Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-06-21
ANNUAL ADDRESS.
Delivered BY Hon. J. W. Seaton the Old settlers
Meeting In Lancaster, June Is, 1883.


in earnest conversation. They were
venerable men, come down to us from
former generation. In appearance
they impersonated Soloman's descrip-
ton of wisdom-length of days in their
right hand and in their left riches and
honors. !" So would / have pronounced
them, the personification of wisdom-if
the elder and who should have been the
wiser and more discreet of the two, had
not remarked: Here Judge, is just the
man we want to deliver an address at
our next Old Settlers meeting" They
We're both grave and reverend judges,
and before any evidence was taken, or
time given to make up the pleadings,
a verdict was rendered, judgment en-
tered up, and the culprit stands before
you to-day like any other convicted
malefactor with the privilege of plead
ing for mercy and telling his honor not
to make the penalty of his own indis-
erection too severe. / have this assur-
ance, however, on the part of the
learned bench, that in the last extre-
nifty am to have any and all the as
sistance needed even to the issuing of
a mandate on the sheriff to call out the
posse comatdtus. This explanation,
trust will relieve the minds of those of
you who have come here to-day, with
the expectation of listening to learned
and interesting address as contemplated
by your committee. 1 shall, however,
endeavor to relate as briefly and as in
diligently as may be something about
Grant county, its former customs, man.
ners, modes of living and acting, its
present and primitive scenery.its adj
ventures and perils as pertaining to its
early settlement down to the present
time.
A few years since business led me to
make an excursion across Platte river,
among the deep and desolate ravines and
high timbered hills of Harrison. MY
first PAL asong as old Zenophan once said,
brought me to the ancient site of
Hough's Mills-once famous in the
early settlement of the country. The
rising ground, running at right angles
with the precipitous bluffs on either
hand of the river, which fixes the pres
ent boundaries of a luxuriant corn
field and smooth shaven meadow,
and resembling the works of the pre-
historic mound builder or the clrcum-
valuation of some long dismantled fort
RESERVES to mark the line of an old
mill dam which once held '.in durance
vile the waters of this now free and
noble stream. A little farther down,
the relics of stable and few old
cabins-dilapidated and fast falling to
decay-existing, seemingly, only to
serve the purpose of proping up each
others lettering walls and roofs-such
as I've seen some good old couples of
the human prolonging their lives
far beyond the years of pleasure, comli-
ness or use, only to comfort and care
for each others wants, till the gnawing
tooth of time, or some rude, unseemly
blast of adversely, fell upon their fee
BILE forms-when, like these old tene-
ments of the valley-n no longer inhabit-
able and no longer sustained by each
others strength, together they would
lay them down in their last sleep and be
forgotten.
The souls dark cottage battered and decayed.
Lets IN new light through chinks that time
has made.
Stronger by weakness wiser men become,
As they draw near to their eternal home,
Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view
That stand upon the threshold Of the new.
This mill and these cabins were erect
ed in the year 1888, by Asa Hough, an
came from Philadelphia and opened a
trading place at point farther below
on this stream, known in early days as
Gibralter- like Illium of old, a
shadow and name. Here, for several
years, Hough carried on an extensive
business, and was widely known to ali
the early settlers. Here he continued
until the year 1916, when the property
passed into other hands; the mill went
to decay, and remained for many wears
an idle monument of an early enter
prise.
Daniel Banfill, or "old Ban," as his
friends were wont to call kim, whose
rough exterior covered warm and gen.
erous soul. aud to whose energy Lam
caster, Potosi and Grant county gener-
orally owes much of its prosperity, in
the year 1855 again restored this mill
to Its former usefulness. Here for
length of time he pursued prosperous
business. But at last 1t yielded TO the
adverse circumstances of trade which
preceded the war, and few wears
more sut1iced to remove the last vestipe
of this once famous mill site on the
Platte.
Again, it is n warm summers day
in June. Let us ascend few miles fur
Their towards the source of this
tortuous, wooded, lovely stream. We
come again to another enterprise of the
busy, bustling. restless brain of sold
Ban"-the Touring mill and present
property of one of your most worthy
and energetic members, Samuel Drum,
of Rockville, whose strict honesty and
quaint rhyme have been familiar a long
time.
| purpose not to speak of this modern
innovation of nature, but of the once
famous Red Dog diggings, located in
this vicinity, and its commercial town,
whose diminutive name-Pin Hook
prevented it from rising to the import
ance of great mineral city; it was
also styled Upper Snake Digoinys.
Here was the home of +. L. Hay
wood, whose broad sections of land
were the envy of the early merchants
and settlers, and whose lovely daugh-
tiers were the admiration of all the
young miners. The social parties that
were given beneath his hospitable roof,
are still remembered and treasured in
the hearts of the old settlers who par
ticipated in their festivities. But gone
is the old mansion and the old man. and
silent are the voices of many of the young
gallants and their lovely partners, who
made the midnight welkin ring with
their merry laughter
These mines were rich in lead depos-
its at the time l mention, and many
moderate fortunes were taken from
them by men who quickly squandered
them at the card tables, in the saloons
and by other devices which are the
curse of every new mining coun-
try, where fortunes are quick
ly made and as quickly spent.
Christopher M. jackson, John n.
Eayres, Uncle John Morshead, James
Likens, Thomas Davis, James and An
drew jackson, Samuel Drum and many
others were successful miners in this
neighborhood and vicinity, most of them
making permanent homes and invest
ing their gains in the timber and prairie
lands, which here lie in happy proxim-
ity, and now constitute some of the fin
est farms in Grant county.
Close in the ncighborhood of the site
of the abandoned city of years ago and
old, deserted mineral shafts, is one of
the most delightfully."- enchanting spots
which has ever fallen to my lot to visit
and doubt whether for wild, pictur-
esque native beauty,-on warm sum-