Wisconsin's Past and Present: A Historical Atlas 9780299159405

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T he Wisconsin (_artographers’ Cjuild Marily ia C rews-Nelson

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F xner

Michael Gallagher Zoltan (4rossman

Amelia R. Janes

Jeffry Maas

Wisconsin’s last and Fresent A\ | listorical

Atlas

The Wisconsin (artographers’ Cyuild

The University of Wisconsin Press

The University of Wisconsin Press 2537 Daniels Street Madison, Wisconsin 53718

3 Henrietta Street London WC2E 8LU, England Copyright ©1998 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning, recording, or information storage and retrieval systems—without written permission of the publisher.

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Map on page 11: Wisconsin after Statehood, 1849. From Mitchell’s New Universal Atlas (Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1849) State Historical Society of Wisconsin Map on page i11: Wisconsin, 1998. Cartographers: production and design, Amelia Janes; editing and research, Zoltan Grossman; research, Michael Gallagher. 1998. Meridel Le Sueur, North Star Country, ©1945 by the University of Nebraska Press. Lines from Lorine Niedecker, “My Friend Tree,’ ©1961 by Cid Corman, are reprinted by permission of Cid Corman. Robert M. La Follette, La Follette’s Autobiography, is published by the University of Wisconsin Press. Map on page 4, and village sites on pages 5, 9, 11, and 12 are adapted from Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History, edited by Helen Hornbeck Tanner. ©1987 by the University of Oklahoma Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wisconsin’s Past and Present: a historical atlas/ The Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild. 142 pp. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p.93) and index.

ISBN 0-299-15940-X (alk. paper) 1. Wisconsin—History.

2. Wisconsin—Historical geography. 3. Wisconsin—History—Maps. I. Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild. F581.W57 1998 977.5—dc21 98-24580

(_onte nts x

Biographies of Cartographers/Authors and Consulting Editors

12-13

Potawatomi Removals

Foreword Learning to see the past that is all around us William Cronon

Xiii

Introduction

xv

Acknowledgments

Nation Zoltan Grossman

Potawatomi Treaty Lands

14-15

xi

The Potawatomi

Conflicts over Native Land Resources Zoltan Grossman Land and Resource Conflicts Oneida Nation

16-29 Immigrants 16-17

Names identify coordinators of two-page spreads. Italic type indicates original map or illustration.

Anglo-Americans & British Isles Immigrants Amelia Janes Native-born Americans, | 850 Routes to Wisconsin, | 820s—1 850s Janesville, 1873 British Isles Settlement, | 940 United Kingdom, |801—1922

Rural Neighborhoods of Dane County, |870s Peer

ee

18-19

Becoming German American Michael Gallagher Significant German Settlement, | 890

2-15

Indigenous Peoples

2-3

Early Cultures Amelia Janes Sites of Ancient Cultures Mendota State Hospital Grounds Mound Group Surviving Effigy Mounds in Madison Area Effigy Mound Types Hopewell and Effigy Mound Cultures Mississippian and Oneota Cultures

4-5

6-7

8-9

10-11

Areas of German Emigration German Immigration to the United States, 1845-1890 German Ethnicity, 1940/1990

Percentage of Wisconsin Residents Born in Germany, 1850-1910

20-21

Scandinavian Settlement Jeffry Maas Scandinavian Settlement Regions Nations of Origin, 1918

Native & European Encounters Jeffry Maas Native and European Fur Trade, |650s—! 840s Trade Corridor, | 760s

22-23

European Immigration Marily Crews-Nelson Ethnic Settlement Patterns, | 940

Europe after World War |

Native Nations of Eastern Wisconsin Zoltan Grossman Menominee Treaty Lands Menominee Reservation Migrations of New York Indians

Racine Ethnic Neighborhoods, |895—1 920

First European Ancestry, 1990

The Ho-Chunk & Dakota Nations Zoltan Grossman Ho-Chunk and Dakota Lands Ho-Chunk Removals

The Ojibwe Nation Zoltan Grossman Ojibwe Treaty Lands Ojibwe Migration

24-25

Ethnic Milwaukee Zoltan Grossman and Jeffry Maas Ethnic and Retail Patterns, | 850—1 890 Ethnic and Occupational Pattterns, |880—1 900

26-27

African American Settlement Zoltan Grossman African American Sites African Americans in Milwaukee, |852—1 980

vii

28-29

46-47

Newest Arrivals Michael Gallagher and Zoltan Grossman Hispanic (Latino) Population, |990 Migrant Worker Routes, | 970s Asian American Population, 1990 Ethnic Groups of Indochina

The Great Fires of October 8,1 871

Severe 20th-Century Droughts

48-49

Immigrant Religious Patterns Amelia Janes Religious Groups and Patterns Wisconsin Denominations,

|906

Other Faiths, 1994 Wisconsin’s “Holy Land” Amish Communities 32-33

Changes in Rural Society Jeffry Maas Town and Country Integration, 1913-1929 Rural Electrification, 1934 Eau Claire’s Urban Growth, 1856-1998

30-33 Cultural Legacies 30-3 |

Weather Hazards Amelia Janes Historic Disasters 1871 Peshtigo Fire

Cultural Figures Marily Crews-Nelson Key Cultural Figures Wright Buildings Professional Football “Cheese League”

50-61

Industries

50-51

Transportation Networks Michael Gallagher Wisconsin Roads and Waterways Wisconsin Railroads

52-53

Southeastern Wisconsin

Industries

Amelia Janes Industries, 1945 Industrial Milwaukee, 1912

54-55

Growth of the Fox Valley Amelia Janes Paper Industry of the Fox River Valley The Lower Fox River Green Bay Paper Industry

| and & F conomy 36-41

Natural Resources

56-57

36-37

Glacial Landscapes Michael Gallagher and Amelia Janes View of Glacier’s Edge over Present-Day Baraboo Hills Glacial Landscapes Wisconsin Glaciation

The Inland Sea: Shipping on the Great Lakes Jeffry Maas Lake Michigan Coast Lake Michigan Ferries Lake Superior Coast Great Lakes Shipping

58-59

Impacts on Wisconsin’s Environment

38-39

Zoltan Grossman

Mining Districts & Discoveries Amelia Janes

Recent Environmental Controversies Nuclear Fallout

Mining, |820s—Present

Lead and Zinc District Helena Shot Tower

40-41

Timber, River Timber Transport Manufacturing, Vegetation Cover,

60-61

& Mill Jeffry Maas and Wood Products |860s—191 0s circa 1840

Wisconsin Dells, 1875

Northwoods Vacation Home Property,

1950s—1990s Recreational Housing Units by County, 1990 Deer Ranges, 1938 and 1961

42-49 Agriculture 42-43

44-45

Harvesting the Crops Jeffry Maas Emergence of Commercial Crop Regions Agricultural Regions, | 933

Tourism & Recreation Amelia Janes Early and Modern Tourism

Bias

Society & Politics

Wheat Production, |860—1920 Decline of Wheat, |!870—1930

64-71

Boundaries

Decade in Which 50% of County Became Farmland

64-65

Colonial Boundaries & European Empires Michael Gallagher

America’s Dairyland Marily Crews-Nelson Dairy Industry, 1932 National Milk Pricing System, 1996

French Era, 1689-1 763 British Era, | 763-1775 American Era, 1775-1815

Largest Milk and Cheese Producers, | 996

Significant Events in the French and British Eras Significant Events in the British and American Eras

viii

66-67

Territorial Boundaries Zoltan Grossman U.S. Territories in the Future Wisconsin, 1776-1848 Wisconsin Territory, |836—1848

80-89

Government

80-8 |

Federal Elections in Wisconsin Zoltan Grossman Presidential Elections in Wisconsin Average Republican Vote for President, U.S. Senators

Rectangular Land Survey

68-69

Statehood Michael Gallagher Possible Wisconsins Wisconsin, |848

70-71

82-83

County Boundaries Jeffry Maas Counties at Statehood, |848

Counties in 1861 Counties at Present, 1998 County Boundary Changes in Northwestern Wisconsin, |845—Present

72-79

Movements

72-73

Progressive Era Michael Gallagher Votes for Reforms, 1873, 1910, and 1942 The 1933 Milk Strikes

74-75

Industrial Labor Unions Michael Gallagher and Zoltan Grossman Notable Strikes and Lockouts Bay View Massacre, |886

76-77

78-79

Women’s Influence Marily Crews-Nelson Woman Suffrage Women as Percentage ofTotal Population, 1930-1980 Women as Percentage ofTotal Employed, 1930-1980 Woman-Operated Farms as Percentage of Total Farms, | 930-1 987 The 1960s: Time of Turmoil & Change Zoltan Grossman Milwaukee, | 967 The Vietnam War at Home

|896—1996

Population & Representation Jeffry Maas Congressional Districts, |882 Congressional Districts, 199 | Congressional Districts in Oneida County, | 963—present Party Representation in the House of Representatives, |848—1999 Wisconsin’s Population, |836—2000

84-85

State Government Amelia Janes and Zoltan Grossman 1892 Legislative Districts 1998 Legislative Districts Governors’ Election Maps and Portraits, 1881, 1934, 1958, and 1986 Gubernatorial Elections, |848—1994

Wisconsin Firsts in Legislation, |900s

86-87

The Military in Wisconsin Michael Gallagher Military Installations Wisconsin in Military Conflicts Badger Army Ammunition Plant Project ELF

88-89

Educational System Laura Exner Public and Private Colleges and Universities, |998 School Consolidation in Marquette County

93

Bibliography & Sources

107

Photograph & Illustration Credits

109

Index

(_artographers Marily

B. Crews-Nelson

was

born

in Milwaukee,

and

grew up in Lancaster, Grant County. She received a B.S. in geography with a cartography emphasis from the University of Wisconsin— Platteville in 1991, and spent several years doing highway design. With her husband, Doug, also a cartographer, she is producing maps once again. Marily and Doug live in Verona with daughters Audrey and Sadie. Laura Exner received a B.A. in geography from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. She works as a cartographer and lives in Middleton with her husband Paul.

Michael Gallagher has worked as a map editor and cartographer for over 10 years. A native of Milwaukee, he received a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin—Madison in history (1979) and a B.S. in cartography (1985). His background includes service in the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserve. He has brought his passions for maps and history together in the atlas project, and is the “technical guru” for the project. Mike lives in Madison with his wife Diane. Zoltan Grossman is internal editor for the atlas project. He has been making maps since the age of six, and has been a professional map editor since the age of 24. He received a B.A. in history and geography (1984), and an M.S. in geog-

/Authors

raphy (1998) from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. He has written and developed educational curricula on U.S. and global history and geography, and has a special interest in interethnic relations and indigenous peoples. Zoltan grew up in a Hungarian family in Minnesota and Utah, and lives in

Madison with his partner Debi. Amelia R. Janes came to Wisconsin from Kentucky in 1980. Her first experience in cartography was hiking through the brush of central Wisconsin, field sketching and surveying burial and effigy mounds for archeological research. Since then she has combined her fine arts education, including an M.F.A. in drawing/design from the University of Wisconsin— Madison in 1983, with years of practical cartographic training and production. Amelia lives in Madison with her companion Paul. Jeffry Maas was born in Superior, and grew up in Solon Springs, Douglas County. He attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Wisconsin— Superior, receiving a B.A. in geography from the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire in 1993. He has combined his love of art, graphic design, maps, and history into a career in cartography. Jeff lives and works in Madison.

(Consulting, F ditors Ingolf Vogeler is Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire. He earned a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Minnesota in 1973. His research focuses on rural areas and agriculture in the United States and Western Europe, and cultural landscapes in North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

John O. (Jack) Holzhueter was born and raised in Menomonie, Dunn County. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and U.S. history at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Since 1964, he has been employed by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in editorial and research capabilities. Avocationally, he is a church musician.

Foreword | earning to see the past that is all around us The book you hold in your hands is a great gift, for it can teach you to see this state and its past with fresh eyes. Although geographers have on occasion produced collections of thematic maps for Wisconsin, there has never been an atlas specifically devoted to tracing the state’s history. The only publication ever to call itself a historical atlas for Wisconsin was produced in the 1870s, and although it contained much useful information on the state’s early settlers, it was really a series of contemporary maps published in the same volume with biographical sketches and brief historical essays describing the early settlement of the state. A dozen decades have now passed since that pioneering work, so it seems especially appropriate that the Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild has chosen the occasion of the state’s Sesquicentennial to produce its first historical atlas. For a group of independent cartographers, working cooperatively on a shoestring budget, to have produced such an original and distinguished volume is a remarkable achievement, and everyone who cares about the history and geography of Wisconsin is in their debt. We will be studying and learning from this book for many years to come. Geography and history complement each other in endless ways, but the academic past of the two disciplines has frequently left them estranged from each other. Historians too often tell wonderfully compelling stories about past lives and ideas, without quite managing to convey the textured richness of the landscapes within which those stories take place. For their part, geographers too often draw maps that brilliantly reveal the complex spatial and environmental relationships people have with each other and with the land, without always suggesting the intricate and often surprising evolution of those relationships over time. My own view, as an inveterate student and collector of historical atlases from the United States and all over the world, is that historical atlases are among the most potent tools we have for forcing ourselves to confront the full richness of the world we inhabit, a world that is as challenging to understand in space as it is in time. What we discover in such books is the powerful traditions and causal forces that have led people to live how and where they now do, modified in turn by the serendipitous accidents of history that have played no less powerful a role in shaping the lives we now lead. The wonder of a great historical atlas is its ability to juxta-

pose a multitude of different themes in different places and periods so as to suggest the extraordinary interconnectedness of the world around us. The United States as a whole has had surprisingly few such atlases: one thinks of Charles O. Paullin’s Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, published in 1932, still in many ways the most ambitious historical atlas produced in this country; James Truslow Adams’ Atlas of American History, published in 1943; and the American Heritage Pictorial Atlas of United States History, published in 1966. Important and useful as thesebooks may be, none holds a candle to the breathtaking Historical Atlas of Canada, published in three volumes between 1987 and 1993, a work that puts to shame its neighbors to the south. Although no historical atlas published on a limited budget for a single state is likely to compete with these path-breaking Canadian volumes, in fact Wisconsin’s Past and Present: A Historical Atlas begins to point the way toward what a new generation of historical atlases will look like in this country. Employing the powerful new cartographic and compositional tools that are now available on computers, it has become possible to process much more quickly and easily much larger quantities of data about a more diverse array of themes than ever before. New printing technologies have enabled even a small state atlas like this one to represent its insights and arguments not in the difficult-to-decipher patterns of black ink on white paper, but in all the subtleties that can be expressed when a nearly infinite array of colors is available to the mapmaker. The result is not just a feast to the eye, but to the mind as well. A book like this one should be approached less as a volume to be read cover to cover—though it will certainly reward such a reading—than as an occasion for inspired browsing. Turn from a spread of maps on the distribution of the state’s ethnic groups to a comparable spread on state agriculture, and you will almost inevitably find yourself wondering why certain peoples were drawn to certain locations and certain kinds of crops. Study the maps of glaciation in Wisconsin and bear them in mind as you browse through comparable maps of vegetation, watersheds, and industries, and you will not be able to escape the conclusion that events seemingly buried in the deep geological past continue to have a profound influence on landscapes and human lives all

ing historical documents we possess, a source of endless stories and insights if we can unlock its secrets. In trying to understand the landscapes we now inhabit and travel

around the state. Spend some time comparing Wisconsin’s rivers, railroad lines, and roads with maps displaying the state’s settlement history and contemporary demographic distribution, and you'll be forced to recognize remarkable continuities in the ways people have moved and made homes around the state. Half the pleasure in such discoveries is in making them oneself, and it is a characteristic of this kind of book that one finds in it more data than argument: here you have the raw materials for almost endless speculation about this remarkable state, its peoples and landscapes. My own hope is that citizens of Wisconsin will buy this book and keep it close at hand whenever they travel around the state. Although it was surely not written mainly as a tourist guide, I can imagine few more inspired uses to which it might be put. If only we can train our eyes to see it, the landscape around us is one of the richest and most fascinat-

through, one of the most powerful questions we can ask is,

“How did this place come to be this way?” That is precisely the question that this new atlas gives us the tools to start answering on our own. I suspect it won’t quite fit in my own glove compartment, but I’m planning to figure out some way to leave a copy in my car so I'll never have far to reach when confronting some new puzzle in the places I visit—and I urge you, dear reader, to do the same!

William Cronon Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies University of Wisconsin—Madison

xii

Introduction How to use the atlas

In this Sesquicentennial year, many Wisconsin citizens are asking what makes their state unique. How did “Wisconsin” evolve from a collection of arbitrary boundary lines on the landscape to a cohesive political and cultural entity—a place unto itself? The answer may lie, at least to some extent, in the state’s location at the intersection of natural and cultural regions. Wisconsin has always been a part of North America on the “edge.” It was at the edge of great glacial ice sheets, and subsequently on the “tension line” between the Northwoods and the Central Plains. It later became a meeting ground for many different Native American nations, and a new home to diverse groups of immigrant settlers, who introduced new cutting-edge political and economic ideas to the rest of the country. Wisconsin developed between the urban centers of Chicago and the Twin Cities, and parts of the state became a hinterland to both metropolitan areas. The state still serves as a borderland combining the agricultural Midwest, the industrial Great Lakes region, and the Northern forests, and its people reflect this regional diversity. Drawing from its traditions, Wisconsin continues to stand on the forefront of innovative government policies and communitybased ethics. It continues to be a unique place where many different aspects of nature and culture clash, interact, and sometimes find a balance. Wisconsin’s Past and Present: A Historical Atlas was born out of a love for our state and for the art of mapmaking. The people of Wisconsin have not had a historical atlas since 1878. Two years ago, the Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild decided that the state’s 150th birthday was an ideal time to make the long-held dream of a new historical atlas come true and to provide an educational resource that would last beyond the 1998 celebration. The Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild was founded in May 1996 by six professional mapmakers in the Madison area. We have a total of about 40 years of experience in the craft, and have complementary backgrounds in thematic cartography, geography, history, art, and science. We have worked together for years on computer graphics production and

This atlas is organized into sections around three central categories. The first section, Peoples & Cultures, looks at

indigenous and immigrant groups and the state’s religious and cultural diversity. The second section, Land & Economy, examines Wisconsin’s natural resources, agriculture, and industries. The third section, Society & Politics, reviews the development of boundaries, social movements, and government in Wisconsin’s history. Within each section, two-page spreads present historical themes in a roughly chronological fashion. Spreads

were

coordinated

by different

cartographers/

authors, and so serve as distinct essays on various historical themes. Since the themes in the atlas are strongly interrelated, however, the spreads are by no means self-contained, for each one contains references to other spreads. In the Weather Hazards spread, for example, the story of the 1871 Peshtigo

Fire refers to the discussion of harmful lumbering practices in the Timber spread. The cross-references are abbreviated versions of the spread titles. For example, Germans refers to the spread “Becoming German American.” Each spread contains a main body of text giving a basic chronological overview of the theme, a primary map, and secondary maps and columns that tell more in-depth stories related to the central theme. Some graphics help to provide context for the maps and text, while other graphics (such as charts) can themselves be used as reference tools.

Educational uses The atlas is intended for the general public, and particularly for schools. History and social studies instructors have

long needed a concise, visual publication about Wisconsin history to heighten students’ interest in the subject, and inspire students to do further research. The Bibliography & Sources section provides resources for further study. We hope that instructors in high schools and colleges will incorporate the atlas into the U.S. history curriculum, to supply a local perspective on larger events at the national level. The

desktop publishing, and have pooled our skills, resources, and technology to continue this close working relationship. In a sense, this atlas is itself a product of historical cir-

history of our own backyard can help illuminate and increase the understanding of the history of our country and world. Maps help to bring this history lar places, in a way that texts We are currently working with of the State Historical Society

cumstances. The Guild reflects a working environment similar to the artisan craft guilds and rural cooperatives in Wisconsin’s past, but different in using modern technology. Advances in computers, and heightened public interest in

alive, and locate it in particuor photographs alone cannot. the Office of School Services of Wisconsin on development

Wisconsin’s history in its Sesquicentennial year, have given

of an Atlas Teacher’s Kit, including overhead transparencies. The Guild is also exploring the possible development of

impetus to the production of an atlas that we hope provides an exciting look into the state’s past.

posters, a CD-ROM, and other educational ancillaries. This atlas is intended not to serve as a comprehensive text xiii

readers’ interest in exploring the state’s history. Wisconsin is blessed with an abundance of resources to assist that exploration. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin publishes

do not reflect any relative importance of ethnic groups, but rather indicate how sources “map” them over a larger area and time period in Wisconsin history. It should be noted that ethnic groups are covered on spreads besides the specific

the six-volume History of Wisconsin

presentations in the Peoples & Cultures section, and that the

on Wisconsin history, but to be a starting point to stimulate

series and numerous

Atlas of Ethnic Diversity in Wisconsin provides a more detailed view of ethnicity based on modern census numbers

readable booklets on different facets of state history. It also maintains a number of educational sites—including Old World Wisconsin in Eagle, the State Historical Museum in Madison, and the nationally renowned State Historical Society Library in Madison. The University of Wisconsin Press publishes many resources, including the Cultural Map of Wisconsin,

and distribution. Other choices involved which areas of the state to highlight on the spreads. Given the state’s geographical diversity, it has been important to represent the different regions of the state in the atlas. Yet since the maps have been selected to represent larger issues or trends in state history, rather than

Wisconsin Land and Life, and The Atlas of

Ethnic Diversity in Wisconsin. Many other books we found

useful in our research

are listed in the Bibliography

the separate histories of cities, some sizable communities may not be represented. Again, this reflects limitations of space, rather than the relative importance of towns or cities

&

Sources section.

An impossible task

in Wisconsin history. Any historical atlas is also bound to contain some factual errors, whether resulting from inaccurate sources, conflicting opinions of experts, or weak coffee. Any comments, cor-

Producing a historical atlas is a complex exercise in combining time and space, in the setting of a particular place. Even the title, Wisconsin’s Past and Present: A Historical Atlas, combines the elements of time (history), space (maps), and place (a single state). There was no possible way to reflect all the events or people that have affected Wisconsin, so certain choices had to be made. We would have liked to cover more themes—such as health, crime, sports, or wildlife—and may be able to do so in future editions of the

rections, or suggestions can be mailed to the Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild (2701 University Avenue, #409, Madison, WI 53705).

Two lifetimes The 150 years of Wisconsin’s history as a state may seem like a long time, given the enormous changes that have taken

atlas.

We wanted the atlas not to focus exclusively on important

place in the landscape and society since 1848. Yet the state’s

individuals at the top of society, or on singular events. We

existence only encompasses the life spans of two 75-year-

wanted the atlas to help reveal how the people and landscape

olds. There may be an elderly person living in your neighborhood or village who, as a child, knew people who had

of Wisconsin have been transformed over time, especially since statehood in 1848. The atlas spread format allows early historical themes to be brought up to the present day, to make

been born before statehood. Studying Wisconsin history is a way to gain insight on the changes that have transformed the lives of individuals and communities in the course of their

the point that Wisconsin history is still alive. History did not stop in 1890, 1940, or 1990, and current events very much

lifetimes. As William Cronon points out in the Foreword, Wisconsin is a wonderful place to make discoveries. It is a state with rich stories and multilayered places that give us insights into the history of our country and our world. While we cannot tell all these stories, or map all these places, we hope that this atlas inspires readers to go and search for these stories and places themselves.

have their roots in the past. Some choices in atlas development

involved ethnic groups. Time, space, and place—rather than raw population numbers—were again the criteria for developing presentations. A small indigenous group that has lived in Wisconsin for centuries (and ceded lands that created the state) may have more coverage than an older indigenous group that moved completely outside Wisconsin. Likewise, an immigrant group that settled in large rural areas early in the state’s history may have more coverage than a larger immigrant group that settled later in the cities. These choices certainly

The Wisconsin Cartographers’ Guild

Statehood Day May 29, 1998

xiv

| Acknowledgments Our first thanks are to our families, especially to Paul Fetcho, Debi McNutt, Jesse Grassman, Diane Gallagher, Jessica Wendt, Doug Crews-Nelson, Audrey Hoffman, Sadie CrewsNelson, Paul Exner, and Jennifer Davis. Thank you for your perseverance and your understanding of our long hours, antisocial behavior, and unsolicited lectures on glaciation, land surveys, and Norwegian tobacco farmers. Special thanks to Doug Crews-Nelson and Jon Daugherity for helping with map production. Thanks to the two consulting editors for the project: to John

O. (Jack) Holzhueter,

Department of History, and American Indian Studies Program Acting Director Craig Werner. Thanks to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, particularly Director George L. Vogt, Publications Director Paul Hass, Office of School Services Director Bobbie Malone, Archivist Sally Jacobs, and past History of Wisconsin series authors William Fletcher Thompson, Alice Smith, Robert C. Nesbit, Paul Glad, and Richard Nelson Current. Thanks also to the helpful staff at the Library Desk, Reference, Archives, Government Documents, and Iconographic collections. Thanks to Ellen Goldlust-Gingrich and Jennifer Mader for indexing the atlas. Thanks to Guild Board members Janice Rice, Steve Cotherman, Randy Gabrys-Alexson, Patty Loew, and J. Michael Harrington, for their encouragement and assistance. Thanks to all others who offered support and encouragement to the project, including Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau senior research analysts Peter Cannon and Richard Roe, former U.S. Senator and Governor of Wisconsin Gaylord A. Nelson, State Senator Fred Risser, Robert Allen, David Mollenhoff, Professor Emeritus Norman Risjord of the U.W.—Madison Department of History, Professor Charles Collins of the U.W.—Platteville Department of Geography, Professor Mark Schug of the U.W.-Milwaukee Department of Economics (and chair of the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies), Professor David Wrone of the U.W.—Stevens Point Department of History, and historian Allen Ruff. Thanks also to Professor Michael P. Conzen, Chairman of the University of Chicago Department of Geography, and Milwaukee Public Museum Curator Emerita of Anthropology Nancy O. Lurie for their insightful critiques of the project. Thanks to those who helped publicize the project, including Editor Howard Mead of Wisconsin Trails magazine, Susan Lampert Smith of the Wisconsin State Journal, Gary Nelson of WMTV-15, Erik Ness, the Capital Times, the Madison Public Library, and many others. Finally, thanks to each other, for pulling off what some thought to be an impossible job, and for staying good friends throughout the project.

editor at the State Historical

Society of Wisconsin, for his invaluable early mini-seminars and later text editing, and to Professor Ingolf Vogeler, at the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire Department of Geography, for his inspiring cartographic ideas and map editing. Thanks to the University of Wisconsin Press for endorsing the project in its embryonic form, and particularly to Director Allen Fitchen, Production Manager Terry Emmrich,

Chief Editor Elizabeth Steinberg, Publicist Joan Strasbaugh, Editor Juliet Skuldt, Designer Ben Neff, and their colleagues. Thanks to all those thematic experts who reviewed or assisted with research on particular atlas pages, and who are more fully acknowledged in the bibliographies for each twopage spread. Thanks to the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Commission for funding the project in part, with funds from individual and corporate contributors and the state of Wisconsin. Special thanks to Leroy Lee, director of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, and Commission chairman Dean Amhaus. Also thanks to Anchor Bank for funding, and to Anne Katz of the Wisconsin Assembly of Local Arts Agencies for acting as fiscal receiver. Thanks to current and emeritus U.W.—Madison faculty and staff who supported the project, particularly to Professor William Cronon for helping to shape the project and for writing the Foreword, as well as to Professors Emeritus Arthur Robinson and Francis Hole and Professors Robert Ostergren and David Woodward of the Department of Geography, Cartographic Laboratory Assistant Director Onno Brouwer, Professor Emeritus Margaret Beattie Bogue of the

XV

The people area story that never ends,

a river that winds and falls and gleams erocwin many dawns, lost in deep gulleys, it turns to dust,

rushes in the spring freshet, emerges to the sea. The people area story

thatisa long, incessant coming alive from the earth in better wheat, Percherons, babies and engines,

persistent and inevitable.

The people always know that some of the grain will be good,

some of the crop will be saved, some will return and bear the strength of the kernel,

that from the bloodiest year some

survive to outfox the frost.

—Meridel]

e Sueur

from North Star (ountry (| 945)

Peoples & Cultures [Immigrant

(_ultural | egacies

the firstin the world to fabricate metal. The greatest number of Old Copper tools (tens of thousands) have been found in eastern Wisconsin, which some archeologists refer to as the “heart” of the culture.

Human beings have lived in Wisconsin for at least 12,000 years. As the glacial ice sheet receded (see Glacial), Wisconsin was home to such animals as _

mammoths and giant beavers. Paleo-Indians hunted, fished, and gathered wild plants in the area. Around 6500 Bc, the landscape gradually changed to resemble the present-day environment. Native Americans who > adapted to these changes developed the Archaic culture. Hunting and gathering groups migrated throughout the region, and made tools from stone they excavated from quarries. Although these earliest cultures existed throughout the continent, Wisconsin would later become home to several unique cultures. The map below shows examples of archeological sites left behind by ancient peoples. Some of the sites were inhabited by different cultures in different eras.

Around 800 Bc, people of the Early Woodland | culture began to make clay pottery, store food, and— build conical (round) burial mounds for their dead.

They could use a variety of stone tools and needed less land to gain a livelihood. Some people of the Middle Woodland culture began around 100 Bc to build large groups of burial mounds, and to bury special objects (such as clay masks) with their dead. They also began to interact with the Hopewell culture | of the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys (see map at right), which buried the important members of its society in elaborate mounds, and developed new — farming and weaving techniques. Hopewell pottery is—

About 3000 Bc, groups of Archaic people began to fashion tools from copper dug from pits in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Old Copper culture was one of

considered the finest of any made in the Sar Hopewell trade networks brought shells from the

Gulf Coast and stones from the Rockies and Appalachia.

Mexico

Extent of effigy mound culture in Wisconsin

es)

Hopewell culture (circa | BcC—300 AD)

Survival of the Ghost Eagle European-American society has over

time looked at Native American mounds as astronomical observatories,

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the construction of farms and towns destroyed as much as 80 percent of Wisconsin mounds. Some of the mounds were surveyed and mapped before they were flattened. If the soil used in the original moundbuilding is different from the soil in the

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sources of plunder, or archeological sites. In the 19th and 20th centuries,

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of ancient explorers, profitable

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|

centers of pagan worship, evidence

Effigy mounds

old mounds sometimes grow at a different rate from adjacent crops. Aerial crop photographs have revealed some of these flattened effigy mounds beneath the farms. One former mound north of the Wisconsin River near Muscoda is in the form of an eagle with a 1,300-

foot wingspan—the largest bird mound ever recorded. The HoChunk (formerly Winnebago) have proposed reconstructing this “ghost eagle” on the basis of old surveys and modern photos. The Ho-Chunk believe that their ancestors built the effigy mounds, and see themselves as caretakers of the mounds. Similarly, they have stories and legends that may relate directly to the Woodlandera images in rock art sites (such as the giant Gottschall site figures in

the Red Horn panel below).

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many as 20,000 Mascouten and Miami lived in a town on the Fox River. By the 1760s, the Miami had

loss of the region to Britain in 1763 (see Colonial Boundaries).

moved to Indiana, and the Kickapoo

British fur-trade era, 1763-1815. As the British took control of the region, many French, Native

American, and Métis traders east of the Mississippi In 1634, the Huron took Jean Nicolet to meet the HoChunk at Red Banks on Green Bay, making him the

no avail. By the 1770s the two tribes were living together in large villages along the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers. They ceded much of south-

began working for them. The British decentralized the fur trade, which reduced the tribes’ economic

—

had moved to Illinois, where they absorbed the Mascouten. The Miami and Kickapoo were removed to Kansas and Oklahoma in the 1820s—1830s. Some later fled to northern Mexico, where they still guard their traditions today.

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annual cranberry festival is still held. In the early 1900s fur farms (primarily fox and mink) were established.

Decline of Wheat, 1870-1930

1920

-

1950 in a cranberry bog near Warrens (Monroe County), where an

|

Acres in production

|

mint, hemp, and honey production

were introduced from other areas in the country; maple syrup production, berry-picking, and wild rice harvesting originated in Native American traditions. Farmers also flooded many central and northern Wisconsin bogs for cranberry cultivation, eventually making the state second only to Massachusetts in cranberry production. The photo above shows manual cranberry harvesting technique in use about

Since the 1960s, the cultivation of ginseng (chiefly in Marathon County) has capitalized on expanding Asian and domestic markets.

Fruit and vegetable cultivation. Gardens and orchards on family farms began producing vegetables and fruits as cash crops well before the 1900s, Decade inWhich 50% of County

Specialty Crops “Specialty crops” were originally cultivated in Wisconsin as an income source to supplement dairying and feed-crop or cash-crop farming. The few specialty crop farms that grew to be large-scale operations were located in areas where the climate, landscape, and labor force made their success possible. Tobacco,

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

Px

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Although crops have been grown for local consumption throughout Wisconsin's history, certain crops began to develop larger commercial markets in specific decades. This map shows the leading counties for each cash crop as it emerged as a marketable farm product. While the crop regions shifted over a period of

-

My

DOUGLAS

Agricultural Regions, 1933

decades, the areas where the cash crops

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first emerged have largely remained the top-producing areas.

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Aldo Leopold (1887—1948), a wildlife ecologist and sportsman,

Cece

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BONG

was a key figure in modern conservationism. Born in Iowa and educated at Yale, Leopold joined the U.S. Forest Service in the Southwest, where he founded the first forest wilderness area. He moved to Madison to work at the Forest Products Laboratory. In the 1930s,

he wrote a book on game managePACIFIC

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sulfur dioxide that (along with other gasses) created acid rain. Northern Wisconsin soils could not neutralize acid rain, which contaminated many fishing lakes with mercury. Environmentalists also targeted nuclear plants and prevented the construction of new reactors. (At left, citizens picket a utility office in 1973, protesting the proposed Tyrone nuclear plant.) In the 1980s, they opposed the exploration of northern bedrock sites for a national high-level nuclear waste underground repository, and the construction of aboveground casks to store wastes from reactors.

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