It now includes the village of Adams. It has 6 taverns, 7 stores, 5 mills, 26 mechanical shops, 1 carding machine, 1 tannery, and 1 printing office at which the Sauk County Standard is published weekly. Population, 2,000.

BARKER'S, Lake, is in the northwest part of the town of Sugar Creek, Walworth county. It is about one and a half miles in length.

BARK, Point, Lake Superior, near the mouth of Heron river. BARK, River, rises in Richfield, Washington county, and running southwest through the towns of Merton, Delafield, Summit, and Ottawa, in Waukesha county, passes through the towns of Sullivan. Hebron, Cold Spring and Koskonong, in Jefferson county, emptying into Rock river at Fort Atkinson, five miles above Lake Koshkonong.

BARK RIVER, P. O., Jefferson county, in the town of Hebron, 10
miles southeast of Jefferson, and 40 southeast of Madison.
BARTON, P.O., Washington county. See village of Newark.
BASS Lake, a small lake on section 24, in the town of Rutland,
Dane county.

PASS LAKE, P.O. in Rutland, Dane county, discontinued.
BATTLE, Creek, is a small stream having its source in two or three

small lakes in Summit, Waukesha county, runs northwesterly,
and empties into Oconomowoc river, in the town of Concord,
Jefferson county.

BEACHWOOD, P. O., in county of Sheboygan, being in Scott, town 13 N., range 20 E.

JEAR, Creek, Chippewa county, enters Buffalo Slough from the east. BEAR CREEK, P. O., in Richland county.

BEAR, Creek, rises in Sauk county, and runs southwest into the Wisconsin, in range 2 E.

BEAR, Island, in lake Michigan, near southeast corner of town 32, range 29 E., Door county. It is about a mile in diameter.

BEAR, Lake, in the town of Greenbush, Sheboygan county, on sec. 29, township 15, range 20 E.

BEAVER, Creek, a tributary from the north of Black river, entering the same near Dakorra Mound, La Crosse county.

BEAVER DAM, Town, in the county of Dodge, being township 11,

of range 14, and south half of town 12, range 14, and south half of town 12, range 13, eight miles west from Juneau, the county seat. The population in 1850 was 1,830. It has 10 school districts.

BEAVER DAM, River, rises in Fox lake, and runs south, emptying into the Crawfish, in the southern portion of Dodge county. BEAVER DAM, P. V. in town of same name, Dodge county, being

on section 4, town 11 N., range 14 E. It is situated on a stream of the same name, at the outlet of a pond some 8 or 10 miles in extent, where stands a flouring mill, in which are constantly employed 4 runs of stone; where there is to be built the coming season another flouring mill and woollen factory, an oil mill, a saw mill, and a carding machine with 5 more saw mills and 2 flouring mills with two runs of stone each, within 3 miles of the village, and yet the stream is considered sufficient for considerable improvement in the line of mills and machinery. A strip of excellent timber skirts its banks, rendering timber and lumber very abundant and cheap. In the village there are 3 hotels, 10 or 12 stores, 1 apothecary shop, 1 furnace, 1 cabinet, 1 tin, 1 siddle and harness shops, 2 livery stables, 3 churches, and two to be built immediately; 1 jewelry store, 6 doctors, 1 printing office, besides carpenter, tailor, blacksmith, waggon and she shops, &c., with some 400 dwellings, and a population of & least 1,500. This place possesses superior advantages. 1 has plenty of water power, and of timber to saw, thus reducing the price of lumber and rendering building easy. It is surrounded by one of the most fertile sections of the state, which naturally inclines to this point for a market; and its

means of transit when the La Crosse and Milwaukee railroad is completed, will add another important feature to its prospects. With such natural advantages, and these evidences of prosperity, who can wonder that Beaver Dam should make such rapid strides in advancement and business facilities, while it requires no prophetic eye to discover that, ere long, she is to be ranked among the most populous, wealthy, and business inland towns in Wisconsin.

BEAVER, Lake, is near the centre of the town of Merton, a short distance east of Pine lake, in Waukesha county, into which it has its outlet. It is about a mile in length.

BEETOWN, Town, in the county of Grant, being townships 4 and 5 N., of range 4 W.; 6 miles west from Lancaster. It has 7 school districts.

BEETOWN, P. V. on section 30, in town of same name in Grant county, town 4, range 4 W.; is surrounded by rich lead mines and a good farming region of land, with timber on the east, and prairie on the north, west, and south. The population is about 300; with 55 dwellings, 9 stores, and 1 hotel. BEETOWN, Diggings, a mining place on section 17, town 4, range 4 W., in Grant county.

BELFONTAINE, P. O., in Columbia county.

BELGIUM, Town, in the county of Ouzaukee, being township 12 N., of range 22 E.; located 7 miles north from Ouzaukee. The population in 1850 was 1,154. It has 7 school districts. BELMONT, formerly P. O., in town of same name, in northwest corner of Lafayette county, at Platte Mounds. At this place the first session of the territorial legislature of Wisconsin was held. It is now the residence of Hon. Charles Dunn, chief justice of the territorial supreme court.

BELOIT, Town, in county of Rock, being township 1 N., of range 12 E.; located southerly, 10 miles from Janesville, the county seat. The population in 1850 was 2,750. It has 9 school districts.

BELOIT AND MADISON RAIL ROAD COMPANY.-Directors: John B. Turner, W. L. Newberry, Edward J. Tinkham, and E. S. Wadsworth, Chicago, Ill.; L. G. Fisher, Hazen Cheney, and John Hackett, Beloit, Wis.; Volney Atwood, J. A. Sleeper, and Otis W. Norton, Janesville, Wis.; Simeon Mills, F. G. Tibbits, and Elisha Burdick, Madison, Wis.; John P. Turner, President; Benj. Durham, Secretary; Edward J. Tinkham, Treasurer; and John P. Ilsley, Chief Engineer. This company was incorporated by act of the legislature, approved Feb. 18, 1852. By the charter the company are authorized to create a capital stock of $1,200,000, and to locate, construct and operate a single or double track railroad, from the village of Beloit in the county of Rock, via Janesville in the county of Rock, to Madison, the capital of the State of Wisconsin, with power also to connect or consolidate with other railroad companies. The company was organized at Madison on the 1st day of July, the same year, by the election of officers as above stated. Preliminary surveys were immediately commenced, preparatory to the location of the line, and the attainment of the right of way. The report of the chief engineer shows the length of the line from Beloit to Madison to be 52,08 miles, and the estimated cost $790,000, or $15,027 per mile, laid with heavy T rail. Some portions of the work have already been contracted, and the engineer is now actively engaged in completing the surveys and procuring the right of way, and the whole line will soon be ready for contract, and it is confidently believed that the entire road will be completed to Madison by the 4th of July, 1854. By an amendment to its charter, passed February, 1853, this company are authorized to construct their road direct from Beloit to Madison, and by running about twelve miles west of Janesville, the line will be reduced in length something over four miles, and be entirely removed from competition with rival roads. The district of country through which this road passes to its present terminus, the capital of

Wisconsin, is equal, if not superior, in population, productiveness and natural beauty to any portion of the state; while its ultimate extension to the Wisconsin river at Portage city, and thence through the extensive pine regions of the north to Lake Superior, or the Upper Mississippi, insure for it an immense and constantly increasing business, as that interesting portion of the country becomes settled and more fully developed. The very favorable terms upon which this company have arranged with the Chicago and Galena railroad company, to run in connection with and operate this road as a branch of that already popular and profitable thoroughfare, added to the many other superior advantages already enjoyed by this company, warrant the belief that this will prove one of the most useful, as well as most profitable, railroad enterprises in the Great West. To Simeon Mills, Esq., of Madison, is due the credit of originating and largely contributing toward the successful prosecution of this enterprise.

BELOIT, P. V., Rock county, on sections 35 and 36, in town of same name, being town 1 N., of range 12 E., 12 miles south from Janesville, and 45 miles southeast from Madison. It is situated on the State line, at the junction of Turtle Creek with Rock River. Its commercial and manufacturing facilities are of a superior character, and the means of education are as great as in any other town in the State. It has a population of 3,000, with 400 dwellings, 1 baptist, 1 congregational, 1 methodist, 1 presbyterian, 1 episcopal, and 1 catholic church; 18 dry goods stores, 10 grocery and provision, 2 hardware and 3 drug stores; 3 stove and tin, 2 shoe, 4 clothing and 2 book stores; 2 cabinet, 2 barbers, 2 jewellers, 4 market and 2 paint shops; 3 saddle and harness, 4 blacksmiths and 2 coopers shops; 1 tobacco factory and store, 3 hotels, 3 flouring, 1 oil, and 1 saw mill, 1 flax factory, 1 foundry, 1 machine shop, 1 manufactory of reapers and fanning mills, 2 carriage and waggon factories, 1 scale manufactory, 1 woollen factory, and 1 candle and soap factory.