Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-09-16
scandal
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Matters of Moment From the
Far-Off NOrthland
OLE BULLS COLONY.

fated colonies of Oleona and New
Bergen, in Potter county, Pennsyl-
vania, is still living in the vicinity.
She is Mrs. Mary Andersen, widow of
Henry Andersen, Mr.. Bulls manager
and secretary. She is "a years old
and lives with an adopted son back in
the hills. She was in earlier days a
remarkable woman, for besides being
successful trapper, a wielder of the
ak and a tiller of the soil, she distin-
guished herself as log driver On
Kettle creek during the early days of
| numbering on that stream. Having
the strength of two ordinary men,
tnls woman, with pike pole and cant
hook, waded knee deep il the turbu
| lent stream, wrestling the stranded
| logs into the water and breaking jams
with an intrepidity seldom displayed
| by men. 1t is no wonder, then, after
a life of this sort that one finds her
today a sufferer with rheumatism
and scarcely able to leave me cum
| bersome arm chair that was made es-
| pecially for her use. But her memory
| is yet quite good, and she tells many
| interesting things concerning Ole
Bull and his colonists. Those of the
latter who were unable to leave the
country after the downfall of the set
Element now lie buried in little
graveyard just below the old Oleona
| inn
Mrs Andersen tells of the coming
of Ole Bull and his countrymen; how
boisterously happy they were; how
they danced the nights away, to the
enchanting strains of Ole's fiddle, and
how they built castles in the air
during their quiet moments. One
night at merry making held at the
Oleona inn the Norwegians danced SO
| Justify that the floor gave way and
the dancers were thrown into a pro-
miscuous heap on the floor below.
All escaped injury, however, and at
| ter drinking to the health of Ole Bull
and the success of his colony they ad-
journed to another department and
continued their revelry
Ole Bulls Castle" though but a
two-story frame structure, was looked
upon as a quite extravagant feat in
architecture. Except for the wayside
tavern, Ole's abode was the most pre-
tentious structure in the country
roundabout, for the colonists lived in
log houses, sometimes as many as
five families under one rooof.
The castle was built on the crest of
hill, near the center of the 10000
acres which Bull and his countrymen
bought, within year it became
known to the colonists that they had
become victimized by INSCRIPTIONS
swindlers; that the title to their land
was worthless; that all the money
they had paid out was as If it had
been thrown into the fire and that
starvation, without even rift OF hope
in the cloud of dependency. Many
of the colonist had put into the prop
erty every dollar that they had.
Others used money that had been bor-
rowed from friends. When the col
onists got over their first great disap-
pointment and grief there were those
among them ready to kindle the fire
of resentment against Ole Bull. At
his door was placed the blame for the
disastrous termination of the colon
lists roseate dream.
They forgot that in the shrewd
game of the land owners, in which
| the title to 10000 acres had been
swept away, Ole Bull was by far the
| heaviest loser. He. like they, was
/ left almost penniless but they thought
| only of their own losses and the hard
ships the future held in store for
them. But Ole Bull, though almost
heartbroken over the cruel fate that
| had overtaken his own fortune and
| the colony plan which babe so fair to
be a blessing to his countrymen, did
not despair. 1t was time when
something had to be done, and that
quickly, The stores of the colonlsts
were about exhausted; discomfort
was manifested upon every hand ;.
winter was coming on, and succor
must be had, somehow, somewhere.
It was then that Ole took up his VIC
lin again, and for the next few months
nearly all the money he made with
| his fiddle went toward buying pro-
visions and clothing for Oleona colo
nists. 1t is said that when he left the
| colony on this occasion he walked
through the forest to Lock Haven,
thirty miles distant carrying the case
containing his precious fiddle under
his arm At Lock Haven he gave his
| first concert; the second was given at
Williamsport, and from each Of
these places wagons loaded with sup
| plies were sent back to the disheart-
ened colonists in the Kettle creek val
ley.
There are very few or the old
cabins left in the old settlements and
soon they and The castle will have
wholly disappeared with nothing to
mark the site of the colonies so kind