thing, and have them ask questions that they did not know whether they were being answered right or wrong, then issuing certificates to country blockheads to teach. I among the rest got a certificate to teach and followed the business for seven winters with success."

Mr. Crosby engaged in the mercantile business, and followed that until the spring of 1854, when he came to La Crosse, the then small village, claiming three hundred inhabitants. He immediately engaged in the lumber business, and has continued the same with success. He has been identified with the interests of the city ever since his residence; was elected Alderman in 1856 upon the organization of the city, which office he held for twelve years; was also first United States Assessor; raised the second company of militia, called the Light Guards, that afterward enlisted in the late civil war. When Mr. Crosby was appointed by Gov. Randall Major General of Militia, Wilson Colwell was made Captain of the Light Guards. This company served out their first enlistment of ninety days, and again enlisted and served till the end of the war. Captain Colwell was killed at the battle of South Mountain. Mr. Crosby has seen the little village of La Crosse grow to be a city containing 16,000 inhabitants.

CHARLES GREEN HANSCOME.

Mr. Hanscome, one of the early settlers and attorneys of La Crosse, first came to the village of La Crosse in May, 1853, with the intention of making this his home, and commenced the practice of law, in which he was engaged until May, 1861, when he made a trip of observation and adventure to Colorado, from whence he returned, having made some investments in that Territory, his intention being to make La Crosse his permanent home, first securing an interest in the new Western Territories, on a trip to which he fell a victim to savage ferocity.

The following extract from an Eastern (Maine) paper gives so full an account of the life his

tory of Mr. Hanscome, that it is transcribed as just and reliable:

"Of the Class of 1845, Charles Green Hanscome was killed on the Upper Platte River, fifty miles east of Fort Laramie, on July 14, 1864, aged forty years. He was the eldest of five children of Oliver and Ruth (Rich) Hanscome, and was born in the town of China, Kennebec Co., Me., on the 13th of May, 1824. He was fitted for college in his native place, and entered Waterville College in September, 1841. After he graduated he engaged in teaching for about a year, and then studied law with his uncle, J. C. Woodman, of Portland, Me., and was there admitted to the bar. "In June, 1847, he left his home and removed to Wisconsin, whence, after three years' residence in the practice of his profession, he returned to Maine. He next spent a year in Central America, but returning again to the West, he took up and continued his residence in La Crosse, Wis., till the year 1863, which year he spent in Colorado, where he was chosen a member of the Territorial Legislature.

"In May, 1864, he left La Crosse with his brother, William B., and others, on an overland expedition to Idaho. The tragic end of his journey may be best narrated in the words of a notice that has already appeared in the village newspaper of that time:

666

"On the evening of the 14th of July, the party, increased in the course of the march of over 300 miles to the number of eighteen men and from twenty to thirty women and children, with its attendant train of sixty wagons drawn by many horses, cattle and mules, had encamped for the night, when a party of well-mounted Sioux Indians, about twenty-five in number, made a dash upon them, giving them a flying attack, and suddenly disappeared.

"Mr. Hanscome had just gone over the hill a few rods to the river for the purpose of watering some mules. Some of the party heard the report of a gun, when, seizing their arms, they ran to the river just in time to see the retreating of six of the Indians, who had made a rush upon Mr. Hanscome for the purpose of securing the mules, as was seen by one of the company, who was some distance from the scene. Mr. Hanscome, unable to relinquish them, held on to the ropes, whereupon one of the Indians raised his gun and shot him through the head, killing him instantly."

Mr. Hanscome possessed an unusully cheerful disposition and ready wit, was a warm friend and genial companion; his energy, quickness of repartee, self-reliance, tact and love of

J

adventure qualified him admirably for the life of a pioneer, and gave him an easy ascendency over the class of men whom he met in such a life.

Mr. Hanscome was married Oct. 19, 1853, to Miss Anna J., daughter of Abram and Anna Anderson. Mrs. Hanscome and her two daughters still reside in La Crosse.

HARVEY J. PECK

Mr. Peck was born in South Bainbridge, Chenango Co., N. Y., June 18, 1818. Resided there and in Coventry, same county, until 1826, when he removed with his parents to Whitestown, Oneida Co., N. Y. Here he received a good common-school education, and, at the age of twenty-one, getting the Western fever, and having some relatives at Green Bay, Wis., he started on a canal boat for Buffalo; then he took passage on the old steamboat Columbus, which took him around the lakes to Chicago, Milwaukee and back to Green Bay, where he landed in September, 1838. He was married on his way West. Some time after, he, with five others, took a canoe and started up the Fox River to see the country, hauling their canoe around the rapids of the Fox River; they entered Lake Winnebago and worked their way to Oshkosh. He remained at Green Bay during the fall of 1838, working at the carpenter and joiners' trade until winter, when he hired out to go down the Bay lumbering at a saw-mill, where they lived on bread, salt fish and potatoes, with no tea, coffee, sugar or meat. After staying there about two months, he left and went to Fond du Lac; here he remained until 1851, generally engaged in farming, doing some carpenter work, and sometimes lumbering. During this perio i, his wife died. In October, 1851, he hired out to Rev. William Card, to go to La Crosse, to assist him, in company with George Carlton, in building a store on Third street. La Crosse was then in its infancy, but growing rapidly. About the 1st of December of this year, Mr. Peck, in company with two others, bought an ox team and supplies, and started up the Black River to get out hewed timber and lumber; they succeeded in rafting down the river in the spring of 1852, four rafts of timber and two of lumber. They sold their timber to Rublee & Smith in La Crosse, and the lumber to R. C. Van Rensselaer at Onalaska. Mr. Peck did some work at La Crosse and helped finish a wharf boat for J. M. Levy; then went to Onalaska to reside, and there got out the hard timber and worked on the first saw-mill built at that place, the owners being Nichols & Tompkins. That winter (1852), he hired out to George Farnam (who put a crew in the woods to get out logs for Nichols & Tompkins) to drive a tole team. During this winter he went to Madison twice for supplies; from Neilsville to Yellow River, he followed a new road for fifty miles, along which there were no houses nor stopping-places, and being obliged to camp in the woods alone without supper, breakfast, or feed or water for his team. After logging was done in the spring, he took charge of driving Farnham's logs. was the first time logs were driven out of the Black River, and the first year of Sam Western being on the river, i. e., 1853. Subsequent to this he took up his residence at Onalaska, working at the carpenter and joiners' trade, in company with H. D. Egerly. Here Mr. Peck held the offices of Justice of the Peace, Town Treasurer, and, for several years. Postmaster. In September, 1856, he married his second wife, Miss Carrie M. Lawrence. In 1864, having been elected Clerk of the Circuit Court, he removed to La Crosse and held the office six years; then went into the insurance business, and, in August, 1870, was appointed by the Judges of the United States Circuit and District Courts (Judges Drummond & Hopkins) their Clerk, which position he now holds.

A. STEINLEIN.

This

Mr. Steinlein is a native of Prussia, having been born in the old city of Treves in 1823, a place made famous as having one of the most renowned of all religious relics-the reputed coat worn by the Savior, which is exhibited with much pomp and ceremony once in fifty years, and is confidently claimed to work miracles. Mr. Steinlein was favored with a sight of this holy vestment a knit garment, which he thinks is renewed as often as occasion requires. He received his education at the Gymnasium of that city, of which he was a student for five years. This institution is equivalent to the academy in this country, being intermediate between the high school and the college. As his father was a professional teacher, he was a student from his earliest years.

He graduated from the Gymnasium at fifteen, and then spent two years at the Normal school at Breuhl, from which he graduated at seventeen, and was a teacher at Treves for two years, then emigrated just in time to escape service in the army.

Mr. Steinlein came to New York City in 1843, and learned his trade (printing) in the publishing house of Ludwig. Came to La Crosse in 1856, buying a farm back of the bluffs in the town of Barre. That winter, he returned to La Crosse and helped found the Nord-Stern (North Star), with which paper he was connected for a year, when he went back to his farm where he lived for six years. Here he was very active in establishing roads and schools. By great personal efforts, he succeeded in having the first schoolhouse built of brick, thus insuring a substantial, permanent structure on the start, and also the most economical, as the expense was almost wholly obviated in following his suggestion and example to build it by their own joint labors, the only outlay being for brick-laying. About 1862, he became connected with Mr. Ulrich in publishing the Nord-Stern, with which paper he was connected for two years, when he was elected Register of Deeds, an office he held for four years. He has since held the office of Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, Commissioner of the Poor, Commissioner of Schools, the latter continuously since 1874; is also an agent for steamboats, land, etc.; has been Police Justice since about 1864. He still takes great interest in all movements of a public character, and is an active member of the German Singing Society, which has for its object the culture of music, athletic exercises, art, literature and education, all worthy objects that should enlist the commendation and support of all good citizens.

The following is the official statement for the year 1879:

The following are the official figures received at the County Clerk's office, showing the acreage of lands sown with cereals for the season of 1880, and other items bearing on the agricultural and horticultural interests of the county:

With the exception of the town of Burns, the census of La Crosse County for 1880 is below completed. It is a remarkable fact that every town in the county, excepting Greenfield, Holland and Washington, has suffered a material loss in the matter of population since the State census was taken five years ago. The following comparative table between 1875 and 1880 will give the change between these years in population and the total number at present in the county:

In a former portion of this work the endeavor has been made to portray that period in the history of La Crosse when the primary steps were taken to found a colony and build a city, bringing the record down to a date when the early settlement, emerging from behind clouds of disappointment and uncertainty, took its alloted place among the established evidences of Western enterprise.

It is now proposed to examine into a later period in the history of the same city, when with resources greatly enlarged and territory extended by a brilliant career of enterprise and industry it has progressed to a degree of perfection, invariably attending the exercise of these incentives. Such success, born of laudable ambition, may have excited the jealousy of rivals, but it has not bred a mischievous policy, nor nurtured the germs of domestic corruption which gradually culminate in dismemberment and decay.

History and tradition unite in ascribing to the present city site a semi-sacred character, as the resort of Indians, from time immemorial, to indulge in games of athletic sports and skill. Without the sanctity attaching to grounds wholly devoted to religious usage, it was so far privileged as to be made a ground of neutrality and a common place of assemblage for the various tribes of a large section of the country. Being easy of access by reason of its contiguity to Black and La Crosse Rivers, both of which empty into the Mississippi within the city limits, and the mouth of Root River on the west, but four miles below, furnished admittance by canoe for a radius of one hundred miles.

After the manner of the Greeks who, in ancient times, contended in the Olympic, Isthmean and Namean games at stated intervals, these red-browed contestants came from far and near to enter the lists against foemen of rival tribes. One who witnessed the game of La Crosse, speaks of seeing not less than three hundred of the most superb and renowned warriors of opposing tribes matched against each other. To avoid all incumbrances to their movements, they were stripped