History: Early Prairie du Chien
People have lived in the Prairie du Chien area for at least twelve thousand years. The many cultures that occupied Prairie du Chien over that time each had a unique legacy. Some prehistoric societies built mounds that still stand on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. Other early inhabitants left behind few artifacts other than stone spear points like those in the Al Reed collection at the Fort Crawford Museum today.
The prospect of trading with American Indians from this region began to draw Europeans to Prairie du Chien in the late seventeenth century. Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were the first to arrive. They discovered the Upper Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien on June 17, 1673. More French voyageurs followed, and by 1685, Nicolas Perrot built a fur trading post at Prairie du Chien called Fort St. Nicolas. French voyageurs and coureurs des bois continued to visit regularly to trade into the eighteenth century, but the British won control of the area in 1763, before the French had made a permanent settlement. French-speaking people began to reside permanently at Prairie du Chien in the 1770s. In 1781 the residents purchased the land from the Meskwaki, who had traditionally gathered on the prairie.
Next: American Control
Spear points in the Al Reed collection.