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 7

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 7

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Amid these conditions, apparently favorable to the development of lawlessness and violence, these people, surrounded by savage life, were remarkably docile. having a disposition submissive to any authority as- sumed over them. Violent-crimes were extremely rare, even when drinking and carousing were indulged in. Upon their wintering grounds the traders prac- ticed many devices to overreach one another, but on their return they met and settled all difficulties over

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

the " flowing bowl." Beyond these tricks of trade they generally manifested a commendable spirit of honor ; and when their word was pledged it might be safely relied upon. Morality was at rather low ebb, as they were destitute of both schools and spiritual teachers. Their amusements were limited to rude dances, foot and horse racing and other similar sports, aided with a free use of intoxicating liquors. What- ever semblance of law was adhered to, was derived from the " Laws of Paris," which England permitted Canada to be governed by. They were withont admin- istrative officers, or other constitutional authorities, but permitted the most learned man among them to exer- cise the powers of civil magistrate. Affairs thus con- tinued, until finally, as adopted citizens of the United States, they were brought within its jurisdiction. The settlements of Green Bay and Prairie du Chien were the only ones in Wisconsin, so long as English suprem- acy lasted. A number of French Canadian traders, it is true, located at the month of Milwaukee in 1795; but their establishments were not of that permanent character to entitle them to be designated a settlement. So, too, the location at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, in 1793, of Lawrence Barth, who was engaged in the carrying trade.

After Pontiac's War, the Hudson's Bay Company, which had been chartered by Parliament, as early as 1670, began to exercise exclusive privileges in the fur trade, in this region, continuing in full sway until 1783, when the Northwest Fur Company was organized at Quebec, and established its posts at different points on the upper lakes, and throughout the interior. The result of this was a relentless feud between the two companies, which lasted many years. The fur trade, before Canada was wrested from France, had long been coveted by the English. Many years prior to that event the Iroquois had been encouraged by them to cut off communication with the Northwest. When that failed, they endeavored, through the intermediate tribes to persuade the Indians to carry their peltries to the British frontier; and the disorders that at times confronted the French in this region were in some de- gree due to their overtures. The French, after Canada had surrendered, while outwardly preserving an ap- pearance of submission to the conquerors, regarded them with hatred, and readily employed every possi- ble means to hinder the Indians from entering into friendly relations with them. Some of them, gener- ally traders or voyageurs, preceded the English soldiery on their way to the West, endeavoring to persuade the savages to waylay and cut off the feeble detachments. They endeavored also to prevent English traders from venturing beyond Mackinaw, circulating tales among them of meditated attacks on part of the Indians. But the judicious and friendly condnet of Gorrell and his little garrison at Fort Edward Augustus soon brought about a friendly alliance with all the bay tribes, and several beyond that vicinity. They were the more readily disposed to receive the English trad- ers, as they gave them much better terms than the French. The difficulties and dangers in the way of the new fur traders were, however, by no means over- come by the removal of their apprehensions of Indian hostility. Their lack of acquaintance with the lan-

guage and manners of the western tribes was a serious impediment; yet, upon the whole, the English made substantial progress in establishing their trade with the western Indians. The influx of English traders before Pontiac's War threatened to destroy the princi- pal means of subsistence of the Canadian French, and when Gorrell evacuated his post at the head of Green Bay, some of the more enterprising of the last-men- tioned seated themselves promptly in and around the deserted fort. Immediately after the return of peace, no traders were permitted to visit Wisconsin from Mackinaw. The traffic at the Bay was in the hands of local traders, who avoided British posts with the de- sign of transferring their trade to the French province of Louisiana. As soon as this policy became manifest, communication was at once opened, and as early as 1766, both English and French traders were permitted to traffic at the Bay, and farther west.

The expected re-occupation of Wisconsin by the military under a British command was indefinitely postponed, as Mackinaw had been garrisoned, and was found sufficient to regulate the fur trade. The En- glish, although commanding the market for furs, found the French voyageurs, clerks and interpreters indis- pensably necessary to their trade. This brought about a reconciliation. The English carried their operations no further than the frontier posts ; the French retain- ing their favorite field - the Indian country. In this way all jealousy was overcome, the tranquility of the Indian was assured, and the necessity of a garrison at the Bay avoided.

&Vague and conflicting claims of some of the British colonies in North America, to the Northwest, including what is now Wisconsin, under their charters from the British Crown, were all set at rest, so far as the mother country was concerned, before the declaration of American independence, by the passage, by the British Parliament, in 1774, of the " Quebec act," by which the whole region northwest of the Ohio River. and extending to the westward so as to include the whole country lying to the westward of Lake Michi- gan, was made a part of the province of Quebec.

Under French domination no grants of lands in Wisconsin were made to any one by the Government, except that in October, 1759, the Marquis of Vaud- renil bestowed upon M. Rigaud an extensive territory, including the fort at the head of Green Bay, with the exclusive right to trade, and other valuable privileges. This grant was sold to William Gould and Madame Vaudreuil, to whom it was confirmed by the French king in January, 1760, at a very critical period when Quebec had been taken by the British, and Montreal only was wanting to complete the conquest of Canada. The English Government wisely refused to perfect the title of the claimants, and they lost their lands and privileges. By the terms of the treaty of Paris of February 10, 1763, all the possessions in, and all the claims of the French nation to the Northwest, were ceded to Great Britain. Among the first acts of the new masters of the country was one to protect the eminent domain of the Government, and the restric- tions of all attempts on the part of individuals to ac- quire Indian titles to land. Nor does it appear that any such effort had been made by any one while the

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

country constituted a part of New France. By a pro- clamation of the King of England in 1763, all private persons were interdicted the liberty of purchasing lands of the Indians. In face of this proclamation, and within three years after its promulgation, under a purchase, as claimed, of the Indians, Jonathan Carver, laid claim to nearly one hundred square miles of land, situated in what is now Northern Wisconsin, and in the present State of Minnesota. A ratification of his title was actually solicited from the king and council, but was not conceded. The representatives of Carver, after a change of government had bought these lands within the jurisdiction of the United States, asked Congress for a confirmation of this title, which was refused. Many of the early maps of the country con- tain delineations of the so-called "Carver's Grant."

By the treaty of 1783, with Great Britain, the country east of the Mississippi, including all within the boundaries of the present State of Wisconsin, be- came territory of the United States. Possession, however, was arbitrarily continued by the British, of all the Northwest, until after the treaty of 1795. During the next Summer, the ports in the West, none of which were in what is now Wisconsin, were deliv- ered into the keeping of the United States. Thus the supremacy over this region, both military and civil, of Great Britain, was, after an actual continuance of thirty-five years, brought to an end. But the au- thority of the United States over the settlements of Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, was, for several years after, only constructive. The people remained a law unto themselves.

EXPLORATIONS OF NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN.

It was nearly seven years after Joliet and his com- panions had floated down the Mississippi below the month of the Wisconsin, as is related in the foregoing pages, before the great river was explored above that point. In the early part of 1680, La Salle was upon the Illinois, and being anxious to have the last men- tioned stream examined to its confluence with the parent river, and also desirous of having the Upper Mississippi explored above the point where Joliet first floated ont upon its broad surface,-one Michel Accau was sent on the expedition. With him was also sent Antoine Auguel. The Rev. Father Louis Hennepin a Recollect friar, volunteered to go with the party, and he became its historian, arrogating to himself, however, the chief honors of the enterprise. Accau left La Salle on the 11th of April, 1680, "at two o'clock in the afternoon," says Hennepin. Proceeding down the Illinois and up the Mississippi, we let the Recollect missionary give a description of the great river, begin- ning just before reaching the mouth of the Wisconsin.

"On the eastern side you meet first an inconsiderable river, and then further on another, called by the Indians Ouisconsin, or Wisconsin, which comes from the east and east-northeast. Sixty leagues up you leave it (the Wiscon- sin), and make a portage of half a league to reach the Bay of the Puants (Green Bay) by another river (the Fox), which, near its source, meanders most curiously. It (the Wisconsin) is almost as broad as the river Seignelay, or Islinois (Illinois), and empties into the river Colbert (Mis- sissippi), a hundred leagues above the river Seignelay.

" Twenty-four leagues above, you come to the Black River called by the Nadouessions, or Islati, Chabadeba, or Chabaoudeba, it seems inconsiderable. Thirty leagues higher up, you find the lake of Tears (Lake Pepin), which we so named, because the Indians who had taken us, wish- ing to kill us, some of them wept the whole night, to induce the others to consent to our death. This lake which is formed by the river Colbert, is seven leagues long, and about four wide; there is no considerable current in the middle that we could perceive, but only at its entrance and exit. Half a league below the lake of Tears, on the south side, is Buffalo River (the Chippewa), full of turtles. It is so called by the Indians on account of the numbers of buffalo found there. We followed it for ten or twelve leagues ; it empties with rapidity into the river Colbert, but as you ascend it, it is always gentle and free from rapids. It is skirted by mountains, far enough off in some places to form prairies. The mouth is wooded on both sides, and is full as wide as that of the Seignelay (Illinois).

" Forty leagues above is a river full of rapids, by which, striking northwest, you can proceed to Lake Conde (Lake Superior), as far as Minissakouat River (the St. Louis), which empties into that lake. This first river is called Tomb River (the St. Croix), because the Issati left there the body of one of their warriors, killed by a rattle- snake, on whom according to their custom, I put a blanket. This act of humanity gained me much importance by the gratitude displayed by the men of the deceased's tribe, in a great banquet which they gave me in their country, and to which more than a hundred Indians were invited."

This account, written in 1682 and given to the world the next year, is the first description ever printed of the western part of what is now Wisconsin, extend- ing from the southwest corner of the State to the mouth of the St. Croix, and up that river and down the St. Louis to Lake Superior - the whole, it will be seen, of the west side of the State ; though mere men- tion is made of the part beyond the mouth of the St. Croix. Hennepin's account of the voyage is very full. He gives a narrative of his party being taken prisoners by the Sioux and of the journey to the villages of these savages; how he and his companions were treated by them; and how, finally, he was rescued from captivity by Du Luth.

The narrative of the last mentioned (Daniel Grey- solon Du Lhut was his real name) is of interest as it mentions the descent of the St. Croix River-the first time a white man ever floated upon that stream. He and his companions were the first civilized men who traveled in canoes (by making a short portage) from Lake Superior to the Mississippi. Their route was, it is supposed, up what is now known as the Bryle River in Douglas County, Wisconsin, to its head ; thence across a very short portage to a small stream emptying into the head of what is now known as the Upper St. Croix Lake ; thence across this lake to its foot, whence issues the St. Croix River; thence down that stream to the Mississippi.

" In June, 1680, not being satisfied with having made my [previous] discovery by land [of the country of the Sioux], I took two canoes with an Indian who was my in- terpreter and four Frenchmen, to seek means to make it by water. With this view I entered a river [the Bois Brule River, in Douglas County, Wisconsin] which empties eight leagues from the extremity of Lake Superior on the south side, where after having cut some trees and broken about a

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

hundred beaver dams, I reached the upper waters of the said river, and then I made a portage of half a league to reach a lake [the Upper St. Croix Lake], the outlet of which fell into a very fine river [St. Croix], which took me down into the Mississippi. Being there I learned from eight cabins of Nadouecioux [Sioux] whom I met, that the Reverend Father Louis Henpin [Hennepin], Recollect, now at the convent of St. Germain, with two other French- men, had been robbed and carried off as slaves for more than three hundred leagues by the Nadouecioux themselves.

"This intelligence surprised me so much, that without hesitating, I left two Frenchmen with these said eight cab- ins of Indians, as well as the goods which I had to make presents, and took one of the said Indians to whom I made a present to guide me with my interpreter and two French- men to where the said Reverend Father Louis was, and as it was a good eighty leagues I proceeded in canoe two days and two nights, and the next day at ten o'clock in the morning I found him with about one thousand or eleven hundred souls. The want of respect which they showed to the said Reverend Father provoked me, and this I showed them, telling them that he was my brother, and I had him placed in my canoe to come with me into the villages of the Nadouecioux [Sioux], whither I took him, and in which, a week after our arrival there, I caused a council to be convened, exposing the ill treatment which they had been guilty of, both to the said Reverend Father and to the other two Frenchmen who were with him, having robbed them and carried them off as slaves, and even taken the priestly vestments of the said Reverend Father. I had two calumets which they had danced to them, returned to them, on account of the insult which they had offered them, being what they hold most in esteem among them to appease matters, telling them that I did not take calumets from people who after they had seen me and received my peace presents, and been for a year always with Frenchmen, robbed them when they went to visit them.

" Each one in the council endeavored to throw the blame from himself, but their excuses did not prevent my telling the Reverend Father Louis that he would have to come with me towards the Outagamys [ Foxes]. as he did, show- ing him that it would be to strike a blow at the French nation in a new discovery, to suffer an insult of this nature without manifesting resentment, although my design was to push on to the sea in a west north westerly direction, which is that which is believed to be the Red Sea [Gulf of Cali- fornia] when the Indians who had gone warring on that side gave salt to three Frenchmen whom I had sent exploring, and who brought me said salt, having reported to me that the Indians had told them that it was only twenty days' journey from where they were to find the great lake of which the waters were worthless to drink. This has made me believe that it would not be absolutely difficult to find it, if permission would be given to go there. However, I pre- ferred to retrace my steps, manifesting to them the just indignation which I felt against them, rather than to remain after the violence which they had done to the Reverend Father and the two other Frenchmen who were with him, whom I put in my canoes and brought them back to Mich- elimakinak [Mackinaw]."

In 1684, Nicholas Perrot was appointed by De la Barre, the Governor of Canada, as Commandant for the West, and left Montreal with twenty men. Arriving at Green Bay in Wisconsin, some Indians told him that they had visited countries toward the setting sun, where they obtained the blue and green stones sus- pended from their ears and noses, and that they saw

horses and men like Frenchmen, probably the Spaniards of New Mexico ; and others said that they had obtained hatchets from persons who lived in a house that walked on the water, near the mouth of the river of the Assin- iboines, alluding to the English established at Hudson's Bay.

Proceeding to the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin, thirteen Hurons were met, who were bit- terly opposed to the establishment of a post near the Sioux. After the Mississippi was reached, a party of Winnebagoes was employed to notify the tribes of northern Iowa that the French had ascended the river, and wished to meet them. It was further agreed that prairie fires would be kindled from time to time, so that the Indians could follow the French.

After entering Lake Pepin, near its mouth on the east side Perrot found a place suitable for a post, where there was wood. The stockade was built at the foot of a bluff, beyond which was a large prairie. A writer in 1700, who writes of Lake Pepin, makes the follow- ing statement : " To the right and left of its shores, there are also prairies. In that on the right on the bank of the lake, there is a fort which was built by Nicholas Perrot, whose name it yet bears." This was the first French post upon the Mississippi.

Perrot, in 1685, prevented with much difficulty the capture of his post by an expedition of Foxes and their allies. He passed the Winter of 1685-6 there, and then proceeded to Green Bay. A memento of his interest in the mission of St. Francis Xavier is to be seen in the shape of a silver " ostensorium," found not long ago in digging for laying the foundation of a house at Depere, Brown County. In 1688, he again ascended the Mississippi from the mouth of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the St. Peter's, returning to Green Bay by the route pursued on the outward journey. He was never again upon the Mississippi.

In the year 1700, Le Sueur went up the Mississippi River to explore some mines said to exist in what is now Minnesota. "On the first of September he passed the Wisconsin River. It runs into the Mississippi from the northeast. It is nearly one and a half miles wide. At about seventy-five leagues up this river, on the right, ascending, there is a portage of more than a league. The half of this portage is shaking ground, and at the end of it is a small river [the Fox] which descends into a bay called Winnebago Bay. It is inhabited by a great number of nations who carry their furs to Canada." Monsieur Le Sueur came by the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi, for the first time in 1683, on his way to the Sioux country, where he had already passed seven years at different periods. The Mississippi, op- posite the mouth of the Wisconsin, is less than half a mile wide. From the 1st of September to the 5th, our voyageur advanced fourteen leagues. He passed the river "Aux Canots," which comes from the north- east, and then the Quincapous, named from a nation which once dwelt upon its banks.

From the 5th to the 9th he made ten and a half leagues, and passed the rivers Cachee and Aux Ailes. The same day he perceived canoes filled with savages, descending the river.

Monsieur Le Sueur made, thesame day, three leagues, passed a stream on the west, and afterward another

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

river on the east, which is navigable at all times, and which the Indians call Red River.

From the 10th to the 14th M. Le Sueur made seventeen and a half leagues, passing the rivers Raisin and Paquilenettes. The same day he left on the east side of the Mississippi a beautiful and large river, which descends from the very far north, and called Bon Lecours [Chippeway], on account of the great quantity of buffalo, elk, bears and deer which are found there. Three leagues up this river there was " a mine of lead," and seven leagues above, on the same side, they found another long river, in the vicinity of which there " was a copper mine," from which he had taken a lump of sixty pounds in a former voyage. " In order to make these mines of any account, peace must be obtained between the Sioux and Outagamies [Foxes], because the latter, who dwell on the east side of the Mississippi, pass this road continually when going to war against the Sioux."

" In this region, at one and a half leagues on the northwest side, commenced a lake, which is six leagues long and more than one broad, called Lake Pepin."

Le Sueur made on this day seven and a half leagues, and passed another river, called Hiambouxecate Ou- taba, or the River of Flat Rock.

On the 15th he crossed a small river, and saw in the neighborhood several canoes, filled with Indians, descending the Mississippi. He supposed they were Sioux, but he could not distinguish whether the canoes were large or small.

The party was composed of forty-seven men of dif- ferent nations, who dwell far to the east, about the forty-fourth degree of latitude. Le Sueur, discovering who the chiefs were, said the king whom they had spoken of in Canada, had sent him to take possession of the north of the river; and that he wished the na- tions who dwell on it, as well as those under his pro- tection, to dwell in peace.

He made this day three and three-fourths leagues ; and on the 16th of September he " left a large river on the east side, named St. Croix, because a Frenchman of that name was shipwrecked at its mouth. It comes from the north-northwest."

After Le Sueur no attempt was made to visit the Upper Mississippi for over a quarter of a century for the reason that the Governor of Canada had resolved to abandon the country west of Mackinaw, so far as trade was concerned. The first attempt at renewal of the fur trade with the Sioux was in 1727, by the Sieur de Laperriere, who erected on the north side of Lake Pepin a post called Fort Beauharnais.

Rev. Father Louis Ignatius Guignas, missionary of the Society of Jesus, left Montreal on the 16th of June, 1727, to found a mission among the Sioux on the Mis- sissippi. He reached Green Bay on the 8th of August. The record of his journey to and his voyage up the Mississippi as given below, is very brief. It is an ex- tract from a letter to the Marquis de Beauharnais, for whom the fort on the Mississippi, where the mission was located, was named. After describing his journey by lakes and streams, the missionary says :

" Forty-eight leagues from the mouth of the Ouisconsin, according to my calculation, ascending the Mississippi, is Lake Pepin, which is nothing else but the river itself, desti-

tute of islands at that point, where it may be half a league wide. The river, in what I traversed of it, is shallow, and has shoals in several places, because its bed is a moving sand, like that of the Ouisconsin. On the 7th of Sep- tember, 1727, at noon, we reached this lake, which had been chosen as the bourne of our voyage. We planted ourselves on the shore, about the middle of the north side, on a low point where the soil is excellent. The wood is very dense there [as Perrot also reported], but it is already thinned in consequence of the rigor and length of the Winter, which has been severe for the climate, for we are here on the par- allel of 43°, 41' .* It is true that the difference of the Winter is great compared to that at Quebec and Montreal, for all that some poor judges say.

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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