F 606 .K58 II ^ ^ V I iiin ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, A HAND-BOOK FOR CITIZENS AND GENERAL READERS. BY T. H. KIRK, M. L., Minnesota State Institute Conductor of the Winona Normal School. St. Paul: [o 'J^V ^2 1^8 D. D. MERRILL, XC^WAsAiiJ*: 1887. COPYRIGHT, 1S87. BY D. D. MERRILL. PREFACE This edition of the Illustrated History of Minnesota has been ar- ranged for the benefit of the general reader, whose attention at the outset is specially called to the complete and accurate set of notes and statistical tables which add greatly to the value and interest of the main text. In preparing it, I have found some difficulties in my way. The greatest grew out of the complex nature of the book itself; because it seemed necessary to make it a reasonably complete work of ref- erence, and yet bring it within brief space ; to make it interesting to younger readers, and still vigorous enough for the older. It is plain to see the position of compromise into which these opposing elements forced me. Some annals, for example, useful as refer- ences, but in themselves not of the highest historical value, had to find place at the risk of sacrificing the force of the main narrative. Then, too, there are some details of interest to young people which to an older person might in some degree seem trivial. The labor of verifying facts where conflicts existed among authorities has been another great difficulty, and one hardly to be appreciated by any save those who have undertaken such a task as this. Nevertheless, I have had some peculiar advantages. Most of the scenic ground had become familiar to me through frequent visita- tions before the thought of writing this outline entered my mind. Since then, no opportunity for exploration has been thrown away. It has been of inestimable profit, also, to meet and converse with many of the historic characters, some of whom have since passed to their rest without leaving any written records. Moreover, throughout my labor, I have had free access to the rich collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. 3 PREFACE. I cannot do less here than express my gratitude to the many old scouts, soldiers, and settlers who have aided me freely. In particu- lar, thanks are due the living governors for facts bearing upon their administrations; to the late Dr. Stephen R. Riggs, to his son Al- fred L. Riggs, of Santee Agency, Nebraska, to his daughter, Mrs. M. R. Morris, of Sisseton Agency, Dakota, and to the venerable missionary W. T. Boutwell, of Stillwater, all for information re- specting Indian life; to J. Fletcher Williams, secretary of the His- torical Society, for numerous courtesies; and to Dr, Edward D, Neill, the historian, who read most of the manuscript, and by personal counsel and hearty appreciation lent good cheer to my endeavor. T. H. K. CONTENTS PAGE. Days of the Voyageurs — Physical Features * 15 The Dakotas 19 First Explorers 25 Groselliers and Radison 26 Rene Menard 28 The Fur Traders 29 Nicholas Perrot 29 Du Luth . .' 30 Hennepin 33 Ft. St. Antoine 37 La Hontan's Long River 38 Ft. Le Sueur 39 Ft. Le Huillier 40 Ft. Beauharnois 42 The Northwest Passage 45 French and English Supremacies 47 Carver's Expedition 47 • Indian Wars 50 Wabasha's Mission 52 The Northwest Company 54 Bep'ore the Territory — Territorial Changes 56 Pike's Expedition 57 Minnesota Indians in War of 1812 60 Traders and Selkirkers 62 Expedition of 1817 63 Ft Snelling 65 Crawford County 69 Lewis Cass's Expedition ... 69 The Fur Companies 'Jo 7 8 CONTENTS. The First Mills 72 Selkirk's Colony 72 First Steamboat 7? Cass Treaty Broken 74 Long's Explorations 74 Source of the Mississippi 75 Count Beltrami 80 Indian Treaties 80 Border Wars 81 The Swiss Settlers 82 Schoolcraft's Expedition 82 Featherstonhaugh 85 Catlin 85 Dred Scott 88 Nicollet 88 First Protestant Missions 94 Events of 1837 95 Removal of Sv^^iss Settlers 97 Battle of Pokeguma ... 97 St. Croix County 100 Settlement of St. Paul 100 Resume 102 The Territory — Organization 104 First Newspaper ; 106 Governor Ramsey 106 Judicial Districts 106 Council Districts 107 Notes of Interest 107 Immigration 107 First Legislature 107 The Historical Society 109 First Public School 109 The Great Seal 109 Initial Treaties no Navigating the Minnesota iii Growth of St. Paul in Second Legislature 112 CONTENTS. Partisan Disputes 112 Spirit of the Press 114 Public Buildings 114 Territorial University 114 Ojibwa Famine 114 Traverse des Sioux Treaty 114 Mendota Treaty 115 Political Parties 116 Third Legislature ...» 116 Material Development 116 Settlements 116 The St. Peter River 117 Change of Chief Justices 117 Fourth Legislature 117 Governor Ramsey's Message 117 Prohibition 119 Proposed Division of School Fund 119 Governor Gorman 119 Removal of the Sioux 120 Delegates to Congress 120 Fifth Legislature 1 20 Governor Gorman's message 120 Northwestern Railroad Company 120 President Fillmore's Visit 121 Land Grants 121 Congress Interferes 121 Sixth Legislature 122 Gorman's Veto 122 The Charter Annulled 122 Republican Party Organized 123 Hazel wood Republic 123 Seventh Legislature 124 Governor Gorman's Views 125 Popular Themes 125 Eighth Legislature 125 Attempted Change of Capital 126 Inkpadoota Massacre 1 26 lO CONTENTS. PAGE. The Enabling Act 129 Governor Medarj 129 Constitutional Conventions 130 Act of Admission 130 The State — I. — Sibley's Administration 131 Governor Sibley 131 The New Era 132 Issuing the Bonds 133 Normal Schools 133 International Transit 133 II. — Ramsey's Administration 136 Governor Ramsey 136 Ramsey's Inaugural 137 The State University 137 Third Legislature 137 The Rebellion 137 Military Record of i86i 138 Military Record of 1862 139 The Sioux Massacre 140 III. — Ramsey-Swift Administration 153 Ramsey's Re-election 153 Governor Swift 153 Sully-Sibley Campaign 153 Military Record of 1863 154 IV. — Miller's Administration 156 Governor Miller 156 Military Record of 1864 156 Military Record of 1865 159 Material Progress 160 V. — Marshall's ist Administration i6o Governor Marshall 160 Administration Notes 161 VI. — Marshall's 2d Administration 162 Re-election 162 Reform School 162 Capital Removal 162 Northern Pacific Railroad 162 Marshall's Last Message 163 CONTENTS. 1 1 PAGE. VII. — Austin's ist Administration .... 163 Governor Austin 163 Great Civil Topics 164 University Lands 166 Internal Improvement Lands 166 Administration Notes 166 VIII. — Austin's 2d Administration 167 Re-election 167 Biennial Sessions Proposed 167 Amendments Adopted 167 Seeger's Impeachment 168 The Grangers 168 IX. — ^Davis's Administration 169 Governor Davis 169 Railroad Legislation 169 The Locusts 172 Administration Notes 173 X. — Pillsbury's ist Administration 174 Governor Pillsburj 174 Status of the Railroad Bonds 175 Bond Settlement Rejected 175 Constitutional Amendments 175 Xl.^Pillsbury's 2d Administration 175 Re-election 175 Review of June Election 175 Page's Impeachment 176 XII. — Pillsbury's 3d Administration 177 Second Re-election 177 First Insane Hospital Burned 177 Burning of the Capitol 177 Final Settlement of Bonds 178 Cox's Impeachment 178 Constitutional Changes 178 XIII. — Hubbard's ist Administration 179 Governor Hubbard i79 Completion of the Northern Pacific 180 Biennial Sessions Adopted 180 Material Progress 180 XIV. — Hubbard's 2d Administration 182 12 CONTENTS. PAGE. Hubbard's Re-election 182 Economic Growth 182 Public Institutions « 184 Civic Problems 184 XV.— McGill's Administration 185 Governor McGill 185 Explanatory Notes 187 Reference Tables 227 Index 237 ILLUSTRATIONS. Days of the Voj'ageurs 15 Dakota Tipis 19 St. Anthony Falls of Old 34 Near Lake City 38 Maiden Rock 38 Frontenac 44 Pointe au Sable 44 Carver's Cave, looking in. . , 49 Fountain Cave, looking out 49 Looking up the St. Pierre 51 Ojibwa House 52 The Falls of Minnehaha 53 Before the Territory 56 Captain Carver 61 Z. M. Pike 61 William Morrison 61 S. H. Long 61 Lewis Cass 61 H. R. Schoolcraft 61 Mrs. Snelling 65 Colonel Snelling 65 Looking down the Mississippi 67 Looking across the Minnesota 67 Round Tower • 68 Polygon Tower 68 St. Peter's or Mendota 71 American Fur Company's Post at Fond du Lac 73 Chart of Lake Itasca 78 Winnebago Cheracks 81 Dalles of the St. Louis 84 Tracking 86 Crossing a Portage 86 Camping on a Long Portage 86 ILLUSTRATIONS. I3 PAGE, Catlin Painting an Indian Chief 87 Pictographs at Pipestone 89 Pipestone Falls, wet season 91 Pipestone Falls, dry season 91 The Maidens 91 The Manito 91 Dakotas Digging Pipestone 92 Castle Rock 93 The Missionaries 96 The Chapel of St. Paul loi Old Post-office loi New Post-office loi The Territory 104 First Capitol of Minnesota 108 Hole-in -the-day II i x i St. Paul in 1852 ii3 Governor Gorman 119 Little Paul 123 Minneopa Falls 127 Governor Medary 129 The State ' 131 Governor Sibley 132 The Night Camp i34 Ready to start from St. Paul i34 Homeward Bound i34 At St. Paul 13s On the Prairie i3S Governor Ramsey 136 The Settler's Fate 142 Acton Monument 144 Other-day 146 Within the Quadrangle 148 The Indians' Ravine 148 Little Crow 150 The Ford 151 Ruined Warehouse 151 Upper Agency House 151 Governor Swift iS3 Governor Miller 1 56 Governor Marshall 160 Governor Austin 164 Governor Davis 169 Governor Pillsbury i74 Governor Hubbard I79 Bridge and Mills at St. Anthony Falls 181 Glimpse of St. Paul to-day 183 Governor McGill 185 ILLUSXRAXED HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Physical Features. — The physical features oi a coun- try are very closely related to the historyi of its people ; if the earnest student, therefore, will consider all those here given, carefully and far more broadly than stated, he will discover in them a key to interpret some part of every page recording the beginning and growth of the great commonwealth of which the Minnesota region has become the seat. l6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Position and Surface. — Minnesota for the most part may be considered as a plain of diversified surface varying in elevation^ above the level of the sea from the six hundred tvv^o feet of its low^est valley to the twenty-two hundred of its highest hill summit. The crown of cen- tral North America lies within its boundaries. The united areas of its land and vs^ater surfaces, carefully esti- mated, are above eighty-four thousand square miles. Rivers. — It has four principal river systems : the St. Lawrence represented by the northern chain of lakes and the St. Louis river, all emptying into Lake Superior ; the main Mississippi with innumerable branches large and small ; the Red River of the North draining into Lake Winnipeg ; and the Missouri represented by one of its indiiect affluents the Rock. Many of these rivers^ run through deep narrow valleys walled in by ranges of one- sided hills, or bluffs, from w^hose summits the country extends backw^ard at its general level. This is also true of their tributary streams ; but approaching the ultimate sources of the systems, the bluffs become lower and lower until they finally dIsajDpear. Numberless small courses, traced by the periodic streams of wet seasons and springy cut through the bluff ranges of the larger channels. These, properly called ravines, add greatly to the pict- uresqueness of the scenery. Lakes. — According to surveys, the State has nearly ten thousand lakes varying In size from the miniature tarn to Red Lake three hundred forty square miles in extent. The shore lines present all the phases of cove, bay, low cape, lofty promontory, and far -extending peninsula, v^rhlle islands here and there stud the out-lying waters. Some are marshy and shallow, but common characteris- DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 1 7 tics are great depth of "water and bottoms of sand and rock. The water is usually clear and wholesome, but m a few limited sections of the west somewhat alkaline. Clhnate. — While its snows of winter and rains of summer are copious, the atmosphere of Minnesota is dry and healthful by reason of its excellent drainage and com- paratively great elevation above tide water. The winters, some"what long and severe, are followed by brief springs which merge quickly into hot summers.^ These, in turn, are usually prolonged by many weeks of warm autumn weather known as the Indian summer. Bright days are the rule and cloudy the exception throughout the year; and the nights of summer are almost invariably cool. Soil. — The soil of the State consists in the main of rich sandy and clayey loams remarkably free from stones, and therefore it is generally arable or suitable for grazing. Flora. — Winchell estimates that, including their water surfaces, there are fifty-two thousand square miles of native forests in Minnesota. The greater part of this area lies east and north of a line drawn from St. Vincent to Fergus Falls, from there to St. Cloud, thence to Mankato, and finally to Hastings. The forests within the great tri- angle formed by the northern boundary. Lake Superior, and the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers are composed chiefly of white pine, Norway pine, tamarack, balsam, and white cedar. The remaining forests, besides certain narrow belts girting the lakes and fringing the rivers of the prairie regions, are made up of numerous species of deciduous shrubs and trees among which are the several varities of oak, ash, elm, birch, and maple. The most noted body of timber in this last section extends a hundred miles from north to south and fifty from east to west, thus iS HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. having an area of five thousand square miles. Its south- ern Hne is found in the counties of Bhie Earth, Waseca, and LcvSueur. It is caUed the Big Woods. The prairies produce many nutritious grasses of hixuri- ant growth which of old made them the favorite haunts of wild herds seeking pasturage. Among the species in two typical prairie counties, Prof, Warren Upham locates the beard-grass, or blue-joint, Indian-grass, muskit-grass, and porcupine-grass upon intermediate uplands ; another spe- cies each of beard and muskit grasses on dry knolls ; fresh water coi'd-grass and rice cut-grass in sloughs. Among the flowers, which are seemingly of every form and color, he enumerates the aster, golden-rod, blazing-star, rose, lily, harebell, phlox, and fringed gentian. Fauna. — The native fauna once included many fur- bearing animals ; but not a few of these, as the elk and bison, have vanished on the approach of civilization. Most worthy of mention among those still remaining in the remote forests are the otter, beaver, bear and deer. Many kinds of the wild duck and goose frequent the lakes, the partridge and pheasant are found in the woods, and grouse upon the prairies. Both lake and river abound in the varieties of fish common to the inland waters of the temperate zone. Worthy of note are the brook trout, pickerel, perch, rock bass, and wall-eyed pike. Minerals. — Fine grades of limestone, sandstone, quartzite, and granite, fit for both plain and ornamental building, are found in large quantities throughout the State. Extensive beds of brick and pottery clays are of frequent occurrence. Lead and silver crop out to some extent in both the eastern and northeastern sections, but in DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. the latter rich, inexhaustible veins of iron and copper have also lately been discovered. The Dakotas. — The territory now included w^ithin the boundaries of Minnesota was originally occupied by the Dakotas,! one of the great families of American aborig- ines. This family, or nation, had three great divisions: the Santees,2 who formerly dwelt in the section adjacent to Lake Superior and the head waters of the Mississippi; 3 the Yanktons,4 who occupied the region north of the Min- nesota ;5 and the T e e t o n s,6 who roamed over the vast prairies along the western border, and had their prin- cipal villages at Lac qui Parle^ and Big Stone Lake.8 The division first men- tioned Avas com- posed of four bands, dakota tipis. the next of two, the last of seven, and all of these were still further subdivided. Moreover, the Assiniboines,^ supposed to be an ancient offshoot of the Yanktons, were found estab- lished near the chain of lakes which form part of the north- ern boundary ; and various tribes, among whom were the HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. lowasio and Omahasii, hunted far to the southward, par- ticularly in the celebrated pipestone region and along the Blue Earth^2 and Des Moinesi^ rivers. But, \vhethcr by conquest or ancient heritage, Minnesota was peculiarly the land of the Dakotas, in which the other tribes men- tioned were but the sojourners of a day. Nomadic in their habits, yet deeply attached to the land of their fathers, on the one hand they were engaged in continual conflicts with the neighboring tribes, especially the Ojibwas^* their traditional enemies ; on the other, with a growing spirit of aggressiveness, were opposing them- selves to the onward march of civilization. Passionate in temperament and restive under restraint, they were quick to perceive a wrong ; fierce, revengeful, and relentless, they were ever ready to strike the blow of retaliation ; hence, as we shall see hereafter, bloody massacres stand like grim sentinels along the whole course of their history. The eminent Dakota scholar. Dr. Stephen R. Riggs, in his dictionary of the language of this nation, published by the Smithsonian Institution, gives an excellent account of them. It is here given with slight adaptations : — Origin. — " The Dakotas sometimes speak of themselves as the seven council fires. These are the seven bands: 1. Mdewakantonwans^^ "^ 2. Wapekutesic j ^ 3. Wahpetonw^ansi" j ^ ' ^"-1 4. Sissitonwans^^ J =;. Ihanktonwana I r ^r 1 . t r -(\ ^ . MX anktons o. inanktonwans j L J 7. Titonwans |- ["Teetons.] Questions of priority and precedence among these bands are sometimes discussed. The Mdewakantonwans think that the mouth of the Minnesota river is precisely over the DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 21 center of the earth, and that they occupy the gate that opens into the western world. These considerations seem to give them importance in their own estimation. On the other hand the Sissitonwans and Ihanktonwans allege, that as they live on the great water-shed of this part of the continent, from which the streams run northward and eastwai'd and southward and westward, they must be about the center of the earth ; and they urge this fact as entitling them to precedence. It is singular that the Ti- tonwans, who are much the largest band of the Dakotas, do not appear to claim the chief place for themselves, but yield to the pretensions of the Ihanktonwans whom they call by the name of Wiciyela,^^ which, in its meaning, may be regarded as about equivalent to 'They are the people.' Language. — "In the arrangement of words in a sen- tence, the Dakota language may be I'egarded as eminently primitive and natural. The sentence 'Give me bread,' a Dakota transposes .... 'Bread me give.' Such is the genius of the language, that in translating a sentence or verse from the Bible, it is generally necessary to com- mence, not at the beginning, but at the end; and such, too, is the common practice of their best interpreters. Where the person who is speaking leaves off, there they commence and jDronounce backwards to the beginning. In this way the connection of the sentences is more easilv retained in the mind and they are more naturally evolved. Counting. — "Counting is usually done by means of their fingers. If you ask some Dakotas how many there are of any thing, instead of directing their answer to your organs of hearing, they present it to your sight, by hold- ing up so many fingers. When they ha^'e gone over the 22 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. fingers and thumbs of both hands, one is temporarily turned down for one ten. Eleven is ten-more-one, or more commonly again-one ; t^velve is again-two, and so on ; nineteen is the other-nine. At the end of the next ten another finger is turned down, and so on. Tw^enty is two tens, thirty is three tens, etc., Opowinge, one hundred, is probably derived from powinga^ to go around in circles .... as the fingers have all been gone over again for their respective tens. The Dakota word for a thous- and, keptopawlnge^ rn^y be formed of ake and opawittge^ hundreds again, having now completed the circle of their fingers in hundreds, and being about to cominence again. They have no separate word to denote any higher num- ber than a thousand. There is a word to designate one- half of any thing, but none to denote any smaller aliquot part. Counting 7'//;/c.-"The Dakotas have names for the natural divisions of time. Their years they ordinarily count by winters. A man is so many winters old, or so many winters have passed since such an event. When one is going on a journey, he does not usually say he will be back in so many days as we do, but in so many nights or sleeps. In the same way they compute distance by the number of nights passed in making the journey. They have no division of time into weeks. Their months are literally moons. Wi'^^ signifies moon or lunar month. The popular belief is that when the moon is full, a great number of very small mice commence nibbling one side of it, which they continue to do until they have eaten it all up. Soon after this another moon begins to grow, which goes on increasing until it has reached its full size only to share the fate of its predecessor; so that with them the DAYS OP' THE VOYAGEURS. 33 new moon is really new, and not the old one re-appearing. To the moons they have given names, each of which refers to some prominent physical fact that occurs about that time in the year. These are the meanings : — January — the hard moon. February — the raccoon moon. March — the sore-eye moon. April — the moon in which the geese lay eggs, or the moon when the streams are again navigable. May — the planting moon. June — the moon when the strawberries arc red. July — the moon when the choke cherries are ripe, or when the geese shed their feathers- August — the harvest moon, September — the moon when the rice is laid up to dry. October — the drying rice moon. November — the deer breeding moon. December — the moon when the deer shed their horns. " Five moons are usually counted to the ^vinter, and five to the summer, leaving only one each to the spring and autumn ; but this distinction is not closely adhered to. The Dakotas often have very warm debates, especially to- ward the close of the winter, about what moon it is. The raccoons do not always make their appearance at the same time every winter ; and the causes which produce sore eyes are not developed at jorecisely the same time in each successive spring. All these variations make room for strong arguments in a Dakota tent But the main reason for their frequent difference of opinion in re- gard to this matter, viz., that twelve lunations do not bring them to the point from which they commenced counting, never appears to have suggested itself. In 24 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. order to make their moons correspond with the seasons, they are obHged to pass over one every few years. Poetry. — " The Dakotas can hardly be said to know any thing about jDoetrv. A few words make a long song, for the Hi-hi-hi-hi-hi is only now and then interrupted by the enunciation of the words. Sometimes their war songs ^re so highly figurative that their meaning is just the op- posite of what the expression used v^^ould naturally con- vey. To the young man who has acted very bravely, bv killing an enemy and taking his scalp, they say, 'Friend, thou art a fool, thou hast let the Ojibwas strike thee.' This is understood to be the highest form of eulogy. Sacred Language. — " The Dakota conjurer, the war- prophet, and the dreamer experience the same need that is felt by more elaborate performers among other nations, of a language which is unintelligible to the common people, for the purpose of impressing upon them the idea of their superiority. Their dreams, according to their own account, are revelations made from the spirit world, and their prophetic ^•isions are what they saw and knew in a former state of existence. It is, then, only natural that their dreams and visions should be clothed in words manv of which the multitude do not understand. The sacred language is not very extensive, since the use of a few unintelligible words suffices to make a whole speech incomprehensible. It may be said to consist first, in em- ploying words as the names of things which seem to have been introduced from other Indian languages ; as, ttide., water ; pazo, wood ; etc. In the second place, it consists in employing descriptive expressions, instead of the ordi- nary names of things ; as in calling a man a biped, and the wolf a quadruped. And thirdly, words \vhich are DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 25 common in the language are used far out of their ordinary signification ; as, hepan^ the second child, if a boy, is used to designate the otter. When the Dakota braves ask a white man for an ox or cow, they generally call it a dog ; and when a sachem begs a horse from a white chief, he does it under the designation of moccasins. This is the source of many of the figures of speech in Indian oratory ; but they are sometimes too obscure to be beautiful. Religion. — " The Dakotas have, indeed, 'gods many' — their imaginations have peopled both the visible and invisible world with mysterious or spiritual beings, who are continually exerting themselves in reference to the human family, either for weal or woe. These spiritual existences inhabit every thing, and, consequently, almost every thing is an object of worship. On the same oc- casion, a Dakota dances in religious homage to the sun and moon, and spreads out his hands in prayer to a painted stone ; and he finds it necessary to offer sacrifices more frequently to the Bad-spirit than to the Great-spirit. He has his god of the north and god of the south, his god of the woods and god of the prairie, his god of the air and god of the waters. " First Explorers. — In the days of Champlain, a brilliant young Frenchman, Jean Nicolet, was interpreter for a Canadian fur company. The 4th of July, 1634, he departed from Three Rivers to explore the regions of the far west. He spent the next winter among the Indian tribes who then lived in the valley of the Fox River, Wis- consin. When summer came again, he retraced his steps to Canada, and was the first to give reliable information to the keen traders and devout missionaries concerning the tribes whose country lav to the westward of Lake Michi- 26 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. gan2. One would infer from a letter written in 1640 by Paul Le Jeune^ that Nicolet at that time, 1634, had heard of the Dakotas and described them among the rest. In 1 64 1, a century after the disastrous adventures of De Soto on the lower Mississippi, Jourges'* and Raymbault,^ after a perilous lake voyage, reached Sault Ste. Marie,^ and learned of a great nation dwelling eighteen days' jour- ney to the westward near the head waters of a large river. It was not long before fabulous stories were carried back to France of the great wealth to be acquired in the far northwest. Green Bay was said to be only nine days journey from the sea separating China from America. Fired by these tales, an expedition was fitted out at Quebec^ in 1656 ; but, attacked by the Iroquois,^ it never reached its destination. The killed included Father Gar- reau9, who moved by compassion for the Nadouessioux^o^ or Dakotas, had volunteered to establish a mission among them. (xroselliers and Radisson. — ^ledard Chouarti, a native of Meaux^, and Pierre D'Esprit,3 a native of St. Mario*, the former better known as the Sieur Grosclliers,^ the latter as the Sieur Radisson^, visited the region of Green Bay in June, 165S. There were twenty-nine Frenchmen and six Indians in the party. They went to vSault Ste. Marie in October, 1659, and spent the winter trading with the Indians, but returned to Green Bay in the spring, and exploring the country southward, found a large river. This, doubtless, was the Wisconsin. The month of August saw them in Canada,'^' and the reports they gave intensified the old desire to know something of the country near and beyond Lake Superior. Not many weeks elapsed before they again turned their DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS, 2^ faces toward the west, taking with them the pious Father Rene Menard^. Leaving him at Keweenaw Bay, they passed beyond the point of that name by way of Portage River, and in about six days came to a long narrow point jutting into the lake. This is now called La Pointe. Here they entered Chegoimegon Bay9, at whose opposite ex- tremities the towns Ashland and Bayfield are to-day situated. At the lower end of the bay, they erected a rude triiding post, the first dwelling of white men on the shores of Lake Superior, It was built of logs, in the form of a triangle with its base toward the lake. On that side the door was situated, enabling them in case of necessity to retreat to their boats. In the centre stood the fire-place, and in one of the angles were the inmates' couches. The building was entirely girt by branches of trees set in the ground, and to these were attached a con- tinuous string of bells which would always ring when an intruder pushed aside the branches, and so warn the in- mates of danger. Soon they began to visit the neighboring tribes, and in the spring came to an encampment of Dakotas who be- longed to the Tetanga^o or Buffalo band. They went with these Indians seven days' journey to their summer lodges on the prairie, some distance southward from their winter homes in the northern woods. This was in Min- nesota. The Frenchmen remained six weeks. After re- turning to their post, they made explorations in other directions. As a result they found Isle Royal^ and its copper mines, and learned of a chain of lakes far to the northward, which, however, they did not see. This, in brief, is the account given by early authorities of the first 28 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. white men who explored the shores of Lake Superior and entered Minnesota. It is worthy of mention that this same Groselliers after- ward deeply interested Prince Ruperti^ and the English men of science in a project for finding a northwest pas- sage. The outcome of his voyage to Hudson Bay in the Nonesuch was the founding of the old Hudson Bay Com- pany in 1670. Rene Menard.— Not discouraged by Garreau's un- happy fate, the heroic Rene Menard, his hair already whitened by the frosts of age, still further courted the dangers of an unknown land. About 1650, the Iroquois expelled the Huronsi from New York, and at this time were pushing them farther into the remote west. In 1661, according to Nicholas Perrot^, Menard with only one companion, a faithful Frenchman, followed the trail of a band of these fleeing Hurons from Lake Michigan to a point on the Mississippi above the Black River^. He then crossed the former stream in the wake of the Indians, and thus floated his canoe upon its waters many j^ears be- fore the authenticated explorations of Marquette,* to whom has hitherto been given the honor of discovering its upper course. IMenard, too, finally perished by the way, and the Dakotas and other tribes, all unconscious of the struggles jDut forth in their behalf, still continued in the supersti- tions of their fathers. His cassock and breviary, found in a camp of the natives, were the only relics of his mel- ancholy fate. Menard's example, however, was not without effect ; in 1665, Father Claude Allouez^, burning with zeal, came to Lake Superior with a returning party of traders and DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. Indians. He established the Mission of the Holy Spirit at La Pointe. There he met not only Hurons and Ojibwas but the Dakotas, whose country thenceforth was to become memorable in history. The Fur Traders. — The advance guards of civiliza- tion in the Northwest were the fur traders. France granted twenty-five licenses annually to military ofiicers and descendants of the nobility, allowing them the ex- clusive pinvilege of trading with the natives of her Amer- ican possessions. The holders of these licenses, when they did not sell them, entrusted the direct supervision of the fur trade to their agents, who, in turn, employed the Canadian boatmen to navigate the large sti'eams and their tributaries in search of pelts. These boatmen constituted that daring class of men known as the coureurs des bois^ or voyageurs.^ Undaunted by the power of the elements and the many additional j^erils of boundless prairies and primeval forests, they forced their birch canoes and bateaux^ up every stream to the remotest Indian villages, bearing with them, as mediums of exchange, the few things most prized by the natives. A few years of this wild life not only imbued them with something of the free and impetuous spirit of the Indian, but often led them to unite themselves to the latter by the ties of marriage. The offspring of such alliances, called the bois brule'^^ were numerous. The blood of two races flowing in their veins seemed to meet like contending streams of civilization and barbarism. In them the higher race found its degrada- tion, but the lower was not raised to a more exalted posi- tion. Thus, as a class, the bois bride became one of the most discordant elements in the history of the settlements. Nicholas Perrot. — One of the first explorers of Minne- 30 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. seta of whom we have definite record was NicholasPerrot, who, while in the employ of the Jesuits,! had become quite familiar with the languages of various tribes of Indians. The French authorities, recognizing his indomitable energy and courage, sent him to summon the tribes to meet at Sault Ste.Marie. This mission he performed with wonderful expedition. In the meantime, Talon,2 Intendant^ of Can- ada, had dispatched St. Lusson to search for copper and other mines in the country adjacent to Lake Superior, and to take possession, in the name of France, of all the regions through which he should pass. The assembling of the tribes occurred in May, 1671, and St. Lusson,* Perrot, Father Allouez, the celebrated explorer Joliet, 5 and many other noted personages w^ere present. The French did all within their power to heighten the brilliancy and pomp of the attendant ceremonies. Deeply impressed by so much dignity and sjDlendor, the Indians entei'ed into a solemn com- pact relative to trade and other matters pertaining to the v^elfare of the two races. Perrot was free after this to prosecute his explorations at will, and visited the Nadou- essioux and other remote tribes. Thus he opened and made clear the way for those who were destined to follow. Du Lutll. — Daniel Greysolon DuLuthi was born at St. Germain en Laye^ near Paris, or, according to some authorities, at Lyons. He was at one time a soldier, and states in his Avritings that he made several voyages to New France.3 Determined to open communications* between the settlements of Canada and the Nadouessioux, an under- taking which up to this time had been unsuccessful, we find him struggling bravely amid the dangers of a strange country. Having previously established a post at the Kamenistagoia,5 north of Lake Superior, he at length DAYS OF THE VOYAGEUKS. 3I entered Minnesota, in all probability ascending the St. Louis^ river. Of his journey he speaks as follows: — "On the 3d of July, 1679, I had the honor to plant His Majesty's arms''^ in the great village of the Nadouessioux, called Izatys,^ where never had a Frenchman been, no more than at the Sangaskitons and Houetbatons^ distant six score leagues from the former, where I also planted His Majesty's arms in the same year, 1679. On the 15th of September, having given the Assiniboines as well as all the other northern nations a rendezvous at the extremity of Lake Superior, to induce them to make peace with the Nadouessioux, their common enemy, they were all there, and I was hajDj^y enough to gain their esteem and friendship to imite them together." At this time also, he visited Mille Lacs.^'^ Not satisfied, however, with what he had thus far accomplished, Du Luth, accompanied by an Indian guide and four French- men, ascended the Bois Brule^^ river to its source, and made a portage to the head \vaters of the St. Croix,i2 which he descended to its junction with the Mississippi. There he learned of Father Hennepin's imprisonment among the Dakotas, and succeeded in securing his release. DuLuth was accused both by LaSalle and DuChesneau,i3 Intendanti'i of Justice, of having engaged in the fur trade in connivance with Count Frontenac^s then governor of Canada; for to trade without a license was contrary to the orders of the French king. LaSalle also claimed that the honor of the first explorations in the land of the Dakotas belonged to Hennepin and Michael Accault; but it must be remembered that he was in some measure the rival of the man whose name he sougfht to tarnish. DuLuth died 32 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. in the winter of 1709-10 at Ft. Frontenac, now Kingston, Ontario. Hennepin. — Among the most noted of the early explo- rers was Louis Hennepin, a priest of the Recollect order of Franciscani friars. He was born at Ath^ In the Nether- lands, and seemed even in his earlier years to possess that romantic and adventurous spirit which afterwards ruled his life. At one time we find him at Artois,3 to which place he had been ordered by his superiors; again, at Dunkirk-i and Calais,^ where he led the life of a mendi- cant, and spent his days in the company of rude sailors who recounted to him their strange adventures in other lands. Inflamed by their stories, he harbored ambitious desires hardly in accord with his priestly profession, and obeyed with alacrity an order commanding him to set sail for Canada. Hennepin embarked on the vessel that carried the Sieur Robert Chevalier de La Salle,^ a native of Rouen,' who under the patronage of Seignelay,^ the French minister of marine, was about to seek a discoverer's wealth and fame. A common impulse caused them for a time to unite their fortunes. We find Hennepin therefore spending the winter of 1678 at Niagara, where La Salle's workmen were constructing a sixty-ton bark called the Griffin, and embarking in company with him and his de- pendents August 7th, 1679. '^^"^^ expedition reached Green Bay on the 2d of September, after a stormy and dangerous voyage. Here leaving the vessel, they coasted in bark canoes along the shores of Lake Michigan, and in due time ascended the St. Joseph^ river. From this they made a portage to the Kankakee,io and floated down to the site of Peorlaii on the Illinois. DAYS OF THK VOYAGEURS. 33 Disheartened by the fruitless toil he had undergone not less than by gloomy financial reports from Canada, La Salle named the fort which he built at this place, Creve- cceur^"^ or Heart-break. This was in January i6So; and the following month he chose Michael Accault,i3 Henne- pin, and Picard du Gayi'* to explore the upper Mississippi. Hennepin's ardor had not been cooled by the hardships already endured, and with his companions he bade the fated La Salle a hopeful farewell. So in March these three bold voyageurs began the first European ascent of that noble stream which, in the far future, was to become one of the world's great arteries of communication, throb- bing in response to the heart beats of the hurrying ships of commerce. On the nth of April, they were taken captive by a party of Mdewakantonwans,!^ one of the four bands of the Santees. After speaking of the Black river, Henne- pin continues as follows: — "Thirty leagues higher up you find the Lake of Tears,!** which we so named because some of the Indians who had taken us, wishing to kill us, wept the whole night, to induce the others to consent to our death. Forty leagues up is a river full of rapids^', by which striking northwest, you can proceed toward Lake Conde.is Con- tinuing to ascend ten or twelve leagues more, the naviga- tion is interrupted by a cataract which I called the Falls of St. Anthony of Padua,i9 in gratitude for the favor done me by the Almighty, through the intercession of that great saint whom we had chosen patron and protector of all our enterprises. Having arrived on the nineteenth day of navigation, five leagues below St. Anthony's Falls, DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 35 the Indians landed us in a bay, broke our canoe to pieces, and secreted their own in the reeds. " The phice mentioned is sujDposed to be the one opposite Red Rock^o a few miles below St. Paul, where the Indian village of Kaposia^i afterwards stood. Thence they jour- neyed by trail to Mille Lacs. Hennepin and his com- panions were prostrated by fatigue caused by the hard- ships of this last journey made more unbearable by cruel treatment. Carried off to different villages, and thus compelled to endure a prolonged period of separation, their misery was complete. The following incident of Hennepin's captivity, taken from his journal, shows how vague a notion of American topography was possessed by the Europeans of that day: — " During my stay among the Indians, there arrived four savages, who said they were come alone five hundred leagues from the west, and had been four months upon the way. They assured us there was no such place as the Straits of Anian,22 and that they had traveled without resting, except to sleep, and had not seen or passed over any great lake, by which phrase they always mean a sea. They further assured us there were very few forests in the countries through which they passed. All these things make it appear that thei-e is no such place as the Straits Anian, as we usually see them set down on maps. And whatever efforts have been made for many years past by the English and Dutch to find a passage to the Frozen Sea, they have not yet been able to effect it; but by the help of my discovery, and the assistance of God, I doubt not but a passage may still be found, and that an easy one, too. For example, we may be transported into the Pacific Sea by rivers which are large and capable of 36 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. carrying large vessels, and from thence it is very easy to go to China and JajDan without ci'ossing the equinoctial line, and, in all probability, Japan is on the same continent as America. " Thus did Hennepin in his vanity magnify the impor- tance of his discoveries, or, at all events, allow his judg- ment to drift away in the current of his desires. The Indians were about to start on a hunting expedition at this time, and informed by Hennepin that he expected a relief party from La Salle to meet him at the Wisconsin they were persuaded by the hope of gain to journey there. They descended Rum river, called by Hennepin the St. Francis,23 and camped at its mouth. Here they nearly perished of famine, and yielding to his earnest solicitations they allowed him to depart. In July, 1680, he came to the Falls of St. Anthony, which he then saw probably for the first time, and named as already described in his account of the Mississippi. Continuing his journey to the vicinity of the Black river, he was suddenly overtaken by the Indians whom he had left far to the northward. There, too, he was found by Du Luth, who claims to have freed him from the restraints of captivity, although Hennejoin himself does not acknowledge the fact. Be that as it may, in Du Luth's company he ascended once more to the Santee villages in the month of August, but in September returned again to the mouth of the Wisconsin, and proceeded to Gi-een Bay by way of that river and the Fox. We next hear of him in Europe, where he wrote some books relating his discoveries in Minnesota, and where, after a few years, he closed his strange career. Hennepin's experience, in conjunction with that of Gar- reau, Menard and others, showed conclusively that it was DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 37 not the adherents of the church appeahng to the spiritual side of the Indian's character who were to pave the way for civiUzation to enter the prairies and woods of iMinne- sota, but that the traders, such as Perrot, appealing to their selfish desires were to be, as elsewhere stated, the potent forerunners of the new era. Ft. St. Alltoilie. — In the spring of 16S5, Nicholas Per- rot was commissioned Commandanti of the West by De La Barre,2 governor of Canada. With a small party of Frenchmen, he spent the following winter above the Black River in the vicinity of Trempeleau,^ and traded with the Indians of the Minnesota region. When the warm spring months of i6S6 had come, he seems to have ascended the Mississippi and erected Ft. St. Antoine* on the Wisconsin side above the entrance of the Chippewa. Shortly after this he was called eastward by Denonville,5 the new gov- ernor of Canada, for the purpose of assembling at Niagara the Miamis^ and other tribes. From this expedition he returned just in time to save the fort from destruction at the hands of the Foxes^ and their allies, who were bent on going to war with the Sioux. In 16S7, he was again ab- sent, fighting the Senecas^ of New York; and this time the Sioux endeavored to pillage the fort. However, he was warmly received by them on his return, and informed that the nation as a whole had not sanctioned the attack. Now it was that the famous Proces-Verbal,^ the first ofiicial document relating to Minnesota, was drawn up and signed. It is couched in intricate legal terms; yet, withal, is somewhat unique. In the beginning it recites the origin and limits of Perrot's authority; then tells how he and his companions entered the country; enumerates the tribes encountered on the banks of the upper Mississippi and its 38 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. branches, the Wisconsin, St. Croix, and St. Pierre ;io takes possession of the whole reigon in the name of the king; °| and finally, names many of its own wit- nesses, among whom are Le Sueuriiand the Reverend F a t li c r MaresfiSof the Society of Jesus.13 La Hontaii's Long River. — In the winter of 16SS-S9, Baron La Hontan, a young Gas- con,! made a voyage NEAK LAKE CITY. I.AKF, PKI'l X. MAIDEN KOCK. up a stream which he called Long River. By different authorities it has been likened to the Minnesota, the Cannon, and the Root, with some evidence strongly in favor of DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 39 the latter stream. Yet it seems strange that he should have been able to ascend it by boat in January. La Hontan's story of what he saw is a fabulous account of great chiefs and powerful tribes. He found, so he says, some strange captives at one of the villages. They wore clothing and had long hair and beards. At first he thought they were Spaniards. They told him their nation dwelt in a land one hundred and fifty leagues away; that its principal river emptied into a great salt lake; that the mouth of this river was two leagues broad ; and that its banks were adorned by six noble cities surrounded by stone walls. The historians and geographers of Europe for a long time credited La Hontan's story, and gave his Long River a place on their charts. It will be remembered that Hen- nepin conceived the idea of finding a large river by means of which Europeans would be able to enter the western ocean; whether on account of his views and La Hontan's story or not, it is certain that for generations after, the hope of discovering such a stream remained universal. Ft. Le Slieiir. — In 1693, Pierre Le Sueur, one of the witnesses of the Proces-Verbal, was sent to La Pointe charged with the important undertaking of keej^ing open the commtniication with the Sioux by way of the Bois Brule and St. Croix rivers; for at this time the Foxes and Mascoutins of the Wisconsin valley were so hostile that it v\^as found impossible to transport goods by that route to the upper MississipjDi. For the better carrying out of his pin-pose, as well as to place a barrier between the con- stantly warring Sioux and Ojibwas, LeSueur established a post on one of the islands not far from the present town of Red Wing. Charlevoix,! the Jesuit historian, describes it 40 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. as a beautiful prarie island which one encounters above the head of Lake Pepin in ascending the stream, and which the French Canadians made the center of their trade in these western regions so well fitted for the pursuit of the chase. He says it is named Isle Pelee2 because of its tree- less condition — the word pelee being the French for bald. All the e\idences yet brought to light indicate that this was the first^ French establishment on what is now the soil of Minnesota. Ft. L' Hllillier. — After some years of misfortune, dur- ing which he suffered a period of captivity in England and was subsequently hindered in carrying out his projects by Frontenac, we find LeSueur at the court of France meet- ing with favor on the part of the king and the minister of marine. At this juncture D'Iberville,i his wife's cousin, was appointed the first governor of Louisiana, and in him he found a sympathetic patron. Acting also under the direct orders of the king, D' Iberville transported LeSueur with his boatmen, laborers, and munitions to the Bay of Biloxi.2 In the month of April of the year 1700, with a canoe, a felucca, and about thirty men, he began his mem- orable and eventful voyage. The frosty days of Septem- ber came ere he entered the St. Pierre. Penicaut,^ one of the party, thus speaks of their subsequnt movements: — " We took our route up the St. Pierre, and ascended it twent}' leagues, where we found another river falling into it, which we entered. We called this Green River* because it was of that color by reason of an earth which loos- ening itself from the copper mine becomes dissolved in the water. A league up this river we found a jDoint of land a quarter of a league distant from the woods, and it was upon this point^ M. LeSueur resolved to build DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 4 1 his fort, because w^e could not go anv higher on account of the ice, it being the last of September. Half of our peo- ple ^vent hunting while the others worked on the fort. We killed four hundred buffaloes, ^vhich \vere our provis- ions for the winter, and which we placed upon scaffolds in our fort after having skinned, cleaned, and quartered them. We also made cabins in the fort, and a magazine to keep our goods. After having drawn up our shallop within the enclosure of the fort, we spent the winter in our cab- ins. When spring came w^e vs^ent to work in the copper mine. This mine is situated at the beginning of a long mountain, which is upon the bank of the river, so that boats can go right into the mouth of the mine itself. This was the beginning of April of the year 1701. We took with us twelve laborers and four hunters. The mine was situated three quarters of a league from our post. We took from it in twenty days more than twenty thousand pounds, of which we selected four thousand pounds of the finest, which M. Le Sueur, who was a very good judge of it, had carried to the fort, and which has since been sent to France, though I have not learned the result." Le Sueur named the fort L' Huillier^ in honor of the Farmer General of Paris. It was situated, according to the discription, near the mouth of the St. Remi."? In May, Le Sueur, having loaded the boats ^vith furs obtained in trade with the Indians, set out on his return to Ft. Biloxi. ]M. D' EvaqueS and twelve men were left in charge of the post, and Le vSueur promised to send them supplies from the countrv of the Illinois.^ He endeavored to do so, but the boat in which they were carried sunk near the lead regions of the Mississippi. Consequently, the little garri- son was soon put to great straits, and to add to their 42 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. troubles they were attacked by the Foxes and Mascoutins,!'^ who killed three of their number while at work near the post. Thus was M. D' Evaque compelled to abandon it, and hastening southward with those who survived, he reached Ft. Biloxi in March, 1703. Such is the history of the second French establishment; and it shows plainly how difficult was the task of gaining a permanent foot-hold in the far northwest. Ft.BeauliarUOis. — D' Iberville,in a memorial addressed to the French government, says the Sioux are too far re- moved for trade while they remain in their own country, and suggests a plan for their removal to the Missouri. He also mentions the tendency of the voyageurs to become roaming hunters and the interference of Canadian traders with those of Louisiana as great difficulties in the way of securing a stable system of commerce between the tribes and the latter colonv. However, the French government heeded neither the ad^'ice of D' Iberville nor the schemes of others; but, discouraged by its ill success, abolished the system of licenses, and withdrew its garrisons from all the posts \vest of IMackinaw.i This condition of affairs existed for nearly twenty years; but a disturbing factor in the problem of colonization was soon to restore the old order of things. The interest of the Canadians, it is true, had been somewhat revived in 17 17 by the attempt of Vau- dreuil2 and La Xoue^ to find a northwest passage to the Pacific; but it became fully aroused only when it was dis- covered that the English were making every effort to extend their domain. A French document of the day thus speaks in reference to the matter: — "It is more and more obvious that the English are endeavoring to interpolate among all the Indian nations, DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 43 and to attach them to themselves. They entertain con- stantly the idea of becoming masters of North America, persuaded that the European nation which will be possessor of that section, will, in course of time, be masters of all, because it is thei'e alone that men live in health and have strong, robust children." Thus it came to pass that the song of the Canadian boatman was heard again on the streams and lakes of Minnesota, and the fathers of the mission once more per- formed their sacred ministrations within its borders. But priest and voyageur were not left to battle alone; for the French authorities instituted means for the re-establishment of the deserted posts and the building of new ones. Linctot,-^ the commander at La Pointe, made presents to the Dakotas, and promised to send priests^ among them. It was his purpose also to break the alliance between the Foxes and Dakotas, and to make peace between the latter and the Ojil^was. The 17th of September, 1727, as it ^vere in answer to his promise, a party of traders and two priests, Fathers Guignas^ and De Gonor,'' arrived opposite Maiden Rock^ at the peninsula called Pointe au Sable.^ Capt. Rene De Boucher,io notorious because of his mis- deeds at the sacking of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was the commander. They immediately built a fort on the penin- sula. The enclosure, a hundred feet square, was protected by a high stockade. Within were three large buildings designed, it is thought, for a chaj^el, store, and quarters. Besides these, there "were two bastions surrounded by pick- ets. The fort was called BeauharnoisH in honor of the governor of Canada; and the mission was consecrated to St. Michael the Archansfel. DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 45 As may be inferred from what has ah-eady been said, the purposes to be subserved by this post were prob- ably four-fold: it would serve as a center of trade and a starting point for the missionaries ; it would help to check- mate the encroachments of the English; it would cut off the retreat of the Foxes to the country of the Dakotas should the French see fit to approach the former nation from the eastward, as they afterwards did, in order to carry on a war of extermination provoked by unabated hostility; and, finally, it would form the initial post of a number to be built as bases of supplies in the endeavor to find a northwest passage, that alluring dream of the early navigators which at this day had lost none of its first vivid- ness. In the year 1728, the fort was flooded, and the garrison compelled to camp out. The hostility of the Indians in- creased, and in sheer necessity the French deserted it alto- gether. It was afterwai-ds rebuilt above the high-water line. Subsequent to the confirming of peace with the Foxes, the post was commanded by Capt. Legardeur St. Pierrei2 to whom Washington made the memorable ofiicial visit at Ft. Le Boeufis on the eve of the French and Indian war. This was about 1736. Ten years later the post was still occupied by traders, but Carver ascending Lake Pepin in 1766 beheld nothing but a crumbling ruin. The Northwest Passage.— At this stage of events, a gallant Canadian soldier, Verandriei by name, matured a plan for forcing a way to the Pacific. After earnest solic- itation Gov. Beauharnois espoused his cause, and fitted out an expedition. It left Montreal in 1731 under the leader- ship of Verandrie's three eldest sons and his nephew De Jemeraye,2 who had been one of the garrison at Ft. Beau- /j.6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. liarnois in 1728. They entered the country by way of Piofeon River, and built Ft. St. Pierre near the southwest hore of Rainy Lake. The next year another post was built at the western extremity of the Lake of the Woods. In 1736, a party of twenty-one belonging to the expedition were encamped on an island of the lake last mentioned, when they were surprised by the Dakotas and massacred. The youngest of the Verandric brothers was one of the party. But far from being overwhelmed by their many misfortunes, the other brave explorers continued to push on. Ft. La Reine^ was built at the Assiniboine in 173S. Ascend- ing that river to the Mouse, they traversed the country to the Missouri, reaching the vicinity of the Yellowstone in 1742. The following year, the eldest Verandrie brother scaled the Rocky Mountains. Further progress was pre- vented by the warfare going on between the Arcs and Snakes; the expedition therefoi-e returned to the Lake of the Woods. Beauharnois, through the misrepresentations of others, became prejudiced against Verandrie, the father, and with- drew all further patronage; but Gallissonniere,* the suc- ceeding governor of Canada, who was a man of science, planned an expedition to go out in 1750 with Verandrie as its leader. Before that time the latter died, and the kind- hearted Gallissonniere w^as superseded by the selfish Jon- quiere,5 who ignored the claims of Verandrie's sons to recognition, and chose LamarqueDe Marin^ and Lagardeur St. Pierre as leaders of two expeditions, the former to go by way of the Missouri, the latter by the Saskatchewan"^ in, search of a northwest passage. Some of St. Pierre's men forced their way to the Rocky Moimtains and built Ft. Jonqujere in 1752; but the trump of war called them to DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. 47 more stirring scenes, and the existence of the great lake of the Indian's fable, which seemed to the explorer's burning fancy to lie just beyond the mountains, still lay shrouded in mystery. But all these efforts were effective in another direction: they dispelled in part the mists of ignorance which had hung so long over the Minnesota region, and gave to the French and English a somewhat adequate conception of the boundless resources of that natural empire of which it formed a part. French and English Supremacies.— In spite of the counteracting efforts of the French, the English had sufti- cient influence to in a certain measure disaffect the Indians; but through the strenuous endeavors of the wise 3t, Pierre and other officers stationed in the west, they were once more won over to the French alliance in the years subse- quent to 1746 and previous to the breaking out of the French and Indian war. In the year 1 761, when the French power in America was fast waning, the English occupied the fort at Green Bay ; and in the year 1763, after the treaty of Versailles,! they came into full possession of all the western posts. In March of that year, a small party of Dakotas came to Green Bay offering friendship to the garrison. The French, however, by reason of their firm hold on the tribes acquired through the religious and commercial rela- tions of a century, which were further strengthened by frequent intermarriages, kept the English for many j^ears from gaining a permanent foot-hold. This being true, and because the latter could not pi-ofitably compete with the for- mer in trade, the English government sought to establish no posts west of Mackinaw. Carver's Expedition.^onathan Carver, a native of 4S HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Connecticut, who for many years had been an officer of the English army of America, at the close of the French and Indian war devised a plan for exploring the North- west. Assisted by Major Rogers, commandant at ISIacki- naw, he started from Green Bay with a party of French and English traders in September 1766. Thence, by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, he came to Prairie Du Chien,i at this time the great central fur mart of the west. Accompanied only by a Canadian boatman and a Mo- hawk2 Indian, he ascended the Mississippi. He discovered on the way some of those ancient mounds which since his day have been objects of patient research and speculation on the part of archceologists the world over, and which have thrown some light on the character of the prehistoric races of America. Carver speaks of the Dakotas as the River Bands, their villages at this time being near the Mississippi. This shows conckisively the nomadic character of that nation; for, it will be remembered that in the days of Hennepin and the earlier voyageurs they dw^elt far to the north and west. Near the site of St. Paul, Carver found a strange sand- stone cave which still bears his name. He describes it in exaggerated terms as a place of awful depths whose outer walls were covered with strange characters and picto- graphs. He made a pilgrimage to St. Anthony Falls in company with a Winnebago chief, and these too he pic- tured in the glowing colors of his quick imagination. Re- turning to the mouth of the St. Pierre, which he had previously noticed, he ascended that stream for a long distance, bearing with him the British flag. Fie even claims to have penetrated the interior two hundred miles. oabver's cave, looking in. FOUNTAIN CAVE, LOOKING OUT. 50 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. This, if he followed the course of the stream, would have brought him to the vicinity of Lac qui Parle. Greatly impressed by the resources of the country and its water routes, he entertained schemes for its settlement, and be- lieved also that a water I'oute to China and the East Indies could be found by way of the St. Pierre. Of this scheme Neill gives the following account: — "Carver having returned to England, interested Whit- worth, a member of Parliament, in the Northern route. Had not the American Revolution commenced, they pro- posed to have built a fort at Lake Pepin, to have proceeded up the Minnesota, until they had found, as they supposed they would, a branch of the Missouri, and from thence journeying over the summit of lands, until they came to a river which they called the Oregon, they expected to de- scend to the Pacific." Carver's heirs^ strove to establish their rights to a large tract of country in the vicinity of St. Anthony's Falls, basing their claims upon a supposed transfer made to him, by two Dakota chiefs, at the great cave above mentioned; but neither the English government, while eastern Minne- sota remained in the possession of the crown, nor that of the United States, when it had established its supremacy, would recognize the validity of so vague a claim as this proved to be. Indian Wars. — As previously stated, the Ojibwas were the traditional enemies of the Dakotas. For generations they had waged with one another a ceaseless and deadly warfare of varying results; but in the end the glory of Dakota prowess paled somewhat before that of their ene- mies. Through bloody strife, the Ojibwas gained Sandy Lake, their first abiding place in Minnesota, and in time a 52 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. band of them, subsequently called the Pillagers,i estab- lished themselves at Leech Lake,2 where the descendants of the tribe remain to this day. Two fierce conflicts are recorded; one occurred near the mouth of the Crow Wing- between the Dakotas and O jib was; the other at the Dalles of the St. Croix be- tween the lat- ter nation and the allied for- ces of the Fox- es and Dako- tas. The Ojib- was were vic- torious in both engagements, and after the ojiBWA HOME. I'^st, about the time of the English possession, ■were never molested by the Foxes, and continued to maintain their position on the hunting grounds of the Dakotas. Wabaslia's Mission. — An event occurred about the time of the Revolution which shows clearly what changes had, after the advent of the fur traders, been made in the Indian's mode of gaining subsistence. It seems that one of the Mdewakantonwans murdered a trader at Mendota. To punish the tribe, the English cut off all trade with them at the beginning of winter. No longer self-reliant, they were in consequence driven to the verge of starvation. The THE FALLS OF MINNEHAHA. Still dissuading said Nokomis: "Bring not to my lodge a stranger From the land of the Dacotahs ! Very fierce are the Dacotahs, Often is there war between us^ There are feuds yet unforgotten, Wounds that ache and still may open!" Laughing answered Hiawatha : "For that reason, if no other, Would I wed the fair Dacotah, That our triljes might be united. That old feuds might be forgotten!" Thus departed Hiawatha To the land of the Dacotahs, To the land of handsome women; Striding over moor and meadow, Through interminaljle forests, Through uninterrupted silence. With his moccasins of magic. At each stride a mile he measured; Yet the way seem<'d long before him, And his heart outrun his footsteps; And he journeyed without resting. Till he heard the cataract's laughter. Heard the Falls of Minnehaha Calling to him through the silence. 53 — Henby W. Longfellow. 54 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. brave chief Wabasha^ and a large party of warriors took the murderer and started for Canada, in order to plead with the English authorities for mercy and tlie restoration of the trading posts. Deserted by all save a few faithful friends, Wabasha at last reached Quebec, and offered to sacrifice his life for the good of his perishing subjects. Struck by the nobility of a character so self- forgetting, the English received him cordially, and granted his request without the offered sacrifice. The Northwest Company . — The Northwest Company of fur traders came into existence in the year 1783 ^i^tl established its headquarters at Montreal. Large cargoes of goods were purchased by it in Englandl and shipped to that city, from which they were taken to its western sta- tions for distribution. Its business was greatly multiplied after its reorganization in 179S. It had over forty clerks, fifty hiterprcters, and six hundred canoe-inen in Minnesota and the regions beyond, to say nothing of those just to the eastward. Surely a century had wrought great changes; at the beginning, a solitary boatman's canoe ruffled the surface of the stream ; at the close, whole fleets were seen, and in every thicket, on every plain were heard the foot- falls of a restless civilization that was one day destined to accomplish marvelous things. By the treaty of Paris,2 that portion of Minnesota lying east of the Mississippi came under the United States' su- premacy, but the English for several years retained their garrisons in the frontier forts. Even as late as 1794 the Northwest Company, under British protection, built a strongly fortified post at Sandy Lake; and during the 3^ear of immunity from United States interference, stipulated by Jay's treaty of 1796, it did not fail to erect numerous posts DAYS OF THE VOVAGEURS. 55 throughout Minnesota and to float the English colors above their walls, while its agents endeavored to hold the Indians loyal to the British rule. ILLUSXRAXED History of mimnesota, Territorial Changes. — The French- American posses- sions originally ceded to Spain in 1763 were returned to France in iSoo by a secret clause in the treaty of San Ildefonso.i The adroit Napoleon, fearing his . ability to hold the newly acquired domain, hard pressed as he was by Britian, ceded it to the Americans, who were also eager to withstand English encroachments. Thus, during the period of history upon which we are about to enter, that part of Minnesota lying west of the Mississippi came suc- 56 BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 57 cessively vinder the jurisdiction of Louisiana Province in the year 1803, Louisiana District in 1S04, Louisiana Territory in 1S05, Missouri Territory in 181 2, Michigan Territory in 1834, Wisconsin Territory in 1836, and Iowa Territory in 1838; while the part lying east of the same river, secured to the United States, as previously stated, by the treaty of Paris, belonged to the Northwest Territory in 17S71 Indiana Territory in 1800, Illinois Territory in 1809, Michigan Territory in 1834, Wisconsin Territory in 1836. Pike's Expedition. — The provisions of Jay's treaty did not put an end to the unlawful intrigues of the British trad- ers in Minnesota, and the United States authorities at last re- solved to take more active measures for the suppression of their autocratic powers. Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike,i acting under the orders of Gen. Wilkinson^ left St. Louis on the 7th of August, 1S05, for the triple purpose of exploring the upper Mississippi region, curbing the insolent spirit of the traders, and making treaties of friendship with the Indian tribes, who under the influence of such men as Dickson had learned to despise and ignore the authority of the new republic. Pike was only twenty-six years of age at this time, but a brave, energetic, ambitious officer, and withal a man of sterling integrity. He was accompanied by a detachment of only seventeen privates and three non-commissioned officers, but, nevertheless, turned his face resolutely toward the unknown dangers and hardships of a hostile wilderness. On the Sth of September, he made a new start from Prairie Du Chien, where he had obtained two batteaux and two additional men, who were to act as interpi-eters. Every day's journey was one of interest, and its events he faith- fully recorded. In due time La Crosse,^ Pointe au Sable, 5i> HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Kaposia, and other places now familiar to the reader, were successively passed, and on the 21st of the month he en- camped at the mouth of the St. Pierre on the large island which still bears his name. Here Little Crow and his band from Kaposia assembled on the bluff now occupied by Ft. Snelling, and Pike entered into counsel with them on the 23d. As a result, the Indians ceded two tracts of land for military purposes: one nine miles square at the mouth of the St. Croix; the other extending nine miles along the course of the Missis- sippi from below the mouth of the St. Pierre to above St. Anthony's Falls and lateially nine miles back from either bank. September 26th, Pike resumed his upward course, and from that time on for many days he and his little band endured toils and hardships sufficient to try the sturdiest soldier. On the i6th of October, snow began to fall, and the ice w^as forming in the streams. Impeded on this ac- count, Pike built a block housed near the mouth of Swan river, and drawing up the larger boats within the protection of the stockade, ordered some of his soldiers into winter quarters under the command of the sergeant. With a corporal and a few privates he pushed on. Now they were forced to attach themselves to sleds like beasts of burden, and draw their canoe o\-er bleak prairies in some places bare of snow; anon were plunged with their effects into the chill waters of the river. For subsistence, they depended in great measure on the game taken by the way, and some days this was quite scarce. They occasionally met small parties of Indians, who informed them of the movements of the traders and the temper of the different tribes. BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 59 Feeling that he must now be near Sandy Lake, Pike on the 8th of January left all his men in camp save Corporal Bradly, and struggled forward on foot through the long hours of that cold winter day. At dusk, they were still several miles from the lake, but did not waver until their eyes were rewarded by its broad expanse stretching out before them. Thinking they could catch the dim outlines of the farther shore, with renewed courage they plodded toward it through the deep snow that had completely ob- literated the trail across the ice. The glimmering lights of the Northwest Company's stockade soon appeared and cheered them on. When they reached it, they were re- ceived with rare hospitality by Mr. Grant the English trader in charge. Pike and his detachment marched from this place to Leech Lake, where he hoisted the American flag. In the month of February, he called together the Sauteurs^ of that place and Red Lake. The fruits of this council were threefold; the Sauteurs gave up their British flags and medals,^ promised to make peace with the Sioux, and al- lowed two of their most noted warriors to accompany Pike to St. Louis. On the 5th of March, on his downward journey. Pike came to the winter quarters at Swan river, and found to his chagrin that the sergeant had been holding high revel- ry, squandering the stores while he had sometimes been suffering through lack of necessaries. A blinding snow storm was raging on the nth of April when he arrived again at the mouth of the St. Pierre. Here he found the Sioux who had assembled at his request. Of the council he speaks in these terms: — "About sundown I was sent for and introduced into tlie 6o HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. council house, where I found a great many chiefs of the Sussitongs,'^ Gens des Feuilles,^ and the Gens du Lac.9 The YanctongsiOhad not yet come down. They were all awaiting my arrival. There were about one hundred lodges, or six hundred people; we were saluted on our crossing the river with balin as usual. The council-house was two large lodges capable of containing three hundred men. In the upper were forty chiefs, and as many pipes set against the poles, along side of which I had the Sau- teurs' pipes arranged. I then informed them, in short de- tail, of my transactions with the Sauteurs; but my inter- preters were not capable of making themselves fully un- derstood. The interpreters, however, informed them that I ^vanted some of their principal chiefs to go to St. Louis; and that those who thought proper might descend to the Prairie, where we would give them more explicit informa- tion. They all smoked out of the Sauteurs'^ pipes, except- ing three." Pike arrived at Prairie Du Chien on the i8th of April; but, as hereafter seen, his nine weary months of labor proved to be almost fruitless in the attempt to accom- plish the chief objects of the expedition. Minnesota Indians in War of 1812. — The hospitable reception of Pike by the British traders of Minnesota was like that of the Arabs, who treat a stranger with lavish kindness while he remains within their tents but become his sworn enemies when he has departed; for in the sel- fishness of their hearts they feared the results of the new policy of trade adopted by the United States. Once more with subtle daring they began to win back the partly alienated tribes, and on the eve of hostilities between England and America, furnished the Indians with munitions of war. EXPLOBEBS, 62 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. About this time the celebrated Shawnee chief Tecum- sehi and his brother Elskwatawa, the Prophet, kindled the fires of a general Indian war, and Dickson, the British superintendent of the western tribes, who seemed to cher- ish toward the Americans a lasting and bitter hatred, spared no pains to fan the flame of discord. Besides Dickson, Askin, Renville, and Rolette were some of the traders who led the Dakotas and Ojibwas of Minnesota against the fortifications of Mackinaw in 1S12, Ft. Meigs^ in 181 3, and Ft. Shelby at Prairie Du Chien in 18 14. Tahamie,* of whom valorous deeds are recorded, and Hay-pee-dan^ were the only Dakotas who I'emained faithful to the Americans. By the treaty of Ghent,^ the Indians' wild dreams of con- quest were dispelled, and Little Crow, Wabasha, and other chiefs, eloquently upbraiding the English for treachery in the non-fulfillment of their golden promises, returned to their people disappointed and sad at heart. Traders and Selkirkers. — After the war of 181 2 had closed, American citizens supported by wise provisions of the government began to trade extensively in Minnesota. While the Dakotas and Ojibwas engaged in bloody con- flicts like that on the Pomme de Terrel in 18 18, seemingly by tacit consent they left the Americans free for a time to pursue their plans in peace. But it is not to be supposed that the spirit of the old British traders was less aggressive than formerly. Dickson,^ who resided at Lake Traverse for several years after the war, w^as one of those who still carried on the same secret machinations. Nor were all their deeds the outgrowth of political principles; for, their treat- ment of those near to them by the ties of race was cruel in the extreme. In the years immediately following 181 1, Lord Selkirk^ BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 63 endeavored to establish a Scottish settlement at the mouth of the Assiniboine. Again and again the power of the ele- ments left them desolate and broken-hearted far from the homes of their childhood; and repeatedly the harsh emis- saries of the Northwest Company, as if imbued with the spirit of fiends rather than that of humanity, massacred them outright, or applied the torch to their humble habita- tions and compelled them to seek shelter in the wilds of Minnesota, where they nearly perished of hunger and cold. In considering their sorrows, the dispersion of the Acadi- ans* seems robbed of its terrors, and the pages of American history scarce furnish another parallel to the mournful annals of these unhappy colonists. But through it all they preserved a bearing of bravei=y, a spirit of noble sacrifice whose glory can never fade. Expedition of 181 7.— July 9th, 18 17, Stephen H. Long, of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, determined to ascend the Mississippi to St. Anthony Falls. Gov. Clark of St. Louis gave him a six-oared skiff in which to make the journey. His pai'ty consisted of a friend named Hemp- stead, seven soldiers, and Roquel a half-breed interpreter. They were accompanied by a bark canoe in which were Messrs. Gun and King, grandsons^ of Jonathan Carver, whose claims to territory they were anxious to make good. On the way, the party ascended Montague Trempe el Eau,3 which they designated as Kettle Hill, a name given to it on account of the peculiar shape the rocks upon its side appear to have \vhen viewed from a distance. Long's description of the scenery in its vicinity is in some partic- ulars fl^orid but in the main truthful, as here seen: — •'Hills marshaled into a variety of pleasing shapes some of them towering into lofty joeaks, while others present 64 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. broad summits embellished with contours and slopes in the most pleasing manner; champaigns and waving valleys; forest lawns and parks alternating with each other; the humble Mississippi meandering far below and occasionally losing itself in numberless islands ; all these give variety and beauty to the picture, while rugged cliffs and stupendous precipices here and there present themselves as if to add boldness and majesty to the scene. In the midst of this beau- tiful scenery is situated a village of the Sioux Indians on an extensive lawn called the Aux Aisles* Prairie, at which we lay by for a short time." The name of the chief was Wapashaw.^ The Indians at the time had just finished the Bear Dance.*5 Long speaks of a block house which commanded the passage of the river at Kaposia; visits Carver's Cave now rapidly filling with sand ; farther up enters the much larger Fountain Cave; and finally camps at the foot of St. Anthony Falls. It seems to have been his purpose to make a cursory survey to find grounds suitable for a fort. He speaks thus of the position now occupied by Ft. Snelling: — " A military work of considerable magnitude might be constructed upon the point, and might be rendered suffi- ciently secure by occupying the commanding height in the rear in a suitable manner, as the latter would control not only the point, but all the neighboring heights, to the full extent of a twelve pounder's range. The work on the point vs^ould be necessary to control the navigation of the two rivers. But without the commanding works in the rear, it would be liable to be greatly annoyed from a height situated directly opposite on the other side of the Missis- sippi, which is here no more than about two hundred and fifty yards wide. This latter height, however, would not BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 65 be eligible for a permanent post, on account of the numer- ous ridges and ravines situated immediately in its rear." Ft. Snelling. — Alarmed by the movements of Lord Selkirk and the Hudson Bay Company near the northern border, the far-seeing Calhoun,! then secretary of war, took active steps toward a more permanent military occupation of Minnesota than had hitherto been made. Cold Water MBS. SNELLING. OOL. SNELLING. Cantonment2 was established at Mendota^ in 1S19, Col. Leaven\vorth commanding, and in September of the fol- lowing year the first stone of a fort was laid on what was then the far frontier — Prairie Du Chien, 200 miles away, being the objective point of all wagon trains, boat fleets, and the traveler in moccasins. The ^Dost was at first called Ft. St. Anthony, but the name was changed through the influence of Gen. Winfield Scott, who was there on a 66 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. visit of inspection in 1834. The following is taken from his report made at that time: — " This work, of which the war department is in the pos- session of a plan, reflects the greatest credit on Col. Snell- ing, his officers and men. The defenses and for the most part the public store houses, shops and quarters, being con- structed of stone, the whole is likely to endure as long as the post shall remain a frontier one. I wish to suggest to the general-in-chief, and through him to the war depart- ment, the propriety of calling this work Ft. Snelling, as a just compliment to the meritorious officer under whom it has been erected. The present name is foreign to all our associations, and besides it is geographically incorrect." All the romance of border history and the tragic story of Indian warfare cling to Snelling's time-stained walls, and the names of countless gallant soldiers and noble wo- men have become associated with its own in the sixty years its quaint old battlements have towered aloft in the pictur- esque valley, as inspiring as any Drachenfels^ by the Ger- man Rhine; and it stands yet, in the evening of the nine- teenth century, like a sentinel rehearsing in silent language tales of the bold voyageurs and the self-sacrificing fathers of the mission, who passed within range of its guns or rested beneath its sheltering roofs. The plan of the original fort seems to have been that of a rhomboid, one of the acute angles lying on the cliff and the adjacent sides cresting the banks of the Mississippi and Minnesota respectively. These sides were protected by castellated walls, terminating in a half-moon bastion at the angle, and that on the south or Minnesota side having its other extremit}^ in a polygon tower still standing. These walls, for the most part, and the half-moon bastion have XVBT BNELLING LOOKING DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. SAME LOOKING A0BOS3 THE MINNESOTA. S( ItNt-^ Al FT SNFLLINtr BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 69 lately fallen sacrifices to the spirit of change; the arched gateway and walls of the inner angle of the fort have also vanished ; but the old round tower, with its embrasured parapet and loop-holed M^all, remains a landmark of by- gone days. Crawford County. — Eastern Minnesota, then a part of Michigan Territory, was organized as Crawford^ county in 1819. The officers of the county were a chief justice, two associate justices of the county court, a judge of pro- bate, clerk of court, and sheriff. It was so sparsely inhab- ited that it was difficult to find suitable persons to fill these positions. Lewis Cass Expedition. — Lewis Cass, who afterward became a very prominent character in national politics, made arrangements with the secretary of war in 1S19 to lead an exploring expedition into Minnesota; for Cass was then governor of IMichigan. The objects of the expedition were both commercial and scientific. Capt. Douglass was engineer, H. R. Schoolcraft mineralogist, and C. C. Trow- bridge topographer. Dr, Wolcott, Indian agent at Chicago, was also one of the party, which in the main was com- posed of Indians and voyageurs. Nearly six weeks were consumed in the lake voyage from Deti'oit to the mouth of the St. Louis river, which they entered on the 5th of July, 1820. After visiting an Indian village of the Ojibwas and a trading post of the American Fur Company, both on the river, they proceeded to Sandy Lake. The Northwest Company was there no longer, but instead the American Fur Company was ac- tively engaged in trade. Before descending the Missis- sippi, Cass and about half of his party endeavored to find 7© HISTORY OF MINNHSOTA. its ultimate source, and incorrectly decided that it was the lake which now bears his name. Like Pike, Cass endeavored to bring about j^eace be- tween the Ojibwas and Dakotas, and followed the same plan, persuading some of the chiefs of the former nation to visit the agency at ^Mendota for the purpose of holding a council with the Sioux. Having made a rapid descent of the river, he was enabled on the first of August to convene the Indian council in the agency house at Mendota. The United vStates Indian agent of that time was Major Lawrence Tal- iaferro,! a man of energy and tact. He was the first Indian agent in Minnesota, and remained in that position for twenty-one vears. He speaks in \varm terms of the con- duct of the Dakotas, claiming that in all that time they did not shed a drop of American blood, while the Chippewas, Winnebagoes, Sacs,2 and Foxes annually committed the foulest murders. But the well meant efforts of Gov. Cass were practically frustrated on this occasion by the indiffer- ence of the Dakotas, who had the chief Shakopee^ with them for spokesman. The remaining days of the expedition in Minnesota were partly spent at the villages of the chiefs Little Crow, Red Wing, and Wabasha. Those of the last two were situated where the cities of Red Wing and Winona now stand. Col. Snelling was met at Prairie Du Chien on his way to relieve Col. Leavenworth at Ft. St. Anthony and to pros- ecute with greater zeal the building of the post, which still existed more in name than fact. The Fur Companies. — Having learned by long experi- ence how ruinous their policy of contending with each other had been, the Northwest and Hudson Bay Com- panies united in 1S21. This left a number of the old 72 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, traders free to form new associations; and Renville, Mc- Kenzie and a few others united with some American traders in forming the Columbia Company with head- quarters at Lake Traverse.i At this time, also, the Ameri- can Fur Company, first organized by Astor^ in 1S09, had become a powerful and wealthy corporation whose influ- ence in Minnesota was exceedingly great. To-day, standing in one of the ancient fortifications of the mound-builders which surmounts an eastern bluff of that lake, one looks forward to the blue hills of Dakota beyond the farther shore, to the right and downward over "liquid miles" to where wooded points jut out by Mordada toward the west, to the left, a mile away, close by the water's edge, upon the Columbia Company's building site now distinguishable only by pits and mounds of earth and rocks. Thus the horizon alone girts their ancient domain, and the glory of the landscape is unchanged, but the com- panies have vanished and left scarcely a trace behind. The First Mills. — The first mills erected in Minnesota were two built by the United States government at St. An- thony Falls in 1S21 and 1823. They made flour and lum- ber for the garrison at Ft. Snelling. Selkirk's Colony. — Lord Selkirk still continued to work for an enduring settlement of his colony in spite of the failures of so many years. He persuaded a number of Swiss to emigrate from Europe and settle in the colony; but discouraged by its hardships, some deserted it in 1823, and after a long, toilsome journey by the way of Pem- binai and the Red River,2 reached Ft. Snelling in a con- dition of starvation. First Steamboat. — In the summer of the last men- tioned year, a large steamer named the Virginia arrived at mm 74 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Ft. Snelling. This was the beginning of steam naviga- tion on the u^DjDcr waters of the Mississippi; before this it had been deemed useless to attempt passing the rapids at Rock Island and other barriers. Cass Treaty Broken. — The treaty made between the Dakotas and Ojibwas at the solicitations of Cass was soon broken, and Maj. Taliaferro endeavored to bring about a more abiding friendship; but they had hardly left the council house before an Ojibwa chief precipitated a quarrel, and the military at the fort were compelled to restrain the Dakotas from entering into a sanguinary contest. Long's Explorations. — In compliance with an order of the government, Maj, Stephen H. Long led an explor- ing expedition up the Minnesota, His assistants in this, the first distinctively scientific expedition to enter Minnesota, were Samuel Seymour, artist; Prof. W. H. Keating of the Pennsylvania University, mineralogist and geologist; and Thos. Say, one of the founders of the P hiladelphia Academy of Sciences, zoologist and antiquai^ian. Keating also acted as the historian of the party, carefully collating their manu- scripts, which were afterwards published in two volumes. Joseph Renville, a bois bruld^ acted as intrepreter; and Jos- eph Snelling,! son of the commandant of the fort of that name, was assistant inter^^reter. On the 9th of July, 1S23, the expedition left Mendota in two detachments, one by land the other in canoes by way of the river. The river party found most of the In- dian villages deserted, the Sioux havmg gone out on the chase. On the fourth day of the journey, the two detach- ments united again at Traverse des Sioux.2 Reducing their number and leaving the canoes, they mounted horses and cut across the great bend of the river 4o the vicinity of the BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 75 present town of New Ulm, where they once more began to follow its course. July 23d, they came to Big Stone Lake and visited the lodges of a Dakota band on one of its lower islands. Farther up they were entertained at a post of the American Fur Company, and passing onward were as hospitably received at the station of its rival the Co- hmibia Company, situated on Lake Traverse. From here the march was down the Red River of the North to Pem- bina, where several days were spent in determining the lo- cation of the boundary line^ between British America and the United States. Thence going to Winnipeg,'* crossing to the Lake of the Woods, following the northern chain to Sturgeon Island in Rainy Lake, and finally by a northeast overland course reaching Ft. Williams on the Kamenistagoia, the expedition practically completed the objects of its labor. The scientific observations, though rapidly taken, were of great value. The geological and geographical descriptions of the Minnesota and Red rivers were particularly inter- esting, and to these some information was added relative to the faunas and floras of those valleys. Source of tlie Mississippi. — Great confusion existed in the minds of both the early and later explorers relative to the source of the Mississippi. In 1805, Pike, misinformed by those who were ignorant or who wished to deceive him, supposed Cass Lake to be the true source. It will be seen later that Schoolcraft claimed the honor of its discovery in the finding of Lake Itasca. Then came Nicollet trust- ing in Schoolcraft's claim, but modestly asking recogni- tion of his own services in tracing the inlets of Itasca to their remotest springs. Those unworthy of honor, but vigorous in pleading for it, assert that they, in the present decade, have found the source in Elk Lake.i There need 76 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. be no error so far as the question is one of this century ; the existing historical records relating to it are for that length of time hoth definite and reliable. William Morrison, one of the most noted of the early fur traders, came to Leech Lake in October, 1S02, from Grand Portage on the north shore of Lake Superior. A year later, he followed the course of the river through lakes Cass and Pemidji^ to Lake Itasca, and saw the five small streams which flow into it. He discovered no indi- cations of white men having preceded him, and to him is doubtless due the honor of its discovery. Crossing the portage of the Heights of Land,3 he wintered at Rice Lake, the upper source of the Red River. He repeated this journey and again wintered at Rice Lake in 1811 — 12. There he met a trader of Mackinaw, named Otesse, who in the spring, when Morrison returned to Ft. William, ac- companied him as far as Fond Du Lac. The Alinnesota Historical Society Annals of 1S56 contain a letter which Morrison addressed to his brother, Allan Morrison, who also was a well known trader. In this letter, referring to the facts given above, he says: — " This will explain to you that I visited Itasca Lake, then called Elk Lake, in 1803-4, '^^^^ "^ 1811-13, and five small streams that empty into the lake, that are short, and soon lose themselves in the swamps. ****** ** "Cass Lake receives the waters of Cross Lake, and Cross Lake those of Itasca Lake, and five small streams that empty into Itasca Lake, then called Elk Lake. Those streams I have noted before; no white man can claim the discovery of the source of the Mississippi before me, for I was the first that saw and examined its shores." BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 77 Nevertheless, Morrison did not seek to explore these streams, that arduous task was left for the brave Nicollet, and with him truly rests the repute of its accomplishment. Writing in 1836 of his explorations in the summer of that year, he says: — " The Mississippi holds its own from its very origin ; for it is not necessary to suppose, as has been done, that Lake Itasca may be supplied with invisible sources, to justify the character of a remarkable stream, which it assumes at its issue from this lake. There are five creeks that fall into it, formed by innumerable streamlets oozing from the clay beds at the bases of the hills, that consist of an accumula- tion of sand, gravel and clay, intermixed with erratic frag- ments; being a more prominent portion of the erratic de- posit previously described, and which here is known by the name of Hauteurs des Terres^ heights of land. flp ■Sp •!? ^ ^ ^ tIp ^ " The waters supplied by the north flank of these heights of land, still on the south side of Lake Itasca, give origin to the five creeks of which I have spoken above. These are the waters which I consider to be the utmost sources of the Mississippi. Those that flow from the southern side of the same heights, and empty themselves into Elbow Lake, are the utmost sources of the Red River of the North; so that the most remote feeders of Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico are closely approximated to each other. " Now, of the five creeks that empty into Itasca Lake (the Omoshkos Sagaigon^ of the Chippewas, or the Lac a la Biche^ of the French, or the Elk Lake of the British) one empties into the east bay of the lake; the four others into the west bay. I visited the whole of them; and BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 79 among the latter there is one remarkahle above the others, inasmuch as its course is longer and its waters more abund- ant; so that, in obedience to the geographical rule 'that the sources of a river are those w^hich are most distant from its mouth,' this creek is truly the infant Mississippi; all others below^, its feeders and tributaries. "The day on vs^hich I explored this principal creek, (Aug- ust 39, 1836) I judged that, at its entrance into Itasca Lake, its bed w^as from fifteen to twenty feet wide, and the depth of water f I'om two to three feet. I stemmed its pretty brisk current during ten or twenty minutes; but the obstructions occasioned by the fall of trees compelled us to abandon the canoe, and seek its springs on foot, along the hills. After a walk of three miles, during which we took care not to lose sight of the Mississippi, my guides informed me that it was better to descend into the trough of the valley ; ■where, accordingly, we found numerous streamlets oozing from the bases of the hills. ** ****** "As a further description of these head watei's, I may add that they unite at a small distance from the hills whence they originate, and form a small lake, from which the Mis- sissippi flows with a breadth of a foot and a half, and a depth of one foot. At no great distance, however, this rivulet, uniting itself with the streamlets, coming from other directions, supplies a second minor lake, the waters of which have already acquired a temperature of 48.° From this lake issues a rivulet, necessarily of increased importance — a cradled Hercules, giving promise of the strength of his maturity; it transports the smaller branches of trees; it begins to form sand bars; its bends are more decided, until it subsides again into the basin of a third So HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. lake somewhat larger than the two preceding. Having here acquired renewed vigor, and tried its consequence up- on an additional length of two or three miles, it finally empties itself into Itasca Lake, which is the principal reser- voir of all the sources, to which it owes all its subsequent majesty." Count Beltrami. — On the arrival of the steamer Vir- ginia at Ft. Snelling, there appeared in the company of Maj. Taliaferro an educated Italian exile sometimes called the Count Beltrami.l He soon ingratiated himself among the ofiicers of the garrison, and being of an extremely ro- mantic, adventurous turn of mind, obtained permission to ac- company Long's expedition. Having quarreled with that officer and by his eccentricity made himself disagreeable to the others, he separated from them at Pembina, and resolved to accomplish great things by himself. With unbounded courage and hojoe, and at times with no one to guide him through a trackless country, he managed to find Red Lake. From this he traveled by way of Grand Portage river and across country to a small lake which drains into Turtle Lake. This small lake he called Julia,2 and supposing it to be a source of both the Mississij^pi and Red, termed it the Julian source of those rivers. While his adventures as porti'ayed by himself are as fantastic and exaggerated as those of an ancient knight-errant, his statements are not altogether valueless. Indian Treaties. — On the 19th of August, 1825, a great convocation of the northw^estern tribes was held at Prairie Du Chien. The United States government was repre- sented by Lewis Cass of Michigan and Gov. Clark of Missouri. The Dakotas and Ojibwas consented at that time to have a definite boundary placed between the hunt- BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 8i ing grounds of the two tribes to prevent further contention. The following year, Gov. Cass attended a meeting of the Ojibwas at Fond Du Lac,i Minnesota. All of the bands were represented, and a treaty was sealed on the 5th of August. This ^vas the first formal one made in Minne- sota. Among other things the Ojibwas promised to sever all allegiance to Great Britain, and to acknowledge at all times the United States supremacy. Border Wars. — Early in the summer of 1827, a small party of Ojibwas from Sandy Lake were treacherously WINNEBAGO OHERACKS OB BABK HUTS. attacked, just without the walls of Ft. Snelling, by a party of Dakotas whom they had entertained. It ^vas an occur- rence most unfortunate in its results; for the two nations kept up a continual contest for several years, during which the stipulations of the treaty made at Prairie Du Chien. 82 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. were violated. The Winnebagoes,! too, becoming exas- perated through a mistake in regard to this same affair at Snelling, attacked some supply boats descending the Mis- sissippi from that post, and began to prey upon the white set- tlers themselves. The whole border was in a fever of alarm, and the government began to concentrate its forces at Prairie Du Chien in order to quell the spirit of rebel- lion. The Winnebagoes were forced to succumb, and yield their famous chief Red Bird as a hostage. The Swiss Settlers. — The Selkirk settlement, whose histoiy from its inception had been one long record of suf- fering and death, was destined to never feel the ministra- tions of a milder fate. The fearful winter of 1825-6 was followed by a summer of flood \vhich swept everything before it, leaving the Red River valley one vast waste of 'desolation. The Swiss settlers w^ho had remained behind their neighbors in the exodus of 1823 could endure their troubles no longer, and entering Minnesota settled in the country surrounding Ft. Snelling. Thus it came to pass that the star of empire had not guided the eastern emi- grants to the wilds of Minnesota before this discomfited band of the far north built their habitations within its borders, and so became its first permanent settlers. Schoolcraft's Expedition. — Henry Rowe School- craft, the celebrated author of various works on the history and life of the American aborigines, v\^as for many years the United States agent of Indian affairs at Sault Ste. Marie. While he still occupied that position, and after he had become quite well versed in the character of the natives, Schoolcraft was sent out by the government, in 1831, to visit the Indians of the upper Mississippi. By way of Lake Superior, Bad River, and the head waters of the St. Croix, BEFORE THE TERRITORY. S3 he entered the country in the vicinity of Shell and Ottawa lakes, Wisconsin, and made a futile attempt to persuade the Ojibwas of that region to be at peace with the Dakotas of Minnesota. In 1832, the government instructed Schoolcraft to visit the tribes toward the sources of the Mississippi. Lieut. Jas. Allen was in charge of the military part of the expedi- tion, which w^as accompanied by Dr. Douglass Houghton, scientist, and Rev. W. T. Boutwell, missionary. On the 22d of June, following the route of the Cass expedition, they began the ascent of the St. Louis, from which they made a portagei to the Savanna^ and descended to Sandy Lake. Thus far their labors had been intense on account of the difficulty of the portages, a difficulty greatly inci"eased by heavy rains through which they were forced to march. The party entered Cass Lake on the loth of July, and from there to Lake Itasca^ their route was that of Morrson in 1804. It was many years after this that the explora- tions of the latter were made known ; therefore, School- craft supposed that he himself was the discoverer of the Mississippi's ultimate source, and the mistake everywhere passed current. Returning southward to Leech Lake, a portage was made to the head of the Crow Wing, and this led them to the Mississippi. Schoolcraft conversed with three or four of the Dakota chiefs at Ft. Snelling, voicing to them the complaints of the Ojibwas, who said the Dakotas had been guilty in breaking the treaties of Fond Du Lac and Prairie Du Chien. Little Crow* and Black Dog^ made the hackneyed state- ments of their desire for peace. It was not long after this that John Marsh^ enlisted the Dakotas as allies of the United States in the Black Hawk war^ then raging. DALLES OF THE ST. LOUIS OB THE LONG POBTAGE. BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 85 Schoolcraft for some cause deseited Lieut. Allen at this point, and the latter expressing great indignation ascended the St. Croix alone. The reports of the different members of the party abound in interesting descrij^tions of the country traversed by them. Lieut. Allen clearly observed its geographical features, particularly the w^ater courses, and made a map of the whole northern section. A number of valuable scientific papers from the pens of Cooper, Houghton, and Schoolcraft sum up the results of the expedition. Featherstoilhailgll. — During the summer of 1835, G. W. Featherstonhaugh,! an Englishman employed by the United States department of topographical engineers, made a geological survey of the Minnesota valley. He describes some of the affluents of that stream. Stemming the Blue Earth and Le Sueur rivers to a point about two miles up the latter, he eagerly ascended ro the prairie be- tween the Blue Earth and Maple, hoping to catch sight of the Coteau des Prairies ;2 but failing to find it, he hastily concluded that the Le Sueur story of a copper mine at the "foot of a long mountain " was nothing but a fable. The Frenchman Penicaut, by the term mountain, evidently re- ferred to the bluffs. Featherstonhaugh ascended the Min- nesota from the great south bend, and was gratified at last by seeing the blue line of the Coteau rising in the distance. On his return he published a geographical account of his trip; also another volume entitled, a " Canoe Voyage up the Minnesota." Catlin. — The same year that Featherstonhaugh was en- gaged in the valley of the Minnesota, George Catlin, the artist and renowned delineator of Indian manners and customs, determined to carry out his long cherished plan TBACKING. CROSSING A POETAGE. CAMPING ON A LONG PORTAGE. BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 87 of visiting the pipestone quarry,! since famous in the poem Hiawatha. A friend and an Indian guide were his com- panions. The journey w^as made on horseback. Lilce Long, Cathn ascended the Minnesota, and crossed the bend from Traverse des Sioux to the mouth of the Big Cottonwood.2 Then proceeding across the western prai- ries, he came to the Coteaus ; and these he followed south- 88 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. ward to the quany. His enthusiasm kindled when he beheld the place to see which he had journeyed twenty-five hundred miles, the place for countless generations sacred to the Indian tribes, and above whose scarred and shat- tered cliffs, or towering form of the flinty Manito,^ their legends seemed to hover like guardian spirits. Catlin's descriptions are accurate and spirited, and his the- ories* in regard to the erratics, scattered far and wide, and the polished surfaces of the rocks, are unique and sugges- tive. He speaks of the ancient fortifications^ and the won- derful "Maidens. "6 but does not notice the pictographs' made long ages ago upon the time-worn surfaces of the red-stone where those huge bowlders have found a resting place. Drecl Scott. — Few slaves were kept in Minnesota, but of those few two were destined to have their names go down to posterity on one of the most noted pages of na- tional history. One was a girl named Harriet, the proper- ty of Maj. Taliaferro, the other a man owned by vSurgeon Emerson, of Ft. Snelling. In 1835, Taliaferro sold Harriet to Dr. Emerson, and the year following she was united in marriage to the other slave. Dr. Emerson removed them to Missouri in i838,where many years after,when their master was dead, they claimed their freedom. Their case brought forth the celebrated decisioni of Chief Justice Taney2 that made the name of the man, Dred Scott, as familiar to all as a household word. Nicollet. — Among tne most noted names of Minnesota's later explorers stands that of Jean Nicolas Nicollet.^ He was a native of Cluses^ Haute Savoie.3 His early years w^ere studious yet full of struggles with adversity. In early manhood he came under the scholarly influence and PIOTOGKAPHS AT PIPESTONE. go HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. tuition of such men as La Place,* and subsequently achieved notable distinction as an astronomer, having conferred upon him the decoration of the Legion of Honor.s Fi- nancial embarrassment finally drove him to the United States. The 26th of July, 1S36, accompanied by the French trader Fronchet,^ he started to explore the region of the upper Mississippi, carrying v^^ith him a telescope and some other portable scientific instruments. At Leech Lake he added to his escort a Canadian trader named Francis BrunetT^ and an Indian guide. On reaching Itasca Lake, he spent sev- eral days in examining the course of its inlets. In the au- tumn he was again at the Mendota Agenc}^, pursuing his studies and investigations v\^ith unrelaxing assiduity. The next season Nicollet went to Washington, and was commissioned to examine the northvs^est territoi'ies and re- port on their resources. His principal aid was John C. Fremont, at this time a lieutenant. The party ascended the Missouri to the vicinity of Ft. Pierre, and traveled east- ward to Minnesota. Passing over the Coteau des Prairies, which he lucidly describes, Nicollet came to the pipestone quarr}^ Concerning this freak of nature he furnished some interesting facts; for his were the careful researches of a keen scholar in love with nature. The whole surroundings inspired him as standing on the jagged cliffs he gazed out over a rich country rolling away like the green billows of a sea, limitless save where it seemed to dash against the blue hills far to the northward. There the tourist may read his nameS to-day chiseled on the crest of the jasper w^all where the waters of Pipestone Creek dash over the precipice, and where the solemn visaged Manito^ has kept its long vigil of centuries beside the Leaping Rock.iO t%.^'-.^ 'jpsJ^^R^fjC^, THE M.\IDEN8. PIPESTONE FALLS, WET &L VSON. PIPESTONE FALLS, DBY SEASON. THE MANITO. 92 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Nicollet next explored the country farther east of the Coteaus, paying particular attention to the region drained by the Blue Earth and its tributaries. The resources and beauties of this section he pictured vividly, and because of its abundant lakes and rivers, poetically named it the Un- dine region after the water sprite of Fouque'sH legend. He DAKOTAS OF TO-DAY DIGGING PIPESTONE. also critically examined the Castle Rocki2 in the Cannon valley and the Lone and Chimney Rocks of the Vermil- lion, basing on the information gained some valuable and interesting scientific opinions relative to the geological changes which he thought must have occurred to denude the surrounding country of its lighter formations and leave these great natural towers exposed. He considers the fab- BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 93 ulous Long River of Baron La Hontani^ a verity, and likens it to the Cannon, while he ascribes the Baron's ex- aggerations to the spirit of the period. Like him of kindred life, Agassiz laboring "On the isle of Penikese,"ii Nicollet, child-like but earnest, stood humble and reverent in the presence of truth. In closing an ac- count of this remarkable man, it is fit- ting to quote a few words from the elo- quent tribute of his friend Gen. H. H. Sibley. He says : — "Even when he was aware that his disso- lution was near at hand, his thoughts reverted t o the days when he roamed castle bock. along the valley of the Minnesota river. It was my for- tune to meet him, for the last time, in the year 1S42, in Washington City. A short time before his death, I re- ceived a kind but mournful letter from him, in which he adverted to the fact that his days were numbered but at the same time expressed a hope that he would have 94 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. strength sufficient to enable him to make his way to our country, that he might yield up his breath and be interred on the banks of his beloved stream. " He sleeps beneath the sod far away, in the vicinity of the capital of the nation, but his name will continue to be cherished in Minnesota as one of its eaily explorers and one of its best friends. The astronomer, the geologist and the Christian gentleman, Jean N. Nicollet, will long be re- membered in connection with the history of the North- west." First Protestant Missions . — About this period the influence of the protestant missionary societies began to make itself felt as a factor in the history of the Dakota and Ojibwa nations. Rev. W. T. Boutwell, a member of the Schoolcraft expedition, started a school and mission among the Ojibwas of Leech Lake in 1833. The next year two brothers, S. W. and G. H. Pond, opened a mission for the Dakotas, at Lake Calhoun, in which under- taking they were cordially supported by Agent Taliaferro and the officers at Ft. Snelling, With great labor they built a primitive log cabin where the suburban residences of Minneapolis now stand. During this year Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D., visited the country of the Dakotas to examine into the feasibility of establishing missions. He came west again in 1S35 with a band whose members were Rev. J. D. Stevens and wife, of Central New York, missionaries; Mr. A. W. Huggins, farmer; and Misses Lucy C. Stone and Sarah Poage,i teachers. Dr. Williamson served both as physician and missionary. In June, a Presbyterian church was organized in the quarters at Ft. Snelling. Mr. Stevens and family moved to Lake Harriet and constructed a dwelling and a BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 95 school of tamarack logs. Dr. Williamson, Mr. Huggins and Miss Poage located at Lac qui Parle, at which point a chui'ch was organized in 1S36. These pioneer missionaries were cheered in 1S37 ^^7 ^^^ arrival of Rev. S. R. Riggs and wife who were to be their colaborers. After spending a few" months at Lake Har- riet acquiring some Insight into the language of the Dak;otas, they joined the mission at Lac qui Parle. At this time Mr. G. H. Pond left his brother at the village of Cloudman and Drlfter2 near Lake Calhoun, and became teacher and farmer at Lac qui Parle. Meanwhile missionaries ot the Evangelical Society, Lausanne,3 Switzerland, located at the villages of the Red Wing and Wabasha bands, and those of the Methodists at Kaposia, from which place they subsequently moved to Red Rock. Both of these missions were soon abandoned. The lives of the missionaries were replete with toil, danger, and sacrifice, and the only glimpse they had of the civilization they had left behind was on coming in contact with the military and traders. Events of 1837. — The year 1837 so eventful In the financial history of the nation, was also remarkable in that of Minnesota for more than the progress of missions. At a council of the Ojibwas, held at Ft. Snelling, over which Gov. Dodge of Wisconsin Territory presided, that tribe cededi to the United States all the pine lands of the St. Croix and its tributaries. Capitalists Immediately began to improve the water power at the falls of the St. Croix, and this was the beginning of the now extensive manu- facturing of lumber so closely related to the commercial welfare of the State. The Palmyra, Capt. Holland com- mander, the first steamer to navigate the St. Croix, fil THO.S^vlLLlA^IbO^^^. , ffi W T BOUTWELL MISSIONARIES. BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 97 brought the machinery for the projected mills. A dele- gation of the Dakotas at Washington, also, ceded2 to the government all their Minnesota lands east of the Missis- sippi. Removal of Swiss Settlers. — The national authorities chose that portion of country on the east bank of the Mis- sissippi opposite Ft. Snelling for a military reserve. The Swiss of the Selkirk colony had squatted on these very lands, and now objected strenuously to their removal. Oc- tober 2 1st, 1829, Poinsett, secretary of war, under the pro- visions of the act of 1S07 for preventing settlement on public lands until the law authorized it, issued an order to Edward James, United States marshal of Wisconsin Ter- ritory, to remove the Swiss settlers, and if necessary to call out the military for that purpose. They still persisted; therefore, the last clause of the order was carried out, the troops of the Ft. Snelling garrison forcibly ejecting them and burning their cabins to the ground. Poinsett's caution to use due mildness throughout seems to have been wholly ignored. Thus for the second time the Swiss became home- less and friendless in a land \vhere they had hoped to find peace and plenty. Battle of Pokeguma, — Many were the frays between the Dakotas and Ojibwas in these days, especially in the year 1839. The scalping knife never seemed to be sheathed, and the war cry greeted every rising and setting sim. It is only necessary to relate the history of one of these frays to explain the nature of all and picture the life they forced the Indians to lead. Twenty miles up the Snake river from its confluence with the St. Croix is a lake called Pokeguma.l It is girt by forests of tamarack and pine, and not far from one side 98 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. is a little island. Opposite the island, on the gently rising slopes of the eastern shore, a band of the Ojibwas, fifty years ago, had one of their villages. About that time the missionary Boutwell and his colleague Mr, Ely went there to reside. Knowing full well the bitter nature of the feuds existing between this tribe and the Dakotas, the former had made a secret compact promising to warn the missionaries at Lake Calhoun when the Ojibwas premedi- tated an attack upon the other tribe. They in turn were to warn the Pokeguma mission when the Dakotas were about to surprise the Ojibwas. In the spring of 1841, the message came to Pokeguma, *' Be on your guard." It was enough. The missionaries and Indians moved in haste to the island, and two young braves were chosen to bear tobacco and pi^DCS to their allies at Mille Lacs, inviting them to lend succor. Before this, the Dakota chief had divided his band of one hundred thirty warriors into squads of five or more and secreted them in the woods with strict orders not to fire upon the Ojibwas for any reason whatever. He believed the latter would return to their cabins when their fears subsided or necessity compelled them, at which favorable time he in- tended to raise the war cry and lead the onset. The two messengers, now ready to start on the trail to Mille Lacs, paddled their canoe from the island to the farther shore. Two young girls went with them to bring back the canoe. Where it landed, one of the parties of the Dakotas was in ambush. Wild with excitement, they forgot the chief's command and fired, wounding one of the young men, both of whom returned the fire and escaped in the woods. The assailants pursued the little girls into the water, murdered them, and with savage fei"ocity cut off BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 99 their heads. These they Avaved derisively in the sight of the people on the island, all of whom had witnessed the fearful deed. The fathers of the children seized a canoe, and regardless of danger pulled swiftly to the shore. A quick aim, the sharp crack of a rifle, a murderer lying dead on the sands — these were the events of a moment. There was not time to scaljD him, and snatching for a trophy his powder horn besmeared with blood, the revenged fathers fled from his comrades. One threw himself prostrate in the canoe, the other plunged into the lake, and while swimming with one hand held the canoe with the other and towed it away in safety. A rain of lead fell about them, but the bold warrior, never relaxing his hold or ceasing to swim, when he saw the foe take aim submerged himself until the sound of the volley died away. The foiled Dakota chief withdrew. The Ojibwas, when they dared venture to the shore again, cut off the head and arms of the dead murderer and brought them into camp. They dashed the head to atoms, but presented the arms to a woman whose son had been killed by the same tribe the year before, expecting her to dance and exult over them as was their custom on such occasions. Instead, she came to the mission and begged for some white cotton cloth, dnd while tears for the dead son dimmed her eyes, she tenderly wrapped the arms in its folds and buried them with the forgiving prayer of a Christian upon her lips. The Ojibwas were greatly excited, and not knowing how soon the enemy might return in force, struck their lodges and with a few supjolies of food in their bags fled toward Mille Lacs. " Go," said Boutwell to Mr. Ely, « follow them, keep up your school each day and the services of lOO HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Sunday. Soon they must return for food. Then I will go with them to relieve you." It was even so; for hunger is sure to bring boldness. After Boutwell had joined them, they one day came suddenly upon fresh tracks of moccasins, evidently made by two men. As startled as a herd of the wild deer, they dropped their packs and primed their guns anew. Mean- while, an old warrior began to walk in a set of the foot- prints, and with a quick, glad cry named the person who made them, a member of their own tribe. That evening the warriors fired off their guns one by one; for they were w^ont to reload them with dry jDowder in anticipation of night attacks. After the firing ceased, two guns answered from a distance, and in a little while the person named by the old warrior as the one who made the tracks came into camp \vith his companion. Boutwell says one can hardly conceive how great is the fear in which an Indian lives. He is ever on the alert to discover signs of his enemy. A broken twig, a faint rustling of leaves will set a whole vil- lage in a wild uproar. St. Croix County. — The country between the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers which had previously been under the jurisdiction of Crawford county w^as, in 1S41, organized un- der the name of St. Croix; but it>5 separation from the former was not actually effected until 1847. Stillwater, then but a hamlet and the supply depot of the lumber districts, w^as made the county seat, and a term of the United States District Court was held there in June, Judge Dunn presid- ing. This was the first national court held within the lim- its of the present State. Settlement of St. Paul. — The founding of new mis- sions by Riggs at Traverse des Sioux and Ayer at Red h^ TE I nil 111 I !nj CHAPEL OF ST. PAUL, POST-OFFICE OF TO-DAY. I02 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Lake, in 1S43, and the removal of the Winnebagoes, much against their will, from their ancient home in Iowa to a reservation girt b}- the Crow Wing, Long Prairie, Sauk, and Mississippi rivers were some of the additional note- worthy events marking the last decade of this period. But the one of greatest importance was the settlement of St» Paul.i A chapel2 of that name was erected in 1S40, and a ham- let sprung up which became the nucleus of the future cap- ital. Two years later, Henry Jackson^ and a few^ other ti^aders built small stores above what is now the levee. Dr. Williamson, who by invitation of Little Crow had left the Lac qui Parle mission in 1S36 to reside at Kaposia, thus writes of St. Paul as it appeared in 1843: — " My present residence is on the utmost verge of civili- zation, in the northwest part of the United States, within a few miles of the principal village of white men in the territory that we suppose will bear the name of Minnesota, The village referred to has grown up within a few years in a romantic situation on a high bluff of the Mississippi, and has been baptized, by the Roman Catholics, with the name of St. Paul. They have erected in it a small chapel, and constitute much the larger portion of its inhabitants. The Dakotas call it Im-ni-jas-ka (white rock), from the color of the sandstone which forms the bluff on which the village stands. This village contains five stores, as they call them, at all of which intoxicating drinks constitute a part, and I suppose the principal part, of what they sell. I would suppose the village contains a dozen or twenty families living near enough to send to school." Resume'. — This may well be called the period of tran- sition between the times of the voyageurs and settlements; BEFORE THE TERRITORY. 103 of romantic adventure yielding to scientific research; of slowly shifting- scenes in the prologue of yet another great drama of modern American life, for which the forces of civilization were steadily arranging themselves while the outside world began to look with eyes of eager expectancy for the opening of the first act. ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Organization. — In 1848, Wisconsin was admitted into the Union with its boundaries defined as at present. Pre- vious to this time, a futile attempt had been made to organize a new territory which should include all that remained of the old Wisconsin Territory. Congress, however, adjourned ^vithout making that provision for the government of this section which seemed necessary under the new condition of affairs. Already forecasting the 104 THE TERRITORY. IO5 bright future of the region to which they had come, tlie people were restless in their endeavors to establish a new territorial government. Small groups of citizens might now and then have been seen assembled at St. Paul de- vising plans to this end. Later, in the month of August of the year above mentioned, two public meetings were held at Stillwater, at the latter of which sixty-two dele- gates were present. John Catlin, governor of the old Wisconsin Territory, claimed that its government still remained in force over the portion that had been excluded from the state of the same name. Acting upon his advice, and sustained by his proclamation, the people held an election October 30th to choose a delegate to Congress in place of John H. Tw^eedy, who had been requested to resign ; for it was thought by these means Congress would be compelled to judge of the validity of the old government, and thus the organization of the desired new territory would be hastened. H. H. Sibley was the delegate chosen; and he was allowed to take his seat, although a minority report of the Congress- ional committee before whom the matter was laid opposed his admission. Ably supported b}' other leading citizens, Sibley urged the claims of the new territory so successfully that it was organized under the name of Minnesota, March 3d, 1849. Its boundary line coincided with the northern boundary of Iowa and the western boundary of the same to its crossing of the Missouri river; thence extending up that stream and its branch the White Earth to the British line; along the British border to Lake Superior; out to the most north- westerly point of Wisconsin in that lake; and, finally, along Io6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the western boundary of Wisconsin to the place of begin- ning. One stormy day in early April, the first packet boat of the season plowed the icy current of the upper Mississippi as if impatient to reach her moorings; for she brought glad tidings of the territorial organization. The cliffs of Imnijaska^ which a few^ moments before had echoed the herald steamer's warning whistle, now answered back the shouts of citizens almost wild with joy because their village had been proclaimed the seat of government. First Newspaper. — A few days later a printing press Was set up in this newest and strangest of capitals, and the publication of the first newspaper begun. It was called 2he Pioneer, and its editor was Jas. M. Goodhue, a man of education and considerable native ability. (jOV. Ramsey. — Alexander Ramsey of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who had already attained a firm foot-hold in national politics, was the first governor appointed. He ar- rived before the close of this eventful month of April, and June 1st issued a proclamation declaring the new govern- ment duly organized, and warning all citizens to hold them- selves obedient to its laws. Judicial Districts. — Three judicial districts were formed. The first was the old county of St. Croix; the northeast section, or La Pointe county, with the additional country north of the Minnesota and the right line drawn westward fi'om its headwaters to the Missouri constituted the second; while the third comprised the remaining re- gions to the south and westward of the former stream. Aaron Goodrich of Tennessee, Chief Justice, presided over the first; Bradley B. Meeker of Kentucky, Associate Jus- tice, over the second ; and David Cooper of Pennsylvania, THE TERRITORY. I07 Associate Justice, over the third. In the month of August, in response to a call from the governor, courts were held in these districts in the order indicated. Stillwater, St. Anthony Falls, and Mendota were the places of meeting. The court room at St. Anthony was in the old government mill ; at Mendota in a stone warehouse belonging to one of the fur companies. Council Districts, — In July, the governor also pro- claimed the division of the Territory into seven council districts, and issued an order for the first election of mem- bers of the Council, representatives of the House, and a delegate to Congress. This election was held in August, and resulted in the choice of H. H. Sibley for delegate. Notes of Interest. — During this year two more news- papers, named the Register and the Minnesota Chronicle, began publication at St. Paul, but before its close united under the title of Chronicle and Register. A land office was now established at Stillwater. The census of the settlements in all this vast territory, taken by the sheriff of St. Croix county, showed the population to be only 4,680. Immigration. — But while day by day events like these were falling thicker and faster, the very air seemed to prophesy the fulfillment of greater things; and hosts of adventurous men eagerly turned their faces toward the new land of promise the fame of whose resources had been noised abroad. First Legislature. — The 3d of September, 1S49, will ever be memorable in the history of Minnesota Territory as the day upon which its first legislature convened. There was something of quaintness in this first meeting; for no stately house of legislation with towering dome and deco- rated chambers awaited its members, but instead they found io8 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. beneath the roof of a humble log hoteU food and shelter for themselves and ample room in which to transact the affairs of state. The Council was composed of nine members, and the 3W^s^jKi/o /JS OENTBAL HOUSE FIEST CAPITOL OF MINNESOTA. House of eighteen. David Olmsted of the settlement of Long Prairie, a native of Vermont and the youngest man in the Council, was inade its permanent president; and Jo- THE TERRITORY. IO9 seph W. Furber,of the settlement of Cottage Grove, a na- tive of New Hampshire, became speaker of the House. The system of common school education was carefully considered by this legislature, and it organized the counties of Itasca, Wabasha, Dakota, Wanata, Mankato, Washing- ton, Ramsey, Benton, and Pembina, some of which re- main in existence at this day. The Historical Society. — During the legislative ses- sion, the Minnesota Historical Society was incorporated. Its purpose was to encourage the spirit of research, and preserve the historic relics and records of the Common- wealth, which it might from time to time collect. The first meeting was held at St. Paul in January, 1850. The historian Edward Duffield Neill delivered a scholarly ad- dress in which he reviewed the history of the early French missionaries and voyageurs. It was an auspicious begin- ning of what has come to be a useful and influential society. First Public School. — Before the close of November, 1849, the citizens of St. Paul met to consider the matter of establishing the first public school in the Territory, all schools previous to that time having been of a private character or under the charge of benevolent societies. The Great Seal. — A device for the great seal of the Territory was adopted about this time. It was substan- tially the same as the present seal of the State, save in place of the motto U Etoile du JVord, Star of the North, stood ^ue sursum volo videre^ I wish to see vv^hat is above. The engraver, however, made the latter appear in the unclassic form ^10 sursum veto videre^ which fact probably led to its abandonment; but oddly, yet suggest- ively, the blazing sun of the escutcheon has been retained for the new motto. no HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Initial Treaties. — It must be remembered that as yet only a small portion of the vast domain of JMinncsota Ter- ritory had been ceded by the Indians to the United States; namely, that triangular section of country bounded on the east by the St. Croix, on the west by the Mississippi, and on the north by a line running due east from the mouth of the Crow Wing to the St. Croix. vSteps were therefore taken to provide for the rapidly increasing immigration. Gov. Ramsey and Ex-Gov. Chambers of Iowa were com- missioners appointed on the part of the United States to purchase the native titles; but on rejDairing to Mendota in the fall of the year, they found that the greater part of the Indians were absent on the chase, and succeeded in pro- curing from the rest only a small tract of country adjacent to Lake Pepin. In the month of June, 1S50, a great council was held at Ft. Snelling. The tents of the war-like Pillagers dotted the plateau without the walls, and all was life and motion within the garrison, the long lines of infantry filing out into battle line. For the Ojibwas' dread enemies, the Sioux, were momentarily expected, and these troops were to act as a foil between these always contending nations. Sud- denly the Sioux war cry arose from the leafy slopes of Pi- lot Knob beyond the Minnesota, and mighty in war paint and feathers, they swept like a dusky cloud across the val- ley and up the opposite slopes to the mouths of the frown- ing cannon. Their turbulence, however, soon subsided. The council tent witnessed all the pomp of Indian elo- quence and ceremony. After Gov. Ramsey's address, Hole-in-the-dayi responded on the part of the Ojibwas, and Bad Hail for the Sioux. Commissioners from among the whites were chosen by each tribe to adjust its claims and THE TERRITOY. Ill settle its difficulties. As for the rest, they promised to the " Great Father" at Wa s h i n g t o n, the hand of friendship t o the settler, and cessation of hostilities among them- selves. Thus was the initial step taken that led to the more formal and im- portant treaties of 1851. Nayigating the Minneso- ta. — In the month of July, the navigation of the Minne- sota by large steamers was begun, the first going as far as the Blue Earth River and oth- ers far beyond the great south bend. fealty HOLE-IN-THE-DAY II. Growth of St, Paul. — Meanwhile, St. Paul was grow- HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. ing apace, and as its internal changes were typical of ter- ritorial progress, it is well to note the condition in which it now existed. The following words from the pen of Fredrika Bremer, the Swedish novelist, will suffice for this purpose: — • " The town is one of the youngest infants of the Great West, scarcely eighteen months old; and yet it has in a short time increased to a population of two thousand persons, and in a very few years it will certainly be pos- sessed of twenty-two thousand. " As yet, however, the town is but in its infancy, and people manage with such dwellings as they can get. The drawing-room at Gov. Ramsey's house is also his office, and Indians and work people, and ladles and gentlemen, are all alike admitted. " The city is thronged with Indians. The men, for the most part, go about grandly ornamented, with naked hatch- ets, the shafts of which serve them as pipes." Second Legislature. — The second legislature met Jan- uary ist, 1 85 1. David B. Loomis, of Marine Mills, became president of the Council, and M. E. Ames, of Stillwater, speaker of the House. Partisan Disputes. — Partisan feelings which were only in their infancy when the first legislature was in session had waxed stronger and stronger in the intervening time, and now burst forth in a flood of bitterness. One great cause of dispute was the apportionment bill based upon the first census. Some claimed that the sections in which scarcely any land was under cultivation, and whose inhabitants were for the most part Indians, had been given equal representation in the territorial legislature with the more densely settled and cultivated regions. They even 114 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. went further, and asserted that the territorial government did not legally extend over that great domain nominally w^ithin the Territory but which had not been ceded by the Indians to the national government. The ground of this argument was decided by high legal authority to be unten- able, the bill passed the legislature, and, in a rage, seven members resigned. Spirit of the Press. — The territorial press of the day "was fierce in its denunciation of individuals, and in conse- ■quence of a feud brought on in this way, the editor of the Pioneer w^as stabbed in the street before the capitol, and jn turn shot his oj^ponent. Public Buildings. — The erection of a Capitol, for which provision had been made in the 13th Section of ,tlie Organic Act, created an exciting debate at the first legisla- , tive session. At the second session, a spirit of compromise prevailed, making St. Paul the permanent seat of govern- ment and locating the teiritorial prison at Stillwater. Territorial University. — As a part of the same com- promise, a bill was also passed establi^hing the University of Minnesota at or near St. Anthony Falls. Congress af- ter a spirited discussion relative to the rights of squatters on lands devoted to school purposes, finally denying the same, granted two townships for the support of the new university. Ojibwa Famine. — The Ojibwas of Red, Cass, Leech, and Sandy lakes, in a great measure dejDrived of their an- nuities, nearly perished of hunger and epidemics during the cold months of winter, and the famous Hole-in-the-day came to the capital to plead with Indian eloquence for his perishing race. Traverse des Sioux Treaty, — The month of June THE TERRITORY. II5 had opened with terrific thunder storms which greatly swelled the Minnesota and its tributaries. Nevertheless, Gov. Ramsey and Luke Lea, United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, acting as a special commission, ascended that stream to Traverse des Sioux in order to treat with the upper bands for the cession of lands lying to the west- ward of the Mississippi. For some reason the Indians were slow in leaving their villages or tarried long by the w^ay. It was the iSth day of July before they had all arrived and concluded their sacred dance to the " Thunder Bird" i and other ceremonies which to them seemed important on such an occasion. On that day, the great council of Sissetons^ and Wah- petonsS convened. The chiefs and commission smoked the calumet,* and the missionary S. R. Riggs explained to the former the style of the treaty desired. It was signed on the 23d, these bands ceding all the country east of the Big Sioux and Lake Traverse and south of the head waters of Watabs river and the northern inlets of Otter Tail Lake, save a reserve reaching ten miles back from each side of the Minnesota, beginning at the mouth of the Yellow Medi- cine^ and extending to Lake Traverse. In addition, they were to receive $1,665,000 of which $375,000 was to be paid on their removal to the reservation, and the remainder placed at interest was to provide them with an annuity of $98,000 for fifty years, the same to be expended in cloth- ing, rations, and for the promoting of their education and civilization. Mendota Treaty. — Tlie 5th of August, the commission also met the Mdewakantonwani and Wapekute^ bands on Pilot Knob,3 ISIendota. There were many chiefs present, including Little Crow. The inter2:)reter on this occasion Il6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. was the missionary G. H. Pond. These lower bands on then* i^art, ceded all their lands in Minnesota and Iowa, some four million acres m all, and were assigned a reser- vation beginnmg fifty miles above Traverse des Sioux and extending to the reservation of the upper bands at the moulh of the Yellow Medicine. This reservation, like the Other, extended ten miles back from the river on either side. They were to receive $220,000 on their removal, and $30,000 annually for fifty years to be expended for the same purposes as in the case of the Wahpetons and Sisse- tons. Political Parties. — At the close of this legislative period, two well defined political parties held the field — - the Democratic and Coalition. The Whig element started a paper before the close of the year. Third Legislature. — On the 7th of June, 1852, the third territorial legislature met, William H. Forbes, of St. Paul, presiding over the Council and John G. Ludden, of Marine, over the House. This legislature created the county of Hennepin, and passed a prohibitory liquor law. Material Development. — The opening of this period was under different ausjDices than those attending the pre- ceding legislatures. Then the excitement of establishing a government and maintaining it according to his peculiar political notions turned the citizen's mind away from self; now, at the dawn of commercial and agricultural progress, political passions slumbered, and each bent all his energies to the furthering of his material prosperity. The broad prairies and timber belts of the lately ceded lands of the Sioux invited the hardy and the brave to make homes for themselves and their children. Settlements. — Among the first settlements were those THE TERRITORY. II7 at Shakopee, Traverse des Sioux, Kasota,i and Mankato^ in the Minnesota valley, and one, the largest of all, in the valley of the RoUingstone near Winona.3 The St. Peter River. — As the result of a memorial presented to Congress, the United States Senate originated a bill changing the name of the St. Peter river to that of Minnesota, and with the English the French form St. Pierre, as the voyageurs had called and the children of the bois brule lisped it for nearly two centuries, was soon almost forgotten. Change of Chief Justices. — Jerome Fuller had as- sumed the duties of Chief Justice, before the close of 1851, in place of Aaron Goodrich. In the latter part of this year, 1852, Henry Z. Hayner was aj^pointed to supersede Fuller, whom the Senate failed to confirm for another term. Fourth Legislature. — The fourth legislature organized January 5th, 1853, with Martin McLeod, of Lac qui Parle, as president of the Council and David Day, of Long Prairie, speaker of the House. Got. Ramsey's Message. — In his annual message. Gov. Ramsey vividly pictured the progress of the Territory from the inception of its government, and with almost prophetic vision lifted the veil from before its future his- tory. He thus speaks in the final j^aragraphs: — "In concluding my last annual message, permit me to observe that it is now a little over three years and six months since it was my happiness to first land upon the soil of Minnesota. Not far from where we now are, a dozen frame houses, not all completed, and some eight or ten log buildings, with bark roofs, constituted the capital of the new territory, over whose destiny I had been com- Il8 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. missioned to preside. One county ,1 a remnant from Wis- consin territorial organization, alone afforded the ordinary- facilities for the execution of the laws; and in and around its seat of justice resided the bulk of our scattered popuhi- tion. Within this single county were embraced all the lands white men were jDrivileged to till, while between them and the broad rich hunting grounds of untutored sav- ages, rolled the River of Rivers,^ here as majestic in its northern youth as in its more southern maturity. Emphat- ically new and wild appeared everything to the incomers from older communities; and a not least novel feature of the scene was the motley humanity partially filling these streets — the blankets and painted faces of Indians, and the red sashes and moccasins of French voyageurs and half- breeds, greatly predominating over the less picturesque costume of the Anglo-American race. But even while strangers yet looked, the elenients of a mighty change were working, and civilization with its hundred arms was commencing its resistless and beneficent empire. " The fabled magic of the Eastern tale, that renewed a palace in a single night, only can parallel the reality of this growth and progress. " In forty-one months the few bark-roofed huts have been transformed into a city of thousands. In forty-one months have condensed a whole century of achieve- ments, calculated by the old world's calendar of progress — a government proclaimed in the wilderness, a judiciary organized, a legislature constituted, a comprehensive code of laws digested and adopted, our population quintupled, cities and towns springing up on every hand, and steam with its revolving arms, in its season, daily fretting the THE TERRITORY. 119 bosom of the Mississippi, in bearing fresh crowds of men and merchandise within our borders." Prohibition . — The prohibitory liquor law, previously mentioned, having been adjudged unconstitutional by Chief Justice Hayner, a vain attempt was made to pass another less objectionable. Proposed Division of School Funds.— Bishop Cretini of the Roman Catholic church, ably supported by his fol- lowers, endeavored to secure the passage of a bill provid- ing for a division of the public school funds that should al- low part of them to be applied in the support of parochial schools. The principal plea was that those who, by reason of religious scruples, sent their children to the latter schools, were still forced to support by taxation the public schools from which they derived no direct benefit. Al- though honorably submitted to the legislature, a bill so undemocratic in its implied doctrines caused no little ex- citement and debate, and met at last with failure. Gov. (jOrman. — Franklin Pierce had now become Presi- dent of the United States, and following strictly the Jackson- ian principle,! removed Gov. Ramsey and his colleagues and appointed as governor Willis A. Gorman of Indiana, a Ken- tuckian by birth, who had served as an officer in the Mex- oo^- gorman ican war. The new Chief Justice was William H. Welch of Minnesota, and the Associates Moses Sherburne, of I20 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Maine, and Andrew G. Chatfield, of Wisconsin ; but R. R. Nelson and Charles E. Flandrau, both of Minnesota, were the Associates during the last year of the Territory. Removal of the Sioux. — When the summer months bad passed, and the first frosts were tinging the forests, the Sioux in compliance with their lately made treaties de- serted the villages of their forefathers on the MississijDpi and lower Minnesota, and sought their reservations in the upper valley of the last mentioned stream. Hard in their wake flowed the tide of eager and hapj^y immigrants. Neither race mistrusted how near the days were at hand when their mournful annals would darken the pages of history, and all their joy be turned to sorrow. Delegates to Congress. — In October of this year, Hen- ry M. Rice was elected delegate to Congress. He was the successor of Sibley, and therefore the second delegate of the Territory. He held the position until the spring of 1S57, and then gave place to W. W. Kingsbury, the third and last delegate. Fifth Legislature. — The territorial Capitol was ready for occupation when the fifth legislature met, January 4th, 1854. ^' -^' Olmsted, of Belle Prairie, was elected presi- dent of the Council, and N. C. D. Taylor,of Taylor's Falls speaker of the House. Gov. Gorman's Message. — In his first annual message Gov. Gorman urged speedy legislation in behalf of educa- tion, and the construction of railroads to meet the constant- ly increasing demands for transportation toward the eastern sea-board. Northwestern R. R. Co. — The latter question became the all absorbing topic of the season, but only in its last moments, after the hour of midnight, was a definite step THE TERRITORY. 131 "taken in the chartering of the Minnesota & Northwestern Raih'oad Company. It proved to be in more senses than one a deed of night, whose baneful influence for years brooded like a night mare over the seat of government, and on more than one occasion aroused political passion to an intense fever heat. Nevertheless, to the surprise of all, the gov- •ernor signed the bill. President Fillmore's Tisit. — In the month of June Ex- President Fillmore and a party of distinguished scholars, among whom ^vas the historian Bancroft, vis- ited St. Paul and the scenes about St. Anthony Falls. Ev- erything \vore a gala day aspect, and the people gave them- selves over to enjoyment. But hardly had their guests de- parted, and they themselves ceased to build air castles of future greatness after the magnificent sjoecifications laid down in the polite and flattering speeches of the preceding days, ere trouble began to brew in the halls of Congress over the railroad interests of Minnesota. Land Grants. — Now it must be understood that in their -anxiety to foster commercial and other interests the legis- lature of the Territory had granted the Minnesota & North- western Company powers of an extraordinary kind, and had promised to grant it all lands which should thereafter te given Minnesota by the national government to aid in ■constructing railroads as well as all those lands of that character then possessed by the Territory. Congress Interferes. — A bill had been wisely framed in the United States House of Representatives to prevent svich a monopoh', but either through fraud or careless engrossing the alteration of certain w^ords destroyed its whole tenor. The suspicions of Congress v\^ere aroused, and in consequence the bill ^vas repealed. The company 123 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. in question denied the right of Congress to repeal the act after said comj^any had compHed with its provisions; and shortly afterward when the United States authorities, entered into litigation with the company for alleged tres- pass on that part of the national domain lying within Goodhue county, the matter was decided by Chief Justice Welch, of Minnesota, in favor of the defendants. The whole question was finally submitted to the United States Supreme Court, but was withdrawn by the attorney-gen- eral before a decision had been reached. So the company,, for the time being, held the field. Sixth Legislature. — The sixth legislature convened on the 3d of January, 1855, and organized with William P. Murray, of St. Paul, for president of the Council and James S. Norris, of Cottage Grove, speaker of the House A year had not sufficed to quell the political storm aroused by the railroad legislation, territorial and national, of the preceding season, and it now raged with renewed energy^ Gorman's Yeto. — Gov. Gorman, evidently awakened to a full conviction of the serious dangers likely to ensue in the future history of the Commonwealth should the acts- already passed not be hedged in by safeguards, w^as as vigorous in his opposition to the new legislation shaping itself in behalf of the Minnesota & Northwestern Company as he had previously been active in support of the old* He promptly vetoed a bill which the legislature had passed to amend the company's charter; but on the 21st of Feb- ruary, it was carried over his veto by the required two- thirds majority. The Charter Annulled. — Meanwhile, the railroad af- fairs of Minnesota were being agitated in Congress. The House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring the THE TERRITORY. 123 charter of the Northwestern Company null, but the Sen- ate failed to concur. The people of the Territory, blind to all dangers, and thinking only of the great need for lines of communication which would give impetus to its settlement and commercial development, received the news of this victory with triumphant demonstrations. Republican Party Organized. — The 29th of March witnessed the dawn in Minnesota of that new political era fast hurrying the nation into the maelstrom of civil conflict; for on that day the Republican party organized in convention at St. Anthony. Subject to the call of this convention, another convened on the 25th of July, at which time W. R. Marshall received the nomination of delegate to Congress. He was opposed by the Democaatic nomi- nee David Olmsted and the old incumbent Henry M. Rice, who in the subsequent election won the position over both competitors. Hazelwood Republic. — .«p-^iv "7\ In 1S54, w^hen the mission / gff^ ^^ ^ houses at Lac qui Parle had accidently been consumed by fire, the missionaries and In- dians of that community set- tled on the banks of Rush Brook, or Hazel Run, which enters the Minnesota from the south-west five or six miles from the Yellow Medicine Agency. The world has known many strange governments, but none stranger or more suggestive of possibilities in Indian LITTLE PAUL. 124 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, civilization than that at this same mission on the banks of Hazel Run. Dr. Riggs speaks of it in these terms : — "We had such a respectable community of young men, who had cut off their hair and exchanged the dress of the Dakotas for that of the white men, and whose wants now were very different from the annuity Dakotas generally, that we took measures to organize them into a separate band, which we called the Hazelwood Republic. They elected their President for two years, and other needed of- ficers, and were without any difficulty recognized by the agent as a separate band. A number of these men w^ere half-breeds, who were, by the organic law of Minnesota, citizens. The Constitution of the State provided that In- dians also might become citizens by satisfying a court of their progress in civilization. "A few vears after the organization of this civilized com- munity, I took eight or ten of the men to meet the court at Mankato; but the court deciding that a knowledge of Eng- lish was necessary to comply with the laws of the State, only one of my men was passed into citizenship," Little Paul, Ma-za-koo-ta-ina-ne^ a noted sub-chief of the Sissetons, still living, was the President of the little re- public. He it is who is spoken of later as one who helped to ransom ]Miss Gardner from Inkpadoota's band, and he it is who spoke so eloquently for the captives in the great massacre of 1S62, No shrewder diplomat or gifted orator ever ruled more worthily, even over enlightened people. SeYentll Legislature. — John B, Brisbin, of St, Paul, was the president of the seventh legislative Council, and Charles Gardiner, of Westervelt,i speaker of the House. Again by far the greater part of the legislative session THE TERRITORY. I25 was squandered in the never ending debate and intriguing over the affairs of the Nortliwestern Railroad. Gov. Gorman's Tiews. — The governor in his annual message clearly laid the matter before the people. He showed them that he had from the beginning been deeply impressed by the gravity of the situation, and while he had sanctioned by his signature certain amendments which were calculated to protect the interests of the Commpn- wealth against the encroachments of a doubtful corpora- tion, still lamented that other safeguards had not been pro- vided. By the aid of earnest private and public citizens, he had secured a reversion, to the future state, of two per cent, on the gross receipts of the company, which if the latter prospered would relieve the citizens from the bur- dens of state taxation. On the other hand, if the company failed to construct the road, and were made to forfeit in consequence the lands promised to them, then, too, the state would suffer no harm. Nevertheless, he had little faith in their professions of ability to build the road, nor had the means employed by them to secure desired ends met Avith his approval in any way, and he trusted such means never would. Popular Themes. — In the brief intervals of this agi- tation, the legislator found j^astime with the private citizen in discussing another theme; namely, the division of Min- nesota into two territories along the forty-sixth parallel of latitude. But territorial days began speedily to wane; the advent in the summer months of a new and v^^idc-spread agitation of the question of admission into the Union was like the sudden appearing of a bright star of hope in the settler's sky before which all others paled into insignificance. Eighth. Legislature. — The eighth legislature convened 126 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. on the 7th of Januaiy, 1S57. John B, Brisbin president of the preceding council held the same position in this, and Joseph W. Furber the speaker of the first territorial legis- lature was now made speaker of the last. Attempted Change of Capital. — The most exciting bill of the session was one to remove the permanent seat of government from St. Paul to St. Peter. It passed the House, but when called for in the course of Council pro- ceedings could not be properly reported by the committee in charge; for the chairman of that committee, the Hon. Joseph Rolette of Pembina, had absented himself, carrying with him the only properly enrolled form of the bill. A call of the Council was moved, and Rolette still being absent, the president ordered the sergeant-at-arms to report him in his seat. This was Saturday, February zSth; but from that time on until the close of Thursday, March 5th, all other business was suspended. Throughout the whole time the members did not leave the Council chamber, but ate and slept there like soldiers on the field of battle who rest on their arms when danger is imminent. Wearied at last, they adjourned for a day. On Saturday thev met for ' the last time. Rolette was still absent, and warned that the hours of the legal period of session were fast ebbing away, the stubborn spirit of the Council 3'ieldcd, the usual course of business was resumed, and the famous bill was lost. Inkpadoota Massacre. — Five miles from Mankato in a wild gorge surrounded by steep, rocky hills, are the beautiful cascades of Minneopa.i Below the large fall, at the foot of a sandstone cliff where the hill and forest shad- ows make perpetual twilight, there is a little grotto which, if the settler's story be true, witnessed the inception of one THE TERRITORY 127 of the darkest frontier tragedies. Here, he will tell you, Inkpadoota,2 a roving Dakota chief of the Wapekute band, planned the frightful massacre of Spirit Lake, Iowa, and Springfield,^ ISIinnesota. In the early spring time, the people of those settlements MINNEOPA FALLS. had offended Inkpadoota; and in the month of March he sought revenge. The band first attacked a party of eleven white men in a cabin, killing all as they fled from the burn- ing structure. Then they went successively to the homes 128 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. of the Gardner, Thatcher, Nobles, and Marble families, killing all save the mothers of the last three households- and Miss Abbie Gardner, This was on the shores of Spirit Lake. A man by the name of Markham alarmed the set- tlement of vSpringfield, situated ten miles up the Des Moines,, but without avail; for many of its inhabitants were mas- sacred about the twenty-seventh of the month. The whole frontier for a hundred miles to the eastward was panic-stricken. The settlers gathered in groups, and fortified themselves in their log cabins, or sought safety in the more densely populated communities. In the mean- time, a military expedition from Iowa and another from Ft. Ridgely, Minnesota, hastened to the scene of slaughter, where they found and buried over thirty persons. Inkpadoota and his band were now far on their way to the Missouri, bearing with them the captive women, whom they treated most inhumanly. In crossing the Big Sioux, they shot Mrs. Thatcher in the stream, where she had fall- en through weakness ; and not long after they murdered Mrs. Nobles. Two young men. Sounding Heavens and Grey Foot, of the Hazel wood mission at Lac qui Parle rescued Mrs. Marble; and two influential Indians, Paul't and Otherday,5 who belonged to the same mission, traced Inkpadoota to the James river and ransomed Miss Gardner. About the month of July, Inkpadoota's son, who had murdered Mrs. Nobles, pitched his camp on the Yellow Medicine. Agent Flandrau was apprised of the fact, and with a detachment of troops from Ft. Ridgely surrounded the unsuspecting criminal who was shot in his endeavor to escape. Maj. Sherman came up with a battery, and the whole command pitched camp. Near by, several hundred THE TERRITORY. Yanktons had also encamped with their friends of the Up- per Agency. The government insisted that the annuity^ Indians should pursue and punish Inkpadoota on pain of losing their pay- ments. This they did reluctantly, as many had sympathy for the marauder. Bad feeling -was engendered, and it was increased by trouble that arose on account of a young brave having deliberately stabbed one of the sol- diers in Sherman's camp. The Indians struck their tents, and their heated councils foreboded an outbreak. Peace, however, was secured for the time being; but their passions smouldered on, ready to be fanned into flame by the least breath of discord ; and the contempt they learned to feel for the soldiers was a source of misfortune to the whites in after days. The Enabling Act. — On the 26th of February, 1857, the United States Senate passed an act enabling the people of Minnesota to form a state constitution previous to its ad- mission into the Union. By this act, the boundaries of the State were defined as at jDresent, and it granted lands for the support of schools and the erec- tion of public buildings. Gov. Medary. — By another act of the same session,alternate sections of land were granted for the construction of rail- roads within the State. To ap- qqv. medabt. portion this grant, and to consider matters relative to the new change of government, Gov. Gorman called an extra 130 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. session of the legislature; but before it convened, April 27th, he was superseded by Samuel Medary, an appointee of President Buchanan. Constitutional Conyentions. — On the first Monday of June, delegates were elected to the constitutional con- vention on the basis of two for each representative in the territorial legislature. According to a further provision of the enabling act, this convention was to meet on the second Monday of July. No hour was specified ; so both the Re- publican and Democratic wings assembled in the Capitol .at midnight. As a leader of the former, J. W. North en- 'deavored to call the convention to order, while the secre- itary of the Territory, Charles L. Chase, at the same mo- ment tried to do likewise in the interests of the latter. The Democrats finally withdrew, and organized a separate con- vention. Both carried on their deliberations in the Capitol for weeks, and at last, so courteous it is said had been the spirit prevailing throughout, they agreed on the adoption of the same constitution August 29th. It was ratified Oc- tober 13th by an almost unanimous vote of the people. The old territorial officers held over until the formal admission of the State. Act of Admission. — In January, 1S5S, the final bill for the admission of Minnesota was submitted to the United States Senate, but was retarded in its passage by Southern leaders. Nevertheless, it was successfully carried April 7th, and was signed by the President on the nth of May. Thus the deed was done, and Minnesota entered a new and bright star in the galaxy. ILLUSTRATED m RY "n m I. SIBLEY'S ADMINISTRATION. Gov. Sibley. — Hemy fl, Sibley was bora of New Eng- land parentage at Detroit, Michigan, February 20th, 181 1. At the age of eighteen he was a clerk at Mackinaw in the service of the American Fur Company, and about five years later became its resident agent at Mendota, Minne- sota, holding the position until the proposed organization 131 132 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. of the Tenitory called him to Congress as a delegate of Wisconshi Territory. In the constitutional convention he presided over the Democratic wing, and in 185S M^as declared governor of the State. His career as a delegate and mili- tary commander are recorded elsewhere in the course of this history. In later years he has been honorably identified with the regency of the University. The New Era.— The be- ginning of the period upon which we are about to enter was a critical time in the affairs GOV. SIBLEY. of Minnesota, and demanded a firm hand and thoughtful mind to guide well the ship of state. The panici of 1S57 had caused great stringency in the money markets of the United States, so that it became no easy task to negotiate loans for a new and struggling commonwealth whose future commercial status none could with certainty jDredict. Unscrupulous capitalists, through the short-sighted lib- erality of the last territorial legislature, had secured all of the four million five hundred thousand acres of land grant- ed by Congress to aid in the construction of railroads. The inability of these capitalists to carry out their promises was soon proved ; but the people through their representatives again listened to specious pleas. In the legislature of 1858, the first in the history of the State, the public credit was pledged to the amount of five million dollars to further subsidize the delinquent railroad THE STATE. 33 companies. As adopted, the Constitution forbade the loan of the State's credit in behalf of individuals or corporation*; but by an amendment ratified by the people April 15th, this section was practically expunged. Thus no legal bar- rier prevented the negotiation of the five-million loan. Issuing the Bonds. — -The governor having refused to issue the pledged railroad bonds was compelled to do so by a mandamus of the Supreme Court, Judge Flandrau dis- senting. This was in November, 1S58. More than two million dollars worth were thrown upon a dull market, and even then the projected lines of transportation were but traceries on paper. Normal Schools. — While the legislatui-e and people were thus apparently absorbed in material affairs, they were not unmindful that the social advancement of a great commonwealth must be established on a thorough system of popular education ;- and they stood ready, to the extent in which they foresaw the need, to found and cherish any auxiliary institution of such a system. It must be owned that normal schools were not then in high repute. Yet an act was passed August 2d looking forward to the estalish- ment of three schools of that kind. These in due time v^erc located at Winona, Mankato, and St. Cloud, those towns having met the requirements of the act by each donating five thousand dollars in monev and lands to the institution It sought to secure. International Transit. — To palliate the Impetuous spirit of the people shown in the bestowal of the State's newly acquired domain and the loan of its credit, and to be fully impressed by the great advancement in facilities of travel and transportation made during the first quarter cen- tury of this period, one must understand that at this time THE NIGHT OAMP. READY TO STAUT FBOM ST. PAUL. HOMEWARD BOUND, THE STATE. 135 the stao-e coach was the only passenger vehicle and the heavy w^agon the only means of carrying freight to interior districts. An overland route betv^een St. Paul and Breckenridge ort the Red River — I of the North,, was opened in From the latter place a steamer conveyed mer- chandise to the distant territory of the Hudson Bay Company, whose fur traf- fic was also car- ried on by this few^f»-S^#tSj^«i^!iia^^K BED BIVEB OABTS AT ST. PAUL. BESTING ON THE PBAIBIE. 136 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. route. But even before this could be accomplished the machinery for the steamer had to be slowly carried by team from the Mississi^^pi to the Red River. On the journey, the tcanisters were obliged to spend many weary nights encamped in the deep snows of the western plains. This, too, was scarcely beyond the days of the dog train,i and Red River cart trains'^ that were wont to go lumbering along the ever famous trail to the noi'thward whose hollows, deep-worn by the footsteps of a past generation, can still be traced through the under-bush of many a forest and ■over the sward of many a prairie. II.— RAMSEY'S ADMINISTRATION. Gov. Ramsey. — Alexander Ramsey was born near Har- xisburg, Pennsylvania, September Sth, 1815. He secured an academic education at La- fayette College, pursued a course of law at Carlisle, and was admitted to practice at the bar of Dauphin county. Besides holding minor offi- cial positions in his native state, he served it as United States Representative in the zSth and 29th Congresses. President Taylor, as we have seen, ap- pointed him first governor of INIinncsota Territory, and the GOV. RAMSEY. f ^n elcctiou of I S59 made him Sibley's successor. vSince his governorship of the State, he has represented it twelve years in the United States Senate. THE STATE. I 37 In the administration of President Hayes, he filled the va- cancy made by the resignation of McCrary, secretary of Ramsey's Inaugural. — In his inaugural addr'ess, Gov, Ramsey urged the legislature to provide some plan for set- tling the outstanding ^-ailroad bonds, lest in future years the holders should clamor ceaselessly at the doors of the leg- islature for payment in full, and if not granted raise a cry of repudiation which would be destructive to the State's •credit. It was a possibility whose realization proved to be not far distant. The State University. — This same legislature of 1S60, the second in the history of the State, repealed the old act establishing the Territorial University, and on the basis of a new land grant from Congress, founded the State Uni- versity of to-day. Third Legislature. — This legislature convened in Jan- uary and adjourned in March, 1861. Its most important acts related to the school system of the State. Among these were laws to regulate the sale of public school lands,! of which there were tv>'o sections in each township exclusively devoted to the support of the lower or common schools besides the sjDCcial grants made in favor of higher education. A bill was passed creating the separate office of Super- intendent of Public Instruction, a position previously held ex-officio by the Chancellor of the University. The Rebellion.^ — In the presidential election of 1S60, the majority of the votes cast were for Lincoln; and now that Sumter had fallen, and the other states of the North were making speedy preparation for the conflict, Minnesota led the vani in the greatest and most heroic struggle of modern 138 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. times. Hei" brave frontier settlers whose forms wei'e knit by toil and hardship, and whose eyes were sharp and hands, quick in the use of the rifle, without hesitation left their peaceful homes already enveloped in the shadow of an ap- proaching calamity, and hastened to the defense of the na- tional capital. Gov. Ramsey was then in Washington, and offered President Lincoln the immediate assistance of a regiment. The offer was accepted; the message flew on the lightning's swift wings to Minnesota's loyal capital; the lieutenant governor at once issued a proclamation calling" for troops, and on the 21st of June, the ist Regiment fully organized and ecpiipped started for the seat of war under the command of Col. W. A. Gorman, and became a potent factor in the great army then assembling on the banks of the Potomac. Military Record of 1861. — The ist Regiment having^ gone into winter quarters at Alexandria,! Virginia, was subsequently joined to Franklin's brigade, which in turn, formed part of Heintzelman's division. The first memor- able campaign of Bull Run crowned this gallant regiment with laurels. Beyond Sudley Church, near Centerville, ia supporting Rickett's battery, they were exposed to a galling fire of infantry and artillery while themselves engaging a portion of the enemy in a hand to hand conflict — never flmching, said their commanding officer, but retiring in, good order after a loss of one-fifth of their number. Re- cruited at Washington, they were joined to a brigade com- manded by Gorman, now raised to the rank of brigadier- general, and formed a part of Stone's division, which was. posted on the upper Potomac. Col. N. J. T. Dana super- seded Gorman in the immediate command of the regiment* THE STATE. 1 39 It rendered efficient service in the vicinity of Edward's Ferry at the time of the battle at Ball's Bluff. Meanwhile, the 2d Regiment had been organized under the command of Col. H. P. Van Cleve and ordered in Oc- tober to proceed to Louisville, to be united with the Army of the Ohio. The same month, a company of sharp-shooters, under Capt. F. Petelfer, entered the 2d Regiment of that branch of the regular United States service, but was after- ward attached to the 1st Minnesota, with which it remained until both were mustered out. The 3d Regiment was mustered in about November and moved south to Tennessee under the command of Col. Henry C. Lester. Besides these troops, a company of light artillery, known as the 1st Battery, proceeded to St. Louis, and three com- panies of cavalry were raised and united to the 5th Iowa. These companies were commonly designated as Brackett's Cavalry. Military Record of 1862. — In the spring of 1862, the ist Regiment moved from its winter quarters to Harper's Ferry, and crossing the Potomac joined Sedgwick's divis- ion. Shortly after. Col. Alfred Sully superseded Dana, who had been promoted. From Winchester, the i^egiment was called to join the army centering at Fortress Monroe, and afterward took part in the siege of Yorktown and distinguished itself in the fierce contests at Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, and Savage Station. By order of Gen. McClellan, the 2d. Company of Minnesota Sharpshooters were permanently incorporated with the regiment at Fair Oaks. When the base of operations was again changed to the Potomac, the i^egiment played an important part at Malvern Hill, Antietam, and Fredricksburg. 140 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. The 2d Regiment in the month of January gallantly op- posed the enemy at close quarters in the desperate encoun- ter at Mill Spring, in April was at the siege of Corinth, and finally, transferred to the Army of the Tennesee, engaged in the battle of Perryville. The 1st Battery, fighting persistently, aided in turning the tide of battle at Shiloh, and later was at both the April and October battles of Corinth. The 4th and 5th Regiments, now reported at the seat of war, also won honorable distinction at these conflicts of Corinth and the intermediate one of luka. Col. John B. Sanborn commanded the 4th and Col. Lucius F. Hubbard the 5th. The year's history of the 2d Battery Avas the same as that of the 2d Regiment as above recorded. The 3d Regiment surrendered at Murfreesboro through the timidity of its commander or his lack of judgment, and after parole was sent home to serve in the v^^ar with the Sioux. The Sioux Massacre. — It is not necessary to inform an intelligent Anglo-American as to the original character of that race of aborigines which has ever receded be- fore the westw^ard maixh of civilization; much less is it essential to dwell long on the changes it has undergone in the lapse of centuries; for, from childhood, he has heard of its good and evil traits and often beheld them with his own eyes. Nevertheless, for our present purpose, it is fitting to glance briefly at changes which took place in the life of the Sioux after the settlement of Minnesota. We have considered from the advent of the voyageurs a growing dependence upon traders and a corresponding neglect of the chase ; have noticed their transfer of broad territory to the THE STATE. I4I national government and their confinement within the nar- row limits of two reservations. These two facts give us the key to their subsequent history. Heartless traders, and no less fraudulent government agents, by presenting exorbitant and fictitious claims, de- prived them of their annuities; avaricious settlers, not sat- isfied with the fertile acres they already tilled, encroached on the reserves; and to crown all, after an unsuccessful hunt in the winter of 1861-62, gaunt famine and the Sioux stood face to face through many a bleak and weary day. No wonder they looked back with longing hearts to the plenteous days of the English and Frehch alliances. If spring in any measure appeased their hunger it did not al- lay their passions, and when June came and the annuities which should have then been paid were not forthcoming, these passions waxed stronger and stronger. The traders refused them further credit. Even government officials taunted them in a cruel manner when they sought aid or redress. The Indians of the Lower Agency organized the " Sol- dier's Lodge,"! or council of young warriors. They w^ere ripe for conflict. " Have we not been forbidden to fight with our enemies the Ojibwas ? Have we not been robbed of our money and depi-ived of our lands ? Is there not a great war in the south that takes the Great Father's strength ? Have not all the young men gone to fight and left the old men and boys at home ? Did not Inkpadoota escape, and shall not we ? Will not the English help us? See the small garrisons at Ridgely and Abercrombie !" With these and other arguments the Soldier's Lodge urged the tribes to take the war path. The golden harvest had just fallen before the settler's 142 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. sturdy stroke, and he was about to gather in its bounteous sheaves, when another reaper stood suddenly beside the THE settler's FATE. cabin door "with his sicl<;le keen," and the harvest that fell before his withering stroke was the happiness and hopes THE STATE. I43 of years, the purity of womanhood, the innocence of child- hood, and Hfe itself. Early in August, a party of warriors belonging to Shako- pee's band, whose village was situated on Rice Creek about seven miles from the falls2 at the Redwood, started on a fora}' or hunt in the Big Woods. 3 They were ac- companied by four warriors of the Lower Agency. The latter having gotten into an altercation with the former over some trivial matter, the two parties separated, each eager for an opportvmity to refute the taunting statement of the other that they were cowards. The four Agency Indians proceeded to the tavern of Robinson Jones, at Acton^^ near the present town of Litch- field. He refused their demand for liquor, and accused them of keeping a gun previously borrowed from him. They next went to the house of Howard Baker.5 Jones and his wife followed them, and the quarrel was renewed. Exasperated by this treatment, the taunts of the Rice Creek Indians still ringing in their ears, they lost all control and shot Jones and his wife, Mr. Baker, and Mr. Webster a newly arrived settler. Then, returning to Jones's house, they completed their bloody work by killing Miss Clara D. Wilson. After their passion had somewhat cooled, they were ter- rified by thoughts of retribution, and fled to the home of Little Crow two miles above the Lower Agency. Here a council was held, and the Indians resolved to stand by the culprits. Little Crow, while not unmindful of the perils which might result to himself and people from such a course, nevertheless, determined to lead them on the war path. This was the 17th of August. The following morning, swift and sudden as a whirlwind, they fell upon 144 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the Lower Agency, and with hands unstaid by thoughts of mercy, massacred the traders and government employes, plundered the stores, and applied the torch to the dwell- ings, warehouses, and mission. Before noon, news of the outbreak had reached Fort AOTON MONUMENT. Ridgely, a post situated on a commanding position fourteen miles below on the opposite side of the Minnesota. Capt. Marsh, with forty-eight men of the garrison, immediately started for the scene of slaughter, and, with a bravery that THE STATE. I45 could not be intimidated by the stories of the fugitives whom he met by the way, pushed resolutely forward. He fell into an ambuscade at the Redwood ferry ojDposite the Agency. Half of his party were killed, and he himself lost his life by drowning in attempting to retreat across the stream. Meanwhile, Little Crow had sent messengers to apprise all the bands of the beginning of hostilities, and the whole country on both sides of the Minnesota from the Big Cot- tonwood to the Yellow Medicine, especially in the vicinity of Beaver and Sacred Heart creeks, was the field of count- less scenes of murder and devastation. And when the shades of night had fallen, the horrible work still wen t on. For countless miles, the prairies and fringing forests of the river were lit up by lurid flames of burning habitations, now the funeral pyres of once hapjDy families. The flow- ers and grasses of the prairie were everywhere steeped in the blood of the dying and the dead, and every thicket shrouded a ghastly horror. In vain did the friendly Other-day strive to persuade the Yanktons, Sissetons, and Wahpetons of the Upper Agency to shun the war path, but with daring bravery led a party of sixty men, women, and children from their midst to the safety of the settlements. Among those vs^ho escaped from the vicinity of the Upper A^gency^ were the missionaries Riggs and Williamson with their families. Little Crow and his exultant warriors then moved to at- tack Ft. Ridgely. But some trouble, it is said, having arisen among them, the chief and only part of the band secreted^ themselves near the fort. The delay caused by this dispute gave an opportunity for a relief party under Agent Galbraith to enter the post. 146 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. In the meantime, the other faction of the band attacked New Uhii with terrible effect, and it was only saved from utter destruction by the advent of the vanguard of a relief party from St. Peter. The squad was commanded by Sheriff Boardman. At nine o'clock in the evening, the main body a hun- dred strong, led by Judge Charles E. Flandrau, safely entered the be- sieged town. The day following this their number was doubled by volun- teers from Man- kato and Le Sueur. The Indians, who h a d withdrawn, returned to Little Crow. The forces thus reunited sud- denly attacked the fort on the after- noon of Wednes- da}^ The two suc- ceeding days they made furious on- set, but all their attempts to dislodge its gallant Inmates were fruitless. Like the waves of an angry flood they swept down the valley, and once more laid siege to New Ulm. Its defend- ers themselves applied the torch to the outlying buildings OTHEB-DAY. THE STATE. I47 that they might not shelter their fierce enemies, and with a courage born of desperation rejDclled every savage attack. While these events Avere passing, other warriors rode swiftly and far on their bloody forays. Near Forest City, the wild war-whoop of the savage and the despairing wail of his victim rang out together in the clearings ; and by the shores of far off Shetek, the chiefs Lean Bear, White Lodge, and Sleepy Eyes' laid waste the settlement, and the names of many of its inhabitants were added to the still lengthening roll of the dead. So closed a week of terror. More than eight hundred settlers were lying mutilated and dead, and others were suffering the horrors of a cruel captivity. Thousands of crazed fugitives were fleeing for safetv, and for hundreds of miles the frontier was a scene of desolation where once had reigned peace and j^rosperity. When news of the outbreak reached St. Paul, Gov. Ramsey immediately appealed to the national government and the neighboring states for assistance. Private property was appropriated to the use of the hard-pressed State, and a hastily equipped force of 1400 men, including four com- jDanies of the 6th Minnesota temporarily stationed at Ft. Snelling, was soon under way to the seat of conflict. Col. H. H. SibleyS commanding. After some delay at St. Peter, Col. Sibley reached Ft. Ridgely and threw up strong entrenchments. From this point manj- of the citi- zens returned to their homes; but shortly, Lieut, Col. W. R. Marshall with a portion of the 7th Regiment joined the command. The Indians, according to the report of the scouts, had retired with their families above the Yellow Medicine. ■X^^^-f^^^^S^**^* SCE^E& AT FT. KIDGELi. WITHIN THE QUADRANGLE. THE INDIANS' KAVINE. U8 THE STATE. 149 But hearing that New Uhn was now deserted, and hoping to find plunder there and successful conquests in the settle- ments farther d6^vn the valley, a large war party once more began the descent of the Minnesota. At this stage of affairs, Maj. J. R. Brown with a mixed detachment of mounted men and infantry, about one hun- dred fifty in all, marched to the Lower Agency, and buri- ed those who had been killed both there and in the neigh- boring country. At evening, Sunday, August 31st, they pitched camp on a level, low-lying summit near where Birch Coolie debouches into the Minnesota opposite the Agency. Here it was that the descending warriors fell upon the unsuspecting camp in the gray of early dawn. Twenty of the detachment of soldiers were killed, sixty wounded, and ninety of their horses slaughtered by the deadly rain of lead pouring ceaselessly down upon them, from a higher eminence. For thirty-one hours, without food or water, these heroic troops, lying behind the dead animals and the low mounds which they had thrown up with their knives and bayonets, kept their savage foes at bay. The sound of the musketry^ was heard at the fort four- teen miles away, and a detachment of fifty cavalry under Col. Sam. AicPhaill, over a hundred infantry under Maj. McLaren, and a howitzer in charge of Capt. Mark Hen- dricks hastened to the relief. They engaged the enemy three miles from the coolie. The muffled voice of the howitzer, long continued, soon gave to the silent but anxious inquiries at the fort answer of an ineffectual attack. At sunset, a messenger confirmed it, and Col. Sibley with the remainder of the garrison hastened forward in the uncer- tain darkness of the night. The following morning, with I50 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. a storm of shot and shell, the foe were driven from the be- sieged camp and over the river. The dead were buried, and the wounded carried back to the fort. September 3d, Ft. Abercombie, which had been for some days in a state of siege, w^as again vigorouly assaulted. The same day, a body of citizens, on the way to defend Forest City, accidentally fell in with a large war party on the slopes near Long Lake tw^o miles from the Baker homestead at Ac- ton. Little Crow led the Indians, and Capt. Strout the whites. A severe but brief battle ensued, and ■"^ trout's forces carrying twenty - three wounded fled before the hotly pur- suing Sioux to Hutchin- son. The people of that LiiTLE CROW, town were gathered in a strongly fortified stockade in the public square, and having been partially beleaguered befoi-e this, they were upon the alert. Ninety able bodied, courageous men, officered by W. W. Pendergast, Lewis Harrington, Andrew Hopper and Oliver Pierce, made a sortie from four sides and held the new assailants successfully at bay. As soon as supplies were obtained for the cam^^aign, Sibley's troops once more moved forward in force, and the 33d of September encountered the enemy on the high prairies near Wood Lake, not far from the Upper Agency at the ford of the Yellow Medicine. The conflict was des- perate. The Sioux were badly defeated, their hopes van- FOBU OF THE YELLOW MEDICINE. BUINED WABEHOUSE. UPPEH AGENCY HOUSE. 151 152 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. ished in the smoke of battle, and the more savage of their number fled with Little Crow toward the British Posses- sions, leaving the rest in camp with one hundred fifty white captives. The troops encamped at the site of the Hazlewood Mis- sion, and Col. Sibley treated with the friendly Indians to secure the freedom of the captives. This was accomplished at a place to this day called Camp Release in commemora- tion of the event. It was situated, as old rifle pits still show, at the mouth of the Chip23ewa in the jDresent county of Lac qui Parle. Several hostile warriors were found lurking in the camp, expecting clemency or hoping to avoid detection of their crimes. To these were added many at first thought to be innocent, and others belonging to small bands pur- sued and captured by the soldiers. All were tried before a military commission, and over three hundred condemned to death. President Lincoln forbade the carrying out of the sentence save in the case of thirty-eight, who were hung at Mankato on the 26th of December.io Thus closed one of the most mournful pages of Indian history. Who that did not see shall fitly depict the sufferings of those August and September days, the fortitude of mothers bereft of their children, the self sacri- fice of kindred for kindred, and the heroic courage of citi- zen and soldier in desperate siege and on weary marches by night and day ? Alas for Minnesota ! The Star of the North, which had so lately and proudly arisen, suddenly waned and lingered wavering on the clouded horizon of future events. THE STATE. 153 III.— RAMSEY-SWIFT ADMINISTRATION. Ramsey's Re-election. — In the fall of 1S63, Gov. Ramsey was re-elected, but the fifth state legislature before whom he delivered his annual address January 7th, 1863, conferred upon him the United States senatorship pre- viously held by H. M. Rice. Gov. Swift. — When Gov. Ramsey took his seat in the Senate, Lieut-Gov. Henry A. Swift became the chief executive. He was born at Ravenna, Ohio, March 23d, 1823, and in due time gradu- ated from the Western Re- servel College. He afterward studied law in his native town, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. A few years later, he settled in St. Paul, but finally removed to St. Peter. Between the years 1S61 and 1S65 he served with honor in the State Senate. His death occurred February 26th, 1S69, but his memory lives as that of a noble ^Qy swift. man and ofiicer faithful to the trusts of his fellow citizens. Sully-Sibley Campaign. — In the summer of 1863, Gen. Sully commanding a large force of cavalry moved up the Missouri river, while Gen. Sibley with a regiment of cavalry, three of infantry, and two batteries of light artillery ascended the Minnesota. Both commands w^ere to meet at Minne Wakan,! or Devil's Lake, in North Da- kota; but it was hoped that the savage bands of Sioux who had the j^revious season fled to the northwest might 154 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. be encountered and severely punished, thus preventing their return to the settlements. Sibley having learned of the whereabouts of the In- dians, left part of his troops in a fortified camp on the Sheyenne, and with the rest continued the pursuit. Sev- eral brisk engagements ensued near the Missouri Cotcaus, and the tribes, broken spirited by loss of lives and plunder, sought safety beyond the Missouri. Yet, at this very time small marauding parties had stealthily slipped through the lines of frontier fortifications, and were preying upon the sparse settlements of Minnesota. The famous Little Crow, who had thus ventured back, was shot by a young settler named Chauncy Lampson2 near one of the Scat- tered Lakes in the Big woods six miles from Hutchinson. Military Record of 1863. — The Minnesota regiments won marked distinction during this year. The 4th de- parted from Memphis on the ist of March, and after a series of movements by way of Yazoo Pass, Grand Gulf, and Port Gibson, took part in the battle of Raymond, the loth of May, and four days later, in that of Jackson. On the 1 6th, it captured one hundred aud eighteen prisoners at the battle of Champion Hill, and on the 2 2d, having taken position in the rear of Vicksburg, Lieut.-Col. Tourtellotte commanding, it gallantly assisted in the assault which Gen. Grant had ordered should that day be made upon the enemy's works. The 5th Regiment, attached to the 15th Corps under Sherman, participated in several important movements of the campaign of Vicksburg and its culminating siege. In particular, it was active in the engagements at Jackson and the assault of May 22d. The ist Reo-iment was at the second battle of Fredricks- THE STATE. 155 burg, May 3d, and later hastened from Falmouth, Vir- ginia, to take part in the great conflict at Gettysburg, Penn- sylvania. Hancock's corps formed a curved line of battle from Cemetery Hill to Sugar Loaf Mountain, and this regiment w^as attached to Gibbon's division which held the very centre of the line. In the terrible onsets of July 2d and 3d, bravest among the brave were these Min- nesotians, and many a mound on that consecrated field to-day tells the mute but eloquent story of their heroic deeds. Less than a hundred remained unscathed out of about three hundred thirty privates and ofiicers who in re- sponse to Hancock's despairing order threw themselves in a Balaklava-like charge against the whole force of Long- street's army. And yet, in the month of October, this shat- tered host was again in the forefront at Bristow Station, Virginia. The 2d Regiment, commanded by Col. George, on the 19th of September, rendered active service at Chica- mauga, and, November 25th, helped to storm the enemy's works on the crest of Mission Ridge. In November, the 3d Regiment was ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas. But not alone in the South did the Minnesota troops show their fidelity and gain renown. This year the Inde- pendent Battalion of Cavah-y was stationed at Pembina; the 8th mfantry w^as also in garrison on the frontier; the 6th, 7th, 9th, and loth infantr}', the 3d Battery, and the Mountain Rangers were with Sibley on the Indian expe- dition, and fought in the battles of Big Alound, Dead Buf- falo Lake, Stony Lake aud the Missouri, the 24th, 26th, 28th, and 29th of July. In October, the 7th and loth were ordered to St. Louis. 156 HISTOY OF MINNESOTA. IV.— MILLER'S ADMINISTRATION. ^i^5^ ^-g>^> OT^gyj^ Got. Miller. — Stephen Miller was chosen governor In the fall of 1S63, and was inaugurated January nth of the following year. He was born at Perry, Cumberland county, Pa., January yth, 1816. At one time he served as clerk of courts for Dauphin county, at another, was flour nispector of Philadelphia. In 1S5S, he made Minnesota his future home. During the re- bellion, he served first as lieu- tenant-colonel of the 7th. For meritorious conduct in battle, he was commissioned brigadier- general, the 26th of October, 1863. This brave old soldier and loyal governor, in whose GOV. MiLLEE. ^^^^ wcrc souic dark pages of misfortune, passed away from earth at Worthington, Nobles county, August iSth, 1S81. Military Record of 1864. — Eaily in this year, the war-scarred veterans of the regiments and batteries that had enlisted in tlie beginning of the struggle came home for a furlough, most of them having re-enlisted. The 1st Battery and the 2d, 3d, and 4th Regiments were veteranized in January, and the 5th Regiment in July. Two new regiments were organized this year, the 2d Cavalry in January and the nth Infantry in August. In January, the 5th Regiment took part in the disas- trous Red River expedition led by Gen. Banks, and fought at Ft. DeRussy in the movement against Shreveport. !»6axa>ia^»2J»a»i:>fc>M»^:>Mv^>i!>^^^ THE STATE. I57 The 3d Regiment, moving southward from Little Rock with Gen. Steele's army to co-operate with Banks on the Red River, engaged March 30th in the battle of Fitz- hugh's Woods near Augusta. The next month it was ordered to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The Independent Cavalry was ordered in May to Ft. Abercrombie, Dakota, and remained in garrison there throughout the year. The gallant ist Regiment was mustered out in May, the remnant of what it had once been. Most of its survivors were formed into a body called the Infantry Battalion, and again joined the Army of the Potomac to add to their roll of honor such names as Petersburg, Plank Road, Deep Bottom, Ream's Station, and Hatcher's Run. The 6th Regiment, which had been ordered south to Helena, Arkansas, after the close of the Indian campaigns of 1863, was incorporated in June with the i6th Army Corps. The 7th, c)th, and loth Regiments were likewise at this time assigned to the same body. The 5th Regiment, commanded by Maj. Becht and be- longing to Hubbard's brigade, contended with the forces of Gen. Marmaduke at Lake Chicot, Arkansas. Parts of the 5th, yth, 9th, and loth Regiments, in the command of Gen. A. J. Smith, helped to defeat Forest at the battle of Tupelo, Mississippi, July 13th. After this, they fought at Tallahatchie, and pursued the retreating rebels under Price. Both the 2d Regiment and ist Battery were engaged in battles of the Atlanta campaign; the former at Resaca, June 14th, 15th, and 1 6th, and Kenesaw Mountain, June 27th ; the latter at Kenesaw Mountain, and at Atlanta July 22d. 15S HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. In the North, the 2d Cavahy, Brackett's Cavahy, the 3d l^attery, and 8th Regiment were with the Sully expe- dition in pursuit of the hostile Sioux. They participated in a fierce engagement with the enemy in the Bad Lands, Dakota, and took part in some skirmishing before the pur- suit was abandoned at the Yellowstone. It had been Sul- ly's purpose to proceed to Devil's Lake, where he had sought to make a junction with Sibley's troops the jDrevi- ous year; but it was reported that no enemy remained in that quarter. Moreover, his horses were jaded by the toil- some and fruitless expedition just ended. These reasons impelled him to break camp at Ft. Union, Montana, and order the return march. From the date of its organization to the end of the year, the nth Regiment was engaged in guarding railroads. After a series of movements through Missouri, the 5th Regiment was ordered to Nashville in September. In October, the 3d Regiment was ordered to Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas, where it remained until the close of the war. The 4th Regiment formed a portion of Gen. Corse's troops that routed the enemy under Gen. French in the severe contest of Altoona, October 15th. December 7th, the 8th Regiment in Gen. Milroy's com- mand, shared in the victory of the Cedars near Murfrees- boro. In the memorable contest of Nashville, December 15th and 1 6th, between the armies of Thomas and Plood, the 2d Battery and all the regiments previouslv at Tupelo were again actively' engaged. Cols. Hubbard and Marshall, both commanding brigades, rendered such distinguished service in the great assault on the last day of the conflict THE STATE. '5^ that each was honored with the rank of brigadier-general. The 1st Battery and the 2d and 4th Regiments accom- panied Sherman on his march to the sea. Military Record of 1865. — In the months of March and April, the regiments mentioned as present at the bat- tle of Nashville were active in the siege of Mobile, notably in the attacks on Spanish Fort and Blakely. In January, the 8th Regiment with the rest of Scho- field's command, hitherto with Thomas in the West, was ordered by Gen. Grant to report at Wilmington and New Berne, North Carolina, and from thence to co-operate with Sherman at Goldsboro. Northward from Savannah with Sherman endeavoring to unite with Grant against Lee, strong and courageous came the Minnesota troops who had marched from Atlanta to the sea; and when Johnston surrendered April 26th, they went to Washington to fill an honored place in the line of the last grand review. The Infantry Batallion, too, the heroes in the first bat- tles for national unity, were fittingly present in that last great struggle with the Army of North Virginia which ended with Lee's surrender at Appomatox. The days of civil strife, so full of mournful and heroic deeds, were now at an end, and the tattered, war-stained baimers of the Minnesota troops ^vere furled forever. Twenty-five thousand and fifty-two, all told, they had numbered with their faces turned toward the foe. A few came home with bronzed cheeks and rugged frames ; some crippled and scarred; many weary and sick; while thou- sands slept in the quiet cemeteries of the State where loving hands had borne them, or perchance still on the desolate fields of conflict, far in the South, where to this day no eye i6o HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. has marked their place of rest, save the compassionate eye of the Father whose cause they fought in redeeming the brotherhood of man. Material Progress. — This administration, Hke the two preceding it, was not marked in the material advancement of the Commonwealth; it was rather a time of retrogression, the great massacre at home and the prolonged struggle in the South having depleted the State of men and means and brought on other disastrous results which only the patient labor of years could heal. v.— MARSHALL'S 1st ADMINISTRATION. Gov. Marshall. — William Ralney Marshall, the fifth governor of Minnesota, was born October 17th, 1825, in Boone county, Missouri. His early ancestors were Scotch- Irish Presbyterians who settled near Carlisle Pennsylvania. The family moved to Bourbon county, Kentucky, soon after the Revolution. His grand- fathers both served in the War for Independence, and his fa- ther In that of 18 1 2. The fam- ily removed to Quincy, Illinois, in 1830, where W. R. received GOV. MARSHALL. ^ common school education. At the age of sixteen, Marshall went to the Galena lead mines with his brother, and having acquired some capital there, settled In the St. Croix valley, Minnesota, in 1847. yy]fl^3i:^*^9^ THE STATE. l6l He was elected to the first Wisconsin state legislature, but on account of trouble arising from a change of boundaries, was not allowed to take his seat. Two years later, he went to St. Anthony Falls, and started the first store in what is now Minneapolis. While engaged as a surveyor, he plat- ted St. Anthony and part of the west side, the Minneapolis of that day. For more than ten years subsequent to 1851, he was successively engaged at St. Paul in mercan- tile affairs, banking, and newspaper publishing. When President Lincoln called for 600,000 more volun- teers in 1S62, Marshall enlisted and immediately began active service in the Sioux campaigns, after which he was ordered to the South. His record was brilliant, and promo- tion rapid until he ranked as a brevet brigadier-general. In September, 1S65, the Republican state convention nomi- nated him for governor, he being the choice of the soldier element. He was elected by a large majority over his Democratic opponent, H. M. Rice. Administration Notes. — Gov. Marshall in his brief inaugural gave special jorominence to the needs of the educational and charitable institutions of the State. The founding of the First Hospital for the Insane at St. Peter, the erection of buildings for the Institute of the Deaf, Dumb and Blind at Faribault, and for the Normal School at Winona, were secured. Grants of land were obtained from Congress for the Southern Minnesota and the Hastings & Dakota rail- roads. Moreover, the right of the State to five hundred thousand acres of land for internal improvements, which had been overlooked by Marshall's predecessors, was estab- lished through the governor's influence. He was also the first executive after the practical repudiation of the railroad l62 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. debt in iS6i to urge its liquidation, proposing that the above lands should be devoted to that purpose. The recognition of the right of the State to a second grant of two townships of land for the endowment of the University, a right implied in the organic act, was pressed before the departments in Washington. The word " white " in Sec. i. Article VII, which relates to the elective franchise, was stricken from the Constitu- tion November 3d, 1S6S, after having been three times persistently brought forward by the governor somewhat at the peril of his re-election. / VI.— MARSHALL'S 2d ADMINISTRATION. Ke-election. — Marshall was re-elected by an increased majority in 1S67 over Judge Charles E. Flaudreau. Reform School. — By the special recommendation of the governor, the institution previously known as the House of Refuge was taken under the full control of the State and entitled the Minnesota Reform School. Capital Removal. — In 1S69, a bill passed the legisla- ture for the removal of the state capital to Lake Kandiyohi in the county of that name; but it was vetoed on the ground that the new site was not central to population — and probably never would be ; neither had the people been consulted in the matter. The future proved the wisdom of the veto. Northern Pacific Railroad. — In the above year, a con- tract was made with the house of Jay Cook & Co. by virtue of which they became the financial agents of the Northern Pacific Railroad. This gave the comj^any the thirty mil- THE STATE. 163 lion dollars that started the road and formed the basis of its completion. MarshaU'S Last Message. — Gov. Marshall in his last message thus sums up his administrations: — " During that period, the population of the State has almost doubled, its railroads have quadrupled. Its educa- tional funds and facilities have increased manifold. Its noble public charities — the highest mark of our civiliza- tion — have most of them been founded, and all of them advanced to high positions of usefulness. The resources of the State, by the half million acres of internal im- provement lands and other liberal grants for important railroads, have been greatly augmented. I am profoundly grateful to the Providence that connected me with the State government during so interesting and prosperous a period. " I have practiced somewhat the maxim, that 'They are governed best who are governed least.' I am profoundly impressed with the belief, that evil lies in the direction of too much legislation and governing, rather than too little. The fewer, simpler and more stable the laws the better. The less interference the better, with the ever present natural laws that govern individuals and society." VII.— AUSTIN'S 1st ADMINISTRATION. Gov. Austin, — Horace Austin was born October t5th, 183 1, at Canterbury, Connecticut. He received a common school education, after which, for a time, he worked at a trade. He studied law at Augusta, Maine, then, in the year 1854, removed to the West, finally settling at St. 164 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Peter, Minnesota. In 1863, as a captain of cavalry, he took active part in the Sibley campaign on the Msssouri. The following year he became judge of the Sixth Judicial District. In the fall of 1S69, he was elect- ed govenor by about 2,000 ma- jority, and the following Jan- uary assumed the duties of the executive office. Great Civil Topics.— There was much excellent advice to the legislatui-e in Gov. Austin's inaugural. He advocated,among other things, a revision of the uuv. AUSTIN. criminal code,i whose intricacies often led to injustice. Then, too, he thought such residue of swamp lands2 as should exist after present grants were satisfied ought to be expended in founding public school libraries. But we are to look to his message of 1871 for a wise and earnest review of questions agitating the people, many of which became of grave import in the next decade, and some of which still remain as a heritage for future citi- zens. They should for both reasons be carefully noted by the student of civil affairs. He proposed to divide the internal improvement lands among the counties of the State, to be used for such pur- poses in accord with their title as the citizens might elect; or, instead of making the gift direct, to sell the lands at a prescribed price and allow the counties to use the interest on the permanent fund, so created, for such specific works as building bridges and making highways. He advocated the improvement of Duluth harbor, bv THE STATE. 165 the general government, on account of the great future vakie it would have as a shipping port, especially for the products of the State. He asked for suitable legislation to prevent railroads from extorting unjusti tariffs. He regretted excessive special legislation ;. that is, such as provided for individual schemes, the incorporating of villages, and many other things suitably provided for by statute. Such matters retarded and often crowded out more important legislation; for example, appropriation bills were left over to be acted upon in the final days of the session, thus giving the executive no time to fitly weio-h their merits. He recommended that elections of congressional and state officers should be arranged to come in the same year, in order to calm occasionally the political strife that con- stantly vexed the people in the midst of their private affairs. He recommended, further, the calling of a convention ro draft a new constitution in place of the one existino-, which he considered both natively weak and outgrown by the needs of the State. It was wanted, he said,— Tst. " To forbid local or special legislation on many sub- jects—including the creation of corporations and the sale or mortgaging of the real estate of minors. 2d. " To prevent the granting to any corporation, asso- ciation or person, any special or exclusive privilege, im- munity, or franchise. 3d. " To limit local taxation. 4th. « To restrict municipal indebtedness. 5th. " To prevent the incurring of municipal indebted- ness in aid of any railroad or private corporation. l66 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 6th. " To regulate and restrict railways. 7th. " To abolish the grand jury system. 8th. "For many other reasons not herein mentioned." University Lands.— During the year 1870, Congress finally granted the two additional townships of land for the endowment of the University, thus placing it once more on a firm foundation; for the previous grant was long ere this almost entirely spent to pay an indebtedness incurred through early mismanagement. Internal Improvement Lands. — These lands, already spoken about as a gift to the State in Marshall's time, un- der a congressional act of 1S41, had not been appropriated to the support of public schools as in the case of like grants in other states. So the legislature in 187 1, heedless of good advice and precedent given above, apportioned them among several railroad corporations that sought to obtain them. Gov. Austin vetoed the bill. This led to an amendment of the Constitution November 5th, 1S73, by which the leg- islature was restrained from appropriating the proceeds arising from the sale of these lands unless the enactment were first ratified by a majority of the popular electors. Administration Notes. — Nothing else of great moment attracted public attention during this administration, save a steady and rapid growth in the Commonwealth. This was marked ui various ways: railroad construction was pushed with vigor; a great tide of immigration set in; real estate increased rapidly in value ; and everywhere the peo- ple, except certain of the producing classes, seemed content- ed and prosperous. THE STATE. 167 VIII— AUSTIN'S 2d ADMINISTRATION. Re-election. — Gov. Austin was re-elected in 1S71 by a majority of about sixteen thousand, showing the firm posi- tion he had gained in pubHc favor. Biennial Sessions Proposed. — The governor in his annual message of 1S72 made an appeal for biennial ses- sions of the legislature on the ground that the necessity for frequent meetings which arose in the early history of the State, when everything was in a formative condition, no longer existed. Amendments Adopted. — Several amendments of mo- ment were made to the Constitution in 1S73 and 1873. One provided for increasing the public debt to maintain the charitable institutions of the State in a more effective manner. Another prohibited any village, city, or county from granting a bonus beyond ten per cent, of its property val- uation to any railroad asking aid. This valuation was to be determined by the assessment last made before the obli- gation was incurred. An amendment of later years re- duced the per cent, to five. The restriction was much needed ; for there had always been, as now, a tendency on the part of the people to magnify the benefits to be derived from rendering such aid. Perhaps the most important of the list was one prescrib- ing the sale of internal improvement lands at the rate ob- tained for school lands; the investing of the funds so ob- tained in United States and Minnesota bonds ; and, as else- where said, forbidding the appropriation of the funds with- out the consent of the people. l68 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Seeger's Impeachment. — A committee of the House came before the Senate in the legislative session of the spring of 1S73 accusing the state treasurer, William See- ger, of making unlawful use of the public funds. The Senate convened as a court of impeachment and adjourned to meet May 20th. At that time Seeger pleaded guilty, but claimed that he had not acted with corrupt intent. The Senate, however, found him guilty of all the charges, and disqualified him for holding or enjoying any office of honor, profit, or trust within the State. The (grangers. — The farmers had for a long time com- plained bitterly, and with much reason, against the exces- sive tariffs and discriminations of railroad companies in transporting grain and other products; also against buyers because of unjust methods in grading wheat. Soon a cry was raised against cor^^orations in general; this was far less just, and but another version of the larger and ever present controversy between capital and labor. The farmers organized " Granges," or clubs, for the pur- pose of mutual protection. In selling products and pur- chasing farm imj^lements and household supplies, they sought to deal with manufacturers and wholesale merchants without the aid of agents and retailers, who for obvious reasons were called " Middle Men." About this time the movement reached its height, then quickly subsided be- cause of internal dissensions, visionary methods, and the intriguing of politicians. This result was a source of re- gret to many, who thought the " Granges," aside from a possible redress of grievances, deserved to live by reason of their social features. THE STATE. 169 IX.— DAVIS'S ADMINISTRATION. Gov. Dayis. — Cushman K. Davis was born in the town of Henderson, Jefferson county, New York, on the i6th day of June, 1S3S. In August of that year, his parents removed to Waukesha, Wisconsin, where in tlie course of a few years he entered Carrol College. Still later, he entered the senior year of the classical course in the University of Michigan, and graduated in 1857. -^^ then studied law in the Office of Alexander W. Randall, afterwards noted as a governor of Wisconsin and Postmaster General. During the Rebellion, he. served from 1863 to iS6q. as first-lieutenant of Company B, zSth Wisconsin Infantry; then, much impaired gov. davis, in health, he came to St. Paul and took ujd the practice of his piofession. In 1867, he was elected to the state legis- lature, and from 1S68 to 1S73 was United States District Attorney for Minnesota. In the latter year he was elected governor. Railroad Legislation . — Gov Davis thus speaks of the railroad legislation of his time : — " The most important political event of my administra- tion was undoubtedly the culmination of the controversy which had been carried on for some years between the railroad companies and the people, on the question of the legislative power to control the former in the performance of 'H°=" *-" lyo HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. their duties towards the jDubhc, especially in regard to fix- ing rates for transportation. I had long before my election, come to the conclusion that the assumjDtion by the corpor- ations of an inviolable privilege to do as they pleased in these respects was full of danger to the rights of the peo- ple, and that the unity and vigor of action which is always the result of great consolidated financial power, managed by the best executive talent, too often depraved in its use, could be encountei'ed successfully by nothing weaker than the people in their political capacity. Long before these questions became at all political, I had taken advanced ground on the subject, but it was then so much a matter of speculative thought, that I little supposed that within a few years it would fall to my lot as the chief magistrate of the State to recommend and enforce legislative remedies which, when so recently proposed, had becen scouted as the I'hapsodies of a visionary. But great reforms move rapidly, and as the result, perhaps the reward of my posi- tion upon these questions, I received the nomination for governor, and was elected by a majority of about five thousand. ' "At the first session of the legislature during my term, the movement for the redress of these evils took political shape. These evils were exorbitant charges, discrimina- tions against and in favor of localities, an arbitrary liaising of rates, and general defiance by the companies of State control. At the session of 1874, a statute was passed for- bidding these exactions, and asserting the power of the State to its extremest degree. By its provisions the gov- ernor was required to appoint three commissioners, who had the povs^er to fix the rates of the various companies within the State, and severe penalties were denounced THE STATE. 171 against the companies for refusing to comply with them. I appointed as commissioners John A. Randall, A. J. Ed- gerton, and Ex-Gov. W. R. Marshall, who addressed themselves to their difficult task with great Zealand ability, and thoroughly performed it. "The contention of the railroad companies had been that their charters from the State were in the nature of a fran- chise which authorized them to fix the rates and manage their vast properties at their own discretion, and that this franchise was a contract, under the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dartmouth College case,i which could not be impaired by legislation. " But about this time the Suj^reme Court of the United States decided in what were known as the "granger cases."a one of which went up from Minnesota, and was conducted on behalf of the State by Mr. W. P. Clough with great ability, that the functions of railroad corporations were pub- lic and not entirely private in their character — were to a certain extent delegations of the power which all states necessarily exercise in regard to public ways, and that for these reasons the provisions of the Federal Constitution which forbids any state passing any law impairing the ob- ligation of a contract does not apply, and that the power of the states to regulate and control the railroad companies in the respect above indicated, by legislation, is undoubted. "The companies of course were obliged to accept this de- cision, the agitation upon that subject ended, and the result was the establishment of a power controlled by the State which can be so readily aj^plied when necessary that many of the evils which formerly oppressed the people were en- tirely remedied, and the companies were compelled to be cautious and more reasonable in their operations." HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. The Locusts. — For several years the western and south- western portions of the State were afflicted by locusts,! the plague reaching its height in 1875. Gov. Davis speaks of it as follows: — " This visitation became most severe just at the time when the wheat fields were giving the fullest promise of bounte- ous product. The wnole country west of Blue Earth County and south of the Minnesota i^iver was laid waste. The agents of destruction moved in clouds which darkened the sun and descended like rain upon the soil. The growth of thousands of acres would be destroyed in a few hours, and the locusts would then rise and seek new fields. "The regions thus laid waste were inhabited by people who, generally, had no resources except from their crops. Many of them were in debt with their property under mort- gage. The farmer could not pay the country merchant, and the latter could not therefore pay his own creditors. It was not long before the question of subsistence pressed for immediate solution. I was clearly of the opinion that it was of controlling importance to sustain these people and prevent an exodus from the State, which would have drawn back the line of our frontier over a hundred miles and made each member of an exiled population a herald of our af- flictions. I accordingly appealed to the public for aid. In this way thousands of dollars were raised and the money expended through local committees of the afflicted regions. "The devastation was repeated in 1875, but after that year was gradually withdrawn. With the disappearance of these visits confidence revived, and immigration began. There were not wanting those who denounced my action as tending to advertise the disadvantages of the State. These gentlemen were practical expounders of the modern THE STATE. I73 laissezfaire^ doctrine of political economy, which to my mind is in such cases a contradiction of the higher and bet- ter golden rule." Blue Earth county nearly emptied its treasury in behalf of the grasshopper sufferers, by paying a bounty to those who caught the pests. Men, women, and children engaged in the futile attempt of extermination. For this purpose, many devices were used ; the simplest were bags with mouths held open with hoops or triangles attached to han- dles like those of a hoe. Holding the hoop vertically, with its lower side close to the ground, the operator would run for a short distance. The air inflated the bags, and the young grasshoppers, rising from the ground in myriads, were caught within. A quart or two at a time were drop- ped from the untied pointed end of the bag into grain sacks. These when full were taken to the receiving ofH- cers, stationed in the towns, and delivered at a stated price per bushel. The authorities usually had the grasshoppers buried in trenches. In some cases several hundred bushels were buried in one trench. In the next administration. Gov. Pillsbury was very ac- tive in behalf of the farmers. He visited the afflicted com- munities to see for himself what could be done for the peo- ple. The result wis legislative action to issue loans of seed to those in need; besides, the State refunded to the coun- ties in part what they had expended in bounties. Administration Notes. — There were no marked po- litical events during this administration besides railroad leg- islation and the addition of certain amendments to the Con- stitution. The latter planned for the division of the State into judicial districts and the election of judges therefor; investment of funds growing out of the sale of school 174 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. lands; and conferring the elective franchise upon women in the case of school elections. The general financial depression of 1873 affected the material progress of Minnesota. The Northern Pacific was bankrupt, and the Manitoba system was under fore- closure. The locust plague added still more to the mon- etary stringency, and retarded immigration. Surely through much tribulation, if at all, was the Commonwealth destined to assert its greatness. X.— PILLSBURY'S 1st ADMINISTRATION. Gov. Pillsbury. — John S. Pillsbury was born July 29th, 1 828, in the little town of Sutton, New Hampshire. He was educated in the public schools, but when a lad of sixteen entered upon a mercan- tile life. At the early age of twenty-one, he formed a busi- ness partnership with Walter Harrimon who was afterward governor of New Hampshire. In 1865, he removed to St. Anthony, Minnesota, and soon became one of its most active citizens. During nine legisla- tive sessions, he represented Hennepin county in the state senate, and for t^venty years has served as a regent of the University. In 1875, he was elected over Buell by a majority of nearly twelve thousand, and was inaugtirated January 7th, 1876. GOV. PILLSBURY. THE STATE. 1 75 Status of the Railroad Bonds. — The bonds which the people in territorial days had been so anxious to grant, at this time seemed to be irretrievably repudiated; but Gov. Pillsbury took the initiative in the last great struggle made to secure their payment, by apjoealing strongly to the honor of the citizens who desired to pre- serve the good name of the State. Bond Settlement Rejected. — The legislature of 1877 passed a bill looking to the settlement of the railroad bonds by an appropriation of the internal imj^rovement lands for that purpose; but at a special election in June, the people rejected the plan by an overwhelming majority. Constitutional Amendments.— At the two regular fall elections held in this administration, four amendments to the Constitution were adopted. One permitted the gov- ernor to apj^rove or disappi'ove of appropriation bills by items. Another instituted a board, consisting of the sec- retary of state and judges of both the Supreme and Dis- tricts Courts, to canvass the returns in the election of state executive officers. A third in case of disqualification of Supreme Court judges provided for filling their places with those of the District Court. The fourth forbade the use of school funds for the support of sectarian schools. XI.— PILLSBURY'S 2d ADMINISTRATION. Re-election.— Gov. Pillsbury was re-elected in 1S77 by a majority of more than seventeen thousand over Banning. Review of June Election . — The heart of the consci- entious governor was painfully stirred by the action of the people in the preceding June election, yet his confidence in 176 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the honesty of their motives was not shaken as this review of the bond question before the legislature of 1S7S shows: — "The measure proposed for this purpose by the last leg- islature, and submitted to the people in June last, was re- jected, as you are aware, by an overwhelming popular vote. This resulted, I am persuaded, from a prevalent misapprehension respecting the real nature and provisions of the proposed plan of adjustment, I should be sorry, indeed, to be forced to the conviction that the people by this act intended other than their disapproval of the par- ticular plan of settlement submitted to them. For in my opinion no public calamity, no visitation of grasshoppers, no wholesale destruction or insidious pestilence, could pos- sibly inflict so fatal a blow upon our State as the delib- erate repudiation of her solemn obligations. It would be a confession more damaging to the character of a govern- ment of the people than the assault of its worst enemies. With the loss of public honor little could remain worthy of preservation. Assuming, therefore, as I gladly do, that this vote of the people indicated a purpose not to repudiate the debt itself, but simply to condemn the proposed plan for its payment, I should be happy to co-operate in any practicable measure looking to an honorable and final ad- justment of this vexed question." Page's Impeacliment. — The senate organized as a court of impeachment March 6th, 1S78, to try Judge Sher- man Page, of the loth Judicial District., against whom articles had been preferred accusing him of arbitrary and abusive conduct in his treatment of the grand jury and offi- cers of the court. The senate acquitted him at the close of an adjourned session Jvnie 2Sth. THE STATE. I77 XII. PILLSBURY'S 3d ADMINISTRATION. Second Re-election. — During the political campaign of 1S79, ^ lively discussion was aroused relative to the advisa- bility of nominating Governor Pillsbury for a third term. It was thought by many to do so would be to establish a harmful precedent. But so meritorious had his official acts appeared to the peo^^le that he was again re-elected in 1S79, his inajority over Edmund Rice being more than fifteen thousand. First Insane Hospital Burned. — The night of No- vember 15th, iSSo, the First Hospital for the Insane, at St. Peter, was partially destroyed by fire. Twenty-seven pa- tients perished and many others escaped from their keepers. Burning of the Capitol, — On the morning of March 1st, 1 88 1, the Capitol of Minnesota presented to the be- holder's eye nothing but a mass of smouldeing ruins. At nine o'clock the previous evening warning flames shot from roof and dome. The alarm was given, but nothing could be done to save the building Both houses of the legisla- ture wei^e in session, and when all chance of escape through the usual avenues was speedily cut off, intense excitement prevailed among the members. Happily, a few moments before the ceiling of the senate chamber fell, the senators found means of exit through a small window opening from the cloak room into the main stairway. The representa- tives were equally fortunate in escaping a terrible death. The state library and many valuable relics of the His- torical Society were completely destroyed, but the books of the latter were for the most part saved in a damaged condition. 178 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Final Settlement of Bonds. — Selah Chamberlain, in behalf of himself and a majority of the railroad bondhold- ers, offered to make a settlement, taking new bonds of half the face value of the old. The legislature, March 2d, 1881, enacted that a tribunal should decide whether the legrisla- ture alone had power to make a settlement without appeal- ing to the people. Finally, under a provision of the act, the tribunal was composed of district judges; but the Su- preme Court issued a writ restraining them from taking action, and not only decided that the act forming the trib- Tanal was unlawful, but that the constitutional act of i860 which called for a popular ratification of any plan of set- tlement that the legislature might devise was also null and void. In short, the legislature alone had the power of set- tlement in its own hands. Governor Pillsbury called an extra session of the legislature to meet October, 1882, and this vexed question of generations was at last eliminated from the affairs of state by the acceptance of Chamberlain's offer. Cox's Impeachment. — E. St. Julien Cox, during the legislative session of 1S81, was brought before the senate, then sitting as a court of impeachment, the charge of con- duct unbecoming his judicial position having been preferred against him, said conduct resulting from intemperate habits. He was accounted guilty and deposed from his judgeship, Constitutional Changes. — It must have been noticed ere this that many amendments, adopted from time to time, greatly changed the character of the Constitution, and rem- edied some of those evils of which Governor Austin com- plained in his day. This administration saw still further changes. Special legislation was forbidden in eleven par- ticulars. Definite provision was made for levying state and THE STATE. 179 municipal taxes in general, and to joay for public improve- ments of a particular character. Finally, the swamp lands were devoted to the support of the common schools, those of higher learning, and other state institutions. XIII.— HUBBARD'S 1st ADMINISTRATION. Governor Hubbard. — Lucius F. Hubbard w^as born at Troy, New York, January 26th, 1S36. His father, Charles F. Hubbard, sheriff of Rensselaer county, died three years later, and Lucius was given over to the care of an aunt at Chester, Vermont. At the age of twelve he went to Granville, New York, where he attended an academy for three years. He then began an apprenticeship at Poultney , Vermont, but com- pleted the trade, that of tin- smith, at Salem, New York In 1854, he removed to Chi- cago, at which place he con- tinued to work at his trade. All QQy_ hubbabd. of these years of manual labor, too, were years of study, and it is not surprising, perhaps, to find him in 1857 forsak- ing the work bench for the editorial chair. At that time, he established the Republicait at Red Wing, Minnesota. The following year, he was elected register of Goodhue county, and in 1861 was nominated as the Republican can- didate for the state senate, being defeated in the subse- quent election by Judge McClure, who had a majority of but seven. He immediately entered the army as a private in the 5th Minnesota, but U2:)on its reorganization became iSo HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. its lieutenant-colonel, from which time his military success was marked, as elsewhere recorded. After the close of the war, he engaged extensively in milling operations and railroad construction, and during the four years subsequent to 1S72 served in the state senate. In the fail of iSSi, he was nominated by the Republicans for governor, and in the election outstripped the Demo- cratic candidate. Gen. R. W. Johnson, by a majority of nearly twenty-eight thousand. Completion of the Northern Pacific. — In the early fall of 1SS3, the problem of centuries, the finding of a northwest passage, met with a practical solution. To be sure, the stately argosies of the nations, richly freighted with the products of India, could not even now, more than in the days of the early navigators, trace a continuous internat- ional highway of American inland seas and rivers; but the iron bands of the Northern Pacific at last stretched across the broad plains and lofty mountains of the West so that the swift messengers of steam could speed from sea to sea. The event was celebrated at Saint Paul and Minneapolis. There were those present who but a few years before had seen the wild deer leaping where they now saw thousands of people pouring through the costly triumphal arches spanning the commercial streets of two great cities. The President of the United States and dignitaries from European nations graced the occasion with their presence. Biennial Sessions Adopted. — Nothing of a very marked political character occurred during this administration save the amending of the Constitution to prescribe biennial ses- sions of the legislature and otherwise alter the tenure of ofiice in state and county. Material Progress. — In respect to this administration, l82 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Gov. Hubbard thus speaks: — " The material progress of the State was very marked in many respects. In population, wealth, and the develop- ment of all the industries of our people, Minnesota made a decided advance during 1SS3 and 1SS3. The extension of our railroad system, particularly the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, gave a decided Impetus to our commercial centres. The adoption of more diversified methods Infused new life into our agricultural interests, and with large accessions to our population, and active capital, all industrial pursuits felt the Inspiration of a healthy and substantial progress." XIV.— HUBBARD'S 2d ADMINISTRATION. Hubbard's Re-election.— In the fall of 18S3, Gov .Hub- bard was re-elected to the executive position. It was a time of happy auspices In the history of the Commonwealth, when the citizens could look back over the records of a wonderful past and forward to the great but sure fruitions of a near future. Economic Growth. — During the three years of this ad- ministration, every conservative prophecy made at Its beginning touching the economic welfare of the people has been more than fulfilled. The Industries of agriculture and dairying have Increased greatly In the Intelligence of the methods by which they are carried on; and the area of country devoted to these pursuits has been enlarged by thousands of acres once held by speculators, railroad corporations, and as parts of the public domain. Manufacturing centres have grown rapidly in population and the number of their industries. 184 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Necessarily keeping pace with both these lines of ad- vancement, commercial life has moved vigorously in old directions and opened many new ones. In short, Gov. Hubbard's words in reference to his first administration might well be repeated here with emphasis. PuWiC Institutions. — But a surer index of what the final civilization of a people is to be than any gross meas- urement of progress in wealth, is the development of those public institutions which are the children as it were of the citizens' intellect and heart. In these years, for example, schools of every grade have multiplied in number and effi- ciency, and the educational system is quickly shaping itself to provide for the highest ideals of life. Public charities also have flourished, and to their number has been added a home at Owatonnafor indigent children. Civic Problems. — Yet, in the midst of this general prosperity, particular forms of discontent have gained strength among the people and assumed the shape of great civic problems. First of all, the producing classes have an active associa- tion called the Farmers' Alliance whose purposes are simi- lar to those of the old Grange, but the new organization promises to be far more powerful than the old. Labor, too, stands more strongly intrenched than ever before against the exactions of capital, and indeed in some cases has itself become the party of imwise encroachment on human rights. Another class of citizens, thinking that the very root of our social and political troubles lies in the wide-spread habit of intemperance, j^ropose to exercise their elective franchise in prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicants. However, none of these forms of civil agitation need be THE STATE. 185 viewed with alarm as elements of permanent discord, but rather as means which in spite of human unfairness born of passion will surely bring about wholesome reforms. XV.— McGILL'S ADMINISTRATION. Got. McGill. — Andrew R. McGill, the nominee and can- didate-elect of the Republican party in the fall of 1 886, was born at the old home of his paternal ancestry in Crawford county, Pa., February 19th, 1840. His grandfather was a veteran of the Revolution, and from him and his own father he inherited the simple pleas- ures and rugged toil of a farmer boy's life. Studious in habit, and literary in his tastes, he sought and received the educa- tional advantages of a village academy. When a young man of twenty, he began the life of a teacher in the vicinity of Cov- ington, Kentucky. After the breaking out of the Rebellion, he removed to St. Peter, Minnesota, and continued teaching. In 1862 he enlisted in the 9th Regiment, but was discharged a year later on account of ill-health. He was admitted to the bar in 186S. For the twenty-three years just past his energies have been expended in the various positions of editor, publisher, clerk of the district court, governor's private secretary, and in- surance commissioner. Here this history rests at the dawn of the fifteenth state administration and the election of the tenth gdvernor. /*reji&v6^rtSji GOV. MCGILL. EXPLANATORY NOTES. KEY TO PRONUNCIATION. a, as in fate. 5, as in hSve. a, as in fate, but briefer. a, as in far. a, as in all. a, mute, or as ti in Qs. a, as in air. a, mute, or as ti in btit. e, as in eve. 6, as in met. e, mute, or as ti in tis. e, as in ere. ^, as ii in late. ^, as e in there. i, as in it. i, as e in mete. o, as in note. 6, as in 5dd, o, as in prove. u,asin use. ti, as in btit. A, as in flrge. V, as in pull. u, French u see Webster's Die, p. 1682, note 5. y, as in rude. g, as in get. g, as in gem. ° degree of latitude and longitude. ' acute or primary accent. ^ grave or secondary accent. ' chief primary accent, or heavy. 187 DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS. Physical Features. I. After due account has been made of race characteristics, it may safely be said that the physical features of a country are a great factor in shaping its history ; for example, they determine the occupations of the people; occupations pursued for generations develop certain mental traits; finally these mental traits determine channels of national life. Position and Surface. I. To gain some idea of the variations in elevation, the reader is referred to the table of the same given in another part of the appendix. Rivers. I. There are many fine water powers upon these streams. The largest yet developed are at St. Anthony Falls and St. Cloud. The Dakotas. 1. Dakota (Dah'ko-tah). Allied, united; name applied to the confederation of tribes now called Sioux. 2. Santees. Correct form, hanyati (Ee-san'yah-tee). Dwell- ers by Knife Lake ; the same lake is now called Mille Lacs. Neill says: "It is asserted by Dakotah missionaries now living, that this name was given to the lake because the stone from which they manufactured the knife {isan) was here obtained." 3. Mississippi. Great and long river. See Hennepin, note 8. 4. Yanktons. Correct form, Ihanktotiwan (Ee-han'kton-wan). End-dwellers, There is also a French form ; namely, Yanktonais (Ee-han'kton-wan-na). Little End-dwellers. 5. Minnesota. The explorer Nicollet says: "The adjective Sotah is of difficult translation. The Canadians translated it by a pretty equivalent word, brouille, perhaps more properly rendered in English by blear. I have entered upon this explanation because the word Sotah really means neither clear nor turbid, as some authors have asserted, its true meaning being readily found in the igO HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Sioux expression /^A-/a-5c/a^, blear-eyed." Neillsays: "The name is a compound Dakotah word. This nation called the Missouri Mhmeshoshay, muddy water, and this stream Minnesota. The precise signification of Sotah is difficult to express. Some writers have said it means clear, Schoolcraft bluish green, others turbid. From the fact that the word signifies neither white nor blue, but the peculiar appearance of the sky on certain days, the Historical Society publications define Minnesota to mean the sky-tinted water, which is certainly poetic, and according to Gideon H. Pond, one of the best Dakotah scholars, correct." Of course, the State was named after the river. 6. Teetons. Correct form, Teionwan (tee'ton-wan). Prairie- dwellers. 7. Lac qui Parle flSk-ki-parl). The lake that speaks. It was so called by the French in translating the Indian word iyedan. Some say the Indians named it on account of an echo — or because they heard voices but saw no people when they went there first. 8. Big Stone Lake. Evidently so named on account of the many large boulders lying on its shores and bluffs. 9. Assiniboine (Ss-sin'i-boine). Correct form, Assiniboanes. ''Their own distinctive name is never used; the neighboring Algonquin tribes called them Assinipawlak, Stone warriors, as some infer from the nature of the country near the Lake of the Woods." — American Encyclopedia. Another authority says the name means the people who roast something on stones, because these people roast their meat on red-hot stones. 10. lowas (i'o-was). English form for the French Ayavois, which in turn was an attempt to pronounce the Dakota word lyakhba. It means Sleepy ones. Long before the days of the voyageurs, it is said, the Yanktons lived upon the banks of the Red River of the North. One of their noted warriors was killed in the progress of a feud. His relatives retaliated, and the feud spread from family to family until the tribal bond was broken, and the smaller faction of a thousand lodges fled from the stronger and formed a lasting alliance with one of the Algic races, the Kristenos or Crees. EXPLANATORY NOTES. 191 11. Omahas (o'ma-haws). 12. Blue Earth. The river was given this name because of the blue clay of the Cretaceous formation found in its banks. 13. Des Momes (de-moin'). 14. Ojibwas (6-jib-ways). Ochipwe, Ochipe, forms given by Bishop Baraga. They never call themselves Chippewas as the Americans name them. Warren says : "Ojibwa means to roast till puckered up, " and that it originated in the custom of torturing their enemies by fire. He pronounces it O-jib-way. 15. Mdewakantonwan (mda-wah-kay'toy-wan). Sacred-Lake- dwellers. 16. Wapekutes (wah-hpa'koo-tays). Leaf shooters. 17. Wahpetonwans (wah-hpa'ton-wan). Leaf-dwellers. 18. Stssitonwans (see-see'ton-wans). Marsh-dwellers. 19. Wictyela (wi-chi-yea'lah). 20. Wt (wee). First Explorers. 1. Jean Nicolet (zh5n ne'ko'la''). 2. Michigan (Cree word), from mishigam, big lake. 3. Le Jeune (leh zhun'). 4. Tourges (zhoor'zha^). A French ensign. 5. Raymbault (ram^'bo'). A French ensign. 6. Sault Ste. Marie— more properly Sault de Sainte Marie (so deh san ma' re). The Falls of St. Mary. 7. "Quebec, from kepek, or kipak, being shut; kipaw, it is shut. The Indians of the St. Lawrence still call it Kepek ; because the river looks shut up by Diamond Cave, when going up, and by the Orleans island, when coming down." — Bishop Baraga. 8. Iroquois (ir-o-kwoy'). The Six Nations of New York ; namely, Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras. 9. Garreau (gar-ro'). 10. Nadouessioux (nadoo-ess-soo). A French attempt to pro- nounce an Ojibwa word said to mean enemies. The name was applied to the Dakotas. It is now abbreviated to Sioux. 192 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Groselliers and Radisson. 1. Medard Chouarl (may-dah' shoo-a'). 2. Meaux (mo). A town twenty-five or thirty miles north of east of Paris, France, on the river Marne. 3. Pierre D' Esprit (pe-eredes-pri'). 4. St. Male (san ma' lo). Probably the seaport of that name on the northwest coast of France. 5. Groselliers (gro-sel-ya'). Sieur (se-ur'). Sir. 6. Radisson (rSdi son'). 7. Canada (Cree word), a collection or village of huts. 8. Ren^ Menard (ren-ame-na"). 9. Chegoimegon (shag'war-me-gon'). Also spelled Chaq-wa- mi-gon. Warren, perhaps the best authority, gives the phonetic form Shag-a-waum-ik-ong. 10. Tetanga (ta-tang'a). 11. Isle Royale is the French form, 12. Prince Rupert. Nephew of Charles I. of England. Rene Menard. 1. The Hurons themselves were of Iroquois stock, but the latter became nevertheless their implacable enemies. The band of them that settled at Lake Superior were expelled by the Sioux, and again wandered eastward. Part of the tribe exists to-day in Canada under the old name, and part in Indian Territory under the name of Wyandots. 2. Perrot (pa-ro'). 3. Black River. The Sioux called it Sappah (sa-pa), black. Then the French called it the Noire (nwa), black. Hence the English form. 4. Marquette (mar-kef ). A French Jesuit missionary. For an account of his explorations, see U. S. History. 5. Allouez (al'wa^). The Fur Traders. 1. Coureurs des bois (kou reQr de bwa). Rovers, or rangers, of the woods. 2. Voyageur (vwa'ya zhur^). A traveler. EXPLANATORY NOTES. 193 3. Bateaux (bat-oz"). Long, narrow boats tapering rapidly from the center toward both ends, and unstable save in the hands of skillful boatmen. 4. Bois dru/e{h\vdhroo-\a'). Burnt wood. This name was given to the half-breeds on account of their dark complexions. Nicholas Perrot. 1. Jesuits (ges'u its). "A religious order founded by Ignatius Loyola (loi-o'la), and approved in 1540, under the title of The So- ciety of Jesus. "The order consists of Scholars, who take vows simply of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and can leave the Society or be dismissed from it, and professed Priests, who also make the same three vows, but cannot be dismissed from the Society, nor dis- charged from their obligations. The latter class is again divided into Spiritual Coadjutors, who have the care of souls, and Jesuits of the Four Vows, who add to the three obligations already men- tioned a fourth vow of undertaking any missions to which they may be ordered by the proper authority, and from among whom missionaries are selected." — Websier's Dictionary. 2. Talon (ta-16n'). 3. Intendant. A minister in charge of public affairs. In refer- ence to the French government of Canada, it usually meant a minister of justice with somewhat enlarged duties. 4. St. Lusson (sSnt lus-son'). 5. Joliet (zhole-a) was a Jesuit missionary. In 1673, accom- panied by Marquette (mar-kgf), he ascended Fox river, made a portage to the Wisconsin river and descended to the Mississippi. He then explored the latter stream nearly to its mouth. Du Luth. 1. Du Luth (du lut). 2. Germain en Laye (ger-main-an-la). 3. New France was the name given by Cartier (kar'te-a') to the country adjacent to the St. Lawrence river. Later the name was applied, somewhat indefinitely as to boundaries, to the north- ern French possessions in America. 4. This was for the purpose of extending the fur trade. 194 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 5. Kamenistagoia. This word is said to be of Indian origin and to signify three mouths. It is applied generally to Three Rivers at Thunder Bay, north shore of Lake Superior. 6. St. Louis River. Named after Louis XIV. of France. 7. It was customary in taking possession of a new country to erect the king's coat of arms on some natural or artificial object. Hennepin's map represents them graven on the bark of an oak with the sign of the cross above them. See page 15. 8. This tribe is described under the Dakotas, note 2. 9. The Songaskitons are the people mentioned in note 18, and the Houetbatons those in note 17, of the Dakotas. It is well to anglicize these names in pronunciation, as they are simply French imitations of Indian words. 10. Mille Lacs. Literally, Thousand Lakes, but applied to this one in particular. Du Luth called it Lac Buade in honor of Frontenac, whose family name was Buade. 11. See the Fur Traders, note 4. 12. St. Croix (kroi). Named after one of the early French traders who was drowned at its mouth by the capsizing of his boat. 13. Du Chesneau (doo shay'no). 14. See Nicholas Perrot, note 3. 15. Frontenac (fron'te-nak). His real name was Louis Buade. Count de Frontenac was his title of nobility. Hennepin. 1. Recollects. Franciscan friars. Gray friars. Minorites. An order of the Roman Catholic Church founded by St. Francis of Assisi (a-see'see), Italy. They believe in extreme poverty and a life of contemplation. The Recollects were a reformed division of the order. 2. Ath (at). A town of Belgium situated on the Dender, a navigable branch of the Scheldt. 3. Artois (ar''twa'). An old province in the northeast of France. 4. Dunkirk (dun'kSrk'). A fortified seaport of France situated on the Strait of Dover. 5. Calais (ka^la'). A well-built town situated in Northern EXPLANATORY NOTES. I95 France on the Strait of Dover. It is an important seaport, and is fortified by castle and forts. 6. Sieur Robert Chevalier de La Salle (se ur' ro'ber' shev-ah- lee-a' deh lab Sahl). See U. S. History. 7. Rouen (roo'tin). An old, important city of Normandy, France, situated on the Seine about twenty-five miles from its mouth. 8. Marquis de Seignelay (mar-kee deh san'yeh-la^). His real name was Jean Baptiste Colbert (zhon ba teest kol'ber). Like his father he was a great statesman. In Hennepin's time the Missis- sippi was called the Colbert in his honor ; before that the early French e.xplorers, for example Perrot, had called it the Louisiane (loo'ee-ze-an'), doubtless after Louis XIV. 9. St. Joseph River. See map of Michigan. 10. Kankakee. From a Cree word (ka ka-kiw) meaning a crow. See maps of Indiana and Illinois. 11. Peoria, singular form of Peorias, the name of a tribe of Indians. • 12. Crevecceur (kra-v-kflr). 13. Accault (ah'ko). 14. Picard du Gay (pee ka' doo gay). 15. See the Dakotas, note 15. 16. The same as Lake Pepin, which name was given to it about the time Ft. Beauharnois was founded. Bo^icher had an uncle of that name, and it was also the name of the Dauphin of France. It may have been given on one of these accounts. 17. The St. Croix River. 18. Lake Cond6 (kon-da^. Lake Superior. Conde was the name of a branch of the royal house of Bourbon (boor-bon). Louis the XIV. was the greatest monarch of this time, and this is but one of several instances where names were given in his honor. 19. The St. Anthony referred to was a Franciscan monk of Padua (pM'ua), Italy. 20. Red Rock. Prof A. W. Williamson says : ^^Inyan sha, — inyan, stone ; sha, red ; the Dakota name of Red Rock, near St Paul. A few rods from the river, near the house of Mr. Ford, an early settler, was a large egg-shaped syenite boulder, believed by 196 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. the Indians to be the abode of a powerful spirit which they wor- shiped by keeping the stone carefully painted red, and by offer- ings of food. Every stone and every other natural object was believed by the Dakotasto be the abode of a spirit, but hard, egg- shaped stones only were worshiped." 21. Kaposia (kahpozha). Correct form, Kapoja. Meaning light — not heavy. It was at first applied to the band living there, because they were light-footed in playing la-crosse. 22. The S. A. were a myth of the early navigators who were seeking for a northwest passage. It seems to have originated with one of their number, Zalterius, in 1566. The S. A. were afterward identified with Behring Strait. 23. St. Francis. See Hennepin, note i. The Indian name for this stream signifies Every-where-lake-river ; or Great River is the name they sometimes gave it. Ft. St. Antoine. 1. Commandant (c5m'man-dant'). 2. De La Barre (deh la bii). 3. Trempeleau. See Expedition of 1817, note 2. 4. St. Antoine (san 5n'twan'). Same as St. Anthony. See Hennepin, note 18. The early writers place this post on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Pepin. For a mile or more from the foot of the lake, that shore is marshy and so unfit for the placing of a fort. For a mile or two more, dunes of somewhat shifting sand run so close to the shore that an enemy upon them could command any fortification be- tween them and the water. Thus it is probable Ft. St. Antoine stood somewhere above the present village of Pepin, but below Maiden Rock. Midway, a large trout stream, called Bogus Creek, enters the river. Thirty-five years ago a trading post stood at its mouth on a site now occupied by a farm house. The traditions of the Indians and later voyageurs claim that very many years ago, a few rods removed from this site, stood another post. Twelve years ago, it is said, a Frenchman who had then reached the age of one hundred one years claimed that he was wont to visit it as a boy. Certainly, many reasons other than these point to this as the site of Ft. St. Antoine. EXPLANATORY NOTES. I97 5. Denonville (deh'non-veeK). 6. Miamis (mi-a'mis). Or Maumies. People who live on the peninsula. 7. Foxes. A tribe of the Wisconsin Valley. 8. See First Explorers, note 8. 9. Proces-Verbal (pro-sa var-bal). It is here used with the force of a proper noun, but is really a French common noun mean- ing, official report; proceedings; journal. 10. St. Pierre (sSn pe-er'). The Minnesota River. It is not known after whom it was so called. See Ft. Beauharnois, note 12. 11. Le Sueur (leh-sii'ur'). — A river, town, and county of Min- nesota now bear his name. 12. Marest (mar-a'). 13. The Jesuits. See Nicholas Perrot, note i. La Hontan's Long River. I. Gascon. A native of Gascony, France. The Gascons are accused of being great boasters ; hence the origin of the word gascofiade. Ft. Le Sueur. 1. Charlevoix (shar'leh-vwa''). 2. Isle Pelee (eel pS-la). 3. Warren speaks of a post built at Grand Portage between 167 1 and the end of that century. He states it upon Indian tra- dition, and thinks it must have been the oldest post in Minnesota. If his tradition does not refer to Ft. Kamenistagoia, Du Luth's post built in 1679, and located according to ancient maps north of Pigeon river and near Thunder Bay, then the post at Grand Portage may have been older than Ft. Le Sueur. Ft. L' Huillier. 1. D' Iberville (de'bSr'veeF). 2. Biloxi (be-loks'i). See map of State of Mississippi. 3. Penicaut (pen'e-ko). 4. Green River. There are green shales found on its banks. The same river as the Blue Earth. See the Dakotas, note 12. 5. The place is not far from the mouth of the Le Sueur river. HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 6. L' Huillier (loo'eel ya). 7. St. Renii (sail rg'me). St. Henry. The Le Sueur river. 8. D' Evaque '^deh-vark'). 9. Illinois. An Algonquin word meaning, tribe of men. 10. Mascoutins. Ojibvva word. Dwellers on a small prairie. Ft. Beauharnois. 1. Mackinaw (mak'i-naw). Abbreviation of Michilimackinac (mishil-i-mak'in-aw). Indian word meaning, Great turtle place. It was always a great depot of the fur traders, and an important military post, for this and other reasons, in the supremacies of France, England, and the United States. 2. Vaudreuil (vo'dru^y). Father of the last French governor of Canada. 3. La Noue (la-iioo'). A French officer. 4. Linctot (laing'sto). 5. The Indians had learned that if priests came so would traders. It was to secure the latter that they asked for the former to be sent among them. 6. Guignas (geen'yi). 7. Gonor (g5'nor^). 8. Maiden Rock is a high bluff with a cliff front. It is situated on the east shore of Lake Pepin nearly opposite the point men- tioned in the next note. According to the Indian legend, a maiden named Winona (wee-no-na), whose parents had forbidden to marry the young brave she loved, threw herself from the summit of the cliff and was killed. 9. Pointe au Sable (poo-aingt o sa-bl). Point-in-the-sand. Situated on the west shore of Lake Pepin five miles above Lake City. 10. Rene De Boucher (ren-a'dehboosha'). See U. S. History. 11. Beauharnois (bo-arn-wii). There are certain places on the point indicating its possible location. 12. Legardeur St. Pierre (la-gar-dSr sSn pe-er'). It is some- times thought that Le Sueur gave the name St. Pierre to the Min- nesota river on his account. 13. Le Boeuf (leh buf ). It was situated on French creek in EXPLANATORY NOTES. I99 northwestern Pennsylvania. See U. S. History. The Northwest Passage. 1. Verandrie (va riin'drg). 2. Jemeraye (zham-a-ray'). 3. La Reine (lah rain). 4. Gallissonniere (ga'lee-so'ne-air'). 5. Jonquiere (zh6n'ki-er'). 6. De Marin ideh-ma-rang^). 7. Saskatchewan (Cree word), from kisiskatjiwati — the rapid current. French and English Supremacies. I. Versailles (ver salz'). This place is seven or eight miles southwest of Paris, France. Carver's Explorations. 1. Du Chien (du-sheen). Dog Prairie. 2. See First Explorers, note 8. 3. See Expedition of 1817, note 2. Indian Wars. 1. Pillagers. It was almost a proverbial statement of the traders that in the months that have no r the furs are good for nothing. Then they were obliged to trust the Indians until the time of the fall and winter hunts. But on one occasion a trader refused to do this, and the Indians broke into his stores. Hence, they were called the Pillagers — a name they gloried in for gen- erations. 2. The Ojibwas claim that when they first beheld this lake they saw an enormous leech swimming in it. Hence, the present English name. "Wabasha's Mission. I. Wabasha (war'ba-shaw). Correct form, Wapasha (wah' pah sha). Meaning, Red-banner. The Northwest Company. I. American goods were inferior to the English. The Indians HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. refused to accept the former aft^r they had once obtained some of the latter. 2. The preliminary treaty was signed at Versailles, the final one at Fontainebleau forty miles up the Seine from Paris. The latter, however, is sometimes called the treaty of Paris. BEFORE THE TERRITORY. Territorial Changes. I. St. Ildefonso (san-eel-da-fon'so), a town sometimes called La Granja (la grang'ha) situated forty miles north-northwest of Madrid, Spain. The treaty was a noted league made by the prime minister Godoy and Napoleon. Pike's Expedition. 1. He became a leading general of the U. S. Army, and was killed at Sackett's Harbor in the War of 1812. 2. Wilkinson was noted in the history of Burr's Treason at which time he was governor of Louisiana Territory. 3. La Crosse (la-cross); a bat; a game of cricket; therefore, not the crossing place of the river as some have supposed because of the analogy between the English and French words. Pike describes the game, as he saw it played at Prairie Du Cl'.ien, thus: "The ball is made of some hard substance and covered with leather, the ci'oss sticks are round and net work, with handles three feet long. [The balls are caught in small sinew nets, cupsized, and fastened to the bent circle at the end of a three- foot hickory stick. — The Author. '\ * * * * The goals are set up on the prairie at the distance of half a mile. The ball is thrown up in the middle, and each party strives to drive it to the opposite goal; and when either party gains the first rubber, which is driving it quick round the post, the ball is again taken to the center of the ground [the sides] changed, and the contest renewed; and this is continued until one side gains four times, which de- EXPLANATORY NOTES. cides the game. * * * * It sometimes happens that one catches the ball in his racket, and depending on his speed en- deavors to carry it to the goal, and when he finds himself too closely pursued, he hurls it with great force and dexterity to an amazing distance, where there are always flankers of both parties ready to receive it ; it seldom touches the ground, but is some- times kept in the air for hours before either party can gain the victory." 4. At this day nothing of the stockade remains, and as yet no one has found the exact site. 5. Saulteurs is the correct form. The name was given to the Ojibwas because they once lived at Sault St. Marie. Hence the pronounciation, so'tSr. 6. Medals and flags were the pledges of their allegiance. Therefore, Pike's real purpose was to give them those of the United States in exchange. 7. See Dakotas, note 18, for Indian form. The present an- glicized form is Sisseton. 8. Gens des Feuilles (zh6ng deh foo-yti). The tribe of the leaves. Doubtless the same tribe as mentioned under Dakotas, note 17. 9. Gens du Lac (zh5ng doo lack). Evidently the tribe men- tioned under Dakotas, note 15. 10. The Yanktons. See Dakotas, note 4. 11. The Indians counted it the highest honor to load their guns with ball and fire as close to approaching guests as possible; because the guests were apprised by the good marksmanship how completely they were at the mercy of the Indians, and at the same time, by the absence of injury, how highly they were esteemed and how cordially they would be treated. Minnesota Indians in War of 1812. 1. Tecumseh (t'kum'seh). See U. S. History. Shawnee, Southerner. 2. He was generally known as the Prophet, and was Tecum- seh's great support in the instigation of this war. 3. This post was situated about thirty miles from the mouth of the Maumee in Ohio. HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 4. Tahamie (ta-a'mi). Supposed to be a corruption of Ta- maha (ta-ma-ha^). The pike (fisii). 5. Hay-pee-dan. From he-pi, "tiiird child born, if a son," and dan a diminutive ending. 6. Ghent (gent). Situated in Belgium on the Scheldt. See U. S. History close of the War of 181 2. Traders and Selkirkers. 1. Pomme de Terre (p6mdeh ter). Literally, apple of ground^ meaning the potato. Tipsinna (teep'sen-na), was the Indian name. The T. is a farinaceous bulb much prized for food, especially by the Indian children. 2. It is only just to say that some of Dickson's associates give him an excellent record for honorable dealing. 3. As to his motive, Neill says: "The Earl of Selkirk, a wealthy, kind-hearted, but visionary nobleman of Scotland, wrote several tracts, urging the importance of colonizing British emi- grants in these distant British possessions, and thus check the disposition to settle in thCvUnited States." 4. Acadia was the old name of Nova Scotia. The French colonists who lived at Grand Pr6 on the basin of the Minas were driven from their homes, placed on board ships, and scattered among the people of the southern English colonies. This was in the time of the French and Indian War — in the summer and fall of 1755. For the pitiful story of broken family circles, see works on U. S. History, and Longfellow's Evangeline. Expedition of 1817. 1. Roque (rok). 2. See text in reference to note 2, Carver's E.xplorations. 3. Montague Trempe el Eau (mong-tang'ya trang-p al 6). The mountain steeped in the water ; therefore, standing in the water. 4. Aux Aisles, or fully given, Prairie Aux Aisles (6-zSl). The prairie with wings. It is not known why it was so named, but it is the author's opinion that it may have been on account of the long valleys extending back into the hills from its extremities. 5. See Wabasha's Mission, note i. EXPLANATORY NOTES. 203 6. The Bear Dance, described by Maj. Long, was a peculiar ceremony through which a young man went when about to become a warrior. He made him a den in the earth and simulated a bear, while the other young men of the tribe hunted him. If he escaped from them, which he might do at the risk of sacrificing their lives, or even if he defied the skill of his pursuers for several hours, he was counted worthy to enter the state of manhood and upon the life of a warrior. Ft. Snelling. 1. For information concerning this noted statesman refer to any standard U. S. History. 2. Cantonment (cSn^ton-ment). 3. Mendota. Indian form, ATdoie (mdo'tay). Mouth of a river. 4. Drachenfels (driich en-felz). Dragon's rock. One of the noted old castles of Germany. Crawford County. I. This county organization remained in force under the juris- diction of Wisconsin Territory. Lewis Cass Expedition. 1. Taliaferro (tSl'T-ver). 2. Sacs (sawks). The same as Sauks. 3. Shakopee. Correct form, Shakpe (sha'kpa). Six. The Fur Companies. 1. Prof A. W. Williamson says: '^ Mdehdakinyan (mday- hdah-kin-yan). Lake lying crosswise; the Dakota name of Lake Traverse, it lying crosswise to Big Stone Lake." 2. John Jacob Astor, a wealthy merchant of New York City. Selkirk's Colony. 1. Pembina. Cree word. From nipimina, watery berries, nip'iy, water, and initia, berries. High bush cranberries. 2. It is not positively known why the Red River was so named. Fanciful reasons have been given from time to time. The French 204 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. in early days called it Rivih'e Sanglante (ri-vier s5n-gl5nt), Bloody River, in all likelihood because of one or more of the many bloody feuds which occurred upon its banks. Long's Explorations. 1. Joseph Snelling became an author of considerable repute. He wrote both prose and poetry. His best book was entitled "Tales of the Northwest." Just previous to his death, which oc- curred in 1848, he was editor of the Boston Herald. 2. Traverse des Sioux. Crossing of the Sioux ; the place where their great trail, which led to the northwest, crossed the Minnesota river. 3. "The question is often asked, ' Why does the northern boun- dary of Minnesota bend suddenly north at the Lake of the Woods and make that singular projection into British America.' The answer to this question carries us back to the ' Provisional Articles between the United States of America and his Britannic Majesty, concluded November 30th, 1782.' These articles were the result of the negotiations made by and between Richard Oswald, the commissioner on the part of Great Britain, and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, commissioners of the United States for treating of peace at the close of the Rev- olutionary War. "At the conference of these commissioners, no objection was made on the part of ' His Britannic Majesty ' to acknowledging the United States ' to be free, sovereign and independent,' but consider- able discussion took place over the northern boundary. After settling upon the line as it now runs through lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron it was claimed by the British commissioner that it should proceed through the middle of the Strait of Mackinac and Lake Michigan to the southernmost point of said lake and thence due west to the Mississippi river. To this proposal sll the com- missioners on the part of the United States were inclined to assent except Franklin. He, however, made decided objections. The nature of the country along the western shores of Lake Superior, its wealth of copper, iron and precious metals, its abundant timber and its magnificent water powers had not escaped his vigilance EXPLANATORY NOTES. 205 even at that early day. While the others were willing to give up to Great Britain what is now the northern part of Illinois, the whole of Wisconsin, the upper peninsula of Michigan and part of Minne- sota as worthless, he insisted that the boundary line should follow the trail of the old half breed voyageurs from the mouth of Pigeon river along the channel of the water ways communicating with the Lake of the Woods. Oswald finally agreed to this demand of Franklin's on condition that he should not oppose the remain- ing article of the treaty. So it was agreed tliat the line should run 'through Lake Superior north of Isle Royaleand Philippeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake and the water communicating between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most northwestern point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi.' "At the 'DefinitiveTreaty of Peace' concluded at Paris Septem- ber 3d, 1783, the above boundary was established. "Before the treaty of London was made — November 19th, 1794, grave doubts began to be entertained as to whether a line drawn due west from the Lake of the Woods would strike the Mississippi at all, and Article IV. of said treaty reads as follows: 'Whereas it is uncertain whether the river Mississippi extends so far to the northward as to be intersected by a line to be drawn due west from the Lake of the Woods, in the manner mentioned in the treaty of peace between His Majesty and the United States, it is agreed that measures be taken in concert between His Majesty's Government in America and the Government of the United States for making a joint survey of the said river from one degree of latitude below the Falls of St. Anthony, to the principal source or sources of said river, and also of the parts adjacent thereto; and that if, on the result of such survey, it should appear that the said river would not be intersected by such a line as is above mentioned, the two parties will thereupon pro- ceed, by amicable negotiation, to regulate the boundary line in that quarter.' "As no settlement of the northwest boundary was made under this article it again came up for adjustment at Ghent, December 2o6 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. 24th, 1S14. Here provision was made — Article VII. — for two com- missioners, one to be appointed by his Britannic Majesty and the other by the President of the United States, who were, in addition to other duties, 'to fix and determine, according to the true intent of the treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred a::d eighty- three, that part of the boundary between the dominions of the two powers which extends from the water communication between Laive Huron and Lake Superior to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods. * * * and particularize the latitude and longitude of the most northwestern part of the Lake of the Woods. ' "The commissioners appointed as above were for a while puzzled to decide between the point of the lake at Rat Portage, at the northern extremity of the lake, and the 'northern point of the bay now known as the northwest angle.' The principle on which the vexed ciuestion was finally settled, by Dr. J. L. Tiak, British as- tronomer, in favor of the northwest angle, is this : 'the northwest point is that on which, if a line be drawn in the plane of a great circle, making an angle of 45° with the meridian, such a line would cut no other water of the lake.' This principle is probably the correct one, but it seems a little singular to the ordinary student of geography, that a place so near the southern part of the lake can be the most northwest corner. The commissioners were not able to place a landmark at the spot agreed on as the northwest point on account of its being in a quagmire, so they built a refer- ence monument seven feet square by twelve feet high of oak and poplar logs. The latitude of the ' point ' was given as 49° 23^ 6.48^^ and the longitude as 95° 14' 38'^ approximately. "It now only remained for the convention at London of Oc- tober 2oth, 181S, to agree that 'a line drawn from the most north- western point of the Lake of the Woods along the furty-ninth parallel of north latitude, or if the said point shall not be in the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, then that a line drawn from the said point due north or south, as the case may be, until the said line shall intersect the said parallel of north latitude, and from the point of such intersection, due west along and with said par- allel, shall be the line of demarcation between the territories of EXPLANATORY NOTES. 207 the United States and those of His Britannic Majesty, and that the said line shall form the northern boundary of the United States and the southern boundary of the territories of His Britannic Majesty from the Lake of the Woods to the Stony Mountains.' [It is to be borne in mind that while the treaty of Ghent pro- vided for finding the N. W. Angle it was not determined by Tiak until 1825; nor was the provision of the convention of London, just recorded, and which anticipated the time when the angle should be determined, made effective until the boundary was so defined and ratified by tke treaty of November loth, 1842. — Author. ] "In 1872 another set of commissioners appointed for the pur- pose had great difficulty in recovering this position. At one time trouble with Great Britain was seriously threatened. The point having been fixed by the commissioners acting under the treaty of Ghent could not be changed, and the above given description by latitude and longitude ' was not sufficiently accurate to deter- mine its position.' The lake when visited was unusually high; the aspen logs which composed the larger part of the monument had rotted away and the oak ones were several feet under water, and not easily found. They were, however, at last discovered and the position of the 'northwest point' finally fixed at latitude 49° 23' 50. 28'^ longitude 95° 8' 56.9^^. The position of the N. VV. point as fixed by Captain Anderson, Royal Engineer, and Maj. F. U. Farquar, United States Engineer, during the fall of 1872, was not finally agreed to by the commissioners until September, 1874."— JK W. Pendergast. The language of the treaty quoted above is somewhat obscure in reference to the plan of determining the N. W. Angle ; but the map here given, and the subjoined rules, formulated by the author after consulting Dr. J. E. Davies of the United States Coast Sur- vey, will, it is believed, make the whole subject clear. ist. To find the N. W. Angle. — Travel northward on the west shore of the lake to the first point from whose meridian a line can be drawn northeasterly, at an angle of 45°, without striking the lake again. 2d. To find the N. E. Angle.— Travel northward on the east 208 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. shore to the first point as a from whose meridian a line can be drawn northwesterly at an angle of 45°, without striking the lake again. 3d. To find the S. £. Angle. — Travel southward on the east shore to a first point d where a line drawn southwesterly, at an angle of 45°, will not again strike the lake. 4th. To find the S. W. Angle. — Travel southward on the west shore to a first point c from which a line drawn southeasterly, at an angle of 45°, will not again strike the lake. ShoalL. N.W. Angle 49 N.L 4. Winnipeg. Correct form, Winnipek, meaning swamps; salt water ; unclean water. Used commonly in speaking of the sea water. Source of the Mississippi. 1. This name, originally applied to Lake Itasca, belongs, as now referred to, to the small lake close to the southeast side of tlie west arm of Itasca. On Nicollet's map, which see elsewhere in this book, it maybe distinguished by three streamlets entering it of which the most easterly drains a lakelet somewhat smaller than itself 2. Pemidji, or Bemidji, Boutwell says, Pemidjimark, cross- ing place. Mr. Gilfillan, of White Earth, says : " The lake where EXPLANATORY NOTES. 209 the current flows directly across the water, referring to the river flowing squarely out of the lake on the east side, cutting it in two as it were ; very briefly, it is Cross Lake." 3. Nicollet says : " These elevations are commonly flat at top, varying in height from eighty-five to one hundred feet above the level of the surrounding waters. They are covered with thick forests in which the coniferous plants predominate. South of Itasca Lake they form a semicircular region, with a boggy bottom, extending to the southward a distance of several miles ; thence these Hauteurs des Terres ascend to the northwest and north, and then stretching to the northeast and east, through the zone between 47° and 48° of latitude, make the dividing ridge between the waters that empty into Hudson Bay and those which discharge themselves into the Gulf of Mexico. The principal group of these Hauteurs des 7>rre.? is subdivided into several ramifications, vary- ing in extent, elevation, and course, so as to determine the hydro- graphical basins of all the innumerable lakes and rivers that so peculiarly characterize this region of country." See Nicollet's map of the Itasca region. Count Beltrami. 1. The title on his passport was Le Chevalier Count Beltrami. The latter word as applied to a county of the State is pronounced B61-tra'mi, and it may be so pronounced here. It is supposed that B. was banished from the Papal States.. For interesting anecdotes about him and his own narrative of explorations, see Neill's large history of Minnesota. 2. Beltrami says : "I have given it the name of the respect- able lady whose life (to use the language of her illustrious friend the Countess of Albany) was one undeviating course of moral rectitude. ' ' Indian Treaties. I. Fond du Lac. French expression literally signifying, bot- tom of the lake, — therefore, end of the lake. The term is applied somewhat loosely, now to the end nearest the inlet, and again lo the one at the outlet. HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Border Wars. 1. Winnebagoes. Those who dwell by a sea. The word is of the same origin as Winnipeg ; see Long's Explorations, note 4. Schoolcraft's Expedition. 1. The voyageiirs and explorers often found it necessary on their journeys to carry their boats and baggage overland from one body of water to another. The portages, as they were for obvious reasons called, occurred most frequently between two rivers at their nearest or most accessible point of approach. Men accus- tomed to this duty were able to carry heavy burdens long distances without apparent fatigue. See the graphic illustrations elsewhere in this book. The name portage is given to the place as well as to the act of carrying. 2. Savanna River. Literally, Prairie River. 3. One day when the expedition was coasting westward along the shore of Lake Superior, Mr. Schoolcraft said to Mr. Boutwell, "You are a classical scholar, give me a name for the true source of the Mississippi, to be applied when we shall have found it." Boutwell replied, "I do not think of one word, but there are two Latin words, Veritas, truth, and caputs head." In a moment Schoolcraft answered, " I have it! Itasca! " Thus the name existing to-day was crudely coined from the last two syllables of the first word and the first of the last. Mr. Boutwell related these facts to the author in the summer of 1886. Of course, it would not be difficult to find words in the Indian languages of like sound, and so many have sought in that way to trace out its derivation. 4. Little Crow was grandfather of the Little Crow spoken of in the Sioux massacre. 5. Prof. Williamson says: "Shunkasapa, — shHnka,do%\ sapa, black; Black Dog, a Dakota chief, and name of his village near Hamilton Station, Omaha (Sioux City) Railway. 6. Neill says: "The first school-master of the post was John Marsh. He is said to have been a college graduate, and accom- panied the first troops to the mouth of the Minnesota river. In time he became a trader's clerk, and afterwards a sub-Indian EXPLANATORY NOTES. agent, and justice of the peace for Crawford county, Minnesota. In 1832, during the Black Hawk War, he ascended the Mississippi and secured the services of about eighty Sioux warriors, and ac- companied them, as interpreter, to the army of Gen. Atkinson, but they soon returned." 7. Black Hawk was a Sauk chief. For an account of this war see U. S. History. Featherstonhaugh. 1. Featherstonhaugh (feth''er-ston-haw). 2. Coteau des (ko^to deh) Prairies. Hill of the prairies or plains. Catlin. 1. The pipestone lies buried six feet or more beneath the jas- per on the flats below the quartzite cliffs. There are abundant relics of Indian camps, old and new, in the vicinity. See illustra- tions of a Yankton band digging the stone. 2. Waraju (wa-ra-hoo); from wagha, Cottonwood, and zliu, plant. Tanka, great, chistina (chees^te-nii), little. Hence Wa- raju Tanka and Waraju Chistina. 3. A shattered column belonging to the quartzite cliffs. Its top, viewed from certain positions, appears like a liuman head in profile. See illustration. 4. These theories are explicitly stated, in connection with other interesting facts, upon pages 63, 64, 65 and 66 of the Minne- sota Geological Report, Vol. 1. 5. Two or three miles northeast of the quarry is seen a nar- row ridge-like mound, three or four feet in height. It incloses perhaps ten acres in somewhat circular form, and within it are a few small conical mounds. Tradition relates that a great battle took place there more than a century ago between the lowas and Omahas. 6. The three largest of six red granite boulders. They are about twenty feet in length by twelve in height. According to a legend, a contest occurred here in which all the Indians perished save three maidens who hid behind these rocks; hence the name HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. given to the latter. From these women sprang the present race of Indians. For another beautiful legend of the quarry read this selection from Longfellow's Hiawatha: THE PEACE-PIPE. On the Mountains of the Prairie, On the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry Gitche Manito, the niisihty; He the Master of Life, descending, On the red crags of the quarry Stood erect, and called the nations, Called the tribes of men together. From his footprints flowed a river, Leaped into the light of morning, O'er the precipice plunging downward Gleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet. And the Spirit, stooping earthward. With his finger on the meacfow Traced a winding pathwayfor it. Saying to it, " Run in this way ! " From the red stone of the quarry With his hand he broke a fragment. Moulded it into a pipe-head, Shaped and fashioned it with figurcb, From the margin of the river Took a long reed fir a pipe-stem. With its dark green leaves upon it ; Filled the pipe with bark of willow, With the liark of the red willow; Breathed upon the neighboring forest, Made its great boughs chafe together, Till 111 flame they burst and kindled; And erect upon the mountains, Gitclie Manito, the mighty, Smoked the calumet, the Peace-Pipe As a signal to the nations. And the smoke rose slowly, slowly Through the tranquil air of morning, First a single line of darkness. Then a denser, bluer vapor. Then a snow-white cloud unfolding, Like the tree-tops of the forest, Ever rising, rising, rising. Till it touched the top of lieaven. Till it broke against the heaven. And rolled outward all around it. From the Vale of Tawasentha, From the Valley of Wyoming, From the groves of Tuscaloosa, From the far-ort Rocky Mountains, From the Northern lakes and rivers All the tribes beheld the signal. Saw the distant smoke ascending, The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe. And the Prophets of the nations Said: " Behold it, the Pukwana ! By this signal from afarofi, Bending like a wand of willow. Waving like a hand that beckons, Gitche Manito, the mighty. Calls the tribes of men together. Calls the warriors to his council ! " Down the rivers, o'er the prairies, Came the warriors of the nations, Came the Delawaresand Mohawks, Came the Choctavvs and Camanches, Came the Shoshonies and Blackfeet, Came the Pawnees and Omahas, Came the Mandans and Dacotahs, Came the Hurons and Ojibvvays, All the warriors drawn together By the signal ofthe Peace-Pipe, To the Mountains ofthe Prairie, To the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry. And they slood there on the meadow. With their weapons and their war-gear. Painted like the leaves of Autumn, Painted like the sky of morning, Wildly glaring at each other; In their faces stern defiance, In their hearts the feuds of ages', The hereditary hatred. The ancestral thirst of vengeance. Gitche Manito, the mighty, The creator ofthe nations. Looked upon them with compassion, With paternal love and pity ; Looked upon their wrath and wrangling But as quarrels among children. But as feuds and fights of children ! Over them he stretched his right hand. To subdue their stubborn natures, To allay their thirst and fever, By the shadow of his right hand ; Spake to them with voice majestic As the sound of far-off waters, Falling into deep abysses, Warning, chiding, spake in thiswise: — " O my children ! my poor children 1 Listen to the words of wisdom. Listen to the words of warning. From the lips ofthe Great Spirit, From the Master of Life who made yon I " I have given you lands to hunt in, I have given you streams to fish in, I have given you bear and bison, I have given you roe and reindeer, I have given you brant and beaver. Filled themarshes full of wild-fowl. Filled the rivers full of fishes; Why then are you not contented? Why then will you hunt each other? " I am weary of your quarrels. Weary of your wars and bloodshed, Weary of your prayers for vengeance. EXPLANATORY NOTES. 213 Of your wranglings and dissensions; All your strength is in your union, All your danger is in discord ; Therefore lie at peace lienceforward, And as hrothers live together. " I will send a Pr325 Lake Traverse 970 Big Stone Lake 962 Lake Minnetonka 922 Lake Benton i,754 Lake Shetek i,475 Lake Pepin 664 Lake St. Croix 672 White Bear Lake 910 — Minn. Geo. Reporl, Vol. I. ELEVATION OF HILLS, VALLEYS AND PLATEAUS ABOVE TIDE-WATER. Red River flats at Moorhead 913 Red River flats at St. Vincent 800 Coteau des Prairies 1,800-1,900 Prairies of the Minnesota Valley 1,000-1,200 Prairies of Waseca and Steele counties 1,100-1,200 Prairies of Freeborn and Mower counties 1,200-1,400 The valley lands of the Mississippi and its tributaries in the counties of Houston, Fillmore, Winona, Wabasha and Goodhue 650-900 Upland prairies of those same counties 1,000-1,200 The wooded region of the Upper Mississippi 1,200-1,500 The wooded flats between Cass Lake and Lake of the Woods 1,100-1,400 Summits of the Giants Range 2,100-2,200 Summits of the Mesabi Range 2,100-2,200 Summits of the Sawteeth Range 1,800-2,000 Rolling plateau surrounding Lake Itasca 1,500-1,700 Leaf Mountains, in Otter Tail County 1,500-1,750 — Mi7in. Geo. Report, Vol. I. 234 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. COUNTIES. Counties Date Becker, Beltrami Benton Big Stone Blue Earth .... Brown Carlton Carver Cass Chippewa Chisago Clay Cook Cottonwood .. Crow Wing.... Dakota Dodge Douglas Faribault Fillmore Freeborn Goodhue Grant Hennepin Houston Hubbard Isanti Itasca Jackson Kanabec Kandiyohi Kittson Lac qui Parle Lake Le Sueur Lincoln Lyon McLeod Sauk Rapids., Ortonviile Mankato New Uim , Thomson Chaska , Montevideo Center City Moorhead Grand Marias.... Windom Brainerd Hastings Mantorville Alexandria Blue Earth City. Preston Albert Lea Red Wing Elbow Lake Minneapolis Caledonia Park Rapids Cambridge Jackson Brunswick Willmar Hallock Madison Two Harbors Le Sueur Center.. Lake Benton Marshall Glencoe May 23, 1857. May 23, 1857. March iS, 1S58. Feb. 28, 1866. Oct. 27, 1849. Feb. 20, 1S62. March 5, 1853. Feb. 20, 1855. May 23, 1857. Feb. 20, 1855. Sept. I, 1851. Feb. 20, 1862. Sept. I, 1851. March 2, 1862. March 9, 1874. May 23, 1857. May 23, 1857. Oct. 27, 1849. Feb. 20, 1855. March 8, 1858. Feb. 20, 1855. March 5, 1853. Feb. 20, 1855. March 5, 1853. March 6, 1868. March 6, 1852. Feb. 23, 1854. Feb. 26, 1883. Feb. 13, 1857. Oct. 29, 1849. May 23, 1S57. March 13, 1858. March 20, 1858. Feb. 25, 1879. Nov. 3, 1871. March i, 1856. March 5, 1853. March 6, 1873. Nov. 2, 1869. March i, 1856. REFERENCE TABLES. 235 COUNTIES.— CONT. Counties Marshall Martin Meeker Mille Lacs Morrison Mower Murray Nicollet Nobles Norman Olmsted Otter Tail Pme Pipestone Polk Pope Ramsey Redwood Renville Rice Rock St. Louis Scott Sherburne Sibley Stearns... Steele.. Stevens Swilt Todd Traverse Wabasha Wadena Waseca Washington Watonwan Wilkin Winona Wrisht Yellow Medicine County Seats. Warren Fairmont Litchfield Princeton Little Falls Austin Currie St. Peter Worthington Ada Rochester Fergus Falls Pine City Pipestone City . Crookston Glenwood St. Paul Redwood Falls, Beaver Falls Faribault Luverne Duluth Shakopee Elk River Henderson St. Cloud Owatonna Morris , Benson Long Prairie Brown's Valley Wabasha Wadena Waseca , Stillwater St. James Breckenridge ... Winona Buffalo Granite Falls... Date. Feb. 25, 1879. May 23, 1857. Feb. 23, 1856. May 23, 1857. Feb. 25, 1858. Feb. 20, 1855. May 23, 1857. March 5, 1853. May 23, 1857. Nov. 29, 1881. Feb. 20, 1855. March 18, 1858. March 31, 1856. May 23, 1857. July 20, 1858. Feb. 20, 1862. Oct. 27, 1849. Feb. 6, 1862. Feb. 20, 1855. March 5, 1853. March 23, 1857. March i, 1856. March 5, 1858. Feb. 25, 1856. March 5, 1853. Feb. 20, 1855. Feb. 20, 1855. Feb. 20, i860. March 4, 1870. Feb. 20, 1862. Feb. 20, 1862. Oct. 27, 1849. July II, 1858. Feb. 27, 1857. Oct. 27, 1849. Nov. 6. i860. March 6, 1868. Feb. 23, 1849. Feb. 20, 1855. Nov. 3, 1S71. INDEX. N B. — Points not explained on pages referred to will be found in the notes belonging to those pages and indicated upon them. Things not included here can be traced as well through the table of contents. Accault, Michael, 31. Acton, situation of, 143. Agassiz, alluded to, 93. Allen, Lieutenant, with Schoolcraft, 83; makes valuable geographical observa- tions, 85. Allouez, Father Claude, 28 ; at Sault Ste. Marie, 30 American Fur Company, its growth, 72 ; post of, 69; post of at Big Stone Lake,75 Ames, M. E. Speakerof the House, 112. Animal Life, 18. Ashland 27. Askjn, trader, leads Indians against Americans in 1812, 62. Assiniboines, 19. Astor, John Jacob, 72. Austin, biography of, 163 ; vetoes inter- nal improvement land bill, 166. Ayer, founds mission at Red Lake, 99. Bad Hail, Dakota Chief, no. Baker, Howard, victim at Acton, 143. Bancroft, historian, 121. Battery, 1st, organized and record of in 1861, 139; ist, in 1862,140; 2d, in 1862, 140 ; 3d, in 1863, 155 ; ist, in 1864, 157 ; 2d, in 1864, 158; 3d, in 1864, 158. Bayfield, 27. Bear Dance, described, 64. Beauharnois, governor, espouses cause of Verandrie, 45; prejudiced against Verandrie, 46. Beltrami, Count, 80. Big Cottonwood, river, meaning in Sioux, 87. Big Mound, battle' of, 155. Big Stone Lake, 19. Big Woods, 18 ; where, 143. Birch Coolie, battle of, 149. Black Dog, who, 83. Blue Earth, river, 20. Boardman, Sheriff, at relief of New Ulm, 146. Hois Brule, river, 31. Boucher, who, 43. Boundary, between the U. S. and British A., 75. Boutwell,with Schoolcraft's expedition, 83; established a mission at Leech Lake, 94 ; goes to Pokeguma, 97. Bradley, corporal in Pike's command, 59- Breckenridge, route to, 135. Bremer, Fredrika's description of St. Paul, 112. Brisbin, John B., president of Council, 124, 126. Brown, Maj. J. R., buries dead at Lower Agency, 149. Calhoun, who, 65; plans military oc- cupation of Minnesota, 65. Calumet, or peace-pipe, 115. Camp Release, 152. Cannon, supposed to be Long River, 93. Carver, Jonathan, 47 ; finds a cave, 48; visits St. Anthony Falls, 48; ascends the St. Pierre, 48; proposes to find a northwest passage, 50; his claims of territory, 50. Cass, Lewis, 69; seeks to make peace between Ojibwas and Dakotas, 70; treats with Indians at PrairieDuChien, 80; makes a treaty at Fond du Lac, 81. Cass Lake, mentioned by Morrison, 76. 238 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Castle Rock, 92. Catlin, George, artist, 85; his geological theories, 88. Catliii, John, governor of Wis. Ter., 105. Cavalry, Independent, in 1863, 155 ; 2d, in 1864, 156 ; Independent, in 1864; 157 ; Brackett's, in 1864, 158. Cave, Carver's, 64; Fountain, 64. Chambers, Governor, Indian commis- sioner, no. Charlevoix, Jesuit historian, 39. Chatfield, A. G., Associate Justice, 119. Chegoimegon Bay, 27. Chimney Rock, 92. Chase, Chas. L., heads constitutional convention, 130. Clark, governor of Missouri, treats with Indians at Prairie Du Chien, 80. Clays, for brick and pottery, 18. Climate of Minnesota, 17. Clough, W. P., 171. Coalition party, n6. Cold Water Cantonment, 65. Columbia Company, 72; post of at Lake Traverse, 75. Cooper, scientist, writings, 85. Cooper, David, Justice, 106. Coteau des Prairies, 85 ; visited by Nicollet, 90. Coureurs des bois, 29. Courts, first, 107. Cox, E. St. Julien, impeached, 178. Cretin, Bishop, 119. Dakotas, character of, 20; origin of, 20; bands of, 20; language of, 21; plan of counting, 21; plan of counting time, 22; theirnames of months, 23; poetry, 24; sacred language, 24; religion of, 25; offer friendship to the English, 47; called River Bands by Carver, 48; yield to OJibvvas, 50 ; contend with Ojibwas, 52; fight in war of 1812, 62; fight Ojib- was on the Pomme de Terre, 62 ; break Cass treaty, 74 ; make treaty at Prairie Du Chien, 80; in Black Hawk war, 83; fight at Pokeguma, 96; cede lands east of Mississippi, 96. Dana, Col. N. J. T., commands 1st Regiment, 138; promoted, 139. Dartmouth College case, 171. Davis, biography of, 169; opinion of rights of railroads, 170; speaks of locusts, 172. Day, David, speaker of House, 117. Dead ButTalo Lake, battle of, 155. De Conor, at Ft. Beauharnois, 43. De La Barre, who, 37. DeMarin, seeks a northwest passage, 46. Democratic party, 116. Denonville, who, 37. Des Moines, river, 20. D'Evaque, M., commands Ft. L' Huil- lier, 41. D'lberville, assists Le Sueur, 40; me- morializes the French government, 42. Dickson, enlists Indians against the U. S., 62 ; opinion of his character, 62. Dodge, Governor, treats with Indians at Ft. Siielling, 95. Dog trains, 136. Douglas, Captain, engineer, 69. Dracheiifels, allusion to, 66. Du Chesneau,3i. Du Luth, 30, 31 ; frees Hennepin, 36. Duluth, harbor of, 164. Dunn, Judge, 99. Edgerton, A. J., railroad commissioner, 171. Elbow Lake, a source of Red River, 77. Elk Lake, to what the name is applied, 75; mentioned by Morrison as Lake Itasca, 76. Elskwatawa, the Prophet, 62. Ely, missionary, 97. Emerson, owner of Dred Scott, 88. English supremacy, established, 47. Evangelical Society of Lausanne, 95. Fauna, 18. Featherstonhaugh, 85. Fillmore,President,visitsMinnesota,i2i. I'landrau, Chas. E., Associate Justice, 120; Indian agent, 128; objects to a mandamus, 133; heads relief party at New Ulm, 146 239 Flora of Minnesota, 17. Forbes, W. H., president of Council, 116. Forest City, massacre near, 147. Forests, areas of and trees, 17 Ft. Abercrombie, garrison in 1862 small, 141; assaulted September 3d, 1862, 150. Ft. Beauharnois, constructed how and when, 43 ; purposes of, 45 ; flooded and rebuilt, 45. Ft. Crevecoeur, 33. Ft. Jonquiere, built, 46. Ft. La Reine, 46. Ft. Ridgely, expedition from in Inkpa- doota war, 128; garrison in 1862 small, 141 ; news of outbreak at, 144; invested by Little Crow, 145; siege of, 146; intrenched, 147. Ft. St. Anthony, 65 ; building of, 70. Ft. St. Pierre, 46. Ft. Snelling, Long's description of site, 64; plan of, 66,69; name suggested, 66; mills for, 72; initial treaties at, 110. Ft. William, location of, 75. Fortifications, near Pipestone, 88. Fremont, J. C, accompanies Nicollet, go- French supremacy ends, 47. Frotichet, trader, 90. Frontenac, 31. Fuller, Jerome, Chief Justice, 117. Furber, Joseph W., speaker of House, 109, 126. Galbraith, Indian agent, 145. Gallissonniere, proposes to aid Verand- rie, 46. Gardner, Abbie, 124, 128. Gardner, family of, 128, Gardiner, Chas., speaker of House, 124. Garreau, Father, killed, 26; lesson of his experience, 36. Gens des Feuilles, who, 60. Gens du Lac, who, 60. Ghent, treaty of, 62. Goodhue, Jas. M., editor, 106. Goodrich, Aaron, Chief Justice, to6: superseded, 117. Gorman, W. A., governor, 119; reviews railroad question, 125; calls extra legislative session, 129; commands ist Regiment and is promoted, 138. Grand Portage, where, 76; river of, &o. (■rant, English trader, 59. Green River, why so named, what now called, 40. Guignas, Father, at Ft. Beauharnois, 43- Gun, grandson of Carver, 63. Harrington, Lewis, at siege of Hutchin- son, 150. Hayner, chosen judge, 117; decision on prohibition law, 119. Hay-pee-dan, Sioux ally of Americans in 1812, 62. Hazel Run, 123. Hazelwood Mission, camp at, 152. Heights of land, description of, 76. Hendricks, Capt. Mark, at relief of Birch Coolie, 149. Hennepin, 31: explorations of, 32; cap- tured, 35; hopes to find a northwest passage to India, 36, 37 ; last known of, 36. Hole-in-the-day II., no. Hopper, Andrew, at siege of Hutchin- son, 150. Hospital, first for insane, 161 ; for deaf, dumb, and blind, 161. Houetbatons, who, 31. Houghton, with Schoolcraft expedition, 83 ; writings of, 85. Hubbard, Lucius F., commands 5th Regiment, 140; biography of, 179. Hudson Bay Company founded, 28; en- croachments of, 65; unites with North- west Company, 70. Huggins, A. W., missionary, 94, 95. Ihanktonwana, 20. Infantry Battalion in 1S65, 159. Inkpadoota, band of, 124. Intendant of Canada, 30; meaning of title, 31. lowas, 20. Iroquois, 26. 240 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Isle Pelee, when and why so named, 40. Isle Royal, 27. Itasca Lake, mentioned by Morrison, 76; how named, 83. Izatys, who they were, 31. James, U. S. Marshal, 96. Jemeraye, who, 45. Johnson, Gen. R. W., gubernatorial can- didate, iSo. Jones, Robinson, victim at Acton, 143. Jonquiere, governor, ignores the Ver- andries, 46. Julia, Lake, 80. Julian sources of the Mississippi and Red, 80. Kanienistagoia, 30. Kaposia, where situated and why named, 35 ; Methodists at, 95. Kasota, settlement of, meaning, 117. Keating, scientist, with Long expedition of 1823,74. Kettle Hill, where, origin of name, 63. Keweenaw Bay, 27. King's arms, planting of, 31. King, grandson of Carver, 63. Kingsbury, W. W., delegate to Congress, 120. Lac qui Parle, 19, distance up the St. Pierre, 50; mission destroyed, 123. La Crosse, meaning of name, 57. La Hontan, Baron, his voyage, 38, 39. Lake Conde, 33. Lake, areas of Minnesota, 16. Lake of Tears, 33. Lake of the Woods, 46, 75. Lake Traverse, seat of fur trade, 62 ; origin of name, 72 Lampson, Chauncy, kills Little Crow, 154- Lands, grant to Northwestern R. R., 121; granted State University, 137; public school, 137; granted Southern Minnesota R. R., 161; granted Hast- ings and Dakota R. R., 161 ; claimed for University, 162; swamp, 164; granted University, 166. La Noue, 42. La Place, instructs Nicollet, 90. La Pointe, 27 ; mission at, 29; county of, 106. La Salle, 31; expedition of, 32; parts with Hennepin, 33. Lea, Luke, Indian commissioner, 115. Lean Bear, chief, 147. Leaping Rock, described, 90. Leavenworth, Colonel, 65; relieved of command, 70. Leech Lake, why so named, 52. Le Jeune, Paul, 26. Lester, Col. H. C, commanded 3d Regi- iment, 139. Le Sueur, witness of Proces Verbal, 38; builds a fort, 39; at court of France and building Ft. L'Huillier, 40; sends supplies to Ft. L'Huillier, 41; sends supposed ore to France, 41. Lincoln, President, pardons Sioux, 152. Linctot, commands at La Pointe and treats with Dakotas, 43. Little Crow, treats with Pike, 58; up- braids English, 62; village of, 70; who, S3; leads outbreak of 1S62, 143; invests Ft. Ridgely, 145; defeats Strout, 150; retreats, 152; shot in Big Woods, 154. Little Paul, 124, 128. Lone Rock, 92. Long, Maj. S. H., leads an expedition in 1817, 63; leads another expedition in 1823, 74. Long Lake, battle of, 150. Long River, credited by Nicollet, 93. Loomis, David B., president of Council, 112. Lower Agency, attacked, 144. Ludden, John G., speaker of House, 116. Mackinaw, 42. Maidens, boulders, described, 88. Manito, natural stone image, 88; re- ferred to, 90. Mankato, settlement of, meaning, 117. Marble, family of, 128. Marest, Father, witness of Proces- Verbal, 38. Marsh, John, who, 83. 241 Marsh, Captain, falls into an ambuscade, 144. 145- Marshall, W. R., nominated for dele- gate, 123; at Ft. Ridgely, 147; bi- ography of, 160; railroad commissioner, 171. Mascoutins, tribe of, 39. McGill, Governor A. R., biography of, 185. McKenzie, trader, 72. McLaren, Maj.,at relief of Birch Coolie, 149. McLeod, Martin, president of Council, 117. McPhaill, Col. Sam., at relief of Dirch Coolie, 149. Mdewakantonwans, 20, ;^7,; band men- tioned, 115. Medary, appointed by Buchanan, 130. Meeker, Bradley B., Justice, 106. Menard, lesson of his experience, 36. Mendota, meaning of, 65. Michigan, Territory of, 57, 69. Military reservations, first of, 58. Mille Lacs, 31. Miller, biography of, 156. Minerals, i8. Minneopa, meaning of, 126. Minnesota, first state to ofi"er troops, 137; territorial boundaries, 105; ter- ritorial organization, 105; river, 19; river and valley examined, 75. Mission of St. Michael, 43. Missouri, skirmish of, 155. Mississippi, head of, 19; ultimate source of, 79. Montagne Trempe el Eau, where, mean- ing of name, 63. Ml rrison, William, trader, visits Lake Itasca in 1803-4 and 1S11-12, 76; letter to his brother, 76; route of, 83. Morrison, Allen, trader, 76. Murray, VV. P., president of Council, 122. Nadouessioux, who they were, 26; men- tioned, 30. Napoleon, cedes what is now partly in Minnesota, 56. Nelson, R. R., Associate Justice, 120. New Ulm, site mentioned, 74 ; attacked in Sioux massacre, 146; attacked a second time, 146. Nicolet, Jean, explorer and interpreter, 25- Nicollet, traces inlets of Lake Itasca, 75; describes head of the Mississippi, 77; life of, 88 ; commissioned to examine northwest territories, 90; visits and names Undine region, 92; examines Castle Rock, 92 ; death of, 94. Nobles, family of, 12S. Normal School at Winona, 161. Norns, Jas. S., speaker of House, 122. North, J. W., heads constitutional con- vention, 130. Northwest Company, fur traders, estab- lished, 54 ; emissaries of, 63 ; yield territory to American Company, 6y; unites with Hudson Bay Company, 70. Northwestern R. R. Co., 121. Ojibwas, 20; gain a foot-hold in Minne- sota, 50; contend with Dakotas, 52 ; fight Dakotas on the Pomme de Terre ; fight in war of 1812, 62; break Cass treaty, 74 ; make treaty of Prairie Du Chien,8o; sign treaty of Fond Du Lac; attacked at Ft. Snelling by Dakotas, Si ; cede lands, 95 ; hold council at Ft. Snelling, 95; fight at Pokeguma, 96 ; flee from Pokeguma, 98. Olmsted, S. B., president of Council, 120. Olmsted, David, president of Council, loS; nominated for delegate, 123. Omahas, 20. Otesse, trader, 76. Other-day, 12S; saves large party of whites, 145. Page, Sherman, impeached, 176. Pans, treaty of, 54. Pembina, meaning, 72. Pemidji, Lake, meaning of, 76. /242 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Pendergast, W. W., at siege of Hutchin- son, 150. Penicaut, allusion to, 85. Penikese, island, alluded to, 93. Perrot, Nicholas, 28, 29, 30; in Proces- Verbal, 37 ; builds Ft. St. Antoine, 37; lesson of his experience, 37. Peteler, Captain F., commands sharp- shooters, 139. Physical Features, 15. Picard du Gay, 33. Pierce, Oliver, at siege of Hutchinson, 150- Pigeon River, 46. Pike, his character, 57 ; purpose of his expedition, 57 : arrives at Prairie Da Chien, 60; mistakes source of the Mississippi, 75. Pillagers, who, 52. Pillsbury, biography of, 174 ; acts in be- half of locust sufferers, 173. Pilot Knob, 110, 115. Pipestone, quarry described, 87 ; visited by Nicollet, 90; creek, 90. Poage, Sarah, mission teacher, 94, 95. Poinsett, secretary of war, 96. Pointe au Sable, where situated, 43. Pokeguma, Lake of, 96. Pond, S. W., helps to establish a Dakota mission, 94. Pond, G. H., helps to establish a Dakota mission, 94, 95; interprets Mendota treaty, 116. Position and Surface, of Minnesota, 16. Prairie Aux Aisles, where and why so named, 64. Prairie Du Chien, fur mart, 48; outpost of settlements, 65 ; tribes meet at. So ; treaty of brokers, 81. Prince Rupert, 28. Proces-Verbal, first official document relating to Miiniesota, 37. Public Instruction, superintendent of, 137- Rainy Lake, 46, 75. Randall, John A., railroad com- missioner, 171. Ramsey, made territorial governor, 106; Indian commissioner, no; at home, 112; Indian commissioner, 115 ; pict- ures progress of Territory, 117; bi- ography, 136; seeks aid in Sioux massacre, 147; elected U. S. senator, 153. Red River, why so named, 72 ; carts, 136. Red Rock, why so named, 35 ; Meth- odists at, 95. Red Wing, village of, 70. Regiment, 1st, organized and record of in 1S61, 13S ; 2d, organized and 1S61 record, 139; 3d, organized and 1S61 record, 139; 2d, :S62 record, 140; 3d, in 1862, surrenders, 140; 4th, 1S62 record, 140 ; 5th, 1862 record, 140 ; 6th, 1862, partly stationed at Ft. Snelling and in Sioux campaign, 147 ; 7th, 1S62, at Ft. Ridgely, 147 ; ist, in 1S63, record of, 154, 155; 2d, 1863 record, 155; 3d, 1863 record, 155; 4th, 1863 record, 154; 5th, 1863 record, 154; 6th, 1863 record, 155; 7th, 1863 record, 155; 9th, 1863 record, 155; 10th, 1863 record, 155; ist, 1864 record, 157 ; 2d, record in 1864, found on 156, 157, and 159; 3d, 1864 record, 156, 157, and 158; 4th, 1864 record, 156 and 159; 5th, 1864 record, 156 and 157 ; 6th, 1864 record, 157 ; 7th, 1864 record, 157 and 158; 8th, 1864 record, 158; 9th, 1864 record, 157; loth, 1864 record, 157 ; nth, 1864 record, 156 and 158; 8th, 1865 record, 159; the other troops, 1865 record, 159. Rene Menard, 27, 28. Renville, trader, 72 ; leads Indians against Americans in 1812,62; inter- preter with expedition of Long in 1S23, 74. Riggs, S. R., missionary, 95; founds a mission at Traverse des Sioux, 99 ; in- terprets treaty of Traverse des Sioux, 115; describes Hazehvood Republic, 124. Rice, H. M., delegate to Congress, 120 ; elected delegate, 123. Rice Lake, a source of the Red River, 76. 243 River Systems, of Minnesota, i6. Rogers, Major, commandant at Mack- inaw, 48. Rolette, leads Indians against Ameri- cans in 181 2, 62. Rolette, Joseph, member of Council, 126. Rollingstone, settlement on, 117. Roque., interpreter, 63. St. Anthony Falls, discovered and named, 33. St. Croix, river, 31 ; water power of, 95; county of, 99. St. Francis, river, 36. St. Lusson, 30. St. Paul, settled, 100 ; chapel of, 100 ; de- clared capital of Minnesota, 106. St. Peter, river, name changed, 117. St. Pierre, river, 38. St. Pierre, who and for what noted, 45 ; seeks a northwest passage, 46. St. Remi, now called, 41. Sanborn, Col. John B., commands 4th Regiment, 140. Sandy Lake, 50, 69. Sangaskitons, who, 31. San Ildefonso, treaty of, 56. Santees, 19. Sauteurs, who, 59 ; smoking the calu- met, 60. Schoolcraft, mineralogist, 69; claims the discovery of Lake Itasca, 75 ; goes on i two expeditions, 82, 83 ; meets Indians at Ft. Snelling; deserts Allen, 85. Scott, General Winfield, 65. Seeger, William, impeached, 168. Seignelay, French minister of marine, 32. Selkirk, who, 62 ; movements of, 65. Seymour, Samuel, artist, with 1823 ex- pedition of Long, 74. Shakopee, settlement of, 117; band of, 143- Sharpshooters, 2d Company, join ist Regiment, 139. Sherburne, Moses, Associate Justice, 119. Sherman, Major, 12S. Shetek, Lake, massacre near, 147. Sibley, pays tribute to Nicollet, 93 ; dele- gate to Congress, 105; chosen delegate again, 107; clerk at Mackinaw, 131; commands Indian expedition of 1862, 147; frees captives, 152; in Indian campaign of 1863, 154. Sioux, try to capture Ft. St. Antoine, 37 ; opposed by Foxes, 37 ; treat with Pike, 59; changes in life of, 140; in famine, 141, meditate an outbreak, 141 ; defeated at Wood Lake, 150 ; thirty- eight of hung, 152. Sissetons, J15. Sissitonwans, 20. Sleepy Eyes, chief, 147. Snelling, Colonel, commended by Gen. Scott, 66 ; ascends the Mississippi, 70. Snelling, Joseph, son of Col. S., with 1823 expedition of Long, 74. Soil of Minnesota, 17. Soldier's Lodge, 141. Stevens, J. D., missionary, 94. Stone, Lucy C, mission teacher, 94. Stones, building, 18. Stony Lake, battle of, 155. Straights of Anian, 35. Strout, Captain, defeated by Little Crow, 150. Sturgeon Island, 75. Sully, Colonel Alfred, commands ist Regiment, 139 ; in campaign of 1863 ; abandons Indian campaign, 158. Sussitongs, who, 60. Swan River, site of Pike's stockade, 59. Swift, biography of, 153. Swiss, exodus from Selkirk colony, 82 ; squat on public domain, 96. Tahamie, Sioux ally of the Americans in war of 1812, 62. Taliaferro, Maj. Lawrence, character of, 70; his opinions of various tribes, 70; seeks to make peace between Ojibwas and Dakotas,74; sells Harriet, wife of Dred Scott, 88 ; assists missionaries, 94- Talon, 30. 244 HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. Taney, renders Dred Scott decision, 88. Taylor, N. C. D., speaker of House, 120. Tecumseh, Shawnee chief, 62. Teetons, 19. Thatcher, family of, 12S. Titonwans, 20. Traders, British, spirit of, 60. Traverse des Sioux, why named so, 74; settlement of, 117. Trowbridge, C. C, topographer, 69. Tweedy, John H., Wisconsin delegate to Congress, 105. University of Minnesota, 114. Van Cleve, Col. H. P., commands 2d Regiment, 139. Vaudreuil, 42. Verandrie, who, 45; the father dies, 46 ; the brothers, 46. Vermillion River, 92. Versailles, treaty of, 47. Voyageurs, 29. Wabasha, chief, meaning of name, 54; upbraids English, 62. Wahpetons, 115. Wahpetonwans, 20. Wapashaw, chief, meaning o.' name, 64. Wapekutes, 20; band of, 115. Webster, V., victim at Acton, 143. Welch, William, Chief Justice, 119; ren- ders an important decision, 122. White Lodge, chief, 147. Williamson, T. S., pioneer missionary, 94^ 95 I goes to Kaposia, 102. Wilson, Clara D., victim at Acton, 143. Winnebagoes, begin border war, 82 ; placed on Minnesota reservation, 100. Winnipeg, meaning of, 75. Winona, meaning of, 117. Wolcott, Indian agent, 69. Wood Lake, battle of, 150. Yanktons, 19; make trouble at the Upper Agency, 129.