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CHAPTER XXVI.

 

PROGRESS OF THE OJIBWAYS ON THE WISCONSIN AND CHIPPEWAY RIVERS.

 

Remarks—Numbers of the Lac Coutereille and Lac du Flambeau bands—Their mode of gaining subsistance—They attribute their gradual westward advance to the example of their pioneer traders—Michel Cadotte—In 1784 he winters on the Num-a-ka-gun—He winters on the Chippeway within range of the Dakotas—He again winters on the Chippeway, and experiences trouble from the Indians—He winters on the Chippeway below Vermilion Falls—Two Canadians are drowned in the Rapids—Danger from the Dakotas—Peace is happily effected—Credit due to Cadotte and La Rocque—Warfare between Ojibways and Dakotas—War party and death of "Big Ojibway"—Prairie Rice Lake—The Indian fight on its shores—A family of Ojibways are massacred by the Dakotas—Bravery and revenge of the father—Exploit of Le-bud-ee—New villages are formed at Lac Shatac, Puk-wa-i-wah, Pelican Lakes and Wisconsin—Ojibways come in contact with the Winnebagoes.

 

We have now arrived at a period in the history of the Ojibways, which is within the remembrance of aged chiefs, half-breeds, and traders still living amongst them; and we can promise our readers that but few occurrences will hereafter be related, but the accounts of which have been obtained by the writer from the lips of eye-witnesses, and actual actors therein.

From this period, his labors in procuring reliable information have been light, in comparison to the trouble of sifting and procuring corroborative testimony from various sources, the traditions which have been orally transmitted from father to son, for generations past. The greatest trouble will now consist in choosing from the mass of information which the writer has been collecting during several years past, such portions as may truly be considered as historical and worthy of presenting to the world. The