An illustrated history of Jackson County, Minnesota, Part 3

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Jackson, Minn. : Northern History
Number of Pages: 720

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In addition to the tribes of the Sions Dation mentioned above as inhabiting and claiming southern Minnesota was another small, outlawed band of Siseton Sioux ancestry, under the leadership of Inkpa- Juta, with whom we shall becomo well ae- quainted before this history closes. Ink- paduta and his band occasionally visited southwestern Minnesota. his favorite haunts during these visits being the Des Moines river country and the country about the Okoboji lakes. They were out- laws from the Sions. were not partici- pants in any treaty, and had no rights of possession to land in any part of the country more than a pack of wandering. ravenons wolves might have to the same land. The band had no permanent abid- ing place of home, but roamed over north- western lowa and southwestern Minnesota from the present location of Des Moines. lowa, to that of Redwood Falls. Minne- sota.

At the time of the earliest settlement of lowa and Minnesota this band was under the leadership of Sidominadota, a Sisse- "Warren Upham in Minnesota in Three Con- turies.

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

ton Sioux. Sidominadota was known far and wide for his audacity. bravery and dis- regard of the restraints of the white man's law and the rights of the Indians. This reputation caused the discontented and lawless element of the other bands to Hock to his standard. until at one time the band numbered three hundred. But when treaties were made with the United States and annuities were to be granted most of those who had forsaken the other bands returned to them, so as to be sure of their annuities. so that at the time of the settlement of northwestern Iowa and southwestern Minnesota the band of outlaws did not exceed fifty war- riors.5

The whole of the state of Minnesota west of the Mississippi river was in undis- puted possession of the aborigines until 1851. The fine, fertile expanse of coun- try of southern Minnesota was ground upon which the white man dare not lo- cate. But the tide of immigration to the west set in and settlers were elamoring for admission to the rich lands west of the Mississippi. In time the legal bar- rier was removed.

In the spring of 1851 President Fill- more, at the solicitation of residents of Minnesota territory, directed that a treaty with the Sioux be made and named as commissioners to conduct the negotiations Governor Alexander Ramsey, ex-officio Indian commissioner for Minnesota, and Luke Lea. the national commissioner of Indian affairs. These commissioners com- pleted a treaty with the Sisseton and Wah- paton bands-the upper bands, as they were usually called-at Traverse des Sioux (near the present site of St. Peter) during the latter part of July. 1851. Im- mediately afterward the commissioners pro- ceeded to Mendota (near St. Paul), where they were successful in making a treaty "Jareb Palmer in Lakefield Standard, Febru- ary 8, 1896.

with the Wahpakoota and M'daywakanton bands.

The treaties were ratified, with import- ant amendments, by congress in 1852. The amended articles were signed by the Indians in September, 1852, and in Feb- ruary of the next year President Fillmore proclaimed the treaties in force. By this important proceeding the future Jackson county passed from the ownership of the Sioux to the United States government, and the former owners took up their residence on the north side of the Minne- sota river.

The territory ceded by the Indians was declared to be :

All their lands in the state of Iowa and also all their lands in the territory of Minnesota lying east of the following line, to-wit: Be- ginning at the junction of the Buffalo river with the Red River of the North [about twelve miles north of Moorhead. in Clay county]: thence along the western bank of said Red River of the North to the mouth of the Sionx Wood river; thence along the west- ern bank of said Sioux Wood river to Lake Traverse: thence along the western shore of said lake to the southern extremity thereof ; thence in a direct line to the juncture of Kampeska lake with the Tehan-ka-sna-du-ta, or Sionx River: thence along the western bank of said river to its point of intersection with the northern line of the state of Iowa; including all i-land- in said rivers and lakes.

The territory purchased from the four Sioux bands was estimated to comprise about 23,450,000 acres, according to Mr. Thomas Hughes' computation, of which more than nineteen millions acres were in Minnesota. nearly three million acres in lowa, and more than one million, seven hundred fifty thousand acres in what is now South Dakota. The ceded lands in Iowa were north of Rock river, and also included the country around Estherville, Emmetsburg and Algona, extending east- ward by the town of Osage almost to Cres- co. the county sent of Howard county. The aggregate price paid was about twelve and one-half cents per acre.

White men first penetrated the north- west country to the present state of Min-

ITISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

nesota in the middle of the seventeenth untury (1655-1). In 168% the first map on which physical features of Minnesota are pictured was published in connection with Hennepin'- writing -. This map i- very vague and demonstrates that very little was known of the northwest country. Five years later, in 1688. J. B. Franque- lin. a Canadian French geographer. draft- ed for King Louis XVI. of France a more detailed map of North America, making use of information gathered by .Joliet and Marquette. LaSalle, Hennepin. DuLuth and others. Some of the princi- pal streams and lakes are marked and more or less accurately located. among others the R. des Moingene ( Des Moines). There is no evidence to show that any of these had visited the upper Des Moines river country, and the data for the greater part of the map were doubtless secured from the Indians.

de la Verendrye by an Indian. The river which flows through Jackson county was thereon marked Moingona.

After LeSucur had penetrated to the southwestern part of the state in 1200 that portion of the country was not again visited by white men until 66 years later. so far as we know. In November. 1266. Jonathan Carver ascended the Minnesota river and spent the winter among the Sjons in the vicinity of the present city of New Ilm. He remained with the In- dians until April. 1262. and learned their language. It is possible, but not probable. that Carver during this time may have visited the country which is now included within the boundaries of Jackson county. for he hunted with the Indians over sonle of the great plains of southwestern Min- nesota which. "according to their account [the Indians]. are unbounded and prob- ably terminate on the coast of the Pacific ocean."

A few French explorers, named above. had penetrated to several points within From the very earliest days wandering and adventurous white traders. bartering weapons and trinkets of civilized mann- facture for the prized beaver furs of the Indian hunters, had penetrated to the wilds of the northwest. closely following the explorers. So early as 1:00-01 when LASneur was on the Minnesota river a number of these adventurers were report- ed as having been encountered. It seems highly probable that some of these reck- less frontiersmen had penetrated to the upper Des Moines region before the coun- try was known to the world through the published reports of The explorers of this region. But these men were trappers and traders, not historians, and left no records of their doings. What wonderful tales of adventure could be recorded of the early history of Jackson county if the lives of these men could be learned ! the present boundaries of our state, but none of them had explored the southwest- ern portion. In 1:00 Lesueur ascended the Minnesota river and furnished data for a more or less authentic map of south- western Minnesota, so far as the larger and more important physical features are concerned. This map was made by Wil- liam Delisle, royal geographer of France. in 1:03. For the first time the Minnesota river appeared upon a map, being labeled R. St. Pierre of Mini-Sota. The Des Moines also has a place on the map. being marked Des Moines or le Moingona R. and its sourer was definitely located. There is nothing in the writings of Le Sneur. however, to lead to the belief that he had visited the Des Moines river coun- try, his explorations having been confined to the country along the Minnesota. Another map, made by Buache in 1251. When Joseph Nicollet visited the np- was compiled from data furnished Sieur per Des Moines in the late thirties he

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

mentioned having found evidence, or hav- to bring supplies up that stream for a fort. He sounded, meandered and plat- ted the river, and after his return to win- ter quarters published a book and map, giving the history of the journey. His trip led to the improvements that were afterward made in the Des Moines river by the government.

ing been informed by the Indians, that the fur traders of an earlier day, after having wintered on the upper Des Moines, had departed from a point within the lim- its of the present Jackson county with their furs. It was their custom to leave the Des Moines near the northern line of Jackson county and strike the headwa- ters of the Watonwan, follow down that stream, the Blue Earth and the Minneso- ta to the Mississippi." When the first per- manent settlers came to Jackson county in 1856 there was very little evidence of the operations of these former day trap- pers and traders .?

While a number of explorers had visited other parts of Minnesota, and a few set- tlements had been established, during the early part of the nineteenth century, none of them penetrated to the southwest cor- ner. In 1835 a government expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Albert Miller Lea. of the regular army, traversed the area of what is now the state of Iowa and advanced into the south edge of Min- nesota, although he did not visit Jackson county. With him were three companies of infantry, five four-mule terms and sev- eral pack horses. Lieutenant Lea tray- oled northward along the divide between the tributaries of the Des Moines and Mis- sissippi rivers, passed the site of the Min- nesota city which now bears his name, and continued to lake Poppin. From there he started on the return trip, going in a southwesterly direction across the head- waters of the Cedar and Blue Earth rivers to the Des Moines river, which he came to south of the Jackson county line. Lieu- tenant Lea proceeded down the river in a canoe to ascertain if it were practicable "Report Minnesota Geological Survey, 1884.

"The Jackson Republic of March 19, 1870. stated that when the first settlers came there was evidence to be found of an old French trading post, located about six miles up the river from Jackson, but I have been unable to find other sources of information to confirm this statement.

It was not until the late thirties that our immediate vicinity became known and was mapped. Catlin, Schoolcraft, Feath- erstonhaugh, Allen, Keating and Long were early explorers to the wilds of Min- nesota, but they confined themselves to the ready routes of travel, passing through the country in a single season. But in 1836 appeared one who crossed the upper Mississippi country in all directions, spending several years, winters included, in preparing data for his map, which was published after his death in 1843. This was Joseph Nicolas Nicollet," who was the first white man, of record, to set foot on the soil of Jackson county.º The princi- pal aid of Mr. Nicollet in his explorations in Minnesota was Lieutenant John C. Fremont. later the nominee of the repub- lican party for president of the United States.

Nicollet gave names to many lakes, streams and other physical features or adopted those which were current, and the map shows the scope of his explorations. The country of which Jackson county forns a part was labeled "Sisseton Coun- try," he finding that branch of the Sioux in possession. He specially mentions a visit to the red pipestone quarries, which he made in July, 1838. He found that the region west of the Mississippi had

Do not confound with Jean Nicollet, an American pioneer from France, who visited the country nearly two hundred years earlier.

"It is possible that Nicollet did not in person visit Jackson county, but certainly some of his party did. Owing to his premature death much of a historical nature concerning this region was lost. He had notes for a work of several volumes, relating principally to what is now Minnesota, and he had only fairly started the work when he died.

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

several plateaus, or elevated prairies, which marked the limits of the various river basins. The most remarkable of these he called Plateau du Coteau des Prairies ( plateau of prairie height>) and Coteau du Grand Bois (wooded heights). Nicollet described the d'oteau des Prairies as a vast plain, elevated 1916 feet above the level of the ocean and 890 feet above Big Stone lake, lying between latitudes 43 and 46 degrees, extending from norih- west to southeast for a distance of two hundred miles, its width varying from fif- teen to forty miles. On the map he marks it as extending from a point a short dis- tance northwest of lako Traverse in a southeasterly direction into Iowa. and in- cluding the western part of the present Jackson county. The explorer described it as a beautiful country, from whose summit grand views were afforded, said that at the castern border particularly. the prospect was magnificent beyond de- scription, extending over the immense green turf that forms the basin of the Red River of the North, the forest clad summit of the Hauteurs des Terres that surround the sources of the Mississippi. the gigantic valley of the upper Minne- sota, and the depressions in which are lakes Traverse and Big Stone.

That Nicollet or some of his party visi- ted Jackson county is evidenced by the fact that several natural features of the ronniy with which we are familiar were given names and quite accurately located. That he did not visit all parts of the county is also evident from his failure to find Heron lake. that big body of wa- ter in the northwest part. His map locates quite accurately the Moingona ( Des Moines) river and locates the source of that stream. He gives prominence to a lake which he calls Tehan-Shetcha, or Dry Wood lake (undoubtedly Fish lake).

which is just to the east of the Des Moines river.10

Mr. Nicollet calls attention to the hy- drographical relation of the Des Moines river with the Blue Earth, the Minnesota and the Mississippi. He stated that the Blue Earth, In means of its tributary, the Watonwan, had one of its sources in Jako Tehan-Shotcha and that the land sep- arating this Jake from the Des Moines was not more than a mile or a mile and a half in width." Thus, he stated. a short ca- nal would bring the Des Moines into com- munication with the Minnesota. He learn- edl that this interesting fact had former- ly been taken advantage of by the fur traders. who. after wintering on the hvad- waters of the Des Moines, found it con- venient to bring their peltries hy water communication through the Waionwan valley and the Blue Earth to the Minne- sota and thence to the mouth of that river. On the map the space between the river and the lake is marked "portage."

On this remarkable map of 1813 Spir- it lake is shown with its present name. One or two of the lakes in Minneota town- ship are shown but are not named. Other lake- in the vicinity which are shown and named are Okebene (Okabena). Ocheye- dan. Talvot and Shetek. Nicollet's work was of inestimable value to Minnesola, by reason of the thoroughness of his explora- tion and the reasonable accuracy of his map. which became the official map of the country.

The next record we have of white men visiting Jackson county was in 1844. when Captain J. Allen passed through it. up the Des Moines river. Upon approaching the region of the line separating lowa from Minnesota Captiin Allen speaks of hecom-

* The location of this lake as given by Mr. Nicollet is latitude #8 degrees, 45 minutes, and longitude 95 degrees. 12 minutes, which is the location of Heron lake according to the sur- However, he could, by no possibility. h' ve meant Heron lake

"1Ish lake is about one and three-quarters miles from the Des Moines.

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

ing penned among numerous lakes and of being compelled to cross a narrow strait by swimming two hundred yards. This place was probably a narrow spot in Swan lake, in Emmet county. Iowa. From there he sent a party to examine the country to the cast, and they proceeded to Iowa lake, on the boundary line, and explored its outlet toward the east and into the east chain of lakes in Martin county. They reached the conclusion that the water of these lakes was tributary to the Blue Earth.

Allen and his party continued north through Jackson county, camping at Eagle lake and at Independence lake. When he reached what is now Christiania town- ship. near Windom. he described the coun- try as a "wonderfully broken surface. ris- ing and falling in high knobs and deep ra- vines, with numerous little lakes in the deep valleys, some of them clear and pret- ty and others grassy." A party visited the Blue Mounds and found an artificial mound of stone on the highest peak.

At lake Talcott Captain Allen left his men in camp for a rest while he himself visited lake Shetek, which he named lake of the Oaks. By observation of the sun with a small sextant he located this lake in latitude 43 degrees, 57 minutes, 32 sec- onds, but as a matter of fact it is some- what above latitude 44 degrees. He de- scribed the lake as being remarkable for a singular arrangement of the peninsulas running into it from all sides and for a heavy growth of timber that covered these peninsulas and the borders of the lake. Allen pronounced lake of the Oaks to be the highest source of the Des Moines worth noticing as such, though he also mentions an inlet coming in from the north, "but of no size or character."

From lake Shetek the expedition con- tinned northward thirty-seven miles, crossing the Cottonwood and Redwood

rivers, and then proceeded eastward to the St. Peter's (Minnesota ) river. From the mouth of the Redwood the southern shorc of the St. Peter's was explored for a dis- tance of several miles each way. Return- ing to lake Shetek, the expedition set out for the west, reached the Big Sioux river and proceeded down that stream to its mouth.

Concerning the big game found on the upper Des Moines and other parts of the country visited. Captain Allen wrote :

From Lizard creek of the Des Moines to the source of the Des Moines, and thence east to the St. Peter's, is a range for elk and common der. but principally elk. We saw a great many of the elk: they were sometimes seen in droves of hundreds. but were always dif- ficult to approach and very difficult to over- take in chase, except with a fleet horse and over good ground. No dependence could be placed upon this game in this country for the subsistence of troops marching through it.

Twenty-five miles west of the source of the Des Moines we struck the range of the buf- falo and continued in it to the Big Sioux river and down that river about eighty-six miles. Below that we could not see any re- cent signs of them. We found antelope in the same range with the buffalo. but no elk and very -eldom a common deer. While among the buffalo we killed as many as we wanted and without trouble.

This completes the record of carly ex- ploration of our county, and we find that when Minnesota territory was created in 1849 the southwestern portion of the ter- ritory was a veritable terra incognita. The land was still in undisputed owner- ship of the Sioux bands, and white men had no rights whatever in the country. Return I. Holcombe, in Minnesota in Three Centuries, tells of the conditions in southern Minnesota at the time the terri- tory was formed :

Westward of the Mississippi river the coun- try was unexplored and virgin. There were wide expanses of wild and trackless prairie, never traversed by a white man, which are row the highly developed counties of south- ern and southwestern Minnesota, with their fine and flourishing cities and towns and the other institutions that make for a state's eminence and greatness. Catlin had passed from Little Rock to the pipestone quarry; Nicollet and his surveying party had gone

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

over the same route and had traveled along the Mumesota, Sibley and Fremont had chas ed elk over the prairies in what are now Steele. Dodge. Freeborn and Mover counties: the Missouri cattle drawer- land led their hard- to Fort Spelling and up to the Red river ig jens, but in all. not fifty white men lad pass- od mer the tract of territory now comprising southern and southwestern Mumesola when the territory was organized in 1-19.

The treaty with the Sioux tudians. made in 1851, ratified in 1852. and pro- claimed early in 1853, threw open to set- tlement the whole of southern Minnesota, and soon thereafter settlements began to make their appearance in the eastern por- tion. although it was some years later when white settlers penetrated to the fu- ture Jackson county.

The line between the state of Iowa and the territory of Minnesota was surveyed in 1852. The engineers began at the southwest corner of Minnesota about the first of August and ran their line cast- ward, reaching the southwest corner of Jackson county on AAngust 8.12 They located the line along the southern boun- dary of Jackson county and proceeded on their way castward.

In 1853 Captain J. L. Reno executed a survey for a military wagon road from the mouth of the Big Sioux river. at Sious City, to Mendota, at the month of the Minnesota, but the map of his survey was not published. He crossed the Des Moines river in lowa and after traveling ten miles farther entered Minnesota and possibly touched Jackson county. He crossed branches of the Watonwan and Blue Earth rivers and laid out his road along the west bank of the Blue Earth to its un- ion with the Minnesota, thence to Manka- to and on to Mendota.

The years 1851, 1855 and 1856. were remarkable ones in Minnesota territory by reason of the immense tide of immi- gration pouring in and the consequent activity and legitimate and "wild cat" real

state operations. So early as 1852 the real estate speculative ora had commenced in St. Paul and the older settlements along the eastern border of the territory. Illustrative of the times in St. Paul at that early date is the following. which was written by a correspondent of the Pitts- burgh Token who was in St. Paul in the fall of 1852:

My car- at every turn are saluted with everlasting din. Land: Land! Money! Spec- nation! Saw mill -! Town lots! ete., ele. I turn away sick and disgusted; land at breakfast. land nt dinner, land at supper, and until eleven o'clock. land: then land in bed mutil their vocal organ- are exhausted, then they dream and groan out land. land: Every thing is artificial. floating. the excitement of trade. speculation and expectation is now running high, and will perhaps for a year or so, but it must have a reaction.

During 1s53 and 1851 there were large accessions of population to the eastern part of the territory : roads were construe- led : farms were op ned in the wilderness ; villages sprang into existence in many parts of the frontier. During these years the settlement- did not extend to the west- ern and southwestern parts of the ter- ritory, but during the next few years the human flow poured in and spread out in- to nearly all parts of Minnesota. The fever of real estate speculation, which had heen only feelly developed before, now at- lacked all classes. Enormous and rapid profits were made by speculators who had the foresight and courage to venture. Thousands of acres of Minnesota lands which had been scented from the govern- mond in 1851 for $1.25 per acre sold the following year for $5.00.

Not only to Minnesota, but to all parts of the upper Mississippi valley, came the grand rush of homeseekers, who spread out over the rich lands of lowa, Minneso- ta. Kansas and Nebraska. These hordes of immigrants did not take all the lands a- they went along but were constantly pushing out onto the frontier. The reason of this is easily understood. Nearly all

1.Surveyors' Field Noles,

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

who were coming out to the northwest country were from the eastern and central states, where timber was abundant, and they were loth to settle on the prairie very far from timber and water. In fact, so discriminating were they that few were willing to settle where they could not have timber and prairie land adjoining !

In consequence the settlements in the new country were confined to narrow belts along the streams and around the lakes. where groves of timber were usually found. So soon as the desirable claims were taken in one locality some adventurous inni- grant would strike out across the track- less prairie in search of a place where he

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An illustrated history of Jackson County, Minnesota, Part 3

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970 Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Jackson, Minn. : Northern History Number of Pages: 720

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Jackson, Minn. : Northern History
Number of Pages: 720