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Point Basse WI130
Five rapids covering a distance of about three miles in this area were referred to as Nekoosa (swift water) by the Chippewa Indians, who made their campground on high Swallow Rock overlooking these rapids. At the lower end of the rapids, Wakeley's Tavern served as rendezvous and resting place for the river traveler and lumber rafts men. Wakeley's was the nucleus for the development of a settlement named Point Basse (low point). The name was later changed to Nekoosa. The settlement became a key town during the colorful era when lumber was rafted down the river from the pineries of the North to the Mississippi River markets. Daniel Whitney built the first sawmill on the Wisconsin River here at Whitney's Rapids in 1831, making Nekoosa the birthplace of Wood County. From this first harnessing of the river's power developed scores of power facilities, making the Wisconsin River the hardest - worked river in the world.
The Military Road WI208
The Military Road, built in 1835, became the first highway to cross the state. Congress appropriated $5,000 to connect the St. Lawrence and Mississippi River basins. The troops at Fort Crawford constructed the road from Prairie du Chien to Portage; those at Fort Winnebago extended it to Fond du Lac, and those at Fort Howard completed it to Green Bay. Blazed trees and plowed furrows marked the route. Brush laid in riverbeds made wagon crossings possible. The early thoroughfare followed many Indian trails. The army officials who supervised the work became interested in the future of the territory and invested their own finances in its development. The Military Road, the first influence of the federal government in Wisconsin, encouraged settlers to come to this territory.
The Name 'Wisconsin' WI219
In 1673, thirty-nine years after Jean Nicolet visited the Green Bay area, Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet set out from New France to explore the Mississippi River. They traveled from the Straits of Mackinac between Lakes Huron and Michigan to the Fox River at the foot of Green Bay. Two Native American guides led them up the Fox, from which they portaged (at present day Portage) to the river for which the state is named. Marquette and Joliet referred to the Wisconsin River as the Miskonsing, Meskousing, Meskous and Miskous, using variations on one of the Native American names for the river. Through the years, the spelling of Wisconsin underwent many changes. By 1800, "Ouisconsin" had become the favorite form for both the river and the region. Finally, in 1845, the Wisconsin territorial legislature officially endorsed "Wisconsin" as the accepted spelling. Many interpretations of the state's name have been suggested, including "gathering of the waters," "red earth place," "river of a thousand isles," "a good place in which to live," and "at the great point," all of which seem appropriate descriptions of Wisconsin's unique and varied geography.
Battle of Wisconsin Heights WI395
On july 21, 1832, during a persistent rainstorm, the 65-year old Sac Indian leader, Black Hawk, led 60 of his Sac and Fox and Kickapoo warrior in a holding action against 700 United States militia at this location. The conflict, known as the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, was the turning point in the Black Hawk war. Here commanders General James D. Henry and Colonel Henry Dodge and their troops overtook Black Hawk and his followers after pursuing them for weeks over the marshy areas and rough terrain of south central Wisconsin. Yet because of Black Hawk's superb military strategy, the steady rain and nightfall, approximately 700 Indians, including children and the aged, escaped down or across the Wisconsin River about 1 mile west of here. Their success was short-lived. The war ended just 12 days later at the Battle of Bad Axe when many of Black Hawk's followers drowned or were slain in their attempt to cross the Mississippi River.
Government Building (1888-1970) NV75
One of several buildings of identical architecture built throughout the country during the Victorian period. It is now the last structure of its type standing west of the Mississippi River. The cornerstone was laid on September 29, 1888, and the building was first occupied in 1890. Judge Thomas P. Hawley directed the cornerstone laying and became the first United States District Judge to preside here. Bruce R. Thompson was the last judge to preside in Carson City. The court was moved to Reno, August, 1965. Sylvester H. Day was the first postmaster and W.E. (Bill) Dunfield the last when the post office was moved September, 1970. The building became the State Library in September, 1972. The Carson Opera House formerly occupied this site.
Lovejoy Monument IL131
(Nov.9,1802-Nov.7,1887) was a newspaper editor, social reformer, and Presbyterian minister whose death at the hands of an angry mob at Alton, Illinois, made him an enduring symbol of the fight for human liberty and freedom of the press. Born in Albion, Maine, Lovejoy graduated from Waterville (now Colby) College in 1826. He moved the following year to St. Louis, where he taught school and began his career as a journalist. In 1832, Lovejoy decided to become a minister and returned to the east to study at Princeton Theological Seminary.
In November, 1833, Lovejoy began editing a religious newspaper the St. Louis Observer. Lovejoy's antislavery views so enraged proslavery Missourians that he fled with his newspaper to Illinois. Three presses were thrown into the Mississippi River, yet Lovejoy persisted in publishing the Alton Observer. He was shot dead while defending the warehouse in which a fourth press had been stored. His body, buried on his thirty-fifth birthday in an unmarked grave at Alton Cemetery, was later exhumed and reinterred at its present location on a hillside north of the Lovejoy Monument.
Confederate Monument - Civil War Prisoners MO96
Listed here are the names of the officers, enlisted men, and conscripts of the Armies of the Confederate States of America who died of smallpox near this spot between Aug 1, 1863 and Mar 31, 1865. These soldiers had each contracted the disease while being held as prisoners of war at the Federal military prison located across the Mississippi River in Alton, Illinois. Once infected with this highly contagious disease, prisoners were transported to a temporary hospital located on a small island formerly located immediately upstream of this monument. There, each of these men stoically succumbed to the effects of the disease. For 70 years following the war between the states, the precise location of these soldiers graves was unknown. Then in 1935, a portion of the cemetery was inadvertenly discovered during construction of the original lock and dam 26. Today, the remains of these southern patriots rest beneath the regulation pool of the Melvin Price Lock and Dam. This monument is dedicated to their sacrifice and memory. The Alton Prison was originally opened in 1833 as the first Illinois State Penitentiary. It remained in service until 1860 when a new facility was built in Joliet on February 9, 1862. The vacant structure reopened as the Alton Federal Military Prison. During the next three years at least 11,764 Confederate Soldiers were held in this facility. By all objective accounts, conditions in the prison were substandard. The mortality rate was high. Hot, humid summers and cold, damp winters undoubtedly contributed to the high death rate. Overcrowding, inadequate food and clothing, and unsanitary conditions further compounded the prisoners misery. Pneumonia and dysentery were common killers. But contagious diseases like smallpox and rubella were the most feared. The smallpox epidemic that began in late 1862, ultimately prompted prison officials to transfer the contagious prisoners to a temporary quarantine facility. A safe distance from civilian residents of Alton. Sampling of the Names:
Alleyton, C. S. A. TX130
Born as War clouds gathered. Alleyton was a key point on the supply line of the Confederate States of American during the Civil War. It was both beginning and end of the cotton road leading to the Confederacy's back door on the Rio Grande River. By 1860 the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad extended from Harrisburg, near Houston, to Alleyton. As a railhead Alleyton became the site of an important cotton station and Quartermaster Depot during the War. Cotton came here from north and east Texas, from Louisiana, and from Arkansas on the Rails of the B.B.B.& C. and via wagon roads. From Alleyton the South's most precious trading commodity was carried to a point on the Colorado River across from Columbus. It was then ferried across for the start of a long, tortuous journey to the Rio Grande. The bales of cotton were hauled on big-bedded wagons and high-wheeled Mexican carts, pulled by mules, horses or oxen. The Cotton Road led to Goliad, San Patricio, the King Ranch and finally to Brownsville. Shreds of white fluff on bush and cactus marked the trail of the wagon trains. From Brownsville the cotton was taken across the river to Matamoros, Mexico and subsequently placed on board ships bound for Europe. As the only major gap in the Federal naval blockade of the Confederacy, neutral Matamoros was the place of exchange for outgoing cotton and imported munitions, clothing and medicine. When Federal forces took Vicksburg in 1863 the Mississippi River was sealed off and the Confederacy divided. The Texas-Mexico trade routes became the South's major military supply lines in the trans-Mississippi west. Alleyton was a main destination of the wagon trains returning from the Rio Grande. Rifles, swords, shirts, pants, alum, arrowroot and other items needed by soldier and civilian in the harried Confederacy were unloaded here for new destinations.
Austin College TX7335
Oldest college in Texas operating under original charter. Founded in 1849 by the Presbytery of Brazos under leadership of Daniel Baker. Named for Stephen F. Austin, father of Texas. Opened in Huntsville with Sam Houston, Anson Jones, and Henderson Yoakum -- Texas statesmen -- among original trustees. Bell donated by Houston hangs in present chapel. For years competence in Greek and Latin was required for admittance. In 1855 opened the first law school in state, and became the first college in Texas to award graduate degrees in 1856. Had the first chapter in Texas of any national fraternity (Phi Delta Theta). Remained open during Civil War although most students joined Confederate Army. Post-war problems and epidemics caused move to Sherman in 1876. Oldest building is Luckett Hall (1908), the first building on this campus having been destroyed by arson in 1913. Erected first college Y.M.C.A. building west of the Mississippi River, 1911. In World War I, cooperated with the Student Army Training Corps and admitted first coeds. In World War II, aided Army Air Training Corps. Founded to serve youth of pioneer families, college now enrolls students from all over the world and is a leader in creative Christian liberal arts education.
Boy Scout Troop No. 17 TX478
One of the oldest Scout troops west of the Mississippi River, this group was organized in May 1912 by pioneer physician Dr. W.A. Warner (1864-1934). The first troop of about 30 boys met in a room above Dr. Warner's drugstore and office. Because of his foresight, many of Claude's civic leaders were influenced in their youth by ideals of scouting. Dr. Warner served as the first scoutmaster, followed by John W. McClure, Bert C. Wooldridge, Cecil Waggoner, and J.L. McFarland. Troop No. 17, also called the "Lone Star Pioneers," is governed by the Scouts through their Junior Council. Display # 71 - 80 of 128 |