USA > Minnesota > Stearns County > History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 5
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
in "The Aborgines of Minnesota," "the head of the Watab river was assumed to be a small lake located in the N. E. corner of T. 124 N., R. 30 W., which is in reality the head of a tributary to that stream, the actual main source of the river being a number of miles to the southwest." This lake chosen by the surveyor must be one of the lakes near St. John's college. From here the line runs almost parallel with the Great Northern main line, diverging, how- ever, slightly from it, so that the boundary crosses the western edge of the county some three or four miles from its northwest corner. North of this line we have Ojibway Stearns and south of it is Dakota Stearns. The Indians were never known to respect this line to any appreciable extent, but in all its subsequent treaties with the Indians, the United States government religiously recognized this line as divding the territorial rights of the "Sioux" and "Chippewa" "nations."
In these raids of the two hostile tribes, the Mississippi was oftener than not the highway. Many a savage band of painted warriors have portaged their canoes through the site of St. Cloud to get past the Sauk rapids. Thus, about the time of the great French and Indian war, when the English and the French were killing each other in grand style on three continents, the Ojibways and the Dakotas imitated their civilized brethren as well as in their heathen darkness they could, but their slaughter was only a little retail affair in comparison. However, what they lacked in magnitude of slaughter they made up in ferocity and truly savage heartless cruelty.
Let us trace briefly one series of attacks. Some time near the middle the eighteenth century a gay and powerful flotilla of Dakota canoes paddled up the river, and leaving it at the Crow Wing confluence, went to Leach lake and began a circuit of murder of women and children in the populous communities of Ojibways living on the great initial loop of the Mississippi. The expedition ended disastrously for the assailants, however, for in the battle of Crow river they were routed by their adversaries. As a result, the Dakotas thought best to evacuate the Rum river country and move their villages from that river to the Minnesota river. Doubtless they also left Stearns, for when a couple of years later Ojibway war parties floated down the Mississippi, they saw no signs of their hereditary enemy until they reached the Elk river. Later, however, the Dakotas seem to have returned to Stearns. But as this region was decidedly in the "Road of War" the Indian population ever afterwards, was more than ordinarily transitory.
Fierce though the Ojibway certainly was, his reputation for ferocity did not equal that of the Sioux or Dakota. The Ojibway is credited with more generosity and less treachery than his hereditary enemy, though it must be confessed that in their struggles with one another the honors are about equal in reference to cruelty and treachery. But in their relations to the whites, while the Ojibways uniformly were friendly to the whites and never engaged in any war with them, the Dakotas were the most implacable enemy of the paleface and made no permanent peace with civilized man until they were utterly crushed.
Social Organization of the Ojibway. The tribal polity of the Ojibway was somewhat more advanced than that of the Dakota. They had a fully
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
developed totemic system. The totem was generally that of an animal, as the bear, crane or wolf. The "spirit" of the animal was supposed to be the guardian spirit of the clan or phratry of that name. These communal totems should not be confused with the individual totems which Indians often assume, generally after a revelation obtained by fasting and prayer. The clan, or phratry totem, on the other hand, descends among the Ojibway as relation- ship does with us, in the male line. We may notice that on the contrary it descends in the female line among the Iroquois. Among the Ojibway when tribal traditions are strictly observed, persons belonging to the same totemic phratry are not allowed to intermarry.
The Ojibways have a highly developed mystic and religious lore. The shamans of the tribe seem to know as much about clairvoyance, telepathy and trance revelations as civilized man-which, perhaps after all, is not saying much. The Medawe rite partakes much of the nature of a secret fraternal society, though the mystic nature is most prominent.
Origin of the Names Sauk and Osakis in This Region. Our principal "inland" river is named Sauk, the rapids at its confluence with the Mississippi and the town located by those rapids are called Sauk Rapids, and the lake from which the river rises is Osakis. This seems very puzzling, as the Sauk (Sac or Osakis) Indian tribe never dwelt within two hundred miles of Stearns.
Judge L. W. Collins contributed a paper on this subject to the 1897 meet- ing of the Stearns County Old Settlers Association, from which the following is quoted :
"Among the Sioux the tradition is that both river and lake were called O-za-te, which in their language means the fork of a stream or road. Although this tradition is not very well authenticated its truth may rest on a solid foundation, as you will discover when you compare the pronounciation of this word with that by which the lake and river have always been known to the Chippewas. Assisted by the late H. P. Beaulieu, one of the best Chippewa interpreters, I learned from Kay-zhe-aush, Key-she-by-aush and Zhe-bing-o- goon, patriarchs among the Leach lake band, that the river was never known to the Chippewas by any other name than the O-zau-gee, while the lake was O-zau-gee lake, the fact being that after the Sioux were compelled to remove their habitation from that part of the Mississippi valley north of the Rum river, and while the country was still debatable territory as between the Sioux and the Chippewas and the scene of many a conflict, five Sacs, refugees from their own tribe on account of murder which they had committed, made their way up to the lake and settled near the outlet upon the east side. Three had wives of their own people, but the other two ultimately took wives of the Fondulac band of Chippewas. The men were great hunters and traded at the post of the North Western Fur Company, located on the lower Leaf lake, about six miles east of the eastern extremity of Otter Tail lake. This post was visited by bands of Sionx and Chippewas, and the traders were frequently entertained by deadly conflicts among their visitors.
"The Sacs Indians were known to the Chippewas as O-zau-kees. *
"On one of the excursions made by some of the Pillager bands of Chip-
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
pewas to the asylum of the O-zau-kees, it was found that all had been killed, supposedly by the Sioux. * *
The Winnebagoes. Another tribe of the Siouan stock was introduced into the territory of Stearns by the white man-the Winnebagoes. This once powerful Wisconsin tribe had for some years been knocked from pillar to post by treaties and sale of land to the Federal government. In 1846 they were induced to accept a reservation of 800,000 acres in Minnesota west of the Mississippi between the Long Prairie and Watab rivers. Hence this reserva- tion covered a considerable part of northern Stearns. With a great deal of trouble the tribe was finally removed to the reservation in the summer of 1848. That is, through the instrumentality of Henry M. Rice, who afterwards became one of the two first United States senators from Minnesota, the greater part of the tribe was located in the reservation for a few years. Indians and whites seem to have conspired to antagonize the Winnebagoes against their new home. Many left the tribe before they arrived here, and many deserted later. In 1855 a new reservation, one in southern Minnesota, was found for the Winnebagoes, and thither they were removed.
The Life of the Indian. Here may be the proper place to notice the great and sad change which has come over the life of the Indian since the far-off days of which we have spoken. The life of the red barbarian before he came in contact with civilization, and even later when he got no more from the whites than his gun, knife, kettle, and blanket, was, though primitive, poor and coarse, still not mean and base. The Indian was healthy and sound in body and mind, and true and loyal to his standards of morality. To be sure, his standards were not our standards, and we rightly consider them crude and low; but as they were the best the Indian knew, his fidelity to his moral code is worthy of all honor.
But evil days came for the simple child of the forest, when as scum on the advancing frontier wave of civilization came the firewater, the vices and the diseases of civilized man. Neither his physical nor his spiritual organiza- tion is prepared to withstand these powerful evils of a stronger race, and the primitive red man has often, perhaps generally, been reduced to a pitiful para- site on the civilized community, infested with the diseases, the vermin and the vices of the white man and living in a degradation and squalor that only civilization can furnish.
Happily, of late there has been a turn for the better. Christian mission- aries have since the white man first came, been a power for good among the Indians. They have educated not only the Indians, but also the whites upon the Indian question. Now substantial improvements testify that the mission- aries have been heard. Our national policy towards the Indian has almost always been liberal, but generally in the past shortsighted, and with shame we must confess that this liberal policy has in the past been-not to use a stronger word-very indifferently executed. But here the reform has been very marked. It is probably not too much to say that wisdom and efficiency are today the almost universal attributes of government administration of Indian affairs. And the results are encouraging. The census seems to indicate that the Indian is no longer a vanishing race. Steady and considerable progress is made in his civilization, and his physical condition is improving.
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
CHAPTER III.
COMING OF THE WHITES.
Groseilliers and Radisson-Le Sueur and Charleville-Fur Traders and Explorers-Zebulon M. Pike-His Account of Passing Stearns County- Lewis Cass-Expedition of 1832-J. N. Nicollet-Tide of Civilization Begins-By P. M. Magnusson.
Groseilliers and Radisson. The meager accounts which these two explorers have left of their two expeditions which are supposed to have penetrated into Minnesota, are capable of more than one interpretation. Prof. Winchell's interpretation seems to recommend itself best, and according to this, Groseilliers and Radisson, the first known white explorers of Minnesota, entered it near the southeast corner, and proceeded up the Mississippi through Lake Pepin to Prairie Island. Here the French explorers and the Indians that accompanied them, together with other Indians, spent the year 1655-1656. Thus when Cromwell ruled Great Britain and Ireland, when the Puritan theocracy was at the height of its glory in New England, and when the great emigration of Cavaliers was still going on to Virginia, Minnesota saw its first white man- unless indeed the Scandinavians visited this region centuries before, as the Kensington Stone avers.
About New Years, 1660, if we may trust Radisson's narration and its interpretation, our two "Frenchmen" are again in Minnesota. Traveling with a big band of Indians, they passed a severe January and February, with attendant famine, probably (according to Prof. Winchell) at Knife lake, Kana- bec county. According to Hon. J. V. Brower (in his monograph "Kathio," 1901) the lake was called Knife lake and the Dakota tribe of this region the Knife tribe (Issanti) because early that spring deputations of Dakotas came to the encampment and here for the first time procured steel knives from the white men and from the Indian band that was with them. Until this time the Stone Age had ruled supreme in the realm of Stearns, but now we may well suppose that within a short time many an enterprising brave cherished as his most precious possession one of these magic knives that cut like a stroke of lightning. Very soon after meeting these Dakotas at Knife lake, Groseillier and Radisson went to the great Dakota village at Mille Lacs, and were there received with every mark of friendship and respect.
Now follows the story of a seven days' trip to the prairie home of the "nation of the Boefe" (buffalo), that is to say, the Dakotas living farther west and south. To me this story seems likely to be fiction, but if it is true, there is a fair chance that it was to Stearns the journey went. This was the nearest and most accessible buffalo country from Mille Lacs. So it is possible that these two Frenchmen were the first white men to tread Stearns' soil. But the supposition favored by Winchell is that they went dne south. However that may be, it is certain that with Groseillier and Radisson the first glimmer of European civilization reached Stearns.
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
Le Sueur and Charleville. Dr. Warren Upham, Secretary of the Minnesota State Historical Society, in a letter to the author says : "Doubtless numerous French and British fur traders and explorers had voyaged along your part of the Mississippi many times during more than a century preceding the expedition of Pike, whose narrative journal is our first detailed record of travel on that part of our great river. Probably the earliest explorers were Le Suenr and Charleville, about the year 1690 or earlier. They made a canoe voyage far up the Mississippi, probably, as Brower and Hill have supposed, to a northern limit at the outlet of Sandy lake."
In his excellent and monumental work, "Minnesota in Three Centuries," in Vol. I., pp. 253-4, Upham says: "Brower and Hill" come to the conclusion that on the Mississippi at the outlet of Sandy lake "a village of Sioux doubtless then existed, as it has also been during the last century or longer the site of an Ojibway village. The estimates noted, that the distance traveled above the Falls of St. Anthony was about a hundred French leagnes, and that an equal distance of the river's course still separated the voyageurs from its sources, agree very closely with the accurate measurements now made by exact surveys, if Le Sueur's journey ended at Sandy lake.
"Very probably Charleville, whose narration of a similar early expedition of a hundred leagues on the part of the Mississippi above these falls is pre- served by Du Pratz in his 'History of Louisiana,' was a companion of Le Suenr, so that the two accounts relate to the same canoe trip. Charleville said that he was accompanied by two Canadian Frenchmen and two Indians; and it is remarkable that Charleville, like Le Sueur, was a relative of the brothers Iberville and Bienville, who afterwards were governors of Louisiana."
Zebulon Montgomery Pike. During the century and a half from 1655 to 1805 Minnesota was explored by a number of white travelers, some of whom left a record of their wanderings, but besides Le Sueur and Charleville only a few fur traders seem to have visited Stearns. The Indians here, however, were steady customers of the white traders, and as a result firearms had partly taken the place of the bow and arrow, the iron kettle of the earthen pot, the steel of the stone knife and tomahawk, and the blanket and strouds of the skin garments.
Immediately after the territory west of the Mississippi was acquired by the United States, the government took steps to acquaint us with our new domain. The Lewis and Clark expedition is the most famous of these under- takings. In 1805 Lieut. Zebulon Montgomery Pike, whom Upham justly calls "one of the grandest and most beloved heroes in the early history of our country," was sent to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi. Both in going and returning, Pike traveled on the river along the boundary of Stearns. Hon. Warren Upham has furnished us with the following annotated extract from Lieut. Pike's journal :
9th Oct., Wednesday. Embarked early ; wind ahead; barrens and prairie. Killed one deer and four pheasants. Distance 3 miles.
10th Oct., Thursday. Came to large islands and strong water early in the morning. Passed the place at which Mr. Reinville and Mons. Perlier wintered in 1797; passed a cluster of islands, more than 20 in the course of four miles;
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
these I called Beaver islands from the immense signs of those animals, for they have dams on every island and roads from them every two or three rods. I would here attempt a description of this animal, and its wonderful system of architecture, was not the subject already exhausted by the numerons trav- elers who have written on this subject. Encamped at the foot of the Grand Rapids. Killed two geese, five ducks, and two pheasants. Distance 161/2 miles.
11th Oct., Friday. Both boats passed the worst of the rapids by eleven o'clock, but we were obliged to wade and lift them over rocks, where there was not a foot of water, when at times the next step would be in water over our heads. In consequence of this, our boats were frequently in imminent danger of being bilged on the rocks. About 5 miles above the rapids, our large boat was discovered to leak so fast as to render it necessary to unload her, which we did. Stopped the leak and reloaded. Near a war encampment, I found a painted buckskin and a piece of scarlet cloth, suspended by the limb of a tree; this I supposed to be a sacrifice to Matcho Manitou, to render their enterprise successful; but I took the liberty to invade the rights of his diabolic majesty, by treating them, as the priests of old have often done, that is, converting the sacrifice to my own use. Killed only two ducks. Distance eight miles.
12th Oct., Saturday. Hard ripples in the morning. Passed a narrow, rocky place, after which we had good water. Our large boat again sprung a leak, and we were obliged to encamp early and unload. Killed one deer, one wolf, two geese and two ducks. Distance 121/2 miles.
13th Oct., Sunday. Embarked early and came on well. Passed a hand- some river on the cast which we named Clear river; water good. Killed one deer, one beaver, two minks, two geese, and one duck. Fair wind. Discovered the first buffalo signs. Distance 29 miles.
Notes by Mr. Upham :
"In the larger edition of Pike's Journal by Dr. Elliot Coues, in three volumes, 1895, reprinting the edition of 1810 with addition of many geographic and other notes, the journal above quoted, for October 9-13, comes on pages 99-102 in Vol. I.
"Dr. Coues identifies the camping place for the night of October 9 as 'between Plum creck and St. Augusta.' The winter trading post of the well- known French fur trader, Joseph Renville, was between that camp and St. Cloud's 'Thousand islands,' which Pike named Beaver islands. The Sauk rapids were called Grand rapids. The 'narrow rocky place' passed October 12 was Watab rapids; and the stream mentioned on October 13 and named Clear river by Pike is the Platte river tributary to the Mississippi river from the east, opposite to the northeast corner of Stearns county.
"On the descent of the Mississippi, in 1806, Pike left his wintering place near Pike rapids, on the morning of Monday, April 7. He passed by Stearns county on Monday and Wednesday, having stopped through Tuesday at the trading post of Dicksom and Paulier, where Renveille and Perlier had traded in the winter of 1797, as was noted in the journal of October 10. The names Paulier and Perlier are supposed to refer to the same person, a partner or agent of the prominent British fur trader, Robert Dickson.
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"The part of the journal relating the downward voyage along the boundary of Stearns county, in pages 89 and 90 of the original edition in 1810, is as follows :
" '7th April, Monday. Loaded our boats and departed forty minutes past ten o'clock. At one o'clock arrived at Clear river, where we found my canoe and men. Although I had partly promised the Fols Avoin (Menomonee) chief to remain one night, yet time was too precious, and we put off; passed the Grand rapids and arrived at Mr. Dickson's just before sundown; we were saluted with three rounds. At night he treated all my men with supper and dram. Mr. Dickson, Mr. Paulier and myself sat up until four o'clock in the morning.
"'8th April, Tuesday. Were obliged to remain this day on account of some information to be obtained here. I spent the day in making a rough chart of St. Peters, making notes on the Sioux, etc., settling the affairs of the Indian Department with Mr. Dickson, for whose communications, and those of Mr. Paulier, I am infinitely indebted. Made every necessary preparation for an early embarkation.
" '9th April, Wednesday. Rose early in the morning and commenced my arrangements. Having observed two Indians drunk during the night, and finding upon inquiry that the liquor had been furnished by a Mr. Greignor or Jennesse, I sent my interpreter to them to request they would not sell any strong liquor to the Indians, upon which Mr. Jennesse demanded the restric- tions in writing, which were given to him. On demanding his license, it amounted to no more than mercly a certificate that he had paid the tax required by a law of the Indian territory, on all retailers of merchandise, but it was by no means an Indian license. However, I did not think proper to go into a more close investigation. Last night was so cold that the water was covered with floating cakes of ice, of a strong consistence. After receiving every mark of attention from Messrs. Dickson and Paulier, I took my departure, at 8 o'clock.' "
What an interesting glimpse this journal gives us into the life of man and nature in Stearns a hundred and more year ago! The river we recognize as very much the same as today, but unfettered by dams. What a hunter's paradise this region was! Ducks, geese, mink, wolf, beaver, deer, pheasants were picked up by the voyageurs along the river apparently without going out of their way. We notice the hospitality of the frontier. Indians and traders vie with one another in entertaining the traveler and keeping him as long as possible. Down by the river a few miles below St. Cloud, the gallant lieutenant, the canny Scotch trader and the affable French frontiersman spent a companionable evening together, one to be long remembered in each of their lives. The spring night was almost gone and the east showed ruddy when they bade each other good night. We may be sure that they all three enjoyed the prospect of having the whole next day together.
Lewis Cass. While territorial governor of Michigan, Governor Lewis Cass, who was later to become one of the most noted statesmen of the period just before the Civil War, went on an expedition of exploration into the remotest parts of the great domain of which he was governor, in search of
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
the sources of the Mississippi. On his return from his visit to the lakes near the source of the Mississippi, he made use of the Mississippi highway and passed the site of St. Cloud on July 29, 1820. Henry R. Schoolcraft, the scholarly frontiersman, was in the party. These two, together with about a dozen more white men and perhaps twice as many Indians, viewed on that day on their right hand the bosky shores of the Mississippi in Stearns.
The Expedition of 1832. When Cass became Secretary of War, he had an expedition dispatched to explore further the source country of the Missis- sippi. In this expedition we find Schoolcraft and the Rev. W. T. Boutwell, a missionary who acted as interpreter. It was during this trip that Lake Itasca received its name from the Latin words veritas and caput, properly decapitated and "detailed," as we are informed by Mr. Boutwell. This party, too, passed along Stearns' eastern boundary on its return trip at about the same time of the year as on the former occasion.
J. N. Nicollet. In his exploration trip in 1838, both on his up and down trip on the Mississippi, Nicollet passed the realm of Stearns. He drafted, as a fruit of his expedition, by far the best map that had as yet been produced of this region. On this map we find the Sauk rapids as "the second rapids" and Sauk river under the name of Osakis river. The group of islands below St. Cloud are also indicated, and Clearwater river and Watab creek appear under these names.
The Frontier of Civilization. Though Stearns borders the greatest water- way in Minnesota, it was not until relatively late that this rich domain attracted settlers. This was partly due to the fact that Stearns is west of the river, and to a surprisingly late date the superstition obtained that the Missis- sippi ought to be the western boundary of civilization; but mostly to the fact that though the Mississippi is the greatest natural highway through Minnesota, historically it played a very secondary part in the white man's coming to Minnesota. The rich Indian country centering around Leech lake was tapped by the Lake Superior-Sandy lake route. The outlet of the Mille Lacs region was the Rum river.
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