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An Alluring Glimpse of the Unspoiled Frontier
By William C. Schuette
Excerpted from the book
Reedsburg Remembers 150 Years.
As early pioneers sought out new settlements in the west, they were enticed to the lands near the Mississippi River by glowing reports from explorers and trappers who had visited these territories and found them to be of exceptional beauty and abundance.
S. A. Dwinnell (an early Reedsburg settler), in one of a series of articles to the Reedsburg Free Press — this one dated Feb. 4, 1875 — alluded to one of the primary reasons why early settlers sought out the unsettled lands to the west.
"Southern Wisconsin, in common with northern Illinois, was greatly admired by travelers and visitors for beautiful scenery, and obtained a wide reputation."
He noted that the country "abounded in prairies of gently undulating surface, of all sizes, from 1,000 to 20,000 acres, generally surrounded by groves of timber or beautiful burr oak openings, many of which resembled an ancient apple orchard." Dwinnell further described the Wisconsin Territory as being filled with natural springs, rapid streams, and hard land that extended down to the very banks of the rivers.
"The whole country in its wild state was a vast flower garden," he went on to write. "Many of these flowers were greatly admired by persons of fine taste. The varieties that appeared in succession from spring to autumn, were almost innumerable."
With reports such as these reaching back east, it is no wonder that the discontented packed up and headed west.
The earliest pioneers were mostly from the middle classes; the wealthy being content where they were and the poor without means to make the long trek. The lack of a caste system on the frontier was another of the inducements to migrate.
The unsettled lands were fraught with hardships, and proved to be a great equalizer for those who ventured forth. The learned, the ignorant, native-born or foreign, Protestant or Catholic—all met on a common ground.
A feeling of insecurity was another attribute that early settlers left behind them. Dwinnell remarked that back home, people were obliged to protect their homes with locks and bolts. In the "West", "These were almost unknown among us. Doors of houses and stables and granaries were at all times, left unbolted."
A new life awaited those who were brave and adventurous enough to seek it out. The exodus began with a trickle and expanded into a torrent.
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