Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-10-21
First Roads and Ferries

TSb hOdUS duu TNITIcS
At the second session of the Terri
torial Legislature the necessity of
more convenient thoroughfares of
travel is shown by numerous acts To-
eating roads in different portions of
the state. But one road, however, was
provided for in Grant county, the
council and house of representatives
enacting THAT Jonathan Craig, Will
liam Davidson and Stewart Mckee are
hereby appointed commissioners to To-
cate and establish a territorial road
from Osceola in the county of Grant
to Belmont in the county of Iowa, by
way of Plateville. The commissioners
or a portion of them, shall meet at
Platteville and proceed to the dis
charge of the duties assigned to them
by this ace, according to the provi-
sions of the act, regulating the mode
of laying out territorial roads, passed
at the last legislative assembly"
This was the first territorial road
laid out in Grant county. Previous to
this, however, Daniel Burt, an early
settler who had located in the pres
ent township of Waterloo on Grant
river and erected grist mill, had
opened up several roads, one II miles
in length to Cassville, one eight miles
to Potosi, another to Beetown, eight
miles, and still another to Hurricane
Corners, six miles away.
A Long Way Around
Perhaps no better illustration of
the difficulties and inconvenience
which beset the path of the early pi
oneers in attempting to get from one
point to another, can be given than
the following: Soon after Mr.. Burt's
settlement at his new home the sup
ply of food ran short, and failing to
receive from st. Louis as he had ex
pected, started for Paris on the
Platte, the nearest point at which pro-
visions could be purchased. To reach
that place with a team it was neces-
Sary to take circuitouS route, first
to Mccartney, eight miles, thence to
Beetown, thence to Lancaster, and
from there on to Potosi and Paris.
His starting point had been only eight
miles from Potosi, but there was no
road between the two points and Mr..
Burt was therefore Obliged to per-
form a roundabout journey of al
miles to reach his destination, which,
but for lack of short stretch of
road would have been only a short
trip of II miles.
He arrived at his destination and
returned as far as Potosi "Snake Hol-
low" and stopped over night. In the
morning a start was made for home
through the timber, over route that
had never been travelled by man or
beast. Mr.. Burt was accompanied by
man to drive while he himself Sc
lected the route and cut away the
trees. They reached what became
known as Boice Creek, about half
way, by 10 o'clock with but little diff
ficulty. But from there on they met
with formidable distractions. The Mis-
sissippi river was high and covered
the bottoms and at some places they
were compelled to swim their horses
and wagon. The wagon was new
on and the box was reasonably tight
so the supplies did not get wet. After
meeting with various other obstruc
tions they eventually reached home
and safely landed their cargo.
After the organization, among the
first acts of the county commission
ers was the meeting of this demand
for inter-county communication At
meeting of this body held May 4,
1888, M. De Tan presented petition
for the laying out of road between
Paris and Platteville on the Platte
river, notice having previously been
published and no objections raised.
Ralph Carver, James Gilmore and
James H. Dixon were appointed COM
missioners to locate road in accor-
dance with the request of the petit
TONERS upon the Iatter's depositing
the sum of $25, as required by law.
At the same meeting the same per-
son presented a second petition signed
by himself and others asking for a
road from Lancaster to Galena, Ill,
via Paris, said road to run to the IL
linois state line. James Bonham, JON
athan Craig and Enos P. Wood were
appointed as commission to lay out
the wished for road as soon as the
petitioners should deposit $50.
Still another petition was presented
by Asa E. Hough for road from
Cassville by the most practicable
route by way of Lafayette on toward
Galena to the state line of Illinois.
Elias Dean, Orris Mccartney and Ben
Jamin Kilbourn were appointed COM
missioners to lay out the wished for
road, the applicants being first re-
quired to deposit the sum of $36. The
list ends with a petition presented by
Daniel R. Burt, the settler whose adj
ventures are chronicled above, pray
ing for the location of a road from
Cassville via Burt's mill to the most
eligible point in the Snake Hollow Dig
gings by the most practicable and
best route The petitioners cry was
granted upon the deposit of SIS and
a commission consisting of Isaac
Dodge, F. A Sprague and E. P. Wood