USA > Minnesota > Redwood County > The history of Redwood County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 8
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jections which she made in the next two centuries after the discovery to other nations exploring and settling North America were successfully overcome by the force of accomplished facts. The name of Florida, now so limited in its application, was first applied by the Spaniards to the greater part of the eastern half of North America, commencing at the Gulf of Mexico and pro- ceeding northward indefinitely. This expansiveness of geograph- ical view was paralleled later by the definition of a New France of still greater extent, which practically included all the conti- nent.
"L'Escarbot, in his history of New France, written in 1617, says, in reference to this : 'Thus our Canada has for its limits on the west side all the lands as far as the sea called the Pacific, on this side of the Tropic of Cancer; on the south the islands of the Atlantic sea in the direction of Cuba and the Spanish land; on the east and the northern sea which bathes New France; and on the north the land said to be unknown, toward the icy sea as far as the arctic pole.'
"Judging also by the various grants to individuals, noble and otherwise, and 'companies,' which gave away the country in latitudinal strips extending from the Atlantic westward, the English were not far behind the Spaniards and French in this kind of effrontery. As English colonists never settled on the Mississippi in pursuance of such grants, and never performed any acts of authority there, such shadowy sovereignties may be disregarded here, in spite of the fact that it was considered neces- sary, many years later, for various states concerned to convey to the United States their more or less conflicting claims to ter- ritory which lay far to the westward of their own actual borders.
"Thus, in the most arbitrary manner, did the Mississippi river, though yet unknown, become the property, successively, of the Iberian, Gaulish and Anglo-Saxon races-of three peo- ples who, in later times, by diplomacy and force of arms, strug- gled for an actual occupancy. Practically, however, the upper Mississippi valley may be considered as having been in the first place Canadian soil, for it was Frenchmen from Canada who first visited it and traded with its various native inhabitants. The further prosecution of his discoveries by La Salle, in 1682, extended Canada as a French possession to the Gulf of Mexico, though he did not use the name of Canada nor yet that of New France. He preferred to call the entire country watered by the Mississippi river and its tributaries, from its uttermost source to its mouth, by the new name he had already invented for the purpose-Louisiana. The names of Canada and New France had been indifferently used to express about the same extent of territory, but the name of Louisiana now came to supersede them in being applied to the conjectural regions of the West. Al-
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though La Salle has applied the latter expression to the entire valley of the Mississippi, it was not generally used in that sense after his time; the upper part of the region was called Canada, and the lower Louisiana; but the actual dividing line between the two provinces was not absolutely established, and their names and boundaries were variously indicated on published maps. Speaking generally, the Canada of the eighteenth century in- cluded the Great Lakes and the country drained by their tribu- taries; the northern one-fourth of the present state of Illinois- that is, as much as lies north of the mouth of the Rock river; all the regions lying north of the northern watershed of the Missouri, and finally the valley of the upper Missouri itself." This would include Redwood county.
But it is now necessary to go back two centuries previous and consider the various explorations of the Mississippi upon which were based the claims of the European monarchs. Pos- sibly the mouth of the Mississippi had been reached by Spaniards previous to 1541, possibly Hibernian missionaries as early as the middle of the sixth century, or Welsh emigrants (Madoc), about 1170, discovered North America by way of the Gulf of Mexico, but historians gave to Fernando de Soto and his band of adventurers the credit of having been the first white men to actually view the Mississippi on its course through the interior of the continent and of being the first ones to actually traverse its waters. De Soto sighted the Mississippi in May, 1541, at the head of an expedition in search of gold and precious stones. In the following spring, weary, with hope long deferred, and worn out with his adventures, De Soto fell a victim to disease and died May 21, 1541. His followers, greatly reduced in number by sickness, after wandering about in a vain searching, built three small vessels and descended to the mouth of the Mississippi, being the first white men to reach the outlet of that great river from the interior. However, they were too weary and discour- aged to lay claim to the country, and took no notes of the region through which they passed.
In 1554 James Cartier, a Frenchman, discovered the St. Law- rence, and explored it as far as the present site of Quebec. The next year he ascended the river to Mont Real, the lofty hill for which Montreal was named. Thereafter all the country drained by the St. Lawrence was claimed by the French. Many years later the King of France granted the "basin of the St. Lawrence and all the rivers flowing through it to the sea," to a company, whose leader was Champlain, the founder of Quebec, which be- came the capital of New France, whose then unexplored territory stretched westward to well within the boundaries of what is now Minnesota. In 1613-15 Champlain explored the Ottawa river, and the Georgian bay to Lake Huron, and missions were estab-
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lished in the Huron country. Missionaries and fur traders were the most active explorers of the new possessions. They followed the shores of the Great Lakes and then penetrated further and further into the wilderness. As they went they tried to make friends of the red men, established trading posts and raised the Christian cross. In 1641 Jogues and Raymbault, Jesuits, after a long and perilous voyage in frail canoes and bateaux, reached the Sault Ste. Marie, where they heard of a large river, the Mish- is-ip-e, flowing southward to the sea, and of a powerful Indian tribe dwelling near its headwaters. Stories of vast fertile plains, of numberless streams, of herds of buffalo, and of many people, in regions far to the west and south, roused missionaries and traders anew, and the voyages and trips of the explorers became more frequent.
In 1659-60 Radisson and Grosseilliers, proceeding westward from Lake Superior, possibly entered what is now Minnesota. They spent some time in the "forty villages of the Dakotas," possibly in the vicinity of Mille Lacs, and were, it has been con- tended, the first white men to set foot on the soil of this state. The contention that these adventurers spent a part of the years 1655-56 on Prairie Island, in the Mississippi just above Red Wing is disputed by some historians, but still forms an interesting subject for study and conjecture.
Some writers also claim that the Frenchman, Sieur Nicollet, who should not be confused with the Nicollet of a later date, reached the Mississippi in 1639.
Rene Menard, a Jesuit missionary, reached the Mississippi in 1661 by way of Wisconsin. This was twelve years prior to its discovery by Marquette and Joliet, and to Menard historians in general give the honor of the discovery of the upper waters of the great river. Menard ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Black river, Wisconsin, and was lost in a forest near the source of that stream while attempting to carry the gospel to the Hurons. His sole companion "called him and sought him, but he made no reply and could not be found." Some years later his camp kettle, robe and prayer book were seen in the possession of the Indians.
In the summer of 1663 the intelligence of the fate of Menard reached Quebec, and on August 8, 1665, Father Claude Allouez, who had anxiously waited two years for the means of convey- ance, embarked for Lake Superior with a party of French trad- ers and Indians. He visited the Minnesota shores of Lake Supe- rior in the fall of 1665, established the Mission of the Holy Spirit at La Pointe, now in Wisconsin, and it is said "was the first to write 'Messipi,' the name of the great river of the Sioux coun- try," as he heard it pronounced by the Chippewas, or rather as it sounded to his ears.
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May 13, 1673, Jaques Marquette and Louis Joliet, the former a priest and the latter the commander of the expedition, set out with five assistants, and on June 17 of the same year reached the Mississippi at the present site of Prairie du Chien, thence con- tinuing down the river as far as the mouth of the Illinois, which they ascended, subsequently reaching the lakes.
In 1678, the Sieur De Luth, Daniel Graysolon, under commis- sion from the governor of Canada, set out from Quebec, to ex- plore the country west of the Lake Superior region. He was to take possession of it in the name of the king of France, and secure the trade of the native tribes. De Luth entered Minne- sota in 1679, reaching the great Sioux village of Kathio at Mille Lacs, on July 2. "On that day," he says, "I had the honor to plant His Majesty's arms where a Frenchman never before had been."
In 1680 Accault planted the French royal arms near the source of the Mississippi.
La Salle, however, was the first to lay claim to the entire valley in the name of his sovereign. After achieving perpetual fame by the discovery of the Ohio river (1670-71), he conceived the plan of reaching the Pacific by way of the Northern Missis- sippi, at that time unexplored and supposed to be a waterway connecting the two oceans. Frontenac, then governor-general of Canada, favored the plan, as did the king of France. Accord- ingly, gathering a company of Frenchmen, he pursued his way through the lakes, made a portage to the Illinois river, and, Jan- uary 4, 1680, reached what is now Lake Peoria, in Illinois. From there, in February, he sent Hennepin and two companions to ex- plore the upper Mississippi. During this voyage Hennepin and the men accompanying him were taken by the Indians as far north as Mille Lacs. He also discovered St. Anthony Falls. Needing reinforcements, La Salle again returned to Canada. In January, 1682, with a band of followers, he started on his third and greatest expedition. February 6 they reached the Missis- sippi by way of Lake Michigan and the Illinois river, and March 6 discovered the three great passages by which the river dis- charges its waters into the Gulf. Two days later they re- ascended the river a short distance, to find a high spot out of the reach of inundations, and there erected a column and planted a cross, proclaiming with due ceremony the authority, of the king of France. Thus did the whole Mississippi valley pass under the nominal sovereignty of the French monarchs.
The first definite claim to the upper Mississippi is embodied in a paper, still preserved, in the colonial archives of France, entitled "The record of the taking possession, in his majesty's name, of the Bay des Puants (Green bay), of the lake and rivers of the Outagamis and Maskoutins (Fox river and Lake Winne-
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HISTORY OF REDWOOD COUNTY
bago), of the river Ouiskonche (Wisconsin), and that of the Mississippi, the country of the Nadouesioux (the Sioux or Da- kota Indians), the rivers St. Croix and St. Pierre (Minnesota), and other places more remote, May 8, 1689." (F. B. O'Calla- han's translation in 1855, published in Vol. 9, page 418, "Docu- ments Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York.") This claim was made by Perrot, and the proclamation is supposed to have been issued from Fort St. Antonie on the northeastern shore of Lake Pepin, about six miles from its mouth.
The previous proclamations of St. Lusson in 1671 at the out- let of Lake Superior, of De Luth, in 1679, at the west end of the same lake and at Mille Lacs, strengthened the French claims of sovereignty.
For over eight decades thereafter, the claims of France were, tacitly at least, recognized in Europe. In 1763 there came a change. Of this change A. N. Winchell (in Vol. 10, “Minnesota Historical Society Collections") writes: "The present eastern boundary of Minnesota, in part (that is so far as the Mississippi now forms its eastern boundary), has a history beginning at a very early date. In 1763, at the end of that long struggle during which England passed many a mile post in her race for world empire, while France lost nearly as much as Britain gained- that struggle, called in America, the French and Indian War- the Mississippi river became an international boundary. The articles of the definite treaty of peace were signed at Paris, on February 10, 1763. The seventh article made the Mississippi, from its source to about the 31st degree of north latitude, the boundary between the English colonies on this continent and the French Louisiana. The text of the article is as follows (Pub- lished in the "Gentleman's Magazine," Vol. 33, pages 121-126, March, 1763) :
"VII. In order to re-establish peace on solid and durable foundations, and to remove forever all subjects of dispute to the limits of the British and French Territories on the continent of America; that for the future the confines between the do- mains of his Britannic majesty and those of his most Christian majesty (the king of France) in that part of the world, shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn down the middle of the river Mississippi, from its source to the river Iberville, and from thence, by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and the Lake Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the sea." The boundary from the source of the river farther north, or west, or in any direction, was not given; it was evidently supposed that it would be of no importance for many centuries at least.
This seventh article of the definite treaty was identical with the sixth article in the preliminary treaty of peace signed by England, Spain and France, at Fontainebleau, November 3, 1762.
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On that same day, November 3, 1762, the French and Spanish representatives had signed another act by which the French king "ceded to his cousin of Spain, and his successors forever * * * all the country known by the name of Louisiana, including New Orleans and the island on which that city is situated." This agreement was kept secret, but when the definite treaty was signed at Paris the following year, this secret pact went into effect, and Spain at once became the possessor of the area described.
At the close of the Revolutionary War, the territory east of the Mississippi and north of the 31st parallel passed under the jurisdiction of the United States. By the definite treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, ratified at Paris, September 3, 1783, a part of the northern boundary of the United States, and the western boundary thereof was estab- lished as follows: Commencing at the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, and from thence on a due course west to the Mississippi river (the Mississippi at that time was thought to extend into what is now Canada), thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of said Mississippi river until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the 31st degree of north lati- tude. (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 8, page 82.)
In 1800, by the secret treaty of San (or Saint) Ildefonso (signed October 1), Spain receded the indefinite tract west of the Mississippi to France, which nation did not, however, take formal possession until three years later, when the formality was made necessary in order that the tract might be ceded to the United States. Napoleon, for France, sold the tract to the United States, April 30, 1803. The region comprehended in the "Loui- siana Purchase," as this area was called, included all the country west of the Mississippi, except those portions west of the Rocky mountains actually occupied by Spain, and extended as far north as the British territory.
By an act of congress, approved October 31, 1803, the presi- dent of the United States was authorized to take possession of this territory, the act providing that "all the military, civil, and judicial powers exercised by the officers of the existing govern- ment, shall be vested in such person or persons, and shall be exercised in such manner as the President of the United States shall direct." (United States Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, page 245.)
December 20, 1803, Louisiana was formally turned over to the United States at New Orleans, by M. Laussat, the civil agent of France, who a few days previous (November 30) had received a formal transfer from the representatives of Spain. Redwood county was included in the Louisiana purchase.
It will therefore be seen that the territorial claim of title
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HISTORY OF REDWOOD COUNTY
to Redwood county was first embraced in the paper grant to Spain, May 4, 1493. It was subsequently included in the indefi- nite claims made by Spain to lands north and northwest of her settlements in Mexico, Florida and the West Indies; by the English to lands west of their Atlantic coast settlements, and by the French to lands south, west and southwest of their Cana- dian settlements. The first definite claim to territory now em- bracing Redwood county was made by La Salle at the mouth of the Mississippi, March 8, 1682, in the name of the king of France, and the second (still more definite) by Perrot, nor far from the present site of Winona, May 8, 1689. This was also a French claim. France remained in tacit authority until Febru- ary 10, 1763, when, upon England's acknowledging the French authority to lands west of the Mississippi, France, by a previous secret agreement, turned her authority over to Spain. Octo- ber 1, 1800, Spain ceded the tract to France, but France did not take formal possession until November 30, 1803, and almost im- mediately, December 20, 1803, turned it over to the United States, the Americans having purchased it from Napoleon April 30 of that year.
March 26, 1804, the area that is now Redwood county was included in the widely spreading area of the Louisiana district, and so remained until March 3, 1805. From March 3, 1805, to June 4, 1812, it was a part of Louisiana territory. From June 4, 1812, until August 10, 1820, it was a part of Missouri territory. From August 10, 1821, until June 28, 1834, it was outside the pale of all organized government, except that congress had general jurisdiction. From June 28, 1834, to April 20, 1836, it was a part of Michigan territory. From April 20, 1836, to June 12, 1838, it was a part of Wisconsin territory. From June 12, 1838, to De- cember 28, 1846, it was a part of the territory of Iowa. The admission of Iowa as a state left what is now Redwood county without territorial affiliation until March 3, 1849, when Minne- sota was admitted as a territory. In the meantime, however, im- portant events were transpiring.
December 18, 1846, Morgan L. Martin, delegate for Wiscon- sin territory, gave notice to the house of representatives that at an early day he would ask leave to introduce a bill establishing a territorial government of Minnesota. The name which was the Sioux term for what was then the river St. Peter (Pierre) and has now become the official designation was, it is believed, ap- plied to the proposed territory at the suggestion of Joseph R. Brown. It is a composite word and while there is some differ- ence of opinion as to the exact meaning, the most generally accepted is "sky tinted water," which is a very satisfactory and poetical even if not accurate interpretation. The real meaning is blear water or cloudy water or milky water, the river at cer-
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tain stages in the early days having the appearance of what we now call a "mackerel sky." The bill was introduced in the lower house on December 23, 1846, by Mr. Martin. This bill was left to the committee on territories of which Stephen A. Doug- las of Illinois was the chairman. During its consideration by congress, the bill underwent various changes. After reported back to the house the name Minnesota had been changed by Mr. Douglas to Itasca! a word formed by taking syllables from the Latin words veritas caput, meaning the true head. Mr. Martin immediately moved that the name Minnesota be placed in the bill in place of Itasca. Congressman Winthrop proposed the name Chippewa, another from the word Ojibway, a tribe of Indians then inhabiting the northern part of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Congressman Thompson of Mississippi was opposed to all Indian names and wished the new territory named for Andrew Jackson. Congressman Houston of Delaware spoke strongly in favor of giving to the new territory the name of Washington. Of these proposed names only one, Washington, has been preserved as the name of a state or territory. After many months, counter motions and amendments, Minnesota was retained in the bill which with a minor change passed the house. In the senate it was rejected.
A second attempt was made two years later. January 10, 1848, Stephen A. Douglas, who having in the meantime been elected to the United States Senate from Illinois, became chair- man of the committee on territories in that body as he had previ- ously been in the house, gave due notice to the senate that "at a future day" he would introduce a bill to establish the territory of Minnesota. He brought in the bill February 23. It was sev- eral times read, was amended, referred to committee and dis- cussed, but congress adjourned August 14 without taking ulti- mate action on the proposition.
In the meantime Wisconsin was admitted to the Union May 29, 1848, and the western half of what was then St. Croix county was left outside the new state. The settled portions of the area thus cut off from Wisconsin by its admission to statehood privi- leges were in the southern part of the peninsula of land lying between the Mississippi and the St. Croix.
The people of this area were now confronted with a serious problem. As residents of the territory of Wisconsin they had enjoyed the privileges of citizenship in the United States. By the creation of the state of Wisconsin they were disfranchised and left without the benefits of organized government. Thus, Stillwater, which had been the governmental seat of a growing county (St. Croix), was left outside the pale of organized law. Legal minds disagreed on the question of whether the minor civil officers, such as justices of the peace, created under the
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HISTORY OF REDWOOD COUNTY
territorial organization, were still qualified to exercise the au- thority of their positions. At a meeting held at St. Paul, in July, 1848, the citizens of that (then) village considered the ques- tion of the formation of a new territory. August 5 a meet- ing of citizens of the area west of the St. Croix was held at Stillwater, and it was decided to call a general convention at that place, August 26, 1848, for a three-fold purpose: 1-To elect a territorial delegate to congress. 2-To organize a territory with a name other than Wisconsin. 3-To determine whether the laws and organization of the old territory of Wisconsin were still in effect now that a part of that territory was organized as a state. In the call for this meeting, the signers called them- selves, "We, the undersigned citizens of Minnesota territory." The meeting was held pursuant to the call. Action was taken in regard to the first proposition by the election of H. H. Sibley, who was authorized to proceed to Washington and use such ef- forts as were in his power to secure the organization of the ter- ritory of Minnesota. In regard to the second proposition, a memorial was addressed to the President of the United States, stating the reasons why the organization of Minnesota territory was necessary. The third proposition presented technical points worthy of the attention of the wisest legal minds. The state of Wisconsin had been organized, but the territory of Wisconsin had not been abolished. Was not, therefore, the territory still in existence, and did not its organization and its laws still prevail in the part of the territory that had not been included in the state? A letter from James Buchanan, then secretary of state of the United States, expressed this view in a letter. If the terri- torial government was in existence would it not give the resi- dents thereof a better standing before the nation in their de- sire to become Minnesota territory? Might not this technicality give the delegate a seat in congress when otherwise he must, as simply the representative of an unorganized area, make his requests in the lobby and to the individual members? John Catlin, who had been secretary of the territory of Wisconsin before the organization of that state, declared that the territory still existed in the area not included in the organized state and that he was the acting governor, Territorial Governor Henry Dodge having been elected United States Senator. Accordingly, the people of the cut-off portion organized as the "Territory of Wisconsin," and named a day for the election of a delegate, John H. Tweedy, the territorial delegate from Wisconsin, having gone through the form of resigning in order to make the new move possible. In the closely contested election held October 30, 1848, Sibley won out against Henry M. Rice and accordingly made his way to Washington, technically from the "Territory of Wisconsin," actually as a representative of the proposed terri-
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