Potowatami Indians

One of the first documented Indian groups in the Will County area was the Potawatomi tribe. This particular tribe had settled along the Dupage River in what is now known as Plainfield Illinois. Thanks to the control the tribe held over five million acres they were able to flourish and depend on more than trade.

Their good fortune in land holdings enabled them to be great hunters, gatherers, farmers, as well as traders. The Indians hunted deer, bears, buffalo, fish and other smaller game. They gathered berries, roots, wild rice, maple syrup and nuts to create a more diverse diet.

By the early 1800s the Potawatomi Indians had turned to agriculture to subsidize their diet and lifestyle. The Indians has begun to farm small plots of land in and round present day Plainfield Illinois. Those fields were full of corn, beans, squash, onions, tobacco, and cotton.

As other tribes and white European settlers encroached upon the tribe they began to trade everything from furs to food and tools. In 1634 the tribe was trading furs with Jean Nicolet, the first documented European settler to the area. The Indians relied on the furs they traded to the Europeans for clothing, and as trade became more prevalent in the Indian’s society they had to turn to other means for creating clothing such as the cotton they began to farm.