Editing Eagle River, Wisconsin (section)

==History==
Eagle River was the site of the first permanent Native American settlement in the Wisconsin Northwoods, located on the shores of Watersmeet Lake where the [[Wisconsin River]] and Chain O' Lakes meet. These early Natives, who were called Old Copper Indians, were succeeded by the [[Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands|Woodland Indians]] from 2,600 B.C. to 800 A.D. These Natives were probably the ancestors of the [[Ojibwe|Chippewa]], [[Potawatomi]], and [[Menominee]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eagleriver.org/history.asp |title=Eagle River History |access-date=2014-12-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220170937/http://www.eagleriver.org/history.asp |archive-date=2014-12-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The first recorded white settler in what became Vilas County was a man named Ashman who established a trading post in [[Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin|Lac du Flambeau]] in 1818.<ref name="county">[http://co.vilas.wi.us/ Vilas County, WI Government Main Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151206181641/http://www.co.vilas.wi.us/ |date=2015-12-06 }} Accessed January 11, 2011</ref> Eagle River's name was derived from the abundance of eagles nesting along the river. It is believed that Bethuel Draper and "Dutch Pete" Cramer camped in the area in 1853 and were responsible for naming the community. A settlement grew as other families settled in the area in 1857. The town of Eagle River was created by an act of the state legislature in 1885. Vilas County was set off from [[Oneida County, Wisconsin|Oneida County]] on April 12, 1893, and named for [[William Freeman Vilas]], a migrant from [[Vermont]]. Vilas had served for Wisconsin in the United States Senate from 1891 to 1897.<ref>Horace Samuel Merrill. ''William Freeman Vilas: Doctrinaire Democrat''. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1954.</ref><ref>[http://www.co.vilas.wi.us/history.html Vilas County History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107030215/http://www.co.vilas.wi.us/history.html |date=2012-11-07 }}.</ref> In the 1850s migrants from [[New England]], primarily from [[Vermont]] and [[Connecticut]], constructed a number of wagon roads and trails through Vilas County including the Ontonogan Mail Trail and a Military Road from [[Fort Howard (Wisconsin)|Fort Howard]] to [[Fort Wilkins Historic State Park|Fort Wilkins]] in [[Copper Harbor, Michigan]].<ref name="county"/>