HISTORY OF MANITOWOC COUNTY


St. Nazianz, and to farmers along the line. The electrical part is owned
by A. 0.
Anderson of M'anitowoc.
The river in its course often passes over a rocky bed, its banks are often
very
precipitous by the wearing away of the limestone. This neighborhood is noted
for its abundance of fossils, particularly corals of many varieties. Two
miles
below Clark's Mills, broken ledges form a wall along the bank of the river
rising
from i0 to i5 feet. At this point a bed of impure limestone is overlaid by
about
I2 feet of hard, cherty rock of coral, the whole from its hardness giving
rise to
a series of rapids known as the Lower Falls. This is a very picturesque spot
and greatly frequented by picknickers. Cato has but two small lakes, Hemp-
tons and Brandels. Two very important roads were early laid out through
Cato, the Calumet Road and the Menasha Road. The legislature of i846, in
the month of February, appointed Paul Champlin, E. L. Abbott and Pliny Pierce
to lay out a territorial road from Manitowoc "to intersect at such point
or place
as such commissioners may select or determine, the United States road leading
from Green Bay to Fond du Lac." Stockbridge was fixed as the western
ter-
minus. In i850 the legislature incorporated "the Calumet Plank Road
Company
with a capital of $ioo,ooo to complete the project; the stock was subscribed,
but this important thoroughfare was not completed until 1857.
The Menasha Road was projected by the legislature of I847. Evander M.
Soper, Loyal H. Jones and James D. Doty were appointed to lay out a terri-
torial road from Manitowoc to Menasha, then known as Winnebago Rapids.
This enterprise lapsed whereupon the Neenah and Manitowoc Plank Road
Company was organized with a capital stock of $200,000. By the end of I850
only five miles of the contemplated distance of forty was finished. The towns
along the line all voted sums of money for the project, likewise the state.
Dif-
ficulties were-encountered as its interests clashed somewhat with the Manitowoc
& Mississippi Railroad, the two being almost parrallel. It was completed
in
i862. In i866, Daniel S. Conley purchased the rights to the first few miles
out
of Manitowoc, maintaining the road until i899 when the county board bought
the road for $4,O0O, this being next to the last toll road in the county
to be
abolished.
The town enjoys the unique distinction of being the only high license town
in Manitowoc county. At the election pof i888, a license of $400 was voted
by a
bare majority, but ratified at two or three successive elections by an increased
majority.
In 1874 the Central -Agricultural Society was formed and for a number of
years the county fairs were held in a large enclosed piece of land half way
be-
tween Cato and Clark's Mills. Its successor was the Manitowoc Industrial
Association, organized in I883.
TWO CREEKS
With the exception of the town of Manitowoc, the town of Two Creeks has
a smaller area than any of the other towns of the county, less than fifteen
sec-
tions. It is situated in theextreme northeastern part of the county.  The
soil
is a sandy loam. Its territory, as well as that of Cooperstown, Gibson and
that


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