APPENDIX No. 8,

SKETCH OF CALUMET COUNTY.

BY THOMAS CAMMUCK, OF THE BROTHERTOWN INDIANS.

Although the history of Calumet county may be found less interesting than that of her more wealthy sisters throughout our young, flourishing and prosperous State, yet, such as it is, I very cheerfully communicate it to you.

I think it was not until the year 1840, that Calumet county was first set off, and organized for judicial purposes.* Previous to that time, what now constitutes Calumet, was recognized as a part of Brown county, and was first taken possession of by the Stockbridge and Brothertown Indians; two or three families of each of those tribes having removed there in the winter of 1834. It was then a dense forest of very heavy timber, and the only roads or improvement of any kind, then existing within the present limits of Calumet, were a few Menomonee Indian trails. About the year 1836, a white man by the name of WESTFALL settled in the northern part of what is now Calumet, and pretended to keep a

* Calumet county was set off from Brown county, Dec. 7, 1836, organized for county purposes, Jan. 6, 1840, and on the following 13th August, was disorganized, and attached to Brown. It was re-organized for couuty purposes, Feb. 18, 1842, remaining in judicial connection with Brown until the formation of Fond du Lac county, Jan. 22, 1844, to which it was attached for judicial purposes. It was at length fully organized, Feb. 5, 1850.--Hunt's Gazetteer.

tavern on the military road leading from Green Bay to Fort Winnebago, which road was commenced about that time. But such a tavern! The writer of this sketch well remembers the time when he called at the aforesaid tavern, drenched with cold rain, and asking for breakfast for himself, and baiting of some kind for his horse, but unfortunately could obtain neither. The landlord had gone to Green Bay, a distance of nearly twenty-five miles, for the purpose of procuring and bringing home a back-load of provisions. I think I can safely say, that these were times, that not only "tried men's souls," but their appetites also.

The Stockbridge and Brothertown Indians continued to emigrate yearly from the State of New York, and joined their friends in Calumet county; and up to 1840, the county contained about 230 Stockbridge, and about 300 Brothertown Indians, and only about three whites-to wit: the tavern keeper before alluded to, the Rev. CUTTING MARSH, a missionary among the Stockbridge Indians, and MOODY MANN,* a mill-right, who superintended the erection of the first grist and saw mill in our county for the Brothertown Indians. Similar mills were built by the Stockbridge Indians, or rather by DANIEL WHITNEY, by their consent, having been erected upon their lands. All these mills were built about 1836–7, and for several years after their erection, the people of Oshkosh, on the west side of Winnebago Lake, got all their milling done at these mills, as did also the people of Fond du Lac, and a large number of inhabitants from the north-eastern portion of Fond du Lac county get their milling done to this day at the Brothertown Indian mills. About two years ago, there was another saw-mill built, in what is called Kill Snake Settlement, by WILLIAM URMSTON, about fourteen miles north-east of the Brothertown mills; and this spring I have learned that another saw mill has just been put in operation in Charlestown, about twelve miles easterly from the Brothertown mills. There is yet anc ther saw-mill in our county, built two or three years ago, but it does not do much business. * Hon. MOODY MAN, Judge of Calumet county, died in that county, in Dec. 1854.

L. C. D.

In the year 1839, the Brothertown Indiaus petitioned Congress for citizenship, which was granted, and they are now enjoying all the rights, privileges, and immunities of other citizens of the United States, and the State of Wisconsin. In 1843, the Stockbridge Indians also petitioned for citizenship, and were likewise admitted; but a portion of them remonstrated from the out-set, and finally succeeded in shirking out; and, since that time, those who desired and embraced citizenship have sent a delegation to Washington to get set back again as Indians, and it is said they have agreed to emigrate west of the Mississippi.

The census of Calumet county in 1850, gave 1746 inhabitants, of whom about two hundred and fifty were Stockbridge, and four hundred Brothertown Indians. For several years past, much prejudice has existed abroad with regard to this county and its inhabitants; the former was believed to be too cold to permit the growth of ordinary crops, and the latter deemed as pocr degraded savages, destitute of the common comforts of civilization, and without any principles of morality, and people scarcely dared to pass through our county, for fear of being scalped. But since they have learned that the Indians are an agricultural, mechanical and manufacturing people, that they live, dress and talk like other "human critters," (having entirely lost their language, the Brothertowns in particular,) that they have their own common schools in operation, public officers, churches and preachers, and the fact that travelers frequently get nearly through the town without being aware of it, and then enquire how far it is to Brothertown,-I say, since the people are beginning to become acquainted with these facts, they begin to entertain a little more respect for Calumet county and her population.

Yes, sir, the time has been when Calumet county was considered to be the very sink-hole of vice and iniquity, and acting upon that belief in some instances, horse-thieves and gamblers have sought to obtain a shelter here from the iron clutches of the law; but when they have found the Indians ready and willing to turn

out en masse, and surround and search houses in the dead of night where it was supposed these kind of gentry were concealed, they have generally made extremely short visits, being both ocularly and mentally convinced that our county was a very unsafe asylum for persons of their stamp.

For the last six months or more there has been a constant tide of emigration setting into our county. Scarcely a day, or week, at least, passes, but teams are seen passing into our county loaded with goods and families, and I should not be surprised if Calumet doubled her population in one year from this time.

It may be interesting to know, that the first steamboat that ever graced the crystal bosom of Lake Winnebago, was built in our county by the Brothertown Indians, under the superintendence of PETER HOTELING, who was a white man, and the captain of said boat. She was called the Manchester, and is still running on the lake under the name, I think, of the Fountain City. We have obtained a charter for a plank-road from Manchester to Sheboygan, a distance of thirty-five miles, which will pass through one of the finest portions of the state, in regard to the fertility of its soil, its water power, and its lofty groves of pine and other timber for lumbering purposes. Calumet county is about sixteen by twenty-five miles in size.

Manchester, April 29, 1851.

APPENDIX NO. 9.

SKETCH OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

BY IRA S. HASELTINE, ESQ.

In accordance with the request of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, I have prepared this brief sketch of Richland county:

This county was organized for judicial purposes May 1st, 1850, and now forms part of the fifth judicial circuit. It has an area of sixteen sectional townships in a square form, with also some fractional townships upon the Wisconsin river, which constitutes its southern boundary. It has four very considerable mill streams running from the north to the south through the county, and emptying into the Wisconsin. These streams are, Bear Creek in the eastern part of the county, Pine river running through the central portion, Eagle creek more westerly, and Knapp's creek in the extreme western part of the county. These several streams, with their numerous tributaries, abundantly supply all parts of the county with the best of water, which is almost invariably soft. Fishes of different kinds, including pike, pickerel, catfish, mullet, succors, and the speckled trout, are found in great abundance.

Richland county has a plenty of the best timber of various kinds, to wit: maple, ash, elm, oak, basswood, butternut, walnut, and some beautiful groves of pine and poplar. The face of the country is diversified by hills and valleys, with numerous springs of