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1852 

1730244 



REYNOLDS HISTORICAL 
GENEALOGY COLLECTION 



ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 




[ 3 1833 01053 2080 



ANNALS 



^F THE 



JVrmNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY : 



IS 52 ; 



CONTAINING 



THE ANNUAL ADDRESS, 



BY 



J. H. SIMPSON, 

FIRST LIEUT. CORPS U. S. TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGIWEERS J 

AND OTHER PAPERS. 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL. 



ST- PAUL: 

OWENS & MOORE, PRINTERS, 

MINNESOTIAN OFFICE. 



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2 

02 



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X 



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1730244 

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



^ ' ANNUAL PROCEEDINGS. 

^ 



The Minnesota Historical Society held its annual meeting in the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, of St. Paul, on the evening of January 19th, 1852. 

Gov. AlexxVnder Ramsey was in the chair, assisted by the Vice Presidents the 
Hon. Martin McLeod, of Lac-qui-Parle, and David Olmsted, of Lono- Pra'ii 
The Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D., of Kaposia, opened the meeting with prayer. 

The Secretary of the Society presented the following 



Tie. 



ANNUAL REPORT. 



So much of the property of the Society, as was included in the list, published in 
x^ t-be Annals of '51, has been placed in the hands of the present Secretary, with the ex- 

fv ception of an Indian saddle, a Description of Lake Superior, by Agassiz and his com- 

I pagnons du voyage, and the History of the Black Hawk War, by John A. Wake- 

N FIELD. 

The following works not before reported, have been presented to the Society : 



N field 

I 

5 



Documentary History of New York, 3 vols. Congressional Globe, 5 vols. 

Smithsonian Publications, vol. 2d. Transactions American Institute, 1846. 

Magnetic and Meteor. Observations, Girard Transactions N. Y. Agricultural Society 

College, 3 vols. 1843, 

^ Sundry pamphlets illustrative of Vermont. Transactions N. Y, Agricultural Society, 

Charts of the coast of California. 1846. 

Memoirs of the Historical Society of Penn- Diary of C. Marshall, vol. 1. 

sylvania, vol. 4, part 2. Minnesota Year Book, 12 copies. 



DAKOTA LEXICON. 

The prospectus for publishing a Dakota Lexicon, issued by the Society immediately 
after its last annual meeting, was well received by our citizens, and in a very short 
time the desired amount of subscription was obtained. 

Some months ago, a letter was received from the Secretary of the Smithsonian In- 
stitution, making proposals for issuing the work in connection with this Society. After 
consultation with his friends, the Rev. Mr, Riggs, who prepared the manuscript, ac- 
cepted the ofier. 

The Lexicon is now passing through the press, in New York city. It will be a 
handsome quarto of about 700 pages, and will find its way to the shelves of the libra- 
ries of the principal institutions of science in Europe and America ; and will be of ma- 
terial assistance in giving Minnesota an honorable name abroad, and in perpetuating 
the name of her ancient people, who for so many years have lived upon tlie banks of 
the sky-colored water, from which the Territory has derived her name. 

It is suggested that steps be immediately taken for the immediate collection of the 
subscriptions for the Lexicon, that are now due. 

All which is submitted. 

E. D. NEILL, Secretary. 
Saint Paul, January 19th 1852. 



St. Paul, M. T., Jan. 27, 1862. 
Dear Sir; 

The Minnesota Historical Society have requested me to express their gratification, in listening to the Interest- 
ing narrative of a tour in the Navajo country, which you read at the annual meeting on the 19th Inst. 
In behalf of the Executive Council, I would ask that you will give the manuscript for publication. 

Very truly yours, 

E. D. NEILL. 

Lt. J. H. Simpson, 
T. E. Corps, U. S. A. 



St. Paul, Jan. 29, 1852. 
Rev'd. and Dear Sir: 

Tour note of the 27th instant, Informing me of the gratification with which the narrative I read 
on the 19th Instant, of a reconnoisance in the Navajo country, was received by the Minnesota Historical Society, and re- 
questing of me the manuscript for publication, I have had the honor to receive. 

It is certainly very gratifying to know that any effort of mine, to interest the Society, has met with the favor of ita 
members ; and if the publication of the narrative will, in any way, further subserve the interests of the Society, the man- 
WBcrlpt is at its disposal. Tou will find It herewith inclosed. 

I am, dear sir, very resp'y. 

Tour ob't. servant, 

J. H SIMPSON, 
1st Lieut. Corps Top. Engr'«. 

EeT'd. B. D. Neill, ) 
SicSy. Min. HU. Soclaty. i 



ANxNUAL ADDRESS. 



Members of the .Minnesota Historical Society — Ladies and Gentlemen: 

I appear before you more on account, as I fear, the partiality of my friends, than 
on account of any great profit which may accrue to you from any thing I may have to 
say. I could wish that some one else, among the many competent gentlemen I now 
see before me, had been selected for the duty with which I have been entrusted • but 
having been requested to contribute something to the entertainment of the society, I 
have not felt at liberty to decline. 

The society, whose objects we are now met together to promote, has for its chief 
end, the record and elucidation of facts and incidents connected with the historv, past 
and passing, of the territory whose name it bears ; but it has also, if I err not, thouo-h 
in a subordinate degree, the preservation and illustration of the like kind of informa- 
tion in regard to any other portion of our common country, if by such information the 
quantum of knowledge can be increased, and the mind and heart be correspondino-ly 
enlarged and improved. It is in accordance with these views, therefore, and because 
the Executive Committee have not restricted me in my subject, that I have ventured to 
go out of the track of my predecessors, who have addressed the society, and slialltake 
as the subject of my address, this evening, the main incidents connected with an ex- 
pedition into the Navajo country, made in 1849, by a command under the direction of 
Col. Jno. M. Washington, the then military and civil governor of New Mexico ; to 
which command I was attached as topographical engineer officer. 

On the 16th of August, 1849, might have been seen, starting out from Santa Fe, 
a number of troops, (artillery and infantry,) their commander-in-chief beino- Col. 
Washington, the then military and civil governor of New IMexico. The destination 
of these troops was the heart of the Navajo country, situated near 300 miles to the 
west of Santa Fe, and on the western slope of the chain of mountains called the 
Mexican Cordilleras. The object of the expedition was to coerce the Navajos into a 
compliance with a treaty which they had made with the United States, three years pre- 
vious, under Col. Nuby of the volunteers ; and at the same time extend the provisions 
of the treaty, so that they would be put in the same relation lo the government of the 
United States, as the tribes conterminous to our old western frontier are, to wit : the 
Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees, Seminoles, Wlnnebagoes and others. 

Our route lay for the first thirty miles — as far as the Pueblo of Santa Domingo — about 
southwest ; thence to the Canon of Chelly, the terminus of the expedition, for a dis- 
tance of 250 miles, its general course was north of west. 

The Rio de Santa Fe, upon which the city of Santa Fe stands, runs southwest- 
Avardly into the Rio Grande, the distance being by the Rio de Santa Fe about thirty miles. 
Our route to Santa Domingo — which town lies on the Rio Grande, but about four miles 
below the mouth of the Rio de Santa Fe — lay generally along this latter river, six 
miles of the way being in the canon of the river. This term canon is one of Spanish 
derivation, and is applied, most generally to a deep valley or chasm, enclosed by pre- 
cipitous walls. It is sometimes, however, used to designate also a shallow valley without 
enclosing walls, but not often. This canon I found interesting, from its being the 
first I had seen where the enclosing walls discovered a capping or crown of amygdal- 
vod, a trappcan rock approaching in character to lava, from which it seems to differ 



6 ANNAI.:; UF lUli MIN'NKi^OTA UL^TulllCAI. SOCIETY. 

only in belnp less \ esicular. 'IMiis trap rock showed eminently, in particular locali- 
ties, the hlackcninji;. scoriaceous eflVct of iire; the basis being, in some places, an 
under formation ot an ashy character; in others, a reddish porphyritic rock, in 
bods sli^'htly dipping towards the cast. At the mouth of the canon, I noticed a well- 
defined ash-colored formation of an argillo-selicious character, disposed in layers; the 
whole presenting witli striking clVcct 'the appearance of an highly finished piece of 
Grecian architecture, with its' extended facade. This object cannot fail to attract the 
notice of the traveller. The canon having been passed through, seven miles more, over 
the valley of the Rio Crande. brought us to the Pueblo of Santa Domingo, situated di- 
rectly on the cast bank of river. 

This term, pmblo, is one, which in New Mexico, is only used as a prefix to desig- 
nate a Christianized Indian \ illage. Thus, there is the Pueblo de Jemez ; the Pueblo 
de Zuni ; the Pueblo de San Felipe, and eighteen other Indian towms or villages hay- 
ing this prelix ; its purpose being, not only to designate the several places to which it 
is attached as towns, which is the primary and usual meaning of the word, but also 
to convey the idea that they arc civilized Indian towns. 

Having reached one of these pueblos, it Is proper that I should give you some idea 
of it, as the same description will suffice in the main for all the other pueblos. Imag- 
ine to yourselves, then, a number of square masses oC sun-dried mud, arranged along 
three or four parallel streets, running perpendicularly to the Rio Grande ; each one of 
these masses being about nine Ject high. Place upon these another set of square blocks 
of mud of the sartie height, but of lateral dimensions, so diminished that the top of the 
under blocks will answer as terraces, or platforms for entry into the upper. Perfo- 
rate the fronts of these square, block-like structures, with a number of very small 
doors and windows ; the doors being confined entirely, and the windows almost entire- 
ly to the upper story. Put in Ihc windows, for lights, the foliated form of gypsum, 
called selenite. Cover the whole structure with a roof almost ilat, made up of logs 
laid from one side wall to the other; these logs supporting a layer of brush or slabs, 
and these again a layer about six inches thick of mud. Place against every building, 
a long crooked ladder, diis being the mode of approach to the interior of the houses. 
Surround the whole aggregated mass with an investment of sheep and goat pens ; the 
i'ences made of pickets of every kind of length, and as stragglingly planted together 
as they well could be. Divest the whole locale of the town of every sign of a shade 
tree, and of the slightest appearance of any thing green. Bring all these objects to- 
gether in the mind's eye, and you have a picture of Santa Domingo, as it appeared to 
me ; and generally a picture of all the other pueblos ; though some of them, as the 
Pueblo of Zuni, have houses which are three stories high ; and the Pueblo of Taos, 
I have been assured, have them as many as seven stories. 

The Indians, inhabiting these pueblos in New Mexico, have been esitimaied at about 
10,000 souls. "What the late census has determined the precise number to be, I liave 
not learned. They profess the Roman Catholic faith, but show little or no evidence of 
their being practically strong in the belief of it. Tliey are an agricultural people ; and 
in all the elements, moral and physical, which indicate a reliable, pains-taking, reflect- 
ive people, they are superior to their Spanish Mexican neighbors. A very singular 
fact, which I am enabled to prove by a comparative vocabulary of their several languages, 
which I prepared from original sources, when I was among them, is, that though they 
number but about 10,000 souls, and live williinthe limited area of but a small fractional 
portion of New Mexico, they have as many as six distinct languages obtaining amono- 
them ; no one showing any thing more than the faintest, if indeed any indications, of a 
cognate origin with the other. This certainly is a most remarkable j'act, and deserves 
more attention from the ethnologist, than it has yet received. It is true that the Eno-lish 
author, Iluxton, in his " Mexico and the Rocky Mountains," asserts that these Indians all 
belong to the same family — the Apache — and speak dialects of the same language, more 
or less approximating to the Apache ; they all understanding, as he remarks, each oth- 
er's tongue. The fact, however, is just the reverse of all this. No one of the pueblo 
Indians, speaking a particular language, can, unless he has been specially taught^ speak 
the language of another pueblo, unless indeed they happen to hare the same language, 
which is somotimos the case. And this same vocabulary, which I got up, shows as con- 



' ANNUAL ADDRESS— BY LIEUT. J. H. SBIPSON. f 

clusively, that in not the slightest dceree does tlie Jljmche dialect, apjiroximate to 
either of the dialects of the pueblos. How Ruxton could have fallen into so gross an 
error, a member of an ethnological society, as he avows himself to be, in the titlepage 
of his work, is more than I can fathom. The American author, Gregg, too, in his in- 
valuable work, entitled "The Commerce of the Prairies," has fallen into an error in 
regard to this matter. He says, " There is but three or I'our different languages spoken 
among the pueblos of New Mexico, and these indeed, may be distinctly allied to each 
other." It is not often, however, that Gregg can be caught napping with regard to the 
statements which he makes ; and there is no work on New Mexico, to which I would 
sooner refer the student for information in relation to its early history and progress, 
trade and commerce, the manners and customs of this people, than his. 

The Pueblo of Santa Domingo having been described, and some remarks made in 
regard to the pueblos generally, we will proceed Avith the narrative of the expedition. 
The next step in our progress, after passing through Santa Domingo, was to cross the 
Rio Grande, or, as it is known most generally in New Mexico, the Rio del Norte, or 
North River ; because it descends from that direction. This river is a swift, turbid 
stream, its bed being full of sand bars, and so shallow that no attempt has ever been 
made, or probably ever will be made, as high as this point, to use it for navigable pur- 
poses. Its width, where we crossed it, was about 300 yards ; its banks but a foot or 
two above the surface of the water, and its bottom full of quick-sands. These quick- 
sands are a frequent characteristic of the streams of the plains, and nf New Mexico; 
and in order to the fording of them with safety, it is necessary to traverse them as 
quickly as possible to prevent being absorbed by them. And now, while I am speak- 
ing of this river, I will mention a tradition respecting it, which will be found in Baron 
Hurtiboldt's work, entitled "• Essai Politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne," 
vol. II. 

" The inhabitants of Paso del Norte," says he, "preserve the recollection of a very ex- 
traordinary event, which took place in 1752. They noticed all at once the whole bed of 
the river to become dry for thirty leagues above, and more than twenty below the pass ; 
the water of the river precipitated itself into a new crevasse, and did not appear above 
ground again until it reached the neighborhood of San Elezario. This loss of the Rio 
del Norte, lasted quite a long time. The beautiful country which surrounds El Paso, 
and which is traversed by small irrigating canals, remained without being watered ; the 
inhabitants dug wells in the sand, of which the bed of the river is full. At length, af- 
ter many weeks, the water was seen to resume its old bed ; without doubt, because the 
crevasse and subteranean passages- had become blocked up." Such is a translation of 
his account of the tradition. Now, if such a tradition had obtained among the people 
of New Mexico, in the time of Humboldt's explorations, it is something singular, that 
the traveller in that region hears nothing of if at this day. But even admittingthat the 
river did lose itself, as Humboldt has stated, — and it is a phenomena of no unfrequent 
occurrence in the streams of that country, — it is not necessary to go so far for a plau- 
sible theory to account for it, as to suppose that a subteranean channel must have sud- 
denly opened, and after remaining so tor some time, as suddenly closed. The simple 
circumstance, that the bed of the Rio del Norte appears to be nothing but pure sand, and 
that to an unknown depth, is of itself, in connection Avith an unusual drought, sufficient 
to account for it. A season of great drought might have occurred, which would have 
produced a corresponding diminution in the volume of water coursing the bed of the Rio 
Grande, and the quick-sand bottom of the river might, in places, have absorbed the water 
to such a degree, as to cause it to appear lost, or to have found a new passage ; and 
thus the phenomenon be accounted for. Indeed, the streams in New Mexico are gen- 
erally, for a portion of the year, lost in this way. The Rio Puerco, for instance, which, 
on the maps, figures as a stream of more than one hundred miles in length, I have cross- 
ed four times near its mouth, and not found a particle of water in its bed ; whilst at 
the same time, high up, it was a running stream ; all produced, without doubt, by the 
same causes which 1 have already given in respect to the Rio Grande. 

But I must pass on to the Pueblo de Jemez, twenty-six miles northwest of Santa 
Domingo. To get to this Indian town, we had to cross over a very rugged country, 
composed principally of sand hills, divested of any verdure except that of a dwarf 



8 ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

species of cciiar. sparsely scattered, and not Turnisliing a particle of water the whole 
distance. The Pueblo ol Jemez, reached, we encamped in its vicinity four days ; the 
object being to perfect the arrangements for a change in our mode of transportation. 
Thus far. we had been enabled to bring our wagons ; but now, it became necessary, on 
account of the broken and mountainous character of the country through which we 
were to pass, to pack our supplies upon mules. The delay necessary for this, ena- 
bled us to examine the curiosities around us. Among other things, it had been report- 
ed that about nine miles above us, in the valley of the Rio Jemez, were some springs 
which were remarkable for the high temperature of their waters. Of course, so fa- 
vorable an opjiortunity of visiting them was not to be allowed to slip by unimproved. 
So one fair morning! after breakfast, several of us started off in search of them, 
the . lieutenant governor of Jemez, a swarthy pueblo Indian, accompanying us as a 
guide. Ever and anon as we threaded the valley of the Rio Jemez, we saw ruined 
adobe buildings, which the guide informed us had once been inhabited by the Mexicans ; 
but which they had deserted for fear of the Navajos. The springs, we found as rep- 
resented, about twelve miles above Jemez. They are all confined to an area of a few 
square feet ; the principal one issuing from the bottom of a secondary channel of the 
river Jemez. The small knoll or tumulus from which this principal one emerges, 
seems to partake of both a calcareous and basaltic character. The volume of water 
which flowed from it, I estimated at a gallon and a half per minute. This spring, as 
well as the others, exhibited, about its mouth, a limited accumulation of chrystaline 
depositc ; which, on account of its fine grained character and hardness, I supposed to 
be travertine. The complexion of the deposite was white, with a shade of greenish 
yellow. Having brought with us some eggs and venison for the purpose of testing 
the reported culinary powers of the springs, we immersed them into the fluid. The 
consequence was, that in about fifteen minutes. -we had, to the bread and cheese we had 
brought with us, an accession of some hard-boiled eggs and some cooked venison, upon 
which we made a very satisfactory repast. The time it took to cook the articles 
would doubtless have been much less, had the bowl of the fountain admitted the per- 
fect immersion of them, and the fixture of a cover, by means of which the heat evolv- 
ed in the evaporation could have been retained. But even as it Avas, the temperature 
of the water, on plunging into it the thermometer of Faranheit, was found to be as 
high as 169°, a point at this high atmospheric elevation, (7,000 feet above the ocean,) 
about 15^ below the boiling point of water. What the cause of this high temperature 
is, is as yet a question unsolved. It may be that it is occasioned by subteranean fires, 
of which there are many indications in New Mexico. Or it may be the result of 
chemical combination, taking place in the bowels of the earth ; this combination being 
attended with the evolution of latent caloric, which may be the cause of the thermal 
condition of the springs. 

These springs are said, in diseases of a cutaneous or rheumatic kind, to possess prop- 
erties of a highly curative character ; and it doubtless is on this account that the ar- 
bors which we noticed over some of them, had been erected. They had been construc- 
ted to shade the invalid from a hot sun, and at the same time permit him to enjoy the 
luxury of a warm bath. 

The hot springs, or Ojos Calienies, as they are called in Spanish, having been suffi- 
ciently examined, we returned to regale ourselves with the other objects of interest 
about us. Among other matters which I might detail here, at some length, I could 
say something of the Pecos Indians, a peculiar tribe, of whom mention is made in 
Gregg's "Commerce of the Prairies," and in Emory's Notes of a " Reconnoisance in 
New Mexico;" but the other topics which I wish to introduce in this address, make 
it necessary for me to be brief in relation to them. This people, Hosta, the governor 
of Jemez, informed me, were the only people who spoke the same language his people 
did. He also went on to inform me that when he was but a lad, the Spaniards haras- 
sing them (the people of Old Pecos,) very much, and killing the old man and his 
daughter who had had the charge of the sacred fire of Montezuma ; and it thus ceasing 
they asked and obtained permission from his people to come and live among them. 
And not only did they grant them permission to do this, but sent out persons with 
carts to assist them get in their crops and transport them to their new abode. At present, 



ANTfUAL ADDRESS — BY LIEUT. J. H. SLMPSON. 9 

he informed me, they had dwindled down to but eighteen souls, fifteen of whom were 
then living in his town. Their religion, though like that of the people of Jemez, in 
essentials, differed somewhat in its rites. They, however, both worshipped Montezu- 
ma as God, as indeed do all the other pueblos. They also worshipped the sun, moon 
and fire ; the moon, Hosta calling the captain of the night, and the sun the great cap- 
tain, because, as he said, when he arose he put away all the children of the night. 
To the question which was put to one of the Jemez Indians, " Whether they wor- 
shipped the sun as God with contrition of heart," his reply was, " Why not"? He 
governs the world !" They all regard themselves as the children of Montezuma, and 
Hosta informed me a tradition had been long current among them that they would one 
day be delivered from their Mexican bondage by a people which would come from the 
East ; and that in consequence of the good treatment they had received from the 
Americans, they were beginning to believe that they were that people. 

The pack mule arrangement for the transportation of our supplies, being complete, and 
an accession of fifty-five pueblo Indians, and one company of Mexican foot troops, being 
made to our force, we left Jemez on the 22d of January, in the prosecution of our march; 
our whole force numbering, inclusive of the Mexican mounted militia, which joined us 
that or the succeeding day, and the employees in the quartermaster's department, about 
400 men. Our route lay north of west, through the Canon de Penasca ; across the 
Rio Puerco, mention of which has already been made ; through the Canon de la Copa, 
or Cup Canon, so called on account of the cup-like rocks which are to be seen in its 
walls ; over the Sien-a Madre, sometimes called Sieri'a de los Mimbres, but more fre- 
quently known among Americans as the Cordilleras ; which persons are apt to believe 
is a serrated, jagged mountain, as its name, Sierra (serrated) would seem to imply, 
but which is only a high, slightly convex, extended area of country, dividing the waters 
which flow into the Gulf of Mexico, from those which fall into the Pacific ; down the 
Rio Chaco, a tributary of the San Juan, which is a tributary of the Rio Colorado 
of the West ; up the eastern slope of the Sierra de Tunecha ; through a formidable 
pass of these mountains, where the Mexicans were defeated by the Navajos in 1835, — 
a pass which I have called in my report to government, and upon my map, " Pass 
Washington," in honor of our excellent and well beloved commander, Colonel Wash- 
ington, of the 3d artillery ; down the western slope of this same mountain, across the 
heads of several small streams running southwardly, to the mouth of the renowned 
Canon of Chelly — the ultima ihide of the expedition. 

Upon the Rio Chaco, we fell in with some very interesting ruins ; which, as they 
discovered a higher degree of architectural skill, and are very different in style from 
the modern buildings now to be seen in New Mexico, were regarded by us with a 
great deal of attention. No account before my report to government, that I know 
of, had ever been presented to the public, of these ruins, except the few remarks 
which are to be found in Gregg's work, in relation to one of them, Pueblo Bonito ; 
a structure which he evidently describes as one of which he has heard something, 
but never beheld. The greater portion of these ruins being out of the route the 
troops were going to take, I obtained permission from the colonel commanding, to 
be absent for the day, to visit them, it being my intention to join the command again 
at night. From some cause or other, most probably an intentional misdirection on 
the part of the pretendedly friendly Navajo chief, we had with us — Sandoval — the 
troops did not encamp again on the Rio Chaco, which I was assured they would do ; 
and the consequence was, that the party I had with me, nine in all, did not reach 
camp until late on the second day. This circumstance created no uneasiness with 
us during our absence; but on our return, learning the solicitude which had been felt on 
our account, from the commanding officer and others, we began to think that we had 
indeed run some risk. And this belief ripened into certainty, a day or two after, when 
on account of the unfriendly disposition manifested towards us by the Navajos, we 
were obliged to fire into them, with a loss on their part of seven men, including their 
great warrior and chief, Narbona ; our loss being only a mule or two, which scam- 
pered away from fright during the affray. But I am digressing. _ 

The ruins of which I have spoken, are ten in number, and lie in the valley or canon 
of the Rio Chaco, within a distance of twenty-one miles ; eight of them being within a 
2 



10 A.NNALS OF TUE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

compass of six miles. Thcv are all of the same general style of architecture, though 
diflerincr from each other in some of tlie smaller details. They have been all built ot 
sandstone, of a hard, fine grained, compact character; the thickness of these stones m 
most of these structures, being as small as two inches. Indeed so diminutively small 
are the stones of which the structures are composed, and so truly laid, the idea is at 
once sucrgcsted in looking at them at a little distance, that you are beholding a magnifi- 
cent piece of mosaic work. The plan of the buildings, is, with two exceptions, a 
hollow rectangle ; the ranges of apartments being built entirely on three sides ol the rec- 
tangle, and the fourth side being a segment of circular wall. The greatest exterior 
circuit of any one of the structures is about 1700 feet. The w^alls of most of the 
structures are in a great state of dilapidation; the debris at their bases indicating that 
originally, they must have been of considerable height. Indeed, in many places the 
waUs are still standinj; io a height of thirty feet or more ; and plainly indicated by the 
perforations for the iloor beams' and the opening for windows, that some of them must 
have been as many as four stories liigh. The walls at their base, in some instances, 
were within an inch or two of being three feet in thickness ; and on their exterior fa- 
ces, they presented a plane surface throughout their whole extent. On the inner, or 
court side of the building, we never found the first back wall higher than one story ; 
and as the partition walls presented a step-like appearance from rear to front, the idea 
sufcested itself that this rear portion must have been terraced ; and that in all proba- 
bility the mode of ascent to the several stories, was by ladders placed from story to sto- 
,-y-_Iihe mode practised by the pueblo Indians of the present day. The rooms, which 
in one of the buildings must have been over 600 in number, are very small — some of them 
not more than five feet square, and the largest about sixteen by eighteen feet. The 
doors and windows appear also to have been very small, the former in some instances 
being as small as two and a half by two and a half feet. The masonry showed no 
mortar between the stones in the front of the buildings, but these stones were chinked 
up by others of the minutest thinness. The filling and backing were done in rubble 
masonry, the mortar presenting no indications of the presence of lime. The system of 
flooring seems to have been large, transverse, unhewn beams, about six inches in diam- 
eter, laid transversely from wall to wall ; on these a series of smaller ones laid cross- 
wise, and on these again, plank, and in some instances, apparently mud. The beams 
and the plank seemed to be, from their odor, pine or cedar. In all the courts of these 
buildings, were circular, walled up apartments, sunk into the ground, some of them in- 
dicating a diameter of as much as sixty feet, and a depth of several stories. One of 
these ruins had as many as six of these circular, underground apartments. What 
could possibly have been their object, is more than I can inform you, except that the 
pueblo Indians of the present day, call them esivffas; that is, places for political and re- 
ligious meetings. But why they should have had as many as six attached to one building, 
I cannot conjecture. They certainly could not have been wells, for there would not 
have been so many necessary. Who knows, then, but that they are the mines from 
which was once obtained the precious ore, for which the Spanish colonist, in early 
day, so industriously roamed this country. 

Around all the ruins, we found a great deal of pottery ; the fragments still retaining, 
in many instances, the freshness of their original colors, and the combination of the col- 
ors showing no little taste in their form and arrangement. We also, picked up a num- 
ber of pieces of obsidian, the stone described by Prescott, as that used by the Aztecs, 
to cut out the hearts of tlieir victims, and which they also used to barb their arrows 
with. 

It is a singular fact, that in no single instance, did we find in these ruins, either a 
chimney or fire-place. Neither were there any indications of the use of iron about 
the premises. 

In regard to the position of these structures, in respect to the four cardinal points 
of the heavens, it deviated in every instance more or less from them. But in no 
instance was the variation from the magnetic cardinal points, more than five degrees, 
except in the case of the Pueblo Una Vida, where it was as great as fifteen deo-rees 
east. The magnetic variation of the needle from the true meridian, being at these lo- 
calities, about thirteen and a half degrees, east ; the deviation from the four true car- 



AKNUAL ADDRESS — BY LIEUT. J. H. SDIPSON. 11 

dinal points, in the case of the Pueblo Una Vida, must have been as much as twenty- 
eight and a half degrees. In the case, however, of all the other pueblos, it was but 
a very few degrees. 

In regard to the origin of these remains, there was nothing that I could learn con- 
clusive in relation to it. Hosta, one of the most intelligent pueblo Indians I saw, told 
me they were built by Montezuma and his people, when they were on their way from 
the north to the valley of the Rio Grande, and to Old Mexico. Sandoval, a very in- 
telligent Navajo chief, also informed me they were built by Montezuma, but further 
said, that the Navajos and all the other Indians were once but one people, and lived 
in the vicinity of the Silver Mountains, about one hundred miles north of the ruins ; 
that the pueblos separated from them, (the Navajos) and built towns on the Rio 
Grande, but that their house continued to be the " hut made of bushes." Nothing 
more satisfactory than this, could I obtain from either Indians or Mexicans. 

Humboldt, in his " Essai Politique,"' already referred to, remarks in relation to this 
subject, as follows : " With the nomadic and wild Indians who inhabit the plains east 
of New Mexico, contrast those whom we find west of the Rio del Norte, between the 
Gila and Colorado rivers. Father Garcias is one of the last missionaries who, in 1773, 
visited the country of the Moquis, traversed by the river Yaquesila. He was aston- 
ished to find an Indian city with two grand public squares, houses of several stories, 
streets well aligned and parallel to each other. The people assembled every evening 
upon the terraces, which formed the tops of their houses. The construction of the 
houses of the Moquis, are the same as that of Cases Grandes, near the Rio Gila. The 
Indians who inhabit the northern part of New Mexico, give also considerable height 
to their houses, for the purpose of discovering the approach of their enemies. Every 
thing appears to announce in these regions, traces of the culture of the ancient Mexi- 
cans. Indian traditions, indeed, apprize us that twenty leagues to the north of Moqui, 
near the mouth of the river Zaguananas, the banks of the Navajo, were the first rest- 
ing place of the Aztecs, after their leaving Aztlan. In considering the civilization 
which exists upon many points of the north-west side of America, in the country of Mo- 
qui, and upon the borders of the Gila, we are tempted to believe, (and I am bold to repeat 
it here) that at the time of the migration of the Toltecs, of the Acolhuans, and of the 
Aztecs, many tribes separated themselves from the great mass of the people for the 
purpose of fixing themselves in these northern regions, although the language which the 
Indians of Moqui, the Yabipais, who wear long beards, and those who inhabit the 
plains in the vicinity of the Colorado, speak, differs essentially from the Mexican lan- 
guage." Such are the remarks of Humboldt. 

Now, the ruins we saw, were found upon the Rio Chaco, which may once have 
been known as the Navajo river ; it running through the Navajo country. Their lo- 
cality is not very far distant from the mouth of the San Juan, which may be the river 
Zaguananas, Humboldt speaks of. And they are to the north of the Moqui country, 
it is true, more than twenty leagues ; but not so many more as not to make it exceed- 
ingly probable, that these are the very ruins to which tradition refers, as being the first 
resting place of the Aztecs, on their way to Old Mexico. Besides, the conjecture which 
Humboldt gives in relation to the dispersion of the Toltecs, Aztecs, &c., during 
their migration towards the south, it will be noticed, agrees with the statement made by 
the Navajo chief, Sandoval, in relation to a similar, if not the same dispersion. 

But it may be said : " It is true, these remains discover a race of men superior to 
the natives of New Mexico of the present day; but where are the evidences of the 
very high stage of civilization to which the Aztecs are said by historians to have at- 
tained in Anahuac ? Where are the evidences of a mechanical knowledge equal to 
that which must have been exercised in the construction of the temple of Xochicalco, 
the palaces of Tezcotzinco, and the coUossal calender stone in the capital." But waiv- 
ing the question, whether these remains are not of Toltec, rather than of Aztec origin, 
is it at all an impossible thing, that a people who could show the ingenuity and skill 
which the ruins of Chaco attest, could also, self-instructed, by the time of the Spanish 
conquest, or within the space of four centuries, (the interval between the twelfth 
century, the generally received date of the first halting place of the Aztecs, in their pro- 
gress south, and the sixteenth century, the date of the invasion by Cortez)— I say, 



12 A>'NALS OF THE MIKNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

is it a thing impossible, that within this interval of four centuries, they could have 
made such advances in the mechanic arts, as to have been equal to the work in ques- 
tion? And, still further, is it not very likely, that as history bases the advanced state 
of the arts among the Aztecs of Anahuac, moVe upon the superior attainments of their 
predecessors, the Toltecs, and their contcmporuries,thcTezcucuns, than upon their own 
spontaneous sell'-instructed efibrts, is it not very likely, I say, that under such favor- 
able auspices, the Aztecs could have attained to the degree of proficiency ascribed to 
them? These facts and reflections, it is true, do not with certainty fix an Aztec ori- 
gin to the ruins on the Chaco, but they go to show, that as far as is known, there is noth- 
ing to invalidate the hypothesis, but, on the contrary, a great deal to make it probable. 
But to proceed with the other objects which we saw in the expedition. Passing 
over a number of matters which might be interesting to the audience. I will suppose 
that it has gone with me to the terminus of the expedition westward; the mouth of 
the Canon of Chelly. This canon is the source of the Rio de Chelly, a tributary of 
the San Juan, and had been long famous among Mexicans on account of its great depth, 
the beauty of ils side walls, and the inaccessible ibrt it was said to contain. It had 
from time immemorial been regarded as the stronghold of theNavajos,and it was here, 
therefore, if anywhere, that we expected difficulty. To make us more certain that it 
contained an inaccessible fort, our Mexican guide, Caravahcl, assured us that he had on 
one occasion ascended as many as seven ladders with the view of reaching the top of 
it ; but he was not permitted to go farther, and he counted seven ladders more to go 
up before he could have accomplished his purpose. Of course we were very anxious 
to explore so wonderful a canon ; and the third day after our arrival I had an opportu- 
nity to do so. The colonel commanding, desiring to have a military reconnoisance 
made of the canon, I was directed by him to perform the duty. No treaty having yet 
been made with the Navajos, and every thing bearing at the time a dubious aspect, I 
was provided with a very large escort; the whole numbering, with the officers that 
accompanied the party, seventy-one persons. Our course, for the first two miles, lay east 
of south ; thence turning to the left, we entered the canon, the general direction being 
from that point, about southeast. On entering the canon we perceived nothing re- 
markable in the character of its walls. We found them to be low, and far from inter- 
esting in their appearance. The kind of rock of which they were composed was a red 
amorphous sandstone, rather friable to the touch, and showing imperfect seams of 
stratification ; the dip being slightly towards the west. Proceeding up the canon, the 
walls gradually attained a higher altitude, till about three miles above the mouth, they 
began to assume a stupendous appearance. Almost perfectly vertical, they looked as if 
they had been chiseled by the hand of art ; and occasionally curious marks, appa- 
rently the effect of the rotary attrition of contiguous masses, could be seen on their 
faces. At this point we followed up a left hand branch of the canon. Its walls we 
found still to continue stupendous. In its bottom, we passed through some patches of 
corn, intermingled with melons, pumpkins and squashes. Half a mile up, we turned 
to the right, up a secondary branch of the canon. This branch showed rocks, 
probably as high as three hundred feet, almost perfectly vertical, and in some instan- 
ces not discovering a seam in their faces from top to bottom. About half a mile up 
this branch, in the right hand wall, was a hemispherical cave, canopied by some magni- 
ficent rocks ; and in it an acceptable spring of water, which was sheltered by it. A 
few yards farther, this branch terminated in an almost vertical wall, afibrding no path- 
way for the ascent or descent of troops. At the head of this branch, I noticed two or 
three hackbcrry trees, and also the siramonium, the first plant of the kind we had 
seen. Retracing our steps to the primary branch we had left, we followed it up to its 
head, which we ibund but a few hundred yards above the fork ; the side walls still 
continuing grand, and some fine caves being visible here and there within them. I also no- 
ticed here some small habitations made up of natural overhanging rock, and artificial 
walls laid in stone and mortar. Having ascended the lateral branches to their heads, 
and not yet having seen the famous fort wliich our guide gave us to understand was in 
one of them, we began to believe that, in all probability, it would turn out to be a fable. 
But still we had gone but about three miles up the main canon, and it might yet unfold 
it ; 80 we returned to examine it above the point where we had left it. Half a mile 



ANNU.\L ADDRESS — BY LIEUT. J, H. SDIPSOX. 13 

above this point, we noticed, for the first time, in the left hand wall, a shelving place 
where troops (foot not mounted,) might descend and ascend. About a mile further 
up, we observed, upon a shelf in the left hand wall, some fii'ty feet above the bottom of 
the canon — inapproachable except by ladders, on account of the steepness of the wall 
— a small pueblo in ruins, of a style of structure similar to all appearances, to that 
found in the ruins of the Chaco. We also noticed in it a singular wall, which, in all 
probability had been an estufia. Half a mile further up we passed another collection 
of uninhabited houses, perched on a shelf in the left hand wall. Near this place, in 
the bed of the canon, I noticed the Navajo hut, (a conical pole lodge, ordinarily cov- 
ered with brush or bark, and mud, but in this instance with corn stalks,) and near it a 
peach orchard. A mile further, observing several Navajos high above us, on the 
brink of the north wall, shouting and gesticulating as if they were very glad to see 
us, what was our astonishment, when they commenced tripping down the almost 
sheer wall before them, as nimbly and dexterously as minuet dancers ! Indeed, the 
force of gravity, and their descent upon a steep inclined plane, made such a kind of 
performance absolutely necessary to insure their equilibrium. All seemed to allow 
that this was one of the most wonderlul feats they had ever witnessed. A mile or 
two further, we fell in with some considerable pueblo ruins ; a portion of which were 
on a shelf of a sheer rock, some fifty feet above the bottom of the canon. This shelf 
was canopied by a stupendous mass of overhanging rock, which was probably not far 
from four hundred feet high. The style of these ruins is similar to that of the ruins 
on the Chaco ; the building material being of small thin sandstone, from two to four 
inches thick, imbedded in mud mortar and chinked, in the facade, with smaller stones. 
Half a mile above these ruins, in a re-entering angle of the canon, we noticed a peach 
orchard and some Navajo lodges. Proceeding still farther up the canon, the walls, 
which yet preserved their red sandstone character, but which had increased in the 
magnificence of their proportions, at intervals presented facades hundreds of feet in 
length, and three or four hundred in height ; these facades being beautifully smooth 
and vertical. The walls looked as if they had been erected by the hand of art ; the 
blocks of stone, composing them, not unfrequently discovering a continuous length of 
hundreds of feet, and a thickness of as much as ten feet ; all laid with as much precis- 
ion, and showing as handsome and regular horizontal joints, as could be seen in the 
custom house of the city of New York. 

Having ascended the canon about nine miles, the horses of the pueblo Indians in com- 
pany with us, not being strong enough for a further exploration, there being no pros- 
pect of our seeing the much talked of ■presidio, or fort of the Navajos, which had all 
along been represented to us as being about three miles above the mouth of the canon ; 
and the reconnoisance having already been conducted further than Colonel Washino-ton 
had thought would be necessary, the party returned to camp, highly delighted with what 
they had seen. We found, however, the further we ascended the canon, the more im- 
posing became its enclosing walls ; their altitude, at our point of return, being, by meas- 
urement, five hundred and two feet. This altitude, without doubt, continued to become 
higher and higher ; for. at the head of the canon, sixteen miles above, which we had 
visited several days before, by an offset from our line of march, I estimated it at least 800 
feet ; and Colonel Washington even thought that a thousand feet was not an extrava- 
gant estimate. The length of the canon is probably about twenty-five miles ; its average 
width 200 yards. It is something anomalous, that though the walls are as nearly vertical 
as they could be, their bases are perfectly free from the debris which usually accompanies 
rocks of this description. Does not this fact point to a crack, or natural fissure as the 
original development of this canon, rather than to aqueous agents, which at least in the 
existing state of that climate, show an utter inadequacy as a producing cause ? 

Both in going up and returning through the canon, groups of Navajos and single 
persons could be seen high above us, on the edges of its walls, gazing at us. Once I 
recollect of seeing a fellow upon horseback, looking at us from this height, and relieved 
as he was sharply against the sky, I thought I had never seen anything more pictur- 
esque. Whenever we met these Indians in the canon, they appeared very friendly, 
the principal chief, Martinez, accompanying us in our exploration, and the proprietors 
of the peach orchards bringing out blanket loads of the fruit for distribution among the 



14 AN'XALS OF THE .MINNESOTA HTSTORICAL SOCIETY. 

troops, IiiJeed, the chief, ns we passed up the canon, harangued the people as they 
stood watching us from its walls, and told them to be careful not to trouble us. 

The mystery of the Canon of Chclly, was now solved. It indeed proved to be a 
wondcrfurt'.vhibition ol" nature, and as long as the earth endures, will it be regarded by 
the tourist, as well as the geologist, with wonder and interest. But as a strong hold for 
the Navajos, into which they might drive their stock, with the accessory of an im- 
pregnable fort to whicli llu-y'miglit, in the last extremity, resort, with the certainty of 
reniaining impregnable, it is no such thing ; and to Colonel Washington and his com- 
mand, must be accorded the credit of fn-sl ex'idoding this notion. 

I did expect in ascending the canon, to lind that the Navajos had other and bet- 
ter habitations than the conical pole, brush and mud lodges, which, up to this time, we 
had only seen. But no other than these, except ruined ones, the origin of which they 
knew nothing about, did we sec. Indeed, a Mexican, a member of our command, who 
had once been a captive among them, said they had no other habitation. In (he sum- 
mer, he informed us, they live wherever their stock and cornfields are ; and in the 
winter, in the mountains, where they can protect themselves from the snows, and get 
plenty of wood. In all our travel tlirough their country, we did not meet a single vil- 
lage of them, it appearing to be their habit to live scatteringly wherever they could find 
a spot to plant corn or graze their stock. The necessity of living more densely, prob- 
ably has not heretofore existed, from the feeling which they doubtless have hitherto 
entertained, that they were perfectly safe from the intrusion of an enemy, on account of 
the inaccessible character of their country. 

It seems anomalous to me, that a nation living in such miserably constructed mud 
lodges, should, at the same time, be capable of making probably the best blankets in the 
world! Cregg, speaking of this people, says: "They (the Navajos) reside in the 
main range of the Cordilleras. 150 to 200 miles west of Santa Fe, on the waters of the 
Rio Colorado of Calii'ornia, not far from the region, according to historians, from whence 
the Aztecs emigi-ated to Mexico ; and there are many reasons to suppose them direct 
descendants from the remnant which remained on the north of this celebrated nation of 
antiquity. Although they live in rude (huts) somewhat resembling the wigwams of 
the Pawnees, yet from time immemorial, they have excelled ail others in their original 
manufactures ; and, as well as the Moquis, (a neighboring pueblo tribe,) they are still 
distinguished for some exquisite styles of cotton textures, and display considerable in- 
genuity in embroidering with feathers the skins of animals, according to their primi- 
tive practice. They now also manufacture a singular species of blanket, known as the 
sarape .Vcnw/'o, which is of so close and dense a texture, that it will frequently hold 
water almost equal to gum elastic cloth. It is therefore highly prized for protection 
against the rains. Some of the finer qualities are often sold among the Mexicans as 
high as fifty or sixty dollars each." 

In regard to the manufacture of cotton fabrics, in which, according to Gregg, the 
Navajos excel, we observed no evidences at all of this species of manufacture among 
them ; nor any signs of the domestic culture of the plant. Indeed, from Senor Vigil, 
the then secretary of New Mexico, who probably is better acquainted with the history 
of the Navajo nation than any other man in the territory, having served with the Mex- 
ican army, which on one or more occasions invaded their country, I learned that they 
formerly maiuifactured a few cotton fabrics from the raw material, which they were in 
the habit of importing from Santa Fe and other places ; but that of late, this species of 
manufacture had almost, if not entirely ceased among them. In regard tothemanulac- 
ture o\' plum a ire. or feather work, they certainly displayed a greater fondness for deco- 
rations of this sort than any Indians l" had seen ; but though they exhibit taste in the 
selection and disposHivn of this kind of ornament about their persons, I saw no exhibi- 
tion of it in the way o[ embroidery. 

As regards the hypothesis which Gregg advances, in the paragraph quoted, that the 
Navajos are the direct descendants of the Aztecs, it is not at all improbable that they 
may be. But if, as is likely, and as Gregg supposes, this ancient people once inhabited 
the pueblos on the Rio Chaco, how is it that they have retrograded in civilization in 
respect to their habitations, when they have preserved it in respect to their manufac- 
tures ? I know of but two ways to account for it. Either the Navajos are descended 



AN^'UAL ADDRESS — BY LIEUT. J. 11. SLMPSON. 15 

from a cognate stock, prior to that whicli built the Cliaco pueblos, which stock lived, 
as the Navajos now do, in lodges, (and this hypothesis agrees with the tradition 
given by Sandoval) ; or, in process of time, the cultivable and pastoral portion of the 

country becoming more and more reduced in area, and scattered in locality and this 

the present perfectly desert state of the country, around and in the vicinity of the 
ruins, makes extremely probable — the people of necessity became correspondinHy 
scattered and locomotive, and thus gnulually adopted the habitation most suitable for 
such a state of things — the lodge they now inhabit. 

In respect to the population of the Navajo nation, it was impossible for me to ar- 
rive at ai^y thing like a reliable approximation of it. Indeed, if the few we saw bore 
any thing like a proper proportion to the whole number, the extent of this population 
has been greatly exaggerated. But I prefer to believe that, as a nation, they live 
much scattered, and that they, whose precincts we passed through, studiously avoided 
us. All things, then considered, I estimate the population of this people to be from 
eight thousand to ten thousand souls. Gregg estimates it at ten thousand. Their 
stock, from what I could observe, and also from what the JMexican captive before 
referred to, informed me, consists principally in sheep and horses — mules and horned 
cattle forming but an inconsiderable portion of it. Their horses, although better than 
those to be seen among New Mexicans, did not come up to the idea I had entertained 
of them, from what I had read about them. They were not, in my judgment, near as 
fine as those I saw among the Camanches; and in comparison with our own, at best 
they could be said to be nothing else than indifferent. 

But I must pass on to other matters of interest connected with the expedition. On 
the 10th September, a proper treaty having been concluded with the Navajos, the 
troops took up their line of march to return to Santa Fc. The route taken was 
by the way of Canoncito Bonito, the Pueblo of Zuni, the Pueblo of Lagana, and Albu- 
querque. As far as the Pueblo of Zuni, a distance of 104 miles, the course was east 
of south. From Zuni to Albuquerque, a distance of 133 miles, it was generallv due 
east. And from Albuquerque, a Mexican town, situate on the Rio Grande, to Santa 
Fe, a distance of sixty-seven miles, it was northeast. 

To quote from my report to Col. Abert, from which I have not hesitated to make ex- 
tracts, when I found them suitable in the preparation of this narrative : Thirteen miles 
from our last camp, we entered the valley of the Rio del Pescado, or as some call the 
stream, the Rio de Zuni ; which we found extensively cultivated in corn. There 
were also indications of there having been an abundant harvest of wheat. The Pueblo 
of Zuni, when first seen, about three miles off, appeared like a low ridge of brownish 
rocks ; not a tree being visible to relieve the nakedness of its appearance, — a general 
characteristic, as I have before remarked, of pueblo towns, and I may also say of 
Mexican towns. We had not more than begun to get a sight of the pueblo, when we 
noticed a body of Indians approaching us from it. This party turned out to be a de- 
putation, headed by the governor and alcalde, which had come out for the purpose of 
escorting the governor of New Mexico, Col. Washington, into town. Their reception 
of him and of his suite was very cordial. The alcalde, I noticed, was habited in the 
undress frock coat of the officers of the American army ; in which, however. I must 
confess he did not appear to be perfectly at home. After proceeding in company about 
a mile, we were unexpectedly saluted, at a preconcerted sign from a chief, with an ex- 
hibition of a sham fight, in which men, young and old, and boys entered, with all the 
ardor imaginable. Guns were fired, dust was thrown in the air, men on foot and on 
horseback could be seen running hurry-skurry, the war whoop was yelled, and alto- 
gether quite an exciting scene was exhibited. Just as we reached town a still more 
interesting scene occurred. All the male inhabitants of the place, including gray 
headed old men, the middle aged, and the youthful portion of the population, came 
out to meet the governor and shake hands with him. It was particularly interesting, 
to seethe juvenile portion of this Indian community, engaged in this refined act of cour- 
tesy. The governor and suite were then conducted to the casa of the governor of the 
pueblo, and regaled with bread in every variety of form — loaf, tortilla and guayave — 
and with watermelons, muskmelons and peaches. 

The Pueblo of Zuni, as its prefix indicates, is an Indian town, situated on the Rio 



16 ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

de Zuni— a tributary of the Colorado of the West. It is along this river, and thence 
across the Rio Colorado of Calilbrnia to the Pacific ocpan,that a reconnoisance has, du- 
ring the i)ast fall, been made by a party under the charge of Capt. Sitgrcavcs, of the 
corps of topographical engineers ; which reconnoisance, was ordered doubtless by the 
government, on accoimt of the information I gave in my report, that I felt assured 
from all the facts I was able to gather on the subject, that a wagon route could be found 
in this direction to the Pacific, which would be shorter than Cook's route, by possibly 
as much as three hundred miles. The report of this expedition I look forward to witli 
a great deal of interest, both on account of the topographical knowledge which it will give 
olt!u> country, of which nothing has ever been presented to the public, and afso on ac- 
count of the a'ncient remains, which it is said to contain, and the manners and habits of the 
singular tribes of Indians which are reported to inhabit those regions. The town of Zuni, 
like all the other pueblo towns, is built terrace-shaped ; each story, of which there were 
generally tliree, being smaller laterally, and thus one story answering in part J'or a platform 
of approach to the other. Against every building could be seen leaning a long crooked 
ladder ; this being the mode of ascent in all the pueblo buildings. The town is much 
more compactly built than the other pueblos we passed through, in some instances the 
houses extending clear over the streets, and thus furnishing a kind of covered way. The 
material of their houses is stone, plastered with mud. Like all the other pueblo towns, 
it has a Roman Catholic church, built of adobes. A very indifferent painting of 
jYncsfra Senora dc Guadalupe, and a couple of statues garnished the wall back of the 
chancel. The walls elsewhere were perfectly bare. This was by far the best built, 
and neatest looking pueblo I saw in New Mexico ; though, as usual, the ragged, pick- 
eted sheep and goat pens environing it, detracted not a little from its appearance. The 
population of the place, based upon the number given me by the governor, as capable 
of bearing arms, I estimate at 2,000. It is something singular, that among these Indi- 
ans, there should have been found seven white Indians, or Albinos. This number has 
been exaggerated, by some writers, into a whole race of Indians of this peculiar des- 
cription; but the governor informed me that seven constituted the whole number; and 
that they were all of pure Zuni blood. This Pueblo of Zuni is the town of which a 
description Avent the rounds of the papers during the Mexican war, representing it to 
be a most remarkable city, and of which nothing was known until the expedition of 
Col. Doniphan, in 1846, brought it to light ; the truth being, however, that for more 
than a century and a half previously, ever since the date of its re-subjugation in 1692, 
by Gen. Don Diego de Bargas, it had been a well known dependency of New Mexi- 
co ; the journal of the officer named, which I saw among the state archives at Santa 
Fe, attesting the fact. 

The people inhabiting this pueblo, seemed farther advanced in the arts of civiliza- 
tion, than any Indians I saw in New Mexico. They had large herds of sheep and 
horses, and extensively cultivated the soil. Being far off from any mercantile popula- 
tion, they sold nothing for money, but disposed of their commodities entirely in barter. 
Some of our command, thought from their apparent closeness in business transactions, 
that they were the most contracted people they had met. But to my mind, in view of the 
treatment they represented themselves to have received from a party of California em- 
igrants, which had but a week or two before passed through their town, their conduct 
discovered only a proper degree of caution, — a caution founded on the principle of self- 
conservation, — and which it was wise only to allow tohe removed in proportion as they 
discovered us to be more worthy of their confidence. 

But, to pass on to other incidents of the expedition. Having travelled about 
twenty-two miles from Zuni, I one morning met in the woods a Mr. Lewis, 
who, I ascertained, was waiting to conduct me, if I desired it, to a high rock, upon 
Avhich he said I would find half an acre of inscriptions, many of them of a very beau- 
tiful character. On the top of the rock, he further told me, I would find some ancient 
ruins, which were also very extraordinary. Mr. Lewis had been a trader among the 
Navajos, and having been recently driven by them out of their country, and his goods 
taken from him, he had joined the expedition for the purpose of having his property re- 
stored to him. He had frequently talked of the wonders he had seen in the Navajo 
country ; and among other things, was fond of expatiating upon some remarkable 



ANNUAL ADDRESS — BY LIEUT. J. H. SDIPSON. 17 

inscriptions, which he had noticed on a very high rock, on one of the routes from Zuni to 
Santa Fe, and which, he said, covered more than hah" an acre of surface. The particu- 
lar language in which these inscriptions had been carved, he did not know; all he 
could say, was, that they were in a back hand, and, that on one occasion, a lad he had 
had with him, could distinguish among them, the Latin word Bominus. Mr. Lewis, 
however, proved to be such a flippant talker, and at the same time so worthless a 
guide, though professing to know a great deal of the country, that few, if any, put 
any credence in his statement. Here he was, however, ready, as he said, to take 
me to the very spot ; and I could not doubt but that he had seen some inscriptions, 
though probably not half an acre of them, as he asserted. Obtaining, therefore, per- 
mission i'rom Colonel Washington, to be absent from the command three days — for 
Lewis said we would not be able to join it again until we reached the Pueblo of Lagu- 
na, seventy to eighty miles beyond — taking with me one of my assistants, Mr. R. H. 
Kern, ever zealous in an enterprise of the kind; the faithful Bird, an employee, who 
had been Avith me ever since Ileft Fort Smith; Mr. Lewis as guide, and a single pack 
animal loaded with a few articles of bedding, a few cooking utensils, and some provis- 
ions ; we left the troops, not expecting to meet them again until we should reach La- 
guna. Bearing off slightly to the right, from the route we had been following, we 
traversed for eight miles, a country varied in places by low mesas, (table lands,) black- 
ened along their crests by outcrops of amygdaloyd, and on our left by fantastic white 
and red sandstone rocks ; some of them looking like steamboats, and others presenting 
very much the appearance of facades of heavy Egyptian architecture. This distance 
traversed, we came to a quadrangular mass of sandstone rock, of a pearly^ whitish 
aspect, from 200 to 250 feet in height, and strikingly peculiar on account of its mass- 
ive character, and the Egyptian style of its natural buttresses and domes. Skirting 
this stupendous mass of rock, on its left or north side, for about a mile, the guide, just 
as we reached its eastern terminus, left us, and ascended the low mound or tains at its 
base, the better, as it appeared, to scan the face of the rock, upon which he evidently 
expected to find something interesting. Scarcely had he reached the rock, before he 
halloed to us to come up. Following his footsteps, we reached the face of the rock; 
and sure enough, here were the inscriptions of which we had heard so much ; many 
of them very beautiful, and doubtless some of them of historical value. We did not, it 
is true, find half an acre of them, but we found enough to assure us that there had 
been greater hyperboles than that uttered by Lewis. The fact, then, being certain 
that here were indeed, inscriptions of interest, if not of value — the earliest dating back 
to a period before the permanent settlement of Jamestown or Plymouth — dating back 
as far as 1606'; all of them very ancient, and several of them very deeply, as well as 
beautifully engraved, I gave directions for a halt ; the cook at once proceeding to 
get up a meal, and Mr. Kern and mvself to making /crc similes of the inscriptions. 

These inscriptions we found both on the north and the south side of the rock ; the 
greater portion being in old Spanish, with some sprinkling of what appeared^ to be an 
attempt at Latin, and the remainder in hyeroglyphics, doubtless of Indian origin. The 
face of the rock wherever the inscriptions were found, is of a fair, plain suriace, ver- 
tical in position, and the engravings have been principally executed by persons stand- 
ing at the foot of the wall. A large number of hyeroglyphics, and many names and 
dates, had, on account of lapse of time, become undecipherable; but there was still 
quite a number which could be read very legibly. I could give you a translation ot 
all the inscriptions which we copied, but I will only present the substance of a lew ot 
them. One of them represented that Don Feliz Martinez, governor and captain gen- 
eral of the province of New Mexico, passed by there on the 26th day of August, 
1716, for the purpose of reducing the Moquis to subjection. Another that Balchelor 
Don Juan Ignacio de Arrasain, arrived there on the 28th September, 1637. Another 
that the illustrious Doctor Don Martin de Liza Cochea, Bishop of Durango, arrived 
there on the 27th September, 1737, and on the 29th left for Zum. Another, that Jo- 
seph Dominguez passed by in October, and others in Septeniber, with much caution 
and apprehension. Another, that Don Francisco, somebody, (the surname is effaced ) 
passed by in 629; (among the Spanish, it is not at all uncomnion to omit the thousand, 
and therefore it is probable that the date intended was 1629,) with the wagons of his 
3 



18 ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETI. 

lord, the Kinsr. a thing, which he alone did, hy his arm and valor. Another, that on 
the 14th day 'of July, 1736, General Juan Pacz Hurtador, inspector, passed by, and in 
his company, several otliers whoso names are given. (This officer, according to 
Senor Vigil, was afterwards, or before, governor of New Mexico.) Another, repre- 
sents that a couple of fellows had fought about some matter or other, and that liquor had 
had someting to do with it. Another, represents that Bartolomc Narrso, governor 
and captain general of the province of New Mexico, for his lord, the King, passed by 
that place on the 29lh of July, 1620, on his return from the Pueblo of Zuni, to whicli 
pueblo he had, at its petition, granted terms of peace ; all which it did with free con- 
sent, deeming it to be prudent and very christian, to submit itself to so distinguished, 
gallant, indomitable and famed a soldier ! Another represented, that a person or persons 
(the names were not decipherable,) passed by there on the 16th of April, 1606. This 
date is very iiidistinct. In another ])lace, however, the date 1619 is very plain. An- 
other inscription, represents that General Don Diego de Bargas, had, in 1692, con- 
quered, at his own expense, for the royal crown, as iar as Santa Fe. This inscription 
is very beatitiful. It was this same general, who after a ten years war with the In- 
dians, reconquered for the crown, the province of New Mexico, and became its governor. 
There is now to be found in the archives of the government at Santa Fe, his journal 
for a space of three years, one of the years corresponding to the date, 1692, found 
upon tlie rock. From this journal, which I have examined. Mr. Samuel Ellison, the 
official interpreter of the government, kindly extracted for me the following. I give 
the extract, both on account of the correspondence of its date with that on the rock, 
and also, on account of the information which it gives of the previous Spanish Roman 
Catholic rule, which obtained over the peofde of Zuni. 

"Tuesday, lltli November, 1692. I, tlie said governor and captain general, on 
this day, entered the Pueblo of Zuni, and received the submission of its people. 
On the same day, the Rev. Fathers Corbera and Banoso baptized 294 children, male 
and female. This concluded, I was conducted to a room, and shown an al!ar, on which 
were btirning two large tallow candles. Removing a piece of ornament, I found the fol- 
lowing articles of religious worship : two brass images of Christ, four inches long, set in 
wooden crosses ; also, another image of Christ, eighteen inches long; a portrait of John 
the Baptist, beautifully executed ; one consecrated vase, gilded with gold ; a small box 
with two plates of glass, in which the host is exposed to public view; four chalices, all 
of silver, and of different patterns ; one ancient mass book, very well preserved ; one 
confession book in the Spanish and in the ]\Iexican language, &c., &c." 

It is something remarkable, that mention should have been made by De Bargas, of 
a confession book in the Spanish and the Mexican language. Certainly this fact, ev- 
idences that this people must, at that time, have had a icri/Veii language of i heir own. 

The inscriptions having been sufficiently scanned, we felt anxious to see the ruins 
which Lewis had told us we would find on top of the inscription rock ; so, taking liim 
as our guide, I requested him to conduct us to the spot. Turning the east end of the 
wall, and going along its south face, we soon came against a spur of the same rock, ex- 
tending southwardly. In the angle formed by the main rock and this spur, canopied 
by some magnificent rocks, and shaded by a few pine trees, we found a cool and capa- 
cious spring — the whole ibrming, for this country, a most exquisite picture. Continu- 
ing along the east face of ihe spur referred to, we came to an accessible escarpment, 
up which we commenced our ascent; Lewis, taking off his shoes, as he said, to enable 
him to accomplish it more safely. After slipping several times, with some little ap- 
prehension of an absolute slide "off, and a pause to take breath, I at last reached the 
summit, to be regaled with a most extensive and pleasing prospect. On the north and 
east, lay, stretching from southwest to northeast, the Sierra du Zuni, richly covered 
with pine and cedar ; to the south could be seen gracefully swelling mounds and dis- 
tant peaks, beautifully blue on account of remoteness ; to the west appeared the hori- 
zontal outline of table heights, with here and there a break, denoting an intervening 
canon or valley : and lying between all these objects, and my point of view, was a cir- 
cuit of prairie, beautifully tasty on account of solitary and clustered trees, or som- 
brously dark on account of low mesaf; and oblong ridges covered with cedars. This 
extensive scene sufficiently viewed, we proceeded to examine the ruins Avhich the 



AN^'UAL ADDRESS — BY LIEUT. J. U. SLMPSOX. 19 

guide, true to liis word, pointed out immediately before us. These ruins presented, in 
plan, a rectangle, 206 by 307 feet; the sides conforming to the four cardinal points. 
The apartments seemed to have been like those on the Chaco, chiefly on the contour of 
the rectangle ; the heaps of rubbish, within the court, indicated that here, also, there 
had been some apartments. On the north and west sides there appeared to have been 
two ranges of rooms. The other two sides, were in so ruinous a condition as to make 
the partition walls undistinguishable. On the north side we found traceable, a room 
seven feet four inches, by eight and a half feet. There was one circular estuffa appa- 
rent, thirty feet in diameter, situated just in rear of the middle of the north face. The 
main walls, which, except for a length of about twenty feet, were undistint^uishable 
appeared from this remnant to have been originally well laid ; the facing exposing- a 
compact tabular sandstone, varying from three to eight inches in thickness, and The 
backing a rubble kind of masonry, cemented wdth mud mortar. The style of the ma- 
sonry, though next in character to that of the pueblo ruins on the Chaco, in the beauty 
of its details we found to be far inferior. Here, as usual, immense quantities of bro- 
ken pottery lay scattered around, and of patterns different from any we had hitherto 
seen. Indeed, to have caused so much broken pottery, it would seem there must have 
been at some time or other a regular sacking of the place ; and this may also account 
for this singular phenomenon being a characteristic of the ancient ruins generally in 
New Mexico. At all events, there is nothing of the kind to be seen around the in- 
habited pueblos of the present day, in which pottery is much used; and I can see no 
reason why, if their inhabitants were of their own accord to desert them, they should 
go to work and destroy the useful vessels made of this kind of material. 

To the north of west, about 300 yards distant — a deep canon intervening — on the 
summit of the same massive rock upon which the inscriptions are found, we could see 
another ruined pueblo, in plan and extent apparently the same as that of the ruins I 
have already described. On account of this intervening chasm, and time not permitting 
us, we did not, however, visit these ruins. 

But it is high time I should bring this narrative to a close. Tlie next morning, af- 
ter a hard night's rest upon the ground, with but a scanty covering, and a saddle for a 
pillow, the wolves all night long annoying us with their howling, we started off in pursuit 
of the troops. These we overtook the same day — two days sooner than our guide, Lewis, 
told us we would do. The only remaining objects of interest we beheld on our route, were 
the numerous piles of lava which we found scattered for miles along the bottoms of the 
Canon de Gallo, and of the valley of the Ojo de Gallo. These piles looked like so 
many irregular heaps of stone coal ; and wherever they existed, the soil in proximity I 
noticed was very fertile. Just before we entered the valley of the Rio San Jose, we 
saw hundreds of acres of this kind of rock, a great deal of it e?chibiting, with marked 
distinctness, the undulations of the wave in its oscillatory motion. By applying a 
perpendicular to these curves, I endeavored to trace up the crater or source of the out- 
flow, but it eventuated in nothing satisfactory. I ascended an adjoining hill to over- 
look the whole field, and observed the lava to exist in convex ridges, ranging generally 
north and south ; the transverse sections being also convex, and broken abruptly at the 
extremities. Indeed, their whole appearance seemed to point to the following processes 
of formation, rather than to a translation from some distant crater : First, a swelling 
or intumesence of the fluid mass, longitudinally from a fissure immediately below their 
present locality ; second, to a partial overflow after the fluid mass reached the surface 
of the earth ; third, a fixedness of condition, caused by refigeration, before it could 
spread laterally to any considerable extent ; and fourth, a tumbling in at the sides from 
disentegrating causes, such as air and water, and the want of subjacent support. 

But I have already trespassed too long on your patience, and I will therefore re- 
mark that the expedition returned to Santa Fe on the 26th of September ; its whole 
duration having been a month and ten days, and the distance travelled 581 miles. 

Never, probably, was there an expedition conducted with greater skill, and good 
judgment, on the part of the commander-in-chief, than was this ; and never, probably, 
was there one in our own country which evolved so many rare and curious objects of 
nature and art. 

Thanking you for the attention you have kindly given me. I close my reraarki. 



LETTER OF MESNARD, 

WRITTEN ON THE EVE OF EMBARKATION FOR LAKE SUPERIOR. 

In Auf'ust. 1654, two youn^ men went on a voyage from the settlements of Cana- 
da to the Tar Northwest. After ari absence of two years, they returned with inter- 
estine; accounts of the inland seas, and of the Knistcneaux and Sioux or Dakota; and 
reported that the distant tribes demanded ''commerce with the French and missionaries 
for the boundless West." ... ^ , 

In accordance with their request, two missionaries were despatched from Quebec ; 
but not far from Montreal, the Mohawks attacked the envoy and killed one of the 
priests, and the project for a time was abandoned. 

In the year 1659, Charlevoix says that two traders passed the winter on the 
shores of Lake Superior. Filled with curiosity, they pushed beyond the confines of 
the Sioux. They saw some Dakota women with the tips of their noses cut off, and a 
portion of their heads scalped, and were told that this was the penalty inflicted upon 
adultresses. They also learned that this nation were numerous, and roamed over a 
great extent of country. 

In the summer of 1660, these two Frenchmen returned to Quebec with sixty 
canoes manned by Algonquins and laden with furs. Their narrative again excited the 
zeal of the ecclesiastics, and Rene Menard, (or Mesnard as Charlevoix and Bancroft 
spell it) who had for some years been a missionary among the Iroquois in the present 
state of New York, was selected as the bearer of the cross to the Lake of the Nadou- 
essons, as it was sometimes called, or Superior. 

The nio-ht before he started, the eyes of the venerable priest Avere never closed. 
He knew that he was going to a savage land, and that one of those who had been pre- 
viously selected, had been murdered on the ro :te. He thought much of his friends, 
and among his last acts he wrote the following letter, for a copy of which, in the origi- 
nal, the Society is indebted to C. Woodman, Esq., of Mineral Point, Wis., and for the 
translation to the Rev. Mr. Raveaux, of Mendota : 

» MoN R. P. — Pax Christi. 

" Je vous escris probablement le derniere mot, que je souhaite estre le sceau 
de nostre amitie jusques a I'eternite ama quern Dommus Jesus, non dedignatur amare, 
quamqam maximum jjeccaiorum ; amat enim quern dignatur sua cruce : que vostre 
amitie mon bon pere me soit dedaus les fruits souhaitables de vos saints sacrifices. 
Dans trois or quatre mois, vous pourvez me mettre au memento desmorts, veu le geure 
de vie de ces peuples, mon aage et ma petite complesion; non obstant quoy, j'ay senti 
de si puissans instincts, et j'ay ven eu cet affaire si peu de nature, que je n'ay peu 
douter qu'aiant manque a cette occasion, je n'eu dusse avoir me remords eternel. Nous 
avons esta me peu surpris, pour ne pouvoir pas nous poutuoir d'abits et d'autres 
choses ; mais celuy qui nourrit les petits oiseaux, et habille les, lis des champs, aura 
soin de ses scrviteurs ; et quand il nous arriveroit de mourir de misere, ce nous 
seroit un grand bonhcur, Je suis accable d'affairs ; tout ce que je puis, c'cst de recom- 
mander nostre voyage a vos saints sacrifices et vous embrasser du mesne coeur que 
jespere faire dans I'eternitie. 

Mon R. P. vostre tres humblcment, 

et alfectionne serviteur en Jesus Christ 

R. MENARD. 
De« trois Rivieres cc 27 d'aoust a j> 

2 heurcs anres minuit,1660." }i 



LETTER OF FATHER MESXARD. 21 

translation. 

My Reverend Father — The Peace of Christ be with you : 

I write to you probably the last word, which I hope will be the seal of our friend- 
ship until eternity. Love whom the Lord Jesus did not disdain to love though the 
greatest of sinners, for he loves whom he loads with his cross. Let your friendshin 
my good father, be useful to me by the desirable fruits of your daily sacrifice In 
three or four months, you may remember me at the memento for the dead on account 
of my old age, my weak constitution, and the hardships I lay under amon^^st these 
tribes. Nevertheless, I am in peace, for I have not been led to this mission by anv 
temporal motive, but I think it was by the voice of God. I was afraid, by not comin? 
here, to resist the grace of God. Eternal remorse would have tormented me, liad I 
not come, when I had the opportunity. We have been a little surprised, not bein<y able 
to provide ourselves with vestments and other things ; but he who feeds the little'blrds 
and clothes the lilies of the fields, will take care of his servants ; and thouo-h it should 
happen we should die with want, we would esteem ourselves happy. I am loaded 
with affairs. What I can do is to recommend our journey to your daily sacrifices, and 
to embrace you with the same sentiments of heart, as I hope to do in eternity. 
My reverend father, your most humble 

and affectionate servant in Jesus Christ, 

T. , r^, ^ ^- MENARD. 

From the Three Rivers, this 27th August, ) 

2 o'clock after midnight, 1660. ^ 

This letter is touching in its simplicity, and could hardly have been written by one 
who had not been filled with the spirit of Jesus. As soon as a Christian people begin 
to dwell upon the shores of Lake Superior, it will be embalmed in their literature 
and read and admired by those whose tastes are refined. His anticipations were real- 
ized, and in a few months he was added "to the memento of deaths." Immediately 
after he penned the letter, he started, with a band of Ottawas, for Lake Superior 
During his journey he was exposed to the ridicule of his wild companions, and oblio-ed 
to subsist on the coarsest Indian fare. * 

On the 15th of October, he reached a bay which he named Saint Theresa and is 
supposed to have been the bay of Keweena. After a residence of eio-ht month's amid 
piles of ice and snow, and with his life in his hands, he accepted the invitation of some 
Hurons, according to Charlevoix, and proceeded to their island home at La Pointe 
called by them Chegoiwegon — by Mesnard, St. Michael— in spite of the remonstrances' 
of the French traders, accompanied by a faithful man, named John Guerin who had 
been in the service of the missionaries for many years. 

On the 20th of August, 1661, he was obliged to walk some distance to avoid rap- 
ids ; and while his old servant was occupied in making a portage with the canoe he 
entered the woods and was lost. 

Guerin, in much distress, called for him at the top of his voice, discharged his 
gun, and made several turns through the forest, but Mesnard made not his appearance. 

A century ago, the report was current at Montreal, that some years after he disap- 
peared in the wood, (as it is supposed near Keweena portage) his cassock and prayer- 
book were found in a Dakota lodge, and were looked upon as "wakan" or supernatural. 

To this day, it is unknown whether the aged man perished from starvation and ex- 
posure, or by violence from the savages. But there appears to be the well-orounded 
hope, that the "Providence which feeds the little birds of the desert, and clothes the 
wild flowers of the forests," became his shepherd, and that when he came to die he 
was enabled to dwell with profit on the following sentences of his well-thumbed bre- 
viarj' : 

" The Lord is my Shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in 
green pastures ; he leaveth me beside the still waters. Yea, though I walk through 
the valley of the shadow of Death. I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod 
and thy staff, they comfort me." 

St. Paul. N. 



ANCIENT MONUMENTS. 



It is a fact worthy of remembrance, that the first British traveller in Minnesota, was 
the first to call the attention of the civilized world to the existence of ancient monu- 
ments in the ^Mississippi valley. Carver, in his narative of a visit to what is now 
Minnesota, in 1766, says : 

" On the first of November, I reached Lake Pepin, a few miles below which 
I landed ; and whilst the servants were preparing my dinner, I ascended the bank 
to view the country. I had not ])roceeded far, before I came to a fine, level, open 
plain, on which I perceived, at a little distance, a partial elevation that had the ap- 
pearance of an entrenchment. On a nearer inspection, I had greater reason to suppose 
that it had really been intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it was 
now covered with grass, I could plainly see that it had once been a breastwork of about 
four feet in height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover 
five thousand men. Its form was somewhat circular, and its flanks reached to the 
river. 

'* Though much defaced by time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as 
regular and fashioned with as much military skill, as if planned by Vauban himself. 
The ditch was not visible; but I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could per- 
ceive there certainly had been one. From its situation, also, I am convinced that it 
must have been designed for this purpose. It fronted the country, and the rear was 
covered by the river, nor was there any rising ground for a considerable way that com- 
manded it ; a few straggling lakes were alone to be seen near it. In many places 
small tracks were worn across it by the feet of the elks and deer, and from the depth 
of the bed of earth by which it was covered, I was able to draw certain conclusions of 
its great antiquity. I examined all the angles and every part with great attention, and 
have often blamed myself since, for not encamping on the spot, and drawing an exact 
plan of it. To show that this description is not the offspring of a heated imagination, 
or the chimerical tale of a mistaken traveller, I find, on enquiry, since my return that 
Mons. St. Pierre and several traders have, at different times, taken notice of similar ap- 
pearances, on which they have formed the same conjectures, but without examining 
them so minutely as I did. How a work of this kind could exist in a country that has 
liitherto (according to the generally received opinion) been the seatof war to untutored 
Indians alone, whose whole stock of military knowlege has only, till within two centu- 
ries, amounted to drawing the bow, and whose only breast-work, even at present, is 
the thicket, I know not. I have given as exact an account as possible of this sin- 
gular appearance, and leave to future explorers of those distant regions, to discover 
whether it is a production of nature or art. Perhaps the hints I liave here given 
might lead to a more perfect investigation of it, and give us very different ideas of the 
ancient state of realms, that we at present believe to have been, from the earliest peri- 
od, only the habitations of savages." 

Feathcrstonaugh, the geologist, visited this supposed fortification, and thought it 
might be a work of art ; but the general impression is, that Carver saw nothing more 
than a sand or gravel ridge, hollowed out by the winds, or grooved by the heavy rains. 

Though Carver was mistaken, it is still true that Minnesota abounds in mounds and 
piles of stones, the work ol' a past race. 



ANCIEXT .MONUMENTS— LETTER FROM MR. rOXD. "S 



i.O 



When the Dakotas are asked by travellers, what mean ye bv these stones ? nei- 
ther they nor their children answer, except to say that they were in'existence when their 
fathers hrst came to this country. The accompanying communications from the Revs. 
Mr. Fond and Alton, it is hoped will stimulate other citizens who live in the vicin- 
it,y of ancient monuments, to write a description and forward it to the Historical So- 
ciety. 



IOWA INDIANS AND MOUNDS. 

BY REV. G. H. POXD MISSIOXARV AMOXG THE DAKOT.VS. 

Takoha, the old war prophet, says that the Iowa Indians never occupied the countrv 
around the mouth of the Minnesota river. He affirms that it once belono-ed to the 
"VVinnebagoes, who were long ago driven from it by the Dakotas — a few others of the 
Dakotas agree with Takoha. But Black Tomahawk, who is by some of the most intel- 
ligent halt-breeds, considered the best ]\Idewakantonwan traditionist, says, that in the 
earliest years of the existence of the Dakotas, they became acquainted with the Iowa 
Indians, and that they lived in a village at the place which is now called Oak Grove 
seven or eight miles from Fort Snelling. on the north side of the Minnesota river. 
The numerous little mounds which are to be seen about Oak Grove, he says, are the 
works of the Iowa Indians. 

The old man says, that in ancient times, when the Dakotas had no arms but thebow 
and stone or horn headed arrows, and used knives and axes manufactured from the 
same materials, these little mounds which we now see at the place above named, were 
the dwellings of the low'as. They were the enemies of the Dakotas, who used occa- 
sionally to make a war-path from ^lille Lac, where they then resided, down to the Iowa 
village, and carry off with them scalps, which made glad the hearts of their wives and 
daughters. The strife between the two nations eventually became desperate, and the 
gods, who are always deeply interested in Indian wars, espoused the cause of the Da- 
kotas. 

The thunder, which the Dakotas believe to be a winged monster, and which in 
character seems to answer very well to the Mars of the ancient heathen, bore 
down upon the Iowa village in a most terrible and god-like manner. Tempests 
howled, the forked lightnings flashed, and the thuxders uttered their voices ; the earth 
trembled ; a thunder-bolt was hurled at the devoted village, w-hich ploughed the earth, 
and formed that deep ravine near the present dwelling of Peter Quinn. This occur- 
rence unnerved the lowas, and the Dakotas, taking advantage of it, fell upon their en- 
mies and drove them across the Minnesota river, and burned up their village. 

The lowas then built another village on the south side of the river, near the pre- . 
sent planting grounds of Grey Iron, where they remained till the Dakotas obtained fire- 
arms, when they fought their last battle with them in Minnesota, on Pilot Knob, back 
of Mendota. The lowas Avho escaped on this occasion fled, and erected their next 
village at the mouth of the Iowa river, from which they were again eventually driven 
by the Dakotas, towards the Missouri. The old man t'rom whom we gather the sub- 
stance of what has gone before, says that these mounds are the remains of the dwelling 
houses of the ancient lowas. Some say that they are not the remains of the dwellings 
of the lowas, but those of some other people with whom tradition docs not acquaint 
them ; and others, still, say that they are ancient burial places. 

The following two or three facts may not be without interest to the reader. Some 
six years since, Mr. Quinn, of Oak Grove, removed the earth of one of these mounds, 
at the same place where Black Tomahawk says the ancient Iowa village stood. As the 
earth was removed, on a level wnth the natural surrounding surface, charred poles and 
human bones were found. It was easy and natural for the imagination to supply the 
rest, and make the fact corroborate the tradition of the old man, when he says tliat the 
lowas constructed their houses by leaning poles together at the top, and spreading 



'24 ANNALS or THE 31INNES0TA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Ihcin at the foot, forming a circular frame, which they covered with earth. In one of these 
houses a man or woman had been killed, and the timbers of the house hred, which, 
of course would let the earth fall in upon the dead body and burnmfr poles. At a sub- 
seouent period, when the son of Black Tomahawk was killed by a Chippewa, who was 
one of the little peace-parfy of Hole-in-the-Day, Sen., the Indians opened another of 
these mounds, near Mr. Quinn's door, to inter the dead body. Smoky-Day aihrms, 
that on that occasion they discovered -many human skull bones and sets ol teeth, 
carefully i)laccd in a row.""' This seems to corroborate the other story of tradition, that 
these mounds were the burial places of early tribes. The earth of a third mound was 
lately removed, and nothing of the kind discovered. Smoky-Day informs me, that at 
Lake Traverse, a Dakota once, who was ambitious to be inspired by the gods, caused 
a hole to be opened in the centre of one oi' these mounds, in doing which quite a num- 
ber of human bones were thrown up. It is the common practice of the Dakotas, who 
desire to be u-akan. or inspired by the supernatural powers, to stretch themselves on the 
ground in some solitary place, and there remain till the gods draw near with their 
communications, which I believe generally occurs in the darkness of the night. On 
the above occasion, the '-dreamer," for they call it dreaming, placed himself in the 
centre of the mound, in the midst of the human bones. When the stillness of night 
brooded over his dreaming place, the spirits, whose bones he had disturbed, hovered 
around and treated him so rudely, that in his fright he fled for his life, and remained an 
uninspired man. 



LETTER FROM MR. J. F. AITON. 

'• AA'hal mean ye by these stones?" 

To Rev. E. D. XeiU, St. Paul, M. T. : 

DrAR Sir: Your letter of the third Instant, relating to the stone heaps near Red 

Wing, was duly received. 

I am happy to comply with your request, hoping that it may lead to an accurate sur- 
vey of these mounds. 

' In 1848 I first heard of stone heaps, on the hill tops, back from Red Wing. But 
business, and the natural suspicion of the Indian, prevented me from exploring. The 
treaty of Mendota emboldened me to visit the hills, and try to find *A\e stone heaps. 
Accordingly, late last autumn. I started on foot and alone from Red Wing, following 
the path marked P on the map, which I herewith transmit. I left the path after cross- 
ing the second stream, and turning to the left, I ascended the first hill that I reached. 
Tills is about a mile distant from the path that leads from Fort Snelling to Lake Pepin. 
There, on the brow of the hill, wliich was about 200 feet high, was a heap of stones. 
It is about twelve feet in diameter and six in height. The perfect confusion of the 
stones, and yet the entircness of the heap, and the denuded rocks all around, convinc- 
ed me that the heap had been formed from stones lying around, picked up by the hand 
of man. 

But why, and when it had been done were questions not so easily decided. For 
solving these, I resolved to seek internal evidence. Prompted by the spirit of a first 
explorer, I soon ascended the heap ; and the coldness of the day, and the proximity of 
my gun, tended to suppress my dread of rattle-snakes. The stones were such that I 
could lift, or roll them, and I soon reached a stick about two feet from the top of the 
heap. After descending about a foot farther I pulled the post out ; and about the 
same place found a shank bone, about five inches long. The post was red cedar, half 
decayed, i. c. one side, and rotted to a point in the ground; hence I could not tell 
whether it grew there or not. The bone is similar to the two which you have. I left 
it and the post on the heap, hoping that some one better skilled in osteology might 



EARLY NOMENCLATURE OF MINNESOTA. 25 

visit the heap. The stones of the heap are magnesian limestone, which forms the up- 
per stratum of the hills about Red Wing. 

Much pleased, I started south over the hill top, and was soon greeted by another 
silent monument of art. This heap is marked B on the map. It is similar to the first 
which is marked A, only it is larger, and was so covered with a vine that I had no 
success in opening it. From this point there is a fine view southward. The valleys 
and hills are delightful. Such hills and vales, such cairns and bushy glens, would, in 
my father's land, have been the thrones and play grounds of fairies. But I must stick 
to facts. I now started eastward to visit a conical appearing hill, distant about a mile 
and a half. I easily descended the hill, but to cross the plain and ascend another hill, 
" hie labor est.'''' But I was amply repaid. The hill proved to be a ridge, with sever- 
al stone heaps on the summit. Near one heap there is a beautiful little tree, with a 
top like " Tam O'Shanter's" bonnet. In these heaps I found the bones which I left 
with you. I discovered each about half way down the heaps. 

I then descended northward about 200 feet, crossed a vallej', past some earth 
mounds, and ascended another hill, and there found several more stone heaps similar to 
the others. In them I found no bones, nor did I see anything else worthy of particu- 
lar notice at present. 

If these few facts should, in any measure, help to preserve correct information 
concerning any part of this new country, I shall be amply rewarded for writing. 

Your obedient servant, 

J. F. AITON. 
Kaposia, Jan. 17, 1852. 

Note. For the Information of the distant reader, it is perhaps well to state that Ked Wing is the name given by the 
whites to the Dakota village, Remnica, a word in their language signifying earth, wood and water. 

It is situated at the head of Lake Pepin, In the vicinity of the bliifl", to which the voyageurs have given the name of 
La Grange, or The Barn. 



THE EARLY NOMENCLATURE OF MINNESOTA. 



The principal rivers and lakes of the West, have received their names from Ihe 
ecclesiastic, on his way to raise the standard of the cross among distant tribes, or from 
the explorer, anxious for fame, and to unfold the banner of France, over new allies. 

We must, therefore, expect to find two classes of names given to our streams ; one 
pertaining to men of ecclesiastical, the other to men of political renown. The first 
educated white man that saw the falls of the Mississippi, was a Franciscan priest, of 
the branch called Recollect; and it was perfectly natural that he should have named 
the falling waters, after the distinguished divine and orator of Padua, Anthony. For a 
few months, this priest was detained by the Dakotas of Mille Lac, and vicinity, and in 
naming the river that flows from that lake into the Mississippi, he thought that it 
would be appropriate to call it after the founder of the order to which he belonged, 
Francis of Assisi. 

Those who sought the Upper Mississippi, after Hennepin, were not ecclesiastics. 
This stream had already been named Colbert, in honor of the great statesman and 
minister of marine in France. It is not to be wondered at, that Le Sueur, finding that 
the Illinois, also, had been named Seignelay, after Colbert's son, sliould, in passing 
through the lake of Tears, as named by Hennepin, call it Pepin, in remembrance of 
the royal house of France. 



26 ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL BOCIETY. 

As he passed Hoi^an-wanke-kin, of tlic Dakota, the river of the grave of Hennepin, 
one of the exploring' party fell overboard, and the sad occurrence was perpetuated, by 
mxma: Ihc name of tlie drowned man. Saint Croix, to tliis stream. A similar occurrence, 
at a later day, gave the name ol" Patterson, to the rapids of the Upper Minnesota. 

Le Sueur was the father of D'Ibcrville, one of the most distinguished naval heroes 
that Canada has ever produced. One ol' his son's companions in a conflct with English 
ships, in Hudson's Bay, was Lieut. Saint Pierre. In honor of this military com- 
panion of his son, he named the river which he was the first to describe. Saint Pierre. 
This officer appears to have been the Captain Saint Pierre, who had charge of the post 
on Lake Pepin. 

The stockade he built on the Mankato, or Blue Earth, he named L'Huillier, in 
Iionor of the Parisian, who had furnished men and means for the exploration. Upon a 
map published before the American revolution, the tributary of the Blue Earth, to 
which Nicollet has given the name of Le Sueur, is called Saint Remi, who appears to 
have been a distinguished man in Canada, at the commencement of the eighteenth 
century. N. 



MINNESOTA— ITS NAME AND ORIGIN. 



BY DR. THOMAS S. FOSTER. 



The name of the Territory is pronounced as if spelled Min-nee-so-tah, It is de- 
rived from the Indian name of the principal local stream of the Territory. 

The Dakotas or Sioux, who live on its banks, thus call it, on account of the differ- 
ent appearance of the waters from those of the Mississippi. 

Tlic waters of the latter are often chocolate colored, being tinged by their passage 
through the northern pine and tamarack swamps ; while the waters of the Minnesota 
are entirely different in appearance, being light colored and clear. 

The name is compounded of two words, "minne," meaning water, and " sotah." 

The exact signification of the last word is somewhat obscure. Various authorities 
render it whitish., or iurbid, or cJondxj, or gray., and some even muddy. Nicollet 
thought blear and Fcatherstonhaugh though clear was the proper interpretation. The 
Rev. G. H. Pond, for many years resident missionary among the Dakotas, and acknow- 
ledged to be the highest authority on questions of Dakota philology, expressed to the 
writer the opinion that sky-colored more clearly and precisely expressed the meaning 
of " sotah" in this connection. Minnesota, therefore, is literally " The Territory of 



THE 8KY-C0L0RED WATER." 



ST. LOUIS RIVER. 



BY EEV. T. M. FULLERTON. 



Tlie head of Lake Superior is about five miles wide, the shore forming nearly a 
regular semi-circle. The St. Louis river enters the lake near the middle of this bend. 
The entrance from the lake is about west, forty or fifty rods, when the river bends 
suddenly to the north, keeping its course parallel with the lake shore about half a mile, 
when the course is again changed to the southwest. Here the river widens out into a 
bay about six miles long, and in places two miles wide ; liaving several small islands in it. 
The bend of the river, near the mouth, forms a peninsula between its north bank and 
the lake, about a mile long, and averaging about a quarter of a mile in width. It is a 
body of sand, producing only some small evergreen underbrush, and a beautiful grove 
of tall, straight, limbless yellow pines. On the south side of the river, there is a tract 
of several hundred acres of low land, a portion of which is similar to that on the north 
side, but much of 'it is swampy. The American Fur Company, previous to 1840, had 
a trading post here, about half a mile from the lake, but it was subsequently removed 
to Fon du Lac, at the foot of the falls. 

The river, at its mouth, is less than a quarter of a mile wide, and obstructed by a 
sand bar, holding countless snags ; but on passing this a few rods, brings the boat be- 
yond the bend, into calm, deep water, in any weather. At the head of the bay, the 
traveller is in want of a pilot. From that point to the falls, the river is full of islands 
and fields of wild rice, around and through which, there are numerous channels. The 
inexperienced may row several miles, and find himself at the head of a bay or cove, 
and be under the necessity of returning tj» seek the true channel. From tlie lake to 
the falls, called twenty miles, the northern shore is bold and rugged, except in a few 
places where it falls back, forming a small plat of table land between it and the river, 
or gives vent to a small mountain stream. The bluff's, on the south side, are similar to 
those on the north for several miles below the falls ; they there disappear. The Fon 
du Lac river, from the southwest, enters the lake about two miles south of the outlet 
of the St. Louis, and the valleys of the two rivers are merged in one some six or 
seven miles from the lake. 

A few rods below the falls, a creek of pure, never-failing water from the north, 
forms a junction with the river. The west side of the valley, formed by this creek, 
is occupied by the American Fur Company, and the east by the missionary establishment 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The whole valley does not afford above ciglity 
acres of arable land. 

The general face of the country around Fon du Lac, is mountainous. On the riv- 
er, and small streams, there are a few acres of good soil in places, but most of the 
low lands are impenetrable white cedar swamps. Back of these there is usually a plat 
of table land, covered with hard maple, birch, basswood and other limbers indigenous 
to river bottoms in the Southwestern States, together with here and tlicre very large white 
pines. Still farther back, mountains tower up towards Heaven. Tlie soil on some of 
these is good, but most of them are marshy. White pine and birch arc the predomi- 
nating timbers on the mountains. Large boulders are numerous, as well on these 
mountains as on the table lands and river bottoms. 

About three miles north of Fon du Lac, a peak of one of the mountains towers far 
above all others. The only ascent, is on the north side, and is tolerably easy for a 



28 ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

footman. The south side is a perpendicular rock of several hundred feet in height. 
The summit is a level bare rock. The stone, forming this peak, is unlike any thing 
else seen in the country. It is of a dark grey color, and so close in texture, that the 
united strength of myself and interpreter, could not break a piece of it by hurling it 
against the mass on which we stood. The beholder can scarcely resist the impression, 
tiiat he stands on a pyramid in the midst of an immense basin, whose outer rim is the 
limit of human vision. Lake Superior, though twenty miles distant, appears as if lying 
at his feet, and stretching itself away to the east, until sight loses it in the distance ; and 
the river, with its islands, channels," and rice fields, is all in full view, from the falls to 
its mouth. The writer has never seen another spot where such a comprehensive view 
of the vastness of creation could be obtained. 

The falls of St. Louis river, are nothing more than a succession of rapids for the 
distance of about fifteen miles, except at tlie head of " Knife Portage." At that point, 
the water falls about ten feet perpendicularly. Above that point, to the mouth of 
Savannah river, eighty miles from the lake, there are few banks seen in high water. 
The bottoms are several miles wide, in places, indeed, most of the way, and often 
overflown. But from Fon du Lac, to the above named falls, the water rushes through 
a narrow gorge, the banks in several places, being from fifty to one hundred feet high, 
and always crumbling in. In several places within two miles of Fon du Lac, they are 
composed of shale, sand, and boulders ; the slaty shale lying in regular stratum, dipping 
several degrees westward on the south side, and equally eastward on the north side. 
Just above these banks, on the north side of the river, an acre or more of trap rock 
mixed with copper, precisely like that below Lapointe, is exposed to view in low water. 
It has the appearance of having once been covered with a bank similar to those above 
described, which has washed away; and it was the opinion of the writer, that the same 
formation might be found under many of the hills around the falls. L^p the creek 
before mentioned, a mile from the river, the same mixture of shale and sand may be 
seen in many places. The Indians considered this metallic substance in the trap rock, 
valuable, and in the treaty made at Lapointe, in 1842, they reserved this spot, stipu- 
lating that the trader's store, one mile below, should be the corner of that cession. 
The head chief often told the writer, that he expected to take out a great amount of wealth 
from the river, at that spot, as soon as he should get the means. 

The first portage on these falls, is about eight miles long, on the north side of the 
river. It is over a very rough country, through several very swampy places, and is 
generally impracticable for horses, or any thing that cannot walk a pole. At the head 
of this portage, canoes are used again, for two miles, and there the " Knife Portage " is 
made on the south side of the river, three miles, to the grand falls, above alluded to. In 
high water, both of these portages are longer. On both sides of the river at the Knife 
Portage, much of the surface of the ground is covered with masses of slate, equal to 
any hone for edged tools. They have the appearance of being thrown up by some 
internal revolution, there being nothing like order or regularity in their position, and 
the intervening ground being even. 

Europeans who have seen this slate, allege that it is equal to that used in England 
for tiling. The supply, even on the surface of the ground, is inexhaustible. 

There can scarcely be a limit to the amount of fish, pickerel chiefly, that may be 
taken on the rapids during about three weeks of the spring. In the spring of 1843, 
the writer often saw a two-fathom canoe filled in one hour in the morning, by two 
men, one steering and the other using a dip-net. Both work the canoe up the rapids 
sufficiently far, when one stands in the bow with the net, while the other backs the 
canoe with his might, in addition to the rapidity of the current. From twenty to fifty 
large fishes are frequently thus taken hi passing about twenty rods of the rapids. 



INDIAN TRADE. 

A SKETCH OF THE EARLY TRADE AND TRADERS OF MINNESOTA. 



BY EDWARD D. NEILL. 



Mille Lacs is the Spirit lake of the Dakotas. Surrounded by forests of maple ; the 
marshes in its vicinity, fertile in the growth of the wild rice; its clear waters the abode 
of an abundance of fish, it is a place above all others for an Indian to choose as a home. 
It is not therefore strange, that this lake, serrated with peninsulas, and studded with 
isles, should have been the ancient residence of the ancestors of the Dakotas, who now 
dwell on the Mississippi and the lower portion of the Minnesota, and should have 
given them the name of Mdew^akantonwan, dwellers of the Spirit Lake. 

The persons whose names are preserved, that first attempted to engage in trade 
with the Dakotas, were Michael Ako, and Picard du Gay, alias Anthony Auguello, a 
native of Amiens, They were the voyageurs who left Fort Crevecoeur, on the Illi- 
nois, and acted as the oarsmen of the Franciscan, Hennepin. In April, 1680, as is well 
known, the party were taken captive by the Dakotas of Mille Lac. The outfit of these 
voyageurs was furnished by the enterprising La Salle, and was valued at about one 
hundred and eighty dollars. Besides this, there were given to Hennepin, ten knives, 
twelve shoemakers' awls or bodkins, a roll of tobacco, a parcel of needles, and some 
beads. 

After they had been in the vicinity of Mille Lacs about two months, Wah-zee- 
koo-tay, a Dakota chief, invited them and father Hennepin to go on a bufialo hunt. 
The party descending the St. Francis, (now Rum river,) continued down the Missis- 
sippi, as far as the Wisconsin. They then retraced their steps as far as Bufialo river, 
and then descended again. On the 28th of July, they began to ascend the Missis- 
sippi once more, and while encamped on its banks, Sieur du Luth, and five other 
Frenchmen from Canada, unexpectedly made their appearance. 

SIEUR DU LUTH. 

As they could not speak the Dakota tongue, they asked Picard, Ako, and Henne- 
pin, to leave the hunting party and go back to the villages, to which request, they 
consented. On the 14th of August they arrived at the villages in the neighborhood of 
Mille Lacs. They remained trading until towards the end of September, when the 
Frenchmen told the Indians, that to procure them iron and other merchandize which 
was useful, it was necessary that they should return to Canada, and at a certain 
time they would return half way with their goods, if the Indians would meet them 
there with furs. The Dakotas held a council, and decided that they might leave the 
country without molestation. Wah-zee-koo-tay, gave them some sacks of wild rice, 
and then upon a sheet of paper which was given to him, he marked out their course for 
many miles. In two canoes, these eight Europeans, passed through the rice lakes of 
Rum river, and entered the Mississippi. 

While at the Falls of Saint Anthony, two of De Luth's party carried away beaver 
robes, which had been hung there as a sort of oblation. Wah-zee-koo-tay, hearing of 
this, started in pursuit, and was only appeased by the present of some tobacco. 



30 ANNALS OF THE MTNXK.-OTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

lly way of tlio Wisconsin, Du Lulh and his party readied Canada in the summer of 
1681. Sieiir du Luth was a man of great enterprise and decision of character, and his 
name is conspicuous in the annals of the wars between the French and Indians of New 
York. He had been absent from Canada two and a half years when he arrived in 
Minnesota. Either before, or upon his return, he had caused two Iroquois to be killed, 
who had assassinated two Frenchmen upon Lake Superior. This so incensed the Five 
Nations, that they declared war against the French. Do La Earre, the governor of 
Canada, did all in his power to ajipease their wrath, but notwithstanding his protes- 
tations, in the month of Marcli, '1684, a band of two hundred Seneca and Cayuga 
warriors, liaving met seven canoes, manned by fourteen Frenchmen, with fifteen or 
sixteen thousand pounds of merchandize, who were going to trade with the " Seious," 
l)illaged them and took tliem prisoners without any resistance ; and after detaining them 
nine days, sent tliem away without arms, food or canoes. 

This attack caused the French much uneasiness, as they feared that the English, 
by forming an alliance with the Iroquois, might take possession of their posts at Mack- 
inac, Fort Crcveceur, and Green Bay, and thus command the trade of all the distant 
nations. Governor Do la Barre, therefore, despatched orders to Sieur de Luth, who 
was then at Green Bay, acting as Lieutenant under Durantaye, who was commander 
at iNIackinac, to come to Canada and state the number of allies he could obtain. With 
great speed he came to Niagara, the place of rendezvous, with a band of Indians, and 
would alone have attacked the Senecas, had it not been for an express order of De la 
Barre to the contrary. 

When Louis the Fourteenth heard of this outbreak, he felt, to use his words, 
" that it was a grave misfortune for the colony of New France," and then in his letter 
to the governor, he adds : " It appears to me that one of the principal causes of the 
war, arises from one Du Luth having caused two Iroquois to be killed, who had as- 
sassinated two Frenchmen, in Lake Superior, and you sufficiently see how much this 
man's voyage, which cannot produce any advantage to the colony, and which was per- 
mitted only in the interest of some private persons, has contributed to distract the re- 
pose of the colony." 

The English of New York, knowing the hostility of the Iroquois to the French, 
used the opportunity to trade with the distant Indians. In 1685, one Roseboom, with 
some young men, had traded with the Ottav/as in Michigan. 

In the year 1686, an old Frenchman who had long lived among the Dutch and En- 
glish in New York, came to Montreal, to visit a child at the Jesuit boarding school ; 
and he stated that a Major McGregory, of Albany, was contemplating an expedition 
to Mackinac. 

Denonville, the new governor of Canada, ordered Du Luth to proceed to the pre- 
sent Detroit river, and watch whether tlie English passed into Lake St. Clair. In 
accordance with the order, he left Green Bay. Being provided with fifty armed men, 
he established a post called fort St. Joseph, some thirty miles above Detroit. 

In the year 1687, on the 19th of May, the brave and distinguished Tonty, who was 
a cousin of Du Luth, arrived at Detroit, from his fort on the Illinois. Durantaye 
and Du Luth, knowing that he had arrived, came down from fort St. Joseph with thirty 
captive English. Here Tonty and Du Luth joined forces and proceeded toward the 
Iroquois country. As they were coasting Lake Erie, they met and captured Major 
McGregory, of Albany, then on his way with thirty Englishmen, to trade with the 
Indians at Mackinac. 

Du Lutli, having reached Lake Ontario, we find him engaged in that conflict with 
the Senecas of the Genessee valley, when Father Angleran, the superintendent of 
the Mackinac mission, was severely but not mortally wounded. After this battle, he 
returned, in company with Tonty, to his post on the Detroit river. 

In 1689, immediately previous to the burning of Schenectady, we find him again 
fighting the Iroquois in the neighborhood, and there is reason to suppose that he was 
engaged in the midnight sack of that town. As late as the year 1696, we find him on 
duty at Fort Frontenac; but after the peace of Ryswick, which occasioned a suspen- 
sion of hostilities, we hear nothing more of this man, who was the first of whom we 
htv8 any account, who came by way of Lake Superior to the upper Mississippi. 



EARLY TRADE OF MINNESOTA — NICHOLAS PERROT. 31 



NICHOLAS PERROT. 

Perrot was a man of good familjr, and in his youth applied himself to study ; and he 
being for a time in the service of the Jesuits, became familiar with the customs and 
languages of the tribes upon the borders of our lakes. A native of Canada, accus- 
tomed from childhood to the excitement and incidents of a border life, he was to a cer- 
tain extent prepared for the wild scenes witnessed in after days. 

If the name of Joliet is worthy of preservation, the citizens of the Northwest 
ought not to be willing to let the name of that man die, who was the first of whom we 
have any account, that erected a trading post on the Upper Mississippi, 

Some years before La Salle had launched the " Griffin" on Lake Erie, and com- 
menced his career of discovery, Perrot, at the request of the authorities in Canada, 
who looked upon him as a man of great tact, visited the various nations of the North- 
west, and invited them to a grand council at Sault St. Marie, for the purpose of makin"- 
a treaty with France. Of mercurial temperament, he performed the journey with 
great speed, going as far south as Chicago, the site of the present city. 

In May, 1671, there was seen at the Falls of St. Mary, what has been of late, a 
frequent occurrence. Here was the first convocation of civilized men, Avitli the Abo- 
rigines of the Northwest, for the formation of a compact, for the purposes of trade 
and mutual assistance. 

It was not only the custom, but the policy of the court of France to make a great 
display upon such an occasion. It is not to be wondered at therefore, that we should 
see the ecclesiastic and military officers, surrounded " with all of the pomp and cir- 
cumstance" peculiar to their profession in that age of extravagence in externals. 

Allouez, the first ecclesiastic who saw the Dakotas, face to face, and the founder of 
the mission among the Ojibwas, at La Pointe, opened the council, by detailing to the 
painted, grotesque assemblage, enveloped in the robes of the beaver and buffalo, the 
great power of his monarch who lived beyond the seas. 

Two holes were then dug, in one of which was planted a cedar column, and in the 
other a cross of the same material. After this, the European portion of the assem- 
blage chanted the hymn which was so often heard in the olden time from Lake Supe- 
rior to Lake Ponchartrain — > 

Vexllla regis prodeunt 
Fulget crucis mysterium, 
Qna vita mortem pertnllt, 
Et morte, vitam protulit. 

The arms of France, probably engraved on leaden plates, were then attached to 
both column and cross, and again the whole company sang together the " Exaudiat," 
of the Roman Catholic service, the same as the twentieth psalm of the Protestant 
version of the Bible. The delegates, from the differeit tribes, having signified their 
approval of what Allouez had interpreted, of the speech of the French envoy. Saint 
Lusson, there was a grand discharge of musketry, and the chanting of the noble " To 
Deum Laudamus." 

After this alliance was concluded, Perrot seens to have remained in the 
country, and in a spirit of enterprise opened the trade with some of the more remote 
tribes. 

When Du Luth, in 1684, was making preparations at Green Bay, to go to war 
against the Iroquois, Perrot, who happened to be engaged in trade among the Outaga- 
mis, (Foxes,) not very far distant from the bay, rendered him great assistance in col- 
lecting allies. 

We learn nothing of the subject of our sketch, after this, until about the year 
1687. He was then in company with another Canadian named Boisguillot, trading in 
the neighborhood of the Mississippi. In consequence of an order from the governor 
of Canada, with the exception of a guard left to protect his merchandise from tlie 
Sioux, he proceeded with all the French in his vicinity, to join the army of defence 
against the English and Iroquois. 

In taking leave of the Dakotas, with whom he appears to hare been trading, he 



32 ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

promised tliem that if they made war witli the Indians who were allies of the French, 
they would be made to repent. 

Six vcars after this, he is sent as envoy to the Miamis to break up their trade with 
the Englisli. In the year 1696, the Indians dwelling on the river St. Joseph and vi- 
cinity, in Michigan, were attacked by the Dakotas. To revenge themselves, they made 
a war parly, and went into the Dakota country. They found their enemies secretly 
entrenched in a sort of fort, and aided by several courier de bois. After a fierce at- 
tack, the Dakotas repulsed them, and while returning to their hunting grounds they had 
a skirmish with some Frenchmen wlio were bearing arms and goods to the Sioux, — 
Filled with a hate towards the French, Nicholas Perrot happened among them, and they 
would have burned him to death, had it not been for the intervention of the Outagamis, 
who were his friends. 

A quarter of a century after the council at the Falls of St. Mary, there was another 
grand conference of Indian tribes lield at Montreal. Here again we find Perrot in at- 
tendance as the interpreter for the tribes that then resided in the present states of Wis- 
consin and Illinois. 

After this second treaty of peace in 1707, the Ottawas requested that he might be 
their leader, but did not wish " Eau de vie " brought among them as it broke their 
spirits. While engaged in trade in the Mississippi valley, he travelled as far as Rock 
Island, and some distance above the Des Moines he discovered some mines of lead, 
which, as late as 1721, bore his name. 

Upon Nicollet's, and many other modern maps, on the east side of Lake Pepin, there 
are marked the ruins of an old French fort. Carver found these when he travelled 
here in 1766, and states that in that vicinity a trade was carried on with the Sioux or 
Dakotas, by the French. 

Pike, in his journal appears to have this fort in view when he says : "Just below 
the Pt. de Sable, the French, under F'rontenac, who had driven the Renards from the 
Wisconsin, and chased them up the Mississippi river, built a stockade on this lake 
(Pepin) as a barrier against the savages. It became a noted factory for the Sioux." 

This fort was built by Perrot, and he and his comrades are those whom Dakota 
tradition asserts gave seed and corn to the nation. Through their influence the Dako- 
tas began to be led away from the rice grounds of the Mille Lac region. The 
editor of the Dakota Friend says : ''The Dakotas first met with white men while on 
the war path far in the south. The war party was a large one, and the white men 
with whom they met were few. The Dakotas were penetrated with fear, and felt 
reverence for the white men s:milar to that which they feel for the gods. The white 
men were also agitated with fear. They extended the hand, trembling, to each other 
and freely exchanged presents. When a gun was exhibited, discharged, and presented 
to the Indians, they drew back i;! utter amazement. They separated in peace, and the 
Dakotas returned to astonish their families with the relation of what had happened. 

"The first trading-post occupied by the French in the country of the Dakotas, of 
which I have heard them speak, was located at Lake Pepin, near the foot of the lake. 
They apply to the chief occupant of that post, the name of Ti-ta-ni-ke, (old inhabi- 
tant.) 

"The next post seems to have been on the Mississippi, a little above the mouth of 
Rice creek. While the post on Lake Pepin was occupied, several Frenchman were 
murdered, with a few Dakotas. by a war party of Chippewas. At that time also, a 
large war party of Ottawa Indians crossed Lake Pepin, from the west side on a rude 
raft. The place where they embarked was but a few rods distant from the present 
residence of James Wells. 

"It is not easy to determine positively, where the Mde-wa-kan-ton-wans first 
planted corn, as some of their traditions assert, that it was on Otonwewakpadan, (Rice 
creek) and other that it was on the low banks of the Minnesota. It appears most 
probable, however, that the Wa-kpa-a-ton-we-dan party first planted at a point on the 
former stream, which they denominate Tinlatonwan, (Prairieville) and that at about 
the same time, the Ma-tan-ton-wans tried the experiment on the latter. The seed was 
obtained from a trader who was located on the east shore of Lake Pepin, or one who 
occupied a post on the Mississippi a little above the mouth of Rice creek ; probably 
the latter." ' i- J 



EARLY TRADE OF MIXNEisOTA — LE SUEUR. 38 



LE SUEUR. 

After the treaty at Ryswick, the French officers, who had been engaged in the wars 
with the colonies of New England and New York, and the Iroquois Indians, began to 
turn their attention to discovery in new lands. 

Lemoine il'Iberville, like Perrot, was a native of Canada. His life, also, had been 
a life of danger. At one time he is seen commanding a ship in Hudson Bay, in con- 
flict with the English ; at another we find him engaged in the burning of Schenectady 
at midnight. Repairing to France, in 1697, he applies for a commission to establish 
maratime intercourse between that country and the moulh of the Mississippi, and 
thus open a communication with the northern tribes of- Indians, which could not be so 
easily cut off by the English colonies. On the 27th of September, 1698, according ta 
La Harpe, he left Rochefort with two frigates, and two hundred men ; and by the first 
of May, 1699, had reached the Bay of Biioxi. After establishing a post at this point, 
and placing it in command of his two brothers, Bienville and SauvoUe, he saileiZ for 
France. 

In little more than six months he was again at the mouth of the MississippJ, with a 
vessel containing a great many passengers. Among the passengers was his .*ather, Le 
Sueur, wnth thirty workmen, being the agent of M. L'Huillier, a distinguished public 
man of Paris, for forming an establishment towards the source of the Mississippi. 

Le Sueur, though the least known of the adventurous Frenchmea '^vho explored 
the Upper Mississippi in the 17th century, is more worthy of remembrance by the 
Minnesotian. He was the first to discover the Minnesota river, asceided it lor consid- 
erable distance, and may well be termed the pioneer explorer of th^ present Minneso- 
ta Territory, as Hennepin was a captive all the time of his visit i« the vicinity of Rum 
river. 

But little is known of bis early history. Previous to his travels South and West, 
he was commissioned, in 1693, by Frontenac, the governor of Canada, to establish a 
post at Chegoimegon, (La Pointe) on Lake Superior, and to make an alliance with the 
Saulteurs or Chippewas, and the Scioux. After leaving Lake Superior, he appears to 
have visited the Mississippi river by the way of the Wisconsin, In the year 1695, he 
caused a fort to be erected on an island in the Mississippi, 200 leagues above ^he Illi- 
nois, probably Mud Hen Island. Charlevoix, who was at New Orleans in 1721, re- 
marks : " Above the lake is met Isle Pelee, so mmed because it is a very beautiful 
prairie, destitute of trees. The French, of Canat^, have made it a centre of commerce 
for the western parts, and many pass the winter here, because it is a good country for 
hunting. Three leagues or more above this island, the river St. Croix comes in on 
the right, which flows from the vicinity of i^ake Superior." This post was built to 
keep up peaceful relations between the'CWppewas, who, according to La Harpe, resi- 
ded on the shores of a lake 500 leagues j.i circumference, and 100 leagues to the east, 
and the Scioux who resided on the Upper Mississippi. 

The same year he went back tc Montreal, with a Chippewa chief named Chingoou- 
abe, and a Scioux called Tioscate, who was the first Dakota in that city. He was receiv- 
ed very kindly by the governor and other officers. Two days after he came to 
Montreal, he presented Frontenac as many arrows as there were •' Scioux" villages, and 
asked that these might be uuder his protection. Le Sueur had intended to have re- 
turned to the Dakota country in 1696, with Tioscate, but the chief, m the meantime 
died, after thirty-three days sickness. Le Sueur then went to France, and obtained 
permission, in 1697, to open some mines which he claimed to have found in the Dako- 
ta country. ,.,,■,, x i i 

In June of that vear, he left Rochelle for the New World, but was captured by a 
British fleet and taken to England. Being released from captivity, he returned to 
France, and in 1698 obtained a new commission for mining. 

Le Sueur published no account of his travels, but in the history of the establish- 
ment of the French in Louisiana, by La Harpe, there is an extract from the account of 
his last voyage to the Scioux or Dakota country. -n. , «, • j • 

The " History of Louisiana, by La Harpe," who was a French officer, remained in 

5 



34 ANNALS OF THE ^HINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

manuscript in Louisiana, more than one Imndred years In 1805, a copy was taken 
iVom the original, and deposited among the archives of the Amenean Phdosophical 
Society, froni wliicli a lew extracts were published by Professor Kea hn^:, m his nar- 
rative of IMaior Lon-'s Expedition. In the year 1831. it was pubhshed atPans, for 
the lirst time, in the French language. As it has never been translated, and is not easy 
of access, wc transcribe all that relates to the - Seioux," and the mining opera ions of 
Le Sueur on the Blue Earth river. La Harpe says: :' On the 10th ot February 
M Le Sueur arrived (at the mouth of the Mississippi,) with 2,000 quintals of blueand 
green earth from the Seioux country. Here is an extract of the account of Ins voy- 
a-^e. It has been seen above, that he arrived at the colony in the month ol December, 
1699. with thirty workmen, but could not reach Tamarois before the following June, the 
journey being long from the mouth of the river to that place :" 

On the 12th of July, 1700, with one felucca and two canoes, and with nineteen 
men, he departed. On the 13th, having advanced six leagues and a quarter, he stop- 
ped at the mouth of the Missouri river, and six leagues above this, he passed the Illi- 
nois on the east side. He there met three Canadian voyageurs, who came to join his 
band, ind received by them a letter from Father Marest, Jesuit, dated July 10th, 1700, 
at the Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, in Illinois, of which 
the follo\ting is a copy : 

" I have the honor to write, in order to inform you, that the Saugiestas have been 
defeated by Oic Seioux and Ayavois. (lowas ?) The people liave formed an alliance 
with the Quiicapous, (Kickapoos ?) some of the Meeoutins, Renards, (Foxes,) and 
Metesigamias, a-.id gone to revenge themselves, not on the Seioux, for they are too 
much afraid of t»em, but perhaps on the Ayavois, or very likely upon the Paoutees, 
or more probably *pon the Osages, for these suspect nothing, and the others are on 
their guard. 

'• As you will probably meet these allied nations, you ought to take precaution 
against their plans, and jot allow them to board your vessel, since they are traitors, and 
utterly faithless. I pray God to accompany you in all your designs," 

Twenty-two leagues at>ove the Illinois, he passed a small stream which he called 
the river of Oxen, and nine leagues beyond this he passed a small river on the west 
side, where he met four Canadiians descending the Mississippi, on their way to the Il- 
linois. On the 30th of July, ni-ie leagues above the last named river, he met seven- 
teen Seioux, in seven canoes, who were going to revenge the death of three Seioux, 
one of whom had been burned, ai4 the others killed, at Tamarois, a few days before 
his arrival in that village. As he haH promised the chief of the Illinois to appease the 
Seioux, who should go to war against 'jis nation, he made a present to the chief of the 
party to engage him to turn back. He told them the king of France did not wish them 
to make this river more bloody, and that L^ was sent to tell them, that if they obeyed 
the king's word, they would receive in fiiure all things necessary for them. The 
chief answered that he accepted the presen*;, that is to say, that he would do as had 
been told him. 

From the 30th of July to the 25th of August, Le Sueur advanced fifty-three and 
one-fourth leagues, to a small river, which he calhd the river of the Mine. At 
the mouth it runs from the nortli, but it turns to the Kortheast. On the right, seven 
leagues, there is a lead mine in a prairie, one and a liaK leagues back from the river. 
This river, with the exception of the three first leagues, is, only navi"-able in hio-h wa- 
ter, that is to say, from early spring till the month of June. 

From the 25th to the 27th, he made ten leagues, passed two small rivers, and made 
himself acquainted with a mine of lead, from which he took a supply. From the 27th 
to the 30th, he made eleven and a half leagues, and met iive Canadians, one of whom 
had been dangerously wounded in the liead. They were naked, and had no amunition, 
except a miserable gun, with five or six loads of powder and balls. They said they 
were descending from the Seioux to go to Tamarois, and when seventy leao-ues above, 
they perceived nine canoes in the Mississippi, in which was ninety savages, who rob- 
bed and cruelly beat them. This party were going to war against the Seioux, 
and were composed of four different nations, the Outagamis, (Foxes,) Saquis, (Sacs,) 



EARLY TRADE OF xMINNESOTA — LE SUEUR. . 35 

Poutouwatamis, (Pottowattamies,) and Puans, (Winnebagoes,) who dwell in a coun- 
try eighty leagues east of the Mississippi, from where Le Sueur then was. 

The Canadians determined to follow the detachment, which was composed of twen- 
ty-eight men. This day they made seven and a half leagues. On the 1st of Septem- 
ber, he passed up the Wisconsin river. It runs into the Mississippi from the north- 
east. It is nearly one and a half miles wide. At about seventy-five leagues up this 
river, on the right, ascending, there is a portage of more than a league. The half of 
this portage is shaking ground, and at the end of it is a small river, which descends 
into a bay called Winnebago bay. It is inhabited by a great number of nations, who 
carry their furs to Canada. Monsieur Le Sueur came by the Wisconsin river to the 
Mississippi, for the first time, in 1683, on his way to the Scioux country, where he 
had already passed seven years at different periods. The Mississippi, opposite the 
mouth of the Wisconsin, is less than half a mile wide. From the 1 st of September to the 
5th, our voyageur advanced fourteen leagues. He passed the river " Aux Canots " 
which comes from the northeast, and then the Quincapous, named from a nation which 
once dwelt upon its banks. ^ '"*^ Or^C^/l /I 

From the 5th to the 9th, he made^^rW'M^^a^es, and passed the rivers Ca- 
chee and Aux Ailes. The same day he perceived canoes, filled with savages, des- 
cending the river, and the five Canadians recognized them as the party who had rob- 
bed them. They placed sentinels in the wood, for fear of being surprised by land ; 
and when they had approached within hearing, they cried to them that if they ap- 
proached farther they would fire. They then drew up by an island at half the distance 
of a gun-shot. Soon, four of the principal men of the band approached in a canoe, and 
asked if it was forgotten that they were our brethren, and with what design we had 
taken arms, when we perceived them. Le Sueur replied that he had cause to distrust 
them, since they had robbed five of his party. Nevertheless, for the surety of hig 
trade, being forced to be at peace with all the tribes, he demanded no redress for the 
robbery, but added merely that the king, their master and his, wished that his subjects 
should navigate that river without insult, and that they had better beware how they 
acted. 

The Indian who had spoken was silent, but another said they had been attacked by 
the Scioux, and that if they did not have pity on them, and give a little powder, they should 
not be able to reach their village. The consideration of a missionary, who was to go 
up among the Scioux, and whom these savages might meet, induced them to give two 
pounds of powder. 

M. Le Sueur made the same day three leagues ; passed a stream on the west, and 
afterwards another river on the east, which is navagable at all times, and which the In- 
dians call Red river. 

On the 10th, at daybreak, they heard an elk whistle, on the other side of the river. 
A Canadian crossed in a small Scioux canoe, which they had found, and shortly re- 
turned with the body of the animal, which was very easily killed, quand il est en rut, 
that is from the beginning of September until the end of October. The hunters at this 
time make a whistle of a piece of wood, or reed, and when they hear an elk whistle, 
they answer it. The animal believing it to be another elk, approaches, and is killed 
with ease. 

From the 10th to the 14th, M. Le Sueur made seventeen and a half leagues, passing 
the rivers Raisin and Paquilenettes, (perhaps the Wazi Ozu and Bufflilo.) The same 
day he left on the east side of the Mississippi, a beautiful and large river, which 
descends from the very far north, and colled Bon Secours, on account of the great quan- 
tity of buffalo, elk, bears and deer, which are found there. Three leagues up this river, 
there is a mine of lead, and seven leagues above, on the same side, they found another 
long river, in the vicinity of which there is a copper mine, from which lid had taken a 
lump of sixty pounds, in a former voyage. In order to make tliesp mines of any 
account, peace must be obtained between the Scioux and Outagamis ^^ Foxes) because 
the latter who dwell on the east side of the Mississippi, pass this road continually 
when going to war against the Scioux. 

In "this region, at one and a half leagues on the north-west side, commenced a lake, 
which is six leagues long, and more than one broad, called Lake Pepin. It is bounded 



S6 ANNALS OF THB MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

on the west by a cliain of inounlalns ; on tlic east is seen a prairie, and on the north- 
west of the lake there is anotlier prairie two leagues long, and one wide. In the neigh- 
borhood is a chain of mountains quite two hundred feet higli, and more than one and a 
half miles long. In these are found several caves, to which the bears retire in winter. 
Most of the caverns are more than seventy feet in extent, and three or four feet high. 
There are several of which the entrance is very narrow, and quite closed up with salt- 
petre. It would be dangerous to enter them in summer, for they are filled with rattle- 
snakes, the bite of which is very dangerous. Le Sueur saw some of these snakes, 
which were six feet in length, but generally they are about four feet. They have 
teeth resembling those of the pike, and Ihcir gums are full of small vessels in which 
their poison is placed. The Scioux say they take it every morning, and cast it away 
at night. They have at the tail, a kind of scale which makes a noise, and this is called 
the rattle. 

Le Sueur made on this day, seven and a half leagues, and passed another river called 
Hambouxecatc' Ouataba, or tlie river of Flat Rocks. (This is evidently the Inyan- 
bosndata, or Cannon River.) 

On the 15th, he crossed a small river, and saw in the neighborhood, several canoes 
filled with Indians, descending the Mississippi. He supposed they were Scioux, 
because lie could not distinguish whether their canoes were large or small. The arms 
were placed in readiness, and soon they heard the cry of the savages, which they are 
accustomed to raise when they rush upon their enemies. He caused them to be 
answered in the same manner; and after having placed all the men behind the trees, 
he ordered them not to fire until they were commanded. He remained on shore to see 
what movement the savages could make, and perceiving that they placed two on shore, 
on the other side, where from an eminence they could ascertain the strength of his 
forces, he caused his men to pass and re-pass from the shore to the wood, in order to 
make them believe that they were numerous. This ruse succeeded, for as soon as the 
two descended from the eminence, the chief of the party came, bearing the calumet, 
which is a signal of peace among the Indians. 

They said, that never having seen the French navigate the river with boats like the 
felucca,* they had supposed them to be English, and for that reason they had raised 
the war cry, and arranged themselves on the other side of the Mississippi ; but having 
recognized their flag, they had come without fear to inform them, that one of their 
number, who was crazy, had accidentally killed a Frenchman, and that they would go 
and bring his comrade, who would tell how the mischief had happened. 

The Frenchman they brought, was Denis, a Canadian, and he reported that his 
companion was accidentally killed. His name was Laplace, a deserting soldier from 
Canada, who had taken refuge in this country. 

Le Sueur replied that Onontio, (the name they give to all the governors of Canada) 
being their fatlier and his, they ought not to seek justification elsewhere than before 
him ; and he advised them to go and see him as soon as possible, and beg him to wipe 
off the blood of this Frenchman from their faces. 

The party was composed of forty-seven men of different nations, who dwell far to 
the east, about the forty-fourth degree of latitude. Le Sueur, discovering who the 
chiefs \yere, said the king whom they had spoken of in Canada, had sent him to take 
possession of the north of the river ; and that he wished the nations who dwell on it, 
as well as those under his protection, to live in peace. 

He made this day three and three-fourth leagues ; and on the 16th of September, he 
left a large river on the east side, named Saint Croix, because a Frenchman of that 
name was shipwrecked at its mouth. It comes from the N. N. W. Four lea^-ues 
higher, in going up, is found a small lake, at the mouth of which is a very large mass 
of copper. It is on the edge of the water, in a small ridge of sandy earth,'on the west 
of this lake. (Perhaps near Gray Cloud Island V) 

From the IGth to the 19th, he advanced thirteen and three-fourth leagues. After 
having made from Tamarois two hundred and nine and a half leagues, he left the navi- 

•The falucca Is a small vessel propelled both hy oar« and sail*, and had never before been seen on the waters at tha 
L'pper Mltilstlppl. 



EARLY TRADE OF MINNESOTA — LE SUEUR. 87 

gation of the Mississippi, to enter the river Saint Pierre* on the west side. By the 
first of October, he had made in this river, forty-four and one fourth leagues. After 
he entered into Blue river, thus named on account of the mines of blue earth found at 
its mouth, lie founded his post, situated in forty-four dep:rees, thirteen minutes, north 
latitude. He met at this place, nine Sciouxf who told him that the river belono-ed to 
the Scioux of the west, the Ayavois, (lowas,) and Otoctatas, (Ottoes,) wlio lived a 
little farther ofT; that it was not their custom to hunt on ground belonging to others, 
unless invited to do so by the owners, and that when they would come to the fort to 
obtain provisions, they would be in danger of being killed in ascending or descending 
the rivers, which were narrow, and that if they would show their pity, he mi.st estab- 
lish himself on the Mississippi, where the Ayavois, the Otoctatas, and the other 
Scioux, could go as well as them. 

Having finished their speech, they leaned over the head of Le Sueur, according to 
their custom, crying out " Oueachissou ouaepanimanabo," that is to say, " H^ve pity 
•on us." Le Sueur had foreseen that the establishment on Blue river, would not 
please the Scioux of the east, who were, so to speak, masters of the other Scio jx, and 
of the nations which will be hereafter mentioned, because they were the first with 
whom trade was commenced, and in consequence of which they had already quite a 
number of guns. 

As he had not commenced his operations only with a view to the trade of beavers, 
but also to gain a knowledge of the mines, which he had previously discovered, he told 
them he was sorry that he had not known their intentions sooner ; and that it was 
just, since he came expressly for them, that he should establish himself on their land, 
but that the season was too far advanced for him to return. He then made them a 
present of powder, balls, and knives, and an armful of tobacco, to entice them to 
assemble as soon as possible, near the fort which he was about to construct, that when 
they should be all assembled he might tell them the intention of the king, their and his 
sovereign. 

The Scioux of the west, according to the statement of the eastern Scioux, have 
more than a thousand lodges. They do not use canoes, nor cultivate the earth, nor 
gather wild rice. They remain generally in the prairies, which are between the 
Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and live entirely by the chase. The Scioux 
generally say they have three souls, and that after death, that which has done well 
goes to the warm country, that which has done evil, to the cold regions, and tin other 
guards the body. Polygamy is common among them. They are very jealov.s, and 
sometimes fight in duel for their wives. They manage the bow admirably, and have 
been seen several times to kill ducks on the wing. They make their lodges of a num- 
ber of buftalo skins interlaced and sewed, and carry them wherever they go. They 
are all great smokers, but their manner of smoking differs from that of other Indians. 
There are some Scioux who swallow'all the smoke of the tobacco, and others who, after 
having kept it sometime in their breath, cause it to issue from the nose. In each 
lodge there are usually two or three men with their families. 

On the 3d of October, they received at the fort, several Scioux. among whom was 
Wahkantape, chief of the village. Soon, two Canadians arrived who had been hunt- 
ing, and who had been robbed by the Scioux of the east, who had raised their guns 
to avenge the establishment which M. Le Sueur had made on Blue river. 

On the 17th, the fort was finished and named Fort L'Huillier, and on the 26th. two 
Canadians were sent out to invite the Ayavois and Otoctatas to come and establish a 
village near the fort, because these Indians are industrious and accustomed to cultivate 
the earth, and they hoped to get provisions from them and to make them work in the 
mines. 

On the 24th, six Scioux Oujalespoitons wished to go into the fort, but were told 

• The Saint Pierre, like the Saint Croix, Just below it, was evidently named after a Frenchman. Cliarlevolx speaks 
of an officer by that name, who was at Mackinac in 1692, and prominent in the Indian alfalrs of that age. Carver, iii 
1766, on the shores of Lstke Pepin, discovered the ruins of an extensive trading post, tliat had been under the control of a 
Captain Saint Pierre, and there Is scarcely a doubt that Le Sueur named the Minnesota rlvor, in honor of his fellow ci- 
plorer and trader. 

t St lOUX, is the orthography of T.ahontan. 1,9 Sueur, and the Jesuits of tliat period, In their reiallont. 



38 AXXALS OF TUG MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

that llicy did not receive men who liad killed Frenclimen. This is the term used when 
they have insulted them. The next day they came to the lodge of Le Sueur to beg him 
to liavc pity on thcin. They wished, according to custom, to Aveep over his head and 
make him a present of packs of beavers, wliicli he refused. He told them he was 
surprized thai people who had robbed, should come to him ; to which tliey replied that 
Ihev had heard it said ihat two Frenchmen had been robbed, but none from their village 
had" been present at that wicked action. 

Le Sncur answered, that he knew it was the Mendeoueantons and not the Oujales- 
poitons ; "but," continued he, "you are Scioux ; it is the Scioux who have robbed me, 
and if I was to follow your manner of acting, I should break your heads ; for is it not 
(rue, th;it when a stranger (it is thus that they call the Indians who are not Scioux) 
has insulted a Scioux, Mendeoucanton, Oujalespoitons or others — all the villages — 
revenge upon the first one they meet V 

As they had nothing to answer to what he said to them, they wept, and repeated, 
according to custom, "Ouaeehissou! ouaepanimanabo!" Le Sueur told them to cease 
crying, and added that the French had good hearts, and that they had come into the 
country to have ])ity on them. At the same time, he made them a present, saying to 
them, " Carry back'your beavers and say to all the Scioux, that they will have from 
me no more powder or lead, and they will no longer smoke any long pipe until they 
have made satisfaction for robbing the Frenchmen." 

The same day the Canadians, who had been sent off on the 22d, arrived without 
having found the road which led to the Ayavois and Otoctatas. On the 25th, Le Sueur 
went to the river with three cnnoes, which he fdled with green and blue earth.* It 
is taken from the hills near which are very abundant mines of copper, some of wliich 
was worked at Paris in 1696 by L'Huillier, one of the chief collectors of the king. 
Stones were also found there which would be curious, if worked. 

On the 9th of Novejnber, eight Mantanton Scioux arrived, who had been sent by 
their chiefs to say that the Mendeoueantons were still at their lake on the east of the 
Mississippi, and that they could not come for a long time ; and that for a single village 
which liad no good sense, the others ought not to bear the punishment ; and that they 
were willing to make reparation if they knew how. Le Sueur replied that he was 
glad thijy had a disposition to do so. 

On the 15th, the two Mantanton Scioux, who had been sent expressly to say that all 
of the Scioux of the east and part of those of the west were joined together to come 
to the French, because they had heard that the Christinaux and the Assinipoils were 
making war on th.cm. These two nations dwell above the fort on the east side, more 
than eighty leagues on the Upper Mississippi. 

The Assinipoils speak Scioux, and are certainly of that nation. It is only a few 
years since they became enemies. The enmity thus originated : The Christianaux 
having the use of arms before the Scioux, through the English at Hudson's Bay, they 
constantly warred with the Assinipoils who were their nearest neighbors. The latter 
being weak, sued for peace ; and to render it more lasting, married the Christianaux 
women. The other Scioux, who had not made the compact, continued to war ; and see- 
ing some Christianaux with the Assinipoils, broke their heads. The Christianaux fur- 
nished the Assinipoils with arms and merchandize. 

On the 16th, the Scioux returned to their village, and it was reported that the 
Ayavois and Otoctatas were gone to establish themselves towards the Missouri river, 
near the Maha, who dwell in that region. On the 26th, the Mantantons and Oujales- 
poitons arrived at the fort; and after they had encamped in the woods, Wahkantape 
came to beg Le Sueur to go to his lodge. He there found sixteen men with women 
and children, with their faces daubed with black. In the middle of the lodge were 
several buffalo skins, which were sewed for a carpet After motioning him to sit down, 
they wept for the fourth of an hour, and the chief gave him some wild rice to eat, (as 
was their custom) putting the first three spoonsful to his mouth. After which, he 
said that all present were relatives of Tioscate, whom Le Sueur took to Canada in 
1695j and who died there in 1696. 

• The locality was a branch of the Blue Earth, nbom a mile nbnve llio furt, called by Nicollet, ho Sueur river, and on 
a inap pulillslicrl In 1773, tlip rivpr St. Roinl. 



EAllLY TRADE OF MINNESOTA — LE SUEUR. 39 

At the mention of Tioscate they began to weep again, and wipe their tears and heads 
upon the shoulders of Le Sueur. Then Wahkantape again spoke, and said that Tios- 
cate begged him to forget the insult done to the Frenchmen by the Mendeoucantons, 
and take pity on his brethren by giving them powder and balls whereby they could de- 
fend themselves, and gain a living for their wives and children, who languish in a 
country, full of game, because they had not the means of kiUing them. '•'Look," 
added the chief, "Behold thy children, thy brethren, and thy sisters, it is to thee to 
see whether thou wishest them to die. They will live if thou givest them powder and 
ball; they will die if thou refusest.'' 

Le Sueur granted them their request, but as the Scioux never answer on the spot, 
especially in matters of importance, and as he had to speak to them about his estab- 
lishment, he went out of the lodge without saying a word. The chief and all -.hose 
within followed him as far as the door of the fort ; and when he had gone in, they 
went around it three times, crying with all their strength "AtheouananI" that is to 
say, "Father have pity on us." 

The next day he assembled in the fort, the principal men of both villages ; and as 
it is not possible to subdue the Scioux or to hinder them from going to war, unless it 
be by inducing them to cultivate the earth, he said to them that if they wished to ren- 
der themselves worthy of the protection of the king, they must abandon their erring 
life, and form a village near his dwelling, where they would be shielded from the in- 
sults of their enemies ; and that they might be happy and not hungry, lie would give 
them all the corn necessary to plant a large piece of ground ; that the king, their and 
his chief, in sending him, had forbidden him to purchase beaver skins, knowing that 
this kind of hunting separates them and exposes them to their enemies ; and that in 
consequence of this he had come to establish himself on Blue river and vicinity, where 
they had many times assured him were many kinds of beasts, for the skins of which 
he would give them all things necessary ; that they ought to reflect that they could not 
do without Frencli goods, and that the only way not to want them was, not to go to 
war with our allied nations. 

As it is customary with the Indians to accompany their word with a present pro- 
portioned to the affair treated of, he gave them fifty pounds of powder, as many balls, 
six guns, ten axes, twelve armsful of tobacco and a hatchet pipe. 

On the 1st of December, the Mantantons invited Le Sueur to a great feast. Of 
four of their lodges they had made one, in which was one hundred men seated around, 
and every one his dish before him. After the meal, Wahkantape, the chief, made them 
all smoke one after another in the hatchet pipe which had been given them. He then 
made a present to Le Sueur of a slave and a sack of wild rice, and said to hiin, show- 
ing him his men : " Behold the remains of this great village, which thou hast afore- 
times seen so numerous! all the others have been killed in war, and the few men 
whom thou seest in this lodge, accept the present thou hast made them, and are resolved 
to obey the great chief of all nations, of whom thou hast spoken to us. Thou oughtest 
not to regard us Scioux, but as French, and instead of saying the Scioux are miserable, 
and have no mind, and are fit for notlung but to rob and steal from the French, tlmu 
shalt say my brethren are miserable and have no mind, and we must try to procure 
some for them. They rob us, but I will take care that they do not lack iron, that is to 
say all kinds of goods. If thou dost this, I assure thee that in a little time, the Man- 
tantons will become Frenchmen, and they will have none of those vices, with which 
thou reproachest us." 

Having finished this speech, he covered his face with his garment, and the others 
imitated him. They wept over their companions who liad died in war, and chanted an 
adieu to their country in a tone so gloomy that one could not keep from partaking of 
their sorrow. 

Wahkantape then made them smoke again, and distributed the presents, and said 
that he was going to the Mendeouacantons to inform them of the resolution, and invite 
them to do the same. 

On the 12th, three Mendeoucanton chiefs and a large number of Indians of the 
same village, arrived at the fort, and tlie next day gave satisfaction for robbing the 
Frenclunen. They brought 400 pounds of beaver skins, and promised that the sum- 



40 ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

mer following, after their canoes were built and they had gathered their wild rice, that 
thev would come and establish themselves near the French. The same day they 
returned to their village east of the Mississippi. 

J^ames of ihe bands of Scioux of the East, with their signification. 

Maxtantoxs — That is to say, Village of the Great Lake which empties into a 
small one. 

Mexdeoucantoxs — Village of Spirit Lake. 

QuioPETOxs — Village of the Lake with one River. 

I'siouMANiToxs — Village of Wild Rice Gatherers. 

OuADEBATOxs — Thc Rivcr A'illage. 

OuATEMAXEToxs — Village of thc Tribe who dwell on the point of the Lake. 

SoxGASQuiToxs Thc Brave Village. 

The Scioux of the West. 

ToucuQUAsixToxs — Tlic Village of the Pole. 
PsiNciiATOxs — Village of thc Red Wild Rice. 
OujALESPOiToxs — Village divided into many small Bands. 
PsixouTAXHHiXTOxs — Thc Grcat Wild Rice Village. 
TixTAXGAouGHiATOxs — The Grand Lodge Village. 
OuAPETONs — Village of the Leaf. 

OuGHETGEODATOXS DuHg Village. 

OuAPETONTEToxs — Village of those who Shoot in the Large Pine. 
HixuANZTONs — Village of the Red Stone Quarry. 

The above catalogue of villages concludes the extract that La Harpe has made from 
Le Sueur's journal. 

In the narrative of Major Long's second expedition, there are just the same num- 
ber o:' villages of the Gens du Lac or Mdewakanton Scioux mentioned, though the 
names are different. After leaving the Mille Lac region, the divisions evidently were 
difi'crcnt, and the villages known by new names. 

Charlevoix, in his large and valuable work, prepared by order of the French Gov- 
ernment, speaking of thc Scioux, remarks : "Our geographies divide that nation into 
thc ^^ andering Scioux and Scioux of the Prairies — into Scioux of the East and Scioux 
of thc West. Such a division to me seems not to be well founded. All the Scioux- 
live in the same manner, and it happens that such camp which was last year on the 
east bank of the Mississippi will be next year on the west; and those that we have 
for a time seen on the river Saint Pierre, are perhaps now a great way off on a prairie. 
The name of Scioux that we give to those Indians is entirely of our making, or 
rather it is but the last two syllables of the name of Nadouessioux, as many nations 
call them. It is the most numerous nation as yet known in Canada. They w^ere peace- 
able, and not disposed to war, until the Hurons and Iroquois came to their country. 
They tried to laugh at their simplicity and trained them up to war, at their expense. 
The Scioux have many women, and they punish conjugal infidelity with severity. 
They cut off the tip of their noses, and a piece of the skin of the head, and draw it 
over. I have seen some who thought that those Indians had a Chinese accent. It 
would be very easy to discover if their language had any affinity with that of the 
people of China.*' 

In Le Sueur's enumeration of the Scioux of the West, the present Warpetwans or 
People of the Leaf, Titonwan or People of the Lodges, Sisit'wans, and Ihanktonwan are 
easily distinguished, and thc latter at that period appear to have lived near the red 
pipcstono quarry. The Ouadebatons are marked on Hennepin's map as residing north- 
east of Mille Lac, and are called also the People of the River. The Ouatemantons 
probably resided upon Cormorant Point, which juts into Mille Lac. Of the Mantan- 
tons, Governor Ramsey, in his valuable and interesting report, remarks : ^'Another 
portion known as the Mantatonwan, meaning village or community on the Matah ; but 
where the Matah was, and whether lake or river, is at present unknown." Le Sueur 



EARLY TRADE OF IMINNESOTA — LE SUEl'R. 41 

shows that they lived on a large lake which was joined to a small one. Hennepin calls 
Mille Lac, Changasketon lake, and far north of this he marks the residence of the 
Chongaskabions or the Brave Band ; and they no doubt are the same as the Sono-asqui- 
tons of Le Sueur. 

Though Le Sueur, through misinformation, or want of observation, often errs, 
there appears to be no intention to deceive ; and in reading his narrative, vou are im- 
pressed with its general truthfulness. He alone of the explorers of Minnesota, can 
be relied upon. He had men and an outfit that enabled him to make observations with 
some degree of accuracy j and it is to be hoped that some town named Le Sueur, will 
at no distant day spring up on the banks of the Minnesota river, and thus perpetuate 
his name. Not only was he the most accurate, but also the last French explorer of 
the country. Charlevoix, who visited the valley of the Lower Mississippi, in 1722, 
says that Le Sueur spent a winter in his fort on the banks of the Blue Earth ; and 
that in the following April, he went up to the mine about a mile above. In twenty- 
two days they obtained more than thirty thousand pounds of the substance, four thou- 
sand of which were selected and sent to France. In April, 1702, he went back to 
France, having left men at the post, but on the third of March, 1703, these came back 
to Mobile, having abandoned Fort L'Huillier on account of ill-treatment from the 
Indians, and for the want of pecuniary means. The enterprising Le Sueur did not 
remain on the other side of the Atlantic; and several years after his explorations 
on the Blue Earth, he is found busy in leading expeditions against the Natchez and 
other Indians of the Southwest. It is said that he died on the road while passino- 
through the colony of Louisiana. 

Among the company of Le Sueur, was Penicaut, a ship carpenter, of strong mind, 
who distinguished himself in his intercourse with the tribes of the Southwest. 

We cannot conclude this portion of the article, upon the early French traders in 
Minnesota, without noticing De Charleville. He was a relative of Bienville, the 
commander-general of Louisiana, and thus connected with Le Sueur. At the time of 
the settlement of the French on the banks of the Mississippi, curiosity led him to as- 
cend this river far beyond the point reached by Hennepin. He told Du Pratz, the au- 
thor of a history of Louisiana, that with two Canadians and two Indians, in a bircli 
canoe laden with goods, he proceeded as far as the Falls of St. Anthony. This 
cataract is described as caused by a flat rock, which crosses the river, and makes a 
fall of eight or ten feet. After making a portage, he continued his journey for leagues 
farther, and met the Scioux, whom, it was asserted, lived on both sides of the river. 
The Scioux informed him that it was a great distance to the sources. 

In 1710, the king granted to M. Crozat the exclusive privilege of trading in Lou- 
isiana for sixteen years. Charleville was then employed by Crozat, as a trader among 
the Shawnees, in the present state of Tennessee. His store was situated upon 
a mound near the present site of Nashville, on the west side of the Cumberland river. 

At a very early date, a plan was conceived for drawing away the I'ur trade from 
Hudson's Bay. An alliance was contemplated with the Assiniboins and some distant 
Scioux, who, instead of carrying their peltries on their backs, through snow-drifts to 
the English, were to be induced to descend the Mississippi in their canoes, towards 
the St. Pierre or Minnesota, where the climate was more temperate. Before 1720, 
the tradino- posts of the French, at the Blue Earth, Isle Pelee, (Mud Hen Island?) 
and Lake Pepin, were all abandoned, on account of the hostility of the Indians. 

Owino- to the united hostility of the Foxes and Dakotas against the French, the 
route by way of Fox river and Wisconsin, was discontinued for many years. The 
voyageurs, in the meantime, entering the Mississippi from the lakes, either by way of 
the Wabash or the Illinois river. The Foxes being at last driven from the Fox river 
and subdued, travel from Mackinaw, by way of Green Bay, to the city of New Or- 
leans, was resumed. 

In the year 1755, a French fort, for the first time, was established at Prairie du 
Chien, and drew around it a number of voyageurs and coureurs des bois, whose de- 
scendants are still found in that vicinity. 

Carver thus describes the town in 1766 : " It contains about three hundred families; 
the houses are well.built after the Indian manner, and pleasantly situated on a very rich 
6 



42 ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

soil, from which they raise every necessary of life, in great abundance. I saw here 
many horses of a qooa size and shape. This town is the great mart, where all the ad- 
iacent tribes, and even those who inhabit the most remote branches of the Mississippi, 
annually assemble about the latter end of May, bringing with them their furs to dis- 
pose of to the traders." , -n 

After the cession of Canada to the English, in 17G3, the French held control over 
the Indian tribes of Minnesota. Englishmen, for some years, risked their lives in at- 
tempting to pass through the country. After Sir Wm. Johnson became royal super- 
intendent of Indian afiairs, there was some discussion in relation to the re-buildmg of 
the old French forts on Green Bay and Fox river ; but it was at last determined that it 
was useless for the British government, as long as there was so much prejudice against 
it, to try to secure the trade of the Mississippi, which, previous to 1770, was monopo- 
lized by traders chiefly from Louisiana, or by Canadians, who refused allegiance to 
Great Britain. 

ENGLISH TRADERS. 

In the year 1774, some enterprising men in Montreal, who had a practical knowl- 
edge of the Indian trade, formed a company, styled the Northwest Company of Mon- 
tre^al. The shares of the company were few, a portion of which was owned by those 
who furnished t!ie capital, and the rest by the traders themselves, each of whom took 
charge of an interior post. The old Canadian voyageurs were employed by this com- 
pany in preference to all others ; and in all probability the father of the late Joseph 
Renville, Sen'r, whose wife was a native of Kaposia village, was an attache to this 
company, as his son was subsequently to its rival, the " Hudson Bay." _ Sandy Lake, 
in the latter part of the eighteenth century, became quite a centre of Indian trade. In 
the year 1785, a scene occurred there, which has not been of infrequent occurrence. 
For'the fiicts, we are indebted to Mr. Schoolcraft's Narrative, which he obtained from 
a manuscript of a voyageur named Perrault. 

A trader by the name of Kay, was asked by an Ojibwa to give him some rum. 
Kay refused, and walked him out of the tent. On turning round to enter, the Indian 
stabbed him in the back of the neck, Kay at the time was intoxicated, and seizing a 
long table-knife, ran after the Indian. The Indians being also drunk, a general melee 
took place. The mother of the Indian who had stabbed the trader, ran up and stabbed 
Kay a second time. A friendly Indian now took up the quarrel of the trader, 
and plunged a knife into the breast of him who instigated the Indian in the 
first place to attack the trader. The Indian women, in self-defence, now destroyed all 
the liquor that could be found. Kay's wound was so bad that he determined to go to 
Mackinac. " Before he started," says Perrault, "he sent for M. Harris and myself to 
come to his tent, to receive his orders. He said to us : ' Gentlem.en, you see my situ- 
ation. I do not know whether God will spare my life or not. I have determined to 
leave you. and at all hazards to set out for Mackinac with seven men, accompanied by 
the Bras Casse and his wife, to take care of me on the road. Assort the remainder of 
the goods, and ascend to Leech lake, and await there for the return of the Pillagers, 
who are out on the prairies. In short, complete the inland trade. Mr. Pinot is too 
feeble an opponent to do you much injury. I confide in the capacity of you both.' A 
few moments afterwards Mr. Harris went out, when he said to me particularly, taking 
hold of my hands — ' My dear friend, you understand the language of the Chippewas. 
Mr. Harris would go with me, but he must accompany you. He is a good trader, 
but he has, like myself and others, a strong passion for drinking, which takes away 
his judgment. On these occasicns, advise him. I will myself speak to him before my 
departure. Prepare every thing to facilitate our passage over the portages and along 
the lake. I shall set out to-morrow. I find myself better every day.' 

"I left him Avilh his physician, and went to distribute the provisions and lading for 
two inland canoes, one for Mr. Kay, and one for the four men who were to take the furs 
from Pine river, consisting of nineteen packs of eighty pounds each, and four packs 
of deer skins, to serve as seats for Mr. Kay's men. The next day Mr. Kay was a 
little better, which diffused pleasure among us all. I constructed a litter (tin troncard) 



EARLY TRADE OF MINNESOTA — EJS-QLISH. 4S 

for two men to carry him over the portages ; and he set out the same day, being the 
fifth of May, about two o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. Pinot also departed the same 
day. Bras Casse and his wife departed about sunset." 

The sequel of this tale is briefly told. ]\Ir. Kay reached Mackinac, where Capt. 
Robinson, then in command, had a second operation performed on him bv the post- 
surgeon. He afterwards closed his business and went to Montreal. A suppuration of 
his wound, however, took place at the Lake of Two Mountains, which terminated his 
life on the 26th of August, 1785, three months and twenty-four days after receiving 
the wound. 

In 1796, the Northwest Company built a fort at Sandy Lake. In 1805, the fur 
trade of Minnesota was entirely monopolized by this English company. At Leech lake 
and other points in the Ojibwa country, they had posts. 

The principal traders among the Dakotas, at this time, were Cameron, Dickson, 
Campbell, Aird, and Crawford. The latter lived much of the time on the Des Moines 
river. Airs, or Aird, was a partner of a firm at Prairie du Chien. He was a Scotch- 
man, from Mackinac, and was met by the returning expedition of Lewis and Clarke, 
with two canoes, near the junction of the An Jacques with the Missouri river. In 
1812, he had a post at Mendota. Campbell and Dickson traded at Kaposia and sundry 
places on the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. 

Cameron had his post towards the sources of the Minnesota. He also was a 
shrewd and daring Scotchman. He died in the year 1811, and the spot where he was 
buried, on the Upper Minnesota, is known to this day as Cameron's grave. One of 
his voyageurs, Old Milor is still living at Mendota; and while in the employ of Cam- 
eron nearly lost his life. We tell the story as Featherstonhaugh relates it : '■ The 
winter was advancing fast upon Milor and his fellow voyageurs, and they had delayed 
so long collecting their packs of skins, that the ice formed one night too strong to 
permit their descending the stream in a canoe. There was, however, some hopes of a 
thaw ; and they kept waiting from day to day, until their provision, of which they had 
but a slight supply, was exhausted. They had nothing lei't, now, but to leave their 
packs of skins under the canoe, and take to the woods in the hope that Cameron, who 
was at a distant trading-post below, seeing the state of the weather, would send relief 
to them. 

" The snow was too deep to enable them to carry any burden ; and with their last 
meal in their pockets, ihey commenced their journey. They met with no game of any 
kind, on the way ; and on the night of the second day, they were reduced to the neces- 
sity of stripping some bark from a tree to masticate. In the morning, the severity of 
the weather increased, and no alternative presented itself, but stopping to die on the 
way, or making the most desperate effort to extricate themselves. On the morning of 
the third day, two of the men became v.- eak, and frequently urged the other to stop ; 
but Milor always opposed these delays. These poor fellows were gradually losing 
their judgment; they knew that delay would be fatal to the whole party, yet the sense 
of present distress took away all reflection from them. Milor, who was ahead of them 
all, came before night to a place somewhat sheltered from the wind, which was very 
piercino- ; and seeing some signs of the bushes having been disturbed, he stepped aside 
to look^and found a dead Indian beside the remains of a small fire. Milor now shouted 
to the men to come on ; and pointing to the Indian, told them that would be their fate 
before morning, if they stopped. Frightened at this, they kept up a good pace until a 
late hour ; and Milor being in a part of the country he was acquainted with, took one 
of the most active of the men with him, and after great exertions, they had the good 
luck to catch two muskrats. With these they returned to the man, who had built up 
a good fire ; and having eaten one of the animals, they lay down to sleep, and rested 
very well. In the morning, they ate the other before starting; and as they felt a little 
more cheerful, INIilor told them that if they would walk like men, he would take them 
to a place where there was plenty of muskrats, and that as soon as they had laid in a 
supply of them, they would strike across the country to Traverse des Sioux, where 
they would be sure to hear of Cameron and get food. In several days they caught but 
one muskrat. 

" On the morning of the eighth day, they had not been marchmg an hour, when 



44 ANXALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Milor, looking attentively to the southeast, declared that he saw smoke in that direc- 
tion, and that there must he a fire. This, us Milor said, had the elFect of a glass of 
eaudevic upon them, and they went briskly on for two or three hours ; but this cheer- 
ing sign disappeared, and the'men were beginning to despond again, when the thought 
struck JMilor, that if any party was coming lo their relief, they would naturally be 
keeping a lookout also. In less than a half hour after, he had gained the bluff to scan 
a thick column of smoke, not more than three miles distant. He immediately waved 
his cap, shouted to his companions, and set off in the direction of the expected aid. It 
was indeed the relief they expected. Two men, each with a pack containing pork and 
biscuit, had been despatched iVom Traverse des Sioux, and Cameron with three others, 
were to leave in a canoe, if an expected thaw admitted of it, and at any rate, were to 
start with an additional supply. IMilor, having reposed himself, set out to meet his 
comrades with the reinforcement. ' "What did they do, when they saw you?' I asked 
Milor. ' Ces gaillards la out commences a danser, Monsieur — the happy fellows began 
to dance,' was his answer. 

'•This incident, in the adventures of Milor, is very much lo the credit of Cameron, 
who made so resolute an attempt to relieve his poor enga<res, when the chances were 
so much against his succeeding." Featherstonhaugh, vol. 1, pp. 315 — 318. 

Not long after Cameron's death, the second war of Britain with the United States 
occurred. Mis fellow-trader, Dickson, being a man of great inlluence with the Indians 
of the Northwest, he received from the English the rank and pay of colonel, and led 
the Chippewas. Winnebagocs, Dakotas and others, to the army of General Proctor, 
which besieged Fort Meigs. This circumstance always rendered him an object of sus- 
picion to Americans. In 1817, he was residing at Lake Traverse, and the Indian 
agent at Prairie du Chien, suspected that he was alienating the Dakotas from the United 
States, and in company with Lord Selkirk, striving to secure their trade, as the fol- 
lowing extract from his letter of Feb. 16, 1818, to the governor of Illinois, will show: 

" What do you suppose, sir, has been the result of the passage through ray agency, 
of this British nobleman ? (Lord Selkirk.) Two entire bands, and part of a third, all 
Sioux, have deserted us and joined Dickson, who has distributed to them large quanti- 
ties of Indian presents, together with Hags, medals, etc. Knowing this, what must 
have been my feelings on hearing that his lordship had met with a favorable reception 
at St. Louis. The newspapers announcing his arrival and general Scoilish appearance, 
all tend to discompose me ; believing as 1 do, that he is plotting with his friend Dick- 
son, our destruction — sharpening the savage scalping knife, and colonizing a tract of 
country, so remote as that of the Red river, for the purpose, no doubt, of monopolizing the 
fur and peltry trade of this river, the Missouri and their waters — a trade of the first 
importance to our western states and territories. A courier, who had arrived a few 
davs since, confirms the belief that Dickson is endeavoring to undo what I have done, 
and secure to the British government the affections of the Sioux, and subject the 
Northwest Company to his lordship. ***** Dickson, as I have before 
observed, is situated near the head of the St. Peter's, to which place he transports his 
goods from Selkirk's Red river establishment, in carts made for the purpose. The 
trip is performed in five days, sometimes less. He is directed to build a fort on the 
highest land between Lac du Travers, and Red river, which he supposes will be the 
established line between the two countries. This fort will be defended by twenty 
men, with two small pieces of artillery." 

It is said that after this, Dickson was arrested between the St. Peter's, or Minne- 
sota, and St. Croix, and carried to St. Louis. 



/ 



EARLY TRADE OF MrSTfTESOTA — AMERICAN. 46 



AMERICAN TRADE. 

In entering upon the consideration of the American trade, it is not out of place to 
notice the first political transaction of the United States, with the Dakotas. The fol- 
lowing communication from President Jefferson was read in the United States Senate 
on March 29, 1808 : 

" Lieutenant Pike, on his journey up the Mississippi, in 1805-6, beino- at the vil- 
lage of the Sioux, between the rivers St. Croix and St. Peter's, conceived that the 
position was favorable for a military and commercial post for the United States when- 
ever it should be thought expedient to advance in that quarter. He therefore proposed 
to the chiefs a cession of lands for that purpose. Their desire of enterino- into con- 
nection with the United States, and of getting a trading-house established there in- 
duced a ready consent to the proposition ; and they made by articles of agreement, now 
enclosed, a voluntarj^ donation to the United States of two portions of land — the one 
of nine miles square, at the mouth of the St. Croix ; the other from below the mouth of 
the St. Peter's, up the Mississippi to St. Anthony's Falls, extending nine miles in 
width on each side of the Mississippi." 

On April 30th, 1808, Mr. Mitchell, from the committee of the Senate to whom 
was referred the message of the President, made the following report : 

" The amount of land ceded by the Sioux is a tract of nine miles square, at the 
mouth of the river St. Croix, amounting to 51,840 acres, and another tract at the falls 
of St. Anthony, containing by estimation, (18 miles by 9) 103,680 acres ; amount- 
ing in the whole to 155,520 acres. This people had been induced to cede these tracts 
of land in consideration of about two hundred dollars' worth of goods and merchan- 
dise, and of the benefit they would derive from the establishment of a trading-house, 
and of protection from a military station in their country. There is a blank in the 
second article, which the committee learn from Capt. Pike was intended to be filled up 
Avith some valuable consideration, to vest the title fully and fairly in the United States. 
As the sum to be given by the United States is wholly optional and gratuitous, it is 
believed by the agent that two thousand dollars would be considered by the Sioux a 
very generous compensation. This amounts to not much more than one cent and 
twenty-eight mills to the acre. The committee, after considering the agreement of the 
agent with the Sioux chiefs, and such information as they have been able to procure 
from Capt. Pike thereon, report to the Senate the following amendment : 

" After the word 'States' in the second line of the second article, insert the follow- 
ing words; ' shall prior to taking possession thereof, pay to the Sioux, two thousand 
dollars, or deliver the value thereof in such goods and merchandise as they shall 
choose.' [The Senate committee might have stated, that in addition to the two hundred 
dollars' worth of goods. Pike ordered the traders there assembled to furnish the In- 
dians with sixty gallons of liquor.] 

" These portions of land are designated on the map now enclosed. Lieutenant 
Pike on his part, made presents to the Indians to some amount. 

'' This convention, though dated the 23d of September, 1805, is but lately receiv- 
ed ; and although we have no immediate view of establishing a trading post at that 
place, I submit it to the Senate for the sanction of their advice and consent to its rati- 
fication, in order to give to our title a full validity on the part of the United States, 
whenever it may be wanting for the special purpose which constituted, in the minds of 
the donors, the sole consideration and inducement to the cession." 
The following is the treaty alluded to : 

'• At a conference held between the United States of America and the Sioux na- 
tion of Indians: Lieut Z. M. Pike, of the army of the United States, and the chiefs 
and the warriors of said tribe, which, when ratified and approved of by the proper au- 
thority, shall be binding on both parties. 

" Art. 1. That the Sioux nation grant unto the United States, for the purpose of 
establishment of military posts, nine miles square at the mouth of the St. Croix, also 
from below the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peter's, up the Mississippi to in- 
clude the falls of St. Anthony, extending nine miles on each side of the river, that the 



4t5 



ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



Sioux nation grants to the United States the full sovereignty and power over said dis- 
trict forever. 

'•Art. 2. That in consideration of the above grants, the United States shall pay 

" Art. 3. Tlic United States promise, on their part, to permit the Sioux to pass and 
re-pass, hunt, or make other use of the said districts as they have formerly done, 
without any other exception than those spccilicd in article first. 

"In tost inionv whereof, we, the undersigned, have hereunto set our hands and 
seals, at the mouth of the St. Peter's, on the 23d day of September, 1805. 

" Z. M. PIKE, 1st Lieut, and agent at the above 
" LE PETIT X CORBEAU, [conference. 

'' WAY AGO X ENAGEE." 

After the treaty of 1815, at Porlnge des Sioux, with the lower bands of the Sioux, 
a U. S. tradin"- post was established at Prairie du Chien. The United States hoped to 
be able to seirgoods at such low prices, that they could obtain the furs and the confi- 
dence of the Indians, and thus exclude British traders. The fuctories or trading posts 
were, however, often distant from Indian villages. They moreover, did not sell on 
credit, as private traders arc wont to do, and thus they did not secure either the peltries 
or friendship of the tribes. 

The British traders on the Mississippi, always had the advantage of the U. S. fac- 
tories. Accustomed to Indian life, inured to fatigue, intermarried with the Indians, 
they followed the hunting parties as far as they could in their canoes. They then 
stopped and threw up rude huts, and sent their engages with goods packed on their 
shoulders, to obtain tiie I'urs ol' tliose Indians that had not already bought on credit. 
But not only was the U. S. trading-house at Prairie du Chien, unable to compete VN'ith 
the British traders in Minnesota, but virtually became an instrument in their hands. 
The British traders, returning to Prairie du Chien with peltries from the Upper 
Mississippi and Minnesota, would employ Indians to purchase goods at United States 
prices, and thus obtain a new outfit at less cost than if they had transported from Mon- 
treal. 

From the year 1815, Gov. Edwards and others saw the defects of the American 
system ; but it was long before Congress could be induced to make a change. The 
factory at Prairie du Chien traded, not only with the Dakotas, but with Sauks and 
Foxes', Chippewas, VVinnebagoes, and Menominees. From the following table can 
be seen the kind and quantity of furs received there during the first four years of its 
operation. 



Statement showing the 


kind and quanti 


fy of peltries, etc 


., received at the U. S. Trading 


Post, at Prairie du Chien : 








Furs, Peltries, etc. 


1816. 


1817. 


1818. 


1819. 


Deer skins, 


4451 


2441 


4115 


3251 


Bear 


123 


293 


135 


30 


Beaver " 


496 


694 


786 


303 


Otter " 


54 


480 


517 


188 


Raccoon " 


261 


2685 


1996 


371 


Muskrat " 


2445 


14,015 


16,712 


9748 


Fox " 




7 


144 




Fisher " 




97 


216 


62 


Mink 




240 






Wild cat, 




92 




48 


Martin, 








9 


Lead, 






199,894 lbs. 


67,799 lbs. 


Feathers, 






834 lbs. 


734 lbs. 


Cash sales, 


$424 40 


$3,199 32 


$3,266 77 


$427 87 


Fur sales, 


4,486 39 


10,364 95 


24,375 55 


5,963 88 



EARLY TRADE OF MINNESOTA — AMERICAN. 47 

The receipts and sales for the year 1819, show that the Indian did not feel disposed 
to continue to trade at the U. S. lactory. 

At the c'lmmencernent of the year 1822, there was much excitement caused by the 
controversy in relation to the usefulness of the U. S. factory system, and a committee was 
appointed by the U. S. Senate to investigate the condition of the factories. 

Many complaints were made against the factor at Prairie du Chien, by those who 
wished to see the factories abolished. 

Ramsay Crooks, who was largely engaged in trade, and agent of the American Fur 
Company, and of course an interested witness, in a communication to the Senate com- 
miltee, remarks, — " That the factories have been furnished with goods of a kind not 
suitable to the Indians, unless the committee should be of opinion that men and women's 
coarse and line shoes, worsted and cotton hose, tea, glauber salts, alum and anti-bilious 
pills, are necessary to promote the comfort or restore the health of the Aborigines ; or 
that green silk, fancy ribands and morocco slippers are indispensible to eke out the 
dress of our " red sisters."* 

Mr. Crooks also remarked, that in 1816, the factor at Prairie du Chien furnished 
goods to a Mr. Antoine Brisbois, whom he well knew had but a few days before been 
refused a license by the proper officer, and that in 1818 aMr. Michael Brisbois, a broth- 
er, received goods. A Mr. Scott Campbell was also supplied in 1820, and a Mr. Dun- 
can Campbell, who then traded on the Upper Mississippi, was furnished with an 
outfit, at the very time he was acting as interpreter to the Indian agency at Fort Snel- 
ling, which was then first established. 

Mr. Crooks concluded his communication with the following remarks upon the 
moral tendency of the lactories : " Little as I value the factory system, so far as it is 
considered a means of attaching the Indians to the United States, I do think they are, 
if possible, still less capable of producing religious information in either the Indians 
or any body else. 

" The factories have now degenerated into mere places of trade, to which all colors, 
descriptions, and denominations of people resort for barter; and bear a much more 
striking resemblance to common country stores, than to the public establishments of a 
benevolent government. The desperate efforts which the factors make to secure indi- 
vidually their reputations as traders, and jointly to prop the questionable pecuniary 
credit of the whole system, are in my opinion but little favorable to that serenity of 
mind, mildness of disposition, and undeviating conformity to a strictly moral deport- 
ment, which we, in civilized society, consider essential qualities in those we trust as 
our guides to another and better world. Even we value example as high as precept ; 
with savages, the former is more likely to be efficacious. 

" And believing these gentlemen to be equally fallible with the generality of their 
brethren in trade, I should imagine they were selected by the superintendent of Indian 
trade more for their trafficking than apostolic abilities, as the head of that department 
is too intimately acquainted with the nature of missions among a rude people, to have 
appointed the present incumbents to teach repentance and remission of sins to the 
children of the wilderness. It is hardly necessary to add, that I do not believe that 
either factories or factors are likely to enlarge the jurisdiction of the church." 

Shortly after this investigation. Congress resolved to abolish the trading posts, 
and the buildings at Prairie du Chien were sold. The old trading house was of stone, 
and was destroyed last spring by fire. 

After the United States troops arrived in 1819, to build Fort Snelling, Astor and 
his associates were busy in extending their trade with the Ojibwas. As early as 1805, 

•These retnarkb were made in view of the following charges on the boolts of the factory at Prairie du Chien : 

Michael Brisbois, In acc't with John W. Johnson : 

June 25, 1819, 4 boxes anti-bilious pills, a 75 $3 00 

Nov. 11, " 1 P"". fine shoes, 3 00 

Joseph Rolette in acc't with J. W Johnson ; 

July 19, 1819, 1 fancy silk hdkf, per Mrs R. $ 2 00 

Oct. 26, " 3 lbs. tea delivered La Blanc, » $3 60 10 60 

Jan. 24, 1820, 1-2 lb. glauber salts, 60 

Feb. 39, " i-3 yd. green sllS per Polly, 100 



48 ANNALS OF TlIK .MINNESOTA IIISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

we finil I 15- I'orribault encamped opposite Meiidota, trading with the Indians. In 
18*''^ ihe Columbia P\ir Conipanv was or-aizod. Tliis was modeled after tlie North- 
wt'siCompanv.and consisted of lew individuals, all of whom had a practical acquaint- 
ance with the trade. Tiu'v received their license from the newly appointed Indian 
iiacnt at Fort St. Anthony, (Snelling.) The principal members of the company were 
Renville Ferribault, JellVies, l^rescott, and McKenzie, of St. Louis. Their princi- 
pal establishment was at Lake Traverse, and they had also some ten or eleven minor 

^'°*Thc trading houses on the Minnesota river, in 1822, made up the following packs : 

Btiilalo, 

JMuskrat, 

Raccoon, 

Beaver, 

Otter, 

Fisher, 

Mink, 

liear, 

Red Fox, 

In 182G, the American Fur Company bought out the Columbia Fur Company, and 
retained the members in their employment. After this change, Mr. Bailiy, now of 
Wabashaw, took charge of the depot at Mendota. The history of the fur trade in 
Minnesota, from this period, is too well known to be written. If the present sketch, 
inaccurate as it may perhaps be found, will stimulate some one more competent to 
write upon this subject, one of the objects of the writer will have been accomplished. 



S^o. of Packs. 


VVeiglat. 


No. of skins in uacU. 


168 




10 


40 




600 


6 


100 lbs. 


80 


4 


100 " 


80 


4 


100 " 


60 prime. 


3 


100 " 


120 


4 


100 " 


450 


6 


100 " 


14 


1 


100 " 


120 



EXPLORING TOUR 



BY REV. W. T. BOUTWELL. 



[Mr. B., by a kind invitation from Mr. Schoolcraft, accompanied the U. S. Exploring Expedition to Itasca Lake 
In 1S32. The party arrived by the way of Lake Superior, at LaPointe, on the 20th of June. For a history of the tour the 
reader is referred to the following extracts from Mr. Boutwell's journal.] 

June 20. From the Sault to this place we have been thirteen days, but ten, how- 
ever of travel. One day we lay wind-bound and the two Sabbaths we rested in obe- 
dience to the divine command. In honorinp; God, we i'eel that he has prospered us on 
our way. The distance from the Sault to this place, by my estimate, is about 410 miles. 
Some of the traders make it 456. To measure distances with any deoree of accuracy 
in this country is a matter of much difficulty ; especially if the person is but little ac- 
customed to this mode of trsvellino-. 

June 21. It is a real New Ena:land summer's day. Have just taken a walk with 
brother Hall over the farm of Mr. W., the trader of this post. He has from thirty to 
forty acres under improvement on the island. Mr. Cadotte about two-thirds as much. 

The oats, barley, peas, and potatoes look well and afford the promise of a good crop. 

For the first time Mr. W. has planted a small piece of corn for an experiment. It ap- 
pears unpromising. I think, however, the soil, which is a mixture of red clay and 
sand, if well manured, can be made to produce corn. The grass is sulferino- much for 
the want of rain. With industry and economy I am satisfied that most, if not all the 
vegetables, necessary for the support of a family, can be raised here. Much land of a 
quality inferior to this, is cultivated in New England. 

ASCENT OF THE ST. LOUIS RIVER. 

June 25. To begin this portage, which is nine miles, we are obliged to ascend a 
bluff sixty or seventy feet, in an angle of at least forty-five degrees. Up this steep all our 
baggage and the lading of two barges must be carried on the heads or backs of the men. 
I say heads, from the fact that a voyageur [boatman] always rests his portage collar on 
the head, A portage is always divided off into poses, or resting places, which vary in 
length according to the quality of the road or path, but average about half a mile. Our 
supplies of pork and flour are put into a shape convenient for this kind of transportation. 
A keg of pork, seventy pounds, and a bag of flour, eighty pounds, is considered a load; 
or in the dialect of the country, a piece, for a voyageur, both of which he takes on his 
back at once and ascends this bluff. This is new business for the soldiers, who are 
obliged to carry their own baggage and provisions. The first attempt they made to as- 
cend with their keg of pork and bag of flour, almost every one was unsuccessl'uL It 
was not merely a matter of amusement to look at the pork-kegs, flour-bags, knapsacks, 
baggage, and men which strewed the foot of the ascent, but such as to awaken pity and 
prompt a helping hand. I undertook to aid one by steadying the bag of flour upon the 
keg of pork. But we had not proceeded far, when in spite of me, off came the flour, 
and rolled to the bottom of the bluff. We then both of us undertook to manage the 
keg, which, not without much difficulty, we succeeded in getting to the top of the 
bluff. We have made three poses, (a mile and a half,) and here we are overtaken by night. 

June 26, At four this morning our men began their day's work. A heavy show- 
er during the day has rendered the path very bad and retarded us somewhat. Our way 
to-day has been over hills, across deep ravines, and some of the way through mud and 
water half leg deep. But notwithstanding the rain and badness of the path, the voya- 
7 



50 ANNALS OF TIIU MINNESOTA HISTORICAL BOCIfiTY. 

eeurs arc cliccrful and prompt at their task. They carry their load lialf a mile, when 
it is thrown down and they return for another. Some of the men, to-day, have taken 
three baps. 240 pounds, tli'e wliole supported by a strap across the temples, the ends of 
which arc made fast around the bags. Some of the Indian women, several of whom 
are assisting on the portage, liave taken eacli a bag of flour, a trunk, and soldier's knap- 
^ack on hi-r back, and Avadcd tlirougli mud and water where I would not drive a dumb 
beast. Jhit more, not unlrequcntlv tlie Indian cradle is placed on the top of all, the 
hoop of which defends the child's "head, projecting so high as to catch every bush, now 
dripping witli tlic rain, and shake it full into the child's face. As the mother cannot 
well leave the nursiii"- child, it must ride both ways, so that she has not the relief of a 
voyageur, who takes breath in returning back for another load. 

June 27. Struck our tent and renewed our march this morning at six. One of 
the soldiers who is disabled, a Catholic, a very profane man, saw me reading a tract, 
and came and asked me for one. It was but yesterday, I gave him a gentle reproof. 

Several families keep along in company with us, who are on their way to their sum- 
mer huntin"- ground. The woman is otten seen with all the materials on her back 
which makes the Indian's liousc, and the articles which furnish it, such as kettles, 
wooden-ladles, drum, traps, and axes ; and on the top of all the Indian cradle, in which 
is bound her nursing child ; while the Indian is seldem seen with more than his pipe, 
tobacco-sack, and musket. 

About one o'clock, to-day, we reached the end of the portage. The weather is 
very warm, and all our men and the Indians are much worn with fatigue. 

Mr. S. here distributed presents to the Indians, most of whom have aided us in car- 
rj'ing. They all seem highly gratified with what they receive, and wholly to have 
forgotten the mud and water througli which they have waded. Nor are the squaws 
neglected. After the presents were distributed, provisions were issued. The flour 
and meal they take, as usual, in one corner of their blanket, or a horribly dirty old 
cloth, which has served the place of a shirt, without ever seeing a drop of water or a 
bit of soap. But after all there is not so great a difl'erence between these Indians and 
our voyageurs as one might suppose, for they often receive their ration of flour in tlieir 
pocket-handkerchief or hat. 

Ju-Ni; 28. This evening flnds us at the fool of the Grand Rapids. In reaching 
this place we ascended several strong rapids, where it required not merely all the 
^trength, but all the skill of the men. Not unfrequently are they obliged to spring 
from the canoe into the water, in the midst of a rapid, and draw it up by hand. This 
is the case when the bottom is rocky and the stream shallow, which at the same time 
lightens the canoe in passing over the rocks. Nor is it rare for the water to dash over 
the bow and sides, in which case some one is sure of getting wet. No one can form 
an idea of the difficulty of ascending this stream, until he has made a trial of it. The 
scenery of to-day has been delightful. The maple, iron-wood, cedar, elm, and oak 
grow here in perfection. 

The mosquitoes here are extremely voracious, and oblige a man constantly to fight 
for life. Put ashore at nine this morning, and breakfasted in their midst. Continued 
to ascend rapid after rapid till afternoon, when we reached what may be called the 
low-lands, where we found comparatively smooth water, and sufficiently deep for a 
steamboat. The banks here are moderately elevated ; an alluvial deposit, covered with 
rank grass and a thrifty growth of maple, ash, elm, bass-wood, with some spruce, pine, 
and cedar. 

An old Indian, in company with us, passing a large stone raising out of the middle 
of the river, left his ofiering of tobacco to the meniio, or spirit. This evening we 
reached the mouth of the Savanna river, a stream emptying into the St. Louis. It is 
deep, but narrow, and winding in its course, with low banks covered with wild grass. 
Ducks were abundant. 

June 30. Reached the Savanna, from which the stream takes its name, a tract of 
low, marshy ground, overgrown with rushes, flags, and small clumps of bushes, the 
very nestling places of mosquitoes. At noon we reached the Savanna portage. The 
portage path was filled with mud and water, through which the canoes were drawn bv 
men wading to their middle. "' 



EXPLORING TOUR— ST. LOUTS RIVER. $1 

July 1. Sabbath. We have most of the day been obliged to house ourselves as 
well as we could. The rain, which has a part of the day fallen in torrents, and the 
mosquitoes, have rendered it impracticable for us to have divine service. It has been 
such a Sabbath as I never before witnessed. At one moment our men were singing some 
Indian hymn ; the next a song or dancing tune : the next moment an Indian would be- 
gin to thump his drum and sing, that he might make his part of the noise, and render 
the scene of confusion more perfect. It was no small relief to me, that Mr. S. and 
myself, who occupied the same tent, could have prayers and spend the day in reading 
the Scriptures and other books which we had taken with us. 

July 2. The heavy rains of Saturday night and Sabbath, have rendered the por- 
tage almost impassible. The mud, for the greater part of the way, will average ancle 
deep, and from that upwards ; in some places it is a perfect quagmire. Our men are 
covered with mud from head to foot. Some have lost one leg of their pantaloons, oth- 
ers both. Their shirts and mocasins are all of a piece, full of rents and mud. 
Mangled feet, and bruised backs and legs, were brought forward this evening to the 
doctor. While I write, his tent door is thronged with the lame and halt. Every one 
carries some mark of the Savanna portage. 

July 3. At eleven, A. M., we embarked in what is called the western Savanna river. 
The stream here is barely wide and deep enough to swim our canoes. Its course, like 
the former, is exceedingly winding. Its banks are covered with a most luxuriant 
growth of wild grass, principally blue-joint, which rots on the ground. The prairie 
is bounded on each side by small ridges mostly of red pine. At four P. M., reached 
Sandy Lake, which has been estimated by some to be about twenty-five miles in cir- 
cumference. It is very irregular in shape, embracing many islands and bays. It may 
be seven or eight miles across it, from the mouth of Savanna river to its winding out- 
let, which communicates with the Mississippi. Leaving the lake, we had not proceed- 
ed far, when my attention was arrested by something on the left bank, which to me 
was both strange and new. I looked repeatedly, but unable to satisfy mysely, asked 
what it was. To which Mr. S. replied, that they were cotfins, and that that was the 
manner in which these Indians often bury their dead. Four posts are set in the ground 
from seven to nine feet high, by means of which a sort of scaffold is raised, and upon 
that, in tlie open air, the coffin is placed. Arriving at the trading post, we were wel- 
comed by the discharge of muskets, and the hoisting of the American flag, by the few 
Indians that remain. This post is about 750 miles from Mackinaw, and 140 from Fon 
du Lac. 

Corn, for this post, is mostly obtained at Red lake, from the Indians, who there 
cultivate it to considerable extent. Mr. R. tells me he brought 100 bushels from that 
place this spring; and that it is not a rare matter to meet a squaw, who has even this 
quantity to sell. Most of the land, in the vicinity of this post, is either low and sub- 
ject to inundation, or sandy, and of comparatively little value for cultivation. 
Small plats of ground, however, may be selected here and there, which are good. 

In going over Mr. A.'s premises this morning, among other things, I visited the In- 
dian burying-place. This is on a rise of ground, some thirty or forty rods north of the 
fort. The cross, a piece of board, or a round post three feet above ground, striped 
with Vermillion, marks the place of the dead. Some of the graves are enclosed by logs, 
raised a few feet and covered with cedar bark, in the form of a roof, so as to turn the 
water. Others are guarded by low pickets, while others are exposed to the tread of 
man and beast. Here lies a chief who deceased about twenty days since, not as oth- 
ers, under ground, but raised some eight or ten feet in the air. Four posts, stained 
with Vermillion, support the scaffold, upon which the coffin, covered with birch bark, 
is placed. The American flag, which was presented to him as one of the insignia of 
his chieftainship, is planted at his head, there to flit in the wind till it is gone. In one 
of Mr. A.'s inclosures lie the remains of another chief, raised in the same manner 
above ground. This chief deceased some years since, and in the mean time, I am in- 
formed, the scaffold has once or twice decayed and fallen, but been again erected. 

Here we embark on the Mississippi, which Lieut. A, ascertains, by actual meas- 
urement, to be 110 yards and one-third in width at this place. 



52 A^•XALS OF TUE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

JpLY 5. The Mississippi here is deep, its banks low and covered with a luxuriant 
growth of elm, maple, ash, and cedar. For much of the distance its banks are alluvial, 
a rich deposit from the bed of the stream. Its course Jiere is east or southeast. Pass- 
ed Swan river this evening, sixty miles from Sandy lake. We have marched from 
four o'clock this raornin|r. liU half past eip^ht this evening; and for these sixteen hours 
and a half, I have not been out of the canoe but once, save for breakfast. The day has 
passed heavily. Comfort is a term to which man is a stranger while on such a tour. 
But he knows' full well what fatigue, heat, rain, and mosquitoes are. 

July 7. At 10 A. M., reached the Fokegema Falls. Wild rice first appeared just 
below this place. The current in some parts of the river is considerable, in others 
there are rapids. In ascending the rapids a short distance below these falls, cur canoe 
was twice carried down the stream, paddles and poles notwithstanding. Happily, 
however, for us all. it was kept right side up. The river branches above the head of 
these falls and comes into the main stream again just below them, forming a small 
island. The whole width of the falls, I should judge, to be about twenty yards, and 
the whole descent fifteen feet. We make a short portage here, perhaps two hundred 
and fil'ly yards. At twelve o'clock we left these falls, which are one hundred and fifty 
miles above Sandy lake; and upon embarking again, we entered the Savanna, the end 
of which I almost despair of ever seeing. The Mississippi here is more serpentine 
than can easily be imagined. Its borders are lined with wild rice, sedge, and Indian* 
rush. The white lilly also is found here. The change in the atmosphere since yes- 
terday, is great, from the torrid ; I should think we had entered the frigid zone, and 
I am obliged to resort to my cloak. 

July 8. Sabbath. Read a hymn, and portions of scripture to a few Indians who ac- 
company us, to which they all listened attentively. I also presented a little tract to one 
of them, from which I read. He thanked mc, and soon after, to make me some return, 
came with some paknsigon, the leaves of a running vine, which they dry and smoke. 
At four, P. M., collected the Indians and Frenchmen, and read, sung and prayed with 
them. A shower of rain interrupted me while addressing them. 

Evening. A man has just arrived from Leech lake, who informs us of the return 
of the Pillagers from their war excursion. They met a war party of the Sioux, and 
both commenced the work of death. The Ojibwas lost one man, and killed three 
Sioux, whose scalps they brought home with rejoicing. The same person also informs 
us, that a party of Sioux came to the trading post at Pembinaw, where they scalped 
a child and fled. The Ojibwas pursued, overtook, and revenged themselves, by killing 
four of the party. Oh, how long ere these tribes shall learn war no more ! It is now 
'• an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." 

July 9. About ten this morning, reached Point au Chene ; soon after passing which, 
we left the Mississippi and entered a tributary, which takes us into a small lake ten 
miles in length. Leaving this we entered another stream, and came to another small 
lake; from this, entered another stream and came to a third lake, from which we made 
a short portage across a beautiful ridge of yellow pine. Here we embarked in the 
small Winnipeg lake, two miles in width and four in length. Crossing this from east 
to west, we entered the Mississippi again, and in about two hours reached large Win- 
nipeg lake. This is a beautiful body of water, stretching from east to west fifteen or 
twenty miles. Here the aspect of the country again assumes a different and a pleasing 
character. The eastern shore is covered with a luxuriant growth of oak and maple. 
The trading-post is located on the north-eastern shore, near the mouth of a considera- 
ble stream which empties into the lake. The land immediately about the post, is for 
the most part low, but of a good quality. The corn, peas, potatoes and squashes, all 
look well, also a small yard of tobacco. The soil is cultivated with ease. Dogs in 
this country, with the Canadian French, supply the place of oxen and horses, neither 
of which are possessed by the trader here. His house is made of logs, and in the 
manner of the country, ceiled with mud. The windows are made of deer skins in their 
natural state, save that the hair is taken off. These, when well oiled, admit sufficient 



EXPLORING TOUR — UPPFR RED CEDAR LAKE. 53 

light for all the purposes of the household work, which is done here. The few Indi- 
ans present at the post, requested permission to dance this evening, as they wished for 
some tobacco. Two men and a few boys, with their muskets in hand, performed, 
while two others sung and drummed, one on a paddle-handle for the want of another drum. 
It was so dark that I could not well examine tlieir ornaments, save that one had a polecat's 
tail hung on each side, and a head-dress falling behind, covering nearly all his other- 
wise naked back. They were much animated when the tobacco was thrown into their 
midst, each raising the yell at the same time, and clapping the mouth with the hand. 

UPPER RED CEDAR LAKE. 

July 10. Reached Upper Red Cedar, or Cassinalake. This latter name it receives 
from Governor Cass, who visited it in 1820. Two branches of the Mississippi enter 
into this lake. The Indians residing here, being aware of our approach, came to meet 
us, firing salutes of musketry. Their summer village, they informed us, was on an 
island about ten miles distant. 

As we approached this island from the northeast, which overlooks the lake by a high 
bluff, rising some sixty or more feet above the water, almost the first object that caught 
my eye, was a fine field of corn, potatoes, and squashes, growing luxuriantly. The 
next I knew was a discharge of muskets from amid the standing corn. We were di- 
rected to make the west side of the island, where we should find a good landing, and 
a place for encampment. In the mean time, one continual hooting, yelling, and firing 
was kept up behind the bushes which lined the shore. On disembarking, I found a 
musket in the hand of almost every little Indian boy, many of whom following the ex- 
ample of their fathers, came forward and took us by the hand. All bid us welcome, 
and seemed overjoyed that their father has come to see his children. 

EvENiNo. While our canoes were unlading, tent erecting, &,c., I took a walk to 
see the field of corn in the northern extremity of the island, which we passed. But ere 
I had reached it, I passed no less than two or three other little fields, all of which 
remind me of New England, where I never saw better corn, sqaushes, or potatoes, 
than I find here with Indian culture. The growth of wood and timber on this part 
of the island, is entirely destroyed, save here and there a large oak or maple. All the 
high land is covered with rank grass and sumach, except the plats here and there 
under cultivation. 

The soil is easy to work with a hoe, the only tool with which the squaw makes 
her garden. I say squaw, from the fact that she always makes the garden, inasmuch 
as the Indian deems it degrading to himself to use the hoe or axe. I next visited the 
lodges, which were about half a mile south from our encampment. Here I found 
another piece of corn, potatoes and squashes. While our party were procuring some 
small canoes suitable for our route to Elk lake, I went into one of the lodges, read 
several portions of Scripture ; among others the ten commandments, and sung several 
Indian hymns. All listened with apparent interest and surprise. As I had not an 
interpreter, I was unable to communicate much more than to read such portions of 
Scripture and hymns, as were familiar to me. In the lodge, directly before me, were 
suspended three human scalps. These were the trophies of victory with which they 
had just returned from the Sioux. Several of the warriors of this band, joined the 
Leech lake band in the recent excursion, and the Indian wlio was killed, belonged 
here. 

Before I had returned to our tent, which is pitched but a few yards from two graves, 
the greater part of the Indians had here collected, and begun the scalp-dance. It was 
led by three squaws, each bearing in her hand one of the recent scalps. Two or three 
men sat beating drums and singing, while old and young, male and female, all joined in 
the song. Occasionally all would become so animated that there would be one general 
hop, and all at the same time, throwing their heads back, would raise a most horrid yell, 
clapping the mouth with the hand, to render it, if possible, more terrific. Here were 
seen little boys and girls, not six years old, all looking on with the most intense inter- 
est, imitating their fathers and mothers, and participating in their brutal joy. Thus 
early do they learn by precept and example, to imbibe the spirit of revenge and war, 



j;4 ANNALS OF THE MEsNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

whii-li is fostered in their bosoms, and in after life stimulates them to go and perform 
some deed of daring and blood, which shall gain for themselves the like applause. 

\ circ :mstanee which rendered tlie scene not a little appalling, is, it was performed 
around the graves of the dead. At tlie head of those graves, hangs an old scalp, some 
ten feet above the o-round. which the winds have almost divested of its ornaments and 
its hair.' Tlie grass and tlie turf lor several yards around, are literally destroyed, and 
I presume, by their frequent dancing. One of the scalps, I examined. The flesh side 
had apparently been smoked and rubbed with some material till it was pliant, after 
which it was 'painted with vermillion. A piece of wood is turned in the form of a 
liorsc-shoe, into which the scalp is sewed, the threads passing round the wood, which 
keeps it tight. Narrow pieces of cloth and ribands of various colors, attached to the 
bow. wcrc^ ornamented with beads and feathers. A small stick, which serves for a 
handle to shake it in the air when they dance, was attached to the top of the bow by 
a string. While examining it, a lock of hair fell from it, which the Indian gave me, 
and which I still preserve. 

MARCH TO ELK LAKE. 

July 13. Commenced our march this morning, at six, and continued it till nine. 
The weatlieris warm and sultry, and the mosquitoes more numerous and savage than can 
be imagined. Wc now leave this branch of the Mississippi and make a portage of six 
miles, when I hope to see the highest source of that river. At eleven A. M., took our 
effects on our backs, and entered a swamp, leaving which, we came to a ridge of small 
oTcv pines which we followed most of the remainder of the distance, and at two P. M., 
reached Elk lake.* This is a small but beautiful body of water, about eight miles in 
leno-th and from half a mile to two or more in breadth. Its form is exceedingly irreg- 
ular, from which the Indians gave it the name of Elk, in reference to its branching 
liorns. The distance from Upper Red Cedar lake by the southeast fork, is about one 
liundrcd and twenty miles. 

July 14. Embarked at half past five, and descended two or three strong and 
difficult rapids. In one of them a canoe was capsized, and all the men and their effects 
were thrown into the midst of the rapids. Hearing an outcry, I turned to see what 
was the matter, when the first I saw was a keg of pork, bounding down the rapids 
over the stones with one head out. The next was a loaf of bread, which the Indian in 
my canoe took in with his spear. Nothing can exceed the grandeur and pleasure of 
the scene, in descending a large stream in one of these small canoes, when the current 
is strong, and the water smooth. The canoe is borne on, not only with all the rapidity 
of the current, but when the paddles are applied, its speed is like that of a race horse. 

This afternoon passed the Sioux embankment. This consists of two considerable 
cavities in the earth, sufficient to conceal thirty men. They are so situated on the 
bank of the river, as just to overlook a bend, which is the commencement of a consid- 
erable rapid. Here, I am informed, a party of Sioux once entrenched themselves, and 
killed a large number of the Ojibwas as they were descending the river. When they 
once entered the rapids, there was no escape. 

RETURN TO UPPER RED CEDAR LAKE. 

July 15. Sabbath. Reached the island early this morning, having marched all 
night. Find all our men well, and much recruited by resting four days, during our 
absence. The party that have accompanied us, are so much fatigued by our tour to 
Elk lake, that it is thought best to dd'cr our service 'u Enp-11 ];, while I devote what 
time and r-tv.-.n'-th I have, to the Indii^n-.. Retl-od I', th'-. <> ./; i- - uiththe three pious 
soldiers, .:m-. bpr- ' i..; Iv :■). i.- p-ryeri! "' ' ro^^vcri-iloi.. .: ii k: thuiQ all much depressed. 
I read to ■ (li.ic o'-' lli, India i:, \.'lu» c:.?.:c i-t ovs ienl Ibis loieiooii. In the afternoon 
collccicd ;^(iiit f^eve.iiy I;\dioUs or i.w.re, ;.l! oi \.hoM li.-LC.icd with apparent interest 
ano good attention to the word of God, avid luoi-l ox" thcia icr the first time. Our place 

•Elk iBko. now callcM Itasca, is rcR.irr.cd ns thP hi'.hcst source of the Mississippi river. 



EXPLOIUNQ TOUE — LEECH LAKE. 55 

of assembling was near the graves, before mentioned, on the ground where the horrid 
scalp-dance is often exhibited. Never did I witness a more interesting, respectrul, 
and attentive Indian audience. Mr. J. read to them the account of the creation and 
flood, after which I read the ten commandments from which I made some remarks, and 
informed them of the object of my visit. The inquiry was put to the principal man, 
the chief being absent, " Would you like to have a missionary come and live with you, 
instruct your children, and tell you about God?" To which he rephed, ''Neither 
myself nor any one present can answer the inquiry, as the chief is absent, and many 
of the young men are very vicious." 

As we assembled for our worship, five or six Indians were sitting near, engaged in 
a game of platter, which was soon left. Not long after our meeting closed, the dance 
began and continued without cessation, till eleven o'clock. I learned i'rom some of the 
men who remained, that the Indians danced almost day and night during our absence. 
I am also informed that three canoes from Leech lake passed here yesterday, on their 
way to Red lake, to carry the wampum and the pipe to invite that band to join them in 
another war party, to revenge the death of the Indian who was killed in their late 
excursion. 

I much regret that I must leave this country without seeing the chief. The land 
is capable of raising corn, and I presume, wheat, barley, and rye. The first is already 
cultivated to a considerable extent. This band has no very distinguished medicine man, 
or conjurer among them, whose influence is much to be feared. One would think, in 
looking at their growing corn, potatoes, &c., that they are already far advanced in the 
arts of civilized life. One requested a few beans to plant next year. Another, asked 
for a little salt, and in return, brought us some very fine potatoes, which were not 
merely a rarity to us, but a curiosity here at this advanced season. They obtained the 
corn, which they have cultivated here many years, from Red river. The island is 
large and in the form of a cross. The lake is a large body of water, and affords many 
fish. Much wild rice also, is gathered in the vicinity. The only water communica- 
tion is with the Mississippi river. The distance to Sandy lake is three hundred and 
fifty or four hundred miles ; and to the Falls of St. Antheny the distance is from six 
hundred and fifty to eight hundred miles. 

LEECH LAKE. 

July 16. At 10, A. M., we took leave of our Indian i'riends here, and in a 
southeast course proceeded to Leach Lake, passing a number of islands in our way, on 
which red cedar is found, from which the lake takes its name. We made two short 
portages, and came to small lakes which we traversed, passing through their outlets, 
till we reached a large stream, which bore us to Leech Lake, than which nothing can 
be more irregular in shape. We reached the Indian village, at ten in the evening, a 
distance of forty-five or fifty miles. 

July 17. At day-break my slumbers were broken by the discharge of muskets 
and the yell of Indians, who had collected to give us a morning salute. On going to 
the door of the tent, I was not a little surprised to find a field of corn and potatoes at 
our heads, which was not discovered last evening amid the darkness. Early this 
morning the principal chief sent his mishiniue, waiting-man, requesting Mr. S. to 
come and breakfast with him. Decorum, and to avoid giving offence, required him to 
comply with the request, though he was at liberty to furnish the table mostly himself. 
A mat spread in the middle of the floor served as a table, upon which the dishes were 
placed. Around this were spread others upon which the guests sat, while the wife of 
the chief waited upon the table and poured the tea. She afterwards took her break- 
fast by herself. After breakfast was over, Mr. J. accompanied us to the chief's quar- 
ters to give us an introduction. It is a building, perhaps twenty feet by twenty-five, 
made of logs, and which, I am informed, was presented him by one of the traders. 
As we entered, the old chief, bare-legged and bare-foot, sat with much dignity upon .i 
cassette. A blanket and cloth about the loins covered his otherwise naked body, which 
was painted black. His chief men occupied a bench by his side, while forty or more 
of his warriors sat on the floor around the walls of his room smoking. The old man 



56 ANNALS OF TUE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

rose and gave us his hand as \vc were introduced, bidding us take a seat at his right, 
on hi's bed. As I cast my eves around upon this savage group, for once I wished that 
I posscssd the painter's skill. The old chief had again resumed his seat upon 
the Linre wooden trunk, and as if to sit a little more like a white man than an In- 
dian had thrown one leg across the other knee. His warriors were all feathered, 
painted, and equipped for service. Many of them wore the insignia of courage, a 
strip of pole-cat skin round the head and heels, the bushy tail of the animal so attached 
to the latter as to drag on the ground. The crown of the head was ornamented with 
standing feathers, indicating the number of enemies the individual had killed, on one 
of which 1 counted no less' than twelve. Their look was full of wildness, such as I 
never saw before, combining the fierceness of the tiger with the boldness of the lion. 

One side of his room was hung with an English and an American flag, medals, war- 
clubs, lances, tomiihawks. arrows, and other implements of death. All seemed to 
whisper, this is the dwelling of the strong man armed. The subject of vaccination 
was now presented to the chief, with which he was pleased, and ordered his people to 
assemble for the purpose. I stood by the doctor and kept the minutes, while he per- 
formed the business. 

After the presents had been distributed, Mr. S., wishing to reach the mouth of the 
Dcs Corbeau in season to fulfill his engagement there, requested me to address the In- 
dians on the subject of my visit. They all listened attentively while I related to them 
what the Christian pub'ic are doing for their people in Canada, at the Sault Ste Marie, 
and at La Pointe, and also what is doing for the Seneca, Oneida, and Stockbridge Indi- 
ans. I assured them of the interest felt for them as a people, and that their friends 
were ready to do something for them in the way of instructing their children, if they 

wished. 

Preparations were now making for taking our leave, when the chief arose and an- 
nounced to the Indians that he would speak a few words, as we should be displeased if 
he did not. Giving his hand again to each, he addressed himself to Mr. S. After the 
old chief closed his speech, he requested a white shirt of Mr. S. and some other things, 
(I say white, because so seldom seen in this country,) that he might lay aside his 
mourning. Just as we were ready to embark, the old man came out in all his regi- 
mentals—a military coat, faced with red, ruffle shirt, hat, pantaloons, gloves and shoes. 
So entirely changed was his appearance, that I did not recognize him till he spoke. 

This band is considered the largest, and perhaps the most warlike in the whole 
Ojibwa nation. It numbers 706, exclusive of a small band, probably 100, on Bear 
Island, one of the numerous islands in this lake ; but the reason of iheir not being 
numbered with the Leech Lake band the old chief did not give. This lake abounds 
with fish of a fine quality. Wild rice is also gathered in its bays in considerable quan- 
tities. Fish and rice here are the principal means of subsistence, though the Indians, 
to some extent, cultivate the land. This band have eight places where they cultivate 
the ground and pass some part of the spring and summer. The numbers, location, 
and means of subsistence, give this place advantages superior to any I have yet seen, 
if a missionary could live among these savage men. It is situated in the neighborhood, 
(as it would be termed in this country,) of Upper Red Cedar or Cassina band, Win- 
nipeg band, which are each but forty-five or fifty miles distant; of Red Lake band 
about three days march distant, and Sandy Lake about the same. It is central in rela- 
tion to these neighboring bands, with each of which they have frequent intercourse at 
all seasons of the year. 

RETURN TO THE MISSISSIPPI. 

July 18. While prosecuting our journey this afternoon, the old chief and one of 
his counsellors, Machi Gabo, with their wives, overtook us. He appeared more friend- 
ly to our government than his speech indicated yesterday. He came to see how we 
were getting along without guides, who, as we did not tarry this morning for them to 
come to our place of encampment, probably turned back. We have crossed five short 
portages to-day, the longest of which is nearly two miles, and the shortest, one pose, 
or half a mile. The number of lakes we have crossed is nine, some of which are sep- 



EXPLORINa TOUR — FOKT SNELLING. 67 

arated only by a narrow stream of a few yards in length. This, I am informed, is the 
character of the country in this region. In what way soever you go, you are sure soon 
to fall upon a small lake. 

July 21. At 12 o'clock, reached the mouth of the Des Corbeau, a large stream, 
three days from Leech Lake — distance 230 miles. Here we found the Sandy Lake 
band, who were absent when we visited that place. They had sent two canoes up the 
river a few miles, to meet us and give them a signal of our approach. All were en- 
camped on the high banks of the Mississippi, wliich for several rods was completely 
lined with their bark canoes and wigwams, near which four or five American flags 
were hoisted. As we drew near to disembark, all collected on the high bluff directly 
above us, and commenced their discharge of muskets, their jumping and yelling, while 
the frightened dogs added what they could to the scene of confusion. Hardly were 
our tents pitched ere the canoe from Sandy Lake arrived with the presents which Mr. 
S. left there ibr this band. These were issued, and Mr. S. addressed the chiefs on the 
subject of their keeping the peace with their neighbors, the Sioux. The chiefs, in re- 
ply, reminded him of the treaty at Prairie du Chien and at Fon du Lac. " The prom- 
ise of the Great Father," they said, '' had not been fulfilled. Their neighbors already 
called them women and not men, because they sat still; and if a war paity should 
come along, or if they should send them the pipe, they did not know how they should 
act." 

While issuing the presents and counselling with the Indians, two or three men came 
in from an excursion, with three bears on their shoulders. They made us a present 
of some of the meat as we left. It was now quite late, and we wished to descend the 
Mississippi, about eighteen miles to pass the Sabbath. Mr. S., therefore, invited the 
Indians to accompany us, or come in the morning, as I wished to say some things to 
them, which I had not time now to communicate. 

July 23. The gentleman engaged in the fur-trade at this place speaks well of 
this band of Indians, and is desirous of a school at or near his post, offering to do all 
in his power to aid, in case a person is sent here. This is the hunting ground, both 
summer and winter, for the Sandy Lake band, and it is in this vicinity, also, that they 
make their gardens. The disposition of the band also is pacific, compared with that of 
all the other bands northwest. In addition to all, the soil here is of a line quality, 
prairie land, ready for the spade or the plough. The place, however, is contiguous to 
the Sioux country, with whom the Ojibwas are now at war, and might on that account 
be unsafe for a mission school. 

DESCENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI FORT SNELLING, 

Embarked at six, A. M., and commenced our descent of the Mississippi. The 
east bank is generally high, rising in many places to a bluff, while the west, at the 
same time, is low and alluvial. The current is strong, amounting to rapids almost 
every few miles. At eight we reached the Little Falls. Instead of making a short 
portage here, as is usual, the water being sufficiently high to clear the canoe from 
stones, we only put into the current and let her drive. The stream is full of small is- 
lands, many of which are covered with a beautiful growth of elm, maple, butternut, 
and white walnut. The country here is prairie, extending as far as the eye can reach, 
with here and there a clump of oaks, which at a distance looks like some old New Eng- 
land orchard. It is the most interesting and inviting tract of country I have ever seen. 
If there is any thing that can meet the wishes, and fill the soul of man with gratitude, 
it is found here. What would require the labor of years, in preparing the land for 
cultivation in many of the old states, is here all prepared to the hand. As far as the 
eye can reach, is one continued field of grass and flowers, waving in the passing breeze, 
exhibiting the appearance of a country which has been cultivated for centuries, but 
now deserted of its inhabitants. The gentle swells, which are seen here and there, 
give a pleasing variety. The soil is apparently easy of cultivation, a black earth and 
a mixture of black sand. Nothing can be more picturesque or grand, than the high 
banks at a distance, rising before you as you descend. The islands, in the stream, are 
most of them alluvial, a soil of the richest quality. 
8 



53 JlNnals or thb Minnesota historical socibtt. 

Wc hnvc marched Ihirtccn hours and a half to-day, at the rate of ten miles per 
hour, and are encamped tliis evening in the dominions of the Sioux, though we have as 

yet seen none. i i -n 

July 24. Emliarked at five this morning, and marched till twelve, when we 
reached the falls of St. Anthony, nine miles above the mouth of the St. Peter's. Our 
eovernmeiU have here a saw-mili and grist-mill on the west bank of the Mississippi, 
and also have a large farm. The soldiers are here cutting the hay. For beauty, the 
country around exceeds all that I can say. These falls are an interesting object to 
look at, but there is nothing about them that fills one with awe, as do the falls of Ni- 
a'mra. The stream is divided in about its centre by a bluff of rocks covered with a 
few trees. Tlie perpendicular fall is perhaps twenty feet on each side of this bluff, 
at the foot of which there is a shoot of some ten or fifteen feet more in a descent. 

A short portage was made around the falls, when we again embarked in the rapids, 
and in about an hour reached Fort Snelling. This post is located at the junction of 
the St. Peter's with the jNIississipppi. It stands on a high bluff, rising on the north 
nearly 300 feet above the water. The walls of the fort, and of most of the buildings, 
are of stone. The tower commands an extentensive and beautiful view of the adja- 
cent country, and of the Mississippi and St. Peter's rivers. The officers visited us at 
our tents, invited us to their quarters, and treated us with much kindness and 
attention. 

After Mr. S. had stated to three or four of the principal Sioux chiefs who had 
been requested to visit him, the object of his tour, and mentioned the complaints which 
the Ojibwas brought against them for breaking the treaties of Prairie du Chien and 
Fon (ill lac. Little Crow rose and replied, that he recollected those treaties, when they 
smoked the pipe, and all agreed to eat and drink out of the same dish. He wished the 
line to be drawn between them and the Ojibwas; the sooner it was fixed the better.' 
He alluded to the late war party from Leech lake, which had killed two of his nephews, 
and were now dancing around their scalps ; but he did not complain, nor would he go 
and revenge their death. He denied that the Sioux were in league with the Sacs and 
Foxes. Black Dog, and the Man-who-floats-on-the-water, also spoke in much the 
same manner. 

RETURN TO LAKE SUPERIOR. 

JfLY 26. Took leave of our friends here this morning, and descended about nine 
miles, when we came to Little Crow's village. Here we were received with a salute, 
in giving which, however, some of his men endeavored to give us an example of their 
skill as marksmen, by seeing how near they could come to our canoe and yet not hit 
it. Several of the balls struck the water within a few feet of us. An Indian always 
puts in a ball, if he has one, in firing a salute. The Sioux have here, a number of com- 
fortable dwellings made of poles covered with bark. They raise corn, potatoes, etc. 
The Mississippi here, loses its prairie character, and its banks become thinly wooded. 
The east shore, in many places, is rocky, and covered with red cedar. At three, P. 
M., entered St. Croix lake, from which we are to enter the St. Croix river, which we 
are to ascend on our return to Lake Superior. 

July 31. We embarked at five this morning, and at ten reached the mouth of 
Yellow river, wdiich communicates with Ottawa lake. Here we found a few Indians. 
A woman brought us a bowl of new potatoes, and a pan of dried venison. The pota- 
toes were an unexpected rarity. The venison was first dried or smoked, and then 
pulverized in a mortar. The Indians here raise corn, potatoes, and squashes in consid- 
erable quantities. In fifteen miles we came to the forks of the St. Croix. 

August 1. Wild rice looks beautifully on the margin of the river as we ascend. 
The bed of the stream is completely paved with stones, and we have rapid upon rapid 
since leaving the forks. For miles our men have been obliged to wade in the stream 
and lif^t the canoe over the rocks, while we are glad to find our way as we can, some- 
timei in the middle of the stream, and sometimes on the shore. 



BATTLE 01 LiJCB POKEOUMA. f9 



BATTLE OF LAKE POKEGUMA. 



NAHRATED BY AN EVE-WITXESi. 



Pokeguma is one of the " Mills Lacs," or thousand beautiful lakes for which 
Minnesota is remarkable. 

It is about four or five miles in extent, and two miles or more in width. Its shore.n 
are strown with boulders that in a past geologic age have been brought by some 
mighty impetus from the icy north. Down to the water's edge grow the tall pines, 
through which, for many years the deer have bounded, and the winds sighed mourfully, 
as they wafted away to distant lands, the shriek of many Dakota or Ojibwa mothers, 
caused by the slaughter of their children. 

This lake is situated on Snake river, about twenty miles above the junction of that 
stream, with the Saint Croix. Thougli as late as the year 1700, the Dakotas resided 
in this vicinity, for a long period it has been the residence of their enemies, the Ojibwas. 

In the year 1836, missionaries of the American Board of Foreign Missions, con- 
nected with the Congregational and Presbyterian denominations, came to reside among 
the Ojibwas of Pokeguma, to promote their temporal and spiritual welfare. Their 
mission house was built on the east side of the lake. But the Indian villa2;e was on 
an island not far from the shore. la a few years, several Indian families, among oth- 
ers, that of the chief, were induced to build log houses around the mission. The mis- 
sionaries felt, to use the language of one of them, that '■ the motives of the gospel had 
no more influence over the Indian, in themselves considered, than over the deer that he 
follows in the chase." They therefore first encouraged the Indian to work, and 
always purchased of him his spare provisions. 

By aiding them in this way, many had become quite industrious. In a letter writ- 
ten from Pokeguma, in 1837, we find the following: '• The young women and girls 
now make, mend, wash, and iron after our manner. The men have learned to build 
log houses, drive team, plough, hoe, and handle an American axe with some skill in 
cutting large trees, the size of which, two years ago, would have afforded them a suffi- 
cient reason why they should not meddle with them." 

On May 15th, 1841, two young men had gone, by order of Mr. Russell, now of 
Sauk Rapids, then Indian Farmer at Pokeguma, to the falls of Saint Croix, after a load 
of provisions. On the next day, which was Sunday, the new^ arrived there, that a 
Dakota war party, headed by Little Crow, of the Kaposia band, whose face is so famil- 
iar to the citizens of Saint Paul, was on the way to their village. Immediately they 
started back on foot to give the alarm to their relatives and friends. 

They had hardly left the falls, on their return, before they saw a party of Dakotas, 
stripped and bedaubed with vermillion, and preparing themselves for war. The sen- 
tinel of the enemy, had not noticed the approach of the young men. A few yards in front 
of the Ojibwa youth, sat two of the sons of Little Crow, behind a log, exultii.g, no doubt, 
in anticipation of the scalps in reserve for them, at the lake. In the twinkling of an eye, 
these two young Ojibwas raised their guns, fired, and killed both of the chief's sons. 
The sentinel, who had by his carelessness allowed them to pass, was a third son. The 
discharge of the guns revealed to him that an enemy was near, and as the Ojibwas 
were retreating, he fired, and mortally wounded one of the two. 

Hellish was the rage of the Dakotas, at this disastrous surprise. According to 
custom, the corpses of the chiefs sons were dressed, and then set up with their faces 
towards the country of their ancient enemies. The wounded Ojibwa was horribly 
mangled by the infuriated party, and his limbs strov.n about in every direction. His 
scalped head was placed in a kettle, and suspended in front of the two Dakota corpses, 
in the belief that it would be gratifying to the spirits of the deceased, to see before them 
the bloody and scalpless head of one of their enemies. 



^0 ANNALS OP THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Little Crow, disheartened by the loss of his two boys, returned with his party to 
Kaposia. But other parlies were in the field. The Dakotas had divided themselves 
into three bands; and it was the understanding tliat one party was first to attack Poke- 
guma, and then retire. After the Ojibwas supposed that the attack was over, the 
second party was to commence their fire, and after they had ceased to fight, the third 
party was to begin to slaughter. 

The second party proceeded as far as the mouth of Snake river, but supposing that 
the Ojibwas had discovered tliem, they turned back, and upon their arrival at the falls 
of Saint Croix, they were still more chagrined, by heaving of the death of the sons of 
the Kaposia chief. 

It was not till Friday, the 21st of May, that the death of one of the young 
Ojibwas sent by Mr. Russell, to the falls of Saint Croix, was known at Pokeguma. 
The murdered voulh was a son of one of those families who had renounced heathen- 
ism, and whose parents lived on the lake shore, in one of the log buildings, by the 
mission house. The intelligence alarmed the Ojibwas on the island opposite the mis- 
sion, and on Monday, the 24lh, three young men left in a canoe to go to the west shore 
of the lake, and from thence to Mille Lacs, to give intelligence to the Ojibwas there, of 
the skirmish that had already occurred. They took with them two Indian girls, about 
twelve years of age, who were pupils of the mission school, for the purpose of 
brins^ino' the canoe back to the island. Just as the three were landing, twenty or thirty 
Dakota warriors, with a war whoop, emerged from their concealment behind the trees, 
and fired into the canoe. The young men instantly sprang into the water, which was 
shallow, returned the fire, and ran into the woods, escaping without material injury. 

The little girls in their fright, waded into the lake ; and as in Indian warfare it is as 
noble to kill an infant as an adult, a delicate woman as a strong man, the Dakota braves, 
with their spears and war clubs, rushed into the water after the children and killed 
them. Their parents upon the island, heard the death cries of their children ; and for 
a time the scene was one of wildest confusion. Some of the Indians around the mis- 
sion house, jumped into their canoes and gained the island. Others went into some 
fortified log buildings. The attack upon the canoe it was afterwards learned was pre- 
mature. The party upon that side of the lake were ordered not to fire, until the party 
stationed in the woods, near the mission, commenced. 

There were in all 111 Dakota warriors, and the fight was inthevicinity of the mission 
house, and the Ojibwas mostly engaged in it were those who had been under religious 
instruction. The rest were upon the island. During the engagement an incident oc- 
curred, as worthy of note as some of those in Grecian history. 

The fathers of the murdered girls, burning for revenge, left the island in a canoe, 
and drawing it up on the shore, hid behind it, and fired upon the Dakotas and killed 
one. The Dakotas advancing upon them, they were obliged to escape. The canoe 
was now launched. One lay on his back in the bottom ; the other plunged into the 
water. Holding the canoe with one hand and swimming with the other, he towed his 
friend out of danger. The Dakotas, infuriated at their escape, fired volley after vol- 
ley at the swimmer, but he escaped the balls by putting his head under water, whenever 
he saw them take aim, and waiting till he heard the discharge, when he would look up 
and breathe. 

After a fight of two hours, the Dakotas retreated with a loss of two men. At the 
request of the parents, Mr. E. F. Ely, now of St. Paul, from whose notes the 
writer has obtained his facts, being at that time a teacher at the mission, went across 
the lake, with two of his friends, to gather the remains of his murdered pupils. He 
found the corpses on the shore. The heads cut oflf, and scalped, with a tomahawk 
buried in the brains of each, was set up in the sand near the bodies. The bodies were 
pierced in the breast, and the right arm of one was taken away. Removing the toma- 
hawks, the bodies were brought back to the island, and in the afternoon, were buried 
in accordance with the simple, but solemn rites of the Church of Christ, by members 
of the mission. 

It is usual for Indians to leave their murdered on or near the battle field, with their 
faces looking towards the enemy's country ; and on Wednesday, the Ojibwas started 
out in search of the Dakotas that had been killed. By following the trail, they soon 



"W.yiON TEEPEE — CARVER's CAVE. 61 

found the two bodies, and scalped them. One of the heads was also cut off and 
brought to the island, to adorn the graves of the little girls. To a Northwestern sav- 
age, such a head-stone at a daughter's grave is more gratifying than one of sculptured 
Italian marble. Strips of flesh were fastened to the trees. A breast was also taken, 
and cooked and eaten by the braves to express their hatred to the Dakotas. 

The mother and wife of the young man who had been killed by Little Crow's 
third son, were each presented with a hand. These women had been accustomed to 
attend preaching at the mission house, and knew the principles of the Prince of Peace. 
Though they had, in 1839, lost many relatives by an aitack from the Dakotas, on Rum 
river, they engaged in no savage orgies, but withdrawing to their wigwam, they placed 
the hands of their foes upon their knees, gazed in silence, then wrapped them in white 
muslin and interred them. Such is one ot' the many similar scenes that has occurred 
in our own Territory within ten years. The president of the Historical Society, in his 
address of 1851, well remarked, that the region between the falls of St. Croix and 
Mille Lacs, is a " Golgotha" — a place of skulls. 

The sequel to this story is soon told. The Indians of Pokeguma, after the fight, 
deserted their village, and went to reside with their countrymen near Lake Superior. 

In July of the following year, a war party was formed at Fon du Lac, about forty 
in number, and proceeded towards the Dakota country. When they reached Ket"^ 
tie river, they were joined by the Ojibwas of St. Croix and Mille Lacs, and thus 
numbered about one hundred warriors. Sneaking, as none but Indians can, they ar- 
rived unnoticed at the little settlement, below St. Paul, commonly called " Pig's Eye," 
which is opposite Kaposia, or Little Crow's village. Finding an Indian woman at 
work in the garden of her husband, a Canadian, by the name of Gamelle, they killed 
her ; also another woman, with her infant, whose head was cut off. The Dakotas, on 
the opposite side, were mostly intoxicated; and flying across in their canoes but half 
prepared, they were worsted in the encounter. They lost about twelve warriors, and 
one of their number, known as the Dancer, the Ojibwas are said to have skinned. 

N. 



WAKON TEEPEE. 
GRANT OF LAND AT THE CAVE IN DAYTON'S BLUFF. 

Several interesting historical associations cluster around the cave in the suburbs of 
Saint Paul, below the junction of Trout brook with the river. The Dakotas call it 
Wakan Tipi, or House of the Spirit. A century ago the chiefs of the various bands of 
the Dakotas used to hold their councils in this vicinity, and the bones of the dead were 
brought from a distance and interred upon the bluffs above. 

Carver, in April 1767, came to this cave, with several chiefs from the bands on the 
Minnesota river. He thus describes it : 

" The entrance into it is about ten feet wide, the height of it five feet. The arch 
within is nearly fifteen feet high and about thirty feet broad. The bottom of it con- 
sists of fine clear sand. About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water 
of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance, for the darkness of 
the cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it. I threw a small pebble 
towards the interior parts of it with my utmost strength. I could hear that it fell in- 
to the water, and notwithstanding it was of so small a size, it caused an astonishing 
and horrible noise that reverberated through all those gloomy regions. I found in this 
cave many hieroglyphics, which appeared very ancient, for time had nearly covered 



52 AN-NALS OF THB MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETf. 

them with moss, so that it was with difficulty I coultl trace them. They were cut in 
a rudo manner upon the inside of llic walls, wliieh wore composed of a stone so ex- 
tremely sort that it might be easily penetrated witli a knife ; a stone every where to be 
found near the Mississippi. Tlie cave is only accessible by asscending a narrow, steep 
passa"-e tliat lies near the brink of the river." 

The cave has since tlien been materially altered by the tools of time, frost, air, and 
water. Many years ivro, the roof of the cave fell in, thus exposing to the light the 
side walls, tlicse to tliis day are covered with Dakota pictographs, grey with age. 

As earlv as 1817. the pre'sent mouth of the cave was so nearly covered up by the 
talus of rock and earth, that it was necessary for Major Long, to employ a vulgarism, 
to "creep on all fours " to enter. 

In 1820, it appears to have been entirely closed, leading Schoolcraft into an error, 
and causino- him to think that the cave above Saint Paul was the cave described by 

Carver. 

In 1835, Featherstonhaugh foil into the same mistake, and visiting the cave above 
the town, remarks: "This'oave is very well described by Carver w-ho mentions the 
fjo-iires cut by the Indians, which I also observed there." 

In 1837, the indefatigable Nicollet determined to explore the cave in Dayton's 
blufT. The men in his employ worked many hours, in removing the accumulated de- 
tritus, and at last effected an entrance into the cave now much reduced from its origi- 
nal proportions. 

At the present time there may be seen upon the roof of white sandstone, the 
initials J. N. N., J. C. F. and some others, formed by the smoke of their torches. — 
Within the last year, improvements in the suburbs of St. Paul, have led to the further 
excavation of the entrance, making it easy of access to the visitor. 

In the pamphlet issued by the Minnesota Plistorical Society in the winter of 1850, 
there is a poem of the great German, Schiller, translated by Sir John Herschel, enti- 
titled " Death song of a Nadowessee chief," which was suggested by the reading of a 
I'unoral address, said to have been made by a Dakota chief in this cave. 

The following documents wore called forth by the heirs of Carver, petitioning the 
United States to give them a title to the land upon which Saint Paul stands, and many 
miles more, because of an alleged grant of land, made by the Dakotas, to Captain .Tona- 
tlian Carver, of the British army. 

Washington, July 28, 1821. 

Sir : — Agreeably to your request, I have the honor to inform you what I have un- 
derstood from the Indians of the Sioux nation, as well as some facts within my own 
knowledge, as to what is commonly termed Carver's grant. The grant purports to be 
made bv the chiefs ol' the Sioux of the plain, and one of the chiefs uses the sign of a 
serpent, and the other a turtle, purporting that their names are derived from those 
animals. 

The land lies on the east side of the Mississippi. The Indians do not recognize or 
acknowledge the grant to be valid, and they (among others) assign the following rea- 
sons : (1.) The Sioux of the plains never owned a foot of land on the east side of the 
Mississippi. The Sioux nation is divided into two grand divisions, viz : The Sioux 
of the lake, or perhaps more literally Sioux of the river, and Sioux of the plain. The 
former subsists by hunting and fishing, and usually move from place to place by water, 
in canoes, during the summer season, and travel on the ice in the winter, wlien not on 
their hunting excursions. The latter subsist entirely by hunting, and have no canoes, 
nor do they know but little about the use of them. They reside in the large prairies 
west of the Mississippi, and follow the buffalo, upon which they entirely subsist ; these 
are called Sioux of the plain, and never owned land cast of the Mississippi, 

(2.) The Indians say they have no knowledge of any such chiefs, as those who 
have signed the grant to Carver, either amongst the Sioux of the river, or Sioux of the 
plain. They say that if Captain Carver did ever obtain a deed or grant, it was signed 
by some foolish young men who were not chiefs, and who were not authorized to make 
a grant. Among the Sioux of the river there are no such names. 

(3.) They say the Indians never received any thing for the land, and they have 



WAKON TEEPEE — CARVER's TRBATT. W 

no intention to part with it, witiiout a consideration. From my knowledge of the In- 
dians, I am induced to think they would not make so considerable a grant, and have it 
go into lull effect, without receiving a substantial consideration. 

(4.) They have, and ever have had the possession of the land, and intend to keep 
it. I know that they are very particular in making every person who wishes to cut 
timber on that tract, obtain their permission to do so, and to obtain payment for it. In 
the month of May last, some Frenchmen brought a large raft of red cedar timber out of 
the Chippewa river, which timber was cut on the tract before mentioned. The In- 
dians at one of the villages on the Mississippi, where the principal chief resided, com- 
pelled the Frenchmen to land the raft, and would not permit them to pass until they 
had received pay for the timber ; and the Frenchmen were compelled to leave their raft 
with the Indians until they went to Prairie du Chien, and obtained the necessary arti- 
cles and made the payment required. 

I am, sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. LEAVENWORTH. 
To JosiAH Meigs, Esq., Com. General Land Office. 

[Communicated to the Senate, January 23, 1823.] 

Mr. Van Dyke, from the committee on public lands, to whom was referred (he 
petition of Samuel Harrison, agent for the heirs of Captain Jonathan Carver, praying 
for the recognition and confirmation of an Indian deed, for a large tract of land near 
St. Anthony's fall, on the Mississippi; and also the petition of the Rev. Samuel 
Peters, L. L. D., who claims said tract of land as assignee of the heirs of said Captain 
Carver, and prays that he may be permitted to take possession of the same, reported: 

The petitioners state, that Captain Jonathan Carver, in the year 1760, took a long 
tour among the Indian tribes, two hundred miles west o[ the fall of Saint Anthony, in 
the Mississi])pi, and made important discoveries during his travel and residence of two 
years and five months with various Indian tribes, which he caused to be printed and 
published in London, in 1773. That by his conciliatory measures, he gained the good will 
of the Indian tribes, and became the peace maker between two large nations who were 
at war; and to reward him for his wisdom and friendly interposition, the sachems of 
the Naudowessies, were pleased to grant, and accordingly gave to him and his heirs, 
a deed for a tract of land therein specially described, dated at the Great Cave, May 
the 1st, 1767; that the chief of said tribe, made him a chief of their Jribe on the same 
day, and he then engaged to return and settle in said territory with his family and 
connections. 

That Captain Jonathan Carver afterwards returned to Boston and sailed for London, 
where he arrived in the year 1769, and soon after laid his deed before the British 
government, praying for the confirmation of it, and received for an answer that it should 
be confirmed as soon as the history of his travels was printed and published. But in 
consequence of the misunderstanding which existed between Great Britain and Amer- 
ica, the ratification of the deed was suspended. That Captain Jonathan Carver died 
in London, January 31st, 1780, leaving a numerous progeny; and by the establishment 
of the independence of America, the right to ratify Indian grants devolved upon the 
government of the United States. 

The Rev. Samuel Peters, in his petition, further states, that Lefei, the present 
emperor of the Sioux and Naudowissies. and Red Wing, a sachem, the heirs and suc- 
cessors of the two grand chiefs who signed the said deed to Captain Carver, have given 
satisfactory and positive proof, that they allowed their ancestors' deed to be genuine, 
good and valid, and that Captain Carver's heirs and assigns, are the owners of said ter- 
ritory, and may occupy it free of all molestation. 

The committee have examined and considered the claims thus exhibited by the 
petitioners, and remark that the original deed is not produced, nor any competent legal 
evidence offered, of its execution; nor is there any proof that the persons who it is 
alleged made the deed, were the chiefs of said tribe, nor that (if chiefs) they had 
luthority to grant and give away the land belonging to their tribe. The paper annexed 



C4 ANNALS OF THE MINNESOTA UISTOIUCAL SOCIETY. 

to the petition, as a copy of said deed, has no subscribing witnesses; and it would seem 
impossible at this remote period, to ascertain the important fact, that the persons who 
sio-ned the deed comprclicnded and understood the meaning and eflect of their act. 

'^ The want of proof as to these facts, would interpose in the way of the 
claimants insuperable difiicultics. But, in the opinion of the committee, the claim is 
not such as the United States arc under any obligation to allow, even if the deed were 

proved in legal form. 

The British government, before the time when the alleged deed bears date, had 
deemed it prudenrand necessary, ibr the preservation of peace with the Indian tribes 
under their sovereignly, protection, and dominion, to prevent British subjects from 
purchasing lands from the Indians ; and this rule of policy was made known and en- 
forced by'^the proclamation of the king of Great Britain, of 7th October, 1763, which 
contains an express prohibition. 

Captain Carver, aware of the law, and knowing that such a contract could not vest 
the legal title in him, applied to the British government to ratify and conlirm the Indi- 
an o-rant, and though it was competent for that government then to conlirm the grant, 
and^vest the title of said land in him, yet, from some cause, that government did not 
think proper to do it. 

The territory has since become the property of the United States, and an Indian 
grant, not good against the British government, would appear to be not binding upon 
the United States government. 

What benefit the British government derived from the services of Captain Carver, 
by his travels and residence among the Indians, that government alone could deter- 
mine, and alone could judge what remuneration those services deserved. 

One fact appears from the declaration of Mr. Peters, in his statement, in writing, 
among the papers exhibited ; namely, that the British govenment did give Captain 
Carver the sum of one thousand, three hundred and seventy-five pounds, six shillings, 
and eight pence sterling. To the United States, however, Captain Carver rendered no 
services which could be assumed as an equitable ground for the support of the peti- 
tioners' claim. 

The committee being of opinion that the United States are not bound, in law or 
equity, to confirm the said alleged Indian grant, recommended the adoption of the fol- 
lowing resolution : 

" Resolved, That the prayer of the petitioners ought not to be granted." 

The Rev. Samuel Peters, here spoken of, was formerly an Episcopal minister in 
Connecticut. Being a tory, he went back to England after the declaration of inde- 
pendence. After many years he returned to this country, and died, at an advanced 
age, in New York city. N. 

St. Pacl. 



4970 



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