Sketch of Whitewater

By A. Leonard, M. D.

Though the business facilities of this village, and its situation as a market town, are highly appreciated by its inhabitants, but few of them seem to realize the fact, that its location is of great natural beauty; so much so, that were a view of it, from one of the rounding high points, transferred, with its living tints, to a gilt framed picture, and hung against the parlor wall in its native home, it might be admired as a fine view of some distant place, well worth journeying to for the sight.

"You have a beautiful town," is a remark frequently made by strangers, and the truth of it cannot be doubted. Whitewater is built within an amphitheatre, sloping gently from east and west, towards the creek running through it from north to south, and surrounded by timbered ridges, and picturesque bluffs, on every side but the west, and there changing to a rolling prairie, alternated with patches of burr oaks. A fine panoramic view of the whole surrounding neighborbood, may be obtained by going only a few rods farther north, upon the ridge on which the Cemetery is situated. From there, looking northward, the irregular surface may be seen stretching on to where the Bark woods mingle vith the distance, the bare timbered maples, ashes, and elms, blending into a broad and indistinct gray strip lying along the sky, like a deep plain border to its wide blue surface. To the east, there is a beautiful level plain, dotted over with oak groves, many of them clustering around farm houses, and beyond them the Whitewater Bluffs, their sun-lighted crests reaching, up from bases glittering with snow, in very fair imitation, of a range of mountains and growing still bolder in appearance as they curve around the southern boundary of the scene, and everlook the Whitewater,* as its level ice-covered surface winds northward, between ridges, covered over with farms, till it reaches the village, and passes through on its way to the Bark river. To the westward, the Whitewater prairie rolls off toward the farther end of the world, covered over with comfortable farm houses and barns interspersed with clumps of oaks. In the center of this variety of attractions lies Whitewater, a place of about 1600 inhabitants; its wide streets radiating in every direction from the creek, and in the center of the town, filled with teams and people, and adorned with many fine yellow brick blocks, and the surrounding streets built up with neat brick and frame residences, well protected by shade trees, and its whole appearance presenting an aspect of comfort that, cannot be excelled.

Whitewater is not one of those precocious western towns, that arise, already incorporated, amid original wildness; but is rather an ancient and plodding place, rejuvenated and carrying on the functions of its formerly lethargic life very much as a skeleton resurrectionized into humanity by a stroke of lightning. The grist-mill, which is the senior institution of the town was built in the spring of 1839, by Dr. Trippe, and in the fall of the same year the Whitewater Hotel was erected, by D. J. Powers, --though then but a small building -- and a store was established by B. F. Bosworth. In the fall of 1840, a store was built, by Philander Peck, and another by T. K. Le Barron. In 1842, what is now the body of the Exchange Hotel was put up. In 1843, Messrs. S. C. Hall and H. C. Leffingwell opened a store, under the firm of Hall, Leffingwell & Co. Those gentlemen were the first comers of those now doing business here, and are well known to the citizens of Whitewater. Mr. Hall is at present one of the most extensive merchants in the place.

From this time the village grew slowly into the proportions of a town. There was then no market west of Milwaukee, and a village could depend for its growth only upon the tardy filling up of the surrounding country, the patronage of teamsters carrying produce to, and freight from, Milwaukee, and the emigration passing through to that great undefined region, the West. Those were the palmy days of Milwaukee, when she gave prices to Wisconsin, as Rome once dictated laws to Europe. In those hard old times, many a farmer spent a week in carrying his wheat to, and returning from, "the town," and returned with perhaps five dollars, as the proceeds of his hard labor, in driving through mud hub deep, with about thirty bushels of wheat; and often with the utmost economy, selling wheat was a losing business for the grower. A bushel of wheat was then current among farmers as half a dollar, while in trade for goods at the store, it was frequently sold for a quarter of a dollar.

In the falls of 1849, '50 and '51 the wheat, which was the chief marketable crop, was almost entirely destroyed throughout the State, by rust. Universal depression of business prevailed, and Whitewater sustained its share of the prevalent misfortune. Of course, such circumstances as these constituted hard times; and as the farmers suffered, the, village failed to prosper, though through the liberal policyof Dr. Trippe, who owned the principal portion of the town site, and did much during his life to increase the size of the place, it had attained 800 inhabitants by the year 1852.

But the completion of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad to this, point, in September, 1852, made a perfect, revolution in not only the village, but the surrounding country also; nor did this change cease when the road was built beyond us, but from the time, when the Depot was located, down to this day, our town has grown steadily and rapidly in numbers and wealth. The whistle of the first locomotive that entered the place, awoke a spirit of energy which has pervaded its, business ever since, and has increased its population in three years from 800 to 1600.

Having thus given an outline of the past history of Whitewater, we will endeavor to describe its present condition. It is a village of 1600 inhabitants, and is said by travelers, to be as handsome as any of the size in the State; situated about fifty miles west of Milwaukee, and is surrounded by a beautiful farming country, consisting of burr oak openings and prairie, selling at an average of $20 per acre.

In giving an account of the business of the place, we will commence, at the Depot -- it being the business center. The Depot is the largest and most commodious on the line of the road, and that a large quantity of produce is shipped from there is well shown by the following statistics, which we have copied, with the kind assistance, of Messrs. D. W. Richardson and H. M. Congar, from the books of the Company, that were very obligingly placed at our service, for the purpose, by Mr. E. Barber, the Freight Agent.

Articles shipped from Whitewater Station, from January 1st, 1854, to January 1st, 1855:

To show how the business of this station compares with that done at other points on the road, we will not resort to bragging, which is anything else, than a satisfactory mode of proving a point, but will give, side by side, some items from the above table, with items of the same character from the table, showing the entire amount, shipped from the fourteen stations on the road, during the same period, by which their proportion to the total business, may readily be seen:

After giving these substantial figures, it is almost unnecessary to state, that Whitewater is the market for the produce of a fertile area of country extending about thirty miles around; and the high prices paid by our grain buyers, have brought loads of grain here from McHenry county, Ill. -- fifty miles, distant; grain is frequently brought from two-thirds of the distance between here and Madison; and the bulk of that raised on Rock prairie -- the rich prairie lying this side of Janesville -- comes here. Among the towns that obtain their freight from this Depot, are Hebron and Jefferson on the north, Deerfield, Milford, Aztalan and Lake Mills on the north-west, Cambridge and Fort Atkinson on the west, and Johnstown on the south.

Surrounding the Depot, there are seven warehouses for the storage of grain, which contain now from 150 to 200 car loads awaiting shipment upon the opening of navigation. Of these ware-houses, Marsh, & Co.'s is 52 by 80 feet, two stories, with posts 31 feet high; S. C. Hall & Co.'s is 40 by 60 feet, and two stories high; Cheney & Williams' is 28 by 50 feet, and two stories high.

Opposite the Depot is J. C. Williams & Co.'s Pottery, which, though it has been in operation only about a year, runs five turning wheels and one moulding wheel, gives employment to seventeen hands, uses four teams in selling ware through the country, and burns and sells about sixty kilns, or $12,000 worth, of crockery in a year. In another part of the town is W. Cole's Pottery, where six wheels are run, twenty-five hands and three teams are employed, and a business of $10,000 per year is done.

Messrs. S. C. Hall & Co. use a two story brick building, 32 by 70 feet, exclusively as a packing house, where, during the last year, they put up 2,250 barrels of pork, and 560 packages of lard.

Messrs. Winchester & DeWolf's Foundry is well known, throughout the State; at this establishment twenty-three hands are employed, and 2,000 ploughs are manufactured per year, besides a great number of castings; they keep teams constantly busy sending off ploughs.

W. Birgis' grist mill equals any in the State in the perfection of its machinery, employs three run of stone, four hands and turns out over 8,000 barrels of flour in the course of a year. The grist-mill owned by A. & P. Mills has two run of stone, and does a very good business but we cannot state the amount. The Trippe saw-mill cuts, up about 300,000 feet of lumber per year. R. Gould's tannery is a place, where hides are made fit to cover other hides by a new process, about one-third of the time required, for ordinary tanning, at the rate of 1,200 hides a year.

Brickyards are owned by Geo. Dann and A. Kendall each employing six hands, and making about 600,000 brick per year. The brick made at these yards, and used in the construction of many of our stores and residences, are of a beautiful straw color, being the same as the much-admired Milwaukee brick; there are 200,000 shipped from here by railroad in a year, and it is impossible to supply the demand for them. This is also the case with lumber, for the large lumber-yard of H. C. Bull & Co. does not contain the amount of building material that is constantly called for. At Geo. Dann's cooper-shop, six hands are employed, and about six thousand barrels manufactured per year. We have three wagon-shops, employing altogether twenty hands: J. L Pratt's which is the largest, having thirteen. There are four black-smith shops, in which nine persons are employed; and two tin-shops, in each of which there are two hands; there are four shoe-making establishments, employing twelve persons; two harness manufacturies, in each of which there are six hands; and three tailoring shops, having in all eleven workmen in addition to two sewing machines. Of hotels we have four; and of stores, the following: Eleven dry goods and grocery stores, two selling groceries exclusively; two hard-ware stores, two clothing stores, two jewelry stores, two drug stores, and one book-store. There are two meat markets in the place.

Besides these, there is, a large brewery, also a distillery, both of them within a mile of the village, and doing a large business.

Following the fashion of this wicked world, we turn, after finishing up the temporalities of our village, to its sanctities, to state, that we have five large and comfortable churches, belonging severally to the Catholic, Congregational, Episcopalian, Methodist and Baptist denominations; we have also in course of erection, a commodious brick school-house.

Not being a prophet, we cannot say what Whitewater will be in the future, but common sense alone would teach, that with its constantly increasing business, with the facilities of the railroad, now built, and those of the Wisconsin Central road, which will be completed to this point in about a year, making this the place where the two roads cross, giving us the advantage of the Chicago market, and placing us on the main thorough-fare between that great city and the rich pineries in Northern Wisconsin -- with all these advantages, and the business energy that has given it its present standing, Whitewater must go ahead! -- *The derivation of the name of this fine stream is well worth preserving. Ex-Gov. Doty gives "Waubish Nepaywau" as the Menomonee name, signifying The White Water; while the lamented Hon. Solomon Juneau stated, "The river Whitewater is called by the united tribes of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawottamies, Wau-be-gan-nau-po-cat, meaning rily, whitish water, caused by white, soft clay, in some parts of it.
L. C. D.