HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. CHAPTER I. A ers. PRE-HISTORIC AND SETTLEMENT. T a remote period there lived in this country a people now designated mound buildOf their origin nothing is known. Their history is lost in the lapse of ages. The evidences, however, of their existence in Wisconsin and surrounding States are numerous. Many of their earth works-the so-called mounds are still to be seen. These are of various forms. Some are regularly arranged, forming squares, octagons and circles; others are like walls or ramparts; while many, especially in Wisconsin, are imitative in figure, having the shape of implements or animals, resembling war clubs, tobacco pipes, beasts, reptiles, fish and even man. A few are in the similitude of trees. In selecting sites for many of their earth works, the mound-builders appear to have been influenced by motives which prompt civilized men to choose localities for their great marts; hence, Milwaukee and other cities of the west are founded on ruins of pre-existing structures. River terraces and river bottoms seem to have been favorite places for these mounds. Their works are seen in the basin of the Fox river, of the Illinois, and of Rock river and its branches, also in the valley of the Fox river of Green bay, in that of the Wisconsin, as well as near the waters of the Mississippi. As to the object of these earth works, all knowledge rests upon conjecture alone. It is generally believed that some were used for purposes of defense, others for the observance of religious rites and as burial places. In some parts of Wisconsin are seen earth works of a different character from those usually denominated "mounds." These, from their supposed use, are styled "garden beds." They are ridges or beds about six inches in height, and four feet in width. They are arranged methodically and in parallel rows. Some are rectangular in shape; others are in regular curves. These beds occupy fields of various sizes, from ten to a hundred acres. The mound builders have left other evidences besides mounds and garden beds, to attest their presence in this country, in ages past. In the Lake Superior region exist ancient copper mines, excavations in the solid rock. In these mines have been found stone hammers, wooden bowls and shovels, props and levers for raising and supporting mass copper, and ladders for descending into the pits and ascending from them. There are, also, scattered widely over the country, numerous relics, evidently the handiwork of these pre-historic people; such as stone axes, stone and copper spear-heads and arrow heads, and various other implements and utensils. As these articles are frequently discovered many feet below the surface of the ground, it argues a high antiquity for the artificers. These relics indicate that the mound builders were superior in intelligence to the Indians. None of their implements or utensils, however, point to a "copper age" as having succeeded a "stone age." They all refer alike to one age, the indefinite past; to one people, the mound builders. There is nothing to connect "the dark backward and abysm" of mound-building times with those of the red race of Wisconsin. And all that is known of the savages inhabiting this section previous to its discovery, is exceedingly dim and shadowy. Upon the extended area. bounded by Lake Superior on the north, Lake Michigan on the east, wide-spreading prairies on the south, and the Mississippi river on the west, there met and mingled two distinct Indian families, Algonquins and Dakotas. Concerning the various tribes of these families, nothing of importance could be gleaned by the earliest explorers; at least, very little has been preserved. Tradition, it is true, pointed to the Algonquins as having, at some remote period, migrated from the east, and this has been confirmed by a study of their language. It indicated, also, that the Dakotas, at a time far beyond the memory of the most aged, came from the west or southwest, fighting their way as they came; that one of their tribes once dwelt upon the shores of a sea; but when and for FIRST EXPLORATION OF THE NORTHWEST. The history of Wisconsin commences with the recital of the indomitable perseverance and heroic bravery displayed by its first visitant, John Nicolet. An investigation of the career of this Frenchman shows him, at an early age, leaving his home in Normandy for the new world, landing at Quebec in 1618, and at once seeking a residence among the Algonquins of the Ottawa river, in Canada, sent thither by the governor to learn their language. In the midst of many hardships, and surrounded by perils, he applied himself with great zeal to his task. Having become familiar with the Algonquin tongue, he was admitted into the councils of the savages. The return of Nicolet to civilization, after a number of years immured in the dark forests of Canada, an excellent interpreter, qualified him to act as government agent among the wild western tribes in promoting peace, to the end that all who had been visited by the fur-trader might remain firm allies of the French. Nay, further: it resulted in his being dispatched to Nations far beyond the Ottawa, known only by heresay, with whom it was believed might be opened a profita' le trade in furs. So he started on his perilous voyage. He visited the Hurons, Nation, he struck boldly into wilds to the northupon the Georgian bay. With seven of that ward and westward never before visited by civilized man. He paddled his birch canoe along *Compare Champlain's Voyages, 1632, and his map of that date; Sagard's, Histoire du Canada: Le Jeune Relation, 1632. the eastern coast of Lake Huron and up the St. Mary's Strait to the falls. He floated back to the Straits of Mackinaw, and courageously turned his face toward the west. At the Sault de Ste. Marie, he had-the first of white men-set foot upon the soil of the northwest. Nicolet coasted along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, ascended Green Bay, and finally entered the mouth of Fox river. It was not until he and his swarthy Hurons had urged their frail canoes six days up that stream, that his western exploration was ended. He had, meanwhile, on his way hither, visited a number of tribes; some that had never before been heard of by the French upon the St. Lawrence. With them all he smoked the pipe of peace; with the ancestors of the present Chippewas, at the Sault; with the Menomonees, the Winnebagoes, the Mascoutins, in what is now the State of Wisconsin; with the Ottawas, upon the Manitoulin Islands,and the Nez Perces,upon the east coast of Lake Huron. He made his outward voyage in the summer and fall of 1634, and returned the next year to the St. Lawrence. He did not reach the Wisconsin river, but heard of a "great water" to the westward, which he mistook for the sea. It was, in fact, that stream, and the Mississippi, into which it pours its flood. with the opportunity thus presented of knowing WISCONSIN VISITED BY FUR TRADERS AND JESUIT Very faint, indeed, are the gleams which break in upon the darkness surrounding our knowledge of events immediately following the visit of Nicolet, in what is now the State of Wisconsin. That the Winnebagoes, soon after his return, made war upon the Nez Perces, killing two of their men, of whom they made a feast, we are assured.* We also know that in 1640, these same Winnebagoes were nearly all destroyed by the Illinois; and that the next year, the Pottawattamies took refuge from their homes upon the islands at the mouth of Green bay, with the Chippewas. This is all. And had it not been for the greed of the fur trader and the zeal of the Jesuit, little more, for many years, probably, would have been learned of the northwest. However, a questioning missionary, took from the lips of an Indian captain "an account of his having, in the month of June, 1658, set out from Green Bay for the north, passing the rest of the summer and the following winter near Lake Supe "History cannot refrain from saluting Nicolet as a distinguished traveler, who, by his explorations in the northwest, has given clear proofs of his energetic character, and whose merits have not been disputed, although, subsequently, they were temporarily forgotten." The first fruits of his daring were gathered by the Jesuit fathers, even before his death; for, in the autumn of 1641, those of them who were among the Hurons at the head of the Georgian bay of Lake Huron, received a deputation of Indians occupying the "country around a rapid [now known as the 'Sault de Ste. Marie'], in the midst of the channel by which Lake Superior empties Cincinnati. Robert Clarke & Co., 1881. into Lake Huron," inviting them to visit their tribe. These "missionaries were not displeased * History of the discovery of the northwest by John Nicolet in 1634, with a sketch of his life, by C, W. Butterfield, * Le Jeune, Relation, 1636. + Col. Hist. New York ix, 161. Not captive," as some local histories have it. rior; so called in consequence of being above that of Lake Huron. This Indian informed the Jesuit of the havoc and desolation of the Iroquois war in the west; how it had reduced the Algonquin Nations about Lake Superior and Green bay. The same missionary saw at Quebec, two Frenchmen who had just arrived from the upper countries with 300 Algonquins in sixty canoes, laden with peltries. These fur traders had passed the winter of 1659 on the shores of Lake Superior, during which time they made several trips among the surrounding tribes. In their wanderings they probably visited some of the northern parts of what is now Wisconsin. They saw at six days' journey beyond the lake toward the southwest, a tribe composed of the remainder of the Hurons of the Tobacco Nation, compelled by the Iroquois to abandon Mackinaw and to bury themselves thus deep in the forests, that they could not be found by their enemies. The two traders told the tales they had heard of the ferocious Sioux, and of a great river upon which they dwelt-the great water of Nicolet. Thus a knowledge of the Mississippi began to dawn again upon the civilized world.” The narratives of the Indian captain and the two Frenchmen induced further exploration two years later when Father Rene Menard attempted to found a mission on Lake Superior, with eight Frenchmen and some Ottawas. He made his way in 1660 to what is now Keweenaw, Mich. He determined while there to visit some Hurons on the islands at the mouth of Green bay. He sent three of his companions to explore the way. They reached those islands by way of the Menominee river, returning to Keweenaw with discouraging accounts. But Menard resolved to undertake the journey, starting from the lake with one white companion and some Hurons; he perished, however, in the forest, in what manner is not known, his companion reaching the Green bay islands in safety. White men had floated upon the Menominee, * History Northern Wisconsin, p. 39. so that the northeastern part of what is now Wisconsin, as well as its interior by Nicolet in 1634, had now been seen by civilized white mant. FOUNDING OF JESUIT MISSIONS IN WISCONSIN. embarked on a mission to the country visited In August, 1665, Father Claude Allouez by Menard. Early in September he had reached the Sault de Ste. Marie, and on the first day of October, arrived in the bay of Here he erected a chapel of bark, establishing Chegoimegon, at a village of Chippewas. the first mission in what is now Wisconsin to which he gave the name of the Holy Spirit. either visited or saw, at Chegoimegon, scattered While Allouez had charge of this field, he bands of Hurons and Ottawas; also Pottawattamies from Lake Michigan, and the Sacs and of Green bay. He was likewise visited by the Foxes, who lived upon the waters of Fox river Illinois, and at the extremity of Lake Superior he met representatives of the Sioux. These declared they dwelt on the banks of the river "Messipi." Father James Marquette reached Chegoimegon in September, 1669, and took charge of the mission of the Holy Spirit, Allouez proceeding to the Sault de Ste. Marie, intending to establish a mission on the shores of Green bay. He left the Sault Nov. 3, 1669, and on the 25th, reached a Pottawattamie cabin. On the 2d of December he founded upon the shore of Green bay the mission of St. Francis Xavier, the second one established by him within what are now the limits of Wisconsin. Here Allouez passed the winter. In April, 1670, he founded another mission; this one was upon Wolf river, a tributary of the Fox river of Green bay. Here the missionary labored among the Foxes, who had located upon that stream. The mission, the third in the present Wisconsin, he called St. Mark. In 1671 Father Louis Andre was sent to the missions of St. Francis Xavier and St. Mark, as a co-worker with Allouez. At what is now the + Bancroft, in his History of United States, evidently mistakes the course pursued from Keweenaw, by Menard. Green bay, again took possession of the country, extending the dominion of New France, not only over the territory of the upper Mississippi, but "to other places more remote;" so that then, all that is now included within the boundaries of the State of Wisconsin (and much more) passed quietly into the possession of the French king. No fur-trader or missionary, no white man, had as yet reached the Mississippi above the mouth of the Illinois river. But the time for its exploration was at hand. Civilized men were now to behold its vast tribute rolling onward toward the Gulf of Mexico. These men were Louis Joliet and James Marquette. Joliet came from Quebec, having been appointed by the government to "discover" the Mississippi. He found Marquette on the north side of the straits of Mackinaw, laboring as a missionary among the Indians. The latter was solicited and readily agreed to accompany Joliet upon his expedition.* The outfit of the party was very simple: two birch-bark canoes and a supply of smoked meat and Indian corn. They had with them five white men. They began their voyage on the 17th day of May, 1673. Passing into Lake Mich village of DePere, Brown Co., Wis., was located the central station of the mission of St. Francis Xavier. This mission included all the tribes inhabiting the vicinity of Green bay. A rude chapel, the third one within the present limits of Wisconsin, was soon erected. Allouez then left for other fields of labor; but Andre remained here, working with zeal during the summer of 1671. However, during a temporary absence his chapel was burned, but he speedily erected another. Then his dwelling was destroyed, but although he erected another, it soon shared the same fate. He was at this time laboring among the Menomonees. When he finally left "the bay tribes" is not known. In 1676 Father Charles Albanel was stationed at what is now DePere, where a new and better chapel was erected than the one left by Andre. In 1680 the mission was supplied by Father James Eryalran, who was recalled in 1687. When he left, his house and chapel were burned by the Winnebagoes. It was the end of the mission of St. Francis Xavier. The mission of the Holy Spirit was deserted by Father James Marquette in 1671. It was the end for 170 years of a Roman Catholic mission at Che-igan, they coasted along its northern shore, and goimegon. WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINATION. In the year 1671, France took formal possession of the whole country of the upper lakes. An agent, Daumont de St. Lusson, was dispatched to the distant tribes, proposing a congress of Indian Nations at the Falls of St. Mary, between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The principal chiefs of the Wisconsin tribes were gathered there by Nicholas Perrot. When all were assembled, it was solemnly announced that the great northwest was placed under the protection of the French government. This was the beginning of French domination in what is now Wisconsin. The act of Daumont de St. Lusson, at the Falls of St. Mary, in 1671, in establishing the right of France to the regions beyond Lake Michigan, not being regarded as sufficiently definite, Nicholas Perrot, in 1689, at the head of paddled their canoes up Green bay and Fox river to the portage. They then crossed to the Wisconsin, down which they floated, until, on the 17th of June, they entered the Mississippi. After dropping down the river many miles, they returned by way of the Illinois and Lake Michigan to Green bay, where Marquette remained to recruit his strength, while Joliet returned to Quebec to make known the extent of his discoveries. Fontenac's report of Joliet's return from a voyage to discover the South sea, dated Nov. 14, 1674, is as follows: "Sieur Joliet, whom Monsieur Talon advised me, on my arrival from France, to dispatch for *That Count Fontenac, governor of New France, and M. Tolon, intendant, should have expressed a wish to Joliet that Father Marquette be invited to accompany him in his contemplated journey, is to be inferred from the words of is found to confirm the statement. the missionary; but nothing in the orders of these officers to Joliet |