USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I > Part 7
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Characteristics of the Voyageurs .- The voyageurs. or "engages." were a raee of people unlike any other class of men. In Mrs. John Il. Kinzie's book, entitled "Wan-Bun," she describes them as follows: "Like the poet they seemed born to their vocation. Sturdy. enduring, ingenious. and light-hearted, they possessed a spirit capable of adapting itself to any emergeney. No difficulties baffled, no hardships discouraged them; while their affectionate nature led them to form attachments of the warmest char- acter to their 'bourgeois,' or master, as well as to the native inhabitants among whom their engagements carried them."
An atmosphere of romance surrounded the lives of these children of the frontier. They are always regarded with the greatest interest by his- torians through the sympathy felt for the hardships they endured and the example they furnished of light-hearted cheerfulness at all times. Their simplicity, their readiness to undertake any task of physical endurance, their inextinguishable sense of fun and hilarity, and their capacity for enjoy- ment under every vicissitude that fell to their lot, rendered them the most pieturesqne feature of the life of the early day, especially in the part they took in the fur trade which we are here describing.
"One of the peenliarities of the voyageurs." writes Mrs. Kinzie in " Wan- Bun," was "their fancy for transforming the names of their 'bourgeois" into something funny resembling them in sound." Thus Kinzie, the Chicago trader, would be ealled by them "quinze nez" (that is, fifteen noses), and another of the traders (Mr. Shaw) was by the voyageurs called " Monsieur Le Chat" (that is, Mr. C'at). It is related that on quitting the Indian conn- try Shaw married a Canadian lady and became the father of several chil- dren. "Some years after his return to Canada, his old foreman, named
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Louis la Liberte, went to Montreal to spend the winter, " Mrs. Kinzie relates. "He had heard of his old 'bourgeois' marriage, and was anxious to see him.
"Mr. Shaw was walking in the Champ de Mars with a couple of officers when La Liberte espied him. He immediately ran up and seizing him by both hands accosted him, "Ah! mon cher Monsieur le Chat, comment vous portez vous?" "Tres bien, Louizon." "Et comment se porte Madame la Chatte" (Ilow is the mother cat ?) "Bien, bien, Louizon; elle est tres bien." (She is very well.) "Et tous les petits Chatons?" (And all the kittens?) This was too much for Mr. Shaw. Hle answered shortly that the kittens were all quite well, and bidding him call at his house, turned away with his military friends, leaving poor Lonizon mueh astonished at the ab- ruptness of his departure.
Practices of the Fur Traders .-- It is a generally accepted notion among white prople that the traders took advantage of the ignorance and sin- plieity of the savages with whom they dealt. On one occasion a lady travel- ing in a party conducted by Joseph Rolette, a famous for trader of those days, remarked, "I would not be engaged in the Indian trade; it seems a system of cheating the poor Indians." "Let me tell you. madame, " replied Rolette, "it is not so easy a thing to cheat the Indians as you imagine: I have tried it these twenty years, and have never yet succeeded."
While one of the American Fur Company's boats, on another occasion, was passing through Lake Winnebago enroute to Green Bay for supplies, it came in sight of a party in charge of Rolette himself returning to his post at Prairie du Chien after an absence of several week's duration. As Roletto was one of the agents of the American Fur Company the men of both parties were his employees.
The meeting of the boats in these lonely waters was an occasion of great excitement among the men and the news from home was eagerly inquired for by the men of the returning party. The boats were stopped, carnest greetings exchanged, questions following each other rapidly. Rolette asked if the new house was finished, whether the chimney smoked, if the harvest- ing had been completed, and if the mill was at work. Then he asked about his favorite horse, about the store, and about other activities of various descriptions; and having exhausted his stock of inquiries he shouted the order to his men to move on.
Then suddenly seeming to remember something he called out, "arretez, arretez!" (stop, stop!) "comment se portent Madame Rolette et les enfas?" (How are Mrs. Rolette and the children?) Having now received satisfac- tory answers to his questions the parties then resumed their melodious boat songs, bent themselves to their oars, and quickly lost sight of each other.
Of Roletto the editor of the Wisconsin Historical Society collections says: "In consequence of his early settlement in the country, and from his energy and enterprise as a trader and a merchant, Rolette well deserves to be kindly remembered as one of the prominent pioneers of Wisconsin.
Boats of the Fur Traders .- When Mrs. Elizabeth Therese Baird was traveling from Green Bay to Mackinac Island in 1825. she took passage in
.
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one of a feet of six boats laden with furs belonging to the American Fur Company, in charge of her brother-in-law, Joseph Rolette. Mrs. Baird at that time was a young woman scarcely fifteen years of age. In later years she contributed a paper to the collections of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, printed in volume XIV, pages 17-61, drawn from her recollections of the time.
This interesting lady was born at Prairie du Chien in Is10, and was the granddanghter of an Ottawa Indian chief, thus having a strain of Indian blood in her veins. "Mrs. Baird," says the editor of the historical series quoted from, "was a woman of charming personality and excellent educa- tion, proud of her trace of Indian blood, and had a wide acquaintance with the principal men of early Wisconsin." In the previous year (1824) she had been married to Henry S. Baird, a rising young lawyer of Green Bay.
During his life there it was said of him that he had taken long journeys in the course of his law practice by various primitive modes of conveyance to Mackinac and Detroit by sailing craft, to Prairie du Chien by bark canoes with Indian voyageurs, and to Milwaukee on horseback.
Journey from Green Bay to Mackinac .-- Mrs. Baird's descriptions of the boats in use by the fur traders and other particulars of the journey are here given in her own words in the main, though involving some repetition of portions of the previous narratives in this history. The route taken by the party was along the eastern shore of Green Bay to its opening into the northern portion of Lake Michigan, and thence to Mackinac Island. The account is replete with many lively details of the passage.
"In each of the boats," she says, there were seven men, six to row and a steersman, all being Frenchmen. There was in addition in each boat a clerk of the American Fur Company. to act as commander, or bourgeois. These boats were each thirty feet long, the furnishing of which was com- plete. The cargo being furs a song-fitting tarpaulin was fastened down and over the sides, to protect the pelts from rain. This cargo was placed in the center of the boat. A most important feature of the cargo was the mess basket, one of the great comforts of the trip and a perfect affair of the kind. It was well filled with everything that could be procured to satisfy both hunger and thirst, such as boiled ham, tongue. roast chicken, bread, butter, hard bisenit, crackers, cheese, tea, coffee, chocolate, pickles, ete., and an abundance of eggs. Then there were wines and cordials, and in addition we depended upon securing fresh game and fish on the way. Rolette was a generous provider, sending to distant markets for all that this part of the country could not supply.
"The mess basket on this occasion seemed to have an extra supply of eggs. It seemed strange, however, that such faithful workers as the men were should have been fed so poorly ; they had nothing but salt pork. lyod corn' and bisenit, the general food of workmen in the fur trade. Our boat carried two tents and had a cot bed and camp stool for my use.
"The party in our boat consisted of Rolette (the head man). John Kinzie (of Chicago). my husband and myself. Starting quite late in the day we
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were only able to get as far as Red Banks before it was time to stop and camp for the night. As I stepped from the boat I saw that my tent was almost ready for me, so quickly did these men arrange matters for the encampment.
"Next morning dawned gloriously, and we started off in our boats after breakfast in fine spirits, cheered and enlivened by the merry songs of the boatmen who always begin the journey with a song; always keeping within easy distance of the shore in case of a sudden squall or violent wind. The camping hon was always hailed with delight by the men at the close of a hard day's work, and it was an agreeable change to the passengers as well.
"As we rowed away from Red Banks on that most beautiful June morn- ing many were the amusements indulged in by the erews of the boats. This morning the men began by throwing 'hard tack' at each other, but this did not last long as the prospect of needing the biscuits later checked their sport. Shortly after we began to see eggs flying in the air which continued with considerable activity until the end of the day's journey. It was re- newed after the men got ashore amid great hilarity until the ammunition was nearly exhausted." This stopping place was afterwards called "Egg Harbor," in honor of the occasion, a name it has ever since borne.
The Shores of Green Bay. "The names of some of the islands in Green Bay have been changed since our trip in 1825, and many that in that day had no names whatever have since been christened. Then we knew by names only Washington Island, the Beavers,-Big and Little, Chambers, Fox, and Pottawatomie, or Rock Island. Never were we obliged to dine or encamp on the east shore at any spot not attractive. One night we eneamped at a place called Petit Detroit, not far from Death's Door. It is a small island formed like a half moon, the inner portion being a most beautiful har- bor beyond which rose rather high hills. The whole island was then a per- feet garden of wild roses. Never have I seen at one time so many flowers of any kind as I then saw. The charms of the place so attracted us that we made an early landing. The men had to clear a spot to pitch the tent, and in finishing their work they very thoughtfully decorated my tent with roses."
Mrs. Baird, in her account, goes on to describe the practical features of the long journeys of the fur traders. "This fleet of boats," she says, "was originally loaded at Prairie du Chien, and then unloaded at the portage between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, where the men carried first the packs of furs on their backs, then returned for the boats, and reloading them would run down to the Big Chute, now Appleton. Here the boats again had to be unloaded and the furs portaged around by the men. The boats, however, made the journey down the swift water, which was called 'jumping the rapids.' The unloading was repeated at Grand Kankanna; but at Rapides Croche and at Rapides des Peres, now Do Pere, the loads would be carried through on the boats, all the men walking in the water to guide the boats with their valuable cargoes. Our boats were loaded for the last time at Kaukana, not to be unloaded until they reached Mackinac.
"We now traveled slowly, waiting for a day which would show signs
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of being fine throughout, that we might make in safety . La Grande Traverse' -to cross the lake to the cast or north shore. The crossing started from Rock Island and we made a successinl crossing. We were six days in mak- ing the journey from Green Bay to Mackinac." As they neared their des- tination the fleet stopped at Pointe a la Barbe to give the men an opportunity to shave for the first time since they left Green Bay and to array themselves in fresh garments so that they might make a presentable appearance upon their arrival at the "grand emporium of the West." "Each man looked well in his striped cotton shirt, blue pantaloons, red sash around the waist and red handkerchief around his neck. Caps of all sorts they wore but no hats. They purchased high hats when they reached Mackinac: everybody then wore the hat since called the 'stove-pipe." "
The Fashion for Tall Hats .- Making a brief digression at this point in our history we may remark that one can scarcely imagine the rage among all classes of men for the tall hats of the period of which we are writing. As we see by the above allusion to this ungainly feature of men's attire oven the voyageurs did not consider themselves completely equipped in dress until they had provided themselves with tall hats, a notion which they shared with men of all classes and degrees everywhere. It is recalled that when the mounted men of the Kentucky volunteers made their appearance at the battle of the Thames. in 1813, they wore stove-pipe hats in the charge that resulted in the death of Tecumseh, and doubtless the ground was strewn with hats of this deseription in all stages of battered ruin after the fight.
It has been said that when Sir Thomas Pieton led the charge of the British cavalry at Waterloo he wore a frock coat and a tall hat, not having had time to put on his military uniform before the action commenced. It is recalled by veterans of the Civil war that General Sheridan habitually wore a hat with an abbreviated crown of the same description, in battle and on his cam- paigns: and after the war he was often seen on the streets of Chicago in a tall silk hat of the latest fashion.
Conductors on passenger trains in the thirties and forties usnally wore tall hats while on duty: Mississippi River pilots likewise wore high hats as well as the ocean pilots of the present day. Even the Indians wore them if they were able to procure them. though often devoid of other clothing. as it is mentioned in the recollections of a pioneer printed in the "Proceedings" of the Wisconsin Historical Society for 1916. John Kinzie, the Chicago pioneer, is shown wearing a high hat in a picture of the Fort Dearborn mas- sacre of 1812, where he was present endeavoring to assnage the fury of the savages on that terrible occasion. Everyone is familiar with the numerous portraits of Abraham Lincoln that are in existence showing the tall hat in all its glory.
Effects of the Fur Trade on the Indians. The fur trade was at its height in 1820, and seriously on the wane by 1835. The fur trade was dependent for its sneeessful proseention on the Indian hunter though his advancement towards civilization was imperilled by this occupation. The most important step for the improvement of the Indian's condition was in the practice of
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agriculture rude as were his methods. It was a distinet reversion in savage life when they became hunters exclusively.
"The introduction of the fur trade," says Thwaites, "wrought a serious change in the life and manners of the Indians. They were indueed to aban- don much of their agriculture and most of their village arts. Becoming hunters, they took a backward step in the long and painful road towards civilization. Heretofore they needed furs only for raiment, for sleeping mats and tepee coverings. Now they found that peltries were eagerly sought by the white trader, who would exchange for them weapons, cloth, iron kettles, tools, ornaments, and other marvelous objects of European mami- facture, generalty far better and more efficient than those which they had been wont to fashion for themselves.
"Thus the Indians soon lost the arts of making clothing out of skins, kettles from clay, weapons from stone and copper, and beads from elam- shells. They were not slow to discover that when they hunted their labor was far more productive than of old. Comparatively slight effort on their part now enabled them to purchase from the white traders whatever they desired. Moreover, the latter brought intoxicating liquors, heretofore un- known to our savages, but for which they soon acquired an inordinate greed. of which advantage was taken by charging prices therefor that brought enormous profits to the traders. Aside from this new vice, the general result was disastrous to the improvident aborigines, for in considerable meas- ure they ceased to be self-supporting. They soon came to depend on the fur traders for most of the essentials of life; and so general was the credit system among them, the summer's supplies being bought on the strength of the following winter's hunt, that the tribesmen were practically always heavily in debt to the traders, which rendered it advisable for them to stand by their creditors whenever two rival nations were contesting the field. In the end these conditions materially assisted in the undoing of the Indian."
In the forest traffic of the American Fur Company the variety of goods was extensive, and the enumeration of a few of the articles may be found interesting. There were blankets, shawls of brilliant bues, coarse cloths, cheap jewelry, beads of many colors and sizes, ribbons and garterings, gay handkerchiefs, sleigh and hawks' bells, jewsharps, mirrors, combs, hatchets. knives, scissors, kettles, hoes, firearms, gunpowder, tobacco, and the never failing intoxicant.
These goods were brought to Mackinac from Montreal in canoes, hat- teaux, and later by sailing vessels; the cargoes were there divided and dis- tributed to the several larger agencies and posts, whence they ultimately found their way to the farthest "trading shanties." This was the heyday of the fur trading days, but the trade gradually declined, as American agri- cultural settlement slowly developed.
The Fur Traders of Revolutionary Times .- The influence of Gen. George Rogers Clark on the Milwaukee Indians was felt oven in those early days sneceeding his eonquest of Illinois. Clark did not himself penetrate into Wisconsin, but from his headquarters in Kaskaskia there were sent out active agents by him to gain the neutrality of the tribes, throughout the southern
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Wisconsin region, towards the struggle then in progress between the Ameri- cans and the British. In this he was successful and he secured a promise of neutrality from the Sank, Fox and Winnebago chiefs, and an alliance with the Americans even was accepted by the Milwaukee Pottawatomies.
The British maintained three sloops on Lake Michigan during the war, and one of them made a reconnoitering voyage around the lake in 1779. "visiting and supplying the Indians and traders at the mouths of several rivers on the east shore, and at . Millwakey' on the west," according to a narrative printed in the collections of the Wisconsin State Historical Society (Volume X1, 203 ). At the last named port the captain found a white trader and a "mixed tribe of Indians of different nations. "
This allusion to the Milwaukee trading post of that early period hints at certain complications with the American and Spanish settlers of Cahokia, Illinois, which would require many pages of narrative to set forth clearly. The events thus referred to may be found in full detail in the collections of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, Vol. XVII. preface (p. XXI), and on page 416 of the same volume.
The events thus referred to occurred many years prior to the permanent occupation of Milwaukee as a fur trading center. But it may be said that the fur trade of Milwaukee, carried on at that time, as it was, by visiting traders from Mackinac (then in British possession was not of sufficient im- portance to exercise much influence on the later development of that trade, except as indicating where the site of a great city would eventually be established.
In his volume entitled. "Leading Events of Wisconsin History." the late Henry E. Legler wrote as follows: "The influence of the fur trade has been well described by Frederick J. Turner as closing its mission by becoming the pathfinder for agricultural and manufacturing civilization,' for where the posts were located, the leading eities of the state have since been built. . The Indian village became the trading post, the trading post became the city. The trails became onr early roads. The portages marked out the locations for canals at Portage City and at Sturgeon Bay; while the Milwaukee and Rock River portages inspired the project of the canal of that name, which had an influence on the early occupation of the state. The trader often put his trading house at a river rapids, where the Indian had to portage his canoe, and thus found the location of our water powers.'
"Among the cities that have been built on the sites of the trading sta- tions and 'jack-knife posts." as the dependent stations were termed, may be eminerated, Milwaukee, La Crosse. Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, Manitowoc. Sheboygan. Eau Claire, Black River Falls, Hudson, Racine, Two Rivers, Kau- kauna. Peshtigo, Oconto, Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Chippewa Falls, Kewanee, Portage, Trempelean, Madison, St. Croix Falls, Shullsburg, Rice Lake, Cass- ville, Menomonee.
"For many years the fur trade was Wiscons'n's chief source of wealth. It continued such until the lead mine fever in Southwestern Wisconsin de- veloped a new channel of industry and started the immigration that brought thousands of settlers to the territory."
CHAPTER VII
THE LEAD MINING INDUSTRY
Among the earliest exports passing through the port of Milwaukee was the movement of lead from the mines in Southwestern Wisconsin across the territory both in pig metal form and in the form of shot, for both of which there was a constant demand at home and abroad.
During the period that the lead mining industry flourished in Southwestern Wisconsin, there were lively times and every sort of business activity. It con- tinued to Hourish until the discovery of gold in California proved a stronger magnet. . Its decline was hastened by unfriendly tariff legislation, and in addition inadequate transportation facilities operated largely to prevent its contimed successful prosecution. "In this age of myriad ribbons of steel radiating from every commercial center, " says Legler in his volume, "Lead- ing Events of Wisconsin History, " "it is hard to appreciate the difficulties encountered by the pioneers in transporting commodities.
"There were then no railroads in the Northwest, and the great transporta- tion projects all centered in canals. The lead industry and its transportation necessities influenced many of the early canal schemes which played a large part in the early polities of the territory. The Fox-Wisconsin route, as well as that of the greater Mississippi River highway, was used for the shipment of ore to a considerable extent."
Shot Tower on the Wisconsin River .- In the year 1831, Daniel Whitney, a merchant of Green Bay, built a shot tower at Helena on the Wisconsin River, which on account of its contiguity to the lead mines insured a reliable supply of metal for the manufacture of shot. Whitney had observed that shot towers were successful commercial ventures in Missouri and a company was formed under the name of Whitney, Platte & Company to build one. The tower was two years in course of construction. It was built on the summit of a bold escarpinent fronting Pike Creek. A contemporary description is cited by Legler, as follows: "One hundred feet from the base of the rock there is a ledge or landing place : on this ledge rises the shot tower, of frame construction, eighty feet to the roof; of course the depth from the top of the tower to the base of the rock is 180 feet. A well or shaft has been sunk through the rock, which is of sandstone, 100 feet, and a lateral drift or entranee ninety feet in length, has been out from the bank of the creek to the perpendicular shaft."
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The daily output of the shot tower employing six hands was 5,000 lbs. of shot, and the process of making it is described as follows: "At the edge of the cliff stood the melting house with two kettles in which the mineral was prepared for dropping. A little to the east of this were an arch and a large kettle protected by a small roof. Here the lead was tempered by the addi- tion of arsenie, and run into 'pigs' for further use: the pigs thus obtained were used to give the requisite brittleness to the lead from which the shot was made. A small portion would suffice to temper a kettle holding 1,00) pounds of lead. The 'dropping ladle' was perforated with holes of varying size, and when partly full of melted lead would be tilted gently sidewise, fore- ing the metal out in drops to form the shot, which falling 180 feet wouk] assume a spherical shape and at the same time be cooled. At the bottom of the shaft the shot fell into the shot-cistern, filled with water, which served to break the fall, and cool the shot."
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