Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1858-11-20
TAFToN, Grant Co., Sept. 10.


Improvement : The Prairie 1alten = Patcf
} Grove. f sfa
TAFreN, Grant Co., Sept. Is.
From Lancaster, we went to Beetown
one Of the oldest villages of the county, ii
and about which large amount of lead
has been raised and slnelted, where seven
or eight stores have done thriving bust
ness, and which has been busy but not
very moral place. Is
4 lis name originated in this wise Some
Miiers We're prospecting thereabouts in
1927, and seeing bees attempted to find
their head quarters. While coursing them,
some small float mineral was discovered.
scratched out by badger. The ''lead''
thus discovered was called the .'Bee Lead, y
: and the village which sprung up ''Bee-
town"
I 1t is located in a ragine where 8 ways
meet. There is room for bul one street,
and the place can hardly be said to have a
very eligible site. Severely injured in
common with the hole mining region, BY
the California excitement, it never recover
led its former prosperity, and the establish
ii3ent of mills and other centers of trade
have deprived it of much which used to
contribute to its growth. 1t seems TO be
lin decline, several houses being vacant,
AMI the population not half as large as at
Isome former periods-hardly reachin,
three hundred. There are, however, two
Tor three handsome residences-t the best,
that Of Mr.. j. B. TuRLEY-one room Of
which is devoted to bees, and from which
the deli ious honey is at any time procur-
able. There are two stores, one Of which
,ldoes y large business, two taverns, two or
three blacksmith and wagon shops, saloons
&c. There are two good school houses,
} and one church. ~
After circulating about the village till
nearly dusk, and snpping very satisfactory
~, at farmers little way out, we start
ed for Cassvile, about ten miles distant. =
NY companion ha | known the road Of old,
but various improvements had changed its
route, so that in the perplexing moonlight
we were misled, ard stopping at length. at
a log cabin to inquire, we found ourselves
some miles out of the direct course, on the
/ Muscalunge. Thence we went our wind
ing way, now and then getting astray, and
bringing up against unexpected fences, fl
ually reaching divers Mills. Here we
found the ground occupied by some fif-
teen or twenty houses and vert on to the
house of a good farmer, some five miles
from Cassvile, where we found q hospita-
BILE welcome and good quarters at rather a
late hour in the evening. y
i Cassville is not town Of recent origin
The Fox Indians had flo4lisbiag village
here before the country was settled, and
there was fort and post-ofiice here in
1882. The village hardly began to be
till 1885, when there were, aEtcipatons
that this would be the capital of state
including Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota,
and great city was expected TO grow up
A splendid hotel was built at a cost of over
$4,000, than which, even now, there are
few better buildings in the State, west Of
Milwaukee. But the division of the Terri
tory and the location of the Capital OF
Wisconsin at Madison, with the commercial
crisis of 1878, blasted these anticpa-
tions and the growth of Cassyille stopped.
Disputes about titles, and other untoward
r circumstances kept the place in a Rip Van
Wrinkle sleep--the great hotel and a few
scattered buildings standing as warning
to speculators- till some two or three years
ago, when the property was purchased By
two or three gentlemen, of whom Ex-Gov.
5 Dewey was most prominent. They repair
ed and finished off the hotel in filst-rate
style. built good wharf, expended some
$50, 900 in various Improvements. Lots
were sold at such prices, and such induce
ments held out, as to attract citizens. The
population has more than doubled, and is
NOW over 600. The township is a pretty
large one, and $50 votes were polled this
spring. Three very heavy mei cantile
firms do business of some 100000 a
vear. Three large and we'll built ware
houses serve for. the storage Of grain, Of
) which nearly 100000 bushels Were ship
ped this season, beside s or 10000 pigs
of lead. They have lead furnace, a
steam saw-lnill, a brewery, two wagon
! shops, tin and stove store, a harness shop,
land other mechanic shops. The place
hoasts Of one lawyer, one doctor, and no
preacher. There rs but one church, cath
} Eolic. There are over 100 houses, about 20
) of brick. Mos. of the buildings are quite
new. A few very good houses are build
ling this year. There are two or three
small hotels beside the Denniston House
This is large four-story building, of brick
with frame wing. Il contains about so
rooms including large dining-room. 1t
lis supplied with the modern Improvements,
is we'll finished throughout and partly fur
lnished in good style. It is kept by R.
] Thomas, an inveterate Democrat, but a
clever landlord. The view from the OBJ
servatory, as the RATS sweep lazily down
THE stream and the steamboats, pillow the
water, landing daily with a mail from a.
lbove and below, with the town at your
feet and the bluffs which bound the hori-
zon, is very fine.
Leaving Cassville after dinner, we went
out on Blake's Prairie, some eighteen miles
.tto Tafton The day was daliu1tfIlfv clear