River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-01-26

"a the waves beating against the
Long Island shore moan it as
requiem. Before Columbus or Cabot
| set sail for the hemisphere somewhere
! far away to the unknown west the
ancient Montauks, Indians alike of land
and sea, were wont to greet the sun
as it rose with smiling face from out
| the deep or toss their weather-tanned
| heads when the waves welled in stormy
| tumult Now, from the deck of the
| passing liner one may picture the bent
! figure that once typified the grandeur
Of a race that was.
Long Island, in the days before
the coming Of the Dutch, was called
! Island of Shells 1t was the aborig-
! inal treasure house, the home of that
which spelled wealth. Wampum grew
thereon as the gold nestles in the
rocks. Wampum was Indian money, it
was made from the stock or stem of
per1winkle. Paque was a medium of
exchange Of lesser value. 1t was cut
from the purple heart of the hard
clam shell. Some bronze-face fnan-
| cier gave the fiat that the sandbanks
were to be the tribal repositories,
and from that time on, for generation
after generation, Montauk was at once
the bourse and the Wall street of In
dian operations. The fame of the tribal
opulence was waited on the winds to
the lands Of the Mohicans, the Iro-
| quois and the Narragansetts, where
| at there was much wonder. When a
r,<~f4O l. 10
bean-shanked buck the old folks would
empty into their honeymoon canoe sew
eral feet of select Wampum and send
them on their happy way full of the
Rockefeller spirit.
Wealth carried with it responsible
ties in those good old days as it does
today. Sachem Wyandance was the
great auditor Of his tribe. His o. K.
was necessary on all transactions from
dicker for a canoe-load of bluefish
to an installment purchase of a bunga-
low site on a shoal inlet. He was
called in the Montauk dialect a toto
mua, which in modern phrase is a
tightwad.
One day, when Long Island sound
lay warm and placid, two-score or
more of Pequots, who lived on the Con
necticut Shore bundled into their
canoes and padded over to the head
| lands of MOntauk. They sent word
| to the island sachem to come out with
some of his strong-arm boys and take
a walloping. On receipt of this chal-
| lenge there was some poo-poohing.
! The MontaukS sent the millionaire
| (Wampum) company to meet hated and
poverty stricken Pequots. 1t was a
sad affair." The Montauks were trim
med. That night when the Pequots
pointed their banks for Connecticut
they carried with them a portion of
their neighbours bankroll.
1t didn't take long for the news to
get around that the Montauks had all
of the sunny side of Easy street in the
way of ready cash. A considerable
tribe of ambitious and hopeful Indians,
known as the Narragansetts, occupied
among other places what is now fash
ionable Newport. They bathed, at such
times as it seemed absolutely neces-
sary, on what is now called Bailey's
| beach. 1t is said, too, that they had
a club house somewhere near the pres
ent site of the Casino. Well, the Mar
ragansetts having heard that it was
like taking a lemon stick from a child
at kindergarten door to make the
Montauks part with their money, sent
part of the naval reserve of the time
to make a demonstration on the
| island.
This time the Montauks weren't so
easy. They met the Narragansetts on
the beach and fought them until dark
Just how many fell on that occasion
will never be known, for the tide car
rfed the bodies Of the slain out to sea
and they never came back to be count
ed. Some time thereafter, or about
1641, an understanding was arrived at
by which the Montauks and the Nara
gansetts got along without further
fighting.
The citadel of Montauk authority
! stood at what is known as Fort hill.
1t was set with stone towers at each
of its four corners and was a fortress
which never once was taken by an
enemy. Sachem Wyandance himself
lived in regal semi-savagery in a wig
wan half as large as 6. side-show tent
at circus, a short distance from the
| citadel. Wyandance was one of our
earlier Beau Brummels. He enjoyed
meeting people. The Dutch had much
to decker with the Indians at this time.
and the sachem never missed an op-
portunity to get down to New Amster-
dam to talk things over with the gov
ernor and council. He wore on those
occasions a deerskin tunic, leggings
and moccasins of buckskin and a
head dress decorated with feathers
from sea birds. Also he entwined
himself with belts which he invariably
kept filled with wampum. Not infre-
quently he carried as much as $4,000
with him in his kind of money. On
the Dutch scales it was worth about
so cents.
On one of these visits to New Am
sterdam the chief of the Montauks
met with Tamaraud, Or Tammany, then
Sachem of the Algonquins. Tammany
stuck around the Montauk chief all the
time he was In town. The story OF the