Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-06-17
CRAWFORD COUNTY.
Meeting of the Old Settlers of Craw-
ford County-Interesting Proceed
ings-The Old and the Young-The
Past and the Present. Address of
Hon. j. II. Mills.

ford County-Interestin Proceed
ings-The Old and the Young--The
Past and the Present. Address of
Hon. j. T. Mills.
| The Old Settlers of Crawford
county held their third annual re-
union at Watchers hall, in Prairie du
Chen, on Saturday, goth alt. The
attendance Of the early pioneers and
their sons and daughters was larger
than at any previous reunion. and
more than usual interest was mani
tested in the proceedings by the citi-
zens. Hon. o. B. Thomas presided.
Upon the platform, raised high above
the level of the seats, sat near fifty of
the snowy-locked pioneers of cold
Crawford" and directly in front were
ranged as many little girls, dressed in
white-a scene most interesting, yet
| impressive and remindful. The adj
dress was delivered by Hon. J. T.
Mills, of this county, who in an early
day resided at Prairie du Chen. 1t
is one of his usual happy efforts, and
is well worth the space we give il.
We copy the Judges speech in full, as
we find it in the Courier:
1 IL. nII
wish that was inspired. We assemble here
to day TO review the past, as the present is
slipping away from our hands. We meet
here to call the roll of the living, for there
are those who will not answer "Here." We
meet to pay the debt of gratitude and friend
ship we owe to the loved halowed dead, and
to furnish the chain of memory that unites
them with ourselves.
The major part of the generation who be-
gan life with me have already bounded across
the chasm of the grave, and the rear guard,
the last man, the last woman, will soon sur
render the regalia of our Order to our sue
cessors, to whom we leave all bnt our allotted
six feet of earth-for Death is parsimOnious
and economical in its dealings with real estate.
But away for the present with these sad
anticipations Think not that because the
sands of our lives are few, that Hope has no
future in store for u.s.. No; he unfolds her
pictured canvass uporiisa grander theatcr of
| existence.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast,
Man never is, but always to be bost"
But the Past, the inexorable, unalterable
Past, it follows us wherever we 60; though
we should take the ''winGs of the morning
and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth,
it precedes us there; it inter-penetrates the
present moment, and will mingle with the
thoughts of eternity There is too much in
that history of Joy, sorrow, virtuous resolu~
tons, struggling with passion, of success
and failure, of life and death, ever to be for
gotten as long as personal consciousness and
memory remain. And it is homage due to
that Past that calls US here today.
And there was time when that once stall
wart frame, now stopped like Atlas, under the
| weight of years, walked brave and fearless in
manhoods strength when hairs, now silver.
ed over with more than the frosts of three-
score winters, were soft and elastic, without
she aid of your modern Dermador; when eyes,
now dim like the Patriarchs, once sparkled
with the eagerness and vivacity of youth.
Yes, far back in the memory of every old
settler, there is floating oasis, ever verdant,
ever fragrant, ever merry with the song of
birds and the murmer of rivulets; surrounded,
it may be, by waste of withered hopes, bro
|
when, and what time, was that? Each old
settler has his favorite dates. /, consult
ing my own experience, would locate it in 1884
, when first came to what is now Crawford
county Or in that later period when the
Warmers, the Bowens, the Bronsons the
, Dandleys, the Fishers. the AthertoEs the Gen
. ills; land not neglect, bat want of time, for.
bids further enumeration with the arrival
of these families for permanent settlement
began a new era in the progress of this com
munty.
, The Tainters, the Giberts, the Lockxoaas
T. ToGggAhy, thay N aekhholw1ledged mediator be-
, tween the civilized and savage man, the friend
and patron of both, he was here then, grand
specimen of that cosmopolitan manhood
J equally at home in the gorgeous salons of Del
monco, or in the wigwam of the Sioux. Now
marble pillar sentinels his dust. And here
were the Brisbois and the Rolettes, and
the Barrettes and the Strains
the representatives of descendants of gray
headed sires from "Vneclad France" who
had homesteaded Prairie du Chen, perhaps
yes, two hundred and two years ago, coming
June next.
| read here an extract from Gen. Smiths
History, describing the descent of the Wis,
, consin river by Marquette and his fellow
voYagers: 1.-The river is very wide, with
sandy bottoms, causing many banks, and max
J ing navigation difficult. full of vine covered
isles, and bordered with fine lands, compris-
ing wood, prairie and rising ground" The
Adventures found roeblcks and buffalo in
abundance, and perceived the appearance OF
3iron mines. After navigation OF 40 days on
the river in their bark canoes, on the 18th of
June, 1918, says Marquette, with JOY |
cannot express, we happily entered the Mis-
l O; IN fbo lot do NJ A
Q, if we could only exchange generations,
who of us would not have exulted to accom-
pany Marquette down the noble river, as new,
fresh and strange as if it had just been emp
tied from the urn of the Creator. Did the
prophetic Marquette, in some night vision,
when the future burst upon his soul, did he
dream of what we see To-day? Towns, vii
lagos, school hou IS and churches, cupola and
tower, have followed in its trac'; Magnifce 1T
bridges throw their shadow upon the food
| Pine forests have rolled themselves into the
} channel, and the gigantic fir and hemlock,
that Marquette admired, have bowed to the
woodlands axe. Did Marquette dream of
circular saws, or gangs of saws thirty abreast,
; that liter lily devour with their jaws of steel
whole forests at a mealg And, least of all,
did he imagine that this young, spreeng river
should like the Prince of Wales, receive from
Congress pension of 100000 per year to
persuade it to keep one bed, as a civilized
and moral river ought to do? And, did
Marquette imagine in these years of grace,
1872 and 1874, aspirants for Congress would
be required to baptise themselves in it's
water, drink of it., smell of it, and write their
pledges in its sand, before any convention or
party would give them single vote /? You
may talk oflager beer power, of whisky power,
or brain power but it IS water power that
sends men to Congress from thi. third Con-
gressional district Go not to Saratoga, but
to the Wisconsin if you want TO get the gen.
une Congress water.
But we must leave the French Marquett-
and 200 years ago, and approach our own
times. II was 40 years ago that I stood at
the foot of the Lower Rapids. They came to
me or to them. No difference we got to-
gether. | occupied the same site then that
the city of Quincy does now. You might
have carried the embryo burg in wheelbar
row, you could have found one. There was
| a block house on the bank and here some