USA > Minnesota > Fillmore County > History of Fillmore County, Minnesota (Volume 1) > Part 5
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The Hon. J. V. Brower, a scholarly authority upon this sub- ject, says ("The Mississippi River and Its Sources") : "Spain, by virtue of the discoveries of Columbus and others, confirmed to her by papal grant (that of Alexander VI, May 4, 1493), may be said to have been the first European owner of the entire valley of the Mississippi, but she never used this claim as a ground for taking formal possession of this part of her domains other than incidentally involved in De Soto's doings. The feeble objections which she made in the next two centuries after the discovery to other nations exploring and settling North America were success- fully overcome by the force of accomplished facts. The name of Florida, now so limited in its application, was first applied by the Spaniards to the greater part of the eastern half of North Amer- ica, commencing at the Gulf of Mexico and proceeding north- ward indefinitely. This expansiveness of geographical view was paralleled later by the definition of a New France of still greater extent, which practically included all the continent.
"L'Escarbot, in his history of New France, written in 1617, says, in reference to this : 'Thus our Canada has for its limits on the west side all the lands as far as the sea called the Pacific, on this side of the Tropic of Cancer; on the south the islands of the Atlantic sea in the direction of Cuba and the Spanish land; on
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the east the northern sea which bathes New France; and on the north the land said to be unknown, toward the icy sea as far as the arctic pole.'
"Judging also by the various grants to individuals, noble and otherwise, and 'companies,' which gave away the country in lati- tudinal strips extending from the Atlantic westward, the Eng- lish were not far behind the Spaniards and French in this kind of effrontery. As English colonists never settled on the Missis- sippi in pursuance of such grants, and never performed any acts of authority there, such shadowy sovereignties may be disre- garded here, in spite of the fact that it was considered necessary, many years later, for various states concerned to convey to the United States their rights to territory which they never actually ruled over.
"Thus, in the most arbitrary manner, did the Mississippi river, though yet unknown, become the property, successively, of the Iberian, Gaulish and Anglo-Saxon races of three peoples who, in later times, by diplomacy and force of arms, struggled .for an actual occupancy. Practically, however, the upper Mis- sissippi valley may be considered as having been in the first place Canadian soil, for it was Frenchmen from Canada who first vis- ited it and traded with its various native inhabitants. The fur- ther prosecution of his discoveries by La Salle, in 1682, extended Canada as a French possession to the Gulf of Mexico, though he did not use the name of Canada nor yet that of New France. He preferred to call the entire country watered by the Missis- sippi river and its tributaries, from its uttermost source to its mouth, by the new name he had already invented for the pur- pose-Louisiana. The name of Canada and New France had been indifferently used to express about the same extent of ter- ritory, but the name of Louisiana now came to supersede them in being applied to the conjectural regions of the West. Although La Salle has applied the latter expression to the entire valley of the Mississippi, it was not generally used in that sense after his time; the upper part of the region was called Canada, and the lower Louisiana; but the actual dividing line between the two provinces was not absolutely established, and their names and boundaries were variously indicated on published maps. Speaking generally, the Canada of the eighteenth century in- cluded the Great Lakes and the country drained by their tribu- taries; the northern one-fourth of the present state of Illinois- that is, as much as lies north of the mouth of the Rock river; all the regions lying north of the northern watershed of the Mis- souri, and finally the valley of the upper Missouri itself." This would include Fillmore county.
But it is now necessary to go back two centuries previous
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and consider the various explorations of the Mississippi upon which were based the claims of the European monarchs. Pos- sibly the mouth of the Mississippi had been reached by Spaniards previous to 1541, possibly Hibernian missionaries as early as the middle of the sixth century, or Welch emigrants (Madoc), about 1170, discovered North America by way of the Gulf of Mexico, but historians give to Hernando de Soto and his band of adventurers the credit of having been the first white men to actually view the Mississippi on its course through the interior of the continent and of being the first ones to actually traverse its waters. De Soto sighted the Mississippi in May, 1541, at the head of an expedition in search of gold and precious stones. In the following spring, weary with hope long deferred, and worn out with his adventures, De Soto fell a victim to disease and died May 21, 1541. His followers, greatly reduced in number by sick- ness, after wandering about in a vain searching, built three small vessels and descended to the mouth of the Mississippi, being the first white men to reach the outlet of that great river from the interior. However, they were too weary and discouraged to lay claim to the country, and took no notes of the region through which they passed.
In 1554 James Cartier, a Frenchman, discovered the St. Lawrence, and explored it as far as the present site of Quebec. The next year he ascended the river to Mont Real, the lofty hill for which Montreal was named. Thereafter all the country drained by the St. Lawrence was claimed by the French. Many years later the King of France granted the "basin of the St. Lawrence and all the rivers flowing through it to the sea," to a company, whose leader was Champlain, the founder of Quebec, which became the capital of New France, whose then unex- plored territory stretched westward to well within the bounda- ries of what is now Minnesota. In 1613-15 Champlain explored the Ottawa river, and the Georgian bay to Lake Huron, and missions were established in the Huron country. Missionaries and fur traders were the most active explorers of the new pos- sessions. They followed the shores of the Great Lakes and then penetrated further and further into the wilderness. As they went they tried to make friends of the red men, established trading posts and raised the Christian cross. In 1641 Jogues and Raymbault, Jesuits, after a long and perilous voyage in frail canoes and bateaux, reached the Sault Ste. Marie, where they heard of a large river, the Mish-is-ip-e, flowing southward to the sea, and of a powerful Indian tribe dwelling near its head- waters. Stories of vast fertile plains, of numberless streams, of herds of buffalo, and of many people, in regions far to the
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west and south, roused missionaries and traders anew, and the voyages and trips of the explorers became more frequent.
In 1659-60 Radisson and Groselliers, proceeding westward from Lake Superior, possibly entered what is now Minnesota. They spent some time in the "forty villages of the Dakotas," possibly in the vicinity of Mille Lac, and were, it has been con- tended, the first white men to set foot on the soil of this state. The contention that these adventurers spent a part of the years 1655-56 on Prairie Island, in the Mississippi just above Red Wing, is disputed by most historians, but still forms an interest- ing subject for study and conjecture.
Some writers also claim that the Frenchman, Sieur Nicollet, who should not be confused with the Nicollet of a later date, reached the Mississippi in 1639.
Rene Menard, a Jesuit missionary, reached the Mississippi in 1661 by way of Wisconsin. This was twelve years prior to its discovery by Marquette and Joliet, and to Menard historians in general give the honor of the discovery of the upper waters of the great river. Menard ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Black river, Wis., and was lost in a forest near the source of that stream while attempting to carry the gospel to the Hurons. His sole companion "called him and sought him, but he made no reply and could not be found." Some years later his camp kettle, robe and prayer book were seen in the possession of the Indians.
In the summer of 1663 the intelligence of the fate of Menard reached Quebec, and on August 8, 1665, Father Claude Allouez, who had anxiously waited two years for the means of convey- ance, embarked for Lake Superior with a party of French traders and Indians. He visited the Minnesota shores of Lake Superior in the fall of 1665, established the Mission of the Holy Spirit at La Pointe, now in Wisconsin, and we are told "was the first to write 'Messipi,' the name of the great river of the Sioux country," as he heard it pronounced by the Chippewas, or rather as it sounded to his ears.
May 13, 1673, Jaques Marquette and Louis Joliet, the former a priest and the latter the commander of the expedition, set out with five assistants, and on June 17 of the same year reached the Mississippi at the present site of Prairie du Chien, thence continuing down the river as far as the mouth of the Illinois, which they ascended, subsequently reaching the lakes.
In 1678, the Sieur De Luth, Daniel Graysolon, under commis- sion from the governor of Canada, set out from Quebec, to explore the country west of the Lake Superior region. He was to take possession of it in the name of the king of France, and secure the trade of the native tribes. De Luth entered Minne-
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sota in 1679, reaching the great Sioux village of Kathio at Mille Lac, on July 2. "On that day," he says, "I had the honor to plant His Majesty's arms, where a Frenchman never before had been."
La Salle, however, was the first to lay claim to the entire valley in the name of his sovereign. After achieving perpetual fame by the discovery of the Ohio river (1670-71), he conceived the plan of reaching the Pacific by way of the northern Missis- sippi, at that time unexplored and supposed to be a waterway connecting the two oceans. Frontenac, then governor-general of Canada, favored the plan, as did the king of France. Accord- ingly, gathering a company of Frenchmen, he pursued his way through the lakes, made a portage to the Illinois river, and, January 4, 1680, reached what is now Lake Peoria, in Illinois. From there, in February, he sent Hennepin and two companions to explore the upper Mississippi. During this voyage Hennepin and the men accompanying him were taken by the Indians as far north as Mille Lac. He also discovered St. Anthony Falls. Needing reinforcements, La Salle again returned to Canada. In January, 1682, with a band of followers, he started on his third and greatest expedition. February 6, they reached the Mis- sissippi by way of Lake Michigan and the Illinois river, and March 6, discovered the three great passages by which the river discharges its waters into the Gulf. Two days later they reascended the river a short distance, to find a high spot out of the reach of inundations, and there erected a column and planted a cross, proclaiming with due ceremony the authority of the king of France. Thus did the whole Mississippi valley pass under the nominal sovereignty of the French monarchs.
The first definite claim to the upper Mississippi is embodied in a paper, still preserved, in the colonial archives of France, entitled "The record of the taking possession, in his majesty's name, of the Bay des Puants (Green bay), of the lake and rivers of the Outagamis and Maskoutins (Fox river and Lake Winne- bago), of the river Ouiskonche (Wisconsin), and that of the Mississippi, the country of the Nadouesioux (the Sioux or Dakota Indians), the rivers St. Croix and St. Pierre (Minnesota), and other places more remote, May 8, 1689." (E. B. O'Callahan's translation in 1855, published in Vol. 9, page 418, "Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York.") This claim was made by Perrot, and the proclamation is sup- posed to have been issued from Fort St. Antonie (Anthony) near the present site of Trempealeau.
The previous proclamations of St. Lusson in 1671 at the out- let of Lake Superior, of De Luth, in 1679, at the west end of the same lake and at Mille Lac, had no definite bearing on the
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land now embraced in Fillmore county, but nevertheless strengthened the French claims of sovereignty.
For over eight decades thereafter, the claims of France were, tacitly at least, recognized in Europe. In 1763 there came a change. Of this change A. N. Winchell (in Vol. 10, "Minnesota Historical Society Collections") writes: "The present eastern boundary of Minnesota, in part (that is so far as the Mississippi now forms its eastern boundary), has a history beginning at a very early date. In 1763, at the end of that long struggle during which England passed many a mile post in her race for world empire, while France lost nearly as much as Britain gained- that struggle, called in America, the French and Indian War- the Mississippi river became an international boundary. The articles of the definite treaty of peace were signed at Paris, on February 10, 1763. The seventh article made the Mississippi, from its source to about the 31st degree of north latitude, the boundary between the English colonies on this continent and the French Louisiana. The text of the article is as follows (Published in the "Gentleman's Magazine," Vol. 33, pages 121- 126, March, 1763) :
"VII. In order to re-establish peace on solid and durable foundations, and to remove forever all subjects of dispute to the limits of the British and French Territories on the continent of America; that for the future the confines between the domains of his Britannic majesty and those of his most Christian majesty (the king of France) in that part of the world, shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn down the middle of the river Missis- sippi, from its source to the river Iberville, and from thence, by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and the Lake Maure- pas and Pontchartrain, to the sea." The boundary from the source of the river farther north, or west, or in any direction, was not given; it was evidently supposed that it would be of no importance, for many centuries at least.
This seventh article of the definite treaty was identical with the sixth article in the preliminary treaty of peace signed by England, Spain and France, at Fontainbleau, November 3, 1762. On that same day, November 3, 1762, the French and Spanish representatives had signed another act by which the French king "ceded to his cousin of Spain, and his successors forever . * * all the country known by the name of Louisiana, including New Orleans and the island on which that city is situated." This agreement was kept secret, but when the definite treaty was signed at Paris the following year, this secret pact went into effect, and Spain at once became the possessor of the area described.
At the close of the Revolutionary War, the territory east of
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the Mississippi, and north of the 31st parallel passed under the jurisdiction of the United States. By the definite treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, ratified at Paris, September 3, 1783, a part of the northern boundary of the United States, and the western boundary thereof was established, as follows: Commencing at the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods and from thence on a due course west to the Mississippi river (the Mississippi at that time was thought to extend into what is now Canada), thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of said Mississippi river until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the 31st degree of north latitude. (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 8, page 82.)
In 1800, by the secret treaty of San (or Saint) Ildefonso (signed October 1), Spain receded the indefinite tract west of the Mississippi to France, which nation did not, however, take formal possession until three years later, when the formality was made necessary in order that the tract might be ceded to the United States. Napoleon, for France, sold the tract to the United States, April 30, 1803. The region comprehended in the "Louis- iana Purchase," as this area was called, included all the country west of the Mississippi, except those portions west of the Rocky mountains actually occupied by Spain, and extended as far north as the British territory.
By an act of congress, approved October 31, 1803, the presi- dent of the United States was authorized to take possession of this territory, the act providing that "all the military, civil, and judicial powers exercised by the officers of the existing govern- ment, shall be vested in such person and persons, and shall be exercised in such maner as the president of the United States shall direct." (United States Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, page 245.)
December 20, 1803, Louisiana was formally turned over to the United States at New Orleans, by M. Laussat, the civil agent of France, who a few days previous (November 30) had received a formal transfer from representatives of Spain.
Louisiana District. By an act of congress, approved March 26, 1804, all of that portion of the country ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, lying south of the 33d degree of north latitude, was organized as the territory of Orleans and all the residue thereof was organized as the district of Louisiana. That act contained the following provision: "The executive power now vested in the government of the Indiana territory shall extend to and be exercised in said district of Louisiana." The area set off as the territory of Orleans was admitted as the state of Louisiana in 1812.
Louisiana Territory. By an act of congress approved March
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3, 1805, all that part of the country embraced in the district of Louisiana was organized as a territory, called the territory of Louisiana.
Missouri Territory. By an act of congress approved June 4, 1814, it was provided that the territory hitherto called Louisiana should be called Missouri, and was organized as a territory. The struggles in congress which led to the Missouri compromise; the agreement that all territory west of Missouri and north of parallel 36° 36' should forever be free from the curse of slavery, and the final admission of Missouri with her present boundaries, by presidential proclamation, August 10, 1821, are outside of the province of this history. Sufficient is it to say here that this admission left the land to the northward, including Fillmore county, without a fountain head of territorial government from that date until June 28, 1834, when it was attached to Michigan.
It is now necessary to turn to the events that had been transpiring in regard to the government of the area east of the Mississippi and northwest of the Ohio river.
The Northwest Territory embraced all the area of the United States northwest of the Ohio river. By the provisions of the famous "Northwest Ordinance," passed July 13, 1787, by the Congress of the Confederation (the constitution of the United States not being adopted until September 17), the Ohio river became the boundary of the territory. The fifth article of the ordinance reads as follows: "Art. 5. There shall be formed in the said (i. e., the Northwest) territory, not less than three, nor more than five states, . * the western state in the said territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio and the Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post Vincents, due north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada; and by the said territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and the Mississippi." (See Executive Documents, 3d session, 46th congress, 1880-81, Vol. 25, Doc. 47, Part 4, pages 153-156; also United States Statutes at Large, Vol. 1, page 51, note a.)
Indiana Territory. The ordinance of 1787 provided for the organization of three "states" out of the Northwest Territory. That same year the constitution of the United States was adopted. In 1799, Ohio organized a territorial government, but the middle and western "states" did not have, separately, sufficient popula- tion to warrant the establishment of two separate governments. Congress solved the difficulty by uniting the two under the name of Indiana. The act was passed May 7, 1800, and its first section reads as follows: "Section 1-Be it enacted, etc., that from and after the fourth day of July next, all that part of the territory of
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the United States, northwest of the Ohio river, which lies to the westward of a line beginning at the Ohio opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purpose of tempo- rary government, constitute a separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory." (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, page 58.) Indiana was admitted as a state in 1816.
Michigan Territory. By an act of congress passed June 11, 1805, Michigan territory was formed. The boundaries were described as follows: "All that part of the Indiana territory which lies north of a line drawn east from the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan until it shall intersect Lake Erie, and east of a line drawn from the said southerly bend through the middle of said lake to its northern extremity, and thence due north of the northern boundary of the United States, shall for the purpose of temporary government constitute a separate terri- tory, to be called Michigan." (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, page 309,) Additions, noted further along in this article, were later made to this territory.
Illinois Territory. In 1809 settlers had come in so fast that there were sufficient citizens in Indiana territory to support two governments. Accordingly, the territory of Illinois was estab- lished, February 3, 1809, by the following enactment: "Be it enacted, etc., that from and after the first day of March, next, all that part of the Indiana territory which lies west of the Wabash river and a direct line drawn from the said Wabash river and Post Vincennes, due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall for the purpose of temporary government constitute a separate territory, and be called Illinois." (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, page 514.) Illinois was admitted as a state in 1818.
Michigan Territory. The population of Illinois continued to increase, and the people were eager for a state government. The southern portion was therefore granted statehood privileges, and the northern portion, mainly unoccupied, was cut off and added to the territory of Michigan, previously created. This transfer of territory was authorized in section 7 of the act passed April 18, 1818, enabling Illinois to form a state government and constitu- tion. The terms of the act are as follows: "Section 7. And be it further enacted, That all that part of the territory of the United States lying north of the state of Indiana, and which was included in the former Indiana territory, together with that part of the Illinois territory which is situated north of, and not included within the boundaries prescribed by this act (viz., the boundaries of the state of Illinois) to the state thereby authorized
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to be formed, shall be and hereby is, attached to and made a part of the Michigan territory." Thus matters remained for sixteen years.
Missouri, in the meantime, had been admitted as a state (1812), and the territory north of that state, and west of the Mississippi, was practically without organized authority from that year until 1834, when the increase of settlement made it advisable that the benefits of some sort of government should be extended to its area. Consequently, Michigan territory was extended to include this vast region. The act so enlarging Michigan territory passed congress June 28, 1834, in the follow- ing terms: "Be it enacted, etc., That all that part of the territory of the United States, bounded on the east by the Mississippi river, on the south by the state of Missouri, and a line drawn due west from the northwest corner of said state to the Missouri river; on the southwest and west by the Missouri river and the White Earth river, falling into the same, and on the north by the north- ern boundary of the United States, shall be, and hereby is, for the . purpose of temporary government attached to and made a part of the territory of Michigan." (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 4, page 701.) In less than two years, certain territory was set apart to form the proposed state of Michigan. This act passed congress April 20, 1836, but Michigan was not admitted until January 26, 1837. (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 5, page 10-16.)
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