GEOLOGY, DRAINAGE, ETC.
GEOLOGICALLY considered, the foundation of Outagamie county consists of what was formerly called “fundamental gneiss,” which embraced granites, gneisses, syenites and hornblendic, micaceous, chloritic and allied crystalline rocks which were once sediments derived from the wear of earlier rocks. Concerning those earlier rocks little or nothing is yet known. It is believed that “the entire rock substance of the earth was once in a molten condition, and that on cooling it solidified, giving rise to a primitive rock from which the greater portion of the sediments of all subsequent geological formations was derived.” Among the rocks the gneissoid granites predominate to such a large degree that the whole series may generally be termed granitic. Extending across the east end of the county and covering about one-fourth of its surface are the Trenton (and Galena) limestones. Then in a narrow strip extending northeast and southwest is the St. Peter’s sandstone. Then comes an irregular band, amounting to about three townships of Lower Magnesian limestone. The balance of the county to the westward is composed of Potsdam sandstone. The following table shows the relation of these strata to others of this portion of the country.
The Potsdam period in this state is represented by the Potsdam sandstone and the Lower Magnesian limestone.
The marine growth of Wisconsin ceased with the middle Devonian age, at which time it finally rose above the ocean and ever since has been dry land. Thence forward its record was one of erosion until the Tertiary age. This erosion was finally interrupted by the extraordinary work of the glacial period.
“In the progress of erosion and subsidence the sea advanced upon the Laurentian lands and separated from them a large island within our northern boundaries, to which the name Isle Wisconsin has been assigned since it became the nucleus about which gathered the later formations of our state.” — Geology of Wisconsin, 1873-6.
“The valley from Green Bay to Lake Winnebago is exceedingly abrupt on the east and very slightly ascending on the west. This is due to the nature of the rock from which the valley was eroded. The strata in this portion of the state dip to the eastward. Three groups of beds are concerned in the formation of the valley. The upper one which forms the cliffs on the east side is Magnesian limestone belonging to the Niagara period. Beneath this lies a series of clays, soft shales and limestones forming the Cincinnati group. Under this is a hard thick-bedded dolomite known as Galena limestone which forms the bottom of the valley.” — Geology of Wisconsin, 1873-7.
The erosion in this valley is still going on, and no doubt it was in progress before the glacial epoch and the partial valley thus formed probably influenced the southwestern movement of the ice therein. This ice movement still further deepened the valley as the great glacier moved up the Fox river basin. At a later date the valley became filled with red clay.
Green Bay, Lake Winnebago and the former Lake Horicon occupy portions of a glacial channel and owe their origin to slight drift obstructions thrown across the valley. The fact that Lake Winnegabo discharges through a channel having a rocky bottom does not militate against this statement, for the real channel of the valley is near Clifton on the east side of the lake. The drift blocks this up and the lake pours over a low rock barrier that separates it from the parallel valley of Butte des Morts, which occupies a lower geological horizon. Were the drift removed a channel between Menasha and Clifton would drain the lake.
“Green Bay Glacier. –Another field of ice was thrust down west of Lake Michigan, having the Green Bay-Rock river valley for its axial channel. It expanded eastward until it came into contract with the Lake Michigan glacier, and on the western side until it reached a little beyond the center of the state. The margin of this glacier separated from that of the Lake Michigan glacier in the northwestern part of Walworth county, and thence curved westward across Rock river to the northwestern corner of Green county, thence swept steadily to the northward, passing through Dane, Sauk, Adams, Waushara, Portage, Waupaca and Shawano counties and into Lincoln where it joined the margin of a third glacial stream, the Keweenaw or Chippewa valley glacier.”
“East of Wolf river valley is the more prominent though similar valley of Green Bay and Lake Winnebago. In pre-glacial time it must have been much smaller in size, having been excavated to its present great size by the glacier. Lake Winnebago alone covers about 200 square miles, while the area of the connecting valley below (lower Fox river) is 400 square miles. The western slope of both valleys is gradual, but the eastern slope is precipitous, being cut out of the soft Cincinnati shales overlain by the hard Niagara limestone. The bed is the hard Galena limestone of the Trenton series. The eastern side of the lower Fox river drainage basin rises abruptly 100 to 200 feet above the water in Green Bay and continues as a line of cliffs along the eastern shore of the present Lake Winnebago and thence southward, though largely covered with drift in the southern part of the state. The glacial action sent down an immense ice sheet, cutting out the valley of Lake Michigan while a branch tongue gouged out Green Bay valley to its present size. The floor of Green Bay valley has a rapid rise, Lake Winnebago being 166 feet above Green Bay. The portion of the old valley now occupied by the upper Fox was largely filled with drift and it seems probable that to the action of the glacier in cutting down the intervening Lower Magnesian rampart and in partially filling the upper valley of Fox river, is due the change in the flow of Upper Fox and Wolf rivers through the newly enlarged Green Bay valley to the lake. It is also likely that the change in flow is partly due to a depression toward the north, which occurred during or after the recession of the glacier, as suggested by Major Warren. This depression caused an advance of Lake Michigan, which rearranged the drift and deposited the red clays. By means of the latter this ancient shore of the lake can now be traced northward beyond Shawano on Wolf river, westward up Fox river above Berlin and southward to a few miles north of Fond du Lac. Lake Winnebago is a comparatively modern reservoir, formed in the valley by the deposition of glacial drift.” — United States Government Survey, 1905-6.
“More than 90 per cent of the coarser part of the drift composing the drumlins of the Green Bay Glacier appears to be of local derivation, being of similar lithological character to the rock formations underlying the area. About 9 per cent must have been brought from the Canadian crystalline rocks several hundred miles to the north. The drumlins reach their finest development in the ground moraine ‘of the Green Bay Glacier and are arranged in a regularly radiating system corresponding to the radiating lines of flow in the deploying glacier.”
The Potsdam sandstone area forms a rude crescent, the eastern limb of which enters Green Lake county and extends thence to the Menominee river. The Lower Magnesian limestone forms a serrated band or a fringe on the convex edge of this crescent, averaging about seven miles in breadth. It passes diagonally through Winnebago, Outagamie, Shawano and Oconto counties. In thickness it varies greatly.
“In the erosion of the Wolf river valley, in Caledonia, Mukwa and Hortonia the sandstone below was readily removed and the more resisting ledges of dolomite left projecting in vertical cliffs of moderate height.” Through Hortonia the course of the ledge is eastward in which direction the formation slowly dips until in the town of Ellington it is covered by the St. Peters sandstone and Trenton limestone which standing out in a similar escapement seem to form a continuation of the Lower Magnesian ledge. In sections 25 and 26, Ellington, highly fossiliferous limestone of the Trenton period reaches from near the flood plane of the valley upward thirty-five feet or more. On section 24 there arises from the same flood plane a mural cliff of lower Magnesian limestone to the height of more than fifty feet. The rock forming this Lower Magnesian cliff is a very hard silicious dolomite, of almost flinty texture, striking fire readily from impact of the hammer and yielding. a resonance and fracture more like quartzite than ordinary limestone. To the east a lower ledge of the more usual coarse silicious limestone extends some distance into the next township and a similar ledge on the west curves to the north and is lost under the drift. But it soon reappears and extends nearly to Wolf river. About two miles east of New London, North and South Mosquito Hills rise about two hundred feet above the railroad grade at the station. Their main mass is sandstone. Magnesian limestone reposes on the summits of these hills. Several similar ledges occur in the townships of Black Creek, Cicero, Lesser and Hartland. The limestone is burned for lime and is used for heavy masonry. St. Peters sandstone rests upon the Lower Magnesian limestone, but is often wholly absent and the Trenton limestone rests directly upon the Lower Magnesian limestone.
In Center township is a partly exposed low dome of rock resembling the Lower Magnesian mounds; the beds are exposed on the east and south sides in which directions they dip. The rock is a bluish gray argillaceous limestone with shaly partings and many fossils. The formation passes north through the townships of Freedom, Osborn, Seymour and Maple Grove. This rock is extensively quarried for building purposes.
From Appleton to DePere the Lower Fox river forms a succession of rapids over the heavier and more resisting ledges of the Galena limestone. At Kaukauna the layers vary from six to thirty inches in thickness and have a dip of from one and a half to two degrees to the southeast. The rock is of a dull bluish green or gray hue and has thin shaly partings. Along Duck Creek this formation is displayed. Throughout the Fox river valley, wherever the Galena limestone is exposed, can be seen the planed, polished and grooved surfaces made during the glacial epoch.
“We have only to suppose that all the waters of Lake Winnebago basin (including that of the Upper Fox) formerly drained to Wisconsin river; that a slow change of level in this region elevated the southwestern part and depressed the northeastern part till a large lake was formed which finally overflowed forming the course of the lower Fox. This explains the present doubling back in the course of the upper Fox and tributaries and it accounts for the close relation and yet opposite courses of Fox and Wisconsin rivers. As the level changed the erosion at the outlet could not keep pace with it and so prevent a lake forming, because a granite ridge lies near the surface between the Wisconsin and Buffalo Lake. When the lower Fox outlet formed, the lose material covering the rocks rapidly gave way and lowered the lake level down to the rock which now (1875) keeps it to its present level. The period of this change was post-glacial, because this alluvial terrace is free from glacial drift which it could not have been .if formed before in a region like this surrounded by glacial drift deposit.”-Major Warren.
No part of Outagamie county is in the Archaean area – the one that was never below the primitive ocean. It lies within the district in Wisconsin where there is the lightest rainfall – 28 to 32 inches annually. This region embraces parts of Outagamie, Brown, Waushara, Winnebago, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Waupaca, Shawano, Oconto, Kewaunee, Ozaukee and a few other counties.
During the Quaternary age this huge Michigan glacier moved southward on the bed of what is now Lake Michigan and sent southwestward an immense branch which traversed the Green Bay region and crossed the present Outagamie county.
The elevation of Appleton at the Chicago & Northwestern Railway station is 128 feet above Lake Michigan and 706 feet above the sea. The elevation at the Wisconsin & Northern station is 145 feet above Lake Michigan and 723 feet above the sea. The elevation at Little Chute is 144 feet above Lake Michigan and 722 feet above the sea. At Medina it is 192 and 770 feet respectively. Winnebago lake is 162 and 740 feet respectively.
Wolf river from Shawano south follows along the cliffs of the lower Magnesian limestone, its bed lying in the soft Potsdam sandstone, until in the town of Ellington, along the line of an apparent fault, the limestone is brought athwart its course and it turns to the west, still following the face of the Lower Magnesian cliffs, until they turn southward in the town of Mukwa, when the river curves in the same direction and at length in the bed of Poygan lake and the basin of the Fox river it finds its way across the obtrusive formation. Its waters then reverse their course and flow back along the face of the projecting cliffs of the Niagara limestone for a hundred miles, where Porte des Morts allows them to escape into the great lake at a point not half the distance from their source that they have traveled.”
A notable spring lies near the road between New London and Hortonville on section 28, Township 22 north, range 15 east. It is free from organic impurities and contains small percentages of carbonates and mineral compounds; the water is soft and pleasant to the taste. This spring rises near the junction of the Potsdam sandstone and the Lower Magnesian limestone. A sulphur spring is on the land of J. E. Harriman below Appleton and flows from the drift.
To the north of Lake Winnebago the limit in altitude descends at about the same ratio as the general surface of the valley. Artesian flows can be secured at varying depths. The St. Peters sandstone is not so reliable in this region and regard as farther south. On the other hand the Potsdam sandstone should furnish artesian flows.
Water Power of the Fox River. – The upper Fox river from its slight descent furnishes no water power, a fact which is compensated for by the facilities it offers for navigation. But the lower Fox river presents an almost continuous series of rapids from Lake Winnebago to Green Bay. In this distance of about thirty-five miles it has a fall of 170 feet, so distributed as to be completely and economically utilized. The powers upon this river possess an immense advantage in the grand natural reservoir furnished by Lake Winnebago which embraces an area of about 350 square miles. Neither floods nor drouth cause any considerable or inconvenient fluctuations in its level and the steady reliable flow thus secured at all seasons is a vast advantage. The channel of the river consists of a gorge between clay banks, with a floor of heavy-bedded limestone, so that it may be dammed with material taken from its own bed and without overflowing adjacent lowlands. The great reservoir makes it unnecessary to have more than a limited local one, sufficient to guard against interference from other powers. The minimum flowage is estimated at 150,000 feet per second, this amount being available at all seasons of the year.
By 1905 there had been utilized of the lower Fox river 31,895 actual horsepower of the waterfall between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay. This large power caused this section to rank high as a paper and pulp manufacturing center. The height and power of the several falls estimated on this basis are as follows: Height, Feet, Horsepower.
These improvements have changed the river into long stretches of slack water, with perhaps short rapids at the foot of a dam, except at Grand Kaukauna. and Grand Chute, and the site of the city of Appleton, where the rapids are passed by canals, while the river flows over its original steep bed. Since March, 1896, a gauging station has been maintained at Rapide Croche by government engineers.The lower Fox is rarely troubled with ice gorges; there is also an, absence of great freshets. The large concentration of fall in the lower river and the location of 94 per cent of its drainage area above this concentration, have the effect of producing extensive and valuable water powers.
Hortonia Township. – Cache of copper implements found beneath earth and limestone slabs in quarrying at Little Mosquito Hill near Hortonville, about the year 1888. Noticed by S. D. Peet, Preh. Am., vol. 2 (1898), p. 231. Reported by C. E. Brown, Records of the Past, vol. 1, pt. 3 (Mar., 1905), p. 445.
Bovina Township. – Menominee village was located at Shiocton. Mentioned in Narrative of L. B. Porlier, Wis Hist. Colls., vol. 15 (1900), p. 445.
Ellington Township. – Cache of flint and quartzite implements found near Stephensville, and not far from Hortonville. Described by C. E. Brown, Records of the Past, vol. 4, pt. 3 (Mar., 1905), p. 89, fig. 4.
Greenville Township. – Village site southeast of Greenville, N. E.. 1/4 Sec. 15, T. 21, R. 16 E. Reported by J. H. Glazer, Apl., 1906.
Kaukauna Township. – Winnebago village originally settled by Itometa’s band was formerly located at Kaukauna (Grand Kakalin). Mentioned in Wis. Hist. Colls., vol. 14 (1898), p. 413. Group of conical mounds on the Grignon Flats on an island between the Fox River and the Government Canal in the Second Ward, City of Kaukauna. One explored contained burial pits covered with limestone slabs. In several of the pits stone and copper implements, animal bones and human remains were found. Described by E. E. Bailey, Oct., 1902. Traces of cornhills formerly to be seen on the tablelands on top of the bluff, back of the Grignon farm, at Kaukauna. Interments disturbed in uncovering the ledge at the Government quarry, at Kaukauna. Group of conical and oval mounds on the hill above the second lock, at Kaukauna. Cemetery on the Chas. Bidwell property, at Kaukauna. Reported by Mary A. Chamberlain, Oct., 1905.
Buchanan Township. – Burial accompanied by two large copper spearpoints found in gravel pit on the O. G. Lora property, 1 mile east of Kaukauna, Sec. 18, T. 21 N., R. 19 E. Reported by W. H. Elkey, Apl., 1905. Village site on the south bank of the Fox River, on the S. E. 1/4 ‘Sec. 9. Reported by J. H. Glazer, Apl., 1906.
Grand Chute Township.-Three village sites on the north bank of the Fox River, east of Appleton, on the S. W. 1/2 Sec. 9. Village site on the north bank of the Fox River, in the city of Appleton, on the S. W. 1/4 Sec. 34. Reported by J. H. Glazer, Apl., 1906 (Wisconsin Archeological Society).
Two specimens of copper ore were found in 1870 on the farm of Erbard Leopold in the town of Hortonia on the Stephensville road. One weighed ten pounds and contained a large per cent of iron; the other weighed five pounds and was almost pure copper.
(See elsewhere for other discoveries.)
THE INDIANS AND THE FRENCH.
FRENCH missionaries and explorers were the first white persons to invade the territory of the present State of Wisconsin – the objects being extension of empire, expansion of trade and religious proselytism. In the middle of the seventeenth century the Winnebagos (Puants) were found permanently located on Green Bay. They were an outcast tribe of the Siouan stock and tyrannized over their Algonquin neighbors – Menominees, Pottowatomies, Sacs, Foxes, Kickapoos and Mascoutens – and made open and savage war upon the Ottawas and Illinois; but in time both the latter formed war leagues against them which in the end nearly annihilated them. The Hurons and Ottawas, scourged by the Iroquois, took up residence at Mackinac, along Lake Superior and the islands at the mouth of Green Bay. Here they were again attacked by the Iroquois and driven still farther to the westward.
Jean Nicolet came to New France as Canada was then called in 1618 and at once spent the winter learning the island Algonquin language and remained with those tribes for two years. Later he lived eight or nine years with the Algonquin Nipissiriniens and in the end passed as one of them so thoroughly had he learned and imbibed their language and customs. He finally became an agent of the government and as such was delegated to make a journey to the nation called People of the Sea to conclude peace between them and the Hurons, from whom they were distant three hundred leagues to the westward. He left the Huron country with seven Indians. When he was two days’ journey from that nation he sent one of those savages to bear tidings of the peace, which word was especially well received when they heard that it was a European who carried the message; they dispatched several young men to meet the Manitouirinion, that is to say, ‘the wonderful man.’ They meet him; they escort him; they carry all his baggage. He wore a grand robe of China damask all strewn with flowers and birds of many colors. No sooner did they perceive him than the women and children fled at the sight of a man who carried thunder in both hands – for thus they called the two pistols that he held. The news of his coming quickly spread to the places round about and there assembled four or five hundred men. Each of the chief men made a feast for him and at one of these banquets they served at least six score beavers. The peace was concluded; he returned to the Hurons and some time later to Three Rivers where he continued his employment as agent and interpreter to the great satisfaction of both the French and the savages by whom he was equally and singularly loved. In so far as his office allowed, he vigorously cooperated with our fathers for the conversion of those peoples.”- (Jesuit Relations, Vol. XXIII.) According to Le Jeune the tribes encountered by Nicolet in Wisconsin were the Menominees, Winnebagos, Mascoutins and Pottawatomies. The date of his visit was probably 1634, but may have been 1638. It is thought he wore his Chinese robe probably to impress the savages and make them subservient to his designs for their beaver-skins; but may have been, as stated by several writers, because he thought he might perhaps reach China where he could appear in court costume.
In 1665-66 Nicholas Perrot visited the tribes of the Green Bay country. He was well acquainted with the various Indian languages and had been employed often by the government in the dealings with western tribes. It was largely due to his intelligence that a knowledge of western affairs became known before the advent of whitemen. Through him the existence of the Mississippi became known first; and the information furnished by him enabled La Salle to prepare to better advantage for his western explorations. Through his influence and agency many tribes were kept friendly to French advances and ministrations. The first Frenchmen with firearms to visit the savage tribes were regarded and treated as gods; Perrot was thus regarded on his visit to the Green Bay country in 1665-66. “The old men solemnly smoked a Calumet and came into his presence, offering it as homage that they rendered to him. After he had smoked the Calumet it was presented by the chief to his tribesmen, who all offered it in turn to one another, blowing from their mouths the tobacco smoke over him as if it were incense. They said to him, ‘Thou are one of the chief spirits since thou usest iron; it is for thee to rule and protect all men. Praised be the Sun, which has instructed thee and sent thee to our country.’ They adored him as a god; they took his knives and hatchets and incensed them with the tobacco smoke from their mouths; and they presented to him so many kinds of food that he could not taste them all. When he left the room they insisted on carrying him upon their shoulders; the way over which he passed was made clear; they did not dare look in his face; and the women and children watched him from a distance. Perrot was careful not to receive all these acts of adoration, although he accepted these honors so far as the interests of religion were not concerned, He told them that he was not what they thought, but only a Frenchman; that he had come to establish a friendship between the Indians and the French; that they would receive assistance from the latter and that as the beaver was valued by the French he had come to learn whether there was opportunity to carry on trade with them. War having broken out between the Pottawatomies and the Malhominis, he made peace between them. He was everywhere treated with great consideration. A party of Pottawatomies which had gone east to visit the French returned while Perrot was here and still further added to the splendid reception given him. ‘The Indians were so delighted with this alliance with the French that they sent deputies in every direction to inform the Islinois, Miamis, Outagamies, Maskoutechs and Kickabous that they had been at Montreal, whence they had brought some merchandise, they besought those tribes to visit then and bring beavers. Those nations were too far away to profit by this at first; only the Outagamies came.’ At this time there was an Outagamie village of over 600 cabins near New London or Mukwa, but probably not in the present Outagamie county. There were at least two Frenchmen among the Green Bay savages while Perrot was there. They were after beaver, were brave fellows, and were often engaged in altercations and more or less bloody encounters with the natives. The Indians named Perrot Metaminens, which meant “Little Indian Corn.” In the summer of 1666 the Miamis, Mascoutens, Kickapoos and fifteen cabins of the Illinois came to this region and made clearings beside the Outagamies, thirty miles to the southwest. Perrot succeeded in forming such an alliance of the savages with the French as would enable the latter to secure their beaver skins in exchange for guns, kettles, knives, etc.” – (La Potherie, 1665-66.)
“I have learned that the Illinois, the Outagamie and other savages toward the south hold that there is a great and excellent genius, master of all the rest, who made heaven and earth and who dwells, they say, in the east toward the country of the French. The fountain head of their religion is libertinism; and all these various sacrifices end ordinarily in debauches, indecent dances and shameful acts of concubinage. All the devotion of the men is directed toward securing many wives and changing them whenever they choose; and that of the women toward securing their husbands; and that of the girls toward leading a life of profligacy.” – (Father Allouez in Jesuit Relations, 1666-67.)
“The country of the Outagamies lies southward toward the Lake of the Ilimonek (Michigan). They are a populous tribe of about a thousand men bearing arms and given to hunting and warfare. They have fields of Indian corn and live in a country offering excellent facilities for the hunting of the wild-cat, stag, wild ox (buffalo) and beaver. Canoes they do not use, but commonly make their journeys by land bearing their packages and their game on their shoulders. These people are much addicted to idolatry. It is said of them and of the Ousaki (Sacs) that when they find a man alone and at a disadvantage, they kill him, especially if he is a Frenchman, for they cannot endure the beards of the latter people. As for the Ousaki (Sacs) they above all others can be called savages. They are very numerous, but wandering and scattered in the forests without any fixed abode.” – (Jesuit Relations, 1665-69.)
About this time Sault Ste. Marie was the resort of nineteen different Indian tribes which went there to fish and trade. Already before 1670 French traders in considerable numbers began to visit all the tribes of the Green Bay and Fox river region to secure the beaver skins and other peltries of the savages. What is now Kaukauna, Little Chute and Appleton were famous Indian resorts owing to the rapids and the facilities for fishing, etc.
In April, 1670, Father Allouez came to visit the Green Bay and Fox river region. On the way he observed a solar eclipse. He reached the Outagamie settlement on Wolf river, in Waupaca county probably, where he found that the fierce Iroquois from the east had made a raid and had destroyed a considerable Fox village. The Mascoutins lived on the Upper Fox river. He finally returned down the river and on the way visited the Menominees who had been almost exterminated by wars, and also the Winnebagos on the east shore of Green Bay. Father Allouez had no chapel and soon counted as Christians seven adults and forty-eight children.
“On the following day I celebrated holy mass at which the French to the number of eight paid their devotions. (They were traders among the Indians.) As the savages had gone into winter quarters, I found here only one village of different nations – Ousaki, Pouteouatami, Outagami, Ovenibigoutz (Winnebagos), about 600 souls. On this bay (he means in the Green Bay region) in a place they called Ouestatinoug twenty-five leagues away there is a large nation named Outagami and a day’s journey from them there are two others, Oumami and Makskouteng. On the 16th of April I embarked to go and begin the mission to the Outagamies, a people of considerable note in all these regions. We slept at the head of the bay at the mouth of the River des Puans (Fox), which we have named for St. Francis. On our way we saw clouds of swans, bustards and ducks. On the 17th we ascended the River St. Francois (Fox) which is two and sometimes three arpents wide. After proceeding four leagues (nearly ten miles) we found the village (in Brown county) of the savages called Saky (Sacs), whose people were beginning a work that well deserves to have a place here. From one bank of the river to the other they make a barricade by driving down large stakes in two brasses of water, so that there is a kind of bridge over the stream for the fishermen who with the help of a small weir easily catch the sturgeon and other kinds of fish. They call this contrivance Mitihikan. On the 18th we passed the portage called by the natives KeKaling (Kaukauna), our sailors dragging the canoe among the rapids while I walked on the river bank where I found apple-trees and vine stocks in great numbers. On the 19th our sailors ascended the rapids for two leagues by the use of poles and I went by land as far as the other portage which they called Ooukacitiming (Little Chute), that is to say ’causeway.’ We arrived in the evening at the entrance to Lake des Puans (Winnebago), which we have named Lake St. Francis; it is about twelve leagues long and four wide; it abounds in fish but is uninhabited on account of the Nadouecis (Sioux) who are there held in fear. After voyaging five or six leagues on the lake we came to a river flowing from a lake bordered with wild oats; this stream we followed and found at the end of it the river that leads to the Outagamies (Foxes) in one direction and that which leads to the Machkouteuch (Mascoutins) in the other. We entered this first stream which flows from a lake. On the 24th, after turning and doubling several times in various lakes and rivers, we arrived at the village of the Outagamies. This people came in crowds to meet us in order to see, as they said, the Manitou who was coming to their country. This nation is renowned for being populous, the men who bear arms numbering more than 400; while the number of women and children there is the greater on account of the polygamy which prevails among them – each man having commonly four wives, some six and others as many as ten.” – (Allouez.) The course of Allouez was up Fox river, into Lake Winnebago, through Grand Lake Butte des Morts, and along the Upper Fox and up Wolf river.
In the summer of 1670 Father Dablon and Father Allouez passed up Fox river from Green Bay. “They found at the DePere rapids a sort of idol adored by the savages – a rock resembling a human bust. This the missionaries removed and cast into the river. They continued up the river, but returned late the same year to Green Bay. In February, 1671, Father Allouez went up the Fox river and on again to the Outagamie tribe where he founded the mission of St. Mark. The Outagamies were at first haughty and insolent and at first granted only rebuffs and mockery. In time he gained their affection and encouragement. About this time a chapel was built at DePere rapids and was a member of the Green Bay mission. Allouez labored with the tribes on the Fox and Wolf rivers and Andre with those about DePere and along- the shores of Green Bay. Allouez accomplished much, instructing the savages in five different tongues. The Mascoutins and Illinois nations ‘received him as an angel from Heaven and crowd about him both day and night.’ The Outagamies were especially interested in the cross; everyone made its sign and a war party believed they had attained success by means of the cross. Allouez erected in their village a large cross ‘thus taking possession of those infidel lands in the name of Jesus Christ.’ “
The Saky (Sac) village four leagues up the Fox river was apparently at Little Rapids. The Kakaling portage was around the rapids at Kaukauna and the portage at Ooukocitiming was at Little Chute.
About 1671-3 a church was built at DePere. This misison was called St. Francois Xavier. In May, 1672, Allouez again went up the Fox river to the Mascoutins and there remained until September when he returned to Depere. His canoe was wrecked in the rapids at Appleton and all his baggage soaked with water, but not lost. He and one of his boatmen remained eight days on an islet ten feet long until his men could procure another canoe, when all returned safely to the mission house at Depere. During the year 1672 he baptised among the Foxes at St. Mark’s mission forty-eight persons. “He revisits them in November, 1672, and again in February, 1673. The Indians listened to him, but were easily diverted from his teachings by reason of the fact that the new faith did not protect them from their enemies.”
From 1676 to 1678 Allouez was aided in ‘his missionary work by Fr. Antoine Silvy who came to Canada in 1673. In 1678 Albanel was superior at Depere and his chapel there was the center for the savages of all that region. Andre, Silvy and Allouez were at this time at work among the various western tribes. Andre continued his labors around Green Bay.
Thus, to sum up, it will be seen that Father Claude Allouez, often called the “Apostle of Wisconsin,” was the founder of every Indian mission in the State. On December 3, 1669, he founded at the head of Green Bay the mission of St. Francis Xavier. In 1671 this mission was moved about two leagues up Fox river to the present site of Depere where in 1676 a church was built by Father Albanel. Ten years later (1686) Nicholas Perrot presented to the church a beautiful silver monstrance which was found in 1802 buried near the site of the old church. In April, 1670, Father Allouez visited the Outagamies on Wolf river and the Mascoutins, Miamis, Illinois and Kickapoos on the Upper Fox river. An Outagamie village was situated about six miles above “Little Lake St. Francis at or a little below Mukwa. He founded a mission among them and named it St. Marks. He likewise established a mission called St. James among the Mascoutins on the Upper Fox river. In May he founded the mission of St. Michael among the Menominees on Green Bay. In the fall of 1670, accompanied by Father Dablon he again visited the Mascoutins. He also established missions among the Winnebagos and Pottawatomies on the eastern shore of Green Bay and also among the Sacs whose village was located about four leagues up Fox river, probably near Little Rapids. Father Louis Andre remained in charge of the Green Bay missions while Father Allouez attended those higher up the rivers. When Father Marquette arrived at the Green Bay in 1673 he found over 2,000 Christian Indians. The first chapel at Depere was probably a bark wigwam, but a good church was erected in 1676, which about 1687 was burned down by the pagan savages. During 1676 Father Silvy stated that there were baptised at the Depere mission thirty-six adults and 126 children.” – (Rev. Chrysostom Venoyst O. S. F.)
“The Foxes, called by the French Ranards and by the Chippewas Oudagamig (Outagamie), call themselves Muskwakig, meaning ‘People of the Red Land.’ They resided along Fox and Wolf rivers and had a large village near New London and another at Mukwa or a little below there (the latter being a modification of Muskwaki, their Indian name) on the Wolf river where Father Allouez visited them in April, 1670, and founded St. Marks mission. This mission was soon abandoned owing to the hostility of the Foxes toward the French. They were the only Algonquin tribe on whom the French made war. The Foxes and Chippewas were enemies from time immemorial and many a bloody battle was fought between them. Their last great battle was fought at St. Croix Falls in 1780, at which time the Chippewas defeated both the Foxes and the Sioux, reducing the former to fifteen lodges, who were then incorporated with the Sacs. Eventually the Chippewas (Santeurs), who lived near the Sault, drove the Foxes out of northern Wisconsin.
By formal ceremony on June 4, 1671, St. Tussan at Sault Ste. Marie took possession in the name of the King of France of the territories “from Montreal as far as the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) covering the utmost extent and range possible.” He planted a cross there and raised over it the French royal standard, with ceremonies both civil and religious. Representatives of fourteen different tribes were present and were addressed by Allouez and St. Tussan, who explained to the natives the nature of the ceremony. Father Dablon relates how all the North and West were thus annexed to the crown of France, the king “subjecting these nations to Jesus Christ’s dominion before placing them under his own.” The ceremony closed with a bonfire around which the Te Deum was sung. There were present representatives of the following Indian tribes: Schipoes (Chippewas, Saulteurs), Malamechs (Merameg, Man-um-aig, Catfish), Noquets (No-Kaig, Bear Family or Clan), Banabeoueks (Nebaun-aub-aig(?), Mer-man Clan), Makomiteks (Makomiteks (?), Poultiatemis (Pottawatomies), Oumaloumines (Menominees), Sassaouacattons (Nassawaketons, People of the Forks), dwelling at the bay called that of the Puants, Green Bay, and who have taken it upon themselves to make the treaty known to their neighbors who are the Illinois; Illinois, Mascouttins (Mascoutins, Mashkouteng, Muscatine, Muscoda, Prairie People, Nation of Fire), Outagamies (Foxes, Reynards), Christinos (Crees), Assinipouals (Assineboines, Stony Country, Sioux), Aumossomiks, Monsoneeg, Moose), Outaouais- Couscattons (Ottawa, Kiskakou (?) or Staouabouskatouk, a Cree tribe), Niscaks (Kiskakous) (?), Maskwikoukikiaks (Maskwakeeg(?) Foxes or Mikikoueks. The treaty was signed by Nicholas Perrot, Father Dablon, Father Dreuilletes, Father Allouez, Father Andre, Sieur Jollyet, Jacques Mogras, Pierre Moreau, Sieur de la Taupine, Denis Masse, Francois de Chanigny, Sieur de la Chevrattiere, Jacques Logillier, Jean Maysere, Nicholas Dupuis, Francois Biband, Jacques Joviel, Pierre Porteret, Robert Duprat, Vital Driol, and Guilaume Bonhomme. On May 17, 1673, Louis Joliet and Father James Marquette, sent out by the Canadian government to find a route to the South Sea, as the Pacific ocean was then called, left Michillimackinac, with five men, some Indian corn and dried meat, set out in two bark canoes on the great expedition. They soon reached the “Bay of the Fetid,” (Green Bay) as Father Marquette called it and the first Indians encountered were the Menominees (called wild oats, Folles-Avoines, Oulalouminik, Malhominies) who were visited by Father Marquette on their river, the Menominee, as there were many Christians among them. This tribe of Indians, when told of the objects of the expedition endeavored to dissuade both Joliet and Marquette from any further advance, with tales of the dangers. to be encountered, but failed. They continued to advance and soon reached the upper part of the “Bay of the Fetid” (Green Bay) where there resided many Indians, of whom the missionaries had before baptized over 2,000. In the Indian language the bay was not called Fetid, but rather Salt, because the Indians disliked salt. The Indians then residing at the upper end of Green Bay were the Winnebagos, Ouenibigones, or in French Puants, Charlevoix called then Otchagras. Nicollet called them Gens de Mer. The Winnebagoes had presumably come from the ocean (salt water) which the Indians designated in terms meaning fetid. As a matter of fact the Winnebagoes are a branch of the Dacotah family, but lived so far to the eastward that they became surrounded by the Algonquins.
“We left this bay to enter a river emptying into it. It is very beautiful at its mouth and flows gently; it is full of bustards, duck, teal and other birds, attracted by the wild oats; but when you have advanced a little up this river, it becomes very difficult, both on account of the currents and of the sharp rocks which cut the canoes and the feet of those who are obliged to drag them, especially when the water is low. For all that, we passed the rapids safely (in Outagamie county) and approached Machkoutens (Mascoutens) the Fire nation.” They reached that nation on June 7, and at the same time reached the western limits of French exploration. “This town is made up of three nations gathered here: Miamis, Maskoutens and Kikabous. The former are very docile and showed themselves so eager to hear Father Allouez when he was instructing them that they gave him little rest even at night. The Maskoutens and Kikabous are ruder and more like peasants. As bark for cabins is rare they use rushes. A beautiful cross was planted in the midst of the town. No sooner had we arrived than M. Joliet and I assembled the sachems; he told them that he was sent by our governor to discover new countries and I by the Almighty to illumine them with the light of the gospel; that we needed two guides to put us on our way; these, making them a present, we begged them to grant us. This they did very civilly and even proceeded to speak to us by a present which was a mat to serve us as a bed on our voyage. The next day which was the 10th of June two Miamis whom they had given us as guides embarked with us in the sight of a great crowd who could wonder enough to see seven Frenchmen alone in two canoes dare to undertake so strange and so hazardous an expedition.”
Late in September, 1673, Father Marquette returned to Green Bay, or the Bay of the Fetid, via the present Chicago river and along the west shore of Lake Michigan. Here he seems to have remained until November, 1764, when with two men, he started back to the Illinois country as he had promised the Indians residing there he would. He never again returned to Green Bay.
When Father Claude Allouez arrived at Green Bay in 1669 he found already there eight Frenchmen engaged in trading with the Indians. This fact should be noted; no doubt several of them resided for periods in what is now Outagamie county. Allouez taught the Indians at St. Francis Xavier mission in 1669-70 to say ‘Our Father’ and ‘Hail Mary’ in their own languages.
“In 1679 the La Salle expedition in the vessel Griffin, accompanied by Fathers Hennepin, Gabriel and Membre, reached ‘the Bay of the Fetid’ (Green Bay) at the entrance to Lake Dauphin (Michigan) 40 leagues from Missilimakinak.” – Narrative of Father Membre.
The Issati or Nodonessiou called the Outagamies by the name Messenecqz. – Father Hennepin’s narrative. “The grand chief of the Issati or Nodonessiouz consented (to our departure) and traced in pencil on a paper I gave him the route we should take for four hundred leagues. With this chart we set out, eight Frenchmen,* in two canoes and descended the rivers St. Francis and Colbert. Two of our men took two beaver robes at St. Anthony of Padua’s falls, which the Indians had hung in sacrifice on the trees. We stopped near Ouisconsin river to smoke some meat. * * We found the Ouisconsin river as wide as the Siegneley (Illinois) with a strong current. After sailing up sixty leagues we came to a portage of half a league which the Nodonessiouz chiefs had marked for us; we slept there to leave marks and crosses on the trunks of the trees (this was the same route taken by Joliet and Marquette). The next day we entered a river which winds wonderfully, for after six hours sailing we found ourselves opposite the place where we started. One of our men wishing to kill a swan on the wing capsized his canoe, fortunately not beyond his depth. We passed four lakes, two pretty large, on the banks of which the Miami’s formerly resided; we found Maskoutens, Kikabous and Outagamy there, who sow Indian corn for their subsistence. All this country is as fine as that of the Islinois (Illinois). We made a portage at a rapid called Kakalin (Kaukauna visited previously by Allouez) and after about four hundred leagues sail from our leaving the country of the Issati and Nodonessiouz we arrived safely at the extremity of the Bay of the Fetid, where we found Frenchmen trading contrary to orders with the Indians. They had some little wine in a tin flagon which enabled me to say mass; I had then only a chalice and altar stone; but Providence supplied me with vestments, for some Islinois flying from the tyranny of the Iroquois, who had destroyed a part of their nation, took the vestments of the chapel of Father Zenobius Membre, Recollect, who was with the Islinois in their flight. They gave me all they took except the chalice which they promised to give back in a few days for a present of tobacco. I had not celebrated mass for over nine months for want of wine; I had still some hosts. We remained two days to rest, sing the Te Deum, high mass and preach. All our Frenchmen went to confession and communion to thank God for having preserved us amid so many wanderings and perils. One of our Frenchmen gave a gun for a canoe larger than ours with which after sailing a hundred leagues we reached Missilimackinac where we were obliged to winter.” – (Narrative of Father Hennepin.)
In September, 1680, when the Iroquois drove the Illinois Indians from their homes on the Illinois river Sieur de Touty, Sieur de Boisrondet, Father Membre, Father Gabriel and a few other Frenchmen started for Green Bay. On the way Father Gabriel was killed by the Kickapoos, and de Boisrondet was lost from the little party for ten days. “At last we fortunately met at the Pottawattomie village where their chief Ononghisse, quite well known among those nations, welcomed us most cordially. He used to say that he knew only three great captains, M. de Frontenac, M. de la Salle and himself. This chief haranged all his people who contributed to furnish us food.*Duluth, Hennepin, Ako, Du Gay (called the “Pickard”) and four French soldiers. Not one of us could stand for weakness; we were all skeletons, the Sieur de Tonty extremely sick, but being a little recruited I found some Indians going to the Bay of the Fetid where the Jesuits have a house, I accordingly set out for it and, cannot express the hardships I had to undergo on the way. The Sieur de Touty followed us soon after with the rest. We cannot sufficiently acknowledge the charity these good fathers displayed toward us until the thaws began, when we set out with Father Enjalran in a canoe for Missilimakinac.- (Narrative of Father Membre).
“In Northern Wisconsin (in 1681-83) the missions are accomplishing much good; but the Fathers have to contend most of all against the inveterate superstition and idolatry of the savages, nevertheless the latter frequent the Depere chapel and venerate it as they do their idols – offering it tobacco and addressing it ‘as if it were a living thing.’ Albanel is now in charge there; Andre continues his labors among the tribes of Green Bay, whose savage traits have been greatly subdued by his patience, courage and devotion. He now counts more than 500 Christians on the whole bay. Allouez and Silvy have ministered in the Outagamie and Mascouten villages, which, including the refugees from other tribes, number at least 20,000 souls. They have baptized some 500 persons many of whom have been healed by that rite.”-(Jesuit Relations, 1677-79.)
At a distance of about half a league from this spot, Wisconsin river portage, is the river Kakaling (Fox), which is only a stream with its source in the swamp, through which it winds a great deal, and forms small lakes by frequently widening and narrowing. The route continues about forty leagues down this river, following its windings and then the village of the Outagamies is reached, half a league from the river on the north side. Before reaching that place the river flows into a lake about eight leagues long and three leagues wide and about two leagues beyond the village are what are called the Kakaling (Kaukauna) rapids. They are difficult to descend owing to the swiftness of the water, the quantity of rocks against which it strikes and three falls where the canoes and their cargoes have to be portaged; they are six leagues in length. At the mouth of this river where it falls into the Bay of the Puans is a house belonging to the Jesuits, who really hold the key to the country of Castoria (Beaverland) where a lay brother that they have, who is a blacksmith with two companions converts more iron into beaver skins than the Fathers convert Savages into Christians.”-(Jesuit Relations, 1682). The name Kakaling was usually restricted to the rapids and portage at the present Kaukauna, which is but a modification of Kakaling.
In 1688-90 there was great disturbances among the western tribes; so much so that Nicholas Perrot was sent out to terminate the trouble. Monsieur de Louvigni, commander of the post of Michillimackinac, came west to that post in 1688, and was preceded by Nicholas Perrot who prepared the way for his proper reception in order to duly impress the savages. Upon his arrival, and at a large council, General de Louvigni sharply rebuked the savages for their faithlessness.
“The Outagamies and the Maskoutechs wishing to second the Outaonaks at the time when they took sides with the Iroquois who had sent them a large collar (peace offering) in order to thank them for having restored to them five chiefs whom they had captured when on a hostile expedition against the Islinois, resolved to do the Iroquois a pleasure, to massacre all the French who were coming down from the country of the Nodonaissioux. They persuaded themselves that they would by such a massacre, attract to themselves the friendship of that haughty nation, who had appeared greatly pleased when the Outagamis had sent back to them five slaves of their nation, whom the Miamis had given to them to eat.”- (La Potherie, 1688- 90).
The arrival of the French soldiers at Michillimackinac was heard at Bay des Puans. The chief of the Puans resolved to thwart the designs of the Outagamis to kill the Frenchmen; he accordingly visited them and represented that Onontio (God) had sent Le Petit Bled d’Inde (Perrot) with a large force to revenge himself for their evil project. The Outagamis thereupon precipitately quit the ambuscade they had formed and went back to their village. “This chief who was afraid that they would learn of his ruse, went to meet Perrot at the entrance of the bay; the latter promised to keep his secret and presented to him a gold trimmed jacket. Perrot had an opportunity to become acquainted with all that had occurred at ‘La Baye’ (as Green Bay was often called). The Outagamis had taken thither their hatchets, which were dulled and broken, and had compelled a Jesuit brother to repair them; their chief held a naked sword ready to kill him while he worked. The brother tried to represent to them their folly, but was so maltreated that he had to take to his bed. The chief then prepared ambuscades in order to await the French, who were to return from the country of the Nodonaissiou. Perrot sent back the Puan chief to the Outagamis to tell them on his behalf that he had learned of their design against his young men and would punish them for it and to let them know that he was not disturbed by their threats; that he had sent back all his men except fifty Frenchmen; that he had 300 musket shots to fire and enough provisions with which to receive them; that if he should by chance encounter any one of their nation he could not answer for the consequences and that it would be useless for them to ask him to land at their village. The Puan chief returned to La Baye where he exaggerated still further what Perrot had said to him. The Reynard (Fox) chief visited him expressly to ascertain the truth of the matter and dared not wait for Perrot. He departed with eighty of his warriors to march against the Nodonaissioux, after he had given orders to the people of his village to assure Perrot on his behalf that he loved him and to take great pains to entertain him well.” Perrot thus subdued the Outagamis without a battle. He likewise secured the friendship of the Miamis, making them presents of merchandise and receiving in return many beaver skins. He made similar alliances with the Sakies, Pottawatomies, Maskoutechs and others. Perrot disclosed to the Indians on this visit the plan which had been formed to unite all the Miamis, Outagamis, Kickapoos and many of the Illinois, to assemble on the Mississippi and march against the Nodonaissioux. But the Outagamis were only partly faithful to their promises to Perrot and continued to plot against the French who had furnished arms to their enemies the Sioux.
In his trip to the West in 1699 John Francis Buisson de St. Cosme gave the following description of his visit to the Green Bay country: “On the 18th of September we arrived off the bay of the Puants forty leagues distant from Michillimackinac. We cabined in an isle of the detour and were detained there six days. On the 20th we crossed the bay of the Puants (which is) about ten leagues broad; you cross from isle to isle; the bay is about 20 or 30 leagues long. On the right as you enter you will find another small bay called (the Bay) of the Noquets. The Bay of the Puanto is inhabited by several Indian nations – the Noquets, Folle Avoines (Menomonees), Foxes, Poutowatomi and the Saks. The Jesuit fathers have a mission at the head of the bay. * * The Foxes (who) are on this little river (Fox) that you ascend on leaving the bay to reach the Weskonsin will not suffer any person (to pass) for fear they will go to places at war with them, and hence they have already plundered several Frenchmen who wished to go by that road. This obliged us to take the Chikagu (Chicago) road.”
“From the 27th to the 30th (of August, 1700) he (Le Seuer) made eleven leagues and a half and met five Canadians, one of whom was dangerously wounded in the head; thev were naked and had no arms except a wretched gun with five or six charges of powder and ball. They said that they were descending from the Sioux to go to the Tamarois and that forty leagues above (on the Mississippi) they had perceived nine canoes carrying ninety Indians who had plundered and cruelly beaten them, this party were going to war against the Sioux. It was made up of four different nations – Outagamies, Saquis, Poutuatomis and Puans who inhabit a country eighty leagues east of the river and of the point where M. Le Sueur then was. These Canadians resolved to follow the detachment (Le Sueur’s) which was thus composed of 28 men. On the first of September he passed the river of the Ouesconsins by which M. Le Sueur came to the Mississippi for the first time in 1683 to go to the country of the Sioux where he has at various times spent seven years.” – (St. Cosme).
In 1712 the Outagamis, Mascoutens and a few warriors from other tribes lost over 1,000 men, women and children in an attack on Fort Pontchartrain, Detroit. They were induced by the English to. make the attack and received many presents for the task. The Chief Pemoussa of the Outagamies led the attack; he was their war chief. Though this was a serious blow, the Outagamies still had near Green Bay over 200 warriors.
“The Renards (Outagamies) being the common enemies of all the nations of the upper country, it is absolutely necessary to take all possible measures for destroying them, as they have but recently killed at Detroit three Frenchmen and five Hurons. This new outrage on the part of the Renards (who last spring at the Baye des Puantes killed one l’Epine, a Frenchman) makes it apparent that it is no longer possible to deal gently with that nation without incurring the contempt of all the others who are informed of the wrongs done us by the Renards. * * To increase the number of the French in this expedition it appears necessary that his Majesty should be pleased to grant an amnesty to all the coureurs de bois (to the number of 100 more or less) on condition that they go to Michilimakina to join the other French and the savages and make war on the Renards under the command of the officers charged with the expedition.This reason together with the conjuncture of the peace, appears very reasonable for the granting of this amnesty, and it is moreover for the good of the colony to make them return thither; whereas if his Majesty does not grant them this favor they might resolve to remain always in the upper country and perpetuate themselves there, importing merchandise from this colony through the savages and perhaps using them also to get some from the English. Thus those men would be lost to this country which so urgently needs them and those Coureurs de bois no longer hoping for pardon might abandon themselves to grievous extremities. The most natural rendezvous for the expedition against the Renards is Michilimaquina which is the center and resort of all the nations. These licenses will produce a good effect among the nations of the upper country on account of the great quantities of merchandise that will be carried by them; that will keep them from going to seek goods among the English, as they will find at home all they need.” (Extract of letter from Vandreuil and Begon to the Canadian Minister, 1713).
“It is certain that the Reynards have no retreat except among the Mascoutins and Kickapoos and that all the other savage nations are against them and are much more numerous; that if the Puants, Folles Avoines, Sakies and Mathomonies have not declared themselves openly against them it is because they are the Reynards’ nearest neighbors, and that if they once declared themselves and we did not immediately move to their assistance this proximity would be very dangerous for them. * * To be assured of this truth it is only necessary to examine the pitiable situation of the savage nations who are dying of hunger in their cabins, not daring to leave them to go hunting on account of their well-grounded fear that the Reynards will destroy them all one after the other.”- (Part of letter of Vandreuil and Begon to the French Minister, 1714).
“These French having assembled with all the savages who have been invited will form a considerable force with which Sieur de Louvigny will march to the village of the Reynards to attack them there; and if they do not stay in their forts he will cut their corn, burn their cabins and encamp on the ground. As the Reynards will not find it easy to obtain provisions when assembled, they will be obliged to disperse in order to hunt; and Sieur de Louvigny will have them pursued and harassed by different parties that he will send after them.” – (Part of letter of Vandreuil and Begon to the French Minister, 1714).”
“The Reynards, Ougatanons, Mascoutins and Kinapoux have recently gone to invite the Irokois to join with them against us and the Outaona nations.” – (Extract from, letters of Ramezay and Begon to the French Minister, 1714). “In June, 1715, a French boat in which there were five men, carrying corn to Michilimakinak, was surprised by a boat of twenty-two Reynards who killed these Frenchmen.The latter defended themselves bravely, killing three Reynards and wounding several others.”–(Same).
It was decided in the above Council that Sieurs de Maunoir and Dadoneour should go with the Miamis, Oyatonons and Islinois to Chicagou, where in case they arrived first they were to await the savages of Detroit who were to go there by land, hunting in order to share their provisions. When they are all assembled there they are to set out against the fort of the Reynards distant about 65 leagues from Chicagou; they can reach the fort from that place in about seven days. They will regulate the time of their departure from Chicagou so as to arrive at the fort of the Reynards at the end of August. Sieur de Lignery will likewise assemble the French with the Outaois and the savages of the North, who are at Michilimakina and its vicinity and he will set out with them for the fort of the Reynards, distant from Michilimakina about 80 leagues. He shall regulate the time of his departure so as to arrive at the Reynard’s fort at the end of August. It was agreed in the Council that the first corps reaching the fort should only invest it waiting for the arrival of the second corps, which will enable them to attempt its capture in such manner as may seem best to Sieur de Ligney. The Sioux were invited not only to refuse refuge to the Reynards, but also to join the expedition against them.”–(Extract from letters of Ramezay and Begon to the French Minister, 1715).
The expedition against the Reynards did not take place as planned owing to measles among the Weas and Miamis and to lack of provisions at Michilimakina. But plans for the expedition the next year were made during the winter of 1715-16. In this interval, in order to retain the Coureurs de bois, it was necessary to extend the period of their trade licenses. The English had already gone among the Sioux and had completely alienated them from the French; it was believed due to the Sioux and English combined that the Outaganlies were hostile to the French.
“The Reynard savages live about 60 leagues from Michilimakinac, are located on a river which empties into the Bay des Puants and number about 300 warriors. They have committed many acts of hostility against the French. They were punished once by a detachment which set out from Detroit to which the Miamis, the Outanois and the Hurons joined their forces. But as the Reynards resumed their hostile attitude, orders were given, in accordance with letters from Canada, to wage war on these savages, or to make peace with them, but to prefer peace to war * * Monsieur de Louvigny writes that he will go up in the spring and will labor to bring about either peace or war according to circumstances. He adds that the lowlessness of the Coureurs de bois is so great that it is absolutely necessary to make an example of some of them in order to restrain them and to enforce upon them obedience to the officers in the upper posts. He says that the French who went up for this war (against the Reynards) set out laden with merchandise, although none is needed for carrying on the war and that they have carried thither more than 40 cases of brandy. The result is that wherever French and Savage come together there is an open hell; and Monsieur de Louvigny states that some Frenchmen have gone to trade with the Reynard savages, of which all our allies complain.” – (Proceedings of French Council of Marine, March, 1716). It is safe to say that from a few to a score of the coureurs were at Green Bay and along Fox and Wolf rivers at nearly all times after the visits of Nicholas Perrot to this region.
“On the first of May, 1716, Monsieur de Louvigny left Montreal with an army of 225 Frenchmen and was joined by about 200 others at Detroit and Michilimakinac, the object of the expedition being to attack the Reynards at their fort near Mukwa. The munitions of war, the presents, and the necessary provisions were carried by the French at their own expense and without any cost to the king. He returned to Quebec in October, having forced the haughty Reynards to sue for peace. He reduced them to this necessity after having opened a trench 35 toises (about 224 feet) from their fort, which he pushed forward 10 toises on the first night and 16 the second. Finally the enemies, seeing that he was devoting himself to the main part of the place, to undermine it and blow it up, while two cannons and a grenade-mortar kept up a heavy fire night and day, resolved to implore the clemency of the French. They were not listened to until the opinion and the sentiments of all the nations that accompanied the army had been ascertained by Sieur de Louvigny, who proposed to them conditions so severe that all those tribes believed that they would never consent to them. These conditions were: – ‘That they shall make peace with all the nations dependent on the King with whom the French trade; that they shall by forcible or friendly means bring the Kikapous and Mascoutins, their allies and our enemies, to make peace as they do, with all the nations in general; that they.restore or cause to be restored all the prisoners of every nation whom they hold which they did; that they shall go to war in distant regions to get slaves to replace all the dead who had been slain during the course of the war; that they shall hunt to pay the expenses of the military preparations made for this war; and that as an assurance of their fulfillment of all these articles they shall give to Monsieur de Louvigny six chiefs or children of chiefs, to be taken to the Marquis de Vandreuil in order to be guarantees for the conditions of the treaty.’
“All this was done; the hostages were brought to Quebec. That haughty nation which terrified and ravaged all the upper country has been reduced to submit to all these conditions, although they had 500 warriors and 3,000 women (who on these occasions fight desperately), and although their fort was fortified by three rows of palisades, with a ditch behind it to sustain the assault. This enterprise was carried through with great vigor and the officers who were present gave evidence of their vigilance and activity by working at the trenches like the meanest soldier. They did so in order to set an example and to animate the small number of those who accompanied Sieur de Louvigny (who amounted to only 800 men) to press an action which was important and whose delay might have caused its loss owing to the proximity of the allies of the Reynards whom the latter had notified and called to their help.–(Letter of Governor de Vandreuil to Council of Marine, October 14, 1716). For this service Louvigny was granted a gratuity of three thousand livres. This was called “The Fox War.” Three of the six hostages having died from smallpox, ten Frenchmen, including two interpreters and one of the remaining hostages were sent west later to explain the condition of affairs to the Reynards. At this time the disaffected voyageurs were induced to return to Quebec. “The result of these two voygages has been the establishment of peace among all the nations with whom the French trade; the descent of the disaffected French from the upper country, or rather their abandonment of it, and an extraordinary abundance of rich and valuable peltries.”– (Louvigny to Count de Toulouse, October 1, 1717). This large expedition passed through the present Outagamie county. It is probable that after reaching Grand Chute (Appleton), the expedition passed overland via what is now Hortonville and New London to the Reynard village near Mukwa.
A small river (Fox) very much incommoded with falls, discharges itself into the bottom of this bay and is.known under the name of the Riviere des Renards, or River of the Foxes, on account of its neighborhood to the Outagamies, commonly called the Renards or Foxes. All this country is extremely beautiful. — (Charlevoix’s Voyage to North America, Vol. I, 1721).
“The Otchagra Indians, commonly called Stinkards, dwelt formerly on the shore of the bay, and in a most charming situation; they were attacked here by the Illinois, who killed a great number of them; the rest of them took shelter on the river of the Outagamies which falls into the bottom of the bay. Here they settled on the banks of a kind of lake Winnebago. The Sakies though few in number are divided into two factions, one of which is in the interest of the Outagamies and the other in that of the Poutewatamies. Those of them who are settled in this post are mostly of the party of the latter and consequently are friends to us.” –(Charlevoix).
“The nation that has occasioned most discourse in these western parts for the last twenty years is that of the Outagamies. The natural ferocity of these Indians, soured by the repeated ill treatment they have received and sometimes imprudently enough their alliance with the Iroquois, always disposed to stir up new enemies against us, have rendered them formidable. They have since become still more closely connected with the Sioux a numerous nation who have insensibly become warlike; this union renders almost impracticable at present the navigation of the whole upper Mississippi. I met at the bay some Sioux to whom I put many questions with respect to the countries lying to the west and northwest of Canada.”– (Charlevoix).
An Outagamie whom the Illinois were burning with the utmost barbarity, havinig perceived a Frenchman among the spectators begged him to have the goodness to assist his enemies in tormenting him and upon the other’s asking him the reason of this request was answered: “It is because I should then have the consolation of dying by the hands of a man. My greatest regret is that I have never killed a man.” “But said an Illinois, you have killed such and such persons.” “As for the Illinois,” said the victim, “I have killed a sufficient number of them but I do not reckon these to be men.”–(Charlevoix). “The Renards in their last fight against the Illinois had with them some Sioux, Mascoutins, Kicapous, Puants and Sakis, but there were no Sauteurs or Folles Avoines. It is not surprising that they should have the Mascoutins and Kicapous, since the former are at present incorporated with them, while the Kicapous have always been their allies. As for the Puans and the Sakis, it was easy to get them, because the Puans are settled near them; and the village of the Sakis is only 20 leagues from that of the Renards, with whom they are closely connected by the marriages of the Sakis with the daughters of the Renards, and of Renards with those of the Sakis. But it is not to be believed that there were any Sauteurs among them, since those tribes are continually at war with each other.”–(Governor Vaudreuil to the Minister, October 11, 1723). At this time the Renards were at war with the Illinois.
“A nation passionate and untamable, springing up into new life from every defeat, and though reduced in the numbers of their warriors, yet present everywhere by their ferocious enterprise and savage daring.”– (Said of the Outagamies by Bancroft, the historian).
In the summer of 1724 de Lignery went to Green Bay to settle if possible the trouble between the Sauteurs and other tribes of the region and the Renards. At this date Monsieur Damariton was commandant at the post on Green Bay. He succeeded in securing peace with the Sauteurs, but not with the Illinois who had not returned the Renard captives. Dutisne denied most of what the Renards claimed. So also did Boulanger and Kereben, Jesuits, and Thomur, priest among the Illinois; they said January 10, 1725: “Monsieur Delignery cannot have had the slightest doubt when he made the peace that the five Frenchmen mentioned in his letter were killed last spring, since their scalps were carried through the villages of the Renards and the Poux and other lake tribes were informed of the affair. Moreover, even if he had not been aware of it he at least knew certainly that in 1719 one St. Hive was killed and de Rulisseaux wounded; that in 1721 a soldier was killed at the gate of the village of the Kaskacies; that in the following years Monsieur Nepveu and. his family were massacred; that in 1723 Lesueur and Lafoud were slain while hunting; that in the following year Monsieur de St. Ange was attacked and one of his soldiers killed; and that last spring Monsieur de Boisleviant’s canoe manned by four Frenchmen and his slaves was attacked and the four Frenchmen were killed. The Illinois have not left their lands and if the Renards went thither it was because they wished to attack the Illinois. The destruction of Le Rocher and of Prinithorny are proofs of this. Hence we may conclude that the Renards in all their representations have imposed upon the French chiefs.” Investigation showed that the Renards were guilty of many murders and other atrocities in violation of their solemn promises. Ouachala was principal chief of the Renards in 1725.
“In October last (1726) I had the honor to render you an account of what had happened at la Baye (Green Bay) since the journey made there last year by Monsieur de Lignery for the purpose of negotiating peace between the Renards and the Illinois. As I have not lost sight of the instructions you gave me, I had resolved to send Monsieur de Lignery back to le Baye this spring to complete his work and to strengthen a peace that did not as yet appear to be very firm. The account that Monsieur du Plessis (who has succeeded Monsieur Smariton in the command of the post of le Baye) has given me the present state of the Renard’s affairs, decided me otherwise. Rev. Father Chardon is missionary at le Baye.”–Beauharnois to the Minister, May 18, 1727). At this time there was in charge of the post at “le Baye” at least two officers and a squad of soldiers. It is singular with what ease the Indian warriors traveled long distances to attack their enemies. The Renards at Green Bay often went to the Illinois river in from five to seven days and returned in the same time with the spoils of war if they succeeded. With the same ease the Iroquois of New York came west to attack the savages in Michigan, Wisconsin, and at the Sault and the latter journeyed East to attack the former. The Miamis of St. Joseph river, Michigan, went back and forth to the Green Bay region with equal facility and dispatch. There was constant communication between the different tribes through messengers sent 100 and 200 miles and more. Savage endurance overcame all obstacles.
“We have the honor to represent to you in our answer to the King’s memorial that the English who are jealous of the trade carried on by the French with the savage tribes of the upper country, try in every possible way to deprive the French of that trade, and to make them objects of suspicion to the savages, a great number of whom they have won over by means of considerable presents, which they continually give them. We are also informed that they have sent collars underground (secret messages) to all the savage tribes among whom the French have posts or establishments, to urge them to get rid of the French and to slaughter the garrisons; and that the Renards who have received such collars have said that they would no longer suffer any French among them. All this has determined us to wage war in earnest against the Renards to forestall their evil designs. The fresh enterprises of the English and the threats of the savages who wish to throw off the yoke have reduced this colony to an extremity that sufficiently justifies the necessity of the war against the Renards and the importance of striking a signal blow that may lower the pride of the savages and overthrow the projects of our enemies. With every economy on our part the expenses of that war cannot be less than 60,000 livres.”–(Beauharnois and, Dupuy to the Minister, October 25, 1727).
In 1729 there were twenty-nine soldiers stationed at le Baye, the officers being d’Amariton, captain; St. Michel, lieutenant; Chartrain, ensign; Le Verrierfils, second ensign; two sergeants; three corporals; three lance corporals; and twenty-one privates.
In 1728 Mons. de la Fresuiere with a force of Frenchmen was among the Foxes, but would not stop with them nor show them any favors, because they had recently killed Frenchmen; he said he “would not stay in a place stained with French blood.” At this time the Outagamies sued for peace. He was on his way to the Mississippi, and with him were Campeau, blacksmith; Menard, Reaunie, interpreters; Dumois, captain of militia; and Bayselle, voyageur. By 1829 the Outagamies had made enemies of the Kickapous, Mascoutins, Folle Avoines, Sauteurs –in fact roused all the upper tribes against them, and had not made friends yet with the Sioux. In 1730 the Folle Avoines, Ottawas and Winnebagoes struck the Outagamies at the instigation of the French, but the blow was returned, the Outagamies investing the fort of the Winnebagoes at Little Butte des Morts. In this extremity Ensign Marin with a company of French militia from Green Bay went to the assistance of the Winnebagoes. On March 19, 1730, they reached “Coulimy,” probably Cacalin or Kakalin (the present Kaukauna) where they were obliged to take portage. They advanced cautiously in order to surprise the Outagamies, but were discovered and attacked near the fort with great fury. Marin held them, made a counter attack and drove them back to their works near the fort, but had the greatest difficulty in holding his Indian allies in line; they were treacherous. On the third day the Renards asked for a truce; and began to remove their women and children, the warriors covering the retreat; they succeeded in evading their enemy.
It was announced in the fall of 1730 that the Outagamies, harrassed on all sides, were starving. At this time Captain Du Cuisson with 30 Frenchmen struck another blow at the Outagamies who were down in the Illinois country with 111 cabins. There St. Ange with a force of 500 struck them another severe blow. He invested them in their fort, and in the end when they were trying to escape by flight he killed and captured 200 warriors, besides 600 or 700 women and children. The Outagamies held out here twenty-three days before retreating. This battle was about 60 leagues southwest of the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, possibly in Kendall county, Illinois. The few Outagamies collected their scattered remnants, reorganized, elected chiefs, were joined by many of’other tribes, and soon were again formidable. In 1831 a large body of Hurons, Ottawas and Iroquois attacked them in their village on Wisconsin river and again nearly annihilated them, slaughtering over 300. This drove the Outagamies to the Mississippi where they reorganized again. Many were soon back to Green Bay with the other tribes which befriended them. It was said that the instigator of all the misdeeds of the Outagamies was Ki-a-la, a famous medicine man and war chief. In the end he was transported to Martinique. Orders came from Montreal to bring all Renards there to be destroyed. “The Sieur de Villiers also had orders, if that wretched remnant will not obey to kill them without thinking of making a single prisoner, so as not to leave one of the race alive in the upper country if possible. If he is obliged to exterminate the men, the women and children who remain will be brought here (Montreal) especially the children. I hope Monsieugneur that if this step meets with the success that I expect from it, we shall be in a position next year to make all our nations of the lakes attack the Chicachas (Chickasaws). As I have written to Detroit and to all the posts in the neighborhood of the Mississippi to go there, I expect that there will be a number of bands in the field. Thirty men from Sault St. Louis and from the lake of Two Mountains have gone there lately. The village of the Sakis, Monseigneur has been restored to its former condition.” — (Beauharnois to the French Minister, Montreal, July 1, 1733).
Late in 1733 when the French at Green Bay undertook to arrest and convey the remnants of the Outagamies to Montreal, they resisted and were assisted by the Sakis, and Mons. de Villiers and his son were killed and three other Frenchmen were wounded. At this time the son was at Little Cacalin with a force to intercept the Outagamies should they try to escape. The Sakis and Outagamies retreated up Fox river and were hotly pursued by the French and their Indian allies and a severe battle was fought three leagues from the fort. This occurrence again roused the French authorities who had been assured that no trouble was to be feared from the Outagamies. The latter and the Sakis went to the Mississippi and established themselves in the present Iowa. There they were pursued by Sieur de Nogelles with a force of 84 Frenchmen and 200 settled Indians, all moving up Fox river and on to the Mississippi. The expedition was only partly successful because the Indians scattered to avoid them. Several battles were had with detachments and many were killed. This was in, 1735, and a battle was fought near the present Des Moines, Iowa.
From 1735 to 1739 the French at Green Bay tried to make up with the Sacs and Foxes, even inviting them back to their old homes, but they were refused and in their new home were joined by many others and soon were again a menace to western trade. They succeeded in forming leagues with the Sioux and the Iroquois. During these years and later the Green Bay region was thronged with coureurs du bois who carried on their traffic with the Indians to a considerable extent in spite of the company of militia at the fort. In spite of all that could be done the farmers (storekeepers) continued to sell goods to the coureurs.
By 1750 many Outagamies and Sioux were in the vicinity of Green Bay, besides Puants, Kickapous, Folle Avoines, Sauteurs, Sakis, and others. In 1756 the trade then was owned by Mons. de Rigaud Vaudreuil who farmed it to a few dealers for 9,000 francs per annum. About this time each year the Green Bay agency sent to Montreal from 500 to 600 packs of furs. In 1758 the Folle Avoines killed 11 Frenchmen at Green Bay and pillaged a storehouse; another account says 22 Frenchmen and pillaged a magazine at the post.
In 1760-61 the British took possession of the Green Bay country, having captured from the French all of Canada. Lieutenant Gorrell was the first British commander at Green Bay. He spent a year in gaining the good will of the Indians. The tribes here did not join Pontiac’s conspiracy. In 1766 Jonathan Carver passed up Fox river. Peter Pond did the same in 1773. The Revolution of 1776- 82 transferred all this territory to the United States. The suppression of the Jesuits in 1775 caused the desertion of nearly all the upper country by the white traders and missionaries. The savages were left much to their own devices.
As early as 1821 the Oneidas and other Eastern tribes visited in small numbers the Green Bay country, but the Menominees and Wminnebagoes, instigated by the French, refused to cede them any land. A little later the French relented and agreed to cede a strip five miles wide extending across Fox river at Little Chute; this grant was finally made August 18, 1821. In 1822 the Menominees made a large grant covering much of the present Outagamie county. Really, the Menominees at this time for a small consideration ceded to the New York Indians a right in common to the whole of their lands; they were really swindled. Late in the fall of 1822 a party of about fifty Stockbridges located at Grand Kakalin on the east side of the river. The next year many others came and located there and at Little Kakalin. The Menominees soon repented of their bargain, when it was too late; in fact they were hopelessly divided among themselves as to what should be done. The Oneidas who arrived in 1823 and 1824 remained on Fox river until removed to Duck Creek. In 1825 another band of Oneidas came to Duck Creek. The Stockbridges remained at Grand Kakalin. The treaty of 1827 at Butte des Morts and others settled the whole Indian question for the Green Bay region.
In 1825 the Winnebagoes claimed from the portage across to Fox river “thence down Fox river to the Winnebago lake and to the grand Kaukaulin (Kaukauna.) including in their claim the whole of Winnebago lake. At this date, also, the Menominees claimed all the country bounded north by the Chippewas, east by Green Bay and Lake Michigan, south as far as Milwaukee river and west as far as Black river.
On August 11, 1827, at a treaty held at Butte des Morts on Fox river the Menominee and Winnebago Indians left the settlement of their troubles to the president of the United States. The following was established as the boundary between the Government and the Menominee tribe: “Beginning on the shore of Green Bay six miles due north from the parallel of the mouth of Fox river and running thence in a straight line but with the general course of said river and six miles therefrom to the intersection of the continuation of the westerly boundary of the tract at the Grand Kaukaulhn claimed by Augustin Grignon, thence on a line with the said boundary to the same; thence with the same to Fox river; thence on the same course six miles,” and so on around to Green Bay. The Winnebagoes were parties to this treaty.
On February 8, 1831, a treaty with the Menominee Indians secured to the government all the claim of that tribe to a large tract around Green Bay including all of what is now Outagamie county on both sides of the river. At this time the Menominees claimed all the tract thus ceded as the exclusive property of their tribe. The Menominees agreed that the following tract might be set apart as the home of several tribes of New York Indians, who might come there to settle within three years: “Beginning on the west side of Fox river near the Little Kackalin (Kaukauna) at a point known as the ‘Old Mill Dam,’ thence northwest forty miles; thence northeast to the Oconto Creek falling into Green Bay; thence down said, creek to Green Bay; thence up and along Green Bay and Fox river to the place of beginning,” excluding therefrom all private land claims confirmed; and also the following reservation for military purposes–“Beginning on the Fox river at the mouth of the first creek above Fort Howard, thence north 64 degrees, west to Duck creek; thence down said Duck creek to its mouth; thence up and along Green Bay and Fox river to the place of beginning.” This tract ceded for the benefit of the New York Indians contained about 500,000 acres and included all the improvements on the west side of Fox river. At this time all the Menominee territory south of Fox river was ceded to the United States. The following tract then occupied and owned by the Menominees was set apart for their future and permanent home. “Beginning on .the west side of Fox river at the old mill dam near the Little Kackalin (Kaukauna) and running up and along said river to the Winnebago lake; thence up Fox river to the Wolf river; thence up Wolf river to a point southwest of the west corner of the tract herein designated for the New York Indians; thence northeast to said west corner; thence southeast to the place of beginning.” This was to be their future home. Here they were to be taught at the expense of the government how to farm and keep house according to white customs and were to be furnished with domestic animals, farming utensils, etc. A sawmill and a grist-mill were to be erected by the government. On Fox river for the benefit of the Menominees. The tribe reserved the right to hunt and fish on the south side of Fox river and Green Bay as well as on the North side. At this treaty R. A. Forsythe, C. A. Grignon, A. G. Ellis and Richard Prickett were interpreters. Samuel C. Stambaugh was Indian agent at Green Bay. This treaty was concluded at Washington, D. C. Later many changes were made in the provisions of this treaty.
On June 25, 1832, it was provided that a new boundary should be given the tract set apart for the New York Indians ”to commence at a point on the west side of Fox river and one mile above the Grand Chute on Fox river” as to add 200,000 acres to the original tract “on and along the west side of Fox river without including any of the private claims along said Fox river.”
In a treaty September 15, 1832, the Winnebagoes ceded to the United States their claim to the following tract: “Beginning at the mouth of Peketolaka river; thence up Rock river to its source; thence with a line dividing the Winnebago nation from other Indians east of the Winnebago lake to the Grand Chute; thence up Fox river to the Winnebago lake and with the northern shore of said lake to the inlet of Fox river and thence around to the beginning.”
In a treaty held with the Menominees in the agency house at Green Bay, October 27, 1832, an additional tract was granted to the Brothertown Indians “to commence at a point on the west side of the Fox river and one mile above the Grand Chute on Fox river” to comprehend the additional quantity of 200,000 acres on and along the west side of Fox river without including any of the confirmed private land claims on the Fox river, and which 200,000 acres shall be a part of 500,000 acres intended to be set apart for the Six Nations of the New York Indians and the St. Regis tribe. All this was refused by the Menominees. They agreed to cede the following tract: “Beginning on the said treaty line at the old mill dam on Fox river and thence extending up and along Fox river to the Little Rapid Croche; thence running northwest three miles; thence on a line running parallel with the several courses of Fox river and three miles distant from the river until it will intersect a line running on the northwest course, commencing at a point one mile above the Grand Chute and thence northward and around to the beginning and to include 200,000 acres.” Charles A. Grignon was granted the right to erect a mill on Apple creek.
By the treaty held at Cedar Point on Fox river, September 3, 1836, the Menominee Indians ceded the following tract to the United States: “Beginning at the mouth of Wolf river and running up the same to a point on the north branch of said river where it crosses the extreme north or rear line of the 500,000 acre tract heretofore granted to the New York Indians; thence following the line last mentioned inanortheastwardly direction three miles; thence in a northwardly course to the upper forks of the Menominee river at a point to intersect the boundary line between the Menominee and Chippewa nation of Indians; thence following the said boundary line last mentioned in an eastwardly direction as defined and established by the treaty of Little Butte des Morts in 1827 to the Smooth Rock or Shos-kin-aubie river; thence down the said river to where it empties into Green Bay between the Little and Great Bay de Noquet; thence up and along the west side of Green Bay (and including all the islands therein not heretofore ceded) to the mouth of the Fox river; thence up and along the said Fox river and along the west side of Winnebago lake (including the islands therein) to the mouth of Fox river where it empties into said lake (Winnebago); thence up and along said Fox river to the place of beginning (saving and reserving out of the district of’country above ceded and described all that part of the 500,000 acres granted by the treaties between the Menomonees and the United States made February 8, 1831, and on October 27, 1832, which may be situated within the boundaries hereinbefore described, the quantity of land contained in the tract hereby ceded being estimated at about four millions of acres.”
By the treaty of February 3, 1838, with the Oneidas the following agreement was made: “The First Christian and Orchard parties of Indians cede to the United States all their title and interest in the land set apart for them in the first article of the treaty with the Menominees of February 8, 1831, and the second article of the treaty with the same tribe of October 27, 1832. From the foregoing cession there shall be reserved to the said Indians, to be held as other Indian lands are held, a tract of land containing 100 acres for each individual and the lines of which shall be so run as to include all their settlements and improvements in the vicinity of Green Bay.” For this cession the Government paid to the Orchard party $3,000, and to the First Christian party $30,500, of which last sum $3,000 might be expended under Rev. Solomon Davis in the erection of a church and parsonage. Jacob Cornilius signed this treatv on behalf of the Orchard party and Henry Powles, John Sundown, Adam Swamp and Daniel Bread on behalf of the First Christians.
By the treaty of February 3, 1838, the First Christian and Orchard parties of Oneidas ceded to the United States the tract ceded to them by the Menominees February 8, 1831, and October 22, 1832. But from this cession there was reserved to the Oneidas a tract of 100 acres to every individual of the tribe and to include all their settlements and improvements in the vicinity of Green Bay.
The New York Indians reserved the following tract by treaty of January 15, 1838: “Beginning at the southwesterly corner of the French grants at Green Bay and running thence southwardly to a point on a line to be run from the Little Cocaclin parallel to a line of the French grants and six miles from Fox river and thence on said parallel line northwardly six miles; thence eastwardly to a point on the northeast line of the Indian lands and being at right angles to the same.”
“The Memorial of the Legislature of the State of Wisconsin to Congress respectfully represents, that the Oneida Indians have been Christians since the beginning of the century; and since they removed to their reservation in this State in the year 1828 they have steadily advanced in civilization; that they have schools and have acquired the English language; that they are good steady farmers, skillful mechanics, axmen and workmen generally; that they have lived for a series of years under a democratic form of government established by themselves and different from the former hereditary chieftain government; and that we are informed that a large majority of them are desirous of acquiring the rights of citizenship and of holding their lands in severalty. Your memorialists therefore respectfully request that if they will consent, a treaty be made with these Indians, conferring upon them the rights of citizenship and holding their lands in severalty, and trust that in the event of such a treaty being carried out and their surplus lands being brought into market, its results will be most beneficial, not only to those Indians, but to that part of the State where they are located. Approved March 8, 1870.”
“Memorial to Congress: The memorial of the legislature of the State of Wisconsin respectfully represents: That in the counties of Brown and Outagamie in this State there are about 1,337 Indians of the Oneida tribe located on a reservation of about 65,000 acres of land; that the said Indians are in a deplorable condition, without the necessaries of life and under the present policy of the government, without ambition or stimulus for exertion and improvement and are retrograding in civilization and capacity for self maintenance; that in the opinion of your memorialists the true interests of humanity and civilization dictate that a radical change should be made in the government, condition and prospects of the said Indians who are themselves anxious and eager that a different, policy should be adopted in their behalf. Therefore, in the interest of the said tribe of Indians, and for their elevation, improvement and civilization, your memorialists respectfully ask that a law or, laws may be passed by your honorable bodies as follows:
“First. Providing for the allotment to each head of a family and to each of such other Indians in said tribe as shall be deemed best, land in said reservation to an amount not exceeding eighty acres; and for the sale of the balance of the land in said reservation which shall remain after such allotment and for the permanent investment of the proceeds of such sale for the benefit of such tribe.
“Second. Providing that all real estate so allotted to any of the said tribe of Indians shall not be alienated by the owner thereof and that with this exception all civil and criminal laws of the State shall apply to the members of the said tribe of Indians except such laws as would permit them to vote and to hold office.
“Third. Providing for a commission which shall determine from time to time what members if any of the said tribe are of sufficient intelligence and character to merit the right to vote and to hold office and conferring such right upon any such members, of the said tribe, as may be adjudged by such commission to be worthy and qualified for it.
“Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the governor of this State is hereby respectfully requested to transmit a copy of this memorial to each of our senators and representatives in Congress from this State. Approved February 23, 1877.”
The act approved May 20, 1903, created two townships in Brown and Outagamie counties from the territory embraced in the Oneida reservation; the town in Brown county became Hobart ahd the town in Outagamie became Oneida. The first town meeting in Hobart was ordered held June 2, 1903, in the Union schoolhouse, and the first town meeting in Oneida was ordered held on the same date in Epworth Hall in said town. The usual town officers were ordered chosen and the towns were given all the rights and powers conferred upon other towns of the State.