------------------------------------------------------------------------ American Commonwealths MINNESOTA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: MINNESOTA TO ACCOMPANY W. W. FOLWELL’S MINNESOTA in AMERICAN COMMONWEALTHS Compiled by the author, 1908.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ American Commonwealths MINNESOTA THE NORTH STAR STATE BY WILLIAM WATTS FOLWELL [Illustration: L’ETOILE DU NORD] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COPYRIGHT 1908 BY WILLIAM WATTS FOLWELL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED _Published October 1908_ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE If this compend of Minnesota history shall be found a desirable addition to those already before the public, it will be due to the good fortune of the writer in reaching original sources of information not accessible to his predecessors. The most important of them are: the papers of Governor Alexander Ramsey, in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Marion R. Furness; the letter-books and papers of General H. H. Sibley, preserved in the library of the Minnesota Historical Society; some hundreds of letters saved by Colonel John H. Stevens, and deposited by him in the same library; the papers of Ignatius Donnelly, in the hands of his family; the great collection of Green Bay and Prairie du Chien papers belonging to the Wisconsin Historical Society; the remarkable group of early French documents owned by the Chicago Historical Society; and finally, the priceless collection of Minnesota newspapers preserved by the Minnesota Historical Society. Grateful acknowledgments are offered to many citizens who have given information out of their own knowledge, or have directed the writer to other sources. Among “old Territorians” who have rendered invaluable aid must be named Simeon P. Folsom, John A. Ludden, Joseph W. Wheelock, Benjamin H. Randall, A. L. Larpenteur, A. W. Daniels, John Tapper, and William Pitt Murray. The last named has put me under the heaviest obligation. W. W. F. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., June 1, 1908. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE FRENCH PERIOD 1