History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley, including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 31

Author: Warner, George E., 1826?-1917; Foote, C. M. (Charles M.), 1849-1899; Neill, Edward D. (Edward Duffield), 1823-1893. Explorers and pioneers of Minnesota; Williams, J. Fletcher (John Fletcher), 1834-1895. Outlines of the history of Minnesota from 1858 to 1881
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Minneapolis : North Star Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 662

USA > Minnesota > Washington County > History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley, including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota > Part 31

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181

DESCRIPTION OF THE VALLEY.

St. Croix, that which trends toward the Missis- sippi basin. The low ridge which separates these two basins appears to cross the valley of the St. Croix near the north line of township thirty-one. Investigations below the surface in the Upper St. Croix ought therefore, to exhibit a similarity to the regions of Lake Superior.

Geologists explain the apparent anomaly ex- hibited in this water-shed by the deposit of Pots- dam sandstone by the advance of the Silurian sea from the south, which formed a new surface sloping toward the Mississippi basin and that the river by its own drainage excavated the basin through which its waters are discharged.

The Upper St. Croix region is diversified by plains, rolling land and lakes.

Numerous small depressed areas exist without outlet, and others with such imperfect outlets as to form marshes or lakes. Many of these are utilized for the benefit of the lumbering indus- tries carried on extensively. By dams easily formed, the water is checked or discharged for the "drive," and thus the winter's "cut" of logs on the upper streams is easily floated to the river; this becomes more and more important each year as lumbering camps are carried higher and higher up on the small tributaries. These reservoirs, as they may be called, operate to preserve an even flow of water in the St. Croix by means of which the stream always remains within its channel and is guiltless of the lawless violence exhibited by the Minnesota and other streams.

The water of the river, owing to the nature of the soil and rocks through which it flows, is soft, but has a yellowish color from the large amount of organic matter held in solution.

The pure waters of its tributaries abound in trout, affording a fine field for sportsmen as an offset for the want of game.

The extent of the country drained by the river above the falls, is about 6,000 square miles. Beginning now at the water shed between the Brule and the St. Croix, we find an altitude of about 445 feet and the entire descent of the St. Croix from the upper lake to below the falls, 393 feet. The upper river and its tributaries are swift, breaking out frequently into rapids and water falls, utilized to only a limited extent. At the falls of St. Croix and Taylor's Falls, which are on different sides of the river, the former in

Wisconsin and the latter in Minnesota, an im- mense power exists, entirely unused. Here the river pours down violent rapids, though without a perpendicular fall.

There, rapids extend a distance of about seven miles, admitting of numerous dams between the high bluffs on either side, that would, if utilized, afford an almost unlimited power, the descent being about forty feet within a mile.

Some of the tributaries have much greater de- scent with occasionally perpendicular falls, al- though this river may be called a system of rapids rather than water-falls.

This river in its time has done a great work, cutting inch by inch, its deep channel through this valley, stopping neither for rock nor boulder, but chiseling away, it has secured a bed deep down with high overhanging bluffs, above which, on either side stretch away the level areas, rolling districts and basins of the lakes.

At Taylor's Falls, this erosion exhibits itself in the most marked manner, forming the beautiful dalles admired by the lovers of the grand and beautiful; these are called the Upper Dalles in distinction from others two miles below. A deep canal has been excavated here, cutting down into the solid rock. As the tourist on the little steamer runs up into these rocky fastnesses, he imagines that he has arrived at the head of the river, and that the water pours from the rocks, which appear to meet in a solid front before him. Dalles, derived from the French dalle, meaning a flagstone, is a name given by the voyageurs to deep, rocky chasms, forming a narrow passage for a river. In this passage of the St. Croix, the whole volume of the river is compressed into a narrow space between its rocky sides, only about one hundred feet in width, where the impetuosity of the current from the rapids above is checked to a quiet, deep flow, as in awe of the grandeur around. The high trappean rocks on each side, cut in grotesque forms by the former action of the water, and now left far above, represent stern sentinels, who never desert their post. The rock is a dark brown, with a slight cast of purple, and though porphyritic in character, is full of seams, as though some material of a softer nature had been interlarded between its adamantine layers, which the action of the water had moved.

By frost and other agencies, these cliffs have

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HISTORY OF THE SAINT CROIX VALLEY.

been broken into cubical blocks, which lie strewn about their base, at some points tumbling down in huge piles, at others, scattered here and there. The striking features are, however, points where the disintegration has left tall columns formed of these same cubical blocks, piled one on top of the other to which fanciful names have been attrib- uted. His Satanic majesty has been especially honored in their nomenclature.

Another feature is striking, the abundance of pot-holes, or wells, as they are usually called, of various dimensions, found high up on the rocks, one hundred feet or more above the level of the stream, as well as near the bed of the river. Some are quite small in size and resem- ble in internal finish a teacup or small bowl, while others are immense in size and of considerable depth, resembling cisterns, the largest exceeding twenty-five feet in diameter and depth. The walls of some are vertical, some bowl-shaped, smaller at the bottom, while others are like a bean pot, smaller at the top and spread- ing out at the bottom. The largest examined was called the Devil's kitchen formed with reced- ing sides, having in the middle of the floor a table of the same trap rock with a flat surface adapted, we may imagine, to the convenience of impish fes- tivities, though more recently we may hope aban- doned entirely to the tourists who here spread their picnics. Passing through a convenient door- way the Devil's ice-house is near at hand, exca- vated still deeper in the rock, filled as we found in early summer for the coming season. Near by are his caldrons, too, and his wood lot, the en- tire sides of the cliff. A little below, at a con- venient distance from his kitchen, is bis lofty chair overlooking the damp, gloomy dalles and affording observation up and down the valley, where he might rest his weary feet on a platform far below and lean against the smooth hewed back. His chair is the most striking feature of the "dalles," formed by the piling up of huge cubical blocks of the porphyritic rock.

The pot-holes or wells are supposed, and their form evidently bears witness to the fact, to be formed by the circling eddies of the rapid flowing stream whirling hard boulders against the sides until they are worn smooth, the wearing pebble or boulder being worn out in the process to be

succeeded by another or many others until the eddy ceases.

The damp, shaded glen is fertile with mosses and ferns of almost infinite variety, clinging to the sides of the rocks and affording a pleasing re- lief to the eye by their varying colors. The at- mosphere strikes a damp chill in mid-summer when closed in by full foliage, and associating the weird scenery and damp shades with its imp- ish vocabulary, timid explorers are sometimes overawed and repelled.

It would be strange if the Indians with their close observation of nature and awe of the grand, did not associate the wild and picturesque, exhib- ited here on all sides, with their pantheistic re- ligion. To the savage, that was sublime which to the intruding white man was only beautiful and perhaps simply useful. Evidences exist about the rocks themselves as well as in the testimony of the pioneers, who heard their legends, that here doom was pronounced by the evil spirit upon the cowards of their tribes who were not fit to inherit the happy hunting grounds, reserved only to the brave.

We leave to the tourist these scenes, and rec- ommend him to visit the "Colossal Cross," the "Wells," the "Devil's Chair," the "Balancing Rock," "Lone Rock," and the pretty, picturesque bridge over the river, where the rocky sides ap- proach so near together, that with a leaping-pole and a place to rest it in the middle, one might be tempted to try a spring across to avoid the "toll;" we, however, paid only thirty cents for the privi- lege of crossing and returning.

Of the many light draft steamers that ply up and down the river, it was our good fortune to take the Jennie Hayes, Captain Ben Knapp, and we owe much to the courtesy and information of the captain and officers, who afforded us every facility in their power for extending our know- ledge of this interesting region. Passing down, the attention is arrested continually by new feat- ures in the remarkable scenery.

We soon reach the Lower Dalles, where a canon similar to that of the Upper Dalles has bcen formed. Here the walls are vertical, the important difference in their appearance being an indication of more active agency of frost in dis- integrating their surfaces. Here much of the surface rock of the gorge, as originally chiseled

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LAKE SAINT CROIX.

smooth by the action of the water, has been riven and thrown down.

The bluffs remind us occasionally of the pali- sades of the Hudson, though on a more modest scale, from the perpendicular walls surmounted by foliage and green herbage that might be im- agined closely shaven lawns.

Leaving Franconia on our right, a little ham- let of small pretensions, we stopped at the village of Osceola, county seat of Polk county. This village is beautifully located high up on the bluffs, settled by the best stock of old New Eng- land, and though it partakes of the retrograde exhibited, throughout the valley, in material pro- gress, its citizens maintain the fresh intelligence and culture that belongs to the stock they repre- sent.

Here the pleasing acquaintance with the genial Captain O. F. Knapp began, and in his company the remainder of the trip was made enlightened by his intelligent view of things, often suggesting events of the past, with which his long acquaint- ance with the navigation of the river, made him familiar. Though not remarkably rapid, the course of the river is very straight.

Soon after leaving Osceola, "Eagle Point" is passed half a mile below, named from the eagle nests above its rocky crags, and, while on the point of rushing to the stern to obtain a longer view of the conspicuous cliff, the captain calls at- tention to the Mineral Spring house, half a mile further on, and thus from one thing to another, our attention is enlisted, and again distracted throughout the trip. A word about the mineral spring. The water here percolates through lime- stone, from which it derives calcareous, mag- nesian and other salts, giving rise to the mineral spring for which the town of Farmington is fam- ous, and bringing patronage to the Mineral Spring house. As this water surcharged with lime and magnesia pours over the cliffs, a portion of the mineral is deposited, taking the form of a coating of vegetation, especially moss, popularly termed petrified moss. The water is charged principally with bi-carbonates of lime and mag- nesia, together with other ingredients. Here we stop and obtain specimens, and see where lime kilns burn this moss-like deposit, and from it manufactures valuable lime.

On the cliff we see the Riverside hotel with its

broad piazzas and beautiful location, inviting us to stop and be revived by the pure air and min- eral water, but we proceed on our way. The sides of the cliffs are covered with timber of small size, and of recent growth we are told, for before settlement fires often swept over, burning the grass, shrubbery and everything of life, causing the bluffs to present a totally bare front.

Near the lime kiln a cave was accidentally discovered, which at some time had been occu- pied, prior to the earliest history recorded in the valley. The entrance had perhaps been obstructed for centuries, when operations on the bank dis- closed it. Within were discovered bones of ani- mals, evidently used for food, and remnants of a fire.

Two miles further and we reach Cedar Bend, where the old cedar projects over the river and marks the ancient division between Chippewa and Sioux.

Ten miles below Osceola is Marine Mills, the pioneer lumbering town of the valley, and so far down that it seems to have escaped the business stagnation of the Upper St. Croix. Here a fine town stands out, conspicuously exhibiting, in its churches, school buildings and industries, that we are again approaching business activity. Our little boat, that has been impeded all the way by the drive of logs which fill the stream, occasion- ally producing a blockade, from which she was obliged to beat a retreat with her two barges of freight hugged to her sides, here finds great diffi- culty in making a landing.

The drive usually begins much later, and we meet here the employes of the boom company, and the pile driver, hurrying on the preparations for the logging season, thus precipitated upon them by the rise in the river. June 1st all would be ready, but the logs are coming in large numbers, about three weeks in advance. The steamboat strikes_the logs continually, with loud thumps that threaten her sides, and to back is impossible, for the stern paddle wheel picks up the logs and tears off her buckets.

The preparations of the boom .company consist in stretching booms on each side of the stream and attaching them to piles, to prevent logs from wandering off into the marshes and lakes which border the stream on both sides, especially dur- ing high water. For much of the distance be-

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HISTORY OF THE SAINT CROIX VALLEY.

tween Stillwater and the Falls of St. Croix, the banks are naturally protected, but from what has been said of the valley it will be understood that the present channel of the river occupies but a small portion of the ravine cut out in former years by the rapid waters. On each side, at intervals, extensive marshes extend far from the main channel, which formerly caught much of the drive of logs. Operations of the boom com- pany have removed this difficulty, and retain most of the logs in the main channel. Fre- quently, however, the companies are compelled to extricate logs thus caught and return them to the river.

We pass Arcola six miles above Stillwater, Titcomb's landing a mile below, and Harriman's landing after another mile. General Harriman is an old settler, who has a flouring and saw-mill on Apple river, three miles from this landing, where he ships the product of his mills.

Near Stillwater the main stream is abandoned to logs and their rafting, and a canal excavated by the united capital of the boom company and the appropriations of the general government forms the channel for steamboats.

We are here free from logs, and turning to the left leave the main channel. The logs occupy the river proper from the boom to Titcomb's land- ing three miles above, crowding out the steam- boats. Reaching Stillwater, we are at the end of the trip of the Jennie, and reluctantly leaving her and her hospitable officers, we must seek other transportation. Here a draw bridge spans the Lake St. Croix, into which the river now merges, spreading out a mile in width forming a magnificent channel for steamers from the Missis- sippi, affording them depth enough and ample sea room.

The scenery of this lake has been often de- scribed and will never cease to interest and de- light tourists by its lofty bluffs. Its waters are still and deep, well deserving the name of lake, extending twenty-five miles to the old town of Prescott. This lake from the earliest times, in- vited explorers from the Mississippi to its peace- ful waters, and it has in consequence been the theatre of some of the earliest events recorded in the north-west. We leave it and turn to the active scences connected with its early set- tlement and the valley as a whole.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE ST. CROIX RIVER AND LAKE-OLD LAND- MARK-POKEGUMA MISSION INDIAN BATTLE -LETTERS FROM REV. MR. BOUTWELL - TREATIES OF 1837-FIRST SETTLEMENT.

The St. Croix river takes its rise in upper St. Croix Lake, which is situated in Wisconsin, on the water shed which divides the St. Lawrence system from that of the Mississippi, deriving its waters in the upper portion from numerous small lakes, with which the water-shed is dotted. Flowing in a southerly direction to its junction with the Mis- sissippi it has been taken as the boundary line between the States of Minnesota and Wisconsin, becoming an important stream both in size and usefulness. The length of the river, following its tortuous course from its source to its mouth, is nearly 170 miles. It receives as tributaries, the Canoe, Yellow Pine, Crooked, Sand, Bear Creek, Kettle and Snake rivers, on the Minnesota side, of which the Snake with its several branches, viz: the Ground House creek, Fishing creek, Knife river and Little Snake; and the Kettle with its branches, viz: the Grind Stone, Pine, Split Rock, Moose and Willow, are the principal, while innumerable smaller streams and rivulets add to its volume. After receiving its principal tributaries, it pours over rocks, forming beauti- ful rapids, once largely used for manufacturing purposes, thence it pursues its uniform course about thirty miles, nearly to the city of Stillwater, where it expands in width, forming what is called Lake St. Croix, a sheet of water averaging three- quarters of a mile in width, extending to the mouth of the river, a distance from the point where the expansion begins, of about twenty-five miles. On the Wisconsin side of the river the tributaries are smaller and are, the Apple, Wolf, Trade, Wood, Clam, Willow and smaller streams.

The valley drained by the St. Croix is nearly 140 miles in length, varrying in width from sixty miles at the widest point to much narrower di- mensions. The water of the lake is clear and palatable. The bluffs upon either side are bold and lofty, bearing strong resemblance to those of the upper Mississippi. The lake is naviga-

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OLD LAND MARK.

ble at the lowest stage of water for steamboats of the largest tonnage upon the Mississippi. Above the lake the river is navigable to Taylor's Falls, an enterprising and flourishing town.

This was the country of the Chippewas and Sioux; the Chippewas occupied the northern por- tion and the Sioux the southern; it was, too, the scene of many a bloody battle between the hostile tribes.

One old landmark remains about twelve miles below the falls of St. Croix, at what is called Ce- dar Bend, that is said to mark the dividing line between the Chippewas of the north and the Sioux of the south. This is an old cedar tree standing on a high bluff, or at least it probably once stood upright, but in reality it now leans far over the bluff straining its roots that are bedded in the soil above, and reaching far down with its tendrils on the abrupt bluff to catch in the moist soil below. All the valley of the St. Croix lying north of this tree was said to belong to the Chip- pewas, while that part of the valley south be- longed to the Sioux. The river was here called Cedar Bend, because of the cedars that lined the banks of the stream at this turn in its course. In the rocks near by are seen deep prints that resem- ble the impress of a horse's foot of mammoth dimensions. The Indians reverence these as the foot-prints of the Great Spirit's horse, supposing that he crossed the river at this point by leaping his horse over with such a violent stride that his feet were indented in the solid rock.

White men tore away the old Indian name, Hogan-wauke-kin, and gave the river new names. Father Hennepin says, in speaking of what is now the St. Croix: "This river is called the Tomb river, because the Issati left there the body of one of their warriors." On his map of the country of the Dakotas he also gives the name "The river of the Tomb," and marks the position of the falls. In his geographical description of the country he speaks of it as "a river full of rapids, by which, striking northwest, you can reach Lake Conde (Superior), that is as far as Namissakouat river, which empties into the lake." Later in 1700, Le Sueur speaks of it as the St. Croix, thus named because a Frenchman of that name was shipwrecked at its mouth. Penicaud states that it was so called because of a cross planted over the remains of a voyageur.

The first map which showed this valley was made in Paris in 1688, by Tillemont, upon which ap- pears Lakes Brade (Mille Lacs), Magdeline (St. Croix) and Prophet (Snake) river.

The valley of the St. Croix was once a famous hunting ground of the Indians, and equally fam- ous as the battle ground of the contending tribes. It has been called the Golgotha of the Indians, because it was strewn with the skulls of their braves. Over this territory, as disputed land, one enemy pressed the other back and forth, according to the temporary advantage obtained by each.

At Pokeguma (now Pokegama) lake, on Snake river, was an Indian village, where in later times a missionary station was established. This vil- lage was occupied by Dakotas as late as 1700, but subsequently it became by conquest the abode of the Chippewas. Rev. E. D. Neill says of it: " Pokeguma is one of the ' Mille Lacs,' or thou- sand beautiful lakes, for which Minnesota is re- markable. It is about four, or five miles in extent, and a mile or more in width. Its shores are strewn with boulders, that in a past geologic age, have been brought by some mighty impetus from the icy north. Down to the water's edge grow the tall pines, through which, for many years, the deer have bounded and the winds sighed mournfully, as they wafted away to dis- tant lands the shriek of many Dakota or Ojib- way mothers, caused by the slaughter of their children. The lake is situated on Snake river, about twenty miles above the junction of that stream with the St. Croix."

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in 1836, established a mission among the Chippewas at Lake Pokeguma. Their mission house was on the east shore, but the In- dian village was on an island in the lake. The efforts of the missionaries were devoted to the encouragement of the habits of civilization among the savages, inducing them to build houses like their own around the mission and to cultivate the land. They were encouraged in these labors by the purchase of the surplus provision raised.

The women of the mission pursued the same policy on their part, encouraging the squaws to cleanliness and domestic arts. In a letter writ- ten by the missionaries in 1837, they say: "The young women and girls now make, wash and iron

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HISTORY OF THE SAINT CROIX VALLEY.

after our manner. The men have learned to build log houses, drive team, plough, hoe and handle an American axe, with some skill in cut- ting large trees, the size of which, two years ago, would have afforded them a sufficient reason why they should not meddle with them."

The traditions of the Indians point back in- definitely to struggles between the Chippewas and Sioux, indicating that their hostility has been- long standing, existing perhaps centuries before the advent of the white man. They inform us of great battles in the past, though such have rarely occurred in recent times: as evidence of this fact a curious mound is pointed out by them shaped like a turtle with the head pointing to- wards the west. This mound is at the portage between the Cut Foot Sioux and Big Fork, and the tradition is:

The Sioux and Chippewas here met in large force, and after a furious battle the Chippewas were beaten and fled in confusion with much loss to the eastward. After the battle the Sioux,. to commemorate their victory, built the turtle, which to this day is perfectly defined in outline, with its head pointing to the east, indicating the direc- tion in which their foes had fled. Soon, however, the Chippewas received re-inforcements, and re- turning renewed the battle. This time victory perched on the opposite banner, and the Sioux fled to the westward with as much precipitation as the Chippewas had exhibited after the first en- counter, but in an opposite direction. The Chip- pewas then to commemorate their victory and de- ride the Sioux, reversed the turtle by building a head at the west end and converting the head made by the Sioux into a tail. Thus reversed the turtle remains to verify the traditions of the tribes and to be a monument to the superior prowess of the Chippewas, who step by step drove to the south the Sioux who once occupied large villages as high as Leech Lake, and on the southern borders of Canada.

The Ojibwas of the north had in company with other tribes formed an alliance in early times with the French. The Sacs and Foxes who usually occupied the country on the Fox river in Wisconsin, frequently hunted through the St. Croix Valley, and formed an alliance to wage war against these allies of the French. Their atti- tude placed them also in hostility to the French

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