USA > Iowa > Howard County > Lime Springs > History of the Welsh in Minnesota, Foreston and Lime Springs, Ia. gathered by the old settlers > Part 2
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The timber of the country comprises oak, elm, basswood, maple, butternut, hickory, poplar, and in the valleys, black wal- nut and cottonwood.
ABORIGINES.
This country was the ancient home of the Sisseton bands of
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THE WELSH IN MINNESOT.I.
the powerful Sioux or Dakota nation. Their villages were situ- ated at Traverse-De-Sioux, at Swan Lake, Merrah Taukay, at the mouth of the Big Cottonwood, and in Judson, just below the residence of Henry Roberts, Esq .. on the Minnesota river.
Of those the principal one was that at Swan Lake, under Chief "Red Iron," while that under Chief "Friend," in Judson, was the least, being really only a branch of the Swan Lake vil- lage. An Indian village consisted simply of a collection of huts. built by covering a frame-work of poles with elm bark, leaving a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape. These villages were seldom occupied except in the winter, which fact, owing to the In- dian's want of cleanliness in and about his abode, was well as a sanitary measure. During the summer the Indians wandered about from stream to stream, from lake to lake, and from prairie to woodland, hunting and fishing, and dwelling in teepees.
An old Indian trail led from "Red Iron's" village to "Friend's." and from there to the upper prairie, near the house of Henry Roberts, Esq .. thence by the house of Rev. John Rob- erts, following the edge of the timber in a bee line through the village of South Bend. to the valley of the Blue Earth, called by the Indians "Pleasant Valley," where they obtained their paint and where they loved to camp, thence the path led through where now stands the city of Mankato, into the Big Woods, where they frequently went on hunting expeditions, and where, every spring. they made much maple sugar.
Upon this ancient road in the early days one would be quite sure to meet a troop of aborigines on the march, all walking in single file. First came the men, dressed in close-fitting panta- loons of clouted cloth or buck skin, with a wide, fancy fringe along each leg, a pair of moccasins, ornamented with beads, on the feet, and a dirty white blanket drawn over the shoulders. At the girdle hung a tomahawk, knife and ammunition pouch, while on the arm would be carried the gun. They were a tall. stalwart looking people, straight as an arrow, of a dusky red color, with prominent features, high check bones, and long. straight, very coarse, black hair, often braided in one or two plaits. Behind the men came the squaws, much more haggard and squatty than their lords, because of the drudgery they had to perform. On their backs would be huge bundles, and often a small pappoose, strapped to a board, perched on top of all. With them also, would be all the other pappooses of va- rious ages, the older ones carrying burdens, like their mothers. Mingled with the company would be several wolfish-looking
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THE WELSH IN MINNESOTA.
dogs, whose meat was esteemed a great delicacy at their feasts. Generally, the troops would have half-a-dozen small, scraggy ponies, which, sometimes, the men would ride ; and which some- times the squaws would harness to two poles, one end of each of which would drag on the ground and form a sort of primitive wagon, upon which to transport a part of the luggage and pap- pooses.
All labor connected with Indian life the squaws performed. Their duty it was not only to transport the baggage, but, also, to put up the wigwams, fetch the firewood, cook the meals, cul- tivate the small patch of Indian corn, tan the furs and the robes, make the clothing and fancy bead-work, manufacture the house- hold implements and hew out the canoes.
The Indians were very hospitable, and would spare the last morsel, but expected others to do the same. They had but a faint idea of private property, especially in the matter of food, and, therefore, thought nothing of begging catables of the carly settlers, deeming it a matter of right that if they or their pap- pooses were hungry, and the pale face had more food in his lodge than he wanted at a meal, he should certainly share with them. They seldom made any provision for the morrow, but would gorge themselves with what they had at the time and wait until hungry before looking for more ; hence, during the severe win- ters, when game became scarce, they were often at starvation's door, and sometimes perished from want. They were never dainty as to what they ate. All kinds of animals, and every part of the animal, afforded them nourishment. The early pioneers remember how a dead horse or cow would be relished by the In- dians as a big feast.
The Sioux were the hereditary foes of the Chippewas, who dwelt north, about the head waters of the Mississippi ; and for ages war parties were constantly going out from one nation against the other. The fair fields of Minnesota have been lit- erally drenched in gore, and there is scarce a spot but has been the scene of a bloody conflict. The old settler can recall how he was horrified, when passing an Indian village, at the sight of a number of fresh human scalps, painted, combed, and stretched upon a hoop which was fastened to a pole in front of the wig- wams. Sometimes the heads of their victims might be seen placed in a hideous row upon stakes. Around these bloody trophies, for many nights, would be held the savage scalp-dance, with such howling, hooting, and yelling as would wake the echoes of Gehenna. They observed many dances and feasts, and
THE WELSH IN MINNESOTA.
often spent all night in these wild orgies, much to the terror of the early settlers before they became used to their customs. Though the braves disliked all labor, deeming it ignoble for a man, yet they were inured to the severest hardships. fatigue and bodily pains. To endure physical suffering with them was the chief characteristic of manhood. From childhood the males were taught to despise pain, and feats of endurance were always the special feature of their feasts and dances. Major Stephen H. Long, who made a survey of the valley in 1823, thus describes a "Dance to the Sun," performed by a young brave named "Wan- otau," as witnessed by him at Lake Traverse: This dance con- sisted in making three cuts through his skin- one on his breast . and one on each of his arms. The skin was cut in the manner of a loop, so as to permit a rope to pass under the strip of skin and flesh, which was thus divided from the body. The ropes being passed through, their ends were secured to a tall, vertical pole, planted at about forty yards from his lodge. He then be- gan to dance around this pole, at the commencement of his fast, frequently swinging himself in the air, so as to be supported merely by the cords which were secured to the strips of skin cut from his arms and breast. He continued this exercise, with few intermissions, during the whole of his fast, until the fourth day about 10 o'clock a. m., when the strip of skin from his breast gave way, not withstanding which he interrupted not his dance, although supported merely by his arms. At noon the strip from his left arm snapped off. His uncle then thought he had suf- fered enough, and drew his knife and cut the remaining strip from his right arm, upon which Wanotan fell to the ground in a swoon. The heat at the time was extreme. He was left exposed in that state to the sun until night, when his friends took him some provisions.
During the summer of 1820 two of these Sisseton Sioux mur- dered two men on the Missouri river. The government de- manded the murderers for punishment. The aged father of one volunteered to die instead of his son, and with the other mur- derer, started for Fort Snelling to deliver themselves up to the authorities. Before entering the fort both pinioned their arms and thrust wooden splinters through the flesh above the elbows, to show their contempt of pain and death.
Thus the stoic red man cultivated and exulted in his indif- ference to suffering and death.
On the opposite side of the river from Friend's Village, in Judson, on a high bluff overlooking the river, was situated the
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THE WELSH IN MINNESOT.A.
old Indian cemetery. It was formed by placing a number of crotched posts in the ground, and laying a net work of poles across from one to the other ; and on top of these, wrapped in skins or blankets. the dead were deposited. This ancient burial place was cut down and destroyed as a nuisance by the early Welsh settlers. The Indian, however, has gone, For the past thirty years he has not set foot upon the land of his fathers. A mighty change has taken place : his bark villages have disap- peared without leaving a ruin : his paths are obliterated ; the graves of his ancestors are no more: there is no trace of his powerful race which filled the land just thirty years ago ; no one can even find a trinket in the fields ; it is as though oblivion had drawn its hand across the slate of their existence, and blotted out forever their every slight mark. The land, where his fore- fathers lived, and moved, and had their being for a thousand years and more ; where they loved and hated, joyed and sorrowed, fought and bled and died ; where ambition stirred and victory crowned full many a nameless hero-the land where he was born and reared ; where he played and won his first achievements of the chase and war, knows him not. And should he return to- day and behold it, dotted with busy marts of trade, sprinkled with farm-houses, school-houses and churches, chequered with waving fields of golden harvests, striped with roads and rail- ways, and teeming with a strange population, he, likewise, would know it not.
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
The first account we have of this great country dates back to the year 1700, when a Frenchman, by the name of Le Sueur, having intimation of a copper mine in this region, and having received authority from the French Government, ascended the Mississippi with a small sail boat, two canoes, and nineteen men. entering, on September 20, 1700, the mouth of the Minnesota, which river he called St. Pierre, in honor of a French officer then in command at Lake Pepin. On October 1st he entered the Mahkato or Blue Earth river. About a league up this river, in the vicinity of the supposed copper mine, Le Sueur and party landed and built a fort, which was completed on October 14th and called Le Huillier, after the Farmer General at Paris. That the valleys and prairies adjoining the Blue Earth and Minnesota rivers then afforded pasturage to immense herds of buffalo, is evidenced by the fact that a few of Le Sucur's party in a short time killed four hundred of these animals, whose flesh, preserved
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THE WELSH IN MINNESOTA.
by being quartered and hung up to dry within the fort, formed the chief sustenance of the party during the winter. In the spring Le Sueur began working the mine. According to Penicaut. who was one of the party, and afterward wrote an account of the expedition, the ore was scratched out with a knife, and. in twenty-two days, more than twenty thousand pounds was ob- tained, of which Le Sueur selected four thousand of the best. This he loaded in his shallop, and with three canoes full of furs, among which were four hundred beaver robes of nine skins each, . obtained in trade from the Indians, started about the first of May for Louisiana and France, leaving one D'Eraque with twelve men to guard the fort. D'Eraque remained at his post that sum- mer and winter, until the spring of 1702, when, being out of pro- visions and ammunition, and three of his men having been killed by the Fox and Mascouten Indians, he abandoned the fort and sailed down the river for Louisiana.
The sight of the ancient Fort Le Huillier is now very much in doubt. Some place it about a mile below the juncture of the Le Sueur river with the Blue Earth. Penicaut described it as being a league up the Mahkato, on a point of land a quarter of a mile from the woods, and the mine was three-quarters of a lea- gue distant, on the bank of the river, in a bluff, where the green earth was a foot and a half in thickness : and a map of the pe- riod puts the fort on the right bank of the river. To tally with the description, many think the Blue Earth, at that time, flowed west of its present channel, through the village of South Bend, where traces of its ancient bed are plainly visible ; and that the fort stood on the elevated tableland to the east of the village. As to the copper ore discovered, this seems to have been the In- dian pigment of green clay. What became of the ship-load carried to France history saith not.
There is a tradition of an ancient and magnificent cave, in the vicinity of this bed of green clay, hewn into the solid rock in the sides of the high bluff on the farm lately owned by Mr. Jas. P. Thomas. The entrance to the cave is said to be very small. so that one would have to crawl in on hands and knees ; but the interior is an immense chamber, whose sides and high ceilings glitter with the sheen of a peculiar metal. In one corner stands a huge chest with a skeleton on the lid to guard the French val- uables hid by D'Eraque, while scattered about the cave are heaps of treasures, concealed by the Indians. Two or three of the earliest settlers claim to have seen the mouth of the cave, or a hole which might have been such, bat a land-slide soon after
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THE WELSH IN MINNESOTA.
their arrival covered it up. Occasionally some curious antiqua- rian, with pick and shovel, makes a feeble search, but no syste- matic exploration has been attempted, and the wonderful cave still remains a mystery.
For a hundred and fifty years after the abandonment of Fort Le Huillier this fair and fertile country was destined to continue in the wild beauty of nature. The buffalo grazed upon the prairie, the deer bounded through the forest, the wolf howled from the hillside, and the smoke of the wigwam rose from the valleys undisturbed by the approach of the white men ; save for the occasional visit of some wandering French hunter ; save that in May, 1820, a company of Scotchmen, under one Laidlaw, passed up the Minnesota river, from Prairie Du Chien, with sey- eral boats full of grain for the Selkirk Colony, at Pembina, whose crop had been entirely destroyed by grass-hoppers ; and save for the occasional passing of some Government survey or exploring expedition.
On the morning of the 24th of July. 1850, the first steam- boat passed the mouth of the Blue Earth up the Minnesota river. It was called the "Yankee," and on board was an excursion party from St. Paul. Just above the mouth of the Minneopa creek the cry of buffaloes was raised, and the old hunters got their guns ready ; but the buffaloes proved to be a number of huge boulders half hidden in the tall grass. During the day the heat was excessive, the murcury getting as high as 104 degrees in the shade. The night was passed at the mouth of the Big Cottonwood, and a terrible night it was. In addition to the stifling heat, clouds of mosquitoes filled the air, against whose attack no smoke nor switches of leafy boughs availed. So com- pletely exhausted were the excursionists by morning that they were glad to beat a hasty retreat for home. Among this com- pany of pleasure-seekers were P. K. Johnson, Col. Robertson. Henry Jackson and Daniel Williams, who were so impressed with the great beauty of the country and with the location of the great bend of the Minnesota as the natural key to this vast region, that they determined to build there a town. Accord- ingly, on January 31, 1852, P. K. Johnson, Daniel Williams and John James left St. Paul with a team to locate the new city. About a mile below the mouth of the Mahkato, or Blue Earth, there was a good boat landing on the Minnesota, and here our adventurers determined to found their city, and at once began by putting up a log shanty. On the 4th of February a town site company was organized at St. Paul, consisting of fourteen mem-
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Evers
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W M. H. JONES. JOHN B. RICHARDS. WM. R. HCORES.
DAVID S. EVANS. EDWARD JONES,
RICHARD F. JONES. JOHN R. THOMAS. WM. W. DAVIS, JR.
Welsh Business Men, Mankato, Minn.
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OWEN E. RICHARDS. WM. F. HUGHES.
EVAN D. JONES. WM. DAVIS. DAVID J. JONES.
HENRY I. PARRY. BYRON HUGHES.
HUGH EVANS. Welsh Business Men, Mankato, Minn.
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THE WELSIL IN MINNESOTA.
bers, who, in the following May, had the town site surveyed and platted, and called the new town Mankato, from the Mahkato or Blue Earth river, though some maintain that the name came from that of the water-spirit in the German Legend of Undine. But the name Mankato does not occur in Undine. The fact seems to have been that Mrs. Col. Robertson, who chose the name, had been reading Nicollet's account of the region of the Blue Earth or Mahkato, where it is compared to the Undine region of the German Romance. The good lady in some way misun- derstood the passage and got the impression that Mankato was the name of a water-spirit in the German Romance and so named the town. During that year (1852; about a half dozen log shanties were built. This was the first settlement in Blue Earth county, and the origin of the present city of Mankato.
As to two of the founders-Daniel Williams and John James -their names indicate them of Welsh descent, though the for- mer was born in New York and the latter somewhere in Eng- land.
THE FIRST WELSH SETTLERS.
ST. PAUL AND LE SUEUR.
Who was the first Welshman to settle in Minnesota is not known, but prior to the organization of the territory in 1849 a few Welshmen had located in St. Paul and vicinity.
In May, 1849, Maj. John P. Owens came to St. Paul from Cincinnati, O., and started the Minnesota Register, the first newspaper in the territory. About 1849 one Thomas Thomas, of Pont-y-pool, Wales. came from New Orleans and located in St. Paul. He was a stone mason and contractor by trade, and helped to lay the first foundations of the future capital of our state. Four Welshmen, named John L. Jones. Griffith Jones, John Roberts and Enoch Mason, nephew of the late Rev. John H. Evans, came to St. Paul in 1850. Mason died there in the summer of 1852, and was buried on Dayton's Bluff, and as far as known was the the first Welshman who died in Minnesota. In 1851 these were joined by four other Welshmen, at least, viz: David Jones ( now of Le Sueur county), another David Jones. and one Evans, who had a drug store there, and Williams, in the employ of the Pioneer.
John Roberts, David Jones, Griffith Jones and John L. Jones went about four miles northeast of St. Paul and located upon
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THE WELSH IN MINNESOTA.
farms. The four were natives of Denbighshire, Wales. In August, 1852, John C. Evans, now of Le Sueur county, joined this embryonic Welsh settlement, making his claim in Section 10 of New Canada township. He was soon joined by his two sisters, Rose and Margaret. The following April (1853) Mr. Evans' father, Edward Evans, and mother, and his brother, Ed- ward S. Evans, and his other four sisters, Elizabeth, Mary, Maria and Liza, all came to the new settlement. Though there was then plenty of government land in Ramsey county, still the soil was of such poor quality that our Welshmen very soon con- cluded to abandon it and seek a more favorable spot. The re- gion of the Blue Earth was then famed as being the richest and most desirable farming land in the world. Accordingly about the first of May, 1853, John C. Evans, David Jones and John Roberts finding a boat at St. Paul going up the Minnesota river to Ft. Ridgely, embarked on it for the Blue Earth country. The boat's name was Tiger. The first day it got as far as F't. Snelling. The next day it reached Home Landing (now Shak- opee). The third day brought them to Brown's Landing (now Henderson ), where there was but one cabin and one man in it. The fourth day they reached Le Sueur, where a few peo- ple had settled. The fifth day found them at Traverse de Sioux, which in that day was the largest city by far in the Minnesota valley. It was the metropolis of the Sioux Indians. Situated at the main ford of the Minnesota river, the place had been very prominent in Indian history from the first and trading posts were located here by the whites as early as 1829, and in 1843 the great Sioux missionary, Rev. S. R. Riggs, established a mission here. At the time of this visit from our Welsh friends, Nathan Myrick conducted the principal trading post while Rev. M. N. Adams ministered to the spiritual wants of the community. On the sixth day our travelers passed Rock Bend (now St. Peter) and Babcock's Landing, at each of which places there was but one shanty. Frequently the boat would stop while all on board, passengers and boat hands, went out and cut wood for the engine -the captain having thoughtfully brought along a few extra axes for the passengers. On Wednesday morning, the seventh day since they began their journey our Welsh friends landed at Mankato, then a city of three log cabins, and distant from St. Paul 350 miles according to the boat's schedule, but which today is only 86 miles distant and about two hours ride by rail. On inquiry they learned that the fertile prairie land they were seek- ing lay six or seven miles to the west and south. The three
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Edward Evans.
David Jones.
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W. E. Jones.
Evan T. Jones.
EARLY WELSH SETTLERS OF LE SUEUR COUNTY, MINN.
John C. Evans.
Mrs. John C. Evans.
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David Hughes.
Mrs. David Hughes.
EARLY WELSH SETTLERS OF LE SUEUR COUNTY, MINN,
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THE WELSH IN MINNESOTA.
struck out through the woods to the south in quest of the prom- ised land, but had not gone far when a heavy cold rain set in, which continued with some snow all day. Turning to the west our travelers soon came to the Blue Earth river, but as the water was deep and cold they could not cross it, and after walking for miles along its bank looking for a ford. they gave up the project and turned back to return to St. Paul on foot. Having walked until dark in the cold rain and finding no house to shelter in they were obliged to camp ont in the woods.
They placed a few strips of bark over their heads to ward' off the biggest drops. Thus our pioneers passed a night of mis- ery long drawn out, between the rain, the cold, the loneliness and the dread of wild beasts, whose cries frequently broke the silence.
The next day they found a well-beaten track which they supposed led in the direction of St. Paul and they followed it many miles, when it suddenly terminated in the remains of a large Indian village situate on a large and most beautiful penin- sula almost surrounded by the waters of a big lake. The Indians had all left, but indications pointed to a recent occupation. The teepee poles were all up and their number showed the village to have been very large. On the lake were a number of canoes and round the teepees were many cooking utensils, made of birch bark, while near the center of the village were a number of empty whisky barrels, showing that the devil's missionaries from the land of the pale-face had already found the red man even in this hidden retreat. The lake was either Lake Wash- ington or some other large lake in the near vicinity, and the good path referred to led between it and Traverse de Sioux. Our travelers now found that their good path had led them directly away from St. Paul. Retracing their steps they discov- ered a new road which one Captain Todd was cutting through the Big Woods, and which is known as the Todd road to this day. The second night they camped by a creek where the vil- lage of Cleveland now stands. The next day they followed the new road until late in the afternoon when they caught up with Captain Todd and his force of eleven men at work on the road. These were the first white men our Welshmen had seen since leaving Mankato, and as the supply of crackers they had brought from St. Paul was nearly exhausted they were very glad to get a small loaf of bread from the captain's scanty stock.
From this point on our travelers had neither road nor path to guide them, but after wandering many weary miles through
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THE WELSH IN MINNESOTA.
the tangled labyrinth of timber, lakes and sloughs they finally, about noon of the next day (Saturday ), reached Canoe ( now Cannon ) river at a point a little north of Faribault. Our tray- elers had no idea where they were, but after crossing the river to the prairie beyond they encouraged each other with the assu- rance that when they reached a certain high knoll off in the dis- tance they could certainly see St. Paul, so they hurried toward it with high hopes, but alas for many a human expecta- tion. The top of that knoll only revealed the valley of the river stretching mile upon mile until it was lost in the dis- tant horizon, with a boundless prairie on one side, and the endless forest on the other, without a human habitation or path save an occasional Indian trail. Tired and hungry our travelers would fain rest and refresh themselves, but the crackers and bread had all been exhausted since morning, and there was an uncomfort- able doubt as to where or when they would get more.
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