A Standard History of Waupaca County, Wisconsin. An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Educational, Civic and Social Development.

              CHAPTER II
THE PIONEER WHITES
Nicolet, First Explorer of the Fox River Valley—Awing the Indians at Green Bay—Death of Nicolet—Drawbacks to Explo¬ rations—Father Allouez Penetrates to the Wolf River—The Fox Village in Wolf River Valley—Perrot, Tireless Explorer op Northern AVisconsin—New France Claims the Great West— More of Perron—Marquette Meets the Menominees (Nation op THE Wild Oats)—Wisconsin and the "Badger'* State—¦ Why the "Badger" State—Fatpier Hennepin on the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers—Goodly Land for War-Ridden Europe—Other Visitors to the Valleys and the Bay— Fort St. Francis Established at tpie Bay—Not Yet a Perma¬ nent Settlement—The Conquering English Found Fort Edward Augustus—First Wisconsin Settlement at Green Bay—Compro¬ mise Between English and French Traders—Under the Protec¬ tion op English Government—Becomes Public Domain op the United States.
Knowledge of the Fox River Valley, and of the Indians who occupied it, was first brought to the world by the government agents of New France and the French Jesuit missionaries, during the first third of the seven¬ teenth century. These commercial agents, originally sent out to monopo¬ lize the fur trade through their friendship with the red men who occupied the valleys and forests of the Northwest, were afterward transformed into explorers of a great, mysterious country, which, by right of discovery, was to be added to the imperial domain. The priests of all the Catholic orders also co-operated with the government in its schemes of ambition, and at times it was difficult to determine the dividing line between affairs of the Church and State. The entire period of the French occupancy was one of mixed motives, in which romance, adventure, piety, bravery and sordidness presented one of the most remarkable mixtures in the history of world expansion.
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