USA > Minnesota > Minnesota as it is in 1870 : its general resources and attractions for immigrants, invalids, tourists, capitalists, and business men ; with special descriptions of all its counties and townsand inducements to those in quest of homes, health, or pleasure > Part 13
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 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
154
WILD RICE.
immense impetus to fruit growing in our State. In other fruits, too, especially in plums and grapes, these fairs have given ample evidence of the rich capabilities of our climate.
- Among the varieties most generally successful, besides numerous seedlings, are the Duchess of Oldenburg, Red Astrachan, Fameuse, Winter Russetts, Golden Russetts, Golden Sweet, Golden Pippin, 20-ounce Pippin, Bailey Sweet, Price Sweet, Saps of Wine, Seek No Further, Sweet June, Red June, Early Harvest, Early Red, Fall Stripe or Saxton, Jefferson County, Dyer, Summer Pair- main, Limber Twig, Tammany, Hoss, Sweet Pear, &c.
WILD RICE .- What it is .- Its Value .- " Zizania Aqu- atica," Pshu of the Sioux, Manomin of the Chippewas. " It is an excellent article of diet, and forms a consider- able source of support to the Chippewa Indians," "an acre nearly or quite equal to an acre of wheat for sustaining life."
" It is highly palatable and nutritious, being generally preferred to the commercial rice. The grain is long, slender, of a brown color. In boiling, it puffs out to a pultaceous mass, and increases its bulk several times. It flowers in August, and is ready for gathering in Sep- tember, which is conveniently done in canoes, the standing stalks being bent over the sides and the grain beaten in."*
Mr. Atkins, of Princeton, Minn., in a contribution to this book, writes : "This rice resembles Southern rice very much in appearance and growth, but the grains are longer than those of the Southern variety, and to the taste it is richer and more nutritious."
Where it Grows .- Its Extent .- Clarke, Geologist, es- timates 74,000 acres in the "triangle" between the Mississippi, St. Croix and Prairie rivers.
* Owen's Report.
155
ITS CULTIVATION.
Owen says : " It is particularly in the lake-like expan- sions of rivers, towards their sources, which give such a marked feature to the distribution of these northern streams, and is so grandly illustrated in their main type, the Mississippi.
" It is rarely met with on inland lakes which have no outlet. * * The rice lakes are most liberally distri- buted in the sections about the head waters of the Red Cedar, Nemakagon, St. Croix and Snake rivers in the south, and the sources of Big Fork and Red Lake rivers in the north, and further east in the Vermillion Lake region." He speaks of " rice fields covering thousands of acres " near Cass Lake, and indeed the same is true of nearly all the lakes and marshes of Northern Minnesota.
The vast extent of this article, and its value, " an acre as good as an acre of wheat," suggests the inquiry-
How it may be Cultivated and made a Source of Wealth ?- Upon this point Owen says : "This grain has been frequently introduced to the attention of cultivators, and is worthy of notice, not only for the value of its pro- ducts, but the peculiar nature of the soil to which it is adapted, being necessarily unfit for any of our ordinary cultivated grains.
"As a native of the Northwest, it is undoubtedly sus- ceptible of increased production, and will doubtless ere long constitute as important an element in the civilized wealth of this region as it now does in adding to the comforts of its wild inhabitants."
Clarke says : "The value of it to the native is no greater than it may be rendered to us. It is probably a biennial. Its greatest yields in alternate years. It grows from the bed submerged by water from 6 to 20 inches. One root has from 3 to 10 stalks and heads. I observed one fact worthy the attention of the civilized
156
WILD RICE.
cultivator. It is this : plants upon the margin of the rice beds by the fall of the water left upon the dry ground were quite as prolific as those in the water. This suggests the drainage of rice beds, clearing them from other aqua- tic grasses and plants, re-seeding with rice and then closing the drain or outlet until the grain is near maturity, when the water may be drawn off and the bed left dry for harvest."
Indian Method of Gathering .- The Indian method of gathering, preparing, and preserving it is somewhat curious. In among the ripening rice-it grows two to three feet above the surface of the water-they go in their canoes, and bending the laden heads over the sides in handsful, beat them off into the canoe with a stick until it is loaded ; then to a dry, open space on shore, where it is spread to dry a few days. It is then heated hot in iron or tin kettles, and made thoroughly dry. A cavity is then dug in hard ground, bowl-shaped, and large enough to hold about half a bushel. The inside of the cavity is then beaten hard and smooth. On two sides of the cavity, three or four feet from it, forked sticks, six or seven feet long, are driven into the ground about a foot, and in the forks a small pole is laid. The hole or cavity is then nearly filled with the previously prepared dried rice, and then an Indian-a man always, and for a wonder, this being about the only kind of work a male Indian is ever known to do-steps barefooted into the hole and the rice, and holding on by the pole in the forked sticks to steady and sustain himself, goes to treading the hulls off the rice.
After being trodden a while, it is taken out and win- nowed in the wind, and is then ready for use. As a general thing, nearly three-fourths of the hulls are got rid of by this process, and those that remain never seem
157
EDUCATION AND RELIGION.
to trouble the Indians in eating ; neither does the dirt from the treading feet, as they never trouble themselves to wash the rice before cooking it.
The rice is stored by being put up in baskets of various sizes, and buried in dry places until it is wanted.
CHAPTER XII.
EDUCATION AND RELIGION .- Schools .- Every township is entitled to its free school-two sections of land in every township belonging to the school fund, making in the aggregate about 3,000,000 acres when all surveyed. It is sold at not less than $5 per acre, and the cash proceeds invested in United States or Minnesota State Bonds. The Governor's Message of January, 1869, says : "The sales of school lands during the year have been 76,910 acres, producing $464,840.61, which sum added to the former accumulations of the permanent school fund, makes the magnificent fund of two millions, seventy-seven thousand and eighty-two dollars."
He estimates the sum ultimately to be derived from school lands at $16,000,000.
"Interest of the school fund in 1868, $115,794.38. A two mill tax levied in each county for school purposes. Whole number of children in the State (between 5 and 21) in 1868, 129,103, an increase of 14,682 over 1867. Teachers, 3276 ; increase, 691. Paid teachers, $322,- 785.16 ; increase, $67,798. Value of school houses, $1,091,559.42 ; increase, $345,168.42. Value of school houses built 1868, $288,687.37. Minnesota's total expen- ditures for school purposes during the last two years
14
158
CHURCHES.
exceed $1,500,000, and her school houses have already cost over $1,000,000." Number of school houses in 1868, 1000 frame, 37 brick, 48 stone, 681 log; total, 1766. (See " Counties," Part Second.)
These figures show a more liberal provision for common schools than any other State in the Union, and give assurance to immigrants that in going to Minnesota they are not going beyond the confines of civilization and the privileges and blessings of education for their children.
STATE UNIVERSITY, COLLEGES AND NORMAL SCHOOLS .- A State University, with a costly building, an endowment of 46,080 acres of land, besides 120,000 acres of agricul- tural college lands, and a full corps of professors, is in successful operation at St. Anthony, without expense to students except for board. It has an experimental farm connected with it for instruction in scientific farming, and is to be free from denominational influences. A Normal School is in operation at Winona, and another at Mankato, and a third will soon be at St. Cloud. There is a Catholic College at Clinton, Stearns County, a Meth- odist College at Red Wing, a Congregational College at Northfield, an Episcopal College at Faribault, a Com- mercial College at St. Paul and Minneapolis, besides many other Classical Academies and Female Seminaries in different parts of the State.
CHURCHES .- Catholic .- 123 churches, valued at $500,- 000, 120,000 members including baptized children, and 60 priests.
Methodist .- 65 churches, valued at $228,550; 8229 members and 108 ministers, including 10 Scandinavian.
German Methodist .- 35 churches, valued at $54,000 ; 2834 members, and 28 ministers.
Episcopalian .- 28 churches, valued at $204,850 ; 1720 members, and 30 ministers.
159
MISSIONARY OPERATIONS.
Baptist .- 27 churches, 4210 members, and 90 ministers. Congregational-67 congregations, 2624 members, and 52 ministers.
Presbyterian .- (New School,) 45 churches, valued at $100,000 ; 2156 members, and 40 ministers.
Presbyterian .- (Old School,) 48 church organizations, 1384 members, and 33 ministers.
Lutheran .- 79 congregations, nearly 6000 members, and 43 German and two English ministers.
Swedish Lutheran .- 19 churches, 3250 members, and 9 ministers.
Universalists .- 20 societies, 900 members, and 12 min- isters. There are also some Adventists, Swedenbor- gians, Campbell Baptists, and Spiritualists.
All the churches have more organizations than church buildings, and all have worship on the extreme frontier by travelling ministers, far in advance of the building of churches.
These figures are all from the latest official reports of the churches up to 1869.
MISSIONARY OPERATIONS, AND RELIGION ON THE FRON- TIER .- Nearly all the principal churches have preachers on the remotest frontier, who preach in school houses, private residences, and small churches, forming organiza- tions in every neighborhood, and travelling over large districts to accommodate the frontier settlements.
Missions among the Indians .- As the Chippewas or Ojibwas are the only Indians now in the State, except a few scattered families, which have settled down in civi- lized settlements, what is here said will relate to them alone. There were for years missions among the Dakotas, and continue to be in their new locations in Dakota Territory-the last report of the American Board of Missions giving the number of communicants as 618, a
160
MISSIONARY OPERATIONS.
gain of 57 the past year ; four native preachers and four native licentiates, besides the missionaries ; the Dakotas supposed to number about 30,000, four-fifths of whom have never been reached.
We condense the following from the account of Dr. A. Barnard, resident surgeon at the Chippewa Agency at White Earth Reservation, who for the facts credits Rev. J. G. Wright, twenty years a missionary and now government teacher of a manual labor school for Indian children, at Leech Lake. From 1833 to 1862 the Ameri- can Board of Missions labored among the Chippewas, since which they have abandoned them.
Rev. F. Ayer first began in 1833, labored seven years at Sandy Lake and other points, and quit ; Rev. Mr. Bout- well followed, in 1835, remaining four years, and quit ; in 1840 Rev. Mr. Spates, of the Methodist Church, tried it a few years, became discouraged and quit; then in 1853, Rev. Mr. Breck, of the Episcopal Church, struck in vigor- ously at Gull Lake and Leech Lake, erected several large buildings, labored eighteen months, and quit ; in 1843, Messrs. Ayer, Barnard, Wright and Spencer went to Red Lake, and were joined by Dr. Wm. Lewis. Here was rich land, good crops of corn and potatoes, less whisky, less white men, and a better class of Indians, with some faint traces of the "noble Red Man," known in poetry and romance, and this mission continued until 1859, when it also was abandoned. Rev. Mr. Cloiter, Old School Lutheran, and Rev. Mr. Johnson, Episcopalian, at Pine River and Gull Lake labored on till 1862, and they quit .. Since which nothing has been done in Protestant missions among the Chippewas, until last year Bishop Whipple concluded to renew the mission of his church, at White Earth Lake, where the Mille Lac and Gull Lake bands of Indians have been removed.
161
MISSIONARY OPERATIONS.
At Gull Lake and Leech Lake not less than $30,000, in addition to the missionary labor, were expended, with about the same results as at other places.
The reasons for suspending (and in the case of the American Missionary Association, abandoning) the at- tempt to mould anew the life of this people, are thus given by Mr. Wright: "The results were exceedingly meagre for the large amount of self-sacrificing labor and money expended.
" Individual instances of conversions there were, in which the life and death of the Christian was notably exemplified ; but the mass of heathen humanity was un- impressed. Besides, the influences adverse to the success of the missionary were gradually increasing in strength.
" Suspicion of his designs was sedulously instilled into the minds of the natives. The government officials dis- owned any sympathy for him; and the grossly immoral conduct of a few high in office was notorious. Scarcely an effort was made by those having authority to suppress the whiskey traffic, the evils of which, together with the general licentiousness of the whites and half-breeds, in- ducing loathsome disease, were well nigh appalling."
In closing this synoptical account of missionary oper- ations in this section, says Dr. Barnard : " It is but just to add that the few individuals among the Indians here at the present time who have been weaned wholly, or partially, from the degradation of the wigwam, are chiefly the fruits of that work. The employees, traders and fugitives from the restraints of civilized society form a numerous class at all our Indian Agencies, under the control of the Government Agent. Their united influence can render null, or give success, to the efforts of the missionary, who, had he been well sustained in this field, would have achieved far greater results."
: 162
INDIANS.
Catholic Missions .- Rev. John Ireland, of St. Paul, gives the following facts :
The Jesuits have extensive missions from Grand Portage, the extreme north-eastern boundary of Minne- sota, to the far Northwest in British America, their principal station being at Fort William.
Rev. John Chebus, of Bayfield, has an Indian mission at Fond du Lac, Minnesota ; two clergymen are located at Pembina ; Revs. Francis Pierz, Jos. Buh, and Ignatius Tomazin, at Crow Wing, from whence they make regular visits to the Indians at Mille Lac, White Oak Point, Leech Lake, Red Lake, Lake Winnebigoshish, and White Earth Reservation, at all which places there are baptized Indians. There is an excellent church edifice at Grand Portage exclusively for Indians, and a school opened this month (October, 1869) at White Oak Point. Father Ireland says : " As to the general prospects of the Indian missions, our priests express themselves in no way dis- couraged."
CHAPTER XIII.
INDIANS .- There have been no hostile Indians in the State since 1863, when the war with the Sioux terminated in their removal entirely out of the State. A few scattered families only of the Sioux remain. A settlement of a dozen, more or less, are within seventeen miles of St. Paul, on the Minnesota, on forty acres of land, who live by selling berries, fish and game to the whites, and the small products of their scanty industry in farming.
Of the Chippewas, there are about 6000, all friendly
163
THE GRAND MEDICINE.
Indians, principally on a reservation of thirty-six town- ships of rich land in Polk and Becker counties, (thirty of them in Polk,) far to the northwest, besides the Boisfort tribe, on another reservation of rice swamps and barrens, far to the northeast, above Vermilion Lake. There are a few other settlements as has just been stated, under the head of Catholic missions, in the preceding chapter. Dr. A. Barnard, Surgeon of the Chippewas, in a contribution to this book, gives the following account of these people :
Agencies and Trading Posts .- Convenient houses were built at Leech Lake in 1867 for the government em- ployees. Number of stores, 3; saw and grist mill, 1; schools, 1 ; clergyman, 1; annual business, $30,000.
At Red Lake there is a Government station, trading post, and deserted mission; two stores, annual business $20,000 ; one saw and grist mill, a physician, miller, blacksmith, and farmer. "The decaying buildings of religious missions, now deserted, may be seen at Gull, Winnebigoshish, and Cass lakes." The principal agency and head quarters is at White Earth Lake, in Becker County, in the new reservation. $75,000 are paid annu- ally to the 4200 Indians of this reservation, besides what is paid to the Boisfort tribe-the payments usually in September and October.
INSTITUTIONS, SOCIAL CUSTOMS, AND AMUSEMENTS OF THE OJIBWAS OR CHIPPEWAS .- The most important institution is the Grand Medicine-a religious, secret society, through which the weird traditions of the tribe are preserved and perpetuated ; the art of healing diseases, of conjur- ing and magic is taught. Like the Masonic society, it has several degrees, the highest of which but few attain, who are known as "big medicine men." One aspiring to the honors of this ancient institution need only apply to these grand masters of the order, pay in goods and
164
INDIANS.
provisions twenty to fifty dollars, according to the de- grees conferred and the ability of the applicant, to be accepted a candidate duly prepared and suitably qualified. A long, narrow lodge is erected, a feast provided, and an invitation sent to all members in good standing, in- cluding women and children, who are eligible only to the lower degrees, to attend. Then, amid the din and con- fusion produced by the beating of drums, the jingling of bells, loud talking in an unknown tongue with the Great Spirit, uncouth dancing, feasting and smoking of perhaps a hundred performers, kept up till the last edible is consumed, the candidate receives that light in grand medicine which he desires. If he advance to higher degrees, he is taken by one of the big medicine men into the woods, and instructed in the properties of medicinal herbs and roots, and in tricks of legerdemain and magic. One striking ceremony in the healing of the sick is worth noting. The patient is brought into the lodge, and by a solemn rite figuratively put to death ; then, by the most importunate supplications to the Great Spirit, restored to life again. Nothing among the Indians opposes so strong a barrier to the missionary as this institution. That it is, however, gradually losing its hold upon their confidence and respect is apparent to one living in their midst.
Courtship and Marriage are in the most unconventional manner. A young brave seeking a wife goes to the lodge of some fair maiden in the evening, and if he be an acceptable suitor, she shares her couch with him during the night. Should he tarry till daylight it is regarded as a match. Presents are usually made to the parents of the bride, and she follows her lord to his wigwam, hence- forth to be his slave. Intermarriage in families related by blood is strictly forbidden.
165
GAMBLING.
Gambling, with the men, is the all-absorbing passion, and nothing is too valuable to sacrifice at this altar. Occasionally their wives are staked on the issue of the game. At the annual payments, when money is abundant, the common games with cards are preferred, euchre being the more frequently played. A visitor at this time may observe in the motley throng at the trader's shop little groups of men seated upon the floor, the counter, or an empty dry good's box, oblivious of the press of the crowd, the bustle of trade, with emotionless faces, intent only on the result of the play. As this is made manifest, and the winning party gathers up the large pile of scrip and greenbacks, not the faintest sigh or breath indicating a relief from suspense is heard, so well have they learned the gambler's art.
The moccasin game, being peculiarly an Indian inven- tion, deserves to be here mentioned. Four moccasins are used, with the same number of leaden balls, one of which is marked. The two parties, seated vis-a-vis upon the ground, are each represented by their most expert player. Thus two only play the game, while the others take turn in beating the quick, monotonous accompani- ment upon the drum, or keep the tally with bundles of small sticks. Now one of the players, with the four moccasins placed in a row before him, with a few dex- terous motions hides a ball under each moccasin. Then his adversary, seated opposite with a stick in his hand, makes a feint of striking a moccasin, meanwhile eyeing intently the visage of the first player for some indication that the marked ball is under it. If in two trials he strikes the moccasin concealing the marked ball, then he has won, when the parts are reversed, and the play goes on, stimulated by the unceasing thump of the drum. Large amounts are sometimes staked at this game, and
166
INDIANS.
the players, getting wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement, exhibit the twitchings and contortions of one badly afflicted with the dance of St. Vitus. There is also a game not unlike this in which the expertness of the player is shown by his skill in masking his own emo- tions, and detecting and interpreting at a glance those of his adversary. Women play at ball, and occasionally the young men, but the games of hazard are the favorite of the latter.
Religious Notions .- They believe in Ke-che Manito, the Great Spirit, and in Mu-che Manito, the Evil Spirit. The former is the author and preserver of the souls of men, and all petitions for temporal and spiritual blessings are addressed to him. Their traditions give also an account of Na-nah-bo-zho, the creator of the physical universe. The most marvelous exploits are related of this deity. Finding himself floating on a raft in a boundless sea, he sent a muskrat, his companion, on a voyage of discovery. This animal dived to the bottom of the sea and brought up a little mud in his mouth. Na-nah taking this in his hands, with a strong breath blew it far from him, when it fell upon the water and formed a small island which, by successive additions, became the habitable earth. When the work of this spirit was accomplished, he sank into a state of oblivion, and we hear no more of him.
They believe, likewise, in the existence of inferior spir- its, good and bad, the latter of which they propitiate by offerings of tobacco and food. Something akin to fetich- ism is seen in these offerings, deposited by an oddly- shaped stone, bearing a slight resemblance to some beast, bird or fish. Of a future state they have rather vague conceptions ; concurring, however, in the idea of a well- beaten trail leading across a deep river or gulf, spanned by a single tree, to the elysian fields beyond. Some of the
167
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE.
less adroit spirits, without regard to moral qualifications, will lose their poise in crossing this bridge, and fall into the abyss and oblivion at the same moment.
The Totem, or symbolic mark of a family, is a rude representation of some animal common to this region. It designates always persons related by blood, save in the instance of the bride's changing her totem for that of her husband. No intermarriage of those having the same mark is permitted. Pictures of the bear and martin, representing the most numerous families among the Mississippi bands, drawn with a lead pencil or wood coal upon the bark or blaze of some conspicuous tree, may be seen along the net-work of trails all through the forests of this region.
Domestic and Social Life .- The life of the Ojibwa woman, if she be a wife, is one of constant, diversified toil and drudgery, enlivened by no hope of something better. In the spring she repairs to the " sugar bush," and in her thin moccasin makes through the deep melt- ing snows a trail from tree to tree, by which the sap is carried in birchen buckets to the wigwam for boiling. The sugar having been manufactured and put up in fan- cifully ornamented muk-kuks of bark, a removal is made to the fish ground, and a supply of fish secured by the aid of nets. In June the birch tree yields its bark for the construction of the canoe; and the corn and potatoes must be planted and cared for.
The warmer months succeeding are occupied with the holiday work of gathering wild berries. September brings the harvest of wild rice, threshed from the stalk with clubs, into the canoe, hulled and fitted for food with much labor. With the frosts of autumn the long winter hunt for furs commences, and she must accompany her husband and master to do his bidding till another spring renews
168
INDIANS.
the round of toil. Sometimes the husband assists a little in this work, but it is regarded as belonging properly to the wife. The time not occupied in these duties is devo- ted to the lighter household work, the making of mocca- sins, beaded ornaments, &c. Occasionally she indulges in some simple games of amusement. But with the bur- den of all these cares upon her, she, true to her nature, finds ample opportunity to gratify the social propensity for gossip. In the warm weather a frequent scene is a bevy of. Indian women seated on a grassy plot, engaged in diverse occupations. Two or three are shaping the canoe from the pliant bark. Others are making the or- namented moccasin, or belt. Another still is rubbing vigorously a deer skin, stretched upon an upright frame of poles, into flexibility and softness ; while Nocomis, the old grandmother, is cleaning fish. In the work of their hands there is no harmony ; but their glib tongues in- spirited by the occasion, slide easily into the same groove, and the common thread of gossip and story bind them, for the hour, in sweet concord of thought and feeling. The Indian husband, when not on the hunt, devotes his time to gambling, smoking, lounging about the trader's shop and Agency, importuning for tobacco and food. Occasionally, to break the monotony of so dull a life, he joins in a war party to the distant land of the Sioux. The scene witnessed every day at this Agency, of the woman staggering under the weight of a huge bundle of household goods and papooses, and the man, with only a gun, complacently strutting along a little in advance, faithfully illustrates the respective social condition of the sexes.
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.