Part 28 (1/2)

Turtle Lake, Scott's Siding, Cosgrove, Barron, the county seat, Cameron and Canton, are on the Minneapolis, Soo Ste Marie & Atlantic railroad

Chetek, Cameron Junction, Rice Lake and Bear Creek are located on the Omaha branch

CHARLES SIMEON TAYLOR--Mr Taylor was born in Geneva, Wisconsin, October, 1851; graduated at the Wisconsin State University; studied law and settled at Barron, Barron county, in 1876, where he practices his profession and edits the _Barron County shi+eld_ He was elected member of the Thirty-seventh Wisconsin assembly in 1885-86 and represented the counties of Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and Washburn

CHAPTER IX

ASHLAND, BAYFIELD AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES

ASHLAND COUNTY

Ashland was originally a part of Crawford county, afterward of St

Croix and La Pointe, and was set off from the latter March 27, 1860

It is bounded on the north by Lake Superior and Montreal river, on the east by Oneida, on the south by Price and Chippewa, and on the west by Bayfield and Chippewa counties It includes townshi+ps 41 to 47, ranges 1, 2, and 3 east of the fourth principal meridian, and townshi+ps 41 to 48 west of the sa on Montreal river and Lake Superior are fractional The group of Apostle islands belongs to this county The surface is generally level except where broken by the iron and copper ranges in the e, southeast of Ashland, is especially rich in iron A railroad along this range connects Ashland with the Michigan roads The soil is so from sandy loam in the interior, to red clay on the lake shore The county is drained by Bad, White and Montreal rivers and their tributaries, and the headwaters of the Chippewa The timber is pine, fir, birch, etc

The Apostle islands, situated in Lake Superior at the roup consists of twenty-two islands, the most considerable of which are Madeline, Oatez, Oak, Hean The islands range in area from a very few acres up to 14,804 They are heavily timbered with hardwood, have fertile soil, and are well adapted to farest of these islands is Madeline, situated directly at the entrance to Chequa the oldest settlement on the lake Claude Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, landed at Madeline island Oct 1, 1665, and erected a bark chapel at the place non as La Pointe, and coonquin and Huron tribes

Since that ti co intervals of abandonment In 1800, M

Cadot, a French trader, cas and lived here till his death, in 1837 At the commencement of the present century the American Fur Company made its headquarters on the southern part of the island, and occupied a post there until 1835, when they removed to La Pointe Rev Sherman Hall, of the Presbyterian church, established a a, a Catholic missionary, arrived, and built a church which he occupied until 1841, when he built a better one, which still stands in the inclosure of an ancient burying ground This church contains a painting said to be over two hundred years old Soraves are quite ancient, and have quaint inscriptions upon their tombstones One that has often been copied and commented on by tourists is as follows:

”ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM BEAULIEAU WHO WAS ACCIDENTALLY SHOT AS A MARK OF AFFECTION BY HIS BROTHER”

These islands are beco a fashi+onable resort for tourists, and many of them have been utilized as pleasant suhthouses of which there are five in all The islands abound in brown stone, which is being quarried extensively for building purposes The stone for the Milwaukee court house was taken from the quarries on Basswood island

LA POINTE COUNTY ELECTION--In 1848 La Pointe county was set off from St Croix county, and at an election held Nov 10, 1848, John H Wells and Leonard Wheeler were elected justices of the peace, and J F

Hughes was elected clerk of the board of county commissioners Returns of their election and that of islature were made to Hudson, county seat of St Croix county

HON JOHN W BELL, born in New York City in 1805, in his eighth year went to Canada with his parents, learned to be a watchmaker, a shi+p builder and a cooper, and came to La Pointe in 1835, where he has since resided He carried on the coopering business first, for the American Fur Co post, beca stocks, and filled various county offices, having served as county judge and register of deeds a great many years In later life he was postaret Brahant, in the Catholic chapel, by Bishop Baraga He died in 1888

ASHLAND

Is situated on a plateau of about thirty feet elevation, on the south shore and near the head of Chequaon bay The first house, a cabin, was built in 1854 Other cabins were added the same year In the cabin erected by Mr Asaph Whittlesey, in the winter of 1854-55, was preached the first sermon in Ashland by Rev L H Wheeler, of the Odanah mission A post office was established in March, 1855, Mr

Whittlesey, posthter of Asaph Whittlesey The name of Ashland was conferred upon the town by Martin Beaser, an ardent ad the nae and post office was first known as Whittlesey, but on the organization of the county in 1860, the name of Ashland was applied to both The neas not destined to immediate and continuous prosperity, and at one time, in 1863, had decreased so much in population that its post office was discontinued for a period of nine years After that date it entered upon an era of prosperity

Julia Wheeler taught the first school in 1859 The Methodists organized the first Protestant society in 1872 The Catholics co in 1873 In 1872 the first newspaper in Ashland, the _Press_, was established by Sae it reht his brother's interest in the paper and has since published it continuously, and in 1888 established a daily

In 1872 the Wisconsin Central railroad commenced work at the bay, and the outlay for improvements that year amounted to 244,800 The Wisconsin Central railroad built the Hotel Chequaon in 1877 It is built in the form of an L, 120 feet front and 80 feet deep with 400 feet of veranda, and accouests There are nu houses receive guests during the summer season Ashland has vast lumber interests The Ashland Lumber Company built the first mill, in 1872, which had a capacity of about 15,000,000 feet per annum The Union mill, built in 1878, has a capacity of about 18,000,000 feet Mueller & Richie's mill, built in 1881, has a capacity of about 20,000,000 feet There is also a planingto Geo White Ashland has become a railroad centre The Wisconsin Central, St Paul & Omaha, Milwaukee & Lake Shore and Northern Pacific concentrate a heavy freight for their elevators and lake docks The largest dock in the world was built in Ashland in 1887 It was built alebic ranges

ASAPH WHITTLESEY selected the site of Ashland in 1854, and in conjunction with George Kilborn built the first dwelling He was the first postmaster He was appointed in 1855 He represented Ashland, Burnett, Douglas, La Pointe, Polk, and St Croix in the Wisconsin assembly in 1860

J P T HASKELL was the second settler in Ashland He ca rea county, Ohio, Sept 2, 1830 He caed in the fishi+ng and fur trade until 1855, when he returned to Ohio After taking a course in a coe, he returned to Wisconsin in 1856, took a claim of one hundred and sixty acres at Ashland and opened a store at Bayfield In 1856 he surveyed and platted what is known as Vaughn's addition to Ashland In 1871 he represented Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and Polk counties in the Wisconsin assembly At Ashland he built docks, warehouses and a store, and in later years dealt largely in iron mines and in lumber He was married to Miss E

Patrick, of Ohio, in 1864 He died at Ashland, February, 1886 He induced the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company to make Ashland their lake terminus He did more for that city than any other man