Interview with Lester J. Wood and Howard C. Miller, May 2, 1950, Viroqua, Wisconsin

INTRODUCTION: This recording is made at Viroqua, Wisconsin, May 2, 1950, of a group of citizens of Vernon County. The first speaker will be Mr. L. J. Wood.

WOOD: My people came from New York. They settled first down at Rome, in Jefferson County, and later moved to what at that time was known as Seeleyburg. Seeley's operated a mill and lumber camps, rafting lumber down the river, and I think Dad was about six years old when they came. Mother's folks came from Ohio, they were Buckeyes as they called them in those days, and they settled first out 00:01:00here at Viroqua on the farm owned by this old fellow that's a lawyer, a real old fellow.

WOMAN: [unintelligible]

WOOD: I don't remember the name now. It's not far out by here some place in Viroqua. Mother's name was Garrett. Will Garrett was a cousin of ours. And they lived in La Farge, or Seeleyburg in what was known after as La Farge for all these years up till Father passed away about four years ago, at 93. In those days, why, there wasn't any roads. It took all day with a wagon and team to come to Viroqua and back. They'd have to start about 4 or 5 in the morning and it 00:02:00would be 8 or 9 o'clock at night when they'd get home again. As a boy, I used to come along once in a while. I remember we'd have our dinner down in Pete--

WOMAN: Lisney? Lisney?

WOOD: No, a store, some fellow that operated a store down there. Nelson, was it?

WOMAN: Probably.

WOOD: Of course, I have lived back where there wasn't any roads, no railroads, no high schools anyplace, except in Viroqua is the nearest one. Seen the land all cleared up, helped build the railroad in La Farge, which we've been abandoned since. Lived to see oxen. Transportation over in our section was 00:03:00mainly by oxen back in those days. Down to the automobile, airplane. I don't know just what you want here.

WOMAN: Just wonderful.

WOOD: The sawmills being operated by Dempster Seeley and son rafted or cut their trees, sawed their lumber, rafted it into rafts, which was run to Viola, over the dam at Viola, then to Soldiers Grove, over the dam at Soldiers Grove to Gays Mills, over the dam at Gays Mills to Wauzeka, into the Wisconsin River, down to 00:04:00Wisconsin into the Mississippi, down to Dubuque, Davenport, Burlington, Galena. We pulled the rafts up the river at Galena, the Fever River five miles up. And after the lumber was pretty well taken out, why, they rafted ties, tie rafts, and they were run to sometime to Lyons, Dubuque, and later they were run to Soldiers Grove and pulled out of the river, and put on the railroad train, the cars at that place. Started way long time before my time.

MAN: Oh yes, go ahead.

WOOD: The operation of this rafting in the rivers had been carried on by 00:05:00Seeley's crews years before my time. [pause] At about the age of 14, I commenced making the trips myself, and this continued up till about 1898. That was the outbreak of that Spanish-American War. I enlisted, served through the Spanish-American War, and re-enlisted and went to Philippines, for the 00:06:00Philippine Insurrection from about 1899-1901. Being mustered out at Presidio, California, we served through the southern part of the islands, Swan's expedition in the cordon around Manila.

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WOOD: The first settlement in that section was known as Seeleyburg, which contained several houses, Seeley's sawmill, general store, a doctor, and later 00:07:00on a mile south of Seeleyburg, the village of La Farge was incorporated, and people from Seeleyburg moved to La Farge, and I have lived through the period where all the buildings which now stand in the village of La Farge have been built on the farms owned by D. H. Bean, A. W. Dejane, and John Bailey. The village now contains a population of about 1,200 people.

The railroad was organized by people in the state of Wisconsin. It was first 00:08:00built from Wauzeka to Soldiers Grove, and later from Soldiers Grove to La Farge. On account of extreme floods, washouts sometimes lasting for a period of thirty days, the railroad company asked that the road be abandoned. We organized and fought the proposition as hard as we could, but failed. The road was taken out. We took our organization and worked through Madison, through the legislature to get a bill to add five hundred miles on to the state trunk highway system to have a highway marked into La Farge so we could get our supplies. After some 00:09:00time, this was accomplished, and the road was marked as a state highway from Wauzeka to La Farge. Later on, we got this state highway extended through to Tomah. And the roads which we use to travel ankle deep in sand are now blacktopped and our roads are in fairly good condition, with the exception of 131, north out of La Farge, for which a contract is being let today by the highway commission for some new bridges and a blacktopped road six miles to Rockton.

We have also been working on a flood control project, the government has already done all the engineering work. This was before the war, during which time nothing was done, and the proposition was fairly lost. Later on, we managed to dig it up, and we have a promise from the army engineers that this will be out of the St. Paul office next March. From there, it has to go to the army engineers headquarters in St. Louis, passed upon by them, back to the engineers in Washington, to the Rivers and Harbors committee. From there, it goes to the 00:11:00governor of the state of Wisconsin for his approval, back to Washington for an appropriation.

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WOOD: [laughter] Well, another time, don't--this is off the record, too--another time, [unintelligible] village down there, they wanted to put in water works, sewer. Well, they got up a petition, we was building sidewalks, I was just a young stripper and had never done much, and we started building sidewalks. The banker, George Statewin, got up a petition to put in a water system. This is off the record now. And, well, the question come up about the bonds, you know, and they held us up, and wanted a little more interest on the bonds, so C. J. Smith over here was our attorney, and he said, "Why don't you go down to Madison and 00:12:00get that money from Munson and Davidson?" Well, we did, we went down to see them, and they said, "Well, there ain't any money here, now, but there will be the first of the year, and we'll see your name goes on the list," so we had all the ground buried up and no money to pay for it. They got the money.

MAN: Go ahead with your [unintelligible] about the--

WOOD: Farming? Well, in the early days, the people that located near La Farge mostly were not looking for farm land. They were looking for timber and water. Nearly all of them settled by a big spring and some big trees. Later on, they started clearing up small farms, and this condition existed for some years until 00:13:00the dairy cow was introduced into the Kickapoo Valley, and the people began to chop, clear up the hillside, clear up the land. Banks were willing to lend money to buy cows. And the farms increased until some very nice farms now exist. And during this period, some people from down at Stoughton discovered that the valley land in the Kickapoo Valley was the very best land for raising tobacco, and a lot of people from around Stoughton moved into Kickapoo Valley. They built bac--tobacco sheds and started raising tobacco, which is carried on to this day very extensively over there. And as I am told, we raise practically the best 00:14:00grade of tobacco that they can find.

MAN: How did you start the dairying?

WOOD: Well, the dairy cows, they started with a few cows, and kept increasing till nearly every farm was principally in the dairy business. Main industry. [pause] All this was carried on by hand. No milking machines existed at that time. Cheese factories were located at certain points. Farmers all had to haul their milk to the factory, then once a week somebody had to haul the cheese to 00:15:00market. This was carried on for years, until we found out that they would come and get the cheese. So that today the main industries in the Kickapoo Valley are dairying and tobacco.

Well, my political experience started back in about 1903, when I was elected mayor, the village president of the village of La Farge, and I was a young man. We started in and built the first cement sidewalks. And the banker, Mr. Tate, 00:16:00got up a petition to install water and sewer system covering Main Street. At that time, an expense of $15,000. Later on, I was elected on the school board in La Farge, I served, I think, five years and moved out. Moving back to La Farge, I operated as manager of the light plant for fifteen or twenty years. Bought me a farm and operated my farm for a few years. Was called back to take over the 00:17:00light plant. Operated the plants in Viola and La Farge for around ten years as manager. I was elected on County Board in about '21 or '22, and have served off and on for nearly 30 years. Better check that off now, see--

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WOOD: I was put on, this first patrolman was put on in about '22 or '23, and the 00:18:00County Board seeing the benefits of this, agreed to give any township $500 that would maintain the patrolman year around. This was, this information was given to the division office in La Crosse, taken to [unintelligible] school in Detroit, and in a short time, was universal throughout the state of Wisconsin, and I think perhaps in the United States. Is that enough of that?

MAN: Weed control.

WOOD: Hm?

MAN: Weed control.

WOOD: The weed control proposition was started in Vernon County some four or five years back. We are not being satisfied by the system then in operation. It 00:19:00was organized by school districts. Each school district that would sign up at least 90% for weed control would be given $100. This seemed to prove very satisfactory, and was taken up by other counties and commented very highly through the Milwaukee papers. During the time that I was manager of the utility light--utility at La Farge, some farmers south of the village organized a cooperative light company and built the first cooperating line in the United 00:20:00States. This line extended from La Farge south to within about two miles of Viola, and was operated by this cooperative bunch of farmers for several years. What else do you want?

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WOOD: I talked to a big outfit, and they took their line over at the same time and furnished some current, so it's all operated now by, why, the village of Viola owns one end of it, and the village of La Farge owns the other end.

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[Begin section with Howard C. Miller of Ontario, Wisconsin, May 2, 1950]

MILLER: Howard C. Miller. First we got to [unintelligible] at Sparta, but before this got it at Reedsburg after the Milwaukee Road got to Sparta in, why, they used to go there for supplies, then they built the 00:21:00Northwestern Railroad. That's through those tunnels from Elroy up through to Sparta and on out west. Those tunnels number one, two and three. I remember as a boy watching them work on the tunnels, and then when they got through running the trains, I remember they had these little small wood burning locomotives. Had a smokestack something like a turnip in shape, and two of those would pull a very short train up over those hills. That was about nine miles from our place. I was always interested in the Kickapoo as a source of power, because years ago an engineer from Maine came up the river afoot. He said that there was as good water power on this river as he saw in the East, and he said he could locate a power dam every three miles. As a matter of fact, I remember when there were five power plants and mills run by power from the Kickapoo between Ontario and 00:22:00Wilton, a distance of nine miles. Of course, that's by the wagon road, because the river itself was more crooked.

Now the town started as a sawmill town or mill town. I remember when there were four mills inside the incorporated limits of that village. There was a large sawmill that cut lumber, mostly white pine, which is rafted and ran down the river, and they made lath, shingle, and they planed into flooring, and then they cut off the rest of it to what we call block wood for fuel, coal. And I never saw anything in the mill pond in those days, as a boy, except white pine. I never saw a tamarack, nor hemlock, nor Norway pine. This same water power 00:23:00operated the large flour mill. At the other end of the village is another flour mill, powered from the Prescott, and just the edge of the village was what we called a carding mill, where they used to bring in wool from farmers, and this mill made it into cards, long so that they could spin it easily, and some of the pioneers wove it into cloth. I've seen some of them come to town with suits made out of what they call homespun.

Now, there was no unemployment in those days. The town had a lot of small industry. For instance, there were two small concerns that made buggies, cutters, bobsleds, and wagons. My father, being a physician, he bought a buggy at one place and a cutter at the other. Years after, I have shown that cutter to friends of mine and they couldn't believe it was made there. There was another 00:24:00small concern that made pork barrels. They got the staves and oak in the woods, and they bought the hook poles from the farmers, and they got the cattails out of the sloughs from the mill pond. When they would get a carload, they would ship them. The hook poles furnished quite a lot of income for the pioneer. I remember one man whose name was Curtis Winslow, sold $90 worth of hook poles off of his new place. Now, of course, they don't use hook poles, and they don't use pork barrels anymore, and where this carding mill was, they put in a rake factory. Hand rakes.

The farms were small. No binders or reapers in those days. Everything was cut with a cradle, and they raked it by hand and bound it. And they were busy at 00:25:00that. Then the blacksmith down there, one of them, used to make these harpoon forks, hay forks, that you see in the stores now. And most of the settlers in there, I won't say most of them but a great many of them, used oxen, and there is something I couldn't understand. My father always had a high-strung driving team. I would take one of these driving horses to the blacksmith shop, and he'd stand on three feet--no trouble whatever, to be shod, but they'd build a great big rack of heavy timbers for the oxen, and they put an ox in there, and put a surcingle on him, and string him up and put clevises over his feet, and then he'd [unintelligible] before they got the shoes on her. A blacksmith had to make the shoes. You couldn't buy them in those days. Not there at least. [unintelligible] shoes for an ox.

Now, the lumber business there. Well, that we thought was the principal business. It was beautiful timber, and we used to wonder, I am afraid the older people wondered what they was going to do when the timber was all gone. I 00:26:00remember when grandfather built a hotel on an early day, and after he had been dead a long time, the people on the place sent for me and I went down. They showed me a fence he had built, and every fence post was red cedar, just beautiful timber. You can see how that would have to be used for timber like that for fence posts. When Papa cleared up his farm, he wouldn't give you white pine, but you can go there and you can get a load of logs. He'd cut the trees down, he'd cut the logs the length you wanted them, and he and his boy could help load them. He would give them to you if you just get them off the ground. He told me, he says, you know they, he can't raise anything, because of this timber. It seems a pity to load it in log piles and destroy it the way so many of them are doing.

I stood up in, old Paul's drugstore the other day some time ago, and Paul took down a jar and said to two young ladies standing there, he said, "Did you ever see any winter radishes?" I stepped up and before I thought I said, "Winter 00:27:00radishes, my eye," I said, "that's ginseng." One young lady turned, and she said, "What did you say it was?" And I said, "That's ginseng." She said, "What's that?" I explained to her about the plant. She said, "What do you know about that, I am teaching the high school over here and I am teaching all those things, and I never heard of ginseng before." But that was quite a help to the pioneers. They used to dig it and bring it to the stores, and always got the cash for it if they wanted it. It's been a source of income all through the growing season. The pioneer community [unintelligible] and was away from doctors, away from drugstores.

And there is one valley known as Gray Valley, that people through this part of the county never has heard of. It came in a corner to the village there--a road they never travelled. The Gray family came in there in an early day, and settled clear at the head, almost at the foothills of the ridge. I talked with his older son years ago, who is an old man now, all bent over, leaning on a cane. He told 00:28:00me an experience. He said his mother had heart trouble. He said one night his mother and his father called him, and he come down and he sent him and I know, I don't know how he got through the woods but I know the road he went to. He had to go quite a ways to get onto a road. He used to go to Hillsboro years ago. And he told him to follow that road towards Hillsboro, and he would come to a large rock standing up by the side of the road, and he says, "You will see a twin ash, and the other side of the twin ash you will see some foxglove." He said he got there before daylight, and he sat down by the rock and waited, and it got light enough that he could see, he saw the twin ash and he also saw the foxglove. He dug it up and took it home, so my father steeped it on the stove, made a tea, and gave it to my mother. He says, "You know, foxglove is good for a weak heart." And I just gasped, foxglove, that's where the digitalis is from, you know.

Riding around, my father was a pioneer doctor; when I got big enough to hold the lines, why, the first lesson he gave me was how to avoid the quicksand where you had to ford so many streams. And driving among those pioneers, you would see the one room log houses and hanging up the ceiling all around, you would see a great many things they had dug up in the woods. Now, of course, like a small boy, I thought that was pretty peculiar, and I said so to my father. My father didn't smile. He says, "When I was your age, I thought the same thing." He says, "I got to medical school and studying medicine. I was surprised to see that many of those things that those pioneers would dig in the woods, out of the woods, are good for the very things they said they were. I thought of that so many times."

Many of the pioneers, they were men of trades. Many of them were millwrights. And they would build a whole mill, even make a water wheel. Many of them were 00:30:00carpenters, and quite interesting to know where they all came from. One neighbor came from New Orleans, others came from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Some came from the Bay State, New York. We had a regular congress of nations almost, in that village.

Well, after the timber began to get scarce, I went into dairying. I have always thought I wrote the first cream check ever written in Vernon County. I still think that, although I couldn't prove it, but the firm I worked for built a creamery. I went down to the creamery here one day, and I said to the butter maker in charge, I said, "How many butter makers you got here can test milk by the old oil method?" He said, "I don't know, I know I couldn't." That was before Babcock, Dr. Babcock, had invented the Babcock test. As far as I know, that's the first creamery I know of. Down at La Farge where Mr. Wood lives, there were cheesemakers, but we had to send to Chicago and have the commission men get a buttermaker for us. Begin to opening up those farms. As he says, we got good 00:31:00cows in there. There is more money in that country now than there was when they were cutting so much timber. It's ideal. It's underlaid with limestone, pure water, the, some of the pastures are up, but the rains wash off the dirt, the grass is sweet and clean. The commission men from Chicago told us the best butter made anywhere that they had bought was between Baraboo and the Mississippi River.

Now, it is interesting to notice about those pioneers, I wondered how they lived. I was up to one farm, pioneer, homesteader. He was putting in his potatoes, and I was just amazed, now you understand this was when I was a boy, and I said to him, "My gracious, how many potatoes have you?" He says, "This makes 62 bushels, but we are not through digging yet." You would go into some of the pioneers, you would find a barrel of kraut. I stood in the store one day and watched a farmer's wife buy some kraut in a tin can about the size of a can of 00:32:00salmon, another woman from a farm was buying some cornmeal, and I think that two good ears would pretty near fill that box, but they had to [unintelligible] everything. Every farmer raised his flour.