History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 6

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998

USA > South Dakota > History of South Dakota, Vol. I > Part 6

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In 1695 the Fox Indians became hostile to the French and closed up the Fox-Wisconsin river route to the Mississippi river, thus cutting off the valuable trade of the Mississippi. It there- fore became necessary to find another route to the west and a way was opened from the head of Lake Superior, by way of the St. Croix, but the perennial warfare between the Chippewas and the Sioux rendered this route almost as dangerous as the Fox river. Therefore Fron- tenac sent out LeSener to negotiate a peace be- tween the hostile tribes and he was quite suc- cessful in his mission. In company with Nicolas Perrault, he built a fort near the mouth of the St. Croix and another at the mouth of the Wis- consin. It was at this time that he learned of the

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

"copper mine" at Mankato, one account stating that he found it while on a trip to the Indians of the Missouri. If this is true he must have visited South Dakota at this time. It seems to be quite clear that at this time he explored the Minnesota, to which he gave his own name, "St. Pierre." After this he returned to France where he was received with favor by the King and, under the patronage of L'Hullier, the farmer general in the King's household, he returned to America by way of the Gulf of Mexico and, passing up the Mississippi with a party of twenty men, went to the Blue Earth river, near where the city of Mankato, Minnesota, now stands, and there built a fort which he named for his patron and for two years traded with the Indians and mined the copper, which by the way proved to be not copper at all. While here his men made trips among the Indians for trade and in his ac- count he particularly speaks of trade with the Mahas (Omahas), who at that time are known to have lived on the Sioux, particularly at Sioux Falls and Flandreau. In addition to the Delsle map above mentioned, two other maps have been preserved, made upon the authority of Le- Seuer. Winsor has reproduced them in his Critical History of America, one as of 1702, the other as of 1763. Both of these maps show a route westward from LeSeuer's fort. In the first the route is marked "Indian track." In the sec- ond "French Track to the West." Bishop O'Gorman says: "The account made by him to the home government leaves no doubt that dur- ing his stay on the Blue Earth river, LeSeuer held intercourse with the South Dakota Indians and that his men went west to the prairies oc- cupied by them."

In 1742 the Canadian government sent out Verendrye to find a route to the Pacific. He traveled by way of the Great Lakes to Lake Winnepeg and thence by the Assinoboin to the Missouri and westward. The following is Bishop O'Gorman's account of this trip of Verendrye's: "January 1, 1743, they arrived as far as the Big Horn range, an outlaying buttress of the Rockies, about one hundred miles east of Yellowstone Park, and went no farther. Park-

man thinks it likely that they pushed across the Big Horn range and reached the Snake river. Another historian thinks they may have reached the site of Helena, Montana. The description of the explorers is too vague for exact geographical verification. At any rate they turned homeward without finding the object of their search. The direction they took and the time they took to travel brought them within two days' march of Pierre, South Dakota. Here are the words of their account: "We arrived March 15th among the band of the Little Cherry, who were when we found them two days' march from their camp on the Missouri. We left them on the 2d of April to their great regret. Traveling north and north- west, they arrived May 18th at the village of the Mandans, which is supposed to have been on or near the site of Fort Berthold, in North Dakota. Now Fort Berthold is northwest of Pierre about two hundred and forty miles. According to their account they did not go in a straight line, but sometimes headed north, now east and then again northeast. They were forty-five days on the trip from the point on the Missouri where they stayed with the Little Cherry people to Fort Berthold.

"Not far from Pierre is Cherry creek. Bands of Indians, then as now, often took their names from some physical feature of the country in- habited. 'Les gens de la petite Cerise,' is the French name given in the account ; 'the band of the Little Cherry.' I believe they were a band of the Sioux who lived on Cherry creek. Some day or other the exact spot may be found, for in the account I read: 'On an eminence near the fort (camp) I placed a leaden plate engraved with the arms and inscription of the king and some stones in the shape of a pyramid in honor of the general.'" I have no doubt of the correct- ness of Bishop O'Gorman's conclusions and take it as a settled fact that Verendrye is a duly re- corded explorer of South Dakota of 1743 and that he then claimed the soil for the King of France.

Two years later, 1745, the Canadian govern- ment determined to put a stop to the illegitimate trading of the courier du boise, who, without license and without paying tribute, were carrying

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

on an extensive trade with the western Indians, and to that end one DeLusigan was despatched to the Indian country to call in these "mendicant merchants." In pursuit of this object he visited Big Stone lake, and it is a fair presumption that he entered South Dakota, for time out of mind the principal Indian camps there have been on the South Dakota side. It may be noted in pass- ing that DeLusigan, after investigation, reported against the withdrawal of the courier du boise on the ground that they were keeping alive French sentiment among the Indians, in opposi- tion to the English, and thereupon the govern- ment not only adopted his view but actually used its influence to send others among the Indians.

From 1764 the French at St. Louis began trading "up the Missouri." There is very little of record to indicate how far up the river this trade extended, but it is certain that long before 1800 they were trading within the South Dakota territory. Loisell's post, a strong fortified trad- ing house, was built on Cedar island in the Mis- souri river, thirty-five miles below Pierre before 1796. Capt. Henry M. Chittenden, the well- known authority upon Missouri river history, considers this the earliest trading house in the Sioux country. The exact date of its establish-

ment is not known. In the fall of 1796 Trudeau, a St. Louis trader, established a house for trade with the Pawnees on the east bank of the Mis- souri and a little above the site of Fort Randall. This was also a strongly palisaded post and trade was continued in it for twenty years. To com- press then into a paragraph the conclusions re- lating to the exploration of South Dakota prior to the nineteenth century it may be said that it is highly improbable that South Dakota was ex- plored by the Spaniards in the early portion of the sixteenth century, or that any white man saw our land during that century at all. That it is equally as improbable that Radisson and Groseil- lers visited the South Dakota territory at any time. That it is quite possible that white men, employes of LeSeuer and LeMoyne, visited Sioux Falls in 1683, and very probable that Le- Sener's men were here to trade in 1700, and that it is also possible that LeSeuer visited South Dakota in person about 1695. That Verendrye was certainly here in 1742 and that DeLusigan visited our borders in 1745. That the French had established a general fur trade in our territory and had built two strong posts here prior to 1800. That so far as is yet developed all other reputed explorations are based on conjecture.

CHAPTER V

SUCCESSIVE SOVEREIGNTIES.

The political history of the territory com- prised within South Dakota is as interesting as it is diversified. One of the old opera bouffe kingdoms of the continent, kicked about like a foot ball between contending monarchs of more powerful neighbor states, could not have had a more diverse line of sovereigns claiming title to the soil. Primarily the native Indian tribes were as tenacious as any of their white successors in claiming and maintaining their rights in the ownership of the land and, as has been seen, these rights were successively asserted by the Rees, Omahas and Dakotas, the latter holding on through every change and condition until they made relinquishment to the United States in very recent years through regular and formal treaties of purchase and sale ; while to this day they hold and occupy large sections of the state by virtue of their never relinquished claims dating back to a time when the memory of men runneth not to the contrary.

All of the Dakota country was claimed by the Spaniards, by reason of the discoveries of Co- lumbus, supplemented and confirmed by the ex- pedition of Coronado in 1542. Spain, however, did nothing in the way of furnishing exploration or colonization to make good her claim and allowed the entire Western country to lie vacant for more than one hundred years, when the French from Canada way began to send out traders and missionaries and had by the be- ginning of the eighteenth century pushed her en- terprises clear into the Dakota field. We have

seen how LeSeuer, under the direct patronage of the French court, had in 1699 come to our frontier, if he did not, as he most probably did, enter wholly upon South Dakota soil. We have no record that he made an express claim of our soil for France, but France did claim a general supervision over the entire Mississippi valley and such enterprises as LeSeuer's were esteemed to involve ownership.

On September 17, 1742, the King of France made an express grant of all the territory lying between the Alleghany and the Rocky mountains to Anthony Crozat, a merchant of Paris, for a period of sixteen years. The French grant to Crozat, made by Louis XIV, is as follows : "We did in the year 1683 give our orders to undertake the discovery of the countries which are situated in the northern part of America, between New France and New Mexico, *

* and whereas, upon information we have received concerning the disposition and situation of the said countries known at present by the name of Province of Louisiana, we are of opinion that there may be a considerable commerce established therein, we have resolved to grant the commerce of that country of Louisiana to the Sieur Anthony Crozat, and do appoint the said Sieur Crozat solely to carry on a trade, in all the lands possessed by us and bounded by New Mexico and by the lands of the English Carolina; the river St. Lewis, heretofore called Mississippi, from the edge of the sea, as far as the Illinois, together with the river St. Philip, heretofore

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

called the Misourys; with all the countries, ter- ritories, lakes within land, and all rivers which fall directly or indirectly into that part of the river St. Lewis." This grant indicates that at this date France claimed absolute sovereignty of the entire South Dakota country. Crozat soon found that he had made a bad bargain and five years later was glad to relinquish his claim. Thereupon the King made the land over to John Law's famous Mississippi Company and there was a good deal of activity, but there is no record that it reached to the Dakota country. The French activity, however, excited the Spaniards to reassert their claim and an expedition was sent from Santa Fe against the French on the Mis- sissippi and lower Missouri. The enterprise was. however, a disastrous failure. The Spanish plan was to excite the Osage Indians to make war upon the Missouris, the latter tribe being in alli- ance with the French. Through a mistake the Spaniards were led directly to the Missouris in- stead of the Osages and the entire party, with one exception, were massacred. This circum- stance led the French to build a fort at the mouth of the Missouri in 1720. In 1732 the Mississippi bubble burst and the French sovereign then reassumed control of Louisiana and gov- erned it directly through a governor-general, who resided at New Orleans.

L'p to this date the possession and sovereignty of the Dakota country by the French was purely constructive, but, as we have previously seen, on March 15, 1742, Verendrye entered upon the South Dakota soil at a point near the center of the state and took actual possession of the same in the name of the King of France and as a testimonial planted a leaden plate engraved with the arms of France. From that event there is no question of the actual, choate right of sover- eignty, in France, over the Dakota land until the same was relinquished by the treaty with Spain, made twenty years later.

About 1762 France was having difficulties which were keeping her ingenuity taxed to main- tain her position among the nations. It was a time of which it has been said. "All the world was at war," and France was getting much the

worst of the bad bargain which Europe was making, and in which all America was involved. The Seven Years war was drawing to a close and the case of France was desperate. To draw Spain more fully to her support she entered into a secret treaty by which she deeded to Spain New Orleans and all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi river, which of course included all of South Dakota. In consideration of this session Spain agreed with the French that for the future she would consider every power her enemy which was the enemy of France. So it was, in the language of Carlyle, that France, "beaten, stript, humiliated, sinful, unrepentant, collapsed like a creature whose limbs fail under it," and gave up the soil of the Dakotas to the scarcely less pitiable dons of Spain. The description and boundaries ceded by France to Spain were indefinite and ob- scure and have never been defined. This treaty was kept secret until after the publication of the treaty of Paris, two years later. Its boundaries were assumed to be the same as those of the grant to Crozat of 1712, so far as the west line was concerned. Under this treaty Spain held possession of South Dakota for forty-one years, though she relinquished her rights and retroceded the province to France two years sooner, that is, in 1800. It was during this period and probably about 1770 that the first regular trade was car- ried up the Missouri as high as South Dakota, though there is no definite record of such trade until about 1796, when the Loisell post was found in operation and the' Trudeau post was built.

In 1800, on the Ist day of October, by the treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain retroceded Louisi- ana-including South Dakota-to France. The consideration for this trade was a personal one. The Duke of Parma married the daughter of the King of Spain and was anxious to secure for himself the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, that he might be raised to the dignity of a king, and Na- poleon, then First Consul, agreed to help him out if Spain would give up Louisiana. Now the American possessions had been a source of ex- pense and endless trouble to Spain, and the King gladly assented to this arrangement and the quit-

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HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

claim was made. The retrocession is in the fol- lowing words: "His Catholic Majesty promises and engages to retrocede to the French Republic the colony or province of Louisiana with the same extent as it now has in the hands of Spain and that it had when France possessed it." This, it will be seen, is no more definite than the former description, but there is no doubt that South Dakota was a part of the property. It was at- tempted to keep this deal a secret, but it soon leaked out and in his message to congress, in December, 1802, Mr. Jefferson comments upon it and, as we were not having very amicable rela- tions with France at that time, he was not par- ticularly pleased with our change of western neighbors.

At this period it was the general sentiment that the United States should have joint control with Spain, or after the retrocession, with France, of the navigation of the Mississippi and that we should have a piece of ground big enough to ac- commodate a commercial city at the mouth of the river, our first hope being to secure New Orleans for that city, and for that purpose Messrs. Livingstone and Monroe were sent to France as envoys, to negotiate the cession desired. Their instructions did not exceed power to pay a sum, not more than two million dollars, for the rights demanded, including the cession of Florida.

I have stated that Livingstone and Monroe were sent as envoys ; the fact is that Mr. Living- stone was the regular American minister to Paris and Mr. Monroe was sent to assist him in ne- gotiating for the session of New Orleans and the right to navigate the Mississippi to its mouth. Sometime during the winter Monroe sailed for France, where he arrived about the middle of April. Neither Monroe or Livingstone dreamed that they could accomplish more than they had been commissioned to do, but to their surprise Barbe Marbois, Napoleon's minister of the treas- ury, and a strong friend of America,-he had rendered us valuable aid during the revolutionary struggle,-was in 1779 secretary of the French legation to the confederated government, and while here had married an American girl,-came to them with a proposition to sell to them not only

New Orleans, but all of Louisiana as well. In fact Tallyrand had indicated such a possibility to Livingstone some days earlier, but had after- wards told him that his suggestion was un- authorized. At this time war between Napoleon and England was inevitable, Louisiana was ex- posed and it appeared probable that England's first move would be to descend upon New Orleans with her fleet and take possession of the Mississippi valley. Napoleon, too, was in dire need of money. He considered Louisiana as good as lost in any case. If he could get any- thing out of it, it was something found. If he could transfer it to America he would cut Eng- land off from a valuable possession. So the treaty was made and our envoys engaged to pay France in six per cent. bonds of the United States the sum of $11,250,000, and to undertake to satisfy claims of American citizens against France to the extent of approximately $3.750,000, or in all about one-eighth of the value of the annual production of new wealth in South Dakota alone, at this time. This treaty was signed on April 30, 1803, and was duly ratified by congress the next October and in due course the land passed into our possession.

The granting clause of the treaty is as fol- lows: "Whereas, By the article the third of the treaty concluded at St. Ildefonso, the ninth Vendimarre, au 9 (Ist October, 1800), between the First Consul of the French Republic and his Catholic Majesty, it was agreed as follows: His Catholic Majesty promises and engages on his part to retrocede to the French Republic, six months after the full and entire executions of the conditions- and stipulations herein relative to his highness, the Duke of Parma, the colony or province of Louisiana with the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it; and such as it should have after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other states ; and

"Whereas, in pursuance of the treaty, and particularly the third article, the French Re- public has an incontestable title to the domain and the possession of the said territory ; the First Consul of the French Republic desiring to give to

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

the United States a strong proof of friendship, doth hereby cede to the United States, in the name of the French Republic, forever and in full sovereignty, the said territory with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the same manner as they have been acquired by the French Republic in virtue of the above named treaty concluded with his Catholic Majesty."

Livingstone and Monroe, in their anxiety to close the deal, did not deem it wise to scrutinize the title too closely, but after the papers were signed they called attention to the fact that the description of the big farm they had purchased, as set down in the deed, was a little obscure, to say the least. Marbois admitted this fact and took the treaty to Napoleon. "Sire," he said, "there is difficulty in reaching a definite con- clusion as to the boundary. There is a regrettable obscurity in the description." The conscience of Napoleon was in no wise disturbed. "If an ob- scurity does not already exist it will no doubt be good policy to put one there," he replied. Livingstone then went to Talleyrand: "What are the eastern boundaries of Louisiana?" asked Livingstone. "I do not know." replied Tallev- rand. "You must take it as we received it." "But what did you mean to take?" said Livingstone. "I do not know," replied Talleyrand. "Then you mean we shall construe it our own way?" said Livingstone again, to which Talleyrand answered, "I can give you no direction. You have made a noble bargain and I suppose you will make the most of it."

Though we have since, 'in one way or another, obtained title to all of the territory adjoining Louisiana both east and west, so that it is no longer material, it is still an interesting fact that to this day we do not know what we got when we bought. Louisiana from Napoleon Bonaparte. Our troubles too were not over. While France declared she was in possession of the property, as a matter of fact Spain still was in possession and promptly protested against the sale to the United States, as being in contravention of an express provision of the treaty of St. Ildefonso and that the treaty of cession was void. She did not, however, do anything to make her protest

effective and meekly gave way when the time for the transfer came, giving over the possession for- mally to France, and that government making formal transfer at once to the United States. While the people only expected to secure the navigation of the Mississippi and a town site at the mouth, and while our envoys went to France with no other idea than to obtain the concessions named, there is no doubt that the far-seeing mind of Jefferson was contemplating the ultimate acquisition of all of Louisiana and he commenced to lay plans for the same several months before the suggestion for a sale came from Napoleon through Marbois. With characteristic astuteness he concealed his real purpose, but in the light of subsequent developments there can be scarcely any doubt of his object. It is probable that he foresaw the very conditions which induced Napoleon to transfer the great province to us. On January 18, 1803, fully three months before any suggestion of a transfer came from Napoleon, Jefferson sent a special message to congress relating to trade among the western tribes of Indians, in the Ohio valley. After fully discuss- ing this subject he continues :

The river Missouri and the Indians inhabiting it are not as well known as is rendered desirable by their connection with the Mississippi, and consequent- ly with us. It is, however, understood that the country on that river is inhabited by numerous tribes who furnish great supplies of furs to the trade of another nation carried on in a high latitude through an in- finite number of portages and lakes shut up by ice through a long season. The commerce on that line could bear no competition with that of the Missouri, traversing a temperate climate, offering according to best accounts a continued navigation from its source and possibly with a single portage from the western ocean, and finding to the Atlantic a choice of channels through the Illinois, or Wabash, the lakes and Hudson; through the Ohio and Susquehanna, or Potomac or James rivers and through the Tennessee and Savannah rivers. An intelligent officer with ten or twelve chosen men, fit for the enterprise and will- ing to undertake it, taken from our posts where they can be spared, without inconvenience, might explore the whole line even to the western ocean, have con- ference with the natives on the subject of commercial intercourse, get admission among them for our trad- ers as others are admitted, agree upon convenient

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

deposits for an interchange of articles and return with the information acquired in the course of two summers. Their arms and accoutrements, a few in- struments of observation and light and cheap articles for presents for the Indians would be all the ap- paratus they could carry and with the expectation of a soldier's portion of land on their return would con- stitute the whole expense. Their pay would be going on whether there or here. While other civilized na- tions have encountered great expense to enlarge the boundaries of knowledge by undertaking voyages of discovery and for other literary purposes, in various parts and directions, our nation seems to owe to the same ohjects as well as to our own interests to ex- plore this, the only easy line of communication across the continent and so directly traversing our own part of it. The interests of commerce place the principal

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 6

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 998

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998