Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-07-18


be on the wide side. and they always
slept with their feet next to he fire.
The\low tent was made by sticking
poles III the ground in a circle. and
bending them to common center,
fastening them with withes. After this
frame was made the covering was
made with anything that they had.
bu+alo skins, deer skins and rush
mats, etc.
Where Indians Camped.
There were several places along
the Baraboo river where the Indians
liked to camp at the mouth of Skillet
Creek, on the land by the river in Bar
aboo now owned by Valloo Moore, near
the big boiling springs by Maxwell's
dam, just below Butterfield's bridge
near the old horseshoe, and winter
and summer they camped on the Bara-
boo river in Caledonia. have been to
all of these camps when I was a boy:
Several times / have seen them shoot
fish with bow and arrow, but they
did this more for fun than for food.
One Indian that I knew had some
arrows with a thin spear head on them
that he shot fish with. He also had an
iron spear with two tines on it that he
speared with, but this way of getting
fish was too slow for them. They
caught their fish in trap made of
poles. They would get poles and
sharpen the small end, place the butt
end Of the poles against the bank in
creek or narrow passage and have
the sharp ends come together
making an opening about six
inches in diameter. 1t was really
stream, then few feet above the
mouth of the trap they would put
stakes across the stream so close to-
gether that the fish could not get
through. They would then get into the
creek 20 or 30 rods below and COM
mence the drive, pounding the water
and walking toward the trap. When
they got to the trap an Indian would
stick a pole or two in front of the
small opening. l have seen a drive
where the trap was covered with fish.
They would take them out as they
wanted them with spears or nets, and
when there was fish or game, no one
went hungry. In an Indian commun-
ity there was no such thing as one
family having more than they could
use and another family starving. Civ
ilization brought this condition. One
summer some Indians were camped
on Badger hill below Maxwells dam
and a young Indian called Sam, used
to play with us boys. l got acquaint-
ed with Indian Sam at the old swim
ming hole below Moore's tavern where
Ringling's quarters are, just below the
foot bridge. Sam said he was not an
Indian but a Breed" Sam would
rather play with white boys and could
talk good English. He was a scrapper
and always ready to fight. think he
had fight with every boy that came
to, the swimming hole. Any one call
ing him Indian would have to fight or
run. He and I had a scrap the first
day I met him, and after some men
had pulled us apart we made up and
became friendly and I went with him
to the camp and we had some great
times together.
Catching Ducks.
Along in the fall they moved their
camp just below Butterfield's bridge
and 1 stayed several days with him.
While with him learned several In
dian methods Of catching fish and
game. I saw Sam capture two wild
ducks in the Baraboo river. Quite
flock of them were in the river near
the mouth of Leech Creek. Sam took a
bundle of long grass and got into the
river, the grass covering him COM
pletely. He very slowly waded and
floated down among the ducks. He got
bush on the bank watching the bundle
of grass. The ducks kept moving away
from the bundle. An old drake got sus-
picious, gave the alarm and they all
flew away. 1 saw that Sam was work
ing towards the shore. | saw another
flock coming across the marsh, flying
low as though they were going to light.
I called to Sam that there were more
ducks coming, so he stayed about
rod from shore. He must have stood
on the bottom of the river for he was
perfectly still The whole flock lit with
in rod or two of him and began div
ing and Hopping in the water. Soon
another small flock came and some of
them lit close to the bunch of grass.
I saw one disappear. The rest Of them
held their heads up and moved away
and soon arose and went down the
river and Sam came ashore with
drck in each hand We had those