Judge Bell Incidents: King of the Apostle Islands
January 30, 2025
Collected & edited by Amorin Mello
This post is the first of a series featuring The Ashland News items about La Pointe’s infamous Judge John William Bell, written mainly by his son-in-law George Francis Thomas née Gilbert Fayette Thomas a.k.a G.F.T.
Wednesday, September 30, 1885, page 2.
ON HISTORICAL GROUND.
James Chapman
~ Madeline Island Museum
Judge Joseph McCloud
~ Madeline Island Museum
Saturday last, says The Bayfield Press, the editor had the pleasure of visiting Judge John W. Bell at his home at La Pointe, accompanied by Major Wing, James Chapman and Judge Joseph McCloud. The judge, now in his 81st year, still retains much of that indomitable energy that made him for many years a veritable king of the Apostle Islands. Owing, however, to a fractured limb and an irritating ulcer on his foot he is mostly confined to his chair. His recollection of the early history of this country is vivid, while his fund of anecdotes of his early associates is apparently inexhaustible and renders a visit to this remarkable pioneer at once full of pleasure and instruction. The part played by Judge Bell in the early history of this country is one well worthy of preservation and in the hands of competent parties could be made not the least among the many historical sketches of the pioneers of the great northwest. The judge’s present home is a large, roomy house, located in the center of a handsome meadow whose sloping banks are kissed by the waters of the lake he loves so well. Here, surrounded by children and grand-children, cut off from the noise and bustle of the outside world, his sands of life are peacefully passing away.
Leaving La Pointe our little party next visited the site of the Apostle Islands Improvement company’s new summer resort and found it all the most vivid fancy could have painted. Here, also, we met Peter Robedeaux, the oldest surviving voyager of the Hudson Bay Fur Co. Mr. Robedeaux is now in his 89th year, and is as spry as any man not yet turned fifty. He was born near Montreal in 1796, and when only fourteen years of age entered the employ of the Hudson Bay Fur Co., and visited the then far distant waters of the Columbia river, in Washington Territory. He remained in the employ of this company for twenty-five years and then entered the employ of the American Fur company, with headquarters at La Pointe. For fifty years this man has resided on Madeline Island, and the streams tributary to the great lake not visited by him can be numbered by the fingers on one’s hand. His life until the past few years has been one crowded with exciting incidents, many of which would furnish ample material for the ground-work of a novel after the Leather Stocking series style.
Wednesday, June 30, 1886, page 2.
GOLDEN WEDDING.
About thirty of the old settlers of Ashland and Bayfield went over to La Pointe on Saturday to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of Judge John W. Bell and wife, who were married in the old church at La Pointe June 26th, 1836, fifty years ago. The party took baskets containing their lunch with them, the old couple having no knowledge of the intended visit. After congratulations had been extended the table was spread, and during the meal many reminiscences of olden times were called up.
Judge Bell is in his eighty-third year, and is becoming quite feeble. Mrs. Bell is perhaps ten or twelve years younger. Judge Bell came to La Pointe in 1834, and has lived there constantly ever since. La Pointe used to be the county seat of Ashland county, and prior to the year 1872 Judge Bell performed the duties of every office of the county. In fact he was virtually king of the island.
The visitors took with them some small golden tokens of regard for the aged couple, the coins left with them aggregating between $75 and $100.
Wednesday, July 20, 1887, page 6.
REMINISCENCES OF OLD LA POINTE
(Written for The Ashland News)
Visitors to this quiet and delapidated old town on Madeline Island, Lake Superior, about whom early history and traditions so much has been published, are usually surprised when told that less than forty years have passed since there flourished at this point a city of about 2,500 people. Now not more than thirty families live upon the entire island. Thirty-five years ago neither Bayfield, Ashland nor Washburn was thought of, and La Pointe was the metropolis of Northern Wisconsin.
Since interesting himself in the island the writer has often been asked: Why, if there were so many inhabitants there as late as forty years ago, are there so few now? In reply a great number of reasons present themselves, chief among which are natural circumstances, but in the writer’s mind the imperfect land titles clouding old La Pointe for the last thirty years have tended materially to hastening its downfall.
Captain John Daniel Angus
~ Madeline Island Museum
Of the historic data of La Pointe, of which the writer has almost an unlimited supply, much that seems romance is actual fact, and the witnesses of occurrences running back over fifty years are still here upon the island and can be depended upon for the truthfulness of their reminiscences. There are no less than five very old men yet living here who have made their homes upon the island for over fifty years. Judge John W. Bell, or “Squire,” as he is familiarly called, has lived here since the year 1835, coming from the “Soo,” on the brig, John Jacob Astor, in company with another old pioneer of the place known as Capt. John Angus. Mr. Bell contracted with the American Fur Co., and Capt. Angus sailed the “Big Sea” over. Mr. Bell is now eighty three years of age, and is crippled from the effects of a fall received while attending court in Ashland, in Jan. 1884. He is a man of iron constitution and might have lived – and may yet for all we know – to become a centenarian. The hardships of pioneer life endured by the old Judge would have killed an ordinary man long ago. He is a cripple and an invalid, but he has never missed a meal of victuals nor does he show any sign of weakening of his wonderful mind. He delights to relate reminiscences of early days, and will talk for hours to those who prove congenial. Once in his career, Mr. Bell had in his employ the famous “Wilson, the Hermit,” whose romantic history is one of the interesting features sought after by tourists when they visit the islands.
~ History of Northern Wisconsin, by the Western Historical Co., 1881.
Once Mr. Bell started an opposition fur company having for his field of operations that portion of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan now included within the limits of the great Gogebic and Penokee iron ranges, and had in his employ several hundred trappers and carriers. Later Mr. Bell became a prominent explorer, joining numerous parties in the search for gold, silver and copper; iron being considered too inferior a metal for the attention of the popular mind in those days.
Almost with his advent on the island Mr. Bell became a leader in the local political field, during his residence of fifty-two years holding almost continually some one of the various offices within the gift the people. He was also employed at various times by the United States government in connection with Indian affairs, he having a great influence with the natives.
Ramsay Crooks
~ Madeline Island Museum
The American Fur Co., with Ramsay Crooks at its head gave life and sustenance to La Pointe a half century ago, and for several years later, but when a private association composed of Borup, Oakes and others purchased the rights and effects of the American Fur Co., trade at La Pointe began to fall away. The halcyon days were over. The wild animals were getting scarce, and the great west was inducing people to stray. The new fur company eventually moved to St. Paul, where even now their descendants can be found.
Julius Austrian
~ Madeline Island Museum
Prior to the final extinction of the fur trade at La Pointe and in the early days of steamboating on the great lakes, the members of the well-known firm of Leopold & Austrian settled here, and soon gathered about them a number of their relatives, forming quite a Jewish colony. They all became more or less interested in real estate, Julius and Joseph Austrian entering from the government at $1.25 per acre all the lands upon which the village was situated, some 500 acres.
Joseph Austrian
~ Jennifer Barber Family
The original patent issued by the government, of which a copy exists in the office of the register of deeds in Ashland, is a literary curiosity, as are also many other title papers issued in early days. Indeed if any one will examine the records and make a correct abstract or title history of old La Pointe, the writer will make such person a present of one of the finest corner lots on the island. Such a thing can not be done simply from the records. A large portion of the original deeds for village lots were simply worthless, but the people in those days never examined into the details, taking every man to be honest, hence errors and wrongs were not found out.
Now the lots are not worth the taxes and interest against them, and the original purchaser will never care whether his title was good or otherwise. The county of Ashland bought almost the whole town site for taxes many years ago and has had an expensive load to carry until the writer at last purchased the tax titles of the village, which includes many of the old buildings. The writer has now shouldered the load, and proposes to preserve the old relics that tourists may continue to visit the island and see a town of “Ye olden times.”
~ The Boscobel Dial
September 29, 1885.
Originally the intention was to form a syndicate to purchase the old town. An association of prominent citizens of Ashland and Bayfield, at one time came very near securing it, and the writer still has hopes of such an association some day controlling the historical spot. The scheme, however, has met with considerable opposition from a few who desire no changes to be made in the administration of affairs on the island. The principal opponent is Julius Austrian, of St. Paul, who still owns one-sixth part of La Pointe, and is expecting to get back another portion of lots, which have been sold for taxes and deeded by the county ever since 1874. He would like no doubt, to make Ashland county stand the taxes on the score of illegality. As a mark of affection for the place, he has lately removed the old warehouse which has stood so many years a prominent landmark in La Pointe’s most beautiful harbor. Tourists from every part of the world who have visited the old town will join in regretting the loss and despise the action.
G. F. T.
To be continued in King No More…
American Fur Company: 1834 Reinvention of La Pointe
October 4, 2023
Collected & edited by Amorin Mello
The below image from the Wisconsin Historical Society is a storymap showing La Pointe in 1834 as abstract squiggles on an oversized Madeline Island surrounded by random other Apostle Islands, Bayfield Peninsula, Houghton Point, Chequamegon Bay, Long Island, Bad River, Saxon Harbor, and Montreal River.
“Map of La Pointe”
“L M Warren”
“~ 1834 ~”
Wisconsin Historical Society
citing an original map at the New York Historical Society
My original (ongoing) goal for publishing this post is to find an image of the original 1834 map by Lyman Marcus Warren at the New York Historical Society to explore what all of his squiggles at La Pointe represented in 1834. Instead of immediately achieving my original goal, this post has become the first of a series exploring letters in the American Fur Company Papers by/to/about Warren at La Pointe.
New York Historical Society
American Fur Company Papers: 1831-1849
America’s First Business Monopoly
#16,582
Map of Lapointe
by L M Warren
~ 1834 ~
New York Historical Society
scanned as Gale Document Number GALE|SC5110110218
#36
Ramsay Crooks
~ Madeline Island Museum
Lapointe Lake Superior
September 20th ’34
Ramsey Crooks Esqr
Dear Sir
Starting in 1816, the American Fur Company (AFC) operated a trading post by the “Old Fort” of La Pointe near older trading posts built by the French in 1693 and the British in 1793.
In 1834, John Jacob Astor sold his legendary AFC to Ramsay Crooks and other trading partners, who in turn decided to relocate the AFC’s base of operations at Mackinac Island to Madeline Island, where our cartographer Lyman Marcus Warren was employed as the AFC’s trader at La Pointe.
Instead of improving any of the older trading posts on Madeline Island, Warren decided to move La Pointe to the “New Fort” of 1834 to build new infrastructure for growing business demands.
GLO PLSS 1852 survey detail of the “Am Fur Co Old Works” near Old Fort.
on My Way In as Mr Warren was was detained So Long at Mackinac I did not Wait for him at this Place as time was of So Much Consequence to me to Get my People Into the County that I Proceeded Immediately to Fond Du Lac with the Intention with the Intention of Returning to this Place When I Had Sent the Outfit off but When I Got There I Had News from the Interior Which Required me to Go In and Settle the Business there; the [appearance?] In the Interior for [????] is tolerable. Good Provision there is [none?] Whatever I [have?] Seen the [Country?] [So?] Destitute. The Indians at [Fort?] [?????] Disposed to give me Some trouble when they found they have to Get no Debts and buy their amunition and tobacco and not Get it For Nothing as usual but at Length quieted down [?????] and have all gone off to their Haunts as usual.
I Received your Instructions contained in your Circular and will be very Particular In Following them. The outfits were all off when I Received them but the men’s acts and the Invoices of the Goods Had all been Settled according to your Wishes and Every Care Will be taken not to allow the men to get In Debt the Clerks Have Strict orders on the Subject and it is made known to them that they will be Held for any of the Debts the men may Incur.
I Enclose to you the Bonds Signed and all the Funds we Received from Mr Johnston Excepting those Which Had been given to the Clerks and I could not Get them Back In time to Send them on at Present.
Mr Warren And myself Have Committed on What is to be done at this Place and I am certain all that Can be done Will be done by him. I leave here tomorrow For the Interior of Fond Du Lac Where I must be as Soon as possible.
I have written to Mr Schoolcraft as he Inquested me. Mr Brewster’s men would not Give up their [??????] and [???] [????] is [??] [?????] [????] [????] [to?] [???????] [?????] [to?] [persuade?] [more?] People for Keeping [his?] [property?] [Back?] [and] [then?] [???] by some [???] ought to be sent out of the Country [??] they are [under?] [the?] [???] [?] and [Have?] [no?] [Right?] to be [????] [????] they are trouble [????] [???] [their?] [tongues?].
GLO PLSS 1852 survey detail of the AFC’s new “La Point” (New Fort) and the ABCFM’s “Mission” (Middleport).
The Site Selected Here For the Buildings by Mr Warren is the Best there is the Harbour is good and I believe the work will go on well.
as For the Fishing we Will make Every Inquiry on the Subject and I Have no Doubt on My Mind of Fairly present that it will be more valuable than the Fur trade.
In the Month of January I will Write you Every particular How our affairs stand from St Peters. Bailly Still Continues to Give our Indians Credits and they Bring Liquor from that Place which they Say they Get from Him.
Please let Me know as Early as possible with Regard to the Price of Furs as it will Help me In the trade. the Clerks all appear anxious to do their Duty this year as the wind is now Falling and I am In Haste I Will Write you Every particular of our Business In January.
Wishing that God may Long Prosper you and your family.
In health and happiness.
I remain most truly,
and respectfully
yours $$
William A. Aitken
#42
Lake Superior
LaPointe Oct 16 1834
Ramsey Crooks Esqr
Agent American Fur Co
Honoured Sir
Your letter dated Mackinac Sept [??] reached me by Mr Chapman’s boat today.-
I will endeavour to answer it in such a manner as will give you my full and unreserved opinion on the different subjects mentioned in it.
I feel sorry to see friend Holiday health so poor, and am glad that you have provided him a comfortable place at the Sault. As you remark it is a fortunate circumstance that we have no opposition this year or we would certainly have made a poor resistance. I can see no way on which matters would be better arranged under existing circumstances than the way in which you have arranged it. If Chaboillez, and George will act in unison and according to your instructions, they will do well, but I am somewhat affeared, that this will not be the case, as I think George might perhaps from jealously refuse to obey Chaboillez or give him the proper help. Our building business prevents me from going there myself. I suppose you have now received my letter of last Sept, in which I mentioned that I had kept the Doctor here. I shall send him in a few days to see how matters comes on at the Ance. The Davenports are wanted at present in FDLac should it be necessary to make any alteration. I shall leave the Doctor at the Ance.
Undated photograph of the ABCFM Presbyterian Mission Church at it’s original 1830s location along the shoreline of Sandy Bay.
~ Madeline Island Museum
Reverend Sherman Hall
~ Madeline Island Museum
In addition to the AFC’s new La Pointe, Warren was also committed to the establishment of a mission for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) as a condition of his 1827 Deed for Old La Pointe from his Chippewa wife’s parents; Madeline & Michel Cadotte.
Starting in 1830, the ABCFM built a Mission at La Pointe’s Middleport (second French fort of 1718), where they were soon joined by a new Catholic Mission in 1835.
Madeline Island was still unceded territory until the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe. The AFC and ABCFM had obtained tribal permissions to build here via Warren’s deed, while the Catholics were apparently grandfathered in through French bloodlines from earlier centuries.
I think we will want about 2 Coopers but as you suggest I if they may be got cheaper than the [????] [????]. The Goods Mr Hall has got is for his own use that is to say to pay his men [??]. The [??] [??????] [has?] to pay for a piece of land they bot from an Indian woman at Leech Lake. As far as my information goes the Missionaries have never yet interfered with our trade. Mr Hall’s intention is to have his establishment as much disconnected with regular business as he possibly can and he gets his supplies from us.
[We?] [have?] received the boxes [Angus?] [??] [???]. [You?] mention also a box, but I have not yet received it. Possible it is at the Ance.
The report about Dubay has no doubt been exaggerated. When with me at the Ance he mentioned to me that Mr Aitkin told him he had better tell the Indians not to kill their beaver entirely off and thereby ruin their country. The idea struck me as a good one and as far as I recollect I told him, it would perhaps be good to tell them so. I have not yet heard from any one, that he has tried to prevent the Indians from paying their old Debts and I should not be astonished to fend the whole is one of those falsehoods which Indians are want to use to free themselves from paying old Debts. I consider Dubay a pretty active man, but the last years extravagancies have made it necessary to have an eye upon him to prevent him from squandering.
“The Doctor” Charles William Wulff Borup, M.D.
~ Madeline Island Museum
My health had been somewhat impaired by my voyage from the Sault to this place. Instead of going to Lac Du Flambeau myself as I intended I sent the Doctor. He has just now returned and tells me that Dubay gets along pretty well, though there were some small difficulties which toke place, but which the Dr settled. The prospect are very discouraging, particularly on a/c of provisions. We have plenty opposition and all of them with liquor in great abundance. It is provoking to see ourselves restricted by the laws from taking in liquor while our opponents deal in it as largely as ever. The traders names are as far as could be ascertained Francois Charette and [Chapy?]. The liquor was at Lac du Flambeau while the Doctor was there. I have furnished Dubay with means to procure provisions, as there is actually not 1 Sack of Corn or Rice to be got.
The same is the case on Lac Courtoreilie and Folleavoigne no provisions and a Mr Demarais on the Chippeway River gives liquor to the Indians.
You want my ideas upon the fishing business. If reliance can be put in Mr Aitkin’s assertions we will at least want the quantity of Net thread mentioned in our order. Besides this we will want for our fishing business 200 Barrels Flour, [??] Barrels Pork, 10 Kegs Butter, 1000 Bushels Corn, [??] Barrels Lard, 10 or 11 Barrels Tallow.
Undated photograph of the ABCFM mission house built in 1832.
~ Madeline Island Museum
Besides this we want over and above the years supply an extra supply for our summer Establishments. say about 80 Barrels Flour, 30 Barrels Pork, 1500 # Butter, 400 Bushels Corn, 5 Barrels Lard, 5 Barrels Tallow. This will is partly to sell. be sold.
Mr Roussain will be as good as any if not better in my opinion for our business than Holiday. Ambrose Davenport might take the charge of the Ance but Roussain will be more able on account of his knowledge in fishing. I would recommend to take him as a partner. say take Holidays share if he could not be got for less.
I have not done much yet toward building. The greatest part of my men have been in the exterior to assist our people to get in. But they have now all arrived. We have got about 4 acres of land cleared, a wintering house put up and a considerable quantity of boards sawed. Mr Aitkin did not supply me with two Carpenters as he promised at Mackinac. I will try to get along as well as I can without them. I engaged Jos Dufault and Mr Aitkin brot me one of Abbott’s men, who he engaged. But I will still be under the necessity of hiring Mr Campbell of the mission to make our windows sashes and to superintend The framing of the buildings. Mr Aitkins have done us considerable damage by not fulfilling his promise in this respect. I told you in Mackinac that Mr Aitkin was far from being exact in business. Your letter to him I will forward by the first opportunity. I think it will have a good effect and you do right in being thus plain in stating your views. His contract deserves censure, and I will hope that your plain dealing with him will not be lost upon him. Shall I beg you to be as faithfull to me by giving me the earliest information whenever you might disapprove of any transaction of mine.
Photograph of La Pointe from Mission Hill circa 1902.
~ Wisconsin Historical Collections, Volume XVI, page 80.
I have received a supply of provisions from Mr Chapmann which will enable me to get through this season. The [?] [of?] [???] [next?], the time you have set for the arrival of the Schooner, will be sufficient, early for our business. The Glass and other materials for finishing of the buildings would be required to be sent up in the first trip but if [we?] [are?] [??] better to have them earlier. If these articles could be sent to the Sault early in the Spring a boat load might be formed of [Some?] and Provisions and sent to the Ance. From there men could be spared at that season of the year to bring the load to this place. In that way there would be no heavy expense incurred and I would be able to have the buildings in greater forwardness.
If the plan should meet your approbation please let me know by the winter express. While Mr Aitkin was here we planned out our buildings. The House will be 86 feet by 26 feet in the clear, the two stores will be put up agreeable to your Draft. We do not consider them to large.
I am afraid I shall not be able to build a wharf in season, but shall do my best to accomplish all that can be done with the means I have.
Undated photograph of Captain John Daniel Angus’ boat at the ABCFM mission dock.
~ Madeline Island Museum
I would wish to call your attention towards a few of the articles in our trade. I do not know how you have been accustomed to buy the Powder whether by the Keg or pound. If a keg is estimated at 50#, there is a great deception for some of our kegs do not contain more than 37 or 40 #s.
Our Guns are very bad particularly the barrels. They splint in the inside after been fired once or twice.
Our Holland twine is better this year than it has been for Years. One dz makes about 20 fathoms, more than last year. But it would be better if it was bleached. The NW Company and old Mr Ermantinger’s Net Thread was always bleached. It nits better and does not twist up when put into the water. Our maitre [??] [???] are some years five strand. Those are too large we have to untwist them and take 2 strands out. Our maitre this year are three strand they are rather coarse but will answer. They are not durable nor will they last as long as the nets of course they have to be [renewed?]. The best maitres are those we make of Sturgeon twine. We [?????] the twine and twist it a little. They last twice as long as our imported maitres. The great object to be gained is to have the maitres as small as possible if they be strong enough. Three coarse strands of twisted together is bulky and soon nits.
Our coarse Shoes are not worth bringing into the country. Strong sewed shoes would cost a little more but they would last longer. The [Booties?] and fine Shoes are not much better.
Our Teakettles used to have round bottoms. This year they are flat. They Indians always prefer the round bottom.
In regard to the observations you have made concerning the Doctor’s deviating from the instructions I gave him on leaving Mackinac, I must in justice to him say that I am now fully convinced in my own mind that he misunderstood me entirely, merely by an expression of mine which was intended by me in regard to his voyage from Mackinac to the Sault but by him was mistaken for the route through Lake Superior. The circumstances has hurt his feelings much and as he at all times does his best for the Interest of the Outfit I ought to have mentioned in my last letter, but it did not strike my mind at that time.
Detail from Carte des lacs du Canada by Jacques Nicolas Bellin in 1744.
When Mr Aitkin was here he mentioned to me some information he had obtained from somebody in Fond du Lac who had been in the NW Co service relating to a remarkable good white fish fishery on the “Milleau” or “Millons” Islands (do not know exactly the proper name). They lay right opposite to Point Quiwinau. a vessel which passes between the island and the point can see both. Among Mr Chapmann’s crew here there is an old man who tells me that he knew the place well, he says the island is large, say 50 or 60 miles. The Indian used to make their hunts there on account of the great quantity of Beaver and Reindeer. It is he says where the NWest Co used to make their fishing for Fort William. There is an excellent harbour for the vessel it is there where the largest white fish are caught in Lake Superior. Furthermore the old man says the island is nearer the American shore than the English. Some information might be obtained from Capt. McCargo. If it proves that we can occupy the grounds I have the most sanguine hopes that we shall succeed in the fisheries upon a large scale.
I hope you will gather all the information you can on the subject. Particular where the line runs. If it belongs to the Americans we must make a permanent post on the Island next year under the charge of an active person to conduct the fisheries upon a large scale.
Jh Chevallier one of the men I got in Mackinac is a useless man, he has always been sick since he left Sault. Mr Aitkin advised me to send him back in Chapman’s Boat. I have therefore send him out to the care of Mr Franchere.
By the Winter Express I will to give you all the informations that I may be able to give. I will close by wishing you great health and prosperity. Please present my Respects to Mr Clapp.
I remain Dear Sir.
Very Respectfully Yours
Most Obedient Servant
Lyman M. Warren
To be Continued in 1835…
Audit of the 1854 Treaty Claims
January 18, 2018
By Amorin Mello
This is one of many posts on Chequamegon History that feature the $90,000 of Indian trader debts that were debated during the 1854 Treaty and the 1855 Annuity Payments at La Pointe.
In summary, the Chiefs of the Chippewas made it a condition of the treaty that they would be granted $90,000 to settle outstanding debts with Indian traders, under the condition that a Council of Chiefs would determine which debts claimed by the traders were fair and accurate. The following quote is the fourth article of the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe, with the sentence about the $90,000 underlined for emphasis:
ARTICLE 4. In consideration of and payment for the country hereby ceded, the United States agree to pay to the Chippewas of Lake Superior, annually, for the term of twenty years, the following sums, to wit: five thousand dollars in coin; eight thousand dollars in goods, household furniture and cooking utensils; three thousand dollars in agricultural implements and cattle, carpenter’s and other tools and building materials, and three thousand dollars for moral and educational purposes, of which last sum, three hundred dollars per annum shall be paid to the Grand Portage band, to enable them to maintain a school at their village. The United States will also pay the further sum of ninety thousand dollars, as the chiefs in open council may direct, to enable them to meet their present just engagements. Also the further sum of six thousand dollars, in agricultural implements, household furniture, and cooking utensils, to be distributed at the next annuity payment, among the mixed bloods of said nation. The United States will also furnish two hundred guns, one hundred rifles, five hundred beaver traps, three hundred dollars’ worth of ammunition, and one thousand dollars’ worth of ready made clothing, to be distributed among the young men of the nation, at the next annuity payment.
~ 1854 Treaty with the Chippewa at La Pointe
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties; Volume II by Charles Kappler, 1904
This $90,000 appear to have been an unexpected expense that the United States government incurred in order to successfully negotiate this Treaty. Indian Agent Henry Clark Gilbert was a commissioner of the Treaty, and was obliged to explain this $90,000 to his superiors at the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C. The following is his explanation written a few weeks after the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe was concluded:
The Chiefs who were notified to attend brought with them in every instance their entire bands. We made a careful estimate of the number present and found there were about 4,000. They all had to be fed and taken care of, thus adding greatly to the expenses attending the negotiations.
A great number of traders and claim agents were also present as well as some of the persons from St. Paul’s who I had reason to believe attended for the purpose of preventing if possible the consummation of the treaty. The utmost precautions were taken by me to prevent a knowledge of the fact that negotiations were to take place from being public. The Messenger sent by me to Mr Herriman was not only trust worthy but was himself totally ignorant of the purport of the dispatches to Major Herriman. Information however of the fact was communicated from some source and the persons present in consequence greatly embarrassed our proceedings.
~ Treaty Commissioner Henry C. Gilbert’s explanation of the treaty concluded in 1854 with the assistance of David B. Herriman
Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters: Volume 79, No. 1, Appendix 5
Indian Agent Gilbert’s explanation suggests that there was some effort on his behalf to preemptively avoid the subject of outstanding debts from occuring during the Treaty negotiations. In January of 1855, a few months after the Treaty was negotiated, President Franklin Pierce budgeted for this $90,000 in the fund appropriated for fulfilling the terms of the Treaty:
For the payment of such debts as may be directed by the chiefs in open council, and found to be just and correct by the Secretary of the Interior, per 4th article of the treaty of September 30, 1854…….. 90,000
~ United States House of Representatives Documents, Volume 11, 33d Congress, 2nd Session, Ex. Doc. No. 61.
1854 Treaty of La Pointe Appropriations
As quoted above, the $90,000 negotiated during the treaty were to be distributed by a Council of the Chiefs following the treaty. How the $90,000 were actually distributed did not honor the intent or terms of the treaty. The following is a public notice from Indian Agent Gilbert that invited Indian traders with claims against Tribe to come forth with their claims before or during the 1855 Annuity, and makes no mention of any distribution to be determined by a Council of Chiefs:
PUBLIC NOTICE.
OFFICE MICHIGAN INDIAN AGENT,
DETROIT, June 12, 1855.ALL PERSONS having just and legal claims against the Chippewa Indians of Lake Superior are hereby notified that all such claims must be presented without delay to the undersigned, for investigation. Each claim must be accompanied by such evidence of its justice and legality as the claimant may be able to furnish; and in all cases where the idebtedness claimed is on book account, or is composed of aggregated items, transcripts of such accounts specifying the items in detail, with the charge for each item, and the name of the person to whom, and time when, the same was furnished, must accompany the claims submitted. The original books of entry must also in all cases be prepared for examination.
Claims may be presented at any time prior to the close of the next annuity payment at La Pointe, which will take place in the month of August next; but after that time they will not be received or acted upon.
This notice is given in accordance with instructions received from the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
HENRY C. GILBERT.
Indian Agent.
jy 10 4t~ Superior Chronicle newspaper, July 10th, 1855
Library of Congress
The distribution of this $90,000 was hotly debated by Blackbird and other members of the Council of Chiefs during the 1855 Annuity Payments. It is clear from the speeches transcribed from this important event that the Council was not being allowed to determine the distribution of this $90,000. The following is one of many speeches that touched upon this subject:
In what Blackbird said he expressed the mind of a majority of the chiefs now present. We wish the stipulations of the treaty to be carried out to the very letter.
I wish to say our word about our reserves. Will these reserves made for each of our bands, be our homes forever?
When we took credits of our trader last winter, and took no furs to pay him, and wish to get hold of this 90,000 dollars, that we may pay him off of that. This is all we came here for. We want the money in our own hands & we will pay our own traders. We do not think it is right to pay what we do not owe. I always know how I stand my acct. and we can pay our own debts. From what I have now said I do not want you to think that we want the money to cheat our creditors, but to do justice to them I owe. I have my trader & know how much I owe him, & if the money is paid into the hands of the Indians we can pay our own debts.
~ Adikoons, Chief of Grand Portage Band
(Wheeler to Smith, 18 Jan. 1856)
Blackbird’s Speech at the 1855 Payment
With the above quotes as an introduction to this subject, we will now investigate what exactly happened to the $90,000 to be disbursed as “directed by the chiefs in open council”. What we have found so far appears to suggest that the federal government did not honor their Trust responsibility to the Tribe:
Senate Documents, Volume 112
[Page 295 of audit]
Indian Disbursements
Statement containing a list of the names of all persons to whom goods, money, or effects have been delivered, from July 1, 1856, to June 30, 1857, specifying the amounts and objects for which they were intended, the amount accounted for, and the balances under each specified head still remaining in their hands; prepared in obedience to an act of Congress of June 30, 1834, entitled “An act to provide for the organization of the department of Indian affairs.”
[Pages 303-305 of audit]
Fulfilling treaties with Chippewas of Lake Superior, September 30, 1854
| When issued | To whom issued. | For what purpose. | Amount of requisition. | Am’t accounted for. |
Amount unaccounted for.
|
| 1856 | |||||
| July 3 | John B. Jacobs | Fulfilling Treaties, (due) | $1,718.73 | $1,718.73 | |
| 22 | Henry C. Gilbert | …do… | $7,000.00 | $7,000.00 | |
| Do | …do… | $5,000.00 | $5,000.00 | ||
| Aug. 14 | Henry E. Leman | …do…(due)… | $1,412.50 | $1,412.50 | |
| 18 | Ramsey Crooks | …do…do… | $6,617.64 | $6,617.64 | |
| Adam Noongoo | …do…do… | $66.00 | $66.00 | ||
| Wm. Parsons | …do…do… | $28.50 | $28.50 | ||
| Erwin Leiky | …do…do… | $119.75 | $119.75 | ||
| Robert Morrin | …do…do… | $163.56 | $163.56 | ||
| Charles Bellisle | …do…do… | $191.00 | $191.00 | ||
| Posh-qway-gin | …do…do… | $47.88 | $47.88 | ||
| 22 | W. A. Pratt | …do…do… | $50.00 | $50.00 | |
| John G. Kittson | …do…do… | $1,280.93 | $1,280.93 | ||
| Asaph Whittlesey | …do…do… | $25.00 | $25.00 | ||
| Louis Bosquet | …do…do… | $72.00 | $72.00 | ||
| David King | …do…do… | $100.00 | $100.00 | ||
| P. O. Johnson | …do…do… | $10.12 | $10.12 | ||
| Henry Elliott | …do…do… | $399.02 | $399.02 | ||
| McCullough & Elliott | …do…do… | $475.78 | $475.78 | ||
| Edward Assinsece | …do…do… | $50.00 | $50.00 | ||
| John Southwind | …do…do… | $21.00 | $21.00 | ||
| Kay-kake | …do…do… | $35.00 | $35.00 | ||
| Goff & Co. | …do…do… | $556.21 | $556.21 | ||
| Jame Halliday | …do…do… | $67.88 | $67.88 | ||
| Peter Crebassa | …do…do… | $1,013.99 | $1,013.99 | ||
| S. L. Vaugh | …do…do… | $57.08 | $57.08 | ||
| David King | …do…do… | $191.72 | $191.72 | ||
| Peter B. Barbean | …do…do… | $1,200.00 | $1,200.00 | ||
| 23 | Antoine Gaudine | …do…do… | $3,250.94 | $3,250.94 | |
| Peter Markman | …do…do… | $300.00 | $300.00 | ||
| Pat L. Philan | …do…do… | $90.08 | $90.08 | ||
| Treasurer of township of Lapointe | …do…do… | $224.77 | $224.77 | ||
| Michael Bosquet | …do…do… | $219.63 | $219.63 | ||
| James Ermatinger | …do…do… | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | ||
| Louison Demaris | …do…do… | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | ||
| Joseph Morrison | …do…do… | $250.00 | $250.00 | ||
| John W. Bell | …do…do… | $253.11 | $253.11 | ||
| 27 | Paul H. Beaubien | …do…do… | $600.00 | $600.00 | |
| R. Sheldon & Co. | …do…do… | $1,124.71 | $1,124.71 | ||
| Abraham Place | …do…do… | $450.00 | $450.00 | ||
| Michael James | …do…do… | $195.00 | $195.00 | ||
| R. J. Graveract | …do…do… | $269.19 | $269.19 | ||
| Reuben Chapman | …do…do… | $71.11 | $71.11 | ||
| Miller Wood | …do…do… | $38.50 | $38.50 | ||
| Robert Reed | …do…do… | $21.60 | $21.60 | ||
| Louis Gurno | …do…do… | $179.00 | $179.00 | ||
| Gregory S. Bedel | …do…do… | $142.63 | $142.63 | ||
| Geo. R. Stuntz | …do…do… | $537.41 | $537.41 | ||
| Usop & Hoops | …do…do… | $49.43 | $49.43 | ||
| May-yan-wash | …do…do… | $45.50 | $45.50 | ||
| John Hartley | …do…do… | $41.01 | $41.01 | ||
| B. F. Rathbun | …do…do… | $8.07 | $8.07 | ||
| W. W. Spaulding | …do…do… | $258.92 | $258.92 | ||
| Stephen Bonge | …do…do… | $40.00 | $40.00 | ||
| Abel Hall | …do…do… | $160.00 | $160.00 | ||
| Louis Cadotte | …do…do… | $200.00 | $200.00 | ||
| John Senter & Co. | …do…do… | $17.00 | $17.00 | ||
| John B. Roy | …do…do… | $150.00 | $150.00 | ||
| L. Y. B. Birchard | …do…do… | $26.00 | $26.00 | ||
| Peter Roy | …do…do… | $250.00 | $250.00 | ||
| Jacob F. Shaffer | …do…do… | $150.00 | $150.00 | ||
| Peter Vandeventer | …do…do… | $216.31 | $216.31 | ||
| Sept. 4 | John Hotley, jr. | …do…do… | $538.48 | $538.48 | |
| G. B. Armstrong | …do…do… | $950.00 | $950.00 | ||
| Lathrop Johnson | …do…do… | $376.00 | $376.00 | ||
| 6 | Wm. Mathews | …do…do… | $1,741.50 | $1,741.50 | |
| Cronin, Hurxthal & Sears | …do…do… | $4,583.77 | $4,583.77 | ||
| 13 | Henry C. Gilbert | …do… | $12,500.00 | ||
| 24 | B. W. Brisbois | …do…(due)… | $4,000.00 | $4,000.00 | |
| 27 | John Brunet | …do…do… | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | |
| John B. Roy | …do…do… | $80.00 | $80.00 | ||
| Edward Connor | …do…do… | $600.00 | $600.00 | ||
| Alexis Corbin | …do…do… | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | ||
| Louis Corbin | …do…do… | $1,108.47 | $1,108.47 | ||
| Vincent Roy | …do…do… | $645.36 | $645.36 | ||
| Abner Sherman | …do…do… | $568.00 | $568.00 | ||
| John B. Landry | …do…do… | $502.64 | $502.64 | ||
| Thomas Conner | …do…do… | $1,050.00 | $1,050.00 | ||
| Augustus Corbin | …do…do… | $238.50 | $238.50 | ||
| Julius Austrain | …do…do… | $6,000.00 | $6,000.00 | ||
| Do… | …do…do… | $1,876.86 | $1,876.86 | ||
| John B. Corbin | …do…do… | $750.00 | $750.00 | ||
| Cruttenden & Lynde | …do…do… | $1,300.00 | $1,300.00 | ||
| Orrin W. Rice | …do…do… | $358.09 | $358.09 | ||
| Francis Ronissaie | …do…do… | $817.74 | $817.74 | ||
| Dec. 6 | W. G. and G. W. Ewing | …do…do… | $787.02 | $787.02 | |
| 1857 | |||||
| Jan. 2 | Henry C. Gilbert | …do… | $674.73 | $674.73 | |
| Feb 21 | Do | …do… | $8,133.33 | $8,133.33 | |
| 24 | John B. Cadotte | …do…(due)… | $1,265.00 | $1,265.00 | |
| Cruttenden & Lynde | …do…do… | $1,615.00 | $1,615.00 | ||
| J. B. Landry | …do…do… | $560.00 | $560.00 | ||
| P. Chouteau, jr., & Co. | …do…do… | $935.00 | $935.00 | ||
| Vincent Roy | …do…do… | $5,000.00 | $5,000.00 | ||
| Northern Fur Company | …do…do… | $625.00 | $625.00 | ||
| J. B. Landry | …do…do… | $90.00 | $90.00 | ||
| $105,071.70 | $84,363.64 | $20,708.06 |
Many of the Indian traders listed above make regular appearances in other primary documents of Chequamegon History. Some of the names are misspelled but still recognizable to regular readers. In summary let’s take a closer look at the top ten Indian traders that received the most disbursements related to the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe:
9½.) James Ermatinger
$2,000.00
James Ermatinger was involved with the American Fur Company in earlier years. He seems to have become an independent Indian trader in later years leading up to the 1854 Treaty:
James founded Jim Falls, Wis., arriving by canoe from La Pointe, Wis. where he was involved in fur trading. He settled in Jim Falls, initially managing a trading post there for the American Fur Company. Others in the Ermatinger family were prominent fur traders in Canada, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and Wisconsin.
9½.) Louison Demaris
$2,000.00
According to Theresa Schenck’s research in her book All Our Relations, Louison Demarais may have been a son of Jean Baptiste Demarais who was an interpreter for Alexander Henry the Younger’s North West Company on the Red River:
Louison Desmarais residing at Chippewa River a ½ breed Chippewa 50 yrs of age born at Pembina and remained in the North until 9 years back when he came to Chippewa river where he has resided since claims for himself and wfie Angelique a ½ breed, 35 yrs of age born at Fond du Lac where she remained until she was married 23 years since when she went to the North with her husband and has since lived with him.
~ 1839 Mixed Blood Census
All Our Relations by Theresa M. Schenck, 2010, page 60
8.) Cruttenden & Lynde
$1,615.00 + $1,300.00 = $2,915.00
“Here lie the remains of Hon. J. W. Lynde Killed by Sioux Indians Aug. 18.1862″
~ Findagrave.com
James William Lynde was an Indian Agent, Senator, and first casualty of 1862 Sioux Uprising. Mr. Lynde was also a signatory of the 1854 Treaty, which may be a conflict of interest:
Hon. James W. Lynd was a native of Baltimore, born in 1830, but was reared and educated at Cincinnati. He had received a college education at Woodward College, having attended from 1842 – 1844. He was a man of accomplishments and ability. He thoroughly mastered the Indian language, married successively two Indian wives, and spent years in the study of the history and general character of the Sioux or Dakota tribe. For some time prior to his death he had been engaged in revising for publication the manuscript of an elaborate work containing the results of his studies and researches. Under the circumstances the greater part of this manuscript was lost. He was a young man, of versatile talents had been an editor, lecturer, public speaker, and was a member of the Minnesota State Senate in 1861.
~ Sketches: Historical and Descriptive of the Monuments and Tablets Erected by the Minnesota Valley Historical Society in Renville and Redwood Counties, Minnesota by the Minnesota Valley Historical Society, 1902, page 6
Joel D. Cruttenden was Mr. Lynch’s business partner:
Col. Cruttenden, of whom I have spoken briefly in another place, left St. Louis in 1846 and removed to Prairie du Chien, where he was employed by Brisbois & Rice. In 1848 he came to ST. PAUL and remained up to 1850, when he took up his residence in St. Anthony and engaged in business with R. P. Russel. He then went to Crow Wing and was connected with Maj. J. W. Lynde. In 1857 he was elected to the House of Representatives, and on the breaking out of the war was commissioned Captain Assistant Quartermaster; was taken prisoner, and on being exchanged rose to the rank of Colonel. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged, and soon after removed to Bayfield, Wisconsin, where he has held many offices and is greatly esteemed. He is a pleasant, genial gentleman, well known and well liked.
~ Pen Pictures of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Biographical Sketches of Old Settlers: Volume 1, by Thomas McLean Newson, 1886, page 95
7.) Antoine Gaudine
$3,250.94
~ Antoine Gordon
~ Noble Lives of a Noble Race by the St. Mary’s Industrial School (Odanah), page 207
Antoine Gaudine (a.k.a. Gordon) as one of those larger-than-life mixed-blood members of the La Pointe Band leading up to the 1854 Treaty and beyond:
Mr Gordon was the founder of the village of Gordon and for years had a trading post there which was the only store there. It is but a few years since he discontinued this store. He was a full-blooded Chippewa Indian, and came here from Madelaine Island, where he ran a post years ago. He was formerly the owner of the famous Algonquin, the first ship to come through the Soo locks, and used her in the lumber trade.
~ Eau Claire Leader newspaper, May 8, 1907
6.) B. W. Brisbois
$4,000.00
Bernard Walter Brisbois was a son of Michael Brisbois, Sr.:
Bernard Brisbois was born in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in 1808, to Michel Brisbois, a French-Canadian voyageur, and his second wife Domitelle (Madelaine) Gautier de Verville.
Like his father, Brisbois also began his career in the fur trade, working as agent for the American Fur Company. Bernard married Therese LaChappelle [daughter of metis Pélagie LaPointe (herself the daughter of Pierre LaPointe and Etoukasahwee) and Antoine LaChapelle]. Later he engaged in the mercantile business in Prairie du Chien until 1873 when he was appointed consul at Verviers, Belgium. He returned to Prairie du Chien in 1874 and lived there until his death in 1885.
5.) Cronin, Hurxthal & Sears
$4,583.77
Advertisement of Cronin, Hurxthal & Sears
~ The Prairie News (Okolona, Miss.), April 15, 1858, page 4
According to a receipt from this company, the partners behind this firm were John B. Cronin, Ben. Hurxthal and J. Newton Sears. No further biographical information could be found about these individuals, who are presumed to have been New York City businessmen. In general they appear to have been involved with trades associated with slavery and Indians. Per their advertisement, they were the successors to the firm of Grant and Barton:
Grant and Barton nevertheless remained active in the [Texas] region, winning government contracts to supply the Bureau of Indian affairs with “blankets and dry goods” in the late 1840s and early 1850s…
~ The Business of Slavery and the Rise of American Capitalism, 1815-1860, by Calvin Schermerhorn, 2015, page 225
4.) Vincent Roy
$5,000.00 + $645.36 = $5,645.36
Vincent Roy, Jr. (III)
~ Life and Labors of Rt. Rev. Frederic Baraga, by Chrysostom Verwyst, 1900, pages 472-476
Vincent Roy, Sr. (II) and his son Vincent Roy, Jr. (III) were prominent members of the La Pointe Band mixed-bloods. Sr. was recognized by Gilbert as the Head of the Mixed Bloods of the La Pointe Band of Lake Superior Chippewas. Jr. was allegedly an interpreter at the 1854 Treaty, but is not identified in the Treaty itself and cannot find primary source. Jr. is described as a skilled trader in many sources, including this one:
“Leopold and Austrian (Jews) doing a general merchandize and fur-trading business at LaPointe were not slow in recognizing ‘their man.’ Having given employment to Peter Roy, who by this time quit going to school, they also, within the first year of his arrival at this place, employed Vincent to serve as handy-man for all kind of things, but especially, to be near when indians from the woods were coming to trade, which was no infrequent occurrence. After serving in that capacity about two years, and having married, he managed (from 1848 to 1852) a trading post for the same Leopold and Austrian; at first a season at Fond du Lac, Minn., then at Vermillion Lake, and finally again at Fond du Lac.”
~ Miscellaneous materials related to Vincent Roy, 1861-1862, 1892, 1921
3.) R. Crooks
$6,617.64
Ramsay Crooks
~ Madeline Island Museum
Ramsey Crooks enjoyed a long history with the American Fur Company outfit at La Pointe in the decades leading up to the 1854 Treaty:
“Ramsey Crooks (also spelled Ramsay) was born in Scotland in 1787. He immigrated to Canada in 1803 where he worked as a fur trader and explorer around the Great Lakes. He began working for the American Fur Company, which was started by John Jacob Astor, America’s first multi-millionaire, and made an expedition to the Oregon coast from 1809-1813 for the company. By doing so he also became a partner in the Pacific Fur Company. In 1834 he became acting president of the American Fur Company following Astor’s retirement to New York. A great lakes sailing vessel the Ramsey Crooks was constructed in 1836 by the American Fur Co. A nearly identical sister ship was built in the same year and was called the Astor. Both ships were sold by the dissolving fur company in 1850. Ramsay Crooks passed away in 1859, but had made a name for himself in the fur trade not only in Milwaukee and the Great Lakes, but all the way to the Pacific Ocean.”
2.) J. Austrian
$ 6,000.00 + $1,876.86 = $7,876.86
Julius Austrian
~ Madeline Island Museum
Julius Austrian was competitor and successor of the American Fur Company during the decade immediately leading up to the 1854 Treaty. Chequamegon History’s research has explored the previously uncovered circumstances of Austrian’s purchase of the Village of La Pointe from American Fur Company in 1853, being the unnamed and de facto host of the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe, being the host of the 1855 Annuities at La Pointe, and the host of the 1855 High Holy Days at La Pointe:
“In 1855 a number of Jewish Indian traders met on an island in Lake Superior in the frontier village of La Pointe, Wisconsin. The Indians were assembled there to collect their annuities and the Jews were present to dun their debtors before they dispersed. There were enough Jews for a minyan and a service was held. That was the beginning and the end of La Pointe Jewry.”
~ United States Jewry 1776-1985: Vol. 2; the Germanic Period, Part 1 by Jacob Rader Marcus Wayne State University Press , 1991, page 196
1.) Henry C. Gilbert
$0.00 ?
Henry Clark Gilbert
~ Branch County Photographs
Mackinac Indian Agent Henry Clark Gilbert was the Commissioner of the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe along with David B. Herriman.
Gilbert submitted requisitions for $5,000.00, $7,000.00, $12,500.00, $674.73, and $8,133.33; which is a total amount of $33,308.06. The amount accounted for in his name is $0.00, but his total amount unaccounted for is $20,808.06. The difference between the total amount Gilbert requisitioned and his total amount unaccounted for is $12,500, which is the same amount that Gilbert requisitioned for on September 4th, 1856.
A closer look at all of the 1854 Treaty accounts as a whole suggests that Gilbert was paid his $12,500.00 despite what is shown on paper. The total amount accounted for is actually $71,763.64; which is $12,600.00 less than the total amount on paper. The total amount unaccounted for is $20,808.06; which is $100 greater than the total amount on paper (all of which was in Gilbert’s name). We are left with a puzzle missing some pieces. Did Gilbert obtain his $12,500.00 fraudulently? Was the extra $100 accounted for taken from the unaccounted amounts by someone else as a bribe?
Did Gilbert abuse his Trust responsibility to the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe? Or was this simply a case of sloppy reporting by a federal clerk?
1848 La Pointe Annuity Payments
March 2, 2016
By Amorin Mello
American Fur Company Papers: “Map of La Pointe”
drawn by Lyman Marcus Warren, 1834.
~ Wisconsin Historical Society
Hercules Louis Dousman
“In 1827, the American Fur Company (AFC) achieved a monopoly on the fur trade in what is now Minnesota. The Company suddenly increased its prices by 300 percent; American Indians, returning from the hunt with expectations of trading for their yearly supplies, found themselves cast into a debt cycle that would increase in the decades ahead. American Indians would receive virtually unlimited credit as long as they maintained the most precious collateral: land.
As game was overhunted and demands for furs changed, the system collapsed under a burden of debt. In 1834, AFC departments were sold to partners who included the Chouteaus, Henry Sibley, and Hercules Dousman. The business strategy of the reorganized companies changed from fur trading to treaty making. In 1837, economically stressed Dakota and Ojibwe people began selling land in what became Minnesota. Fur traders, through their political connections, were able to divert government payments for American Indian land into their own pockets. In effect, land cession treaties became a vast government bailout of fur trade corporations.”
~ Relations: Dakota & Ojibwe Treaties
Henry Hastings Sibley Papers 1826-1848
Henry Hastings Sibley
~ Minnesota Historical Society
Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center
History Center & Archives
“Papers of Minnesota’s first governor during his years as a fur trader, consisting primarily of correspondence among the various American Fur Company agents located in the Wisconsin Territory. Correspondence concerns internal company business; business with Hudson Bay Fur Company; company agreements with the Dakota Indians; company interest in United States government treaties with the Dakota, Ojibwa, and Winnebago Indians; attempts by the company to prevent war between the Dakota and the Sauk and Fox Indians; relations with missionaries to the Indians of the region; and company disputes with Indian agents Henry R. Schoolcraft and Lawrence Taliaferro.
Correspondents prominent in the early history of Minnesota and Wisconsin include William Aitken, Frederick Ayer, Alexis Bailly, Bernard Brisbois, Ramsay Crooks, Henry Dodge, James Doty, Hercules Dousman, Jean Faribault, Alexander Faribault, Joseph Nicollet, Henry Rice, Joseph Rolette, Henry Schoolcraft, Lawrence Taliaferro, and Lyman Warren.”
New York April 17, 1848
To Geo Ebninger Esq.
Assignee Am. Fur Co.
Dear Sir,
Pierre Chouteau, Jr.; son of French Creole fur trader, merchant, politician, and slaveholder Jean-Pierre Chouteau.
~ Wikipedia.org
We hasten to reply to you, of this date offering to sell “The American Fur Co Establishments at Lapointe” all the Northern Outfit Posts: – “The whole for twenty five hundred dollars ($2500)” provided we will take the goods remaining on hand there after this spring’s trade at New York cash for sound Merchantable goods everything else as its fair actual value & say that we regret you waited until the moment our senior was leaving for the west before making the above proposition & also some days after the departure of Mr. Rice. It is probable, if your letter had been received during his stay here, that we would have accepted it or made other propositions which would have been agreeable. We thought if you were desirous of selling the Establishments & goods that you would have apprised us earlier of your intentions & given us time to consult or reflect upon it. And we expect, and hope that you will give us time to communicate your proposition to the persons interested with us in Upper Mississippi & particularly with Mr. Rice who alone has visited the posts & has a correct idea of their value.
Believing that the delay we ask will not or cannot be prejudicial to your interests we will wait your answer.
Very respectfully
yr obd svt
P Chouteau Junr
New York 28th June, 1848
Mister P Chouteau Jr & Co
New York
Gentlemen,
Agreeably to what I had the pleasure to address you on the 14th April last, copy of which letter is annex I will sell you the late American Fur Company’s Establishment at La Pointe & as the terms and conditions as before named, delivery to be made to you or your agent on a date to be hereafter agreed upon between the First day of September and Fifteenth day of October next and ending Payments for the same to be made in New York to me in October or November next.
Please let me have your written reply to this proposition.
I am gentlemen bestly
Your Obedt Servt
George Ebninger
Assignee to P Chouteau Jr, St Louis
New York 30th June, 1848
To George Ebninger Esq.
Assignee Am Fur Co.Dear Sir,
View of La Pointe, circa 1843.
“American Fur Company with both Mission churches. Sketch purportedly by a Native American youth. Probably an overpainted photographic copy enlargement. Paper on a canvas stretcher.”
~ Wisconsin Historical Society
In reply to yours of 28th inst (with copy annexed of similar letters under date 14th April last) we have to say that under advises lately received from our Saint Louis house we accept in general terms your proposition for the sale of the American Fur Co’s trading Establishment at Lapointe and interior for the sum offered, of Twenty Five Hundred dollars. It may be well enough to observe how ever that we consider the sale as dating only from the time of delivery to our authorized agents. Until then received we shall consider the posts as the property of Late American Fur Co and to be as their risk and any destruction of property between now and the time you may fix for delivery to be their loss and not ours.
The terms of payments proposed by you are entirely acceptable. But we think it might be better to make it more definite and accordingly suggest that our agents who received the property draw upon us as forty days & nights for the amount. Hoping that these slights exchanged may meet your sanctions and that you will name an early day for the delivery of posts & we remain very truly,
Your Obedt Servt
P. Chouteau Jr & Co
New York 5th July 1848
P Chouteau Jr Esq
Saint LouisDear Sir
“Ramsey Crooks (also spelled Ramsay) was born in Scotland in 1787. He immigrated to Canada in 1803 where he worked as a fur trader and explorer around the Great Lakes. He began working for the American Fur Company, which was started by John Jacob Astor, America’s first multi-millionaire, and made an expedition to the Oregon coast from 1809-1813 for the company. By doing so he also became a partner in the Pacific Fur Company. In 1834 he became acting president of the American Fur Company following Astor’s retirement to New York. A great lakes sailing vessel the Ramsey Crooks was constructed in 1836 by the American Fur Co. A nearly identical sister ship was built in the same year and was called the Astor. Both ships were sold by the dissolving fur company in 1850. Ramsay Crooks passed away in 1859, but had made a name for himself in the fur trade not only in Milwaukee and the Great Lakes, but all the way to the Pacific Ocean.” ~ Milwaukee County Historical Society
On the 28th June I sold to your house the Establishments of the late American Fur Company at Lapointe agreeably to the letter I had written to you on the 14th April. Cash delivery to be made at some period to be agreed upon hereafter between the first day of September and fifteenth day of October next. I hope that it may be in my power to get to Lapointe and attend to the delivery to your agents but if not we must select some other to act for me, Mr. Crooks and myself are not on good terms in [cou-bethee?] ease as he has been opposed to the sale being made by from the bush. I have lately heard that Mr. Crooks has written the Establishment & at Lapointe (Mr. [Ludgem?] of Detroit told me so while in the city lately) and he must have written to him shortly after the offer was made to you here, and it remains to be seen what authority he can have to dish use of the property which has been assigned to me and over which I have acted as assignee for nearly the last six years. Mr. Crooks acts of leaving here shortly for the Northern Posts. Before then I shall know what he proposes to do to annul the sale I have (under the authority vested in me as assignee) made to you, and which has been made agreeably to his only Suggestions on the 14th day of April last, and the only objection he can make to the Sale is that you did not as once accepts of his but required only a reasonable time to reply to which I was willing to grant and would again give under such circumstances you being there on the eve of leaving here, but it was clear enough that Mr. Crooks never wished that you should have the Northern Outfit Establishment, but that his friend Borrup should. I shall however do all that I can to oppose his injust views on that score.
I am In Most Truly
Your Obedt Servt
George Ebninger
Aspring politician and future Senator Henry Mower Rice represented the Chippewas at the 1847 Treaty of Fond du Lac, and appears frequently here on Chequamegon History.
~ United States Senate Historical Office
St. Louis July 14, 1848
Mr.s Sibley & Rice
St. PetersDr. Sirs
We had this pleasure of the 7th inst by [Shamus Highland Many?] enclosing Invoice & Bill of Landing of C.O. English goods which we hope you will have received in good order and due time – The same day and as the time the boat was pushing off we addressed you a few lines in haste, advising you of the purchase made by our House in New York, of the posts at Lapointe. We have just received several documents in relation to that purchase of which you will find copies herewithin.
You will perceive from their contents how Mr. Crooks has acted in the matter, and that it has become urgent for us to take such steps as will answer the possession of the said posts. How we will be able to succeed, Doctr. Borrup being now in possession & having apparently purchased from Mr. Crooks, is a matter of doubt and can only be ascertained at Lapointe. We have purchased Bona Fide from Mr. G. Ebninger, the only person authorized to make sale, as the assigner of the late American F. Co. Mr. Borrup we are afraid, will (as you can see by Mr. Sanford’s letter) refuses to give possession, and in that case, in a country where there is no way of enforcing law, we may not be able to obtain possession before next year. Now, would it be desirable or advantageous to make the purchase and not get possession before that time? We think not.
Oil painting of Doctor Charles William Wulff Borup from the Minnesota Historical Society:
“Borup and Oakes were headmen for the [American Fur Company]. All voyageurs, ‘runners,’ as they were called, were employed by said company. They would leave La Pointe about the beginning of September, stay away all fall and winter among the Indians in their respective districts, collect furs, and return about the beginning of June. They would take along blankets, clothes, guns, etc., to trade with the Indians for their furs. They took along very little provisions, as they depended mostly on hunting, fishing, wild reice, and trade with the Indians for their support. There were several depots for depositing goods and collecting furs, for instance at Fond du Lac (Minnesota,) Sandy Lake, Courtes Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau Mouth of Yellow River, etc.”
~ Proceedings of the [Wisconsin Historical] Society at its Sixty-fourth Annual Meeting, 1917, pages 177-9
We are writing this day to our home in New York and to Mr. G. Ebninger that he must proceed immediately to Lapointe so as to be here from the 1st to the 15th September, and claim himself & in person the delivery of the posts. Any agent would not probably succeed, or objections would no doubt be made by Doctr. Borrup which said agent could not face or answer. You will therefore do the necessity of either of you going to Lapointe and meet them with Mr. Ebninger on the time appointed above.
Very truly yours,
P. Chouteau Jr & Co
It was only on the 10th inst that we were handed your forms of 25 june enclosing packing ‘℅’ of the U.S. postal M.R. #01037 for ℅ St Louis ℅ Chippewa outfit. Capt. Ludwick ought to be more particular with papers confided to his care.
Bernard Walter Brisbois was an agent for the American Fur Company.
Duplicates of this letter and documents enclosed, sent to the care of Mr. Brisbois of Prairie du Chien, by mail
You will notice by copy of telegraphic dispatch of the 10th that the Chippewa annuity will be paid at Lake Superior as heretofore.
[Illegible]
The New York Times
September 29, 1851
“Indian Moneys”
There is no greater abuse in the governmental policy of the United States, than the past and present system of Indian payments; and the Indians would be benefited if the money thus appropriated were cast into the Lakes, rather than made the cause of such much distress and swindling as it is.
The author of this article is not identified.
In the August of 1848 we were present at a payment at La Pointe, and we have no hesitation in saying that every dollar paid to the Indians there was a disadvantage rather than a benefit to them.
The payment was fixed for August, and Indians from West of the Mississippi were called together at La Pointe to receive it. They gathered at the appointed time, and the payment was not made for three weeks after the time specified.
The money collected at the Saut Ste. Marie Land Office, the most convenient point, had been transported, as per Government order, to Chicago, and the Paymaster received drafts on that point where he was compelled to go for the specie, and the payment was thus delayed.
La Pointe Beaver Money of the American Fur Company’s Northern Outfit from “The Beaver in Early Wisconsin” by A. W. Schorger, Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts, & Letters, Volume 54, page 159.
Meantime, the Indians gathered at La Pointe were without the necessaries of life, and the agents of the North American Fur Company, and a few old traders who were posted in the business, supplied them with provisions at exorbitant rates, and forced them to buy with every ounce of pork or flour which they needed, an equal amount of dry-goods and gewgaws, which had no value for them. These sales were made on credit, to be settled at the pay-table. At the payment, some $30,000 in cash, and a stipulated quantity of blankets, guns, powder, tin pails, calicoes, ribbons, &c., were distributed; and this American Fur Company, and the favored traders, raked from the Paymaster’s table as it was counted out to the bands, over $12,000 for provisions furnished to, and trash forced upon the Indians, while they were delayed after being summoned to the payment.
Some $14,000 more was spent among forty traders and the remaining $4,000 the Indians carried home; about one dollar each.
Their blankets, about the only valuable thing they received in the way of dry goods, were on the night after payment, mostly transferred to a mercenary set of speculators, at a cost of a pint of whiskey each, and came down to the Saut as private property on the same propeller that took them up as government gratuity.
Such was the result of a payment for which thousands of Indians traversed many miles of forest, wasted six weeks’ time, and lost the crop of wild rice upon which they depended for their winter’s subsistence.
If a white man with a white soul, writes the history of the Indians of the West, the American government will gain little credit from his record of Indian payments.
For more context about these American Fur Company partners and their affairs following the 1848 La Pointe annuity payments, please read pages 133-136 of Last Days of the Upper Mississippi Fur Trade by Rhonda R. Gilman, Minnesota History, Winter 1970.
But the swindle of 1848 was not gross enough to suit certain grasping parties. La Pointe was too easy of access. So many traders sought a market for their goods there, that the old monopolists could not obtain a thousand per cent on the goods they sold; and even in 1848, it was whispered that they were using all their influence to have the future payments made at some point so far West that competition would not force them to be content with moderate profits.
For more context about the Lake Superior Chippewa following the 1848 La Pointe annuity payments, please read our The Sandy Lake Tragedy and Ojibwe Removal series here on Chequamegon History.
To effect this it was necessary to remove the Chippewas further West, and by some influence, not, perhaps, distinctly marked, but yet more than suspected, this order of removal was secured.
It was uncalled for, useless, and abominable; and we are glad, for the sake of humanity and justice, that the Administration have resolved that for the present the edict shall not be enforced. We trust it may never be.
Chequamegon History 