Indian
Occupation
There are but few men now living who saw the Town of Portland before the
white settler became the successor of the Indian.
Their first view introduced them to the landscape as nature dressed it.
Traversing the center of the town from the north to within a mile of its
south line is the Crawfish River turning to the east and north near where it
approaches Section 27. Its valley
expands towards the south into the Portland marsh, a great part of which was of
a swampy character. West of the
river, the settler met with beautiful stretches of oak openings which were
easily cleared for agricultural purposes.
On the east and north side of the river, there was heavy timber
consisting of oak, maple, basswood, cherry, etc.; a typical hardwood forest
whose wild and entangled condition was the least attractive to the settler who
was forced by his circumstances to select a sight for a home that would admit of
raising grain and vegetables for family consumption the first season of its
occupation. The southeast section of
the town south of the river resembled in most part the western half.
The work of the ice during the Glacial Period distributed over the
uplands a drift rich in the elements that produce grain and vegetables; time
worked its decomposition into a surface soil of great fertility.
Prior to the advent of the whites, the Town of Portland was a part of the
vast wild fields where the Indian roamed at will unmolested by claimants of
record to the lands. It was nature's
domain and its possession belonged to beast or Indian as might be determined.
There is considerable evidence of frequent conflicts between them.
The fragments of Indian weapons found in great profusion show they had
been employed in the destruction of animals.
The Indian was forced to provide food which caused a continual warfare
upon animals that shared with him nature's gifts of water, fruit, and herb.
The varied landscape, the groves, forests, marshes, and particularly the
river, made Portland attractive to wild beasts and fowl of every description;
the river giving life to an abundance of fish.
It was thus made by nature a choice hunting ground where wolf, bear, deer
and buffalo were numerous. The
Indian followed the game and spent much time where it was plentiful.
The cultivated fields on either side of the Crawfish, after its bend to
the eastward, have given up thousands of stone implements used by the Indians
demonstrating that here were hunted the animals they needed for food supply.
So numerous were the lost arrow points, that on the surface of many
cultivated fields, after the spring rains, they were found by the hundred.
In addition to arrow points,
fine specimens of stone axes, celts, hoes, drills, and the like, have been
found. The writer has many of them
in his collection among which are copper spears and a copper knife picked up on
the farm owned by Charles Haseleu on the north bank of the river in the vicinity
of what was early called "Stoney Island".
These relics of Indian skill are found all along the river to the shores
of "Mud Lake" where traces of Indian life may still be seen of such
different character. On the south
bank of the river, as it enters the swampy district called "Mud Lake",
and on the farm owned for decades by John McGovern, is the site of the
"Indian Gardens". It was a
field used for growing corn and other vegtables.
The marks left by the Indian hoe were known to the early settlers and
probably are still to be seen. Nearby
are many small mounds marking the graves
of Indians. On the north side of the
river and between the highway and the lake may still be discerned the remains of
several large conical shaped mounds of great antiquity.
It was a tradition, related to the first settlers by visiting bands of
Winnebago Indians, that at a remote time a great battle was fought at this point
in which their ancestors defeated a powerful tribe of fierce warriors who came
from the west. In the commemoration
of the event, the Winnebagoes gathered annually at the "Gardens" where
they participated in customary festivals. The
pioneers were familiar with the several Indian trails that centered there.
One trail led across the Maunesha in the Village of Waterloo, where the
stream sweeps to the north along the Ryder farm, and followed along its south
bank to a point about where the Maunesha is crossed by the highway east of the
Village of Portland from which it led to the highland in the direction of the
Indian Gardens.
Another well defined trail connected the "Gardens" with the
Aztalan mounds; still another extended to the northwestward while two or three
trails led to the eastward. These
evidences indicate that the Indians attached great importance to the eastern
section of the town, and the finding of great numbers of their weapons of
warfare within a limited radius, contributes strong proof in support of the
claim of the Indians that they had gathered at the "Gardens" annually
for many decades, if not for centuries.
The Indian burial site became at an early day the property of John
McGovern. It was fortunate for the
dust of the braves who lie there that so conscientious a person became master of
that soil. Mr. McGovern resisted all
requests on the part of inquisitive strangers to excavate these little grave
mounds, and during his lifetime, no desecration of the resting places of the
savage of the Crawfish was allowed. All
of the Indian graves remained intact save one that was opened by Henry Giles of
Waterloo before Mr. McGovern discovered him at work.
Owing to the shifting of the Indians as the fortunes of their wars were
for or against them, it is impossible to say that this section of the state was
part of the hunting grounds of any particular tribe.
When the French visited Wisconsin territory early in the 17th century, it
was learned that hunting parties of the Illinois tribe visited the valley of the
Rock River, and likewise, that the tribes to the north, of which the Winnebagoes
was one, frequently went far to the south in their search for game.
It is asserted by archeologists that the Wisconsin mounds were built by
the Winnebagoes whom they identify with the Sioux of the western prairie.
If this be true, the mounds on the shores of Mud Lake indicate an
occupation of the Town of Portland by that tribe for a long period of time.
The annual gathering of the Winnebagoes at the "Gardens" soon
ceased after the whites took possession. The
saloons at Hubbleton, then called the "Steam Mill", sold the visiting
Indians whiskey and one or two of their last meetings were turned into drunken
brawls. As the settlements
were extended, the remnant of this one noble tribe of redmen was forced to
retreat farther and farther from this favored hunting ground of their fathers.
Early in the 60's, the graves of their ancestors were visited only by
small parties that for several years thereafter wandered about the neighborhood
doing some fishing and trapping. When
these means were insufficient for their support, they went from house to house
begging food and clothing. The
pioneers of Portland suffered little if any at the hands of the Indians.
It appears that they went their way without molesting the whites or their
property.
William Gingles makes the following mention of the Indians:
"The Indians had no permanent settlement at Mud Lake at the time my
father located here, but had had at some time before".
"The old Indian Garden on the east (west) side of Mud Lake and
Carleton Point on the west just opposite, are often visited now by relic
hunters. The Garden shows plainly
the ridges where once were their corn fields.
The Indians camped on Carleton Point a few days in Spring on their way to
hunting and fishing grounds farther down the Crawfish.
We boys used to get a good deal of fun out of visiting them over at the
Point. I never heard of their being
troublesome at that time, except on one occasion they had got hold of a quantity
of "firewater" and frightened a family by the name of Kelley pretty
badly."
James Ruane writes of the Indian: "In
the early days, Indians were frequent visitors in the eastern part of Portland.
Unheralded, they would make their appearance moving along through the
woods in single file. An occasional
grunt and the cracking of twigs or the rustling of dry leaves were the only
sounds that resulted from their march through the woods.
Their destination was always the point of land on which the Van Deldan
Bridge was built. Here they pitched
their tents and hunted and fished as had been done no doubt for centuries.
They were the last sad remnant of a mighty race that for generations had
occupied that part of the country as a happy hunting ground.
Indian mounds and many relics of Indian activity existed there and some
day science may make these mounds and relics yield
up the story of Indian life of bygone ages." Having pitched their
tents and settled down to housekeeping, if it might be called by that name, the
Indian seemed to lose his silence. They
talked and laughed as other people, and a joke on any of his fellows was enjoyed
immensely by the erstwhile taciturn red man.
The little girls played with dolls as do white girls but they usually had
them strapped to something and the boys took great pleasure in shooting at a
target with bows and arrows. The
contests were very keen and were watched with equal interest by the white boys
of the neighborhood.
The Indian visitors became fewer and fewer each year until not enough
came to pitch a tent. Then they
sought to stay in the houses of their white brothers.
Two came to our house once and wanted to stay all night.
One of them had been drinking "firewater" and father was afraid
to let him stay in his intoxicated condition.
He at first refused, but fearing the Indian might fire the house if he
was turned out, he permitted the red man to stay.
He slept on his blanket near the stove and with grunts and gestures
expressed his thankfulness the next morning."