Up to the time when the British took possession of the west there were within the present boundaries of Wisconsin few white inhabitants.

The two settlements, at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, the one where the Fox river debouches into Green Bay, and the other near the junction of the Wisconsin river with the Mississippi, and being respectively the termini of the great natural highway between the lakes and the Father of Waters, were the earliest abodes of civilization within the limits of the state, the occupation of which became permanent.

The earliest settlement was at Green Bay. NICOLLET, with his voyageurs, was the first white man who trod its soil. He visited Green Bay as early as 1634, ascended Fox river, and was at the Wisconsin river.

As early as 1654, Lake Superior was visited by fur traders from Montreal, and at some time between that date and 1659 they pressed forward to Green Bay, where furs were abundant.

In 1660 Father MESNARD, who was lost in the forests of Lake Superior, had been charged by the bishop of Quebec to visit Green Bay, a mission which his sad fate prevented his fulfilling.

In 1669, Father ALLOUEZ, having previously established a mission at Che-goi-me-gon, exchanged it with Father MARQUETTE for a new mission which he established that year at or near Green Bay, probably at De Pere, and which subsequently was called the mission of St. Francis Xavier.

The precise date of the establishment of the first fortification at Green Bay-which was called St. Francis-is involved in some obscurity. The foundations of the fort at Mackinaw, on the peninsula, were laid by MARQUETTE in 1671, and other fortified posts about this period were established at Green Bay, Chicago, St. Josephs, Sault St. Mary, and Detroit. In 1680 TONTI commanded at Green Bay and had a small detachment of men under him. Soon after him came Lieut. DU LHUT, who had a small troop under his com.

mand. It was a dependency of Mackinaw and was easily and speedily re-enforced from that post.

On the 16th of May, 1673, MARQUETTE and JOLIET embarked from the mission station at Green Bay, on their voyage up the Fox and down the Wisconsin, which resulted in the discovery of the Mississippi river; and returned to Green Bay by the route of the Illinois and Chicago rivers, before the end of September of the same year. The ensuing winter and following summer were spent by MARQUETTE, in sickness, at the mission of St. Francis Xavier.

In the autumn of 1680 HENNEPIN and DU LHUT reached the mission near Green Bay, where they spent the winter. It was during this winter that LA SALLE made a journey on foot from Fort Crevecoeur, on the Illinois river, to Green Bay.

History is barren of any important events which occurred at Green Bay during the next thirty or forty years. The little garrison was probably there in 1716, at the time of DE LOUVIGNY'S expedition against the Foxes, as it certainly was when DE LIGNERY made his fruitless expedition in 1728. In 1746 Capt. DE VELIE was in command of the garrison, and was relieved that year by a new commandant. The garrison was withdrawn before the breaking out of the French war in 1754.

The year 1745 was marked by the permanent settlement at Green Bay of Sieur AUGUSTIN DE LANGLADE and his family. With the DE LANGLADES came but a few settlers besides their own family. M. SOULIGNY and his wife-the daughter of AUGUSTIN DE LANGLADE-came with the family, and they were joined by Mons. CARON, who spent the remainder of his days there. The whole number of which the colony consisted did not exceed eight persons. A blacksmith named LAMMIOT came soon after.

On the 12th October, 1761, Capt. BELFOUR, of the Eightieth Regiment of British infantry, arrived at Green Bay with Lieut. JAMES GORRELL, one sergeant, one corporal, fifteen privates, a French interpreter, and two English traders whose names were MCKAY, from Albany, and GODDARD, from Montreal. On the 14th, Capt. BELFOUR returned, leaving the post-afterward called Fort Edward Augustus-in charge of Lieut. GORRELL, who, with the seventeen men under his charge, busied themselves during the winter in repairing the fort, houses, etc.

On the 26th of June, 1763, Lieut. GORRELL, in pursuance of instructions from Capt. ETHERINGTON, who had been surprised by the Chippewas, at Mackinaw, abandoned his post at Green Bay and set off with all his garrison and the English traders, and a strong guard of friendly Indians, to join Capt. ETHERINGTON, which they did on the 30th of June, at an Ottawa village about thirty miles above Mackinaw.

For forty years after the advent of the DE LANGLADES the settlement at Green Bay made but little progress. In 1785 there were but seven families, who, with their engages and others, did not exceed fifty-six souls.

The heads of these seven families were CHARLES DE LANGLADE, PIERRE GRIGNON, Sr., LAQRAL, BAPTIST BRUNET, AMABLE ROY, JOSEPH ROY and MARCHAND. All the trading was on the east side of the river and was all carried on by Mr. GRIGNON and MARCHAND, and all the residences were on the same side except those of BRUNET, LAQRAL and JOSEPH ROY who lived on the west side.

The first settler who arrived after this date was JACQUES (JAMES) PORLIER from Montreal, who came in 1791. Of him Gen. ELLIS says "of all men of French origin at the Bay, when I arrived there (1822), Judge JAMES PORLIER stood foremost.

The next year, CHARLES REAUME arrived and took up his residence at the Bay. He was a very noted and most singular character. He long held the office of Justice of the Peace, and it has been often said that no person could tell when his official duties first devolved upon him, nor from whence his authority was derived. But it appears reasonably certain that his first commission was derived from the British authorities at Detroit before the surrender of that post in 1796, and that he subsequently received a similar commission from Genl. HARRISON, Governor of Indiana Territory. Many amusing anecdotes are related of the manner in which he discharged his official duties, and it is well authenticated that the only process of the court was the judge's jack knife, which served at once as the token and authority by which all defendants were brought under his jurisdiction. In 1818 he was appointed one of the associate justices of the court by Gov. CASS, and the same year moved to Little Kaukalin, about ten miles above Green Bay, where he died in 1822.

In the last years of the last century several other settlers

began to arrive, almost invariably from Canada. Among them, JOHN LAWE came in the summer of 1797. The total population in 1812 had increased to as many as two hundred and fifty, among whom the most prominent families not before mentioned were DUCHANO, GRAVEL, CHEVALIER, CHALIFOUX, HOULRICH, FRANKS, BRISQUN, VIEAU, CARDRONE, DOUSMAN, CARBOUNSAU, VAUN, HOULL, JACOBS, GARRIEPY, BAUPREZ, DUCHARME, LANGEVIN, HYOTTE, NORMAN, LAVIGNE, BONNETERRE, BOUCHER, LE BOEUF, THEBEAU, DUMOND, FORTIER, LA ROCK, and JOURDIN.

About 1794 the trading house of Ogilvie, Gillaspie & Co. was established, which three years later gave place to JACOB FRANK's, of which JOHN LAWE Subsequently became proprietor.

It is a great mistake to suppose that the Indian tradersat least those of any character-took what they pleased and kept no account with the natives. As to Judge LAWE'S practice, the Indians, on taking his credit in the fall, high or low, each individual had an account, bona fide, opened with him on his books, as formal and precise in all respects as the sharpest white man in which he was debited his blanket, stroud, calico, powder, shot, thread, pipes, tobacco and flints as carefully as possible. On his appearance in the spring with his peltries, he was duly credited with payment, not in the gross, or by the lump, but every skin was counted, separating the prime from the poor, and each kind from the other with exactness, with different prices, according to value, so that the Indian knew exactly how his account stood.

Except the indispensable blacksmith there were no mechanics at Green Bay before 1816, besides AUGUSTIN THIBEAU, a carpenter, who came in 1800.

The earliest mill was erected by JACOB FRANKS about the year 1809. He first built a saw-mill on Devil river, two or three miles east of Depere, and then a grist-mill with one run of stones.

JOHN BOWYER of Virginia, was in 1815, sent as Government Indian Agent and MATTHEW IRWIN of Pennsylvania, as factor, to reside at Green Bay.

In 1816 the government caused a saw-mill to be erected at the Little Kau-kau-lin.

The various kinds of domestic animals were in use from

soon after the settlement by the LANGLADES, and garden vegetables and cereals were also produced in abundance.

Fort Howard was established in 1816, the quarters of the officers and soldiers having been prepared by Gen. (then Major) CHARLES GRATIOT of the engineer corps. On the 16th of July Col. JOHN MILLER in command of a detachment of troops, which it required three schooners to transport, having Major GRATIOT in company, landed with his troops on the west side of Fox River at its junction with Green Bay, to the great wonder and surprise of the inhabitants. The troops pitched their tents near where the fort was subsequently erected, and it was about two months before they got houses and barracks ready for occupation. Col. MILLER returned during that year to Detroit, leaving the post and troops in command of Col. CHAMBERS.

In 1820, the troops under command of Col. JOSEPH L. SMITH were removed two and a half miles up the river, to an eminence on the right bank, which he named Camp Smith, and where he had built a stockade and indifferent barracks.

Col. SMITH was the father of Hon. WINFIELD SMITH, of Milwaukee. He was superseded in command by Col. NINIAN PINKNEY in the fall of 1822, by whose orders the troops were then moved back to Fort Howard, which was fully repaired, and thenceforward made the rendezvous for all the troops and army operations of the upper country.

In the fall of 1823 Col. JOHN MCNEILL succeeded Col. PINKNEY, and was himself relieved the next year by Gen. HUGH BRADY.

During the two years that Col. SMITH occupied Camp Smith--which was half a mile back from the river-the followers of the army had ensconced themselves along the river bank, just below and in front of the stockade, where they had erected numerous sheds, or shanties, in which were gathered various articles of trade. This little nondescript village obtained the sobriquet of "Shantytown," which the locality wears to the present time. It had three principal traders - ROBERT IRWIN, Jr., who had built a good residence; DANIEL WHITNEY, the most enterprising trader in the northwest, who had erected a good store and filled it with goods, and WILLIAM DICKINSON, who was a pushing trader, and who built a store and dwelling house.