History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 6

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

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"The description indicates that the voyagers passed along Lake Pepin and upward to the large Isle Pelee (or Bald Island), now called Prairie Island, on the Minnesota side of the main river channel above Red Wing. On this island, which derived its - names, both in French and English, from its being mostly a prairie, a large number of Hurons and Ottawas, fleeing from their enemies, the Iroquois, had recently taken refuge, and had begun the cultivation of corn. Their harvest the preceding year, in

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newly worked land, was small; but much corn would be needed for food during the long journey thence to Quebec with beaver skins, which canoe voyage, requiring a month or more, Groseil- liers and Radisson wished to begin soon after their arrival on the island. They were obliged to remain till the next year, and Gro- seilliers spent the summer on Prairie Island and in its vicinity, one of his chief objects being to provide a large supply of corn for the return journey. Meanwhile Radisson went with hunting parties, and traveled four months 'without doing anything but go from river to river.' He was enamored of the beauty and fer- tility of the country and was astonished at its herds of buffaloes and antelopes, flocks of pelicans and the shovel-nosed sturgeon, all of which he particularly described. Such was the first year, 1655, of observations and exploration by white men in Minnesota and their earliest navigation of the upper part of the Mississippi river. Accompanied by several hundred Hurons and other Algon- quins. and carrying a most welcome freight of furs, Groseilliers and Radisson returned to Montreal and Quebec in August, 1656. Their stay on Prairie Island covered the period from April or May, 1655, to June, 1656, about fourteen months."

Sneh is the new page which Mr. Upham would write on the pages of Wisconsin and Minnesota history, and in honor of which he would erect a monument on Prairie Island. While I person- ally would be very much pleased to have this region honored with a marble shaft as being the spot upon which the first white men in the state first set foot, in view of the uncertainty and grave doubts I do not feel as though one should be erected to perpetu- ate a scarcely probable ineident. when there are so many well authenticated and important events which actually happened within the borders of this county in the early days that could be so honored. To my mind there are several facts which preclude the possibility of this early settlement by two Frenchmen and a party of Hurons on Prairie Island for a long period of fourteen months. Briefly, the objections are as follows :

The reputation given Radisson for veracity by such a distin- guished investigater as Mr. Upham is sufficient to canse us to view the writer's narrative with suspicion. I quote Mr. Upham in "First White Men in Minnesota" (page 2). Speaking of Radisson he says: "His narration. besides being very uncouth in style, is exceedingly deficient in dates, sometimes negligent as to the sequence of events, and even here and there discordant and demonstrably untruthful." Mr. Upham's opinion of Radisson's descriptive powers. as found on page 11 of the above work, is this: "Lake Michigan, with its surrounding forests and prairies and Indian tribes, appeared even more fascinating to Radisson's enraptured vision. He wrote of it in an ecstasy." Radisson must

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have lost power of his "enraptured vision" before he reached this locality, for there is no description in the entire narrative that in any way describes the scenery along the Mississippi from the mouth of the Wisconsin to Prairie Island. I do not know of a single early voyager who has left any written record of his travel in this region that has not gone into ecstasies over the beautiful panoramic views ever presenting to his vision as he was paddled up the river in the vicinity of Lake Pepin. If Radisson had remained on Prairie Island fourteen months he surely would have seen Barn Bluff many times, and if he did see it and not mention it he cannot hope for forgiveness.

In March. 1660, Radisson did not understand the Dakota lan- guage. On page 45 of his work, Mr. Upham says: "The next morning, in March, 1660, they were called by an interpretor. We understood not a word of their language, being quite contrary to those that we were with." Jean Nicollet discovered Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the year 1634, and reported a wild tribe of Indians in this region which he calls the Nandusin (Sioux). Hennepin found the Sioux here in 1680. Le Sueur lived with them on Prairie Island 1695, and, from Indian tradition, their ancestors had made Prairie Island their home for ages before Radisson was born. Now we are asked to accept as an historical fact that Radisson spent fourteen months on Prairie Island and never heard the Dakota tongue spoken, and that the first time he did hear it was in March, 1660, in the northern part of the state.

I do not intend to burden the reader with my views on this Radisson matter at this time. for in my opinion the facts are not sufficiently historical to warrant the great publicity already given by the Minnesota Historical Society to what some of our most able writers on early explorations consider as "pure romance." The claims made by Mr. Upham are being so persistently forced onto the citizens of this state that they will soon be accepted as an historical fact, without someone call a halt and ask for a more thorough investigation, and I regret very much that someone more competent than myself has not felt it his duty to ask for more light on this very important subject. As this Radisson mat- ter is a subject of local interest to the people of Goodhue county, and as I have been asked to contribute a chapter on early times, I will take the opportunity to present some evidence to show that Mr. Upham's position is not well taken. In doing so I will quote from Mr. Upham's own work. "First White Men in Minnesota."

William Kingsford. The History of Canada. (Toronto, 1887- 98; ten volumes.) Pages 1-12 and 45-49, in volume III, 1889, notice the relation of Groseilliers and Radisson to the beginnings of English commerce with the region of Hudson bay. The author ignores the narratives of the four land expeditions, ascribed to

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Radisson's authorship, in the volume published by the Prince Society, declaring that part to be "without value" and appar- ently "the work of a writer of fietion."

Hle says: "It is difficult to find authority for the statement put forth of the original discovery of Hudson's Bay by des Gro- seilliers and Radisson, on which so much stress has been laid" (page 5) ; and again: "The names of two commonplace adven- turers have obtained mention in the chronicles of those days, to which they are in no way entitled, from the circumstances that they were brought forward by the French, for want of a better argument to sustain their pretensions to early discovery" (page 12).

Legler, Henry E. "Leading Events of Wisconsin History." (Milwaukee, 1898; pages 322.) The travels of Groseilliers and Radisson are noticed in pages 24, 47-51 and 137. Although chap- ter II details somewhat fully "The Strange Adventures of Radis- son," the routes and dates of the expeditions are not exactly stated. Concerning their supposed journeying to the Mississippi river, the author thinks that "evidence is lacking to prove the surmise."

Ogg, Frederic Austin. "The Opening of the Mississippi; a Struggle for Supremacy in the American Interior." (New York, 1904; pages 670.) The far western travels of Groseilliers and Radisson are considered in pages 53-56. Their first expedition is conjectured to have been in 1654-56, they being the unnamed French traders who are mentioned in the Jusuit relation. A sec- ond expedition is thought to have been made by Groseilliers in 1658-59, "trading and exploring on the shores of Lake Superior," with return to the St. Lawrence "in the spring of 1659." Next, "within a few weeks," Groseilliers and Radisson traveled again to Lake Superior, this time exploring the south shore to La Pointe and Chequamegon bay, spending the winter in "many excursions among the surrounding tribes," and returning to lower Canada in the summer of 1660. Groseilliers and other traders are said to have made a later expedition to Lake Superior, going in August, 1660, and returning in 1663. It is thought that they did not reach the Mississippi river in any of these expeditions, though coming to some of its eastern tributaries. This author makes no refer- enee to Radisson's assertions that they went to the Gulf of Mexico and to Hudson bay.

Neill, Edward D. "Groseilliers and Radisson, the First Ex- plorers of Lake Superior and the State of Minnesota." (Maga- zine of Western History, volume VII, pages 412-421, February, 1888.) The following footnote, on page 413, explains why so little care was taken to follow the narratives of Radisson in this con- fnsed and unwarrantable account of the expeditions to the region

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of Minnesota : "The journals of Radisson, published by the Prince Society of Boston, in 1885, cannot be trusted for dates, but are correct in the description of the customs of the tribes he visited." Neill, Edward D. Wisconsin Historical Society Col- lections, volume X, 188, pages 292-297. Accepting the supposed chronology of the Prince Society's volume, the first western expe- dition is referred to the years 1658-60 and the second to 1662-63 or 1664. Neill, Edward D. Macalaster College Contributions, first series, 1890; pages 86-94, 223-224. The expedition to Lake Superior, narrated by Radisson, is restricted to about one year, in 1659-60; and two later expeditions by Groseilliers are noted, with return from the last August 5, 1663. Perrot's account of the wanderings of the Hurons and Ottawas is translated ; but no sug- gestion appears that Radisson's "first landing isle," not here mentioned, was their place of refuge, "Prairie Island" (Pelee) on the Mississippi.

McCormick, Hon. Robert Laird. A short letter, dated Decem- ber 26, 1902, is published by Ilon. J. V. Brower in volume VI of his "Memoirs of Explorations in the Basin of the Mississippi," 1903, page 72. In this letter Mr. McCormick writes: "Histor- ical students would welcome further information regarding the travels of these two explorers who doubtless saw the upper Mis- sissippi years before Joliet and Marquette, but in the absence of documentary testimony it is presumption to seriously claim that Radisson crossed Wiseonsin on snowshoes from Green Bay to the Mississippi river in 1654-55."

Moore, Charles. "The Discovers of Lake Superior." (Publi- cations of the Michigan Political Science Association, volume II. pages 199-211. Ann Arbor, January, 1897.) The two western journeys of Groseilliers and Radisson are referred to 1658-60 and 1661-63. It is doubted that they saw the Mississippi, but the claim of an overland trip to Hudson bay is accepted. The chro- nology carefully studied out a year before by Campbell is con- sidered and rejected.

I quote the following from "Memoirs of Exploration in the Basin of the Mississippi," volume VI. Minnesota. By J. V. Brower: "At the annual meeting of the Minnesota Historieal Society held at St. Paul, January 13, 1902, Warren Upham deliv- ered an address containing expressions of opinion concerning the original discovery of the area of Minnesota by Peter Esprit Rad- isson and Medard Chouart in the spring months of 1655. Those opinions were placed in writing, ordered printed and were about to be adopted as adequate history. Indeed, Mr. Upham was so positive concerning the results of his study of Radisson's narra- tives that at page 83, Kathio, announcement was made that Radis-

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son 'must be accredited as the discoverer of Minnesota first at Prairie Island in 1655,' etc.

"That statement is erroneous and I now expunge it from my volume IV, above mentioned. After a careful investigation of the historie record so far as the same is available at St. Paul, 1 have reached what is to me sufficient conclusion that Mr. Upham's opinions concerning Radisson's explorations cannot be safely accepted or adopted as a part and portion of the history of the discovery of Minnesota. Before I proceeded to Prairie Island, where I fully expected to discover an extensive Iluron Indian vil- lage site, Mr. Upham was requested to contribute for the pages of this volume on account of the results of his studies concerning the original discovery of the area of Minnesota. As soon as it was ascertained that no adequate Huron village site comparable with the descriptions given by Mr. Upham could be found on Prairie Island, he was requested to correct his manuscript to con- form to such actual proofs as might be surely aseertained, thereby protecting the credibility and accuracy of Minnesota history. Mr. Upham has repeatedly and positively refused to comply with that reasonable request, incidentally urging that his statement be pub- lished herein as originally written. I comply with that request in order to review for the benefit of Minnesota history the fallacies and inaccuracies which his article contains, similar to the review which he has himself extended against the published treatise on the same subject by the late Captain Russell Blakely. That man- ner of procedure is by me deemed to be the only substantial way to guard against some egregious errors which are about to be precipitated against the integrity and stability of our state history.

"I have failed to discover any substantial declaration, written or printed, definitely indicating that Peter Esprit Radisson, who was in Europe in the early part of 1654, arrived at or near Fox river, Wisconsin, the same year. His movements during the years 1654 and 1655, after he arrived in New France from Europe, are unknown, unaccounted for and developed in uncertainty and obscurity. Any statement declaring that he certainly proceeded direet from Europe to Prairie Island between the late spring months of 1654 and the early spring of 1655 (conducting a snow- shoe voyage across the present area of Wisconsin as an incidental necessity), unsupported by any definite corroborative evidence except the vague falsifications contained in the book entitled 'Radisson's Narratives,' is insufficient historical data upon which to base the history of the discovery of Minnesota. The fact that two nameless persons proceeded westward from Quebec in 1654 is not definite corroborative evidence.

"Does the Minnesota Historical Society propose to foree upon

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its sister society at Madison, Wis., as a part of the history of that state, an alleged snowshoe voyage urged in the foregoing paper as certainly having been made by Radisson and Chouart in 1655 from Green Bay to the Mississippi? The historians of that state have rejected the proposition and it has been declared to be a presumption to force upon them an unwelcome page in their his- tory which lacks any confirmation whatsoever of a reliable char- acter. The opinion of one writer unsupported by sufficient con- firmatory evidence cannot and ought not to unduly influence the history of the discovery of the area of Wisconsin and Minnesota, especially so in the event that all the facts concerning Radisson have not become fully known so that we can advisedly and dis- «retely complete our history harmoniously with a neighboring society."

From these opinions Mr. Upham reaches the following conclu- sion : "In view of the very diverse opinions expressed by the many writers cited in the foregoing bibliography, concerning the routes and dates of the western expeditions of Groseilliers and Radisson, it would certainly be unreasonable for the present writer to expect his studies and conclusions, stated in this paper, to be accepted without challenge and adverse discussions. It will require probably many years for historians to reach a general agreement as to the interpretation of Radisson's uncouth but exceedingly interesting narratives of these earliest expeditions to the upper Mississippi river (if, indeed, he came there, which some deny) and to the area which is now Minnesota.

"Careful studies of this subject during seven years have led me to believe, with full confidence, that the arguments and results here presented are true, and that they will ultimately be so received by all students of our Northwestern history." This appears on the last page of the book entitled "First White Men in Minnesota," by Mr. Upham, and appears to me to be in the nature of an apology to the readers by the author for having asked the publie to consider in a serious manner the proposition that these two French adventurers were ever within two hundred miles of Prairie Island.

The first European to explore the Mississippi above the mouth of the Wisconsin, the first to set foot on the soil of Goodhue county, was undoubtedly Father Lonis Hennepin, a Franciscan priest of the Recollect Order. LaSalle, in February, 1680, had erected a fort on an eminence near Lake Peoria, in Illinois, and from this point he determined to send an expedition up the Mis- sissippi. For this task he selected three of his faithful followers. Accordingly, on February 29, Father Hennepin. with two compan- ions named Picard du Gay and Michael Accault set out in a canoe for the upper Minnesota. On the way they fell in with a band of

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

Sioux on the warpath against the Illinois and the Miami nations. This party accompanied the Frenehmen up the river, evidently in doubt as to whether they should scalp them or treat them as friends. On their way up the party slept one night in April or May, 1680, at the head of Lake Pepin, near Point La Saub. A few leagues up the river, probably about where Red Wing is now located, Hennepin and his party landed. A chief, probably Red Wing, went down to the shore, and telling the party to leave their eanoes, pulled up three piles of grass for seats. Then taking a piece of cedar full of little holes he placed a stick into one and revolved it between the palms of his hands until he kindled a fire. During the meeting the chief informed the Frenchmen that they would be at Mille Laes in six days. According to Hennepin the whites were held in captivity; according to Accault they were not. At any rate, they went northward with the Indians and went to the region of Mille Laes, where they arrived early in May, Permission was then given to Hennepin and Auguelle (Pickard) to return in a canoe down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wisconsin, where they hoped to find a reinforcement of Frenchmen as well as goods and ammunition. Meantime Aecault was left with the Indians, possibly as a hostage. On this voyage down the river, Hennepin and Pickard again passed the bluffs of Goodhue county. Further down the river they were again cap- tured, according to Hennepin, and finding no Frenehmen at the spot where they hoped, late in July the party of Indians and Frenchmen made their way up the Mississippi and met DuLuth and several French soldiers who had come from Lake Superior by the canoe route of the Brule and St. Croix rivers. They all then went back to the Isanti villages near Mille Lacs, where DuLuth the previous year had met the Indians in eouneil and endeavored to show them what benefits they would receive from trading with the French. DuLuth sharply reprimanded the sav- ages for their attitude toward Hennepin and his companions, who henceforth had no reason to complain of their treatment. In the autumn (1681), on pretense of bringing goods to establish a trad- ing post. DuLuth, Hennepin and other Frenchmen were allowed to depart. On their journey down the Mississippi they again passed Goodhue county, this time with DuLuth and his companions. According to Sieur DuLuth, the Indians near the source of Run river, this state, near the latter end of September, 1681, held a great council, at which Ousicoude (Wacoota), the head chief, prepared for them a chart of the route, by the way of the Mis- sissippi and Wiseonsin, to Green Bay. "Minnesota Historical Collections, volume 1, page 316 (note). The name of the chief in Dakota was Wazikute (Wah-zee-koo-tay), or the 'Shooter of the Pines.' Long's expedition in 1823 met a Dakota at Red Wing

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who bore the same name as the chief alluded to in the travels of Hennepin."

Le Sueur had visited Prairie Island and established a trading post in 1695. after having prevailed upon the Dakota and Chip- pewa Indians to recognize the island as neutral ground, bury the hatchet, and live together in friendly intercourse. for the purpose of amusement and trade.

Of this post, La Harpe, in the introduction of his narrative of Le Sueur's mining expedition in 1700, wrote as follows, according to Shea's translation : "M. Le Sueur, by order of the Count de Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, built a fort on an island in the Mississippi, more than 200 leagues above the Illinois, in order to effect a peace between the Sauteurs nations (Ojibways), who dwell on the shores of a lake of five hundred leagues circum- ference (Lake Superior), one hundred leagues east of the river, and the Sioux. posted on the upper Mississippi. The same year, according to his orders. he went down to Montreal in Canada with a Santenr chief named Chingonabe and a Sionx named Cioscate (Tioscate), who was the first of his nation who had seen Canada."

Penicant wrote of Prairie Island, as translated by Hill: "At the end of the lake (Pepin) you come to Bald Island. so called because there are no trees on it. It is on this island that the French from Canada established their fort and storehouse when they come to trade for furs and other merchandise, and they also winter here because game is very abundant in the prairies on both shores of the river. In the month of September they bring their store of meat there procured by hunting. and after having skinned and cleaned it. place it upon a sort of raised scaffold near the cabin. in order that the extreme cold. which lasts from the month of September to the end of March, may hinder it from cor- rupting during the winter, which is very severe in that country. During the whole winter they do not go out except for water, when they have to break the ice every day ; and the cabin is gen- erally built on the bank. so as not to have to go far. When spring arrives the savages come to the island, bringing their merchan- dise, which consists of all kinds of furs. as beaver, otter. marten, lynx and many others-the bear skins are generally used to cover the canoes of the savages and Canadians. There are often savages who pillage the French Canadian traders, among others the sav- ages of a village composed of the five different nations. and which have each their own name: that is. the Sioux, the people of the big village: the Mententons, the Mencouacantons, the Ouyates- pony and other Sioux of the plains. Three leagues higher up. after leaving this island, you meet on the right the river St. Croix."

From Charlevoix. in the third volume of this history of New

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France, published in 1744, the following brief description of this island is translated: "On going above the lake (Pepin) one comes to Isle Pelee, so named because it has not a single tree, but is a very beautiful prairie. The French of Canada have often made it the center of their trade in these western districts. and many have also wintered there, because all this country is excel- lent for hunting."

There have been found on Prairie Island in modern times such articles as iron axes of very ancient make, "strike-a-light" flint- lock guns, pistols, etc., indicating an early occupation by whites long previous to the settlement in 1837-53.

The next occupancy of this county by Europeans was in 1727, when Fort Beauharnois was erected.

Rev. Neill says: "In June, 1727, an expedition left Montreal under Rene Boucher, Sieur de la Perriere, to establish a post on Lake Pepin. His party. arriving there on September 17 follow- ing. built a post, according to Father Guignas, upon the western shore of Lake Pepin, about the middle of the north side, on a low point where the soil is excellent. We are here on the parallel of 43 degrees and 41 minutes." Again Neill says: "Frontenae, in Goodhue county, occupied the site of this old fort. and recently a four and a six-pound cannon ball were found at the railway sta- tion five feet below the surface. It is noteworthy that Sieur La Perriere Boncher, the officer in command of the Indians who sur- prised Haverhill, Mass., killed the minister of the town, scalped his wife and broke the skull of his child against a rock, and shot one Samuel Sibley. said to be a relative of Hon. H. H. Sibley, of St. Paul, was the person who established this post at Point au Sable of Lake Pepin. A connection of the leader of the expedi- tion was the wife of a person named Pepin (Jean Pepin). and this may account for the name of the lake. The post was located at the Sandy Point, which extends into Lake Pepin opposite Maiden's Rock. Boncher built a stockade of pickets twelve feet high, forming a square of 100 feet. with two bastions, and called the post Fort Beauharnois, in compliment to the governor of Canada. On April 15, 1728. the water in the lake was unusually high and overflowed the point. so that the log buildings within the enclosure were full of water and it was necessary. for two weeks, to dwell upon higher ground. The principal trader at the post at this time was the Sieur de Mont Brun Boucher. a brother of the commandant ; and the armorer and blacksmith was Francis Campan. a brother of him who settled at Detroit, and whose descendants are so numerous in Michigan.

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History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 6

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