Dr. E. D. Pierce of Trempealeau, one of the Society’s curators, has been engaged the past year in editing a history of Trempealeau County, to be published shortly by the Cooper Company of Chicago and Winona. In this connection, the editor has been given the use of a short history of Wisconsin to 1848, prepared by Miss Kellogg for publication by the State Historical Society. Probably this narrative will appear shortly in this magazine. It was prepared with a view to placing it freely at the disposal of county historians and any others who may find it useful; this in the belief that since the subscription county history is often the only book of a historical character which comes into the homes of our citizens, the Society is acting in line with its ideal of serving the public as fully as possible by doing what it may to improve the quality of these volumes.
Another Wisconsin local history approaching completion at the hands of a curator of the Society is the history of Door County by Mr. Hjalmar R. Holand of Ephraim. It is understood that this is to be published by the Lewis Company of Chicago.
The eleventh annual meeting of the Waukesha County Historical Society was held at the Congregational Church in Waukesha on May 5, 1917. Aside from business reports and luncheon and other social features, the principal part of the program was devoted to two addresses: one by Judge C. E. Armin on “The Early Bar of Waukesha County”; the other by M. M. Quaife on Increase Allen Lapham. The Society voted at this meeting to send its secretary, Miss Julia A. Lapham of Oconomowoc, as a delegate to the annual meeting of the State Historical Society in October. This is an act which it is hoped will be widely imitated by the other local societies of the state, since mutual encouragement and profit will undoubtedly result from a greater participation by them in the affairs of the parent organization.
On June 16, 1917 under the auspices of the Waukesha County Historical Society, a bronze tablet in memory of Increase A. Lapham was unveiled on Lapham Peak. Lapham Peak, until recently known as Government Hill, is the highest point in Waukesha County. From an observation tower which formerly stood within a few feet of the tablet it is said that one could see, on a clear day, Lake Michigan on the east and as far as Madison on the west. No more appropriate spot for a memorial to Wisconsin’s first great naturalist could have been chosen than this, with its far-sweeping view of the beautiful lakes and valleys and hills of southern Wisconsin. The tablet was unveiled by Julia A. Lapham, daughter of Dr. Lapham. Present also were two sons and a granddaughter of the scholar in whose honor the assemblage had convened. Addresses were given by M. M.
Quaife of the State Historical Society and John G. Gregory, editor of the Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin. The tablet, affixed to a large gray boulder, bears this inscription:
Lapham Peak
Elevation 1233 Feet
Named by the U. S. Geographic Board
In Honor of
Increase A. Lapham
Eminent Scientist and Useful Citizen
MDCCCXI—MDCCCLXXV
Tribute of
The Waukesha County Historical
Society
1916
Mr. W. W. Bartlett of Eau Claire, an enthusiastic cultivator of the local historical field, has been running for many months a series of lumbering articles and reminiscences dealing particularly with the Chippewa Valley. He has recently given a lecture, illustrated with lantern slides, on the subject of logging in the Chippewa to an audience of Norwegian-Americans, most of whom were familiar with the industry before coming to America. Mr. Bartlett is chairman of the history section of the Eau Claire County Defense Council.