of the rivers and harbors, and causes an accumulation 
of vast quantities of sand and gravel on the north side of the 
piers constructed on this lake. 

" The position and direction of the government pier at the 
mouth of our river, is such that during the recent gale, the 
water accummulated on the north side, as in a tunnel; and its 
pent up force exerted itself in carrying away the sand former- 
ly accumulated there, even beyond the shore end of the pier, 
causing a breach through which the water passed into the riv- 
er This breach is about thirty feet in width, but fortunately 
was not worn clown below the ordinary level of the water. 
Should another similar storm occur within a few days, we may 
see the river pass out on the north side of the pier ! 

"The waves that struck the shore were carried towards the 
pier, while those that struck the pier were deflected towards the 
shore, and spent their united force at the shore end of the pier. 
Had the direction of the pier been a little more towards the 
south-east, the waves striking the pier would have been turn- 
ed outward, and this would, as at Chicago, soon cause a large 
accumulation of sand against the pier, and finally form a bar 
across the entrance of the harbor. Fortunately, this is not the 
case. The direction of the present piers is such as to cause an 
accumulation of sand in some storms which is removed by oth- 
ers. In January, 1844, the sand extended along the pier three 
hundred and seventy-five feet. It now extends only one hund- 
red feet. 

" The action of the waves passing along the pier, upon the 
bottom, during the recent storm, has been very great. The 



200 THE CHRONICLES 

loose material has been carried away, causing the stone in the 
cribs to sink down in some places below the surface of the pier. 
A few stones remain visible niof-t of the distance on the south 
side. 

"The direction of the present piers are too much south of 
east — they ought, in the opinion of the committee, to form an 
angle that is less than a right angle with the beach, and with 
the prevailing storms. This would cause the floating sand and 
gravel to accumulate, instead of floating around the head of 
the pier and forming a bar across the entrance. It is true 
that the action of the waves within the piers would be great- 
er, if in a more northerly direction, but this evil would be 
more than counterbalanced by the greater facility with which 
a vessel could enter, during a storm. 

"By the soundings which have been taken, and which are 
herewith submitted, it will be seen that at the distance of six 
hundred and fifty feet from shore, we reach sixty feet water, 
and it is for a harbor of this length and depth that the esti- 
mates are made up. In the first plan, the south pier is intend- 
ed to be two hundred feet long, and in the other plan four hund- 
red feet, and in either case it would be sufficient to answer the 
purpose temporarily, and in the latter case, perhaps permanent- 

'•The resolution under which the committee were appointed, 
contemplates only the construction of a harbor that could be 
made to answer our immediate wants, and it is therefore that 
the estimates stop short of the full completion. As a matter of 
general information, however, the second estimate is extended 
to the full and perfect completion of a harbor two hundred and 
fifty feet wide between the piers, on the plan which was adopt- 
ed by the general government. 

u The" 1 following are the soundings taken on Saturday, the 



OF MILWAUKEE. 



207 



15th inst., the water then being seventeen inches below low 
water mark in March, 1836. The depth being given in feet 
and inches, and at intervals of fifty feet, commencing at the 
water's edjre, viz: 



3 ^, T LU . 

At 50 feet, 


depth, 


1.6 


100 " 






1.9 


150 " 






4.0 


200 « 






5.9 


250 " 






5.6 


300 " 






6.0 


350 « 






6.3 


400 " 






7.3 


450 « 






7.6 


500 « 






8.6 


550 " 






8.9 


600 '" 






9.3 


650 " 






10.0 


700 « 






10 6 


750 « 






10.6 


800 « 






11.0 


850 " 






11.6 


900 " 






12.0 


950 " 






12.6 


1,000 « 






13.0 



The total estimate of the cost of a harbor was sixty-seven 
thousand, four hundred and sixty-six dollars. 



Perhaps a better description of the growth of Milwaukee 
cannot be given than is conveyed by the two letters here giv- 
en, one written in '37, and the other in '47. Ten years work- 



208 THE CHRONICLES 

ed wonders. The first is written to Xew-York, and appeared 
in the " Yeoman," of that year. 

" The town of Milwaukee is situated on the western bank of 
the Lake Michigan, about one hundred miles north of Illinois. 
It is an odd location for a town, being at the confluence of two 
streams which have no natural banks ; a greater part of what 
is already laid out as the town, being under water. It is the 
hasty selection of such sites for towns, that in so many in- 
stances, retards the growth of western settlements. The fever 
and ague should always be taken into account by founders of 
cities ; but unfortunately it very seldom is. There are all the 
symptoms here now of an unnatural decline. People seem 
discontented, and many are leaving and going further west. 
Capitalists cannot be induced to invest, most of them are too 
wise, and while other towns along this shore will spring up, 
and with magical swiftness rise into cities, there can be little 
hope that this place will ever attain to even a decent medi- 
ocrity." 

The other letter appeared in the "Boston Chronotype :" 

"Which shall be greatest, Milwaukee or Chicago? On en- 
tering a western city, as a first step you are pointed out all the 
advantages, which it has over every other place. In the race 
of rivalry, Chicago and Milwaukee deserve the premium; se- 
parated ninety miles from each other, on the lower part of 
Lake Michigan, they respectively expect to become the centre 
of the immense trade, which must ultimately belong to this 
region. 

" If anything, Chicago has a little the start. At any rate, it 
had a hot house nursing, and by great sacrifice of capital ac- 
quired a large population and a name among the towns in a 
time, short, almost without precedent. The original specula- 
tors, or those purchasing of them at high prices, of course lost 



OF MILWAUKEE. 209 

almost all in the reaction ; but a channel of business was estab- 
lished, and having a natural foundation, it continued. The 
subsequent prosperity and increase of the city is historical. 

" Prices once more have risen, and the place of ten years 
numbers its fifteen thousand inhabitants. The history of Mil- 
waukee is similar, only the forcing process was not so violent 
nor so successful. The end of ten years shows it with be- 
tween nine and ten thousand inhabitants. The question now 
comes, whether Chicago will keep the start she has obtained, 
or whether it will be compensated for by certain other advant- 
ages possessed by Milwaukee. All the cities on Lake Michigan 
are built at the mouth of small rivers, which are used as har- 
bors, protecting vessels from the sweep of the lake. Chicago is 
at the mouth of one of these, but directly upon the lake, with- 
out any shield from northerly or easterly storms. Milwaukee 
alone, on the river of the same name, stands at the foot of a 
bay, which is considered the best harbor on the lake. Chicago, 
again, is built upon the prairie which extends to the very 
shores of the lake, and has not a bluff to boast of in the neigh- 
borhood. The whole surrounding country is a dead level, and 
occasionally marshy. The result is, that for a great length of 
time to come, the city must be unhealthy. The south-west 
winds come in, burning from the prairies, and freighted with 
the effluvia of the damp grounds. The breezes from the lake 
are always cool and refreshing. 

11 Milwaukee, on the other hand, is partly built on bluffs, and 
there is high land behind it. There are marshes near the 
river, but the upper part of the town does not suffer from 
them. There can be no doubt of the salubrity of its situation. 
Chicago also loses sadly in beauty from the flatness of its po- 
sition. Hardly any view can be finer than the lake from the 
bluffs near Milwaukee. In a clear day the water spreads to 



210 THE CHRONICLF.-. 

the horizon for nearly half a circle, and the smoothness of the 
surface and brilliancy of the blue can hardly be understood by 
those accustomed only to look upon the ocean. Chicago be- 
longs to Illinois, and Milwaukee to Wisconsin. The latter 
territory has as yet a fair fame, and is unincumbered with debt. 
"Will not the settler be led the rather to it ? As an offset to 
these advantages, Chicago river nearly approaches the Illinois, 
and in one year from this time a canal, commencing at Chi- 
cago, will connect the waters of the lakes with those of the 
Mississippi. But here again, the Illinois river is only navigable 
with certainty for a small part of the year, cold weather and 
drought equally embarassing it. A railroad between the Mis- 
sissippi and lakes would be more available, and this Chicago 
and Milwaukee, both anticipate pushing in the direction of 
Galena. Should Milwaukee succeed, here the problem of su- 
periority between the two cities would seem to be solved. I 
will leave the question, however, with the best wishes for the 
success of both. 

" Between Chicago and Milwaukee the two infant cities of 
Southport and Racine have come into being. Racine has even 
been talked of as a rival to Chicago. It is nine vears old and 
has 3000 inhabitants." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Administrations of Upham and Walker — The Jenny Lind Club — E. G. Kyan, as a 
Satirist — Organization of the Detective and Police Force — William Beck — Deputy 
Sheriff Page. 

D. A. J. Upham, was elected for Mayor, in 1849, by a vote 
of eight hundred and twenty over B. H. Edgerton; and re- 
elected in 1850, against J. B. Smith. During this and the 
succeeding year, a local feature attracted much attention. 

When Jenny Lind came to America, and it was ascertained 
that she would not visit Milwaukee, a number of prominent 
gentlemen of this city, formed a party to go to New- York, and 
hear her. These gentlemen during their trip became so soci- 
able, and evinced so decided a similarity of social tastes, that 
it was unanimously agreed to form the party into a club, and 
hold stated meetings on their return. It is not clear whether 
this club was fashioned after the " Century/' or the " Athenae- 
um," but its objects originally seem to have been conviviality — 
or the attainment of those degrees of happiness, which sur- 
round late suppers — and come on with a flow of champagne and 
soul. Its members were jurists, editors, and divines. An 
odor of aristocracy, too, pervaded it. The gentlemen could 
produce " the testimony of the rocks " — and the club was not 
only exclusive — but positively a secret institution. From the 
original intention to meet and discuss brandy peaches and to 
pull corks, they, becoming aware that the aggregation of so 
much influence and talent might be made available — actually 



212 THE CHRONICLES 

became confederates against the outside political mass, and from 
innocent jollity and the reiterations of delightful reminiscences 
of Jenny, passed to the consideration of topics connected with 
the interests of the town and the furthering of political schemes 
and private interests. The understanding, which is the result 
of good fellowship, took a deeper meaning. The confederates 
became masonic, and it was not long before unaccountable re- 
sults began to set the public scratching its head and wondering 
where the wires were laid. It was soon after broadly hinted 
that a club was in existence, which met round a loaded table, 
and elected its mayor — wrote his inaugural — dictated his line 
of policy, and even extended its influence to the judiciary. 
The first Moliere, to attack this organization with the pen of 
satire, was E. Gr. Ryan, who gave a fancied report of one of its 
meetings, which first appeared in the " Madison Argus," but 
was speedily copied and circulated through the State. 

Reported for the Argus and Democrat. 

JENNY LIND CLUB. 



A business meeting of the club was held with closed doors, 
in the back parlor of the Milwaukee Paper Mill, on Monday 
evening, September the 6th, 1852. 

Col. Oldbuck Heavysides in the Chair. 

Nancy Pip Nihil, Esq., Secretary. 

Fidget Tweedledee, Esq., rose and addressed the meeting 
in a very animated strain, on the present crisis. He said he 
was an old resident, and had lent his wind to every bubble 
blown in honor of this great city. But, said the shrill orator, 
fate has preversely ordained that bubbles, however zealously 
inflated, must burst at last, and Milwaukee is not exempt from 
the common fortune of all Bubbledom. "This institution/' 



OF MILWAUKEE. 213 

in whose sacred recesses we meet to-night, indeed survives? 
but I greatly fear that it has reached the utmost capacity to 
which even the skill of the financial member (Mr. Ragbaron,) 
can swell inflation. My friend claps his hand upon his pocket 
and grins denial; but let me say to him that even Biddle fell 
and Hemenway is no more. We live in insurrectionary times, 
and fate may have yet in its womb an embryo Attorney Gener- 
al, whom in the fulness of time even the syren notes of my 
friend, more fascinating even than her's whose name we have 
adopted, cannot seduce to a sense of his duty to this Club. 
Sir, the idea is scandalous, but the day may come, when we 
shall no more rule Milwaukee, nor Milwaukee rule the State. 
An independent and upright Judiciary, true to the constitution 
and club, is our only salvation against the revolutionary spirit 
of the people. Evil days are at hand. The sanctity of the 
Supreme Judicial power is invaded by the populace. Two 
judicial tickets are in the field. Neither has on it the name 
of a single member of this club. This is horrible ! horrible ! 
horrible ! What are we coming to ? I tell you, sir, the con- 
stitution is in danger. The Club is tottering. The Jenny 
Lind Empire is passing away. Why do we sleep upon our 
posts ? Brothers of the Club, awake ! Wake up now or you 
may never wake. Do you fear the masses you have ruled so 
long ? For shame, for shame ! We must strike a bold and de- 
cisive blow at the people, or we are lost. (Great applause.) 

Gen. Reynard Fitzdartmoor deprecated open blows. He 
had always found it easier and safer to deceive the people. — 
Twenty men cannot fight a thousand, but they can dupe them. 
He had always claimed that the Club is the people. (Cheers) 
Proclaim the orders of this Club as public opinion, and the 
people will believe it. Delusion is our policy. We have ruled 
hitherto in thia way. It was true that the Loco Foco party 



214 THE CHRONICLES 

•had insolently packed their convention with Loco Foco's, and 
defeated our immaculate candidate, Judge Judas. Of course? 
we then denounced party nominations, and he, (Gen. F.) had 
proposed that a nomination should be quietly made by the 
Club in the name of the people. But other counsels prevailed 
— Ambitious and meddling persons insisted on a no-party con- 
vention. He had hoped and labored to bamboozle that conven- 
tion. He, together with his honor Sans Scruple and other 
gentlemen present, were sent by the Club to the convention, 
to procure the nomination of their precocious young friend, 
Mr. Bantam. But they found even that body most imperti- 
nently and shamefully packed against them, and their friend 
was left to ripen in private life. He (Gen. F.) did not despair 
of deluding the gentlemen nominated, into the belief that they 
owed their nomination to the Club, and inducing them to plight 
their allegiance to it. — lie really thought, the Club ought to 
have more reliance on his power of duping. 

Diego Fernando Jerusalem Waalwaal, Esq., said he was at 
a loss about his own position. — He did not exactly know 
whether it was safe for him to be here, or whether he ought 
to speak, (Cries of go on, go it, Don.) He said that when 
the Club had beaten him, he thought they were bound to 
beat the world, and as he always liked the winning side, 
he had joined in. He represented the Club in the Demo- 
cratic convention and supported Judge Judas; after that, he 
had signed the call for Mr. Bantanj. But if all failed, now 
he (Mr. W.) would never have meddled in it, if he thought 
it was going to come out like that. — He had been abused al- 
ready by his old democratic friends for belonging to the Club; 
and unless the Club could hit on some plan of success, he would 
join the Democracy again, and denounce the Club. (Groans.) 
Waal, there was no fun in being beaten on both sides. (Loud 



OF MILWAUKEE. 215 

laughter, amidst "which the gentleman shuffled himself aside 
and took his place near the door.) 

Rev. Grant Meddler said, he trusted the Club would take 
some action. He said, he was in a very unpleasant position, 
he did not know what to advise his people to do. 

Mr. Secretary Sandy Ragbaron had no advice to offer, but 
N had the needful ready as usual. 

J. Strut Bantam, Esq., said he had taken a very active and 
disinterested part, first for his friend, Judge Judas, and after- 
wards for himself. — Unfortunately he had not met, in either 
case, with the success he deserved. He said, he thought a great 
mistake had been committed in assenting to a convention, and 
by the Club's not making its own nomination through the Daily 
Quibble, as originally designed. He thought the blame rested 
on Gen. Fitzdartmoor. The General had too many irons in 
the fire, and overlooked the great consequence to the Club of 
his, Mr. B.'s nomination, in gambling for the Presidential 
vote of the State. He thought the only safe course now, late 
as it was, was to make a Jenny Lind nomination. And al- 
though he had no personal motive to serve, he felt bound by 
a sense of public duty to move that this Club do nominate 
himself for Chief Justice, and his learned friends, Sans Scruple 
and Nauey Pip Nihil, for Associate Justices. He, Mr. B., 
thought that boldness might even yet achieve success; and if 
the Club was true to itself and the constitution, he hoped soon 
to hear himself appropriately addressed. 

Oh! wise young Judge, how I do honor thee; 
You know the law, your exposition 
Uath been most sound, Oh, wise and upright Judge. 
How much more elder art thou than thy looks. 

(Great Cheering. ) 
His Honor Sans Scruple shook his head and doubted. For 
himself, he said, that although he was not a public maD, he 



216 THE CHRONICLES 

took every occasion of meddling quietly in public affairs : and 
although he always pretended not to seek office, he was always 
glad to get it. But though he would very much like to find 
himself and his friends, Bantam and Nihil, seated comfortably 
on the bench, he could not countenance so open a move. He 
dreaded exposure. He thought the Club ought not to show 
itself openly. He did not like such direct work. His motto 
was, to do everything without seeming to do anything. A great 
deal could be done in the dark. It was our policy to deny 
the existence of the Club. What had the public to do with 
a few gentlemen, who chose to drink their wine and smoke 
their segars and take their game of Boston together ? If any- 
body suspects us, pooh ! pooh! at them as he (Mr. S.) did, and 

tell them, it is all a humbug. But let us keep out 

of sight. Our strength is in the secresy of our combination. 

Gen. Fitzdartmoor agreed with his honor. He deeply re- 
greted that in his efforts to blind the populace and secure the 
incoming Presidential spoils to the Club, he had been obliged 
to risk the nomination of Mr. Bantam. He feared it was now 
too late to make a Club nomination, with any decent show of 
public principle. Besides that, he greatly feared he had al- 
ready given too much prominence to another name to be safely 
dropped now. In case of the adoption of the present proposi- 
tion, he felt bound for the sake of success, most reluctantly to 
move to amend by substituting Judge Whiton's name for Chief 
Justice. 

After some conversation amongst the members, the amend- 
ment was put by the chair and carried. 

Mr. Nihil would inquire of Gen. Fitzdartmoor whether his 
(Mr. N.'s) name might not be a good substitute for Judge 
Whiton's? 

Gen. Fitzdartmoor feared not: outside of the Club, the peo- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 217 

pie were^ery ill-informed, and lie feared he himself was in 
some measure answerable for it in this instance. 

Mr. Bantam said the course of the Club greatly disappoint- 
ed him; he had no personal regrets, for he had no personal ob- 
jects, but as the amendment just adopted had defeated the 
great purpose of his position, he would withdraw the motion 
altogether. 

Dalgetty Allvice, Esq., said that the great elements of so- 
cial power were wine, women and cash; upon these this Club 
was based, our influence depended on the adroit and secret ap- 
plication of these three great seducers. It was all very well 
to say that our success depended on the corruption of men, of 
office and influence, but what corrupted them, he would like to 
know? Ask Ragbaron the power of money! Ask Judas the 
power of women from their very cradles up ! Ask Suckmore 
here, the power of wine ! Ask me, proceeded the enthusiastic 
gentleman, the power of them all ! I believe in the corrupti- 
bility of all men. That dogma must be admitted, or the Club 
is nowhere. It does very well, to be sure, to be silent on these 
things out of doors, but here it is childish squeamishness to 
prevaricate about them. We know one another, we are all 
corrupt and we all know it, no one need take offence : I speak 
in a Jenny Lind sense, why are you, and you and you, and I 
here ? We are strong by corruption. Corruption is our lever 
and we move society, win proselytes by corruption, the Bench, 
the Bar, the Press, the Pulpit, we find it easy to win them all 
to us. Look at the editor of the Daily Hoodwink ; he, for- 
sooth, must fulminate his noisy wit against us in his paper, and 
where is he now? Ask him what brought him here? 

Look at the Daily Bluster, half won over already, willing 
at least to work by the job; why, Mr. Chairman, I would un- 
dertake the conversion even of the Daily Booby, if it was 
15 



218 THE CHRONICLES 

thought worth while; nay, .Sir, I would silence in ca^p of need 
the noisy brawling of O'Rumpus, the Paddy demagogue, who 
is only troubled because he can't get in and win. Then why 
do we shilly-shally here like the milk-maid, crying over our 
capsized pail? W r e have failed to carry our own candidates. 
And what then? What have we lost? Nothing, absolutely 
nothing, nothing but this, they were our own already,, and the 
others are yet to be made ours. Nothing is easier. Don't tell 
me about their respectability and so forth, try the secret trini- 
ty of our power ; try them with wine, women and cash : no man 
can stand out against all of them. I tell you, Sir, the angels 
above would drink, love, and pocket. 

Mr. Allvice having applied himself to a glass before him, 
concluded by moving that a committee of three be appointed, 
with plenary powers, to negotiate with the nominees for the 
support of the Club. 

The motion was carried by acclamation; and the chair ap- 
pointed Messrs. Allvice, Ragbaron and Fitzdartmoor on the 
committee. 

Mr. llagbaron remarked that he was always ready to do the 
needful. He rather thought the thing might be done. He 
had met with a good deal of success in that way. 

Gen. Fritzdartmoor must say he deemed this the wisest 
course, he had great faith in the power of gammon, he thought 
it deserved to be classed with his friend Allvice's three ele- 
ments of power. He would cheerfully undertake the pleasant 
duty assigned to him, and hoped that the committee would be 
able to report favorably before the election. 

The Chairman advised the Club to take it ea>}\ There was 
no use in fretting, he had gone through the world pretty easy, 
and thought it the best way; he recommended his dear friends, 
Judas and Bantam, to take their disappointment gracefully. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 219 

Let us eat, drink, and grow fat, said [the good-humored Colonel, 
and be merry over the poor devils outside whom we lead by 
the noses, let us feast among ourselves quietly, and when we go 
out, pretend to be Whigs, Democrats, or anything else that 
wins. I turned Democrat to get my title to Fatman's Ridge, 
and I would turn Whig to-day for half the land. Consistency 
be cursed : where's the use ? Gentlemen, I am no talker, but 
I'll give you a stave from old Tom. Moore : 

See those cherries, how they cover 

Yonder sunny garden wall; 
Had they not that net-work over, 

Thieving birds would eat them all. 
So to guard our post and pensions, 

Jennt',3 sages wove a net, 
Through whose holes of small dimensions 

Only Jenny's knaves can get. 

Shall we then, this net-work widen? 

Shall we stretch these sacred holes, 
Through which e'en already slide in, 

Lots of Democratic souls ? 
God forbid, sly Dandy crieth, 

God forbid, so echo I ; 
Every popular bird that flieth 

Then would at our cherries fly. 

Ope but half an inch or so, 

And behold what bevies break in. 
Here some cursed whiggish crow, 

Pops his long and liquorish beak in, 
There the locos flock unnumbered, 

Slip in easy any where; — 

Every bird in all this city, 

That for years with ceaseless din 
Hath reversed the startling ditty, 

Singing out, "I can't get in." 
God forbid, Fitzdartmoor snivels, 

God forbid, I echo too, 
Rather may ten thousand devils 

Seize the whole plebeian crew. 



220 THE CHRONICLES 



Shall we then the Club surrender? 

Shall we loosen from our toils, 
All the dignities that pander 

To our power and fill our spoils ? 
No, if petty berths won't suit 'em 

Sheriffs' clerks and such like berries, 
Curse the people, stone 'em, shoot 'em, 

Anything, to Bave our cherries. 



The jolly Colonel left the chair as he rolled out this play- 
ful ditty from his capacious bag-pipe; and the Club went into 
committee of the whole on the general file of champagne, se- 
gars, and cards." 

This sketch was received with immense favor, and is referred 
to at this day with great admiration by the awe struck plebeians 
who still retain a cherished horror of the Jenny Lind Club. 
The explanations of the "report" all agree that Col. Oldbuck 
Heavysides is no other than Col. "Walker, though the conclud- 
ing song rather shakes such a conclusion, as the Colonel was 
in the habit of singing original words to his music. " Gen. Rey- 
nard" is triumphantly declared to be Rufus King ; and "Diego 
Fernando Jerusalem Waalwaal" to be the worthy Ex-Mayor 
Upham. The papers alluded to as the Quibble, Hoodwink and 
Booby, are the "Sentinel," "Free Democrat" and "Wisconsin." 

Immediately after the appearance of this lampoon, the start- 
led papers opened like a pack of hounds, and the baying from 
some of the stragglers may be heard to this day. The "Jenny 
Lind Club " was attacked front and rear. Its schemes for 
blowing up the County Court House by making a Guy Fawkes 
of one of its members, and its plans for establishing a limited 
monarchy in the city of Milwaukee were exposed. Its im- 
pudent fingers, that had tampered with justice and reached 
into the public pocket, were struck with rheumatism. The 
members met over the brandy peaches and lobster with a por- 
tentous gloom, that no assiduity on the part of waiters nor the 



OF MILWAUKEE. 221 

agility of corkscrews could dispel. A horrid picture of E. 
Gr. Ryan, flourishing a carving knife of retribution, and their 
official heads tumbling into the convenient champagne baskets, 
flitted before their visions. 

Otard failed, and the "Jenny Linders" died. 

There are those who honestly believe that the organization 
is yet in existence, and the careful reader of the two hundred 
newspapers of the state will observe that the last and strongest 
point against Milwaukee, is an allusion to the Jenny Lind 
Club. 

In 1851, Herman L. Page, then Under Sheriff, distinguish- 
ed himself as an efficient officer and detective. One of his 
best "jobs" was the arresting of the burglars, King and John- 
son, who broke into Cook's office. In 1853, Mr. Page became 
Sheriff of the County. His experience as Under Sheriff had 
convinced him of the necessity of a detective force in the 
city. Many acts of violence had been committed and the per- 
petrators never known. One or two murders, shrouded in 
mystery, were among the list. A good detective officer was 
therefore a necessity generally acknowledged ; but were 
could he be obtained ? Those who knew what qualifications 
were essential in a detective, were at a loss to know who was 
the man. The usual number of smart deputies, with an eye 
single to their own abilities, but with commendable modesty, 
referred to their past acts and knew of no one else. This was 
upon the ground of experience. Mr. Page rightly thought 
that nature had much to do with the forming of the officer, 
and in the search quite overlooked the claims of those about 
his office and settled upon a quiet farmer, then residing at 
Granville, named Wm. Beck, and he was tendered the appoint- 
ment of Deputy Sheriff and Detective. The noses of many 
were elevated at this seemiDgly injudicious move. Those who 



222 THE CHRONICLES 

had had experience in the city, felt that this preference, shown 
to a "green" country man, was an insult, and his inefficiency 
was predicted. Mr. Beck accepted the position. 

There had been, just previous to his appointment, a great 
number of robberies committed. Hotels and private houses 
were entered, and goods and money taken, but no clue to the 
thieves obtained. Beck undertook this seemingly unprofitable 
"job," and with the characteristic energy of the true detective 
did not wait for a clue, but set about working one out. He 
soon found two suspicious looking men, boarding at a small 
tavern in the Third Ward, called the Rising Sun. He engaged 
a room immediately above them, and for several nights retired 
regularly without any thing being discovered as to their char- 
acter, though the trivial indications, which passed unobserved 
by others, had been seen and noted. One night, when about to 
give up the clue, he heard them get up and go out, and before 
they were a square from the house, he was on their track. 
With the stealthy tread of an Indian he followed them and 
saw them " operate " at three different places This was enough; 
returning, he entered their room by means of a false key and 
hid himself under the bed, to anxiously await their return, and 
there concealed, he heard them disclose all their plans and 
schemes for the future, and converse in reference to the rob-, 
beries already committed. When they were asleep, he issued 
from his hiding place, secured their arms, and afterwards 
the plunder, and calling assistance, arrested them. 

The next morning the sheriff's office was beseiged by the 
citizens, whose houses had been entered, and each comer was 
as much surprised as rejoiced to find his property there be- 
fore him. 

This was one of the first of Mr. Beck's exploits, as a detec- 
tive; in 1854, when the police of the city was organized, he 



Or MILWAUKEE. 223 

« 

was made chief, and his subsequent success in that office has 
established his reputation as one of the best detectives in the 
western country. He has all the requisites of a "shadow," a 
quick perception, cool judgment and unwavering courage, anc^ 
few rogues who come within his jurisdiction escape him. 

H. L. Page proved one of the most efficient sheriffs the 
county ever possessed ; being a man of great will and nerve, 
and an untiring worker, he succeeded, with the help of his dep- 
uty, in ferreting out and lessening crime in a few months. 
Mr. Page's geniality and humor are well-known; an anec- 
dote, which appeared in the " Knickerbocker Magazine," in 
1852, which, if not strictly true, encroaches upon that domain 
and illustrates the propensities of our distinguished citizen. 
The anecdote is as follows : 

"In the course of a recent letter to the editor, from a cor- 
respondent in Milwaukee, there occurs this passage, which struck 
us as rather laughter-moving than otherwise: 'Deputy-Sher- 
iff P , of this city, was recently called upon to arrest a duly 

registered 'Attorney and Counsellor at Law and Solicitor/ 
etc., on the charge of having forged city orders ; rather a small 
business, by the way. After the arrest, ' David/ the aspersed, 
wished to be accompanied among his friends for the purpose 
of procuring bail. The Sheriff, in whose breast kindness and 
mercy are blended about ' 'af and 'af ' with the sternness and 
dignity of justice, complied; but his efforts were all unavail- 
able. Nioht was drawing on towards it small hours, and he 
could wait no longer. The accused must go to jail. As a 
last small favor, ' David ' wished to go home and break the sad 
news of his arrest to the companion of his bosom. In view of 

his mournful task, he was much agitated. ' Oh, Mr. P ' 

said he, 'this is the hardest of all! How will my dear wife 
bear up under the blow? She is so sensitive, so solicitous, that 



224 , THE CHRONICLES 

it will overpower her; ft will drive her crazy. She is a deli- 
cate creature. Mr. P , and her suffering will unnerve me ! ' 

A sympathetic tear started into the north-west corner of the 
officer's left eye, rolled down his manly cheek, rested for a mo- 
ment upon his vest, and then diffused itself among the snow- 
flakes upon the ground, warming and melting even their obdu- 
rate hearts. They reached the house, and entered. They 
were met by a stalwart Amazonian, whose large face shone 
with the lambent glories of an autumn sunset. David, in a 
faltering voice, broke to her the terrible intelligence that she 

was to be robbed of her 'bosom's lord.' P stood by to 

'bear a hand' if she should faint, 'I am arrested, my dear, 
for forging.' 'What the d — 1 is ^to?' was the very affecting 
query of the 'sensitive' female. 'They accuse me of writing- 
other people's names, and are going to put me in jail, my love/ 
' Who in thunder is goin' to do it, Dave ? ' replied the ' solicit- 
ous' wife; and without waiting for a reply, she proceeded to 
pile up anathemas loud and deep upon the heads of those who 
had sought to place him in durance vile. The Sheriff was 
overwhelmed by the 'affecting' scene; yet, with a 'ruling 
passion' strong for the ludicrous, he touched the prisoner light- 
ly under the fifth rib, with : ' Break it gmthj to her, David ; 
she's a delicate creature, isn't she?'" 

When Mr. Page was afterwards elected Mayor of the city, 
in 1859, he advocated in his inaugural the policy of uniform- 
ing the police ; a step which did more than aught else to ele- 
vate the force, and increase its efficiency. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Sherman M. Booth — His History — The Glover Rescue Case — Booth's Arrest — The 
Revulsion of Public Sentiment. 



Sherman M. Booth came from New Haven, Conn., to Mil- 
waukee, in 1848, arriving in the latter place May 19th. He 
was a graduate of Yale, and previous to his leaving Connec- 
ticut, had been editing the Christian Freeman (afterwards the 
Charter Oak.) He immediately assumed the editorship of 
the "American Freeman," changed its name to "Wisconsin Free- 
man," and continued the advocacy of abolition doctrines. His 
salutatory, which appeared in the "Freeman" of May 31st, is 
a clear exposition of the bold course marked out by the editor; 
he said : 

"We shall endeavor to promote the peaceful and constitution- 
al abolition of American slavery by presenting facts and argu- 
ments adapted to impress the public mind with a sense of the 
impolicy, unprofitableness and wickedness of slave holding, 
and the safety, expediency and duty of immediate emancipa- 
tion, and by urging those who exercise the right of suffrage 
to employ the moral suasion of the ballot box, to break every 
yoke and let the oppressed go free. 

"We shall not swerve from the principle: no voting for 
slaveholders, or those who vote for slaveholders, for any state 
or national office. 

"We shall maintain that the United States Constitution not 
only gives no sanction or countenance to American slavery, but 



226 THE CHRONICLES 

that its provisions, if rightly interpreted and faithfully enforced, 
and its declared and governing purpose executed, it would 
abolish slavery, establish justice' and secure the blessings of 
liberty for every human being within the limits of this re- 
public." 

Mr. Booth brought to the Freeman a vigorous pen, a fertile 
and strong brain, and at once assumed the attitude of a leader 
in the van of the abolition party. He soon after changed the 
name of the sheet to the "Free Democrat," the name it still 
retains. In the fall of '-48, he published the "Barnburner" 
for three months, tri-weekly, and on September 16th, 1850, 
commenced the publication of the "Free Democrat" as a daily 
newspaper. 

So positive an organ, so unyielding an opponent, made 
enemies. The timid followers in his own army sometimes felt 
the lash, and never forgot it. But admirers and friends were 
numerous; energy, enthusiasm and zeal always command the 
admiration of the people, and Mr. Booth soon wielded a power- 
ful influence. Whatever may have been his failings, — and no 
one can say that he was without them, — his inflexible deter- 
mination and consistency in the political cause he had espoused, 
was never doubted. Having set out with the declaration that 
slavery was wrong, he never yielded to policy or expediency, 
but thundered away unceasingly at the real or imaginary evil. 
When the opportunity occurred, he displayed the same honesty 
of opinion in his action, and the zeal which had formerly glo- 
rified, became lawless in the eye of the nation, and crimina- 
ted him. 

At 9, A. M., March 11th, 1854, Mr. Booth received a tele- 
gram from the Mayor of Racine, that a negro, named Joshua 
G-lover, had been kidnapped near that city, by Deputy Marshal 
Cotton, the night previous, and asking him to ascertain, if a 



of milwau1v.es. 227 

warrant had been issued for that purpose. On inquiry, Cotton 
denied all knowledge of the subject, but judge Miller said a 
warrant had been issued, but that whether Glover had been ar- 
rested or would be examined before him, if arrested, he could not 
tell. The judge expatiated on the liability of the Marshal, should 
the slave escape, and hoped there would be no excitement. 
Mr. Booth only asked that there might be a fair and open 
trial, and that€rlover might be permitted counsel. He soon 
learned that Glover was in jail, brought here about 8 o'clock 
that morning, bruised and bloody, with marks of brutal 
treatment. He at once issued small bills stating, the facts, and 
asking the citizens to watch the jail, Marshal and Court, as it 
was feared, Glover would be spirited away without a trial. 
Writs of Habeas Corjms were served on both the Sheriff and 
Marshal. Another dispatch from Racine, at 12, m., stated that 
a great meeting was held there and resolutions being adopted ; 
these proceedings he issued in another extra. At 1, p. m., 
the excitement was great, as it was reported that Glover was 
to be brought before Judge Miller and delivered up to his 
claimant, at two o'clock. It was thought best to have a public 
meeting, and as there was no other way to give notice, Mr. 
Booth mounted a horse and rode through the principal streets, 
calling on the citizens to meet at the Court House square at 
2 o'clock. The people gathered in great numbers. Dr. E. B. 
Wolcott was made chairman. Mr. Booth explained the posi- 
tion of affairs, read the dispatches from Racine, and, as chair- 
man of a committee, presented resolutions, reciting the facts, 
and pledging themselves to do their utmost to secure to Glover 
the benefit of the writ of Habeas Corpus, and a fair and im- 
partial trial by jury. 

Speeches were made, a vigilance committee of twenty-five 
was appointed, and also a committee of two, to wait on Sheriff 



228 THE CHRONICLES 

Page, and ascertain if he would obey the writ of Habeas Cor- 
pus; and the meeting, amounting to several thousand people, 
apparently united as the heart of one man, adjourned, to meet 
at the ringing of the hells. At three, p. in., the Sheriff made 
return, that Glover was not in his custody, 'but in the custody 
of the U. S. Marshal, etc. A writ of Habeas Corpus was 
then served on Deputy-Marshal Cotton; and a committee, of 
which C. K. Watkins was Chairman, waited on Judge Miller, 
to see if the writ would be obeyed. Judge Miller answered 
that it would not — that Glover would remain in jail till 10 a. 
m., on Monday, when he would be brought before him for a 
hearing. At 5 p. in., a hundred delegates from Racine, head- 
ed by the Sheriff of the county, with a warrant for the arrest 
of Garland and Cotton, for an assault and battery on Glover, 
landed at the steamboat wharf and marched to the jail. The 
bells were rung and the people assembled. Mr. Booth explain- 
ed to the delegation what had been done, denounced the ftigi- 
tive act, but counselled the people against violence. Mr. Wat- 
kins reported that Judge Miller had decided that the writ of 
Habeas Corpus should 'not be obeyed; and that no earthly 
power should take Glover from the jail till next Monday. He 
(Watkins) said it was an outrage to keep Glover in the jail over 
the Sabbath, — that there were times when the people must take 
the law into their own hands — and that whether the present was 
such a time the people must judge; he would give no advice 
on that point. After a conference with members of the Vig- 
ilance Committee, and of the Racine Delegation, it was decided 
to repair at once to the American House, take tea, and consult 
as to the best course to be pursued. Mr. Booth made the an- 
nouncement publicly, when the crowd made a rush for the jail, 
and in fifteen minutes Glover was liberated, put into a wagon, 
carried out of the city, and afterward conveyed to Canada. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 229 

Sheriff Murrison, of Racine, arrested Garland, for an as- 
sault and battery on Glover, the same evening, and Judge 
Miller issued a writ of Habeas Corpus on the Sheriff; and on 
the Monday following, he discharged Garland, on a .hearing, de- 
ciding that, until Garland exeepted his writ and obtained his 
slave, he could not be interfered with by any legal process 
from the State, and that in the execution of his slave warrant 
he was justified in using any violence, even to the taking of 
life, if necessary to secure his slave, and that no State process 
could interupt such violence. 

On the 15th of March, Mr. Booth was first arrested by 
Marshal Ableman, and brought before TJ. S. Commissioner, 
Winfield Smith. The examination was postponed till the 21st 
of March, when, after three days' examination and trial, he 
was held in the sum of two thousand dollars — Dr. Charles E. 
Wunderly, becoming his bail — to answer any bill of indictment 
prepared against him at the July Term of the U. S. District 
Court. 

On the 25th of March, Mr. Booth was .sued, by Benjamin 
S. Garland, of Missouri, for the value of his slave and dam- 
ages, claimed of two thousand dollars. J. E. Arnold, counsel 
for plaintiff. 

Soon after this, Mr. Booth was surrendered, and a writ of 
Habeas Corpus, granted by Judge A. D. Smith, of the State 
Supreme Court, and after argument on the case, he was dis- 
charged on the ground, firstly, that the commitment was in- 
sufficient; secondly, that the Fugitive Act, of 1850, was un- 
constitutional, because Congress has no power to legislate for 
the recapture of fugitive slaves, and because that Act annuls 
the writ of Habeas, aud the right of trial by jury. The case 
was appealed to the full bench of the Supreme Court, at the 
July Term, and after a very full and able argument, the Court 



230 THE CHRONICLES 

unanimously affirmed the order for hie discharge; Justice 
Crawford dissenting 'from, and Chief Justice Whiton concur- 
ring in, the opinion of Justice Smith, that the Fugitive Act 
was unconstitutional. 

In the meantime, the U. S. District Court was in session, and 
a bill of indictment was found against Mr. Booth, and others, 
and he was arrested in Jul} T , the day after his return from 
Madison. He offered the same person, Dr. "Wunderly, as bail, 
but the Judge refused to accept him — though he offered to 
qualify, in twenty times, the sum demanded — on the ground 
that he had before surrendered him. Mr. Booth declined to 
give other bail; went to jail and applied again to the Supreme 
Court for a writ of Habeas Corpus, which was denied, on the 
the ground that United States jurisdiction had attached, and 
that comity required the State Court to presume that the Dis- 
trict Court, on hearing, would pronounce the Fugitive Act un- 
constitutional, and discharge him; and that it could not in- 
terfere while the case was pending in the Federal Court. 
The news of the refusal of the writ caused much excitement, 
and a rescue being apprehended, Marshal Ableman went to 
the jail and offered to accept the same bail which Judge Mil- 
ler had refused before, and urged it with some pertinacity, 
offering to go after Dr. "Wunderly, himself; and finally, with 
considerable reluctance, Booth consented, and was released at 
eight o'clock, Saturday evening, having been in prison ten 
days and six hours. A special term of the U. S. District 
Court was held in November, for the purpose of trying the 
Glover Rescue Cases, but Mr. Booth being confined by a se- 
vere attack of typhoid fever, his case was postponed, but John 
Rycraft, indicted with him for the same offence, was tried and 
convicted. 

At the January term, Mr. Booth was put on trial. The mo- 



> 

OF MILWAUKEE. 231 

tion of his counsel, that the indictment should be set aside — 
on the ground, as was shown by the affidavits of four wit- 
nesses, that two of the Grand Jury which had indicted him, 
were strongly prejudiced against the defendant and had ex- 
pressed themselves in favor of his conviction — was over- 
ruled. The trial lasted five days, and was marked by a 
rather bitter spirit against the defendant: the District Attor- 
ney being aided by one of Mr. Booth's strongest personal and 
political enemies. The unfairness of the judge was the subject 
of general comment by the press and people, and under his 
instruction the jury brought in a verdict, at 9 o'clock, Satur- 
day night — after deliberating seven hours — of not guilty on 
the first three counts of resisting United States process, and 
of guilty on the last two counts, of aiding Joshua Glover to 
escape. The judge charged the jury that the fact alone, that 
Mr. Booth drew and presented to the meeting at the Court 
House the following resolutions, was sufficient to convict him. 
" Resolved, As citizens of Milwaukee, that every person has 
an indefensible right to a fair and impartial trial by jury, on 
all questions involving personal liberty. 

"Resolved, That the writ of Habeas Corpus is the great de- 
fense of freedom, and that we demand for this prisoner as well 
as for our own protection, that this sacred writ shall be obeyed. 
"Resolved, That we pledge ourselves to stand by this pris- 
oner, and do our utmost to secure for him a fair and impartial 
trial by jury." 

The sentiment of the press and people, in regard to the trial, 
was fairly expressed by the Sentinel, after its close, as follows : 
"The manner in which the trial has been conducted, has 
shocked the public sense of right, and outraged their love of 
fair play. The empannelling of the Grand and Petit juries 
was a mockery of justice, and, if acquiesced in, establishes the 



232 THE CHRONICLES 

right of the U. S. officers to select whomsoever they please for 
that service, or, in plainer phrase, to pack a jury whenever it 
suits them. The leanings of the Court, too, were evidently 
against the defendant; and mixed up with the professional zeal 
which animated the prosecution, was more of personal vindic- 
tiveness toward Mr. Booth, than became them, or the U. S. 
Court." 

It was said that the jurors understood that the Court, and 
not the United States, was the prosecutor, and the following- 
preamble and resolution were adopted by three of them: 

"The jurors who were sworn to decide in the case of the 
U. S. District Court vs. Sherman M. Booth, for aiding and 
abetting in the escape of the slave "Glover," on the 11th of 
March, 1854, have adopted and most cheerfully publish the 
following resolution : 

"Resolved, That while we feel bound ourselves by a solemn 
oath to perform a most painful duty, in declaring the defendant 
guilty of the above charge, and thus making him liable to the 
penalties of a cruel and odious law, yet, at the same time, 
in so doing, we declare that he performed a noble, bene- 
volent and humane act, and we thus record our condemnation 
of the Fugitive Slave law, and earnestly commend him to the 
clemency of the Court. 

Milwaukee, January loth, 1855. 

Geo. F. Austin, 
Daniel Phelps, 
Wm. Finkler." 

On the 15th of January, motions were made for arrest of 
judgment and for a new trial, on the ground of the insufficien- 
cy of the indictment and proof, and the prejudice of jurors; 
and affidavits of eight responsible witnesses were offered prov- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 233 



ing that two of the jurors that convicted him, had declared, 
previous to the trial, that he ought to be convicted. 

But the motions, after argument, were overruled, and on the 
23d of January, Mr. Booth was sentenced to one month's im- 
prisonment and to pay a fine of $1,000 and $461 01 costs, and 
to be imprisoned till the fine and costs were paid. Mr. Rycraft, 
at the same, was sentenced for the same offence to ten days 
imprisonment and to pay a fine of 8200, and both were im- 
mediately conducted to the county jail. 

The news of this sentence produced great excitement in 
this city and throughout the state, and meetings, numerously 
attended, were held here and through the country, pledging 
the sympathy and help of the people, to save them from pe- 
cuniary loss. An application was again made to the Supreme 
Court for a writ of Haucas Corpus, which was granted, and on 
Monday, the 29th, of January, at sunrise, the prisoners in 
charge of the sheriff, preceded by a band of music, and ac- 
companied by their counsel, were escorted by a large number 
of their friends, amid the firing of cannon and the ringing 
of church bells, to the Railroad Depot, to take the cars for 
Madison; and on Saturday, February 3d, after a full hearing, 
the Supreme Court unanimously discharged them free men, 
on the oround that no offence was charged against them in the 
indictment, Justices "Whiton and Smith re-affirming their for- 
mer opinions, holding the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional 
and void. 

This decision was hailed with acclamation by the Republican 
press throughout the free states, and was responded to by a 
considerable portion of the Democratic press of this state. 
Meetings were held and resolutions passed, pledging the sup- 
port of the people to the decision of the Supreme Court, and 
a mass state convention of the more radical portion was held 
16 



234 THE CHRONICLES 

in this city, and a Rescue Fund Committee appointed, to raise 
funds to defray the expenses of the slave trials, past and fu- 
ture. About two thirds of the expenses of the trials were 
raised by contribution; the rest was paid by the prisoners. 

The general feeling of the press and people was well ex- 
pressed by the "Daily Sentinel," of February 6th, 1855, at 
the close of a graphic and spirited review of the Glover Res- 
cue Trials, as follows : 

" So stands the case to-day. Messrs. Booth and Rycraft, by 
the fiat of our State Court, have been released from the fine 
and imprisonment to which the sentence of the Federal Court 
had subjected them. The Fugitive Slave Act has again been 
pronounced unconstitutional and void by the Supreme Tribunal 
of the State. The great writ of liberty has been sustained. 
The threatening siege of slavery aggression has been stayed 
in its course. The birth-right of Wisconsin — youngest and 
fairest offspring of the immortal ordinance of 1787 — has been 
nobly vindicated. Slavery, or involuntary servitude, except 
for crime, cannot and will not be tolerated within her borders. 
Kidnapping finds no favor with her Courts, no protection in 
her jails, no countenance among the people. Wisconsin is and 
will remain a Free State, and while she claims no desire to 
intermeddle in the domestic affairs of her sister sovereignties, 
she will at least assert and exercise at all times, and at every . 
hazard the power to protect her own citizens, and to maintain 
and defend, in all their integrity, the writ of Habeas Corpus 
and right of trial by jury." 

The Supreme Court also instructed its Clerk, not to send 
up the papers in the case to the U. S. Supreme Court, denying 
to that Court the right to review their decision in this case. 
They also refused to send up the papers on a writ of error from 
the U. S. Supreme Court. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 235 

At the State judicial election Orsamus Cole was chosen As- 
sociate Justice of the Supreme Court over Justice Crawford, 
by an official majority of 7,148 — no returns having been re- 
ceived from the counties of Chippewa, Door, Douglas, Jack- 
son, Kewaunee, La Crosse and Polk — the sole issue being the 
constitutionality or unconstitutionality of the Fugitive Slave 
Act. 

At the April term of the U. S. District Court, the suit of 
Garland vs. Booth for the value of Glover came on, and after 
a trial of four days, the jury disagreed and were discharged, 
after having been out fifty-two and a half hours. The trial 
was characterised by greater vindictiveness on the part of the 
Court and prosecution, if possible, than on the criminal suit. 
The "Sentinel" said: 

"The Judge's charge was very strong against the defendant 
— even more pointed than the argument of complainant's 
counsel." 

At the July term, held at Madison, the case came on again 
for trial, and after a three days' contest resulted in a verdict 
against Mr. Booth, of $1,000 and costs. The Madison "State 
Journal " said of the Judge's charge : 

"The charge of the judge to the jury transcended any ot 
his former efforts in that line, if possible. We have heard but 
one expression from those who listened to it. It left the jury 
no choice, provided they heeded it, but to bring in a verdict 
against the defendant. It seemed even more partial towards 
Garland, the slave hunter, than did the argument of his feed 
attorney." 

The Republican legislative caucus, which nominated Judge 
Doolittle for U. S. Senator, January 18th, 1857, adopted strong 
State Bights resolutions, endorsing the Kentucky and Virginia 
resolutions of 1798, concluding with the following: 



236 THE CHRONICLES 

" Resolved, That in the application of these principles we 
hold it an imperative duty to stand firmly by the Supreme 
Court, in asserting the right of the State tribunals to pronounce 
final judgment in all cases involving the reserved rights of the 
States ; in declaring the Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional; 
and in shielding all the inhabitants of the State from the ex- 
ecution of unconstitutional enactments, without right of re- 
view by any Federal tribunal/' 

In the winter of 1858-9, the U. S. Supreme Court assum- 
ed jurisdiction of the case of Mr. Booth, without the papers, 
on a certified copy of the record, and proceeded to review the 
decision of our State Court, and sent down its remittitur, re- 
quiring it to review its former judgment discharging Mr. Booth 
from imprisonment, and to remand him into Federal custody. 
This our Supreme Court refused to do, denying the appellate 
jurisdiction of the U. S. Supreme Court over its proceediu^- 

After the decision of the Supreme Court at Washington, 
our legislature, in March, 1858, passed joint resolutions, de- 
nouncing the action of the U. S. Supreme Court, and sustain- 
ing the decision of our State Supreme Court, and recommend- 
ing resistance as the rightful remedy. They had the sanction 
of every Republican vote in both Houses, and the approval of 
the Governor. 

In April, 1859, the Judicial Election turned solely on this 
issue; Byron Paine, who had been Mr. Booth's counsel, in the 
Rescue Cases, beins a candidate for Associate Justice, aaainst 
Wm. P. Lynde, and was elected over him by a small majority. 

In February, '59, the U. S. Marshal levied upon Mr. Booth's 
cylinder press and steam engine, to satisfy the judgment of 
Garland. The press and engine were sold for one hundred and 
seventy-five dollars; and in April, the Marshal made another 
levy on the printing-office, to satisfy the balance of the jud^- 



OF MILWAUKEE. 237 

nient. Mr. Booth replevied his property in the Circuit Court, 
and recovered there; Garland appealed the cases to the State 
Supreme Court, and though the cases have twice been argued 
there — the last time, a year ago last summer — they have not 
yet been decided. 

On the 1st of March, 1860, Mr. Booth was again arrested, 
by U. S. Deputy Marshal Brown, on his way home from the rail- 
road depot, and confined in the U. S. Custom House, in this city. 
His counsel applied for a writ of Habeas Corpus, but as Jus- 
tice Paine declined to act, on account of having been Mr. 
Booth's counsel, before his first discharge; and as Chief Jus- 
tice Dixon had decided the Fugitive Act constitutional, the 
Court was equally divided, and the application failed. Another 
application was made, on the ground that there was no author- 
ity of law for imprisoning him in the Custom House; but 
Jud^e Dixon decided that this averment should have been 
made at the first application, and again refused the writ. 

On the first of August he was rescued by some eight per- 
sons, who at noon, went up to his room, seized the guard, open- 
ed the door, and walked off with him, after locking the guard 
in his place. He went to Bipon, and remained in that vicini- 
ty till the eighth of October, when he visited Berlin, and was 
arrested by stealth, in the evening, put on board a special train 
of cars, and brought to this city, and placed in his old quar- 
ters, where he still remains. 

At the repeated solicitations of U. S. officers, and others, he 
drew up a statement of his views and position, to the President, 
expressing, at the same time, his want of faith in the efficiency 
of any statement he could conscientiously make. His own 
view was, that he should say nothing, but let the government 
act its pleasure. The following is the statement : 



238 THE CHRONICLES 

"To the President of the United States — Sir: — 
The undersigned respectfully represents : 

"That on the 23rd day of January, 1855, he was sentenced, 
by the United States District Court, for the District of "Wis- 
consin, to one month's imprisonment, and to pay a fine of one 
thousand dollars, and costs taxed at four hundred and sixty 
one dollars and one cent, and to be imprisoned till the fine and 
costs were paid, for an alleged violation of the Fugitive Act 
of 1850. 

"That I was discharged from the judgment of the said Dis- 
trict Court, on a writ of Habeas Corpus, on the third day of 
February, 1855, by the Supreme Court of the State of "Wis- 
consin, on two grounds : 

" First, That the Fugitive Act was unconstitutional, and 
secondly, that the indictment under which I was convicted, 
was fatally defective; Justice Crawford, while affirming the 
constitutionality of the act. holding, with the other members of 
the Court, that the indictment charged me with no offence 
against that act. 

" That on the first day of March, 1860 — more than^ne years 
after this discharge, and after the Supreme Court of this State 
had refused to reverse, and had thereby re-affirmed its former 
judgment discharging me from imprisonment, and after the 
legislature of this State had passed formal resolutions, which 
were approved by the Governor, sustaining this decision of the 
State Court, I was re-arrested and ?v>-imprisoned, on the old 
sentence, on a warrant from the U. S. District Court for this 
District, and am still in prison. 

"That I regard my conviction and sentence as unjust and 
illegal, and my imprisonment as an outrage on my rights, and 
the rights of a sovereign State. 

"That I am not now able to pay my fine and costs, nor do 



OF MILWAUKEE. 239 

I believe that a prolongation of my imprisonment will enable, 
or dispose me to pay them. 

"That if the object of the government, in imprisoning me, 
was to vindicate an obnoxious statute, that was done, long ago, 
as fully as it could be, by my perpetual imprisonment. But 
if its object is to compel me to acknowledge the Fugitive Act 
as a constitutional law, that it is not the province of Govern- 
ment to control men's opinions , and that no length of impris- 
onment can change my belief, the Fugitive Act of 1850 is 
a violation of the fundamental law of the land. 

" That the fact, that one who was sentenced with me, for the 
same alleged offence, and who now sustains the same relation 
to the United States District Court, and to our State Court, 
in this case, that I do, is permitted to go at large while I am 
imprisoned, gives me just ground to regard my imprisonment 
as the fruit of personal vindictiveness, rather than of a regard 
for law. 

" That I do not ask for mercy, but for the recognition and 
restoration of my rights, and though the government can never 
undo the wrong it has done me, yet, as a peacable and law- 
abiding citizen, I have a right to demand that it shall cease 
to oppress me, and that you, as its Chief Executive, will do 
me the partial justice of discharging me from this unjust 
judgment, and order my release from imprisonment. 

"The above statement, designed, without disrespect, to place 
my position clearly before the Government, is true, according 
to the best of my knowledge and belief. 

Sherman M. Booth." 

To this Attorney General Black replied in a letter to U. S. 
District Attorney Upham, as follows : 



240 THE CHRONICLES 

After reciting the history of the record — not the facts — of 
the trial. 3Ir. Black says: 

••Of his guilt not a doubt can he entertained. Indeed, I 
am not aware that it has ever been denied even by himself. 
Nor has he expressed the slightest repentance. On the con- 
trary, he has gloried- in his shame, has professed to believe 
that he was justified, and has many times publicly declared in 
substance, that he regards the offence of which he was con- 
victed/ as a righteous act. Having some partizans in the State 
of Wisconsin who thought as he did, that defiance of the law 
and constitution was not a crime, but a merit, he was three 
times rescued from the custody of federal authorities ; twice 
under the pretence of State authority, and once by a mere 
mob. He uniformly resisted the execution of the process 
against him with a violence limited only by the extent of the 
force and courage, which he and his friends could muster. 
Even in his petition, he does not confess that his manifest 
violation of a plain enactment is any wrong against the govern- 
ment, or against the peace and good order of the society in 
which he lives. The fact, that in all this criminal folly and 
insolence he has been aided, comforted and abetted, by a State 
Court and by other lawless persons who pretend to justify him^ 
makes the vindication of the law in his particular case ab- 
solutely necessary by way of example. 

"But the law is sufficiently vindicated, whenever the sen- 
tence of the proper Court is executed upon him. He has 
already served out his term of imprisonment, and the govern- 
ment has no right to demand more than the payment of the 
fine and costs as a condition of his discharge. In his petition 
he says that he is not able to pay the fine, and if such be the 
fact, holding him until he does pay, would be equivalent to 
a sentence of perpetual imprisonment. This may be such a 



OP MILWAUKEE. 241 

hardship as no government ought to inflict, because it would 
be making the laws operate upon a poor man with a severity 
which a rich man could not feel. To prevent this inequality, 
the present state of the law furnishes no remedy, except in 
the exercise of the pardoning power. It has accordingly 
been the usual practice, when a party is sentenced to imprison- 
ment and fine, to remit the latter part of the penalty, after 
the former has been executed. This, however, is done only 
for those who furnish full and satisfactory evidence of their 
entire inability, and ask for this remission in good faith, for 
that reason alone. I think it has never yet be done in any 
case where the poverty of the applicant was incidentally men- 
tioned in a paper filled with insolent expressions of contempt 
for the law, under which he was suffering. If Booth's petition 
had consisted of a simple statement, that he was wholly desti- 
tute of means to pay his fine and costs, or any part thereof? 
and that he asked the clemency of the Executive to relieve 
him from imprisonment as a consequence of his poverty; such 
a statement, verified by his own oath, and corroborated by the 
testimony of one or two respectable witnesses, well acquainted 
with his pecuniary circumstances, would have put his appli- 
cation upon a totally different footing, and entitled it to a con- 
sideration which, at present, it cannot receive." 

The revulsion of feeling, which took place in the interim 
between Mr. Booth's first and last arrest, is a curious and val- 
uable historical illustration of the unreliable character of pop- 
ular admiration or enthusiasm. In that interim, it is true, 
Mr. Booth was arraigned for a violation of moral as well as 
social laws, and was accused of many ignoble acts by those 
who were rejoiced at the opportunity, but the principles and 
circumstances of his connection with the Glover case were the 



242 THE CHRONICLES 

same. The man who had been worshipped by the mob, and 
who directed the impulses of thousands with his voice and 
pen, because they thought his cause was just, was regarded 
with apathy and even contempt. When incarcerated in the 
Custom House, the pack of " little dogs all" who dared not 
bark at him, when in a position to silence them, now loaded 
him with opprobrium. 

The scathing pen and eloquent voice were not feared, and 
all who had felt the sting of either, availed themselves of 
the opportunity to retaliate. The sentiment which had been 
outraged in his first arrest, seems to have undergone a change. 
There is no avoiding this conclusion. It will not do to say, 
the character of the man had been lowered, and consequently 
public interest in him died out. It was not the character of 
the man that had excited the people in the first instance, and 
had brought about judicial decisions and promulgated resolu- 
tions. There was a deeper and more vital question at issue, 
which no change in the moral character of the man could 
affect, and the only conclusion that can be arrived at, is that 
the States Rights party felt in this direct collusion with the 
government that their principles were unsound and not worth 
further risk, or they lacked the courage to continue what had 
been begun. 

In the meantime Mr. Booth lies in prison, occasionally issu- 
ing an epistle to the people, — that reminds one of Luther 
in the Wartburg — fulminating unseen doctrines that are ac- 
knowledged by a select few to be right, but highly dangerous. 



CHAPTER XXI V. 

The Churches — The Catholic and Methodist Societies — Preachers — Congregational 
Church. 

The first celebration of mass in this city took place at the 
house of Solomon Juneau, on East Water Street, in August 
1837, by the Reverend Florimel J. Bondenil, who was after- 
wards pastor of the Indian Mission at Wolf River, and who 
was the first Catholic priest in Milwaukee. As may very readi- 
ly be seen, the Roman Catholics were among the first, or rather 
the first, to establish missions and churches in the Territory. 
Their missionaries had traversed the wilds prior to the ap- 
pearance of civilization itself, and many of the first founders 
being of French blood, the Roman Catholic religion was really 
the first and only phase of Christianity, known in the wilder- 
ness during its first history. The first regularly constituted 
Catholic priest in Milwaukee was the Reverend Patricius 0'- 
Kelly, a native of Ireland, who celebrated his first mass in the 
Court House. 

In 1839, a site for a church was donated by Solomon Juneau 
to the Bishop of Detroit, upon which a small church edifice was 
erected, and afterwards enlarged and added to until it formed 
what is now St. Peter Church. Mr. Kelly left this city, in 
June 1843, for Detroit, and the Rev. Martin Kundig, former- 
ly of Detroit, came here to take charge of the congregation. 
At the time of his arrival in Milwaukee, there were but five 
Catholic priests in the Territory, two officiating at and around 



244 THE CHRONICLES 

Green Bay; two on the Mississippi, and one near Lake Superior. 
About the beginning of the year 1843, the then Territory of 
Wisconsin was formed into a diocese and styled the diocese of 
Milwaukee, and the Right Reverend John M. Henni, D. D., 
a native of Switzerland, and for several years previous to this 
time Vicar General of Cincinnati, was appointed the first Bi- 
shop, in May 1843, and consecrated at Cincinnati by Bishop 
Purcell. In the latter part of 1846, Bishop Henni purchased 
nearly an acre of ground adjoining the Court House Square. 
Upon this site St. John's Cathedral was erected, and consecrat- 
ed July 31st, 1853. 

The Methodists — a sect that has earned the title of pioneers 
of Christianity from their zealous efforts to spread the truth — 
have always ' in this country appeared among the first in the 
settlements of the West ; as soon as a school house is erected, 
a methodist preacher will come along and organise a society in 
it, and soon the hymns of Wesley and the fervent voice of the 
class leader will be heard where but just now reigned only 
solitude. 

The first Methodist Episcopal meeting house was a one story 
frame building, situated on the south-east corner of Huron and 
East Water Streets, in 1837. Here a society, which had been 
organized in the house of William S. Crissy, on the 22d of 
July, 1837, was first duly brought together in a place of wor- 
ship. This building was built for a carpenter shop ; it belong- 
ed to W. A. and L. S. Kellogg; it stood in the water, but pro- 
tected from the flood by four blocks under its corners. A 
narrow board bridge spanned the little bayou under the front 
door, and over this "draw" the congregation passed into the 
rude sanctuary. The society consisted then of fifteen members. 
The trustees were : Elah Dibble, D. Worthington, W. A Kel- 
logg, L. S. Kellogg, Joseph K. Lowry, Jared Thompson, and 



t 

OF MILWAUKEE. 245 

Joseph E. Howe. In 1838, Rev. Jas. R. Goodrich became 
the pastor; in 1839, Dan. Brajton succeeded him; in 1840 and 
'41, John Crummer officiated, and in 1842, Sias Bolles became 
the preacher. The first meeting house built by the Methodists, 
was a small frame building about thirty by fifty, erected on the 
north-east corner of Main and Oneida Streets; it was dedicat- 
ed December 1st, 1840, the Rev. Julius Field, presiding Elder, 
preaching the dedication sermon. 

In 1844, (the Rev. James Mitchell being then pastor,) this 
society resolved to build a brick church on the west side ; ac- 
cordingly a lot was purchased of Jno. Clifford, on the corner 
of Spring and West Water Streets, on which the Spring Street 
M. E. Church was built, and dedicated in the fall of 1845, 
the Rev. W. M. D. Ryan, of Chicago, preaching the dedication 
sermon. 

In the fall of 1847, a few individuals from Spring Street 
with Mr. Osmond Bailey organized a Church on Walker's 
Point. In September 1852, the Rev. S. C. Thomas, pastor of 
the Spring Street Church, being desirous of extending the in- 
fluence of the denomination into the First Ward, found upon 
inquiry that the Universalist Society was about to break up 
and sell their church, which was located at the corner of Mich- 
igan and Main Streets, on the lot where the Newhall House 
now stands. Jas. B. Cross, who was an influential member of 
the Universalist Society, was authorized to sell the building, 
and offered it for $400. A subscription was started, and with 
characteristic promptitude the Methodists soon raised the 
money and purchased the building. Having secured the struc- 
ture, a lot was wanted upon which to locate it. Geo. F. Austin, 
and Osmond Bailey, purchased of W. H. Byron lot No. 10 in 
Block 77, on the east side of Jackson Street, between Biddle 
and Martin, for the sum of $1,150, payable in five years with 



246 THE CHRONICLES 

interest at ten per cent., payable semi-annually, and gave their 
bonds and mortgage for the same. The building was then 
moved upon this lot, and dedicated the first of December, 1852, 
the Eev. J. M. S. Maxon being the preacher in charge. This 
was the origin of the Jackson Street Church. The member- 
ship was about eight or ten, mostly females. 

The society was called "the City Mission," and a missionary 
appropriation of $100 per annum was made by the annual 
Conference for its support. In the fall of 1853, the society 
separated its connection with the Mission on "Walker's Point, 
and became an independent society under the name of the 
Jackson Street M. E. Church. In 1853-4, Jabez Brooks was 
the pastor. At the quarterly meeting, held December 24th, 
1853, Mitchell Steever, the Superintendent of the Sabbath 
school, reported seventy-two children in the school, and seven- 
teen teachers with two hundred and seventy-one books in the 
library. In 1854, the annual Conference, which met at Janes- 
ville, did not for some reason appoint a pastor, and the pulpit 
was filled by W. A. Chapman, local preacher of this society, 
and by Dr. Eli Hunter, of the Congregational Church, until 
February, 1855, when Dr. Alex. M. Wright, from the Platt- 
ville district, became the pastor. 

In the fall of the same year, Rev. S. C. Thomas was ap- 
pointed pastor. About this time, the Spring Street Church 
property having been purchased by Geo. F. Austin for the sum 
of $15,000, and the Jackson Street Church being an offshoot 
of that society, and having in the opinion of many conferred 
many favors and contributed largely to the support of the 
Spring Street Church, it was deemed only justice that a pro- 
portion of the money arising from the sale of the property, 
should be appropriated to the benefit of the Jackson Street 
Church. Accordingly a committee of three was appointed by 



OF MILWAUKEE. 247 

the latter society to confer with the trustees of the Spring 
Street Church. After many meetings and much discussion 
pro and con on the part of the trustees and members, an ap- 
propriation was made of $4,200. It was, however, made con- 
ditional, it providing that no church should be built on the 
lot on Jackson Street, some of the Spring Street members 
having strong prejudice against that location. Accordingly, 
on the 22d of August, 1855, Geo. F. Austin bought of Sam'l 
Field, lot No. 6 in block No. 77, corner of Van Buren and Biddle 
Streets for the sum of $5,500. As Mr. Field objected to 
dealing with a board of trustees, Mr. Austin took the deed in 
his own name, and afterwards conveyed the lot to the society. 
A subscription was immediately started, and the Summerfield 
M. E. Church was erected, and dedicated on the 11th of April, 
1858, Rev. T. M. Eddy, of Chicago, preaching the dedication 
sermon. Rev. P. S. Bennett, presiding Elder; Rev. Chas. 
Mc Reading was pastor of the Spring Street M. E. Church at 
this time. Rev. S. C. Thomas, the first pastor of the Summer- 
field Church, being in very poor health, the Rev. H. C. Tilton 
was appointed in his place. Mr. Tilton was succeeded by Dr. 
Edward Cooke, late president of Lawrence University, he in 
time being succeeded by the Rev. Jas. E. Wilson, who is 
pastor at this time. 

The Methodists, in Milwaukee as elsewhere, number among 
their members a great many of the most wealthy and pro- 
minent citizens, and the society is distinguished for its hearty 
zeal in the cause of Christianity, and its unwavering and un- 
tiring efforts to spread the cause of Christ. The church in 
this city* owns property to the value of $40,000. 

On the sixth of May, 1841, a number of gentlemen, desirous 
of organizing a Congregational Church, assembled and formed 



248 THE CHRONICLES 

a council consisting of the Rev. D. E. Sherman, of Troy, 
(Wis.) Rev. 0. F. Curtis, of Prairieville, (now Waukesha,) 
and the Rev. J. Y. Parsons, of Mount Pleasant. The con- 
sultation resulted in the formation of a society having twenty- 
four members, nine males and fifteen females. The name 
adopted by the church was "the First Congregational Bethel 
Church of Milwaukee." At the end of the year the member- 
ship had increased to sixty-five, and in August, 1850, the name 
was changed to the "Plymouth Church/' On the 29th of 
June, 1841, Rev. J. J. Miter, of Knoxville, 111., became the 
pastor. The first deacons of this church were elected in March, 
1842, and were four in number, viz: Benjamin Mofiit; Robert 
Love ; Samuel Brown; Daniel Brown. In 1843, the society 
built and took possession of a handsome edifice erected on a 
corner lot situated at the junction of Spring and Second 
Streets. On the third of January, 1844, the house was de- 
dicated, and during the evening of the same day Rev. J. J. 
Miter was formally installed pastor of the Sprirjg Street Con- 
gregational Church by the Milwaukee district convention; the 
sermon on this occasion being preached by the Rev. A. L. 
Chapin. The first board of trustees was composed of the fol- 
lowing gentlemen, elected March 10th, 1845 : Eliphalet Cra- 
mer; Fred. B. Otis; James Bonnell; Abram D. Smith. At 
this time the house of worship was appraised at its cash value 
as worth 86,000; the lot $1,000. 

This sanctuary being soon found too straight for the grow- 
ing congregation, measures were taken early in 1850, to erect 
a larger house of worship. It was then thought expedient, 
to remove the church to the east side of the river; according- 
ly a lot was selected at the corner of Milwaukee and Oneida 
Streets, subscription lists started, and a new church edifice 
commenced. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 249 

The Episcopal Church service was performed in 1835, in 
Milwaukee, by Rev. Henry Gregory, as the following letter 
written by that gentleman in answer to a request for infor- 
mation, will show : 

St. James Church, Syracuse, 
December 5th, 1853. 
Dear Sir ! 

Your letter of the first inst., with a copy of the Milwaukee 
Daily "Sentinel" is just received, and I hasten to reply. 

In the fall of 1835, I set out for Lake Winnebago, having 
an appointment as teacher to the Menomonees. Winter over- 
took us, and leaving my family in Michigan, I set out with my 
brother, (who had been a teacher in the Mission school at 
Green Bay,) in a one horse waggon, via Chicago and Milwau- 
kee. Between those places we several times encamped in the 
woods, being prepared for it. At Boot River, we " ran agin 
a stump/' and broke the axletree of the waggon. Getting that 
mended, we started for Milwaukee, (22 miles) on Saturday, 
the ninth of January, 1836. Night overtook us, and we en- 
camped three miles out of Milwaukee. Early on Sunday 
morning we came in, and stopped at (I believe the only tavern) 
— a small story and a half frame house. 

There was a Presbyterian minister who had held services in 
a school house; but hearing of my arrival, he desired me to 
officiate, which I did, and preached in the afternoon j and that 
was the first service according to the liturgy of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, in Milwaukee, and was held on the first 
Sunday after the Epiphany, January 10th, 1836. 

There being no waggon road then beyond Milwaukee, we 

left our waggon, packed our horse, and starting the next day 

on foot, for Green Bay, made the journey, one hundred and 

twenty miles, in safety. We rested half a day at the only 

17 



250 THE CHRONICLES 

house in all the distance, and^that was at Sheboygan. Provi- 
dentially no snow fell while we were out, and we reached Green 
Bay, on the 18th, at sun set. 

Pardon me for telling so long a story; but I have pleasure 
in remembering the jaunt, and the kindness shown us by 
Solomon Juneau, and others, at Milwaukee. 

Yours very truly 

Henry Gregory. 
Mr. John W. Hinton. 

In the summer of 1836, several churchmen met in the Re- 
gister's office — a wooden building situated about where Brad- 
ford Brothers store now is — and a Mr. Nichols, the father of the 
Rev. Mr. Nichols, now of Racine, read the service. These meet- 
ings were kept up for about two months, until a nephew of 
Bishop Chase visited the town. This young man was studying 
for the ministry, and he officiated in a voluntary manner 
through, the summer. During the season services were held 
in a wooden building on Main Street : two Reverend gentle- 
men, by the names of Beardsley and Berry, happening along 
and staying long enough to give the young and feeble society 
a fresh impetus. Services were afterwards held in a store 
near where Sexton Brothers establishment now is. Mr. Berry 
interested himself in a subscription, and succeeded in getting 
two thousand dollars subscribed for the purpose of supporting 
a clergyman The alacrity with which the names and amounts 
were written, was no indication, however, of the future ability 
to pay, and many, in the course of the next year, who had 
subscribed a hundred dollars, were not able to command ten. 
In 1837, the society was organized by the election of wardens 
and vestry, at which time the services were held in the wood- 
en building standing where Van Cott's jewelry store is now 



OF MILWAUKEE. 251 

located. Dr. Hewitt read the church service until a clergy- 
man, by the name of Hull, came 

The Church of the Redeemer (Unitarian) was organized in 
1856. In the summer of that year, Rev. Dr. Eliot, of St. 
Louis, then attending a Unitarian convention in Chicago, was 
invited to preach at Milwaukee. He came and preached in 
the parlors of a gentleman most interested in the cause, and 
the gradual formation of a circle of members resulted in the 
starting of a subscription to build a church. Six thousand 
dollars were raised at one meeting. A lot was purchased, and 
a church capable of holding three hundred persons erected and 
completed ready for service by the following February. 

Meanwhile the Rev. N. A. Staples, then settled over the 
First Unitarian Church in Lexington, Mass., spent the summer 
vacation travelling through the West. During a visit here he 
preached two Sundays in Young's old Hall, then situated 
where the Academy of Music is now located. Soon after his 
return to the East, he received a very urgent call to come and 
preside over the society here, and, if possible, build them up 
into a permanent organization. He accepted the call, and on 
the last Sunday in the year of 1856 preached for the first 
time to about a hundred persons in Young's Hall. In Feb- 
ruary 1857, the new church was completed, and was dedicat- 
ed by the Rev. Dr. Bellows, of New York, assisted by other 
clergymen from Chicago, Detroit, and St. Louis. When the 
pews were sold and rented, twenty-eight families joined the 
organization. During the following summer the edifice was 
materially enlarged, so as to seat about five hundred and twen- 
ty persons. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Some Account of the Milwaukee Newspapers — The German Press — Mr. Domschcka's 
Ten Week's Agony. 

The " Milwaukee Advertiser," to which reference has al- 
ready been made, was the first newspaper published in this 
city. It was commenced, in 1836, by D. H. Richards, and in 
1841, the materials were bought out by J. A. Noonan, who in 
the fall of 1838 had started the " Wisconsin Enquirer" at 
Madison, and on leaving that town, had sold the sheet to C. 
C. Sholes, a gentleman of rare editorial ability, and afterwards 
editor of the Free Democrat, and at this time holding an hon- 
orable position at Madison. 

The Advertiser in Mr. Noonan's hands became the "Mil- 
waukee Courier." Mr. Noonan disposed of his editorial inter- 
est in this sheet, 1844, to John A. Brown, and the year after 
sold out all his pecuniary interest in the concern. 

The "Sentinel" appeared in the spring of 1837. It was 
started by John O'Rourke, who purchased the materials in 
New York on letters of credit from Solomon Juneau. Mr. 
O'Rourke published the paper for about three months when, 
being disabled by sickness, Mr. Harrison Reed, now of the 
State Journal at Madison, was employed to take charge of it. 
Mr. O'Rourke died shortly after, and the establishment fell 
into the hands of Mr. Juneau ; Harrison Reed continuing the 
publication temporarily in the hope that a purchaser could be 
found for the press who would carry on the paper on his own 



OF MILWAUKEE. 253 

account, but no purchaser offering, he was induced to remain 
and carry on the business as a means of subsistence.* 

After five years editorial labor Mr. Reed left the sheet, and 
Elisha Starr, who had been publishing a small tri- weekly 
called the " Milwaukee Herald," succeeded him, and joined his 
paper with the "Sentinel." It was then issued from a dingy 
little room in Dewey's block. •(- 

David M. Keeler soon after became the editor, and continued 
its publication over the store of L. J. Farwell, in Shepardson's 



* For nearly five years, without intermission, (save for a short time when the 
press was wrested from me on a lien, which occurred before the material was finally 
transferred to me,) I was its editor and publisher. In the verdancy and ardor of 
youth, and during the dark period of Wisconsin's history, I entered upon this duty, 
and by hard labor and parsimonious habit, I gained a scanty subsistence, and left it 
as most printers are compelled to close their labors — with empty pockets." 

Letter of Harrison Reed to Editorial Convention . 

f When I first made acquaintance with Mr. Reed, the Sentinel office was located 
on East Water Street, east side, not far from Huron Street, and next door to the 
Cottage Inn, kept by Mr. Vail, a little one story green tavern, which enjoyed the 
honor of being the principal hotel in the place, although at the time the Milwaukee 
House, (a large three story frame building, located on the spot where Young's block 
recently stood,) enjoyed the reputation of being the largest hotel in the city, yet "Old 
Vail," who was an eccentric, contrived to get the largest amount of custom at his 
" one horse tavern." Old settlers, who were present at the land sale of '39, remember 
the old " Cottage Inn," and its capacity for stowage. It, however, had its day, and, 
in 1841, was enlarged to a three story building by the late II. N. Wells, Esq., who 
disposed of it to a Mr. Harriman. He kept it several years, when it was burnt down 
with the rest of the block between Huron and Michigan Streets, including the man- 
sion of the late Sol. Juneau, which stood on the south east corner of East Water and 
Michigan Streets. The Sentinel office was located in the lower story of a frame build- 
ing, which was divided in the center, making two rooms each about 14 feet wide. 
The north part was occupied by the father of Mr. Reed, as a stove and tin-ware store 
who finally sold out to Linus R. Cady and Leonard J. Farwell, then just inunigrated.to 
the Territory, and who established themselves in business at Milwaukee. 

The soiith part of this lower story was occupied by the materials of tho Milwaukee 
Sentinel. I mention this, to show the early history of an establishment, which has 
grown to be one of the largest in the State. 

E. B. Quiner, of Madison, in reply to interrogations from the Editorial Convention . 



254 THE CHRONICLES 

new building, about where Throop's hat store now stands, on 
East Water Street. C. L. MacArthur became associated with 
Mr. Keeler soon after, and on Monday, December 9th, 1844? 
they issued the "Daily Sentinel," the first daily paper in the 
city. 

On the 24th February, 1845, David M. Keeler sold out the 
establishment to Messrs. Fillmore and Downer, J. Downer act- 
ing as editor. In the fall of 1845, Mr. Downer vacated the 
editorial chair, and gave his place to Rufus King. 

In the fall of the same year, Wm. Duane Wilson started 
the " Milwaukee Daily Gazette," which was merged with the 
Sentinel in 1846, under the name of u Sentinel and Gazette." 

When, in 1844, Mr. Noonan sold out the Courier to John 
A. Brown, the latter removed the office to Wisconsin Street 
over what was then the Post-office. In 1847, it was purchased 
by Messrs. Cramer and Curtis, and was moved to the second 
floor of the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company, 
building on the corner of Michigan and East Water Streets, 
and its name changed from "Courier" to that of "Wisconsin." 

The "News" was established by Lucas Seaver as a weekly, 
in 1848, under the name of the "Commercial Advertiser." 
He published it for two years, and sold out to Messrs. Cary 
and Rounds, Dr. Cary, of Racine, and Judge Bryan, after- 
wards of Menasha, becoming its editors. In 1852, it passed 
into the hands of Shaw and Hyer, and again, in 1854, into 
the hands of Mr. Clason, when its name was changed to 
"News." In January 1856, J. R. Sharpstein bought the 
establishment, and continued its support in company with Mr. 
J. Lathrop until the close of 1860, when C. H. Orton bought 
it, and Beriah Brown became the editor. 

The "Free Democrat" became the name of the "Wisconsin 
Freeman," in 1848, upon the purchase of S. M. Booth of the 



OF MILWAUKEE. 255 

sheet. It has experienced many changes since, but has many 
warm supporters, and at present is vigorously edited by Judge 
A. D. Smith and Gr. W. Chapman. 

In 1854, Bernhard Domschcke came from Louisville to Mil- 
waukee. Mr. Domschcke .was born in Saxony and received a 
thorough education at the schools of Dresden and Leipzig. 
Early in life he edited a paper in Saxony, which brought him 
in collision with the government, and resulted in his leaving 
the country in disgust for the shores of America. On his ar- 
rival at New York, his first act was to borrow pen, paper and 
ink, and kneeling down before his chest, he indited an article 
on "Freedom" and sent it to the German organ in that city. 
This article was copied and published throughout the states. 
Written as it was in the heat of an excitement rendered in- 
tense by the circumstances of tyranny, and bearing the im- 
press of a nervous zeal and enthusiasm for the cause of Free- 
dom, it was caught up and re-echoed as the eloquent cry of 
honest manhood struggling against oppression. 

Mr. Domschcke soon afterwards succeeded in securing a 
situation on the corps of a German paper in Boston, the "Neu 
England Zeitung." 

From Boston he travelled west to Louisville and became 
assistant editor of the " Herald of the West" Fortune had 
hardly deigned to look upon him yet, much less smile; but 
there was a promise of a lucrative and life long situation in 
which his talent might give him the prominence he deserved. 
Just as these hopes began to dawn, a fire broke out and con- 
sumed the ofiice of the paper, together with all the worldly 
possession of Mr. Domschcke, leaving him only a suit of clothes 
on his back. Added to this, political enemies ventured to 
hint that there had been design in the fire, and an attempt 
was made to add moral disgrace to temporal misfortune. In 



256 the chronic;. 

this condition of things Mr. Domschcke announced that he 
would lecture to the people of Louisville on the fire. By this 
means he amassed several dollars, cleared his skirts of calumny, 
and then, at the invitation of a friend, started for 3Iilwaukee, 
arriving in thi.-. city with a bundle of newspapers and twenty- 
five cents in his pockets. 

His name had preceded him, however, and before he had 
fairly inhaled the air of Wisconsin, Mr. F. Fratney, of the 
■• Volksfreund," then a prominent Democratic leader, challeng- 
him to a discw ... The citizens of Milwaukee will re- 
member how well Mr. Domschcke acquitted himself in that 
trial. The papers of that day speak of the new comer as a 
"most brilliant speaker and powerful orator." 

The discussion attracted the attention of a number of pro- 
minent and influential citizens, among whom was Gen. Rufus 
King, and a successful effort was immediately made to place 
at the disposal of Mr. Domschcke a press and all the apparatus 
of a newspaper to be devoted to the cause he advocated. 

On the seventh of October, 1854, he issued the first number 
of "The Corsar," weekly. There are few perhaps who knew 
what this persevering man suffered in the desperate struggle 
to sustain this sheet. A stranger in a strange land, with no 
resources but the uncurrent richness of his brain, he battled 
steadily for a sheer existence. For eight weeks he slept on 
his exchanges in a fireless room, only to rise and renew the 
struggle, and only to grow more certain every day that the 
labor and toil were being fruitlessly expended, and that the 
"Corsar" must suffer on the gibbet of neglect. At the 
end of fourteen months the paper quietly sank into a literary 
grave. 

But Mr. Domschcke was not discouraged. Such men can- 
not be crushed by circumstances; like life-boats they buffet 



OP MILWAUKEE. 257 

with the waves only to surmount them. One sheet might die, 
but he would start another. In a few days new business re- 
lations were entered into, and the "Daily Journal" appeared, 
and after ten weeks precarious existence also succumbed to cir- 
cumstances. A few weeks later he started the Atlas, and in 
the first number appeared the following bit of editorial ex- 
perience : 

Ten Weeks Agony. 

In spite of many deceptions we have encountered, we never 
could — and it's the only reproach we make — we never could 
mistrust our hopes. Often have we made up our minds to 
hope no more, but to submit to the worst; nevertheless the 
ray of hope penetrates the soul and finds a place in our spirit. 
But, when ever we followed the ray, it was our ruin. We 
read so often that hope sustains a man; but this sentence was 
certainly invented by men whose hopes have always been ful- 
filled. When a man after countless experiments has learned 
that hopes are mere visions which come and go at their own 
fantastic pleasure, then the man has learned to hate hope, and 
counts all his expectations in the category of juvenile dreams. 

It is better in all undertakings to expect a miserable end, 
and especially to hope nothing from men, when they are asked 
to move out of the dung of their regular habits. It is said, 
blessed are the poor, for they have nothing to loose, and it may 
also be said with equal truth, blessed are those who do not 
hope, for they shall not be betrayed. 

When we started the Milwaukee Journal, we made the un- 
pardonable mistake to suppose it could be maintained. 

Unpardonable ? 

Certainly, because we sought for sympathy where there was 
only selfishness ; we expected interest where there was naught 
but old fogyism. We believed in the tendency — the progres- 



258 THE CHRONICLES 

sive tendency of man — man who has never had any other idea 
to ponder over than his material interest. We then believed 
in the prevalence of liberal views — we were unsophisticated, 
and did not know men were proud to have no opinions at all, 
and even willing to become the slaves of corrupt party leaders. 

Why did we believe in the productiveness of so barren a 
field — these sterile rocks ? Why have we not written a Catho- 
lic paper ! Why have we not written of the immaculate con- 
ception and avoided Liberty and Right ! Why have we dared 
to call by its right name the vulnerable thing which styles 
itself democracy ! Had we called the rogues "honest men/' 
indeed, we should have made more money than is now missing 
from the State treasury. 

The period of the existence of the Milwaukee Journal we 
call ten weeks misery. 

Certainly, it was ten weeks misery, during which time we 
squandered a great amount of time and faculty without any 
return, while we had to fight against all the miseries of life, 
sustaining at the same time that proud and enviable position of 
chief editor of a daily paper in this G-erman Athens. 

Do y©u know what these Athenians require ? — We will tell 
you. First — Democracy; that means the declaration that 
slavery is a blessing, and to kneel down in the dust to Barstow. 

Second — speculation. You must trade and traffic in politics; 
hunt for office; falsify truth and the election returns; flatter 
the public; go to gossipping tea parties, where the influence 
of your masters is to be gained, and above all print your paper 
large enough for wrapping material, and the Athenians will 
call you good. If you do otherwise; if you persist in advocat- 
ing principles ; if you oppose miserable and corrupt politicians 
who for selfish ends betray the Germans, — you may go home, 
you are not the man for the Athenians. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 259 

They will be cheated ; they want to be cheated ; let them be. 

Or, do you wish to sacrifice yourself? Will you be a second 
Tantalus ? Before you do this, be sure there are enough 
worthy of the sacrifices. Consider whether it is well to be 
damned for nothing ! 

Torture ? There are many who will never comprehend that 
it is torture to work with the brain from day to day — and for 
nothing ; to preserve humor under the most pressing necessi- 
ties and eating cares, cares that are inseparable from mental 
labor; to feel an impulse, and be unable to accomplish any- 
thing. Many cannot comprehend the difference between an 
editor who is working for a principle, who depends upon his 
brain for his all, and one who is hired to fill the columns of his 
employer, utterly regardless of the value of the furnished ma- 
terial. They cannot see that it is agony to be beset by finan- 
cial troubles, when the poor brain should be clear and un- 
disturbed in order to extricate him from the very difficulties. 

The Milwaukee Journal, from the first day of its existence 
till its blest end — a child of misery ! 

With few means the sheet was started ; with less it was con- 
tinued, and when it died, it left to his happy editor debts as 
a token of remembrance ; debts which the little offspring had 
accumulated with wonderful ability. 

We stand at the grave of the dead. Shall we mourn its de- 
parture ? We cannot. 

May it sleep well by the side of its predecessors. Its me- 
mory will ever be dear to us, and its ten weekly issues will 
never be forgotten ! 

We do not wish to preach its funeral sermon. The public 
will have performed that part of the task. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

The City Indebtedness. 

The building up of a large city is not unattended with ex- 
pense j and the greater the rapidity with which its expansion 
proceeds, the more striking does the cost of its erection appear. 
The growth of Milwaukee is comprised mainly within the pe- 
riod of twenty years, — from 1840 to 1860 — during which it 
has risen from a respectable village, located upon the margin 
of a solitary lake on one side, and that of an almost uninhabit- 
ed wilderness on the other, to a city containing a population 
of nearly 50,000, beautifully laid out and built, and being the 
centre of a system of railroads penetrating into a most pro- 
ductive and well settled country of unlimited extent, and the 
seat of a lake commerce which freights an incredible navy. 

The works of public utility necessary to be accomplished, 
and which, in fact, have been accomplished, and now endure 
as permanent monuments of the enterprise of its inhabitants, 
were enormous. Even the grounds, upon which the future 
city was to be erected, had to undergo a preliminary prepara- 
tion ', prominences were to be degraded, depressions elevated, 
and nature herself propitiated by the labor of man. 

Upon this modified plat, streets have been laid out and finish- 
ed, with ample side-walks of plank, brick and stone, and adorn- 
ed with grateful shade trees. Marshes, quaking bogs, and 
deep bayous have been filled up and converted into solid 
building grounds. A water course, straggling along low, sedgy 



OF MILWAUKEE. 261 

borders, and impeded by sandbars and continually increasing 
sedimentary deposits, has been confined within proper limits 
by means of several miles of permanent timber docks ; dredg- 
ed to a uniform depth for the purposes of navigation, and span- 
ned by eight bridges of improved construction, which revolve 
upon their basis with the utmost facility to admit the passage 
of vessels. A new and commodious harbor has been construct- 
ed, with piers extending far out into the lake. Fire engines 
have been purchased, engine houses erected, and an effective 
fire department organized. A successful police system, with 
a Municipal Court attached, has been established. Seven 
beautiful school houses have been erected and furnished, and 
are now requiting the cost of their erection under our bene- 
ficent system of free schools. 

But the people, who in their united capacity have accomp- 
lished so much, did not find here ready made homes for their 
own occupancy. During the same time, they have been en- 
gaged, as individuals, in erecting dwellings, shops, mills, ma- 
chinery and furnaces, long lines of elegant stores, sumptuous 
hotels and capacious warehouses ; while, impelled by the higher 
motives of religion and benevolence, they have, by voluntary 
association, ornamented their city with churches, and endowed 
it with hospitals. 

All this, and much more not to be enumerated, has been 
effected in the short space of twenty years, — in fact nearly all 
of it within the last ten years; and we need not be told that 
the city is in debt. 

It was possible to call these improvements into being by the 
wand of the enchanter, and it has been done. But, unfortu- 
nately, enchantment, in these modern days, costs money; for 
it is by means of gold that the spells are wrought. And it 
will be obvious to every one that it was impossible to pay for 



262 THE CHRONICLES 

these numerous improvements by the ordinary means of taxa- 
tion, and without incurring indebtedness. Even the property, 
upon which such taxes should have been levied, was in a sort 
of embryo, and must have been assessed at a prospective val- 
uation, rather than according to a present known worth found- 
ed on its annual rents and profits. In short, the city could 
not have borne a taxation commensurate to the magnitude of 
the public works necessary to its welfare. 

The inevitable question presented itself : " Shall these ne- 
cessary works be accomplished at the expense of the ruin of 
the present generation ; or shall their cost be apportioned to 
that posterity which shall most assuredly enjoy them in their 
greatest fruition and development ?." 

To this question there was but one answer. The answer is 
the public debt of the city, the interest of which must be 
borne, and the responsibility of its ultimate redemption in- 
curred, by an indefinite line of posterity, among whom its 
burthens will be distributed until their weight is imperceptible. 

Although, in treating this subject, it is desirable to furnish 
reliable data for future reference, there seems to be no little 
difficulty in preparing the necessary tables of figures. Un- 
fortunately the affairs of the city have not always been con- 
ducted by the first intelligences; and this fact is exhibited as 
well in the unthrifty management of its finances, as in the con- 
fused and unsystematized condition of its accounts and public 
records. 

It seems to have been the policy of the early city govern- 
ment to place the burthen of the different improvements upon 
the localities respectively benefited by them. This policy doubt- 
less had its origin in the local rivalries, which sprang up and 
raged for a long time with extreme violence between different 
portions of the city, particularly between the east and west 



OF MILWAUKEE. 263 

sides of the river, and to which we have before adverted. 
Their strifes led even to blows, and, of course were attended 
with expenses and outlays which were very important in the 
then insignificance of the population, but which become very 
insignificant in comparison with the sums lavished in mere 
wantonness during the periods of improvidence and waste 
which have since followed. 

Consequently the original debts of the city were owed by 
the several wards for the benefit of which they had been in- 
curred. But as early as 1852, all these local jealousies were no 
longer known, and only existed in the remembrance of the 
actors in the scenes of the warfare they had engendered. The 
bridging of the river at several different points, and the gener- 
al diffusion of the population, made us a single, united city, 
with no east or west, north or south. The wards debts were 
then assumed by the City, and upon their assumption, in the 
year just named, when the present system of management of 
the city accounts by a Comptroller was initiated, the bonded 
debt of the City may be approximately stated at the sum of 
$106,000 00; to which may be added a general floating debt 
of insignificant amount. 

The principal part of this bond debt, having matured, has 
since been paid off by the issue of new bonds, and re-appears 
upon the schedule under the title of Redemption Bonds. 

The present bonded indebtedness of the city, exclusive of 
credits loaned to rail-road companies, now amounts to the sum 
of $736,850.00 ; and from the preceding observations upon the 
subject of the several principal works of public utility which 
have been accomplished by the city, in its corporate capacity, 
it will readily be conjectured to what objects the proceeds of 
these bonds have been devoted, and to what funds they have 
been charged. They are then seen to be the School, and Fire 



264 THE CHRONICLES 

Departments, Bridges, Dredging of the River, Opening of the 
Harbor, &c. ; while, in the meantime, the streets have been 
graded and paved, side-walks built, and gutters laid, at the ex- 
pense of the lot-owners, and charged upon the lots lying adja- 
cent to the improvements made; except the crossings of streets 
and alleys, which have been charged to the several ward funds. 
So, also, low and marshy grounds, bayous, and standing pools 
have been raised and filled up with earth, on the assumption of 
their injuriousness to the public health, and the expense there- 
of has been assessed upon the grounds thus benefited. 

The extent to which all the different improvements have 
been pushed forward at the same time, may be in some degree 
estimated from the fact, that in the year 1857, the taxes assess- 
ed upon the citizens and property-owners of Milwaukee, for all 
purposes, except their voluntary contributions to the objects of 
religion and benevolence, amounted to the sum of $688,498.- 
29 2 ■', or more than SIT. 00 to each man, woman, and child, of 
the city; fortunately it was not a capitation tax. The follow- 
ing are the several items of which the sum total of the tax for 
that year was composed, viz : 

State Fund 3 24,694.32* 

School Fund 12,997.01* 

County Fund 84,480.57* 

General City Fund 48,738.79 

Old Debt Interest 113,723.85 

Sinking Fund 32,492.53 

General Ward Fund.... 109,134.27 

Special " " 262,236.94 

Total $688,498.29* 

Something over one-third of this sum, it will be perceived, 
consisted in special taxes, for which certificates were issued 



OF MILWAUKEE. 265 

against the several lots upon which the same were chargeable; 
the remainder being a general tax assessed upon all the taxable 
property in the city. 

The following table exhibits the amount of the outstanding 
bond debt of the city, August 1st, 1860, and also the several 
funds or purposes for which they have been issued : 

PRESENT BOND DEBT OP THE CITY. 

School Loan Bonds $170,000 

Fire Loan Bonds 11,850 

Bridge Bonds 50,000 

Dredging Bonds 50,000 

Funded Debt Bonds 20,500 

Second Ward Bonds 6,500 

Harbor Bonds 184,000 

Kedemption Bonds 76,000 

Sinking Fund Bonds 168,000 

Total $736,850 

It is not to be inferred that the above items constitute the 
sums of the cost of the several works indicated. On the con- 
trary, they, in many cases, comprise but a small part of the 
amount which has been expended by the city for those objects, 
and which has been suffered by the city in discounts, commis- 
sion, contracts, and extortions, in connection with those im- 
provements. 

Under the expansion of the currency consequent upon the 
influx of gold from the newly-discovered placers of California, 
a mania seized the entire public, which exhibited its disordered 
fancies in general extravagance and confusion. In a ten-fold ra- 
tio to the increase of the currency, did the hopes and the desires 
of the people increase; until individuals, corporations, cities 
18 



266 THE CHRONICLES 

and states indulged in the most unparalleled schemes, incurred 
debts in almost fabulous amounts, and submitted, unhesitating- 
ly, to interests, discounts, and shaves of the most extortionate 
character. Yet even these enormities, by the generative influ- 
ence of the times, ripened into spoliations, defalcations, thefts 
and swindlings, until the common peculation and bribery of of- 
ficials ended in the corruption of legislation and the tainting of 
the very founts of justice. 

During this saturnalia of extravagance and dissoluteness, the 
general indebtedness of the city rose to little short of a million 
of dollars; and the amount paid on account of interest, dis- 
count, and commissions, for the single year ending April 1st, 
1858, — the sum paid for the mere privilege of being in debt — 
was $175,725.34! 

At the present time the total amount of the indebtedness of 
the city may be approximately — and, if the accounts of the 
proper office may be depended on, reliably stated as follows : 
Whole am't of outstanding City Bonds,. . .8736,850.00 
Comptroller's Notes, and other Notes, &c, 

outstanding 79,674.31 

City and School Orders, estimated 100,000.00 

Interest past due on bonds 30,405.00 

Total City Debt $946,929.31 

This debt, large as it appears, and swelled, as it most un- 
doubtedly has been, by waste, extravagance, mismanagement, 
and peculation, is not beyond the means of a city of the num- 
bers, wealth, present resources, and flattering prospects that 
Milwaukee possesses in an eminent degree. If this debt be 
not hereafter increased by like causes to those which have pro- 
duced it, the burthen of the taxation necessary to keep up the 
interest, and provide, by slow degrees.' a sinking fund for its 



OF MILWAUKEE. 267 

ultimate redemption, will not be seriously felt. And why- 
should it be increased? The works and institutions so neces- 
sary to the city, out of which it sprang, will not have to be re- 
created; our citizens have been sufficiently admonished of the 
necessity of entrusting their affairs to the managament of capa- 
ble and honest officers; and steps are in progress which it is 
hoped will ultimately transfer the support of the leeches which 
have hitherto fastened themselves upon us, from the City to 
the State at large, in quarters more secure, and in associations 
more congenial, to their habits of life and aspirations of mind. 

We have been constrained to treat of the indebtedness in- 
curred by the city for the encouragement of rail-roads, in a 
separate article from that of the general city indebtedness, be- 
cause it is an obligation of the city sui generis, not contem- 
plated in its organic act, nor existing among the exigencies, 
for which the municipal government was erected. 

The first step of the city in this career was taken in pur- 
suance of authority granted by the act of the legislature of 
March 12th, 1849, "to enable the city of Milwaukee to aid 
in the construction of a rail-road from that city to the Missis- 
sippi River." By that act the city was empowered to subscribe 
to the capital stock of the Milwaukee and Waukesha Rail Road 
Company, or to the capital stock of any other company, which 
was then, or might thereafter be incorporated for the purpose 
of constructing a rail-road to the Mississippi River, to the 
amount of one hundred thousand dollars, with authority to 
increase such subscription to two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars; and to borrow money, or levy a tax on the real estate 
within the limits of the city, in order to provide for the pay- 
ment of the instalments upon the stock thus subscribed. 

An ordinance was thereupon passed by the Common Coun- 



268 THE CHRONICLES 

cil of the city, providing for a subscription to such capital 
stock, in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, and 
also for an annual tax upon the real estate of the city to meet 
the instalments on such subscriptions, as they should come 
due. From the proceeds of this tax there was paid upon said 
stock the sum of sixteen thousand dollars ; an account of which 
the tax payers received, for the amounts by them respectively 
paid, a scrip convertible into stock, and which was afterwards 
purchased up by speculators and converted into the stock of 
said rail-road company. 

This rail-road tax, however, found so little favor with the 
property owners, who were called upon actually to pay it, that 
the Common Council, in May, 1850, paid up the remainder of 
the subscription theoretically, by the issue of city bonds in the 
amount of eighty four thousand dollars, which were received 
by the rail-road company in satisfaction of said subscription, 
and a certificate for eight hundred and forty shares of the cap- 
ital stock of said company delivered to the city. 

This first transaction, being thus closed up so much to the 
satisfaction of all parties, the Common Council, on the 21st of 
June following (1850), passed another ordinance authorizing 
a further subscription by the city to the stock of said rail- 
road company, in the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars; which subscription was made, and paid in a further 
issue, to said company, of city bonds to that amount. The 
company, with great disinterestedness, undertook to guarantee 
the city against the payment of interest on said bonds, of 
both issues ; and the city, not to be out-done in liberality, re- 
linquished its right to all dividends on the stock so held by 
it, on condition that the company should furnish securities, 
satisfactory to the Common Council, for the payment for such 
interest, and for the ultimate purchase of the stock, from the 



OF MILWAUKEE. 269 

city, by the company; which the company, with great promp- 
titude, did, by giving — not its note at thirty days — but its 
own bond in the penal sum of $150,000 00, conditioned to 
pay said interest, and also, within ten years from the first day 
of July, 1850, to pnrchase and pay for, at par, from said city, 
said stock, if the city should so elect. 

The period limited in said bond has expired ; but whether 
the city has signified its election to said company, respecting 
the purchase of the stock, or not, we are not advised; and 
doubtless, for obvious reasons, it is of no consequence. This 
transaction was closed by the delivery to the city of a certi- 
ficate for one thousand five hundred shares of the capital stock 
of the company, which, with the eight hundred and forty 
shares before received, amounting together to the considerable 
sum of $234,000 00, the city, we believe, now holds; no one of 
its officials having had the imprudence to burthen himself with 
documents in such startling amounts, yet representing such 
imperceptible values. 

It is true, the city, at one time held farm mortgages, belong- 
ing to the company, in the amount of $150,000 00, as collater- 
al security to the bonds of the company just mentioned. But 
the city, good-naturedly permitted the company to withdraw 
them, in July, 1851; and now holds no other security against 
its said outstanding bonds of $234,000 00, except the simple 
undertaking of the company above mentioned, which, with 
the stock aforesaid, is, and will ever remain, wholly worthless. 

Apparently, the facility with which the city corporation had 
been inveigled into the encouragement of railroads, received, 
as it merited, public attention ; and invited a combined move- 
ment upon its quality of yieldingness, by all those whose sa- 
gacity is ever awake to discern the means of their individual 
advancement in the complication of the embarassments, into 



270 THE CHRONICLES 

which organized society may be plunged. This movement 
resulted in the act of the legislature of the second of April, 
1853, entitled "An act to authorize the City of Milwaukee to 
loan its credit in aid of certain rail-roads," and the act in ad- 
dition thereto, passed July 12th, 1853, and the act of March 
31st, 1854, amendatory thereof; by force of which acts the 
city was authorized to loan its credit, in the manner therein 
particularly specified, "to any rail-road company duly incor- 
porated and organized for the purpose of constructing rail-roads 
leading from the City of Milwaukee into the interior of the 
State," as well as "rail-roads to intersect and connect with any 
other rail-road, having its terminus in said city," which, in 
the opinion of the Common Council, are entitled to aid from 
said city. 

A provision was also contained in said acts requiring the 
question of the issue of bonds to any such Railroad Company, 
to be first submitted to the voters of the city ; and their ap- 
proval of the measure by the ordinary tests of the ballot, was 
a necessary preliminary to such issue. Pursuant to this legis- 
lation, elections were held from time to time — always resulting 
in favor of the issue — and ordinances passed by the Common 
Council, under which there were issued and delivered to the 
several companies deemed to come within the provisions of the 
acts, seven per cent, bonds of the city, amounting to one mil- 
lion three hundred and eighty thousand dollars, in addition to 
those before issued to the Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad 
Company. 

The following table exhibits the amount of seven per cent, 
bonds issued by the city to the several Railroad Companies : 

Milwaukee & Watertown R. R. Co 200,000. 

La Crosse & Milwaukee 200,000. 

Mil. Fond du Lac & G. B 114,000. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 271 

Milwaukee & Horicon 160,000. 

Milwaukee & Beloit 100,000. 

Milwaukee & Superior 100,000. 

Green Bay, Milwaukee & Chicago 200,000. 

Mil. & Miss. B. B. Co., for stock 234,000. 

do do loan 300,000. 

Total $1,614,000. 

Add unpaid coupons for interest to Nov. 

1, 1860, say 242,926. 

Total city indebtedness for Bailroads $1,856,926. 

It is to be understood that all the bonds above mentioned, 
except those issued in payment for stock subscriptions to the 
Milwaukee & Waukesha Bailroad Company, were intended to 
be merely loans of credit, on the part of the city, to the sever- 
al companies ) and that the city was to be amply indemnified, 
by said companies, against all liability on said bonds, either 
for principal or interest. And at the times of the several 
issues to the companies, the city officers took to themselves 
the credit of assuming that the securities that the city received 
for such indemnification, were sufficient. But partly from a 
misapprehension of the value of said road securities, and part- 
ly from too great compliance, on their part, — not to raise the 
question of connivance and rascality, those securities, or such 
of them as the city has not suffered itself to be wheedled out 
of — are now found lamentably inadequate. Indeed, inadequate 
is a term by no means sufficiently expressive of their character. 
We have before us a report, made to the Common Council, 
of a joint committee of that body, together with the City At- 
torney and City Comptroller, in which those securities are enu- 
merated at large. A reference to that report shows that the 



272 THE CHRONICLES 

securities now held by the city consists in second mortgages 
upon the several roads; and capital stock in several of the 
companies in the aggregate sum of $900,000 ; and the per- 
sonal obligations of some of the managers of the road for the 
time being. 

Of the value of the second mortgages, as securities to the 
city, the reader may be able to form a satisfactory estimate 
from the several foreclosure suits pending in the State and 
Federal Courts. As to the stock held by the city, it would 
save circumlocution to say at once that it is worthless. And 
we should feel unwilling, for obvious reasons, to express a more 
definite opinion upon the personal bonds aforesaid, than that 
they will doubtless be contested both as to the judgment and 
the execution. 

Whatever of palliation there may have been for the encour- 
agement originally given by the city corporation to the Mil- 
waukee & Waukesha Railroad, when that enterprise was essay- 
ing those feeble steps that have since widened into the strides 
by which it has reached the Mississippi, there was none for 
the wholesale system, which, with the connivance of the Legis- 
lature, the city afterwards adopted, of extending a credit to 
which it was by no means entitled itself, indiscriminately to 
all the roads projected to terminate in the city, as well as to 
all their branches and connections which did not come within 
many miles of the city. 

In the first case, the act may be likened to that of a rash 
but generous man, who extends a hand to a falling friend, 
without being by any means sure that the effort will not des- 
troy his own equilibrium. The rashness of the deed is mask- 
ed by its generosity. In the second case, the city may be 
likened to the same man, without the moral force to shake 
off an adhering cluster of friends and friends' friends, who, 



OF MILWAUKEE. 273 

incited by the exhibition of the one single act of his generosi- 
ty, persist in clinging to him, until they drag him down into 
the pit of irretrievable ruin, they have prepared for themselves. 

The building of rail-roads is not the legitimate business of 
a municipal corporation : and we cannot withhold the opinion 
that the city had no power whatever to engage, directly or in- 
directly, in that enterprise j or to subscribe stock in, or loan 
its pretended credit to any rail-road company building its road 
beyond the limits of the city; and that the legislature was 
incompetent to confer any such power upon it. 

We should not omit to mention, perhaps, that a judicial 
decision already made, warrants a conclusion against the validi- 
ty of a part of the bonds, on the ground of their being issued 
without authority of law. 

It will be observed by reference to the terms of the acts 
of the legislature, above quoted, granting power to the city to 
issue bonds, that the rail-roads indicated in the said acts were 
such as were incorporated and organized; and not such as 
might thereafter be incorporated and organized. 

It is therefore said to be a fatal objection to the validity of 
the bonds issued to the Milwaukee and Beloit Company, and 
also the Milwaukee and Superior Company, amounting, to- 
gether, to $200,000 00, that inasmuch as those companies were 
not incorporated and organized at the time of the passage of 
the act, they were not within its provisions. 

There may hereafter be found equally fatal objections to 
most or all the other bonds, even if the courts of the last re- 
sort should not be of opinion that a municipal corporation has 
no power, to enter upon, or loan its credit for, the prosecution 
of enterprises beyond its limits, and alien to the objects to be 
subserved in its erection. 



APPENDIX : 



MILWAUKEE I INT 1861, 



LOCATION 



Milwaukee is located upon a broad indentation or bay, six 
miles wide, in the western shore of Lake Michigan, at the con- 
fluence of two picturesque and servicable streams, the Mil- 
waukee and Menomonee, one of which meanders through the 
city from the north, and, joined by its tributary, turns sudden- 
ly to the east and empties into the bay through an artificial 
channel called the u straight cut." By means of this straight 
cut Milwaukee has been enabled to boast of the most com- 
modious and easily accessible harbor on the upper lakes. It 
is 260 feet wide, protected by substantial piers which cost over 
$100,000, and through this channel the sailors may sail into 
a wide and land-locked haven formed by the confluence of the 
two streams. It will be seen that this location then is most 
favorable for the purposes of commerce. A glance at the map 
will demonstrate the natural advantages possessed by Mil- 
waukee. 

Connected as she is, by a net work of rail-roads with Iowa 
and Minnesota, and forming the radiating point of travel and 



OF MILWAUKEE. 275 

trade in Wisconsin, it will require no great amount of reason- 
ing to prove to the careful inspector of the map, that, being 
ninety miles nearer to the eastern terminus of lake navigation 
than Chicago, the natural current of trade will pass through 
Milwaukee from the now fertile fields of the vast region north 
and west of us, rather than be diverted in a detour round the 
southern end of the lake. If any thing could have made 
more advantageous still, the position of Milwaukee, it was the 
establishment of a steam ferry across the lake, completing the 
bee line of travel from Iowa to Detroit by means of the Mil- 
waukee and Detroit rail-road. 

There are no less than 200,000 square miles of agricultural 
territory lying west of Lake Michigan, and for which the 
lakes afford not only the most natural and direct, but the 
cheapest and safest means of commercial transportation. Mil- 
waukee is the point to which the commerce of this region 
must gravitate from a natural law of expediency, and offer- 
ing, as the city now does, commercial facilities to the common 
carrier, not possessed by any other port on the same sea ; the 
advantages are too apparent to be urged. 



THE CITY. 

The city covers an area of 17 miles, with a long lake 
front. The greater part is situated on high bluffs which over- 
look the surrounding country. There are two hundred and 
twelve streets all built upon and more or less improved by 
grading and paving, and well lit at night by gas. East and 
West Water Streets, the principal business thouroughfares, are 
lined on either side by the most magnificient storehouses and 



276 THE CHRONICLES 

salesrooms that can be found in any city. Indeed, in architec- 
tural display, Milwaukee is far ahead of any city of the same age 
in the Union. Her own resources furnish the best and most 
desirable of building material, and the good taste of her citizens 
has been shown, not only in the erection of business palaces 
of the most elaborate and costly finish, but in villas, and pri- 
vate residences that for number and beauty of design astonish 
travellers, who remember the comparative infancy of the town. 
There are few if any tenement houses, built as such. The 
mechanic and laboring man can always find a desirable cottage 
house of one story, tastily surrounded by a garden, and fur- 
nished with all the conveniences of more expensive mansions, 
which can be rented for a moderate sum. On every street, in 
each ward, these comfortable dwellings can be found, varying 
only in style of design and beauty of finish. 

There are forty churches of various denomination : six Me- 
thodist Episcopal; four Presbyterian; six Roman Catholic, and 
four Baptist, four Congregational, and four Episcopal, besides a 
number of free churches, Lutheran, Dutch Reformed, Unitarian; 
and one or two Jewish Synagogues. The Roman Catholic Ca- 
thedral is an imposing structure, loaated in the Seventh ward, 
adjoining the Orphan Asylum of the same denomination. 

The population is heterogeneous — almost every nation is re- 
presented in her citizens — but the sturdy thrift of Germany 
is conspicuous over all , and the predominance of this element 
gives Milwaukee a distinctive character which is at once novel 
and worthy of note. Although the majority of the Germans 
are of the middle and lower classes, still the professions, the arts, 
manufactures, and commercial as well as political positions have 
been entered by cultivated and highly educated Germans, and 
to-day we can not enter any of the higher branches of business 
without encountering them. German, perhaps, in manner and 



OF MILWAUKEE. 277 

accent, but American at heart, and devoted as well to the in- 
terests of the State and nation as to the city they have made 
their home. In the political field, at the bar, and with the 
baton and pencil, our German fellow citizens have helped to 
confer honor and beauty upon Milwaukee, and in manufactur- 
ing they have done more than any other, in developing the 
resources of the State and in accumulating capital at home. 

To give an idea of the amount of manufacturing, it is only 
necessary to state that in the one article of Lager bier, there 
are over a million of dollars of capital invested in its manufac- 
ture, and the twenty breweries of the city manufactured in 
1860, forty thousand barrels of beer; using 100,000 bushels 
of barley aDd 75,000 pounds of hops. 

Three of these brewers alone have a capital investment of 
$300,000, and manufacture annually 18,000 barrels of this 
beverage, which sells at the rate of five dollars per barrel. 
One fourth of the whole amount of this manufacture is ex- 
ported. 

According to actual statistics presented to the Chamber of 
Commerce, the total aggregate of manufactured articles amount- 
ed to $10,500,000, in 18j}7 — if these figures are to be depend- 
ed on, the two subsequent years will have added to the sum 
total an additional million. Milwaukee affords every facility 
for manufacture; labor is abundant and cheap; excellent water 
power is to be had ; large and flourishing machine shops fur- 
nish all the appliances of art at reasonable prices, and an un- 
limited market is brought to our doors by rail-roads that di- 
verge at the four points of the compass. 

No healthier city than Milwaukee exists. Carefully com- 
piled mortuary statistics show the climate to be the most favor- 
able to longevity. The winters are severe, but unlike those of a 
still higher latitude, are comparatively uniform, and the days 



278 THE CHRONICLES 

seldom alternate with the unhealthy warmth that marks the 
climate on the seaboard. The summer is delightful. The suf- 
focating heats of August are tempered by the never failing 
breezes from the lake, and the refreshing currents, humid and 
life inspiring, render the city not only healthy, but aid in its 
material purification. 

As regards its sanitary condition, it may be well, perhaps, 
to state that the river running through the city (at its center) 
parallel with the lake, and the ground on either side sloping 
gradually towards it, the drainage is rendered most thorough, 
and any system of sewerage, which may be undertaken in the 
future enlargement of the town, will be facilitated most materi- 
ally by this advantageous direction of the thoroughfares, and the 
crown or grade of the land on either hand The published lists 
of deaths show that the ratio of mortality is less in Milwaukee 
than in any city of the same population in the same degree of 
latitude. 

The enterprise and thrift of our citizens are worthy a remark. 
The stately churches, palatial stores, costly school-houses and 
academies as well as the splendor of the private mansions, attest 
the liberality and taste of the Milwaukeeans. The main streets 
are blazoned with evidences of their success, and the suburbs 
present the most gratifying picture of wealth and refinement 
combined. As the city has grown, improvement after improve- 
ment has been undertaken. A City Hall has been built; horse 
rail-roads have been projected and successfully operated in 
several of the wards. New and commodious hotels have been 
added ; new systems of internal improvement, in the grading 
and paving and draining of streets, have made them equal to 
auy in the oldest metropolis of the states; and while these 
necessary works of utility have been progressing, the aesthetic 
taste of the citizens has added shade trees and gardens, and 



OF MILWAUKEE. 279 

to-day the stranger, who rambles through the town, will in- 
voluntarily express his astonishment at the attainment which 
has been made in rendering the city not only convenient and 
comfortable, but beautiful. 

The peculiar color of the bricks, of which the houses are 
built, gives a lively air to the streets, and adds to the general 
appearance a charm of freshness which led to the bestowal by 
a distinguished tourist, of the title of " Fair White City." 

The Northwestern part of the town is occupied almost ex- 
clusively by Germans. It is a hive of industry throughout, 
and the aggregate of manufacture annually thrown into mar- 
ket through the country by these humble mechanics and arti- 
zans would astonish the reader. Cigars, boots and shoes, fur- 
niture, baskets, toys, jewelry, wearing apparel, and innumera- 
ble articles of every day use and consumption are here fabri- 
cated in small factories, and either sold to larger houses or 
peddled through the state. The many advantages offered by 
Milwaukee have concentrated these Germans here, and all seem 
to realize a comfortable living. Vagrancy is comparatively 
unknown. Destitution, when brought to public notice, is 
found generally to be the result of intemperance, and it is no 
more than justice to say that the few cases that at intervals 
transpire are not among the Germans. The influx of this 
nation has resulted in the giving of two or three distinctive 
characteristics to the town. With them they brought their 
love of music, their sociability, and their beer drinking habits. 
Although nearly all have assimilated with the Americans and 
have learned the English language, still the more admirable 
traits have not only not been relinquished but seem to have 
given a tone to the town. They have established numerous 
musical organizations, one of which, the Milwaukee Musical 
Society, has become so conspicuous and note-worthy an enter- 



280 THE CHRONICLES 

prise that we cannot pass over it with mere mention. This 
Society — organized on the 29th of April, 1850 — has done more 
to elevate the popular taste than aught else, and has earned the 
honor of having successfully presented, at repeated concerts, 
the most difficult music of the highest schools of art, which 
has only been attempted even in the cities of New York and 
Boston*. As proof of this we need only state that the Society 
has rendered (and meritoriously) the Oratorios of the Creation 
and the Seasons complete, and has given entire, at different 
times, the Operas of the Czar and Zimmerman, Stradella, Der 
FreischutZj The Magic Flute, and Norma. Much of the suc- 
cess of the Society is no doubt attributable to the energetic 
and persevering labors of its President, Mr. Win. Finkler, but 
its artistic excellence has been the admiration of musical visi- 
tors and neighboring cities for years, and its position as an 
invaluable auxiliary in the advancement of our city, cannot be 
too often or too strongly praised. 

Whatever may be said of the American people, it must be 
acknowledged by all who choose to make the observation, that 
Milwaukee is a musical city. The number and excellence of 
the German musicians seem to have stimulated the native 
talent. One of the best corps of musicians in the western 
country is the American Cornet Band of this city, and we 
might go on and specify to a tiresome degree the amount of 
organized and individual talent which has given Milwaukee 
this reputation! 



* " The history of this Society for the last ten years has been no small part of the 
history of the city. It has always occupied the front rank as a mean3 of social and 
refined amusement. It has drawn thither and domesticated among us a large num- 
ber of eminent artists to fill every department of musical instruction. It has given 
us a rare name abroad for culture and taste, and has attracted to us not a few whose 
choice of an American home was determined by such advantages as it alone could 
present." — Joshua Start? i address at the One Hundredth Concert of the Society. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 281 

In the many festive occasions the peculiarities of the Ger- 
man element are seen. The carnivals, the masquerades, the 
masqued balls, the tableaux vivants, the dramatic exhibitions 
and the almost endless succession of gaieties during the summer 
season in the suburbs, in which great numbers of the popula- 
tion engage, and all the athletic sports of the Fader Land and 
the heavy but stirring chorusses of the glee clubs, make the 
groves and gardens alive with enjoyment. 

Milwaukee possesses a large and efficient fire department, 
consisting of eight engines, two hose carriages, and two hook 
and ladder trucks, with an organized force of eight hundred 
men. 

Mechanics command and receive good wages. The number 
of flourishing machine shops engaged in the manufacture of 
agricultural implements, and connected with the numerous 
rail-roads; the mills, and the constant mechanical and metro- 
politan improvements, as well as the immense number of vessels 
entering the port and repairing damages, offer, continually, 
every inducement to competent and skilful workmen. There 
are no less than eight large iron foundries, and six brass 
foundries in operation, and large machine and repair shops con- 
nected with the La Crosse and also with the Mississippi rail- 
road, which turn out rolling stock for their respective roads, 
and have built locomotives of superior strength and beauty. 
There are eleven large flouring mills in constant operation, 
seven furniture manufactories, employing in the aggregate 
about two hundred hands. Six planing mills, one paper mill 
(Noonan & Mc Nab), one type foundry * (Edward Miller.) 
Eight tanneries, some of which manufacture as good an ar- 



* This book is printed on paper and with types made in this city. 

19 



282 THE CHRONICLES 

tide of leather as is brought from the eastern market. Dur- 
ing the last year these tanneries used 43,038 hides. Two 
firms manufacturing fire proof safes from patents of their own, 
which have been repeatedly tested and proved to be equal to 
more celebrated inventions. 

In the packing business a small army of men are constantly 
engaged, and the figures show that Milwaukee is fast becom- 
ing an important rival of her southern neighbor in the article 
of pork and beef packing. 



FACILITIES OF TRAVEL. 

Railroads leave the city at the four cardinal points of the 
compass. The Horicon rail-road and the La Crosse rail-road 
on the north. The Milwaukee and Detroit, by steamship, on 
the east. The Milwaukee and Chicago on the south, and the 
Milwaukee and Mississippi, and the Milwaukee, AYatertown 
and Baraboo Valley rail-road on the west. 

These six roads bring Milwaukee in direct connection not 
only with the interior of the State, but with Iowa, Minnesota, 
and Illinois, and the State of Michigan. The horse rail-road 
connects the two most distant termini in the city, and passen- 
gers, passing through, escape many of the annoyances of runners 
and haekmen, but too frequent in other cities. In summer, 
steamboats are constantly plying between our city and Chi- 
cago, and making regular trips to Green Bay and the upper 
lakes, both for the transportation of passengers and for the 
accommodation of excursionists, &c. The two elegant steam- 
ships, the Milwaukee and Detroit, making regular trips be- 
tween this city and Grand Haven, have materially added to 



OF MILWAUKEE. 283 

the summer travel, and aside from the acknowledged superior- 
ity of the route for other purposes, have opened a market for 
Milwaukee produce throughout the western portion, and even 
the interior of Michigan. Nothing can be pleasanter than a sail 
in the Summer over the lake in one of these ocean steamers,, 
affording as they do, all the conveniences and comforts that are 
inseparable from pleasure seeking. 

Tourists have been prolific of praises of this route; the 
scenery, the broad view of the city, the invigorating breeze of 
the sea — all combine to make the great feat of western steam 
ferriage at once popular and paying. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS, &C. 



The principal public buildings in Milwaukee are the Custom 
House, the Newhall House, the Female College, the Public 
School Houses — there are seven of the latter, some of them, 
especially the two high schools, which are models of architec- 
tural design and internal arrangement. The Newhall House 
is celebrated (in the literal meaning of that term) as one of 
the largest and finest hotels in the western country. It was 
built, in 1856, by Daniel Newhall, occupying fifteen months in 
its erection and costing $160,000. It is conducted upon the 
modern plan, in the most unexceptionable style, its proprietors, 
3Iessrs. Rice & Andrews, sparing neither pains nor expense in 
making it worthy of the reputation it has already attained 
throughout the North-west. It has accommodations for six 
hundred guests, is supplied for all the recent improvements, 
and is justly regarded as one of the principal ornaments of the 
town. 



284 THE CHRONICLES 

The St. Charles Hotel, on Market Square, conducted by 
D. J. Upmann, was finished in August, 1856, and then called 
" "Wettstein's Hotel." It has some peculiarities in its cuisine, 
which recommend it to foreigners, and is fully up to the stand- 
ard of modern first class hotels. The building is an imposing 
one, standing as it does on the square and overlooking the en" 
tire neighborhood. It contains eighty-five rooms, and is fast 
obtaining a deserved reputation throughout the State under 
its present efficient host. 

The "Walker House, with Col. Bentley (late of Oshkosh) 
as proprietor, is another of the popular hotels. It is situated 
in the business section of the town, and is constantly filled by 
the many friends of Mr. Bentley, who is an old and favorite 
caterer to the public. 

The American House, on Spring Street, has recently under- 
gone important improvements, which places it in the front rank 
of our hotels. It is a favorite stopping place for countrymen, 
farmers, and others with teams, its ample stables and out-house 
accommodations constituting an important inducement to agri- 
cultural strangers. 

These four hotels are the principal and most popular houses 
in town. Any one of them affords its guests all that can be 
desired in a public house, and it is only proper to say that 
they are, each and all, liberally patronized and sustained. We 
have mentioned these as the most conspicuous, but there are 
no less than thirty-one other hotels in the city of various 
degrees of excellence, whose facilities the limits of this work 
will not permit as to rehearse at length. 

The Masonic Temple on West Water Street, erected by 
Byron Kilbourn, and used by the Independent Order of Free 
and Accepted Masons, is said to be a finer hall than any of 
the kind in the West A lease of it for ninety-nine years 



OF MILWAUKEE. 285 

was presented to Milwaukee Lodge, No. 3, by the liberal 
builder. The lodge expended about $3,800 in fitting it up. 

Masonic Hall, in Martin's new block on East Water Street, 
is another splendid hall, used for the same purpose. 

The entire building is one of the finest in the city. Its iron 
front, after designs by the Milwaukee architect E. T. Mix, 
alone costing $2,500. 

The Milwaukee Protestant Orphan Asylum; the St. Rose's 
Orphan Asylum; St. Mary's Hospital; the Bank of Milwau- 
kee; the State Bank, and the Albany Building are all no- 
ticeable structures. Young's Block, including the Academy 
of Music, was built in 1859. 

The Academy is the most complete public hall for dramatic 
purposes west of Philadelphia. Indeed, the plan of its con- 
struction is an exact model of the Philadelphia Academy of 
Music. The auditorium is one hundred feet deep, and sixty- 
four feet wide, and is divided into a parquette, dress circle and 
upper tier, and furnished with patented seats arranged with 
a view to comfort. This auditorium was built with particular 
attention to acoustic excellence, being in the shape of an elipse 
or oval, square at one end, or, as has been stated, precisely 
similar to the Philadelphia Academy, than which there is none 
better in the country. So complete is the arrangement of seats 
both with a view to comfort and vision that it is impossible 
for the spectator to so locate himself that a full and compre- 
hensive view of the stage cannot be obtained ; and every seat 
in the parquette and dress circle being separate in itself, and 
they being so arranged that the persons occupying them do 
not look over the heads of those persons immediately in front, 
but between them; it will be seen that, although fourteen 
hundred persons may be accommodated in the auditorium 
(without reference to the use of the stage" for spectators), the 



286 THE CHRONICLE.- 

whole number may be comfortably seated and obtain an unob- 
structed view of the performance or speaker. 

The stage is thirty-six feet, is flanked by two comfortable 
private boxes, and provided with all the concomitants of dra- 
matic effect. Comfortable dressing rooms, and an orchestra 
box in front, of ample dimensions. The Academy of Music 
is a credit to the builder, Wm. P. Young, and one of the ne- 
cessities of every large city. It was inaugurated Friday night, 
March 16th, 1860, by a lecture by Col. Chas. D. Robinson, 
of Green Bay, on the "Lost Arts." 



THE NEWSPAPERS. 



3Iilwaukee has been noted for years for her newspaper 
enterprises. There are no less than eight daily papers publish- 
ed at this time in the city, as follows : 



German Dailies, 
Banner and Volksfreund, 
See-Bote, 
Atlas, 
Phoenix, 



English Dailies, 
Sentinel, 
Press and News, 
"Wisconsin, 
Free Democrat, 



The Sentinel, published daily, tri-weekly, and weekly, (Pie- 
publican) is the oldest and most widely circulated. As a 
political and commercial journal it is regarded throughout the 
north-west with general favor. Jermain and Briffhtman, the 
publishers, have materially improved the sheet within the last 
two years, and widened its circulation accordingly. 

The Press and News (Democratic), conducted by Beriah 
Brown, assisted in the editorial department by Charles Wright 



OF MILWAUKEE. 287 

and George Godfrey, is the only Democratic English Daily in 
town, and is an able exponent of the principles of its party. 

The Wisconsin, an evening paper, published by "Wm. E. Cra- 
mer, noted for its enterprise, and generally popular for its 
miscellaneous intelligence and family reading. 

The Free Democrat, conducted by A. D. Smith and Geo.W. 
Chapman, also an evening sheet, is the decided advocate of 
Republicanism, enjoys the patronage of the party, and the 
admiration of those who prefer an evening sheet. Its editors 
are men of well known ability. Mr. Chapman is the author 
of a book of poems of considerable merit. 

It may be a matter of some interest to our readers to know 
how many papers have been started in Milwaukee, and we 
subjoin the following list, sent to us by an old resident of the 
city. 

Advertiser, Milwaukee — commenced in 1836, by D. H. 
Richards, issued until 1841. 

American, Daily — started in July, 1855, issued till '58. 

Anthropologist — devoted to clairvoyance, mesmerism and 
medicine. Pratt & Co. Published monthly for a while in 
1850. 

Atlas (German) — a successful sheet, started in March, 1856, 
as a weekly, and on the 29th of November, 1858, issued as 
a daily. 

Banner (German) — a successful publication, and the first 
German newspaper in the State. First number issued Sept. 4, 
1844, as a weekly, by M. Schoeffler. In January, 1850, be- 
came a daily. 

Barnburner — Published during the fall months of 1848, by 
S. M. Booth. 

Cosmopolite — by A. J. Aikin ; one or two numbers issued. 



288 THE CHRONICLES 

Corsar (German) — first number appeared October 7th, 1854; 
published by B. Domschcke, lived until November 17th, 1855. 

Courier — started in 1841, by J. A. Noonan; subsequently 
became the Wisconsin. 

Democrat, Milwaukee — issued in August 1843, by C. C 
Sholes, continued less than a year; afterwards the American 
Freeman. 

Enquirer (Milwaukee Daily) — Ellis & Swineford, 1860. 
Democratic penny paper — short lived. 

Free Democrat — started by S. M. Booth, in May, 1848. 
First daily, September 16th, 1850. Sold out March 25th, '59, 
to Sholes & Crounse. May 26th, firm changed to Crounse 
& Thompson. February 16th, 1860, Messrs. Crounse & Fitch 
became the proprietors. May 26th, 1860, C. C. Olin and G. 
W. Tenny purchased it. December 3d, 1860, A. D. Smith 
became proprietor and editor. 

Gazette, Daily — appeared Tuesday, October 21th, 1845. 
TV. D. Wilson & J. S. Rowland proprietors. Elisha Starr local 
editor; afterwards merged with the Sentinel. 

Gazette, Literary — published for several months in 1859, by 
C. C. Meservey. 

Journal, Daily — published by B. Domschcke, for ten weeks 
in 1855. 

Journal, Milwaukee — Elisha Starr, during the political cam- 
paign of 1841. 

Journal, Milwaukee — Wilson & Hamilton, November 12th, 
1851, (Fillmore sheet.) 

National, Democratic — Flavin Brothers, issued for three 
months, in 1859. 

People's Press — Beriah Brown, issued for several months, 
in 1860, and merged into the News. 

Times, Milwaukee Daily — Erving Burdick & Co., in 1858. 



OF MILWAUKEE. 289 

Volksfreimd (German) — issued in April, 1844, by F. Frat- 
ney; after eleven years existence was merged with the Banner. 

The press of Milwaukee has labored zealously for the ad- 
vancement of the town, and with it has grown and increased 
in influence. No better illustration of the enterprise and in- 
telligence of the people can be found than in the sustaining 
of so many newspapers. 



SOCIETIES. 



There are several literary societies in Milwaukee. The 
Young Men's Association; the Young Men's Christian Associ- 
ation, and several Lyceums and debating clubs. The first of 
these, the Young Men's Association, has a large library of 
several thousand volumes, a large and well supplied reading 
room, and gives every winter a course of lectures by the most 
prominent men in the country. 

The library is well selected, and rapidly increasing in size, 
and the ranks of membership of the Association extend through 
all the business and mercantile portions of the community and 
comprises a great many ladies. 

The Agricultural and Mechanical Association, the first fair 
of which was held in this city, during the first week of Oc- 
tober, 1860, and at which premiums, amounting to over $3,000, 
were paid on stock, is a flourishing society. Its grounds are 
situate two miles from the centre of the city, and are well pro- 
vided with trotting and race course, sheds, pavilions, &c. It 
numbers among its members many of the substantial farmers 
and stock breeders of the State, and its future annual exhibi 
tions promise to be equal to any of the State fairs. 



290 THE CHRONICLES 

The St. George's Society, established 1858. The St. An- 
drews and St. Patrick's Society are flourishing benevolent in- 
stitutions. The Social Turnverein, and the Independent Tur- 
ner Society — the former organized in 1853, and the latter 
in 1860 — are German organizations for physical and social im- 
provement. 

There are three Catholic organizations : the Pius Verein, the 
St. Bonifacius Verein, and the St. Antonius Verein, in active 
operation. 

A Horticultural Society, which has given several very suc- 
cessful exhibitions. And five lodges of Good Teinplers, meet- 
ing in magnificent halls, appropriately and expensively furnish- 
ed; besides a number of other secret organizations. 

Six uniformed Military Companies, attached to the First Reg- 
iment, in a creditable state of discipline, compose the citizen 
soldiery of the city. The Milwaukee Light Guard, Capt. J. 
C. Starkweather, is an admirably well drilled corps, and obtain- 
ed considerable notoriety by their visit to New York, two years 
ago. 

There are numerous other organizations of a social and 
benevolent character, which need not be enumerated here, The 
church societies are large, and all of them in flourishing con- 
dition. The Sabbath schools are full, and constant missionary 
effort is establishing new chapels and school houses in the 
suburbs continually. 



THE COMMERCIAL NAVY 



Capt. Geo. Barber has compiled the following valuable list 
of vessels built in Milwaukee, which we copy from the fourth 
volume of the Historical Society Reports : 



OF MILWAUKEE. 



291 



List of Vessels Built at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 



NAME OF VESSEL. 



Sloop Wenona,* 

Schooner S. Juneau, 

Steamer Badger, f 

Schooner Savannah, % 

" Bolivar, § 

Steamer Menomonee, 

Schooner Milwaukee, 

" Fur Tradeij| 

" S. Marvin, 

" M. Dousman, 

" Jo. Ward, 

" Champion, 

" L. R. Rockwell,. 

" M. G. Bonesteel,. 

" E.Henderson,.... 

" Pilot , 

Bark Utica, 

Brig C. J. Hutchinson, 

Schooner E. Cramer, , 

" J. Patton, 

Brig Helfenstein, , 

Schooner Traveler, 

" Lawrence, 

Bark Nucleus, 

Schooner Muskegon, 

Bark Cherubusco, 

Schooner Nebraska , 

" Twin Brothers,... 

" H. U. King......... 

" Geo. Ford, 

" Kirk White, 

« D. Newhall, 

" Two Charlies, 

" Mariner, 

" Advance, 

Bark Badger State, 

Schooner Emma, 

" Emily,, 

Government Dredge. 

Schooner Kitty Grant, 

" Wollin, 

" J. Steinbart. 

" C. Harrison, 

" Napoleon, 

" J. Lawrence, 

" D. 0. Dickinson,.. 

" Milwaukee Belle, 

" Norway, 

" Fred. Hill 






BY WII0M. 



Geo. Barber, 



Mr. Hubbel 



Not known,. 

B. B. Jones,. 

S. Farmin,... 
u 

Geo. Barber, 

S. Fannin,.., 

Gelson, 

Geo. Barber, 
« 



it 

Averell,; 

S. Farmin,... 

Gelson, 

a 

h 

Geo. Barber. 
S. Farmin,... 



North Cape, 1855 



1S36 

1836 

1837 

1837 

1837 

1838 

1840 

1842 

1842 

184: 

1844 

1844 

1845 

1845 

1845 

1845 

1846 

1S46 

1847 

1847 

1847 

1847 

1847 

1848 

184S 

184S 

1848 

184S Geo. Barber. 

18481 

1852 

1852 

1852 J. M. Jones, 

1852 • " 

1853 Geo. Barber, 

1853 J. M.Jones,. . 
1853 
Is.-,:; 
1853 
1853 
1853 
1854 
1854 
1854 
1854 
1854 
1854 
1854 

1 854 
1854 



Mr. 



Hubbel, 



NAMES OF OWNERS. 



William Brown,... 

S. Juneau, 

Byron Kilbourn,. 
a a 



R. Andrews, 

William Brown, 

Merrill & Caswell, 

Dousman, Merrill & Farmin,. 

Barber & Sweet, 

Farmin & Rathburn, , 

C. Sheperdson, , 

George Humble, 

J. Henderson, 

G. Barber, 

Payson & Robb, Chicago, 

C. I. Hutchinson, Kenosha,.. 

M.J. Clark, 

J. A. Helfenstein, 



Geo. Barber, 

Capt. Lawrence, 

Merrill, Farmin & Sweet, 
Judge Newell, Kenosha,, 
Mr. Hubbell, 



Geo, Barber, 
J. M. Jones,.. 
E. Euniac,... 



Geo. Barber. 

a 

J. M. Jones,. 
« 



Lndington, King & N orris, 



John Thomson,. 

G. D. Dousman, , 

Geo. Barber, 

James Porter, 

D. Newball, 

D. Newhall & Hibbard, 

William Porter, , 

Meadowcroft & Co., Chicago,. 

Williams & Wheeler, 

Bagnall & McVicker, 

Ben Phelps, 

United States 

S. B. Grant, 

Mr. Wootsch, 

C. Harrison, 



Geo. Barber, 

Lawrence <fe Savcland., 
D. Newhall, .'. 



Norris & Thomson,. 

Davis & Hill, 

J. Reinerson, 



o 

■r- 



30 

90 

50 

55 

70 

75 

25 

100 

75 

138 

217 

205 

105 

110 

100 

40 

S34 

341 

160 

260 

329 

74 

284 

330 

119 

255 

241 

144 

100 

132 

1S4 

183 

119 

159 

26S 

496 

169 

69 

130 

85 

47 

60 

187 

150 

110 

384 

368 

230 

2i ;s 
107 



* Built for a lighter, f Built for carrying passengers to and from steamboats iu 
the Bay. J Old blue lighter, g Built for a steamer. || Built for a steamer. 



292 



THE CHRONICLES 



List of Vessels — Continued. 



NAME OF VESSEL. 



Schooner J. & A. Stronach 

" Fanny & Floyd,... 

" Adda, 

" Indus, 

" May Queen, 

" Undine, 

" Odin, 

'•' J. M. Jones, 

" Pauline, 

Bark Shanghai, 

" Hans Crocker, 

Propeller Alleghany, 

Schooner Driver, 

" Brilliant, 

" Rose Dousman,.... 

" Wm. J. Whaling,. 

" Geo. Barber, 

TugL.L. Boole, 






1855 
L855 

1-;,:, 
1855 
1 -■,:, 
1855 
1855 
1855 
1856 
1856 
1856 
1856 
1856 
1856 
1856 
1857 
1857 
1858 



BY WHOM. 



Geo. Barber. 
« 

J. M. Jones,. 
tt 

a 

a 



Geo. Barber, 
J. M. Jones.. 



NAMES OF OWNERS. 



JO 

o 



J. & A. Stronach, 149 

Smith & Sweet, 143 

Cook, Hall & Co., 273 

Humphrey & Hall, ..246 

Grant. Kellogg & Strong 246 

J. M. Jones, 100 

John Thomson, 173 

A. Lanson, 156 

Lawrence & Saveland, !210 

J. M. Jones !l88 

W. W. Hibbard, 496 



American Transportation Co.,. 

John Thomson, 

" .1. M. Jones, 

L. Cox G. G. Dousman, 

J. M. Jones,.. |Bell & Whaling, 

Geo. Barber,iGeo. Barber, 

L. H Boole,...|P. Starkee, 



593 
174 
180 
133 
374 
157 
47 



68 vessels of 12,429 tonnage. 

From the Annual Statement of the Trade and Commerce 



of Milwaukee we take the following table 



Capacity of Grain Vessels in the Port of Milwaukee, 

January 1st, 1861. 



NAME. 


Capacity. 

BUS. 


NAME. 


Capacity. 
Brs. 


" Edith 


$ 

16,000 
14.000 
11,000 
24,000 
19.000 
20,000 
13.000 
17.500 
15,000 
13,000 
15,000 
14.000 
12,000 


Schooner Plover 


18,000 


" M. M. Scott 


14,000 


" Quincy .. 


" Three Bells 


12,000 


Bark B. A. Stanard 


" Walrus 


16,000 


" Jesse Hoyt 


" Whaling 


15,000 




" York State 


16,000 




" A. Baensh 


16,000 




7,000 


" M. Courtright 


" J. Christie 


7,000 




" R. Dousman, 


6,000 




" El Tempo 


6,000 


« t Perrv 




7,000 




" Gold Hunter 


(Loaded.) 



343.500 
Two Barques on the stocks 52,000 



Total 395,500 



OF MILWAUKEE. 293 

On the 21st of July, 1856, the schooner u Dean Richmond," 
owned by C. Y. Richmond and Capt. Pierce, sailed from the 
warehouse of H. & J. F. Hill, loaded with 14,000 bushels of 
club wheat, direct for Liverpool, arriving safely at that port 
on the 29th of September. 

In May, 1859, the M. S. Scott, Capt. N. H. Blend, sailed 
from this port with a load of timber, and a clearance direct 
from Milwaukee for a Trans- Atlantic port ; samples of Milwau- 
kee bricks and other manufactures were sent in her to the 
Mayor of Hamburg. She arrived there safely after a pleasant 
voyage. 

The schooner George D. Dousman arrived here .from Liver- 
pool the latter part of October, 1859, with a cargo of salt for 
Layton & Plankington, packers. 

It may be of some interest to state that the first Buffalo 
propeller, that entered the River, was the " Independence," 
Capt. Clement, in 1845, and the first top-sail schooner was the 
"John Grant," in 1836, loaded with oats and provisions, fro m 
Cleveland. 

The first brig was the "Hoosier," Capt. Crary, from Buffalo, 
in 1845. 

The first large steamer from Buffalo was the "James Madi- 
son, Capt. McFadden, in 1845. 



STORAGE AND SHIPPING CAPACITIES. 

In connection with the means of transportation, it will be 
well, perhaps, to say a word in regard to the facilities for hand- 
ling grain. The following table exhibits the capacity of our 
warehouses : 



296 THE CHRONICLES 

would be impossible; we can only say that in each depart- 
ment of trade there are firms doing business upon the largest 
and most honorable system, keeping the most extensive stocks 
to be found anywhere, in some instances indeed, as in the 
hardware and dry goods trade, vieing with the jobbers of 
eastern cities. 

As this article is being written, there are present in our 
city a large number of merchants from Philadelphia and Bal- 
timore, visiting Milwaukee with the avowed purpose of seeing 
for themselves how true were the seemingly exaggerated state- 
ments of prosperity and metropolitan trade, which have reach- 
ed them. They all express themselves astonished at the com- 
mercial activity and the industrial growth, and well they may 
be. A few months ago a similar delegation from New-Orleans 
and St. Louis paid our town a visit and carried away with 
them the most pleasing recollections, which came back to us 
in the southern papers in the shape of the most flattering 
encomiums. 



MILWAUKEE BRICKS. 

Milwaukee has long been celebrated for the beauty and 
superiority of its bricks, which are of a light cream or buff 
color, admirably adapted to the ornate modern architecture of 
cities, as being more pleasing to the eye and in reality more 
durable than the red bricks of the eastern kilns. 

The peculiar composition of Milwaukee clay — sulphate of 
sulphur entering largely into the aluminous compound — gives 
to the earth when burnt its peculiar straw-colored hue. The 
opening of a kiln discovers the condensed flour of sulphur, 



OF MILWAUKEE. 297 

which adheres to the surface of the topmost bricks, like a 
yellow frost; and the peculiar odor of the fumes will at once 
satisfy any one of the nature of the ingredient. The manu- 
facture in itself is very simple. The alumina or clay is dug 
from a section of bank where it lies in deep blue strata, and 
is worked to a proper consistency in a primitive kind of a mill 
whence it is taken and moulded, dried and piled up in kilns 
to undergo the action of heat. 

A visit to the extensive yards of Messrs. Green & Watkins, 
Burnham and others, will at once convey an idea of the su- 
periority of this material over all others used for the purpose- 

The immense beds of this aluminous earth, which stretch 
out to the west of the city, promise an unfailing yield. 

The esteem in which Milwaukee bricks are held, is evident 
from the fact that orders from New York and other eastern 
cities, as well as Chicago, have been filled here since the 
opening of the works, and several of the finest buildings in 
New York and other cities are constructed of this material. 
Indeed, we believe, in one or two instances Milwaukee bricks 
have been sent to Europe. 



THE PROFESSIONS. 

The legal profession in Milwaukee numbers among its 
members men who have a national reputation. Carl Schurz, 
the eloqent Grerman orator, was born thirty-two years ago in 
Bonn, on the Khine, in the Prussian dominions. In 1849, he 
joined the constitutional army, and sharing in its reverses, was 
sentenced to death for high treason. He, however, escaped, 
and made his way to Paris. 
2Q 



296 THE CHRONICLES 

would be impossible; we can only say that in each depart- 
ment of trade there are firms doing business upon the largest 
and most honorable system, keeping the most extensive stocks 
to be found anywhere, in some instances indeed, as in the 
hardware and dry goods trade, vieing with the jobbers of 
eastern cities. 

As this article is being written, there are present in our 
city a large number of merchants from Philadelphia and Bal- 
timore, visiting Milwaukee with the avowed purpose of seeing 
for themselves how true were the seemingly exaggerated state- 
ments of prosperity and metropolitan trade, which have reach- 
ed them. They all express themselves astonished at the com- 
mercial activity and the industrial growth, and well they may 
be. A few months ago a similar delegation from New-Orleans 
and St. Louis paid our town a visit and carried away with 
them the most pleasing recollections, which came back to us 
in the southern papers in the shape of the most flattering- 
en comiums. 



MILWAUKEE BRICKS. 

Milwaukee has long been celebrated for the beauty and 
superiority of its bricks, which are of a light cream or buff 
color, admirably adapted to the ornate modern architecture of 
cities, as being more pleasing to the eye and in reality more 
durable than the red bricks of the eastern kilns. 

The peculiar composition of Milwaukee clay — sulphate of 
sulphur entering largely into the aluminous compound — gives 
to the earth when burnt its peculiar straw-colored hue. The 
opening of a kiln discovers the condensed flour of sulphur, 



OF MILWAUKEE. 297 

which adheres to the surface of the topmost bricks, like a 
yellow frost; and the peculiar odor of the fumes will at once 
satisfy any one of the nature of the ingredient. The manu- 
facture in itself is very simple. The alumina or clay is dug 
from a section of bank where it lies in deep blue strata, and 
is worked to a proper consistency in a primitive kind of a mill 
whence it is taken and moulded, dried and piled up in kilns 
to undergo the action of heat. 

A visit to the extensive yards of Messrs. Green & Watkins, 
Burnham and others, will at once convey an idea of the su- 
periority of this material over all others used for the purpose- 

The immense beds of this aluminous earth, which stretch 
out to the west of the city, promise an unfailing yield. 

The esteem in which Milwaukee bricks are held, is evident 
from the fact that orders from New York and other eastern 
cities, as well as Chicago, have been filled here since the 
opening of the works, and several of the finest buildings in 
New York and other cities are constructed of this material. 
Indeed, we believe, in one or two instances Milwaukee bricks 
have been sent to Europe. 



THE PROFESSIONS. 

The legal profession in Milwaukee numbers among its 
members men who have a national reputation. Carl Schurz, 
the eloqent German orator, was born thirty-two years ago in 
Bonn, on the Bhine, in the Prussian dominions. In 1849, he 
joined the constitutional army, and sharing in its reverses, was 
sentenced to death for high treason. He, however, escaped, 
and made his way to Paris. 
2Q 



298 THE CHRONICLES 

In a little book published by the chief spy of Bonaparte's 
police, he received honorable mention as " the most audacious 
and the most adroit" of the exiles, who could never be ensnared 
into any act furnishing a pretext even to the liberal conscience 
of a Bonaparte for his extradition. At this time the public 
opinion of Germany was much aroused by the cowardly ven- 
geance wreaked by the Prussian government on Godfrey Kin- 
kel, a townsman of Schurz's, a professor, who had joined the 
constitutional movement at the same time with himself. This 
man, a poet, of delicate frame, highly educated, and accustom- 
ed to all the refinements of life, was imprisoned at Spandau, 
twenty miles from Berlin, dressed as a convict, his hair cropped 
short, and forced to labor at wool-carding, and to room and 
mess with felons. Schurz, having determined to rescue him, 
repaired to London, collected the means, and made the ar- 
rangements. With a forged passport he traveled direct to 
Berlin, left his papers with the police over night, obtained 
a vise for some other town the next morning, and instead 
of proceeding, took lodgings in a boarding'-house. There he 
remained for six weeks, going to Spandau every day, and 
returning late at night, when the policeman was always so 
obliging as to unlock the door of his boarding-house for him. 
All the arrangements having been completed, he carried off 
Kinkel in a coach one rainy night, together with his keeper. 
Belays of horses were in readiness from station to station, 
until they reached the sea shore, where a pilot-boat received 
them. They landed at Hull or Yarmouth long before the 
government had the most remote idea of the prisoner's where- 
abouts. Coming to this country, in 1851, he registered him- 
self as a law student at Philadelphia, and sojourned there a 
number of years, occupying his time, almost exclusively, with 
the study of this country, its material and social condition, 



OF MILWAUKEE. 299 

its history, its institutions, and its future. In 1854, he re- 
moved to Watertown, Wisconsin, and entered the practice of 
the law in Milwaukee. 

Mr. Schurz has distinguished himself on the stump and in 
the lecture room, not so much for fervid eloquence as for logic 
and beautiful elaboration. His speeches aim at mathematical 
demonstration, and his enthusiasm in the cause he has espous- 
ed gives his efforts an earnestness, which is perhaps the greater 
part of honest eloquence. 

Among the Bar, E. G. Ryan, J. E. Arnold, Judge Hubbel, 
and others, are distinguished for their legal acumen and su- 
perior talents, and what is no less important, their proficiency 
in the higher walks of literature. 

The same may be said of the clergy. Such men as Rev. 
J. C. Richmond, Wm. D. Loss Love, J. L. Corning, C. D. 
Helmer, J. M. Buchanan, and N. A. Staples, have shown them- 
selves not only able expounders of the Bible, but willing and 
efficient laborers in all the humanitarian projects where in- 
tellectuality becomes a weapon. 

In the lecture room these men have ever battled for the 
same truth that they preached in the sanctuary, always prov- 
ed themselves willing to throw their talents in the scale of 
popular advancement and human progress, and established 
their own power by giving us arguments and truths that have 
been circulated and read, and will be remembered long after 
they themselves will have passed away. 

In the editorial profession it is creditable to the city to 
know that the eight newspapers are conducted by gentlemen 
both of education and talent. 

The medical profession includes a Wolcott, whose skill and 
experience, both as a physician and surgeon, have given him 
a local fame, not approached by any other of that school in 



300 THE CHRONICLES 

the city, and a Douglas (Homoeopathy,) who as a scientific 
man has attracted attention and received the meed of praise 
from the highest authorities in Europe. 

As we write, we have before us three European medical 
journals with re-prints of articles from his pen. 

Several excellent artists have made Milwaukee their home. 
Mr. S. M. Brooks, who has adorned more of the parlors of our 
city than any other man, and who has enriched the gallery of 
the State Historical Society with his pencil, is an artist of 
rare ability. His copy of Murillo's Madonna has attracted 
much attention, and is pronounced by critics a work of great 
value. 

Music teachers of the highest school, whose qualifications 
are best shown in the compositions which have enriched the 
national repertory, have been drawn to Milwaukee for reasons 
elsewhere given. 

Professors Hempsted and Kurstiener, and Mr. Sobolewski 
(author of the American opera Mohega,) have published at 
various times music, which has had other than a local sale and 
fame. 



We cannot close our sketches with a more appropriate ar- 
ticle than the following from the pen of a gentleman in this 
city, who knew Mr. Juneau well. The article has been sent 
to us, and we give it as written. 



DEATH OP SOLOMON JUNEAU. 



Solomon Juneau, in the fall of 1856, set out from Mil- 
waukee to visit the Indians in the northern part of the State, 



OF MILWAUKEE. 301 

(as had been his custom annually ever since their disappear- 
ance from the vicinity of the town,) and to transact such bus- 
iness as was customary during the payment. Although he 
seemed in excellent health when starting, several of his friends 
endeavored to dissuade him from going, intimating that he 
had arrived at an age when prudence would oppose such a 
journey. He, however, started, and it was ordered that he 
should never return alive. He was, indeed, too old to endure 
the fatigue and hardship incident to the business to be trans- 
acted with the Indians. The Menomonee payment was made 
two days before he died. Exposure to inclement weather a few 
days before had indisposed him. Nothing serious, however, 
was anticipated. During the payment he was harrassed by 
the Indians, and on retiring at night, he declared to S. W« 
Beall, of Taycheedah, that he was overcome with fatigue. On 
Thursday morning, he arose and set about the business of the 
day. He had, however, been out of his bed but a short time 
before he complained of great uneasiness, and shortly after 
paroxysms of pain supervened and groans of agony issued 
from his lips. He was immediately removed to the house of 
Mr. Pricket, and every attention in the power of those about 
him was paid to his person. The Superintendent, Dr. Huebsch- 
mann, assisted by Dr. Wiley, attended him, both gentlemen 
exhibiting the most anxious care. A few hours were sufficient 
to show how futile were all human exertions, however. The 
stubborn intensity of the malady defied the skill and art of 
the attendants. And so through the day. At four o'clock, 
the priest was introduced who administered, at his solicitation, 
the rites of the church. His malady was less severe at inter- 
vals, and at such times he conversed freely with those about 
him, directing a disposition of his property. Turning to Mr. 
Beall, he said : "It is hard to die here. I had hoped to have 



302 THE CHRONICLES 

laid my bones in Milwaukee," and immediately afterwards, 
directing his eyes upwards and crossing his hands upon his 
breast with a sigh, he said: "I come to join you, my wife." 
The slumbers of syncope supervened as the evening rolled 
on, and in this condition he lay until twenty minutes past two 
o'clock, A. M., when he breathed his last in the arms of Ben- 
jamin Hunkins, his faithful friend and constant nurse. 

Thus died Solomon Juneau, November 14th, 1856, aged 
sixty-four. His sudden death threw a gloom over the encamp- 
ment. Indians as well as white men were conscious of the 
loss. They crowded about the house and were importunate 
to get a glimpse of his body. 

Many instances occurred of individual homage. In the 
middle of the night, an old squaw of decent appearance — the 
wife of a chief — entered the apartment, and kneeling before 
the body, clasped her hands in silent prayer; then removing 
the cloth from his face, impressed her kisses upon his mouth 
and forehead, and retired as noiselessly as she had entered. 
Another clipped a lock of his hair, and charged one to deliver 
it to his children. These poor women were Catholics. 

The place of his repose was selected by the Indians them- 
selves, and the order of his funeral entrusted to Mr. Hunkins. 

ORDER OF THE FUNERAL. 

1st. Priest in canonicals, followed by an Indian choir, chant- 
ing funeral forms. 

2d. Ten Pall-bearers, four "Whites and six Indians, (Osh- 
kosh, Carron, Lancet, Ceshenah, and others.) 

3d. The employees of the Agency, male and female. 

4th. Indian women and Indians, two abreast, to the number 
of six or seven hundred. 

Appropriate services were rendered at the grave by the 



OF MILWAUKEE. 303 

priest, and a few affectionate sentences of farewell, interpreted 
to the Indians, at their request, were expressed by the agent. 
No man on the American continent won more respect and 
affection from the Indians than Solomon Juneau. He was 
one of those of whom can be said : "they wronged no man." 
In the early history of the town, when the enterprise and 
speculation of the white men demanded extortions from the 
Indians, when others pushed them rudely aside to make room 
for themselves, Solomon Juneau stood their friend; and they 
never forgot it. His liberal heart could entertain no vindic- 
tiveness, and generosity often led him to spend hundreds of 
dollars without any hope of return. 



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