History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 7

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

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"On the 29th we entered a river, which is quite deep, whose waters are so affected by the lake that they often rise and fall three feet in twelve

hours. This is an observation that I made dur- ing these three or four days that I passed here. The Sakis, the Poutouatamis, and a few of the Malominis have their villages on the border of this river, and the Jesuits have a house there. In the place there is carried on quite a commerce in furs and Indian corn, which the Indians traffic with the ' coureurs des bois' that go and come, for it is their nearest and most convenient passage to the Mississippi.

" The lands here are very fertile, and produce, almost without culture, the wheat of our Europe, peas, beans, and any quantity of fruit unknown in France.

"The moment I landed, the warriors of three nations came by turns to my cabin to entertain me with the pipe and chief dance; the first in proof of peace and friendship, the second to indi- cate their esteem and consideration for me. In return, I gave them several yards of tobacco, and beads, with which they trimmed their capots. The next morning, I was asked as a guest, to one of the feasts of this nation, and after having sent my dishes, which is the custom, I went towards noon. They began to compliment me of my arrival, and after hearing them, they all, one after the other, began to sing and dance, in a manner that I will detail to you when I have more leisure. These songs and dances lasted two hours, and were sea- soned with whoops of joy, and quibbles that they have woven into their ridiculous musique. Then the captives waited upon us. The whole troop were seated in the Oriental custom. Each one had his portion before him, like our monks in their refectories. They commenced by placing four dishes before me. The first consisted of two white fish simply boiled in water. The second was chopped meats with the boiled tongue of a bear ; the third a beaver's tail, all' roasted. They made me drink also of a syrup, mixed with water, made out of the maple tree. The feast lasted two

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

hours, after which, I requested a chief of the nation to sing for me; for it is the custom, when we have business with them, to employ an inferior for self in all the ceremonies they perform. I gave him several pieces of tobacco, to oblige him to keep the party till dark. The next day and the day following, I attended the feasts of the other nations, where I observed the same formalities."

He alleges that, on the 23d of October, he reached the Mississippi River, and, ascending, on the 3d of November he entered into a river, a tributary from the west, that was almost without a current, and at its mouth filled with rushes. He then describes a journey of five hundred miles up this stream. He declares he found upon its banks three great nations, the Eokoros, Essa- napes, and Gnacsitares, and because he ascended it for sixty days, he named it Long River.

For years his wondrous story was believed, and geographers hastened to trace it upon their maps. But in time the voyage up the Long River was discovered to be a fabrication. There is extant a letter of Bobe, a Priest of the Congregation of the Mission, dated Versailles, March 15, 1716, and addressed to De L'Isle, the geographer of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, which exposes the deception.

He writes: "It seems to me that you might give the name of Bourbonia to these vast coun- tries which are between the Missouri, Mississippi, and the Western Ocean. Would it not be well to efface that great river which La Hontan says he discovered?

" All the Canadians, and even the Governor General, have told me that this river is unknown. If it existed, the French, who are on the Illinois, and at Ouabache, would know of it. The last volume of the ' Lettres Edifiantes' of the Jesuits, in which there is a very fine relation of the Illinois Country, does not speak of it, any more than the letters which I received this year, which tell won- ders of the beauty and goodness of the country. They send me some quite pretty work, made by the wife of one of the principal chiefs.

"They tell me, that among the Scioux, of the Mississippi, there are always Frenchmen trading; that the course of the Mississippi is from north to west, and from west to south; that it is known that toward the source of the Mississippi there is a river in the highlands that leads to the western

ocean; that the Indians say that they have seen bearded men with caps, who gather gold-dust on the seashore, but that it is very far from this country, and that they pass through many nations unknown to the French.

"I have a memoir of La Motte Cadillac, form- erly Governor of Missilimackinack, who says that if St. Peters [Minnesota] River is ascended to its source they will, according to all appearance, find in the highland another river leading to the West- ern Ocean.

" For the last two years I have tormented exceedingly the Governor-General, M. Raudot, and M. Duche, to move them to discover this ocean. If I succeed, as I hope, we shall hear tidings before three years, and I shall have the pleasure and the consolation of having rendered a good service to Geography, to Religion and to the State."

Charlevoix, in his History of New France, al- luding to .La Hontan's voyage, writes: "The voyage up the Long River is as fabulous as the Island of Barrataria, of which Sancho Panza was governor. Nevertheless, in France and else- where, most people have received these memoirs as the fruits of the travels of a gentleman who wrote badly, although quite lightly, and who had no religion, but who described pretty sincerely what he had seen. The consequence is that the compilers of historical and geographical diction- aries have almost always followed and cited them in preference to more faithful records."

Even in modern times, Nicollet, employed by the United States to explore the Upper Mississ- ippi, has the following in his report:

"Having procured a copy of La Hontan's book, in which there is a roughly made map of his Long River, I was struck with the resem- blance of its course as laid down with that of Cannon River, which I had previously sketched in my own field-book. I soon convinced myself that the principal statements of the Baron in ref- erence to the country and the few details he gives of the physical character of the the river, coin- cide remarkably with what I had laid down as belonging to Cannon River. Then the lakes and swamps corresponded; traces of Indian villages mentioned by him might be found by a growth of wild grass that propagates itself around all old Indian settlements."

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LE SUEUR, EXPLORER OF THE MINNESOTA RIVER.

CHAPTER VII.

LE SUEUR, EXPLORER OF THE MINNESOTA RIVER.

Le Sueur Visita Lake Pepin .- Stationed at La Pointe .- Establishes a Post on an Island Above Lake Pepin .- Island Described by Penicaut .- First Sioux Chief at Montreal .- Ojibway Chiefs' Speeches .- Speech of Sioux Chief .- Teeoskah. tay's Death .- Le Sueur Goes to France .- Posts West of Mackinaw Abandoned -Le Sueur's License Revoked .- Second Visit to France .- Arrives in Gulf of Mexico with D'Iberville .- Ascends the Mississippi .- Lead Mines .- Canadians Fleeing from the Sioux .- At the Mouth of the Wisconsin .- Sioux Robbers,-Elk Hunting .- Lake Pepin Described .- Rattlesnakes .- La Place Killed .- St. Croix River Named After s Frenchman .- Le Sueur Reaches St. Pterre, now Minne" sota River .- Enters Mankahto, or Blue Earth, River .- Sioux of the Plains .- Fort L'Huillier Completed .- Conferences with Sioux Bands .- Assinaboines a Separated Sioux Band .- An Indian Feast .- Names of the Sioux Bands .- Char- levoit's Account .- Le Sueur Goes with D'Iberville to France .- D'Iberville's Memoriai .- Early Census of Indian Tribes. - Penicaut's Account of Fort L'Huil lier .- Le Sueur's Departure from the Fort .- D'Evaqe Left in Charge .- Return" to Mobile .- Juchereau at Mouth of Wisconsin. - Bondor a Montreal Merchant .- Sioux Attack Miamis .- Bondor Robbed by the Sioux.

Le Sueur was a native of Canada, and a rela- tive of D'Iberville, the early Governor of Louis- iana. He came to Lake Pepin in 1683, with Nicholas Perrot, and his name also appears at- tached to the document prepared in May, 1689, after Perrot had re-occupied his post just above . the entrance of the lake, on the east side.

In 1692, he was sent by Governor Frontenac of Canada, to La Pointe, on Lake Superior, and in a dispatch of 1693, to the French Government, is the following : "Le Sueur, another voyageur, is to remain at Chagouamagon [La Pointe] to en- deavor to maintain the peace lately concluded be- tween the Saulteurs [Chippeways] and Sioux. This is of the greatest consequence, as it is now the sole pass by which access can be had to the latter nation, whose trade is very profitable; the country to the south being occupied by the Foxes and Maskoutens, who several times plundered the French, on the ground they were carrying ammu- nition to the Sioux, their ancient enemies."

Entering the Sioux country in 1694, he estab- lished a post upon a prairie island in the Missis- sippi, about nine miles below the present town of Hastings, according to Bellin and others. Peni- caut, who accompanied him in the exploration of the Minnesota, writes, " At the extremity of the lake [Pepin] you come to the Isle Pelee, so called because there are no trees on it. It is on this island

that the French from Canada established their fort and storehouse, and they also winter here, because game is very abundant. In the month of September they bring their store of meat, obtained by hunting, and after having skinned and cleaned it, hang it upon a crib of raised scaffolding, in order that the extreme cold, which lasts from September to March, may preserve it from spoil- ing. 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 generally built upon the bank, so as not to have far to go. When spring arrives, the savages come to the island, bringing their merchandize."

On the fifteenth of July, 1695, Le Sueur arrived at Montreal with a party of Ojibways, and the first Dakotah brave that had ever visited Canada.

The Indians were much impressed with the power of France by the marching of a detach- ment of seven hundred picked men, under Chev- alier Cresafi, who were on their way to La Chine.

On the eighteenth, Frontenac, in the presence of Callieres and other persons of distinction, gave them an audience.

The first speaker was the chief of the Ojibway band at La Pointe, Shingowahbay, who said:

" That he was come to pay his respects to Onon- tio [the title given the Governor of Canada] in the name of the young warriors of Point Chagouami- gon, and to thank him for having given them some Frenchmen to dwell with them; to testify their sorrow for one Jobin, a Frenchman, who was killed at a feast, accidentally, and not ma- liciously. We come to ask a favor of you, which is to let us act. We are allies of the Sciou. Some Outagamies, or Mascoutins, have been killed. The Sciou came to mourn with us. Let us act, Father; let us take revenge.

"Le Sueur alone, who is acquainted with the language of the one and the other, can serve us. We ask that he return with us."

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

Another speaker of the Ojibways was Le Bro- chet.

Teeoskahtay, the Dahkotah chief, before he spoke, spread out a beaver robe, and, laying an- other with a tobacco pouch and otter skin, began to weep bitterly. After drying his tears, he said: " All of the nations had a father, who afforded them protection; all of them have iron. But he was a bastard in quest of a father; he was come to see him, and hopes that he will take pity on him."

He then placed upon the beaver robe twenty- two arrows, at each arrow naming a Dahkotah village that desired Frontenac's protection. Re- suming his speech, he remarked:

" It is not on account of what I bring that I hope him who rules the earth will have pity on me. I learned from the Sauteurs that he wanted nothing; that he was the Master of the Iron; that he had a big heart, into which he could receive. all the nations. This has induced me to abandon my people and come to seek his protection, and to beseech bim to receive me among the number of his children. Take courage, Great Captain, and reject me not; despise me not, though I ap- pear poor in your eyes. All the nations here present know that I am rich, and the little they offer here is taken from my lands."

Count Frontenac in reply told the chief that he would receive the Dahkotahs as his children, on condition that they would be obedient, and that he would send back Le Sueur with him.

Teeoskahtay, taking hold of the governor's knees, wept, and said: "Take pity on us; we are well aware that we are not able to speak, be- ing children; but Le Sueur, who understands our language, and has seen all our villages, will next year inform you what will have been achieved by the Sioux nations represented by those arrows be- fore you."

Having finished, a Dahkotah woman, the wife of a great chief whom Le Sueur had purchased from captivity at Mackinaw, approached those in authority, and, with downcast eyes, embraced their knees, weeping and saying:

"I thank thee, Father; it is by thy means I have been liberated, and am no longer captive." Then Teeoskahtay resumed:

" I speak like a man penetrated with joy. The Great Captain; he who is the Master of Iron, as-

sures me of his protection, and I promise him that if he condescends to restore my children, now prisoners among the Foxes, Ottawas and Hurons, I will return hither, and bring with me the twen- ty-two villages whom he has just restored to life by promising to send them Iron."

On the 14th of August, two weeks after the Ojibway chief left for his home on Lake Superior, Nicholas Perrot arrived with a deputation of Sauks, Foxes, Menomonees, Miamis of Maramek and Pottowatomies.

Two days after, they had a council with the governor, who thus spoke to a Fox brave:

" I see that you are a young man; your nation has quite turned away from my wishes; it has pillaged some of my young men, whom it has treated as slaves. I know that your father, who loved the French, had no hand in the indignity. You only imitate the example of your father who had sense, when you do not co-operate with those of your tribe who are wishing to go over to my enemies, after they grossly insulted me and defeated the Sioux, whom I now consider my son. I pity the Sioux; I pity the dead whose loss I deplore. Perrot goes up there, and he will speak to your nation from me for the release of their prisoners; let them attend to him."

Teeoshkahtay never returned to his native land. While in Montreal he was taken sick, and in thirty-three days he ceased to breathe; and, fol- lowed by white men, his body was interred in the white man's grave.

Le Sueur instead of going back to Minnesota that year, as was expected, went to France and received a license, in 1697, to open certain mines supposed to exist in Minnesota. The ship in which he was returning was captured by the Eng- lish, and he was taken to England. After his release he went back to France, and, in 1698, ob- tained a new commission for mining.

While Le Sueur was in Europe, the Dahkotas waged war against the Foxes and Miamis. In retaliation, the latter raised a war party and en- tered the land of the Dahkotahs. Finding their foes intrenched, and assisted by " coureurs des bois," they were indignant; and on their return they had a skirmish with some Frenchmen, who were carrying goods to the Dahkotahs.

Shortly after, they met Perrot, and were about to burn him to death, when prevented by some

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LE SUEUR ASCENDS THE MISSISIPPI RIVER.

friendly Foxes. The Miamis, after this, were disposed to be friendly to the Iroquois. In 1696, the year previous, the authorities at Quebec de- cided that it was expedient to abandon all the posts west of Mackinaw, and withdraw the French from Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The voyageurs were not disposed to leave the country, and the governor wrote to Pontchar- train for instructions, in October, 1698. In his dispatch he remarks:

"In this conjuncture, and under all these cir- cumstances, we consider it our duty to postpone, until new instructions from the court, the execu- tion of Sieur Le Sueur's enterprise for the mines, though the promise had already been given him to send two canoes in advance to Missilimackinac, for the purpose of purchasing there some pro- visions and other necessaries for his voyage, and that he would be permitted to go and join them early in the spring with the rest of his hands. What led us to adopt this resolution has been, that the French who remained to trade off with the Five Nations the remainder of their merch- andise, might, on seeing entirely new comers arriving there, consider themselves entitled to dispense with coming down, and perhaps adopt the resolution to settle there; whilst, seeing no arrival there, with permission to do what is for- bidden, the reflection they will be able to make during the winter, and the apprehension of being guilty of crime, may oblige them to return in the spring.

" This would be very desirable, in consequence . of the great difficulty there will be in constraining them to it, should they be inclined to lift the mask altogether and become buccaneers; or should Sieur Le Sueur, as he easily could do, furnish them with goods for their beaver and smaller peltry, which he might send down by the return of other Frenchmen, whose sole desire is to obey, and who have remained only because of the impossi- bility of getting their effects down. This would rather induce those who would continue to lead a vagabond life to remain there, as the goods they would receive from Le Sueur's people would afford them the means of doing so."

In reply to this communication, Louis XIV. answered that-

"His majesty has approved that the late Sieur de Frontenac and De Champigny suspended the

execution of the license granted to the man named Le Sueur to proceed, with fifty men, to explore some mines on the banks of the Mississippi. He has revoked said license, and desires that the said Le Sueur, or any other person, be prevented from leaving the colony on pretence of going in search of mines, without his majesty's express permis- sion."

Le Sueur, undaunted by these drawbacks to the prosecution of a favorite project, again visited France.

Fortunately for Le Sueur, D'Iberville, who was a friend, and closely connected by marriage, was appointed governor of the new territory of Louis- iana. In the month of December he arrived from France, with thirty workmen, to proceed to the supposed mines in Minnesota.

On the thirteenth of July, 1700, with a felucca, two canoes, and nineteen men, having ascended the Mississippi, he had reached the mouth of the Missouri, and six leagues above this he passed the Illinois. He there met three Canadians, who came to join him, with a letter from Father Mar- est, who had once attempted a mission among the Dahkotahs, dated July 13, Mission Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, in Illinois.

" I have the honor to write, in order to inform you that the Saugiestas have been defeated by the Scioux and Ayavois [Iowas]. The people have formed an alliance with the Quincapous [Kicka- poos], some of the Mecoutins, Renards [Foxes], and Metesigamias, and gone to revenge them- selves, not on the Scioux, for they are too much afraid of them, but perhaps on the Ayavois, or very likely upon the Paoutees, or more probably upon the Osages, for these suspect nothing, and the others are on their guard.

" As you will probably meet these allied na- tions, you ought to take precaution against their plans, and not allow them to board your vessel, since they are traitors, and utterly faithless. I pray God to accompany you in all your designs."

Twenty-two leagues above the Illinois, he passed a small stream which he called the River of Oxen, and nine leagues beyond this he passed a small river on the west side, where he met four Cana- dians descending the Mississippi, on their way to the Illinois. On the 30th of July, nine leagues above the last-named river, he met seventeen Scioux, in seven canoes, who were going to re-

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EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

venge the death of three Scioux, one of whom had been burned, and the others killed, at Tamarois, a few days before his arrival in that village. As he had promised the chief of the Illinois to ap- pease the Scioux who should go to war against his nation, he made a present to the chief of the party to engage him to turn back. He told them the King of France did not wish them to make this river more bloody, and that he was sent to tell them that, if they obeyed the king's word, they would receive in future all things necessary for them. The chief answered that he accepted the present, that is to say, that he would do as had been told him.

From the 30th of July to the 25th of August, Le Sueur advanced fifty-three and one-fourth leagues to a small river which he called the River of the Mine. At the mouth it runs from the north, but it turns to the northeast. On the right seven leagues, there is a lead mine in a prairie, one and a half leagues. The river is only navigable in high water, that is to say, from early spring till the month of June.

From the 25th to the 27th he made ten leagues, passed two small rivers, and made himself ac- quainted with a mine of lead, from which he took a supply. From the 27th to the 30th he made eleven and a half leagues, and met five Canadians, one of whom had been dangerously wounded in the head. They were naked, and had no ammu- nition except a miserable gun, with five or six loads of powder and balls. They said they were descending from the Scioux to go to Tamarois, and, when seventy leagues above, they perceived nine canoes in the Mississippi, in which were ninety savages, who robbed and cruelly beat them. This party were going to war against the Scioux, and were composed of four different nations, the Outagamies [Foxes], Poutouwatamis [Pottowatta- mies], and Puans [Winnebagoes], who dwell in a country eighty leagues east of the Mississippi from where Le Sueur then was.

The Canadians determined to follow the detach- ment, which was composed of twenty-eight men. This day they made seven and a half leagues. On the 1st of September he passed the Wisconsin river. It runs into the Mississippi from the north- east. It is nearly one and a half miles wide. At about seventy-five leagues up this river, on the right, ascending, there is a portage of more than

a league. The half of this portage is shaking ground, and at the end of it is a small river which descends into a bay called Winnebago Bay. It is inhabited by a great number of nations who carry their furs to Canada. Monsieur Le Sueur came by the Wisconsin river to the Mississippi, for the first time, in 1683, on his way to the Scioux coun- try, where he had already passed seven years at different periods. The Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Wisconsin, is less than half a mile wide. From the 1st of September to the 5th, our voyageur advanced fourteen leagues. He passed the river " Aux Canots," which comes from the northeast, and then the Quincapous, named from a nation which once dwelt upon its banks.

From the 5th to the 9th he made ten and a half leagues, and passed the rivers Cachee and Aux Ailes. The same day he perceived canoes, filled with savages, descending the river, and the five Canadians recognized them as the party who had robbed them. They placed sentinels in the wood, for fear of being surprised by land, and when they had approached within hearing, they cried to them that if they approached farther they would fire. They then drew up by an island, at half the distance of a gun shot. Soon, four of the princi- pal men of the band approached in a canoe, and asked if it was forgotten that they were our brethren, and with what design we had taken arms when we perceived them. Le Sueur replied that he had cause to distrust them, since they had robbed five of his party. Nevertheless, for the surety of his trade, being forced to be at peace with all the tribes, he demanded no redress for the robbery, but added merely that the king, their master and his, wished that his subjects should navigate that river without insult, and that they had better beware how they acted.

The Indian who had spoken was silent, but an- other said they had been attacked by the Scioux, and that if they did not have pity on them, and give them a little powder, they should not be able to reach their villages. The consideration of a missionary, who was to go up among the Scioux, and whom these savages might meet, induced them to give two pounds of powder.

M. Le Sueur made the same day three leagues; passed a stream on the west, and afterward an- other river on the east, which is navigable at all times, and which the Indians call Red River.

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History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 7

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

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