The Indians in Wisconsin's History

INDIAN YOUTH AT “SCHOOL” (PAINTING BY A. O. TIEMANN).
BY JOHN M. DOUGLASS
The author, a member of the History Division of the Milwaukee Public Museum, died January 26, 1951, shortly after completing the manuscript of this handbook.
POPULAR SCIENCE HANDBOOK SERIES NO. 6
DESIGNED AND PRINTED AT THE MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MAY 1954
ROACH HEADDRESS (MUSEUM EXHIBIT).
It is difficult now to realize that Wisconsin, famed as a dairy state and rich in farm land and thriving communities, was once a great wilderness. Before the land was cleared for the farmer’s plow and with its dense forests yet to hear the lumberjack’s axe, the thick timberland of the north and even the rolling prairies of the central and southern portions of our state teemed with a great variety of wild life, including animals no longer occurring in Wisconsin, such as the woodland caribou, moose, elk, and buffalo or bison, as well as the more familiar deer, bear, and many smaller varieties.
Before the arrival of the Europeans, this Wisconsin wilderness was the home of Indians who were wonderfully adapted to a life in the forests. They depended almost entirely on hunting and the gathering of natural products for their food, shelter, clothing, tools, and weapons, although most of them raised some garden crops such as corn, squash, beans, and possibly tobacco.
Let’s pretend that we can travel backwards in time about 350 years and visit a typical Indian family of that period. As we arrive on the scene the tribe is preparing to set up a new camp. The women are busy unpacking their household gear, including reed mats used to cover the outer sides of the wigwam. The women themselves have carried the loads during the journey. This is not done because of any laziness on the part of the men, a common error of white observers, but simply because the men need their hands free to ward off a sudden enemy attack, or to kill any game they might chance upon during the journey.