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 45
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These papers are in a good state of preservation, and the one bearing date of 1806, is written in both English and French, while the others are all in English. From these papers it appears that Walking Buffalo was grand chief of the Gens du Lac Nation (People of the Lake), and also chief of the Men-da-wa-con-ton band, which
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included all the Sioux of the Mississippi river. The documents were handed down by Walking Buffalo to his brother, Wakuta, the "Red Wing," who in turn gave them into the possession of his son, the present chief, who is seventy years old at this time. The domain of the Tribe of the Lake Band extended from Read's Landing to Red Wing, and the domain of Wapasha extended from the same point to the mouth of the Black river.
Although Wakuta spoke in the Sioux language, we were able to glean a good many interesting facts from him through his nephew, Jos. Carron, and only regret that our education in that language was neglected in our early days ; that deprived us of a further research. Although seventy years old, Wakuta does not appear to be over forty. On showing him a specimen of a stone axe elaimed by many to be of the stone age, he said that the Indians used it for almost every- thing in their every-day life. On handing him a piece of pottery that was supposed to be the handiwork of the mound builders, he immediately recognized it as a part of an Indian cooking utensil. This was handed him for the purpose of finding out whether he knew anything of such a race, and upon being questioned, said many years ago, which he counted by the five or six hundred, there was a nation of people (he called them Indians) that lived in what is now known as Indians mounds, and instead of burialplaces they were their habitations. This race, he says, disappeared when his people came, and thinks they were either killed or driven off. He also said that when the present Indians came to this land, there were a couple of houses standing near the present town of Stockholm, Wisconsin, on Lake Pepin, which he thinks must have been built by the French voyageurs. The old chief has been over nearly the whole of the United States, and immediately recognized a bird's-eye view of the city of New York, and laid another as a scene on the Hudson. From our limited "talk " we judge that he was " well read," as they say in the United States, and was well informed of the events of his time, and had stowed away many traditions of the nation and country he represented, of which the modern historical researcher would gladly avail himself.
An incident on Lake Pepin is also given in the shape of a fish story -an old Indian story told and handed down from time to time- that a eatfish was caught in the lake that measured the length of seven bows between the eyes. An Indian bow being, say, about three feet in length, would make the fish some twenty-one feet
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between the eyes, which makes a pretty large fish story, and should be placed side by side with the sea-serpent stories of the east. As fishy as it may seem, they tell it as a fact, and all give the same version. At the date of this writing Wakuta is dead, having died at the Santee agency. Their old camping-ground at this place was very dear to them, and they would return at times to visit their friends and relatives among the half-breeds who still remain here, and upon what is called the "Grand Encampment," five miles below on the river. It was given that name by the old French voyageurs who made it a point to camp there on their way up and down the river. Teepeeotah, as remarked in a former chapter, is situated on this encampment.
In the preceding chapters it has been shown that Wabasha justly lays claim to being the oldest town on the Mississippi from Prairie du Chien to Fort Snelling and Mendota, and that its position has ever been an important one. Situated, as it is, just below the mouth of the Chippewa river, it has been the rendezvous for all the lumber rafted down that river, and from this place to the great markets below, ever since the manufacture of lumber began from the pineries above. The lumber, after coming out of the Chippewa, is rerafted at this point and sent down the river, and now much of it goes farther west by means of the railroad communication with other points. The Midland road intersects the Northwestern at Zumbrota, and the prospect is that the road will be continued to Austin, and thus direct transportation be opened from the great lumber manu. factories themselves to Omaha and other points west. A goodly number of smart, enterprising villages have sprung up along the line of the Midland, the first being Glasgow, then McCrackens, at which point there is a never-failing spring of pure water, Theilmen. ton. Tracey, Keegan, Millville, Jarrett, Hammond, Funk, Zumbro Falls, Mazeppa, Forest Mills, Zumbrota. All these stations are of considerable importance as shipping points, and several possess extensive grain elevators ; and all these are tributary to Wabasha. With these and many other advantages the city of Wabasha undoubtedly has a grand future before it. Stillwater claims to have been the first settled town in the state, which is a mistake. That city was first settled in 1843, and Wabasha dates back to 1838 and 1841, being christened "Wabashaw " in 1843. For beauty of loca- tion Wabasha is unexcelled, and the sunset from the place is most enchanting. Just at the outlet of Lake Pepin the river makes a
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bend, which from this point seems to bring the bluffs of Wisconsin and Minnesota very close together, leaving just space enough to see the sun in all its glory as it sinks to rest in the placid waters of the lake, and its last rays light up the bluffs on either side with a golden radiance that fills the heart with rapture at the beautiful scene. It is in the month of June especially charming, and would quite repay a little journey to the place by any lover of beautiful scenery, just to have one look at this enchanting sunset.
More than a century ago traveling fur traders would ascend the Mississippi for the purpose of trading with the Indians and obtaining valuable furs, of which they usually had an abundance, their head- quarters being at Prairie du Chien. Mention has been made of some of these traders, and it seems fitting that this work should give some notice of some of the most prominent of these, particularly those who at times have either lived here or transacted business with others who did. A sketch has been given of Mr. J. B. Faribault, and it seems most fitting to introduce just here a sketch of his son- in-law, Mr. Alexis Bailly, as he figured largely in the early history of the place. Most of the pioneers of Minnesota, as a class, have been men superior in morality, intelligence and education to those of the pioneers of the earlier territories, and they have left their impress upon town and state. Many of them were attracted to this wild region from the love of adventure, or of the chase, there being just enough danger always to give zest to frontier life, more than- mere love of gain ; yet they were by no means free from the frailties and vices of poor human nature, and were not especially given to respect law, especially when it favored the speculator at the expense of the settler.
Mr. Bailly was born at St. Josephs, near the shore of Lake Michigan, but received his education at Montreal. When about nineteen he came to Mackinaw as clerk for the American Fur Com- pany, and remained there some two years. In 1826 he was em- ployed by the company to drive some cattle to the Red River of the North, and he, with eight others, made the trip on foot, leaving Mackinaw the middle of May, reaching their destination late in October. Upon their return they lost their way, going between two and three hundred miles to the west, striking the shed waters of the St. Peters river (now Minnesota) instead of those of the Sauk, as they had intended. They endured almost untold hardships, going several days without any food, except a few kernels of dry corn, but
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finally succeeded in reaching Prairie du Chien without loss of life. Mr. Bailly was a man of fine business habits, and was an intelligent and very genial companion. He was married twice, his first wife being the daughter of J. B. Faribault, who died in Wabasha. Sev- eral years after, he married, at St. Paul, a Miss Julia Corey, of Cooperstown, New York, who is still living here.
At the time Mr. Bailly engaged with the fur company the wages of a good clerk was two hundred dollars per annum ; that of an interpreter, one hundred and fifty dollars, and common laborers or voyageurs, as they were called, was one hundred dollars, with rations, which rations were of the simplest kind. The articles principally used in the trade with the Indians were blankets, calicoes, cloths, tobacco and cheap jewelry, including wampum] which served in lieu of money as a basis of exchange. During the winters the traders and their men ensconced themselves in their warm log-cabins, but in the spring it was required of them to visit the various Indian camps and secure the furs and peltries collected by the savages in their hunts. Goods were always paid for on delivery, and never given on credit.
Mr. Bailly commenced trading on his own account at Prairie du Chien in 1828, but removed to St. Peters (now Mendota) in 1835, and subsequently opened a store in St. Paul. Not meeting with the success he desired he removed to Wabasha, where he remained until his death in June, 1861. Mr. Bailly figured largely in the interests of the county, and did much to settle the difficulties in relation to the half-breed tract, and his eldest son, Alexis P. Bailly was the first register of deeds of the county. His second son, Capt. H. Bailly, was killed in the rebellion, at the battle of Lookout Mountain.
Mr. Bailly was the first civil officer in the county, being ap- pointed justice of the peace, after the town of Wabasha was organ- ized, by the governor.
He was at one time associated with N. W. Kittson in business, they holding trading-posts in different localities. Mr. Wm. H. Forbes, a brother-in-law of Mr. Bailly's, came to Minnesota as Indian trader in 1837. Mr. Bailly's trade was principally among the Sioux. Mr. Bailly, upon coming to Wabasha, bought out Labathe, of whom a rich anecdote is related by Hon. H. H. Sibley. Indian etiquette demands on all occasions that the visitor shall leave nothing unconsumed of the meat or drink placed before him. There was a
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tea-party given at one time at Fort Snelling by Capt. Gooding, of the army, and Joseph Laframboise, Alex. Faribault and Sabathe were invited. It was in July, and the weather very warm. It appears that Laframboise spoke with fluency several different languages, and both he and Faribault were practical jokers. In due time the party were seated around the table, and the cups and saucers of those days were of the generous proportions ignored in these days. The large cup filled with tea was handed to Labathe and soon disposed of. At that time the poor fellow could speak nothing more of English than the imperfect sentence "tank you." When his cup was emptied, Mrs. Gooding, who was at the head of the table, said, "Mr. Labathe, please take some more tea." Labathe replied, "tank you, madam," which the waiter understood to mean assent. He took the cup and handed it to the hostess, which was forthwith supplied with the tea. Labathe managed to swallow that, sweltering meanwhile with the fervent heat of the evening, and was again requested to permit his cup to be replenished. "Tank you, madam," was the only reply the poor victim could make. Seven great cups full of the hot tea had been swallowed, Laframboise and Faribault in the meantime almost dying with laughter. For the eighth time the waiter approached for the cup, when the aboriginal politeness which had enabled him to bear up amid his sufferings gave way entirely, and rising from his seat, to the amazement of the company. he exclaimed frantically, " Lafram- boise, pour l'amoir de bon Dieu, pourquoi ne dites vous pas a madame qui je ne vout point davantage?"-" Laframboise, for the love of God, why do yon not tell madam that I do not wish any more tea ?" Gen. Sibley says Labathe never heard the last of that while he lived.
Mr. Roque, too, mentioned in preceding pages, affords another instance of the inconvenience of not being able to speak English. He only knew one compound word, and that was roast-beef, which he called "Ros-bif." At the time of his accompanying the delega- tion to- Washington City, on being asked at the public-houses what he would be helped to, he could only say ros-bif! So, the old gentleman, although longing for a chance at the many good things he would have preferred, performed the round trip on ros-bif.
We find Mr. Bailly figuring largely in matters concerning the Sioux, to whom he was a good friend, and he is frequently mentioned in connection with the treaties made and also as justice of the peace.
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He married several couples while acting as justice of the peace of this county, and in 1852 acted as assistant commissary at the treaty with the Dahcotahs at Traverse des Sioux.
It became necessary that the territory bordering on the Red River of the North should pass into the hands of the United States government and become subject to the civil jurisdiction of the terri- tory. President Fillmore departed from the usual mode of appointing commissioners for negotiation, and deputed the commissioner of Indian affairs, the Hon. Luke Lea, and ITis Excellency Gov. Ramsey to meet the representatives of the Dahcotahs and conclude a treaty with them for such lands as they might be willing to sell. A large number of half-breeds and others, citizens of the United States, who were originally a part of the Selkirk settlement, demanded protection of the government against the encroachments of the Hudson Bay Company and the privileges of American citizens. On the 27th of June, 1852, Commissioner Lea arrived at St. Paul, and, in company with Gov. Ramsey, proceeded to Traverse des Sioux, arriving there June 30. This treaty was considered of great impor- tance, the conditions being the ceding and relinquishment of all their lands in the territory and State of Iowa by the Wah-pay- kootah and Med-a-wa-kan-toans bands of Indians, the United States reserving for them a home the average width of ten miles on either side of the Minnesota river and bounded on the east by Little Rock river, on the west by the Yellow Medicine, paying them certain moneys and annuities to continue for fifty years. Another treaty, the same year, was perfected with the Tillager band of Chippewas, by which they ceded a country sixty-five miles in width by one hundred and fifty in length, intersected in its center by the Red River of the North, for this land the government agreeing to pay them annually the sum of ten thousand dollars for twenty years and thirty thousand dollars cash down. Mr. Bailly was spoken of at these treaties as " one of the most useful and active camp men that ever was."
At the Traverse des Sioux camp Mr. Bailly married, in the Episcopal form, David Faribault and Nancy Winona McClure, after which the groom gave a dinner, and all went to dine together. After the repast, toasts and speeches appropriate to the occasion flowed freely. One of the toasts was given by Joseph La Framboise, who was one of the oldest and most intelligent pioneers of the valley of the St. Peters. Hon. Wm. H. Forbes, who was also present at
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this treaty, gave as a sentiment, "Gov. Ramsey, ex-officio superin- tendent of Indian affairs, a public officer who has, as he deserves to have, the entire confidence of the Indians under his charge." Gov. Ramsey gave "Millard Fillmore, a national president-a man worthy of his high trust." After dinner there was a virgin feast of young Daheotah girls, nineteen in number, and fifteen young men. Before sitting down to the feast, consisting of tea and fried eakes, each of the party advanced and touched a red stone which was placed in their midst, this being the test oath of truthfulness and virtue. Mr. Wm. H. Forbes was present at this treaty ; also Mr. Kittson, J. R. Brown and Hon. H. H. Sibley.
Minnesota is the "land of the Dahkotahs." Long before their existenee was known to civilized men they wandered through the forests between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, in quest of the bounding deer, and over the wide prairies beyond, in search of the ponderous buffalo. They are an entirely different group from those found by the early settlers of the Atlantic States, on the Connectieut, Mohawk and Susquehanna rivers, and their language is much more difficult to comprehend ; yet they have many customs common with the tribes who once dwelt in New England, New York, Pennsyl- vania and Illinois, while other peculiarities mark them as belonging to a distinet family of the aborigines of North America.
Winona, Wapashaw, Mendota, Anoka, Kasota, Mahkato, and other names designating the towns, streams and lakes of Minnesota, are words derived from their vocabulary. When they were first noticed by the European adventurer they occupied the country between the Mississippi and the headwaters of Lake Superior, which is a country of many lakes, and the voyageur gave them the name of " People of the Lakes." The word Dahkota, by which they love to be designated, signifies joined together in friendly compaet, equiva- lent to the motto on the seal of the United States. In a history written by a Catholie missionary nearly two centuries ago, it is remarked of the Dakotahs : "For sixty leagues from the extremity of the upper lakes, toward sunset, in the center of the western nations, they have all united their force by a general league."
This refers only to the Sioux tribes, which name originated among the early voyageurs. The Ojibways were a people whose ancestors had lived on Lake Michigan, but had been driven westward by the Iroquois. For centuries they had waged war upon the Dahkotahs, and the two nations were deadly foes. Many nations
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call the Dahkotahs Nadonessionx, the last two syllables being the Ojibway word for foe, but Charlevoix, who visited Wisconsin in 1721, says the name "Sioux" was entirely original with the voyageur.
From an early period there had been three divisions of this great people, which again had been subdivided into smaller bands. That division known as the M'dewakontons, or People of the Lakes, con- sisted of seven distinct bands, whose summer residence was in villages. These villages were situated at Wapashaw prairie, now the site of Winona, Red Leaf or Wapashaw, Red Wing, Kaponia on the Mississippi, and another at Lake Calhoun, another at the Little Rapids on the banks of the Minnesota, near the present village of Belleplaine. Old Wabashaw, long since dead, was the leading heredi- tary chief of the People of the Lakes, and in all intertribal affairs of importance his word was law, not only with his own particular band, but with all those belonging to the same division.
The authority of the chiefs was very great; but from the date of the first treaties negotiated with the government it began to decline, until finally the chief was considered the mere mouthpiece of the soldiers' lodge, the members of which constituted the only real power in the bands. Though the treaty of 1763 between France and England ceded all the territory within the limits of Wisconsin and Minnesota to England, yet for a long time the English did not obtain a foothold. The French traders, having purchased wives from the tribes according to their customs, managed to preserve a feeling of friendship toward their king long after the trading-posts at Green Bay and Sault St. Marie had been discontinued. This was the cause of so many French half-breeds, especially at Prairie du Chien, whose children and their descendants coming up the Mississippi settled in and around Wabashaw. Prairie du Chien was the great mart where all the tribes on both sides of the river annually assembled to dis- pose of their furs to the traders, who also had their Indian wives ; and Carver speaks of their village, upon his arrival there, as being one of about three hundred families.
About the year 1785 Prairie du Chien made its transition from an encampment for Indians and their traders to a hamlet, and among its first settlers were Messrs. Giard and Dubuque. In 1780 the wife of a Fox warrior discovered a large vein of lead in Iowa, on the west bank of the Mississippi, and at a council held in Prairie du Chien in 1788, Julien Dubuque obtained permission to work the mines on and near the city which now bears his name, and on the bluff stands the little stone house that covers his remains.
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After the treaty of 1783 between Great Britain and the United States, the British did not immediately surrender their posts, which led to much ill-feeling ; and when Washington sent Baron Steuben, in 1784, to Detroit to take possession of that fort, the British com- mander refused to give possession, npon the ground that it was upon Indian territory. But in the treaty effected by Mr. Jay, Great Britain agreed to withdraw her troops from all places within the boundary lines of the treaty, and after France ceded Louisiana to the United States, in 1800, this part of Minnesota began to be settled by white people and French half-breeds, - Augustine Rocque, as before stated, being the first white settler at Wapashaw. In 1805, Lieut. Pike held a conference with the Sioux Indians, when they agreed to grant to the United States full power and sovereignty over these lands forever.
For more than a century there had been a westward tendency in the emigration of the Indian nations, and a frequent source of war was the encroachment upon each other's hunting-grounds, and in 1825 a congress of tribes was convened at Prairie du Chien to estab- lish the boundary lines between the Chippewas and Sioux. This did not prove effectual, and in 1830 another congress was convened at Prairie du Chien, at which time the M'dewakantonwan band made a treaty, bestowing upon their relatives, the mixed bloods, this tract of land about Lake Pepin, since known as "the half-breed tract." This tract in said treaty is described as follows : "Beginning at a place called the Barn, below and near the village of the Red Wing chief, and running back fifteen miles, thence in a parallel line with Lake Pepin and the Mississippi about thirty-two miles to a point opposite O'Benf or Beef river, thence fifteen miles to the Grand Encampment, opposite the river aforesaid." This reservation begins at Red Wing, Goodhue county, and runs through the town of Red Wing in a southwesterly direction, thence through IIay Creek town- ship, including all of it but a small part of the northwest corner, including the southeast corner of Fetherstone township, all of Belvidere township and Florence; runs angling through Goodhne to section 31, thence sontheast through Zumbrota, including the north- east corner thereof, to the town of Chester in Wabasha county ; it runs diagonally and includes the northeast half of the town through Hyde Park, leaving the southwest corner of it which lies north of Hammond's ford ; takes in most of Oakwood, except a part of the southwest corner ; then striking the northeast corner of Elgin and runs diagonally across Plainview to section 24; from there it runs
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northeast through the town of Whitewater, in Winona county, diagonally through Watopa, including the northwest half of the town, taking in all of Highland and the most of Greenfield, through which it runs diagonally, leaving out the southeast corner, and strikes the Mississippi near the southeast corner of section 12, at what is called the Grand Encampment. It also includes all of the townships of Wabasha, Lake, Mount Pleasant, Guilford, West Albany and Glas- gow, thus including all but a small part of Wabashaw county and a portion of Goodhne.
The year 1837 forms an important era in the history of Minnesota, as the first steps were then taken for the introduction of the wood- man's ax and the splash of the millwheel. Missionaries were also sent out by a society from Lausanne, Switzerland, who arrived and located at Redwing and Wabashaw villages, but after a short time they abandoned the attempt to ameliorate the condition of the Dahkotalıs. The same year a deputation of Dahkotahs was sent to Washington, and all lands east of the Mississippi were ceded by them to the United States, but this reservation was held as a sacred bequest to the half-breeds, according to the treaty at Prairie du Chien in 1830. White men began to stop at Wabashaw, and settle- ments began upon this tract, yet disputes as to possession frequently arose, and the Indians being numerous, the safety of the white man was very precarious. There was often a hundred lodges, sometimes more, about Wabashaw, and it is easy to conceive how the natural love of the beautiful should prompt the red men to select this as their home and hunting-ground. Canoes lined the shore, and games, feasts and dances filled in the time, while long in the night the hol- low beat of their drums, and the dismal screech of male and female, could be heard in the woods, trying to drive away the Evil Spirit, or cure some Indian sick man. In 1850 the population of this county was two hundred and forty-three souls. In the census of 1880 it was sixteen thousand one hundred and forty-nine.
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