Ketchum's Point, named for a local family, stands above the low, marshy Portage connecting the Fox River and Great Lakes with the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. This waterway served as a vital thoroughfare for supplies and furs during the fur trade era. Used in times of flooding, the fork in the portage trail began at this landmark. The trail ascended this bluff, following the Cook Street ridge to the Wisconsin River. The 1827 Ho-Chunk Uprising, begun by the rapid expansion of the lead mining settlements, ended with Red Bird's surrender near Ketchum's Point. A leader in the Uprising, Red Bird moved in a group of thirty Ho-Chunk along the Cook Street ridge singing his death song. They crossed the Fox to Major Whistler's encampment from Ketchum's Point. The event was associated with a series of treaties which took Ho-Chunk territory and removed them from their lands

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