BLUE MOUNDS. Wis. – There was rough living in lead-mining towns and a need for rest stops along the Military Road that stretched from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. That was the impetus, in the early 1800s before Wisconsin statehood, for a town given the name “Pokerville.” Along that route one of many lead mines was discovered by Ebenezer Brigham, west of the current town of Mt. Horeb. A cabin was built in 1845; it was the first dwelling, followed by a hotel. They were the birth of a new town soon to be labeled Pokerville. According to a 1925 Wisconsin State Journal article, it was the first village in what would become Dane County.