History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 15

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 547

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INITIATION OF A WARRIOR BY A SACRED DANCE.

accompany me up the river. I accepted of his services, and he was ready to attend me on the tour in a very short time. When we hove in right the Indians were engaged in a ceremony called the Bear Dance; a ceremony which they are in the habit of performing when any young man is desirous of bringing himself into particu- lar notice, and is considered & kind of initiation into the state of manhood. I went on to the ground where they had their performances, which were ended sooner than usual on account of our arrival. There was a kind of flag made of fawn skin dressed with the hair on, suspended on a pole. Upon the flesh side of it were drawn certain rude figures indicative of the dream which it is necessary the young man should have dreamed, before he can be considered a proper candidate for this kind of initiation; with this a pipe was suspended by way of sacrifice. Two arrows were stuck up at the foot of the pole, and fragments of painted feathers, etc., were strewed about the ground near to it. These per- tained to the religious rites attending the cere- mony, which consists in bewailing and self-mor- tification, that the Good Spirit may be induced to pity them and succor their undertaking.

" At the distance of two or three hundred yards from the flag, is an excavation which they call the bear's hole, prepared. for the occasion. It is about two feet deep, and has two ditches, about one foot deep, leading across it at right an- gles. 'The young hero of the farce places himself in this hole, to be hunted by the rest of the young men, all of whom on this occasion are dressed in their best attire and painted in their neatest style. The hunters approach the hole in the direction of one of the ditches, and discharge their guns, which were previously loaded for the purpose with blank cartridges, at the one who acts the part of the bear; whereupon he leaps from his den, having a hoop in each hand, and a wooden lance ; the hoops serving as forefeet to aid him in characterizing his part, and his lance to defend him from his assailants. Thus accoutred he dances round the place, exhibiting various feats of activity, while the other Indians pursue him and endeavor to trap him as he attempts to re- turn to his den, to effect which he is privileged to use any violence he pleases with impunity against

his assailants, and even to taking the life of any of them.

" This part of the ceremony is performed three times, that the bear may escape from his den and return to it again through three of the ave- nues communicating with it. On being hunted from the fourth or last avenue, the bear must make his escape through all his pursuers, if pos- sible, and flee to the woods, when he to remain through the day. This, however, is seldom or never accomplished, as all the young men exert themselves to the utmost in order to trap him. When caught, he must retire to : lodge erected for his reception in the field, where he is to be se- cluded from all society through the day, except one of his particular friends whom he is allowed to take with him as an attendant. Here he smokes and performs various other rites which superstition has led the Indians to believe are sa- cred. After this ceremon; is ended, the young Indian is considered qualified to act any part as an efficient member of their community. The Indian who has the good fortune to catch the bear and overcome him when endeavoring to make his escape to the woods, is considered a candidate for preferment, and is on the first suit- able occasion appointed the leader of a small war party, in order that he may further have an op- portunity to test his prowess and perform more essential service in behalf of his nation. It is accordingly expected that he will kill some of their enemies and return with their scalps. I re- gretted very much that I had missed the oppor- . tunity of witnessing this ceremony, which is never performed except when prompted by the particular dreams of one or other of the young men, who is never complimented twice in the same manner on account of his dreams."

On the sixteenth he approached the vicinity of where is now the capital of Minnesota, and writes: "Set sail at half past four this morning with a favorable breeze. Passed an Indian bury- ing ground on our left, the first that I have seen surrounded by a fence. In the centre a pole is erected, at the foot of which religious rites are performed at the burial of an Indian, by the particular friends and relatives of the deceased. Upon the pole a flag is suspended when any per- son of extraordinary merit, or one who is very much beloved, is buried. In the enclosure were

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

two scaffolds erected also, about six feet high and six feet square. Upon one of them were two coffins containing dead bodies. Passed a Sioux village on our right containing fourteen cabins. The name of the chief is the Petit Corbeau, or Little Raven. The Indians were all absent on a hunting party up the River St. Croix, which is but a little distance across the country from the village. Of this we were very glad, as this band are said to be the most notorious beggars of all the Sioux on the Mississippi. One of their cabins is furnished with loop holes, and is sit- uated so near the water that the opposite side of the river is within musket-shot range from the building. By this means the Petit Corbeau is enabled to exercise a command over the pass- age of the river and has in some instances com- pelled traders to land with their goods, and in- duced them, probably through fear of offending him, to bestow presents to a considerable amount, before he would suffer them to pass. The cabins are a kind of stockade buildings, and of a better appearance than any Indian dwellings I have before met with.

" Two miles above the village, on the same side of the river, is Carver's Cave, at which we stopped to breakfast. However interesting it may have been, it does not possess that character in a very high degree at present. We descend- ed it with lighted candles to its lower extremity. The entrance is very low and about eight feet broad, so that a man in order to enter it must be completely prostrate. The angle of descent within the cave is about 25 deg. The flooring is an inclined plane of quicksand, formed of the rock in which the cavern is formed. The dist- ance from its entrance to its inner extremity is twenty-four paces, and the width in the broadest part about nine, and its greatest height about seven feet. In shape it resembles a bakers's oven. The cavern was once probably much more ex- tensive. My interpreter informed me that, since his remembrance, the entrance was not less than ten feet high and its length far greater than at present. The rock in which it is formed is a very white sandstone, so friable that the frag- ments of it will almost crumble to sand when taken into the hand. A few yards below the mouth of the cavern is a very copious spring of fine water issuing from the bottom of the cliff.

"Five miles above this is the Fountain Cave, on the same side of the river, formed in the same kind of sandstone but of a more pure and fine quality. It is far more curious and interesting than the former. The entrance of the cave is a large winding hall about one hundred and fifty feet in.length, fifteen feet in width, and from eight to sixteen feet in height, finely arched overhead, and nearly perpendicular. Next suc- ceeds a narrow passage and difficult of entrance, which opens into a most beautiful circular room, finely arched above, and about forty feet in di- ameter. The cavern then continues a meander- ing course, expanding occasionally into small rooms of a circular form. We penetrated about one hundred and fifty yards, till our candles began to fail us, when we returned. To beauti- fy and embellish the scene, a fine crystal stream flows through the cavern, and cheers the lone- some dark retreat with its enlivening murmurs. The temperature of the water in the cave was 46 deg., and that of the air 60 deg. Entering this cold retreat from an atmosphere of 89 deg., I thought it not prudent to remain in it long enough to take its several dimensions and me- ander its courses ; particularly as we had to wade in water to our knees in many places in order to penetrate as far as we went. The fountain sup- plies an abundance of water as fine as I ever drank. This cavern I was informed by my interpreter, has been discovered but a few years. That the Indians formerly living in its neighbor- hood knew nothing of it till within six years past. That it is not the same as that described by Carver is evident, not only from this circum- stance, but also from the circumstance that in- stead of a stagnant pool, and only one accessible room of a very different form, this cavern has a brook running through it, and at least four rooms in succession, one after the other. Car- ver's Cave is fast filling up with sand, so that no water is now found in it, whereas this, from the very nature of the place, must be enlarging, as the fountain will carry along with its current all the sand that falls into it from the roof and sides of the cavern."

On the night of the sixteenth, he arrived at the Falls of Saint Anthony and encamped on the east shore just below the cataract. He writes in his journal :

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DESCRIPTION OF FALLS OF SAINT ANTHONY.

"The place where we encamped last night need- ed no embellishment to render it romantic in the highest degree. The banks on both sides of the river are about one hundred feet high, decorated with trees and shrubbery of various kinds. The post oak, hickory, walnut, linden, sugar tree, white birch, and the American box ; also various evergreens, such as the pine, cedar, juniper, etc., added their embellishments to the scene. Amongst the shrubery were the prickly ash, plum, and cherry tree, the gooseberry, the black and red raspberry, the chokeberry, grape vine, etc. There were also various kinds of herbage and flowers, among which were the wild parsley, rue, spikenard, etc., red and white roses, morning glory and various other handsome flowers. A few yards below us was a beautiful cascade of fine spring water, pouring down from a project- ing precipice about one hundred feet hight. On our left was the Mississippi hurrying through its channel with great velocity, and about three quarters of a mile above us, in plain view, was the majestic cataract of the Falls of St. Anthony. The murmuring of the cascade, the roaring of the river, and the thunder of the cataract, all contrib- uted to render the scene the most interesting and magnificient of any I ever before witnessed."

"The perpendicular fall of the water at the cataract, was stated by Pike in his journal, as six- teen and a half feet, which I found to be true by actual measurement. 'To this height, however, four or five feet may be added for the rapid des- cent which immediately succeeds to the perpen- dicular fall within a few yards below. Immedi- ately at the cataract the river is divided into two parts by an island which extends considerably above and below the cataract, and is about five hundred yards long. The channel on the right side of the Island is about three times the width of that on the left. The quanity of water pass- ins through them is not, however, in the same proportion, as about one-third part of the whole passes through the left channel. In the broadest channel, just below the cataract, is a small island also, about fifty yards in length and thirty in breadth. Both of these islands contain the same kind of rocky formation as the banks of the river, and are nearly as high. Besides these, there are immediately at the foot of the cataract, two islands of very inconsiderable size, situated in

the right channel also. The rapids commence several hundred yards above the cataract and continue about eight miles below. The fall of the water, beginning at the head of the rapids, and extending two hundred and sixty rods down the river to where the portage road commences, below the cataract is, according to Pike, fifty- eight feet. If this estimate be correct the whole fall from the head to the foot of the rapids, is not probably much less than one hundred feet. But as I had no instrument sufficiently accurate to level, where the view must necessarily be pretty extensive, I took no pains to ascertain the extent of the fall. The mode I adopted to ascertain the height of a cataract, was to suspend a line and plummet from the table rock on the south side of the river, which at the same time had very little water passing over it as the river was unusually low. The rocky formations at this place were arranged in the following order, from the surface downward. A coarse kind of lime- stone in thin strata containing considerable silex; a kind of soft friable stone of a greenish color and slaty fracture, probably containing lime, aluminum and silex ; a very beautiful satratifica- tion of shell limestone, in thin plates, extremely regular in its formation and containing a vast number of shells, all apparently of the same kind. This formation constitutes the Table Rock of the cataract. The next in order is a white or yellowish sandstone, so easily crumbled that it deserves the name of a sandbank rather than that of a rock. It is of various depths, from ten to fifty or seventy-five feet, and is of the same char- acter with that found at the caves before des- cribed. The next in order is a soft friable sand- stone, of a greenish color, similar to that resting upon the shell limestone. These stratifications occupied the whole space from the low water mark nearly to the top of the bluffs. On the east, or rather north side of the river, at the Falls, are high grounds, at the distance of half a mile from the river, considerably more elevated than the bluffs, and of a hilly aspect.

Speaking of the bluff at the confluence o. che Mississippi and Minnesota, he writes: " A military work of considerable magnitude might be con- structed on the point, and might be rendered sufficiently secure by occupying the commanding height in the rear in a suitable manner, as the

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

latter would control not only the point, but all the neighboring heights, to the full extent of a twelve pounder's range. The work on the point would be necessary to control the navigation of the two rivers. But without the commanding work in the rear, would be liable to be greatly annoyed from a height situated directly opposite

on the other side of the Mississippi, which is here no more than about two hundred and fifty yards wide. This latter height, however, would not be eligible for a permanent post, on account of the numerous ridges and ravines situated.im- mediately in its rear."

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EARLY HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY.

CHAPTER XV.

THOMAS DOUGLAS, EARL OF SELKIRK, AND THE RED RIVER VALLEY.

Berly travelers to Lake Winnipeg-Earliest Map by the Indian Otchaga-Bellin's allusion to it- Verendrye's Map-De la Jemeraye's Map-Fort La Reine-Fort on Red River abandoned-Origin of name Red Lake-Earl of Selkirk-Ossini- bois described-Scotch immigrants at Pembina-Strife of trading companies- Earl of Selkirk visita America-Governor Semple Killed-Romantic life of John Tanner, and his son James-Letter relative to Selkirk's tour through Minne- sota.

The valley of the Red River of the North is not only an important portion of Minnesota, but has a most interesting history.

While there is no evidence that Groselliers, the first white man who explored Minnesota, ever visited Lake Winnipeg and the Red River, yet he met the Assineboines at the head of Lake Supe- rior and at Lake Nepigon, while on his way by a northeasterly trail to Hudson's Bay, and learned something of this region from them.

The first person, of whom we have an account, who visited the region, was an Englishman, who came in 1692, by way of York River, to Winni- peg.

Ochagachs, or Otchaga, an intelligent Indian, in 1728, assured Pierre Gualtier de Varenne, known in history as the Sieur Verendrye, while he was stationed at Lake Nepigon, that there was a communication, largely by water, west of Lake Superior, to the Great Sea or Pacific Ocean. The rude map, drawn by this Indian, was sent to France, and is still preserved. Upon it is marked Kamanistigouia, the fort first established by Du Luth. Pigeon River is called Mantohavagane. Lac Sasakanaga is marked, and Rainy Lake is named Tecamemiouen. The river St. Louis, of Minnesota, is R. fond du L. Superior. The French geographer, Bellin, in his " Remarks upon the map of North America," published in 1755, at Paris, alludes to this sketch of Ochagachs, and says it is the earliest drawing of the region west of Lake Superior, in the Depot de la Marine.

After this Verendrye, in 1737, drew a map, which remains unpublished, which shows Red Lake in Northern Minnesota, and the point of the Big Woods in the Red River Valley. . There

is another sketch in the archives of France, drawn by De la Jemeraye. He was a nephew of Verendrye, and, under his uncle's orders, he was in 1731, the first to advance from the Grand Portage of Lake Superior, by way of the Nalao- uagan or Groselliers, now Pigeon River, to Rainy Lake. On this appears Fort Rouge, on the south bank of the Assineboine at its junction with the Red River, and on the Assineboine, a post estab- lished on October 3, 1738, and called Fort La Reine. Bellin describes the fort on Red River, but asserts that it was abandoned because of its vicinity to Fort La Reine, on the north side of the Assinneboine, and only about nine miles by a portage, from Swan Lake. Red Lake and Red River were so called by the early French explo- rers, on account of the reddish tint of the waters after a storm.

Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, a wealthy, kind-hearted but visionary Scotch nobleman, at the commencement of the present century formed the design of planting a colony of agriculturists west of Lake Superior. In the year 1811 he obtained a grant of land from the Hudson Bay Company called Ossiniboia, which it seems strange has been given up by the people of Man- itoba. In the autumn of 1812 a few Scotchmen with their families arrived at Pembina, in the Red River Valley, by way of Hudson Bay, where they passed the winter. In the winter of 1813-14 they were again at Fort Daer or Pembina. The colonists of Red River were rendered very un- happy by the strife of rival trading companies.

In the spring of 1815, Mckenzie and Morrison, traders of the Northwest company, at Sandy Lake, told the Ojibway chief there, that they would give him and his band all the goods and rum at Leech or Sandy Lakes, if they would an- noy the Red River settlers.

The Earl of Selkirk hearing of the distressed condition of his colony, sailed for America, and

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

in the fall of 1815, arrived at New York City. Proceeding to Montreal he found a messenger who had traveled on foot in mid-winter from the Red River by way of Red Lake and Fon du Lac, of Lake Superior. He sent back by this man, kind messages to the dispirited settlers, but one night he was way-laid near Fon du Lac, and robbed of his canoe and dispatches. An Ojib- way chief at Sandy Lake, afterwards testified that a trader named Grant offered him rum and tobacco, to send persons to intercept a bearer of dispatches to Red River, and soon the messenger was brought in by a negro and some Indians.

Failing to obtain military aid from the British authorities in Canada, Selkirk made an engagement with four officers and eighty privates, of the discharged Meuron regiment, twenty of the De Watteville, and a few of the Glengary Fencibles, which had served in the late war with the United States, to accompany him to Red River. They were to receive monthly wages for navigating the boats to Red River, to have lands assigned them, and a free passage if they wished to return.

When he reached Sault St. Marie, he received the intelligence that the colony had again been destroyed, and that Semple, a mild, amiable, but not altogether judicious man, the chief governor of the factories and territories of the Hudson Bay company, residing at Red River, had been killed.

Schoolcraft, in 1882, says he saw at Leech Lake, Majegabowi, the man who had killed Gov. Semple, after he fell wonnded from his horse.

Before he heard of the death of Semple, the Earl of Selkirk had made arrangements to visit his colony by way of Fon du Lac, on the St. Louis River, and Red Lake of Minnesota, but he now changed his mind, and proceeded with his force to Fort William, the chief trading post of the Northwest Company on Lake Superior ; and ap- prehending the principal partners, warrants of commitment were issued, and they were forward- ed to the Attorney-General of Upper Canada.

While Selkirk was engaged at Fort William, a party of emigrants in charge of Miles McDon- nel, Governor, and Captain D'Orsomen, went forward to reinforce the colony. At Rainy Lake they obtained the guidance of a man who had all the characteristics of an Indian, and yet

had a bearing which suggested a different origin. By his efficiency and temperate habits, he had se- cured the respect of his employers, and on the Earl of Selkirk's arrival at Red River, his attention was called to him, and in his welfare he became deeply interested. By repeated conversations with him, memories of a different kind of exist- ence were aroused, and the light of other days began to brighten. Though he had forgotten his father's name, he furnished sufficient data for Selkirk to proceed with a search for his relatives. Visiting the United States in 1817, he published a circular in the papers of the Western States, which led to the identification of the man.

It appeared from his own statement, and those of his friends, that his name was John Tanner, the son of a minister of the gospel, who, about the year 1790, lived on the Ohio river, near the Miami. Shortly after his location there, a band of roving Indians passed near the house, and found John Tanner, then a little boy, filling his hat with walnuts from under a tree. They seized him and fled. The party was led by an Ottawa whose wife had lost a son. To compen- sate for his death, the mother begged that a boy of the same age might be captured.

Adopted by the band, Tanner grew up an Indian in his tastes and habits, and was noted for bravery. Selkirk was successful in finding his relatives. After twenty-eight years of sepa- ration, John Tanner in 1818, met his brother Edward near Detroit, and went with him to his home in Missouri. He soon left his brother, and went back to the Indians. For a time he was interpreter for Henry R. Schoolcraft, but became lazy and ill-natured, and in 1836, skulking behind some bushes, he shot and killed Schoolcraft's brother, and fled to the wilderness, where, in 1847, he died. His son, James, was kindly treat- ed by the missionaries to the Ojibways of Minne- sota; but he walked in the footsteps of his father. In the year 1851, he attempted to impose upon the Presbyterian minister in Saint Paul, and, when detected, called upon the Baptist minister, who, believing him a penitent, cut a hole in the ice, and received him into the church by immer- sion. In time, the Baptists found him out, when he became an Unitarian missionary, and, at last, it is said, met a death by violence.

Lord Selkirk was in the Red River Valley

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EARL OF SELKIRK VISITS SAINT LOUIS.

during the summer of 1817, and on the eighteenth of July concluded a treaty with the Crees and Saulteaux, for a tract of land beginning at the mouth of the Red River, and extending along the same as far as the Great Forks (now Grand Forks) at the mouth of Red Lake River, and along the Assinniboine River as far as Musk Rat River, and extending to the distance of six miles from Fort Douglas on every side, and likewise from Fort Daer (Pembina) and also from the Great Forks, and in other parts extending to the distance of two miles from the banks of the said rivers.

Having restored order and confidence, attend- ed by three or four persons he crossed the plains to the Minnesota River, and from thence pro- ceeded to St. Louis. The Indian agent at Prairie du Chien was not pleased with Selkirk's trip through Minnesota; and on the sixth of February, 1818, wrote the Governor of Illinois under excitement, some groundless suspicions :

"' What do you suppose, sir, has been the re- sult of the passage through my agency of this British nobleman? Two entire bands, and part of a third, all Sioux, have deserted us and joined Dickson, who has distributed to them large quan- tities of Indian presents, together with flags, medals, etc. Knowing this, what must have been my feelings on hearing that his lordship had met with a favourable reception at St. Louis. The newspapers announcing his arrival, and general Scottish appearance, all tend to discompose me; believing as I do, that he is plotting with his friend Dickson our destruction-sharpening the savage scalping knife, and colonizing a tract of country, so.remote as that of the Red River, for the purpose, no doubt, of monopolizing the fur and peltry trade of this river, the Missouri and their waters; a trade of the first importance to our Western States and Territories. A courier who had arrived a few days since, confirms the belief that Dickson is endeavouring to undo what I have done, and secure to the British govern- ment the affections of the Sioux, and subject the Northwest Company to his lordship. * * *

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History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 15

Author: Edward D. Neill Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 547

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 547