Town of Russell: History Part I
The first people living in the area were the Ojibwa. According to Ojibwa legend, the Anishinabe were created on the east coast of Canada near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River. A seashell called the Megis Shell would appear to them and be their guide. The Megis Shell appeared five times and five times the Anishinabe migrated westward on the Great Lakes finally settling on Madeline Island. During this migration which took about 500 years, the Anishinabe divided into three nations. The Ojibwa, “the keepers of the faith”, settled in this area about 1490.
One area, the Loon Clan of Ojibwa found to be an excellent place for fishing was directly across from Madeline Island on the shores of Lake Superior at what is known today as Raspberry and Frog Bays. Many people choose to build their homes there and stay year round. The Chief of the people who were living in the area was Anton Buffalo; therefore, they named another area Buffalo Bay. Later when the U.S. government established the reservation the area was named Red Cliff, a name that continues today.
Fur trapping originally brought early European explorers to the region in the 1600 and 1700s. Bayfield County was created in 1845; the State of Wisconsin came into being in 1848 and the Red Cliff Band of Chippewa Indians was recognized by treaty with the United States government in 1854. The Town of Russell formed in 1912 when it was split off from its neighbor, the Town of Bayfield, the but there was much activity in the area prior to incorporation.
The U.S. government made efforts to settle the area by offering 160 acres for homesteads. Early pioneers started making land claims in the area from 1884 to 1899 to open up the land and develop small farms. Many of these farmers also subsidized their income by fishing. Commercial fishing peaked in the 1950s and has declined ever since.
Early travel in the Town was difficult. Logging roads were the only roads leading toward the City of Bayfield. One of the first roads built, Raspberry Road, went from Four Corners (present location of Turner Road junction with State Highway 13) north over the hill to current Old County Trunk K and then continued west and north to what was called Section 8. The road also continued to the south joining a logging road, which is now State Highway 13. The junction was known later as “Russell’s Crossing,” as the Russell homestead was located on that corner.
