The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-04-21

suggested the cOrrelatlve one or FOR
ward; the badger was introduced as the
crest. being the term by which the inhab-
itants of Wisconsin were known; the other
emblems are self-suggestive. Following
is the official description filed in the Office
of the Secretary Of State:
THE scroll surmounting the upper part
of the seal reads Great Seal Of the State
Of Wisconsin, followed below by 10 stars
for the original States Of the Union. The
shield is quartered, the quarters bearing
respectively, a plow for agriculture, an
arm and held hammer for manufacture, a
crossed shovel and pick for mining, and
an anchor for navigation, representing
the industrial pursuits Of the people of
the State. The arms and motto Of the
United States are borne on the shield, in
token Of the allegiance of the State to the
Union. The base point of the shield rests
upon the horn of plenty and a pyramid of
lead ore. The supporters are a yeoman
resting pick representing labor by land,
and sailor holding coil of rope, repre-
senting labor by water. The crest is a
badger, the popular designation of the
State, surmounting scroll bearing the
vernacular motto Forward
ut is popularity supposed that the term
Badger was applied to our people and
State because of the abundance Of these
animals within our borders. But ouch is
not the fact. Previous to 1885, there were,
except ut the military forts and missiona-
ry and trading station, and in the lead
mines Of the southwest, very few white
people located within the Territory. The
characteristic term of Badger arose in
the lead region. The miners were Of two
grades-those who stayed all the year
round at the 'diggings,' and those who
came up from Illinois only to operate
during the summer season. The perma-
nent residents having but little time or
material to construct regular huts were
accustomed to burrow into the hill-sides
semi subterranan cells large enough for
cooking and bunking purposes. This Pc
culiar mode Of life, being similar to that
Of the badger-an animal then plentiful
enough in the lead regions-suggested
the term Of badger holes,' as applied both
to the cave-like homes and the sunken
shafts of the resident miners,-while the
latter themselves were termed Badgers,
On the other hand the Illinois itl,erants
would come up in the spring and return
in the fall, in the same manner as the
sucker being in the 'diggings, but Il
short season, they did not sink regular
shafts, and burrowed under the earth
al he, ,,a,,u lilo 4ha poI
miners, but opened large quarry-pits
seeking foat-lead and that ore which
could be obtained near the surface. The
itinerants were called Suckers from the
of their migratory habits to
those OF the catastomus, and to distin-
guish them from the resident Badgers;
while the open pits scooped out by the
former were designated 'Suckerholes.'-
The lead mine region in Southwestern
Wisconsin is still plentifully besprinkled
with these Sucker holes exhausted and
abandoned by the early visitors from over
the Illinois border. The distinguishing
appellations. Badger and Sucker be-
came, as an obvious sequence, character
istic terms applied to the entire people Of
the States of Wisconsin and Illinois re.
spectively, and to the States themselves.
1t was, therefore because of this time
honored and accepted designation of Wis
consin and its inhabitants that the badger
was chosen as its armorial crest-and we
became, officially az well us popularity,
The Badger State '-MdIisOn Journal
INDIAN TROUBLES.
In 1851 a vast territory, embracing the
watershed of the Chippewa river, was in
cluded in single county, bearing. as does
a part of it at this time, the name OF
Chippewa. The nearest trading point or
settlement below was at La Crosse.
The Chippewa Indians were numerous
and insolent, and r'any were the skirmish-
es that took place between them and their
hereditary foes, the Sioux, generally re-
suting in disaster and loss of scalps to
the former tribe. Had il not been for
the deadly animosities existing between
these two hostile tribes, there is no doubt
that the whites would have found much
more trouble in settling Northern Wiscon-
sin than they did. The Chippewa's looked
to the whites as some protection against
their deadly and more than equal foes
Yet there are many unrecorded instances,
still fresh in the minds of the early pio-
neers of the country, of trouble, and even
of bloodshed in which the Indians played
a part. To the shame of the whites be it
said that the sire water" of the pale faces
was generally the chief cause of all the
trouble, for when sober, the Indians
generally regarded the settlers as their
friends.
In 1852 Oliver Gilbert owned and run a
on Gilbert's Creek, one of the
many numbering tributaries of the Red
Cedar, now Menomonie. Gilbert owned
the mill, store, and also-plenty of whis-
ky. The firm of Knapp e. fainter also
owned large saw-mill on the Menomonie
at the place where the town of Menomonie
now stands, and u miles above Gilberts
mill. Gilbert often sold whisky to Taint-
er's men, and also to the Indians, in fact
to any one who wanted to buy and could
pay for it. Indian and whisky traders al
ways found a large supply on hand, and