USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > Personal recollections of Minnesota and its people : and early history of Minneapolis > Part 30
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From the private journal of Hon. Martin McLeod we quote an account of his journey, accompanied by two British officers, with Pierre Bottineau as guide, from Pembina to Ft. Snelling :
Sunday, 26th February, 1837. Left La Fourch, Red River Colony, Territory of Hudson's Bay, in the evening, and came three miles up the settlement to prepare for an early start to- morrow to St. Peters, 750 miles from this-on foot.
Monday, Feb. 2. Started at daybreak ; cold, with a sharp head-wind. About 10 p. m. a severe snow-storm commenced ; obliged to take shelter in the house of Mr. Micklejohn. Came about nine miles ; 5 p. m. cleared off ; prospects of a fine day ; preparing snow-shoes, etc., for journey.
Tuesday, 28th. Started at daybreak ; bad walking, snow deep, crossed the long traverse and waited until the dogs came up. At 3 p. m. had to encamp ; dogs too fatigued to proceed ; dogs never travel well the first day.
Wednesday, March 1. Left encampment at sunrise ; found it exceedingly cold sleeping out after having been in the house for two months. Came forty miles to-day. Arrived at a shanty where we found fourteen persons, men, women, and children, without food. They had been living for seven days on an occasional hare and pheasant. The hunter's life is ever a precarious one. We relieved them with pemmican from our stock for the journey, which will in all probability be the cause of our fasting some days before we reach Lake Traverse, the first trading-post from this, distant more than 400 miles.
Thursday, 2d. Left shanty early ; morning pleasant ; struck off into the plain at the head of Swamp river, from thence
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made a long traverse to a point on Pembina river fifteen miles from the head, where we encamped, having come more than forty miles to-day. This is my third day on snow-shoes, and I feel exceedingly fatigued.
Friday, 3d. Had a cold and stormy night ; unable to leave camp before 9 o'clock ; wind ahead until 12 o'clock, when it changed to the north and brought with it a snow-storm which caught us on the prairie many miles from shelter ; 3 p. m. came to a small wood on the bend of Tongue river ; one of our party, Mr. P., not having come up, we encamped. Mr. P. has no snow-shoes ; he persisted in not bringing any with him, which may yet lead to unhappy consequences, as he is unable to keep up with us on the plains, and should we be separated by a storm he will inevitably perish ; indeed the poor fellow this day said that he would perish in this journey. Feel miserably fatigued, and my feet are severely blistered with the strings of the snow-shoes ; at every step the blood from my toes oozes through my moccasins. We came through a beautiful prairie to-day enclosed on three sides by woods which can be distinctly seen from the middle of the prairie ; on the north by the wood on Pembina river, west by Pem- bina mountain, south by the trees bordering Tongue river- forming almost a complete circle of at least 100 miles.
March 4th. Came a long distance to-day ; snow deep and very heavy, which clogs the snow-shoes and makes them exceedingly fatiguing to carry. Encamped on a branch of Park river ; find Major Long's map of the country very incorrect.
Sunday, 5th. Encamped at 3 p. m. on a bend of the second branch of Park river, near the coteau des prairies, having come about fifteen miles only ; snowing fast, which obliged us to camp. All the rivers in this country are very crooked, and the timber growing upon their banks is in every instance that I have seen in proportion to the size of the streams.
Monday, 6th, Bad walking ; snow deep ; encamped at 2 p. m. on Saline river, one of our party being too fatigued to proceed. Came about eighteen miles through an immense burnt prairie. The further southward we come the more snow we find. Banks of the Saline very high, with timber (elm and oak) growing down their sides to the edge of the
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stream which is five yards wide. Near the mouth of the river is a salt factory which must prove profitable as salt is worth sixteen shillings per bushel at R. R. Settlement 250 miles hence. The water here is perfectly fresh and palatable; it is from a small lake about twenty miles from this down- wards that the saline flows.
March 7th. Last night excessively cold ; to-day unable to leave camp ; so stormy that it is impossible to see the dis- tance of ten yards on the plain, and the distance to the next wood or place of encampment is more than thirty miles, which would endanger our lives should we attempt to cross the plain in the storm. Such is one of the many disadvan- tages encountered by the traveler in this gloomy region at this inclement season.
March 8. Wind north and piercing cold on the prairie. Crossed the great plain and arrived at Turtle river at 3 p. m., where we encamped ; came thirty miles.
March 9. Excessively cold and stormy until noon ; came long distance to-day ; encamped long after sundown on a branch of Goose river; feel very fatigued ; my feet cut and swollen from the continual use of the snow-shoes which, however, I begin to like, and prefer keeping them on where there is but little snow, and where they might be dispensed with ; I also find (sore as my feet are ) that I travel a greater distance in a day with than without them ; such is custom.
March 11. Unable to make the "grande traverse" (fifty miles) to Shienne river, the day being misty, and the land- marks which guide the traveler on the plain not visible. Came a short distance and encamped on the lower tributary of Goose river.
March 12. Started at daybreak, route principally on immense hills ; not a tree or shrub visible ; saw thirteen buffaloes ; one shot at by the guide, but not killed, though severely wounded ; Mr. P. unable to keep up with us ; afraid to lose him, consequently we are unable to get across the plain to a place of encampment ; obliged to take up our place of rest for the night in a pond among a few rushes, the only shelter for miles around in this dreary and monotonous region. During the past months, in moments of extreme suffering, I have seen and felt the interposition of a ruling and merciful Prov-
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dence. This evening, while we were all suffering the sever- est torments for want of water, and without hope of getting any for many hours, the guide espied at a distance the car- cases of two buffaloes. Being a hunter himself, curiosity led him to the spot when, Lo ! to his great delight and our relief, he found a few small pieces of wood, brought there by a hunter a few days previous, by which means we were enabled to melt a kettle of snow.
March 13. Passed a more comfortable night than we had expected ; morning miserable, having to creep out from under our buffalo skins, tie on our snow-shoes, and take to the plain to warm ourselves ; no fire, no water, no breakfast. I took a small piece of frozen pemmican, and ate it with a handfull of snow, at the same time walking as fast as possible to warm myself. Soon after we started a violent storm came on ; guide said we were lost and would all perish ; advised him to take a direct course, as near as possible, and for that purpose to keep before the wind. At 3 p. m., having walked since daybreak more than thirty miles, we perceived through the drift a clump of trees, where we arrived soon after, happy to escape passing a second night on the plain, where it is more than probable we should have been all frozen to death. The guide says we did not come much out of our route, and that we are on a branch of Shienne river, called the river of rushes.
March 14. Last night so cold could not get a moment's sleep ; to-day in camp ; guide unable to go on, with sore eyes.
March 15. Last night as cold as the former ; day pleasant ; in camp ; guide still unable to "see his way".
March 16. Came through two prairies and encamped on Shienne river.
A MOST DISASTROUS TURN IN THE EVENTS OF THE DAY.
Friday, March 17th, 1837. This morning, when we left the camp, the weather was very mild and pleasant ; guide dis- covered tracks of a deer and went in pursuit of it ; meantime Mr. H., Mr. P. and myself, directed our course across the plain towards a point of wood on Rice river ; suddenly about 11 o'clock a storm from the north came on that no pen can describe. We made toward the wood as fast as possible ; it was distant about three miles. I was foremost, the dogs fol-
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lowing close to me, Mr. H. not far distant, Mr. P. two miles behind. In a few moments nothing was perceptible, and it was with difficulty that I could keep myself from suffocating ; however, I hastened on and in a short time caught a glimpse of the wood through a drifting cloud of snow. I was then not more than three hundred yards from it, as near as I can possibly judge. At that instant I also saw Mr. H., who had come up within thirty yards of me and called out that I was going the wrong course, exclaiming, "keep more to the right". I replied, "No, no ; follow me quick." I perceived him to stoop, probably to arrange the strings of his snow-shoes. In an instant afterwards an immense cloud of drifting snow hid him from my view and I SAW HIM NO MORE. I cannot describe what my feelings then were ; what must they have been in a few seconds afterwards when I found myself at the bottom of a ravine more than twenty feet deep, from which I had to use the greatest exertion to save myself from being suffocated by the snow which was drifting down upon me. Upon gaining the edge of the ravine, which I effected with the greatest difficulty, having my snow-shoes still on, as my hands were too cold to untie the strings of them, which were frozen, I found the poor faithful dogs with their traineau buried in a snow-bank. Having dug them out, my next effort was to gain the wood, which I knew was on the opposite side of the ravine about twenty yards over, yet I could not distinguish a tree, so close and thick was the snow drifting. An hour's exertion with the dogs and traineau through the deepsnow in the ravine brought me into the edge of the wood, which I found was composed of only a few scattered trees, which would afford but a miserable shelter. I tried to make a fire. My matches were all wet ; my hands were too cold to strike a spark with the flint and steel ; what can be done ? "I must not perish," said I to myself. I then thought of my compan- ions. Alas, poor fellows ! there can be no hope for you, as I have all the blankets, buffalo-robes, provisions, &c., the dogs having followed me in the storm. Having dug a hole in a snow-bank, I made a sort of shelter with my cloak and a blanket, and rolled myself in a blanket and a large buffalo- robe. I was then completely wet through, for a shower of sleet had accompanied the storm ; in a few moments it began
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to freeze; I was then so cold that I feared much that I should perish during the night. The night came ; the storm continued unabated ; my situation was truly miserable ; com- panions and guide in all probability perished ; myself in great danger of freezing also ; and in a strange country some hun- dred miles from any settlement or trading-post. I cannot say what I felt, although my usual feelings would raise to my relief frequently, and I would say to myself, " What is passed cannot be helped ; better luck next time ; take it coolly"- which I was evidently doing with a vengeance. The greater part of the night was passed listening to the roaring of the storm, and the dismal howling of the wolves, together with the pleasant occupation of rubbing my feet to keep them from freezing.
Saturday, 18th. Never was light more welcome to a mortal. At dawn I crept from my hole, and soon after heard cries. Fired two shots ; soon after guide came up ; he had escaped by making a fire, and being a native, and a half-blood, his knowledge of the country and its dangers saved him. Mr. P. was found with both his legs and feet frozen. All search for Mr. H. proved ineffectual. Remained all day near the scene of our disaster in the hope that some trace of Mr. H. might be found.
Sunday, 19th. Started early with poor P. on the dog train- eau, having left all our luggage behind ; at 2 p. m. found dogs unable to proceed with P., and he suffering too much to bear the pain occasioned by moving about. With the help of guide made a hut to leave Mr. P. in, where he will remain for five or six days until I can send horses for him from Lake Traverse, sixty miles from this. Left with P. all our blankets and robes, except a blanket each (guide and myself) ; also plenty of wood cut, and ice near his lodge to make water of. Out of provisions ; obliged to kill one of our dogs ; dog-meat excellent eating.
Monday, March 20. Morning stormy, accompanied with snow ; unable to leave camp till 2 p. m., when guide and myself started ; came a long distance and encamped in the Bois des Sioux ; feel very weak and unwell.
March 21. Left the Bois des Sioux at sunrise and arrived at dark at the trading-house at Lake Traverse, having traveled
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forty-five miles to-day, with a severe pain in my side and knee. March 22d. At trading-house ; feel unwell.
March 23. Sent the guide with another person and two horses and a cart for Mr. P. and my trunk, &c, with instruc- tions to the men to search for the body of Mr. H., in order that it may be decently interred at the trading-house.
April 1st. For the past nine days have remained at the trading-house, where I am well treated by Mr. Brown, the gentleman in charge for the American Fur Company. Saw the game of la crosse played very frequently, both by the squaws and Indians. It is a very interesting game when well contested, and the female players are most astonishingly expert.
April 2d. This morning the two men returned. Poor P. is no more. They found him in his hut, dead. He had taken off the greater part of his clothes, no doubt in the delirium of a fever caused by the excruciating pain of his frozen feet. In the hut was found nearly all the wood we left him, his food, and a kettle of water partially frozen. Everything indicated that he died the second or third day after our departure from him. No trace of the body of Mr. H. was found. The poor fellow has long ere this become food for the savage animals that prowl around these bound- less wilds. Thus has miserably perished a young and amia- ble man at the age of twenty, in the full vigor of youth, full of high hopes and expectations.
April 3. This day poor P. was consigned to his last abode, the silent and solitary tomb. It is a source of consolation to me, amid my troubles, that I have been enabled to perform this last duty to a friend with all due respect. Would that I could say the same of Mr. Hayes. I have, however, left directions with all the Indians near this post to search for his bones and inter them. They are about to depart on their spring hunts and will in all probability find his remains. ] CAN DO NO MORE.
April 5, 1837, left Lake Traverse at 10 o'clock ; came twenty miles through a hilly prairie, and encamped at 3 p. m.
April 6, came forty miles to-day, and encamped at Pomme de Terre river.
Friday, April 7. Cold and stormy ; had some difficulty in
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getting across Pomme de Terre river ; made the horses swim ; got the baggage and the cart across on some pieces of jammed ice ; arrived at Lacquiparle at 2 p. m .; well received by Mr. Renville, who has a trading-post for the Indians here.
Saturday, April 8. As the weather appears unsettled, pre- vailed upon by Mr. R. to remain with him till Monday. To- day visited a Mr. Williamson, a missionary sent into this country two years ago by the American Board of Foreign Missions, for the conversion of the Dakota Indians of this place. Mr. W.'s family resides with him. He has two assistants (a young lady, his wife's sister, and a young man who tried to convert me) in his arduous undertaking Mr. W. can now speak a good deal of the Dakota language, and I believe has made some translations from the Bible.
Sunday, April 9. Went to hear Mr. W. preach. He also read a chapter from the Testament in Dakota, and a young man present another in French. A number of the Psalms of David were sung in Dakota by half-breeds and Indians. The audience consisted of half-breeds, Indians, Canadians, and a few whites.
Monday, April 10 .- Came thirty miles ; encamped at 5 p. m. at river L'eau de vie.
April 11. Came thirty-five miles ; encamped at 6 p. m. near the St. Peters river. Crossed to-day Custor and Petite rivers. Saw a great number of flocks of wild geese and swans.
April 12. Came thirty miles ; encamped at 6 p. m. in a small grove of oaks.
April 13. Came thirty miles ; encamped at 5 p. m. at the Monte de Sioux, at the trading-house of Mr. Provencalle.
Friday, April 14. Embarked at sunrise in a canoe with Indians and squaws who are going down to where the St. Peters joins the Mississippi at Fort Snelling. Have for com- pany ten Indians and squaws, in three canoes. These people have in one of their canoes the bodies of two of their deceased relatives, which they intend carrying to a lake near the Mis- sissippi more than one hundred miles from this. In many instances these people bring the bodies of their friends much farther when it is the wish of the dying person to be depos- ited in a particular place At 3 p. m. obliged to encamp in consequence of rain coming on. Here I found the benefit of
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a good skin-lodge, which was put up by the females in a short time, and we all got under it round a snug fire, cooked our victuals, and felt exceedingly comfortable.
Saturday, April 15. Morning rainy ; did not leave en- campment till 11 o'clock ; 3 p. m. passed Petite rapids, and arrived at the trading-house of Mr. Faribault, where we stopped a few moments.
Sunday, April 16. Three p. m., at long last, have arrived at Fort Snelling, St. Peters, having escaped a variety of dan- gers, and endured great fatigue and privations in the Sioux country.
MEMORANDUMS.
To-day, April 20, 1837, wrote to Alex'r Christie, esq., Hon. Hudson Bay Co., giving him the particulars of my unfortu- nate and melancholy journey from Red river. Wrote also to Mr. Logan and Mr. Millian of Red river. May 3 sent them by Mr. Bottineau, the guide. April 22, wrote to J. R. B., Lake Traverse, requesting him to inform me of the result of the Indians' search for the remains of my unfortunate friend, Mr. Hayes. Wrote to Mr. Renville, Lacquiparle. Wrote to Mr. G. H. P., a missionary assistant at Lacquiparle.
Saint Peters, May 29th, 1837 .- Saw Frenier, a half-breed Sioux from Lake Traverse, who informed me that the band of Indians who hunted this spring not far from the scene of our disaster on the 17th of March, had been unsuccessful in their search for the remains of Mr. Hayes. There cannot now be any hope of his remains being ever heard of, at least by me, as I shall leave this place in a few days hence.
THIRST IN SNOW-COVERED COUNTRIES.
Travelers have not deemed the fact worth mentioning, and therefore no one who has not suffered can imagine or believe that during the winter man is exposed on the cold and snow- covered plains of North America to the most painful of priva- tions ; that even while walking on frozen water, he is agonized by parched and burning lips ; and that by snow, eaten under such circumstances, the thirst of the traveler or hunter is pro- portionally increased. When out in either of these capacities the agony sustained by them from thirst is often very great ; it is truly painful while it lasts, and contrary to the sufferer's expectation, he finds that by eating snow his mouth is more and
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more inflamed, and his desire for drink fearfully augmented ; while a lassitude comes over him which water only can dissipate.
It is to be observed, however, that it is only on the plains that the experienced hunter or traveler is exposed to such hard- ships. That occurs frequently in this country where the trav- eler's route is for the most part through wide plains, covered with long rank grass and snow stretched out in all directions, presenting a smooth, white, unbroken surface terminating in the horizon.
Everyone going to any distance, at this season, carries as an essential article in his equipment a small kettle in which he melts snow and boils water. To allow the water to boil is a necessary part of the process ; for if the snow is merely melted the water has a smoked and bitter taste, and a drink of it if far from refreshing. On the contrary, when the water is allowed to boil, and then cooled by throwing into it plenty of the pur- est snow, no spring water is more delightful to the taste or more satisfying to the wants of the thirsty traveler.
BUFFALO HUNTING IN THE WEST.
The first season of the buffalo hunting commences about the 15th of June, and is continued to the 1st of August. The sec- ond season commences in September and terminates late in the fall, generally about the 1st of November, leaving time suffi- cient to return home before the cold weather sets in. I allude to the Brules' hunting, as the Indians who inhabit the buffalo country kill these annimals at all seasons.
The Brules usually set out with five hundred to six hundred carts, drawn principally by oxen, their wives and daughters accompanying these carts for the purpose of preparing the meat, which is done by stripping it from the bones, and spread- ing it upon a scaffold of poles elevated three to four feet from the ground, under which they build a fire of the buffalo dung. In this manner they continue to dry the meat as fast as it is killed by the hunters. It requires the flesh of twelve of the largest animals thus prepared to load a cart drawn by one ox ; and allowing six hundred carts to the spring season, would make seven thousand two hundred of these animals killed in about a month by the Brules alone, not including any of the various Indian tribes, such as the Sioux, the Mandans, Gros- ventres, &c., all of whom inhabit the buffalo country and des-
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troy these animals by thousands ; and add to this, too, that in the spring nearly all the animals killed are cows, the meat of the male not being good after a certain season. These differ- ent causes account for the rapid decrease of the buffalo within the last few years. I have been informed by a Brule hunter that at the last hunt they had to go a journey of fifteen days to the west, six farther than they ever went before.
In the fall hunt, besides the dried meat, they make pemmi- can, and also bring home a great quantity of the meat in its natural state. The pemmican is made by drying the meat, as I before mentioned ; it is then beaten into small pieces and placed into a sack made of the buffalo skin, into which is poured a quantity of the melted fat of the animal ; when it cools it is pressed into the sack, which is sewed up; in this manner it will keep three or four years. The sacks are various sizes, but the common sizes are from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds.
The usual number of horsemen attending these hunts are about five hundred ; however not more than from two to three hundred act as hunters, and are those who possess the swiftest horses. The hunters are exceedingly expert ; notwithstanding which many accidents occur. I have seen many of them with broken legs, broken arms, and disabled hands ; this latter accident frequently occurs from their manner of loading their guns. They never use wadding. The powder is carelessly thrown in, in more or less quantities, the ball is then tumbled in upon it, and off goes the shot. This is done to save time, and it is almost incredible what a number of shots one person will discharge in riding the distance of three or four miles, the horse at the top of his speed.
A gentleman who has lived many years in the buffalo country says that upon the least calculation four to five hundred thousand of these animals are killed yearly on this side of the Missouri.
ASSINIBOIN BELIEF IN FUTUIRTY.
The Assiniboins believe that in another life to obtain endur- ing happiness they have to climb a very high and steep mountain, the ascent of which is so difficult and dangerous that it requires many attempts, perseverance, and great forti- tude to gain the summit ; but once there, a delightful and
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boundless plain is spread before them, covered with eternal verdure and countless herds of buffalo and the other animals which they delight to hunt ; and that they will find all their friends who left this life before them, enjoying an uninter- rupted course of happiness, dwelling in beautiful skin tents which ever appear new.
Those who have done ill in this life and have been success- ful enough to gain the summit of the hill, are there met by the dwellers of the happy plain, and those who knew them in this life bear witness against them. They are then imme- diately thrown down the steep, and should their necks not be broken, never again attempt an ascent.
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