Page 253 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

EARLY HISTORY OB WISCONSIN. 249
the beginning of the Fur Trade at this place, that is in 1681,
which grew to the magnitude in which CARVER found it in
1766, eighty-five years afterwards. But who this trader was
is unknown. This is to be regretted, as his name might be
honored by being attached to some building or public work-, if
it were known. As it is, HENNEPIN should not be forgotten,
as he probably was the first white, man, except the trader in
question, who ever saw the place.
The first regular settlement at Prairie du Chien, other
than traders, as well as I can ascertain, was commenced
by a man of the name of CARDINELL, who came to the
country as a hunter and trapper, which must have been
between 1720 and 1730. He came from Canada, with
his wife, who, so far as I can learn, was the first white
woman upon this Prairie. He probably came with the
troops, who came to Green Bay in 1726, and hearing from the
traders of the rich hunting grounds on the Mississippi, tried
his fortune in this direction. On his first visit he ascended
the river as far as Cannon river, just above where Red Wing
now stands. But preferring this point to any other he saw,
took up his residence here, and is said to have made the first
farm upon Prairie du Chien.
IIis wife, who out-lived him, and it is said a dozen other men
to whom she was married, one after the other, died here in
1827, computed, from the best data that could be obtained, to
be one hundred and thirty years of age. B. W. BRIGBOTS,
Esq., who was born and raised on this Prairie, heard her say
that when she came to the place first, the waters were so high
that they came up from the Wisconsin, next to the Bluffs where
the ground is some feet lower than the rest of the plain,
in their bark canoe. He also heard her say that when slie first
came to this country, the buffalo were so thick and in such
droves as to impede their progress some times, when they had
to wait for them to cross the river before the canoe could pass
in eafety.
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