In 1865, a tired band of rugged government surveyors from Medford camped on the west banks of what is know now as Butternut Lake. It took two weeks on foot to make the journey. Since they believed that Butternut Lake was part of the Mississippi River, the surveyors marked boundaries for the northern part of Wisconsin. So became the birth of Butternut and the friendship between the settlers and their Native American neighbors.

The country was only populated with small band of Chippewa Indians who lived along the lakes and streams. The Sioux (Dakota) Indians also once lived here. They were pushed west by the battling Chippewa. Both tribes battled against each other because of cultural differences. Friendly relations were established between the two groups and trading eventually developed on a fairly large scale. Since money was worthless to the Indians, large prime beaver or fox pelts could be exchanged for goods. Tobacco could also be used to barter for necessities such as clothing and fishing supplies.

The Chippewa (Ojibwa) were nomadic people, moving from place to place in search of food. Their beliefs did not allow them to hunt and fish off the same place they had hunted the season before in order to replenish the land. They made birch bark canoes and floated along the lake shallows for wild rice. In the spring, syrup would be tapped from maple trees. Wigwams, made of birch bark, were easy to pack and move to their next site. The skeleton of the wigwam would be left intact to be reused when they returned. The Indians would frequently visit the town of Butternut and its people. Though there were never any skirmishes with the people of Butternut, the Chippewa didn't stay around town long enough to form any intimate relationships.

No Indians ever lived in Butternut, but often camp out on the hill next to the water tower. An Indian chief named Indian John McNockway, a name given by the town's people, lived on the high site of the Park Falls paper mill. He made his living by acquiring deer hides from the surrounding villages. He would tan the hides and resell them back to the people. John came by canoe, up the Flambeau River, and then by foot on the Indian trail to Butternut. His usual camping place was up on the hill where the baseball grounds are now. He would stay as long as he could get "fire water", but as soon as no more was available, he moved on.

Indians from the Bear Lake region made frequent visits to the Butternut area. They camped for five or six days. Indians from Odanah would visit, traveling a path that, supposedly, no white man ever walked upon.

In the autumn to spring months, deer could not be found as far south as Medford. But from August to September, the Indians would cut down a line of trees, put up branches too high for the deer to jump over and have a narrow door for the deer to pass. There the Indians would ambush their prey quite easily. The Indians continued this yearly process until the government appointed land to the Ojibwa Indians, putting an end to the history of their visitation to the town of Butternut.
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