Wisconsin Historical Collections, Volume XV (1900)

              338 wisconsin historical collections vol xv pioneering in the wisconsin lead region by theodore rodolp.1 on the first day of april 1834 1 took passage at st louis on a neat little steamer the name of which i cannot recol lect but which was a regular upper mississippi packet whose destination was galena the commercial metropolis of the northwestern lead mines which were rapidly grow ing in extent and importance my object in undertaking this voyage was to explore the yet comparatively new country in quest of a suitable home for my mother and her family we had ascended the mississippi from new orleans to avoid the yellow fever and passed the winter of 1833-34 at st louis where we had formed pleasant acquaintances and friendships among the french settlers who at that time constituted the majority of the population among those we were particularly well received by the family of john pierre bugnion gratiot to whom we brought strong letters of recommendation and by messrs pierre chou teau john p cabanne chenier and others gratiot's father charles was born at lausanne on lake geneva switzerland the family french huguenots were 1 theodore rodolf was born in the canton of aargau switzerland october 17 1815 he died at la crosse wis february 12 1892 mr ro doif was a graduate of the college of aaran and was for a time a student at the university of zurich as stated in his narrative he came to america when seventeen years of age and settled in la fayette county wis in 1853 he was appointed receiver of the land office in la crosse he was a presidential elector in 1864 a member of the state assembly in 1868 and 1870 and during the same period was mayor of la crosse mr rodolf a reminiscences were written in 1889 at the instance of the present editor who consented to their first publication as a serial in the la crosse chronicle in may and june of that year ed