Cloud Man, chief of the Calhoun band of Indians, chose a site near the lake, where a cabin was erected which cost a shilling--for nails. The walls were of tamarack logs from a neighboring grove; slabs obtained at the mill at the Falls of St. Anthony furnished a roof; and Major Taliaferro presented the missionaries with a window. Major Bliss gave them some potatoes, and Mrs. Bliss presented them with a ham. Knowing the thievishness of the natives, the Indian agent also added a padlock to the newly-finished cabin.[422] Near the house about four acres of land were cleared and fenced with logs. A quarter of a mile distant was the Indian village of fourteen bark lodges, each containing two or three families. This village was surrounded by corn fields and was reached through a narrow lane made by putting up posts and tying poles to them with strips of bark.[423] According to Featherstonhaugh, who visited the establishment a year later, thirty acres were under cultivation and the yield of corn amounted to eight hundred bushels. It is interesting to note that this critical traveller found only one thing about Fort Snelling to commend and that was the self-sacrifice of the two Pond brothers.[424] They entered immediately into the life of the Indians. An extract from a letter written by one of the brothers shows the wide variety of their duties. "One Indian," he said, "has been here to borrow my axe, another to have me help him split a stick; another now interrupts me to borrow my hatchet; another has been here after a trap which he left with me; another is now before my window at work with his axe, while the women and children are screaming to drive the black-birds from their corn. Again I am interrupted by one who tells me that the Indians are going to play ball near our house to-day. Hundreds assemble on such occasions."[425]