USA > Minnesota > Illustrated history of Minnesota, a hand-book for citizens and general readers > Part 12
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
2. Beltrami says : "I have given it the name of the respect- able lady whose life (to use the language of her illustrious friend the Countess of Albany) was one undeviating course of moral rectitude."
Indian Treaties.
I. Fond du Lac. French expression literally signifying, bot- tom of the lake. - therefore, end of the lake. The term is applied somewhat loosely, now to the end nearest the inlet, and again to the one at the outlet.
1
210
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Border Wars.
I. Winnebagoes. Those who dwell by a sea. The word is of the same origin as Winnipeg ; see Long's Explorations, note 4.
Schoolcraft's Expedition.
1. The voyageurs and explorers often found it necessary on their journeys to carry their boats and baggage overland from one body of water to another. The portages, as they were for obvious reasons called, occurred most frequently between two rivers at their nearest or most accessible point of approach. Men accus- tomed to this duty were able to carry heavy burdens long distances without apparent fatigue. See the graphic illustrations elsewhere in this book. The name portage is given to the place as well as to the act of carrying.
2. Savanna River. Literally, Prairie River.
3. One day when the expedition was coasting westward along the shore of Lake Superior, Mr. Schoolcraft said to Mr. Boutwell, "You are a classical scholar, give me a name for the true source of the Mississippi, to be applied when we shall have found it."
Boutwell replied, "I do not think of one word, but there are two Latin words, veritas, truth, and caput, head."
In a moment Schoolcraft answered, "I have it! Itasca! "
Thus the name existing to-day was crudely coined from the last two syllables of the first word and the first of the last. Mr. Boutwell related these facts to the author in the summer of ISS6. Of course, it would not be difficult to find words in the Indian languages of like sound, and so many have sought in that way to trace out its derivation.
4. Little Crow was grandfather of the Little Crow spoken of in the Sioux massacre.
5. Prof. Williamson says: "Shunkasapa, - shunka, dog; sapa, black; Black Dog, a Dakota chief, and name of his village near Hamilton Station, Omaha (Sioux City ) Railway.
6. Neill says: "The first school-master of the post was John Marsh. He is said to have been a college graduate, and accom- panied the first troops to the mouth of the Minnesota river. In time he became a trader's clerk, and afterwards a sub-Indian
211
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
agent, and justice of the peace for Crawford county, Minnesota. In 1832, during the Black Hawk War, he ascended the Mississippi and secured the services of about eighty Sioux warriors, and ac- companied them, as interpreter, to the army of Gen. Atkinson, but they soon returned."
7. Black Hawk was a Sauk chief. For an account of this war see U. S. History.
Featherstonhaugh.
I. Featherstonhaugh (feth'er-ston-haw).
2. Coteau des (ko'to deh) Prairies. Hill of the prairies or plains.
Catlin.
I. The pipestone lies buried six feet or more beneath the jas- per on the flats below the quartzite cliffs. There are abundant relics of Indian camps, old and new, in the vicinity. See illustra- tions of a Yankton band digging the stone.
2. Waraju (wa-ra-hoo); from wagha, cottonwood, and shut, plant. Tanka, great, chistina (chees'te-na), little. Hence Wa- raju Tanka and Waraju Chistina.
3. A shattered column belonging to the quartzite cliffs. Its top, viewed from certain positions, appears like a human head in profile. See illustration.
4. These theories are explicitly stated, in connection with other interesting facts, upon pages 63, 64, 65 and 66 of the Minne- sota Geological Report, Vol. i.
5. Two or three miles northeast of the quarry is seen a nar- row ridge-like mound, three or four feet in height. It incloses perhaps ten acres in somewhat circular form, and within it are a few small conical mounds. Tradition relates that a great battle took place there more than a century ago between the Iowas and Omahas.
6. The three largest of six red granite boulders. They are about twenty feet in length by twelve in height. According to a legend, a contest occurred here in which all the Indians perished save three maidens who hid behind these rocks; hence the name
212
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
given to the latter. From these women sprang the present race of Indians. For another beautiful legend of the quarry read this selection from Longfellow's Hiawatha:
THE PEACE-PIPE.
On the Mountains of the Prairie, On the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry Gitche Manito, the mighty, He the Master of Life, descending, On the red crags of the quarry Stood erect, and called the nations, Called the tribes of men together.
From his footprints flowed a river, Leaped into the light of morning, O'er the precipice plunging downward Gleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet. And the Spirit, stooping earthward, With his finger on the meadow Traced a winding pathway for it, Saying to it. " Run in this way !"
Front the red stone of the quarry With his hand he broke a fragment, Moulded it into a pipe-head, Shaped and fashioned it with figures; From the margin of the river Took a long reed for a pipe-stem, With its dark green leaves upon it ; Filled the pipe with bark of willow, With the bark of the red willow : Breathed upon the neighboring forest, Made its great boughs chafe together, Till in flame they burst and kindled; And erect upon the mountains, Gitche Manito, the mighty, Smoked the calumet, the Peace-Pipe As a signal to the nations.
And the smoke rose slowly, slowly Through the tranquil air of morning, First a single line of darkness, Then a denser, bluer vapor, Then a snow - white cloud unfolding, Like the tree-tops of the forest, Ever rising, rising, rising. Till it touched the top of heaven, Till it broke against the heaven, And rolled outward all around it.
From the Vale of Tawasentha, From the Valley of Wyoming, From the groves of Tuscaloosa, From the tour-oth Rocky Mountains, From the Northern lakes and rivers All the tribes heheld the signal, Saw the distant smoke ascending, The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe.
And the Prophets of the nations Said. " Bch Afi th . Pukwana ! By this signal from afar off, Bending like a wand of willow, Waving hke a hand that beckons, Gitche Manito, the mighty,
Calls the tribes of men together, Calls the warriors to his council !"
Down the rivers, o'er the prairies, Came the warriors of the nations, Came the Delawares and Mohawks, Came the Choctaws and Camanches, Came the Shoshonies and Blackfeet, Came the Pawnees and Omahas, Came the Mandans and Dacotahs, Came the Hurons and Oiibways. All the warriors drawn together . Py the signal ofthe Peace-Pipe, To the Mountains of the Prairie, To the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry.
And they stood there on the meadow, With their weapons and their war-gear, Painted like the leaves of Autumn, Painted like the sky of morning, Wildly giaring at each other ; In their faces stern defiance, In their hearts the feuds of ages, The hereditary hatred,
The ancestral thirst of vengeance. Gitche Manito, the mighty, The creator of the nations, Looked upon them with compassion, With paternal love and pity ; Looked upon their wrath and wrangling But as quarrels among children, But as feuds and fights of children !
Over them he stretched his right hand, To subdue their stubborn natures, To allay their thirst and fever, By the shadow of his right hand : Spake to them with voice majestic As the sound of far-off waters, Falling into deep abysses, Warning, chiding, spake in this wise :- "O my children ! my poor children ! Listen to the words of wisdom, Listen to the words of warning. From the lips of the Great Spirit,
From the Master of Life who made you ! " I have given you lands to hunt in,
I have given you streams to fish in, I have given you bear and bison,
I have given you roe and reindeer,
I have given you brant and beaver, Filled the marshes full of wild-fowl, Filled the rivers tull of fishes:
Why then are you not contented ? Why then will you hunt each other? "I am weary of your quarrels, Weary of your wars and bloodshed, Weary of your prayers for vengeance,
213
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
Of your wranglings and dissensions ; All your strength is in your union, All your danger is in discord ; Therefore be at peace henceforward, And as brothers live together. " I will send a Prophet to you, A Deliverer of the nations, Who shall guide you and shall teach you, Who shall toil and suffer with you. If you listen to his counsels,
You will multiply and prosper; If his warnings pass unheeded, You will fade away and perish !
" Bathe now in the stream before you, Wash the war-paint from your faces, Wash the blood-stains from your fingers, Bury your war-clubs and your weapons, Break the red stone from this quarry, Mould and make it into Peace-Pipes, Take the reeds that grow beside you, Deck them with your brightest feathers, Smoke the calumet together,
And as brothers live henceforward ! " Then upon the ground the warriors Threw their cloaks and shirts of deer- skin,
Threw their weapons and their war- gear,
Leaped into the rushing river,
Washed the war-paint from their faces,
Clear above them flowed the water, Clear and limpid from the footprints Of the Master of Life descending : Dark helow them flowed the water, Soiled and stained with streaks of crim- soul,
As if blood were mingled with it ! From the river came the warriors,
Clean and washed from all their war- paint ;
On the banks their clubs they buried,
Buried all their warlike weapons. Gitche Manito, the mighty, The Great Spirit, the creator, Smiled upon his helpless children ! And in silence all the warriors
Broke the red stone of the quarry,
Smoothed and formed it into Peace- Pipes,
Broke the long reeds by the river. Decked them with their brightest feath- ers,
And departed each one homeward,
While the Master of Life, ascending, Through the opening of cloud-curtains, Through the doorways of the heaven, Vanished from hefore their faces.
In the smoke that rolled around him, The Pukwana of the Peace-l'ipe!
-By favor of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.
7. See illustrations taken from the Minnesota Geological Re- port, Vol. I. The author has verified them by three personal in- spections of the rocks, which have now been removed. They are supposed to be chiefs' totems. For an excellent description of such symbols read the following also from Hiawatha:
PICTURE WRITING.
In those days said Hiawatha, "1.o! How all things fade and perish ! From the memory of the old men Pass away the great traditions, The achievements of the warriors, The adventures of the hunters, All the wisdom of the Medas, All the craft of the Wabenos, All the marvelous dreams and visions Of the Jossakeeds, the Prophets ! "Great men die and are forgotten. Wise men speak ; their words of wisdom Perish in the ears that hear them, Do not reach the generations That, as yet unhorn, are waiting In the great. mysterious darkness Of the speechless days that shall be ! "On the grave-posts of our fathers Are no signs, no figures painted .
Who are in those graves we know not, :
Only know they are our fathers, Of what kith they are and kindred, From what old ancestral Totem, Be it Eagle, Bear, or Beaver, They descended, this we know not, Only know they are our fathers.
" Face to face we speak together, But we cannot speak when absent. Cannot send our voices from us To the friends that dwell afar off ; Cannot send a secret message. But the bearer learns our secret, May pervert it, may betray it, May reveal it unto others." Thus said Hiawatha, walking In the solitary forest, Pondering, musing in the forest, On the welfare of his people. From his pouch he took his colors, Took his paints of different colors,
214
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
On the smooth bark of a birch-tree Painted many shapes and figures, Wonderful and mystic figures, And each figure had a meaning, Each some word or thought suggested. Gitche Manito, the Mighty, He, the Master of Life, was painted As an egg, with points projecting To the four winds of the heavens. Everywhere is the Great Spirit. Was the meaning of this symbol.
Mitche Manito, the Mighty, He. the dreadful Spirit of Evit, As a serpent was depicted, As Kenabeek, the great serpent. Very crafty, very cunning, Is the creeping Spirit of Evil. Was the meaning of this symbol.
Life and Death he drew as circles, Life was white, but Death was dark- ened ;
Sun and moon and stars he painted, Man and beast, and fish and reptile,
Forests, mountains, lakes and rivers.
For the earth he drew a straight line, For the sky a bow above it ;
White the space between for day-time, Filled with little stars for might-time ; On the left a point for sunrise, On the right a point for sunset, On the top a point for noontide, And for rain and cloudy weather Waving lines descending from it.
Footprints pointing towards.a wig- wam
Were a sign of invitation,
Were a sign of guests assembling ; Bloody hands with palms uplifted Werea symbol of destruction,
Were a hostile sign and symbol.
All these things did Hiawatha Show unto his wondering people, And interpreted their meaning, And he said : " Behold, your grave-posts Have no mark, no sign, nor symbol. Go and paint them all with figures ; Each one with its household symbol, With its own ancestral Totem So that those who follow after May distinguish them and know them."
And they painted on the grave-posts On the graves yet unforgotten, Each his own ancestral Totem. Each the symbol of his household ; Figures of the Bear and Reindeer, Of the Turtle, Crane, and Beaver, Each inverted as a token That the owner was departed. That the chief who bore the symbol Lay beneath in dust and ashes.
And the Jossakeeds, the Prophets, The Wabenos, the Magicians,
And the Medicine-men, the Medas. Painted upon bark and deer-skin Figures for the songs they chanted, For each song a separate symbol, Figures mystical and awful, Figures strange and brightly colored ; And each figure had its meaning, Each some magic song suggested.
The Great Spirit, the Creator, Flashing light through all the heaven ; The Great Serpent, the Kenabeek, With his bloody crest erected, Creeping, looking into heaven ; In the sky the sun, that listens, And the moon eclipsed and dying ; Owl and eagle, crane and hen-hawk, And the cormorant, hird of magic ; Headless men that walk the heavens, Bodies lying pierced with arrows, Bloody hands of death uplifted,
Flags on graves, and great war-captains Grasping both the earth and heaven !
Such as these the shapes they painted On the birch-bark and the deer-skin ; Songs of war and songs of hunting, Songs of medicine and of magic, All were written in these figures, For each figure had its meaning, Each its separate song recorded.
Nor forgotten was the Love-Song, The most subtle of all medicines, The most potent spell of magic, Dangerous more than war or hunting ! Thus the Love-Song was recorded, Symbol and interpretation.
First a human figure standing, Painted in the brightest scarlet ; 'Tis the lover, the musician, And the meaning is, " My painting Makes me powerful over others."
Then the figure seated, singing, Playing on a drum of magic, And the interpretation, "Listen ! 'Tis my voice you hear, my singing !"
Then the same red figure seated In the shelter of a wigwam, And the meaning of the symbol, " I will come and sit beside you In the mystery of my passion !"
Then two figures, man and woman, Standing hand in hand together With their hands so clasped together That they seem in one united, And the words thus represented Are, " I see your heart within you, And your cheeks are red with blushes !" Next the maiden on an island, In the center of an island ; And the song this shape suggested Was, " Though you were at a distance, Were upon some far-off island, Such the spell I cast upon you,
1
215
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
Such the magic power of passion, I could straightway draw you to me!" Then the figure of the maiden Sleeping, and the lover near her. Whispering to her in her slumbers, Saying. " Though you were far from me
In the land of Sleep and Silence,
Still the voice of love would reach you ! " And the last of all the figures
Was a heart within a circle,
Drawn within a magic circle ;
And the image had this meaning : " Naked lies your heart before me, To your naked heart I whisper ! " Thus it was that Hiawatha,
In his wisdom, taught the people All the mysteries of painting, All the art of Picture - Writing, On the smooth bark of the birch-tree,
On the white skin of the reindeer, On the grave-posts of the village
-By favor of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.
Dred Scott.
1. Dred Scott was plaintiff in error before the United States Supreme Court, at the December terin of 1856, versus John F. A. Sandford, his alleged master. The decision of Judge Taney is in brief :-
(a) "A free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were brought to this country and sold as slaves, is not a citizen within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States."
(6) "Every citizen has the right to take with him into the Territory any articles of property which the Constitution of the United States recognizes as property
(c) "The Constitution of the United States recognizes slaves as property, and pledges the Federal Government to protect it. and Congress cannot exercise any more authority over property of that description than it may constitutionally exercise over property of any other kind.
(d) "The act of Congress, therefore, prohibiting a citizen of the United States from taking with him his slaves when he re- moves to the Territory in question to reside, is an exercise of authority over private property which is not warranted by the Constitution -and the removal of the plaintiff, by his owner, to that Territory, gave him no title to freedom."
2. Roger Brooke Taney (taw'ni).
Nicollet.
I. Jean Nicolas Nicollet (zhon ni'co'lā' n'co'lā'). His name as used geographically in Minnesota is pronounced Nik'ol-let.
2. Cluses (klooz), a town situated in France twenty-three miles southeast of Geneva, Switzerland.
216
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
3. Haute Savoie (hot sa'vwa). High or Upper Savoy, a province of eastern France.
4. La Place (lä'plass') was a French mathematician. He is known to all scholars throughout the world.
5. This order was instituted by Napoleon I. in 1802 to reward men of genius who should make great achievements in either civil or military life. Its decoration was once a cross of ten points ; again, a five-pointed, white enameled, gold-edged, gold wreath- encircled star, with blue, circular center shield bearing the em- peror's head.
6. Fronchet (fron'shâ).
7. Brunet (broo'nā'). Nicollet says of him, " * * * my prin- cipal guide, Francis Brunet, a man six feet three inches high-a giant of great strength, but, at the same time, full of the milk of human kindness, and withal an excellent natural geographer."
S. J. N. Nicollet.
C. F. C. A. C. July I, J. L. J. E. F. J. R. 38 Expedition
Gen. Fremont, in a letter to C. H. Bennett, of Pipestone, says : "The two sets of initials inscribed to which you particularly re- fer are for Charles Fremont, as I then commonly wrote my name, and J. Eugene Flandin, a young gentleman from New York, who was attached to the party."
9. Manito, also spelled Manitou (man'i-tou). Spirit; the name given by the Indians to the Great Spirit. See Catlin, note 3.
Io. The name seems to have been applied to both the Manito and the rock from which the leap was made to the head of the Manito.
Gen. Fremont, in the letter mentioned in note 8, says :
"I wonder if the chimney [Manito] which stood in front of the escarpment is still standing? It required a sure foot to jump from the main rock to the top of it."
A young brave, so runs the legend, made the first leap and won thereby a chieftain's daughter. Hence the name of the rock.
217
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
11. Baron Frederick Henry Carl Fouqué (foo'kā). A German novelist and poet. His "Undine" stands in high literary repute.
12. See illustration.
13. See account of La Hontan elsewhere in this history.
14. See Whittier's Prayer of Agassiz. Louis John Rudolph Agassiz (ag'a-see, a-gas Iz) was a Swiss by birth, but an American by life-long associations.
First Protestant Missions.
I. Poage (poğ).
2. Names of Dakota chiefs.
3. Lausanne (lo'zān').
Events of 1837.
I. After this, by treaties made in 1842, IS47, 1854, IS55, March 1863, October 1863, 1864, and 1866, the Ojibwas little by little ceded their Minnesota lands to the general government, and at last came to reside on the various reservations in the northern part of the State as indicated upon the historical chart in the be- ginning of this book.
The U. S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs gives this census of the bands in ISS3 :-
Mississippi Ojibwas, -
S96
Otter Tail Pillagers,
570
Pembina band,
235
Pillagers of lakes Cass and Winnebagoshis,
35
Leech Lake,
1.137
Mississippi,
95
Mille Lacs, -
S94
Red Cliff,
1SS
Bois Forte, -
700
Grand Portage, Lake Superior.
236
Fond du Lac,
431
. Total,
- 5,723
In the present year, ISS7, negotiations are pending to unite these bands upon the White Earth Reservation.
2. This treaty was signed Sept. 29th, 1837. Joel R. Poinsett (see Removal of Swiss Settlers in text) was the U. S. commis-
218
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
sioner who conducted the negotiations. The language of the first article is this : -
"The chiefs and braves representing the parties having an interest therein, cede to the United States all their lands east of the Mississippi river, and all their islands in the said river."
Battle of Pokeguma.
I. Po-keg'u-ma. Ningipnkawana (Chippewa) means, I turned off-left the road I was traveling; gume means lake; hence Puk-a-gum-e, or anglicized, Pokeguma; the place to leave the river (Snake river) to enter the lake.
Settlement of St. Paul.
I. Compare the illustrations of old St. Paul with those of the St. Paul of to-day.
2. See illustrations.
3. Henry Jackson was the first postmaster of St. Paul.
TIMES OF THE TERRITORY.
First Legislature.
I. This hotel, of which an illustration is given, was called the Central House. At first built of logs, it was afterwards covered with lumber. The landlord was familiarly known among early settlers as "Old Daddy Burton."
Initial Treaties.
I. Hole-in-the-day was one of the shrewdest and most elo- quent chiefs the Ojibwas ever had. See portrait. His father, Hole-in-the-day I., was also noted.
Traverse des Sioux Treaty.
I. The Sioux believed that a deity existed in the storm cloud, in the form of a great bird, the flashing of whose eyes was lightning and flapping of wings thunder. They still point out near Sisseton Agency. Dakota, the place where he has left his tracks upon the solid rock.
219
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
2. Sissetons (sis'si-tons). The same band is mentioned under The Dakotas. note IS.
3. Wahpetons (wop'a-tons). . This band is mentioned under The Dakotas, note 17.
4. Webster says : "The calumet is used as a symbol or instru- ment of peace and war. To accept the calumet is to agree to the terms of peace, and to refuse it is to reject them. The calumet of peace is used to seal or ratify contracts and alliances, to receive strangers kindly, and to travel with safety. The calumet of war, differently made, is used to proclaim war."
The Dakota pipes are made from the red pipestone, with stems of willow bent and carved. The work upon both bowl and stem is often very fine.
5. Watab. The root of evergreen trees, like the fir, pine, and tamarack, used for sewing birch bark canoes.
6. The English name is a translation of the Dakota expression Pay-she-hoo-ta-se. Dr. T. M. Young says the name was given on account of the slender, bitter, yellow root of the moon-seed which grows on the banks of the stream.
Mendota Treaty.
I. See The Dakotas, note 15.
2. See The Dakotas, note 16.
3. This name is applied to the lofty eminence back of the village. The Indians called it Okheyawabe (ok-ha-ya-wa-bā). It is derived from okhe, hill, and yawabe, much visited.
Settlements.
I. Ka'sota. A Dakota word meaning clear or cleared off. The village is situated upon a high open prairie which forms the first bench of the Minnesota river's southern bluffs between Man- kato and St. Peter.
2. Man-kā'to. From maka, earth, and to, blue. Name applied by the Dakotas to the Blue Earth river.
3. Winona (we-no'na, anglicized wi-no'na), diminutive of the Dakota word wino, woman, and meaning first born if a daughter.
-
220
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Gov. Ramsey's Message.
I. St. Croix County, for an account of which see preceding text.
2. Mississippi River.
Proposed Division of School Funds.
I. Cretin (krā'tin), R. C. This bishop was widely and favor- ably known.
Gov. Gorman.
I. President Jackson instituted the system of turning out gov- ernment officials of other parties to make room for his own political associates.
Seventh Legislature.
I. Westervelt. Now Frontenac.
Inkpadoota Massacre.
I. Minneopa (Min'ni-op'a), from mini, water and nopa, two; hence, two waters. The name is appropriate; for there are two cascades, one about ten feet high, the other forty. See illustration.
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.