Today the shores of beautiful Lake Chetek are lined with homes and cottages that are havens to many visitors each summer. It is a recreation spot where modern man has brought the accouterments and comforts of civilization to make a place to rest and relax.
Here in ancient times the Native American and their fore bearers found it a place of peace and contentment. It was here at Chetek that they gathered in peace to quarry their pipe stone, fashion peace pipes and arrow heads. It was here by these peaceful waters that they buried their dead. The rich rice beds and cranberry bogs brought the tribes together for a long tranquil harvest through the Indian Summer days.
The ancient mound builders found Chetek shores to their liking. Here is evidence of their early inhabitation lost in antiquity, but still their mounds are prominent features on many locations around the shoreline. Today there is still evidence of more than a hundred and fifty mounds. These vary in size, the largest being about forty feet across and about six feet high. It is thought that many of these at one time were much larger but that erosion has cut them to their present size. The evidence seems to indicate that these were burial mounds and from the accumulation of charcoal and charred bones that such burials were accompanied by a fire ceremony. The mounds have yielded little in art facts other than broken bits of pottery. This seems to indicate that they were constructed by other inhabitants than the Indians. Definite Indian burial grounds in the area have yielded many articles of Indian lore.
The earliest known Indian tribes in the Chetek region were the Dakota tribe. The Sioux and Winnebago's were also well known in this region. The many indications of camp grounds and garden beds in the vicinity of the lake is evidence that this spot was a favorite meeting place for tribal councils. The abundant game and fish, rice and cranberries, all contributed to bring the tribes together in peace and harmony. Here at Chetek were the permanent villages of the Sioux and Chippewa. These were occupied during the gentle summer and fall months, much as summer visitors do today. Here inter-tribal trading took place, harvests completed and laid by for winter, the arrows readied for the winter hunting. Winter brought a change in their living habits. The tribes dispersed into small groups and moved to the forests where it was possible to live by the products of the chase.
Spring brought them back to their permanent villages and garden spots along the lake and river shores. Here, as many of our modern visitors do, they rested and restored themselves to the health and vigor necessary to survive through another rigorous winter.