USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 22
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It was at Fort Crawford that the early frontiersmen used to bring to the officers wolves for races, which were chased with horse and hound, as foxes are chased in England. This was their favorite game, but sometimes they diversified their sport by fighting their dogs against the wolves. General Harney, a few years ago, with pride was wont to boast of chasing a wolf down, and having what he called a "fist fight," during which he choked it to death by main force. During the winter, their chief amusement was sleigh-rides over the frozen river, notwithstanding they frequently risked the loss of their scalps.
RU
BONNER-CO- MIL-
FOND DU LAC IN 1837. (Sketch by MARK R. HARRISON, Fond du Lac, Wis.)
CHAPTER XXI. CHICKAMAUGUN, PORTAGE, MILWAUKEE, FOND DU LAC.
CHICKAMAUGUN.
CHICKAMAUGUN, on Lake Superior, was the headquarters for the first missionary laborers within the limits of Wisconsin. The early Jesuits were there already in 1665, but its growth was quite limited, being confined entirely to missionary work. It was during this year that Father Al. Quez built a rude bark chapel here, and established the first Jesuit mission of Wisconsin. *
Shortly after the conquest of Canada by the English, a company of adventurers from England undertook to work the prehistoric copper mines on Lake Superior, but their success being limited, they soon relinquished their scheme. In some of these prehistoric mines, ancient hammers, chisels, and knives, have been found, which bear evidence of having been made by unknown people. Numerous pits had been sunk by these people, who followed the course of veins, extending in con- tinuous lines. From the earth thrown out of one of the pits, a pine tree had grown to the circumference of ten feet, while upon another a hemlock tree was cut, whose annular growth counted three hundred and ninety-five years.
PORTAGE.
During the summer of 1634, Jean Nicollet penetrated the western wilderness as far as the present city of Berlin, then took up his way southward into Illinois.
In 1658, Radisson and his brother-in-law, Groselliers, spent some time among the Hurons and Ottawas, and passed the winter with the Pottawattamies, who were living on the islands at the entrance of Green Bay. The following spring they visited the Mascoutins, on the Upper Fox river. Here Groselliers tarried, while the infatuated Indians, during the summer of 1659, carried Radisson over hundreds of miles of the water courses of Wisconsin, making the portage, and discovering the Upper Mississippi river. Radisson was the first white man to make the portage. It took Radisson and his companions four months to make this celebrated trip through the unknown wilderness. The next white men who visited the portage were Joliet and Marquette, and their voyegeurs, five in number, who "made the portage" in June, 1673.}
In 1680, Louis Hennepin, who accompanied La Salle in his explora- tion tour, at the command of La Salle, explored the Upper Mississippi, and while passing the mouth of the Wisconsin, was, together with his followers, made prisoner by the Sioux, on the 12th day of April. Two months later, they were liberated by their captors, who left them at Rum
* Matteson's History of Wisconsin, 81.
+ Matteson's History of Wisconsin, 78.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
river, and started on a buffalo hunt. Their captors having supplied them with canoes and other necessities, they continued their journey up the Mississippi, and discovered the great falls, which Hennepin called St. Anthony Falls. Upon their return, they ascended the Fox river and were at the portage. Three years later, La Sueur and his party made the portage while on their way to the Mississippi.
Laurent Barth, a trader at Mackinaw, was the first settler at the portage, having come there in the spring of 1792, with his family, from the St. Croix river, where he, in company with other traders, had traded the previous winter. He purchased from the Winnebagoes the privilege of transporting goods over the portage. The Indian habitations near the portage now increased rapidly, but the settlement by white men did not increase for many years.
In 1798, came the next white settler, Jean L'Ecuyer. Barth had, upon his arrival, a single-horse cart, but when L'Ecuyer came, he brought several teams and carts, one of which was a heavy wagon, and so con structed as to transport barges. In 1803, Mr. Barth sold to Mr. Camp bell, who had previously arrived, all his rights in the transportation business. He removed to Prairie du Chien, where he died prior to the war of 1812. Campbell sold his property to L'Ecuyer, and removed to Prairie du Chien, and acted as the first American Indian agent at that point. Campbell is the man who was afterwards killed at Macki naw, in a duel with one Crawford. The two sons of Mr. Campbell, John and Duncan, staid at the portage, and had several teams to convey goods, and transport barges over the portage. After L'Ecuyer's death, which occurred in about 1805, Laurent Fily was employed by his widow to carry on the business, until about 1812, when Francis Roy, who had married a daughter of Mrs. L'Ecuyer, took charge of the business, which he continued for many years. After the war with England, the transportation business at the portage was carried on by Joseph Roulette, who was assisted by Pierre Marquette. The usual charge for transport ing goods across the portage was forty cents per hundred pounds, and ten dollars for each boat. After the advent of Barth at the portage, considerable Indian trade was maintained there.
Barth had brought with him the remnant of his St. Croix stock. L'Ecuyer also kept a large assortment of goods. The widow L'Ecuyer and her son-in-law, Roy, continued in the trade. Laurent Fily, who had clerked for L'Ecuyer, also located there as a trader. He died at Grand Kaukalin in 1846, at the age of forty-three. August Grignon and Jacques Porlier spent two or three winters at this place. The white settlement did not increase to any great extent until after the erection of Fort Winnebago at that point, in 1828.
Previous to the Indian disturbances in 1827, Redbird's band of Winnebagoes had commonly levied contributions on the traders while crossing the portage, which resulted in considerable disaffection. In
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EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS.
consequence of the unsettled state of affairs between the Indians and settlers, and for the better protection of the white population, which was now greatly increasing westward, Major David E. Twiggs was ordered by the government to the portage, in 1828, with three companies of the First infantry, to build a fort. The officers of Major Twiggs' command were Brevet-Major Beall, Captain Spencer, Captain (after- wards general) Harney, First-Lieutenant Gaines Miller, First-Lieuten- ant Jefferson Davis, who was also quartermaster, First-Lieutenant (afterwards general) Abercrombie, Second-Lieutenant Beall (afterwards general in the confederate army), Second-Lieutenant Burbank (after- wards general), and Second-Lieutenant Lamotte, many of whom after- wards became world-renowned. The site selected for the fort was the beautiful plateau on the east side of the Fox river. This beautiful plateau was about fifty feet above the river, which gracefully curves around three sides of this commanding site. Upon this plateau, Fort Winne- bago was erected. The officers and soldiers at first lived in tents until they built temporary log barracks, in which they spent the winter of 1828- 29. During the winter the soldiers were sent up the Wisconsin river, cut and floated down pine logs, which were cut into lumber and timber with whip-saws. They made brick near the Wisconsin river, and lime at Bellefontaine, about twelve miles northeast. The fort was not com- pleted until 1832.
Congress, in 1827, appropriated two thousand dollars for the pur- pose of opening a road from Green Bay to the Wisconsin portage. In 1830, five thousand dollars more was added to this sum, and the pro- posed route extended to Fort Crawford. In 1832-33, an additional ten thousand was appropriated, making a grand total of seventeen thousand dollars.
James D. Doty and Lieutenant W. A. Center were appointed com- missioners and surveyed the contemplated route, which they completed in 1833. The route of the road from Green Bay was on the east side of the Fox river and Lake Winnebago, through the present towns of Depere, Wrightstown, Stockbridge, Brothertown, Calumet, Taycheedah, Fond du Lac, Lamartine, Green Lake, and Bellefontaine, to Fort Win- nebago. The route from Fort Winnebago passed through the present village of Poynette, on the railroad from Portage to Madison, and through Cross Plains to Prairie du Chien. Five miles west of Cross Plains, it passed the dividing ridge which divides the waters which flow into the Wisconsin from those which flow southerly, following the ridge to within six miles of the mouth of the Wisconsin river, thence to Fort Crawford. The road was not open for travel until 1835. It was con- structed by the United States troops. The route extending from Green Bay to Fond du Lac was constructed by troops in charge of Lieutenant Sanders, while the force in charge of the road from Fond du Lac to Fort Crawford was under Captains Harney, Low, and Martin Scott.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
In 1838, another appropriation of five thousand dollars was made by congress for the completion of the road. This appropriation was principally expended between Depere and Fond du Lac. Mr. Henry Merrill, in speaking of the primitive manner of transporting goods up the Fox river, says: "It was necessary for them (the freighters) to assemble a large number of Indians at the rapids, to help them over with the boats. At Grand Kaukalin, they had to unload and cart the goods for about one mile, and the Indians, going into the water, pushed, lifted and hauled the boats over the rapids; then reloading them, poled them up to the Grand Chute, where Appleton is now situated. There they had to unload and carry the goods up a hill and down the other side above the Chute, which was a perpendicular fall of three or four feet. The Indians would wade in, as many as could stand about the boat, and lift it over, while the others had a long cordelle, with a turn around a tree above, taking up the slack and pulling as much as they . could. When the boats were over they were reloaded and pushed ahead, and poled from there to Fort Winnebago. Excepting in low water, they would have to make half-loads over the Winnebago Rapids at Neenah, and with a fair wind would sail through Lake Winnebago."
In 1834, Henry Merrill was appointed sutler at Fort Winnebago. He purchased a large stock of goods in New York, which he shipped to Fort Winnebago, and conducted a general mercantile business. Mr. Merrill resided here from that time until his death, which occurred May 5, 1876. He was a member of the senate of the first state legisla- ture, and, as one of Wisconsin's early settlers, made a record upon which there is no blemish.
MILWAUKEE.
Aside from the storm-bound Jesuits who stopped at Milwaukee, Jacques Vieau was the first white man that came to Milwaukee, and the first to engage in the Indian trade. His name originally was De Veau, but was changed to Vieau, in "self-defense," as Veau, in French, meant calf, or veal. Vieau was a full-blooded Frenchman, and was born at Cour de Neige, in the suburbs of Montreal, May 5, 1757. In :786, he married Angeline, daughter of Joseph LeRoy, the trader at Green Bay. Mrs. Vieau was the niece of Onongesa, a Pottawattamie chief. Their children were a dozen in number, and named Madeline, Josette, Paul, Jacques, Louis, Joseph, Amable, Charles, Andrew, Nicholas, Peter, and Mary. *
*Madeline became Mrs. Thibeau, and died at Stevens Point in 1877, at the age of seventy-eight
Josette, the daughter of Vieau by another consort, became the wife of Laurent Solomon Juneau. She was reared in the Vieau family on an equal footing with the other children.
Paul died in Kansas in 1865.
Jacques kept the "Cottage " in Milwaukee, for many years, commencing in 1835. He died in Kansas in 1875.
Jacques Vieau, Jr., the keeper of the " Cottage " or "Triangle " inn, is frequently confounded with Jacques Vieau, Sr., by writers. The son commenced business about the time that the father retired ; hence the confusion.
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EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS.
In 1793, Jacques Vieau went to Mackinaw from Montreal as a voyegeur for the Northwestern Fur Company. He was at this time about forty-two years of age. His first trip in that capacity was to La Pointe, in Chickamaugun bay. The next year, he returned to La Pointe as a clerk for the company, and, in 1795, was sent out as the company's agent, with a supply of goods, to explore and establish posts on the west shore of Lake Michigan. The supply of goods was placed in a large Mackinaw boat, manned by twelve men, while Vieau, with his mother, wife, and children, followed in a large bark canoe, in which was stored the camp equipage. Vieau was also accompanied by his faithful clerk, Mike le Petteel. This expedition, which started from Mackinaw in July, camped where Kewaunee is now situated, and established a "jack-knife post" near there, and left a man in charge of it. This post was located on what was called Jean Beau Creek by the Ottawas. This was the Indian name for Jacques Vieau. He also established a post at Sheboy- gan, at the foot of the rapids on the north side, and there left a clerk. He also located a post at Manitowoc, near the rapids, and perhaps at other places.
The expedition arrived at Milwaukee on the 18th or 20th of August, 1795,* where he met, at the mouth of the river, a large number of Potta- wattamies, intermingled with Sacs and Foxes, and a few Winnebagoes, who had married into other tribes. Vieau was warmly welcomed by the Indians, who told him that he was the first white man they had seen there. A mile and a half up the Menominee river, on the south side, at the foot of Lime Ridge, he erected two log buildings, one for a dwelling, and the other for a warehouse. According to the statement of Andrew J. Vieau, Sr., the site of these buildings was owned by James W. Larkin, during the late civil war. The site of the store and dwelling was plainly visible, and identified from the remains of banks of earth which had surrounded them.
During the winter of 1795-96, and in fact for the next few years, Vieau remained at his Milwaukee post. Each spring, after packing up the winter peltries and buying maple-sugar from the Indians, he would start out with his family and goods, on his return to Mackinaw, after leaving a clerk in charge of the post, to superintend the planting of corn and potatoes and purchase summer furs. Upon his return trip he would stop at his various "jack-knife posts," and collect their furs and maple-
Louis became chief of the Pottawattamies in Kansas, and there died in 1876, after having accumulated a large estate.
Joseph died at Green Bay in 1879, at the age of seventy-five years, leaving a large family of children.
Amable, who became noted among the early fur-traders at Milwaukee, died at his home in Muskego, Waukesha county, on October 31, 1876.
Charles died in Kansas in 1876.
Nicholas was born in 1826, "just opposite the present stock-yards in Milwaukee." Peter was born at the same place, January 10, 1830.
*According to the History of Milwaukee County, 71, Vieau came to Milwaukee as early as 1776.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
sugar, sometimes relieving the men stationed at the posts by substitutes. The return trip to Mackinaw, with fair weather, took about a month. In August, he would set out again, distributing goods to the lake shore posts, and stay at Milwaukee until the next May.
In 1797-9, while still in charge of the various " jack-knife posts" on the west shore of Lake Michigan, he was ordered to the Fox-Wiscon- sin portage, and there remained in the fur company's behalf, for two or three seasons in the employ of the company. Laurent Solomon Juneau was detailed as his clerk, and thus Juneau, at the age of twenty-one years, arrived at the Milwaukee river in August of that year with Mr. Vieau. The next year, Mr. Vieau withdrew as agent for the American Fur Company, and procured the agency for Juneau, who, in the mean- time, had married Josette Vieau, the daughter of the old trader. Juneau's home became Green Bay, until about 1834-35, at which time he settled permanently at Milwaukee .*
In 1819, Vieau was equipped by Michael Dousman, of Chicago, and for several years traded at his old post on the Menomonie river. In 1836, at the age of seventy-four years, he removed to his homestead at Green Bay, where he remained up to the time of his death, which occurred at Fort Howard, on July 1, 1852. His remains lie buried in the French-Catholic burying-ground at Shanty Town. Mrs. Vieau died at the home of her brother Joseph, in the town of Lawrence, Brown county, January 7, 1862, at the age of about one hundred and five years.
Jean Mirandeau came to Milwaukee shortly after Mr. Vieau, and, according to the narrative of A. J. Vieau, he was employed by the elder Vieau to do blacksmith work. Mirandeau married a Pottawattamie squaw, with whom he lived up to the time of his death in the spring of 1819. After his death, Mrs. Mirandeau and her children lived among the Pottawattamies again, except Victoria, who was raised by the Kinzies, in Chicago. In 1822, Victoria married a Canadian named Joseph Porthier, and is said to be still living near Milwaukee.
Albert Fowler arrived at Milwaukee, November 12, 1833, and, thir- teen months later, Horace Chase came. Upon the latter's arrival, he found four settlers in addition to the Juneaus. t
In 1834, the Indian population at this place was principally Potta- wattamies, intermingled with Sacs and Winnebagoes. They were lazy fellows, and preferred to hunt and fish during the summer months, instead of cultivating corn. They were noted gamblers, principally playing the mocassin game and lacrosse, and were much given to debauchery. During the winter season these fellows divided into small hunting parties, and scattered through the woods, but in the summer the bark wigwams housed from a thousand to fifteen hundred Indians of all ages and conditions.
*Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. XI., 218-224.
+Buck's Pioneer History of Milwaukee, 12-15.
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EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS.
On the old Junean marsh and adjacent lands, where now are the busy streets of Water, Main, Milwaukee, Jefferson, and Jackson, grazed the Indian ponies in great droves in those early days. At an earlier period, as far back as 1823, a large part of this territory was flooded, and was the home of myriads of water-fowl. On the lime ridge was a large Indian settlement. Some of the most industrious of the Indian families would raise as much as one hundred and fifty bushels of corn and a considerable amount of potatoes. On the west side of the Milwaukee, opposite Juneau's place, lived the Indian chief Kenozhazhum (lake pickerel); on the lime ridge old Pohquaygeegon (bread) held full sway, while on the Kinnikinnick river, Oseebwaisum (cornstalk) was the chief of the Kinnikinnick band. Chief Palmaipottoke (the runner), with a small party, was stationed between Walker's Point and the Menomonie.
According to the " Recollections" of Augustin Grignon, one Alexan- der La Framboise, from Mackinaw, located a trading post at Milwaukee about 1785. He shortly returned to Mackinaw, and sent a brother who managed the business, resided there several years, and raised a family .*
Some of the statements contained in Grignon's Recollections, are somewhat misty and uncorroborated. During the first decade of the present century, several traders established temporary trading posts at this place, among whom were Laurent Fily, who represented the interests of Jacob Franks, of Green Bay, John B. Beaubien, Antoine Le Claire, Sr., and "old" John Kinzie. The Green Bay Intelligencer, bearing date April 16, 1834, contains the following editorial:
"The Milwaukee county is attracting much attention. A settle- ment has commenced near its mouth; and there can be no doubt it will be much visited during the coming seasons by northern emigrants, and by all who fear the bilious fevers and other diseases of more southern latitudes. Two or three young men from the state of New York have commenced the erection of a saw-mill on the first rapid, about three miles above the mouth of the Milwaukee river."
Among the numerous enterprising men who came to Milwaukee in 1835, were Daniel Wells, Jr., W. W. Gilman, George D. Dousman, Talbot C. Dousman, E. W. Edgerton, J. Hathaway, Jr., Brown, George O. Tiffany, James Sanderson, James Clyman, Otis Hubbard, Daniel H. Richards, Benoni W. Finch, George Reed, Enoch Chase, Horace Chase, William Brown, Jr., Milo Jones, Enoch Darling, Albert Fowler, C. Harmon, B. Douglass, W. Maitland, Alanson Sweet, Henry West, James H. Rodgers, Samuel Hinman, Mr. Loomis, Dr. Clarke, and Mr. Childs.
Laurent Solomon Juneau was of pure Alsatian French parentage. He was born August 8, 1793, at L'Asumption parish, near Montreal, Canada. His certificate of naturalization is signed by Peter B. Grignon, clerk of Brown county, and dated at Green Bay, the 11th day of August,
*Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. III., 290-292,
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
1831. Mr. Juneau was one of the most trusted friends of John Jacob Astor, Ramsey Crooks and other members of the American Fur Com- pany. Juneau died November 14, 1856, at Shawano, and was buried at that place by the Indians, but was subsequently removed to Milwaukee and buried in the old cemetery on Spring street, and afterwards at Cal- vary. Mrs. Juneau died the previous year on November 19, 1855, at Milwaukee.
It has been said that no trader lived on this continent for whom the Indians entertained a more profound respect. The chiefs in solemn council summoned their braves to attend the funeral. In the middle of the night preceding the burial, an old squaw, the wife of a chief, entered the apartment, and kneeling before the body, clasped her hands in silent prayer. Many incidents occurred of Indian homage. These women were Catholics. The order of the funeral was as follows:
" Ist. Priest in full canonicals, followed by Indian choir, chanting funeral forms.
"2d. Ten pallbearers, four whites and six Indians (Oshkosh, Car- ron, Lancet, Keshenah and others).
"3d. The employés of the agency, male and female.
"4th. Indian women and Indians, two abreast, to the number of six hundred or seven hundred."
Solomon Juneau was buried upon an elevation, far above the agency council-house and burial-ground of the Indians. His resting place com- manded a view of the Wolf as it defiled away into the wilderness of distant hills, and overlooked the hunting grounds, which, in years gone by, he had so frequently traversed.
FOND DU LAC.
Tradition says that the early French traders were here more than two hundred years ago. It is, however, an established fact that a trad- ing post was established in 1787, at the forks of the Fond du Lac river, by Jacob Franks, of Green Bay, and occupied by his clerk, Jacques Porthier.
In the summer of 1797, John Lawe, the nephew of Jacob Franks, then a young man sixteen years of age, operated for his uncle a trading post at this place. Augustin Grignon had a trading post on the west branch of the Fond du Lac river, near where the shops of the C. & N .- W. R'y were erected. This was shortly subsequent to 1791. One of the earliest traders in this locality was Laurent du Charme. Then came Ace, a Spaniard, then Chavodreuil, and later Michael Brisbois. Subse- quently, Peter Grignon, a nephew of Augustin Grignon, passed one winter on the west branch, just below First street. Ace located, as did Laurent du Charme, where Taycheedah is now located. Ace and his clerk were enticed a short distance from their trading posts by some Indians of the Rock river band, and murdered. The Indians now endeavored to enter the house, but were kept at bay until some friendly
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EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS.
Indians arrived from the Taycheedah village. Mrs. Ace was conveyed by her friends to Green Bay, with her family and the goods at the post. An Indian trader, named Chavodruil, selected the post formerly occupied by Ace, for his winter-quarters, and employed a Menomonie Indian to hunt and supply him with meat. This Indian hunter, who lived with his wife in a wigwam near by, became jealous of the trader, and one day shot him.
Joseph Roulette and Michael Brisbois, during the early part of the present century, traded occasionally at this point. In those early days the white traders would sometimes ascend the Fond du Lac river, with their canoes laden with goods, and make a portage of about two miles to the Rock river, then descend that stream to the Mississippi. This was not the usual route to the Mississippi, but it brought them to many Indian villages that they could not otherwise reach. The Indian trade greatly sought for was that of the Winnebagoes, who had a village where Taycheedah now is, the Indian village at Pipe creek, on the east shore of Lake Winnebago, and the various villages along the Fond du Lac and Rock rivers. These trading stations were temporary affairs; the houses of the whites built only for temporary purposes. These early traders would sometimes carry their packs of merchandise upon their backs from Green Bay. Even Solomon Juneau would occasionally leave his home, where Milwaukee now stands, with eighty pounds of merchandise on his back, go to Sheboygan, thence to Lake Winnebago, then return by way of the villages at the head of the lake.
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