Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1919-09-04
Southwestern
Wisconsin

Part IL.
Prairie du Chen is the second Oldest
city in Wisconsin. The first per-
manent settlements in the state were
made as follows.
Green Bay by Augustin Langlade
and his son Charles, with their fam
lilies, 1894.
Prairie du Chen by BAIL Giar,
Augustin Ange and Pierre Antaya,
1881.
Milwaukee by Baptiste Mirandeau
1889, and jacques Vineau, 1895.
Portage by Laurent Barth 1898,
and Jean Ecuyer 1898.
Abe Wood and his family did not
come to Baraboo until about 1910 or
So years after the French located at
Prairie du Chen.
There is mist as to whether or
not Jean Mavier Cardinelle and his
wife lived at Prairie du Chen as
early as 1926 though this was the
claim of Mrs. Cardinelle. The wo-
man survived her French husband
many years and is said to have ta-
ken some half dozen spouses in the
interval. Carver, who visited Prai-
RE du Chen in 1881, makes no men
ton of white settlers and DR.. Brun-
son, an early historian, says that in
his opinion the Cardinells could not
L
X * y
TIL location of Prairie du Chen is
bounded on the west by the Miss
issippi river and on the south by
the wisconsin. High bluffs are to
the east and the valley narrows as
it extends to the north. This limits
agricultural trade. Prairie du Chen
was the gathering place of the In
dian, probably for centuries. Here
the, tribesmen of Illinois, Iowa, Mimi
esota, and Wisconsin met to ex-
change their COMMODITIES and hold
their pow-wows, the waterway being
convenient thoroughfares.
X * =
The early French traders not only
bartered with the Indians but took
their squaws for wives. Among
the first traders at Prairie du Chen
were Joseph RoIette and Michael
Brisbois Hercules L. Dousman was
also trader that left his stamp on
the community. They were rivals
and are buried in separate cemeter-
les. Rolette lies in a little neglected
burying ground, tangle of vegeta-
ton covering every corner At one
side is his sepulcher. Over the
grave is built a pile of masonry, the
cover being slab of marble brought
from st. Louis, his name, date Of
birth, 1881, and date of death, 1912,
being carved upon it.
= X *
To these traders the Indians
brought
'"Furs of bison and of beaver,
Furs of sable and of ermine"
The Indians knew little of the val
ue of their catches and the traders
waxed rich. questionable methods
often used. An anecdote told Of
Joseph Rolette well illustrates the
point. A lady who happened to visit
in Prairie du Chen in pioneer times
remarked to the trader:
"Oh, Mr. Rolette, / would not be
engaged in the Indian trade; it seems
to me a system of cheating the poor
Indians
LET me tell you, madam replied
he with great naivate, 'sit is not so
easy to cheat the Indians as you i'm
agine. / have tried 1t for twenty
years and have never succeeded
s. 81 *
Just across the highway from the
cemetery where Rotlette lies, the
plot given by him. is large cemetery
given by Hercules Douseman. Tbs
contains but few graves The Dous-
man lot is enclosed by an iron fence
and includes the graves of several
members of the family, two servants
sleeping in one corner Micheal Bris-
bois is buried in another cemetery
high up on the bluff He said when
he died that he desired to have his
final resting place. where he could
look down upon his rivals in the fur
trade,and they buried him as he di-
rected.
It is said of one of the traders he
married girl when she was but ten
years old. To school at st. Louis
she was sent and when she returned
she did not live long with ner rough
frontier husband, marrying one Of the
other traders. The story goes this
particular trader not only got most
Of the property of his rival but his
wife as well.
Many of the defendants of the