USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People > Part 34
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352
HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
The first settler in the town was Andrew Merton, who located at Merton's Landing, on Wolf river, in the fall of 1849. He was soon joined by Albert Neuschoeffer and Herman Page, who also came from Sheboygan county. Charles Boyson and family set- tled along the river the same fall. Their grist was taken in boats down the river to the mill of D. W. Forman & Co., at Algoma, in a home-made dugout or canoe carved from a solid log. In 1851 the steamer Berlin commenced regular trips up the river, and outside communication was more pleasant. There is no railroad in the town. The town was not settled very soon and it was 1858 before the first school was opened by Mary Hayers at her home, and the first public school building was erected in 1859. For many years there was only one Republican voter in the town and he was the postmaster. There are two German Protestant churches in the town. The United States mail rural delivery is extended into the town from Freemont and Larson.
At the old bay boom site, on the property of Mr. Charles Richter, there is the most extensive shell heap field in the whole state. It covers an area of 300 acres. The heaps are of various sizes from level with the soil to three and four feet high. On the residence site of Mr. Richter there is an ancient aborigina! burial ground. Many skeletons and a mass of relics have been unearthed in the garden, consisting of copper, stone and shell implements and pottery sherds.
Bay Boom.
In the southern part of this town the Wolf river enters Lake Poygan through a long sweep of marsh land seven miles along the river. Off to the south of the winding swirl of the river Bay Boom sets up into the marsh from the lake to almost within half a mile of the river. By cutting a canal through the sand from the river into this bay a land-locked, quiet place was secured for booming the millions of logs from the white pine forests which came sweeping down the river each season, the harvest of 2,000 woodsmen who had sawed and skidded all through the winter in the great forests along the river. From the graphic sketch of the booming and handling of these mil- lions of logs, written by Charles G. Finney in the "History of Oshkosh," issued by Finney & Davis in 1866, we copy the fol- lowing :
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"Another prominent feature in our lumber trade is the 'Wolf River Boom Company.' This company was incorporated in 1857, J. H. Weed, president. It occupies that part of the Wolf river above Lake Poygan, a distance of three and one-half miles, the cutoff or canal one-eighth of a mile, and a bay at the north- east point of the lake (Poygan) now known as Boom Bay. and extending southwards from the cutoff two miles. In this bay the rafts are mostly made up, and to say acres of logs conveys but a slight idea of the magnitude of the company operations. This cutoff, the spiling and booming of the bay and the river above has cost the company $20,000 and has so systematized and facilitated the business of making up the 'fleets' of logs ready for towing that, compared to a former period, the business is now done at a less expense, a saving of time and a saving of logs to the owners. It has until a year or two since been the practice of the boom company to collect the logs and make up the rafts for those running logs to market, and receiving from 40 to 50 cents per thousand feet as a reimbursement; but that practice is mostly abandoned. Now each man or company own- ing the logs has men all along at the booms on the bay and river above for some miles to gather up the logs as they come along, turn them into their respective booms, where they are rafted, and hung outside the booms in the bay, and are there made up into what is called 'fleets.' For furnishing such facilities and conveniences the company receive 10 cents per thousand feet, amounting to a large sum in the season. The hardwood logs are cribbed above and brought down in that shape, when they are run directly through the cutoff without rafting, and pay toll of 25 cents per crib, or $1 per raft. But the greater part of the logs are gathered and rafted as before described.
"The canal or cutoff is one-eighth of a mile long and is 100 feed wide. It connects Boom bay, or the northeastern bay of Lake Poygan, with the Wolf river above, where the river takes a sharp turn to the southwest, and shortens the distance of navi- gation seven miles, two and one-half miles of river, and a round about trip through Lake Poygan, and making nearly a straight course with the river above through Lakes Poygan and Win- neconne. Though the greater part of the rafting is done at the bay, the river above the cutoff and between that and the lake, comprising a distance of about three and one-half miles, is pre- pared for this purpose by a continuous boom some ten feet from the river bank, making a race through which all logs pass. Out-
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
side this boom the rafts are made up belonging to the different owners, and hundreds of men may be seen standing at their re- spective posts watching closely every log for the owner's mark and shoving it on its journey to the next when its ownership is not recognized. When their raft is full, made up in this way, it is shoved across the channel and 'hung,' to be taken through the canal in that shape, and to be made up into 'fleets' in the bay below. The river from its turn to the lake, some two miles, pre- sents one solid mass of logs, which are also rafted and taken round through the lake to the bay aforesaid. It is difficult to convey to the mind of the reader a correct idea of this laborious process. It must be seen to be appreciated, and to take a view of the hundreds of small houses all afloat on the rafts, in which men, apparently happy, spend their lives, is but to impress the beholder with a full sense of the magnitude of the work and the mode of life of thousands of river men in the lumber trade.
"That there are two miles and a half of the river occupied in making up the rafts and two miles of Boom bay below the cut- off used for the same purpose. Sixty companies are engaged in getting out and running down logs. There are facilities for mak- ing up at the same time 150 rafts, which are made up and 'hung' outside the booms for 'fleeting.' Half a million of logs in number pass through the cutoff in one season. One hundred and fifty million feet of logs got out is a fair estimate for this year. Two thousand men are engaged yearly in the logging business. Three hundred men are engaged in rafting at the bay. Average wages per day is $2.
"Logs taken in fleets from this bay by tugs to Oshkosh cost 15 to 20 cents; to Fond du Lac, 40 to 50 cents; Neenah and Menasha, 40 to 50 cents. Fleets comprising from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 feet are brought down by a single tug. The prominent appendage of a tug is her 'grouser,' which an old 'salt' would call a 'juy mast.' After the boat is attached to the fleet she is run out to the length of her tow line and this perpendicular fixture (grouser) is then let down directly through the forward part of the boat, and being armed with a steel point, sinks deep into the sand or mud and, like a kedge anchor, holds the boat fast; then the machinery for increased power, operated on by steam, winds up the line and moves the fleet so much. Then be- fore the momentum is lost the boat has hauled up her 'grouser,' gone ahead and ready to give another pull-a somewhat slow but powerful method of moving logs. It is only through the
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TOWNSHIP HISTORY.
. lakes that this is done. On the river the fleets have to be divided into rafts or cribs on account of the narrowness and meandering of the channel, as well as in order to pass through the bridges, after which they are regularly towed and not 'groused,' as in the case of the fleets. There is no 'tug' on the river with a draft and capacity adapted to the business that could move one of these 'fleets,' hence the 'grouser' is an important member.
"A crib of logs is nearly square and of a size according to the length of the timbers or poles used to fasten them together, the logs being only held in their places by such timbers, size usually about twenty to thirty feet square.
"A raft consists of several of these cribs, sometimes to the number of hundreds, generally rearranged and fastened . to- gether by traverse sticks or poles running across and holding the logs securely in their places, the length depending on the number of logs belonging to the party or parties employing the tug. Rafts half a mile in length are a common sight on the river.
"A 'fleet' is any number of these rafts that may be attached (temporarily) to save time in towing them through the lakes, covering thousands of feet square, according to the power of the tug employed. Cribs of timber, posts or ties are similar to a crib of logs in size and shape, but laid one course above the other consistent with the depth of the water."
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XXIII.
CITY OF NEENAH.
Making the Menominee Treaty Under Which the Mission of Winnebago Rapids Was Founded.
When the first of modern pioneers appeared at Winnebago Rapids, the future Neenah, in 1843, they found there a deserted town containing thirty-four block houses, a sawmill, a grist mill, a wing dam and a canal, a blacksmith shop and a wealth of iron, plows, shovels and tools. The owls and bats lingered about the open windows, and all this phantom village lay quiet and abandoned like a ghost town along the forest shore of the wide river tumbling over the Puant rapids from broad Winnebago lake into the Little Lake Butte des Morts.
The history of how this all came about is one that reaches even back to those early days in pioneer New England, when Eliot translated the Bible into the aboriginal tongue and first preached to the natives in their own language, if one chooses to follow the Study in missionary work so far away. It also reveals to us the noble names of Jonathan Edwards and the Sargeants and Occum and Fowler gathering the remnants of the broken tribes of the East into the missions of Brothertown and Stockbridge, and Eleazer Williams, the lost dauphin, sweeping in ten months the Oneida into the Christian fold. By 1820 this host of savage tribes known to history as the Pequots and Iroquois and the six nations were seeking a Western home, and their advance agent, Rev. Jedidiah Morse, father of the inventor, had selected the Fox river valley and advised them to settle there, "as they would never again be disturbed by white men, it was so far away." The delegates, led by the great missionary, Eleazer Williams, had arranged with the Menominee band of Winnebago for the five-mile ribbon of land crossing the river at Little Chute and extending from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river. Later the Menominee had ceded to the New York Indians, as they were collectively named, a right as tenants in common to all their possessions for the value in goods of $2,000. Part of
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CITY OF NEENAH.
the history of this interesting subject has been told in another chapter, and the student must be referred to other works for further details.
This was in part the situation of the affairs of the Menominee tribe when Col. Samuel C. Stambaugh, of Pennsylvania, came to Green Bay in 1829 to take charge of the United States Indian agency. "His advice to the Menominee was to repudiate en- tirely and at once all claim of the New York Indians; to repair to Washington, make a treaty with the Great Father for the sale of part of their country, and so secure large annual payments in money, as other tribes were doing, and have something to live on as well as clothe their women and children. It was unneces- sary for him to repeat this advice. The whole tribe adopted it at once," says Gen. Albert G. Ellis. In the fall of the year 1830 Colonel Stambaugh, with the chiefs of the Menominee. headed by old Iometah, who took his wife with him, sailed from Green Bay for Detroit, where Governor Lewis Cass, of the Michigan territory, which included the territory afterward set off into Wisconsin, added Hon. R. A. Forsyth and Hon. John T. Mason, afterward Governor, to the party to represent the Government. Rev. Eleazer Williams and wife, with two Oneida Indians who had followed the Stambaugh delegation, were added to the dele- gation by Governor Cass. At Washington President Andrew Jackson named Major John H. Faton, Secretary of War, and Colonel Stambaugh commissioners to treat with the Indians. A treaty was soon made in which the Menominee ceded to the United States more than half of their possessions in Wisconsin, taking but slight notice of the rights of the New York Indians. For this reason its ratification was opposed by the New York senators in the senate, as also the confirmation of Colonel Stam- baugh as Indian agent. As a compromise an amendment was added giving the New York Indians an undesirable tract forty miles square in the northwest; but the opposition was not satisfied and the treaty was held up, while Colonel Stambaugh's nomination was defeated. This treaty. dated February 8, 1831, known as the Stambaugh, or treaty of Washington, was finally ratified by the senate July 9. 1832. That the reader may the bet- ter understand the subject and objects of this important treaty resulting in the founding of Neenah. the first village in this county, we give here a complete copy of the instrument. omitting the first three articles, the essential parts of which have been given in another chapter.
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
Stambaugh Treaty.
The Stambaugh treaty, concluded February 8, 1831; ratified July 9, 1832 :
"Articles of agreement made and concluded at the city of Washington, this 8th day of February, 1831, between John H. Eaton, Secretary of War, and Samuel C. Stambaugh, Indian agent at Green Bay, specially authorized by the President of the United States and the undersigned chiefs and head men of the Menominee Nation of Indians, fully authorized and empow- ered by the said nation to conclude and settle all matters pro- vided for by this agreement.
"Fourth. The following described tract of land, at present owned and occupied by the Menominee Indians, shall be set apart and designated for their future homes, upon which their improvements as an agricultural people are to be made: Begin- ning on the west side of Fox river at the 'Old Mill Dam,' near the 'Little Kackalin,' and running up and along said river to the Winnebago lake; thence along said lake to the mouth of Fox river; thence up Fox river to the Wolf river to a point southwest of the west corner of the tract herein designated for the New York Indians; thence northeast to said west corner; thence southeast to the place of beginning; the above reservation being made to the Menominee Indians for the purpose of weaning them from their wandering habits, by attaching them to comfortable homes, the President of the United States, as a mark of affection for his children of the Menominee tribe, will cause to be em- ployed five farmers of established character for capacity, in- dustry and moral habits for ten successive years, whose duty it shall be to assist the Menominee Indians in the cultivation of their farms and to instruct their children in the business and occupation of farming; also five females shall be employed of like good character for the purpose of teaching young Menomi- nee women in the business of useful housewifery during a period of ten years. The annual compensation allowed to the farmers shall not exceed $500 and that of the females $300. And the United States will cause to be erected houses suited to their con- dition on said lands as soon as the Indians agree to occupy them, for which $10,000 shall be appropriated; also houses for the farmers, for which $3,000 shall be appropriated, to be ex- pended under the direction of the Secretary of War. Whenever the Menominees thus settle their lands they shall be supplied
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CITY OF NEENAH.
with useful household articles, horses, cows, hogs and sheep, farming utensils and other articles of husbandry necessary to their comfort, to the value of $6,000; and they desire that some suitable device may be stamped upon such articles to preserve them from sale or barter to evil disposed white persons, none of which, nor any other articles with which the United States may at any time furnish them, shall be liable to sale or be disposed of or bargained without permission of the agent, the whole to be under the immediate care of the farmers employed to remain among said Indians, but subject to the general control of the United States Indian agent at Green Bay, acting under the Sec- retary of War. The United States will erect a grist and sawmill on Fox river for the benefit of the Menominee Indians and em- ploy a good miller, subject to the direction of the agent, whose business it shall be to grind the grain required for the use of the Menominee Indians and saw the lumber necessary for building on their lands, as also to instruct such young men of the Menominee Nation as desire to and conveniently can be in- structed in the trade of a miller. The expenses of erecting such mills and a house for the miller to reside in shall not exceed $6,000, and the annual compensation of the miller shall be $600, to continue for ten years. And if the mills so erected by the United States can saw more lumber or grind more grain than is required for the proper use of said Menominee Indians, the pro- ceeds of such milling shall be applied to the payment of other expenses occurring in the Green Bay agency under the direction of the Secretary of War.
"In addition to the above provision made for the Menominee Indians, the President of the United States will cause articles of clothing to be distributed among their tribe at Green Bay within six months from the date of this agreement to the amount of $8,000, and flour and wholesome provisions to the amount of $1,000, to be paid in specie; the cost of the transportation of the clothing and provisions to be included in the sum expended. There shall also be allowed annually thereafter for the space of twelve successive years to the Menominee tribe, in such manner and form as the President of the United States shall deem most beneficial and advantageous to the Indians, the sum of $6,000. As a matter of great importance to the Menominees there shall be one or more gun and blacksmith shops erected, to be supplied with a necessary quantity of iron and steel, which, with a shop at Green Bay, shall be kept for the use of the tribe and con-
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
tinued at the discretion of the President of the United States. There shall also be a house for an interpreter to reside in erected at Green Bay, the expenses not to exceed $500.
"Fifth. In the treaty of Butte des Morts, concluded in August, 1827, an article is contained appropriating $1,500 an- nually for the support of schools in the Menominee country; and the representatives of the Menominee Nation who are parties hereto require, and it is agreed to, that said appropriation shall be increased $500 and continued for ten years from this date, to be placed in the hands of the Secretary of War in trust for the exclusive use and benefit of the Menominee tribe of Indians, and to be applied by him to the education of the children of the Menominee Indians in such manner as he may deem most ad- visable.
Sixth. The Menominee tribe of Indians shall be at liberty to hunt and fish on the lands they have now ceded to the United States on the east side of Fox river and Green Bay with the same privileges they at present enjoy until it be surveyed and offered for sale by the President, then conducting themselves peaceably and orderly. The chiefs and warriors of the Menomi- nee Nation, acting under the authority and on behalf of their tribe, solemnly pledge themselves to preserve peace and harmony between their people and the Government of the United States forever. They neither acknowledge the power nor protection of any other state or people. A departure from this pledge by any portion of their tribe shall be a forfeiture of the protection of the United States Government, and their annuities will cease. In thus declaring their friendship for the United States, however, the Menominee tribe of Indians, having the most implicit con- fidence in their Great Father, the President of the United States, desire that he will, as a kind and faithful guardian of their wel- fare, direct the provisions of this compact to be carried into im- mediate effect. The Menominee chiefs request that such part of it as relates to the New York Indians be immediately submitted to the representatives of their tribes; and if they refuse to ac- cept the provisions made for their benefit and to remove upon the lands set apart for them, on the west side of Fox river. that he will direct their immediate removal from the Menominee country ; but if they agree to accept of the liberal offer made to them by the parties to this compact, then the Menominee tribe, as dutiful children of their Great Father, the President, will take
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them by the hand as brothers and settle down with them in peace and friendship.
"The boundary, as stated and defined in this agreement of the Menominee country, with the exception of the cessions herein- before made to the United States, the Menominees claim as their country that part of it adjoining the farming country on the west side of Fox river, will remain to them as heretofore for a hunting ground until the President of the United States shall deem it expedient to extinguish their title. In that case the Menominee tribe promise to surrender it immediately upon being notified of the desire of the Government to possess it. The addi- tional annuity then to be paid to the Menominee tribe to be fixed by the President of the United States. It is conceded to the United States that they may enjoy the right of making such roads and of establishing such military posts in any part of the country now occupied by the Menominee Nation as the Presi- dent at any time may think proper. As a further earnest of the good feeling on the part of their Great Father it is agreed that the expenses of the Menominee delegation to the city of Wash- ington and of returning will be paid, and that a comfortable suit of clothes will be provided for each; also that the United States will cause $4,000 to be expended in procuring fowling guns and. ammunition for them; and likewise, in lieu of any garrison rations hereafter allowed or received by them, there shall be procured and given to said tribe $1,000 worth of goods and wholesome provisions annually for four years, by which time it is hoped their hunting habits may cease and their attention be turned to the pursuits of agriculture. In testimony whereof, the respective parties to this agreement have severally signed the same this 8th day of February, 1831.
"John H. Eaton.
"S. C. Stambaugh.
"Kaush-kau-no-naive, Grizzly Bear (his x mark).
"A-ya-mah-taw, Fish Spawn (his x mark) (Iometah).
"Ko-ma-ni-kin, Big Wave (his x mark).
"Ko-ma-ni-kee-no-shah, Little Wave (his x mark).
"O-ho-pa-shah, Little Whoop (his x mark).
"Ah-ke-ne-pa-weh. Earth Standing (his x mark).
"Shaw-wan-noh, The South (his x mark) (Shawano).
"Nash-ke-wet (his x mark).
"Pah-she-nah-sheu (his x mark).
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
"Chi-ni-na-na-quet, Great Cloud (his x mark).
"Ah-ke-ne-pa-weh, Earth Standing (his x mark).
"Sha-ka-cho-ka-mo, Great Chief (his x mark). "Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of : "R. A. Forsyth, Interpreter. "C. A. Grignon, Interpreter.
"A. G. Ellis, Interpreter.
"Richard Prickett, U. S. Interpreter (his x mark).
"William Wilkins, of Pennsylvania.
"Samuel Swarthout, of New York.
"John T. Mason, Michigan.
"Rh. M. Johnson, Kentucky."
XXIV.
FOUNDING THE MISSION OF WINNEBAGO RAPIDS.
It was under this treaty that Winnebago Rapids was selected for the mission to the Menominee, in which they were to be in- structed in civilized ways. Desirous of learning something of this settlement not found in the ordinary sources, Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites and Miss Louise Phelps Kellogg, of the Wisconsin Historical Society, were asked to assist in the search for the original records. The former advised a correspondence with Dr. J. W. Cheney, librarian of the War Department at Washington. His letter advises that "Upon the receipt of your letter of in- quiry, dated October 2, immediate search was made in this library for the desired information, then application was made to the office of Indian Affairs, and there we struck considerable red tape, which has delayed definite results until now. The en- closed letter is self-explanatory and will put you in touch with the right man for any information not available in printed form."
This communication coming to the attention of the acting com- missioner of Indian affairs of the Department of the Interior, elicited this following letter :
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