Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-09-01
A Western Letter.
Beaver Dam, WIS, dug, 81.

me of home and Barton friends
We are now guests in the family of
William d. Drown, a long time sub
scriber, and well known to many of
your readers and for these | will add
few personal items. Mr.. Drown
has made his home in Beaver Dam
some 80 years. He has beautiful
residence on Park Avenue, the most
pleasant street of the city. His only
daughter, Mrs. j. j. Dick whose hus-
band is prominent lawyer and re-
sides with him. Mrs. Drown has
been an inaalid for Thirty years yet
she accepts life's conditions with
cheerfulness and is with her husband
the centre of large circle of friends.
They are now enjoying the rest and
quiet and numerous opportunities for
doing good that an abundance of
this worlds goods gives to them in
| life's decline. Beaver Dam is city
of 1000 inhabitants, ten miles from
Juneau, the county seat of Dodge Co.
has excellent schools. numerous chur
ches and many fine residences. There
| is large German element in the pop
ulation which enters into every de-
partment of business. The German
M. E. church is the best attended
and supported church in the city and
their children among the best schol-
ars in the schools. Aug. 25 Knight
Templars lay the corner stone of
beautiful stone building for free
library costing above foundations
$25, 900, given to the city by veal
thy citizen. Said prominent man
to me, our free library is doing more
for our young people than the chur-
ches. Beaver Lake, a body of water
some ten miles long, furnishes excel
lent water power for woolen mills
where the finest of worsted goods,
broadcloths for mems wear, ladies
fiannels and knitting yarns are man
ufactured. Roller mills where excel
lent flour is made. Iron Foundry for
steam threshers are greatest novelty
in machinery to us. The thresher
steams into the grain fields, its en-
gine sometimes fed by coal Tin Mimi,
by straw employing seventeen men
and turns out 1900 bushels of grain
per day. In Mimi, there is dim
ing-ca attached to bourd the men.
The source of the city water sup
ply is natula spring of pure water
that gushes up from a crevice in a
large rock near the lake shore, yet
has no connection with it and not af-
fected by it even when the lake is at
high-water mark. In Vita Park there
is an exhaustless supply of crystal
water flowing from an excavated rock
which rivals in purity the famous
Bethesda Springs of Wakausha. The
Park abounds in pleasant walks and
shady seats with good hotel for sum-
mer visitors. The streets, churches,
business places and many residences
use incandescent electric light. Shade
trees are abundant. The streets are
we'll kept.
Every picture has its dark shades
so facts compel us to say there are
twenty saloons and two breweries.
The land now occupied by these
breweries was owned and sold
by Presbyterian clergyman
with the provision that nothing intox-
icating should ever made or sold
within it's bounds. The existing
fact shows how useless it is to at
tempt to control the use of property
that has passed into other hands.
The large German population in our
Western cities makes the beer ques-
ton a difficult one to settle.
Wisconsin as l have seen it, is
much like New England. The sur
face is uneven, forests numerous and
wood plenty; many beautiful lakes,
soil rich and deep in some parts, in
others rich and sandy. Many of the
business men and wealthy farmers
came from VT, when the country was
new.
Thirty years ago this state like
Mimi, was a one crop state. Now
the great fields of corn, oats and bar
lev attract as much atte ntion as the
wheat fields. Apples this year are a
failure, and potatoes yield but half
crop: other crops good but the short
age in other places have materially
raised the prices. Aug. 5 we joined
an excursion party to visit the fa-
nous Dell of the Wisconsin River.
At Kilburn City we took the steamer
which will accommodate two hundred
passengers. We were accompanie ed
by two bands of music, the one on
our boat interested us very much; it
contained twelve persons, all of one
family, the father and eleven chill
dren, ages ranging from six to TWEEN
ty-five years; two were young ladies,
the uniform was blue with light blue
nd gold trimmings. They playeda
stringed instruments. They were
nice looking, healthy, well formed
Germans, family to be proud of
aside from their musical talents. Mu-
sic is a marked characteristic of the
German population and most of the
bands are composed of them.
Our boat ascended the river about
six miles between banks of wonder
ful rock formations, at times high