Historic Sites on Chequamegon Bay
July 25, 2016
By Amorin Mello
Historical Sites on Chequamegon Bay was originally published in Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin: Volume XIII, by Reuben Gold Thwaites, 1895, pages 426-440.
HISTORIC SITES ON CHEQUAMEGON BAY.1
—
BY CHRYSOSTOM VERWYST, O.S.F.
Reverend Chrysostome Verwyst, circa 1918.
~ Wisconsin Historical Society
One of the earliest spots in the Northwest trodden by the feet of white men was the shore of Chequamegon Bay. Chequamegon is a corrupt form of Jagawamikong;2 or, as it was written by Father Allouez in the Jesuit Relation for 1667, Chagaouamigong. The Chippewas on Lake Superior have always applied this name exclusively to Chequamegon Point, the long point of land at the entrance of Ashland Bay. It is now commonly called by whites, Long Island; of late years, the prevailing northeast winds have caused Lake Superior to make a break through this long, narrow peninsula, at its junction with the mainland, or south shore, so that it is in reality an island. On the northwestern extremity of this attenuated strip of land, stands the government light-house, marking the entrance of the bay.
William Whipple Warren, circa 1851.
~ Commons.Wikimedia.org
W. W. Warren, in his History of the Ojibway Nation3, relates an Indian legend to explain the origin of this name. Menabosho, the great Algonkin demi-god, who made this earth anew after the deluge, was once hunting for the great beaver in Lake Superior, which was then but a large beaver-pond. In order to escape his powerful enemy, the great beaver took refuge in Ashland Bay. To capture him, Menabosho built a large dam extending from the south shore of Lake Superior across to Madelaine (or La Pointe) Island. In doing so, he took up the mud from the bottom of the bay and occasionally would throw a fist-full into the lake, each handful forming an island, – hence the origin of the Apostle Islands. Thus did the ancient Indians, the “Gété-anishinabeg,” explain the origin of Chequamegon Point and the islands in the vicinity. His dam completed, Menabosho started in pursuit of the patriarch of all the beavers ; he thinks he has him cornered. But, alas, poor Menabosho is doomed to disappointment. The beaver breaks through the soft dam and escapes into Lake Superior. Thence the word chagaouamig, or shagawamik (“soft beaver-dam”), – in the locative case, shagawamikong (“at the soft beaver-dam”).
Reverend Edward Jacker
~ FindAGrave.com
Rev. Edward Jacker, a well-known Indian scholar, now deceased, suggests the following explanation of Chequamegon: The point in question was probably first named Jagawamika (pr. shagawamika), meaning “there are long, far-extending breakers;” the participle of this verb is jaiagawamikag (“where there are long breakers”). But later, the legend of the beaver hunt being applied to the spot, the people imagined the word amik (a beaver) to be a constituent part of the compound, and changed the ending in accordance with the rules of their language, – dropping the final a in jagawamika, making it jagawamik, – and used the locative case, ong (jagawamikong), instead of the participial form, ag (jaiagawamikag).4
The Jesuit Relations apply the Indian name to both the bay and the projection of land between Ashland Bay and Lake Superior. our Indians, however, apply it exclusively to this point at the entrance of Ashland Bay. It was formerly nearly connected with Madelaine (La Pointe) Island, so that old Indians claim a man might in early days shoot with a bow across the intervening channel. At present, the opening is about two miles wide. The shores of Chequamegon Bay have from time immemorial been the dwelling-place of numerous Indian tribes. The fishery was excellent in the bay and along the adjacent islands. The bay was convenient to some of the best hunting grounds of Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. The present writer was informed, a few years ago, that in Douglas county alone 2,500 deer had been killed during one short hunting season.5 How abundant must have been the chase in olden times, before the white had introduced to this wilderness his far-reaching fire-arms! Along the shores of our bay were established at an early day fur-trading posts, where adventurous Frenchmen carried on a lucrative trade with their red brethren of the forest, being protected by French garrisons quartered in the French fort on Madelaine Island.
From Rev. Henry Blatchford, an octogenarian, and John B. Denomie (Denominé), an intelligent half-breed Indian of Odanah, near Ashland, the writer has obtained considerable information as to the location of ancient and modern aboriginal villages on the shores of Chequamegon Bay. Following are the Chippewa names of the rivers and creeks emptying into the bay, where there used formerly to be Indian villages:
Charles Whittlesey documented several pictographs along the Bad River.
Mashki-Sibi (Swamp River, misnamed Bad River): Up this river are pictured rocks, now mostly covered with earth, on which in former times Indians engraved in the soft stone the images of their dreams, or the likenesses of their tutelary manitous. Along this river are many maple-groves, where from time immemorial they have made maple-sugar.
Makodassonagani-Sibi (Bear-trap River), which emptties into the Kakagon. The latter seems in olden times to have been the regular channel of Bad River, when the Bad emptied into Ashland Bay, instead of Lake Superior, as it now does. Near the mouth of the Kakagon are large wild-rice fields, where the Chippewas annually gather, as no doubt did their ancestors, great quantities of wild rice (Manomin). By the way, wild rice is very palatable, and the writer and his dusky spiritual children prefer it to the rice of commerce, although it does not look quite so nice.
Bishigokwe-Sibiwishen is a small creek, about six miles or so east of Ashland. Bishigokwe means a woman who has been abandoned by her husband. In olden times, a French trader resided at the mouth of this creek. He suddenly disappeared, – whether murdered or not, is not known. His wife continued to reside for many years at their old home, hence the name.
Nedobikag-Sibiwishen is the Indian name for Bay City Creek, within the limits of Ashland. Here Tagwagané, a celebrated Indian chief of the Crane totem, used occasionally to reside. Warren6 gives us a speech of his, at the treaty of La Pointe in 1842. This Tagwagané had a copper plate, an heirloom handed down in his family from generation to generation, on which were rude indentations and hieroglyphics denoting the number of generations of that family which had passed away since they first pitched their lodges at Shagawamikong and took possession of the adjacent country, including Madelaine Island. From this original mode of reckoning time, Warren concludes that the ancestors of said family first came to La Pointe circa A. D. 1490.
Detail of “Ici était une bourgade considerable” from Carte des lacs du Canada by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, 1744.
~ Wisconsin Historical Society
Metabikitigweiag-Sibiwishen is the creek between Ashland and Ashland Junction, which runs into Fish Creek a short distance west of Ashland. At the junction of these two creeks and along their banks, especially on the east bank of Fish Creek, was once a large and populous Indian village of Ottawas, who there raised Indian corn. It is pointed out on N. Bellin’s map (1744)7, with the remark, Ici était une bourgade considerable (“here was once a considerable village”). We shall hereafter have occasion to speak of this place. The soil along Fish Creek is rich, formed by the annual overflowage of its water, leaving behind a deposit of rich, sand loam. There a young growth of timber along the right bank between the bay and Ashland Junction, and the grass growing underneath the trees shows that it was once a cultivated clearing. It was from this place that the trail left the bay, leading to the Chippewa River country. Fish Creek is called by the Indians Wikwedo-Sibiwishen, which means “Bay Creek,” from wikwed, Chippewa for bay; hence the name Wikwedong, the name they gave to Ashland, meaning “at the bay.”
Whittlesey Creek (National Wildlife Refuge) was named after Asaph Whittlesey, brother of Charles Whittlesey. Photo of Asaph, circa 1860.
~ Wisconsin Historical Society
According to Blatchford, there was formerly another considerable village at the mouth of Whittlesey’s Creek, called by the Indians Agami-Wikwedo-Sibiwishen, which signifies “a creek on the other side of the bay,” from agaming (on the other side of a river, or lake), wikwed (a bay), and sibiwishen (a creek). I think that Fathers Allouez and Marquette had their ordinary abode at or near this place, although Allouez seems also to have resided for some time at the Ottawa village up Fish Creek.
A short distance from Whittlesey’s Creek, at the western bend of the bay, where is now Shore’s Landing, there used to be a large Indian village and trading-post, kept by a Frenchman. Being at the head of the bay, it was the starting point of the Indian trail to the St. Croix country. Some years ago the writer dug up there, an Indian mound. The young growth of timber at the bend of the bay, and the absence of stumps, indicate that it had once been cleared. At the foot of the bluff or bank, is a beautiful spring of fresh water. As the St. Croix country was one of the principal hunting grounds of the Chippewas and Sioux, it is natural there should always be many living at the terminus of the trail, where it struck the bay.
From this place northward, there were Indian hamlets strung along the western shore of the bay. Father Allouez mentions visiting various hamlets two, three, or more (French) leagues away from his chapel. Marquette mentions five clearings, where Indian villages were located. At Wyman’s place, the writer some years ago dug up two Indian mounds, one of which was located on the very bank of the bay and was covered with a large number of boulders, taken from the bed of the bay. In this mound were found a piece of milled copper, some old-fashioned hand-made iron nails, the stem of a clay pipe, etc. The objects were no doubt relics of white men, although Indians had built the mound itself, which seemed like a fire-place shoveled under, and covered with large boulders to prevent it from being desecrated.
Boyd’s Creek is called in Chippewa, Namebinikanensi-Sibiwishen, meaning “Little Sucker Creek.” A man named Boyd once resided there, married to an Indian woman. He was shot in a quarrel with another man. One of his sons resides at Spider Lake, and another at Flambeau Farm, while two of his grand-daughters live at Lac du Flambeau.
Further north is Kitchi-Namebinikani-Sibiwishen, meaning “Large Sucker Creek,” but whites now call it Bonos Creek. These two creeks are not far apart, and once there was a village of Indians there. It was noted as a place for fishing at a certain season of the year, probably in spring, when suckers and other fish would go up these creeks to spawn.
At Vanderventer’s Creek, near Washburn, was the celebrated Gigito-Mikana, or “council-trail,” so called because here the Chippewas once held a celebrated council; hence the Indian name Gigito-Mikana-Sibiwishen, meaning “Council-trail Creek.” At the mouth of this creek, there was once a large Indian village.
There used also to be a considerable village between Pike’s Bay and Bayfield. It was probably there that the celebrated war chief, Waboujig, resided.
John Baptiste Denomie
~ Noble Lives of a Noble Race, A Series of Reproductions by the Pupils of Saint Mary’s, Odanah, Wisconsin, page 213-217.
There was once an Indian village where Bayfield now stands, also at Wikweiag (Buffalo Bay), at Passabikang, Red Cliff, and on Madelaine Island. The writer was informed by John B. Denomie, who was born on the island in 1834, that towards Chabomnicon Bay (meaning “Gooseberry Bay”) could long ago be seen small mounds or corn-hills, now overgrown with large trees, indications of early Indian agriculture. There must have been a village there in olden times. Another ancient village was located on the southwestern extremity of Madelaine Island, facing Chequamegon Point, where some of their graves may still be seen. It is also highly probable that there were Indian hamlets scattered along the shore between Bayfield and Red Cliff, the most northern mainland of Wisconsin. There is now a large, flourishing Indian settlement there, forming the Red Cliff Chippewa reservation. There is a combination church and school there at present, under the charge of the Franciscan Order. Many Indians also used to live on Chequamegon Point, during a great part of the year, as the fishing was good there, and blueberries were abundant in their season. No doubt from time immemorial Indians were wont to gather wild rice at the mouth of the Kakagon, and to make maple sugar up Bad River.
Illustration from The Story of Chequamegon Bay, Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin: Volume XIII, 1895, page 419.
We thus see that the Jesuit Relations are correct when they speak of many large and small Indian villages (Fr. bourgades) along the shores of Chequamegon Bay. Father Allouez mentions two large Indian villages at the head of the bay – the one an Ottawa village, on Fish Creek; the other a Huron, probably between Shore’s Landing and Washburn. Besides, he mentions smaller hamlets visited by him on his sick-calls. Marquette says that the Indians lived there in five clearings, or villages. From all this we see that the bay was from most ancient times the seat of a large aboriginal population. Its geographical position towards the western end of the great lake, its rich fisheries and hunting grounds, all tended to make it the home of thousands of Indians. Hence it is much spoken of by Perrot, in his Mémoire, and by most writers on the Northwest of the last century. Chequamegon Bay, Ontonagon, Keweenaw Bay, and Sault Ste. Marie (Baweting) were the principal resorts of the Chippewa Indians and their allies, on the south shore of Lake Superior.
“Front view of the Radisson cabin, the first house built by a white man in Wisconsin. It was built between 1650 and 1660 on Chequamegon Bay, in the vicinity of Ashland. This drawing is not necessarily historically accurate.”
~ Wisconsin Historical Society
The first white men on the shores of Chequamegon Bay were in all probability Groseilliers and Radisson. They built a fort on Houghton Point, and another at the head of the bay, somewhere between Whittlesey’s Creek and Shore’s Landing, as in some later paper I hope to show from Radisson’s narrative.8 As to the place where he shot the bustards, a creek which led him to a meadow9, I think this was Fish Creek, at the mouth of which is a large meadow, or swamp.10
After spending six weeks in the Sioux country, our explorers retraced their steps to Chequamegon Bay, arriving there towards the end of winter. They built a fort on Houghton Point. The Ottawas had built another fort somewhere on Chequamegon Point. In travelling towards this Ottawa fort, on the half-rotten ice, Radisson gave out and was very sick for eight days; but by rubbing his legs with hot bear’s oil, and keeping them well bandaged, he finally recovered. After his convalescence, our explorers traveled northward, finally reaching James Bay.
The next white men to visit our bay were two Frenchmen, of whom W. W. Warren says:11
“One clear morning in the early part of winter, soon after the islands which are clustered in this portion of Lake Superior, and known as the Apostles, had been locked in ice, a party of young men of the Ojibways started out from their village in the Bay of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong [Chequamegon], to go, as was customary, and spear fish through holes in the ice, between the island of La Pointe and the main shore, this being considered as the best ground for this mode of fishing. While engaged in this sport, they discovered a smoke arising from a point of the adjacent island, toward its eastern extremity.
“The island of La Pointe was then totally unfrequented, from superstitious fears which had but a short time previous led to its total evacuation by the tribe, and it was considered an act of the greatest hardihood for any one to set foot on its shores. The young men returned home at evening and reported the smoke which they had seen arising from the island, and various were the conjectures of the old people respecting the persons who would dare to build a fire on the spirit-haunted isle. They must be strangers, and the young men were directed, should they again see the smoke, to go and find out who made it.
“Early the next morning, again proceeding to their fishing-ground, the young men once more noticed the smoke arising from the eastern end of the unfrequented island, and, again led on by curiosity, they ran thither and found a small log cabin, in which they discovered two white men in the last stages of starvation. The young Ojibways, filled with compassion, carefully conveyed them to their village, where being nourished with great kindness, their lives were preserved.
“These two white men had started from Quebec during the summer with a supply of goods, to go and find the Ojibways who every year had brought rich packs of beaver to the sea-coast, notwithstanding that their road was barred by numerous parties of the watchful and jealous Iroquois. Coasting slowly up the southern shores of the Great Lake late in the fall, they had been driven by the ice on to the unfrequented island, and not discovering the vicinity of the Indian village, they had been for some time enduring the pangs of hunger. At the time they were found by the young Indians, they had been reduced to the extremity of roasting and eating their woolen cloth and blankets as the last means of sustaining life.
“Having come provided with goods they remained in the village during the winter, exchanging their commodities for beaver skins. They ensuing spring a large number of the Ojibways accompanied them on their return home.
“From close inquiry, and judging from events which are said to have occurred about this period of time, I am disposed to believe that this first visit by the whites took place about two hundred years ago [Warren wrote in 1852]. It is, at any rate, certain that it happened a few years prior to the visit of the ‘Black-gowns’ [Jesuits] mentioned in Bancroft’s History, and it is one hundred and eighty-four years since this well-authenticated occurrence.”
So far Warren; he is, however, mistaken as to the date of the first black-gown’s visit, which was not 1668 but 1665.
Portrayal of Claude Allouez
~ National Park Service
The next visitors to Chequamegon Bay were Père Claude Allouez and his six companions in 1665. We come now to a most interesting chapter in the history of our bay, the first formal preaching of the Christian religion on its shores. For a full account of Father Allouez’s labors here, the reader is referred to the writer’s Missionary Labors of Fathers Marquette, Allouez, and Ménard in the Lake Superior Region. Here will be given merely a succinct account of their work on the shores of the bay. To the writer it has always been a soul-inspiring thought that he is allowed to tread in the footsteps of those saintly men, who walked, over two hundred years ago, the same ground on which he now travels; and to labor among the same race for which they, in starvation and hardship, suffered so much.
In the Jesuit Relation for 1667, Father Allouez thus begins the account of his five years’ labors on the shores of our bay:
“On the eight of August of the year 1665, I embarked at Three Rivers with six Frenchmen, in company with more than four hundred Indians of different tribes, who were returning to their country, having concluded the little traffic for which they had come.”
Marquis Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy
~ Wikipedia.org
His voyage into the Northwest was one of the great hardships and privations. The Indians willingly took along his French lay companions, but him they disliked. Although M. Tracy, the governor of Quebec, had made Father Allouez his ambassador to the Upper Algonquins, thus to facilitate his reception in their country, nevertheless they opposed him accompanying them, and threatened to abandon him on some desolate island. No doubt the medicine-men were the principal instigators of this opposition. He was usually obliged to paddle like the rest, often till late in the night, and that frequently without anything to eat all day.
“On a certain morning,” he says, “a deer was found, dead since four or five days. It was a lucky acquisition for poor famished beings. I was offered some, and although the bad smell hindered some from eating it, hunger made me take my share. But I had in consequence an offensive odor in my mouth until the next day. In addition to all these miseries we met with, at the rapids I used to carry packs as large as possible for my strength; but I often succumbed, and this gave our Indians occasion to laugh at me. They used to make fun of me, saying a child ought to be called to carry me and my baggage.”
August 24, they arrived at Lake Huron, where they made a short stay; then coasting along the shores of that lake, they arrived at Sault Ste. Marie towards the beginning of September. September 2, they entered Lake Superior, which the Father named Lake Tracy in acknowledgement of the obligations which the people of those upper countries owed to the governor. Speaking of his voyage on Lake Superior, Father Allouez remarks:
“Having entered Lake Tracy, we were engaged the whole month of September in coasting along the south shore. I had the consolation of saying holy mass, as I now found myself alone with our Frenchmen, which I had not been able to do since my departure from Three Rivers. * * * We afterwards passed the bay, called by the aged, venerable Father Ménard, Sait Theresa [Keweenaw] Bay.”
Speaking of his arrival at Chequamegon Bay, he says:
“After having traveled a hundred and eighty leagues on the south shore of Lake Tracy, during which our Saviour often deigned to try our patience by storms, hunger, daily and nightly fatigues, we finally, on the first day of October, 1665, arrived at Chagaouamigong, for which place we had sighed so long. It is a beautiful bay, at the head of which is situated the large village of the Indians, who there cultivate fields of Indian corn and do not lead a nomadic life. There are at this place men bearing arms, who number about eight hundred; but these are gathered together from seven different tribes, and live in peacable community. This great number of people induced us to prefer this place to all others for our ordinary abode, in order to attend more conveniently to the instruction of these heathens, to put up a chapel there and commence the functions of Christianity.”
Further on, speaking of the site of his mission and its chapel, he remarks:
“The section of the lake shore, where we have settled down, is between two large villages, and is, as it were, the center of all the tribes of these countries, because the fishing here is very good, which is the principal source of support of these people.”
To locate still more precisely the exact site of his chapel, he remarks, speaking of the three Ottawa clans (Outaouacs, Kiskakoumacs, and Outaoua-Sinagonc):
“I join these tribes [that is, speaks of them as one tribe] because they had one and the same language, which is the Algonquin, and compose one of the same village, which is opposite that of the Tionnontatcheronons [Hurons of the Petun tribe] between which villages we reside.”
But where was that Ottawa village? A casual remark of Allouez, when speaking of the copper mines of Lake Superior, will help us locate it.
“It is true,” says he, “on the mainland, at the place where the Outaouacs raise Indian corn, about half a league from the edge of the water, the women have sometimes found pieces of copper scattered here and there, weighing ten, twenty or thirty pounds. It is when digging into the sand to conceal their corn that they make these discoveries.”
Detail of Fish Creek from Township 47 North Range 5 West.
~ Wisconsin Public Land Survey Records
Allouez evidently means Fish Creek. About a mile or so from the shore of the bay, going up this creek, can be seen traces of an ancient clearing on the left-hand side, where Metabikitigweiag Creeek empties into Fish Creek, about half-way between Ashland and Ashland Junction. The writer examined the locality about ten years ago. This then is the place where the Ottawas raised Indian corn and had their village. In Charlevoix’s History of New France, the same place is marked as the site of an ancient large village. The Ottawa village on Fish Creek appears to have been the larger of the two at the head of Chequamegon Bay, and it was there Allouez resided for a time, until he was obliged to return to his ordinary dwelling place, “three-fourths of a league distant.” This shows that the ordinary abode of Father Allouez and Marquette, the site of their chapel, was somewhere near Whittlesey’s Creek or Shore’s Landing. The Huron village was most probably along the western shore of the bay, between Shore’s Landing and Washburn.
Detail of Ashland next to an ancient large village (unmarked) in Township 47 North Range 4 West.
~ Wisconsin Public Land Survey Records
Father Allouez did not confine his apostolic labors to the two large village at the head of the bay. He traveled all over the neighborhood, visiting the various shore hamlets, and he also spent a month at the western extremity of Lake Superior – probably at Fond du Lac – where he met with some Chippewas and Sioux. In 1667 he crossed the lake, most probably from Sand Island, in a frail birch canoe, and visited some Nipissirinien Christians at Lake Nepigon (Allimibigong). The same year he went to Quebec with an Indian flotilla, and arrived there on the 3d of August, 1667. After only two days’ rest he returned with the same flotilla to his far distant mission on Chequamegon Bay, taking along Father Louis Nicholas. Allouez contained his missionary labors here until 1669, when he left to found St. Francis Xavier mission at the head of Green Bay. His successor at Chequamegon Bay was Father James Marquette, discoverer and explorer of the Mississippi. Marquette arrived here September 13, 1669, and labored until the spring of 1671, when he was obliged to leave on account of the war which had broken out the year before, between the Algonquin Indians at Chequamegon Bay and their western neighbors, the Sioux.
1 – See ante, p. 419 for map of the bay. – ED.
2 – In writing Indian names, I follow Baraga’s system of orthography, giving the French quality to both consonants and vowels.
3 – Minn. Hist. Colls., v. – ED.
4 – See ante, p. 399, note. – ED.
5 – See Carr’s interesting and exhaustive article, “The Food of Certain American Indians,” in Amer. Antiq. Proc., x., pp. 155 et seq. – ED.
6 – Minn. Hist. Colls., v. – ED.
7 – In Charlevoix’s Nouvelle France. – ED.
8 – See Radisson’s Journal, in Wis. Hist. Colls., xi. Radisson and Groseilliers reached Chequamegon Bay late in the autumn of 1661. – ED.
9 – Ibid., p. 73: “I went to the wood some 3 or 4 miles. I find a small brooke, where I walked by ye sid awhile, wch brought me into meddowes. There was a poole, where weare a good store of bustards.” – ED.
10 – Ex-Lieut. Gov. Sam. S. Fifield, of Ashland, writes me as follows:
“After re-reading Radisson’s voyage to Bay Chewamegon, I am satisfied that it would by his description be impossible to locate the exact spot of his camp. The stream in which he found the “pools,” and where he shot fowl, is no doubt Fish Creek, emptying into the bay at its western extremity. Radisson’s fort must have been near the head of the bay, on the west shore, probably at or near Boyd’s Creek, as there is an outcropping of rock in that vicinity, and the banks are somewhat higher than at the head of the bay, where the bottom lands are low and swampy, forming excellent “duck ground” even to this day. Fish Creek has three outlets into the bay, – one on the east shore or near the east side, one central, and one near the western shore; for full two miles up the stream, it is a vast swamp, through which the stream flows in deep, sluggish lagoons. Here, in the early days of American settlement, large brook trout were plenty; and even in my day many fine specimens have been taken from these “pools.” Originally, there was along these bottoms a heavy elm forest, mixed with cedar and black ash, but it has now mostly disappeared. An old “second growth,” along the east side, near Prentice Park, was evidently once the site of an Indian settlement, probably of the 18th century.
“I am of the opinion that the location of Allouez’s mission was at the mouth of Vanderventer’s Creek, on the west shore of the bay, near the present village of Washburn. It was undoubtedly once the site of a large Indian village, as was the western part of the present city of Ashland. When I came to this locality, nearly a quarter of a century ago, “second growth” spots could be seen in several places, where it was evident that the Indians had once had clearings for their homes. The march of civilization has obliterated these landmarks of the fur-trading days, when the old French voyageurs made the forest-clad shores of our beautiful bay echo with their boat songs, and when resting from their labors sparked the dusky maidens in their wigwams.”
Rev. E. P. Wheeler, of Ashland, a native of Madelaine Island, and an authority on the region, writes me:
“I think Radisson’s fort was at the mouth of Boyd’s Creek, – at least that place seems for the present to fulfill the conditions of his account. it is about three or four miles from here to Fish Creek valley, which leads, when followed down stream, to marshes ‘meadows, and a pool.’ No other stream seems to have the combination as described. Boyd’s Creek is about four miles from the route he probably took, which would be by way of the plateau back from the first level, near the lake. Radisson evidently followed Fish Creek down towards the lake, before reaching the marshes. This condition is met by the formation of the creek, as it is some distance from the plateau through which Fish Creek flows to its marshy expanse. Only one thing makes me hesitate about coming to a final decision, – that is, the question of the age of the lowlands and formations around Whittlesey Creek. I am going to go over the ground with an expert geologist, and will report later. Thus far, there seems to be no reason to doubt that Fish Creek is the one upon which Radisson hunted.” – ED.
11 – Minn. Hist. Colls., v., pp. 121, 122, gives the date as 1652. – ED.
Barber Papers: “The Gardens” Fall of 1856
December 29, 2015
By Amorin Mello
Selected letters of the Joel Allen Barber Papers
… continued from the Summer of 1856.
Lapoint Oct. 12th 1856
Dear Mother
This afternoon I returned from Bad River where I have been attending an Indian payment. Father will tell you all about it. I will only say I had a good time, saw many old friends and made some acquaintances among the government officials that I deem very portinate. I also got a contract from the Indian agent on which I ought to make more than a thousand dollars.
Copy of contract between the LaPointe Indian Agency and Joel Allen Barber to survey the LaPointe Indian Reservation and “the gardens” town-site (Old Odanah), to be done under the direction of Reverend Leonard Wheeler.
~ Board of Commissioners of Public Lands
~ History of Northern Wisconsin, page 64.
I could easily if I had means to carry it on to my liking. It is surveying at $6.25 per mile.
Father has gone to Ironton. I could not go as I wished to stay and conclude my business with the agent.
[You might?] I have been offered $50.00 per share for Ironton I took on which I have only paid 25 dollars per share, but I refused to take it. It may cause you pain to see that I am everyday becoming more and more fastened to this country but I cannot think of deserting it yet. As yet I have not realized one cent for my sojourn in the wilderness but I am far from being discouraged. I have seen fortunes made and have seen men make tens of thousands by taking chances that I might as well have had but I was green and could not read the future.
I am not in a mood for writing my thoughts to you [see rum?] principally upon many matters. Perhaps that is because I have been to payment and and because there is a gambling table in full opperation in the room where I am writing.
It is strange that father never told you the facts in regards to the $600.
There was never any mystery about it to me. Stuntz & Dr. Ellis had the money and returned over $400 of it. It is all right or will be. I nearly forgot to mention that I just got a letter from you to Father of Sept. 25th.
We are both well. Please excuse haste and carelessness.
Your affectionate Son
Allen
[Incomplete copy of letter]
~ Scope and Summary of Joel Allen Barber Papers
There is a young Englishman aboard who has been quite a tourist. He was in the Crimeran? army, went East of there to Ferlizand through Syria to their Holy land to Jerusalem to Egypt the Pyramids the Catacombs. Through all the Country in the South of Europe and northward through Scotland to the [Shetwood Jelas?], has been travelling in the U.S. the past season & is now returning from Superior, got there the day we left [songs her?] visited that poor [Ratefu?] that lost his foot every day till he died. He is a rich land lord & nobleman as I suppose and has a happy way of communicating information upon all subjects especially upon Geology, Mineralogy, Geography [overrated spy?] as well as all other “ologies” He is laying [w/a Speciation?] & [conavasated ??? ??? from?] to England.
1860 photograph of the Paddle Steamboat “Lady Elgin”.
~ Ship-Wrecks.net
The boat has just put to the Canal & [???? ? ????] Do be careful of your life & health and let us hear from you as often as you can.
May God bless and preserve you for many
yearsG. A. Barber
Give my respect to Jo & William.
Interior Field Notes
La Pointe Indian Reservation
Township 47 North, Range 2 West
Notebook ID: [N/a]
Contract awarded by La Pointe Indian Agency to Joel Allen Barber on October 12th, 1856. These survey notes are not available from the General Land Office or the Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.
Lapoint Nov 9th 1856
Dear Mother
I start today for Bad river with four others to commence my job of surveying on the reserve. I am well and in pretty good spirits. Father left on the S.b. Lady Elgin last week.
I am in such a hurry that I can scarcely write legibly. I was elected county Surveyor of this county last Tuesday. My term of office commences Jan 2nd.
I would not like to have this known in Lancaster as it might cause me a little difficulty. I am writing this in a [gragshop?] where there are several men talking so I couldn’t write very sensibly so you must excuse levity. I will write as often as possible but don’t expect me every week as the mails are very irregular and it will be very inconvenient for me to write sometimes. I expect to have a good time this winter. Shall not be far from the very best kind of folks about the Mission and I beg of you don’t grieve because I remain here this winter.
I am very anxious to go home but you see I had something to stay for.
With best love to Am, Aunt Betsy and yourself.
I remain your affectionate Son
Allen
Lapoint Wis. Nov. 9th 1856
Dear Father
Joel Allen Barber;
William W Ward;
Larry Marston;
Joseph Latham.
I expect to get away today for Bad River with one party – Bill & I Larry Marston and Joseph Latham.
I went to Ironton on Saturday before election so I was not there on that interesting day. That mound of earth has scarcely changed at all and will not materially in years. Business is going on pretty well at Ironton. The house is probably up [?? this?].
Joel Allen Barber;
Asaph Whittlesey;
Major McAboy;
[Fremont?];
James Buck;
and others.
The election came off here all right as far as I am concerned. Whittlesey 11 or 12 and McAboy 1. Whole number of votes 108. [Fremont?] got ten votes. The Buck ticket was carried throughout. We only start with one party because no steamboat has come yet and it is doubtful where we shall get a large supply of provisions.
We are all well and prospering. Give my love to all friends in Lancaster
Your affectionate Son
Allen
Excuse haste.
Interior Field Notes
La Pointe Indian Reservation
Township 48 North, Range 2 West
Notebook ID: [N/a]
Contract awarded by La Pointe Indian Agency to Joel Allen Barber on October 12th, 1856. These survey notes are not available from the General Land Office or the Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.
Cambridge Nov 9th 1856
Dear Son.
Now that your father has left you I suppose you will be very glad to hear from Am and me sometimes; at least I hope you have not so much forgotten us that you do not look for a letter whenever the boat arrives and have one prepared to send home by every one. But I forgot that there will be no boats for 5 or 6 long tedious months to come and I fear we shall hear from you but seldom. Let me entreat you to have a letter ready to send to me at least by every visit that leaves your region. I cannot imagine how any one can think of surveying in the deep, dark forest during the winter months to be exposed to storms, day and night without shelter – how you lived do tell me. I am sure no one could live here through the winter in the woods without a pretty warm house and a good fire. Were it not that I know you have had some experience in the business & manner of living I should feel certain you would be frozen or perish in some way. But I suppose you have no such fears.
I have sent 2 or 3 letters for you and father to Lancaster supposing he would be there and hoping you would also. In one I mentioned the happy marriage of M. C. Heath to a most excellent pious young lady who taught school in the village center last summer named Mott. No one suspected his intention – not even his own family till he brought her home and presented her as his wife. Every body is much pleased at the matter.
Mr. J Woodruff has departed this life after lingering and suffering much longer than his friends expected. He tried every possible remedy, but nothing – not even Dr. Hunter’s boasted inhaling method could arrest the fated disease. The latter remedy has been tried in several cases of Consumption in Johnson and equally failed in every case.
You have never said any thing about the trouble in your head and throught since you left home. How is it – does it increase or has that climate proved beneficial in that affliction, as in other respects, to your health?
I am pained to have to announce the death of one more of your dear friends and school mates. Julia Whiting has gone to the spirit world to join the happy throng of the young the beautiful and the good who have passed on before. This is the fourth daughter that afflicted family have been called to mourn – they have but one left. I mentioned the sickness of the rest of the family before – at last Julia was taken unwell with slow fever – then Typhoid symptoms which ended in death. We heard of it the morning of the funeral and Amherst and I went to J to attend it, and do some errands.
I have had a little good fortune –. Mr. Pike has at length drawn a small sum from the pensions office for me on account of my father’s services so [Serjeant?]. He only drew 80 dollars a year as private when he was entitled to 100 dollars as [Serjeant?]. The sum drawn was $209.86 out of which Pike takes about 25.00 for the expenses of getting it. I never expected to get so much if I get anything – but trouble and expense.
If you stay at the lake this winter what will become of your title to the land you bought in Grant? You will have to improve it some before June or you will lose it. I wrote to you about Lewis Wilson. I understand he has gone into the Blake house for this winter but has bought nothing. I have not seen him since I wrote you but would go to see them if we had a horse we could drive. “Old Grey” is so lame in her fore foot she cannot go farther than a walk so we do not drive her far and [Fate?] has a bad trick of starting and turning short about when she is a little frightened so that Dow thinks her unsafe for Am or I to drive. She is a large, beautiful beast and perfectly gentle when not mad.
Oh, how I do wish you were going to spend the winter at home – you would have such nice times riding about and visiting the young people here. There are several young ladies still single that would no doubt like to take a side. There is not a large number to be sure but some of them are worthy of the attention of any good young man. There is Miss Anna Bryant who is said to be a prodigy of learning and good sense – and Carry C – your old school mate – lovely as a rose – accomplished in all domestic affairs, and, as you well know, an excellent schollar. But of all those with which we are acquainted there is no one so perfectly amiable and good – who would, if I am not deceived and misinformed be so desirable a companion for life as Miss C Griswold. I believe she is beloved by old and young – one of the excellent of the earth. And M. A. Chadwick who is always with her. But I suppose none but little David can come near her.
According to your father’s description of the people in your country, you must see a great deal of vice – drunkenness, gambling, quarreling, and I should expect fighting. But I hope and pray with a strong faith that you in no way participate in such scenes. With all my fears for your personal safety I have never had the sorrow of knowing or fearing that my dear sons would be tempted from the path of virtue.
What must be the agony of parents who have vicious children. I believe that whenever a man conforms to the will of his Maker by using all in his own power – through the exercise of all his faculties he may safely trust in his protection.
That you may be as protected is the prayer of your affectionate Mother
Nov 10th 56
Dear brother Allen,
I have but little to write at this time but I thought I would put in a few lines to let you know that I still read [lest?] you & can write to you. We suppose by father’s letters that you are yet to remain at the lake through the winter. We were in hopes that you would go to Lancaster, or come home with father, but I don’t know but it will be best that you stay there. But I wish you were to spend the winter in some more congenial & convenient situation if possible. It is already pretty cold weather here & it freezes considerably. Mother & I have been living in the old west room pretty comfortably this fall. I have provided wood as fast as we needed it but I guess Dow will have to get it for us after this. I am going to the Centre school now and enjoy it quite well. Mr. Ed. Bryant, my teacher, is very well liked here, & is going to stay & teach select school through the winter. We have a tolerable good [Scycum?] here now & I have some speaking & writing to do for it. Last week was appointed to get up a dissertation, which I am now writing. My subject is Noses. There is not much going on here but the school & [Scycum?]. & it’s pretty dull times now. Hardly any one here will talk polities except the business of whom there are 74 in town. We got partial returns from election Saturday night which set the Democrats all right greatly. That day we heard cannon all over the country.
Atwood’s folks are over here occasionally; all is well as usual; & Levi is I think improving in health as he works considerably now. The Johnson school is flourishing nicely under their new teacher. Old Bent, the former preceptor is now 2nd clerk of the Senate at Montpelier. Mother & things at Johnson are getting along about as usual & the same in Cambridge. Allen, I have not written near as much as I ought, but some other time I’ll write a longer & better letter. Now father is gone do let us hear from you often. We will write you often.
Good bye
A. W. Barber
Lancaster 13th Nov 1856
Dear Son
I [improve?] this 1st Mail to inform you of my safe arrival here night before last at 8 P.M. & that all the friends here are well &c &c
November 25, 1856
“Nov. 11 – The Steamer Lady Elgin, which left the St. Mary’s River for Chicago, Nov. 1st, had not, at latest advices, reached her port or been heard from elsewhere.”
~ MarinetimeHistoryOfTheGreatLakes.ca
I wrote you from the Sault by which you will learn my progress to that place. Left there at 1 P.M. & ran down the river 40 miles when wind & fog threatened an unpleasant night & the Capt ran to a Sawmill dock & tied up for the night. Next morning showed the wisdom of stopping for it was that awful snow storm Election day. We land there 2 nights & on Wednesday started again stopped at Mackinaw 3 hours & then put out again against a dead head wind that increased in violence till 3 next morning when the Capt put about & ran 15 miles back for shelter under the North Manitou where we laid till 7 o’clock drifting down the shore & then storming up to the head of the Island. Anchor was then thrown over & held untill 2 next morning when the boat drifted off with the anchor & we drifted down & steamed up the east shore till toward night when we made the dock on the Island the wind heaving about & changed from South to N.E. & blew like the D’l till just night next day (Saturday) when we started again for the [west?] shore of the Lake & [p????ed] our voyage till we reached Chicago toward might Sunday night.
These locations are on a page of this letter to Allen from his Father.
The handwriting appears to be of Allen’s, not of his Father’s:
“Lot 1 Sec 19 Town 48 R 4 con 44.37
Lot 1 39.99 and NE 1/4 of NE 1/4 39.99
Sec 24 Town 48 R 5 W containing 40.00
Lots 124.36
Lots 1 and 2 Sec 36 and NE 1/4 of SE 1/4
And SE 1/4 of NE 1/4 Sec 25 Town 48 R 5 West”
These locations are along the shoreline of Barksdale on either side of Boyd Creek (and underneath Chequamegon Bay). Was this “Barbers Camp“?
Monday I came to [Galena?]. Found on the [car?] John [Muskler?] & Sarah [Le???] on her way to live with Mr. L.O. Stevens in Iowa. From them I heard direct from Johnson. There is much sickness there this fall. Dexter Whiting had been sick unto death of Typhoid fever but was getting well but had his upper lip all eaten off. Mrs. W had also been sick & poor Julian was sick & died of some fever rather unexpectedly. She had been asleep 30 hours & died [?] Sarah said she saw Mother & Amherst at the Funeral. Mr. Woodruff died 3 or 4 weeks ago. It is about Mail time & I cannot be brief. Tell Jo that Jay paid his taxes last spring so that he is all right there.
Algebra equations on the backside of a sheet from this letter.
“Dexter Ward was born in Chittenden VT and came to Grant County on February 8, 1843. He settled in Lancaster where he was a carpenter and builder. He was elected Counstable in 1857 (? Possibly 1847) and held that job for 5 years. He was a deputy sheriff under Matthew Woods and George Stuntz.”
~ GrantCountySheriffWisconsin.com
Take good care of your life & health and do as well as you can for yourself. I will write you again before leaving for VT. You may be [apsment?] that it looks rather better about here where there are [lesasy?] crops all about me than about the Lake where there is nothing. I called at the Sherriffs & left William’s letter, found all well.
In haste your affectionate father
G. A. Barber
Interior Field Notes
Odanah Townsite aka “The Gardens”
La Pointe Indian Reservation
Township 48 North, Range 3 West
November, 1856
Notebook ID: [N/a?]
!["For Plat of Townsite Odanah LaPointe Indian Reservation [...] See Large Plat Book [s]Next to last page[/s] Middle of Book" ~ Board of Commissioners of Public Lands](https://chequamegonhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1856-odanah-town-plat.jpg)
“For Plat of Townsite Odanah
LaPointe Indian Reservation
and Resurvey of Sec 23, 24, 25, 26, 35, & 36
See Large Plat BookNext to last page
Middle of Book”
~ Board of Commissioners of Public Lands
“*Note Sections 23, 24, 25, 26, 35 & 36 having been previous surveyed by Mr George R Stuntz have been omitted by J. Allen Barber Dept. Surveyor, under Henry C. Gilbert, Indian Agent, so says Mr Barber but no evidence can be found to support his declaration either in the Gen’l L. Office or Indian Bureau. Secs 23, 24, 25, 26, 35 & 36 were recently surveyed by A.C. Stuntz so says the Comm’r Indian Affairs in his letter of Feb’y 6, 1865, inclosing a diagram thereof.”
~ General Land Office Records
LaPoint Nov. 22nd 1856
Dear Mother
Detail of the “Chippewa Gardens” at Odanah from Summary narrative of an exploratory expedition to the sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820, by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, page 105.
—
The steamer Superior was lost near Grand Island, Lake Superior, October 29, 1856, during a violent storm. Her rudder was carried away and the boat fell into the trough of the sea. She commenced making, the fires were put out and she struck the rocks, soon after going to pieces. Thirty-five lives, including 11 passengers, were lost, and 16, including five passengers, were saved. Capt. Hiram J. Jones was among the lost. The Superior was considered one of the best sea boats in the trade, and had lived through many a storm. She left Chicago October 25, loaded principally with supplies for miners.”
~ History of the Great Lakes, Chapter 37.
Yesterday I arrived here from Bad River in a Macinaw boat with two fair men, we have been surveying nearly two weeks although we have scarcely made a beginning. Thus far we have been at work at “the Gardens” as the settlement at Bad River is called to layout out an Indian Village. I was over to Bay City [???] Wednesday to see about getting provisions for the winter but got [clism?] appointed and found others in the same fix. Mr. Stuntz had promised to furnish us with provisions but all his supplies were last on the Superior. You have probably seen an account of that said disaster. The boat was last on the pictured rocks in the night, 45 or 50 lives were lost, only 16 saved. As for us I have heard no one was lost that I know personally. No one may prove Superior with [3 Sisters?] were lost. [This?] father lived in Superior – his name is [Mentar?]. I have not much news to make. I think my prospects [to get?] surveying are pretty fair. I have been successful in getting a fair supply of provisions and if anything happened I believe we will do a pretty fair lot of work within the next month or two. My provisions are not thought to be scarce but so navigation is closed prices will be high.
Pork is 30 dollars per Barrel, Sugar 15 or 15 cents per pound.
I have not yet decided when to go below but I should probably see Lancaster before many months.
Last night I attended a half breed ball – not as a participant but as a spectator. The balls are rather an important affair as they generally last three days.
Last night was the third night and was necessarily the last as the ball was very suddenly “broken” by the Catholic priest about 8 o’clock. The priest and Bishop came to the door and demanded admittance and the priest went in and after asking a few questions commanded them to disperse and you may depend on it there was a scattering.
Ironton is prospering finally. Today I sold 6 shares at $60 per share. They were sold to two men who are at work for me and are good men. I am writing this in Squire Bell’s office and the others present are getting [warm?] and it is getting dark so I will fold this up.
Your affectionate Son
Allen
Interior Field Notes
La Pointe Indian Reservation
Township 47 North, Range 3 West
December, 1856
Notebook ID: [N/a]
Contract awarded by La Pointe Indian Agency to Joel Allen Barber and George R Stuntz on October 12th, 1856. Survey partially completed by Barber and Stuntz during December, 1856. These survey notes are not available from the General Land Office or the Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.
Detail of Sturgeon Falls on the Bad River omitted from Barber’s resurvey during 1858.
Detail of the White River omitted from Barber’s resurvey during 1858.
Lancaster, Sunday Dec 7th 1856
Dear Son Allen
Here I am yet, amid my friends in this beautiful country. It was far from my intention to have spent so long a time here, but one hindrance after another has prevented my getting away. It is my design to leave the present week & stop at Sandusky probably over next Sunday. I have now passed by my friends three times, and feel as though to do so any more would look like studied neglect of them.
My disappointment at not getting any thing from you up to this time is great, & I now begin to hope you have sent a letter or two to Vermont instead of here, & that I shall find them all right when I get there. Though to tell the truth I am in some concern for your safety, fearing that you have been wrecked on your journey from La Pointe to Ironton or Bad River. I am still in hopes to get a letter from you tomorrow or before I leave the place. Your friends are all well hereabouts, and everything carry on swimmingly.
Thode Burr was dismissed from Ryland & Swab’s employment last Monday, not for any fault but because Ryland has got well enough to work in the Store “[the St Louis?]” are able to do all their business. He is doing nothing at present though he could have $30.00 per Month to go into a school at [Baserbol?]. I mistake perhaps in saying that he is doing nothing, for he is attending [any/my?] [earnestly?] to his [hymn?] & nothing else.
George Parker & Lincoln of [Midden?] (you know him) are in DTP [stom?]. Lincoln was in College 2 years & had to quit on account of sore eyes after trying to resume study twice. He gave me the following items concerning some of the Johnson Boys.
[Thuler?] was expelled last June for participating in the annual mock training contrary to the command of the College Officers. He talked of going to [knive Coll. Schunistudy?], but has not yet. Hotchkiss had to quit College & has gone to work on the farm. [Spurr?] is Married to a Miss [Denny?] of [Largage?] a real visage and was teaching in Mass. receiving $1000. for his & his wife’s services for [canninor?].
This is all that he told me of them. Had there been any thing else worthy of note, he would have told of it.
I wrote you about the Small pox being in the town & that there had been some deaths. Whether there have been any since my last I cannot say. Only 3 in all. There are no new cases for some 10 days or more & it is hoped that it will spread no further. Mr. James Mc[Gonigal?] brother to William from Tennessee was was buried last Sunday. He was taken sick of fever the Sunday previous, & went to bed saying, that was the last time, & was expecting to die untill he breathed his last on Friday night at 10’o’clock. He was a very fine young man, had lost a wife & only child, before he came here, & has been clerk for D.T.P. for some time.
Wm Carter & Miss [Rawdon?] were married last Thursday.
I should feel much better if you were living in this country than I do now, when my mind is constantly worried by thoughts of you suffering from cold, fatigue, hunger & all sorts of privations, to say nothing of being deprived of all society congenial to your natural taste.
I cannot sit down to a good meal or get into one of the warm soft comfortable beds, without thinking of my poor son who is where all such things are unknown, and may be suffering for want of the comforts that here so much abound and especially did I think of you last Sunday when there was the worst storm of snow from the N.E. ever known in the Western part of Wisconsin, so said by all the badgers. Snow fell 18 in deep in the timber, but it piled up in the roads & streets like it does in Vermont. The snow was drifted into one place East of Galena 40 feet on the track with a freight train beneath. They got the [cars?] through yesterday. The weather has been very cold here for this time of the year. Thursday Morning 4th Therm 11* below 0, Friday 14* below 0, & Saturday 6th at 14* below 0. I do not believe Vermont ever beat that in the 1st week of December, & in all that time I have been thinking how you & your company must suffer if out in the woods surveying.
I hope you keep warm nights, if so, you can do enough in the day to keep from suffering. My greatest fears at present for your [sloping?].
Allen Hyde has been very swift to purchase the little farm and has offered $35.00 per acre by my taking $415.00 of it in two lots of land. One of five acres South of the burying grounds at $315, & directly opposite the new schoolhouse. The other is a meadow of 8 acres out towards where [Sprader?] used to live at $[6.00/600?] which is cheap for either place. But I shall not be in great haste about selling for I should prefer that that little piece of land should remain in the family even if I do not live to come on it myself. There is quite a stir about farms at present. There was a Mr. Hayward from N.Y. State wishing to purchase & bartered for Jay’s farm & I think would have paid $50.00 per acre for it but Jay would not sale without he could put in his 2 ½ acres of an out lot with it. Mr. H. offered Frank Hyde $36.40 per acre for his land, East of Hollaway’s & did buy Hyde’s new brick house built the summer past near Esq. Philp’s new house, at $1,000.
Tell Jo that I think I shall want to buy his land when I can see him. I went to it soon after I got here, but I was sick all the time so I could scarcely move, consequently did not see much of it & cared very little for what I did see. Tell Wm. W. Ward that I did as I promised to do, & went to his Father’s and had a good meal that would astonish any body from Lake Superior. I have been there three times since I came, I wish you boys could have had some of the chicken din & other fixings… Wm’s eldest sister played on the [a Melodron?] & sang a number of [piren?]… Mr. Richard [Myers?], an old country Dutchman who married Martha Phelps’ sister to your Aunt [Lucy?], is erecting a steam Sawmill just across the brook due East from your Uncle Allen’s & intends to have it ready for business in the spring & Mr. [Kirke?] of Philadelphia talks of coming here to erect a Steam Gristmill in the springs.
Some things are as dear here as in the country around you. Coffe 6 lbs per $1.00. Sugar 7 lbs per 1 doll. Butter 25¢ for [good/gevd?] but Pork sells for 5. to 5.50 [gevd?] fat beef rather better than [Cousin?] Ox for [?] for [foze grs?] & 5. for Hind do. Flour $2.50 per 100 lbs, &c. Venison is brought in and sold frequently & on the whole I think there is more comfort in living here than there you can be on the Lake.
I find considerable difficulty in settling off with Old Black for the proceeds of the little farm but shall get through with him tomorrow I now hope he has drawn some [manners?] on the orchard & and done some [plervisy?] for [Sish?] he charges exorbitantly, all done before I came & he had harvested most of the corn, but I am confident the dishonest whelp will cheat me out of a good deal any way I can fix it, but I will get shut of him some way and remain so ever afterward. He has sold his tavern stand today & taken a farm 4 miles north of the Village in payment of a Mr. Wilhinson. There is a new store opened in the [forver?] East of the Burnett House where J. M. Otis over traded by two men under the firm of Baily & Carroll who are giving the build a new Gristmill below Handall’s Sawmill.
Portrait of Uncle Joel Allen Barber from page 199 of the Proceedings of the State Bar Association of Wisconsin, Volume 1900.
The prospect now is that your Uncle Allen will be elected U.S. Senator for the next 6 years after the 4th March next. I would not write this had I not good reasons for believing that it will be so. And now in regard to yourself, I do hope you will be careful of your life and health, that you will avoid exposure to the dangers of the cold & the treacherous ice as much as possible. That you will not trust yourself on the ice, long distances in the cold or storms, or alone. Finally I beseech you to take all possible care of yourself. If you have not got blankets enough to keep you sufficiently warm nights do so & get more & not suffer or be uncomfortable without or for want of them. I do not feel reconciled to the thought of going home without hearing from you, & knowing that you are alive & well. I overhauled the trunk of our dear lamented Augustus yesterday and [leave?] nearly every thing as I found it. There are some good clothes, that may be of service to you, should God spare you to ever come down here. I have rec’d a number of letters from home since I got here, but none lately, as they are probably expecting me home about this time, all were well. I do not know whether I mentioned in my letter to you that your mother had drawn $209. from Government additional pension money.
Adieu my dear son.
That our Heavenly father will bless and preserve you is the daily prayer of your affectionate as well as afflicted father.
Giles A. Barber
To be continued in the Winter of 1857…
Patty Loew Speaks in Ashland, March 20, 2015
March 6, 2015
I just came across this poster today. Dr. Loew is a fantastic speaker and researcher. She is one of the most-frequently cited historians here on the Chequamegon History website.
Fall 2014 Preview
September 20, 2014
Posting has slowed considerably on Chequamegon History over the last few months due to my very busy personal life. This shows no signs of letting up, so I can’t promise a new post any time soon. However, the site is not abandoned, and new research topics continue to arise. Here are some I hope to get to before Christmas:
- La Pointe Bands: This is an offshoot of the Perrault-Curot-Nelson-Malhoit-Sayer map and its implications for the identity of the La Pointe Ojibwe Band. It will suggest that even after the Treaty of 1854, there were several “La Pointe” Bands, rather than just one that split into two (Red Cliff and Bad River) as the usual story goes. Theresa Schenck’s annotated edition of William Warren’s History of the Ojibways, and some obscure primary documents will guide much of this.
- Trowbridge Account of the 1820 Cass Expedition: There are several primary accounts of the 1820 expedition led by Lewis Cass through Lake Superior and the Upper Mississippi. This one comes from newspaper articles during the Lake Superior tourist rush of 1855. C. C. Trowbridge, who had accompanied Cass thirty-five years earlier, returned to Lake Superior aboard one of the steamboats.
- “A real bona fide, unmitigated Irishman:” Another account from the 1855 annuity payment, this one describes an Irish whiskey dealer and his wife on Madeline Island. Although the author praises the “Irish wit,” it is highly stereotypical.
- The “British” Chiefs of La Pointe: This one will expand on the La Pointe Bands post, and examine recent scholarship by Janet Chute, Mark Dietrich, and Howard Paap, to suggest that despite La Pointe’s reputation as being a friendly area for American government efforts, the Ojibwe leadership at Chequamegon maintained close connections and sympathies with British-Canadian authorities well into the “American” Era.
- Blackbird-Wheeler Letters Part 2: Politics and the Battle for the Soul of Bad River: This continues from the Blackbird-Wheeler Letters post, looking deeper into the religious aspects of the post-1854 rifts in the Bad River community. Catholics from La Pointe/Red Cliff, the Protestant mission led by Leonard Wheeler and Henry Blatchford, and the families led by Blackbird who kept to the traditions of the Midewiwin all competed for influence.
- Reisen in Nordamerika: From Brule to Stillwater: This is potentially a further translation from the Austrian travelers, Wagner and Scherzer, who visited this area in 1852. We last left them at the mouth of the Brule River with their voyageur guides (thought to be Souverain Denis and Jean-Baptiste Belanger). In Chapters 22 and 23, Denis and Belanger lead the group down the Brule and St. Croix, which are described by Scherzer in detail.
Thank you for reading. I hope to be back at it soon:
~LF
Chequamegon History 