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 KBITED P.Y 
 
 J/7?.S'. UKLLA FRENOIL 
 
 BLACK RIVER FALLS, WIS. 
 
 LA CROSSE, WIS. 
 '•- SKETCH BOOK COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 
 
 ■ . 73 1875. 
 
 (•- Ji '''n<e>e'l acoording to an Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by the Sketch Book "^^ 
 PublishinK Company, in the office of the Librarian "^^ 
 
 if ("(nijrrfisij at Was'liinjrtnn. &c*l?/>=, 
 
 '■t3^-'?S3Vi)-?'.)V. 
 
"p '_ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 p; 
 
 yiew of lilack Itiver Falls, Wisconsin, Engravint; 
 
 Black River Falls, Historical Sketch 
 
 Black River Falls, Business Directory 
 
 Li(e in a Country Printing Ollice 
 
 The Friendship that could not Die, a poem 
 
 Gems of Thought 
 
 The Great Debating Society, illustrated 
 
 R. Johnson^ 
 
 TuJS^ OR^OHSE 
 
 t^- 
 
 bfo 
 
 
 3bA C'ROSSB, WISCOJ^SIK. 
 
 Uives YoiinK Men, Boy.< and Women A START IN BUSINESS LIFE. It teaches tl 
 how to make Money, Become Ireful Members of Society, and Suceessfiil in Bu.-inoss. 
 
 LiFK S<-HOLARSiiii'S.— (Jent.s over 16 year-! of age ?li 00; under, Soo 00. Ladies, &10.00. 
 
 Night schools from XoTemher 1st until .March 1st. 
 
 Both Commekcial asu TEi.EfiRAHiiic Scholarships.— For Gents 880.00; Ladies, S70 00 
 
 Full course of Lectures in Business Law. 
 
 No vacations.. Students can enter at any time. Board from S3. 00 to S4.00 per week. 
 
 This Collece received the lirst prize for the best system of Bookkoepiug and Business P 
 lice at the \Visconsin and .Slinnesota State Fairs, hold at Milwaukee and St. Paul. 
 
 Enclose 3-cent stamp for .specimens of Pcnman.«hip ami information, to C.\SHEL & ROG 
 La Crosse, Wisconsin . 
 
 O E. .TONES, 
 
 PHOPRIETOH JOHES HOUSI 
 
 BLACK RIVER FALLS, WIS., 
 ALSO GENERAL AGENT FOR TR 
 BODINE MANUFACTilRING COMPANY. 
 
 Wm. ,B. HAITSCOIVEE & CO, 
 
 AND OKALERS IN 
 
 !F»i*ovi»ioii>5i, I>i'iedl K'r-wits Are., 
 
 No. 9 Main Street, 
 LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN. 
 
 ' -vl AGENIS FOIi 
 
 Anicricaii ^^tc;lll| Bafe Coiiijmi|v. llostor). 
 
 ft« 
 
I 
 
Slkck f\ivei^ J^kll^, Wi^don^in. 
 
 
 THE earliest account we have of white settlements on Black 
 River, becomes almost traditionary when details are sought 
 after. Enough is known, however, to assert safely that sometime 
 during the years 1818 or 1819, an expedition was fitted out at Prairie 
 du Chien, under the direction of one Rolette, then a prominent trader 
 at that point, which succeeded in reaching the present site of the vil- 
 lage of Black River Falls, and erecting a small saw mill, on Town 
 Creek, about seventy-five yards in the rear of the restaurant building 
 of R. D. Squires. 
 
 Whether the expeditionists proposed to locate permanently at the 
 "Falls" cannot be ascertained, but whatever their intentions may 
 have been, they were prematurely frustrated by the Winnebago Indi- 
 ans, who burned the mill before it was fairly in operation, and drove 
 the lumbermen ofi" down the river. 
 
 Here it might be proper to state, that the territory bordering on 
 and contiguous to Black River, then belonged to the Indians, who did 
 not cede away their right to it until 1838. The Winnebagoes claimed to 
 own the land from the east fo]k of Black River, east to the Wisconsin 
 River, west to Beef Slough upon the Mississippi River ; thence south 
 to the mouth of the Wisconsin River, On the east side of the last 
 named river,were located the Menominee Indians, with whom the Win- 
 nebagoes intermarried and fraternized generally. North of the ter- 
 ritory claimed by the Winnebagoes, were the Chippewas, occupying a 
 vast extent of country, bounded on the west by the Mississippi River, 
 and by Lake Superior on the north. 
 
 From the time that Rolette's expeditionists were driven of!" the river, 
 there was no attempt to effect a settlement at the "Falls," until late 
 19 
 
158 American Shetch Booh 
 
 in the spring of 1839, (the Indiana having the year before ceded to 
 the Government all the lands on Black River claimed by them,) when 
 an expedition was organized at Prairie du Chien for a permanent set- 
 tlement and the improvement of the water-power at Black River Falls, 
 ty Robert and Andrew Wood, who had in their employ Jacob Spaul- 
 ding, millwright; Joseph and Alonzo Stickney, Iliram Yeatman, 
 Isaac Van Nostrand, John Anglemiller, Robert Sawyer, Joel Lemon 
 and thirteen others. 
 
 The party, under the leadership of the Wood Brothers, reached La 
 Crosse (then a naked prairie, except as the Indians temporarily set 
 up their wigwams there,) by steamboat, by which, in those days, not 
 more than two trips were made during the running season, from St. 
 Louis to forts ahmg the river, and to Fort Snelling, just above the 
 present site of the city of St. Paul, in Minnesota. 
 
 At La Crosse prairie, the party stopped long enough to construct a 
 flat-bottomtd craft, called a keel-boat, being sixty feet in length and 
 five in width, on which the freight was to be transported up the Black 
 River. Perhaps a description of the manner in which such boats 
 are propelled might be interesting, it now being a question of the past, 
 but new to many that may read this sketch. Upon each gunwale of 
 the boat was fixed a running board (so called) wide enough for a man 
 to Walk upon comfortably, without endangering his balance, if sober ; 
 the boat, being loaded with perhaps ten tons of freight, was headed 
 up Black River from La Crosse prairie, with a crew of from seven to 
 nine men. One steered, while the others, equally divided, placed 
 themselves on the running board, facing the stern of the boat, each 
 having a straight, smooth pole, from ten to fifteen feet in length, the 
 butt end resting on the bed of the river, while the other end found a 
 lodgment firmly against the shoulder ; the whole force and weight 
 of the man being exerted upon it, as he walked the running board in 
 a stooping position, from bow to stern; when the stern was gained the 
 man came to a right about, and reaching the bow, the poles were again 
 set, and the power in question again exerted. About twenty miles 
 per day was good progress up against the current. For years after 
 the first settlement of the country, the supplies for the settlers were 
 nearly all brought up the Black River upon that class of boats; and 
 to be a good hand with a boat pole was no slight recommendation, as 
 it required a full grown and well developed man to endure the kind 
 of work above described for four successive days, that being about the 
 average time required to make a trip from La Crosse Prairie to Black 
 
Black River Falls^ Wisconsin. 15^ 
 
 River Falls; for the shoulder against which the end of the pole was 
 pressed and the hack of the uninitiate*! suffered fearfully. Judge 
 Price used to claim that he weighed five hundred pounds on the end 
 of the pole, and in the usually modest style of keel-boat days, asserted 
 that he could out-pole any living "he," and could make a boat-trip to 
 the "Prairie" and back, quicker than any man on Black River; and 
 perhaps the assertion was nearly true. 
 
 But without digressing further, the party having completed and 
 loaded their boat, started up Black River, arriving at the "Falls" 
 about the first day of August, after a wearisome trip of seven days 
 from the mouth of the river. Twenty-eight head of cattle arrived at 
 the same time, having been driven overland through the wilderness, 
 from Illinois. No one of the small party thus landing at the " Falls" 
 probably surmised that it was to form a nucleus around which would 
 be in a comparatively few years gathered the ten thousand people now 
 composing the population of eTackson County, or that any individual of 
 that party would survive to see erected magnificent blocks of brick 
 buildings for business purposes, or a thirty thousand dollar school- 
 house, or a half dozen church buildings, or would hear the shrill whistle 
 of the locomotive, that great harbinger of business and progress, almost 
 within a stone's throw of the wild spot they had reached. But they 
 knew positively that they were over one hundred miles from any other 
 white settlement ; that the vast country was around them, that they 
 were surrounded by teacherous natives on every side, who would look 
 upon them with jealous eyes, as intruders upon their choicest hunt- 
 ing grounds ; that they were away beyond the verge of civilization, 
 and that the life before them was one of toil, hardship and privation. 
 Brave men were they, and such as they have opened up the wilderness 
 of thirty-five years ago, so that to-day it blossoms as the rose, and 
 its iriiiabitants are as highly favored with social, educational and relig- 
 ious advantages, as are the denizens of the original thirteen states. 
 
 Our adventurers, immediately on their arrival, commenced and soon 
 after completed a double log cabin, located on the south bank of 
 Town Creek, north, and a little east of the present site of Spaulding 
 Block, on Water street. That done, the party commenced getting 
 out timber for the frame of a small saw mill, which was erected the 
 following spring, on Town Creek, very near the point where the bridge 
 now spans it. About that time, Spaulding, Andrew Wood, Joseph 
 Stickney and Hiram Yeatman started down the river in a canoe, and 
 upon arriving at Prairie du Chien, Stickney and Yeatman went ashore 
 
160 Amei'ican Shetcli Boole. 
 
 and did not return to the "Falls'* for some years. Spaulding and 
 Wood, however, kept on down tlie river to Warsaw, Illinois, and there 
 purchased the neccessary iron and machinery for their proposed mill 
 at the "Falls." 
 
 From thence, Wood returned to his old home at Quincy, Illinois, to 
 remain until the following spring. Spaulding in charge of the mate- 
 rial, was fortunate enough to get it conveyed by the only steamboat that 
 traveled the upper Mississippi, on its second and last trip for the sea- 
 son, to and landed at, Prairie du Chicn. He then hastened back to 
 the " Falls," for the boat herein before described, with a crew to 
 transport the machinery and supplies he had purchased. But upon 
 reaching there, he learned that a party of Indians, that had been 
 hunting in the neighborhood, having been successful in securing a 
 lar>^e quantity of game, had, before his arrival, taken the boat, which 
 at the time was tied up some distance below the Falls, without license, 
 and having loaded it with a large number of elk, bear and deer car- 
 casses, started with it down the river. Spaulding gave chase, and 
 succeeded in finding his boat, minus Indians, at a point a short dis- 
 tance this side of Decorab's Village, and as soon as possible he got 
 together a crew, and started down after his goods. Reaching Prairie 
 du Chien, he took them aboard in a hurry, as winter was fast ap- 
 proaching, and returning, he reached Winneshiek, now in Vernon 
 County, where his boat was frozen in hard and fast. Finding that 
 winter was upon him in earnest, he, with the crew started on 
 foot, by the way of the river, to the Falls, a distance of one hundred 
 and forty miles. Arriving safely about the first of January, 1840, 
 he immediately set at work preparing teams for a trip to the boat. 
 Fifteen of what were called in those days " moose sleds " were hastily 
 constructed, calculated for a single ox as a team, having thills tied to 
 the single yoke. It was found that a team of that description would 
 haul fifteen hundred pounds of freight on the ice. Everything being 
 in readiness, Spaulding, with his " moose train," of fifteen oxen 
 started down the ice for Winneshiek, arriving there abouljthe middle 
 of January, and, re-shipping his goods from the boat, he started back, 
 he himself acting pilot on the ice ahead of the teams, as there was 
 very peculiar ice that winter, defective and sound so joined on the 
 surface that it took experienced eyes to distinguish one class from 
 the other. The most careful supervision did not save men and teams 
 from involuntary cold baths in Mississippi River water. The party, 
 however, arrived at the Falls without loss, except now and then a man 
 
Black River Palls ^ Wisconsin. liSl 
 
 lost his temper, as lie unwittingly slumped through the ice into the 
 river water, with the thermometer at thirty degrees below zero. It is 
 said that some very good men of that party swore like troopers at 
 their mishaps in the line of accidents in the character mentioned. 
 
 The claim that the Woods made upon their arrival at the Falls was 
 not run out with a compass, but it appeared that they understood 
 it to include the water power at that point, and all the land adjoining 
 on either side of the river. 
 
 Shortly after the arrival of Spaulding and his moose train from 
 below, the Indian chief Menominee, with a party of thirty or forty 
 braves, arrived at the Falls, with the expressed intention of forcing 
 the whites to evacuate the country, supposing that they were not ad- 
 vised of a late treaty whereby the Indians had ceded to the govern- 
 ment all their right to it. 
 
 The Indians remained several days, living oflF the whites, in the 
 meantime making some purchases, but finally demanded perempto- 
 rily that Spaulding and his men should leave the river, peaceably, if 
 he would, but declared that they must go. If the chief and his braves 
 had at the time been better and more intimately acquainted with the 
 man they had undertaken to bluif, they would have known that he 
 never moved very fast in a direction he disliked to travel ; but it being 
 their first introduction, they imagined their man considerably fright- 
 eneJ. Spaulding, however, had made up his mind to stay, and that 
 instead of the whites leaving, the Indians should "git up and git," 
 and he so managed as to get all the Indians into one part of his double 
 log cabin ; then he had his seventeen men by ones and twos, get into 
 the other where all their arms were, and soon every white man was 
 armed and ready for a fight. The Indians, in the meantime, were in 
 blissful ignorance of the "good time coming," and supposing " every- 
 thing to be lovely," were patiently waiting for Spaulding's reply to 
 their ultimatum. It came in the shape of Spaulding with seventeen 
 rifles at his back.^ who in a moment had them surrounded and at his 
 mercy. Calling them out, he ordered them to leave, and to be quick 
 about it, too, never to return on a similar errand ; and they left. 
 Thenceforward Menominee was, until his death, a fast friend of Spaul- 
 ding, probably having at their first introduction discovered a few ob- 
 stinate traits in his character that he loved. 
 
 Spaulding and the men left in his charge, in the meantime con- 
 tinued getting out timber for the mill frame, and for other purposes, 
 until about the last of February, when their supplies ran out, and 
 
162 American Shetcli Booh. 
 
 Robert Wood and all the men left for the lower country, leaving 
 Spaulding alone, the only white man on the river at the time ; but 
 one vih.0 was determined that the Wood's claim should not be aban- 
 doned for a day ! With his rifle, he supplied himself with meat, upon 
 which he dieted exclusively until the twenty-first of the following 
 March. About this time, the river having opened, the Woods returned 
 with a party of eight men, including among them William Paulley, 
 who subsequently acquired considerable notoriety by killing Moses 
 Clark, at Niellsville, in Clark County. After the arrival of the Woods 
 party, the mill on Town Creek was speedily erected and in running 
 order. Shortly after that the Woods concluded that Spaulding was 
 one too many, and ejected him vi et armis (he having before that time 
 acquired an interest in the claim at the Falls.) Seeing that there 
 was too heavy a force for him to contend successfully against, he 
 wended his way down to Prairie du Chien, where he procured legal 
 process, and returned with the sheriff, who placed him in possession as 
 joint tenant. Crawford County, at that date, embraced about all the 
 northwestern part of the state- 
 
 During the autumn of 1840, Spaulding and the Woods commenced 
 the erection of their second and larger mill in the present site of the 
 extensive saw and flouring mills of D. J. Spaulding, Esq., and it was 
 got in running order during the spring of 1841. By that time, it 
 was discovered that Spaulding and the Wood Brothers could not do 
 business together amicably, and their disagreements resulted in the 
 brothers selling out to Spaulding all their interest at the Falls for 
 four hundred thousand feet of lumber, payable in three installments 
 at Quincy, Illinois, independent of an agreement on Spaulding's part 
 to pay off" the firm debts, then amounting to about five thousand dol- 
 lars. The Woods then left the country, and were no more hea d of 
 on Black River, except in connection with subsequent attempts to re- 
 gain the property thus transfeVred to Spaulding, of which mention will 
 be made hereafter. 
 
 The year 1841 closed upon the settlers at the Falls without the occur- 
 rence of any noteworthy incidents. The mills in question were com- 
 pleted and in running order, Spaulding had commenced clearing up 
 land for a farm, near the present residence of his son, D. J. Spaulding. 
 
 The country bordering on Black River was found to be full of wild 
 game. Elk v.ere found along the whole length of the Trempealeau 
 Valley. The creeks were dammed by beaver at short intervals from 
 source to mouth. It is not a wonder that the demoralized remnant of 
 
Black River Falls^ Wisconsin. 163 
 
 the Winnebagoes are yet seen in our midst, disliking to leave the 
 country of their birth, preferring rather to discard the breech-clout 
 and blanket, and don the style of dress usually worn by white men, 
 as well as effecting permanent settlements, and commencing to avail 
 themselves of the advantages of civilized life. 
 
 During the year, a delegation of Mormons came up from Nauvoo, 
 Illinois^ in order to procure lumber for their temple, and to that end 
 and purpose, they purchased a half interest in a saw mill some miles 
 below the falls, intending to cut their logs above the falls and run 
 them down to their mill. About the time that winter set in, Spaul- 
 diiig was advised that the Mormon Elder had revealed to his brethren 
 that he should log off Spaulding's claim that winter, (it being on the 
 cast side of Black River, and below the present site of Campbell's 
 mill site,) he claiming that the wilderness was the Lord's and the ful- 
 ness thereof, and that no gentile claim would be respected by the 
 saints. Spaulding at once concluded that the genuiness of the rev- 
 elation should be thoroughly tested if the threatening attempt was 
 made. He had not long to wait, for within a week the Mormon 
 logging crew were on the way up to the claim, while Spaulding, 
 advised of their movements, had fully made up his mind to butt 
 against the revelation and try titles with the saints, got together about 
 twenty of his men, well armed with carnal weapons, and started up 
 after them, the distance being about eight miles. Halting his men 
 before he reached the Mormon camp, he went ahead to see what the 
 prospect was, and found the saints had been at work like beavers, 
 having fallen about one hundred trees. Finding the Elder, Spaulding 
 enquired of him whether he was aware that he was trespassing on 
 another's claim. The Elder answered that it did not make any dif- 
 ference whether he was or not ; that he should cut timber wherever 
 he could find it; that he had located his camp, and he intended to log 
 there that winter at all events. Spaulding being provoked at the tone 
 adopted by the follower of the great Joseph, intimated pretty emphat- 
 ically that he'd be d d if he should cut another tree on that claim ; 
 
 and hallooed for his men, who were soon upon the spot, completely 
 surprising the crew of lumbering saints- "Now," says Spaulding, 
 to the Elder, " I'll give you an hour to get out of this, and if you 
 are not off in that time, there may not be more saints in Heaven ; but 
 there will be fewer on earth, I'm certain," The Mormons finding 
 themselves at Spaulding's mercy, geared up their teams, and were off 
 down the river within the allotted time, grumbling as they went that 
 
164 American Shetcli Booh. 
 
 such treatment was as bad as that received from the Missourians. As 
 soon as the chief Mormon at their mill down the river heard the facts 
 connected with the retreat of their loggers from Spaulding's claim, he 
 grew exceedingly wroth, and vowed that he would force the gen- 
 tiles to leave the river, and immediately dispatched a messenger to 
 Nauvoo for sixty men and one hundred guns. Spaulding, in the 
 meantime, being advised of such movement, and being satisfied that 
 he could not muster sufficient force to meet the Mormons should they 
 be reinforced, as expected, at once hastened down to Prairie du Chien 
 to interview the commander of the United States troops, garrisoned 
 at Fort Crawford, on the subject of the contemplated raid. The 
 officer in command, after hearing Spaulding's statement, assured him 
 that he should have all necessary assistance in event of trouble. But 
 a friend of the Mormons being at Prairie du Chien at the time, learned 
 that Spaulding had been promised the aid of United States troops in 
 repelling the Mormon forces, and on his return home advised the 
 saints to let the gentiles alone, as otherwise there would be a good show 
 of having to meet a detachment of the regular army of the United 
 States. Such news cooled off the warlike propensities of the saints 
 to such extent that when the reinforcement of men and arms arrived, 
 the men were put at work, and the arms and munitions of war were 
 stored away until a more favorable opening occurred for their use. 
 From that date, on during their stay on the river, the Mormons 
 "wooed you as gently as any sucking dove," making no more threats 
 of using force to accomplish their mission, but were in all respects 
 peaceable, industrious and well disposed citizens. 
 
 During the fall of 1851, Spaulding moved his family to the Falls, 
 from Prairie du Chien, his family at the time consisting of his wife 
 and son, Dudley J., a lad of some six years. The same season, how- 
 ever, his family was increased by the advent of a daughter, Mary J. 
 now the wife of one of our leading traders. 
 
 The year 1842 passed over the Falls settlement without any mate- 
 rial change or improvement of a noteworthy character. 
 
 During the spring of 1843, Spaulding sold to the Mormons the 
 Falls mill property, for twenty thousand dollars, payable mostly in 
 lumber. The property in question, at the time, consisted of the small 
 saw mill on Town Creek, and the larger one on the river, the latter 
 completed except the running gears on one side ; the log cabin, 
 spoken of as the first building erected ; a small one story frame board- 
 ing house, located near the present site of A. Wehinger's store building 
 
Btaclc Hiver Falls, Wisconsin. 165 
 
 on Water street ; one other log cabin on what is now the northwest 
 corner of Main and Water streets ; a blacksmith shop on the present 
 site of Patrick Roddy's place of business, on Water street, and in- 
 cluding the claim to territory first made by the Wood brothers The 
 new occupants of the property were very devout in their way, had 
 stated preaching regularly every Sabbath, and the attendance of the 
 " latter day saints " on the " means of grace " was punctual to an ex- 
 treme. Among their Sabbath congregations, were frequently to be 
 seen outsiders, whose curiosity prompted their presence at the Mor- 
 mon tabernacle. Old Paul Knight, the mill wright, who subsequently 
 became well known to everybody living on Black River, had that 
 summer, (1843) in his wanderings '• up and down the earth " struck 
 the river, and finding his business prospectively good, he concluded 
 to make the Falls Lis headquarters ; and one pleasant Sunday morn 
 ing, being rather strongly under '* spirituous influence," he found 
 his way into the Mormon sanctuary, where Elder Lyman White was 
 vigorously dispensing the gospel from the Mormon standpoint to 
 the faithful, and unraveling the wonderous mysteries thereof, in a 
 style so new and original'as to speedily gain Paul's undivided atten- 
 tion, he in his then mellow condition, being peculiarily impressible, 
 and open to convicion. The devout elder, in the course of his remarks, 
 made the following : " that he would rather'go to hell willingly, than 
 be forced into heaven." The preacher's idea struck Paul forcibly, 
 and he immediately bur.-^t out with " You would, would you? " As 
 soon as the elder recovered from his astonishment at the unseemly in- 
 terruption, he replied "that he mast certainly would," "Bully for 
 
 you, by G d ! " shouted i'aul, endeavoring to rise to his feet in 
 
 his excitement, but losing the perpendicular, he pitched forward head 
 foremost among the multitude, completely overcome by his emotions, 
 a striking example of the effect of new and startling theological ideas 
 suddenly developed in men of Paul's sensitive nature and impulsive 
 temperament. Such incidents may sound rough, profane, and perhaps 
 vulgar, to the more refined taste of these modern days, but as a e- 
 racious chronicler of times when rough men were common, I cannot 
 well omit one now and then ; besides the recital of tlie above will at 
 once bring out " old Paul" in review before the mind's eye of his old 
 acquaintances who survive him, and who will remember him with all 
 his eccentricities, virtues and failings ; so I leave the question of pro- 
 priety to future commentators. 
 On the seventh day of June, 181:4, Joseph Smith, the founder of 
 
166 American Sketch Book. 
 
 Mormonism, was killed by a mob at Carthage, Illinois. Spaulding at 
 the time was at Warsaw, eighteen miles from there, and was the first 
 to inform the followers of Smith at the Falls of the violent death of 
 their great leader and prophet. They were thunderstruck at the news, 
 and some were loud in expressing their utter disbelief of the unwel- 
 come tidings, claiming that he could not be killed by any bullet run 
 by mortal hands ; bnt conviction of the truth of the report gradually 
 fastened itself in their minds. Then commenced preparations for their 
 immediate departure. All business was stopped ; laborers were called 
 in, and the preliminaries for a speedy exodus was arranged. Spaul- 
 ding at once, by request of the Mormons, took back and again became 
 owner of the Falls property, while they rafted up what lumber they 
 had on hand, and a few days later had bidden good bye to Black 
 River as an organized community. But during the year they had 
 been in possession of the Falls property, they had improved it by 
 completely finishing the larger saw mill, erecting a commodious ware- 
 house, and by putting up some half dozen comfortable dwelling houses. 
 
 During the summer of 1845, Levi S. Avery had a call to Black 
 River, and like all other men receiving calls where there is a prospect 
 of bettering their condition financially, he accepted it, and has, 
 through good and evil report, remained ever since, and for some years 
 past he has been permanently located at the Falls. A carpenter and 
 joiner by trade, he has shoved the jack plane to considerable extent. 
 He was head sawyer in several saw mills on the river, in early times 
 when it was considered respectable to own one. He served as sheriff 
 one terra, and as county clerk two terms, and is now the proprietor of 
 the principle furniture store in town. 
 
 Late that fall, lion. AV. T. Price, known in early times as "Bill," 
 in later years as " Judge," moved in from the vicinity of Mount 
 Pleasant, Iowa, bringing along (as he intended to locate permanently 
 on the River) the entire amount of his worldly goods of every variety, 
 which were appraised by disinterested people at the time of his arrival 
 after a critical examination, at seventy-five cents, which amount in- 
 cluded his wearing apparel and personal ornaments. Like all new 
 comers in those days, he at once commenced lumbering, and to a greater 
 or less extent has ever since been engaged in that business ; but aside 
 from tbat he practiced law successfully from 1854 to 1859, his firm, 
 Johnston & Price, being the first law firm established on the River. 
 Subsequent to that he has owned and sold stores of goods, has been 
 an extensive stage-line proprietor, a railway president, and moreover 
 
'^- 
 
 Black River Falls ^ Wisconsin. 167 
 
 has been prominently identified with the interests and material pro- 
 gress of the Falls, since his advent. An ardent partizaa in politics, 
 he has several times represented his district in both branches of the 
 state legislature, and while his religious views may not at all times 
 have been strictly evangelical, his always liberal donations to the 
 churches have almost convinced clergymen that it is barely possible 
 that a man can be saved by works alone. 
 
 The same fall C. R. Johnston came up Black River as far as the 
 "Douglass Mills." at North Bend, in the present town of Melrose, 
 for the purpose of assisting in running a raft of lumber from there to 
 Galena, Illinois. 
 
 To give a general idea of the character and variety of goods in 
 most cammon use, the following is selected at random from the old 
 account book of a trader at the Falls in 1843, which is now in the 
 possession of Jacob Spaulding, Esq. : 
 
 1843 
 
 A. ANDERSON, 
 
 D^ 
 
 Sept. 4 
 
 Sept. 23 
 
 To Christletts put in watch 
 
 " 1 pair shoes 
 
 " 1 quart tohisk 
 
 " cash paid S. Reeves 
 
 " 2 plugs of tobacco 
 
 *' 1 quart w his 
 
 " 3 plugs tobacco 
 
 " 1 quart of whis 
 
 '' 2 pints of whis 
 
 " bala?ice on settlement 
 
 " 4 bottles whis - 
 
 " A pints whis 
 
 " 1 plug tobacco 
 
 38 
 00 
 2b 
 00 
 25 
 25 
 38 
 2d 
 25 
 50 
 50 
 50 
 13 
 
 The wants of the people were few, but the reader will see at once 
 that prominent among those wants were whisky and tobacco. 
 
 Without whisky it wasn't supposed that a child could be properly 
 ushered into this world of care and trouble, or the body of a friend 
 suitably planted in its last resting place. Friends used it at meeting, 
 and took a drink at parting, with frequent drinks ad interim. The 
 use of it commenced and consumated agreements. Games of cards 
 were played ; rifles were shot at marks ; quoits were pitched and feot 
 races were run for it. The flour might give out, and the pork barrel 
 be found empty, without creating alarm, but let the whisky jug or 
 barrel fail to "give down," then there was an uproar in the camp, only 
 to be quieted by a new supply. There is a legend that a boat load of 
 supplies, in early settlement days, consisted of about ten barrels of 
 flour, five of pork and twenty-five of whisky. But it is probable that 
 
168 American Shetch BooTc. 
 
 the whisky of twenty-five or thirty years ago was a different and much 
 safer drink than are most of the miserable compounds and concoctions 
 now sohl and used under the name. 
 
 After the losging season of the winter of 1846 was over, and after 
 the completion of sundry jobs on the river, W. T. Price engaged him- 
 self to Jacob Spaulding as foreman and clerk, at a salary of three hun- 
 dred dollars for the first year, and in that position remained for several 
 years, ending with a salary at seven hundred dollars per annum. 
 
 That spring, C- R. Johnson returned to Black River, and located at 
 the falls, where he has since constantly resided, except when absent 
 in the Mexican war and the war of the rebellion. At that time the 
 white women at the Falls can easily be enumerated, and were as fol- 
 lows; Mrs. Jacob Spaulding, Mrs- Iliram Yeatman, Mrs. Joseph 
 Stickney, Mrs Joseph Clancey and j\Irs. Henry Ehner, the latter of 
 German birth. She at the time was chief cook at the boarding house, 
 but is now the wife of Frank Fate. Mrs. Elmer, or "Barbara," as 
 she was more familiarly called in those days, cooked the rations for 
 about thirty men employed by Spaulding that season, besides providing 
 for all chance comers, and there were many of them; but then she 
 had no "knick knacks " to conjure up to tickle or sweeten the palates 
 of epicurians. Breakfast was made up of good, hard, flour bread, 
 and of chunks of salt pork fried in slices, averaging an inch in thick- 
 ness. Dinner brought a change to boiled pork, while supper was the 
 same as breakfast. The diet named Avas frequently enriched by a 
 jdate of bean soup at dinner. Venison also sometimes afforded a 
 change ; but pork and bread was the staple diet, and it was heartily 
 relished by the hardy men who ate because they were hungry. The 
 boarding house in question was the only public bouse at the Falls, at 
 that time being a rough framed building, about 18x20, one story, with 
 a tolerable high roof, under Avhich upon a double loose floor there 
 generally slept of a night from thirty to forty men, Avho Avere, for 
 want of room, obliged to adopt the "spoon fashion " in composing 
 themselves for a night's rest. 
 
 During the summer an itinerant preacher, professing to be of the 
 Baptist persuasion, named SnoAV, sometimes held forth to such 
 audiences as would gather to hear him. He did not profess to be 
 college " eddicated, " and took some pride in the fact that he had no 
 "larnin" Avhatever, being utterly unable to read. His meetings at 
 first attracted some little attention, from the fact that his wife read 
 the scripture lessons and hymns, while he expounded the word. He 
 
Black River Falls, Wisconsin. 169 
 
 insisted that the people around him did not search the scriptures to 
 the extent they ought, and that their daily walk and conversation was 
 a long way outside the divine requirements. He was nearly correct 
 in that. After a while, however, the people found him to be a most 
 unconscionable liar, and his usefulness as a minister considerably im- 
 paired thereby. He left the country the following year, went to Iowa, 
 and there being found with a halter in his hand and a horse that did 
 not belong to him at the further end of it, he was sent to the peniten- 
 tiary for a term of years. 
 
 During the summer of 1846, Spaulding commenced the erection of 
 the " Shanghai house," which was completed late in the fall, and 
 ready to be opened for public accommodation. It was the most prom- 
 inent building on the river, at the time, having a frontage of some 
 sixty feet, on Water street, a depth of some thirty-six feet, and being 
 two stories high, finished up with dressed lumber inside and out. It 
 was regarded as a master-piece in design and finish. Its distinguished 
 name was not affixed to it by the proprietor, Spaulding, but was origi- 
 nated by others, some time after its completion, and who so named it 
 on the same principle that they would have named a man "Shanghai " 
 who dressed better than ^his neighbors ; for the Falls people were 
 essentially democratic in their theory and practice, and frowned 
 upon any attempt to improve the appearance of shoe leather with 
 polish blacking, or Avearing a silk hat when the neighbors all wore 
 wool ; and the man that had the hardihood to appear publicly in 
 broadcloth while others wore suits of buckskin, heard comments upon 
 his appearance more emphatic than commendatory. Times have 
 changed since then, when, as a general thing, all met upon one com- 
 mon level, without the restraints and hair-splitting distinctions which 
 a more advanced civilization is sure to impose. It may be that life is 
 made more enjoyable as it is made to conform to the rules and regu- 
 lations, which govern fashionable society, but its an open question. In 
 the times of which I write, there were none in the settlement but would, 
 upon notice, drop their work and travel miles to visit and nurse a sick 
 neighbor, without even enquiring about his political, religious or social 
 status ; it was sufficient to know that he was in trouble and needed 
 help. In all public gatherings, on festive and other occasions, every- 
 body attended and participated, while none of the " I am better than 
 thou " feeling was apparent in social intercourse. Ministers, lawyers 
 and doctors were scarce, consequently people were generally healthy, 
 
170 American Shetoh Book. 
 
 litigation was unthought of in the settlement of differences, and no 
 person's religious opinions were a subject of criticism. 
 
 The Shanghai House upon completion, was immediately openel, 
 under the supervision of Isaac Van Nostrand, who initiated his advent 
 as landlord with a regular house-warming. A general invitation was 
 extended, and people came from one to ninety miles. Dancing com- 
 menced, and continued for fifty successive hours , , one lot of dancers 
 would tire out, but another would be on hand to fill the vacancy. The 
 "bar" below was in the full tide of successful operation, ami the 
 quantity of the "Pike" brand of whisky consumed would be fearful 
 to contemplate in these latter days ; but then, it only appeared to ag- 
 gravate the intense desire of every man in the crov/d to have a regular 
 carnival of jollity, and they had it. 
 
 That season came George Wilson and family, and located at the 
 Falls, and he was one the first to erect a frame dwelling house, which, 
 with enlargments and improvements, is now occupied by Michael 
 Conlan, Esq. 
 
 The first common school enterprise on Black River, was started by 
 Spaulding at the Falls, during |the month of February, 1847, by 
 fittirigjUp a school room in an addition to the old boarding house be- 
 fore mentioned. In dimensions, it was 9x15 feet in tlie clear, and 
 was lighted by one window. C. R. Johnson, who was at the time, 
 like Micawber, "waiting for something to turn up," was engaged to 
 run the school at twelve dollars per month, and no perquisites, al- 
 though allowed the privilege of boarding around among the fortunate 
 parents of children attending school. The following named persons 
 sent pupils : Jacob Spaulding, two ; Hiram Yeatman, two ; George 
 Wilson, two; another Wilson, two; Henry Elmer, three; Isaac 
 Van Nostrand, three ; total, fourteen. 
 
 During the preceding fall, a wagon road had been cut through from 
 Prairie du Chien to the Falls, and at that time there was no wagon 
 road from La Crosse Prairie to the Falls, simply a trail for foot and 
 horsemen. 
 
 During the spring and summer of 1847, sawed lumber sold in Du- 
 buque and Galena markets at eight dollars per thousand feet, paid for 
 partly in cash and partly in supplies. At the Falls but little money 
 changed hands, business being almost exclusively on the credit system. 
 The Shanghai House saloon would sometimes have a lively run of 
 business for an entire day without a single drink being paid for in 
 
Black River Falls, Wisconsin. 171 
 
 money. Sometimes a drinking crowd of thirty or forty men would 
 keep the bar-tender busy for an hour at a time, too busy, in fact, to 
 charge the amount due for men calling for drinks, but as soon a,s a 
 lull did occur, it not being possible for him to remember precisely who 
 had stood the various treats, he equalized matters by charging each 
 man in the room a dollar, dt a venture, and was then ready for a new 
 run upon his supplies. 
 
 Politically, the people were all Democrats, except perhaps a half- 
 dozen Whigs, among whom were C. R. Johnson, L. S. Avery and 
 James MacLaughlin. 
 
 One day in March, 1847, in the bar-room of the Shanghai House, 
 there was a crowd of some fifteen or twenty persons, and during an 
 interval between drinks, W. T. Price, in view of the fact of the ma- 
 terial progress and advanced stage of civilization to which the people 
 of the Falls had attained, offered a resolution to the effect that the 
 services of some kind of a preacher were imperatively demanded. 
 The idea was favorably received, but what particular denomination 
 should have the preference was a question not so easily determined, 
 and elicited considerable discussion ; but after a drink all around the 
 matter was submitted to a vote, and resulted in favor of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. Price then, as ever since has been the case, in- 
 sisted that what little religion there was outside the Methodist church 
 was not sufficient to give a soul much of an outfit for the great Here- 
 after, During the following summer in response to an application 
 for a minister, founded on the proceedings and vote above mentioned, 
 the Rev. R. R. Wood was sent to the Falls as a stationed preacher. 
 The elder soon came to the conclusion that the people around him 
 needed regeneration badly, and zealously set himself at work to effect 
 a reformation, but he had unusual difficulties to contend against in his 
 praiseworthy undertaking. For instance, he would sometimes have 
 (as it would appear to him) an encouraging season of labor with some 
 one of the young men around, and at its close the elder would be as- 
 tonished by a hearty slap on the shoulder from the seriously disposed 
 subject, accompanied with an urgent invitation to take " something," 
 or, while holding divine service in the dining room of the Shanghai 
 House, on a Sabbath morn, he was frequently obliged to send into the 
 adjoining saloon and cause a game of twenty deck poker to be inter- 
 rupted, in order that one of the demoralized players might go into 
 the meeting and start a tune for the singers ; the player would read- 
 ily consent, but immediately afterwards would return to the bar-room 
 
172 American Shetcli Booh. 
 
 and resume his game, congratulating himself in the meantime in his 
 ability to serve God and mammon cfi'cctually the same forenoon. 
 The elder, however, was Avell kept, and if he did not succeed remark- 
 ably well in organizing a church during his stay on the river, he 
 could not complain of any want of material comforts, or of any wil- 
 ful disrespect to his calling as a minister. Ever since the advent of 
 Mr. Wood there has been a regular stationed minister of tliat denom- 
 ination at the Falls, and being the first organized, it has always been 
 the leading church of the village to the present time, and it is gen- 
 erally presided over by as able clergymen as are found in the confer- 
 ence district to which it is attached. 
 
 The June rise of the water in Black River of 1847, was the highest 
 known to the settlers, being some twenty-four feet above low water 
 mark. The large saw mill of Spaulding's was carried away from its 
 rocky foundation, and the wreck floated in pieces down the river with 
 all the stock of logs intended for the summer's use. The Falls was 
 thus left without a mill, the small mill on Town Creek having some 
 time before been taken down. But immediate preparations were made 
 to erect a new and larger mill upon the same site, and which was 
 completed the following year by Thomas Patterson, the contractor, 
 now deceased, but in early times was well known as a member of the 
 lower falls mill firm of Patterson & Brockway. 
 
 The year 1817 closed without further noteworthy changes at the 
 Falls. Less than a dozen of the adult residents of the village nttliat 
 time are now living, and those are easily named, viz. Jacob Spaulding, 
 W. T. Price, C. R. Johnson, Hiram Yeatman, Joseph and Alonzo 
 Stickney, Isaac Van Nostrai.d and wife and Joseph Clancey and wife. 
 Of the above named, Amos Elliott came on the river and located at 
 the Falls in August, 1845. By trade a carpenter and joiner, he fol- 
 lowed the business one season after his arrival, then engaged in lum- 
 bering operations, and has so been engaged as logger and mill owner 
 to the present date, doing for a large portion of the time an extensive 
 and profitable business. 
 
 During the year in question the first government surveys of the 
 Black River country were commenced, the first contract being for the 
 " running out " of township lines, the territory about the Falls not 
 being fully surveyed and in market until the latter part of 1849. 
 
 During the years 1848 and 1840, the village received but few addi- 
 tions to its population, and but little increase in its business. 
 
 In 1828, James M. Garrett, afterwards a well known lumberman 
 
Black River Falls, Wisconsin. 173 
 
 located at the Falls, and his firm of Curts A: Garrett was well and 
 extensively known until its dissolution in 1855. 
 
 During the year 184i», a state road was surveyed throut^h from 
 Prairie du Chien to Hudson, being the first legal highway laid out in 
 this part of the state. In that connection there is a tradition, that 
 the commissioners caused a mile post to be driven into the ground 
 whenever their gallon jug of brandy failed to give down, (they had it 
 along by the barrel) and so uniform were their potations in frequency 
 and quantity, that it is said that the distance between an two posts 
 so stuck, between the points above named, did not in any instance 
 vary more than a rod from a true mile ! Jacob Spaulding, was the 
 surveyor accompanying the commissioners, is yet living, and if closely 
 questioned may add some interesting details of that survey, as well 
 as confirm the above tradition, perhaps. 
 
 During the year the lands about the Falls came into market, and 
 Andrew Wood took out apreemption, and within a week after had se 
 cured a United States patent for the quarter section of land covering 
 the water power and all the improvements at the Falls. His reason 
 for such course was that Spaulding had failed to pay him and his 
 brother for the property as agreed. The fact was, that two out of 
 the installments of the lumber due the Woods were received and used 
 by them, while the last installment was run and delivered to them, but 
 before they could dispose of it the creditors of the old firm of Woods 
 <& Spaulding, siezed the lumber and sold it to satisfy their claims 
 which the Woods had ageed to pay, as Spaulding states it. When 
 Spaulding heard of the pre-emption and entry of Andrew Wood, he 
 immediately started for Milwaukee, and by process out of the United 
 States Court, had Wood arrested for perjury in making his preemption 
 claim. The case was tried in the spring of 1850, but Wood's wife 
 being present in court, aroused the sympathy of the jury, it is said, 
 and Wood was acquitted. Then were commenced suits and counter 
 suits between Wood and Spaulding, with the latter in possession of 
 the property. Wood was worried out, and sold his claim to other 
 parties, who commenced anew, but after about fifteen years of iiti ca- 
 tion the matter was compromised in such manner that a tide could be 
 obtained for village property for the first time. Spaulding's bonds 
 for deeds were all the title that could be had until then, and they were 
 not considered good enough to warrant the expenditure of much 
 money in improvements, consequently the village languished along 
 without much increase in wealth and population until 1865. 
 21 
 
174 American SJcetch Booh 
 
 During Spaulding's absence fiom hcnae, in the spring of 18(30, 
 Andrew Wood, acting under the advice of counsel, arrived at the 
 Falls and announced himself in possession, and to satisfy himself that 
 he was actually master of the situation, hired a man and set him to 
 chopping on the present site of "Wascnville. But Spaulding's return 
 changed the aspect of affairs at once. Meeting Wood on the street, he 
 demanded to know what he meant by claiming to be possessor. Look- 
 irg up into Spaulding's face, (for he was a small man) he answered, 
 rather impudently, that "he didn't hold himself accountable to him 
 (Spaulding) for his action in taking actual possession of his own prop- 
 erly." The answer was met by Spaulding vith a blow straight from 
 the shoulder, which sent Wood to the cartl — first kr.ock-down and 
 blood for Spaulding ; however, the result of the encounter was the 
 disappearance of Wood from the river, to which he has never reiurned. 
 
 The people of the Falls, after strcisuous tfiorts for the establish- 
 ment of a judiciary, finally succeeded in inducing an innocent and 
 well meaning citizen to accept the oflBce of justice of the peace. One 
 of the first criminal cases calling for the exercise of his legal qualifi- 
 cations, was upon the arrest of a man named Jones, charged with 
 rape, by his brother-in-law, complainant and defendant having mar- 
 ried sisters, and at the time the tAvo families were living together in a 
 house this side of the "Mound," cast of the Falls ; the wife of the 
 complainant was the subject of the wrong. The trial befoi e the jus- 
 tice (no examination) attracted considerable attention. Spaulding 
 & Bruce appeared as attorneys for prosecution, while Martin Grover 
 conducted the defense. It was proven beyond question that Jones 
 had committed the offense as charged, and Avorse than that, it was 
 equally well established by proof that the offense had been repeated 
 time and time again. The charge against Jones being so clearly proven, 
 and his appearance and conduct at the trial not indicating any partic- 
 ular penitence, the judgment of the court was: "That the defendant 
 should execute to the complainant a bond in the penal sum of one 
 thousand dollars, Avith sureties to be approved by the court, condi- 
 tioned that he wouldn't do so any more." The bond Avas executed 
 and delivered, the complainant Avas satisfied, the defendant discharged, 
 the law vindicated, and the people dispersed to their homes, more 
 than ever satisfied that " the way of the transgressor is hard." 
 
 During the summer of 1850 a parsonage AVas erected of logs, for 
 the use of the stationed preacher of the M. E. Church, and mainly 
 through the efforts of W. T. Price, and Avhich was made to ansAver the 
 
Black River Falls^ Wisconsin, 175 
 
 purpose of a resideice and church building for several years. It v/as 
 located near the present sice of Seifert's brick blacksmith shop, on 
 Main street. 
 
 During the spring of the same year, a post office was established 
 at the Falls, with W. W. Bennett for postmaster. It was kept by him 
 at the present residence of Albert Tattle, Esq., which was the first 
 dwelling house in the village ornamented with a coat of paint. United 
 States postage on a letter at that time was twenty-five cents, news- 
 paper postage in proportion. 
 
 Bennett was of a speculative turn of mind, and disposed to get a 
 living without much manual labor, and wa? rather illiterate, but it was 
 said of him that after he left the River in 1853, by a lucky strike in 
 real estate near Saint Louis, Missouri, he became wealthy. Before he 
 left the Falls, however, he made a very pretty speculation by securing 
 at government price the forty acre tract of land upon which was 
 afterwards surveyed and established the village plat known as "Price 
 k. Rublee's," on the upper table land, west of the business portion of 
 the main village, and now covered with the residences and improve- 
 ments of most of the business people of the place, including the Uni- 
 versalist and Methodist church buildings, as well as the elegant and 
 expensive school building, erected in 1S70. 
 
 At the fall election of 1850, W- T. Price was elected as the Demo- 
 cratic member of Assembly from Crawford County. 
 
 With the exception of one term of school, in charge of a daughter 
 of John Colemen, (a well known citizen of early times, since deceased) 
 there had been no school facilities at the Falls, since the first school 
 before mentioue'l, in the winters of 1816-7. On his recovery from 
 disease contracted in Mexico during the Mexican war. C. R. Johnson 
 returned to the Falls, and was engaged, and taught three terms in 
 succession, commencing the first in a dilapitated old log building in 
 the lower part of the village, on the bank of the river, and ending in 
 a new frame school house, erected on the present site of the carriage 
 manufactory of S. A. Wilcox, Esq., which served the purpose of 
 school house and church, as well as for most gatherings of a public 
 character, until another and better one took its place. 
 
 During the year 1851, the evils of intemperance began to attract 
 attention, and lectures upon the subject were not unfrequent at the 
 school house. It is probable that quite a number of the readers of 
 this sketch of the Falls and a portion of its people, may recollect the 
 incident about to be mentioned, but to the majority it will be new. 
 
17G American Sheteli Booh. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Springer, a Methodist clergyman of considerable 
 ability as a lecturer, was announced to speak on a given evening upon 
 the subject of temperance, at the school house, and a crowded audi- 
 ence greeted the reverend speaker, who soon had it well in hand, for 
 he had been there, and knew how it was himself, and in a measure 
 spoke from actual experience. Among his hearers, and apparently 
 somewhat affected by the earnest appeals of the eloquent lecturer to 
 those addicted to the use of alcoholic drinks as a beverage, was one 
 Reuben Rork, the very chief whisky drinking reprobate of the Falls, 
 in those days, and it was a fearful reputation to have, but Reuben well 
 deserved it, yet he had a spice of dry humor in his composition that 
 made him somewhat a favorite in mixed crowds. The eloquent divine, 
 in the course of his address, made the following remarks : speaking of 
 the heroic self denial required on the part of reformed drunkards to 
 avoid, as well as to withstand temptation, he stated that "he himself 
 upon even smelling of whisky, was siezed with almost an uncontroll- 
 able desire to take it." Such a remarkable coincidence with his own 
 feeling and experience under similar circumstances, was more than 
 Reuben could stand without instant endorsement of the sentiment. 
 The speaker, therefore, had hardly completed the remark in question, 
 before he was interrupted by Rork, who, in a stentorian, voice ex- 
 claimed : " 'At's my fix too ! " The man having a hair lip, he spoke 
 with an eff'ort, as such men generally do, apparently from the pit of 
 the stomach, and all present well knowing that with Reuben the smell 
 and taste of whiskey were simultaneous occurrences, his endorsement 
 of the lecturer's weakness by the candid admission of his own in that 
 direction, appeared so ludicrous, that a feeble snicker ended in a roar 
 of laughter from all hands, and the good effect of the address was 
 entirely destroyed. 
 
 During the fall of 1853, by virtue of the legislation for the pur- 
 pose had the proceeding winter, Jackson County was organized for 
 judicial and for all purposes, after the first of January, 1854, and 
 by the legislation spoken of, the county site was located at the Falls, 
 where it has since remained. The following named persons were 
 elected and served as the first set of officers for the county : Treasurer, 
 W. T. Price; Sheriff, L- S. Avery ; Clerk of the Board, C. R.John- 
 son ; Clerk of Circuit Court, C. R. Johnson ; Register of Deeds, C . 
 R. Johnson, District Attorney, no candidate, who, with tlieir success- 
 ors in office for the following nine or ten years, held their offices 
 around the village where it best suited their convenience. 
 
Blach Hiver J^alis, Wisconsin. 177 
 
 During the years 1853 and 1851, two hotel buildings were erected 
 on Main street, on opposite corners ; one by M, P, Bennett, (who, by 
 the way, was up to and about that date the only physician in regular 
 practice on Black River) which was first opened to the public by P. 
 H. Howell, Esq. as landlord. It afterwards was purchased by I. S. 
 Mason, and by him enlarged to about three times its original dimen- 
 sions, and the house had the larger share of patronage for many years. 
 Joseph Popham. the present proprietor, purchased the property of 
 Mr. Mason in 1861, and has since kept it open as a public house, 
 under the name of the Popham House. It is centrally and coven- 
 iently located for the business. The other and much larger hotel 
 building in the village at the time, was some fifty feet front by sixty 
 deep, was used some seven or eight years as a public house, the first 
 occupant being F. J. Hill, (he's dead now) afterwards for some years 
 it was used for a tenement house Of late years it has been much 
 improved, and the whole lower story is now occupied as a store room 
 for the heavy stock of Bishop, Dresman & Conlan, grocers. 
 
 The first law firm established at the Falls was that of C. R. Johnson 
 and W. T, Price, under the firm name of Johnson & Price, The law 
 library of the firm at the commencement of business, consisted of one 
 volume of Statutes of Wisconsin, and one volume of Swain's Treatise, 
 being the most extensive collection of law books north of La Crosse 
 at that date. 
 
 Dr. Van Herset, during the yeai-, located at the Falls, and was a 
 practicing physician in the neighborhood for some years, and until his 
 death in 1859. 
 
 In 1855, George F. HaswelT, a young lawyer, settled at the Falls, 
 who afterwards gained some notoriety in connection with the forged 
 "Bridge Creek Returns," in and about the gubernatorial election of 
 1856, He finally, in 1858, left the place, and a large majority of 
 the people were glad to have him go. 
 
 Ledyard and Farnam, during the year in question, opened out the 
 largest stock of goods ever brought to the Falls. E. S- Crossett, now 
 of Clark county, was their managing agent. 
 
 During the year l656, many of our prominent business men com- 
 menced operations at the Falls. S. W. Bowman, now of the firm of 
 Bowman & Humbird, bankers, and proprietor of an extensive grocery 
 store on Main street, in connection with Oliver Crossett, (since dead) 
 opened a store on Water street. John Parsons and his brother, H. 1)., 
 
178 American Shetch Booh. 
 
 concluding that farming in the Trempeleau vallej was not exactly 
 their forte, opened a stock of goods on Water street, opposite and 
 e:ist of the present Gifford building, in a building now used for a ten- 
 ement house, but then known as the "Emporium store building." 
 John was finally induced to quit merchandizing, and an opportunity 
 occuring to engage in the business of keeping a post office, he em- 
 braced it, and ever since, some dozen or more years, has been a post- 
 master by profession, with headquarters at the Falls- Several unsuc- 
 cessful attempts have been made to rotate him out, and somebody else 
 in, but the post office department have in every instance taken as true 
 his solemn answer, that he was better calculated to hold the position 
 than any other man at the Falls, and from present appearances it is 
 probable that in the dim future the inquisitive searcher after curious 
 epitaphs, will find inscribed upon a marble slab in the Black River 
 Falls cemetary, this : " John Parsons, aged 100 years ; who was for 
 the last sixty-five years of his life postmaster ; a good man, but he's 
 dead now." 
 
 The same season James Barber and family found a home at the 
 Falls, and went into trade of dry goods and groceries, and he has re- 
 mained ever since, a justice of the peace a dozen or fifteen years 
 standing, and his decisions have been sound, as a general thing. A 
 menial and jovial old gentleman; may his shadow never grow less. 
 
 During the month of May, Carl C. Pope, of Vermont, a state 
 noted for being the birth-place of many good men who didn't stay 
 there, arrived at the Falls, and remained a season in the office of 
 Johnson & Price, after that hung out his shingle as Attorney at Law. 
 Soon after he was elected District Attorney, and re-elected. He 
 has served two terms as a member of the lower branch of the legis- 
 lature, and one term as state senator, is a lawyer of acknowledged 
 ability and extensive practice. 
 
 During the first season of Pope's residence at the Falls, C, P. 
 Johnson, by glowing descriptions of the sport and excitement attend- 
 incr a hunting trip in the wilderness west of the Falls, inveigled him 
 into a consent to accompany the party in a four daj^'s trip into the 
 Pidgeon Creek country, and each one, besides his gun and ammunition, 
 cxrried a blanket strapped to his back, with four days provisions 
 packed inside. The weather being very warm (it was in August) and 
 Pope being entirely unused to walking any distance, as the Vermont 
 people all travel in one-horse wagons, the journey wore upoahim fear- 
 
Blach MiveQ' ^alls^ Wisconsin. 170 
 
 fully. He lost fifreen pounds of flesh during his four days absence, 
 and upon his return enquired if people ever repeated such trips. No 
 living man has ever seen a gun in Pope's possession since- 
 
 At the fall election of 1856, W. T, Price was elected State Senator 
 upon the Republican ticket, beating William H- Tucker, his Demo- 
 cratic opponent, some twelve hundred votes. 
 
 Peter Trudell, (a well known citizen,) and a man named Austin, 
 were at the time in question, landlords of the Shanghai house. Trudell 
 has ever since resided at the Falls, engaged in business, and is now in 
 trade as a grocer, on Main street. 
 
 H. E. Prickett, now a prominent lawyer of Idaho Territory, was 
 I'roprietor of a drug, book and stationary store on Water street. 
 
 II. D. Squires, now the popular caterer to the public taste, at the 
 Donna Sana Restaurant on Water street, made his advent here in 
 1856. 
 
 Deacon A. J. Soaith became known as a trader at the Falls during 
 the year in question, and was a living illustration of the fact that 
 oftentimes the spirit may be AvilHng but the flesh is weak The Dea- 
 con's flesh was weak, very weak, and its incomings and outgoings 
 were such as necessitated bis getting away from the Falls between two 
 days, in order to avoid great personal inconveniences by reason of 
 scandalous charo-es against his moral character. 
 
 During the month of May was issued the first copy of the "Jackson 
 County Banner," being the first newspaper published at the Falls, 
 Charles Stewart, editor and publisher. The paper is published at this 
 date, under the name of the " Badger State Banner," by Cooper & 
 Son. It has always been Republican politically, except that an inde- 
 pendent streak will once in a while crop out in its management, caus- 
 ing it to Avithhold support of a Republican nominee for office, that it 
 believes incompetent or unworthy the position. Stewart was succeed- 
 ed by F. 0. Brainard as editor and publisher, and he by Col. J. A. 
 Watrous, one of the owners and editors of the "Fond du Lac Com- 
 monwealth " at this date, and Frank Cooper ; they were succeeded by 
 Frank Cooper and C. J. Cooper, under the firm name of Cooper k 
 Son. C. J. Cooper leaving the firm to publish a paper in a neighbor- 
 ing county, another son, George, takes his place, and the firm name 
 continues the same. 
 
 J. V. Wells, having located at the Falls in 1855, commenced busi- 
 ness during the following year as dealer in tin and hardware, and has 
 continued in the business ever since, and now keeps up the most ex- 
 
180 American Shetch Boole. 
 
 tensive stock of goods in his line found in the village. Mr. Wells has 
 been during his residence at the Falls, a prominent and public spirited 
 citizen, advocating and contributing liberally toward all measures cal- 
 culated to enhance the public good, and material interests of the village. 
 
 During the year, the friends of the M. E. Church erected a church 
 building upon the upper table land before mentioned, which, with 
 sundry alterations, enlargements and repairs, is yet used by that church 
 as its place of worship. It is finished up in a neat, substantial man- 
 ner, having comfortable pews, and the only pipe organ in town, which 
 is of material assistance to the choir officiating there. 
 
 During the year, John H. Clapp and sons, Nathan, Oliver and Os- 
 car F,, settled at the Falls, all business men and now residents of the 
 village, except Oliver, who during the past season sold out and re- 
 moved to the grasshopper region. Then also came Julius Schur, who 
 opened the first bakery at the Falls, but closing out that business, he 
 has for the last twelve years been engaged in the grocery trade. 
 
 During the Fall of 1857 there came Ulrich Oderbaldz, brewer, 
 who has furnished our beer drinkers with a favorite beverage ever 
 since, and in the business has accumulated a very fair amount of "the 
 root of all evil." 
 
 The same year James Robie, an M. D. of excellent reputation ia 
 his profession, settled at the Falls, and soon had a drug store in oper- 
 ation on Main street- Selling out in 1866, he removed to Missouri, 
 but is a resident of the Falls again, with a large and lucrative prac- 
 tice on his hands. 
 
 During the year 1857, through the eftbrts of the Rev. Warren Big- 
 elow, a Congregational clergyman, the small church building near and 
 immediately east of the Presbyterian church building was erected. 
 The reverend gentleman named occupied its pulpit for several years, 
 then sold the house. It afterwards came into the possession of the 
 Episcopalians, who occupied it for several years, but of late it has 
 been used by the German and Norwegian churches as a place of 
 worship. 
 
 During the year 1857, the county board decided to have a court 
 house and jail erected upon the Price & Rublee village plat, at a cost 
 of some seven thousand dollars. The contract was let to Wm. Van 
 Hovseen, and when his contract was nearly completed, an incendiary 
 fire in an hour or so reduced to ashes a building which was a credit to 
 the county, and an ornament to the village. 
 
 During the year 1859, W. B. Porter arrived at the Falls, seeking a 
 
Blaoh River Falh^ Wisconsin, 181 
 
 location for trade, he soon opened out with a stock of drugs, etc., 
 having purchased most of the stock of H. E. Prickett & Co., who 
 retired from the business. Mr. Porter has remained in the trade ever 
 since, having now one of the best finished store rooms in the North- 
 west, which is always well filled with the choicest goods in the mar- 
 ket of the kind in which he deals. 
 
 During the month of February, 18(J0, the assignees of Albert 
 Wood, (claimant of the business portion of the Falls property, as be- 
 fore mentioned) Messrs. Williamson, Knapp k Ilungerford, compro- 
 mised their claim with Jacob Spaulding, by which Spauldmg secured 
 all his improvements, and the larger share of the water power, besides 
 a fair moiety of the land, the title of which had been litigated in the 
 courts for ten years. The above named asignees had their shrire at 
 once replatted in their na-ne, and for the first time in the history of 
 the village, a good paper title could be had to real estate. 
 
 Spaulding's share of the property, for a consideration, was deeded 
 directly to his son, D. J. Spaulding, then a young man of some little 
 business experience, in lumbering and farming, having had but very 
 slender advantages f)r acquiring a scholarly education. liaised in 
 fact in and about a public house at the Falls, when its society vj'as the 
 roughest, and when it would have been hard to tell who was the wick- 
 edest member of it, young Spaulding pursued the even tenor of his 
 way, uncontaminated by the coarser vices of associates around him. 
 As a mere youth he was regarded as an adept at the game of eucher, 
 but the whisky that others played for passed him untouched, in those 
 early times, when for men and boys not to drink formed a rare excep- 
 tion to the almost universal rule. Of an inquiring mind and retentive 
 memory, he has, since eighteen years of age, so well improved his op- 
 portunities, that to-day, as a farmer theoretically and practically, he 
 is the peer of the best in the country. As a lumberman, a quarter of 
 a million or more dollars fairly acquired in the business attests his 
 knowledge and executive, ability in that direction. As a trader he 
 ranks with the most successful ; and as a designer and buildtr his im- 
 provements are scattered over the village, substantial, sometimes ele- 
 gant, and always pleasing to the eye. As a citizen, there are none 
 who can show a fairer record upon every question of public interest. 
 The church has no more anient or liberal supporter, and schools no 
 stronger friend. Of an equable disposition, no ordinary provocation 
 can ruffle his temper; geiral to all, his warm friends include all his 
 acquaintances. 
 9'^ 
 
182 A7)ie7ncan Shetch Booh. 
 
 During tie month of March, following the settlement in question, 
 occurred the incendiary fire, which in one night laid seven-eights of 
 the business portion of the town in ruins. Every building on the 
 north side of Main street, both sides of Water street, and including 
 all on the south side of Main street east of the grocery store of Bishop, 
 Drcsman & Cnnlan, were burned. It was a fearful blow to the busi- 
 ness interests of the village, but on the part of nearly all the sufferers 
 a disposition to rebuild was at once manifested- The new proprietors 
 of the village plat took the occasion to have a new survey, as before 
 mentioned, by which the streets were widened and straightened, as 
 well as otherwise improving the plat by laying out new streets and 
 alleys. As has been before mentioned, the want of a good title to 
 village property, had prevented the erection of very valuable build- 
 ings and improvements, consequently the loss by the fire was not so 
 great as otherwise it might have been. 
 
 The village at the time contained about eight hundred inhabitants, 
 and f(r the reason stated, there had been but slight increase in popu- 
 lation or business for several years preceding. But from the time of 
 the fire, a new start Avas taken, with a new and better class of build- 
 ings and improvements. Both population and business increased as 
 never before, so that at the time of the breaking out of the war of 
 1861, there were some tAvelve hundred people residing in the village, 
 and the burnt district mostly rebuilt with substantial residences. 
 
 C. R. Johnson represented his district in the assembly of 1861. 
 
 At the time of the breaking out of the war, or as soon thereafter as 
 there was a prospect of troops being accepted, enlistments commenced 
 at the Falls. The first delegation of some ten or fifteen enlisted in 
 Company I of the Fourth Wisconsin Volunteers. Infantry at first, it 
 was subsequently turned into a cavalry regiment. The Hon. F. H. 
 Allen, County Judge and Register of Deeds, is the only survivor at 
 the Falls of the delegation in question. William Moore (formerly 
 sherift) during the month of August, was, more than any other one, 
 instrumental in raising a full company of one hundred and eight men, 
 of which he was comuiissioned Captain, and was afterwards mustered 
 into service as Company G, Tenth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers. 
 L. D. I^rewer was commissioned as First, and S. A. Wilcox Second 
 Lieutenant, It was stated in the ^lilwaukee papers at the time Cap- 
 tain Moore arrived at Camp Washburn with his company, that it was 
 one of the finest bodies of men seen at that point since the commence- 
 ment of the war. Its record in the war was a good one. Captain 
 
Black River Falls, Wisconsin, 183 
 
 Moore, who had early in service establislied a repata'i^a for sohiierly 
 qualifications, was treacherously killed in the month of July, 1862, by 
 Guerrillas in Alabama, while on duty guarding a railroa 1. His body 
 was forwarded home for burial. The order of A. F. & A. M., of 
 which Captain Moore had been a prominent member, took charge of 
 the funeral ceremonies, and the body was accompanied to its final 
 resting place by nearly all the people of the village, who mourned the 
 loss of one of their best and bravest citizens. 
 
 But few members of old Company G remain about the Falls — not 
 over four or five. Among them is W. S. Darrow, Esq., who came 
 home Sergeant Major of his regiment, and who has for about the last 
 ten years run the county clerk's department at the court house, 
 to the infinite satisfaction of everybody, but particularly of members 
 of the several county boards needing assistance in knowledge of stat- 
 ute law, or in drafting resolutions. 
 
 Immediately after Captain Moore's company was ordered into camp, 
 C. 11. Johnson, assisted by several active friends, raised another com- 
 pany of eighty-eight men, and in October it was organized by the 
 election of C. R. Johnson Captain and John Kittinger First, and 
 Joseph Clancy Second Lieutenant. The company was ordered into 
 camp at Fon du Lac the first of December 1871, and became Compa- 
 ny 1 of the Fourteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers- The com- 
 pany have a clear, clean record of active and honorable service in the 
 army of the Tennessee, from Shiloh to the capture of Mobile, includ- 
 ing the siege of Vicksburg. Some seventeen veterans of the original 
 eighty-eight members of the company returned at the close the war, 
 and are as good citizens as they were soldiers. 
 
 The above named companies, G of the Tenth and I of the Four- 
 teenth Regiment, were the only full ones raised at the Falls dur- 
 ing the war, but they only represented a minority of the enlistments. 
 Captain Walker and Lieutenant R. D. Squires, in 1801, left with 
 some sixty men, and became a part of the Fifth Regiment of Wis- 
 consin Volunteers at its reorganization, and subsequently saw hard 
 service under Grant, in his "On to Richmond." Lieutenant S. A. 
 Wilcox, during the early part of 18t)l:, recruited at the Falls some 
 twenty-two men for the Thirty-seventh Regimci;t of Wisconsin Vol- 
 unteers, among them was Frank Cooper, the senior editor of the 
 printing establishment before mentioned. Cooper's regiment was ac- 
 tively engaged in the army of the Potomac, around Petersburg and 
 Richmond, during the closing scenes, prior to the surrender. Cooper 
 
184 American Sketch Boole. 
 
 was ■wounded in one of the engagements there, and was breveted for 
 meritorious conduct in face of the enemy. 
 
 P. Trudell, during the fall of 1864, raised forty men at the Falls, 
 for Company H, Forty-eighth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers, of 
 which Company he was elected First Lieutenant, and before his term 
 of service expired was commissioned Captain. His regiment served 
 on the plains, in garrison most of the time at a frontier fort. 
 
 The effects of the several drafts during the war were lightly felt at 
 the Falls, owing to the fact that the quota assigned was in every in- 
 stance filled by men willing to serve their country in the field, when 
 their fiimilies could be left in comfortable circumstances, as was the 
 case with all those enlisting at the Falls during the later-stages of the 
 war, owing to the liberal bounties offered and paid. 
 
 The laws regulating drafts in the whole Sixth Congressional District 
 in their practical application worked much hardship and injustice, 
 and the congressman representing the district was urged to have the 
 evil remedied, but without success. Finally Hon. W. T. Price took 
 the matter in hand, visited Washington and interviewed President 
 Lincoln on the subject matter complained of, and so successfully that 
 the necessary orders were at once issued to remove the cause of com- 
 plaint. Price was appointed the first internal revenue collector of the 
 sixth collection district of the state, and iu a couple or three years 
 succeeded in sinking about five thousand dollars in discharge of the 
 duties of the office. As a general thing, in these later days, federal 
 officers don't make a losing matter of it, unless they are badly slan- 
 dered. 
 
 During the winter and spring of 1862, the court house and jail of 
 Jackson county were built, upon the first bench or table land going 
 west from the river, up Main street. They were not structures that 
 reflect much credit upon the county authorities that approved the 
 plans and authorized the erection. The cost of the court house did 
 not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars, while the jail, (called so 
 through mere courtesy) made of pine plank bolted together, might 
 have possibly cost three hundred dollars, an extravagant expenditure 
 of the people's money, when we consider the peculiarities of the in- 
 stitution. Its accommodations have been so ridiculously insufficient 
 that a large portion of the law breakers confined therein have abso- 
 lutely refused to stay, generally leaving in the nighttime, sometimes 
 through the side of the building, sometimes lifting the door from its 
 hinges, while now and then one goes out through the window; and of 
 
Blade River Falls, Wisconsin. 185 
 
 late it has become fashionable to leave behind some doggcral rhymes 
 addressed to the sheriff, and written in an ironical style, making liorht 
 of the tenement they leave. Grand juries have presented it as a nui- 
 sance to be abated, but the saving of a few dollars apparently weic^hs 
 more with our county boards than the additional security afforded by 
 the prompt detection and safe keeping of criminals. The Falls peo- 
 ple are not proud of the county buildings located here. 
 
 A two department shool house was erected in 1859, capable of ac- 
 commodating one hundred and eighty pupils. Another was built in 
 1862 with accommodations for seventy pupils, and both were creditable 
 buildings, and answered the purposes for the time being. 
 
 During the year 1868 the Universalist church building was erected, 
 and in the year following the Baptist, and during the year 1870 the 
 Presbyterian church building was completed, and in 1872 the Catholic 
 church building was occupied. In 1868, D. J. Spaulding erected a 
 block of brick buildings on Water street, comprising three store rooms 
 below and a hotel above, named the " Spaulding House," which was 
 the leading establishment of the kind at the Falls until destroyed bv 
 fire in 1870. The stores below^ were occupied by D. J. Spaulding's ex- 
 tensive grocery establishment, Spaulding & Jones, dry goods, and A. 
 S. Eaton & Co-, hardware and stoves. The block cost about twenty- 
 five thousand dollars, and was the first brick erection in the village. 
 
 During the month of December, 1868, the West Wisconsin Railway 
 was completed to the Falls. To Judge Price (he was once elected 
 county judge) belongs the credit, as much, at least, as any other man, 
 of procuring the needed legislation, right of way and county aid nec- 
 essary to secure the building of the road, and his active exertions 
 were recognized by those interested fleeting him president of the cor- 
 poration. 
 
 In 1869, Bump's, or the Masonic brick block, was erected on Main 
 street, at an expense of some thirty thousand dollars. On the first 
 floor were the store rooms of M. Bump, dry goods and groceries, W. 
 B. Porter, drugs, groceries, boots and shoes, etc., and John Marsh, 
 billiard saloon. On the second floor was Bump& Porter's Hall, capa- 
 ble of seating four hundred people, since partitioned off and used for 
 other purposes, with several offices. On the third floor was the Ma- 
 sonic Hal!, and still above that was a photograph gallery. 
 
 During the fore part of July, 1870, the Spaulding block was fired 
 by an incendiary and burned to the ground. The block, however, 
 was immediately rebuilt of brick, at an expense of thirty thousand 
 
186 American Sketch Booh. 
 
 dollars, the hotel part being omitted in the new plan. The building is 
 thirty two feet in height, one hundred and twenty feet frontage, by 
 one hundred and ten feet deep, the lower story being divided up 
 in three large store rooms, running back the entire width. D. J. 
 Spaulding occupies the north third of the block from basement to roof 
 as a store room for his immense stock of groceries, glass, earthen, 
 stone and wooden ware, embracing all the finer varieties of goods in 
 his line. His olfices are in front of the upper story. The adjoining 
 store south is that of the Jones Brothers, (of late Spaulding, Jones & 
 Brother) who deal exclusively in dry goods, and is probably as exten- 
 sive as any establishment of the kind in the seventh congressional dis- 
 trict, outside of La Crosse. There are but few store rooms in tiie 
 state more conveniently arranged, or more elaborately and richly fin- 
 ished and furnished than the one in question, and the customer must 
 indeed be hard to please that cannotbe suited from a stock of an av- 
 erage value of thirty thousand dollars. Second only to Jones Brothers' 
 establishment, is that of A. Meinhold & Co., in the Masonic Block, on 
 Main street. Its specialty is also dry goods, of which a heavy stock is 
 always on exhibition, for sale at bottom prices, as the firm is asstronir 
 pecuniarily as any on the street. It pays cash for goods, and its cus- 
 tomers have the advantage of discounts made to such dealers. 
 
 The foundry and machine shops of J. C. Hussey have been estab- 
 lished some eight years, and, while having all the modern conven- 
 iences adapted to and required for the business, the proprietor is 
 reaping the pecuniary reward Avhich generally follows an established 
 reputation for excellent work in any profession or business. 
 
 But a small portion of the water power at the Falls is utilized. It, 
 however, drives D. J. Spaulding's extensive saw, shingle and lath mills, 
 which are capable of manufacturing into lumber eight or ten million 
 feet of logs per annum ; a grist mill so extensive as to be able to 
 grind all the surplus grain raised in the county ; a sash and door 
 factory in which are constantly employed some twelve or fifteen men ; 
 and in addition to the use he makes of the water power, steam is used 
 in his extensive wagon and carriage factory and blacksmith shops. 
 
 At the general election in the fall of 1869, Judge Price was again 
 elected to the state senate. After the Judge quit the practice of law, 
 in 1850, he was somewhat extensively engaged in the staging business, 
 but in the meantime was more or less engaged in lumbering. On the 
 completion ot the West Wisconsin Railway to Eau Claire, his contract 
 for carrying the United States mail from the Falls to that point ex- 
 
Black Hiver ^alls, Wisconsin. 187 
 
 pired, since which time he has been almost exclusively engaged in 
 lumbering operations of a large and profitable character. Of late, 
 having purchased the north end of the town of Huxton, he apparently 
 proposes to know something about farming. His early educational 
 advantages, like D, J. Spaulding's, were not brilliant, and the exami- 
 nation of a class in latin for his special edification, at our school a 
 short time since, called out a strong remonstrance against the profes- 
 sor's choice of recitations. He regarded the matter almost as a per- 
 sonal affront. But notwithstanding early deficiencies in the matter of 
 education to be acquired in schools, his natural ability, force of char- 
 acter and indefatigable industry, coupled with an ever present deter- 
 mination to succeed, has always placed him in a prominent position 
 in all his business, social and political relations ; a ready debater he is 
 always prepared to assign a plausible reason for any position he 
 assumes, or for any belief or theory he sees fit to advocate ; naturally 
 of a positive temperament, his style has been of a "yea, yea," and 
 " nay, nay," character, always acting upon the principle that if a man 
 is right he can't be too radical. A friend can always rely upon him, 
 but an enemy (men of this stamp always have some) — well, it's better 
 not to have him for an enemy. As before stated, he has been promi- 
 nently identified with all measures of a public character affecting the 
 interest of his section. A temperance man, he is of course a radical 
 and prohibitionist of the most ultra type, and for the last fifteen years 
 he has labored in season and out of season to prevent the sale of strong 
 drink being legalized at the Falls. His donations to the churches in 
 the meantime cannot have been less than five thousand dollars- No 
 man ever accused him of a dishonest act in his pecuniary transac- 
 tions, while his verbal promise is generally relied upon as certain of fu 1- 
 fillment. Always popular at home, his county has never failed to back 
 him in any election in which he was a candidate. He is not a member 
 of any church, but many of his religious friends actually think that at 
 the final winding up of all sublunary affairs, an exception will be made 
 in his case, and " good works " done in the fiesh will insure him a prom- 
 inent position (he wouldn't accept any other) in abetter world than this. 
 The Cole Brothers arrived and commenced business at the Falls in 
 1S60. H, B. Cole, a physician and surgeon, in point of professional 
 skill and ability, ranks with the first of his age in the state. J. W. 
 and F. W. Cole are in the drug and jewelry business, under the firm 
 name of J. W. Cole & Co., and take the lead in the line of their 
 specialties- All three of them are white men. 
 
188 American 8Jcetch Book. 
 
 In the fall of 1870, was completed the brick Union High School 
 building, (so called) at an expense of about thirty thousand dollars- 
 It is sixty-five feet front by eighty-five feet deep, three stories high 
 above the basement, and being located on one of the most commanding 
 situations in the village, and of imposing design, it is the first building 
 in the village that attracts the eye of a stranger. It contains ten 
 school rooms, 25x30, and a lecture hall in which three hundred per- 
 sons can be comfortably seated. Heating apparatus, ventilation, and 
 the acoustic properties of the several rooms are all that can be desired 
 in that direction. Professor "W. A. De La Matyr has the general 
 charge of the institution, at a salary of $1,750.00 per anumn. He 
 has an assistant and six subordinate teachers, whose salaries range 
 from fifty to sixty-five dollars per month. It is not, perhaps, too much 
 to say that there is not a better school building of its class, in the state 
 or a better organized school, and while the fact may perhaps be that 
 from our two thousand population, not over two hundred and fifty arc 
 habitual church goers, it is certainly a fact that our people at each an- 
 nual meeting will vote eight thousand dollars school tax to support our 
 school institutions, without a dissenting voice; and the investment has 
 been a paying one, for owing to the advantages derived from it, over 
 ordinary common schools, there is not to day a vacant tenement to be 
 had at the Falls- 
 
 During the winter of 1870-1, the village authorities contracted for 
 the Holly sytsem of water works, and since the completion of them, 
 with Black River to look to for a supply of water, the village has been 
 without doubt twice saved from destruction by fire; and with the works 
 in good order it would seem almost impossible for more than one build- 
 ing within reach to be injured by fire at one time. 
 
 During the past season, Samuel Freeman, Esq., the popular landlord, 
 has added to his extensive hotel establishment, the Black River House, 
 a [)uhlic hall so large that six hundred persons can be comfortably 
 accommodated in it, being *.>0x40 feet in dimension, arched ceiling, 
 and a permanent stage at the rear end. 
 
 Tbe village was incorporated by act of the legislature, in 18G6, the 
 town supervisors being "ex-officio" village trustees, and since the 
 organization of the village government, it is within bounds to allege 
 that a better governed or more orderly community cannot be found 
 on any lumbering stream in the state, or where there is less crime 
 committed by the same number of people. — c. R. J. 
 
Su^irje^^ ©ifedtoiy. 
 
 BJbACKl RIVBR FAl^I^S, "\¥'XSCONSXK[. 
 
 Official. 
 
 GEO. C PERRY, Sheriff. 
 
 J. S. McNAB, Clerk Circuit Court 
 
 W. S. DARROW, County Clerk. 
 
 OLIVER O'HEARN, Treasurer. 
 
 F. II. ALLEN, Register of Deeds. 
 
 C R. JOHNSON, District Attorney. 
 
 T. P. MARSH, School Superintendent. 
 
 GEORGE M. ADAMS, Surveyor. 
 
 R. BUNN, Circuit Judge. 
 
 F. H. ALLEN, County Judge. 
 
 VILLAGE OFFICERS. 
 S. W. BOWMAN, President. 
 H. A. BRIGHT, i 
 ABEL CHENEY, J ^^'^s^^^^- 
 R. D. SQUIRES, Marshal. 
 T. F. OSTRANDER, Clerk. 
 
 Professional Men, 
 
 ATTORNEYS. 
 C. R. Johnson. James Darrow. C. C. Pope. 
 
 PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. 
 H. B. Cole. James Robie. S. F. S. Wason. 
 
 F. Werner. H- R. Curtiss. 
 
 23 
 
190 American Sketch Booh. 
 
 Bankers. 
 
 Bowman & Ilumbiid. 
 
 Printing House. 
 
 Badger State Banner Publishing House. 
 
 Hotels. 
 
 Jones House. Black River House. Popbam House. 
 
 Falls House. Anderson House- Albion House. 
 
 Union High School. 
 
 W. A. De La MATYR, Professor. 
 
 Miss Martha Burt, Assistant. 
 
 Miss jNIary Rait, Grammar Department. 
 
 M. J- Burk, Second Intermediate Department. 
 
 Frank De La Matyr, First Intermediate Department. 
 
 Miss Nettie Schildt, First Primary Department. 
 
 iNliss Nellie Gibbs, Second Primary Department. 
 
 Miss Lizzie Darnall, ^ 
 
 Miss Annie Darlino;, [ r ^ r^ t^- ■ • 
 ,r- T • • Tir • ? '. A. B. C. Division. 
 Miss Lavinia Wright, 
 
 Miss Amanda Wright, 
 
 Churches. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal, E E. Clough, Pastor, Johnson street. 
 Presbyterian, D. B. Jackson, Pastor, Main street. 
 Baptist, Main Street. 
 Universalist, Main Street. 
 Norwegian Lutheran, Main Street. 
 Catholic, Mason street. 
 
 Fire Department. 
 
 F . W.Cole, Foreman, 
 
 J. G. Maddocks, First Assistant, >.t ^ 
 
 T -r, a ] A • X i. ^Albion Hose Co., JNo. 1. 
 
 Ira Bowman, Second Assistant. ' 
 
 N. M. Clapp, Sec'y and Treasurer. 
 
Budness Directory. 19I 
 
 Justices of the Peace. 
 
 James Barber. John Parsons. 
 
 Secret Societies, etc. 
 
 Black River Lodge No. 74, F. A. M., W. S. Darrow, W. M. ; 0. F, 
 I Clapp, Secretary. 
 
 Black River Chapter No. 41, W. S. Darrow, H. P., F. H. Allen, Sec. 
 Albion Lodge, No. 134, I. 0- 0. F., George C- Perrj, N. G., T. F. 
 
 Ostrander, Secretary. 
 Victoria Lodge, Rcbekah, I. 0, 0, F., George C. Perry, N. G., Mrs. 
 
 F. H. Allen, R. S. 
 Liciepcndent Lodge, No. 149, I. 0. G. T., G. 0. Weller, W. C. T. 
 
 T. H. Phillips, W. R. S. 
 Village Library, in Clapp's Book Store, 0. F. Clapp, Librarian. 
 
 General Business Directory. 
 
 ALLEN, F. H., County Judge, Court House. 
 
 Amunson, H., Shoemaker, Water street. 
 
 Allen, J. XL, Livery and Sale Stable, cor. Brainerd and Mason steets. 
 
 Avery, L. S., Dealer in Furniture, Main street. 
 
 Anderson, Martin, Wood Carver. 
 
 Anderson, A., Proprietor Anderson House, First street. 
 
 Abbott, Royal, Carpenter and Joiner. 
 
 BOWMAN k HUMBIRD, Bankers, Mainstreet. 
 
 BRADNER, WILLIAM, Meat Market, Main street. 
 
 Bowman, S. W., Dealer in Gi*t)ceries and Provisions, Main street. 
 
 Baillet, G. W., Dealer in Cloths, Clothing, Furnishing Goods, Boots 
 
 and Shoes, Hats and Caps, etc., Main street. 
 Barber, James^ Dealer in Dry Goods, Groceries, Crockery, Boots and 
 
 Shoes, etc.. Main street. 
 Bowman, George M., Lumberman. 
 Blake, S. D , Deputy County Treasurer. 
 Batcheller, N. A , at Planing Mill. 
 Breen, Walter, Blacksmith. 
 Bowman, Ira, Under Sheriff. 
 Brown, T. F., Carpenter and Joiner. 
 Babcock, Z. C, Carpenter and Joiner. 
 
192 American Sketch Book. 
 
 Bright, H. A., Logger and Lumberman, United States Hotel, Second 
 
 street. 
 Brockway, E. L., Manufacturers of Lumber and Logger, Lower Falls. 
 Birchard, IL, Manufacturer of Lumber, and Logger. 
 
 COOPER & SON, Publishers of "Badger State Banner," and Book 
 
 and Job Printers, Corner Main and Second streets. 
 COLE, J. VV. k CO., Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Drugs, Books 
 
 and Stationery, Watches, Clocks and Jewelry, Arms, Ammunition 
 
 and Sporting Goods, Main street 
 Clapp, M. M.. Dealer in Boots and Shoes, Main street. 
 Cheney, E- D., Express Agent, Main street. 
 Cobb, Mrs. P. N., Dressmaker. 
 Curtiss, Dr. H. R., Occulist and Aurist. 
 Cuber, A. L., Harness and Saddles, "Banner" Block. 
 Chipp. Oscar F., Bookseller, Stationer and News Dealer, Fancy Goods 
 
 and Musical Instruments, first door east of Cole's Drug Store. 
 Crosby, J. P., Carpenter and Joiner, Third Street. 
 Campbell, James, Painter. 
 Cutts H. L., Machinist, Main street. 
 Clapp, J. H., Proprietor Albion House, Main street. 
 Cheney, Abel, Logger and Lumberman. 
 Clapp, J. H., Printer, " Banner" office. 
 DARROW, JAMES, Insurance Agent and Attorney, ofiice over 
 
 Cole's Drug Store. 
 Dimmick, J. 0., Dealer in Flour, Feed and Groceiies, Main street. 
 Drennen, Conlan & Co., Lumbermen's Supplies store, Main street. 
 Dean, G. C-, Painter. 
 Doud, J. , Cooper, Second street. 
 Darling, Isaac E., Wagon Maker. • 
 
 Dyer, J. A., Miller and Millwright, 
 
 ELMORE & SON, Dealers in Agricultural Implements, Corner Main 
 
 and Second streets. 
 Erdman, C, Meat Market, Main street, 
 Elliott, Amos, Lumberman. 
 Edmonds, John, Miller. 
 Emerson, Thomas, Beer Hall, First street. 
 
 FREEMAN, S., Propretor Black River House, Second street. 
 
 GATCHELL, A. S., Boot and Shoe Dealer, Water street. 
 Gebhardt, Fred., Proprietor Falls House. 
 
Business Directory. 193 
 
 Greenly, H. B., Jobber in Meats, Main street. 
 HUSSEY, J. C, Foundry and Machine Shops, Mason street 
 Hendricks, W. W., Barber, Main street. 
 Herrick, S. S., Wagon Maker, 
 llerrick & Dean, Trout Culturers, 
 Hill, C, Shoemaker, Water street. 
 Hanson, K., Merchant Tailor, Water street. 
 Heath, J., Mason. 
 Hall, J. D., Mason, corner Second and Brainerd streets. 
 
 ICE, JAMES, Lumberman and Merchant. 
 
 JOHNSON, C. R., Lawyer, Office over Bank. 
 
 JOi>lES, E. 0., Proprietor Jones House, corner Brainerd and First 
 streets. General Agent of the Bodine Manufacturing Company. 
 Johnson, J, A., Feed Stor.e, Main street. 
 Jackson, E. F., Ticket Agent, Depot W, W R. R. 
 Jones, W. C, Superintendent of D. J. Spaulding's Grocery Store. 
 Johnson, E. D., Miller. 
 Johnson, Peter, Carpenter. 
 Jones, Louis, Clerk, Spaulding's Store. 
 Jeru, Barney, Tinner, with J. V. Wells. 
 
 KENYON, J. G. Teamster. 
 
 LE CLAIR & GWIN, Hardware, Main street. 
 
 Le Clair, E. E., with W. T. Price. 
 
 Lyons, H. F., Barber, Water street. 
 
 Landon, S. H., Carriage Maker, with Spaul ling. 
 
 Larson, Ivers, Carpenter. 
 
 Laib, H. E., Gunsmith, Mason street. 
 
 Livings, F., Well-Digger. 
 
 MILLS, H. B., Lumberman and Merchant, Millston. 
 
 Miles, Miss Delia, Dressmaker, Main street. 
 
 Murray, W. T., Logger, at Spaulding's store. 
 
 Meinhold, A. & Co., Dry Goods, Main street. 
 
 Monish, George H., Mason, Water street. 
 
 Moore, W. P., Sash and Door Maker, at Planing Mill. 
 
 Marsh, John, Billiard Hall, Main street. 
 
 Middleditch, M., Miller, Star Flouring Mills. 
 
 Maddocks, J. G., Drayman, Third street. 
 
 Myer, John, Saloon and Billiard Hall, Main street. 
 
194 American Sketch Booh 
 
 Moldcnhaur, AVilliam, Blacksmith. 
 
 NICHOLS, W. B., Saddle and H.irness Maker, Miin street. 
 
 O'lIEARN, W. R., Book-keeper, with D. J. Spaulding. 
 
 Oitrander, T. F., Carriage and Blacksmith Shop, corner Brainerd 
 
 and Mason streets. 
 Oderbolz, U., Brewer, Third street. / 
 
 PRICE, Wm. T., Dealer in Saw Logs and Riilroad Cross Ties, 
 
 Second street. 
 PARSONS, JOHN, P. M., Justice of the Peace, and Insurance 
 
 Agent, Main street. 
 POPE, CARL C, Attorney at Law, Main street. 
 Parsons, E. W., Assistant Postmaster, Main street. 
 Popham, J., Proprietor Popham House, Main street. 
 Peterson, Nels, Machinist and Mason, witli Hussey. 
 Postwciler, Jacob, Furniture Dealer, Water street. 
 Porter, W. B., Drugs, Groceries, Boots and Shoes, Main street. 
 Preston, James, Boarding House, Third street. 
 Pollok, John, Billiard and Beer Hall, Water street. 
 Perkins, S. H., Book-keeper, with Spaulding, Jones *fc. Bro. 
 Pope, R. G., Dealer in Agricultural Implements, Main street. 
 Pratt, Ed., Superintedent for W. T. Price. 
 
 REITZ, Fred., Tailor, Water street. 
 
 Roddy, P., Grocer, Water street. 
 
 Richardson, George, Mississippi River Pilot, Water street. 
 
 SPAULDING, D. J., Logs, Lumber, Flour, Feed, Grain, Groceries, 
 etc.. Water street. 
 
 SLATER, E. P., Portrait and Landscape Photographer, first door 
 north of Post Office. Portraits in Oil, India Ink, Water Colors, 
 Crayon, etc. 
 
 Spaulding, S. R. & E. Y., Dealers in Dry Goods and Notions, three 
 doors above the Post Office. 
 
 Spaulding, Jones <fc Brother, Dealers in Dry Goods, Notions, Cloth- 
 ing, Boots and Shoes, etc.. Water street. 
 
 Sharjiless, S. G., Groceries and Confectionery, Main street. 
 
 Soifert, August, Blacksmith, Main street. 
 
 Spaulding, Jacob, Real Estate Agent, Spaulding's Block. 
 
 Stebbins, Mrs. M. F., Millinery and Dressmaking, Main street. 
 
 Schnur, Julius, Dealer in Groceries, Provisions, Boots and Shoes, 
 Main street. 
 
JBtisiness DirectOTy, 195 
 
 Sawyer, A. E., Lumberman, Mason street. 
 
 Seeley, G. W., Shoemaker. 
 
 Squires, R. D., Restaurant and First Class Eating House, Water st. 
 
 Schenck, C. K., Foreman, D. J. Spaulding's Blacksmith Shop. 
 
 Schollenberger, Jacob, Cabinet Maker. 
 
 Schriber, William, Blacksmith. 
 
 Specht, S. John, Saloon Keeper, Water street. 
 
 Sheldon, E. L,, Teamster. 
 
 Simpson, Fred., Surveyor. 
 
 Smith, J. B,, Mill Owner. 
 
 THOMPSON (fc WYLIE, Bakers and Fancy Grocers, Main street. 
 
 Trudell, Peter, Groceries and Provisions, Main street. 
 
 Taft, C. L., Carpenter and Joiner. 
 
 Taylor, V. E., Miller with D. J. Spaulding. 
 
 Taylor, J. G., with D. J. Spaulding. 
 
 Thompson, W. T., Mill Owner, Squaw Creek Mills. 
 
 WELLS, J. v.. Dealer in Hardware, corner Mason and Main streets. 
 Werner, Dr. F., Dealer in Drugs and Medicines, Fancy Goods, etc.. 
 
 Main street. 
 Williams &- Olson, Blacksmiths and Wagon Makers, Main street. 
 Wehinger, A., Dry Goods, Main street. 
 Weller, Gad, Carriage Maker. 
 
 Wason, C. C, Livery, Corner Second and Brainerd streets. 
 Weeks, Robert, House Painter. 
 Weeks, L., Carpenter. , 
 
 Wickham, E. S., Millwright. 
 Winter, Joseph, Millwright. 
 
 YODER, J. W., Carpenter. 
 
L(ife ii\ a Coui\tiy 1 rii\tiiig Offide 
 
 MISS MIRANDA DOBBS, ONE OF THE PROPRIKTORSOF THE " ENTEHPRI8E," 
 CONCLUDES THAT;THEIR FIKST FOURTH OF JULY IN GREENVILLE 
 SHOULD BE CELEBKATED BY THE CITIZENS. IN THIS ARTICLE SHE DE- 
 SCRIBES THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 H 
 
 MISS MIRANDA. 
 
 AVING concluded that our first 
 fourth of July in Greenville ought 
 to be celebrated, and more, should be cel- 
 ebrated, I began to agitate the matter 
 among the people, who informed me that 
 it would be impossible to have a. celebra- 
 tion in Greenville. It had been tried 
 several times, and without the success of 
 getting ten persons together. liut I wasj 
 confident that such a thing could be effected 
 if we went to work in the right way 
 and I was only the more determined that Greenville should celebrate. 
 The first thing that I did was to issue five hundred circulars, headed 
 " A Call," demanding the attendance of the people upon a meeting to 
 take the matter into consideration. Hop told me in a brotherly way 
 that I was " a plaguey fool,'' and would have my pains for my trouble, 
 or my trouble for my pains, I don't know which. But I did not care 
 for his talk. When the appointed evening came, I went to the hall, 
 where the people were to meet, expecting to find it crowded; for I 
 supposed all would come out for curiosity, if for nothing else; and 
 when they were once together, I thought they would certainly make 
 the necessary arrangements, and that my part of the work ended with 
 the issue of the circulars. But to my surprise, I found only one lady 
 and two men there, and the two men managed to get out and away 
 while I was exchanging a salutation with the lady. The lady, Mrs. 
 Irena, called after them, but a laugh was the only answer. 
 
 "I declare, it's too bad I " she exclaimed. "There is not a spark 
 
Life in a Country Printing Office. 197 
 
 of enterprise in the men of this place, take them all together. How 
 I wish I was a man ! " 
 
 She was young and very handsome, and as she drew up her graceful 
 form in such a dignified manner, and flashed her dark eyes on an 
 imaginary somebody, I came near echoing her wish. 
 
 " I will tell you what we will do," she went on. "We will conduct 
 the meeting ourselves. We can make up the resolutions and appoint 
 the committees as well as if there were a hundred here — yes, better, fur 
 if there Avere so largo a iiumber as that the meeting would break up 
 with a quarrel." 
 
 She gave a light rippling laugh and continued . 
 
 " You can publish the proceedings in your paper, and the folks will 
 never know but that we finally had a fair attendance here. You and 
 I will be the committee on finance, and we will drum up some cash 
 to help the thing on." 
 
 I entered into the spirit of the matter, and we two went to work. 
 An hour later the resolutions were all taken down, and all tbe com- 
 mittees were appointed. I did not even let Hop or sister Chat know 
 how slim the attendance had been, but passed the resolutions in for 
 "copy," and the next day set to work upon some posters. Hop 
 wanted to know who was to pay for so much printing, and I informed 
 him that I would see to that part of the business myself But what a 
 time I had with those posters! The fonts of type were so small and 
 tVw, and certain letters would run out, no matter how I worded the 
 copy; and before I could get the thing completed I had to cut out 
 some letters on the backs of some otliers, finding once or twice after I 
 had got a letter cut, that the face Utter was needed somewhere else. 
 But perseverance is generally crowned with success, anrl mj poster 
 was not ill looking when it was finally finished. Our "devil," how- 
 ever, to whom I gave tlie task of running it off, spoiled about fifty 
 sheets of paper, much to my chagrin. He run them ver}^ black, and 
 placed them one upon another, and the whole pile stuck together as 
 closely as though they had been pasted instead of inked. 
 
 After the resolutions had been published and the posters had been 
 put up, Mrs. Irena and I went around with a paper to obtain subscrip- 
 tions. W^e got names very easily, but were told in most places to 
 " call again " for the amounts placed after them. The people all 
 wished to see if we would succeed in getting enough money subscribed 
 before they paid the subscriptions. As I had previously canvassed 
 
 24 
 
198 A?7ierican Sketch Book. 
 
 the place for my paper, and had received more names with instructions 
 to "call again " than dollars, and was still receiving repeated invita- 
 tions to "call again," I felt a little concerned about this fourth-of- 
 July subscription money. But I kept my fears to myself, determined 
 not to dishearten Mrs. Irena, who often remarked in hii^h glee that we 
 were doing " wonderfully well," 
 
 We found that the amount subscribed, in case it was ever paid, 
 would be sufficient to meet our expenses in getting up a celebration, 
 and we set zealously to work in order to accomplish what we had 
 begun. The great man of the place was Hon. .John Smith, and we 
 invited him to make a speech on the great occasion. He was insulted 
 because a committee of men had not waited on him, and declared that 
 he would not have anything to do with the celebration. We then 
 visited two other men of lesser fame, and wrung from both a half 
 promise to "say a fcAv word-\" This was all we could do in the way 
 of a speech, an I half fearing tliit we wouM not have one afcer all, 
 ■we let the matter rest there, and went on with other parts of our work. 
 We had decided to Jiave a dance in the evening, and it was necessary 
 that a bower should be made and musicians enjiaiied. We had a 
 bower committee, but found almost at the last moment that said com- 
 mittee were to celebrate at Crossroads ; and I may as Avell say here 
 that we had to hire two men to build it on the morning of the fourth. 
 We had two bands of musicians in town. The poorer one we chose 
 for the day exercises, and the other for the evening, to prevent jealousy. 
 But even here we got into trouble, as the reader will soon ascertain- 
 
 We had advertised to have a free dinner at the bower, and had won 
 from a majority of the people a reluctant consent to furnish vituals 
 for the occasion ; but the committee on refreshments that we had ap- 
 pointed, met without our knowledge, and resolved to have no refresh- 
 ments at all ; consequently the vituals which were cooked for the free 
 dinner were not called for. 
 
 Another trial awaited us. Just as we were beginning to think th^t 
 harmony prevailed, it came out that the people had made up their 
 minds to celebrate three different days. The fourth of July falling 
 on Sunday, the American population chose Monday for the celebra- 
 tion ; the Germans, whose respect for Sunday is not so great, declared 
 that the actual fourth should be celebrated ; atid the Irish, for no 
 other reason except iheir love of quarreling, came to the conclusion 
 that Saturday was the proper day. This made a split. The Germans 
 said that their money should not go to celebrate any day but the 
 
L\fQ in a Country Printing Office. IDO 
 
 actual fourth, the Irish would not give their money for any day but 
 Saturday, and the Americans firmly adhered to Monday. 
 
 " Never mind," said Mrs. Irena. '* The dance is the principal 
 thing, and we can take up a collection to pay for the music, if we don't 
 get what is subscribed." 
 
 The Irish got up a picnic on Saturday, and the Germans had a 
 dance on Sunday night; then the men of both nationalities gatliered 
 on the streets with their hands in their breeches' pockets, to watch our 
 progress on Monday. The man whom we liad appointed to act as 
 marshal was an Irishman, and he made only a pretense of acting. He 
 wore a dirty, red sash, and rode a broken down horse ; his marshalship 
 consisting of nothing but the reining of his steed upon the sidewalk.^ 
 Avhere he sat delivering rude jokes concerning the celebration to the 
 gaping crowd. It was not long before the street was filled with peo- 
 ple, but there seemed to be no one to form the procession in order. 
 The band drummed away in front of a saloon, and the children 
 tlironged the printing ofiice with eager inquiries of when we should 
 start. To make matters worse, a boat landed, and while she was 
 wooding up, her passengers, a party of excursionists, marched up 
 town to the variety store, where they bought out the whole stock of 
 tin-whistles, mouth-organs and the like, after which they marched 
 bacis to the boat to the most horrible din that can be imagined, fob 
 lowed by a crowd of whooping boys. This performance only served 
 to increase the number of people clustered around the printing office 
 which was near the boat-landing. 
 
 After the departure of the excursionists, the children became more 
 noisy, and, seeing that no one else would take the lead, I told the 
 youngsters to follow me ; and I started on up the street with about a 
 hundred of them in file behind me. The people seeing my persever- 
 ance, gave a loud " hurrah I " for the *^' Enterprise," the marshal 
 swung into place, the band took the centre of the street, and on we 
 went, followed by the crowd. If that procession was not a success in 
 the matter of order, it certainly was in numbers and noise, for near'y 
 every man, woman and child in the whole village and surrounding 
 country were there ; and I lead on, trying to appear unconcerned 
 though in- fact I felt decidedly out of place, and wished myself almost 
 anywhere else. 
 
 On arriving at the grove, I found that a rude platform had been 
 constructed, but it had no steps leading to it, and it was so high up 
 that, to get on it, one must climb a small tree which formed the 
 
200 American Sketch JBooh. 
 
 support for one end of it- A half dozen men climbed up and invited 
 me to follow. The invitation, of course, had to be declined. 
 
 I said that we had not been sure of having any speaker at all ; but 
 to our surprise we found all three of those who had been invited there, 
 each with his manuscript, expecting to make the spread-eagle speech, 
 and insulted because he was not the only one who had a speech to make. 
 Of course, the two lesser lights were snufied out by the Hon. John 
 Smith, who stepped proudly before his audience, and began in a voice 
 rivaling thunder : "Friends and fellow-citizens — Americans, it is you 
 that I would address. Nay, I will go farther and say ' Yankees,' for 
 only to the Yankees can the fourth of July be sacred and commemorate." 
 
 Here aloud hiss interrupted him. 1 looked around displeased, for 
 I did not know but that a flock of geese had come down on us ; but 
 no, it was the crowd that was hissing. 
 
 "Hiss away," thundered Hon. John Smith, "1 tell you the truth, 
 and I am strong enough to drown all vour hissincj. Besides you have 
 had your celebration — you foreigners, and we Yankees want ours. 
 We did not irtterfere with you, neither shouhl you interfere with us. 
 I say the fourth of July is a day sacred and commemorate to Yankees 
 only. How can those who were not born on the blood-stained soil of 
 Revolutionary battle-fields feel enthusiasm on the fourth of July ? I 
 ask HOW? " 
 
 Here came a crash, followed by screams of terror and laughter 
 mingled. The platform had given away and the Hon. John lay 
 sprawling on the ground among his kicking companions. 
 
 " roo much Yankee enthusi-muzzy for a western platform to hold," 
 some one bawled out, and another added : "Let's go homel There 
 isn't three Yankees in the whole crowd. If the day is only for Yan- 
 kep«, what are we doing here? " 
 
 Here the band struck in to drown the noise, while the speakers were 
 getting into an upright position. But the Hon. John Avas too much 
 hurt or insulted to proceed, whereupon one of the lesser lights mounted 
 a two-inch plank and tried to twinkle for the amusement of the audi- 
 ence. But his efforts to restore good feeling were a failure, from the 
 fact that it is difficult to restore what has never existed. The other 
 lesser light made a similar trial with no better success. The people 
 began to wander about with anxious incjuiries concerning the " free 
 dinner " that had been advertised, and finding that no dinner, free or 
 otherwise, was there, they expressed a desire to demolish that "lying 
 newspaper." 
 
Life in a Country Printing Office. 201 
 
 While matters were in this unpleasant state, Mrs. Irena brouo-ht 
 me the information that band number one, Avhich we had engao-ed for 
 the evening, had left for Crossroads, intending to play for some ball 
 there. There was only one way to do : we must immediately engao^e 
 the other band, or our bower-dance would be a failure. But to our 
 surprise, the other band declined to play, because it had not been 
 previously engaged. We ha 1 prefcrod band number one — its members 
 knew it, and we could not make a bridge of their noses in that way 
 and expect favors from them. I explained, and Mrs- Irena coaxed, 
 but to no purpose. The promise of a double fee, however, mollified 
 them, and they concluded to "accommodate " us. 
 
 The evening came, and I anxiously sought the bower, expectino- 
 some new trouble, but unable to guess what. A large crowd had 
 assembled there — much too large for the accommodations offered by 
 the bower, and said crowd was groping about in the darkness, owing to 
 the fact that all the light which had been furnished for the occasion, 
 consisted of what was given by two smoking lanterns. Still the people 
 managed somehow to dance. But I am sorry to say that when I pro- 
 ceeded to take up a collection their sight was not so good, for the whole 
 amount raised was only $0.33 and two buttons. I had already got 
 heartily sick of the whole affair, and was thinking of returning home, 
 when the musicians threw down their instruments, declarino; that it 
 was midnight, and that they would play no longer. This raised a row. 
 A portion of the men were well "set up " with liquor, and they de- 
 nounced the dance as a swindle; but just who had swindled them they 
 could not tell, unless it was the " Enterprise " folks. I informed them 
 of the amount that the musicians had asked for their services, and 
 that, as I had hired them, I would have them to pay; whereupon the 
 crowd surrounded the band and demanded music, the musicians stead- 
 ily refusing. The quarrel waxed loud ; and, perfectly disgusted, I 
 slipped away and sought my office. Here, I shut myself up, and esti- 
 mated the cost of the celebration, finding that the " Enterprise " folks 
 were out of pocket fifty dollars, besides the printing bill. 
 
 But it would noi do for the outside v-orld to know that the celebra- 
 tion was a failure; so I penned a lengthy article, praising everybody 
 and everything, and giving a glowing description of that particular 
 fourth of July at Greenville. Then I went to bed, firm in the resolve 
 that, in the future, others should conduct all celebrations whatever 
 they might be, and that never, never again would I belong to a com- 
 mittee on finance. 
 
W\e 5^rieqdsl)ip tlvat dould r(ot Die. 
 
 " Mine is a friendship tliat cannot die I 
 I sliall be your best friend alway ;" 
 Spoken softly low, 
 Just a year ago, 
 Were the words I heard you sa3% 
 Did I doubt them ? No, not I. 
 
 "Mine is a friendship that cannot die I " 
 And it had such a truthful ring, 
 I had staked the whole 
 Of my life and soul. 
 And of every precious thing. 
 That it could not be a lie. 
 
 " Mine is a friendship that cannot die I " 
 
 But, alas ! it has not pi'oved true; 
 
 For my lips are white 
 
 With my woe to-night, 
 
 And the faith that reposed in 3^ou 
 
 Has despair in its wild cry. 
 
 " Mine is a friendship that cannot die I " 
 Now, it never once seeks to know 
 If I grope in night. 
 Or am blessed with light; 
 Nor to crush any thorns Avhich grow ; 
 And I faintly question, " why ?" 
 
 This is the friendship tliat could not die I 
 r>ut nh, me ! should I think it strange ? 
 Beat on, aching heart. 
 It is but the smart 
 Of a change in a Avorld of change, 
 Where what lives, in death, must lie. — eeVjLA French. 
 
 i 
 
G[en-(b^ of l^l|Ougl)t. 
 
 " Civiltv costs nothing, but buys everything." 
 
 " The remedy for 'hard times' is patient industry. Let those who 
 complain try it." 
 
 " The discovery of what is true, and the practice of what is gooi?, 
 are the two most important objects of life," 
 
 "Mankind are citizens of the earth, and bound both by moral and 
 civil law, to preserve and take care of their lives and health." 
 
 " Prosperity is a more refined and severe test of character than ad- 
 versity, as one hour of summer sunshine produces greater corruplicn 
 than the longest winter day." 
 
 "A knowledge of science attained by mere reading, though infi- 
 nitely better than ignorance, is a knowledge of a very different kind 
 from that which arises from contact with fact. " 
 
 ''Pretty had under foot to-day," said one citizen to another, as 
 th"y met in the street, " Yes, but it's fine overhead," responded the 
 other. " True enough," said the first, " but then, very few are going 
 that way." 
 
 " A house without pictures is like a stem shorn of its fair flowers. 
 If yon would make a room look neat, cheerful and homelike, first, 
 and above all else, rob it of its staring, naked walls, by covering them 
 up with modest and refined pictures." 
 
 Errata. — On pages 177 and 18J, read Bishop, Drennan k Coulon, 
 for Bishop, Dresman & Conlan. Oa page 180, read Julius Schiiur 
 
 for Julius Schur, and on the same page read Ulrich Olderbolz for 
 Uirich Olderbaldz. 
 
 By some oversight, the names of 0. E. Jones and wife seem to be 
 omitted in the historical sketch. These worthy people were among 
 the oldest settlers of Black River Falls, and endured many of the 
 hardships and struggles which Col. C R. Johnson so ably describes. 
 They are, at present, the proprietors of the Jones House, and the 
 editor of this work can testify that they furnish a very pleasant 
 home for travelers. 
 
 1 
 
204 
 
 American Sketch Booh 
 THE GREAT DEBATING SOCIETY. 
 
 VIEW NO. 1 
 
 KXI'I.AXATIDX. 
 
 The young folks of "our 
 
 town" believing that they 
 
 possessed great latent tal- 
 
 v^HJ ents in the line of speech- 
 
 .ji^ ^^to ifying, resolved to organize 
 
 ^fc ' a Debating Society for 
 
 •'^^ ^s; the purpose of developing 
 
 those talents, without first 
 
 taking into onsideralim 
 
 what the effects might be. 
 
 In view nurnbcr one we 
 see the great Dt^bating So- 
 ciety as it began. in 
 view number two w.3 have 
 thei^reat Debatiny; Society 
 as it endeil. 
 
 VIEW NO 2. 
 
 A minister asked a little boy Viho had been converted, " Does not 
 the devil tell you that you are not a Christian ? " "Yes, sometimes." 
 " Well, what do you say to him ? " " I tell him," replied the boy 
 with something of Luther's spirit, " that whether I am or not, it is 
 none of his business." 
 
WILLIA1VI BRADNER, 
 
 DEALER IN 
 
 Beef, Pork, Mutton, Lard, Tallow, Fresh Fish, Dried Beef, 
 
 HAMS, SHOULDERS, VEAL, SAUSAGE, Etc. 
 
 Blaclc River Falls, Wisconsin. 
 
 CTI^TJOHNSON 
 
 .a^^^r ^^ E ^. ^ 
 
 Office in Spaulding's Block. Water Street. 
 
 BLACK RIVER FALLS, WISCONSIN. 
 
 BOWMAU & HUMBIHD, 
 
 BAM^KBR 
 
 wv 
 
 BlM^k MiwwF FmiM. 
 
 WISCONSIN. 
 
 D. J. SPAULDING, 
 Groceries, Crockery, 
 
 FLOUR, FEED, AlTD GEAm, 
 
 3J[aiiiifsiot»irei* oP 
 
 FARM AND FREIGHT WAGONS, 
 
 Sash, Doors, Blinds, Etc., 
 
 BLACK RIVER FALLS, - - WISCOITSIII. 
 
This page belongs to Mons Anderson, 
 
 vt^trMf .- , 
 
 whose advertisement will appear in our next 
 Issue of the Sketch Book. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS