Lac du Flambeau WI58
Lac du Flambeau (Lake of Torches) has been a permanent settlement of the Chippewa Indian nation since about 1745, when Chief Sharpened Stone led his band to this lake. Nearby lakes furnished a fine setting for Indian life, with wild rice in season and plentiful fish which were taken at night by the light of flaming torches, hence the name "Flambeau." The tribe was loyal to the American colonies, never taking sides with the British or French and fought with the Union forces in the Civil War. Old Abe, American Eagle mascot of the Eighth Wisconsin in the Civil War, was captured a few miles below this point by a Flambeau Indian. In 1792 the Northwest Fur Trading Co. established the Lac du Flambeau department for the Wisconsin River area trade. Forts and posts remained on this shore for about fifty years.

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Great Divide WI54
You are now on the Great Divide which separates the two principal drainage areas of Wisconsin. Water falling to the north of the point finds its way into Lake Superior, then down through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River 2,000 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Water which falls to the south of here runs down the Chippewa River into the "Father of Waters," and after 1,600 miles reaches the Gulf of Mexico. The elevation here is approximately 950 feet above Lake Superior and 1,550 feet above sea level.

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Namekagon - Court Oreilles Portage WI50
Still visible here is the southeast terminus of the 2 1/2 mile portage that linked the St. Croix and Chippewa River system. Indians, explorers, missionaries and fur-traders all used this "carrying place" to move their birch bark canoes back and forth between the two great water routes connecting Lake Superior and the Mississippi. In 1784 Michel Cadotte established a fur-trading post at the northwest end of the portage to control the trade at this pivotal point. From such interior locations as Lac Court Oreilles the Chippewa Indians carried over here on their trips to the south and west to gather rice and berries and on their war excursions against the Sioux.

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Court Oreilles WI39
The area around Lac Court Oreilles has long been a favorite habitat of Indians because of the abundant game, fish, berries and wild rice. Radisson and Groseilliers were the first white men to visit this area (1659) and they found Ottawa Indians. Before that the Sioux controlled this territory, and since 1745 the Ojibwa (Chippewa) Indians have lived here continuously. The Ottawa were called "Short Ears" by the French. Court Oreilles (Couderay) means "short ears." However, the Indians and early English and American explorers always referred to the area as Ottawa Sagaigoning or Lake. The Court Oreilles Indian Reservation contains nearly 70,000 acres and was set aside by the Treaty of La Pointe in 1854. There are approximately 1500 Chippewa Indians living on the reservation at this time.

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Tragedy of the Siskiwit WI28
Once upon a time, according to an old Indian legend, the sand beach on the east side of this bay was a favorite camping ground. Once spring a few lodges of Chippewa from La Pointe encamped here. When their chief, Bi-aus-wah, returned from the hunt, he found that a large party of Foxes had murdered all but two of his people. He trailed the enemy to their village and found them preparing to torture his young son. Chief Bi-aus-wah stepped proudly and boldly forward and offered his own life if the Foxes would release his young son, whose "tender feet had never trodden the war path." Fearing the consequences if they refused so noble an offer, the Foxes released the son an dburned the father instead. The son returned to his relatives at La Pointe, and his story brought quick and decisive revenge.

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Old Stockade Site WI15
The Sioux uprisings in Minnesota during the summer of 1862, culminating in the New DIm Massacre, caused great alarm in Superior. A Committee of Safety was chosen, a Home Guard organized, and a stockade built on the bay shore here. An inventory of all firearms in Superior revealed a total of 60 shotguns, rifles and pistols. The state sent 192 muskets and two cannon. To assist the Home Guard, the Governor sent a company of Wisconsin soldiers that had been captured by the Confederates at Shiloh and paroled. This Company was called back for Civil War duty in the summer of 1863 and was replaced by other Wisconsin paroled soldiers. The Chippewas residing in this vicinity remained friendly to the whites. By August, 1863, the Sioux in Minnesota had been overcome and most of the soldiers left Superior. Eventually the stockade was abandoned.

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Shabbona IL69
In the early 1800's Shabbona was a principal chief of the Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Chippewa group of tribes which banded together to form 'The Three Fires.' Shabbona camped briefly in a large grove one-half mile south of here. He fought with the British in the War of 1812 and later helped the settlers of northern Illinois by warning of Indian uprisings during the Winnebago outbreak. In the Black Hawk War, Shabbona alerted pioneers to impending Indian raids and offered to lead an attack against the Sauk and Fox Tribes.

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Shawano WI47

Shawano is both a Chippewa and a Menominee Indian term signifying "to the South." Shawano Lake first was given this name because it was the southern boundary of the Chippewa tribal territory. The city and county later were named after the lake. Like many Wisconsin cities, Shawano was the site of an Indian village before the white men came. In the 19th century a band of Menominee moved westward from Green Bay in search of a lake that would provide good fishing. They found Shawano Lake and settled nearby.

State Trunk Highway 55 which passes along the main street of Shawano was a part of the military road which was built from Green Bay to Ontonagon on Lake Superior. This road was authorized by an Act of Congress in 1863. After the Civil War it was used extensively by loggers and lumbermen as a supply road.

Erected 1956

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The Upper Mississippi WI264
From Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to Cairo, Illinois, the upper Mississippi River flows through America's heartland for over 1100 miles. Its currents have borne the Indian's canoe, the explorer's dugout, and the trader's packet. Jacques Marquette, Louis Jolliet, and Zebulon Pike tested its strength. Mark Twain gave it life in literature. Paddle-wheelers by the hundreds ferried lesser known passengers over its waters during the halcyon days of steamboating in the 19th century. Into the Great River pour the St. Croix, Chippewa, Black, Wisconsin, Rock, Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio. Along its banks have flourished St. Paul, Winona, La Crosse, Davenport, Keokuk, Quincy, and St. Louis. For a time diminished in importance by the railroads, the Great River came back into its own in the 20th century through dredging and damming. The present nine-foot channel and a series of locks and dams allow 300-foot barges to transport coal, cement, grain, and other products vital to the region's economic well being. Imposing in size and beauty, violent and muddy in flood-stage, calm and serene on a summer morn, the Great River sustains life and livelihood within itself, along its banks, and upward in the hinterlands east and west.

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Brule River WI170
The Brule River flows in the former channel of a larger river which once flowed in the opposite direction and drained melting ice from glacial Lake Duluth. The receding glacier created Lake Superior and also carved the valley now occupied by the Brule. Instead of flowing southward out of Lake Superior, the Brule now flows northward into it. A short portage at Upper St. Croix Lake connects the Brule and St. Croix River systems. This route became know to French explorers in 1680 and became so important in the early fur-trade that France built forts at each end for its protection. The French lost their North American colony to England in 1763. Not far from here on October 1, 1842, a Sioux war party led by Old Crow penetrated this territory intent on seeking out small bands of Chippewa. Chief Buffalo of the Chequamegon Bay Chippewa quickly gathered 200 braves to meet the much larger Sioux force. The enemies met at sunset on opposite banks of the Brule. When the Sioux attacked the next morning, two groups sent by Buffalo above and below the Sioux attacked them from the rear. The Sioux suffered a bloody defeat and never again entered this territory. Long famous as a trout stream, the Brule also is noted for canoeing and for the "wild" beauty of its scenery.

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