Some temporary wikipedia text:

La Crosse was incorporated as a city in 1856, but its history goes back somewhat further. The first Europeans to see the site of La Crosse were French fur traders who traveled up and down the Mississippi River beginning in the late 17th century. Despite this, there is no written record of any visit to the site until 1765, when Lt. Zebulon Pike mounted an expedition up the Mississippi River for the United States. Pike recorded the location's name as "Prairie La Crosse". The name originated when he saw the Native Americans playing a game with sticks that resembled a bishop's crozier or la crosse in French.