Page 165 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

while two other establishments, similar to mine, wcre torn
down and their goods destroyed.
That summer DANIEL WIIITNEY came to Green Bay, with a
fitock of goods. He was the first American who opened a
store at Grecn Bay. That fall Gen. WILLIAM DICKINSON
came with a stock of provisions and groceries; and three more
Americans came that fall. All of these early settlers are now
dead, except Mr. WHITNEY, who still resides at Green Bay.
Gen. DICKINSON died some ten years ago.
There were quite a number of very respectable French
families residing at the Bay when I arrived there; Judge
LAWE, Judge PORLIER, and seven brothers and two sisters
named GBIQNOX, all of whom are now dead, except AUGUSTIN
GRIGNON, who nov resides at the Big Butte des Morts,
on Fox River. They mere all engaged in the Indian trade
under the American Fur Company, each cultivating a small
quantity of land. Their manners and customs were of the
moat primitive character. They never used the yoke for their
oxen; but instead, fastened sticks across the oxen's horns, to
draw by, and mostly used for tugs, rope made out of bark.
Their plows were very uncouth, the plow-shares being about as
large as a smoothing-iron; while the beam was about twelve
feet long, with a pair of wheels near thc fore end to keep it
sufficiently elevated from the ground. They could not plow
within fifteen fcet of their fences. I nlade thc first ox-yoke
that was cver seen at the Bay. Their principal food was wild
game, fish and hulled corn. They caught large quantities of
sturgeon and trout, and they made immense quantities of maple
sugar. At the pyoper season in the spring, the entire settle-
ment wonld rcnlove to their sugar-camps, often remain two
months, each family making eight or ten hundred pounds of
the finest sugar I ever saw.
In the minter of 1830, the President sent out a commissioner
to examine the land claims of the French settlers at Green
Bay. Under the ancient French regime, they had guarantied
to them as much land as they woulcl cultivate. In examining
20m