Can you give me any information concerning the origin and historical significance of the name “Winnequah,” applied to the point projecting into Lake Monona?
Frederick Brandenburg,
Madison, Wisconsin.
The site of Winnequah was originally known as Strawberry Point, Squaw Point, Old Indian Garden, and Wood’s Point. It was the village home for the Lake Monona Winnebago, and when Madison was first built it was occupied by Abraham Wood, who had a Winnebago chief’s daughter for his squaw. She was one of the illustrious family of Decorah, and her father was chief of the band in the vicinity of Portage. In 1835 William B. Long and Abraham Wood entered the fifty-two acres of the point in the Mineral Point land office, and three years later, March 24, 1838, transferred their interest to Col. William B. Slaughter. After this transaction Wood moved to Poynette. Slaughter kept the land as an investment. Thomas B. Sutherland, one of the founders of the State Historical Society, was wont to relate his experiences as surveyor in 1835 when he spent some time at the Indian village at Strawberry Point. The name “Winnequah” was bestowed upon the point some time in the late sixties by Capt. Francis (Frank) Barnes who ran a steamboat line on Lake Monona. Barnes had a fancy for odd names; one of his boats was named the “Scutanaubequon.” He built a dancing hall on the point and fitted
it up for picnic parties and seems to have invented the word “Winnequah.” At least, its meaning is not to be found among the Winnebago vocabularies, nor is it susceptible of any interpretation except that it is made up of Winnebago Squaw Point. Barnes carried on his steamboat line from 1866 to 1873 or 1874, perhaps later. The Madison directory for 1877-78 lists him as “captain of tug.” The owner of Strawberry Point—to revert to its first name—from 1868 or earlier was N. W. Dean. He seems to have rented or leased the land to Barnes for his picnic grounds.
THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE SUPERIOR
In Volume Seven of the American Nation Mr. Thwaites states (page 52) that Lake Superior was discovered in 1616. All other secondary accounts give 1629. Can you tell me whether or not the date 1616 is a misprint? If not where can I get the information about its discovery?
E. G. Doudna,
Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The dates of the discoveries of the several great lakes are not definitely known, and there is no uniformity of statement concerning their first exploration. Dr. Thwaites’s works reflect this uncertainty. In the American Nation volume to which you refer he was inclined to accept the theory of Etienne Brulé’s exploration of Lake Superior, and thought it might have occurred after his journey to the Susquehanna in 1615, and before his return in 1618 to Quebec. Therefore he gives the date as 1616. In his Wisconsin, published in 1908, he appears to have rejected the theory of Brulé’s explorations, and states that Jean Nicolet in 1634 was probably the discoverer of Lake Superior. In his school History of the United States (Boston, 1912) he shows his doubt by giving “about 1629” as the date of the discovery. Not all secondary accounts give the date as 1629. Our own opinion is that there is no authority for this date, and that it arises from a misinterpretation of Edward J. Neill’s statement in Justin Winsor’s Narrative and Critical History of America, IV, 165. One of the latest histories of the Great Lakes (Channing and Lansing’s The Story of the Great Lakes, New York, 1909) gives no date for the discovery of Lake Superior, but assigns 1610 to the first white man’s voyage on Lake Huron, five years earlier than the traditional one of 1615 for
Champlain’s first voyage. The whole matter turns on the career of Etienne Brulé, one of the youths selected by Champlain to reside among the Indians and learn their language. His adventures were first discussed in detail in C. W. Butterfield’s, Brulé’s Explorations and Discoveries (Cleveland, 1898). A more recent discussion in French, by the eminent Canadian authority Benjamin Sulte, appeared in the Canadian Royal Society Proceedings and Transactions, 3d. series, vol. 1, section 1, 97-125. Butterfield and Sulte substantially agree, and both consider that Etienne Brulé with a companion named Grenolle probably visited Lake Superior and explored it in 1622-23. The evidence is somewhat circumstantial, and the point may never be determined; but Champlain must have had some information, aside from that furnished by the Indians, for upon his map of 1632 appears the outline of Lake Superior entering Lake Huron by the “Sault de Gaston,” as he calls the present Sault Ste. Marie. If one rejects the evidence of Brulé’s voyage, which rests upon inference chiefly, the date 1629 is the last one in which Champlain could have obtained his information for his map published in 1632, since he was deported by English conquerors from his colony in the former year, and did not return until 1633.
Next to Brulé must be placed Jean Nicolet, who visited the Sault in 1634; whether he ascended the strait to the lake itself is conjectural. Then in 1641 came the great gathering of Indians attended by the Jesuit fathers, Jogues and Raymbault. (See L. P. Kellogg’s Early Narratives of the Northwest, New York, 1917, 19-25). The first description of Lake Superior is given by Pierre Esprit Radisson in his Journal. The probable date of his voyage thereon is 1661, but Father René Ménard arrived at Keweenaw Bay in the autumn of 1660.