Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1924-07-02
HISTORY OF
THE MILITARY
RIDGE SCHOOL

n1DUL DOA OOA
Prepared by the pupils of the Mil
itary Ridge school, 18th grade of 1924:
Dorothy Bourrett, Leora Bourrett,
Leona Curtis, Justina Heinrichs, Min
ME Long. Teacher, Miss Elizabeth E..
Joyce.
Preface
There may be mistakes in dates,
possessions, modes of travel, and even
names in this history, but we have
done the best we could to collect and
correct this history and tradition
which runs back almost one hundred
years, and there have been no records
kept We may have omitted or slight
ed some of the most strong, hardy and
! foremost settlers, but it is Uninten-
! tional. Those who read this history
will be doing us a great favor to cor
rect any mistakes we have made in
names or dates. AS we know, many
of our forefathers have gone down
| in dust unmarked and unnoticed, al
| though they were the bravest of the
brave. Was it not they who faced
| hardship, privation, dangers and even
death that they might gain and make
! our lands the great free fertile
prairie that is today? 1t was they who
blaZed the rude trails that we fol-
| low today, not on foot as they, but
in autos. In short, it was thru these
brave pioneers souls that Wisconsin
and especially our county and district
are the fertile gardens of the state.
These people, in the words of Sam
Foss,
Were our pioneers that blazed their
paths
Where our own highways run,
They lived in a house by the SIDE Of
the road
Where the race of men went by;
| Where there were men that were good
and men that were bad,
As good and as bad as l.
They did not sit in the scorner's
seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban,
But they lived in house by the side
of the road
And were friend to man.
They saw from the house beside the
road,
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who pressed on with the
ardor of hope,
And the men who were faint with the
strife.
This is especially true of the early
settlers here on the Old Military Trail,
the highways to the unknown west
of early days.
History of Military Ridge School
The Military Ridge School district
lies on a ridge of land between the
Wisconsin and the Mississippi rivers.
eff you should ask whence this ridge
of land,
II should answer,
II should tell you,'
| Ages ago Wisconsin was covered
! by d great lake which deposited lay
ers of soil and rock upon our land;
the water receded leaving the land
| dry; then came a glacial age, when
great bodies of ice swept over Wis
consin, but luckily, was the course
of the great body of water which
flows east and west through Wiscon-
sin today and bearing the name of
the state, Wisconsin, meaning,
gathering of the waters" The Mis-
sissippi flows north and south and
| joins the Wisconsin river a few miles
from our school.
Fed by sunshine, wind, and rain
this country lay for great many
years untouched by the inhabitance
of any human being. If the hills could
only talk they could tell us a great
deal of history; how the cave dwell
lers lived in this region, how the In
dians lived, hunted, fought, and loved,
hundreds of years before the time of
history.
The early settlers were all strong,
mentally and physically, possessing
all the qualities required by the true
pioneer, helping everywhere whenev-
er help was needed, in neighborly
spirit
Local history and tradition tell us
that Jarned Warner came up the Mis-
sissippi river from st. Louis as early
as the year 1927. When he came to the
entrance of the Wisconsin river he fol-
lowed its muddy waters as far as the
present village of Millyille. He brought
with him house all ready to be put
up He later bought the land on
which his grandson, Harry Young, is
now living. There he lived for a good
many years. He had five children. Be
ing one of the earliest settlers he
held a great many important positions.
His first house burned down, and he
then erected the house that is stand
ing today.
About the second settler was Moses
Hicklin He came from Missouri in
1924 to Cassville and in 1882 to the
old Hicklin homestead where Bert
Long now lives. His son was born in
the old fort at Cassville. All of Grant
county was then a part of Iowa coun-
ty, and, as the Wisconsin territory
was not yet formed, Cassville was in
! Iowa county, Michigan territory. Mrs.
Hicklin was the second white woman
in Patch Grove township.
Henry Adams came about 1886. 9th
ers that came about this time were
George and Richard Lane. They took
up government land in 1910 upon
their return from the Mexican war,
during which they had hauled provi-
sions. Their land is now in the Lane
/ District