History of the Upper Mississippi Valley; Containing the Geology of the Upper Mississippi and Saint Louis Valleys - Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota - Outlines of the History of Minnesota - State Education

724 Pages·1881·69.011 MB·English

by  N. H. Winchell, Edward D. Neill, J. Fletcher Williams, Charles S. Bryant

:
HISTORY
)F THE-
UPPER Valley
MISSISSIPPI
CONTAINING-
THE GEOLOGY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI
AND SAINT LOUIS VALLEYS,
BY PROF. N. H. WINCHELL.
I
EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OE MINNESOTA.
BY REV. EDWARD D. NEILL.
Outlines of the History of Minnesota,
BY FLETCHER WILLIAMS.
J.
:AND<=>
STATE EDUCATION,
BY CHARLES BRYANT.
S.
MINNEAPOLIS
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COMPANY,
1881.
TKIBUNE JOB KOOM AND BINDEKT,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.
THE LIBRARY
YOUNG VNIVFRSITX
BRIGHAM
tXAH
PROVO,
CONTENTS.
PAGE. PAGE.
CHAPTER LXXXV—CXVI.
PREFACE, - - iii
CHAPTER I—XXIII. Stearns County, - - - 369-483
CHAPTER CXVII—CXXXVII.
Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, 1-128
Wright County, - - - 483-585
CHAPEE XXIV—XXIX.
CHAPTER CXXXVIII—CXLIX.
Outlines of tlie History of Minnesota, 129-160
Morrison County, - - - 586-636
CHAPTER XXX—XL. CHAPTER CL—CLI.
Exploration and Developments abovo Crow Wing County, - - 637-655
the Falls of St. Antliony, 161-200 CHAPTER CLII.
CHAPTER XLI—XLV. Aitkin County, - - - 655-659
CHAPTER
State Education, - - . 201-216 CLIII.
CHAPTER XLVI. Cass, Beltrami, and Itasca Counties, 659-662
CHAPTER CLIV.
Chronology, 216-222
CHAPTER XLVII—LXIII. Mille Lacs County, - - 663-680
CHAPTER CLVII.
Anoka County, 222-293
Saint Louis County, - - 681-690
CHAPTER LXIV—LXXV;
CHAPTER
C.
Sherburne County, - - - 294-339 Geology of the Upper Mississippi and
CHAPTER LXXVI—LXXXIV. Saint Loiiis Valleys - - 700-707
Benton County, - - 340-369 Index, - - - - 708-717

PREFACE.
In the compilation of the Histoky of the Upper Mississippi Valley it has been the
aim of the Publishers to present a general and local history, comprising in a single volume of
convenient form a fund of varied information, not only of interest to the present, but from
which the coming searcher for historic data may draw without the tedium incurred in its
preparation. The extraordinary range embraced, and the almost unprecedented variety of
topics, have rendered this an extremely difficult task and it is with no ordinary sense of
;
relief that we at last witness its completion. That our work is wholly errorless, or that
nothing of interest has been omitted, is more than we dare hope, and more than is reason-
able to expect. In closing our labors, we have the gratifying consciousness of having used
our utmost endeavors in securing reliable data, and feel no hesitancy in submitting the result
to an intelligent public. The impartial critic, to whom only we look for comment, will, in
passing judgment upon its merit, be governed by a knowledge of the vastness of the under-
taking, and the manifold difficulties attending its prosecution. While no apology is de-
manded, we deem it but just to ourselves to forestall possible misunderstandings by directing
attention to portions of the local history.
In presenting so many subjects in a single volume, without sacrificing its symetrical
proportions, it has been found necessary to economize space and as some of the counties
;
have received frequent mention in the general chapters, a repetition has been avoided, thus
making an apparent difference in their relative annals which does not exist. In some towas
the history is so interwoven with the personnels as to render little else even possible, while
others, as yet but partially developed, afford but meagre details either in record or legend.
In a few instances we have relied upon the sacred promises'of others to furnish additional
detail, and only learned of their failure when too late for extended personal research. In
these instances our duties have been doubly arduous but the labor has been patiently per-
;
formed, and, we trust, to the satisfaction of those interested.
We
have been especially fortunate in enlisting the interest of Rev. Edward D. Neill,
J. Fletcher Williams, Charles S. Bryant, and Prof. N. H. Winchell, whose able productions
We
are herewith presented. also acknowledge ourselves indebted to Hon. Nathan Richardson,
of Little Falls Almon P. Barker, of Princeton and the valuable writings of the late Rev.
; ;
Sherman Hall, of Sauk Rapids. In general terms we express sincere thanks to the Clergy,
the Press, the Pioneers, and Citizens, who, with a few unimportant exceptions, have extended
universal encouragement and endorsement.
That our efforts may prove satisfactory, and this volume receive a welcome commen-
surate with the care bestowed in its preparation, is the earnest desire of
THE PUBLISHERS.

EXPLORERS
AND
PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.
CHAPTER
I.
FOOTPRINTS OF CIVILIZATION TOWARD THE EXTREMITY OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
Minnesota'sCentralPosition.—D'Avagour'sPrediction.—Nicollet'sVisittoGreen the St. Lawrence, with a party of Hurons, and
Bay.—FirstWhiteMeninM—innesota.—NoticesofGros—elliersand Radisson.— probably during the next winter was trading at
Hurons FleetoMinnesota. Visited by Frenchmen. Father Menard Disap-
pears—GroselliersVisits Hudson'sBay.—FatherAlloue?,Describes the Sioux Green Bay, in Wisconsin. On the 9th of De-
—
MissionatLaPointe. Father Marquette.—Sioux at Sault St Marie.—Jesuit cember, 1635, he had returned to Canada, and on
Mission Vail.—Groselliers Visits England.—Capt.GiUam,of Boston,atHud-
son's Bay.—Letter of Mother Superior of Ursulines, at Quebec.—Death of the 7th of October, 1637, was married at Quebec,
Groselliers. and thenext month went to three Rivers, where
The Dakotahs, called by the Ojibways, Nado- he lived until 1642, when he died. Of him it is
waysioux, or Sioux (Soos), as abreviated by the said, in a letterwritten in 1640, that he had pene-
French, used to claim superiority over other peo- trated farthest into those distant countries, and
ple, because, their sacred men asserted that the that if he had proceeded "three days more on a
mouth of the Minnesota River was immediately great river which flows from that lake [Green
over the center of the earth,and below the center Bay] he would have found the sea."
of the heavens. The first white men inMinnesota, of whom we
While this teaching is very different from that have anyrecord, were, according to Garneau, two
of the modern astronomer, it is certainly true, persons of Huguenot affinities, Medard Chouart,
that the region west of Lake Superior, extending known as Sieur Groselliers, and Pierre d'Esprit,
through the valley of the Minnesota, to the Mis- called Sieur Radisson.
souri River, is one of the mosthealthful and fer- Groselliers (pronounced Gro-zay-yay) was bom
tile regions beneath the skies, and may prove to near Ferte-sous-Jouarre, eleven miles east of
be the center of the republic of the United States Meaux, in France, and when about sixteen years
of America. Baron D'Avagour, a brave officer, of age, in the year 1641,came to Canada. Thefur
who was killed in fighting the Turks, while he trade was the great avenue to prosperity, and in
was Governor of Canada, in a dispatch to the 1646,he was among the Huron Indians, whothen
French Government, dated August 14th, 1663, dwelt upon the eastern shore of Lake Huron,
after referring toLakeHuron,wrote, thatbeyond bartering for peltries. On the secondof Septem-
"is met another, called Lake Superior, the waters ber, 1647, at Quebec, he was married to Helen,
of which, it is believed,flow into New Spain, and the widowof ClaudeEtienne, whowas the daugh-
this, according to general opinion, ought to be the ter of a pilot, Abraham Martin, whose baptismal
centre of the country.''^ name is still attached to the suburbs of that city;
As early as 1635, one of Champlain's interpre- the "Plains of Abraham," made famous by the
ters, Jean Nicolet (Nicolay), who came to Cana- death there, of General Wolfe of the English
da in 1618, reached the western shores of Lake army, in 1759, and of General Montgomery, of
Michigan. In the summer of 1634 he ascended the Continental army, in December, 1775, at the
KDt«redaccordingtoactofCongress, intheyear1881,byXasPublishebs,intheofficeoftheLibrarianofCongress, atWashington,D.0.
) :
EXFLOBEBS AND PIONEEBS OF MINNESOTA.
commencement of the " War for Independence." near what is now Bayfield. In the year 1659,
His son, Medard, was born in 1657, and the next Groselliers and Eadisson arrived at Chagouamik-
year his mother died. The second wife of Gro- on, and determined to visit the Ilurons and Pe-
selliers was Marguerite Hayet(IIayay) Radisson, tuns, with whom the former had traded when
the sister of his associate, in the exploration of they resided east of Lake Huron. After a six
the region west of Lake Superior. days' journey, in a southwesterly direction, they
Eadisson was born at St. Malo, and, wliile a reached their retreat toward the sources of the
boy, went to Paris, and from thence to Canada, Black, Chippewa, and Wisconsin Eivers. From
and in 1G56, at Three Eivers, married Elizabeth, this point they journeyed north, and passed the
the daughter of Madeleine Ilainault, and, after winter of 1659-60 among the " I^adouechiouec,"
her death, the daughter of Sir David Kirk or or Sioux villages in the Mille Lacs (Mil Lak) re-
Kerkt, a zealous Huguenot, became his wife. gion. From the Ilurons they learned of a beau-
TheIroquoisof New York,abouttheyear 1650, tiful river,wide,large,deep, andcomparable with
drove the Ilurons from their villages, and forced the Saint Lawrence, the great Mississippi, which
them to take refuge withtheirfriendsthe Tinon- flows through the city of Minneapolis,and wiiose
tates, called by the French, Petuns,because they sources are in northern Minnesota.
cultivated tobacco. In time the Hurons and Northeast of Mille Lacs, toward the extremity
their allies, the Ottawas (Ottaw-waws), were of Lake Superior, they met the " Poualak," or
again driven by the Iroquois,andaftersuccessive Assiniboines of the prairie, a separated band of
wanderings, were found on the westside of Lake the Sioux, who, as wood was scarce and small,
Michigan. In time they reached the Mississippi, made fire with coal (charbon de terre) and dwelt
and ascending above the Wisconsin, they found in tents of skins although some of the more in-
;
the Iowa Eiver, on the west side,which they fol- dustrious built cabins of clay (terre grasse), like
lowed, and dwelt for a time with the Ayces the swallows build their nests.
(loways) who were very friendly but being ac- The springand summerof 1660, Groselliersand
;
customed to a country of lakes and forests, they Eadissonpassedintradingaround LakeSuperior.
were not satisfied with the vastprairies. Return- On the 19th of August they returned to Mon-
ing to the Mississippi, they ascended this river, treal, with three hundred Indians and sixty ca-
in search of a better land, and were met by some noes loaded with " a wealth of skins."
of the Sioux or Dakotahs, and conducted to their " Furs of bison and of beaver,
villages, where they were well received. The Furs of sable and of ermine."
Sioux, delighted with the axes, knives and awls
The citizens were deeply stirred by the travelers'
of European manufacture, which had been pre-
tales of the vastness and richness of the region
sented to them, allowed the refugees to settle
they had visited, and theirmany romanticadven-
upon an island in the Mississippi, below the
tures. In a few days, they began their return to
mouth of the St. Croix Eiver, called Bald Island
the farWest, accompaniedby six Frenchmen and
from the absence of trees, about nine miles from
two priests,oneof whomwasthe Jesuit,EeneMe-
thesiteofthepresentcityofHastings. Possessed
nard. His hair whitened by age, and his mind
of firearms, the Ilurons and Ottawas asserted
ripened by long experience, he seemed the man
their superiority, and determined to conquer the
forthe mission. Twohours aftermidnight, ofthe
country for themselves, and having incurred the
day before departure, the venerable missionary
hostility of the Sioux, were obliged to flee from
penned at " Three Eivers," the following letter
the isle in the Mississippi. Descending below
to a friend
Lake Pepin, they reached the Black Eiver, and
ascending it,foundanunoccupiedcountryaround 'Eeverend Father:
its sources and that of the Chippeway. In this " The peace of Christ be with you I write to
:
region the Ilurons established themselves, while you probably the last, which I hope will be the
their allies, the Ottawas, moved eastward, till seal ofourfriendship until eternity. Love whom
they found the shores of Lake Superior, and set- the Lord Jesus did not disdain to love, though
tled at Chagouamikon (Sha-gah-wah-mik-ong the greatest of sinners; for he loves whom he
FATHEB MENABD LOST IN WISCONSIN.
3
loads with his cross. Let your friendship, my Upon De I'lsle's map of Louisiana, published
good Father, be useful to me by the desirable nearly two centuries ago, there appears the Lake
fruits of your daily sacrifice. of the Ottawas, and the Lake of the Old or De-
" In three or four months you may remember serted Settlement, west of Green Bay, and south
me at the memento for the dead, on accountof of Lake Superior. The Lake of the Old Planta-
my old age, my weak constitution and the hard- tion is supposed to have been the spot occupied
ships I lay under amongst these tribes. Never- by the Hurons atthe timewhen Menardattempt-
theless, I am in peace, for I have not been led to ed to visitthem. One way of accessto this seclu-
this mission by any temporal motive, but I think ded spot was from Lake Superior to the head-
it was by the voice of God. I was to resist the watersoftheOntanagonEiver andthenbyaport-
,
grace of God by not coming. Eternal remorse age, to the lake. It could also be reached from
would have tormented me, had I not come when theheadwatersofthe Wisconsin, Black and Chip-
I had the opportunity. pewa Elvers, and some have said that Menard
" We have been a little surprized, not being descended the Wisconsin and ascended the Black
able toprovide ourselveswith vestments and oth- Elver.
er things, but he who feeds the little birds, and Perrot, who lived at the same time, writes:
clothes the lilies of the fields, will take care of "Father Menard, who was sent as missionary
his servants; and though it should happen we among the Outaouas [Utaw-waws] accompanied
should die of "want, we would esteem ourselves by certain Frenchmen who were going to trade
happy. I am burdened with business. What I with that people, was left by all who were with
can do is to recommendour journeyto your daily him, exceptone, whorendered to him untildeath,
sacrifice, and to embrace you with the same sen- all of the services and help that he could have
timents of heart as I hope to do in eternity. hoped. TheFatherfollowedthe OutaouasfUtaw-
" My Keverend Father, waws]to the Lake of the Illiiioets [Illino-ay, now
Your most humble and affectionate Michigan] and in their flight to the Louisianne,
servant in Jesus Christ. [Mississippi] to above the Black Eiver. There
E. MENAED. this missionary had but one Frenchman for a
"From the Three Elvers, this 26th August, 2 companion. This Frenchman carefully followed
o'clock after midnight, 1660." the route, and made a portage at the same place
On the 16th of October, the party with which as the Outaouas. He found himself in a rapid,
he journeyed reached a bay on Lake Superior, one day, thatwas carryinghimaway in his canoe.
where he found some of the Ottawas, who had The Father, toassist, debarkedfrom his own, but
fled from the Iroquois of New York. For more did not find a good path to come to him. He en-
than eight months, surrounded by a few French tered one that had been made by beasts, and de-
voyageurs, he lived, to use his words, " in a kind siring to return, became confused in a labyrinth
of small hermitage, a cabin built of fir branches of trees, and was lost. The Frenchman, after
piled one on another, not so much to sliield us having ascended the rapids with great labor,
from the rigor of the season as to correct my im- awaited thegood Father, and, ashe didnotcome,
agination, and persuade me I was sheltered." resolved to search for him. With all his might,
Duringthe summerof 1661, he resolvedto visit for several days, he called his name in the v.'oods,
the Ilurons,who had fledeastwardfromthe Sioux hoping to find him, but it was useless. He met,
of Minnesota, and encamped amid the marshes of however, a Sakis [Sauk] who was carrying the
NorthernWisconsin. Some Frenchmen whohad camp-kettle of the missionary, and who gave him
.
been among the Hurons, invain attemptedto dis- some intelligence. He assured him that he had
suade him from the journey. To theirentreaties found his foot-prints at some distance, but that
he replied, '* I must go, if it cost me my life. I he had not seen the Father, He told him, also,
can not suffer souls to perish on the ground of thathehadfound the tracks of several, who v/ere
saving the bodily life of a miserable old man like going towards the Scioux. He declared that he
myself. What! Are we to serve God only when supposed that the Scioux might have killed or
there is nothing to suffer, and no risk of life?" captured him. Indeed, several yearsafterwards,