USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 3
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The soil of Milwaukee county, generally speaking, is abund- antly rich and adapted to the growth of the usual crops in this climate and latitude. The greater portion of the county was origi-
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NATURAL FEATURES.
nally covered with a heavy growth of timber, among which were the following species or kinds: Hard and soft maple, white birch, hickory, white and red cedar, white and red beach, black and white walnut, white and yellow pine, tamarack, sycamore, hackberry, poplar, balm of Gilead, aspen, white, red, burr and pin oak, bass- wood and common and slippery elm. Several of these. as the red cedar, pine and sycamore, were very scarce, however, and were found but rarely, but the bass-wood, that true indicator of a moist and rich soil, was more plentiful, as were also the other trees men- tioned. Where these dense forests existed a marked effect was noticed upon the climate in several particulars. They protected the houses and cattle from the rigors of the north winds of winter and from the fierceness of the burning sun in summer. They pre- served the moisture of the ground, and of the air, and rendered per- manent and uniform the flow of water in springs, brooks and rivers. By the fall of their leaves, branches and trunks they restored to the soil those elements of vegetable life and growth that would, with- out this natural process, become less rich and productive. The leaves of the trees absorb the carbonic acid from the atmosphere and restore it to the oxygen, thus rendering it more pure and better suited for respiration by man and animals.
As regards climate, Milwaukee county is about the same as that of other sections of the state in the same latitude, except that it has the benefit of proximity to Lake Michigan, the influence of which prevents the extremes of heat and cold from which the in- habitants of the inland localities sometimes suffer. The win- ters, usually long and severe, are occasionally mild and almost en- tirely without snow. The ground generally becomes frozen to a considerable depth, and the rivers and ponds are bridged over with ice. The snow usually falls in December and continues until March, but the "January thraw" often carries off the snow and occasionally dissolves the ice in the rivers. The Milwaukee river generally becomes closed with ice in the latter part of November and becomes open some time in March. Lake Michigan has a very sensible effect upon the climate by equalizing the temperature- making the summers less hot and the winters less cold than they would otherwise be. Hence the difference between the mean tem- perature of winter and summer is several degrees less at Milwaukee than at a point in the same latitude in the western part of the state About the same difference is observed when we compare the mean temperature of winter and spring at the same places; the change from winter to spring being more sudden in the interior than on
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MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY.
the lakes. This fact is also inferred from the vegetation of spring, for it has been ascertained by direct observation that in Waukesha county the early spring flowers show themselves about ten days earlier than on the lake. In the spring vegetation, in places remote from the lake, shoots up in a very short time and flowers begin to show their petals, while on the lake shore the cool air retards them and brings them more gradually into existence. Another effect of the lake is, as perhaps might be expected, to create a greater de- gree of humidity in the atmosphere, and hence a greater quantity of rain. It is worthy of remark, however, that fogs do not occur with any great frequency, and Milwaukee is comparatively free from that inconvenience. Fogs are often seen lying on the surface of the lake itself, and vessels often experience trouble in making their way through them, but the mists appear to be dissipated upon approaching land.
In speaking of the flora of Milwaukee county it should be noted that it belongs to the heavily timbered land district. In its primitive state it abounded in plants of an interesting and useful character, embracing all varieties, from the stately oak which towered its head above the other trees of the forest to the humblest "wild wood flower." The openings in the forests were covered with a profusion of flowers of every form and hue, which changed with every change of season. In the wet natural meadows was found the different kinds of the plant family known by the scien- tific name of Carices, and this grew in great abundance, being annually cut by the pioneer farmers for hay. It was a highly im- portant aid in the settlement of the new country, for it enabled the early inhabitants to support their teams and stock until artificial meadows could be prepared. Many of these natural meadows were occasioned by the dams of the beaver. A list of the different plants native to the county, with their scientific botanical names, is, of course, not within the province of this work, but suffice to say that numerous prepared specimens have been distributed among botan- ists of note and by them properly arranged and classified. The specimens were found to embrace about 150 of the natural orders or families, 450 genera, and at least 1,000 species-all found within thirty miles of the city of Milwaukee. A soil so adapted to the growth of wild flowers and plants was found to yield readily to the demands of the agriculturist, and in the production of the staple products of the farm the agricultural districts of Milwaukee county rank with those of any other section of the state.
The natural fauna of this portion of Wisconsin, with the ex-
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NATURAL FEATURES.
ception of some of the smaller animals, has, of course, largely dis- appeared with the destruction of the forests. Of the large game none are now to be found within the domain of Milwaukee county, but the black bear, badger, otter, common wolf, red fox, lynx and wildcat, together with deer in large numbers, are among the species mentioned by the earlier records. But there are probably no speci- mens of these animals now remaining in the county. These ani- mals had a range of the entire forests of the county. The coulees and ravines running down to the streams were the natural haunts of wolves and wolverines, and these lingered upon the outskirts of settlements after many others of the wild denizens of the forest had disappeared. The native fauna of the county is not yet extinct, however, as the grey, fox, black, red and striped squirrels are still found in considerable numbers, and the muskrat and rabbit have their habitat in the localities suited to their abode.
But the demands of civilization and the gigantic strides of prog- ress in Milwaukee county during the past seventy-five years have changed the old order of things for the new, and where were once the hunting grounds of the red man are now to be found the marts of trade of the pale-face. In the succeeding pages an attempt has been made to give the story of this metamorphosis somewhat in detail.
CHAPTER II.
INDIANS.
TRIBES, HISTORICAL INCIDENTS, ETC.
The Indians who inhabited the northern region east of the Miss- issippi at the beginning of historic times were, in language, of two great families, which are given the French names Algonquin and Iroquois. These are not the Indian names. In fact, from the word Indian itself, which is a misnomer-arising from the slowness of the early voyagers to admit that they had found an unknown continent-down to the names of the tribes, there is a confusion of nomenclature and often a deplora- able misfit in the titles now fixed in history by long usage. The Algon- quin family may more properly be termed the Lenape, and the Iroquois the Mengwe, which the English frontiersmen closely approached in the word, Mingo. The Lenape themselves, while using that name, also em- ployed the more generic title of Wapanacki. The Iroquois, on their part, had the ancient naine of Onque Honwe, and this in their tongue, as Lenape in that of the other family, signified men with a sense of im- portance-"the people," to use a convenient English expression. The Lenape became a very widespread people, and different divisions of them were known in later years by various names, among which were the Sauks or Sacs, and their friends and allies, the Ottagamies or Foxes, these two divisions being practically one, and according to Dr. Morse, in his report of his Indian tour in 1820, were the first to establish a village upon the present site of Milwaukee.
When, as early, it is believed, as 1634, civilized man first set foot upon the territory now included within the boundaries of Wisconsin, no representatives of the Iroquois had yet been seen west of Lake Michi- gan-the members of that great family at that date dwelling in safety in the extensive regions northward and southward of the Erie and On- tario lakes. But the Algonquins were here in large numbers, and mov-
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INDIANS.
ing westward had checked the advance of the Sioux in the excursions of the latter eastward. Already had the French secured a foothold in the extensive valley of the St. Lawrence, and, naturally enough, the chain of the Great Lakes led their explorers to the mouth of Green bay. and up that water-course and its principal tributary, Fox river. to the Wisconsin, an affluent of the Mississippi. On the right, in ascending this bay, was seen, for the first time, a nation of Indians, lighter in com- plexion than neighboring tribes, and remarkably well formed, afterward well known as the Menomonees.
This nation was of the Algonquin stock, but their dialect differed so much from the surrounding tribes of the same family, it having strange guttural sounds and accents, as well as peculiar inflections of verbs and other parts of speech, that for a long time they were sup- posed to have a distinct language. Their traditions pointed to an immi- gration from the east at some remote period. When first visited by the French missionaries, these Indians subsisted largely upon wild rice, from which they took their name. The harvest time of this grain was in the month of September, and it grew spontaneously in little streams with slimy bottoms, and in marshy places. This grain was found to be quite plentiful along the shore of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee county. When the time for gathering came the harvesters went in their canoes across the watery fields, shaking the ears right and left as they advanced, the grain falling easily, if ripe, into the bark receptacle beneath. To clear it from the chaff and strip it of a pellicle inclosing it, they put it to dry on a wooden lattice above a small fire, which was kept up for several days. When the rice was well dried it was placed in a skin of the form of a bag, which was 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 was easily winnowed. After this it was pounded to meal, or left unpounded, and boiled in water seasoned with grease, and it thus became a very palatable diet, something of the nature of oat meal. But it must not be inferred that this was the only food of the Menomonees, as they were adepts in fishing, and hunted with skill the game that abounded in the forests.
For many years after their discovery the Menomonees had their homes and hunting grounds upon or adjacent to the Menomonee river, which flows into Green bay. Finally, after the lapse of a century and a quarter, down to 1760, when the French yielded to the English all claims to the country, the territory of the Menomonees had shifted somc- what to the westward and southward, and their principal village was found at the head of Green bay, while a smaller one was still in existence at the mouth of their favorite stream. So slight, however, had been this
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MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY.
change, that the country of no other of the surrounding tribes had been encroached upon by the movement.
In 1634 the Menomonees probably took part in a treaty with a rep- resentative of the French, who had thus early ventured so far into the wilds of the lake region. More than a score of years elapsed before the tribe was again visited by white men, or at least there are no authen- tic accounts of earlier visits. In 1660 Father Rene Menard had pene- trated the Lake Superior country as far at least as Kewenaw, in what is now the northern part of Michigan, whence some of his French com- panions probably passed down the Menomonee river to the waters of Green bay the following year, but no record of the Indians, through whose territory they passed, was made by these voyagers. Ten years more-1670-brought to the Menomonees Father Claudius Allouez, to win them to Christianity. Proceeding from the "Sault" on Nov. 3, Allouez, early in December, 1669, reached the mouth of Green bay, where, in an Indian village of Sacs, Pottawattamies, Foxes and Winne- bagoes, containing about 600 souls, he celebrated the holy mass for the first time upon this new field of his labors-eight Frenchmen traders with the Indians, whom the missionary found there upon his arrival, taking part in the devotions. His first Christian work with the Me- nomonees was performed in May of the next year. Allouez found this tribe a feeble one, almost exterminated by war. He spent but little time with them, embarking on the 20th of that month, after a visit of some Pottawattamies and Winnebagoes, "with a Frenchman and a savage to go to Sainte Mary of the Sault." His place was filled by Father Louis Andre, who erected a cabin not long afterward upon the Menomonee river, but the building, with one at a village where his predecessor had already raised the standard of the cross, was soon burned by the sav- ages. The missionary, however, living almost constantly in his canoe, continued for some time to labor with the Menomonees and surrounding tribes. His efforts were rewarded with some conversions among the former, for Marquette, who visited them in 1673, found many good Christians among them.
The record of ninety years of French domination in Wisconsin-be- ginning in June, 1671, and ending in October, 1761-brings to light but little of interest so far as the Indians in Eastern Wisconsin are con- cerned. Gradually the Menomonees and Pottawattamies extended their intercourse with the white fur traders. Gradually and with few inter- ruptions they were drawn under the banner of France, joining with that government in its wars with the Iroquois, in its contest with the Foxes and subsequently in its conflicts with the English.
The French post at what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin, was sur-
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INDIANS.
rendered to the British in 1760, along with the residue of the Western forts, but actual possession of the former was not taken until the Fall of the next year. The land on which the fort stood was claimed by the Menomonees. Here, at that date, was their upper and principal village, the lower one being at the mouth of the Menomonee river. These Indians soon became reconciled to the English occupation of their terri- tory, notwithstanding the machinations of French traders who endeav- ored to prejudice them against the new comers. The tribe was at this time very much reduced, having, but a short time previous, lost 300 of their warriors by the small-pox, and most of their chiefs had been slain in the war in which they had been engaged as allies of the French aginst the English. It was not long before the sincerity of the Menomonees was put to the test, however, as Pontiac's war of 1763 broke out and the post of Mackinaw was captured. But they continued their friendship to the English, joining with the latter against the colonies during the Revolution, and fighting on the same side during the war of 1812-15. When, in July, 1816, an American force arrived at Green Bay to take possession of the country, the Menomonees were found in their village near by, very peaceably inclined. The commander of the troops asked permission of their chief to build a fort. "My Brother!" was the re- sponse, "how can we oppose your locating a council fire among us? You are too strong for us. Even if we wanted to oppose you we have scarcely got powder and ball to make the attempt. One favor we ask is, that our French brothers shall not be disturbed. You can choose any place you please for your fort, and we shall not object." No trouble had been anticipated from the Menomonees, and the expectations of the government of the United States in that regard were fully realized. What added much to the friendship now springing up between the Menomonees and the Americans was the fact that the next year-1817- the annual contribution, which for many years had been made by the British, consisting of a shirt, leggins, breech-clout and blanket for each member of the tribe, and for each family a copper kettle, knives, axes, guns and ammunition, was withheld by them.
Upon their occupation of the Menomonee territory it was found by the Americans that some of the women of that tribe were married to traders and boatmen who had settled at the head of the bay, there being no white women in that region. Many of these were Canadians of French extraction, hence the anxiety that they should be well treated, which was expressed by the Menomonees upon the arrival of the American force. The first regular treaty with this tribe was "made and concluded" on March 30, 1817, "by and between William Clark, Ninian Edwards, and Auguste Chouteau, commissioners on the part and behalf of the United
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MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY.
States of America, of the one part," and the chiefs and warriors, de- puted by the Menomonees, of the other part. By the terms of this com- pact all injuries were to be forgiven and forgotten, perpetual peace es- tablished, lands, heretofore ceded to other governments, confirmed to the United States, all prisoners to be delivered up and the tribe placed under the protection of the United States, "and of no other nation, power, or sovereign, whatsoever."
The territory of the Menomonees, when the tribe was taken fully under the wing of the general government, had become greatly extended. It was bounded on the north by the dividing ridge between the waters flowing into Lake Superior and those flowing south into Green bay and the Mississippi; on the east, by Lake Michigan; on the south, by the Milwaukee river, and on the west by the Mississippi and Black rivers. This was their territory, though they were practically restricted to the occupation of the western shore of Lake Michigan, lying between the mouth of Green bay on the north and the Milwaukee river on the south, and to a somewhat indefinite area west. Their general claim as late as 1825 was north to the Chippewa country, east to Green bay and Lake Michigan, south to the Milwaukee river, and west to Black river. Henry R. Schoolcraft, mineralogist, whose "Narrative Journal," pub- lished in 1821, is replete with valuable information relative to this por- tion of the country, and gives the account of a trip made in 1819 by a party of which he was a member, says that on Aug. 26 of that year the party encamped at the mouth of the Milwaukee river, where they found "two American families and a village of Pottawattomies ; it is the division line between the lands of the Menomonees and the Potta- wattomies ; the latter claim all south of it."
The Menomonee territory, as late as 1831, still preserved its large proportions. Its eastern division was bounded by the Milwaukee river, the shore of Lake Michigan, Green bay, Fox river, and Winnebago lake ; its western division by the Wisconsin and Chippewa rivers on the west, Fox river on the south, Green bay on the east, and the high lands whence flow the streams into Lake Superior, on the north. This year, however, it was shorn of a valuable and large part by the tribe ceding to the United States all of the eastern division, estimated at 2,500.000 acres. This tract included all of Milwaukee, city and county, lying between the Milwaukee river and the shore of Lake Michigan. The following year the Menomonees aided the general government in the Black Hawk war.
Deserving a place in a notice of the Indian tribes of this part of Wisconsin is the nation known as the Pottawattomies, who in historic times laid claim to the major portion of what is now the county of Mil-
33
INDIANS.
waukee. As early as 1639 they were the neighbors of the Winnebagoes upon Green bay. They were still upon its southern shore, in two villages, in 1670, and ten years subsequent to that date they occupied, at least in one village, the same region. At the expiration of the first quarter of the eighteenth century only a part of the nation was in that vicinity-upon the islands at the mouth of the bay. These islands were then known as the Pottawattomie islands, and were considered as the ancient abode of these Indians. Already had a large portion of this tribe emigrated southward, one band resting on the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, the other near Detroit. One peculiarity of this tribe-at least of such as resided in what is now Wisconsin-was their intimate association with neighboring bands. When, in 1669, a village of the Pottawattomies, located upon the southeast shore of Green bay, was visted by Allouez, he found with them Sacs and Foxes and Winneba- goes. So, also, many years subsequent to that date, when a band of these Indians were located at Milwaukee, with them were Ottawas and Chippewas. These "united tribes" claimed all the lands of their respec- tive tribes and of other nations, giving the United States no little trouble when possession was taken of the western country by the general gov- ernment. Finally, by a treaty entered into at Chicago in 1833, their claims, such as they were, to lands along the western shore of Lake Michigan, within the present state of Wisconsin, extending westward to Rock river, were purchased by the United States, with permission for the Indians to retain possession of their ceded lands three years longer, after which time this "united nation of Chippewas, Ottawas, and Potta- wattomies" began to disappear, and soon were no longer seen in south- eastern Wisconsin or in other portions of the state. By this treaty of 1833 the territory comprised in the present limits of Milwaukee county came into legal possession of the pale-face, and the Indians who re- mained after 1836 did so by sufferance of their white brethren.
The Chippewas, who are mentioned here as close friends or allies of the Pottawattomies, when the territory now constituting the northern portion of Wisconsin became very generally known to the civilized in- habitants of the eastern part of the United States, were found in pos- session of that vast scope of country. Their hunting grounds extended south from Lake Superior to the heads of the Menomonee, the Wiscon- sin and Chippewa rivers, also farther eastward and westward. At an early day they were engaged in a war with the Sioux-a war indeed. which was long continued. The Chippewas persistently maintained their position, however-still occupying the same region when the gen- eral government extended its jurisdiction over the whole country south of the great lakes and west to the Mississippi. By treaties with them
3
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MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY.
at different periods, down to the year 1827, the government had recog- nized them as the owners of about one quarter of what is now the entire state of Wisconsin. The same policy was pursued toward this tribe as with neighboring ones in the purchase of their lands by the United States. Gradually they parted with their extensive possessions until, in 1842, the last acre within what is now Wisconsin was disposed of. It was the intention of the government to remove the several bands of the Chippewas who had thus ceded their lands to a tract reserved for them beyond the Mississippi, but this determination was afterward changed so as to allow them to remain upon certain reservations within the limits of their old-time hunting grounds. These reservations they continue to occupy, located in Bayfield, Ashland, Chippewa and Lincoln counties. The clans are known, respectively, as the Red Cliff band, the Bad River band, the Lac Courte Oreille band, and the Lac de Flambeau band.
As will have been inferred from the foregoing, when the white men first visited what is now Milwaukee county it was with the Pottawat- tomie Indians that they had chiefly to deal. Hence the following de- scription of that tribe, their habits, customs, etc., will be of interest in this connection. It is an extract from Bacqueville de la Potherie's His- tory of America, published at Paris in 1722 and again in 1753. The author was a French historian of the late seventeenth and early eight- eenth centuries, and in 1697 he visited Hudson Bay as a royal com- missioner :
"The Pouteouatemis [ Pottawattomies] are their [the Illinois] neighbors ; the behavior of these people is very affable and cordial, and they make great efforts to gain the good opinion of persons who come among them. They are very intelligent ; they have an inclination for rail- lery ; their physical appearance is good, and they are great talkers. When they set their minds on anything, it is not easy to turn them from it. The old men are prudent, sensible, and deliberate ; it is seldom that they undertake any unseasonable enterprise. As they receive strangers very kindly, they are delighted when reciprocal attentions are paid to them. They have so good an opinion of themselves that they regard other Na- tions as inferior to them. They have made themselves Arbiters for the tribes about the Bay, and for all their neighbors; and they strive to pre- serve for themselves that reputation in every direction. Their ambition to please everybody has of course caused among them jealousy and di- vorce, for their Families are scattered to the right and to the left along the Mecheygan [Lake Michigan]. With a view of gaining for them- selves special esteem, they make presents of all their possessions, strip- ping themselves of even necessary articles, in their eager desire to be accounted liberal. Most of the merchandise for which the Outaouas [Ottawas] trade with the French is carried among these people.
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