Mole Lake was the home of the Sokoagon Band of the Chippewa tribe. According to tradition handed down from one generation to the next, the first chief of the band was Getshee Ki-ji-wa-be-she-shi, or the Great Marten. Each summer the Sokoagon Band came to Mole Lake to fish and hunt, and in the fall they harvested the wild rice before following the deer herds into the swamps of the Peshtigo River for the winter season. About 1806, bands of Sioux from the north and west tried to gain control of the rice beds, and a fierce hand-to-hand battle followed. Armed with bows and arrows and clubs, the Indians fought a long, hard battle in which over 500 Chippewa and Sioux were killed and buried in a common mound. The Sioux retreated westward and never again attempted to return.