History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc., Part 18

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052

USA > Wisconsin > History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc. > Part 18

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MARQUETTE AND JOLIET.

It has been claimed that La Salle, the renowned ex- plorer of the West, in 1671, embarked on Lake Erie, ascended the Detroit to Lake Huron, coasted the un- known shores of Michigan, passed the straits of Mack- inaw, and, leaving Green Bay behind him, made his way into the southern portion of Lake Michigan, cross- ing from its southern end to the Illinois River, and floating down the last mentioned stream to the Missis- sippi, descending it to the thirty-sixth degree of lati- tude, when he returned. But these statements have not, as yet, been so definitely proved as to warrant their acceptance as facts in this connection. But the account of the visit of Joliet in 1673, accompanied by Marquette (as in this narrative already described), to the waters of Green Bay, and of his journey thence to the Mississippi, rests upon no such unsubstantial foundation. Marquette gives a pretty full statement of what he saw in this vicinity.

" The first nation [he writes] that we met [after entering Green Bay] was that of the Wild Oats [Menomonees]. I entered their river to visit them, as we have preached the gospel to these tribes for some years past, so that there are many good Christians among them.

HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY.

" The wild oats from which they take their name, as they are found in their country, are a kind of grass which grows spontaneously in little rivers with slimy bottoms, and in marshy places ; they are very like the wild oats that grow up among our wheat. The ears are on stalks knotted at intervals ; they rise above the water about the month of June, and keep rising till they float about two feet above it. The grain is not thicker than our oats, but it is as long again, so that the meal is much more abundant.

"The following is the manner in which the Indians gather it and prepare it for eating: In the month of September, which is the proper time for this harvest, they go in canoes across these fields of wild oats, and shake the ears on their right and left into the canoe as they advance; the grain falls easily if it is ripe, and in a little while their provision is made. To clear it from the chaff, and strip it of a pellicle in which it is enclosed, they put it to dry in the smoke on a wooden lattice, under which they keep up a small fire for several days. When the oats are well dried, they put them in a skin of the form of a bag, which is then forced into a hole made on purpose in the ground; they then tread it out so long and so well, that the grain being freed from the chaff is easily winnowed ; after which they pound it to reduce it to meal, or even, unpounded, boil it in water sea- soned in grease, and in this way wild oats are almost as pal- atable as rice would be when not better seasoned.

" I informed these people of the Wild Oats of my design of going to discover distant nations to instruct them in the mysteries of our holy religion ; they were very much sur- prised, and did their best to dissuade me. They told me that I would meet nations that never spare strangers, but tomahawk them without any provocation; that the war which had broken out among various nations on our route, exposed us to another evident danger-that of being killed by the war parties which are constantly in the field ; that the Great River is very dangerous, unless the difficult parts are known ; that it was full of frightful monsters who swal- lowed up men and canoes together; that there is even a demon there who can be heard from afar, who stops the passage and engulfs all who dare approach; lastly, that the heat is so oppressive in those countries that it would infal- libly cause our death.

" I thanked them for their kind advice, but assured them that I could not follow it, as the salvation of souls was con- cerned; that for them I should be too happy to lay down my life ; that I made light of their pretended demon ; that we would defend ourselves well enough against the river monsters ; and, besides, we should be on our guard to avoid the other dangers with which they threatened us. After having made them pray and given them some instruction, I left them, and embarking in our canoes, we soon after reached the extremity of the Bay of the Fetid [Green Bay], where our Fathers labor successfully in the conversion of these tribes, having baptized more than two thousand since they have been there.

"This bay bears a name which has not so bad a meaning in the Indian language, for they call it rather Salt Bay than Fetid Bay, although among them it is almost the same, and this is also the name which they give to the sea. This in- duced us to make very exact researches to discover whether there were not in these parts some salt springs, as there are among the Iroquois, but we could not find any. We ac- cordingly concluded that the name has been given on ac- count of the quantity of slime and mud there, constantly exhaling noisome vapors which cause the loudest and long- est peals of thunder that I ever heard.

" The bay is about thirty leagues long, and eight wide at its mouth ; it narrows gradually to the extremity, where it is easy to remark the tide which has its regular flow and

ebb, almost like that of the sea. This is not the place to examine whether they are real tides, whether they are caused by the winds, or by some other agency ; whether they are winds, out-riders of the moon, or attached to her suite, who constantly agitate the lake and give it a kind of flow and ebb, whenever the moon rises above the horizon. What I can certainly aver is, that when the water is quite tran- quil you can easily see it rise and fall with the course of the moon, although I do not deny that this movement may be caused by distant winds, which pressing on the center of the lake, make it rise and fall on the shore in the way that meets our eyes.

"We left this bay to enter a river [the Fox] emptying into it. It is very beautiful at its mouth, and flows gently ; it is full of bustards, duck, teal, and other birds, attracted by the wild oats, of which they are very fond. But when you have advanced a little up this river, it becomes very difficult, both on account of the currents, and of the sharp rocks which cut the canoes and the feet of those who are obliged to drag them, especially when the water is low. For all that, we passed the rapids safely, and as we ap- proached Machkoutens, the Fire nation, I had the curiosity to drink the mineral waters of the river, which is not far from this town. I also took time to examine an herb, the virtue of which an Indian, who possessed the secret, had, with many ceremonies, made known to Father Allouez. Its root is useful against the bite of serpents, the Almighty having been pleased to give this remedy against a poison very common in the country. It is very hot, and has the taste of powder when crushed between the teeth. It must be chewed and put on the bite of the serpent. Snakes have such an antipathy to it, that they fly from one rubbed with it. It produces several stalks about a foot long, with pretty long leaves, and a white flower, much like the gillyflower. I put some into my canoe to examine it at leisure, while we kept on our way toward Maskoutens [Mascoutins], where we arrived on the 7th of June."

LA SALLE.

In the Autumn of 1678, La Salle, upon the St. Lawrence, in order to forward his designs of erecting a fort upon the river Illinois, sent fifteen men up the lakes to trade for him, with orders to go hence to that river and make preparations for his coming the next year. Some of these men went on as far as Green Bay, where they collected a large store of furs; and here, on one of the islands at its mouth, La Salle, in the " Griffin," the first sailing craft that ever floated upon the upper lakes, found them in the month of September, 1679. La Salle resolved to send back his vessel, from this point, laden with these furs and others collected on the way. She fired a parting shot, and on the 18th of September set sail for Niagara, with orders to return to Mackinaw as soon as she had discharged her cargo. But the " Griffin" was never heard of from that time. She was engulfed in the wild waves, probably, of Lake Michigan soon after leaving the island. La Salle, with fourteen men, in four canoes, proceeded to the country of the Illinois.

The fur traders, who, it will be remembered, pre- ceded the Jesuit missionaries to this region, maintained their relations here with more or less regularity, for a great many years.

LOUIS HENNEPIN.

Following the visit to Green Bay of the fur traders under La Salle, in 1678, and of that famous explorer

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

the year after, was that of Louis Hennepin, in 1680. He and his party, as a detail from La Salle's expedi- tion to the Illinois, reached the mouth of the Wiscon- sin in that year, on his way from the Upper Mississippi to the great lakes, passing up that river to the " portage," and crossing this carrying-place to the Fox River.

"We entered a river [the Fox], | he says, ] which winds wonderfully, for after six hours' sailing we found our- selves opposite the place where we had embarked. One of our men, wishing to kill a swan, capsized his canoe ; for- tunately he touched bottom.

"We passed four lakes, two of them pretty large, on the banks of which the Miamis formerly lived. We found Maskoutens [Mascoutins], Kickapous and Outaougamy [Foxes ] there, who plant Indian corn for their subsistence. All this country is as fine as the Islinois [Illinois].

" We made a portage at a rapid called the Cakalin, and after about four hundred leagues' sail from our leaving the country of the Issati and Nadonessious [Sioux], we arrived safely at the extremity of the Bay of Puants [Green Bay], where we found Frenchmen trading with the Indians con- trary to orders. They had some little wine in a pewter flagon, which enabled me to say mass. I had then only a chalice and altar stone, but Providence supplied nie with sacerdotal vestments, for some Islinois, flying from the tyranny of the Iroquois, who had destroyed a part of their nation, took the vestments of the chapel of Father Zeno- bius Membré, Recollect, who was with the Islinois in their flight. These savages gave me all, except the chalice, which they promised to restore in a few days for a present of tobacco.

" I had not celebrated holy mass for over nine months for want of wine; I had still some altar breads. We re- mained two days to rest, sing the Te Deum, high mass and preach. All our Frenchmen went to confession and com- munion, to thank God for having preserved us amid so many wanderings and perils.

"One of our Frenchmen gave a gun for a canoe larger than ours, with which, after sailing a hundred leagues in the Bay of the Puants, we reached Missilimackinac, where we were obliged to winter."

Hennepin was, in fact, at this time, at the station of the Jesuits at Green Bay ; but its existence was wholly ignored by him, being, as he was, a " Mission- naire Recollect."

HENRI DE TONTY,

One of LaSalle's men from the Illinois, late in 1680 arrived at Green Bay. It was his object to reach the Pottawatomies upon the islands at its mouth ; but, unhappily, he and his party passed down the lake when the cold was intense, and it was no easy task to grub up wild onions from the frozen ground to save themselves from starving. Tonty fell ill of a fever and a swelling of the limbs, which disabled him from travel- ing, and hence ensued a long delay. At length they neared Green Bay, where they would have starved, had they not gleaned a few ears of corn and frozen squashes in the fields of an empty Indian town. This enabled them to reach the bay, and having patched an old canoe which they had the good luck to find, they em- barked in it; whereupon, says Tonty :

"There arose a northwest wind which lasted five days, with driving snow. We consumed all our food, and not know- ing what to do next, we resolved to go back to the deserted

town, and die by a warm fire in one of the wigwams. On our way we saw a smoke, but our joy was short, for, when we reached the fire, we found nobody there. We spent the night by it, and before morning the bay froze. We tried to break a way for our canoe through the ice. but could not ; and therefore we determined to stay there another night, and make moccasins, in order to reach the town. We made some. *

* * I was angry at Etienne Renault for not finishing his, but he excused himself on account of illness, because he had a great oppression of the stomach, caused by eating a piece of an Indian shield of rawhide, which he could not digest. His delay proved our salvation, for the next day, December 4, as I was urging him to finish the moccasins, and he was still excusing himself on the score of his malady, a party of Kiskanon Ottawas, who were on their way to the Pottawatomies, saw the smoke of our fire, and came to us. We gave them such a welcome as was never seen before. They took us into their canoes, and carried us to an Indian village only two leagues off. There we found five Frenchmen, who received us kindly, and all the Indians seemed to take pleasure in sending us food."

SUBSEQUENT VISITORS.

Le Sueur, a noted voyageur, was at the Bay, for the first time, in 1683, making his way up the Fox River and down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi, thence to the Sioux country, where, at different periods, he spent seven years.

In 1684, Nicholas Perrot, who had assisted St. Lusson in 1671, it will be remembered, again made his appearance at the Bay. Perrot is the most notable figure in the early history of Wisconsin. He employed a considerable number of men, and carried his operations as far as Lake Pepin. He was the trusted agent of the Government, and was in- vested with more extensive authority than ordinary traders. He was commissioned to manage the interests of commerce from Green Bay westward, and was em- ployed as Indian agent for many years. He procured a peace among the Sioux, Chippewas and Foxes, and so far put to sleep the animosity of the latter toward the French, that while he was their agent they re- mained friendly. " I was sent to this Bay," he writes, " charged with the commission to have chief command there, and in the most distant countries on the side of the West."

In 1685, Daniel Greysolon Du Lhut, better known as Du Luth, arrived at the Bay, and assumed military command under the superintendency of the command- ant at Mackinaw. While making preparations to go to war against the Iroquois, he was assisted by Perrot in collecting Indian allies. The last mentioned voya- geur was then trading among the Foxes, near the Bay. On the 8th of May, 1689, he (Perrot), then command- ing a post among the Sioux, was commissioned by the Governor of Canada to manage the interests of com- merce among the Indian tribes of the Bay, and he pro- ceeded to make more certain the taking possession of the whole country in the name of the French king. In other words, he supplemented the work of St. Lus- son done in 1671.

During the same year the Baron Le Itoutan visited Green Bay, and was entertained in a distinguished manner by the Sacs, Pottawatomies and Menomonees. " This is a place," are his words, " of great trade for

HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY.

skins and Indian corn. These the savages sell to the courier de bois."

A post was established at Green Bay (or, at least, it was found to be in existence there) some time between the years 1718 and 1721. It was not then called St. Anthony, but had taken the name of Fort St. Francis, the locality being known as La Baye, that is, the Bay. In July of the last mentioned year, Father Charlevoix, the distinguished historian of New France, was at Mackinaw, and being of an exploring turn of mind, visited this region. He says that he " made a voyage to the Bay eighty leagues distant " from Mackinaw, in company with M. de Montigny, " captain of a com- pany of troops which the king maintains in Canada," who was going to the Bay to take command of the post. He gives an interesting account of his journey :

"We embarked [he writes] the 2d of July [1721], in the afternoon ; we coasted for thirty leagues a cape which separates Lake Michigan from the upper lake ; it is in some places only a few leagues wide, and it is scarce possible to see a worse country, but it is terminated by a pretty river called the Manistie, full of fish, and especially of sturgeons. A little further going to the southwest, we enter into a great gulf, the entrance of which is bordered with islands; they call it the Gulf, or the Bay of the Noquets. This is a very small nation which came from the borders of the upper lake, and of which there remains only a few families dis- persed here and there without any fixed abode.

" The Bay of the Noquets is separated from the Great Bay only by the isles of the Pouteouatamis [Pottawatomies], and I have already observed that they were the ancient abode of these savages. The greatest part of them are very well wooded ; but the only one which is still peopled is not the largest nor the best; there remains in it now only one indifferent village, where we were obliged to pass the night, though very much against our inclinations : we could not refuse the pressing entreaties of the inhabitants; and indeed there is no nation in Canada that has always been more sincerely attached to the French.

" The sixth we were stopped almost the whole day by contrary winds; but it proving calm at night, we embarked a little after sunset by a fine moonlight, and we kept going forwards twenty-four hours together, making only a very . short stop to say mass and to dine. The sun shone so hot, and the water of the bay was so warm that the gum of our canoe melted in several places. To complete our misfor- tune, the place where we stopped to encamp was so full of gnats and mosquitoes, that we could not close our eyes, though we had not slept for two days before; and as the weather was fine, and we had moonlight, we embarked again on our route at three o'clock in the morning.

" After we had gone five or six leagues, we found our- selves over against a little isle, which is not far from the west side of the bay, and which hid from us the entrance of a river [Menomonee], upon which is the village of the Malhomincs [Menomonees], which the French call folles avoines (wild oats), probably because they make their com- mon food of this grain. The whole nation consists of no more than this village, which is not very populous. This is to be regretted, for they are very fine men, and the best shaped of all Canada. They are even taller than the Poutcouatamis. I am assured that they have the same origin and nearly the same language, as the Noquets and the Saulteurs [Chippewas]; but they add that they have also a particular language which they keep to themselves. They have likewise told me some odd stories of them, as of a serpent which goes every year into the village, and is received by

them with great ceremonies, which makes me believe that they are inclined to sorcery.

" A little beyond the island I just mentioned, the country changes its appearance all at once; and from being wild enough, as it is to this place, it becomes the most charming in the world. It has even something more smiling than the strait ; but though it is every-where covered with very fine trees, it is much more sandy, and not so fertile. The Otch- agras [Winnebagoes ] who are commonly called the Puants, dwelt formerly on the borders of the bay, in a very delight- ful situation. They were attacked here by the Illinois, who killed a great number of them. The remainder took ref- uge in the river of the Outagamis [ Foxes], which runs into the bottom of the bay. They seated themselves on the borders of a kind of lake [Winnebago], and I judge it was there, that living on fish which they got in the lake in great plenty, they gave them the name of Puants, because all along the shore where their cabins were built, one saw nothing but stinking fish, which infected the air. It appears at least that this is the origin of the name which the other savages had given them before us, and which has communicated itself to the bay, far from which they never removed. Some time after they had quitted their ancient post, they endeavored to avenge the blow they had received from the Illinois ; but this enter- prise caused them a new loss, which they never recovered. Six hundred of their best men were embarked to go in search of the enemy, but as they were crossing Lake Mich- igan, they were surprised by a violent gust of wind, which drowned them all. We have in the bay a fort which stands on the west side of the river of the Outagamis, half a league from its mouth ; and before we arrive at it we leave on the left hand a village of Sakis [Sacs]. The Otchagras have lately come and seated themselves near us, and have built their cabins about the fort. The missionary who is lodged pretty near the commandant, hopes, when he has learned their language, to find them more docible than the Sakis, among whom he labors with very little success. Both of them appear to be a very good sort of people, especially the first, whose greatest fault is, that they are a little given to thieving. Their language is very different from all the others, which makes me believe that it is not derived from any of Canada; and indeed they have always had more intercourse with the people of the West, than with those we are acquainted with in this country.

" The Sakis, though they are but a small number, are di- vided into two factions. one of which side with the Outa- gamis, and the other with the Pouteouatamis. Those who are settled in this post, are for the most part of the last party, and of consequence in our interest. They received the new commandant with great demonstrations of joy. As soon as they knew he was near arriving, they ranged them- selves with their arms on the bank of the river ; and the mo- ment they saw him appear they saluted him with a discharge of their muskets, which they accompanied with great shouts of joy. Then four of the chief men went into the river, where they were soon up to their waist; but they waded quite to his canoe, and took him up in a great robe made of many roebuck skins, well sewed together, of which each of them held a corner. They carried him, thus to his apartment, where they complimented him and said many things to him which were extremely flattering.

" The next day the chiefs of the two nations paid me a visit, and one of the Otchagras showed me a Catalan pistol, pair of Spanish shoes, and I know not what drug, which a seemed to be a sort of ointment."

In 1726, the Green Bay post was under the author- ity of Sieur Amoritan. The next year it was visited by the Sieur de Lapierriere, having charge of an expe-

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

dition bound for the Mississippi to establish a post in the country of the Sioux. With him was Father Guig- nas, who has left this account of his visit and passage through this region :

" The Sioux convoy left the end of Montreal Island on the sixteenth of the month of June, last year, at 11 A. M. and reached Michilimackinac the twenty-second of the month of July. This post is two hundred and fifty-one leagues from Montreal, almost due west, at 45° 46' north latitude.

"We spent the rest of the month at this post in the hopes of receiving from day to day some news from Montreal, and in the design of strengthening ourselves against the alleged extreme difficulties of getting a free passage through the Foxes. At last, seeing nothing, we set out on our march the first of the month of August, and after seventy-three leagues' quite pleasant sail along the northerly side of Lake Mich- igan, running to the southeast, we reached the Bay on the eighth of the same month at 51/2 P. M. This post is at 44º 43' north latitude. We stopped there two days, and on the eleventh in the morning, we embarked in a very great impa- tience to reach the Foxes.

"On the third day after our departure from the Bay, quite late in the afternoon, in fact somewhat in the night, the chiefs of the Puants come out three leagues from their vil- lage to meet the French with their peace calumets, and some bear meat as a refreshment, and the next day we were received by that small nation amid several discharges of a few guns and amid great demonstrations of joy.

"They asked us with so good a grace to do them the honor to stay some time with them, that we granted them the rest of the day from noon and the following day.

" There may be in all in this village sixty to eighty men ; but all men and women of very tall stature and well made. They are on the bank of a very pretty little lake, in a most agreeable spot for its situation and the goodness of the soil, nineteen leagues from the Bay and eight leagues from the Foxes."

In 1728 the post at Green Bay was destroyed by De Lignery, and when it was rebuilt is undetermined, al- though it is believed to have been re-established about 1730. It was located on the west side of Fox River, where the city of Fort Howard is now located ; but whether it was continuously occupied as a post or gar- rison for the next twenty-five years, is uncertain. But this much is evident, that whenever so occupied, it was maintained by fur traders-not as a military establish- ment of the Government. The commanders enjoyed the exclusive privileges of trade in return for main- taining a garrison at their own expense. They were frequently gentlemen, in the sense of being men of good family, holding some subordinate military rank in the colonial service, who preferred employing traders for a share of the profits, while they busied themselves solely with the affairs of the post, or in executing some mandate of the Government. They were never officers of the regular army. The garrison consisted, not of enlisted men, but of engages, who preferred a half-set- tled employment of that kind, under a sort of half-mil- itary organization, to the purely roving occupation of the voyageur. Under such a system, it is probable that during periods of unusual disorder, the post was found unprofitable, and was therefore left occasionally vacant.

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Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1052

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052