II. THE ENGLISH DOMINION 29 III. MINNESOTA WEST ANNEXED 42 IV. FORT SNELLING ESTABLISHED 54 V. EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS 70 VI. THE TERRITORY ORGANIZED 86 VII. TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT 108 VIII. TRANSITION TO STATEHOOD 133 IX. THE STRUGGLE FOR RAILROADS 159 X. ARMING FOR THE CIVIL WAR 178 XI. THE OUTBREAK OF THE SIOUX 190 XII. THE SIOUX WAR 205 XIII. SEQUEL TO THE INDIAN WAR 222 XIV. HONORS OF WAR 240 XV. REVIVAL 254 XVI. STORM AND STRESS 267 XVII. CLEARING UP 304 XVIII. FAIR WEATHER 333 XIX. A CHRONICLE OF RECENT EVENTS 340 INDEX 367 MINNESOTA CHAPTER I THE FRENCH PERIOD The word Minnesota was the Dakota name for that considerable tributary of the Mississippi which, issuing from Big Stone Lake, flows southeastward to Mankato, turns there at a right angle, and runs on to Fort Snelling, where it empties into the great river. It is a compound of “mini,” water, and “sota,” gray-blue or sky-colored. The name was given to the territory as established by act of Congress of March 3, 1849, and was retained by the state with her diminished area. If one should travel in the extension of the jog in the north boundary, west of the Lake of the Woods, due south, he could hardly miss Lake Itasca. If then he should embark and follow the great river to the Iowa line, his course would have divided the state into two portions, not very unequal in extent. The political history of the two parts is sufficiently diverse to warrant a distinction between Minnesota East and Minnesota West. England never owned west of the river, Spain gained no foothold east of it. France, owning on both sides, yielded Minnesota East to England in 1763, and sold Minnesota West to the United States in 1803. Up to the former date, the whole area was part of New France and had no separate history.