Excerpt from History of Reedsburg, Wis

One of the most beautiful spots in the West is Babb's Prairie. It comprises some fifteen hundred acres of land, of a rich quality, level and rolling by turns, with arms of wood-land stretching in various di rections, and crossed by streams of clear, cold water. In a state of nature, it was surrounded by timber, much of which has been cut down.

The pri'vation endured by those early settlers must have been great, though Babb's children say that they never realized any hard times. They often lived for weeks on cakes made of grated corn; for a time even went as far as Whitewater to get wheat ground, and finally did their own grinding on a hand-mill, before any grist mills were erected in this part of the country. Groceries they never had, -they did not want them, and had no use for them, so they say. They manufactured their own saleratus by dropping a hard wood cinder while hot into a a cup of water. Mrs. Baker claims that the water drained carefully froni the sediment, is equal to the best soda. There were times, too, when these people had no bread at all; potatoes and salt, and sometimes with the salt lacking, being their entire teed. Game and wild fruits, however, were in abundance. But the season of the fruit was short; then very few of the settlers were experts with a rifle, consequently they were not always supplied with meat. As far as the Babbs were con cerned, the Indians came to their assistance by dividing the spoils of the chase with them, thus returning kindness for kindness. Other settlers were not so favored by the Indians.

At the point where the village of Reedsburg now is, Mr. Babb soon ascertained that a magnificent water-power could be obtained, and he looked upon the section with a desire to possess it. He did not have money enough to enable him to invest in the enterprise at the time, but he hoped at some future day, to lay claim to it. Before that day ar rived, some individual, from Big Foot Prairie, not only made a discovery of the water-power, but also of the existence of iron, not a great dis tance from it. It is said that this individual returned to Big Foot Prairie, and told of his discovery to David C. Reed, who was then liv ing at that point. It is also said, that the discoverer of the iron mine died not long after the discovery was made. If he is not confounded with Harry Perry, of the copper mine notoriety, it would seem that the fates of the two men were similar, both dying soon after they made84 American Sketch Boole.

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