Wednesday, October 28, 2020

The Power of Old Maps

Question: Is it likely someone discharged from Ft.Snelling Minnesota in 1846 would then settle in Grant County, Wisconsin, across from Dubuque, Iowa? I thought not. Searching Google maps, overland, seemed quite a distance for my great grandfather Hess to end up farming in southwest Wisconsin. I came across a book by George B. Merrick about his life as a steamboat captain on the Mississippi from 1854 to 1863 and began to understand travel in the area around 1850. The Mississippi River was like one of our major freeways, except the means of transportation was different. If you look at the map, you can see just how easy that trip would be. People could hop off and on all up and down the river. This is helpful with other families as well, as I have some going as far as New Orleans during the same time period. Ft. Snelling is in the upper left and Grant County, Wisconsin is in the lower right.

 


Now my next issue is to learn more about Ft. Snelling and the men who enlisted and defended these forts in the western U.S.  Any help or ideas would ben much appreciated!

Source: Merrick, George Byron. Old Times on the Mississippi: The  Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863. From Map of the Mississippi between St. Louis and St. Paul to illustrate Old Times on the Mississippi by Geo.  B. Merrick. Pub. 1908

 Available on Gutenberg.org. Project Gutenberg ebook #47262