Mary and I: Forty Years with the SiouxRiggs, Stephen Return
History
Mary and I: Forty Years with the Sioux
Riggs, Stephen Return
Dakota Indians -- Missions; Riggs, Stephen Return, 1812-1883
Of that journey eastward, and the winter spent in Hawley, I should
naturally remember a good many things: How when the stage from Albany
and Troy put us down in Charlemont, we hired a boy with a one-horse
wagon to carry us six miles to Hawley. But when we came to going up
the steep, rough, long hill, such as I had never climbed before, the
horse could only scramble up with the baggage alone. How we reached
the Longley homestead in a real November storm, only a few days before
Thanksgiving, and were greeted by the grandparents, ninety years old,
and by the father and mother and brothers and sisters--all of whom,
except Moses, have since gone to the other side. How only a day after
our arrival I was waited upon by a committee of the West Hawley
church, and engaged to preach for them during the winter. How every
Saturday I walked down to Pudding Hollow and preached on Sabbath, and
usually walked up on Monday, when I did not get snowed in. How the
first pair of boots I ever owned, bought in Ohio, proved to be too
small to wade in snow with, and had to be abandoned. How the old
family horse had a knack of turning us over into snow-drifts. How on
our first visit to Buckland, the grandfather Taylor, then about
ninety-five years old, when he was introduced to Mary Ann's future
husband, a young minister from the West, asked, "Did you ever think
what a good horseman Jesus Christ was? Why, he rode upon a colt that
had never been broke." How the old meeting-house on the hill, with its
square pews and high pulpit, creaked and groaned in the storm of our
wedding day, February 16, 1837. How we left in the first days of
March, when the snow-drifts on the hills were still fifteen feet deep.
March, April, May passed, and the first day of June we landed at Fort
Snelling, in the land of the Dakotas.
When another three moons were passed by, and we had seen St. Anthony
and Minnehaha, and made some acquaintance with the natives, I remember
we took passage, with our effects, on board a Mackinaw boat for
Traverse des Sioux. The boat was in command of Mr. Prescott, who
accommodated us with tent-room on the journey, and made the week pass
comfortably for us. From Traverse des Sioux to Lac-qui-parle we had
our first experience of prairie traveling and camping. It was
decidedly a new experience. But we had the company of Dr. Williamson
and Mr. G. H. Pond, while we commenced to learn the lesson.
AT LAC-QUI-PARLE.
The long, narrow room, partly under the roof, of Dr. Williamson's log
house, which became our home for nearly five years from that
September, is one of the memories that does not fade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account