UC-NRLF $B 7ES bMfi of the i» i» »m i »» i iiii i i . i BY J. LOREMZO WEH!€H Yours Truly J. Lorenzo Werich Pioneer Hunters of the Kankakee BY J. LORENZO WERICM Copyright 1920 By J, Lorenzo Wcrich All Rights Reserved CONTENTS CHAriER PAGE I. Catching /Ay First Raccoon 9 11. Finding The /Aissing Link 15 III. Defeat of the Pottowattomies 21 IV. Setting Steel Traps 33 V. Dividing the Game 46 VI. /Ay First Boat f^ide 62 VII. Hunters Who Have Buckfevered 72 Vlll. Trappers' Claims 85 IX. Running the Ferry 101 X. Last of the Pottowattomies 108 XI. Home of Chief Killbuck 122 XII. Indian Island 131 XIII. Grape Island 141 XIV. Barrel-House Blind 150 XV. Draining the Swamps 174 LIBRARY ILLUSTRATIONS J. Lorenzo Werich - - Frontpiece Trapping P\y First Raccoon - - - 12 Pioneer Trapper's Shanty on Little Paradise Island - 38 John Werich - - - - - 70 A Deer Hunter's Lodge on Johnson's Island - 73 Eaton's Bridge - _ _ _ 102 Interior View of Louisville Club House - - 107 Louisville Club House _ _ - 108 In Camp on Island Six to Two - - 129 A Typical Trapper's Shanty on Indian Island - 151 The Indian Island Saw /Aill - " 134 Ay Island Home on the Kankakee - - 135 The White Star _ _ _ 137 Rockville. Terre Haute & Indianapolis Club House - 139 Ruins of a Trapper's Cabin on Grape Island - 143 Some of the Traps That Were Used by Early Hunters - 146 Ay First Duck Shooting from a Boat - - 150 The Old River Bed at North Bend - - 186 The New Kankakee _ _ - 188 Camp of Logansport Hunters on Cornell's Island - 189 ^. .'■j.'<-^<< •i''. ■:•- « I — » i — ^'' CONTENTS CHAI-IER PAGE I. Catching /Ay Pirst Raccoon 9 11. Finding The /Aissing Link 15 III. Defeat of the Fottowattomies 21 IV. Setting Steel Traps 33 V. Dividing the Game 46 VI. /Ay First Boat F^ide 62 VII. Hunters Who Have BucHfevered 72 VIII. Trappers' Claims 85 IX. Running the Ferry 101 X. Last of the Fottowattomies 108 XI. Home of Chief Killbuck 122 XII. Indian Island 131 Xlll. Grape Island 141 XIV. Barrel-Mouse Blind 150 XV. Draining the Swamps 174 *«*]* LiBRARY ILLUSTRATIONS J. Lorenzo Werich - - Frontpiece Trapping /^y First Raccoon - - - 12 Pioneer Trapper's Shanty on Little Paradise Island - 38 John Werich - - - - - 70 A Deer Hunter's Lodge on Johnson's Island - 73 Eaton's Bridge - _ _ _ 102 Interior 'View of Louisville Club House - - 107 Louisville Club House _ _ - 108 In Camp on Island Six to Two - - 129 A Typical Trapper's Shanty on Indian Island - 151 The Indian Island Saw /^ill - " 134 A\y Island Home on the Kankahee - - 135 The White Star - - - - 137 Rockvllle. Terre Haute & Indianapolis Club House - 139 Ruins of a Trapper's Cabin on Grape Island - 143 Some of the Traps That Were Used by Early Hunters - 146 Ay First Duck Shooting from a Boat - - 150 The Old River Bed at North Bend - - 186 The New Kankakee _ _ - 188 Camp of Logansport Hunters on Cornell's Island - 189 'jf^^lj To The Pioneer Hunters and Trappers of the Kankakee River Region, of many years of faithful friendship, I dedicate this volume. By the Author. CHAPTER I CATCHING MY FIRST RACCOON REMINISCENCES OF PIONEER DAYS ON THE OLD KANKAKEE RIVER CATCHING MY FIRST RACCOON "Oh the hunting days of my youth, Have forever gone from me." I was born in a log cabin on my grandfather's farm near Valparaiso, Indiana in 1860, and within two miles and a half of the historical stream of which I am going to tell you. It was whilst watching the vanishing of a great hunting ground by the reclaiming of the Kankakee swamp lands, or rather making a new Kanka- kee f^iver, that involves the plot which forms the gist of my story. I have seen the sad face of th2 old Pottowattomie Indian who v/as driven FiGNFF.R HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE from his hunting grounds on the Kankakee, and now we see a shadow of gloom, of sadness, on the faces of the fev/ remaining old pioneer hunt- ers who have spent their early years in hunting wild game and trapping the fur-bearing animals of the Kankakee region. It is not my purpose to write the whole history of this Kankakee region or to give reminiscenses of all the pioneer hunters that have hunted and fished on the Kankakee, in the years past, as it would take a long time to write it, and it would make volumes. /Aany hunters have come here from far off cities, Nev/ York, Philadephia, V/ashington, Bos- ton, Pittsburg, and many near-by cities. 1 have met and hunted with sportsmen from Europe, and the hunters usually get what they are look- for— plenty of game— as it was the best hunting ground for all kinds of game birds in the United States. This fact I know, as I have hunted as far north as I could and yet be in the United States, and as far south as the Gulf of Aexico, 10 CATCHING MY FIRST RACCOON and west as far as the Rockies, and I have never yet found a place that equalled the Kankakee swamps, for the variety of game to be found there. To make a long story short, in those days it was the hunters' and trappers' paradise, and no wonder he now feels sad at heart when he looks over this once great hunting-ground nov/ the home of the farmer. He can realize how the Redman felt when he had to give up this region to the white hunters. V/hen about eight years of age v/e moved to the marsh and lived in a log cabin on Bissel Ridge. In the summer season my father ditched and made hay. The grass v/as cut v/ith a scythe. After being cured it was hauled out of the marsh on a brush to some knoll or ridge and there stacked. In the fall father trapped the fur-bearing animals and shot game for meat, while tending his traps. He would dress the skins at night. I helped getting the bow-stretchers ready and in stringing the dry hides. And v/hen snuffing the candle, no lamps or electric lights v/ere used in 11 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE those days, I would sometimes get sleepy and snuff the wick a little too low and put the light out. A few yards in front of our cabin ran a small creek that spread out over a low marsh, or rather a slough, as they are sometimes called, just below our house. This formed a great musk-rat pond and was also a great place for wild ducks to nest and rear their young. About a mile above our cabin was another musk-rat pond, and this little creek was its' outlet, mak- ing it a run-way for the rats from one pond to another. Father gave me two or three old steel traps which had weak springs and which I could set without breaking my fingers, should they happen to get caught between the jaws. I set the traps along the creek where the rats would stop to feed on roots and such vegetation as musk-rats usually feed upon. 1 caught fifteen rats that fall. One morning I went to my traps and found a raccoon in one of them. Ay young- est sister usually went with me to the traps and she was with me this morning. To say we were 12 Trapping My Firjt Raccoon. This is one of the wild animals that dwell on the edge of civilization in the wilds of the Kankakf^e, where dwelled the author CATCHING MY FIRST RACCOON frightened would be putting it in a very mild form. We iiad nothing to kill the raccoon with, and would probably not have done so had we something with which to do it. /Ay sister hav- ing more courage than 1, stayed and watched the coon whilst I ran back home for mother- father was away tending to his traps— to come and help kill the coon. With two big clubs my mother and 1 soon had fAr. Coon's eaithly career ended. It has been more than a half century ago since this happened. I have hunted and trapped some big game since that time, but never became quite so excited as on the morning v/hen I caught the first raccon. ihe scene that morning will be forever photo- graphed on the tablets of my memory. It was . at this place I lived when 1 began my early hunt- mg, commencing to realize the pleasure it af- forded me. But of course I had no idea of the hardships which existed in it. We resided here about two years and a half. In the meantime my father bought the Bissel stock, consisting of 13 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE two-fifths of the stock in the Indian Island Saw- mill Company. /Ay grandfather owned five one-hundred dollar shares of stock in the saw- mill company. This he gave to my mother. Our next move was to the Indian Island where I spent the next ten years of my boy-hood days. I will tell you more in another chapter. 14 CHAPTER II FINDING THK MISSING LINK THE DISCOVERY OF THE KANKAKEE BY LASALLE, A FUR TRADER MEETING THE POTTOWATTOMIE INDIANS AND FINISHING THE MISSING LINK Look at the map of Indiana and you will see, up in the left-hand corner of the State, a small stream rising in the southern part of St. Joseph county, which flows in a south-western direction and drains the counties of LaPorte, Starke, Por- ter, Jasper, Lake and Newton. It is also the boundary line between the counties I have men- tioned. Years ago the Kankakee was called the eastern branch of the Illinois river, but that theme has been disproved. The Indian name of the Kankakee, from the two words "The-Ak (wolf) and "A-Ki(iand) literally means Wolf- 15 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE Land River, from the fact that many years ago a band of Indians of the Aohican Tribe who cal- led themselves "wolves" when driven from their homes by the Iroquois, took refuge on its banks near the headwaters of the The-A-Ki-Ki. Charlevoix, the French missionary, on his voy- age down the Kankakee river in 1721. speaks of the wolves. It was from some of these of Indians, whose village was a few miles from the south bend on the St. Joe river, and where now stands the city of South Bend, that the mission- ary recFuited his force for his expedition down the Kankakee, the Illinois, and the /Mississippi rivers. The Kankakee is the most historical River in the state. Yet there is very little known of its early history, only that the numerous wild animals which made this region their home made the Kankakee an important fur-trading country. Occasionally a hunter's story of see- ing or shooting a deer or wild-cat in the Kanka- kee swamps is read in the newspapers. The river itself, though not a long one, is beautiful, 16 FINDING THE MJSSING LINK winding through marshes, forests, and long tan- gled vines, among its wooded islands, with here and there there an opening in the forest. It spreads its channel for miles and in many places becomes a lonely, lily-fringed lake. Its bed in the sand and clay forms its course to within a few miles of A\omence, Illinois, where the rock crops out and forms a great dam across the stream. This dam was partly removed a- few years ago at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars. The Kankakee region was once a heavy timbered country, but the forest fires have greatly reduced its wood districts. The lofty sycamore and the mammoth elm are still to be found on the banks of the Kankakee, as they were during the time when the fur-laden boats of the French glided down the river. In the early history of this continent it was the custom of Spanish explorers to give it some special geographical features by naming the place they discovered after some Saint in a church-calen- der, the day the discovery was made, in this 17 PIONEiiR HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE manner it was no trouble to trace the exact course of these explorers along the coast of the continent. It was not so with the French. And for this reason many notes of historical interest, of the early discoveries made by the French have never been written in history. Early in the fall of 1679, LaSalle left the vessel at Green Bay and coasted the shore of Lake /Michigan until he arrived at the mouth of the St, Joseph river. Here he built Fort LaSalle and stayed here most all that winter on account of the ice, to await the arrival of Tonti, an Italian officer whom he had brought with him from France as his lieutenant. There were about forty in all as they left Ft. LaSalle early in the spring, As soon as the ice had gone out of the river they ascendedthe St. Joseph river as far as the south bend about eighty miles, then encamped for a time to await the remainder of the party, which arrived in a few days. Then they took portage across the swamps to the headwaters of the 'The-A-Ki-F<.i." (Kankakee.) 18 FINDING THE MISSING LINK It was LaSalle's plan and idea, when he left France and sailed from his home in Rouen to the French possessions in Canada, to accumu- late a fortune by trading European merchandise to the Indians for their furs and pelts which they got along the lakes and northern rivers. With this object in view he explored many lakes and rivers in what is now Indiana, and established trading posts on the frontier. After establishing trading posts, as 1 have said before, LaSalle traded with the Indians such articles of mer- chandise as guns, ammunition, knives, hatchets, kettles, blankets and beads in exchange for their valuable furs. This was the motto of the Indian "You Can Do Ae Good— I Do You Good." The Indians soon learned that tlie Frenchman was a benefactor and not an enemy, therefore in a few years they were carrying on a big fur trade with the Indians on the northwest frontier. Tradition tells us that every wigv/am in those days v/elcomed the visit of a Frenchman. Hav- ing carried out his plans so far successfully, this 19 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE celebrated explorer had another object in view. This was to find the link. which connected the great inland seas of the north with the waters of the gulf in the south. He had heard of that wonderful river, "'The father of Waters." which flowed from tne unexplored wilderness in the north far away into the unknown Sunny South. With this object before him he set out on an ex- ploring expedition to find a shorter way that would shorten the world's commerce between the East and the West and to his idea he had found the missing link which is our ov/n Kanka- kee river. 20 CHAPTER ill THE MIAMI CONFEDKRACY THE DEFEAT OF THE POTTOWATTOMIES AT THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE WHICH FOREVER SHATTERED THE STRONGHOLD OF THE MIAMI CONFEDERACY In 1881 I made a trip to the Indian territory and the Pottowattomie reservation in Kansas. 1 visited several tribes of Indians, at that time the Indian affairs were under the control of the Pederal Government. The purpose of my visit was to find, if possible, any of the old Pottowat- tomie Indians that at one time inhabited the Kankakee region, that I might be able to learn more of the early history of their hunting grounds on the Kankakee river. 1 found two very old Pottowattomies that claimed to have lived and hunted on the Kankakee river in their early days. 21 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE You can not tell how old an Indian is by his looks unless you are acquainted with his habits, but they are octogenarians. At any rate they gave accounts of events that had actually hap- pened when and where treaties had been made. When 1 spoke of the great tragedy at Fort Dear- born one of the old warriors arose to his feet, threw a blanket around him and began to pace to and fro; finally he said in a saddened voice that he was there. 1 drew from him some facts that I never before had heard. He told how they felt when /Aajor Irwin passed through the Kankakee swamps, notifying them to be ready to start for their new home beyond the /Aisssis- sippi river. 1 obtained much valuable informa- tion from those two old warriors. One of them then was a young warrior of seventeen summers. He was with Elskwat-awa, the Prophet, when they sent Winamac down the Wabash river to Vincennes where they went in council circle with Gen. Harrison. Later they both fought and were survivors of the Battle of Tippecanoe, 22 THE DEFEAT OF THE POT TOWOTTOMIES which forever shattered the stronghold of the /Aiami Confederacy. Me told how the army was encamped on a tract of marsh land near the river, in the shape of a flat-iron, how they were defeated. There were two men, one white and the other a redrnan, who v/orked with all energy to defeat the scheme of Tecumseh and Els-kwat-awa. These were General Harrison and the chief, Winamac. The former sent con- stant messengers from among French settlers of the territory through all this Kankakee region, counseling peace, and hoped tlirough their strength and influence to disarm all hostile feel- ings. At the same time the latter, one of the noblest of his race, devoted all his efforts to se- curing peace, Sometimie in /Aay, 18H, a large number of the Pottowattomies from this region assembled at a place called the "Cov/ Pasture" on the St. Joseph River, and were only prevent- ed from joining the followers of Tecumseh and the Open-Door by the pleading eloquence of the venerable Winamac. A few months later 23 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE Tecumseh departed for the South to solicit aid of other tribes to develop his scheme for a great confederacy, While he was gone Open Door sent out messengers to the Pottowattomie's lands, calling upon the natives to join his forces. A large number of the inhabitants of the Kanka- kee region formed in line of march and passed down through the prairie marshes to the Potto- wattomie Ford, crossed the Kankakee, then on through to the Prophet's town. Winamac was sent to Governor Harrison with a message of peace. This is where the crafty Prophet got in his deceitful work and was now free to effect his purpose. As preparation was made for the war the women and children were sent to the North for safety. /Aany were hidden in caves in the sand hills along the Tippecanoe River near where the City of Winamac now stands. Others came in large numbers to the Kankakee swamps and remained hidden in its recesses to await the tide of war. Hundreds of defenseless women and children thronged to the shores of our his- 24 THE DEFEAT OF THE PO rVOWOTTOM IKS toric river and waited many weary days of watching and long nights of pain from hunger and fatigue for the return of the braves, many of whom were never to come. The result of the Battle of Tippecanoe is well known. The be- trayed and defeated Pottowattomies returned to their homes. Aany regretted that act against ihe whites whilst many others were incited by the crafty British to a desire for revenge and here was laid the plot for another great tragedy, the doom of Fort Dearborn. Less than tv/o years after their defeat at the Battle of Tippe- canoe, the garrison at Fort Dearborn was at- tached and three-fourths of their number killed. The survivors surrendered with the promise of their captors to spare their lives. This promise was broken. Captain Wells' horse was shot from under him. As he fell an Indian ran up and stabbed him in the back and he died in the arms of his Fottowattomie friends. The history of the Fort Dearborn massacre is one of the saddest Indian tragedies of the Fottowattomie , 25 PIONEER HUNTFCRS OF THE KANKAKEE lands that was ever placed on the pages of his- tory. We will ship a period of eight years over Pottowattomie land. No events of any great importance occured then. Indian Territory be- came a State, Fort Dearborn v/as again garri- soned. The French held the ascendancy in influence in this region and were held in the highest regard by the Indians. In 1821 the white hunters began to come to the Kankakee region. The day before General Harrison start- ed on his march up the Wabash to meet the Prophet, two young men volunteered to join the army, by the names of Daniel Scott and Aike Haskins. They had a cousin in the army, an officer named Atwood, who was wounded at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Having a broken leg, he was picked up and carried away to the Kanka- kee swamps, about sixty miles distant, and was cared for by a squaw, taking the place of her son who had been killed. In 1821 Scott and Haskins came north to the Kankakee region in search of their lost relative. As there was a 26 THE DEFEAT Ox^^ THE POTTOWOITOMIKS large estate to be settled back in Ohio it v/as necessary to know his ^^'hereabouts. Scott and liaskins made every effort to find him alive, if they could, or where he v/as buried if possible- They brought with them such trinkets as the Indians usually wants, such as pipes, tobacco, knives, needles, etc. They got in with the na- tives by giving them these goods for very little or nothing. By kindness they gained their friendship. Scott opened a store at Bengaul but when the English come they called it Tass- naugh. This was the first trading post in this region and was an ancient village v/hen the French had established a trading post in long years past, before even the Pottowattomie re- volt. It was on the old Pottowattomie trail lead- ing from the Kankakee River to the Lakes. In the early summer, after the hunting season was over for the fur bearing animals, the Indians would pack their furs, then with their women and children they would start north for the lakes to meet the French fur trading boats which came 27 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE down to the lower lake region to trade with them for their furs. During the summer season they fished and picked berries, as these were what they lived on mostly during the heated seasons, in the fall they would return to the Kankakee hunting grounds where one of their main camps was located on a long point of the mainland or ridge that projected far out into the swamp and near the mouth of Sandy Hook. This place was known as "Indian Garden" and hundreds of Indians camped there during the hunting seasons. There was another Indian camping ground a few miles below this on the same side of the river known as the "Indian Is- land," and of which 1 will speak later on. Scott having his store on this old Indian 'trail brought him face to face with hundreds of Pottov/atto- mies, while fiaskins camped and hunted for nearly two years and was the first v/hite hunter to camp on Indian island. Scott sold his store to a Frenchman, then he and liaskins returned to the East. They never heard or got trace of 28 THE DEFEAT OF THE POTTOWOTTOMIES their lost relative, As I have said before im- mense fortunes were now made by trading with the Indians in all parts of this country. Early in 1821 two men acting in this capacity became well known and remarkable for their v/ealth and influence through all the Kankakee country. They were Joseph Bailie and Pierre F. Navarre. As there is usually in these early time stories a little love and romance, this is what happened to these men. In accordance with the general custom among traders both married daughters of native chieftans. After a time Bailie settled on the prairie north of the river in what after- wards was Porter county, and near the site of where Valparaiso now stands. The place was called Baily Town and is still a well-known point in Porter county. Navarre settled at /Michigan City for a time and then moved to the banks of the St. Joseph River. fAr. Bailie, or Bailly as he was generally called, was a native of Prance. It was in 1822 that he first settled in Bailly Town and for the next eleven years he 29 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE was the only white man within the country limits. His family consisted of a wife and four daughters. As the years passed by he became very wealthy, so much so that he purchased a sloop and was thus enabled to take his children east to give them the advantage of a thorough education and culture. Eleanor, the oldest, took the veil and was for many years Aother Super- ior of St. Aary's School at Terre Haute, Indiana. There have been many treaties made with the Fottowattomies. one made in 1832 and one in 1836. By the former treaties the Fottowatto- mies conceded to the United States all the country situated between the mouth of the Tip- pecanoe f^iver, running up the river twenty-five miles, thence to the Wabash river, thence across to the Vermillion river. This was known as the St. /Aary's Treaty. By this treaty the Kankakee region formed a part of the domain of the Fot- towattomie Indians, although they were of the /Miami's Confederacy and the Aiamis claimed the land by right of occupancy. The Pottowat- 30 THE DEFEAT OP^ THE POTTOWOTTOM lES tomies held possession when the whites began to settle the country and it was with them that the United States government treatied in 1836. The remainder of the territory now was on the Pickamick and Kankakee rivers. The Aiamis held claim to all the territory in the northwest part of the State. By the terms of the second and last treaty the Fottowattomics ceded all their lands to the United States Government and agreed to relinquish the territory when called up- on to do so. This was called the /^\ississinawa Treaty and was made on the treaty grounds near the headwaters of the Kankakee. The Pottowattomies left the Kankakee swamps for their new home toward the Sunset, to the land that was given them for their own and was theirs as long as the sun shines and the rain falls. But their Great Pather at Washington changed his mind and a few years later they were removed to the Indian Territory, The War Department allowed a few to remain, those who had distinguished themselves as friends to the 31 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE whites during the early Indian troubles. In 1836 a man by the name of Robinson, of French and Indian nationality, was the chief feader, and had absolute control over all the Pottowattomies from the year of 1825. In 1836 he assembled his tribes to the number of five thousand near Chicago for the last time, fie was known to his people as Chief Che-Bing-Way. I have thus presented an account of the Pottowatto- mie's land as it appeared at the time of the whites immigration to this region. 32 CHAPTER IV SETTING STEEL TRAPS THE WHITE MAN SETTLING THE COUNTRY VACATED BY THE INDIANS AND THE FIRST TRAPPER TO SET STEEL TRAPS ON THE KANKAKEE The history of the region of the Kankakee country under the Aborignies is told. The great /"Aiami Republic fell before the Republic of the East, and it became the obvious destiny of the nations to yield to the strongest race. The year "33" marked the advent of the first white fami- lies from the East. The first settlers to arrive were the Aorgan Brothers, Isaac and William, who came early in the summer from Wayne County' Ohio, and settled on a prairie, after- wards known as AVorgan Prairie. It is on the cast side of Sandy Hook and a few miles from 33 THE PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE the Kankakee river. Two years later my Grandfather Dye came from Holmes County, Ohio, and settled on a prairie on the west side of Sandy Hook, which is now known as Horse Prairie, He was the first white settler in what is now Boone township. /Ay mother at that time was only five years of age and she remembers seeing many of the Fottowattomies. Her arri- val in the Kankakee country antedating that of my father is more than fifteen years. In the next decade many settlers were found in this part of the country. Game was plentiful and in every cabin was found a rifle or two. From some of these pioneer homes came the early hunters and trappers of this story. Hence, "The Pfoneer Hunters of the Kankakee" is the title of my story. In the outset of this story I had in mind only a short story of the early trappers and hunters. But I have detoured out over more territory than I expected. If I were to give a graphic sketch of all the men who have hunted and trapped on the Kankakee it would fill vol- 34 SETTING STEEL TKAPS umes. Therefore I will speak only of a few of the earliest pioneers. As I have said fur traders in those early days became immensely rich and the Kankakee Region in an early day was the greatest hunting ground in the /Aiddle West, especially for the fur-beaFing animals. As gold and gems was the magnet that attracted our Hoosier folks to the Far West, so it was the fur trade that brought the early explorers to the Kankakee region. The Indians caught the furs and traded them to the new-comers for trinkets. Then began the greatest trade that this part of Indiana ever knew. New types of persons were brought into existence in the new country by the new trade and it is some of these I am go- ing to tell you about in this new story, as the history of the Kankakee fur trade is one of the brightest pages of its history. In the fall of "45" Harrison Hartz Polsom and Rens Brainard, two young men came from Ohio with their parents. In 1840 they settled on the prairie north of the Kankakee Swamp. Having some idea how 35 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE profitable a business it was trapping tlie fur- bearing animals, they embarked in that busi- ness. First each of them made a butter-nut dugout. Then they wenl to a blacksmith by the name of Alyes who had settled in this region in the early "30" and had opened a blacksmith shop on his homestead, and who also kept a cross-road store a few miles east of the Indian Town, now Hebron, and engaged him to make them three dozen steel rat-traps at one dollar each, and four two-spring otter traps, or wolf traps as they are sometimes called, at three dol- lars each. These were the first steel traps made and set in the Kankakee country. On the first of October they launched their dugouts and trapping outfit off Coal Pitt Island, a small island in the north marsh where for many years Jones and Smith had their charcoal pits. They pad- dled their dugouts up the marsh along the tim- ber line until they came to North Bend. In the early days it was called Flag Pond but was known to the old river men as North Bend from 36 SETTING STEEL TRAPS the fact that at this point the Kankakee flows the farthest north of its entire course. At this point there is an opening through the timber to the river. They ascended the river a few miles. When night came upon them they landed on a small ridge near the mouth of Crooked Creek. They soon had a frail camp and a glowing camp fire. When they landed on the ridge Brainard shot two young fox squirrels and with what pro- visions they had brought with them they soon had a good supper. After supper they gathered up some withered herbage, spread their blankets and lay down for a night's rest in the lone, si- lent, solitary, stillness of the Kankakee swamps, to be lured to sleep by the hoot-owl, the howl- ing of the wolves and the splashing of the musk- rats in the water near the camp. This was the first night's experience of two of the oldest trap- pers in years of service on the Kankakee. On the following day they set out their traps and looked for a suitable place to build their shanty. /*Vr. Folsom took part of the traps and went up 37 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE the river. Brainard took the remainder and went down stream. They returned to camp in the afternoon and reported their trip and pros- pect of a building site. Brainard had found a beautiful small island near the river on a bayou which he thought would be a very suitable spot for a shanty. Folsom. on his hunt up stream, had found the material to build the shanty. He had found an old wigwam made of puncheon and barks, v/ell dried and smoked. In a short time they had a cozy little trappers' shanty on an island they named "Little Paradise," which is yet known by that name today. This was the first American trapper's shanty on the Kan- kakee that I have any knowledge of. There were a few French huts and traders' shanties along the borders of the swamp regions for the purpose of trading and trafficing with the Indians and the early hunters. Twenty years prior to the building of the shanty on Paradise Island the fall catch of furs at Little Paradise proved a success, The sale of furs brought something 38 « n > - - > " » > Pioneer Trapper's Shanty on Little Paradise Island, where the first steel traps were set on the Kankakee in 1845 SETTING STEEL TRAPS over one hundred and twenty-five dollars. They invested part of the money in more traps and In the following winter built a shanty on Little Beach fridge in which they shantied for four seasons. On this ridge they found a hunter's shanty occupied by a man named Ritter, who had built it the year before, in 1846. In 1851 Folso-ra and Brainard buiit a shanty on Long Ridge which they used until 1866. Then they sold out and left Long Ridge. Folsom then went into partnership with William Granger^ They built a cabin on Red Oak. This cabin was burned in "73." They rebuilt it the fol- lowing year and used it until he retired from the trapping business in 1883, having spent a third of a century in the Kankakee swamps. Uncle Marl Seymour, as he was called, who had been with him for many years, continued trapping the Red Oak ground until old age compelled him to quit. He left his island home on the Kan- kakee and spent the remaining years of his life at the home of P\r. Polsom at Hebron, Indiana. 39 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE Brainard, v/ho was with f-olsom on his early expeditions on the river and when he sold out on Long I^idge, built a shanty on Grape Island, whare he trapped for several years. Then he trapped the Little Beach ground for three or four years. Finally he quit trapping altogether about thirty years ago. Folsom and Brainard were the pioneer trappers who first sat steel traps on the Kankakee River over seventy-five years ago, The next decade found many hunt- ers and trappers along the Kankakee swamps. In the fall of 1847 Aose Summers and John Dusenberg glided down the winding Kankakee in skiffs with a trapping outfit and landed at Long Ridge, built a shanty which v/as the first trapper's shanty on the Ridge. They used this shanty for a number of years. Leaving Long Ridge they shantied on a number of islands be- tween English Lake and /Aomence, Illinois. This same year Joel GfJson built a log shanty on Long Ridge and followed the trapping business for many years. He had two sons who also 40 SETTING STEEL TRAPS were trappers and trapped many years after their father had retired. There was another old time hunter whose locks were as white as the driven snow when I first knew him. He had settled on Long Ridge in the Fall of 1838, and dug a cave in the side of the Ridge where he lived for many years. Fifty years ago this old hunter was known as Uncie Frank Sweny. lie was the oldest residential hunter and trapper on the "river, having commenced hunting on the Kankakee as early as 1833. V/illiam Bissell, one of thepioneer settlers of Forter county, spent much time hunting on the Kankakee in the early days. In the early Fall of 1847 Heck Goodridge and his brother John built a shanty on French Island. This was the first American trapper's shanty. The French and Indian hunters had settled on this island many years before the arrival of the Qoodridges and from whence it derived its name. I will give more of its early history later on. In 1852 John Broady an early pioneer of this region, began trepping 41 PIONEER HUNTERS OF THE KANKAKEE on Sandy Hook, also he trapped the Crooked Creek Claim. Later on he owned the Indian Garden trapping ground which he sold to Sam- uel Irvin in the early seventies. A\r. Broady was a very successful hunter and trapper ' He never trapped any after selling out his claims but continued hunting on the Kankakee up to the time of his death which occured in 1878 from a severe cold from the effects of getting wet by falling through the ice in a bayou, on a very cold day whilst hunting deer, A\r. Broady was widely - known as a deer hunter, having led many hunting parties through the swamps in those early days. It was about this time that my father came to the Kankakee region and for many years he and /Ar. Broady were hunting partners and have been together on many deer hunts through the Kankakee Swamps. In 1852 Gideon Alyea, son of the old trap maker, built a shanty on Butter Nut Ridge and trapped this ground for many years. Leaving the Butter Nut he built a shanty on what is now known as 42 SETTING STEEL TRAPS Shanty Island. Me also built a shanty on Fryes Island and one on Cornell's Upp