September 2013 Odd Wisconsin
In 1838, James Duane Doty (1799-1865) was elected by Wisconsin voters to represent them in Washington. He had already served in the Michigan territorial legislature (1833-35) and finagled having Madison chosen as Wisconsin's territorial capital. He went to Washington in 1838 to represent not only the voters but also absentee landowners, Eastern speculators, and capitalists trying to exploit Wisconsin's natural...
read more.
Posted in Odd Lives on September 19, 2013
As large numbers of white settlers streamed into Wisconsin for the first time during the 1820s, the original inhabitants were puzzled by the exotic newcomers. One day in 1828, Ho-Chunk chief Dandy (1793-1870) was at Galena with some companions. Later that year they were going to Washington to meet with U.S. officials, and may have been familiarizing themselves with the...
read more.
Posted in on September 12, 2013
Early in the last century, Jack Ryan kept a saloon for woodsmen at Mercer, Wisconsin. Fresh from a long winter in the forest, lumberjacks would often blow their entire season's wages on a grand spring bout of drinking, gambling, fighting, and debauchery. Ryan kept a pile of old gunny sacks in a corner where they could pass out on the...
read more.
Posted in Animals on September 3, 2013
|
