History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, Part 7

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

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It must be borne in mind that the antiquity of man as a denizen of the world is quite a distinct question from that of the date of his arrival on this continent. In Europe, and adjoining portions of Asia and Africa, evidences have been found indicating his existence practically throughout the Pleistocene period. But in America the evidences are much more

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

scanty and less decisive, and there has come to be a rather sharp division of opinion as to the validity of such evidence as is available.

A few examples will serve to show the nature and limitations of the evidence. Some half century ago a human skull was found in the auriferous gravels of California under a lava bed. This seemed to carry man back into the tertiary, but the opinion finally prevailed that the lava bed was a displaced mass which had slidden to its present position. Some years ago human remains were found along the Missouri River nearly a hundred feet down. But Professor Chamberlin showed that the bed of that stream is extremely unstable, being rapidly cut away and refilled to great depths, with obvious consequences. For a number of years archaeologists have been finding flint chips in the glacial gravels at various places, notably near Trenton, New Jersey, and near Washington. But it is claimed that these might have been produced by natural agencies, and Professor Cham- berlin gives cuts of two groups, one from the above sources, the other from a source where human agency is not presumed. I think that no one could pick out, with confidence, the natural from the supposed artificial group. More recently human remains have been discovered in Florida associated with the remains of extinct animals of the Pleistocene. But it appears that they occur in a little valley which had been partly refilled with wash derived from the surrounding Pleistocene, whereby objects not really con- temporaneous are brought into apparent relationship. It will be seen, therefore, that the evidence thus far obtained lacks considerable of being conclusive.

In the case of Trempealeau, Professor Chamberlin, in response to my first letter, was disposed to apply the same explanation as in the case on the Missouri, scour and fill; but, the conditions here are such as to definitely exclude that explanation. It may be said that the weak point in the evidence is that the object was not seen in its actual position in the bed. Still, considering that from fifty-four feet downward the material retained substantially the same character, and quite evidently had not been subject to scour and fill, the lack does not seem to seriously invalidate the evidence.

It is best, however, to be a little conservative in such matters, and reserve one's opinion until the evidence has been studied from all angles.

1-In calculating the volume of conical mounds, I have assumed them to be cones of the given diameter and height, making the diameter equal to the furthest limit to which artificial fill can be traced. It is, of course, not strictly accurate, but gives a reasonably close approxi- mation.

Note .- Charles F. Brown, in the Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 5, Nos. 3-4, April to October, 1906, pp. 392-393, gives the following resume of the Archælogical remains in Trem- pealeau County :

Trempealeau Township .- (a) Mounds and earthwork near the Mississippi, opposite Homer. Reported by L. H. Bunnell, Smithsonian Report, 1871, p. 430. Large group of mounds on the Gladsten property, south of Pine Creek, near Pine Creek Station.

(b) Mound west of Mr. Booher's residence at Trempealeau. Several mounds in close proximity to the Baptist church at Trempealeau. (G. H. Squier says there was but one.)

(c) Other mounds on the ridges of the bluffs not far from Trempealeau. Human bones and vessels found in them. Mentioned by L. H. Bunnell, Winona and Environs (Winona,

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

1897), pp. 84, 37 and 89. Oval mound on Wn. Nicholls' place at Trempealeau. Tabular mound on the south side of Third street at Trempealeau. (Identical with third item.) Series of three platforms on the erest of a hill at Trempealeau. Mounds and fireplaces near the former loca- tion of Fort Perrot. Scattered bones found in some of the mounds.

(d) Group of conical mounds near the southeast corner of Mt. Trempealeau. Also single mounds nearby. Described and mentioned by G. H. Squier, Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1905), pp. 25-34. The tabular mound briefly described by L. Kessinger, History Buffalo County, pp. 75-76. "Pictograph" rock bearing Indian carvings, on an exposed sand- stone ledge on Trempealeau river, 21/2 miles northwest of Trempealeau. Described by T. H. Lewis, American Naturalist, September, 1889; mentioned by C. E. Brown, Wisconsin Archeo- logist, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1905).

Gale Township .- (d) Effigy mounds at Galesville and vicinity. Mentioned by George Gale, The Upper Mississippi (1867), p. 14; and by L. H. Bunnell, Winona and Environs (1897), p. 87, also in Galesville Transcript, Nov. 25, 1860. (e) Rock shelter at Galesville, the sides of which are covered with carvings representing snakes, birds, mammals and men. Re- ported by T. H. Lewis, August, 1905; mentioned by C. E. Brown, Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1905), p. 218.

Caledonia Township .- (f) Group of effigy mounds on the west side of Black river, N. 1% See. 10, T. 18 N., R. 8 W.

Briefly described by T. H. Lewis, Science, Vol. 13, p. 188; also in Tracts for Archæology, Vol. 1 (1880), and figure.

The list as given is a correct bibliography of the subject as far as I am aware. I have indicated above such as are duplications or were based on incomplete knowledge. (G. H. S.) (a) I have made repeated inquiries as to this group, but can learn of nothing save the Pine Creek group, which is nearly opposite Homer.

(b) This was originally a large conical mound like the Nicholls mound. The top was seraped away some time in the late fifties or early sixties, by Richard Towner, now dead.

This, that near the Baptist church, and others of which I have seen traces, made up a considerable group once occupying the site of Trempealean.

(c) Although not numerous, there are mounds in several localities on the bluffs. On Trempealeau Mountain, Brady's Bluff, on hill back of Fort Perrot, on the main bluff, and on a lower space of Liberty Peak. These were so scattering that they could not well be plotted, as was done for the Pine Creek group, those at the bay and others.

((1) The mounds about Galesville have been so completely obliterated that seareely any- thing can now be recognized.

(e) Unless the one in the park from which the spring issues is intended, I do not know to what he refers. That Indians may have used it for shelter and left markings in it is not improbable, but even in the late sixties when I first visited it, these had been largely sup- planted by the work of the whites.

(f) There are, or were, several groups along the west side of Black river containing effigies. It is not clear to which he refers.

Judge Gale's work approached nearer to a systematie study of the archæology of the county than any of the others. His acquaintance was very wide. It is unfortunate that he left so few notes to aid in locating the features he mentions. Mr. Bunnell was a keen observer, but his work was only incidental. Mr. Lewis spent a few days in the vicinity, giving consider- able attention to the archæology.

CHAPTER IV

GOVERNMENTAL JURISDICTION

Jurisdiction over Trempealeau County has been claimed by four nations, Spain, France, England and the United States; by the French and English colonial authorities ; by the territorial officials of the Northwest Territory and of the Territories of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin; and by the officers of the counties of Crawford, La Crosse, Chippewa, Jackson and Buffalo.

Spain, by virtue of the discoveries of Columbus and others, confirmed to her by Papal grant (that of Alexander VI, May 4, 1493), may be said to have been the first European owner of the entire valley of the Mississippi river, but she never used this claim as a ground for taking actual possession of this part of her domains other than was incidentally involved in De Soto's doings. The name of Florida was first applied to the greater part of the eastern half of North America, commencing at the Gulf of Mexico, and proceeding northward indefinitely.

England, basing her claims on the explorations made by her subjects along the Atlantic coast, issued to various individuals and "companies," charters to vast tracts of land extending from the Atlantic westward.

Practically, however, the upper Mississippi Valley may be considered as having been in the first place Canadian soil, for it was Frenchmen from Canada, who first visited it and traded with its natives. The names of Canada and New France were used interchangeably to apply to the vast French possessions of the American continent. The name, Louisiana, was invented by La Salle and applied by him to the entire Mississippi Valley. But generally speaking, the Canada or New France of the eighteenth cen- tury took in the upper Mississippi Valley, while the name Louisiana was used for the lower valley.

At the close of the great European conflict which found its echo in the so-called French and Indian War in America, the area that is now Wisconsin, became by the Treaty of Paris, signed February 10, 1763 (a preliminary treaty having been signed at Fontainebleau, November 3, 1762), a part of the British empire.1

The success of the American Revolution, resulting in the Treaty of Paris,2 September 3, 1783, revived the claims of the coast States ; but finally these claims were ceded to the Federal government, in order to form a national domain from which to create new States and Territories.3 The land having been acquired by the Federal authority, many plans were pro- posed for its government. Thomas Jefferson suggested that the territory be divided into ten States, of which the State of Michigania was to include Trempealeau County.

The Northwest Territory was erected by the Congress of the Confed-

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

eration (the Constitution of the United States not being adopted until September 17, 1787) by the "Northwest Ordinance," passed July 13, 1787.5 Eventually there were formed from the Northwest Territory, in addition to Ohio," the Territories of Indiana7 (May 7, 1800), Michigan8 (January 11, 1805), Illinois ? (February 3, 1809) and Wisconsin 10 (April 20, 1836). Wisconsin was a part of the Northwest Territory from July 13, 1787 to May 7, 1800; of Indiana Territory from May 7, 1800, to February 3, 1809; of Illinois Territry 11 from February 3, 1809, to April 18, 1818; and of Michigan Territory from April 18, 1818, to April 20, 1836, when the Territory of Wisconsin was created.

Crawford County, erected by proclamation of Lewis Cass, governor of Michigan Territory, October 26, 1818, included what is now Trempealeau County.12 When the Territory of Wisconsin was organized, Crawford County still contained in its vast area the present limits of Trempealeau County. The same relation continued in early Statehood days. In 1845 the part of what is now Trempealeau County north of the Buffalo River, became a part of Chippewa County.13 La Crosse County was created in 1851, and the same year was made to include what is now Trempealeau County south of the Buffalo River.14

Jackson County, when created May 11, 1853, included all of what is now Trempealeau County south of the Buffalo River and north of the line between Townships 18 and 19, the tract south of that line remaining in La Crosse County.15

Buffalo County, as created July 6, 1853, included all of what is now Trempealeau County, west of the line between Ranges 7 and 8, south of the Buffalo River and north of the line between Townships 18 and 19.10

In 1854 Buffalo County was enlarged. Its northern boundary was the line between Townships 24 and 25. Its western boundary was the Chippewa River. Its southern boundary was the Mississippi and the line between Townships 18 and 19. Its western boundary was the line between Townships 18 and 19.17

Trempealeau County, then called Trempe a l'eau, was created by Act approved January 24, 1854. It had practically its present boundaries, with the exception that the southern boundary, east of where the Black River touches the southwest corner of Town 19, Range 7, ran due east on the line between Townships 18 and 19, to the line between Ranges 6 and 7, instead of following the Black River to the line between Ranges 6 and 7, as at present.18

In 1857 the boundaries of Trempealeau and La Crosse were defined with reference to the channel of the Black River, which was made the boundary between the two counties from the line between Townships 17 and 18, to the line between Ranges 6 and 7.19 A few days earlier, the boundaries of Trempealeau and Buffalo Counties had been defined in refer- ence to the channel and islands of the Trempealeau and Mississippi Rivers.20

The story of the creation of two counties instead of one along the banks of the Mississippi River between La Crosse County and the Chippewa River, is typical of the days of townsite speculation. In the summer of 1853 there was a flourishing settlement at what is now Trempealeau, extending

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

to some extent up and down the Mississippi, and spreading out across the Trempealeau Prairie. Settlers had reached Beaver Creek Valley and Judge George Gale that year bought land on which to plat the Village of Galesville. There was a thriving settlement at Holmes' Landing, now Fountain City, and a smaller one at Twelve-Mile Bluff, now Alma.

Marvin Pierce, who was something of a politician, lived at Montoville, now Trempealeau. With him were his two brothers, Wesley and James M. John Buehler was a citizen of Holmes' Landing. It is said that on a trip to his former home in Grant County, he stopped at Montoville, and inter- ested Marvin Pierce in the proposition of establishing a new county. According to the story told by Buehler later in life, Marvin Pierce went up to Holmes' Landing and secured the funds with which to lobby the required bill through the legislature.21 The Act was passed July 6, 1853, one of its provisions being the location of the county seat of the newly- formed Buffalo County at Sand Prairie, Lot 1, Section 1, Township 19, Range 12, which James M. Pierce had entered at the United States Land Office a few weeks previous, on June 1.

The people of Holmes' Landing believed that their hopes of developing an important metropolis were about to be realized. Montoville was left in La Crosse County, and could never expect to rival La Crosse for county seat honors. The site of Judge Gale's proposed village was on the extreme edge of the newly-created Buffalo County, and could have no hope of securing county seat advantages. It is true that the people of Holmes' Landing were indignant that the Pierces had taken advantage of the situation and had secured the location of the county seat on a neighboring sand bar instead of actually at their village, nevertheless it was felt that the matter of persuading the supervisors to meet at the village instead of on what was practically a near-by Mississippi island, was a simple one. This feeling was fully justified, for the very first recorded gathering of the county board was held at Fountain City, and at that meeting the home of Henry Goerke, on Lot 6, Section 8, Township 19, was designated as the courthouse.

There seemed absolutely no possibility for the creation of another county between Holmes' Landing and La Crosse, for a constitutional provi- sion prevented the division of any county having an area of 900 acres, without a vote of the people.22

Judge Gale, however, was a man of considerable inventiveness and influence. He did not propose to see his village site shelved to the edge of a county. He quietly interviewed his friends who were to serve in the legislature, and secured their support for an ingenious plan that he had conceived. In pursuance with this plan the legislature first passed an Act enlarging Buffalo County, extending it to its present western and northern boundaries. Buffalo County thus containing over 900 acres, it was subject to division by the legislature, and immediately a second Act was passed, taking a tract containing Trempealeau from La Crosse County, a tier of townships from Jackson County, and two tiers of townships from Buffalo County, and naming the new county Trempealeau. The county seat was located on the northwest quarter of Section 33, Township 19, Range 8, on

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

Beaver Creek at Galesville. An election was to be held the first Monday in September, 1854, to designate a county judge who was to serve three years from January 1, 1855. A general election was to be held in Novem- ber, 1854, to elect all county officers, whose term was to commence January 1, 1855. The board of supervisors of Montoville was to act as a board of supervisors of the county until other towns were organized and elections held.18

For story of French, Spanish and English domain in this region, see: Moses M. Strong, Civil Government from 1512 to 1831, History of the Territory of Wisconsin (Madison, 1885), 151-165.

For story of the territories of which Trempealeau County has been a part, see: F. Cur- tiss-Wedge, History of Winona County (Chicago, 1913), 50-58. See also: Renben Gold Thwaites, Boundaries of Wisconsin, Wis. Hist. Colls., XI, 451-501.

For story of the counties of which Trempealean County has been a part, see: Louise Phelps Kellogg, Organization, Boundaries and Names of Wisconsin Counties, Wis. Hist. Soc., Proceedings, 1910, 184 et seq.

1-For preliminary treaty of Nov. 3, 1762 (printed from Gentleman's Magazine, XXXIII, 477-479), and the Quebec Act (reprinted from British Statutes at Large-London, 1776. XII, 184-187), see: Thwaites, ed., Important Western State Papers, Wis. Hist. Colls., XI, 36-60. The Proclamation of King George established four separate governments in the acquired terri- tory, but none included Wisconsin. The Quebec Act extended the jurisdiction of Quebec to a tract of land embracing Wisconsin. But Virginia, in October, 1778, after the opening of the Revolution, claimed authority over land northwest of the Ohio, by establishing the county of Illinois, embracing a vast tract which included Wisconsin (Strong, History of the Territory of Wisconsin-Madison, 1885, 154-155). Virginia's claim was based on the King's grant in 1609 to the London Company, which concluded with the words "and all that Space and Circuit of Land Lying from the Sca-coast of the Precinct aforesaid up into the land throughout, from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest"-Carrie J. Smith, Making of Wisconsin (Chicago, 1908), 167.

2-For provisional articles of Nov. 30, 1782 (309-312), definite treaty of Sept. 3, 1783 (314-318), Jay's treaty of Nov. 19, 1794 (318-335), see: Treaties and Conventions Concluded Between the United States of America and other Powers (Wash., 1873).

3-For acts of relinquishment see: Lyman J. Nash and Arthur F. Belitz, revisors, Wisconsin Annotations (Madison, 1914), 1776-1787. For map of conflicting claims, see : Smith, Making of Wisconsin (Chicago, 1908), 168.

4-For map, see: Ibid., 170.

5-For text, sce: Federal and State Constitutions (Washington, 1877), I, 429-432, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1788-1791.

6-When Indiana was created a territory, May 7, 1800, the castern part of the old Northwest Territory still retained its original name. This eastern division, with a change of boundary, adopted a constitution and created a state government under the name of the State of Ohio, Nov. 29, 1802. Feb. 19, 1803, Congress declared that Ohio had become one of the states of the Union. For enabling act, sce: 2 United States Statutes at Large, 173, or Wis- consin Annotations, 1914, 1796-1797. For recognition act see: 2 United States Statutes at Large, 201, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1798.

7-2 U. S. Statutes at Large, 58, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1795; the enabling act was passed April 19, 1816 (3 U. S. Statutes at Large, 289, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1801-1802); the admission act was passed Dec. 11, 1816 (3 U. S. Statutes at Large, 299, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1803.

8-2 U. S. Statutes at Large, 309, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1799.

9-2 U. S. Statutes at Large, 514, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1800; the enabling act was passed April 18, 1818 (3 U. S. Statutes at Large, 428, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1804-1805) ; the admission act was passed Dec. 3, 1818 (3 U. S. Statutes at Large, 536, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1806). The enabling act (Section 7) attached Wisconsin to Michigan territory.

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

10-5 U. S. Statutes at Large, 10, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1807-1810; the en- abling act was passed Aug. 6, 1846 (9 U. S. Statutes at Large, 56, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1811-1812) ; the admission act was passed May 29, 1848 (9 U. S. Statutes at Large, 178, or Wisconsin Annotations, 1914, 1813-1814.

11-Except a part of Kewaunee and Dorr counties.

12-Territorial Laws of Michigan Territory, I, 327.

13-Laws of Wisconsin Territory, 1845, 88.

14-Chapters 131 and 132, Laws of 1851.

15-Chapter 8, General Laws of 1853.

16-Chapter 100, General Laws of 1853.

17-Chapter 1, General Laws of 1854.

18-Chapter 2, General Laws of 1854.

19-Chapter 42, General Laws of 1857.

20-Chapter 16, General Laws of 1857.

21-L. Kissinger, History of Buffalo County (Alma, 1888), 277, et seq.

22-Constitution of Wisconsin, Sec. 7, Art. 13.

23-B. F. Heuston (probable author), Trempealeau County, History of Northern Wis- consin (Chicago, 1881), 1035.

CHAPTER V REIGN OF THE INDIANS

. From the days of the early fur traders, Trempealeau County seems to have been occupied more or less in common, by two branches of the Siouan family of North American Indians, the Dakota or Sioux proper, and the Winnebago.1 The Fox, Sauk and Ojibwa (Chippewa) Indians of the Algonquian family, also appear to have made frequent raids here, and various other tribes made their rendezvous at Trempealeau Bay in fur- trading days.

The Winnebago were an outlying tribe of the Siouan family, believed by some writers to be an older branch than the Dakota themselves. They were visited at Green Bay by Jean Nicolet2 as early as 1634.3 He knew them as the Men of the Sea or the Men of the Salt Water, from the aborig- inal name, Ouinipegou, which appears in the modern name of Winnebago. Literally the word ouinipeg meant "ill-smelling or dirty water," and the early French called the Winnebago Puants, or "Stinkards."+ In early fur-trading days Winnebago were ranging as far westward as the Mississippi River.5

For some two centuries thereafter central Wisconsin continued to be their home. The treaty of Prairie du Chien, signed August 19, 1825, by the Chippewa, Sauk and Fox, Menominee, Iowa, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion of the Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi living on the Illinois, fixed various boundaries." The eastern line of the Sioux territory was to commence on the Mississippi opposite the mouth of the "Ioway" River, run back two or three miles to the bluffs, and follow the tops of the bluffs to the mouth of Black River, and thence to a point a short distance southwest of Eau Claire on the Chippewa River, "half a day's journey below the falls."?

The Winnebago territory lay east of the Sioux. In defining a part of their western territory, the Winnebagoes claimed from the mouth of the Black River, up that stream to a point due west of the source of the left fork of the Wisconsin. Thus a part of Trempealeau County was neutral territory between the Winnebago and Sioux.

By the Treaties of Butte des Morts on Fox River, August 11, 1827; of Green Bay, August 25, 1828, and of Prairie du Chien, August 1, 1829, the boundaries of the Winnebago were gradually curtailed, and on Septem- ber 15, 1832, at Ft. Armstrong, Rock Island, Illinois, they agreed to relin- quish their claim to all land south and east of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, and to remove to the "neutral ground" a tract lying west of the Mississippi in northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota. By the treaty of Wash- ington, D. C., November 1, 1837, they relinquished all their land east of the Mississippi. Subsequently, by treaty of October 13, 1846, they agreed to cede the tract assigned them in 1832, and to accept in return a tract north of the Minnesota and west of the Mississippi. The larger part of the tribe

HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

was removed to Long Prairie, in the central part of Minnesota, in 1848, and small bands were moved from time to time in the years immediately following.8 In 1855 the Winnebago agency was transferred, under the terms of the treaty signed February 27, and proclaimed March 23, to Blue Earth County, near Mankato, Minnesota, but the Sioux Massacre caused the whites to be apprehensive of the peaceful Winnebago, so (under an Act of Congress approved February 21, 1863) they were removed to Crow Creek, on the Missouri River, in North Dakota. In 1865 they agreed to move to a tract in Nebraska purchased from the Omaha Indians. The removal of the Winnebago to this Nebraska tract, known as the Black Bird Reservation, was accomplished in 1866. There a part of the tribe is still located.

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History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, Part 7

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