History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 8

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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In this region, at one and a half leagues on the northwest side, commenced a lake, which is six leagues long and more than one broad, called Lake Pepin. It is bounded on the west by a chain of mountains; on the east is seen a prairie; and on the northwest of the lake there is another prairie two leagues long and one wide. In the neighborhood 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 two hundred 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 taila kind of scale which makes a noise, and this is ealled the rattle.

Le Sueur made on this day seven and a half leagues, and passed another river, called Hiam- bouxecate Ouataba, or the River of Flat Rock. [The Sioux call the Cannon river Inyanbosndata.]

On the 15th he crossed a small river, and saw in the neighborhood several canoes, filled with Indians, descending the Mississippi. He sup- posed they were Scioux, because he could not dis- tinguish whether the canoes were large or small. The arms were placed in readiness, and soon they heard the cry of the savages, which they are ac- customed to raise when they rush upon their en- emies. IIe 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 having never seen the French navi- gate the river with boats like the felucca, they had supposed them to be English, and for that reason they had raised the war cry, and arranged them- selves on the other side of the Mississippi; but having recognized their flag, they had come with- out fear to inform them, that one of their num- ber, who was crazy, had accidentally killed a

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

Frenchman, and that they would go and bring his comrade, who would tell how the mischief had happened.

The Frenchman they brought was Denis, a Ca- nadian, and he reported that his companion was accidentally killed. His name was Laplace, a de- serting soldier from Canada, who had taken ref- uge in this country.

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 of different 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 protection, to live in peace.

He made this day three and three-fourths leagues; and on the 16th of September, he left a large river on the east side, named St. Croix, be- cause a Frenchman of that name was shipwrecked at its mouth. It comes from the north-northwest. 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. [One of La Salle's men was named St. Croix.]

From the 16th to the 19th, he advanced thir- teen and three-fourths leagues. After having made from Tamarois two hundred and nine and a half leagues, he left the navigation of the Missis- sippi, to enter the river St. Pierre, on the west side. By the 1st of October, he had made in this · river forty-four and one-fourth leagues. After he entered Blue river, thus named on account of the mines of blue earth found at its mouth, he found- ed his post, situated in forty-four degrees, thir- teen minutes north latitude. IIe met at this place nine Scioux, 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 de- scending 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 Otoctatas, 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 establishment 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 men- tioned, 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 knowledge of the mines which he had pre- viously discovered, he told them that he was sor- ry that he had not known their intentions sooner, and that it was just, since he came expressly for them, that he should establish 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 to- bacco, to entice them to assemble, as soon as pos- sible, near the fort 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 state- ment 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 on the prairies which are be- tween tie Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and live entirely by the chase. The Scioux gen- erally 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. Poly- gamy 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

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BLUE EARTH ASSAYED BY L'HULLIER IN PARIS.

wing. They make their lodges of a number of buffalo skins interlaced and sewed, and carry them wherever they go. They are all great smo- kers, 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.

On the third of October, they received at the fort several Scioux, among whom was Wahkan- tape, chief of the village. Soon two Canadians arrived who had been hunting, and who had been robbed by the Scioux of the East, who had raised their guns against the establishment which M. Le Sueur had made on Blue Earth river.

On the fourteenth the fort was finished and named Fort L'Huillier, and on the twenty-second two Canadians were sent out to invite the Aya- vois and Otoctatas to come and establish a vil- lage near the fort, because these Indians are in- dustrious and accustomed to cultivate the earth, and they hoped to get provisions from them, and to make them work in the mines.

On the twenty-fourth, six Scioux Oujalespoi- tons 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 rob- bed 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 Mendeoucantons and not the Oujalespoitons ; " but," continued he, "you are Scioux ; it is the Scioux who have robbed me, and if I were to fol- low your manner of 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, Mendeoucanton, Oujalespoitons, or others-all the villages revenge 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 present, 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 robbing 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 Otoctatas. On the 25th, Le Sueur went to the river with three canoes, which he filled with green and blue earth. 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'Huillier, one of the chief collectors of the king. Stones were also found there which would be curious, if worked.

On the ninth 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, 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 disposition 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, be- cause 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 Mississippi.

The Assinipoils speak Scioux, and are certainly of that nation. It is only a few years since that they became enemies. The enmity thus origi- nated: The Christianaux, having the use of arms before the Scioux, through the English at Hud- son's Bay, they constantly warred upon the As- sinipoils, who were their nearest neighbors. The latter, being weak, sued for peace, and to render it more lasting, married the Christianaux

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

women. The other Scioux, who had not made the compact, continued the war; and, seeing some Christianaux with the Assinipoils, broke their heads. The Christianaux furnished the Assini- poils with arms and merchandise.

On the 16th the Scioux returned to their vil- lage, and it was reported that the Ayavois and Otoctatas were gone to establish themselves to- wards the Missouri River, near the Maha, who dwell in that region. On the 26th the Mantan- tons and Oujalespoitons arrived at the fort; and, after they had encamped in the woods, Wah kantape came to beg Le Sueur to go to his lodge. He 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 mo- tioning 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 Tioscate, 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 Tioscate begged him to for- get 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 coun- try full of game, because they had not the means of killing them. " Look," added the chief, " Be- hold 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."

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.]

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 of their enemies; 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 ex- poses 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 accom- pany 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 in- vited 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 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 nu- merous! 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 in- stead 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 breth- ren are miserable and have no mind, and we must

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D'IBERVILLE'S MEMOIR ON THE MISSISSIPPI TRIBES.

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 as- sure 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 garment, 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 distributed the presents, and said that he was go- ing to the Mendeoucantons, to inform them of the resolution, and invite them to do the same.

On the twelfth, three Mendeoucauton chiefs, and a large number of Indians of the same vil- lage, arrived at the fort, and the next day gave satisfaction for robbing the Frenchmen. They brought four hundred 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 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.

MENDEOUACANTONS-Village of Spirit Lake.

QUIOPETONS-Village of the Lake with one River.

PSIOUMANITONS-Village of Wild Rice Gath- erers.

OUADEBATONS-The River Village.

QUAETEMANETONS-Village of the Tribe who dwell on the Point of the Lake.

SONGASQUITONS-The Brave Village,

THE SCIOUX OF THE WEST.

TOUCHOUAESINTONS-The Village of the Pole. PSINCHATONS-Village of the Red Wild Rice.

OUJALESPOITONS-Village divided into many small Bands.

PSINOUTANHINHINTONS - The Great Wild Rice Village.

TINTANGAOUGHIATONS - The Grand Lodge Village.

QUAEPETONS-Village of the Leaf. OUGHETGEODATONS-Dung Village.

OUAPEONTETONS-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.

In the narrative of Major Long's second expe- dition, there are just as many 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 Mississippi 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 se- lected 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 supplies. 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 mem- orial upon the Mississippi valley, with sugges- tions for carrying on commerce therein, which contains many facts furnished by Le Sueur. A copy of the manuscript was 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. Le Sueur, who goes to France to give an account of this country, is the proper per- son to make these movements. IIe estimates the Sioux at four thousand families, who could settle upon the Missouri.

" He has spoken to me of another which he calls the Mahas, composed of more than twelve hundred families. The Ayooues (Ioways) and the Octoctatas, their neighbors, are about three hundred families. They occupy the lands be-

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

tween the Mississippi and the Missouri, about one hundred leagues from the Illinois. These savages do not know the use of arms, and a de- scent might be made upon them in a river, which is beyond the Wabash on the west. * * *

"The Assinibouel, Quenistinos, and people of the north, who are upon the rivers which fall into the Mississippi, and trade at Fort Nelson (Hud- son Bay), are about four hundred. We could prevent them from going there if we wish."

" In four or five years we can establish a com- merce with these savages of sixty or eighty thou- sand buffalo skins; more than one hundred deer skins, which will produce, delivered in France, more than two million four hundred thousand livres yearly. One might obtain for a buffalo skin four or five pounds of wool, which sells for twenty sous, two pounds of coarse hair at ten sous.

" Besides, from smaller peltries, two hundred thousand livres can be made yearly."

In the third volume of the " History and Sta- tistics of the Indian Tribes," prepared under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian affairs, by Mr. Schoolcraft, a manuscript, a copy of which was in possession of General Cass, is referred to as containing the first enumeration of the Indians of the Mississippi Valley. The following was made thirty-four years earlier by D'Iberville:

"The Sioux,

Families,

4,000

Mahas, 12,000

Octata and Ayoues, 300

Canses [Kansas], 1,500

Missouri, .

1,500

Akansas, &c.,

200

Manton [Mandan],

100

Panis [Pawnee],

2,000

Illinois, of the great village and Cama- roua [Tamaroa], 800

Meosigamea [Metchigamias], 200

Kikapous and Mascoutens, 450

Miamis,

500

Chactas,

4,000

Chicachas,

2,000

Mobiliens and Chohomes, 350

Concaques [Conchas], 2,000

Ouma [Houmas], 150

Colapissa,

250

Bayogoula,

100

People of the Fork,

200

Counica, &c. [Tonicas], 300 Nadeches, 1,500 Belochy, [Biloxi] Pascoboula, 100

Total, 23,850

"The savage tribes located in the places I have marked out, make it necessary to establish three posts on the Mississippi, one at the Arkansas, another at the Wabash (Ohio), and the third at the Missouri. At each post it would be proper to have an officer with a detachment of ten sol- diers with a sergeant and corporal. All French- men should be allowed to settle there with their families, and trade with the Indians, and they might establish tanneries for properly dressing the buffalo and deer skins for transportation.

" No Frenchman shall be allowed to follow the Indians on their hunts, as it tends to keep them hunters, as is seen in Canada, and when they are in the woods, they do not desire to become tillers of the soil. * * * * * * *

" I have said nothing in this memoir of which I have not personal knowledge or the most relia- ble sources. The most of what I propose is founded upon personal reflection in relation to what might be done for the defence and advance- ment of the colony. * *

* * * * *

* It will be absolutely necessary that the king should define the limits of this country in relation to the government of Canada. It is important that the commandant of the Mississippi should have a report of those who inhabit the rivers that fall into the Mississippi, and principally those of the river Illinois.

" The Canadians intimate to the savages that they ought not to listen to us but to the governor of Canada, who always speaks to them with large presents, that the governor of Mississippi is mean and never sends them any thing. This is true, and what I cannot do. It is imprudent to accus- tom the savages to be spoken to by presents, for, with so many, it would cost the king more than the revenue derived from the trade. When they come to us, it will be necessary to bring them in subjection, make them no presents, and compel them to do what we wish, as if they were French- men.

"The Spaniards have divided the Indians into parties on this point, and we can do the same. When one nation does wrong, we can cease to

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PENICAUT DESCRIBES LIFE AT FORT L'HUILLIER.

trade with them, and threaten to draw down the hostility of other Indians. We rectify the diffi- culty by having missionaries, who will bring them into obedience secretly.

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History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 8

Author: Edward D. Neill Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: