Copper Creek Mining Location
November 18, 2016
By Amorin Mello
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COPPER CREEK MINING LOCATION.
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This location embraces the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 15, and the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 14, in Township 47, Range 14 west, being 160 acres in Douglas County, Wisconsin. It is about thirteen and one-half miles by the County road from the town and harbor of Superior, and at an elevation of 300 feet above the level of the lake.
The Aminecon Trap Range, in crossing it from southwest to northeast, is cut by Copper Creek, a rapid and never-failing stream, exposing at several points veins of native copper.
~ Mine Register: Successor to the Mines Handbook; Volumes 8-9, page 205.
“We all lived in the log house until December 31, 1845, when I left for Iron River [Michigan] under agreement to mine for the Boston North American Mining company, organized by the American Fur company, under the management of Messrs. Borup and Oakes.”
~ Michigan Historical Collections: Volume 2; page 688.
These surface exposures attracted, at an early day, the attention of the agents of the American Fur Company, then the only civilized occupants of that part of the country, and in the years 1846 and 1847 some attempts at mining were made under their direction. A particular description of their operations will be found in another part of this pamphlet. As they had no title to the land and were working at great expense in a region which was at that time wholly remote from civilization, it is not surprising that like many other pioneers in Lake Superior copper-mining, they abandoned their enterprise, or postponed it to a more convenient season.
Eight years afterwards, the whole southern shore of Lake Superior had ceased to be exclusively known to hunters and trappers. The land had been surveyed and brought into market, and settlement had extended to the extreme western end of the lake.
James H. C. McKinzey was issued his patent to the Copper Creek Mining Location by the Willow River Land Office on August 1st, 1854.
~ General Land Office Records
The Copper Creek location was then entered under a preëmption claim by J. H. C. McKinzey, and after a litigation at the Land Office with a rival preëmptor in the interest of members of the Fur Company (who now made a persistent effort to secure a title to the land), McKinzey’s claim was sustained, and a patent was duly issued to him. From him the title passed, with but one intervening link, to the present proprietor.
The location has been visited from time to time by explorers, practical miners, and geologists; numerous rich specimens have been taken from it, and it has long been reputed to be the most promising mining location west of Ontonagon. During the past season a regular exploration has been made upon it, with the view of ascertaining more definitely its value for mining purposes.
“This Township has a clay soil. The small streams are all muddy and go nearly dry in summer. A copper bearing trap range extends through the middle of Township. On the south side of these hills it is well timbered with valuable Pine Cedar Sugar & Black Ash. Copper has been obtained on the SE 1/2 of Section 21 & upon Sections 14 & 15. The streams [reaching?] into Black River are all very rapid.”
~ Wisconsin Public Land Survey Records
A Report of this exploration is presented herewith. Mr. George R. Stuntz, under whose superintendence it was conducted, is an explorer of great experience, with a knowledge of the geological formations characteristic of the copper-bearing districts of Lake Superior, acquired by careful study in the field. He was the original surveyor, under government contract, of the whole Wisconsin shore of the lake, and has, perhaps, a more thorough acquaintance with that region than any person could be named. His Report is a plain statement of facts, and as the undersigned was himself present and taking part in the exploration, he is able to vouch for its accuracy. In connection with the maps, and with the specimens to which it refers (which were marked and packed on the ground by the writer’s own hand), it will furnish a correct idea of the character of the location.
It will be seen that there are three well-defined veins, two of which, including the one from which the richest specimens were obtained, run with the formation. This last mentioned lode rests upon a foot-wall of the most productive veins of the Minnesota mine. Although only three veins have been actually traced, there is reason to believe that others would be discovered by a further exploration, as many points inviting examination were passed by, owing to the lateness of the season.
Detail from George Riley Stuntz’s original survey map of Township 47 North, Range 14 West: copper mines, abandoned cabins, and a tote road in what is now Pattison State Park. The northeast feature is Copper Creek and the southwest feature is Big Manitou Falls.
~ Wisconsin Public Land Survey Records
“Big Manitou Falls, the tallest waterfall in Wisconsin, in Pattison State Park just south of Superior, Wisconsin, USA.” Photograph from
Bobak Ha’Eri shared with a Creative Commons license.
The facilities furnished by Copper Creek for stamping purposes will be apparent from an inspection of the map. The town of Superior, having a good harbor, with piers and warehouses, erected by private enterprise, presents every convenience for shipping copper and obtaining supplies. Beef cattle, driven over from Minnesota, on the military road, can be purchased here much cheaper than at the Michigan mines, which are now largely supplied from this point. Pork can be advantageously procured in the same way. Another advantage is found in the price of lumber, an article for which the pineries and sawmills in this region now find a market at the lower mines. One of the finest bodies of pine in the north-west is found on the Brulé and Iron Rivers, about twenty-four miles east of this point.
With reference to the transportation between Superior and Copper Creek, it may be mentioned that, besides the wagon road (which is now available during the winter, and at no great expense can be made so at all times), the Nemadji River which, at ordinary stages of water is navigable for small boats to a point within four miles of the location, affords an additional route.
There is reason to believe that the whole country at the westerly end of Lake Superior will receive a new stimulus to its development before many years, by the opening of railroad communication with the Mississippi River, an enterprise which is becoming the absolute necessity to the interests of Minnesota. Meanwhile communication is kept open by means of the Point Douglas military road and a regular line of stages between St. Paul and Superior, which place is thus rendered accessible at all seasons.
JAMES O. SARGENT.
Boston, Dec. 8th, 1863.
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REPORT OF EXPLORATION.
(ACCOMPANYING SPECIMENS.)
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Superior, Oct. 17, 1863.
JAMES O. SARGENT, ESQ.
SIR : Under instructions from you, I have made a survey of the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 15, and the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 14, Township 47 north, Range 14 west, in Douglas county, Wisconsin, and have explored the same as thoroughly as the limited time and the small force under my direction would permit.
I herewithin submit a copy of the field-notes of the survey, and a map of the location.
In making the exploration I had the services of Mr. George Walker, an English miner, who has had several years’ experience in the various copper mines on this lake.
The tract is thickly timbered with spruce, fir, aspen, sugar, oak, white pine, and birch. This timber is small in size.
The Aminecon Trap Range crosses the location. This Range makes its appearance above the sandstone on the east side of Township 48 north, Range 12 west, about the middle of the township, runs in a southeasterly course across the township, and across Township 47, Range 13, Township 47, Range 14, Township 46, Range 15, and leaves Wisconsin. It is cut by the Aminecon River, Copper Creek, and Black River, and numerous small streams. Throughout the extent described it gives promise of being a productive mining district.
Two small streams unite near the centre of the location, forming Copper Creek, which runs in a northwest direction, and leaves the tract about twenty rods south of the northwest corner. Owing to the extremely dry season, this stream was lower at the time of my examination than it has been known to be in ten years; but it affords at all times abundance of water for the purposes of a mine employing steam power.
By a measurement, taken October 1st, I found the amount of water passing through it to be 58 5/10 cubic feet per minute, and this is very much below the average. In ordinary seasons the amount of fall in the stream (which is from fifty to a hundred feet within the location) would give a water power sufficient for all the purposes of a mine.
From my examination I believe that there are three veins, as represented in the map, in all of which we obtained native copper.
Vein No. 1 shows a breast in the east bank of the west branch of the stream, of nearly twenty feet wide, and bears south twenty-four degrees west. The specimens taken from this locality are numbered, and, as you will perceive, exhibit a quality of vein-stone which gives promise of productiveness. This vein has been traced to the southwest and adjoining location. It dips to the southeast at an angle of thirty-three degrees. The productive part of the lode lies upon the foot-wall, specimens of which I furnish with this Report, as also of the hanging wall.
Vein No. 2 shows a breast of over thirty feet in the bluff east of the stream, and appears to run in a northeast course. My explorations were not carried far enough to fully define its course in that direction. Surface specimens of the vein and of the adjacent trap are furnished herewith.
Vein No. 3 cuts the east branch of the creek, and bears north eighty-two degrees east. We opened this vein in four places at the creek, within two hundred feet. It has the appearance of being very much disturbed. On the west side of the stream, it is very compact and filled with quartz-lined cavities interspersed with crystals supposed to be malachite. It dips to the northwest. Specimens from this locality, a full collection of which is furnished, warrant a more thorough examination.
Vein No. 2, before referred to, as showing a breast of thirty feet in the east bluff, appears to branch or to be thrown out about eighty feet in crossing the creek bottom; my limited time and means did not permit me to determine which.
About two hundred feet below the junction of the two branches of the creek it shows at the foot-wall in the bed of the stream. A few feet west of this, the lode rises in the bluff on the west side of the stream. Course of stream at this point north twenty-eight degrees east. Course of vein north forty-two and one-half degrees east. At this junction of the streams, the lode, stripped of its hanging-wall, rises to the top of the cliff, a height of forty or fifty feet. At this point, we blasted into the lode, and found it rich in copper, some pieces weighing from six to fifteen pounds, and with rich stamp-work. See specimens marked Vein No. 2, west of stream.
About fifty feet above the forks of the stream the lode rests upon a bed of conglomerate. This conglomerate is highly metamorphosed, and is amygdaloidal. See specimens.
About one hundred feet west of this, we opened the vein on the brow of the hill. It there shows a breast of twenty feet, and dips to the southeast at an angle of thirty-five degrees.
~ Duluth and St. Louis County, Minnesota: Their Story and People; Volume 1, page 66.
This location was worked to some extent in the years 1846 and 1847, under a lease from the General Government, by the American Fur Company. They sunk four shafts, but appear to have done very little surface exploring.
Three of these shafts are sunk on the course of Vein No. 1, and from my examination appear to have been perpendicular. Their location is given on the map. The timbering is so much decayed that I did not venture to work in them. From soundings, I found the shaft between the streams forty-six feet deep, the next one on the east side of east branch twenty-eight feet deep, and the one east of section line twenty-eight feet deep. All of them have water to within about twelve feet of the surface. The fourth shaft is sunk at the bend of the east branch. This is thirty-five feet deep, and does not appear from the burrow to have been upon any vein.
The first three shafts above described were sunk perpendicularly upon the outcrop of a vein dipping thirty-three degrees, and therefore pass into a foot-wall. Had they been continued, they would have cut Vein No. 2. They may perhaps be made available in a further exploration.
Upon the adjoining location, to the westward, is a vein discovered by John Parry, some years ago. I have taken some specimens from it which are herewithin furnished. This vein runs north eighty-two degrees east, and intersects your western boundary six chains north of the southwest corner. It appears to be a continuation of Vein No. 3.
At the junction of the trap with the sandstone, in the northwest corner of the location, in the bed of Copper Creek, a bed of bluish-white grindstone grit of first-rate quality is found. The layers are from one inch to several inches in thickness. This white sandstone appears to belong to a different period from the red sandstone of Lake Superior. It only shows to the height of a few feet, and is overlaid by sixty feet of the red sandstone.
In the vicinity of the trap dike it is bent and fractured and considerably hardened. Near the junction, as marked on the map, it is tilted until some of the layers stand perpendicular. There are no ripple-marks on this white sandstone, while the red, resting upon it, shows evidence of a strong current.
Portrait of George Riley Stuntz from The Eye of the North-west: First Annual Report of the Statistician of Superior, Wisconsin, by Frank Abial Flower, 1890, page 26.
This tract of land is thirteen and one-half miles from the town of Superior, at the west end of Lake Superior. It is on a County Road which has been nearly completed, is now practicable for winter use, and can be made a good summer road at an expenditure not exceeding $2,000.
The soil is a sandy loam, with a subsoil of red clay containing a large per centage of marl, and is quite productive, being capable of producing a large portion of the vegetables needed by the operatives at a mine. It is especially adapted to the cultivation of grass and oats. Timber for lumber and fuel can be obtained conveniently and in unlimited quantity.
Respectfully submitted,
GEORGE R. STUNTZ,
Surveyor in charge of Exploration.
Barber Papers: “In a Little Trouble” Winter of 1856
October 9, 2015
By Amorin Mello
Selected letters of the Joel Allen Barber Papers
… continued from Fall of 1855.
Minnesota Point Jan [23rd?] 1856
Dear Parents
It is sometime since I have wrote to you and for a fortnight or more
[???] [two lines on this copy are illegible] [??? ?????]
On arriving at Lapoint we found sheets from home and a good lot of newspapers.
We left Lapoint Thursday afternoon [on a firm of ?????? ? ?? head?] of [?????????] Nagonup the principal chief of all the Chippewas, Augustus and myself [??? ??? ?????] drawn by by two dogs on a dogtrain. At [????? ???????] were joined by one of Nagonup’s [??????].
Photograph of Naagaanab (Minnesota Historical Society).
They were on their way to Washington. Several of them are going accompanied by a gentleman from Lapointe as interpreter. The first night out we stayed in a wigwam with old Chingoon and his interesting family. Friday night we camped. Saturday reached Iron river. Sunday left and [comfortable?] – Monday came here. Augustus has a sore througt, not severe – otherwise we are well as usual notwithstanding our tramp of over [100?] miles. I must now quit writing and try to find one of our dogs which has strayed over to [???].
Under the old permit system, many locations, three miles square, were made on Lake Superior;- several on and near the Montreal river – some on Bad River, south of La Pointe – three on the main land, opposite La Pointe – two or three were made near Superior City, on the Nemadji, or Left Hand river, and one settler’s claim about twenty miles north of Superior.”
~ Mineral Regions of Lake Superior: As Known From Their First Discovery to 1865, by Henry Mower Rice, 1865[?].
Perhaps you wonder what we have made this journey for – perhaps you hope we are going below but that is not the case. Why should we [?????]. It is warmer here than at many places two or three hundred miles south of here. True – one or two thermometers froze up at this place but others did not while at Fort Snelling, the spirit thermometer inside the walls indicated 44 degrees below zero. Augustus wanted to see to his preemption and I had nothing to do but to come along with him. I also wanted to find out a few things concerning a place that I should like to preempt. I suppose there is not a better copper show on the south shore of the lake, but the land is not surveyed and my only sure way to get it is to settle on it and stick to it until it can be legally claimed.
The town lines will be run next summer.
Augustus is in a little trouble about his claim. It appears his declatory statement never reached the land office. But I guess it will all be explained and made right. The dutchman who was to contest his claim has left the country and would stand no chance if he was here. We have a land office here now which saves a great many journeys to Hudson near St. Paul. We shall go back in a few days and commence surveying around the islands. Now don’t fancy that we cannot survey in the winter, for we have tried it and know better.
Detail from the Stuntz/Barber survey of T47N R14W.
“J.H. Bardon, a Superior pioneer, stated that ‘at Copper Creek and Black River Falls, twelve or fifteen miles south of Superior, and also near the Brule River, a dozen miles back from Lake Superior, Mr. Stuntz found evidences of mining and exploring for copper on a considerable scale carried on by the American Fur Company, under the direction of Borup and Oaks of La Pointe, in 1845-46. A tote road for the mines was opened from a point ten miles up the Nemadji River to Black River Falls.‘”
~ Duluth and St. Louis County, Minnesota; Their Story and People: An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Educational, Civic and Social Development, Volume 1, by Walter Van Brunt, 1921, page 66.
At Bad river we were at work during the coldest weather, and only lost two or three days because of cold but when the thermometer was up to 20* below zero we worked right ahead – sometimes in swamps where we stepped through the snow into the water,
[last line on this page of this copy is cut off]
The weather for a week or more has been fine. Cold enough to cover us with frost but not severe.
Provisions are very scarce – no flour or pork can be had.
They will begin to bring them through from St. Paul in a few days. Flour it is hoped can then be bought for $20 per barrel. Fish are not exactly plenty but they can be obtained for money or labor which is not the case with anything else. The country is flooded with dry goods, [p??y] articles and everything but provisions because they can be bought on time but eatables could only be got by paying cash down.
Geology of Wisconsin: Survey of 1873-1879,
Volume III, 1880, page 342[?].
Geology of Wisconsin: Volume 3, page 341.
Geology of Wisconsin: Volume 3, page 345.
The Fon du Lac mine has commenced operations with tolerable fair prospects. It is the only mine in operation this side of Montreal river. Augustus’ claim is on the same vein and for aught anyone knows just as good besides having abundance of water power. All the copper excitement since I come to the country has been directed toward the north shore. This morning I signed 2 petitions, one to congress for the early survey of the north shore and another for a road down that way. I have made a little map of the islands and last summers survey and some other things that I will enclose.
The Fond du Lac copper prospect was located near a small tributary of the Left Hand River on this map detail from T47N R14W, near Pattison State Park. Augustus’ claim was along the same vein of copper but had not been surveyed yet; perhaps it was at Amnicon Falls State Park.
Augustus has begun a letter to send with this. He has just come home with letters now about his claim.
No more at present from
Your affectionate son
J. Allen Barber
Direct to Lapoint
Minnesota Point
Superior County
Minn. Terr.
Sunday Feb 10th 1856
Dear Mother
Augustus has written a letter, and left it for me to enclose and dispatch so I thought I would ship in a few lines before sending it off.
Augustus started today with a young man and two dogs for Lapointe. I shall probably go there in a two or three weeks to return immediately. There are two men going down with a tamlins pony team with provisions from St. Paul for Augustus. The men are going to work for him and I shall probably bring the team back and use it a while. I have at last fixed my mind on a place that I mean to claim. The location is a point at the mouth of Left hand river, known as Left hand point. It contains only 5 or 6 acres in low & swampy and covered only with bushes coarse grass and floodwood. Nothing but the fact of its being a part of Superior city is of any value whatever.
Barber’s sketch of his land claim at the mouth of Left Hand River. This location is now an industrial neighborhood of Superior on the Nemandji River.
As it is $1,000.00 per acre is not an overestimate of its marketable price at present. It joins or is part of the grounds intended for the Railroad buildings when the survey was made here this point was cut off by the meander lines instead of meandered. Therefore according to the [rearns/records?] no such land exists.
A resurvey is to be made and I mean to fasten it by a preemption which is the only way to obtain it before the land sale. I may get cheated out of it and I may throw away my time and money but such chances are scarce and should it transpire that my claim is good I want to have my dish right side up for once. I have written for Uncle Allen’s advice and should I ever find it advisable to drop the matter I can do so without forfeiting my preemption right.
The Eye of the North-west, page 9.
The Superior Company with Company with which I shall probably have to contend is rich, influential, and on good terms with the administration. All that can be done by fair means or foul to defeat any claim will probably be done, but some things can be done as well as others, at any rate we shall see what we shall see.
So my head is so full of business just [snow?] you will please excuse the shortness of this letter and look for more when I have more time.
Your affectionate son
J Allen Barber
Superior Feb. 17th 1856
Dear Brother
It is sometime since I have written anything to you but you have heard of me so often that I suppose it makes no particular difference. It will be nearly sugaring time when you get this.
Makak: a semi-rigid or rigid container: a basket (especially one of birch bark), a box (Ojibwe People’s Dictionary) Photo: Densmore Collection; Smithsonian
I have once more got into a country where sugar is made but not by white men. The Indians make pretty good sugar which is generally done hard and [sinted?] dry and put into birch bark “mo’kucks” holding from 50 to 75 lbs. This bark is also used exclusively for buckets, store trays, gathering pails, &c. The timber in this country is not as equally distributed as in Vermont. The land is mostly covered with evergreens but there are some located portions of country where maple abounds. These “sugar bushes” as they are called are often quite extensive covering several sections and and [they?] only at intervals of 8 or 10 miles, but this is just as well for the Indians are both migratory and gregarious in their habits.
Detail of an Lake Superior Chippewa “sugar bush” from the Barber brothers’ survey of T48N R5W.
I hope you will eat plenty of sugar next spring and take some of the girls to a sugar party or two like I used to. I am doing nothing now most of the time but shall have business enough in a few days when I begin to build my house that is if I conclude to grab for the price of land I am now watching. I am waiting to hear from Uncle Allen and for some other things to transpire. There is not a man in the country whom I could trust that could give me any reliable information such as I want. I want you to hurry and become of age as soon as possible and come out here this spring and make a preemption.
There are some good places left yet, but don’t get married before you make a preemption for it might not be convenient to take your wife out into the woods 30 or 40 miles to live on the place as you would have to do in order to “prove up.” I am going to get up an ice boat before long which will be very useful as I mean to do considerable boating yet this winter, and I might use it to carry lumber and other things up and down the lake. With such winds as we have had a few days ago I could easily go to Lapointe and back in two days. I suppose Augustus got a party started by this time and he will be at it himself in a few days. I am living with a man named Fargo, you have heard of him before. We are living in Stuntz’ store. Board at the hotel is ten dollars per week. Old Steven Bonga is living on the point, he has been something of a traveller having been to Montreal, Hudson Bay, [Oregon?], Prairie du Chien, and all intermediate places.
He is half indian and half negro so you may suppose he is not very white.
Portrait of Stephen Bonga (USDA Forest Service). Additional information about Bonga is available from the Wisconsin Historical Society.
A railroad has been laid out from here to St. Paul and my claim covers the terminus at this end. There have two or three new towns started into existence along its route in imagination. Perhaps they are [surveyed?]. This making towns in a new country is a great business.
What happened in your good town on Christmas and New years eve
Were there any stockings left.
I want to inquire about lots of girls and boys in Johnson and Cambridge but I conclude you will tell me as much as you can in your next letter so with respects to all enquiring friends I remain
Your affectionate brother
Allen
Superior, Douglas Co. Feb. 25th 56
Dear Parents
Detail of Superior City from T49N R1W.
Night before last I got a letter and some papers from Augustus also 2 letters from home which he had read. They were dated Dec. [21st?] & Jan 2nd.
Sad and startling was the news of the death of George Hill. Who could have thought three years ago that such a dark future lay before that family. Every day some sad event warns me of the uncertainty of life. Men have died here who had no friends to mourn their loss, and their death is hardly noticed. I always ask myself why was it not me instead of them and will not my turn come soon. Yes, let it come soon or late as the world reckon, and it will be soon to me.
There is just as much danger or accidents in this country as in any other and no more but as to health there is no better place in the world than this. You seem shocked at the idea of surveying in the winter, but it will be nothing but fun to survey during the rest of the winter. It has been moderate pleasant weather now about two weeks. The snow is going off a little lately and it seems a little like spring. We had some pretty cold weather about new years but we shall have no more such. The lake is more open than it ever was known to be at this season before.
It sometimes freezes across at Lapointe but now it is open within six or eight miles of here. Flour is only $20 per bbl‑ with prospect of falling lower. The Indians chiefs have returned having only been to St. Paul where they found a letter telling them to delay their visit a while.
Poor creatures! They are fooled around by traders and speculators who are with the government in robbing and dwindling them. Any thing like a full account of their wrongs would astonish even them. About my claim I have not [???] today. There is another man after it and it will be no easy thing to carry my point.
Valuable property is troublesome stuff in this country. There is a townsight three miles from there now in litigation for which there is a standing offer of $200,000.
I am still living with Fargo on Minnesota point. I expect to go to Lapointe before long with Albert Stuntz who is going down with some supplies for Augustus which he brought from St. Paul.
It is too dark to write
Good bye
Allen
Superior, March 4th 56
Dear Parents
Not much has happened in this vicinity worth recording. The principle circumstances of note is the burning of a house and all the worldly possessions of a poor [Indian?].
Detail of Left Hand River from Stuntz’s survey; where Barber’s land claim was located.
I have heard nothing of Augustus since writing last but expect to when anybody comes up the lake. About my claim I can say but little my chance is but dull still I don’t mean to give up so large a prize without good reasons.
I have had it surveyed and the notes sent to the Surveyor General with a memorial stating the facts and asking him to [appraise?] the [notes?].
The price contains over 8 acres (8.695).
Perhaps it occurred to you that I am was 22 years old last Sunday. Well such is unquestionably the case although nothing was done to celebrate the day only I had my hair cut for the third time after leaving Vermont. I think I shall have to go to Lancaster this spring but unless I get ousted here it will be difficult to leave.
I wish I could multiply myself by about a dozen in order to hold several valuable claims which are not occupied by any one who can legally hold them. I can’t write here two children [pretting?] and several people [telling?] Albert Stuntz and family are here today. I am perched on a sawhorse writing on a work bench loaded with all manner of [marbles?].
Evening – quiet once more since dark I have written a letter to the Surveyor General to accompany a memorial that I have been circulating. O I wish there was a person in the country that I could depend on to assist me in regard to that claim. There are one or two that I counsel with who know no more than I do and then I do as I think best.
I expect [Lowener?] to find out I have no show, and that will be the last of it I shall [not feel?] that I had lost it for I never had it, but if I don’t get it some body else will get 15 or 20 thousand dollars worth of land that I want.
Provisions are still high and will be higher again before navigation opens which cannot be expected before the 1st of May. Flour is $20/barrel, fresh pork 18 ¾ cents per lb, beef 20 cts milk 20 to 25 cts per qt. &c, &c. Eatables must be higher because there will be little or no sleighing after this over the barrens between here and St. Paul. My mind has been on the [rock?] so much today that I am not in a mood to think much about home so please excuse the shortness and dryness of this letter.
I remain your affectionate son
J Allen Barber
Went to Iron River Thursday 13
Returned 15th
Superior , Douglas Co. March 11 1856
Dear Parents
Yesterday I read a package of letters from Augustus containing one from him & from home one from Albe and one from [Caldridge?]. As Augustus was in town (Lapointe) when he recd. your letters I suppose he has answered them so I cannot tell you much news about him. I am still staying with Fargo – not doing much but hoping to get pay for my time and expense by securing the prize I am after. There is some excitement in town about it, but mighty little is said to me. The Register at the land office gives me good encouragement and says a preemption will hold it. I have taken some steps toward building on it. Today I bought a sack of flour ½ barrel for 12 dollars, I shall get some fish from Lapoint where they are very plenty and cheap and then I shall be almost ready to try housekeeping alone.
I am sorry to hear of the disastrous results of the low price of hops. Although farmers must suffer in consequence yet I believe speculators will make fortunes out of it. If I was in the business of raising them I should stick to it. No articles is so liable to fluctuations in prices as hops but it is well known that the risk fails once in five years on an average so they must come up sometime.
I see you are inclined to believe our country and climate are more in hospitable & forbidding than yours. Such I believe is not the case. We have had some very cold weather but the changes are so moderate and so seldom that we pay but little attention to the weather – in fact we call most all of it very fine weather, as it is. The lake is a great equalizer of temperatures and our cool lake atmosphere in summer causes showers to fall from all the warm, sweaty winds that come here to wash their faces in this big blue pond. People in this country go much better prepared for cold than they ever do in Vermont. I have not worn a boot since leaving Lancaster. We wear shoes in the summer and moccasins in winter.
Boots won’t do for surveyors – they carry too much water unless we stop to empty them after crossing every stream or marsh.
While speaking of clothes perhaps I might as well go on with a few more items of the same sort.
Shoes for this country should have no lining or binding as they are quicker and ae not as stiffwhen dry. We never apply anything to soften them and nothing can preserve them from wearing out in about two months of hard service. They [sell?] about $1.50 per pair. We can get plenty of wool hats which are the only ones we wear.
All manners of shirts can be bought, even the very best quality of red flannel ones, which are universally warm, outside, i.e. by common folks.
The gentry of Superior dress most distressingly.
It is difficult to get good socks any where on the country. I have worn out 6 or 7 pair this summer and lost some more – they cost high bests we don’t wear. I have none. The only cost I have is of [Gihon?] cloth and made by Mrs. Sheldon. Cost are not much more except as an extra garment to wear occasionally.
Good durable pants I find it difficult to get. They are generally poor [ashnet?] and not half put together. Good your mittens would be very acceptable but for want thereof buckskin or blanket mittens are generally warm.
You speak about bringing Kate [in?] to Wisconsin. My advice is to it without fail if you intend coming out to live, nothing should prevent it if I were in your place. The horse that Uncle [Jay?] brought out with him is smarter and tougher than any one he can find to use with him. There is nothing that I regard as more necessary for a family than a first rate horse. I think [Kelty?] will be a very good serviceable animal for work besides being one that you might be proud to ride [after?] over the prairies. Probably Augustus has told you what he thinks about Amherst and other boys coming out here to survey. Butler was so badly disappointed in this country that I have had but little thoughts of [enough?] any one else to come here. Such a disappointment I think would be the fate of 4 out of every 5 that try the business.
A person to be a surveyor must be able to travel all day through the woods and sometimes carry a pack. I would not prevent any from coming here as there is generally business enough besides surveying. A surveyor can make no greater mistake than by hiring any but the best of men. Perhaps Augustus has not told you that he will be out of the business as soon as his present job is done and will devote his time to the improvement of his claim &c. I should like very much to [have?] Amherst here but I dislike to have my parents left entirely alone. As I have [???] two half [sheets?] – when I only [illegible] mind up for the [present?].
[Incomplete copy of letter]
To be continued in the Spring of 1856…
Barber Papers: “Come up here!” Winter of 1855
August 22, 2015
By Amorin Mello
Selected letters of the Joel Allen Barber Papers
… continued from 1854.
Charlotte Wis. Jan 21st 1855
Dear Parents
You may not like the looks of this small paper but the fact is I have no other, my last sheet of large paper was used for my last letter to you and if I had been aware that I was not going to have any other I would have mentioned it so as in some measure to have modified the shock it must occasion. This is [onerely?] preface as I have not yet been to the office for your letter this week being somewhat distant having no time except today when it is tremendous cold and blustering.
I have three letters ready to mail one to Grandfather one to Uncle Cyrus and one to Albe Whiting. I have written but very few letters this winter except to you, for in fact you have monopolized most of my time for writing. The weather has continued just the same – mild, open, and clear untill today when we have a hard northwind. Prairie fires were running last night in Iowa in many directions and some in this state.
There is not a particle of snow – the brooks are icebound and the ground is frozen and cracked up like it never cracks in Vermont. X X X
Well I have been to the PO and found no letter – shall expect two by next mail. It is snowing some today (Jan 25th).
My health continues as good as could be expected under like circumstances. At the two last places where have the unvarying diet is fried pork and hot biscuits and nothing else to speak of.
Had Johnny Cake yesterday noon, made with all the bran in. It was about the best thing I have seen in the West. I went to a party a few nights ago. It was a miserable trashy affair, nothing but a great barbecue for supper, early, and then dancing untill daylight.
All the rough characters in the country were there. I went at a late hour and retired at about half past 9 oclock, satisfied that I shall not want to attend another such very soon. At Lancaster, the parties are about right, but out here they are a pretty good index of the newness of the country.
It is now impossible to get this to the P.O. unless I go myself and as it blows and snows a perfect old fashioned snow storm I think I shant go but will keep this for another time X X Sat. 27th
Am boarding with a Vermonter two miles from the school house. He is a real Vermonter named Howard one of the best and smartest men on the prairie. He has a good farm which he wants to sell. If any body wants to buy a farm out this way just tell them of this. It will be advertised in the Herald soon. It is a good farm and contains 260 acres, tillable land and firewood enough for two families, the best and most extensive start of fruit in the country. 250 apple trees 20 green gauge plums and innumerable gooseberries [redberries?] currants strawberries and some grapes. The house & barn are new and well built but small. He asks only $2000, is doing well here but wants to leave for other business.
I wish Albe Whiting would see this place; less than half would have to be paid down – good title given.
[Gov.?] Dewy has bought out Cassville or part of it. Prairie La Porte is changed to Guttenburg. Do you know where Sullivan Pierce stopped. He was in company with Hyde coming out but they got separated. Have just been out to the chicken trap found five all alive any fluttering. We killed those and retired and they [lineanes?] have just turned to the [fiels?] again. [scribble] Sunday Three more chickens caught. Went to meeting with Howards folks in a sleigh or rather on a sled – no meeting pretty cold – snow scarcely sufficient for sleighing. If I get a chance I shall try to send some to Lancaster.
I have three more weeks to keep school. 4 more places to board. I like Howards and his folks best of any people on the prairie. They are pious and attend to family worship regularly.
Monday
Have just been to the Post office and got two letters one from you and one from Augustus – He writes nothing except a few business items.
In haste
Yours affectionately
Allen
Johnson, January 27th 1855
Dear Son
Yours of the 11th arrived night before last and contrary to my usual custom I have deferred answering over two mails, but it [will hi?] forwarded now some days sooner than it would have gone by trail, for Ames Dodge will take it along to Galena and by him I shall forward those vests that I bought in the fall for you & Augustus on the very [day?] that I recd your letter saying that Augustus was to be in Lancaster in a few days. Though he has not come & probably will not for some time, [Still,?] you may [be?] your Choice out of the two and send the other to him in the spring if there any going up to the Lake. There are as many who prefer the one as the other, and though I intended to give Aug his choice [????] the danger of his being [wronged?] by your having it [for ?in to ????] he did not take one & you the other. The vests are something nice, only that the style is new and there will not probably be many among the “[Badgers?].” Amos is here after [his monday?] due him [??] estate from Dr [M????] & gets between 700 & 800 & takes west with him. He hails from [Boise?] City, [90?] miles from Dubuque, but he says that he should prefer the Northern front of Ill. or the southern part of West Iowa. Were you or Augs at Lancaster I should try to have him go up there, but he would not go [southwest?]. I know of nothing very new or strange that has happened of late. There is a funeral in [Locon?] to day, of Daniel Mills who lived beyond the Main. You have seen the poor man I suppose. A very hard working & honest man was he.
It is a general time of health in Johnson, I know not of one sick person now except Rob’ Hill who is evidently on his [last?] legs, though around the streets every day. The poor devil had a [time?] in the fore part of Dec. and has been rapidly going down with the consumption ever since. He can have one source of consolation beyond what most men are blessed with, that there will be no excess of grief at his death, and another, that nobody or even the world will ever be able to discover the road that [his?] departure will occasion, & still another, that for his dearest & best friends & companions whose comforts & happiness are undoubted, his strongest & most earnest desire, there will be a greater abundance and at a greatly [demenostred?] price of the blessed creature that has so long stood between [???] & all [witch?] cares. Yesterday Dr C. & I removed two loads of corn fodder and eight loads of hay which with two loads, drawn [before?] makes all the hay I have left, [ample sufficient as?] I think to carry me through with [???] & the old cow. I have some more [slulh?] to [draw?] & two or three loads of wood dry wood in the shed [&?] the [??????] & farming tools, sleigh, waggon, &c to it [??] home yet. Mr Clark from [Miss.?] has moved into the old house & Phelps is going in with him to occupy the part that Dr C did when he was there with us. [Phil??? is?] about buying out [???????] takes a [fusin?] in Wolcott. Sam [Wilson?] has sold or will soon & Bill Smith buys out the Widow Wilson, & [esrnard?] has bought the [Feelting?] farm [in Herling?]. [Gotn?] will probably have the [Muikler?] farm & let Patrk have the Bixley house.
Capt Sam has elected one of the directors of the Bank of Waterbury and keeps a deposit of their money as well as a deposit of [Irusburgh?] money & he is in fact a bank discounting to people like any bank would, & if he keeps it up it will greatly curtail the business of the new bank at Hydepark that will probably go into operation about May 1st. The Hydepark bank stock went off [any?] heavily. Not a dollar take below here & only 46 shares taken here & 26 of them to trade away for other Bank Stocks. The Hydepark folks have sworn vengence against the lower part of the County declaring that no County officer shall come below their [?????]. Let them squirt their dye stuff, it will make them feel better. It is getting to be pretty hard times for almost everything here. Money is scarce & hard to be got. Still prices for everything but [???] & pork are exorbitantly high, wool [no sale?], Pork $[650?] for the [best?] & less in proportion to weight. But corn is $1.25, oats 50¢ Flour $11.00 Beef $5. per [????], & 6 per hind. Butter 20 to 22′ [Churned?] 11 ¢ Hay $15.00 and none to be had at that so that is feared that some poor men will have to kill their cows or see them starve. Wood is from 1.50 to 1.75, Tallow from 14¢ &c &c. If about 1/2 the folks in Johnson were well settled in Grant County I think it would be much better for them and for those who choose to remain on these bleak hills. I should have mentioned Potatoes which are scarce at 50 ¢. Now all who are not producers had better go where they can get the necessaries of life cheaper & wages as good that would be my advice to all, and which I will convince them I am sincere in one of these days.
Your Mother is anxious that you should work with your Uncle Cyrus the ensuing season and learn the builders trade so that you can build a house on our place or one for yourself if you should ever feel the need of one. You have over estimated to us what you thought [??] doing another year, whether to try again to study Medicine, Law, or go to Lake Superior, or teach school, or work around Lancaster. There are many inducements to either course. Ponder the subject well and take the advice of your friends especially of Augustus about going where he is, perhaps he would want you there with him to explore the country for copper. And when you have selected some good place to pursue, why then you may inform us. I intended to [fell????] this [page?] out, but have not time to do it to night, perhaps I may do it in the morning.
So for the present [????] you will [Go & Barber?] I wish you would enquire what timber land can be had for near Lancaster, especially in that grove that was [G??] Dewey’s & do it in a way to not have any one think that your motive is any thing but idle curiosity. I regret that I did not buy 40 or 80 acres of it before he sold it. I am going to Cambridge to day or to morrow and perhaps may pick up some news, that will be interesting to you. If so you may rely on having it forwarded to you soon. You enquired who were Benton’s assistant. Helen Whiteny [tah?] & the small fry Rebeccah [Merriam?] & [Diana?] have [classes?]. I think you will be satisfied with the length of this and can afford to give me one half as long at least. I hope you will continue to write every week and I will endeavour to do the same by you.
G. A. B.
Iron River Falls, LaPointe Co.
Feb. 10th 1855Dear Brother Allen
Survey detail of Iron River Falls, LaPointe County, Wisconsin. A review of this location and survey (T50N R9W) is featured in our series prologue; Stuntz Surveys Superior City 1852-54.
Your [welcome line?] was duly received and at last I find an occasion to write you a word in answer. I am very sorry to learn of your poor health but presume you will improve this winter if you as careful as circumstances will allow, which is generally careful enough. I don’t know how to advise in regard to your future operations but I tell you as I have before told our parents that I wish both yourself and I to obtain a thorough education. Your poor health is at present an obstacle to the pursuit of that object and I do not know that you are resolved on it provided your health was good. I have said so much in my letters about the good efforts of the kind of life I have adopted on the health of consumption or dystrophic men that you will be expecting me to recommend it for you without knowing much about your ailments so I think [is?] almost useless to say to you.
Come up here! I am confident that our season spent in surveying, voyaging, or exploring in this region or any healthy country would do your whole system, constitution, mind & body more good than all the medicines in the universe.
If I could see you I think we might arrange to spend next summer in the woods together. I have seen some experience in frontier-life and the tendency always is (with feeble persons) to giving good health and greatly increasing bodily vigor.
What the changes will be for making a raise in this country next season I can hardly tell you now but I expect they will be pretty good.
I hope you will see Mr. Stuntz when he is in Lancaster this winter, and for I think you would come up with him. I may see you in your schoolhouse before spring, as several things make me wish to visit Lancaster this winter. I don’t know the place where you are teaching, but I wish you all the success you can wish with all my heart. As for your toothache, I wish you as speedy deliverance from it as you would experience if I had a good hold on the offending tooth and hope you will consider the applicability of the “Wellerism” about the [“boy as svollered a fardin”?]
So you don’t like Lancaster? – well, I do! i.e. I like it pretty well generally, and some of the folks in it particularly; and if I supposed my appearance there would excite half the curiosity my supposed advent did last fall I would surely hazard the experiment of confronting those terrific batteries of eyes, for those batteries are not “masked” though I apprehend some of them are case-mated. I received a letter from Father last evening, saying all were well &c.
I wrote to you about the farm, but as you are not in L. you will not find it convenient to attend to it, so you can just let it be if you should not finish your school and return to L. before I return go down or write again. If you should have done anything about it before this reaches you all right or otherwise – all right. I am [well?] and well provided with work so I stand [it?] pretty well although our quarters here are not just as one would like them. I could write better if the idea had [yet?] not taken possession of my mind that I shall see you in mere weeks, so you will excuse imperfections and believe me.
Your affectionate brother
Augustus H. Barber
P.S. I admit that I may err in advising you to undertake the labors of a trip to this region, and that some other vocation in sight be more advantageous in all respects; and I do not wish you to adopt my course simply on the strength of my recommendation. Think about it, and in your ruminations keep this idea before your mind – “Health is the vital principle of bliss. And exercise of health.”
A.H.B.
Patch Grove Wis. Feb. 18, /55
Dear Parents
I have nothing to do this evening to amuse myself unless it is to write a letter.
Closed my school last night and have got this far from the scene of my labors although it may seem that I am not much nearer Lancaster. It is no nearer but there is a stage from here there tomorrow morning.
Had a good chance to ride to L. Saturday morning but only sent my trunk. Got my pay last night in gold. Sold my clock at cost for the gold, and stayed over night at [Basfords?].
[…]
The [????] is There several of meanest roughest imps here I have yet seen in the [state?]. I guess I will wait untill I get to L. before I finish this so as to report my luck in getting home.
X X X X Lancaster Feb 20th
Got here yesterday all safe. Found the good people all well. Uncle Thode went off in the morning so I did not see him. Augustus has written something about the produce of the farm. There is considerable corn which [????] pigs have been living on lately. There are several who want to rent the place and one man wants the house without the land. He is one of the Shoemaker tribe, and I dont want him within ten miles of it. Wheeler who lives on the [place?] now and wants to rent it has a good [team?] and promises to do well with it.
[…]
I mean to get my hair cut today for the first time after leaving Vermont. It has got pretty long and looks “first rate.” There are 40 rabbits to the square rod around here – At least there are so many tracks. From what I can learn I should think Augustus was doing about as much this winter as he did last winter. There are no liquor shops open in town they say and nothing, read and spell better than could be expected of him. Have not time to write another sheet.
Allen
I will try to get some larger paper before I write to you again
1855, [Feb.] 16
Lancaster Wis. 16th 1855
Dear Father & Mother
Knowing myself to much indebted to you for the promptness and length of your letters it is my intent to reciprocate as far as lies in my poor abilities by writing as often and fully as possible. My health still appears to be good and we have all been pretty well except Myron who alarmed us very much night before last by having a fit. He had been sick all day occasionally eating too many new doughnuts and other things. The fit commenced about six o’clock P.M. and lasted 10 or 12 minutes and was stupid until 10, and will occasionaly [??????ahing?] untill next morning.
He was sick all day yesterday but got up this morning smarter than ever and continues well. Uncle Ham. has got back from the north. All the land he went after particularly he found entered but he says he got [????t] of first rate land.
Uncle Allen wants me to enter some [land?] which I think I shall do when I hear of some good [??????]. I suppose I could find land north 2 or three dollars per. acre.
I could easily sell out at any time for 20 or 30 per cent, more than cost. Ben. C. Eastman has returned. He has some timber land for which he asks about 7 dollars per acre, which I suppose is about as well as well you can do. I have some thoughts of applying for a school in [Morrisson8?] district.
The school has got to bad for any female to teach and want a man. That is just the kind of school I would like to try for the sake of variety. They pay $12. per mo to female teachers.
Uncle ham has entered 8 sections on black river, he thinks in 5 years will be worth more than all the other lands he owns.
G. R. Stuntz is in town. We have good sleighing now and have had since Sunday [Sat. 11th?]. More Snow- about a foot of new snow and about 3* below freezing cold.
[…]
Rec’d your letter
of March 6th today. Uncle Allen had got it as he does [most?] of any mail matter. The [???] cannot see the 2nd it appears. The good people here are considerably incensed by their disappointment in not seeing Grandfathers out here this spring. I know of no reason for his not coming out with uncle Thode as far as Sandusky where they would want him to stay untill into summer. I think he will yet be allowed to visit this western paradise and meet his children, grandchildren, and other friends. I did not make so good a bargain as you wished in regards to the farm but I think it was as good as could be made.
[…]
Sunday 18th. Have not been to meeting today.
~ Wikipedia.com
Last night I went up to Rowdens beyond Uncle Jays to see about that school. I guess they dont want any more school this spring. It is rather surprising that the Know Nothings have got such power in [Cambridge?].
I had heard of their strength and [power?] by way of [??] [Heath?] in a letter to Augustus which fell into the hands of Uncle Ham. There are none of them here.
I hope [Wyman?] and Charles Stanly will come out here. This is not a very good place for [??????] but they would go to Lake Superior or St Croix river and [get good wages?]. If they get here soon perhaps they could work with Stuntz.
[Incomplete copy of letter]
Home March 1st 1855
Friend Allen,
It is some time since I rec’d your last and I should have replied earlier but for several weighty reasons. Even now my eyes promise to close and carry the spirit to dream land instead of the western world, but though the flesh is willing the will is not ready to resign itself to the arms of the [dreary?] old night god, till it talks awhile with you.
My [“???”] says I last wrote you (Dec 1st) well, if tis so I ought to have a few to say to this now, but my heart is as barren as no matter what. Could I be blessed with your company tonight we might lay awake and talk till the roosters crowed; and then not say it all, but now I really do not think of anything worthwhile to write.
As I have written west from once to twice a week all winter, to three or more people. I have to repeat the news that way till they become as stale as – new crackers.
[…]
Tis a time of general health here, if we except the small pox, which is in to help the Frenchmen this hard season. Where are you going this summer? what to do? I may go west in April – may not till fall – or never. I wish to go this spring but wish to study a term or two first, still may go soon. Please write very soon, and I may see you before May if I know where to find you. Time hastens – and with a hope for your welfare and prayers for your happiness I am the same old friend.
Albe
A J Barber
Lancaster March 2nd, 1855
Dear Father,
Yours of Jan. 18th was duly received and I hasten to reply.
I have written to Augustus [lately?] all I could think of especially about his getting kissed by a squaw. The next time you write to him you can ask him about the particulars.
I am glad Cad. is going to leave Johnson.
Detail of an abandoned copper exploration of the American Fur Company at Black River Falls (Big Manitou Falls) from the T47N R14W survey in Douglas County, which Augustus worked on with Stuntz in 1852.
If I could do anything to help him to useful and profitable employment God knows I would be glad to do it. Uncle [Ham?] started yesterday for Black river falls after pine lands. [He?] expects to be out in the woods some and perhaps camp out, will be gone from here about twenty days. [Tody?] has been writing [where?], he says it is a [“tow”-(cow)?]
[written in margin] he talks most everything [/margin]
[…]
I cannot express my gratitude for the amount of reading matter I have read from home lately in letter form.
[Jake Moorn?] is very slim has been sick some time. I must close to write Am and others
Good Bye
Allen
P.S. I have lent Cyrus $50. He has bought two cows and wants to buy more
Aunt [Lila?] has been sick over a week with strange and alarming symptoms. Constant headache splitting [leload?] and the exact appearance of being [Calivated?] but she is now better.
I want to write a letter to Am. about his [cars?] and some other things but guess I will wait till some other time
J. Allen Barber
Aunt Fanny thought sending a line in this but concludes not to. She says she has a right wait a while as you did.
A Masonic lodge has been started here lately so you will not miss the privelege of meeting your Morgan killing brethren at Cadys falls when you come out here.
Aunt Fanny wants you to send her some [Russian] turnip seed. Soon as possible. If you could send some two or three years old it would be better and perhaps purer blooded.
I once had a [pear?] spruce seeds which I wish I had here They [more?] in a [papa?] and [labely?]. And I would not care if I had some spruce [germ?]
To be continued in the Spring of 1855…
Barber Papers: “Augustus” 1854
August 7, 2015
By Amorin Mello
Selected letters of the Joel Allen Barber Papers
… continued from the prologue (1852-54).
Abstract:
Augustus Hamilton Barber
brother of Joel Allen Barber
and Amherst Willoughby Barber;
nephew of Joel Allen Barber;
cousin of Joel Allen Barber, 2nd;
son of Giles Addison Barber;
grandson of Joel Barber, Jr;
great-great-great-great-grandson of Thomas Barber.Primarily letters exchanged by Barber, a surveyor in northern Wisconsin and later a soldier in the 25th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and his parents in Vermont from 1854 to 1865. Written from Superior, Ashland, and La Pointe, Barber’s letters refer to economic conditions and pioneer life, to Indian affairs, and to Catholic and Protestant missions. Also included are Civil War letters by Barber; letters from his father, G. A. Barber, while in Montpelier participating in sessions of the Vermont House of Representatives; and miscellaneous items including a Revolutionary War pension statement and genealogical data on the Green family; two letters, Sept. 4 and 27, 1870, written by Joseph C. Cover, U.S. consul at Fayal in the Azores; and a printed memorial address by Col. Clement A. Lounsberry.
Biography/History:
Joel Allen Barber (1834-post 1909) was the son of Giles A. Barber (1803-1879) of Cambridge and Johnson, Vermont, and the nephew of Joel Allen Barber (1809-1881), Wisconsin legislator and Congressman. The senior J. Allen Barber came from Vermont and settled in Lancaster, Wisconsin, in 1837. He was followed by his father, by his brother T. M. Barber, who became a Lancaster merchant, and by numerous other relatives in the 1840’s and 1850’s.
The Barber brothers, Augustus and Allen, received expert legal advice and political updates from Uncle Joel Allen Barber (Senior) regarding their affairs while on Lake Superior.Giles A. Barber had three sons who reached manhood: Augustus (1831-1856), Joel Allen, and Amherst Willoughby (1841-1920). Joel Allen came to Wisconsin in 1854. After a term as a school teacher in the Blake’s Prairie area of Grant County and several months in Lancaster engaged in varied occupations suggested by his uncles, he went to the Lake Superior region in June, 1855, to join his brother Augustus, who was engaged in copper and land speculation and in a surveying business. Augustus was killed in an accident in the spring of 1856 but Joel Allen remained in northwestern Wisconsin as a surveyor until 1861. During the Civil War, he served from 1862 to 1865 in Co. C of the 25th Wisconsin Infantry and was first lieutenant of his unit at the time of his discharge.
Scope and Content Note:
An undated portrait of Uncle Joel Allen Barber is on page 199 of the Proceedings of the State Bar Association of Wisconsin, Volume 1900
A memoir of Uncle Joel is on page 198.
The collection consists primarily of letters exchanged by Joel Allen Barber and his parents from 1854 to 1865. The letters by Allen–as he was known in his family, to distinguish him from his uncle–were written from Superior, Ashland, and La Pointe and contain many references to economic conditions and pioneer life in northern Wisconsin in the 1850’s, to Indian affairs, and to Catholic and Protestant missions. In letters from Vermont, his parents commented on these matters as well as related news of eastern business and politics. G. A. Barber served several terms as judge in Lamoille County, and represented the town of Cambridge in the Vermont House of Representatives in 1858 and 1859. The collection includes numerous letters which he wrote from Montpelier during the sessions. He had also visited Allen in the fall of 1856, and his letter of November 3, 1856, was written during a rough voyage down Lake Superior and Lake Michigan in the famed steamboat “Lady Elgin.”
Johnson Apr. 15th 1854
Dear Brother Augustus
T47N R14W, T47N R15W, T48N R14W, T48N R15W, T49N R14W & T49N R15W (June 1852);
… and Interior Field Notes:
T47N R14W (June 1852);
T49N R13W (May-June 1853);
& T47N R13W (June-July 1853).
T26N R5W (Aug. 1853);
T26N R6W (Aug. 1853);
T27N R5W (Sept. 1853);
T27N R6W (Sept. 1853);
T28N R5W (Sept. 1853);
T26N R4W (Sept.-Oct. 1853);
T27N R4W (Oct. 1853);
& T28N R4W (Oct. 1853).
I wrote to you partly to kill time and partly to let you know what a ridiculous fix I am in. [Jo/Sen?] [M.?] Knight had to go to Boston and Homer Bell is sick – so the best he could do except to shut up the store was to leave me with it. I came in yesterday, then he left for Boston so I don’t know everything about the store yet. And what is worse [now if?] the goods are marked except a few staples which were marked specially for this occasion.
There is considerable [hade hike?] at least so it seems to me. Tobaccco is called for more than have as often as any other article.
[That don’t?] agree with me. Homer may get out so as to be here some of the time to advise me but it is doubtful as the weather which has been very fine of late has changed and threatened to be bad. I was greatly elated a few days ago by the prospect of going west as father thinks of sending me with the [chop roots?] but he has found another way to get them along by [Hayland?] Wilcox to Madison I believe.
Have you seen anything of John Cook out your way?
He and [Aunt?] F Whiting started for the west she stopped at [Eckhart?] Indiana and he went along and did not know but he should go to Lancaster.
Emily Whiting has been sick. She returned from Mount [Holfotre??] Seminary [??????] time ago where there was so much sickness that it had to be broken up. [Sarah Dougherty?] has also been sick from the effects of a hard cold.
We had [a maple?] sugar party at [Azioson fast?] day. I have no more time to write.
Father will write soon
Give my love &c
Allen
Sandusky Sept. 16th 1854
Dear Parents
As you will be looking for a letter I will try to not disappoint you.
I arrived here yesterday (Saturday) at noon in good health and spirits.
You may wish to know something of my journey so I will briefly notice it. We came very slowly to Albany where a valve got out of order which detained us a while, but we finaly got to R. R. where we were so lucky as to find a train waiting for us.
We made rather poor time on this road about half way but after passing a train we came out fast enough. Got to Ogdensburgh about 8 P.M. Waited about 2 hours for the boat and then took the “Ontario.”
Next morning we were at Kingston.
Wednesday, August 23, 1854
“We are desired to say that the new steamboat CLIFTON, just built by the Messrs. MacLem, at Chippewa, C.W., will leave this port, this afternoon, at two o’clock, upon a pleasure and experimental trip.”
~ Maritime History of the Great Lakes
Reached Oswego about the middle of the afternoon. Next morning (Friday) reached Queenston at the mouth of the river and took the cars for Chippeway, this is a new road just opened and much the best way to get along. Stopped at the falls two or three hours. At Chippeway took the steamer Clifton for Buffalo.
Tramped round as much as I could wish to in Buffalo and went to bed on the Mississippi which left at 10 oclock P.M. This was a grand boat, ever way superior to the Oregon. Had some toothache Friday night and one side of my face is badly swelled yet. Aunt Em. is away from home for a few days.
I like the children very well. Have not received any letter from Ind. We have no very rough weather on the lakes yet there was enough wind to make the boat roll and pitch some most of the time. I was a little seasick Friday morning but could not throw up anything.
The weather is fine peaches are plenty. Mr. Messer sends his respects. I should like to hear from home but know not where I shall be.
I shall write again soon.
My love to all.
From your affectionate Son
Allen
Lancaster Oct. 13th 1854
Dear Parents
Perhaps I should have written before but I have been prevented partly by ill health.
I did not start from Sandusky untill the 5th of this month. I was quite unwell several days before leaving Ohio. Reached Galena the second night after leaving Ohio. The cars run to [illegible] around 10 miles from Galena. Stopped at the City Hotel. Found Uncle Thode without difficulty. He is [busy?] as ever.
Stayed at Galena over Sunday and took the stage at midnight for Plattville and then finished my journey on foot.
Found people nearly all well here. Aunty Fanny has been quite sick but is getting well now. Frank Hyde has got here, bought a place in the village, opened a shop &c.
I am [spopping?] now at Uncle Allen’s now.
You will please excuse my being short as I am not well enough to write very easily.
My love to all the family and respects to some others.
Hoping to hear from Vermont often I remain
Your affectionate Son
Allen
Lancaster Oct. 19th 1854
Dear Father & Mother
Although I have written once since I arrived here I think I have reason to write again as I was not very communicative before. I mentioned being unwell as a reason for not writing more but did not mention the cause or nature of my ill health. At Sandusky I was attacked with diarrhea, occasioned I think by eating part of a diseased potatoe – this continued in spite of me four days and after a cessation of one day continued untill untill after I had been here some time. My flesh and strength failed very much, my appetite entirely.
At Galena I found I had lost ten pounds.
I am now improving under Dr. Woods medicine which though very ineffectual has done me well enough, unless the low state of my blood should superinduce fever and ague.
I acknowledge the justice of your remarks upon the paper I used, but that was the best I happened to have then. And I may as well notice the receipt of a very welcome letter from you this afternoon dated Oct. 8th.
I was very sorry to hear of Amherst’s sickness and somewhat surprised as I did not fancy that peculiarity of his breathing could be anything serious. If he is any yellower then I am, he would pass for a good Chinaman.
I believe I briefly mentioned my journey from Sandusky here. To Detroit I went by night. Fare including berth $2.00. Took breakfast at the Rail Road Exchange – a rather humble and cheap house but they are very obliging.
Went to the National Hotel to find Mr. Smith but he had gone to Rock Island to stay.
Had a fine view of the city from the cupola of the National. Was much pleased with Michigan and looked round so much that at night I could not turn my eyes without pain. There was an unequated rush of travel when I came through. Such passenger trains I never saw before. It took four cars for the baggage, express, and mail business.
Was obliged to stay over night at Chicago as the trains do not connect by a minute or two. At Rockford I inquired for Mr. Huntington but he lived on the other side of the river at some distance so I did not see him.
The R.R. will be finished to Galena in two or three weeks.
I have seen a great many people from Vermont in my travels. One fellow I saw at Plattville was lately from Morristown. He lived near [Jenery?]’s and his name was Dodge.
One fat speculator from White river inquired about Doane. I saw him in Michigan.
When I first arrived in town I made my way directly to Uncle Allen’s office where I found him and Uncle Cyrus & Frank Hyde.
Uncle Cyrus me very quick. Aunt Sa’h and Grandmother thought Augustus had returned after a severe sickness.
I felt and no doubt looked some as David Copperfield did when he got to his Aunts.
I have been very kindly received and cared for by all my relations wherever I have been. I am staying now at Aunt Fanny’s. Helped Cyrus pick corn this forenoon it rains nice this P.M. As to the country, the lay of the land &c. I hardly know what to say.
~ History of George Alcorn
I can fully endorse the sentiments of others who have praised the west but I think there are more beautiful places in the vicinity of Freeport and Warren than the country around Lancaster. Jo. Alcorn and his family arrived here a few days since.
He wants to carry on your land next year. Shoemaker does not want it as he is going to carpentry next year.
There is also another Shoemaker coming from Ill. who wants it.
The appletrees Augustus set out are most all doing well – the hops are rather scarce.
Think the [People?] of Lancaster are very kind, good hearted people but I have not got acquainted much yet.
Grandmother is perfectly captivated with Aunt Em, since being there, she thinks there is no place like Uncle Ham’s house – well it is a modest home.
But it grows dark and I must wind up. Please let Am write some in the next.
My love to all
Allen
P.S. I saw Mr Dewing a few days ago
He is swift to have me come out to this place to fish and shoot ducks &c.
Allen
Superior Nov. 7th 1854
Brother Allen
I received your letter of the 18th ult. today, and was glad to hear from you in a place so much to my fancy as Lancaster. Of course you are charmed with the western country, though you don’t say so in your letter, and though other places may offer more immediate chances for entering some lucrative employment [now?] seem more calculated to make a quiet and pleasant home than L. and its beautiful environment. I feel quite flattered by your account of the bustle among the fair ones occasioned by my supposed return, and am quite inclined to [create?] a genuine ‘furor’ by appearing in “Persona Profile” among them some of these days, and prevent the recurrence of their mistake by staying there.
But grateful and precious as are the joys of friendship and free social converse, they are only flowers beautifying the margins of the nigged path to wealth and honor, and he who presents their delights to enthrall his senses or entice him aside, is sure to stumble.
If I strive for wealth it is to enjoy it; if I fail to acquire it I hope to make none wretched by my inefficiency or misfortunes.
Perhaps you would like a little information in regard to my operations –: well Stuntz’ survey is finished and I have some writing to do for him, which will occupy me several days; as for subsequent “doins” you will be dully appraised.
I presume you will stay in L. this Winter, and I almost envy you the pleasure of mixing in the young society of the village – perhaps you will teach the village school. You will remember enough of my letters to look out for the deviltry of the boys about town, but lest you wrong the innocent I will say that with two or three exceptions they are fair and candid.
~ Lancaster Teller, April 30, 1891
You cannot and need not avoid the lately returned Californians, but a little prudent circumspection will not be any injury them and may keep you clear of some petty embarrassments: Some good luck and some good guessing kept me clear of sundry little “contrived plans” of their hatching, and I warn you, perhaps needlessly, but candidly.
Am glad Aunt Lucy has selected and called her little girl after one she knows to be among the best of good girls: she declared she would never call her Eleanor because I wished her to; but I [mistanded?] all the time that she rather meant to, finally. I think this will do at present, for I intend writing soon.
My love to all
Your affct Brother
Augustus
I went to election today and voted for the republican candidate for Congress – Mr. Washburn. All [Lokiss?] here
Johnson, November, 26th 1854
Dear Brother
As it is vacation with me now, I thought I could write a short note to you, not knowing but it might be acceptable. We have all sorts of weather here now, for today it has shone, rained, snowed, & hailed [illegible words] & rained [toreously?] [Jo?] I attended the funeral of Charles Daniels & walked up to his folk’s house with father through the mud and it was about [shortest?] one I ever attended. He died of consumption. Merrill Pillsbury died last Tuesday & was buried Thursday. I don’t know but Father has written you about it before [illegible] I believe he also died of consumpt. We had a great time here Tuesday night. There was a grand [feast?] in the [Town Hall?], and we had pig & almonds & raisins & apples &c. to the [casts-offs?] Would you not have given a quarter as I did to have been here to [both]? Every body there enjoyed themselves greatly. It was a new-fashioned dance in more respects than one for invitations were sent to all the people in the [village?] to attend and many of did so [illegible] in a manner very amusing to the swing generation. The 7th [?] of the United States Magazine came last week & also the last of the Phrenological Journal with a little paper index to the [illegible]. Do you wish to subscribe to it another year? Do you wish the volume bounds? We have prescribed [a large number nicely?] so that it might be bound. But it is time for the mail to go out. I must close.
Goodbye
Amst
Detail of an abandoned copper exploration at Big Manitou Falls from T47N R14W. Augustus worked on the Exterior and Interior Surveys here during June of 1852.
[ca. 1854]
Augustus,
When the draft comes in if you will send it down you will much oblige me.
What are you doing. Would you not do well to make some improvements about the place such as getting or making rails to hew in the pasture. Setting out trees lining for an orchard or any way to make it like a home. I hope you will find something to do for idleness will beget mischief any way you can fix it. My leaving off business so long nearly deprived me of business facultys, at least it is like leaving one again. I feel it very much as Mr. Felt left me the very day I became [introduced?] in the business. Any employment is better than to remain idle. If God will forgive me for wasting so much time will try and do better in future. Any honest business faithfully followed is doing vast good business [betting?] our own condition and enabling us to become much more useful.
Excuse me for making these suggestions for experience has prompted me so to do.
Will you be kind Augustus as to write frequently to me. Again I say forgive my plainess of speech.
Love to all
[illegible]
Chequamegon History 