Editing Waupaca County, Wisconsin (section)

==History==
Ancient indigenous peoples constructed [[earthworks (archaeology)|earthworks]] that expressed their religious and political concepts. An early European explorer counted 72 such earthen mounds in what is now Waupaca County, many of them in the form of [[effigy]] mounds, shaped like "humans, turtles, catfish and others."<ref name="chamber">[https://web.archive.org/web/20090804193704/http://www.waupacaareachamber.com/history.html Waupaca Area Chamber of Commerce]</ref> There were 52 mounds constructed around what is now called Taylor Lake. Most mounds were lost to agricultural development. One mound, shaped like a catfish, is still visible in a private yard along County Hwy. QQ, just east of Taylor Lake. The site was marked by a local women's club with a commemorative plaque installed on a large stone.<ref name="chamber"/>

Under pressure from European-American development, the [[Menominee people]] ceded their title to the United States for these lands by treaty in 1852. Following that, the flow of new migrant settlers greatly increased from the East, with people moving from New England, New York, and Ohio. They developed the land primarily for agricultural use in the early decades, also quickly establishing sawmills on the rivers.

In the 1870s railroads were constructed in the county: the [[Wisconsin Central Railroad (1871–99)|Wisconsin Central]] in 1872 and the Green Bay and Minnesota Railroad (later known as [[Green Bay, Minnesota & St. Paul]]) in 1873. These improved the county's connections to markets for its lumber and other products. For a period, entrepreneurs and merchants gained high profits from the lumber industry, establishing many fine homes in the larger cities.