HISTORY OF MANITOWOC COUNTY


his store. It is all right there." I hardly believe, however, this would
be con-
sidered an amply secure place at this day.
In the latter part of the '50s a gravel road was built from Kiel to the city
of
Sheboygan, which became of great benefit to the respective trading points.
The
road was mostly paid for by bonds granted by the different towns through
which
it was laid out, each town having granted $6,ooo. To this were added private
subscriptions of citizens in the different towns. For some time the thoroughfare
was a toll road but is now free and open to the general public.
One of the most important things and of the greatest interest to these two
towns of Schleswig and Holstein was the construction of a railroad from Mil-
waukee to Green Bay and Menasha in 1870. Henry F. Belitz, the original owner
of the land upon which the village of Kiel is situated, came there during
the year
1856 and platted the village in 1858. In the same year Chas. Heins erected
the first store building and became the first merchant. In the year i865
a hall in
connection with the hotel was built. In the year 1870 a gristmill was put
up and
is still running. In 1892 the village of Kiel was incorporated, with Chas.
Heins
as the first president. In 18;85 a wooden ware factory was erected. In 1872
a company for the manufacture of tables was organized. A bank was estab-
lished here, with Chas. Heins as president. The village also has a cigar
fac-
tory, grain elevators, cold storage plant, and is a lively business center
with a
population of about i,200 inhabitants.
The pioneer' who contributed the reminiscences here related was Ferdinand
Ostenfeldt, who after a busy life on the farm, took up his residence in Mani-
towoc some years ago and died in that city in i9io.
INDIANS AND INDIAN REMAINS OF MANITOWOC COUNTY
Manitowoc county, when it began to be first occupied by the whites, was a
veritable Indian paradise.  It certainly must have come nearer the ideal
happy
hunting ground than any place of which I have ever heard. Bordering on Lake
Michigan, the Indians on a calm, sunshiny day could go out in their canoes
and
spear white fish, in shallow water by the canoe load. The air was darkened
in
summer by the flight of pigeons. If I should describe the immense flocks
of these
birds that used to pass over this city in their flights to feeding grounds
from their
roosting place, I could scarcely expect to be believed by the present generation.
The woods were full of small game. There were many ridges covered with mag-,
nificent oaks, and in these groves the squirrels, black and gray, would leap
and
play, without any attempt to hide from the boy who came among them with his
gun. Partridges were not merely numerous, they were abundant everywhere.
I
have stood 'on the Neshoto river bottom in the years 1852 and 1853, and had
coveys of partridge run around me'thicker than the fowls in the village farmer's
barnyard and nearly as tame. The rabbits were not more numerous then than
they are at present, for the foxes kept the number down and it was a common
sight in following the trails through the woods, to see where some red fox
had
pounced upon one of these creatures and carried him off. The raccoon was
very
much in evidence and was a nuisance to the settler who endeavored to raise
a little
patch of corn. A good coon dog was worth lots of money. The wolves in winter
were considerably in evidence at times. Of the larger game, there were deer
in


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