Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Information
The
Waupaca Area Chamber of Commerce
(221 S. Main St., 715/258-7343 or 888/
417-4040,
www.waupacamemories.com
)
has all the info you need.
The Menominee nation represents the oldest established inhabitants of the territory of Wis-
consin. Unlike the diasporic nature of many U.S. tribes, the Menominee are strictly Wis-
consin residents. The reservation lies a chip-shot north of Shawano and abuts the southern
perimeter of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and the northern edge of the much
smaller Stockbridge Indian Reservation. All Wisconsinites nod at its crown jewel, the Wolf
River, one of the region's top draws.
HISTORY
Anthropologists have surmised that the Menominee, an Algonquian-speaking tribe, may
havebeenintheWisconsinterritoryasfarbackas10,000yearsago.Thetribeanditsmany
bands once controlled regions of the Upper Great Lakes from as far south as Milwaukee to
the Escanaba River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the entire breadth of Wisconsin.
Beginning in 1817, a series of breached federal treaties gradually eroded Menominee
sovereignty until, by 1854, the tribe was allowed only 12 townships on the present-day re-
servation; some of the ceded land was turned over to the Oneida and Stockbridge Indians
for their own reservations. Almost 10 million acres dwindled to 200,000.
TheMenominee,whohadbeengivenreservationstatusbyatreatysignedneartheWolf
River's Keshena Falls, asked for their status as natives to be terminated in 1961 in an at-
tempt at federal assimilation. It was a dismal failure, and reservation status was reinstated
in 1973. The tribe today numbers approximately 6,500, more than half of whom live on the
reservation.
MENOMINEE INDIAN RESERVATION FOREST
The 223,500 acres of forest surrounding the reservation include some of the most pristine
stands of hardwoods, hemlock, and pine in the Great Lakes region; it's regarded as an in-
