USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 3
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
the hands of the rash braves; and Allouez was admitted to an audienec before the vast assembly. In the name of Louis XIV, and his viceroy, he commanded peace, and offered commerce and an alliance against the Iroquois; the soldiers of France would smooth the path between the Chippewas and Quebec; would brush the pirate canoes from the rivers; would leave to the Five Nations no choice between tranquility and destruction. On the shores of the bay, to which the abundant fisheries attracted crowds, a chapel soon rose, and the Mission of the Holy Spirit was founded. As this chapel was the first house erected by civilized man upon territory now constituting the state of Wisconsin, some interest is attached to the place where it was built. The exact spot is not known. The fact that it was not on the Madaline, one of the Apostle islands, tradition and the tenor of the "Relations" seem conclusively to establish. It was prob- ably built upon section 22, in township fifty, of range four west, of the govern- ment survey, at a place now known as Pike's Bay, in Bayfield county, on the main land west of La Pointe. The claim is also made that the site is the section south of the one here named-27 ; but the spot is merely a matter of specula- tion. He afterward removed near the present site of the last mentioned place on Madaline Island, where a second chapel was raised.
To the new chapel in the forest admiring throngs, who had never seen a European, came to gaze on the white man, and on the pictures which he dis- played of the realms of hell and of the last judgment; there a choir of Chippe- was was taught to chant the pater noster and the Ave Marie. During his so- journ here he lighted the torch of faith for more than twenty different nations. The dwellers round the Sault, a band of Chippewas, pitched their tents near his cabin for a month, and received his instructions. The scattered Hurons and Ottawas that roamed the deserts north of Lake Superior appealed to his com- passion and, before his return, secured his presence among themselves. From Lake Michigan came the Pottawatomies, and these worshipers of the sun in- vited him to their homes. The Sacs and Foxes traveled on foot from their coun- try, which abounded in deer, beaver and buffalo. The Illinois, a hospitable race, unaccustomed to canoes, having no weapons but the bow and arrow, came to rehearse their sorrows. Their ancient glory and their numbers had been dimin- ished by the Sioux on one side and by the Iroquois, armed with muskets, on the other. Curiosity was aroused by their tale of the noble river (the Missis- sippi) on which they dwelt, and which flowed toward the south. They had no forests but instead, vast prairies, where herds of deer and buffalo and other an- imals grazed on the tall grasses. They explained also the wonders of the peace pipe and declared it their custom to welcome the friendly stranger with shouts of joy. "Their country," said Allouez, "is the best field for the gospel. Had I had leisure I would have gone to their dwellings to see with my own eyes all the good that was told of them." Then, too, at the very extremity of the lake, the missionary met the wild, impassive Sioux, who dwelt to the west of Lake Superior, in a land of prairies, with wild rice for food, and skins of beasts, instead of bark, for roofs to their cabins, on the banks of the great river, of which Allouez reported the name to be "Messipi." After two years of labor, Allouez, having founded the missions of the Ottawas and Chippewas, and re- vived those of the Hurons and Nipissings, returned to Quebec, to lay before his superior a full account of the west and of his doings there; and then, two
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
days later, set out again for Chemoimegon, having with him a companion, Father Louis Nicholas. They reached the mission in safety. Nicholas soon left but his place was afterward supplied in the person of Father James Marquette, who left Quebec in April, 1668, for the upper country, stopping with his superior, Father Claudius Coblon, at Sault Ste Marie. Here a station was begun at the foot of the rapids, on the southern side, by them called the Mission of St. Mary. From this Marquette made his way to the Mission of the Holy Spirit at Chegoimegon, which he reached in September, 1669, and found there five vil- lages of Indians-four Algonquin and one Huron. Allouez, in the meantime, planned a new mission on the waters of the lake, of the Puants; that is, among the tribes inhabiting the country of Green Bay and vicinity. However, before following the missionary to this interesting field of labor, let us return to the Mission of the Holy Spirit, where was left Father James Marquette. This mis- sionary, anxious to extend the faith, had sent an interpreter to the Sioux, bear- ing a present to the tribe to obtain protection and safe conduct for the European heralds of the Cross. Afterward the Ottawas and Hurons of Chegoimegon provoked a war with the Sioux which compelled the tribes first mentioned to flee the country. The Sioux, however, returned the missionary his pictures and other presents before they declared war. The Ottawas fled to the Great Mani- toulin Island. The Hurons remained for a time with Marquette, but finally embarked on Lake Superior, and, descending the rapids, doubled the cape, and landed at Mackinaw, where they had dwelt some years previous. Marquette fol- . lowed these tribes in 1671, raising a new chapel on the main land, on the north shore of the straits, opposite the island of Mackinaw, calling his mission St. Ignatius. The chapel at Chegoimegon was, of course, deserted. It was the end, for one hundred and seventy years, of a mission upon that bay.
On the 3d of November, 1669, two canoes set out from the Mission of Sault Ste. Marie for Green Bay. They contained some Pottawatomies returning to their homes, and were accompanied by Father Claude Allouez. They had re- quested him to visit their country for the purpose of restraining some traders who had ill treated them there. He was very willing to undertake the journey, as it was taking him to the field he had chosen for the founding of his new mis- sion. A month was consumed in the passage. November clouds hung heavily overhead and broke in storms that came near drowning the party in the lake. Floating pieces of ice opposed their progress. On the 25th they reached a cabin of the Pottawatomies, where they were supplied with a limited amount of beech nuts. Two days later they visited some lodges of the Menomonees. These In- dians they found pressed with hunger, and being themselves at the end of their provisions, they pushed forward. Eight leagues from the river of the Menomo- nees they arrived at the village, which was the home of the companions of Allouez. This was on the 2d of December, the eve of St. Francis Xavier. This saint, Allouez chose as the patron of his mission, giving it his name. He found here eight Frenchmen, whom he assembled to join with him in thanksgiving for his preservation in his perilous journey from the Sault. The village was the winter quarters of about six hundred Pottawatomies, Winnebagoes, and Sacs and Foxes. Allouez passed the chief part of the winter here, giving religious instruction. Thus was founded by him the Mission of St. Francis Xavier, the second mission within the present bounds of Wisconsin.
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
In February, 1670, he crossed the bay upon the ice to a Pottawatomie vil- lage of about three hundred people, where he labored for a few days. He was able to visit only one or two of the smaller villages. With the thaws of March the Indians began to disperse for betters means of subsistence. The ice broke up on the 12th of April. By the 16th Allouez had reached the entrance to Fox river, at the head of Green Bay. Passing a village of the Sacs, a place now known as Depere, Brown county, he afterward reached the mouth of Wolf river, up which stream he turned his canoe, to a large village of the Foxes, probably within the present county of Outagamie. Here the missionary founded another mission, which he called St. Mark, the third one in Wisconsin.
Allouez afterward ascended Fox river, of Green Bay, to the homes of the Miamis and Mascoutins, returning subsequently to the place where he had passed the winter. Thence he proceeded to the Menomonees ; also to the Winne- bagoes upon the opposite side of the bay ; and to the Pottawatomies. On the 20th of May, 1670, he started on his return to Sault Ste. Marie. In September he again visited Green Bay, accompanied by the superior of the Ottawa missions, Claude Dablon. At the previous winter quarters of Allouez, they quieted a dis- turbance between the Indians and some fur traders. "We found affairs," says Dablon, "in a pretty bad posture, and the minds of the savages much soured against the French, who were there trading; ill treating them in deeds and words, pillaging and carrying away their merchandise in spite of them, and conduct- ing themselves toward them with insupportable insolences and indignities." The soldiers in particular were complained of, for thus early had the arms of France been carried to the waters of Green Bay. The missionaries held here a council with the congregated tribes, where, as they harangued their unbred audi- ence their gravity was often put to a sore test; for a band of warriors, anxious to do them honor, walked incessantly up and down, aping the movements of the soldiers on guard before the governor's tent at Montreal. "We could hardly keep from laughing," writes Dablon, "though we were discoursing on very im- portant subjects, namely: the mysteries of our religion, and the things necessary to escaping eternal fire."
The fathers were delighted with the country, which Dablon calls an earthly paradise ; but he adds that the way to it is as hard as the path to heaven. From here they proceeded up Fox river to the towns of the Mascoutins, and the Miamis, which they reached on the 15th of September. In passing the lower rapids of that stream, they observed a stone image that the savages honored, "never failing in passing to make some sacrifice of tobacco, or arrows, or paint- ings, or other things, to thank him that, by his assistance, they had, in ascend- ing the river, avoided the dangers of the waterfalls which are in this stream; or else, if they had to descend, to pray him to aid them in this perilous navigation." These missionaries caused this idol, as they termed it, "to be lifted up by the strength of arm and cast into the depths of the river to appear no more" to the idolatrous people. Crossing Winnebago lake, the two priests followed the river to the village of the two tribes. This village was enclosed with palisades. The missionaries, who had brought a highly colored picture of the Last Judgment. called the Indians together in council and displayed it before them, while Al- louez, who spoke Algonquin, haranged them on hell, demons and eternal flames. They listened with open ears, beset him night and day with questions, and in-
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
vited him and his companions to unceasing feasts. Dablon returned to the Sault, and Allouez, during the winter made his way to his mission of St. Mark, though not without danger, as the Foxes were in extreme ill humor. They were incensed against the French by the wrong usage which some of their tribes had lately met when on a trading visit to Montreal.
In the summer of 1671, Father Louis Andre was sent to the Green Bay region as a co-worker. The Sac village, at the lower falls of the Fox river, was observed to be a great resort for all the surrounding tribes, whose num- bers were estimated at 15,000. They were drawn here for the purpose of traf- fic, also by the abundance of water fowl, and by its somewhat remarkable fish- ery, prepared by means of stakes set in the water across the river. The fish in ascending congregated at this barrier, where they were taken in great numbers by means of dip nets. Here, at what is now the village of Depere, was located the central station of St. Francis Xavier, which mission included all the bay tribes. A rude chapel, the first upon these waters, was erected, the third one within the present limits of the state. It has been frequently published that the Mission of St. Francis Xavier was founded at Depere in 1669. This, however, is a misapprehension, as, until 1671, the mission was a roving one, though con- fined to the bay tribes.
Allouez, leaving his companion in charge, employed himself among the Foxes and Miamis. He continued his missionary work, extending his labors to other tribes, until 1676, when, on the 6th of April, he was joined by Father Anthony Siloy. In October following he succeeded Marquette in the Illinois mission. About 1679 Siloy was recalled and his place filled by Father Peter A. Bormeau.t. Allouez, driven from the Illinois, soon after returned to the Mascoutins and Miamis, but went again to the Illinois in 1684, where he prob- ably remained some time. He was there in 1687 and died about the year 1689.
Andre worked with zeal in the mission of St. Francis Xavier. His rude chapel was hung with pictures calculated to strike the imaginations of the sav- ages with powerful force. One represented the twelve apostles ; another showed Jesus dying on the cross, while a third portrayed the general judgment. At the top of this last one parents could not help but observe the contrast be- tween the places occupied by the baptized children and the one where Satan endured horrible torments.
During Andre's temporary absence, his chapel was burned, with all his household goods and winter's provisions, by savages opposed to his labors. He reared a cabin upon the ruins of the former one, and continued to teach the gospel to the benighted heathen. His dwelling was next burned but he built another on the Menomonee, which shared the same fate. Still he kept on with his labors, living in his canoe, and going from place to place among the six tribes of his mission.
In 1676, Father Charles Abanel, superior of the Ottawa mission, was sta- tioned at what is now Depere, where a new and better chapel was built, partly by the aid of fur traders. But the prosperous days for the mission were well nigh ended. In 1680 Father John Enjalran was alone at this mission. At this date the Winnebagoes were hostile to the efforts of the missionary. Enjalran was recalled in 1687. Upon his departure his house and chapel were burned. He returned no further than Mackinaw and the mission of St. Francis Xavier was ended.
Vol. I-2
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
UNDER FRENCH DOMINION
The governor of Canada, John Talon, was an able, vigorous and patriotic Frenchman. He cherished high hopes for the future of New France. He not only labored strenuously to develop the industrial resources of the colony, but addressed himself to discovering and occupying the interior of the continent ; "controlling the rivers, which were its only highways; and securing it for France against every other nation." But the region was still, to a very great extent, an unknown world; yet sufficient knowledge had he of the upper lakes and circumjacent regions to resolve that possession must be taken at once of the country, to secure it to France; meanwhile, an active search was to be carried on for mines of copper.
The agent employed by Talon for the work of securing the great west to the king of France, was Daumont de St. Lusson. The latter set out in 1670, from the St. Lawrence, accompanied by a small party of men. With him was Nicholas Perrot, a Canadian voyageur, who was to act as interpreter. Perrot spoke Algonquin fluently and was favorably known to many of the tribes of that family. He was a man of enterprise, courage and address. His influence with many of the western nations was great. It was arranged that St. Lusson should winter at the Manitoulin Islands, while Perrot, having first sent mes- sages to the tribes of the north, inviting them to meet the deputy of the gover- nor at the Sault Ste. Marie, in what is now the state of Michigan, not far from the foot of Lake Superior, in the following spring, should proceed to Green Bay to urge the nations seated upon its waters to the meeting.
Perrot wintered among the tribes at the bay, and was industrious in making preparations for the journey of the principal chiefs of surrounding nations to the Sault, where they were to meet the representatives of many other tribes gathered for the conference with St. Lusson. Sachems of the Pottawatomies who also represented the Miamis, chiefs of the Sacs, head men of the Winne- bagoes and Menomonees, all embarked for the place of rendezvous, along with the indomitable interpreter, where they arrived May 5, 1671, finding that St. Lusson with his men, fifteen in number, had preceded them more than a month. Indians came from other directions-among them were Creez, Monsonis, Amikjoues, Nipissings and others. When all had reached the rapids, the gov- ernor's deputy prepared to execute the commission with which he was charged -the taking possession of the country in the name of the French king, with the full consent of all the assembled chiefs deputed to give acquiescence for the surrounding nations.
The ceremony was to be an imposing one. To this end a large cross of wood had been prepared. It was now reared and planted in the ground. Then a post of cedar was raised beside it, with a metal plate attached, engraven with the royal arms. "In the name," said St. Lusson, "of the most high, mighty and redoubtable monarch, Louis, fourteenth of that name, most Christian king of France and of Navarre, I take possession of this place, Sainte Marie du Sault, as also of Lakes Huron and Superior, the island of Manitoulin, and all coun- tries, rivers, lakes and streams contiguous and adjacent thereunto; both those which have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all their length and breadth, bounded on the one side by the seas of the north,
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
and of the west, and on the other by the south sea; declaring to the nations thereof, that from this time forth they are vassals of his majesty, bound to obey his laws and follow his customs; promising them on his part all succor and protection against the incursions and invasions of their enemies ; declaring to all other potentates, princes, sovereigns, states and republics-to them and their subjects-that they cannot and are not to seize or settle upon any parts of the aforesaid countries, save only under the good pleasure of his most Christian majesty, and of him who will govern in his behalf; and this on pain of in- curring his resentment and the efforts of his arms." This was followed by a great shout of assent on part of the assembled savages and of "Vive le Roi" by the Frenchmen. Thus it was that the great northwest was not only placed under the protection of France, but became a part of her American possessions. And why not? She had discovered it-had, to a certain extent, explored it- had, to a limited extent, established commerce with it-and her missionaries had proclaimed the faith to the red men of its forests.
The act of St. Lusson in establishing French supremacy in the country be- yond Lake Michigan not being regarded as sufficiently definite, Perrot, in 1689, at the head of Green Bay, again took possession of this region, extending the dominion of New France not only over the territory of the upper Mississippi, but "to other places more remote." This completed the work so auspiciously carried forward in 1671, by this intrepid voyageur.
DISCOVERY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI
The gathering of the nations at the Sault Ste. Marie by St. Lusson, was fol- lowed by an event of the utmost importance to French interest in the west. This was the discovery, if such it can be called, of the Upper Mississippi. Now, for the first time, the upper half of that river was, to a certain extent, explored. For the first time white men beheld its vast tribute in this upper country, roll- ing onward toward the Mexican gulf. The discoverer was Louis Joliet. He had visited the upper lakes in previous years, knew well of the existence of the great river through Indian reports, was a man of close and intelligent observa- tion, possessing considerable mathematical acquirements. He was born at Que- bec in 1645, and was educated by the Jesuits, resolving at first to be a priest but afterward turned fur trader. In 1673 he was a merchant, courageous, hardy, enterprising. He was just the man for the French authorities to entrust with the proposed discovery and exploration of the Upper Mississippi. This was in 1672. Said the governor of Canada, on the 2d of November of that year: "It has been judged expedient to send Sieur Joliet to the Mascoutins (then located in what is now Green Lake county, Wisconsin), to discover the South Sea, and the great river they call the Mississippi, which is supposed to discharge itself into the Sea of California." "He is a man," continued Frontenac, "of great experience in these sorts of discoveries, and has already been almost at the great river, the mouth of which he promises to see."
Joliet reached the mission of St. Ignatius, a point north of the Island of Mackinac, in the spring of 1673, finding there Father James Marquette, mis- sionary, whom he invited to join the expedition. The invitation was gladly ac- cepted. On the 17th of May, Joliet, having with him Marquette and five other
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
Frenchmen, left the mission on his voyage of exploration. He had two bark canoes. Every possible precaution was taken that, should the undertaking prove hazardous, it should not be foolhardy. So, whatever of information could not be gathered from the Indians who had frequented those parts, was laid under contribution, as he paddled merrily up the waters of Green Bay. The first Indian nation met by him was the Menomonee. He was dissauded by these savages from venturing so far to the westward, assured that he would meet tribes which never spared strangers, but tomahawked them without pro- vocation ; that a war which had broken out among various nations on his route, exposed him and his men to another evident danger-that of being killed by war parties constantly in his path. He was told that the great river was very dangerous unless the difficult parts were known ; that it was full of frightful monsters who swallowed men and canoes together ; that there was even a demon there who could be heard from afar, who stopped the passage and engulfed all who dared approach ; and lastly, that the heat was so excessive in those countries that it would infallibly cause their death. Nevertheless, Joliet determined to go forward.
JOLIET'S AND MARQUETTE'S MAPS
The "Relations" of Joliet and Marquette contain the statement that maps were prepared by them for their guidance, from the reports of friendly Indians. Two of Joliet's charts have never been published, but a third (and probably the earliest) has recently been given to the world by M. Gabriel Gravier, president of the Norman Geographical Society, who is an authority on the subject of early explorations in America. The map is full of errors, which must have been known to Joliet as such at the time. Its value consists chiefly in the fact that it is the only specimen of Joliet's cartography thus far made public. Unlike Marquette's map, this one contains a crude representation of the stopping place at Chicago, which is vaguely designated as Mont Joliet.
Joliet found the Fox river very beautiful at its mouth, having a gentle cur- rent. It was full of bustards, duck, teal and other birds, attracted by wild oats, which were plentiful and of which they were very fond. As the party advanced up the river a little distance, it was found to be difficult of ascent, both on ac- count of the currents and of the sharp rocks which cut their canoes. But the rapids in the stream were passed in safety. The Mascoutins were reached at length and in their village was gathered also the Miamis and Kickapoos. Bark for cabins was found to be rare in the Mascoutin village, the Indians using rushes, which served them for walls and roof, but which were no great shelter against the wind and still less against the rain when it fell in torrents. The view from the Indian village was beautiful and very picturesque; for, from the . eminence on which it was perched, the eye discovered on every side, delightful prairies, spreading out beyond its reach, interspersed with thickets or groves of lofty trees. The soil was found to be very good, producing much corn. Plums also and grapes were gathered in the autumn in quantities by the Indians.
Joliet and his party arrived at the Mascoutins on the 7th of June; their de- parture was on the Ioth. "We knew," afterward wrote Marquette, "that there was three (thirty) leagues from Maskoutens (Mascoutins), a river (the Wisconsin) entering into the Mississippi; we knew, too, that the point of the
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