If the soldiers had any spare time in their labors in which to become interested in their surroundings, there was novelty in everything about them. During the next few days all the nearby chiefs came to call upon their new neighbors: they left satisfied with the presents and the whiskey which they had received. On Saturday a party ascended to the Falls of St. Anthony; and on Sunday a visit was made to the Indian villages up the Minnesota River. It was on Monday that Major Forsyth began his return trip, and as the supplies in store were few and the long-expected recruits were needed for the erection of the camp buildings, Colonel Leavenworth set out with him for Prairie du Chien. On September 1st they met on Lake Pepin two boats and a bateau with one hundred and twenty soldiers on board. But Colonel Leavenworth continued to Prairie du Chien, where he remained some time to urge on any boats which might arrive. On September 5th the one hundred and twenty recruits landed at the new camp.[71] Log cabins and a stockade were erected while the party still lived in the boats on the river. By November the temporary barracks were ready for occupation. Looking forward to a pleasant winter, the name "Cantonment New Hope" was applied to the embryo fort. The more scientific among the men examined the country round about, and saw in the hills visions of mines of precious metals. "Would not the employment of the troops in the manufacture of Copper and Iron be advantageous to the government?", wrote one of these energetic soldiers. But the succeeding months were not to give an opportunity for such occupations.[72] Added to the natural monotony of a wilderness post, there was homesickness and suffering during the first winter. The quarters that had been built were inadequate for protection from the cold of that climate. "Once during that memorable six months", runs the account of one of the inhabitants of Cantonment New Hope, "the roof of our cabin blew off, and the walls seemed about to fall in. My father, sending my mother and brother to a place of safety, held up the chimney to prevent a total downfall; while the baby, who had been pushed under the bed in her cradle, lay there.... until the wind subsided, when, upon being drawn out from her hiding-place, she evinced great pleasure at the commotion, and seemed to take it all as something designed especially for her amusement." That baby lived to recall the incident almost seventy years later.[73]