USA > Minnesota > Dahkotah land and Dahkotah life [microform] : with the history of the fur traders of the extreme northwest during the French and British dominions > Part 12
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there being English at his post. The letter was written by a French tra- der, whom I had allowed to go among did so they would send all their them last fall, with a promise of his . warriors and cut them off."
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riors of the Sous came here. It is certainly the greatest nation of Indians ever yet found. Not above two thousand of them were ever armed with fire-arms, the rest de- pending entirely on bows and arrows, which they use with more skill than any other Indian nation in America. They can. shoot the wildest and largest beasts in the woods at seventy or one hundred yards distant. They are remarkable for their dancing, and the other nations take the fashions from them. * * * * This nation is always at war with the Chippewas, those who destroyed Mishamakinak. They told me with warmth that if ever the Chippewas or any other Indians wished to ob- struct the passage of the traders coming up, to send them word, and they would come and cut them off from the face of the earth, as all Indians were their slaves or dogs. I told them I was glad to see them, and hoped to have a lasting peace with them. They then gave me a letter wrote in French, and two belts of wampum from their king, in which he expressed great joy on hearing of
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NO ENGLISH POSTS BEYOND MACKINAW.
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CHAPTER XI.
THOUGH the treaty of 1763, made at Versailles, be- tween France and England, ceded all the territory comprised within the limits of Wisconsin and Minne- sota to the latter power, the English did not for a long time obtain a foothold.
The French traders having purchased wives from the Indian tribes, they managed to preserve a feeling of friendship towards their king, long after the trading posts at Green Bay and Sault St. Marie had been dis- continued.
The price paid for peltries by those engaged in the fur trade at New Orleans, was also higher than that which the British could afford to give, so that the . Indians sought for French goods in exchange for their skins.
Finding it useless to compete with the French of the lower Mississippi, the English government established no posts of trade or defence beyond Mackinaw. The country west of Lake Michigan appears to have been trodden by but few British subjects, previous to him who forms the subject of the present chapter, and whose name has become somewhat famous in consequence of his heirs having laid claim to the site of St. Paul, and many miles adjacent.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Jonathan Carver was a native of Connecticut. It has been asserted that he was a lineal descendant of John' Carver, the first governor of Plymouth colony ; but the only definite information that the writer can obtain concerning his ancestry is, that his grandfather, William Carver, was a native of Wigan, Lancashire, England, and a captain in King William's army during the cam- paign in Ireland, and for meritorious services received an appointment as an officer of the colony of Connecticut.
His father was a justice of the peace in the new world, and in 1732, at Stillwater, or Canterbury, Connecticut, the subject of this sketch was born. At the early age of fifteen he was called to mourn the death of his father. He then commenced the study of medicine, but his roving disposition could not bear the confines of a doctor's office, and feeling, perhaps, that his genius would be cramped by pestle and mortar, at the age of eighteen he purchased an ensign's commission in one of . the regiments Connecticut raised during the French war. He was of medium stature, and of strong mind and quick perceptions.
In the year 1757, he was present at the massacre of Fort William Henry, and narrowly escaped with his life.
After the peace of 1763, between France and Eng- land, was declared, Carver conceived the project of ex- ploring the North-west. . Leaving Boston in the month of June, 1766, he arrived at Mackinaw, then the most distant British post, in the month of August. Having obtained a credit on some French and English traders from Major Rogers, the officer in command, he started with them on the third day of September. Pursuing the usual route to Green Bay, they arrived there on the eighteenth,
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CARVER'S DESCRIPTION OF PRAIRIE,DU CHIEN.
The French fort at that time was standing, though much decayed. It was, some years previous to his arrival, garrisoned for a short time by an officer and Mirty English soldiers, but they having been captured br the Menominees, it was abandoned.
In company with the traders he left Green Bay on the twentieth, and ascending Fox fiver, arrived on the twenty-fifth at an island at the east end of Lake Win- nebago, containing about fifty acres.
Here he found a Winnebago village of fifty houses. He asserts that a woman was in authority. In the month of October the party was at the portage of the Wisconsin, and descending that stream, they arrived, on the ninth, at a town of the Sauks. While here he visited some lead mines about fifteen miles distant. An abundance of lead was also seen in the village, that had been brought from the mines.
On the tenth they arrived at the first village of the "Ottigaumies" (Foxes), and about five miles before the Wisconsin joins the Mississippi, he perceived the rem- nants of another village, and learned that it had been deserted about thirty years before, and that the inhabit- ants, soon after their removal, built a town on the Mis- sissippi, near the mouth of the " Ouisconsin," at a place called by the French La Prairie les Chiens, which signified the Dog Plains. It was a large town, and contained about three hundred families. The houses were built after the endian manner, and pleasantly situated on a dry rich soil.
He saw here many horses of a good size and shape. This town was the great mart where all the adjacent tribes, and where those who inhabit the most remote branches of the Mississippi, annually assemble about
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the latter end of May, bringing with them their furs to dispose of to the traders. But it is not always that they conclude their sale here. This was determined by a general council of the chiefs, who consulted whether it would be more conducive to their interest to sell their goods at this place, or to carry them on to Louisiana or Mackinaw.
At a small stream called Yellow river, opposite Prairie du Chien, the traders who had thus far accompanied Carver took up their residence for the winter.
From this point he proceeded in a canoe, with a Canadian voyageur and a Mohawk Indian, as com- páníons.
Just before reaching Lake Pepin, while his attend- ants were one day preparing dinner, he walked out and was struck with the peculiar appearance of the surface of the country, and thought it was the site of some vast artificial earth-work.
It is a fact, worthy of remembrance, that he was the. first to call the attention of the civilized world to the existence of ancient monuments in the Mississippi valley. We give his own description :-
" On the first of"November I reached Lake Pepin, a . few miles below which I landed, and, whilst the ser- vants were preparing my dinner, I ascended the bank to view the country. I had not proceeded far before I came to a fine, level, open plain, on which I perceived, at a little distance, a partial elevation, that had the appearance of entrenchment. On a nearer inspection, I had greater reason to suppose that it had really been intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding. it was now covered with grass, I could plainly see that it had once been a breast-work of about four feet in
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SUPPOSED EARTH WORKS NEAR LAKE PEPIN.
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height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five thousand menr Its form was somewhat circular, and its flanks reached to the river.
" Though much defaced by time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular and fashioned with as much military skill as if planned by Vauban himself. The ditch was not visible; but I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there certainly had been one. From its situation, also, I am convinced that it must have been designed for that purpose. It fronted the country, and the rear was covered by the river, nor was there any rising ground for a considerable way that commanded it; a few straggling lakes were alone to be seen near it. In many places small tracks were worn across it by the · feet of the elks or deer, and from the depth of the bed
. " of earth, by which it was covered, I was able to draw certain conclusions of its great antiquity. I examined- all the angles, and every part with great attention, and have often blamed myself since, for not encamping on . the spot, and drawing an exact plan of it. To show that this description is not the offspring of a heated imagination, or the chimerical tale of a mistaken travel- ler, I find, on inquiry, since my return, that Mons. St. Pierre and several traders have, at different times, taken notice of similar appearances, upon which they have formed the same' conjectures, but without exa- mining them so minutely as I did. How a work of this kind could exist in a country- that has hitherto (according to the generally received opinion) been the seat of war to untutored Indians alone, whose whole stock of military knowledge has only, till within two centuries, amounted to drawing the bow, and whose
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only breastwork, even at present, is the thicket, I know not. I have given as exact an account as possible of this singular appearance, and leave to future explorers, "of those.distant regions, to discover whether it is a pro- duction of nature or art. Perhaps the hints I have here given, might lead to a more perfect investigation of it, and give us very different ideas of the ancient state of realms, that we at present believe to, have been, from the earliest period, only the habitations of savages."
Lake Pepin excited his admiration, as it has that of every traveller since his day, and here he remarks: "I observed the ruins of a French factory, where it is said Captain St. Pierre resided, and carried on a very great trade with the Naudowessies, before the reduction of Canada."
.Carver's first acquaintance with the Dahkotahs com- ". menced near the river St. Croix. It would seem that the erection of trading posts on Lake Pepin had enticed them from their old residence on Rum river and Mille Lac.
He says: " Near the river St. Croix, reside bands of the Naudowessie Indians, called the River Bands. This nation is composed at present of eleven bands. They were originally twelve, but the Assinipoils, some years ago, revolting and separating themselves from the others, there remain only at this time eleven. Those I met here are termed the River Bands, because they chiefly dwell near the banks of this river; the other eight are generally distinguished by the title of Naudowessies of , the' Plains, and inhabit a country more to the westward. The name of the former are Nehogatawonahs, the Mawtawbauntowahs, and Shashweentowahs.
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CAVE AND BURIAL PLACE NEAR ST. PAUL.
Arriving at what is now a suburb of the capital of Minnesota, he continues, "about thirteen miles below . the Falls of St. Anthony, at which I arrived the tenth ** day after. I left Lake Pepin, is a remarkable cave of an samazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe (Wa- kan-tipi) The entrance into it is about ten feet wide, the height of it five feet. The arch within is near fifteen feet high, and about thirty feet broad; the bottom consists of fine clear sand. About thirty feet from the entrance, begins a lake, the water of which' is transparent, and ex- tends to an unsearchable distance, for the darkness of the cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it. I threw a small pebble towards the interior part of it with my utmost strength; I could hear that it fell into . the water, and, notwithstanding it was of a small size, it caused an astonishing and terrible noise, that reverbe- rated through all those gloomy regions. I found in this . cave many Indian hieroglyphics, which appeared very ancient, for time had nearly covered, them with moss, so that it was with difficulty I could trace them. They were cut in a rude' manner upon the inside of the wall, which was composed of a stone so extremely soft that it might be easily penetrated with a knife; a stone every- where to be found near the Mississippi.
" At a little distance from this dreary cavern, is the burying-place of several bands of the Naudowessie Indians. Though these people have no fixed residence, being in tents, and seldom but a few months in one spot, yet they always bring the bones of the dead to this place.1 .
1 The cave has been materially and the atmosphere. (. Years ago the altered by nearly a century's work top fell in, but on the side walls, not of those effective tools, frost, water, -covered by debris, pictographs gray
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
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" Ten miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, the river St. Pierre, called by the natives Wadapaw Menesotor, falls into the Mississippi from the west. It is not men- tioned by Father Hennepin, though a large, fair river. This omission, I consider, must have proceeded from a small island (Faribault's), that is situated exactly in its entrance." .
When he reached the Minnesota river, the ice became : so troublesome that he left his canoe in the neighbour- hood of what is now the ferry, and walked to St. Anthony, in company with a young Winnebago chief, who had never seen the curling waters .. The chief, on reaching the eminence some distance below Cheever's, began to invoke his gods, and offer oblations to the spirit in the waters.
".In the middle of the Falls stands a small island, about forty feet broad, and somewhat longer, on which- grow a few cragged hemlock and spruce trees, and about half way between this island and the eastern shore, is a rock, lying at the very edge of the Falls, in an oblique position, that appeared to be about. five or six feet broad, and thirty or forty long. At a little distance-below the
with age, are visible. In 1807, the present mouth of the cave was so covered up, that Major Long,' to use a vulgarism, was obliged to "creop on all fours" to enter. In 1820, it seems to have been closed, as School- two hundred and sixty feet in cir- craft describes another cave three cumference at the base, was opened miles above, as Carver's. Feathers- to the depth of three or four feet. - tonhaugh made the same mistake.
In 1837 Nicollet the astronomer and his assistants, worked many hours and entered the little cavity that remained.
It is now walled up and used as a. root-house by the owner of the land. .. On the bluff above are numerous mounds. Under the supervision of the writer, one eighteen feet high and
Fragments of skull, which crumbled on exposure, and perfect shells of human teeth, the interior ,entirely decayed, were found.
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FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY IN 1766.
Falls, stands a small island of about an acre and a half, on which grow a great number of oak trees."
From this description, it would appear that the little island, now some distance in front of the Falls, was once in the very midst, and shows that a constant recession has been going on, and that in ages long past, they were not far from the Minnesota river. A century hence, if the wearing of the last five years is any criterion, the Falls will be above the town of St. Anthony.
No description is more glowing than Carver's, of the - country adjacent :-
." The country around them is extremely beautiful. It is not an uninterrupted plain, where the eye finds no. relief, but composed of many gentle ascents, which in the summer are covered with the - finest verdure, and" interspersed with little groves that give a pleasing variety to the prospect. On the whole, when the Falls 'are included, which may be seen at the distance of four miles, a more -pleasing and picturesque view I believe cannot be found throughout the universe."
He arrived at the Falls on the seventeenth of Novem- ber, 1766, and appears to have ascended as far as Elk .river.
On the twenty-fifthof November, he had returned to the place opposite the Minnesota, when she had left his canoe, and this stream as yet not being obstructed with ice, he commenced its ascent, with the colour, of 'Great Britain flying at the stern of his canoe. There is no doubt that he entered this river, but how far he explored it cannot be ascertained .. He speaks of the Rapids near Shokopay, and asserts that he went as far as two hundred . miles beyond Mendota. He remarks :-
" On the seventh of December, I arrived at the utmost. 14
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extent of my travels towards the West, where I met a large party of the Naudowessie Indians, among ng whom I
resided some months."
After speaking of the upper bands of the Dahkotahs and their allies, he adds that he " let the habitations of the hospitable Indians the latter end of April, 1767, but did not part from them for several days, as I was accompanied on, my journey by near three hundred of them to the mouth of the river St. Pierre. . At this season these bands annually go to the great cave (Day- ton's Bluff), before mentioned."
. "When he arrived at the great cave, and the Indians had deposited the remains of their deceased friends in the burial-place that stands adjacent to it, they held their great council, to which he was admitted.
When the Naudowessies brought their dead for inter- ment to the great cave (St. Paul), I attempted to get an insight into the remaining burial rites, but whether it was on account of the stench which arose from so many bodies, or whether they chose to keep this part of their custom secret from me, I could not discover. I found, however, that they considered my curiosity as ill-timed, and therefore I withdrew ..
One formality among the Naudowessies in mourning for the dead, is very differs from any mode I observed in the other nations
in which I passed. The men, to show how great qui sorrow is, pierce the flesh of. their arms above
theelbows with arrows, and, the women cut and gash the songs with sharp broken, flints till the blood flows very dentifully.
After the breath is departed, the body is dressed in the same attire it usually wore, his face is painted; and he is seated in an creet posture on a mat or skin, placed
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. ALLEGED BURIAL SPEECH .AT ST. PAUL.
in the middle of the hut, with his weapons by his side. His relatives seated around, each harangues in turn the deceased; and, if he has been a great warrior, recounts " his heroic actions nearly to the following purport, which in the Indian language is extremely poetical and pleas- ing :--
" You still sit among us, brother, your person retains its usual resemblance, and continues similar to ours, without any visible deficiency, except it has lost the power of action ! But whither is that breath flown, which a few hours ago sent up smoke to the Great Spirit ? Why are those lips silent that lately delivered to us expressions and pleasing language ? Why are those feet motionless that a short time ago were fleeter' than the deer - on yonder mountains ?: Why useless hang those arms that could climb the tallest tree, or draw the toughest bow ? Alas! every part of that frame which we lately beheld with admiration and wonder, is now become as inanimate as it was three hundred years ago !: We will not, however, bemoan thee as if thou · wast for ever lost to us, or that thy name would be buried in oblivion-thy soul yet lives in the great country of Spirits with those of thy nation that have gone before thee; and, though we are left behind to perpetuate thy fame, we shall one day join thee.
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" Actuated by the respect we bore thee whilst living, · we how come to tender, thee the last act of kindness in our power; that thy body might not lie neglected on the plain and become a prey to the beasts of the field . .. or fowls of the air, we will take care to lay it with those of thy predecessors who have gone before thee; hoping at the same time that thy spirit will feed with their
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spirits and be ready to receive ours when we shall also arrive at the great country of souls."
For this speech Carver is principally indebted to his imagination, but it is well conceived, and suggested one of Schiller's poems.1
It appears from other sources that Carver's visit to the Dahkotahs was of some effect in bringing about friendly intercourse between them and the commander of the English force at Mackinaw.
The earliest mention of the Dahkotahs, in any public British documents that we know of, is in the correspond- ence between Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Colony of New York, and General Gage, in command of the forces.
On the eleventh, of September, less than six months . after Carver's speech at Dayton's Bluff, and the de- parture of a number of chiefs to the English fort at Mackinaw, Johnson writes to General Gage :- " Though I wrote to you some days ago, yet I would not mind saying something again on the score of the vast expenses incurred, and, as I understand, still incurring at Michi- limackinac, chiefly on pretence of making a peace . between the Sioux and Chippeweighs, with which I think we have very little to do, in good policy or other- wise."
Sir William Johnson, in a letter to Lord Hillsborough, one of his Majesty's ministers, dated August seventeenth, 1768, again refers to the subject :- . .
" Much greater part of those who go a trading are men of such circumstances and disposition as to venture their persons everywhere for extravagant gains, yet the
1 For translations of Schiller, see Chapter III. p. 89.
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PROPOSED PACIFIC ROAD.
consequences to the public are not to be slighted, as we may be led into a general quarrel through their means. The Indians in the part adjacent to Michilimackinac have been treated with at a very great expense for some time previous.
" Major Rodgers brings a considerable charge against the former for mediating a peace between some tribes, of the Sioux and some of the Chippeweighs, which, had it been attended with success, would only have been interesting to a very few French, and others, that had goods in that part of the Indian country, but the con- trary has happened, and they are now more violent, and war against one another."
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Though a wilderness of over one thousand miles inter- vened between the Falls of St. Anthony and the white settlements of the English, he was fully impressed with . the idea that the state now organized under the name of Minnesota, on account of its beauty and fertility, would attract settlers.
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Speaking of the advantages of the country, he says that the future population will bortable to convey their produce to the seaports with great facility, the current of the river from its source to its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico, being extremely favourable for doing this in small craft. This might also in time be facilitated by canals or shorter cuts, and a communication opened by water with New York, by way of the Lakes."
The subject of this sketch was also confident that a route could be discovered by way of the Minnesota river, which " would open a passage for conveying intelligenteo to China, and the English settlements in the Ea Indies."
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worth, a member of Parliament, in the Northern route. Had not the American Revolution commenced, they proposed to have built a fort at Lake Pepin, to have proceeded up the Minnesota, until they found, as they supposed they could, a branch of the Missouri, and from thence journeying over the summit of lands, until they came to a river which they called Oregon, they expected to descend to the Pacific.
Carver, in common with other travellers, had his theory in relation to the origin of the Dahkotahs. He supposed that they came from Asia. He remarks, " But this might have been at different times and from various parts -- from Tartary, China, Japan, for the inha- bitants of these places resemble each other.
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