This letter is apparently not extant. On 10 September 1843, Allen J. Stout wrote to his brother in Nauvoo that Lyman Wight had “ritten an epistel which you wil likely see,” which suggests that Wight wrote the letter in late August or early September 1843. (Allen J. Stout, Black River Falls, Wisconsin Territory, to Hosea Stout et al., Nauvoo, IL, 10 and 13 Sept. 1843, Allen J. Stout, Letters to Hosea Stout, CHL.)

Stout, Allen J. Letter, Black River Falls, Wisconsin Territory, to Hosea Stout, Nauvoo, IL, 10 Sept. 1843. Allen Stout, Letters to Hosea Stout, 1843. CHL. MS 1046.

A little more than two weeks before this letter was written, Lyman Wight, George Miller, and David Clayton sent a letter to Brigham Young detailing the excommunication of three men and one woman from the church on 29 October 1843. The individuals had been charged with lying, stealing, rebellion, and other offenses. (Lyman Wight et al., Black River Falls, Wisconsin Territory, to Brigham Young et al., Nauvoo, IL, 30 Jan. 1844, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

The Chippewa (or Ojibwe) Indians traditionally lived along the shores of Lake Superior, but their territory also extended south into the Chippewa River Valley, to the north and west of Black River Falls. The Chippewa ceded all their lands in Wisconsin Territory to the United States through treaties in 1837 and 1842; however, the treaties did not require the Chippewa to vacate the ceded territory. Miller later recounted that Chippewa Indians hunted on the Black River. The Menominee, following an 1836 treaty, were apparently living in the land west of the Wolf and Fox rivers and east of the Wisconsin River. Their land was apparently bounded by two blacksmith shops at Wah-ne-kun-na (Winnecone), just east of Lake Winnebago, and on the upper Wisconsin River near the trading house of Amable Grignon, boundaries that were established by the United States as a condition of the treaty. However, as related in this letter, the Menominee were laying claim to a broad swath of territory west of the Wisconsin River. According to one report, though the Menominee had never held any land in that portion of Wisconsin Territory, they were now claiming all the territory “from Fort Winnebago to Black River falls; thence to Chippewa falls; & thence to the Big Bull falls upon the Wiskansan, &c. to the place of beginning”—essentially the entire upper portions of the Wisconsin, Black, and Chippewa rivers. (Articles of a Treaty [29 July 1837], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 7, pp. 536–538; Articles of a Treaty [4 Oct. 1842], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 7, pp. 591–593; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1]–[2]; Articles of Agreement [3 Sept. 1836], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 7, p. 507, art. 2; David Jones, Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory, to James D. Doty, Madison, Wisconsin Territory, 24 Feb. 1844, in U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received in the Office of Indian Affairs, reel 319; Thwaites, Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 19:469–471; Jones et al., History of Wood County, Wisconsin, 8, 26; Alfred Brunson, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Territory, to James D. Doty, 28 Feb. 1844, in U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, reel 319; see also Satz, Chippewa Treaty Rights, chap. 2.)

The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–81. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M234. 962 reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1959.

Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Vol. 15. Madison: Democrat Printing, 1900.

Jones, George O., and Norman S. McVean, comps. History of Wood County, Wisconsin. Minneapolis: H. C. Cooper Jr., 1923.

Satz, Ronald N. Chippewa Treaty Rights: The Reserved Rights of Wisconsin’s Chippewa Indians in Historical Perspective. Madison: Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 1991.

The Winnebago (or Ho-Chunk) Indians living in Wisconsin Territory signed a treaty in 1837 in which they ceded “to the United States all their land east of the Mississippi river,” which included all the land surrounding the Latter-day Saint lumber operation at Black River Falls. They were required to remove across the Mississippi River to a narrow strip of ground as a temporary settlement. Nevertheless, by the early 1840s many Winnebago had returned to live on their ancestral lands in Wisconsin Territory. (Articles of a Treaty [1 Nov. 1837], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 7, p. 544, art. 1; Bieder, Native American Communities in Wisconsin, 129–133; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 16 Aug. 1855, [3]–[4].)

The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

Bieder, Robert E. Native American Communities in Wisconsin, 1600–1960: A Study of Tradition and Change. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995.

Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

An 1842 census revealed that over one thousand Menominee were living on lands in the Green Bay vicinity that had been ceded to the United States government in treaties in the 1830s. In fall 1843, the federal government began the public sale of those lands, and the Menominee were pressured to move west. The Menominee believed the earlier treaties guaranteed them additional lands that extended “from Fort Winnebago to Black River falls; thence to Chippewa falls; & thence to the Big Bull falls upon the Wiskansan, &c. to the place of beginning,” an area that included the Latter-day Saint operation at Black River Falls. While David Jones, the Indian agent assigned to the Menominee, accepted the Indians’ claims, Alfred Brunson, the former Indian agent for the La Pointe Subagency, did not. After George Miller informed him of the Menominee claims, Brunson wrote to Wisconsin Territory’s superintendent of Indian affairs that the Latter-day Saint mills “were errected under the impression that the whole country west of the Wiskansan, east of the Mississippi & south of Black river had been purchased of the Winnebagoes. Indeed the idea is entirely new, in this part of the country, that the Menomonees ever owned any land west of the Wiskansan River.” (Articles of Agreement [3 Sept. 1836], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 7, pp. 506–509; Ourada, Menominee Indians, 103–104; Alfred Brunson, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Territory, to James D. Doty, 28 Feb. 1844, in U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, reel 319; Brunson, Western Pioneer, 144.)

The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

Ourada, Patricia K. The Menominee Indians: A History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–81. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M234. 962 reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1959.

Brunson, Alfred. A Western Pioneer; or, Incidents of the Life and Times of Rev. Alfred Brunson, A. M., D. D., Embracing a Period over Seventy Years. Vol. 2. Cincinnati: Hitchcock and Walden, 1879.

David Jones, a resident of Green Bay, was appointed subagent for the Green Bay Agency in November 1843. (T. Hartley Crawford to James D. Doty, Madison, Wisconsin Territory, 17 Nov. 1843, in Records of the Wisconsin Superintendency of Indian Affairs, reel 2.)

Records of the Wisconsin Superintendency of Indian Affairs, 1836–1848, and the Green Bay Subagency, 1850. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M951. 4 microfilm reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1974.

After touring Menominee-occupied lands in the Green Bay area and along the Wisconsin River, Indian agent David Jones wrote in February 1844 that he was disturbed by what he deemed illegal and predatory logging operations. In a letter to James D. Doty, Wisconsin Territory’s governor and superintendent of Indian affairs, Jones wrote, “It seems to me that every White Man engaged in the Lumbering Business is a trespasser on the Indian Lands.— The Chiefs expressly desire that their lands may be protected from further encroachments and Spoliation.” However, federal officials appeared uncertain about the legality of the Latter-day Saint lumber operation at Black River Falls, as well as the dozens of other logging operations in Wisconsin Territory. As Indians complained about white loggers trespassing on their lands, federal officials found that laws regulating commerce on Indian lands were inadequate. In a letter to T. Hartley Crawford, the commissioner of Indian affairs, Doty explained that the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1834, which referenced only those attempting to permanently settle on Indian land or to sell trade goods to the Indians without a permit, did not regulate logging or provide means of punishing those who engaged in it illegally. Doty inquired “whether proceedings can be instituted against them” in the absence of a specific provision against lumbering operations. Crawford responded that where trespasses had occurred, “immediate steps should be taken to bring the persons committing them to justice.” He added, “If the laws at present in force are not sufficient to prevent such acts, this Department will endeavor to procure the passage of such as will meet the case.” (Beck, Siege and Survival, 160–162; T. Hartley Crawford to James D. Doty, Madison, Wisconsin Territory, 17 Nov. 1843, in Records of the Wisconsin Superintendency of Indian Affairs, reel 2; David Jones, Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory, to James D. Doty, Madison, Wisconsin Territory, 24 Feb. 1844; James D. Doty, Madison, Wisconsin Territory, to T. Hartley Crawford, Washington DC, 16 Feb. 1844, in U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, reel 319; T. Hartley Crawford, Washington DC, to James D. Doty, Madison, Wisconsin Territory, 28 Mar. 1844, in Records of the Wisconsin Superintendency of Indian Affairs, reel 2.)

Beck, David R. M. Siege and Survival: History of the Menominee Indians, 1634–1856. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.

Records of the Wisconsin Superintendency of Indian Affairs, 1836–1848, and the Green Bay Subagency, 1850. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M951. 4 microfilm reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1974.

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–81. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M234. 962 reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1959.

Both the Black and Chippewa rivers run southwest through Wisconsin and empty into the Mississippi River. The Lemonware (now Lemonweir) River is a tributary of the Wisconsin River. (Hunt, Wisconsin Gazetteer, 51, 64; Baldwin and Thomas, New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States, 111, 234, 1304; David Jones, Report, Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory, 25 Aug. 1845, 494.)

Hunt, John Warren. Wisconsin Gazetteer, Containing the Names, Location, and Advantages, of the Counties, Cities, Towns, Villages, Post Offices, and Settlements, Together with a Description of the Lakes, Water Courses, Prairies, and Public Localities, in the State of Wisconsin. . Madison, WI: Beriah Brown, 1853.

Baldwin, Thomas, and J. Thomas. A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States; Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy. . . . Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo and Co., 1854.

Jones, David. Report, Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory, 25 Aug. 1845. Document no. 10 accompanying William Medill, Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 24 Nov. 1845, pp. 493–495. In Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress, at the Commencement of the First Session of the Twenty-Ninth Congress. December 2, 1845. House of Representatives Executive doc. no. 2, 29th Cong., 1st Sess. (1845).

Wight may have been conflating three separate interviews with the different tribes into a single visit. According to George Miller, the settlement was not visited by Chippewa Indians until after he and Cyrus Daniels returned from their journey to the Wisconsin River. Moreover, the Chippewa were only seeking provisions, not disputing logging rights. (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1]–[2].)

Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

Miller later recounted that “the agent refused giving the permit, whereupon very sharp words ensued between the chief and agent. Finally he (the agent) said we might make our own bargain.” In addition, the agent “privately proposed a partnership in our establishment. I told him I could not do it without consulting my friends. He then said we would let the matter rest until the next fall.” (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [2]; Alfred Brunson, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Territory, to James D. Doty, 28 Feb. 1844, in U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, reel 319; Brunson, Western Pioneer, 144.)

Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–81. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M234. 962 reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1959.

Brunson, Alfred. A Western Pioneer; or, Incidents of the Life and Times of Rev. Alfred Brunson, A. M., D. D., Embracing a Period over Seventy Years. Vol. 2. Cincinnati: Hitchcock and Walden, 1879.

“The two houses” is a reference to the Nauvoo House and the Nauvoo temple.

Even though the Latter-day Saint milling operation produced large quantities of lumber, these projections that the Wisconsin Saints would send more lumber that year than was necessary for the Nauvoo temple and the Nauvoo House proved overly optimistic. In 1843 Miller estimated that the Latter-day Saint milling operation could deliver over 150,000 feet of lumber every two weeks, a rate that was on track to provide nearly a million feet between the spring thaw in late April and the end of July 1844. Logging and milling operations along the Black River, by the Saints and others, yielded an estimated three million feet of lumber in 1843 and eight million feet in 1844. No sources document the exact amount of lumber sent to Nauvoo, though surviving records describe hundreds of thousands of feet of lumber being sent each year. Miller was still purchasing lumber for Nauvoo in late spring 1845. He later recounted that some of this lumber intended for the temple and Nauvoo House had been used to build homes in Nauvoo. (Rowley, “Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries,” 119–121, 127; George Miller, Bloomington, Wisconsin Territory, to Newel K. Whitney, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Apr. 1845, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; Brunson, Northern Wiskonsan, 6; Fries, Empire in Pine, 19–20; JS, Journal, 12 May 1843; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1]–[2]; Clayton, Journal, 6 and 16 July 1844; Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to Brigham Young, New York City, NY, 18–19 July 1843, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

Rowley, Dennis. “The Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries, 1841–1845.” BYU Studies 32, nos. 1 and 2 (1992): 119–148.

Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.

Brunson, Alfred. Northern Wiskonsan. Madison, Wisconsin Territory: No publisher, 1843.

Fries, Robert F. Empire in Pine: The Story of Lumbering in Wisconsin, 1830–1900. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1951.

Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.