190 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



of Capt. "W. "Wistler, during the absence of Col. Joseph L, Smith. 

 Its strength consists of three hundred men, together with about 

 the same number of infantry at Camp Smith, at Eock or Dupere 

 Rapid, a few miles above, who are engaged in quarrying stone for 

 a permanent fortification at that point. On visiting this quarry, 

 I found it to consist of a bluish-gray limestone, semi-crystalline in 

 its structure, containing small disseminated masses of sulphuret 

 of zinc, calc-spar, and iron pyrites, and corresponding, in every 

 respect, with the beds of this rock observed along the upper parts 

 of the Fox and "Wisconsin valleys. 



Fort Howard is seated on a handsome fertile plain, on the north 

 banks of the Fox, near its mouth. It consists of a stockade of 

 timber, thirty feet high, inclosing barracks, which face three sides 

 of a quadrangle. This forms a fine parade. There are block- 

 houses, mounting guns, at the angles, and quarters for the sur- 

 geon and quartermaster, separately constructed. The whole is 

 whitewashed, and presents a neat military appearance. The 

 gardens of the military denote the most fruitful soil and genial 

 climate. Data observed by the surgeon, indicate the site to be 

 unexcelled for its salubrity, such a disease as fever, of any kind, 

 never having visited it, in either an endemic or epidemic form. 



The name of Green Bay is associated with our earliest ideas of 

 French history in America. When La Salle visited the country 

 in the 17th century, it had been many years known to the French, 

 and was esteemed one of the prime posts for trading with the 

 Indians. The chief tribes who were located here, and in the vi- 

 cinity, making this their central point of trade, were the Puants, 

 1. e. Winnebagoes, Malomonies, or Folle Avoins, known to us 

 as Menomonies, Sacs, and Foxes, called also Sakis, Outagami, 

 and Renouards, and it was also the seat of trade for the equivo- 

 cal tribe of the Mascoutins. The present inhabitants are, with 

 few exceptions, descendants of the original French, who inter- 

 married with Indian women), and who still speak the French and 

 Indian languages. They are indolent, gay, and illiterate. I was 

 told there were five hundred inhabitants, and about sixty princi- 

 pal dwellings, beside temporary structures. There are seventy 

 inhabitants enrolled as militia-men, and the settlement has civil 

 courts, being the seat of justice from Brown County, Michigan, 

 so called in honor of Major-General Jacob Brown, U. S. A. The 



