|
There
was but one store and that was the fur company's. They carried in stock
everything that was necessary -- groceries, dry goods, hardware, etc. The
grocery department occupied a two-story building about the same size as
the dry goods department building, one standing on each side of a street
leading from a dock about the same place where the present dock is. There
was also a banking department, which was situated about 200 feet east
of the other buildings. There was no saloon. There were two carpenter
shops, one operated by Mr. Perinier and the other by Dufault, also one
large cooper shop maintained by the company, one blacksmith shop, etc.
There was also one very large warehouse for repacking fish; it was about
200 feet long and was situated on the dock. In the rear of these buildings
the company also maintained a very extensive garden and orchard, in which
were raised all kinds of garden vegetables, grapes, cherries, crabapples,
currants, strawberries, etc. This was enclosed by a high board fence and
was in charge of old man Oakes, father of Charles H. Oakes, lately of
St. Paul, who was an expert gardener. Antoine Gaudin (Gordon) assisted
him one or two years. "Squire Bell" was at La Pointe upon my
arrival in 1839. Rabidoux, Charpentier, Dufault (Dénommais) were
there before me. Remillard came two or three years after me. Stahls and
O'Malley came during Father Chebul's time, about 1860-61. Borup and Oakes
were headmen for the fur company (John Jacob Astor). All voyageurs, "runners,"
as they were called, were employed by said company. They would leave La
Pointe about the beginning of September, stay away all fall and winter
among the Indians in their respective districts, collect furs, and return
about the beginning of June. They would take along blankets, clothes,
and guns. Etc., to trade with the Indians for their furs. They took along
very little provisions, as they depended mostly on hunting, fishing, wild
rice, and trade with the Indians for their support. There were several
depots for depositing goods and collecting furs, for instance at Fond
du Lac (Minnesota,) Sand Lake, Courte Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau, Mouth
of Yellow River, etc. The vessels used on Lake Superior for the fur trade
were the "John Jacob Astor," a three-masted schooner, the "Brewster,"
and the "Siskowit" built by old man Perinier.
The
Presbyterian school was then in full operation under Rev. Sherman Hall,
the number of scholars at this school was about forty [Note: For this
missionary see Wis Hist. Colls. XII, 442-47.].
When
I came to the Lake Superior country in 1878, about forty years after Baraga's
time, I found La Pointe old, dilapidated, and dead, instead of full of
life and stir as it had been in his day. No trading post, no fur traffic,
the buildings all gone except some old, tumbling-down structures, no orchard,
no garden; the thriving community of 1835 was gone and in its place were
a few rickety buildings, some of logs, others, frame structures. One day
about the year 1884 I took a walk along the beach and entered the old
Presbyterian boarding-school building. It was then open and tenantless.
The church was the very picture of dilapidation. I believe some one had
stored hay in it. Some years ago it was removed to its present site, and
the boarding school has been repaired and remodeled into a neat hotel
for summer tourists.
La
Pointe is now entering upon new transformation; it is fast becoming a
tourist's resort to which in July and August many come from all parts
of the South. The time is not far distant when it will become a fashionable
pleasure resort. The old church built by Reverend Father Baraga in 1835
and removed in 1841 to the site where the new Catholic Church now stands
burned down in 1901. The fire was apparently of incendiary origin as there
had been no divine service in the building for some days prior to its
destruction. An attractive new church was built on the site of the old
one in 1902 by Reverend [Father] Casimir Vogt, O. F. M [Note: Casimir
Vogt was born in 1846 at Wurzen, Prussia; he was educated at Breslau and
ordained in 1870. In 1875 he joined the Order of St. Francis and the same
year came to America and was sent to Lake Superior as a Chippewa missionary
in 1878. He made his headquarters at Bayfield from 1878-88, and, ministered
throughout the northern country. From 1884-91 he was at Superior. The
latter year he returned to Bayfield.].
There
have been resident priests in La Pointe and Bayfield for the last eighty
years, yet it is a remarkable fact that not a single one has died there
in all that time.
In
the summer of 1878 Right Reverend Bishop Heiss of La Crosse offered the
Indian missions of his diocese to the Franciscan Fathers of the Sacred
Heart Province with headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri. The latter order
sent Rev. Kilian Schloesser, O. F. M., to investigate the state of affairs
among the Chippewa Indians at Bayfield and other places near by. He went
to Bad River Reservation and held a council with the Indians, the result
of which was that he made a favorable report to the Chapter assembled
at St. Louis and it was determined to accept the Indian missions of the
Lake Superior region. Fathers Casimir Vogt and John Gafron with Brother
Juniper arrived at Bayfield about the middle of October and took charge
of the Indians at that place, La Pointe, Bad River, and other inland points.
I was then sent to Superior where I arrived about November 6, 1878.
Superior
was then a dead town with but few inhabitants and nothing going on. A
man might stand a whole day on the principal street of the town without
seeing a single wagon or team go by. Most of the houses were empty and
there were but a few small stores. A small steamer, about thirty feet
long, ran between Superior and Duluth, carrying generally half a dozen
passengers going to Duluth to make their purchases. The boat was owned
by George Brooks. There were about forty-five Catholic families in the
town, of whom fifteen were white and the remainder Indian half-breeds.
For
eleven months I had charge of the Catholic people of Duluth and Superior,
Father Genin having gone to France to visit relatives. During the year
I also attended Fond du Lac (Minnesota), Cloquet Reservation, Barnum,
and Moose Lake. There were then about 130 Catholic families in Duluth,
of whom about one-half were Poles, the remainder being Irish, Germans,
and French-Canadians. There was but one small frame Catholic church in
Superior and only one in Duluth, where the cathedral now stand. Now (1916)
there are eight Catholic churches in Duluth and eighteen priests, while
in Superior there are nine churches and eleven priests; in addition there
are two bishops, one in each city.
During
the four years I was stationed at Superior the Franciscan Fathers of Bayfield
attended the white and Indian missions of northern Wisconsin, then almost
fifty in number. These self-sacrificing, zealous Fathers did almost all
their traveling on foot, in winter in snowshoes. While one remained in
Bayfield to attend to the spiritual wants of the people in that vicinity
the other would start out on his trip to the Indians in the region of
the St. Croix and Chippewa rivers, the round trip being, at a moderate
estimate, a distance of 400 miles. This was kept up summer and winter,
in cold weather and in hot, in sunshine and in rain, sleeping in the open
air or in some log house or Indian wigwam. The traveling Father would
take one or two Indian guides or packers along to help carry his luggage
and tent and cooking utensils. He depended for food on supplies he had
taken along, or on what was prepared for him by the good Indian and white
people -- muskrat, raccoon, bear meat, fish, and venison being common
articles of diet. He would go from one Indian hamlet to another situated
miles apart on the countless inland lakes and rivers, preach, baptize,
marry people, hear confessions, and administer the sacraments; when through
at one place he would pack up his belongings and go to the next only to
repeat the same multifarious work. And all this for poor Indians, who
never realized the hardships and sacrifices that he "Black Gown"
was making for them to bring them the light and blessings of Christianity.
In those days the Fathers would travel all over the country in their brown,
worn-out Franciscan habit, which they would not change till they returned
home. Verily, theirs was a hard but apostolic life, traveling without
roads, riding in canoes, wading rivers, tormented in the summer by mosquitoes
and sand flies, and in winter enduring all the hardships of this inclement
season in northern Wisconsin; and all this not for money but to save immortal
souls redeemed by the precious blood of our Savior. To them the soul of
a poor Indian child was as dear as that of the white millionaire.
To
give the reader of these pages some idea of the hardships and dangers
those apostolic men incurred, I will narrate here a few incidents that
happened to Father Casimir.
One
day he was traveling along the Chippewa River, visiting his scattered
people, many of who worked during the winter in the logging camps. Incidentally
he used to collect among the "boys" for his churches and chapels.
In one of the camps he was told that there was another camp about three
miles away and that if he could get there in time the "boys"
might contribute something. About two hours after midnight he arose and
started for the camp. The "boys" had told him about the route
and had given him a lighted lantern to take along. After he had walked
for a mile or so, he noticed about a dozen dogs, as he thought them to
be, circling around him, some running ahead, others following behind,
others again running through the woods on both sides of the road. He thought
it strange to see so many dogs around these camps, and some inward monitor
told him to keep swinging his lantern around him. So he walked on, followed
by the animals for two whole miles. A length he arrived at the camp and
went inside. A moment later one of the men had occasion to go out. Presently
he came in again and remarked, "I wonder why there are so many wolves
around." "Wolves!" exclaimed Father Casimir, "I thought
they were dogs." It was a lucky thing that the good Father did not
realize his danger and that his lantern did not go out, or that he did
not stumble or fall to the ground. Had any of these things occurred he
would have been devoured in a short time.
The
same Father one time planned to go straight through the woods from Big
Bend to Flambeau Farm. It was early in the spring after the snow had melted
and the bottomlands along the Chippewa River were all under water. Doubtless
the Father did not fully realize this fact; otherwise, he would not have
undertaken the journey, a distance of about ten miles on foot through
those lowlands. He had himself conveyed across the river and started on
his journey. It was not long before he came to lower land, all of which
was submerged, and the water icy cold. No road or path was to be seen,
nothing but water between the trees, which at times was knee deep or even
more. At any moment he might have stepped into a hole and drowned. His
fatigue and misery were increased, moreover, by the fact that he carried
a satchel. Once he climbed a tree to reconnoiter the country through which
he was traveling and to see which way to go. But his clothes being wet
he slipped and fell, hurting himself badly. He had shortly to cross a
creek running into the main river. To wade it would have been dangerous
as the water might have been too deep, so he walked along the bank for
some distance seeking a place to pass over; finally he found a long pole
and with the help of it jumped across the creek. He then continued towards
his destination wading through the icy water, until he finally arrived
at Flambeau Farm. The good people of the place, whites and Indians, marveled
at seeing the Father and learning of his terrible tramp through the bottomlands.
Only divine Providence brought him safely through.
After
attending Superior for about three years I determined to join the Franciscan
Order and in February 1882 I entered upon my novitiate at Teutopolis,
Illinois. Having finished my novitiate, I was sent in 1883 to Bayfield,
from which place and, later on, from Ashland, I attended Washburn, Odanah,
and the Chippewa River country. Ashland was but a mere hamlet in 1878,
Washburn did not exist at all, and Odanah was an Indian village with a
handful of Indian and white inhabitants, the latter being principally
the employees of the Presbyterian Indian boarding school under the care
of Reverend Baird [Note: Rev. Isaac Baird reached Odanah under appointment
from the Presbyterian mission board, Mar. 15, 1873, and remained in charge
of the school and church until 1884, when he was removed to Crystal Falls,
Mich.].
There
was then but one railroad at Ashland, the Wisconsin Central, built into
town about the year 1876. The town was as dead as Superior, only a small
steamer plying between Ashland and Bayfield. In fact there was then more
stir and business in Bayfield than in Ashland. About the year 1884 the
town of Washburn was founded; a large elevator, coal docks, and several
sawmills were put up and the town grew rapidly. I erected a small frame
church there, which, however, was soon replaced by a large combination
church and school erected by Father Marianus Glahn, O. F. M. I also attended
Hurley for some years. Here at first I held divine service in private
houses and public halls; finally I began the erection of a large frame
church, which was finished by my successor, Reverend Father Gilbert Nuono.
[Note: Gilbert Nuono was born in Italy in 1842; he was ordained
in 1865 and came to America the same year. He was appointed to the Hurley
pastorate in 1886, and after completing the church, built a school in
1891,]
In
1897 I was sent to St. Louis, Missouri, on account of failing health,
and about a year and a half later to Los Angeles, California. At first
I liked the climate in California very much, but later I grew tired of
everlasting sunshine and in 1900 asked to be sent back to Wisconsin. For
twelve years thereafter I was stationed at Ashland, engaged in attending
outside missions, especially those in the Chippewa and the St. Croix country.
But the infirmities of old age making themselves more and more felt, I
was obliged to give up missionary life and was sent to Bayfield, where
I have resided the last four years and where, perhaps, I shall end my
days. I have devoted my spare time these many years to studying and composing
works in the Chippewa language, among which I may mention "Chippewa
Exercises" and a large Chippewa sermon book, the "Enamiad Gegikimind"
or "The Instructed Christian."
|
