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Big Indian Farms is a remote clearing in the Chequamegon Forest where as many as 130 Potawatomi and others lived from around 1896 to 1908. In this isolated spot they were able to preserve their ancestors' culture better than if they had lived under the direct influence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on a reservation. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. ==Background== The forests and rivers of north-central Wisconsin were home to various Native Americans since shortly after the last glacier receded.〔Birmingham, p. 1.〕 The Ojibwe were the final native group to dominate the area, but they sold their land rights to the U.S. in the 1837 Treaty of St. Peters, also known as the "White Pine Treaty". This was part of a general effort to move natives west of the Mississippi, to secure the east for mining, logging and white settlers. Most of the Ojibwe eventually withdrew to reservations to the north. By the late 1800s few Indians of any tribe were left in Taylor County, except for a few employed in the logging industry.〔Ojibwe Culture〕 Central Taylor County was once heavy forest, but by 1896 it had been logged for thirty years.〔Ruesch, p. 3.〕 Instead of the Chequamegon Forest of today, it was a patchwork of cutover slashings, occasionally scorched by runaway fires.〔Birmingham, p. 33-34.〕 An early settler in that area said it was so open he could see deer a mile from his house.〔Roy Spiels, quoted in Birmingham, p. 34.〕 Though a band of towns and farms ran along the Wisconsin Central Railway north and south of Medford, the rest of the county had large areas with only a smattering of settlers.〔Map of Taylor County - 1896〕 The Potawatomi did not traditionally live in this area, instead inhabiting southern Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. In the Treaties of Chicago in 1821 and 1833, they exchanged most rights to their lands for promises of cash and land west of the Mississippi. Through the 1830s, many moved to reservations in Kansas and Nebraska - some under force. The general aim of the U.S. government at this time was assimilation - to make "good American" farmers and Christians of the Indians.〔Birmingham, p 11.〕 On the reservation their Midewiwin religion was discouraged, and many of the children were taken to Indian boarding schools, where they couldn't speak their native language or learn much of their parents' culture. But some Potawatomi evaded these removals, and others moved to the reservations but were unsatisfied, and came back.〔Potawatomi Culture〕 These off-reservation Indians were called "stray bands" or "strolling Potawatomi", living in less-settled areas and moving on when pressure from settlers became uncomfortable.〔Birmingham, p. 1-2.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Big Indian Farms」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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