Helena Shot Tower Log Book-Sauk County

Helena Shot Tower Log Book/mid 19th century scrapbook

Sauk County Historical Society
531 4th Ave
Baraboo, WI 53913
Phone: 608-356-1001
Email: history@saukcounty.org
Website: www.saukcountyhistory.org
Mary Farrel-Stieve – Librarian

Carefully stored away amongst the collections of the Sauk County Historical Society in Baraboo, Wisconsin is an edge-worn ledger. Handwritten on the cover in black ink-almost hidden amongst the turquoise colored marbleized paper- are the words “Log Book.” At first glance it appears to be a scrapbook. Its pages are filled with sentimental stories and poems clipped from the Sauk County Standard or other regional newspapers. The clippings probably date to the 1860s or 70s judging by the quality of the newspaper.

Yet the scrapbook is in fact a rare glimpse into the business transactions of one of Wisconsin’s early industries—lead mining. If you flip to the inside cover you are greeted in bold, clear writing with the words "Wisconsin Shot Tower [Log] Book 1843—". A careful examination of the book reveals that it is a daily ledger noting the purchases and sales transactions of three men (Henry Hamilton, John B. Terry, and John Metcalf) who operated a store and shot tower at Helena from 1843 to 1845. The site is now the centerpiece of Shot Tower State Park near Spring Green.

But the scrapbook is also a study in how the meaning of objects can change and how artifacts survive through time. By the 1860s, the ledger had become a useless old book that no one was interested in. It became important again, probably in the 1870s, to a now nameless scrapbooker who carefully clipped and neatly pasted articles which eventually covered about 1/3rd of the book. Then, years later, the book was again tossed aside and forgotten. But over time, it again drew attention and sometime around 1952 was donated to the Sauk County Historical Society as a historical curiosity of a bygone era.

There it sat, and there it remains, but even now its importance has changed. In recent years staff at the Sauk County Historical Society rediscovered the ledger buried in a box of miscellaneous documents. Once again the book is viewed as a ledger for the Wisconsin Shot Tower. The old scrap clippings, however, have become somewhat of an annoyance because they hide the original scratchings of Misters Hamilton, Terry, and Metcalf. Its significance is not as a scrapbook, but rather as a document illustrating a formative era in our state.
The Sauk County Historical Society was founded in 1905 and is the 5th oldest historical society in Wisconsin. Its mission is to preserve collect and disseminate knowledge of Sauk County history. The society achieves this goal though maintaining a museum, library/archive and educational and public programs.

The Sauk County Historical Museum is open year round. Admission is free.

Compiled by Peter Shrake

Images by Sauk County Historical Society