Wisconsin School for the Deaf - Tattler Yearbook (Delavan, WI)

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Nineteen thirty-eight attention to breeding and constant testing of individual animals. The dairy products are the most wholesome and economical of foods. They are rapidly increasing. Perhaps there is no other place in the world where so much Swiss cheese is stored as in Marty’s Factory, ft is located in Monroe, a thriving city in Green County, known ns The Swiss Cheese Capital cf the United States. One of the most attractive dairies in Wisconsin is a huge plant at Cameron, Barron County. The Tomah creamery. Monroe County, produces about 1.300,000 pounds of butter a year. In Richland Center 00.000 pounds of milk are hauled every day to supply the condensery. The dairies of Columbia county and Dune County sell a great amount of milk to Madison. Some small towns make their own butter and ice-cream and sell Page thirteen it to their own townspeople, and to farmers. The Wisconsin Dairymen’s Association was organized in 1871 at Watertown. A man named Hazen, Governor William W. Hoard, and five other men met. In the same year a cheese board of trade was organized, in Watertown. Liverpool. ICngland. was the only known market for cheese at that time. This Association’s purpose was to help the dairies sell their raw products where they could. It helps to have farmers cooperate. Wisconsin, being a fine dairy state. I can not help feeling very grateful and proud because I now live on a small farm, and I have been brought up on farms. We all should he proud of our own state, and be thankful, because our farmers make good money from their cattle. The History of Wisconsin By MARY ELLEN WHITLOW WISCONSIN, the land of mirror-like lakes glimmering among the dark forests, with its two great river systems, the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, only three-fourths of a mile apart forming the historic portage, which played a very important part in the early exploration of this state, has a unique place in the history of the whole of North America. Wisconsin got its name from its principal river. The Chippewas, a tribe of Indians named it Wees-konsan and the French called it Ouis-consin. but. by enactment of the territorial legislature in 1845. it became Wisconsin which means, the gathering of the waters. and it is so called because of the great river’s numerous branches. The Indians have a tradition that once a very large serpent living in the Mississippi River went through the prairies of Wisconsin to the Great I ikes. and left a great hollow trail into which was collected water from the rain and thus the Fox River began. In 1634 only fourteen years after the Pilgrims had landed on Plymouth Rock. Jean Nicolet, the first white man to set foot upon Wisconsin soil, came to Green Bay in search of the People of the Sea” which were believed to be living a short distance south of the Men- ominee River. Other French explorers following him were Pierce Radisson, Joliet and Marquette and La Salle, famous for his exploration in the Mississippi Valley. All came to engage in fur trading with the Indians, and this industry still exists in another form, for Wisconsin has numerous, large, fox farms which produce fine pelts for the fur market of today. The Wisconsin and Fox River Valleys became very important to the French fur traders as this was the easiest route to reach the interior of the fur country from the Great I akes. The Fox Indians hud ulmost entire control of this gateway for a long time and the French hated them and wanted to exterminate them. For more than twenty-five years there was constant war between them, and the Indians were almost gone by 1720, and those left were driven into the Mississippi Valley. The first-known permanent white settlers were the Langlade who came to Green Bay in 1764. Charles Langlade took an active part in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolution. The next settlements were made at Prairie du Chien in 1781, Kaukauna in 1790. Portage in 1793. and Milwaukee 1795. Just before 1800, there were about two hundred white people in the state, but the population

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Page twelve The Tattler Essays Wisconsin, the Dairy State By GLADYS THISTLE WISCONSIN is the greatest dairy state in the union and dairying is the chief industry of Wisconsin. For that reason it is very noticnble in every one of our seventy-one counties. The earliest settlers knew that Wisconsin would make a fine place for dairying. This was shown by a man named J. G. Pickett, who brought ten cows when he came here from Ohio to settle at Lake Mills in 1835. Pickett was responsible for the first cooperative dairy project in Wisconsin, when he succeeded in influencing his neighbors to pool the milk from their few cows with that of his own small herd. With this produce, his wife made butter and cheese which were easily marketed. A man by the name of Rockwell, who lived on a farm near Koshkonong. Jefferson county, received the honor of being the first cheese maker in the year of 1837. Long before 1800 cows were kept for their milk but individual farmers kept only as many cows as they needed to supply milk and butter, and cheese for their families. Although it is true now and was before, many farmers make dairying their principal source of income, yet there are thousands who keep only a few cows to supply milk, butter and cheese for their families. Since many dairy men are interested in dairying, and make their living by it, they dairy men have to take better care of their cattle, need a sanitary place for the herds, have to have no harmful bacteria in it. There are four grades of milk. Factories were built to pasteurize the milk before it is given out to towns, cities, and other states. Dairying has increased much because our state is suitable for it. It has been a dairy state a little over a hundred years. In recent years the factory system has developed rapidly for making butter and cheese. Through thousands of miles of this state of Wisconsin are fine herds of cattle, large sanitary barns, and silos, which make the statement above seem true. There are hundreds of attractive creameries. condenseries and cross-road cheese factories producing quality products known all over the world. There are different breeds of cattle in our state. It is nice that we have so that the farmers can study them to see which breeds give the most milk and which cuttle are the best. The Holstein-Friesinn is one of the oldest breeds of either beef or dairy animals represented in America. The Holstein, as a breed, produce the largest quantities of milk of any of the breeds in America but the milk is low in fat. Ayrshires produce a large quantity of milk. too. but the Jersey and Guernsey give richer milk, and the milk is a yellowish color, which shows that it has more butter fat than any other breed. Since Hoisteins give a greater quantity of solid milk during a year, they produce more pounds of cheese than any other breed and give much more milk for a factory. There are now 3.200.000 dairy cattle in Wisconsin. The Holstein breed is very strong over much of our state, especially in the Southeastern part of our state. Green, Sheboygan. Dodge are all pro-minet cheese counties. They have the highest percentage of Holstein cattle. Guernsey cattle are second in number and are most important in northern and western Wisconsin. Our cattle are sold everywhere. Wisconsin is by far the largest manufacturer of cheese. In 1935 seventy-six percent of all cheese was made in this state. Wisconsin is first in cheese but third in butter production. Some dairy men begin and end their day with lanterns in their hands. They do it because they had to follow nature and because some of the milk must he delivered to city people before breakfast. This makes them whistle contentedly as they are at work. Wisconsin has the finest dairy cattle in the United States. For years the dairy men have been improving their cattle through careful

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Page fourteen The Tattler prow rapidly after the opening of extensive lend mines in southwestern Wisconsin. Along the winding Mississippi are beautiful rolling lands, and in the Black Hawk War both Indians and the white people fought over them. In 1832 the Sauks. under chief Black Hawk, wore almost wiped out in the conflict and that ended the war. Black Hawk, a year before he died, proved his true loyalty to his people when he said to the white people. “Rock River was a beautiful country. I liked my town, my corn fields, and the home of my people. I fought for them.” Abraham Lincoln, Zachary Taylor. and Jefferson Davis were among those who fought in this war. With the Indian troubles over, cities in Wisconsin sprang up rapidly. Within a generation Wisconsin became u state, and the population grew from three thousand to three-quarters of a million. Although Wisconsin is a long way from the Atlantic Ocean where the American Revolution was in progess. the Northwest, composed of the territories of Ohio. Indiana. Illinois, Michigan. and Wisconsin, pluyed an important part in the struggle for independence. George Rogers Clark was its chief defender, and, although he himself never set foot on Wisconsin soil, yet his agents were active among the Indians as they were trying to overcome the influence of I anglade who was allied with the English. At the close of the Revolutionary War with the Treaty of Peace in 1783, Wisconsin became a part of the Territory of Wisconsin. However, the United tates didn’t take actual possession of it till after the War of 1812. Wisconsin had then been in the possession of France for ninety years and of England for twenty-two years. Before 1826 Wisconsin had been successively parts of the Northwest Territory. Indiana. Illinois, and Michigan Territories. In 1836 it became Wisconsin Territory. The members of the first legislature met in a two-story frame building in a village, now Belmont, on October 25, 1836. There were many things for the legislature to do, but the most important was to select a new site for the seat of government. Several places entered the contest, and at last Madison, then a beautiful place in the wilds between Lake Mcndota and Lake Monona, was chosen. In November 1838 the legislature met in the new capital. During Wisconsin’s twelve years as a territory, newspapers were established, banks were started, and a railroad was chartered. On May 21). 1818. during Polk’s administration. Wisconsin became the thirtieth state, and Nelson Dewey was elected its first governor, and in November of the same year Wisconsin cast its first ballot for president. Wisconsin had a part in the Civil War. and its regiments, loyal to the United States government. were called the Iron Brigade after they had proved their worth at the battle of South Mountain in 1862. One of them adopted for its mascot an eagle, caught by an Indian. Old Abe. screaming defiance amid the roar of cannon, went through battles and skirmishes and became a national figure. In Wisconsin the census of 1910 showed a large percentage of foreign-born persons. Perhaps no other state has as many different people of foreign birth. From its discovery until the lead-mining days, the population was mostly French. During its first years of statehood many Europeans, Germans and Scandinavians. being the most numerous, were attracted to Wisconsin’s fertile lands although many English. Irish. Scotch. Poles. Bohemians, Hollanders. Russians, and Welsh have since come to make Wisconsin their home. During the Civil War and the World War the descendants of these foreign sons of the state proved themselves in most cases real one hundred percent citizens. When Wisconsin became a state in 1818. it chose “Forward” as it motto. Its people from that time to the present have always endeavored to put the state to the front in industry and literature, and. just at present, it annually attracts thousands of tourists seeking rest and quiet in its great northern forests. Few, as they pass over its truly historic ground, realize the prominent part Wisconsin has played in every crisis of the history of North America since the coming of the white man.