In Wisconsin we have quite a large number of Indians at the present time, located on reservations, or clustered about schools. These number 9,930, and Wisconsin ranks ninth in the entire country in point of Indian population. Wisconsin is the first State, on our inspection tour from the East to the West, wherein we find a large body of Indians still in the transition period. They belong to the following bands:—the Ojibwa (Chippewa), Menominee, Potawatomi, Oneida, Winnebago and a few others. The Ojibwa are by far the most numerous, amounting to, approximately, two-thirds of the entire number. Whether all of these five tribes originally belonged in Wisconsin, is a question which may be deferred to the ethnologist. We are treating of the State in recent times, as I have previously remarked in this book. Therefore that great question—the origin of these Indians and their presence in the State of Wisconsin—is not our concern. They are here located at the present time, and, in general, are making fair progress.
Honorable Edward E. Ayer, of the Board of Indian Commissioners, last year, made an extended investigation of the timber problem confronting the Menominee Indians. Mr. Ayer has kindly furnished me with an advance copy of his report in order that I might present a synopsis. Seldom has an investigation been conducted under more auspicious circumstances. Mr. Ayer took with him a number of persons, including a practical lumberman of wide experience. As the Menominee problem is one concerned with timber, rather than land values, it was very important that the work be thoroughly done. Mr. Ayer covered the entire reservation in his report.
“The Menominee Indians originally occupied the greater part of the State of Wisconsin. They ranged from what is now the site of Milwaukee north along the west shores of Lake Michigan to Menominee, North Michigan, and west to the Wisconsin River and Black River. Along Green Bay and the Fox River Valley were their principal settlements, and on the shores of Green Bay they first met the white man, when Father Marquette, La Salle and the first French descended the Great Lakes from the Canada settlement on exploration voyages of early days. On the reservation at Keshena is now the successor of the first French Mission established by Marquette at Green Bay.