University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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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

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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

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Mankalo ' : Grim Rt:nilndcr great blast of triiunpli, and a bright lightning flash re- vealed the boat itself, just rounding the bluff, less than a mile below the St. Paid wharf. In a few seconds, re- gardless of the tuniidt and perils of the storm, almost the entire male jjopulation of the town was running for the boat-landing. Very soon the fine steamer. Dr. Franklin, No. 2, dashed gallantly uj) to her wharf. l?ut l)efore she reached the moorings she was boartled by the excited throng. The news was learned and one ghid shout which resounded through the boat, was taken up on shore, and, echoed from our beetling bluffs and rolling hills above the roar of the storm, [iro- claimed that the bill for the organization of Minnesota Territory had l)ecome a law . With the organization of the territorial govern- ment, the residents set themselves to the task of establishing Minnesota as a state. As the first step it was necessary to secure the jjassage of an Enabling Act , authorizing the i )eo])le to frame a constitution and elect state officers. A large amount of opposition was encountered in Congress, because the balance of power , zealously guarded l)y the South, and main- tained by admitting free and slave states to the Union in pairs, had been broken in 18.50 by the admission of California as a free state. The bill was finally adop- ted, however, through the tireless eft ' orts of Douglas. the senator who had lieen responsilile for the establishment of the territory. He introtluced the l)ill admitting Minnesota to the Union, and President Buchanan signed it on May 11, 1858. When the fall of Fort Sumter in 1861 aroused the North to the certainty of war, Minnesota was equal to the emergency. Governor Alexander Ramsey, who was then in Washington, at once offered President Lincoln a regiment for the suppression of the rebellion, giving Minnesota the distinction of being the first state to volunteer her services in the war. In accordance with a telegram from Ramsey, the first call for troojjs was issued on April 16. The First Minnesota was the first three years regiment to go into battle, and fought at Antietam, Bull Run, and Fredericksburg. Of its famous charge at (iettysburg, where 21. ) of its 262 men were lost. General Hancock, who gave the order to charge, said, There is no more gallant deed recorded in history . Yitll half of her volunteers in the South, and more regiments hastily recruiting for service in the Civil war, Minnesota received a knife thrust in her back. Sioux Indians from reservations on the u])per Minnesota river unexpectedly rose under the leadership of Little Crow on August IS, 1862, and murdered about a thousand frontier settlers within thirty-six hours. Probable reinforcement of the Sioux by west- ern bands, and the possibility of co- operation by Chip])ewas and Winne- bagoes, which was indeed the plan of Little Crow, necessitated imme- diate action by the State govern- ment. Learning of the U])rising on the following day, (iovernor Ramsey immediately ])laced General Henry Hastings Sibley in charge of a move- ment to restore a lasting peace on the frontier. A successful encounter at Fort Ridglev, and the stand at ISoT- -Rcd Hirer Ox Carls Driven by Half -breeds, in Their Annual Pilgrimage to the Tuin Cities Page S