Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1855-04-18
GREELEY IN WISCONSIN,.


from his letter:
Madison has the most magnificent site of any
| inland town | ever saw, on graceful swell OF
| land say two miles ncrth and south by mile and
| half east and west rising gently from the west
| back of one of a chain OF four lakes, and having
another of them northwest OF 1t. These lakes
must each be eight ten miles in circumference,
half surrounded by dry clean oak forests, rath-
er timbered openings" which need but little Ia
Dor to convert them into the finest parks in which
fair homes ever Lestled. spacious Water Cure
establishment has just been erected in of these
forests across the lake south easterly from Mad
son, and shows finely both from the city and the
railroad as you approach it. The Capitol is to-
ward the south end of the but-up city, in fine
natural park of twenty acres, and is not worse
planned than most of our public buildings The
| University crowns beautiful emnence a mile
west of the Capitol with main street connecting
! them la Observation-Disclosures. There more
comfortable private mansions now in progress In
| Madison than in any other place l have visited,
and the owners are mostly recent immigrants, of
means and cultivation, from New England, from
| Cincinnati, and even from Europe. Madison is
growing very fast; and if she can be speedily and
thoroughly rid of some barnacles that have fast
ened upon her-gambers and such like vermn-
| she has glorious career before her | beg her
authorities to remember that Righteousness
alteth Nation and city no less-and that
every dollar that may be gained to either by the
federation of vicious haunts will cost her ten in
| money, and still more in character.
| spoke two hours in the evening to the largest
! essembage | had this winter out of the sea-
board cities and having slept very little the night
before, repaired to the friends house at which
| was staying, and before Il clock was in the
| land of Nod. | venture to say that not other
sleeper in Madison was making better time than
| |, when at A NJ. slight tinkle of the door bell
aroused me. Though | could not that moment
| determine whether | was in America or Asia, at
| home, away lecturing, or on some other vagr ant
errand, knew instantly, instinctvely, that that
tinkle ment me, and nobody else 1t was the stage
coach summons to get ready, and twenty minutes
| thereafter, stepped out into mean a snow
| storm as | can remember, and was soon on my
way to Mineral Point, 50 miles west by south of
Madison.
| With light however
the pace improved; stopped and warmed at
the next post office, eight miles further; and at a
/ little past nine stopped for breakfast at The
| Blue Mounds" twenty-five miles on our way. and
said TO be one of the highest points in Southern
| Wisconsin, and | think near the eastern verge of
the Mineral region Here Squire Bingham
| sturdy pioneer, from Berkshire County Massachr,-
sets, pitched his tent thirty years ago. and
here he still abides in hale and vigorous activity
livins proof of the salubrity of the climate and
the healthfulness of an outdoor life. He might
/ now choose more luxurious home but he pre-,
fers this, and wisely. A little settlement is grad.
bightlng influences of Land Speculation, he would
soon be surrounded by dense and thrifty popu.
lation.
We pushed on 10 Dodgeville, twenty miles fur
| Their, by o'clock P. NJ, and there abandoned our
stagewagon. which had ceased to be entertaining
and chartered an open sleigh to take after
| dinner to Mineral Point which we reached lust
after 2. NJ. The snow had ceased about P
| NJ !, but the wind had veered to the northwest
and bit shrewdly. This last part Of way lay
| in part across prairie, where the was con-
siderably dTifted. | was not sorry to see the
| end of it,
Dodgeville is a scattered village of some five
| hundred houses, the focus of practcle mining op
erations. and near the geographical center of Iowa
/ County. though the County buildings are at Minis
era Point, smart village of nearly thousand
houses, situated on the sides of two inter sectng
rayines and the level plain above Mineral Point
is probably the eldest considerable settlement in
| Wisconsin, the emporium of an extensive trade
and evinces thrift and activity.
i L lectured here very short notice in the even
ing Saturday. and talked Temperance TO
i crowded church-the largest in the place-on
Sunday evening. The day cold, but still and
| bright, and the wasted d little on the warm
| er slopes. | thought had seen my worst of the
Journey and made my arrangements to start next
| morning by private conveyance for Dubuque al
| mlles) with careless heart.
| But let man boast of the morrow | was
| IN the middle of my sleep when, at midnight |
heard the woish howl of the prairie wind and
| knew at once that 1t was looking for me. All the
rest of the night it kept up its wild moan, and
! day broke sullenly a driving snow storm with
the wind in the west. ] jumped into the cutter
at u o'clock, in defiance of confident predictions
| that would not see Dubuque that day but it
was not till we rose the hill and debouched on the
open plain that fully realized the kind of day
II was he FIRST time struck the prairie nv
hat took a south eastward shoot on its own ac-
count, and wo ID chopper, who happened to be
passing, chased II instantly and smartlv for at
least eighty rods. TIL it brought up in the bushes
TO leeward. Our shrewder horse decidedly OBJ
jected to standing still the prairie and taking
the full force of the storm while the chase was
proceeding; but there seemed to be alternative
My hatful of letters and papers took wide range,
and are probably going vet
| Nine miles from the Point, we stopped to water
Gin vain, for the snow blind animals refused to
drink and improved the opportunity and did
myself up INTO much more scrviceabe ard sat-
| lsfactory bundIe-my hat under my feet and
warm blanket swathed around my head and held
by large scarf around my neck Thencefor>
ward though cold | suffered far less than | had
| previously done from the driving wind and snow
/ he storm seemed 10 Tedouble its fury as we
struck off across wide prairie twelve or
fifteen miles on our journey Though the road is
an important and much.traveled one the newly
| fallen snow had been drifted so as to conceal all
trace of 1t for long distance while the binding
storm quite hid any landmarks that may ordiua-
Tlly be visible, SO that my experienced and sharp
| eyed guide was for time completely at fault-
After foundering on in doubt for some little time
a momentary lull showed a house and its sur
roundlngs not far ahead of us but these were
again obscure while we were within a dozen rods
OF them, and it was some time be fore we could
make them out again By their help, we ecov-
| cred the trail and pushed steadily on at twentv-
/ i've miles from Mineral Point found at noon rho
stage which had started twelve hours before from,
Galena, fifteen miles below, but had STONED hero
embarrassed and given it up
| Three miles further we stopped to rest and rub
| on our brave horses, nearly covered with
| snow and here we found another Galena stago
which had left that city in the morning. got
mile and half beyond this point Thirteen and
half miles in all,) tipped over with its nine mas
sengers, (three of them ladies-one considerably
hurt) rIghted up again. and finally turned back
ahd put np-the driver asserting that he could not
IN the absence of any track MAZE o,,t h 49,,