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 6
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Cameron made me a proposition to go with him, allowing me pay for my services, and the privilege of taking, as a venture in trade, certain goods I wished to dispose of, and of a kind he had not in his cargo.
I had almost an intuitive perception of the draft of water, and had picked up considerable of the Sioux tongue. My prospective useful- ness induced Cameron to make me a good offer, and I accepted it.
Cameron was a sharp, keen trader, and one of the best judges of furs that ever came up the river.
The boat selected for the voyage up the Mississippi was built for
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a supply boat on Black river. It was about forty feet long, seven or eight feet wide, and eighteen inches deep, too low for safety, in Lake Pepin, but the trader was anxious and adventurous, and Dous- man, Brisbois, Rice and Sibley had, by astute management, got possession of the trade, not only at Fort Atkinson, but of the entire upper Mississippi. Hence, if any furs were to be purchased by out- side traders, they were required to be sharp and adventurous. It was rumored that the Ewing company of Fort Wayne, Indiana, were first crippled and then floored by Rice, who succeeded Donsman in the management of the Choteau company below, while Gen. Sibley had control of the trade at the mouth of the Minnesota river.
The great St. Louis company were also filling up the spaces be- tween their largest stations with smaller traders in their interest. Therefore transient traders had to watch their opportunities, and pounce down upon the tidbits as occasion afforded.
Cameron and myself decided that if we could get safely through Lake Pepin in advance of the steamboat Otter, which it was under- stood would go through the lake as soon as the ice was out, we would be reasonably sure of making handsome profits on our ven- tures.
My packages were light, but Cameron piled in barrel after barrel of whisky, pork, flour and heavy articles that greatly endangered our safety.
We started as soon as loaded, taking as pilot an old French voyageur named Le Vecq, and a half-breed that had been employed by James Reed at times, and who was a most excellent hand when on duty. We rigged a large square-sail, and had a long line to run out ahead in swift water, but were so favored by the southerly spring winds that we ran up to the foot of the lake with- out having had to dip an oar. At the widow Hudson's (now Reed's Landing) we had a good trade, and by my advice Cameron was induced to sell a few barrels of pork and flour to lighten our boat through the lake. As the nights had been clear we determined to make an attempt to go through the lake by moonlight if the wind should go down with the sun. The night came on with weird still- ness and gloom, but later on toward midnight the moon came through the clouds and all was changed to brightness.
Le Point had been given permission by Cameron to go down to Rock's, or Campbell's, a short distance below where we were to await his coming. Cameron's orders were imperative to be back
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when the wind fell. The wind lulled to a calm, but Le Point did not come; so after many benedictions had been left at the camp we started through the lake. The upper air had given token by scud- ding clouds of fleecy vapor that the calmness of the lower stratum might be broken at any time, but my moral courage was not great enough for me to tell my fears. Cameron was very deaf, and un- conscious of danger that did not appeal to him through his sight; and as for Le Vecq, he seemed to have no judgment, and I had lost all faith in him long before we had reached the lake. We coasted along near the north shore until nearing North Pepin we were forced out from the jutting point by ice lodged upon the coast. Here for some time we halted, uncertain what to do, but discovering a narrow opening in the floe, that seemed to extend up to open water, we ventured in, rowing most lustily. We had got almost through the icy strait when I heard a roar as if Dante's inferno had been in- vaded and the troubled spirits let loose. The noise came gradually nearer, and I was then able to comprehend its cause. It was the ice piling higher and still higher upon the distant point above us, and as the wind had veered around to the westward a few points, the ice was being driven down upon us with great rapidity.
Time is required to tell the story, but not much was needed for the crisis to reach us. I was steering the boat, while Cameron and Le Vecq were rowing. Cameron at first did not heed my warning to prepare for danger, and showed more courage than discretion ; but when he saw that we had, as if by magic, become blockaded in front, and that no time was allowed us for retreat, he wrung his hands and cried out, as if in agony of grief, "My God, Bunnell ! what shall we do ?" I answered: "Face the danger like men ; our goods, not ourselves, are threatened ; we can run ashore on the ice."
The ice was thick enough to have borne up a horse.
Our worthy bishop (Le Vecq) seemingly was not of my opinion, for dropping upon his knees, he poured forth such a torrent of invective, or invocation, it was uncertain which, as would have moved anything less cold than ice. The ice, however, came crowd- ing on, and I instantly formed a plan to save the boat. All appeals to the devout Frenchman were useless, so I motioned Cameron to my aid, and we drew the boat to the edge of the ice on the north side of the narrowing channel, where we awaited its close. My plan was to tilt up the shore side of the boat as the ice approached to crush it, and thus make use of the overlapping ice to carry us up the
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inclined plane of ice that the pressure in tilting the boat would form.
I unstepped the mast and placed it in readiness for use as a lever. I placed one oar beside our pilot voyageur, for use when his prayer should end, but all to no purpose-he could not be aroused. I called upon him in most vigorous terms, but in vain. Cameron again offered his services, but I wished him to bale his valuables, and he had scant time to do it ere the floe I knew would be down upon us; besides he was too deaf to hear in the noise, and as the sky was be- coming rapidly overcast, sight could not be entirely depended upon. Exasperated beyond further endurance, I jerked our paralyzed guide from his prayerful stupor out upon the ice, and having made him comprehend my intention, he took the oar, the boat was tilted up at the right moment, and all was saved.
We were swept toward the shore with great steadiness and power, but as the ice was smooth, without injury of any kind. Le Vecq was sent to sleep on the land, where we had transferred our lighter goods, but Cameron and myself returned to the boat and slept soundly until daylight, when a storm of wind and rain came to break up the ice, and we were able before nightfall to cross to Bully Wells' (now Frontenac) in safety. It was April, and the wind that had subsided with the fall of rain sprang up again. The lake above was all open, but we were held wind-bound to enjoy the pioneer sto- ries of Mr. Wells, who had established himself with a native woman some years before. Cameron chafed at Wells' recitals, and as night fell upon us, insisted that the wind had died out and that we could go on. Wells told him that if we attempted it we would probably swamp or water-log on Point-no-Point, as we could scarcely clear that iron-bound shore with the wind beating on it as it did at the time. I was able to hold Cameron in check until about two in the morning, when, exasperated by his seeming forgetfulness of the danger we had so narrowly escaped, I told him that if we beached or water- logged, his, not mine, would be the loss, and we started ont into the lake to clear the point.
We got well out into the lake and had made a good offing, before we caught the swell, when it was soon made manifest to me that a sail should be set to give us headway, or we would swamp before reaching the point. I proposed the sail, but Le Vecq said to Cameron, "Suppose yon hist ze sail, you go to ze dev." Just then a white cap broke over the bow gunnel of the boat, and, taking a
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wooden bucket in hand, Cameron gave it to the Canadian, telling him to bail, and without reservation gave me charge of the boat. I called him to the tiller while I bent on the sail, and in a few minutes we were skimming the water like a gull. Dropping a lee-board I had taken the precaution to rig, we crawled off Point-no-point, and rounding into the cove above, landed as daylight appeared. This second display of incapacity in Le Vecq ended his career as principal voyageur, and I was installed as captain and supercargo.
We run on up to Red Wing after breaking our fast, and had already disposed of a large quantity of our heavy goods, relieving onr boat the better to encounter the more rapid current, when look- ing down the river we saw the Otter steaming to the landing. Le Point was on board, so we at once pulled out for the St. Croix. We made a rapid run to Still-Water and Taylor's Falls, and after selling out everything at high prices, Cameron commenced buying furs for cash, having ample supplies of coin for that purpose. Taking our way back leisurely, sometimes floating with the current, at others pulling enough for steerage way, we were able to see and stop at every trading post and Indian encampment on our way down to La Crosse. At Wah-pa-sha's Village, then situated on the high ground back of the river front, west of Main street, we stayed over night. Wah-pa-sha's sister, We-no-nah, (really a cousin) gave us a tent in which to quarter for the night, saying that it was better than onr cloth tent, as there was a cold rain falling at the time. In recognition of the woman's hospitality and forethought, I gave her upon leaving in the morning, a six quart pan of flour from our scanty stores, as we had no goods of any kind left. Cameron's subsequent career in La Crosse was unfortunate.
Soon after my return to La Crosse I made a trip to St. Louis, and having an Indian's memory of localities, I was able to fix the course of the Mississippi as far as Galena in my mind. There were but two steamboat pilots in those, days for the entire river above Prairie Du Chien, and the services of those were always retained by the American or Chouteau Company, or by the supply steamers of the United States contractors for the Indian and military depart- ments.
Lonis Morrow, one of the pilots, was in the full vigor of mature manhood, and a more noble specimen it would be difficult to find ; but the other pilot, Lewis De'-Marah, was getting old, and his sight was failing him so fast, that, as he himself said, he would soon liave to
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leave the river to younger eyes. Finding me interested in the course of the channel, De Marah would point it out to me when traveling with him, and in a short time after our first acquaintance he offered to teach and retain me with him on the river. I declined the offer, but my taste and passion for beautiful scenery led me to study the river while traveling upon it. At that time there were but few boats running above Prairie Du Chien regularly, and those of the smallest kind, such as the Rock River and the Otter. The Harrises of Galena were so successful with the latter boat, that they soon brought ont the Light Foot, the Time and Tide, the Senator, the War Eagle and others in quick succession. The demand for those steamers created a demand for pilots, and Sam Harlow, Pleasent Cormack, Rufus Williams and George Nichols came to the front and proved themselves as capable men as ever turned a wheel. Of the lower river pilots I remember Hugh White of St. Louis as one of the best, and his services were always in demand by the Falcon Cecilia, . General Brooke and other boats of the lower trade. Although I was never a member of any legislature, I was as welcome to a free ride on any of the boats named, as a modern "dead head" on any of the subsidized railroads. As there was seldom but one pilot on a boat above Prairie Du Chien who knew the river well, my services were thoughit to be an equivalent for all the favors shown me, and I could go to St. Louis or St. Paul at will. Upon one occasion I saved De Marah from a blunder at night, similar to the one which happened him while on the Lynx in 1844. That new and beautiful steamer was run out in 1844 on the shore below the Keye's residence by De Marah. The night was inky black, and as the fast-running steam- boat steered a little hard, the watchman was called to aid De Marah at the wheel. The Lynx was on her down trip from Mendota and St. Paul, and was running at a fair rate of speed. As they reached the shore at Keye's point, a thunderstorm burst upon them ; and as the lightning flashed, the open sky of Pleasant Valley revealed the overflowing water at the lower end of the prairie, and it was mis- taken for the Mississippi.
The annual fires had at that time kept down all arbol growths except at the water's edge, and the sandy ridge of prairie between the river and the open water beyond had been overlooked during the momentary flash of lightning. The shadows of the Min-ne-o-way bluffs joined with the dense foliage of the islands and shut out the view to the east. The Lynx was run ont several rods upon the
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overflowed land before "fetching up," and when she halted, no means at the disposal of Captain Hooper could get her back into the channel. The most of the men were discharged and with a few pas- sengers left in a yawl for Prairie Du Chien.
A few days after, while at work upon ways to slide the boat into river, the Gen. Brooke came steaming up the channel, and was hailed for assistance. After landing and viewing the situation, Capt. Throemorton decided to go on to Fort Snelling and discharge his cargo, lest some accident might forfeit his insurance, but gave Capt. Hooper assurances of aid on his return. Capt. Throemorton's great experience suggested work to be done during his absence, and on his return he was enabled to at onee pull the disabled boat into the river and take her in tow. The Lynx was docked and lengthened, but she never recovered her speed, and was soon disposed of by her builders. The brick and mortar thrown overboard on the prairie in taking out her boilers has been taken by some for the remains of an old building. A short time since, while strolling on the river bank near the locality of the disaster, I picked from the sandy shore an iron pulley-wheel that probably was dropped overboard by some one on the Lynx, as the deeply rust-caten wheel indicated that it had been many years in the sand. It may be seen in the museum of the Winona Normal school.
On May 21, 1844, a few weeks before the misfortune happened to the Lynx, Robt. D. Lester, sheriff of Crawford county, Wisconsin, was murdered by a Sionx of Little Crow's band, named O-man- haugh-tay. A fruitless search had been made for the body, which was known to be in the river, but as the boat from the Lynx was descending, on its way to Prairie du Chien, the occupants of the boat found the swollen body in a pile of driftwood, and towed it to La Crosse, where it was buried. Mr. Lester's successor in office, Mr. Lockhart, subsequently had it removed and buried at Prairie du Chien. The murder occurred within the limits of Winona county, opposite the "Queen Bluff," and not " six miles below Reed's Land- ing," nor "twenty miles from La Crosse," as the historian of La Crosse county has stated.
Mr. Lester was returning from an official visit to the Chippewa mills, and stopped at Trempealeau on his way down in a canoe. His old friend Reed offered him hospitality, which he declined, but accepted a lunch to eat on his way. Lester stopped at a spring rivu- let just above the Queen bluff, and while eating his lunch, which
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was scanty enough, O-man-hangh-tay, on his way up from La Crosse in a canoe, landed and demanded a part of it. Lester declined a division of his scanty fare, and soon after started on his journey to Prairie du Chien. He had proceeded but a few rods, his back turned to the Indian, when the report of O-man-haugh-tay's rifle, and the body of the sheriff seen falling out of his canoe informed La Batlı, who just then came in sight, that a murder had been committed. O-man-hauglı-tay jumped into his canoe and fled from La Bath's ap- proacli, but not before he was recognized by La Bath, who knew the Indian as a vicious member of Little Crow's band.
La Bath informed the authorities that though he did not see the Indian until after the shot was fired, there could be no doubt but that O-man-hangh-tay had committed the murder. After considerable delay and the use of an escort of troops to capture hostages, the murderer was delivered up and taken to Prairie du Chien. He was kept there in prison for some time, and then, for reasons best known to the authorities of that period, he was taken across the river in the night to a landing above McGregor, and was turned loose, as stated by himself to his listening anditors.
James Reed happened to be at Keoxa (Winona) when O-man- hangh-tay arrived. Wah-pa-sha and his band received the Indian with consideration, and while a repast was being prepared for him, Reed listened to the recital of the murderer, who, among his Indian friends, made no concealments of his motives or of the murder. O-man-haugh-tay's conclusion was that the white men of the prairie were good to him, but that they were afraid of him. During his recital, after the Sioux custom, a pipe of friendship was passed around the circle of the tent, and noticing that Reed declined the proffered pipe, O-man-haugh-tay offered it to Reed in person. The audacity of the Sioux fired the old hunter, and although Reed was the only white man present, he struck the pipe to the ground and told the Indian that there was one white man who was not afraid of a dog. That epithet applied to a Sioux was the greatest insult that could be offered, but it was not resented, and O-man-haugh-tay soon took his departure from the village.
Reed was a man of sterling integrity of character, hospitable, and devoted to his friends, and had the murderer of Lester but have made a movement of resentment, his life would probably have paid the forfeit. Reed was a bearer of dispatches in the Black Hawk war, and had good opportunities for observation. He took dis-
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patches from Prairie du Chien to the commander of the American forces when no other messenger could be induced to incur the risk, and just after the slaughter at Battle-slough, found a young squaw whose father and mother had been killed. Reed took her with him on his return to Fort Crawford, from whence she was finally sent to her tribe in Iowa. James Reed had a personal acquaintance with all the historical personages of his time, and it is a subject of regret that his family and friends have not recorded more of his experi- ences in pioneer life. Charles Reed, of "Reed's Landing, " should note down his recollections of early times, for the pioneers of Wa- pa-sha county have had interesting experiences.
From Reed I learned of the existence in Beef-slougli of a large quantity of square timber and shingle logs that had been gotten out under direction of Jefferson Davis and other army officers for use in building Fort Crawford. This timber was said to have been run into the slough under the impression that it was the main channel of the Chippewa river, and as there was no outlet at that time, a large raft of flood-wood and trees obstructing the channel, the lumber was abandoned, and new material prepared and run down the proper channel of the Chippewa. Reed's statement was confirmed to me by one made by James T. Rutlı, who had also been a soldier at Fort Crawford. In company with James McCain, a Pennsylvanian, we broke the drifts and opened the channel of the slough, and were well rewarded for our labor.
During the spring and summer of 1843 Philip Jacobs and Dr. Snow put up a trading-house in La Crosse, and the Doctor gave some attention to the practice of medicine. During the month of November of that year he attended my brother's wife at the birth of her son Porter, who was the first white child born in Trem- pealeau county. My brother's daughter, Frances Matilda Bunnell, now Mrs. Frank Hampson, of River Falls, Wisconsin, who was born at Homer, Minnesota, on February 22, 1850, was the first white child born within the limits of Winona county. There were eight children in Willard Bunnell's family, five of whom are still living.
In 1843 Nathan Myrick was married and brought his wife to La Crosse. Accompanying Mrs. Myrick, as companion and friend, was Miss Louisa Pierson, of Burlington, Vermont. Like most Ver- mont girls, Miss Pierson was rosy and bright, and as fearless as were "The Green Mountain Boys." If a horse had balked in the
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sand of the prairie, her hand would soothe the stubborn brute into forgetfulness, and he would then do his duty. No saddle or bridle was needed to ride her favorite chestnut, and at her call, even the pacing Indian ponies belonging to the firm would amble to her feet. Such a woman among frontiersmen would command admiration, and for a time, at least, her conquests were numerous and her influence beneficial, but soon it became but too evident that her preference had been given to Myrick's partner, H. J. B. Miller, and her whilom admirers turned their inconstant devotion to the native dangliters of the realm.
Among the traders of that early period there were some who took squaws for wives, cither permanent or after the morganatic fashions of the highly civilized courts of Europe. The usual method of obtaining a help-meet from among the Indians was to pay court to the parents of the maiden desired, and after incidentally inform- ing them of the esteem in which their offspring was held, obtain some approximate idea of her value.
It was also thought advisable to make a present to the medicine- man, with an intimation that if the spirits were friendly to your suit a larger gift might be expected. Two traders of my acquaint- ance, Asa White and Tom Holmes, formally espoused native queens, and remained faithfully with them and their children through all changes of fortune and civilization that drove them farther and still farther to the frontier. Others, not so true to the parental instinct, because in higher life, left their squaw wives, but their children remain in the tribe, cared for and reared by their mothers, vigorous emblems of the love once borne for their fathers.
CHAPTER VII.
INTERESTING INCIDENTS AND CUSTOMS.
IN company with my old-time friend Maj. E. A. C. Hatch, who has quite recently gone to a higher plane of existence, I once attended a virgins' feast at Ke-ox-ah (Winona), presided over by Wah-pa-sha. The whole band was assembled, and after elaborate preparation and sanctification of the ground, by invocations and in- cense, and sacrificial offerings had been placed for the vestal at the
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foot of the altar-pole, Mock-ah-pe-ah-ket-ah-pah, the chief speaker, came forward, and in a sonorous address lauded the virtues of chastity and warned "the denouncers " against the sin of bearing false witness. . He also told the young braves that if they knew of the lapse from virtue of any virgin applicant for vestal honors, it was their duty, having in keeping the honor of their tribe, to denounce her. These young men were selected as the flower of Indian chivalry, and in addition to their duties as "denouncers," if occasion required, they guarded the sacred precincts of the assem- bly from defilement. In this respect Indians surpass white people, as seldom, if ever, has any police regulations to be enforced.
At the conclusion of the chief speaker's address, Wah-kon-de-o- tah, the great war-chief of the band, addressed his warriors in a quiet and affectionate manner, and told his braves to maintain the truth as sacred, and not offend the spirits of their ancestors. Wah- pa-sha then called for the virgins and matrons to come forth, after the manner still in vogue in Mexico, and for some time there was the silence of expectation. Again the call was made for any virgin to come forward and receive her reward. Two maidens came partly forward, but, upon reaching the line of denunciation, faltered and turned back from modesty or fear, when, at this crisis, We-no-nah, the wife of the speaker, and eldest sister (or cousin) of Wah-pa-sha, motioned to her youngest daughter, Witch-e-ain, a maiden of per- haps fifteen summers, and then in confident tones challenged the assembled throng to say aught, if they could, against the purity of her maiden child.
No answer was given to this challenge, and, after repeated calls by the crier of the assembly, Witch-e-ain came modestly forward and was crowned goddess of the feast that immediately followed. Her head was encircled with braids of rich garniture and scented grass, and presents of colored cloths, calicoes, yarns, beads and ribbons were lavished upon her as the tribe's representative of purity. Her fame went out among the traders, and soon after that vestal feast she became the wife of a distinguished trader. Like a caged bird, she soon pined for her prairie home, and died of con- sumption ere the leaves of spring bloomed to welcome her coming.
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