Before European settlers and the United States government arrived in the 1850s in what is now northern Clark County, Wisconsin, the forests along the Black River were home to Native American tribes, including the Winnebago/Ho-Chunk, the Ojibwe/Chippewa, the Sioux, and the Menominee. Those tribes, dating back thousands of years, lived on, cared for, hunted, fished, and gathered wild rice from the region’s rivers and marshes.
Preceded by early French fur traders in the area, by the mid-1800s, as the United States expanded westward, the U.S. government and settlers grew increasingly interested in the vast pine forests and rich resources of Wisconsin. The Black River’s thick stands of eastern white pine were especially coveted by logging companies eager to feed the nation’s growing need for lumber. That desire for timber, combined with pressure to open land for new settlement, put Native American lands in the crosshairs of federal policy.
After the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and to further legally acquire the land along the Black River, the United States government negotiated several treaties with the region’s tribes. Under the White Pine Treaty of 1837 and the 1847 and 1848 treaties, the Indian Nations ceded large portions of land across Wisconsin, including areas along the Black River. Sometimes, tribal leaders signed under duress or without full understanding of the consequences. The terms often promised the tribes money, goods, or reservations elsewhere, but those promises were not always kept as intended.
Following ratification of the treaties, the U.S. government claimed full title to the land. The forests along the Black River were soon opened to logging companies. Loggers poured into the region in the 1840s and 1850s, floating logs down Black River to distant sawmills in La Crosse and Iowa. Temporary work camps and small settlements sprang up, eventually giving rise to towns like Withee and Owen.
After the treaties, some Native Americans continued to hunt and fish in their traditional territories, sometimes leading to confrontations with settlers or government agents. Efforts by the government to relocate the Native Americans in the 1840s and 1850s were sometimes met with resistance, as families returned to the lands they knew.
One of the most significant economic developments in the history of the Black River region was the Wisconsin legislative formation of the Black River Improvement Association in 1864. That organization played a key role in coordinating and improving the logging industry’s use of the river from Clark County all the way south to La Crosse, Wisconsin. By organizing log drives, clearing log jams, and constructing dams and sluiceways, the Association transformed the Black River into a major transportation route for timber.
Today, the history of early treaties and the Native Americans who lived along the Black River remains an important chapter for the Owen-Withee area. Understanding that history, as well as the impact of the Black River Improvement Association, helps us appreciate the challenges, controversies, and resilience of those who came before us—and the ways local industry shaped both Clark County and La Crosse.
Native American’s left artifacts such as stone arrowheads, hammerheads, and spear tips from many hundreds of years of living off the land. Some of those can be found at the Owen-Withee History Center.