Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-08-07
SMOKY HILL.
A Place of Historic Interest Located
in Marathon County.

| IHtClOol IOCdlctl III lDc bOW VI OCi
this county. The PnoT has previously
published description of the country
surrounding Rice lake, of Smoky hill
and of the many interesting relics of
the aboriginees to be found in that vicin
| ity. The place was long habitat for
Indians after the whites came to this
region and if its entire history were
known, many an interesting story
could be woven from its history. Many
fierce battles ragged around the lake, as
is evidenced by the large number of
arrow and spear heads and other relies
of early warfare which can be found on
lands surrounding the lake and hill
| Here is the story from the Marshfield
paper:
Very few of us realize when we are
| face to face with an old person a
volume well filled with the past is
! before us, and if we do not grasp our
opportunity and receive this past, then
soon our book of history of long ago
is closed forever Some of the best
and most reliable material is gotten
| from this human book and it is our
duty and privilege to receive these
sagas of the history of our locality and
| pass them on to our children as gems |
worthy of the most thoughtful con-
| sideration. 1t is within the knowledge |
of comparatively young men and |
| women when the first white settlers |
| took these lands as homesteads, and |
| so we can afford to wait few years |
| before we try to get the history of the |
| region with its Anglo-Saxon influence,
| but to receive the history of the child |
of the forest, we must resort to our
Oldest settlers, and then they have
| received much as story that is told.
One of the interesting places in the
life of the Indian was Smoky Hill, |
situated at Rice Lake, Marathon Co.,
so named because from afar the Indian
and French traders could always see
the lazy smoke, lying in blankets
around the hill. We do not as yet
know just how far back we must tray
ell before we find the Chippewa in his
village relation on this hill, for in
1878 H. e. Rozell says that it was
then used only as temporary camping
ground. Two or three years prior to
this the hill was burnt over by a forest
fire which destroyed the remainder of
the woodland which had not been
blown down in great whirlwind that
had passed over the region a number of
years before.
1t vas left to Peter Chaurette to
land down an event of importance
which took place on this hill Peter
Chaurette died June 20, 1884, at the
age of seventy-four and lies out in the
Rockville cemetery, forgotten except
when brought to the mind of our old
timers. He was a one armed half
breed, who had lost that member, Mr.
Rozell says, in a hunting trip. Mr.
Chaurette was educated in Montreal
His father was a French soldier and
knew of the battle on Smoky Hill
and this was handed on down to his
son and thence to many of the older
settlers.
In the spring, twenty-eight years
before our Declaration OF Indepen-
dence was signed, the Chippewas left
their camping grounds on Smoky Hill
and went down the river for sugaring
or to take their furs to same trading
post. 1t was not long before runners
came up with the main body of Chip
nd told hot hO 1
bagoes had taken possession of their
village on Smoky Hill. From the
natural position of the hill with its
surrounding swamps and impregnable
front, the Chippewas knew that they
could not take it without aid. A mes
senger was sent to Green Bay asking
for 10 soldiers to drive the hated Win
nebagoes, or as the French called them,
the "Puants'' or "Stinkards, - from this
region teeming with the game of the
forest and lake and rich fields of rice
The French sent the 10 or II soldiers,
each armed with a gun and the fort
also sent a few guns for the Indians
They had for additional equipment two
two-inch field pieces. During the fall
the warrior crowd started from the
falls where Wausau is located, and
padding speedily down the Wisconsin
river the band turned into the Big Eau
Pleine, thinking to elude the spies who
were situated on lower Little Eau
Pleine river The trip up the river was
swift and secret. When they reached
what was later Weeks Mill on section
Is, township 26, range east, they were
one and one-fourth miles from the
Little Eau Pleine. They portrayed
across this place and landed three miles
below the place of conflict. One
battery went down the river to cut off
any bands of Winnebagoes who might
be waiting in ambush for the Chippc-
was. The other battery quickly in the
night steered for the Hill of Smoke.
They reached the place and found it
strongly guarded. With their super
stitious fear of fighting in the dark,
they lay low until the birds whispered /
to them of an approaching day. The
Winnebagoes were on guard and at
once the tragedy of the hill was on
three hundred Chippewas with their
| ten or twelve Frenchmen matched |
against three hundred Winnebagoes.
| 1t was no easy matter for the Chippe
was 10 Skulk through the surrounding
swamps nor for the French to get near
| the defending force on the slope With |
the better arms of the French, for a |
| time, the Winnebagoes were driven
| slowly back and many a red skin fell /
| toward the French as the little two
inch spurted out its fire and smoke.
| But the powder soon gave out and the /
battle ragged with listless fire of guns, /
| the bow and arrow, the spear and the /
tomahawk. All day the fighting was
| kept up with varying success until at |
| last by the superior cunning of the /
French and Chippewas the Winneba
goes fell back and fled east through |
| forest and swamp and gathered their i
forces together some seven miles down /
the river near section 80, township 26,