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11. Potawatomi: Peninsula's Sister Park
- University of Wisconsin Press
- Chapter
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Adecade after Peninsula was established, a second state park—Potawatomi— was designated in Door County. This ,-acre tract consists of two and three-quarter miles of shoreline and a majestic bluff rising some feet above the waters of Sturgeon Bay. The high-forested plateau at its top is broken by open stretches of meadow resplendent with masses of trillium and daisies in season. Quarrying—Door County’s first industry and its first export —began here in .1 Over the years it furnished quality limestone for river and harbor construction, including the breakwaters of Michigan City. Once known as Government Bluff, the land had been owned by the United States since .2 At that time it was considered a prime location for a fort in case of war with Canada, and it remained under the control of the War Department for nearly a century.3 In fact, an early Army Corps of Engineers map refers to the bluff as Quarry Point.4 When quarry operations ceased, the site remained under the administration of the War Department, which classified it as an abandoned military reservation. In the early s, Frank Hogan opened a stone quarry at Government Bluff. Being only a squatter, he was driven off and started the Green Stone Company quarry at Sawyer.5 The area once was the site of extensive Native American activity. Onanguisse , principal chief of the Potawatomi, had his winter camp in the Idlewild area just north of the park. Henry Tonty and two priests, Bibourde and Membre, with three other starving Frenchmen, were brought to the camp in November . They remained there for the winter as guests of Onanguisse. Father Membre then left for De Pere, where he founded a Jesuit Mission, while the others left for Mackinac late the following spring. Many artifacts have been found in the Sand Bay area west of the park. otawatomi ’ There, during the late winter spawning season, Native American families came to catch northern pike and other large fish. According to local residents, sturgeon were piled up on the shore like cordwood. Natives placed fish, meat, and other food in deep holes that they dug in the sand, filled with moist sand, and marked for location. This primitive refrigeration method provided a source of food for later consumption. Early industrial activity began in , when Peter Sherwood settled on the point just north of the park and worked as a cooper. The point was named after him. Around –, Frank Sawyer settled near the shore west of Government Bluff, where he farmed and carried on a vigorous trade with Native Americans. Sawyer Harbor, the cove between Potawatomi Park and the Idlewild Peninsula, was named for him. One mile west of the park, Hainesville became a thriving Norwegian settlement. It was founded by Tallak Haines, who came from Bamle Parish in southern Norway and settled at Sawyer Harbor in the early s. Haines made several trips back to Norway, returning to Door County with many of his old neighbors.6 By the turn of the century, individuals who were living on the tract as squatters were harvesting its remaining timber. Noting this unsavory activity in , the Advocate wrote: “It is reported that the government reservation is being depleted of the timber that still remains, the parties engaged in the nefarious work being people who are utterly irresponsible and who have been squatting on the lands for some time past. If the timber is to be taken off it should be by everybody and not a few never-to-do wells, as has been the case for the past several years, and who apparently have no fear of the law, everything being grist that comes to their mill.”7 Because the federal property was being neglected, some considered it a “wasteland.” In an editorial early in , the Advocate echoed local concern about the tract when it wrote: It is a question whether it is at all beneficial to a town or county to have a considerable area of waste lands lying within its borders remain in the keeping of the state or nation. A fair illustration of this is . . . the government reservation. Here is a tract of more than two full sections which is not being utilized for any purpose whatsoever, although there is a great and growing demand that it be put on the market and utilized for agricultural purpose; but to all these appeals the officials turn a deaf ear. Were the property looked after and kept...
