History of Reedsburg and the Upper Baraboo Valley, by Merton Edwin Krug, Publ. February 1929 by the author. Printed by Democrat Printing Company, Madison, Wis., Page 34-36

During the few years the village had been in existence its settlers had been generally prosperous, but it was a prosperity at the expense of the WILLARD boys of Baraboo. From 1844 till 1848 they had rafted their logs from their up-river locations, unobstructed down to their sawmill at Baraboo, but when REED built his dam at Reedsburg, conditions were suddenly changed. In fact, REED is said to have confiscated their logs to build his Shanty Row. However, this condition did not cause any serious trouble until the spring of 1851. We will not attempt to shift the blame, for, weighed from modern ideas of justice, the WILLARDS were justified in protesting against the dam.

It was not an uncommon occurrence for early settlers engaged in logging to cut timber on the vast domains of Uncle Sam without his permission, and before the old gentleman surveyed and sold his lands in that region, there was a wide expanse along the upper waters of the Baraboo covered with tall and graceful pines. In cutting and rafting logs from this section, George and Edward WILLARD were most active. It soon became optional upon the part of Mr. REED for their rafts to pass over his dam. It finally occurred to him that it would be to his interest to prohibit further operations of this kind. In doing so he would not only prevent the probable destruction of his dam, but it was in the natural order of things that the large number of logs lying in the stream could be purchased for a low price and made into lumber at his mill. But the WILLARDS insisted upon their rights to pass their logs over the dam; and when Mr. REED, backed by the citizens of Reedsburg, refused them this privilege, they returned to Baraboo for the purpose of mustering a sufficient number of their friends to help them cut the dam and pass the logs through.

In the meantime the Reedsburg people dispatched a messenger to Madison for the United States marshal, who, they supposed, would seize the logs, which had been cut on government land. They were disappointed, however, when the marshal appeared with a posse and ordered the dam cut away and the logs released. The marshal gave the order, his men went, cut the dam, and the logs went charging through. Reedsburg people looked on this action as a step beyond the province of the marshal and they immediately ordered his arrest. Alfred LEONARD, Amos R. SPRAGUE and John KERSTETTER had just been elected constables, and they took the United States marshal into custody.

An indignation meeting was called at once, and a large and excited crowd soon assembled in SANFORD's store, which was conducted by O. H. PERRY. Inflammatory as well as conciliatory speeches were made; but E. G. WHEELER finally convinced the crowd that it would be the height of folly to attempt resistance to United States authority. Some of the villagers, determined that the logs should not go down to their destination, felled trees across the river to prevent their progress, which of course made the Barabooites considerable trouble. But the latter came out ahead. Reedsburg's incense subsided and the marshal's release was forced upon them by a writ of habeas corpus and the affair never came to trial. It is worthy of record that there was no recourse to violence; and although the cutting of the dam was a vital blow to Reedsburg's leading industry, the people bore their misfortune with pioneer fortitude.

Mr. REED had aspired to build a town, but when he had it well under way he had been forced to witness its complete destruction. That is the inglorious story of REED's mill, 1847-1851.
Submitted by Carol