Blue Earth County, Minnesota - Chapter 3: Frelsrch Explorees - Le Sueue Axd, 1901

Indiax Waes

The French were probably the first white men tci set foot on Blue Earth Countj^ soil. Which one of them had the first honor is unknown, some think that the French hunters and traders, Groseilliers and Eadisson, visited this locality in I'iGO. The French fur trade of that early period had many daring spirits, whose wonderful stories of adventure and disco^'ery were never written, and it may be one of these unknown heroes was the first to view the country of the ]\rahkato.

The first known to ha^-e come to the region now' embraced in Blue Earth County were Le Sueur and Ins followers, who arrived here in September, 1700. Pierre Charles Le Sueur had come into the present boundaries of ^Minnesota r.s early as 1683 at least, and had spent seven j-ears at various times hunting and trading among the Sioux. We know that he then spent part of the time with Perrot in the vicinity of Lake Pepin. We also know that during this visit among the Sioux, he discovered the bed of gTcen clay, found upon the Blue Earth' river, about a mile above the mouth of the Le Sueur, and that he took a sample of it with him to France, where it was assayed in 1696 bv Le Huillier, one of the king's officers, and evidently pronounced to be copper. Whether Le Sueur had personally inspected this bed of clay, and selected the sample himself before he took it to France is not certain. The probability, however, is that he had, but it may be, as stated by some that he obtained his sample and information as to the extent and location of the bed or mine from which it had been taken, from an Indian, who carried lumps of the green substance in his medicine bag.

a Sioux chief, named Tioscate with him from ]i!innesota to Canada, who was the first of that nation to see a civilized country. There is reason to believe that Tioseate's home was at the moutli of the Blue Earth, as his relatives were found there in large numbers five or six years later. This indicates that Le Sueur was then personally Jamiliar with the Blue Earth count]-v and the people who dwelt there. Perhaps his object in taking the chief with him to Canada was to cultivate his friendship, with a view to the advantage such a friendly relation would mean, when he came to open his mine. The unfortunate young chief, however, sickened and died after a few days at Montreal.

Confirmed by Le Huilliers tests in his belief that he had discovered a very valuable cop- ])vr mine, Le Sneur became enthusiastically insistant to develop his rich find. Through the aid of relatives, who had much influence at cf urt, he finally secured a commission to work the mines in 1696, While crossing the ocean, the vessel in Avhich he sailed was captured by the English and he with the rest of the crew were carried prisoners to England. On his release and return to France he secured in 1696 a second commission to work the Blue Earth mines, but was deterred by various obstacles from carrying out his project until 1700. Prom a letter written August 30th, 1703, by La Motte Cadillac, in command of the French post at Detroit, we learn that not the , least of these obstacles was due to the disturbed relations, then existing between the Sioux and their old enemies the Sacs and Foxes of Wisconsin. The latter had been in alliance with the French for many years and furnished them with a very lucrative trade. With the fire arms obtained

Some of the French traders were beginning to discover how rich the Sioux country was, especially in beaver and bufEalo, and were anxious to open trade with them. The Foxes and their allies, however, were much opposed to such a project as it would furnish their enemies with firearms, and all the other superior weapons and goods of the white men. The French now tried another tactic, and got these ancient foes to make a compact of peace. The Foxes and their allies acted in good faith in the transaction, but the Sioux made it an opportunity for treachery. Under pretense of ratifying the treaty a large number of the latter paid the Foxes and Miamis a visit and were right roj^- ally feasted and entertained by them, and it seemed as though the tomahawk had really been buried. The Sioux then left for home apparently well satisfied with the good treatment they -had received. Thinking now that there were no foes to dread, and supposing that their visitors were well towards home, the principal village of the Miamis was resting heedless of any danger, when the perfidious Sioux, having str'althily returned at night, fell upon them suddenly at day break and killed three thousand of them. This great slaughter and outrageous treachery made the Poxes and all their allies furious in their rage, and a war of extermination against the whole Sioux nation was inaugurated. The French authorities could not afford the ill will of the Wisconsin Indians, among whom most of their trading posts were located, nor the loss of prestige, which the ccuntenancing of such perfidy would invite, and hence they were obliged to forbid any trade with the Sioux under heavy penalties. But the traders, who roamed through these remote regions, paid but indifferent attention to any official order, and continued to traffic with the Dakota tribes along the Mississippi and Minnesota. This involved them in trouble with the Foxes, Miamis and other enemies of the Sioux, and robberies and hostilities were frequent. These events occurred just about the time Le Sueur first obtained his commission to work his Blue

Earth copper mine, and helps to explain some of the difficulties and dangers he met. Le Sueur finally reached Biloxi near the mouth of the Mississippi with thirty miners in December, 1699, and started up the Father of Waters about April, 1700. By June of that year the expedition had reached Tamarois, a trading post a short distance below the mouth of the Missouri. He left this point July 12th,. in a felucca and two canoes with nineteen men, mostly miners. On the way they fell in with various Canadian hunters and traders, who joined them until by the time they reached the mouth of the Minnesota, on September 19th, ihe expedition numbered twenty-eight persons. On September 30th, 1700, they arrived at the mouth of the Blue Earth and ascended it t» the mouth of the Le Sueur, which they named the "St. Eemi" or "St. Henry." Here, on the mound just below the Jimction of the two rivers they erected two or three log cabins and enclosed them with a palisade of poles. The place was called Port Le Huillier in honor of the French officer, who had assayed the sample of green clay for Le Sueur. While the French miners and carpenters were building the fort, the Canadian hunters, who had joined the expedition by the way, hunted the buffalo on the adjacent prairies and soon had enough meat cured to supply the garrison over winter.

Penicaut, a ship carpenter, whom Le Sueur had taken with him to mend the boats and do other carpenter work, states that they killed four hundred buffaloes, which statement seems rather strong. Prom the same authority we learn that the winter was rather severe. To persons who were accustomed to the balmy air of France and New Orleans, a Minnesota winter ^vould very naturally seem a little bracing. Then we must concede to Penicaut the poetic license due to an old seaman recounting twenty years Inter, the marvelous adventures he had met in a new and far distant world. The next spring Le Sueur took twelve of the miners and four hunters with him about a mile and a half up the Blue Earth from the fort, to open up what he then supposed was a copper mine. This mine was' evidently the bed of green clay from four to ten inches thick still found in the bluffs of the Blue Earth near the north line of section twenty-eight of South Bend township. The clay has no copper in it, but its peculiar bluish green color is due to a tincture of iron. In twenty-two days Le Sueur had over 20,000 pounds of it dug out, and selecting 4,000 pounds of the best, he loaded this into his shallop and carried it to the fort at the mouth of the Mississippi. What became of it afterwards is not known. He also carried with him a very valuable cargo of beaver and other furs, which he liad obtained from the Indians.

Le Sueur left twelve men at Fort Le Huillier in charge of D'Eraque, one of the Canadians who had Joined his party. These remained at the fort until the spring of 1703, when a war party of the Foxes and Maskontens, then at bitter enmity with the Sioux and therefore opposed to the establishment of this fort, as we have seen, made some hostile demonstration in its vicinity, and caused its rather sudden evacuation. Penicaut, who had left the spring before with Le Sueur and hence was not personally present and probably did not know the particulars connected with the abandonment of the fort simply states that in the spring of 1703, "D'Eraque and his twelve comrades had returned to Mobile and reported that they had been attacked by a band of Foxes and Maskontens, who had killed three Frenchmen, who were working in the woods about two gun shots beyond the fort, and that being out of ammunition he had cached the goods and abandoned the post." In July, 1907, a rather interesting discovery of seventeen headless skeletons was made on the farm of one A. Mitchell, in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section thirty-three of South Bend township. The bodies had all been laid out, white man's fashion and buried two or three feet deep in dug graves on the top of a small natural mound or knoll. The soil -consisted of loam, gravel and clay. At the northwest base of the knoll lay a grassy swale of several acres. Originally the knoll had been covered with timber and thick brush, and the forest continuing eastward from it to the Le Sueur. The mound is situated about a mile and a half southwest of the site of old Ft, Le Huillier and on a very ancient Indian trail, which led from the Big Woods and the ilinnesota valley, through Mankato, along the foot of the Walker hill, down til rough the Eed Jacket valley and by the site of the old fort, crossing the Le Sueur just above its mouth, and passing up the opposite bluff followed in a southwesterly course the dryest land by the knoll in question and emerging from the timber a short distance beyond. Thence it continued in southwesterly course over the Blue Earth, Watonwan, and the boundless prairies to the mouth of the Big Sioux river. The burial must have occurred long before the advent of the white settlers in 1853, as all traces of the graves had been obliterated. The Indians of the locality, also, must have forgotten their existence, as they made no mention of them to anyone. All of which indicates that the tragedy connected with those bones was very ancient.

The headless conditions of the skeletons and the two flint arrow heads with broken tips found with the bones, point quite conclusively to Indians as the authors of the bloody deed. The laying out of the bodies and their burial in dug gro/ves is fully as conclusive evidence, tliat the interment was the work of white men. The Indians never buried in this manner and had no implements for the purpose. Prior to the advent of the white settlers there were no white persons in this locality, except the French occupants of Ft. Le Hviillier. History states that during the occupation of this fort a most hitter warfare was in progress between the Foxes and their allies and the Sioux and that in the spring of 1703 the former made a hostile raid to the vicinity of the Fort and that they killed three French men, but how many of their Sioux foes, if any, they killed is not stated.

From these and other known data, it is quite probable that the tragedy connected with the skeletons found on the Mitchell farm dates b;ick to the spring of 1703. The only conclusion, which fits all the facts is that at that time a large war party of the Foxes and their allies crossed the Mississippi and following the usually deserted prairies south of the Big Woods, stole up unobserved to the neighborhood of Ft. Le Huillier, with intent to wreak vengeance on their old enemies, tlie Sioux, and at the same time brealc up tlie fort,- which was affording their foe the benefits of trade with the whites.

Taking advantage of the mound now on the Jlitcliell farm with its thick In-usli and timber and the grassy swale beside it, they made here an ambush on the old well beaten trail, which led from the fort and the Minnesota valley to the great j^outhwcs^t. In due time a long, lino of Dakota braves accompanied by some of the voyao-ers attached to the traders at the fort, came winding their way along the path. As they were passing over the mound the silence was suddenly broken by blood curdling war whoops, liursting from a liundred savage throats, and a deadly shower of arrows, mingled with a few bullets, smote them from every side and seventeen, jDerhaps more, fell in the trail. The rest fled through the woods in dismay back to the fort. It took the Foxes but a few moments to rush upon the fallen victims and with their sharp knives cut off their heads to carry back to their Wisconsin villages as gorey and ghastly ti'ophies for the scalp dance. The news of the terrible tragedy soon reached the fort and caused the wildest excitement. Armed with their guns a portion of the garrison went out to view the scene of the carnage. Prompted by dictates of humanity and of their religion, the miners, who had but recently come from civilheA Prance, procured their picks and shovels a ad buried the bodies. The Indians were human beings and the French doubtless had known most of the dead intimately for nearly two years and it behooved them to give their red friends the rite of a christian burial at least. Then if among the slain were three French voyagers, it gave an added- reason for the burial. Terrified by this bloody massacre and having but little ammunition, the garrison at once cached what goods they could not carry and evacuated the fort, passing hastily down the river to Mobile.

The adventures of these first white settlers in Blue Earth County over two hundred years ago are full of interest. Our information is derived fj'om two main sources. One being the extracts copied from the Journal of Le Sueur, the leader of the expedition, by Bernard de le Harpe in his "History of Louisiana." Le Harpe was a French oifieer, who about two hundred )ears ago wrote a liistory of the old French province of Louisana in which Blue Earth County was then situated. It was \\ritten in French and remained unpublished for over a hundred years. Unfortunately the Journal of Le Sueur, from which these extracts were taken, has been lost. Our other source of information is a little French book entitled "The Eelation of Penicaut.'' As we stated before Penicaut was a shipwright, who accompanied Le Sueur on his expedition to the Blue Earth. He remained at Ft. Le Huillier only one winter and then returned to the Lower ilississippi. Twenty years later he visited France tn receive medical treatment for his eyes. While these stories of his adventures in the new world excited so much interest, that they were reduced to writing at Ms dictation, the manuscript remained at Paris unpublished for one hundred and fifty years, but in 1869 it was bought by ilr. SpofEord, librarian of Congress, and printed in a small volume. The portion of Penicaut's book relating to Le Sueur's expedition to the Blue Earth we will give entire.

Having ascended the St. Peter (Minnesota) river forty leagaies and finding another river on the left falling into it he continues, "We called this Green River, because it is of that color by reason of a green earth, which loosening itself fiom the copper mines, becomes dissolved in it and makes it green. A league up this river we found a point of land a quarter of a league distant from the woods, and it was upon this point that M. Le Sueur resolved to build his fort, because we could not go any higher on account of the ice, it being the last day of September, when winter, -which is very severe in that counti-y, has already begun. Half of our people went hunting, whilst the others Morked on the fort. Wc killed four hundred bufEaloes, which were our pro- \isions for the ^vinter, and which we placed upon scaft'olds in our fort, after having skinned and cleaned and then quartered them. We also made cabins in the fort, and a magazine to keep our goods. After having drawn up ottr shallop within the inclosure of the fort, we spent the winter in our cabins,

Histoey Of Blub Eaeth Couatty

When we were working on our fort, in the beginning, seven Fi-eneh traders of Canada took refuge there. They had been pillaged and stripped naked by the Sioux, a wandering nation living only by hunting and rapine. Amongst these seven persons there was a Canadian gentlemen of M. Le Sueur's acquaintance, whom he recognized at once and gave him some clothes, as he did also to all the rest, and whate%'er else was necessary for them. They reiriained with us during the entire winter at our fort, where we had not food enough for all, except the flesh of our buffaloes, which we had not even salt to eat with. We had a good deal of trouble the first two A\'eeks in getting used to it, having diarrhoea and fever, and being so tired of it that we hated the very smell. But little by little our bodies got adapted to it, so well that at the end of six weeks there was not one of us that could not eat six pounds of meat a day and drink four bowls of the broth. As soon as we were accustomed to this kind of living it made us very fat, and there was then no more sickness amongst us.

When spring arrived we went to work on the copper mine. This was in the beginning of April of this year, (1701). We took with us twelve laborers and four hunters. This mine was situated about three quarters of a league from our post. We took from the mine in twenty-two days more than thirty thousand pounds weight of ore, of which we only selected four thousand pounds, of the finest, which M. Le Sueur, who was a very good judge of it, had carried to the fort and which has since been sent to France, though I have not learned the result.

This mine is situated at the beginning of a very long mountain is upon the bank of the river, so that boats can go right to the mouth of the mine itself. At this place is the green earth, which is a foot and a half in thickness, and above it is a layer of earth as firm and hard as stone, and black and burnt like coal by the exhalation from the mine. The copper is scratched out with a knife. There are no trees upon this mountain. If this mine is good it will make a great trade, because the mountain contains more than ten leagues running of the same

After twenty-two days' work we returned to our fort, where the Sioux, who belong to the nation of savages who pillaged the Canadians that come there, brought us merchandises of furs. They had more than four hundred beaver robes, each robe being of nine skins sewed together. ]\I. Le Sueur purchased these and many other skins which he bargained for in the week he traded with the savages. He made them all come and camp near the fort, which they consented to very unwillingly; for this nation, which is very numerous, is always wandering, living only by hunting, and when they have stayed a few days in one place they have to go off more than ten leagues from it for game for tlicir support. They have, however, a dwelling place, where they gather together the natural fruits of the country, which are very different from those of the lower IMississippi, as for instance cherries which are in clusters like our grapes of France, cranberries which are similar to our strawberries but larger and somewhat sfjuare in shape, nuts, cliokeberries, roots which resemble our truffles, et cetera. There are also more kinds of trees than on the lower part of the river, as the birch, maple, plane, and cottonwood, which last is a tree that grows so thick that there are some that are fifteen feet round. As to the trees called maple and plane it is usual at the beginning of ^Farch to make notclies in them, and then placing tubes in the notches cause the liquid to run off into a vessel placed below to receive it.^ These trees will flow in abundance during three months, from the beginning of IMarch to the end of "May. The juice they yield is very sweeet. it is boiled till it turns to syrup, and if it is boiled still more it becomes brown sugar.

The cold is still severer in these countries than it is in Canada. During the winter we passed in our fort we heard the trees exploding like nui^ket shots, being cracked by the rigor of the cold. The ice is as thick as there is water in the river, and the snow is condensed in it. Bv the month of April all this snow and ice lies on the ground to the depth of five feet, which

About the beginning of winter in this country, that is to say in the month of September, the bears climb trees that are hollow and hide themselves inside, where they remain from six to seven months without ever leaving, getting no other nourishment during the winter than by licking their paws. "When they enter they are extremely lean, and when they go out they are so plump that they have half a foot of fat on tbem. It is almost always in the cottonwood or cypress that the bear hides himself, because these trees are generally hollow. In hunting them a tree is placed leaning against the tree where the bear is and reaching up to the hole by which he entered. The hunter climbs by this leaning tree to the other one, and throws into the hollow some pieces of dry wood all on fire, which obliges the animal to come out to save himself from being burned. Wlien the bear leaves the hole of the tree he comes down backwards, as a man would do, and then they shoot him. This hunting is very dangerous, for though the animal may be wounded sometimes by three or four gun shots, he will still fall upon the first person he meets, and with a single blow of his teeth and claws will tear you up in a moment. There are some as large as carriage horses, so strong that they can easily break a tree as thick as one's thigh. The nation of the Sioux hunt them very much, using them for food and trading their skins with the French Canadians. We sell in return wares which come very dear to the buyers, especially tobacco from Brazil in the proportion of a hundred crowns to the pound, two little horn handled knives or four leaden bullets are equal to ten crowns in exchange for their merchandises of skins and so with the rest.

In the beginning of May we launched our shallop in the water and loaded it with this green earth that had been taken out of the mines and with the furs we had traded for, of which we brought away three canoes full. M. Le Sueur, before going, held council with Mr. D'Eraque the Canadian gentleman, and the three great chiefs of the Sioux, three brothers, and told them that as he had to return to the sea he desired them to live in peac« with M. D'Eraque, whom he left in command of Fort L'Huillier, with twelve Frenchmen. M. Le Sueur made a considerable present to the three brothers, chiefs of the savages, desiring them never to abandon the French. After this we, the twelve men whom he had chosen to go down to the sea with 'him embarked. In setting out M. Le Sueur promised to M. D'Eraque and the twelve Frenchmen, who remained with him to guard the fort, to send up munitions of war from the Illinois county as soon as he should arrive there; and which he did, for on getting there he sent off to him a canoe loaded with two thousand pounds of lead and powder, with three of our people in charge of it.

In this same time il. D'Iberville had sent a boat laden with munitions of war and provisions, to M. de St. Denie, commanding the fort on the bank of the Mississippi. They found there i\I. D'Eraque, who had arrived with the twelve Frenchmen, who remained with him at fort L'Huillier. He came shortly after in the same boat to Mobile, where M. D'Iberville, was, whom he saluted, and reported to him that M. Le Sueur having left him at the fort L'Huillier, had promised him, in parting, to send him from the Illinois country, ammunition and provisions, and that having looked for them a long time without hearing any news of them he had been attacked by the nations of the Maskoutins and Poxes, who had killed three of our Frenchmen whilst they were working in the woods but two gun shots beyond the fort; that when the savages had retreated he had been obliged, after having concealed the merchandises he had remaining, and seeing that he was out of powder and lead, to abandon the fort and descend with his people to the sea."

Because of their special connection with Blue Earth County we also take from Le Harpe's history those extracts from Le Sueur's Journal which pertain to Ft. Le Huillier.

Le Sueue'S Jouenal

"After he entered into the Blue river, thus named on account of the mines of blue earth found at its mouth, he founded his post, situated in forty-four degrees, 'thirteen minutes, north latitude. He met at this place, nine Sioux who told him that the river belonged to the Sioux of the west; the Ayavios, (lowas) and Otoctatas, (Ottoes), who lived a little farther off; that it was not their custom to hunt on ground belonging to others, unless invited to do so by the owners, and that when they would come to the fort to obtain provisions, they would be in danger of being killed in ascending or descending the rivers, which were narrow, and that if they v/ould show their pity, he must establish himself on the Mississippi, near the mouth of the St. Pierre, where the Ayavois, the Otoctatas, and the other Sioux could go as well as they.

Having finished their speech, they leaned over the head of Le Sueur, according to their custom, crying out. "Oueachissou ouaspanimanabo," that is to say, "Have pity upon us.'' Le Sueur had forseen that the establishment of Blue river would not please the Sioux of the oast, who were, so to speak, masters of the other Sioux and of the nations which will be hereafter mentioned, because they were the first with whom trade was commenced, and in consequence of which they had already quite a number of guns.

As he had not commenced his operations only v/ith a view to the trade of beavers, but also to gain a knowledge of the mines, which he had pi'eviously discovered, he told them he was sorry that he had not known their intentions sooner; and that it was just, since he came expressly for them that he should establish himself on their land, but that the season was too far advanced for him to return. He then made them a present of powder, balls and knives, and an armful of tobacco, to entice them to assemble as soon as possible, near the fort which he was about to construct; that when they should be all assembled he might tell them the intention of the king, their and his sovereign.

The Sioux of the west, according to the statement of the eastern Sioux, have more than a thousand lodges. They do not use canoes, noi cultivate the earth, nor gather wild rice. They remain generally in the prairies, which are between . the Upper Mississippi and ilissouri rivers, and live entirely by the chase. The Sioux generally say they have three souls, and that, after death, that which has done well goes to the warm country, and that which has done evil to the cold regions, and the other guards the body. Polygamy is common among them. They are very jealous, and sometimes fiight in duel for their wives. They manage the bow admirably, and have been seen several times to kill ducks on the wing. They make their lodges of a number of buffalo skins interlaced and sewed, and carry them wherever they go. They are all great smokers, but their manner of smoking differs from that of other Indians. There are some Sioux who swallow all the smoke of the tobacco and others who, after having kept it some time in their mouth, cause it to issue from, the nose. In each lodge there are usually two or three men with their families.

On the 3d of October, they received at the fort several Sioux, among whom was Wahkentape, chief of the village. Soon two Canadians arrived who had been hunting, and had been roblDcd by the Sioux of the east, who had raised their guns against the establishment which M. Le Sueur had made on Blue River.

On the 14th the fort was finished and named "Fort L'Huillier" and on the 22nd two Canadians were sent out to invite the Ayavois and Otoctatas to come and establish a village near the fort, because these Indians are industrious and accustomed to cultivate the earth, and they hoped to get provisions from them and to make them work in the mines.

On the 2ith, six Sioux Oujalespoitons wished to go into the fort, but were told that they did not receive men who had killed Frenchmen. This is the term used when they have insulted them. The next day they came to the lodge of IjC Suettr to beg him to have pity on them. 1'Jiey wished according to custom, to weep over his head, and make him a present of packs of beavers, which he refused. He told them he v^'as surprised that people who had robbed should come to him; to which they replied that they had heard it said that two Frenchmen had been robbed, but none from their village had been present at that wicked action.

Sioux who have robbed me, and if I were to follow your manner of acting, I should break your heads; for is it not true, that when a stranger (it is thus that they call the Indiana who are not Sioux) has insulted a Sioux, Mendeoucanton, Oujalespoitons or others - all the villages - revenge upon the first one they meet?"

As they had nothing to answer to what he said to them, they wept and repeated, according to custom, "Ouaechissou, ouaepanimanabo ;" Le Sueur told them to cease crying, and added that the French had good hearts, and that they had come into the country to have pity on them. At the same time he made them a present, saying to them, "Carry back your beavers and say to all the Sioux, that they will have from me no more powder or lead, and they will no longer smoke any long pipe until they have made satisfaction for robbing the Frenchmen."

The same day the Canadians, who had. been sent off on the 32nd, arrived without having found the road which led to the Ayavois and Otoctatas. On the 25th Le Sueur went to the river with three canoes, which he filled with blue and green earth. It is taken from the hills near which are very abundant mines of copper, some of which was worked at Paris in 1696 by I/Huillier, one of the chief collectors of the kind. Stones were also found there which would be curious, if worked.

On the 9th of November, eight Mantanton Sioux arrived, who had been sent by their chiefs to say that the Mendeoueantons were still at their lake on the east of the Mississippi and they could not come for a long time; and that for a single village which has no good sense, the others ought not to bear the punishment; and that they were willing to make reparation if they knew how. Le Sueur replied that he \7as glad that they had a disposition to do so.

On the 15th the two Mantanton Sioux, who had been sent expressly to say that all of the Sioux of the east and part of those of the west were Joined together' to come to the French because they had heard that the Christianaux and the Assinipoils were making war on them. These two nations dwell above the fort on the

The Assinipoils speak Sioux, and are certainly of that nation. It is only a few years since they became enemies. The enmity thus originated: The Christianaux, having the use of arms before the Sioux, through the English at Hudson's Bay, they constantly warred upon the Assinipoils, who were their nearest neighbors. The latter being weak, sued for peace, and to render it more lasting, married the Christianaux women. The other Sioux, who had not made the compact continued to war; and seeing some Christianaux with the Assinipoils broke their heads. The Christianaux furnished the Assinipoils with arms and merchandise.

On the 16th, the Sioux returned to their village, and it was reported that the Ayavois and the Otoctatas were going to establish themselves towards the Missouri river, near the Maha, who dwell in that region. On the 26th, the Mantantons and Oujalespoitons arrived at the fort; and after they had encamped in the woods, Wahkentape came to beg Le Sueur to go to his lodge. He there found sixteen men v/ith women and children, with their faces daubed with black. In the middle of the lodge ^^'ere several buffalo skins, which were sewed for a' carpet. After motioning him to sit down, they wept for the fourth of an hour, and the chief gave him some wild rice to eat, (as was their custom) putting the first three spoonsful to his mouth. After which, he said all present were relatives of Tioscate, whom Le Sueur took to Canada in 1695, and who died there in 1696.

At the mention of Tioscate they began to weep again, and wipe their tears and heads upon the shoulders of Le Sueur. Then Wahkentape again spoke, and said that Tioscate begged him to forget the insult done to the Frenchmen by the Mendeoueantons, and take pity on his brethren by giving them powder and balls whereby they could defend themselves, and gain a living for their wives and children, who languished in a country full of game because they had not the means of killing them. "Look," added the chief, "Behold thy children, thy brethren, and thy sisters; it is to thee

Le Sueur granted them their request, but as the Sioux never answer on the spot, especially in matters of importance, he - went out of the lodge without saying a word. The chief and all those within followed him as far as the door of the fort; and when he had gone in, they went around it three times; crying with all their strength, "Atheouanan" that is to say, "Father, have pity on us." (Ate unyanpi, moans "our father.'")

The next day he assembled in the fort the principal men of both villages; and as it is not possible to subdue the Sioux or to hinder them from going to war, unless it be by inducing them to cultivate the earth, he said to them that if they wished to render themselves worthy of the protection of the king, they must abandon their errant life, and form a village near his dwelling, where they would be shielded from the insults of their enemies; and that they might be happy and not hungry, he would give them all the corn necessary to plant a large piece of ground; that the king, their and his chief, in sending him, had forbidden him to purchase beaver skins, knowing that this kind of hunting separates them and exposes them to their enemies; and that in consequence of this he had come to establish himself on Blue river and vicinity, where they had many times assured him were many kinds of beasts, for the skins of which he would give them all things necessary; that they ought to reflect that they could not do without French goods, and that the only way not to want them was, not to go to war with our allied nations.

As it is customary with the Indians to accompany their word with a present proportioned to the affair treated of, he gave them fifty pounds of powder, as many balls, six guns, ten axes, twelve armsfuls of tobacco and a hatchet pipe.

one hundred men seated around, and every one his dish before him. After the meal, Wahkentape, the chief, made them all smoke one after another in the hatchet pipe which had been given them. He then made a present to Le Sueur of a slave and a sack of rice, and said to him, showing him his men: "Behold the remains of this great village, which thou hast aforetunes seen so numerous! All the others have been killed in war; and the few njen whom thou seest in this lodge, accept the present thou hast made them, and are resolved to obey the great chief of all nations, of whom thou hast spoken to us. Thou oughtest not to regard us as Sioux, but as French, and instead of saying the Sioux are miserable, and have no mind, and are fit for nothing but to rob and steal from the French, thou shalt say my brethren are miserable and have no mind, and we must try to procure some for them. They rob us, but I will take care that they do not lack corn, that is to say, all kinds of goods. If thou dost this I assure thee that in a little time, the Mantantons will become Frenchmen, and they will have none of tliose vices with which thou reproachest us."

Having finished his speech, he covered his face with his garment, and the others imitated him. They wept over their companions who had died in war, and chanted an adieu to their country in a tone so gloomy that one could not keep from partaking of their sorrow.

Wahkentape then made them smoke again, and distributed the presents, and said that he was going to the ilendeoucantons, to inform them of the resolution, and invite them to do the same.

On the 12 th, three Mendeoucanton chiefs and a large number of Indians of the same, village, arrived at the fort, and the next day gave satisfaction for robbing the Frenchmen. They brought 400 pounds of beaver skins, and promised that the summer following, after their canoes were built and they had gathered their wild rice, that they would come and establish themselves near the French. The same day tliey returned to their village east of the ilississippi.