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 9
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M. Le Sueur made the same day three leagues; passed a stream on the west, and afterwards another river on the east, which is navigable at all times, and which the Indians call Red river.
On the 10th, at daybreak, they heard an elk whistle, on the other side of the river. A Canadian crossed in a small Scioux canoe, which they had found, and shortly returned with the body of the animal, which was very easily killed, " quand il est en rut," that is from the be-' ginning of September until the end of October. The hunters at this time make a whistle of a piece of wood, "or reed, and when they hear an elk whistle, they answer it.' The animal, believing it to be another elk,' ap- · proaches, and is killed with ease.
From the 10th to the 14th, M. Le Sueur made seven- teen and a half leagues, passing the rivers Raisin and. Paquilenettes, (perhaps the Wazi Ozu and Buffalo.)- The same day he left, on the east side of the Missis- sippi, a beautiful and large river, which descends from the very far north, and called Bon Secours {Chippeway), on account of the great quantity of buffalo, elk, bears, and degrs, which are found there. Three leagues up this river there is a mine of lead, and seven leagues " above, on the same side, they found another long river, in the vicinity of which there is a copper mine, from which he had taken a lump of sixty pounds, in a former voyage. In order to make these mines of any account, peace must be obtained between the Scioux and Outa- gamis (Foxes), because the latter, who dwell on the
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LAKE PEPIN .-- CANNON RIVER.
east side of the Mississippi, pass this road continually when going to war against the Scioux.
In this region, at one and a half leagues on the north- west side, commenced a lake, which is six leagues long -. and more than one broad, called Lake "Pepin. It i's bounded on the west byla chain of mountains; on the' east is seen a prairie; and on the north-west of the lake there is another prairie two leagues long and one wide. In the neighbourhood is a chain of mountains quite two hundred feet high, and more than one and a half miles long. In these are found several caves, to which the bears retire in winter. Most of the caverns are more than seventy feet in extent, and three or four feet high. There are several of which the entrance is very narrow, and quite closed up with saltpetre. It - .. would be dangerous to enter them in summer, for they are filled with rattlesnakes, the bite of which is very' dangerous. Le Sueur saw some of these snakes which ' were six feet in length, but generally they are about four feet. They have teeth resembling those of the pike, and their gums are full of 'small vessels in which their poison is placed. The Scioux say they take it every morning, and cast it away at night. They have at the tail a kind of scale which makes a noise, and this is called the rattle.
Le Sueur made on this day seven and a half leagues, and passed another river called Hiambouxecate Ouataba, or the River of Flat Rock.1
. On the 15th he crossed a small river, and saw, in the neighbourhood, several canoes filled with Indians, descending the Mississippi. He supposed they were
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1 This is evidently the Inyanbosndata, or Cannon river.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Scioux, because he could not distinguish whether their canoes were large or small. The arms were placed in, . readiness, and soon they heard the cry of the savages, which they are accustomed to raise when they rush upon their enemies. He caused them to be answered in the same manner; and, after having placed all the men behind the trees, he ordered them not to fire until they were commanded." He remained on shore to see what movement the savages would make, and perceiving that they placed two on shore, on the other side; where from an eminence they could ascertain the strength of his forces, he caused the men to pass and repass from the shore to the wood, in order to make them believe that they were numerous. This ruse succeeded, for as . soon as, the two descended from the eminence, the chief of the party came, bearing the calumet, which is a signal of peace among the Indians.
They said, that never having seen the French navi- gate the river with boste like the feluccas they had supposed them to be and for that reason they had raised the war cry, and arranged themselves on the other side of the Mississippi; but, having recognised their flag, they had come without fear to inform them, that one of their number, who was crazy, had acci- dentally killed a Frenchman, and that they would go and bring his comrade, who would tell how the mischief had happened.
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The Frenchman they brought was Denis, a Canadian, and he reported that his companion was accidentally killed. His name was Laplace, a deserting soldier from Canada, who had taken refuge in this country. . . "
1 The felucca is a small vessel had never before been seen on the. propelled both by oars and sails, and waters of the Upper Mississippi.
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ST. CROIX DROWNED .- RIVER. ST. PIERRE.
: Le Sueur replied, that Onontio (the name they give to all the governors of Canada), being their father and his, they ought not to seek justification elsewhere than before him; and he advised them to go and see him as /soon as possible, and beg him to wipe off the blood of this Frenchman from their faces.
The party was composed of forty-seven men dif- ferent nations, who dwell far. to the east, about the forty-fourth degree of latitude. Le Sueur, discovering who the chiefs were, said the king whom they had spoken of in Canada, had sent him to take possession of the north of the river; and that he wished the nations who dwell on it, as well as those under his pro- tection, to live in peace ..
He made this day three and three-fourth - leagues ; and, on the 16th of September, he left a large river on the east side, named St. Croix, because a Frenchman of that name was shipwrecked at its mouth. It comes from the north-north-west. Four leagues higher, in going up, is found a small lake, at the mouth of which is a very large mass of copper. It is on the edge of the _ water, in a small ridge of sandy earth, on the west of this lake.
From the 16th to the 19th, he advanced thirteen and three-fourth leagues. After having made from Tamarois two hundred and nine and a half leagues, he left the navigation of the Mississippi, to enter the river St. Pierre,1 on the west side. By the 1st of October, he
1 The Saint Pierre, like the Saint and prominent in the Indian affairs Croix, just below it, was evidently in that age. Carver, in 1776, on. the shores of Lake Pepin, discovered named after a Frenchman., Charle- voix speaks of an officer by that the ruins of an extensive trading name, who was at Mackinaw in 1692, post, that had been under the control
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
had made in this river forty-four and one-fourth leagues. After he entered into Blue river, thus named on account of the mines of blue earth found at its mouth, he founded his post, situated in forty-four degrees, thirteen minutes, . north latitude. He met at this place nine Scioux,1 who told him that the river belonged to the Scioux of the West, the Ayavois (Iowas), and Otoctatas (Ottoes), who lived a little farther off; that it was not their custom to hunt.on ground belonging to others, unless invited to do so by the owners, and that when they would come to the fort to obtain provisions, they would be in danger of being killed in ascending or descending the rivers, which were narrow, and that if they would show their. pity., he must establish himself on the Mississippi, near the mouth of the St. Pierre," where the Ayavois, the Otocta- tas, and the other Scioux, could go as well as they.
Having finished their speech, they leaned over the head of Le Sueur, according to their custom, crying out, " Quaechissou ouaepanimanabo," that is to say, " Have pity upon us." Le Sueur had foreseen that the esta- blishment of Blue Earth river, would not please the Scioux of the East, who were, so to speak, masters of the other Scioux, and of the nations which will be hereafter mentioned, because they were the first with whom. trade was commenced, and in consequence of which they had already quite a number of guns.
As he had commenced his operations, not only with a view to the trade of beaver, but also to gain a
of a Captain Saint Pierre, and there Lahontan, Le Sueur, and the Jesuits is scarcely a doubt that Le Sueur of that period in their relations, and it has not been altered to Dahkotth
. named the Minnesota river in honour of his fellow explorer and trader. in this chapter.
Scroux, is the orthography of "Neighbourhood of Mendota,
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DAHKOTAHS OF THE PLAINS.
knowledge of the mines, which he had previously dis- covered, he told them he was sorry that he had not known their intentions sooner; and that it was just, .since he came expressly for them, that he should esta- blish himself on their land, but that the season was too far advanced for him to return. He then made them a present of powder, balls, and knives, and an armful of tobacco, to entice them to assemble as soon as possible, near the fort which he was about to construct, that when they should be all assembled he might tell them the intention of the king, their and his sovereign.
The Scioux of the West, according to the statement of. the Eastern Scioux, have more than a thousand lodges. They do not use canoes, nor cultivate, the earth, nor gather wild rice. They remain generally in the prairies, which are between the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and live entirely by the chase. The Scioux generally say they have three souls, and that after death, that which has done well goes to the warm country, that which has done evil to the cold regions, and the other guards the body. Polygamy is common among them. They are very jealous, and sometimes fight in duel for their wives. They manage the bow admirably, and have been seen several times to kill ducks on the wing. They make their lodges of a number of buffalo skins interlaced and sewed, and carry · them wherever they go. They are all great smokers, but their manner of smoking differs from that of other Indians. There are some Scioux who swallow all the -smoke of the tobacco, and others who, after having kept it some time in their mouth, cause it to issue from the nose. In each lodge there are usually two or three men with their families.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
On the third of October, they received at the fort several Scioux, among whom was Wahkantape, chief of the village. Soon two Canadians arrived who had been hunting, and had been robbed by the Scioux of the East, who had raised their guns against the esta- blishment which M. Le Sueur had made on Blue Earth river.
On the fourteenth the fort was finished and named Fort L'Huillier,1 and on the twenty second two Cana- dians were sent out to invite the Ayavois and Otoctatas to come and establish a village near the fort, because these Indians are industrious and accustomed to culti- vate the earth, and they hoped to get provisions from them, and to make them work in the mines.
On, the twenty-fourth, six Scioux Oujalespoitons wished to go into the fort, but were told that they did not receive men who had killed Frenchmen. This is the term used when they have insulted them. The next day they came to the lodge of Le Sueur to beg him to have pity on them. They wished, according to custom, to weep over his head and make him a present of packs of beavers, which he refused. He told them he was surprised that people who had robbed should come to him ; to which they replied that they had heard it said that two Frenchmen had been robbed, but none from their village had been present at that wicked action.
Le Sueur answered, that he knew it was the Men- deoucantons and not the Oujalespoitons; "but," con- tinued he, "you are Scioux; it is the Scioux who have robbed me, and if I were to follow your manner of
1 The farmer general at Paris who had encouraged Le Sueur in his pro- jects.
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LE SUEUR FILLS CANOES WITH BLUE EARTH.
acting, I should break your heads; for is it not true, that when a stranger (it is thus they call the Indians who are not Scioux) has insulted a Scioux, Mendeou- canton, Oujalespoitons, or others-all the villages re- venge upon the first one they meet ?"
As they had nothing to answer to what he said to them, they wept and repeated, according to custom, " Quaechissou ! ouaepanimanabo !" Le Sueur told them to cease crying, and added, that the French had good hearts, and that they had come into the country to have pity on them. At the same time he made them a pre- sent, saying to them, "Carry back your beavers and say to all the Scioux, that they will have from me no more powder or«lead, and they will no longer smoke any long pipe until they have made satisfaction for rob- bing the Frenchman."
The same day the Canadians, who had been sent off on the 22d, arrived without having found the road which led to the Ayavois and Qtoctatas. On the 25th Le Sueur went to the river with three canoes, which he filled with green and blue earth.1 It is taken from the hills near which are very abundant mines of copper, some of which was worked at Paris in 1696 by L'Huil- lier, one of the chief collectors of the king. Stones were also found there, which would be curious, if worked.
On the 9th of November, eight Mantanton Scioux arrived, who had been sent by their chiefs to say that the Mendeoucantons were still at their lake on the east of the Mississippi, and they could not come for a long time ; and that, for a single village which had no good sense,
1 The locality was a branch of the river, and on a map published in Blue Earth, about a mile above the 1773, the river St. Remi. fort, called by Nicollet Le Sueur
fort chief had x of esta- arth
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
the others ought not to bear the punishment; and that . they were willing to make reparation if they knew how. Le Sueur replied that he was glad that they had a dis- position to do so.
On the 15th the two Mantanton Scioux, who had been sent expressly to say that all of the Scioux of the east, and part of those of the west, were joined together to come to the French, because they had heard that the Christianaux and the 'Assinipoils were making war on them. These two nations dwell above the fort on the . east side, more than eighty leagues on the Upper Mis- sissippi.
The Assinipoils speak Scioux, and are certainly of that nation. It is only a few years since that they be- came enemies. The enmity thus originated : The Chris- tianaux, having the use of arms before the Scioux, through the English at Hudson's Bay, they constantly warred upon the Assinipoils, who were their nearest neighbours. The latter, being weak, sued for peace, and to render it more lasting, married the Christianaux : women. The other Scioux, who had not made the com- pact, continued the war; and, seeing some Christianaux with the Assinipoils, broke their heads. The Chris- tianaux furnished the Assinipoils with arms and mer- chandise.
On the 16th the Scioux returned to their village, and it was reported that the Ayavois and Otoctatas were gone to establish themselves towards the Missouri river, near the Maha, who dwell in that region. On the 26th the Mantantons and Oujalespoitons arrived at the fort ; and, after they had encamped in the woods, Wahkan- tape1 came to beg Le Sueur to go to his lodge. He
1 Wakandapi or Estebmed Sacred, was the name of one of the head men at Red Wing, in 1850.
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WEEP OVER THE DEATH OF TEEOSKAIITAY.
there found sixteen men with women and children, with their faces daubed with black. In the middle of . the lodge were several buffalo skins, which were sewed for a carpet. After motioning him to sit down, they wept for the fourth of an hour, and the chief gave him some wild rice to eat (as was their custom), putting the . first three spoonsful to his mouth. After which, he said all present were relatives of Tioscaté,1 whom Le Sueur took to Canada in 1695, and who died there in 1696.
* At the mention of Tioscate they began to weep again, and wipe their tears and heads upon the shoulders of Le Sueur. Then Wahkantape again spoke, and said that Tioscaté begged him to forget the insult done to the Frenchmen by the Mendeoucantons, and take pity on his brethren by giving them powder and balls whereby, they could defend themselves, and gain a living for their wives and children, who languish in a country, full of game, because they had not the means of killing them. " Look," added the chief, " Behold thy children, thy brethren, and thy sisters; it is to thee to see whether thou wishest them to die. They will live if thou givest them powder and ball; they will die if thou refusest."
1 Le Sueur granted them their request, but as the Scioux never answer on the spot, especially in matters of importance, and as he had to speak to them about his establishment, he went out of the lodge without saying a word. The chief and all those within followed him as far as the door of the fort; and when he had gone in, they went around it three times, crying with all their strength, " Atheouanan !" that is to say, " Father, have pity on us." (Ate unyanpi, means Our Father.)
1 Tecoskahtay.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
The next day, he assembled in the fort the principal men of both villages; and as it is not possible to subdue the Scioux or to hinder them from going to war, unless it be by inducing them to cultivate the earth, he said to . them that if they wished to render themselves worthy of the protection of the king, they must abandon their erring life, and form a village near his dwelling, where they would be shielded from the insults of their ene- mies; and that they might be happy and not hungry, he would give them all the corn necessary to plant a large piece of ground ; that the king, their and his chief, in sending him, had forbidden him to purchase beaver skins, knowing that this kind of hunting separates them and exposes them to their enemies; and that in conse- quence of this he had come to establish himself on Blue river and vicinity, where they had many times assured him were many kinds of beasts, for the skins of which he would give them. all things necessary; that they ought to reflect that they could not do without French goods, and that the only way not to want them was, not to go to war with our allied nations.
As it is customary with the Indians to accompany their word with a present proportioned to the affair treated of, he gave them fifty pounds of powder, as many balls; six guns, ten axes, twelve armsful of tobacco, and a hatchet pipe.
On the first of December, the Mantantons invited Le Sueur to a great feast. Of four of their lodges they had made one, in which were one hundred men seated around, and every one his dish before him. After the meal, Wahkantape, the chief, made them all smoke one after another in the hatchet pipe which had been given them. He then made a present to Le Sueur of a slave 1
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M'DEWAKANTONWAN CHIEFS AT BLUE EARTH FORT .. 169
and a sack of wild rice, and said to him, showing him . his men : " Behold the remains of this great village, which thou hast aforetimes seen, so numerous! all the others have been killed in war; and the few men whom thou seest in this lodge, accept the present thou hast made them, and are resolved to obey the great chief of all nations, of whom thou hast spoken to us. . ' Thou oughtest not to regard us as Scioux, but as French, and instead of saying the Scioux are miserable, and have no mind, and are fit for nothing but to rob and steal from the French, thou shalt say my brethren are miserable and have no mind, and we must try to procure some for them. They rob us, but I will take care that they do not lack iron, that is to say, all kinds of goods. If thou dost this, I assure thee that in a little time, the Mantantons will become Frenchmen, and they will have none of those vices with which thou reproachest us."
Having finished his speech, he covered his face with his garinent, and the others imitated him. They wept over their companions who had died in war, and chanted an adieu to their country in a tone so gloomy, that one could not keep from partaking of their sorrow.
Wahkantape then made them smoke again, and dis -. tributed the presents, and said that he was going to the Mendeoucantons, to inform them of the resolution, and invite them to do the same ....
On the twelfth, three Mendeoucanton chiefs and a : large number of Indians of the same village, arrived at the fort, and the next day gave satisfaction for robbing the Frenchmen. They brought 400 pounds of beaver skins, and promised that the summer following, after their canoes were built and they had gathered their wild " rice, that they would come and establish themselves
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
near the French. The same day they returned to their village east of the Mississippi.
NAMES OF THE BANDS OF SCIOUX OF THE EAST, WITH THEIR SIGNIFICATION.
MANTANTONS-That is to say, Village of the Great Lake which empties into a small one.
MENDEOUCANTONS-Village of Spirit Lake.
QUIOPETONS-Village of the Lake with one River.
PSIOUMANITONS-Village of. Wild Rice Gatherers.
OUADEBATONS .- The River Village.
OUATEMANETONS .- Village of the Tribe who dwell on the Point of the Lake.
SONGASQUITONS-The Brave Village.
THE SCIOUX OF THE WEST.
TOUCHOUASINTONS-The Village of the Pole.
PSINCHATONS-Village of the Red Wild Rice.
OUJALESPOITONS-Village «divided into many small Bands.
PSINOUTANHHINTONS-The Great Wild Rice Village.
TINTANGAOUGHIATONS-The Grand Lodge Village.
OUAPETONS-Village of the Leaf.
OUGHETGEODATONS-Dung Village.
- OUAPETONTETONS-Village of those who Shoot' in the . Large Pine.
HINHANETONS-Village of the Red Stone Quarry.
The above catalogue of villages concludes the extract that La Harpe has made from Le Sueur's Journal.1
1 The "History of Louisiana, by nal, and deposited among the ar- La Harpe," who was a French offi- chives of the American Philosophi- cer, remained in manuscript more cal Society, from which a few ex- than one hundred years. In 1805, tracts were published by Professor a copy was taken from the origi- . Keating, in his narrative of Major
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D'IBERVILLE'S MANUSCRIPT.
In the narrative of Major Long's second expedition, there are just the same number of villages of the Gens du Lac or M'dewakantonwan Scioux mentioned, though the names are different. After leaving the Mille Lac region, the divisions evidently were different, and the villages known by new names.
Charlevoix, who visited the valley of the Lower Mis- sissippi in 1722, says that Le Sueur spent a winter in his fort on the banks of the Blue Earth; and that in the following April he went up to the mine about a mile above. In twenty-two days they obtained more than thirty thousand pounds of the substance, four thousand .. of which were selected and sent to France. €
On the tenth of February, 1702, Le Sueur came back" to the post on the Gulf of Mexico, and found D'Iberville absent, who, however, arrived on the eighteenth of the next month, with a ship from France, loaded with sup- plies. After a few weeks, the Governor of Louisiana sailed again for the old country, Le Sueur being a fellow passenger.
On board of the ship, D'Iberville wrote a memorial upon the Mississippi Valley, with suggestions for carry- ing on commerce therein, which contains many facts furnished by Le Sueur. A copy of the manuscript is in possession of the Historical Society of Minnesota, from which are the following extracts :-
" If the Sioux remain in their own country they are , useless to us, being too distant. We could have no . commerce with them except that of the beaver. M.
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Long's expedition. In the year 1831, tion of that part which pertains to the original was published at Paris, Minnesota, appeared in a St. Paul for the first time, in the French newspaper in 1850. language. The first English transla-
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rofessor Major
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