History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 1

Author: J. Fletcher Williams
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Minnesota > Dakota County > History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota > Part 1

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HISTORY OF DAKOTA COUNTY AND THE CITY OF HASTINGS

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HISTORY OF DAKOTA COUNTY AND THE CITY OF HASTINGS

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HISTORY

DAKOTA COUNTY

AND THE

CITY OF HASTINGS,

INCLUDING THE

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

BY REV. EDWARD D. NEILL.

AND

OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF MINNESOTA, BY J. FLETCHER WILLIAMS.

MINNEAPOLIS: NORTH STAR PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1881.

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- 976. 8DI+ FN 62

PREFACE.

We live not alone in the present but also in the past and future. The radius that circumscribes our lives must necessarily extend back indefinitely and forward infinitely. We can never look out thoughtfully at our immediate surroundings but a course of reasoning will start up leading us to inquire the causes that produced the development around us, and at the same time we are led to conjecture the results to follow causes now in operation. We are thus linked indissolubly with the past and the future.

"Now, for my life," says Sir Thomas Browne, "it is a miracle of thirty years, which, to relate, were not a history, but a piece of poetry, and would sound to common ears like a fable. * * Men look upon my outside, perusing only my condition and fortune, do err in my altitude ; for I am above Atlas his shoulders. I take my circle to be above three hundred and sixty. Though the number of the arc do measure my body, it comprehendeth not my mind."

If, then, the past is not simply a stepping-stone to the future, but a part of our very selves, we can not afford to ignore, or separate it from ourselves as a member might be lopped off from our bodies ; for though the body thus maimed, might perform many and perhaps most of its functions still, it could never again be called complete.

We therefore present this volume to our patrons, not as something extrinsic, to which we would attract their notice and secure their favor, but as a part of themselves, and a very important part, which it is the province of the historian to re-invigorate and restore to its rightful owner. Moreover, we can not but hope that we shall thus confer much pleasure. The recounting of events which have transpired in our own neighborhood is the most inter- esting of all history. There is a fascination in the study of the intermingled facts and fiction of the past, which is heightened by a familiarity with the localities described. The writer remembers the glow of enthusiasm with which he once stood at the entrance of the old fort at Ticonderoga, and repeated the words of Ethan Allen : "In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," etc. "The river which flows through our native village acquires a new interest when, in imagination, we see the Indian canoe on its surface and the skin - covered tepee on its banks, as in days of yore." Log cabins, straw roofs, and the rude "betterments" of the hardy pioneer, are the next changes on the scene, followed soon by mushroom towns, some of which perish as quickly as they sprung up, while others astonish us by

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PREFACE.

their rapid growth ; cities are built, and moss and ivy, the evidences of age, accumulate. The log cabin and all the steps of first settlement are things of the past ; the place which knew them shall know them no more forever.

Our purpose is to present these pictures in their natural succession arousing the enthusiasm of the reader, if possible, and giving him a more vigorous enjoyment of the present by linking it with the past. The compass of the work is wide, extending over a long period of time, embracing the accounts of early explorers, also reaching back among the legends of the past, and, approaching the events of the day, almost undesignedly, casting a pro- phetic glance forward at what must be in the future after such a beginning.

Dakota county presents an exceptionally rich field for a work of this character. Within its borders was made the first settlement in the State. Explorer, missionary, voyageur and trader have here left traces of their occupation. While reviewing the events and enterprises inaugurated for the development of the county, we come to regret that we can not claim the prestige belonging to the aristocracy of early settlers.

To give in detail all the various sources from which the facts here given have been obtained, would be tedious if not impracticable. It may be sufficient to say that it fairly presents the history of our remarkable development, and a faithful picture of our present condition. We must, however, express our obligations to a host of living witnesses, from whom a large portion of the facts have been obtained, and doubtful points verified ; they have our hearty thanks. Material has been drawn largely from the columns of newspapers, which have given from time to time, a record of passing events. The contri_ bution of Rev. Edward D. Neill will be of great permanent value in imperish- able print, and will be greatly prized by historiographers everywhere. We have also drawn upon the accumulation of facts in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society, for a paper by its secretary, Mr. J. Fletcher Williams. The value of a reservoir of historical data at the capital of the State, for such purposes, was fully appreciated ; and the maintenance of such a centre of information can not be too strongly advocated.

In conclusion, we have an obligation to express to our patrons, and are pleased to acknowledge a liberal patronage and more than ordinary courtesy toward our employes ; for all of which we tender our hearty thanks. Hoping that those who have subscribed for and are about to receive this volume, will favor it with a kind reception, and take as much interest in reading as we have in compiling the history of Dakota county, we are,

Very respectfully, yours, GEORGE E. WARNER, CHAS. M. FOOTE.

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CONTENTS.

PAGE.

PREFACE,

iii

CHAPTER LII.

MAP,

opp. 1

Green Vale,

- 383-393

CHAPTERS I .- XXIII.

CHAPTER LIII.

Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, by

Rev. Edward Duffield Neill, -

1-128

CHAPTERS XXIV-XXIX.

Inver Grove,

- 402-411

Outlines of the History of Minnesota, from

1858 to 1881, by J. Fletcher Williams,

129-160

CHAPTER LV.

CHAPTER XXX.

Fort Snelling,

- 161-169

CHAPTER XXXI.

Chronology,

- 170-176

Marshan,

- 432-438

CHAPTERS XXXII .- XXXIX.

Dakota County History, -

CHAPTER XL.

- 177-236

Nininger, -

- 438-445

War Record,

236-256

CHAPTER LIX.

CHAPTERS XLI .- XLIV.

- 445-450 Randolph, -

Hastings,

- 256-299

CHAPTER LX.

CHAPTER XLV.

Ravenna, -

- 450-455

Hastings, Biographies,

- 299-322

CHAPTER XLVI.

Rosemount,

- 455-468

Burnsville,

323-327

CHAPTER LXII.

CHAPTER XLVII.

Sciota,

- 469-476

Castle Rock,

- 327-339

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Vermillion,

- 477-487

Douglass, -

- 340-346

CHAPTER LXIV.

Waterford,

- 488-502

Eagan,

- 346-354

CHAPTER LXV.

Empire, -

- 354-373

CHAPTER LXVI.

- 511-521

Eureka,

- 373-383

Mendota, -

DIRECTORY,

- 522-540

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CHAPTER L.

West St. Paul,

- 502-511

CHAPTER LI.

PAGE

Hampton, -

- 394-402

CHAPTER LIV.

Lakeville, -

- 411-427

CHAPTER LVI.

- 427-432

Lebanon,

CHAPTER LVII.

CHAPTER LVIII.

CHAPTER LXI.

CHAPTER LXIII.

CHAPTER XLIX.

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EXPLORERS

AND

PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER I.

FOOTPRINTS OF CIVILIZATION TOWARD THE EXTREMITY OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

Minnesota's Central Position .- D'Avagour's Prediction .- Xicolet's Visit to Green Bay .- First White Men in Minnesota .- Notices of Groselliers and Radisson .- Hurens Flee to Minnesota .- Visited by Frenchmoen .- Father Menard Disap- pears .- Groselliers Visits Hudson's Bay .- Father Alloues Describes the Sioux Mission at La Pointe .- Father Marquette .- Sioux at Sault St. Marie .- Jesuit Missions Fail .- Groselliers Visits England. - Captain Gillam, of Boston, at Hud- ton's Bay .- Letter of Mother Superior of Ursulines., at Quebec. - Death of Groselliers.

The Dakotahs, called by the Ojibways, Nado- waysioux, or Sioux (Soos), as abbreviatsd by the French, used to claim superiority over other peo- ple, because, their sacred men asserted that the mouth of the Minnesota River was immediately over the centre of the earth, and below the centre of the heavens.

While this teaching is very different from that of the modern astronomer, it is certainly true, that the region west of Lake Superior, extending through the valley of the Minnesota, to the Mis- souri River, is one of the most healthful and fer- tile regions beneath the skies, and may prove to be the centre of the republic of the United States · of America. Baron D'Avagour, a brave officer, who was killed in fighting the Turks, while he was Governor of Canada, in a dispatch to the French Government, dated August 14th, 1663, after referring to Lake Huron, wrote, that beyond "is met another, called Lake Superior, the waters of which, it is believed, flow into New Spain, and this, according to general opinion, ought to be the centre of the country."

As early as 1635, one of Champlain's interpre- ters, Jean Nicolet (Nicolay), who came to Cana- da in 1618, reached the western shores of Lake Michigan. In the summer of 1634 he ascended

the St. Lawrence, with a party of Hurons, and probably during the next winter was trading at Green Bay, in Wisconsin. On the ninth of De- cember, 1635, he had returned to Canada, and on the 7th of October, 1637, was married at Quebec, and the next month, went to Three Rivers, where he lived until 1642, when he died. Of him it is said, in a letter written in 1640, that he had pen- etrated farthest into those distant countries, and that if he had proceeded " three days more on a great river which flows from that lake [Green Bay] he would have found the sea."

The first white men in Minnesota, of whom we have any record, were, according to Garneau, two persons of Huguenot affinities, Medard Chouart, known as Sieur Groselliers, and Pierre d'Esprit, called Sieur Radisson.

Groselliers (pronounced Gro-zay-yay) was born near Ferte-sous-Jouarre, eleven miles east of Meaux, in France, and when about sixteen years of age, in the year 1641, came to Canada. The fur trade was the great avenue to prosperity, and in 1646, he was among the Huron Indians, who then dwelt upon the eastern shore of Lake Huron, bartering for peltries. On the second of Septem- ber, 1647, at Quebec, he was married to Helen, the widow of Claude Etienne, who was the daugh- ter of a pilot, Abraham Martin, whose baptismal name is still attached to the suburbs of that city, the "Plains of Abraham," made famous by the death there, of General Wolfe, of the English army, in 1759, and of General Montgomery, of the Continental army, in December, 1775, at the

Entered secording to set of Congress, in the year 1881, by Gro. E. WAurka and C. M. Foors, in the offee of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

commencement of the " War for Independence." His son, Medard, was born in 1657, and the next year his mother died. The second wife of Gro- selliers was Marguerite Hayet (Hayay) Radisson, the sister of his associate, in the exploration of the region west of Lake Superior.

Radisson was born at St. Malo, and, while a boy, went to Paris, and from thence to Canada, and in 1656, at Three Rivers, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Madeleine Hainault, and, after her death, the daughter of Sir David Kirk or Kerkt, a zealous Huguenot, became his wife.

The Iroquois of New York, about the year 1650, drove the Hurons from their villages, and forced them to take refuge with their friends the Tinon- tates, called by the French, Petuns, because they cultivated tobacco. In time the Hurons and their allies, the Ottawas (Ottaw - waws), were again driven by the Iroquois, and after successive wanderings, were found on the west side of Lake Michigan. In time they reached the Mississippi, and ascending above the Wisconsin, they found the Iowa River, on the west side, which they fol- lowed, and dwelt for a time with the Ayoes (Ioways) who were very friendly ; but being ac- customed to a country of lakes and forests, they were not satisfied with the vast prairies. Return- ing to the Mississippi, they ascended this river, in search of a better land, and were met by some of the Sioux or Dakotahs, and conducted to their villages, where they were well received. The Sioux, delighted with the axes, knives and awls of European manufacture, which had been pre- sented to them, allowed the refugees to settle upon an island in the Mississippi, below the mouth of the St. Croix River, called Bald Island from the absence of trees, about nine miles from the site of the present city of Hastings. Possessed of firearms, the Hurons and Ottawas asserted their superiority, and determined to conquer the country for themselves, and having incurred the hostility of the Sioux, were obliged to flee from the isle in the Mississippi. Descending below Lake Pepin, they reached the Black River, and ascending it, found an unoccupied country around its sources and that of the Chippeway. In this region the Hurons established themselves, while their allies, the Ottawas, moved eastward, till they found the shores of Lake Superior, and set- tled at Chagouamikon (Sha - gah - wah - mik - ong)

near what is now Bayfield. In the year 1659, Groselliers and Radisson arrived at Chagouamik- on, and determined to visit the Hurons and Pe- tuns, with whom the former had traded when they resided east of Lake Huron. After a six days' journey, in a southwesterly direction, they reached their retreat toward the sources of the Black, Chippewa, and Wisconsin Rivers. From this point they journeyed north, and passed the winter of 1659-60 among the "Nadouechiouec," or Sioux villages in the Mille Lacs (Mil Lak) re- gion. From the Hurons they learned of a beau- tiful river, wide, large, deep, and comparable with the Saint Lawrence, the great Mississippi, which flows through the city of Minneapolis, and whose sources are in northern Minnesota.

Northeast of Mille Lacs, toward the extremity of Lake Superior, they met the "Poualak," or Assiniboines of the prairie, a separated band of the Sioux, who, as wood was scarce and small, made fire with coal (charbon de terre) and dwelt in tents of skins; although some of the more in- dustrious built cabins of clay (terre grasse), like the swallows build their nests.

The spring and summer of 1660, Groselliers and Radisson passed in trading around Lake Superior. On the 19th of August they returned to Mon- treal, with three hundred Indians and sixty ca- noes loaded with " a wealth of skins."

" Furs of bison and of beaver, Furs of sable and of ermine."

The citizens were deeply stirred by the travelers' tales of the vastness and richness of the region they had visited, and their many romantic adven- tures. In a few days, they began their return to the far West, accompanied by six Frenchmen and two priests, one of whom was the Jesuit, Rene Me- nard. His hair whitened by age, and his mind ripened by long experience, he seemed the man for the mission. Two hours after midnight, of the day before departure, the venerable missionary penned at "Three Rivers," the following letter to a friend :

'REVEREND FATHER :

" The peace of Christ be with you : I write to you probably the last, which I hope will be the seal of our friendship until eternity. Love whom the Lord Jesus did not disdain to love, though the greatest of sinners; for he loves whom he

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FATHER MENARD LOST IN WISCONSIN.

loads with his cross. Let your friendship, my good Father, be useful to me by the desirable fruits of your daily sacrifice.

" In three or four months you may remember me at the memento for the dead, on account of my old age, my weak constitution and the hard- ships I lay under amongst these tribes. Never- theless, I am in peace, for I have not been led to this mission by any temporal motive, but I think it was by the voice of God. I was to resist the grace of God by not coming. Eternal remorse would have tormented me, had I not come when I had the opportunity.

"We have been a little surprized, not being able to provide ourselves with vestments and oth- er things, but he who feeds the little birds, and clothes the lilies of the fields, will take care of his servants; and though it should happen we should die of want, we would esteem ourselves happy. I am burdened with business. What I can do is to recommend our journey to your daily sacrifice, and to embrace you with the same sen- timents of heart as I hope to do in eternity.

" My Reverend Father,

Your most humble and affectionate servant in Jesus Christ.

R. MENARD.

"From the Three Rivers, this 26th August, 2 o'clock after midnight, 1660."

On the 16th of October, the party with which he journeyed reached a bay on Lake Superior, where he found some of the Ottawas, who had fled from the Iroquois of New York. For more than eight months, surrounded by a few French voyageurs, he lived, to use his words, " in a kind of small hermitage, a cabin built of fir branches piled one on another, not so much to shield us from the rigor of the season as to correct my im- agination, and persuade me I was sheltered."

During the summer of 1661, he resolved to visit the Hurons, who had fled eastward from the Sioux of Minnesota, and encamped amid the marshes of Northern Wisconsin. Some Frenchmen, who had been among the Hurons, in vain attempted to dis- suade him from the journey. To their entreaties he replied, "I must go, if it cost me my life. I can not suffer souls to perish on the ground of saving the bodily life of a miserable old man like myself. What! Are we to serve God only when there is nothing to suffer, and no risk of life?"

Upon De l'Isle's map of Louisiana, published nearly two centuries ago, there appears the Lake of the Ottawas, and the Lake of the Old or De- serted Settlement, west of Green Bay, and south of Lake Superior. The Lake of the Old Planta- tion is supposed to have been the spot occupied by the Hurons at the time when Menard attempt- ed to visit them. One way of access to this seclu- ded spot was from Lake Superior to the head- waters of the Ontanagon River, and then by a port- age, to the lake. It could also be reached from the headwaters of the Wisconsin, Black and Chip- pewa Rivers, and some have said that Menard descended the Wisconsin and ascended the Black River.

Perrot, who lived at the same time, writes: "Father Menard, who was sent as missionary among the Outaouas [Utaw-waws] accompanied by certain Frenchmen who were going to trade with that people, was left by all who were with him, except one, who rendered to him until death, all of the services and help that he could have hoped. The Father followed the Outaouas [ Utaw- waws] to the Lake of the Illinoets [Illino-ay, now Michigan] and in their flight to the Louisianne, [Mississippi] to above the Black River. There this missionary had but one Frenchman for a companion. This Frenchman carefully followed the route, and made a portage at the same place as the Outaouas. He found himself in a rapid, one day, that was carrying him away in his canoe. The Father, to assist, debarked from his own, but did not find a good path to come to him. He en- tered one that had been made by beasts, and de- siring to return, became confused in a labyrinth of trees, and was lost. The Frenchman, after having ascended the rapids with great labor, awaited the good Father, and, as he did not come, resolved to search for him. With all his might, for several days, he called his name in the woods, hoping to find him, but it was useless. He met, however, a Sakis [Sauk] who was carrying the camp-kettle of the missionary, and who gave him some intelligence. He assured him that he had found his foot - prints at some distance, but that he had not seen the Father. He told him, also, that he had found the tracks of several, who were going towards the Scioux. He declared that he supposed that the Scioux might have killed or captured him. Indeed, several years afterwards,

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

there were found among this tribe, his breviary and cassock, which they exposed at their festivals, making offerings to them of food."

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History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 1

Author: J. Fletcher Williams Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: J. Fletcher Williams
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: