History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 21

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 21

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On the first of July, a land office was estab- lished at Stillwater, and A. Van Vorhes, after a few weeks, became the register.

The anniversary of our National Independence was celebrated in a becoming manner at the cap- ital. The place selected for the address, was a grov? that stood on the sites of the City Hall and

the Baldwin School building, and the late Frank- lin Steele was the marshal of the day.

On the seventh of July, a proclamation was is- sued, dividing the territory into seven council districts, and ordering an election to be held on the first day of August, for one delegate to rep- resent the people in the House of Representatives of the United States, for nine councillors and eighteen representatives, to constitute the Legis- lative Assembly of Minnesota.

In this month, the Hon. H. M. Rice despatch- ed a boat laded with Indian goods from the the Falls of St. Anthony to Crow Wing, which was towed by horses after the manner of a canal boat.

The election on the first of August, passed off with little excitement, Hon. H, H. Sibley being elected delegate to Congress without opposition. David Lambert, on what might, perhaps, be termed the old settlers' ticket, was defeated in St. Paul, by James M. Boal. The latter, on the night of the election, was honored with a ride through town on the axle and fore-wheels of an old wagon, which was drawn by his admiring but somewhat undisciplined friends.

J. L. Taylor having declined the office of United States Marshal; A. M. Mitchell, of Ohio, a graduate of West Point, and colonel of a regi- ment of Ohio volunteers in the Mexican war, was appointed and arrived at the capital early in August.

There were three papers published in the ter- ritory soon after its organization. The first was the Pioneer, issued on April twenty-eighth, 1849, under most discouraging circumstances. It was at first the intention of the witty and reckless editor to have called his paper "The Epistle of St. Paul." About the same time there was issued in Cincinnati, under the auspices of the late Dr. A. Randall, of California, the first number of the Register. The second number of the paper was printed at St. Paul, in July, and the office was on St. Anthony, between Washington and Market Streets, About the first of June, James Hughes, afterward of Hudson, Wisconsin, arrived with a press and materials, and established the Minnesota Chronicle. After an existence of a few weeks two papers were discontinued; and, in their place, was issued the "Chronicle and

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DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPORARY CAPITOL.

The first courts, pursuant to proclamation of the governor, were held in the month of August. At Stillwater, the court was organized on the thirteenth of the month, Judge Goodrich pre- siding, and Judge Cooper by courtesy, sitting on the bench. On the twentieth, the second judi- cial district held a court. The room used was the old government mill at Minneapolis. The presiding judge was B. B. Meeker ; the foreman of the grand jury, Franklin Steele. On the last Monday of the month, the court for the third judicial district was organized in the large stone warehouse of the fur company at Mendota. The presiding judge was David Cooper. Governor Ramsey sat on the right, and Judge Goodrich on the left. Hon. H. H. Sibley was the foreman of the grand jury. As some of the jurors could not speak the English language, W. H. Forbes acted as interpreter. The charge of Judge Cooper was lucid, scholarly, and dignified. At the request of the grand jury it was afterwards published.

On Monday, the third of September, the first Legislative Assembly convened in the " Central House, "in Saint Paul, a building at the corner of Minnesota and Bench streets, facing the Mississippi river which answered the double purpose of capitol and hotel. On the first floor of the main building was the Secreta- ry's office and Representative chamber, and in the second story was the library and Council chamber. As the flag was run up the staff in front of the house. a number of Indians sat on a rocky bluff in the vicinity, and gazed at what to them was a novel and perhaps saddening scene; for if the tide of immigration sweeps in from the Pacific as it has from the Atlantic coast, they must soon dwindle.

The legislature having organized, elected the following permanent officers: David Olmsted, President of Council; Joseph R. Brown, Secre- ary; H. A. Lambert, Assistant. In the House of Representatives, Joseph W. Furber was elect- ed Speaker : W. D. Phillips, Clerk : L. B. Wait, Assistant.

On Tuesday afternoon, both houses assembled in the dining hall of the hotel, and after prayer was offered by Rev. E. D. Neill, Governor Ram- sey delivered his message. The message was ably

written, and its perusal afforded satisfaction at home and abroad.

The first session of the legislature adjourned on the first of November. Among other proceed- ings of interest, was the creation of the following counties : Itasca, Wapashaw, Dahkotah, Wah- nahtah, Mahkahto, Pembina. Washington, Ram- sey and Benton. The three latter counties com- prised the country that up to that time had been ceded by the Indians on the east side of the Mis- sissippi, Stillwater was declared the county seat of Washington, Saint Paul, of Ramsey, and " the seat of justice of the county of Benton was to be within one-quarter of a mile of a point on the east side of the Mississippi, directly opposite the mouth of Sauk river."

EVENTS OF A. D 1850.

By the active exertions of the secretary of the territory, C. K. Smith, Esq., the Historical Society of Minnesota was incorporated at the first session of the legislature. The opening an- nual address was delivered in the then Methodist (now Swedenborgian) church at Saint Paul, on the first of January, 1850.

The following account of the proceedings is from the Chronicle and Register. "The first public exercises of the Minnesota Historical Society, took place at the Methodist church, Saint Paul, on the first inst., and passed off highly creditable to all concerned. The day was pleasant and the attendance large. At the appointed hour, the President and both Vice-Presidents of the society being absent ; on motion of Hon. C. K. Smith, Hon. Chief Justice Goodrich was called to the chair. The same gentleman then moved that a committee, consisting of Messrs. Parsons K. Johnson, John A. Wakefield, and B. W. Brunson, be appointed to wait upon the Orator of the day, Rev. Mr. Neill, and inform him that the audience was waiting to hear his address.

" Mr. Neill was shortly conducted to the pulpit; and after an eloquent and approriate prayer by the Rev. Mr. Parsons, and music by the band, he proceeded to deliver his discourse upon the early French missionaries and Voyageurs into Minne- sota. We hope the society will provide for its publication at an early day.

"After some brief remarks by Rev. Mr.

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

Hobart, upon the objects and ends of history, the ceremonies were concluded with a prayer by that gentleman. The audience dispersed highly delighted with all that occurred."

At this early period the Minnesota Pioneer issued a Carrier's New Year's Address, which was amusing doggerel. The reference to the future greatness and ignoble origin of the capital of Minnesota was as follows :-

The cities on this river must be three, Two that are built and one that is to be. One, is the mart of all the tropics yield, The cane, the orange, and the cotton-field, And sends her ships abroad and boasts IIer trade extended to a thousand coasts ; The other, central for the temperate zone, Garners the stores that on the plains are grown, A place where steamboats from all quarters, range,

To meet and speculate, as 'twere on 'change. The third will be, where rivers confluent flow From the wide spreading north through plains of snow ;

The mart of all that boundless forests give To make mankind more comfortably live, The land of manufacturing industry, The workshop of the nation it shall be. Propelled by this wide stream, you'll see A thousand factories at Saint Anthony : And the Saint Croix a hundred mills shall drive, And all its smiling villages shall thrive ; But then my town-remember that high bench With cabins scattered over it, of French ? A man named Henry Jackson's living there, Also a man-why every one knows L. Robair, Below Fort Snelling, seven miles or so, And three above the village of Old Crow ? Pig's Eye ? Yes; Pig's Eye! That's the spot ! A very funny name ; is't not ?

l'ig's Eye's the spot, to plant my city on, To be remembered by, when I am gone. Pig's Eye converted thou shalt be, like Saul : Thy name henceforth shall be Saint Paul.

- On the evening of New Year's day, at Fort Snelling, there was an assemblage which is only seen on the outposts of civilization. In one of the stone edifices, outside of the wall, belonging to the United States, there resided a gentleman who had dwelt in Minnesota since the year 1819,

and for many years had been in the employ of the government, as Indian interpreter. In youth he had been a member of the Columbia Fur Com- pany, and conforming to the habits of traders, had purchased a Dahkotah wife who was wholly ignorant of the English language. As a family of children gathered around him he recognised the relation of husband and father, and consci- entiously discharged his duties as a parent. " His daughter at a proper age was sent to a boarding school of some celebrity, and on the night re- ferred to was married to an intelligent young American farmer. Among the guests present were the officers of the garrison in full uniform, with their wives, the United States Agent for the Dahkotahs, and family, the bois brules of the neighborhood, and the Indian relatives of the mother. The mother did not make her appear- ance, but, as the minister proceeded with the ceremony, the Dahkotah relatives, wrapped in their blankets, gathered in the hall and looked in through the door.

The marriage feast was worthy of the occa- sion. In consequence of the numbers, the officers and those of European extraction partook first ; then the bois brules of Ojibway and Dah- kotah descent; and, finally, the native Ameri- cans, who did ample justice to the plentiful sup- ply spread before them.

Governor Ramsey, Hon. H. H. Sibley, and the delegate to Congress devised at Washington, this winter, the territorial seal. The design was Falls of St. Anthony in the distance. An immigrant ploughing the land on the borders of the Indian country, full of hope, and looking forward to the possession of the hunting grounds beyond. An Indian, amazed at the sight of the plough, and fleeing on horseback towards the setting sun.

The motto of the Earl of Dunraven, "Que sursum volo videre". (I wish to see what is above) was most appropriately selected by Mr. Sibley, but by the blunder of an engraver it appeared on the territorial seal, "Quo sursum velo videre," which no scholar could translate. At length was substituted, "L' Etoile du Nord," "Star of the North," while the device of the setting sun remained, and this is objectionable, as the State of Maine had already placed the North Star on her escutcheon, with the motto "Dirigo," "I guide." Perhaps some future legislature may

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SCALP DANCE IN STILLWATER.

direct the first motto to be restored and.correctly engraved.

In the month of April, there was a renewal of hostilities between the Dahkotahs and Ojibways, on lands that had been ceded to the United States. A war prophet at Red Wing, dreamed that he ought to raise a war party. , Announcing the fact, a number expressed their willingness to go on such an expedition. Several from the Kaposia village also joined the party, under the leadership of a worthless Indian, who had been confined in the guard-house at Fort Snelling, the year previous, for scalping his wife.

Passing up the valley of the St. Croix, a few miles above Stillwater the party discovered on the snow the marks of a keg and footprints. These told them that a man and woman of the Ojibways had been to some whisky dealer's, and were re- turning. Following their trail, they found on Apple river, about twenty miles from Stillwater, a band of Ojibways encamped in one lodge. Wait- ing till daybreak of Wednesday, April second, the Dahkotahs commenced firing on the unsuspecting inmates, some of whom were drinking from the contents of the whisky keg. The camp was com- posed of fifteen, and all were murdered and scalp- ed, with the exception of a lad, who was made a captive.

On Thursday, the victors came to Stillwater, and danced the scalp dance around the captive boy, in the heat of excitement, striking him in the face with the scarcely cold and bloody scalps of his relatives. The child was then taken to Ka- posia, and adopted by the chief. Governor Ram- sey immediately took measures to send the boy to his friends. At a conference held at the Gov- ernor's mansion, the boy was delivered up, and, on being led out to the kitchen by a little son of the Governor, since deceased, to receive refresh- ments, he cried bitterly, seemingly more alarmed at being left with the whites than he had been while a captive at Kaposia.

From the first of April the waters of the Mis- sissippi began to rise, and on the thirteenth, the lower floor of the warehouse, then occupied by William Constans, at the foot of Jackson street, St. Paul, was submerged. Taking advantage of the freshet, the steamboat Anthony Wayne, for a purse of two hundred dollars, ventured through the swift current above Fort Snelling, and reached

the Falls of St. Anthony. The boat loft the fort after dinner, with Governor Ramsey and other guests, also the band of the Sixth Regiment on board, and reached the falls between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. The whole town, men, women and children, lined the shore as the boat approached, and welcomed this first arrival, with shouts and waving handkerchiefs.

On the afternoon of May fifteenth, there might have been seen, hurrying through the streets of Saint Paul, a number of naked and painted braves of the Kaposia band of Dahkotahs, ornamented with all the attire of war, and panting for the scalps of their enemies. A few hours before, the warlike head chief of the Ojibways, young Hole- in-the-Day, having secreted his canoe in the retired gorge which leads to the cave in the upper sub- urbs, with two or three associates had crossed the river, and, almost in sight of the citizens of the town, had attacked a small party of Dahkotahs, and murdered and scalped one man. On receipt of the news, Governor Ramsey granted a parole to the thirteen Dahkotahs confined in Fort Snell- ing, for participating in the Apple river massacre.

On the morning of the sixteenth of May, the first Protestant church edifice completed in the white settlements, a small frame building, built for the Presbyterian church, at Saint Paul, was destroyed by fire, it being the first conflagration that had occurred since the organization of the territory.

One of the most interesting events of the year 1850, was the Indian council, at Fort Snelling. ¡ Governor Ramsey had sent runners to the differ- ent bands of the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, to meet him at the fort, for the purpose of en- (leavouring to adjust their difficulties.

On Wednesday, the twelfth of June, after much talking, as is customary at Indian councils, the two tribes agreed as they had frequently done before, to be friendly, and Governor Ramsey presenting to each party an ox. the council was dissolved.

On Thursday, the Ojibways visited St. Paul for the first time, young Hole-in-the-Day being dressed in a coat of a captain of United States infantry, which had been presented to him at the fort. On Friday, they left in the steamer Gov- ernor Ramsey, which had been built at St. An- thony, and just commenced running between

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

that point and Sauk Rapids, for their homes in the wilderness of the Upper Mississippi.

The summer of 1850 was the commencement of the navigation of the Minnesota River by steamboats. With the exception of a steamer that made a pleasure excursion as far as Shokpay, in 1841, no large vessels had ever disturbed the waters of this stream. In June, the " Anthony Wayne," which a few weeks before had ascended to the Falls of St. Anthony, made a trip. On the eighteenth of July she made a second trip, going almost to Mahkahto. The " Nominee" also navigated the stream for some distance.

On the twenty-second of July the officers of the " Yankee," taking advantage of the high water, determined to navigate the stream as far as possible. The boat ascended to near the Cot- tonwood river.

As the time for the general election in Septem- ber approached, considerable excitement was manifested. As there were no political issues before the people, parties were formed based on personal preferences. Among those nominated for delegate to Congress, by various meetings, were H. H. Sibley, the former delegate to Con- gress, David Olmsted, at that time engaged in the Indian trade, and A. M. Mitchell, the United States marshal. Mr. Olmsted withdrew his name before election day, and the contest was between those interested in Sibley and Mitchell. The friends of each betrayed the greatest zeal, and neither pains nor money were spared to in- sure success. Mr. Sibley was elected by a small majority. For the first time in the territory, soldiers at the garrisons voted at this election. and there was considerable discussion as to the propriety of such a course.

Miss Fredrika Bremer, the well known Swedish novelist, visited Minnesota in the month of October, and was the guest of Governor Ramsey.

During November, the Dahkotah Tawaxitku Kin, or the Dahkotah Friend, a monthly paper, was commenced, one-half in the Dahkotah and one-half in the English language. Its editor was the Rev. Gideon H. Pond, a Presbyterian mis- sionary, and its place of publication at Saint Paul. It was published for nearly two years, and, though it failed to attract the attention of the Indian mind, it conveyed to the English reader much

correct information in relation to the habits, the belief, and superstitions, of the Dahkotahs.

On the tenth of December, a new paper, owned and edited by Daniel A. Robertson, late United States marshal, of Ohio, and called the Minne- sota Democrat, made its appearance.

During the summer there had been changes in the editorial supervision of the "Chronicle and Register." For a brief period it was edited by L. A. Babcock, Esq., who was succeeded by W. G. Le Duc.

About the time of the issuing of the Demo- crat, C. J. Henniss, formerly reporter for the United States Gazette, Philadelphia, became the editor of the Chronicle.

The first proclamation for a thanksgiving day was issued in 1850 by the governor, and the twenty-sixth of December was the time appointed and it was generally observed.

EVENTS OF A. D. 1851.

On Wednesday, January first, 1851, the second Legislative Assembly assembled in a three-story brick building, since destroyed by fire, that stood on St. Anthony street, between Washington and Franklin. D. B. Loomis was chosen Speaker of the Council, and M. E. Ames Speaker of the Ilouse. This assembly was characterized by more bitterness of feeling than any that has since convened. The preceding delegate election had been based on personal preferences, and cliques and factions manifested themselves at an early period of the session.

The locating of the penitentiary at Stillwater. and the capitol building at St. Paul gave some dissatisfaction. By the efforts of J. W. North, Esq., a bill creating the University of Minnesota at or near the Falls of St. Anthony, was passed, and signed by the Governor. This institution, by the State Constitution. is now the State Uni- versity.

During the session of this Legislature, the pub- lication of the " Chronicle and Register" ceased.

About the middle of May, a war party of Dah- kotahs discovered near Swan River, an Ojibway with a keg of whisky. The latter escaped, with the loss of his keg. The war party, drinking the contents, became intoxicated, and, firing upon some teamrters they met driving their wagons with goods to the Indian Agency, killed one of

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LANDS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI CEDED.

them, Andrew Swartz, a resident of St. Paul. The news was conveyed to Fort Ripley, and a party of soldiers, with Hole-in-the-Day as a guide, started in pursuit of the murderers, but did not succeed in capturing them. Through the influ- ence of Little Six the Dahkotah chief, whose vil- lage was at (and named after him) Shok- pay, five of the offenders were arrested and placed in the guard-house at Fort Snelling. On Monday, June ninth, they left the fort in a wagon, guarded by twenty-five dragoons, destined for Sauk Rapids for trial. As they departed they all sang their death song, and the coarse soldiers amused themselves by making signs that they were going to be hung. On the first evening of the journey the five culprits encamped with the twenty-five dragoons. Handcuffed, they were placed in the tent, and yet at midnight they all escaped, only one being wounded by the guard. What was more remarkable, the wounded man was the first to bring the news to St. Paul. Pro- ceeding to Kaposia, his wound was examined by the missionary and physician, Dr. Williamson ; and then, fearing an arrest, he took a canoe and paddled up the Minnesota. The excuse offered by the dragoons was, that all the guard but one fell asleep.

The first paper published in Minnesota, beyond the capital, was the St. Anthony Express, which made its appearance during the last week of April or May.

The most important event of the year 1851 was the treaty with the Dahkotahs, by which the west side of the Mississippi and the valley of the Minnesota River were opened to the hardy immi- grant. The commissioners on the part of the United States were Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Governor Ramsey. The place of meeting for the upper bands was Trav- erse des Sioux. The commission arrived there on the last of June, but were obliged to wait many days for the assembling of the various bands of Dahkotahs.

On the eighteenth of July, all those expected having arrived, the Sissetoans and Wahpaytoan Dahkotahs assembled in grand council with the United States commissioners. After the usual feastings and speeches. a treaty was concluded on Wednesday, July twenty-third. The pipe having been smoked by the commissioners, Lea

and Ramsey, it was passed to the chiefs. The paper containing the treaty was then read in English and translated into the Dahkotah by the Rev. S. R. Riggs, Presbyterian Missionary among this people. This finished, the chiefs came up to the secretary's table and touched the pen; the white men present then witnessed the document, and nothing remained but the ratification of the United States Senate to open that vast country for the residence of the hardy immigrant.

During the first week in August, a treaty was also concluded beneath an oak bower, on Pilot Knob, Mendota, with the M'dewakantonwan and Wahpaykootay bands of Dahkotahs. About sixty of the chiefs and principal men touched the pen, and Little Crow, who had been in the mission- school at Lac qui Parle, signed his own name. Before they separated, Colonel Lea and Governor Ramsey gave them a few words of advice on various subjects connected with their future well- being, but particularly on the subject of educa- tion and temperance. The treaty was interpret- ed to them by the Rev. G. H. Pond, a gentleman who was conceded to be a most correct speaker of the Dahkotah tongue.

The day after the treaty these lower bands received thirty thousand dollars, which, by the treaty of 1837, was set apart for education ; but, by the misrepresentations of interested half- breeds, the Indians were made to believe that it ought to be given to them to be employed as they pleased.

The next week, with their sacks filled with money, they thronged the streets of St. Paul, purchasing whatever pleased their fancy.

On the seventeenth of September, a new paper was commenced in St. Paul, under the auspices of the "Whigs," and John P. Owens became editor, which relation he sustained until the fall of 1857.

The election for members of the legislature and county officers occurred on the fourteenth of October; and, for the first time, a regular Demo- cratic ticket was placed before the people. The parties called themselves Democratic and Anti- organization; or Coalition.

In the month of November Jerome Fuller ar- rived, and took the place of Judge Goodrich as Chief Justice of Minnesota, who was removed ; and, about the same time, Alexander Wilkin was

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appointed secretary of the territory in place of C. K. Smith.

The eighteenth of December, pursuant to proclamation, was observed as a day of Thanks- giving.

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History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 21

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

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