MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY

VOL. XXII

OCTOBER, 1889

No. 4

TH

THE ROMANTIC BEGINNINGS OF MILWAUKEE

HE Indians chose the site of the prosperous city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A pretty, straw-like village of wigwams might have been seen during the first quarter of the present century, cosily nestled among the scattered trees at the southerly side of the Milwaukee river, near the lake shore, where the indentation forms a bay six miles wide and three miles deep, easy of access at all seasons of the year. The Pottawatomies dwelt here, a nation that is said to have been known by this name (variously spelled) some two hundred and fifty years. Possibly there was some poetry in the savage nature, a certain love for the beautiful which attracted them here. At all events they could hardly have selected this charming hunting ground at random. From the tops of the bold round bluffs, which had just timber enough to shade them well, they could scan the lake stretching off in the distance to the east, look down upon the river winding in from the west like a silver thread, and catch a glimpse in the far away of the boundless prairies carpeted with green, and variegated with the wild rose, the blue-bell, the tiger lily, and other bright-colored flowers. These Indians were less quarrelsome than some of the tribes, and were fond of trading. Their habits were partially civilized, they had something of a religious philosophy, and their language was musical. It was their fascinating traditions which inspired some of Longfellow's beautiful poems, notably "Hiawatha," formed the basis of Mark R. Harrison's fine historical painting, and furnished the theme for several European essays. The Menomonees lived at the same time on the northerly side of the Milwaukee river, although their village was not as compact; and portions of several scattering tribes were located in the vicinity.

Missionaries and traders from Canada found this harbor convenient, but no one came to stay and establish a trading-post until Jean Baptist Mirandeau appeared, a few years prior to the close of the last century. He was an educated Frenchman of good family, who had been disappointed in a romantic love affair, and emigrated to Quebec, resolved to commence life anew in the wilderness of America-and it is said his fickle "sweetVOL. XXII.-No. 4.-19

heart" never had any tidings of him whatever from the hour he sailed from France. He was young, of great manly beauty, accomplished in music, literature, and many languages, and remarkably urbane and polished in his manners. At Quebec he made the acquaintance of Jacques Vieau, an older man, but of an equally adventurous spirit, one who had already traveled more or less among the Indians, and knew how to deal with them. The two packed a few necessaries, and started for the wilds of the great Northwest Territory, stopping at Mackinaw and Green Bay, and prospecting in various places. They found fur-trading exceedingly profitable, and became great favorites with the Indians. In Mackinaw young Mirandeau courted and married an Indian maiden and took her to Milwaukee, where he built a small habitation, and founded for himself a permanent home among the Pottawatomies. He then sent for the personal possessions he had stored in Quebec, among which was a large and valuable collection of books—the first library it is supposed that ever was seen west of the lakes. As the Indian wife could neither read nor write, Mirandeau had little fellowship in his scholarly pursuits, but he assumed the duties of a teacher for his ten children with commendable results. He was a religious man, and had prayers in his house every morning and evening. One of his daughters married Charles Vieau and went to live in Kansas in 1837; another daughter married Joseph Porthier at Chicago, in 1822, and about 1835 removed to Milwaukee. She had gone when about nine years of age to live with Colonel Kinzie at Fort Dearborn, Chicago, and remained in the Kinzie family until her marriage. She spoke both French and English with fluency, and understood all the Indian dialects. Mirandeau cultivated quite an extensive plantation, raised wheat, corn, and vegetables, and had a fine garden. In 1814 he imported two cows from Fort Dearborn, the first in Wisconsin, which the Indians regarded with awe and curiosity for many days.

The history of Jacques Vieau is chiefly associated with Green Bay. He also married an Indian woman, a princess she was called, the sister of a Pottawatomie chieftain, Puch-wau-she-gun, who was partly French. Vieau was an expert in the Indian traffic, made long journeys into the forests, opened relations with new tribes, and learned the language of all the different savages for hundreds of miles around. He was held in great respect by John Jacob Astor's agents, with whom he had commercial relations. He established a store of sugars and groceries at Green Bay, which proving lucrative, he started a similar store at Milwaukee, with additional goods in the way of trinkets and gunpowder. A clerk was placed in charge and Vieau spent a part of every winter, prior to the war of 1812, in Mil

waukee, which must have proven particularly agreeable to Mirandeau. Vieau had eleven children who grew to maturity. One of his sons, Louis, became chief of the Pottawatomies in Kansas, and died very rich in

1876, leaving forty-four thousand acres of land, a herd of fine cattle, and upwards of $200,000 in money.

Solomon Juneau is usually mentioned in histories and encyclopædias as the "first white settler" of Milwaukee, but he found Mirandeau quite an old resident there when he arrived in 1818. Juneau was of French

birth, a native of Canada, and twenty-five years of age at the date mentioned. His first experience in dealing with the Indians was as an employee in Jacques Vieau's Green Bay store, from 1816 to 1818. He fell in love with Vieau's pretty daughter Josette, then very young, and this romantic side of his remarkable career turned his attention toward providing business and a dwelling-place of his own. Milwaukee was his Mecca; he came at first as Vieau's head clerk in the store, and the following year, 1819, returned to Green Bay for his bride. During the winter following the newly married pair lived in a building constructed of tamarack poles, near where now East Water and Wisconsin streets cross each other. Henceforward during forty memorable years in the planting and development of Milwaukee, Juneau was more or less associated with every movement. From 1820 to 1835 he was literally the autocrat of the region, and for the greater part of the period he was practically the only white resident, Mirandeau having died in 1819. The Indians almost idolized him because of his sympathy and generosity, and at the same time stood in wholesome fear of him as he was marvelously brave, with such muscular strength that he could throw a man over his head without apparent effort, or whip any Indian in the tribe. He claimed the land and compelled obedience from the natives, even to the most haughty sachems. If he wanted a pouch of water, a dish of wild berries, a bundle of wood, or a handful of roots, he commanded the nearest buck to go for him-and he went. When the city subsequently began to take form, he was the first postmaster, the first mayor, and one of the chief promoters of every public enterprise.

The bridal habitation of Mr. and Mrs. Juneau was in the beginning literally without any of the modern improvements. It had not even a floor, a table, a bedstead, a chair, or a stove. Blocks of wood were used to sit upon, also a few stools made of small saplings. A bedstead was improvised, with poles resting on the logs which formed one side of the house and a "crotch "--while cords were ingeniously contrived with strips of twisted bark. A novel mattress was evolved from blue beech wood riven into fine splinters after the manner of an Indian broom, and skins were used for blankets. Mrs. Juneau cooked the food over an open fire on the ground, having two or three rude utensils which they had managed to secure. They had no earthen dishes for some years, and frequently nothing to eat except fish or wild meat. Juneau fixed up a corner in the hut for the display and sale of his Indian goods, by hewing a log flat on the top and supporting it with legs made of saplings. This was his first store. He also constructed a raft of tamarack poles which he kept fastened