The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume 1, 1917-1918Various
History
The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume 1, 1917-1918
Various
Wisconsin -- History -- Periodicals
In 1685 Nicolas Perrot was governor of all of this region. In the
_Proceedings_ of this Society for 1915 you will find an account of
Perrot’s experiences and of the Fort Antoine that he built at the
mouth of the Chippewa. Perrot called the stream River of the Sauteurs,
which was the French name for the Chippewa tribe, whom they first met
at the Sault, hence Saulteurs or Sauters. Perrot seems to have been
the first person to use the name Sauteur or Chippewa for the river. It
so appears on a very remarkable map drawn in 1688, and now in Paris. A
facsimile of this is in the Wisconsin Historical Library, at Madison,
and a photograph appears in L. P. Kellogg’s, _Early Narratives of the
Northwest_ (New York, 1917), 342. At Fort St. Antoine, Perrot in 1689
held a great ceremony, taking possession of all the Sioux country for
the King of France. A translation of this document is found in volume
eleven of the _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, 35-36.
The name of the river indicates that the Chippewa was the home of some
portion of the Chippewa tribe. In the early eighteenth century this
valley became the battle ground of the great feud between the Sioux
and Chippewa Indians, which lasted nearly one hundred and fifty years.
Much interesting material on this subject may be found in _Minnesota
Historical Collections_, volume five, which is a history of the
Chippewa tribe by a half-breed, W. W. Warren.
In the year 1766, three years after the French had ceded all this
territory to the British crown, the noted explorer, Jonathan Carver,
ascended the Mississippi and attempted to bring about a peace between
the warring Sioux and Chippewa. The next year he returned from
Mackinac, and with a stock of goods ascended the Chippewa River, at
whose headwaters he found a Chippewa village of one hundred fine stout
warriors. Their customs, however, were very filthy. This is, so far as
we know, the first recorded voyage through the Chippewa valley. No
doubt, however, many fur traders had preceded Carver, for he speaks of
engaging a pilot to accompany him.
In the last years of the French régime there was reported a copper
mine on this river, which was then called for a time “Bon Secours” or
Good Help River. Carver calls it the Chippewa River. About six years
after Carver’s visit a British trader named Hugh Boyle was killed at
this river. See _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, XVIII, 312-13.
According to the court of inquiry ordered by the British officials,
the affair was his own fault.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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