History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 50

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304

USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Wisconsin > Part 50

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The return of Nicolet to the St. Lawrence and civilization, after a half-score years of savage life, an excellent interpreter of the Algonquin language, was followed, in 1634, by his being sent to smoke the pipe of peace with nations beyond-far beyond-the Ottawa. So he started upon his perilous voyage. He visited the Hurons, upon the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. With seven of that nation, he struck boldly into wilds to the northward and westward never before visited by civilized man. He paddled his birch-bark canoe up the St. Mary's Strait to the falls. He floated back to the waters of Lake Huron, and courageously turned toward the west, passing through the Straits of Mackinaw out upon the broad expanse of Lake Michigan. He then entered Green Bay and Fox River. It is claimed that he ascended the last-mentioned stream as far as the "portage," now the city of Portage, Columbia Co., Wis., and descended the Wisconsin River a considerable distance, thus re-discovering the great valley of the Mississippi. The term "re-discovering " is used, for no one will call in question its discovery by De Soto in 1541, although its existence seems soon to have well-nigh faded from the recollections of men-to have been almost wholly forgotten.

What has been written in support of Nicolet's claim as the re-discoverer of the Mississippi is based upon this declaration of Father Vimont, in the Jesuit Relation of 1640: "The Sieur Nicolet, who has penetrated the furthest into these so remote countries, assured me that, if he had sailed three days further upon a large river which issnes from this lake, he would have reached the sea." It is evident that the " remote countries " referred to by Vimont are those of the upper lakes traversed by Nicolet, and that the words, "this lake " had reference to Green Bay and Lake Michigan combined. But we are told, also, that the phrase, "a large river," means the Wisconsin, and that " the sea " spoken of is the Mississippi, Nicolet taking the word missippi (great water) to mean "the sea," instead of that river. A careful consideration of the length of the Wisconsin below the "portage," and of the time usually employed by Indians in navigating it, justify the assertion that the words of the Relation of 1640-"if he had sailed three days further upon a large river "-have no application to that stream. The words "three days further " clearly imply that he had already sailed several days; whereas, the distance, 118 miles, down the rapid current of the river, from the "portage " to the Missis- sippi, was less than three days' "sail" for the swift birch-bark canoe of the savage, and would have been for the swift birch-bark canoe of Nicolet. Upon examination of the Relation of 1654, a sentence is found which has heretofore escaped attention in this connection : " It is only nine days' journey from this great lake [Green Bay and Lake Michigan combined] to the sea," where "the sea " is evidently identical with the one mentioned by Nicolet to Vimont and spoken of by the latter in the Relation of 1640. It is discovered, upon investigation, that the average time for canoe voyages up the Fox River, from its month to the "portage," in early times, was nine days. The "sea," then, of Nicolet-missippi of the savages-was the Wisconsin River,

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considered by itself or as a tributary of the Mississippi ; and the "large river " was the Fox River of Green Bay.

A word as to the mistake of Nicolet in stating, that, while on " a large river " (the Fox), he nearly reached. " the sea." Nicolet's mind, even before he left the St. Lawrence, was inflamed with vague reports of a "great water" to the westward of Winnebgoes, which was supposed by him to be a sea. When, therefore, he entered Green Bay and the Fox River, and heard the savages, as they pointed toward the west, repeat the word missippi (great water, not "father of waters ") it was an easy matter for him to mistake their meaning and conclude a sea was nigh, when, in fact, they were trying to tell him of the Wisconsin, which was itself the " great water," or a tributary thereof. But why should Nicolet have " sailed " up Fox River to within three days of "the sea " (that is to say, of the Wisconsin), and have gone no further ? The answer is that six days' journeying brought him to the homes of the Mascoutins, or Fire Nation-Gens de Feu. These Indians were a powerful nation of Algonquins, who had for their neighbors, prob- ably, the Kickapoos and Miamis. It is certain that Nicolet visited not only the Winnebagoes, but some of the surrounding tribes. It would be his policy, of course, to smoke the pipe of peace with the bravest and most warlike of these, were they of easy access. Such were the Mascou- tins, as is to be inferred from cotemporaneous accounts and from the journals of those whites who, not long after, saw them in their villages, located, probably, within the present limits of Green Lake County, Wis. West of the Mascoutins, at that period (1634), there were living no tribes of Indians either upon the Fox or Wisconsin ; at least, there is no tradition that such was the case. Beyond the Wisconsin, and above its confluence with the Mississippi, there resided some Dakota bands-the terrible Sioux. Without doubt, a journey so far as the villages of these savages was not to be thought of by Nicolet, if it was his purpose, as it must have been, to re- turn to the St. Lawrence early in the summer of 1635. It is suggested, therefore, that he turned back, after visiting the Mascoutins, to the Winnebagoes-going up Fox River no farther than the village of the Fire Nation.

It will be borne in mind that Vimont speaks of a "large river [the Fox] which issues from the lake," meaning Green Bay and Lake Michigan combined. Now, the account taken from the lips of Nicolet by Vimont, found in the Relation of 1640, was not, propably, reduced to writing until sometime subsequent to its narration, and very naturally the writer (Vimont) would con- clude that the narrator was mistaken in stating (and he probably did so state) that the "large river " flowed into Green Bay ; at the same time declaring that, had he sailed three days further upon it, he would have reached the sea. Rivers do not flow out of seas into lakes; they fre- quently flow out of lakes into seas. Doubtless, then, when Vimont wrote down his recollection of what Nicolet had told him, he took the liberty of correcting what would seem to be so man- ifestly an error. Hence, as the sentence stands in the Relation of 1640, Fox River flows out of Green Bay, but every one knows that it empties into it. The language, therefore, of Vimont, as now interpreted, is equivalent to this: "The Sieur Nicolet, who has penetrated the furthest into the upper lake regions, assured me [Vimont] that if he had paddled his birch-bark canoe three days further up the Fox River, which flows into Green Bay, he would have reached the Wisconsin." Nicolet, then, did not reach the Wisconsin River ; and he was not in Dane County at that period, nor at any subsequent or previous date.

FIRST WHITE MEN IN DANE COUNTY.

John Talon, intendant of Canada, labored assiduously to develop the industrial resources of New France. In 1670, he ordered Daumont de St. Lusson to search for copper mines on Lake Superior, and at the same time to take possession, in a formal manner, of the whole interior country for the King of France. St. Lusson set out accordingly, accompanied by a small party of men and Nicholas Perrot, a Canadian voyageur, as interpreter, who spoke Algonquin fluently and was favorably known to many tribes of that family. It was arranged that St. Lusson should winter at the Manitoulin Islands, while Perrot proceeded to invite the tribes to a general confer- ence at the Sault Ste. Marie, in the following spring. The interpreter, having first sent

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messages to the different tribes of the north, proceeded to Green Bay, to urge the nations upon its waters to the meeting.

St. Lusson and his men, fifteen in number, arrived at the Sault more than a month in advance of the day set for the meeting. When all the Indians had reached the rapids, the Frenchman prepared to execute the commission with which he was charged. A large cross of wood had been made ready. It was now reared and planted in the ground. Then a post of cedar was planted beside it with a metal plate attached, engraved with the royal arms. “ In the name," said St. Lusson, " of the most high, mighty and redoubtable monarch, Louis, four- teenth 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 countries, rivers, lakes, and streams contiguous and adjacent thereto; 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, 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, saveonly under the good pleasure of his most Christian majesty, and of him who will govern in his behalf; and this on pain of incurring his resentment and the efforts of his arms." Thus passed, so far as words and shouts could effect it, the Northwest, including the whole area of the present State of Wisconsin, under the domination of France. 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 its wandering savages. But none of her fur-traders, none of her mis- sionaries, none of her agents, had yet reached the Mississippi, the great river, concerning which so many marvels had been heard. Now, however, the hour was at hand, in which would be solved the problem and be revealed the mystery of the "great water " of the savages. The Governor of Canada was resolved that the stream should be reached and explored. He made choice of Louis Joliet, who was with St. Lusson when the Northwest was for the first time claimed for the King of France, and who had just returned to Quebec from Lake Superior. This was in the year 1672. Said the Governor, on the 2d of November: "It has been judged expedient to send Sieur Joliet to the Maskouteins [Mascoutins ] 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," continnes 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 passed up the lakes, and, on the 17th of May, 1673 (having with him Father James Marquette and five others), started from the mission of St. Ignatius, a point north of the Island of Mackinaw, in the present county of Mackinaw, Mich., journeying in two bark canoes, firmly resolved to do all and to suffer all for the glory of re-discovering the Mississippi. Every possible precaution was taken, should the undertaking prove hazardous, that it should not be foolhardy ; so, whatever of information could be gathered from the Indians who had frequented those parts, was laid under contribution, before paddling merrily over the waters to the westward, and up Green Bay to the mouth of Fox River. The first Indian nation met by Joliet was the Menomonees. He was advised by them not to venture so far into ulterior regions, assured that he would meet tribes which never spare strangers, but tomahawk them without provocation ; that the 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 the war parties constantly in the path ; that the " great river " was very dangerons unless the difficult parts were known ; that it was full of frightful monsters which swal- lowed up 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 deaths. Nevertheless,

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Joliet determined to persevere ; so he ascended Fox River to the portage, he and his companions being the first white men to set foot upon any portion of the territory now constituting Columbia County.

Joliet found the Fox River very beautiful at its mouth, having a gentle current. 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 account of the currents and of the sharp rocks which cut their canoes. Nevertheless, the rapids in the stream were passed in safety, when the party, not long after, came to the nation of the Mascoutins. In their village were also gathered two other tribes -the Miamis and Kickapoos. The Miamis were found to be civil in their deportment. They wore two long ear-locks, which gave them a good appearance. They had the name of being warriors, and seldom sent out war parties in vain. They were found very docile, disposed to listen quietly to what was said to them. The Mascoutins and the Kickapoos, however, were rude, and more like peasants, compared to the Miamis. Bark for cabins was found to be rare in this 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 advantage of that kind of cabins was that they could be rolled up and easily carried whenever it suited these Indians in hunting-time.

The view from the Indian village was beautiful and very picturesque, for, from the emi- nence on which it was perched, the eye discovered on every side delightful prairies, spreading away 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.

The arrival of Joliet and his party at the village of the Mascoutins was on the 7th of June ; their departure was on the 10th.

" We knew," wrote Father Marquette, "that there was, three [thirty] leagues from Mas- koutens [Mascoutins], a river entering into the Mississippi ; we knew, too, that the point of the compass we were to hold to reach it was west-southwest, but the way is so cut up by marshes and little lakes that it is easy to go astray, especially as the river leading to it is so covered with wild oats that you can hardly discover the channel. Hence, we had great need of our two [Miami] guides, who led us safely to a portage of twenty-seven hundred paces [the site now occupied by the city of Portage] and helped us to transport our canoes to enter this river [Wis- consin], after which they returned, leaving us alone in an unknown country in the hands of Providence.

"We now leave," continues Marquette, " the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance of four or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will henceforth lead us into strange lands. Before embarking, we all began together a new devotion to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, which we practiced every day, addressing her particular prayers to put under her protection both our persons and the success of our voyage. Then after having encouraged one another we got into our canoes. The river on which we embarked is called Meskonsing [Wisconsin] ; it is very broad, with a sandy bottom, forming many shallows, which render navigation very difficult. It is full of vine-clad islets. On the banks appear fertile lands diversified with wood, prairie and hill. Here you find oaks, walnut, whitewood and another kind of tree with branches armed with thorns. We saw no small game or fish, but deer and moose in considerable numbers."

As these adventurers floated down the Wisconsin, they saw on their left the territory now constituting a portion of Dane County ; and in all probability they passed over parts of what are now the towns of Roxbury and Mazomanie, which extend to the center of the channel of that river ; they were, therefore, the first white men to pass over a part of what is now the county of Dane, and it is not at all improbable that they may have landed somewhere within its present limits.

On the 17th of June, with a joy that was inexpressible, Joliet and his party entered the Mississippi. After dropping down the "great river " many miles, Joliet returned to Green

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Bay, thence to Quebec, to report his discovery and explorations to the Governor of New France, while Marquette remained at the Bay to recruit his wasted energies.

EARLY FRENCH EXPLORERS.

Not many years elapsed after the visit of Joliet and his companion to the Wisconsin, before that river was again navigated by civilized man. Louis Hennepin, a Recollet friar, and his party, as a detail from La Salle's expedition to the Illinois, reached the portage in 1680, on his way from the Upper Mississippi to the great lakes, passing up the Wisconsin and down the Fox River to Green Bay. He says :

" After we had rowed about seventy leagues upon the River Ouisconsin [Wisconsin], we came to the place where we were forced to carry our canoe for half a league. We lay at this place all night, and left marks of our having been there by the crosses which we cut on the bark of the trees. Next day, having carried our canoe and the rest of our little equipage over this piece of land [the portage], we entered upon a river [the Fox] which makes almost as many meanders as that of the Illinois at its rise."

Le Sueur and his party made the portage in 1683, on his way to the Mississippi. In con- nection with this voyage, itis said :

" About forty-five leagues up this river [the Wisconsin], on the right, is a portage of more than a league in length. The half of this portage is a bog ; at the end of this portage, there is a little river [the Fox] that falls into a bay called the Bay of the Puanz [Green Bay], inhabited by a great number of nations that carry their furs to Canada."

JONATHAN CARVER'S VISIT IN 1766.

"On the 8th of October [1766], we got our canoes into the Ouisconsin [Wisconsin] River, which at this place [the portage, now the city of Portage] is more than 100 yards wide ; and the next day arrived at the Great Town of the Saukies [Sauks or Sacs]. This is the largest and best- built Indian town I ever saw. It contains about 90 houses, each large enough for several families. These are built of hewn plank neatly jointed, and covered with bark so compactly as to keep out the most penetrating rains. Before the doors are placed comfortable sheds, in which the inhabitants sit, when the weather will permit, and smoke their pipes. The streets are regular and spacious, so that it appears more like a civilized town than the abode of savages. The land near the town is very good. In their plantations, which lie adjacent to their houses, and which are neatly laid out, they raise great quantities of Indian corn, beans, melons, etc., so that this place is esteemed the best market for traders to furnish themselves with provisions of any within 800 miles of it.

" The Saukies can raise about 300 warriors, who are generally employed every summer in making incursions into the territories of the Illinois and Pawnee nations, from whence they return with a great number of slaves. But those people frequently retaliate, and, in their turn, destroy many of the Saukies, which I judge to be the reason that they increased no faster.

" While I stayed here, I took a view of some mountains that lie about fifteen miles to the southward [Blue Mounds], and abound in lead ore. I ascended one of the highest of these and had an extensive view of the country. For many miles, nothing was to be seen but lesser mountains, which appeared at a distance like hay-cocks, they being free from trees. Only a few groves of hickory and stunted oaks covered some of the valleys. So plentiful is lead here, that I saw large quantities of it lying about the streets in the towns, belonging to the Saukies, and it seemed to be as good as the produce of other countries.

" On the 10th of October, we proceeded down the river, and the next day reached the first town of the Ottigaumies [Foxes]. This town contained about fifty houses, but we found most of them deserted, on account of an epidemical disorder that had lately raged among them, and car- ried off more than one-half of the inhabitants. The greater part of those who survived had re- tired into the woods to avoid the contagion.

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" On the 15th, we entered that extensive river, the Mississippi. The Ouisconsin, from the carrying-place [the portage] to the part where it falls into the Mississippi, flows with a smooth but a strong current ; the water of it is exceedingly clear, and through it you may perceive a fine and sandy bottom, tolerably free from rocks. In it are a few islands, the soil of which appeared to be good, though somewhat woody. The land near the river also seemed to be, in general, excellent ; but that at a distance is very full of mountains, where, it is said, there are many lead mines."*

THE WISCONSIN RIVER AN EARLY HIGHWAY.

At various times in the last half of the seventeenth century, also during nearly the whole of the eighteenth century, the Wisconsin River was a highway of travel between the great lakes and the Mississippi, for the fur-trader, the missionary and the explorer. Small squads of French soldiers sometimes passed down this stream to Western posts return- ing to the St. Lawrence by the same route. But the way was sometimes blockaded by the Fox Indians, who lived first upon the Fox River and then upon the Wisconsin. In the course of time, the French lost their supremacy upon these two rivers, and the English took (at least a nominal) possession of them. This was in 1761. Thenceforward travel was not seriously inter- fered with until the year 1827. Meanwhile, the two water-courses had passed into the possession of the United States. In 1814, Col. Mckay, of the British Army, came up the Fox River from Green Bay, with a large force of whites and Indians, crossed the portage to the Wisconsin, and floated down that stream to Prairie du Chien, capturing the post at that place from the United States. In 1818, William Farnsworth, who subsequently resided at Sheboygan, accompanied by twenty others, traveled from Green Bay to St. Louis by these rivers and the Mississippi. In 1819, the Fifth Regiment of United States Infantry moved up the Fox River from Fort How- ard, and down the Wisconsin to Prairie du Chien. Ebenezer Childs, a well-known Wisconsin pioneer, made the same trip in a bark canoe in 1821. He conducted the first Durham boat that ever made this journey. In 1826, a flotilla of thirty-five boats carried the Third United States Infantry from Green Bay to St. Louis by the same rivers and Mississippi. In 1827, Gen. Cass passed along this route to ascertain the feeling among the Winnebagoes toward the United States, for hostilities were portending with that nation. It will thus be seen that along the northwest corner of what is now Dane County, passed and re-passed, at longer and shorter intervals, civilized as well as savage men, from the time the first white man passed down the Wisconsin until the period when the county received its first settler ; and it will hereafter be seen that the travel afterward greatly increased. Only glimpses as yet of the county had been caught from passing boats ; no one had explored its interior who left a record behind him of what he saw. The Four Lakes and the Four Lake country had often been seen by the French trader and voyageur ; but of the surpassing beauty of these lakelets and the surrounding country, nothing had been as yet published to the world. Americans generally were in igno- rance of the whole region. Occasionally, a hardy miner passed beyond the limits of the lead region, or some explorer crossed the country from the settlement at Green Bay to the lead mines. To the outside world, however, the valley of the Yahara was as yet a sealed book ; no account of it had appeared in print, nor had any map noted its beautiful lakes.

THE WINNEBAGO WAR.

During the winter of 1825-26, there were confined in the guard-house of Fort-Crawford, at Prairie du Chien, because of some alleged dishonest act, two Winnebago Indians. In October, 1826, the fort was abandoned and the garrison removed to Fort Snelling. The commandant took with him the two Winnebagoes. During the spring of 1827, the reports about the Winneba- goes bore, at Prairie du Chien, a threatening aspect. It was circulated among them that the two members of their tribe at Fort Snelling had been been killed. It was apparent that a spirit of enmity between the Indians and whites in Southwestern Wisconsin was effectually stirred up.

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History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 50

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1304

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304