14th Book Excerpt: The Chief Lake and Meda Lake Communities

The following is the 14th of a series of book excerpts the LCO News will feature from local author, John Dettloff. The excerpts will be from his  new book.

Detloff has lived on the Chippewa Flowage, near New Post, for over 50 years.  His family has had a small resort just east of New Post for 56 seasons and for 40 years he has been writing historical articles about the flowage, tribal history (especially Old Post), old guides, old resorts, and fishing.

His new book called Whispers of the Past, A History of the Chippewa Flowage, released on November 1st, gives a comprehensive history of the flowage going back to the fur trade era. 

According to Detloff, the book profiles in great detail the people of the "Chippewa Basin" (the area that became flooded by the flowage) and talks about the 300 plus people who were affected by and displaced by the flowage.  There were probably 250 plus tribal members and nearly 100 non-tribal members that were affected. 

From the Book:

Pictured above is Mad-ji-osh (better known as Mike Mustache). Although Mike and his two brothers and three sisters were all born in Pahquahwong near Connor’s Lake, Mike Mustache’s allotment was located on the southwest cove of Chief Lake.

     While the village of Pahquahwong encompassed more than just the immediate area around Pahquahwong Lake and the bend in the river, the people who proudly laid claim to being its residents lived anywhere from Blueberry Creek and Meda (Scott) Lake to the west, to the waters beyond the junction of the Chief River and the West Fork of the Chippewa River to the north, to Cranberry Lake and the cedar swamps to the east, and the wooded hills of the sugar bush to the south.  In addition to Pahquahwong’s scattered population, the people of the Chief Lake and Meda Lake communities are equally important in discussing the former inhabitants of the “Chippewa Basin.”

     Because of its closer proximity to the Lac Courte Oreilles village (today is known as Reserve), the Chief Lake settlement was most likely established before the village of Pahquahwong.  When John Carver’s expedition visited the Lac Courte Oreilles village back in 1767, Carver’s men felt that the villagers were quite concerned about the Sioux’s presence in the area.  From that observation, one can deduce that it was likely too soon for the Ojibwe to “split their forces” by trying to maintain and defend two villages.  Therefore, it is likely the Chief Lake settlement wasn’t established until sometime after that… perhaps during the early to mid-1770s.

     After their Chief Lake encampment was established, a well-trod Indian trail from the Lac Courte Oreilles village eastward to Chief Lake developed.  And, later on, once the area around the Pokegama Lake and the bend of the river at Pahquahwong began to become populated (possibly around 1840), another Indian trail was blazed from the east shore of Chief Lake to Pokegama Lake at Pahquahwong.  Among the lands included in the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation around Chief Lake, were the lands along the south and west shores of Chief Lake, as well as the lowlands adjacent to the two forks of Squaw Creek.  

     Beginning in 1881, these lands – which had been surveyed into individual parcels – were allotted to various tribal heads of families and single adults.  The west and south sides of Chief Lake had a sizable Indian community prior to the forming of the Chippewa Flowage, with Shaw-waw-ome-day, Frank Thomas, Shingebis (Alexander Thomas Jr’s.), Madji-osh (Mike Mustache), Mi-sha-quet (Mary Annie Cloud), Ge-no-shan, Ga-gi-ge-ji-go-kwe-ke-noshan, Naw-zhi-na-kway, and Ma-ka-day-ge-zhig were being awarded land patents for their allotments in 1881.

The west and south sides of Chief Lake had a sizable Indian community prior to the forming of the Chippewa Flowage. This 1912, pre-flowage, survey map shows the locations of the homes of five tribal members. 

     A bit inland from the southwest corner of Chief Lake, Chief Anakwad (Pete Cloud), Bin-di-gi-i-ash, Julia Dennis, and Bi-da-nakwa-to-kwe had applied for and received their allotments.  Further inland to the west of Chief Lake, Ashi-gun, At-a-ge-kwe, Alex Thomas, John Lagoo, Shaw-wan, Nellie Ford, John Quarters, Wa-Jashk Jr., Ge-way-ge-zhig, Mary Bell, and Angeline Beck all received their allotments between 1881 and 1905.    

     Up along the South Fork of Squaw Creek, more than a mile west of Chief Lake, the well-known Civil War veteran John Scott, Julia Isham, Louis Belille, and Pete and Lewis Martin had their allotments.  Finally, further to the north up Squaw Creek: Ke-do-ki-wi-go-bow #2, Ne-watch, Julia Gokey, Gertrude LaRonge, Tom Bracklin, Bi-ne-we-we-giji-go-kwe, Mitchell Thomas, Ogi-ma-gi-ji-go-kwe Martin, Ke-we-ash-i-kwe Martin, Gi-ba-wi-kwe, and O-ka-bi-kam-i-go-kwe make up the rest of the original allotment owners of land in the Chief Lake area.

     With most of the above-mentioned allotments being awarded between 1881 and 1885, by 1910 some of these lands had switched over to being owned and occupied by heirs of the original allottees.  

     Perhaps the most noteworthy allottee on the Chief Lake settlement was Chief Anakwad, also known as Pete Cloud, who was awarded his land patent on November 13, 1885.  Located about three hundred yards inland from the southwest cove of Chief Lake, Cloud’s allotment – most of which was spared from being flooded once the flowage was created in 1923 – would serve as his home for the rest of his life.

     Anakwad was born around 1864, the son of Dedakoki and Waboos.  Anakwad was recognized by all in his community as Chief.  Around 1888, Anakwad married Akwetawegijigokwe, also known as Be-be, and it was said that they had six children, although only two were known to live to adulthood: John Pete and Frank.  Shortly after Frank was born, his parents separated, and by 1900 Anakwad was married to his second wife, Om-ba-nakwe-do-kwe.

     Like many of his fellow allotees, as soon as he was approved to receive his land, Chief Anakwad arranged to have his property logged, contracting to have 400,000 board feet of timber cut at a quoted price of $5 per 1000.  His earnings must have helped him in the construction of his house and log barn, where he maintained several gardens and had horses, cows, and chickens on his farm.  There were numerous other cabins on his property which others in the community used.  The Chief Lake cemetery, where many of the former community residents are laid at rest in traditional Ojibwe burial sites, is located near his former farm.  Today, the cemetery silently sleeps, hidden amongst the trees and underbrush.

     Chief Anakwad’s wife, Omba-nak-we-do-kwe, passed away on November 11, 1928, and the old chief himself died on February 9, 1942.  He had been out earlier that day, tending to his horses in the barn, and upon returning to his house sat down to rest in a room adjoining another that – unbeknownst to them – was occupied by his family.  Later that afternoon, after darkness had fallen, one of his daughters-in-law entered the room in which the Chief was sitting to get something, and in doing so, she touched his hand only to discover that it was cold.  He had died sitting in his chair.  He was about eighty-two years old.

     Located just northeast of Anakwad’s allotment, on the lower lobe of the southwest cove of Chief Lake, Mad-ji-osh (Mike Mustache) had received his allotment on October 15, 1883.  Mad-ji-osh was the son of Charley Mustache and O-ba-ba, who had a good-sized family and lived at Pahquahwong for many years.  Because Mike Mustache had married Chiz-ni-aw’s daughter, who lived at Pahquahwong, he remained living there until well after his wife had passed away.  Although Mike and his two brothers and three sisters were all born in Pahquahwong near Connor’s Lake, a small lake to the west of Pokegama Lake, Mike Mustache’s allotment was located on the southwest cove of Chief Lake.  After he married Julia Isham in 1905, Mike moved to his Chief Lake allotment, where he had built his house just off the south bank of Chief Lake, near the east edge of his allotment.  

     Mike Mustache’s brother John was given the Ojibwe name of Ka-chi-ji-ji-gi-jig after he was born in Pahquahwong in 1870.  People called him “John Scott,” since his namesake was the Civil War veteran John Scott.  After John’s mother O-ba-ba died in 1906 at Pahquahwong, John and his brother Antoine and their families, along with their widowed father Charley, left Pahquahwong and moved to the Chief Lake settlement, where they made their permanent homes near their brother Mike’s allotment.

     Another well known Chief Lake resident was the Civil War veteran Pvt. John Scott.  John Scott was born in Wisconsin on May 27, 1843, and his Ojibwe name was Hawche Cheekezick.  He served in Company F of the 38th Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War.  After the war, Scott moved to Lac Courte Oreilles, where he met and married A-pil-a-gish-i-gi-kwe (Susan Homesky), the daughter of Ge-na-ge-jik (Mitchell Homesky).

     On November 13, 1885, John Scott received an allotment for an 80-acre parcel more than a mile west of Chief Lake, just to the north of the South Fork of Squaw Creek.  In 1886, Scott contracted to have his allotment logged, cutting and banking 405,610 board feet of timber himself, for which he earned $2134.70.  No doubt putting those earnings into building a house and farm on his property, by the late 1880s, Scott had established a fine home there for him and his wife.  

     Around 1910, Scott applied for a homestead claim for 80 acres of land just east of Meda Lake.  His claim, located about a mile and a half west of Pahquahwong, did not extend all the way to the lake because it was on non-reservation land.  Because the reservation surrounded Meda Lake, homestead claims along its shores were never available.  Scott promptly built a homestead cabin on the property to gain title to it, which he did on February 16, 1916.  Because of his presence there, Meda Lake soon was given a new name… Scott Lake.

After the Civil War veteran John Scott homesteaded some land just to the east of Meda Lake around 1910, the lake was soon named after him and became known as... Scott Lake.

     After the Chippewa Flowage was created in 1923, because John Scott’s land near Meda Lake was far enough from the water, none of his land was ever flooded.  However, because they already had a home and farm established near Chief Lake, John and Susan Scott chose to move there permanently… but they did keep their property near Scott Lake.

     Susan Scott’s father, Mitchell Homesky, originally had settled his family near Meda Lake when they first arrived in the area from the Bad River Reservation.  Susan Scott’s brother, Louis Homesky, married the daughter of Makade Wigwanebi.  Makade Wigwanebi (who had married Chief Anakwad’s widowed mother, Waboos) was living in a log home near Meda Lake with his wife.  They also maintained a wigwam next to their home.  Living on Meda Lake for many years, both families had to abandon their homes and relocate to the Chief Lake settlement because the Chippewa Flowage was predicted to flood their homes in 1923.

     In addition to the Homesky family’s two homes near Meda Lake, there were a number of other residences near there.  Eleven tribal members owned allotments around the lake; however, there are no records indicating which allottees lived on their land.  There is a record of who the allotees were, however.  Starting on the northwest corner of Meda Lake, and going around it in a clockwise direction, the original allotees were as follows: Esther Carefelt, John Baptiste Sheff, Ba-sha-wa-bi-zesh, Ne-ia-na-kwa-do-kwe (Mrs. Mike Moustache), Ozhawash-ko-ge-zhi-go-kway, Theresa O’Shogay Marrin, Sophia LaRonge Belille, Emma L. Isham, Oshan-an-gigi-zis (Mrs. Henry Baker), Prosper Belille, and Bazil Corbine.  

     And that brings us to the families of the village of Pahquahwong, otherwise known as “The Post.”  Stay tuned!

     (To order a copy of John Dettloff's new book, send a check or money order for $29.95, plus $6 shipping and 5 1/2% sales tax, made out to Trails End Publishing and send it to: Trails End Publishing, 7431 N Flowage Rd., Couderay, Wi 54828.)