USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of the state of Wisconsin : being a complete civil, political, and military history of the state, from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 4
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
In conclusion, let me say, that, in giving my fourth work to the in- telligent reader, I am not only sensible of past failures, but impressed with the belief that the future offers much room for improvement.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
Physical Features - Geology and Minerals - Climate, Soil, and Productions - Antiquities.
PROPERLY speaking, there are no mountains in Wisconsin : on the contrary, the distinguishing features are the uniformity of its elevation, and the condition of its surface, which is, for the most part, gently rolling. The whole surface may, with a few unimportant exceptions, be regarded as a vast plain, broken only by the cliffs fringing the streams and lakes. This plain has an elevation of from six hundred to fifteen hundred feet above the ocean. The highest lands are located along the head- waters of the tributaries of Lake Superior, which, near the sources of the Montreal River, are about eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea. From this important water- shed, the land slopes continuously toward the lake, as also toward the south, to the Lower Wisconsin River. From the latter point, there is another slope, still to the south, drained by the waters of Rock River and its tributary streams.
The waters of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers approach and mingle at. Portage City. Near this point they are connected by a canal, from which there is a descent of a hundred and ninety- five feet to Green Bay, and a hundred and seventy-one feet to the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien.
In the south-western part of the State there are numerous mounds, some of them of considerable proportions. Among
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the latter are the Blue, seventeen hundred and twenty-nine feet above the sea; the Platte, twelve hundred and eighty- one feet above the sea; and the Sinsinewa Mounds, eleven hundred and sixty-nine feet above the sea. These elevations formerly served as guides to the adventurer, marking certain well-known points, which accounts for their frequent mention in the early annals of the Territory. There is also a class of ancient earthworks still visible in Wisconsin, containing many peculiarities. They have been made to represent quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and even the human form. In the vicinity of the well-known Blue. Mounds, there is a specimen of these earthworks, representing a man. It is a hundred and twenty feet long, with a body over thirty feet wide, and a well-shaped head. Its elevation is six feet above the surrounding prairie. The mound at Prairieville is a very faithful and interesting representation of a turtle. The body is nearly sixty feet in length, and the shape of the head is still well preserved. Not far from the Four Lakes, there are over a hundred small mounds, of various shapes and dimensions ; and, in the same neighbor- hood, fragments of ancient pottery, of a very rude kind, have been found. A well-formed mound near Cassville represents the mastodon ; which has given rise to many speculative opinions, among which is that very reasonable one, that the ancients who built these earthworks were contemporaries with that huge animal. This theory is strengthened by the presence of mastodon bones in these mounds. But we will return, for the present, to notice more particularly the surface of the country.
The south-eastern portion of the State is broken by ravines bordering the streams ; but these are depressed only a little below the surrounding level. The prairies are destitute of trees or shrubs, and are richly covered with grass, interspersed with beau- tiful flowers of all shades and colors. The oak-openings are also a remarkable feature of this portion of the State, as also the tracts of woodland which border the streams, and the natural mead- ows. As one proceeds north to the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and Green Bay, the timber increases in quantity and value, and the soil changes gradually from the vegetable mould of the prairie to the sandy loam. The surface of, the country becomes comparatively uneven, changing from forest to rolling prairie,
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from prairies to swamps, and from swamps to extensive marshes. And still north, in the vicinity of Lake Superior, it partakes somewhat of a rugged, mountainous appearance.
In the geological structure, there is nothing remarkable, beyond that met with in the surrounding States. Limestone underlies a great portion of the southern part of the State. In the mineral districts we encounter the cliff limestone, and in other parts the blue.1 The northern part seems to be composed of primitive rocks, for the most part of granite, slate, and sand- stone. Commencing a little south of the Wisconsin River, and along the Mississippi as far back as the falls of its tributaries, sandstone, with layers of limestone above and below, is the principal rock, and forms the cliffs on the Mississippi below St. Anthony's Falls for over thirty miles. The streams in this region are considerably obstructed by changing beds of sand. " From Lake Michigan, westward to the other sections named, is a limestone region, in many parts well timbered, while in others a considerable portion is prairie. Underlying the blue lime- stone is a brown sandstone, which crops out on the sides of the hills ; but no lead has ever been found in it. A section through Blue Mound would give the following result, descending verti- cally : hornstone, 410 feet ; magnesian lime, or lead-bearing rock, 169 feet ; saccharoid sandstone, 40 feet; sandstone, 3 feet; lower limestone (at the level of the Wisconsin), 190 feet. The elevations of different parts of the southern section of the State are given by Chancellor Lathrop : at Blue Mounds, 1,170 ; head waters of the Rock River, 316; egress of the same river from the State, 1,280 ; and the portage between the Fox and the Wisconsin Rivers at 223 above the level of Lake Michigan and the Wisconsin River .?
The minerals of Wisconsin constitute one of its most dis- tinguishing features. A portion of the celebrated lead region, extending from Illinois and Iowa, is included in the south-west part of Wisconsin. The whole region occupies an extent of nearly 2,880 square miles, about three-fourths of which is in Wisconsin. And we may add, that the portion of this valuable mineral region included in Wisconsin is as rich and remunera- tive as that in the other States. The lead is mixed with copper
" Lippincott's Pronouncing Gazetteer. 2 Ibid.
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and zinc, the latter in large quantities, together with some silver. Copper is also found in La Pointe, Chippewa, St. Croix, and Iowa Counties. " In Dodge County, at the so-called Iron Bridge, is the most promising locality of iron ore in the State yet discovered ; but on the Black River, and other branches of the Mississippi, good iron ore occurs. The iron ores of the Lake Superior region extend from Michigan into this State in abundant deposits of the richest quality. The other metallic substances are magnetic iron, iron pyrites, and graphite, or plumbago. The non-metallic earths are agate, carnelians (found on the shores of the small lakes), bitumen, peat. Mar- ble of a fine quality, some gypsum, saltpetre, and other miner- als, have been found. A vein of copper ore was discovered in 1848, near the Kickapoo River, which yields about twenty per cent of copper ; but to what extent the bed runs has not been ascertained. Mines were also worked at the Falls of Black River, and in its vicinity ; but they have been abandoned. Facts do not justify any expectations of great deposits of copper in the north-west part of the State. A great bed of magnetic iron ore lies south of Lake Superior, near Tyler's Fork of the Bad River, in strata of metamorphic state. The amount of lead received at Milwaukee for the year 1863 was 848,625 pounds. On the completion of the Southern Wiscon- sin Railroad to Dubuque, it is estimated that 25,000,000 pounds will seek an outlet at Milwaukee. Beautiful varieties of mar- ble have been recently discovered, or made known to the public, in the northern part of Wisconsin. According to Messrs. Foster's and Whitney's report, they are found on the Michigamig and Menomonee Rivers, and afford beautiful marbles, whose pre- vailing color is light pink, traversed by veins or seams of deep red. Others are blue and dove-colored, beautifully veined. These are susceptible of a fine polish ; and some on the Me- nomonee are within navigable distance from the Lakes." 1
The lakes and rivers of Wisconsin are invested with much of beauty. Besides the Great Lakes, Superior and Michigan, which bound the State of Wisconsin on the north and east, the State contains a number of sinaller lakes. Many of these are noted for unrivalled natural scenery. The principal of
1 Lippincott's Gazetteer, the best work of the kind in America.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
these is Lake Winnebago, a short distance south-east from the centre of the State. It is about twenty-eight miles long, and ten miles wide, and communicates with Green Bay, a north-western arm of Lake Michigan, through the Fox, or Neenah River. " These small lakes are most abundant in the north-west, and are generally characterized by clear water and gravelly bottoms, often with bold, picturesque shores, crowned with hemlock, spruce, and other trees. They afford excellent fish. In the shallow waters on the margins of some of them grows wild rice, once an important article of food with the savages of this region." 1
The rivers which traverse the interior, for the most part, flow generally in a south-west direction, discharging their waters into the Mississippi. The latter river bounds Wisconsin on the south-west for more than two hundred miles. Commencing on this line at the south, we have, in their order, the Wisconsin, Bad Axe, Black, and Chippewa Rivers. Of these, the largest is the Wisconsin, which flows nearly directly south for over two hundred miles, and then west about a hundred miles, into the Mississippi. It is navigable for steamboats for nearly two hundred miles. The Chippewa is about two hundred, and the Black about a hundred and fifty miles long. The Fox River, or Neenah, is the outlet of Winnebago Lake, and connects it with Green Bay. The Wolf River, from the north, is the main supply to this lake. The Menomonee emptying into Green Bay, and the Montreal into Lake Superior, are very serviceable streams for manufacturing purposes. These rivers form part of the north-east boundary of Wisconsin. "The Menomonee has a descent of 1,049 feet. The St. Louis (considered as the primary source of the St. Lawrence) coasts this State for twenty or thirty miles on the north-west, and is full of rapids and falls in this part of its course. These rivers are not generally favor- able to navigation without artificial aid. The Wisconsin may be ascended by steamboats to the rapids, where it approaches a tributary of Lake Winnebago, within a mile and a half, where a canal is being constructed, which, when completed, will open an entire inland navigation from New York to the Upper Mississippi. The Rock River is sometimes, at high
1 Lippincott's Gazetteer.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
water, ascended by boats to within the limits of Wisconsin. The Bad Axe, Black, Chippewa, and St. Croix are important channels for floating timber to market from the pine regions in the north-west of the State. The rivers flowing into Lake Superior are small ; and, though unfavorable for commerce, their rapid courses make them valuable for mill-sites. Col. Long estimates that the Chippewa, Black, Wisconsin, and Rock Rivers are respectively capable of a steamboat navigation of seventy, sixty, a hundred and eighty, and two hundred and fifty miles ; but at present they are a good deal obstructed by shifting sand and rapids." 1
The climate, though quite severe in winter, is free from those sudden changes that prevail farther south. The summers are warm ; the winters, cold, and usually very long : but upon the whole, for general health, Wisconsin may be regarded as the most desirable place of residence. The natural scenery is not excelled for beauty in North America; while, on the other hand, in many of its rivers, inland lakes, and mounds and dells, it presents features of marvellous beauty far surpassing other localities.
The soil and productions of Wisconsin are considered at length in the chapters on agriculture, farther on in this volume : hence the absence of any mention of them here.
We now come to notice briefly, and more particularly, some of the principal features of the ancient earth-works, or antiqui- ties, of Wisconsin. These are found in numerous localities, - near the borders of the lakes, or on the margin of water- courses, - all over the State. It is curious to notice, says Rev. William Barry, that they are chiefly found at points already selected as the most favorable sites for modern settlements, showing that the instincts of both civilized and uncivilized are alike attracted to those localities which combine at once the beautiful and the useful .?
We are further informed by Mr. Barry, that, in proceed- ing north on Lake Michigan, the first point noticeable for its remains is a few miles south of the Wisconsin line, in Illinois, where are found some nine conical or round mounds, from
1 Lippincott's Gazetteer.
" From a review of Dr. I. A. Lapham's work, by Rev. William Barry, Chicago.
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Doolittle
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
three to five feet in height, and about thirty feet in diameter. These are disposed in a serpentine row along the crest of a ridge of sand, and were, undoubtedly, burial-places of the dead. At Kenosha were found indications of a manufactory of arrow- heads and other articles of flint, for which abundant material was furnished by the bowlders and pebbles along the lake beach and shore. At Racine, there are a number of very inter- esting remains, chiefly on the high ground near Root River, from one to two miles from the lake. Here are' numerous circular burial-mounds, though of small size and elevation, em- braced in one circular enclosure, with several tapering ridges. The mounds are without systematic arrangement, from five to fifty feet in diameter, and from one to seven feet in height. Dr. Hoy of Racine opened one, in which were found the skeletons of seven persons, in a sitting posture, facing the east, but unaccompanied with ornaments. In another he dis- covered two vases of pottery, one made of cream-colored clay and white sand, like pale brick, of the capacity of five quarts : the other, which was of a red brick color, was smaller. Both are thought to resemble those in culinary use among the Burmese. The great antiquity of these remains is made clear by the gigantic size of the trees now standing upon them ; one with three hundred rings showing, as Dr. Hoy estimates, an an- tiquity of a thousand years. But the most numerous group of these mounds lies about a mile west of Racine; and a part of them has been embraced in the modern cemetery of that beautiful city.
The numerous earth-works about Milwaukee attest at once the attractiveness of that favorite locality to the aboriginal inhabitants. They extend from Kinnickinnic Creek, near the " Indian fields," where they are most abundant, to a point six miles above the city. They occupy the high grounds contigu- ous to the lake and streams, but not the immediate shore ; and a considerable number are appropriately enclosed in the " For- est Home " cemetery of Milwaukee. Many of the mounds in this region are of large extent, chiefly from one hundred to four hundred feet in diameter ; and are laid out in fanciful forms, resembling the figures of turtles, lizards, birds, the otter, and buffalo : not a few have the form of a war-club. In
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
some instances, one mound is elevated so as to overlook or com- mand many others, which has led to the conjecture of its being either an observatory, or, more probably, an altar-mound for sacrificial or religious rites.
At Sheboygan and Manitowoc, similar antiquities are found, though to a smaller extent. Many bear resemblance to simple breastworks for defence; being about four feet in height, and twelve feet broad at the base.
On leaving the lake-shore, fine remains are to be found on the borders of the interior waters of Wisconsin. On the Fox or Pishtaka River are several interesting localities, - one a little north of west from Chicago, where were counted on the brow of a hill twenty-seven mounds from a foot to four and a half feet in height, and from fifteen to twenty-five feet long. The prin- cipal points of interest on the Pishtaka are at or near Wauke- sha, where have been disinterred many pipes and specimens of pottery, and in the neighborhood of the village of Pewaukee, where is a remarkable collection of lizard and turtle mounds ; one having a length of four hundred and fifty feet.1
"The basin of Rock River, with its tributaries, is, perhaps, exceeded by no part of the North-west in the interesting character of these aboriginal remains. Without particularizing those found a few miles above Fulton, where the river expands into a beautiful lake, abounding in fish, a natural attraction to the red man, it may be worth while to notice more at length the very remarkable remains found at what has been termed the 'ancient city of Aztalan.' This locality has attracted much notice as one of the wonders of the West; and exaggerated accounts have gone forth of its brick walls and buttresses, its stone arches, &c., in all of which there is hardly a shadow of truth. These remains were first discovered in 1836, and has- tily surveyed by N. F. Hyer, Esq., the year following.
"On the west branch of Rock River may be seen a ridge of earth (not of brick) extending around three sides of an irregular parallelogram, the river forming the fourth side. Its length at the north end is 631 feet; on the west side, 1,419 feet, and 700 feet on the south side ; making an aggregate length of 2,750 feet, and enclosing an area of seventeen and two-thirds acres. The ridge is about twenty-two feet in width, and from a foot to five feet high, the corners not rectangular, and the embankment not straight. The so-called ' buttresses ' are simple enlargements, about forty . feet in diameter, at intervals varying from sixty-one to ninety-five feet, giving the appearance of so many mounds with a connecting ridge. Irreg-
' From Rev. William Barry's Paper on the Antiquities of Wisconsin.
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ular masses of red clay in the embankment, in some instances partially baked by burning grass or straw, have led to the popular belief of the employment of brick in its construction.
" At the south-west corner of the interior is found a square truncated mound, having a level area on the top fifty-three feet wide on its west side, and, seen from high ground near, has the appearance of a pyramid 'rising by successive steps, like the gigantic structures of Mexico.' This is sup- posed to have been the most sacred spot, as well as the highest. The exte- rior wall curves around this pyramid, and is also protected by two parallel walls outside the principal embankment. A similar pyramidal elevation is found at the north-west corner ; while various low and smaller ridges are to be seen within the enclosure, with connecting rings or circles, supposed to be the remains of mud-houses. That the structure above described was intended for sepulchral or other religious uses, rather than for military defence, is made probable by the disinterment of half-burned human remains from one of the buttresses, together with fragments of pottery and charcoal. It is confirmed by the material fact, that the whole structure is commanded, in a military point of view, by a parallel ridge, extending along the west side, within arrow-shot distance.
" The strong resemblance this structure bears to the temple mounds of Ohio, and the States south, places it in the same family with that class, which finds its highest type in the finished monuments of Mexican art. Hence the name given to this locality of Aztalan, - a derivative from the Aztecs of Mexico, among whom existed the tradition of a migration from the north. The dissimilarity of these remains to the animal-shaped mounds commonly found in the West is worthy of notice ; and it may have been, as Mr. Lapham supposes, a sort of Mecca, - the periodical resort of the race that constructed it. It is sad to say, however, that this highly-inter- esting work of antiquity, like many others, is suffering injury at the hands of civilized man, who is furrowing it for grain, or digging for its hidden treasures. Cannot this work of the destroyer be stayed, and these precious monuments of a race that no longer lives to tell its story be preserved ?
" Besides the antiquities of Aztalan there are yet others in the valley of Rock River, beyond Ixonia, at Wolf Point (memorable as the point where Black Hawk made his stand in 1832), at Hartford, where has been found a bird-shaped stone, much revered by the Winnebago Indians, and, five miles farther, a ridge one thousand feet in length. But the most extensive and varied group is at IIoricon, numbering about two hundred common mounds, among which are modern graves of the Pottawattomies. Sixteen of the mounds are of a cruciform shape.
" It would require more space than propriety allows to give in detail the various works of antiquity on the Neenah or Fox River of Green Bay; on a "branch of Grand River, where are some one hundred mounds, one called, from its figure, ' the man,' though with some inequality in the length of its members ; on the basin of the fine River Wisconsin, where, at the ' Dells of the Wisconsin,' is an enclosure with an area of forty-five thousand
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 59
square feet, large enough to hold two thousand persons, fortified by double walls, which may have been protected by palisades; and at Iron Creek is still another fort surrounded by a fosse, or ditch, in the form of a parallelo- gram, and symmetrical in its figure. We might pass on to notice the curiosities of the Lake Vieux Desert, with its beautiful island so favorable for cultivation and defence to the primitive race, and showing an interesting elliptical embankment in its centre; and the yet more attractive remains in the region of Lake Superior, where have been found mounds in the forms of mathematical figures, one a regular pyramid, like that within the walls of Aztalan.
"Should the reader desire a more detailed account of these relics of American antiquity, and others we have not particularly referred to, at Madison and elsewhere, he will find them in Mr. Lapham's valuable Me- morials, from which we have freely drawn. It is gratifying that public attention is directed to these remains, which deserve a thorough examination from men of science. It is clear, that but little is yet known of them. Further and more careful examination may throw a flood of light upon the race who have left them to us, of whom we now know little more than what a glimpse at these remarkable earth-mounds reveals. A few bones, a few bits of pottery, pipes wrought sometimes in artistic forms, a few rude im- plements, -this is all. A single example of hieroglyphic characters is given us at Gale's Bluff, near La Crosse, on the Mississippi, forbidding the hope of learning much, save by inference and comparison. Yet much is possible to scientific research, as is witnessed in the long obscured monu- ments of Egypt and Babylon." 1
Dr. I. A. Lapham suggests, that the people who left these monuments were the progenitors of the fast-fading Indian tribes of North America, and that this is made probable by the resemblance of the pots and vases in figure, &c., to those afterwards found in old Indian villages, and to those still made by the women of the Mandan and other tribes. "He also supposes there was a gradual transition in the form of the mounds. They are found in all figures, from the full circle, through the oval and elongated mounds, to the oblong and long ridges. He considers the oldest to embrace those formed in the figures of animals, and the great works at Aztalan ; that the next in the order of time were conical mounds erected for sepulchral uses, these coming down to a recent period. Indications of garden-beds have been found in connection with some of the mounds, which are planted in geometrical figures, or in right lines. These he places
1 Mr. Barry's Paper.
Dictized
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
later. The most recent are those bearing marks of planta- tions by modern Indians, with no observance of regularity or order. This theory supposes a singular and sad degeneracy in the latter race of the red men. It is worthy of notice, that the animal-shaped mounds are chiefly confined to the territory embraced in the State of Wisconsin."' And we may add, that the antiquities of the State, in all their varied features, present a wide field for scientific research, - a labor that ought to, as it no doubt will, receive, as it has in the past, ample government support.
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