USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 46
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
Upon this subject the late Dr. I. A. Lapham, who was a close student of the Indian char- acter, says : "The inhabitants of Egypt have ceased to build pyramids and sphinxes ; the Greeks have ceased to erect temples, and yet we have reason to believe that their descendants occupy the same country. Is it more strange that the ancestors of the present Indians should have erected mounds of earth than that the aborigines of any country should have had habits differ- ent from their posterity ? We need not, therefore, look to Mexico, or to any other country, for the descendants of the Mound-Builders. We probably see them in the present red race of the same or adjacent regions. If the present tribes have no traditions running back as far as the times of Allouez and Marquette, or even to the more recent time of Jonathan Carver, it is not strange that none should exist in regard to the mounds, which must be of much earlier date. It is by considerations of this nature that we are led to the conclusion that the Mound-Builders of Wisconsin were none others than the ancestors of the present tribes of Indians."
Dr. Lapham thinks the relative ages of the different works found in Wisconsin are prob- ably as follows : First and oldest, the animal-formed mounds still to be seen in many parts of the State, and the famous works at Aztalan, in Jefferson County ; second, the conical mounds. built for sepulchral purposes, which come down to a very recent period ; third, the indications of garden-beds, planted in regular geometrical figures or straight lines ; fourth, the plantations of the present tribes, who plant, without system or regularity, in small hillocks.
Within the boundaries of Sauk County are found many notable and interesting evidences. of pre-historic occupation and existence. The geographical position of the county is such as to intimately associate it with some of the important chains or series of earthworks that are found extending along most of the favorable routes for primitive transportation between the great lakes and the Mississippi River. The county in this regard seems to confirm the generally accepted theory that primitive man existed in greatest numbers along the borders of lakes and rivers ; and the more prominent these bodies of water and the position occupied appear with relation to the great problems of transportation and subsistence, the more numerous are these ancient arti- ficial works.
The importance of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and their navigable tributaries has been recognized by all nations and tribes in this region that have a written or traditional history. This and the numerous evidences of a pre-historic occupation found along their entire course, would seem to warrant a conclusion that these rivers have furnished a medium of transportation from the days of primitive man's unrecorded existence down to the present time. In this great thoroughfare of ancient and modern times, the "portage" occupies a central position, and, judging from the many evidences of pre-historic occupation, Sauk County was once a favorite abode of primitive man. He was presumably nomadic and war-like in his nature. and the causes which led to his departure from this region are shrouded in a mystery as deep and inde- finable as are the particulars of his advent.
THE MASCOUTINS, KICKAPOOS, MIAMIS, FOXES, SACS AND WINNEBAGOES.
The first positive knowledge we have of his successors comes to us through the medium of French Jesuits. We are told that as early as the year 1615, Samuel Champlain heard of a tribe of Indians living many leagues beyond Lake Huron, called the Fire Nation, better known at a later date as the Mascoutins. Their homes were upon the Fox River at that time, as it is believed, and here they were visited by civilized man a little less than a score of years after. It is presumed that their villages were located within the present limits of Green Lake County, somewhere on Fox River, between Berlin and Lake Puckaway, and that they claimed as their hunting-grounds, among much other territory, that now included within the boundary lines of the county of Sauk. The nearest tribe to the Mascoutins down the Fox River was that of the Winnebagoes, whose homes were at the mouth of that stream. To the' south, extending perhaps well up Rock River, was the territory of the Illinois. In the immediate neighborhood of the Mascoutins (but in what direction is uncertain), were the Kickapoos and the Miamis. The Illinois, who lived in ą. country "where there was a quantity of buffaloes," were afterward driven beyond the Missis-
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
sippi, but subsequently returned to the river which still bears their name. Meanwhile, there commenced an emigration of the Mascoutins and their kindred, the Kickapoos and Miamis, to the southward, as far at least as the south end of Lake Michigan. Their place was taken by the Foxes and their relatives, the Sacs, and, in time, these also emigrated, but not to the south- ward; the course taken by them was to the west and southwest. It is certain the Foxes: claimed for a time the country now forming Sauk County, as well as much other circumjacent territory. Then came the Winnebagoes from below-that is, from the head of Green Bay- moving up the Fox River by degrees, having outlying villages on the shores of Winnebago Lake and in the valley of Rock River. They finally reached the "portage," and their territory · extended down the Wisconsin. This brings us to the time when the United States began making treaties with them. The first of these was held at St. Louis, June 3, 1816, with that portion of the tribe residing on the Wisconsin. This treaty (soon after the war with Great Britain, in which the Winnebagoes engaged on the side of the British) was one for peace only, no cession of land on the part of the Indians being made to the United States. In 1820, the Winnebagoes had five villages on Winnebago Lake, and fourteen on Rock River. The claim of this war-like tribe was very extensive, so far as territory was concerned. Its southeast boundary stretched away from the sources of Rock River to within forty miles of its mouth, in Illinois, where they had a village. On the west, it extended to the heads of the small streams flowing westward and southwestward into the Mississippi. To the northward, it reached as far as Black River and the Upper Wisconsin ; in other words, to the Chippewa territory ; but did not extend across the Fox to the lands of the north side, although they con- tended for the whole of Winnebago Lake. Within their territory, then, in 1825, was the whole of the present county of Sauk.
By treaties held with the Winnebagoes in 1829 and 1832, all their territory south and east of the Wisconsin River was acquired by the General Government. West of the Wisconsin, including the whole of the present county of Sauk was still a part of Winnebago territory ; but, in November, 1837, this nation ceded to the General Government all their lands cast of the Mississippi River. Not an acre was reserved. So the Winnebago title to all of what is now Sauk County was extinguished, and the whole was ready for the surveyor.
EARLY GOVERNMENT.
The first civilized claimants to the territory now included within the boundaries of Wiscon- sin were the French. The whole of the Northwest was claimed by France from 1671 to 1763, when it was surrendered to the British. By the " Quebec Act " of 1774, all of that region was placed under the local administration of Canada. It was, however, practically put under a despotic military rule, and so continued until possession passed to the United States. Before the last-mentioned event, and during and after the Revolution, the conflicting claims of Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, to portions of the country, were relin- quished to the General Government. All these claims were based upon supposed chartered rights, Virginia adding to hers the right of conquest, as she contended, of the " Illinois country," during the Revolution. As early as October, 1778, Virginia declared by an act of her General Assembly, that all the citizens of that commonwealth who were then settled or should thereafter settle, on the western side of the Ohio, should be included in a distinct county, which should be called Illinois. No Virginians were then settled as far north as the southern boundary line of what is now Wisconsin, and, as none thereafter located so far north before Virginia relinquished to the United States all her rights to territory on the western and northern side of the Ohio, it follows that no part of the territory which afterward became Wisconsin was ever included in Illinois County as a part of Virginia ; nor did the last-mentioned State ever exercise any juris- diction over the territory of this State, or make claim to any part of it by right of conquest .. Wisconsin was never a part of Virginia.
Notwithstanding the passage of the ordinance of 1787, establishing a government over the territory northwest of the Ohio River, which territory was acquired by the treaty of 1783 from
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
Great Britain, possession only was obtained by the United States of the southern portion, the northern part being held by the British Government until 1796. Arthur St. Clair, in Febru- ary, 1790, exercising the functions of Governor, and having previously organized a government for the country under the ordinance above mentioned, established in what is now the State of Illinois, a county which was named St. Clair. But, as this county only extended north "to the mouth of the Little Mackinaw Creek, on the Illinois," it did not include, of course, any part of the present State of Wisconsin, although being the nearest approach thereto of any organized county up to that date.
In 1796, Wayne County was organized, which was made to include, beside much other ter- ritory, all of what is now Wisconsin, watered by streams flowing into Lake Michigan. From. 1800 to 1809, what are now the limits of Sauk County were within the Territory of Indiana, and in the year last mentioned passed into the Territory of Illinois. It is probable that Indi- ana Territory exercised jurisdiction over what is now Wisconsin, at least to the extent of appoint- ing two Justices of the Peace, one for Green Bay and one for Prairie du Chien. In the year 1809, the Illinois Territorial Government commissioned three Justices of the Peace and two militia officers at Prarie du Chien, the county of St. Clair having previously been extended so as to include that point, and probably Green Bay, thereby bringing into its jurisdiction what is now Columbia County. In the course of time, other Illinois counties had jurisdiction, until, in 1818, what is now Wisconsin became a portion of Michigan Territory.
By a proclamation of Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan Territory, of October 26, 1818, Brown and Crawford Counties were organized. The county of Brown originally comprised all of what is now Wisconsin east of a line passing north and south through the middle of the port- age between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, except a small portion of the Door County penin- sula, which was included in the county of Michilimackinac. The limits of the county extended north into the territory of the present State of Michigan so far that its north line ran due west from the head of Noquet Bay. An east and west line, passing near the northern limits of the present county of Barron, separated the county of Crawford from the county of Michilimackinac on the north ; on the east it was bounded by the county of Brown; on the south, by the State of Illinois, and on the west by the Mississippi River. The present county of Sauk was thus included in the county of Crawford. By an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, approved October 29, 1829, to take effect the 1st of January following, the county of Iowa was established, embracing all the present State of Wisconsin south of the Wisconsin River and west of Brown County; in other words, it included the whole of what was previously Crawford County lying south of the Wisconsin River. This left the territory now comprising Sauk County still remaining in Crawford County. On the 6th of September, 1834, the county of Milwaukee was set off from Brown County, embracing all of the last-mentioned county south of a line drawn between Townships 11 and 12, in all the ranges east of Range 9.
By an act of the Territorial Legislature, approved December 7, 1836, Township 10 north, Range 6 east, and Township 10, Range 7, were included in the then newly organized Portage County, which embraced all the territory of the present Columbia County, and the western tier of towns in Dodge. Upon the formation of Sauk County, in January, 1840, the above-de- scribed territory was set off from Portage County and attached to Sauk. From this date to the spring of 1844, Sauk County was attached to Dane County for judicial purposes. In this year it was fully organized.
FIRST WHITE MEN IN SAUK COUNTY .*
John Talon, intendant of Canada, labored assiduously to develop the industrial resources of New France. In 1670, he ordered Daumont de St. Lusson to search for copper mines on Lake Superior, and at the same time to take possession, in a formal manner, of the whole interior country for the King of France. St. Lusson set out accordingly, accompanied by a small party of men and Nicholas Perrot, a Canadian voyageur, as interpreter, who spoke Algonquin fluently
* By C. W. Butterfield, of Madison, Wis.
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
and was favorably known to many tribes of that family. It was arranged that St. Lusson should winter at the Manitoulin Islands, while Perrot proceeded to invite the tribes to a general con- ference at the Sault Ste. Marie, in the following spring. The interpreter, having first sent mes- sages to the different tribes of the North, proceeded to Green Bay to urge the nations upon its waters to the meeting.
St. Lusson and his men, fifteen in number, arrived at the Sault more than a month in advance of the day set for the meeting. When all the Indians had reached the rapids, the Frenchman prepared to execute the commission with which he was charged. A large cross of wood had been made ready. It was now reared and planted in the ground. Then a post of cedar was planted beside it with a metal plate attached, engraven with the royal arms. "In the name," said St. Lusson, " of the most high, mighty and redoubtable monarch, Louis, fourteenth of that name, most Christian King of France and of Navarre, I take possession of this place, Sainte Marie du Sault, as also of Lakes Huron and Superior, the island of Manitoulin, and all coun- tries, rivers, lakes and streams contiguous and adjacent thereunto ; both those which have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all their length and breadth, bounded! on the one side by the seas of the North and of the West, and on the other by the South Sea : declaring to the nations thereof, that from this time forth they are vassals of His Majesty, bound: to obey his laws and follow his customs : promising them, on his part, all succor and protection against the incursions and invasions of their enemies : declaring to all other potentates, princes,. sovereigns, states and republics-to them and their subjects-that they cannot and are not to. seize or settle upon any parts of the aforesaid countries, save only under the good pleasure of his most Christian majesty, and of him who will govern in his behalf ; and this on pain of incur- ring his resentment and the efforts of his arms." Thus passed, so far as words and shouts could effect it, the Northwest, including the present State of Wisconsin, under the dominion of France. And why not ? She had discovered it-had to a certain extent explored it-had to a limited extent established commerce with it-and her missionaries had proclaimed the faith to its won- dering savages. But none of her fur-traders-none of her missionaries-none of her agents- had yet reached the Mississippi-the great river, concerning which so many marvels had been heard. Now, however, the hour was at hand in which would be solved the problem and be revealed the mystery of the "great water " of the savages. The Governor of Canada was resolved that the stream should be reached and explored. He made choice of Louis Joliet, who was with St. Lusson when the Northwest was for the first time claimed for the King of France, and who had just returned to Quebec from Lake Superior. This was in the year 1672. Said the Governor on the 2d of November: " It has been judged expedient to send Sieur Joliet to the Maskouteins [Mascoutins], to discover the South Sea, and the great river they call the Missis- sippi, which is supposed to discharge itself into the Sea of California." "He is a man," con- tinued Frontenac, " of great experience in these sorts of discoveries, and has already been almost at the great river, the mouth of which he promises to see."
Joliet passed up the lakes, and, on the 17th of May, 1673 (having with him Father James Marquette and five others), started from the mission of St. Ignatius, a point north of the Island of Mackinaw, in the present county of that name in the State of Michigan, journeying in two bark canoes, firmly resolved to do all and to suffer all for the glory of re-discovering the Missis- sippi. Every possible precaution was taken, that, should the undertaking prove hazardous, it should not be foolhardy ; so, whatever of information could be gathered from the Indians who had frequented those parts, was laid under contribution before paddling merrily over the waters to the westward, and up Green Bay to the mouth of Fox River. The first Indian nation met by Joliet was the Menomonees. He was dissuaded by them from venturing so far into ulterior regions, assured that he would meet tribes which never spare strangers, but tomahawked them without provocation ; that the war which had broken out among various nations on his route exposed him and his men to another evident danger-that of being killed by the war parties constantly in the path ; that the " great river " was very dangerous unless the difficult parts were known; that it was full of frightful monsters who swallowed up men and canoes together ; that there was
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
even a demon there, who could be heard from afar, who stopped the passage and engulfed all who dared approach ; and lastly, that the heat was so excessive in those countries that it would infallibly cause their deaths. Nevertheless, Joliet determined to persevere ; so he ascended Fox River to the portage.
Joliet found the Fox River very beautiful at its mouth, having a gentle current. It was full of bustards, duck, teal and other birds, attracted by the wild oats, which were plentiful, and of which they were very fond. As the party advanced up the river a little distance, it was found to be difficult of ascent, both on account of the currents and of the sharp rocks which cut their canoes. Nevertheless, the rapids of the stream were passed in safety, when the party not long after came to the nation of the Mascoutins. In their village were also gathered two other tribes -the Miamis and Kickapoos. The Miamis were found to be civil in their deportment. They wore two long ear-locks, which gave them a good appearance. They had the name of being war- riors, and seldom sent out war parties in vain. They were found very docile, disposed to listen quietly to what was said to them. The Mascoutins and the Kickapoos, however, were rude and more like peasants, compared to the Miamis. Bark for cabins was found to be rare in this vil- lage, the Indians using rushes, which served them for walls and roof, but which were no great shelter against the wind and still less against the rain when it fell in torrents. The advantage of that kind of cabins was that they could be rolled up and easily carried whenever it suited these Indians in hunting-time.
The view from the Indian village was beautiful and very picturesque, for, from the emi- nence on which it was perched, the eye discovered on every side delightful prairies, spreading away beyond its reach, interspersed with thickets or groves of lofty trees. The soil was found to be very good, producing much corn. Plums, also, and grapes were gathered in the autumn in quantities by the Indians.
The arrival of Joliet and his party at the village of the Mascoutins, was on the 7th of June ; their departure was on the 10th.
" We knew," wrote Father Marquette, " that there was, three [thirty] leagues from Mas- koutens [Mascoutins], a river entering into the Mississippi ; we knew, too, that the point of the compass we were to hold to reach it was west southwest, but the way is so cut up by marshes and little lakes that it is easy to go estray, especially as the river leading to it is so covered with wild oats that you can hardly discover the channel. Hence, we had good need of our two [Miami] guides, who led us safely to a portage of twenty-seven hundred paces [the site now occupied by the city of Portage], and helped us to transport our canoes to enter this river [Wisconsin], after which they returned, leaving us alone in an unknown country in the hands of Providence.
" We now leave," continues Marquette, " the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance of four or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will henceforth lead us into strange lands. Before embarking, we all began together a new devotion to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, which we practiced every day, addressing her particular prayers to put under her protection both our persons and the success of our voyage. Then, after having encouraged one another, we got into our canoes. The river on which we embarked is called Meskousing [Wisconsin] ; it is very broad, with a sandy bottom, forming many shallows, which render navigation very difficult. It is full of vine-clad islets. On the banks appear fertile lands diversified with wood, prairie and hill. Here you find oaks, walnut, whitewood, and another kind of tree with branches armed with thorns. We saw no small game or fish, but deer and moose in considera- ble numbers."
In. passing down this river they entered upon territory now included within the limits of Sauk County-the first white men who ever looked upon its hills or valleys, who ever floated along its southern border, or ever, perhaps, set foot upon its soil.
On the 17th of June, with a joy that was inexpressible, Joliet and his party entered the Mississippi. After dropping down the " great river " many miles, Joliet returned to Green Bay, thence to Quebec, to report his discovery and explorations to the Governor of New France.
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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
EARLY VISITS TO SAUK COUNTY.
Not many years elapsed after the voyage of Joliet and his companions down the Wisconsin, before the river was again navigated by civilized man. Louis Hennepin, a Recollet friar, and his party, as a detail from La Salle's expedition to the Illinois, reached the portage in 1680, on his way from the Upper Mississippi to the great lakes, passing up the Wisconsin and down the Fox River to Green Bay. He says :
" After we had rowed about seventy leagues upon the river Ouisconsin [Wisconsin], we came to the place where we were forced to carry our canoe for half a league. We lay at this place all night, and left marks of our having been there by the crosses which we cut on the barks of the trees. Next day, having carried our canoe and the rest of our little equipage over this piece of land [the portage], we entered upon a river [the Fox] which makes almost as many meanders as that of the Illinois at its rise."
Le Sueur and his party made the portage in 1683, on their way to the Mississippi.
" About forty-five leagues up this river [the Wisconsin], on the right, is a portage, of more than a league in length. The half of this portage is a bog; at the end of this portage, there is a little river [the Fox] that falls into a bay called the Bay of the Puans [Green Bay], inhabited by a great number of natives that carry their furs to Canada."
In 1766, Jonathan Carver made a voyage to St. Anthony's Falls, by way of the portage, from the East. Of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, and the carrying place [the portage], he wrote :
" The Fox River, from the Green Bay to the carrying place, is about one hundred and eighty miles. From the Winnebago Lake to the carrying place, the current is gentle, and the depth of it considerable ; notwithstanding which, in some places, it is with difficulty that canoes can pass through the obstructions they meet with from the rice-stalks, which are very large and thick, and grow here in great abundance. The country around it is very fertile, and proper in the highest degree for cultivation, excepting in some places near the river, where it is rather too low. It is in no part very woody, and yet can supply sufficient to answer the demands of any number of inhabitants. This river is the greatest resort for wild fowl of every kind that I met with in the whole course of my travels ; frequently the sun would be obscured by them for some minutes together.
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