Lee County, Illinois - Chapter 2: The Beginning of Things, 1914

Chapter 2: The Beginning of Things

The first known white man to frequent these parts, was Pierre LaPorte, a Erenchman from Fort Frontenae, Ontario, who hunted, trapped and traded along Rock river from the Turtle village, now practically, Beloit, Wisconsin, to its mouth.

With the exception of a few trips made to the Rocky Mountains, Pierre LaPorte covered this Rc^iek river territory from the year 1780 to the year 1810.

On a few occasions he trapped u})-streani along Rock, river, and at the end of such expeditions he sold his cargo of skins at Green Bay, now Wisconsin. At this point in the narrative, it may be interesting to learn that each person or member of a trading party was expected to can-y over the portages and along the trails, not less than eighty-seven pounds of baggage.

This old Frenchman died at his home in Fort Frontenae, now Kingston, Ontario, about the year 1830. Of his descendants living in and aliout Dixon may l)e included Frank E. Stevens, the editor of this work, Mrs. William H. Edwards. States Attorney Harry Edwards, and the LaPortcs. the Herricks and the Nisl)ets of Paw Paw, this county.

LaPorte was but one of the myriad Frenchmen who blazed the way for the civilization which followed so rapidly. Like most of the Frenchmen, this one found no trouble at all in dealing amicably with the Indians. They were hospitable, and honorable in their dealings and they were remarkably true to all their friendships. The Indians who occupied the Rock river coTuitry. principally Winnebagoes, were like Indians elsewhere, treated fairly and they ever were found to be firm in their attachments, civil in their conduct and honorable in their Imsiness transactions.

LaSallier, spelled also LeSaller and LeSellier, a Frenchman, probaldy was the next person to invade the country, and beyond any doubt, he became the first settler of Lee county.

During the Illinois trip of j\Iajor Long, in the year 1823, mentioned later on, LeSallier, according to Keating, the secretary of the party, mast have settled on Rock river in the year 1793. He is said by some to have married a Pottawatomie woman, although Keating, who generally was accurate, said he married a Winnebago woman. In Carr's book mentioned hereafter, this woman was called a Pottawatomie.

Some authorities state that a daughter of this marriage was the woman who married Joseph Ogee, a half breed Frenchman. If that is true, then according to the Treaty of Prairie du Chien, she was a Pottawatonii(% l^ecause that treaty which could make no mistake, called Ogee's wife, ]\radeline, a Pottawatomie woman.

Dr. Oliver Everett, who was considered accurate in his statements, and who was said to have investigated the question when it was close at hand, ])ronounced her the daughter of LaSallier. In a conversation with AAllliani I). Barge, August 13, 1886, he told Mr. Barge he knew the woman was LaSallier 's daughter. Such e\'idence is pretty strong. Nevertheless, I cannot conceal my very grave doubts.

If LaSallier married a s(|iiaw, as he did. their offspring would be half breeds and Madeline would have been a half breed and natui-ally I Avould suppose the 1829 treaty of Prairie du Chien would lia\T' called liei' a half breed, because she was as much a white as she was a Pottawatomie Indian. In the neighborhood of the section of land which she was given in Wytmiing township, she was styled a Pottawatomie and she retired to Kansas at last with the Pottawatomie Indians.

Just wlicii LaSallici' left the conntry it is im|)0ssible to state and almost impossilile to conjecture. ( iurdon S. Hubbard, the best authority on early Illinois settlements, made the statement that three or four trading ])osts on Poi-k river were operated in the interest of the Auiericau l''ur ('ouipany from 1813-11 to 1826-33. In 1835 t he ruins of L;iS;illier"s cahin wei-e discernible and part of the lous. in a I'uiued coiidiiidu. wei'c left and seen many times by the hite .loscph ('I'awford. our lirst county surveyor. The exact local iou and size of the huildings ni'e plaiidy in view todav.

About the next early settler we easily can learn everything because he married here, lived in the state all his life and died an lioiioi-ed cit i/eu o\-ei' in the neighboring (Miuntv of Winneliago.

From the "History of Roektoii," by Edsoii I. Viwr, pages six to sixteen inclusive. I tiiid that Stephen Mack, soon after the War of 1812, came to Detroit, i^robably al:)()ut the year 1814, with the family. Ambitious for adventure and a life of activity for himself, he joined a Government exijeditiou around the lakes to Grreen Bay. Green Bay Ix'ing the great fur market of the West, and fur trading tlie sole oceupati<:)n of the people, Mack resolved iqxm opening a trading point of his own. To this end he was directed to the Eock river country. On a })(_iny he started across the country, reaching in due time the point where -Tanesville now stands.

Following the sti'eam downward, he paused at the Turtle village. The Indians there directed him to iJird's (Jrove. In seeking this spot, however, he took the wrong trail and passing it, continued until he reached a Pottawatomie Aillage in what is now Lee county, at or near Gi'and Detonr. Here he remained two or three .years, traded for furs, carried his furs on the backs of Indian ponies to Chicago, and there he sold them, stocked up with merchandise, and then trudged back to the village.

Mack was an honest trader; he did everything possible to win the good will of the Indians, but he failed. His marriage to Ho-none-gah, the chief's daughter, failed to cement any strong friendships among the tril)e Ix'cause he refused to sell members firearms and liquor.

His last trip to Chicago was made with three ponies. He had conducted a successful enterprise in trade and he started on his retm-n trip Avith more goods than on any previous occasion.

The Indians had determined upon his destruction and this return trip had been selected as the time to do it. But in their e^dl calculations they had overlooked one very important person, his wife. This faithful woman had learned of the plot and at about the time she expected her husband wonld reach a certain point, she struck out from camj) and met him, and together they traveled to the Winnel^ago village in Bird's Grove. Thus terminated the residence of Stephen Mack. He passed the remainder of his life in Winnebago county with his faithful Indian wife. The story of his life is dramatically interesting, but it has no place in these ])ages after his departure from the borders of Lee county.

The exact location of Mack's Pottawatomie village has l)een the subject of some debate, Init it is pretty generally conceded now to have been located in Lee county not far up-stream from the LaSallier cabin on what is now the Eugene Harrington farm on section 19 in Nachusa township, 22 X., range 10.

Around tliis ca))in tliere was a \cr\' large cemetery. Every oue of tlie many graves long since has been examined and the coutents returned. The writer found a small piece of human bone in a grave not six feet from the spot on which the cabin stood. The graves were very shallow. l)ut some of the explorers dug very deep into the ground in the hope perhaps that arti<'les of curiosity or value might be found. This cabin, from the appearance of the ground today, nuist have been a doul)le affair, one buih alougside the other, in size about eighteen feet square.

LaSallier must have been a bird of passage. After the visit of Webb, we find him acting as guide for a ]iarty ti'aveling from Chicago to the lead mines at (Jalena. The route lay through DuPage, Kane, Ogle and Stephenson counties, and a full account of it may be found in "Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's Hixcr, etc., performed in the year 182o. under command (tf Stephen H. Long, IT. S. T. E." The Webb account is so full and so relial)le and so pertinent that a verbatim copy of it .should be inserted herein. It is to lie found in his book entitled "Altowan; iiicideuts of Life and Adventure in the Rock}' Momitains."" volume 1, pages xiii-xxvii.

"Ill the winter uf 1S21-22. 1 was statioiie(l at Clii<-ago. then about one huiidi-ed and lit'tx' miles in advauct' of the pioneer settlers. All west and north df us, with the exception of the old French settieiiieiits at (ireeii IJay and Prairie du ( Miien, was an untrodden wilderness, or truddeii mily by the lurds of the forest and the adventurous trapper and \'oyageiir. A short time previous, the fifth regiment of infantry, under the comiiiand of Colonel Snelliiig, had established itself on the r]>per Mississippi, at tlie Falls (d' St. Anthony. I^aily in h'ebruary, ^H'22, the ])rincipal chief of the Pottawatomies. one of the most friendly tribes west of Tjake Michigan, reported to the agent at mir post, that his tribe had reeei\-e(l an iiixitatioii froiii the Sioux Indians to unite Avitli them ill eiittiug .dT the garrison at St. Peter's, at the Falls of St. Anthony; and, as evidence of his tiiilh. produced the tobacco said to have been sent to them by the Sioiix. and which generally accompanies such propositions for a war league. .\s no doubt was entertained i>\' 1 he 1 mill of this report, tlie coininanding oflicer directed me (the adjnlanl ) to make arrangements with some of the voyaucnrs connected with the Indian trading house near the fort, to carry the iutelligeuee to Fort Armstrorig, situated on Rock Island in the Mississippi, near the mouth of Rock river, thence to be forwarded to Colonel Snelling. They however, refused all my offers, alleging that none of them had ever crossed the country in the winter season - it was imi^racticable, etc., etc.

"The same Ioa'C of adA'enture and excitement which had induced me to exchange a station in this city for Detroit, and then from an artillery into an infantry regiment, added to a conviction that the lives of a whole regiment of officers and men. their wives and children, were in jeopardy, and that it was possible to avert the impending blow, induced me to volunteer to be the liearer of the intelligence to Fort Armstrong.

"1 accordingly took my departure, accompanied by a sergeant, who was a good woodsman, and an Indian of my own age. The first two or three days were days of weariness to me, and of frolic and fun to the Indian ; because we necessarily traveled on foot, in consequence of the extreme severity of the weather, with oui" i)rovisions on a pack horse to break the snow, and make a trail in which to walk. The actual suft'ering consisted in riding our regular tour; but I, being 'all unused' to travel through the snow on foot for liour after hour consecutively, was Aveary and worn out when we came to bivouac at night; while the Indian, was apparently, as fresh as when Ave stai'ted, and cracked his jokes withoiit mercy upon fagged (Jhe-mo-ca-mun, or 'L(mg Knife,' as they denominated all whites. I found hr»wever - as I had been told by tho.se who were learned in such matters - that the endurance of the Indian, bears no comparison with that of the white man. He will start off on a 'dog-trot,' and accomplish his eighty or a hundred miles in an incredible short space of time; but when he comes to day after day of regular Avork and endurance, he soon liegins to fag. and finally becomes avoi'u out; wliilc each succeeding day only inures the Avhite man to his Avork. trains him for further exertion, and the better fits him for the folloAving day's labors. Thus it Avas with the Indian and myself; and on the evening of the fourth day, I came to camp fresh as Avhen aa'C started, aaIuIc the Indian came in, AA'eary and fatigued; and of course, it AA'as then my turn to boast of the endurance of the Che-mo-ca-nnm. and the effeminacy of the ' Xiche-naAvby. '

"My instructions were, to employ the PottaAvatomie as a guide to Rock river. AA'here the country of the AVinnebagoes conunenced, and then take a Winnebago as a guide to Fort Armstrong - the leading object lx4ng so to arrange our line of travel a-^ to avoid the prairies, upon which, we would uecessarily suffer from the cold. 1 had Ik'cu ajiprised that I would tind au old Canadian voyageur residing with his Indian fannly in a trading hut on Eock river, and it was to him my Pottawatomie was to guide me.

"Toward eA-eningon the lifth day, we reached our jDlace of destination ; and old I^aSaller, recognizing us as whites, and of course from the fort, intimated by signs, as he conducted us to the loft of his hut, that we were to preserve a profound silence. All who live in the Indian coimtry learn to obey signs ; and it is wonderful how soon we almost forget to ask questions. I knew that something was wrong, but it never entered my head to inquire what it was - Indian-like, qiute willing to liide my time, even if the linger closely pressed upon the li^js of the old man had not apprised me that I should get no answer until it suited his discretion to make a communication.

"It was nearly dark when we were consigTied to the loft of the good old man ; and for three long hours we saw him not. During this period there was abundant time for meditation upon our position ; when all at once tlie profound stillness which reigned in and about the hut, was broken by the startling sound of a Winnebago war dance in oui' immediate viciuit.y! This, you may imagine, was no very agreeable sound for my sergeant or myself, but it was perfectly liorrif.ying to my Pottawatomie; all of which tribe, as also their neighboi's, were as nuich in awe of a Winnebago, as is a flying-tish of a dolphin. But all suspense has its end ; and at length the war-dance ceased - the music of which, at times, could only be likened to shrieks of the damned, and then, again, partook of the character of the recitative in an Italian o]»cra, until, at length, it died away, and all was silence.

"Then came old LaSaller. whose head, whitened by the snows of eighty winters, as it showed itself through the tra^i in the floor, was a far more acceptable sight than T could have anticipated it wouhl l)e Avhen I left the fort. Having Ix'cn informed who we were, and my desire to ]u-ocure a Winiiel)ago to guide me to Fort vXrmsti'ong, he inquired Avhether we had not heai'd the war-dance, and if we coidd not conjecture its object! He then proceeded to state that two Wiiinel)agocs, who had been tried and sentenced to !)(- executed for the nnirder of a soldier at Fort Armstrong, had escaped from the jail ai Kaskaskia, and arrived on the river a few days pi-c\ioiis: tliat in consequence, the whole nation was in a state of e\i laoi-dinary excitement, and that the war-dance to which we had listened, was preparatory to the starting of a war-partv for

Fort Arinstroug to attack it, or destroy such of the garrison as they coiilcl meet with beyond its palisades; and that of course, our only safety was in making an early start homeward. L inquired whether I could not avoid the Indians by crossing the Cireat Prarie, and thus strilciug the Mississippi abo^-e the fort. EEe answered that by such a route I woidd certainly avoid the Indians until I reached the vicinity of the Mississippi ; but that we would as certainly perish with the cold, as there was no wood to furnisii a hre at night. The mercury in the thermometer, as I well knew, had stood at five degrees below zero when I left the garris(m, and it had certainly been growing colder each day ; and therefore I apparently acquiesced in his advice, and requested to be called some three hours before daylight, which would give us a fair start of any pursuing part.y - and bade him good-night.

"But the old man doubted my intention t(» return to the fort, and shortly after, paid us another visit, accompanied l)y a very old Winnebago, who avowed himself the firm friend of the whites, and proceeded to point out the foll,v of any attempt to proceed in my expedition. He inquired its piu'port; and when I told him that it was to visit a dying friend, he said I had Ijetter postpone the meeting until after death, when we would doul)tless meet in the paradise of the white man ! But at the same time gave me to understand that he did not believe such was the object of my visit to the banks of the Mississii^pi. Indian-like, he sought not to pry farther into my affairs, but expressed his respect for all who knew how to keep to themselves their own counsels and the counsels of their government. His remarks were kind, and in the nature of approbation for the past and advice for the future; and coming from such a source, made a lasting impression.

"Again we were left to ourselves; and then, doubtless, I wished myself safe in garrison. But to I'eturn, and that too from fear, and the object of my journey unaccomplished, was inevital^le disgrace. But what was still more important, was the consequence to others of my return. I could not 1iut think there was an understanding between the AYinnel)agoes and the Sioux ; and if there had lingered on my mind a doulit of the story of the Pottawatomie chief, that douTit was now at an end ; and of course, a sense of duty to a whole regiment of officers and men, their wives and children, was as imperative in requiring my advance, as was the fear of disgrace in forbidding my return. With two such motives for a right decision, there could be no doiibt as to my course. It required more

"Some hours before the dawn ot day, we started, apparently for garrison ; but once out of sight of old LaSaller, we knocked the shoes off our horses to avoid being traced by them in crossing the river, threw away our caps, tore up a blanket to make the hood worn by Indians in extreme cold weather, and took a course b}^ the stars directly west. I should have mentioned, that my Indian now having become valueless, I urged his return to his own tribe. But neither persuasion nor threats, could induce him to go. In every bush he imagined he saw a Winnebago, and he dared not return alone. 1 then urged what was quite apparent would be the fact - that he could not sustain the forced march to which we were destined, and upon which our safety depended. But it was all in vain ; and I was compelled to take him Avith us.

"And now% after tliis long introduction, I come to the point of my story. The second day after leaving Rock river was the coldest I ever experienced. The ground was covered with about eight inches of snow; and no one wdio has not experienced it, can well imagine with wdiat piercing effect the wind passes over those boundless fields of snow, unbroken by a single tree. On that day, at Foil Armstrong, sixty miles south of uie and sheltered b}' woods, I afterward ascertained that the mercury never rose above fourteen degrees above zero! How cold it was where we were, it is impossible to eonjectui'c; l>nt I know that when my Indian failed in strength, and absolutely refused to take liis turn in riding the horse to lireak a ti'ail through the snow, 1 rode his tour of ten minutes in atUUtion to my own; and when I got down, discovered that my feet, face, hands, and knees, were frozen.

"To encamp wdthout wood was an impossibility. The country is a high, rolling ])rairie; and from a naked hill, about five o'clock in the afternoon, I discovered an island of woods lying soutlnvest of us some ten miles."

The continuation of the naiTati\c makes no further reference to fjce county, so is abandoned with the statement that Lieutenant Webb reached Fort Armstrong and a detail notified Colonel Snelling of ini|iending danger in time to avert it.

On Juue 11, 1823 (\'ul. 1, p. 175), wlicii the expedition at Chicago had decided to select the route to Galena, rather thau Fort Armstrong, no person could be found to guide it along that route until "an old French engage, of the name LeSellier," undertook to direct it. ''This man."' says Keating, "who had lived for upwards of thirty years with the Indians, had taken a wife among the Winnebagoes, and settled on the headwaters of Rock river ;' knowing the country as far as that stream, he presumed that he could find his way thence to Fort Crawford."

This remark tallies to a nicety with AYebb's and adds tlie important information that for upwards of thirty years he had lived with the Indians. The added information about his having settled on the headwaters of the Rock river, easily enough might have been a mistake in the writer's Ivuowledge of geography. Had LaSallier l)een as early a settler as that in Wisconsin, - at the headwaters of the Rock river, his name would be found in the Wisconsin historical collections. But it is not; wherefore we are driven to the conclusion that the man had lived where Wel)l) fomul him, since about the year 1793.

He could not have remained long after Webb's visit, liecause, when in 1830, John Dixon took u]» liis residence at the ferry, there was no LaSallier and in 1835, when Joseph Crawford surveyed in the neighborhood, the cabin had rotted into a mass of sticks and dirt. It is difficult to imagine how in so short a space, a solid log cabin could push itself into a state of complete decay unless it had burned, and inasnmch as the stones now on the mound wear the api^earance of having l^een subjected to fire, the calkin must liave burned or else the stones were part of a fireplace. LaSallier guided the party safely until the Pektannons ( Pecafonica ) had l)een reached a few miles above its moutli. Here LaSallier informed the party that the Sauks pronounced the diminutive of a word by adding a hissing sound, - IjaRalliei- nuist have l)een a man of some information! At this point too it became evident that he had reached the limit of his knowledge of the country. Accordingly he was sent ahead to secure an Indian to act as guide for the rest of the tri|) to Pi-aiiie du Chien. The elder In-other of the chief of the village to which LaSallier went, a Sauk, so-called, was secured. LaSallier had explained his mission and with one accord the Indians, mostly Winnebagoes, greeted the part}' with manifestations of friendship. The new^ guide's name was Wanebea.

Sauk Valley College

then into English in order to test the accuracy of some of the vocabidary Major Long had written during a former trijD. La- Sallier did tliis work with surprising accuracy.

During the trip to Prairie du Chien, LaSallier also communicated much information about the Sauks, useful to any student of ethnolog}^ (p. 223.) LaSallier, too, had a singular regard for the decencies 'of convei'sation, because when listening to and interpreting some of the things concerning squaws, which were detailed in a revolting manner, the old fellow blushed; "which, with a Canadian trader, might be supposed not to be an easy thing." Thus it will be seen by this parting allusion to LaSallier that at Grand Detour he was a Canadian trader. At Prairie du Chien in the summer of 1823, is the last view, written history gives us of this old first settler, whose parting information was to interpret Wanebea 's discourse on the soul and the spirit.