USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 8
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Nicollet's training, among the hardships of the uncivilized savages, made him a semi-savage, and more than equal in endurance to any of his hardy companions, and qualified him for that arduous journey. Through storm and calm they pursued their perilous voyage, picking up their food as Indian hunters do from time to time, until finally the shore lines led them through the north channel to the outlet of Lake Superior, and thence to the Straits of St. Mary.
At the site of the present city of Sault Ste. Marie, they found a large and prosperous village of Algonquins. Nicollet and his party landed here, and were the first white men to set foot upon the soil of that part of the country which, one hundred and fifty years later, became the Northwest Territory. Nicollet did not discover Lake Superior, which was within a few hours' walk of the Indian village; as so notable a discovery would have been placed to his credit by his many Jesuit admirers. After stopping at the Falls of St. Anthony a sufficient
*Winnebago.
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length of time to recruit his men, they commenced their long and arduous journey, and finally entered the Straits of Mackinaw, and, descending that famous highway, they gazed with rapture upon the inexhaustible waters of Lake Michigan, and were honored by being its first white discoverers. Skirting the northern shore of this great inland sea, camping upon the edges of the solemn forests which framed it, alternately waiting the passage of storms and to refresh themselves, this brave explorer and his hardy followers finally rounded Point Détour, and beached their frail crafts on the shores of Bay de Noquet, the northern arm of Green Bay. Here they found another Algonquin tribe, with whom they smoked the pipe of peace, and obtained valuable information from them of the far-beyond country.
They next stopped at the mouth of the Menomonie river, which forms a boundary line between Wisconsin and upper Michigan, which at that time, was principally peopled by Algonquins. Here our explorer and his friends tarried long enough to hold a council with the Indians, and to dispatch one of their Huron runners to herald their approach to the Winnebagoes, established at the mouth of the Fox river .* The west- ern shores were low and irregular, and densely wooded with pine and tamarack, which present a somber and depressing appearance, while the eastern banks were high, presenting rugged headlands and abrupt slopes covered with dense hard and soft woods. The summit of the picturesque clay cliff at Red Banks was crowned, for several miles back in the country, with innumerable and interesting mounds. It was here, according to the Winnebago tradition, that the Adam and Eve of the Indian race first lived. t
Nicollet, after waiting for favorable weather, pursued his course through the enormous marshes of wild rice which made the mouth of the Fox river almost impassable, and there landed. In these days the China sea was generally supposed to be in the neighborhood of the great lakes, as yet there being no knowledge of the immense width of the great American continent. Nicollet had heard from the Nipissings "that at Green Bay he would meet with a strange people, who had come from beyond a great water, lying to the west."
Nicollet's mind had been prepared to find, at that point, a large colony of Chinamen or Japanese, or to discover the Orient itself. Nicollet's canoe had been run into a cove below the mouth of the Fox, while he attired himself in a gorgeous damask gown, beautifully decorated with gaily-colored birds and flowers, an oriental garment which he had taken care to provide himself with at Quebec, with the anticipation that he would meet mandarins who would be dressed in a similar manner. Nicollet, thus attired, stepped upon the shore, a short distance up the river, and in this picturesque manner Wisconsin was
*Thwaites' Story of Wisconsin, 27. .
+Ibid., 28.
MARATRIERAÑOS
NICOLLET IN ORIENTAL ROBES AMONG THE WINNEBAGOES.
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introduced to its first white explorer. The rustling skirts of his oriental robe swept the ground as he boldly advanced among the nearly- naked Winnebagoes, and discharged the pistols which he held in either hand. The warriors were greatly startled at this singular apparition, but hailed him as Manitou, or wonderful man; while the women and children fled in terror from the presence of the great Manitou, who carried with him both lightning and thunder.
The polite Frenchman smothered his chagrin beneath a smile, and after doffing his oriental costume, met the Winnebagoes in friendly council. The news of his arrival quickly spread to the surrounding villages, and there soon gathered four thousand or five thousand Indians, who gave great feasts in honor of their noted guest. After the breaking up of the councils he left the Winnebagoes at the mouth of the Fox, and pursued his way up that river. He made portages around the Falls, Deperes, the Kakalins, Appleton, and Menasha. This picturesque vineclad river is now lined with prosperous cities and towns, where, in those days, lived only half-naked savages. In those days, populous Indian villages were at the rapids, and on Doty's island, and at the outlet of Winnebago, while upon the tablelands on either side, were immense fields of maize, which furnished their caches with an abundant supply for winter use, as well as for traffic with the neighboring tribes.
Nicollet and his companions soon emerged upon the broad expanse of Lake Winnebago, and cautiously wended their way until they reached the point where the upper Fox enters into the lake, where now is situ- ated the prosperous city of Oshkosh. This site was afterwards a famous camping-ground for French voyageurs, both before and after the estab- lishment of the "jack-knife" trading posts upon the innumerable water- ways of Wisconsin. From this point he pushed on in search of the Fire nation, whose camp was located thirty miles to the southwest, up the Fox. *
Through this marshy, serpentine course Nicollet pushed on, fre- quently losing his way, until he at last arrived at a point above where Omro now lies, and from thence near the site of the present city of Berlin, where, upon a beach of clay, Nicollet stranded his canoe. Two miles farther to the south, upon an eminence, lay the palisaded town of the Mascoutins, or Fire nation, the object of his search. Three days' journey from this Indian village was the portage which separates the waters of the Fox from the Wisconsin. Had Nicollet dreamed of his nearness to the portage, he would have had the honor of being the first white discoverer of the upper Mississippi. Having secured the good- will of the Mascoutins in the interest of the French, he took up his
*According to Indian tradition, the Fox river was so named because of its winding path, which resembled ths course of a fox when pursued. Another tradition says, a monstrous snake lay down for the night in the swamp, between the Wisconsin portage and the lake of the Winnebagoes; the dew accumulated upon it at night, and, when morning came, it wriggled and shook itself, and disappeared down the river, thus leaving the river bed to mark its course.
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way southward and visited the Indians of the Illinois, and returned to Quebec the following year, by way of Lake Michigan. Jean Nicollet* journeyed over two thousand miles through the trackless wilderness of the great unknown northwest, and thus won for New France a name theretofore unknown in the great European conquest of the northwest.
NICOLLET EXPLORING THE WILDERNESS.
Twenty years passed after Nicollet's journey before another white man came to Wisconsin. Exploration was at a standstill, because of the Iroquois fury and their monopoly of the trade; but, in 1658, Rad- isson and his brother-in-law, Groseilliers, set out on a tour of explora- tion. For two hundred years very little was know of their travels. Radisson had written an account of his adventures for the king of England, and this manuscript, whose truth is universally believed, was finally published in 1885.
These two men spent some time among the Hurons and Ottawas at the Manitoulin islands, then came to the Pottawatomies, living on the islands at the entrance of Green Bay. Here they spent the winter, and in the following spring proceeded to the villages of the Mascoutins, on the upper Fox river. These Indians were regarded with great admira- tion by Radisson, and he, in turn, was looked upon with delight, aston- ishment and awe; they even went so far as to carry Radisson in their canoes, up and down the watercourses of Wisconsin, whenever he desired, and, in the summer of 1659, he discovered the Mississippi river. It took four months to accomplish this end. Radisson describes their discovery as "a beautiful river, grand, wide, deep, and comparable to
*In the year 1642, while attempting to deliver a companion who had fallen into the hands of the Indians, bis canoe was upset in a Canadian stream, and thus the noble and venturous explorer perished. Wis. Hist. Col., Vol. X., 282.
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our own great river, the St. Lawrence." Radisson was alone at the time of this discovery. His brother-in-law, Groseilliers, had remained with the Indians at their village, and helped them make corn.
At this period there was no mission, not even another white man, except Groseilliers, west of the Alleghanies. With nothing but his own skill and bravery, he plunged his way into the very depths of the wilder- ness, and explored the Mississippi river, a thousand miles above the point which De Soto reached. The next year, the two travelers came back to the St. Lawrence river. In the summer of 1661, they both set out on a new exploration. They went to Lake Superior, and skirted along its southern shore until they reached Chequamegon Bay, where they built a stockaded fort, near the site of the present city of Ashland. From thence they proceeded in a southeasterly direction, until they came to a village of the Hurons .* These barbarous people received the explorers like demi-gods, or like people from another planet.
The winter following was extraordinarily bitter. A terrible famine was the result. Their only food was the bark of trees or vines, and old beaver-skins. About five hundred men, women and children died from starvation. "We became the very image of death," writes Radisson. When spring came the famine ended. A party of Sioux Indians soon visited the travelers. These Indians lived in northwestern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota. After a short time, the explorers went to Minnesota, and visited the Sioux at their homes, and also the Christinos, living to the northwest of Lake Superior. Late in the summer of 1662, they returned to the St. Lawrence river, with sixty canoes loaded with furs, valued at 200,000 livres, their well-earned reward.
Upon their arrival the mercenary governor of New France deter- mined to rob them, but, being warned, they secretly fled to Boston, and from there sailed to England. In 1667, they sailed for Hudson's Bay, and established trading-posts, for the purpose of drawing the fur trade of the northwest away from Canada. Thus they became the founders of the famous Hudson's Bay Company. After a little, some trouble arose between them and the officers of the Company, which prompted theni to turn from their English allegiance and join the French service. In 1682, they again came to Hudson's Bay, seized an English ship, took all their former associates prisoners, and raised the flag of France over Port Nel- son. In the meantime Radisson's wife had remained in England. Through the influence of the English ambassador at Paris the two Frenchmen were soon persuaded to reënter the English service.
In 1684, they sailed for Hudson's Bay a third time, where, upon their arrival, they lowered the lilies of France and hoisted the English flag, which has ever since floated triumphantly over that portion of the continent.
* According to Perrot, this Indian. village was three days' journey from Chequamegon Bay, and situated near a little lake about eight leagues in circuit. (Hebberd's Wiscon- sin Under French Dominion. )
MANI
RICHARD SINO CO. MIL
RADISSON AND GROSEILLIERS AMONG THE STARVING INDIANS. See page 70.
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FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS
This is the last we hear of this renowned and brave man. Few of the many whom history has made famous have done so much as Radisson.
In August, 1660, Father Menard, notwithstanding the ruin of the Huron missions, set out for the west, and, after indescribable sufferings en route, finally reached an Ottawa settlement at Keweenaw Point, on Lake Superior. The Ottawas had been driven from their old home by the Iroquois, and were now in a state of unequaled wretchedness. Mis- ery had made them brutes of the lowest of the savage order .* They treated Father Menard most inhumanly. They mocked at his teachings and, in the depth of winter, they drove him from their cabins, where he was forced to make a shelter in the great forest out of pine boughs. Here, battling with the winter's blasts and half famished, living only upon acorns and the bark from trees, this feeble old man lived the life of a martyr until the next summer. The following June he started to establish a mission among the Hurons at the headwaters of the Chip- pewa. His guides had deserted him on the way, but he pushed on until he reached a point near the Huron village, where he is supposed to have perished in the wilderness, and thus gained a crown of martyrdom, he being Wisconsin's first missionary, and her first martyr.
Ma
FIRST JESUIT CHAPEL.
Claude Jean Allouez, a Jesuit, was trained for work in establishing missions, among the Algonquins on the St. Lawrence river. In 1665, Allouez was sent to take Menard's place, at the headwaters of the Chippewa, but the Hurons and Ottawas had removed from the interior wilds to Chequamegon Bay. Allouez repaired to the new Indian settle- ment, built a rude bark chapel, and here established the first Jesuit
*Radisson met them one year later in the wilds of northern Wisconsin, and charac- terized them as "the cursedest, unablest, the infamous and cowardliest people, that I have seen among four score nations, that I have frequented."
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
mission in Wisconsin. This spot soon became the center for the nations of the west. The Hurons and the Ottawas had been attracted to this spot, at the head of the Chequamegon Bay, by the abundant supply of excellent fish, and the opportunities for traffic. Other tribes followed for the same purpose, while some were fugitives from the fury of the warlike Iroquois, who were then invading the whole northwest. Here were conglomerated Sacs, Pottawatomies, Foxes, and numerous tribes from eastern Wisconsin, as well as the tribes from the south, including the Illinois.
Allouez, with the zeal and ardor of a Napoleon, labored with uncer- tain success, but his work was soon ended, as the Iroquois thirst for blood was curbed by the power of the French. The various tribes soon returned to their original hunting grounds, while the missionaries fol- lowed their flocks and the mission of St. Esprit again became a solitude. This zealous priest erected a chapel of reeds, styled St. James, and there, on Assumption day, 1672, planted a cross and preached to a large audience, consisting of five distinct Indian tribes. Allouez' death occurred on the St. Joseph river, among the Miamis, in 1690. Much valuable Indian history was given to the world by this good priest, who passed his life in ministering to others.
Louis Joliet, another early explorer, was born in 1645, at Quebec, and was educated at the Jesuit college for the priesthood. In 1672, he was appointed by Governor Frontenac as chief of the expedition to explore the Mississippi river. Joliet, accompanied by Marquette and five voyageurs, started from St. Ignace on May 17, 1673. The little party canoed the forest-bordered shore of upper Michigan, and, on June 7th, they were at the Mascoutin village on the upper Fox. At this place they obtained guides, as the creek was narrow and wound its tortuous way through immense and almost-impregnable swamps, and, after days of arduous canoeing, they made the portage and found them- selves upon the bosom of the mighty Mississippi. It was with rapture that they gazed upon the beautiful scenery on either side of this mighty and broad stream. The celebrated canoeists passed down the Missis- sippi as far as the mouth of the Arkansas, and being satisfied from Indians whom they met that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and not into the Pacific ocean, and fearing to fall into the hands of the Spaniards, they returned to Green Bay, by way of the Illinois river, making the Chicago portage. Joliet hastened on to Montreal to report to Frontenac his great discoveries, and while in the Lachine rapids, his canoe was upset, and his maps and manuscripts lost.
Upon his return to Quebec, this indefatigable explorer prepared a map, and made a report of the expedition from memory. As a mark of esteem, he was appointed royal hydrographer at Quebec, and, in 1680, he received the grant of the seigneury of Anticosti Island. In 1697, he was granted the royal favor to the seigneury of Joliette, which still belongs to the family. It has been erroneously stated, and gener-
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ally believed, that the leader of this great exploring expedition was Pere Marquette, but such is not the fact, however. Father Marquette was sent out on this expedition by the Jesuits in the interest of the Christian cause; while Louis Joliet was the leader of the expedition, and as such is entitled to the credit due so worthy a leader.
James Marquette came to Canada, as a Jesuit missionary, in 1666, and spent some time in the valley of the Three Rivers, learning the dif- ferent dialects of the Algonquin tribes. After a year and a half had been passed in this way, he was appointed to the Mohawk mission, but before setting out, his course was changed, and he was sent to Lake Superior, where he founded the mission of the Sault Ste. Marie, in 1668. Next, in 1669, he was sent among the Ottawas and Hurons. Here the mission was dispersed by the Sioux, and the Hurons fled to Mackinaw, where Marquette soon followed them, and established the mission of St. Ignatius.
In 1673, when Joliet was commissioned by Frontenac, then gov- ernor, to explore the Mississippi, Father Marquette was directed by the Jesuits to accompany him. In May of the same year, they started from Mackinaw, in two canoes, with five French voyageurs, and proceeded to Green Bay. Next they reached the Fox river, and ascended it to the rapids, and there found a Miami village. Then they descended the Mississippi for a distance of three hundred miles, without seeing a human being. Now they noticed a trail on the eastern shore, and fol- lowing this they soon came upon an Illinois Indian settlement, where they were royally received. Next they proceeded to the mouth of the Ohio, where they met a party of Indians, who informed them that they were within ten days' journey of the sea, and that they had purchased goods from people that came from the east, and dressed as the explorers did. The travelers then resumed their journey, and found numerous and more-civilized Indians as they proceeded. Finally, having arrived at latitude 34°, they stopped, fearing to go farther, lest they should fall into the hands of the Spaniards. After tarrying a short time they turned back and ascended the river. When they came to the Illinois river, instead of going up to the mouth of the Wisconsin, they went up the Illinois. From the head of this river, they were said to have made a portage to Lake Michigan at or near Chicago, and after a four months' absence, they arrived at Green Bay.
On October 25, 1674, Father Marquette* again, with a few com-
*Marquette's map is unquestionably the first ever published of the Mississippi river. The five great rivers, the Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Arkansas, are placed in their relative positions, and their general course delineated with a marked degree of accuracy. The Wisconsin by the French is written Mississing in the map, while in the narrative it is written Mescousin, and the Missouri is written Pekitanoni, the Ohio is called Ouabouquigon, and the Arkansas is not named on the map; but in the narrative mention is made of the village of Akamsca, near the bank of a river of that name.
The Marquette map and the narrative was issued by Thevenot, in what was called Thevenot's Recueil. See Sparks' "Life of Marquette," also Smith's "History of Wis- consin," Vol. I., 306, 307.
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panions, set out to form a mission settlement in Illinois. He and his: little party were obliged to carry their canoes through the forests from Green Bay to the shore of Lake Michigan, thence skirted the western shore of the lake to the Chicago river, where, because of illness, they were obliged to stop. Here they built a rude log hut and spent the winter. The following spring, their hut was inundated by an early freshet in the river. Gathering together their possessions, they went on their way to the Illinois, which they made by the portage of the Des Plaines river, and finally arrived at the Indian town of Kaskaskia, where. he says " he was received like an angel from heaven." After Easter, with two companions, he went back to Lake Michigan, and explored its. eastern shore as far north as what is known as Sleeping Bear Point, in Michigan. Then his strength failed. He grew sick and died on May 18, 1675 .* His party buried him, and took up their march to Michilimacki- nac. In 1676, a party of Ottawas dug up his bones, washed, dried, and carefully placed them in birch-bark, and forming a procession of thirty canoes, bore them with funeral chants to the mission of St. Ignace, where the relics were received with solemn ceremonies, and buried beneath. the floor of the chapel.
FUNERAL PROCESSION OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
Wisconsin, in honor of this good and great man, has placed his statue in the hall of the national capitol.
Louis Hennepin accompanied La Salle in his exploration tour. On the 28th of February, 1680, Hennepin, with two companions, set out to explore the upper Mississippi, at the command of La Salle. They
*On this day he requested his companions to leave him. They supposed he wished to be left alone with his prayers and acceded to his request; when they returned to him. they found him dead. Wis. Hist. Col., Vol. X., 284.
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ascended the Mississippi, passing the mouth of the Wisconsin, and were made prisoners by the Sioux below Lake Pepin, on the 12th of April. They were captives for two long months, when one day, their captors started on a buffalo hunt, took their prisoners as far as Rum river, sup- plied them with a small canoe and other necessities, and then set them loose. They continued their journey up the Mississippi, and soon beheld for the first time the great falls, which still bear the name Hennepin gave them-St. Anthony Falls. He, however, gave an exaggerated account of the height of the falls, claiming that they were from fifty to sixty feet high. From this the conclusion was drawn that Hennepin did not adhere strictly to the truth. He returned shortly after this to Europe, and died in obscurity.
Robert Cavelier La Salle spent his early life in a school of the Roman church, where he became a Jesuit priest. When about twenty- three years of age, he withdrew from the service, and sailed for Canada, where he met an older brother, who was a priest at Montreal, in the seminary of St. Sulpice. This seminary was a religious corporation which had been given a feudal proprietorship of Montreal and its vicin- age. The superior, seeing in La Salle a youth of high character, granted him a tract of land, near where La Chane now stands, with seignorial rights. The young lord built a fort, laid out a village, sub- divided and leased lands in the form of that day, set apart a park or common, and cleared the land and erected buildings. He studied the Indian languages, and after a few years, was master of seven or eight different dialects. Trade with the Indians in furs had given La Salle a chance to make improvements upon his property, and to obtain a vague knowledge of the land in the interior. A party of Seneca Indians spent the winter at La Salle's fort, and told him of the great Ohio, rising in their country, but that the river was so long that it required eight or nine months to paddle to its mouth. La Salle determined to see the river, and obtained the consent of the governor, and procured letters- patent authorizing the exploration. This expedition was fitted out at his own expense. In order to be able to do this, he was obliged to sell his seignory and all improvements. On July 6, 1669, with fourteen men and four canoes, he started up the St. Lawrence. Thirty days of arduous labor was required to pass the rapids, the Thousand Islands, and to reach Lake Ontario. Thence they skirted the shore south to the mouth of the Genesee, where they remained a month, obtaining information and seeking friendship among the Indians. Then coasting in a westerly direction as far as the mouth of the Niagara, plainly hear- ing the mighty roar of the distant cataract, they reached the west shore of Lake Ontario, where they found an Indian prisoner, who promised to lead them to the Ohio river in six weeks. He also met Joliet, returning from a vain search for copper-mines on Lake Superior, and from him procured a map of the lake country, which he had explored.
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