Part 21 (2/2)

The scenery is picturesque and varied Along the river and lake is a series of limestone bluffs, broken at intervals by ravines and valleys, and leaving the impression upon the h, broken and inhospitable country, than which nothing could be further froed escarpht of the traveler, the country stretches away toward the interior as an undulating prairie, with meadows and rich pasturelands, with occasional forests, the whole watered and drained by an intricate network of streaer strea rivers, Trimbelle and Rush, that empty into the Mississippi Some branches of the Chippewa also take their rise in this county These streas and their waters are consequently pure, cold and invigorating, flowing over beds of white sand or pebbles, and in their doard course for many ripples, rapids, cascades and some beautiful waterfalls Their total descent to the bed of the Mississippi is about four hundred feet Pierce county has no inland lakes within its limits, nor any indications of their previous existence The soil is fores worn down by the abrading forces of water and wind, of frost and heat

The rivers in their doard course have excavated broad valleys, having originally precipitous bluffs on either side, and even bluffs once islands in the encies, have been sraceful hty feet above the valley or plains

In some places mere outlines of sandstone or limestone rock are left, turret-like, on the suist one As the character of the soil of a country depends upon the co it, and those removed froive what may be considered as the section of any one of the mounds near Prescott in the order of the superposition of strata:

At the base--Lower nesian limestone 250 feet

Above the plain--Upper sandstone 50 feet

On the sureat part of the county the Trenton and limestone are worn almost entirely away, and their former existence is attested only by a few mounds, bluffs and outlines Drift is not often met with The soil may be considered as forinal position, and out of the sandstone and limestone It is, therefore, soil of the richest quality

By the same act that created the county of Pierce, passed March 14, 1853, Prescott was declared the county seat The town board of Prescott was constituted the county board The coht and Sylvester Moore At the first county election, Nov 15, 1853, one hundred and ten votes were cast The folloere the officers elected: County judge, W J

Copp; sheriff, N S Dunbar; treasurer, J R Freeman; clerk of court, S R Gunn; clerk of board, Henry Teachout; coroner, J Olive; district attorney, P V Wise; surveyor, J True; register of deeds, J M Whipple Mr Whipple was authorized to transcribe the records of St Croix county up to date of the organization of Pierce

The first assessment in the county, in 1853, a of the supervisors, Jan 18, 1854, the district attorney was allowed forty dollars per annus could be obtained During this year Judge Wyram Knowlton, of Prairie du Chien, held the first district court at Prescott The first records of the court were kept on sheets of foolscap paper, and fastened together afers The first case before the court was that of ”The State of Wisconsin, Pierce County, Wust Lochmen, and Chas

Peschke, in Court of said County In Equity” On reading and filing the bill in complaint, in this case, on motion of S J R McMillan and H M Lewis, solicitors for counsel, J S Foster, it was ordered that a writ of injunction be issued in the case, pursuant to the prayer of said bill, upon said complainant Some one, in his behalf, filed with the clerk of said court, a bond for daes and costs in the sue of said court The first docureement between Philander Prescott and Philip Aldrich, wherein Aldrich agrees to occupy lands adjoining Prescott's, at the mouth of St Croix lake on the west, and David Hone on the east The second docu a tract of three hundred and twenty acres of land fro near the round, and adjoining Francis Gamelle's claim, dated July 20, 1840

In 1857 County Treasurer Ayers became a defaulter to the county in the sum of 2,28776, and to the Prescott Bank, 4,000 In 1861, by act of the legislature, the question of changing the county seat from Prescott to Ellsworth was submitted to the people The vote as declared was six hundred for reainst it Technical objections having been raised as to the legality of the vote, the subject was submitted to the people a second time in 1862 The vote for removal was confirmed In 1863 the district systeislative enactinal system by which the board of supervisors was made to consist of a chairman from each one of the town boards A poor farm was established near Ellsworth in 1869, at a cost of 3,600 The county board also appropriated 31,000 for county buildings at Ellsworth

The finances of the county have been aded In 1885 there was no indebtedness, and a surplus in the treasury of 5,000 The educational interests are well cared for There are over one hundred school districts in the county, ell conducted schools, and generally with good substantial buildings The school lands of St

Croix, then including Pierce county, were appraised in 1852 by Dr

Otis Hoyt, ---- Denniston and James Bailey, and the lands at once offered for sale Settlers' rights were respected The county issued 5,000 in bonds to aid in establishi+ng the normal school at River Falls

RAILROADS

River Falls has direct coo & St Paul railroad In 1885 the Burlington & Northern railroad route was surveyed and established, entering the county on the shore of Lake Pepin, and running nearly parallel with lake and river to Prescott, where it crosses Lake St Croix near its th of which is 5205 feet, with one draw span 3675 feet in length, and one piled span of 153 feet This bridge was completed, and the first train entered Prescott, May 31, 1886 The grade of this road does not exceed fifteen feet to the mile

MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS

The Grand Ar places:

No 72, A W Howard Post Rock Elm

No 117, I M Nichols Post River Falls

No 118, Ellsworth Post Ellsworth

No 189, R P Converse Post Prescott

No 204, U S Grant Post Maiden Rock

No 209, Plue plats of Pierce county, with date of survey and location:

Prescott, town of Prescott 1853 Kinnikinic, town of River Falls 1854 Monte Diaa, town of Isabelle 1855 River Falls (Greenwood and Fremont), town of River Falls 1856 Maiden Rock, town of Maiden Rock 1856 Warren, town of Maiden Rock 1856 Trimbelle, town of Tri Sun), town of Martell 1856 Beldenville, town of Trimbelle 1857 Trenton, town of Trenton 1857 Plum City, town of Union 1858 El Paso, town of El Paso 1858 Esdaile, town of Hartland 1870 Rock Elan, town of Trenton 1886 Bay City, town of Isabelle 1887

ORGANIZATION OF TOWNS

The following is the chronological order in which the towns of Pierce county were organized:

Prescott[B] 1853 Greenwood (now River Falls) 1854 Martell 1854 Isabelle 1855 Trimbelle 1855 Diamond Bluff 1855 Clifton 1855 Oak Grove 1856 Perry (Ellsworth) 1856 Spring Valley (Maiden Rock) 1857 Trenton 1857 El Paso 1858 Hartland 1859 Union 1861 Sale Lake 1868

CLIFTON,

Situated in the northwestern part of the county, contains a little over thirty full sections of land, those on the St Croix having a soular boundary The surface is somewhat broken where traversed by the Kinnikinic and its tributaries It includes twenty-four sections on the west side of townshi+p 27, range 19, and fractional townshi+p 27, range 20 It was established in 1855 Its first board of officers were: Supervisors--Geo W McMurphy, chairman; Osborne Strahl and G W Teachout C B cox was the first postmaster, in 1852, at a place called Clifton Mills, from which the town afterward derived its name This post town is situated on the Kinnikinic, in section 18, townshi+p 27, range 18 west It has one grist& Goodsall No intoxicants are sold here The Glenwood sawa capacity of 3,000,000 feet, are located on the lake shore In 1868 a limestone quarry was opened on the lake shore, by Oakley & Nichols In 1881 the firood machinery, and some seasons have manufactured as much as 5,000 barrels of lime