Indian Villages

A large Sauk Indian village rested on this prairie from about 1740 to 1780 and had about four hundred acres of corn fields. According to Jonathan Carver this was the biggest and best laid out village he had ever seen and the 90 houses had more provisions than any other place in the territory. This prairie today is occupied by the villages of Sauk City and Prairie du Sac. The name Sauk or Sac given to this area was because of this village and the battle at Wisconsin Heights that took place in 1832 between the American Militia and the British Band of the Sauk Indians lead by their war chief, Black Hawk. Black Hawk and his warriors held off 450 soldiers so his women and children could escape across the Wisconsin River.

The Ho Chunk had a number of small villages in this area. They had a 70 acre cornfield near Prairie Street. Three other smaller villages were located near Witwen and Denzer with another to the east near Lodi. In 1837 they were forced to go west of the Mississippi River. They were tenacious and kept coming back. When this treaty was ratified by Congress in 1838 this area was able to be settled.