The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-08-04
PRAIRIE DU CHEN.
Overlooking the Mississippi and
Rich in History.


Prairie du Chen, Wis, Aug. T.
Prairie du Chen has $500 people. 1t
is pitched on the Mississippi, on level
OF perhaps two miles width, with the
rivers mountains to keep guard. When
the sun goes down in glory, and the
calm, historic river creeps toward the
sea 800 miles away at New Orleans
people who have read history and have
spent the afternoon looking over the
cemeteries where repose voyageurs,
F'renchmen, fur traders, Indian fight
ers, soldiers and hero pioneers, think
the world is growing old.
1t is the second oldest city in the
state, and while the little city is sue
cessfully struggling to resist the fate
that has submerged many river
towns" there is a gentle historic calm
that no one escapes. One is forever
calling to mind the little enclosure
near the ruins where crumbling tab
let's tell of dead colonies and the wives
Of officers, and their children sleep
overlooking the river, reminders of the
garrison that shielded the frontier
when the younger Adams was presi-
dent and Jackson and Van Buren,, and
Harrison, too. Stirring times, those in
this quiet, little city of today.
Even Earlier Pioneers.
And, too, no one fOrgets that older
cemetery in the upper part of the
town, where the French families were
laid. Scarcely a tablet is left to tell
the tale, but there meath the melan-
chOly evergreens are foot stones and
head stones that speak of men, yes,
and of women and children, too, who
fought with the beasts of the wilder
ness, cOnsOrted with the Indians and
led the way from Quebec, in the last
century, and even IN the sixteenth,
when it was uncertain whether French
or English were to shape the civiliza-
ton that followed in the vast empire
of the Mississippi valley.
The Fox Indians originally pos
sessed the city, their chief being named
Dog" C'Chien" in French)-hence
the name
Beginning of the {" st. Paul" Road.
Modern history dates from the COM
ing of the railroad from Milwaukee
and Madison in 1857. 1t was the
nucleus of the present c., M. & ST. P.
system. For time it was the ter
minus, and the gate of the New West.
There was TO railroad to the north
Ward-this was the gate to st. Paul.
Immigrants passed through by thou
sands. Great steamboat packets piled
up and down the river. A 100000 no.
tel was built. The citizens believed,
and with reason, that the story of Chi
cagO and Milwaukee was to be repeat
ed. Alexander McGregOr came in 1886
and laid out the Clover town." later
moving across the river and founding
the town in Iowa bearing his name.
City of Magnificent Distances.
AS the city is today, it is made up
of settlements of different periods
villages at considerable distances from
each other, separated by cornfields and
rural stretches. | heard the 'Whir" of
a partridge in city limits. It is half a
mile from the railroad station to the
business section, separated by
slough" an arm Of the Mississippi,
which makes an island Of the station
and it's colony. In the spring some
times the rising water covers this Sec
ton, WhereupOn the inhabitants move
upstairs and patiently wait for it to
go down. It is in these slOughs that
young bass and other fish are taken
by superintendent Niven for the state
fish department. The young fish are
left behind by their parents and would
perish if not thus gathered in. The
old pilot who sits on the dock and
varies his occupation Of letting pleas
ure skiffs with recOllectiOns of "Dia-
mOnd Joe" and other kings Of the early
packet days, says that catfish are
dragged from the river weighing sew
enty-tive pounds and now and then a
5-fOOt sturgeon.
Dousman and Lawler.
In the making of Prairie du CHEN
two men, whose splendid burial shafts
are worthy q visit, and suggest many
thoughts of romance and enterprise,
have been supremely prominent.
One was II. l.. DOusman, the fur and
Indian trader; and the other was John
LAWYER, who built the great pontoon
bridge and was a leading figure in eX-
plotting the st. Paul road. ROlette,
the fur trader who chose a spot for his
monument on the mountain overlook
ing the city; BrisbOe; La Chapelle, a
highly educated Frenchman, who sat
in the territorial legislature and died
in the Mendoza asylum. There are
many such family names and careers
in the history Of the city, but Dous-
man and LaWler left lasting marks.
Hercules L. Dousman made his for
tune as agent of the American Fur
company and in Indian dealings. He
was born in Canada of French stock in
1900 and died in 1868. He came to this
city about 1926. Near the station is a
stone building going to ruin which was
the headquarters of the fur company.
Louis Dousman, his son, was man of
much of his fathers ability. He de-
velOped a fancy horse farm, bringing
to the city the most costly Kentucky
thorOughbreds. His widiw lives on
the Dousman place, the palatial stables
and a racing track being a feature of
the estate. Louis Dousman died in
1886 The 100000 hotel at the station
bears the family name, as does some
of the business blocks.
Pearl Buttons from CLAIMS.
1t isn't as humiliating as it once was