Fifty Years In The Northwest
laborious lives or been more useful in their calling. He has witnessed
the erection of eight churches on the field in which he labored,
though concerned directly in the building of only four. Mr. Peabody's
family consists of seven sons and seven daughters. One of the latter
died in infancy.
V. M. BABCOCK settled at Wagon Landing, town of Alden, in 1856. He was
born in Rensselaer county, New York; married his first wife in New
York and his second wife at Somerset, St. Croix county, Wisconsin.
They have four children. He has held town offices ever since the
organization of the town. He has been sheriff, and was county
superintendent of schools for seven years.
APPLE RIVER.
The town of Apple River includes township 34, range 16, and derives
its name from its principal river. The town is well watered by Apple
river and its tributaries, and it also has numerous lakes, the most
considerable of which is White Ash lake. The surface of the town is
gently undulating, and was originally covered with pine, interspersed
with hardwood groves. There is good wheat soil, and natural meadows
are found in some parts. The town was organized Jan. 22, 1876, having
been set off from Balsam Lake. There are two post offices, Apple River
on the west, and Shiloh on the east town line.
BALSAM LAKE.
The town of Balsam Lake embraces township 34, range 17, and takes its
name from a lake within its bounds. It has an undulating surface,
covered with heavy oak, pine, and maple timber principally. Balsam
creek, the outlet of Balsam lake, flows through it in a southerly
direction, affording fine water powers. About one-sixth of the surface
is covered with lakes. The largest of these, Balsam lake, in the
Indian language An-in-on-duc-a-gon, or evergreen place, gives name to
the town. Deer, Long, Wild Goose, and Mud lakes are fine bodies of
water with bold, timbered shores, and abundance of fish. The town is
near the geographical centre of the county. The first white man, prior
to the organization of the town, to locate within its present bounds
was a disreputable trader named Miller, who in 1848 built a shanty on
Balsam lake, from which he dispensed whisky to the Indians. This man
was not long afterward driven out of the country. (See history of St.
Croix Falls.) The town was organized in 1869. The first board of
supervisors consisted of Geo. P. Anderson, Wright Haskins, and Joseph
Loveless. The clerk was H. J. Fall; the treasurer, F. R. Loveless. The
first school was taught by Jane Husband. Aaron M. Chase built a
shingle mill at the outlet of Balsam lake in 1850, and he seems to
have been the first actual settler or the first man to make
improvements. As he had neither oxen nor horses, the timbers for the
mill were hauled by man power with the aid of yokes and ropes. Other
persons came to the mill and lived there awhile, but the first
permanent settlers came in in 1856. They were J. Shepherd, Joseph
Loveless, Joseph Ravett, and John M. Rogers. Mr. Rogers raised the
first crops in the town; Joseph Ravett was the first postmaster. The
first marriage was that of J. K. Adams to Miss L. A. Millerman, by W.
H. Skinner. The first white child born was a daughter to R. S.
Haskins. The first death, that of a child, occurred in 1870. A first
class flouring mill has been erected at the outlet of Balsam lake. It
is owned by Herman Corning; a saw mill is also in operation at this
point. A Methodist church, 30 × 40 feet ground plan, was erected at
Balsam Lake by the Methodist society in 1886.
BEAVER.
The town of Beaver includes township 34, range 15. It was set off from
Apple River and organized Nov. 15, 1885. The name was suggested as
being appropriate from the work of the beaver in past ages. Beaver
dams are numerous on all the creeks. These ancient works will mostly
disappear with the progress of agriculture. The town is drained by
streams flowing into Apple river. Horseshoe lake, in the northeast
corner, is three miles in length.
BLACK BROOK.
The town of Black Brook includes township 32, range 16. Apple river,
with its tributaries, supplies it with abundant water privileges.
Black Brook, the principal tributary, gives the town its name, and
drains the southern portion. There are many small lakes. The surface
is undulating and most of the soil good. The post office of Black
Brook is in section 32. The North Wisconsin railroad passes through
sections 25, 35 and 36. This town was originally a part of Alden, but
was organized and set off as a new town Aug. 5, 1867. J. C. Nelson
and G. H. Goodrich were the first supervisors. The first settlers
(1863) were John Gorsuch, John Reed and Jacob Polwer; the first
postmaster was ---- Gates; the first school teacher, Tina
Starkweather; the first marriage that of S. D. Starkweather and Mary
Danforth; the first death that of Mrs. Ben Gilman.
CLAM FALLS.
Clam Falls comprises township 37, range 16, and derives its name from
the falls on Clam river. The surface is rolling and timbered with
hardwood and pine. It is well watered by South Clam creek and its
tributaries. Somers' lake, in section 27, is the only lake. An
upheaval of trap rock on Clam creek has caused the waterfall from
which the town has taken its name. It is a fine water power. A dam for
collecting tolls on saw logs has been placed just above the Falls.
Good specimens of copper ore are found in the trap. The town was set
off from Luck and organized Nov. 15, 1876. The first town meeting was
held April, 1877. The first supervisors were Daniel F. Smith, John
Almquist and John Bjornson. D. F. Smith was the first settler, built
the first saw mill, and raised the first crops.
Daniel F. Smith, a peculiar and eccentric man, was born in Chautauqua
county, New York, in 1813; emigrated to Michigan in 1834, where he
married Eliza Green the following year, and moved to Racine county,
Wisconsin. In 1842 he engaged in lumbering on the Wisconsin river, his
home being at Stevens Point. He was of the firms of Smith & Bloomer
and Smith & Fellows. Mr. Bloomer was accidentally killed, on which
account the business of these firms was closed, Mr. Smith removing to
Galena to facilitate the settlement of their affairs. In 1852 he
removed to St. Louis; in 1853 to Memphis, Tennessee, where he engaged
in the wholesale grocery business, losing heavily, in fact all the
accumulations of his life. In the spring of 1855 he leased the St.
Croix Falls saw mill, and operated it for two years, when trouble
arose and litigation ensued, in which Smith obtained a judgment
against Cushing for $1,000. In 1860 he removed to Clinton, Iowa, and
thence in the same year to California. He traveled much, visiting
mines. He spent some time in mining, and also manufactured shingles.
In 1862 he returned to St. Croix Falls and engaged in lumbering for
three years. In 1868 he built a saw mill at Butternut Lake,
Wisconsin. He did much to open that country to settlement. He was the
founder of a town which he called "Luck." In 1872 he was the first
settler at Clam Falls, where he built a saw mill with but one man to
assist, and around that mill has sprung up a flourishing settlement.
Dan Smith, with undaunted perseverance, has battled his way through
life, and has come out victorious over difficulties and opposition
that would have discouraged and turned back other men. Mr. Smith is a
plain, direct, outspoken man; a man of energy and ability. He has ably
and satisfactorily filled many places of trust. For many years he has
been a commissioner of Polk county.
CLAYTON.
Clayton includes township 33, range 15. The town was set off from
Black Brook. The surface of a great part of the town is level and was
originally marshy, but these marshes have been gradually drained, and
fine farms and hay meadows have taken their place. The town was
organized Nov. 10, 1875. The first supervisors were Morris De'Golier,
Worthy Prentice and H. D. West. The first homestead entries were made
in 1865 by Peter Bouchea and John McKay, a Frenchman, both Indian
traders, who established a post at Marsh lake, but in six months
abandoned it and never returned. The next settlers were Vandyke,
Morehouse and Tanner, near the west line of the town, about 1870. The
first improvements were made by Elam Greely in 1862, who dug a canal
into Marsh lake to get water to float logs out of Beaver brook,
thereby draining great tracts of swamp land. The laying of the North
Wisconsin railroad track gave a fresh impetus to business, and
conduced greatly to the building of the village of Clayton in section
24. The first sermon in the town of Clayton was preached by Rev. W. W.
Ames, a Baptist; the first school was taught by S. M. De'Golier; the
first store was opened by A. M. Wilcox, 1874. D. A. Humbird was the
first postmaster. The North Wisconsin railway passes through the
southeast part and the Minneapolis, Soo & Atlantic passes from the
west side to the northeast corner of the town, and has a station,
Gregory, in the west part.
REUBEN F. LITTLE was born June 13, 1839, in Topsham, Devonshire
county, England. At ten years of age he began to care for himself,
working for sixpence per week, carrying pottery in a moulding house.
Before leaving England his wages had increased to three shillings per
week. In the spring of 1853 he had saved three pounds sterling, and
his grandfather gave him two pounds sterling. This five pounds paid
his passage to Quebec and Montreal, where he got four dollars per
month. Soon after he apprenticed himself for five years to learn the
baker's and confectioner's trade at London, Upper Canada. Subsequently
he took a homestead from the British government at Trading Lake, Upper
Canada.
In the spring of 1861, at Detroit, Michigan, he enlisted in the United
States infantry, regular army, and was promoted successively to first
sergeant, to sergeant major, to second lieutenant, to first
lieutenant. He resigned in September, 1865. During the war he served
continuously in Gen. George H. Thomas' division, and took part in all
the engagements under him, from Miles Springs, Kentucky, to Nashville,
Tennessee. On the twenty-second of September, 1863, Mr. Little had the
honor of being the last man to leave the Rossville Gap in front of
Chattanooga after the disastrous fight of Chickamauga. He was wounded
in the battle of Hoover's Gap and Smyrna, and at the siege of Corinth.
Mr. Little was married in 1865, and divorced in 1869, and re-married
in St. Paul in 1878. He lost his Canada homestead, and took another
homestead in Lincoln, Polk county, Wisconsin, in 1866. Afterward he
went to St. Paul and became one of the firm of Little & Berrisford in
the wholesale confectionery business. In 1879 he returned to Clayton,
formerly part of Lincoln, and reclaimed a swamp of over six hundred
acres, making it a productive meadow and tillage farm. Mr. Little has
served several years as Clayton's town supervisor.
CLEAR LAKE.
Clear Lake embraces township 32, range 15. It derives its name from a
beautiful clear lake on the western boundary near Clear Lake village.
The west part of the town is timbered principally with hardwood, and
is good farming land. The eastern part is more diversified, and there
are some large groves of pine. Willow river runs through the town. The
North Wisconsin railroad traverses the town diagonally from northeast
to southwest: The town was organized June 20, 1877; S. D. Mann, J. C.
Gates, and W. R. Ingalls, supervisors. The first settlers were John
Hale, L. P. Nash, S. D. Starkweather, and Perry Clark. Lawrence
O'Connor was first postmaster; Mr. Starkweather carried the mail on
foot. Israel Graves, in 1875, built the first saw mill in Clear Lake
village and the first house. There is now at the village a stave mill