Reedsburg High School - Gleaner Yearbook (Reedsburg, WI)

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A Brief History In the spring of 1845, two men bade farewell to their loved ones in the little city of Xenia, Ohio, and started with a four horse team on a journey thru the wilderness and over the plains towards the west, in quest of better land. Winding their way over the little used trails, the men came thru the Narrows of the Baraboo, and after another day's journey they emerged from the hills out upon a Hat prairie, dotted here and there by the wigwams of the Winnebago Indians, groves of massive pines, and whose fertile sand was lapped by the clear water of the Baraboo. The wanderers discovered that the river had a rock bottom, and at the place where the railroad bridge now stands, they crossed the narrow ford and proceeded. Standing on the knoll where the present grandstand is both men were spell bound by the beauty of the land, and there it was that James W. Babb, the first white settler in Keedsburg, with a cry of joy stuck his pole into the ground and said, “Kirkpatrick, here is the place where I stick my stake.” The men now proceeded to stake out their claim and build their home. In the fall after its completion, and leaving all his belongings with the Indians, Mr. Babb went back to Xenia for his wife. In 1Mb, he returned with his two sons and Stern Baker and wife. The journey was of Reedsburg made in one six horse team and one two horse team which was driven from Ohio to Wisconsin by a woman. The country was wild and dreary. Bears and deer were plentiful. The nearest railroad station was 120 miles away. The nearest white neighbor to the Bab s was Don Carlos Berry, who in 1 44 had discovered copper in the land surrounding Copper Creek, and had there put up his Coppermine. The copper ore from this mine was hauled by teams of oxen to Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Prom this time until the town of Reedsburg was established in 1 50, the population increased to 114 persons. During this period, David ( Reed settled on this side of the Baraboo, and it was for him our city was named Reedsburg. He built a dam and a saw mill where our woolen mill now is. In 1 4 . the famous Shanty Row” was built. At this time the land about t ’e river was so marshy that one could actually catch sunfish where W A Stolte’s office in the Big Store now is. So Shanty Row ' faced a mire in which many a person was often to have been caught and been compelled to measure his length in a pleasant plaster of mud. In 1849 the first resident min istcr, James Saxby, a Congregationalism came to Reedsburg and largely due to his efforts the first tabernacle was buil. in 1 55. His daughter Amanda opened t .e first

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A. B. Olson Superintendent M A KG A R BT H A B K KM A N N Latin and German Faculty Coka M. Bomiku History W. K. Sikwert Science May Metcalfe English Almira Ward Mathematics Minnie b Rector Commercial Branches Marian II. Patterson Civics and Asst, in Commercial Branches

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school that same year, and though private in nature her pupils numbered 31. In 1856, a school house was built about on the spot where our present High School now stands, anti after its destruction by tire in l tW a larger and better one was built which was displaced by our pres ent building in 1603. Research work disclosed the fact that the first teacher in Babb s Prairie, a certain Jerusha D»wy. received $1.75 p-r week for her services, and b cirded “round with her pupils. In the year 1850, the township of Reedsburg was established. In 1851 occurred a rather famous war with Baraboo known as the “Log War. The trouble centered about the floating of logs down the river. It might actually have ended with blows had not the I’. S. Marshall arrived and ordered the dam cut and the logs released. The cut ting of the dam was a vital blow to the then foremost industry in Reedsburg. and seemed a forecast of the harder times which came the following summer and winter. The following facts illustrate the way one family was compel led to grate its corn for its bread thru that gloomy period. An oi l wash butler was taken and holes punched in it with a pieJe of iron and across the ragged edges thus poked the corn was scraped. Think of what a crude way’ During the autumn of 1855 R. edsburg was the center of a big gold rush. L. Gay Sp rry ownel the village block wh re St. Peter’s church now stands, which he was very auxi »us to sill. He devised the following plan. A letter was prepared purporting to have been written from hng-la id to a friend in Cincinnati, telling of a band of robbers who had ascended the Mississippi, had landed on the eastern bank and had proceeded to a certain point on the Bar-a boo where they had hidden under a stick of charred wood, a huge pot filled with gold. Then followed minute directions as to the place where the treasure lay concealed. This paper was sealed and dropped in some underbrush near the residence of Mr. W. in Beaver Dam. Soon after it was discovered by him. He went to the hotel and there finding the name to whom the letter was addressed on the register, determined to start at once for Reedsburg. On the way he met Judge M. to whom he communicated his business and who determined to go with Mr. W. and come in for his share of the gold. Onided by the directions on the paper they decided the hidden treasure was on Mr. Sperry's lot and so started negotiations at once for the property. Hut Mr Sperry said lie had been offered $2300 for it and so Mr. W. was forced to pay $2400. What was that, when that very ni«ht they would find a heap of gold? Late that evening several men with gunny sacks and lanterns met on the S. W. corner of Mr. Sparry’s lot and digging was begun. Mr. W. struck the charred wood and cried. “Hand down the bags Sam, I've struck gold. Let it suffice to say that they left sadder if not wiser men when they realized that they had been in the midst of a swindling case, which is declared to have no equal in this part of the country. In 1 00, the population of Reedsourg was 500. The next few years hop raising became a paying occupation, for hops rose steadily in value up to One but in 1 0 the