I 
INDUSTRY OF COUNTIES. 285 
French Catholic Missionaries ascended the Ottawa, and cross- 
ing the chain of small lakes, they preached the word of God 
in the hovels of the Algonquins on the bays of Huron. They 
sailed among the islands of the Manitouline Archipelago, and 
at Saut St. Marie, at the outlet of Superior; entering that vast 
inland sea, they settled at LaPointe and Bayfield, and pene¬ 
trated to the farthest extremity, (now Douglas County), where 
the St. Louis enters the lake amid groves of pine. ” 
The progress and prosperity of the new towns and settle¬ 
ments bordering upon Lake Superior have been almost mavelous; 
yet nature has not been easily won, or her treasures gained 
without a contest worthy of their merits. 
The first U. S. Surveyor, Mr. G. R. Stuntz, arrived at the 
head of Lake Superior on the 20th of May, 1853, and com¬ 
menced to survey the lands now comprised within Douglas 
County. Not a tree or a bush had been cut where now stands 
the town of Superior. The site was then covered with a dense 
growth of pine, spruce, fir and birch trees. In June several 
small boats arrived from Ontonagon, Michigan, with settlers, 
who located upon the “ Mineral Ranges,” from ten to twelve 
miles from the lake. In July and August a number of settlers 
arrived from St. Paul, Minnesota, and settled upon the banks 
of the Nemadji river. In January, 1854, a road was cut out 
to the St. Croix by a company of volunteers. In March the 
town site (320 acres) known as Superior City was claimed, and 
which has been ever since in litigation. In the spring of 1854 
a company under the title of “ Proprietors of Superior ” was 
organized for laying out the town of Superior, and Messrs. 
Newton and Clark appointed surveyors. The plat was recorded 
by the sixth of November, 1854. The number of houses and 
cabins, some partly finished, in the spring of 1855, was 35, 
and almost the entire town site was covered with a dense forest. 
The State Census reported the population then at 385; the IT. 
S. Census of 1860 at 828. The first term of Douglas County 
Circuit Court was held on the 2d of August, 1855, and on the 
8th the U. S. Land Office was opened. 
The experiment of raising winter wheat was successful be- 
