The Wisconsin FrontierFrom French coureurs de bois coursing through its waterways in the seventeenth century to the lumberjacks who rode logs down those same rivers in the late nineteenth century, settlers came to Wisconsin's frontier seeking wealth and opportunity. Indians mixed with these newcomers, sometimes helping and sometimes challenging them, often benefiting from their guns, pots, blankets, and other trade items. The settlers' frontier produced a state with enormous ethnic variety, but its unruliness worried distant governmental and religious authorities, who soon dispatched officials and missionaries to help guide the new settlements. By 1900 an era was rapidly passing, leaving Wisconsin's peoples with traditions of optimism and self-government, but confronting them also with tangled cutover lands and game scarcities that were a legacy of the settlers' belief in the inexhaustible resources of the frontier. |
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acres agent Allouez American arrived attack beaver became began Black Hawk Black Hawk War Black River Falls British camp canoes century Champlain Chequamegon Bay Chippewa church claims consin County coureurs de bois Croix Curot dance early east Eau Claire European eventually farm Father feet fishing forest Foxes French Frenchmen fur trade Green Bay HISTORICAL SOCIETY History hunting Huron Illinois immigrants included Lake Michigan Lake Superior Lakes region land large numbers later Lawrence log drive logs Louis lumber Mackinac Madison Menominees métis Michilimackinac miles mills Milwaukee miners Minnesota missionaries Montreal moved northern Wisconsin Northwest Oneidas Ottawa Perrault pine PINERIES Portage Potawatomis Prairie du Chien Press railroad religious reported reservation Sacs sawmill settlement settlers SHSW Sioux soon territory tion treaty tribal tribes Turner University Unonius Upper Lakes Valley village western wild rice Winnebagos winter Wiscon Wisconsin frontier York