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Note: H00001
Note: The Wisconsin State Journal, August 15, 1926 Villge of Beetown Legally Surveyed and Laid Off in 1848, By J. H. Lewis Beetown, in west Grant County, occupies the seat of a narrow defile in Grant river valley. It became a mining settlement, in the same year with Platteville, 1827. Cyrus Alexander, Thomas Crocker, James Meredith and Curtis Caldwell, frontiersmen, pitched their camp at the foot of a big tree. During the night a storm came up and the tree was blown over. In the cavity left by the upturned roots the men found boulders of lead ore. The tree also was filled with honey and bees. They called their mine the "Bee Lead," and thus originated the name of the town. During the Indian troubles of 1831 and 1832 the early settlers took refuge among the rocks on the hillsides. After the war more settlers came in, but it was not until 1845 that the village became prosperous. From then until 1850, Beetown was an active trading point. Among the towns of Grant County, it was surpassed only by Potosi and Platteville. It had three hotels the "Beetown House," "Thomas," and "American" hotels. Horse racing was a leading activity. The year 1850 was a dark one. The gold fever seized upon the lead miners and there was a big exodus to California. Late in the summer the cholera scourge came. There was a terrible panic in the village and it was almost depopulated. It is said by some of the old settlers still living that at one time there were scarcely a dozen men in the village. In the late 1860s zinc mines were discovered here along the lead ranges and for a considerable number of years there were a dozen or more good mines giving employment to numbers of men. The haul from Beetown over the long hills was a handicap and one after another the mines shut down and have never been revived. The first school was taught in 1840 by Edward Walker. The school was held in a log cabin near the Arthur home. A post office was established in 1843 with Samuel Varden as postmaster. The village was legally laid off in 1847.
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