Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom

one year at Hamilton College. He came to Dunn county, Wisconsin, where he practiced law until 1877, when he was elected judge of the Eighth Judicial circuit, to which position he was re-elected and is still serving. He stands high in the estimation of his associates and the people as a judge, and not less high in social life. BALDWIN. This town is coextensive with township 29, range 16. It was set off from the township of Springfield and organized Dec. 3, 1872. Wm. Whewell was chairman of the first board of supervisors. BALDWIN VILLAGE, Located on the West Wisconsin railroad, on the west boundary of the township, has a population of eight hundred, about evenly divided between the Norwegian and American elements, the latter being principally from Vermont. The _Bulletin_, a lively weekly paper, established in 1873, is published by B. Peachman. The graded school has three departments, with two hundred and twenty-five scholars, under the control of Prof. J. E. Brainard. The school building cost $4,000. A state bank, organized in 1883, has a capital stock of $25,000, and a surplus of $12,500. F. A. Decker is cashier. Baldwin has one elevator, of 750,000 bushels capacity, two flour mills--one with a capacity of two hundred and fifty barrels per day, built at a cost of $55,000; the other of one hundred and twenty-five barrels, at a cost of $20,000; one creamery, one cheese factory, one tannery, a good town hall, capable of seating six hundred persons, four good church buildings--Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Congregational--and over thirty stores or shops. The water supply is ample, the village being furnished with public cisterns and wells, and having an excellent fire department, with hook and ladder company. The village is surrounded by a rich agricultural country. WOODVILLE VILLAGE Is situated four miles east of Baldwin, on the West Wisconsin railroad, at the junction of a branch road extending into Pierce county. It is the centre of heavy lumbering operations, and is a flourishing village. It has one church. CADY. Cady is the southeastern township in St. Croix county, and occupies township 29, range 15. It is drained by Eau Galle waters. Amongst the first settlers were Irving Gray, Charles, John, and Brazer Bailey. A post office was established near the centre of the town in 1860. D.C. Davis was first postmaster. A branch railroad traverses the town from northwest to southeast. There are two lumber mills. The town was organized in 1870. The supervisors were William Holman, Charles Palmer and Mead Bailey. The village of Brookville is on the west line of the town. CYLON, Including township 31, range 16, lies on Willow river. It is a rich and populous township, consisting originally of mixed prairie and timber lands. The first settlement in this town was made in 1855. The early settlers were Otto Natges, J. Smith, H. Fouks, E. Johnson, George Goodrich, S. W. Beel, and J. Tomlinson. The town was organized in 1859. The supervisors were C. A. Hall, chairman; John Sweet and John Gibson. A post office was established in 1861, Mrs. John B. Gibson, postmistress. The Wisconsin Central railroad passes through the southwest, and the North Wisconsin through the northwest part of the township. There are four church buildings, one on section 18, one near Cylon post office, and two in Deer Park village. This village, a station located on the North Wisconsin railroad, is a wheat buying centre of considerable importance, and has several business houses. The school house is one of the best buildings in the county outside of Hudson. The Catholics and Methodists have churches here. EAU GALLE, Township 28, range 16, is drained by the Eau Galle and Rush rivers. We have not the date of the first settlement, but it was amongst the earliest in the county. The first settlers were William Holman, Andrew Dickey, Joseph Barnish, and Uriah Briggs. The town was organized in 1858, with the following as supervisors: Wm. Holman, ---- Babcock, and ---- McCartney. A post office was established in 1853, of which W. Holman was postmaster. Mr. Holman built a saw mill the same year, the first in the region. There are now six, mostly lumber mills. The township is traversed from north to south by a branch of the West Wisconsin railroad. Wildwood, a thriving station on this road is the headquarters of the St. Croix Land and Lumber Company, a stock company with a capital of $300,000. The town of Eau Galle has one church building belonging to the evangelical society. EMERALD Includes township 30, range 16. It is drained by the waters of Willow and Menomonie rivers, and was originally covered with pine and hardwood timber. It was organized in 1861. The Wisconsin Central railroad passes through the northeast part of the township and has one station, Emerald. A high mound is a conspicuous object near the centre of the township. ERIN PRAIRIE. Erin Prairie, township 30, range 17, lies on Willow river. John Casey entered the first land in 1854. The first house was built on section 17, in May, 1855, by John Ring. Among the settlers of 1855, of whom there were about twenty families, we have the names of Michael Hughes, Peter Queenan and James, Michael and Thomas McNamara. The town was organized in 1858, with the following board of supervisors: Richard Joyce, chairman; Alexander Stevens and Peter Queenan, and Wm. McNally, clerk. Richard Joyce was first school teacher and first postmaster. There are now two post offices, one at Erin Centre village, and the other at Jewett's Mills, two and a half miles apart. There are at Erin Centre one store, one wagon shop, one blacksmith shop, and a Catholic church; at Jewett's Mills a store, a saw, a planing and a flour mill, all run by water. There are six good school houses in the township. It is traversed by the Wisconsin Central railroad. FOREST, Embracing township 31, range 15, occupies the northeast corner of the county. It is heavily timbered with pine and hardwoods, is a new town and is fast being converted into an agricultural district. Willow river has its sources in this town. It was organized Dec. 10, 1881, with S. D. Love as chairman of the first board of supervisors. GLENWOOD, Set off from the town of Emerald at its organization in 1885, embraces township 30, range 15. It was originally a pine and hardwood region. Its waters flow eastward into the Menomonie. The Wisconsin Central railroad crosses the township from east to west. Its only station is Glenwood. It is being rapidly settled and has already some good farms and several saw mills. H. J. Baldwin was the chairman of the first board of supervisors. HAMMOND Includes township 29, range 17. It is drained by tributaries of the Rush river. Of the first settlers were the Peabodys, James R. Ismon, Rev. Wm. Egbert, Rev. George Spalding, Mert Herrick, John Thayer, Mrs. Adams, John Nelson, and Thomas Byrnes. The town was organized Sept. 16, 1856, with A. G. Peabody as chairman of supervisors and John G. Peabody, clerk. It is now a prosperous farming town. The West Wisconsin railroad passes through the south part of the township. HAMMOND VILLAGE, Located on the line of this road, in sections 27 and 28, has seven hundred inhabitants. It is situated on a commanding elevation, giving an extended view of the rich farming country surrounding it. It has a school house, built at a cost of $2,500, with rooms for three grades, and one hundred and seventy-five scholars, one elevator of 20,000 bushels capacity, one first class hotel, the Gardiner House, Odd Fellows', Good Templars' and Grangers' halls, and three church buildings, with parsonages--the Catholic, Congregational and Methodist. The village contains about twenty-five stores and shops. The water supply, on account of the elevation, is from wells and cisterns. Rev. George Spalding preached the first sermon and was the first merchant in the village. Hammond was incorporated Sept. 20, 1880, with J. B. Fithian as president of supervisors and John W. Owen, clerk. JOHN THAYER was born in 1809, in Worcester county, Massachusetts, from which place he moved to Ohio, and, after residing there fifteen years, came to Wisconsin and settled at Hammond village. He has been twice married, his second wife still living, and has one son, Andrew P. The father and son are engaged in merchandising in Hammond. REV. WM. EGBERT was born in 1815, in Oneida county, New York. He obtained a common school and academic education. He spent his early life in New York City; came to Indiana in 1837 and to Hammond, Wisconsin, in 1856. The first trial in Hammond was before Mr. Egbert, as justice of the peace, in 1856. He has been for forty-one years a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been twice married, his second wife still living. He has four children. HUDSON. Hudson includes sections 7 to 36, inclusive, of township 29, range 19. Willow river flows through the northwest part. The North Wisconsin and West Wisconsin railroads pass through the township. It is one of the handsomest and richest farming townships in the State. It was organized as a town in 1849. Its history is given in that of the county of St. Croix and in the biographies of its early inhabitants. JAMES KELLY was born at Osnabruck, Ireland, where he grew to manhood. In 1850 he came to Hudson and located on a farm, where he prospered, and became an honored citizen. In 1857 he married Catherine, daughter of Wm. Dailey. He died at Turtle Lake, Barron county, Wisconsin, of injuries received from a rolling log, Feb. 19, 1888, leaving a widow, three sons and one daughter. DANIEL COIT was born in Vermont in 1801. He learned the trade of a house carpenter; came West as far as Galena, Illinois, in 1845, to St. Croix Valley in 1848, and to Hudson in 1850. He died in Baldwin in