USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and early history of the Northwest > Part 2
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7
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
TOWN OF NEKIMI.
PAGES.
CITY OF OSHKOSH.
PAGES.
John S. Fraker, Shingle M'f'r ..
Cook, Brown & Co., Brick, Lime and Drain Tile M'f're .. 171
H. C. Gustavus & Co., Flour M'f'ra.
Hiram B. Cook.
118
TOWN OF ALGOMA.
291
Farm Residence of Carlton Foater
"
Ebenezer Hubbard
=
292
=
R. C. Wood ..
TOWN OF BLACK WOLF.
Farm Residence of Charlee Morgan.
George Flemming
66
282
=
Geo. A. Randall.
TOWN OF NEPEUSKUN.
Farm Residence of Andrew Sutherland.
Jerome Betry ..
Chaa. Wmn. Kurz
130
TOWN OF RUSHFORD.
Beckwith House.
.296(m) and 347
E. W. Viall, Grocer
296 (n) and 340
Leonard Mayer, Grocer
349 and 342
John Begliner, Grocer
349 and 322
A. Lichtenberger, Grocer
296(m) and 322
Jamee Kennedy, Grocer
296 (n) and 331
Chae. Quinlan, Grocer
.296 (n) and 338
Sebastian Ostertag, Grocer
296 (N) and 334 296 (n) and 338 349 and 328
C. A. Johnson & Co., Boota and Shoea
296(m.) and 348
Geo. F. Eastman, Booka and Stationery
296 (7) and 340 Henry Schneider, Building Contractor
Thos. Polley, Building Contractor
296 (7) and 340 350
Weisbrod & Harshaw, Lawyers
Back Cover.
Wm. Kelley, Clocke, Watches and Jewelry
349
Eugene Fraker.
CITY OF NEENAH.
A. H. F. Krueger 212
212
J. B. Rueeell
Carl J. Kraby, Insurance Agent
339
Bergstrom Broa. & Co., Stove Worke
335
Whitenack & Mitchell.
337
John Roberte' Summer Resort ..
212
James L. Clark, Star Match Worke.
169
Foster & Jones, Saab, Door and Lumber M'f'ra.
170
Robert McMillen & Co., Sash, Door and Lumber M'f're.
172
Williameon, Lihbey & Co., Seeb and Door M'f're.
172
S Redford & Bro., Sash, Door and Lumber M'f'ra.
296 (%) 334
Geo. W. Pratt, Lumber M'f'r.
348-296 (¿)
C. N. Paine & Co., Lumber M'f're
175
S. S. Roby
ERRATA.
The last paragraph in first column, Page 50, should read: procured by Gen. Lewis Cass from the Archives of the War Department of France, while he was officiating, etc.
The last paragraph in second column, Page 60, should be: In 1829, the Winnebagoes ceded a portion of their lands near the lead mines; and 1833, they ceded all of their lands south of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. In 1838, they relinquished their claims to all of their lands east of the Mississippi.
The last paragraph in second column, Page 67, should be: The Post at Prairie du Chien instead of Green Bay.
Page 68, the date at head of page should be: 1812.
Page 88, in last paragraph, first column should be, Govern- ment lands, instead of Government bonds.
The second paragraph on Page 94 should be: thirty-two years ago, instead of twenty-eight.
On Page 149 should be : the High School Building was erected in 1867, instead of 1857.
Page 139, Geo. Mayer, Watchmaker and Jeweller. His name ought to be inserted as one of the firms doing business in Oshkosh in 1850.
The several town officers, mentioned in this work as present town officers, are those of 1879.
Page 195, last paragraph, should read: In September, 1836, the Menominees ceded that portion of Winnebago County, which lies north of the Upper Fox River, except the small tract east of the Lower Fox, which was formerly Winnebago territory, and ceded by that tribe to the Government in 1833.
172
Pareone & Goodfellow, Carriage Worka.
296 (j)
Martin Battie, Steam Boiler M'f'r.
296 (7)328
Wm. Spikes & Co., Furniture M'f're and Dealere
296 (m) 336
B. H. Soper, Furniture M'f'rand Dealer ..
296 (m) 346
J. R. Loper, Soap M'fr.
333 186
W. W. Daggett, Oshkosh Bueineee College
165 and 320
Wm. Hill & Co., Dry Goode ..
166 and 324
Carawell & Hughes, Dry Goode.
Sam'l Eckstein, Merchant Tailor. 179 and 326
175
Schmit Bros., 'trunk Factory ..
174
Ferdinand Hermann, Grocer ...
175 and 330
Geo. F. Stroud, Oils, Painte and Glesa
173
246 Sam'l M. Hay, Hardware.
176
Tom Wall, Freight Agent M. & St. Paul R. R.
177
Guetevue l'eech
344
Weukan Flouring Mille, Bean & Palfrey ..
TOWN OF CLAYTON
107
Farm Residence of L. Hinman. ..
TOWN OF VINLAND.
=
105
F. L, Bartlett
PERSONAL NOTICES.
PAGES.
Personal Notices.
296 (k) 296 (2)
MANUFACTURERS AND BUSINESS HOUSES.
CITY OF OSHKOSH.
PAGES.
CITY OF MENASHA.
Webater & Laweon, Hub and Spoke Factory ... 227
Menasha Wooden Ware Company ... 223 and 342
341
96
283
Alexander Bange.
48
Andrew Haben, Merchant Tailor
296 ( j) and 173
247
=
290
Milan Ford.
106
Farm Residence of William Simmone ...
338
173
John F. Moree, Foundry and Machine Shop
293
97
Wille & Ploetz, Hardwere
296(7) and 331
R. E. Bennett, Grocer
Holmee & VanDoren, Grocera
169-182
HISTORY
OF
WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN,
PREFACED WITH
THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
BY RICHARD J. HARNEY.
CHAPTER 1.
The Fox River Valley of Central Wisconsin - A Record of Two Centuries, Commencing with the First Explorations of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers - The Links Connecting the Great Water Courses of the United States -The Ancient Thoroughfare of the Frontier and Aboriginal Traffic and Travel of the Great West-Some of the First Pages of American Civilization Found in Central Wisconsin.
'N one of the higher elevations of the State of Wisconsin, being in the north- ern portion of Lincoln County, and bordering the northern line of the State, is a tract of country embracing about two thousand square miles, nearly one- fourth of which is comprised of lakes, about two hundred in number, beautiful bodies of water of crystal transpareney, some separated, others in groups, dotting the entire surface of this large tract like the islands of the Grecian Archipelago that of the Mediterranean Sea.
The rocky ranges and high elevations of this region intercept the rain-clouds of Lake Super- ior in their southern passage, and gather their falling waters into these innumerable rocky basins. These lakes are the primitive sources of the Wisconsin River which, flowing south- erly through nearly the entire length of the State, and receiving the tributary streams of this great central valley, pours its flood into the Mississippi.
The Wisconsin, after making a large deflec- tion to the east, turns suddenly at a point in
Columbia County called "The Portage," and flows from there directly to the southwest. At this point it approaches to within about a mile of another river, the Fox, which runs in the very opposite direction - to the northeast - and empties its waters into Lake Winnebago, en route for Lake Michigan. This narrow strip, dividing the beds of the two rivers, is a very interesting natural feature, although its appear- anee is very commonplace; for here is almost a union of two streams, of which the waters of the one flow to mingle with the tropical waves of the Gulf of Mexico, and those of the other to mix with that flood of waters which, pour- ing over Niagara and through the St. Law- rence, washes the icebergs of the North Atlantic.
It was through these great arteries that the civilization of the West was pioneered, and all the commerce and white settlement of the Northwest, for over a hundred years, had its initial point in the Valley of the Fox, which was the main entrance-way to the vast prairie- world of the interior.
Two centuries ago, the first traffic carried on between the French and the Indians instinct- ively followed that line of trade which flows through the present commercial centers of the Valley of the Fox River and Lake Winnebago. The French bateau and Indian canoe were the primitive flow of that commerce which was destined to pour its mighty volume through this natural outlet of the Northwest.
The first record of the white man in the
2
10
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
[1634
West is found in the history of his explorations and habitations in the Valley of the Fox; and that record, too, comprises some of the very earliest pages of American history.
The Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and Lake Winnebago formed important links in that line of communication which, with Montreal and Quebec for a base, extended through the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, the Fox and Wis- consin, the Mississippi and the Ohio, whose upper waters almost completed the circuit to Lake Erie. The way-stations on this long line of travel were: Three Rivers, Detroit, Okl Michilmackinac, Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, Kaskaskia and Fort du Quesne. From 1639 to 1820 this route was almost the exclusive line of Western trade and traffic, and all the white settlements were confined to the immediate borders of these great water courses. The fur trade developed into large proportions. Organ- ized companies were formed in Montreal and Quebec. These were superseded by the Ameri- can Fur Company, which frequently sent up the Fox River flotillas which numbered from fifty to one hundred bateaux and canoes. This, too, was the line on which moved the armed expeditions in Western warfare for over a cen- tury and a half of the white man's history in the Valley of the Mississippi. Here, also, was the line of travel of the public functionaries and representatives of the three governments which respectively ruled the country during that period. It will be seen, therefore, that our beautiful Fox River Valley is the location of the oldest Western settlement - and intimately associated with the carlier pages of American history.
The advent of civilized man in this region is nearly contemporaneous with the founding of Jamestown and New York; for it was in 1606 that King James gave the charter for the Colonies of Virginia, and in 1609 that Henry Hudson discovered the Bay of New York and the North River. In 1621 the Dutch West India Company purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians for twenty-five dollars; and as late as 1620 the first permanent settle- ment was made in New England; while in 1639 (and it is now claimed to have been as carly as 1634) Nicollet, interpreter at Three Rivers, commissioned by the Government of New France, traversed the Fox Rivers and Lake of the Winnebagoes, for the purpose of discovery and of making treaties with the Indians. At the time of his voyage, it was believed that our Great Lakes and the Western water courses afforded a passage to the East Indies; and as the Winnebagoes were a race distinct from the Algonquins and Dacotahs, and speak-
ing a language so different from the other Indian dialects that no other Indians ever speak it or understand it, the Algonquins regarded them as foreigners, and claimed that they had intercourse with some distant people. Indian imagination so pictured these strangers who, it was alleged, visited the Winnebagoes, that Nicollet thought it probable that the Great River afforded a water communication with China.
After ascending the Lower Fox to Lake Winnebago, and just before reaching the chief town of the Winnebagoes, he put on a robe of Chinese damask, richly embroidered with birds and flowers, as if anticipating a meeting with the Celestials; and when he was ushered into the presence of the Indians, dressed in this rich habit, and with a pistol in each hand, which he discharged, they regarded him as a Manitou armed with thunder and lightning. His presence was so imposing that they lavished on him every expression of Indian respect and admiration, and made him the recipient of a most bountiful hospitality, over a hundred beavers being consumed at one feast.
At the council which was held at the foot of the lake he made the first treaty ever entered into between the Indians of the West and Europeans, and this at so carly a time that the Puritans had only, a few years before, landed at Plymouth Rock, and had not as yet penetrated the country fifty miles inland.
This was the first preparatory measure toward that French colonization of the North- west which has left its historic land-marks of the carly progress of civilization in the Missis- sippi Valley.
When it is remembered that a Mission was established near the mouth of the Lower Fox as early as 1668, and a trading post a few years later, it will be seen how intimately the Fox Valley is associated with the great historical events of the earliest civilized occupancy of the continent; and that the early history of the Northwest is so interwoven with the very beginnings of American civilization that it cannot be intelligently discussed without considering the initial points of its progress. The writer will, therefore, endeavor to briefly trace the chief events which led to the present occupancy of this region by the mixed Euro- pean races which now inhabit it.
The French occupancy of the country orig- inated in the second voyage of Jaques Cartier to America in 1535. He ascended the St. Lawrence and came to anchor opposite that grand promontory known as the Gibralter of America-the site of Quebec. It was known by the Indian name of Stadiconc. The mag-
11
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
1535-41.]
nificent St. Lawrence, at this point a mile wide, washed the base of the rugged cliff which rose in towering majesty from the broad stream, and a few Indian wigwams occupied the site of the future city of Quebec. Here reposed, in the solitude of the vast wilderness, one of the most enduring monuments of Ameri- can history. The majestic cliff then in its silent grandeur, was destined to become famous as the spot where the heroes, Wolf and Montcalm, laid down their lives in a battle which involved the political destiny of a continent. The field of Abraham, upon which was to be fought the great, decisive battle for American Empire, between the Cross of St. George and the Fleur de lis of France, then slumbered in savage solitude.
Cartier returned to France in the Spring, and in 1541 again ascended the St. Lawrence, as the advance of a colony under Roberval, commissioned by the King of France. H anchored off Cap Rouge. Here he landed, built a fort, cleared land and planted it. This was the first attempt at agriculture by civilized man on the continent.
For about a year the colonists lived here in amity with the Indians. This was twenty- four years before the founding of St. Augus- tine, and sixty-six years before the settlement of Jamestown. In all that vast wilderness, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Polar Seas, there was not another civilized being.
Roberval, who was to follow Cartier with another fleet and a reinforcement of colonists, not arriving long after the expected time, the latter abandoned the place and returned to France. Roberval arrived at Cap Rouge shortly after Cartier's departure, and landed his colonists, composed of soldiers, mechanics, laborers, women and children. Here they erected a large structure, and, after enduring for a short time the hard vicissitudes of a life subject to the contingencies of such a situa- tion, the remnant of the colony, wasted by dis- ease and privations, returned to France. That country shortly afterwards entered upon an era of fratricidal strife; the civil convulsions of Europe left no opportunity for American col- onization; the first act in American civilization came to a close, and the country for half a cen- tury was left in the undisturbed possession of its savage occupants.
CHAPTER II.
Samuel de Champlain, the Pioneer Explorer of the Interior - Founds Quebec - Forms an Alliance with the Algonquins and Hurons.
FTER an interval of sixty odd years French colonization received a new impetus, and now was to begin that mighty process which was to trans- form a wilderness continent into a civilization whose grandeur, power and useful achievements have rivaled the greatest nations of Europe.
And now appears on the scene a name deservedly as enduring as American history - the great pioncer in the civilized occupancy of the interior of the continent-Samuel de Cham - plain. This brave explorer and noble Chris- tian gentleman was the discoverer of the Great Lakes. His arduous and dangerous explora- tions, the diligence and accuracy with which he mapped out the geography of a large part of the country and its water courses, his noble efforts to advance the ends of civilization and the exemplary habits of his life, have won for him an enviable position in the annals of American history.
In 1603, he sailed up the St. Lawrence, and explored it to Mont Royal. The Indian tribes that Cartier had found there had disappeared, and Algonquins had taken their place. He returned to France, and, in the following year, accompanied De Monts who, with a feudal commission from the King of France, as Licu- tenant-General of Acadia, went to establish a colony in what is now Nova Scotia. After exploring the Bay of Funday, of which the untiring Champlain made a coast survey, and maps and charts, they selected the mouth of the St. Croix as the site of their colony, erected buildings, and enclosed them with a palisade; and now, once more we find the French the only Europcan inhabitants on the continent, except the Spaniards in Florida. The English had as yet made no settlement. Says Parkman: "It was from France that these barbarous shores first learned to serve the ends of peaceful industry."
But the colony at St. Croix must be left to its fate while attention is called to the enter- prises of Champlain, which pioneered the set- tlement of the Northwest-the feeble begin- nings of that early civilization of the North- west, which was a cross with barbarism - a romantic mingling of the elements of barbaric and civilized life, over which France reared its standard and marshaled its dusky retainers in the solitudes of the wilderness, in its efforts to erect a French-Indian Empire whose terri-
12
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
[1608.
torial proportions should embrace the interior of the continent. It was a stupendous scheme; and for over a century the standard of France waved triumphantly over the great Valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. During all that period, the English and other European colonies were confined to the strip of territory skirting the Atlantic, and the Fleur de lis of France was the only flag that waved west of the Alleghanies.
1
Champlain, having returned to France, again embarked for America in 1608, in charge of a colony whose destination was the St. Law- rence River. The stately ship sailed up that broad stream, through the hush of the mighty solitude that brooded over its surrounding for- ests, and came to anchor opposite the present site of Quebec, the place selected for a settle- ment. Here the colonists landed, and the sound of the axe is heard reverberating its echoes in the wilderness. Soon a number of comfortable buildings are erected, and sur- rounded by a wooden wall. Their architec- tural proportions are a source of wonder to the Indians, who are admiring spectators of the skill of their white brothers. In the back- ground are the rugged cliffs and dense forests. In the front the waters of the majestic St. Lawrence, on which a ship lies gracefully out- lined. At a little distance on the bank is a cluster of wigwams, and occasionally a canoc glides along, and mysteriously disappears in the shadow of cliff or forest.
The colonists clear up a piece of ground for a garden, which they cultivate. They hunt, fish and barter with the Indians; summer passes, and the cold weather of a Canadian winter approaches. Heavy falls of snow cover the ground to such a depth that they are obliged to learn from their friends-the Indians -how to use snow shoes. The Indians occa- sionally bring them wild game, and are some- times their near neighbors; but the terrible scurvy breaks out, and prevails with such virulence that only eight of the colony are alive in the spring.
The dreary winter passes away, the songs of the returning birds and the sounds of insect life are again heard; the buds and blossoms expand, the hill-side rivulets ripple in the warm sunshine, and nature assumes the cheer- ful hues of her summer-day life. Hope once more inspires the survivors, and their hearts are further gladdened by the arrival of a ves- sel from France, bringing succor and a rein- forcement of colonists.
Champlain now set to work for a general exploration of the surrounding country; but, in this enterprise, he must have the assistance
of his Indian friends; and from the very begin- ning of their intercourse with the Indians, and through the whole long period of their intimate relations with them, the French seem to have had their good will and unbounded confidence and respect.
Champlain soon acquired some knowledge of the Algonquin language and the customs of that numerous family of Indians; and he learned from them that there was a distinct nation-the Iroquois - a confederacy of five nations, inhabiting the territory now the State of New York -a formidable body that were the terror of the American wilds. Their war- parties were continually out making predatory raids, desolating the country of their neigh- bors, and keeping other tribes in constant fear of an attack. The only expedient way for him to explore was to join a war-party of Algon- quins. They would have to fight their way, for in all probability they would meet war par- ties of the Iroquois, and then they must fight or be captured. Champlain, therefore, joined his fortunes to the Algonquins and Hurons, forming an alliance with them for mutual pro- tection.
CHAPTER III.
Indian Tribes - Divisions and Population - Location of the Various Nations - Green Bay and the Lake Winnebago and Fox River Country the Centers of Large Indian Popu- lations - The Belligerent Iroquois.
HE whole Indian population in all the territory lying between the Mississippi and the Atlantic did not exceed two hundred thousand, and this was so Juwwwry scattered that vast solitudes intervened between the little tracts which were occupied by the villages of the several tribes.
The great body of the country was an unin- habited wilderness, with an occasional Indian settlement. The traveler, at that day, passing from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, on the south side of the river, to Lake Ontario, would find the country, for nearly the whole distance, an uninhabited district. On the north side, hc would travel hundreds of miles without meet - ing a human being. At last he would reach the huts of Taddousac, and after leaving them would again pass through the long, dreary soli- tude between that point and Stadicone-the site of Quebec-where evidences of Indian population would again begin to appcar; from there to the mouth of the Ottawa, no inhabi- tants were to be found, other than temporary
13
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
1608.]
sojourners -the deadly Iroquois, lurking in the dark recesses of the forest, or a hunting party of Algonquins ; but if it were the sea- son of the periodical descent of the Ottawas and Hurons, with their yearly harvest of furs, he would see the St. Lawrence covered with fleets of canoes, to enliven the scene for a few days, when, disappearing as suddenly as they came, the place would relapse into a solitude. Proceeding up the Ottawa he would traverse hundreds of miles, through an uninhabited region, until he reached the villages and planting grounds of the Ottawas; from thence, passing through a vast wilderness, to the Lake of the Nippissings, another Indian settlement would be met. From this point, down French River and southward, for over a hundred miles, along the shore of Lake Huron, no inhabitants were to be found until reaching the pleasant coun- try of the Hurons. Skirting the shores of .Lake Huron, northward to the shores of Lake Superior, he would find a desolate, uninhab -. ited waste. From that point, in a southwest- erly direction to the Mississippi, traveling through a portion of what is now the State of Wisconsin, he would find only occasional roving bands of the Chippewas, contesting with the Sioux of the Mississippi for the possession of the south shore of Lake Superior - the ancient hunting-ground of the Dacotahs. On the Mis- sissippi he would find the lodges of the Daco- tahs or Sioux; and stretching from there, away toward the Cordilleras, the vast, uninhabited plains or hunting-grounds of these tribes.
If, half a century later, after the maraud- ing Iroquois had routed the Hurons, Ottawas and other Algonquin tribes from their ancient planting-grounds and council-fires in the East, he were to retrace his steps, he would pass over the historical ground of the Northwest - the soil of Wisconsin - the great battle-field in the long contest between the Dacotahs of the Mississippi, and the Algonquins of the East - where these two great divisions of the Indian family fought for the possession of the rich hunting grounds of Central and Northern Wisconsin; and he would find Michilimacki- nac, Green Bay and the Lake Winnebago and- Fox River country the centers of large Indian populations, who had posessed themselves of new homes in the West, and who eventually drove the Sioux across the Mississippi.
The French soon learned that the Indians were divided into four or five great families, each containing many tribes which were again subdivided into bands. The most numerous division was the great Algonquin family, inhab- iting what is now the greater part of Canada and the Eastern and Middle States - Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio and Virginia, and eventually Wisconsin and Michigan; the Iroquois, a con- federacy of five nations, occupying the terri- tory now the State of New York, their villages and planting grounds being on the shores of the lakes which now perpetuate their names; the Hurons, an alienated branch of the Iro- quois family, occupying the peninsula between Lake Huron and Lakes Erie and Ontario; the Dacotahs, of the Mississippi and the plains beyond; and the Mobilians and a few lesser divisions in the South.
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