f iass \- Co fe Book. "O ^L G .".tN». COPN"KlGHT DEPOSIT. DR. CHARLES EASTMAN son of a Dakota Indian who died fighting the whites in 1862, in native costume. The STORY OF MINNESOTA BY E. DUDLEY PARSONS INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH. WEST HIGH SCHOOL MINNEAPOLIS. MINNESOTA Member Minnesota Historical Society AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY CINCINNATI CHICAGO NEW YORK ris Copyright, 1916, by E. DUDLEY PARSONS E. P. I NOV k9i9l6 CI.A44r>644 PREFACE This book aims to place before the children of the state the romantic tale of the wilderness conquered, of brave men and patient organizers, of faith in the midst of hardship, and of the final triumph that has made Minnesota a commonwealth in which her citizens are proud to live. In relating the story of the development, it has been necessary to include some matters that are hard to associate in an interesting manner ; but it is presumed that the modern pupil, as well as the modern teacher, knows how to make every subject yield interest. To assist discussion there have been appended to each chapter a few suggestive questions. The tables of statistics are intended to be used as illustrations, and for occasional reference only. The author dares to hope that he has transmitted some of the en- joyment with which he has read the accounts of adventure, exploitation, pioneer struggle, political contest, and earnest endeavor, that are the sources of his information ; if he has, he is rewarded for his pains. Thanks is given to Mr. Warren Upham and his assistants in the library of the Minnesota Historical Society for their constant courtesy; to Mr. Albert J. Lobb and Miss Amanda Sundean, of the West High School, for much helpful criticism ; to Mr. Edward Bromley, for his care in selecting pictures for the book ; and to Mr. Charles W. Jerome. To him in appreciation for years of friendly sympathy, "The Story of Minnesota" is gratefully dedicated. E. D. P. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Radisson's Journeys into Minnesota ... 9 II. Other French Explorers 18 III. Minnesota under English Rule .... 34 IV. From Savagery to Civilization 41 V. Fort Snelling 53 VI. Scientific Exploration 65 VII. Missionaries and Traders 75 VIII. River Settlements and the Territory . . 87 IX. Settlers and Speculators 107 X. Settling the Indian Country 115 XL The Young State 130 XII. General Development 141 XIII. Causes of the Indian Rebellion . . . . 151 XIV. Indians on the Warpath 162 XV. Minnesota in the Civil War 176 XVI. Trials of the Pioneers 186 XVII. The Railroads . 200 XVIII. A Wider Horizon 213 XIX. A Wider Horizon — Continued 231 XX. A Great Commonwealth 243 XXI. Wood and Iron 256 XXII. Commercial Power 266 XXIII. Conservation of People 273 XXIV. Art in Minnesota 285 6 CONTENTS 7 CHAPTER PAGE XXV. How Localities Are Governed .... 292 XXVI. The State Government 306 XXVII. Duties of Citizens 320 Dates Important to Remember 327 Governors and United States Senators 329 Index 330 THE STORY OF MINNESOTA CHAPTER I RADISSON'S JOURNEYS INTO MINNESOTA Theories of early discovery. — In 1908 a stone marked with pecuHar characters called runes was dug up on a farm near Kensington, Minnesota. According to some people this stone proves that the Norsemen, who used to mark their journeys by this means, visited there, and perished among the Indians four hundred years before Columbus arrived at San Salvador. Others insist that Welshmen made their way through the thick woods of the southland and up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to the Dakota plains. There, mingling with the Dakotas, or Sioux, they became the ancestors of the Mandans. The latter historians base their assertion upon similarities between the Welsh and Mandan languages, and upon the superiority of the Mandan civilization to that of the Sioux. If these Welshmen did reach Dakota, they probably hunted buffaloes within the present state of Minnesota, but both theories remain to be proved, and it is certain that the second never will be. Indeed, there is no evidence that a white man stepped within the borders of Minnesota before the time of Radisson ^ and Groseilliers.^ ^ ra des son' ^ gros se lur' 9 lO RADISSON'S JOURNEYS INTO MINNESOTA Radisson's account typical. — He who reads Pierre Radis- son's account of his hfe knows something of the trials of the pioneers in Minnesota. Radisson's life is the open- ing tale of nearly two centuries of conquest. That con- quest completed, Indian and trapper and boatman had passed forever ; but they had beaten pathways over a tract of land large enough to provide every man, woman, and child in the United States, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands a half acre. It is a tale of sacrifice and endurance on the part of pioneers, until beaver and buffalo and bear gave way to cattle and hogs and horses ; until " the bread and butter state " became a common- wealth where the fine arts find a ready welcome. Radisson captured. — From Radisson's account we learn that when he was about eighteen years old the Iroquois Indians descended upon his home in Ontario and captured him, together with a score of others. He was put to the most severe tortures. He was bound to a pole, in order that the thunderstorm, mosquitoes, the red-hot iron, .and the firebrand might fully test his endurance. His fingers were bitten, his nails were torn out with pincers, and some of his teeth were knocked out. All this was done so that a chief, who had taken a fancy to him, might win for him the right to sit by the council fire, where only brave men were allowed to sit. For a year the French lad remained with the chief who had adopted him. His squaw " mother " and his dusky " sisters " became very fond of him. They were proud of his ability as a hunter and a fighter, — for he had to go to war with his tribe. In fact, he found it not altogether easy to leave them. However, his love for his own people tri- umphed, and one day he escaped and returned home. RADISSON'S JOURNEYS INTO MINNESOTA II Radisson and Groseilliers with the Indians. He goes west again. — Radisson was, however, ready to plunge again into unknown dangers. We read with inter- est of his inducing his brother-in-law, Medard Groseilhers, to accompany him on a long journey after valuable furs, to a Frenchman what the gold of Eldorado was to the Spaniard. Meeting the Indians. — In 1655 the two Frenchmen left what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin. They traveled by way of the Fox, Wisconsin, and Mississippi rivers to Prairie Island near Red Wing. On this island Groseilliers taught the Ottawa Indians, who had fled thither from their Iroquois pursuers, the mystery of corn growing, as he had learned it from the Hurons. From this island Radisson went forth 12 RADISSON'S JOURNEYS INTO MINNESOTA to hunt. In the late spring of 1656, the two here convened a great council of Dakotas, or Sioux, the " nation of the beef," as the white men called them, perhaps eight hundred in all. They earnestly pleaded that the Dakotas make the pilgrimage to Mont- real, there to enter into a trading alli- ance with their French brothers. The result was that a hundred and fifty canoes of valu- able furs bought of the western Indians for a few pounds of powder and shot, a few baubles, and a great many gracious words, passed down the rivers and over the portage to the French capital of Canada. They were accompanied by some of the " Iroquois of the West," the fierce Nadouissioux or "enemies," as they were called by other Indians. Famine. — Four years later the two Frenchmen again met the Indians, — the Chippewas, Crees, and Ottawas in northern Wisconsin, the Dakotas near Mille Lacs. At this meeting they still further advanced the cause of trade. RADISSON'S JOURNEYS INTO MINNESOTA 13 The agonies they endured in that winter of 1659, Radis- son has left indeUbly impressed on the pages of Minne- sota history. A time of famine followed a period of biting cold. It left five hundred Indians stretched dead in the snow, and forced the survivors to eat stale bones, ground and boiled to obtain the marrow ; to strip the bark from trees and the moss from rocks, and even to burn the fur from filthy beaver skins and boil these for soup. What horror of travel through the swamps and brush of dismal forests ! Radisson fell through a hole in the ice and nearly froze his feet, but he stumbled on, until rescue was at hand. We turn from the record feeling that although Minnesota Fur traders and Indians. was only visited, not developed by such men, we may well be stirred by their bravery and endurance. 14 RADISSON'S JOURNEYS INTO MINNESOTA Indian tribes. — Radisson found in Minnesota the tribes of Indians that were to be studied later by scientists and missionaries. The Sioux, who, until the whites dispossessed them, remained enemies of the Chippewas or Ojibwas, ranged the prairies in search of buffaloes during the sum- mer and sought the shelter of the timber during the winter. They did not penetrate farther north than the Mille Lacs country, nor farther east than the timber line that parallels the Red River. They had relatives, however, the Assini- boins, along the lower Red and Assiniboine rivers. Through the great forest country proper, the Chippewas, now con- fined to two reservations, hunted and fished. Radisson tried to make peace between these two nations, so that they would continue to furnish the French the coveted beaver skins, but, like later diplomats, he made little im- pression upon them. A hunter's paradise. — Radisson found Minnesota a hunter's delight. He speaks of seeing '' three hundred bears together from the forest," and great herds of eland (moose). He remarks interestingly upon the buffalo, or buff," as he terms it, saying : The horns of a buff are as those of an ox, but not so long, but bigger and of a blackish color ; he has a very long blackish tail ; he is reddish, his hair frizzed and very fine. They come not up to the upper lake but by chance. It is a pleasure to find the place of their abode, for they turn around compassing two or three acres of land, beating the snow with their feet ; and coming to the center they lie down and rise again to eat the boughs of trees they can reach." He speaks of killing '' several other beasts, — stags, wild cows, caribou, fallow does and bucks, mountain cats, child RADISSON'S JOURNEYS INTO MINNESOTA 15 of the devil." He made his first snowshoes, which he calls " rackets," in order to follow this game. '' In a word," he says, '' we lead a good life." Radisson's house. — He took great pleasure in his home at Fond du Lac, the harbor of which he describes thus : '' It is like a great portal ; by reason of the beating of the waves the lower part of the opening is as big as a tower and grows bigger in the going up. Near Fond du Lac, on the south shore of Lake Superior, he built a house, the door of which faced the lake. In the middle was his fire and on the right side his bed. All about the house were some boughs of trees " laid one across another." Besides these boughs he had " a long cord tied with some small bells." This protection against attack was reenforced by an armament of '' 3 musquetons, 3 fowling-pieces, 3 paire of great pistollettes, a paire of pocket ones, and every man his sword and dagger." He defends this care with the ob- servation that " distrust is the mother of safety, and the occasion makes the thief." Thus fortified, Radisson and his companion made some *' creatures whistling like gos- lings, thinking to frighten them," hear " another music than theirs," and " caused the life " of a great many foxes Radisson's house. i6 RADISSON'S JOURNEYS INTO MINNESOTA to whom they declared themselves enemies. Radisson says that they felt ^' like Caesars," there being " no one to contradict " them. Meeting the Dakotas. — Before returning from this second visit the two Frenchmen held a great council with the '' nation of the beef," or Dakotas, Mr. Warren Upham thinks somewhere in Kan- abec County. They of- fered presents of kettles, hatchets, knives, and a sword blade. They made a feast, to suggest that the Dakotas strengthen themselves with the French, of whose great- ness they spoke long. They shrewdly gave the Indians needles with which to make the beaver robes coveted by the French. Radisson says in this connection that " among such a rowish people a gift is much." To enforce the alliance, remem- bering his experience among the Iroquois, Radisson adopted a family for his own. The Frenchmen threw powder into the lire, which, flashing up, made a " magical flame " that frightened the simple children of the forest. These things, with dancing and games which included climbing a greased pole and playing at war, made intercourse with the beef- eaters easy. That the strain of entertainment and socia- bility was not too great for the Frenchmen we learn from Indian tepee. RADISSON'S JOURNEYS INTO MINNESOTA 17 Radisson's exclamation: ''What is it that a man cannot do when he sees that it concerns his Hfe that one day he must lose?" Result of the journey. — During that year of 1660, twenty years before Hennepin saw the falls, the two sturdy Frenchmen made their way in safety back to the settle- ments. Later they entered the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. They had pointed out a way whereby much wealth in furs could be carried from Minnesota to Montreal, and they had proved once more the ability of Frenchmen to manage Indians for commercial gain. SUMMARY Radisson's story of his trip to Minnesota is important. It shows the character of the man. It shows the hardships that the explorer suffered. It gives a vivid picture of the Indians as they appeared to the French. QUESTIONS 1. How does the character of Radisson differ from that of Groseil- liers ? 2. How did Radisson make friends with the Indians? 3. What qualities, other than bravery, are required for the work that Radisson performed? REFERENCES My Friend the Indian. — Major James McLaughlin. Voyages. — Pierre Radisson. Minnesota in Three Centuries. — Warren Upham. Groseilliers and Radisson, the First White Men in Minnesota. — Warren Upham, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 70. Pathfinders of the West. — Agnes Laut Minnesota, the North Star State. — William W. Folwcll. STORY OF MINN. — 2 CHAPTER II OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS Sioux and Chippewas. — After Radisson and Groseil- liers left, the wilderness of Minnesota knew once more only its native Chippewas and Sioux. It was many years before another white man ventured so far westward. The Chip- pewas were confined largely to what is now known as north- ern Minnesota. West of them were the Assiniboins, or ^' Sioux of the Woods/' who, aroused by some affront to their dignity, had turned away from the main body of their people. In that portion of the state south of a line drawn through Brainerd, the Sioux proper, or Dakotas as they called themselves, held sway. They were divided into five bands, each with its individual character but ready to intermarry with another band, and all allied against the common foe, the hated and despised Chippewas, or Ojibwas, of the north. They were the Mdewakanton,^ Wahpekute,^ Wahpeton, Sisseton, and Yankton tribes. Beyond these bands, riding the prairies stretching away to the Missouri, was another Sioux division that sometimes visited Alinnesota territory, the Tetons. The Dakotas of the district we are discussing had dispossessed the lowas and Omahas of lands beyond the Minnesota River. When the French began to communicate with the Dakotas, they were supreme over the entire southern half of the state, ^ m'da wa' kaN Ion' 2 ^a,h pe ku'te 18 OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS 19 the Mdewakantons and Wahpekutes holding the eastern part. When, however, the Chippewas had mastered the white man's firearms, they were more than a match for even the fierce Dakota arrow, which could sink its flint point into a buffalo's heart while the brave behind it was riding full speed alongside the animal, or pass through a man's neck Buffaloes, from an old picture. at more than a hundred paces. The arrow was made with infinite pains. The head, hammered into perfect shape with incredible skill, was fastened on a carefully chosen shaft with the sinew of a muskrat's tail. It was crowned with feathers to guide its flight to the mark. The lead bullet, however, chewed to fit the gun as the Indian walked, was not to be diverted from its course by branches of trees, and was much cheaper than the arrow. 20 OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS Therefore Mille Lacs, the hereditary home of the eastern bands, was lost to the Dakotas forever, and by' 1840 the Minnesota River had become their northern boundary Hne. Just one hundred years earUer the Lake Minnetonka country had been their stronghold. But although the Dakotas claimed the land to the present Iowa border, fear of the Sacs kept them close to the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. Pond's views on the Dakotas. — Mr. Samuel W. Pond, the missionary, has left an account of the Dakotas which is probably more reliable than any other, for the author was a man of strict truthfulness and was actuated by no motive save to give information. He tells us that far from being an idler the Indian was a stalwart workman, laboring to provide his family meat and clothes and shelter, in all weathers and under great adversity. When game was scarce or shy, the hunter was forced to endure terrible rigors before he filled his bag. Or his enemies might appear in the midst of a busy season and force him to leave his work. He could not keep clean, because the pressure of his life left him no opportunity to change his clothes or choose his food. He could not be provident, because he had no method of keeping meat. The supply of wild rice and fruit and vegetables was limited. His range was so wide that he could carry only the essen- tials of his life, — tent, weapons, and robes. He expected his squaw to cut wood, care for the tent, and carry the bag- gage, for the same reason that a white man often expects his wife to do washing and other housework, — simply because his daily business forbids his helping her. except occasionally. Of course there were lazy Indians, as there are lazy white men, but these were looked upon by the tribe as contemptuously as are the drones of civilization. OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS 21 The Dakotas' morals. — As to conduct, it was perhaps as strict among Indians as it is among white people. The things forbidden by the Ten Commandments were for- bidden by the Indians. Sometimes a wealthy Indian had more than one wife ; but until the white man taught him to be dissolute and drunken, the Indian was noble in his manhood physically and morally, even if he did wage a relentless and savage warfare against the enemy of his tribe. He fought under the protection of the Great Spirit. He believed himself bound to take as many scalps as possible, with as little damage as possible to himself. Those who could not obey this tribal law were made out- casts. The Dakotas were generally considered braver and nobler than the Chippewas, although some travelers, especially those critics who were victimized in the great Dakota rebellion of 1862, are not disposed towards this view. GilfiUan's judgment of the Chippewa. — Of the Chip- pewas, Rev. James Gilfillan, a missionary among them for twenty years, speaks with enthusiasm. He says that he considers their men the most intellectual he has ever met. They have the ability to see through a new matter quickly, and to make an explanation of it or to express an opinion about it logically. He, too, has a high regard for the home life of the Indian. He considers it remark- able that people living as they did when he knew them, could manage to train their children so well. He asserts that the Chippewa mother was a good cook, that he had never met a white woman who could cook, fish especially, as well. The hospitality which admitted the stranger to the family circle, and fed and clothed the needy, moved him to admiration no less than the rigor of the labors of the Chippewas to withstand famine and cold. 22 OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS Dr. Eastman's account. — It may be well to include with these witnesses Dr. Charles Eastman, himself a full-blooded Dakota, son of a warrior who died fighting the whites in 1862. He declares that in becoming civilized he has lost the benefit of cer- tain virtues which he does not see practiced among the whites as much as they were among his own people. He mentions the strict honesty with which all tribal property was used ; the vir- tue that guarded young people ; and the reverence that made the father and mother real leaders of their children, and the old men the head of the Indian state. Whether these men are prejudiced in favor of the Indians or not, it is refreshing to read their testimony, after studying the bloody and treacherous characters given to Indians by the men who were interested chiefly in conquer- ing them. Hennepin's discovery. — The French appreciated the trade with these first Minnesotans too much to forget them. So we find La Salle in 1680 setting out to establish Dr. Charles Eastman. OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS 23 French power on the Mississippi, to make an entrance to the Indian country. With him was the famous Father Hennepin. La Salle sent Father Hennepin and two other Frenchmen up the river. They had not gone far when they met a war party of Dakotas who took them in charge. These Indians treated them rather roughly, for they took the clothing of the Frenchmen and made them walk overland, from a point below St. Paul to Mille Lacs. Yet the pres- ents made by the priest assuaged their anger and stilled the whispers of those who wanted to ^' kill the white man." The Frenchmen survived the scoffs, the torture of the long walk, and even the hot baths and rubbing given them on their arrival ; and they were allowed to depart the following spring. On the way down the river Hennepin gave the name St. Anthony to the famous falls which have made the metropolis of our state out of '^ a few coarse cabins about a mudhole," — the city of Laughing Water. Monument to La Salle, in Lincoln Park, Chicago. 24 OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS ;z; o a H < CO CO h-l M a H en < 2 w a H OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS 25 Du Luth meets Hennepin. — When Father Hennepin was returning to La Salle, to follow his own statement, he was overtaken by Du Luth. According to Du Luth, on the other hand, we learn that the latter rescued the priest from the Indians. Whatever the truth, we can feel sure that the adventurous priest was overjoyed to talk with a fellow countryman ; and the fact that Du Luth turned so far out of his way to find him is sufficient to prove his own desire. The Sieur Du Luth had come to Fond du Lac the year before, and had traded there with both Chippewas and Dakotas. In his journal he writes, " On the second of July, 1679, I had the honor to display His Majesty's arms in the great village of Izatys on Mille Lacs, where never had a Frenchman been." At a conference held here the Assiniboins as well as the Dakotas were present. Du Luth's journal gives a fascinat- ing account of his dealing with the Indians, and proves his right to be remembered in the city that has sounded his name over all the earth. Settlements on Lake Pepin. — The next point of inter- est in the early history of the territory that we call Minne- sota centers about Lake Pepin. No one, be he ever so widely traveled, passes that magnificent water without exclamations of delight. The Indians themselves were not insensible to its charms, and came long distances to gather on its shores. On a point of the Wisconsin shore near the upper extremity we find Nicholas Perrot,^ in 1685, building Fort St. Antoine. The fort was constructed to guard the French boatmen whom he expected to send home to Canada, laden with the furs so cheap to the ^ pe ro 26 OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS Nicholas Perrot at Lake Pepin. Indians, and so valuable to society. These were chiefly beaver skins stitched together in robes, although the bear and the buffalo were levied upon for great numbers of hides. For a few baubles, a drink or two of the new " fire water," a little tobacco, and the priceless powder and lead, the Indians would send a man away rich beyond his dreams. The Indians would return to the toilsome life in the Min- nesota forests, to fight the weather and their hunger until the gay Frenchman should once more feed them and dazzle them with gifts. Perrot was recalled to fight the Senecas. He returned four years later with forty men, and took formal possession of the upper Mississippi region. He established also the fort which developed into Prairie du Chien, later the cap- ital and metropolis. OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS 27 Le Sueur's men digging the green earth. Le Sueur's work. — -In 1695 Pierre Le Sueur, ^ a companion of Perrot, made his way from Lake Superior southward to an island above Lake Pepin, near the present town of Hastings. In his party was Monsieur St. Croix, after whom the river which forms part of the eastern boundary of the state was named. Le Sueur returned to Montreal with the first Dakota chief who had ever visited that place. He interested certain people in Paris by his statement that he had discovered copper in the Dakota country. Copper mining. — Here begins another interesting move- ment in Minnesota exploration. Some of Le Sueur's ^ le soor' 2S OrilKR FRKNC^H KXPLDRKRS Paris trioiuls procured lor ]\\u\ tho opiH>rtiinit)" to accom- pan\- Sicuir d'lbcM\ilK\ the first i;o\oriu>r of Louisiana, to thr Ha\ of Hiloxi. rhciuc with liis liistorian. Ponicaiilt,^ ami twonty inon, Lo Sueur traveled up the Mississii>}>i Ri\er in a trade vessel propelled by mirs and sails. On September u), 1700, he reaehed the nunith o\ the Minnesota River. From this pou\[ he aseended the Minnesota to the Blue Karth, and eontinued uj^ the latter ri\er about three miles to the stream now ealled Lesueur. There, aeeording to IVnieault. he built a fort, the outlines of whieh Mr. Thonuis Hughes, of Mankato. has reeenth' traeed. From the bank oi the Hlue l^arth Ri\ er. Le Sueur's men dug tons oi green, not blue, earth. Vouv thousaml j)ounds were loaded into a shallop and shi}>ped to I'ranee. to be tested for eoi^jHM-. There it was designated by its true name, - i::reen earth. Destruction of the fort. Le Sueur went with the shallop, leaving twehe men at the fort, whieh was ealled L'Huillier.- The men were soon driven away by the Fox Indians, who destroyed the fort. The attemj^t to hold the count rv for the king of France had failed. Penicault's report. If only for Penicault's journal the expedition was worth all it cost, lie tells us that the Minnesota River froze up late in September, gi\ing the party the impression that Minnesota was a frigid country. In one day four lunulred butTaloes were killed, and each man ate six pounds of meat and four bowls of soup. The Sioux brought four hundred beaver robes, each one of nine skins. The French sold their wares to the Indians at a good price, for they reckoned a pound worth one hun- dred crowns, and charged ten crowns for two horn-handled 'p^n' I CO *le wcl' lya r/niKR FRKXCJf KXI'LOKFORS 29 knives or for four leaden bullets. I'he journal wen rc-jiays readinj^. Fort Beauharnois. In i 727 another trading exj^edition unrJer La lY-rriere ^ made the journc-y from (ire(;n Hay to the Mississij)pi and up to i^ake Pej>in. A fort was built ujjon its bank, near the })res(*nt steamboat lanrling at Frontenac, and named in hon(;r of (^ejieral Beauharnois, of the French army. The shouts of thf men echoed through the woods, and joyfully they bent I0 the task of building houses. They were sur- I^rised, the following Aj^ril, to find that the water flooded their homes. Failure of the French. — Even French adroitness could not kecj) the peace between the various tribes of Indians. yCr' I 6r 30 OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS As we have said, the Sioux were continuously at war with the Chippewas on the north and the Foxes and Sacs on the south. These tribes hated the Winnebagoes, cousins to the Sioux, and the Chippewas as well. It was the busi- ness of the traders to keep peace so that the Indians might bring them the coveted beaver robes. But the Indians were so troublesome that after a few years the post was abandoned. It was later reopened for a time, then was deserted finally in 1 745. In 1 766, Jonathan Carver observed the ruins, where, he writes, "It is said the Captain St. Pierre carried on a great trade with the Indians, before the reduction of Canada." Verandrye's journey. — Before we leave the period of French exploration we must notice the brave journey of Captain' Verandrye, who penetrated westward to the Rocky Mountains. His route was along the present northern boundary of Minnesota. He built Fort St. Pierre on the Minnesota side of Rainy Lake in 1732, and farther along the river. Fort St. Charles, a house of four rooms surrounded by palisades fifteen feet high. , In 1735 he constructed Fort Maurepas ^ on Lake Winnipeg. His partners at Montreal kept back his provisions, so that his party was reduced to one ration a day. By the spring of 1736, still receiving no provisions, he was forced to feed his little band on parchment, moccasin leather, roots, dogs, and whatever else he could scrape together. To add to the sorrows of Verandrye, the Sioux killed his son, Jean, and some men detached by the captain to go for help. But with wise moderation Verandrye kept the Crees from waging war in his behalf, and persisted in pushing west- ward to the Rockies. On the way he built two more forts, 1 m6r' pa' OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS 31 one on the present site of Winnipeg, and one on the Assini- boine River near by. From these forts the first bugle call was sounded over the prairies of the west. On December 3, 1738, Verandrye was entertained in the circular hut of the Mandan chief, and was welcomed into protection from the common enemy, the Sioux. From there he returned to Montreal by the route over which he had come, assured that there was no way open to a western sea. He had, however, blazed a path over which the Hudson's Bay Company afterwards sent its voy- ageurs to the Pacific. On the return his party con- structed other forts at the forks of certain Canadian rivers, forts which the French had to sur- render when the treaty con- cluding their war with England was signed, in 1763. Veran- drye must not be forgotten in an estimate of the services of the explorers of Minnesota. What the French accom- plished. — What was the net result of this century of ex- ploration by the French ? We have seen their forts left to decay, and their soldiers and boatmen withdrawn. They had, it is true, won many a load of castor or beaver skins, but not a settlement marked their occupation when the English obtained possession of the country. They had, COUREUR DE BOIS. 32 OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS however, definite routes into the Indian country, which the Enghsh conquerors were glad to follow. They had made friendships with the various tribes that the voyageurs (boatmen) and coureurs de bois,^ now under the leadership of Enghsh captains, could turn to good account. So, although it took a century merely to spy out the country, the occupation was accomplished under British and Ameri- can rule in a half century more. Before the second cen- tury after Radisson had closed, the land itself had begun to yield wonderfully. SUMMARY Although the French could not develop Minnesota, they did point out the possibilities of the land. They made friends with the Indians. They opened great water routes to the world. They showed how to live in the woods. The French explorers were : Hennepin, who named St. Anthony Falls in 1680. Du Luth, who reached Fond du Lac in 1679-80. Perrot, who settled on Lake Pepin in 1685. Le Sueur, who built forts on Lake Pepin and the Blue Earth River in 1695 and 1700. Verandrye, who traveled along the northern boundary in 1732. QUESTIONS 1. Why did the Sioux leave the Mille Lacs country? 2. What are some of the good qualities of the Indian character? 3. How was Hennepin received among the Sioux? 4. What were the prices of furs? 5. What was the result of the French occupation of Minnesota ? REFERENCES The Dakotas in Minnesota in 1834. — Samuel W. Pond, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 6. ^ koo rur' de bwa' OTHER FRENCH EXPLORERS 2>S The Ojibwas in Minnesota. — Joseph Giltillan, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 6. The Boyhood of an Indian. — Dr. Charles Eastman, The Hennepin Bi-Centennial Celebration. — Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 6. History of Duluth and St Louis County. — John Cary, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. lo. Minnesota, the North Star State. — William W. Folwell. Relation of a Voyage to the Mississippi. — Penicault. Le Sueur^s Copper Mine. — Thomas Hughes, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. ij. STORY OF MINN. CHAPTER III MINNESOTA UNDER ENGLISH RULE Carver in Minnesota. — Peace between France and England had scarcely been concluded when Jonathan Car- ver determined to explore the northwest wilderness. He was a captain who had proved his worth. In fact he had nearly left his scalp in the hands of some of the Minnesota Indians whom the French had coaxed to battle against the New Englanders. It was in 1766 that he made his way over the then famous Fox- Wisconsin route to the Mississippi River. On the journey he ob- served the ruins of the Pepin forts, and he paused to examine the cave below St. Paul, whose rediscovery in 191 3 has revived interest in Jonathan Carver. He observed, too, the famous St. Anthony Falls, the second white man to do so, so far as is known. Carver was a real explorer, not a fur seeker. He looked to the development of the country rather than its exploita- tion. He measured the fall of St. Anthony to ascertain its probable power, and he projected a ship canal from Lake Superior to the Mississippi. He was pleased at the fertility 34 Jonathan Carver. MINNESOTA UNDER ENGLISH RULE 35 of soil that could produce such a vari- ety of trees and — ' fruit. Moreover he moved among the Indians of all tribes tactfully, winning their friendship and learning their ways. Only one Indian rejected his offer of friendship, a Chippewa who said that the English were " no good." He followed the Mississippi as far as the St. Francis River, and the Minnesota as far as Big Stone Lake. During a winter the mildness of which caused him to declare that the cli- mate of Minnesota was much warmer than that of the New England States, he lived near Granite Falls in Indian fashion. Then he returned east and from there went to London. He found the English government glad to authorize him to publish the valuable information which he had gained. 36 MINNESOTA UNDER ENGLISH RULE The Carver grant. - — One of the most interesting accounts in his journal describes a grant of land which two Indian chiefs made in his favor, a triangular tract extending from the famous cave near what is now St. Paul, down the Mis- sissippi to the mouth of the Chippewa, to the headwaters of the latter stream, and westward to the Mississippi. His heirs have repeatedly tried to recover the land, but it seems to have been given to Carver by irresponsible In- dians, whose title was absolutely valueless. English furriers. — English trade followed the English flag, as it has always done. The Hudson's Bay, North- western, and Columbia fur companies pressed forward into Minnesota during the next quarter of a century. They built stations at the most advantageous points, including Grand Portage on the northern boundary of Minnesota, Sandy Lake (1794) on the upper Mississippi, Pembina on the Red River, Lake Traverse, Prairie du Chien on the upper Des Moines, Traverse des Sioux, and Lake Pepin. The traders were able to bring the Dakotas into an alliance with the British, against the Americans, in the Revolutionary War. In fact, long after the treaty which gave the colonies sovereignty over all the country as far west as the Mississippi, the British flag flew from these forts, and British ofhcers kept the friendship of the Indians. Transportation system. — Five great river routes into what we now call Minnesota were known by this time. First, there was the trail from the head of Lake Superior, or Fond du Lac, up the St. Louis River and over portages to the lakes of the upper Mississippi. Second, there was the Fox- Wisconsin-Mississippi River route, which also led into the Minnesota River, and by way of that stream to MINNESOTA UNDER ENGLISH RULE 37 ^:X '•^■'^'y:. :-^ /=^^'> ^*'--fc5f^; Ii "'"""""•.lilll'lf; ^£^^^- v&< Station of the Hudson's Bay Company. the extreme western part of the state. Third, there was the route of the Des Moines River, which rises in the extreme southern part of the state, and guides boatmen to the lower Mississippi. Fourth, there was the Red River route, by which the boatmen of Canada could reach Lake Traverse. Fifth, there was the great water passage of the present northern boundary of the state, leading by Grand Portage, nine miles long, to Lake Superior. By means of these routes, even though with extreme hardship, nearly every part of the state could be covered. For two centuries the wilderness sent its wealth to its masters, over these well-established highways. Hardships of the fur hunters. — What those hardships were it is impossible to picture in words. The hardy voyageurs, sons of Indian women and French traders, en- dured suffering with the stoicism of the woods and the persistence of the city. They paddled along with noise- less movements, when the stream ran deep and smooth. They shot swiftly over rapids, where the rocks lay hidden to destroy their canoes and sink their precious pelts, on a single false stroke, in the rushing water. They carried 38 MINNESOTA UNDER ENGLISH RULE their loads of provisions and furs around too dangerous rapids or falls, or they fought their way through bramble and swamp from the headwater of one river to the trickling creek that marked the beginning of another. Sometimes they had to close a beaver dam and wait until the water deepened above it sufficiently to float their canoes and their loads. Often a single canoe was manned by six boatmen, transporting more than six tons of furs. Sometimes, expert ■4 .-' i^ -••■ ■■■^. (•1,7. . ^- « .,.,'-' nS Pe:rre.\\. Canoe load of furs. as they were in woodcraft, they lost their way among the trees and wandered for days, the prey of mosquitoes by day and by night. If their provisions failed and the hunting proved unsuccessful, they were gnawed by terrible hunger pains. A portage. — ■ The toils of the portage are little appre- ciated even by modern campers who have sought to return to nature, and for their amusement have galled themselves with pack straps. These can at least guess what it meant to carry a man's load of two hundred and fifty pounds for MINNESOTA UNDER ENGLISH RULE 39 a half mile or more at a stretch. Often the path led through a close matting of brush, either over a rocky hillside where the slate tore their moccasins from their feet, or through :. Uj\^W^^ a morass half-leg deep - ' ^ in mud and water. Such a stretch was called a ''pause Sometimes a por- tage would be only one pause long, ^ :^f^v\l though generally from two to five ''^^^^:^^ pauses, and often fC?^\^ seventeen. Thus in - U,; carrying a good canoe load of furs and provi- sions from river to river, two or three days might be consumed. When we realize that after the English had gained control of the posts, these men made annual trips to the Pacific coast, pulling their canoes over the mountain passes, as portages, we stand abashed at the struggles that opened Minnesota to the world. SUMMARY Minnesota waterways became still better known. The fur trade reached its climax. Jonathan Carver explored the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers in 1766. 40 MINNESOTA UNDER ENGLISH RULE QUESTIONS 1. Describe Carver's journeys. 2. What is meant by the Carver grant? 3. Define: beaver dam; portage; carry; pause; voyageur. REFERENCES Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America in the Years iy66 and 1768. — Jonathan Carver. The Conquest of the Great Northwest. — Agnes Laut. Narrative of an Expedition Through the Upper Mississippi to Lake Itasca in 18 j2. — Henry R. Schoolcraft. CHAPTER IV FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION An American Minnesota. — Frenchmen had come and gone. Englishmen had come and gone. At least the English and the French governments had in turn ceased to control the great Northwest. To be sure the French voyageurs and traders, employed first by English and then by American companies, continued to take their canoe loads of furs from the Minnesota forests, as long as the fur trade lasted. The English captains continued to manage these men in the interests of the great Hudson's Bay and Northwestern companies. But with the treaty of Paris in 1783, the American government came into posses- sion of all the territory of the Northwest, as far as the Mis- sissippi River. Beyond was Louisiana, stretching from the Rainy River to the Gulf of Mexico, fronted by such pioneer settlements as Prairie du Chien, but really known only to the voyageurs. Ownership of this vast stretch of land and water could not be fully appreciated by people who lived in peace and comfort east of the Alleghenies. Even to-day the forest land of Minnesota and other states seems too savage, too stubborn to be subdued for the uses of a civilized society. So in the days that followed the War for Independence, the territory between the western boundary of New York and Pennsylvania and the Mississippi was commonly thought to be fit only for the half-barbarian boatmen of 41 42 FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION the fur companies. The government, however, was wiser than the people it represented. It drew up a plan called the Ordinance of 1787, by which the unwieldy empire might be developed. How the Ordinance of 1787 helped. — This plan, as IVIcIMaster says : " Provided that until five thousand free white men lived in the territory, the governing body should be a governor and three judges ; that when there were five thousand free white men in the territory they might elect The fort at Marietta. a legislature and send a delegate to Congress ; that slavery should not be permitted in the territory, but that fugitive slaves should be returned ; that the territory should in time be cut up into not more than five nor less than three states ; and that when the population of each division numbered sixty thousand, it should be admitted into the Union on the same footing as the original states." The passing of the ordinance aroused the brave and ambi- tious. The first settlers came from New England, under the leadership of Manasseh Cutler, to settle at Marietta, FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION 43 Ohio. Then followed the inevitable conflict with the In- dians. This so retarded the progress of the territory that little growth was possible until after the beginning of the nineteenth century. The vast majority of the dwellers in New England and New York who took up land in the Northwest were content with an ownership in name. Napoleon sells Louisiana. — A pecuHar combination of circumstances gave Americans control of all the territory that we call Minnesota. Napoleon Bonaparte determined to sell Louisiana to the United States. Jefferson, through his able ministers to France, Livingston and Monroe, was able to obtain this great territory for fifteen million dollars. In 1803, after fierce opposition from the Federalists, the act of purchase was signed. Thus the government came into possession of " The Great American Desert," as the geographers called the Northwest. Those who had not yet been able to appreciate the North- west Territory believed it to be a country capable of sup- porting only Indians and wild beasts. Little did they dream of the vast wealth that lay hidden in the new pur- chase. How could they guess that when a New York farm within easy reach of a city could be bought for fifty dollars an acre, a Minnesota farm two hundred miles from the Twin Cities would some day sell for seventy-five dollars an acre? Who would have suspected that an acre of that farm would produce its own value in grain in one year, and that the total value of wheat, barley, corn, and potatoes raised in Minnesota in a single season would be ten times the price paid for the whole of Louisiana? Only men of extraordinary vision could even suspect such wealth. Pike sent to secure American rights. — British traders were still flying their flags over the posts at which they 44 FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION were collecting furs from the Chippewas and Sioux. They were operating, not only within the new purchase, but also in eastern Minnesota, which for twenty years had belonged to the United States. To render the American title secure, an expedition under Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike was sent, in 1805, up the Mississippi River. The journal left us by Pike should be read by all who would learn of the real Minnesota. In it he says that he ',/' ll-nSL^ -^y^ y-^z^^^^ '^ ^^^ /^ ' i- ^ "*■' "laid out a small post" at Prairie du Chien or "Prairie of the dog." This had been a favorite resort of the Indians from time immemorial, and had been settled by the French in 1783. From this point, ac- companied by two interpreters whose names have found a place on the Minnesota map, Joseph Renville and Pierre Roseau, Pike and his company of soldiers sailed up the river. Pike says that the Indians came down to the river banks and saluted him with shot, as though to see how close they could get without hitting him ; and that he ordered his men to reply in kind. In this way he kept Chief Wabasha in a respectful mood, so that the chief was willing to receive him as a guest. Regaled on wild rye and venison, the expedition felt friendly to its host. Wabasha in turn was FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION 45 Zebulon Pike on Lake Pepin. delighted with gifts of tobacco, four knives, a half pound of vermilion, a quart of salt, and eight gallons of rum. Beautiful Lake Pepin won from Pike praise equal to that bestowed upon it by the earlier explorers. With " violins and other music playing," the men sailed up this lake, although a storm came up that sent their boats *' bow under." The leader stops to relate the story of Winona, who refused to marry a man whom she had not chosen. The maiden flung herself from the top of a steep 46 FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION bluff and perished on the rocks below, before her kindred could climb the hill to prevent the deed. Since then this high rock has been called the '' Maiden's Leap." Pike makes a treaty with the Indians. — Pike met and exchanged courtesies with Chief Red Wing. At Pig's Eye, below Dayton's Bluff in what is now St. Paul, he found an Indian encampment deserted by all but one of its men. .^^, Jean Faribault's house on the south shore of the Minnesota River. He observes that the women were taking advantage of the absence of their husbands to talk a great deal. A little farther on, three bears swam across the river ahead of the boats. At the mouth of the St. Peters (Minnesota) River, he found a large island, whereon Jean Faribault, a trader, helped him to make a treaty with Little Crow and a hundred and fifty braves. The island has since borne Pike's name. Opposite, on the south shore of the Minne- sota, is the stone house where Faribault afterwards lived. FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION 47 Terms of the treaty. — Under a bower made of sails, Pike with his interpreters, traders, and chiefs arranged for the transfer of land. This included a strip of nine miles on each side of the Mississippi above the Minnesota, and a similar strip above the junction of the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. He gave the Dakotas the right " to pass and repass " through the district in the natural course of their hunt- ing excursions. As he says, ^' 1,000,000 acres worth $200,000 was obtained for presents of the value of two hundred dollars, sixty gallons of rum, and a promise binding the Senate to pay two thousand dollars." Little Crow and an- other chief made their marks, in signature of the treaty. Pike at St. Anthony Falls. — On the way up to the Falls of St. Anthony, the party killed a deer and a raccoon. The falls were found to be sixteen and a half feet high, consisting of three terraces of rocks each a little more than five feet high. Pike wondered if he could cross above the falls, but he decided not to try. He encamped on an island, probably Nicollet Island. Chikf Little Ckovv, grandson of thk treaty maker. 48 FROM savagf:ry to civilization Raising the American flag. — From St. Anthony the expedition pushed on up to the Chippewa country. On October 4, Pike passed Crow Wing River and observed the remains of several canoes destroyed by Chippewas in a recent battle with the Dakotas. Again Pike went hunting and killed a buffalo, and a buck weighing one hundred and thirty-seven pounds. Near Swan River he made a little fort as a rendezvous for several parties of his men, who were despatched on various errands. He himself hastened to see Captain Dickson, and Grant, the agent in charge at Sandy Lake. Of the first, Pike says, " He is a gentleman of general commercial knowledge, and of open, frank manners." The British ofhcials declared that they were glad the United States government was going to try to keep peace in the territory. They said that they did not fly the British flag with any idea of denying the authority of the nation Pike represented. He found it easy to pledge Hugh McGillis, the chief director, to lower the flag, and to refrain from giving medals to the Indians. He visited Leech Lake, which he assumed was the source of the Mississippi. He induced the Chippewas to agree to a peace with the Sioux. Pike returns. — On the way back to the Falls of St. Anthony, Pike relates that he suffered the loss of his tents, moccasins, socks, and leggings, through fire which he re- joiced did not get near his three kegs of powder. With nothing more serious than this to contend with, he and his company reached St. Anthony Falls on April 10, having performed efficiently the task for which they had been chosen. Contributors to the Minnesota Historical So- ciety papers agree that in the loss of Pike, then a captain, at the battle of York in 1814, the United States lost a gallant FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION 49 Major Long at St. Anthony Falls. officer and a fine gentleman. Min- nesota is fortunate to be able to point to him as belonging to the story of her development. Major Long's journey. — Pike was followed in 1817, as far as St. Anthony Falls, by Major Stephen H. Long, who was sent out by the government to choose possible sites for posts. At Prairie du Chien, Long found sixteen dwell- ings. He built Fort Crawford on the Wisconsin River, then pushed on up the Mississippi. Near the foot of Lake Pepin he found a bluff well adapted for a post, and picked out the site for the post we now call Fort Snelling. Long's observations. — Long noted that the St. Croix River was the channel for intercourse between the British STORY OF MINN. 50 FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION traders of the Superior country and the Dakota Indians. He was interested in Carver's Cave and the Fountain Cave farther up the river. He examined carefully the Falls of St. Anthony, both as regards their beauty and their power. Finding Pike's measurement correct, he writes in his journal thus : ^' The banks on both sides of the river are one hundred feet high, decorated with trees and shrubbery of various kinds: the post oak, hickory, walnut, basswood, sugar tree, white birch, and the American box, also various ever- greens such as the pine, cedar, and juniper. Among the shrubbery are the prickly ash, gooseberry, black and red raspberry, chokecherry, grapevine, etc. There are also various kinds of herbage and flowers, among which are the wild parsley, rue, spikenard, etc., red and white roses, morning-glory, and various other handsome flowers." The lands above the falls also he carefully examined. An Indian tale. — Long was interested in the Indians and retells their stories interestingly, — the tale of Winona, for one ; the narrative of his guide, " the shooter from the pine tree," for another. He tells also of a woman whose husband, misled by his friends, took a second wife, but his first wife could not endure a rival in her wigwam. Paint- ing herself and her children, she went over the falls sing- ing her death song, and was crushed on the rocks. Major Long found Wabasha to be " one of the most honest and honorable, — who endeavors to inculcate into the minds of his people the principles adopted by himself." Sioux in the War of 1812. — The War of 181 2, besides robbing us of Captain Pike, troubled our frontier. The English enrolled many Indians in their forces, and thus aroused the demon of Indian hatred for the nation that FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION 51 was slowly pushing them back upon the great plains. Especially active was Captain Dickson, for he led the Sioux on the warpath. In the two years of fighting the Indians took part in several engagements against American posts, and possessed themselves of many American scalps. It was therefore to be expected that when the war closed, there would be a desire to confine the Minnesota Indians more closely within their native boundaries. Fort Shelling, founded in 18 19. Why Fort Snelling was built. — This desire was greatly stimulated by the Astor interests — the American Fur Company — which aspired to control the fur trade of the Northwest. To do this a guarantee was needed that the British companies would not continue to incite the Indians against it. The company also wanted to be sure that the Sioux and Chippewas would not waste their strength in warring upon each other, while they might be trapping and hunting for the London market. This guarantee could 52 FROM SAVAGERY TO CIVILIZATION best be in the form of a strong post on the upper Mississippi, garrisoned by regular soldiers. Thus we come to the found- ing of Fort Snelling, in 1 819. It was called Fort St. An- thony until 1824. SUMMARY The United States, having purchased Minnesota, sent men to explore it. Zebulon M. Pike ascended the Mississippi and made treaties with the Indians in 1805. Stephen H. Long surveyed a site for a fort in 1817. QUESTIONS 1. How did Minnesota come into the possession of the United States? 2. Why were eastern people slow to appreciate the value of Minnesota ? 3. What characteristics does Pike reveal? Long? REFERENCES History of the People of the United States. — John Bach McMaster. History of the Louisiana Purchase. — James Hosmer. Account of Expedition to Sources of the Mississippi Through the Western Parts of Louisiana in 1805-1807. — Zebulon Pike. Journal of a Voyage to the Falls of St. Anthony. — Stephen H. Long. Congressional Globe. History of Minnesota from the Earliest French Explorers to the Present Time, 1858. — Edward D. Neill. Early French Forts and Footprints of the Valley of the Upper Mis- sissippi: Occurrences in and about Snelling. — Edward D. Neill. CHAPTER V FORT SNELLING Building the fort. — It was Colonel Henry Leavenworth who led the troops from Prairie du Chien, or ^' the prairie," as it was affectionately called, in the fall of 1819. The men made a tem- porary camp on the Mendota side of the river. They suffered unspeakable torture from scurvy, caused by eating salt pork all the winter, and many died before spring. But when the men crossed the Minnesota to the great cliff upon which the fort now stands, and could raise some garden vegetables, they experienced great relief. This was about the first attempt to cultivate the forbidding plains of Minnesota. It was, however, so successful that Governor Lewis Cass, who visited the troops in the summer of 1820, was fed from the post garden. Colonel Josiah Snelling succeeded to the command that 53 The old stone tower at Fort Snelling. 54 FORT SNELLING same year. He pushed the building of the fortifications so energetically that the War Department later gave the post his name. The hexagonal tower and the round tower are still doing sentinel duty on the bluff, and the mark of the w^all that once connected them can still be seen. This wall ran along both the Minne- sota and Mississippi sides of the in- closure, and frowned upon all deeds inconsistent ^\^th the commander's idea of order and the dignity of the ^. f%''^ ^ '^Mm^4^. After the \: ' United States. Lumber and flour fort was completed a mill was constructed on the site of the present Pillsbury ,j*^|^r?[^ "A" mill in Miime apolis, then a part of the reservation. At first only lumber was sawed- there, from -^^^^, •;^ logs found at ^i?.l^ Rum River ''J^^ on the edo:e ^- — ^^^i ot the pme- ^-^- bearing dis- trict of ^Minnesota. A little later, however, flour was ground. It was in this mill that the children of the fort spent happy hours, especially after journeys to the straw- berry grounds about Lake Calhoun. Mrs. Charlotte Van Cleve records the order that was sent to St. Louis, the great outfitting place of the time : First flour mill at Minneapolis. FORT SNELLING 55 1 pair of burr millstones $250.00 337 pounds plaster of Paris 30.22 2 dozen sickles (for reaping wheat) .... 4.18 $284.40 A far reach it is from this sum to the value of the machinery of the smallest mill in ^linnesota to-day, and hardly pro- phetic of the great Flour City's annual product of 18,000,000 barrels. Is it not signihcant, however, that the twin industries, flour and lumber manu fa c t uring , that were to rule the northwest from Minne- apolis, were started to- gether in this govern- ment mill, in 1822 ? Indian warfare. — We have seen that the old fur companies had demanded that their agents exert the utmost effort to keep peace among the Indians. The authorities at Snelling, including the Indian Agent, Major Taliaferro,^ tried hard to prevent war between the Dakotas and Chip- pewas. They met with indifferent success. One day, shortly after solemn promises had been given on both sides, some Dakotas under Shakopee, or Little Six, fired into a lodge of Chippewas encamped under the very walls of the fort. Several persons were killed. In harmony * tol' i ver. Major Tauaferro. 56 FORT SMELLING with the tribal law, the agent gave the accused and self- confessed killers up to the Ghippewas to be punished as they saw fit. Mrs. Van Cleve, the daughter of an officer and the first white person born in Minnesota, has given us a graphic account of the unsuccessful attempt of Little Six and his men to escape in the terrible gantlet run, each falling a victim to Chippewa bullets. Life at Fort Snelling. — From Mrs. Van Cleve's Three Score Years and Ten we ob- tain other pictures of fort life more agreeable to civilized people. Ex- cursions were made over the plain for the fruit to which Long refers, especially the strawberries near Lake Calhoun, which the children ate under the protection of the miller's wife. The gathering for Sunday School, or for church when a missionary came to preach, the social affairs among the families of the officers, and the picturesque Indians coming to bring bulTalo meat for the soldiers, — all these varied a life that might have either been very dull or become very savage. Then, one May morning in 1823, the Indians encamped below the fort were alarmed, and the soldiers were cheered, by the arrival of the Virginian, the first steamboat to reach the upper Mississippi. Imagine how all ran, the Indians Mrs. Charlotte Van Cleve. FORT SNELLING 57 as far away as possible from the " devil canoe," the white men as eagerly as possible toward the landing. This was the signal for travel to start northward, and before the end of the month fifteen steamers had arrived, and nine were run- ning regularly. Eminent men of all classes, governors, senators, poets, , :: scientists, now began to visit this new summer resort and recrea- : tion ground. But although the fort was thus connected with the outside world during the summer, it was more widely separated from it in th( winter than the mere distance indi cates. It must be remembered also that in 1837 Dubuque was a village of three hundred people, Chicago but a lively town, Milwaukee an overgrown village, and that the capital of Wisconsin was Mineral Point. As there were no roads from Prairie du Chien, the mail at first came twice a year, and not oftener than twice a month until the forties, when the country began to be settled. It was brought by a carrier, usually an Indian, on a pony. Says Mrs. Van Cleve, " There is no record of his unfaithfulness." Besides the mail few things could be obtained at this little village. For pork, beans, candles, and other necessaries they had to send to St. Louis, and then wait patiently until the goods came by steamboat. Fortunately there was wood enough to keep them warm, and there was gen- erally game enough to eat; so there was no great suffer- ing to record. A PONY MAIL CARRIER. 58 FORT SNELLING Church life. — A mission among the Chippewas had been started by Rev. W. T. Boutwell in 1833, but the reli- gious Ufe of the state really began at Fort Snelling. In 1835 T. S. Williamson and Alexander Huggins, missionaries, organized a church of several officers and men. Henry H. Sibley joined and was made clerk. In the course of time this church, after meeting at the fort, at Lake Harriet, and even at Lake Minnetonka, became the First Presbyterian Church of Minneapolis. In 1839 Father Gear, of the Epis- copal Church, came to the fort as chaplain. Soon after- wards he began to hold services in St. Paul, and he had a Httle church erected in Mendota, the first Episcopal church in the state. Dred Scott. — While we are discussing Fort Snelling, it is well to be reminded that the whole nation was affected by an incident that occurred there. Doctor Emerson, the post surgeon, brought from Missouri a slave, Dred Scott by name, to wait upon him in his new home. In 1838 the doctor returned to Missouri with his slave and soon after died. Scott sued for his freedom, declaring that he had been taken into the Northwest Territory, which under the Ordinance of 1787 was forbidden to harbor slav- ery. His case went to the United States Supreme Court. Its decision, that a slave was property and not a person, aroused the friends of freedom to unite against what they conceived to be a conspiracy on the part of the great money power of the South, to spread slavery over all the Union. Major Taliaferro. — Before we leave this part of our story we should not forget the efforts of Major Taliaferro, who for more than twenty years honestly and tactfully filled the arduous position of Indian agent. He helped the Pond FORT SNELLING 59 brothers build their cabin on the shore of Loon Lake (later renamed Calhoun after the statesman), and he employed Gideon Pond to teach the Indians to plow. On the prairie, west of the Pond cabin, was a farm established by order of John H. Eaton, Secretary of War, and called Eaton- ville. Philander Prescott, Indian trader, who, having mar- ried a Sioux woman, had an unusual understanding of her people, was put in charge. The problem of teaching In- dians to farm is discussed elsewhere. It is sufficient to sug- gest here that, like the missionary work, it had results that do not appear in numbers. Gideon Pond, after the Lake Calhoun band had withdrawn from their village to a point south of the Minnesota River, went with the Indians and continued to instruct them in the practice of agriculture. 6o FORT SNELLING For his contribution to this work, and for the general effect of his upright character, Major Tahaferro is fondly remem- bered by the settlers who have referred to him. It is a matter of regret that he could not have lent assistance to the Indian service during the period that ended in rebellion and massacre. Government of Minnesota. — We must see how the territory so recently acquired was governed. We have learned that after the Revolutionary War all the district now divided into the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, including that part of Min- nesota east of the Mississippi, was known as the North- west Territory. The territory was repeatedly diminished, through the creation of several of the states first named. Michigan Territory, including all the rest of the district, was left, after 1834. Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota were known as Crawford County, the capital and out- fitting point of which was Prairie du Chien. In 1836 Wisconsin Territory was organized, and included eastern Minnesota. Western Minnesota was then called Clayton County, Iowa. Henry H. Sibley was justice of the peace in this county, his court at Mendota being two hundred and fifty miles distant from the county seat. Thus a person who perchance had been born in western Minnesota in the year 1783, would have been under the rule of Spain, France, the United States, Louisiana, Mis- souri, and Iowa, before he was an old man. Had he been born in eastern Minnesota in 1783, he would have been under the rule of France, England, and the United States, Michigan, and Wisconsin, before his threescore years and ten had been completed. So swiftly did political events move after the two long centuries of preparation. FORT SNELLING 6l The Pembina settlement. — During the time that the Mississippi country was being opened thus, what was going on in other parts of Minnesota? We are interested in the attempt of Lord Selkirk, a Scottish nobleman and stockholder in the great Hudson's Bay Company, to found a settlement in the Red River valley. He obtained a grant of land including the present site of Winnipeg, and extending as far south as the boundary line. He then Church and mission school at pembina. directed his agents to advertise the prospects of the country. They did so, proclaiming the climate to be mild, the herb- age luxuriant, and the soil fertile, producing " thirty-five and forty fold of corn (wheat), potatoes, vegetables, flax, hemp, tobacco," that " all kinds of fruit trees thrive in perfection," and that " European cattle, pigs, and sheep thrive well." Historians of the Pembina settlement have criticized these agents for their extravagant claims. Ex- cepting their statement about the possibilities of " all kinds of fruit," the Red River valley has much more than ful- filled these claims. 62 FORT SNELLING Toils of the immigrants. — The Scotch peasants had, however, neither the means nor the knowledge that has since worked the miracle of that valley. They were landed at York Factory on Hudson Bay in 1812. They were led on a terrible journey of four hundred miles by land and water, and immediately plunged into trouble with the North- western Fur Company. This concern was both jealous of Trappers dancing in camp. From an old picture. the Hudson's Bay influence and spiteful towards the de- velopment of the country, over which it wanted to hunt and trap. Its factors boldly declared that this '' country is not suitable for white settlement, and any attempt wdll be a failure, and will only result in driving away the bea- ver." The bois brule or '' charcoal-faced " trappers, like the old French voyageurs sons of Indian women and white fathers, were sent against the settlement, and after killing a governor and a score of men broke it up. Most of its FORT SNFLLING 63 pioneers migrated along the Rainy River valley into eastern Canada. The Swiss. — Selkirk would not give up. He sent more Scotchmen, and in 182 1 he persuaded many Swiss to leave their rocky homes to make their fortunes in the glorious west. These Swiss battled against flood and cold and poverty for a year. Then many migrated, through hos- tile Indian country, to Fort Snelling. The commandant allowed them to occupy land on the military reservation. As we shall see later, they formed the nucleus of the settle- ment which afterwards became St. Paul. The few settlers who remained in the Pembina country held the land in fee, for the great things that have come to pass in the most celebrated grain district of the world. Testing transportation facilities. — An interesting event connected with the colony at Pembina and Winnipeg was the transportation of seed. In May, 1820, two of Selkirk's agents purchased at Prairie du Chien two hundred bushels of wheat, one hundred bushels of oats, and thirty bushels of peas. This seed they loaded on three Mackinaw boats, flat-bottomed vessels built expressly for shallow water. On each side of these boats was a footboard, along which three men stood one behind the other, while pushing by a long pole thrust into the river bottom. Propelled in this way the boats moved up the Mississippi and the Minnesota to Big Stone Lake. They were dragged over land for a mile and a half, and launched in Lake Traverse, the source of the Red River. Along this stream they floated down to the settlement. As the men plied their poles they sang snatches of song, after the manner of the half-breed voyageurs. Thus fifty years before moonlight excursion parties played their dance tunes, these jolly 64 FORT SMELLING boatmen stirred the echoes in the big woods, where only the animals could hear. SUMMARY Fort Snelling, founded 1819-1820, was the center of western life as well as the refuge of the weak. It fathered the manufacture of lumber and flour. It attracted travelers and pleasure seekers. It defended the frontier against the Indians. It sheltered the Selkirk settlers, some of whom helped to found St. Paul. QUESTIONS 1. What were the "twin industries" born at Snelling? 2. What made Fort Snelling the capital of the Northwest? 3. What made Fort Snelling known to the nation at large? 4. Who was D red Scott ? Major TaHaferro ? Father Gear? Who were the Ponds? 5. Point out the changes in the government of Minnesota during a single generation. 6. In what respects was Lord Selkirk justified in settling the Red River country? REFERENCES History of Anoka County. — A. M. Goodrich. Two Volunteer Missionaries among the Dakotas. — Samuel W. Pond. Three Score Years and Ten. — Charlotte Ousconsin Van Cleve. History of the People of the United States. — John B. McMaster. Old Government Mills at the Falls of St. Anthony. — Edward Bromley, Minnesota Historical Society Papers^ Vol. 10. Early Days in the Red River Valley. — Mrs. Ann Adams, Minnesota* Historical Society Papers, Vol. j. CHAPTER VI SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION The Cass expedition. — The period of exploration was not closed with the coming of missionaries, the building of forts, and the erection of sawmills. Between 1820 and 1840 some of the men who contributed most towards the task of dis- closing the mystery of Minnesota did their work. The Cass ex- pedition was organized in 1820, for both com- mercial and scientific purposes. With Gov- ernor Cass were several men who had the latter end in view, including Henry R. Schoolcraft. The expedition set out from Detroit and ar- rived six weeks later at the American Fur Company's post at Fond du Lac. From there the party journeyed to Sandy Lake, whence they sought the Mississippi. The Governor decided that the source of the Mississippi River was the lake since named after him. STORY OF MINN. — 5 65 Henry R. Schoolcraft. 66 SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION Cass and the Indians. — Like Pike, Cass endeavored to bring about a lasting peace between the Chippewas and Dakotas. He invited some of the chiefs to attend a con- ference at Mendota. Descending the Mississippi with Major Taliaferro, on the first of August he met the In- dians of both tribes. It is said that through the efforts of Shakopee, who later lost his life while attempting to run the gantlet of Chippewa bullets, he was unable to fulfill his desire. From Mendota the party continued down the river, visiting the villages of chiefs Red Wing, Wabasha, and Little Crow. At Prairie du Chien they met Colonel Snelling, on his way to complete the fort. The expedition is interesting to us chiefly because it intro- duces us to the two men mentioned above, Governor Lewis Cass, who later became a notable figure in national politics and is referred to in Lowell's Biglow Papers, and School- craft, the chief authority for the legends of Longfellow's Hiawatha. Source of the Mississippi. — Early in the summer of 1832, Henry Schoolcraft landed at Fond du Lac with a doctor, an interpreter, Indian guides, and a small company of soldiers commanded by Lieutenant Allen, thirty men in all. He began a canoe-and-carry journey over the well- known route to Sandy Lake. From there he traced the g4:eat river from lake to lake, and finally to the body of water which he named Itasca. The name was made by him after he had asked the Rev. W. T. Boutwell the Latin for ^'true" and '"head." The latter replied, ''Veritas caput." By striking off the first syllable of the first word and the last syllable of the second, there was left ''Itasca." Thus the river which Carver believed flowed from Red Lake, which Pike thought issued from Leech Lake, and SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION 67 .-"'- J^J■^^ which Cass ^^ was certain rose in Cass Lake, was traced to its '^ true source,' which, even if the Latin ,^ was faulty, was well named. The scene on the lake at this time was worthy of a painter's best efforts, worthy of Keats, who sang of " ' stout Cortez .... SOent upon a peak in Darien.' " For, says the diary : *' The novelty kept every eye on the stretch, — they saw the deer drinking on the margin, the wild duck flying up, the whole party reflected in water. . . . French and Indian gazed also, — it was three hundred and five years 68 SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATIOxN after the mouth had been discovered by Narvaez, two hun- dred and nineteen after De Soto." Schoolcraft's journey. — The diary gives us opportu- nity to comprehend the hardships, as well as to appreciate the beauties of northern Minnesota. The terrible portage over the rocks around the falls of the St. Louis tired even the Indian carriers, used to taking two " pieces," or pack- ages of over a hundred pounds each, upon their backs ; for the soldiers it was dangerous. An Indian squaw car- ried her two hundred pounds for a mile without stopping to rest, while a soldier, who had lost the one keg of pork he had taken, was nursing the injuries caused by its falling upon him. When they were over the portage and had reached the head of the river, there was an even worse struggle through " mud and water half-leg deep," the difficulty of travel being " much increased by fallen trees and brush." Thus in eleven hours they covered only twenty miles. As they approached Sandy Lake, the diary complains of "swamp, mud, bog, windfalls, stagnant water " ; that there was " no dry spot to sit on, no water to drink" ; that they were " at the fag end of the world," and that the " dampness of the ground and the torment of the mos- quitoes is almost intolerable." They found cranberry vines holding flowers and green fruit, together with last year's berries, and they thought the berries good. On July 19, the night was so cold that " water froze on the bottom of the canoe the thickness of a veil." A furrier's fort. — Schoolcraft was much interested in the " fort " at Sandy Lake. He describes it as " a stockade one hundred feet square with bastions for muskets, made of pine pickets thirteen feet above the ground, pinned SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION 69 together." This wall had three gates. Inside were '' a provision store, workshop, warehouse, rooms for clerks, and accommodations for the other men. Four acres of ground for a garden inclosed in pickets " ran alongside the fort. Chippewa signals. — Another most interesting page of the diary describes the plan by which the Chippewas signaled each other. As the expedition was pushing its way through the woods, one of the guides left on a stake a drawing of men with and without hats ; of some with swords, of a man with a hammer, and another with a book ; a figure of a prairie hen and a tortoise, three smokes, eight muskets, three hacks on the pole. The whole reported that four- teen white men and two Indians had encamped on the spot. They had shot a prairie chicken and found a tortoise, and they were going north. Morrison's claim. — That Schoolcraft was the first to find the source of the Mississippi, Wil- liam Morrison, an Indian trader, denies. Morri- son asserts, in a letter to his brother, that in the fall of 1802 he left Grand Portage and wintered at Crow Wing. Later, traveling by way of Red Cedar Lake, the Mississippi, and Cass Lake, he had arrived at Elk Lake, which Schoolcraft called Itasca. He William Morrison. 70 SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION says that he noticed four small streams entering the lake, and he declares that he was the first white man to observe either these springs or the shores of the lake. Count Beltrami. — Schoolcraft was followed by two men, both of whom left their names in Minnesota, Count Beltrami and Joseph Nicollet. Of the first it is sufficient to say that he was a rather erratic, though brilliant man. He had gone with Major Long on his Minnesota River expedition as far as the Red River. Then he quarreled with Long and set off alone to explore the wild country to the east. He went unguided to Red Lake, thence to a small lake which he called Lake Julia and declared to be the source of both the Red and Mississippi rivers. For their very oddities and exaggera- tions his statements are interesting, and historian says, altogether valueless Nicollet's labor for Minnesota. — Of Joseph Nicollet it is difficult to speak adequately and yet briefly. No man who has ever come into the state has done more to serve it. With most scholarly pains he sought to present a true account of the geology and resources of Minnesota. He was willing to sacrifice comfort and even health, to brave the perils of as one '' not Joseph Nicollet. SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION 71 the wilds and endure the toils of the camper in a pathless country. It is most significant that when, in 1842, he felt that he had but a few months to live, he wanted to leave Washington, where he had taken up his abode after 1836, and die within the boundaries of the territory he had explored. Henry Sibley wrote of him : " The astronomer, the geologist, and the Christian gentleman. The Mississippi River, three fourths of a mile from Lake Itasca. Joseph Nicollet will long be remembered in connection with the history of the Northwest." What did he do? On July 26, 1836, accompanied by a French trader, he started to explore the upper Mississippi, carrying with him his scientific instruments. On reach- ing Lake Itasca he spent several days confirming the right of the lake to be called the true source of the great river. He discovered the little streams to which Morrison referred, without knowing that anyone had been there before him. Thus he earned the little honor he claimed. The next 72 SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION year he was commissioned by the government to investi- gate the resources of the Northwest. In company with John C. Fremont he ascended the Missouri to Fort Pierre, and then traveled eastward to Minnesota. It was at this time that Fremont gave the name of his wife, Jessie Benton, to a beautiful lake lying among the coteaux. These hills to Nicollet seemed " to roll away like the billows of a great green sea, majestic and limitless." Passing on, Nicollet explored the country drained by the Blue Earth River, and upon it he dwells with fond appre- ciation. He makes informing comment on the famous Castle Rock near what is now the village of that name, and the Chimney Rocks of the Vermilion River. Major Long on the Minnesota River. — During this period ■ the Minnesota River attracted several explorers who have left observations of their travels. In 1823 Major Long, the founder of Fort Crawford, led the first genuinely scientific expedition that explored the Minnesota River to its source. The party, guided by Joseph Renville, found a ready entrance into the tepees of the Dakotas and the log forts of the rival fur companies, the American and the Columbia. From Traverse des Sioux they went down the Red River. They spent several days in determining the exact boundary line between the United States and Canada, and then continued on to Winnipeg. Thence they crossed to the Lake of the Woods, and traveled by way of the Rainy River and Grand Portage to Fort William. The explorers succeeded in obtaining valuable geograph- ical and geological information concerning Minnesota, and they studied the plants and animals of the country. It must be remembered that the Minnesota of Long's day was as little known as the Antarctic Continent is to-day, SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION 73 and it was thought by conservative people to be as little worth all the danger and struggle of such an expedition. Hence to persevere in opening the state to the knowledge of the world was a task that we may easily value too little. Featherstonhaugh and Catlin. — Twelve years later Long was followed by two travelers, G. W. Featherstonhaugh, an Englishman employed by the United States depart- ment of topographical engineers, and George Catlin, the artist and student of Indian manners. The first made a geological survey of the Minnesota Valley and tried to find Le Sueur's copper mine ; but he decided that the story was a fable. Featherstonhaugh published two accounts of his travels. One was geological. The other, entitled Canoe Voyage up the Minnesota, contains some very inter- esting observations concerning the scenery and life along that beautiful river. Catlin, together with an Indian guide and a friend, made his journey on horseback. He followed Long's route to Traverse des Sioux, crossed the bend to the Big Cotton- wood, then proceeded across the western prairies until he reached the coteaux. Following these hills he arrived at the famous pipestone quarry mentioned in Longfellow's Hiawatha. From this sacred quarry the Indians of vari- ous tribes have for ages dug soft red stone, and of it have made their pipes. SUMMARY Scientists, after the establishment of order, studied Minnesota to good purpose. Cass ascended the Mississippi and made a treaty with the Indians, 1820. Schoolcraft discovered the source of the Mississippi in 1832. Nicollet made the first scientific map of Minnesota in 1836. 74 SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION Long traveled up the Minnesota and along the Verandrye trail in 1823. Featherstonhaugh and Catlin made observations of the Minnesota Valley in 1845. QUESTIONS 1 . Find the reference to Governor Cass in Lowell's Biglow Papers. 2. Show by the map that Lake Itasca is the true source of the Mississippi. 3. Of what use is the work of such men as Schoolcraft, Beltrami, Nicollet, and Long? REFERENCES Narrative of an Expedition, etc. — Henry R. Schoolcraft. Letter, to His Brother. — William Morrison. Minnesota in Three Centuries. — Warren Upham, CHAPTER VII MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS Missionaries to the Indians. — Reference has been made to attempts to Christianize the Indians. It will be remembered that Samuel W. and Gideon H. Pond, two young men from Connecticut, were as- sisted by Major Talia- ferro to build a cabin on Lake Calhoun, now within the limits of Minneapolis. This was in 1834. There they labored hard to lead their red brothers to think of more important things than war and feasting. In 1837 the Chippewas, by a subtle movement, killed a Dakota boy within hail of Cloudman's village, between lakes Calhoun and Harriet. The Dakotas then made a foray into Chip- pewa territory. Near the site of Anoka they took ninety 75 Rev. Samuel W. Pond. 76 MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS scalps, but afterwards were glad to put the Minnesota River between themselves and their foes. The Ponds separated later, Gideon going to Oak Grove, and Samuel to Shakopee. Rev. Jedediah D. Stevens con- ducted a school at Lake Harriet for a short time after this, however. At Kaposia, below St. Paul, Little Crow's village. Dr. Williamson labored until he joined Dr. Riggs at Lac qui Parle on the upper Minnesota River. Here both persisted in their work until the famous Dakota war in 1862. Among the Chippewas were W. T. Boutwell at Leech Lake and E. T. Ely at Sandy Lake. These were pioneers. Other mission stations were opened later. A correspondent of Henry H. Sibley, greatly interested in Minnesota missions, was Frederick Akers, who established himself at Yellow Lake in northern Wisconsin. Swiss mis- sionaries made a station at Red Wing's village and another at Wabasha's, and the Methodists built first at Kaposia and afterwards at Red Rock. The three last-mentioned stations were short lived. What the missionaries accomplished. — It is too much to say that these men, working as constantly as they did, could not touch the fierce Indian nature. In fact, some fifteen Indian churches resulted from their efforts. More- over, in the Indian war of 1862 the converts saved many whites from the resentment of their fellows. Not a few critics believe that if the government had treated the Indians differently and had given them their lands in sever- alty, the good work of the teachers, doctors, and ministers would have proved its efficiency to a still greater degree. It must be remembered also that the greedy trader and the dissolute adventurer made more havoc than a host of con- structive teachers could possibly have prevented. MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS 77 The great contribution of the missionaries, however, is the result of their observation of Indian customs and language. A perusal of their diaries and other writings puts before the reader the real Dakota or Chippewa, possessing, as Mr. Samuel Pond says, '^ as much human nature as the white man," being neither a savage nor a ■ <^M >^rft '* The old mill near Shakopee, built by Samuel Pond. poet, but a man, loving his own and hating his enemies, as mankind has always done. We are especially indebted to the Ponds, Williamson, and Riggs, for a carefully pre- pared dictionary of the Dakota language. The fur trade. — ■ While these men were striving to introduce the Indians to a better way of living, trade was. Dr. Eastman believes, breaking down their moral character. There will nevertheless always be great fascination in study 78 MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS of the life and conflicts of the traders who have left their names scattered over the state, — Faribault, Renville, Aitkin, Morrison, Prescott, Brown, Rice, and Sibley. To give an adequate idea of the fur trade in a short compass is as impossible as it is to suggest its picturesque- ness by words. How the French voyageurs discovered the great fur country and how they strove to keep the In- dian at work collecting beaver skins has been described. How the English came into possession of ^^^^q.-.^^ the forest home of ^^ ^^^ ^^^-^^^^^^^^^ Fort Dearborn in 1803, a typical fur-trading post. the beaver and tried to hold it for their home market has also been mentioned. It remains to view briefly some of the most striking features of the organized industry. First, there was the organization. Before the Ameri- can Revolution the Hudson's Bay Company, having incor- porated the French companies with itself, was supreme. But in 1783 the Northwestern Fur Company, financed by Montreal merchants, began a fierce contest to wrest the control from this great organization. The " Nor'westers," with the aid of the coiireurs de hois, established themselves firmly in the Rainy River valley and at Fond du Lac near our Duluth. They built a road thirty-six miles long, from the source of the Pigeon River to the source of the Rainy, with a strong fort at each end, one in American MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS 79 Fond du Lac of the early days. and one in Canadian territory. This road was called the '' Grand Portage," and the Canadian post Fort WiUiam. The American fort had a yard containing a hundred canoes, a house for officers and men, and a building for storage. A writer states that on a summer day he saw thirty-five canoes arrive at Fort WiUiam from Mackinac, each carrying from three to five tons of goods and each managed by eight voyageurs. The goods were provisions for the traders, and the trading stock with which to buy furs from the Indians. Soon after estabUshing itself, the Northwestern Company, as has been said, sent its voyageurs with these goods to the Columbia River for the coveted " packs." It is de- clared that the boatmen " passed with the regularity of steamboats," back and forth between the Columbia and the Fort Wilham post. The time to start came, " some one commenced a plaintive ditty, and the adventurers launched out for the western sea." At Fond du Lac, at the head of Lake Superior, another great post was estab- Hshed ; at Sandy Lake beyond the '' Grand Portage " on the St. Louis River, a third ; and at other portages on well- marked routes still other smaller " forts." 8o MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS Immense profits in furs. — The profits of the business almost stagger the imagination. A blanket brought ten skins ; a gun, twenty ; a pound of shot, one skin ; a pound of powder, two ; and a pint of rum, all the poor Indian could get together. In one season twelve thousand skins were collected at these prices. It is said that traders went west with less than two thousand dollars, and returned later with a profit of a quarter of a million. In 1792, furs to the value of $300,000, or 62,000 pounds, were transported over the Pigeon River and St. Louis River routes. After that the business decKned, for in 1832 the agent at Fond du Lac reported only $25,000. It is no wonder that Astor wanted the government to shut the Northwestern Fur Company out of Minnesota ! The Asters supreme. — Of the connection of William Astor, son of the first John Jacob Astor, with the fur busi- ness much has been written. He succeeded in buying the Northwestern company's posts, and, under the name of the American Fur Company, tried to exercise full con- trol of the trade. He had a rival in the Columbia Fur Company, organized by Joseph Renville and a man named McKenzie. This company operated posts at Lac qui Parle, Lake Traverse, Traverse des Sioux (near St. Peter), Men- dota, St. Croix Falls, and the upper Des Moines River. The American posts after 1820 were at Leech Lake, Chey- enne River, the mouth of the Chippewa, Red Lake, Devils Lake (North Dakota), Sandy Lake, and Fond du Lac. The building used by the agent at Fond du Lac is still shown to visitors. Ramsey Crooks was the first general director of the Astor interests. A rival company. — After 1834 Pierre Choteau and Com- pany Junior, of St. Louis, was a rival of the American MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS 8l Company and sent Henry jVI. Rice, afterwards United States Senator, to represent it in St. Paul. This company con- tinued in existence until 1859, or until, by the expiration of the Hudson's Bay Company's charter and the withdrawal of Astor, the business became scattered among individuals who were content with more moderate profits than had pleased the older organizations. Henry H. Sibley. — The most imposing of these barons of the wilderness was Henry H. Sibley. He became agent for the American Fur Company at Mendota in 1834, and reigned for a quarter of a century like another Warwick, over a kingdom a hun- dred miles square. He had a commanding per- sonality and a love of learning, qualities which gave him leadership over whites and Indians alike. He imported books into the wilderness, and sent them on still farther for the edification of his fellow traders. In one of his letters to Renville we read : " You will receive five volumes of the History of England, and the Biography of Napoleon." He observed the plants and animals of Min- nesota, its geological features, and its geography. Thus he was able to be the companion of the scholars who sought to give the world a comprehensive view of the newest west, STORY OF MINN. — 6 Henry H. Sibley. 82 MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS Captain Marryat the novelist, Schoolcraft, Nicollet, Bel- trami, and others. At the same time, judging from the bills of goods sent to Sibley by his employers, who were free to advise him that they would take pleasure in filling any of his orders, he kept the state of the country gentleman. He dressed in '•^**ii^ ;' ^«k-i#^ Henry Sibley's house at Mendota. Restored by the Daughters of THE American Revolution. Marseilles and velvet vests, and fine broadcloth coats. He served his guests from the best plate. He stamped the wax on his letters with a soUd gold seal, and he treasured in his stables thoroughbred horses and dogs. In 1838 David Aitkin wrote him, saying, " I should think from the price of fur caps you must be laying up considerable treasure." Sibley's house, which the Daughters of the American MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS 83 Revolution have restored and opened to visitors, was in its day the mansion of the west. In it Sibley, away from the workaday world of greasy half-breeds and packs of skins, entertained his guests in the manner of the gentle- man born, or read the world's classics. He carried on a correspondence that included in its personnel high officials of the government, who asked his opinion on matters of state. Famous men who had toasted their feet at his fire returned grateful acknowledgment therefor ; friends and associates of the wilderness asked his interest for legisla- tion in their behalf ; and missionaries and poor travelers besought little favors such as sending news of the outside world to their lonely posts, or transporting beef or boxes of goods across the river. So he lived, dispensing hospitality and favors like one of the southern plantation owners in the days before the war, and accumulating the riches of the forest, both for his company and for himself. Exploiting the Indians. — To present Minnesotans the correspondence of Sibley, in the library of the Minnesota Historical Society, reveals an exploitation of the Indians that our present-day code of morals would never permit. The Indians were practically allotted among the various traders, and were cajoled or starved into bringing beaver, bear, buffalo, or muskrat skins to the trading stations. There their names were always entered on the debit side of the ledger, so that as the American Fur Company, hav- ing got rid of troublesome competition, became richer and richer, the Indians became poorer and poorer. The Indians were selling their lands for a pittance, and seeing that pittance go into the hands of the traders, for real or fancied debts. In 1837 the Sioux sold their terri- tory east of the Mississippi, and the Chippewas theirs 84 MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS "^^ Chippewa Indians at home. along the St. Croix as far north as the Crow Wing River. Among other adroit provisions which allowed the traders to appropriate the money, was one apportioning $2co,ooo of the $500,000 received for the Sioux lands, to half-breeds and traders; as Folwell says, '' in nearly equal sums." This treaty, if it opened the country to settlement, made much trouble, too. In 1830 the Mdewakanton band of Sioux had ceded to their half-breed relatives a strip of land lifteen miles wide, bordering the west bank of Lake Pepin for thirty-two miles. Altogether seven hundred persons obtained certificates from the government, after the treaty of 1837, confirming their ownership of this land. But the certificates were made transferable, and soon were being used for money, in all kinds of transactions. '' Half- breed scrip," as the paper was called, became a term of MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS 85 scandal in later days, when by its use pine land was ob- tained, the pine cut off, and then, by the pretense of a mistake in location, other land obtained and the process repeated. Even as late as the iron ore discovery, a some- what similar plan was employed to obtain valuable land. CaUfornia land also was obtained by this " half-breed scrip." In fact it proved a fruitful source of crime, that could be covered by skillful legal manipulation. To make smooth the way, the eastern agents of the American Fur Company labored with Congress for this land project. Sibley gave expert advice and the prestige of his standing among the Indians, when called upon by his employers or associate traders to do so. He spent con- siderable time in Washington to further the project, which was closely connected with the conspiracy that took place in the fifties, a chief cause of the great Indian war of 1862. The sins of the fathers were visited upon the children, when Minnesota lost a thousand of her settlers in 1862, to the bullets of the Sioux. SUMMARY Missionaries and fur traders, with Sibley as their chief, made a great impression on Minnesota. Both missionaries and fur traders weakened the hold of the In- dians on the land. Missionaries prepared a band of friendly Indians who helped the whites in that rebellion. Fur traders, by their greed, fostered discontent, that broke out in the rebellion of 1862. QUESTIONS 1 . What could the Indians have taught the whites if they had tried as hard as the whites tried to teach them ? 2. Mention three hindrances to Christianizing the Indians. 86 MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS 3. What qualities of leadership did Henry H. Sibley possess? 4. Could the United States have prevented the decay of Indian character ? How ? REFERENCES Protestant Missions. — Stephen R. Riggs, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 6. Pathfinders of the West. — Agnes Laut. Henry Sibley — A Memoir. — J. Fletcher Williams, Minnesota His- torical Society Papers, Vol. 6. Letters. — Henry H. Sibley. Letter. — William Akers to Henry Sibley. Succession of Chiefs named Wabasha. — Charles Wilson, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 10. Minnesota, the North Star State. — Wm. W. Folwell. CHAPTER VIII RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY The Swiss driven out. — Prior to the treaty of 1837, there were less than three hundred whites and men of mixed blood within the borders of Minnesota, including the Swiss who had been allowed to settle on the reserva- tion. Just before the treaty the Swiss were expelled by Winter view of St. Paul in the early days. the authorities at Fort Snelling. The officers asserted that the reservation was needed for strictly miUtary purposes, and that the settlers were selling liquor illegally. Ac- cording to statements made by others, the officers of the 87 88 RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY RIVER SETTLEMIiNTS AND THE TERRITORY 89 fort coveted the land themselves, and determined to have no hindrance to their claim when the government should limit the reservation. Joseph R. Brown and Henry Sibley led in memorials to Congress to prevent the lands from being cleared of settlers. The Swiss help found St. Paul. — The Swiss refused to obey the order to move. Their cabins were broken up, therefore, and their goods were partly destroyed, although m. The log chapel of St. Paul, which gave the capital city its name. the commandant at the fort declared that he used no more violence than was necessary to enforce a government order. The settlers went down the river, some of them helping to found St. Paul, but the larger number continuing on into Indiana and Illinois. There at last, after fifteen years of hardship, during which they had traveled more than seven thousand miles, they found peace among some countrymen. Those who stayed in St. Paul settled near the cabin of Pierre Parrant, a man with a deformity on account of which the Indian mothers had given him the go RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY nickname of " Pig's Eye." Parrant's cabin was situated near Carver's Cave beneath the Indian Mounds. In 1839 thirty cabins were grouped about his cabin, and for years the settlement that later became St. Paul was known as Pig's Eye. The city still retains the title as a nickname. The name is applied in seriousness to the marsh along the river below the Indian Mounds. In 1842 Henry Jackson, afterwards a pioneer of Man- kato, opened on the river front a grocery store, before which the steamboats stopped. This, with the completion of the log chapel of St. Paul by Father Lucien Galtier in 1841, which gave the settlement its name, may be said to be the birth of the capital city. V. -^^ W3r What is left of the first sawmill at Marine, built in 1839. RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY 91 Franklin Steele lumber mill, built in 1848. Steele and Brown at St. Croix Falls. — Meanwhile the falls of the St. Croix, on the newly-ceded Indian land, had attracted Franklin Steele and " the veritable Joseph Brown," as Steele called him, when, expecting to be the pioneer, he found Brown already there trading with the Indians. The one was a provision dealer, the other had been a soldier at Fort Snelling, and later an Indian trader. Both began at once to cut the pine at various places about the falls. Others came, and the little town of Marine, named by them after a town in their Illinois home, was established in 1839 around the first sawmill. Dakota. — Brown's town site, Dakota, is more inter- esting. He chose a site opposite St. Croix Falls, and laid out a city which he expected would become a metropolis. In 1 84 1 he was elected representative to the territorial legislature of Wisconsin, and succeeded in having Dakota 92 RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY recognized as the seat of St. Croix County, organized from Crawford County. Two years later settlers from Maine surveyed the town of Stillwater, which afterwards included Brown's Dakota. Cutting the pine. — It was the great pine forest, be- lieved to be inexhaustible, that drew what a writer calls " the voracious Maine lumbermen " to the river valleys. Lumber was manufactured first on the Chippewa River, where a hundred thousand feet were cut in three months. In 1 84 1 Stillwater had twelve settlers, two years later twenty-five men and eight women. Its mill in 1844 cut the lumber that went into the St. Paul houses, and from it soon after was shipped the material that helped to make St. Anthony. Franklin Steele, after his first visit, went to St. Louis. There he formed a copartnership and shipped mill material to St. Croix Falls. He employed as mill- wright Calvin Tuttle, afterwards, like Steele, a pioneer of St. Anthony. Life on the St. Croix. — Life in the St. Croix Valley settlement was very difficult at first. In the year 1842 cold weather came early in the season. Conse- quently the provision steamer was delayed, By spring very little The Anson Northrup — one of the early BOATS. and starvation seemed imminent, food was left. With spring, however, joy came again. Then the boom gave way, and the logs swept down the river. This incident suggested the idea of rafting, which for half a century was a common practice on the St. Croix. RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY 93 A SOCIAL EVENING AT THE STILLWATER HOTEL, IN THE FORTIES. Whisky increased the dangers to which the pioneers were exposed. A Captain Samels compounded herbs and roots with whisky, and did much damage with his con- coction. As in most pioneer communities, shooting and stabbing were aU too common ; but there were pleasures, and there was real humor in the midst of hardship and sorrow. Anson Northrup's hotel at Stillwater was the scene of dancing parties attended by whole families, including the babies. While the babies sought sleep in some room set aside as a nursery, the elders danced, to music provided by a Frenchman who could play one tune very vigorously. 94 RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY Early in the morning the revelers picked out their respec- tive babies from the heap on the bed. The hotel was hos- pitable, for it allowed a man to sleep on the floor without charge, if he would keep the fire going and the dogs quiet. St. Anthony laid out. — Steele had built a cabin opposite St. Anthony Falls, but he was not allowed to occupy the land until 1847. Then the village of St. Anthony was born. First flour mill at Minneapolis. Like the settlers in the St. Croix Valley, the first residents of St. Anthony sought to enrich themselves by lumbering. Soon the pine woods of the Rum River resounded with a new music, the ring of Daniel Stanchfield's ax. Steele erected the first sawmill in St. Anthony. Others followed, making the village known as a lumber town. One of the wonders of the west at this time was the suspension bridge, the first of its kind, which Steele and his company had hung across RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY 95 The first suspension bridge at Minneapolis. the river. Over this bridge, on the payment of a five-cent toll, a traveler was permitted to cross to the great country stretching away to the west, the riches of which were only dreamed of by men of vision. Like Dakota, St. Anthony was merged into a greater unit, but it lived long enough to stamp its individuality upon the northwest. Other settlements. — The new country now began to be dotted with settlements. Mendota, by the erection of Father Ravoux's Roman Cathohc Church, in addition to the palatial home of Sibley, had attained more prominence than any other place in the territory we are discussing. It became the seat of the new Dakota County, after an unsuccessful attempt had been made to build a town on the site of the Indian village of Kaposia. Besides the settlements mentioned there were no others worthy to be dignified as towns, although there were small groups of people Hving near trading posts at Wabasha, at the foot of Lake Pepin, at Red Wing, and Kaposia. At Red Rock there were a few farmers. But there were thousands of people waiting outside the Indian country west of the Mississippi, as yet unceded, ready to burst into the district as soon as a more settled government could be established. Organizing the territory. — The story of the territory is too long to be told in full. The enabling act under which Wisconsin became a state defined the western boundary as the St. Croix River, and thus left a large section without 96 RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY any government, — a section that contained most of Minnesota's population. A memorial signed by' Joseph R. Brown, A. L. Larpenteur, Henry H. Sibley, Stephen Des- noyer, Joseph Rondo, William Aitkin, Edward Phalen, and others whose names are still well known, was presented to Congress. It set forth that five thousand people were living in a district containing valuable forests, excellent arable land, mineral treasures almost unequaled, facilities for mills and manufactories, and possessing an exceedingly healthful climate, — - a district capable of sustaining a dense population. It complained that these five thousand peo- ple had no government, and no security for their lives or property but those of mutual respect and understanding. Congress considered in 1846 a bill proposing to organize Minnesota Territory, but the bill did not progress very rapidly, owing to the opposition of several members who declared that it was drawn '' to create offices," and that not a tenth of the people who were said to dwell within the proposed boundaries really lived there. Senator Buckner of Kentucky declared that no one wanted to admit New Mexico and Arizona territories, and they had a hundred thousand people. In 1849 Sibley arrived in Washington as a delegate from Wisconsin Territory, and then the matter was pushed along faster. He declared that he was able to make use of a peculiar circumstance to influence votes. The Senate was Democratic ; the House, Whig. The Whigs had passed a bill concerning the management of public lands which the Senate cared httle about. Sibley's friends in Congress, and he had many, advised him to tell the Whigs that they must vote for the Minnesota territorial bill or the Senate would kill their pet measure. The plan was a success. RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY 97 On March 3, 1849, the bill creating Minnesota Territory was finally signed by the President. The territory named. — In the debate on the bill, among many amendments proposed, some to improve the status of the new territory, more to hinder its progress, those relat- ing to its name are especially interest- ing. Some one first proposed " Itasca." Then a member sug- gested '^ Chippewa." A man from the south, who said he did not like Indian names, declared for his beloved Jackson, and another believed that Washington should be honored in the northwest. But happily the characteristic Indian name, meaning " smoky water," survived all these assaults, and Minnesota it is. Area of the territory. — The new territory was of im- mense area. It was allowed to extend as far as the Mis- The " Traveler's Home," on the Red River. A Red River valley settlement. souri and White Earth rivers, the latter a small stream in what is now northwestern North Dakota. Thus besides STORY OF MINN. — 7 98 RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY what we call Minnesota, it contained two thirds of North Dakota, and more than half of South Dakota.- It is sig- nificant that the great plain to the west was so little known that the history of Minnesota is concerned with it only as far as the Red River valley settlement. To be near the waterways, where the lumber could easily be milled and where transportation could easily be carried on, was the idea that controlled the first pioneers. Besides the Selkirk colonists, whose bitter experiences in the Red River valley have been related, other settlers told terrible tales of want and of Indian victories. The first newspaper. — Nine days after the act was passed, a herald of future political news arrived in the person of James Goodhue, who with his pen and printing press hastened the flow of immigration into the new terri- tory. Goodhue started The Pioneer, a weekly paper of four pages, not very different from the weekly paper of to-day in appearance, except that the advertising columns were more closely set. But in the variety of the matter that it contained and in the tone of its discussions it was a superior newspaper. It printed, nearly every week, some poem that had been recently pubhshed in the east. For instance, one of the first issues contained America, the national anthem ; another the popular song Ben Bolt; and still another Bryant's poem entitled June. The paper published stories of considerable length, and interesting information of a varied character. When it is remembered that there were then no great syndicates handling such matter by the wholesale, but that everything had to be compiled in the local office, the enter- prise of the editor is evident. It is even more evident in the striking editorial articles, chiefly poUtical, that filled RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY 99 several columns, and in the careful attention paid to legis- lative news. In fact Goodhue apologizes in one issue for devoting '' so much of our space to the governor's mes- sage, that our usual variety of news and editorial is necessarily excluded." Booming St. Paul. — At the same time the paper was an enthusiastic advertiser of St. Paul. It declared : " In approaching St. Paul by passage up the river, after making a large bend around the Sioux Reservation on the western shore, at a distance of half a mile below St. Paul, the entire village breaks suddenly into view. ... A description of the village now would not answer a month hence, such is the rapidity of building. Piles of lumber and building material lie scattered everywhere in admirable confusion. We advise the settlers who are swarming in, to bring tents and bedding, as it is utterly impossible to hire a building in any part of the village." Goodhue also '' boomed " the neighboring towns, St. Anthony and Stillwater, advising prospective settlers of the immense advantages to be gained by the use of the water power, and by development of the resources of lum- ber and agriculture in the great country being opened to the pioneer. The jealousy that afterwards embittered the citizens of these towns had not at that time begun to show itself. An article as characteristic as any that could be obtained is the following : ^' Within the present week the citizens of St. Paul have erected in the lower square (Jackson and Third streets) a pump. Of course nothing could be more desirable, or more appropriate to the city. For what's a town without a ' town pump ' ? How will the stranger know when he lOO RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY arrives in our steepleless city unless it has the center marked with a pump? It is the place for placards, refer- ence for details of information upon all doubtful questions, — as when we say, ' Inquire of the town pump.' " It is small wonder that some enthusiast with a greater sense of gratitude than of poetry expressed his appre- ciation of the good work of The Pioneer in the following lines : "Thou mighty mover, Earth's brightest star We welcome thee to this land afar. Thou bringest light and joy in thy train, And we pray thee long with us remain And herald forth from year to year The Minnesota Pioneer ^ RTVRR SKTTLKMRNTS AND THE TERRITORY lOI Other leaders arrive. — By the end of 1849 more than six thousand persons had located in various sections. Alexander Ramsey, appointed governor of the territory, Gov. Alexander Ramsey. arrived from Pennsylvania, and like all other notable visi- tors to Minnesota, became the guest of Sibley. He floated down to St. Paul in a canoe and began to issue official proclamations. Three judicial districts were organized, and Judges Meeker, Goodrich, and Cooper immediately 102 RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY became busy holding court, the first-named in the old government mill on the reservation opposite St. Anthony. Seven council districts were ordered by another proclama- tion. An election was announced for August, to choose a representative to Congress, also to elect nine councilors to serve as an upper house, and eighteen representatives to serve as a lower house, in the territorial legislature. This legislature met in September. It divided the state into the following counties : Ramsey, Benton, Washington, Itasca, Wabasha, Wahnota, Mankato, and Pembina. Meanwhile Governor Ramsey had settled at St. Paul, which became the temporary capital of the state. Statistics of the territory. — The population in 1849 was a little short of the five thousand advertised. It was distributed as follows : St. Paul 2920 Mendota and Stillwater 637 Pembina 357 Sauk Rapids 330 Wabasha 30 Total 4274 One of the first things necessary for a government is to assess taxes according to the value of property. This simple statement by counties of the valuation of Minnesota property, in the year following the organization of the territory, is interesting : Ramsey (including St. Anthony) $500,000 Washington (including Stillwater) 225,000 Wabasha 33,ooo Dakota 31,000 Wahnota (including Sauk Rapids and Pembina) 36,000 Total $825,000 RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY 103 A table equally interesting is that recording the money appropriated by Congress for the district, during 1848-49 : Public buildings Library . . Penitentiary . Roads ... Indian treaty Salaries, etc. . 20,000 5,000 20,000 40,000 10,000 61,254 Total $156,254 Legislature in session. — The territorial legislature met in November of 1849, '^^ the " Central House," a hotel jIJ jU 111 illLfibfflH'^^^ 1 The " Central House," where the territorial legislature of 1849 held ITS session. that stood on Third Street near the corner of Cedar, in St. Paul. The assembly used the dining room ; the council, under the presidency of David Olmstead, an upper room. Thus what the place lacked in dignity was partly made up in convenience for the legislature. This legislature I04 RIVER SETTLEMFNTS AND THE TERRITORY St. Paul in the fifties. adopted the seal of the state, essentially as it is to-day, except for the motto, which was a Latin rendering of '' I wish to see what is beyond." It passed several bills, including one dividing the territory into three judicial districts and into the several counties named above. A bill provided for incorporating the Minnesota Histori- cal Society, and another, most important of all, intro- duced by Martin McLeod, established a system of free schools. Succeeding legislatures continued to guide the territory in the way of wisdom. The State University was organ- ized, and a two-story building was erected on the block of land now called Chute Square in Minneapolis. In 1854 the present campus was purchased. A state library was estab- lished. To distribute favors as equally as possible, the famous agreement between St. Paul, St. Anthony, and Stillwater, after a very natural struggle on the part of each of these towns to obtain the greatest center of interest as an aid to its growth, was ratified ; and so the university was given to St. Anthony, the capitol to St. Paul, and the RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY 105 penitentiary to Stillwater. By 1855 each of the rivals could indulge just pride in possessing an institution, for the " Central House " was deserted for a new forty- thousand dollar capitol, located on the site of the present " old capitol," and the prison began to loom into view. Prohibiting the liquor traffic. — One of the most inter- esting acts of these years was the prohibition bill, passed in 1852. It was acclaimed through the territory by the f ,;#^mii'P. II mm 1 ''Ik, "'^l- ! Hiif ■ iff, o~'i*r'" ^^wiiitii^)iiiiiiiiiiiiiii m ' m((ii ■-,; _n <;. II ■ f-T ''•■" ^>a - -1'^ The first state capitol of Minnesota. friends of temperance, who by a considerable majority ratified the action of the legislature. It was at this time that the great temperance reform wave was sweeping over the country. The settlers from Maine and others were anxious to stop the drinking by the Indians and half- breeds, and to rear their own children without a knowledge of intoxication. But the act was annulled because the court declared that Congress had given the lawmaking power to the legislature, and that since this act had been Io6 RIVER SETTLEMENTS AND THE TERRITORY submitted to the people it was not a legislative enact- ment. The legislature would not pass the bill. The people were enraged at the decision, and in many localities made attacks on saloons, breaking furniture, and empty- ing liquor into the streets. SUMMARY With the treaty of 1837 began the era of actual settlement : At St. Paul by evicted Swiss squatters and others. At Stillwater and St. Anthony by Maine lumbermen. At Mendota by churchmen and traders. At Lake Pepin by farmers and missionaries. Territorial government was established in 1849. Sibley, as delegate, was effective in securing it. Territorial government brought numbers of settlers into Minne- sota! QUESTIONS 1. Why were the various settlements made where they were? 2. What is the advantage of organizing a district into a territory? 3. Name some of the advantages to a village of possessing a public institution, — a penitentiary, a university, a capitol. REFERENCES Chapel of St. Paul. — Ambrose McNulty, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 12. History of St. Paul. — J. Fletcher Williams. History of Lumbering in the St. Croix Valley. — W. H. C. Folsom. Fifty Years in the Northwest. — W. H. C. Folsom. Story of Minneapolis. — E. Dudley Parsons. Pioneer Sketches. — Frank G. O'Brien. Minnesota Journalism, i84q-i86^. — Daniel Johnston, Minnesota Historical Papers, Vol. 12. Congressional Globe. The Pioneer (Files). — James Goodhue. CHAPTER IX SETTLERS AND SPECULATORS The first boom. — The new territory went through all the excitement of a so-called " boom," — a word that has come to have rather ominous meaning in the western part of the United States. Great opportunities, skillful and often rascally promoters, boundless faith in the possibil- ities, and too much faith in the promoters, led to excited drafts on credit. More than was dreamed about Minne- sota has been realized ; in fact her wealth to-day makes the advertisements of the early promoters seem inade- quate. If only a few people had been wise enough to know that the city or town is the result and not the cause of rural development, the people of Minnesota would have been saved the pangs of 1857. The story makes exciting reading. Town sites were exploited far out into the old Indian country. A typical example of this zeal is the group of towns planned in Kandiyohi County, on lakes southeast of the present village of Willmar. One was old Kandiyohi. This was platted with fifteen streets one way and nine the other, covering a district capable of containing two to three thousand buildings, to be used by ten thousand people. Columbia was another of the towns. It was platted by surveyors sent out by Joseph Brown, who had, as we have seen, dreamed of a city on the St. Croix. Besides these two, several other town sites were sur- 107 lo8 SETTLERS AND SPECULATORS veycd in the same district. But all the territory that afterwards became Kandiyohi and Meeker counties, at this time contained only two hundred houses and about a thousand inhabitants. On the upper Mississippi the proud metropolis of Watab, just north of St. Cloud, matched in prospects the glory of the prairie cities. Numerous other settlements were confidently expected to bloom before the grain had begun to flower. A scheme on paper. —~ The history of the Western Farm and Village Association is worthy of special notice. This association was organized in Ohio, to colonize somewhere in Minnesota, its members knew not where. Each member paid an initiation fee of five dollars and weekly dues of twelve and a half cents, for which he was to receive all the benefits of the association, including a periodical. The Advocate, giving information as to Minnesota, its pros- pects, and the progress of the organization. It was the plan of the association to take a block of land located by its agent, and after guaranteeing each member a quarter section, form a village at the center. Each member was to be allowed a four-acre lot in the village. The settlers could enjoy the benefits of stores, post office, blacksmith shop, school, and church, close at hand, with- out being crowded ; and at the same time be able easily to cultivate their land just outside the village. Each mem- ber was to claim his own land from the government ; but the association agreed that the choice of locations should be by lot. Altogether a hundred and fifty-two would-be pioneers joined the movement. Prospects for a successful colony, said The Advocate, were excellent. Locating the members. — Pioneer life always calls for personal initiative. The plan, accordingly, did not sue- SETTLERS AND SPECULATORS 109 ceed. To be sure the agent found the land, — - land now worth more than the most enthusiastic member dreamed that it would be, — near Wabasha. More than that, he brought his fellow farmers to Wabasha. Then the troubles began. Wabasha was at this time a tiny village, with bare accommodations for its own inhabitants. In fact, despite the almost boundless acreage around them, people were more densely clustered than they are in some New York tenements to-day. Imagine the confusion caused in Wabasha by the arrival of a hundred and fifty more lodgers ! The inevitable happened. The organization, with- out means, without the leadership that alone could have carried out its plans, dissolved, each man striking out for himself and his family. Some appropriated rickety Indian bark wikiups, out of which they made temporary cabins. As soon as a man provided shelter for his family he began to look for the best land to be obtained. When he had located his farm, he dug a hole about eight feet wide by twelve long, cov- ered it with branches, grass, and dirt, made a rude door, and there established his family until fortune should per- mit of a happier dwelling. These dugouts were for many years familiar sights, not only in Wabasha County, but over a large part of southern Minnesota. Prosperity in the settlements. — It must not be pre- sumed that Minnesota was either all air castle or all bar- barism during this period. The St. Croix Valley and the St. Paul-St. Anthony districts were prosperous settlements. In the former, lumbering had become a fixed industry, giv- ing constant employment to many men. Logs were being floated down to Stillwater and Marine. From the mills came thousands of feet of such boards as we shall never no SETTLERS AND SPECULATORS Log rafting. The first house in St. Anthony, now in Chute Park. SETTLERS AND SPECULATORS III see again. From them substantial houses and pubUc buildings were made. Of such boards the first house of St. Anthony, now in Chute Park, was constructed. Church organizations. — The missionaries did not work much among the whites at first. After the Indian treaty and the opening of the land to settlement, however, there was a call for regular pastors for the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Congregational churches, as well as Episcopal and CathoHc fathers. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions had sent Williamson and Riggs, Boutwell and Stevens into Minnesota, and was acting for both the Presbyterians and Congregationalists. The first churches of these denominations in the various towns were aided by a joint home-missionary board. Through their aid such organizations as the First Congre- gational Church of Minneapohs, and the Central Presby- terian of St. Paul were placed upon an enduring founda- tion. The Methodist Church made up in enthusiasm and careful supervision what it lacked in funds, and the Bap- tists were not far behind. Bishop Cretin arrived in St. Paul in 185 1, to superintend the work of the Roman CathoHc Church, so nobly begun by Fathers Gal tier and Ravoux ; and in 1856 he laid the cornerstone of the first cathedral. Then came Father Gear, closely followed by the Rev. L. Breck, who built a mission chapel in Park Place, St. Paul, one of the first Episcopal churches in the state. Before the state was organized in 1858 the church hfe of the people had become settled, and was represented outwardly by comfortable, if not imposing, buildings, in all the larger centers. Farming a success. — Farming, too, had proved itself. St. Paul enjoyed a profitable river commerce with the 112 SETTLERS AND SPECULATORS towns to the southward and with Stillwater, and was the outfitting point for the state. Besides, as the territorial capital, it had considerable trade and importance. St. Anthony had already begun to cross the river and was stealing upon Minneapolis, which later swallowed it. At St. Anthony the mills were sawing logs floated down Rum River, and grist was being ground for Hennepin County farmers. These farmers were encouraged by Colonel Stevens and his associates of the Agricultural Society to believe that wheat could be grown profitably on Minne- sota soil, and that cattle could be fattened on the grasses. Mr. Curtis H. Petitt, a merchant, wondered how he could get rid of numerous barrels of salt pork left over from a great shipment, most of which had been sold the first year after his arrival in the village of Minneapolis. Increase of newspapers. — Goodhue died before The Pioneer became a daily. This was in 1854. Meanwhile several other papers had been started. The Chronicle, Minnesotian, and Register and Democrat were published in St. Paul ; the Express, Northwestern Democrat, and Minnesota Republican in St. Anthony ; and others in Stillwater, Winona, and towns farther away. During the territorial period there were, all told, seventy-six weekly papers in Minnesota. In 1857 there were five dailies. The Pioneer, Democrat, Minnesotian, Times, and Press had been started in the capital, although by reason of the union of the first two of these, only four remained. In St. Anthony the Falls Evening News, and in Hastings The Ledger were being issued every day. One of the humorous incidents of the time was the pub- lication of the Watah Reveille. As one writer says, '' The paper never saw Watab." It was published in the Chron- SETTLERS AND SPECULATORS 113 idc ollftce and distributed to subscribers, some of whom were investors in the town site of Watab and perhaps never saw the place. Speculation troublesome. — Despite the solid foundation upon which the industry and hopes of the three leading settlements depended, the excitement of speculation made trouble. In 1848, when the land was first opened for settle- ment, speculators had been frightened by bludgeons in the 1 The Still water-St. Paul stagecoach. hands of actual settlers whose lands Sibley bid in for them. Stillwater emerged from the gloom of hard times and pre- pared to become a city by legitimate means. A stage, the first in Minnesota, made regular trips from Stillwater to St. Paul. It looked as though this metropolis of the St. Croix would become the great city of the territory. St. Paul developed sanely, and the village of St. Anthony pressed forward to take full advantage of its water power. STORY or MINN. 8 114 SETTLERS AND SPECULATORS Between 1850 and 1855 the population increased more than tenfold ; and the number of acres under cultivation increased from sixteen hundred to sixteen thousand. This wonderful development made the soundest business men venture into investments that their judgment under other circumstances must have scorned. SUMMARY Minnesota values became greatly inflated. Despite much solid improvement overspeculation brought trouble. QUESTIONS 1. What harm does land speculation do? 2. Why did Minnesota prosper despite speculation? 3. How are different forces of civilization — the press, the church, the school — affected by speculation ? REFERENCES History of Kandiyohi County. — Lawson and Mew, 1905. Personal Recollections of Minnesota. — John H. Stevens. Western Farm and Village Advocate. — Files in Minnesota Historical Society Library. History of Goodhue County. — Wood, Alley and Company. History of Lyon County. — Subscription. Beginnings of the Episcopal Church and Early Mission in Park Place. — Bishop M. N. Gilbert, in Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 6. St. Anthony Express {Files). Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. — Thomas Hughes, Minnesota Histori- cal Society Papers, Vol. 10. Minnesota. — Johnson's Encyclopaedia. Steamboating on the Minnesota River. — Thomas Hughes, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 10. CHAPTER X SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY Another Indian treaty. — Prior to 185 1 all settlement west of the Mississippi was in reality but squatting, on lands still nominally held by the various bands of Sioux Indians. In that year, however, definite steps to dispossess the natives of their hunting grounds were determined upon. The ruse was the same that has characterized so many of the dealings of our government with Indian tribes, namely an arrangement called a '' treaty." For the promised pay- ment of a sum of money and a reservation upon which there would be a school, the Indians were to surrender to the government all their rights ; and the land was to be opened to settlement. It has been recorded many times that our costly Indian wars have been due chiefly to such " treaties." As we shall see, Minnesota furnishes a most terrible example of our mistreatment of the tribes. Traverse des Sioux. — The United States government in 185 1 appointed Indian Commissioner Luke Lea, Gover- nor Ramsey, and others, to call a council of the Indians and make such a treaty as would guarantee abandonment by the Indians of all c'aim to Minnesota lands. The com- missioners, after much delay caused by the reluctance of the Indians to confer on what they realized could have but one result, finally gathered the three western bands, Sissetons, Wahpetons, and Yanktons, in June, at Traverse des Sioux. This famous ford in the Minnesota River is ten miles IIS ii6 SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY 117 west of the present city of St. Peter. The painting in the State Capitol building represents fairly well the scene of the gathering. After days of dehberation, during which the Indian chiefs, notably Red Iron and Sleepy Eye, strove to obtain the best possible terms, the treaty was signed. Then at Mendota the commissioners gathered the Wah- pekutes and Mdewakantons, led by Wabasha, Wacouta, Little Crow, Shakopee, and Cloudman, who made their marks on the paper. Thus the white man moved his boundary back another two hundred and fifty miles toward the Rockies. Terms of the treaty. — By the terms of the treaty the Indians ceded all their lands in the state of Iowa, and east of a line running from the Red River through Lake Traverse (see map), south to the northwest corner of Iowa. In return for this the United States agreed to give the Indians a reservation extending for ten miles from each bank of the Minnesota, and a hundred miles along that stream, starting at its source. In addition, the upper bands were to be paid $1,665,000 and the lower bands $1,410,000. The cost of this territory was twelve and a half cents an acre. The cash payments to the upper bands were to be $275,000, to the lower $220,000. After neces- sary improvements, including the erection of agency build- ings, and especially schools, had been provided, there would be a trust fund for the former of $1,360,000, and for the latter $1,160,000, to be made over to the Indians in annual payments. Power of the traders. — Then came trouble. It has been stated that the Indian fur hunters were kept in practical peonage to the traders. Always at settling time the red man was in arrears, and thus was induced to bring Il8 SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY in more furs. To be sure he was not guileless. Even if he had not had the constant temptation of the " fire water," which, as Missionary Gideon Pond says, sometimes kept him drunk '' for months together," and the persistent evil example of his white brother, he would have been more than human had he accepted all without resistance. The acts of the traders cannot be approved. They increased their influence over the Indians by marrying squaws, whom they often afterwards deserted. Thereby they pretended to understand Indian nature, and to represent the tribes in their deaHngs with the whites. The truth of the matter seems to be that there was money to be made out of the Indian, and each trader proposed to have his share of it. But for the time being they banded together, and ap- pointed one Hugh Tyler to present their claims. Ramsey pays the traders. — Governor Ramsey, acting commissioner, paid the cash which should have gone directly to the Indians, to Tyler, who made what was generally considered a fair division of the booty. Two men, however, rebelled and started an investigation. This finally resulted in Ramsey's vindication, by a special committee, of the charge of having a personal interest in the division. It must be acknowledged that Ramsey and Sibley, to whom Minnesota owes so much, were not free from blame in this improper division of Indian funds, if the testimony be fairly read. It is certainly well for their fame that they are not to be judged altogether by the sterner conscience regarding such matters, which governs society to-day. Entering the promised land. — For the time being, how- ever, there was only intermittent grumbhng on the part of the Indians, — grumbling which was lost in the wild SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY 119 enthusiasm of the citizens over the new opportunities opened up by the treaty. Editor Goodhue, in The Pioneer, expressed the sentiment when he declared that the treaty was " a pillar of fire lighting us into the promised land." The figure was apt, for the Mississippi River had been a very Jordan, holding back the invaders. To be sure the case of Canaan was reversed, in that civilization was sup- planting barbarism. But the land which had been coveted for two generations was stormed, its wilderness, stubborn sod, and inclement weather were overcome, and it was made to yield its fruit to men of all classes. Said the St. Anthony Express, in extending the hand of fellowship to the immigrants : " We have doctors, me- chanics, sawmills, and public houses. Are you a farmer? We have room for more. Are you a clergyman? Settle down. Are you a merchant ? Room for more. Or a physician? You are wanted. Or an attorney? Wait A FARM IN THE TIMBER COUNTRY. awhile. There will soon be room for more. The country is young and therefore energetic. It is moving on like I20 SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY a giant, fearlessly, bravely, bearing all with it, if not to wealth, certainly not to starvation." Settling the Minnesota Valley. — Naturally the Minne- sota Valley attracted most settlers. The broad river, lying, rather than flowing, between its steep cHffs, was a ready means of transportation, as well as a type of the placid country on both sides, a country that lost its woods or prairie flowers without rebellion. It needed only the faith and care of the pioneer to prove its ability to care for the white as it had never cared for the Indian. It needed only to be understood, to become one of the pro- viders of the world's bread and butter. Founding of Mankato and other towns. — The same Henry Jackson who had planted himself in the path of commerce at St. Paul was a leader in the development of this valley. In 1852 he moved to the great bend, near where Le Sueur more than a hundred and fifty years before had thought to mine copper. He located the village of Mankato, or Mahkahto as the Indians would have spelled it. A colony, organized in New York and numbering three hundred and fifty, estabHshed the town of Mapleton, some twelve miles farther south. A group of Welshmen occupied the township above the river to the westward. As a local historian says : " These colonists contended with wolves, stray Indians, mosquitoes, and wild nature herself, sorely tried both in the flesh and the spirit ; but held their claims undaunted." Steamboats on the Minnesota. — In 1853, according to a St. Paul newspaper, Mankato had twenty families, a hundred voters, a good hotel, and a score of other build- ings. In fact the valley settlements now demanded regu- lar steamboat service ; and their needs were met by the SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY 121 forty-nine arrivals during the year. One boat even pressed its way as far as the mouth of the Cottonwood River. The arrival of one of these boats was a great event. It brought the necessary provisions, for want of which many a family suffered what we should term real priva- tion. It brought also the news, for which the pioneers The steamboat "Henrietta" on the Minnesota River. This is of a later period, but a steamboat on the minnesota is a curiosity still. were, if anything, even more eager. To push on into a pathless wilderness was a feat only paralleled to-day by the polar or African explorers. No one knew whether the settler would survive the ordeal or not, and the friends at home in far-away New England and New York were more anxious than he. The mail bag was eagerly seized, and its contents were devoured by the crowd that had rushed to the landing at the first faint toot of the whistle, and had crowded close to watch the boat as it pushed its way little by little upstream. 122 SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY The papers, although they were sometimes nearly a month old, brought to the pioneers fresh news from the great outside world. They furnished subjects for soap- box discussions and disputes. Their editors were forceful writers who, like Goodhue of The Pioneer, took a keen personal interest in the development of events. Thus the debates begun by the editors were continued by these farmers, and merchants, and mechanics. No wonder they reckoned time by the arrival of the steamboat! Pioneer life. — The tale of the Minnesota Valley pio- neers is a continuation of the hardships, already described, of the first settlers of the territory. They had, however, to face difficulties peculiar to the prairie country. One pioneer records that on a day when he was walking toward his claim he stooped down for a drink of water. When he arose he had lost his bearings, and he wandered around for hours before he found a deserted shanty which he could occupy during the night. When a blizzard or a fire swept across this unoccupied prairie, over which for a road a mere path or trail was the best to be expected, it took cruel toll in suffering and death. To dig potatoes out of the rough sod at the rate of ten bushels a day, of which one bushel was wages ; and to raise wheat, which, after all the toil already spent upon it, had to be hauled from fifty to a hundred miles to a Mississippi River warehouse and then brought less than fifty cents a bushel, — these were tasks that only bold men and women could face coura- geously, year after year. To cheer them in their labors there were no such com- fortable homes as those dotting the prairies of Minnesota to-day. Instead there were overcrowded dugouts, some- times no larger than the holes in which the Farm and Vil- SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY 123 lage immigrants had first lodged. They were covered with hay, sod, dirt, or clumsy pieces of wood overlapping each other. The structures often admitted wind, snow, rain, flies, and mosquitoes. Within the woods the log cabin served very well, but the prairie was so attractive to the real farmer that he was willing to sacrifice comfort. The '' wood tick," on the other hand, was often content to live on the berries and other products of a timber country, A TYPICAL SOD HOUSE AND ITS INHABITANTS. clearing perhaps a very little of his land each year. In the end, the prairie man was more prosperous than the woods- man ; but at first the latter had the advantage. A great game country. — Whether on the prairie or in the woods, game was generally plentiful. In fact we read that " the air was full of meat." A pioneer who has lived continuously in the Lake Minnetonka district speaks with scorn of the accidental shooting of modern stalkers of deer ; 124 SETTLING rni: ixinvx country W ILU l.l.K. t\>r. says he, " Wc sat in our doorway of a morning and picked our o\ening meal on the hoof." Not onl}- deer, but lordly elk, and even butTaloes and bears were reaily at. hand to suppl}' the larders, and the air was thick with wild pigeons, ducks, and geese. A hunter of the period tells an amusing storv of bai^ijjinix, at one shot, fourteen 2ft?ese which his wife would not dress, because she believed they must have been sick. The delicious game certainly compensated greatly for the lack of comforts deemed indispensable in our homes ; although there were barren times when even the animals and birds seemed to have fled the land, leaving it swept by fire, a blackened waste, or swept by blizzard, a desert of dazzling white. It was at such times that the faith of the pioneer was most sorel\' tried. Increase of population. — Thus the march of the white man continued until the six thousand people of 1S50 had Sh'ITLIXC. THE IM>»IA\ COL.VJKY I 2 increased U; nearly seventy Lhou.^and in 1855. Nearly all of the Minnes<^>ta Valley counties had l^een or^anizerl by that time, and the Mississij^fii Valley as far as the Crow Win^^ River was dotted with such settlennents as Elk River, ^\ Anoka, and Watab. \ A pioneer relates that ^ he trxjk the stage at St. Paul one morning at four o'clock, and reached Watab at about midnight the same day. Then began the immigration of the Germans and Nor- wegians, chiefly the former, who came nearly fifty thousand strong within the next few years. They scattered out 126 SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY over the Indian country, as far north as a line running straight west of MinneapoHs, and as far west a^ a Hne run- ning south from Willmar. Some even went north and some west of these Hnes. Parallel to the Farm and Vil- lage Association settlers were the German cooperative societies. The latter were more conservative in their plans. They made New Ulm their headquarters, and soon spread out over Brown and adjacent counties. Here can be found to-day the descendants of those stalwart men and women. They are reaping the reward of their parents' hardihood and faith, for their farms bring forth nearly everything that the temperate zone can produce. The luxuriant plum and apple trees often hide the houses ! Results of the boom. — The vast expansion of credit that the country had been enjoying for ten years could not continue. What that cost was is told too well in the reminiscences of countless pioneers, to make it necessary to repeat here more than a few instances. Land between St. Paul and St. Anthony was sold at from two hundred to four hundred dollars an acre ; at the latter figure it could be bought as late as 1880. To be sure, within a radius of three miles from either of these towns an acre could be purchased in 1857 for ten dollars, but even this was high when we consider that homesteads were obtain- able within that distance at a dollar and a quarter an acre. Says a writer : " Fortunes were made in months and weeks, and sometimes in days. People thought of nothing but business. It would seem that the higher things which had received so much attention a few years before were for the time neglected. Honest people forgot their repu- tations and entered into speculation and fraud." People cannot go on borrowing from one to pay another, SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY 127 nor can cities on paper flourish for long. When investors overreach, when their families overbuy, then conservative folk begin to draw back, bankers hesitate, and money sud- denly slinks into hiding places. When the investor needs the money he cannot find it, and he fails. Failure of 1857. — So it was in 1857. The great Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, a concern in whose business thousands of people in the United States were involved, suddenly suspended payment, on August 24, with liabilities of $70,000,000 which it could not meet. The blow hit hard. In October New York banks followed the Ohio institution, and the chief western railways — the Illinois Central, New York and Erie, and Michigan Cen- tral — were badly crippled. The only help at such a time would have been a currency depending upon something more substantial than the assets of boom banks. As it was, paper money was almost rejected, and gold and silver coins were scarce. The panic hit St. Paul in October, and its banks were forced to suspend payment. Interest rates rose from three per cent to five per cent a month. An interesting story is told of a St. Anthony man who went to a bank to borrow one hundred dollars for a year, but received only forty dollars, the interest having been subtracted in advance. He looked at the money for a moment, then remarked, " If I had borrowed two hundred dollars I would certainly be owing you something, wouldn't I? " On October 8, the St. Anthony Falls News said : " We judge things are more quiet, as we met a man on the street to-day who had half a dollar in cash, all in twenty-five cent pieces. We heard of another eccentric genius who paid his note when it became due." 128 SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY- Digging ginseng. — To make matters worse the crops failed, so that farmers were reduced to dire extremities. Some had to rob the cattle and horses of their feed, in order to keep the children alive. In Hennepin, and in other counties, the settlers left agriculture to dig ginseng, a root much in demand among the Chinese. It was not unusual to see men and boys, and even women and girls at work with spade and hoe, obtaining their livelihood much as the Indians had been wont to do. One old settler declares that "saved by ginseng" would have been a fitting sign to have had placed over many a farmer's door, during that winter of 185 7-1 858. Yet despite over-inflation, despite the lack of money to buy bread, despite the failure of crops, IMinnesota's faith did not falter. In the midst of the storm her people were calmly petitioning Congress for her admission to the Union as a state. SUMMARY The treaty of Traverse des Sioux made the settlement of the Min- nesota \^alley possible, for it opened millions of acres of rich land. The settlement was very rapid. The country was exploited rather than developed. The panic of 1857 was the natural result. QUESTIONS 1 . What does Traverse des Sioux mean ? What did the treaty mean to Minnesota ? 2. Why should the Minnesota Valley have attracted settlers espe- cially? Show the value of a river to a country, illustrating your points by the INIinnesota River. 3. What is ginseng ? How do the Chinese use it ? Is there any ginseng in Minnesota now ? SETTLING THE INDIAN COUNTRY 129 REFERENCES History of the Minnesota Valley. — E. D. Neill and C. E. Bryant. A Half Century of Minnesota. — Horace Hudson. Story of Minneapolis. — E. Dudley Parsons. Evidence in the Ramsey Investigation. — By Congressional Commission. St. Anthony Express {Files). STORY OF MINN. CHAPTER XI THE YOUNG STATE A progressive country. — The boom of the fifties brought the population of Minnesota up to a mark that put state- hood within easy grasp. Besides the mere fact of numbers, and despite the calamity of the boom and the consequent panic, there had been a continuous development in the sections of the state where this was possible. To be sure the great forest area was known only to the fur traders and the lumbermen ; but there was territory for a good- sized state between the Iowa line and a line running directly west from St. Cloud. This was fairly well organized, with county governments and bustling towns, with steamboat and stage lines con- necting them. A good system of education was provided for, and the culture of the east was already transforming the pioneer into the successful business man. Constitutional convention. — It was decided that Con- gress should be asked to honor Minnesota with statehood. An act authorizing the voters to form a constitution was passed by Congress on February 26, 1857, ^^^ ^ dele- gates' convention was held for that purpose at St. Paul on the first Monday in June. To control the convention, the Repubhcans went to the capitol on Sunday night; the Democrats appeared at noon on the appointed day. Two chairmen, one chosen by each party, attempted to call the convention to order. Then the Democrats left the hall, 130 THE YOUNG STATE 13 1 and there were two conventions, each drafting a constitu- tion modeled on those of the states already formed out of the Northwest Territory. Upon the refusal of the Democratic treasurer to pay the RepubUcan delegates, these sought the advice of their Democratic friends, with the result that a conference was arranged. A peace between the factions was patched up, and the constitution was agreed to by both Democrats and Republicans on August 28. The voters ratified the action of the convention at a special election on October 13. Congress discusses Minnesota. — Congress did not accept Minnesota as a member of the family without some grudging. Slavery was the supreme issue. Although the free states of the north were glad to receive Senators and Repre- sentatives from Minnesota to help them fight their battle, their opponents south of Mason and Dixon's line were equally determined to prevent such representation if possible. The debate over the right of Minnesota to seat her men in the national capitol lasted from February first to May eleventh, 1858. The Southerners argued per- sistently that the "inchoate state" had, through her legis- lature, " passed laws for two months " before she knew whether she would become a state or not. She had in addition elected three Representatives on false census re- turns, without knowing whether she was entitled to any, and she had violated her enabhng act. Finally her repre- sentation was fixed at two, until the new apportionment should determine how many she was entitled to. The bill went through both houses, and on May 1 1 was signed by President Buchanan. The first Senators were James Shields and Henry M. Rice ; the Representatives, J. N. Cavanaugh and W. W. Phelps. Henry H. Sibley was the first governor. 132 THE YOUNG STATE Minnesota develops rapidly. — Thus Minnesota was received into the sisterhood of states. Despite' panic and the hardships that the immigrants had to endure, the new state moved forward in population, in productions, and in general improvements. The new settlers were of the best stock, thrifty, industrious, foresighted, anxious to win the immediate results necessary to provide comfort for their famihes, desirous to see their children have benefits which mr - -nJi «» 1 1 ^I^^^^^E^^K Jf^X H t ^,^~-— ^ 1 - _ ■ ■:"™" ^:w 1 1 iiimwiir^ M»T f'* Mil w^^y^mimf^ ■^•"— ^^ 3 A FAMILY OF THE "FIFTIES." ThE PICTURE SHOWS TYPICAL COSTUMES OF THE PERIOD. they could not enjoy. Moreover, they were of the firm caliber that sustains character in the midst of temptation. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Germany had for gen- erations been preparing the stock that Minnesota needed ; and now they sent their best, to become the fathers and mothers of a new race. Maine and New York and Michi- gan had already contributed pioneers interested in educa- tion and religion, and possessing Yankee shrewdness from THE YOUNG STATE 133 which the state has profited. The sturdy, conservative, hard-working German, the energetic, progressive Scandi- navian, and the alert, leading Yankee, — these working side by side, after 1850, laid the foundations of wealth and opportunity which Minnesota offers to her sons, as well as to the immigrant of to-day. State statistics. — Minnesota had been increasing in population and encouraging her people to develop her resources. The census of i860 gave her 172,023 inhabit- ants, and during the time that these were being counted 25,000 more entered the state. Land to the extent of 3,500,000 acres was being farmed, and the production of wheat had passed the 5,000,000 bushel mark, while of corn, oats, and potatoes, more than 2,000,000 of bushels each were being produced annually. The value of the surplus products in i860 was about $4,000,000, of which lumber amounted to somewhat more than $600,000, furs about $200,000, and ginseng $70,000, besides the grain not needed at home, in round numbers a total value of $3,000,000. The assessed valuation, according to the census, was $36,375,000 ; this in a state that comprised only about a ninth part of the territory purchased a half century before for $15,000,000, and within twenty years supposed to be worthless for little except furs. Improved transportation. — It became evident to farmer and merchant alike that the means of transportation must be improved. The voyageur was gone ; his work was being done by the " fire canoes " that shoved their noses into every navigable stream. But at best the steam- boats were uncertain. Not only were the channels always changing and the water level alternating between flood and shoal, but as early as October the captains were fearful 134 THE YOUNG STATE lest they be frozen in before they could unload their goods and hasten south. To be sure their fear was groundless, since the winter then, as now, seldom set in until late in December. But most of them were southerners who sup- posed that Minnesota was Arctic in climate. Carts and dog trains. — To be sure, other means of trans- port had been devised. For instance, there was the famous Red River cart. It was built without a piece of iron, with two wheels, and a box fitted to hold about seven hundred pounds of pemmican or furs. Between the shafts trudged an ox, to the accompaniment of an awful wail of agony Red River oxcarts. emitted by the ungreased wheels. These carts had first appeared in St. Paul in 1840, and they continued to camp regularly a mile east of the present Lexington Park, until the stages began to run. Dog trains very similar to those now used in the far north were also familiar in the capital during the first years of settlement. But neither dog, nor ox, nor steamer, nor all three could long satisfy the conditions. The stagecoach. — The stage system was then estab- lished. To those who are astonished at the extent of com- merce carried on by the still cruder means just discussed, it seems really marvelous that the stage system could have been developed so extensively in so short a time. Long THE YOUNG STATE 135 before Minnesota had been admitted as a state, points as distant from St. Paul as Duluth, Pembina, and Prairie du Chien were being reached by stages. They are described by Ramsey in a message to the legislature as " comfortable as any in the older states," and making the journey to Selkirk, " which three years ago occupied a month, in ten days." The blue and the red. — A writer in the Minnesota His- torical Society collections says that seven hundred drivers and two thousand horses were employed by the largest cor- poration, the Minnesota Stage Company. He describes the picturesque manner in which, before their combina- tion, two rival concerns, one driving blue and one red stages, used to contend for the St. Paul-St. Anthony pat- ronage. Leaving St. Paul the road led past the Red River cart camping grounds on Dale Street, past what is now Lexington Park, and along St. Anthony Avenue or the Territorial Road, to the river, thence along the river to the present State University grounds. Here, on the site of the " old Main," was the Cheever Tower, a square struc- ture bearing the sign, '' Pay a dime and climb." The passengers would alight and obey the injunction, thus procuring a fine view of the river and the country beyond. Meanwhile the horses were drinking at a great trough hard by. When all had remounted, with a flourish, the stage, red or blue, continued on the last lap of its journey. Other routes. — Another interesting route was that to Superior, through the village of Wyoming. Along the route one can still see the old dormer-windowed houses. The little village of Sunrise, one of the towns platted with enthusiasm and for years expected by its inhabitants to be connected with the outer world by a railroad, is now 136 THE YOUNG STATE sleeping away until its fields shall once more reclaim what the speculator snatched from them. Stages traveled down the Minnesota Valley past Man- kato and went westward to old Kandiyohi. They reached the proud town of Watab above Sauk Rapids. Reference has been made to a pioneer who tells of leaving St. Paul at four o'clock and of arriving at Watab at midnight. Although he says that he reached his destination tired, hungry, and sleepy, he doubts whether he should enjoy the quick three-hour journey by rail quite as much as he did the twenty-hour trip that revealed so much of Minne- sota b\' the way. Demand for railroads. — But there was much anxiety, on the part of the people of the undeveloped sections of Minnesota, to obtain the conveniences of the older settled portions of the country. By 1850 the railroad was already taken as a matter of course, although it was but ten years old. In that year the railroad reached Elgin, Illinois. Thence by stage the traveler in a day and a half reached Galena, the Chicago of the time, and four days later he arrived by steamer at St. Paul. Crude as was the railway equipment compared to that of our day, and uncertain as was its run- ning schedule, still it was more comfortable and more regular than a jerky stage pulled over terrible roads, or a steamboat that had to feel its way through a shifting river channel. Moreover, the farmers fifty miles back from the waterways were calling for means b\' which they could market their grain without being from three to five days on the road. Accordingly, between 1849 ^^^ '^^S^^ ^^^ territorial legislature chartered no fewer than twenty-seven railroad companies. Congress gave immense tracts of land to TiiK vouNCi statp: 137 regularly organized companies, and the territory prepared to add to these tracts a large portion of the land set aside by Congress f(jr the benefit of the state, as soon as it should gain admission to the Union. But the hard times occa- sioned by the panic, and the delay in admission of the state, hindered action until 1858. Trouble over the grants. — The story of the grants has been told in pamphlet, state report, governor's message, and by several historians, so that only an outline is neces- sary here. To begin with, ten sections of land for each mile of railroad were allowed by Act of Congress and the territorial legislature, on March third and May twenty- second, 1857, respectively. In 1858 the state guaranteed to four companies not only this land, but its credit. One hundred thousand dollars' worth of state bonds drawing seven per cent interest were to be issued by each company as soon as it had graded ten miles of road, and another hundred thousand dollars' worth when it had completed another ten-mile strip. These companies were : The Minnesota and Pacific, to build from Stillwater to Breckenridge and from St. Anthony to St. Vincent ; the Transit, to run from Winona through St. Peter to the western boundary ; the Root River and Southern Minnesota, to connect La Crescent with Rochester, St. Paul, St. Anthony, and Mankato ; and the Minneapolis and Cedar Valley, to join Minneapolis with Mendota, Faribault, and Iowa points. Everyone was enthusiastic over the prospect of obtaining a fme sys- tem of transportation. The farmers were so eager to see the work started that they boarded the graders free of charge. The companies fail. - Then came discouragement. All the companies defaulted before they had laid a mile of 138 THE YOUNG STATE iron. It was whispered about that the people, having offered their hospitahty to the financiers so freely, would have to pay the amounts of the bonds. The inhabitants declared that they would never pay. Work stopped and heaps of sand here and there marred the landscape, with never a rail to bear the trains which had been awaited so confidently. It seemed as if the steamboat and the stage must after all be the only means of transportation. Indignation of the people. — The railroad question for Minnesota now overbalanced every other problem. Indig- nation meetings were held, and plans were devised to guar- antee justice to everyone involved. It was evident, as Ramsey said later, that the state had made a great mistake in entering upon these railway enterprises. To quote his words, ".The conditional loan of the state credit . . . and the futile results of a scheme from which so much was promised, have satisfied the most enthusiastic, of the imprudence at all times of loaning state credit to private corporations." A beginning finally made. — In i860 Governor Ramsey declared the grants and privileges of the companies forfeited, and despite a court order offered them for sale. The state bid them in for one thousand dollars, and found itself with a few miles of grade and a heavy obligation of bonds. It offered the grants and charters to " certain persons," — who were really the original owners under new names. In 1862 the Minnesota and Pacific became the St. Paul and Pacific, and with the celebrated engine Wm. Crooks, that now stands in the Great Northern roundhouse in St. Paul, hauled the first train to St. Anthony, amid the shouts of happy people. A beginning made, further progress was possible. " Certain parties " became holders of the other THE YOUNG STATE 139 lines, which they had already stripped once. They were aided by the generous grants of the communities that were willing to give money to carry the roads a Uttle farther. So we find records of other companies that, without promis- ing to reach the Pacific or even to run to Canada, began to serve the state. Even during the anxieties of the Civil War, the state The locomotive "Wm. Crooks," now in St. Paul. was being covered with railroads. In 1863 the St. Paul and Pacific reached Elk River, the Winona and St. Peter, Utica. In 1864 the former road had gone thirteen miles farther north, and the latter twenty miles farther west. The Milwaukee and St. Paul, operating on a part of the St. Paul and Pacific grant, had built ten miles southward from St. Paul. Consequently, in 1865, the soldiers who had in 1 86 1 traveled to Fort Snelling by stage and wagon, and had been shipped thence down the river to Prairie du I40 THE YOUNG STATE Chien, found a train at La Crescent ready to take them sixteen miles westward ; at Winona, another starting for Rochester. From St. Paul they could reach Sauk Rapids, Shakopee, and Owatonna by rail. In all, two hundred and ten miles of road were in operation, and one hundred and eighty-three miles more were being graded. SUMMARY Minnesota, as a state, progressed, with enthusiasm. Congress passed the statehood bill in May, 1858. German and Scandinavian immigrants crowded into the state. There was demand for a better transportation system. The state too hastily pledged its credit for railroads and failed to get the roads. In 1862 the first railroad was opened to the public. QUESTIONS 1. Name the counties of Minnesota in 1857. What was the capital ? How great was the population ? 2. What is a constitutional convention? 3. Why was there objection in Congress to receiving Minnesota into statehood? 4. Why was the succession of transport as follows : dogs, carts, stages, before the railroad came? 5. Explain the trouble over the introduction of railroads. REFERENCES Observations. — H. P. Hall. History of Minnesota. — Charles Flandreau. Co7igressional Globe. United States Census Returns. Transportation in Minnesota. — James Baker, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. q. Railway Legislation in Minnesota. Message of Governor Alexander Ramsey, i860. CHAPTER XII GENERAL DEVELOPMENT Further progress. — I'he progress in railroad building is an indication of the ambition of Minnesota. Despite the stress of the Civil War and the shock of an Indian uprising within her own borders, Minnesota increased in population and in i)roductions during the years i860 to 1865. The Read's Landing, showing raft boats. census of the latter year gave her 250,000 people exclusive of Indians, a gain of forty-five per cent over the returns for i860. That 10,000,000 bushels of wheat, averaging twenty-five bushels to the acre, could be produced in 1865, is proof of the faith that her people reposed in her, and 141 142 GENERAL DEVELOPMENT of the energy with which they labored. Of this amount 7,000,000 bushels were exported, much of it being hauled from fifty to a hundred miles to warehouses on the Mis- sissippi, notably at Hastings, Red Wing, Wabasha, and Winona. The wheat was there dumped into flatboats and was floated down the river to Prairie du Chien and other points. Increase of lumbering. — During these years lumbering continued, although hindered by the war. Mr. Thomas B. Walker, of Minneapohs, gives a hint as to the sohdity of the state at the opening of the Civil War, in an account of his arrival at St. Paul in 1862 with a carload of grind- stones, which he readily sold. These grindstones he had sought to distribute in Chicago, but the war had closed his market. He then took them to Milwaukee, with such poor success that he was forced to peddle some of them from farmer to farmer, to earn enough for his running expenses. At Prairie du Chien he was again disappointed, but hearing there of energetic towns to the north, he loaded the cargo on a boat, and sold it all ! The grindstones were needed at the mills. The mills at the Falls of St. Anthony, on both sides of the river, were by this time rivaling those of the St. Croix Valley. Each district was cutting 100,000,000 feet of logs a year. This, with the small amount added by the mills at Winona and on the upper Mississippi, made a total product in 1865 of 228,000,000 feet. Land values. — Little other manufacturing had been done, although St. Anthony and Minneapohs were busy with the development of their water power and their flour milling. The state geologist had explored the land to the north and west of Lake Superior, without suspecting the presence of its enormous supply of iron ore. Gold had been GENERAL DEVELOPMENT 143 discovered in that region, but Governor Marshall in his inaugural message wisely reminded the citizens that the prosperity of the state rested so manifestly on the produc- tion of breadstuffs and provisions, that it had been willing to " pass the golden crown to less-favored communities." He might well say this, since in the year pre- vious nearly a million acres of land had been entered by settlers. Education. — Educa- tion, however, in the years of the war ad- vanced more slowly. Poor schoolhouses were ventilated by large holes, due to inefhcient con- struction. Poor teach- ers, who could barely qualify for the most meager requirements, and poor officers, too ignorant of their duties and too busy at making a hving to carry the responsibilities which their duties laid upon them, hindered progress. Indeed, of 80,000 children of school age only a third were attending school, and these only a small part of the year. Teachers were receiving an average of sixty-two dollars a year, in some districts being paid as Uttle as eight dollars a month and seldom obtaining more than thirty dollars. The University, that had started with so much promise, was closed. The Winona Normal School had been organized, Governor William R. Marshall. 144 GENERAL DEVELOPMENT then had died from lack of support. For the same reason Hamline University at Red Wing had been -forced to suspend. The normal school, however, was started again, and according to the report of 1865 was trying, with eleven teachers, to instruct five hundred poorly prepared candi- dates for positions in which to teach the rudiments. The scholarship of these candidates would have made the critics of our present school system pause, before desir- ing to return to the '' good old days." In answers to ex- amination questions they unconsciously made some very merry moments for the secretary of state, who served as superintendent of instruction. It was no wonder that the good secretary desired to confine himself within his own office, and pleaded that the legislature appoint a man especially to undertake the organization of the common- school system of the state. This plea was heard, and in the years following the war remarkable progress was made in education. Leading statesmen. — Before discussing the share of Minnesota in the Civil War, it will be well to comment briefly on the men who had been chiefly concerned with the development of the territory and state, up to the time that its attention was fixed upon matters outside its own borders. Repeated reference has been made to Henry Sibley, gentle- man of the wilderness, who as delegate to Congress furthered the organization of the territory and later was honored by election as first governor of the state. Joseph Brown, representative of eastern Minnesota in the Wisconsin legis- lature, as soldier, trader, lumberman, and pubhc-spirited citizen, had proved the value of a good man in developing a country. Frankhn Steele, a stern capitaUst, was pioneer in both the St. Croix and the Mississippi Valley, and the first GENERAL DEVELOPMENT 145 citizen of St. Anthony. Alexander Ramsey, the first ter- ritorial governor, has been mentioned. The second territorial governor, Willis A. Gorman, Mexican War veteran, Democratic campaigner, and after- wards colonel of the First Minnesota Regiment, was a graceful speaker, and eloquent in behalf of education and railroad construction. Some believe that he was tricked into signing a bad bill giving privileges to the Minnesota and North- western Railroad Com- pany. This was a bill, as one historian says, ''whose baneful influence for years brooded like a nightmare over the seat of government, and on more than one occasion aroused political passion to an intense fever heat." The third territorial gov- ernor, Samuel Medary, was not a resident of the state long enough to exert much influence. Finally, there was Henry M. Rice, who came to Minne- sota as agent of the great St. Louis fur house of Chouteau, and soon stepped forward as a political leader, by becoming delegate to Congress in 1853. He was a man who could urge on Congress the opening of Indian lands, the extension of land surveys, and the opening of additional post offices, and hence became popular. In fact, it is hard to find fault even in our day of greater civic enlightenment, with one of STORY OF MINN. — lO Governor Willis A. Gorman. 146 GENERAL DEVELOPMENT SO much personal charm as Henry M. Rice. At the same time it is felt that in such transactions as the sale of Fort Snelling and the Indian treaties, Rice was narrowed by the opportunity of the moment. James Shields served as United States Senator with Rice for two years. He had been Senator from Illinois, and was afterwards Senator from Missouri. Sibley, Ramsey, Steele, and Rice were the "Big Four " who had most to do with the shaping of Minnesota during its early period. Edward Dufheld Neill was also one of the most prominent of the early citizens of Minnesota. We owe to him the first history of the state. This was based on scholarly reading of the old documents, stud- ied while the author was secretary of the Minne- sota Historical Society. Neill was made president of Macalester College, and later he became chaplain of the First Minnesota Regiment. He was a man of fine attainments, and broad influence especially in the territorial days. Sale of Fort Snelling. — The sale of Fort SnelHng, al- though the transaction occurred during the territorial period, was not revealed until later, and should be con- sidered here. Secretary of State Flood secretly disposed of the fort and reservation, worth $400,000, to Franklin Steele, in the spring of 1857, for $90,000, of which a third Rev. Edward D. Neill. GENERAL DEVELOPMENT 147 was paid at once. Steele proceeded to lay out the city of Fort Snelling, a plat of which is on file at the Minnesota Historical Library. Like some of the prairie town sites, it reveals an expansive imagination on the part of the promoter. It stretched northward along the Mississippi within sight of Minnehaha Falls, and westward for nearly a Minnehaha Falls, winter view. mile. Lots 50 by 165 feet were to be sold for one hundred dollars each. Views of public rights. — In the Congressional investi- gation that followed the discovery of the sale, direct ques- tions were asked both of Steele, and of Rice who had pro- cured the necessary legislation. Steele said he believed that the rights of the people were conserved better by such 148 GENERAL DEVELOPMENT a sale than by a public auction sale, in which speculators would have gained a great opportunity. Rice declared that the buildings were old, that it was difficult to transport supplies up the hill, that there were no longer Indians to watch, and that he would rather the price had been fifty cents an acre than two dollars, for he believed the govern- ment ought to help the people and not speculators. But the part of benefactor to the pubhc did not please the majority of the committee, and they reported that they believed great wrong had been committed. Steele defaulted in his payments, and the property went back to the government, which was thus enabled to use the fort as a rendezvous for its volunteers from Minnesota during the Civil War. Later, however, Steele was allowed 6394.80 acres of the reservation, just outside the present southern limits of Minneapolis, for his claim. The capital fight. — The account of the capital light is . an interesting story. During the last session of the ter- ritorial legislature, in 1857, ^ bill was introduced making St. Peter the capital, instead of St. Paul. The bill passed the house, but when called for in the council it could not be found. Joseph Rolette, the member from Pembina, was absent, and he had the bill in his custody. Despite the efforts of the sergeant at arms to locate him, Rolette succeeded in eluding pursuit. The council, after waiting for him from February twenty-eighth to March fifth, although there was a majority in favor of the change, was forced to adjourn without passing the bill. Rolette was hailed by the minority as a public benefactor, but by the majority he was charged with accepting bribe money. The sentiment in favor of a new capital city did not GENERAL DEVELOPMENT 149 die out, however. In 1858 Governor Sibley appointed a commission to find a site. This commission chose Kandi- yohi, south of the present village of that name, where 6000 acres of land were purchased. In 1861 a bill to locate the capitol on this land was lost. In 1869 another bill was passed, but was vetoed by Governor Marshall, because he beheved that the proposed site was no nearer the center of the state than was St. Paul, and that the financial risk in building in Kandiyohi was too great. There have been still other attempts to deprive St. Paul of her honor, but the defenders have strengthened their case after every attack. Bishop Whipple. — During this period the churches of the state partook of the general prosperity. Perhaps the most notable event is the beginning of Bishop Whipple's labors. He was sent in 1859 by the Episcopalian church to organize and superintend its Minnesota missions. The next year, with others, he organized the Bishop Seabury Mission at Faribault. From this developed later the Cathedral, the Seabury Divinity School, St. Mary's, and the Shattuck School. Other denominations also strength- ened their churches greatly. SUMMARY Minnesota made gains along many lines. Lumbering increased in the St. Croix and Mississippi valleys. Agriculture proved profitable. Although scholarship was poor, people were interested in education. Sibley, Ramsey, Steele, and Rice were active in the life of the state. The sale of Fort Snelling brought out interesting conflicts of views on public lands. The capital fight resulted favorably for St. Paul. 150 GENERAL DEVELOPjMEXT QUESTIONS 1. What does the grindstone incident show, as to progress in Minnesota ? 2. Why was education backward ? 3. Name and identify each of the "Big Four." REFERENCES United States Census Returns. Early Days in Minnesota. — T. B. Walker (Address). Inaugural Address in 1866. — Governor WiUiam Marshall. Report of Board of Trade of St. Anthony in i86j. Report. — David Blakeley, Secretary of State. The Various State Capitols. — Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 10. CHAPTER XIII CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION The Indians restless. — The Indians who had been re- moved to the Minnesota River Reservation, after the treaty of 185 1, had been growing more and more restive. The reservation was not large enough for a hunting ground, since it extended only ten miles from either bank of the river. Agricultural experiments among the Indians had failed to convince many of them that there was much promise in cultivating the soil. We are too impatient over the reluctance of the Sioux to become a farmer, for- getting that the white man refuses to leave the most noi- some neighborhood of the city to go ^' back to the farm." The brave beheld with disgust the pathetic attempts of the first immigrants to make a living. Poor as he himself was, he pitied the man who, like a gopher, had to dig a hole as a home for his family. At the same time he envied the '^ big chief " who came from the cities, and whose com- fortable tepees he occasionally saw. These feelings passed easily into hate, when it seemed clear that he was to be pushed out of the way. He grieved to see the woods that sheltered his beaver, and the prairies that fed his buffalo become the property of the white man. It made no difference that his chance visits to St. Paul, or to Washington itself, where the '' Great Father " sat, convinced him of the white man's power, or that the chiefs were arguing, in council or by camp fire, the uselessness of 151 152 CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION opposition. He was ruled, not by reason, but by passion. This passion was made up in part of sentiment, and in part of the increasing irritation caused by hunger and cold. Indians poor farmers. — Sometimes good success at- tended his farming. The government in 1836 had sent Philander Prescott to teach Cloudman how to make the land near Lake Calhoun yield corn and potatoes. Gideon Pond had led the band, after its removal to the Blooming- ton neighborhood, to develop the land still further. Other missionaries, especially Williamson and Riggs of Lac qui Parle, had done the same, and had been pleased to see their pupils take a real interest in their products. Here another trouble entered. The tribal life of the Indian had always taught him to share with his neighbor. He believed in private ownership as he believed in the purity of his home, so he was as far as possible from being the socialist that some have declared him to be ; and he was not a communist in days of prosperity. One of the principles of his life, however, was hospitality. This led him to receive into his wigwam not only those of his own tribe, but the stranger, whoever he might be, so long as he came as a friend, and to share with his visitor his last piece of pemmican. On the same basis he considered himself privileged to go into his tribesman's home to live as long as might be necessary. In fact, as Dr. Charles Eastman declares, and as the missionaries write, no Indian asked to be invited to another's tepee any more than he hesi- tated to offer the freedom of his home to anyone who needed it. It is clear that though this arrangement was satisfactory in a hunting community, it would not serve when the many poor invaded the granaries of the well-to-do and ate up CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION 1 53 even their seed. Either all must be farmers or all hunters ; and, as has been pointed out, the great majority of the Sioux could not look upon agriculture as a proper pursuit to follow. Hence the poor farmers, excepting a few whom the missionaries could most easily encourage, were forced to return to the life of the plains. It can be understood that their prejudice against farming was not greater than that of a white man who has lost his all in some barren land, and has returned to live in the city, ever afterwards at outs with agriculture. Sioux in the churches. — Samuel Pond tells us that when he spoke of brotherhood, the Indian could not understand how the missionary could take offense at the loss of a piece of pork, gone to help a brother. That the white man's religion was a neighborly one the Sioux never could appre- ciate, since it led the more fortunate white man not only to keep all his own things to himself, but even to covet the possessions of the poor Indian. It is remarkable that fifteen churches, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Congre- gational, resulted from the efforts of teachers who labored under such a handicap. It was well for the people of Minnesota in the dark days of war, that these Sioux kept their new faith with the same persistence with which they had kept the trust of the tribe. Civilizing the Sioux. — The Christian Indians were, by 1 86 1, exerting an influence over their tribesmen, despite the difficulties that have been enumerated. Traveling Hail, a Christian, was elected chief of the Kaposia band, over Little Crow, much to the disgust of the latter. The Hazlewood Republic, organized by Riggs under the leader- ship of the Indians Paul and Other Day, was teaching the younger braves the better ways of civilization. Moreover, 154 CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION the acquaintance of Major Joseph R. Brown with the Indians made him a real leader among them. Thus it came to pass that during 1861 and 1862 more than 3000 acres of land were under cultivation, and in 1862 the crops looked better than those of the white settlers. In March of that year the agent shipped to the reservation '^4 farm wagons, 45 oxcarts, 472 plows, shovels, scythes, and other implements, 288 bushels of corn, 3,690 bushels of potatoes, 79 pairs of work oxen, 15 steers, 47 cows, 8 sheep, and some hardware." Be- sides, the Indians dur- ing the winter of 1861- 1862 delivered nearly a million feet of logs to be sawed up into boards with which they intended to build houses. In fact, many houses had been built before the outbreak, and arrangements had been made for eighty more to be constructed during the year 1862. Little Crow himself, before he went on the warpath, saw the foundation of a substantial brick structure that was to be his home. Besides these evidences of civilization there were to be seen piles of rails totahng over 30,000, to fence the Indian lands. Scores of the Sioux had discarded the blanket, cast aside the barbaric ornaments of their race, and cut their hair. They began to wield the hoe and ax, to cook on stoves, and sleep on " four-poster " beds. The friends Chief Other Day. CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION 1 55 of the Indians had good reason to believe that the prejucUce against private ownership, the wiles of the medicine man, the craving for Chippewa scalps, and the temptation to carouse would be conquered ; and that the Sioux would soon forget their injuries at the hands of one set of white men, in the memory of blessings attained at the hands of another set. Nevertheless the Sioux generally doubted the reality of the brotherhood which the white man preached. They doubted still more the abihty of the government to keep its sworn promises. They had looked on sullenly and seen their money paid into the hands of the traders. They waited vainly for the annuities that were to supply the lack of game. Said one chief to Henry Sibley : " You Hve in comfortable tepees, we freeze ; you have abundance of food, we starve. The Great Father promised us boxes. Where are the boxes? They come a long way on the train. Perhaps the train goes so fast that they fall off. Where are the boxes? " Dissatisfaction. — By 1861 the situation was becoming serious. Grumblings were heard around many a fire, and threats came from many a young brave, who boasted of what he would do if he were given a chance. In vain the wiser old men, even though their hearts turned bitter within them at the thought of the injustice and their helplessness in the face of it all, argued that resistance was foolish. The young men were wise, too. They heard reports from the south, where the Great Father's troops were sometimes being made to run. Some of the Sioux had volunteered in the Minnesota regiments, and consequently their relatives, especially the younger element, were anxious to hear all the news. They 156 CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION believed that they could make some white men run too, if they had an opportunity. Besides, were not the soldiers of the Great Father all down on the battlefield ? Could these meek-looking Germans and Norwegians, who could be seen plodding, plodding, every day behind plow, harrow, or harvester, make resistance to the sons of great warriors who had taken scalps from white men, as well as from the fierce Chippewas? So they thought, and they became less and less tractable. An Indian outcast. — Moreover, the government had shown great weakness in its pursuit of Inkpaduta. He was an outlaw from the Wahpekute band, rejected because of his bad character. We must not presume that because the Indians generally were hospitable, brave, honorable, and faithful, they were not sometimes cowardly and treacherous. Pond says that he found the Indian, even be- fore the white man could be accused of blame in the matter, possessed of the same human nature as the white man, and that '' some had more of it than others." The tribes were wont to sit in judgment on their criminals, just as we try our criminals. Not having the means to confine them, often they killed them, but more often they condemned the wrongdoers to wander apart from their relatives, '' a hissing and a byword among the nations." These outcasts could not claim protection against the Chippewas, nor could they claim the much-valued hospitaUty of their own tribe, in times of stress. Other Day's pursuit. — Of such character were Inkpaduta and his Httle band, numbering not more than twenty. In the spring of 1857 they fell ruthlessly upon the settlement at Spirit Lake, Iowa. They killed several settlers, then turned into Minnesota to attack a small community called CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION 157 Fort Redgely. Springfield, near the present town of Jackson. Here they murdered several more and took some women prisoners. With these they fled into Dakota, escaping from tardy pursuit by the government troops sent from Fort Ridgely on the upper Minnesota. Unable to capture Inkpaduta, the government commanded the tribe which had expelled him to do so. John Other Day and a few warriors followed the outlaw into Dakota, where they succeeded in breaking up his band, killing several of his followers, and rescuing one white woman, a Mrs. Hatch, who had suffered woefully at the hands of Inkpaduta and his son. The leader himself es- caped and lost himself among the wilder tribes farther west. But a few warriors had done what the Great Father, with all his soldiers, had not been able to do, and it did not tend to make the young men feel the superiority of the whites. Agent Brown removed. ^ The new administration, fol- lowing a foolish custom, now removed Agent Joseph R. Brown. Having an Indian wife, and having lived among her people as trader and associate for nearly forty years, he was supposed to make smooth the path of the govern- ment in its dealings with the Sioux. Suddenly, among this 158 CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION restless people, irritated as they were and despising the weakness of the whites, came an agent unused' to their customs and unable to detect which way the wind was blowing. Besides, the annuities were tardy. In vain the new agent tried to save the situation. The cloud was charged with trouble and was ready to break. Forced collections. — ■ It had been the custom of the traders to sit at the pay table and collect from the govern- ment the money which they claimed was owed them by the Indians. This the Indians bitterly resented. Further- more, to insure order on these occasions detachments of troops were present at the payment. In 1861 the Indians organized what was known as a Soldiers' Lodge. This was composed of warriors who were not chiefs, but whose plans, formed in council, had to be carried out by the chiefs. The Soldiers' Lodge of 1861 determined upon an armed re- sistance to the presence of troops at the pay tables. The new agent, Thomas F. Galbraith, called for troops. These remained at the Lower Agency until the payment had been made. At the Upper Agency the signs were still more threatening, but troops of the First and Second regiments kept matters quiet. The Indians paid their " debts," al- though they threatened never to do so again. Irritation continued through 1861, so that portions of the Fourth and Fifth regiments were detailed to garrison Forts Ridgely, Ripley, and Abercrombie. Delayed payment. — Then in 1862 came a dangerous delay in the payment. Instead of sending the annuities in June, when the Indians had gathered to receive them, the government waited until August, and the money did not arrive until the eighteenth of that month. It was rumored that the Great Father needed all his money to help carry on CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION 159 the war against the south, and that his soldiers were running from the Confederates. Another Soldiers' Lodge was held, and a delegation was sent to ask Captain Marsh not to allow the soldiers to be present when the payment was Breaking into the warehouse. made. Captain Marsh said he could not grant this, but he promised not to permit the soldiers to help the traders collect their " debts." A Chippewa murder. — With these troubles there was another. The Sioux were indignant at not being allowed to fight the Chippewas, who had at various times sneaked l6o CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION down and killed several of their people. On August i6 a man and his son were killed, and hundreds of Sioux came to see their bodies. Said one : '' I among the rest saw this man and his son dead. It made the people feel very bad, myself among the rest, and they had a desire to kill at least one of the Chippewas and have him lie as these men were lying, and I among the rest felt that way." Indians become violent. — A great party went out to find the Chippewas, but they had escaped. Meanwhile the upper Indians had begun to gather, crying for " Wo-Hay- Zhu-Zhu," " the payment." They were out of provisions and were beginning to starve. In fact, a month before the outbreak they had eaten their last dog. Lieutenant Shehan pleaded with the agent to permit the annuity goods to be issued, but he refused. On the fourth of August the hungry Indians broke open the door of the warehouse and stole thirty sacks of flour before the soldiers could be rallied. Finally the agent agreed to issue the goods, if the In- dians would go away and be quiet. They agreed, and the goods were given to them. All seemed quiet ; some of the troops were even sent away to Fort Ripley. SUMMARY Continued grievances made the Sioux restless. They were naturally jealous of the whites. They could not live without great hardship, since they had no chance to hunt, and they distrusted the civilization of the whites. They resented the presence of the traders at the pay table. They resented their inability to defend themselves against the Chippewas. As a result they took advantage of the Civil War and the unpro- tected German settlers, to make this resentment felt. CAUSES OF THE INDIAN REBELLION l6l QUESTIONS 1. Show the difference between the occasion and the cause of an event. 2. Give at least three reasons for the Indian uprising. 3. Who was Inkpaduta ? 4. What made the Indians dependent upon the whites for food? REFERENCES Two Volunteer Missionaries. — Samuel W. Pond. A Sioux Narrative of the Outbreak. — Gabriel Renville, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 10. Inkpaduta's Massacre, in First Organized Government in Dakota, Governor Albright. — Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 8. STORY OF MINN. — II CHAPTER XIV INDIANS ON THE WARPATH Cause and occasion of war. — To charge the terrible kilUng of a thousand white people and perhaps a hundred Indians to the robbery of a nest of eggs, as some have done, is to miss the lesson that the consequences of unfaithful deahng ought to teach. The Confederates who fired on the United States flag did not cause the Civil War ; neither did the patriots of Lexington cause the Revolutionary War. They merely occasioned it. It has been shown that the money due to the Indians was paid to the traders, and that the Indians were confined to a reservation 140 miles long and twenty miles wide. This reservation was limited, after Inkpaduta's raid, to a strip ten miles wide, on the south bank of the Minne- sota. From this narrow reservation they were forced to go out on hunting expeditions, and naturally often came into colhsion with the white settlers. The settlers, on the other hand, were free to trespass on the reservation and resented being kept off. It was inevitable that some serious clash should occur, which, considering the state of mind that the Indians were in, would produce trouble. In other words, a trifle set in motion a very well-grounded disturbance. The nest of eggs. — On August 17, 1862, a hunting party of four Indians was passing the house of Robinson Jones, a white settler living near Acton. He, besides farming, kept a small store. He seems to have taken no pains to 162 INDIANS ON THE WARPATH 163 conceal his contempt for Indians. On this August morning they found a nest full of eggs in a fence corner. One Indian, very hungry, as the Indians nearly always were, wanted to eat the eggs. Another forbade it, saying that they belonged to the white man. Then the first dashed the eggs to the ground, calling the objector a coward, afraid to eat ^' even the eggs of the white man." The latter re- sented the insult, and challenged the former to go with him to the house and see him shoot a white man. The others, saying that they would be brave too, accompanied him. The first victims. — The four went to the Jones house and so frightened him by their manner that he fled to the home of his stepson, a man named Baker. He left his 1 64 INDIANS ON THE WARPATH foster children, a young woman and her brother, in the house. At about twelve o'clock the Indians followed him, and challenged the white men to shoot at a mark. This the white men did, but they neglected to reload. Then the Indians opened fire, and when they went away they left two white men and a woman dead. On their way home- ward they killed the young woman at the Jones house. They then returned to their tribe in Shakopee's village, Scene of the Indian massacre at Redwood Falls. near the mouth of the Redwood, and demanded protection. A council was held, and war was declared against the whites, half in fear, half in earnest. Little Crow, much against his will, was appointed their leader, — and the die was cast. Massacre begun. — Then followed a month of terror. The Lower Agency was attacked the next morning. Three of the men were shot, two of the women captured, and the stores plundered. Along the Minnesota bottoms hundreds of Indians scattered and killed unarmed and unsuspecting INDIANS ON THE WARPATH 165 settlers, as men would kill sheep. Far out on the coteaux and along the edge of the Big Woods, wherever the settlers had gone, the Indians' rifles were heard. The stories of awful deeds, of untold sufTering from wounds and ex- posure in the marshes, whither many fled to hide, or from fearful hunger, and from the mad uncertainty as to the safety of dear ones, is to be read in narratives preserved in county histories and in the letters and diaries of settlers. Before the whites recovered from their surprise, more than a thousand — more than had fallen in any other Indian .war in America, and nearly twice as many as the Minne- sota troops lost during the Civil War — had succumbed to the fury of the Sioux. It was indeed proved true that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children; for it seemed that the stored-up wrath of three centuries of falsehood and double-deahng was now being visited upon the white race. Indian battle. — ^ But it was not only in massacre that the Indians wreaked their vengeance. They had troops to oppose, and they did not shrink from the conflict, once the issue had been made. Neither did they rush heedlessly to battle without a plan. It has been determined from con- versations with the Indians themselves, that they expected to make Fort Ridgely the first base of operations, then move eastward and northward in two columns against the Twin Cities. Some writers have asserted that they ex- pected the Chippewa chief, Hole-in-the-Day, to move southward, and thus aid them in the final operations. Others deny this, declaring that the Chippewa depreda- tions against the Sioux precluded any such alliance. Captain Marsh defeated. — At first the Indians were successful in their miUtary operations. Captain Marsh, 1 66 INDIANS ON THE WARPATH with Company B, Fifth Minnesota, left for the Lower Agency, about twelve miles to the northwest, at ten o'clock on the eighteenth of August. When the command reached the Redwood Ferry only one Indian was to be seen, al- though the party had passed some fifty bodies of whites on the way. But suddenly, as the soldiers were parleying with this Indian, a volley of bullets and arrows struck them. They were ambushed, and for two hours were forced to fight a losing battle, retreating the while toward the fort. Captain Marsh was drowned, twenty-four men were killed, and five were wounded. First attack on New Ulm. — Their success emboldened the Indians to press the campaign further. Soon they ap- peared before the village of New Ulm. On the afternoon of the eighteenth they made their first attack. Barricaded in the center of the town, the citizens defended themselves as well as they could, until reenforcements arrived from St. Peter, under Captain, afterwards Judge, Charles Flandreau. The attack then ceased until Saturday. During the interim the defenders picked up the bodies of many settlers who had been overtaken by the Indians on their way to the village. Failure at Ridgely. — During this lull at New Ulm, the Indians, under the command of Chief Mankato, tried to take Fort Ridgely. On Wednesday, the twentieth, the first attack was made, but the three pieces of artillery were too much for even Indian bravery. On Friday, Little Crow led 800 Indians and threw them against the fort for five hours, or until seven o'clock. Little Crow himself, wounded by a passing shell, had to retire, but Mankato urged on his braves. It was in vain, however ; the howitzer of Sergeant Jones threw its shells so menacingly near that INDIANS ON THE WARPATH 167 Attack on New Ulm. no charge was possible to men fighting in the open. Thus Ridgely was saved, although its ammunition ran so low that steel rods were cut up to serve as bullets, and shrapnel shells were opened and their bullets remolded by the women, before the fight was over. Second attack on New Ulm. — No sooner did the Indians give up the contest at Fort Ridgely than they renewed the attack upon New Ulm. All day Saturday and until noon Sunday the 1500 noncombatants, women, children, and invahd men, trembled, while the able-bodied men of the town, aided now by more reenforcements from St. Peter and Mankato, kept up the contest. The Indians succeeded in firing part of the town, and could have swept over it had i68 INDIANS ON THE WARPATH they dared to risk an ambush, but they were afraid of being caught by rifle fire from the houses. So they were held in front until, as at Ridgely, they became discouraged. But they left thirty-four whites dead and sixty wounded. The fight at Birch Coulee Birch Coulee. — By August 27 Governor Ramsey had acted for the state, in appointing Henry Sibley commander of a force including parts of several regiments recruited for service in the south. Many from the Twin Cities volunteered. These were sent immediately to relieve the settlers and garrisons, which were in danger of being wiped INDIANS ON THE WARPATH 1 69 out altogether. A detachment, chiefly of the Sixth Minne- sota under Captain Grant, was sent out to bury the dead, including those of Marsh's command. This detachment encamped at Birch Coulee, near a road running between Forts Ridgely and Abercrombie, and about ten miles from the Lower Agency, on the smooth prairie. They parked the wagons around, with the team horses fastened to them. The cavalry horses were fastened to a picket rope between the tents and wagons. Against the corral thus formed, on September i, about 200 Indians, led by Mankato and concealed in the timber of the coulee and in other favorable positions, made a fierce onset which lasted for three days. Little Crow, meanwhile, had made off towards Hutchinson. During this time the whites suffered much, losing twenty killed and sixty wounded. The Indians lost two killed and several wounded. On September 3 a detachment of 240 soldiers from Fort Ridgely, with the aid of a howitzer, drove the Indians back to the Yellow Medicine River. Terror at Hutchinson. — While these engagements were taking place along the river, another detachment of Indians was killing settlers and threatening the villages on the edge of the '' Big Woods." In the lake country of Kandiyohi County many fell victims to the marauders, and much plunder was gathered into the Indian villages. Little Crow, with no men, went against Forest City and Hutchinson. The settlers farther east had been warned, and at Glencoe Colonel John H. Stevens had assumed leadership. But on September 2 the overconfident Captain Strout, eager for renown, came into conflict with Little Crow and a small part of his band. Strout was driven into Hutchinson with a loss of five killed and about twenty wounded. The lyo INDIANS ON THE WARPATH Indians turned upon Forest City, but were surprised to find a stockade which kept the citizens safe from liarm. They then withdrew to attack Hutchinson, whose inhabit- ants, imitating the people of Forest City, had intrenched themselves behind a stockade in the center of the town. The suburbs, however, were not defended, and soon began to burn. Much plunder was taken from the empty houses, but the inhabitants continued safe behind the fort, and the Indians withdrew to their villages. Although scattered parties continued to kill and plunder for some time, there was no other organized campaign in this part of the state. Attack on Fort Abercrombie. — Fort Abercrombie, on the Red River, was attacked on September 3 and several de- fenders killed. On the sixth the attack was renewed by the Indians, now reenforced, and lasted all day. Again on the twenty-sixth and on the twenty-ninth further attacks were made. Perhaps less than 200 Indians all told were concerned in these fights. Sibley began to communicate with Little Crow im- mediately upon reaching the scene of hostilities. At Birch Coulee he left in a split stick a piece of paper reading as follows : If Little Crow has any proposition to make to me, let him send a half-breed to me, and he shall be protected in and out of my camp. H. H. Sibley, Col. Com'g Mil. Expedition. The scouts found and delivered the note to Little Crow, who replied through Joe Campbell, his secretary, as follows : Yellow Medicine, Sept 7. Dear Sir : For what reason we have commenced this war I will tell you, it is on account of Maj. Gilbraith. We made a treaty with INDIANS ON THE WARPATH 171 the government a big for what little we do get, and then can't get it till our children was dicing with hunger — it is with the traders that commence. Mr. A. J. Myrick told the Indians they would eat grass. Then Mr. Forbes told the Lower Sioux that they were not men. Then Robert he was working with his friends how to defraud us of our money ; if the young braves have push the white man I have don(j this myself. So I want you to let the Governor Ramsey know this. I have a great many prisoner women and children. It aint all our fault that Winnebagoes was in the engagement, two of them were killed. I want you to give me answer by barer. All at present. his Yours Truely Friend, Little x Crow. mark per A. J. Cambell. Gov. H. H. Sibley, P_^sqr., Fort Ridgely. Sibley replied to this note, that he would talk to Little Crow " like a man," when the prisoners were returned. Little Crow wrote again, saying that he wanted to know what terms his people were to get, and that meanwhile the prisoners were faring " with our children or ourself just as well as us." Sibley answered by advising Little Crow to bring in the prisoners, and to keep his young men from kiUing any more whites. The friendly Indians, especially Paul, demanded that Little Crow deHver the prisoners. The upper bands were not responding very well to the call for reenforcements. The difhculty of banding even the lower tribes into a compact army to resist drilled troops was becoming greater. Despite these impediments to his success, however, Little Crow risked one more fight before he made peace. Battle Lake. — In the eastern part of Yellow Medicine County hes Battle Lake, two and a half miles south of the Lower Agency. Here Sibley made a camp on September 22. His command contained a considerable part of the Third 172 INDIANS ON THE WARPATH Regiment, later paroled by the Confederacy after its sur- render at Murfreesboro. The soldiers were chafing under what they called a disgrace, and were impatient of control. Stragghng away from camp, they drew the lire of the Indians before Little Crow was ready, and an- other battle was be- gun. The whites were soon being at- tacked by the hid- den warriors, but by the aid of their artillery they kept the Indians at a dis- tance. They suc- ceeded in killing the brave Mankato who had dared a cannon ball. In this fight the whites lost seven killed and thirty-four wounded , the Indians sixteen killed and fifty wounded. The lat- ter were greatly out- numbered and finally realized the uselessness of the un- equal contest, although a few still persisted in defying the white man. Death of Little Crow. — Wabasha now opened negotia- tions with Sibley, and separating himself from Little Crow promised to give up the prisoners. Little Crow, deserted Indian braves (Chippewa), INDIANS ON THE WARPATH 173 by all but 125 of the Sioux, fled to the Devils Lake country, where he endeavored in vain to rally a fighting force ; but he gradually lost his followers. The next year the warrior returned to Minnesota. On July 3 he and his young son were picking berries west of Hutchinson, when a settler came upon him and shot him. The Minnesota Historical Society still exhibits to visitors the skull, scalp, and arm bones of Little Crow. Escape from an Indian massacre. Trial of the Sioux. — Meanwhile Sibley received the prisoners, who were united to their friends amid a frenzy of joy. Then a court was instituted to try the Indians accused of committing murders. As a result of its delibera- tion, 303 Indians were condemned to death and 18 to imprisonment. But the ever-merciful Lincoln commuted the sentences of 264 to imprisonment, leaving 39 to be hanged. One of these was afterwards released, but the 38 died, on Christmas Day, in true Indian fashion on the scaffold. 174 INDIANS ON THE WARPATH Sibley's campaign. — After the revolt had been crushed, it remained to drive the Indians out of the state. With parts of the Sixth and Tenth regiments, with cavahy and artillery, and with ample provisions, Sibley began a cam- paign that lasted during most of the year 1863. The main object was accompUshed, for the Indian army, or rather bands of Indians, were forced to retire before the superior number and arms of the soldiers. With their usual adroit- ness and although burdened with their famihes, they with- drew before Sibley, skirmishing with the soldiers just enough to allow their squaws and papooses to escape from camp to camp. These skirmishes, called '' battles " in the annals of the regiments engaged, were all fought in Dakota, and hence do not properly belong to our story. The Indians at length succeeded in escaping from Sibley, and bade defiance to his troops from the west bank of the Missouri. General Sully's campaign. — During the following year the Minnesota regiments were a part of General Sully's army. They were ordered to drive the Indians still farther back and to crush them if possible. They succeeded in destroying two or three camps, and in kiUing with their artillery a few hundred Sioux, including some squaws and children. The Indians never returned to Minnesota. Those who had not taken part in the war were, however, allowed to live upon a small reservation at the source of the Minnesota, in Dakota Territory. Others who had learned to Hve like the whites continued to dwell at various places, notably at Shakopee, Mendota, and Redwood Falls. Some of these are still alive. Although gone as a separate race, the spirit of the Dakota still haunts the state. The lakes and rivers and water- fall that he named so beautifully still speak of the time INDIANS ON THE WARPATH 1 75 when, untouched by a culture which he could not appre- ciate, he wandered childlike among them. The towns of the white man bear the names of Shakopee, Sleepy Eye, Wabasha, Mankato, Red Wing, and Good Thunder. SUMMARY Indians began the war over a nest of eggs, August 17, 1862. Massacre and destruction spread over the Minnesota Valley and along the edge of the Big Woods. New Ulm was successfully defended. Sibley rescued the whites in September. Sibley pursued the hostile Indians into Dakota, but they escaped. On Christmas Day 38 Sioux were executed at Mankato. Little Crow was shot near Hutchinson, in July, 1863. Minnesota regiments helped General Sully fight the Sioux in Dakota. After two years of warfare the Indians were subdued. QUESTIONS 1. What was the plan of campaign devised by the Indians? Why was it unsuccessful? 2. What Indian traits were revealed by the war? Mention good traits as well as bad. 3. Why were the Indians unsuccessful in driving the whites from the state? 4. Where did the Sioux go after the war? Are there any Sioux settlements in Minnesota? REFERENCES Captivity among the Sioux. — Mrs. N. White, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. g. Story of Mary Schwandt. — Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 6. A Sioux Story of the War. — Big Eagle, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 10. History of Minnesota. — Charles Flandreau. Reminiscences of Little Crow. Asa Daniels, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 12. CHAPTER XV MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR Minnesota answers the call. — Let us turn to the begin- ing of the Civil War, and see what part Minnesota played in the defense of the Union. In April, 1861, when the St. I'AUL SHORTLY BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE CiVIL WaR. famous shot was fired upon Fort Sumter, Governor Ram- sey was in Washington. It is of authentic record that he hastened to the White House, and offered Lincoln the first of the volunteers upon whom the President depended during the period that followed. Word of the acceptance of this offer was flashed to St. Paul, and Ignatius Donnelly, 176 MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR 177 acting governor of the state, proclaimed to the boys of Minnesota that " Volunteers will be received at the city of St. Paul for one regiment of infantry to report to the ad- jutant general." To fill the ranks of that First Regiment citizens of St. Paul, St. Anthony, and Stillwater laid down their tools and rallied on the parade ground of old Fort SneUing, which had been selected as the rendezvous. The first regiment leaves. — Two months of eager prep- aration and drill were intermingled with gala-day oc- casions. On the latter the women of the cities vied with each other in deeds of generosity to the boys. The men gave regal entertainment to Colonel Gorman and his followers, under the trees of the Nicollet Island picnic ground. After the advice " to avoid whisky," and '' to rub hard soap into your stockings before pulling them on for a long march," with numberless private injunctions, had been fully appreciated, the First, clad in '^ black felt hats, black trousers, and red shirts," marched away to the boat which was to carry them down the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien. There they were transferred to the rail- road cars for the journey to the south. Thousands for defense. — The Second Regiment, gath- ered from many towns in the southeastern part of the state, filled the vacancy at Fort Snelling until it too went to do its part. Then followed thousand upon thousand, until eleven regiments of infantry, two companies of sharp- shooters, a regiment of heavy and two batteries of light artillery, two regiments and two battalions of cavalry, a detachment of engineers, and seventy-two colored men who joined various negro regiments, — in all more than 22,000 men, — had volunteered to help Father Abraham '' preserve the Union at any cost." STORY OF MINN. — 12 178 MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR The Minnesota forces were employed chiefly in the lower Mississippi Valley. The Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth regiments of infantry served in the Gulf country, especially at the taking of New Orleans and Mobile. The Sixth Regiment passed part of its time in the fever swamps of Arkansas, watching for the enemy, while malaria, a fiercer foe, was sweeping away its men, before joining the move- ment against the Gulf cities. The Second Regiment, after taking its full share in the battle of Chickamauga, under General Thomas, marched with Sherman to the sea. The Eighth was first active in the western campaign, then joined also in the famous journey. Two batteries of light artillery, one regiment of heavy artillery, and Brackett's battalion of cavalry were engaged in the west, the last named being pitted against the Confederate General Forrest. Meanwhile the First Regiment was winning laurels in the Army of the Potomac. In the Peninsular Cam- paign, and later at Gettysburg where it repelled a charge that threatened serious damage to the Union forces, at the cost of over half its number, the regiment brought glory to its state and the nation. Besides this regiment, two companies of sharpshooters served in the eastern campaigns. The soldiers and the Sioux. — Although no one feels that the Civil War was anything but a calamity to this nation, many admit that even the cloud of conflict prevented a more serious disaster in Minnesota. No sooner was the MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR 179 war fairly under way than the Sioux burst forth in revolt. Had there not been forces equipped and ready to move, the Indians might have been able to carry out their plan of raid- ing the Twin Cities and other places that they hoped to reach. As it was, the regiments that were being organized were able to contribute part of their forces to aid in defense of the border. Two companies of the Second Regiment LiBBY Prison. were thus engaged. The Third Regiment almost entire, re- leased from Libby Prison, where it had been since the battle of Murfreesboro, bore the brunt of the fighting at Wood Lake. Three companies of the Fifth, several com- panies of the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth respectively, were in the various skirmishes and marches, and aided in the garrison details which the emergencies called forth. Besides these, Brackett's battalion of cavalry was used in the Sibley campaign. As the nation honored the military leaders that the Civil War developed, — Grant, Garfield, Hayes, and others, — l8o MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR SO Minnesota rewarded her officers. Stephen Miller, WiUiam R. Marshall, and Lucius F. Hubbard, colonels, were governors after the war. Counties were named after Marshall and Hubbard, and after the gallant Alexander Wilkin who was killed in battle. In the Capitol there are statues of Hubbard, Wilkin, and Colonel Colville of the First Regiment. To gain a more definite idea of the fortunes of war as they were viewed by the boys of Minnesota, we must read the many volumes of stories and reminiscences that have been published. It is not out of place here, however, to quote from a letter sent home to Minnesota by a soldier who served his country during the entire time of the war. He joined the Second Regiment at Fort Snelling in the summer Of 1861, and was soon on the river. His lirst im- pression of the life of a soldier is given in these words : " We are here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We landed last night at six o'clock, and I must say the route has been one of the most touching scenes (especially here) that I have ever witnessed. As we were marching on the side- walks, what could we hear but the shouts of the people, the ' God bless you,' and the ' Good-by, soldiers,' and the top-off when hundreds of little girls would reach out their hands and say, ' Good-by, soldiers.' This is a nice place.'* But the more serious side of war is presented in the follow- ing extracts from letters sent home during the war : " It is a funny sight to see the boys along toward night on the march. They have a fancy gait, — some go on one leg, some on their toes, and some on their heels, some in their stocking feet, some barefoot, — not because they are lame, but for effect, you know ! " " We have to carry forty pounds per man, the tramp to MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR l8l be Hflecn miles per day. I was about whipi)e(l in twelve miles. There were a hundred who fell out of our regiment. As soon as we arrived we heated some water in a cup, and had a little coffee and hard bread, which constituted our supper." '' We have been travehng six days and have made only sixty miles, — mud up to our ankles. The first thing when we stopped would be to get some wood, the next to get some straw and leaves for our beds, then stake out our tents, then eat our supper, then go to bed." '' A person must be very tough and hardy to stand the hardship of marching by day and sleeping on a board, a little hay, or the ground." '' Edgar is sleeping by my side, dozing off the effects of twenty-four hours of picket duty in the rain. There are two men under arrest for sleeping on post. They will be shot, I suppose." " There is no need to tell you that I have been off the hooks for three weeks with the blue jaundice as they call it, — not so but I could be around all of the time and help fight. I have only weighed 135 pounds ; but I am feehng well now. If a fellow is sick here and has any appetite whatever, he has to eat stufT that a well stomach can hardly digest, or go to the sutler's and pay four times what the article is worth. I bought a little tea to-day at the rate of $2 a pound, some butter, crackers, and everything at the same rate." " The climate here has a weakening effect on the northern constitution. Most everyone complains of being so weak that he can hardly stand up. It may be owing to our diet. A person cannot sit down and eat a full meal, or he will be sick for a week." 1 82 MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR ^' We have breakfast at 5 : 30, and no dinner but what a person takes in the shape of hard bread to be munched between meals, and supper some days at 3 and sometimes at 8, just as it happens." '' Dinner consists invariably of bouillon, which we hardly ever touch, and sometimes good beef. Bill of fare : Break- fast, — coffee, fried pork, hard bread ; dinner, — bouillon, made of pork, and a few beans put in ; supper, — coffee, pork, and hard bread." '^ Those who have been sick and had to go to the hospitals and then come back to the company are good for nothing, and generally get sick on the first day's march." '' I do not want you to take this as complaining of poor food. For myself I fare as well as I expected, and am as contented here as I was in Minnesota." " There must be as many as four or five letters on the road for me, but I cannot imagine where. Some still think that we shall get our back mail. I hope so, for it does seem so good to get a letter from you. If anything in the world will encourage a soldier, it is word from home." " This (the battle of Shiloh) has been the greatest battle fought, and you would think so to have seen and heard as much as I have since we came here. I have been around day after day, but suppose that I have not gone over one tenth of the ground yet. From 25 to 75 die every day of their wounds, and still there seem as many as ever." '^ Dear mother, I am one of the few that still follow the riddled flag. Thirty-eight out of a hundred and eighty-five were killed or wounded. One ball passed through my blouse by my elbow, and several passed so close to my head as to be anything but comfortable. I never knew what it was to be tired before we made those two charges. The MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR 183 order came to charge, which was done with a yell seldom heard. Was it possible ? It was an open field where the enemy could have fair play at us with their cannon and muskets, both at the same time, both at the top and at the bottom of the Ridge (Missionary Ridge). But minding it not, we pushed forward to the first works, which gave us a shelter from their deadly missiles that came from the top. ' Forward ! March ! ' was given, which every man promptly obeyed by jumping the works and giving a yell at the same time. As soon as fifty men had reached the top we made another charge and captured a battery. But it took a half hour's hard fighting before they would consent to give it up. Still another charge was made, with the same effect and the same resistance. Down the hill they went, helter-skelter, leaving us in possession of the Ridge. The next day we pursued Bragg." Thus the men of Minnesota took their part in the war. To meet the shock of battle, to bear the pain of the long marches, to suffer from fever and exposure, — this was their lot. With courage and determination they faced each danger, and wrote to their friends such messages as this : '' I will help till the thing is over if it takes five years. You may think that's getting patriotic, but it's the truth. We might as well fight them now as to fight them five years from now, which we will have to do if it is settled by a compromise. When they are once whipped, — one nation. None would like to go home more than I would, but I am bound to do my duty and bound to be in the front rank, if there is any fighting going on." That this was not an idle boast is proved by the fact that the sender of the message was made a first lieutenant soon after the letter was written. 1 84 MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR So we see that Minnesota made a worthy contribution to every branch of the service, sending in all, according to the report of the adjutant general, 22,018 boys (the average age was nineteen), of whom 14,775 were infantry, 3,975 cavalry, 2,448 artillery, and 820 unassigned, including engineers and some 70 negro volunteers. Of the number, 34 ofhcers and 601 enUsted men were killed in action, and 32 officers and 1,904 enlisted men died of disease. These casualties do not take into account those who died as the result of wounds, disease, or exposure, shortly after the close of the war. As has been indicated, most of the Minnesota boys were engaged in the western armies. Very properly the state has signalized their sacrifice by erecting monuments on the battlefields of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Chicka- mauga, and Missionary Ridge. Just as properly it could erect stones of fame to honor those who died on Arkansas fields or in Louisiana lowlands, whether by bullet or swamp fever ; and could raise monuments to the memory of those cheated of the worldly glory of battle, by the duties of camp or the rigors of the outpost. While these boys toiled to uphold the Union, their fathers and brothers at home were toiUng to build Min- nesota more compactly into that Union. Their mothers and sisters were supporting both soldiers and farmers, by equally hard toil and hearty sympathy. For all, the united nation is the best monument. SUMMARY Minnesota had an important part in the Civil War. She was the first to offer a regiment to Lincoln. This regiment played a brave part at Gettysburg. MINNESOTA IN THE CIVIL WAR 185 Ten other regiments, besides cavalry, artillery, and engineers, con- tributed to the success of the generals in the west, and also aided Sherman on the march to the sea. The spirit of the soldiers was revealed in their letters. QUESTIONS I. What was IMinnesota's share in the Civil War? 2 What traits are revealed by the letters of the Minnesota sol- diers? REFERENCES Minnesota in the Civil and the Indian War. — State Publication, 1889. Letters to his Mother. — E. \. Dickey, First Lieutenant, Company I, Second Regiment. Report of the Adjutant General. CHAPTER XVI TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS Courageous reports. — Not even the stress of civil war or the terror of Indians could stop the progress of Minnesota. In fact, at the very time when Grant was harassing Lee before Richmond, St. Anthony and Minneapolis were calmly issuing the first annual report of their manufacturing and commercial achievements. This report showed what had already been done to use the water power, and what was being contemplated, — namely, the construction of a great plank apron to prevent the falls from moving farther up the river, or from becoming rapids on account of the destruction of the rocky shelf over which their waters poured. In that report was advertised the health-giving cli- mate of Minnesota, a climate good for those " suffering from pulmonary troubles." At the same time the beauty of river and lake, prairie and forest, upland and valley, by their rich variety invited the pleasure seeker and coaxed the investor. The investors would vindicate every advertisement sent eastward and abroad, no matter in how glowing terms it was written. Such courage and energy increased the population of the state from 172,000 to 250,000, between i860 and 1865. Great advancement. — When the anxiety of the war had ended, and the undivided energy- of the state was free i86 TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS 187 to work for the happiness of its people, Minnesota took another long leap forward. Returning soldiers, some with savings from their scanty pay, were glad to receive employ- ment in the shops of the towns, or become, after the man- ner of their parents who had developed the eastern part of the state, pioneers on the farthest western margin. Thus the prophecy was proved untrue that soldiers, used to the somewhat loose order of the camp, would become a disturb- ing element in a community that desired progress and de- manded hard and constant work, in order to insure pros- perity. With these soldiers came many comrades from other states. And behind all these came more from what had been the far west a few years before, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Finally the Scandinavians, urged by an immigration society that was determined to see a good class of people settled within the state, came by thousands. By these additions and the natural birth rate, the population of the state increased during the next five years to nearly 450,000, of whom 160,000, or 35 per cent were foreign born. In the following three years 100,000 more were added, and in 1873 there were in Minnesota nearly 40 per cent of foreign born. Many of these settlers wxnt to the Red River Valley, opened in 1863 by treaty with the Chippew^as. Thrifty settlers. — These Germans and Scandinavians were stanch, thrifty, and progressive. That all but one person in eighteen could read and write, despite the poor school facilities, according to the census of 1870, proves something as to the worth of these immigrants. Still more impressive is the report of the superintendent of instruction, for 1872. (See page 188.) 1 88 TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS Number of persons of school age 180,000 Number atlending school 125,000 Number of teachers 4,712 Average monthly wages of teachers $31 Number of schoolhouses 2,470 Number built m 1872 229 Amount expended for schools $990,900 The newcomers were industrious, intelligent, and reli- gious. Wherever they went they established churches. Before church buildings could be constructed they gathered in sod or log cabins, often walking more than ten miles to attend the services. Ministers took charge of parishes containing sometimes five or six stations, where two or three families could be gathered together. Improvement in education. — It needs but a casual glance at the figures given above, after looking at the doleful report of Secretary Blakely on page 143, to convince any one that education in Minnesota had become a serious matter. Especially is it to be observed that the quality of teaching had vastly improved. Two more normal schools, one opened at Mankato in 1868, and one at St. Cloud in the following year, employing twelve skilled instructors, were training nearly 500 young men and women to raise the standard still higher. The University of Minnesota, reorganized in 1867 and placed in the care of Dr. William W. Folwell, was offering instruction in agricul- ture, engineering, law, and medicine, as well as sustaining the classical courses of the eastern colleges and support- ing a preparatory department. It had purchased an ex- perimental farm and had begun to suggest to the farmers of the state how to make the most of their holdings, for the least expenditure of time and money. TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS 189 In 1866 Carle ton College was established at Northfield, and a little later Hamline was reestablished at St. Paul. Macalester was also at St. Paul. Good leadership and the results. — Under the rule of such people it is no wonder that Minnesota progressed. She had given countless bales of fur to voyageurs and had made her Sibleys and Rices rich and powerful. Before the sighs of the fur traders over the dismal prospect of failing revenue had died away, she had begun to turn over money to lumber kings. She offered rich reward to the farmer who had risked his all and braved the rigors of pioneer life, who had taken his family into places remote from all the comforts that people prize, and had carried civilization far out into the Indian country. Wheat, oats, and corn, displacing buffalo grass, yielded in 1872 a total of 50,000,000 bushels, and brought Minne- sota near to the top of the list of grain-growing states. Led by Hennepin County, nearly forty counties affiliated in the State Agricultural Society, striving to carry the gospel of good seed and careful culture to the most remote community. The results of this energy are partly shown b}' the following table. Years Horses Cattle Sheep Hogs 1850 860 2,100 80 730 i860 1 7 ,000 96,000 12,600 104,000 1870 93,000 310,000 132,000 185,000 1871 114,000 330,000 1872 127,000 380,000 134,500 The faith of these settlers in the climate and in the produc- tive powers of the state is proved further by the fact that IQO TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS in 1872 they had planted 1,000,000 apple trees and had gathered 30,000 bushels of fruit. The farms thus faith- fully administered contained nearly 3,000,000 acres, worth about $50,000,000. Pioneer hardships. — The rigors of the earlier colonists in the eastern counties were repeated, but with added severity, on the western border, during these years after the Civil War, and indeed well on into the eighties. To fight for very life against the elements, to wonder where the next meal is coming from, to see the sick child die, helpless even to save it from pain, — a hardy race it takes to endure •'•L""(iii((_""A ''""'M<:S Settling the prairies — Morris, Minnesota, in 1871. these hardships. Vast treeless plains, stretching away on both sides from the Minnesota River, were easier to subdue for farm land than the stumpy forest ground, but the ease of cultivation was paid for dearly. Blizzards swept across the prairie, obliterating every trace of the faint trail. There were no fences, guideposts, or landmarks of any kind ; and many a victim was caught on the way from his house to his barn, and was buried beneath a deep drift, sometimes within a few feet of safety. Frost struck to the very bone of the traveler, costing him feet or hands. In those days the railroad was not much better equipped to contend with the blizzard than was the settler ; and often TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS 191 it had to abandon long stretches of track for months to- gether. Then the coal would give out, and Jack Frost would invade the little homes of the pioneers, driving them to bed for days at a time. If they had not taken this refuge, they would have lost their lives. Provisions were so low at times that the very cattle had to share their scanty rations with the householders. In these days of straight, high-graded roads, from which the snow blows away as fast as it comes ; of telephone lines ; of large houses near together, to which the mail carrier comes daily, it is hard to understand what a Minnesota winter in the sixties or seventies was like. The winter of 187 2-1873 brought the severest of these storms. Inexperienced settlers became lost on the prairie by hundreds, and those who survived suffered untold privations, in the days following the seventh of January of that year. Reports of the disaster, like most reports, were of course exaggerated ; but when the truth could be ascertained it was found that seventy had perished, and that a much greater number had been so frostbitten that they were maimed for life. Minnesota climate. — Such terrible experiences as these have led many old settlers to the belief that the climate of Minnesota was much more severe in the early days than it is at present, a view not substantiated by the weather records. Just as in any one season cold and warm waves alternate, so in a series of years there will be '^ open " winters, such as made Carver think that Minnesota was warmer than New England, followed by such severe weather as made Penicault write that Minnesota was colder than Canada. - The summer had its terrors as well. The fierce heat 192 TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS bore down heavily on the ill- ventilated houses, or rather shacks. The flies swept in through the unscreened windows by day, and the mosquitoes swarmed from the undrained marshes by night. Greatly exaggerated stories of torna- does and the real freaks of the high winds were so numerous that a cyclone cellar became almost a fad. Sometimes the rain swept through the leaky roof, to the depression of all the household. One woman records with amusement, after thirty years, the fact that her husband held a buffalo robe over her as she lay ill, to prevent the water from flood- ing her bed. Lightning sometimes destroyed in an instant the work of years ; or the prairie fire, started by Indians, by some careless traveler or the engine spark, swept away haystacks, machinery, and even the buildings of the settler. Now groves surround most farms to protect the dweUings from fierce wind or hghtning, and there are no longer open prairies to be fired. Houses are built snug and waterproof ; both the fly and the mosquito are in the way of extermination. It seems like a dream to believe that ills so grievous, yet so easy to conquer, could have been such a menace in the past. The grasshopper plague. — The most terrible scourge that befell Minnesota in these years came not of heat or cold, drought or flood, fly or mosquito, but from grasshoppers. Every old settler may forget many incidents relating to those commoner scourges ; he will never forget the moment when he stood watching that dark cloud approaching from the west. It came upon a bright spring day in 1873, when the wheat showed green in the sunlight. It came darker and darker, until it filled the air with milhons of buzzing grasshoppers, or rather locusts. Then, as people shut doors and windows to keep out the insects, the pests TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS 193 settled upon everything out of doors that had the remotest connection with vegetation, were it tender wheat or blankets airing on the clothesline. In less than an hour they had reduced the green fields to black deserts ; they had clipped the pastures to dust, and had spread devastation and dis- The grasshopper pest. may far and wide. That was the beginning of the grass- hopper time. No one of the plagues of Egypt could have been worse. The grasshoppers continued to spoil the crops and other possessions of the farmers at intervals until 1878. South- western Minnesota was most affected. Perhaps a line drawn north and south through Mankato, and a line west STORY OF MINN. 13 194 TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS from Glencoe would be fairly accurate eastern and northern boundaries, respectively, of the stricken district. Des- perate attempts were made to kill the young of the grass- hoppers. A favorite method was to drag over the field a piece of sheet iron on which tar had been plentifully smeared. The insects would jump up and get caught in the tar. Another scheme was to leave a strip of grass running through the plowed land for the young to mature in ; then to fire the strip. Still another plan was to dig a ditch and drive the pests into it. Some relief came to the settler through these and kindred plans, but not until the experi- ment station at the Agricultural College had concocted an insecticide were the hoppers conquered. During this time the state had been obliged to pay more than $30,000 in re- lief funds, to help those farmers who had suffered most to get a fresh start. Increase in manufacturing. — Meanwhile the sawmills had been busy. In the Stillwater district more than 200,000,000 feet of lumber were scaled in 1872, and in the Minneapolis district, including the upper Mississippi mills, about 150,000,000 feet. At Duluth about 7,000,000 feet more were being cut. This lumber was worth $500,- 000,000. Other manufacturing was slower in developing, but the flour mills, to the number of 208, were turning out a product valued at $7,000,000 annually, while the demands of the lumbermen and farmers for blacksmithing, harness, implements, wagons, and machinery created a value of $4,000,000. Houses, that were rapidly taking the place of the pioneer dugouts and shacks, were using nearly $2,000,000 worth of sash, doors, and furniture; and to supply the increasing population with shoes, Minnesota was making $500,000 worth a year. TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS 195 New centers. — Villages were springing up all over the state. Next to Hennepin and Ramsey counties, Winona County, with its city of the same name, showed the largest population. Faribault, Red Wing, Mankato, Stillwater, Rochester, Worthington, Owatonna, and Northfield were aspiring to become cities. North of St. Paul, Anoka and St. Cloud were almost the only places of distinction, except the settle- ment of Duluth which contained less than 5000 people, but was made fa- mous by James Proc- tor Knott's speech in the United States Senate in 1878. Amused by the dis- cussion over a pro- posed grant of land for a railroad to Duluth, among other things he said : ''Duluth! Duluth! But where was Duluth? Never in all my limited reading had my vision been gladdened by seeing the celestial word in print. ... I must have gone down to my grave in despair because I could nowhere find Duluth, had it not been for this map kindly furnished by the legislature of Minnesota. I find by reference to this map that Duluth is situated somewhere near the west- ern end of Lake Superior, exactly thirty-nine hundred miles from Liverpool. ... I have been under the impression Beginnings of Duluth. 196 TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS that in the region around Lake Superior it was quite cold enough for at least nine months in the year to freeze the smokestack off a locomotive. But I see it represented on this map that Duluth is situated exactly halfway between the latitudes of Paris and Venice. I have no doubt that Byron was trying to convey some faint conception of the delicious charms of Duluth when his poetic soul gushed forth : " 'Know ye the land of the cedar and vine, Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine ; Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit, And the voice of the nightingale never is mute ? ' " My constituents have no more interest in this bill than they have in the great question of culinary taste now per- haps agitating the public mind of Dominicans, as to whether the illustrious commissioners who recently left this capital for that free and enlightened republic would be better fricasseed, boiled, or roasted. . . . Shall I betray that trust (of the pubKc lands) ? Never, Sir ! Perish Duluth, rather ! Let the freezing cyclone of the bleak northwest bury it forever beneath the eddying sands of the raging St. Croix ! " The speech was received by the nation with delight. If to-day some one should plan to develop Captain Amundsen's new-found lands beyond the Antarctic Circle, he could not be made much more absurd than were the promoters of the railway to Duluth. Then, only the few farsighted ones could perceive that within a generation the city would take its place among the great ports of the world. Still fewer could see that the scattered villages of Minnesota would soon be joined by trunk railway lines. No one had dreamed TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS 197 that the isolated farmers would receive their mail every morning, do their errands by telephone, or their marketing by trolley. Then, a storm was a tragedy and below-zero weather a constant dread. In fact, it was supposed that the low temperatures were average temperatures. It did not take a settler long, however, to realize that blizzards and cold spells were so infrequent as to become lost in the The first lighthouse on Lake Superior. memory of a long season of weather rather temperate than arctic. Newspapers. — During the Civil War the increase of newspapers was remarkable. In 1857 there were only 76 weeklies and seven dailies; in 1866 there were 173 weeklies and nine dailies. WilHam R. Marshall had com- bined the Minnesotian and Times with the Press, and asso- ciated with him Joseph Wheelock, who for a half century was to be a leading, in many respects the leading editor of the northwest. In 1872 The Pioneer and the Press were 198 TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS combined under the name Pioneer Press. In Minneapolis the Tribune had been pubHshed for some time before the Pioneer Press bought it, together with the Evening Mail, also pubhshed in MinneapoUs. But the next year the Mail was sold and its name changed to the Evening Trib- une. Later a morning edition began to be published ; hence the now familiar name was revived. In 1867 H. P. Hall estabhshed the St. Paul Dispatch, to fight the Ramsey forces and help Ignatius Donnelly. But one morning the people of the state were surprised to learn that the paper had been sold to the Republicans, and had changed its politics over night. Hall, however, started the St. Paul Globe as a Democratic paper in 1878. It continued until 1905. There was a Journal, as there was a Tribune in Minneapolis, that made a vain struggle for life, but in 1878 the name was given to a new venture, which with several changes in administration has been permanent. In Duluth the first daily was born in 1880. During this period of expansion the daiUes increased in number in the smaller communities. There were in all more than 300 papers published in the state in the year 1878. SUMMARY Between 1865 and 1878, despite hardship, there was great advance- ment on the part of pioneers. The manufacturers of St. Anthony showed faith. A fine class of settlers continued to enter the state. Educational reports showed improvement. Some 3,000,000 acres of land were farmed. Settlers suffered from storm, heat, and grasshoppers. Manufacturing increased steadily. Duluth became known as a port. TRIALS OF THE PIONEERS 1 99 QUESTIONS 1. Does it take as much bravery to be a pioneer as it does to be a soldier ? 2. Why are Germans and Scandinavians good pioneers? 3. Why is it that severe weather or storms affect farmers less to- day than in the seventies? 4. What has helped to prevent loss from insects? 5. Why was Duluth so mirth-provoking? 6. How do newspapers help to develop a country? REFERENCES Reminiscences, Minneapolis Journal, Nov. 9, 19 13. — Frank Peterson, D.D. Lake Benton News {Files). Account of Pioneer Life, Minneapolis Journal. — Dr. J. S. Johnson. Speech of Proctor Knott in the United States Senate, 18/8. United States Census Reports. Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction. — Henry Burt. The Pioneer (Files). CHAPTER XVII THE RAILROADS Extent of railroad construction. — By 1872 great prog- ress had been made in railway construction. The St. Paul and Pacific railroad had reached Breckenridge and Sauk Rapids and approached close to St. Vincent. The St. Paul and Chicago, afterwards the Milwaukee and St. Paul, reached La Crescent. The Winona and St. Peter, taking the place of the Transit and building twenty miles a year, pulled a train to its western goal. The Southern Minnesota, using the old Root River franchise, crossed the state as far as Winnebago, and then was sold to the Milwaukee and St. Paul. The Minnesota Valley, becoming the St. Paul and Sioux City, was built to Worthington. The Lake Superior and Mississippi reached Duluth and leased itself to the St. Paul and Pacific. The Minnesota Central, on a grant to the Minneapohs and Cedar Valley, ran trains to McGregor, Iowa, and then sold out to the Milwaukee and St. Paul. The latter also bought the Hastings and Dakota, that had built from Hastings as far west as Glencoe. The Minneapohs and St. Louis was operating as far as Carver. Besides these, the Northern Pacific, organized by stockholders of the St. Paul and Pacific, had crossed the state from Duluth to Moorhead, before it began to operate the Lake Superior and Mississippi, the Minneapohs and St. Louis, and two 200 THE RAILROADS 20I short lines, — the Minneapohs and Duluth, built as far as White Bear Lake, and the Stillwater and St. Paul. It is clear from this resume that in 1872 there were four great systems : the St. Paul and Pacific, operating 881 miles ; the Milwaukee and St. Paul, 547 miles ; the Winona and St. Peter, 284 miles ; and the St. Paul and Sioux City, 188 miles ; which with their extensions and the smaller lines made a total mileage of more than 1900 miles for the state. Panic of 1873. — It seemed as though the fates had com- bined to vex the people of Minnesota. Besides the terrors of the weather and the insect plague, financial panic came once more. Overuse, especially in the years from 1868 to 1872, had stretched credit too far. Consequently busi- ness and industry suffered a blow from which they were long in recovering. The crash came in 1873. From that time to 1878 times were very hard. The onward rush of the rail- roads, which had built 350 miles of hne in the state in 1872, was nearly stopped, for during that five years only 87 miles of line were constructed. This fact would be sufficient to show the combined effect of the panic and grasshoppers. But in the records a disheartening tale of broken busi- ness and discouraged farmers is unfolded. Dependent still upon eastern capital managed through eastern financial agents, the west almost instantly felt the pull of the de- pression and suffered terribly. Railroad rates. — To add to the distress, the railroad companies, which had been given nearly a third of the state, to guarantee, as Governor Austin so well said, '' cheap trans- portation to both city and country," assumed the right to make their own rates. Not even the indignation aroused by the failure of the companies after they had received the state bonds was as great as the agitation caused by this 202 THE RAILROADS injustice. As early as 1870, protests were made in the party platforms against the practice of preventing compe'tition by consolidation of competing lines, and exacting extortionate rates for the transportation of freight and passengers. A call was issued to all men irrespective of past party affiliation, to ^' take the robbers by the throat." That railroads should under- take to grade grain, and favor certain patrons, was deemed a further cause for complaint at later gatherings. Still another cause was the discrimination against certain towns in the matter of rates. For in- stance, the rate on wheat from Owatonna to Wi- nona was 2.6 cents, but from Rochester, forty miles nearer Winona, it was 6 cents. Similarly, Owatonna shipped lum- ber for $18 a carload, and Faribault paid $29.50. It was expected that the legislature of 187 1 would pass the drastic legislation called for by Governor Austin. Said one paper : " Almost every other member had a bill to launch upon the subject." It promised to be the leading topic of the session. Railway commissioner's report. — The railway commis- sioner reported to the legislature of 1872 that the roadways Governor Horace Austin. THE RAILROADS 203 were frequently poorly constructed. They were often on sharp curves and unballasted with gravel or rock. The iron was inadequate to the task imposed upon it, in many cases being nearly worn out by rust. The bridges were of timber construction, even where stone was available. Such con- ditions existed despite the fact that these roads had been granted a total of nearly 12,000,000 acres of land, of which by 1872 they had sold more than $2,000,000 worth. They had received also municipal bonuses to the extent of about $2,500,000. They had shouldered upon the state the burden of meeting $2,275,000 in bonds, which it had allowed the first companies to issue at its expense. Against this state aid, companies in their reports to the commissioner admitted paying in only $20,000,000 capital. Governor Austin's stand. — Governor Austin, a pro- gressive before that word was in common use, suggested to the legislature that it remain firm in its effort to obtain justice for the people of the state. He asked that the legis- lature save the people from further usurpation of their rights. He declared that '' all companies local or now resi- dent" had "set at defiance the legislation of the two ses- sions concerning tariffs on railroad rates." This was the case notwithstanding that the legislature " had dealt considerately, allowing them rates that were as a rule liberal and sufficient." He was especially emphatic against the ungrateful attitude of the companies towards the cities. These cities, he said, paid '' hundreds of thousands of dollars to procure the construction of the roads, that they might enjoy cheap transportation and especially cheap fuel." The cities had been recently threatened with a fuel famine and " were still oppressed by prices beyond the reach of the poorer classes." He went on to say that, notwithstanding 204 THE RAILROADS this famine, the settler within an hour's ride of the cities was reaUzing " hardly enough on his wood to pay him for cutting and hauhng it to the station." In view of such an unpatriotic spirit on the part of men who asserted that they were the great developers of the country, Governor Austin proposed laws to prevent con- spiracies against trade. With a long look into the future, foreseeing still tighter railroad monopoly, he proposed the improvement of the waterways, especially the old Fox- Wisconsin River and Red River routes. The state is on the way, finally, to nulhfy the claim of the railroads that they ought to operate their lines as though these were private institutions, in the interests of their stockholders. This is due to the persistent efforts of a few such men as Austin, tb whom farmers and manufacturers and merchants alike owe a debt of lasting gratitude. Contest over rates and service. — In the ten years follow- ing, the contest was carried on with vigor on both sides. The state added to its laws for the restriction of rate- making and other powers assumed by the railroads. The companies kept the best legal talent busy, finding errors in the laws, through which they might escape regulation. Through their free pass and lobby pohcy, they achieved many a victory for themselves, within the very halls of the legislature. The steady opposition of Austin alone headed off the '' land grab " bill, designed to add to the already large gifts of the state, the lands set aside for internal improvements. One law classified freight and set a maximum passenger fare at five cents a mile. Another imposed a three per cent tax on the gross earnings of the land grant companies. Still another provided for a railroad commissioner to watch over the interests of the people. THE RAILROADS 205 Afterwards the number of commissioners was increased to three, with power to fix rates and compel the enforcement of the railroad regulations. These regulations were far- reaching. They included the furnishing of cars when requested, the reception of freight and the forwarding of it with reasonable dispatch, and the reasonable rental of necessary sidetracks for mills and factories. The railroads were to charge only such rates as were fixed by the commis- sioners and published for the information of the shippers. Laws were passed, making railroads responsible for fires along their lines and taxing warehouses on railroad property. Two cents a bushel was made the highest rate that might be charged for handling grain. The privileges of the com- panies were otherwise limited. In 1874 it seemed as if the state were rescued, — that farmer and business man alike were to be satisfied. Reaction in favor of the railroads. — Then came a re- action. The railways faced obligations that they could not meet. Two companies went into the hands of receivers, three failed to pay interest, and the rest assessed their stockholders. The time for testing radical legislation was unfortunately chosen. Commissioner Edgerton aroused indignation from the very people who had clamored for reform, by declaring that he had exacted sums from the Winona and St. Peter railway, amounting to $30,000 be- yond its proper credit. The papers of the state began to declaim against what they called a '' senseless railway war." So the law of 1873 was repealed and the Morse law substituted. The Morse law. — This abolished the commission of three, with its strong powers, and restored the single com- missioner with, as one man put it, '' clerical power of 2o6 THE RAILROADS gathering statistics and reporting to the governor." Many legislators opposed the principle of the change. They voted for it " only out of consideration for the impoverished condition of the railroads." The new law made it the duty of the commissioner to inquire into the neglect of the laws by the companies. He was to inspect each railroad with reference to safety, to report annually on its financial condition, and to make such recommendations as he saw fit. The officers of the rail- road companies were required to report to the commissioner annually, and to offer their books, papers, and employees for his examination. The companies were forbidden to charge one person or corporation more than another for equal service, and were forbidden to charge unreasonable rates. Unless it was out of " their power to do so " they were to furnish cars to all who applied, to receive and trans- port freight '' with reasonable dispatch," and to provide suitable facilities at any depot on their lines. Apparently this law was strict enough. As anyone may see, however, the word '' reasonable " and the limitation of '' their power to do so " made all the difference in the world. Besides, infractions of the laws were not made offenses against the state, but merely causes for civil actions. The cost of such action had to be borne by the individual, if he was defeated. In order to protect the farmer from the wasting of his grain en route, the railroads were required by another law to receipt for each carload of grain. At its destination the grain was to show not more than forty-five pounds de- crease in weight. This law was of great value to the ship- pers, but was counterbalanced by enactments favoring the railroads. For instance, a law authorized cities, counties, THE RAILROADS 207 and towns to issue bonds to aid railroad construction. An- other law gave two companies state swamp lands, and still others benefited the railroads in various ways. Opinions of the law. — The city papers indorsed the work of the legislature. The country papers generally believed that it '' had sold out to the companies." Gov- ernor Austin called the new law a " criminal piece of stupidity." Those who believed that, '' if let alone," railroad companies would be '' true fathers to the people and great empire builders," rejoiced over the outcome. Those who regarded the companies as servants of the state sorrowed. To a later generation, it seems unfor- tunate that between the extreme positions there should not have been a broad way along which all interests could have labored for the development of the state. Thus the constant interference with law and righteousness that the controversy caused might have been prevented. The grange. — The upheaval against the railroads and the reaction in their favor were parallel to the rise and de- cline of the grange. This organization originated with Oliver Kelley, a native of Boston who settled near Itasca in Sherburne County in 1849. ^^ 1S64 he was a clerk in the Department of Agriculture in Washington. In 1866 he was a special investigator, for the department, of the resources of the south. He became convinced that the farmers of the United States, without regard to party or section, ought to organize a national society. Such a so- ciety, he felt, would prevent the prejudices between north and south which he foresaw the war would leave, and would give agriculture a dignified standing in the country. In 1867, after a year on his Minnesota farm, he returned to Washington. There he organized a small group of men 2o8 THE RAILROADS into the National Grange of Patrons of Husbandry. This was modified later into a system by which local granges and state granges were organized. A circular was published in February, 1868, setting forth the social and educational advantages of the order. Kelley resigned his clerkship in order to give his time to the movement. Growth of the order. — The order grew slowly at first. In fact, on a tour westward to St. Paul, Kelley succeeded in organizing but one grange. He found in Minnesota the Farmers^ Union, a monthly journal, busily fostering the formation of farmers' clubs to cheapen the cost of insur- ance and provisions, through cooperation. This journal at once recommended the plan of the grange to its 10,000 readers. Kelley was not slow to seize this advantage, and in August he reported that granges were springing up in all parts of the state. This, however, was an over- enthusiastic statement. Until 1870 there were only 2>2> subordinate granges in the state, and only 36 in all. But after that year the order swept the country in one of those waves of feeling which are so characteristically American. By 1873 there were 22 state, and nearly 9000 subordinate granges, of which 358 were in Minnesota. " Cooperation," and " Down with Monopoly," were their stirring cries. They made the farmers, as one member said, ^' From the Potomac to the Rio Grande, from the Golden State to the Hudson, and even into the pineries of Maine and across the borders, throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion of Canada, fairly leap, as with one preconcerted bound, to the upholding of the grange standard." Grangers and the railroads. — It was this order which kept alive the agitation against railroad oppression and discrimination, and urged the laws of 1871 and 1873 to THE RAILROADS 209 which reference has been made. It brought to pass similar legislation in Wisconsin, Iowa, and other states where it had a powerful influence. Although after the hard times the order declined and has indeed never recov- ered its strength, it furnished a fine example of the power of the people to assert themselves. It should always be of interest to people in Minnesota, because of the leading part a Minnesotan took in its work, and the important place in the Union that he thereby gave his state. State advance- ment. — During the period of depression it must not be pre- sumed that Minne- sota made no ad- vance. The soil was too fertile, the forests too plentiful, the people too stalwart for even a combina- tion of pioneer hardships, grasshoppers, panic, and rail- road tyranny to hold them back. The expected yield of 30,000,000 bushels of wheat was not realized, but in 1873 there was some increase over the preceding crop, and in 1875 more than 30,000,000 bushels were harvested. Busi- ness strained hard to keep going, and it was too well backed by the natural resources of the state for even the eastern speculator seriously to embarrass it during more than a short period. Although the people of the state were concerned over such grievous questions as we have discussed, the population increased about one third between the years 1870 and 1875. Horse car of the Minneapolis street RAILWAY. STORY OF MINN. 14 2IO THE RAILROADS Progressive legislation. — Nor were the legislatures dur- ing the years from 1865 to 1873 altogether given over to railroad legislation. Through a useful body of law, pro- vided to further the above-mentioned and kindred interests, they did their share towards promoting the welfare of the state. In 1864 the legislature provided for further settle- ment of the state, by making the secretary of state, com- missioner of immigration ; by organizing a committee in each county to assist him ; and by appropriating at various times $20,000 for advertisements. Several times the legislature went to the aid of the set- tlers. In 1868 it gave the destitute people of the southwest counties $8000 ; in 1869 the sum of $5000 was appropriated for the flood victims of the Red River Valley. Again, as we have seen, it appropriated $30,000 to aid the victims of the grasshopper plague, in 1875. To assist in the rapid transportation of wheat, 300,000 acres were set aside for the improvement of the Cannon River in 1865, and Red Wing was allowed to borrow $3000 to improve the Minnesota. This plan, however, was proved impracticable by the rapid advancement of the railroads into the territory to be aided. Moreover the educational interests of the state were beginning to receive attention befitting their importance. The reports of the state superintendent of public instruc- tion, Mark H. Bunnell, constantly increased in cheer. The State University and the normal schools were begin- ning to provide energetic leaders for the various activities of the state. The legislatures gave much attention to the '' httle red schoolhouse," providing that school lands should not be sold for less than five dollars an acre, and making each township a school district. A state super- intendent was appointed in 1866. THE RAILROADS 211 Some notable leaders. — During this period two men of power served Minnesota in the governor's chair, William R. Marshall, 1866-1870, and Horace Austin, 1870-1874. Both were strictly honest and broad-minded men, caring rather to be loved by their neighbors than to accumulate wealth. They gave their energies without stint to the development of the young state. Marshall served as railroad commissioner after the close of his second term as governor. Of Austin enough has been said to show his zeal for good government. In the United States Senate the state was represented by Alexander Ramsey, the " war governor," who later became United States Secretary of War. Another Senator was Daniel A. Norton, who achieved fame by voting with the Democrats against the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. He was asked by the Republican legislature to resign, but refused either to resign or to answer the letter advising him of the vote. He has had to wait, hke John- son himself, for the fair judgment that reasonable people can give. A third Senator was WiUiam Windom, who, like Ramsey, was afterwards chosen for a President's cabinet. He was beloved by all who knew him. Ignatius Donnelly, heu tenant governor from i860 to 1863, attracted attention for the wit and eloquence which later made him a central figure in the Minnesota House of Repre- sentatives. Had it not been for an unfortunate contest with Representative E. B. Washburne of Illinois, during which he made a bitter speech in the national House of Repre- sentatives, he might have become a great political leader. As a novelist and scholar he won more than national fame. These were the best known of the men who gave the state either marked ability or true service in the years from i860 to 1878. 212 THE RAILROADS SUMMARY The grange led the people of Minnesota in their fight against the railroads. The railroads enjoyed great prosperity. They charged extortionate rates. Laws were passed to limit these rates. A reaction in favor of the railroads took place. A Minnesota man organized the grange. It spread over the northwest. It became a powerful political force. The state progressed, through : The extension of railroads. The organization of farmers. Good crops. Improved educational advantages. Strong leadership. QUESTIONS 1. Tell why Governor Austin was a valuable citizen of Minnesota. 2. What was the grange? Why was it organized? Does it still exist ? 3. Who were the leaders of this period? REFERENCES Report of Railway Commissioner for 18/2. Railway Legislation in Minnesota. Message to the Legislature in 1872. — Gov. Horace Austin. Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. CHAPTER XVIII A WIDER HORIZON Minnesota known. — Minnesota continued to grapple with pioneer hardship, financial distress, and the difficulties of transportation, through the seventies. Then began another era of expansion. Good crops, renewed confidence, increased immigration, and the discovery of iron ore in the great northern section brought the state into world- wide fame. The Duluth with which Proctor Knott had amused the United States Senate became a harbor that many a Senator would have been glad to own. The Twin Cities, fighting merrily with each other to make the best possible showing in the census returns, became resorts for tourists who had exhausted the resources of the world in scenes of activity as well as of natural beauty. St. Paul, the capital, was the headquarters of several railway sys- tems, and a jobbing center ; and Minneapolis was the greatest flour and lumber-producing city in the world. Both left a lasting impression on the mind of every one who visited them in the years which we are now to discuss. The wonderful Mississippi gorge between Winona and the Twin Cities, especially Lake Pepin where the French had so persistently settled in the old Indian trading days, appeared in many a geography and guidebook. The Red River Valley was a name suggestive of wealth. The great pine forests, occupying the major portion of the state, excited the awe of every one who gazed upon them. By 213 214 A WIDER HORIZON 1892 Minnesota people were beginning to realize what the great resources of climate, soil, timber, minerals, and water power were capable of doing for the multitudes to settle within the state. Further settlement. — Two tides of immigration have been mentioned, that of the fifties, and that following the Civil War. Before 1858 fifty-seven of the eighty-six counties into which Minnesota is now divided had been organized, chiefly those of the southeastern portion. In the years between 1858 and 1892, twenty- three more, for the most part along the upper Minnesota and Red rivers, were organized. The second tide of immigration swept over the southwestern counties, and on up into the rich Red River Valley, where, from the days of the Pembina settlers, ' hardy pioneers had been gradually making the world beUeve that the stories of Lord Selkirk's agents were not false after all. To this valley, as well as to the district farther south, we have seen that the state had had to send relief. Before the census of 1890, however, a '' boom," enthusiastic but sane, made this valley the coveted goal for a great crowd of settlers. Bonanza farming. — Hundreds of acres, easily obtained and easily farmed, were held by single individuals, most of whom had httle or no money. It was possible for a man to preempt a quarter section, make a homestead thereupon, and take another quarter for a tree claim. Thus he could obtain nearly five hundred acres, if he would only keep the simple faith which the government demanded, — live on his land and make a few improvements. So level is the land that a story was current of a man who started to plow in the morning, ate his dinner at the end of the furrow, and then, plowing another furrow, returned to his house A widi:r horizon 215 in time for the evening chores. Tragic tales of a man getting lost on his own farm, and spending the night wander- ing about in a circle, frightened by the howl and the glinting eyes of the prairie wolves were heard or read. Often, in one season, a man reaped enough wheat or flax to pay for an adjoining quarter or half section. At the same time many a farmer grew discouraged, and returned to the east to tell wild tales of adventure with wind and poverty, and to enjoy the small but snug returns of his labor in " a civilized country." But for every such one, a Harvesting wheat in the Red River Valley. 2l6 A WIDER HORIZON hundred went to get their famihes and urge their relatives to go back with them, before it was too late to ^' take up land " and get rich in the " granary of the world." The famous blizzard. — In 1880 came the famous October blizzard, still referred to, almost tenderly, as the worst storm in the memory of the settlers who experienced its rigors. In fact, the gentle- ness of the climate of Minnesota could be empha- '--r- sized in no better way than by de- scribing the won- der with which they viewed the blizzard, — as did the people of London the freezing over of the Thames River in the seventeenth century. Never since has that river frozen hard enough to permit the erection of buildings on the ice ; never since the October blizzard has traffic in Minnesota been so seriously interfered with. But for weeks of that winter the western towns could get no coal or provisions from over the railroads. In some places the snowdrifts covered the telegraph wires. A WIDER HORIZON 217 One newspaper of the period congratulated its subscribers on the fact that their town had a good mill, for other- wise they would have starved. It was forced to issue several numbers on wrapping paper borrowed from the stores. To his fellow editors the owner of this paper an- nounced a policy that is not always disregarded in good times. He bade them not to issue such bare sheets, even if there was no news to be had, saying : " Make up some- thing, gentlemen; no sin in it, these days." Census returns. — The census returns tell the story of the wonderful growth. The expansion of the railroads and the Twin Cities " do the same tale repeat." In 1880 the population of Minnesota was about 800,000 ;' in 1890 it had reached 1,300,000. The farm products for 1890 included: Wheat (bushels) 52,000,000 Oats " 50,000,000 Corn '* 25,000,000 Barley " 9,000,000 Flax " 4,000,000 Hay (tons) 3,000,000 Swine 9,000,000 Cattle 1,400,000 To show how well-founded were the claims of the Minne- sota advertisers of this period, it is sufficient to compare these figures with the following for 1868 : Wheat (bushels) 15,000,000 Oats " 9,000,000 Corn " 4,000,000 Barley " 32,000 Flax " 71,000 Potatoes " 2,000,000 Hay (tons) 108,000 2l8 A WIDER HORIZON The value of the land increased correspondingly. The average price of wild prairie land rose from $io to more than $13 an acre, and railway land that was worth $2.50 in 1880 was selling easily at $5 in 1890. The crop belts. — One of the most interesting phases of the development is the division of labor between the two agricultural portions of the state, the southeastern and the western -northwestern. By the beginning of the period, the farmers of the earliest settled portion of the state had be- come convinced that their land was worn out, so far as its ability to produce wheat was concerned. Indeed, from an average of eighteen bushels to the acre the state yield had fallen to thirteen, and many dismal failures had oc- curred. So it was forced upon the farmers that they must put cattle upon their land. Hence, while the new land of the western part was advertising Minnesota as a wheat state, these men were building cooperative creameries. The yield of butter increased from 12,000,000 pounds in 1875, to 16,000,000 pounds in 1880; and ten years later the government reports recorded 27,000,000 pounds. So Minnesota earned her title of the " Bread and Butter State." We learn from the state records that in 1890 great corn and barley and dairy counties were Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Martin, Olmsted, Mower, Wright, and Winona; and that Brown, Douglas, Kandiyohi, McLeod, Marshall, Meeker, Nicollet, Norman, Ottertail, Renville, Sibley, and Stearns, — counties on the upper Minnesota and Red rivers, — were each credited with more than a million bushels of wheat. Great potato counties were Anoka, Chisago, Hen- nepin, Isanti, and Washington. Thus the state was being marked out in districts, each taking advantage of its soil, A WIDER HORIZON 219 climate, market, and other conditions that govern agricul- tural production, to make the best showing. Prizes. — The World's Fair at Chicago, in 1893, pro- vided an opportunity for Minnesota to exhibit the fruit of her industry. She took full advantage of it. When the premiums were awarded, her 300 displays of cereals had yielded her 200 prizes, her flour 60, her cattle 48, her horses 50, and her poultry 21. Another railroad boom. — The railroads, recovered from their financial troubles, began a second era of expansion. Before the end of the period that we are discussing, the locomotive had reached nearly every farmer in the state. In all, about 2000 miles of line were constructed. The Northern Pacific railway in 1887 reached the Pacific coast, and its president, Henry Villard, was honored in Minne- sota by an immense parade of floats, military organizations, and citizens. With its offices and shops at St. Paul, and several division points on its main line and on various branches, it was regarded as a Minnesota institution, even though its capital was largely eastern. The old St. Paul and Pacific had become the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba, and as such was serving the Red River Valley as well as the upper Minnesota country. Then it was re- organized, and under the presidency of James J. Hill realized the ambitions of its first promoters by becoming a true Pacific line, for it reached the western coast in 1890. The Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul was operating three divisions, like the spokes of a wheel, out of Minne- apolis : the river division to Chicago, the Iowa and Min- nesota to Austin and southward, and the Hastings and Dakota to Big Stone Lake. Its southern Minnesota division had extended far out on to the Dakota prairies. 220 A WIDER HORIZON The St. Paul and Sioux City, renamed the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha, had joined forces with the Chicago and North Western. This controlled the old Winona and St. Peter, and hence operated from the Twin Cities, one line through Mankato to the southern border, and another from Chicago through Winona and Mankato to the western border. With these four larger system.s, four other companies were beginning to compete, in the late eighties. The Second suspension bridge at Minneapolis. Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie was organized by Twin City men, with the aid of the Canadian Pacific, to offset the rate-making of the '' Chicago companies." It built through Minneapolis, eastward and westward to junctions with the Canadian Pacific in Michigan and North Dakota. The Minneapolis and St. Louis was operating the '^ Albert Lea Route," and a line to Watertown, South Dakota. The St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Kansas City, which later became the Chicago Great Western, was running trains through the older settled portion of the state. The St. Paul and Duluth was doing a flourishing business, especially in hauling coal from the great docks at Duluth A WIDER HORIZON 221 to the Twin Cities. These eight companies were pros- perous, not only because they shared in the labors of the farmers of the state, but also because, owing to the sym- pathy aroused by their reverses in 1873, they were in little danger of being curbed further by state regulations. New towns. — Towns sprang up as if by magic along these lines, each presenting to the eye of the traveler a row of elevators and warehouses, a flour mill parallel to the track, and two rows of busy stores facing each other on Main Street, which usually crossed the track at right angles. On almost any day the tourist might see dozens of teams of farmers, whose preemptions, homesteads, or tree claims, given by the government, or lands sold by the real estate agent from $2 to $5 an acre, were now worth from $25 to $50 an acre. These teams were an indication of the business transacted in a village that appeared merely to have paused in a certain spot long enough to meet its im- mediate engagements, before going on to a new location. Moving villages. — And, indeed, many a village had moved in from an early settlement. In order to take advantage of the railroad it had wheeled its houses, stores, and churches to the railroad, almost as unconcernedly as a pushcart man in a city goes from corner to corner. Some- times fierce county-seat wars occurred, when an old estab- lished trading post like Lac qui Parle, unfortunate enough to be left off the line, persisted, against hope, in holding the county records. Madison's army. — In 1886, an election had decided that Madison was to be the seat of Lac qui Parle County, instead of the old village. Not only sentiment, but the desire to benefit by the business that a county seat enjoys, made the villagers vow never to give up their historic 2 22 A WIDER HORIZON privilege without a struggle. It was rumored over the county that a fierce battle might be expected, since the citizens of Lac qui Parle were armed. Madison laid its plans well. Word was sent to its sup- porters in the contest, and on an appointed day hundreds of men and teams were ready to march. The defenders were so overcome by the superior force that they dared not resist. So, much against their will, they saw the records loaded on wagons and started for the new county seat. These were followed in a short time by the court- house itself, raised on wagons, and moving slowly along amid shouts of triumph. A second procession set out from Madison to meet the ^' army " and escort it into the village, where a great celebration of the event took place. More often the matter was decided by the calm method of the ballot, and little bitterness was aroused. But the state is dotted with forsaken settlements, marked even vet by some token of their greatness, — a town hall now used as a barn, a " college " building, a public square, an old church or schoolhouse or imposing mansion in the style of the fifties, — signs of the " paper towns " that were to be projected into cities by the gallant promoters of the period preceding the crash of 1857. Divided towns. — Sometimes two or more rival real es- tate firms would organize towns within a mile of each other, and these would fight like the gingham dog and the calico cat, until, by the grace of the railroad, one would swallow the other. Or tne railroad would insist upon one town site, the inhabitants upon another. Whereupon an ''upper" and '^ lower " town would develop, with the station and elevators a mile away from the post oftice and stores, a A WIDER HORIZON 223 mile felt keenly by any one who arrived on a dark cold night and missed the omnibus that was to carry him to the " Central House " or the '' City Hotel. " This uncer- tainty continued through the eighties, but by 1892 the people of the state had generally decided what was to be or not to be, in the matter of village building. X tahVflW'^ w. ^vf^^lUff^ 44£ Logs on the way to the sawmill. Lumber conditions. — During this period Minnesota, as well as setthng down to this rural peace, approached the climax of her career as a lumber producer. Since 1840 she had been making a steady advance into the great timber country north of the Rum River, and that stream had been bearing the giant logs to the Minneapohs boom. Similarly, the St. Croix had been supplying the mills at Stillwater with the apparently inexhaustible pine. By 224 A WIDER HORIZON 1892 Stillwater and Minneapolis had rivals in Milaca, Anoka, and St. Cloud, and even more pronounced, in Little Falls and Brainerd, more than a hundred miles farther up the Mississippi. Indeed, the very heart of the forest country was being pierced. The mills on the upper Mississippi cut, in 1892, over 100,000,000 feet of lumber, as against 500,000,000 feet for the eighteen Minneapolis Hauling logs in norihern Minnesota. mills, and 172,000,000 feet for those of the Stillwater district. Waste of resources. — This was also the period of great timber waste. It must be plain to all that certain land is too poor in soil to produce anything but pine and other evergreens. Often one can scarcely step between the great bowlders with which it is strewn. Certainly this land should never have been stripped of all its trees. The small ones should have been left, as they are left in Germany and other A WIDER HORIZON 225 European countries, to develop into log timber. But on the plea that taxes were too high, lumbermen, even million- aires made a clean sweep, leaving behind them stumps and piles of slashings, or top branches. These would catch fire and cause destruction to millions of feet of good timber. Hence northern Minnesota was spotted with districts as desolate as any place on earth, due in large measure to lumbermen's greed, although the careless settler and camper, as well as the locomotive, must bear their full share of blame. Settling cut-over land. — Into the midst of this desolation went the pioneers. They gathered together the half- burned trees, grubbed out the obstinate pine stumps, and on little clearings that gradually expanded into goodly farms began to raise crops of hay and potatoes. It was a slow, toilsome process, and the settler, like his father on the prairie, underwent severe hardship before he reaped a harvest. To be sure, he always had wood to burn, and the timber kept out the fierce winds ; but on the other hand, the market was distant and the road so poor that the food supply was too often exhausted. To walk twenty or thirty miles, sometimes through a bog for a great por- tion of the way, carrying a heavy pack of provisions on his back, was the lot of many a backwoods farmer in those days, as it is still in the farthest north. Only the old voyageur could have sympathized with him. Then, if a man could be lost on a prairie what about the pathless woods? The pile of bones found by some later traveler would tell the tale of terrible adventure, and of death from wolves or hunger. Yet despite all of these perils and tortures, the forest boundary was beaten back for nearly a hundred miles. By STORY OF MINN. — 1 5 226 A WIDER HORIZON 1892 the district south of a Hne drawn through Brainerd, that, save for a few river settlements, was an unknown country twenty years before, had been added to the agri- cultural portion of the state. An iron state. — The chief interest in this period, how- ever, is in the development of mining on the Vermilion and Mesabi ranges. That Minnesota would provide liber- ally for the prospector had been believed for many years. But strange to say there was little faith in the stories of iron-finding until 1865, despite the fact that the Marquette country had been producing iron since 1850. It was 1882 be- fore a company was organized to develop a find near Tower. Prof. Newton H. Winchell, state geologist, in 1878 gave the definite information upon which the company depended. Before this time, companies had been organized in various localities, to dig or wash the gold they imagined, or induced a few investors to believe was to be had for the same faith and courage that had won wealth for the " forty-niners " in California. The Watab Gold and Silver Mining Company organized in 1867, the Home Gold and Silver Mining Company of Wabasha in 1868, the Bristol Silver Mining Company in 1879, the Florence Mining and Silver Company in 1878; these, with the Zumbro Lead Mining Company in 1868, and the Taylor's Falls Copper Mining Company in 1874, are found fisted in the secretary of state's record of corporations. Until 1882, however, the people of Minnesota had no conception of the real wealth of the rugged height of land whence the waters flow northward to Hudson Bay, eastward to the Atlantic, and southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Developing the iron industry. — It was not long, however, before the Vermilion Range was known to all steel manu- A WIDER HORIZON 227 facturers, and in 1890 the United States census gave Minne- sota fifth place among iron-ore producing states. In 1892, the famous Mesabi Range began to supply the Pennsylvania furnaces with the ore that has made Minnesota famous around the world, — but that is another story. It is sufficient to point out here that the Vermihon develop- ment projects brought an immense district to the knowl- edge of the rest of the state, and bound it by railroads to the agricultural portions. Two Harbors and Duluth began to do a flourishing business in docking and loading ore. The latter grew, in ten years, from a shipping village into one of the greatest ports in the world. Here, then, were three great industries working together to give Minnesota a name in the world — agriculture, lumbering, and mining. We shall see in our next chapter how they have continued to labor side by side, a mighty trinity, to pour forth the wealth of the state, to the advan- tage of the world as well as herself. The farmer at church. — One of the prettiest pictures of pioneer life is that of the farmer in his church. Often he had to travel more than ten miles to attend service; but he and his family, including the baby, cheerfully made the trip nearly every Sunday. After a hard week's work it was difficult to prepare for this journey, for there were chores to be attended to on Sunday as well as on other days. The persistence with which farmers continued these weekly journeys is characteristic of the zeal that was making Minnesota. They could give only their interest, and their labor to build churches, and a very little money, with some products, to support the pastor ; but these they gave as they were able. The home missionary. — The pioneer home mxission- 2 28 A WIDER HORIZON ary, also, who could accept the meager salary and perform the strenuous labor that was demanded of him, 'is a figure that must forever loom large in pictures of the state devel- opment. To travel thousands of miles, sometimes by ox team, sometimes by hand car, sometimes on foot, in the course of his ministrations, and to travel in all kinds of weather, and over all kinds of roads, was in itself a task worthy of mention. To share with the pioneer farmer his dugout, heated by hay in the evening, very far from warm in the early morning ; or to compose his sermon in the midst of the confusion of a border hotel, and then to encourage the churches which were rapidly being organized, — this took men of broad sym- pathies and foresight. Sometimes it was necessary, for lack of church buildings, to preach in claim shanties, railroad stations, or stores ; but this did not prevent the various denominations from making consistent growth in the pioneer period. Social side of the church. — Now there are devices to make life on the farm enjoyable : the free mail delivery, the telephone, the phonograph, near neighbors, and progressive villages that afford most of the pleasures, if these are not so elegant as those of the city. Then the church had a social use that was excuse enough for its being, be- sides its purpose of strengthening the morality of the com- munity. It brought together, to worship and for social meetings, people who otherwise would not have been able to see one another except on rare occasions. So it fostered an intercourse and a mutual understanding among neighbors that were felt in many ways. Besides exerting this social influence, the church contributed also to the intellectual Hfe of the community, through the rehgious discussions A WIDER HORIZON 229 that it aroused, through the study of Biblical literature that it demanded, and through the free use of its buildings for lectures of various kinds. Scandinavian churches. — In the establishment of Augsburg Seminary in 1878, we see evidence of the in- creasing importance of the Scandinavian church work. The zeal with which the immigrants hastened to establish their religion in their new home is not surpassed in history. When the pastor of a large parish — and a parish might be over a hundred miles square — could not visit his people on Sunday, they would gather on a Tuesday or Friday, as the case might be. When he could not visit them weekly they would save for him their weddings, their christenings, and even their troubles ; and he would make a grand reckon- ing of all when he could get to the village. So the faith and earnest religion that has entered so largely into the making of the state was kept alive. SUMMARY Minnesota enjoyed great expansion of its industries. Farming was carried on with zeal. The soil was studied, and only what was profitable was produced. The railroads were extended far into the grain country. Towns and villages vied with one another to procure trade. The state led in the production of lumber, and it became known for its iron. QUESTIONS What is ''bonanza farming"? Of what advantage is it for a village to be the county seat ? How is timber wasted? What are the especial dangers of life in the woods ? Locate the Vermilion and Mesabi ranges on the map. What are the qualities demanded of a pioneer missionary? 230 A WIDER HORIZON REFERENCES United States Census Returns. Iron Mining in Minnesota. — C. E. Von Barnevelt. Reports of Secretaries of State, 1867 to i8/j. Discovery and Development of the Iron Industry in Minnesota. — W. N. Winchell. CHAPTER XIX A WIDER HORIZON — Continued Manufacturing. — Much is suggested with regard to manufacturing by the foregoing account of several years of industrial progress. It could not fairly be expected that much more could be done than to make the raw materials of the state into first products, — boards and house parts, flour and cereals. The time was not yet ripe for iron work- ing. Of the lumber output enough has been said, except that sash and door factories and cooperage shops were making Minneapolis the greatest lumber center of the world. It is significant that when the Republican National Convention met in this city in 1892, the official badge was a strip of ribbon, to one end of which was fastened a miniature fiour barrel, to the other end a log. Roller mills. — The manufacture of flour received a mighty impulse in the later seventies, by the introduction of the " middlings purifier " and the '' rolls." In the earlier days much of the good of the wheat had gone to make an inferior flour called Red Dog, or had been lost in the '' middlings " or " shorts." In i860 a Frenchman, N. La Croix, came from Canada to make his home in Faribault. He invented a bolting process that saved this value to the flour. He was known as " the shaking miller." In 1870 he moved to Minneapolis and gave the benefit of his idea to George H. Christian, who installed the shakers in the I 231 232 A WIDER HORIZON mills which he controlled. The result was a boom in flour making and in wheat growing ; in the latter, because the new process made it possible to produce as good flour from spring wheat as from winter wheat. Then came the roller process as a substitute for grinding stones, and the trade was still more stimulated, until in 1876 the prices of the so-called patent flour were given in the Chicago reports, and in 1879 the exportation of Minne- sota flour was begun. It is peculiar that when the Buffalo market began to quote prices it referred to Duluth, not Minnesota flour, showing how important the growing lake port was becoming in the eyes of the people who once had smiled at mention of its name. From 1880 on, the produc- Flour-milling district of Minneapolis. A WIDER HORIZON 233 The city of Duluth. tion of flour rapidly increased, mills springing up in villages all over the state; and Minneapolis soon doubled her output. Growth of cities. — In the later eighties, because of their prosperity, a great boom struck the three chief Minnesota cities. This time the country districts were saved from the evil eft'ects of such a catastrophe, for the farmers had learned the terrible lessons of 1857 and 1873, and besides, they were better able to withstand the pinch of hard times. The real estate exploiter pHed his trade in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth. The Twin Cities vied with each other in extending their limits as far as possible into the country, and made improvements miles distant from their centers. Around them farm land, really worth less than $50 an acre, was held at from $500 to $1000 an acre. People bought lots at auction sales without having seen their property, and sometimes sold to others before they 234 A WIDER HORIZON reached home. Manufacturing and residence suburbs were built far out on the prairie or in the brush, — Hopkins, St. Louis Park, New Brighton, North St. Paul, Gladstone, Newport. In fact, the Twin Cities were hoping to draw a population so absurdly large, when we consider that the whole state contained few more people than Chicago, that it still amazes us to this day. The traveler who comes suddenly upon the pathetic remains of mills and factories half hidden by trees and flowers, as though Nature were ashamed of the whole affair, wonders how sensible people could have been so swept off their feet. ' Duluth is an even more striking example of the excite- ment. Her citizens, half proudly, half jestingly, say that Duluth is twenty miles long, a mile wide and half a mile high. It is in fact much longer, since it includes the old Astor fur post at Fond du Lac, and extends northeastward for several miles from its center. Great breaks of brush land intervene between the various settlements that com- pose the city, thus unreasonably extended to satisfy the boomer. The country safe. — The smaller cities, chiefly agri- cultural, did not suffer so much. It was well for Minne- sota that her farmers had learned the lesson of the sower, and were able to insure the people of the state their bread and butter. Those were the dark days when the railroad tracks entering any large city were thronged with unem- ployed ; when gold had sought hiding places in cellars and holes in the ground ; when every check was suspected, when mxillionaires were bankrupt, and " bread line," and '^ soup kitchen " were familiar terms. Disasters. — The grasshoppers were not the only plague that threatened the state. Fire and storm troubled its A WIDER HORIZON 235 prosperity. On May 2, 1878, the Washburn " A " ]\Iill and five others were destroyed by fire and an explosion that tore the Washburn mill to pieces, leaving, as an inscrip- tion states, " not one stone upon another," and killing eighteen workmen. An even worse disaster befell the St. Peter hospital for the insane, when on November 15, 1880, an entire wing of the building was burned and twenty-seven inmates lost their lives. The next year occurred the fire which destroyed the state capitol. For- tunately, however, although the senate was in session at the time, no one was injured. Various tornadoes wrought more harm than these fires. In 1886 St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, and the adjacent country were swept by a terrible storm. Seventy lives were lost, and a great amount of property was destroyed. Three years later Rochester suffered from a like cause. About twenty people were killed here. Long afterwards a citizen showed, as a relic of the storm, a board driven through an oak tree. In 1890 one hundred people were drowned by the capsizing of a steamer on Lake Pepin. In 1891 still another tornado tore along the Southern Minnesota rail- road, destroying crops and buildings, and leaving fifty dead behind it. Buildings were taken as though by some gigantic thief, and not a piece as large as a screen door was left in any one place. Trees were picked clean of leaves, and chickens were plucked as though by hand. For years afterwards many a person was in terror of the cloud by day or the fire by night. The Northfield raid. — A more picturesque incident in the life of the state was the Northfield raid, in September, 1876. It is known that during the Civil War bands of irregular troops called guerrillas were turned upon both 236 A WIDER HORIZON North and South. These, while supposed to be fighting on one side or the other, made use of the general confusion to satisfy private wrongs. In Cottrell's guerrilla band were three brothers, Cole, Robert, and James Younger. When the war closed they, with the notorious James brothers, Jesse and Frank, refused to accept its result, Jesse James, and the raid on the Northfield Savings Bank. but continued to get their living in the way that they had learned. On this September day, with a band of more than twenty horsemen, they appeared before the North- field bank, which still faces the open square of the village, and before they left fought a battle with a large number of citizens summoned by the shooting of Cashier Heywood. At length they were driven out, leaving one man dead, A WIDER HORIZON 237 and retreated southward. In honor of Heywood's fidelity to his trust, a tablet has been placed on the old stone building, now a hardware store. Old settlers like to tell of seeing the robbers at the '^ Clifton House " in Mankato, and of being surprised to find, a day or so later, that a posse was seeking them. Near Madelia the posse surrounded the raiders and captured the three Youngers, who were sent to the state peniten- tiary for life. The James boys and others of the company made good their escape. The boldness of the raid, and the romance that had hung about the leaders since the war, made the event much more important than such affairs usually are. Improvements in education. — Fire and storm and armed horsemen were, however, hardly more than ripples in the tide that was carrying the various institutions of Minnesota on to larger life. Good crops and consistent development of other resources helped in improving the educational system of the state. Under the first president, William W. Folwell, 1 869-1 884, and then under Cyrus Northrup, 1884-1911, the University of Minnesota took advantage of the riches of the state to grow and become a guide to state industry. It crowned the educational system by taking the boys and girls as they were graduated from high schools and preparing them for the various tasks of life. Under the Rev. Henry Burt, 1 876-1 880, and David Kiehle, 1 881-1893, the common schools likewise in- creased in efficiency, and high schools began to multiply. Summer training schools for teachers were introduced, and the instruction of pupils in rural and village schools was thereby stimulated. Laws were passed that greatly favored the cause of education. 238 A WIDER HORIZON Increasing the school fund. — The school fund had been slowly accumulating during these years, until by 1892 the principal amounted to $10,000,000. By making the state instead of local authorities responsible for the fund, another safeguard had been given, since it was easier to provide for a more even distribution and a more economical management. We have learned that the legislature had limited the selling price of the school lands to not less than five dollars an acre. Thus they had been kept out of the hands of such speculators as those who, in the days before the panic of 1857, had cheated neighboring states of their heritage. Finally the law of 1875, making, not school population, but school enrollment the basis of apportion- ment, was of great help to the needier districts. For these three reasons the state was able to use a steadily increasing school capital for the interests of her boys and girls, even in the most remote districts. By 1892 the term " state aid " had become a thrilling incentive to com- munities to maintain good schools, for districts could not draw upon the state fund until they had shown their ability to do without its aid. When they had done this, the state could direct them to still greater achievements. In 1875 women were first allowed to vote on school questions. In 1878 the high school board was organized. Because of these efforts, as Doctor Folwell says, " The school system of Minnesota in 1881 was in full operation, from the kindergarten to the doctorate of philosophy."' Other legislation. — The legislature, besides assisting the schools of the state, enacted many useful laws. These provided for a public examiner, in 1878, to oversee the bookkeeping in banks and other corporations in which the people of the state were interested ; the State Health Board, A WIDER HORIZON 239 in 1883 ; the State Board of Correction and Charities which opened the state school at Owatonna, the reformatory at St. Cloud, and the Soldiers' Home ; and the Railroad and Warehouse Commission. The Railroad and Warehouse Commission was designed to protect the farmer from un- just inspection of his wheat, and from unjust charges for the transportation of the same. The great legislative triumph, in the opinion of many writers, was the final adjustment of the old railroad bond claims. Governor Cushman K. Davis wanted to arbi- trate these claims. Gov- ernor John S. Pillsbury believed that the state was disgraced by refus- ing to pay the bonds. Sibley entered the legis- lature to fight for the payment. Finally, a bill was passed by which a settlement satisfactory to the holders was made. It was generally believed that the state had the worst of the agreement, but in the minds of the leading business men her name was cleared, and that was sufficient. Men of the state. — Of the governors who served during this period, Governor Pillsbury is the most prominent. He came to the chair with his work as regent of the University to recommend him. He left it, the only Governor Cushman K. Davis. 240 A WIDER HORIZON man who had been reelected twice, with the payment of the bonds as the proudest distinction of his administration. Lucius F. Hubbard owed his election chiefly to his having been a general in the war, after leading the Fifth Minne- sota Regiment to the front ; but he was a creditable executive, interested in the health and well-being of the state. Andrew R. McGill and William R. Merriam, the latter afterwards Direc- tor of the United States Census, were later gov- ernors. In the United States Senate, Cushman K. Davis arose to be a national leader. William D. Washburne, who had already represented the Minneapolis district in Congress for four terms, achieved much fame for introducing a bill to pro- hibit gambling in grain, or dealing in futures, as it is sometimes called. It was his activity in this reform that caused his defeat for a second term. William Windom, who succeeded him, served until 1885, when he was defeated by D. M. Sab in. The other Senator of the same period was S. J. R. MacMillan. The most picturesque Minnesotan of the period was Ignatius Donnelly, " the Sage of Niniger." He fought the Ramsey followers at every turn, and tried to win his way Ignatius Donnelly: A WIDER HORIZON 241 to the United States Senate. But his unfortunate speech in the House of Representatives against EHhu Washburne ruined his chances. As a novehst, however, he won the fame which he was denied in Congress. Returning to his farm near Hastings, he startled and dehghted the world by a series of books, of which the three best remembered are At- lantis or The Lost Continent, Caesar's Column, and a pam- phlet by which he sought to prove that Bacon wrote the plays called Shakespeare's. Afterwards Donnelly reappeared in local politics and was a much respected speaker, perhaps the very best that the Minnesota legislature has produced. The galleries were always crowded if it was known that he was to speak. His debate with Robert G. Ingersoll on his Baconian theory was talked of throughout the country. For several reasons the year 1892 is a fitting one with which to close this period of our Story of Minnesota. In the first place, it marks the beginning of Minnesota's mastery of the iron-ore market. Secondly, it marks the height to which lumber manufacturing reached. Thirdly, and most important, it is the year that marks the crest of a wave of expansion. SUMMARY Important happenings, 1870-1892 : La Croix's "middlings purifier" stimulated the production of flour. The roller process of flour making became popular. The larger cities speculated in real estate. The state suffered from several disasters. Education was advanced through the increase of the school fund. The legislature passed important measures. Pillsbury, Davis, Windom, and Donnelly were prominent. STORY OF MINN. 1 6 242 A WIDER HORIZON QUESTIONS 1. Why was the production of flour greater after the seventies than before ? 2. Why did not the rural districts suffer from the "boom" of the eighties ? 3. What is a tornado? Why are there comparatively few torna- does in Minnesota ? 4. What is meant by the term "state aid"? 5. Mention one reason why each of the following is remembered : Pillsbury, Washburne, Davis, Donnelly. REFERENCES Flour Manufacturing in Minnesota. — George C. Rogers, Minnesota Historical Society Papers, Vol. 6. Lives of the Governors. — James Baker. The Younger Raid. — (Newspaper files.) Minnesota, the North Star State. — William W. Folwell. Minnesota Legislative Manual for igij. Executive Reports, i8go and igoo. CHAPTER XX A GREAT COMMONWEALTH Hard times. — The bubble of speculation broke in 1893, and once again the nation faced hard times. Gold dis- appeared, banks in all parts of the country failed, factories closed their doors, and merchants lost their trade. Armies of the unemployed, led by Coxey and other such reformers, marched along the railroads. Bent on laying its grievances before the government in person, one of these armies actually camped on the White House grounds and was driven off by the police. More than one man still re- members distressing experiences connected with the panic of this year; as, for instance, leaving his work at night with a check for a small amount, going to place after place to get it cashed, and finally having to walk home for lack of carfare. Minnesota cities passed through this depression. We have spoken of the speculation in land and the extension of the limits of St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth beyond all reason, in the eighties. The sad days that followed, when empty houses and grass-grown sidewalks told their tale of hardships, when rows of vacant stores spoke of business failure, were repeated in this new panic, and are described in the reminiscences of those who were made poor, were indeed almost beggared. Spanish-American volunteers. — The Spanish-American War of 1898 aroused the young men of Minnesota as had 243 244 A GREAT COMMONWEALTH the Civil War. President McKinley's call for volunteers was enthusiastically answered, and four regiments of infantry — the Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Minnesota Volunteers — rahied in turn at Camp Randall on the State Fair grounds. Like the boys of '6i, these young men, many of them the sons of Civil War veterans, were feasted and entertained at the expense of their loyal friends before they left, ready to suffer from disease, exposure, or bullet. The Thirteenth Regiment spent a year in the Philippines. Although it lost few men in the various skirmishes in which it was engaged, including the attack on Manila on August 13, many died the victims of unheal thful "camp life. It returned to glorious receptions in the various towns from which it had been recruited, chiefly the Twin Cities, where President McKinley reviewed its triumphant march in September, 1899. The other regiments did not experience field service, but were camped in the south, the Twelfth and Fourteenth on the famous battle field of Chickamauga. The boys of these regiments suffered more from impa- tience at not being able to follow their comrades abroad than from anything else, although sickness was all too prevalent among them. The readiness of the sons to do and dare as their fathers had done and dared, was, however, proved. This war gave prominence to Senator Cushman K. Davis. He was recognized as an authority on interna- tional law, and upon the conclusion of the war was made one of the peace commissioners. Almost his last public service was to help draft the treaty which gave the United States the Philippines and Porto Rico. He died on November 27, 1900, the following year. A GREAT COMMONWEALTH 245 An Indian fright. — Much more severe than the trial of Minnesota's sons was the fate of the United States troops at Fort SneUing, called out to quell the Chippewas on October 5, 1898. Through a misunderstanding the In- dians, members of the Pillager band at Leech Lake, re- sisted arrest and intrenched themselves on Sugar Point in that lake. In attempting to dislodge them Major Wilkin- son and five men were killed, and about twenty men were wounded. After explanations had been made the Indians submitted to the authorities, and the fright aroused by the expected uprising subsided. There has not been an Indian outbreak since, and on account of several adjust- ments in Indian affairs there will probably never be another. Prosperous farmers. — The hard times fell no more heavily on Minnesota than elsewhere in the country. In fact, the farmers of the state saved it the pangs that specu- lation would have inflicted. They remained calm in the midst of the general discouragement, and they sent their millions of bushels of grain, their herds of cattle and swine, and their butter to market, prospering, even though they were forced to receive lower prices. City people could not understand why their country cousins were so little concerned about " soup kitchens," '^ bread lines," " the army of the unemployed," and other expres- sions with which the newspapers rang. Indeed, many a farmer testified that he did not know from experience what hard times were. This prosperity of the farmer is disclosed in the census reports, for the state added 400,000 people to her popula- tion between 1890 and 1900, and 300,000 more between 1900 and 1 910, reaching a total population of 2,075,000, 246 A GREAT COMMONWEALTH or more than double the population of 1880. It is interest- ing to observe that the increase was chiefly in the central and northern counties. For while the southern portion has held its own, the increasing values of farm land in that fertile section have made it difhcult for the younger generation to make homes there. Farms in Houston, Mower, Blue Earth, and other counties, that could have been purchased at $10 an acre in the eighties, have sold at from $50 to $100 an acre in recent years. One farm near Austin, A Minnesota prairie farm. given by the government in 1856, was sold by the home- steader in 1909 for $75 an acre, and resold in 1913 for $115 an acre. Land in the north. — On the other hand, the great prairies of the Red River Valley have continued to invite settlers who could afford to pay railroad and school-land prices. The government has continued to give quarter sections in the northern part of the state, including choice pieces in the Red Lake reservation opened in 1896. Even now there are more than a miUion acres left. The hardwood A GREAT COMIMONWEALTH 247 forests, as well as the '^ cut-over " lands of the middle section of the state have yielded to the energy of the sons of pioneers who braved the toils of the southern prairies, and to the immigrants from many lands, who have spent their httle cash and much labor to develop them. Every month, auction sales of state school lands that can be ob- tained at from $10 to $20 an acre, with long-time payments, are held at several towns. Therefore the settler is pushing his way into the silent north. Messages begin to come from post offices with strange names, and cities appear above the horizon almost before the average man realizes that life can really be made endurable beyond a certain boundary line. Value of '' waste lands." — The pieces of undeveloped land scattered here and there over the older and more settled sections of the state have been taken up in these later days, and, having been obtained, have been found to contain the same kind of gold as that at the roots of the wheat on the older homesteads. " Waste land," either rocky or swampy, is on the market at from $20 to $25 an acre. Thus from the Iowa line to Rainy River there is now no large section untouched by agriculture, and we can expect that within twenty years the ten-dollar land of the forests will repeat the history of the home- steads along the Minnesota River. In all, the state has 28,000,000 acres in farms, of which 20,000,000 acres are improved. The value of these farms, with their ma- chinery, is $1,315,000,000. Gain in production. — The gain in production in twenty years has been tremendous. The following tables show what increase Minnesota has made in farm products, according to the United States census reports of 1910. 248 A GREAT COMMONWEALTH Table I Farms Valuation Value of Products 1850 157 $270,000 i860 18,200 32,000,000 1870 46,500 125,000,000 $33,000,000 1880 92,300 236,000,000 50,000,000 1890 117 ,000 415,000,000 71,000,000 Wheat (Bu.) Corn (Bu.) Oats (Bu.) Barley (Bu.) Potatoes (Bu.) 1850 1,500 17,500 30,000 1,000 2 1 ,000 i860 2,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,100,000 2,500,000 1870 19,000,000 5,000,000 11,000,000 1,000,000 2,000,000 1880 35,000,000 15,000,000 23,000,000 3,000,000 5,000,000 1890 52,000,000 25,000,000 50,000,000 9,000,000 1 1 ,000,000 Hay (T.) Milk (Gal.) Butter (Lb.) Poultry Eggs (Doz.) 1850 2,000 1,100 i860 180,000 3,000,000 1870 700,000 208,000 9,500,000 1880 1,650,000 1,500,000 19,000,000 2,100,000 8,250,000 1890 3,000,000 183,000,000 35,000,000 4,500,000 20,350,000 Table II Increase — 1890 to 19 10 1890 1900 1910 Farms (acres) . . . Valuation .... Value of Products Wheat (bu.) . . . Corn (bu.) .... 117,000 $18,600,000 $415,000,000 52,000,000 25,000,000 155,000 $26,200,000 $560,000,000 95,000,000 47,000,000 156,000 $27,700,000 $1,500,000,000 57,000,000 68,000,000 A GREAT COMMONWEALTH 249 Table II {Continued) Increase — 1890 to 19 10 1890 1900 1910 Oats (bu.) .... 50,000,000 74,000,000 100,000,000 Barley (bu.) 9,000,000 24,000,000 35,000,000 Potatoes (bu.) 11,000,000 14,600,000 27,000,000 Hay (tons) . 3,000,000 4,400,000 6,000,000 Butter (lb.) . . 35,000,000 41,000,000 89,000,000 Poultry . . . 4,500,000 •10,690,000 Cattle . . 1,375,000 1,800,000 2,350,000 Hogs . . . 850,000 1,450,000 1,500,000 Horses . . 460,000 700,000 750,000 As encouraging as this report seems, the progress since the last formal report is still more so. An examination of the following table will be convincing: Agricultural Report of 191 2 Wheat (bu.) 68,000,000 Oats (bu.) 112,000,000 Corn (bu.) 96,000,000 Barley (bu.) 35,000,000 Potatoes (bu.) 30,000,000 Hay (tons) 2,500,000 Butter (lb.) 120,000,000 Poultry 11,000,000 Cattle 2,500,000 Hogs 1,500,000 Horses 750,000 Value $50,000,000 30,000,000 35,000,000 15,000,000 9,000,000 25,000,000 30,000,000 4,600,000 50,000,000 14,000,000 90,000,000 In barley production, Minnesota leads all the states of the North Central section, and only Michigan and Wisconsin equal her in production of potatoes. Rye, that yielded nearly 6,000,000 bushels in 191 3, is becoming a steady 250 A GREAT COIMMONWEALTH production for the state ; and flax, with a yield of 4,000,000 bushels, is a reliable crop, especially on new ground. The most interesting increase, however, is in corn grow- ing. Forty years ago, it was popularly supposed that no corn could be grown north of the Iowa line, but the northern limit of the corn belt has advanced more than twenty miles for each decade since 1870, and now great acre yields are reported from the upper Red River Valley counties. It is confidently expected that corn will yet rival wheat through- out the whole district. This will be brought about by the perfection of seed, which has been much emphasized during the past twenty years. In prize contests, repeat- edly, a hundred bushels have been grown on a single acre. No responsible farmer is content with double the acre yield that used to satisfy the farmer of forty years ago. It is important to know that although she has not yet produced the greatest quantity of corn, Minnesota leads all the North Central States except Wisconsin in acre yield, with forty and a half bushels. To observe a farmer carefully selecting, drying, and testing his seed corn so that at least ninety-eight per cent of it will grow ; to listen to earnest discussion as to what variety and what cultivation will yield the best results ; and to see the crowds that greet the *' seed specials " sent out by the agricultural school every year, answers the question, '' How has Minnesota become a corn state? " Two reasons for the increase in the number of cattle stand out prominently. First, the adoption of better farming methods, through the leadership of the agricul- tural experts, and the opening of the great forest lands of the north have made it possible to support Iwo cows where A GREAT COMMONWEALTH 251 one grazed before. It is clear that when the settler finds that clover will grow to an amazing yield between the old pine stumps that he cannot remove all at once, he is not slow to avail himself of an immediate income. Hence the creamery has been following the pioneer, even accom- panying him. The second reason is that the western ranges are being limited. Farmers are plowing up the grazing grounds of the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana. These farmers raise wheat. Hence the production of l^W' A HERD OF Minnesota dairy cattle. beef for the market has been a profitable business for Minnesota, and will be even more so as the years pass. Diversified farming. — Diversified farming has, however, become the word which to the Minnesota farmer signifies success. Instead of planting a single crop, he grows a little of nearly everything that the state experimental farm has produced. His grain is supplemented by his cream, calves, colts, hogs, chickens, bees, and a garden. Instead of stakiag his hopes upon an annual harvest and taking the risk of being blessed or ruined by a single storm or drought, he has come to reap a harvest every 252 A GREAT COMMONWEALTH month. Instead of living upon store goods,- bought at ruinous prices from the proceeds of his wheat, he finds his cellar a treasure cave which supplies his table, through the resting season of the soil, with a variety of roots and fruits that bid defiance to discouragement. Eggs and milk and honey add their cheer at all seasons. Happier farm life. — This cheer has now permeated the family. Instead of being depressed by the forlorn house of endless labor, backed by a collection of scrawny sheds, with the waste of the farm and its work strewed about the yard, they take pleasure in a comfortable home, where books and pictures and music ease the day's toil. Over a well- kept lawn, they pass out to the mail box for the daily paper, and with no old machinery or broken wagons in the way can visit the neatly painted stable and barn. They keep in communication with their neighbors by telephone, and visit remote parts of the state and country without being beggared by the trip. They send their children to college, and attend lectures and institutes. To be a member of a farmer's household in Minnesota is to live comfortably. Agricultural betterment. — The work of improving not only the seed but every agricultural operation and the soil as well goes forward. Out of the income from the magnificent permanent school fund of $22,000,000, the state has been able to offer special inducements to high schools that will teach farming effectively, and thirteen schools are now receiving this special aid of from $1000 to $5000 a year. Thus the expert knowledge necessary to make the land do its best is brought every day to the farm boy, while his sister is being benefited by courses in housekeeping that will make the farmhouse of the future fully as comfortable and homelike as the city dwelling. A GREAT COMMONWEALTH 253 In the next few years we shall see a great increase in these special courses in all parts of the state. Another effective improvement is the county agricul- tural agent, who, throughout the growing season, goes among the farmers, instructing them in all departments of their work, getting them to experiment with new ways and means, and encouraging them to grow more crops. In the west central portion of the state about fifteen counties employ these agents. Finally, the agricultural schools and colleges have con- tinued to apply themselves to the problems of acquiring for Minnesota all the farm value that she has to offer, without wasting the good qualities of the soil. They are stimulat- ing a better seed campaign, and are graduating the experts needed in the field. They are the laboratories where the tests can be made by which the general production of the state may be increased and improved in quality. On their farms, cooperating with the United States government, they teach year by year the silent lesson of crop better- ment. Through their institutes, lecturing tours, and bulletins, they continually call upon the farmers to look up and ahead, for the days of scientific farming are at hand. One effective aid that they render is in the prevention of loss through insects or disease. Various grain and fruit destroyers, as well as the dreaded hog cholera, have received the attention of skilled experts. These experts have explained to the people of the state what to do to prevent losses, and how to do it. Thus it has come to pass within recent years that the farmer who would once have smiled at an instructor's telling him how to do things, now awaits the reports and follows the advice that leads him on the road to prosperity. 254 A GREAT COMMONWEALTH The farmers' club. — Another instrument in the develop- ment of Minnesota's agriculture is the farmers''club move- ment. The grange was interested chiefly in procuring justice for the farmers. Now that they are in the way to obtain justice, they no longer desire organization for political reasons. Instead, they are getting together in neighborhood organizations for the purpose of receiving and exchanging ideas as to better methods, as well as for social recreation. Clubhouses are being built, in which men and boys may enjoy some of the privileges that make city life attractive, and where the women and girls may partake of the recreation which they longed for in times past, and which is so necessary to happiness. Farming as a business. — All of this does not mean that farming in Minnesota is being made easy. Always there must be the hard labor in the field, always the problems of the housekeeper, always the fight against flood, drought, frost, insects, or disease, always the careful planning lest this or that device fail. But it does mean that as a reward for the hot, dusty corn-plowing, the harvest will be double what it was ; for the housework, a well-satisfied household ; for the contest against foul weather, worms, or other enemies, the hope of victory. In other words, the farmer is taking himself seriously and will be taken seriously. He will be happy in the knowledge that certain definite processes will produce definite results. He will not be the victim, as he has been, of blind chance. He will not turn over his soil and throw in his seed, or breed his stock, in a stolid way, blessed or cursed by whatever may come to him. He will be a citizen whom the dwellers in towns will envy, as, indeed, they are beginning to envy him now. A GREAT COMMOXWEALTH 255 SUlSniARY Despite the hard times of 1890-1S97, Minnesota faced its problems bravely. It sent four regiments to help wage the war against Spain, and then sent Senator Da\4s to help make peace. It passed through an Indian fright safely. It sent farmers into the hardwood country-, and greatly increased its acreage and production. It made hfe happy for the farmers by teaching them how to till the soil and how to live. QUESTIONS 1. Why has there been so little trouble with the Chippewa Indians ? 2. Why should the jdeld of barley and corn increase and the ^ield of wheat tend to decrease ? 3. What makes the farmer's life so much happier now than it was formerly? Does the modern farmer have an easy time? Why? REFERENCES United States Census Returns. Minnesota, the North Star State. — WilUam W. Folwell. Minneapolis Journal and Tribune, Current Reports. CHAPTER XXI WOOD AND IRON Lumbering. — There has been a steady decline in the lumber industry in recent years. Like the " cattle kings " of the west and the " cotton kings " of the south, Minne- sota has had her '^ lumber kings." Too often they were content to take the value from the forests, leaving barren wastes behind, for their heirs to use as they saw fit. The magnificent forests of the Pacific slope have attracted many of them from the scantier picking that Minnesota now offers. But so great was the original supply, — 18,000,000 acres, — that after more than fifty years of lum- bering 1,300,000,000 feet of white pine remains. Mills in the northern part of the state, drawing their logs from the Rainy River country, promise to saw boards for some years to come. All together the mills of the state cut more than 1,000,000,000 feet in 191 5, valued by the forestry board at millions of dollars. The total value of lumber manufactures was $40,000,000. The fir, spruce, balsam, and other woods have furnished many products, such as wood pulp for paper, manufac- tured barrel and box parts, and paving blocks. They have been the making of many new towns, even while the cities of the southern portion of the state have grad- ually lost their mills and their rank as lumbering centers. Consequently, were there no chance of partly reproducing 256 WOOD AND IRON 257 the forests of the state, Minnesota would still have to be reckoned among the lumber states of the Union for many years to come. State forestry board. — Fortunately, there is hope that the people will demand such reproduction. They have created a forestry board, which is laboring hard to edu- cate them to see the importance of forests. The board is A Minnesota lumber camp. studying the methods employed in Germany, Austria, and other European countries, especially the first-named, where for more than a thousand years the Black Forest has furnished boards and firewood, and still has boards and firewood without decreasing the supply. The Europeans have no patented secret. They simply regard the trees as a Minnesota farmer regards his wheat, which it is equally wasteful to cut before or after it is ripe. Furthermore, the same wisdom that leads the Minnesota farmer to keep STORY OF MINN. — 1 7 258 WOOD AND IRON fire and mischievous insects from his wheat, compels the European to ward off harm from his trees. The Minnesota forestry board has exerted itself to apply this wisdom to the forests that the state still controls. Through its rangers and fire wardens it is preserving the timber of individuals also. But the state had given away, or allowed to be taken away from it, most of the valuable forests before the board was created. Hence the board had the hardest of tasks, — to create forest reserves out of the abandoned wastes left by the exploiters. Reforesting. — The story of the work of the forestry board, as related in its annual reports, is a good sign of the heart that rings true, in a nation with apparently Kttle care for its to-morrow. In the first place, the board has se- cured for the state a forest covering 40,000 acres. In addi- tion, through sale and gift, it expects to reforest 1,000,000 acres of non-agricultural land. Besides preventing and fighting fires, the board is each year planting hundreds of acres to white pine. It maintains nurseries and employs experts to cultivate the young trees. Fire prevention. — Perhaps the best work that the board has done is to procure the passage of laws looking to the prevention of forest fires. It has been declared unlawful to leave the tops and branches of trees lying in piles, as was formerly the custom, to leave camp or clear- ing fires unwatched, or to operate an engine without a spark arrester. The responsibility for fire has been placed upon the person or persons to whom it can be traced ; and penalties have been imposed. Wardens are constantly patrolUng their respective districts, on the lookout for dan- ger to the property and lives of the people who have ven- tured into the great forest country. WOOD AND IRON 259 Cabins of the lumberjacks. The need of these precautions has been forced upon the state by several disasters. On September i, 1894, a fire started in the vicinity of Hinckley, Pine County. It carried, to use the words of the Minnesota Legislative Manual, " death and destruction over nearly four hundred square miles of territory, destroying the towns of Hinckley and Sandstone, causing the death of four hundred and seventeen people, rendering homeless and destitute twenty- two hundred men, women, and children, and entailing a property loss of about one million dollars." The news- paper accounts of the time describe the tortures of the few who sought safety in a mill pond, while the billows of flame rolled over them, and the terrible smoke and heat sapped their strength. The writers portrayed the heroic action of Engineer Root, who pulled his train- load of refugees through the midst of the fire, keeping a steady hand on the throttle, although he had been cruelly burned himself. 26o WOOD AND IRON This fire was greatly surpassed in financial loss, though with loss of but thirty lives, by the fires of 190S and 1910, when Chisholm, Baudette, and Spooner were wiped out. In all a total of more than a million acres were burned over during these years, and property to the value of nearly twenty-five million dollars was destroyed. The con- stantly increasing values in the towns make the great difference of property loss. This in turn has caused the legislature to do still more for the protection of the citizens from the fire fiend. The state now has the power to burn slashings and collect the cost from the owner, to exact greater care on the part of railroad companies, and to enforce notification when logging is to begin. It has a state forester working with the forestry board, whose duty it is to become famil- iar with all state timber and cut-over lands and to further the reforestation of these lands. It is the work of the state forester to advance the education of the people re- garding forestry, to establish patrol districts, to direct rangers, and, in general, to guide the way to the prevention of further loss to the state timber, as well as to show how it can be made a constantly producing, paying crop. Another wise provision gives any city, town, or village in the state the right to maintain a forest as do communities in Europe, and the right to support it by tax. It may be said in future years that the efficient forestry adminis- tration of Minnesota has been due in great part to the tremendous losses proved to be preventable. The Ninth Amendment. — November 3, 1914, must re- main a notable date in the history of Minnesota, for then the Ninth Amendment was passed by the people. This per- mits the state to take over about a milHon acres of stony WOOD AND IRON 261 land, unlit for agriculture but able to produce pine. Thus reforestation on a profitable scale has become possible. In less than a half century the crop planted on this land will be marketable. In fact, a permanent supply of tim- ber will be guaranteed, if the trust is faithfully kept. Development of the iron industry. — The development of iron mining in Minnesota in recent years is as remarkable Loading iron ore on cars at mine, Hibbing. as the gold discoveries in California. Reference has been made to the first discovery, on the Vermilion Range, in 1878. In 1890 the Merritt brothers, of Duluth, dis- covered valuable ore on the Mesabi Range. This range, as may be seen on the map, extends from near Grand Rapids on the Mississippi, northeasterly for nearly a hun- dred miles. The first shipment of ore was made in 1892, but during that year less than 5000 tons were excavated. 262 WOOD AND IRON It was found that the greatest body of the ore prob- ably lay near the surface, and that it was soft. Hence, together with the deep shafts and underground tunneling that are suggested by the word mine, the steam shovel was put to work stripping off the hundred feet of loam, gravel, or clay, digging out the ore, and loading it upon dump cars. The cars were run down to Duluth and out upon the Ore docks at Duluth. docks that have become famous the world over, where they deposited their loads down chutes into the giant steamers. Daily the great ore boats left the port of Duluth for Erie and for Chicago, until the trade in Minnesota's iron grew to vast proportions. The state rose from fifth to first place in the production of iron ore in a very few years. Facts concerning the increase. — Minnesota, at the present time, supplies three fifths of all the iron ore used WOOD AND IRON 263 in the United States. In 191 1 the Cuyuna Range, extend- ing southeast of and parallel to a line from Brainerd to Aitkin, began to add to the grand total for the state half a million tons annually. The production from all three ranges, since the beginning of the industry in 1882, has been nearly 500,000,000 tons, the Mesabi alone contributing more than 30,000,000 tons yearly. The total value of the ore mined in Minnesota in 191 3 was nearly $100,000,000. The growth of the industry is shown in the table. Table of Iron Ore Tons Employees Wages Value of Products 1884 62,000 1892 1,250,000 1900 10,000,000 9,760 $6,390,000 $ 24,000,000 1902 15,150,000 I9IO 31,967,000 17,270 11,500,000 57,000,000 I9I2 34,200,000 100,000,000 I9I5 32,423,000 Growth of the range towns. — Along the spur of the Mesabi, cities developed almost before the rest of the state knew of their existence. Two of these, Hibbing and Vir- ginia, connected by electric Kne, have pressed their way since the census of 1900 into the ranks of the ten largest towns, and are still growing. Many other " range towns " have grown up along the railways that now zigzag all through the district. These places have called to the state immigrants very different from those who settled the prairie counties. They are chiefly people from southern Europe, men of energy and thrift, but possessed of Httle education. Many of them make frequent journeys to 264 WOOD AND IRON their native land, since for the most part they are single young men. Duluth a great city. — It is easy to understand why Duluth has become one of the great ports of the world. Little did the voyageurs and captains who for hundreds of years sought refuge from the fierce Superior waves in the harbor at Fond du Lac dream of a town fifteen miles from An iron mine, Ely district. that harbor. In 1880 the 4000 people of this settlement of Minnesota Point looked out upon the great lake and yearned for trade that their point of vantage might give. In 1890 the 35,000 people of Duluth were in a mad scramble to reach as far toward the priceless hills as possible, while making their harbor a great port of entry. Fond du Lac became the westernmost point within the city limits, which extended, as has been said, thence down the St. Louis River and the lake shore for twenty miles. WOOD AND IRON 265 In 1900 more than 50,000 people were counted within the Hmits of Duluth, and in 1910 about 80,000. In these years it has become Hnked to the Twin Cities by four great railway lines, with the iron country by four more, and with the great western wheat district by three. Besides ship- ping out the ore of the state, Duluth is the shipping port for the wheat of the Red River Valley and the Dakota plains, and the coal-distributing center for the northwest. SUMMARY Minnesota is not only a bread and butter state, but also a wood and iron state. It produces great values in forest stuffs. It has taken steps to increase this production by scientific forestry. Its iron mines lead the world in production. Its lake ports are known all over the world. QUESTIONS 1. Why may trees be regarded as a crop? 2. How long does it take a white pine to reach a marketable size? 3. Find out how much iron is estimated to be left in Minnesota. REFERENCES Irofi Mining in Minnesota. — C. E. Von Barnevelt. Discovery and Development of Iron Industry. — W. N. Winchell. Reports of State Forestry Board for igi2, 191 3, and 1914. CHAPTER XXII • COMMERCIAL POWER Increase in manufacturing. — Manufacturing has been confined chiefly to operations related to the agricultural and lumber industries, for it has seemed best to ship ore rather than smelt it upon the ground. The plant at Duluth is the first attempt at smelting, with the exception of some sHght efforts made in the nineties at Minneapolis. At the end of this chapter is a comparative table showing the growth in the chief manufactures of the state since 1890. From this table it can be seen that although Minnesota, as the census states, is not primarily a manufacturing state, her industries are in a flourishing condition. In the tables on page 271 a significant tale is told of the growth between 1850 and 1910. Water power. — The gain in manufacturing is due in great part to the control of water power, in which the state of Minnesota is extremely rich. Once it was supposed that St. Anthony Falls, with its 40,000 horse power, was enough to satisfy any state. But within twenty years the water power added to the manufacturing industry has been more than 100,000 horse power, generated chiefly by the great Thomson dam in the St. Louis River near Duluth, the St. Croix Falls, Coon Creek near Anoka, and the high dam near Minnehaha Park. Competent engineers prophesy that a further development of 100,000 horse 266 COMMERCIAL POWER 267 < a H < o w a H O o w en I-) 1-1 O M H H 268 COMMERCIAL POWER power is possible. With this available, Minnesota will un- doubtedly become one of the leading states in manufacturing. Ease of transportation. — The gain in manufacturing is due also to improved railway facilities. Not only has the railroad mileage increased to 9000, but terminal advantages have been improved. The roads entering the Twin Cities are members of a company called the Minnesota Transfer, which has developed great switching * yards between the two cities. It operates a freight house, so that goods may be transferred quickly from one rail- road to another. There is therefore scarcely any delay in shipping. At Duluth, the four roads running from the mines carry ore out on the docks, where they dump a trainload in twenty minutes. Similarly the Duluth-Twin City lines load their trains with coal on great docks projecting out into the lake, and rush it to the manufacturer with no delay. The grain railroads, stretching further and further into the Canadian northwest, and reaching out little spurs into every granary along the way, roll their millions of bushels either to Duluth to be shipped eastward over the lakes, or to Minneapolis, the greatest primary wheat market in the world, for storage or milling. Close upon the loads of grain come loads of cattle and hogs for the great market and packing houses of South St. Paul, or for feeding at the New Brighton yards en route to the Chicago market. This great busi- ness employs 56,000 persons, or one fortieth of the population. Other means of transportation have recently been begun. Electric lines radiating out from the Twin Cities are already the farmers' handy carts, and are quick and frequent carriers of passengers from the territory adjacent. On COMINIERCIAL POWER 269 the Mesabi Range an interurban electric line is likewise in operation, and other communities are anxious to be connected thus with larger centers of trade. The improvement of the Mississippi by the high dam near Minneapolis, which means vastly increased advantage to all shippers along the river, is to be followed by a devel- opment of other watercourses, if the plans of various im- provement leagues are carried out. So Minnesota may once more see fleets, after struggling for fifty years to escape from dependence upon them. The boats will, however, be helpers of the railroads, carrying the cheaper, bulkier, less perishable goods, that can move more slowly than the locomotive cares to go. Both electric car and steamboat will prove friends to the Minnesota manufacturer, mer- chant, and farmer. Banking power. — With the increase of wealth, added to the agricultural and other resources that have piled up within the last two decades, we must connect the devel- opment of the banking power. In the large cities corre- spondents of the great banks of the nation have become powerful, and have added to their influence by attaching in one way or another the interests of institutions scattered all over the northwest. In Minnesota there are more than a thousand banks. The deposits of these banks in 1913 amounted to $335,000,000, of which sum $240,000,000 is in banks outside of the Twin Cities. The Minnesota Bankers' Association in recent years has taken great inter- est in the development of the state. It has appointed committees to further effective rural education, to help introduce more cattle into the state, and to encourage better farming. This banking power was able to draw one of the National Reserve banks to the state. 270 COMMERCIAL POWER The state's financial condition. — As to the financial condition of the state itself, the statement that it be- gan the fiscal year 1914-1915 with a balance of nearly $4,000,000 is certainly assuring to its people. According to the state treasurer, the business of the Minnesota govern- ment for the fiscal year 1913-1914 was $43,000,000, which is $6,000,000 greater than for 1912-1913, and more than 200 per cent greater than the treasurer's business of 1903- 1904. More than $3,000,000 was added to the various trust funds. Exclusive of land contracts the state's in- vestments yielded $775,000. The following table gives the chief sources of the state's fund outside of direct taxes : Railroads, gross earning tax $5,775,000 Inheritance taxes 650,000 Incorporation fees 96,000 Insurance companies' tax 458,000 Telephone companies' tax 220,000 Inebriate hquor tax . 53i000 Timber stumpage 466,000 Royalties of iron ore 676,000 Manufacturing — Table I Flour and gristmill prod- ucts Lumber and lumber prod- ucts, including house parts Masonry and carpentry . Machinery, including foundry work and car repairs 1890 1900 1910 $60,000,000 $84,000,000 $140,000,000 32,000,000 22,400,000 9,000,000 49,000,000 14,000,000 19,600,000 42,350,000 28,000,000 COMMERCIAL POWER 271 Table I {Continued) 1890 I9CX3 I9I0 Printing and publishing of newspapers and books $5,650,000 $7,700,000 $16,000,000 Cheese and butter 3,000,000 8,500,000 25,000,000 Liquors 2,200,000 4,500,000 10,500,000 Clothing, including boots and shoes, hats, gloves and knit goods . 10,000,000 14,000,000 19,000,000 Linseed oil 1 1 ,000,000 Slaughtering and meat packing 28,000,000 Table II Growth from i 850 TO 1890 Number of Estab- lishments Capital Employees Wages Value of Products 1850 5 $94,000 63 $18,600 $60,000 i860 562 2,400,000 2,125 712,000 3,375,000 1870 2,270 12,000,000 11,300 4,000,000 23,000,000 1880 3oOO 31,000,000 21,250 8,600,000 76,000,000 1890 7,500 128,600,000 70,000 30,400,000 192,000,000 Table III Growth from 1890 to 19 10 Number of establish- ments Capital Employees Wages V'alue of Products 1890 1900 I9I0 7,500 11,100 $ 128,600,000 166,000,000 275,500,000 70,000 77,000 85,000 $30,400,000 35,500,000 47,500,090 $ 192,000,000 263,000,000 409,500,000 272 COMMERCIAL POWER SUMMARY Although only secondarily a manufacturing state, Minnesota pro- duces articles that are known widely, because of : The abundance of foodstuffs near at hand. The amount of wood and iron available. Good transportation facilities. The rapidly improving market of the northwest. The credit that these advantages give to manufacturers. By reason of its many advantages the state is in a good financial condition. Its banking power is great. The state treasury is full. QUESTIONS 1. What is necessary to promote manufacturing? 2. What is meant by horse power? 3. How is power derived from a waterfall? 4. Why should bankers be interested in education and farming? REFERENCES United States Census Returns. Minneapolis Journal and Tribune. Report of the State Treasurer for 1914. CHAPTER XXIII CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE The school fund. — An idea has been given of the force behind the educational system. It is more significant to state that the school fund of Minnesota is now $26,000,000 and is increasing at the rate of $2,000,000 a year. The fund is safely invested, but the income of more than $2,000,000 is available for the annual needs of the various classes of schools, graded, semigraded, classes A^ B, and C rural schools, and high schools. It is, however, required that any of these schools, before receiving state aid, must fulfill the conditions imposed by law. These conditions consist chiefly in furnishing suitable buildings and equip- ment and employing teachers of sufficient training, besides being able to put to effective use any money paid for sus- taining special departments, agricultural, manual-training, domestic-science, or normal. In this way the state stimulates the various school boards to improve. No longer does the drafty, ill-venti- lated building stand at the country crossroads. No longer does the ill-kept village schoolhouse distribute disease germs among the pupils it was intended to rear for the service of the state. Instead, one sees neatly painted school buildings amid trees that often the children have planted ; or in the village substantial brick and stone structures to which the people point with pride. In the past twenty STORY OF MINN. — l8 273 274 CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE years this better building has gone forward extensively. The number of schoolhouses has increased from 5800 to 8900, their value from $10,000,000 to $41,000,000. Better teaching. — The standard of teaching has also been improved. In the early nineties it was supposed that a student upon graduation from a high school was- fitted to teach a rural school. He received not more than School building and wagons of the Lamberton consolidated district. thirty dollars a month, often only twenty-five. Grad- ually normal training has made its need felt, until to-day it is hard for one who has not received it to begin teach- ing. Instead of thirty he may now receive fifty or even sixty dollars a month. Similarly, the graded and high schools have set their standards higher ; and their salaries are at least thirty per cent better than they were in the nineties. Two important movements. — The two chief movements in education beyond this general development have been CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE 275 the consolidation of rural schools and instruction in special courses. Instead of even the clean, well-equipped rural school, there has been substituted in many communities a larger central school to which several districts contribute and to which the pupils are hauled in wagons. Accord- ing to the superintendent's report, more than a hundred of these consolidated schools are now in operation. Several distinct advantages have been gained in this way. First, enough children are gathered to make possible a graded, or at least a semigraded school, under a compe- tent principal and teachers. Second, the attendance is more regular. Third, the school becomes more serviceable as a neighborhood center. The movement is still in its infancy, but under a special rural school inspector appointed in 1905 it is bound to grow, although the district-school idea dies as hard in Minnesota as elsewhere. Special training. — The introduction of manual-training courses was begun, in the cities first, about 1890. In that year Minneapolis had two teachers of manual training. Now she has about seventy. The work suffered from severe criticism, hence it reached the villages very slowly. But ten years later many high schools in the state were con- ducting manual arts courses, and in recent years nearly every one has adopted some phase of the work. About 1900 it began to be recognized that the farmer boys who attended village high schools were being trained away from the farm, so a course in agriculture was intro- duced. Now communities in all parts of the state are being given object lessons in farm efficiency, even as the citizen who saw his boy bring home a valuable piece of furniture was convinced of the practical value of manual training. From $1000 to $5150 is given to any high school 276 CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE State Normal School at Mankato. that will sustain an agricultural course. The latest develop- ment in special courses is the domestic science and art training offered by many high schools. Indications of courses in musical culture are many. The larger cities have already established good courses in this subject. Normal training has gone forward since 1890, through the improved courses offered, through the building of a fifth normal school at Duluth in 1902, and through the establishment of normal courses in eighty high schools by special appropriations of the state of $750 yearly. The state spends about $200,000 a year to support the normal schools. Thus provision is being made to furnish to all the schools teachers competent for their work. In addition, summer sessions at the University, the School of Agri- culture, and the various normal schools make it possible for teachers to add to their equipment without losing time from their earning year. Interesting figures. — The report of the state superin- tendent shows significantly the progress in education that CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE 277 Minnesota has made, especially since the beginning of the period we are reviewing. Number of Teachers Wages Schools Receiv- ing State Aid Pupils Men Women Men Women High Schools i860 360 809 $19.40 $ 10.00 32,000 585 1870 969 2,089 37-24 23-13 110,000 2,119 1880 1,874 3,341 35-29 27.52 180,250 3,700 1890 2,114 6,722 39.00 27.00 281,000 5,864 62 1900 2,052 8,534 40.75 31.72 400,000 7,303 115 I9I2 1,730 14,345 54.00 45.00 446,000 8,835 211 In 191 2 the state paid $3,507,320 for the education of its children, and the various local communities taxed themselves to the extent of $13,600,372 to sustain their schools. In other words, each child enrolled cost $38.60, of which the state paid $7.91 and the local board $30.79. Progress of the University. — The University of Minnesota has become a great institution. It is attended by 8000 students in its departments of liberal arts, edu- cation, law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, civil, mining, mechanical, and electrical engineering, agriculture, and forestry. It is supplying the state with the experts with- out which industries would falter and business Hfe stagnate. Dr. Cyrus Northrup retired from the presidency in 191 1 in favor of Dr. George E Vincent, under whose ad- ministration an especially noteworthy change has taken place, looking in two directions. First, there has been a strengthening of the adjustment and cooperation of the various departments. Second, the extension work has progressed until the whole state has been impressed with 278 CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE the fact that its great equipment in the University is to be made to serve its needs in the largest possible way. The offers of special lecture tours, provisions for evening PiLLSBURY Hall, University of Minnesota. and summer courses, and greater opportunities to pursue graduate study have brought the University to the rank of the greatest. A larger campus and better buildings, including Folwell Hall completed in 1907, and the Institute of Anatomy finished in 191 2, the finest building of its kind in the world, have given courage and hope to its faculty and student body to do their best to keep it there. Other schools. — The various schools for unfortunate children are alert to adopt the best methods to train their pupils. At Faribault the schools for the blind, the deaf, and the feeble-minded have been improved so that they now care for 2200. The manual arts, agriculture, and suitable athletics have been introduced, and are applied practically to the wants of the various students. At CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE 279 Owatonna the school for dependent children, during twenty- six years of its existence, has cared for 4500 pupils, of whom about half have reached the age of twenty-one and are supporting themselves ; of the other half most are in homes where the school has placed them either for su- pervision, for adoption, or in the care of their parents. It is significant that in the great state of Minnesota there are but a few over two hundred pupils considered subject to this school. New ideas of correction. — That we can connect reforma- tories and the penitentiary with the school system is a sign of the attitude of the state toward erring boys and girls. The boys' school at Red Wing and a girls' school State Normal School at Moorhead. at Sauk Center are carefully studying the problem of mak- ing the unfortunate pupils that come to them fit citizens for Minnesota. Instead of treating these neglected chil- dren as they were wont to be treated years ago, the teachers 28o CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE and directors strive to restore them to their homes cured of the desire to be seltish, as patients are returned from a hospital cured of disease. Less and less has it become necessary for the wrongdoer to go on doing wrong. The reformatory at St. Cloud and the state prison at Stillwater follow the methods of the best experts in the study of man- kind. So the state is training those who for one reason or another started life untrained, and is graduating them from its houses of correction ready and willing to work, and to let others work in peace, for the prosperity and edu- cation of Minnesota. The new building at Stillwater illustrates this principle in its structure. It contains, besides the necessary prison equipment, great recreation rooms ; and in its very cells are to • be found conveniences suggesting a life to lead rather than a punishment for past Ufe. Its workshops are thoroughly modern, its grounds laid out for the vari- ous uses of the inmates. In fact, probably no prison in the country better illustrates the new teaching of those who have broken the laws. The legislature of 191 5 passed a bill authorizing a spe- cial women's reformatory. For twenty-three years Mrs. Higbie, a prominent club woman, had appeared before legis- lative committees pleading for this institution. But what she was not permitted to see, her death brought about. After an eloquent speech in a committee room on March 3, she dropped dead of heart disease. This, with the story of her struggle, decided the issue. Important laws. — Among the measures that have been won for the people, the primary law stands out promi- nently. Enacted in 1905, it provided first only for the nomination of legislative candidates; but subsequent CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE 28 1 amendments have made it apply to all state offices. Under this plan the people are more interested in the choice of candidates than they were under the old '' convention plan." Railroad legislation also has gone forward. We have seen that the granger laws made people sympathize with the railroads, and that the companies made the most of this sympathy. Gradually the people have won back some of the rights they sacrificed in the late seventies. They have raised the gross earnings tax to 5 per cent, they have secured material reductions in freight rates, have lowered the passenger rate from three to two cents a mile, and have abolished the issuing of passes to any but employees. This last provision has made legislators free to act on all railway matters. Perhaps the greatest achievement is the awakening of the people to the fact that they have given nearly a quarter of the state to the railroad companies, and that in consequence the roads are bound to treat them fairly. At the same time it has been acknowledged that the people must safeguard the railroads in a proper return on their capital. Other legislation. — The legislature has enlarged the usefulness of the schools by increased appropriation. It has provided for taxes to support good roads in all parts of the state, and has established an efficient forest service. It has revised the system of taxation whereby a citizen pays on a 40 per cent valuation in all parts of the state in- stead of paying according to the whim of an assessor. It has encouraged the reclaiming of the great swamp areas of the far north, and has encouraged the laborer, through a compensation law that helps him to collect his wages and other expenses, when he has been injured at his work. 282 CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE Legislative records. — In 1909 Lynn Haines made a special study of the state legislature, and published his record in a book, The Minnesota Legislature of igog. A committee of citizens, interested in the betterment of political conditions in the state, gave the book their en- dorsement, saying that it deserved '' candid, discriminating, yet sympathetic perusal by every friend of good govern- ment." The book not only placed legislators on record, but increased the public interest in practical government ; and thus it may be said to mark the beginning of a new era in the political life of the state. Better city government. — The fight to win for the people utiHty rates and the removal of private companies from political control of cities has gone on continually since the nineties. Conspicuously brave was Henry Truelson, twice mayor of Duluth, who left his city a water-supply and gas-distributing plant. Duluth has become a model for the other cities of the state. Under a commission form of government since 1909, it is hoping to free itself still further from speculation and greed. One of the best elements in its government is the social-center depart- ment, under a trained expert. This department, by the grace of the school board, is able to gather the citizens of the various communities of the city for recreation and im- provement. Supervised play and dancing, picture shows, lectures, classes of various kinds, and clubs can thus be offered by the city, often much more effectively than by individual churches or other organizations. Other cities have been waging the fight for better govern- ment. Minneapolis has obtained better gas and electric rates, and has prepared for the expected river trade by purchasing space for her own wharves. Her park board CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE 283 has opened several bathhouses within the past ten years, and has made at least a start towards encouraging children to do things that are worth while, by organizing games in some of the parks. St. Paul adopted the commission plan of government in 191 2. Among the smaller cities Mankato is prominent as a fighter for good government. She was the first Minnesota city to change to the commission plan. Other cities are studying various schemes for making their people happier. Religion. — Of the total, population of Minnesota about 1,000,000 are members of the various organized churches. The Catholics are the strongest of the denominations, with about 400,000 ; next come the Lutherans with 300,000 ; and then the Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Con- gregationalists, and Episcopalians in the order named. The different denominations have shown their power chiefly in their contest for the prohibition of the Hquor traihc, and in various movements directed against poor government. Not only do the pastors show a great interest in the welfare of the state, but the members, through their clubs and societies, study the various means by which the people of the state may achieve the greatest happiness. The clean-up campaign. — One of the best of the recent movements is in behalf of cleanliness. It was formerly the common thing even in the cities to pass rubbish from one lot to another, and to clutter the very streets with garbage. Now such conditions are so exceptional as to cause intense indignation. Even the villages, although slower to adopt sanitary precautions than the cities, are striving to separate bakeries as widely as possible from stables, and to enforce other health regulations. War- fare is being consistently waged upon the fly. At the 284 CONSERVATION OF PEOPLE same time the idea of civic beauty has grown. Filthy streets, unsightly refuse, ramshackle sheds, and unpainted houses are distinctly unpopular in the Minnesota of to-day. Notable deaths. — On April 2 2, 1903, Ramsey, territorial and war gov- ernor, shrewd politician and admired leader, died. On September 21, 1909, John A. Johnson died, while serving his third term. In 1908 he was recognized as a candidate for President on the Democratic ticket. His power to win people made him governor, despite the fact that the state had been strongly Republican since the Civil War. Governor John A. Johnson. SUMMARY Minnesota conserved her people by : Efficient education. Progressive legislation. Alert citizens. QUESTIONS 1. What is meant by "state aid"? 2. What is a consolidated school? 3. What is the commission plan of city government? REFERENCES The Minnesota Legislature in igoy, and iqoq. — Lynn Haines. Report of the State Superintendent of Education, igi4. CHAPTER XXIV ART IN MINNESOTA The fine arts in pioneer days. — It remains to speak of the advancement in the line arts. It will be remem- bered that the first settlers in the St. Croix and Mississippi valleys were from Maine, many of them greatly interested in education. They showed this in their efforts to establish schools and a university almost before they had roofs over their heads. But even if they had been interested in music, painting, and sculpture, they were too busy and too poor to provide for these wants. They were, moreover, descended from the Puritans, and the Puritans never showed much interest in the fine arts. They had insisted on pubHc education almost as soon as they settled in Massachusetts, because they beheved that the salvation of a child from the terrors of sin required that he read and understand the Scriptures. So many of the best paintings were of the Virgin Mary and other saints that they were afraid to encourage art at all. Hymn music was necessary, but the Hght airs that please us or the beautiful compositions of the masters were not tolerated in a Puritan home. So even at the time that Minnesota was settled, there was little chance that even college graduates would have a tender feeling for beauty in any of its phases ; and as for those who had never pursued their schooling be3^ond the common school, the idea of beauty was never near them. 285 286 ART IN MINNESOTA The first settlers had scarcely knocked together their crude houses and stores when the immigrant horde poured in from Germany and the Scandinavian countries, people sturdy because of the farm labor demanded of them, but peasants whose souls wanted, indeed, to express their feelings in some outward form but were denied the oppor- tunity. Who could stop to gaze at a landscape, or let his fingers idly roam over the keys of a piano, or wonder at the possible effect of this building or that upon the general plan? Minnesota was to wait until boys and girls whose Institute of Arts, Minneapolis. fathers had made possible their leisure could teach her how to enjoy beauty. Art beginnings. — Only within the past few years has the state begun to appreciate art. To be sure, the Minne- apolis School of Fine Arts was estabUshed in the seventies ; the Minneapolis Exposition of the eighties contained among its wonders an art gallery ; and St. Paul, with others of the large cities, was beginning to awaken to the need for training in this direction. But with the nineties a new era began. Musical organizations of various kinds sprang up in the larger cities and opportunities for the study of music began to be provided. These were accompanied by a corresponding movement in the interests of other forms ART IN MINNESOTA 287 of art. The schools through their drawing and music instruction have encouraged this interest, until they have given the state a group of citizens alert to preserve natural beauty, as well as to produce the beautiful in many forms. Many men have given both their money and themselves to the cause. Beautiful buildings. — The fact that the children of these Puritans and immigrant peasants could build the State Capitol finished in 1905 is in itself an argument for their interest in art. The noble columns, impressive vistas, and stirring paintings of that building are constant sug- gestions to every school district and village to do more than merely to provide a shelter against the weather. That the suggestion is not being made in vain is proved by the beautiful buildings rising nearly everywhere through- out the state — courthouses, post offices, libraries, churches, schoolhouses, and residences. One of the most noteworthy elements in this artistic movement is the general improve- ment in business buildings. No longer is it deemed sufficient to inclose a space with brick and stone. Decora- tion is used with good effect, so that many of the banks, stores, offices, and even factory buildings are objects of beauty. State aid to culture. — The state government has been active in encouraging the culture of its people. In 1899 the Minnesota Library Commission was organized and since that date has kept small collections of books traveling from place to place, thus encouraging the local library associations. In 1903 the State Art Society was created by the legislature. Its chief business is giving exhibitions of paintings in various towns, to stimulate the love of the beautiful among all the people. The value of the work 288 ART IN MINNESOTA done by these two organizations in the short period of their existence is incalculable. They have been greatly aided by the State Historical Society, and by the artists scattered over the state. An event of national interest was the dedication of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on January 7, 191 5. Richly Itasca Lake from Douglas Lodge. endowed by Clinton Morrison and William Dunwoody, the institute has erected one unit, in itself magnificent, of what will be its complete building. It is able thus to house thousands of art treasures of all kinds, including the loan collections of the best pictures, sculptures, and handicraft art in America. This building, together with the famous Walker Gallery in MinneapoKs and the various ART IN MINNESOTA 289 St. Paul collections, makes the Twin Cities one of the na- tion's art centers. State parks. — In recent years the state has preserved grounds and scenery for the pleasure of her citizens. Itasca Park, at the source of the Mississippi, contains 20,000 acres of lake, stream, and fine forests, the last under the control of the forestry board. Interstate Park, managed by Minnesota and Wisconsin together, contains 700 acres along the beautiful Dalles of the St. Croix, of which 180 are in Minnesota and to which the state plans to add 500 acres more. Minneopa Falls, near Mankato, and Ramsey Falls of the Minnesota River, in Redwood County, are each inclosed by state parks. With these should be included the two government forest reserves northwest of Lake Superior and Cass Lake respectively, amounting in all to 1,150,000 acres, and containing trout streams, numberless lakes, and all kinds of game. Although not parks nor under state control, with these resources the reserves are natural playgrounds for the people of the state. What has made Minnesota. — None of this work of development, whether agricultural, commercial, or cultural, could have been attained merely by processes of govern- ment. Behind every act of the legislature is the faithful work of some organization. The grange, once, and now the farmers' clubs, the association of bankers and dealers in various commodities, the state and local federations of workingmen, the various educational bodies, the musicians and artists, and other groups of men and women who have been willing to make personal sacrifice for the greater good, — all these have fostered the growth of Minnesota. Women in their club meetings have lately been effective agents of progress, and young people associated in various STORY OF MINN. — I9 290 ART IN MINNESOTA > Pi O u 73 C/3 o < M H O ART IN MINNESOTA 291 ways have eagerly contributed what they could. The story of Minnesota in her progress from savagery to civili- zation has been, therefore, a tale of noble effort. Through this effort the good has steadfastly pushed forward. Minnesota is large enough to provide every man, woman, and child in the United States, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines a half acre of land. It produces from its soil an annual wealth of nearly $300,000,000, and from its manufacturing plants over $400,000,000, and it is ready to produce men and women who shall be worthy of the toil and sacrifice that the great commonwealth has cost. SUMMARY JMinnesota cultivates a sense of beauty in her citizens, through : Conserving her natural beauty. Building nobly. Organizing effectively. QUESTIONS 1. How does a beautiful park or building affect character? 2. What is being don 3 in your comriunity to cultivate beauty? CHAPTER XXV HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED The purpose of government. — The purpose of govern- ment is to permit a citizen to be as free as possible without interfering with the freedom of his neighbor ; to make one Minnesota State Capitol at St. Paul. community as free as possible without interfering with the freedom of any other community. In order to obtain this freedom, it is necessary for people to agree on certain rules of conduct that all shall observe. These rules for Minnesota are the constitution and laws of the United 292 HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED 293 States, the constitution and laws of Minnesota, and cer- tain laws, such as village ordinances, which pertain to a limited district without touching other communities. Divisions of government. — The laws and ordinances which govern the conduct and customs of people are drawn up by a majority of their representatives, elected for this purpose. As it is hard to make language so clear that it cannot be misunderstood, certain other representatives, called judges, explain the laws and discover whether in* individual cases they have been disregarded or not. To enforce the laws still other representatives are chosen. These form what is known as the executive department of the government. The three sets of representatives, legis- lative or law-making, judicial or law-explaining, and exe- cutive or law-enforcing, compose the government, whether of the United States, Minnesota, or any part of Minnesota, such as a township or village or county. We shall try to make clear just how government is conducted in Minne- sota and its various divisions. Locating land. — A large part of the United States is marked off like a huge checkerboard, into six-mile squares. The rows extending north and south are called ranges ; those extending east and west are townships. To find any township, we notice where the lines forming its northern and southern boundaries intersect the lines forming the eastern and western boundaries of a given range. The plats on page 294 explain what is meant by range and township. That isj Township A is described as Township 128, Range 20; B is Township 128, Range 21, etc. ; and simi- larly I and L are described as Township 129, Range 23 and 20 accordingly. 294 HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED Range Range Range Range : 23 22 21 20 1 E> O B A 1 Township 123 \ I I ■ J K T.ownship 129 1 E Plat I. D O B 1 ■ i 6 1 G 5 H 4 I 3 J 2 - K 4o: 160 r--^-^ ; 80 ; t \ i 7 8 9 10 11 12 i ! 18 17 16 15 14 13 I ^^ 20 21 22 23 24 i j 30 29 28 27 26 25 i 1 ^^ J 32 33 34 35 36 j Plat II. HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED 295 Every township contains thirty-six sections, each a mile square. They are numbered, beginning in the northeast corner, according to the plan given in the second plat. Each section of 640 acres is divided, for homestead entry, into quarters. A quarter section has always been the size of a claim given by the government until the recent law permitting an entry on 320 acres, or two quarters of dry land, in some of the states further west. In Minnesota there is no such land. In order to describe a piece of prop- erty in legal papers it is customary to use the following scheme. Suppose that Township A be divided. We refer to the piece marked 40 acres as the N.E. J of the N.E. | of sec- tion I, Township 128, Range 20, and to the opposite 40 acres as the N.W. J of the N.E. J, etc., and to the piece marked 80 as the S. I of the N.E. J ; and so on for other divisions. Township government. — A Minnesota township, when settled thickly enough to require a separate government, has three sets of officials. First, it has a board of super- visors, consisting of three trustees and a clerk ; second, it has a treasurer and two constables ; and third, it has two justices of the peace. The board of supervisors, or town board as it is usually called, meets regularly, to transact, through vote of its members, the business of the town, — ■ tax levying and re\iewing, Hcensing, borrowing money for improvements and managing these improvements, of which road and bridge making are the most important. This board, by vote of its members, makes laws that affect the township, but do not apply to any other township. These laws must be in accordance with the state law. The clerk of the board must keep all of its records, give notice to taxpayers of elections and meetings, and keep a check on the treasurer. 296 HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED Once a year a town meeting is held, to which all of the voters are invited, and which discusses projects that the board cannot decide alone, — how much money to spend, how to get it, and other matters, generally financial. The board calls the voters together on other occasions for special advice. Hence the township affairs are never very far away from the taxpayers. The law-making power is thus in their hands rather than in the hands of the board, although the board passes certain needed measures. The law-enforcing power is in the hands of the board, since the president has no power apart from the board. The clerk, however, has a great deal of administrative work to do, as one may see by glancing through the state laws on the subject. The treasurer is not a member of the board, although he attends the meetings to report on the finances. He is under bond to keep the money of the town safely. Although he is separated from the board, he cannot be called the executive department of the town's government, since the board itself combines legislative and executive power. The constables are the policemen of the country, to see that the laws of state and town are enforced. They make arrests, serve papers, and carry out the will of the citizens regarding their well-being. The justices try cases that are not important enough for the district court. With the exception of being less formal, the procedure in a justice court is similar to that described on page 312. Justices make out papers of vari- ous kinds, perform the marriage ceremony, and try petty criminal cases. The election of township officers takes place on the first Tuesday in March, for a term of one year. Before the HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED 297 election a caucus is held, at which officers are nominated. Sometimes there are two tickets. A sample reads thus : Citizen's Ticket r Peter Berg For Supervisors < Henry Jones . Peter Erickson For Clerk Richard Reiter For Treasurer Thomas Holder -r. ^ ^1, f Oscar Ketcham For Constables < ^„ , ^_^ . I Sidney Helps T. -r .• f Edward Bench For Justices ^ * , . o [ Alexis bcott On election day the polls are open from 9 : 00 to 5 : 00, or to 9 : 00 by vote of the board. The names of all voters are taken for a permanent record, and the voter may choose the caucus ticket or make one of his own. The candidate for each office receiving the largest number of votes is declared elected. School government. — One of the most important govern- ments to understand is that of the school, because it costs the most, $36 for every pupil, and because, aimed to fit people for life, it may do the most good or harm. And still people often show less interest in this government than in almost any other matter. School districts are either common, special, or independ- ent. If common, they are formed by the county commis- sioners, on petition of residents of a certain territory. This territory is not necessarily, nor generally, a village or town- ship. In fact, such a government may have several dis- tricts either wholly or partly within its borders, parts of 298 HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED seven perhaps. Convenience is the ruling factor in marking off a district. In a common district a board of three administers affairs, and a treasurer holds and expends all funds. One member is president, one director, and one clerk. The board builds and furnishes schoolhouses, employs teachers, buys books, borrows money if necessary, and generally acts for the residents. On the third Saturday in July it calls the residents together in annual school meeting, to report what it has done, and to get directions for the coming year. At this meeting one member of the board retires, and an- other is elected to take his place. The meeting is con- trolled by the residents, who elect their chairman and secre- tary, and decide what tax they will levy, what improve- ments they will make, and what money they will borrow. The board acts according to the decision of the meeting. Although often more than half a man's tax is levied by this meeting, some citizens will not attend it unless there are signs of an exciting contest, usually over nothing more important than the election of the director. The teachers are supervised by the county superintendent, who visits the schools twice a year. In an independent district there is no annual meeting. Six, instead of three members of a board are elected, but only three leave ofhce at any one time, so that a permanent policy is guaranteed. This board has more power than a common school board, since it usually acts in towns and cities, where there is need of more responsibility. For instance, an independent board may erect buildings with- out a vote passed by a school meeting. It employs a superintendent of schools, who chooses his teachers, sub- ject to the board's approval. He also manages the school i. I HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED 299 and supervises the teachers, subject to the approval of the board. A special district is created by the legislature, to lit the special need of a certain territory, and we need not discuss this further than to state that it is controlled by a board of six members, like an independent district. There are four classes of schools : rural, A, B, and C, according to their qualifications ; semigraded, graded, and high schools. Each class is under the eye of a special inspector, who works with the state superintendent of education. County government. — A county may be organized by the legislature at any time, but it must contain 400 square miles. County lines already established cannot be changed, unless by a majority vote of the electors in the counties affected. Most of the counties were organized before i860, but divisions of the larger counties are now being made. A glance at the map will show where we can expect to see new counties in the future. The officers of a county are either three or five commissioners, each elected • from a certain division of the county, auditor, treasurer, registrar of deeds, sur- veyor, coroner, superintendent of schools, attorney, sheriff, judge of probate, clerk of court, and court commissioner. The county commissioners are elected for four years each, but in different years, so that there are always experienced members of the board. These officers ap- point what assistants are necessary to look after the details of the office, — deputies, clerks, stenographers, and others. Duties of commissioners. — The commissioners meet regularly to transact business. This concerns matters of 300 HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED such general interest as a township, village, or city could not well manage alone. The commissioners — 1. Decide village and school district boundaries. 2. Make and repair county roads. 3. Provide and supervise jails, poorhouses, courthouses, and other buildings. 4. Borrow money needed for improvements. 5. Make appropriations of money for various purposes. 6. Superintend county waterways, lake drains, and other similar improvements. 7. Help to organize school districts and townships through powers explained by state law. The commissioners pass on the various matters that come before them, by majority vote, but they do not make laws as a township board does. Their powers are fully explained in the statutes. Since, however, they meet regularly as a voting body, they are thought of as a legis- lative body. The inside officers. — The more strictly executive offi- cers may be divided into two sections, although it must be understood that they are not so grouped by law. First, there is the ofhce force, — auditor, treasurer, and register of deeds. The auditor has very many duties, chief among which are the following : 1. He keeps a record of the business done by the com- missioners. 2. He files documents of various kinds. 3. He supphes election material to the various precincts and keeps record of returns. 4. He keeps a record of all highways, drains, and other county improvements. HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED 301 5. He apportions school money. 6. He issues warrants for payment by the treasurer. 7. He keeps account of the poor. 8. He records all tax assessments. The duties of the treasurer need not be defined. He is under bond to keep all county funds safe. The register of deeds files all records pertaining to real estate, so that titles may always be safe. These officers, with their depu- ties and clerks, whom they choose themselves, are execu- tives. The outside officers. — The other executives are in- vestigators of conditions in various parts of the county. The surveyor corrects boundary lines and furnishes plats for various purposes. The coroner investigates causes of sudden deaths. Often the coroner presides at an in- quest, or inquiry, in which a jury decides, after the evi- dence has been gathered, how a person came to his death. The superintendent of schools is the most important county officer, since he must visit the various schools con- stantly, and seek to bring them to a greater efficiency. The attorney tries all cases in which the state law is in- volved, and he issues warrants of arrest for the sheriff to serve. The sheriff makes arrests without warrants, if he sees that the law is being disregarded, and keeps the peace as does the constable or policeman. These officers of the second section are therefore busy outside of their offices for a great part of their time. The court officers. — The law-interpreting, or judi- cial department of the government, is represented in the county by three officers, the judge of probate, the clerk of court, and the court commissioner. The judge of probate presides over cases involving wills and disposition of property, 302 HOW LOCALITIES iVRE GOVERNED the guardianship of children, examination regarding sanity, and matters that pertain to county and domestic Hfe in which the state criminal law is not concerned. The clerk of court keeps a record of all the district court's doings that pertain to his county. Court convenes in each county of the district as many times in a year as is necessary to do its business : and the clerk must attend. When there is no session, he may be consulted on all matters pertaining to its business. The court commissioner is a kind of judge serving between times. That is, he performs marriages, gives judicial papers, and acts otherwise in matters that the district judge would manage if he were present. He has certain powers of a district judge, but he does not con- duct trials. Village government. — There is very little difference between a village government and that of a township. This difference is due to the fact that the improvements — streets, sidewalks, water mains, lighting systems, parks, and public buildings — require more constant attention from the village council. The council consists of a presi- dent, three trustees, and a clerk, and is elected on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March, for one year. A treasurer is elected for a similar term. The village council does not, however, receive its directions from a meeting of the villagers. It operates under legislative direction. It passes enactments, called ordinances, that are needed for the conduct and well-being of people who meet each other under so many conditions and in so different a manner from citizens of a rural community. City government. — Cities are governed variously in Minnesota, depending on the charters or constitutions which the legislature allows them. Nearly all of the cities of HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED 303 the state elect councilmen, each from a separate district called a ward. Generally there are two aldermen from each ward. These representatives meet regularly, to manage the business of the city and make ordinances for the guidance of the people. The ordinances must not conflict with state laws, however. The president of the council in the smaller cities is mayor, but in the larger cities a mayor is elected, to represent the city on special occasions, to enforce the ordinances and state laws by means of his police force, and to act on various boards provided for by the council. A city attorney and city clerk are elected by the council, and perform the duties of the village attorney and clerk. A comptroller, whose duties are similar to those of the auditor, and a treasurer are elected with the mayor, but have no connection with him except as he may want advice. There are justices of the peace, if no municipal court is conducted. In the larger cities the municipal court convenes every day and hears cases that do not belong to the district court, — petty criminal cases involving a punishment of less than $100 or three months' imprisonment. The greater number of these cases are of men accused of drunkenness and other misdemeanors of the street. Civil cases involving less than $100 are also tried here. The commission plan. — Several cities of the state, including St. Paul, Duluth, and Mankato, have adopted the commission form of government, in which the plan of modeling the city after the national government, and separating the three departments, law-making, law-inter- preting, and law-enforcing, is abandoned. Instead, a com- mission of five or seven men, elected, not from districts, but from the city at large, form a council. Each man is 304 HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED an executive, since he is held responsible for a certain department. For instance, one as head of a department of public safety manages the police and fire divisions, one is responsible for the pubUc health, one for public accounts, one for streets and pubHc grounds, and one perhaps for 1 1 J i . Ji M a ^g- 1 ^m"^ ^^'is4-*^ ^^M^J :- MrMM ?Jfv^ ■"■ ^'-r -" v:,' .^-yK'j^m. ' :^i^i^»^"i)^p", ■-?*»; i m m l!M: ., ^^ f su 1%: f^^M i HB^HB^^^S r tf^^.fKaM : f 1 " ' i ■ \ IT i r. •!!■»'- mii^^ K^!^^ t j^ ^'J i 1 fft^^m ..." 1 ■ m^mm t^ '^ .L 4 i |^^*^^^ni& ,(?: mmj n 1 -?"-v '1 'MmFT St. Paul is one of the cities having a commission form of government. education. The first of these executives is the mayor, who represents the city and presides over the meetings of the council. These commissioners, or councilmen, choose experts to look after details, but are responsible for the conduct of the offices. In this way people beHeve that there is less HkeUhood of waste and inefficiency than under the ward and alder- man plan. The municipal court may be brought under a department of justice, or may be left free. I I I HOW LOCALITIES ARE GOVERNED 305 SUMMARY Government is for the purpose of giving as much liberty to a person as possible, without interfering with his neighbor. There are three divisions of government. Name them and tell what each aims to do. The United States has divided the land of the state into townships. In each the state has provided for a government as follows : Executive : town board, including president, clerk, three directors, treasurer, constables. Legislative : town meeting, town board. Judicial : justices of the peace. Village government is much like township government. What difference is there ? A school district may be common or independent. The common school district is in the hands of a board of three, in- cluding : president, director, clerk. The independent school district has a board of six. County government is ordered as follows : Executive: commissioners, auditor, treasurer, sheriff, coroner, superintendent of schools, surveyor. Legislative : county commissioners. Judicial : judge of probate, county commissioner. STORY OF MINN. — 20 CHAPTER XXVI THE STATE GOVERNMENT The departments. — By the state constitution, all the powers of government are divided into three distinct departments, — legislative, executive, and judicial, — and no person belonging to one of these departments is permitted to exercise power in any other. That is, the courts can- not control any executive ofhcer, nor can any executive officer interfere with the legislature. This does not pre- vent the departments from working together. The gover- nor advises the legislature what laws are needed, and the judges serve on commissions appointed by the legislature. But each department may only be advised or helped by another, never interfered with or dictated to. Senators and representatives. — The legislature con- sists of two branches — the Senate and the House of Repre- sentatives. There may be one senator for every 5000 people, and one representative for every 2000 people. From time to time, as the number of inhabitants increases, a new apportionment is made, and the state is redistricted. At present the number of senators is 67 ; of representatives, 130. Each of these goes from a certain district marked off on the map, sometimes containing more than a county, but in the more thickly settled parts of the state much less, according to the population. For instance, Koochi- ching, Itasca, Cass, and Aitkin counties in northern Minne- sota make one senatorial district, while the city of St. 306 I i THE STATE GOVERNMENT 307 Paul is divided into six, Minneapolis into nine, and Duluth into two. Terms of office. — Representatives are elected for two years, senators for four. But only half the senators go out of ofhce at one time. This is to guarantee that there shall be at each session a number of men whose experi- ence and judgment will be of more value than the untrained opinion of newcomers. As a matter of fact, however, the guarantee is scarcely needed, for a large percentage of both representatives and senators are returned to office by their neighbors. Hence there is always a group in each house who have served several consecutive terms, and still another group who have been members in previous years. Organizing for business. — Each house makes its own rules, but in general the procedure is much the same. The first thing the House of Representatives has to do when it organizes is to appoint a speaker, its president. The Sen- ate is presided over always by the lieutenant governor, unless he appoints some one to take his place. In the event of his death the Senate appoints a member to be president. After the house is called to order by its pre- siding officer, the committees who are to consider various matters during the session are chosen, and necessary officers are appointed, including sergeant at arms, clerks, messengers, and stenographers, to help make the business run smoothly. Then the house is ready for the making and revising of laws. Similarly, the Senate organizes. Passing laws. — The progress of a bill through the legis- lature is interesting. First, it is printed by the member who is to offer it. Generally it has been discussed for months before the legislature meets, and often it has been read by thousands of citizens, many of whom have helped 3o8 THE STATE GOVERNMENT to put it into the best form before it is offered for discus- sion. Of course this is not true of the bills affecting very few persons, or those suggesting slight changes in condi- tions. After being introduced, the bill is referred to a committee that has particularly in charge the subject that the bill discusses. The committee debates its merits. Often several sessions are given to hearing arguments for or against the bill. Here the real battle occurs. The bill may be amended in the committee room, perhaps by the author himself. Finally the committee sends it to the chamber, where it is read again and opened to debate if necessary. After it has been read three times, opposed and defended and often changed in form, a vote is taken, the members answering '' Aye "or " Nay," when their names are called by the clerk in alphabetical order. If a majority votes in its favor, the bill is sent to the other chamber, Senate or House of Representatives as the case may be, and the same process is repeated. Then it is signed by the governor if he ap- proves. If he does not, he must state his reasons within three days, and then the bill must be passed again and by a majority of two thirds of both houses before it can become a law. Bills originate in either branch of the legislature, except bills to raise revenue, all of which must be introduced first in the House of Representatives. ' This was determined upon as a safeguard to the people, for the house was thought closer to them than the Senate, and the money-spending power was one that should belong to the taxpayers. Some- times a committee made up of members from each branch, called a conference committee, works on a bill to make its passage easier. In fact, were it not for the committees, THE STATE GOVERNMENT 309 the business of law making would be a very tedious and costly one. They stop much fooHsh legislation, and thus save the time of the session for what is worth while. The statutes and the constitution. — The laws, made and amended from time to time to suit changed ideas and conditions, form the statutes of Minnesota. They differ from the constitution in that they specify what shall or shall not be. The constitution, on the other hand, is a general statement of the rights of citizens, distribution of the powers of government with regulations as to the conduct of each, requirements of citizenship, control and expenditure of state funds, organization of local govern- ments, and some minor matters. Every citizen should be familiar with the constitution and the statutes of his state, — if not thoroughly, at least in a general way. Executive officers. — The executive department con- sists of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and attorney-general, who are chosen at the general elections. These officers are not associated as are the President of the United States and his cabinet. Except in an advisory way they have nothing in common with each other, beyond doing for one another what is necessary for the conduct of business. As has been said, the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate and becomes governor in the absence or upon the death of a governor. All of these officers serve for two years, except the auditor, whose term is four years. This is because his duties are so many and so complex that a shorter term would scarcely allow him a chance to make headway. The officers swear to support the constitution of the United States and 'of Minnesota, and faithfully to discharge their duties to the best of their ability. 3IO THE STATE GOVERNMENT What the governor does. — The governor sends to the legislature, as soon as he takes office in January, a message discussing the matters to which the legislature ought to pay attention. Like the President of the United States, he commands the military and the naval forces, which he may call out in case of trouble within the state. He appoints, from time to time, officers provided for by stat- utes. He may call the legislature to meet in extra ses- sion. He may require the opinion of each of the other executive officers upon any subject relating to the duties of that officer, and he ffils the vacancies in these offices, county offices, or others created by the legislature. As has been said, he signs all bills. Besides these duties the governor serves on many boards and commissions, and represents the state in public meetings and conferences- What other executives do. — The other executive officers are in charge of the daily business of the state. To aid them they employ many deputies, clerks, and other assist- ants. The secretary of state keeps a record of this busi- ness, as well as of all official deeds. He files papers of various kinds, including bonds of all state and county officers. He records all private and public corporations. In his charge are the volumes of law, the journals and other legislative records, and the United States surveys of Minne- sota. He is the manager of state elections and the final canvasser of the vote. All public printing, including the publication of the laws and the Legislative Manual, is done under his direction, and he disposes of all printed executive documents of the state. The auditor keeps a check on the treasurer, as does the county auditor on the county treasurer. He must keep a record of pubUc accounts, audit claims, and issue war- THE STATE GOVERNMENT 31 1 rants for payment of all money that the treasurer dis- tributes, including the pay rolls of public institutions. He prepares tax blanks and keeps an account of state taxes. His report on all these matters must be very complete. With all of these duties, the auditor combines those of the land department. Under his direction all school and other state lands are sold or leased, and all products of these lands, such as grass, cranberries, maple sugar and royalties at twenty-five cents a ton for ore taken from the lands, are collected by him. He records all land contracts, deeds, and other papers connected with this business. The treasurer receives and pays all state money. He must specify the names of persons from whom the money is received, to whom it is paid, on what account, and the time of receipt and payment. He gives two receipts for money paid by the counties, — one to the county auditor and one to the treasurer. The attorney-general keeps all departments informed as to their powers, within the limits of certain laws that are passed from time to time. He gives opinions as to the rights of citizens, and of corporations under certain laws. For the state he acts as prosecutor of persons or corpora- tions who seek to work against the regulations imposed by the state law. But he does not act in cases where the question of common crime is involved, unless requested to do so by the attorney of the county where the crime was committed. His work is nearly all advisory. It is very important, however, for upon his action depends the gain or loss to the taxpayers of immense sums of money, as well as the gain or loss of the good or evil of certain laws to the citizens of the state. 312 THE STATE GOVERNMENT The judges. — The judicial department is for the satis- faction of justice. It consists of a Supreme Court and dis- trict courts. There are nineteen judicial districts in the state. Hennepin and Ramsey counties form one district each ; the other districts contain more than one county each, according to its need. Hennepin has nine judges, Ramsey six, and the eleventh district, in which Duluth is, three ; in the other districts generally one judge can care for all the cases. The district judges are elected for terms of six years. They begin where the justices of the peace or municipal courts leave off, that is, with civil suits in which the amount in dispute is more than $ioo, and with criminal suits in which the punishment is more than three months' imprison- ment or a fine of more than $ioo. In criminal cases there is seldom any appeal from a district court, but civil suits are often sent from a district to the Supreme Court, where the finer matters of law can be thoroughly explained. How a case is conducted. — The process in a district court is very interesting. The judge sits on a platform surrounded by a wall about three feet high. In front of him sits the clerk, who announces the cases and keeps record of all the doings of the court. At one side is the jury box, and at the other seats for witnesses and the pris- oner. A little further in front are tables for the opposing lawyers. Outside of a railing are seats for the public. The judge's seat is called the bench, and the railing in front of his. desk the bar, hence we refer to the court as " the bench " and to the legal profession as " the bar." When court is ready to open, the bailiff announces the fact with these words : " Hear ye, hear ye, the court is now in session." Then the clerk reads, " The State of THE STATE GOVERNMENT 313 Minnesota versus John Doe," or if a civil case, " John Doe versus Richard Doe." The attorney for the state in a criminal case, or for the plaintiff in a civil case, then opens his argument, sketching what he expects to prove. After this the evidence is presented. The evidence con- sists of articles, letters, books, or anything that will shed light on the actions or motives of the defendant, and the word of the witnesses. Each witness is called to the stand and asked questions by the attorney. The questions and answers are carefully taken down by a stenographer, and made a part of the court records for future reference. After the attorney for the state or plaintiff has ques- tioned the witness, the opposing attorney follows with some inquiries, to discover whether the witness is reliable or not. This is called the cross-examination. When the evidence has all been presented, each attorney sums up what has been offered in a closing argument to the jury, the " twelve good men and true " who have been chosen to hear the argument. Then the judge gives his charge to the jury, telling them what the crime consists of, and what their verdict should be if they find the evidence points in a certain direction. Similarly he suggests what their course should be if the case is civil. The jury then retires, in charge of a bailiff who must be responsible that no one talks to its members. They are confined to a room until they decide upon a verdict. The vote must be unanimous to be accepted. When the jury is ready to report, some- times after nearly a week of debate, generally only a few hours, a message is sent to the officers, court is convened, and the members of the jury take their seats. The judge then asks, " Gentlemen of the jury, have you arrived at a verdict? " 314 THE STATE GOVERNMENT The foreman of the jury rises and replies, " We have, your Honor. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty (or not guilty)." Or, " We, the jury, find for the plaintiff (or defendant)." The judge then states the penalty to be paid. In the Supreme Court there is no jury. Five judges hear the evidence, and a majority of them decide the case. The clerk of the Supreme Court is elected for a four- year term, the judges for six years. The railroad and warehouse commission. — The rail- road and warehouse commission consists of three mem- bers, one of whom is elected by the people every two years, for a term of six years. These commissioners are expected to see that the railroads give required service, furnish connections, and make fair rates ; and that just weights and measures are given at the warehouses. They are supposed to represent the people of the state in their dealings with the railroads and elevator companies. Com- plaints are heard by them sitting as a court, and adjust- ments ordered. The companies or individuals may appeal to the courts from the decision of the commission, but this is seldom done. Appointed officers. — Besides the elected executive offi- cers, the legislature has provided for the appointment of several others. One is the public examiner, whose duty it is to inspect the books of corporations, to insure their obeying the laws in regard to their organization. A special examiner is called superintendent of banks. To guard the people of the state from bad insurance there is the commissioner of insurance. The state dairy and food commissioner tries to insure the people pure foods. The labor commissioner's work is to improve the conditions a I THE STATE GOVERNMENT 315 under which men and women work in factories and stores. To command the militia, an adjutant general and his chief assistants are appointed. The state fire marshal's duties hardly need explanation. The state librarian is in charge of the state law library in the Capitol building. That building itself is in charge of a custodian, and an- other custodian manages the Old Capitol building. Chief among these officers is the superintendent of education, not only because of the great importance of the work which he supervises, but because of the fact that he has a great deal to do with the school funds, a princely fortune that must be in wise hands. These officials are salaried, for they devote all their time to the work. The state inspector of illuminating oils collects fees from the different corpora- tions, whose stock he is supposed to insure to the purchaser. Each officer, except the adjutant, names his deputies, clerks, stenographers, and other assistants. Boards for public institutions. — The legislature has from time to time created boards of from three to thirteen members, some serving with, and some without salary, according to the kind of service which they render. First, there is the group of boards having to do with various public institutions. The board of control, consisting of three salaried members, manages all the houses of correc- tion : the state prison at Stillwater ; the reformatory at St. Cloud ; the boys' and girls' schools at Red Wing and Sauk Center respectively ; the home for inebriates at Willmar ; and the insane hospitals at Rochester, St. Peter, Fergus Falls, Anoka, and Hastings. The board erects and equips buildings, employs officers, buys supplies, and handles all money appropriated for these institutions. 3l6 THE STATE GOVERNMENT The board of regents consists of twelve members, includ- ing the governor, the superintendent of education, and the president of the State University. Like the board of con- trol it manages all university matters. Similarly one board controls the normal schools, now five in number, Winona, Mankato, Moorhead, St. Cloud, and Duluth ; the state schools for the blind and deaf and the Soldiers' Home at Minnehaha Park. In addition there is a board of parole to consider cases of prisoners whose freedom is recommended on their word of honor, a board of women visitors to inspect the girls' school at Sauk Center, and a board of visitors to inspect the other pubUc institutions and report on their condition. All the members of these boards are appointed by the governor. Development boards. — There are several boards that have to do with the development of the state. The state highway commission and the drainage commission, each consisting of the governor, auditor, and secretary of state, and the board of reclamation, seek to make all the land of the state productive. The boards of grain inspectors, one for Minneapolis, and one for Duluth, make the various grades of grain and strive to sustain a high standard for the state. The live-stock sanitary board assists the farm- ers to keep their stock in a healthy and hence profitable condition. The forestry board has already been referred to. Its secretary draws a salary and devotes his entire time to improving the forestry resources of the state. The game and fish commission, through various em- ployees, labors to keep Minnesota's reputation as a recrea- tion ground, by stocking the streams with fish and enforcing both fishing and hunting regulations. To assist this board and to preserve certain places for recreation the THE STATE GOVERNMENT 317 commissioners of state parks, one each for Itasca, Inter- state (St. Croix Dalles), Minneopa (near Mankato), Alex- ander Ramsey (near Redwood Falls), and Fort Ridgely (Yellow Medicine and Minnesota rivers), administer the properties under their control. With these boards that "^^^^•^•im^.^ Winter sports on Lake Winona. try to conserve and enhance the resources of the state, the bureau of immigration cooperates. It consists of the governor, secretary of state, auditor, and two appointed members, and employs a commissioner of immigration to advertise the opportunities for settlers that the state of Minnesota offers. Incorporated by the state are three societies that are 3l8 THE STATE GOVERNMENT trying always to create sentiment for improvement, the State Agricultural Society, which holds the greatest State Fair in the Union at St. Paul every autumn ; the Minne- sota Horticultural Society, which cooperates in the fair but also holds a fruit discussion and exhibit each winter in Minneapolis ; and the Forestry Society, which simi- larly, through advertising and meetings, influences the people of the state to labor for forestry improvements. These official and semi-official bodies form an active brigade to further the interests of Minnesota. Boards of public health. — Still another group of boards is concerned with the public health There is the board of health itself, which employs a secretary to devote his entire time to improving the conditions under which the people of the state work, sleep, eat, and play. Cooperating with this board is the board of tuberculosis, and the advisory board for the sanitarium for consumption at Walker. Naturally the members of these boards are drawn from among the medical experts of the state, thus insuring to the people a scientific interest in preventing disease. Public service boards. — There are several other boards harder to group ; the board of arbitration, whose work is to help settle labor disputes ; the state board of accountancy, that furnishes expert guidance for financial operations ; the voting-machine commission, and the tax commission. The last-named is composed of three salaried members, who give their time to the study of taxation systems, and of local conditions, with the idea of benefiting Minnesota thereby. The board of investment, consisting of the governor, audi- tor, treasurer, president of the University, and superin- tendent of education, is responsible for the investment of the great state school and university funds. THE STATE GOVERNMENT 319 To insure competent service to the people of the state, several boards of examiners meet regularly to question applicants for license to practice their profession or trade. These are the examiners for law, medicine, osteopathy, optometry, dentistry, veterinary medicine, nursing ; and those who pass upon applicants desiring to become bar- bers, electricians, horseshoers, and automobile operators. Boards to promote culture. — Finally, there are the boards that labor for the higher culture of the citizens. There are the Minnesota Library Commission and the governing board of the State Art Society, to which sufficient reference has been made. These, with the Minnesota State Historical Society, incorporated by the state and recognized as a semi-official organization, are active to expand and increase the interest of Minnesotans in some of the higher values of education. Last, but not least, is the state high school board, consisting of the president of the University, the superintendent of education, one mem- ber of the board of regents, and two appointed members. This board it is upon whose recommendations the income of the permanent school fund is apportioned to the two hundred high schools of the state, upon their showing fit- ness and efficiency. SUMMARY State government is divided as follows : Executive : — governor, auditor, treasurer, superintendent of education, clerk of the Supreme Court, boards of visitors and examiners. Legislative : — House of Representatives — speaker ; Senate — lieu- tenant governor. Judicial : — Supreme Court, district courts. Partly executive and partly judicial : — railroad and warehouse commissioners. CHAPTER XXVII DUTIES OF CITIZENS Who may vote. — Every citizen ought to know how to vote, before he has to vote. When he has reached the age of twenty-one, he may cast a ballot at any election, provided that he is a male citizen of the United States, if he is in his right mind, and if he has resided for six months in the state and thirty days in the precinct, or has been restored to civil rights after having committed a felony. Women vote for school officers and members of Ubrary boards. How to vote. — Voting in Minnesota, except for town- ship and village officers, is by the AustraHan system, that is, in a secret booth where only the voter goes, unless he needs some one to help him mark his ballot. He takes into the booth the different ballots and puts " X " opposite the names of the men he wishes to see elected. Below is the form of a ballot : For Governor A. B. Rep. C. D. Dem. X E. F. Pro. Other executive officers are voted for hkewise. 320 DUTIES OF CITIZENS 321 For County Commissioner G. H. Class I X I. J. K. L. M. N. Class II 0. P. X X. R. Other county officers are grouped likewise. The class system is an arrangement by which candi- dates are given an equal chance on the ballot. Without some such plan the one whose name comes first is likely to be favored. But by allowing the candidates to choose what class they will go into, each is fairly treated. The list is thus broken up and the attention of the voter called to the individual names. This is at the general election, held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. What is called the primary election is held on the third Monday in June. It is for the purpose of nominating men to go on the general election ballots. For the offices of governor and the other executives the man who receives the highest number of votes at the primary becomes the candidate of a certain party, Republican, Democratic, Public Ownership, Prohibi- tion, etc., and is so designated on the ballot at the Novem- ber election. For legislative candidates, county and local STORY OF MINN. 21 322 DUTIES OF CITIZENS officers, there can be no party designation, and the two can- didates for each office who receive the highest number of votes at the primary are opposing candidates in November. Below is the form of a primary ballot : 1ST Choice Governor Vote for i 2nd Choice — Vote for i A. B. X X C. D. . E. F. Treasurer G. H. X I.J. K. L. County Ticket Auditor M. N. X 0. P. Q. R. Second-choice votes may also be given to candidates for state offices and Congress. They are counted when the first choice fails to nominate. So far they have not been very liberally given, not enough to change the result of a first-choice election. Balloting. — At an election a number of judges of elec- tion, not more than three, with clerks to keep a regular DUTIES OF CITIZENS 323 record, inspect the persons asking to vote. It is neces- sary in the large cities for the voter's name to be regis- tered, on one of the dates set for this purpose, if he is to vote. In the rural districts registration can be made at the time of voting. The voter, having been proved eligible, is given his ballots and escorted to a closed booth, where he marks and folds them. When he comes out he hands the ballots to a judge, who deposits them in a closed box. When the voting is finished the ballots are counted and the returns tabulated and sent to the secretary of state, who keeps a permanent record of them. In each case a plurality, or any number of votes greater than that cast for his nearest opponent, elects a man to ofhce. Taxation — why necessary. — All of these services to the people cost money. The people must pay for their privileges, and it is fair that each should pay his share. Just what is a person's share has never been determined, because some people get more privileges than others, and some are able to pay more than others. The best way to collect from each person what he owes to the others for services of various kinds is to tax him, by some way or other, and to impose a punishment of some kind if he does not pay. No system of taxation has proved satisfactory yet, but the Minnesota tax commission is studying to make the present plan as fair as possible. By a recent law each person must pay taxes on 40 per cent of the value of his house and lot, farm, or other real estate. He must pay taxes on mortgages, stocks, and bonds, and on what the assessor believes is a fair valuation of his personal property. He may possess $200 worth of furniture, clothing, and other things, excepting such luxuries as jewelry, free of tax. 324 DUTIES OF CITIZENS On other personal property he pays three per cent of his assessed valuation. How the money is divided. — The tax is di\'ided as follows : The state government decides how much money it needs to pay expenses, and how much its rate shall be. In Minnesota it is at present eight mills on the dollar. Then the county, city, village or township, and school district, each through its ofhcers, decides what is needed to pay its expenses, and makes a rate. These rates are then added and a statement is sent to each taxpayer, in- forming him what his valuation is declared to be by the assessor who has previously visited his home and inspected it for that purpose, what the total rate is, and what he owes. He is to pay one half the tax on or before May 31, and the other half on or before October 31, or suffer a penalty of ten per cent additional tax. In case he does not pay after six months, his property is declared open for sale. He is given first chance to redeem it, but in case he does not within three years, any one who will give a suffi- cient sum to pay the taxes and expenses may own the prop- erty. The taxpayer is thus given every opportunity to meet his obligations to his neighbors. It is only in rare cases that a man who cares to save his property loses it. What a man gets for his money. — Next let us see what a citizen of Minnesota gets for his expenditure. Let us suppose that he is a farmer whose valuation is $10,000. The rate in his county is 16.10 mills, apportioned as fol- lows : Rate in Mills County 7-83 .School 2.00 Township (Road) 6.27 16.10 DUTIES OF CITIZENS 325 Or suppose he lives in a city. His rate may then be 32.83 mills, apportioned as follows: Rate in Mills County 7.83 School 8.00 City 17.00 32.83 Taking 40 per cent of his valuation, or $4000, and multi- plying it by 16.10 or by 32.83 mills, we get $64.40 or $131.32 respectively. For this money the farmer or the city man receives : 1. Guardianship for himself and family and his property, while he is asleep and awake. 2. Protection of himself and family from contagious and infectious disease. 3. Hospitals to care for and cure him and his family from illness, and to care for defective children. 4. Regulation of all companies serving the public, so that they cannot overcharge him. 5. Schooling for his children, to prepare them for the duties of citizenship, at a cost of over $30 a year for each child. 6. Literary and artistic training, given by school, state, and local institutions supported by public tax. 7. Roads and streets, often fine drives and boulevards, bridges at convenient places, state and local parks and recreation grounds, bathing beaches, resting places and beauty spots on rivers and lakes, supported by public tax. 8. Public officials working to protect both him and his property. 9. Courts and county and local institutions, to look after 326 DUTIES OF CITIZENS his welfare and that of his family, and to protect his prop- erty. 10. A state government, to plan for his improvement and the improvement of every citizen of the state. These are by no means all the advantages that a citizen of Minnesota buys with his $130 or his $60 of taxes, as the case may be. Perhaps that is the reason why so many people settle in Minnesota and work so hard for each other, and why so great an improvement in the conditions under which they work has taken place since 1858. DATES IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER 1659-60 — Radisson and Groseilliers winter among the Dakota Indians in Minnesota. 1680 — Father Hennepin names St. Anthony Falls and meets Du Luth. 1689 — Nicholas Perrot claims Minnesota for France. 1700 — Le Sueur establishes Fort L'Huillier on the Blue Earth, 1763 — France cedes Minnesota to England and to Spain. 1766 — Jonathan Carver explores the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. 1803 — Napoleon Bonaparte sells Minnesota to the United States. 1820 — Fort Snelling is begun. Governor Lewis Cass explores the upper Mississippi. 1832 — Schoolcraft explores the headwaters of the Mississippi. 1836 — Joseph Nicollet makes important geographical notes on Minnesota. 1837 — The Indian lands east of the Mississippi and St. Croix are opened, and settlers enter Minnesota. 1841 — St. Paul is established as a village. 1848 — St. Anthony (Minneapolis) is platted. 1849 — On March 3 Minnesota is organized as a territory. 1 85 1 — The Treaty of Traverse des Sioux opens the lands west of the Mississippi. 1857 — Minnesota suffers from a financial panic. 1858 — On May 11 the state is admitted to the Union. 1861 — Minnesota is the first state to offer troops for the defense of the Union. 1862 — The Dakotas attempt to drive the whites from the state. The Wm. Crooks pulls the first train from St. Paul to St. Anthony. 1866-1872 — The state experiences a period of great prosperity. 1872 — LaCroix introduces the middlings purifier, thereby stimulating the flour industry. 1873 — A cold winter is followed by a plague of grasshoppers and another financial panic. 1876 — On September 7 the James and Younger brothers make an unsuccessful attempt to raid Northficld. 1877 — The state decides to convene its legislature once in two years. 1878-1889 — The state enjoys another prosperous period. Iron is mined. 327 328 DATES IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER 1889 — The Australian ballot system is introduced. The first electric cars are operated, in Stillwater and in MinneapoHs. 1892 — The Repubhcan National Convention nominates Benjamin Harrison at Minneapolis. 1894 — Four hundred lives and much property are destroyed by a forest fire in the vicinity of Hinckley. 1901 — At the Pan-American Exposition, Minnesota is called "The Bread and Butter State." 1903 — A wave of immigration sweeps over the western and northern counties. 1905 — The legislature convenes in the new Capitol building, erected at a cost of $3,000,000. 1908 — With an attendance of 326,753 at the State Fair, Minnesota celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its admission to the Union. 1910 — A $25,000,000 forest fire wipes out the towms of Spooner and Baudette. Minnesota becomes the leading iron state in the Union. 191 2 — The legislature enacts a new primary law and corrupt practices act. 1915 — The county option law is passed, and most of the counties vote out the saloon. APPENDIX GOVERNORS OF MINNESOTA SINCE ADMISSION TO STATEHOOD Names P. 0. Address County Assumed Office Henry H. Sibley Alexander Ramsey Henry A. Swift Stephen Miller William R. Marshall Horace Austin Cushman K. Davis John S. Pillsbury Lucius F. Hubbard ' A. R. McGill William R. Merriam Knute Nelson David M. Clough John Lind St. Paul St. Paul St. Peter Worthington St. Anthony St. Peter St. Paul St. Paul Red Wing St. Peter St. Paul Alexandria Minneapolis New Ulm Ramsey Ramsey Nicollet Nobles May 24, 1858 January 2, i860 July 10, 1863 January 11, 1864 Hennepin Nicollet Ramsey Ramsey Goodhue Nicollet Ramsey Douglas Hennepin Brown January 8, 1866 January 9, 1870 January 7, 1874 January 7, 1876 January 10, 1882 January 5, 1887 January 9, 1889 January 4, 1893 January 31, 1895 January 2, 1899 Samuel R. VanSant John A. Johnson Adolph 0. Eberhart Winfield S. Hammond Winona St. Peter Mankato St. James Winona Nicollet Blue Earth Watonwan January 7, 1901 January 4, 1905 Sept. 21, 1909 January 5, 191 5 UNITED STATES SENATORS James Shields, Democrat: May 12, 1858, to March 3, 1859 Henry M. Rice, Democrat: May 12, 1858, to March 3, 1863 Morton S. Wilkinson, Republican: March 4, 1859, to March 3, 1865 Alexander Ramsey, Republican: March 4, 1863, to March 3, 1875 Daniel S. Norton, Republican: March 4, 1865. died July 13, 1870 William Windom, Republican: July 16, 1870, to January 18, 1871 O. P. Stearns, Republican: January 18, 1871, to March 3, 1871 William Windom, Republican: March 4, 1871, to March 12, 1881 S. J. R. McMillan, Republican: March 6, 1875, to March 3, 1887 A. J. Edgerton, Republican: March 14, 1881, to October 26, 1881 William Windom, Republican: October 26, 1881, to March 3, 1883 D. M. Sabin, Republican: March 4, 1883, to March 4, 1889 C. K. Davis, Republican: March 4. 1887, to November 27, 1900 W. D. Washburne, Republican: March 4, 1889, to March 4. 1895 Knute Nelson, Republican: March .), 189.=;. to March 4. ion Charles A. Townc, Democrat: December 5, 1900, to January 2,!,, lyoi Moses E. Clapp, Republican: January 23, 1901, to March 4, 1917 329 INDEX Abercrombie, Fort, 158, i6g, 170 Act of Congress, 43, 97, 131, 137 Acton, 162 Agricultural betterment, 252 Agricultural College, State, 194 Agricultural products, 247-250 Agricultural Society, State, 112, 318 Agriculture {see Farming) Aitkin, 78, 263 Aitkin County, 306 Aitkin, David, 82 Aitkin, William, 96 Akers, Frederick, 76 American Fur Company, 51, 65, 72 81, 83, 85 Anoka, 75. 125, 195, 224, 266, 315 Anoka County, 218 Art, 285, 319 Art Society, State, 287 Assiniboine River, 14, 31 Assiniboins, 14, 18, 25 Astor, William, 80 Austin, 219 Austin, Horace, 201, 202, 203, 204, 211 Banking, 269 Battle Lake, 171 Baudette, 260 Beauharnois, Fort, 29 Beltrami, Count, 70 Benton County, 102 Benton, Lake, 72 Biglow Papers, 66 Big Stone Lake, 35, 63, 219 Birch Coulee, 168, 169, 170 Blizzard, The famous, 216 Bloomington, 152 Blue Earth County, 246 Blue Earth River, 28, 72 Bois bride, 62 189, Boom, The, 126, 219, 233 Boutwell, W. T., 58, 66, 76, in Brainerd, 18, 224, 226, 263 Breck, L., in Breckenridge, 137, 200 Brown, 78 Brown County, 126, 218 Brown, Joseph R., 89, 91, 96, 107, 144, 154, 157 Burt, Henry, 237 Calhoun, Lake, 56, 59, 75, 152 Cannon River, 210 Capitol, State, 105, 117, 235, 287 , 80, Carleton College, 189 Carver, 200 Carver grant, The, 36 Carver Jonathan, 30-35 Carver's Cave, 34, 50, 90 Cass County, 306 Cass Lake, 67, 69, 289 Cass, Lewis, 53, 65, 66 Castle Rock, 72 Catlin, George, 73 207, Cavanaugh, J. N., 131 "Central House," 103, 105 Cheyenne River, 80 Chickamauga, 178, 244 Chippewa River, 36, 80, 92 Chippewas, 12, 14, 18, 19, 21, 25, 30, 48, 51. 55, 56, 58, 66, 69, 75, 76, 83, 159, 160 Chippewa war, 245 Chisago County, 218 Chisholm, 260 Christian, George H., 231 Choteau, Pierre, 80 Churches, 58, 61, 76, in, 149, 153, 227, 229, 283 Church Hfe, 227 Civil War, The, 162, 165, 176-184, 197, 235 330 INDEX 33^ Climate, 28, 35, 61, 191 Cloudman, Chief, 117, 152 Colleges (see Education) Columbia Fur Company, 36, 72, 80 Colville, Colonel, 180 Congress (see Act of Congress) Constitution, State, 30Q Constitutional convention, 130 Coon Creek, 266 Cooper, Judge, loi Cottonwood River, 121 Coureurs de bois, 31, 32, 78 Crawford County, 60, 92 Crawford, Fort, 49, 72 Crees, 12, 30 Cretin, Bishop, iii Crooks, Ramsey, 80 Crow Wing, 69 Crow Wing River, 48, 84, 125 Cuyuna Range, 263 Dakota, 91, 95 Dakota County, 95 Dakotas, 9, 10-16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28, 30, 31, 36, 47, 48, 50, 51, 55, 66, 72, 75, 83, 8s, 153, 154, 155, 157, 159, 160, 165, 174, 178, 179 Danes, 132 Dates to Remember, 327-328 Davis, Cushman K., 239, 240, 244 Des Moines River, 36, 37, 80 Desnoyer, Stephen, 96 Dickson, Captain, 48, 51 Dog trains, 134 Donnelly, Ignatius, 176, 198, 211, 240 Douglas County, 218 Du Luth, 25 Duluth, 78, 135, 194, 195, 196, 198, 200, 213, 220, 227, 232, 234, 243, 262, 264, 26s, 268, 276, 282, 303', 307, 316 Dunnell, Mark H., 210 Dunwoody, William, 288 Duties of citizens, 320-326 Eastman, Dr. Charles, 22, 77, 152 Eatonville, 59 Edgerton, Commissioner, 205 Education, 104, 143, 188, 210, 237, 273- 279 Elk Lake, 69 Elk River, 125, 139 Ely, E. T., 76 Emerson, Dr., 58 Executive officers, 309, 3 10-3 11 Failure of 1857, 127 Faribault, 78, 137, 149, 195, 202, 278 Faribault, Jean, 46 Farmers' Club, The, 254 Farming, 53, 59, 61, 108, 133, 152, 154, 192, 209, 215, 225, 245, 251 Featherstonhaugh, George, 73 Fergus Falls, 315 Fillmore County, 218 Flandreau, Charles, 166 Flour manufacturing, 54, 112, 231-232 Folwell, William W., 188, 237 Fond du Lac, 15, 25, 36, 65, 66, 78, 79, 80, 234, 264 Forest City, 169, 170 Forestry, 256-258 Forestry Society, 318 Fox (Indians), 30 Fox-Wisconsin route, 34, 36, 204 Fremont, John C, 72 Frontenac, 29 Fur trade {see also Traders), 12, 31, 36, 51, 65, 68-69, 83 Galbraith, Thomas F., 158 Galtier, Father Lucien, 90, iii Game, 20, 28, 123 Gear, Father, 58, iii Germans, 125, 126, 132, 187 Gettysburg, 178, 184 GilfiUan, James, 21 Ginseng, 128 Gladstone, 234 Glencoe, 194, 200 Goodhue County, 218 Goodhue, James, 98, 99, 112, 119, 122 Goodrich, Judge, loi Good Thunder, 175 Gorman, Willis A., 145, 177 Government, by commission, 303 City, 302 County, 299 of localities, 292-319 of Minnesota, 60 School, 297 State, 306-319 Township, 295 X'illagc, 302 Grand Portage, 36, 37, 69, 72, 79 332 INDEX Grange, National, 207-208 Granite Falls, 35 Grasshopper plague. The, 192 Groseilliers, 9, 11, 18 Growth of Minnesota, 102, 114, 124, 132, 133, 141, 186, 209, 221, 289 Haines, Lynn, 282 Hall, H. P., 198 Hamline Universit3% 144, 189 Hardships {see also Pioneer life), 13, 37, 68, 190 Harriet, Lake, 58, 75 Hastings, 27, 142, 200, 241, 315 Hazlewood Republic, 153 Hennepin County, 112, 128, 189, 195, 218 Hennepin, Father, 17, 22, 23-25 Hiawatha, 66, 73 Hibbing, 263 Higbie, Mrs., 280 Hill, James J., 219 Hinckley, 259 Hole-in-the-day, 165 Hopkins, 234 Horticultural Society, Minnesota, 318 Houston County, 218, 246 Hubbard, Lucius, 180, 240 Hudson's Bay Company, 17, 31, 36, 41, 61, 78, 81 Huggins, Alexander, 58 Hughes, Thomas, 28 Hurons, 1 1 Hutchinson, 169, 170, 173 Iberville, Sieur d', 28 Indian life, 20, 69 Indians {see under the several tribes) Indian warfare, 55, 165, 245 Inkpaduta, 156, 157 Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 288 lowas, 18 Iron, 226, 261 Iroquois, 10, 11, 16 Isanti County, 218 Itasca, 207 Itasca County, 102, 306 Itasca, Lake, 66, 69, 71 Izatys, 25 Jackson, 157 Jackson, Henry, 90, 120 James brothers, TJic, 236, 237 Johnson, John A., 284 • Jones, Robinson, 162 Kanabec County, 16 Kandiyohi, 107, 136, 149 Kandiyohi County, 107, 108, 169, 218 Kaposia, 76, 95 Kaposias, 153 Kellej', Oliver, 207, 208 Kensington, 9 Kiehle, David, 237 Knott, James Proctor, 195, 213 Koochiching County, 306 Lac qui Parle, 76, 80, 152, 221, 222 Lac qui Parle County, 221 La Crescent, 137, 140, 200 La Croix, N., 231 Lake of the Woods, 72 Lamberton, 274 Land, Locating, 293 Land, Railroad, 137, 203 Land tax, 323 Land values, 43, 107, 117, 126, 142, 221, 247 La Perriere, 29 Larpenteur, A. L., 96 La Salle, 22, 23, 25 Lea, Luke, 115 Leavenworth, Henry, 53 Leech Lake, 48, 66, 76, 80, 245 Legislation, Minnesota, 103, 210, 238, 260, 280 Le Sueur, 27—28, 120 Lesueur River, 28 L'Huillier, Fort. 28 Librarj' Commission, Minnesota, 287, 319 Life, Farm {see also Pioneer Hfe), 252 Life in Minnesota, 28, 56, 92, 99-100 Life, Soldiers', 180-184 Liquor traffic, Prohibiting, 105 Little Crow, 47, 66, 117, 153, i54, 164, 166, 169-173 Little Falls, 224 Long, Major, 49, 50, 70, 72 Louisiana Purchase, 41-43 Lumber manufacturing, 54, 92, 109, 142, 223-225, 256 Macalester College, 146, 189 McGill, .\ndrew R., 240 McGiUis, Hugh, 48 «l II INDEX 333 McLcod County, 2tS McLchkI, Martin, 104 MacMillan, S. J. R., 240 Madelia, 237 Madison, 221 Mandans, 9, 31 Mankato, 28, 90, 120, 136, 137, 167, 169, 175, 188, 193, 195. 220, 237, 283, 289, 303 Mankato, Chief, 166, 169, 172 Manual training, 275 Manufacturing, 194, 231, 266 Mapleton, 120 Marine, 91, 109 Marsh, Captain, 159, 165, 166 Marshall County, 218 Marshall, William R., 143, 149, 180, 197. 211 Martin County, 218 Maurepas, Fort, 30 Mdewakantons, 18, 19, 84, 117 Medary, Samuel, 145 Meeker County, 108, 218 Meeker, Judge, loi Mendota, 58, 60, 66, 81, 95, 117, 137, i74 Merriam, WilUam R., 240 Mesabi Range, 226, 227, 261, 263, 269 Milaca, 224 Mille Lacs, 12, 14, 20, 23, 25 Miller, Stephen, 180 Mining {see also Iron), 27, 226 Minneapolis {see also St. Anthony), 54, 55, 58, 75, 104, 126, 137, 142, 186, 194, 198, 213, 219, 220, 224, 231, 233, 243, 266, 269, 282, 288, 307, 316, 318 Minnehaha Falls, 147 Minnehaha Park, 266, 316 Minneopa, 317 Minneopa Falls, 289 Minnesota Historical Society, 48, 104, 135, 146,^ 173, 288, 319 Minnesota River, 18, 20, 28, 35, 36, 46, 47, 53, 54, 63, 70, 72, 76, 115, 120, 214, 218, 247, 289 Minnesota Territory, 96, 97 Minnetonka, Lake, 20, 58, 123 Missionaries {see also Churches), 76, iii, 227 Mississippi River, 9, 11, 23, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 44, 47, 49, 60, 65, 66, 69, 71, 119, 142 Missouri River, 9, iS, 174 Monuments, 180, 184 Moorhead, 200 Morrison, 78 Morrison, Clinton, 288 Morrison, William, 69 Morse law, The, 205-207 Mounds, Indian, 90 Mower County, 218, 246 Music, 286 Nadouissioux, 12 Neill, Edward D., 146 New Brighton, 234 Newport, 234 Newspapers, 112, 197 New Ulm, 126, 166, 167 Nicollet County, 218 Nicollet Island, 47, 177 Nicollet, Joseph, 70, 72, 82 Normal schools, 316 Norman County, 218 Northfield, 189, 195 Northfield raid, The, 235-236 Northrup, Anson, 93 Northrup, Cyrus, 237, 277 North St. Paul, 234 Northwestern Fur Company, 36, 41, 78- 80 Northwest Territory, 43, 58, 60, 131 Norton, Daniel A., 211 Norwegians, 125, 132 Oak Grove, 76 O jib was {see Chippewas) Olmstead, David, 103 Olmsted County, 218 Omahas, 18 Ordinance of 1787, 42 Other Day, John, 153, 157 Ottawas, II Ottertail County, 218 Owatonna, 140, 195, 202, 239, 279 Panics, 127, 201, 243 Parks, State, 289 Parrant, Pierre, 89 Pembina, 36, 61, 135, 148, 214 Pembina County, 102 Penicault, 28 Pepin, Lake, 25, 27, 29, 36, 45, 40, 84, 95, 213, 235 334 INDEX Perrot, Nicholas, 25, 26 Pettit, Curtis H., 112 Phalen, Edward, g6 Phelps, W. W., 131 Pigeon River, 78, 80 Pig's Eye, 46, 90 Pike, Zebulon, 43-48 Pillager (Indians), 245 Pillsbury "A" mill, 54 Pillsbury, John S., 239 Pine County, 259 Pioneer life {see also Farming), 109, 112, 122, 190, 216 Pond brothers. The, 59, 75, 77 Pond, Gideon H., 59, 75, 76, 118, 152 Pond, Samuel W., 20, 75, 76, 77, 153, 156 Portage, A, 38 Prairie du Chien, 26, 36, 41, 44, 49, 53, 57, 60, 63, 66, 135, 139, 142 Prairie Island, 1 1 Prescott, 78 Prescott, Philander, 59, 152 Products, Manufactured, 270 Radisson, Pierre, 9-17, 18, 32 Railroad commissioners, 205 Railroad construction. Extent of, 200 Railroads, 136, 138, 201-205, 219 Rainy Lake, 30 Rainy River, 41, 63, 72, 78, 247, 256 Ramsey, Alexander, loi, 102, 115, 118, 135, 138, 145, 146, 168, 176, 211, 284 Ramsey County, 102, 195 Randall, Camp, 244 Ravoux, Father, 95, iii Red Cedar Lake, 69 Red Iron, Chief, 117 Red Lake, 70, 80 Red Lake reservation, 246 Red River, 14, 37, 63, 70, 72, 117, 170, 204, 214, 218 Red River carts, 134 Red River Valley, 61, 98, 187, 210, 213, 215, 219, 246, 250, 265 Red Rock, 76, 95 Red Wing, 11, 95, 142, 144, 175, 195, 210, 279, 315 Red Wing, Chief, 46, 66 Redwood County, 289 Redwood Falls, 174, 317 Redwood River, 164 Renville, 78 Renville County, 218 Renville, Joseph, 44, 72, 8c5, 81 Representatives, House of, 306, 307, 308 Revolutionary War, 36, 41, 60, 162 Rice, 78 Rice, Henry M., 81, 131, 145, 146, 147, 148 Ridgely, Fort, 157, 158, 165, 166, 167, 169, 317 Riggs, Doctor, 76, 77, iii, 152, 153 Ripley, Fort, 158, 160 Rochester, 137, 195, 202, 235, 315 Rolette, Joseph, 148 Rondo, Joseph, 96 Root, Engineer, 259 Roseau, Pierre, 44 Rum River, 54, 94, 223 Sabin, D. M., 240 Sacs, 20, 30 St. Anthony, 48, 92, 94, 95, 104, 109, iii, 112, 113, 119, 126, 127, 137, 138, 142, 145, 177, 186 St. Anthony Falls, 23, 34, 47, 48, 49, 50, 142, 266 St. Anthony, Fort, 52 St. Antoine, Fort, 25 St. Charles, Fort, 30 St. Cloud, 130, 188, 195, 224, 23s, 239, 280, 315 St. Croix County, 92 St. Croix, Dalles of the, 289, 317 St. Croix Falls, 80, 91, 92, 266 St. Croix, Monsieur, 27 St. Croix River, 27, 47, 49, 84, 91, 95, 223 St. Francis River, 35 St. Louis Park, 234 St. Louis River, 264, 266 St. Paul, 23, 36, 46, 58, 63, 81, 89, 90, 92, 99, loi, 103, 104, 109, III, 113, 120, 130, 134, 135, 136, 137, 140, 142, 148, 149, 151. 176, 189, 195, 208, 213, 233, 243, 283, 303, 306 St. Peter, 117, 235, 315 St. Peters (Minnesota) River, 46 St. Pierre, Fort, 30 St. Vincent, 137, 200 Sandy Lake, 36, 48, 65, 66, 68, 76, 79, 80 Sauk Center, 279, 315, 316 Sauk Rapids, 136, 140, 200, 235 Scandinavians, 229 Schoolcraft, Henry R., 65-69 INDEX 335 School funds, 23S, 27,^, .^tq Schools (sec Education) Scotch, The, 61, 62 Scott, Dred, 58 Selkirk, Lord, 61, 63 Senate, 306, 307, 308 Senecas, 26 Settlements, 95, 120, 187, 214, 225 Shakopee, 76, 140, 174, 175 Shakopee, Chief, 55, 56, 117 Sherburne County, 207 Shields, James, 131, 146 Sibley, 78 Sibley County, 218 Sibley, Henry H., 58, 60, 71, 76, 81, 85, 89, 95, 96, loi, 118, 131, 149, 155, 168, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174 Sioux {see Dakotas) Sissetons, 18, 115 Slavery, 131 Sleepy Eye, 175 Sleepy Eye, Chief, 117 Snelling, Fort, 49, 51, 52, 53-64, 87, 91, 139, 146, 177, 180, 24s Snelling, Josiah, 53, 66 Social improvement, 283 Soldiers, 184 South St. Paul, 268 Spanish-American War, 243-244 Speculation, 113 Spooner, 260 Springfield, 157 Stagecoach, The, 113, 134 Stanchfield, Daniel, 94 Steamboats, 56, 120 Stearns County, 218 Steele, Franklin, 91, 92, 144, 146, 147, 148 Stevens, Jedediah, D., 76, iii Stevens, John H., 112, 169 Stillwater, 92, 93, 104, 109, 113, 137, 177, 194, 195, 223, 224, 280, 315 Superior, Lake, 15, 34, 37, 79, 142, 289 Swan River, 48 Swedes, 132 Swiss, The, 63, 76, 87, 89 Taliaferro, Major, 55, 58, 60, 66, 75 Territory, Minnesota, 95, 96, 97 Tetons, 18 Tower, 226 Traders {sec also Fur trade), 117, 158 Transportation, 12, 29, 37, 63, 133, 26S Traveling Hail, Chief, 153 Traverse des Sioux, 36, 72, 73, 80, 115 Traverse, Lake, 36, 37, 63, 80, 117 Treaties, 47, 83, 115 Truelson, Henry, 282 Tuttle, Calvin, 92 Two Harbors, 227 Tyler, Hugh, 118 University of Minnesota {see also Edu- cation), 104, 143, 188, 210, 237, 276- 278, 316 Upham, Warren, 16 Utica, 139 Van Cleve, Charlotte, 54, 56, 57 Verandrye, Captain, 30, 31 Vermilion Range, 226, 261 Vermilion River, 72 Villard, Henry, 219 Vincent, George E., 277 Virginia, 263 Voting, 320 Voyageurs, 32, 37 Wabasha, 95, 109, 142 Wabasha, Chief, 44, 50, 66, 117, 172, 175 Wabasha County, 102, 109 Wacouta, Chief, 117 Wahnota County, 102 Wahpekutes, 18, 19, 117, 156 Wahpetons, 18, 115 Walker, 318 Walker Gallery, 288 Walker, Thomas B., 142 Washburn "A" mill, 235 Washington County, 102, 218 Watab, 108, 112, 113, 125, 136 Water power, 266 Welshmen, 9, 120 Western Farm and Village Association, 108, 126 Wheelock, Joseph, 197 Whipple, Bishop, 149 White Bear Lake, 2or White Earth River, 97 Wilkin, Alexander, 180 Wilkinson, Major, 245 William Crooks, The, 138 William, Fort, 72, 79 336 INDEX Williamson, T. S., 58, 76, 77, iii, 152 Willmar, 107, 126, 315 Winchell, Newton H., 226 Windom, William, 211, 240 Winnebago, 200 Winnebagoes, 30 Winona, 140, 142, 202, 213, 220 Winona County, 195, 218 Winona Normal School, 143 Winona, Story of, 45 Worthington, 195, 200 - Wright County, 218 Wyoming, 135 Yanktons, 18, 115 Yellow Medicine County, 171 Yellow Medicine River, 169 Younger brothers, The, 236, 237 \ I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 016 085 474 1 I SSe'f -.-a ' [T!!T:!:1I n~!nv