Place:Vilas, Wisconsin, United States

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source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Vilas County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 21,033. Its county seat is Eagle River.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Settlement

Vilas County was set off from Oneida County on April 12, 1893 and named for William Freeman Vilas. The earliest inhabitants of Vilas County were members of the Chippewa band of Native Americans; the first recorded white settler was a man named Ashman who established a trading post in Lac du Flambeau in 1818. In the 1850s a number of wagon roads and trails were constructed through Vilas County including the Ontonogan Mail Trail and a Military Road from Fort Howard to Fort Wilkins in Copper Harbor, Michigan.^[1]

Logging era

Vilas County's forests were extensively logged in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many dams were built throughout the county to assist loggers as they sent their timber downstream to the lumber and paper mills in the Wisconsin River valley.^[1]

Wisconsin Walleye War

    In order to keep the peace, Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson mobilized hundreds of policemen to keep the peace in Vilas County in the Spring of 1983 during the Wisconsin Walleye War. A relatively small number of Vilas County residents (Total County population approximately 29,000 1980 Census) participated in protests of a very ugly and threatening manner lead primarily by a hate group called STA or Stop Treaty Abuse. The group of fanatics was headquartered, sponsored, funded, and populated mainly outside of Vilas County but they made their "stand" primarily in the County. The slogan of the group, notoriously printed on everything from "T" Shirts and Baseball Caps... was most infamously lithographed on private label beer cans manufactured in Milwaukee and widely distributed and labeled and illustrated with the horrific statement and graphic illustrations, "Spear A Squaw-Save A Walleye!"  
    Angry mobs protested mainly at area lake boat landing sites.  The verbal abuse and taunting escalated with rock throwing and even firearms being discharged. Further escalation included the intentional and vicious circling of boats to create massive swamping waves and wakes that resulted in the capsizing of some Indian Spearfishing Boats with Ojibway Spearers in harm's way. Rescues were performed by law enforcement and good Samaritans in order to help Indians and their supporters trapped in treacherously ice cold very early Spring waters. 
    The protests were ignited in part as a reaction to a 1983 federal Appellate Court decision affirming Chippewa (Ojibway) off-reservation hunting, fishing, and gathering rights, (commonly known at the Voigt case). The decision was a landmark ruling for the Tribes and their rights as set forth in the Treaties of 1837, 1842, and 1854 were to be upheld and restored as appropriate.
    During this extremely volatile period, in an effort to quell the violence and keep the peace, Governor Thompson first offered to have the State of Wisconsin pay the Tribes to relinquish their absolute rights to spear fishing (as upheld in the Voigt case).  Thompson offered Tom Maulson, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribal Chairman, at first $30 million dollars and a retention of ceremonial rights to spear a limited number of fish. Maulson declined and Thompson was shocked by the refusal. Thompson later proposed a second offer of $50 million dollars. Again, Maulson refused. But this time, Maulson made a counter-offer that proved to be a win-win.  Maulson offered to voluntarily limit the harvest of Indian owned fish off the reservation in return for a gambling compact between the Tribe and the State of Wisconsin. It was a brilliant moment because it realigned the thought process of the potentially and absolutely jealous critics of the Indians' rights. The solution was as surprising in its appearance as it has been in its effectiveness.  This was the prototype for virtually all other First Nations and Indian groups structuring government to government compacts that served to "monetize" underlying Treaty enshrined Indian rights in resources or to fund "reparations" because of widespread "takings" of Indian assets.
    Today, the six bands of Wisconsin Chippewa set voluntary annual harvest quotas for off-reservation lakes in the Wisconsin Ceded Territory. As part of the agreements, the DNR (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) reduces bag limits for recreational hook-and-line anglers in lakes declared for harvest by the Chippewa Bands to assure the combined Tribal and Recreational Angler harvest does not jeopardize the ability of Walleye to sustain its population in any lake.

Timeline

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990

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