Buffalo County, Wisconsin - The whole text, 1888 (part 5 of 13)

He and Du Gay paddled down the river for sixty leagues, in the heat of July without killing any large game except one deer, the meat of which soOn spoiled in the hot air." The turtles, on which they had to rely, did not often wait to be caught, and so there was considerable fasting. One day they had caught a large turtle of the snapping kind. Du Gay went in pursuit of buffalo on a neighboring prairie, and the friaf, while watching the turtle, Suddenly saw his canoe out in the current. He put the turtle on its back, pulled off his gray habit of St. Francis, put it upon the turtle and some stones on it to keep it down, and then swam for the canoe, which he had to push to the shore, as it wOilld have upset, if he had attempted to get into it in the river, and then paddled back.

Abou£ the time of his return to the turtle he saw buffalo comng down to the river when he called for Du Gay and b6th pursued the game of which they killed a young cow, which they had to cut up in the water near an island where she had fallen. It is rather surprising that they did not know enough of Wood craft to smoke the meat of the cow, which; of course, soon spoiled. They had fish-hooks but were not alway successful in their 6peratiOns, though one day they caught a very large cat-fish. At other times the fishing eagles dropped them their prey, and one day they lived on the remainder of a shovel-nosed sturgeon from which they chased an otter.

Hennepin does not seem to have had much of an eye for beauty, since he never mentions the picturesque landscape through which the Mississippi flows at the places they had to pass. But he had- at least some occasion to think of other things than the beauties of the scenery. One day they were overtaken by old Aquipaguetin and ten Indians. The old chief wanted to be the first to meet the expected traders. He stopped with the two travelers for. a short colloquy. Three days after he returned in ill humor having found no traders on the spot indicated. He gave Hennepin a severe scolding but offered no further violence.

They now resolved to join a party of Sioux hunting on what they call the Bull River, now the Chippewa. By this they would avoid falling in with straggling parties of Indians, and secure a supply of meat. Accau, their companion, was with this party, whom they followed on their hunt along the Mississippi- The hunt proved successful. One day an alarm was given. The warriors rushed toward the supposed point of danger, but found only two women of their own tribe, who brought some news. A war-party of Sioux on their way towards Lake Superior had met ''five spirits" that is five Europeans. The curiosity of the white men to find out to what nationality each of the separate parties belonged was mutual. Hennepin and Du Gay returned with the Indians up the river, and near St. Anthony they met Daniel Greysolon Du Lhut with four well-armed Frenchmen.

As I shall devote an extra chapter to Du Lhut, I will here say but;so much of him as relates to his meeting with Hennepin and his companions. While the latter were in June, 1680, in the Sioux village at Mille Lac, Du Lhut set out from Lake Superior with four men, by ascending the Bois Brule or Burnt Wood River and after having cut some trees and opened about one hundred beaver dams reached the head of navigation, (by canoe of course), made a portage to what was most probably the Upper St. Croix Lake, descended its outlet and came to the St. Croix River, which he descended, and where he must have met the war party mentioned above. He was afraid that the three white men, of whom he had heard were either Spaniards or Englishmen, who were rivals with the French in the Indian trade. When he saw Hennepin, his mind was at rest, and the meeting was mutually cordial. They followed the Indians to their villages where a feast of honor was given to them, at which one^ hundred naked guests were seated and where Ouasifioude placed before Hennepin a bark dish containing a mess of smoked meat and wild rice.

The travelers staid for some time, but with the approach of Autumn they departed. The Sioux did not object, since they were now reasonably sure of their return with goods for trading. As the party passed the falls of St. Anthony, the men stole two buffalo robes hung up in honor of the spirit (wa-kon) of the cataract. Da Lhut reproached them because they endangered by this foolish act the safety of the whole party, but the men pleaded their need and were refractory. The party proceeded in ill humor but were soon diverted bj' the excellent hunting on the way. But once they were scared, when, some distance above the mouth'of the Wisconsin they saw a war-party of the Sioux approach, while the French were just smoking the meat of a buffalo they had killed. On this occasion Hennepin, according to his own statement, displayed his habitual officiousness by instructing Du Lhut, who knew much more about such matters than the meddlesome friar, how to behave towards the Indians. Everything, however, passed off peaceably and the Sioux werit down the river after some enemy or other without even mentioning the stolen buffalo robes. After various minor adventures Green Bay mission, a staltion of the Jesuits, was reached. Its existence is wholly ignored by Hennepin,*who was too much bigoted in favor of his own order, to mention the rival missionaries, although it is very probable that he enjoyed their hospitality. Equally ill-mannered he behaved in regard to the Jesuit establishment at Michillimackinac, which they soon, after reached and where they spent the winter. Of those stationed there he mentioned only the Jesuit Pierson, who' was a Fleming like himself and who skated with him and kept him company in fishing through a hole in the ice. In the spring Hennepin descended Lake Huron, followed the Detroit to Lake Erie, and proceeded thence to the Niagara, where he made a closer examination,of the falls, and then proceeded to Lake Ontario, a:nd then fina,lly to Fort Front enac. Sis brother missionary there, Buisseti had been told Hennepin had been hanged with his own cbi'd of St. Franciscus. From Frontenac he went to Montreal, where he met Count Frontenac, the governor, who treated the friar, whom everybody seems to have considered .as lost, with great civility and condescension.

To quote Parkman, "La Salle and the discovery of the Great West:" " And here we bid farewell to Father Hennepin: " Prov- . idence, he (Hennepin) writes. preserved my life, that I might make ' known my great discoveries to the world." He soon after to Europe, where the story of his travels, found a host of readers, but where he died at last (1699) in deserved obscurity. But although we might also part with this man, who certainly once and possibly oftener, set foot upon the soil of this county at least POP .buwJred and seventy years before it bore its name, we can not

4o so \7ith0ut giving credit to those whom he ibrgot to pientioh, Of slandered and wanted, in the second edition of his book especially, tp deprive of the honors unc(uestionably due to them, but arrogated to himself. The roan's great fault was an inordinatp self-esteepi or conceit.

I quote from Parkman: "When the later eflitiqns of his book appeared, doubts had been expressed of hip veraci(;y. ' I here protest to you, before God,' he writes, addressing the reader, that my narrative is faithful and sincere, and that you may believe everything related in it.' "And yet (says Parkman) we shall see, this :feverend father was th,e most impudent of li9,rs; and the narrativ,e he speakp of is a, rare monument of brazen mendacity.' It i^, however not §0 muQh his first book ip which he did not claim much njore than what might have been true, only ignoring Acjcau and Du Gay and making hiinself the sole actor, almost of all the ^(^veptures, for which Parkman accuses him as quoted, but the l9,ter ed,itionB of the same in whicb he claimed to have descended to t])e mouth of the Mississippi, ^nd returned to the place of his capture Tyithin tlae jiime of forty-tree cj^ys, counting from the tiine of,,hi,a begiptning the voyage doyrn the Illinois, tbe la^^t day of February to the twelf|;h daj^' of April. It would certainly not be T^orth mentioning the fabrications of the conceited monk, if* jt were f}Pt for the fact, that this iponstrous fable is even npw repeated ^s truth Ipy some . authors. TJie refutation by Parkman is before rae, but i§ too long and top inuch ini,qrwoveri with other parts of the tp be uhderstopd by itself alone. I will try and st^te the iriaf.ter in sucl| a way as to make it understood by every intelligent reader.

1. The exploration for which Hennepin arrogates all the merit' was part of the enterprise of La Salle, without whose munificenee Hennepin would Ujever have seen either the Illinois or the Mississippi. ' . ' , ' ,r '

2. The'expeditjpn was not under the command of Hennepin buj, under that, of Apcau. The latter hail been selected because he spoke severa-i Indian languages. He and Du Gay were of higher rank than the common followers of La Salle. '

3. In the first edition of his book Hennepin, though failing to dp justice to the othprs, still did not tell anything Very surprising or irnprobable, and that edition, though by np means faultless.

is on the whole reliable. When he wrot6 it Slstrqilette's book and maps had just come but of the press arid were riot generally known and could nbt be used for Hennepin's purpose, if he had that purpose at. that time.

4. In 1697, about two years before his death Herinepin had all the possible chances for manufacturing £tny story. Iri 1682 La Salle had descended the lilississippi to thfe Gulf of Mexico, arid had on the ninth day of April of that jekr taken pofegession of what he called Louisiana, and which mearit all the land drained by the Mississippi, and any arid all of its tributaries. On this eXpeditiori hfe was accompanied by Zeriobe Membte who described it chrbriologically. His book or manuscript was used by Le Clerk and from Le Clerk Hennepin stole whole passages " without any alterations except fitting the story to suit his own circUnl stances. Le Clerk had accompanied La Salle on his last expedition, iri which the great leader was murdered by a gang of his riien. After his retUrri to France, or at least to civilizatiori, Le Clerk wrote a book called " Etablissement de la Foie," in which he had vidleritly attacked the Jesuits. This book was suppressed by order bf the king but some copies escaped destruction. Parkmari in criticizing Hennepin had compared it with Hennepin's work, second edition, and he says:. "The records of literary piracy may be searched in vain for an act of depredation more recklessly irapuderit."

5. What I have related above, coriiing from historians who had direct accession to the original work', arid which is but a condensation of what I found, may be Considered as nearly true as I could niake it, seeing there was considerable toritrOversy in the matter.

6. H^erinepin dedicated his later editions to Williarii III of England, and was not allowed to returri to Canada, nor, probably, to France. This protected him arilong those with whom' he staid, the Dutch, and as it gave him an air of being a presecuted ' man contri'btited riot a little to procure readers for his book.

generation by the fact that the great ''Zenith Oity" of the central northwest, the metropolis of the Lake Superior country, was named after him, has some not too remote, connection with the history of our county and its neighborhood. We find him "in 1680 rescuing Hennepin and his two companions from their captivity among the Sioux, and returning with them by way of the Mississippi, the Wis- ; consin and the Fox River, to Green Bay and to Mackinaw. At that time it is most probable that he hunted for Buffalo, as he and his men needed provisions, either on this or the opposite side of the river, but it is more probable that he kept to this side, as affording better opportunities from Lake Pepin to Trempealeau, for avoiding the Sioux, whom he had reason to believe to be offended at the theft of two buffalo robes, taken by two of his men from some arrangement sacred to the wa-kon, or spirit, of the FaUs of St. Anthony. A war party of that tribe did indeed overtake him some distance above the mouth of the Wisconsin, but they were ignorant of this grave offense, as they said nothing about it, and did not molest the Frenchman. This appears to have been the only time that he was on the Mississippi, and we may now look into the other parts of his biography as far as they are known to us.

In the following narrative I thought it best to transcribe from " La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West," one of the volumes of a work entitled " France and England in North America " a Series of Historical Narratives by Francis Parkman (Little, Brown & Co., Boston.) I do this first because I can not find any reliable short account. of the adventures of Du Luth in this conntry anywhere else, second because I consider the work of Mr. Parkman impartial, candid and critically reliable beyond any others on the subject that I had the good fortune to get acquainted with.

This bold and enterprising man, stigmatized by the Intendant Duchesneau as a leader of coureurs de bois, was a cousin of Tonty, born at Lyons. He belonged to that caste of lesser nobles, whose name was legion, and whose admirable military qualities shone forth so conspicuously in the wars of Louis XIV. Though his enterprises were independent of those of La Salle, they were at this time carried on in connection with Count Frontenac and certain jnerchants in his interest, of whom Du Luth's uncle, Patron, was one; while Louvigny, his brother-in-law, was in alliance with the governor, and was an oflB.cer of his guard. Here, then, was a kind of family league, countenanced by Frpntenac and acting conjointly with him, in order, if the angry letters of the Intendant are to be believed, to reap a clandestine profit under t,he shadow of the governor's authority, and in violation of the royal ^ordinances. The rudest part of work fell to the share of Du Luth, who with a persistent hardihood, not surpassed, perhaps, even by La Salle, was continually in the forest, in the Indian towns, or in -remote wilderness outposts planted by himself, exploring, trading, fighting, ruling lawless savages, and whites scarcely less ungovernable, and on one or more occasions varying his life by crossing the ocean to gain interviews with the colonial minister Seignelay, amid the splendid vanities of Versailles. Strange to say, this man of hardy enterprise was a martyr to the gout, which for more than a quarter of a century grievously tormented him, and which even the intercession of the Iroquis saint Catherine Tegah Kouita failed to cure him. He was, without doubt, a habitual breaker of the ordinances regulating the fur-trade; yet his services were great to the colony and to the crown, and his name deserves a place of honor among the pioneers of American civilization.

When Hennepin met him, he had been about two years in the wilderness. In September 1678 he left Quebec, for the purpose of exploring the region of the Upper Mississippi and establishing relations of friendship with the Sioux and their kindred, the Assiniboins. In summer 1679 he visited three large towns of the eastern division of the Sioux, including those visited (involuntarily) by Hennepin in the following year, and planted the king's arms in all of them.

Early in the autumn he was at the head of Lake Superior holding a council with the Assiniboins and the lake tribes, and inducing them to live at peace with the Sioux. In all this he acted in a public capacity, under the authority of the governor; but it is not to be supposed that he forgot his own interests, or those of his associates. The intendant angrily complains that he aided and abetted the coureur de hois in their lawless courses and sent down iii their canoes great quantities of beaver-skins consigned to the merchants in league with. him, under cover of whose names the governor reaped his share of the profxts.

What relates to Du Luth's actions in the rescue of Hennepin and his party, has been related under that head. The following is fi-om an annotation in the book of Mr. Parkman abov6 named:

The facts concerning Du Luth have been gleaned from a variety of sources, chiefly the letters of his enemy Duchesneau, who always puts him in the worst light, especially in his despatch to Seignelay of Nov. 10th, 1679, when he charges both him and the governor with carrying on an illicit trade with the English of New York. Du Luth himself in a memoir dated 1685 strongly denies these charges. Du Luth built a trading fort on Lake Superior called Canahistigoyan or Kamalastigouia. It was on the Northside, at the mouth of a river entering Thunder Bay, where Fort William now stands. In 1684 he caused two Indians, who had murdered several Frenchmen on Lake Superior, to bis shot. He displayed in this affair great courage and coolness, undaunted by the ci-owd of excited savages, who surrounded him and his little band of Frenchmen.-

The long letter, in which he recounts the capture and execution of the murderers, is still extant. Duchesneau makes his conduct oh this occasion the ground of a charge of rashness. In 1686, Denonville, then governor of the colony, ordered hini to fortify the Detroit, that is, the strait between Lakes Erie and Hurori. He went thither with fifty men and built a palisade fort, which he occupied for some time. In 1687, he, together with Tonty and Durantaye,' joined Denonville against the Senecas, with a body of Indians from the Upper Lakes. In 1689, during the panic of tlie Iroquois invasion of Montreal, Du Luth with twenty-eight Canadians, attacked twenty -two Iroquois in canoes, received their fire without returning it, bore down upon them, killed eighteen of them, and captured three, only one escaping. In 1695 he was in cbtllmand at Fort Fr'ontehac In 1697, he succeeded to the comniiand of a company of infantry, but was suffering wretchedly from the goiit at Fort Frontenac. In 1710, Governoi: "^aiudreuil in d dispatch to the Minister Ponchai-train announced hia death as' occurring in the previous winter, and added the brief comment. " d'etait tih tre's hbh'nete hotame," (he Was a very honest man.)' Othel- cofltemjporaries spfeak to the same effect. Mr. Dulhut Gen-' tilhb'mme'Liotitiais', cjui a beaQdoUp de rrierite at de capacite. (La Hontan I, 103 (1703.) " Le Sieur dt Lm, homme d'es^jrit ei d'eXf p^E^ence." (Le Clerk II, 137.) Charlevoix callg him " one of the bravest officers the king has ever had in this colony." His n^mje is variously spelt Du Luc, Du Lud, Du Lude, Du Lut, Du Lhut and Du Luth; a great cpmpliment, by the way, to the scbpqlingof the Canadian French of his times. I have adopted the la^t of theg^'spellings, because it is the one agreeing most clopely wit^, the common spelling of the name of the cjty of Duluth. Parkrpan spells the name Du Lhut, which is probably the better French.

On a contemporary maj). by the Jesuit RafFeix, representing the routes of Marquette, La Salle and Du Luth, ^re the following words, referring to the last named discoverer, and irjteresting in connection with Hennepin's statenients: Monsieur Du Luth was first ainong the Siqux in 1678, and came near the source of the Mississippi, where he >vent afterwards to rescue Father Henpepin, who was a prisoner among the Sioux. (Translated from the Frenc|i by. myself.) One of his (Du Liith's) men was named, Pepin; hencCj no doubt, the name of Lake Pqpin.

Among the early explorers, of this particular part of the New World, the Upper Mississippi Valley, there was one -yvtio was, not prejudiced by the sordid desire for gain, nor by any fanatical notion qf how good the world would be, if it had only been fornipd on his own particular mpd§], but who seems to have expected the Indian to bp nothing but an Indian, a .savage sort of mankind,, yet still not to be blapied for, what he could not help being. If Carver was colored or tainted with sopie of the prejudices, of his Puritan ancestors, he did not expect everybody to ^hare the same. His previous career as an officer in a coloijial regiment di^ring the French and Indian war, in which he h,£|,d served .during tlie w,hple. period until th^ surrender of Can,a(da in 1760, by .wbic-h all the country to the Mississippi came into tlje possession o,f Qreat Britain, seems to have expanded his mental horizon, and directed his attention to things entirely different fro)ii those co,ntemplated by the traders and missionaries, who had previously penetrated to the Sioux and other Northwestern Indians. The following is a short sketch, of his life and his explorations :

Cari^er, of England, who was a captain in the army of King William during the campaign in Ireland, and after\varas an officer in the colony, of Connecticut. His father was a justice of the peace at Canterbury, Connecticut, where Jonathan was born. When Jonathan was fifteen years old, his father died. At the age of eighteen he purchased an ensign's commission in one of the Connecticut regiments^ He had before studied medicine, but his roving disposition led him to abandon that profession, the study uf which seems, however, to have put him in the possession of literary accomplishments. He served with distinction under Abercromby and Amherst, and very narrowly escaped being killed in the massacre of Port William Henry in 1757, and was present in the battle at the Heights of Abraham, and at the surrender of Montreal and all Canada. He left Boston in June, 1776, and arrived at Mackinaw, then the most distant post of the British, in August following. Having made arrangements with Col. Rogers, the governor or commandant of that post for having certain articles for the Indian trade or for presents to the Indians sent ahead of himself to the Falls of St. Anthony, he sailed to Green Bay, and thence up Pox River. While on this river he stopped at the principal town of the Winnebagoes where for four days he Was hospitably entertained by tto-po-ko-e-kah the widow of a Frenchman named De Kaury, who had been mortally wounded at Quebec and died at Montreal. She was at that time the principal chief of the tribe, and her des-, cendants retained that dignity for several generations. Prom there he proceeded to the town of the Sacs at prairie du Sac, which he describes as the largest and best built Indian town he ever saw. It contained, he says, about ninety houses, each large enough for several fajmilies, built of hewn planks, neatly jointed ^.nd covered, so completely with bark, as to keep out the most penetrating rains. Before the doors were placed comfortable sheds in which the inhabitants sat, when the weather would permit, and smoked their pipes. The streets were both regular and spacious, appearing more like a civilized town than the abode of savages. M!r. Strong thinks this description somewhat exaggerated, since in less than thirty years afterwards only a few remains of fire-places and posts were to be seen. Without disputing Mr. Strong's remarks, it may as well be confessed that Carver must have seen many Indian towns before the one he here describes, and if he was so much struck with its appearance, those he saw before must have been of the usual description among Indians. Capt. Carver says: "Whilst I stayed here, I took a view of some mountains, that lie about ' fifteen miles to the southward, and abound in lead ore (probably the Blue Mounds.)

I ascended on one of the highest of these, and had an extensive view of the country. For many miles nothing was to be seen but lesser mountains, which appeared at a distance like hay -cocks, they being free from trees. So plentiful is lead here that I saw large quantities of it lying about the streets, in the town of the Saukies, and it seemed to be as good as the produce of other countries, i

On the 10th of October we proceeded down the river (Wis.) and the next day reached the first town of the Ottigamies (Outagamies - Foxes). The town contained about fifty houses, but we found rbost of them deserted, on account of an epidemical disorder that had lately raged among them, and carried off more than one halfof the inhabitants. The greater part of those who survived had retired into the woods to avoid the contagion."

This town was probably near Muscoda. The next village which, he says, was deserted thirty years previous, and in ruins was about five miles above the mouth of the Wisconsin on that river. He thinks the inhabitants had removed to Prairie des Chiens, which he calls a large town of about three hundred families and the great mart where furs and peltries were brought annually about the last of May from the remote branches of the Mississippi/for transporting them either to Mackinaw or Louisiana.

It is a remarkable circumstance, that the traders with him did not stop at that town, but madfe their winterquarters about ten miles up the river, on the opposite side, and near the confluence of the Yellow River.

Although the season was considerably advanced he with one voyageur and a Mohawk Indian pushed on in his canoe towards the Falls of St. Anthony.

On the first day of November he reached Lake Pepin, where he observed the ruins of the French factory, where Capt. St. Pierre, had formerly resided and carried on a great trade with the Naudwisfiies (Nadowessioux or Sioux). Here he staid for some time ^n<J among other things he observed and to a certain extent ex- plqred some ancient earthworks which he, however, seems to have considered as fortifications. His description will be found under the article of " Moundbuilders" because there seems to have been a disposition of claiming these earthworks as " pre-hisloric tumuli" and also an entirely opposite one, of considering them of no importance or significance whatever.

Near the mouth of the St. Croix River he came in contact with the Dakota Indians, and in some way mediated a truce or local and temporary peace betweeij them and the Chippewas, at the time of an imminent battle, and was treated with great consideration by both parties. At the mouth of St. Peters River he had to give, up navigation (Nov. 17,) and to walk to the Falls of_ St. Anthony. These he describes very accurately and must have made some sketch, as his book contains a copper-plate engraving of them. He proc^eded northward a:i far as, the St. Francis or Elk River but returned and commenced, on the 25th of November, to ascend the St. Peters, now Minnesota River, which he was able to ascend about 200 miles, without- being prevented by ice. There dwelt at that time the Naudowissies, whom Mr. Strong is inclined to consider as Western Dakotas, though it is notorious that the Dakotas were called Sioux everywhere, and that the name of Dakota is of comparatively modern use.

, Among these people Carver remained five months and was well treated. He learned their language, and acquired all the geographical information they could impart. He went with them in the latter part of April to their grand national council, which was held at or near their cave on the Mississippi River, a description of which is given below. It has also been, claimed, that on this occasion he received, of .two of the chiefs of these same Naudowissies a grant of land or territory, of which we will speak somewhere else. It appears that, having first ascertained that the gopds; promised him by Gov. Rogers had not arrived at the Falls of St. Anthony, he determined to return to Prairie du Chien and not to proceed any further northwest for the time being. Having procured spme goods from traders at Prairie du Chien, he started' for Lake Superior by way of the Chippewa River and, a number of tributaries and lakes, but during the summer seems to have wandered off towards the St. Croix on some branches of which he claims to have seen " mines of virgin copper." After finally reaching the shores of Lake Superior and coasting round to the Western extretnitj of the lake, he discovered that he could not get the necessary goods, he was compelled to give up the one great object of his travels, and to return to Mackinaw, where he spent the winter, and returned to Boston the following spring, having been absent two years and five months, and traversed seven thousand miles.

He wrote a book in which he laid down his adventures and his ideas of the future prospects of the country he had visited. He is regarded as the first writer who called attention to the ancient monuments in the Mississippi Valley. His visit to the Da,- kotas had the effect of bringing them into better acquaintance and friendly relations with' the governor of Mackinaw. He expressed many intelligent opiuions respecting the country, and thought, from its beauty and fertility it would attract many settlers. Speaking of its future population and their ability to convey their produce to seaports with great facility by the Mississippi River, he adds almost a prediction of the Erie Caiial with its present lake and river connections: "This might in time be facilitated by canals or short cuts and a connection opened by water to New York by way of the lakes." He also thought of a route to the Pacific as a means .of communication with China aud the English possessions in India.

Carver went afterwards to England, probably, for the publication of his book, and for the purpose of interesting people of influence in his ideas concerning the future occupancy of the country, and it was proposed to build a fort on Lake Pepin and to carry out the enterprise. All these schemes were destined to come tci nothing, for only seventeen years after his visit to this country the whole eastern part of the Mississippi Valley passed from the possession of Great Britain to that of the United States; Carver, who seems to have been more English than American, did not take any part in the American Revolution, but died in England, poor and neglected, in 1780. He left a family, consisting of his widow, two sons, and five daughters in Connecticut, and one child, by an- '6ther woman irl England. As related above, he attended the national council of the Dakotas and at that time was made acquainted with a cave, sonie thirteen miles below the Falls of St. Aiiihony on the Mississippi. It has since been known as

The following is his account of it: About thirteen miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, at which I arrived on the tenth day after I left Lake Pepin, is a remarkable cave of an amazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe (Wakan-tipi). The entrance to it is about ten feet wide, the height is five feet, The arch within is nearly fifteen feet|high, and about thirty feet broad; the bottom consists of fine clear sand. About thirty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance, for the darkness of the cave prevents, all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it. I threw a small pebble towards the interior part of it with my utmost strength; I could hear that it fell into the water, and notwithstanding it was of a small size, it caused an astonishing and terrible noise, that reve;;beted through all these gloomy regions. I found in this cave many Indian hieroglyphics, which appeard very . ancient, for time had nearly covered them with moss, so that it was with difficulty I could trace them. They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the wall, which was composed of stone so extremely soft, that it might be penetrated with a knife - a stone everywhere found near the Mississippi." (Potsdam Sandstone.)

I have studied diligently to find out the exact location of this cave, but had to give it up. Schoolcraft seems (1820) to have considered Fountain Cave near St. Paul as the one described by Carver, but Mr. Strong considered that opinion erroneous. He does not locate it, but says, that it has been materially altered by the elements, the roof has fallen in and the entrance choked up by rock and earth. The track of a railroad runs along the bank of the river directly in front of the cave, in the construction of which the cave is virtually destroyed, and the stream whichflowed through it now supplies a watertank, while the subterranean lake has disappeared.

It has been claimed by the descendants of Captain Carver, and their actual or presumptive representatives, that at the national council of the Naudawessies to which Carver was admitted as related above, a grant of land was given to him by two of the chiefs

From the Falls of St. Anthony along the eastern baijk of the Mississippi River to the lower end of Lake Pepin and the mouth of Chippewa River, thence due East five daj's travel at twenty miles a day, thence North six days travel at twenty miles a day, thence in a straight line to the Palls of St. Anthony. This is an item of interest to the citizens of Buffalo County, especially those residing in the northern part of it.

It so happens, that the line between townships twenty -two and twenty-three north, crosses the Chippewa River, but a very short distance above its mouth, and therefore all of township twentythree and twenty-four located in this county lies Within the tract described, which formerly on maps of Wisconsin and Minnesota was designated as the Carver Tract. We will subsequently discuss the ultimate fate of the claim, but may as well relate here that sales have been made of lands in this county by Dr. Wm, Peabody and Hannah his wife, then residents of the city of Chicago under a color of title based on a pretended abstract of the Carver Tract. I think it was in 1868 when Mr. DeGroff, then County Clerk, and the writer of this, then County Surveyor, and engaged in entering names in the plat-books, had a good deal of amusement in the perusal of a printed copy of such an abstract. I took a copy of the document, which was rather lengthy, but can not find it any more. As it related to land in township twenty -five north, it could not be recorded in this county, but I remember the contents and solne of the peculiar expressions quite well, and will give them here, as nearly as possible in the original language.

The instrument was in good imitation of what may have been the more ancient form of a deed in Great Britain and the Colonies. By it the above named chiefs of the Naudowessies granted to their very much honored friend. Captain Jonathan Carver, "a subject oj George the Third, King oj the English and other nations" the above described tract for his great services to the nation of the Naudowessies. The nature of these services was not expressed. The abstract proceeded to relate, that the original grant signed by the a;bove named chiefs was deposited in the "Plantation Office in the Qity of London in England." There was more of it, mainly relating to the pedigree of Mrs. Hannah Peabody, who was represented to

"be a lineal or collateral descendant of the renowned captain. The paper looked as if it had been cut out of a book or pamphlet, probably a printed report of some Congressional Committee on the claim.

In the first place the deed or grant is not mentioned by Carver in the " Journal " of his travels. The objection of Mr. Strong to the validity of the grant, if made, because the Naudowessies or Sioux were not in possession of the land granted, is not conclusive, because it is almost impossible to prove pro or contra in the matter.

But if we were willing to concede the authenticity of the deed, its validity is still seriously impaired by the fact, that the king had by express proclamation forbidden, that any pi-ivate person should presume to make any purchase of any land from any Indians. This proclamation, having been made three years previous to the date of the grant, must have been known to Capt. Carver. It would, also, have prevented his acceptance or solicitation of the grant.

Another very serious objection is that not any of his surviving ; children seem to have known anything of this supposed wealth or at least did not lay any claim to it in a legal way.

The first trace of the intention of getting possession of the property appears to have come to light in 1817, thirty-seven years after the death of Captain Carver. That year two young men (names not given) left the Green Bay settlement, in a bark canoe, for Prairie du Chien, by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, at which place they met Major S. H. Long, and proceeded with him up the Mississippi to the Falls of St. Anthony, with a view to establish their right to lands claimed to have been granted by the Indians to their grandfather Jonathan Carver. The claim had, while under English supremacy been refused confirmation by the king and council.

But it appears that the first claim had been made -to Congress m 1806 with no result. In 1823 Mr. Van Dyke, from the committee on public lands reported to the senate adversely to the claim.

In a letter from Lord Palmerston, dated Feb. 8, 1834 to Hon. Aaron Vail, charge d' affaires of the United States to Great Britain, is the statement in reference to this claim, that "No statement ha« been found of any ratification of the grant in question by His Majesty's government."

Finally by the treaties made with Sioux and Winnebagoes all - their title to lands in Wisconsin and adjacent parts of Minnesota became vested in the United States, which was the final extinction of any hopes, that the " Carver Grant" wo'lild ever be recognized-

In the "History of Minnesota" by Rev. E. D. Neill, I noticed among the headings of a chapter the item: "One of Carver's . sons killed," but could not find a description of- the deed. It is improbable that it happened in Minnesota or in the West. The, only trace of relativeis of the captain who made, actual inspection were the two grandsons mentioned above,

The Forts On 1A.Ke Pepin

The reader has iri the biographies of Hennepin and Du Luth, and in the narrative of Captain Career, noticed the proximity of Lake Pepin to the County of Buffalo. After the return of Hennepin to Canada a change in the government was made. In the place of the Marquis deBuade, Countof Frontenac, a certain De la Barre, a French officer of some public credit, and what accounts for it, a favorite of the Jesuits, was appointed in his place. We . cannot from our impartial standpoint exonerate the Count of Frontenac from the formal charges brought against him by his enemies, for he was certainly .arbitrary and despotic, but he was a ruined nobleman and bent on mending his desperate fortunes- He would have been an exceptional Frenchman, if he had been troubled with many pangs of conscience in the choice of the means to that end- But he was .wiser than his king and the court surrounding the latter, and, had he been left in power, it is a question, whether in after times it would nave been possible to wrench the province of Canada from the grasp of the French., His policy, selfish as it may, have been in several ways, was neither narrow nor short- sighted. He was the friend of La Salle, and his removal was equivalent to the destruction of La Salle's colony on the Illinois river. The incapacity of De la Barre was so apparent that after three years he was superseded by the Marquis de Denonville. Within the three years of his reign falls the sending of Nicholas Perrot to the Mississippi for the purpose of establishing a tradingpost on Lake Pepin. This Nicholas Perrot was one of the many interpreters, who were in government employ, sometimes under the direction of the governor, but oftener under that of the intendant of the colony. Most people have a very confused idea of the French government of Canada. It would appear to anybody but aTrenchman of the old regime (ancien regime) that the government was a sort of military despotism, arbitrary enough, but highly concentrated. So it was in all, except the finances. The King did not consider the government as a machine to extend his power so much, as to increase his revenues. Kings like Louis XIV, and Louis XV, and the intervening regency, needed money, and not a little of it. Hence an instrument was created to make sure of that money everywhere. The intendant was this instrument. Canada was, according to the view of King' and court nothing but a large trading station; colonies were out of the question for they might cost money, and might wish to get rich themselves. The fur-trade was yet the ruling interest and the governor, then in accordance with the intendant, selected Perrot to open up a new source of it among the Sioux. The character of Perrot is not without suspicions. One of his name attempted to poison La Salle, but it may not be possible to identify the two as the same. Certain it is that any enemy of La Salle was sure of favor and promotion under De la Barre. It was, however, late under his government that Perrot was dispatched to the new post, for in 1685, the year of Perrot's expedition, De la Barre himself was superseded by Denonville. The post established by Perrot' was near the lower end of Lake Pepin on the Westside and may have been at Frontenac. He seems to have remained less than two years, for he went down to Quebec or Montreal during 1687, and took part in the war against the Iroquois in company with Du Luth and Durantay. It is reported that Indians, of the tribe of the Miamis, brought lead to his trading post. Circumstances make it improbable that this should have happened, though it is quite possible that about that time the Miamis, who dwelt upon the lower part of the Wisconsin, worked some of the lead mines in their neighborhood. The intervening space, a distance of perhaps two hundred miles (160 from Prairie du Chien to Frontenac) was occupied by Winnebagoes and Sioux, and probably by Sacs and Foxes. In 1689, the same year in which Denonville was supplanted again by Frontenac, Perrct, after convening all the neighboring nations at Sault St. Marie for a general treaty of peace among themselves and submission to the French government, returned on the 8th of May to his abandoned post with forty men. But he must soon' have left again, and was afterwards among the Miamis. With him was Pere Marest of the Jesuits. It is not known what became of him and his post afterwards.

After the reinstatement of the energetic Frontenac there seems to have been more enterprise in the Canadian government. The first adventurer on the Mississippi was

Le Sueur, said to have come in 1683. His first post was upon an island in the Mississippi opposite or bslow the mouth of the St. Croix River. Le Sueur was eminently a pioneer of Minnesota. It does not appear that he established any post on the Lake, nor that he. found Perrot's post occupied. His life and achievements are quite interesting, but not of any importance for our purpose. He came again in 1695, took some Sioux and Chippewas to Montreal 1696 and went to France 1697, was captured on the high sea by the English, released 1698, and came up the Mississippi 1700. Abandoned his fort on the Minnesota in 1702, after which he was in Louisiana or in France. His associate Penicau left some papers about their adventures. If Le Sueur should have been at his first post in 1683, he would in that case have preceded Perrot. The next fort on the lake was built by.

Boucher de la Perriere, -who arrived at' the place on the. 17th of September 1727. It was near Stockholm on the eastside of the lake. With him was the Jesuit Father Guignas, who giyes a glowing description of how the birthday of Charles de Beauharnois, then governor of Canada, was celebrated at the fort, which was named after him. In the following spring, after a winter remarkable for the want of snow or the JW,?,;i quantity of it, the greatest flood on record occurred, but it is an error to suppose that the fort was abandoned on account of it, for the flood did only reach to the floor of the buildings. The narrative of Guignas makes it probable that it was evacuated on account of the hbstility of the Foxes ' or Outagamies, though it is rather odd to think, that at that time they should have had the powef to molest a post'in a country fio near the Sioux, and afterward claimed' by that nation. It is however certain that the Foxes were at that time a'powerful nation, and almost always at war with the French.

The trading posts' and forts on Lake Pepin must have been occupied, and have probably been repaired from time to time, although Capt. Carvter SEiys' nothing of them. One thing is strange, that is, that of all' the" places on the Lake, or on the river for some distance above it, none retained a French name, except Frontenac. It is hardly necessary to caution the reader not tO' confound this Frontenac with the fort of the same name built by La Salle on Lake Ontario, on the site of which now stands the city of Kingston, near the outflow of the St. Lawretlce from the lake. Frontenac in Minnesota' is iri Goodhue County, on Lake Pepin, opposite Maiden Rock. There were several forts, which in this case always means trading-posts surrounded with palisades, in the neighborhood; one at Point au Sable or Sandy Point, and one on Prairie Island, which the French called Isle Pelee, but where these points really, or exafctly, were, is not now t6 be found out very easily. Charlevoix who in 1721 placed Isle Pelee above the Lake. Th^ history of French forts is almost as puzzling as that of Indian tribes.' The' influence of these temporairy possessions was almost nothing,' except that in later or more modern times' the trading posts were much more- numerous and important on the Minnesota side than on that of Wisconsin; This may be ascribed to the fact that the ancient trading posts attracted the Indians, and the Indians in turn attracted the traders, most' of whom were of French extraction, pure or mixed. Prominent examples of these later traders in this neighborhood were La Bath and Alexis Bailey, but in their times the necessity of forts was no longer very urgent, except for military establishments.

Early Settlement

The early settlement of the western Cv^untry in general and our portion of the Mississippi Valley in particular, had to contend with difficulties which are unknown to the present generation. SicQilar conditions may still exist in frontier settlements, as existed in our neighborhood forty years ago, but in general the obstacles to the rapid settlement and development of any new country are now-a-days much less numerous and formidable. At that time the western part of our state was, for all intents and purposes, much farther from Milwaukee or Chicago than it may now be considered to be from New York, or any city on the Atlantic. Railroads, which are now crossing all the states and territories west of us, began just about to be thought of in the East. The rivers, those natpral highways, of course, were here, but the steamboats, which afterwards became of such importance in the march of settlement, were not yet built, or employed in more favored localities. Transportation and intercourse were slow and difficult. From the table given in the chapter on " Transportation " we find that as late as 1844 there were but 41 arrivals of steamboats at Fort Snelling or Mendota, and ten years later there were not yet ten times as many, and all of :the boats of very small size, compared, with the floating palaces of later times.

How it was be-fore the era of steamboats I can but refer the reader. to the chapter on "Transportation," for it would be tedious.to repeat what is said there. Butin retrospection I have come to doubt,. whethier.the matter of transportation was of more influence on .early settlement and political history, or the reverse. For, the mode of transportation being given, it is evident that settlement, and political history, as its consequence, will accommodate themselves to it; but a settlement existing, 'transportation might seek it. We must. look back to the first adventures of white men upon our eoil' to trace the incipientsteps of settlement. The .Indiana were no settlers, although .they were .the occupants of the country. It is true they had villages and cultivated some land, but their tenure was not intentionally permanent, and not proprietary. The same might be said of the traders, that came among them, and it is a matter of history that the French Government of Canada as well as of France discouraged colonization or permanent occupation, in another word - settlement. A few depots or entrepots, however, were absolutely necessary, and the aggregation of some settlers around such posts of trade could not be prevented, though it might be discouraged. The missionaries, afraid that they would have to share influence, power and profit with permanent settlers, instigated the government to its narrow policy of anti-colonization. Thus we find, that during about one hundred and fifty years of nominal, and of eighty years of virtual possession of Wisconsin by the French, there was only one, still uncertain, settlement within its present boundaries. This was at Green Bay, the place first visited by an embassador of the French governor to the Winnebagoes in 1634. This visit is described in the chapter on Jean Nicolet. The next settlement was at Prairie du Chien. The evidence for this is not very direct, and it is rather due to the advantageous situation of the place, near the mouth of the Wisconsin River, that we are inclined to believe in a very early settlement at this point, than to any documentary testimony in regard to it. There are, indeed several circumstances, which seem to contradict this assumption. The first is that under the administration of De la Barre, the governor, who succeeded to Frontenac, an enemy to La Salle, and opposed to all colonization, sent Nicholas Perrot (not Parrot as the B] ue Book says) to the Mississippi to establish a trading post on the river, which was erected on the westside of Lake Pepin, 1683. Other fbrts were subsequently erected by Le Sueur, Laperriere and others, and, according to the opportunities of trade and other circumstances, occupied or abandoned, while yet there was nothing said of a post at the mouth of the Wisconsin River. It seems that an official document relating to taking -possession of the Upper Mississippi country by the French dated May 28, 1689, has among, its witnesses " Monsieur De Borieguillot " conamanding the' French in the neighborhood of the Ouiskonche on the Mississippi. This points to an establishment ot some kind, perhaps only a stockade or trading fort, intended by the government to be occupied, but certainly not by a garrison. It is true that in the same year the active Count of Frontenac had been reinstated in the government of La Nouvelle France, and there was some hope of better times, but there had been a period of inactivity for about seven years, and there were no arrangements for garrisoning so distant a post. In the same year King William's war began and lasted about eight years. The energies of the Canadian government were largely engaged in this, and distant enterprises could hardly be thought of. There were certainly always some adventurers, who preferred living at peace with the Indians of the West to fighting the English and the Iroquois in Canada; there was more gain and more fun in it. Such may from time to time have congregated at the mouth of the Wisconsin or the most favorable point of settlement near it, and some kind of establishment, intermittent though and unreliable, must have been at the place. It is not very important whether one Cardinelle and his wife settled at the plaoe in 1728, the year of the great flood, but the establishment of a French trading post in 1737 with a stockade for protection seems to indicate some settlement previously unprotected. Another account, however, places the establishment of that post in 1765 and connects it directly with the village of Prairie du Chien.

All this is called in question by a circumstance mentioned by Captain Jonathan Carver, who visited these parts in 1766. He mentions a large Indian town, but no fort, and the merchants who had come with him, did not winter at the mouth of the Wisconsin, but on the other side of the Mississippi, on the Yellow River, about ten miles above Prairie du Chien. As for the last which seems by many to be considered as propf positive, that there was no accommodation for the traders at Prairie du Chien, I can see nothing of the kind in it. The winter season was on hand, and Captain Carver himself found his progress prevented by ice about five weeks after he had left his fellow travelers. The traders, perhaps, knew more about the conditions of a successful winter establishment than the Captain. In fact we find that long afterwards it was a custom of traders in that neighborhood to live during the winter among the Sioux, and during the summer at the Prairie du Chien. This clinching proof against the existence of a settlement at the latter place is, therefore not so very decisive. Another circumstance must come into consideratioi] ,

Prairie du Chien was within the territory claimed by the Winnebagoes and their confederates. Traders were most probably abundant among them, and new ones would naturally go to the Sioux, across the river. It is, moreover, probable, that Carver's companions were Englishmen, or Yankees, who might have found it uncongenial among the Frenchmen. French tradition says that the Prairie du Chien was bought of the Fox Indians probably in 1755, the purchase being confirmed in 1802 by a Fox chief. The name of the Prairie was derived from another Fox chief, whose Indian

. name was " Ahin," whic the French translated by " chien," which in English means " dog." In the history of the " Indians," and in " Political History " much of the events connected with Prairie du Chien had to be related. In this chapter we propose to consider its relation to the extending settlements. In this regard it must be regretted that the inhabitants of the place were French. They wefe very good pioneers, or rather adventurers, but lacked one essential quality of settlers or colonists. They did not want, and could not be expected, to setite, that is to make up their minds to stay in a certain place, and to improve that place, so as to make their stay pleasant and profitable; they were too mercurial. for that by inheritance, and spoiled by the allurements of the Indian trade, a trade which was a game at hazards rather than anything else, and thus just suited to French dispositions. Their farming operations were crude and limited. Hence there was no ambition for improvements in tools and implements, and the emigrant, who wanted to settle down in such a neighborhood, found, that there was no dependence on the people for many of his most urgent wants. Nevertheless, the place could not help becoming a basis of supplies for the ads^ancing settlements as well as for Indian

-traders. As late as 1781, under British rule, the population being still overwhelmingly French, the 'more reliable history of the place begins. Four years previous, says the French tradition, the old fort had burnt. In 1781 the first purchase of land, which looked like an intention of founding an actual settlement, was

-made for three traders, by Governor Patrick Sinclair of Mackinaw. Its extent was six- miles up and down the river, probably from the mouth of the Wisconsin six miles up the Mississippi, at an average width of six miles from that river on the east side. In 1798 the 'United States took formal possession, which, however, was quietly ignored by the French in this remote region, and it was not until nine years later that they were reminded of their political connection by the advent of Lieut. Pike's party of exploration, and one year after that by the appointment of an Indian agent. The population did not fancy their new sovereign, the United States, and took the first opportunity for showing their preference by piloting the British forces across the state in 1814. After peace and restoration the town continued to grow, especially after the defeat and expulsion of the Sacs and Foxes, and later the Winnebagoes. The development of the mining country did perhaps not really injure Prairie du Chien, but reduced the importance of it to the level of facts, from the inflation of French vaporing. Galena began to be a formidable rival in spite of the disadvantages of its situation. It had never been French; that counterbalanced all! The " ancien regime," the only one they knew or cared to know, in this country, is yet sticking to the early French settlements, like the egg-shell to the newly hatched chicken, only it can't be dropped. For a time the old burg revived, when the railroad terminated in it, but when the bridge was built',' and the train departed, the spirit of enterprise left on it for St. Paul and other places. In the meantime La Crosse had started up. Nathan Myrick came in 1841, but others may have located there and left, before that time. Certain it is that the permanent settlement of La Crosse is not any older than the uninterrupted settlement of Fountain Cit}', at which place Thomas A. Holmes located in the fall of 1839. La Crosse, however, with the advantages of a convenient site, and being at the mouth of Black River, upon whose banks very soon a considerable lumber interest developed, outstripped every place above it and first of all the old French village of Prairie du Chien. It could not compete with St. Paul and Minneapolis, but has kept ahead of all the other places that started in the race at about th^same time. The county of La Crosse was organized in 1849, including all of Crawford County north of Bad Axe, now 'VernonJCountj', hence all of Buffalo County below Beef River: Some settlers were present in this county, especially in that part of it, which then belonged to La Crosse county. The'following list gives the names of those known to have been residents of that part:

Thomas A. Holmes

From the moment that I had concluded to write the history of Buffalo County, I was anxious to learn as much as possible of the life and circumstances of the man, whose name precedes this article. Authorities on hand were exceedingly reticent on the subject, and demonstrated their ignorance not less by contradicting themselves than by silence. That very important personage, the oldest inhabitant, even after Holmes was not on hand, and everybody told a different story. It is asserted in one place that in 1841 when Johann Adam Weber arrived at Holmes' Landing, the original proprietor or possessor of that place had been there 15 years, having come in 1826. It was further asserted that no one knew where Mr. Holmes went after leaving his late residence ;"^but it was darkly hinted at that he had gone

" To the land of the Dacotahs, To the land of handsome women; Striding over moor and meadow. Through interminable forests, Through uninterrupted silence." - (Hiawatha.)

In the course of time I wanted to study the manners of the Sioux or Dakotas, and as Minnesota had been their latest abode in our neighborhood I borrowed of my friend Emil Leonhardy an old Atlas of Minnesota, expecting to find all about the Sioux, of which I was rather disappointed but in listlessly turning oyer the leaves, I was attracted by the article headed:

Having thirty or more years ago heard of that town, and of the Indian Chief for whom it was named, I examined closely and found the following:

The first settlement was made in Shakopee, while the Indians were yet present in undiminished numbers on the Minnesota. Thomas A Holmes, a native of Pennsylvania, who had been a pioneer in Milwaukee and Janesville, Wisconsin, 1835 to 1838, and a trader among the Indians at Fountain City, St. Paul, Sauk Rapids and Itasca, came in 1851, and located the land where Shakopee is situated. He was one of the original proprietors of the town, as he had also previously been of Milwaukee, Janesville, and several other towns in the Northwest.

Here, then, were several pointers which were diligently made use of. The first step was to find out whether Mr. Holmes was still alive, and whether he was, in that case, at Shakopee or some other place . Not having any acquaintances in Shakopee, I concluded to appeal to the liberality of the Press at that place. Rowell's Newspaper Directory showed that that the.re were two papers at that place : "The Shakopee Courier "and the "Scott County Argus," both of which were addressed and replied as follows:

Dear Sir: - Thomas A. Holmes now lives in Culman, Alabama, where he went some years ago to help built up that section of the sunny South, having completed his labors in that direction hereaway in the North. You might write him, but I understand he says he can only just about write his name now, but " can skin a muskrat quicker than an Indian." I had a pretty long acquaintance with Uncle Tommy, and always found him " straight as an arrow " and full of fun. He was a general favorite in this section

Dear Sir: - Thomas A. Holmes was the founder of this city, as, well as Helena, Mont., and some thirty other towns, and is at present living at Culman, Alabama, to which place he moved six or eight years ago. He is as young as he was forty years ago, but as I was born some ten years after he had settled here, I can give you but few particulars of his eventful career, although there are many here who could. Yours truly

Wm. Hinds. This led to a direct correspondence with Mr. Holmes, which on his part was carried on by Mr. J. A. Johnson, Publisher of the " Alabama Tribune " of Culman, Culman Co., Alabama. The first letter is as follows:

Culman, Ala., Jan. 23, 1887. L. Kessingee, Esq. Mr. Thomas A. Holmes, of whom you write, is now a resident of this place. He will be 83 years old in March. Though quite old, he is enjoying good health, and is as earnest in building towns as he was forty years ago. He is married, and his wife is a descendant of the Woodbury stock of Vermont, though much younger than he. He does not recollect Buffalo County. I presume it hf»s been fornied since your state. He refers you to Milo Jones, now living at Fort Atkinson, on Rock River, above Janesville and near Watertown. Mr. H. is a remarkable man and has seen much of border life among the Indians as a trader.

J. A. Johnson. On February 7th, I addressed another letter to Mr. J. A. Johnson, into which I included a more or less accurate and elaborate description of Holmes' Landing as it was, such names of places and persons as Mr. Holmes could not fail to remember, and which I had learned from an extended study of local histories of our neighborhood. I also suggested the gift of a photograph of Mr. Holmes for a frontispiece picture. This brought the following reply:

Culman, Ala., March 5th, 1887- Dear Sir:- - In reply to yours of February 7th, Mr. Holmes says, that he landed there late in the fall Pf '39 with Robert Ken- nedy and family, the whole party consisting of thirteen. Intended to go to the mouth of the St. Croix River, but met the ice at that point and stopped. Rev. Stevens, a Presbyterian Missionary was on the other side of the river at the prairie of Wabasha, the head of the Wabasha band of Indians. He moved him to the landing and built him a house. Says the sketch is aboui correct, remembers the names mentioned, also Major Hatch, who came up to run an opposition trading establishment. Major Hatch is now living at St. Paul, and could probably be of some service to you. (See note.)

I enclose a photograph taken from a picture of some thirty years ago. Mr. Holmes looks older now, of course, but is well preserved for one of his age. He still champs the bit to be on the border, and points with pride and pleasure to his early and rough life. Mr. Holmes is now sitting at my side while I pen these lines.

J. A. Johnson. In consequence of having received the above mentioned photograph, I procured from our photographer in Alma a few copies, one of which I presented to Mr. C. A. Stevens at Shakopee, and inquired as to the faithfulness of the likeness. This I thought a necessary precaution, because the photograph was not from life directly, and the picture might not have been sufificiently recognizable, but I was assured by the following letter;

Mr. L. Kessingeb. Dear Sir: - I have been unable to answer your letter before. The uncle Tom Holmes picture looks like him in his old age. His friends here recognize it at a glance. Wishing for your success in your biographical sketches, and thanking you for the picture,

C. A. Stevens. To the former letter, as far as it relates to Major Hatch, and the ainnexed letter of Mr. Jofrea as far as it relates to Robert Kennedy, I have to make the following note;

June let, 1887, 1 addressed to the Pioneer Press of St. Paul a short note, inquiring, whether the above named gentlemen, or either of them, were still alive and in St. Paul. To this I received the laconic answer: "They are both dead." Prom a footnote in the History of Winona County I learn that Major Hatch died at St. Paul Sept. 14th, 1882, of cholera morbus. The subsequent letters grew out of suggestions already related above, and such as occur in Mr. Jones' letter.

Dear Sir: - Yours of 17th received and contents noted and in reply would say, from memory: In Sept. 1835 on my return from a survey in the north, I met T. A. Holmes in Milwaukee, who informed me he had purchased a piece of land on Rock River unsight and unseen, - thought he had a town-site, and water-power, and wished me to locate it for him.

A party was organized consisting of T. A. Holmes, William, John and Joshua Holmes, John Inman, Geo. Fulmer and your humble servant. After 2 or 3 days cutting and clearing in Milwaukee woods, we succeeded in getting to what was then called Prairieville with our teams, and I think the first one through the timber to openings and prairie

This agrees with the statement of Mr. J. P. McGregor as to Mr. Holmes' residence at Milwaukee, but contradicts the statement of Mrs. Atwood as to her brother's removal to his land on Rock River in 1835, since it is highly improbable that the removal took place so late in the season.

Laid a village plat, and named it Rockport from the fact of a Big Rock on the right bank of Rock River, near where the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad now crosses, and now a part of the present city of Janesville. On our return to Milwaukee with the new city in embryo, and with the glowing description of the beautiful Rock River country, all eyes along the lake were turned in that direction. Janes of Racine made his way out, and, I think, bought John Holmes' claim on the left bank of the river, where the Meyer's house now stands, and when the land was surveyed and sold, purchased it, and platted and named it Janesville. As -to the time of Holmes going up into your country I will refer you to Mrs. Kate Atwood of Janesville, and Robert Kennedy of St. Paul, who are the only 2 (two) in that early settlement of this state in the Rock River valley.

Robert Kennedy was a brother of T. A. Holmes' first wife. From either of them I think you can ascertain T. A. Holmes' residence which, I believe, is in Alabama. I should have replied to your note soonei but have been absent on a survey,

Mr. Jones, and would so far contradict his assertion that no settlements were known above Rockford, 111. It must be remembered, that during the Black Hawk War (1832) the Rock River Valley had been considerably marched over by the volunteers, and that they had been encamped on the Catfish Creek, which enters Rock River about ten miles above Janesville.

Notwithstanding this P. S. I was strongly inclined to doubt Mr. Thomas A. Holmes' residence at or near Janesville, until assured by the letter of his sister.

The doubt was reasonable enough, first on account of the letter of Mr. McGregor, and second on account of a map of Milwaukee supposing to represent the situation of that place in 1836, in which there is put down the house of Thomas Holmes on what must have been Lot 1, of Section 29 of Township 7 North, Range 22 East. The house was situated on the eastside of East Water Street and but little south of Wisconsin Street.

Dear Sir:. - In reply to your favor of 25th inst., I have to say that Thomas A. Holmes settled in Milwaukee in 1835 and built a frame dwelling on what is now iEast Water Street about No. 382; and this is said to have been the first frame dwelling erected in what is now the city of Milwaukee. See Buck's Pioneer History of Milwaukee, Vol. 1. page 24. He is thought to have left here in 1839. His present location, (if still alive), is not known.

John P. McGeegob, Prest. Mil. Co. Pioneer Association. This letter does not require any special remarks^ It confirms in part the remarks made on the letter of Mr. Milo Jones, but seems to contradict the following letter of Mrs. Atwood. As President McGregor is, however, not positive as to the' removal of Mr. Holmes from Milwaukee, the different statements may easily be reconciled,

Your letter written June 2d, directed to Mrs. Kate Atwood., and by no one claimed, was finally brought up to me. After reading the contents I concluded it was intended for rae although that is not my name. It was once Catherine A. Holmes, and is now Mrs. Volney Atwood. However I will endeavor to give all the informa- -tion I can. I had five brothers who came here, and around here, in thirty-five and four of them are dead. Thomas A. Holmes is all that lives, and he is now in his 84th year. He never lived in Rock-Port, but lived just opposite, in or on his claim, that he called St. George, opposite (probably adjacent to) St. George Rapids, Rockport being situated on the west side (right bank) of Rock River, and the other on the south side (left bank after a turn west.) Their families arrived here the 1st of May, 1836. Some of my brothers came in 1835, Thomas was one of them; but his family did not come until '86. Previously he lived in Milwaukee. Mr. Janes arrived at his claim with his family on the 19th of May, 1836. He was here in January, and made his claim. He never had any share in Rockport, and

The first impulse of a lady might be to resent a supposed offence to her dignity; but the supposed rnisdirection was nothing more, nor less, than the stumbling of that bright and shining light of intelligent civil service, the pQstmaster of Janes ville.

Of Mrs. Atwood 's .^i;e brothers four ar« named in Mr. Jones' letter. William died at Jordan, Scott Co., Minn., after a residence of about 16 years in Rockport - Janesville or its neighborhood.

never owned anything on the westside (right bank) of Rock River; his claim was on the east side (left bank) of the river. My father's family lived in Rockport; three years, and then moved on: his farm, one mile from Rockport. I am the youngest of the family and have remained here ever since. If this is of any account, you are entirely welcome. Please remember that I do not answer to the name of Kate. Respectfully,

Catherine A. Atwood, or Mrs. Volney Atwood. Having now marshaled up all the obtainable evidence in the matter I shall try to give a connected sketch of the life of Mr. Thomas A. Holmes. It is stated, probably on his own assertion, which we have no reason to doubt, that he was born in Pennsylvania in March 1804. Whether Thomas was the oldest of thq five sons of the family we can not tell, but we know that he was eight years older than his brother William, who was, born in Marion, Ohio, in July 1812. This fact indicates that the family had moved West into. the northwestern part of Ohio. Whether they moved any further during the next twenty-three years we can not tell, but at the end of that time we find four of the members of the family at Milwaukee, and the next year down at Rockport and St. George, all of which is now included within the city of Janesville, in the county of Rock, in this state. From the letter of Mr. Milo Jones it appears, that the land on Rock River claimed by Thomas A. Holmes and his brothers was not yet surveyed by the government and could therefore not be purchased. The land in that vicinity was offered for sale to private purchasers in 1839, at which time, according to the statement of Mrs. Atwood, her father's family moved on their farm about one mile from Rockport. At the same time Mr. Janes laid out his claim on the left bank of Rock River, which he had about three years before purchased of John Holmes, and called his new city by the name of Janesville.

We find, also, that in the same year Thomas A. Holmes attempted togo up the Mississippi to the mouth of the St. Croix River, but was detained at the mouth of Waumandee Creek by the ice. Several circumstances then indicate, that he must have sold out his claim, or property at St. George or St. George Rapids, now within the limits of the city of Janesville. He could not have undertaken to make the voyage without considerable means, nor could he have begun his settlement and trading-post at the place of his detention without such means. The party consisted of thirteen persons. We know that Holmes had a family and that his wife was a sister of Robert Kennedy, who probably also had a family. How many, if any, children there were in each family we do not know, but we find from an interview with Mr. John Adam Weber, that in 1840 Holmes' first wife left him, and that he afterwards married a girl of Wabasha's band of Sioux Indians. Weber positively asserts that he never knew Mr. Holmes' first wife, and that she had left the trading post at Holmes' I sanding, or as it was then called by the Indians Wah-ma-dee, som« time before he, (Weber) arrived there. It is very probable that her brother, Robert Kennedy left before her. All the parties whom I had a chance to consult with in regard to the particulars of the life of Thomas Holmes, himself included, were persistently silent on this one point, and so, after nearly half a century since the event took place, it may be well to imitate thdr example. Concerning the rival trading establishment of Major Hatch at the Wah-ma-dee, commonly ca,lled Holmes' Landing, Mr. Weber knows nothing, and, as Mr. Holmes' own statement does not express more than an intention on the part of the Major, it must be left to conjecture what there was of it, and how long it continued.

The fact that Holmes married an Indian woman being established, a curiosity as to who she was must be excusable. Not putting too much faith in individual remembrances, I consulted the " History of Winona County " published in 1883, written by a number of gentlemen, all, or most of them, at the time of the publication residents of Winona either of the city, or the county. It is unfortunate that the different articles of that book were not assigned,by name to each of the different authors. The one who wrote the chapter on earliest settlement, or perhaps the pre-historc al times^- must have been as confused in his recollections as in his English style. Wabasha and hjs residence on the Winona Prairie, the gradual withdrawal to Minnesota City or RoUingstone Valley, and finally to the site of the present city of Wabasha, one can deduce from that chapter as well as the operations of La Bath and his subordinates and the doings of the last but one of the chiefs of the name of Wabasha. Something is also related of Thomas Holmes and of Major Hatch, sonie trivial occurrences, which must have happened in the life of every trader. The Reeds, Charles and James, two Kentuckians, who contrasted themselves with the mercurial Frenchmen and Canucks of French and other extractions by the absence of blunter, and a cool contempt of danger, are also mentioned. We-no-na, called the oldest sister of Wabasha, in reality his first cousin, was married to James Reed, the same who is mentioned in the chapter on Indians as having been unable to learn the 0-chunk-o-rah or Winnebago language. Of this James Reed it is related, that once he remarked that it must have been a very poor dog,? for which Prairie du Chien had been named, and in retaliation for this sage remark, the principal trader at the Prairie, probobly Lockwood or Dickinson addressed the letters which he sent to Reed by steamboats as follows; " Mr. James Reed at the Rattlesnake Bluff," when that gentleman kept his trading post at what is now Trempealeau village. His wife had a daughter, but whether of him or some former husband, I could not find out. This daughter's name was Witch-e-ain, whose beauty and virtue are described in glowing colors. It is unnecessary to repeat it here, especially as it is impossible to learn from the story whether or not the girl was really married to Thomas Holmes, although this is more than probable, and I am inclined to consider it as certain. In a treaty of 1837 the Sioux had surrendered their land east of the Mississippi to the United States, but continued to reside on the adjoining west side, while they still roamed over the land ceded, though it was considered by the Chippewas and Winnebagoes as neutral ground, into which they all ventured occsionally. Numerous batttles were the result. It would have been highly impolitic for a trader at this posttomarry into either of the two other nations.

There is some confirmation of Mr. Weber's assertion in Mr. Holmes' removal from the Wah-ma-dee trading post up the river right into the heart of the Dakote country. The " History of W nona " says he moved to Shookpay, a place which I have been unable to find, though it may have existed, and still exist under another name. I was at first inclined to consider it a corruption of Shakopee and to think that Mr. Holmes settled at that place immediately after leaving Wisconsin. The fact is that he sold but his establishment at the Wah-ma-dee to Henry Gcehrke and Adam Weber in 1846 and moved up the river, evidently > intending to continue his trade with the Indians. It is not' irnprobable, that for a while he did not settle down. But according to Neill's History of Minnesota he was elected a member of the first territorial legislature of Minnesota, from the 6th district, and was at that time living at Sauk Rapids. This was in 1849, only about three years after he had left Holmes' Landing. Although there were then but few people living in that country, it is still improbable that a rnan would have been elected to that position, who had not been a resident long enough to be known and appreciated, which would take two or three years. It is, therefore, reagonable to sup^ pose, that Sauk Rapids or neighborhood, was the first permanent station of Mr. Holmes after he had left Wisconsin.

Next after this we find him at Shakopee. Above I have given a quotation from the Minnesota Atlas concerning his relations to that town. It continues: "An original pioneer by instinct and habit, he kept ahead of the railroads for many years, enjoying the excitements of frontier life. He came here to trade with the Indians, but they being soon removed, he concluded to start a town, and has ever since remained a permanent citizen. When the county -seat was located at Shakopee, he and D. L. Puller donated the land needed for the purpose. In the same relations as to Shakopee Mr. Holmes stood to

The often quoted Minnesota Atlas says in regard to the early history of' that place: " The village was platted and recorded in 1852. Thomas A. Holmes and George Fuller were the original proprietors;"

What imay have induced Mr. Holmes in his old age to leave a place in which he' was, according to the statement of Mr. C, A. Stevens, a general favorite, and probably well enough to do, I can not imagine, unless it was his indomitable restlessness, which led him away from so many places, that are now much larger than any new place in Alabama will be in a century from date. One should, in looking over the map of Milwaukee in 1836, think, that it must have been wild, enough, to look at, just then; how it now is we need not add. Janesville with its 10,000 inhabitants, its splendid situation for all kinds of manufacturing establishments, is also a place one might regret to have left. There are St. Paul and Minneapolis, which offered the very best of chances when Mr. Holmes left Wisconsin. Shakopee, also, I have been told, is a very agreeable place, though it will probably never be a very large one. I have to mention the fact that Mr. Holmes stopped at Fountain City, once at least, since he had left it, when it was called Holmes' Landing. Mr. Weber, who could not have been mistaken in the man, states that he saw and recognized him there at that time. The life of Thomas A. Holmes was certainly eventful enough to make it interesting, but to us it is much more so on account of his prolonged residence at the mouth of the Waumandee Creek, thus giving the first start to Fountain City. There can not be many more years for the old piouicr, and I know every one of my readers will concur in the wish, that he may pass them in peace and prosperity, and find an easy transition to eternal repose.

John Adam Weber

The next in point of time- of our pioneers was John Adam Weber, a native of Waldmichelbach in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, now a part of the Empire of Germany. As he was born in 1821 he must have been quite young, when he emigrated, since he came to Holmes' Landing with his brother Frank Weber in the fall of 1840, about a year after Mr. Holmes had arrived there. The two brothers Weber chopped and banked as much wood on the islands as they possibly could, perhaps with the assistance of a yoke or two of oxen. In the summer, Mr. Weber says, we had nothing to do but to watch for steamboats, for the purpose of getting money, or the value of it in provisions and other necessaries, for our wood. I imagine that at that time this watching must have been a very tedious job, to say nothing of the peculiar annoyances connected with it, since steamboats upon this part of the jiver were indeed " few and far between." Calculating the season at 32 weeks, the steamboats at 40 trips up and as umny down, there was, on an average little more than one boat a week, but as their passage was quite irregular, constant watching was required. Provisions and other things were bought at Galena, which at that time, and for more than twenty years later, was the grand depot, first for the squatters, and then for the settlers of this region. Mr. Weber and his brother made their annual visits to that place, from which they had originally come to Holmes' Landing. In 1845 they met there Henry Goehrke, and persuaded him to come up with them to their residence, and in pursuance of this visit they seem to have, in company with Goehrke, bought out Mr. Holmes and afterwards have carried on his establishment on their own account. Mr. Weber says, that he afterwards resided for some time at Galena but this can not have been for a long period, since we find him to have bought Lot No. 6 of Section 8 of Township 19, Range 11, the land on which the principal part of Fountain City is laid out, on the 11th day of July, 1849, on the same day that Christi n Wengert bought the adjoining Lot No. 1 of Section 17 of the same township and range. This was the first land purchased of the government within the limits of Bufialo County, the purchase being made at the land-office at Mineral Point, about three weeks after the land had come into market. After that time Mr. Weber must have been living about 20 years in Fountain City (six years of it in Holmes' Landing), as he says he was 15 years on his farm in the Eagle Valley (Creek Thai,) and three years in Winona. Of the 20 years he was 9 years and four months janitor of the public schools at Fountain City. In point of the length of residence in this county there will be few or none to excel him at present. The brother of Mr. Weber, who had come with him to Holmes Landing afterwards went to California where he died. Another brother, Peter Weber, much younger, went to the war in. Company H of the sixth Wisconsin Infantry, and died at Frederick, Maryland, of wounds received in the battle of Antietam.

Henry Goehekb

was born on the 4th day of October, 1809, at Abtenrode in the Electorate of Hessen, Germany. According to dates furnished by Mrs. Bodenstab, formerly Mrs, Goehrke, he caroe to this country in 1845, about which time he must have come to Galewa, wherehe made the acquaintance of Adam Weber and was by] him persuaded to come up to Holmes' Landing, where they bought out Mr. Holmes and began to trade with the Indians on their own account. In 1847 Goehrke was married. He continued in the same business until 1854 when he sold out to Henry Teckenburg. In the same year he built the sawmill on Waumandee Creek about two miles above Fountain City at the so-called Milldam. At first Frederick Binder was associated with him, and afterwards Ferdinan Fetter and Ferdinand Mehrmann. The latter being a practical machinist, they erected the Eagle Mill, of which the sawmill was only a dependence of little importance. Goehrke, although called a butcher, never engaged in the butchering business at Fountain City. He died at that place on the oth day of September 1863. He had the reputation of liberality and fairness in his dealings and as a patron of every enterprise which seemed likely to benefit the place. Mrs. Goehrke, though not the first white woman to settle, was the first one to remain for ever after her arrival in this county. From the history of Winona County it appears that Thomas A. Holmes among other things kept a sort of tavern, and Mr. Goehrke after he had succeeded to Mr. Holmes' business, continued that practice, this being the only place of the kind between Wabasha and La Crosse.

The next arrivals known of having landed at Holmes', as it was called for short, were sturdy sons of the Alps, both from the Canton of Grisons, Switzerland. They were:

In 1848 in the month of November, Caspar Wild, a soldier of the Mexican war, came up and found the last named, his countrymen,'though not from the same canton, already present.

Christian Wenger, also a Swiss, of the Canton of Bern, must have arrived at the place about the same time, since- he purchased part of the townsite in July of the following year.

The above named persons having thus as the earliest permanent settlers, become prominent in the history of this county, we will give a short sketch of the life of each, as far as known.

Andbew Baeetsch

was born at Trimis Canton of Grisons in Switzerland in the year 1824. He married in 1844 and emigrated to the United States in 1846 where he settled for the time at Galena, 111. and came to Holmes' Landing, in the fall of 1847. He supported' himself at that place by the sale of wood to steamboats, like all, or most of the residents. Provisions and. other necessaries had to be procured from Galena, to which place every year two visits had to be made. In spring 1853 he moved upon his farm in a sidevalley of the Eagle Creek Valley, where he has ever since resided. He raised and decently supported a numerous family of children, ten of whom are living, two having died His son Anton was the first child of white parents born in this county. Andrew Baertsch is honest and fearless, and he and his whole family enjoy the respect of their neighbors, among whom they have been so many years in uninterrupted mutual content and good feeling.

Andrew Baertsch, senior, as he is now called, to distinguish him from his son of the same given name, was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace and other offices in his town, in which he performed his duties to satisfaction, but for which he never otherwise cared much.

Nicholas Liesch

or, as he was familiarly called, Claus Liesch, was born at Schiers in the Canton of Grisons in Switzerland in the year 1820 and came to this country in 1846, stopping for a time at Galena. Having been a near neighbor to And. Baertsch in the old country, he soon followed him to Holmes' Landing with his wife, his daughter Magdalena, and his son Anton, where he was present at the time Caspar Wild arrived in November 1848. After several years residence in Holmes' Landing Liesch removed to a place farther up the river towards the head of what is known as Pomme-de-Terre Slough where he laid out the Village of Buffalo, and in company with one Sharp the City of Belvidere, both of which have since been vacated. It was at this place he was living in 1859 when I became acquainted with him. His business was still selling wood to steamboats. When in 1862 the twenty-fifth regiment of Wisconsin Infantry was formed, Liesch enlisted in the same and served in Company K. He died in 1863 of dysentery, while the regiment was stationed near Helena, Ark., in the neighborhood of which place he is buried with a great number of his comrades and old neighbors.