One of Waupun’s Old Settlers, Edwin Hillyer wrote a series of Historical Sketches of Early Waupun in 1901 and 1902. These sketches included many topics, including many stories about the colorful individuals and events that occurred in their times.
One particular story Hillyer related was from his first winter in Waupun, in 1847-48. This tale was about a terrible and sudden blizzard that almost doomed him and his companion while in the Horicon Marsh.
When Hillyer first arrived in Waupun he began to work in lumber, along with his brother. They worked for a company called Barrows & Norton, who were building a cradle and rake factory in Waupun. It was about this time, Hillyer noted, that the dam on the Rock River was being constructed, and that the region was beautiful and bountiful.
Typically they would work in teams of two or more when felling and collecting trees, and primarily worked in the region of the Horicon Marsh.
“Sometimes I went with Barrows, or Deacon Norton, across Horicon marsh to gather in a little extra choice timber from Uncle Sam’s domain,” Hillyer wrote. “We called it ‘stealing’ lumber. On one of those harvesting trips with Deacon Norton, we were loaded up and ready for home, when there came a terrible blizzard.”
“The snow came in such clouds and drifts that we could see but a few rods before us. We dared not try the marsh with our load so rolled it off into skids and started home with the empty sled.”
“We found there was no use trying to keep the road, as it could not be seen, so tied the lines to one of the sled stakes and let the horses fly as they saw fit, as we had lost our reckoning entirely. They kept moving and finally came out about six miles south of Waupun. Both me and the horses took heart when we knew our direction. We could not have stood the cold another hour.”
“When we got to Mr. Norton’s he could not help himself. I got him into the house and the team into the barn, then went to the house and found him suffering terribly, groaning with pain, and his wife crying. We got cold water and bathed his feet and hands; he soon felt relieved and fell asleep, coming out all right. I was all right, except for the loss of some cuticle and the tenderness resulting from it.”
The horse team also managed to survive, and once the blizzard passed they returned for the dropped lumber.
“Such trips were not desirable and it was a wonder either of us came out alive,” Hillyer concluded.
Hillyer wrote sketches like this for six months, publishing weekly in the Waupun Leader News in the first half of 1902. Without his efforts, modern Waupun may have been left without any proper understanding of the times.
The Historical Sketches can be found at the Waupun Historical Society, who opened their online catalog late last year.
