Page 278 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

274 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONSJ.

Ward, be removed out of the Ward as a nuisance. Accord-
ingly workmen were directed to so remove the nuisance, andin
the prosecution of their work commenced by sawing in two the
huge draw, and as the East Warders supplied no support to
that which lay in their territory, when that of the West Ward
was removed, the part that belonged to the territory of the
East Ward fell into the river. And now arose among these
early inhabitants one of the greatest excitements ever wit-
nessed in the town. Guns were fired, and flaming speeches
made, but no lives were lost. The excitement passed away at
length, and cooler and better counsels prevailed. Not long
after, a convention was agreed upon between the belligerents,
which settled the whole basis upon which bridges should be
constructed and maintained, and since that auspicious time,
the two sides of the river have happily grown less and less
distinct.
Avenues to the Town.

In 1840 there was a road leading north, called the Green
Bay road ; two leading west, the Waukesha and Mequonago
Roads ; one leading southwest, called the Kilbourn road, and
one south, the Racine. A emall subscription was placed in
my hands in the fall of 3.841, and I employed WN. HESK, of
Menomonee, to open a wagon track north-west through to Fond
du Lac. These roads all lay through the heavy forest by which
we were surrounded. But little or no work was done on them
beyond making sufficient track for wagons to wind along, and
poles and logs thrown across the streams and swamps. From
time to time the people of Milwaukee made moderate subscrip-
tions to tho roads, but after all that was done, they were at
best bad enough, and at times almost impassable. Still the
great army of emigrants thronged upon us, and made their way
through these tracts to the more open and genial country be-
hind. As the years rolled on, our people felt more and more
the necessity of good roads. In 1847, under this impression,