In deference of the wishes pf several friends, I will refer again to the forged certificates of the Bridge Creek election returns. At the first election for State officers under the present constitution held on the second of May 1848, the Democratic Party carried the State maintained it ascendancy, with a working majority in both branches of the Legislature, until the year, 1855. In the incipient organization of any government, the promotion of persons to positions of trust and official power whether by the executive or the choice of the people, is usually attended by the appointment of a large percent of corrupt, faithless, and designing men to carry on the government. The Democratic Party seems to have been especially unfortunate in this State, and many unscrupulous demagogues found favor with both the executive and the people. In a strong political party long in power, it seems to be natural for such men to obtain places of trust and honor. I state it as a matter of history and not as a partisan, when I say, and the record shows, that the party in power at this period in the State was fearfully corrupt, and its leaders and parasites seemed determined no matter at what cost, to hold on to the offices, whether the people willed it or not. The selection, management, and disposal of the school, university, and other State lands, afforded the pretext for the employment of a great number of agents, who, being scattered all over the State, even to the remotest corners, could always be relied upon to do any dirty work for the party when occasion required it. The democracy of this State had been compelled to go back on its early record and follow Judge Douglass in his squatter sovereignty doctrines; which alienated a great many of the most intelligent free-soil Democrats, and added to the glaring corruptions in every department of the government, both national and State, so demoralized the party that its leaders became very apprehensive of the results of the election in November, 1855, and determined to resort to fraud, if necessary to carry it. There are some people who consider and election a mere farce, the turn of a card and 'repeating' ballot box stuffing and forging elections returns, just as legitimate a way to get into or hold office, as to be fairly chosen by the free suffrage of the people; and the Democratic directory at Madison, on this occasion, seems to have incorporated the worst features of these dangerous views into its policy, and resorted to any and all these methods, varying in different locations, according to circumstances, to carry this election. Having reliable and willing instruments in this place to do their bidding, it was deemed a safe point to operate in, if necessity required. A member of the State Board of School Lands came here from Madison a few days before the election, to inspect the work done during the summer by its agents, and the subjoined memorandum was drawn up as the outline of proceedings. 'If Barstow received a clear majority, nothing was to be done but congratulate, etc. If Bashford received an over whelming majority, nothing was to be done but to prepare to abdicate. But if a few hundred votes were necessary to overcome Brashford's majority, they were to be manufactured, and if new and unheard of elections precincts were required, they too were to be manufactured as the safest way of multiplying votes.' Such was the program of proceeding and special means of communication were called in that there might be ample time to carry out the dark plot. Now, everyone at all familiar with the subject, knows that if there had been any such voting precincts in the county as 'Bridge Creek' and 'Spring Grove," that it was the duty of the inspector of elections at those points to make their returns to the county board of canvassers at Chippewa Falls, but that the board knew of course that no such precincts existed, and therefore no such returns would be entertained for a moment; the bogus returns, therefore, from the bogus precincts, were sent directly to the State canvassers at Madison, and incredible as the statement may appear, the board actually received and counted these votes so informally and illegally returned and declared Barstow and the whole ticket elected by a meager majority based on these forged returns, and drank their champagne and cracked their jokes over it as though they had done something smart. Already in the chair, Barstow retained his place and made a grand parade with a costly supper, to which all the magnates of the party were invited, and thought perhaps the fraud would be concealed, but on a writ of quo warranto sworn out by the opposite party, an investigation was had before the Justices of the Supreme Court, wherein it was shown, first, that the returns were informal illegal; second, that no such voting precincts existed in Chippewa County as Bridge Creek and Spring Grove; and lastly, although two precincts purported to be fifty miles apart, and the certificates bore the same date, the two half-sheets of toolscap on which they were written fitted together so nicely as to prove conclusively that they had once been one and the same sheet. No other alternative existed than for the Court to reverse the decision of the State Board of Canvassers, and declare Bashford the legal governor of this State, and the honest people began to hope that now we would have an honest, capable administration of the State government; but, alas for human hopes, bribery and the most venal corruption characterized the next two years, and it seemed as though the whole body politic was tainted with fraud and given over to work iniquity. In March of this year, 1856, Congress passed the act donating in trust to the State of Wisconsin, all the alternate sections of land embraced with in certain parallels along the lines of certain railroads therein described; one of which, commencing at Portage City, was to extend to Tomah, and thence to St. Croix County, and of course must cross this valley at some point, and almost everybody supposed that the road would be built immediately, and speculators were everywhere on the alert to know where that point was to be. Little did they dream that fifteen years must elapse, and the grant be twice renewed, before we should hear the notes of a locomotive whistle among us. But we learned to get along very well without it. Some of the wildest and most visionary schemes ever thought of, grew out of this land grant, some of them disastrously affecting parties in this valley. Byron Kilbourne, of Milwaukee, organized a company to take the grant and construct the road and placed himself at the head. Several million dollars were issued in stock, and a bombastic advertisement or manifesto, setting forth among other things, that the road would be built with trifling assessment on the stocks, that so rich and vast were the franchises of the road, that whoever was luck enough to secure this stock, would obtain its dividends without any assessments, and proceeded immediately on the assembling of the legislature, to put the stock where it would do the most good - that is, to bribe the members of the legislature, and the Governor, to confer the land grant of that company. The downfall of such an organization could easily be predicted, and the sequel of its history was one of infamous swindling, and contemptible petty cheats and frauds upon the unsuspecting laborers employed to do the work, and farmers and merchants who could be gulled. Various line or routes were examined for this road, some crossing the Chippewa River far down, and others above the Falls. Reports of these surveys would at any time be considered very uncertain data on which to base a heavy investment at a given point, but these or something still less reliable, gave rise to one of the wildest and most visionary speculations ever conjured up in the brain of the most reckless adventurer. In an extract from the Eau Claire number of the American Sketch Book, in a previous chapter it was stated that the Bank of Eau Claire went into operation this year, 1856, under the free banking law, W.H. Gleason, President and C.H. Gleason, Cashier. Its principle manager was C.M. Seley, a man of considerable experience in financial affairs, cautious and conservative in his operations, and at first inspired public confidence in the bank as a safe institution for deposit or exchange. The summer of 1856 was marked for reckless speculation, but most operators learned by the following spring, 1857, to go slow; not so, however, with the two young proprietors of half the village of Eau Claire; flushed with their success in the enterprise and rapid sales of lots during the previous eighteen months, they felt strong for new operations. It has always been supposed that some motive not discovered on the surface inspired this transaction, but R.F. Wilson utterly denies any other incentive that legitimate speculation, but that any men who had ever possessed business tact and foresight enough to accumulate such a sum, should seize upon a random report made by some subordinate engineer, that 'the Tomah, & St. Croix Railroad would cross the Chippewa River at O'Neil Creek,' and put twenty thousand dollars into that land at that point as a lucrative investment, seems almost incredible. But such is a positive fact, and a village plat was laid out and recorded as Chippewa City a few lots sold, and a saloon or two started, one-tenth the sum then paid would buy ever lot and acre of their investment. There were probably some other parties involved in this unfortunate and short-sighted affairs, and coming just at the time of that terrible crisis in the west, when all values were tumbling, and all business operations paralyzed or utterly prostrated, this hopeless speculation proved very disastrous to all concerned. The bank soon became sickly, and eventually was compelled to go into liquidation, mainly on account, as Mr. Seley said, of the withdrawal of deposits so absurdly invested at the foregoing point. The prevailing opinion at the time of this whole transaction was, that it was undertaken to spite Chippewa Falls, and with the hope of building up a rival town. If such was a motive by which it was inspired, little sympathy should be felt for the losers. One other matter of public importance came up this year, 1857, calculated to engender ill feeling between these two struggling villages. A new land district was formed by act of Congress, the bill for which was introduced by Mr. Washburn in the House, with Chippewa Falls as its headquarters, but just before it was put on its final passage, a motion was made to amend it by inserting Eau Claire instead. The claims of each were asserted with great pertinacity by it respective friends, but it was finally agreed that its location should be designated by the President of the United States, who fixed upon Eau Claire. The Commissioner of General Land Office took immediate steps to carry the law into effect, and the President appointed Dr. W.T. Galloway as Register, and N.B. Boyden as Receiver, of public lands at this place. The former established his office in the new village of North Eau Claire, just laid out by himself and Augustus Huyssen. The principle persons who settled in Eau Claire this year were Reverend A. Kidder, of the Congregational Church and family, Joseph G. Thorp and family, the young and genial Peter Wyckoff, Jackson brothers, John, Wilson, Ingram, and Kennedy, George A. Buffington, Dr. F.R. Skinner, W.P. Bartlett, A. Meggett, and many other whose names will hereafter appear

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