History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, Part 10

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Pierce, Eben Douglas
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago Winona : H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1318

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"The lake is about twenty miles long and near six in breadth; in some places it is very deep and abounds with various kinds of fish. Great numbers of fowl frequent also this lake and rivers adjacent, such as storks, swans, geese, brants, and ducks ; and in the groves are found great plenty of turkeys and partridges. On the plains are the largest buffaloes of any in America. Here I observed the ruins of a French factory, where it was said Captain St. Pierre resided, and carried on a very great trade with the Naudowessies. before the reduction of Canada.

"About sixty miles below this lake31 is a mountain remarkably situated ; for it stands by itself exactly in the middle of the river, and looks as if it had slidden from the adjacent shore into the stream. It cannot be termed an island, as it rises immediately from the brink of the water to a considerably height. Both the Indians and the French call it the Mountain in the River."32

At the close of the Revolutionary War, the land east of the Mississippi became a part of the new United States by the treaty of September 3, 1783.38 Spain continued in possession of the land west of the Mississippi from 1762 to October 1, 1800,3 when the tract was receded to France, which nation, however, did not take possession until 1804,33 at which time a formal transfer was made from Spain to France, in order that France might formally transfer the tract to the United States under the treaty of April 30, 1803.30

Two years later the Government determined to send an expedition into the Northwest, in charge of Zebulon M. Pike. He .was given orders to negotiate treaties with the Indians, to secure a conformity with the laws of the United States by the Northwest Company and others engaged in the fur trade, to secure the site for a fort near the head of Mississippi River navigation, and to extend geographical exploration. He started from St. Louis August 9, 1805, with twenty soldiers, spent the winter in northern Minnesota, started down the river April 7, 1806, and again reached St. Louis the latter part of that month. On his way up the river Pike slept near the foot of Trempealeau Mountain, on the night of September 13. He speaks of the mountain as le Montaigne qui Trompe a l'Eau.37 He reached the mountain in a drizzling rain and left the next morning in a dense fog. On April 16, 1806, he again passed Trempealeau Mountain on his way down the river.

In his geographical notes Pike says: "La Montaigne qui Trompe dans l'Eau stands in the Mississippi near the east shore, about fifty miles below

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

the Sauteauz (Chippewa) River, and is about two miles in circumference, with an elevation of 200 feet, covered with timber. There is a small river which empties into the Mississippi in the rear of the mountain, which I conceive once bounded the mountain on the lower side and the Mississippi on the upper, when the mountain was joined to the main land by a neck of low prairie ground, which in time was worn away by the spring freshets of the Mississippi, and thus formed an island of this celebrated mountain.38

Major Stephen H. Long led an expedition up the Mississippi in 1817. The voyage was made in a six-oared skiff. The party camped near Trem- pealeau on the night of Friday, July 11. In his entry for July 10 Long says, "Passed the Black River on our right, coming in from the northeast. It is navigable for pirogues somewhat more than 100 miles, to where the navigation is obstructed by rapids. On this river is an abundance of pine timber of an excellent quality. Much of the pine timber used at St. Louis is cut here. This river has three mouths, by which it discharges itself into the Mississippi, the lowermost of which is passable and communi- cates with the Mississippi twelve or fourteen miles below the junction of the valleys of the two rivers. The bluffs along the river today were unusually interesting. They were of an exceedingly wild and romantic character, being divided into numerous detached fragments, some of them of mountain size, while others in slender conical peaks seemed to tower aloft till their elevation rendered them invisible. Here might the poet or bard indulge his fancy in the wildest extravagance, while the philosopher would find a rich repast in examining the numerous phenomena here pre- sented to his view, and in tracing the wonderful operations of nature that have taken place since the first formation of the world. A little above the mouth of the Black River, both shores of the Mississippi may be seen at the same time, which is the only instance of the kind we have met with on our way from Prairie du Chien to this place. One mile further ahead the bluffs on both sides approach within 800 yards of each other, and the river, in consequence, is narrower here than at any other place this side of Prairie du Chien. Notwithstanding this contraction of its channel, the river here imbosoms an island of considerable size. Encamped at sunset on a small island.

"Saturday, July 12. Within a few yards of the island where we camped is another, considerably smaller, which, for the sake of brevity, I called the Bluff Island, as its former name is very long and difficult to pronounce. It has been accounted a great curiosity by travelers. It is remarkable for being the third island in the Mississippi from the Gulf of Mexico to this place that has a rocky formation similar to that of the neighboring bluffs, and nearly the same altitude. Pike, in his account of it, states the height of it to be about 200 feet. We lay by this morning for the purpose of ascertaining its altitude, which we found by a trigometrical calculation, which my instruments would not enable me to make with much accuracy, to be a little more than 500 feet. It is a very handsome conical hill, but not sufficiently large to deserve the appellation of mountain, although it is called by the name of the Montaigne qui trompe de l'eau, or the mountain that is soaked in the water."""

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

Long also describes in glowing terms the scenery from Trempealeau to Winona.

The party again landed at Trempealeau on the journey down the river, Sunday, July 20. At their former camping place they found their axe which they had lost there. They ascended Trempealeau Mountain and from there viewed the Indian village at Winona.40 As before, Long waxed enthusiastic over the wonderful scenery. He discovered that the bluffs which he had previously supposed to be the main river bluffs were in fact a broken range of high bluff hills, separated from the main bluffs by the wide expanse of Trempealeau prairie. He advances the theory that the Trempealeau bluffs are in reality the eastern point of a promontory orig- inally extending from the Minnesota bluffs, and that the natural course of the river was originally between the Trempealeau bluffs and the main Wisconsin bluffs, Trempealeau prairie being the river's natural bed. While on the top of Trempealeau Mountain, Long and his companion were sum- moned by three Indians, one of whom had been bitten in the leg by a rattle- snake. The Indians at once cut out a piece of flesh containing the wounded part and applied bandages above it. They refused, however, to allow Long to wash the wound. A short time later Long ascended Queen Bluff near Richmond. His observations there led him to believe that the Mississippi was originally a vast lake filling all the valley, to a height of many hundred feet above the present water level.

With the establishment in 1819 of Fort Snelling, Trempealeau County was placed within the pale of civilization, and thereafter soldiers, traders and visitors were frequently passing. The expedition which established the fort, headed by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Leavenworth and accom- panied by Major Thomas Forsyth, the Indian agent, reached Trempealeau and continued its course up the river in August, 1819. In his journal Major Forsyth mentions that on the night of August 12 he camped five miles below La Montaigne qui trempe a l'eau.41

That same year, on November 2, a sawmill was established on the falls of the Black River, "not much inferior to any in the United States." Seven chiefs of the Sioux nation granted the original permission to do this, and later Lefei (Wabasha), the head chief, made the permission perma- nent."" The mill was soon destroyed by the Winnebago.

General Lewis Cass, with his party, including Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and James D. Doty, passed Trempealeau Mountain in 1820. They reached the upper Mississippi by way of Lake Superior, and after leaving the region of their explorations came down the Mississippi. On this trip down the river, Cass and Schoolcraft and their men landed at the present site of Winona and camped for the night on the Minnesota bank of the Mississippi, some five miles west of Trempealeau Mountain. Schoolcraft, in his notes, gave the following description of Trempealeau Mountain:

"A few miles below Wabasha's village an isolated mountain of singular appearance rises out of the center of the river to a height of four or five hundred feet, where it terminates in crumbling peaks of naked rock, whose lines of stratification and massy walls impress forcibly upon the mind the image of some gigantic battlement of former generations. Around its

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

lower extremity the alluvion of the river has collected, forming a large island, covered with a heavy forest, whose deep green foliage forms a pleasing contrast with the barren grandeur of the impending rocks, which project their gothic pinnacles into the clouds and cast a sombre shadow over the broad and glittering bosom of the Mississippi. This singular feature in the topography of the country has long attracted the admiration and the wonder of the voyageurs of the Mississippi, who have bestowed upon it the appellation of The Mountain that sinks in the Water (La Mon- taigne qui Trompe dans l'Eau), an opinion being prevalent among them that it annually sinks a few feet. This island-mountain is four or five miles in circumference, with a mean width of half a mile, and by dividing the channel of the river into two equal halves, gives an immense width to the river, and thus increases the grandeur of the prospect. It is further remarkable as being the only fast, or rocky island, in the whole course of this river, from the Falls of Peckagama, to the Mexican Gulf."43

A mill was built in 1822 on the Menomonee branch of the Chippewa, by permission of Lawrence Taliaferro, the Indian agent at Fort Snelling, and with the consent of the Sioux. Joseph Rolette and Judge James Lockwood, both of Prairie du Chien, were the financial backers of the proposition, and Wabasha's band of Sioux were also interested in it.++

On his expedition to Lake Winnipeg in 1823 Long again passed Trem- pealeau Mountain, accompanied by a part of his followers. From Prairie du Chien to Fort Snelling, a part of the expedition, under James F. Calhoun, made the trip on horseback along the west bank of the Mississippi. William H. Keating, who was with the expedition, mentions Trempealeau Mountain. Keating corrects many of Schoolcraft's statements and confirms some of Pike's observations. After giving the French term for the place as Mon- tagne qui trempe dans l'eau, which he declares to be but a translation of the Indian name for it, "the mountain which soaks in the water"-he states that the island mountain is only about a mile in circumference, and instead of dividing the river into two equal halves, is very near the east bank. He admits, however, that seen from a distance, it has the delusive appearance of standing in the middle of the river.45

The first steamboat to ascend the upper Mississippi, the "Virginia," passed Trempealeau Mountain in May, 1823, and arrived at Fort Snelling, near the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, May 10. A number of prominent people were aboard. Steamboat traffic thus being opened, Trempealeau Mountain, a landmark and a point of interest to all travelers, became widely known. J. Constantine Beltrami, who explored the Red River of the North and the sources of the Mississippi River, was one of the passengers aboard the "Virginia" when it made its first trip to Fort Snelling. Of Trempealeau he says:

"From this spot (118 miles from Prairie du Chien) a chain of moun- tains, whose romantic character reminds one of the valley of the Rhine, between Bingen and Coblentz, leads to the Mountain which dips into the water. This place would exhaust all my powers of expression if I had not seen Longue Vue. Amid a number of delightful little islands, encircled by the river, rises a mountain of a conical form equally isolated. You

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

climb amid cedars and cypresses, strikingly contrasted with the rocks which intersect them, and from the summit you command a view of valleys, prairies, and distances in which the eye loses itself. From this point I saw both the last and the first rays of a splendid sun gild the lovely picture. The western bank presents another illusion to the eye. Mountains, ruggedly broken into abrupt rocks, which appear cut perpendicularly into towers, steeples, cottages, &c., appear precisely like towns and villages."46

The period of exploration really ends in 1835, when this region was visited by George William Featherstonhaugh and William Williams Mather, by George Catlin, and by a military expedition under Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen W. Kearney, the topographer of the expedition being Albert Miller Lea.

Featherstonhaugh, in his reconnaissance, mentions Trempealeau Mountain, and while narrating the geological history of the landmark, describes the view from its summit. Wabasha's brother related to him that "the Indians called it Minnay Chonkaha, or bluff in the water, and that they resorted to it at the beginning of the wild-geese season, to make offerings to Wakon, or the deity, for success in hunting."47

The military expedition reached Winona overland from Iowa, entering the state southwest from what is now the city of Albert Lea. In July, 1835, the soldiers camped on the west bank of the Mississippi, within sight of what Lea called La Montaigne qui trempe a l'eau.48

Catlin, the famous Indian painter, was forced to winter his boat near Richmond,4? not far from Trempealeau Mountain, by reason of obstructing ice, late in 1835. On Catlin's Rocks, in Richmond Township, Winona County, he painted his name in great red letters, and the marks were to be plainly seen for many years thereafter.50

Thus Trempealeau Mountain, which had watched the first white man penetrate these solitudes, was now known to the world, and the activities of civilization were soon to be throbbing at its feet. Frenchmen, English- men and Americans had examined her wonderful formations, the whistle and chug of the steamboat had become familiar, the rich land over which for so many centuries it had stood guard awaited the axe of the pioneer, the plow of the husbandman.

1-L. H. Bunnell, Winona and Its Environs (Winona, 1897), 112-114, 187.

2-Dr. Warren Upham is of the opinion that Radisson and Grosseilliers made their head- quarters at Prairie Island, above Red Wing, from April or May, 1655, to June, 1656. But this opinion is not generally accepted. As Dr. Louise Phelps Kellogg says: "The difficulty of interpreting Radisson's text, written in a language unfamiliar to himself, and several years after the completion of his journeys, adds to the differences of opinion with regard to the route and the locations deseribed." For Upham's conclusions see: Upham, Grosseilliers and Radisson, Minnesota in Three Centuries (New York, 1908), I, 127-204. Also: Same author and title, Minn. Hist. Colls., X, Part 2, 449-594. Dr. Reuben Gold Thwaites has reprinted portions of the accounts of the third and fourth voyages of these two adventurers, with copious notes in: Wis. Hist. Colls., XI, 64-69. Dr. Kellogg has reprinted the account of the third voyage, with an introduction, in: Early Narratives of the Northwest (New York, 1917), 29-65. Several writers are of the opinion that Father Menard aseended the Black River on his way to his tragic death in 1661, and quote Perrot in supporting their contentions. See: Nicholas Perrot, Memoire (Memoire sur les mocurs, coustumes, et relligion des sauvages de l'Amerique Septentrionale), reprinted in the original French with notes and translation by

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

Rev. Father Jules Tailhan (Paris, 1864), this in turn being reprinted in: Minn. Hist. Colls., II, Part 3, 24-30 (original edition). A reprint of the Memoire (Tailhan's edition, 84-93), regarding the Flight of the Ottawa, which Perrot says Menard followed, may be found: Thwaites, ed., French Regime in Wisconsin, Part 1, Wis. Hist. Colls., XVI, 14-21. But Menard's route is still an open question. For Menard's last letter see: Edward D. Neill, Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota (Minneapolis, 1882), 3-4. For extract from Menard's letter (Jesuit Relations, XLVI, 11-13, 127-145) and Menard's labors and death (Id., XLVIII, 12, 115-143) see: Thwaites, ed., French Regime in Wisconsin, Part I, Wis. Hist. Colls., XVI, 21-25. For life and labors of Menard see also: H. C. Campbell, Père René Ménard, Parkmun Club Pub- lications, No. 11 (Milwaukee, 1897). Also see: Kellogg, Early Narratives of the North- west, 25, note.

3-Thwaites, ed., Hennepin's New Discovery (Chicago, 1903). Or John G. Shea, ed., A Description of Louisiana, by Father Louis Hennepin (New York, 1880).

4-For a discussion of the identity of Hennepin's R. de. Beeuf's with Chippewa River, see: Elliott Coues, cd., Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike (New York, 1895), I, 58, 65, notes. Also: Bunnell, Winona and Its Environs, 52-54.

5-Kellogg, Early Narratives of the Northwest, 325-334. Also: Shca, ed., A Descrip- tion of Louisiana, 374-377.

6-The vanity of Hennepin did not allow him to admit that he was a captive and a slave, the cruel sport of the Indians. He represented that he accompanied Duluth because of the latter's pleasure in his society and his desire for his companionship. See: Thwaites, ed., Hennepin's New Discovery, 293-305.

7-Kellogg, Early Narratives of the Northwest, 69-92.

8-E. H. Blair, Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi (Cleveland, 1911), I, 367.

9-See: Eben D. Pierce, George H. Squier and Louise Phelps Kellogg, Remains of a French Post Near Trempcaleau, Wis. Hist. Soc., Proceedings, 1915, 111-123. ~

10-For a reproduction of Franquelin's great map of 1688, see: Kellogg, Early Narra- tives of the Northwest, 342; also read J. Franklin Jameson's note (p. xiv) in the same volume. Also see account of Franquelin's maps in: Parkman, LaSalle and the Discovery of the North- west (Boston, 1891), 455-458. A partial reproduction of the map may be found: Neill, History of Minnesota (Minneapolis, 4th edition, 1882), frontispiece.

11-Blair, Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi, II, 25.

12-Neill (Wis. Hist. Colls., X, 299-300) says that Perrot returning from the New York raid reoccupied the post where he had spent the winter of 1685-86. After writing the article, however, Dr. Neill discovered that he had confused Ft. St. Antoine with Perrot's post at Trempealean (Ibid., 371).

13-See: Draper, Early French Forts, Ibid., 358-371.

14-Thwaites, ed., Important Western Papers, Perrot's Minutes of Taking Possession, Id., XI, 35-36 (reprinted from the New York Colonial Documents, IX, 418).

15-Pierre Margry, Découvertes et Établissements des Français dans L'Amerique (Paris, 1882), V, 413.

16-Penieault in his Journal of Le Sueur's Expedition as reported in: Neill, Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, 41. Also: Thwaites, ed., French Régime in Wisconsin, Part 1, Wis. Hist. Colls., XVII, 183. See Ibid., 177, note, concerning Le Sueur's Journal, La Harpe's and Penicault's versions, and Shea's and Thwaites' translations.

17-Thwaites, ed., French Régime in Wisconsin, Part 2, Id., XVII, 10-15, 22-28, 56-59, 77-80.

18-Letter from Father Michel Guignas from the Brevort Manuscripts, printed in Shea's Early French Voyages, and reprinted in Neill's Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, 52; also in Wis. Hist. Colls., XVII, 22-28.

19-Ibid., 151, 168, 169.

20-Thwaites, Jesuit Relations (Cleveland, 1900), LXVIII, 255.

21-Wis. Hist. Colls., XVII, 230.

22-Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, LXVII, 281; Margry, Decour. et Etabl., VI, 572, 573; Wis. Hist. Colls., XVII, 274, note.

23-Id., XVII, 269, 270.

24-Ibid., 269-274.

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

25-Wis. Hist. Soc., Proceedings, 1915, 122.

26-Wis. Hist. Colls., XVII, 315, note.

27-Neill, Macalester College Contributions (St. Paul, 1890), First Series, 214, 218. Also: Same author, Early Wisconsin Explorations, Forts and Trading Posts, Wis. Hist. Colls., x, 304,

28-For preliminary treaty of Nov. 3, 1762 (reprinted from Gentleman's Magazine, XXXII, 569-573), and definite treaty of peace of Feb. 10, 1763 (reprinted from Id., XXXIII, 121-126), see: Thwaites, ed., Important Western State Papers, Wis. Hist. Colls., XI., 36-46.

29-For Carver Bibliography, sce: John Thomas Lee, Wis. Hist. Soc., Proceedings, 1909, 143-183. Also see: Same author and subject, Additional Data, Id., 1912, 87-123.

30-For text of the Carver deed and its history, see: Carver Centenary, Minn. Hist. Colls., II, Part 4, 17, 19-21, original edition. Also see: Daniel Steele Durrie, Jonathan Carver and Carver's Grant, Wis. Hist. Colls., VI, 221-270.

31-Possibly the word "Lake" was inserted in Carver's manuscript by an editor. In the preceding paragraph he mentions the St. Pierre ruins, on the east side of Lake Pepin, and he may have intended to locate Trempealeau as 60 miles below this (the ruin) rather than 60 miles below Lake Pepin.

32-Jonathan Carver, Travels in North America (London, 1778), 54-56.

33-Treaties and Conventions Concluded Between the United States of America and Other Powers (Washington, 1873), 314-318.

34-Among the many excellent works on the subject may be mentioned: Jamse K. Hosmer, The Louisiana Purchase (New York, 1904).

35-See: Walter B. Douglas, Spanish Domain of Upper Louisiana, Wis. Hist. Soc., Proccedings, 1913, 74-90.

36-Annals of Congress, 1802-1803, pp. 1006-1008.

37-Coues, ed., Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike (New York, 1895), I, 52, 53.

38-Ibid., 307.

39-Stephen H. Long, Voyage in a Six Oar Skiff to the Falls of St. Anthony in 1817, Minn. Hist. Colls., II, Part 1, 15-17, original edition.

40-Ibid., 47-50.

41-Major Thomas Forsyth, Journal of a Voyage to the Falls of St. Anthony in 1819, Wis. Hist. Colls., VII, 202.

42-Durrie, Jonathan Carver and Carver's Grant, Id., VI, 252, 266. Also: American State Papers, Public Lands, IV, 22. Also: James H. Lockwood, Early Times and Events in Wisconsin, Wis. Hist. Colls., II, 118, text and note. Also: Col. John Shaw, Narrative, Ibid., 230.

43-H. R. Schoolcraft, Narrative Journal of Travels (Albany, 1821), 334-335. Also: Same anthor and title (Philadelphia, 1855), 165.

44-Lockwood, Early Times and Events in Wisconsin, Wis. Hist. Colls., II, 132-141. 45-W. H. Keating, Narrative of Long's Expedition (Philadelphia, 1824), 271-272.

46-J. C. Beltrami, A Pilgrimage in Europe and America Leading to the Discovery of the Sources of the Mississippi and Bloody River (London, 1828), II, 178-179.

47-G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Geological Reconnaissance (Washington, 1836), 130.

48-Letter written from Corsicana, Texas, July 7, 1890, by Albert Miller Lee to H. W. Lathrop, librarian of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and published (October, 1890) under the title of Early Exploration in Iowa, lowa Historical Record, vi, No. 4, 548.

49-Richmond was originally called Catlin in honor of the painter. Later the name was changed to Forest City and still later to Richmond. It is situated a little below Trempealeau on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi.

50-Bunnell, Winona and Its Environs, 183.

Portions of the introductory paragraphs have been copied from: Eben Douglas Pierce, Early Days of Trempealeau, Wis. Hist. Society, Proceedings, 1906, 246-255.

The original sources from which Dr. Thwaites obtained his material for Vol. XVII of the Wis. Hist. Collections, appear with the various documents therein printed, and no attempt has been made to repeat them here. By consulting that volume the inquiring student will find citations of the original sources.

CHAPTER VII

EARLY SETTLEMENT

Trempealeau County, touching, as it does, on its southwestern border the Mississippi River, was easily accessible for the early explorers, travelers, traders, and later for the pioneer settlers.

The boundary rivers and some of the streams of the interior of the county afforded waterways for the canoe, and many of our valleys, such as the Beaver Creek and Elk Creek, were explored by hunters who canoed up the principal streams flowing out of these respective regions.

Trempealeau Bay, lying about half a mile above the site of Perrot's post, afforded an excellent stopping place for traders and travelers during the fur trading regime on account of the abundance of wood and water in that locality and also for the protection from rough weather which the rugged bluffs furnished. During the sharp rivalry between the different fur companies the trader kept an anxious eye on the bay for the return of the bands of trappers from up the Trempealeau River.

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History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, Part 10

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Pierce, Eben Douglas Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago Winona : H.C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1318

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Pierce, Eben Douglas
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago Winona : H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1318