ENPages
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Early History
with two men (Picard & Ako) crossed over to the Illinois, & descended that stream and the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, being thus the first to discover the mouth of that mighty river. While returning they were taken by a party of Indians and traveled with them nineteen days up the Mississippi to within six leagues of the Falls of St. Anthony a name then first applied to this romantic place in honor of the patron saint of the expedition. From thence they traveled for sixty leagues afoot to the habitations of the Indians where they were joined by Sieur de Luth and five men. Towards the end of September (1680) they descended the river named by them the St. Francis, to the Mississippi and passing [up] by way of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers arrived at Green Bay where they found many Canadians, come there for the purpose of trade.
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Early History
We have no data at hand from which to estimate the quantities of furs purchased by the French at this early period and sent to Europe. This constituted almost the sole motive for "locating" in these wild, and till then, unknown shores. The French are possessed of the peculiar faculty of making themselves "at home" with the Indians, and lived without that dread of their tomahawks which is so keenly felt by the pioneers of English settlements. They were not able however to maintain friendly terms with all the different tribes into which the Indian population was divided, for before the close of the seventeenth century we find them united with the Chippewas and Menomonees contending with the Sauks & Foxes for a free passage across the country from Green Bay to the Mississippi, i which they met with complete success, by a decisive battle fought at Buttes des Morts or the Hill of the Dead. "The Ottagamies (Foxes) had selected a strong
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position upon the Fox river, which they fortified by three rows of palisades and a ditch. They have secured their women and children and prepared for a vigorous defense. Their entrenchment was so formidable that De Louvigny the French commander declined an assault, and invested the place in form. By regular approaches he gained a proper distance for mining their work and was preparing to blow up one of the curtains, when they proposed a capitulation. Terms were eventually offered and accepted; and those who survived the siege were preserved and liberated."* No further difficulties existed between the French traders and missionaries, and the Indians from that period down to the present time. How different would it probably have been had almost any other nation attempted to penetrate so far into the country of these "wild men of the woods"!
* Cass-His. & Scien. Sketches of Michigan p 22 -(1834)
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History
Wisconsin remained in possession of the French, and constituted a portion of "New France" until 1759 when it was surrendered to Great Britain and became subject to her government. This change of government it may be supposed produced but little change in the condition of things in places so remote from the seat of government. Green Bay and Prairie du Chien were then the only ports occupied within out limits. British authority was exercised over us from this period until the north western country was transferred to the American Government in 1794, being seven years after the date of the ordinance for the establishment of a "Territorial Government" in the same. During this period of thirty five years but little change took place in Wisconsin- the Indian continued to hunt the deer and to trap the beaver unmolested, and bartered his furs at Green Bay or Mackina for the trifles or the "fire water" of the trader. As early however as 1780 Peosta the wife of an Ottagami warrior discovered lead near the Mississippi river, and in 1788 Julian Dubuque
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obtained from the Indians at Prairie du Chien a grant of land extending seven leagues on the Mississippi and three leagues deep. This grant was recognized by the Spanish Government in 1796 but was not confirmed by our own. For several years the mining operations were quite limited, as may well be supposed; and in 1805 Mr. Dubuque informed Lieut. Pike that he raised from twenty to forty thousand pounds annually.
Schoolcraft informs us that the settlement of Prairie du Chien was first begun in 1783, by Mr. Giard, Mr. Antaya and Mr. Dubuque, but that there had formerly been an old settlement about a mile below the site of the present village, which existed during the time the French had possession of the country.
