Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1905-09-28
BY Y. s. pease

white man 10 IccALe on Lake MoHutO~
In n manner anything Ike perma-
nent inhabiant No doubt many
others had passed through there, but
when the Black Hawk war broke out,
In 1892, Rowan was found near the
north end Of the lake In building
that afforded shelter To himself ana
wife, and the usual stock In trade or
Indian traders There seems to be
no definite record Of his date OF com
Ing, The best that can be said on that
point Is that he was found there.
Against The usual custom of the
times. Mrs. Roman wasa white woman;
nearly all Indian traders had squaws
as wives Judging by his future
movements, one would say that with
the approach Of civilization Rowan
prepared to move on; for the next
year he sold his establishment, good
will and all to Canadian half-breed
named Michel ST. Cyr, who took mp
and Carried on the trading post al
ready established And the new man
ST. Cyr did moro, he became, with the
aid Of Colonel w. B Slaughter, the
nrsl real estate boomer on the lake.
Colonel slaughter lail out on paper
the Rowan plantation for the city Of
tlo faur lakes and sold lots in a
manner instructive to more modern
real estate agents ANA dealers.
Again Rowan drops out Of sight and
again IL found" this time on the
cagloln shore Of Lake Monona nj
Sqnaw point, now called WInnequah,
or something similar. Here he en-
tered, in the year 1895, n fractional
piece of land comprising 50 acres on
which he continued trading opera
lions with the Indians, But his
trading posts ON the four lakes
seem to have been badly chosen for
his purpose There were no In
dian Villages in their Immediate To-
calIty. That WIS II great hunting
ground for Winnobagocs, as well ms
for Sacs and Foxes; but the usual
site selected by successful traders
was neai the home villages Of the
aborigines. After the hunting sen
son was over, the Indians made
straight for home with their loads OF
preserved meat and poltty. The trader
nearest the village had always the
FIRST selection on the return of tho
hunting party This may account
for the moderate success attained by
Wallace Rowan In his ventures near
the present city of Madison, While
living at SQuaw Point, Abraham Wood
appears on the scene, aud becomes
Identified with Rowan, and sort of
partnership was entered into which
was continued, with only short In.
torruptIon, during the remainder of
their lives, What disposition waa
made by Rowan of his cntty does not
appear, hut the next heard of him he
was conducting trading mperations
In Columbia county, near whore Is
now located tho village of Poynetto.
While he was here, Wood kept n
saloon and tavern on tho Wisconsin
river near by, Although they were
wholly dissimilar In nature, It seemed
MS II they were bound together by n
mystical tie Rowan was . quiet, dlt.
fident, inolfensivo creature; Wood
was giant in bGtld, a heavy drinkcr
Of whiskcl. quanrolsome and over.
bearing. While he kept his tavern on
the Wisconsin river, he killed a
drunken Indian with one blow Of
club.
Again the steady approach OF civil
Zation warned Rowan that II was time
to move on, and with Abraham Wood
as u full partner he settled In the
Baraboo valley, near the location OF
the present city of that name, This
was In the year 1899, and they owl
IDENTITY gave MP the pursuit of the
Wild life, for they built aam across
the Barahoo river and erected a saw
mill Here Rowan built Il substantial
home and passed the remainder of his
days in such quiet as he could com
mand with SO boist erous ANA turbulent
man as Wood for u business part
ner Early pioneers in Baraboo re.
member Wallace Rowan Ms a good
citizen, industrious aud honest. He
died there and was buried IN an UNI
marked grave near the Site of his
mill
Such is the known history OF the
first white settler ON Lake Mendoza,
An American Queen,
We occasionally read, in these de.
generate days how some American
citizen has been decorated by u
foreign potentatc, because of some act
noteworthy in the opinion or caprice
Of the great one having power to be
stow these petty honors, To the
average American these titled be.
stowals count for nothing, except per.
haps as subject for passing ridi-
culc nj the expense Of the recipient
So deeply rooted Is the democratic
idea that such an act of ROYALTY has
no other significance than the ex.
preston OF good-fellowship Few OF
us know that a real queen was horn
and exercised the royal Ererogatiye