Many years ago, Menominee Indians lived on what is today the Oneida Tribal reservation. Long before white settlers came to this area, the Menominees lived along Duck Creek. They hunted the many animals that lived in the forests and fished in the creek. Wild rice also grew in the shallow water. Many wild berries could be found and the Indians found all that they needed to survive in nature.

In the woods near their village, the Menominee protected something amazing. A very large, flat stone lay on the surface of the ground. It was smooth and shiny and covered an area the size of six football fields. It is said that the rock was polished so perfectly that if you stood next to it, you could see your own reflection clearly. It was like a mirror. If you looked down upon the stone from a hill nearby, it looked like a pond of ice.

We know today that the polished rock formed during a time when the glacier covered our state. The large sheets of ice moved back and forth over the stone, which is called limestone. After many years, the stone became smooth. When the Ice Age was over and the ice melted away, the stone was left.

The Menominee Indians believed the large stone was very important and should be protected. When white settlers came to Duck Creek and discovered the rock, they were amazed. They looked at it in a very different way. A group of men saw it thought that the rock would be very valuable. If it could be broken up, it could be sold and used to build things. Many cities were being built, and the stone would make beautiful buildings. The rock would help the men make money.

The men developed a way to break the rock into large pieces. They sent the rock all over the country by railroad. An area where rocks are broken up is called a quarry, and the Duck Creek quarry became very famous. Many builders wanted the stone. Statues were built using it and even bath tubs were carved out of the stone. Today, you can still see the stone at a fountain in Green Bay and in the Marinette County Courthouse.

You can also still see the quarry near Oneida, west of Green Bay. The layers of rock have been dug up for many years.

Rentmeester, Jeanne and Les. Memories of Old Duck Creek. 1982. Rentmeester, Jeanne and Les. Early Duck Creek History. 1989.