Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1922-09-14
RiOalry of Sank City and
Prairie du Sac Long Lived
By M. M. Quaife in Milwaukee Journal


by side the sleepy villages of Sank
City and Prairie du Sac. The names
preserve, one in French and the other
in English, the memory of one OF
Wiscinsin's ancient tribes, which for
decades in the eighteenth century
waged bloody warfare with the
French for control OF the region to
the west of Lake Michigan North.
ward from the villages, stretching in
land from the river, lies the ancient
Sank prairie one of the most beauti-
full stretches of farm land in all Wis
cOnsin. Hither the survivors of the
Sank tribe gathered, at the close OF
their long struggle with the French,
and built a great Indian town, at
tracted doubtless by the twofold ad.
vantages offered by the river site and
fertile prairie soil.
The two modern villages IN ancient
Sank prairie date from 1889. Their
rivalry. If less world-Tenowned than
that OF Minneapolis and st. Paul, is
Of considerable more ancient origin
and has been waged with at least as
much bitterness. at first the two set
Elements were known from their re-
spectiye locations On the river as
Lower Sank fmC, crn Sank City, and
Upper Sank (PraIie du Sac.) Lower
Sank had the advantage of a few
months earlier start, but Upper Sank
quickly drew abreast of it's neighbor
and on July Cf its natal year drew
first blood in the long rivalry by hold
ing the first Fourth Of July celebra-
tion ~ Sank col nty, which is said
e lave heCn et,endci by a crowd of
no less ihan 25 u cwnup inhabitants.
The following ear the village site
was Glatted, only two miles above
Slus City and the two nascent me
trOnCises were fairly launched on
their rival careers,
PrOS2nly he 6CCIsIve factor in the
contest was the advc,t at Sank City
in tho summer If 1870 CT the HuBgar-
fan noblemau, Count Agostin Herasz-
~. th9 N.st notable n, idual who
e. cinimrd Sluk lily - his domi.
Gle His picturesque career is de
serving of separate story and | men.
tion IL here only fGT its be- ring upon
che rivalry between the it.o cities.
Possessed a. great cham and per
son: i.y. uuhOunded energy, and great
business during Count Heraszthy
threw himself heart and soul into the
upbuildg Of Sank City, and at a crit
seal juncture in the contest between
the two towns. when the prize OF the
county seat was at stake and it be-
came apparent that Sank City cozld
not win, determined that at any rate
IL should not go to Prairie dU Sac.
Heraszthy threw his infiuenre in favor
of Baraboo, which has remained the
seat Of county government to the
present day.
Rivalry Is Costly
There is an ancient fable to the
effect that two rustics, spying at the
same moment an oyster in the sand
quarreled over the question of its
possession. Unable to compose their
quarrel they appealed to "A stranger
who had come upon the scene to de-
eide the matter of ownership between
them. He did so, himself eating the
oyster and giving to each rustic one
half of the shell. The fable has its
point in connection with the quarre
of Sank City and Prairie du Sac
over the possession of the county
seat. Commonly such rivalries are
Occasioned by the presence of a river
or other obstacle separating two
parts OF a city or two adjacent cities
Such was the case with early Milwau
kee. But Sank City and Prairie du
Sac lie side by side upon the same
magnificent prairie, separated by only
q few rods of space. With a 1.-THE oil
the growth which the hopeful boom
ers OF each village cav in anticipa
tion the two were certain to grow to
gethef.
What more sensible procedure
could have been devised than for the
two communities TO unite their fore
es and locate the seat of government
midway between their town sites
Had this been done ii seems highly
probable that the united community
would now be the metropolis Of the
county. Instead 3araboo. then not ev
EN- in eXistance as a town, seized the
prize which the civals on Sank prairie
blindly threw away; largely in conse
quCnce, probably, d has become one
of the finest ciTies in southern Wis
consin, wli.a after 50 years of devel
Lpment the tNo villages on Saul
prairie still sluB:ber beside the wide
spreading Wisconsin.
The issue was decided in this wise
When Sank county was organized the
two villages on Sank prairie were the
only ones in the county. Both con-
tended for the county seat prize and
the commissioners appointed by leg
islative act to locate it offered TO Civ,
Il as a reward to the town WHIP =
should bid highest. Sank City. the1
known as Heraszthy, after its leadiUi
citizeu) offered the store building o