Editing Vilas County, Wisconsin (section)

===Settlement===
The first recorded white settler 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=December 6, 2015 }} Accessed January 11, 2011</ref>

In the 1850s migrants from [[New England]], primarily from [[Vermont]] and [[Connecticut]], constructed wagon roads and trails through Vilas County including the Ontonagan 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"/>

Vilas County was set off from [[Oneida County, Wisconsin|Oneida County]] on April 12, 1893, and named for [[William Freeman Vilas]]. Originally from [[Vermont]], Vilas represented Wisconsin in the United States Senate from 1891 to 1897.<ref>William Freeman Vilas: Doctrinaire Democrat Front Cover Horace Samuel Merrill 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=November 7, 2012 }}.</ref>