of Fox, Sauk, Potawatomi, Mascouten, and Miami also arrived from the east at the same time, overwhelming the resident Winnebago and Menominee and occupying their lands. However, the powerful Dakota (Sioux) were not so accommodating, and fighting erupted across western Wisconsin. Corn did not grow well in northern Wisconsin, and the refugees were forced to rely more heavily on hunting than before. This quickly exhausted the available resources leaving the refugees fighting among themselves over what little there was. The new arrival had also brought some of the new European epidemics with them, and as if there was not enough misery, Iroquois war parties roamed through the area striking without warning. During the next ten years, the French went west and rebuilt their fur trade. By mediating the disputes between the refugee tribes in Wisconsin, they were able bring some order to the region and establish the relationships for a future alliance to defend the area from the Iroquois. Meanwhile, the attention of the Iroquois had been focused on their war with the Susquehannock in Pennsylvania. It took them until 1675 to defeat the Susquehannock, but by 1680 they were looking west again and found that Illinois hunters were invading the lands they had conquered during the 1650s. Their protests resulted in the murder of a Seneca sachem during a meeting with the Illinois. The second phase of the Beaver Wars began that year, when the Seneca retaliated and attacked the Illinois Confederation. The second attack was made the following year, but in 1684 the Iroquois failed in their attempt to take Fort St. Louis on the upper Illinois River. By the 1690s the Iroquois were retreating back across the Great Lakes towards New York. At the same time, the Iroquois homeland was under attack from the east by French soldiers and native allies from Quebec. War between Britain and France ended in 1697 with the Treaty of Ryswick, which had placed the Iroquois Leag...
