USA > Minnesota > Illustrated history of Minnesota, a hand-book for citizens and general readers > Part 5
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
The Swiss Settlers .- The Selkirk settlement, whose history from its inception had been one long record of suf- fering and death, was destined to never feel the ministra- tions of a milder fate. The fearful winter of 1825-6 was followed by a summer of flood which swept everything before it, leaving the Red River valley one vast waste of desolation. The Swiss settlers who had remained behind their neighbors in the exodus of 1823 could endure their troubles no longer, and entering Minnesota settled in the country surrounding Ft. Snelling. Thus it came to pass that the star of empire had not guided the eastern emi- grants to the wilds of Minnesota before this discomfited band of the far north built their habitations within its borders, and so became its first permanent settlers.
Schoolcraft's Expedition. - Henry Rowe School- craft, the celebrated author of various works on the history and life of the American aborigines, was for many years the United States agent of Indian affairs at Sault Ste. Marie. While he still occupied that position, and after he had become quite well versed in the character of the natives, Schoolcraft was sent out by the government, in 1831, to visit the Indians of the upper Mississippi. By way of Lake Superior, Bad River, and the head waters of the St. Croix,
S3
BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
he entered the country in the vicinity of Shell and Ottawa lakes, Wisconsin, and made a futile attempt to persuade the Ojibwas of that region to be at peace with the Dakotas of Minnesota.
In IS32, the government instructed Schoolcraft to visit the tribes toward the sources of the Mississippi. Lieut. . Jas. Allen was in charge of the military part of the expedi- tion, which was accompanied by Dr. Douglass Houghton, scientist, and Rev. W. T. Boutwell, missionary. On the 22d of June, following the route of the Cass expedition, they began the ascent of the St. Louis, from which they made a portagel to the Savanna2 and descended to Sandy 'Lake. Thus far their labors had been intense on account of the difficulty of the portages, a difficulty greatly increased by heavy rains through which they were forced to march.
The party entered Cass Lake on the 10th of July, and from there to Lake Itasca3 their route was that of Morrson in 1804. It was many years after this that the explora- tions of the latter were made known; therefore, School- craft supposed that he himself was the discoverer of the Mississippi's ultimate source, and the mistake everywhere passed current. Returning southward to Leech Lake, a portage was made to the head of the Crow Wing, and this led them to the Mississippi.
Schoolcraft conversed with three or four of the Dakota chiefs at Ft. Snelling, voicing to them the complaints of the Ojibwas, who said the Dakotas had been guilty in breaking the treaties of Fond Du Lac and Prairie Du Chien. Little Crowt and Black Dogs made the hackneyed state- ments of their desire for peace. It was not long after this that John Marsh6 enlisted the Dakotas as allies of the United States in the Black Hawk war? then raging.
.
DALLES OF THE ST. LOUIS OR THE LONG PORTAGE.
85
BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
Schoolcraft for some cause deserted Lieut. Allen at this point, and the latter expressing great indignation ascended the St. Croix alone.
The reports of the different members of the party abound in interesting descriptions of the country traversed by them. Lieut. Allen clearly observed its geographical features, particularly the water courses, and made a map of the whole northern section. A number of valuable scientific papers from the pens of Cooper, Houghton, and Schoolcraft sum up the results of the expedition.
Featherstonhaugh. - During the summer of 1835, G. W. Featherstonhaugh,1 an Englishman employed by the United States department of topographical engineers, made a geological survey of the Minnesota valley. He describes some of the affluents of that stream. Stemming the Blue Earth and Le Sueur rivers to a point about two miles up the latter, he eagerly ascended to the prairie be- tween the Blue Earth and Maple, hoping to catch sight of the Coteau des Prairies;2 but failing to find it, he hastily concluded that the Le Sueur story of a copper mine at the " foot of a long mountain " was nothing but a fable. The Frenchman Penicaut, by the term mountain, evidently re- ferred to the bluffs. Featherstonhaugh ascended the Min- nesota from the great south bend, and was gratified at last by seeing the blue line of the Coteau rising in the distance. On his return he published a geographical account of his trip; also another volume entitled, a " Canoe Voyage up the Minnesota."
Catlin .- The same year that Featherstonhaugh was en- gaged in the valley of the Minnesota, George Catlin, the artist and renowned delineator of Indian manners and customs, determined to carry out his long cherished plan
1
TRACKING. CROSSING A PORTAGE.
CAMPING ON A LONG PORTAGE.
89
BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
of visiting the pipestone quarry, 1 since famous in the poor. . Hiawatha. A friend and an Indian guide were his con- panions. The journey was made on horseback.
Y "Fetish Author painting a thief at the base of the Rocky Mountains. G. Catlin 2
Like Long, Catlin ascended the Minnesota, and crossed the bend from Traverse des Sioux to the mouth of the Big Cottonwood .? Then proceeding across the western prai- ries, he came to the Coteaus; and these he followed south-
88
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
ward to the quarry. His enthusiasm kindled when he beheld the place to see which he had journeyed twenty-five hundred miles, the place for countless generations sacred to the Indian tribes, and above whose scarred and shat- tered cliffs, or towering form of the flinty Manito,3 their legends seemed to hover like guardian spirits.
Catlin's descriptions are accurate and spirited, and his the- ories4 in regard to the erratics, scattered far and wide, and the polished surfaces of the rocks, are unique and sugges- tive. He speaks of the ancient fortifications5 and the won- derful "Maidens."6 but does not notice the pictographs7 made long ages ago upon the time-worn surfaces of the red-stone where those huge bowlders have found a resting place.
Dred Scott .- Few slaves were kept in Minnesota, but of those few two were destined to have their names go down to posterity on one of the most noted pages of na- tional history. One was a girl named Harriet, the proper- ty of Maj. Taliaferro, the other a man owned by Surgeon Emerson, of Ft. Snelling. In 1835, Taliaferro sold Harriet to Dr. Emerson, and the year following she was united in marriage to the other slave. Dr. Emerson removed them to Missouri in IS3S, where many years after, when their master was dead, they claimed their freedom. Their case brought forth the celebrated decision1 of Chief Justice Taney2 that made the name of the man, Dred Scott, as familiar to all as a household word.
Nicollet .- Among the most noted names of Minnesota's later explorers stands that of Jean Nicolas Nicollet.1 He was a native of Cluses2 Haute Savoie.3 His early years were studious yet full of struggles with adversity. In early manhood he came under the scholarly influence and
-
4
1
15
16
2
21
பீ
20
12
=
27
23
NORTH
25
SOUTH 24
19
14
21
26
36
39
37
28
39
40
30
PICTOGRAPHS AT PIPESTONE.
90
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
tuition of such men as La Place,4 and subsequently achieved notable distinction as an astronomer, having conferred upon him the decoration of the Legion of Honor.5 Fi- nancial embarrassment finally drove him to the United States.
The 26th of July, IS36, accompanied by the French trader Fronchet,6 he started to explore the region of the upper Mississippi, carrying with him a telescope and some other portable scientific instruments. At Leech Lake he added to his escort a Canadian trader named Francis Brunet? and an Indian guide. On reaching Itasca Lake, he spent sev- eral days in examining the course of its inlets. In the au- tumn he was again at the Mendota Agency, pursuing his studies and investigations with unrelaxing assiduity.
The next season Nicollet went to Washington, and was commissioned to examine the northwest territories and re- port on their resources. His principal aid was John C. Fremont, at this time a lieutenant. The party ascended the Missouri to the vicinity of Ft. Pierre, and traveled east- ward to Minnesota. Passing over the Coteau des Prairies, which he lucidly describes, Nicollet came to the pipestone quarry. Concerning this freak of nature he furnished some interesting facts; for his were the careful researches of a keen scholar in love with nature. The whole surroundings inspired him as standing on the jagged cliffs he gazed out over a rich country rolling away like the green billows of a sea, limitless save where it seemed to dash against the blue hills far to the northward. There the tourist may read his names to-day chiseled on the crest of the jasper wall where the waters of Pipestone Creek dash over the precipice, and where the solemn visaged Manito9 has kept its long vigil of centuries beside the Leaping Rock.10
PIPESTONE FALLS, WET SEASON.
THE MAIDENS.
PIPESTONE FALLS, DRY SEASON.
THE MANITO.
-
1
92
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Nicollet next explored the country farther east of the Coteaus, paying particular attention to the region drained by the Blue Earth and its tributaries. The resources and beauties of this section he pictured vividly, and because of its abundant lakes and rivers, poetically named it the Un- dine region after the water sprite of Fouque's11 legend. He
DAKOTAS OF TO-DAY DIGGING PIPESTONE.
also critically examined the Castle Rock12 in the Cannon valley and the Lone and Chimney Rocks of the Vermil- lion, basing on the information gained some valuable and interesting scientific opinions relative to the geological changes which he thought must have occurred to denude the surrounding country of its lighter formations and leave these great natural towers exposed. He considers the fab-
-
93
BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
ulous Long River of Baron La Hontan13 a verity, and likens it to the Cannon, while he ascribes the Baron's ex- aggerations to the spirit of the period.
Like him of kindred life, Agassiz laboring "On the isle of Penikese,"14 Nicollet, child-like but earnest, stood humble and reverent in the presence of truth. In closing an ac- count of this remarkable man, it is fit- ting to quote a few words from the elo- quent tribute of his friend Gen. H. H. Sibley. He says :-
"Even when he was aware that his disso- lution was near at hand, his thoughts reverted to the days when he roamed CASTLE ROCK. along the valley of the Minnesota river. It was my for- tune to meet him, for the last time, in the year IS42, in Washington City. A short time before his death, I re- ceived a kind but mournful letter from him, in which he adverted to the fact that his days were numbered but at the same time expressed a hope that he would have
1
94
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
1
strength sufficient to enable him to make his way to our country, that he might yield up his breath and be interred on the banks of his beloved stream.
" He sleeps beneath the sod far away, in the vicinity of the capital of the nation, but his name will continue to be cherished in Minnesota as one of its early explorers and one of its best friends. The astronomer, the geologist and the Christian gentleman, Jean N. Nicollet, will long be re- membered in connection with the history of the North- west."
First Protestant Missions .- About this period the influence of the protestant missionary societies began to make itself felt as a factor in the history of the Dakota and Ojibwa nations. Rev. W. T. Boutwell, a member of the Schoolcraft expedition, started a school and mission among the Ojibwas of Leech Lake in IS33. The next year two brothers, S. W. and G. H. Pond, opened a mission for the Dakotas, at Lake Calhoun, in which under- taking they were cordially supported by Agent Taliaferro and the officers at Ft. Snelling. With great labor they built a primitive log cabin where the suburban residences of Minneapolis now stand.
During this year Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D., visited the country of the Dakotas to examine into the feasibility of establishing missions. He came west again in 1835 with a band whose members were Rev. J. D. Stevens and wife, of Central New York, missionaries; Mr. A. W. Huggins, farmer; and Misses Lucy C. Stone and Sarah Poage,1 teachers. Dr. Williamson served both as physician and missionary. In June, a Presbyterian church was organized in the quarters at Ft. Snelling. Mr. Stevens and family moved to Lake Harriet and constructed a dwelling and a
-
95
BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
school of tamarack logs. Dr. Williamson, Mr. Huggins and Miss Poage located at Lac qui Parle, at which point a church was organized in 1836.
These pioneer missionaries were cheered in 1837 by the arrival of Rev. S. R. Riggs and wife who were to be their colaborers. After spending a few months at Lake Har- riet acquiring some insight into the language of the Dakotas, they joined the mission at Lac qui Parle. At this time Mr. G. H. Pond left his brother at the village of Cloudman and Drifter2 near Lake Calhoun, and became teacher and farmer at Lac qui Parle.
Meanwhile missionaries ot the Evangelical Society, Lausanne,3 Switzerland, located at the villages of the Red Wing and Wabasha bands, and those of the Methodists at Kaposia, from which place they subsequently moved to Red Rock. Both of these missions were soon abandoned.
The lives of the missionaries were replete with toil, danger, and sacrifice, and the only glimpse they had of the civilization they had left behind was on coming in contact with the military and traders.
Events of 1837 .- The year 1837 so eventful in the financial history of the nation, was also remarkable in that of Minnesota for more than the progress of missions. At a council of the Ojibwas, held at Ft. Snelling, over which Gov. Dodge of Wisconsin Territory presided, that tribe ceded1 to the United States all the pine lands of the St. Croix and its tributaries. Capitalists immediately began to improve the water power at the falls of the St. Croix, and this was the beginning of the now extensive manu- facturing of lumber so closely related to the commercial welfare of the State. The Palmyra, Capt. Holland com- mander, the first steamer to navigate the St. Croix,
S.W. POND.
S. R. RIGGS. .. 801
G.H.POND.
MRS.M.L.RI
M-> En GENY!
) THO.S.WILLIAMSON.
W.T. BOUTWELL.
MISSIONARIES.
-
97
BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
brought the machinery for the projected mills. A dele- gation of the Dakotas at Washington, also, ceded2 to the government all their Minnesota lands east of the Missis- sippi.
Removal of Swiss Settlers .- The national authorities chose that portion of country on the east bank of the Mis- sissippi opposite Ft. Snelling for a military reserve. The Swiss of the Selkirk colony had squatted on these very lands, and now objected strenuously to their removal. Oc- tober 21st, IS29, Poinsett, secretary of war, under the pro- visions of the act of 1So7 for preventing settlement on public lands until the law authorized it, issued an order to Edward James, United States marshal of Wisconsin Ter- ritory, to remove the Swiss settlers, and if necessary to call out the military for that purpose. They still persisted; therefore, the last clause of the order was carried out, the troops of the Ft. Snelling garrison forcibly ejecting them and burning their cabins to the ground. Poinsett's caution to use due mildness throughout seems to have been wholly ignored. Thus for the second time the Swiss became home- less and friendless in a land where they had hoped to find peace and plenty.
Battle of Pokeguma .- Many were the frays between the Dakotas and Ojibwas in these days, especially in the year IS39. The scalping knife never seemed to be sheathed, and the war cry greeted every rising and setting sun. It is only necessary to relate the history of one of these frays to explain the nature of all and picture the life they forced the Indians to lead.
Twenty miles up the Snake river from its confluence with the St. Croix is a lake called Pokeguma.1 It is girt by forests of tamarack and pine, and not far from one sido: [.
-
98
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
is a little island. Opposite the island, on the gently rising slopes of the eastern shore, a band of the Ojibwas, fifty years ago, had one of their villages. About that time the missionary Boutwell and his colleague Mr. Ely went there to reside. Knowing full well the bitter nature of the feuds existing between this tribe and the Dakotas, the former had made a secret compact promising to warn the missionaries at Lake Calhoun when the Ojibwas premedi- tated an attack upon the other tribe. They in turn were to warn the Pokeguma mission when the Dakotas were about to surprise the Ojibwas.
In the spring of 1841, the message came to Pokeguma, "Be on your guard." It was enough. The missionaries and Indians moved in haste to the island, and two young braves were chosen to bear tobacco and pipes to their allies at Mille Lacs, inviting them to lend succor. Before this, the Dakota chief had divided his band of one hundred thirty warriors into squads of five or more and secreted them in the woods with strict orders not to fire upon the Ojibwas for any reason whatever. He believed the latter would return to their cabins when their fears subsided or necessity compelled them, at which favorable time he in- tended to raise the war cry and lead the onset.
The two messengers, now ready to start on the trail to Mille Lacs, paddled their canoe from the island to the farther shore. Two young girls went with them to bring back the canoe. Where it landed, one of the parties of the Dakotas was in ambush. Wild with excitement, they forgot the chief's command and fired, wounding one of the young men, both of whom returned the fire and escaped in the woods. The assailants pursued the little girls into " :: : the water, murdered them, and with savage ferocity cut off
99
BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
their heads. These they waved derisively in the sight of the people on the island, all of whom had witnessed the fearful deed.
The fathers of the children seized a canoe, and regardless of danger pulled swiftly to the shore. A quick aim, the sharp crack of a rifle, a murderer lying dead on the sands- these were the events of a moment. There was not time to scalp him, and snatching for a trophy his powder horn besmeared with blood, the revenged fathers fled from his comrades. One threw himself prostrate in the canoe, the other plunged into the lake, and while swimming with one hand held the canoe with the other and towed it away in safety. A rain of lead fell about them, but the bold warrior, never relaxing his hold or ceasing to swim, when he saw the foe take aim submerged himself until the sound of the volley died away.
The foiled Dakota chief withdrew. The Ojibwas, when they dared venture to the shore again, cut off the head and arms of the dead murderer and brought them into camp. They dashed the head to atoms, but presented the arms to a woman whose son had been killed by the same tribe the year before, expecting her to dance and exult over them as was their custom on such occasions. Instead, she came to the mission and begged for some white cotton cloth, and while tears for the dead son dimmed her eyes, she tenderly wrapped the arms in its folds and buried them with the forgiving prayer of a Christian upon her lips.
The Ojibwas were greatly excited, and not knowing how soon the enemy might return in force, struck their lodges and with a few supplies of food in their bags fled toward Mille Lacs. "Go," said Boutwell to Mr. Ely, " follow them, keep up your school each day and the services of
100
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Sunday. Soon they must return for food. Then I will go with them to relieve you."
It was even so; for hunger is sure to bring boldness.
After Boutwell had joined them, they one day came suddenly upon fresh tracks of moccasins, evidently made by two men. As startled as a herd of the wild deer, they dropped their packs and primed their guns anew. Mean- while, an old warrior began to walk in a set of the foot- prints, and with a quick, glad cry named the person who made them, a member of their own tribe. That evening the warriors fired off their guns one by one; for they were wont to reload them with dry powder in anticipation of night attacks. After the firing ceased, two guns answered from a distance, and in a little while the person named by the old warrior as the one who made the tracks came into camp with his companion. Boutwell says one can hardly conceive how great is the fear in which an Indian lives. He is ever on the alert to discover signs of his enemy. A broken twig, a faint rustling of leaves will set a whole vil- lage in a wild uproar.
St. Croix County .- The country between the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers which had previously been under the jurisdiction of Crawford county was, in IS.41, organized un- der the name of St. Croix; but its separation from the former was not actually effected until 1847. Stillwater, then but a hamlet and the supply depot of the lumber districts, was made the county seat, and a term of the United States District Court was held there in June, Judge Dunn presid- ing. This was the first national court held within the lim- its of the present State.
Settlement of St. Paul .- The founding of new mis- sions by Riggs at Traverse des Sioux and Ayer at Red
-
ST
POST OFFICE
13ª
1
1. 1
2
CHAPEL OF ST. PAUL,
POST-OFFICE OF TO-DAY.
IO2
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Lake, in 1843, and the removal of the Winnebagoes, much against their will, from their ancient home in Iowa to a reservation girt by the Crow Wing, Long Prairie, Sauk, and Mississippi rivers were some of the additional note- worthy events marking the last decade of this period. But the one of greatest importance was the settlement of St. Paul.1
A chapel2 of that name was erected in IS40, and a ham- let sprung up which became the nucleus of the future cap- ital. Two years later, Henry Jackson3 and a few other traders built small stores above what is now the levee. Dr. Williamson, who by invitation of Little Crow had left the Lac qui Parle mission in IS36 to reside at Kaposia, thus writes of St. Paul as it appeared in 1843 :---
" My present residence is on the utmost verge of civili- zation, in the northwest part of the United States, within a few miles of the principal village of white men in the territory that we suppose will bear the name of Minnesota. The village referred to has grown up within a few years in a romantic situation on a high bluff of the Mississippi, and has been baptized, by the Roman Catholics, with the name of St. Paul. They have erected in it a small chapel, and constitute much the larger portion of its inhabitants. The Dakotas call it Im-ni-jas-ka (white rock), from the color of the sandstone which forms the bluff on which the village stands. This village contains five stores, as they call them, at all of which intoxicating drinks constitute a part, and I suppose the principal part, of what they sell. I would suppose the village contains a dozen or twenty families living near enough to send to school."
Resume .- This may well be called the period of tran- sition between the times of the voyageurs and settlements;
103
BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
of romantic adventure yielding to scientific research; of slowly shifting scenes in the prologue of yet another great drama of modern American life, for which the forces of civilization were steadily arranging themselves while the outside world began to look with eyes of eager expectancy for the opening of the first act.
.
- .
-
-
ILLUSTRATED
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
The Territory
Organization .- In 1848, Wisconsin was admitted into the Union with its boundaries defined as at present. Pre- vious to this time, a futile attempt had been made to organize a new territory which should include all that remained of the old Wisconsin Territory. Congress, however, adjourned without making that provision for the government of this section which seemed necessary under the new condition of affairs. Already forecasting the
104
105
THE TERRITORY.
bright future of the region to which they had come, the people were restless in their endeavors to establish a new territorial government. Small groups of citizens might now and then have been seen assembled at St. Paul de- vising plans to this end. Later, in the month of August of the year above mentioned, two public meetings were held at Stillwater, at the latter of which sixty-two dele- gates were present.
John Catlin, governor of the old Wisconsin Territory, claimed that its government still remained in force over the portion that had been excluded from the state of the same name. Acting upon his advice, and sustained by his proclamation, the people held an election October 30th to choose a delegate to Congress in place of John H. Tweedy, who had been requested to resign; for it was thought by these means Congress would be compelled to judge of the validity of the old government, and thus the organization of the desired new territory would be hastened. H. H. Sibley was the delegate chosen; and he was allowed to take his seat, although a minority report of the Congress- ional committee before whom the matter was laid opposed his admission.
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.