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Being a page-for-page reprint of the Original Issue 1857 Under the Editorial Direction of Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL. D., Sec. and Superintendent Madison, Published by the Society 1904 New London and Neighborhood By A. J. Lawson New London, in Waupaca County, was long the great camping-ground of the Indian Tribes, a locality favorable to hunting and fishing, as well as agriculture, in a very rude way. Abundant evidence is furnished, by the innumerable corn-hills and mounds that, for many generations, this has been planting ground. It was evidently occupied centuries ago, by a race far more skillful, industrious and civilized than the present wandering tribes, and furnishes proof of the superior fertility of the soil here for the product of grains, About one thousand Menominee Indians were found here when the white settler caused the jealous eye of the Red Man to love his hunting grounds more than ever. The tribe was once large and powerful, and generally lived around the Green Bay country. Their women occasionally married Winnebagoes, but not often. As a tribe of Indians, they were represented as quiet and peaceable, and were friendly to the whites. The acting chief of the nation, Tomah, was highly spoken of by the old traders, as a good man. Small bands of the Menominees occasionally pass through the town. The deep trodden trails of the Indian pony, the marks of Indian graves-some of the emblems remaining -tell a story too true, of the injustice of the white man towards a race who have been most deeply, most irretrievably wronged. But the destiny of the Indian is written. As the white man advances they recede, though lords of the soil. What the Red Man once thought to be the utmost boundary of civilization, is now dotted with cities and villages, leaving no hope to him but that of finding a peaceful grave beneath the rolling billows of the Pacific. Here their trails are yet upon the soil, but their wigwams have long since crumble to earth, and their canoes have disappeared from the placid waters of the Wolf. The early settlement of Western towns is usually attended with incidents of no small interest. Nowhere in the States have there been enacted more stirring scenes, than in the pioneer settlements of Wisconsin. In every locality-by every lake and crag, and winding river-there exists the warp and woof of events which, if they were all written-the journeyings into the widerness-the hand-to-hand struggle with hardship and want-the years of toil-the stern and loftly herism, in strifes where no world looks on to applaud-would produce a history whose pages would outshine the greatest work of fiction that the imagination could possibly produce. "The West" was not once where it now is. The time was not long ago, when the Indians trail was where the railway now links one city with another. It is within our memory, when the Indian council-fire was seen where princely structures now cast their shadows. As the past few years come back and mingle their shadowy forms with the present, it all seems like a dream. Even the rude pioneer-cabin lives only in memory. Under the mighty march of enterprise, empires have been reared, and bloom upon the woodland mould. Some four years since, our enterprising fellow-townsman, Lucius Taft, Esq., starting out to seek his fortune, having a keep penetration and foresight, as had those who followed him, located here, having in connection with Ira Millerd & Son, purchased the claim of the half-breeds, Johnson, who made this an Indian trading post. Mr. Ira Brown, now of Northport, in the previous autumn, located on a farm adjoining, making a claim, now the property of Alfred Lyon, Esq., a portion of which is a pleasant, and prosperous portion of the town. These may be considered, the pioneers of New London. They had now doubt employed themselves mostly in seeking out a locality which might be favorable as a permanent settlement, with prospect of advancing to something of real importance. It was evident to their minds, that this point with its natural advantages, at the confluence of two important streams, and as the grand gateway of the pinery above, must, at some future day, become a large town. The prediction which they made at that time, thought then a wilderness, has been more than verified. They truly found the philosopher's stone. And although, when they resolved to here pitch their tents, such a determination involved no inconsiderable zeal and risk, yet their energy and perseverance were equal to the attempt, and a good reward crowned their undertaking. Perhaps it may not be proper to here refer to some of the first settlers in the vicinity, as their interests are woven with that of those who happened to settle nearer the Wolf. Mr. Runnell, a man of intelligence, wealth and moral worth, located a farm near where Mr. Brown settled, and Mr. Yeoman, at the foot of the Wolf Peak, commonly called Musquito Hill. Mr. J. G. Nordman, formerly a volunteer in the Mexican War, settled on a farm a few miles south. These, with those mentioned in the preceding paragraph, four years ago, were all, or nearly all, the settlers for many miles around, to our knowledge. But, however, the plank-road grade war finished through to this point and people began, three years ago, to come in and look at the place, and a few located,. More would have undoubtedly done so, had it not been for the difficulty of procuring lumber. What solemn spirit doth inhabit here, or what sacred oracle here hath a home, is full of poetic expression, understood only by those men who first made the forest echo with the implements of civilization. Wisconsin, at that period, contained about three hundred thousand inhabitants. Now is has three-quarter of a million souls. New London has not been without her increase. The first house that was seen to peer up in the humble solitude, still stands as a monument, and as a faithful observer of the march of progress. At the end of 1855, this miniature city numbered about 150 habitants. An impulse was given to affairs, in 1854, by the erection of a steam saw-mill by Doty and Smith, who, however, for a time, failed to make it answer the purpose for which it was designed, until the experienced skill of Capt. Coffin, set it running; and it has done much towards building the town thus far. The neighboring mills have done their share, and they should all look with a friendly eye upon our prosperity, as securing their own. From this date, the attention of eastern men was drawn to the town, by it natural and prospective advantages. Half a dozen houses had hardly been erected in the town, when a school was formed under the direction of Miss Maria Millerd. She commenced it in a log house. Five scholars made their appearance on the first day. How pleasant and suggestive was the sight, to see this young and spirited lady, here in the woods, her only visitor the Indian, endeavoring to imbue the tender mind with practical truths! This fact alone speaks well for the place. It is significant. It shows that the early settlers had not forgotten the parental impressions of their childhood-the old village church spire, and the familiar weather-beaten school-house which they left behind them. These emblems of peace were fondly cherished. It was the steamers Badger State and Barlow, that made the first trips on the Wolf to this point, in 1853. Their trips were not very regular. In the following year, the Eureka, Capt. Drummond, commenced her regular trips to Oshkosh. Little did the Red Men, whose canoes had for so many years graced the placid waters of the river, imagine that thus soon would the shrill whistle of the steamboat drive the antlered deer from their hunting grounds. But the early settlers hailed the steamer's coming The mechanic looked upon its graceful curve, as it majestically parted the waters to which it was wedded, as a triumph of skill, as well as a moving evidence of the progress of civilization; and the merchant discovered in it new channels of trade. It was material advance in Wisconsin's onward march. Peace, unity, and prosperity were in every revolution of the paddle-wheel. A post office was established in 1854, of which William McMillin, Esq. was post master. The mail, at that period, could be carried in a man's hat. It is needless to say, that the mail then was an institution more fully appreciate than those latter days, but perhaps not so much so as in "ye olden times", when Franklin traveled with it, or when the pioneers of Wisconsin were often times months without intelligence of what was passing in other parts of the world. But the New London of 1857, is not the New London of 1854. Now we have a town containing a dozen mercantile establishments, three hotels, a printing office, churches, schools, professional men, mechanics, and manufacturers, with two hundred buildings, and a population of not less than eight hundred. The citizens are mostly from New England, maintaining their character for thrift, enterprise and intelligence. It is located on a noble river, and the pineries above afford every facility for obtaining lumber in abundance, and at the cheapest rates. Questions, suggestions or additions please email.
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