Fifty Years In The Northwest: With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And NotesFolsom, William H. C. (William Henry Carman)
History
Fifty Years In The Northwest: With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes
Folsom, William H. C. (William Henry Carman)
Minnesota -- History; Wisconsin -- History
PATRICK LILLIS was born in Ireland in 1807. He came to Polk county in
1856, and, with his amiable wife and enterprising sons, made a claim
on what was afterward styled Milltown, an inappropriate name, but
given by Mr. Lillis himself, as he humorously remarked, "because there
was not a stream large enough for a mill site in the town," and
Milltown it remains to this day. Mr. Lillis prospered and made himself
a good home. He died Feb. 26, 1886. Mrs. Lillis died December, 1885.
They left six sons. John C. is in Greene county, Texas, Simon C. is in
Southern California, and Richard is in Memphis, Tennessee. Henry, the
youngest, aged twenty-nine years, has for the past six years been a
resident of Tacoma, Washington Territory. The residence of Martin and
James is not known.
OSCEOLA.
Osceola contains all of township 33, range 18, except the eastern tier
of sections, and ten whole sections and some fractions of range 19,
made somewhat irregular by the St. Croix river boundary, and the
obtrusion of three sections of Farmington in the southwestern part. It
is a rich agricultural town, consisting chiefly of prairie, the whole
forming a tableland, terminating westward on the precipitous bluffs of
the St. Croix. It has a good steamboat landing and two good water
powers, Osceola and Close's creeks. These are both fine trout brooks.
The bluffs overlooking the St. Croix are bold and high, and, for a
great part, precipitous. Most conspicuous of these bluffs is the
promontory known as Eagle Point, situated just below the Osceola
landing. An escarpment of limestone, about two hundred feet above the
river, projects over its base, not much unlike the celebrated table
rock at Niagara Falls. A tall and solitary pine tree stands upon the
extreme verge of this rock, the whole forming a conspicuous landmark,
visible to a distance of several miles down the river. The cascade on
Osceola creek, a few rods above its mouth, has scarcely a rival
amongst the waterfalls of the West. It has sometimes been called the
Minnehaha of Wisconsin, but while it resembles somewhat in the lower
part of its descent that celebrated cascade, the scenery around it is
much wilder, perpendicular rocks towering over it to a great height,
while the upper part of the fall is over an inclined plain, broken
into steps. It is a favorite haunt for artists and photographers.
There are several minor waterfalls of great beauty in the vicinity.
The trap rock formation crops out in the eastern and northern parts of
the town, rich in specimens of copper and silver. Silver is also found
in ledges at East Lake.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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