Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-07-20
CENTENNIAL Box.-For the in

not present ut lancaster on the 18th
of July to witness the highly inter-
esting ceremony of storing the Cen,
tennial Box with historic records
and closing, sealing and depositing
the same, we are led to describe the
box, and state some of its contents
The box il made of two inch White
Oak lumber. thoroughly seasoned /;
90 inches long by IL wide and high /;
dovetailed together, and the bottom
grooved in. The cover projects
about threc-quarters of an iuch all
around, the upper edge moulded
down 10 the siza Of tho box. All is
polished down and we'll oiled inside
and out. A tin box, made of heaviest
loaded roofing tin, well soddered, is
then fitted inside of this oak box,
tho upper edge being turned in three
quarters of an inch ali round. In
this tin box the collections were
deposited and the cover Theoretically
aoldered on. The cover fastened with
six 81 inch screws, --One at each end,
side and corner, the heads sunk into
the wood half an inch. Around the
beads of the end and side screws is
sunk circular seal hole of an inch
deep, the size OF the seals of the four
County officers having seals, viz {:
the County Clerk, Clerk of Court,
Register of Deeds and County Judge.
The cover being screwed on, melted
sealing wax was turned into these
holes and impressed with these
respecliv, seals By The County Off
GERS now holding them. The de-
pressions over the heads of the
screws at the corners are also filled
with sealing wax. To render the
box still more firm like screw also
passes up through the dovetails OF
each corner from the bottom. On
the top appears in carved letters the
following:
ACCURSED BE Re
WHO OPENS NE,
ERE A HUNDRED YEARS ARE GONE.
Upon tho sides arc the following
inscriptions
CENTENNIAL BoF
CONTAINING
HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GRANT
COUNT, WIS.
SEALED
UP At THE GRANT
COUNTY NATIONAL CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION At LANCASTER, JULY /, 1875,
AND DEPOSITED IN THE COUNTY
CLERKS OFFICE, TO
REMAIN
IN his CHARGE AND THAT OF
HIS SUCCESSORS. NOT TO BE OPENED UNTIL
JULY 4TH, 1876
Some of the contents of the Cen
tennial Box are as follows:
History of Grant County. Historical col
lections of town, city and incorporated viii
lagos of County. Specimens of principal
agricultural products of County. Copies of
last issue of each of County papers. Copy
of Monteth & McNally's geography with
maps showing all that is now known Of all
parts of the world. Sectional map of Wis
consin. County maps. Village and city
maps. Centennial Poem. Wis. blue book.
Toasts. Postal card with specimens of
postage stamps now in use, and stamped
envelopes. Specimens of fractional currency.
The heading in the blank book in
which 80 many subscribed their
names, is the following message:
owe, whose signatures here follow, of the
people of Grant county, Wisconsin, assembled
at Lancaster, our county seat, on July 4th,
1878, to celebrate the Centennial anniversary
of our National Independence, adown the
stream of time, to those who shall open the
Centennial Box which are this day sealed up.
to our descendants and to all who shall inhab,
it this county during the century beginning.
July 4th, 1876, send love and greeting May
the free institutions which the fathers of the
revolution established, and their successors for
hundred years have maintained, descend
through the century this day begun to you:
and may you and those who come after you,
and the whole people of the United States of
America, hand them down unbroken and I'M
impaired through all the succeeding genera
tons"