Mineral District persons and personalities.

[Robert Braun]

In 1825, the population of the U. S. Mineral District was recorded in one source as 200 inhabitants. By 1828, that figure jumped to 10,000, with the biggest jump between 1827 (n = 4,000) and 1828 (n = 10,000).

So... what sort of persons inhabited, or otherwise "rushed into" the "United States Lead Mines of the Upper Mississippi?"

And what of the fur trade within the area under consideration? With the exception of activity at Prairie du Chien (Brisbois, Dousman, etc.) was this trade all but extinct in the region by the time lead became king?

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Bob poses several interesting questions, Perhaps one of  the best authorities on this subject is Joseph Schafer whose work, The old Lead Region is still one of the beston the subject. Shafer points out that Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina, were very well represented in the early populations of the lead region, as was persons from Illinois, Indiana and Missouri. Certainly many of these individuals came from the Missouri fields but others most likekly were like Moses Meeker who arrived in the mid 1820s from Cincinatti Meeker had read the accounts of the vast quantities of lead in Illinois and wisconsin from newspaper sources and collected a party of individuals to migrate to the region to mine the ore.

Shafer also points out that in later years, most notably by the 1850s you also had Irish, Welsh, Canadian, and Scotch immigrants heavily settleing the area.

One can also speculate that there were ethnic French around as well, a residue of the fur trade era.
whatof the fur trade

Concerning the Fur Trade, it still may have been a factor early in the development of the lead boom especially in the late teens but by the end of the 1820s my speculation is that it was becoming very played out in this region. By 1832 the trade was considered all but over in the Wisconsin region.

Pete

[Robert Braun]

Good summary, Pete.

I agree than many fortune seekers and future lead diggers migrated from southern states. Indeed, to be a true "yankee" or New Englander in the Lead District was to be a true minority... as evidenced by the article I did on one Ruggles in a recent issue of the "Miners' Journal." I also think that "Billy Hamilton" might have been one of those rare northerners in the District as well.

Two examples of southerners include Henry Dodge, from  Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, south of St. Louis, and George Wallace Jones... and educated Kentuckian and, after the BHW, a personal friend of Jefferson Davis. Interestingly enough-- both Dodge and Jones were born near present day Vincennes, Indiana! Daniel Morgan Parkinson considered himself a Tennesseean.

There was unquestionably a French influence into the District. GWJ's spouse was from the Gregoire family, both French and ardently Roman Catholic. Indeed, the best example I can think of is the Gratiot brothers. The French influence from St. Louis as a result of years of fur trade seems to have had considerable play among native people. The Chouteaus of St. Louis had a long-standing and far reach in their trade and influence, to the point that native people often referred to French-speaking Americans as "chouteaus."

Also a large Irish population, particularly in/around the present town of Shullsburg. The settlement of Dublin, and the excavations known as the Irish Diggings speaks to the concentration of Irish.

[Larry Koschkee]

The short answer to Bob's inquiry about the extinction of the Fur Trade within the parameters of the "Old Lead Region" by the time lead became "king", can be summed up in one of the following literary equations:

1. No Indians = no furs and traders of fur.

2. No Indians + no furbearers = no fur traders.

3. Indians + no furbearers = no fur traders.

The demise of the Fur Trade within the region was due to the first equation.  This was a slow process due to several factors.  Tribual wars, disease epidemics, white miners, squatters and settlers, land cession and finally physical removal.

With the exception of the disappearance of beaver, 1825 and buffalo much earlier, most furbearers maintained sustainable numbers well into the early 1840s.  Deer, mink, otter, muskrat, bobcat, fox, badger, raccoon and wolf all maintained harvest populations.

Therefore, a chronology of Indian Land cessions gives us a timeline to follow the demise of the fur trade.

1804  Sauk and Fox
1816  Chippewa
1829  Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Sauk and Fox
1832  Winnebago
1837  Winnebago

The Indian trappers disappeared before the furbearers.

The U. S. Government's policy of removal of all Indians in the territory to west of the Mississippi was a major concern for the fur trading companies because it directly effected their livelihood.

Robert Stuart, a manager of field traders for John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company at Prairie du Chien, lamented about the invasion of whites into the Indian lead mine regions.   1824... "The Lord knows the trade is already bad enough; but if more fools will come, why must we welcome them?"

Historic accounts indicate the "lead region" did not have a large reservoir of fur bearing animals compared to the country north of the Wisconsin River.   Especially the very valuable beaver, fisher, martin and lynx.  This is due, for the most part, because of the significant amount of open country (prairie, oak openings and savannah).  This is not to say the fur traders did not do a significant amount of business with the Indian trappers...  On the contrary!

Prairie du Chien was the largest center of trade prior to the War of 1812 whereby the British and French dominated the scene.  That changed when an act of the U. S. Congress in 1816 made it very difficult for the French and British traders to obtain trading licenses to enter Indian country within the territory of the United States.  At this point American traders asserted themselves very effectively.  An American trader by the name of Grant had limited success in breaking into the Prairie du Chien local market between 1810 and 1812.  Grant overcame his disadvantage by applying "Yankee" ingenuity by trading with the Indians downstream from Prairie du Chien.  He located a trading post at the mouth of the Shequak River (present day Grant River) next to a Winnebago village called Pascanans (which eventually became a white man settlement of Osceola)
He was successful here due in no small part of also trading for "Buck Lead."

Another American trader, Jesse W. Shull took advantage of the 1816 act of Congress by establishing a trading post at the mouth of the Fever River in 1819.  He did business there only a couple of years because..."the Indians shifted their hunting and trapping grounds because of invasion of white miners."

John W. Johnson, an American trader, set up business in Prairie du Chien, May of 1816.  His journal entries ending June 30, 1816 listed the skins of 1,000 muskrats, 187 shaved deer, 134 raccoon, 12 otter and 9 beaver (this is a good indicater of the decline of the beaver at this date).

Pierre Pauquette, a half breed Winnebago Indian and French Trader did a brisk fur trade business at his location at the "portage" near Fort Winnebago.  Even though he was considered a foreigner by the U. S. Government after 1812, he obtained a trader license because of his close ties with the native tribes and was considered the only competent Winnebago interpreter in the country.  He was a valuable source of trade goods for Indian trappers from the eastern section of the "lead region."

One last comment here and I will shut up.  One can see the common denominator here in the location of trading posts in the vicinity of the "lead region"; that is the location on water highways.

Larry

[Robert Braun]

I ran a calculation for the bond required for a license smelter in 1829 (n = $10,000.00, a tidy sum in 1829!) if it was paid today.

Adjusted for inflation, in 2001 U. S. Dollars, the same bond would be worth approximately $154,766.41.  

This is by no means a precise figure, due to the indexing of American currency (at that time) against foreign currency also in circulation, including the Spanish milled dollar, the English shilling and pound, etc.