USA > Minnesota > Wabasha County > History of Wabasha County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. : gathered from matter furnished by interviews with old settlers, county, township, and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111
All bootless now the daughter's prayer, The parent heart is dark and stern, No throb of mercy softens there, But fiercest fires of vengeance burn.
576
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
In vain she warns her maddened sire, That sooner than give up her brave, They both would seek a fearful grave, And slumber in the embrace of death, Far down the shelving gorge beneath. He heard, but deigned her no reply, And bade her brothers quickly fly ; They come ! and from that beetling hill In close embrace the lovers leap! Two forms are flying down the steep- A sullen sound, and all is still.
The warriors stand like wolves at bay, When baulked all sudden of their prey ; But as that sound greets the quick ear From the steep brow, they blanch and start, And a strange awe of chilling fear Creeps through the chief's bold heart. Little dreamed he, relentless brave, That this, his soft and timid dove, By the transforming power of love, Would the bold, tameless eagle prove. One hurried glance he gives below,
Then calmly readjusts his bow, And on his awe-struck warriors calls. Far down that steep, by the sylvan lake,
Two hollow graves they quickly make, And there they laid them side by side In their fearful wedlock, bridegroom and bride.
And ever yet, in the leafy June, When full on the lake shines the round, bright moon, And the winds are hushed and the waves are still, And the echoes sleep on the sacred hill, Two forms steal out from the covert shore, With shadowy bark and spectral oar ; And with never a wake or ripple, glide Slow and serene o'er the silvery tide ; But the whoop and the yell, and the wild uproar Of fierce pursuers, are heard no more.
A LEGEND.
The following legend, translated from the Sioux by Baptiste Rocque, and written by Miss Cora Clark, of Toledo, Ohio, is given as a sample of the traditions that have been handed down from ancient generations :
In the old Indian days of the North Red River country, when an eagle's feather was worth a pony, and one feather might be added to the warrior's
577
TRADITIONAL.
head-dress for each scalp taken, many were the young braves who made solitary and dangerous trips to the Rocky mountains to seek along appalling abysses for the aerie of that noble bird, the eagle. When once a warrior had sighted a nest, he most jealously guarded the spot against intrusion, and, with Indian obstinacy, clung to his right of discovery.
Een-moo (the Panther), a young and brave Sioux, left the camp of his . people and took his course with the sun toward the land of its setting. Young Een-moo's heart and limbs were strong ; he knew no fear, either of the deadly enemies in his way, or of the heights and depths of the mountains. He was alone but for his pony, his bow and arrows and a knife; he carried also one buffalo-skin and a blanket. Een-moo reached the mountain country in peace ; the enemy had not crossed his path, and he had turned not, save to send an arrow in search of game. He placed his horse and blanket where none might discover them, and with his arrows, his buffalo-skin and his knife at his back, he went on further up the mountains. He stood at length midway 'tween earth and sky, and in rigid silence surveyed the scene before him. As he stood thus. the cliff spirit touched his eyes, his feet, his limbs ; his eyes received the fire of an eagle's gaze, his feet and limbs the strength and swiftness of its pinions. Then came the climbing of dizzy heights, from which he peered into the cloudy chasms, searching the perpendicular sides for a chance shelf on which might be the rude angular works of an eagle's nest. This, the object of his strenuous efforts, was finally before him. His quick eye had caught sight of a projection upon the face of a huge wall beyond the black depth that lay at his feet. Indistinct at first, it had slowly assumed bolder outlines, and as if to confirm at that moment his almost assured hope, there was a movement, a majestic rising and falling, and the huge bird had left her nest. Een-moo's frame was on fire ; his eye flashed along the upper edge of the cliff and then with equal speed marked out a course by which it might be attained. He must traverse miles and miles of rock ; but, nothing daunted, he commenced with a bound the perilous expedition. He rose and fell ; he went under and over, down, down, up, up, up, and he stood above and a little over the nest. With folded arms, compressed lips and heaving breast he looked down, a long, long distance down, and counted six eggs ; he looked further to the black rock floor below. At this moment, from another position among those upper rocks, another dark form appeared. A Cree warrior knelt with one hand pressed against a jutting stone, the other on the ground, and with eyes whose fire could be equaled only by that of the brave above him, he counted the same six eagle eggs.
Neither saw the other, and day after day they crept stealthily to their respective places watching closely the nest, and afterward still more zealously the growth of the young birds. That the larger feathers might attain their full value, the birds were left unmolested until just ready to leave the nest. The momentous day for action set by Een-moo came at length, and with the earliest eastern light he began his preparation. He cut his buffalo-skin into long, slim strips, from which he twisted a light rope. When he reached the spot the old bird had not yet gone for morning food. He had not long to wait, however, for her to rise from her nest, when he sent an arrow to the noble mother's heart. Attaching the rope to the rock above, he cautiously descended by it toward the nest.
34
578
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
With all his previous preparation and present caution he could not save himself, for there was a flaw in the rope, and when within a few feet of the landing, the cord, which alone connected him to all living things, snapped, and he was precipitated among the affrighted birds. For a moment his strong Indian heart was daunted. He looked above, below, and saw no way of escape. It was but a moment; with his inborn tact he soon set upon the only possible means of escape. He saw in the movements of the frightened eaglets a strength that might be put to use. With his natural alacrity and fortitude he immedi- ately put into action his desperate thought. With a stick from the nest he killed one of the six birds and dropped it below, nor did he for an instant watch its dizzy fall, for he knew he must follow. He then, with strands from the rope left in his hands, tied an eagle to the back of each ankle, to the back of his neck and one to each wrist, in such a way that their wings were free to move and in a natural condition. He raised his arms, made his body and limbs perfectly rigid, closed his eyes and let himself go from the rock. The birds, conscious of falling, tried with the greatest efforts to keep up, so that Een-moo not only did reach the ground in safety, although dizzy and half-unconscious, but found himself borne a considerable distance from the base of the cliff. He returned to find the old bird and one young one, and having secured the desired feathers from the seven birds, proceeded to his horse, and thereupon took his home- ward way, anxious, after so long an absence, to receive from his family the honor of his success. At night he was loth to stop, but much wearied he crept into a bear's cave to take a rest, having a knife and arrow ready, expecting the return of the animal.
Meanwhile with the early-rising sun the Cree Indian appeared, having made his preparations also to secure the birds that morning; but what was his consternation to find the nest empty, and not only that, but to see hanging from above a broken Indian rope. Filled with anger and mortification at this seeming robbery, he hastened to the summit of the cliff and made close exami- nation of all the tracks, which soon told the whole story; but of the manner of escape he knew not, but knew that the enemy warrior was then on his way to the Red River country, the land of the Sioux. He determined to be re- venged, and to yet secure the eagle feathers. Late that night Een-moo roused from slumber to find a dark object bending over him; before he could move one wrist was seized and a knife was descending, when with his free hand he caught the descending wrist of his foe. Neither Indian would release the other, so that they kept their rigid positions until daylight. In the gray dawn the fierce eyes of the foes met, -one a Sioux, the other a Cree, both young, brave, and of equal strength. The Cree claimed a right to the eagle feathers now in the possession of the Sioux, but Een-moo told him that he also had the right to them. They therefore agreed to settle the quarrel by gambling for the feathers. They came forth into the day, took ten arrows, and after arranging the mark, proceeded with the shots. Een-moo lost in succession each set of feathers, his pony, his blanket. He then in desperation put at stake his side scalp for one set of feathers, and thereupon won in succession each set of feathers, his pony, blanket and knife, and those of the Cree; then the Cree put up his side scalp for a set of feathers. This Een-moo would not accept, in admiration of his enemy, but offered to give him half the feathers. This was
579
VERY EARLY TIMES.
done, and not only this, but the two exchanged friendship. As it was neces- sary, however, that there be a conflict because representatives of contending tribes had mnet, they agreed that at the full of the next moon they would each bring to that spot thirty warriors who should by a battle avenge the quarrel ; but as to themselves, one would ride a white horse and the other a black one, and although they must appear as foes, one would not injure the other, as in reality they were eternal friends.
CHAPTER LI.
VERY EARLY TIMES. .
IN writing the history of any nation, county or town, it is de- sirable that it should be done before all traces of the facts related or the eye-witnesses of the events recorded should have passed away, in order that their accuracy may not be disputed. These records of the early history of Wabasha and this part of Minnesota, are all the more useful since the times which they chronicle have become already historic; and, as we take into consideration the manner in which these bordermen held themselves amenable to the laws, being men of education and intelligence, we wonder not that they held the respect and fear of the savage tribes with whom they trafficked, or at their success among them. Men of brave, bold hearts themselves, the savage, so long as his rights were not infringed upon, could imitate, admire and respect the white man. The Indians have no heralds, no colleges, in which the lineage of their great men can be traced ; they have no parish register of marriages and births, by which to ascertain their ancestry ; no monuments of their own art, to commend to future ages the events of the past; no Indian pen re- cords the deeds of their warriors, their chiefs, and their prowess, or their wrongs. Their spoilers have been. their historians ! And although reluctant assent has been awarded to some of the noble traits of their nature, yet, without yielding a due allowance for the peculiarities of their situation, the Indian character has been pre- sented, with a singular uniformity, as being cold, morose and ยท revengeful, unrelieved by any of those varying lights and shades which are admitted in respect to other peoples no less wild and un- civilized than they. Forgetting that in the annals of the Hebrews their second monarch did not scruple to "saw his prisoners with
580
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
saws," and to "harrow them with harrows of iron"; forgetful, like- wise, of the scenes at Smithfield under the direction of our own British ancestors, and later, of the persecutions of the Quaker and the terrors of witchcraft ! But the poor untutored Indian has been, and is still, denounced with one accord as a monster of unapproacha- ble barbarity ! As though the summary tomahawk were worse than the iron tortures of the harrow, and the torch of the savage were hotter than the faggots of Queen Mary ! There has been none to weep for the poor Indian, while his wrongs have been wholly ignored and unrecorded. The Indians have no writer, no scribe, to relate their own side of the story ; and yet the annals of men probably do not attest to a more kindly reception of foreigners than was given to the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth by the faithful Massasoit and the tribes under his jurisdiction ; nor did the "forest kings" take up arms until they too clearly saw that either their visitors or them- selves must be driven from the soil which was their own, derived, as they believed, from the Great Spirit himself; and that nation is yet to be discovered that will not fight for their homes, the graves of their fathers, and their family altars. No ! and until it be forgotten that by some christians in infant Massachusetts it was held to be righteous to kill Indians as the familiars of Agazel, or until the early records of even tolerant Connecticut, which disclose the facts that the Indians there were seized and sold as slaves in British West Indies, or until the rivers Amazon and La Plata shall have washed away the bloody history of the Spanish-American conquest, and until the fact that Cortez stretched the unhappy Gautimozin naked upon a bed of burning coals is proved to be a fiction. let not tle American Indian be pronounced the most cruel of men !
The fort established by Perrot was still in existence in the time of the French and Indian war, and was occupied as a military post at different times, until these lands were ceded to the English in 1760. After the peace of 1763 between France and England was declared, Jonathan Carver, of Connecticut, conceived the project of exploring the northwest, and leaving Boston in June, 1766, he arrived at Mackinaw, then the most distant post of the British, in August, and from that point pursued the usual route to Green Bay, where he arrived on the 18th of the same month. The French post at that point was then standing, although much decayed. In com- pany with several traders, he left Green Bay and proceeded to "a town on the Mississippi, near the mouth of the Ouisconsin, called
581
VERY EARLY TIMES.
by the French, La Prairie du Chien. It was a large town, con- taining about three hundred families. At a small stream called Yellow river, and just opposite Prairie du Chien, the traders, who had thus far accompanied him, took up their residence for the win- ter, and from that point Carver, with a Canadian voyageur and a Mohawk Indian for companions, proceeded in a canoe up the Mis- sissippi. They reached Lake Pepin on the first of November, land- ing a few miles below. Carver was very much struck with the appearance of the surrounding land at this halting-place, and he says, while his companions were preparing dinner, he " took a walk on land, " and the surface of the country struck him as very peculiar. He thought "it must be the site of some vast artificial earthwork." This was undoubtedly below Wabasha, at what is now called Sand Prairie, also a part of the "Grand Encampment," where mounds and relics of the prehistoric age have been found, many of which are traceable and easily seen. It is worthy of remembrance, that Carver was the first to call the attention of the civilized world to the existence of ancient monuments in the Mississippi valley. In his account of this ground, he says: "On the first of November I reached Lake Pepin, a few miles below which I landed, and while the servants were preparing dinner I ascended the bank to view the country. I had not proceeded far before I came to a fine level, open plain, on which, at a little distance, I perceived a partial elevation, that had the appearance of an entrenchment. On a nearer inspection I had greater reason to suppose that it had been intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it was now covered with grass, I could plainly see that it had once been a breastwork of about four feet in height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five thousand men. Its form was somewhat circular, and its flank reached to the river. Though much defaced by time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular, and fashioned with as much military skill, as if planned by Vauban himself.
"The ditch was not visible, but I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there certainly had been one. From its situation, also, I am convinced that it must have been designed for that purpose. It fronted the country and the rear was covered by the river, nor was there any rising ground for a considerable way that commanded it ; a few straggling lakes were alone to be seen near it. In many places small tracks were worn across it by the
582
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
elks or deer, and from the depth of tlie bed of earth by which it was covered I was able to draw certain conclusions in regard to its great antiquity. I examined all the angles and every part with great attention, and have often blamed myself since for not encamping on the spot and drawing an exact plan of it. To show that this descrip- tion is not the effect of a heated imagination or the chimerical tale of a mistaken traveler, I find, on inquiry, since my return, that Monsieur St. Pierre and several traders have at different times taken notice of similar appearances, upon which they have formed the same conjectures, but without examining them so minutely as I did. How a work of this kind could exist in a country that has hitherto (according to the general received opinion) been the seat of war to untutored Indians alone, whose whole stock of military knowledge has only within two centuries amounted to drawing the bow, and whose only breastwork, even at present, is the thicket, I know not. I have given as exact an account as possible of the singular appear- ance, and leave to future explorers of those distant regions to dis- cover whether it is a production of nature or art.
" Perhaps the hints I have here given might lead to a more perfect investigation of it, and give us very different ideas of the ancient state of realms that we at present believe to have been, from the earliest period, only the habitation of savages."*
In Louisiana, layers of pottery six inches thick, with remnants of matting and baskets, have been found twelve feet below the surface, and underneath what is believed to be strata of the Drift. Pages of similar testimony might be quoted to establish these truths, but this work does not call for any argument or discussion in relation to
*Science and research are daily establishing the truth of Carver's supposi- tions in regard to investigations, also that man existed in this region as far back in geological time as on the European continent; and it may be shown that America is really the birthplace of the earliest race of man. One of the late important discoveries is that of Mr. E. L. Berthoud, which is given to the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. He reports the discovery of ancient fire- places, rude stone monuments, and implements of stone in great variety, in several places along Crow creek in Colorado, and also on several other rivers in that vicinity. These fireplaces indicate several ancient sites of an unknown race, differing entirely from the mound-builders and the present Indians, while the fossils and shells found with the remains make it quite certain that the deposit in which these ancient sites are found is as old as the Middle Tertiary period, and Mr. Berthoud thinks the evidence strongly in favor of these loca- tions having been near some fresh-water lake, whose vestiges the present to- pography of region favors .- Scientific American.
583
VERY EARLY TIMES.
the existence of man before the Drift, or whether preglacial man was civilized or not.
It will be seen at once that, without doubt, these earthworks were thrown up and entrenched even centuries before Fort Perrot was erected a few miles farther np the river, and it is still a mooted question whether they are the production of nature or art. It seems a great pity, too, that scientists have not pushed these investigations before all traces of the works should be effaced. Many of these mounds are still traceable and easily seen, and if they are the pro- duction of art, they but correspond to accounts we have of mounds and mound builders in other states, especially in Florida; and these remains, in connection with a general estimate of aboriginal civiliza- tion, are to be found in each division of the western continent. That portion of the United States which lies between the Appalachian and the Rocky mountains presents three groups, at once the oldest and rudest monuments of bygone times. In Florida the natives always endeavored to build on high ground, or at least to erect the houses of the cacique or chief upon an eminence. As the country was very level and high places seldom found, they con- structed artificial mounds of earth, the top of each being capable of containing from ten to twenty houses. Here resided the eacique, his family and attendants, At the foot of this mound was a square according to the size of the village, around which were the houses of the leaders and most distinguished inhabitants. The rest of the people erected their wigwams as near to the dwelling of their chief as possible. An ascent in a straight line, from fifteen to twenty feet wide, led to the top of the hillock and was flanked on each side by trunks of trees, joined one to another and thrust deep into the earth, other trunks of trees forming a kind of stairway ; the other sides of the mounds were steep and inaccessible.
Many of the artificial mounds noticed by travelers of the present day, and about which there has been so much learned speculation, were doubtless artificial structures thrown up by the natives for the purposes here given. These mounds of earth seem to be for similar purposes with those of stone on which are erected the ancient edifices found in Central America.
The first group of the United States extends from the sources of the Allegheny to the waters of the Mississippi ; the second group occupying the Mississippi valley, and the third stretches from South Carolina to Texas. These groups consist wholly of mounds and
584
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
circumlocutions of earth and stone varying from each other very little. Whether these structures were intended for worship or defense, it is impossible to decide ; more probably, however, they were of a military character. But, whatever their origin, they derive great interest from the analogous fact that within the same limits vases of earthenware and copper have been dug up, and pipe-bowls decorated with human heads of the type of existing aborigines, together with domestic utensils, personal ornaments, hatchets of stone, and weapons of copper, mica and shell.
While attempting to appreciate aboriginal civilization, we cannot fail, in the light of these remains, to be struck with their magnitude rather than with their beauty, and the only safe conclusion is that in the new world, as in the old, there were different degrees of civiliza- tion,- some of them much higher than we could have expected in the utter absence of useful metals, and also beasts of burden. And again, stray visitors of a higher type might have produced all the phenomena- visitors such as appear to have figured in the traditions of Mexico and Peru ; or again, as Mr. Donnelly in his " Atlantis " would have, visitors from the submerged continent from whom both Europe and America derive their similarity of archi- tecture, manners, traditions, religion and customs.
From facts and circumstances equally conclusive we surely may deduce an age for most of the mounds of the Mississippi valley of not less than two thousand years, but by whom built, or whether their anthors migrated to remote lands, under the attraction of more fertile soil or genial climate, or whether they disappeared beneath the victorious arms of an alien race, or were swept out of existence by some climatic change or terrible epidemic, are questions probably beyond the power of human investigation. History is silent con- cerning them, and their very name is lost to tradition itself. The tenacity with which the minds of the credulous cling to the mar- velons is wonderful; yet the facts connected with the Mississippi valley indicate that the ancient population was numerous and widely spread, as the features common to all identify.
Cartier in Canada, Smith in Virginia, as well as the Pilgrims, and the French in New York, all found the Indians con- structing defenses, consisting of palisades, ditches, embank- ments and other works, the remains of which are still numerous. Again, it is noteworthy that while the existence of minerals was known to the savages who lived near Lake Superior,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.