The history of the Menominee and their environment goes back to the latter part of the Ice Age some 13,000 years ago. The Western Great Lakes area the Menominee called home is a product of the ice age. "The drainage patterns, land forms, and soils are all results of glaciation".

According to present information, the ice did not cover the entire state, (see Wisconsin Glaciation Map). There is evidence that humans could live in this area not covered by the glacier. In fact, 1992 butchered mammoth bones were found near lake Michigan in southern Wisconsin. Radiocarbon dating of these bones determines they were 12,500 years old. This information makes the date listed for the glaciated area questionable and the dates that humans were in the area. Animals lived in the ice free region so it is reasonable to believe that humans did also. When the glacial ice began its northern retreat living things entered the region. This region is listed as "glaciated area" on the map above. First to move in was the plant life followed by animals and finally humans -- ancestors of present day Menominee's.

When the glaciers receded, it was a very different Wisconsin from the one we know today. This land had been compressed by the tremendous weight of glacial ice hundreds and hundreds of feet thick. When the ice melted the land began to spring back; this is called upwarping. The upwarping of the land allowed lakes created by the glacier to drain southward. Water courses affected by the Wisconsin glacier include the Wolf and Fox and the Wisconsin rivers.

The ice free portions of the land were covered by a forest in which spruce and fir were dominant. Other trees known to have been present were tamarack, pine, oak, ash, linden, and cedar. As soon as the glaciers were gone the climate became warmer and drier. The trees and other vegetation moved northward.

The constantly changing environments had an effect on the animal life. When the climate was colder and moister there were mastodons, mammoths, giant beavers, barren ground caribou, elk, and deer. The remains of whales and walruses have been found on the Michigan side of the lakes. As the climate became warmer the larger animals moved north with the glaciers. There is strong evidence that humans moved with the animals.