USA > Wisconsin > Waupaca County > History of Waupaca county, Wisconsin > Part 2
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We will add further that soon after the tragical affair at Mukwa, mentioned in the foregoing state- ment made by Dr. Linde, some one made complaint before Ira Sumner, Esq., a Fremont Justice of the Peace, who issued a warrant for the arrest of
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James. When the officer appeared in Fremont with his prisoner, the Justice was away from home, and not expected back very soon ; so James was allowed to go free.
We believe the case went before the Grand Jury at the next term of our Circuit Court, but that body refused to find a "true bill."
A short time after the killing of the Indian, Mr. James called on us and requested us to see Cap- tain Powell, long an interpreter among the In- dians, and very influential with them, whom we had for some time been acquainted with, and who was then at Butte des Morts, and get him to use his influence to prevent violence on the part of the Indians, saying, "There has been blood enough spilt already."
Upon our stating the business to Captain Pow- ell, he said that James needn't be excited, the In- dians didn't seek redress that way, they proposed to obey the laws. After a few moments pause he continued: "If it had been a nigger that was killed the whole community would be up in arms, but now it is only a d-d Indian !"
CHAPTER III.
A BLOODLESS AFFRAY BETWEEN INDIAN CHIEFS AT ALGO- MA, WINNEBAGO COUNTY -POW-WA-GA-NIEN AND KISH-KE- NE-KAT.
Although the Indians have the reputation of being vindictive and bloodthirsty in their difficul-
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
ties among themselves, and especially among different tribes, we occasionally find them getting satisfaction for real or fancied injuries or insults in a manner quite humorous if not ludicrous.
We shall relate an incident that occurred many years ago, in what is now Winnebago County, and which had quite a different termination from the one mentioned in the preceeding chapter. The ac- count is taken from Mitchell & Osborn's History of Winnebago County, published in 1856 :
Pow-wa-ga-nien was a very celebrated chief of the Menominees. His great strength was equalled only by his bravery and noble- ness of spirit. He never would take the scalp of a woman or child, and it is related of him that on several occasions he defended the lives of those whom his warriors had subdued in battle.
Kish-ke-ne-kat, or Cut Finger, head war chief of the Pottawat- tamies, was a great brave, and, like some successful white braves, somewhat of a bully. Among his habits was an ugly one of in- sulting the greatest brave of any tribe he might be visiting, and such was the awing effect of his reputation that none, as yet, re- sented it. As was his wont, he sent one of his young men to Black Wolf, head chief of the Winnebagoes, to inform him of a visit he intended to pay to that chief, moved thereto by Black Wolf's great reputation as a brave. Black Wolf, knowing Cut Finger's habits, thought it best to get his Menominee friend, Pow-wa-ga-nien, to assist in dispensing his hospitalities to the Pottawattamie. There- in he showed his great wisdom. The Illinois chief made his ap- pearance at Black Wolf's village (Garlic Island) with three hun- dred warriors, and, not being expected there, did not find the chief ; so, according to custom, he started after him to Algoma, whither he had gone to a corn husking, on the planting ground of his friend Te-e-shaw.
Black Wolf, by this time apprised of his coming, assembled his and the Menominee braves to receive him. On their arrival they sat down on a pleasant spot within hailing distance of their hosts. A young Winnebago, who could speak the Pottawattamie tongue,
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presented the pipe to the great chief with the usual compliments. While the pipe was going round, Cut Finger inquired which was Blaek Wolf. The interpreter pointed him out.
"Who is that who seems to be great as he, sitting by his side ?" " That's Pow-wa-ga-nien, the great Menominee."
Cut Finger's eyes snapped with delight at the prospect of humbling the great warrior before his young men. Bidding the Winnebago to tell Blaek Wolf that he would shake his hand, be- fore the young men arose he paid the usual courtesies to that chief. After these preliminaries were settled on both sides, Cut Finger asked :
" Who is he, this who occupies a place of so much honor? He must be a great Indian."
"This is the bravest Menominee, Pow-wa-ga-nien."
"Ah ! is that the great Pow-wa-ga-nien, who fills the songs of the nation ? Let me look at him."
He walked all around the chief, examining him with the critical air of a horse joekey, Pow-wa-ga-nien all this time keeping pro- found silence, having a good idea of what it. was going to amount to.
"Well," at last broke forth Cut Finger, "you are a fine Indian, a great Indian, a strong Indian, but you don't look like a brave Indian. I have seen braver looking Indians than you in my travels. I am a great traveler. I think you must have got a great deal of your reputation by your size. You don't look brave, you look sleepy. You have no tongue, you don't speak."
Then, telling the young Menominees that he was going to satisfy himself as to the courage of their chief, he took hold of the buneh of hair the old warrior always kept on his erown for the conven- ience of any Sae or Fox who might find it necessary to scalp him, and gave him a good shaking, saying all the time, "You are sleepy, you have no tongue," and a plentiful supply of aboriginal banter.
Pow-wa-ga-nien, aided by his strength and a neek that could withstand anything but rum, sustained but little damage from this, and submitted with Indian ealmness until his tormentor had got through.
After satisfying himself, Cut Finger announced to Blaek Wolf that he would go and sit among his warriors until Blaek Wolf gave the word to rise.
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Pow-wa-ga-nien immediately set himself about fixing the flint of his Pottawattamie friend. He opened his sack and drew forth his cap of war-eagle feathers-itself equal to a small band of Sacs and Foxes-put it on his head, and picked up his lance and elub.
His young men feared an unpleasant result, but none dared to speak except his brother, who admonished him to "do nothing rash." One glance of Pow-wa-ga-nien's eye, and an emphatic "I'm mad now !" sent that respectable Menominee to his seat, excusing himself by saying that Pow-wa-ga-nien "knew what a fool he always made of himself when he got a-going."
Stretching himself up to his full height, Pow-wa-ga-nien stalked toward the Pottawattamies in a style that excited the admiration of his friends-especially of old Black Wolf, who not only admired his friend, but also his own tact in shifting this particular scrape on to that friend's shoulders.
"My friends," said the old brave to the Pottawattamies, "I am glad to see you here. You look brave- you are brave. Many of you I have met on the war-path ; some of your youngest I do not know, it being many years since I went to war. I am glad to see you look so well. I have heard much of your chief, but I don't think him very brave; I think him a coward. He looks sleepy ; and I am going to see if he is worthy to lead such braves as you."
Whereupon, throwing his weapons upon the ground, he seized the Pottawattamie chief by the hair, which he wore very long, as in prophetie anticipation of some such retribution, and continued to shake him until the young men remonstrated, saying they were satisfied. He stopped without relinquishing his hold, turned around his head, looked his followers down into silence, and shook again with the vim of a man whose whole heart was in the per- formance of an evident pious duty. The life was nearly out of Kish-ke-ne-kat, but the brave Menominee bore that individual's suffering with the same fortitude that he had born his own. Sat- isfied at last, he raised his emeny up by the hair, and threw him from him; at the same time he picked up his elub and lance, and waited to see what he was going to do about it.
Cut Finger raised himself on his elbow and rubbed his head, not daring to look up, while the Menominee invited him to look up and see a man, if he was one himself ; to "come and decide this matter like a man," which being unattended to, he went back to his seat at the right hand of Black Wolf, who had been all this time
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smoking with the utmost indifference, as, indeed, it was no affair of his.
Kish-ke-ne-kat continued to recline on his arm, Pow-wa-ga-nien eyeing him all the time ; and when the Pottawattamie would steal a glance at the great war cap, the eye under it would make him turn again. At the same time his ears were assailed with:
"Why don't you look up ? What are you afraid of ? Come and talk to me," and such taunts.
Cut Finger saw that his position among his young men was get- ting to be rather delicate, and the last invitation, as a means of reconciling all parties, met his view. So, rising and laying his hand on his sore head, he said:
"My friends, there is no dodging the fact that Pow-wa-ga-nien is a braye, a very brave Indian -braver than I, and I'll go and tell him so."
Gathering himself up, he walked over to the chiefs, and told Pow-wa-ga-nien that he had come over to shake him by the hand.
"You are a great chief. I have shook many chiefs; none have resented till now. If you had submitted you would have been disgraced in the eyes of my young men. Now they will honor you. I am a great traveler. I am going to all the tribes of the South. I will tell all who have spoken well of you how you have used me. They will believe me, for I have pulled all their heads, as you have pulled mine. You are as great as if you had pulled theirs also. Let us shake hands and be friends."
Pow-wa-ga-nien, who was a good fellow at bottom, reciprocated the good feelings of the now friendly chief, and a lasting friend- ship sprung up between them, and showed itself in the interchange of presents every year as long as they both lived.
The war-eagle cap which contributed so much towards this vic- tory is now in the hands of Pow-wa-ga-nien's son, and can be seen any time by those who doubt the truth of the foregoing.
A tragical affair took place in the town of Win- neconne, among the Indians, after the town was partially settled. We shall copy it to illustrate the fact that love, jealousy and revenge are not exclusively Christian qualities :
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
In the summer of 1849 there was a squaw among them, of no particular age, who claimed the affections of an Indian who was by many years her junior. She became jealous that her at- tachment was not reciprocated, and in her deep wrath at her fickle swain stabbed him in the breast, so that he died instantly.
She was large, athletic and defiant. Few men were able to stand before her in a conflict. Their custom required the life of the murderer, but she announced that if any Indian attempted to in- flict the death penalty upon her there would be four or five more dead Indians. Apparently there was little notice taken of the matter, and people supposed the murderess would go unpunished. The young chiefs were frequently passing from one band to an- other, none but themselves knowing or mistrusting their business.
At length an Indian feast and dance was noticed to come off in a short time. The day arrived, and the Indians were all in atten- dance. Among them was one called "Old Pete," noted for his quiet, inoffensive character. The feast was passed, the dance com- menced, and hilarity was universal among them.
."Old Pete" and the murderess were dancing with each other, the music was loud and exciting, the dance and mirth were at a high pitch, when the squaw shrieked and fell dead.
Music and dance instantly ceased. The squaw had been stabbed, but the dancers knew not by whose hand the deed had been done, when "Old Pete" left the astonished company, walked to an emi- nence at a little distance, and stood with that stoical indifference which none but an Indian can assume. E. D. Gumaer (our in- formant) passed near him, looked him in the face and smiled. Pete relaxed his features and returned the smile, then again re- sumed a countenance of rigid indifference. He was reported to Oshkosh, the head chief, who said the act was done under the direction of the council of all the bands. All was right. Quite and harmony returned.
A "SQUAW."
No greater insult can well be given an Indian than calling him a "squaw." To be brave in bat- tle, expert with the rifle, and untiring in the chase are the three cardinal virtues with an Indian,
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
virtues which no female is supposed to possess. Hence, calling him one is a stigma which he is pretty sure to resent.
We remember, over thirty years ago, near Fre- mont, meeting an Indian with a fine looking rifle. Taking the rifle in our hands, we asked him if he could shoot. He replied in broken English, "Me shoot good." We then challenged him to a trial of skill with his gun. The challenge was promptly accepted. A target was placed, and each fired a shot, resulting in the defeat of the Indian, much to his disgust. Going up to the mark, we pointed to the two bullet holes, and in a joking way ex- claimed : "Ugh! you shoot like squaw." The "squaw" fixed him, and he left us, the maddest Indian we ever saw.
CHAPTER IV.
OUR COUNTY-ITS BOUNDARIES-SOIL-NATURAL PRODUCTS. CULTIVATED CROPS -POPULATION-CLIMATE -LAKES AND RIVERS -ETC.
Waupaca County comprises twenty-one town- ships, each six miles square, and twenty organized towns, as follows: Bear Creek, Caledonia, Day- ton, Dupont, Farmington, Fremont, Helvetia, Iola, Larrabee, Lebanon, Lind, Little Wolf, Mat- teson, Mukwa, Royalton, St. Lawrence, Scandi- navia, Union, Waupaca, and Weyauwega.
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
The county contains 756 square miles, and 483,840 acres. It is thirty miles in length from north to south, and twenty-four in width from east to west, except in the north tier of towns, where, by the addition of the town of Matteson on the east, it is six miles wider.
It is bounded on the north by. Shawano County, on the east by Shawano and Outagamie, on the south by Winnebago and Waushara, and on the west by Portage County. In the northwest part of the county are many bluffs and hills. The soil there is in many places rather stony, not so easily worked, and not so fertile as in the valleys. In the rest of the county, with few exceptions, the sur- face is gently undulating, capable of being easily cultivated, and producing all kinds of crops usually raised in northern latitudes.
The eastern and northern parts of the county are heavily timbered with hard and soft maple, oak, birch, cherry, butternut, hickory, ash, elm, basswood, ironwood, pine, tamarac, spruce, pop- lar, and in some places beech and hemlock. The rest of the county is mainly oak openings. About three-fifths, prehaps more, is timbered land.
The soil in the timber varies from a light sand, on the pine ridges, to a stiff, tenacious clay on the more level grounds. The sand, although light, can be easily kept in heart, and pays well for the trouble and expense of cultivation. Corn, buck- wheat, beans and potatoes do best on the light
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
soils, while oats, wheat, peas and the grasses exhibit a decided partiality for clay or a heavy loam. In many parts of the "openings" is much sand, yet there is much excellent soil to be found there, dark, rich, and in many places quite tenac- ious, yeilding the best of crops, and easily worked. Some of the best farms in the county are found among the openings.
Winter wheat seldom kills out, and is much raised. Spring wheat also does remarkably well. In fact, Waupaca County may be put down as one of the best wheat counties, not only in Wis- consin, but of the entire Northwest. No county in the State can beat ours in the quality of that grain, and but few equal it, although some may excel us in the quantity on a given number of acres. Corn is a pretty sure crop; even dent corn, which can not be raised in the same latitude East, seldom fails here, and is the crop with us. Oats and buckwheat do well, but not so well as in many of the eastern states, where the weather during the summer and early fall is cooler and more moist.
POTATOES.
Waupaca County may justly claim to be the "banner county" for the raising of that favorite esculent, the potato. While we are not behind other counties in a great share of the agricultural products successfully cultivated in northern lati-
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tudes, the potato seems peculiarly adapted to our soil, our climate, and our tastes. Large fields are yearly cultivated-ten, twenty, and even forty acres are not uncommon-bringing fair returns to the cultivators when a reasonable price is secured.
Years ago many predicted the ruin of our favor- ite fruit, and a speedy return to a turnip diet, when our common enemy, the Colorado beetle, vulgarly called the "potato bug," first made our acquaintance. But paris green saved us, and our fears proved groundless.
To give an estimate of the total number of bushels of potatoes annually shipped from this county would test the nerve of even an honest historian. A careful estimate by one of our prin- cipal shippers places the amount for the season of 1889 at two thousand car loads of six hundred bushels each; total, twelve hundred thousand bushels !
The cultivated grasses do well in the timber- better than in the openings. Red clover thrives, and is getting to be extensively cultivated, not only for stock, but to turn under as a renovator of the soil. The wild grasses are plentiful, very rich and nutricious, proving a great blessing to the hardy pioneer who has to depend upon them for his stock to subsist on during the summer, and for his winter's supply of fodder until he can clean up his farm and raise a supply of the tame kinds. Our woods are full of a species of bean which is
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
eagerly sought after by our stock. There is also a kind of wild pea, which grows on the uplands, much relished by stock. It is likewise very plenti- ful in many of our natural meadows, often grow- ing from three to four feet high, and making ex- cellent hay. Although we can let our cattle run at large only a part of the year, and are obliged to fodder them more than half the time, stock raising pays well, and much money is made in the busi- ness. Of late, our people are taking more pains in the breeds, and much that is good is being intro- duced. Many prefer the "short horns." They and their crosses are becoming quite popular, although some cling to the Devons. For butter, the Jerseys and Alderneys can not be easily beaten, and the breeds in some localities are becoming the favor- ites, especially when crossed with the short horns to improve the size.
Taking it all in all, this is an excellent dairying county. Much superior butter and cheese are pro- duced, which will compare favorably with any made in Wisconsin. Numerous cheese factories are in successful operation, producing as good an article as can be found anywhere, as the premiums and medals received by our citizens will attest.
In horses we have some fine stock. Some of our horsemen are expending much money in that di- rection, and with a good prospect of success. Many of our farmers and others are becoming convinced that it costs but little, if any, more to
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
keep a good horse than a stunted Indian pony or a miserable "scrub," and the clumsy, raw-boned "critter" of the slow past is being replaced by the highbred carriage horse, or the reliable roadster.
Sheep do remarkably well. Our native grasses agree with, and keep them always fat. They are seldom found diseased. Sheep raising would pay, provided wool brought remunerative prices. But while we have to depend upon the eastern market so much, the business is rather hazardous. Eighteen or twenty cents a pound does not and can not be made to pay. We need more home markets-more factories in the West, more en- couragement for home industry.
Fruit formerly did well, especially apples. Plums and cherries never were sure crops, although some- what extensively cultivated in some localities. But the very severe winter of 1873-74 injured all of the fine orchards of Wisconsin, and nearly ruined many of them. At that time excellent orch- ards were being started in different parts of our county, but that winter discouraged many. Such a winter was never before known in this section of the country, and it is to be hoped that such a one will never again be experienced in Wisconsin. The very cold weather of that long-to-be-remem- bered winter, following so close upon the unprece- dented drouths of the preceding seasons, was un- doubtedly the cause of such general ruin in our apple orchards.
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
But our fruit growers are becoming more hope- ful, as well as more cautious. The lessons of the past will not soon be forgotten. They have learned to criticize very closely the claims of new varieties before trusting them, and not take the word of every itinerant tree peddler who may chance to come along. The Fox River Valley will yet prove favorable for fruit growers, and Wau- paca County will not be left far behind.
Grapes do well, especially along the banks of our lakes, rivers and smaller streams. We venture the assertion that no county in the Fox River Val- ley can make much better exhibition of fine grapes than may. be seen at our county fair every fall. There are many favorable localities in our county where grape raising would prove quite profitable.
Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and huck- leberries grow in profusion. But the great berry of Wisconsin is the cranberry. It is found wild in nearly all of our tamarac swamps, and is the berry with us. Thousands of barrels are picked annually and sent East and South for a ready market. Many are making handsome incomes from the business, and we can but think that the cranberry culture is but yet in its infancy, and will be a great source of revenue to those who have favorable locations.
Small lakes abound in different parts of the county, whose clear, pure waters are stocked with nearly every variety of fish, while upon their
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
placid bosoms are found flocks of rice hens, and the sportsman's favorites, wild ducks. Our rivers and smaller streams are the home of the pike, the pickerel, black and white or silver bass, perch, cat- fish and sturgeon, which are caught by our wily anglers in great profusion.
The large game of our forests is becoming scarce, having fled before their cruel, unrelenting enemy - man; but the partridge, the squirrel, and the timid rabbit remain to furnish amusement for our juve- nile Nimrods, and sportsmen of bigger growth. Farewell to the exciting days when the hunting of the deer, the bear and the savage wolf were but common pastimes. We welcome civilization, but, after all, can not quite forget the past joys and ex- citement of pioneer life in Wisconsin !
In the eastern and northern portion of this county there was much valuable pine, especially along the banks of the principal streams and their tributaries, and much lumbering was done, giving employment to many hands. The business is now carried on less extensively than formerly, the banks of the streams having been robbed of their treasures. The pine is now hauled in many cases several miles before being landed in the streams preparatory to being started on its winding way to market. But the supply is far from being ex- hausted, and it will be many years before the vast forests will be entirely stripped, and the last log floated to market.
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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.
The logs are mostly floated down the streams into the Wolf River, and down that to the boom, where they are rafted, and thence towed by steam tugs to Oshkosh, a large manufacturing city at the mouth of the Upper Fox River. A great many million feet each year formerly passed down the Wolf from and through this county, on the way to market.
During the season of "driving," navigation on the Wolf River was, and is still, at times, much impeded by the running logs. But when a "jam" occured it might be days, and even weeks, before it could be broken so as to let steamboats through. Some faint idea of the immense magnitude of the lumbering operations formerly carried on in the Wolf River pineries may be gained from the fact that the Wolf River is from twenty to thirty rods wide, and yet that stream has often been com- pletely jamed with logs from bank to bank, for miles, and no way for boats to pass until the stream was cleared.
The pine lands were mostly taken by speculators for the timber. As fast as that is removed the land is generally sold to settlers at low figures. As the pine grows mostly in clumps, on the ridges, there is scarcely a subdivision that does not con- tain much excellent soil well suited for agriculture.
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