Native Americans have been in North America for thousands of years. Native Americans had their own unique culture for years before the white man entered with influences of their own cultures and lifestyles. They hunted and fished off the land and used all the rich resources as a means to survive. The confrontations that took place between the Native Americans and the settlers of the area were not the major factor in pushing Native Americans off their land; rather it was the U.S. government that relocated them to reservations because the Americans wanted the land.

Indians moved into Wisconsin about 6,000 BC and used the rich wooded land for a source of food and survival. The history of Chippewa Falls would be incomplete if we did not look at the history of the area before Chippewa Falls was actually founded in the mid-19th century. Native Americans occupied the area long before the French and British Traders came to the area. Without knowing the interactions that took place between early Chippewa Indians and white settlers one can not begin to fully understand what significant events occured the first few years of Chippewa Falls history. Many people believe that Chippewa Falls was founded because of the logging industry, but the settlers in the area can be traced back further to the trading post that Lyman Warren had built. This is what started the relationships between the Ojibwa Indians and the white traders in the area. Those relationships were what attracted more people into the area and then eventually the logging industry drew more to the area. In the web pages to follow I will give you an idea of important events that took place between the white citizens living in Chippewa Falls and the Chippewa Indians who once inhabited the area by themselves.

One of the earliest trading posts recorded in the Chippewa Falls area was one that was run my Lyman Warren and located five miles north of Chippewa Falls at a place called Chippewa City. This City was founded on the business relationships that were formed between the Chippewa Indians and the Warren Family. The Warren Family traded goods with Native Americans and others while traveling up and down the Chippewa River. This post led to more people traveling this far up the Chippewa River from Lake Pepin and would eventually lead to people settling in Chippewa Falls.

Throughout this website I will be using maps, letters, memoirs, and pictures to show the reader that the relationships between the Native Americans and white settlers in Chippewa Falls was not always the friendliest but that was not the major factor that pushed these two communities apart. It was the U.S. government that moved the Chippewa Indians 90 miles north of Chippewa Falls onto the reservations and drove a wedge between the two communities apart.

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Exhibit created & reserached by Kyle Zellner

History Department, Public History Program University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

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