Memoirs of Waukesha County. From the earliest historical times to the present with chapters on various subjects, including each of the different towns, and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in the county, prepared from data obtained from original sources of information.

              76 MEMOIRS  OF WAUKESHA  COUNTY
the rights of the settlers performed their duties in such a manner as to protect them from the land speculators, who infested this, as other new settlements, preying upon the poverty of the people. There were some instances, however, where land and labor were alike lost and the pioneers were obliged to begin again elsewhere.
In connection with the early history of the county, it cannot but be of interest to the present generation to quote a few passages from a writer whose "History of Wiskonsan, from its earliest discovery to the present period," was published in 1846. It is interesting, not only on account of the vivid picture which it gives of the country at that time, but because the conditions of civilized life have so far modified and changed those conditions that without the aid of such records, it is difficult for the present occupants of the lands which their fathers and grandfathers reclaimed from the wilderness to appreciate the charm of the country which reconciled their ancestors to the hard conditions of pioneer life.
The author is Donald McLeod, evidently a person of culture and discrimination, who, finding that the conditions of life in the terri¬ tory had been grossly misrepresented, traveled extensively with a view to learning the truth about the soil, climate, productions and prospects of the territory. He gives an amusing account of the origin of the name of the state, which is not found elsewhere, viz.: "When the beautiful prairies of Wiskonsan were first observed by the French,, one of them remarked to another, who was his cousin, 'ette en hon page/ this is a fine country, to which the other replied, 'aui {oui) cousin/ which in the French language means Yes, Cousin. This circumstance, it is said, gave the name of Ouiskonsan to the Territory.'^
The writer says:
"Being at Prairieville on a tour of observation to visit the lime stone quarries at a little distance south of the villagS, upon examination they were found to be of horizontal layers of secondary limestone from two and one-half to four inches thick, the uppermost tier covered with a thin coating of black friable mould. During the course of our researches we found the remains of several small fish, highly petrified, as well as of plants and other fossil curiosities. But the most curious, of all, and perhaps the only instance of the kind ever discovered is the petrified leg of a human being of gigantic size, found by Mr. Bristol in one of the quarries, which he now keeps at his office for the inspection of the learned and curious. It comprises the Whole of that part of the leg immediately below the articulation of the right knee- joint to the end of the foot. The shape of the calf, ankle, heel and foot, with the exception of the toes are (is) as naturally shaped as they were in their original organic state. ^ ^ ^ Mr. W. A. Barstow (af¬ terward Governor Barstow), Post Master of the Village, has in his pos¬ session the petrifaction of a nondescript reptile which he dug, with some others, out of a cellar near his office. * * * fhe village itself is situated on the bosom of a romantic and delightful prairie valley, nearly on a level with the limpid waters of the Fox river, which passes through its center. A little above the bridge the water begins to force its way through a mass of stones which disturbs the general quiet of