----Source: 1918 History of Clark County, Wisconsin

ROSANA HOREL thus relates her experiences: "I was born at Belfast, Maine, in 1839, and lived there until 15 years old. In 1854, with my parents, I left the place of my birth for Wisconsin. We traveled by way of the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes to Milwaukee, and. by railroad from Milwaukee to Madison. In October of that year we went to Black Earth, Dane County. The next spring we moved to Richland County, where we lived for four years. In 1859 my mother died and I came with my father to Osseo, Trempealeau County. I was married there and lived there for six years, then came to Clark County with my husband and settled on a farm three miles west of Humbird, where I lived thirty-seven years, moving to the hamlet of Humbird in 1902.

When I came to Clark County in 1865 there was no town of Humbird or Fairchild. The whole country was covered with tamarack and oak timber. The land where Humbird now stands was owned by Almond Alderman. The place was once called Rocky Mound City. Jake Humbird built the railroad through here in 1869, and the village was named for him. The town experienced quite a boom when they talked of building a railroad from here to Neillsville, but when the plans were changed to Merrillan it subsided. G. W. King had five sawmills and D. D. Travis owned and operated a mill two miles from this town. We used to haul all our grain from the farm to Sparta and bring back our supplies from there, taking about three days to make the trip. The stage coaches used to run through the Garden Valley from Sparta to Hudson, and the settlers used to take turns going to Garden Valley once a week for the mail. There were lots of Indians here but they gave us no trouble only by their everlasting begging. When we first came to Clark County we used oxen, which at night were turned out. One night our dogs made such a noise and fuss that the men got up to see what was the matter. When they went out there was a whole pack of wolves surrounding the open. We used to have plenty of wild game, and used bear grease for cooking. It was nothing to see a drove of deer pass by the door. One day a bear went by acting as though he was wounded and we thought we would get him, but when we got close to him, Mr. Bear leaped over a five-rail fence and was gone. All our furniture in those days was of the homemade variety, including beds, chairs and tables. Everyone was sociable and all acted together, and while we had many hardships, we had some pleasant times. John Branstedter, Peter Beaver, A. Webster Joseph Emer, Orin Wilson and Mr. Colgrove were some of the early settlers."