From 1850 to 1854, few events of general public interest occurred in this valley. Emigration was directed mostly towards the young giant growing up to the west of us, and California still claimed the attention of the adventurous. Some changes took place in the proprietorship of some of the mills. Perhaps some of my readers, who have come here from the 'Old Pine State,' will remember the name of Captain Stover Rines, who figures so prominently in the northwestern border of the State of Maine war, as a tall resolute captain in the army of defense in the winter of 1836-7. Having removed to Janesville, in this State, some years previous, the captain made a trip up this river in 1848, and bought and interest with H.S. Allen at the Falls, and removed his family thither the following summer. He came, however, like many others, not to stay, but to make a 'raise,' which he did in a couple of years by inducing his partner to buy back his interest. Moses Rines, his brother, who had bought in at the same time, continued in the firm. Jacob Wills, brother of Sam Wills of this city, who for many years foreman of the Eau Galle mills, soon after became owner of the same property. Some such changes also occurred in Eau Claire. Cady sold his interest to a young man named Swim, and Simon Randall sold his interest to a Mr. Pope, and bought out Captain Dix in the mill on the lower dam. These three firms continued to do business thus organized for the whole period named; the former under the name of H.S. Allen and Company, and the two Eau Claire firms with the titles respectively Gage, Reed, and Randall; and Stone, Swim and Company. During one of these years, an incident happened to the last named firm, so unusual in modern business affairs, that I cannot forebear mentioning it. Like all other lumbering firms, these men used their credit to help them over the long winter months, when not of the avails of their operations could be realized to meet expenses. Among others who trusted them with goods, was a Mr. Sincere, of Galena, then it its palmiest days as the grand entrepot of lumbermen's supplies. This dealer had exacted the promise, that he should be paid out of the first raft that came down in the spring; abut, as several others holding similar claims on the floating chattels must be paid also, Mr. Swim found it necessary to cut this creditor short, and asked him to wait until the next raft should come down, whereupon the obliging merchant procured a warrant under the laws existing in Illinois, and threw his debtor in prison, and keep him there (although no fraud or attempt at fraud was alleged) until some of his partners went down and procured security. The firm of Colton and Moses completed their mill on the Yellow River in 1850, and soon after Alex and Henry O'Neil with Mr. Lockhart from Prairie du Chien, erected the mill on O'Neil's Creek, now owned by the Stanley Brothers. This period was marked by determined efforts on the part of H.S. Allen and Company, to procure cheaper transportation, and to relieve the rivermen from the terrible hardships of walking up from Lake Pepin after taking down rafts, there being only a trail or footpath, along the steep side hills, and over the sandy plains, by which the raftmen in those days returned, weary and foot-sore to the mills. Two projects were started; the first was to build a steamboat of sufficiently light draught to run over the sandbars, or the boys termed it; 'To run on heavy dew.' Captain Matt Harris of Galena had been induced to venture up to the mouth of the Red Cedar River once, with freight and passengers on the steamer Doctor Franklin, when the water was high, but all the Mississippi boats were found to draw too much water for the river. It was, therefore, resolved to build one for this trade. But the science of boat building, had not yet reached the point of constructing a boat that would carry an engine of sufficient power to propel the craft against the rapid current, and yet float on six or eight inches of water; or, if the feat had been achieved, the builder of the first steamboat on the river - a Mr. Harlow, from Pittsburgh had not yet acquired the art. The boat, which, by the way, was named the H.S. Allen, was a miserable failure, and could only run on the highest freshets, with any safety, and soon transferred to deeper rivers. But the year following another boat was built by the same company, with better success, though failing to meet the wants of the trade fro more than a part of the season. The other undertaking was to open a wagon road from North Pepin to the Falls. Some slight attempt had been made to start a town at this place, North Pepin, a year or two earlier, but the country back being entirely unsettled, its growth was very slow. Now, however, farmers began to stop their canvas-covered wagons on the best spots along the route to the Chippewa pineries as the mills were called, and at one time this village was considered a very strong point. Colonel Ben Allen, a lawyer and speculator, located there, and with his aid, and Mr. Colburn's, at Dunnville, a stage line was started from North Pepin to Chippewa Falls, up one day and down the next - through the daylight, for $3. Cheap jolting, we should think now, for a new country. Early in this period, one farmer located in what is now, Eau Claire County, the Reverend Mr. Barland who came first alone then with his amiable family, far in advance of any other agriculturalist, and settled on the farm, he and the family now occupy, on the Sparta Road, two miles from this city. He had divine services at the mill, on stated Sabbaths for several years. The Methodist Episcopal Church, too, always alive in the interests of religion, and ready with its perfect church machinery to promote its welfare in remote corners through its Wisconsin Conference, sent a preacher of that order into the valley, in the summer of 1852, by the name of Mayne, a young man from England, quiet, humble, and zealous, but unequal to the task of planting a Christian amongst so many opposing elements, as he found here; and his appointments at the Falls, and Eau Claire, were discontinued after a few months, but not before a boat crew of wild fellows, from the Falls while stopping over night at Eau Claire, had assailed him with stones and missiles, while he was addressing a meeting held for divine service in the dinning hall of Gage, Reed and Company. The mills on the Eau Galle and Red Cedar, during this period were steadily advancing in wealth and improvements, being secure in able to defy the highest freshets, they had nothing to do but grow rich by silent profits, and persevering industry. Far otherwise was it with the mill company at the Falls, who every winter spent large sums in erecting piers, renewing booms, and strengthening their works to secure logs, a charter granting ample privileges having been obtained from the Legislature for that purpose, and so determined was the company to make all secure, that piers costing more than a thousand dollars each were placed in the river; booms with heavy iron fastenings were attached and every part of those vast structures seemed perfect and impregnable against all freshets. The capacity of the mills was every year enlarged, and in the winter of 1854-5, a very large amount of logs was put in to supply the season's cutting; the spring drive was good, lumber sold readily and at a good price and all the affairs of the company seemed flourishing, but by a strange and sudden freak of nature all these hopes were cut short in a day. But little rain fell from early in April until the sixth of July, when a dark cloud formed directly over the territory drained by the Chippewa, clearly visible from this place and the Falls, but dark masses of clouds could be seen rolling and gathering from every direction into that one spot in the heavens, accompanied by fearful peals of thunder that made the earth tremble, and continued for about thirty hours, appearing every moment as though it were coming down on us, but actually spending all its force in that single locality. The consequence was a sudden and terribly destructive rise in the river, bringing down vast quantities of logs and driftwood, which drove with such force against those piers, that the channel was soon cleared of all obstructions and more than seventy thousand logs (twenty-five million board feet) together with piers and booms, were carried away and scattered all over the bottoms and amongst the sloughs of the lower Chippewa. The mill race, too, was badly damaged, and no more lumber could be made that year, which, when consider that 100,000 feet was being manufactured every day before the unfortunate flood, and that every thousand feet was worth twenty dollars in gold, makes the loss very great. "The last straw" it is said, "breaks the camels back," and this was a very large straw, which contributed very much to the final downfall of the company. Previous to the winter of 1856, there had been since the removal of Mr. Bass no administration of justice, in this valley. After the organization of Jackson County, these settlements were attached to that for judicial purposes, and as several grave offenses had been committed subjecting the county to great expenses to bring the offenders to trial, the necessity became imperative to form a new county, which was called Chippewa, and embraced all the settlements in the valley above the Red Cedar. The act was passed in 1853, and a town and county board organized the following spring. The same Legislature also created the eighth Judicial District, and the new county part of the same. One of the crimes referred to above, was wherein the party was accused of manslaughter in the first degree, was taken to Black River Falls for trial, but as the law creating the new district had just passed, he was discharged for want of jurisdiction, and strange as it may seem, was never again apprehended. The first Judicial election in this new district, resulted in the election of Judge S.N. Full, to the bench of the circuit, who held his first court at Chippewa Falls, in January 1854, the only attorney present, being our now distinguished and highly esteemed Judge Humphrey, who unanimously retained for the people by the County Board.

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