OLD LEAD REGION GHOST TOWN - SINIPEE PART I

[Cliff Krainik]

images.andale.com/f2/116/104/7566189/1049534041574_SINIPEE_HOTEL.jpg [/img]

View of the Stone House Hotel, Sinipee, Wisconsin Territory - Grant County, Wisconsin. Photograph circa 1880. Image courtesy - Plumbe Archives - Krainik Collection


Sinipee: Atlantis on the Mississippi - Part I

by Clifford Krainik


Just four miles to the north and east of metropolitan Dubuque, on a diagonal line across the Mississippi from Eagle Point Park, a sheer, flat-faced bluff rises above the river. It is the silent marker to an extraordinary and tragic tale. Here, a hundred and twenty-five years ago, Sinipee stood ready to rival Dubuque as the center for river commerce. The story of this ephemeral port is filled with the expectations of men establishing their presence on the frontier and their struggle for economic survival. The successes and failures of the doomed village were recorded in the diaries of John Plumbe, Jr., a remarkable man who played a critical role in the town’s development and who dared to dream and voice his vision of the future.

It was at Sinipee that the genesis of the United States transcontinental railroad was formed - an event that would impact the destiny of the nation.

The story of Sinipee begins with the earth itself. For centuries the Mesquakie people dug chunks of lead ore from the fertile ground in the Mississippi Valley in the region that one day would bear the name Dubuque. They plied the soft gray metal into ornaments and fashioned out tools and weapons. Lead was a commodityof exchange and prestige. In the late 1820s American settlers became aware of the considerable deposits of lead and began a frenzied rush to mine the valuable ore.

Long before gold became the driving force that would pull men inexorably westward, lead held out the allure of great and instant wealth. Soon it was discovered that the extensive but shallow veins of mineral radiated north and eastward from Dubuque, and within ten years this area became the Lead Mining Region. The Mississippi River provided an economic and constant avenue to transport the massy gray mineral to eastern and European markets. There, lead bars would be melted into pipes, bullets and newspaper type; it would be fashioned into pewter and mixed into paint with a hundred other applications demanded by the Industrial Revolution.

The town of Galena, Illinois, perched high on the banks of the Fever River became the dominant shipping port in the region. Great fortunes were amassed there by shippers at the expense of the men who dug and smelted the ore. Dissatisfied miners in lead-rich but landlocked Mineral Point, Wisconsin looked about for an alternate shipping center. The answer to their dilemma was found along the banks of the Mississippi in present day southwest Grant County, just a few miles south of Potosi, Wisconsin. Although thirty-five miles separated Mineral Point from the river, primitive roads were constructed suitable for the traffic of ox drawn wagons laden with lead ore. In the summer of 1838, a time of great national economic uncertainty, twenty-three Mineral Point investors formed the “Louisiana Company” and purchased a tract of river frontage from Payton Vaughn for $12,000. Vaughn, a native of North Carolina, had operated a successful cable-pulled ferry at this site for about a year. As part of their agreement, Vaughn was obliged to build a substantial hotel to accommodate the anticipated needs of the new community. The birth notice for the river-port town appeared in the August 4, 1838 edition of the “Iowa News.” It told in part, “the object of the company is to establish a depot for the lead made in the district … the landing is excellent, and reached with ease by the largest of boats. The name given to it is Port Sinipee

According to Virgil J. Vogel, in Indian Names on Wisconsin's Map, the name Sinipee is a Sauk word composed of assini meaning "rock" and nipee for "water," or "the place of the rock by the water." The name was well chosen for it aptly describes the land mass jutting into the Mississippi river at the base of a towering limestone bluff. The Louisiana Company retained the services of a twenty-eight year old civil engineer, John Plumbe, Jr., to survey the town and serve as agent for the sale of lots. Plumbe had arrived in the Wisconsin Territory in 1836 fresh from his experience in building a railroad from Petersburg, Virginia to the Roanoke Rapids in North Carolina - the first interstate railroad in America. A prolific newspaper correspondent and diarist, Plumbe left a detailed record of the day-to-day events in Sinipee. They are optimistic accounts of his work, his plans for the future and his correspondence with the leading statesmen of the territorial government. Two of Plumbe's Sinipee diaries are preserved in the archives of the University of Wisconsin and Loras College, Dubuque.

From the late summer of 1838 through the spring of the following year approximately twenty buildings were erected at Sinipee including private residences, shops, several warehouses and stores. The future looked very promising for the new town. Carpenters, masons, merchants and mechanics were successfully recruited from the Territory and best of all, large quantities of lead began arriving.

[Cliff Krainik]

Sinipee: Atlantis on the Mississippi - Part II

by Clifford Krainik

A fleet of St. Louis steamboats bearing such names as "Hero," "Smelter," and "Osceola" began to make Sinipee a scheduled port of call.

Real estate values in the embyonic village took a speculative leap skyward. One report tells of choice town lots selling for $2,000. The steady flow of lead from the mining district with its increased riverboat traffic and the soaring real estate values were undeniable signs of Sinipee's prosperity. The hotel that Payton Vaughn was required to build was completed in a handsome manner. The expansive two story building was constructed from local stone, the front of which was dressed with a smooth surface. Local lore persists that Zachary Taylor and Jefferson Davis were guests at the Stone
House while stationed at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien. Interesting as the thought might be, their visits are historically improbable based on the reason that both men had left the Wisconsin Territory years before Sinipee came into existence.

The Stone House at Sinipee did serve as the location for a critical moment in history.

John Plumbe considered the construction of railroads as an essential component of national economic development, the key to Manifest Destiny. He viewed the railroads as ties to unite the country, binding the industrial north to the agrarian south with the western frontier. He knew firsthand the tremendous commercial advantages the railroad could provide. On December 14, 1838 the citizens of Sinipee gathered at the Stone House and listened as Plumbe presented his idea to petition Congress for funding to build a railroad from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. Further, he reasoned this railroad would be only the first link in a chain of railroads that would stretch across the continent to the Pacific Ocean!

A unanimous resolution was passed supporting Plumbe's railroad plans. A Memorial was drafted and presented to Congress by Territorial Delegate George Wallace Jones. Plumbe's request was favorably received and funding for a survey was appropriated through the War Department. Plumbe's vision and the actions of the citizens of Sinipee were the beginning of the United States transcontinental railroad.

At the height of Sinipee's development the population probably did not exceed two hundred citizens, nor were there built more than twenty-five commercial buildings. Even though plans were under way to expand the residential areas, settlement was slowed by national economic reverses. Then, in the spring of 1839 disaster struck Sinipee. Much of the town was inundated by the swollen Mississippi, widened by early thaws and heavy rains. Although destruction to property was minimal, the stagnant pools left by the receding flood waters spelled doom to the town. The slimy ponds exposed to the heat of summer nurtured swarms of malaria-bearing mosquitoes. An epidemic swept the community - most of the citizens fell ill, many died. Soon the bluff became a burial ground.

In the mid 19th century the cause and treatment of malaria or "the ague" as it was then called were unknown. Flight from the deadly place was the only means of survival. Many of the investors tried for years, in vain, to sell their river property.

John Plumbe went east to continue his pursuit of a Pacific railroad.

By the beginning of 1840 all but two families had abandoned Sinipee. Theodore Rodolf, a member of the Louisiana Company returned to Sinipee and wrote this haunting account of his visit:

"When we finally rode down the ravine to the Mississippi River, and the bankrupted city burst upon our view, a singular sensation took hold of me. The buildings were all new, showing no sign of decay or deterioration by usage or the weather, having stood there but a little over a year. I expected momentarily to see the occupants come out to bid us welcome. There, was, however, not a living being to be seen or heard … I think not even a bird gave life to the desolation. The quiet of a church-yard reigned. The houses, all painted white, seemed to loom up as monuments of departed greatness."

The wooden buildings of Sinipee were dismantled for their valuable plank boards or brought on sleds over the ice to Dubuque. The Stone Hotel survived into the 20th century but fell victim to an unintentional fire in 1904. The stone walls were eventually removed by a contractor as fill for a dam on the river. On October 15, 1934 Mississippi Lock and Dam Number 11, just below Eagle Point Park, was completed causing the area above the site to flood. The land mass where most of Port Sinipee once stood now reposes under water. Only the bluff and the unmarked graves at Sinipee remain.

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Editor's Note: The author is an independent historian, appraiser, and dealer in nineteenth century photography. He resides in Warrenton, Virginia and is currently completing the biography of John Plumbe, Jr.

This article was first published in Julien's Journal - The Dubuque Area Magazine August 2001

[Larry Koschkee]

Cliff, I have really enjoyed your literary piece on SINIPEE. It is a fascinating story.

I have some questions, comments and/or observations about the subject.

1) It was observed that you signed off on another thread Cliff - a Sinipeean. Would you care to elaborate on that?

2) In your research of Sinipee were there any references to tumuli at the site?

3) A Township road presently called Plum Road follows a hollow towards the Mississippi River and intersects Bluff Road near old Sinipee. Any thoughts to the possibility the road was named for John Plumbe?

4) Have you come across a wood cut of "The Stone House." This cut would have shown the west side or main entrance side of the building and the south side with single story kitchen like, attached structure extending eastward from the main two story structure?

Now just a few bits of information I would like to add your piece...

Before settling on the east side of the Mississippi River, Payton Vaughan and his wife kept house awhile for U. S. Senator, George W. Jones of Sinsinawa Mound. Later the Vaughans built a cabin about one-half mile from the river near the furture site of Sinipee. The Vaughans were there when the Black Hawk War broke out and as you mentioned he was engaged in a ferry operation.

As part of the land purchase agreement with the group of investors to plot a town, it was mutually agreed that Mr. Vaughan should expend half the sum on a hotel building. The contract for the hotel building, afterward known as "The Stone House", was let for $8,000. The building was begun in 1836 and almost finished in 1839, but the contractor failed to complete the inside work. The mantles for six open fireplaces were never put in, and there were no balusters at the hall staircases for many years.

The house was built with two foot walls, the fifty foot front being entirely of smoothly dressed stone. The lower floors were of oak, those above of pine, the timbers of oak and red cedar. The laths were split by hand from oak, the window frames and cornices were of black walnut.

A special feature of the stone hotel was "running water". Back of the hotel was a semi-circular opening like a cavern, the overhanging rock forming a roof, and from it flowed a spring. From this spring, water was piped into the stone hotel below.

A few rods farther north along the track there was another spring in a crevice in the rock where an image of the Virgin Mary was discovered. The spot soon became a shrine and the grotto was visited by thousands of people.

In closing I want to comment on the devastation that malaria caused in the Sinipee community and the extent it prevailed on the North American frontier and for sometime thereafter in the American society. What a contrast of health concerns, then and now.

Once again... I enjoyed your piece.

Larry K.

[Cliff Krainik]

On April 21, 2003 Larry Koschkee wrote - "Cliff, I have really enjoyed your literary piece on SINIPEE. It is a fascinating story. I have some questions, comments and/or observations about the subject.

1) It was observed that you signed off on another thread Cliff - a Sinipeean. Would you care to elaborate on that?

I have been visiting and researching Sinipee since the early 1970s and have fallen in love with that Brigadoon-like spot on the Mississippi. We have many dear friends living and resting at Sinipee who have shared their interests and made us welcome. I hold the currency and speak the language. We almost purchased a farm there a few years ago. And so at the risk of being presumptuous, I have affixed the honorary appellation of "Sinippean" proudly to my name.

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2) In your research of Sinipee were there any references to tumuli at the site?

The only reference to native burial mounds at Sinipee, to my knowledge, appears in a 20th century archaeological survey conducted by the state of Wisconsin.


3) A Township road presently called Plum Road follows a hollow towards the Mississippi River and intersects Bluff Road near old Sinipee. Any thoughts to the possibility the road was named for John Plumbe?

I believe the road you refer to was originally called Plumbe's Hollow. John Plumbe, Jr. surveyed the town site for Sinipee and he was mighty partial to naming locations and objects after his family name as in the towns of PLUMBES MILLS, and PLUMBEOLA, THE PLUMBEIAN (newspaper) , PLUMBEOTYPES (lithographs) and the PLUMBE NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC DEPOT, etc., etc.


4) Have you come across a wood cut of "The Stone House." This cut would have shown the west side or main entrance side of the building and the south side with single story kitchen like, attached structure extending eastward from the main two story structure?

I think you are referring to a drawing based on a photograph. I don't believe it is a "woodcut."

Here's a copy of the drawing in question and the photograph it was derived from.

images.andale.com/f2/116/104/7566189/1053914285504_sinipeeHOTELdrawing.jpg [/img]


images.andale.com/f2/116/104/7566189/1053829844879_sinipeeHOTELphoto.jpg [/img]

Thank you for the additional information you provided, Larry. I admire your enthusiasm and appreciate your insightful questions.

Cliff

[Larry Koschkee]

Cliff,

Thanks for the response to my questions, the answers were very interesting. The amazing part was your association with the land and people of Sinipee. Affection is probably not the best word for your license plate display, but the best description I can come up with.

Sinipee may be a ghost town, but in a sense it has recently gained immortality. It is literally cast in Wisconsin stone. For years geologists referred to some of the dolomite limestone regions of southern Wisconsin as Platteville limestone or Galena limestone. The Wisconsin Geological Survey lists the two limestone regions (and also, I believe, Decorah) collectively as SINIPEE DOLOMITE LIMESTONE. This is sure to perpetuate the name for generations to come.

Larry K.