6 YEARBOOK, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 11. 



NOTES ON THE MUSEUM'S COLLECTING 

 EXPEDITIONS IN 1922 



A SUMMER AMONG THE SAUK AND lOWAY 



INDIANS 



By Alanson Skinnek^ 



During the past season it was the privilege of the writer to visit sev- 

 eral of the Indian tribes now domiciled in Oklahoma, for the purpose of 

 obtaining data and specimens to fill in some of the gaps in our ethnolog- 

 ical collections. It was deemed that the Sauk, a tribe of Algonkian 

 stock, were of prime importance, as they had once been inhabitants of 

 Wisconsin. Also, as we had no specimens whatever from this people 

 in our collections, the writer set out early in May, 1922, to see what 

 could be found among the remnant of this interesting people. 



The early, traditional home of the Sauk was probably the region 

 about Saginaw Bay, in the eastern peninsula of Michigan, whence they 

 were driven, probably by the Ojibway, shortly prior to the coming of 

 the first whites into their country. 



In their retreat from the Ojibway the Sauk fled across Lake Michi- 

 gan, probably by way of Mackinaw Straits, and, continumg southward, 

 settled on what is now the Door County peninsula, the long arm of land 

 which forms the east coast of Green Bay. Here, directly opposite the 

 headquarters of the Menomini tribe, they found asylum for a time. 

 However, their aggressive and warlike nature soon brought them into 

 violent conflict with the peaceful Menomini, and the latter eventually 

 forced their withdrawal from the peninsula. The Sauk then fled to the 

 region of the Fox river, from its mouth southward, where they were 

 found by Father Allouez in 1667. 



When the French arrived, the Sauk and the Fox were the only Al- 

 gonkian peoples who were unfriendly toward them, and bitter fighting 

 ensued, in which the Sauk and Fox again suffered defeat at the hands 

 of the French, who were now allied with the Menomini. Even the 

 Iroquois from distant New York were called into French service, and 

 for a long time an entire village made up of captive Fox, or more prop- 

 erly "Muskwaki" was colonized among the Iroquois in western New 

 York, the locality still being known as "Skwaki Hifl." It is possible that 

 certain Iroquois customs, such as the torture of prisoners, may have 



'Curator of Anthropolog-y, Milwaukee Public Museum. 



