"History of the Upper Peninsula" Menominee County, Michigan


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History of the upper peninsula of Michigan: containing a full account of 
its early settlement; its growth, development and resources. . .  Chicago: 
Western Historical Company, 1883.

Indexed & compiled by Angie Wesch hilavery@hotmail.com

Copyright © 2001 by Angie Wesch. This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives. 

The Menominee County chapter has been transcribed and appears in six pages.
In 1883, portions of Iron and Dicksinson Counties were located within the
boudaries of Menominee County. Brief biographical sketches are included in
the city/village histories.

Each page lists surnames located in that section. Use the Find command in
your Brower to locate the names on each of the pages. Page numbers from the
book are included should you wish to refer back to the original work.

Section 1: Early County History, Indian sketches

Section 2: County Organization, Schools, Population, War Records

Section 3: Mills, Great Woods Fire

Section 4: Mines

Section 5: City of Menominee

Section 6: Quinnesec, Hermansville, Norway, Iron Mountain


Section 1

Surnames found on this page: BART, BAY, BOPART, BRUSH, CARPENTER, CHAPPIEU,
CHEVALIERE, DECOTO, DUNCAN, EVELAND, FARNSWORTH, HALL, HARDWIK, INGALLS,
JACOBS, KIRBY, KITTSON, MARINETTE, MCLEOD, PREMEAU, QUIMBY, SAXTON,
WABASHISH, WALTZ, WHITNEY

Pg. 473

MENOMINEE COUNTY

The history of Menominee County is full of recollections of the past. The
Indian and pioneer history of this division of the State contains much
interesting and instructive history, while the history of our own times is
a complete review of all that modern enterprise may accomplish, even when
battling with the wilderness. The following history is based upon E. S.
INGALLS' centennial sketch, supplemented by the notes of our historical
writers, and prepared for press with the greatest care. "Tradition," says
Mr. INGALLS, "affirms that the first white man on the Menominee was a
negro, although old Joe BART, as he was called, a half-breed, always
claimed the honor." This entire paragraph is an American Hibernicism, for
neither the negro nor the half-breed can be called a white man. Continuing,
Mr. INGALLS says: In support of the first claim, however, traditionary lore
informs us that in early times a negro Indian trader, accompanied by a
Canadian voyageur in his employment, visited this shore many years before
CHAPPIEAU came here, and that both were killed at a point on the Peshtigo
River several miles above where the village of that name now stands. It is
said he had previously traded with the Indians and given them credit, and
that at the time he was killed, a party of Indians living at Sturgeon Bay
came across to trade with him; that he insisted on their paying up for
goods for which he had previously treated them, before he began to trade
with them again, which they consented to do. This took about all the furs
and deer skins they had with them, and after he had got square with them he
refused to trust them any more or to sell them anything for which they
could not pay down. This arrangement did not suit the Indians. They thought
the trader had taken an unfair advantage of them, and got their furs and
peltries. They lost sight of the fact that they had for many months' before
had their pay for them, and had so many months' enjoyment of the trader's
property, and thought they had been wronged because he had got his pay for
the property they had previously bought of him. There are very many white
men at the present day who reason just like them, but unlike the white men,
they had the remedy of their fancied wrongs in their own hands, which they
immediately applied; that is, they lifted the hair of the negro and his
companion and confiscated his goods, and thus paid their debts, and
obtained a large supply of plunder at the same time. This is a tradition
common among the early settlers. The only proof we have to support it is
the fact that there is a place up the Peshtigo River called "Nigger's
Hill," where, the tradition says, the unfortunate trader lost his wool. The
reader may call this history or tradition, which he chooses, but in early
times there were many who believed it, and there are some even now who
believe he buried quite a sum of money in silver which still lives there.

The first white man who came to Menominee to live was Chappieau, an Indian
trader, who came here as an agent for the American Fur Company, and
established a post in 1796 or 1798. At that time, many thousands Indians
visited the Menominee River every season, while at the north and about the
head quarters of the river and toward Lake Superior, the Chippewas had
numerous villages which were accessible by birch canoes. There was an
abundance of beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, martin and fishers, bear, deer
and less valuable game throughout the country, and this post became an
important trading point. CHAPPIEAU was a French Canadian voyageur, with
sufficient education to keep what books were necessary for an Indian
trading post, and was apparently the right man for the place. He was strong
and active, and had sufficient courage and nerve for any emergency that
might arise. He had a large number of men, picked up from that class of
Canadian voyageurs who preferred a life in the solitude of the forests to a
home with civilization, and his post sometimes presented the appearance of
a well-garrisoned fort, and at other times he was left almost solitary and
alone to defend it if hostile Indians approached. His post was solidly
built of logs with palisades made of heavy timbers set in the ground around
it. Some portions of the one near Chappieu's Rapids were remaining, when
the writer of this came to the country in 1859.

A story is told illustrating his nerve in danger as well as the
uncomfortable position an Indian trader is sometimes placed in when his
post is far out on the frontier, away from civilized men. I state the story
as it was related to me by the late John G. KITTSON, several years before
his death.

All of the white men belonging to the post had been sent away on various
expeditions, leaving only CHAPPIEAU and one white man. A band of Indians
from a distance who were none too friendly came to the post, and before
CHAPPIEAU had discovered the character of his visitors they had come within
the stockade and inside the building used for the store-room. At first they
began peaceable to talk of trade, but soon got noisy and threatening, and
it was not long before he became satisfied from their actions that the
object of their visit was to rob him of his goods, and probably to lift of
scalp. To fight them was out of the question, for not only were they inside
the stockade, but were crowding around his small counter inside of the
store building, and all of his reliable men were miles away and where he
could not recall them. He tried by pleasant words to still the storm and
avert the danger without avail; they grew more and more threatening, and
when, as he thought, the crisis had nearly approached, he rolled out a keg
of gunpowder which was open at the end, and was catching up a loaded pistol
he chocked it and pointed it into the gunpowder, and with flashing eyes
turned to their chief and told him that if every Indian was not out of the
stockade in two minutes, he would fire into the gunpowder, and send them
and go with them into the happy hunting grounds. They knew by his tone and
by the flash in his eye that he meant business, and being suddenly
impressed with the idea that discretion was the better part of valor, in
less than two minutes not an Indian was to be seen inside the inside the
stockade. The best of the matter was that they became so favorable
impressed with his bravery they immediately made friends with him, and he
got a good trade with them, and they always remained his friends, and often
afterward

pg. 474

visited him and the American Fur Company's great profit.

CHAPPIEAU built his first trading post on the Wisconsin side of the
Menominee River, near where MARINETTE's house now stands, and not far from
where the railroad bridge reaches that bank of the river. He carried on his
trade with the Indians for many years, until dispossessed by FARNSWORTH &
BRUSH, as will be hereafter stated. After being disposed of his property by
them, he crossed the Menominee River, and built a new trading post near the
foot of CHAPPIEAU's Rapids, which were named after him, about five miles up
the river from the village of Menominee, where he remained trading with the
Indians until he died in 1852. He surrounded his post with palisades in the
same manner as he did the first one, and some of these remained standing
until after I came into the country. CHAPPIEAU took to himself a squaw whom
he lived and raised children, as was the custom with the traders in those
days, but to whom he was never married. Some of the descendants a few years
ago were, and probably are now, living about the Peshtigo River, in Oconto
County, Wis.

The next permanent white settlers who came were William FARNSWORTH and
Charles BRUSH, who came the same season, and operated together after their
arrival. They arrived in 1822. They were stirring, wide-awake business men,
but without so nice a sense of meum and tuum as would stand particularly in
the way of their carrying out any enterprise that they might undertake.
About the first important enterprise they entered into was to root out
CHAPPIEAU from his trading post, before alluded to. Unfortunately,
CHAPPIEAU, through want of discretion, or perhaps forgetting that he was
then the only white settler in the country having authority, opened the way
for them and made the opportunity, of which they were only too ready to
avail themselves. Owing to some difficulty, CHAPPIEAU, soon after they came
on the river, got into a quarrel with the chiefs Spaniard and Shenegesick
and a brother of the latter. During the fracas he lost a thumb. Making more
of the matter than prudence required, he caused these chiefs to be arrested
and taken to Green Bay (Fort Howard), and imprisoned in the fort there by
the United States troops stationed at that place. These chiefs were told
that they were to be taken to Detroit and imprisoned there, and in some way
they got the idea that as a punishment for the loss of CHAPPIEAU's thumb
they were to have their teeth knocked out. These stories were undoubtedly
started by some of the white men, and told the Indians to get a sell on
them (to use a slang term). The Indians being very credulous, believed the
reports, and told the chiefs, who, as well as their followers, were very
much frightened, and supposed the offence was a very serious one. This was
an opportunity for FARNSWORTH. For many years before he came to Menominee,
he had been employed by the American Fur Company, and was well acquainted
with Indian customs, their language and habits of thought. Possibly he had
something to do in circulating the stories, though that such is the fact
tradition saith not. At any rate, the chance was too good to be lost, and
when their terror had approached its climax he made his way to Green Bay
and interceded for the chiefs with such good effect that he obtained their
release. This made the tribe his fast friends for life, and a blow was thus
struck at CHAPPIEAU's popularity from which he never fully recovered. The
good will of the chiefs did not end with words. They strove to show their
appreciation of one who had proved a friend indeed when they were in need,
by making him a grant of all the land on that side of the river, from the
mouth to the rapids, the grant including CHAPPIEAU's trading poet. How far
back from the river the grant extended tradition does not show, and as
there is no written record of the grant, there is now no means of
ascertaining, but as land at that time had no stated market value, it is
presumable that it extended as far back as he might choose to consider it,
so that it did not interfere with anybody's rights who might be living on
the Peshtigo River. This presumption is strengthened by the fact that the
Indians, who only wanted the land for hunting purposes, could continue to
have just as much use of it as if they had not given it away.

The one thing that FARNSWORTH did want he got, and that was CHAPPIEAU's
trading post. One day when the latter was away, taking advantage of his
absence, FARNSWORTH and his followers entered and took possession of the
post. They piled the goods, wares, whisky, squaws, papooses. etc., out, and
as writs for "forcible entry and detainer" were not in fashion then on the
Menominee, and the aggressors were the stronger party, CHAPPIEAU on his
return, feeling completely disgusted with the turn things had taken, piled
his traps into his canoes and paddled them up to the foot of the rapids
which still bear his name, and there built another stockade, as I have
before stated, and made a final stand for his rights.

While the course taken by FARNSWORTH in this matters may not have been
strictly according to the code now supposed to regulate the acts of the
people of the State of Wisconsin, it was one step forward in the course of
civilization on the Menominee River; in fact, it was the first step or led
to it. Though FARNSWORTH was an Indian trader, he was also something more;
he had good business opportunity, and BRUSH, who was associated with him,
had quite as good. They were not long in coming to the conclusion that
there was something better than furs and peltries, and when they cast their
eyes around as they journeyed up the Menominee and saw the tall pines on
its banks, they began to speculate on their probable value if sawed into
boards and got into market where white mon lived; also seeing the schools
of whitefish coming up the river out of Green Bay, the thought struck them
that they could be caught and packed in barrels and shipped to some place
where whitdish would be esteemed a luxury, and return to them many a silver
dollar for the silver scales of the whitefish.

Green Bay settlement was just where the city now stands, but there was very
little of it then. There was the fort on the Fort Howard side of the Fox
River and a small rumbling village on the Green Bay side, whose inhabitants
were principally fur traders or men who were employed by the traders, and
here and there for a few miles up the river were some of the old voyageurs,
who, getting old and tired of wild life, had taken land and opened up small
farms. But those men were not to be discouraged by the untoward prospects
of a market. If there was no market in the West, there was in the East, and
they would find one somewhere; besides, they believed in the future of the
Western country, and they lived to see their belief verified, though not to
the extent to realize themselves all the advantage which they expected to
derive from their labors. Their first enterprise was the building of a saw-
mill, which was commenced in 1832, and was the first mill built on the
Menominee River. It was a water mill, and was built on the Wisconsin side,
a short distance above where the Chicago & North-Western Railway now leaves
the bank in crossing. A dam was constructed across to one of the islands,
which gave them a pond and head of water, and what we would now call an
old-fashioned saw mill was built, one that would cut six or eight thousand
feet of lumber each day,

pg. 475

and not such a mill as we have at present, with clock work machinery and
the capacity of from one to two hundred thousand feet of lumber each day.
The mill was run by them a few years. At some time not precisely known, one
Samuel H. FARNSWORTH bought an interest either in the mill or in the
water-power formed by the rapids. It has been stated, however, that this
mill had been sold at Sheriff's sale for debt, and the bid for it was
purchased from the bidder, D. M. WHITNEY, of Green Bay, for eighteen
barrels of whitefish, by Samuel N. FARNSWORTH. I cannot learn fully at what
time or how he was interested, but only learn the fact that, about the year
1839, Dr. J. C. HALL came on the river and bought out Samuel H.
FARNSWORTH's interest, and also bought into the mill with FARNSWORTH &
BRUSH, and within two or three years after that time the dam went out and
the mill was abandoned, and in 1844 Dr. HALL built another mill and dam,
which will be hereaftar referred to. Besides furnishing the power for
sawing lumber, the building of the dam opened the way for the fish
business. After it was constructed, they built a wier along on the apron
below the dam, and in the season when the fish were running they caught
great quantities with no other trouble than going out in the morning with
scoop nets and scooping them out of the wier. In some seasons they caught
as many as 550 barrels, with no expense, comparatively, except dressing,
salting and packing.

William FARNSWORTH was lost on the steamer "Lady Elgin," which was sunk in
1860 by a collision with a vessel between Waukegan, Ill., and Chicago. It
is not now known what became of BRUSH, or whether he still lives.

The next white man to follow those above mentioned and take up a permanent
residence here, was John G. KITTSON. He came in 1826 as a clerk for the
American Fur Company under CHAPPIEAU. He was the son of a British officer
who was or had been stationed in Canada. Mr KITTSON spent the remainder of
his life in this vicinity, and died in 1872, his death being hastened, as
it is believed, by the exposure and suffering he and his family were
subjected to on the night of the great woods fire, in October, 1871. He was
a very intelligent and stirring man, and was all his life actively engaged
in the fur trade or in farming, and he had the honor of clearing and
working the first farms ever opened in this county, one at Wausakee Bend,
above Grand Rapids, and another at CHAPPIEAU's Rapids, near the old trading
post, where he resided for many years before the great fire. He had great
influence over the Indians, and was at all times a friend to their
interests. The Indians always spoke of Mr. KITTSON as "the writer," a name
they gave him on account of his doing all the writing for them in their
various transactions with the Government. He has left many descendants, who
still make the Menominee their home. One son, John KITTSON, was killed in
the war of the rebellion, in Sherman's march to the sea. In 1826, came also
Joseph DUNCAN, who was employed as a packer by the American Fur Company. He
was a brave soldier, and fought at the battle of Plattsburg. He might be
entitled to a pension, only unfortunately, he was fighting on the wrong
side. He was a British soldier, is till living and makes his home with
Charles MCLEOD, believes himself to be between eighty and ninety years old,
though he cannot tell exactly. The next white men who came to stay
permanently were Baptists PREMEAU and Charles MCLEOD, who arrived in 1832.
They are still living here at Menominee, Charles MCLEOD being now
sixty-four years old. Joseph DECOTO came the same year, and is still alive.
He is living on a farm at White Rapids, and is now seventy years old. A
good story is told of DECOTO, who is French, and does not talk the best of
English. A few years ago he had a lawsuit with John G. KITTSON, with whom
he was not on the best of terms, about a horse which KITTSON replevined.
DECOTO could not speak the name KITTSON, but always called it "Dixon." Soon
after the time of the suit with KITTSON, a Catholic priest, who made
occasional visits to the Menominee River and through the wild settlements,
came here and visited DECOTO at White Rapids, so DECOTO made him a present
of a pony to assist him in his travels on his missionary journeys. The
matter of his suit with KITTSON would occasionally come up, when he
invariably worked himself into a passion, and after exhausting every
explosive in the Canadian-French vocabulary, he would cool off with, "Vel1,
I give vay, two hoss; I give von to the Lord and I give von to the devil; I
give von to the priest, nod I give von to John Dixon."

In this connection it may be well to state that the JACOBS have since an
early day been a prominent family, and although their residence was on the
Wisconsin side of the river, their history is blended with that of
Menominee County, and it is proper that it should have its place in this
brief sketch.

When William FARNSWORTH first came to Menominee, MARINETTE was a blooming
young woman, bright and intelligent. She was the daughter of a daughter of
WABASHISH (the Marten), a chief of the Menominees, and Bartholomew
CHEVALIERE, a white man.

When Bartholomew CHEVALIERE came to the Menominee, or whether or not he
ever made his home here, tradition saith not, but from the best information
obtainable it is thought that he never did. Joseph Bartholomew CHEVALIERE
(Joe BART), a brother of MARINETTE, was his son, and it is owing to that
fact that he made the claim, as before stated, that he was the first white
man who lived at Menominee. It is not known whether or not MARINETTE was
born on the Menominee. The first we know of her is that John B. JACOBS, a
man from Canada, who was employed in the fur trade in early times, had her
for his wife at Mackinaw. While they lived together they had several
children, two of whom, John B. JACOBS and Elizabeth MCLEOD, are still
living. John B. JACOBS is now fifty-eight years old and resides in Green
Bay, Wis.; Elizabeth MCLEOD is isxty years old, and lived here in
Menominee, the wife of Charles MCLEOD. For some reasons not known, John B.
JACOBS, Sr., parted from MARINETTE at Mackinaw. Afterward, William
FARNSWORTH became so enamored of her, and took her for his wife, and when
he came to Menominee in 1822 brought her and her children of him. He had
children by her, one of whom, George FARNSWORTH, of Green Bay, Wis., is
still living. John B. JACOBS (the son) grew up on the Menominee, and became
closely identified with its interests, and was prominent in all enterprises
which were started for its advancement. For many years, he owned and run
the steamboat "Queen City" between Menominee and Green Bay. MARINETTE died
in 1863, highly honored by all the residents about the river. She was
seventy-two years old when she died, had been looked to as a mother by all
the early settlers and Indians, for she had always been ready to assist the
needy and comfort the distressed. The first orchard of apple trees was set
out by her, which is still standing in Marinette Village, and is the first
frame house built on the Menominee river.

The earliest settlers came form Canada in batteaux, sailing and poling them
up the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, and, before the Welland Canal
was constructed, up the Niagara River, by portage around the falls

pg. 476

into Lake Erie, up Lake Erie and Detroit River through Lake .and River St.
Clair, along Lake Huron and through the straits of Mackinaw into Lake
Michigan, and up Green Bay to the Menominee River, the voyage requiring
several months and being attended with great hardships and exposure. It was
many years before a steamer was seen here, or before even sail vessels
became frequent on the waters of Green Bay. The Country was then wilderness
from the Detroit River to the Pacific Ocean, excepting a few trading posts,
those at Mackinaw and Green Bay being the only ones in this section. We who
can now step on the cars and in forty-eight hours reach Montreal can hardly
realize that less than fifty years ago it took a whole season to come from
there; nor can we understand the hardships the early traders had to endure
when they made tho first settlement in Menominee.

The next permanent settler was Andrew EVELAND. He came in 1842, and in 1853
built the first frame building in what is now the village of Menominee. He
is still living here. His business has usually been fishing. Charles MCLEOD
built a frame house in 1852, and still resides in it, on the river bank,
just outside the village. This was the fist frame house in the county.

Next among the old settlers is John QUIMBY, who came in 1845, and died in
1874 aged sixty-five years. At first he had charge of the fisheries and the
boarding house of Dr. HALL's water-mill at the rapids. He afterward built a
tavern where the KIRBY House now stands which was destroyed by fire in
1859. QUIMBY immediately began to rebuild. He first put up a small
building, which he added to from time to time until, with the exception of
one addition made since he sold it, it formed what is now the KIRBY House.
Here he kept the only hotel in Menominee until 1864. when he sold the
property to S. P. SAXTON, and its name was changed to SAXTON House. SAXTON
sold the house to a man named BOPART who made the last addition to it, who
sold it to Fred WALTZ, who sold it to Abner KIRBY, of the firm of
KIRBY-CARPENTER Company and ex-Mayor of Milwaukee, who fitted it up again,
and named it KIRBY House. John QUIMBY was a man of marked characteristics,
and either a warm friend or a good hater. There was never any trouble in
learning which relation he bore to a person, for he never hesitated to make
it known, yet he was so kind-hearted that if he saw an enemy suffering and
in want he would be the first to assist him. He was a great fighter, and so
long as his opponent resisted would never give an inch, yet he never bore
malice, and when the resistence was over, if his opponent came to grief, he
was the first to extend a helping hand. He was also a great hunter, and
found his greatest enjoyment in going with rifle; going with a few friends
to some place along the shore of Green Bay, there to camp out for a few
days and run deer into the bay, and with a boat to catch them. When the
writer first came to Menominee, he frequently joined him in these
expeditions, and many a deer have they taken together. QUIMBY owned very
much of the land on which the village of Menominee now stands, and fully
performed his part of the work in building it up, though he could never
fully realize that Menominee was to become a large place. When the writer
first came, and after he had resided here long enough to become acquainted
with its resources for building up a large town, he frequently talked with
him about building a railroad through the county, and his reply usually was
that he never wanted to live any longer than to see a railroad through
these woods. He did live to see one several years. His widow is still
living here, and she has always been considered a mother to the white
settlers on the river, and many a footsore and sick traveler or woodsman
has been relieved by her care and sympathy; some there are who, without it,
would have been long ago in their graves. She is now nearly seventy years
of age, and is still active. I have given a short history coming of the
first settlers, none of whom are now living, except Charles MCLEOD, Almira
QUIMBY, Andreas EVELAND and Baptiste PREMEAU, who may be truly called old
settlers. Moses HARDWIK came here in 1826, and lived here several years. He
is still living at Bay Settlement, on the. east shore of Green Bay. Another
class who may also be called old settlers as compared with late comers, and
who built the mills now on the river and gave the country its real start in
prosperity, but who came later than those hereinbefore referred to, will
necessarily be named in connection with the buildings of the several mills,
and will thus appear in the order of their coming here.

INDIAN SKETCHES

When the first white man visited Green Bay, the Menominee River was the
home of the Menominee Indians, than very numerous, and Menominee was their
most populous locality. The abundance of fish running out of Green BAY into
the river, the check they received in climbing the rapids two miles from
the month, and the abundance of game in the woods around, enabled them to
obtain a living very easily. Their favorable location, too, on the shores
of the bay rich with fish, and at the mouth of the river whose branches
enabled them to penetrate, the vast regions of the north with their
birch-bark canoe - these advantages drew large numbers about the mouth of
the Menominee. The peace in character of the Menominees was early noticed
by the white traders, and although they were brave as a people, yet wars
rarely arose between them and other tribes, and violence was seldom
committed on those who visited them. Tradition tells of but one battle
within the limits of Menominee County, and that was between the Indians
living near the month of the river and those living in the villages near
White Rapids and Grand Rapids. The first were Menominees, of course, but it
is not certainly known whether their opponents belonged to the same tribe
or were Chippewas, but the presumption is that they belonged to the latter
tribe. The battle was fought near the house of Charles MCLEOD, and along
the banks of the river - near Burying Ground Paint. The trouble occurred in
this way:

The Indians in the village near the mouth of the river were living on the
fat of the land, that is, Sturgeon, which they caught in great abundance on
the rapids. But an abundance was not enough, for sturgeon is the special
delight of the red man. The chief, therefore, ordered dams of stone to be
built across the river at the rapids in order to prevent the fish from
ascending the river. This caused great suffering in the upper villages, for
the Indians there were largely dependent upon sturgeon for their
subsistence, so the chief at Grand Rapids sent his son down to ask the
potentate at the mouth of the river to tear away the obstructions, and let
the finny monsters wend their way up the stream as usual, stating at the
same time that his people were suffering from the need thereof. But to this
most reasonable request the chief turned a deaf ear, and sent the son back
to his father with an insulting message. But sturgeon his people must have
or starve, and this fact, coupled with the insults heaped upon him by the
chief at the mouth of the river, roused his fighting blood. Calling
together his warriors and those from the tribes farther up the river, who
were in a like condition, he prepared for war. With "sturgeon" for a war
cry, they set out down

pg. 477

the river to punish the inhabitants of the village that had wronged them by
cutting off their supply of food. At early dawn, the war-whoop broke the
stillness of the morning, and as its death-telling echoes and re-echoes
were wafted upon the morning breeze, it fell with terrible meaning upon the
ears of the Menominees at the mouth of the river, and every warrior was
quickly in arms and ready to fight in a warfare that showed no quarter and
sought no mercy. The battle was short and sharp. The squaws and children
fled to the swamps or crossed the river to safety. The fight raged up and
down the river bank and upon the island for two or three hours, when the
village fell into the hands of its assailants, and the shore chieftain was
a captive in the hands of his enemies. He was made a victim of the most
terrible torture that savage ingenuity could devise, which was ended only
by death The loss was great on either side, but much more severe on the
side of the down river tribe. The conquerors, foregoing further bloodshed,
tore away the obnoxious dams, and returned to their homes, followed up by
the unsuspecting sturgeon, which were again caught in peace and plenty. The
writer received this account from the late John G. KITTSON and he in turn
received the traditions from the Indians living on the river when he came
here. The tradition as handed down, is much more full than is here given,
but the object of this record is rather to preserve the fact of its
existence than to make a story, and therefore much of the minutiae is
omitted. The Menominee Indians are fast fading away, and where there were
thousands when the white man came, it is rare now to find one. When the
writer came here, it was very common to see a village of wigwams at the
rapids, the occupants busy catching and smoking a season's stock of the
staff of life, i. e., sturgeon, as a supply of provisions to last until the
deer were fat enough to eat. It was also common to see fleets of bark
canoes loaded down with squaws and papooses coasting along the shores of
Green Bay. Nearly all of these now live on their reservations at Keshena
and Shawano. Many of them have become civilized, and have good common
schools and churches. A few yet remain around Menominee but their days are
numbered. Like the pines of their native forests, they cannot withstand the
effects of civilization, and the time is not far distant when there will
not be an Indian left on the Menominee to cherish the memory or even
preserve the name of the peaceful tribe that once roamed over these hunting
grounds, proud in the freedom of savage life.