A history of Madison, the capital of Wisconsin : including the Four Lake Country : to July 1874, with an appendix of notes on Dane County and its towns

              FOUR LAKE COUNTRY OF WISCONSIN. 35
of the Supreme Court at its first session held at Belmont in 1836,
" My first visit to Madison was in company with Moses M, Strong, Esq., Josiah A. Nockstan' and Geo. Messeesmith, early in the year 1837 (or in December, 1836) to survey out and find the lines of Mr. Noonan's* lands lying just west and adjoining Madison, We found the snow very deep, and after a hard day's work, wading in the snow, we camped at night between the Third Lake (Monona) and Dead Lake (Wingra), where we found some thick timber and a sheltered spot. With a good deal of difficulty we made a log heap fire and eat our snack, and after the fire had thawed the snow, and warmed the ground, we removed the fire to a little distance and made our bed on the ashes where the fire had warmed the ground. The weather was extremely cold, but we slept warm, and the next morning Mr, Noonan left us on horseback for Milwaukee. The snow being too deep to survey out and find the corners of lots and blocks in Madison, and the weather extremely cold, we returned to Mineral Point to wait for milc]er weather.
" In February, 1837, I again visited Madison with Mr. Steong, who had been employed by Judge James D. Doty (who platted the town from the township plats without a survey) to survey out some lots and blocks around the public square according to the plat he furnished, so that those persons who intended to build, could find their lots. We found that the snow still covered the ground, and we stuck the stakes in the snow, the ground being too deeply frozen in most places to receive the stakes. We camped in the timber in the low grounds under the hill of the Fourth Lake, and were compelled to abandon our work by a severe snow storm, that so blinded us, that it was with great difficulty we found our way across the Fourth Lake to the cabin of St. Cye, where we stayed two days, until the storm was over. While here I made a contract with him to erect the body of a log house on lot 3, in block 90, where
* These lands were what is generally known as the " Darwin Meadow Lawn Farm," now the property of D.^niel Campbell,
^