WISCONSIN.

WISCONSIN derives its name from its principal river, which the Chippewas, who resided on its head-waters, called the Wees-kon-san, which signifies

The

"gathering of the waters." French voyageurs called it Ouisconsin, the first syllable of which is nearer the Indian sound than Wis. The first white men on the soil of Wisconsin were two French fur traders, who passed the winter of 1659 among the Indians of Lake Superior. Arriving at Quebec the next summer, with sixty canoes, loaded with furs, and manned with 300 Algonquins, they aroused a spirit of religious zeal among the Jesuits to bear the cross in the cabins of those distant tribes. In 1661, Father Mesnard went on a mission to the south side of Lake Superior, where he resided more than eight months, surrounded by savages and a few French voyageurs: he finally perished, in some unknown way, in the rocky pine clad wilderness. Undismayed by his sad fate a successor was appointed, Father Claude Allouez, who arrived at the Sault Ste. Marie on the 1st of September, 1668. "He employed the whole month of September in coasting the southern portion of Lake Superior, where he met many Christians baptized by Father Mesnard. I had the pleasure,' says this venerable man, of assuring, by baptism, the eternal salvation of many a dying infant.' His success with the adults seems to have been less. At Chagouamigon, or St. Michael, on the south-western side of Lake Superior, there were gathered eight hundred warriors of different nations; a chapel was built; among them were several tribes who understood the Algonquin language. So fine an occasion for exercising his zeal could not be overlooked. 'I spoke in the Algonquin language,' says he, 'for a long time, on the subject of the Christian religion, in an earnest and powerful manner, but in language suited to the capacity of my audience. I

ARMS OF WISCONSIN.

MOTTO-Forward.

was greatly applauded, but this was the only fruit of my labors.' Among the number assembled, were three hundred Pottawatomies, two hundred Sauks, eighty Illinoians. In the year 1668, peace having been established between the French and the Six Nations, many discoveries were made, and many new missions established. In this year Fathers Dablon and Marquette went to the mission of Sault Ste. Marie. In the same year, Father Nicholas, who was on the mission with Allouez, conducted a deputation of 'Nez Perces,' an Algonquin tribe, to Quebec, and Father Allouez went to the mission at Green Bay. Sault Ste. Marie was made the center of their missionary labors among the Algonquin tribes."

Father Marquette had been residing at the Straits of Mackinaw and the Sault Ste. Marie about five years, when, accompanied by M. Joliet, a French gentleman of Quebec, and five French voyageurs and two Indian guides, he started from the straits on an exploring expedition. He "had heard of the great river of the west, and fancied that upon its fertile banks-not mighty cities, mines of gold, or fountains of youth, but whole tribes of God's children, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with the wish to go and preach to them, he obeyed with joy the orders of Talon, the wise intendent of Canada, to lead a party into the unknown distance."

Marquette passed down Green Bay to Fox River, which they entered, and dragged their canoes through its strong rapids to a village of Indians where Father Allouez had visited, and where "they found a cross, on which hung skins and belts, bows and arrows, which they had offered to the great Manitou (God), to thank him because he had taken pity on them during the winter, and had given them abundant chase." Beyond this point no Frenchman had gone, and here was the bound of discovery.

"Being guided by the friendly Indians, Marquette and his companions came to the Wisconsin River, about three leagues distant, whose waters flowed westward. They floated down the river till the 17th of June, 1673, when they reached the Mississippi, the great 'Father of Waters,' which they entered with 'a joy that could not be expressed,' and raising their sails to new skies, and to unknown breezes, floated down this mighty river, between broad plains, garlanded with majestic forests and chequered with illimitable prairies. and island groves. They descended about one hundred and eighty miles, when Marquette and Joliet landed, and followed an Indian trail about six miles, to a village. They were met by four old men, bearing the pipe of peace and 'brilliant with many colored plumes.' An aged chief received them at his cabin, and, with uplifted hands, exclaimed: 'How beautiful is the sun, Frenchmen, when thou comest to visit us!—our whole village awaits thee— peace thou shalt enter all our dwellings.' Previous to their departure, an Indian chief selected a peace pipe from among his warriors, embellished with gorgeous plumage, which he hung around the neck of Marquette, 'the mysterious arbiter of peace and war-the sacred calumet-the white man's protection among savages.' On reaching their boats, the little group proceeded onward. I did not,' says Marquette, 'fear death; I should have esteemed it the greatest happiness to have died for the glory of God.' They passed. the mouth of the Missouri, and the humble missionary resolved in his mind, one day, to ascend its mighty current, and ascertain its source; and descending from thence toward the west, publish the gospel to a people of whom he had never heard. Passing onward, they floated by the Ohio, then, and for a brief time after, called the Wabash, and continued their explorations as far south as the mouth of the Arkansas, where they were escorted to the

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Indian village of Arkansea. Being now satisfied that the Mississippi entered the Gulf of Mexico, west of Florida, and east of California; and having spoken to the Indians of God and the mysteries of the Catholic faith, Marquette and Joliet prepared to ascend the stream. They returned by the route of the Illinois River to Green Bay, where they arrived in August. Marquette remained to preach the gospel to the Miamis, near Chicago. Joliet, in person, conveyed the glad tidings of their discoveries to Quebec. They were received with enthusiastic delight. The bells were rung during the whole day, and all the clergy and dignitaries of the place went, in procession, to the cathedral, where Te Deum was sung and high, mass celebrated."

Wisconsin was next visited by La Salle and Father Hennepin, a Fanciscan friar, a man of ambition and energy. These adventurers having passed down the Illinois, Hennepin paddled up the Mississippi as far as the Wisconsin, where he was taken prisoner by the Indians, who treated him and his companions kindly. They then took them up to the Falls, which Hennepin named St. Anthony, in honor of his patron saint. From this point he returned to Canada, by way of Lake Superior, and thence to France. The irst permanent settlement by the whites in Wisconsin, appears to have been made at Green Bay, about the year 1745, by Augustin De Langlade, a native of France, of noble family, who emigrated to Canada at an early age.

The territory remained under the government of France till 1763, when, at the treaty of Paris, it was ceded to Great Britain, who retained it until the independence of the United States was acknowledged by that country, in 1783, when it was claimed by Virginia as part of the Illinois country, conquered by Col. George Rodgers Clark. It remained, however, in the possession of Great Britain till 1796, when it was surrendered in accordance with Jay's treaty, ratified the previous year. In 1784, it was ceded by Virginia to the United States. In 1787, a government was provided for the territory north-west of the Ohio. In 1800, it was divided into two separate governments, the western being called Indiana. In 1809, Indiana was divided and Illinois organized. When Illinois was formed into a state, in 1818, the territory north of the parallel of Lat. 42° 30′, west of the middle of Lake Michigan, was attached to the territory of Michigan, which had been set off from Indiana in 1805.

In 1832, commenced the "Black Hawk War," the most important actions of which took place within the "Huron District" of Michigan, as Wisconsin was then called: they will be found detailed on page 1106 of this work. When Michigan was formed into a state, in 1836, Wisconsin was erected into a separate territorial government. Wisconsin Territory comprised within its limits and jurisdiction the whole region from Lake Michigan to Lake Superior, extending westward to the Missouri River, including all the sources of the Upper Mississippi. Its southern limits were the northern boundaries of the states of Illinois and Missouri, and its extent from north to south was 380 miles, and from east to west 650 miles. The first "governor and superintendent of Indian affairs was Henry Dodge, and John S. Horner was territorial secretary. Gov. Dodge convened the first territorial legislature at Belmont, now in Lafayette county. The second session was convened in Burlington, now in Iowa, and the next, in 1838, in Madison, the present capital.

"The settled portions of the territory were chiefly near the western shore cf Lake Michigan, and the organized counties extended westward and south

westwardly to the banks of the Fox River of Green Bay, as far as Fort Winnebago, and thence down the Wisconsin River, on the south-eastern side, for thirty miles below the "portage." At the same time, immigrants, by way of Milwaukie and Racine, were advancing upon the upper tributaries of Rock River, as far west as the "Four Lakes" and Fort Madison. A few settlements had extended, likewise, westward to the banks of the Mississippi, north of Galena and the Illinois state line. Others had been slowly, for more than three years, extending west of the Mississippi, upon the waters of the Des Moines, Skunk River, Lower Iowa, and Waubesapinacon, as well as upon the immediate banks of the Mississippi itself. These settlements, for temporary government, were annexed to the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin Territory as the "District of Iowa."

The remainder of the Territory of Wisconsin, north and west of the Wisconsin River and of Fox River, as well as the northern and western portions of the present state of Iowa, was a savage waste, still in the partial occupancy of the remaining tribes of Indians, and in a great degree unknown to civilization. Such were the extent and population of the Wisconsin Territory upon its first independent organization.

Ďuring the years 1841, 1842, and 1843, emigration from the north-eastern states began to send its floods into the Wisconsin Territory, both by way of the lakes and by way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, to the banks of the Wisconsin River. Thousands, especially in the latter years, crowded into the beautifully undulating lands along the western shore of Lake Michigan, south of Green Bay, to the Illinois line; and population extended rapidly from the lake shore westward to the banks of Fox River, and along the region south of the Wisconsin River as far as the banks of the Mississippi. Settlements soon spread over this delightful country, diversified by lakes and prairies, in which all the crystal tributaries of Rock River take their rise.

A few years before, this had been called the "Far West," beyond the advance of white settlements and civilized life, in the sole occupancy of the most degraded and improvident of the savages, the Winnebagoes, Sauks, and Foxes. Now towns and commerce occupy the seats and haunts of the degraded Indian, upon which the rays of civilization had never beamed. A large mercantile town, with an active and enterprising community, had sprung up at Milwaukie Bay; a town which, three years afterward, in 1845, became an incorporated city, with extensive powers and privileges, designed to render it the commercial emporium of the future state of Wisconsin. Other trading. towns lined the beautiful shore of the lake for many miles north and south of this central depot.

During the year 1843, the aggregate number of persons who arrived in the Wisconsin Territory has been estimated at more than sixty thousand, embracing all ages and sexes. Of these, about fifty thousand arrived by way of the lake route. The remainder advanced by way of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers, and comprised a great proportion of foreign emigrants from the German states. These emigrants spread over the country south and east of the Wisconsin River, and opened new settlements upon its northern and western tributaries. In 1845, Wisconsin Territory contained more inhabitants than any other new state possessed upon her admission into the Union; yet the people, satisfied with the territorial form of government, desired not, in the recent state of the principal settlements, to incur the additional expense of an independent state government. Hence, with a population of more than one hundred and forty thousand souls, the Wisconsin Ter

ritory had not, in 1845, made application to congress for authority to establish a state government. In May, 1848, however, Wisconsin was admitted into the Union."

Wisconsin is bounded N. by Lake Superior, the upper peninsula of Michigan, and Minnesota, W. by Minnesota and Iowa, E. by Lake Michigan, and S. by Illinois. It lies between 42° 30′ and 46° 55′ N. Lat., and between 87° and 92° 50′ W. Long. Its greatest extent north and south is 285 miles, and 255 east and west, having a land area of 53,924 square miles, or 34,511,360 acres, of which 1,045,499 only were improved in 1850.

Wisconsin is one of the healthiest of countries, with a dry, transparent, and bracing atmosphere, and remarkably free from fevers and ague. Writers familiar with it, say:

"It is, indeed, delightful in speculation to talk of constant spring, of perpetual verdure, of flowers in bloom at all seasons, of purling brooks never obstructed by ice, of a mild climate, where Jack Frost never spreads his white drapery over the surface of the earth; but it is a problem, not yet fully solved, whether a tropical climate contributes more to one's happiness than the varying seasons of a northern clime. Nay, whatever doubt there is on the subject predominates in favor of a northern latitude. Industry, intelligence, morality, and virtue, are exhibited more generally among the inhabitants of northern latitudes than those of southern. If one's physical enjoyment is equally promoted by the bracing air of a cold cli mate, then, indeed, the argument is in favor of the latter, for vigor of body and purity of mind are the most essential ingredients in the cup of happiness. The air of our winters is dry and bracing. When snow falls it usually remains on the ground several months, forming an excellent road either for traveling, business, or pleasure. The rivers are securely wedged with ice, rendering many portions of the country more accessible at that season than at any other. An excellent opportunity is afforded to the younger portion of the community for innocent amusements —sleighing, sliding downhill, and skating-amusements highly exhilarating, and promotive alike of health and happiness. These observations have been made because a greater value is often set on a mild southern climate, in reference to its capacity in affording the means of happiness or of health, than it really possesses.' "We have always made it a point to inquire of new settlers in Wisconsin how they liked the climate, and the answer invariably was, that it was far superior to that of the states they had left—whether Eastern, Middle or Southern, One emigrant says: As the result of my observations, I would state briefly-and in this I do but repeat a common sentiment-that I would much rather spend a winter in Wisconsin than in New York or Pennsylvania. True, the weather is cold; but it is of that settled, steady, clear character, which we here call bracing weather." No damp winds, no sloppy thaw, no uncomfortable rains, but day after day the same unbroken field of snow, the same clear, bright sunshine, the same untroubled air. Winter here holds undisputed sway; it is not a muddled mixture of all seasons, in which the breezy spring, the clear autumn, the sunny summer and the rigorous winter mingle and mix, and come and go together. You will understand the force of this distinction when I tell you that the first fall of snow in Wisconsin remains on the ground during the whole winter without a crust; so free is the air from that dampness, which, in other countries produce it. Who among you has not noticed the penetrating character of dampness in cold-its chilling, searching qualities; or who, on the other hand, has not gone abroad on days of intense coldness, but when the air was dry and pure, and felt elastic, buoyant, and comfortable. Such is a Wisconsin winter. I suffered less from the cold while here, than I have many times in Pennsylvania when the thermometer stood much higher."

Wisconsin may be described generally as an elevated rolling prairie, the highest portion being on the north, and forms the dividing ridge between the waters flowing S.W. into the Mississippi, and those flowing northward and eastward into the lakes. Limestone underlies most of the southern part of