USA > Minnesota > Illustrated history of Minnesota, a hand-book for citizens and general readers > Part 4
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Traders and Selkirkers .- After the war of 1812 had closed, American citizens supported by wise provisions of the government began to trade extensively in Minnesota. While the Dakotas and Ojibwas engaged in bloody con- flicts like that on the Pomme de Terre1 in ISI8, seemingly by tacit consent they left the Americans free for a time to pursue their plans in peace. But it is not to be supposed that the spirit of the old British traders was less aggressive than formerly. Dickson,2 who resided at Lake Traverse for several years after the war, was one of those who still carried on the same secret machinations. Nor were all their deeds the outgrowth of political principles; for, their treat- ment of those near to them by the ties of race was cruel in the extreme.
In the years immediately following ISII, Lord Selkirk3
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BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
endeavored to establish a Scottish settlement at the mouth of the Assiniboine. Again and again the power of the ele- ments left them desolate and broken-hearted far from the homes of their childhood; and repeatedly the harsh emis- saries of the Northwest Company, as if imbued with the spirit of fiends rather than that of humanity, massacred them outright, or applied the torch to their humble habita- tions and compelled them to seek shelter in the wilds of Minnesota, where they nearly perished of hunger and cold. In considering their sorrows, the dispersion of the Acadi- anst seems robbed of its terrors, and the pages of American history scarce furnish another parallel to the mournful annals of these unhappy colonists. But through it all they preserved a bearing of bravery, a spirit of noble sacrifice whose glory can never fade.
Expedition of 1817 .- July 9th, IS17, Stephen H. Long, of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, determined to ascend the Mississippi to St. Anthony Falls. Gov. Clark of St. Louis gave him a six-oared skiff in which to make the journey. His party consisted of a friend named Hemp- stead, seven soldiers, and Roque1 a half-breed interpreter. They were accompanied by a bark canoe in which were Messrs. Gun and King, grandsons2 of Jonathan Carver, whose claims to territory they were anxious to make good.
On the way, the party ascended Montagne Trempe el Eau,3 which they designated as Kettle Hill, a name given to it on account of the peculiar shape the rocks upon its side appear to have when viewed from a distance. Long's description of the scenery in its vicinity is in some partic- ulars florid but in the main truthful, as here seen :-
" Hills marshaled into a variety of pleasing shapes some of them towering into lofty peaks, while others present
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
broad summits embellished with contours and slopes in the most pleasing manner; champaigns and waving valleys; forest lawns and parks alternating with each other; the humble Mississippi meandering far below and occasionally losing itself in numberless islands; all these give variety and beauty to the picture, while rugged cliffs and stupendous precipices here and there present themselves as if to add boldness and majesty to the scene. In the midst of this beau- tiful scenery is situated a village of the Sioux Indians on an extensive lawn called the Aux Aisles+ Prairie, at which we lay by for a short time."
The name of the chief was Wapashaw.5 The Indians at the time had just finished the Bear Dance.6
Long speaks of a block house which commanded the passage of the river at Kaposia; visits Carver's Cave now rapidly filling with sand; farther up enters the much larger Fountain Cave; and finally camps at the foot of St. Anthony Falls. It seems to have been his purpose to make a cursory survey to find grounds suitable for a fort. He speaks thus of the position now occupied by Ft. Snelling :-
" A military work of considerable magnitude might be constructed upon the point, and might be rendered suffi- ciently secure by occupying the commanding height in the rear in a suitable manner, as the latter would control not only the point, but all the neighboring heights, to the full extent of a twelve pounder's range. The work on the point would be necessary to control the navigation of the two rivers. But without the commanding works in the rear, it would be liable to be greatly annoyed from a height situated directly opposite on the other side of the Missis- sippi, which is here no more than about two hundred and fifty yards wide. This latter height, however, would not
-
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be eligible for a permanent post, on account of the numer- ous ridges and ravines situated immediately in its rear."
Ft. Snelling .- Alarmed by the movements of Lord Selkirk and the Hudson Bay Company near the northern border, the far-seeing Calhoun,1 then secretary of war, took active steps toward a more permanent military occupation of Minnesota than had hitherto been made. Cold Water
M
MRS. SNELLING.
COL. SNELLING.
Cantonment2 was established at Mendota3 in IS19, Col. Leavenworth commanding, and in September of the fol- lowing year the first stone of a fort was laid on what was then the far frontier-Prairie Du Chien, 200 miles away, being the objective point of all wagon trains, boat fleets, and the traveler in moccasins. The post was at first called Ft. St. Anthony, but the name was changed through the influence of Gen. Winfield Scott, who was there on a
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
visit of inspection in 1824. The following is taken from his report made at that time :--
" This work, of which the war department is in the pos- session of a plan, reflects the greatest credit on Col. Snell- ing, his officers and men. The defenses and for the most part the public store houses, shops and quarters, being con- structed of stone, the whole is likely to endure as long as the post shall remain a frontier one. I wish to suggest to the general-in-chief, and through him to the war depart- ment, the propriety of calling this work Ft. Snelling, as a just compliment to the meritorious officer under whom it has been erected. The present name is foreign to all our associations, and besides it is geographically incorrect."
All the romance of border history and the tragic story of Indian warfare cling to Snelling's time-stained walls, and the names of countless gallant soldiers and noble wo- men have become associated with its own in the sixty years its quaint old battlements have towered aloft in the pictur- esque valley, as inspiring as any Drachenfels+ by the Ger- man Rhine; and it stands yet, in the evening of the nine- teenth century, like a sentinel rehearsing in silent language tales of the bold voyageurs and the self-sacrificing fathers of the mission, who passed within range of its guns or rested beneath its sheltering roofs.
The plan of the original fort seems to have been that of a rhomboid, one of the acute angles lying on the cliff and the adjacent sides cresting the banks of the Mississippi and Minnesota respectively. These sides were protected by castellated walls, terminating in a half-moon bastion at the angle, and that on the south or Minnesota side having its other extremity in a polygon tower still standing. These walls, for the most part, and the half-moon bastion have
t
1
FORT SNELLING LOOKING DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI.
SAME LOOKING ACROSS THE MINNESOTA.
ROUND TOWER
POLYGON TOWER
SCENES AT FT. SNELLING.
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lately fallen sacrifices to the spirit of change; the arched gateway and walls of the inner angle of the fort have also vanished; but the old round tower, with its embrasured parapet and loop-holed wall, remains a landmark of by- gone days.
Crawford County .- Eastern Minnesota, then a part of Michigan Territory, was organized as Crawford' county in 1819. The officers of the county were a chief justice, two associate justices of the county court, a judge of pro- bate, clerk of court, and sheriff. It was so sparsely inhab- ited that it was difficult to find suitable persons to fill these positions.
Lewis Cass Expedition .- Lewis Cass, who afterward became a very prominent character in national politics, made arrangements with the secretary of war in IS19 to lead an exploring expedition into Minnesota; for Cass was then governor of Michigan. The objects of the expedition were both commercial and scientific. Capt. Douglass was engineer, H. R. Schoolcraft mineralogist, and C. C. Trow- bridge topographer. Dr. Wolcott, Indian agent at Chicago, was also one of the party, which in the main was com- posed of Indians and voyageurs.
Nearly six weeks were consumed in the lake voyage from Detroit to the mouth of the St. Louis river, which they entered on the 5th of July, 1820. After visiting an Indian village of the Ojibwas and a trading post of the American Fur Company, both on the river, they proceeded to Sandy Lake. The Northwest Company was there no longer, but instead the American Fur Company was ac- tively engaged in trade. Before descending the Missis- sippi, Cass and about half of his party endeavored to find
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
its ultimate source, and incorrectly decided that it was the lake which now bears his name.
Like Pike, Cass endeavored to bring about peace be- tween the Ojibwas and Dakotas, and followed the same plan, persuading some of the chiefs of the former nation to visit the agency at Mendota for the purpose of holding a council with the Sioux. Having made a rapid descent of the river, he was enabled on the first of August to convene the Indian council in the agency house at Mendota. The United States Indian agent of that time was Major Lawrence Tal- iaferro,1 a man of energy and tact. He was the first Indian agent in Minnesota, and remained in that position for twenty-one years. He speaks in warm terms of the con- duct of the Dakotas, claiming that in all that time they did not shed a drop of American blood, while the Chippewas, Winnebagoes, Sacs,2 and Foxes annually committed the foulest murders. But the well meant efforts of Gov. Cass were practically frustrated on this occasion by the indiffer- ence of the Dakotas, who had the chief Shakopee3 with them for spokesman.
The remaining days of the expedition in Minnesota were partly spent at the villages of the chiefs Little Crow, Red Wing, and Wabasha. Those of the last two were situated where the cities of Red Wing and Winona now stand. Col. Snelling was met at Prairie Du Chien on his way to relieve Col. Leavenworth at Ft. St. Anthony and to pros- ecute with greater zeal the building of the post, which still existed more in name than fact.
The Fur Companies .- Having learned by long experi- ence how ruinous their policy of contending with each other had been, the Northwest and Hudson Bay Com- panies united in 1821. This left a number of the old
ST. PETER'S OR MENDOTA.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
traders free to form new associations; and Renville, Mc- Kenzie and a few others united with some American traders in forming the Columbia Company with head- quarters at Lake Traverse.1 At this time, also, the Ameri- can Fur Company, first organized by Astor2 in 1809, had become a powerful and wealthy corporation whose influ- ence in Minnesota was exceedingly great.
To-day, standing in one of the ancient fortifications of the mound-builders which surmounts an eastern bluff of that lake, one looks forward to the blue hills of Dakota beyond the farther shore, to the right and downward over "liquid miles" to where wooded points jut out by Mordada toward the west, to the left, a mile away, close by the water's edge, upon the Columbia Company's building site now distinguishable only by pits and mounds of earth and rocks. Thus the horizon alone girts their ancient domain, and the glory of the landscape is unchanged, but the com- panies have vanished and left scarcely a trace behind.
The First Mills .- The first mills erected in Minnesota were two built by the United States government at St. An- thony Falls in 1821 and 1823. They made flour and lum- ber for the garrison at Ft. Snelling.
Selkirk's Colony .- Lord Selkirk still continued to work for an enduring settlement of his colony in spite of the failures of so many years. He persuaded a number of Swiss to emigrate from Europe and settle in the colony; but discouraged by its hardships, some deserted it in IS23, and after a long, toilsome journey by the way of Pem- binal and the Red River," reached Ft. Snelling in a con- dition of starvation.
First Steamboat .- In the summer of the last men- tioned year, a large steamer named the Virginia arrived at
AMERICAN FUR COMPANY'S POST AT FOND DU LAC.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Ft. Snelling. This was the beginning of steam naviga- tion on the upper waters of the Mississippi; before this it had been deemed useless to attempt passing the rapids at Rock Island and other barriers.
Cass Treaty Broken .- The treaty made between the Dakotas and Ojibwas at the solicitations of Cass was soon broken, and Maj. Taliaferro endeavored to bring about a more abiding friendship; but they had hardly left the council house before an Ojibwa chief precipitated a quarrel, . and the military at the fort were compelled to restrain the Dakotas from entering into a sanguinary contest.
Long's Explorations .- In compliance with an order of the government, Maj. Stephen H. Long led an explor- ing expedition up the Minnesota. His assistants in this, the first distinctively scientific expedition to enter Minnesota, were Samuel Seymour, artist; Prof. W. H. Keating of the Pennsylvania University, mineralogist and geologist; and Thos. Say, one of the founders of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, zoologist and antiquarian. Keating also acted as the historian of the party, carefully collating their manu- scripts, which were afterwards published in two volumes. Joseph Renville, a bois brule, acted as intrepreter; and Jos- eph Snelling,1 son of the commandant of the fort of that name, was assistant interpreter.
On the 9th of July, 1823, the expedition left Mendota in two detachments, one by land the other in canoes by way of the river. The river party found most of the In- dian villages deserted, the Sioux. having gone out on the chase. On the fourth day of the journey, the two detach- ments united again at Traverse des Sioux.2 Reducing their number and leaving the canoes, they mounted horses and cut across the great bend of the river to the vicinity of the
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present town of New Ulm, where they once more began to follow its course. July 22d, they came to Big Stone Lake and visited the lodges of a Dakota band on one of . its lower islands. Farther up they were entertained at a post of the American Fur Company, and passing onward were as hospitably received at the station of its rival the Co- lumbia Company, situated on Lake Traverse. From here the march was down the Red River of the North to Pem- bina, where several days were spent in determining the lo- cation of the boundary line3 between British America and the United States. Thence going to Winnipeg,4 crossing to the Lake of the Woods, following the northern chain to Sturgeon Island in Rainy Lake, and finally by a northeast overland course reaching Ft. Williams on the Kamenistagoia, the expedition practically completed the objects of its labor.
The scientific observations, though rapidly taken, were of great value. The geological and geographical descriptions of the Minnesota and Red rivers were particularly inter- esting, and to these some information was added relative to the faunas and floras of those valleys.
Source of the Mississippi .- Great confusion existed in the minds of both the early and later explorers relative to the source of the Mississippi. In 1S05, Pike, misinformed by those who were ignorant or who wished to deceive him, supposed Cass Lake to be the true source. It will be seen later that Schoolcraft claimed the honor of its discovery in the finding of Lake Itasca. Then came Nicollet trust- ing in Schoolcraft's claim, but modestly asking recogni- tion of his own services in tracing the inlets of Itasca to their remotest springs. Those unworthy of honor, but vigorous in pleading for it, assert that they, in the present decade, have found the source in Elk Lake.1 There need
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
be no error so far as the question is one of this century ; the existing historical records relating to it are for that length of time both definite and reliable.
.
William Morrison, one of the most noted of the early fur traders, came to Leech Lake in October, 1802, from Grand Portage on the north shore of Lake Superior. A year later, he followed the course of the river through lakes Cass and Pemidji? to Lake Itasca, and saw the five small streams which flow into it. He discovered no indi- eations of white men having preceded him, and to him is doubtless due the honor of its discovery. Crossing the portage of the Heights of Land,3 he wintered at Rice Lake, the upper source of the Red River. He repeated this journey and again wintered at Rice Lake in ISII-12. There he met a trader of Mackinaw, named Otesse, who in the spring, when Morrison returned to Ft. William, ac- companied him as far as Fond Du Lac. The Minnesota Historical Society Annals of 1856 contain a letter which Morrison addressed to his brother, Allan Morrison, who also was a well known trader. In this letter, referring to the facts given above, he says :-
" This will explain to you that I visited Itasca Lake, then called Elk Lake, in 1S03-4, and in IS11-12, and five small streams that empty into the lake, that are short, and soon lose themselves in the swamps.
* * * * * *
"Cass Lake receives the waters of Cross Lake, and Cross Lake those of Itasca Lake, and five small streams that empty into Itasca Lake, then called Elk Lake. Those streams I have noted before; no white man can claim the discovery of the source of the Mississippi before me, for I was the first that saw and examined its shores."
·
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Nevertheless, Morrison did not seek to explore these streams, that arduous task was left for the brave Nicollet, and with him truly rests the repute of its accomplishment. Writing in 1836 of his explorations in the summer of that year, he says :-
" The Mississippi holds its own from its very origin; for it is not necessary to suppose, as has been done, that Lake Itasca may be supplied with invisible sources, to justify the character of a remarkable stream, which it assumes at its issue from this lake. There are five creeks that fall into it, formed by innumerable streamlets oozing from the clay beds at the bases of the hills, that consist of an accumula- tion of sand, gravel and clay, intermixed with erratic frag- ments; being a more prominent portion of the erratic de- posit previously described, and which here is known by the name of Hauteurs des Terres, heights of land.
* * * * * * * *
" The waters supplied by the north flank of these heights of land, still on the south side of Lake Itasca, give origin to the five creeks of which I have spoken above. These are the waters which I consider to be the utmost sources of the Mississippi. Those that flow from the southern side of the same heights, and empty themselves into Elbow Lake, are the utmost sources of the Red River of the North; so that the most remote feeders of Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico are closely approximated to each other.
" Now, of the five creeks that empty into Itasca Lake (the Omoshkos Sagaigon, of the Chippewas, or the Lac a la Biche, of the French, or the Elk Lake of the British ) one empties into the east bay of the lake; the four others into the west bay. I visited the whole of them; and
.
LAKE ITASCA AND VICINITY.
95
Chipeway Lake
Travers or
Engraved from a fac-simile tracing of Nicollet's Map (1836-37) now deposited in the Office of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. A., Washington, D. C.
Pemidji L.
Scale: same as original map.
2
MisifarT' E.
LIrving,
LMarquette
Laselle I
Plantagenet
Laplace F
XBawdich L.
Kathy Kaijo L
Naway
SCHOOLCRAFT S
5
ITASCA LAKE
HAUTEUR
a bank.
DE
Source
TERRE
the
„
· Lake
L M
ton
L.Hershel
1. Battage
L .Puisson
L. Bouvard
Ladagol
Scaly
Cypress
[ Hauteur
the Line Hood
Lake
95
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BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
among the latter there is one remarkable above the others, inasmuch as its course is longer and its waters more abund- ant; so that, in obedience to the geographical rule 'that the sources of a river are those which are most distant from its mouth,' this creek is truly the infant Mississippi; all others below, its feeders and tributaries.
"The day on which I explored this principal creek, ( Aug- ust 29, 1836) I judged that, at its entrance into Itasca Lake, its bed was from fifteen to twenty feet wide, and the depth of water from two to three feet. I stemmed its pretty brisk current during ten or twenty minutes; but the obstructions occasioned by the fall of trees compelled us to abandon the canoe, and seek its springs on foot, along the hills. After a walk of three miles, during which we took care not to lose sight of the Mississippi, my guides informed me that it was better to descend into the trough of the valley; where, accordingly, we found numerous streamlets oozing from the bases of the hills.
* * * * * * *
"As a further description of these head waters, I may add that they unite at a small distance from the hills whence they originate, and form a small lake, from which the Mis- sissippi flows with a breadth of a foot and a half, and a depth of one foot. At no great distance, however, this rivulet, uniting itself with the streamlets, coming from other directions, supplies a second minor lake, the waters of which have already acquired a temperature of 48.º From this lake issues a rivulet, necessarily of increased importance-a cradled Hercules, giving promise of the strength of his maturity; it transports the smaller branches of trees; it begins to form sand bars; its bends are more decided, until it subsides again into the basin of a third
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
lake somewhat larger than the two preceding. Having here acquired renewed vigor, and tried its consequence up- on an additional length of two or three miles, it finally empties itself into Itasca Lake, which is the principal reser- voir of all the sources, to which it owes all its subsequent majesty."
Count Beltrami .- On the arrival of the steamer Vir- ginia at Ft. Snelling, there appeared in the company of Maj. Taliaferro an educated Italian exile sometimes called the Count Beltrami.1 He soon ingratiated himself among the officers of the garrison, and being of an extremely ro- mantic, adventurous turn of mind, obtained permission to ac- · company Long's expedition. Having quarreled with that officer and by his eccentricity made himself disagreeable to the others, he separated from them at Pembina, and resolved to accomplish great things by himself. With unbounded courage and hope, and at times with no one to guide him through a trackless country, he managed to find Red Lake. From this he traveled by way of Grand Portage river and across country to a small lake which drains into Turtle Lake. This small lake he called Julia,2 and supposing it to be a source of both the Mississippi and Red, termed it the Julian source of those rivers. While his adventures as portrayed by himself are as fantastic and exaggerated as those of an ancient knight-errant, his statements are not altogether valueless.
Indian Treaties .- On the 19th of August, IS25, a great convocation of the northwestern tribes was held at Prairie Du Chien. The United States government was repre- sented by Lewis Cass of Michigan and Gov. Clark of Missouri. The Dakotas and Ojibwas consented at that time to have a definite boundary placed between the hunt-
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1
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ing grounds of the two tribes to prevent further contention. The following year, Gov. Cass attended a meeting of the Ojibwas at Fond Du Lac,1 Minnesota. All of the bands were represented, and a treaty was sealed on the 5th of August. This was the first formal one made in Minne- sota. Among other things the Ojibwas promised to sever all allegiance to Great Britain, and to acknowledge at all times the United States supremacy.
Border Wars .- Early in the summer of IS27, a small party of Ojibwas from Sandy Lake were treacherously
WINNEBAGO CHERACKS OR BARK HUTS.
attacked, just without the walls of Ft. Snelling, by a party of Dakotas whom they had entertained. It was an occur- rence most unfortunate in its results; for the two nations kept up a continual contest for several years, during which the stipulations of the treaty made at Prairie Du Chien
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
were violated. The Winnebagoes,1 too, becoming exas- perated through a mistake in regard to this same affair at Snelling, attacked some supply boats descending the Mis- sissippi from that post, and began to prey upon the white set- tlers themselves. The whole border was in a fever of alarm, and the government began to concentrate its forces at Prairie Du Chien in order to quell the spirit of rebel- lion. The Winnebagoes were forced to succumb, and yield their famous chief Red Bird as a hostage.
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