each, of furs and peltries--mostly fine furs. Of the different Indian tribes that visited and traded more or less at Prairie du Chien, there were the Menomonees from Green Bay, who frequently wintered on the Mississippi; the Chippewas, who resided on the headwaters of the Chippewa and Black rivers; the Foxes, who had a village where Cassville now stands, called Penah, i. e., Turkey; the Sauks, who resided about Galena and Dubuque; the Winnebagoes, who resided on the Wisconsin river; the Iowas, who then had a village on the Upper Iowa river; WABASHAW's band of Sioux, who resided on a beautiful prairie on the Iowa side of the Mississippi, about 120 miles above Prairie du Chien, with occasionally a Kickapoo and Pottowatamie. The Sauks and Foxes brought from Galena a considerable quantity of lead."

The quantity of lead exchanged by the Indians for goods in one season (1810) is stated by NICHOLAS BOILVIN, in a letter to the Secretary of War, to have been four hundred thousand pounds.

In the spring of 1817 a Roman Catholic priest from St. Louis, called Father PRIERE, visited Prairie du Chien, but he did not long remain.

In 1819, the United States government having instructed Col. LEAVENWORTH to establish a military post at or near the mouth of the St. Peters river, on the land purchased in 1806, by Gen. PIKE, Maj. THOMAS FORSYTH, Indian agent, under instructions from the Department of War, left St. Louis on the 8th of June with a keel-boat loaded with goods to be delivered by him to the Sioux Indians above Prairie du Chien. Maj. FORSYTH arrived at the Prairie on the 5th of July, where he remained for more than a month waiting the arrival of the troops. Here RED WING'S son was waiting for him, and THE LEAF, the principal chief of the Sioux, arrived that evening. Both begged importunately for goods. Maj. FORSYTH told them he could not give them any goods at that place; that he meant to go up with the troop to the River St. Peters, and would stop at their different villages and speak to them and give them a few goods.

On the 8th of August, a part of the troops having arrived and the remainder being reported on the way, Col. LEAVENWORTH and Maj. FORSYTH set out for St. Peters river with the troops, consisting of ninety-eight rank and file and fourteen batteaux and two large boats, loaded with provisions and ordnance, and stores of different kinds, besides Maj. FORSYTH'S boat and goods and the colonel's barge. The whole expedition arrived at their destination on the 24th of August, and the post was established immediately at the mouth of the St. Peters, which was occupied by the government for many years and known as Fort Snelling.

Two companies of the Fifth Infantry accompanied Col. LEAVENWORTH to Prairie du Chien, and occupied Fort Crawford, under command of Maj. MUHLENBERG.

At the session of Congress of 1819-20, an act was passed to take testimony relative to the private land claims at Sault St. Mary, Mackinaw, Green Bay, and Prairie du Chien, which were reserved to subjects of the British government under JAY's treaty; and in the fall of 1820 commissioners were dispatched to the different places to take testimony.

A Mr. LEE came to Prairie du Chien. Most of the claims here came under JAY's treaty, but several did not. At a subsequent session of Congress an act was passed giving to every settler who was in possession of land at the date of the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812, and who had continued to submit to the laws of the United States, the lands he claimed. In consequence of the attitude of some of these settlers toward the government during the war with England, the patents were delayed, to their great annoyance and injury.

On the 17th of September, 1821, an act was adopted by the Governor and Judges of Michigan Territory, to incorporate "The Borough of Prairie des Chiens." It provided for the annual election of a warden, two burgesses, a clerk, treasurer, and marshal. That the borough in legal meeting assembled should have power to levy taxes, to be collected by the marshal. That the wardens and burgesses might lay out highways, streets, and public walks, and should have other specified powers to provide for an effective municipal government.

The borough was duly organized, and JOHN W. JOHNSON was elected the warden, and the first burgesses were M. BRISBOIS and THOMAS MCNAIR. The organization was kept up for three years, and in 1825 it was discontinued by nonuser. The last warden was JOSEPH ROLETTE, and the last burgesses were M. BRISBOIS and JAMES H. LOCKWOOD.

Col. HERCULES L. DOUSMAN came to Prairie du Chien in the autumn of 1827 in the employ of the American Fur Company, where he continued to reside until his death Sept. 12, 1868. He was greatly respected and highly esteemed and accumulated an ample fortune, which he used liberally in promoting the growth and prosperity of his adopted home.

In 1828, Gen. JOSEPH M. STREET came to Prairie du Chien

having been appointed Indian agent. The next year he brought his family, which was the first one settled at that place that made a profession of religion in the Protestant faith.

THOMAS P. BURNETT was appointed sub-Indian agent in October, 1829, under Gen. STREET, and came to Prairie du Chien in June, 1830.

By a proclamation of Gov. CASS, dated October 26, 1818, by virtue of the ordinance of 1787, the county of Michilimackinac was laid out, the southern boundary of which

was

The dividing ground between the rivers which flow into Lake Superior, and those which flow south."

By another proclamation of Gov. CASS, of the same date, all of the Territory of Michigan, south and west of the county of Michilimackinac, was divided into two counties which were separated

"By a line drawn due north from the northern boundary of the State of Illinois through the middle of the portage between the Fox river and Ouissin (Wisconsin) river, to the county of Michilimackinac."

The eastern county was called "Brown" in honor of the then commanding general of the army; the other was called "Crawford" in compliment to the then Secretary of War.

The following day, Oct. 27th, the following appointments were made by Gov. CASS:

For Brown county, MATTHEW IRWIN, Chief Justice, Commissioner and Judge of Probate; CHARLES REAUME, Associate Justice and Justice of the Peace; JOHN BOWYER, Commissioner; ROBERT IRWIN, Jr., Clerk; and GEORGE JOHNSTON, Sheriff. For Crawford county, NICHOLAS BOILVIN and JOHN W. JOHNSON, Justices of the Peace.

The following appointments for Crawford county were made by Gov. CASS May 12th, 1819, viz.: JOHN W. JOHNSON, Chief Justice; MICHAEL BRISBOIS and FRANCIS BOUTHILLIER, Associate Justices; WILFRED OWENS, Judge of Probate; NICHOLAS BOILVIN, JOHN W. JOHNSON and JAMES H. LOCKWOOD, Justices of the Peace; THOMAS MCNAIR, Sheriff; JOHN L. FINDLEY, Clerk; HYACINTH ST. CYR and OLIVER SHARRIER, Supervisors of Roads; and JOHN P. GATES, Register of Probate and ex-officio Recorder of Deeds.

Gov. CASS sent by Col. LEAVENWORTH, When on his way to the St. Peters River, blank commissions for the different

officers of Crawford county, to be filled up with such names as should be selected by the inhabitants. They assembled and selected the persons above named.

The first court held in Brown county of which any record is preserved, was a special session of the county court, held July 12, 1824, JACQUES PORLIER Chief Justice; JOHN LAWE and HENRY B. BREVOORT, Associates. These judges had superseded those first appointed in 1818.

In 1828, JOHN W. JOHNSON and FRANCES BOUTHILLIER having removed away, JOSEPH ROLETTE was appointed Chief Justice and JEAN BRUNET, Associate Justice. Subsequently in 1830, the county court was re-organized and General JOSEPH M. STREET was appointed Chief Justice and JAMES H. LOCKWOOD and HERCULES L. DOUSMAN Associate Justices.

The first term of the county court of Crawford county was held at Prairie du Chien, May 12, 1823, FRANCES BOUTHILLIER and JOSEPH ROLETTE, Judges. A grand jury was impaneled but no indictments were found. No criminal business and but little civil business was done and after granting two tavern licenses and making a decree that" the proceedngs" of JAMES H. LOCKWOOD are legal and proper, adjourned.

The next year, May 11, 1824, the court, composed of the same judges, met and adjourned until the 17th of the same month "for want of juries."

On the 17th a grand jury was impaneled and returned an indictment against J. B. MAYNARD, who was duly called but came not, and the court ordered that

"On his arrival at this place, he do enter in recognizance for his appearance at the next term of this court to answer and plead, etc."

No other term of the court was held until May, 1826, and after that, no other until 1830. In November, 1830, a term was held with JOSEPH ROLETTE as Chief Justice and JEAN BRUNETT, Associate Justice.

THOMAS P. BURNETT, a lawyer from Kentucky, was admitted to practice in the court.

A grand jury was impaneled and found eight indictments for selling liquor by "small measure."

The court adopted rules of practice and thereafter the business in court was transacted more systematically.

The next term of the court was in November, 1831, when JOSEPH M. STREET was Chief Justice and JAMES H. LOCKWOOD and JEAN BRUNETT were Associate Justices. It seems

that Mr. DOUSMAN, who had been appointed, did not accept the position.

The history of the settlements at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien is now brought down to a time when they cease to have a purely local interest. As settlements were now beginning to grow up in other parts of the Territory, especially in the lead mines, the subsequent historical events connected with these two principal settlements form a legitimate part of the history of the whole.

CHAPTER IX.

CHEQUAMEGON-PORTAGE-MILWAUKEE.

CHEQUAMEGON.

The early settlement at Chequamegon, on Lake Superiorif it can be called a settlement-earlier, even, than Green Bay, is not especially noticed for the reason that, although it was the field of the first missionary labors within the limits of Wisconsin, as early as 1665, yet its growth was confined to missionary work, which was quite limited, and it has never, until a very recent period, acquired any importance in any other respect.

Very soon after the conquest of Canada by the English, a company of adventurers from England undertook to work the copper mines of Lake Superior. They, however, met with but little success, and soon relinquished their scheme. They had long been preceded by others, as there is abundant evidence of the working of these mines at some far distant period, and by some unknown people. In some cf the old mines not only stone hammers have been found, but a copper gad, much battered; a copper chisel, with a socket for the handle; a copper knife, fragments of a wooden bowl, numerous levers of wood, remnants of charcoal, and pits have been sunk following the course of veins extending in continuous lines, and upon a mound of earth thrown out of one of them, grew a pine tree ten feet in circumference, and upon another a hemlock tree was cut, the annular growths of which counted 395 years. These evidences of a prehistoric people excite our curiosity without satisfying it.