Old Rail Fence Corners: The A. B. C's. of Minnesota History
History
Old Rail Fence Corners: The A. B. C's. of Minnesota History
Frontier and pioneer life -- Minnesota; Minnesota -- Biography; Minnesota -- History, Local; Pioneers -- Minnesota -- Biography
While at the St. Louis House, I walked with a soldier along the Indian
trail that followed the river bank to the government mill at the Falls
of St. Anthony. On our way, we went down a deep ravine and crossed the
creek on a log. We could hear the roaring of falls and walked over to
see them. They were the most beautiful I had ever seen and were called
Brown's Falls, but General LeDuc in 1852 gave them the name Minnehaha. I
thought I had never seen anything quite so pretty looking as the river
and woods. The deer were everywhere and game of all kinds bountiful. The
soldier told me that no white man could settle here anywhere for ten
miles as it was all in the Fort Snelling reservation. That is why the
town of St. Anthony was built on the east side of the river instead of
on the west side and why there was no town on this side of the river for
many years after. We saw some Sioux tepees and met the Indians
constantly. They were a fine sturdy race, with fine features and smiling
faces. The soldier said they could be depended on and never broke a
promise. The old mill was on the river bank about where we used to take
the cars in the old Union Station. It was not then in use, as the rocks
had broken off, leaving it perhaps forty or fifty feet from the Falls. A
flume had to be constructed before it could again be used.
The Falls were a grand sight. We heard their roaring long before we
could see them and saw the spray sparkling in the sunlight. There was a
watchman living in a little hut and he gave us a nice meal. A few Sioux
wigwams were near.
On the other side, we could see smoke 'way up above where the suspension
bridge now is. He said some Frenchmen and half breeds lived there. The
place was called St. Anthony. We did not go over. He also said there
were many white people, French, Scotch and English living in the country
upon the Red River. Some were called Selkirk settlers. He did not know
why. He said Martin McLeod had been one of these.
We passed some squaws in a big dugout. It was thirty feet long. There
were fourteen of them in the boat.
There was no boat leaving the fort for some time so I went to Mendota,
crossing the Minnesota River in a canoe ferry. My business at Mendota
was to present a letter of introduction to Mr. Sibley, Manager of the
American Fur Trading Co., from the missionary board of Ohio and see how
I could reach Lac qui Parle. I arrived at Mr. Sibley's home just about
noon. He told me he had a boat leaving in two weeks and that I could go
on her. He said he had several of these boats plying to Traverse des
Sioux. He was a gentlemanly looking man and very pleasant spoken. With
the courtliness that always distinguished him, he asked me if I had
dined and being informed that I had not, invited me to do so; I replied,
"I am obliged to you sir." I was told that the furniture of massive
mahogany had been brought up the river by boat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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