Henry R. Schoolcraft, then Indian Agent at Sault Ste. Marie, to visit
the Indians of the Northwest, and, when advisable, to make treaties with
them. They had a guard of soldiers, a physician, an interpreter, and the
Rev. William T. Boutwell, a missionary at Leech Lake. They were supplied
with a large outfit of provisions, tobacco and trinkets, which were
conveyed in a bateau. They travelled in several large bark canoes. They
went to Fond du Lac, thence up the St. Louis river, portaged round the
falls, thence to the nearest point to Sandy lake, thence up the
Mississippi to Leech lake. While there, they learned from the Indians
that Cass lake, which for some time had been reputed to be the source of
the Mississippi, was not the real source, and they determined to solve
the problem of where the real source was to be found, and what it was.
I may say here that, in 1819, Gen. Lewis Cass, then governor of the
Territory of Michigan, had led an exploring party to the upper waters of
the Mississippi, somewhat similar to the one I am now speaking of, Mr.
Henry R. Schoolcraft being one of them. When they reached what is now
Cass lake, in the Mississippi river, they decided that it was the source
of the great river, and it was named Cass lake, in honor of the
governor, and was believed to be such source until the arrival of
Schoolcraft's party in 1832.
After a search, an inlet was found into Cass lake, flowing from the
west, and they pursued it until the lake now called "Itasca" was
reached. Five of the party, Lieutenant Allen, Schoolcraft, Dr.
Houghton, Interpreter Johnson and Mr. Boutwell, explored the lake
thoroughly, and finding no inlet, decided it must be the true source of
the river. Mr. Schoolcraft, being desirous of giving the lake a name
that would indicate its position as the true head of the river, and at
the same time be euphonious in sound, endeavored to produce one, but
being unable to satisfy himself, turned it over to Mr. Boutwell, who,
being a good Latin scholar, wrote down two Latin words, "veritas,"
truth, and "caput," head, and suggested that a word might be coined out
of the combination that would answer the purpose. He then cut off the
last two syllables of veritas, making "Itas," and the first syllable of
caput, making "ca," and, putting them together, he gave the word
"Itasca," which, in my judgment, is a sufficiently skillful and
beautiful literary feat to immortalize the inventor. Mr. Boutwell died
within a few years at Stillwater, in Minnesota.
Presumptuous attempts have been made to deprive Schoolcraft of the honor
of having discovered the true source of the river, but their transparent
absurdity has prevented their having obtained any credence, and to put a
quietus on such unscrupulous pretenses, Mr. J. V. Brower, a scientific
surveyor, under the auspices of the Minnesota Historical Society, has
recently made exhaustive researches, surveys and maps of the region, and
established beyond doubt or cavil the entire authenticity of
Schoolcraft's discovery. Gen. James H. Baker, once surveyor general of
the State of Minnesota, and a distinguished member of the same society,
under its appointment, prepared an elaborate paper on the subject, in
which is collected and presented all the facts, history and knowledge
that exists relating to the discovery, and conclusively destroys all
efforts to deprive Schoolcraft of his laurels.
ELEVATIONS IN MINNESOTA.
While on the subject of the source of the Mississippi river, I may as
well speak of the elevations of the state above the level of the sea. It
can be truthfully said that Minnesota occupies the summit of the North
American continent. In its most northern third rises the Mississippi,
which, in its general course, flows due south to the Gulf of Mexico. In
about its center division, from north to south, rises the Red River of
the North, and takes a general northerly direction until it empties into
Lake Winnipeg, while the St. Louis and other rivers take their rise in
the same region and flow eastwardly into Lake Superior, which is the
real source of the St. Lawrence, which empties into the Atlantic.
The elevation at the source of the Mississippi is 1,600 feet, and at the
point where it leaves the southern boundary of the state, 620 feet. The
elevation at the source of the Red River of the North is the same as
that of the Mississippi, 1,600 feet, and where it leaves the state at
its northern boundary 767 feet. The average elevation of the state is
given at 1,275 feet, its highest elevation, in the Mesaba range, 2,200
feet, and its lowest, at Duluth, 602 feet.
NICOLLET.
In 1836 a French savant, M. Jean N. Nicollet, visited Minnesota for the
purpose of exploration. He was an astronomer of note, and had received a
decoration of the Legion of Honor, and had also been attached as
professor to the Royal College of "Louis Le Grande." He arrived in
Minnesota on July 26, 1836, bearing letters of introduction, and visited
Fort Snelling, whence he left with a French trader, named Fronchet, to
explore the sources of the Mississippi. He entered the Crow Wing river,
and by the way of Gull river and Gull lake he entered Leech lake. The
Indians were disappointed when they found he had no presents for them
and spent most of his time looking at the heavens through a tube, and
they became unruly and troublesome. The Rev. Mr. Boutwell, whose mission
house was on the lake, learning of the difficulty, came to the rescue,
and a very warm friendship sprang up between the men. No educated man
who has not experienced the desolation of having been shut up among
savages and rough, unlettered voyageurs for a long time can appreciate
the pleasure of meeting a cultured and refined gentleman so unexpectedly
as Mr. Boutwell encountered Nicollet, and especially when he was able to
render him valuable aid.
From Leech lake Nicollet went to Lake Itasca with guides and packers. He
pitched his tent on Schoolcraft island in the lake, where he occupied
himself for some time in making astronomical observations. He continued
his explorations beyond those of Schoolcraft and Lieutenant Allen, and
followed up the rivulets that entered the lake, thoroughly exploring its
basin or watershed.
He returned to Fort Snelling in October, and remained there for some
time, studying Dakota. He became the guest of Mr. Henry H. Sibley at his
home in Mendota for the winter. General Sibley, in speaking of him,
says:
"A portion of the winter following was spent by him at my house,
and it is hardly necessary to state that I found in him a most
instructive companion. His devotion to his studies was intense
and unremitting, and I frequently expostulated with him upon his
imprudence in thus overtasking the strength of his delicate
frame, but without effect."
Nicollet went to Washington after his tour of 1836-37, and was honored
with a commission from the United States government to make further
explorations, and John C. Fremont was detailed as his assistant.
Under his new appointment, Nicollet and his assistant went up the
Missouri in a steamboat to Fort Pierre; thence he traveled through the
interior of Minnesota, visiting the Red Pipestone quarry, Devil's lake,
and other important localities. On this tour he made a map of the
country, which was the first reliable and accurate one made, which,
together with his astronomical observations, were invaluable to the
country. His name has been perpetuated by giving it to one of
Minnesota's principal counties.
MISSIONS.
The missionary period is one full of interest in the history of the
State of Minnesota. The devoted people who sacrifice all the pleasures
and luxuries of life to spread the gospel of Christianity among the
Indians are deserving of all praise, no matter whether success or
failure attends their efforts. The Dakotas and Chippewas were not
neglected in this respect. The Catholics were among them at a very early
day, and strove to convert them to Christianity. These worthy men were
generally French priests and daring explorers, but for some reason,
whether it was want of permanent support or an individual desire to
rove, I am unable to say, they did not succeed in founding any missions
of a lasting character among the Dakotas before the advent of white
settlement. The devout Romanist, Shea, in his interesting history of
Catholic missions, speaking of the Dakotas, remarks that "Father Menard
had projected a Sioux mission, Marquette, Allouez, Druillettes, all
entertained hopes of realizing it, and had some intercourse with that
nation, but none of them ever succeeded in establishing a mission."
Their work, however, was only postponed, for at a later date they gained
and maintained a lasting foothold.
The Protestants, however, in and after 1820, made permanent and
successful ventures in this direction. After the formation of the
American Fur Company, Mackinaw became the chief point of that
organization. In June, 1820, the Rev. Mr. Morse, father of the inventor
of the telegraph, came to Mackinaw, and preached the first sermon that
was delivered in the Northwest. He made a report of his visit to the
Presbyterian Missionary Society in New York, which sent out parties to
explore the field. The Rev. W. M. Terry, with his wife, commenced a
school at Mackinaw in 1823, and had great success. There were sometimes
as many as two hundred pupils at the school, representing many tribes of
Indians. There are descendants of the children who were educated at this
school now in Minnesota, who are citizens of high standing, who are
indebted to this institution for their education and position.
In the year 1830 a Mr. Warren, who was then living at La Pointe, visited
Mackinaw to obtain a missionary for his place, and not being able to
secure an ordained minister, he took back with him Mr. Frederick Ayre, a
teacher, who, being pleased with the place and prospect, returned to
Mackinaw, and in 1831, with the Rev. Sherman Hall and wife, started for
La Pointe, where they arrived on August 30th, and established themselves
as missionaries, with a school.
The next year Mr. Ayre went to Sandy lake, and opened another school for
the children of voyageurs and Indians. In 1832 Mr. Boutwell, after his
tour with Schoolcraft, took charge of the school at La Pointe, and in
1833 he removed to Leech lake, and there established the first mission
in Minnesota west of the Mississippi.
From his Leech lake mission he writes a letter in which he gives such a
realistic account of his school and mission that one can see everything
that is taking place, as if a panorama was passing before his eyes. He
takes a cheerful view of his prospects, and gives a comprehensive
statement of the resources of the country in their natural state. If
space allowed, I would like to copy the whole letter; but as he speaks
of the wild rice in referring to the food supply, I will say a word
about it, as I deem it one of Minnesota's most important natural
resources.
In 1857 I visited the source of the Mississippi with the then Indian
agent for the Chippewas, and traveled hundreds of miles in the upper
river. We passed through endless fields of wild rice, and witnessed its
harvest by the Chippewas, which is a most interesting and picturesque
scene. They tie it in sheaves with a straw before it is ripe enough to
gather to prevent the wind from shaking out the grains, and when it has
matured, they thresh it with sticks into their canoes. We estimated that
there were about 1,000 families of the Chippewas, and that they gathered
about twenty-five bushels for each family, and we saw that in so doing
they did not make any impression whatever on the crop, leaving thousands
of acres of the rice to the geese and ducks. Our calculations then were
that more rice grew in Minnesota each year, without any cultivation,
than was produced in South Carolina as one of the principal products of
that state, and I may add that it is much more palatable and nutritious
as a food than the white rice of the Orient or the South. There is no
doubt that at some future time it will be utilized to the great
advantage of the state.
Mr. Boutwell's Leech lake mission was in all things a success.
In 1834 the Rev. Samuel W. Pond and his brother, Gideon H. Pond, full of
missionary enthusiasm, arrived at Fort Snelling, in the month of May.
They consulted with the Indian agent, Major Taliaferro, about the best
place to establish a mission, and decided upon Lake Calhoun, where dwelt
small bands of Dakotas, and with their own hands erected a house and
located.
About the same time came the Rev. T. H. Williamson, M. D., under
appointment from the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign
Missions, to visit the Dakotas, to ascertain what could be done to
introduce Christian instruction among them. He was reinforced by Rev. J.
D. Stevens, missionary, Alexander Huggins, farmer, and their wives, and
Miss Sarah Poage and Miss Lucy Stevens, teachers. They arrived at Fort
Snelling in May, 1835, and were hospitably received by the officers of
the garrison, the Indian agent, and Mr. Sibley, then a young man who had
recently taken charge of the trading post at Mendota.
From this point Rev. Mr. Stevens and family proceeded to Lake Harriet,
in Hennepin county, and built a suitable house, and Dr. Williamson and
wife, Mr. Huggins and wife, and Miss Poage, went to Lac qui Parle, where
they were welcomed by Mr. Renville, a trader at that point, after whom
the county of Renville is named.
The Rev. J. D. Stevens acted as chaplain of Fort Snelling, in the
absence of a regularly appointed officer in that position.
In 1837 the mission was strengthened by the arrival of the Rev. Stephen
R. Riggs, a graduate of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, and his wife.
After remaining a short time at Lake Harriet, Mr. and Mrs. Riggs went to
Lac qui Parle.
In 1837 missionaries sent out by the Evangelical Society of Lausanne,
Switzerland, arrived, and located at Red Wing and Wapashaw's villages,
on the Mississippi, and about the same time a Methodist mission was
commenced at Kaposia, but they were of brief duration and soon
abandoned.
In 1836 a mission was established at Pokegama, among the Chippewas,
which was quite successful, and afterwards, in 1842 or 1843, missions
were opened at Red Lake, Shakopee, and other places in Minnesota. During
the summer of 1843 Mr. Riggs commenced a mission station at Traverse des
Sioux, which attained considerable proportions, and remained until
overtaken by white settlement, about 1854.
Mr. Riggs and Dr. Williamson also established a Mission at the Yellow
Medicine Agency of the Sioux, in the year 1852, which was about the best
equipped of any of them. It consisted of a good house for the
missionaries, a large boarding and school house for Indian pupils, a
neat little church, with a steeple and a bell, and all the other
buildings necessary to a complete mission outfit.
These good men adopted a new scheme of education and civilization, which
promised to be very successful. They organized a government among the
Indians, which they called the Hazelwood Republic. To become a member of
this civic body, it was necessary that the applicant should cut off his
long hair, and put on white men's clothes, and it was also expected that
he should become a member of the church. The republic had a written
constitution, a president and other officers. It was in 1856 when I
first became acquainted with this institution, and I afterwards used its
members to great advantage, in the rescue of captive women and the
punishment of one of the leaders of the Spirit Lake massacre, which
occurred in the northwestern portion of Iowa, in the year 1857, the
particulars of which I will relate hereafter. The name of the president
was Paul Ma-za-cu-ta-ma-ni, or "The man who shoots metal as he walks,"
and one of its prominent members was John Otherday, called in Sioux,
An-pay-tu-tok-a-cha, both of whom were the best friends the whites had
in the hour of their great danger in the outbreak of 1862. It was these
two men who informed the missionaries and other whites at the Yellow
Medicine Agency of the impending massacre, and assisted sixty-two of
them to escape before the fatal blow was struck.
What I have said proves that much good attended the work of the
missionaries in the way of civilizing some of the Indians, but it has
always been open to question in my mind if any Sioux Indian ever fully
comprehended the basic doctrines of Christianity. I will give an example
which had great weight in forming my judgment. There were among the
pillars of the mission church at the Yellow Medicine Agency (or as it
was called in Sioux, Pajutazee) an Indian named Ana-wang-mani, to which
the missionaries had prefixed the name of Simon. He was an exceptionally
good man, and prominent in all church matters. He prayed and exhorted,
and was looked upon by all interested as a fulfillment of the success of
both the church and the republic. Imagine the consternation of the
worthy missionaries when one day he announced that a man who had killed
his cousin some eight years ago had returned from the Missouri, and was
then in a neighboring camp, and that it was his duty to kill him to
avenge his cousin. The missionaries argued with him, quoted the Bible to
him, prayed with him,--in fact, exhausted every possible means to
prevent him carrying out his purpose; but all to no effect. He would
admit all they said, assured them that he believed everything they
contended for, but he would always end with the assertion that, "He
killed my cousin, and I must kill him." This savage instinct was too
deeply imbedded in his nature to be overcome by any teaching of the
white man, and the result was that he got a double-barreled shotgun and
carried out his purpose, the consequence of which was to nearly destroy
the church and the republic. He was, however, true to the whites all
through the outbreak of 1862.
When the Indians rebelled, the entire mission outfit at Pajutazee was
destroyed, which practically put an end to missionary effort in
Minnesota, but did not in the least lessen the ardor of the
missionaries. I remember meeting Dr. Williamson soon after the Sioux
were driven out of the state, and supposing, of course, that he had
given up all hope of Christianizing them, I asked him where he would
settle, and what he would do. He did not hesitate a moment, and said
that he would hunt up the remnant of his people and attend to their
spiritual wants.
Having given a general idea of the missionary efforts that were made in
Minnesota, I will say a word about
THE INDIANS.
The Dakotas (or as they were afterwards called, the Sioux) and the
Chippewas were splendid races of aboriginal men. The Sioux that occupied
Minnesota were about eight thousand strong,--men, women and children.
They were divided into four principal bands, known as the
M'day-wa-kon-tons, or Spirit Lake Villagers; the Wak-pay-ku-tays, or
Leaf Shooters, from their living in the timber; the Si-si-tons, and
Wak-pay-tons. There was also a considerable band, known as the Upper
Si-si-tons, who occupied the extreme upper waters of the Minnesota
river. The Chippewas numbered about 7,800, divided as follows: At Lake
Superior, whose agency was at La Pointe, Wis., about 1,600; on the Upper
Mississippi, on the east side, about 3,450; of Pillagers, 1,550; and at
Red lake, 1,130. The Sioux and Chippewas had been deadly enemies as far
back as anything was known of them, and kept up continual warfare. The
Winnebagoes, numbering about 1,500, were removed from the neutral
ground, in Iowa, to Long Prairie, in Minnesota, in 1848, and in 1854
were again removed to Blue Earth county, near the present site of
Mankato. While Minnesota was a territory its western boundary extended
to the Missouri river, and on that river, both east and west of it, were
numerous wild and warlike bands of Sioux, numbering many thousands,
although no accurate census of them had ever been taken. They were the
Tetons, Yanktons, Cut-heads, Yanktonais, and others. These Missouri
Indians frequently visited Minnesota.
The proper name of these Indians is Dakota, and they know themselves
only by that name, but the Chippewas of Lake Superior, in speaking of
them, always called them, "Nadowessioux," which in their language
signifies "enemy." The traders had a habit, when speaking of any tribe
in the presence of another, and especially of an enemy, to designate
them by some name that would not be understood by the listeners, as
they were very suspicious. When speaking of the Dakotas, they used the
last syllable of Nadowessioux,--"Sioux," until the name attached itself
to them, and they have always since been so called.
Charlevoix, who visited Minnesota in 1721, in his history of New France,
says: "The name 'Sioux,' that we give these Indians, is entirely of our
own making; or, rather, it is the last two syllables of the name of
'Nadowessioux,' as many nations call them."
The Sioux live in tepees, or circular conical tents, supported by poles,
so arranged as to leave an opening in the top for ventilation and for
the escape of smoke. These were, before the advent of the whites,
covered with dressed buffalo skins, but more recently with a coarse
cotton tent cloth, which is preferable on account of its being much
lighter to transport from place to place, as they are almost constantly
on the move, the tents being carried by the squaws. There is no more
comfortable habitation than the Sioux tepee to be found among the
dwellers in tents anywhere. A fire is made in the center for either
warmth or cooking purposes. The camp kettle is suspended over it, making
cooking easy and cleanly. In the winter, when the Indian family settles
down to remain any considerable time, they select a river bottom where
there is timber or chaparral, and set up the tepee; then they cut the
long grass or bottom cane, and stand it up against the outside of the
lodge to the thickness of about twenty inches, and you have a very warm
and cozy habitation.
The wealth of the Sioux consists very largely in his horses, and his
subsistence is the game of the forest and plains and the fish and wild
rice of the lakes. Minnesota was an Indian paradise. It abounded in
buffalo, elk, moose, deer, beaver, wolves, and, in fact, nearly all
wild animals found in North America. It held upon its surface eight
thousand beautiful lakes, alive with the finest of edible fish. It was
dotted over with beautiful groves of the sugar maple, yielding
quantities of delicious sugar, and wild rice swamps were abundant. An
inhabitant of this region, with absolute liberty, and nothing to do but
defend it against the encroachments of enemies, certainly had very
little more to ask of his Creator. But he was not allowed to enjoy it in
peace. A stronger race was on his trail, and there was nothing left for
him but to surrender his country on the best terms he could make. Such
has ever been the case from the beginning of recorded events, and
judging from current operations, there has been no cessation of the
movement. Why was not the world made big enough for homes for all kinds
and colors of men, and all characters of civilization?