no part of the contract, but was done for the purpose of avoiding heavy taxes, and the county is responsible to the contractors without any regard to the swamp lands, as far as I am able to judge from the papers now before me.

Yours respectfully,

MILO MCGLATHERY, District Attorney. However, a certain effect remained, which, together with the combination of Columbus with Lansing, a bond entered into by their people to erect a court house at "The Point," without expense to the county, and the disaffection of Rossville people resulted in a re-location by a vote of 1,257 for the Point, against 1,231 for Waukon-a majority of 26 votes, and the county records and furniture were immediately removed to that place.

Believing that this combination of circumstances would not operate a second time; the people of Waukon the same year circulated a petition for the removal of the object of controversy to the new building at Waukon, and it was presented to the Board of Supervisors, October 14, 1861, and another election ordered to be held in April, 1862. Again was the ground hotly contested, and again was "The Point" victorious by a majority of 22-that place receiving 1332, against 1310 for Waukon.

Once more, in 1864, Waukon decided to make an effort to regain the seat of justice, and the contest waxed hotter than ever before. At this time there was a project to build a railroad up the valley of Paint Creek, by the Prairie du Chien and Cedar Valley R. R. company, and a great deal of sport was made of this "paper railroad" on the part of Lansing people, who declared it to be an electioneering dodge to make votes for Waukon. In June the Board of Supervisors ordered an election to be held at the time of the general election, November 8th. Again the fight was very close, and when the Board met to canvas the returns, the result was found to depend upon Franklin tp., from which no record of the vote had been received, so the canvass was made without it, giving the Point a majority of 69-1205 for the Point, and 1136 for Waukon, and the matter was carried into the District Court, E. H. Williams, Judge. The Point took a change of venue to Delaware County, and when the decision there was rendered adversely to their interests, appealed to the Supreme Court, by which it was not decided until 1867, when it was adjudged that Waukon was rightfully the county seat, and the records were once more removed to that place, where they have since remained.

Pending this decision, in June, 1866, occurred the attempted removal of the records from Lansing by Sheriff Townsend and a posse of about thirty men from Waukon, which created a great deal of excitement at the time, as well as amusement for those who participated, and has since been a prolific topic of goodnatured raillery. After the case had been heard before the Dis

trict Court for Delaware County, decision was rendered in favor of Waukon, and a writ of mandamus issued, ordering the Board to count the vote of Franklin township-the returns having been obtained-giving Waukon a majority of 23 votes. Whereupon the board appointed Sheriff Townsend as a committee to remove the records, which he proceeded to do. Meantime Lansing had taken an appeal to the Supreme Court, a writ of supersedeas was issued and served upon the Board June 7th, only eight out of the eighteen members accepting such service, however. The Sheriff received no orders countermanding his authority to remove the records, and early on the morning of June 9th the "raid" was made. We copy portions of an account we find in the Lansing Mirror of June 12, 1866, omitting severe personal allusions. Some statements were of course somewhat colored to suit the excitement of the occasion, and the local feeling:

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"On Saturday morning last, about the hour of eight, the sheriff of Allamakee county, a resident of the village of Waukon, followed by a picked posse of Waukon men, entered the court house at this place and attempted to remove perforce, without a shadow of authority, the county records to the above 7x9 village. So quietly and stealthily did the band of raiders approach the building that none of the officers were aware of their close proximity until Townsend hurriedly entered and passed from office to office, informing them that he was after the county records, and set his gang to cleaning out the several offices, not even giving the officials warning or time to pack up the documents in their possession. Teams were in waiting at the front door of the court house, and in the twinkling of an eye the most important records were loaded up and the teams put in motion for Waukon. Little or no resistance was made by the county officers, with the exception of Treasurer Healey, who was assaulted by one of the raiders, a brave officer, who during the late rebellion rose to the position of Colonel. The treasurer repelled the assault, and with his fist wounded the valorous colonel in the short ribs. Fifteen minutes had hardly elapsed after the departure of the robbers, until the road leading in the direction of Milton was thronged with our citizens, who were in for a little sport and the recapture of the records.

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"The Lansing boys overhauled the teams in the vicinity of Milton. Mr. Darwin Shaw in the meantime had captured a horse near the road, and in hot haste rode into Milton and informed the citizens of that village what was on the tapis. They turned out en masse, and when the advance team made its appearance they halted it, and out came the contents of the wagon in less time than it takes to write this sentence. Several of the Waukon men showed fight, but they soon came to the conclusion that 'discretion was the better part of valor,' and desisted from perpetrating summary punishment upon their pursuers. The

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stolen documents were recovered, placed in the Lansing wagons, and returned to their respective offices in the court house at Lansing. "Cheer after cheer rent the air when the boys returned. They were enthusiastically received by the citizens Hats were thrown skyward, handkerchiefs were waved, and lager quaffed. Quiet is again restored and the county seat remains at Lansing."

In August, 1868, S. V. Shaw, Israel Bequette, and J. M. Rose published a notice that at the next September session of the Board of Supervisors, a petition would be presented asking that another election be ordered between Lansing and Waukon. The Board met on the first Monday in September, and it was concluded that all the business necessary to be done might be transacted in a short session, as owing to the pressure of "fall work," etc., it was the wish of some of the members to be at home. Accordingly a committee on school tax levy labored a good share of that night to prepare their report, and Tuesday forenoon the remaining business was transacted and the Board adjourned sine die, by a vote of 12 to 3, three members being absent. Later in the day the Lansing petitioners put in an appearance, but the Board having adjourned no election could be ordered that year.

Early in the spring of 1869 the contest was reopened and waxed warm from the start. A petition for an election was widely circulated, as was a remonstrance to the same, and each party charged the other with obtaining many illegal signatures. At the June session of the Board, on the first day, the petition was presented and referred to a committee, and on the following day the remonstrance appeared and was also referred, and was found to outnumber the petition by 86 names-2122 on the remonstrance and 2036 on the petition. A majority report of the committee was made by D. Dickerson, J. S. Deremo, Jeremiah Leas, and S. F. Goodykoontz, stating their belief that a large number of signers to the petition had also signed the remonstrance, which would swell the majority of the latter over the petition by 150 to 200 names, and therefore recommended that no election be ordered. A minority report by G. Kerndt, S. H. Haines and William Yeoman, was also submitted, representing it as their belief that the petition contained a majority of the names of the legal voters of the county, and that they were in favor of allowing the people to express themselves at the polls. After some close work the minority report was adopted and an election ordered by a vote of ten to eight.

One recourse was left to the Waukon managers, and proceeding to Decorah they laid the matter before Judge M. V. Burdick, who granted an injunction restraining the Board from taking any further steps towards holding such election, until permission should be granted. In the District Court a petition was filed asking for a writ of certiorari, commanding the Board to certify to said

Court a record of its proceedings relating to the county seat, which was granted, and a special term appointed for July 7th for a hearing in said case. At the time appointed the case was heard and judgment rendered annulling and setting aside the order of the Board for an election. The defendant appealed, but after the election the previous decision was affirmed, at McGregor. Meanwhile, when the Circuit Court sat, in July, the injunction was dissolved and the election was held as ordered, October 5th, resulting in a majority of 254 for Waukon-1,544 to 1,290.

After this decisive quietus, there was a lull in the county seat war for six years, when, at the June session of the Board, 1875, a petition was presented containing 1,906 names, and another election was duly ordered to be held at the general election in October. During this summer was begun the construction of the Waukon and Mississippi Railroad. Realizing that it was "now or never" with her, Lansing massed her forces for the final conflict, and the campaign was pushed vigorously on both sides, resulting in the largest vote ever cast in the county, and a majority of 340 in favor of Waukon, she receiving 2,145 against 1,805 for Lansing. It is said that the reason for this large vote was the importation of Winneshiek county voters on the west, and Wisconsin voters and river men on the east.

CHAPTER X.

County Buildings; Educational: County School Statistics; Normal Institutes; Religious Organizations; Gospel Pioneers; Statistics of Population, etc.; Assessed Valuations; Political Statistics.

We regret that limited space will prevent our presenting a chapter descriptive of the bridges, dykes and roads of the county. Their history would make an interesting volume of itself, and is necessarily debarred from this work.

Of the buildings, the court house at Waukon was erected during 1859 and 1860, and completed in 1861, by Chas. W. Jenkins and John W. Pratt, to whom the contract was let, in 1859, by the County Judge, George M. Dean. Its cost was $13,655, of which $5,000 was contributed by citizens of Waukon. As originally built, the rear portion of the first floor was occupied by a jail, with six cells; but this proved so inadequate for the secure retention of prisoners, and the county officers requiring additional room, it was finally removed altogether, and for the past few years criminals awaiting trial have been sent to the Decorah jail. Previous to the building of the Court House they were confined in the Clayton County jail at Garnavillo. In 1870 two large

fire-proof vaults were built in the Court House, at an expense of $2,000 or more, for the use of the Treasurer's and Recorders offices-that of the former being also supplied with a burglar-proof safe, with a Yale time lock. In 1881, similar vaults were put in for the safe keeping of the records in the Auditor's and Clerk's offices. In 1882 the building was repaired throughout, repainted, and is about to be arranged for heating by Ruttan furnaces in the basement.

After the county seat was removed to The Point, in 1861, a Court House was erected there-in the same year-of stone, somewhat smaller than the one at Waukon, and without a jail. It was built by the citizens of Lansing without expense to the county, in accordance with their bond to so do in case the county seat should be located there; but it has not been used for county purposes since 1867. The land was donated by Haney & Houghton and J. M. Rose. Col. Guilbert and Geo. W. Hays were the building committee who prosecuted the work, the total cost of which was not far from $5,000.

The County Poor Farm comprises the southeast quarter of section 8, Makee township, four miles north by east of Waukon, and was purchased of Joseph Burton, October 22, 1866, for $4,000. There was a large and substantial frame building on the place, which was built by Mr. Burton in 1856, with hard wood timber and matched siding. It was 29x37 feet, with one L 14x16 and another about 15 feet square. After its purchase by the county it was raised from a story and a half to two full stories in height, and the upper portion finished off.

On the evening of January 23, 1880, this house was destroyed by fire, involving a loss of some $2,000, as there was no insurance. A temporary building was immediately erected for the accomodation of the inmates until the present substantial brick structure was erected in 1881. It is 38x40 feet, two stories, each ten feet in the clear, with cellars under all, and is heated by furnace in the basement. Its total cost was about $5,000. Contractors: John Griffin for the wood-work, Samuel Peck for stone and brickwork. It was built from the proceeds of a special tax of one mill on a dollar, voted by the people of the county at the general election of 1880.

In 1874 the question of a special tax, for the purpose of building a county jail, was submitted to the voters of the county, and defeated by an overwhelming vote. In 1880 a similar question was voted down by a majority of 735. In 1881 the question was again submitted, as follows:

"Shall the coupon bonds of the county, in the sum of $10,000, be issued, upon which to borrow money to be used in erecting a jail in and for said county at the county seat? Said bonds to be issued in denominations of not less than $100 or more than $500 each, and to bear interest at the rate of not more than 7 per cent.