On the largest island of the Beaver archipelago, in Lake Michigan, there flourished about the middle of the present century, a community of several thousand Latter-Day Saints. They were ruled by a king for nearly seven years. Of his temple and his so-called castle, the only vestiges now are a few splinters in the collections of relic hunters. His subjects have been scattered far and wide, and axe and torch long ago reduced their habitations to heaps of cinders.

In the busy brain of James Jesse Strang was conceived the scheme of founding in Wisconsin an empire of Latter-Day Saints. When the great exodus from Nauvoo began, he sought to turn the steps of the wanderers. to his city of refuge at Voree. It was questionable for a time whether he or Brigham Young would triumph. Other pretenders sought to don the fallen mantle of Joseph Smith, but Brigham Young feared none of them as he did Strang. In the end the dream of Strang faded away, and his life paid the penalty of his ambition. His vast plans were "dead sea fruit, that tempt the eye, but turn to ashes on the lips."3

THE MORMON COULEE SETTLEMENT.

The settlement in Mormon coulée had but brief duration. When the Mormon temple at Nauvoo was planned, a party of Saints ascended the Mississippi to obtain lumber for the structure. Doubtless the snug little valleys behind the hills that skirt the prairie of La Crosse tempted them to there plant an isolated stake of Zion.*. At this time (1843) the prairie was a mere trading station, and its rough inhabitants regarded the Mormons as legitimate prey. There were frequent collisions, due in part to the rude attentions bestowed upon the Mormon women by the young men of the prairie. One night the eastern heavens were all aglow. The Mormons had secretly constructed rafts, removed their belongings to them under cover of night, and applied the torch to their deserted homes. Before the hostile inhabitants of the prairie could intercept or molest them, their rafts had floated them many miles away with the rapid current of the Mississippi.

[3] Scattered throughout the peninsula of Door county and adjacent islands, and also in the counties of Rock, Walworth and Racine, loyal adherents of King Strang can still be found. They cling to the faith he taught them with unabated devotion, and cherish his memory with unwavering loyalty.

[4] While en route for the copper mines of Lake Superior, Alfred Brunson of Prairie du Chien and his party of prospectors came to the Black river in May, 1812. "We found the Mormons in possession, getting out timber for their Nauvoo temple: to them and to our company I preached the first gospel sermon ever delivered in that valley. We ferried over Black river on their keel boats, except the cattle, which swam."-"History of the Chippewa Valley," by Thos. E. Randall, p. 23.

George Z. Heuston, of Winona, informs me, on the authority of his father's manuscript history of Trempealeau county, that about that same time a few Mormon families settled in the vicinity of the modern town of Trempealeau, at a place called Little Tamarack, but they did not remain long, and probably joined Lyman Wight's colony at La Crosse.

The Mormon coulée settlement was governed by Elder Lyman Wight, who later became an aspirant for the leadership of the church. Disappointed in his ambition, he led his adherents to Texas.5

KING STRANG'S STRANGE CAREER.

So closely is the story of Mormonism in Wisconsin and Michigan associated with James Strang, that its recital is largely biographical. Of his boyhood little is known, except that he was studious and ambitious -and likewise eccentric. After his death there was found among his papers the fragments of an autobiography covering the period of his life up to the age of 12. The writing comes to a sudden stop, as if the writer had been disturbed and had never cared, or perhaps had no opportunity, to resume the story of his life. In view of the later career of this strange man, the fragment is interesting as giving an insight into the unusual elements that tinctured his life and fashioned his character."

On a farm in the town of Scipio, N. Y., owned by his father, James Jesse Strang was born March 21, 1813. He was but three years of age when his parents removed to Hanover, in Chautauqua county, his life until manhood being passed there. The meager facilities of a country school were supplemented by a brief term at Fredonia Academy. Such details of his life at this period as are known indicate that he was an omniverous reader, and that he was noted for a remarkably retentive memory. In the local debating clubs he vanquished all opponents. While working on a farm he borrowed law books and eagerly read and digested them. He was admitted to the bar and began to practice in Mayville, later removing to Ellington. He became postmaster there, but he was of too restless a spirit to remain long in one place. Although married shortly after he was admitted to the bar, he began a roving life, going from one place to another and flitting from one occupation to another without particular motive, except to follow the bent of his nature. He taught a country school, edited a newspaper at Randolph, and then took the rostrum as a temperance lecturer. He was full of energy and ambition, and a remarkably ready and effective speaker.

Strang's wife was Mary Perce. Her brother resided at Burlington, in Racine county, Wis., and it was at his solicitation that the young man removed to this State. This was in 1843. Here he resumed the practice

[5] An excellent condensed sketch of Lyman Wight, with extracts from his journal, appears on page 125 of "The Wights, a Record of Thomas Wight of Dedham and Medfield and of His Descendants, 1635-1896."

[6] I am indebted to Chas. J. Strang, of Lansing, Mich., son of King Strang, for a copy of the manuscript.

of law, forming a partnership with C. P. Barnes, who later became associated as a practitioner with Judge William P. Lyon.

In the year following his removal to Wisconsin, there came to Burlington several intinerant missionaries from the Mormon Church at Nauvoo, seeking proselytes. Their talk appealed with peculiar fascination to the temperament of Strang. He threw himself heart and soul into the movement. It was a field that afforded his peculiar talents full play. Before six months had expired, Strang had developed from an humble convert to the self-styled head of the church. It was in January, 1844, that his zeal was kindled. He visited Nauvoo, and on the 25th of February was baptized by the seer Joseph Smith into the communion of Latter-Day Saints. The prophet conceived a great regard for the young zealot from Wisconsin, and but a week after baptism Strang had been made an elder with authority to plant a stake of Zion in the immediate neighborhood of his Wisconsin home.

With restless energy and marvelous success, Strang began his propaganda and laid the foundation for the city of Voree. What his ideas were can only be conjectured in the light of his subsequent dream of empire. Intensely ambitious for power, versed in the arts that enable leadership of men, fired with religious fervor, keenly conscious of his own abilities, the example of Joseph Smith's success doubtless inspired him with great ambitions." He saw in Smith an uneducated man who from the hunblest origin became in the course of but a few years the unchallenged prophet of many thousands of men and women.10 The possibilities of his own future dazzled him. Events at first conspired to bring to immediate realization the dreams of Strang. In June the prophet and his brother Hyrum were riddled with bullets by a mob at Carthage, in the State of Illinois. On whom should the mantle fall that the martyred seer had worn? Many sought the succession; but one of them possessed the energy or capacity to measure weapons for more than a brief period with the masterful craft of Brigham Young. That one was Strang."1

[8] Following incident, told the writer by Judge Lyon, illustrates the peculiar bent of Strang's mind: "On one occasion he brought a suit before me (I was then a justice of the peace) to recover the value of honey which he claimed had been stolen from his client's apiary by the thievish bees of a neighbor. Who ever heard of a law suit based on such grounds? And yet Strang conducted the case with great shrewdness and made a most plausible argument. He was continually bringing up unexpected points in law cases, and using arguments that would have been thought of by no one else. I think he liked the notoriety that resulted from that sort of thing."

[9] "E. D. Howe, in his valuable work, Mormonism Unveiled (Painesville, O., 1834), presents the testimonials of eighty-one persons, neighbors and acquaintances of the Smith family, all attesting to their illiteracy and generally worthless and disreputable character."-"The Prophet of Palmyra," p. 11.

[10] "Joseph estimated that, in the various quarters of the earth where his religion had been preached, he had over a hundred and fifty thousand followers."-Remy & Brenchley's "Journey to Great Salt Lake City." Vol. I, p. 349.

[11] "Of all the aspirants he (Strang) was the only one, save Brigham Young, who displayed any genuine qualities of leadership."-Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 5.