NEW PAGE OF HISTORICAL STORIES
History Highlights (WI & MN)
Introducing History Highlights, a column featuring interesting history stories of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Scroll down to read our first three installments:
The Clandestine Explorer
Wisconsin's Famous 2-Wheeled Wonder
The Great Peshtigo Fire
Calling History Buffs!
If there is anyone out there who enjoys sharing interesting tidbits of history with others, please write in and do so! This new column will be dedicated to bringing pieces of Wisconsin and Minnesota history to light. As I, the editor am primarily a Wisconsin history buff, I could use the help of readers young or old to submit stuff on Minnesota (or Wisconsin, too, if you’re so inclined.) These can be well-known events that you would like to share a special angle on, or little know bits and pieces of history that will make others say, "I didn’t know that!" So, submit away!
"The Clandestine Explorer"
by Naomi Musch
The cool days of autumn were nearly upon them when, on September 1, 1678, a former career soldier from France leading seven other Frenchmen and three slaves, secretly slipped out of Montreal, Canada, heading for Lake Superior. The party traveled down the Ottawa River to Lake Huron, then on to the headwaters of the lake, just past the rapids at Sault Sainte-Marie, ready to embark on a series of adventures in a journey that would effect not only the civilizations surrounding the Great Lakes, but even the rest of the world.
The man, whom the city of Duluth is named after, was Daniel Greysolon Dulhut (or de Lhut). Born near Lyon, France, a member of the French nobility, Dulhut had served as a horseman in the French Guard and as squire to the marquis de Lassay. He served in military campaigns and survived the battle of Seneffe in Belgium in 1674. But when he packed his bags and headed for New France it seemed he had no particular purpose or mission in mind. He settled in Montreal in 1675 and began living the life of a dilettante (someone who dabbles in art or other activities purely for amusement). He also began ingratiating himself to important families in the city. But all that changed when he began to take an interest in the French and Iroquois conflicts which were hindering the north-south fur trade.
So it was that he took it upon himself to deal in secret with a problem that affected everyone.
Why?
Could it have been because a strict royal decree forbade anyone from "engaging in the trading of pelts in the Indian villages"? Could it have been that Montreal’s governor actually supported Dulhut’s undertaking, but could not do so publicly, so discretion was in order? Could it be because Robert Cavelier de La Salle, another explorer with lofty ambitions, had exclusive rights to explore western North America, meaning Dulhut had to slip out just ahead of LaSalle's return? All three of these reason might have played a role.
Whatever the cause for his clandestine departure, over a thousand vast and weary miles later, Dulhut found himself negotiating peaceful relations between chiefs of the Saulteur and Sioux Indians at the site of modern day Duluth, Minnesota. By arranging a lasting alliance between the two tribes, he hoped to reserve all their furs for the French. To insure this, Dulhut arranged costly marriages between members of both tribes, charming them with gifts, celebrations, and hunting expeditions.
Monsieur Dulhut’s days of exploration had only just begun, however. From the natives he had encountered around Lake Superior, he learned of the existence of the Western or Vermilion Sea. Some claimed they saw salt from that sea within twenty days travel from Lake Superior.
Thus, in the spring of 1680, Daniel Greysolon Dulhut headed out with two canoes and five hardy voyageurs and Indians to find this Western Sea, which as it turned out, was actually Great Salt Lake, Utah. They started up Wisconsin’s Brule River, seeking a water route to the Mississippi. Following the turbulent Brule, Dulhut found the St. Croix, also a river of many rapids. While this trip did not result in the finding of the Pacific, it become so important to the early fur trade that the authorities of New France eventually dispatched Pierre le Sueur to build a fort at each end of the route for its protection.
Meanwhile, Dulhut’s search for the sea was postponed when he learned that the erstwhile explorer La Salle and his companions including the friar, Louis Hennepin, had been kidnapped and enslaved by the Sioux. Heading south on the Mississippi to somewhere near the Wisconsin River, Dulhut found them and returned Hennepin and his friends to Michilimackinac on the straits connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. To do this, it was likely that Dulhut headed east up the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, to Green Bay where the Saint-Francois-Xavier mission was located, and then north around Lake Michigan, another journey of huge undertaking.
While in Michilimackinac, accusations were hurled at Dulhut, among them trafficking with the English and being a leader of traitors who refused to obey the decree about trading among the Indian villages.
Dulhut was eventually forced to return to France to plead his case, and also to ask for ownership of a post to be built on Lake Superior. Not only was he unsuccessful in his request, but in the meantime, La Salle and other jealous merchants and rivals had slandered his name in New France. To make things even worse, King Louis XIV expressed doubts as to the value of exploring the continent. He decided to limit exploration to that started by La Salle to the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Dulhut’s role as explorer was over. He also knew that he would never be the seigneur (the holder of a domain, usually a land grant from the king) of Lake Superior, but he returned as an ambassador and peacemaker to the area. While desiring peace with the Iroquois, he continued to reinforce his alliance between the French and the western tribes, convincing them not to sell their furs to the English. Even as an ambassador, Dulhut thought like a military man. He fortified Michilimackinac and constructed forts which would block enemy access to Lake Nipigon, the Albany River, and Hudson’s Bay, as well as a fort on the strait that joins Lakes Erie and Huron.
Finally, in the spring of 1689, he was recalled to the colony, but he had ensured that the authority of New France in the Great Lakes area would stand unquestioned.
Except for a battle with the Iroquois and a stay of several months at Fort Frontenac in 1695, Daniel Greysolon Dulhut spent his remaining years living quietly in Montreal. He died in February, 1710 bequeathing his fortune to a tanner who had been caring for him.
Still, his legacy as an honest man and a good soldier is memorialized in the name of the great city of Duluth, a star on the crown of the land he loved.
Wisconsin's Famous 2-Wheeled Wonder
In 1901, a small backyard shed in Milwaukee became the birthplace of one of Wisconsin’s best known inventions which has since become a thriving American icon. There, two young men aged 20 and 21 began to tinker with the idea of "taking the work out of bicycling". Should you doubt that bicycling was any work, try and remember what people were riding 100 years ago and you soon get the picture. The earliest bicycles were aptly named "walking machines" as they had no pedals (think Fred Flintstone), and once they did, they were sometimes called "bonecrushers" if that gives you any idea. Even after construction improved, bicycles still cranked up record speeds of only 23 miles per hour with great effort.
The two young men in the little 10’ x 15’ shed wanted to motorize the bicycle; however, they were not the first to attempt it. About the time that George Armstrong Custer was fighting Indians in the West, railroad magnets were laying tracks of steel like webs across the continent, and the nation was trying to find its way to healing from the devastation of civil war, the first motorbike was built. The year: 1868. It was not powered by a gasoline engine, but rather by steam. Its builder was Sylvester Howard Roper, but unfortunately, though he demonstrated his bike at fairs and circuses in the eastern US, it did not catch on. Instead, some 17 years later in 1885, Gottleib Daimler is often credited with building the first motorcycle mostly of wood construction. But even though Gottleib’s bike was propelled by an engine, it was not the first motor-driven cycle.
As it turned out, the two young men in the little shack were mechanics and inventors who came upon the idea to motorize a bike rather easily. At that time in history there was a new invention called the horseless carriage so it was a logical progression to come up with the idea to fit a smaller combustion engine to a bicycle. Hence, after two years of work and many changes, the one cylinder motorcycle was created. The names of the inventors: William (Bill) Harley and Arthur Walter Davidson.
In 1903, 3 motorcycles were produced. Harley-Davidson erected its first building at their current site in 1906 and they incorporated in 1907. That same year they produced 150 motorcycles. Then, in 1907 Police forces began buying the Harley Davidson motorcycle enjoying the speed and freedom they needed to apprehend criminals. To date, the Harley-Davidson is the number one choice of law enforcement agencies around the globe including Asian countries.
As early as 1900 the trademark 45 degree V-Twin engine was introduced which produced seven horsepower, doubling that of their previous engines. Top speed was 60 mph. That year Harley-Davidson produced 1,149 motorcycles. In 1913, the little shack which eventually evolved into a 28' x 80' factory had now grown to 297,110 square feet. Harley-Davidson began to dominate racing events.
Then, from 1916-18 a new use for motorcycles appeared on the battlefield. Already popular for police use, Harley-Davidson motorcycles supported the military in border skirmishes with Pancho Villa in the early 1900s. As motorcycles became more reliable, the United States called upon motorcycle manufacturers to support the infantry in World War I. By the end of the war, 20,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycles had been called into action.
Even with dozens of others competing in the market, in 1920 Harley-Davidson became the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, boasting dealers in 67 countries and production that year of 28,189 motorcycles.
20 years later, almost immediately after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Harley-Davidson's entire motorcycle output was produced for Allied use. By the end of World War II, 90,000 WLA army-version motorcycles had been built and shipped. Harley Davidson earned the coveted Navy "E" award for it's contribution.
Meanwhile, the Harley Davidson began and has continued to set records. For instance, in 1908, the Harley achieved a record 188.234 miles per gallon! It captured seven first place finishes in 1910 motorcycle racing, and, by 1912 claimed 200 U.S. distributors. 1921 the Harley Davidson became the first motorcycle to win a race with an average speed of over 100 mph. In 1965 George Roeder set a world land speed record of 177.225 mph for 250CC motorcycles on a modified Harley-Davidson Sprint. In 1971, Joe Smith, riding a drag bike powered by a single Harley-Davidson motor, was the first to break the nine-second barrier in motorcycle drag racing.
Most Harley-Davidson bikers have driven their bikes not to set records, but for the sheer pleasure of riding them. The Harley-Davidson Motor Company is far and away one of the most well-known companies to grow out of our state. And it all started with the vision of two young men in their backyard.
The Great Peshtigo Fire: The Deadliest Fire in Our Nation's History!
Often when we think of terrible fires in our nation’s history, we think of those most well known such as the great Chicago fire, or maybe the many fires that destroyed San Francisco repeatedly in its early days. We might also think of the great prairie fires that swept across the plains. But most don’t think of, or have ever even heard of the most devastating fire in the history of our land as having taken place in northeastern Wisconsin during the conflagration known as the Great Peshtigo Fire.
Peshtigo is a small town about 40 miles north of Green Bay and the Door County Peninsula that juts into Lake Michigan. In 1871, Peshtigo was a typical lumber town of the pineries. It lay in an area dotted by other small settlements including the region known as the "Sugar Bush" where lumber was king, and a multitude of small farms were carved out of the dense forest. Peshtigo stood on both sides of the small swift Peshtigo river which flowed southeast into the Green Bay.
The year 1871 was a year of tremendous drought for the whole of the midwest. By early fall even the air was so dry that some said, "if a man’d touch a match to it, it’d burn." Dull clouds of smoke blurred the horizon where small fires already burned throughout the region. Everyone went about their daily business, but often with a nagging fear in the back of their minds.
On October 8th, when the fire finally took hold and swept in, it created a vacuum that set up winds of hurricane velocity. This provoked fire storms that have been compared to those of the World War II air raids on Hamburg and Tokyo. Trees exploded into the air, and ships ten miles out in the bay reported burning cinders and flaming shards of wood landing on their decks. People were most often unable to escape the ferocity and speed of the raging fire.
Persons leaping into wells for safety were usually either suffocated or boiled alive. Women running from the intense heat and flame were seen with their hair igniting into flame, as were the clothes of many others who fled. In some places, whole crowds of people sought refuge in open tilled fields where the dirt was so hot it melted the soles of their shoes and burned their skin. A few escaped by covering themselves in the hot earth, while others often died of heat and smoke. In some cases there was only a small pile of ash remaining where someone had tried to take refuge.
There were also bizarre incidents of survival. One small girl, only about five years old, fled to the river where she would have been swept away had not a cow swum by which she was able to cling to and ride to safety.
Some folk that kept their wits about them were able to escape while carrying buckets of water and blankets which they kept dousing and covering themselves in. Usually the drenched blankets would dry in a matter of minutes from the furnace-like heat.
Naturally, many fled to the Peshtigo river and other rivers that hadn’t completely dried up during the drought. Even finding low land helped. Some survived this way, others didn’t. Even those standing in water up to their necks suffered because of the giant flames licking out over the water, and the profusion of burning debris that often bumped into them. Sadly, some even drowned while trying to escape burning.
Incidentally, many have not heard of the Peshtigo fire because it took place on the very same day as the Chicago fire (of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow’s fame). Because the Peshtigo region was so remote, and the settlements and farms so scattered, it was several days before many in the more southern parts of Wisconsin or the nation heard of what was happening in the northern forests.
Still, the Peshtigo fire goes into the history books as the worst tragedy of its kind ever recorded in North America. In all, more than five times as many people died in the Peshtigo fire than in the Chicago fire. It destroyed some 1,280,000 acres of timber and farm land, stretching even into Michigan. The after-effects caused some to go mad and others to face starvation or ruin. Some thought it was the end of the world.
Today visitors can go to the Peshtigo Fire Museum in downtown Peshtigo, or visit the cemetery next door where mass graves and stone markers still commemorate the many who lost their lives in the the fire.
