History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 5

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264

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HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

mound that has in evidence 250 concentric rings, indicating that it was 250 years ago when the acorn which grew into the tree was planted in the mound. How long had the mound been built ? The prevailing opinion of writers of recent date, who have made Indian mounds of this region a study, is that the ancestors of the Indians found inhabiting these parts at the time it was first vis- ited by Europeans. were the creators of these earthworks. From time immemorial this locality has been known as Hem-minne-cha (Hill, water, wood). Franqueline published in Paris. in 1664, a map of this country, and located an Indian village at what is . now known as Cannon Junction, and called it by the name of "Remnica." Franqueline received his information probably from Hennepin, as that explorer had returned to France and published his book about that time. While I have not been asked to con- tribute an article on archaeology, yet it may not be out of place for me to add a few words on the very interesting subject. My father, some years ago, writing on the subject, stated that the builders of the mounds, or the people who inhabited this country before the Dakotas, must have been a more civilized and peaceful race than the Sioux, as no warlike implements were found. Since the above was written by my father I have found in this im- mediate vicinity thousands of flint and stone arrows and spear heads, stone axes, and clubs, without number. The general opin- ion, I think, prevails, that the art of chipping flint and stone in- plements is a lost one ; but as there are a number of descriptions in print, written by persons who have witnessed the operation, I will give a description or two. Catlin's description of Apache mode of making flint arrow points : "This operation is very curious, both the holder and the striker singing, and the strokes of the mallet, given exactly in time with the music, and with a short and rebounding blow, in which, the Indians tell us, is the great medicine of the operation." Admiral L. E. Belcher gives an account of flint arrow head making by western Eskimo tribes. Schoolcraft describes the mode of making flint arrow heads by North American Indians. John Smith describes the making of arrow points by Virginia Indians. "His arrow head he quickly maketh with a little bone, which he ever weareth at his brace, of a splint of a stone or glass, in the form of a heart and these they glue to the end of their arrows."

I have made the statement at the beginning of this article that it could never be known how many ages the Indians had flourished in this country, and now add the opinions of others. Many writers in the past, and a few at the present time, speak of the Mound Builders as a vanished race and declare that the skeletons found buried in the mounds denote that they were giants in stature. Marquis De Nadaillae, in "Prehistoric Amer-

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

ica." pages 113-154, says: "The new school, with such scholars at its head as Brinton, Cyrus Thomas, Powell and Carr, hold that the present Indians are the descendants of the Mound Build- ers." John Gmeiner, pastor of the Church of St. Raphael, Springfield. Minn .. January 10, 1908, in "Acta et Dieta," pub- lished by the St. Paul Catholics' Historical Society, July, 1908, page 221-222, says: "The Dakota confederation consisted of a number of tribes whose ancestors must have been originally united in one tribe. for they spoke dialects of the same language." About 800 years ago seven tribes, the Omaha, Ooehenonpa, Minn- ikannazo, Ttazipco, Licanga. Hunkpapa, and Yanktonnen, united to form the Dakota confederation. The very name implies this. It means "allied nations." The name Sioux was unknown to them; it is a corruption of an Ojibwa word, meaning enemies, as the Dakotas and Ojibwas were continually at war. The Dakota confederation gradually increased until it included forty-two tribes and extended far beyond the limits of our present state.

The Dakotas entered Minnesota and Wisconsin about the be- ginning of their confederation. Father Craft writes: "It is quite certain they were near Lake Michigan 800 years ago, as they met there Erie Upsi, Bishop of Greenland, who had come there from Vineland about 1121." It is certainly a most interesting and surprising fact to find the long-lost, zealous Norse bishop finally reappear in the ancient traditions of the Dakotas. Any one desirous of reading more about Bishop Eric Upsi, or Gnup- son, may consult P. De Roo, "History of America Before Colum- bus," Philadelphia and London, 1900, vol. 88, pp. 174-282. No doubt Erie Upsi came to the western shores of Lake Michigan by way of the St. Lawrence river and the Great Lakes. Accord- ing to Humboldt, the Norsemen had some of their principal set- tlements at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river, and it was quite natural for them to follow that great waterway to its sourees, as the French did at a later period. The following ap- peared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press September 7. 1909 :

" 'Eight Swedes and twenty-two Norwegians upon a journey of discovery from Vineland, Nova Scotia, westward. We had a camp of two skerries (rocks in water) one day's journey from this stone. We were out fishing one day. When we returned home we found ten men red with blood and dead. Ave Maria. Save us from evil. We have ten men by the sea to look after our vessel. forty-one (?) days' journey from this island. Year 1362.' This legend, cut in Runie characters on the Kensington stone now on exhibition at the Swedish village at the fair grounds, the genuine- ness of which seems to have involved in dispute many of the pio- neer Scandinavians in Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin. Some

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

doubt the story of the finding of the stone. According to affidavits in possession of II. R. H. Holand, curator of the Sons of Norway, Ephrain, Wis., the stone was found under a gigantic tree at Kensington, Minn., by Pehr Oman while he was grubbing stumps. However, it was at one time on exhibition at Chieago and was declared to be a fake. At the exposition at Stockholm, Sweden, where the Runie lettering was translated by some of the best scholars in Sweden, it was claimed that there can be no doubt as to its authenticity. Arthur. G. Thomas, of Chicago, manager of the Swedish village, said yesterday that in his opinion the proof of the finding of the stone is conclusive." The above may, as some claim, be a fake; but investigate, and if in time to come it is entitled to credence, it may perhaps be the means of shedding light on some of our ancient history that is very confusing. On the other hand, if it proves to be spurious, brand it as sueh, in a manner so as to cause the perpetrators of fakes of this nature, to be more careful in the future. The finding of this stone is not more remarkable or singular than the finding of the Rosetta stone in 1799, by some Egyptian fishermen, who in drawing a seine in the river Nile brought to shore in their nets a curiously engraved stone, which on investigation by students proved to be the key by which the import of the hieroglyphics and writings carved within the great Pyramids of Sheops was made known to the world. Some of the information given to the world through the assistance of this remarkable relic, is. that these pyramids in question were begun by the builders 2170 years before the Chris- tian era, and they stand today the greatest structure ever reared by the hand of man.

Following is an article written by Lucien Carr, entitled "The Mounds of the Mississippi Valley Historically Considered," which appeared in "Memoirs of the Kentucky Geological Survey," "' Vol. 11, 1183; N. S. Shaler, Director. In a paper upon the "Prehis- torie Remains of Kentucky," published in the first volume of these memoirs, I have expressed the opinion that it was impossible to distinguish between a series of stone implements taken from the Mounds in the Mississippi valley and a similar series made and used by the Modern Indians. In fact, so alike are these ob- jects in conception and execution that any attempt to distinguish them, based upon form or finish, must be but the merest guess- work. From the rude knife to the carved and polished "Groget," they may, one and all, have been taken from the inmost reeesses of a mound or picked upon the surface amid the debris of a recent Indian village, and the most experienced archaeologist, if ealled upon to decide as to their origin, would have to acknowl- edge himself at fault. Nor does the similarity stop with objects made of stone. On the contrary, it is believed to extend to all

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

articles, of every kind whatsoever, that have thus far been taken from the mounds. Indeed, I might even go further, and as the result of some years of work. as well in the field as in the library, venture the assertion that not only has there not as yet been any- thing taken from the mounds indicating a higher stage of de- velopment than the red Indian of the United States is known to have reached, but that even the mounds themselves, and under this head are included all the earthworks of the Mississippi val- ley, were quite within the limits of his efforts. All that I intend to assert is, that, admitting everything that can be reasonably claimed by the most enthusiastic advocate of the superior civiliza- tion of the Mound Builders, there is no reason why the red In- dians, of the Mississippi valley, judging from what we know, historically, of their development, could not have thrown up these works. This proposition is not as complete as could be desired, and yet it probably embodies all that can ever be proven on this subject."

I quote from Marquis de Nadaillac's article, "The Unity of the Human Species," pp. 1-2. The arrow heads of the Dakota, Apache, and Comanche Indians show eurious resemblance to those discovered on the borders of the Seine and Thames; the nuclei of Scandinavia compare well with those of Mexico, and if one exchange the hatchets or the knives of flint from Europe with similar objects from America it is difficult for even experts to separate them, however well they may be versed in petrograph and prehistorie archaeology, and it will be extremely difficult to distinguish the races to which they belong. Pottery from widely separated regions is made in the same form and by the same processes of fabrication, and even with the same ornamentation. The spindle whorls in stone, bone and pottery, found in settle- ments succeeding each other on the hills of Hissarlik, recall those of the Swiss lake dwellings. Those of Peru, Mexico, and even those in present use among the Navajos, are the same as in our museums, whether they come from Italy, Germany, the south of France, or the north of Scandinavia."

Thomas La Blanc, a half-breed Sioux, has told of the separa- tion of the bands of Wacoota. Red Wing and Wabasha, in the vivid terms of Indian tradition. While this narrative, containing a story of the forceful removal of a mountain, must be regarded as fanciful. it is doubtless as near the truth as anything else. in which we have only tradition to rely upon. After telling of a general war, after which Wacoota, whom he describes as a young libertine, was made chief, La Blane says, in "Bunnell's History of Winona County":

"Wah-cou-ta was left at his newly-selected camp-ground at Kaposia, while an older chief, afterward called Rem-na-chee,

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

from the place where he settled, went on down to the site of the modern city of Red Wing, where game of all kinds, fish included, were found in great abundance. Here there seemed nothing lack- ing to their perfect happiness, and they lived for a great length of time. intermarrying like some families in Europe, until another chief, who might be styled the first of the name of Wah-pa-sha or his progenitor. drew attention to the efficiency of some of the warriors who could not complete the trail of the sun dance and bear dance and had been compelled to assume the garb and oecu- pation of women. as was the custom among the Sioux. He also referred to the increasing number of skeletons they were com- pelled to place in their ossuaries on Barn and other bluffs in the neighborhood and ended by declaring that new alliances should be made with more vigorous tribes, and the customs of other In- dians. now extinet, should be strictly enforced.

"It so happened that one of his own daughters was in ex- pectation of an alliance with Chaska, a brave of great repute, oldest son of a chief, but the talk of Wah-pa-sha had so impressed him that without saying anything of his purpose, he had started off as if for a hunt, but in reality to see and espouse the daughter of Yellow Thunder, a noted Winnebago chief, who. though of Dah-ko-tah origin, was very far removed from the original stock. C'haska's absence was first noticed by his charming bride, who, jealons of his absence, complained to her father. Upon inquiry, it was found that the teachings of Wah-pa-sha had driven the young man away. but not to be baffled. the young girl, proving to the high priest her virginity. he was at once able to call good spirits to her aid. At first Rem-ne-chee and Wah-pa-sha had taken sides, one for the son, the other for the daughter. Neither chief desired bloodshed, but old-time prejudices and customs are stronger than the authority of any chief, unless he has well- tested personal bravery to enforce his commands. This seemed lacking in the older chief, Rem-ne-chee, and bows were being strung and spears pointed, when the power of the secret incanta- tions of the priest burst forth in vivid flashes of lightning, the earth trembled and then all was enveloped in darkness most profound; while the Indians in affright east themselves upon the ground, where they remained chanting their death-songs in expectation of destruction. But lo! light again appeared, and those at Red Wing found that a part of their possessions, includ- ing the dome-shaped peak and part of the Barn bluff ossnary, had disappeared. and during the seismic strife, Wah-pa-sha the elder. and part of his band. had also been torn from Remneehee's turbulent followers. Witch-e-ain, the virgin, had been left behind, but calling to the spokesman of the band for aid, she soon assem- bled a few young braves, who, in devotion to her father, and in

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

admiration of her purpose, declared that they would not only find the truant lover, but they would also recover their lost territory, which they naturally supposed must have been transported, with the direction of the wind, down the Mississippi. Believing this, they started down in a canoe. With the keen sight of Indians, they discovered fragments of their lost possessions at the present site of Wabasha; but it would not be possible to explain their reasons for believing this, without a faith in their medicine charms. so we will pass on.

"At the site of Winona they were overjoyed to see, as they approached the landing, the exact counterpart of their sacred dome at Red Wing. It had been rent in twain, it is true, but the attrition of transportation had modeled it into a beautiful eap, not unlike the Scotch or Canadian eap of old, and standing in front as though in a mirage, his tall form outstretching almost to top of cliff. was the lost chief once more in possession of the lost cliff, which he declared should be his cap for all future time. Its beautiful form, garlanded with cedar, would have re- mained the admiration of all beholders until this time, but for Mammon, a most powerful modern god, more powerful by far than any known to the Dakotas.

"Leaving the chief to recover from his dazed condition, and assemble his scattered family on a site he selected for himself on what became known as Burn's creek, the anxious maiden with her young braves pursued her way down the river. They soon came in sight of one of their lost mountains, which became known to the whole Dakota tribe, when they had heard of the wonder, as Pah-ha-dah (the moving mountain), but to the Winne- bagoes, who, in approaching it in canoes on the east side, found it surrounded by water, it was known as Hay-nee-ah-chab, or Soaking Mountain. The pursuing party stopped but a moment at Pah-ha-dah, or Trempeauleau, for just below they saw a short range of isolated bluffs, which they felt sure were taken from the upper portion of the range of what is modernly known as Barn bluff. The vaeant space below Red Wing, they argned, justified their conclusion. But they were about to land for exam- ination, and perhaps for some slight refreshment, when their ears were assailed by the most persistent rattling of numerous rattle- snakes, of sin-tah-dah. they had ever heard. Upon inquiry they found that the bluffs were really a part of their old possessions, but that the remains of their ancestors should not again be dis- turbed from the mounds and ossuaries on the ridge, but be held. sacred for all time. The snakes were magically sent by the good high priest, with the bluffs, to protect the remains from deseera- tion."

The Omahas and Towas were driven out of this state and beyond

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

the Missouri, mainly in one campaign led by Red Wing and Wapasha. The Menominees were privy to the plans of the Sioux, but took no part in the war; perhaps furnished canoes and horses. The Sioux marched by the headwaters of the St. Croix and Chip- pewas, down the Wisconsin, beginning the attack at McGregor. The Y-hanktons reinforced them on the upper course of the Minnesota. The Sioux undertook this war for the purpose of set- tlement in the country which they had always claimed to own since the expulsion of the Assinniboines. It was after Wapasha had received his red cap and commission as head chief of the British.

Colonel William Colville once wrote: "Wapasha's title as head chief not being allowed by Red Wing, Wapasha removed with the greater part of his band to Winona. Red Wing's titular name was Wacouta-'The Shooter.' This was always the head chief's title-the same as that of the chief who captured Hennepin. He had the name of Red Wing. Koo-poo-hoo-sha, from the swan's wing, which he dyed scarlet and carried. Wapahasha had his name from his red "conpe stick," which was wound with scarlet ribbons and surmounted by a white horse tail, dyed a bril- liant red. This he used to signal and direct his warriors in battle, sometimes as a standard to rally them.

"Red Wing and his contemporaries here retained their old enstom of mound burial. such as is described by Carver in his account of the cave at St. Paul. His spring and summer camp was along the west bank of Jordan stream in this place. The Indians called the stream Cold Water creek. The upper end of the camp was a little above Main street. There was an oak grove a short distance behind the camp on slightly higher ground, and commanding a broad view of the river scenery. In this grove were a number of mounds when I came here-1854-mostly of small size, one conspicuous, over twenty feet across and three feet high. It was at the southwest corner of Main and Broadway · crossing. In grading the street this was leveled. and along with very badly decayed bones was found a Jefferson medal of the year 1801. After Red Wing's time the Indians coffined and buried the dead same as the whites.

Big Buffalo, his successor, was so coffined and buried, about 1820. Now Lieutenant Pike. on his return from the source of the Mississippi in 1806, stopped two days with Red Wing at this camp, and was very hospitably entertained. On his way down he had been reminded by Little Crow. at the mouth of the St. Croix. of his promised medals, promised at the treaty of the fall before at Pike Island. One of the head men of Red Wing's band signed that treaty; Red Wing, from old age, was not present. Red Wing was friendly to the Americans; Wapahasha had his

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

commission from the British. This was talked over. Altogether, if anyone was entitled, Red Wing was, to one of the medals. Of course, Pike's promises were saeredly kept. It is no objection that the date is 1801, as it was the eustom to strike the medal the first year of the new administration and the die was preserved until another president took his seat. Big Buffalo's was a Madi- son medal of the year 1809, but which he could not have received until 1816, for he fought with the British in 1812-15, and sur- rendered his old medal, if he had one, to them on receiving their flag. Big Buffalo was originally buried at the corner of Main and Plum streets, and when the town was laid out was removed to College Bluff, and about 1870 his medal was stolen from the grave and fell into the hands of a stranger, to whom it is worth- less, and is lost to us.

"The Jefferson medal is now held by Mrs. Frank Sterritt, of Merriam Park, in trust for our Red Wing Library Association. I think the above facts make a good case for it, as having in very deed been worn by Red Wing.'

The titles Hoo-pa-hoo-doo-ta (Wing of Scarlet), now rendered Red Wing; Wapashaw (Red War Banner), now rendered Wa- basha, and Wa-coo-tay (Leaf Shooter), rendered in French Ocha- gach and now called Wacoota, probably have a common origin, and were evidently used interchangably by the early writers to describe whatever chief they found at the head of the bands in this vicinity. The particular chief of the Goodhue county band of whom we know the most, with the exception of Wacoota, whom the white settlers of 1848-53 found here, is the Aile Rouge described by Pike and Hennepin. The Dakota Indians who now reside on Prairie Island still speak of Red Wing as ITupa-hu-sha, meaning wing of red.

The question as to the first white man who ever set foot on the soil of this county is no less a matter of conjecture. Traders or soldiers of fortune may have wandered to this locality, but the first white man of whom we have any reliable record as to his presence here is Father Louis Hennepin, an explorer and Fran- ciscan monk, in 1680.

This statement is made with a full knowledge of the allega- tions advanced by Warren Upham, of the State Historical Society, that Radisson and Groseilliers wintered on Prairie Island in 1654-55 and were consequently the first white men in Minnesota. In this contention, Mr. Upham is unsupported by any reliable historian, and his own earlier writings successfully refute his present arguments. Peter (or Pierre) Esprit Radisson and Me- dard Chouart, better known as Sieur de Groseilliers (The Goose- berry), were early explorers around the Great Lakes, and the former. after being discredited by France, wrote an extensive

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

account, largely fictitious, of his adventures, for the purpose of interesting English parties to join in forming what later became the Hudson Bay Company, for the exploitation of America. This manuscript, long forgotten, was rescued in part (some of it hav- ing been sold for wrapping paper) and published by the Prince Society in 1885. In this narrative Radisson claims to have visited nearly every portion of America and to have discovered a pas- sage way to the Pacific ocean. If the remainder of the manu- script could have been procured I have no doubt that it would be learned that Radisson built an air ship and ascended to Mars, and even reached the North Pole, thereby robbing those two distin- guished Americans. Cook and Peary, of the honor of being the first to actually discover the Great Nail. Mr. Upham himself acknowledges that the manuscript is largely fictitious, but pieks out the part which he claims to refer to Prairie Island and stamps that with the approval of truth while the other parts are charac- terized by the same authority as apparent fiction, vaguely and blunderingly told. The part of the manuscript which is alleged to refer to Minnesota, and the contention that Radisson and Gro- seilliers were the first white men in Minnesota, is best described in Mr. Upham's own words.

He says: "When we come to his (Radisson's) account of that next year (1855), following the apparent fiction so vaguely and blunderingly told, he resumes his accustomed definiteness of details, telling us that in the early spring, before the snow and ice were gone, which forbade the use of canoes, these two French- men, with about one hundred and fifty men and women of the native tribes, traveled almost fifty leagues on snow shoes, coming to a river side where they spent three weeks in making boats. This journey was. if I rightly identify it, from the vicinity of Green bay, in eastern Wisconsin, across that state to the Missis- sippi, reaching this river near the southeast corner of Minnesota, or somewhat further south, perhaps coming by a route not far from the eanoe route of the Fox and Wiseonsin rivers. Thence they voyaged eight days up the river on which their boats had been made, to villages of two tribes, probably in the vicinity of Winona, where they obtained meal and corn, which supplied this large company until they 'came to the first landing isle.'

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History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 5

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1264

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264