The area that is now Sawyer County was contested between the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples in the 18th century. Oral histories tell that the Ojibwes defeated the Dakotas locally in the Battle of the Horse Fly on the Upper Chippewa River in the 1790s.[3][4] By this time, Lac Courte Oreilles had become the site of an Ojibwe village. Ojibwes allowed trader Michel Cadotte to build a fur-trading outpost in the area in 1800.[5] The United States acquired the region from the Ojibwe Nation in the 1837 Treaty of St. Peters, but the Ojibwes retained the right to hunt and fish on treaty territory. Ojibwe people successfully negotiated to establish the permanent Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation in the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe.[6]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,350 square miles (3,500 km2), of which 93 square miles (240 km2) (6.9%) are covered by water.[10] It is the fifth-largest county in Wisconsin by land area.
Sawyer County Highway B is the busiest rural roadway on average in all of Sawyer County with a high count of 5900 vehicles daily, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's average daily traffic maps for 2008.[11]
As of the census of 2020,[1] the population was 18,074. The population density was 14.4 people per square mile (5.6 people/km2). There were 15,966 housing units at an average density of 12.7 units per square mile (4.9 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 77.0% White, 16.3% Native American, 0.6% African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 5.2% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.0% Hispanic or Latino of any race.
2000 census
The 2000 Census Age Pyramid for Sawyer County
As of the census[17] of 2000, 16,196 people, 6,640 households, and 4,581 families resided in the county. The population density was 13 people per square mile (5.0 people/km2). The 13,722 housing units had an average density of 11 units per square mile (4.2 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 81.72% White, 0.31% African American, 16.07% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 0.37% from other races, and 1.23% from two or more races. About 0.90% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. About 29.6% were of German, 7.8% Irish, 6.7% Norwegian, 5.9% Polish, 5.2% Swedish, and 5.2% English ancestry; 95.4% spoke English, 2.0% Ojibwa and 1.1% Spanish as their first language.
Of the 6,640 households, 27.5% had children under 18 living with them, 54.2% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were not families. About 26.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.39, and the average family size was 2.86.
In the county, the age distribution was 24.1% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.8 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 101.0 males.
In 2017, 167 births occurred, with a general fertility rate of 74.5 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the eighth-highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties.[18] Additionally, fewer than five induced abortions were reported as performed on women of Sawyer County residence in 2017.[19]
Sawyer County had a historical reputation for being a bellwether county in presidential elections, having voted for the overall national winner in every election from 1964 to 2016. Similar to other bellwether counties, this streak was broken in 2020 when the county backed Donald Trump over eventual winner Joe Biden.[22] This is because of increasing geographic polarization in American politics, with fewer and fewer counties swinging between parties, and instead voting consistently for one party according to demographics.[23]
^Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Vol. 19. Reuben Gold Thwaites (ed.). Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 1910. p. 171.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Reported Induced Abortions in Wisconsin, Office of Health Informatics, Division of Public Health, Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Section: Trend Information, 2013-2017, Table 18, pages 17-18
