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ISSN 0043-6534 MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

The Historical Society of Wisconsin • Vol. 61, No. 2 • Winter, 1977-1978

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»"*• "- THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN RICHARD A. ERNEY, Director Officers

WILLIAM HUFFMAN, President F. HARWOOD ORBISON, Treasurer JOHN C. GEILFUSS, First Vice-President RICHARD A. ERNFY, Secretary ROGER E. AXTELL, Second Vice-President

Board of Curators Ex Officio MARTIN J. SCHREIBI R. Acting of the State EDWIN YoiiNt;, President of the Unixiersilx DOUGLAS ]. LAFOLLLITF., Secretary of Stale MRS. L. PRFNTICK EAGER, JR., President of the Women's Auxiliary CHARLES P. SMITH, State Treasurer

Term Expires, 1978

JOHN .ANDERSON JOHN C. GEILFUSS LLOYD HORNBOSTEL, JR. FRANCIS PAUL PRUCHA, S.J. Cable Beloit Milwaukee E. DAVID CRONON MRS. R. L. HARTZELL ROBERT H. IRRMANN J. WARD RECTOR Madison Grantsburg Beloit Milwaukee ROBERT A. GEHRKE MRS. WILLIAM E. HAYES JOHN R. PIKE CLIFFORD D. SWANSON Ripon De Pere Madison Stevens Point

Term Expires, 1979

THOMAS H. BARLAND MRS. PETIR D. HUMLEKER, JR. CHARLES R. MCCALLUM F. HARWOOD ORBISON Eau Claire Fond du Lac Hubertus Appleton NATHAN S. HEFFERNAN MRS. EDWARD C. JONES HOWARD W. MEAD DONALD C. SLIGHTER Madison Fort Atkinson Madison Milwaukee E. E. HOMSTAD MRS. RAYMOND J. KOLTES FREDERICK I. OLSON DR. LOUIS C. SMITH Black River Falls Madison Wauwatosa Cassville

Term Expires, 1980

ROGER E. AXTELL MRS. R. GOERES HAYSSEN ROBERT B. L. MURPHY MILO K. SWANTON Janesville Eau Claire Madison Madison REED COLEMAN MRS. FANNIE HICKLIN MRS. WM. H. L. SMYTHE CEDRIC A. VIG Madison Madison Milwaukee Rhinelander PAUL E. HASSETT WILLIAM HUFFMAN WILLIAM F. STARK CLARK WILKINSON Madison Wisconsin Rapids Nashotah Baraboo

Fellows

VERNON CARSTENSEN MERLE CURTI ALICE E. SMITH

The Women^s Auxiliary MRS. L. PRENTICE EAGER, JR., Evansville, President MRS. A. PAUL JENSEN, Madison, Treasurer MRS. GUSTAVE H. MOEDE, JR., Milwaukee, Vice-President MRS. DAVID S. FRANK, Madison, Ex Officio MRS. JOHN C. WILSON, JR., Milwaukee, Secretary

ON THE COVER: Chequamegon Bay, , photographed around the turn of the century from the bluffs near Washburn, Bayfield . Art essay on the mystique of lite North Country begins on page 91. [WHi (X3) 32065] Volume 61, Number 2 / Winter, 1977-1978 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Published quarterly by the State Historical Society of The Long Lost State of Superior 91 Wisconsin, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. Charles E. Twining Distributed to members as part of their dues. (Annual member­ ship, $10, or .157.50 for those New Orleans and the River Trade: over 65 or members of affiliated Reinterpreting the Role of the Business Community 112 societies; family meniljcrship, 512.50, or .¥10 for those over 65 or Lawrence H. Larsen members of affiliated societies; contributing, ,U25; business and professional, .1550; sustaining, Therese Schindler of Mackinac: $100 or more annually; patron, Upward Mobility in the Great Lakes Fur Trade 12.5 $500 or more annually.) Single numbers from Volume 57 John E. McDowell forward are .$2. Microfilmed copies available through University Microfilms, 300 The Riddle of the Little Bighorn: North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, A Review Essay 144 48106; reprints of \'olumes 1 through 20 and most Merrill J. Mattes issues of Volumes 21 through 56 are available from Kraus Reprint Company, Route 100, Millwood, 10546. Book Reviews 149 Communications should be addressed to the editor. The Book Review Index 163 Society does not assume responsibility for statements Accessions 164 made by contributors. Second- da.ss postage paid at Madison The Society's New Director 167 and Stevens Point, Wiscon,sin. Copyright © 1978 by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Proceedings of the One Hundred and Thirty-first Paid for in part by the Maria Annual Meeting of the State Historical Society 168 L. and Simeon Mills Editorial Fund and by the George B. Contributors 176 Burrows Fund.

PAUL H. HASS EDITOR

WILLIAM C. MARTEN ASSOCIATE EDITOR

JOHN O. HOLZHUETER ASSISTANT EDITOR WHi (X3) 18981

Duluth, , about ihe lime of the Civil War.

90 The Long Lost State of Superior

By Charles E. Twining

RIDE of place is doubtless as old than three hundred years ago the French ad­ as man. Whatever and wherever venturer Pierre-Esprit Radisson called it "a the origin of the species may have been, ear­ terrestrial paradise," a region "most delight­ liest Homo sapiens must have looked with spe­ ful and wonderous, for its Nature that made cial feeling upon the familiar environs of their it so pleasant to the eye, the spirit, and the own gardens of Eden. And the passage of time belly."! Incredibly, the contemporary visitor has apparently done little to diminish this ten­ is still able to share much of Radisson's de­ dency, for even "restless " have not light and wonderment, for many intervening been immune to local loyalties. Indeed, generations of Europeans and Americans have Americans seem only to have more, and more failed, despite their best efforts, to alter the various, localities about which to be proud fundamental nature of the North Country. than most. Though we may not share Willa Thus today's tourist from Milwaukee or Chi­ Gather's enthusiasm for a particular corner cago is, in a sense, going as many years back­ of her beloved , we can all understand ward in time as he is miles northward in dis­ something of her feelings upon crossing the tance. River, where "the very smell of the But regardless of the attraction of the Lake soil tore me to pieces." Superior region to visitors old and new, those Excluding such special provincialisms, it who make their homes and try to make a liv­ can still be asserted that some places do ing in the region view their condition with elicit a more generalized and more universal some ambivalence. Their dilemma seems a appeal. Thus, while Garden City, , will spatial variation of that confronting current be considered by most of us to be little more advocates of an alternative life style, desirous than a rest stop on the way to somewhere else, at once of the best of the old ways in some com­ a Mount Rainier is the somewhere else: the bination with the advantages of modernity. destination. When one is within sight of such In any event, residents of the region have long a mountain, its dominating presence simply felt burdened by a yoke of discrimination, ex­ cannot be ignored. Similarly, there are towns ploited by those closer to the centers of wealth in the South that demand the visitor do more and real power. As a result, for almost 150 than simply observe. He must become in­ years expressions of regional self-conscious­ volved; must, to a degree, become Southern. ness have been sufficiently strong and cohe­ So too it is with the Lake Superior region, sive to support a movement which speaks of and so perliaps it has always been. It is not just the lake and the land; the very air is dif­ ' Arthur T. Adams (editor), The Explorations of ferent, and the light, and the ambiance. More Pierre Esprit Radisson (Minneapolis, 1961), 120, 122.

Copyright @ 1978 by The State Historical Society of Wisconsit All rights of reproduction in any form reserved 91 S..<|C"'»,1'4

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«-J" '^;,V*i''#'^ WHi (X3) i^y Hardwood forest, Florence County, photographed in 1895 by H. J. Perkins of the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture.

separatism. Often quaint and always quixotic, Peninsula of Michigan, the northern half of the movement has had for its ultimate objec­ Wisconsin, and, occasionally, the Lake Supe­ tive the creation of a separate "State of Su­ rior counties of Minnesota from their down- perior," although recently the more common state portions, organizing in the process a new cry has been simply for a "51st State."^ But state, and one which would be specially sensi­ "51st" or "Superior," it has generally involved tive to the needs of this North Country. the same cause: the separation of the Upper Now it may be correctly inferred that there is nothing unusual or unexpected about all of this. Regionalism has been a factor through­ ^ It is at least humorous, if not important, to note the reaction in January, 1977, to President Gerald R. out tlie nation's history.'' The thirteen main- Ford's proposal that be given serious and early consideration for statehood. In the Upper Penin­ ' There are, of course, several sources on the general sula there was the obvious and immediate problem of subject of .American regionalism, among which are what could be done with thousands of stickers bearing Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of Sections the "51st State" inscription. Apparently there were in American History (New York, 1932); Howard Odum some residents of the Upper Peninsula who viewed the and Harry E. Moore, American Regionalism: A Cul­ President's position as something approaching breach tural-Historical Approach to National Integration (New of faith, especially since it involved one who was him­ York, 1938); Merrill Jensen (editor), Regionalism in self a Michigan native. See, for example, the Ironwood America (Madison and Milwaukee, 1965); and William Daily Globe (Michigan), January 7, 1977. B. Hesseltine, "Regions, Classes, and Sections in Amer-

92 TwiNiNt;: STATE OF SUPERIOR land colonies which declared themselves in­ strength and to act in unison with each other." dependent of two hundred years ago Although at the time Madison must have were also independent of each other. Al­ been at least partially correct, there would though tliey occasionally co-operated in the soon be occasions when issues seemed so criti­ course of their war, to many of these rebels cal that diversification and continual mixing this co-operation was a reluctant effort at no longer sufficed. Such was the case, for ex­ best, a temporary arrangement fraught with ample, during the when New many dangers. Sam Adams, for one, never Englanders felt so abused by the policies of could accept the fact that he might be involved their national government that they threat­ in something larger than winning indepen­ ened ; and Madison, who was then dence for Bay; and once that President, must have had some second end was achieved he would have little to do thoughts. Less than fifty years later, the ques­ with associating his beloved Massachusetts tion of the indivisibility of the Union became with another outside government, and thus an abstraction in the months following Abra­ forfeit that which his people had won at such ham Lincoln's election. Whether or not se­ cost. Certainly the Articles of Confederation, cession was permitted under the Constitution, our first national constitution, reflected the the Confederacy was created by those states same misgivings whicli had caused Sam to which seceded, thereby representing the most furrow his brow, shake his head, and finally extreme expression of American sectionalism. to throw up his hands in disgust. Interests were apparently in such conflict that Even after the nationalists of that early they could no longer be resolved within the period succeeded in securing a new constitu­ old framework by democratic procedures. tion which promised greater central authority, they realized that the diversity which must exist in a country so large would be an im­ portant factor in how the business worked. 'OR the most part, however, ex­ In those days, when the development of politi­ F;pression s of regional concern have cal parties was either feared or unforeseen, it been far less dramatic and certainly less vio­ was assumed that there would be clianging lent than were those of the 1860's. Such is coalitions as various issues forced a continual surely the case in the Lake Superior region's realigning of interest groups. As a result, mi­ experience. Largely lacking in both drama nority interests would be protected because and violence, feelings thereabouts have never­ majorities would be incapable of uniting theless been sufficient to support this long effectively for any length of time. Thus ar­ history of regional self-consciousness. Why? gued in The Federalist (Num­ What had made this a section, or at least has ber 10): "enlarge the sphere" to such an ex­ encouraged those who live there to consider tent that the community will be divided into themselves as being something special? What so many different interests and parties that is there in the nature of their experience, "you will make it less probable that a ma­ needs, spirit, frustrations, and aspirations that jority . . . will have a common motive to in­ has rendered them different from other Ameri­ vade the rights of other citizens; or if such cans, that has indeed set them apart from a common motive exists, it will be more dif­ those Wolverines, Badgers, and Gophers liv­ ficult for all who feel it to discover their own ing downstate? That nothing has resulted from the effort ican History," in the Journal of Land & Public Utility of those who have advocated a separate "State Economics, 20 (February, 1944). See also David J. of Superior," nor seems likely to, need not Russo, Families and Communities: A New View of American History (Nashville, 1974); and, for a fascinat­ diminish its significance. As we all know, re­ ing account of the only successful story of .American drawing political boundaries even for the very secession, John Alexander Williams, West : A best of reasons has often proved an impos­ Bicentennial History (New York, 1976). See also the sible task. Nevertheless, it is interesting to published version of an address given in 1958 at the seventy-fifth anniversary conference of the University consider the factors that have encouraged the of , Elwyn B. Robinson's The Themes schism. Of greatest import through the years of North Dakota History (Grand Forks, ca. 1959). has been a discrimination, real and imagined

9.5 WHi (X3) 18 Atail wagon on Ihe ice off Island, ca. 1910.

—a discrimination born largely of neglect. In Jean Nicolet, in search of the passage to the this sense, the Lake Superior section has as­ Orient and thus appropriately gowned in sumed something of a colonial role relative the robes of a mandarin, fired his pistols into to the more heavily settled areas to the south. the blue sky over Green Bay in a ceremony in This colonial role, this lesser mission, seems 1635, the same year that the colonization of to have been the inevitable result of a com­ began. bination of factors—climate, soils, and the But for all of their hopes for a passage process of settlement—all of which have con­ through or an empire upon, and for all of tributed to a relatively isolated and relatively undeveloped condition.* In one respect this is ironic, for in the course ' By no means should this be considered an original statement of a sectional phenomenon. The reader is of European involvement in the western hemi­ reminded, for example, of the following observation by sphere, this great northern interior was un­ Frederick Jackson Turner in "The Significance ot the masked at an amazingly early date, fitienne Frontier in .American History": "The isolation ot the Brul6, that daring courier of Samuel de Cham- region increased its peculiarly American tendencies, plain's dream of a New France in a New and the need of transportation facilities to connect it with the East called out important schemes of internal World, learned of the Lake Superior waters improvement. . . . The 'West,' as a self-conscious sec­ as the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth in 1620. tion, began to evolve."

94 TWININC: STATE OV SUPERIOR their wealth in peltry gathered, the French left Less well known is the procedure by which small imprint upon the lakes region that had these states were formed. In March of 1784, been theirs. Permanent settlement was to committee chairman Thomas Jefferson had come much later and from another source, a suggested the creation of ten states out of source English in origin and American by ex­ what was then called the Western Territory, perience. Tlie waterways of the Great Lakes states lie christened with such exotic names as provided a means to reach far into the conti­ Metropotamia, Polypotamia, and the State nent with relative ease, and therefore early; of Sylvania which, in the future President's but the pioneer farmers of would imaginings, would have included northeastern have marched westward with or without the Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and the Up­ assistance of that convenient network of lakes per Peninstda of Michigan. Although present- and streams. A greater New England had to day advocates of the 51st State might be in­ spill out of its eastern limits. Leavening this clined to attach great wisdom and foresight Yankee population that sought opportuni­ to tliis Jeffersonian fantasia, the committee in ties in the lands bordering the upper Lakes 1784 maintained a somewhat more conserva­ were increasing numbers of emigrants from tive view, as indicated by the ordinance adop­ distant shores. Cornish, Germans, Scandina­ ted, which merely stated that "not less than vians, Poles, Italians, representatives of near­ three nor more than five states" should be ly every European state came to see, and most formed out of the Territory. It was further remained to live. stipulated that Congress would have the The process of settlement, however, had its authority to create one or two states in that own special logic. While it generally moved portion of the territory lying to the "north of from east to west, such was not always the an east west line drawn through the southerly case; and even when it did, settlement was bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." As if to seldom evenly accomplished. So it was that sanctify its work. Congress called this a com­ extreme southwestern Wisconsin was the ini­ pact between the original states and the states- tial area of that Territory which attracted sig­ to-be, a compact that would "forever remain nificant numbers, these coming to exploit unalterable, unless by common consent." As the lead that lay close beneath its surface. those members of Congress understood, and At times it would almost seem that the wa­ as subsecjuent congresses would demonstrate, ters of the Great Lakes blocked the normal common consent or no, few works of men are east-west movement. This was not really so— forever unalterable.'' for example, Milwaukee was simply the most In any event, the ground rules for north­ important terminus for the Wisconsin settler western expansion were drawn with care. It arriving via the Lakes—but as we watch the simply attests to the realities of politics that land fill with farms and villages, we note that these ground rules were soon to be violated. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are set­ Apparently there was to be no end to the tled generally from south to north. Climate, intricacies of these violations, some of which soils, forests, and many other factors contrib­ were still being argued before the United uted to this process, but the nature of its pro­ States Supreme Court in the 1930's in a boun­ gression was to have large effect. dary case involving Michigan and Wisconsin. Perhaps the first evidence of this effect had One fact does become clear, however: as ex­ to do with the way in which states were carved pected, the politically more powerful were out of the Northwest Territory. Their order able to readjust the boundaries to their ad­ of entry is well known: was the first vantage. The first of these readjustments may in 1803; then in 1816; in liave set the pattern; at the very least it ac­ 1818; Michigan in 1836; Wisconsin in 1848; tivated a series of causes and effects that ranged and Minnesota—stretching the Territory a bit far and lasted long. —•in 1858. Since the attainment of statehood was dependent in part upon population, one can quickly and correctly surmise that settle­ " For the classic discussion ot these matters, see Reuben Gold Thwaites, "The Boundaries of Wiscon­ ment tended to progress across the area in a sin," in the Wisconsin Historical Collections (Madison, west by northerly manner. 1888), 11: 451-501.

95 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

In discussing this Michigan-Wisconsin Su­ Obviously the bad blood between Michigan preme Court case, the geographer Lawrence and Ohio pre-dates Big Ten football by sev­ Martin attempted to summarize just how eral generations, bttt one may wonder wheth­ things had gotten into such a shape: "Since er those wlio sing such favorites as "We don't Mitchell's map of 1755 placed the south end give a damn for the whole State of Michigan, of Lake Michigan too far north, since this led we're from O-hi-o" are wholly cognizant of Ohio, whose northern boundary was fixed by the historical relationship of the one state to the Ordinance of 1787 as an east-west line the other. tangent to the south end of Lake Michigan, to For purposes of this consideration, however, consider herself entitled to the present city of that initial reluctance to accept the Upper Toledo, since Michigan was given her whole Peninsula as having value is significant. It Upper Peninsula in 1836 in lieu of Toledo, provides an early and clear example of what and since Congress described the Michigan- would become a pattern for attitudes; for just Wisconsin boundary hurriedly in 1836, with as there were two in the making, incomplete Itydrographic information—in view there would also be two Wisconsins and two of all this let's play that Mitchell's map of 1755 Minnesotas, and in each instance it was a rela­ started the suit."^ tively isolated north country, less heavily Perhaps Professor Martin's blame-placing populated, less well-developed, less well-adap­ makes as much sense as can be made, but in ted for standard agriculture that would be fact Dr. John Mitchell was a minor cause. If considered of lesser importance. And it is there was a culprit, it was political clout. doubtless in reaction to these attitudes that a Ohio's capture of the Toledo strip from Michi­ certain sense of community developed among gan was akin to the sixty-mile-northward those who would make their homes in the movement of the Illinois border in 1818, this Lake Superior region, almost a sense of colo­ so' that Illinois could have a port on Lake nial community that would, on occasion, tran­ Michigan. As Louise Phelps Kellogg later scend state affiliations and legal boundaries. explained this violation and its acceptance: Remindful of Voltaire's disdainful refer­ "There was no one in Wisconsin to object."' ence to Canada as being little more that quel- So, too, there were not enough people in ques arpents de neige, a Michigan man of Michigan to object effectively against the Ohio 1836 described the Upper Peninsula as being violations. The so-called "Frost-bitten Com­ "a wild and comparative Scandinavian tract— promise," by which Michigan was to be com­ 20,000 square miles of howling wilderness on pensated for the loss of the Toledo strip by the shores of Lake Superior." A resolution the inclusion within her borders of the Upper adopted by a Detroit assemblage not only Peninsula, was arranged despite geography recognized the contemporary condition but and was accepted with great difficulty. Some saw no hope for the future, referring to the Michigan historians have attempted to argue Upper Peninsula as "the sterile region . . . that those who objected did so in the name of destined by soil and climate to remain for­ righteousness,^ but in truth they objected be­ ever a wilderness."^" On March 17, 1836, an cause the compromise seemed to them so un­ fair. The gain of the Upper Peninsula simply did not compensate for the loss of the Toledo ' Lawrence Martin, "The Michigan-Wisconsin Boun­ dary Case in the Supreme Court of the , strip. Those who valued the whitefish of 1923-26," in Annals of the Association of American Superior more highly than the bullfrogs of Geographers, 20: 107 (September, 1930). the Maumee were clearly in the minority. As ' Louise Phelps Kellogg, "A Portrait ot Wisconsin," a result, men of Michigan armed themselves in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, 25: 273 (March, in 1836 to do glorious battle against Ohioans, 1942). ' See, for example, Willis Frederick Dunbar, Michi­ and as they marched forth they chanted their gan Through the Centuries (New York, 1955), 1: 194- cause :^ 195. But now the song they sing to us 'John Bartlow Martin, Call it North Country: The Is—trade away that land Story of Upper Michigan (New York, 1944), 42. '° Lawton T. Heraans, Life and Times of Stevens For that poor, frozen country. Thomson Mason, the Boy Governor of Michigan (Lan­ Beyond Lake Michigan. sing, 1920), 199.

96 John Mitchell's Map ot the British and French Dominions in North .America, published in in 1755, subtly altered the geography of the . This portion of his map is reproduced from a facsimile issued by Harry Margary in 197-t.

97 WHi (X3) 33903 Cabin near Dead River Falls, northern Michigan, ca. 1875. editorial in the Detroit Free Press belittled been expressed in the establishment of a sep­ the inclusion within the Michigan boundaries arate "Territory of Huron," to include pres­ of that "region of perpetual snows—the ultima ent-day northern Wisconsin in addition to the Thule of our national domain on the North." Upper Peninsula. Citizens of Sault Ste. Marie Michigan Senator Lucius Lyon joined in the petitioned Congress to this effect, noting their derision, observing that tlie north was of value estrangement from the seat of Michigan's gov­ because there "we can raise our own Indians ernment to such an extent that they felt like in all time to come and supply ourselves now a forgotten colony. Congress, of course, paid and then with a little bear meat for delicacy."" even less attention to this complaint than did Not surprisingly, political efforts reflected tlie territorial legislature.^^ these attitudes. As early as 1829, interest had '" F. Clever Bald, Michigan in Four Centuries (New- "Ibid., 195. York. 1954). 200.

98 TWINING: STATE OF SUPERIOR

T was not long, however, before the practice of leasing discouraged invest­ I some came to appreciate that while ments, further arguing that "the attitude of there might be two Michigans, both could be a landlord is unsuited to the genius of our important. Within ten years of statehood, government." Opposing all such restraints, a newspaper was providing a Peninsular fo­ the memorialists maintained that "whatever rum, its editor booming away in the summer o': value the copper region now possesses, has of 1846 that "thousands of our hardy coun­ been conferred upon it by the enterprise of trymen" were then to be found in that dis­ our citizens; and justice requires that they tant country, further noting that it was "now should not now be compelled to pay exorbi­ attracting the attention of the Union, as con­ tantly for that land which . . . would have re­ taining mineral resources unequalled for rich­ mained useless. . . ."^* ness in the history of the world."'^ Three years later, the editor of the Michi­ But if the Upper Peninsula was no longer gan Expositor in downstate Adrian paid a unknown, it was still largely ignored; at least visit to the Upper Peninsula and apparently it seemed so to those anxious to take advan­ came away with some appreciation of north­ tage of its opportunities for wealth. Chief ern frustrations. Acknowledging that there among the complaints were those involving was "little feeling in common" between the the restrictions placed by the state on mining two Michigans, he inquired, "How could it development. In a memorial of September, be otherwise when the state government pur­ 1846, some Peninsular promoters warned that sues such a niggardly policy towards the inter­ ests of this [Lake Superior] region?" After noting the legislature's refusal to grant liberal "' Lake Superior News and Mining Journal (Copper Harbor, Michigan), July 11, 1846. "Ibid., September 19, 1846.

Florence County, Wisconsin, ca. 1900. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 charters to the mining interests, the editor that is "until a different disposition is mani­ claimed that this was but one example of "the fested towards us by our brethren of the lower particular inconvenience of the Lake Superior peninsula." These complaints seldom in­ country—the whole political connection is of volved the federal government which, in fact, the same character. . . ." As a result, he was seemed "inclined to mete to us a tardy justice." convinced that there was good reason to sup­ But even federal efforts could "not counteract port the "organization of the Lake Superior the impediments which we as part and parcel country into a State by itself." After remind­ of the body j)olitic of Michigan . . . cast in our ing his readers that the two Peninsulas were own way." "Our mining law, our judiciary "separated not only by water, but in the win­ system, our taxes—everything in which the ter by hundreds of miles of dreary wilderness," power of the state is exerted is either insuffi­ he concluded by summarizing the extent of cient or unjust."18 That "otitlivers" had for­ the differences: 15 ever complained in like manner was of small solace. Again they have not one single feeling in On balance, however, the people of the Up­ common with us "below"; they are mostly from other states, and care not half as per Peninsula were more engaged in work much for a connection with us, as they dian worry in 1852. Frustrations remained, would to be connected to — most importantly concerning the delay in con­ they feel that we care as little for them, and struction of the canal at the Soo and the eter­ under these circumstances we are inclined nal "want of suitable mail facilities and com­ to think if it can be done, they must even­ munication with the rest of civilization."''^ tually become a state by themselves. They But the following June saw the commencement have within themselves every thing requi­ of work on the canal, and even if the winters site for an important State. Her mineral wealth is just beginning to develop itself were long and the mails slow, things were —her fisheries are in their infancy, and her clearly looking up in the Upper Peninsula. agricultural advantages have been vastly un­ derrated—all these, with her commercial ad­ vantages, will make it in time an important State of North Michigan. What they now F the politics of that period seemed most want is a ship canal across the portage I on the mend in Michigan, such was at Ste. Marie's. not the case in neighboring Wisconsin. A letter reprinted in the Green Bay Advocate The following summer, in 1852, another indicated something of the increasing antago­ editor observed the great changes which had nisms: "Our southern neighbors have talked occurred as the region passed through the vari­ about the bears, cranberries, boards, Indians, ous frontier stages. Among other things he snow and ice, of the north, and given her the noted "a greater display of energy—a stronger step-mother's left hand on all occasions." The confidence of success and less disposition for writer warned that the time for such "dis­ fanciful speculation" than had previously been favor" was fast passing because the North the case; that in the process "Society is be­ Country was "beginning to feel her strength, coming settled—greater regard for order. . . . and thinking seriously of maintaining her Attachments to the country have been formed rights."'* —families are coming in . . . and per conse­ Although such threats contained far more quence, restraining influences are exerting." of bluff than truth, the 1852 session of the The gold rush had helped to re­ legislature nevertheless was soon considering move from their midst that "class of adven­ the virtues of a bill advocating a separate turers, whose social and business vices make "Territory of Superior." That question, how­ them objects of fear in every community"; ever, was by no means paramount, the legisla­ but the pathway to progress remained strewn tors confronting any number of more or less with uncertainties. Indeed, the very best ef­ forts of northerners would come to naught, ''Ibid., June 20, 1852. '" Reprinted from the Monroe Commercial in the " As quoted in the Lake Superior Journal (Sault Ste. Lake Superior Journal, September 15, 1852. Marie, Michigan), September 24, 1851. '"Green Bay Advocate, January 29, 1852.

100 WHi (X3) 33911 train on its way out of Florence County, ca. 1900. important matters, such as whether to open Pointe. Hoyt argued that in addition to the sessions with a prayer, the adoption of the so- federal monies and land grants that would called Liquor Law, whether to print accrue to the new Territory, the northern por­ the governor's messages in German, the death tion of the state "is so far isolated from the penalty, various laws of incorporation for rail­ other portions, that the people cannot pro­ roads and plank roads, banking bills. Fox cure that legislation which is needed for its River improvement proposals, and the follow­ settlement and improvement." In an inter­ ing resolution offered by Lewis N. Wood of esting effort to elicit southern support, he Walworth Country: "That we fool away a warned that if the boundaries of Wisconsin great portion of time that should be honestly remained as they were, when the center of and faithfully employed." The Assembly nat­ population moved northward, "as a necessary urally passed the "fooling resolution" by a consequence, the capital must be removed con­ 30 to 23 vote, this on March 16, the same day siderably farther north." Although such a de­ that consideration was given to a memorial to velopment may have seemed certain in March Congress in support of the formation of a of 1852, we know that the center of popula­ new Territory comprising northern Wiscon­ tion has yet to move northward and that the sin and the Upper Peninsula.'^ capital remains in Madison, where it was when As had been the case in Michigan, it was Hoyt made his prediction and when a Dodge not simply representatives of the southern dis­ County assemblyman moved unsuccessfully to tricts who were seeking separation from the table the "Territory of Superior" resolution. barren and remote north. In fact, the memo­ Immediately following that effort, Hoyt's me­ rial's sponsor in the Wisconsin Assembly was morial was approved by a vote of 38 to 19.2" Otis W. Hoyt, representative from the far On April 3, the Daily Wisconsin Argus of northwestern counties of St. Croix and La Madison featured an editorial in support of

'Daily Wisconsin Argus (Madison), March 17, 1852. •Ibid., March 17, 1852.

101 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 the separation movement. Many reasons were 1st. That portion of the state of Wiscon­ cited, including, of course, those benefits which sin north of the 45th degree of north lati­ the national government always provided to tude, is in a great measure isolated from new states. Concerning the Wisconsin situa­ the other parts south of said degree, and tion in particular, the Argus editor observed, that the interest of the northern and south­ ern portions of said state are so diverse as to "We can spare the territory, and have plenty prevent in a great measure the proper and remaining." He also noted the problems and legitimate development of the immense additional expense inherent in governing such natural resources of wealth north of said a distant region, made all the more remote line. by "the wide, intervening, unoccupied, un­ 2d. The north-western portion of the productive strip of territory, that shuts us out state of Michigan or that portion west of from any convenient intercommunication with Lake Michigan and south of Lake Superior, that portion of the country north of it. . . ." is also isolated from the other portions of Without question, the quaintest contention the state, with no interest in common with concerned the advantage of being surrounded the state, while the interests of northern Wisconsin and north western Michigan are by other states, the new "Territory of Su­ nearly identical, and that immense and al­ perior" assuming a "frontier position," thus most inexhaustless resources of wealth in apparently providing a buffer between down- mineral deposits, in forests of pine timber, state Badgers and imagined Canadian agres- in richness and fertility of soil, and in val­ sors.^' uable fisheries, which requires but an op­ There followed a series of minor amend­ portunity which is not now and which will ments and votes on the for not be afforded so long as it is attached to the creation of the new Territory. On Mon­ the states to develop. day, April 12, the question passed the Assem­ 3d. There is now not less than fifteen thousand inhabitants actual settlers on the bly by a vote of 38 to 19, with all nineteen territory above named, and their interests in opposition representing southern districts.^^ necessarily suffering in consequence of their Passage was not so readily managed in the isolated situation. Wisconsin Senate. In fact, on April 16, the Your memorialists therefore pray that resolution failed by a single vote. On the your honorable body would institute such next day, however, it was agreed to reconsider, measures as will accomplish the object so and this time the question was approved by much desired, which is the separation of a margin of 10 to 4.^^ Since this was the last the portions of the two states heretofore bit of work accomplished in that session of named from those states, and erect them into the Senate, one must wonder how thoroughly a territory, to be called Superior .... the Superior territorial matter was considered However important this action may have before the legislators sat back "for the re­ seemed to some in Wisconsin, in its summary mainder of the evening" to enjoy the music of the 1852 legislative session the Daily Wis­ of the Shullsburg Sons of Temperance Brass consin Argus made no reference whatever to Band, the correspondent for the Daily Argus the Territory of Superior resolution.^^ Of acknowledging that "the monotony of Legis­ greater significance, the matter was totally lation was very much relieved by their ef- ignored by a Congress preoccupied with the forts."24 obviously more critical sectional problems of The memorial signed by Governor Leonard that pre-Civil War decade. J. Farwell on April 19, 1852, and sent along to Congress read in part:^' . . . The Legislature of the State of Wis­ LTHOUGH the Minnesota ex­ consin respectfully represents: A perience was different in specif­ ics, it evidenced the same schism which trou­ ^Ibid., April 14, 1852. bled Michigan and Wisconsin. Indeed, here '"Ibid., April 14, 1852. ^ Senate Journal, April 17, 1852, pp. 748-749. the disunity was even more graphically de- "Daily Wisconsin Argus, April 20, 1852. ''•Laivs of Wisconsin, 1852, Chapter 26, pp. 815-816. '^ Daily Wisconsin Argus, April 20, 1852.

102 TWINING: STATE OF SUPERIOR scribed because its earliest expression centered to these machinations. Congress's enabling on whether Minnesota should have an east- legislation of 1857 for Minnesota established west or a north-south axis. While the debates the future state's boundaries along the now- were not strictly political, in general the Dem­ familiar lines. But as William Anderson has ocrats favored the north-south orientation, observed, "The Acts of Congress . . . did not thereby assuring continuing importance for end the sectional cleavage in Minnesota."^^ the St. Paul and St. Anthony settlements. The As had been the case elsewhere, a good part new and aggressive Republicans argued in of the reluctance to attach importance to the favor of a Minnesota which would extend Lake Superior country was simply the result westward to the , an extension of an absence of information. Not untypical which promised an increased importance for was the experience of Laurence Oliphant, su­ the settlement of St. Peter. The northern perintendent general of Indian Affairs in Ca­ boundary of this Republican vision of the nada, during an 1854 pleasure trip through State of Minnesota would have been along Minnesota Territory. He was surprised at the forty-sixth degree of latitude, cutting the curiosity his little party excited in St. adrift that portion of the territory north of a Anthony when the word circulated that they line through present-day Hinckley and Little had traveled southward from Lake Superior. Falls. Oliphant recalled that "we were overwhelmed But there was considerably more to this con­ with inquiries as to the nature of the country test over territorial division than the enhance­ ... for most of the inhabitants of these western ment of competing political strongholds. towns are anxious to hold land beyond them, Clearly those advocating an east-west state so as to profit by the advance of civiliza­ wished to follow the railroads as far towards tion . . . ."29 the Pacific as was possible. The future cer­ But the natural direction of this advance tainly had more to do with the west than the was westward, not to the north, and the Lake north. This preference received formal ex­ Superior region's isolation, which was the ac­ pression in the 1857 session of the territorial cepted condition in those early days, would legislature when a bill was introduced for the long continue. Perhaps one of the clearest removal of the capital from St. Paul to St. means of measuring that relative isolation is Peter. In addition, that same legislature me­ provided through a consideration of the ar­ morialized Congress to the effect that Minne­ rangements for mail delivery. sotans be permitted to determine for them­ Mail was of great import to those along the selves the boundaries of their state-to-be. frontier. The pioneers were not as indepen­ The memorial may have been a pipe dream, dent in spirit as they sometimes pretended or but the removal might well have happened. as we have often imagined. Perhaps only That it did not was the result of a curious set those who have experienced military assign­ of circumstances. In fact, the territorial as­ ment in some distant and remote post can fully sembly approved the measure and the gover­ appreciate the feelings of those lonely souls of nor was prepared to sign, but before the legis­ the nineteenth century. Listen to the laments lative council could take any action the re­ of the wife of a missionary teacher at La moval bill was kidnapped. Joe Rolette, a Pointe, Wisconsin Territory, writing to her member of the council and chairman of its Massachusetts home in 1842: committee on enrolled bills, absconded with Our expectations have been raised this it and remained in hiding until the council recessed for the term a week later. Thus, al­ though Governor Willis A. Gorman went ^ William Anderson, "Minnesota Frames a Constitu­ ahead and placed his signature on the bill, tion," in Minnesota History, 36: 5-6 (March, 1958); Theodore C. Blegen, Minnesota: A History of the State and although it was printed in the Minnesota (Minneapolis, 1963), 217-230; H. P. Hall, Observations; Laws for 1857, the courts subsequently de­ Being More or Less a History of Political Contests in termined that the bill was not law, and the Minnesota (St. Paul, 1904), 26-37. Minnesota capital remained undisturbed in ^Anderson, "Minnesota Frames a Constitution," 7. St. Paul.2' '"Francis Paul Prucha, S.J., "Minnesota 100 Years Ago, as Seen by Laurence Oliphant," in Minnesota Whatever may have been the local reaction History, 34: 48 (Summer, 1954).

103 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

morning for a smoke signal announced that likely trappers or soldiers. By the 1850's, when there is an arrival. ... At this time we are the northern region was becoming lightly in expectation of men that were sent for peopled and tlie volume of mail had slightly the mail, and are in hopes the smoke sig­ increased, its passage was still uncertain and nals their arrival. You have no idea of our irregular at best. Although occasional road­ feelings at such a time. One fact I would ways had been cut through the forest, some mention—that all letters that you receive were more imaginary than real and none were from us, fall, winter or spring are carried by men 4 or 5 hundred miles through a thick triumphs of engineering. As the editor of the and uninhabitable wildernes^s with snow 4 St. Croix Union of Stillwater wrote in exas­ or 5 feet deep. ... 1 hope at this time, I peration of the path connecting his town to shall not be disappointed by not receiving Marine, "Jupiter! what a road," adding that a letter from you. mountain goats could not have designed a worse one. The same complaining journalist In this instance, the young woman was indeed then recommended that since they were so disappointed and could not help feeling sorry isolated in those parts—communications from for herself, and sharing that sorrow with her the outside being "as angel's visits: 'few and distant family. As she wrote in gentle ad­ far between' "—they might just as well de­ monishment: "You dwelling in the midst of clare their independence, "make a wall friends and comforts remember but faintly around the territory, raise beans and corn, your far-off missionary daughter & sister, and and live 'unspotted from the world.' "^^ she never ceases to remember you with love It is interesting to note that the combina­ and tenderness. "^"^ tion of factors which seemed in league to di­ What distance, wilderness, and a lack of vide Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan were roads failed to interrupt, winter could likely occasionally evident within the northern re­ manage. This seasonal inconvenience is illus­ gions of the individual states themselves. For trated by newspaper schedules for publication example, on April 8, 1871, the editor of the during the months of ice and snow. In the Chippeiva Herald in Wisconsin discussed some October 24, 1846, issue of the Lake Superior recent efforts in the legislature to create a News and Miner's Journal, the editor ex­ separate "County of Pine" out of the north­ pressed the hope that they would be able to ern portion of his Chippewa County. Writing squeeze out one more paper before navigation in opposition, he observed that the " 'howling was closed on the Lake. Thereafter the issues wilderness' did not seem to contain any peo­ could be expected on a semi-monthly basis, ple that were favoring the measure," and that simply because the overland mail to and from the "wild cats, polar bears and wolves" did not Green Bay was carried semi-monthly, "and seem to care much one way or another. Preju­ perhaps only monthly, as our hardy and enter­ dice against the North Country was itself a prising citizens seem but little cared for by relative thing, a matter of degree. All north­ certain dignitaries in Washington." Whether erners may have seemed remote from the van­ increased political concern might have eased tage of Madison or Milwaukee, but to resi­ their wintry isolation seems doubtful. In any dents of proud little communities like Chip­ event, the problem long continued. On Feb­ pewa Falls, some were obviously more remote ruary 12, 1852, the Green Bay Advocate an­ than others. nounced the arrival of the Lake Superior mail, reporting that the carriers "were about eight days coming from Carp River, distant about 190 miles."' HE year 1874 witnessed something Conditions were no better in Minnesota T of a revival of the separation Territory. From 1827 to 1841, all mail passed through Fort Snelling, the only post office '"FloraiUha Thompson Sproat, "La Pointe Letters," north of Prairie du Chien. Letters bound for in Ihe Wisconsin Magazine of History, 16: 202 (De­ the upper reaches of the , the St. cember, 19,32). •"James Taylor Dunn, "Mail for Pioneers: Some St. Croix, and the Lake Superior country found Croix \'aUey Postal Problems," in Minnesota History, a way in the packs of occasional travelers, most 36: 209-211 (June, 1959). 104 WHi (X3) 33908 Wentworth Farmers' Cooperative, Douglas County, 1947. movement. If the newspapers on whose pages from you; the time has come when we can the debate for and against was waged offer a live happier together by being divided, we representative opinion, the most serious dis­ can grow rich faster by being cut loose satisfaction continued to center in Michigan's from your plethoric treasury. Friends to the east of us, friends to the west of us, and Upper Peninsula. Chief protagonist seems to friends to the south of us, let us all, with have been the editor of the Ontonagon Miner. one, pull a strong pull, and a pull altogether, In a November issue—after "the smoke of the make one great effort to bring about this political battle" had cleared—he restated the separation and create the "Territory of Su­ many reasons for supporting the creation of a perior," and your children will rise up and Territory of Superior. After recounting the call you blessed. action of the Wisconsin legislature in 1852 In conclusion, "the press of Menominee, Del­ and reminding his readers of the commonness ta, Marquette, Houghton, Keweenaw, Ash­ of interest between northern Wisconsin and land, Superior, Barron, Polk and Burnett the Upper Peninsula, he confidently predicted counties" were invited to the grand "pull" that the Lake Superior Badgers would eagerly in the hope tliat together they would be able follow "if Michigan will but bid them come." to "accomplish this object."^^ Mustering appropriate passion, he continued: An early response—unsolicited since its ori­ The people of the Upper Peninsula have gin was too southern—appeared in the No­ chafed long enough as a dependency of the vember 21 issue of the Fond du Lac Common­ State of Michigan; they have borne their wealth. While acknowledging the earlier Wis­ onerous burden of taxation without any consin interest, as evidenced by the action of adequate benefit or return; they have looked the 1852 legislature, the Fond du Lac com- with disgust and scorn upon the attempt to keep us isolated and dependent. . . . We say now candidly to our friends of the ^-As quoted in the Ashland Press (Wisconsin), No­ l,ower Peninsula, we wish to be separated vember 21, 1874.

105 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 mentator saw little possibility that Wisconsin's section of the State of Michigan is not with northern counties would align themselves po­ that State, but naturally belongs to Wiscon­ litically with the Upper Peninsula. Wisconsin sin, and should seek union therewith, rather might be sympathetic to the plight of its than a separate territorial and state govern­ northern Michigan neighbors, the editor not­ ment."^^ ed, but "sympathy, in such cases is cheap. . . ." Within a month of the Michigan Ontona­ As for the situation in the Badger State, he gon Miner's invitation to the "pull," the Ash­ gave indication of a growing respect for the land editor could report that the press of North Country, advising: "Go Peninsular, do Wisconsin was "solid in opposition, and speak the best you can, but Wisconsin cannot give in unmistakable terms in denunciation" of you her fattest portion, even though it would what he labeled that "Old New Project." Why fill your cup of happiness for all time to come." was this so? What had happened since 1852 At the same time, readers of the Ashland that made those living along the Wisconsin Press were apprised of this revival of interest shores of Lake Superior less interested in sep­ in separation, at least as concerned residents aration, less enthused about a State of Su­ of the Upper Peninsula. But along the shores perior? Much had happened, of course, but of Chequamegon Bay there was more than of greatest significance had to have been the just "sympathy" expressed for their friends Civil War. In a sense this was ironic, for the to the east. Indeed, Sam Fifield of the Press long-range effects of the war would greatly agreed that, as was the case in Michigan, those diminish the power of state governments, but living in "central and southern Wisconsin have the mere fact of participation had also done become settled and wealthy and are selfish much to enhance state loyalties. This seems and arbitrary in their legislation." He fur­ to have been especially true in the newer ther charged that those who "have their sys­ states, naturally feeling a special need for tem of railroads and other improvements com­ making a contribution to the nation and, in pleted . . . have but little charity for the fron­ the process, a history for themselves.^^ Wis­ tier settlements that are struggling for exis­ consin residents were justifiably proud of the tence." record of Wisconsin regiments. It was not Despite these evidences of continuing dis­ only heroic deeds on distant battlefields that crimination, Fifield saw only the slightest encouraged this growing sense of community, chance for separation, even were that desired however, as Sam Fifield explained in his edi­ in Ashland and adjacent counties. The rea­ torial: "The fact is our people entertain a sons were clear enough, and they mirrored feeling of State pride that is deep seated. . . . those offered by his newspaper colleague in Its noble institutions of learning and charity Fond du Lac: The promise of the North are partly theirs. Its wealth and fair stand­ Country was simply becoming too well known ing among the States of our glorious Union and too widely appreciated to expect that it they take a just pride in, and Wisconsin to would be permitted to "go in peace." Al­ them is the dearest spot on earth—their though Fifield did warn that unless his re­ home."^^ gion enjoyed "more liberal legislation" in the In addition to such a spiritual togetherness, future, our "frontier must be left to seek more physical ties were becoming evermore evident friendly alliances with northern Michigan," as north-south rail lines began to fill in the that threat had less than a convincing air.^^ east-west systems earlier established. Fifield's Much the same discussion was repeated in prediction of the day near at hand was repeat­ other newspapers throughout the Lake Su­ ed in essence in many aspiring settlements: perior region, the consensus being that while the Upper Peninsula continued to have large ^ Rice Lake Chronotype (Wisconsin), December 9, and legitimate grievances against its southern 1874. portion, such was no longer the case in Wis­ ^ In this connection, it is interesting to note that the consin, at least not seriously so. It was even Ashland Press was featuring a local history series in suggested that "the natural alliance of this 1874—a very contemporary effort to say the least, since the com.munity's beginnings were not yet a generation removed. "^ Ibid., November 21, 1874, '"Ashland Press, December 12, 1874.

106 *!*«- ••••««*.« T«*W»*M»*fl*«(|«iWMA«*l«^i«»-«. ' •'• *,1

Library of Congress

Grain elevators, Superior, 1911. 107 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

"The iron rail will soon bind us together with feeling frustrated in that effort by the refusal stronger ties and warmer friendships." The of the more settled communities to be sup­ stillness of the forest would be shattered by portive. Fifield, after once again calling at­ the whistles of steam engines, symbolizing the tention to the great promise of the Lake Su­ end of northern isolation and the discovery of perior region, noted that this promise would "what we of the frontier have so long and remain unfulfilled until there was "a change persistently claimed"—that the wealth of re­ in the public sentiment of the people of the sources of the North Country was "of the ut­ older and settled portions of our Common­ most importance" to the welfare of the entire wealth. . . ." What was most needed was in­ state.3^ vestment capital, and Fifield urged the legis­ lature to "open the doors wide and make the field inviting to men of capital and brain." He concluded his editorial by noting the ef­ ' HERE is no question but that fect such liberal legislation had already had one of the most difficult things for upon those in southern Wisconsin. "It was Americans of the all-weather-road generations such a policy that raised them up and made to appreciate about their ancestors' trials and them wealthy, and having enjoyed its bene­ tribulations was their difficulties in moving fits, they should be willing to let the northern produce, products, and people from one place wilderness have the same encouragement and to another, especially along the frontier. Also, the same liberal treatment, to assist them in in this day of rail neglect, it may be impossible the great work of progress."^^ to imagine what the coming of the railroad The problem, in Sam Fifield's time no meant to the nineteenth-century community less than in our own, was that "progress" ancl or region. Possibly some insight into the im­ "promise" inevitably meant different things portance of such an event may be gained by to people in differing vantages. Those who sharing the headlines which appeared in the possess power and advantage have always Ashland Press on May 9, 1874. The article been reluctant to share with those who do not, which followed announced the intent of the and the more so when the disadvantaged party North Wisconsin Railroad Company to be­ is both distant and unloved. Men who viewed gin construction towards Superior and even­ matters at some remove from the delightsome tually on to Bayfield. By this date, the Wis­ shores of Lake Superior had difficulty in shar­ consin Central had already begun building ing the unbridled enthusiasm of local boom­ northward from Stevens Point and southward ers like Sam Fifield. One of the most enjoy­ from Ashland, but enthusiasm for the newer able expressions of their essentially negative project still seemed unbounded: outlook occurred in 1871 during the course of NORTH WISCONSIN IN THE FIELD! a congressional debate on the question of a All its Pledges to be Redeemed! possible grant of land to the St. Croix and THE ROAD TO BE SPEEDILY BUILT! Lake Superior Railroad. Among those repre­ Forty Miles to be Completed this Year! sentatives who rose to speak in opposition to LET THE PEOPLE REJOICE AND BE GLAD! the proposed measure was John Proctor Knott, THE DAY OF DELIVERANCE DAWNS! an obscure Democratic congressman from This is not to say that all problems and Lebanon, . From the point of view complaints ended, or would end, once a rail of statesmanship, his may not have been a connection to the south was established. Rail­ great speech; but then, it must be admitted roads may have been the means for develop­ that the topic to which he addressed himself ing the wilderness, but even those involved was of a somewhat lesser stature than, for ex­ realized that it would require more than an ample, fishing rights in Newfoundland or the occasional train. Ashland's Sam Fifield was claims. Be that as it may, few speech­ one of these, and in the summer of 1874 he es made in the United States House of Repre­ offered some classic statements on behalf of sentatives have elicited a more rollicking re­ a frontier area yearning for development and sponse.

'Ibid., December 12, 1874. '" Ibid., July 25, 1874. 108 TWINING: STATE OF SUPERIOR

Although the St. Croix and Lake Superior map. But even then some uncertainties re­ Railroad proposed to connect the Wisconsin mained, for there seemed to be "no dot or towns of Hudson and Superior, for purposes mark indicating its exact location," and Knott of his own. Congressman Knott chose to con­ claimed that lie was still "unable to say wheth­ fuse the terminus of the route, substituting er it is actually confined to any particular Duluth for Superior. That error, however, spot, or whether 'it is just lying around there had no bearing on the substance of his mes­ loose.' " Wherever it was, Knott maintained sage, or its effect. that he could expatiate for hours upon the "gorgeous prospects" of Duluth, Years ago [he said], when I first heard that there was somewhere in the vast terra but human life is too short and the time incognita, somewhere in the bleak regions of this House far too valuable to allow me of the great Northwest, a stream of water to linger longer upon the delightful theme. known to the nomadic inhabitants of the [Laughter.] I think every gentleman on neighborhood as the river St. Croix, I be­ this floor is as well satisfied as I am that came satisfied that the construction of a Duluth is destined to become the commer­ railroad from that raging torrent to some cial metropolis of the universe, and that point in the civilized world was essential this road should be built at once. . . . to the happiness and prosperity of the Nevertheless, sir, it grieves my very soul American people, if not absolutely indis­ to be compelled to say that I cannot vote pensable to the perpetuity Of republican for the grant of land provided for in this bill. institutions on this continent. [Great laugh­ ter.] I felt instinctively that the boundless When Congressman Knott relinquished the resources of that prolific region of sand and floor to his nearly hysterical colleagues, it was pine shrubbery would never be fully de­ apparent to one and all that the St. Croix veloped without a railroad constructed and railroad grant could receive no further serious equipped at the expense of the Government, consideration in tliat session.^^ and perhaps not then. [Laughter.]

After numerous digressions, none of which were complimentary to the potential of the HE railroads, however, did even­ St. Croix valley, Knott's sarcasm focused in T tually arrive, and continue on; on "his terminus," a location he had been the "howling wilderness" was eventually con­ "utterly at a loss to determine" until he had nected with the civilized world. Yet the prom­ "accidentally overheard some gentleman the ise was never quite fulfilled, the dreams never other day mention the name of 'Duluth,' " cjuite came true, the transformation never at which point his colleagues—save possibly quite became final. In the opening paragraph those from Minnesota and Wisconsin—again of Michigan: A Bicentennial History, Bruce interrupted with great guffaws. Catton makes an interesting observation. He contends that his native state "is caught be­ Duluth! The word fell upon my ear with tween yesterday and tomorrow," that "the peculiar and indescribable charm, like the gentle murmur of a low fountain stealing forth in the midst of roses, or the soft sweet '"For the entire speech, see the Appendix to the accents of an angel's whisper in the bright, Congressional Globe, 41,st Congress, 3rd Session, Janu­ joyous dream of sleeping innocence. Du­ ary 27, 1871, 43: 66-68. Philip D. Jordan offered an edited version, "Proctor Knott's Speech on Duluth," in luth! 'Twas the name for which my soul Minnesota History, 34: 67-77 (Summer, 1954). One had panted for years, as the heart panteth might have expected residents of Duluth to have re­ for the water-brooks. [Renewed laughter.] sented Knott's performance, but that certainly was not But where was Duluth? the reaction of Dr. Thomas Foster, editor of the Duluth Minnesotan. On the contrary, Foster wrote, "Had the In response to his own question, Knott of­ people ot Duluth cudgelled their brains for a year to fered several possibilities, most of which were find a fresh and most effective form of drawing the references to classical Utopias. The Kentuck- public mind ... to a consideration of the advantages of the New Metropolis of the Great New Northwest, ian allowed as how he might never have they could not have worked out a better thing than this learned the where of Duluth had not a con­ Knotty performance." See the Duluth Minnesotan, gressman from Minnesota provided him a February 11, 1871.

109 • Witt Courtesy of John Bennett

Abandoned log house, rural Ashland, 197?. great American feeling of being en route—to tive of the Upper Peninsula of that state and the unknown, to something new, to the fantas­ of the Lake Superior and tic reality that must lie beyond the mists—is Minnesota. perfectly represented liere."^" If such a tran­ For almost inevitably we tend to think in sitory condition is true for the whole of terms of a finished product, of a task com­ Michigan, it would seem even more descrip- pleted. And when these thoughts concern the land, we invariably conjure up a scene of pleasant farms producing standard crops, of *° Bruce Catton, Michigan: .4 Bicentennial History neat fields interrupted here and there by towns (New York, 1976), 3. or cities, always bustling with activity. In our

110 TWINING: STATE OF SUPERIOR

own mind's eye, this sort of condition repre­ strand and stared in awe across the great lake. sents the end result of the frontier process. One such man was Charles Lanman, a Michi­ Even sensitive and usually scientific observers gan-born painter and explorer who, among are victimized. Thus Louise Phelps Kellogg other things, once served as Daniel Webster's could write that "south to north Wisconsin's private secretary and as librarian to the House face changes from the smiling quiet of culti­ of Representatives. Lanman traveled widely vated fields" to the "dark and frowning beau­ throughout eastern and midwestern America, ty" of the Lake Superior shore.*' The prob­ fishing, sketching, and recording his observa­ lem is that to be known for your "dark and tions of wildlife and scenery in the leisurely, frowning beauty" is seldom enough. rather orotund style of the mid-nineteenth It does seem that contemporary residents century. He loved the Lake Superior region, of the Lake Superior country spend more and in one of his books he wrote of the curious than their share of time trying to see "be­ rapture that once seized him after darkness yond the mists." What are they to become? came to his camp site:** Trapping, mining, logging, even fishing share . . . The nights that I spent upon the shores a temporary quality; all seem to be passing of the great northern lake have made a things. There must be some new promise deeper impression upon me than those sum­ ahead—but of what? In the continuing as­ mer days. Never before had the ocean of sumption that part of the reason for this un­ the sky and the starry world appeared so certainty—which may be interpreted to mean supremely brilliant. Seldom would my rest­ "lack of progress"—has to do with governmen­ less spirit allow me an unbroken slumber tal neglect, the proposal for the long-lost from nightfall until dawn, and I was often State of Superior is now and again revived.''^ in a wakeful mood, even after the camp- But the seriousness of former times is clearly fires were entirely out, and my rude com­ lacking, and that may be an indication of panions were all asleep. One of those won­ derful nights I never can forget. I had risen something significant. Indeed, it occurs to from my couch upon the sand, and after some North Country residents that their fu­ walking nearly half a mile along the beach, ture is now; that what they are is what they I passed a certain point, and found myself should remain; and that there can be nothing in full view of the following scene. Black, more valuable than protecting what there is and death-like in its repose, was the appar­ of value. In his usual direct manner, Robert ently illimitable plain of water; above its Nesbit makes the point: "To see Illinois is outline, on the left, were the strangely to appreciate that Wisconsin has unique en­ beautiful northern lights, shooting their rays vironmental values worth preserving.""*^ But to the very zenith; on the right was a clear if Wisconsin is unique, it is the Lake Superior full moon, making a silvery pathway from region that makes it so. my feet to the horizon; and before, around, and above me, floating in the deep cerulean, It is sometimes necessary for visitors to re­ were the unnumbered and mysterious stars. mind residents of just what it is that is spe­ The only sound that fell upon my ear was cial to a particular region. The words of the the occasional splash of a tiny wave, as it Frenchman Radisson, quoted earlier, have melted upon the shore. Long and intently been echoed and embellished by many others did I gaze upon the scene, until, in a kind who have stood on a rocky bluff or windswept of frenzy, or bewilderment, I threw myself upon the earth, and was soon in a deep sleep. " Louise Phelps Kellogg, "A Portrait of Wisconsin," One may hope that were Charles Lanman to in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, 25: 265 (March, 1942). make the same trip today, a hundred and " For a brief consideration of the most recent of twenty years later, he might still experience these revivifications, see Leo J. Hartzel, "Dreams of the subtle but unmistakable "spell" of the Statehood," in North American Review, 261: 18-28, Lake Superior wilderness. That he could may (Summer, 1976). See also Judith Yates Borger, "Michi­ be important to all of us. gan's Superior Notion: Will the Upper Peninsula Be the Next State?" in Northliner, 9: 16-18 (September- October, 1977). "Charles Lanman, Adventures in the Wilds of the "Robert C. Nesbit, Wisconsin: A History (Madison, United States and British American Provinces (2 vols., 1973), 532. Philadelphia, 1856), 1: 117-118.

Ill New Orleans and the River Trade: Reinterpreting the Role of the Business Community

By Lawrence H. Larsen

T a time when students of ur- have in determining urban development? A.banizatio, n are turning increas­ What outside interests thwarted or forced a ingly to studying "social mobility," "urban scaling down of ambitions? Certainly, if suc­ services," "the black community," and "the cess had come, the urban mosaic and sectional hidden poor"—all valid and neglected areas of lines in the United States would have been investigation—there has been a tendency to much different. ignore or play down the reasons why some lo­ New Orleans had seemed destined to serve calities prospered and progressed more than as the chief receiving and shipping point for others. Quite typical is the case of New the produce of the upper Orleans, 's fabled Crescent City. It valley. Indeed, common wisdom held that failed to emerge as the major metropolis of the the rapid development of the New West Mississippi River valley, an obvious fact that hinged upon American control of the city. served to obscure the reasons why the city did After the end of the Revolutionary War, the not do as well as once expected. A complex Spanish overlords of the vast Louisiana Terri­ story came to be taken for granted as pre­ tory closed the Mississippi River to American destined. Historians, who would never apply commerce, causing a crisis that dragged on for the same hindsight to a Richard Nixon or a several years. British, French, Spanish, and Warren Harding, casually dismissed grandiose American intrigues led to illicit trading acti­ urban aspirations as bound to fail on the vities and generated serious tensions. In 1790 basis of geographic and economic realities— French interests held sway, but Philadelphia the same logic used by nineteenth-century merchants soon gained ascendancy through town promoters to discredit the claims of the establishment of a series of commercial rival places. The fundamental question, of houses. "Since my taking possession of the course, was whether or not New Orleans had government," the governor wrote his superior a realistic chance of dominating vast hinter­ in Madrid, "this province . . . has not ceased lands. Did the members of the New Orleans to be threatened by the ambitious designs of business community—the "movers" in that the Americans." In 1795 the Spanish granted society—play positive or negative roles? Did the United States navigation privileges on the they act rationally or irrationally in formu­ Mississippi and the right of deposit in the lating policy? What effect did their actions vicinity of New Orleans. The tangible results, hailed at the time as a major American for­ NOTE: In somewhat different form this paper was pre­ eign policy victory that would contribute sig­ sented at the annual Missouri History Conference at Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, April nificantly to the well-being of the United 9, 1974. States, disappointed just about everyone. Only

Copyright (c) 1978 by The State Historical Society of Wisconsin All rights of reproduction in any form reserved 112 Library of Congress New Orleans, 1885, from a lithograph by Currier & Ives. a trickle of goods and produce flowed through that the British fleet might be required to New Orleans, yet it seemed important, be­ save the country. The purchase of Louisiana cause of an almost universally accepted po­ in 1803 relieved his fears and helped bring tentiality. Someday, the rationale held, mil­ about his triumphant re-election. A decade lions of tons and bushels of the products of later the Battle of New Orleans salvaged Western industry and agriculture would American prestige shattered by War of 1812 transform New Orleans into a magnificent reversals and raised anew the prospects of commercial emporium.' the Crescent City serving as the entrepot of President Thomas Jefferson believed the commerce for the "Great Interior Basin of French reoccupation such a serious threat North America." As the China trade was to later generations, New Orleans remained a symbol of quick and easy wealth: construct 1 The formative stages of New Orleans' commercial docks, erect warehouses, dredge rivers, har­ development are covered in John G. Clark, New Or­ vest crops, float them down to Louisiana, and leans, 1718-1812: An Economic History (Baton Rouge, fantastic riches awaited in the markets of far­ 1970). Ot particular interest is Clark's chapter 15, "New Orleans as an Entrepot," pp. 299-329. Unfortun­ away places. "Natural" as opposed to "arti­ ately, no comprehensive scholarly urban biography ficial" lines of commerce that would wed the exists for New Orleans. The standard account ot the upper Mississippi valley to New Orleans and city prior to 1880 is that written by George W. Cable, the South: this was the vision. The problem which appears in George E. Waring, Jr., compiler, "The Southern and Western States," in Report on the was that events proved that New Orleans' lo­ Social Statistics of Cities (Tenth Census of the United cation was not as important as originally be­ States, 1880, vol. 19, pt. 2, Washington, 1887), 213-267. lieved. Its actual ascendancy lasted only a The cjuote by the governor is from page 236 of the short time; all predictions and myths aside, it Report on the Social Statistics of Cities. I wish to thank lay off the mainstream of Western commerce. Frederick Spletstoser, a candidate tor the Ph.D. in his­ tory at Louisiana State University, for providing some Technological changes drastically altered ear­ ot the source material. lier preconceptions.

113 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

Economic conditions after the War of 1812 economic problems that affected the whole created an air of optimism. "Our harbor is United States. In 1831 exports and imports again wliitened with canvas; the levee is crowd­ were ,126,000,000. They dropped the next ed with cotton, tobacco, and other articles year as a result of a combined yellow fever and for exportation," wrote the governor of Loui­ cholera epidemic in New Orleans—frightened siana. "The merchant seems delighted with survivors buried the many dead on the spot the prospects before him, and the agricultural­ or threw them into the Mississippi—only to ist finds in the high price for his produce new move ahead again in 1833 to $28,500,000. excitements to industry." The population of Then, the full force of a national boom hit. the Mississippi valley increased rapidly and The 1834 total jumped to over $40,000,000, steam navigation drastically altered shipping and rose sharply again in 1835 to $53,750,000. patterns. Even though the first steamboat Most of the profits made by New Orleans fac­ descended the river in 1812, it took several tors left the city to finance plantation mort­ years to develop the boiler power necessary gages throtighout Louisiana, Mississippi, and to make ascents against the strong current. .. Cotton, sugar, and tobacco planters In 1817 an estimated 1,500 flatboats and 500 borrowed money in New Orleans, and became barges floated downstream to New Orleans. commercially dependent upon the city's busi­ Four years later the character of the traffic ness interests. "Much the larger portion of all had changed markedly. Arrivals at the levee the varied products of the West received in numbered 287 steamboats, 174 barges, and New Orleans was exported, not to sea, but to 441 flatboats. Exports rose steadily, going the plantations of the interior, often return­ from 17,500,000 in 1821 to $12,500,000 in 1825, ing, along the same route, half the distance despite the generally "dull" commodity prices they had originally come," an observer ex­ that followed the Panic of 1819. French and plained. "In this way not only was the capital Creole merchants maintained the old trade in of New Orleans diverted from channels which coffee, indigo, sugar, rice, and wine, but most would have yielded ultimate results incal­ of the new trade in cotton, tobacco, pork, beef, culably better, but it was converted into corn, flour, and manufacturing products fell planters' paper, based on the value of slaves into American hands. Members of all three and the lands they tilled, a species of wealth business combinations looked with pleasure unexchangeable in the great world of com­ upon the "forest of masts" lining the water­ merce, and, when measured by its results, as front. Hardly anyone agreed with an anony­ utterly fictitious as paper money itself, while mous local nay-sayer who, after listening to even more illusory."'' contentions that New Orleans would soon become the largest city in North America, claimed, without elaboration: "No such posi­ tion for the accumulation and perpetuity of HE city's commercial foundations power ever existed."^ collapsed swiftly in the aftermath of the Panic of 1837. In 183.5-1836 the rela­ The general prosperity that accompanied tively few banks in New Orleans, with the Presidency of Andrew Jackson further stimulated economic activity in New Orleans. •••Statistics on the movement of grain can be found Steamboats, flatboats, and barges reigned su­ in many places, including John G. Clark, The Grain preme on Western waters, and the railroad Trade in the Old Northwest (Urbana, 1966). A detail­ remained in its formative stage. Sizable ed table, "Receipts ot Flour and Grain at New Orleans shipments of corn, oats, wheat, and flour from 1832 to 1862," appears in "The Grain Trade ot the United States and Tables on the World's Wheat swelled trade statistics.^ Although the gen­ Supply and Trade," in Monthly Summary of Com­ eral trend reflected a steady upward move­ merce and Finances, January 1900 (Bureau of Statistics, ment, there were sharp fluctuations, caused Department of the Treasury, New Series, No. 7, Wash­ by the size of harvests throughout the Mis­ ington, 1900), 1959. Despite the narrow title, this is a sissippi valley, epidemics at New Orleans, and very detailed monographic history ot the grain trade in the United States based on statistics culled primarily by federal agencies. -Report on Ihe Social Statistics of Cities, vol. 19, pt. ' Report on the Social Statistics of Cities, vol. 19, 2, pp, 250-25), pt. 2, p. 2,55.

114 WHi (X3) 33094 Night burial in the Mississippi during a New Orleans epidemic.

$2,500,000 in specie in their vaults and a cir­ enough to generate the amount of money need­ culation of $7,000,000, claimed to have an ag­ ed to make New Orleans the number one city gregate capital of $34,000,000. When they on the continent. In the last half of the for­ suspended payment the following year, they ties annual receipts for all grain products num­ said that capital had jumped to $60,000,000 bered in hundreds of thousands of barrels and that there was nothing to really worry and sacks, with the peak years coming during about. Of course, the reality of the matter the Mexican War, when New Orleans served was markedly different. Audits showed as a major logistics center. But, with the com­ $4,000,000 in deposits, $1,200,000 in specie, ing of peace, arrivals seldom approached pre­ $1,800,000 in real estate, and a gigantic war levels, and sharp ups-and-downs continued $72,000,000 in uncollectable mortgages. The to plague the route. Flour dropped from inevitable result was what one bystander 1,013,177 barrels in 1849 to 591,986 in 1850, called a "whirlwind of ruin." In the wake only to recover in 1851 to 941,168. Even more of the disaster feelings ran so high that a new extreme was the case of corn in ear: 42,526 Louisiana constitution prohibited the char­ barrels in 1851; 163,008 in 1852; and 17,820 tering of new banks, giving a monopoly to the in 1853.^ More disturbing was that a large few that survived the crisis. At the time the share of the grain brought down the Missis­ financial institutions resumed specie payment sippi was transshipped by coastal schooner to in 1843 there were .$4,500,000 in the vaults and the Northeast, the very section with which $1,250,000 in circulation, a far cry from the New Orleans competed for the commerce of situation that prevailed prior to the crash. the emerging Midwest. The export trade was While the situation was discouraging, it was too small to sustain a rapid expansion, there not fatal. Every other aspiring town under­ was not much of a domestic market in Loui­ went the same economic illness, and the great siana and Mississippi due to a combination of river continued to roll to the sea. a plantation economy and lagging urbaniza­ Unfortunately for New Orleans' aspirations, tion, and shippers and outside receivers could the river trade failed to develop as fast as expected. Even though it was profitable, it was somewhat sluggish, and hardly large ••"The (irain 'Frade of the Uiiited States," 1959.

115 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 be counted upon to take advantage of any fic only during short periods of high water shorter or cheaper connections.^ in the spring. Frequent shifts in the channel Given the massive additional acreage an­ and variations in river stages impaired naviga­ nually placed under cultivation in such states tion, as did sandbars in South Pass at the gate­ as Wisconsin and Illinois, the Mississippi Ri­ way to the Gulf of Mexico. Humid southern ver trade figures made grim and depressing temperatures caused extensive damage to grain reading. Although shipments of pork and in general and corn in particular.^ Storage lard augmented the downriver dispatch of difficulties, a major concern from the first, products, and while steamboats carried large became especially pronounced by the fifties, quantities of goods upriver, computations with the rise in the south central states of showed that Midwest shippers were not using cotton, sugar, and tobacco production. In the Mississippi River to the extent expected. fiscal 1851-1852 those commodities accounted From the mid-1840's onward, more grain for roughly 80 per cent of the value of all flowed northeast through the Great Lakes and domestic commerce reaching New Orleans, the Erie Canal than to New Orleans.'' Some looming much more important in an im­ Southerners failed to understand what was mediate sense than the upper river trade,*" happening. Until the Civil War they pre­ and competing with it for storage space. To dicted an alliance between the Midwest and further hurt things, the means of distributing the South based upon economic necessity. As goods from the city compared unfavorably late as February of 1861, Virginia economist with those of the large Northeastern ports, William Burwell, discoursing on the "com­ making it a poor importing center and causing mercial magnetism" that would bind Ameri­ shipping rates on outbound items to be rather can localities outside the Northeast with Eu­ high in comparison. For that matter. New ropean "Market Cities," wrote, "We antici- Orleans could not compete for overseas trade palte a series of trade zones—so to speak— with South Atlantic ports. Detailed computa­ which shall lie parallel with each other, along, tions in 1858 showed that a 700-ton vessel and within which, the commerce between re­ sailing between Charleston and Liverpool ciprocal interests will be conducted. . . . could expect a profit of $2,054.01, while the Upon this theory, , Cincinnati, Loui.s- profit for the same ship sailing between New ville, Memphis, and New Orleans, would be­ Orleans and Liverpool would only have been come principal depots for the collection and $552.90.*' More seriously, the construction of exportation of the trade along the Ohio and Mississippi Valley, as well as for the impor­ »"The Grain Trade of the United States," 1959. The tation and distribution of merchandise."* South Pass problem became more serious as vessels in­ In retrospect, the New Orleans route always creased in size. Money appropriated by Congress in had significant drawbacks, enough to make the 1830's hardly paid for the initial survey work. Near the mouth ot the Mississippi, Northeast Pass it surprising that the myth that the route never provided more than a twelve-foot channel. When would make the city great prevailed for as silt closed it in 1851, a shift to Southeast Pass caused long as it did. It cost six times as much to serious navigation problems. In a short time in 1852 operate a steamboat on the lower Mississippi a total of forty ships ran aground on bars and mud- as it did on the northern lakes, and the acci­ lumps for periods ranging from two days to eight weeks. Cargo either had to be transshipped or thrown over­ dent rate was much higher. The whole upper board. Report on the Social Statistics of Cities, vol. Mississippi River system closed in the winter, 19, pt. 2, pp. 253, 263-264. See also "The Mouths of and certain tributary streams opened for traf- the Mississippi," in De Bow's Review, 17: 15-25 (July, 1854). "In 1851-1852 the surplus reaching New Orleans was worth ,¥108,000,000. Of this amount, cotton furnished " Frederick Jackson Turner, The United States, 1830- over $48,000,000, sugar and molasses nearly .1516,000,000, 1850: The Nation and Its Sections (New York, 1935, pork and its products about the same amount, and to­ reprinted with an introduction by Avery Craven, 1962), bacco over $7,000,000. Receipts for corn, flour, and 220-222; Report on Ihe Social Slalislics of Cities, vol. wheat came to .15,500,000. Turner, The United States, 19, pt. 2, p. 252. 1830-1850, 220. • "The Grain Trade ot the United States," 1962, 1969. " "Completion of the Cult and Atlantic Posts," in ^' William Burwell, "The Commercial Future of the De Bow's Review, 24: 47-48 (January, 1858). The city South," in De Bow's Review, 30: 145 (February, 1861). steadily lost ground owing to the rise in the quality ot

116 5- -fi''^ ' 4.«.*'-'M^&'-*••;'

WHi (X3) 33093 The Rush Street bridge, Chicago, 1861. several feeder canals helping the Erie Canal, in this manner upon the public sentiment of and in the 1850's the perfection of the rail­ a community, has been remarkably illustrated road, threatened to deal a death blow to all in the present condition of the trade of New "natural lines of communication."*^ Orleans. ... So long as commerce was con­ fined entirely to natural channels. New Or­ leans occupied a position possessing greater 'HE railroads had a crucial im­ advantages than any other city on this con­ pact. In 1853 a perceptive federal tinent. . . . Before the construction of artifi­ bureaucrat, Andrews, in liis lengthy cial channels. New Orleans enjoyed a natural report on North American trade and com­ monopoly of the trade of the Mississippi val­ merce prepared for the , ley. But it has already been demonstrated discussed the New Orleans situation. He com­ that in the United States, natural channels of mented, "The influence which railroads are commerce are insufficiently matched against calculated to exert upon the commerce, and those of an artificial character. The progress of the latter has already made serious inroads Northeastern ports and their distributing systems. Im­ upon a trade, to which the merchants of New ports through New Orleans totaled $17,000,000 in 1835; Orleans formerly supposed they had a pre­ $8,000,000 in 1842; and .$9,750,000 in 1845. Report on Ihe Social Statistics of Cities, vol. 19, pt. 2, p. 256. scriptive right. There can be no doubt that " R. B. Way, "The Commerce of the Lower Missis­ this trade is to be turned toward the eastern sippi in the Period 1830-1860," in Mississippi Valley cities, unless it can be restored to its old routes Historical Review, Extra Number: 57-68 (July, 1920), by tlie construction of channels better suited See also Frank H, Dixon, A Traffic History of the to its wants than the Mississippi river and its Mississippi River System (National Waterways Com­ mission, Document 11, Washington, 1909). tributaries." Andrews went on to note that 117 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

New Orleans avoided action "till the dan­ permanently lost, all Southern propagandists ger to be averted became imminent." He at­ to the contrary. So, New Orleans interests be­ tributed New Orleans' problems to more than gan to think regionally rather than nationally. blind faith in the value afforded by 50,000 I'hey concentrated on projects designed to miles of inland navigation, noting that the help secure their immediate hinterland and three municipalities with separate political on obtaining connecting lines to the Pacific jurisdictions inside the city had run up heavy Coast, via either or the Republic of debts prior to their consolidation and that Mexico. it took an obvious threat to convince Loui- While the new policy marked a rather sud­ sianans that large internal improvement proj­ den departure, it had evolved gradually. The ects could not be "executed by private enter­ first attempt to bring change had come back prise."*^ in the 1830's, in the great days of the river The leaders of New Orleans hardly needed trade, when several promoters had advocated a federal report to tell them the economic the construction of a railroad to Nashville. facts of life. All they had to do was to read Among the leaders of the proposed New Or­ the financial compendiums in their commer­ leans and Nashville Railroad were Samuel cial publications, De Bow's Review and the James, an executive of the City Bank; James Price Current, or better yet, check the com­ H. Caldwell, the successful head of the New modity price indexes*^ and their own bills of Orleans Gas Light and Banking Company; lading. In 1853 prices for U.S. products other and Maurice W. Hoffman, president of the than Louisiana's were generally higher than short Pontchartrain Railroad.*^ A combina­ those for Louisiana—a situation that prevailed tion of inexperienced management, insuffi­ more often than not during the remainder of cient money, insurmountable construction the antebellum period—but the problem was problems, and inflated faith in the river by the river route and not the price levels. The planter-aristocrats doomed the railroad. New over-all quantities of river products from the Orleans railroad activities languished through­ upper Mississippi valley remained more or less out most of the 1840's—only a few short lines constant, while south-central trade grew rapid­ were constructed—but revived in the early ly as new land opened in western Louisiana 1850's wlien a railroad convention sparked re­ and eastern Texas. Such considerations had newed interest. an obvious impact in New Orleans, causing a Three men were prominently associated re-examination of objectives.*5 The river no with the new movement. J. D. B. De Bow longer lulled the city's leaders into a sense of helped shape a railroad program, using statis­ self-satisfaction, and they desperately wanted tics to contrast New Orleans' development railroads, although not to corner the flow of with that of other large cities. Politician, law­ grain from the Midwest. Their estimate was yer, and plantation owner Judah P. Benjamin that the bulk of the upper river trade was lent his prestige to railroad projects, incor­ porating them into a broader vision of South­ '^U.S., Congress, Senate, Report of Israel D. Andrews ern greatness. James Robb, a controversial on the Trade and Commerce of the British North businessman who critics claimed engaged in American Colonies, and Upon the Trade of the Great unsavory business practices, called for north­ Lakes and Rivers, Senate Executive Document 112, 32nd Congress, 1st Session, 1853, Serial 622, p. 343. This is ern connections, handled many of the prac- the classic account ot the effects of transportation de­ velopments on urbanization in the first half ot the '»Far and away the best work on the railroads ot nineteenth century. See also Gerald M. Gibson, "Israel antebellum New Orleans is Merl E. Reed, New Orleans DeWolf Andrews: Perceptive Bureaucrat" (masters' and the Railroads: The Struggle for Commercial Em­ thesis, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1976). pire, 1830-1860 (Baton Rouge, 1966). The character­ " \'aluable material on New Orleans can be found in istics ot the leadership and their sometime alliance with Arthur Harrison Cole, Wholesale Commodity Prices in rural slaveholders in Louisiana politics is covered in the United Slates, 1700-1861 (Cambridge, 1938), 65-76, Ihe chapter, "Government by Gentlemen," in Roger W. 170-179. Shugg, Origins of the Class Struggle in Louisiana: A ^'See Erastus P. Puckett, "The Attempt ot New Or­ Social History of White Farmers and Laborers during leans to Meet the Crisis of Her Trade with the West," Slavery and After, 1840-1875 (Baton Rouge, 1939, re­ in Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Extra Number: printed with a new introduction by the author, 1968), 481-495 (February, 1923). 121-1.56.

118 LARSEN: NEW ORLEANS tical aspects of New Orleans railroad build­ road." In 1867 he died suddenly of pleurisy, ing, and stressed the need for a diversified leaving a wife and three children. economy. "We should look to something De Bow had decided in 1851 that New Or­ more than sugar and cotton planting," he leans needed to change its commercial strate­ wrote in a prorailroad pamphlet. "We should gy. "The Mississippi River," he commented, invite and foster every species of industry "lulls the mind of New Orleans into a sort that tends to make a perma­ of stupid fatalism." He proposed that the nently great and prosperous."*' city look west instead of north. He envisioned De Bow, a statistician and Southern propa­ a great transcontinental line running from gandist of the same mold as Northern counter­ New Orleans to the Pacific. Besides giving parts Jesup Scott of Toledo and Logan Reavis New Orleans direct access to California mar­ of St. Louis, furnished the intellectual argu­ kets, the railroad would allow the city to ments for railroads. He was born in 1820 in dominate Texas trade. Although he sup­ Charleston, , and was or­ ported other railroad proposals, he remained phaned at an early age. He worked several consistent throughout the fifties in his advo­ years in a mercantile house, attended college, cacy of a western route. He pleaded his case and read for the law. Unsuccessful before the before railroad conventions, promoted the bar—he was a poor speaker and had an ugly sale of railroad bond issues, and strongly sup­ and unkempt appearance—he began contri­ ported public aid to railroad companies. buting articles on current events to the South­ Using numbers and logic he helped change ern Quarterly Review, eventually becoming sentiment and spark a railroad movement in editor of the publication. In 1845 De Bow, New Orleans.** after serving as secretary at an economic con­ vention held in Memphis, decided that the South needed a monthly business magazine. UDAH P. Benjamin's support of He moved to New Orleans and started the J railroads was but an interlude in Commercial Review of the South and South­ a remarkable career. Born in 1811 of Jewish west, which failed to attract either contribu­ parents on St. Thomas in the British West tors or subscribers and suspended publication Indies, he grew up in Charleston, South after a year and a half. At that point, Maun- Carolina, just as De Bow had, but there any sel White, a wealthy New Orleans planter and comparison between the two ended. The hand­ businessman, loaned De Bow the money nec­ some, cheerful, and talented Benjamin attend­ essary to found another magazine, De Bow's ed Yale and went to New Orleans in 1828, Review. It prospered and within two years where he worked in a commercial house, had the largest circulation of any magazine in taught French, successfully studied law, the South. De Bow became a leading sectional gained a national reputation as an expert on spokesman on economic matters, and he en­ international law, married a wealthy woman, gaged in a wide variety of activities outside owned a sugar plantation for a time, and went publishing. He held a subsidized chair in into politics. By 1852 he was a United States political economy at the University of Loui­ Senator and one of the leading citizens of siana, headed the short-lived Louisiana Bu­ cosmopolitan New Orleans. He served the reau of Statistics, helped found the Louisiana Confederacy in several cabinet positions and Historical Society, served as the superinten­ after the government collapsed fled to the dent responsible for issuing the 1850 United , where he hewed out still States Census, presided at the 1857 commercial another career as a Queen's Counsel, one of convention in Knoxville, and gave numerous the highest ranks for English barristers. At public lectures. He supported secession, and the time of Benjamin's death in Paris in 1884, was the Confederacy's chief agent for the pur­ his stature was such that few people remem­ chase and sale of cotton. After the war he re­ bered his role as a New Orleans railroad or­ vived his magazine and headed a "paper rail­ ganizer thirty years earlier. Yet under dif-

" Dumas Malone, ed.. Dictionary of American Biogra­ ' Shugg, Origins of Ihe Class Struggle, 108. phy (New York. 1935), 5: 180-182.

119 %. i'i^

T^-e'^-^^;^"' T-,t.*u'i 'j (wft^MS^i* - -^ ^ - '^-"^ -.::r "^

WHi (X3) 33902 French market and dockyards. New Orleans, 1873.

ferent circumstances he might have been an­ er, politician, and entrepreneur in the eyes of other Cornelius Vanderbilt or James J. Hill; his numerous enemies. A Northerner, born he was before his time and in the wrong part in rural Pennsylvania in 1814, he went into of the country. Like them, he had a vision banking at an early age in Morgantown, Vir­ —but his was clouded by a combination of ginia, and by the time he was twenty-one he personal rewards. Southern nationalism, and held a casliier's position. He soon moved to greatness for New Orleans. On one hand he New Orleans, where he quickly became im­ wanted a railroad from the Crescent City to portant in banking and commerce, establish­ run north into Mississippi to challenge North­ ing an institution that he called, without un­ ern interests and to solidify New Orleans' due modesty. The Bank of James Robb. In hinterland trade. On the other, he believed 1842 lie assumed the presidency of the New that building connections to the Pacific would Orleans Gas Light and Banking Company, enhance Southern civilization by providing and two years later extended its gas opera­ a route to the markets of Asia. "The Eastern tions to Havana, Cuba. He sold out his Cu­ world ['s] . . . commerce makes empires of ban holdings in 1854 and after that worked the countries to which it flows, and when to project New Orleans' rails northward. He they are deprived of it they are as empty bags, served in the state senate, using his influence useless, valueless," he proclaimed in 1852. to help railroads, and cliided wealthy plan- "That commerce will belong to New Or­ leans."*^ "• Ibid., 2: 181-182. See chapter 6, "The Railroad James Robb was the villain of New Orleans Revival of the 1850's," in Reed, New Orleans and the railroading—an abrasive, liard-driving bank­ Railroads, 68-87. 120 LARSEN: NEW ORLEANS tation owners "who lived upon the princely Incredibly high construction costs over short revenues of their estates" for not voting for swampy stretches, such as the twenty-six miles railroad legislation. When he was charged in Louisiana between Paceland ancl Tigerville, with profiteering, he moved to Chicago in used it up in short order. 1859. Tliere he dabbled in regional roads During the fifties. New Orleans railroad until he returned to New Orleans during the promoters struggled to overcome obvious vi­ early days of Reconstruction to run a bank cissitudes, complicated by the appalling 1853 capitalized at $1,000,000. After a few years yellow fever epidemic in which more than he retired to Cincinnati, where he died in 10,000 people died. Newspaper reporters 1881. In an obituary, the New Orleans Daily wrote about the unburied dead "piled on the Picayune claimed that he died unloved—his ground, swollen and bursting their coffins, wife had left him several years earlier.2° and enveloped in swarms of flies." Several While the New Orleans railroad builders bad epidemic years followed, accentuating the of tlie 1850's adhered to a rational strategy, city's health difficulties and tending to dis­ problems of geography and money precluded courage outside investors. The hopes of De success. It was very difficult to lay tracks Bow and Benjamin for a great transcontinen­ through swamps, marshes, and bayous, given tal system never got very far, if, indeed, they the engineering of the day. Great amounts ever had substance.^^ A grandiosely conceived of New Orleans private capital continued to road, the Southern Pacific Railroad—not to flow into plantation properties.2* Changes be confused with the later railroad of the in Louisiana law, pushed by De Bow, Benja­ same name—went bankrupt after approxi­ min, and Robb, which made it easier for the mately two miles of track were built. Con­ state and for local units of government to trolled by New Yorkers, it was underfinanced aid railroads, helped some, but not enough. and never had any hope of success. Another Outside funds proved unavailable in the project, involving Judah Benjamin, called for amounts needed—foreign investors and North­ a railroad in Mexico across the Isthmus of eastern financiers poured their surplus assets Techuantepec. It was tied in with plans for into the Chicago roads. Federal land grants, a combined sea and land link between New a crucial element in helping New Orleans in­ Orleans and the West Coast, but the scheme terests, ran through uninviting territory. A never proceeded past the initial surveying. In­ mile of swamp land in Louisiana was far dif­ ternal dissension inside the company, opposi­ ferent from a mile of Illinois prairie; compara­ tion from a rural Louisiana firm controlled tive figures meant nothing. Miraculously, by New York interests, unstable political con­ slightly over $16,000,000 went into pre-Civil ditions in Mexico, and covert opposition from War Louisiana railroad enterprises. This was Cornelius Vanderbilt, who owned a railroad a very large sum for the day. It represented across , reduced the matter to the more money than that spent in the pre-Civil level of empty resolutions passed by the New War period in any state west of the Appala­ Orleans city council. Two other railroads chians except Illinois, and the New Orleans were to secure the hinterlands. Robb's 206- leaders deserved great credit for having raised mile-long New Orleans, Jackson and Great it through various public and private means. Northern Railway, which ran from New Or­ leans to Canton, Mississippi, where it joined -"Dictionary of American Biograpliy, 15: ()44; chapter other lines, consolidated the "Black Belt" cot­ 7, "The Great Northern Railroad and the Western ton trade and helped open up new fields for Trade," in Reed, New Orleans and the Railroads, 88- cultivation. It was far and away the more suc­ 107. See also Harry Howard Evans, "James Robb, cessful of the two.23 The other, the New Or- Banker and Pioneer Railroad Builder of Ante-Bellum Louisiana," in the Louisiana Historical Quarterly, 33: 170-258 (January, 1940), ^ Reed, New Orleans and the Railroads, 68-80, 128- '^ Report on Ihe Social Statistics of Cities, vol, 19, pt, 130. See also James P. Baughman, "The Evolution ot 2, p. 225. During most of the fifties the loans out­ Rail-Water Systems of Transportation in the Gulf standing of New Orleans' banks fluctuated between Southeast, 1836-1890," in The Journal of Southern $13,000,000 and $24,000,000. "The Banks and Insurance History, 34: 351-381 (.August, 1968). Companies of New Orleans," in De Bow's Review, 25: ^' In part the Great Northern aimed at countering 561 (November, 1858). the threat of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, which

121 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 leans, Opelousas and Great Northern Rail­ ognized the declining importance of the Mis­ way, championed by De Bow and projected sissippi River. On the basis of hard economic to terminate in the Red River Valley of Texas, statistical evidence they sharply scaled down fell short of its goal, owing to tremendous con­ their hopes and aspirations, realizing that re­ struction costs. The road, extending eighty gardless of what New Orleans accomplished in miles from the New Orleans suburb of Algiers improving its transportation net, the bulk of to Brashear on Berwick Bay, where it made the mounting Midwest trade was not going connections with the Morgan Line of steam­ to flow in a southerly direction, either by rail ers, passed through snake- and alligator-in­ or water. Goods and produce would move fested swamps and bayous. It brought little through the portals at Pittsburgh, Buffalo, additional trade to New Orleans, and places and Oswego on the way to the Northeastern in the "sugar regions" along the main track, seaboard. such as Des Allemands, Lafourche, and Chuca- houla, remained miserable backwaters.^* Because New Orleans' railroad program continuous increase in the amount of worked out imperfectly, critics easily found A grain shipped eastward from the Great fault. They depicted the organizers as a "bun­ Lakes cities was destined to grow into such gling generation" of promoters and dwelt on a torrent that it would represent a funda­ the ethnic factionalization that existed inside mental shift in the relationship of the Mid­ the business community. On a broader level west with the other sections.^^ It started in the New Orleans leaders seemed to prove a a small way. The first shipment—a mere favored myth—that Southerners by tempera­ thirty-eight bags of wheat in 1837—went to ment and training did poorly in the crass Grand Haven, Michigan, but much of the world of business, a field better suited to a trade fell to the emerging city of Chicago. Northerner like Robb who did not worry The Lake Michigan city's leaders formulated about behaving like a gentleman. Even so, a successful railroad strategy based on the while mistakes abounded and goals over­ assumption that natural channels had had reached, the men involved made their deci­ their day, because railroads could operate suc­ sions within an objective framework that rec- cessfully over long distances. Their counter­ parts in New Orleans, who reached a similar conclusion at about the same time, did not received a land grant in 1850, at the same time as the Illinois Central Railroad. The Mobile and Ohio was have the geographical luxury of flat prairies built north through Mississippi, eventually linking up on which to lay track. After an early Chicago with the Illinois Central at Columbus, Kentucky, short­ line, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, ly before the Civil War in 1861. The Illinois Central, garnered an impressive amount of upper Mis­ building out of Chicago, reached Cairo, Illinois, in sissippi River trade, the Chicagoans never had 1856, which became its southern terminus tor several years. The railroad had no trunks below that city, and trouble, as they had earlier, obtaining North­ its leaders thought for a time in terms of a combined eastern capital for extensive systems. In the land and water route to New Orleans, but that plan fifties several new railroads helped the rapidly was dropped with the Civil War. As it was, the rail­ growing city obtain grain that otherwise would road itself did not reach New Orleans until 1882, when it leased a regional line for 400 years. John F. Stover, have gone to the river cities of St. Louis and History of the Illinois Central Railroad (New York, Cincinnati, and from those points down to 1975), 18-19, 80, 170-171. Back in the 1850's the Illinois New Orleans. In the last full year of peace Central represented only a long-range threat to New prior to the Civil War, Chicago elevators Orleans interests, but the Mobile and Ohio was another moved over 30,000,000 bushels of grain and matter. In 1852 an official ot the line made a speech on how much trade it would bring to Mobile, which flour. Chicago handled six times more grain De Bow reprinted for the edification of the New Or­ and flour than St. Louis and eleven times more leans business community. J. Childs, "Railroad Prog­ than Cincinnati, all in a period before the full ress and the Mobile and Ohio Road," in De Bow's impact of railroads on the Midwest. Review, 68: 203-204 (February, 1852). "* Reed, New Orleans and the Railroads, 108-120. The faihire of the two river towns to com- See also Marshall Gautreau, "The New Orleans, Ope­ lousas and Great Western Railroad" (masters' thesis, =5 "The Grain Trade of the United States," 1960- Louisiana State University, 1955). 1961. 122 ••.'.. -V

^m^ Missouri Historical Society St. Louis, ca. 1870.

pete successfully with Chicago for grain and gration from the river to the Great Lakes. flour doomed New Orleans' chances of win­ In the end, the Queen City won only a por­ ning the Midwest. As Crescent City business­ tion of the Valley. First overcon­ men recognized, they had no way of charting fidence and then a recognition that it had no their own cour.se on the Mississippi; they were way of countering Chicago's railroad strategy dependent on what happened upriver, and, in ended the hopes of St. Louis. To add insult terms of their liopes, what happened was not to injury, the two river cities did so badly good. Errors, complacency, and miscalcula­ that even Milwaukee, which had to build a tions spelled disaster.^" Cincinnati leaders, harbor from scratch and which had far fewer who had the first opportunity to control the railroad connections than Chicago, became a Midwest, concentrated on Ohio River trade, grain flow center of greater importance than failing to realize the extent to which the Erie New Orleans.2'' Receipts at the eastern Great Canal would shift the course of westward mi- Lakes ports indicated the scope of the massive shift in the direction of Midwest trade. Grain '^ Lawrence H. Larsen, "Chicago's Midwest Rivals: and flour shipped in 1860 topped 17,000,000 Cincinnati, St. Louis and Milwaukee," in Chicago bushels at Oswego and 37,000,000 bushels at History: The Magazine of the Chicago Historical So­ Buffalo, in stark contrast to less than 3,000,000 ciety, 5: 141-151. .See also Wyatt Belcher, The Eco­ nomic Rivalry Between Si. Louis and Chicago, 1850- bushels at New Orleans.^^ 1880 (New York, 1947); Richard Wade, The Urban Frontier: Pioneer Life in Early Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, -•"The Grain Trade ot the United States," 1961. Lexington, Louisville and St. Loxiis (Chicago, 1959). •-"-Ibid., 1959. 1961.

123 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

At the close of the Civil War, numerous ex­ Northeast competed against lake shipping.^" perts predicted that the Mississippi River The Mississippi River had lost importance. would regain its former importance.^^ Using The prospect of massive new Southern markets dubious logic, they assumed a new relation­ proved an empty hope; they never material­ ship between foreign and domestic markets. ized. New Orleans fell further and further They noted that cotton prices in the immedi­ back in relationship to the national grain ate postwar era were more than 200 per cent trade. A languishing economy and a relative­ higlier than in antebellum times. On that ly slow population increase gave mute testi­ basis, tliey foresaw a tremendous increase in mony to the failure of aspirations that had cotton production throughout the lower South. once generated so much hope.'* New Orleans This would lead to the conversion of the sec­ could only look on in envy as Chicago, en­ tion to a complete one-crop economy, necessi­ riched by the fruits of Midwestern commerce tating massive grain shipments downstream to and industry, surged to urban greatness and New Orleans to help fulfill pressing domestic hegemony over a vast section of the upper needs. Naturally, there was a great fallacy. Mississippi River valley. Railroads and ships The high prices were a direct result of the had been the Lake Michigan community's in­ Lancashire cotton famine caused by artificial struments of conquest. Yet even though the wartime conditions. Only a tremendous ex­ steamboats plying the great river had proved pansion of the textile industry, coupled with incapable of bringing New Orleans the same a sudden drying up of recently opened sources kind of success, the city's leadership had suc­ of supply in India and Egypt, would bring ceeded in establishing a potentially strong about permanently high prices. Curiously, though limited commercial empire. what should have been seen immediately as sophistry caused renewed optimism in Cincin­ ^'Ibid., 1962-1963. nati and St. Louis, plus some anxious moments " New Orleans had 17,242 people in 1810 and 27,176 in Chicago. in 1820. The number ot inhabitants climbed in spec­ In short order, the Midwest trade of New tacular fashion in the thirties from 29,737 to 102,193. Orleans did rise above pre-Civil War levels. After that the growth rate slowed down markedly. In 1872 receipts totaled over 20,000,000 bush­ There were 116,375 residents in 1850 and 168,675 in 1860. Actually, the fifties were not as bad as might els of flour ancl grain. However, in the same have been expected, given the thousands ot deaths twelve months over 170,000,000 bushels moved caused l)y yellow fever. By 1870 the city boasted 191,418 east by rail and boat. By then the fight for people, and it moved slowly ahead to 216,090 in 1880. the trade had entered another phase, where At that time it ranked tenth among the twenty cities in the United States with populations over 100,000. trunk railroads between the Midwest and This was small consolation; in the decade ot the seven­ ties, despite the fire of 187), the population of Chicago ''Ibid., 1979-1982. soared from 298,977 to 503,185.

124 Therese Schindler of Mackinac: Upward Mobility in the Great Lakes Fur Trade

By John E. McDowell

HE fur trade on the upper Great ed a high degree of upward mobility among T Lakes was by all accounts a risky those who trafficked in furs, and a good many business. Numerous historians have chroni­ sharp-witted traders sooner or later escaped the cled the trader's life in the eighteenth and noisome Indian encampments where they had early nineteenth centuries: the primitive liv­ entered the trade. A second point to be made ing quarters, the mean diet, the long trips is that not all fur traders engaged in those in fragile craft over perilous waters, the con­ hazardous seasonal expeditions in canoe or stant threat of death at the hands of hostile bateau, but rather anchored their businesses Indians or, more typically, from accident or in more-or-less permanent homes and traded exposure. The trader has been portrayed, hardware and blanketry with the same In­ and with some degree of accuracy, as tough, dian bands year after year. And finally, it is volatile, and not overly ethical, with a nut- worth mentioning that some of the wealthiest brown face and a fondness for whiskey and and most celebrated fur traders were not men, Indian women. Smoking his pipe in the shel­ but women.2 ter of an overturned canoe, or glumly portag­ Therese Marcot Lasaliere Schindler, the ing around a dangerous rapids, the voyageur subject of this piece, embodied all three traits. is a, well-known figure in the folklore of the She was utterly determined to rise above the Old Northwest.* circumstances of her birth and upbringing; Several minor but significant facets of his she became one of those fur traders who op- existence, however, are apt to be overlooked. First of all, many fur traders did not simply ' There were other female traders besides the ones go off into the woods and disappear from his­ dealt with in this article. Catherine Cadotte, wife ot tory after the War of 1812. Some, better en­ Jean Baptiste Cadotte (who was in turn the partner of Alexander Henry the elder), not only assisted her hus­ dowed with talent, more innovative or aggres­ band but also traded on her own. John Johnston's wife sive, become city founders, real estate promo­ carried on her husband's business after he died, though ters, bankers, politicians. Others founded local her operations were principally in the field ot manu­ and regional dynasties which, after a second or facturing maple sugar. Both these women resided at third generation, produced lawyers, merchants, .Sault Ste. Marie. One ot Madeline La Framboise's competitors in the Grand River Valley, Pierre Con­ governors, and physicians. In short, there exist- stant, had a beautiful daughter, Louise, who continued her father's business after his death. All these women ^ Two good descriptions of the fur trade are con­ were either all or part Indian. See Joseph E. and tained in The Michigan Pioneer Collections, especially Estelle L. Bayliss, River of Destiny: The Saint Marys "Narrative of Jean Baptiste Perault," 37: 296-309, and (Detroit, 1955), 281-282; Michigan Pioneer Collections, "Autobiographical Letters ot John Johnston," 32: 13- 32: 313; Leo C. Lillie, Historic Grand Haven and 117. County (Grand Haven, Michigan, 1931), 93.

Copyright © 1978 by The State Historical Society of Wisconsin All rights of reproduction in any form reserved 125 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 erated principally from a permanent home— and their dates of birth. One thing is cer­ Mackinac Island, in her case; and despite the tain: her fatiier and mother were legally vicissitudes of her life and the rougher aspects married. The ceremony was performed at of dealing with Indians and boatmen, she was Miciiilimackinac on July 24, 1758, by the a woman of strength, sensitivity, and intelli­ Jesuit priest M. L. Le Franc. gence. Her accomplishments were notable, The Marcot family home was at St. Joseph, but she was far from unique; indeed, she was the site of present Niles, Michigan. A census but one of a trio of female traders, all per­ taken in 1780 listed Marcot, his wife, and four sonally close, who lived and dealt in furs at children as living there. This small settlement Mackinac. Probably the most famous of the had a population of forty-nine persons who three was her sister, Madeline La Framboise, lived in a few rude cabins in or near a fort whose name occurs in many accounts of the that had fallen into disrepair. They made trade in the upper Great Lakes. The other their living by trading with the Indians, and was Elizabeth Mitchell, wife of Dr. David according to a British engineering officer, Mitchell, the physician who played a promi­ despite the fact that the land was very rich, nent role in the British garrisons of Mackinac raised "nothing more than a little Indian corn during the early 1800's. All three women were and make a little hay to support their horses aided by the fact that they were half-Indian and mules and a few milch cows, which seems by birth, for this enhanced their ability to deal to be all the stock they have." The French with Indians; on the other hand, it meant, in fur trader was not generally known for his a sense, that they had farther to climb in so­ success in agricultural pursuits.* ciety to attain material success and social ac­ However, Marcot and his neighbors did not ceptance. Yet climb they did, the descendants spend all of their summers at St. Joseph. of Therese Schindler becoming most promi­ They made regular trips to Michilimackinac, nent in Wisconsin medical and social circles where their children were baptized. In June and the daughter of Mme. La Framboise mar­ of 1780, when the fort was being transferred rying the brother of a future President of the from the mainland to Mackinac Island for United States.' security reasons during the Revolutionary War, Marcot pledged his assistance to estab­ lish the village on the island. And in July, HERESE was born—so she told 1782, he joined other "merchants and inhabi­ T Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, the tants" in a petition for a priest to minister to famous Indian agent and student of native the people of Mackinac. The early records culture—in 1775, at "Old Mackinac," mean­ do not say, but it is probable that here he ing Michilimackinac or what is now called sold his pelts and purchased his supplies for Mackinaw City, on the tip of lower Michi­ the winter.^ gan, the strategic gateway to lakes Michigan During her early life Therese Marcot prob­ and Superior. Her father was a North West ably accompanied her family to their winter Company "factor" or chief agent named Jean post in the western Lake Superior country. Baptiste Marcot—evidently a man of some It would have been a long, grueling trip, the substance since the Mackinac Register refers journeyers being confined for days in a small to him as sieur, a title of distinction. (The boat on the dangerous waters of Lake Superior. same source discloses that he could not sign When they arrived at their destination, they his own name.) Her mother was an Ottawa existed through the winter in another rude woman, Marianne, or Marie Amighissen— cabin, enduring the bitter cold of the region, sometimes called Thimatee—the daughter of fighting to keep enough food on the table Kewinaquot, a chief of the Ottawa. Therese was the second-youngest and Madeline the ' Obituary of I'herese Schindler, in Wisconsin Ne­ youngest of seven Marcot children, about four crology, 1: 202; Edwin O. Wood, Historic Mackinac of whom nothing is known except their names (New York, 1919), 2: 238; Wisconsin Historical Collec­ tions, ]8: 484-485, and 19: 18; Michigan Pioneer Collec­ tions, 10: 407; Wilbur M, Cunningham, Land of Four "See John E. McDowell, "Madame La Framboise," Flags (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1961), 67, 72-73. in Michigan History, 56: 271-286 (Winter, 1972). " Michigan Pioneer Collections, 10: 405, 599.

126 I 'SI'-

k'*.J*if#4'^

%^^^&^^& .w<^WpKy'%*>^a ,

Chicago Historical Society Colonel Henry Francis Ainslie, a British officer stationed in Canada, painted this view of the fort and village on Mackinac Island in 1842.

while they haggled with the Indians over her native Ottawa village near St. Joseph, pelts. It was a hard life, but worse was yet to taking her children with her. This move had come. a profound influence upon Therese's later In 1783 Jean Baptiste Marcot was killed life. First, she became even more inured to by Indians at the portage between the Fox hardship. Although they were more prosper­ and Wisconsin rivers. The family breadwin­ ous than several other tribes, the Ottawa still ner gone, the mother, Marianne, returned to often lived on the edge of starvation. Further- 127 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 more, the life of an Indian woman was far have the resources to do the same for Therese from easy. It was her task to prepare the and Madeline. They might be given the meals, cure the pelts, and plant and till the benefit of a Christian baptism, but not that fields. Therese Marcot was kept busy. But of an education. Like tlieir mother, both girls there were interludes of pleasure. A favorite would grow up illiterate.* Indian pastime was storytelling, and some were Before she was fifteen years old, Therese so adept at this that most of their time was was married at St. Joseph to Pierre Lasaliere, thus spent, to the agreement of all. Too, the a Canadian voyageur or boatman. Documents Indians had their games, and women took part note that the marriage was performed "before in many of them. The Indians did not hesi­ witnesses," suggesting that it was a civil cere­ tate to wager whatever they had, including mony or perhaps an Indian marriage by con­ their clothes, upon their games of chance.^ tract, as were .so many French-Indian unions. However hard Indian life may have been In any event, in 1799, when Therese's daugh­ in the village, the traditions of the Ottawa ter Marianne was baptized at the age of nine, were such that a trader's wife and children only the child's mother was present. Pierre would liave felt at home among these Indians. Lasaliere liad left his wife and child and gone There was a kinship of occupations. From the voyaging elsewhere, never to re-enter their earliest contact with whites the Ottawa had lives.9 been a trading tribe, ranging to the west and Up to this point Therese's life had been north, gathering pelts froiu other tribes and one of adversity. The "half-breed" daughter taking them to the French at Montreal. Their of a French trader, she had lived so long in reputation became established as a bartering an Indian village and as the "Indian" wife of nation, so much so that a good Father wrote Lasaliere that she was referred to as an "Outa- in the Jesuit Relations that they were better was" on her daughter's baptismal certificate. merchants than warriors. Therese Marcot 1 here had been no upward momentum so far thus spent the bulk of her formative years in her life; indeed, just the opposite. But if among formidable traders, both white and lier troubles were not entirely over, matters red; and what she saw and learned as a young were about to change for the better. woman would stand her in good stead in On July 12, 1804, Therese married George later life. What is more, by living among In­ Schindler, a fine and well-liked Mackinac dians, she learned how to handle Indians— trader, and from 1805 on she made the island indeed, she became an Indian. Neither she her permanent home. Her daughter Marianne nor they would ever forget this.^ was enrolled in a school run by Angelique But not all the time was spent in the vil­ Adhemar, who in turn was the daughter of a lage. On August 1, 1786, Marianne was at popular Mackinac functionary, Toussaint An- Mackinac, probably on a trading venture, and toine Adhemar (who signed himself St. Mar­ took the opportunity to have Therese and tin). Angelique was the sister of Josette La her sister, Madeline, baptized. She was un­ Framboise, who was the sister-in-law of Made­ able to do much more than that for her two line Marcot La Framboise. All of this seem­ youngest girls. While he was alive, Jean Bap­ ingly extraneous matter is noted to illustrate tiste Marcot had seen to it that his children how closely and complexly knit was the Macki­ had been sent to Montreal to be educated. nac community into which Therese now set­ But now that he was gone, Marianne did not tled. Buffeted from place to place, she had now put down roots. Her home was just a few rods from that of her sister, Madeline. 'Wisconsin Historical Collections, 11: 164. For char­ And she probably took comfort in the pres­ acterizations of Indian life, see the encyclopedic work by Frederick Webb Hodge, ed.. Handbook of American ence of her sister, for her mother was no Indians North of Mexico (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 30, two vol­ umes, 1907-1910; also Hoirse Document 926, 59th Con­ ^ Wisconsi?! Historical Collections, 19: 86. gress, 1st Session, Serial 5001 and 5002; also available '•Ibid., 19: 86n, 117, 118; 11: 164-165. Lasaliere ap­ in reprint editions), pears in fur-trade documents as late as 1818, when he ' McDowell, "Madame La Framboise," 272-273. was hired, and then discharged, by the American Fur Therese's childhood resembled her sister's. Company.

128 MCDOWELL: THERESE SCHINDLER longer living. She and Madeline had been ler had chosen to live in. Mackinac is a close during the time they spent in the In­ smallish island just east of the strait of that dian village, and they would remain close name, with high cliffs crowned with trees. the rest of their lives. Therese made relative­ The village, plainly visible from the main­ ly short trading trips from the island, but as land to the south, lay on the beach below the near as can be determined she never "win­ cliffs, at the head of a sparkling crescent- tered" away from home.*" shaped bay. The houses were arranged along Her husband was said to have come from two weed-choked streets (except for dogsleds "the upper country"—that is, from Canada— in the wintertime, there were no vehicles what­ as a soldier, and had stayed on to enter the fur ever on the island), and were rather small, trade. By 1800 at least he was gathering pelts built of squared logs plastered over and white­ on Michigan's Grand River, and although washed, each with its picket-enclosed garden. he was not as large an operator as some of his The spire of Ste. Ann's Catholic Church tow­ colleagues (for all his goods could be trans­ ered over the dwellings; atop the great bluff, ported in a single bateau), he was an estab­ the white palisaded fort, gleaming in the lished trader who could provide a stable liv­ sun, dominated the entire scene. In the early ing. In one respect George Schindler was dif­ 1800's the village of Mackinac had a perma­ ferent from most of the inhabitants of Macki­ nent population of about 250 persons, mostly nac: he was a Protestant. But religious dif­ of French and French-Indian derivation. ferences were no more an obstacle to marriage French was the common language, though In­ than they were to commerce, and he promised, dian dialects were often heard and even a little when he was married to Therese in the Catho­ English was spoken. The villagers have been lic church, to bring up his children in her characterized—principally by American ob­ faith. (His pledge was unnecessary, as it servers—as "good-natured, jovial, lazy, as far turned out, for no offspring issued from the as regular work is concerned, but extravagantly marriage.) The wedding itself had many ele­ fond of wandering about, fishing, etc." The ments af a family affair. Two of Therese's few Americans around, mostly in the garrison, brothers-in-law, Joseph La Framboise and were apt to look down upon these islanders, Charles Chandonnet, were listed among the feeling that they were overly fond of having a witnesses, and presumably the men's wives, good time. And they did enjoy their parties, her sisters Madeline and Charlotte, were also dancing, and cards. Elizabeth Mitchell, present. In addition there was an old friend Therese's friend, was a favorite at these par­ from her residency at St. Joseph, one Louis ties always surrounded by a crowd of people. Chevalier. If the wedding of George and If possible, she played cards, but if there was Therese Schindler followed the usual French none of that activity, she would watch the pattern, it was a happy occasion, with a grand dancing, trading jokes and stories in a dialect feast followed by dancing, singing, and card- peculiarly her own. playing into the small hours of the morning. Except for the summers, Mackinac was a Two days later, Therese consummated her re­ quiet place. However, when the ice went lationship with the Roman Catholic Church out of the strait, traders began to appear, by taking her first communion.** some from as far away as the upper reaches of the Missouri River. Indians followed. It was the time when furs were sold and goods T was both a distinctive and a purchased for the following winter. Then, I pleasant place that Therese Schind- during the few warm months the island en­ joys, the population burgeoned to as high as 4,000, made up mostly of shouting, singing, " Elizabeth Therese Baird, "Remini,scences of Early laughing, carousing men from the interior Days on Mackinac Island," ibid., 14: 20, 42. trading posts, all bent upon having an uproar­ ^^ Ibid., 18: 500n, 508; George Irving Quimby, Indian ious good time. The traders themselves gave Culture and European Trade Goods (Madison, 1966), lavish parties, each striving to outdo the oth­ 199-200; Milo M. Quaife, Lake Michigan (Indianapolis, 1944), 115. er in the amount of food and liquor supplied.

129 Ctiicago Historical Society Colonel Ainslie made this watercolor of Fort Mackinac, Ihe village, and its accompanying Indian settlement in 1842. The photograph (below) of the same scene was made by W. H. Gardiner around 1910.

•WHi (X3) 33990

130 MCDOWELL: THERESE SCHINDLER

Mackinac was hardly ever quiet then, day into business with Schindler. Thus he de­ or night.*^ manded that George produce the books for the firm of "La Framboise & Schindler." When George informed him that there had been no such firm nor any such record, Claude IHE fur trader may not have been reverted to an old French tradition. (It has as indolent as the Yankee imag­ been said that the French-Canadian "had a ined—much of his work was incredibly hard taste if not an instinct for litigation," and —but it does appear that he was rather cava­ Claude was no exception.) He entered suit lier toward record-keeping and the legal nice­ against George, who promptly engaged a ties of business contracts. Many agreements prominent Detroit lawyer to defend himself. were made verbally, and inevitably there were Perhaps this action was sufficient, for in Sep­ misunderstandings. What happened to George tember of 1808 George Schindler learned that Schindler shortly after his marriage is a good the suit was "remained in silence"—that is, illustration of this loose way of conducting dismissed. mercantile affairs. In 1807 he found himself The important thing, however, is to note being sued for something that had not hap­ how a verbal agreement, casually arrived at pened in 1801. and never consummated, had imperiled About 1794 Therese's sister, Madeline, had Schindler's livelihood. Schindler apparently married Joseph La Framboise, a member of never considered the partnership to be of any a prominent trading family who, like George importance; he asserted that he did not really Schindler, operated in the area surrounding need the goods that Claude La Framboise had northern Lake Michigan. He had two broth­ refused him; and, when he wrote his lawyer ers in the vicinity, and another brother, to inform him of the dismissal of Claude's Claude, at Montreal. Claude made it his suit, he nonchalantly asked him to search the business to supply trade goods to Indian mer­ titles to two pieces of property he had pur­ chants. Schindler's troubles concerned Joseph chased nearly ten years before. Schindler, like ancl Claude. many other fur traders, evinced a somewhat In 1801 Joseph suggested that he and George lackadaisical attitude toward commercial pa­ Schindler form a partnership. George agreed, perwork.*^ and Joseph went to Montreal to persuade Yet the very mention of his land holdings Claude to furnish the merchandise for the indicates that Therese had indeed bettered venture. However, Claude did not know her station. George Schindler was not an in­ George, and he refused to have anything to consequential landowner at Mackinac. And do with the project. But he did supply Joseph. there was to be another upward step in her There the matter rested until 1807. Noth­ family. Her daughter Marianne was about ing may have come of the proposed partner­ to make a noteworthy alliance. On July 22, ship had it not been for the fact that in 1806, 1809, she was married to Henry Monroe while on his way to his post near present Fisher. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Joseph was killed Fisher was quite a catch. He came from by an Indian. Although Madeline La Fram­ a wealthy Scotch family and was wrongly boise took over her husband's business, there reputed to be a nephew of President James remained the matter of settling Joseph's estate. Monroe. Educated at Montreal, like so many Claude was named executor. young men of that city he had gone west to Exactly what was in Claude's mind is not enter the fur trade. He settled at Prairie du certain, but he did remember talking with Jo­ Chien and prospered, marrying a daughter seph in 1807 about his proposed partnership. Ancl, while his invoices for that year were issued in Joseph's name alone, it appears that " George Schindler to Solomon Sibley, July 9, August he suspected that Joseph liad indeed gone 22, 1807, and Claude La Framboise to John Kinzie, June 11, 1807, all in the Solomon Sibley Papers, Burton Historical Section, Detroit Public Library; Calvin Good­ '" Wisconsin Historical Collections, 9: 316-317; Wood, rich, The First Michigan Frontier (.Ann ,'\rbor, Michi­ Historic Mackinac, 2: 137, 138, 143, 168, 172. gan, 1940), 97.

131 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 of Gauthier De Niverille—a well-known name found that she was unable to return to Prairie in Great Lakes history—and begetting four du Chien and would have to stay with her children: three sons and a daughter named mother. Jane. (A beautiful, spirited girl, Jane Fisher This turn of events became very important was married successively to two famous Prairie in the lives of Therese and her family. Back du Chien traders, Joseph Rolette and Her­ at Prairie du Chien, Henry Fisher sensed cor­ cules L. Dousman.) Fisher was well liked by rectly that the village would be the target of his fellow villagers, and he became a justice an American attack. And, although he was of the peace and captain of . strongly pro-British, he did not wish to par­ After his first wife died, Fisher met and ticipate in hostilities against the Americans, married Marianne Schindler, taking her to many of whom were his friends. So he made his Mississippi River home. In addition to arrangements with the wife of Michael Bris- his prominence at Prairie du Chien, Fisher bois to take care of Jane and his youngest son; had much to recommend him to his new bride. then, with his other sons, Henry and Alexan­ He was a good-looking man with great physi­ der, he left for the Red River country. The cal strength, and although he was excitable, Fisher family was never again reunited. Henry he had "indomitable courage and persever­ associated himself with the Hudson's Bay Com­ ance." Marianne presented him with a daugh­ pany, with which he did so well that he be­ ter on April 24, 1810. They named the in­ came a "partner," i.e., trader. He remained in fant Elizabeth Therese, and though they its service until about 1824. Then, after a could hardly have expected to know it, she brief stint with the American Fur Company was to make her mark upon the history of at Lac Traverse, he decided to return to the the area. No priest was available at Prairie Great Lakes country. His two sons remained dy Chien, so she was privately baptized. It at Winnipeg. Fisher visited his wife and was not until August 21, 1821, that Marianne daughter at Mackinac, then went to Prairie was able to have the ceremony solemnized in du Chien to live with Jane, who was by that a church at Mackinac. Father Gabriel Rich­ time Mrs. Rolette. He died there in 1827. In ard, soon to be the first priest elected to Con­ the meantime Marianne and Elizabeth had gress, officiated. Her godfather was a lifelong made the Schindler house their home. His­ friend and brother-in-law, Joseph Rolette; torians should be grateful that they did so, her godmother was her aunt, Madeline La for this enforced stay at Mackinac enabled Framboise.*^ Elizabeth later to record her fascinating remi­ That, of course, would come in the future. niscences of life on the island.*^ For the present Marianne was at Prairie du Chien, separated from her mother. But in June of 1812 she decided to visit the Schind- lers on Mackinac, taking little Elizabeth HE Schindlers appear to have tak­ with her. The visit was to last longer than T en no direct part in the War of she anticipated. Early on the morning of July 1812, although it probably disrupted their 12, they, along with the other villagers, were trade. Some other members of Therese's fam­ routed from their beds and taken to the ily were not so fortunate. Charlotte and Dousman distillery at the western edge of Charles Chandonnet, her sister and brother- the settlement. British soldiers and their In­ in-law who had attended her wedding, were dian allies soon made their appearance upon directly affected. Shortly after their marriage back of the fort, compelling its sur­ they had adopted Charles's nephew, Jean Bap- render. The War of 1812 had reached Macki­ liste Chandonnet. Both Charles and Jean nac. As Elizabeth later stated, the country Baptiste became directly involved in the hos­ was in an uproar and Indians in all direc­ tilities. tions were on the warpath. Marianne thus Theirs was an odd and a tragic story, and it

'• Baird, "Reminiscences ot Early Days on Mackinac '° Baird, "Reminiscences ot Early Days on Mackinac Island," 22; Wisconsin Historical Collections, 10: 492- Island," 22; Alec R. Gilpin, The War of 1812 in the 493; 19: 139-140. Old Northwest (Easi Lansing, Michigan, 1958), 90.

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must have caused Therese many moments of the itinerant traders and Indians had left in concern. Charles was employed on the British the fall it was a peaceful place. The garrison side in the war and worked in the Indian officers and their wives mingled with the vil­ Department with the famed Scottish soldier lagers who remained, pleased with the op­ Robert Dickson. Jean Baptiste, on the other portunity to socialize. Garrison life was dull, hand, gave his allegiance to the Americans. leading to the overuse of the bottle which He was present at the massacre at Fort Dear­ probably accounts for the pinkish hue that born in Chicago, and helped to save the com­ shows up in so many military portraits. Thus mandant's wife from the Indians. In 1814 soldiers and soldiers' wives gladly attended Charles was sent to take his adopted son into the island teas (where that scarce commodity custody because he had arrested some British was carefully measured into each cup) and traders around St. Joseph. But Jean Baptiste parties with their dancing and card playing. refused to accept the arrest, and when his fa­ The Schindler family, including Marianne ther attempted to enforce his orders, Jean and Elizabeth, took an active part in these Baptiste shot him dead. For this he was jailed, gatherings. These social functions point up but escaped, later settling at Chicago where one of the great differences between Therese's he became a colorful figure in that city's early life and that of the "winterers," like her sister, history. However, the family of Therese's Madeline. Few such parties were held in the sister was sundered, and Charlotte disap­ winterers' huts; life at Mackinac was much peared from the written records. fuller than on the Grand River or elsewhere Nothing has been recorded to indicate on the fringes of the fur-trade frontier. where Therese Schindler's sympathies lay in The Mackinac Islanders found ways to en­ this matter. However, she remained friendly joy themselves. They did not let the sub- with Jean Baptiste and, at the same time, de­ freezing temperatures impair their out-of- spite his actions on the side of the Americans, doors activity. They bundled up in long wool­ managed to maintain satisfactory relations en cloaks, fur hats, and buckskin mittens lined with the British authorities at Mackinac. with fur and took part in winter sports. Eliza­ When the war finally ended and the island beth Fisher had a dogsled, with a high back returned to American control, the Schindlers and sloping sides, in which she took long rides made that transition with little difficulty. over the icy strait. Not the least of the excite­ Therese's continued friendship with Chan­ ment of these rides was the unpredictability donnet was demonstrated in 1815. Jean Bap­ of the dogs. If a rabbit or a bird crossed their tiste had a wife named Marie Chapoton. Dur­ paths they veered off in hot pursuit. Snow­ ing the turmoil of the war she had been living storms were taken in stride, even one that in Detroit. In the fall of that year she de­ buried the village so deep that the garrison cided to join her husband in Chicago. When had to dig paths to the houses before the resi­ she reached Mackinac, her infant son became dents could emerge. too ill to travel. Therese took them into her Holidays were the great, looked-forward-to home, but when the child recovered it was events. In keeping with French-Canadian tra­ too late to resume their journey. Finally in dition, the yule log was brought in and kept, June the next year a vessel left for Chicago. half burned, from Christmas to Christmas. Aboard it were Marie and her son, accom­ Fragments from it were thrown on the fire panied by Marianne Fisher and little Eliza­ during a storm "to prevent the thunder from beth. Marie and her husband were united falling." The Christmas feast itself included once again.*^ roast beef and pork, poultry, meat pies, sau­ Mackinac, though cold and wind-swept and sage, head cheese, fruit preserves, and cakes often short of food in the late winter when in such quantity that no one was expected to the ice kept sufficient supplies from reaching sample everything. On New Year's Eve elderly the island, offered many good times. After men appeared at each house singing and danc­ ing, for which they were given gifts. The next day it was the children's turn to receive pres­ '" Baird, "Reminiscences of Early Days on Mackinac Island," 25-27; Wisconsin Historical Collections, 19: ents. In the spring a Maypole was invariably 159n, 160n. erected, though it usually had to be set in the

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early life had prepared her to make: she carried on the fur trade. Her sister, Madeline La Framboise, had done the same thing when confronted with the death of her husband, and her success in that venture probably in­ fluenced Therese. But the larger question naturally arises, why did either of these two half-Indian women, both raised in an Indian village and both illiterate, enter the risky busi­ ness of trafficking in pelts? Why did they not, like so many others from native villages, sink back into oblivion when faced with such adver­ sities? Even their own mother had taken that course, and their sister, Charlotte, seems to have done the same. Or, failing a final retreat to Ottawa ways, could they not have found an easier way to make a living?

N truth, there were not a great I many respectable ways for a woman \\H. iX3j 33>i34 to make a living on the Great Lakes frontier The only known likeness of Therese Schindler: a in the early nineteenth century. Being illite­ reproduction of a daguerreotype made in her old age. rate, Therese Schindler could not even teach school. But she had been raised in the fur ice of the little bay, which often did not break trade; her French as well as her Indian fore­ up until June.*'' bears knew the business; and her second hus­ But all was not serenity. Therese Schindler band had now, unfortunately, presented her had been plagued by hardship and trouble all with the opportunity to take over a modest her life, and more was in store. Sometime but established enterprise. All this entered after Marianne and Elizabeth came to Macki­ into Therese's decision. But perhaps the sin­ nac—the exact time is far from certain—George gle most important factor was contained in Schindler lost both his health and his proper­ her own tough-fibered personality. Like ty. The nature of his illness is not known, but Madeline La Framboise and Elizabeth he may have suffered a stroke for he became a Mitchell, two other half-Indian women of cripple. Schindler was finished in the trade, Mackinac who made their marks in the fur but he found a way to be useful nonetheless. trade, Therese Marcot Lasaliere Schindler pos­ He opened a school for boys, numbering sessed both intelligence and an unquenchable among his pupils Hercules L. Dousman, who spark of ambition to persevere, to overcome later married Elizabeth's half-sister Jane. He the difficult circumstances of her life. (It also found time to give some instruction to was typical of Madeline La Framboise, for ex­ his granddaughter, although she was not a ample, that when she decided to teach her­ very willing student.** self to read and write, she mastered not only Faced with the illness of her husband and French but English as well; and moreover the loss of his livelihood, Therese made the that her penmanship and written English were response that both her personality and her impeccable.)*^ When Therese decided to carry on her hus­ " Baird, "Reminiscences of Early Days on Mackinac band's business, she was fortunate that there Island," 21, 23, 24, 38; Wood, Historic Mackinac, 2: 172. were members of her own tribe close by. " Baird, "Reminiscences of Early Days on Mackinac Island," 22; Elizabeth Therese Baird, "Reminiscences oi Life in Territorial Wisconsin," in Wisconsin Histor­ ^"Wisconsin Necrology, 1: 202; McDowell, "Madame ical Collections, 15: 213. La Framboise," 279-280.

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George Schindler had undoubtedly traded goods were carefully baled and transported with the Ottawa of L'Arbre Croche, and now, back to Mackinac. The disposal of the pelts by dealing with them close at hand, Therese there was a ritual that all appeared to enjoy. obviated the necessity of setting up a winter­ It was a battle of wits, complete with what ing post elsewhere. These Ottawa, who lived seemed like interminable haggling over the in probably the oldest continuously occupied grades of furs and the prices asked and paid. settlement in Michigan (extending a distance These negotiations were conducted in good of twelve or fourteen miles from present Cross spirits and with relish. Village to present Harbor Springs on the east­ There was another advantage to Therese's ern shore of Lake Michigan), were an accom­ trading at nearby L'Arbre Croche other than plished, semiagricultural tribe. They lived not having to set up a wintering post. When in solidly constructed log cabins, and a priest one of her Indians ran out of supplies or who visited them in 1848 wrote that they were damaged a gun, he could make the short trip "generally industrious and skillful in what to Therese's home on Mackinac and trade they undertake." Bishop Edward Fenwick for what he wanted. This was often done; called them "clean, well dressed, and superior some of the local traders even maintained in their manners of living to the wandering small stores at their homes.2" and ignorant Indians of other tribes." They were, in short, ideal customers for Therese Schindler, who could serve them by making 'HERESE Schindler prospered. several short trips each year to L'Arbre T'He r daughter Marianne kept a Croche, rather than staying in their midst all ledger for the years 1821 through 1824 which winter. Being half-Indian, she felt an affinity X 1 discloses that in the two years 1820 and 1821 for these Ottawa, who in turn respected her Therese purchased $11,857 worth of goods and maintained their commercial ties with her from the American Fur Company. Accord­ throughout her lifetime. ing to the letters of William Johnston regard­ So she packed her bateau (or perhaps ba­ ing the fur trade, it was not unusual for a teaux, for a ledger indicates that there was merchant to take in double his investment in often more than one boat) with "pieces" of goods sold to the Indians. This would mean goods that included firearms, knives, hatchets, that Therese's business might have grossed tobacco, blankets, and silver ornaments. She somewhere in the vicinity of $11,000 to $12,000 employed five or six voyageurs to a boat, and, per year if all sales had been made to Indians. at first light, her trading party would paddle But Marianne's ledger also discloses that out of the Mackinac harbor, crossing the Therese made sales to other fur-trade mer­ strait to the eastern shore, and rounding the chants: Michael and Joseph Bailly, Antoine point which is now Wilderness Park, always Bobineau, Michael Dousman, William Chapo­ within sight of the tall, tree-crowned bluffs ton, and others. Their purchases ranged from of the mainland. After the thirty-mile trip $200 to $1,320. Of course, on these sales was over Therese's voyageurs would quickly Therese did not enjoy the same profit margin erect a tent for their employer and unload as she did on sales to Indians. But it seems safe her trade goods. The Indians would watch to say that Therese took in perhaps $8,000 to with interest, going over in their minds the $10,000 a year—this, it should be pointed out, list of articles they wanted, or could afford. at a lime when an experienced trader (one Finally came the trading, haggling over how with an Indian following at that) could be many pelts would be required for a blanket hired for $1,000 per year. Like Madeline La or a gun and continuing as long as the supply of goods or animal skins lasted. During the * David Lavender, The Fist in the Wilderness (Gar­ process, Therese found time to visit with den City, New York, 1964), 265; McDowell, "Madame friends, exchange stories, and eat meals with La Framboise," 278; Quaife, Lake Michigan, 282; Bela a favored few. During their stay her men Hubbard, Memorials of a Half-Century (New York, camped out, sleeping under the boats and 1887), 185-186; Gurdon S. Hubbard, The Autobiogra­ phy of Gurdon Sallonstall Hubbard (Chicago, 1921), existing on two daily meals of lyed corn boiled 144-145; George Pare, The Catholic Church in Detroit with pork. The furs she received for her (Detroit, 1951), 597-598.

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trict by one means or another, she hardly could have escaped its clutches even if she had so desired.^ apr More important than the trade Therese conducted with the American Fur Company were the connections she established with LllJfpfLILI some of its employees. There was, for exam­ ple, Gurdon S. Hubbard. The son of an un­ successful lawyer, he was helping the family finances by clerking in a Montreal store when the American Fur Company recruited him. He reached Mackinac on July 4, 1818, and his summer work for several years was to sort and count furs, a backbreaking job that consumed long hours. However, he found time on Sun­ days to visit the Schindler home, as well as the homes of Mme. La Framboise and Mrs. Mitchell. His particular friend among the Schindlers was Marianne Fisher. His visits were very productive; experienced and canny in fur trading, the women gave him advice and taught him much. He did not forget Mackinac Island State Park Commission them, and in later years he always made it a The home of Madeline La Framboise, built for her point to spend as much time with them as he around 1820, still stands on Mackinac Island. This could when he came to Mackinac. Hubbard's photograph was probably made in the 1870's. main activity for the company was in the Illi­ nois territory, and after a few years he headed Framboise and Elizabeth Mitchell, both of its efforts there. Successful and aggressive, he whom became wealthy in the trade, Therese later purchased the company's interests in Schindler supported her family very well.2* that vicinity. Then, as profits in the business Shortly after the end of the War of 1812 began to decline in the 1830's, he branched a new organization appeared at Mackinac that out into Chicago real estate. Not content with had a profound effect on both Therese and that, he became one of the first meat packers her trade. This was the American Fur Com­ there. His interests broadened as the years pany, headed in the field by John Jacob Astor's went on, and he is considered to be one of lieutenant, Ramsay Crooks. The avowed pur­ the "fathers" of modern Chicago.^^ pose of this concern was to dominate the fur Hubbard's good friend John H. Kinzie was trade in the Great Lakes country, and it did another of the ambitious young clerks the a thorough job. Madeline La Framboise be­ American Fur Company hired in the postwar came affiliated with the company in 1816, and years. Kinzie was the son of the John Kinzie ultimately Therese followed suit. In 1821 she wlio had been at Chicago long before the War appeared on the company rosters as trading of 1812, and in whose home Marianne and on her own "account and risk," which ex­ Elizabeth Fisher had stayed in 1816. The war plains why she was permitted to sell to other liad ruined the elder Kinzie's business, and merchants. Semi-independent she may have he never reattained the economic success he remained, but she ptircha.sed her goods from had enjoyed prior to the hostilities. When the American Fur Company, and to it she the American Fur Company began expanding. had to sell her furs. But since the company secured practically all the traders in the dis- -Wisconsin Historical Collections, 11: 373-375; 12: '^ "Account Book of a Mackinac Merchant," Michi­ 154, 169; Ida A. Johnson, The Michigan Fur Trade gan Manuscripts C, in Archives Division, State Histor­ (Lansing, 1919). 125. ical Society of Wisconsin; Michigan Pioneer Collections, -"Hubbard, The Autobiography of Gurdon Sallon­ 37: 14.3. stall Hubbard, xiii, xxi-xxii, 1-7, 14, 15, 23, 33-34.

1.H6 MCDOWELL: THERESE SCHINDLER he apprenticed his son to the concern. At appreciated. Madeline La Framboise was Mackinac young Kinzie and Hubbard became proud of her niece, as she informed Marianne fast friends. He visited the Schindlers, as a in several letters, and in one she was able to family friend should, and must also have spent tell her that she was being considered for time with Madeline La Framboise, for her membership in the Widows of St. Paul.^'' dead husband's nephews were part of the Chi­ cago establishment and became an important part of Hubbard's Illinois contingent. There ARI ANNE Fisher found her was to be still another association with the life's work in teaching, Therese Schindler family. Later Kinzie was stationed M Schindler hers in commerce; yet neither wom­ at Prairie du Chien, where he got to know an ever escaped the tug of her Indian heri­ Elizabeth Fisher's half-sister Jane very well. tage. Sometimes the fact of blood was brought Like Hubbard, Kinzie later entered business home in curious ways, as in 1820, when The­ at Chicago, where he associated with his old rese Schindler looked out her window one friend in several ventures and made a promi­ morning and saw an Indian wigwam pitched nent name in Chicago history.2'* in the dooryard. Upon investigation, she The presence of the American Fur Company found that it was occupied by John Tanner, at Mackinac had a third effect upon the a "white Indian," and his Indian wife and Schindler family other than influencing their children. Tanner was a Kentuckian who had trade and introducing them to rising young been captured by the Shawnee when he was men who would later gain prominence in the nine, sold to an Ottawa woman, and raised in business world. Mackinac was a fairly good the Red River district of Canada, where he place to live, considering conditions on the entirely lost his white ways. Eventually, how­ frontier generally, but it did lack some of ever, his brother James had found him and the amenities of civilization.^^ It had a church, decided to return him to civilization. Re­ but most of the time no priest to say mass. membering that he had once met Therese It had a school for boys—George Schindler's Schindler, and that she had been kind to him, —but none for girls. Robert Stuart, resident James Tanner suggested to his brother that manager for the fur company, did something he contact her. That was how John Tanner about that. He believed that there should be came to be encamped in her yard. a school for girls, and that its teacher could Tanner was a sullen and bad-tempered man be found right in the Schindler house. He who never fully made the transition back to persuaded Marianne Fisher to open such an white society. He drifted from job to job, institution for the daughters of the company's deserted his family, went to Sault Ste. Marie, principal employees, thereby founding (so it and, after being accused of committing a mur­ is claimed) the first boarding school in the der, disappeared. But before all this occurred, Old Northwest. The pupils, ranging in age he persuaded Therese Schindler to look after from twelve to eighteen were taught to read his daughters. One of them, Lucy, she adop­ and write, to keep house, and make their own ted as an infant. The child became the darling clothes.28 Marianne was thus on her way to of the Schindler household. When she was becoming something more than just another old enough, she was educated in Marianne trader's daughter. The years that followed Fisher's school, and later she helped with the would see her at a mission on the Grand River teaching. Tragically, in 1834, she perished translating books for the Indians, at L'Arbre when the lake schooner on which she was Croche teaching and translating, and again a passenger foundered with all hands on a conducting school at Mackinac. Her work was voyage to Grand Rapids. Another Tanner girl, Martha, stayed at Mackinac until the ^ Lavender, The Fist in the Wilderness, 315-316; 1840's, lielping Marianne at the mission school Bessie Louise Pierce, A History of Chicago (New York, 1937), 1: 34, 60, 229; Baird, "Reminiscences of Early Days on Mackinac Island," 25-27. -'" Ibid., 22, 23, 54; Madeline La Framboise to Mari­ ^ Baird, "Reminiscences ot Early Days on Mackinac anne Fisher, July 19, 1842, in the Henry S. Baird Island," 41-42. Papers, Archives Division, State Historical Society of =» Ibid., 42. Wisconsin.

137 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 and staying for a time with Madeline La Elizabeth, was known as the "belle of Macki­ Framboise. Finally, Tanner's Indian wife— nac" and attracted much attention. At one whose name has not yet come to light—was such gathering five ladies and five gentlemen taught by the Schindler women to work as a made their way to the Bois Blanc camp. They housekeeper, and as such she made her living were to have a crepe party. The women at Mackinac for a dozen years before return­ brought their own frying pans in which to ing to the obscurity of her old life among make the thin French pancakes. The idea the Red River Ottawa.^* was to allow the crepe to cook on one side, The strange episode of the Tanner family, then flip it over by tossing it into the air. so intermixed with racial consciousness and This took a bit of practice, and Elizabeth Christian piety, was not the only evidence wrote: "Never did I see objects miss so wide­ of the Indian influence in Therese Schindler's ly the mark aimed at." The crepes went every­ life. Like a great many of the Mackinac vil­ where, accompanied by great laughter. There lagers with Indian blood in their veins, she was an exception. A newcomer to Mackinac, carried on one of the most persistent, and Henry S. Baird, held out his cap and chal­ pleasant, customs of aboriginal life: that of lenged Mrs. John Dousman, wife of a promi­ making maple sugar, which supplied the nent fur merchant, to flip her cake into it. sweetening that was otherwise both scarce She surprised him, deftly performing the feat. and expensive—and which incidentally was The merrymakers rounded out the day with also a marketable commodity. Each spring a dinner of partridge, rabbit, squirrel, and about half the population of Mackinac jour­ of course, crepes with maple syrup.^^ neyed into the woods, usually to Bois Blanc, a larger island about five miles eastward where Therese Schindler maintained a sugar camp. The settlers would begin tapping the HE name of Henry S. Baird trees about the first of March. Since she among the guests that day is sig­ had more than a thousand trees to be cared nificant. He came from a family that had re­ for, Therese employed three men and two sided in Pennsylvania and Ohio, failing in women to do the work. The sap was collected business in the latter state. Henry had been in birchbark buckets, carried by means of well educated for and had studied shoulder yokes and larger buckets to a rudely law. But he suffered from ague, and when a built shed, and there dumped into brass ket­ friend suggested that Mackinac offered a more tles suspended over open fires. Boiling to healthful climate, as well as the opportunity syrup took about twenty-four hours, after for self-advancement, he decided to move to which the syrup was stored to be made into the island. He arrived there on June 5, 1822. sugar later. After a second boiling at a dif­ His total assets were four dollars, some books, ferent heat, the syrup was poured into molds his clothes, and the determination to make a made in the shape of diamonds, crosses, bears, place for himself. rabbits, and other animals. Granulated maple That he certainly did. For a while he taught sugar was kept in a mocuck, or box, of birch- school to establish himself with the villagers. bark. Then, in 1823, he was admitted to the Michi­ A great deal of work went into making su­ gan bar, where he practiced among such gar, but there was time for pleasure as well. well-known trader-lawyers as James Lockwood After a long, confining winter it was a pleas­ and Rix Robinson: men to be reckoned with. ant out-of-doors activity. And there were Henry Baird prospered and gained such a parties, at Therese's camp at least. This was reputation that Lockwood accounted him the perhaps inevitable, since her granddaughter, best lawyer in the vicinity. New courts were being established as settlers began moving into Michigan and Wisconsin; Baird thought ^ Baird, "Reminiscences ot Early Days on Mackinac he saw a greater opportunity to the west. In Island," 47-54; Wisconsin Historical Collections, 19: 134. For Tanner's life, see Edwin Jones, ed., Thirty Years Indian Captivity of John Tanner (Minneapolis, " Baird, "Reminiscences ot Early Days on Mackinac 1956), Island," 28-31.

1: MCDOWELL: THERESE SCHINDLER

the spring of 1824 he visited the village of man in Prairie du Chien before the War of Green Bay, found that he would have no legal 1812, and by then was a legend on the Great competition, and decided, upon the urging of Lakes frontier. Shrewd, sharp, and tempera­ several citizens, to move there. mental, he was adept at business ventures but But Baird had not been totally occupied in personally eccentric and dissipated. He had establishing himself as an attorney. He had a close connection with Elizabeth: not only taken a part in Mackinac society and, as the was he her godfather, but he had also married crepe party at the sugar camp indicates, had her half-sister Jane, the daughter whom Henry been seeing a good bit of Elizabeth Fisher. Monroe Fisher left at Prairie du Chien in His attention was reciprocated, and when he 1812. The Bairds and Rolettes had found returned from his visit to Green Bay, they time throughout the years to visit back and were married in her home. The date was forth, cementing the relationship. August 12, 1824. Elizabeth was fourteen years When Joseph Rolette returned to Green of age. Bay in 1825, Elizabeth stayed on at Mackinac In September the couple left for Green for several months to be with George Schind­ Bay, which was then a rather primitive vil­ ler, whose failing health had worsened grave­ lage. For a time they lived in a log house, but ly. Three weeks after she left, Elizabeth's soon Baird bought a store that had been con­ "grandfather" died, making Therese Schindler verted into a home. His legal practice kept a widow once again.''" him busy, and Elizabeth found that she would have to learn to speak English, as well as how to read—matters that she had neglected at HERESE carried on her trade Mackinac. Writing later, she did not spare after her husband's death. But herself; despite the attentions of both George the changes wrought by the close of the War Schindler and Marianne Fisher in attempting of 1812 and the entry of the American Fur to teach her, she admitted, she had been too Company into the Great Lakes region con­ spoiled to study. But Elizabeth now had made tinued apace, affecting the texture of life in a start, and she would complete the upward Mackinac. The island had always been a movement of the Schindler family in both so­ French Catholic bastion, but now the Rev. cial and literary circles. Henry Baird became William Ferry, a Presbyterian from the East, a factor in the business and political life of set up the Protestant Mission House. Two Wisconsin, greatly aided by his wife's knowl­ small piers had been built where the sailing edge of the area, her ability to interpret for vessels that served the island might tie up, but his French-speaking clients, and, not the least, the advent of a new era on the lake was herald­ her Indian ancestry. Finally, she made up for ed by the smoke from wood-burning steam­ her earlier indifference to reading and writing ships that had begun to visit. An Indian agen­ by contributing several distinguished reminis­ cy had been established by the government— cences of life among the Indians and fur a rambling wooden house occupied by Henry traders of the Old Northwest to the Wisconsin Rowe Schoolcraft and used by him for meet­ Historical Collections.^'^ ings with numerous Indians and for enter­ Elizabeth Therese Baird may have moved taining the annually larger numbers of visitors away from Mackinac, but that did not mean who came to see the beauty and picturesque- that her grandmother did not see her now ness of Mackinac. And when, in the 1830's, and then. Henry Baird still had cases on the Indian lands were acquired by treaty, a dor­ island, and apparently she often found a way mitory was built to house those Indians who to visit. Her trip in 1825 is especially note­ came to receive their yearly annuity from the worthy; she made it in the brigade—or flotilla government. This payment time was a wild of boats—of Joseph Rolette. This fur trader occasion, and the island was thronged with and land speculator had become the richest thousands of Indians. The local merchants—

'"Ibid., 18; Baird, "Reminiscences of Life in Terri­ "' Baird, "Reminiscences of Early Days on Mackinac torial Wisconsin," 205-213; Wisconsin Historical Col­ Island," 55-64; Baird, "Reminiscences of Lite in Terri­ lections, 7: 426-430. torial Wisconsin," 219-220.

139 4^

Library of Congress The old ProteslanI mission church, Mackinac Island. probably including Therese Schindler and tlers were entering both Michgian and Wis­ Elizabeth Mitchell—made certain that the In­ consin, and treaties were made to remove In­ dians left Mackinac with only a small portion dian title to the land they would occupy. As of the monies they had received. a result, some of the Indians were displaced. While the village had not grown a great For instance, Madeline La Framboise's rela­ deal as a result of these changes, it was a far tives in the Chicago area had allied them­ more cosmopolitan place than it had been selves by marriage to the Potawatomi and when Therese had first moved there, and of­ joined a large segment of that tribe when it fered vastly more in comfort and social life was resettled in . That was not all. than the wintering cabins built by Therese's Fur prices fell and money became scarce in good friends, Gurdon Hubbard and Rix Rob­ the trade—so scarce that in 1837 Ramsay inson. Nor did the traders who lived at Macki­ Crooks asked Rix Robinson (by then a promi­ nac any longer liave to make the long trips, nent trader) not to draw on the money the on foot and through freezing temperatures, to Indian winter camps in order to secure their furs before the competition could beat them, =^ There are many descriptions ot Mackinac in the as Hubbard and Robinson had earlier been 1830's. See Wood, Historic Mackinac, for a compila­ tion; tor a shorter description see Walter Havighurst, forced to do.^^ Three Flags at the Fort (Englewood Cliffs, , Other changes were also taking place. Set­ 1966), 170-173. 140 MCDOWELL: THERESE SCHINDLER

American Fur Company owed him. Of great­ La Framboise's son Joseph, who worked a er consequence, however, was the increased territory on the Minnesota River, is one ex­ competition for furs. Many of the new set­ ample. In 1840 he wrote Elizabeth Baird: tlers, while essentially farmers, found that "1 am very tired of this savage business. . . ." they could earn extra money by trapping and In 1849 he lamented to a former partner: trading for furs. The prosperity the trade had "Furs, my dear child, I have none. It is not enjoyed attracted many newcomers. For ex­ with twenty Indians that we can make any­ ample, the Grand River district, where for thing." He barely managed to eke out a liv­ years Madeline La Framboise had enjoyed a ing, and apparently his main activity was virtual monopoly, was now worked by many farming during the last years before his death traders. In addition to Rix Robinson, who in 1856.33 had purchased Iter business, a dozen other And how did Therese Schindler survive traders, of both French and American ex­ these changes in the fur trade? As far as can traction, were engaged in a relentless struggle be determined, fairly well. She had great in­ tor the available furs. Ruinous competition fluence with the Ottawa of L'Arbre Croche, and hard times signalled an end to the palmy who were but little disturbed by settlers. days of the trade. Marianne Fisher had both taught and trans­ lated for them, and they remained loyal to the Schindlers. In the spring Therese, who was now in her sixties, would wait for them to OHN Jacob Astor, who could al­ return from their winter hunting and then J ways see beyond the end of his accompany them to Mackinac. She was not nose, sensed that the time had come to ease always well, but she carried on.^^ himself out of an increasingly risky business. Marianne Fisher continued her school In 1834 he sold his interest in the American teaching and mission work among the Indians Fur Company to his chief factor, Ramsay of Mackinac, corresponding with her aunt, Crooks, and a consortium of others. Low fur Madeline La Framboise, in Montreal and prices hampered the new owners, and the fretting from time to time about whether she Panic of 1837 tightened the money supply. should remarry. (Mme. La Framboise coun­ They turned to the fisheries of the Great Lakes seled her, rather confusingly: "I don't want to supply cash. It was a losing struggle. On to imply, however, that you will [be] un- September 10, 1842, the company suspended mortal in passing to the second wedding, but payments. Later on, under other managers, I am almost sure that you like better your the company was revived and again became freedom.")35 In 1842 she received word from a force in the fur trade. Prairie du Chien that Joseph Rolette had died. The economic conditions affecting the Although she had not been as close to the American Fur Company obviously affected its traders as well. The competition was in­ tense, the prices low. As a result, some traders •''Johnson, The Michigan Fur Trade, 135, 136-137, entered into more stable and productive ac­ 146, 150; R. Carlyle Buly, The Old Northwest (Bloom­ tivities. Gurdon Hubbard and John Kinzie ington, Indiana, 1951), 2: 319; Michigan Pioneer Col­ went to the Chicago area to speculate in land lections, 11: 195-200; Dwight Goss, History of Grand Rapids (Chicago, 1906), 74-75; Joseph La Framboise to and commercial development. Rix Robin­ Elizabeth Baird, February 28, 1840, August 23, 1842, son remained in the Mackinac area but also in the Henry S. Baird Papers; Mrs. Lyle Weldy, a turned his attention to real estate develop­ great-granddaughter of Joseph La Framboise, to the ment. Aided by two friends, he laid out the author; Rhoda R. Oilman, "Last Days of the Upper Mississippi Fur Trade," in North American Fur Trade village of Grand Haven, prospered, and later Conference, People and Pelts: Selected Papers, ed. by became a state senator. Louis Campeau, an­ Malvina Bolus (Winnipeg, 1972), 128. other operator on the Grand River, helped •" Martha Tanner to Elizabeth Baird, October 4, to found the city of Grand Rapids, becoming 1843, May 26 and December 2, 1844; Madeline La president of a bank and one of the town's Framboise to Elizabeth Baird, April 26, 1845, all in the Henry S. Baird Papers, leading citizens. Others who tried to remain '•^ Madeline La Framboise to Marianne Fisher, Au­ in the trade met mixed fortunes. Madeline gust 18, 1841, and July 19, 1842, ibid.

141 Four generations of Therese Schindler's descendants: Louise Sophia Favill (seated at left, with the infant Elizabeth Louise Tenney), Eleanor Favill Tenney (standing), and Elizabeth Theiese Baird (sealed at right).

Rolettes as had Elizabeth Baird, nevertheless marked the twilight of the first generation of she must have felt some sense of loss at the traders and settlers in the upper Great Lakes death of her stepdaughter's husband—and per­ region. Therese Schindler, matriarch of a haps a sense of relief when, in 1844, Jane large and far-flung family, serenely held court Fisher was remarried to Hercules L. Dousman, in Mackinac, where, on one occasion at least, the Prairie du Chien fur trader and lumber­ her home swarmed with five generations of man. The Dousman family was well-known Schindlers. In her final years she freed her to the Schindlers; Hercules had attended slave, Francois Lacroix, whose mother, An­ George Schindler's school at Mackinac before gelique, had been Mme. La Framboise's slave going to Wisconsin, where he became one of for many years. In 1853 Marianne Fisher died, the wealthiest men in the territory.^^ and Therese gave up her home on Mackinac Madeline La Framboise, friend and confi­ so that she could live with her granddaughter, dante to the Schindler family for so many Elizabeth Baird, in Green Bay. There, on years, died on April 4, 1846. She had been a October 31, 1855, Therese Schindler died in generous benefactress of Ste. Anne's in Macki­ her eightieth year. As had been her wish, nac, and both she and her daughter were she was returned to Mackinac and buried in buried there beneath the altar of the Catholic a Catholic cemetery below the bluffs, within church.3'' Madeline's passing, like the attain­ sight of the great inland seas on which French, ment of statehood by Wisconsin in 1848, British, and Americans had contested for wealth and empire.^^ " Obituaries ot Jane F. Dousman and Elizabeth T. Baird, in Wisconsin Necrology, 2: 120-122, 175-176; Wisconsin Historical Collections, 20: 304n. '"Ibid., 42; Wisconsin Necrology 1: 202; Mrs. Marie ••" Baird, "Reminiscences of Early Days on Mackinac -Ybbott to Elizabeth Baird, January 1, 1853, in the Island," 43, Henry S. Baird Papers.

142 MCDOWELL: THERESE SCHINDLER

T was fitting that Therese should her remarkable grandmother. Elizabeth I die at Green Bay in the home of Baird's achievements were numerous: she was her granddaughter, for Elizabeth Baird em­ a fluent and competent author in French and bodied the upward strivings and considerable English; she contributed her memoirs to the achievements of the Schindler family. To be Wisconsin Historical Collections during Reu­ sure, Therese Schindler did not (as the mod­ ben Gold Thwaites's directorship of the State ern saying goes) "make it" as big or as quickly Historical Society; she became one of the best- as the Gurdon Hubbards, the John Kinzies, known hostesses in early Wisconsin. or the Rix Robinsons. She did not personally Her daughter Louise was cast in much the leave her stamp on the development of a same mold. She was married to a prominent Chicago or a Detroit. But she came a very Madison physician. Dr. John Favill, ancl long way for the daughter of an obscure through her efforts many Baird and Favill French fur trader an illiterate Ottawa woman; family manuscripts were preserved for use and in her children, and her children's chil­ by historians and genealogists. Three of her dren, the strength and energy with which she children who survived to adulthood enjoyed had been born attained their fullest flowering. successful careers in the academic and medical Through perseverance and a modicum of good worlds. A daughter was married to Horace luck, 'Therese Schindler progressed from the Kent Tenney, a prominent Chicago lawyer fringes of a grubby trading outpost to a seat and professor of law; a son, Henry Baird Fa­ among the wealthy denizens of Mackinac; but vill, was an influential Chicago physician and although she and Mme. La Framboise and a leading dairyman; another daughter, The­ Elizabeth Mitchell earned respect and a mea­ rese, worked as a librarian in Madison. Suc­ sure of power on the island, their influence ceeding generations of Favills and Tenneys was both modest and localized. It was their continue to make their marks—living testi­ families that achieved larger status and more mony to the intelligence and character of their lasting fame. Marianne Fisher, Therese's French-Indian ancestor, Therese Marcot La­ daughter, advanced the Schindler family saliere Schindler.39 through her educational and missionary work; but it was Marianne's daughter Elizabeth who completed the family's upward spiral. As the •" Biographical sketch of Elizabeth Baird, in U.S.- W.P.A.-Wisconsin, Wisconsin Biographies, in Archives wife of Henry Samuel Baird, the first profes­ Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Stephen sional lawyer to practice in what became Wis­ Favill, Favill Family (Madison?, 1899), 7, 14, 31-32; consin Territory, she achieved social promi­ Horace Kent Tenney sketch, in Who Was Who in nence and a degree of historical significance America, I; Joseph Schafer, "Henry Baird Favill; A Wisconsin Gift to Chicago," in Wisconsin Magazine of that must surely have brought satisfaction to History, 24: 199-227 (December, 1940).

143 The Riddle of the Little Bighorn: A Review Essay

By Merrill J. Mattes

ITERATURE about "the Cus­ allegory, a tragic morality play which can be L ter Massacre" or, more accurate­ rewritten and re-enacted endlessly. The fact ly, "the Battle of the Little Bighorn," June that the actors—mainly the engimatic Custer 25-26, 1876, seems, like the universe, to ex­ —are cast as heroes in one version and villains pand toward infinity. How may we account in the next gives the plot a bizarre twist. In for this intense and ceaseless preoccupation its atmosphere of doom and its ambivalent with a remote clash of a century ago, involving perception of good and evil, the Little Big­ less than 3,000 participants and 300 casualties, horn scenario has the hypnotic fascination of in a world which has witnessed, and forgotten, a bad dream. the slaughter of millions? Popular writers are attracted to the subject One reason is America's romantic infatua­ by the blood and thunder. Specialists enjoy tion with its frontier history, which, in ret­ researching and eternally quibbling over tech­ rospect, seems like an age of heroes struggling nical details. Armchair strategists reconstruct against fearful odds; and the Custer affair the battle sequence a thousand times. But was the melodramatic climax of that age. An­ there is one dominant factor that alone ac­ other, and a deeper reason, perhaps, is that counts for the endless inquiry into Custer's the murderous confrontation in the catastrophe, and that is the insistent but un­ wilderness is a particularly vivid symbol of answerable Sphinx-like question of Custer's the dark depths of human nature, with its guilt or innocence in this most decisive defeat corresponding burden of guilt which must be of American arms. expiated. In short, the violent epic of the Two recent books give startling new psy­ Little Bighorn has provided us with a classic chological dimension to this riddle. No two books on a related topic could have more striking dissimilarities. John S. Gray's Cen­ The books reviewed herein are: tennial Campaign is an updated scholarly study of the entire Sioux War of 1876, though Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876. By with unavoidable emphasis on events culmi­ JOHN S. GRAY. (The Old Army Press, Ft. Collins, nating on June 25-26. It may come as close , 1977. Pp. 392. Illustrations, maps, bibliog­ as humanly possible to objective or scientific raphy, index, $20.00.) history, being thorough and analytical, with The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer. By fresh findings that enrich our factual knowl­ DOUGLAS C. JONES. (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, edge of the tragedy, and some conclusions that 1976, Pp. 291. S8.95.) could calm the perennial feud between pro-

Copyright (G) 1978 by The Stale Historical Society of Wisconsin All rights of reproduction in any form reserved 144 MATTES: LITTLE BIGHORN and anti-Custer partisans. That it probably ing summation as to Custer's personality de­ won't have that pacific result is not through fects, as well as his crimes of commission and lack of logic or articulateness on the part omission, obviously reflect the author's own of Gray, but because the feuding elements, convictions. like the Hatfields and the McCoys, are not Of course there is no true contest between so much interested in facts as they are in fact and fiction, between logic and intuition. promulgating their pet grudges in vicarious They are in separate worlds. Psychologically, combat under the respectable guise of history. Jones scores a coup; but historically, Gray's A diametrically opposite kind of a book contribution is the more significant one, and is The Court-Martial. This is not a record of it behooves us to identify those elements that of the actual Custer court-martial held in make it extraordinary, and worthy of serious 1867 at Fort Riley, Kansas, when the impetu­ consideration by prospective readers. ous cavalryman was found guilty of deserting Centennial Campaign may be rated out­ his command and summarily shooting desert­ standing as objective or scientfic history be­ ers. The court-martial Jones writes about is cause it contains an unprecedented wealth of avowed fiction. More than that it is fanta.sy, documented detail, presented in taut chron­ for it pretends that the famous Yellow Hair, ological sequence, and subjected to the most whose bullet-riddled corpse was officially iden­ rigorous analysis before conclusions are sum­ tified along with 260 others, did somehow sur­ marized. Indeed, tenacious pursuit of details vive his ghastly wounds, was trundled home and their dovetailing, which may make pain­ on the steamer Key West, and, after conval­ ful reading for some, is precisely why the au­ escence, was put on trial for dereliction of thor may legitimately refer to his work as duty. It is a compellingly imaginative and "computerized history," in contrast to the brilliantly entertaining tour de force, partic­ usual "reams of melodramatic and partisan ularly for the legion of Indian War addicts; verbiage." but if that were its sum total, it would not be appropriate to review here. It is of inter­ Although Gray seems to have missed the est here because, in fact, it is not simply frivo­ Walter Camp interviews with eyewitnesses lous fiction. Douglas C. Jones is a magician, {Custer in '76, Brigham Young University an illusionist. His novel entertains, but the Press, 1976), he missed very little else. The parade of witnesses, their lines of testimony, 300 sources identified in his bibliography are and the summations in the courtroom are pre­ broken into five categories: "Contemporary dicated on a thorough knowledge of actual Accounts of Participants," "Reminiscent Ac­ history and actual personalities. The Court- counts of Participants," "Indian Accounts," Martial is a disguised vehicle for one more "Official Records," and other sources labelled viewpoint as to what really happened on that "Miscellaneous." Each is coded for simplified fatal occasion. reference in the text, an admirable device which eliminates cumbersome footnotes. Thus the two works—a comprehensive heavy­ There is a series of excellent two-tone maps weight history and what purports to be only to assist the reader in threading his way clever lightweight fiction—though diverging through the maze of Northern Plains topog­ radically in purpose and luethod, do have one raphy. The segregation of significant statisti­ thing in common. Both offer fresh interpreta­ cal data and their analysis under a separate sec­ tion of a historical lightning bolt that con­ tion called "Facets" enable the author to tinues to dazzle and inflame viewers across maintain the flow of narrative. a horizon of a hundred years. It is not sur­ There are a few facts about events leading prising that their verdicts of who was guilty, up to the disaster on the Little Bighorn which and why, are pretty much at opposite poles. are undebatable. The Fort Laramie Treaty In essence. Historian Gray does a Herculean of 1868 was supposed to terminate hostilities job of excusing and forgiving Custer for vari­ on the Plains, but the discovery in 1874 of ous alleged sins. According to him, he and gold in the Black Hills, the heart of the Sioux 260 others were victims, not of Custer's arro­ reservation, destroyed that peace. Miners in­ gance, impetuosity, and bad judgment, but of vaded the Hills, the Indians refused to relin­ a set of unique and improbable circumstances. quish them by treaty revision, and President Novelist Jones's hypothetical court of high- Grant resolved the dilemma in accordance ranking officers finds Custer nominally inno­ with advice of Sherman and Sheridan, his top cent also—but only to save the collective face military men, by declaring war on the unco­ of the U.S. Army officers' corps, for the more operative Indians. The Indians, many of them credible testimony and the prosecutor's damn­ hunting buffalo between the North Platte

145 Tom Custer, the Boy General's brother, who also died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. and Yellowstone rivers to avoid starvation, twelve companies of Seventh Cavalry up the were then labelled "hostile," and the cam­ Rosebud to track the hostiles, whom he found paign began. Forces under General Crook across the divide on the Little Bighorn. Dis­ out of Fort Laramie, moving north, were put covered by the Indians, he decided to attack out of action by Indians rallying under Crazy their tipi village, presumably of standard size, Horse. This left tlie chore of chastisement to rather than wait for a later-agreed junction General Terry, out of Fort Abraham Lincoln with Terry. Accordingly, on June 25, 1876, lie on the Missouri River, to effect a junction launched a two-prongetl attack, under Major with General Gibbon out of Fort Ellis on the Reno and himself, while he sent Major Ben- Yellowstone. The north-flowing tributaries of teen and the pack train off in other vague di­ the Yellowstone, such as the Tongue, Powder, rections. To summarize: "Custer's scattered and Rosebud rivers, became the theater of regiment suffered a classic defeat in detail war. at the hands of a superior force of Indians." Under Terry's instructions, Custer led The grisly harvest was 210 dead with Cus- 146 MATTES: LITTLE BIGHORN ter—his entire immediate command plus four the Great, Napoleon, and lesser demigods, civilians—and about fifty dead with Reno, including the highly publicized, golden-haired who had been compelled to retreat up the "Boy General" who, with the possible excep­ river bluffs to a defensive position, where he tion of his wife, was his own greatest admirer. was joined by Benteen and the pack train, and The pro-Custer stalwarts have found a prime was besieged before rescue by Terry's column. scapegoat for their hero in the person of Major The disaster, involving the loss of half the Marcus A. Reno, who, inundated by unex­ regimental effectives, was trumpeted by news­ pected hordes of furious Indians when he made papers, and the military defeat became a big his puny charge, thought it wise to backtrack political issue. The question of who was to before he was wiped out. To any unsophis­ blame became a war of words among Army ticated layman it would seem that he was put officers and self-appointed civilian champions, in a suicidal situation. Reno was exonerated and it continues today as a verbal vendetta at a real-life court-martial. To suggest that among historians. The crucial question boils his little band of around 150, outnumbered down to this: Was Custer guilty of disobey­ ten to one, should have continued its plunge ing orders, ignoring the warnings of his .scouts, into the astounding two-mile-long Indian vil­ and using bad judgment in tactics? lage is an exercise in willfully blind hindsight. Although the flamboyant commander has Gray's objectivity steers him away from adopt­ had a lot of sympathy as a plumed knight who ing the tempting but absurd theory that Reno ran out of luck (his principal defender being could have saved the day by any kind of his adoring wife Libbie, who outlived him by military miracle. Custer, who promised to fifty-seven years), the predominant view among support him, was miles away, out of sight, and latter-day historians has been that the answer having his own problems! to these three questions is a resounding "yes." Gray's villains, or rather those exposed as In his anxiety to score a spectacular victory guilty of connivance, deception, and poor judg­ on his own, from whatever motive, Custer ex­ ment, are the mastermind generals. (Custer, ceeded his orders. He paid no attention to though a brevet-general in the Civil War, was his scouts, who detected signs of an abnormally a lieutenant-colonel on this expedition.) Pres­ large village of desperate Indians who would ident Grant comes off as a little man conspir­ stand and fight. He attacked blindly, failing ing to frame the Indians and reduce them to to understand the nature of his terrain or the vassalage. Sherman and Sheridan are advo­ size and temper of his foe. And, worst of all, cates of surrender or extermination. General he irrationally divided his command into hope­ Crook is seen as a vastly overrated humbler, less fragments. losing the battle of the Rosebud by default, Such is the prevailing tenor of testimony at and then sitting complacently on his duff the imaginary trial. But marshalling all the while Custer was being annihilated sixty miles data he can find. Gray counters all charges. to the north. General Gibbon ignored intelli­ By his account, Terry's orders gave Custer gence reports about the size and location of the widest possible latitude. The scouts were the enemy. On the whole General Terry comes unable to give reliable hard information, par­ off rather well, but the whole military com­ ticularly the ominous fact that the intransi­ mand was hypnotized by stale, out-dated con­ gent "winter roamers" had been reinforced cepts, e.g., that the Sioux could not assemble fourfold by "summer roamers" from the agen­ a sizable force in one place and that they cies, rallying to the cause of Indian freedom. would turn tail when attacked. All wrong— While conceding that the deployment of and all part of the miasma of ignorance which troops was unwise. Gray points out that this resulted in a bloody fiasco. could only be known ex post facto, for Custer Gray's objective approach gives the Indians thought that the hostiles were scattering to a good historical image. They were human escape when in fact they were doing just the beings who were lied to, maltreated, tricked, opposite. In the light of Gray's interpretation and then murderously attacked in their vil­ of all the evidence, Custer did what he did lages. In contrast to the Army which harassed because he honestly thought he was right, even them, they showed almost "angelic restraint" though he turned out to be terribly wrong. when their sacred Black Hills were invaded Of course, being limited to tangible scien­ by white miners. Crazy Horse, Gall, and Sit­ tific facts. Gray avoids any conjecture about ting Bull get high marks, if not for outri^t ulterior motives, the hidden but powerful ego nobility, then for wisdom and courage in the drive that is the core explanation of historical face of adversity. Gray enables the reader to phenomena such as Genghis Khan, Alexander see the Indian viewpoint, but his objectivity

147 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 enables him to avoid the breast-beating guilt data about the elusive and often falsified complex of writers like Dee Brown (Bury My Plains Indian populations. Other statistical Heart At Wounded Knee) who are fashion­ tables include soldier dead and wounded, an ably maudlin about the abused noble red man. accounting of all military and civilian per­ At that time the bewildered aborigines were sonnel and Indian scouts in the engagements, savages, they were not civilized, but they did and a minute-by-minute chronology of Cus­ have legitimate grievances that were rejected ter's march up the Rosebud and across the so that American civilization, however imper­ divide to his rendezvous with death. fect, could advance. In the cultural clash they Withal his effort to acliieve an unbending came out second best. That was not a Utopian scientific approach, Gray's prose is of excel­ solution, but America in 1876, like America lent literary cjuality, vigorous and often pun­ in 1976, was not Utopia. gent. At times a bit of sarcasm or expletive While a recital of statistics is not as excit­ betrays the difficulty, if not the contradiction, of any human history achieving total scientific ing as arguments over military strategy or col­ objectivity. Demonstrable facts are dispassion­ lective guilt, one cannot but admire, even ate, but judgments that carry deep-seated con­ stand in awe, of Jolm Gray's command of victions are apt to be expressed with unscien­ annotated statistical data. This is particular­ tific emphasis of feeling, particularly when ly important because so many versions or the­ an effort is made to overturn the deeply held ories of the Little Bighorn have been based convictions of others. In contrast to Gray, on wildly inaccurate data. For example, this Jones the novelist is not handicapped by the reviewer has always understood that the com­ scientific method and its emotional booby- bined Indian encampment of about 1,500 traps. The imaginative courtroom interplay lodges, or 12,000 Indian men, women and chil­ in his novel is a quest for truth which follows dren, included up to 4,000 warriors. (To make a different path—exploration of the human the disaster more palatable, General Sheridan psyche. But truth is a rainbow of many-hued came up with an even higher figure.) Gray splendor which vanishes when we try to touch proves that the actual number was half that it. After all the evidence is in, and all the ar­ large, though still large enough to smash the guments have been set forth, we the jury are 500 scattered and saddle-sore troopers of the still left at last with nothing but our own fal­ Seventh Cavalry. He has amassed concrete lible perceptions.

The Custer battlefield about a year afterward. National Archives

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The History of Wisconsin. Volume II: The twenty-five years, "saw himself as a bringer of Civil War Era, 1848-1873. By RICHARD N. civilization, a man of progress in an age of CURRENT. (State Historical Society of Wiscon­ progress." sin, Madison, 1976. Pp. xiv, 659. Illustrations, It was no isolated or parochial task; Wiscon­ notes, bibliography, maps, index. $20.00.) sin almost immediately assumed a national im­ portance in the effort to penetrate the dark­ Four months before Wisconsin was admitted ness of slavery with her "streams of light." In to statehood in 1848, an excited resident voiced their first presidential election, the state's vot­ his enthusiasm for his adopted home and for ers gave the Free Soil party its largest propor­ the Union it was soon to join. It was an age tional vote outside New England; six years of reform in which America's example would later they were among the first to organize the spread from nation to nation until "the glad Republican party and in the fall of 1854 gave sounds of Christian freedom and brotherhood that party some of its first victories. Adding will resound through all continents." The new "freedom in Wisconsin itself to freedom in state would be found in the first rank of this the western territories," citizens of the new great work: "Wisconsin feels the ardour of state took a lead in defying the terms of the free inquiry, the energy of free hope, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a bold and coura­ brave spirit of free and upward progress." geous stand that was reflected in decisions of "Young Wisconsin" would take its place in the state supreme court. The "most thorough­ "Young America" and "streams of light going champion of state rights in defiance of [would] pour down upon her on all sides." federal authority," Current reminds us, "was Wisconsin entered the Union at an auspi­ none of the Southern states. It was Wiscon­ cious moment. The United States seemed to sin." be poised on the threshold of a new and won­ While Wisconsin's involvement in the cru­ derful era; there was much talk of the nation's sade against slavery, its role in the conflict destiny and of its mission in the world. At between North and South, and its response to the same time, a dark and ominous cloud hung the call to arms in the Civil War occupy a on the political horizon. The war with Mexi­ major portion of the study. Current has not co, just concluded, had unleashed the divisive allowed these dramatic episodes to dominate issue of slavery, and many Americans expressed his story of the state's early life. The second their fears for the Union. This peculiar com­ volume in what will eventually be a six-volume bination of circumstances—expressions of exu­ history of Wisconsin (the first volume by berant nationalism on one level, serious Alice E. Smith appeared in 1973), published threats of disunion on another—provided a by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, role for the new state and a theme for its this is state history at its finest—broadly based, first years of statehood. "The Wisconsin covering all aspects of life; thoroughly re­ pioneer," writes Richard N. Current in this searched; and comprehensive in its treatment. masterfully told story of the state's initial Current has struck an effective balance among

149 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

the political, economic, social, and intellectual The scope of Current's study can only be al­ aspects of the state's history; much of the story luded to here. Population movements, into is highly detailed, but the detail is always ap­ and out of the state; agricultural expansion; propriate, never overpowering. And, as all the growth of cities and industrial develop­ good state histories should, the study never ment, with all their economic and social dis­ permits the reader to forget that Wisconsin locations; shifting political alignments and was always part of a larger whole, acting upon the travails of political life, characteristic of and reacting to forces and movements that a growing society in a turbulent era; religious were national in scope. Ideally, state history ancl educational developments and reform should provide insights into the course of the movements—all these are treated clearly and nation's history; and Current has fulfilled this authoritatively. It is an impressive story. "Tiie function admirably. The book is a straight­ emphasis is on the positive, the constructive," forward, clear, and precise narrative, without the author notes, "simply because that is the rhetorical embellishment, philosophical di­ essential truth of the story." In combining the gression, or methodological jargon (traits that fruits of a century of scholarship with liis own have too often characterized local studies in new and original research, Current not only recent times). It is, as Current suggests, his­ proves the richness of Wisconsin history but tory "as it actually happened." also of Wisconsin historiography. It is a sin­ gularly fortunate state to have so complete a Wisconsin during its "first generation of record of its past. statehood," Current writes, "was still largely in a frontier stage of development." The strug­ gle "to subdue and civilize the wilderness" ROBERT W. JOHANNSEN dominated the concerns of its people. In some University of Illinois, ways, the new state was unique. Wisconsin, U rb ana-Champaign "more than almost any other state at the time . . . had an ethnically diverse and divided society." The heterogeneity of the population, the vast influence which the various ethnic groups exerted on development, provided a The Documentary History of the richness to Wisconsin's growth that few other of the Constitution. Edited by MERRILL JEN­ states could boast. At the same time, that very SEN. (State Historical Society of Wisconsin, diversity produced tensions and conflicts, Madison, 1976). Volume I: Constitutional manifested in sometimes bitter political rival­ Documents and Records, 1776-1787. (Pp. 391. ries and contests and in economic competition. Notes, index. $20.00.) Volume II: Ratifica­ The "antagonism and adjustment among the tion of the Constitution by the States: Penn­ various elements of the population" consti­ sylvania. (Pp. 780. Notes, index, microfiche supplemenL $27.50.) tute a pervasive thread in the story. Perhaps because of this diversity, Wisconsin seems to have been a state that matured quickly in spite These extraordinarily rich volumes repre­ of the persistent elements of frontier behavior sent the first fruits of a quarter-century of in some areas. An unmistakable sign of tlie planning, research, and editing. Indeed, the progress of civilization and the attainment of idea of publishing a "scholarly and compre­ a state's cultural maturity, it has been said, hensive documentary history of the ratification is the development of interest in the state's process of the Constitution" dates back to the past. The State Historical Society of Wiscon­ mid-1930's and was one of the first projects to sin (under a slightly different name) was be endorsed by the newly created National His­ torical Publications Commission, the staff of founded in 1846, two years before Wisconsin which finally began the gargantuan task of became a state! After nine years of statehood, assembling materials in 1951. A grant from the great Wisconsin historian and collector, the Ford Foundation enabled the project to Lyman Draper, was convinced that no other get underway in earnest in 1957 under the state could "make any such exhibit of books— general editorship of Professor Robert E. the great source of intelligence, knowledge and Cushman, whose general introduction to the power." While Draper may have exaggerated .series is printed in Volume I. Following Ciish- (as Current suggests), few other states could man's death in 1969, the editorship was as­ point to such intellectual, educational, and sumed by Merrill Jensen of the University of cultural achievement so short a time after their Wisconsin, who enlarged the scope and reor­ . ganized the contents of the series. The series

150 BOOK REVIEWS will eventually consist of fifteen volumes, nine ical gazetteer providing brief sketches of thirty- more volumes of materials relating to ratifica­ four of the more prominent participants in the tion in the individual states and four volumes Pennsylvania debates, and a succinct editorial of the more important of the voluminous com­ introduction. Excellent as it is, however, the mentaries on the constitution, public and pri­ editorial apparatus of the volume pales before vate, between February, 1787, and May, 1790. the richness of the documents it includes: the Tlie ten volumes covering ratification in the proceedings of the Pennsylvania Assembly in several states will be supplemented by packets September, 1787, with reference to calling a of microform materials which will include convention, the legislative and public debate documents of a wide variety of types that are over the Constitution between then and De­ either repetitious or peripheral to the items cember, the proceedings and debates of the contained in the published volumes. Pennsylvania convention in November and December, and materials on the response to Of the two volumes now published. Volume ratification from December to March, 1788. I is intended as a general introduction to The convention debates constitute the core of each volume in the series. Intended to "pro­ the volume; equally important, however, are vide the constitutional context within which the more than 120 documents of public and the men who debated the ratification of the private commentary drawn largely from news­ Constitution were familiar," it "presents the papers and private correspondence. This ex­ basic constitutional documents written by tensive collection is supplemented by 2,700 Americans" relating to matters "at the na­ pages of microfiche. tional level between 1776 and 1787." These in­ clude the Declaration of Independence, Arti­ The editor underlines the crucial role of cles of Confederation, and documents relating Pennsylvania in the ratification process and to the following topics: ratification of the points out the extraordinarily great extent Articles by the states, amendments to the to which the ratification contest in the slate Articles and ordinances relating to the West­ represented "a continuation of the debate be­ ern Territory, the calling of and appointment tween two political parties which began with of delegates to the Constitutional Convention, the writing of the Pennsylvania constitution "resolutions and draft constitutions showing of 1776." With few exceptions in 1787-1788, the evolution of the Constitution" in the Con­ defenders of that controversial document op­ vention, and "the debates over the Constitu­ posed while opponents of it favored the Fed­ tion in tlie Confederation Congress before eral Constitution. The editor also correctly Congress transmitted the Constitution to the emphasizes the degree to which so much of states." As Jensen emphasizes in his introduc­ the controversy revolved around the demand tion, the single most vivid impression to for a bill of rights. Even more fundamental, emerge from a reading of these documents is however, seem to have been the questions of the extraordinary continuity of issues through­ whether the central government proposed by out the period, as men sought to work out a the Constitution was too strong and whether viable national union. Either implicitly or Pennsylvania should deliberate more fully be­ explicitly, difficult, almost intractable, ques­ fore ratification. Concern over the first ques­ tions concerning the relationship between the tion explicitly infused practically every phase central government and the state governments, of the debate. Although supporters of the large states and small states, and states that Constitution insisted with James Wilson that depended heavily upon slave labor and the it struck a proper balance between state and exportation of staples to international markets national authority and that it could not take and those that did not both informed and away any jjart of the states' "boasted . . . limited deliberation and action on virtually sovereignties" because sovereignty rested not every issue. in the states but "in the people" who could Volume II includes tlie record of ratification distribute the essential powers of sovereignty in Pennsylvania, the first state to call a con­ in any way they saw fit, the more extreme op­ vention though the second, after , ponents of the Constitution professed to be actually to ratify the Constitution. It contains persuaded that it would lead "fully and firm­ two chronologies (one for developments on ly" to the establishment of a "government par­ the national level between 1786 and 1790 and taking of MONARCHY and aristocracy." The the other for the sequence of events in Penn­ "object of all governments," said John Smilie, sylvania from 1786 to 1788), a map of the state, delegate from Fayette County, "ought to be a calendar for the years 1787-1790, a biograph­ ... to fix upon the intermediate point be-

151 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 tween tyranny and licentiousness; and, I con­ apace. This need is frequently frustrated by fess, that the plan before us is perfectly armed a lack of specific bibliographies, union lists, to repel the latter, but I believe it has deviated and other finding aids. Ned Kehde's work is too much on the left hand, and rather invites a major effort in filling this void for the than guards against the approaches of tyran­ period 195.5-1970. ny." Interest in the second question revolved The is "a national union around the Antifederalist fear that the Fed­ catalog of left-wing pamphlets published in eralists were trying to put something over on the United States and Canada from 1955 the people by hasty action and the Federalist through 1970." The 4,018 entries represent "anxiety," as Ego, an impatient observer of materials held by 135 libraries or other re­ the convention debates, put'it in the Pennsyl­ positories, although each institution undoubt­ vania Packet on December 8, 1787, "lest Penn­ edly has additional appropriate titles that are sylvania, often the leader, and always amongst not listed here—a fact that all bibliographers tlie foremost in useful and distinguished measures, should suffer two of her weakest must live with. Each entry is fully cataloged sisters to anticipate her laurels." The debates accorthng to Anglo-American cataloging rules lie liad heard might indeed be suitable for "an and assigned subject-headings using Library academy of petty critics or a divan of trembl­ of Congress, 7th edition Subject Headings (the ing slaves," wrote Ego, "yet it would be more 8th being unavailable at the time Kehcle's re­ manly, more characteristic of a convention of search was undertaken). I mention these freemen, at once to put the question" of points not only because they are important whether to accept the Constitution or not. for librarians but also to inform potential researchers that the format of this volume But it is impossible in a short review to give is likely to be compatible with their own more than a hint of the sumptuous fare con­ catalogs. The book is arranged by main entry, tained in the Pennsylvania volume, which with the index providing access to all subjects, whets the appetite for subsequent volumes in joint authors, writers of forewords, and pub­ what promises to be a distinguished series of lishers. Kehde states that this work can also the first importance in the annals of American be used as an index to the alternative press historical scholarship. and "left-wing periodicals." This is accom­ plished through citing pamphlets which are JACK P. GREENE reprints of articles from these sources. This The Johns Hopkins University feature of the index represents another source or location for the item. The scope of The American Left will pose questions for some users who might be con­ fused by the pamphlets included and by the definitions provided in the intrcxluction. The American Left, 1955-1970: A National "Left-wing" publications are defined by Union Catalog of Pamphlets Published in the Kehde as "any pamphlet published by the United States and Canada. Edited and com­ Americans for Democratic Action or by any piled by NED KEHDE. (Greenwood Press, person or group to the left of that organiza­ Westport, Connecticut, 19'76. Pp. xviii, 515. tion." For Canada his criterion was the New Notes, bibliography, index. $22.50.) Democratic Party. The inexact nature of po­ litical or social benchmarks can be seen in the While not entirely a new phenomenon, the various competing definitions. For example, rapid development of historical research of another related definition from a work cover­ contemporary events (i.e. the 1960's) poses ing the same period is found in Edward J. problems quite distinct from most of those Bacciocco's The New Left in America: Re­ encountered by Colonial, Civil War, or even form to Revolution, 1956-1970: "The New Eisenhower-era historians. These time periods, Left was originally a collection of radical stu­ in common with others, all have developed dent reformers principally in SDS [Students bibliographic systems to various degrees and for a Democratic Society] and the Stu­ present more or less traditional problems re­ dent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee quiring like solutions. The passage of time (SNCC)." One author sees a generality where alone provides some assistance, but as re­ another views it in quite specific terms. searchers become more current in their choice Kehde's work includes publications by Mar­ of topics their need for information proceeds tin Luther King, the Congress of Racial

152 BOOK REVIEWS

Equality, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic A Nation of Behavers. By MARTIN E. MARTY. Party, the NAACP, and the American Friends (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1976. Service Committee. These above authors, Pp. xi, 239. Notes, index. $8.95.) chosen as representatives from The American The Modernist Impulse in American Prot­ Left, lead me to conclude that Kehde's title estantism. By WILLIAM R. HUTCHISON. (Har­ does not do justice to the variety of materials vard University Press, Cambridge, Massachu­ included, particularly in the areas of civil setts, 1976. Pp. X, 347. Illustrations, appen­ rights and pacifism. Perhaps Kehde recog­ dix, notes, bibliography, index. $15.00.) nizes this conceptual problem, for he says later that his concern was for including items These two very different books share only "advocating a liberal to radical position." a common subject—American religion. Mar­ Thus historians and others working in fields ty's deceptive title belies even this unity. Marty not necessarily thought of as "left" can profit­ largely exploits a gimmick. He advertises a whole new "behavioral" approach to Ameri­ ably consult this volume. can religion, and continuously, pretentiously, In quantitative terms. The American Left and confusingly plays with the word "be­ provides the greatest number of citations in havior." Without the gimmick his book has its chosen field of any single bibliography, in­ too little substance to justify its publication. cluding some with a more limited purview. Conversely, Hutchison's honest exploration For example, the entries for Gus Hall in of a terribly elusive and complex theme offers Kehde's work number thirty-one (with a simi­ a near surfeit of content. It is difficult to ab­ lar number in the catalog of the State His­ sorb it all. His book has endless problems, torical Society of Wisconsin Library) com­ but his ambitious goals lend nobility even to his failures. pared to fourteen in Joel Seidman's Com­ Marty offers his own classification of con­ munism in the United States—A Bibliography temporary American religions. He calls this (1969), and a total of twenty-five in the A'a- "mapping," and exploits but ultimately floun­ tional Union Catalog Author Lists 1963-1972. ders in territorial images. He argues that his For Tom Hayden (to examine a "New Left­ map is unique because he has turned away ist" after an "Old Leftist") The American from such earlier and deficient criteria of Left has twenty-five pamphlets recorded while differentiation as doctrine, polity, and politi­ the NUC Author Lists 1963-1972 have thir­ cal role. He embraces social behavior, and teen and the Society Library's catalog has then spends fifty-one pages justifying his ap­ seventeen. Under Students for a Democratic proach. This leads him into a quagmire of fashionable words (models and paradigms), Society (whose archives are held by the So­ into a naive, verbose, and pretentious explora­ ciety) Kehde list nearly 500 titles while NUC tion of issues both in methodolgy and the phi­ provides less than fifty and the Library over losophy of history. Only then does he briefly 100. Another current work on SDS is G. Louis characterize six "zones" of religious behavior, Heath's Vandals in the Bomb Factory: The and these he identifies as often by doctrinal or History and Literature of the Students for a institutional traits as by any distinctive be­ Democratic Society (1976), which cites only havior. Unlike what his title suggests, he rare­ twenty-four pamphlets in its bibliography of ly dwells on liturgy or any literal examples of religious behavior. 1,024 items. Few researchers in the areas covered by Ned Unfortunately, Marty's zones are far from Kehde's The American Left will need to pur­ precise. He begins with "mainline" reli.gions, chase the item for their own use, but all should and works hard to justify the inclusion of most urge their libraries to obtain a copy. The im­ Catholics and Jews as well as "liberal" Prot­ portance of this bibliography cannot be over­ estants. This bares the way for the next five zones, since Marty believes that mainline re­ estimated in improving present research ligion has so merged with the larger culture into our recent past as well as provoking new as to lose most of its distinguishing and con­ work in areas perhaps considered too un­ soling norms. His second zone—"Evangelical charted. and Fundamentalist"—should be two zones, for he carefully distinguishes the two groups JAMES P. DANKY on the basis of attitudes, loyalties, and life State Historical Society of Wiscon.sin styles. His third group includes all Pentacos-

153 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 tals or Charismatics, whatever their denomina­ dom, embrace a humanized or benevolent God tional home. These three "zones" are persua­ and a lofty view of man, and who usually sup­ sive, although they still leave me searching port broad programs of social reform or ef­ for a home for the Anabaptists as well as forts at ecumenical unity. ethical culturists and religious humanists. His By "Modernist," Hutchison consistently re­ fourth "zone"—"New Religions"—is a grab fers to those liberal Protestants who also tried bag of new cults or American versions of to adapt Christian doctrines to all aspects of Oriental religions. By any behavioral criteria, their contemporary culture, but particularly to these make up many zones. Marty next in­ new forms of knowledge. The key word is cludes "Ethnic Religion," but geographical "adapt," for his subjects tried to do more than images no longer fit. He offeLs an informed relate traditional Christian doctrines to mod­ and original essay on ethnic influences upon ern civilization, or to do more than use them American religion, but in so doing breaks only to understand modernity, strategies al­ rather completely from his classification sys­ ways affirmed by orthodox Christians. Im­ tem. This is equally true for a purported sixth plicit in this Modernism was an assumption zone—"Civil Religion." As Marty admits, even that God more fully revealed himself in each the label has at least five different meanings, advancing age. God is not only fully imma­ and none of these has a very clear empirical nent in his creation and in history, as the reference. He ends, not with a final zone, but eternal ground or ultimate cause (a key doc­ in search of a zone. trine in almost all orthodoxy, and at the heart It is a relief to turn from puerility to pro­ of Edwardian theology), but immanent in a fundity. In The Modernist Impulse in Ameri­ more literal or even vulgar sense—God lies can Protestantism Hutchison has attempted revealed in cultural development, and his a full history of Protestant "Modernism" in Kingdom finds its fulfillment through the his­ America. From the Civil War to 1930, he has torical process. This denial of the essential tried to identify the major spokesmen for a otherness of God, of the tension between a Modernist position, and includes brief sy­ God in his totality and any partial expression, nopses of the positions argued by about thirty opened the heart of Christian doctrine to con­ such spokesmen. Typically, he identifies tinuous and substantial revision, and threat­ critical issues at stake in each stage of Protes­ ened to turn "Christian" into a synonym for tant doctrinal controversy, explores the posi­ each new level of "religious insight." This tions taken in major journals, and illustrates definition is exceedingly slippery. Hutchison the Modernist position through three or four has trouble drawing the exact boundaries be­ of its major advocates. Either because space tween the views of Modernists still close to does not permit him to engage their thinking orthodoxy and what I would call orthodox im- in depth, or because many of them lacked manentism, or a belief that God is both trans­ depth, his portraits generally support a now cendent and immanent. He also fails to make well-established but unfair image of the Mod­ clear what, if anything, remained Christian in ernists as flabby and shallow compromisers. the beliefs of those twentieth-century Mod­ But this is not Hutchison's intent; he has great ernists who almost completely repudiated sympathy for his subjects. Pauline conceptions of God and man, of hu­ man sinfulness and divine grace. Conceptual problems necessarily plague such a book. I am still not persuaded that The conceptual problem is no more in­ the label "Modernist" has any pointing value. tractable than the challenge of making the But at least Hutchison is willing to confront Modernist view not only coherent but believ­ the problem of definition. He sees "Modern­ able and appealing. We need to know it well ism" as a distinct subclass of Protestant "liber­ enough to understand how intelligent and alism," which in turn encompasses those who honest and sensitive people, which the Mod­ in some way repudiated or revised an older ernists were, could embrace it and even live orthodoxy. Hutchison is least precise, most it. Hutchison easily demolishes the caricature given to superficial or pejorative caricatures, of liberal optimism so eloquently and yet so in his references to an orthodox or conserva­ unfairly established by Niebuhr. But even for tive background. He also uses "" their best spokesman, for people of the caliber for other than doctrinal identification, but in of Shailer Mathews, he fails to communicate general sees liberals as those who use the Bible the secret of its often ephemeral appeal. The critically and selectively, hold to an optimistic Modernists had the difficult task of defending and pre-Millenarian conce{)tion of the King­ a middle way, yet without intellectual com-

154 BOOK REVIEWS promise or self-deceit. Unfortunately, Pauline A Photo Album of the Past: Pioneer Scenes and Calvinist Christianity, their heritage, has and Portraits from Central Wisconsin. By an intellectual and esthetic unity which does MALCOLM and MARGARET ROSHOLT. (Rosholt not allow any humanistic revision. Yet, Hut­ House, Rosholt, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 208. Il­ chison's Modernists were in a long tradition lustrations. $12.50.) of avowed Christians who could not accept We Were Children Then. Edited by ROBERT the whole package. They did not have the E. CARD, FRED LENGFELD, and MARK E. LE- requisite experience, did not arrive at the same FEBVRE. (Wisconsin House, Madison, 1976. mode of self-understanding, did not find be­ Pp. 187. Illustrations, index. $5.95, paper.) lievable the same ontology. But they loved the Church, wanted to keep its consoling images The Only Place We Live. Edited by MARK E. and rituals, and in modified ways still ad­ LEFEBVRE. Words by AUGUST DERLETH, JESSE hered to a Biblical cosmology. Simply but STUART, and ROBERT E. CARD. (Wisconsin crudely stated, they did not want to throw the Hou.se, Madison, 1976. Pp. xi, 186. Illustra­ bathwater out with the baby, for Hutchison tions. $12.95.) makes me even more sure than before that what they rejected was the most essential, the In their book Photo Album of the Past, Mal­ most defining, doctrines of their own Protes­ colm and Margaret Rosholt have made a great tant tradition. contribution to our understanding of the lives of the loggers and settlers of north-central This helps explain their elusive and often Wisconsin from just before the turn of the ignored place in religious history. Unless one century up through the 1940's. The main today is still in their shoes, still confronts their feature of the book is a series of pictures of intellectual dilemmas, it is almost impossible contemporary loggers, settlers, and townsmen, to identify with their doctrinal solutions, how­ with their works, together with an historical ever much one admires the practical fruits of explanation of each; the whole is divided into their commitments. It is easy to follow the classifications convenient to the subject matter logic of their earliest and most profound and the period of time depicted. This diverse critic—Francis E. Abbot. They should have selection of almost 300 pictures presents in its followed their logic to its hard conclusion— 208 pages a study of the people who lived in they were no longer Christian at all, but vari­ the area around Rosholt, Wisconsin. The se­ ously at work creating their own appealing lection of pictures is excellent, their quality gods. To suggest the other purported option- is very good, ancl their size—many of them that they return to orthodoxy—was unrealistic taking up most of a page—is unusual in such and unfair. Orthodoxy was to them unbeliev­ books. able, for we believe what we must and not The authors made a great effort to identify what we will. They could not go back. In a all persons pictured in the book. To the read­ sense, the fullest and psychologically most pro­ er who is not from this part of Wisconsin or found version of orthodoxy lay ahead, beyond who does not have antecedents here, this may the presentist perversions against which they seem burdensome and superfluous. However, reacted, but obviously they could not embrace in their foreword the authors explain that such unforeseen options, and those who sur­ many potential readers wanted "copies of pic­ vived until neo-orthodoxy usually found it tures identified with their own families" and unbelievable. Given their situation, they "publication of this album will make it pos­ desperately tried to salvage as much of the old sible to take home" such pictures. religion as possible. How well they carried out Although most of the book centers on Ros­ the salvage operation depended on their bril­ holt, the last chapter is thirty pages of "Ste­ liance. Unfortunately, they never attracted vens Point Through the Years." It follows in to their cause the best of minds. They left the general tenor of the rest of the book, in­ no enduring intellectual heritage, no signifi­ cluding lumbering operations, main street, cant theology. They produced no Edwards, and local schools. Each of the nine chapters no Tillich, not even a Niebuhr. Even their of the book is preceded by a short historical less than brilliant opponents left more, largely explanation that ties the pictures to the times. because they faced less of an intellectual chal­ Many of the captions that accompany each lenge. picture include genealogical information as well as the names and occupations of those PAUL K. CONKIN pictured. University of Wisconsin-Madison As in all writing where the author does not

155 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

WHi (V.;4) Teacher and students, photographed near Black River Falls in the late nineteenth century by Charles Van Schaick. have intense personal experience with the sub­ familiar with the area; and a full index of the ject matter, some minor errors in terminology many names would have pleased the genealo­ crept into the narrative. On page 25, it is gist. doubtful that lumberjacks called the opening With the recent resurgence of interest in down the ox-hovel a "breezeway"; more likely historical matters, spurred on by the Bicenten­ it was called a dingle or alley. (In the picture nial, We Were Children Then is a book which on the dust jacket, the roofed space between gave eighty-seven previously unpublished old­ the cookshanty and the bunkhouse is a true er citizens a chance to record what it was like dingle.) On pages 41 and 43, the tools (ex­ when they were young. The editors chose the cept for one "pikepole" on page 41) that the articles for this book without discriminating authors call "peavey poles" the lumberjacks against the writers for their lack of erudition. called just plain "peavey." The granary from This is particularly commendable because we Per Budsberg's farm that is pictured on page have gained an immense amount of informa­ 89 was probably built in the early 1900's, not tion about daily life as told by the people who the early 1800's, since the New Hope region of actually experienced it, and whose story we Portage County was not settled until the mid- do not usually see in print. to-late 1800's. And, on page 119, the wagon The eighty-seven articles presented are di­ wheel, not the wagon, would have been "nar­ vided into chapters more or less according to row-rimmed." These slips in no way lessen the their contents: school days, childhood tasks, superb quality of the book. However, a few entertainment, and visits from the gypsies are additions would have enhanced its value. A some of the categories. Most of the stories map showing in more graphic form the rela­ follow a theme of "how good things were in tionship of the pictures to the community of Rosholt would have lielped those who are not the old days." All are well told and with a ready moral for the reader. Perhaps the most 156 BOOK REVIEWS outstanding example is in "The Learning so well done that it falls naturally on city or Bush" by Mary R. Nelson: "You do not cut country ears. Card also uses the artifice of an off a sapling if you care to have a tree." occasional third-person commentary along Each of the nostalgic stories can be en­ with the body of the tale to heighten the sus­ joyed by contemporaries of the authors, or can pense and give substance to the story. The be read to small children as bedtime tales. The theme of the satisfaction of man with the en­ serious student of history or sociology can also vironment most familiar to him is brought out gain from them a background knowledge that in a superior manner in this superb short story. is useful in understanding daily life over fifty years ago. A full index of all contributors to EI.DON MARPLE the "Yarns of Yesterday" program, the Wis­ Hayward, Wisconsin consin senior citizens' writing project from which these articles were selected, is appended. It would have been helpful if the editors had given the locale of each writer so that readers A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland, could place each experience within its appro­ 1870-1930. By KENNETH L. KUSMER. (Univer­ priate setting. The line sketches by Marian sity of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1976. Pp. xiv, Lefebvre add an interesting touch to the chap­ 305. Notes, appendices, bibliography, index. ter headings. $12.95.) A quick riff through The Only Place We Live would give the impression that Frank This book provides an analysis of the proc­ Utpatel's woodcuts are its principal subject ess by which Cleveland blacks were compressed matter, rather than their stated use of tying into a ghetto. Cleveland, as viewed by Ken­ together the idea that a man can best find neth Kusmer, conformed to the general pat­ himself in familiar surroundings, though this tern of ghettoization to be seen in other major they certainly have done. Their totally rural cities; but Cleveland also exhibited specific flavor lends the viewer a feeling of apprecia­ characteristics of its own which modified what tion for "country"—the predominant thought was the case elsewhere. Well-researched and throughout the book. Although this is not a clearly written, the work is a significant con­ review of Utpatel's woodcuts—they have been tribution to our understanding of Afro-Ameri­ published before—one can only say that their can urban history. excellence enhances an understanding of the As the city moved into the post-Civil War writings of August Derleth, Jesse Stuart, and era, Clevelanders were still influenced by the Robert Card tliat are included in the book. equalitarian heritage of . Kusmer The selections from Derleth range widely in shows that whatever may be said of the move­ time and place, but they all center around his ment elsewhere, in Cleveland before the War preoccupation with nature at Sac Prairie. One abolitionists were most often leaders of the might conclude that he was presumptuous in struggle for equal rights. Even as others in designating his community "a sort of Walden the North sought to placate the Southern West," but perhaps he deserves the title. A planters, the Western Reserve became an in­ possible fault in the editor's selections is that creasingly militant center of hostility to slav­ some of Derleth's ideas are repeated too often— ery and racism. In a number of respects the "threnodies of the song sparrows," for in­ status of blacks in Cleveland was superior stance. to that of blacks in most other parts of the The delightful poetry of Jesse Stuart follows country. Although blacks by no means were the theme of rural thought, each vignette illus­ guaranteed the right of suffrage, a number of trating the Utpatel woodcut that the editor mulattoes were allowed to vote. Exclusion sent to him for comment. Some poems do this from public accommodations was not the gen­ quite well—the otter on page 134 is a good eral practice in Cleveland, and, perhaps most example. However, on page 137, it may be meaningfully, the school system was integrat­ hard to make a connection between the wood­ ed. According to Kusmer, blacks in Cleveland cut which obviously depicts a hobo jungle and also found wider access to economic opportu­ the poem about a church. nity than prevailed in most other communi­ Robert Card uses the carvings sent to him ties. Corresponding to the relatively more by the editor to illustrate his character study open racial atmosphere of the city was the fact of several rural people and their way of achiev­ that early leaders of the black community were ing satisfaction with their surroundings. It integrationist in outlook and that calls for is told in the first person in a country dialect emigration to Africa or Latin America evoked

157 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 little response. A consequence of the situa­ lence did not occur in the city during 1919. tion in Cleveland was that independent black Among factors Kusmer cites are diversifica­ institutions developed slowly. A factor also tion of industry, the circumstance that prac­ involved in this, somewhat underestimated by tically all black steel workers were unionized Kusmer, was the small size of the black com­ in Cleveland, and the willingness of Russian munity. Jews, British immigrants, and native whites Despite its equalitarian heritage, Cleveland to allow black movement into their neighbor­ was not immune to ghettoization. The rate of hoods. Possibly most important was the fact the process was about average, somewhat slow­ that the relatively late development of the er than in New York or Chicago and more city's ghetto had delayed the opening of the rapid in than several other 'cities. Kusmer kind of racial gulf that came to exist in Chi­ finds the period 1870-1915 to have been the cago. Kusmer's work is also interesting in its formative era for ghettoization, and essentially citing of data indicating that, at least into the he relates the process to the changing nature 1920's, it is doubtful that black migration to of the large city. The "walking city" was being northern cities caused substantial family dis­ transformed into a more complex conglome­ ruption or that the matrifocal family had be­ rate of downtowns, inner-city neighborhoods, come a marked feature of northern black com­ and suburbs, linked by new modes of trans­ munities. portation. The modernization of the city, There are some conceptual problems re­ however, is made to carry too great a burden, flected in the book. Along with the tendency and Kusmer gives inadequate attention to the to see ghettoization as a natural response to formulation of social policy by decision-mak­ the urbanization process, there is omission of ers. Reference is made to the growth of racism serious consideration of the impact of radical but we are offered no explanation of why this movements upon Cleveland blacks. There is occurred. Kusmer does suggestively refer, in only cursory treatment of the relationships of connection with the loss of white customers blacks to the labor movement, and there is no by'black entrepreneurs, to the fact that white consideration of whatever influence socialists, urban elites were tending to set themselves communists, and other radicals had among apart residentially, but he does not explore blacks. Kusmer's work is particularly marred this perception as having general significance by a failure to relate to the experiences of poor in understanding the growth of ghettoes. In blacks, a failure summed up in his view that considering ghetto housing patterns following the lives of the poor "were a good deal sim­ , Kusmer stresses the resistance pler" than those of the middle and upper of white ethnic groups made up mostly of classes because they had fewer options. Kus­ artisans, factory workers, and small entrepre­ mer does not seem to recognize that there neurs, making use of the "status anxiety" con­ could be complexity and enormous strain in­ cept, but does not consider the attitudes of volved in the efforts of the black poor to sur­ corporate and political leaders who shaped vive, to deal with the many problem; created most public decisions. by poverty, and to seek some way of escape On a variety of topics the book offers use­ for themselves and their children. ful material. Kusmer clearly shows how blacks A Ghetto Takes Shape raises important were excluded from previously held occupa­ questions and provides much of the evidence tions and restricted in access to adequate hous­ required for answering them. The quantita­ ing. Focusing in some detail on occupational tive data are especially useful for studying the status, Kusmer reveals that black women, more economic history of the black community. often than immigrant white women, were The occupational index Kusmer relies upon compelled to work, noting that in 1930, "the is probably a more refined tool than earlier occupational status of Negro women was not statistical methods of analyzing occupational much different from what it had been in status. Despite some serious defects, this is a 1870." The book gives us well-drawn portraits book that substantially adds to our knowledge of several outstanding leaders of black Cleve­ land, such figures as Harry C. Smith, Charles of black history in northern cities and one that Chesnutt, and John P. Green. Kusmer's book will stimulate others to study further how adds to work done by Allen Spear with regard ghettoization came to be a feature of modern to Chicago in explaining how ghettoization American society. created a new leadership oriented to a black clientele and constituency. There is also an HERBERT SHAPIRO insightful discussion of why major racial vio­ Univer.sily of Cincinnati

158 BOOK REVIEWS

Radical Republicans in the North: State essay, and graciously credited with stimulating Politics During Reconstruction. Edited by historians to ask new questions about Recon­ JAMES C. MOHR. (The Johns Hopkins Univer­ struction by studying Northern states; there is sity Press, Baltimore, 1976. Pp. xvi, 200. Notes, no crediting Donald with having found any bibliography, index. $11.95.) valid answers to these new questions. As for William Gillette's The Right to Vote: Politics Examining the Reconstruction politics of and the Passage of the 15th Amendment Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, (1965), Mohr merely labels it an "interpreta­ New York, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wiscon­ tion"; Dykstra convincingly rejects its view sin, and , this volume encompasses nine that black population density coincides with states dominant in population, agricultural political opposition to black suffrage; and production, and manufacturing. James C. most of Mohr's volume shows the invalidity of Mohr, in his lucid introduction, surveys the Gillette's claim that Northern politicians sup­ book's main themes: black suffrage. Republi­ ported the Fifteenth Amendment to win elec­ can factionalism, government activism, etlino- tions with Northern black votes. cultural political patterns, and economic in­ Also significant in gauging the changes oc­ terests. The subsequent essays, written by his­ curring since the appearance of Curry's volume torians specializing in state politics during is the treatment by Radical Republicans in Reconstruction, elaborate how these themes the North of his assertion that "nineteenth- were the focus of politics in the Northern century politics on the national level was pri­ states after the Civil War, how they took their marily a reflection of conflicts and cleavages meaning from the issues of federal Reconstruc­ within the states themselves. . . ." Curry's tion and were transformed by the exigencies book expresses confidence that state politics of state politics. were the primary cause of national politics. On the other hand, those writing in Radical Radical Republicans in the North displays Republicans in the North, while obviously en­ the value of the continuing emphasis vipon thusiastic about state studies, are readier to local studies which, within the last few years, admit that national issues often provided the has come to dominate the writing of political unity for Radical Reconstruction politics and and social history. It shows that our under­ were not just reflective of state issues. Thanks standing of Reconstruction benefits from to the excellence of Mohr's volume, we are abandoning an almost exclusive concern with closer to the time when inclusive studies of Reconstruction in the South and in Washing­ national and state politics can be completed ton which has resulted too often either in un­ with more success than ever before. examined or inexact conclusions about its Northern meaning. While methodological in­ novation is not this book's strength, Robert TILDEN G. EDELSTEIN R. Dykstra's chapter on Iowa is a model of Rutgers University what can be attained by combining quantita­ tive and narrative sources. Radical Republicans in the North serves as Oscar Carleton McCulloch, 1843-1891: Preach­ the companion volume to Richard O. Curry's er and Practitioner of Applied Christianity. editing of Radicalism, Racism and Party By GENEVIEVE C. WEEKS. (Indiana Historical Alignment: The Border States During Re­ Society, Indianapolis, 1976. Pp. xvii, 248. Il­ construction (1969), also published by The lustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $7.50.) Johns Hopkins University Press. What Curry did for the border states, Mohr has done for American Protestant Christianity is often the Northern ones: provided historical essays charged with following after social tastes in a by specialists for the only existing Reconstruc­ "trendy" way (whether social activism, on the tion syntheses dealing with states outside the one hand, or inward pietism on the other). Confederacy. But however close these two Genevieve Weeks has written a solid biography books are in direction, the seven-year interval which gives an example of Protestant leader­ between their publication shows revealing ship and innovation through the career of one changes in Reconstruction historiography. minister. Weeks has produced a full study of Indicative of these changes is the treatment the ministry of Oscar C. McCulloch, an In­ of two promising books written in the 1960's dianapolis Congregationalist who was com­ about Reconstruction politics. David Donald's parable in his ministerial style to Jenkin Lloyd The Politics of Reconstruction (1965) is Jones in Chicago, Jtidson Titsworth in Mil­ acknowledged only in Molir's bibliographical waukee, and William S. Rainsford in New 159 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

York. The local effectiveness of the socially lic welfare efforts. He believed, as was com­ oriented "institutional church" has been well mon, that welfare should reward merit and documented in this book, and it will serve as . a helpful resource for studying the Social Gos­ Oscar Carleton McCulloch, Preacher and pel on a local level. Practitioner of Applied Christianity, solid Sometime during the Civil War years, O.star work though it is, comes very close to giving C. McCulloch prepared for a career in busi­ religious liberalism uncritical praise. McCul­ ness by attending Eastman Business C^ollege, loch was clearly a dedicated and extremely Potighkeepsie, New York. Ties with the active urban reformer; but, once in a while, YMCA and dissatisfaction wi,tli a salesman's the list of his achievements, resolutions, and career led him to enter (Chicago Theological projects becomes tiresome. Furthermore, a bit Seminary in 1867 to study for the ministry. more reflection on McCulloch would help. McCulloch then served the First Congrega­ We receive too little insight into the man's tional Church in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, from j^ersonal religious life or family life—an in­ 1870-1877, and Plymouth Congregational evitable result, to be sure, of absent sources. Church, Indianapolis, from 1877 until he died Even so, however, one yearns for more reflec­ in 1891. In Sheboygan, McCulloch emphasized tion on tlie strengths and weaknesses of the a positive Christianity of developing human Social Gospel movement using McCulloch as character after the example of Christ. Obedi­ an example. Was McCulloch's liberal style ence to God's laws, he preached, could become part of the beginning of a lasting movement, second nature. Salvation meant a new liberty or does it now seem an anachronism? Why in religion rather than adherence to laws and was McCulloch so oblivious to church his­ commandments. The needs of the human tory and tradition? Now that faith has turned heart and the goals of Christianity were the more conservative, it seems incredible that same, embracing helpfulness, sympathy, and McCulloch thought baptism to be an unneces­ companionship. Weeks believes that these new sary form which would soon disappear. Was eihphases in religion amounted to a departure this way of viewing tradition an indication of from a "strictly Calvinistic" interpretation how unsuccessful the Social Gospel would be­ of the Bible. Unfortunately, she does not use come among many believers? Why, further­ the term Calvinism as precisely as it deserves, more, were all relationships between labor and but seems to have simply a narrow biblical the middle class so brief and insignificant in literalism in mind as the orthodoxy of McCtil- McCulloch's church? They seem to have loch's time. Calvinism deserves better than amounted to little more than an occasional that. lecture on the problems of one to a group of In Plymouth Church, Indianapolis, McCul­ the other. Certainly Plymouth Church never loch served both as an intellectual and an bridged the gap between the two groups. activist. His sermons grew from an immense While this work lacks concern with some reading in British and American letters, evo­ important questions, it is a valuable contri­ lutionary theory, medicine, and psychology. bution. This sort of detailed local study of McCulloch shared his intellectual interests the urban Social Gospel has been needed. So well by making Plymouth Church a veritable much of the study of the Social Gospel has forerunner in the concept of education exten­ been theoretical, and has concentrated on the sion. The congregation sponsored concerts, ideas of religious leaders. More attention organ recitals, and lectures in history, travel, needs to be directed to particular cities, and and business. All these activities took place to the effectiveness of particular churches. in a building, opened in 1884, which looked more like a sprawling Romanesque classroom HUGH H. KNAPP edifice than a church. Both minister and con­ Kingsbury Community Church gregation worked for about six years to draw Vernal, the public to the programs of the church: a reading and game room opened for boys and young men, and a Sunday night lecture and discussion series began for factory workers. The Enlightenment in America. By HENRY In addition to this extensive church work, F. MAY. (Oxford University Press, New York, McCulloch also led the city of Indianapolis 1976. Pp. xix, 419. Notes, index. $15.00.) toward making public welfare and charities more systematic, comprehensive, and humane. Previously, Henry May has restricted his McCulloch had a national reputation in pub­ work to the late nineteenth and twentieth 160 BOOK REVIEWS centuries. The Enlightenment in America important was the "Moderate Enlightenment," represents his first major effort in eighteenth- which derived from English sources, particu­ century intellectual history. Even so, the book larly Locke and Newton. Balance and order does not suffer from lack of prior knowledge. characterized the "Moderate Enlightenment." May has spent the last ten years reading, re­ Its adherents insisted that God and morality searching, and thinking about the American were rationally knowable and that, while reve­ Enlightenment. The Enlightenment in Ameri­ lation and Holy Scripture were inferior sources ca is ample proof of his familiarity, indeed, his of knowledge, Christianity was a fundamental­ command of the subject. In fact, being a ly sound guide to life as well as the hereafter. relative newcomer to the field proved to be May suggests that Americans were profoundly a distinct advantage, for it freed him from influenced by the Moderate Enlightenment the narrowly focused "Whig" debate which and never entirely rejected its "bland and has now become almost an obsession for complacent" premises. Around 1750 the large­ American and English historians of the eigh­ ly French, "Skeptical Enlightenment" chal­ teenth century. Acknowledging the issue. May lenged the Moderate Enlightenment's unprov­ wisely turns away to grapple with more tradi­ able faith in human rationality and progress. tional and important issues. Adherents to the Skeptical Enlightenment such May's chosen task is to analyze the "En­ as Voltaire and Hume rejected the validity of lightenment as religion" and its impact on both scientific knowledge and Christianity. nineteenth-century American culture. None­ This second. Skeptical Enlightenment had theless this is not an exhaustive compendium the least impact on America, as only a few of eighteenth-century American thought. "village atheists" found it a compelling posi­ Rather, May seeks to capture the essence of tion. the Enlightenment which leads him to con­ The third enlightenment grew out of the centrate on epistemological issues. Conse­ . The most explicitly re­ quently, we learn a great deal about eigh­ ligious of the various enlightenments, this teenth-century ideas of God, Man, and Na­ "Revolutionary Enlightenment" posited a ture, but almost nothing about political phil­ secular millenium where virtue, reason, and osophy and economy. Still, the issues May justice would prevail. Republicanism would does address himself to are fundamental. His usher in a new age, a new society, and a new discussion of the "Enlightenment as religion" man. Advocates of the Revolutionary En­ is both thorough and impressive. lightenment such as Tom Paine rejected the May argues that in the eighteenth century decadent, cosmopolitan, and aristocratic the American educated elite generally accepted values of the Moderate and Skeptical En­ the idea that human reason was a superior lightenments and adopted a type of primitive guide to knowledge than tradition, revelation, republicanism at times almost democratic in or illumination. This "religious" commit­ character. In the United States the excesses ment to reason was, in May's opinion, the of the French Revolution and the Reign of Enlightenment. After the eighteenth century, Terror largely discredited the Revolutionary educated Americans turned away from reason Enlightenment. as a primary guide and adopted instead the Finally, in the face of conservative reaction dogmas of evangelical Protestantism. This and Protestant revivalism, the fourth, "Didac­ brought the Enlightenment to a close, but did tic Enlightenment" emerged out of the not end its influence; American Protestants "common sense" school in . In many continued to believe in progress, rationality, ways the Didactic Enlightenment returned to and the desirability of individual liberty. But the premises of the Moderate Enlightenment, after the eighteenth century these values had only this time with a more explicit commit­ to compete with the Christian quest for a ment to Protestant Christianity. May sees the moral society and the democratic imperative Didactic Enlightenment as the source of the of equality and majority rule. An admitted nineteenth-century "genteel tradition" which partisan of the Enlightenment, May finds this supported religious institutions and education development unfortunate and regressive. As more as a means of cultural indoctrination such his argument is neither novel nor con­ than out of pious religious faith. troversial, but this is not all that he has to say. May's categories serve two functions. They Perhaps May's most important achievement explain the apparent contradictions within is his discernment of four different "enlight­ eighteenth-century thought that have plagued enments." Each differed in content, in place other overviews of the Enlis;htenment. Now, of origin, and in time. The first and most Hume and Rousseau as much as Locke and

161 WHi (H44) 43 Vegetable garden, northern Wisconsin, ca. 1910.

Newton can be encompassed under the rubric First Majority—Last Minority: The Trans­ "Enlightenment" without doing violence to forming of Rural Life in America. By JOHN their thought or minimizing their differences. L. SHOVER. (Northern Illinois University Press, May has demonstrated that they were all men DeKalb, 1976. Pp. xix, 318. Illustrations, of the Enlightenment, only different phases notes, bibliography, index. $12.50, hardcover; of it. Secondly, May has detected a geographic $5.00, paper.) and chronological pattern (Moderate: Eng­ land, 1688-1787; Skeptical: France, 1750- This book stands as a monument to the life 1789; Revolutionary: United States, 1776- and thought of John Shover: born, 1927, in 1800; and Didactic: Scotland, 1800-1815). Ohio; professor of history. University of Penn­ While the dates and content overlap and a sylvania; author of Cornbelt Rebellion: The few individuals such as Hume do not fall with­ Farmer's Holiday Association; died, fall, 1976. in the geographical boundaries, on the whole A singularly active, versatile individual, the categories do make sense. In this regard Shover transferred the experience and skills of May's book is more than the most important a lifetime into creating this remarkable work: book yet written on the American Enlighten­ clear historical perspective, scholarly methods, ment; it is one of the most important books powerful writing style, broad comprehension, on the Enlightenment itself and is comparable keen analysis, and the courage to state his con­ to the work of Peter Gay. No one who makes victions. Shover acknowledged being inspired any claim to understanding the Enlighten­ by the insights and interpretations of the erst­ ment can afford not to read this book. The while Kansas sage, James C. Malin. American Enlightenment is well written, well Shover vividly projects the rural scene in researched, and judiciously argued. May has all its dimensions from 1790, when 95 per cent proven that he is one of this country's very of our population was rural, to the present best historians as well as the axiom that one reverse ratio. He chronicles continuous good book is worth a hundred mediocre ones. changes in farming and rural life, but per­ ceives the momentous revolutionary transfor­ WILLIAM B. SCOTT mation to have occurred, not in 1890 with the Kenyon College passing of the frontier, but since 1945—a point 162 BOOK REVIEWS

which he terms the "Great Disjuncture." wick. Van Buren County, Iowa, made famous "Change becomes so sharp and decisive after by the reminiscences of Henry C. Taylor, the 1945 that the very ideas, words, and constructs distinguished University of Wisconsin agricul­ that describe rural life in the years before are tural economist, is described as it was in the no longer adequate." He was saddened and 1880's when Professor Taylor grew up there. haunted by the recent and evidently irrevers­ A fourth selection details life on Stadtfeld's ible changes, but opines that "nostalgia for a Farm in Michigan in the 1930's. world that is lost is a fruitless indulgence- The second half of the book describes the there is no turning back." Shover does for the unprecedented changes since 1945, including reader what Alex Haley did, in another con­ technology (mechanical and chemical), agri­ text, in Roots. He makes us aware of our rural business, the role of the federal government, origins and of life as most of our forefathers and the world food (and energy) crises. In viewed it and lived it. frequently pungent observations and conclu­ After a general overview of ways of change, sions, Shovers views differ radically from most of land and people, Stover illuminates the agricultural experts (scientists and engineers) broader synthesis by selecting four scattered and from other historians, notably Hiram M. rural locales for microscopic examination. He Drache, author of Beyond the Furrow (1976), traces Scioto Township, Ohio, from its pioneer who frankly worships technology. days in 1806. Not only has the farm popula­ Readers, including the younger generation, tion declined, but Ostrander, a once flourish­ ought to find this book informative and highly ing town, is now a semideserted village. Bed­ stimulating, both for its interpretation of our ford County, Pennsylvania, already well set­ rural heritage, and for its skepticism concern­ tled in 1790, was affected by the coming of ing the direction in which contemporary so­ railroads and the opening of coal and iron ciety has been moving. mines, and is now victim of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, tourists, and land developers. FRED W. KOHLMEYER Farm boys get jobs driving trucks. Tarpley- Illinois State University

BOOK REVIEWS

Current, The History of Wisconsin. Volume II: The Civil War Era, 1848- 1873, reviewed by Robert W. Johannsen 149 Card, Lengfeld, and Lefebvre, eds., We Were Children Then, reviewed by Eldon Marple 155 Hutchinson, The Modernist Impulse in American Protestantism, reviewed by Paul K. Conkin 153 Jensen, ed.. The Documentary History of Ihe Ratification of the Constitu­ tion. Volume I: Constitutional Documents and Records, 1776-1787 and Volume II: Ratification of the Constitution by the Stales: Pennsylvania, reviewed by Jack P. Greene 150 Kehde, ed., The American Left, 1955-1970: A National Union Catalog of Pamphlets Published in tlie United States and Canada, reviewed by James P. Danky 152 Kusmer, A Ghello Takes Shape: Black Cleveland, 1870-1930, reviexved by Herbert Shapiro 157 Lefebvre. ed.. The Only Place We Live, reviewed by Eldon Marple 155 Marty, A Nation of Behavers, reviewed by Paul K. Conkin 153 May, The Enlightenment in America, reviewed by William B. Scott 160 Mohr, ed., Radical Republicans in the North: Slate Politics During Recon­ struction, reviewed by Tilden G, Edelstein " 159 Rosholt, A Photo Album of the Past: Pioneer Scenes and Portraits from Central Wisconsin, reviewed by Eldon Marple 155 Shover, First Maforily—Lasl Minority: The Transforming of Rural Life in America, reviewed by Fred W, Kohlmeyer 162 Weeks, Oscar Carleton McCulloch, 1843-1891: Preacher and Practitioner of Applied Clirislianity, reviewed by Hugh H, Knapp 159

16,^ cerning the Governors Task Force on Educa­ tional Financing and Tax Reform on which Accessions he served; presented by Mr. Darr, River Falls. Papers, 1937-1945, 1953, of H. J. Ehlers, Services for microfilming. Xeroxing, and photo- president of Flieth-Ehlers Mercantile Com­ slating all but certain restricted items in its pany, Cornucopia, primarily concerning his manuscript collections are provided by the Society. Lor details write Dr. Josephine L. Harper, Manu­ company"s dealings with the Office of Price scripts Curator. .Administration on fish prices, 1942-1945; plus papers on finances of the Town of Bell, Bay­ Area Research Centers field County, a speech on commercial fishing, and a historical sketch of Cornucopia; pre­ sented by Eric Gilbertson, River Falls. River Falls: A 1908 history of the schools of Burnett County by Mabel Ahlstrom, County Typed transcriptions of diaries, 1867-1881, Superintendent of Schools, and two cards from kept by George Henry Elliott (1854-1883), her campaigns for office; transferred from the a farmer near River Falls, plus later entries, Society Library. 1881-1883, by his brother, William Nelson Recollections by Ingeborg Holdahl Alvstad Elliott, describing farming, schooling, social (1884 ) of her family"s emigration from life, and other events; presented by Mrs. Sliir- Norway, the sinking of their ship, their 1889 ley Kurtz, River Falls. settlement in Oilman Township, Pierce Coun­ Charts showing results of a survey on the ty, and her early years there as her family impact of "urban sprawl" in Hudson, River established a farm home; presented by Irene Falls, Prescott, and other areas in the Twin Berven, Missoula, Montana. Cities Metropolitan Region, prepared by Riv­ A history and recollection of the early er Falls student Gary Fergot about 1973 as schools of Prescott, written in 1925 by Carrie a political science course paper; presented by H^itchison Babbidge and Myrtle Bailey Mea- Mr. Fergot. cham; presented by Mrs. Harry Evert, Pres­ Notes on the history of Beldenville by Carol cott, through the Pierce County Historical Fenton Gilbertson and an essay on the nine­ Association. teenth-century history of Pierce County by Recollections of the churches in Prescott, Mrs. Abner Fenton; presented by Mrs. Ursula 1852-1938, written in 1938 by Mrs. Antoinette Peterson through the Pierce County Historical ("Nettie") Crippen Bailey; presented by Mrs. -Association. Harry Evert, Prescott, through the Pierce Undated "History of New Centerville," once County Historical Association. a village in St. Croix County, written by Mrs. Biographical information on John M. Bar- Lyda Hall, a resident of the village; presented tosh (1885-1959), mayor of River Falls, far­ by Harold Weatherhead, New Richmond. mer, and owner of the Park View Dairy, com­ Three student papers written in 1970 and piled from conversations with Mrs. Bartosh preserved by Mrs. Harry Hass: "Kinnickin- by Dr. and Mrs. E. N. Peterson, and a 1922 nic Township" by Sylvia Roeske, "The His­ photograph of Mr. Bartosh delivering milk; tory of the • Kinnickinnic Congregational presented by Mrs. Peterson through the Pierce Church" by Margaret Hammer, and an un­ County Historical Association. titled paper dealing with the Kinnickinnic Minute book, 1911-1913, of the ChrisUan Monument by Barbara Vanda; presented by Endeavor, the youth organization of the Bel- the Pierce County Historical Association. denville Baptist Church, Beldenville, present­ "Ihe Dopkins Family Outline," a printed ed by Mrs. Ursula Peterson through the Pierce genealogy compiled by Sheldon M. Hilden County Historical Association. and Marvin Dopkins, including information Recollections written about 1955 by Sadie on several Wisconsin residents and mention­ Peterson Cresswell, originally from River ing the family names Heacox, McCue, Harris, Falls, primarily concerning her experiences Lacahick, Robery, Strand, Scoapa, Ray, Kusi- teaching school in Midway, North Dakota, lek, Hilden, Woods, Anderson, Jensen, Lkier, around 1910, and her experiences as a house­ Goddard, Berry, Pruitt, Hall, and Loney; pre­ keeper-companion in California in the 1950's; sented by Letha Foster, River Falls. presented by Homer E. Cresswell, River Falls, Minute book, 1920-1921, of the Community through the Pierce County Historical Asso­ Sewing Circle, Beldenville, predecessor of the ciation. Hill and Valley Club, plus a membership list, Papers, 1972-1973, of Richard K. Darr con­ 1918, of the Circle's predecessor, the Belden- 164 ACCESSIONS ville Red Cross; presented by Carol Fenton Recollections written in 1974 by Evalyn Gilbertson, Ellsworth, and the Club through Meents of her teaching experiences at Herum the Pierce County Historical Association. School, 1953-1957, and at Fargo School, 1957- Brief, undated recollection by Mrs. Norah 1962, and a letter recommending people who Halverson Howe of her experiences as a stu­ might give information on other Pierce Coun­ dent at River Falls Normal School in the class ty rural schools; presented by the Pierce Coun­ of 1916; presented by Walker D. Wyman, Riv­ ty Historical Association. er Falls. Miscellaneous documents, 1833-1855, con­ Hudson High School class reunion booklets, cerning Franz Muller (Frank Miller) and his 1972, from the tenth reunion of the Class ot wife Sevilla Wolf Muller, including a birth 1962 and the fifteenth reunion of the Class certificate, wedding license, land claim certifi­ of 1957; presented by Willis H. Miller, Hud­ cate, and a servant's work book from Germany; son. presented by Mrs. Ursula Peterson through the Inventory of the printing plant of the Hud­ Pierce County Historical Association (copies son Star-Observer as of July 1, 1930, listing of originals owned by Mrs. Arnold Gresback, and evaluating machinery, furniture, wood River Falls). type, type, and miscellaneous items; presented Xerox copy of the minute book, 1886-1971, by the St. Croix County Historical Society. of the Old Settlers' Association of the Town "Reminiscences of William A. H. Irliig of Rock Elm, Pierce County; loaned for copy­ I 1882 ], Pioneer Resident of Centuria, ing by Ed Balfanz, Elmwood. Wisconsin, As Told to E. W. and Marion J. "River Falls Pioneer Fire Company jf\," a Erickson, March 7, 1974," plus an Ihrig genea­ paper by student Diana Ostness in 19'75, in­ logical chart; presented by E. Walfred Erick­ cluding members' names, information on son, Hudson. equipment changes, and anecdotes on inter­ Letters, 1883, to James Madison King (1824- esting experiences; presented by the Pierce 1900), founder of Sterling, Colorado, from C^ounty Historical Association. friends and relatives in Oxford, Mississippi, "The History of District Number 4, the concerning domestic activities and community Plainview School District and Its Influence events including several murder trials; pre­ on the Surrounding Community," written by sented by James T. King, River Falls. Kenneth A. Peterson, c. 1973, on the Plain- Naturalization papers, 1860, of Josef Anton view School, formerly the Bergstrom School, Lang, a native of Baden, Germany, plus his Trenton Township, Pierce County; transferred masonry journeyman's book, 1851-1852, noting from the State Archives. the date of his immigration to the United Questionnaires filled in by respondents to States; presented by Mrs. Ursula Peterson a 1973 survey conducted by Mrs. Ursula Peter­ through the Pierce County Historical Associa­ son and the Pierce County Historical Associa­ tion (copies of originals owned by Mrs. Arnold tion which sought information on the past Gresback, River Falls). hospitals of River Falls; presented by the As­ Letter, 1973, from Ellen Lawrence, Spooner, sociation. giving genealogical information on the Shaver Daybook, 1898-1899, of the Pierce County family and the Lawrence family; presented Lumber Company, Ellsworth, later the Con­ by Mrs. Ursula Peterson through the Pierce solidated Lumber Company; presented by County Historical Association. Lee Schneider, Ellsworth, through the Pierce A letter and a clipping concerning the 100th County Historical Association. birthday of William N. Mackin' (1874 ), Letter, February 3, 1970, from Mrs. Bea­ Madison, an alumnus of River Falls Normal trice Raygor containing her recollections of School; presented by Walker D. Wyman, River teaching in 1957-1958 at the one-room Iver­ Falls. son School, Towns of El Paso and Ellsworth Reports submitted in 1972 by teacher Mary Joint School District #6, Pierce County; pre­ MacLeod's ninth-grade speech students. River sented by Walker D. Wyman, River Falls. Falls, on various aspects of local history, in­ Additions to the papers of Clarence J. Reiter cluding interviews with farmers and other consisting of letters, 1951, relating to the dedi­ area residents, epitaphs copied from local cation ceremonies opening the interstate cemeteries, descriptions of old houses, biogra­ bridge over the St. Croix River at Hudson phies, and information on social life, schools, and the publicity arrangements made by a and other aspects of life between 1910 and committee chaired by Reiter, including a 1930; presented by Mrs. MacLeod. historical sketch of both the new bridge and

165 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 the old toll bridge it replaced; presented by and other uses; presented by the Pierce Coun­ the St. Croix County Historical Society. ty Historical Association. Brief biographical sketch of James A. Rich­ Undated recollections entitled "In Old ards (1893-1945), River Falls businessman Mann Valley" by Oscar J. Weberg, giving in­ and a member of the Board of Regents of State formation on farm life near River Falls in the Teachers Colleges, written in 1975 by his wife; 1890"s; presented by Mrs. Mary Jane Weberg presented by Annette Blanchette, River Falls. Miller, Terre Haute, Indiana, through the Pierce County Historical Association. Recollections by Earl Schultz and a photo of a house known at Grey's Castle, near Min- Two letters, 1885, from Mrs. Mattie Worden neiska, Minnesota, built by Putnam Grey in to Mrs. Mattie Lamson, Roberts, containing the early 1900's, with references also to a fer- family news and details of life in northern ris wheel built by Mr. Grey and sold to Mr. Minnesota, and two poems by Sarah Haseltine, Ferris, undated; presented by the Pierce Coun­ Mrs. Worden's mother; presented by James T. ty Historical Association. King, River Falls. Biographical information and recollections Stevens Point: Papers, 1966-1969, of Republi­ of the English Department at River Falls Nor­ can State Assemblyman Gerald K. Anderson, mal School provided by Fred Short, an alum­ Waupaca, including correspondence with oth­ nus from the class of 19i0, written in 1974; pre­ er legislators, resource people, and the Wau­ sented by Walter J. Engler, River Falls. paca County Clerk, drafts of bills, and one Notices of applications for permits, 1971- speech concerning the University of Wiscon­ 1973, submitted to the St. Paul, Minnesota, sin; presented by Mr. Anderson, Waupaca. office of the Army Corps of Engineers and "Arpin Jewish Settlement," a term paper sent on to Patrick B. Nolan, chairman. Sierra on the Jewish residents of Arpin, Wood Coun­ Club Mississippi River Task Force, as an in­ ty, in the early twentieth century, written by terested party for comment or objection; pre­ Ruthann Bloom in 1968 and based partially sented by Mr. Nolan, Hudson. on interviews with Alvin Garber and Max Siverling family reunion booklets, 1965 Leopold; presented by Ms. Bloom, Stevens and 1974, containing genealogical information Point. on the descendants of Stephen Siverling Two speeches by Mary Roddis Connor, cor­ (1834-1921) and Theresa Hattamer (1848- porate secretary of Connor Forest Industries, 1906), residents of Waukesha County, Wiscon­ Wausau. One speech presented in 1973 to the sin; presented by Willis H. Miller and the St. Michigan Forestry Association calls for forest Croix County Historical Society. management rather than just preservation Two leaflets distributed in 1974 by the and decries steps toward federal control of River Falls chapter of the Society Against land use. The second speech, undated, made Nuclear Energy (SANE); presented by James similar points and accompanied a slide show; T. King, River Falls. source unknown. Letter, 1968, to Mrs. Al Timmerman from Pages from a letter press copy book, 1889- her mother, containing recollections of log­ 1896?, of Clarence M. Olson, containing per­ ging activities in the Ladysmith area, includ­ sonal letters; accounts and letters from his ing a sketch of a logger and a 1908 postcard legal practice in Dickinson, North Dakota, showing floating logs; presented by the Pierce 1889-1890; and accounts and letters, 1890- County Historical Association. 1896, concerning his father's sawmill and Minutes, 1954-1972, of the Vets Club, Wis­ planing operation, Olson & Meiklejohn, pos­ consin State University-River Falls, describ­ sibly located in Wisconsin Rapids; presented ing social, charitable, and civic activities of by the City of Wisconsin Rapids. the group; presented by James Swanson, Sec­ retary. Superior: Weekly payroll journal for March, "A Short History of the Walker Farm," 1975, 1944, of the Walter Butler Shipbuilding Com­ by Edward Walker, River Falls college stu­ pany, Superior, giving each employee's name, dent, describing the development of his fam­ social security number, job title, pay, rate of ily's farm located adjacent to River Falls; in­ pay, hours worked, overtime worked, deduc­ cluding information on the stone quarry op­ tions from pay, and time clock number, plus erated on the farm, on commercial growing of summaries by department. The March 26 cabbage, potatoes, and cucumbers, and on payroll totaled $394,228.99 and covered over eventual division of the property for home lots 9,000 employees; presented by Douglas County.

166 The Society's New Director

IFFECTIVE August 22, 1977, the E^ ninth director in the Society's 131 years assumed the official duties that he had performed as acting director for almost a year. Richard A. Erney, associate director since 1963 and acting director since the departure of James Morton Smith in October, 1976, was elected at a special meeting of the Board of Curators in Madison, and his appointment was announced the same day by William Huff­ man, president of the Society. A native of Stryker, Ohio, Erney joined the Society in 1957 as a field representative. He directed a two-year study of the history of education in Wisconsin and then served as Wisconsin State Archivist from 1960 to 1963 before becoming associate director. He had Erney's appointment was recommended to previously acted as director in 1969-1970 be­ the Board of Curators by a six-member selec­ tween the administrations of Leslie H. Fishel, tion committee which conducted a nationwide Jr., and James Morton Smith. search. President Huffman stated: "The ex­ A graduate of Denison University in Gran­ tensive search has confirmed that Mr. Erney ville, Ohio, Erney took his graduate work at is superbly qualified to direct the complex Columbia University, where he earned a mas­ State Historical Society of Wisconsin in the ter's degree from Teachers College in 1949 years ahead. His capabilities and experience and a Ph.D. in American history in 1957. Dur­ in historical agency management are evident, ing World War II, he served as a corporal in as is his high standing nationally in this field. the Army Air Corps. His balanced perspectives on the future role Before coming to the Society, he taught of historical agencies are highly appropriate world geography and American history at to the Society's requirements. During Mr. Lawrence High School, Lawrence, New York, Erney's assignment as acting director, he suc­ and was an instructor at Teachers College of cessfully brought the Society through a diffi­ Columbia University for a semester. cult period of budget formation and kept the An active member of the American Asso­ Society moving forward. We anticipate a ciation for State and Local History (AASLH), quickening pace and even more solid accom­ Erney has been a member of that group's gov­ plishment by the Society now that Mr. Erney erning council since 1970 and treasurer since has been elected director. . . ." 1972. He currently represents the AASLH on The first full-time administrator of the So­ the National Historical Publications and Rec­ ciety, called the secretary in those days, was ords Commission, and represented the organi­ Lyman Copeland Draper, who served from zation on the Archives Advisory Council of 1854 to 1887. The others have been Reuben the United States from 1968 to 1974. He has Gold Thwaites, 1887-1913; Milo M. Quaife, served on committees of the Wisconsin Acade­ I914-19I9; Joseph Schafer, 1920-1941; Edward my of Sciences, Arts and Letters, and was elect­ P. Alexander, 1941-1946; Clifford L. Lord, ed a fellow of the Society of American Archiv­ now director of the New Jersey Historical ists in 1971. Society, 1946-1958; Leslie H. Fishel, Jr., now Erney's wife, the former Alice E. Craig, president of Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio, whom he married in 1950, is librarian at Van 1959-1969; and James Morton Smith, 1970- Hise Elementary School in Madison. 1976.

167 Proceedings of the One Hundred and Thirty-first Annual Business Meeting of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Director's Report, 1976-1977

|N September 30, 1976, James cellent and dedicated work, let is be said here 0 Morton Smith ended six years of and now that it is not unappreciated or un­ distinguished service as eighth director of the noticed. Indeed, it is what makes the mile­ State Historical Society of Wisconsin. The stones stand out. Board of Curators officially bade Jim and Clearly the publishing event of the Society's Kassie farewell at the conclusion of its meet­ Bicentennial celebration was the issuance of ing in Wisconsin Rapids a few days earlier. Richard N. Current's The Civil War Era, Speaking for the board. Curator Robert B. L. t848-1873, the second of the projected six- Murphy paid eloquent tribute to the profes­ volume History of Wisconsin. Serialized in sional and personal contributions both had twelve abridged installments in the Milwaukee made to the Society, and extended best wishes Journal, over half the initial printing has for their future success and happiness at The been sold, or distributed to public schools, Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum libraries, and local historical societies widi in Wilmington, Delaware. funds appropriated by the 1973 legislature. At a special meeting on August 22, 1977, The publication of Folk Songs Out of Wis­ the Board of Curators appointed me Director consin marked the Society's entry into the of the Society. It is an honor and responsibili­ mysteries of musical publishing with a title ty which I accept with deep appreciation, high we hope will be both popular and enlighten­ enthusiasm, and firm dedication to uphold ing. The Guide to Historical Resources in the Society's distinction as a national cultural Milwaukee Area Archives is the first of its treasure and an institution of scholarly re­ kind in the state, probably in the nation, and search and public education. represents a significant co-operation between The report which follows summarizes the the Society's archivists and those of the Uni­ major events and achievements of the Society versity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Milwau­ in the transitional year ending June 30, 1977, kee Public Library, Milwaukee County His­ and was presented to the members and cu­ torical Society, and Marquette University. rators at the Annual Meeting at Cable. It The Guide to is the first of a series marks the culmination of some of the finest of guides to the Society's historic sites envi­ work of Dr. Smith's administration and at sioned in the Historic Sites Long Range Plan the same time reflects continuing and future of 1970, and a similar guide to Old Wade challenges for which I earnestly solicit the House and the Jung Carriage Museum is in active support of the Society's members and preparation. At Home: Domestic Life in the friends throughout the state and nation. Post-Centennial Era, 1876-1920 is the most ambitious and successful exhibition catalog RICHARD A. ERNEY the Society has ever published, and it reflects Director the excellence of the exhibition itself. And another Bicentennial project came to fruition with publication of The Old Northwest in the American Revolution: An Anthology, It is not possible in the time available for edited by David Skaggs. me to give you a comprehensive report of the , which opened to the past year in the Society's long and distin­ public with unprecedented crowds and public guished history. The Society's total program anticipation, welcomed 37,644 visitors during is so broad and varied, its staff so committed the short four-month season it operated in and enterprising, that on an occasion such 1976. The attendance this spring has been en­ as this one can only report those matters which couraging, and the staff in both Madison and seem to be major milestones. While this di­ Eagle have worked exceptionally hard during gest leaves iinmentioned a great deal of ex­ this year to improve the interpretive program. 168 PROCEEDINGS, 1976-1977 refine the administrative structure and operat­ Division of Sites and Markers. We shall all ing procedures, and continue the research, miss Ray's generous friendship and dedicated construction, and collecting required for con­ professionalism. Since Ray's retirement Thur­ tinued development and operation of the man Fox has administered the sites with his museum. Seventeen historic buildings are characteristic skill, sensitivity, and innovative open to the public, including the spectacular spirit, and Donald Anderson has ably handled half-timber Koepsel House, authentically and the historic markers activities. beautifully furnished with major assistance from the Fort Atkinson Historical Society. The monumental Clausing octagonal barn is under construction as the third element in the visitor HILE the museum staff mem­ center; the Rankinen House in the Finnish Wiber s have been increasingly in­ area will open next month; and three other volved in activities relating to the sites, they barns are under construction. Harmony Town have simultaneously completed a major ex­ Hall, the first unit in the Yankee area, was hibit gallery on the early period of white dedicated in public ceremonies which re­ settlement in Wisconsin, and sponsored a minded those attending of its symbolic sig­ highly effective and well-attended weekly nificance to American democracy. series of craft demonstrations. The museum The past year has brought the other sites has received three grants from the National near completion of the capital development Endowment for the Humanities and the Na­ plans set forth in the Historic Sites Long tional Endowment for the Arts for an exhibit Range Plan of 1970. Six new units opened at the Astor Fur Warehouse at ; an at Stonefield Village during the year: the doc­ exhibit of military dress uniforms; and for tor's office, broom factory, cigar maker's shop, planning an exhibit of prehistoric Native drug manufactory, and saloon. The final unit Americans of Wisconsin. (both literally and figuratively) is the under­ Local historical societies in the state, ap­ taker's parlor, which is now under construc­ parently responding to heightened public in­ tion and will be completed by the end of the terest occasioned by the Bicentennial, sub­ season. The Circus "World Museum has a new mitted an unprecedented number of books set of public rest rooms and a uniquely de­ and reports of other projects and activities to signed new entry, immediately and appro­ the Society's awards committee this year. priately billed as the world's only concrete The Reuben Gold Thwaites trophy was circus tent. Visitors to Pendarvis will for the given to the Brown County Historical Society first time find adequate parking in a new at the annual convention of the Wisconsin lot diagonally across Shake Rag Street from Council for Local History. The award recog­ the visitor center, and a long-awaited visitor nized the Brown County society's continuous center and parking lot are under construction activity since its formation in 1898, and par­ at Villa Louis. ticularly its successful drive to establish Heri­ We have also progressed this year on some tage Hill State Park, which opened to the of our long-cherished plans to improve inter­ public in May. The four new local societies pretation at the sites. The guidebooks for established this year brings the total in the Stonefield and Wade House were mentioned state to 146, with an estimated total member­ earlier. In addition, the museum education ship of 28,000. staff produced an instructional brochure for Another major personnel change occurred Wade House, the final title in the series fund­ in October, when Peter Draz assumed the re­ ed by a gift from the Bassett Foundation. sponsibilities of heading the Society's library. In addition we have virtually completed the John Peters, who performed admirably as act­ outfitting of sites guides in authentic cos­ ing librarian, returned to government docu­ ments which are his first and foremost profes­ tumes based on the historic dress patterns sional love. In the ensuing months the library developed by the museum. A full-time black­ staff has moved forward effectively on several smith is on duty at Wade House, and we have fronts. It secured a grant to install and operate received a $10,000 gift from the Kohler Foun­ a terminal in the Ohio College Library Cen­ dation to produce an orientation presentation ter computer network which will speed con­ and exhibits in the Wade House visitor center. version of the library cataloging to the Library Society members, staff, and curators were of Congress system and provide additional saddened by the death of Ray Sivesind in benefits to library users and staff. The staff May, shortly after he retired as director of the has responded imaginatively and energetically

169 WISCONSIN MAtJAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978 to the impending space crisis, and the circu­ teen acquisition and development grants in lation and reference sections have thus far eleven counties. proven equal to the genealogical explosion produced by the Bicentennial and the publi­ cation and televised serialization of Alex OME of the most fundamental Haley's Roots. Library users have responded 'and important work of the year with interest to the series of small exhibits is not as readily apparent as the things I have of library treasures mounted near the service mentioned earlier, but it will be of increasing desk by library staff. importance to the Society's future. The Ad­ The Society's oral history program has at­ ministrative Services Division has laid the tracted national attention quite out of pro­ foundations for a modern, responsive finan­ portion to its modest scope because of the cial management information system. In ad­ innovative methods developed by Dale Tre- dition, staff members in all divisions have levan and members of the archives and field taken the first steps in preparation of a com­ services divisions. A grant of $49,000 from prehensive ten-year plan for meeting the So­ the National Endowment for the Humanities ciety's programmatic and capital needs. By will fund two years of tape recording inter­ these means and others we seek to maintain views with major personalities in the history the effectiveness of our service to Wisconsin's of the Textile Workers Union of America. people with the resources available to us. The archives of the TWUA constitute the In this very highly selective recital of some Society's most comprehensive set of labor of the year's highlights I have thus far ad­ union records, and this project will demon­ hered to the jazz injunction to "accentuate strate new potentialities and techniques of the positive," "latch on to the affirmative," supplementing and elucidating traditional ar­ and "don't mess with Mr. In Between." Un­ chival documentation with oral history. fortunately I cannot also "eliminate the nega­ The 1977-1979 state budget contains statu­ tive." tory provisions to define and extend the his­ The action of the governor and legislature toric preservation responsibilities which the two years ago, which transferred three posi­ Society has borne until now merely by desig­ tions from the Society's tax-supported budget, nation of the governor in response to the Na­ continues to have its chilling effects. We have tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966, Presi­ found it necessary to keep one position vacant dential Executive Order 11593, and a host of in the Editorial Division for the past two federal regulations resulting therefrom. As years. In program terms this has meant delay­ the newest of the Society's operating divisions. ing or abandoning proposed publications of Historic Preservation conducts a statewide sur­ public interest and value. It has also made vey to identify places of local, state, or na­ it necessary to cancel plans for the 1977-1978 tional historical architectural, and archeologi­ tour of the Historymobile, thus ending, for cal significance and nominate them to the Na­ the time at least, one of the Society's most in­ tional Register of Historic Places. It also re­ novative and important educational services. views environmental impact statements for In its twenty-three years the Historymobile federally funded projects in the state for their traveled 77,000 miles and took Wisconsin's possible impact on places on or eligible for heritage to 3,112,000 citizens of the state. the National Register; and it administers fed­ Finally, the 1977-1979 budget now awaiting eral matching grants for acquisition and re­ Governor Lucey's signature will barely main­ storation of National Register properties in tain the status quo for Society operations in the state. The new state legislation will ex­ the next two years, and we had hoped for tend some limited protections to National more generous understanding of our needs. Register properties from state funded projects, Despite the fact I have chosen to give you and the implementation of this new legisla­ the good news first and the bad news last, I tion will be one of our major challenges for shall not conclude on a down beat. The So­ the new biennium. The youthful and ener­ ciety has problems, without doubt, but it has getic staff of the division added 4,911 proper­ a far greater measure of promise. Our promise ties to the statewide inventory during the year, lies in the dedication and talent of a fine and bringing the total to 11,069. They handled responsive staff; in the wisdom and support an incredible 1,600 environmental reviews; of Curators and members; and in the growing submitted thirty-nine nominations to the Na­ interest of Wisconsin's people in their heritage. tional Register, which now contains 260 prop­ I am confident that these will sustain the So­ erties for Wisconsin; and they managed fif­ ciety in the future as they have in the past. 170 PROCEEDINCJS, 1976-1977

Minutes of the Annual Meeting

HE amiual business meeting was held at Cedric A. Vig, Rhinelander T Felemark Lodge, Cable, on June 25, 1977, Clark Wilkinson, Baraboo with President William Huffman presiding. For election for a term ending in 1980: About fifty members and guests were present. Mrs. Fannie Hicklin, Madison Mr. Orbison presented the treasurer's re­ port, which was accepted and ordered filed. For election for a term ending in 1978: Richard A. Erney, acting director of the John Anderson, Cable Society, listed the milestones of the Society's Fhere being no further nominations from year and announced that his annual report the floor, Mr. Orbison moved and Mrs. Starr would be printed in the winter issue of the seconded that the nominations be closed and Wisconsin Magazine of History. that the secretary be instructed to cast a unani­ Mr. Huffman reported on the Society's suc­ mous ballot for the election of the slate of cess with its biennial budget request, the nominees presented. The motion was accepted search for a new director, progress at Old and the slate was declared elected. World Wisconsin, and membership trends. Mr. Pike presented two resolutions of ap­ In the absence of the chairman, Mrs. Jones preciation for the approval of those present. reported for the Nominating Committee. The The first was to Warren P. Knowles and the following slate of nominees for election to second to Ben Guthrie, both of whom were the Board of Curators was presented: retiring from the Board. After the drafts were For re-election for a term ending in 1980: read, both resolutions were unanimously Roger Axtell, Janesville adopted. Reed Coleman, Madison There being no further business to be Paul E. Hassett, Madison brought before the Board, the meeting ad­ Mrs. R. Goeres Hayssen, Eau Claire journed. William Huffman, Wisconsin Rapids Respectfully submitted, Robert B. L. Murphy, Madison Mrs. William H. L. Smythe, Milwaukee William F. Stark, Peivaukee RICHARD A. ERNEY Milo K. Swanton, Madison Acting Secretary

ALICE E. SMITH FELLOWSHIP

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin has awarded the Ahce E. Smith Fellowship for 1977-1978 to Lilith R. Kunkel, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ms. Kunkel is completing a doctoral dissertation on the de­ velopment of homes for the aged in Wisconsin, 1870-1935. The Alice E. Smith Fellowship, which carries an outright grant of $600, is awarded annually by the Society to a woman doing research in American history, with preference given appli­ cants who are doing graduate research in the history of Wiscon­ sin or of the Middle West. Tlie deadline for applications is July 15 of each year. Letters of application, describing in some detail the applicant's current research, should be addressed to: Director of Research, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.

171 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENT, JULY 1, 1976 TO JUNE 30, 1977*

Public Funds Tax monies apjjropriated by tlie legislature through statutes 20.245—101, 102, 103, 104, 106, and 107. Legislative Balance Appropriation Expenditures 6/30/77 $2,823,168.28 $2,754,222.46 .$68,945.82

Revolving Funds (20.245-132. Endowment) Endowment funds given to the State Historical Society by individuals and estates. The prin­ cipal and capital gains are invested; the interest and dividends can be spent in most cases only for the specific purposes for which the bequest was made. Capital Principal Gains Income Accounts Balance Balance 7/1/76 Receipts Expenditures 6/30/77 $1,050,058.04 $51,255.95 $112,983.75 .$79,028.32 $68„5,54.50 $123,4.57.57

Revolving Funds (20.245-132. Gifts and Donations) Donations, grants, and bequests to the State Historical Society from individuals, estates, foun­ dations, and institutions. Most of these funds can be used only for the specific projects for which they were given. Balance Balance 7/1/76 Receipts Expenditures 6/30/77 $17,501.49 $228,881.99 $182,347.53 $64,035.95

Revolving Funds (20.245—131. General Operations Receipts) Income earned by the State Historical Society, primarily from sales of publications, admis­ sions and sales at historic sites, membership fees, and sales of photostats and microfilms. Balance Balance 7/1/76 Receipts Expenditures 6/30/77 ,$27,369.42 $985,206.41 $992,080,48 $20,495.35

Revolving Appropriations (20.245—141. Federal Aid) Funds granted to the State Historical Society by various federal agencies, primarily for spe­ cific research, surveys, publications, and historic restorations. Balance Balance 7/1/76 Receipts Expenditures 6/30/77 $15,089.68 $334,508.08 ,$355,365.35 $—5,767.59

*.\ detailed financial statement is available upon request.

172 PROCEEDINGS, 1976-1977

Digest of Board Action

At Wisconsin Rapids, September II, 1976 • Accepted gifts and grants for the period Jan­ for her book. The History of Fond du Lac uary 1-June 30, 1976, totahng $187,486.77; County as Told by Its Place Names; Local • Approved the Capital Budget request, to­ History Awards of Merit for Leadership taling $11,486,780, with the excepdon of and Long and Meritorious Service to Pearl Item 2 (State Historical Museum and Archi­ Dopp of the Wild Rose Historical Society, val Storage Facility, $9,883,450) of the Ma­ Lillian Mackesey, History Editor of the jor Projects request, ancl the Executive Com­ Appleton Post-Crescent, Dorothy Straubel mittee's recommendation that the Board Wittig of the Brown County Historical So­ authorize the immediate study by the Long- ciety, and Lilah Zanton, Rock County Range Planning Committee of all antici­ Township Historian; and a Local History pated capital needs of the Society and re­ Award of Merit for Noteworthy Projects to port to the Board as soon as feasible; Wallace H. Jerome of the Barron County Historical Society; • Approved the recommendation of the joint Executive and Budget Review committees • Approved applications for probationary af­ that the new lease and management agree­ filiation for the Palmyra Historical Society ment between the Society and the Historic and the Iowa County Historical Society; Sites Foundation be changed to provide that • Reaffirmed its policy of sending Society the percentage to be paid into the Capital publications to legislators; Improvement Fund be reduced from 7.5 • Accepted the gift of St. Peter's Cathedral per cent to 5 per cent as long as the fund re­ from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for use mains at the $100,000 level, and that the ^t Old World Wisconsin; new contract be approved as revised; • IwMfirmed its policy of not accepting build­ • Accepted the gift of a livestock buying sta­ ings for historic sites unless they are in a tion at Prairie du Chien from the Oscar ^restored condition and funds are available Mayer Company for ti.se as storage and to defray the costs of maintenance and oper­ workshop areas for Villa Louis; ation with no negative effect on the Society's • Appointed Richard A. Erney as acting di­ operating budget, and rejected Dr. Zain rector upon the departure of James Morton Woodring's request to discuss restoration of Smith; the Old Governor's Mansion; • Approved the following awards to be pre­ • On a rising vote, unanimously adopted a sented at the November meeting of the resolution of appreciation to James Morton Wisconsin Council for Local History: Reu­ Siuith, Director, on his departure to accept ben Gold Thwaites Trophy to the Brown the directorship of Winterthur Museum, County Historical Society; Certificates of Winterthur, Delaware; Commendation for Museum Development • Presented a resolution of appreciation to to the Burnett County Historical Society, Leonard W. Behnke for his dedication and the Kenosha County Historical Society, the service as controller of the Society for the Kewaskum Historical Society, and the Polk past eighteen years. County Historical Society; Certificates of Commendation for Special Activities to His­ toric Madison, Inc., for its newsletter, the At Madison, February 10, 1977 Rock County Historical Society for its archi­ tectural survey of Rock County, and the • Received the treasurer's report and accepted Sauk Prairie Historical Society for its photo­ gifts of $266,520.90 and federal grants of graphic walking guide; Local History $112,342.32 for the period July 1-December Awards of Merit for Local History Research 31, 1976; and Publication to Kenneth I. Lange, for • Ratified the actions of the Executive Com­ two books, A Lake Where Spirits Live: A mittee at its January 22 meeting approving Human History of the Midwest's Most revisions of the Old World Wisconsin bud­ Popidar Park, and A County Called Sauk: get request, rejecting a proposal from Ches­ A Human History of Sauk County, Wiscon­ ter Tolson for continuing service on the sin, Hannah Swart, for her book, Koshko­ Old World Wisconsin fundraising effort, nong Country, and Ruth Shaw Worthing, and approving Honorary life Memberships

173 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WINTER, 1977-1978

for retiring staff members Mrs. Hope Love- At Cable, June 23, 1977 land, Mrs. Willie Jo Walker, and Raymond S. Sivesind; • Rati lied the actions of the Executive Com­ • Unanimously adopted a memorial resolu­ mittee meeting on May 21, 1977, accepting tion to George Banta, Jr., retired curator the recommendations of the Board of Direc­ and Honorary Vice-President of the Society; tors of the Historic Sites Foundation that a • Re-elected the following members of the circus flatcar be loaned to the National Board of Directors of the Wisconsin His­ Railroad Museum, Green Bay, with the tory Foundation to serve three-year terms condition that the car be maintained and ending December 31, 1979: John C. Geil­ returned to the in fuss, Milwaukee; E. E. Homstad, Black Riv­ good condition and that the National Rail­ er Falls; W. Pilaris Horton, Madison; and road Museum assume liability coverage; de­ Mrs. Oscar G. Mayer, Madison; clining, on recommendation of the Board • Approved the nominations for Official of Directors of the Historic Sites Founda­ Markers for , Burnett County, tion, the offer of the Outdoor Amusement Martin W. Torkelson, Jackson County, Business Association, Inc., to install a North Green Bay Packers, Green Bay, The Win­ American Carnival Museum in conjunction nebago Trail, Manitowoc County, Spence with the Circus World Museum; and ap­ Park, La Crosse, and Clare A. Briggs, Reeds­ proving Awards of Merit to be presented at burg; the annual meeting in June to Malcolm and • Approved the request for probationary af­ Margaret Rosholt, for their book, A Photo filiation of the Elmbrook Historical So­ Album of the Past: Pioneer Scenes and Por­ ciety, and requests for continued affilia­ traits from Central Wisconsin, David P. tion of the Bayfield County Historical So­ Thelen, for his book, Robert M. La Follette ciety, Historic Madison, Inc., the Horicon and the Insurgent Spirit, Kathleen Neils Historical Society, the Kiel Historical So­ Conzen, for her book. Immigrant Milwau­ ciety, and the Rock River Thresheree; kee, 1836-1860, Jolie Paylin, for her book, • Approved the request to change the name Cutover Country: Jolie's Story, National of the Chippewa "Valley Historical Museum, Fraternal Flag Day Foundation, for its Inc., to Chippewa Valley Museum, Inc.; twenty-five years of sustained activity in • Accepted the Long-Range Planning Com­ acquiring, restoring, preserving, and main­ mittee's judgment that in order to plan taining Stony Hill School and in conducting capital needs the Committee must also re­ an annual national observance of Flag Day view the programmatic needs of the Society; there on June 14, and Friends of the Jeffer­ son Library, for its hobbies and crafts pro­ • Approved revised admission rates for Stone­ gram during the Bicentennial year; field, Villa Louis, Old Wade House, Pen­ darvis, and Historical Site; • Approved application for probationary af­ filiation of the Sheboygan Falls Historical • Declined the State Medical Society's pro­ Society and continued affiliation of the posal, in its present form, to transfer the Adams County Historical Society and the Museum of Medical Progress to the Society Germantown Historical Society; to operate as a historic site; • Adopted a resolution that the Frederick • Announcement was made of the creation Pabst House, Milwaukee, is a site of state of a memorial fund to Raymond S. Sivesind historic significance which is worthy of in the Wisconsin History Foundation; preservation, and that the Society is willing • Received reports on developments at Old to assume responsibility for ownership, re­ World Wisconsin and on OWW fundraising; storation, maintenance and operation of the • Received the report of the acting director, house provided that sufficient funds are which included announcement of the ter­ made available for these purposes from mination of the Historymobile after twenty- state, federal, and private sources without three years of touring the state; reducing the funds available for previously • Adopted a resolution of appreciation and planned Society projects and continuing approved an Honorary Life Membership programs, especially Old World Wisconsin; for Mrs. Leo W. Capser, St. Paul, Minneso­ • Adopted a policy on memorialization and ta for her gift (with her husband) of the donor credit at Old World Wisconsin; and beginning a • Approved admission rates and rates for maintenance endowment to ensure its con­ wagon rides at Old World Wisconsin. tinued development. 174 PROCEEDINGS, 1976-1977

Wisconsin History Foundation Historic Sites Foundation

STABLISHED in 1954 as a private, non­ N 1960 the Historic Sites Foundation was E profit corporation, the Wisconsin History I established as a private, nonprofit corpo­ Foundation has the sole purpose of assisting ration for the sole purpose of assisting the the State Historical Society in whatever ways State Historical Society's historic sites pro­ are mutually agreed upon by the Foundation's gram. Its current function is to serve as the Board and the Society's Board of Curators. management corporation, for the Society, of This assistance has covered a wide range of the Circus World Museum in Baraboo. The activities for which no public or unbudgeted Foundation's Board includes members of the private funds were available, including re­ Society's Board of Curators, as well as dis­ search projects, television programs, publica­ tinguished citizens with an interest in circus tions, professional education of staff, and history and in the Society itself. Its sources building construction at our historic sites. of income are Circus World Museum admis­ The Board of the Foundation includes mem­ sions, gifts, and grants. Gifts to the Founda­ bers of the Society's board of Curators as tion are tax-deductible. well as other distinguished citizens interested in history and in the objectives of the Society. Officers The Foundation's chief source of income is gifts and grants. Donations to the Foundation CLARK WILKINSON, President are tax-deductible. DONALD H. DOOLEY, Vice-President RICHARD A. ERNEY, Executive Vice-President Officers MRS. WILLIAM H. L. SMYTHE, ROBERT B. L. MURPHY, President Secretary-Treasurer E. E. HOMSTAD, Vice-President MILO K. SWANTON, Assistant Secretary JOHN C. GEILFUSS, Treasurer RICHARD A. ERNEY, Secretary and Board of Directors Assistant Treasurer

Board of Directors Term Expires 1978 Term Expires 1979 DONALD H. DOOLEY JOHN C. GEILFUSS Milwaukee Milwaukee KENNETH W. HAAOENSEN E. E. HOMSTAD Oconomowoc Black River Falls MRS. EDWARD C. JONES W. PHARIS HORTON Fort Atkinson Madison MRS. RAYMOND J. KOLTES MRS. OSCAR G. MAYER Madison Madison MILO K. SWANTON Madison Term Expires 1978 CLARK WILKINSON WALTER A. FRAUTSCHI Baraboo Madison MRS. HENRY HARNISCHFEGER Term Expires 1979 Hartland ROBERT B. L. MURPHY MRS. JOHN FRIEND Madison Hartland F. HARWOOD ORBISON MRS. RICHARD L. HARTZELL .^.ppleton Grantsburg Term Expires 1977 E. E. HOMSTAD Black River Falls THOIHAS H. BARLAND Eau Claire HAROLD D. HULTERSTRUM MRS. HOWARD T. GREENE Baraboo Milwaukee MRS. WILLIAM H. L. SMYTHE Milwaukee DONALD C. SLIGHTER Milwaukee CLIFFORD D. SWANSON MILO K. SWANTON Stevens Point Madison Ex Officio Ex Officio WILLIAM HUFFMAN RICHARD A. ERNEY Wisconsin Rapids Madison President, State Historical Director, Slate Historical Society of Wisconsin Society of Wiscon.sin

175 Contributors addition to numerous articles and book re­ views, his publications include The President Wore Spats: A Biography of Glenn Frank (1965) and, with Charles N. Glaab, Factories in the Valley: Neenah-Menasha, 1870-1915 (1969), both of which were published by the Society. A specialist in urban history, he has long been interested in the influence of regions and regionalism upon the growth and develop­ ment of American cities. His most recent book. The Urban West at the End of the Frontier, will be published this spring by the Regents Press of Kansas.

CHARLES E. TWINING is professor of history and departmental chairman in Northland Col­ lege at Ashland, Wisconsin. A native of Kan­ sas, he did his undergraduate work at the University of Akron and earned a master's de­ gree (1963) and a Ph.D. in history (1970) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before going to Northland he taught at Monona Grove High School in Madison and at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In addi­ tion to his teaching and administrative duties, JOHN E. MCDOWELL was born in 1915 in On­ he is curator of the Northland Area Research tario, Canada. As a young man he attended Center and a member of the State Historic Michigan State University, but he left prior to Preservation Review Board. His book Down­ graduation because of the rigors of the Great river: Orrin H. Ingram and the Empire Lum­ I)epression. He worked for a time in a local ber Company, published by the State Histori­ automobile factory, and then for several small cal Society of "Wisconsin in 1975, was recently newspapers—an insecure and not very reward­ awarded the first annual prize of the Forest ing occupation in the 1930's. Eventually he History Society as "the finest book in the studied accounting, entered that profession, field of forest and conservation history" for and became a revenue auditor for the state of the year 1977. Michigan, from which job he retired in 1975. Along the way, he became interested in his­ tory, and has published in Civil War Times Illustrated, Michigan History, and the Michi­ gan Local History Series. He lives with his wife in Indian River, Michigan, some thirty miles from Mackinac Island, where he divides his time between his private accounting prac­ tice and the book he is writing about the La Framboises, the Schindlers, and Elizabeth Mitchell.

MERRILL J. MATTES retired from the National ^^ Park Service in 1975, after forty years' work in history and historic preservation with that LAWRENCE H. LARSEN, a native of Racine, did agency. As Regional Iiistorian for the Mid­ his undergraduate work at Lawrence College west Region, he had much to do with the early and earned a master's degree and a doctorate planning for the development of the Custer in history (1962) at the University of Wiscon­ Battlefield, and was instrumental in obtaining sin. In 1959-1961 he was a member of the the Elizabeth Custer collection for the museum staff of the State Historical Society of Wiscon­ ihere. He now lives in Littleton, Colorado, sin. He is currently professor of history in the where he is a self-employed historical con­ University of Missouri at Kansas City. In sultant. 176 Sustaining Members 1976-1977

Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, Kearney Sc Trecker Corporation, Mihvaukee Mihvaukee Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Koltes, Madison American Family Mutual Insurance Mr. Ted Leyhe, Oshkosh Company, Madison Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCallum, Hubertus Appleton Mills Foundation, Appleton Ihe Marine Foundation, Incorporated, Applied Power Industries, Mibeaiikee Mihvaukee Mr. Norman Bassett, Madison Oscar Mayer k Company, Madison Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Bolz, Madison Milwaukee Journal, Miltvatikee Mr. B. J. Brellenthin, Lake Geneva Modine Manufacturing Company, Racine Bucyrus-Erie Foundation, Incorporated, Nasco Industries, Incorporated, Fort Atkinson South Milwaukee NCR Appleton Paper Div., Appleton Mr. Reed Coleman, Madison NMC Projects, Inc., Stoughton Connor Foundation, Wausau Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Consolidated's Civic Foundation, Incorporated, Wisconsin Rapids Mihvaukee Mr. and Mrs. E. David Cronon, Madison Parker Pen Company, Janesville Mrs. Michael J. Cudaliy, Milwaukee Plenco Plastics Engineering Company, Mrs. Jane J. Cullen, Janesville Sheboygan Carl and Elisabeth Eberbach Foundation, Inc., Rahr Foundation, Manitowoc Mihvaukee Red Arrow Sales Corporation, Madison Employers Insurance of Wausau, Wausau Mr. and Mrs. Arville Schaleben, Milwaukee Evinrude Motors, Mihvaukee Schlitz Foundation, Incorporated, Milwaukee Evjue Foundation, Inc., Madison Schweiger Industries, Inc., Jefferson First National Bank of Appleton, Appleton Sentry Insurance Company, Stevens Point First Wisconsin Foundation, Incorporated, Mrs. S. F. Shattuck, Neenah Milwaukee Mr. and Mrs. I. D. Sinaiko, Beverly Hills, Mrs. Robert E. Friend, Hartland California Mr. Edward Fromm, Hamburg Mr. and Mrs. Donald C. Slichter, Milwaukee The Gardner Foundation, Milwaukee Mr. Mowry Smith, Menasha Corporation Mr. Joseph Garton, Madison Foundation, Neenah Mr. and Mrs. John C. Geilfuss, Milwaukee Mrs. William H. L. Smythe, Milwaukee General Telephone CJompany of Wisconsin, Howard B. Stark Company, Pewaukee Sun Prairie Twin Disc, Incorporated, Racine Goodman Brothers, Inc., Madison Voigt Charitable Foundation, Racine Mr. John T. Harrington, Milwaukee The Heil Company, Milwaukee The Vollrath Company, Sheboygan Highsmith Company, Incorporated, Webcrafters Foundation, Incorporated, Fort Atkinson Madison Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Hoard, Jr., West Bend Company, West Bend Fort Atkinson Western Publishing Company, Incorporated, Mr. Wayne J. Hood, Key Largo, Racine International Harvester Company, Chicago Wisconsin Electric Power Company, Jackson County Bank, Black River Falls Mihvaukee Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cole Jones, The Wisconsin Life Insurance Company, Fort Atkinson Madison Jones of Fort Atkinson Foundation, Wisconsin State Journal, Madison Incorporated, Fort Atkinson Wisconsin Telephone Company, Milwaukee S--.--— '"^ tJtJ=.H

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY SHALL promote a wider appreciation of the American heritage with particular emphasis on the collection, advancement and dissemination of knowledge of the history of Wisconsin and of the West.

—Wisconsin Statutes, Chapter 44

State Historical Society of Wisconsin Second-class postage paid at 816 State Street Madison, Wisconsin, and at Madison, Wisconsin 53706 additional mailing offices. Return Requested