Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-02-21
District Was First Part of Wisconsin
To be Settled; George W. jones,
Judge Charles Dunn, E. b. Wash
burne, Nelson Dewey, and
Others Natives Of Region.

Judge I UalIeS DuUHs To Ds VHSn-
burne, Nelson Dewey, and
Others Natives Of Region.
(By Fred L. Holmes)
Many of the men Of prominence in
Wisconsin's affairs three-quarters of
a century and more ago came from
southern Wisconsin. This is account
ed for by the fact that the southwest
ern part of the state was first settled
1t was in Lafayette county that the
first meetings of the territorial legis-
lature were held in the fall Of 1886
ana George w. Jones, Iowa county
was elected as the first territorial del
egate to congress. Judge Charles
Dunn, who lived for many years at
Belmont, served as the first justice of
the territorial court; Nelson Dewey,
first governor of the state, lived for
many years at Cassyille; and scores
of others might be enumerated.
The prominence Of southern Wis
consin was told more than 80 years
ago by Elihu B. Washburne, for many
years a prominent lawyer in Iowa and
Grant counties. He has left an init
mate picture of the development OF
this section of the state as il COM
menced nearly so years ago.
Mines Found Early.
II first trod it's soil in 1910, four
years after it had been organized as
a territory" wrote Mr.. Washburne in
his memoirs in the state historical. h
brary. "This was in southwestern
Wisconsin, for it was in that section
that the first considerable settlements
were made. That was due to the dis
covery of lead mines at a very early
day in that region. | have now III my
possession an old map which [ found
IN Paris, published in 1903, 80 years
after the discovery Of the Upper Mis-
sissippi by Joliet and Marquette,
which shows the existence OF lead
mines in that vicinity. What was al
terward known as Fevre river, is put
down on this map as La Riviere Par
isien, and in the immediate neighbor-
hood of that river a lead mine is
marked down, Mine de plomb.' Lead
ore discovered at so early period,
continued to be sought by the Indians
and the early French traders and ex-
plorers in what is now southwestern
Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois,
and in 1920 and 1921 what soon be-
came known as the 'Fevre river lead
mines began to attract public atten-
ton. 1t was at this time that Col. Jas.
Johnson, of Kentucky, brother OF
Richard NJ Johnson, afterward vice
president, engaged in lead mining and
developed what was known as the
Buck Lead near where Galena now
stands, which undoubtedly yielded the
largest amount of mineral or lead ore
ever discovered in any one lode
throughout the whole mineral region
of the northwest.
First Election in 1928.
ION the 18th day of June, 1928. the
commissioners of 10 Daviess county,
Illinois, established voting precinct
at Platteville. The boundary line be-
tween Illinois and Michigan territory
was not officially defined until 1880.
Hon. John NJ Rountree, who still lives
in the same place, and who is so we'll
known in all your earlier and later
annals. and whose honored life is still
spared to you, was one of the judges
of that election.
From 1871, 1 practiced law for sew
eral years in Iowts and Grant counties,
and had a wide acquaintance with
most of the prominent men, lawyers,
politicians and private citizens, and at
a time when that section cut great
figure in the affairs of the territory
and state of Wisconsin. It was IN
Grant county that I first knew your
honored and accomplished chief JUS
tice-Orsamus Cole-when young
lawyer. at Snake Hollow if | may be
permitted to go back to the old name,
and so soon to become a member or
congress. 1t was also in Grant coun-
ty that l knew at the bar Nelson Dew
ey. citizen of the county, your first
governor; and it was in the same
county l had as associate at the bar
Ben. c. Eastman and j. Allen Barber,
both afterward members OF congress.
1t was at Mineral Point, in Iowa coun-
ty, in the spring of 1912, that broth
er, to whom l was allied by every tie
which could bind one another to an
other, commenced the practice OF law,
and was subsequently elected to con-
gress for three terms, serving his
country subsequently during the en-