Histories:
Trempealeau County Historical Accounts:
"History of Trempealeau County Wisconsin, 1917":
Chapter 14:
Principal Streams
-As transcribed from pages 274 - 276
The Beef or Buffalo River in the days of the French explorers took the
name that Hennepin in 1680 applied to the Chippewa River. "Beef"
is a corruption of "Beeuf," the designation applied by the early French
explorers to the American buffalo. The R. de Beeufs appears on
the earliest maps, though in some of them it is evident that the
Chippewa River is meant.
The Black River was called R. Noire, by Hennepin in 1680, and has since
borne the English translation of that word. Hennepin says that
the Sioux called the river, Cha-be-de-ba or Cha-ba-on-de-ba. The
modern Sioux, however, called it Wat-pah-zappa or Minne-sap-pah,
meaning Black Water or Black River.
Beaver Creek. Tradition says that two Frenchmen (probably the
same Joseph Rocque and companion from whom French Creek was named)
wintered on Beaver Creek above Galesville in the days of the trappers,
and there caught a large number of beavers. Willard B. Bunnell
and James Reed also caught many beavers there and gave the creek its
name.
Cedar Creek was named by Willard B. Bunnell and James Reed. In
the early days it was the haunt of many deer. The creek was named
because of the abundance of dry red cedar used by Mr. Bunnell and Mr.
Reed in "fire hunting."
Elk Creek was named in 1842 by Willard B. Bunnell and William Smothers
while on a hunting expedition. The valley of Elk Creek is usually
called Pleasant Valley.
French Creek, according to Winnebago tradition, was so called from the
fact that Joseph Rocque, the father of Augustine Rocque, once
maintained his wintering ground in that vicinity while hunting and
trapping in the Beaver Creek Valley.
Hardie's Creek was named from James Hardie, an early settler and sturdy Scotchman.
Pigeon Creek was named by Willard B. Bunnell and William Smothers while
on a hunting trip. Bunnell then lived at Reed's Town
(Trempealeau) and Smothers at Holmes' Landing (Fountain City). Of
the great flocks of pigeons that frequented this vicinity in the early
days L. H. Bunnell says: "I was returning in a canoe from a trip
up the river (in 1842) and as I came in sight of the oak timber then
growing on the Wisconsin side below the site of the lower bridge, I saw
clouds of pigeons settling to roost, when crash, would fall an oak
limb, and then a noise would follow like the letting off of
steam. It did not occur to me at first, what it was that made the
latter noise, but as I approached nearer, and saw limb after limb fall,
some of them very large size, and then heard the increased noise, I
saw, and heard, that it was numberless pigeons breaking down the limbs
and chattering in glee a their having overloaded and broken them
down. Some of the young Sioux were watching the 'roost,' to see
if any had commenced laying, for some were already building nests, and
when I told James Reed of the Indians being there and not a shot fired
at the pigeons, he told me that the Indians never disturbed pigeons or
ducks by shooting at them when nesting, and that the life of a man
doing so would not be safe among the Sioux, as the whole tribe would
feast upon the squabs as soon as big enough. The pigeon roost
extended for 25 miles below La Crosse, as reported to us by up-coming
steamboats, and where there was heavy timber, the same scenes were
repeated that I had witnessed - the whole length of the roost being
about 45 miles. Pigeons are easily disturbed and driven away when
they commence nesting, but when they begin to set, they are not so
easily scared."
Pine Creek was named after the towering scattered pines which grew in
abundance in that vicinity , some of which stand today, one being
utilized by a farmer as a tower for his windmill, a little south of the
Pine Creek church, the central building in Pine Creek village.
The Big and Little Tamarack creeks were named from the abundance of
tamarack timber grown along their banks and in the bottom lands and
adjoining. Al and Abe Holcomb, two early settlers, built a
sawmill on the prairie near their homes to manufacture this timber into
lumber for building and fence purposes. The old mill was doing
business in 1870 and remained many years later to serve a very useful
purpose, when its site and building were put to use as a grist mill by
Squire A. Pickett, later purchased by John Bonum and Stephen Richmond,
and Bonum's interest conveyed to Blackhawk Johnson, who in 1878
purchased the whole property and continued the milling business a
number of years. The mill and power are in recent years nearly
unknown.
Trempealeau River received its name from Trempealeau Mountain and
Bay. It was called by the Winnebagoes Ne-chann-ne-shan-ah-ga, or
over-flowing stream, and by the Sioux Wat-pah-dah, the moving stream.
Trout Creek or Trout River was named by Willard B. Bunnell. As
the Sioux seldom fished, but confined their activities in this line to
spearing large fish with a spear, the spring creeks were filled with
trout of good size. In the early '40s Mr. Bunnell once caught six
dozen trout in Trout Creek in a few hours. The larger trout were
caught in the main stream, but they did most of their spawning in
Little Trout Creek.