University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

Page 30 text:

one reads, That the Sioux nation grants unto the United States, for the purpose of the establishment of mihtary posts, nine miles square at the mouth of the river St. Croix, also, from helow the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peter ' s. u|) the Mississippi, to include the falls of St. . nthony. extending nine miles on each side of the v ' wev. That the Sioux nation grants to the United States, the full i)o ver and sovereignty over said districts, forever, without any let or hindrance whatsoever . Pike had privately dined two of the chiefs, and the signatures were afhxed to the document without much delay. Presents valued at $200, sixty gallons of whiskey and a later jjayment of .f2.000 l y the govern- ment was given in exchange. He then continued uj) the river, reaching a cam|)ing site on the west l)ank four miles south of Little Falls, October sixteentli, where he built a i)ine stockade. Part of the fire])lacc of this fort still remains and has been restored by the Daughters of the . merican Rc (ilution. A grou|) of linneapolis members of the society accompanied Maria Sanford to Little Falls on October 16, 1919, where she gave her Aj)ostrophe to the Flag at the dedi- cation of a bronze tablet in memory of Pike and his men. After establishing this base at Little Falls. Pike resumed his northward journey, visiting British trading posts at Sandy lake and Leech lake, where he had the English Jack shot away from its mast and the Stars an l Strijies hoisted. He ju-oceeded thirty miles further to the northwest, reaching Cass lake, which Pike believed to be the up|)er source of the Mississii)])i . He then turned southward, arriving at the site of Fort Snelling on . ])ril 11. The tin;d entry in Pike s journal of his expedi- tion was nuide on .Vpril 30. and reads, . rrivcd about twelve o ' clock at the town (St. Louis), after an absence of eight months and 22 days . The ratification on April 16, 1808, of the deed which Pike had three years before signed with the Sioux, nuide ])ossible the erection of Fort St. . nthony, and the corner stone was laid on Sep- tember 10, 1820, effecting the first permanent . merican occupation of Minnesota, hlch of the romance of pioneer days is built into the time-stained walls of this ohl fort. The bold adventurers w ho garrisoned its battlements did nuich to disclose the secrets of nature and develop her resources. Miniirhahn l-„lh Chfsti ' r Crt ' ck in Congiion Park, Diiluth Page 26

Page 29 text:

By Alherl t M„rsc WHEN THE continental ice sheet retreated iiortliward over Nlinnoota. tlicrc lolldwcd tlu- ;iV)oris;ine, believed to be the ancestor of the modern Eskimo. Then the Indian asserted his claim of ownership, and the woods and rolling ])rairies became his hnnlint; ' ground. But he was. before long, awakened from his dream of si)lcndiil isolation. The covetous eyes of Enro])0 were ([uick to jierceive the beauty of the new world, and the Red Skin was humbled bv the White Man. Relics found at Little Falls indicate the activity of (|uartz workers in that ncighiiorlKiod about seven thousand years ago, long before the King Tutankhamen ruled the Egy))tian em] ire. This race, the earliest in Minnesota of which there is evidence, apparently lived in the locality of Little Falls while the continental glacier was still in the northern part of the state. It i.s thought that they were the ancestors of the Eskimos, and that they followed the ice sheet in its northward re- treat over Canada. French explorers, groping their way westwani in (picst of fortmie and adventure, found the Sioux hidians in control of the country between the Mississiijpi river and the Rocky mountains. The second western expedition of Medaril Chouart and Pierre DEsprit, more familiarly known as Sieiu ' des (Iroseilliers and Sieur de Radisson, is generally regarded as having taken them in KiOO to the neighborhood of Knife lake, in Kanaliec county. This gives them the dislinclion of being the first white men to enter the area now known as linnesota. The part of Minnesota lying east of the Mississippi came under American control at the close of the Revolutionary war, and when the Louisiana Purchase was made in 1803, the United States acquired the entire area of the state through the addition of the section west of the river. Two years later. President Jefferson sent an expedition under Lieutenant Zelnilon Montgomery Pike, at that time twenty-six years of age, to sign |)eace treaties with the Indians and to exclude British trading posts from the region at the headwaters of the Mississippi. .Vnd the rai)id development of the state is largely due to the accomplishments of Pike, later a brigadier general, who was killed in the War of 1812 when he was leading an attack u|)on Toronto, Canada. On September twenty- first. Pike reached the confluence of the Mississi])pi and Minnesota rivers and cam])ed on the western side of the island which now bears his name. The next day he delivered an elo [uent and convincing oration before a band of 150 Sioux warriors, headed by Little Crow, grandfather of the Indian by that name who led the Sioux outbreak in 18G2. He ex|)lained the object of his tri]); gave notice that the L ' nited States were free from English rule; and criticized the Canadian traders who were responsible for the warfare of the Chii)pewa against the Sioux. The chief ac- complishment of Pike at this conference was to execute the first deed signed in the state. .Vrticle A modern licu of Grand Pc ringe. oldest aetttement lU M inni ' soia. in its ex- treiiic north-can tern corner «f llir Stcilf. Page 25

Page 31 text:

Dedication of Pilcc Memorial at Liltlc Fallx. Octohir. 1910 ' riic first saw mill in I lie state was coii- stru(lc l ill 1S2I hy ti-uops at the Falls of St. Aiitliony, and it cut liiiiihcr lor tlic ((iiartcrs of offi ' crs ami men stalioiicd at the fort. Mill stones hroiif lit up from St. Louis were later installed, and the garrison was pro ided with flour made from its own wheat. Josepli Renshaw Hrown, prominent in later deveIoi)ment of the State, eanie in ISU) at the age of fourteen with the troo|)s who Imilt Fort St. .Viithony. .Vnd while a nieniher (if the garrison, he and several others from the fort discovered Lake Minnetonka in 1S22. The party, which included the sou of Colonel .losiah Snelling, i)ost coniinaudant, followed Minnehaha creek from the falls to the lake, spending three days on the trip. Steamhoat navigation on the upper Mississi])pi opened in the summer of 1S22 with the arrival at Fort St. Anthony of the ■■ irgiuia . River traiisi)ortatioii increased irregularly. At the time of tlie territorial organiza- tion, an average of sixty boats docked at St. I ' aul each year, and during 1858. when the State was admitted to the Union, more than a thousand steamboats reached the city. It was within a .short distance of the ])ost, the name of which was changed to Fort Snelling in 1824 in honor of its commander, that the lianks of the Mississipiji were first linked by a bridge. On the fifth day of December, 1852, the last floor beam was laid in a suspension bridge at St. . nthony Falls. In celebraticni of this memorable event, a Mr. Griffith, the engineer, invited newspaper men and their wives to cross upon the first span ever placed across the Father of Waters. The inlrnduction in the House of Representatives on December 23, 184t), of a bill by Morgan L. Martin of Wisconsin to eslaltlish the territorial government of Minnesota drew a great deal of ol)position. A considerable dixcrgence of oi)inion was shown even with regartl to the proposed luimc. Chairman Ste|)hen . . Douglas of the committee on territories substituted Itasca for Minnesota , and Martin had the original name restored when the bill was reported back to the house. Names suggested by other representatives were Chippewa , Jackson , as a tribute to tiie hero of New Orleans, and Washington . The original name was retained when the bill ])assed the House, and it went before the Senate on the third of the following March, where it was killed. Douglas was elected later to the Senate from Illinois, and on Deceinber 20, up a bill similar to that s])onsored by Martin when the two were in the Huuse of lliis attem|)t was finally successful, and at tary Ashbury Dickens ran into the House, announcing, Mr. Speaker! the President of the United States has notified the Senate that he signed and ajjproved ' Senate 152 , an act to establish the territorial government of Minnesota . How the news was received at St. Paul is shown by an account in the first number of the Minnesota Pioneer . Monday, .V|)ril !)th, had been a |)leasant day. Towards evening tiie clouds gathered and about dark commenced a violent storm of wind, rain, lightning and thunder. The larkness was only dissipated by the i id lightning: the succeeding lliun(i ' r fairly shook the earth. Suddenly during a lull in the storm, the coughing and grunting of an a|)proacliing steamboat from down the river was heard. The next instant the boat ' s shrill whistle thrilled throiiuli llic air, like a 2:25 on the morning of M; 1848, he brought Rei)resentatives. )urth, Secre- ■. »t ii| g ' giyfiaif; ' Stiaiiiho(fliiiti in LSin i Sfilhialfr) Page 27