Blue Earth County, Minnesota - Chapter 4: Featherstonhaugh Summer's Expedition - First Steamboat Excursion on the Mississippi, 1901

After the adventures of the intrepid Le Sueur a long period of silence fell upon the country of the Blue Earth. Doubtless the region was occasionally visited by some of the bold French voyagers, who swarmed everywhere over the northwest in those days in the interest of the fur companies, but they have left us no record.

Along toward the end of the first week in December, 1766, a venturous Connecticut Yankee, named Captain Jonathan Carver, bent on an exploring tour of the western wildes, passed up the Minnesota, by the mouth of the Blue I'^arth, in an Indian canoe, with one or two Indian guides in his company. How far he ascended the river is not very definitely known. Some think it was to a point opposite the mouth of the Big Cottonwood. He himself states in his book that the distance from the mouth of the Minnesota to Carver river was 40 miles, and from there to the mouth of the Blue Earth another forty miles, and that the total distance he ascended the river was 200 miles. This would make the place where he met the large camp of Indians with whom he spent the winter, somewhere between Granite Falls and Lac qui Parle on the north bank of the river. The chart he drew indicates the spot to have been in that vicinity as well as the number of days hfc spent on the Journey. Though it was the ?th of December when he reached the Indian village still the river was free of ice. Indeed, it seems to have been a very mild and open wmter. In commenting on the weather Carver says, that there was very little snow all winter and that it did not seem to him as cold as the New England winters. He, also, states that the Indians claimed that this was an average winter, and that the fact that they had no snow shoes, showed that the snowfall was generally hght.

During his five months sojourn among these Sissetons, he went on frequent hunting trips, but what explorations he made into the country of the Blue Earth we are not told though we gather that he made some. He was evidently much impressed with the beauty of the locality from the word pictures he drew of its fine scenery.

"The river St. Pierre, which runs through the territories of the Naudowessies, flows through a most delightful country, abounding with all the necessaries of life that grow spontaneously, and with a little cultivation it might be made to produce even the luxuries of life. Wild rice grows here in great abundance; and every part is filled with trees bending under their loads of fruit, such as plums, grapes and apples; the meadows are covered with hops, and many sorts of vegetables, whilst the ground is stored with useful roots, with angelica, spikenard, and ground-nuts as large as hen's eggs. At a little distance from the sides of the river are eminences from which you liave views that cannot be exceeded even by the most beautiful of those I have already described; amidst these are delightful groves, and such amazing quantities of maples that they would produce sugar sufficient for any number of inhabitants.

"Near the branch which is termed the Marble river is a mountain, from whence the Indians get a sort of red stone, out of which they hew the bowls of their pipes. In some of these parts is found a black hard clay, or rather stone of which the Naudowessie make their family -utensils. This country likewise abounds with a milk white clay of which chinaware might be made equal in goodness to the Asiatic; also with a blue clay that serves the Indians for paint, with this last they contrive by mixing it with the red stone powdered, to paint themselves of diSerent colors. Those that can get the blue clay here mentioned paint themselves very much with it particularly when they are about to begin their sports and pastimes. It is also esteemed by them a mark of peace, as it has a resemblance of blue sky, which with them is a svmbol of it, and make use of it in their speeches as a figurative expression to denote peace when they wish to show that their inclinations were pacific toward other tribes, they greatly ornament both themselves and their belts with it."

Another long silence ensues and in May 1820 two Scotchmen, named Graham and Laidlow, from Lord Selkirk's Colony at Pembina, who had been down to Prairie du Chien to purchase seed for the Eed river settlements, whose fields had been devastated by grasshoppers, passed in three Mackinaw boats up the Minnesota. The boats were loaded with two hundred bushels of wheat, one hundred bushels of oats and thirty bushels of peas, and propelled by six men on each boat with long poles. Along bcth sides of each boat a foot board was placed, and the men ranged in order upon .these boards three on each side. Each in turn would walk to" the front of the boat, plant his pole in the bottom of the river and push the boat ahead walking as he did so along the foot board until he reached the rear, where he would pick up his pole and return to the head of the boat and repeat the process. For over a hundred years this method of navigation was common on the Minnesota and other western streams. Ixearly always the boatmen were French voyagers, who by practice had special skill in this work. It was their custom to sing as they handled their poles, and often in those days of the fur trade the echoes of the Mini:esota valley were awakened by the melodies of old France. In the present instance the crews pushed their freighted boats up the Minnesota into Big Stone Lake, hauled them on rollers across the portage of one and onehalf miles into Lake Traverse and thence descending the Sioux Wood river and Eed river to the Pembina country where they arrived June 3rd, 1820.

Here they sold their produce at a good price and the crews returned on foot as far as Big Stone Lake and thence in canoes down the Minnesota and Mississippi to Prairie du Chien. Charles St. Antoine, who in 1856, lived near Xorthfield, Miinn., was one of the number. In further evidence of the use made of our waters in those early days, and the skill displayed by the French voyagers in their navigation, we are told that in the early part of the eighteenth century La Framboise and his voyagers, after spending the winter trapping and purchasing furs along the upper Des Moines, dragged their boats across a portage of a mjile and a half only, between the waters of the Des Moines and the waters of the Watonwan, and descending the latter stream to the Blue Earth, found their way into the Minnesota and Mississippi with their cargoes of peltries. This portage from the Des Moines into the Watonwan was in the vicinity of Windom, into a lake called by the Indians, Tchan-shetcha (Drywood Lake), which formed the source of one of the f(irks of the Watonwan. The portage seemed to have been noted enough to find a place on Nicollet's map, which indicates -the use made of the Watonwan in the traffic of the fur traders.

Some years ago as a farmer named Kemnitz was excavating for a barn at the foot of the bluff Just across the river from the old village of South Bend he discovered the stone foundaljion of some ancient building. It was buried three or four feet under ground and large trees had grown over it. Evidently there had been an excavation made into the bluff and the rear wall built five or six feet high and about forty feet long against the bluff and two lateral walls about 24 feet long . erected for the sides. The inner surface of the stone had been dressed and the wall laid in mortar. A superstructure and front of and taste yet the French readily adopted all logs had been doubtless used to complete the the squalor and roughness of barbarism. Their building. This log part had probably burnt, ambition was not to lay the foundations of as the inner surface of the stones had been a home, but of a fortune. They came not to blackened by smoke and glazed by heat, and possess the land, but its spoils. They found a most of the rear wall had fallen in. A pile vald country, with wilder inhabitants, and left of ashes, some clam shells, and what seemed both unchanged. They sojourned in the land to be an liron poker, which crumbled when a hundred and fifty years and then suddenly touched, were found inside. Probably this the land knew them not. Another people with was the site of some ancient trading post a different purpose discovered the same wildating back one hundred and fifty to two derness and it disappeared. They looked the hundred years. There is no record or tradi- same savagery in the face and it vanished, tion of anv such post in this vicinity, but the and the old order quickly gave place to the ruins remain to tell the only tale of a business new. These newcomers have known the land hardventure of some white man iin the long ago. ly fifty years, but the impress they have made

From these glimpses into this western wil- upon it cannot be effaced in a thousand years, derness by the Blue Earth during the century It is to the coming of these miracle workers of and half prior to the advent of the settlers modern civilization - ^these invincibles of a vital we find that it was not wholly untouched Christianity that we now turn, by the foot of the pale face. On the contrary In the summer of lft23 ilaj. Stephen H. that hardy race of French traders and voy- Long of the U. S. Army made an exploring agers hunted and trapped in these forests and trip up the ilinnesota river to its source, valleys and plains for ages before the coming under directions of the secretary of war, and of the modern agriculturist. In daring, en- his notes were published in the government durance and resourcefulness these Arabs of reports. He was accompanied by Prof. Wjilour northern frontier could not be surpassed, liam Keating of the University of Pennsyl- Their lives were a succession of adventures and vania, who wrote a book giving a full account replete with herolism. Quick, yet cool, fear- of the expedition, which was published in two less, yet cautious, affable yet stern, they were volumes in 1885 at London. In the same exwell fitted to meet the savagery, which sur- pedition also came an eccentric Italian, J. C. rounded them. Deprivations and hardships Beltrami, who, also, wrote an account of the never dulled their ardor or dissipated their trlip in French, which was published in New light heartedness. With merry Jest and song Orleans. This expedition and the various books they cheered the gloom of the evening camp written about it, attracted wide attention to fires, and the weariness of the long pull the Minnesota Valley. The expedition, howagainst the current or of the heavy load across ever, did not touch Blue Earth county, but the portage. They built no permanent abodes purposely avoided it by a portage over land but roamed over the great commons of nature from Traverse Des Sioux to Eed Stone beat their will. In their day, these experts of cause of the hostility of the Indians about the the wilderness, made not only the Minnesota, mouth of the Blue Earth, inspired by the sad but the Blue Earth and all its tributaries fate of their chief Mazakoota. highways of their commerce. History, how- In 1835 an Englishman, named Geo. W. ever, has preserved but few annals of these Featherstonhaugh, who had been commissioned Nimrods of the West, and hence we must pass U. S. Geologist by Col. J. J. Ahert of the them by, and come to the real forerunners of bureau of Topographical Engineers, made an our modern civilization, the explorers, who exploring trip up the Minnesota valley. In attracted the attention of the home seeker to the Company was Prof. William W. Mather, the country. a native of Connecticut, then a scientific in-

Two works were published as the fruit of this expedition. One an official report published by the government in 1836 and the other entitled "A Canoe Voyage up the Miinnaj'-sotar" published in London in 1847; both of which helped to call attention to the country. In the latter work Featherstonhaugh speaks of a trip he took up the Blue Earth to investigate the copper mine of Le Sueur.

"September 22nd, (1835) soon after 8 A. M. we came to the mouth of the Mahkatoh or 'Blue Earth Biver.' This was a bold stream, about 80 yards wide, loaded with mud of a bluish color, evidently the cause of the St. Peter's being so turbid. It was not far from the mouth of this river that M. Le Sueur was asserted to have discovered in 1692 an immense deposit of copper ore. No traveller had ever entered the river to investigate his statement; I therefore directed the head of the canoe to be turned into the stream. Having ascended it about a mile, we found a Sisseton family established with tlieir skin lodge upon a sand bar. These people constantly asserted that they knew of no remains of any old fort or stone building in that part of the country. Whilst we were negotiating this exchange, it began to snow for the first time this autumn. Pushing on, we passed a singular conical grassy hill on the right bank, which commanded all the vicinity, and appeared to be a likely situation for the site of Le Sueur's fort. About twelve, we came to a fork or branch coming' down on our right, about forty-five yards broad, and we turned into it, having a well wooded blufl! on the right bank, about ninety feet high. We had not proceeded three-quarters of a mile when we reached the place which the Sissetons had described to us as being that to which the Indians resorted for their pigment. This was a bluff about 150 feet high, on the left bank, and from the slope being much trodden and worn away, I saw at once that it was a locality which for some purpose or other had been frequented from a very

"As soon as I had reached that part of the bluff whence the pigment had been taken, Le Sueur's story lost aU credit with me, for I ii'Stantly saw that it was nothing but a continuation of the seam which divided the sandstone from the limestone, and which I have before spoken of at the Myah Skah, as containing a silicate of iron of a bluish-green color.

"The concurrent account of all the Indians we had spoken with, that this was the place tlie aborigines had always resorted to, to procure their pigment, and the total silence of everybody since Le Sueur's visit respecting any deposit, of copper ore, in this or any other part of- the country, convinced me that the story of his copper mines was a fabulous one, most probably invented to raise himself in importfince with the French government of that day. Charlevoix having stated that the mine was only a league atid three-quarters from the mouth of the Terre Bleu, made it certain that I was now at that locality, and the seam of coloured earth gave the key to the rest. Le Sueur's account of the mine being at the foot of a mountain ten leagues long, was as idle as the assertion that he had obtained 30,000 pounds of copper ore in twenty-two days, for there is nothing like a mountain in the neighborhood. The blufi, to be sure, rises to the height of 150 feet from the river; but when you have, ascended it, you find yourself at the top of a level prairie. Finding the copper mine to be a fable, I turned niy attention - &c., &c."

In 1838 Jean N. Nicollet, a fine scholar, and the most accurate and thorough of all the explorers of the Northwest, after whom Nicollet County is named, visited Blue Earth County. He came in the employ of the U. - S. Government to gather material for a map of the upper Mississippi region, and the famous explorer, soldier and statesman. General John C. Fremont was commissioned as his special assistant. A number of specialists were, also, attached to the expedition. They made quite an extended tour of the county to explore its many rivers and lakes, so that they might be properly delineated on the proposed map, and Nicollet was careful to note their Indian names. A number of astronomic observations were taken at different points to determine the longitude and latitude, and the elevation above the sea. At the mouth of the Blue Earth, on the Le Sueur in McPherson, on the Cobb in Beauford or Medo, on the Maple in Lyra, on the Blue Earth in Shelby and Vernon Center, in Pleasant Mound, on the Watonwan in Garden City, and doubtless at other points in the county, these scientific measurements were made, and the directions of the rivers and the general topography of the country noted. The flora of the region was gathered, and the geology inspected, and every matter of special interest investigated and reported. Xicollet was particularly impressed by the great number of streams tributary to the Blue Earth and his fine poetic fancy suggested the fitting name of "Undine" for this land of rivers, after the famous German romance of Fouque. We quote from Nicollet's narrative a short passage regarding the country of which Blue Earth County is now the center.

"Among these that which appeared to me the most favorable, is the one watered liy the bold Mankato or Blue Earth river, and to which I have given the name of 'Uiidine region.'

The great number of the navigable tributaries of the Mankato, spreading themselves out in the shape of a fan; the group of lakes surrounded by well-wooded hills ; some wide-spreading prairies with fertile soil ; others apparently less favored, but open to .improvement the whole together bestow upon this region a most picturesque appearance. It was while on a visit to lakes Okamanpidan and Tchanhassan (Little Heron and Maplewood lakes), that it occurred in me to give it the name tliat I have adopted, derived from that of an interesting and romantic German tale, the heroine of which belonged to the extensive race of water-spirits living in the brooks and rivers and lakes, whose father was a mighty prince. She was, moreover, the niece of a great brook (the Mankato) who lived in the midst of forests, and was beloved by all the many great streams of the surrounding country, etc, etc.

with a moderate current along a great portion of its course, but becomes very rapid on its approach to the St. Peter's. Its bed is narrowly walled up by banks rising to an elevation of from sixty to eighty feet, and reaching up to the uplands through which the river flows. These banks are frequently cliffs, or vertical escarpments, such as the one called by the Sioux, "Manya Kickaksa," or "cleft elevation." The breadth of the valley through which it flows is scarcely a quarter of a mile. The latter, as well as the high grounds are well wooded; the timber beginning to spread out on both shores, especially since they have become less frequented by the Sioux hunters, and are not so often fired. But the crossings of the river are hard to find, requiring to be pointed out by an experienced guide. I have laid down on the map my route over the Undine region, and the geographical positions of the crossing places will be found in the table at the end of the report.

"On the left bank of the Mankato, six miles from it^ mouth in a rocky bluff, composed of sandstone and limestone, are found cavities in which the famed blue or green earth, used by the Sioux as their principal pigment, is obtained. This material is nearly exhausted, and it is not likely that this is the spot where a Mr. Le Sueur (who is mentioned in the narrative of Major Long's Second Expedition, as aJso by Mr. Featherstonhaugh) could, in his tl'ird voyage during the year ITOO have collected his four thousand pounds of copper earth sent Ijy him to France. I have reason to believe that Le Sueur's location is on the river to which I have affixed his name, and which empties into the Mankato three quarters of a league above Fort L'Huillier, built by him, and where he spent a winter.

"This location corresponds precisely with that given by Charlevoix, while it is totally inapplicable to the former. Here the blue earth is abundant in the steep and elevated hills at the mouth of this river, which hills form a broken country on the right side of the Mankato. Mr. Fremont and myself have verified this fact - he during his visit to the Le Sueur river, and I upon the locality designated by ilr. Featherstonhaugh, where the Dakotahs formerly as- sembled in great numbers to collect it, but to which they now seldom resort, as it is now comparatively scarce - at least so I was told by SJeepy Eye, the chief of the Sissetons, who accompanied me during this excursion.

"As I did in the case of the red pipestone described above I will state the mineralogical character of the Indian blue earth or clay. It is massive, somewhat plastic, emits an argillaceous odor when breathed upon; color bluish green; easily scratched with the nail, when formed into hardened balls. The acids have no action upon it; it is infusible before the blowpipe, but loses it.-- color and becomes brown. This color is due tc the peroxide of iron which it contains in the proportion of ten per cent at least. It contains no potash and but a small proportion of lime. It is a very different mineral from that described by Dr. Thompson under the name of pipe-clay."

General Fremont speaks of their visit to the Blue Earth country and gives a glimpse of the party at work in the following extract we take from his "Memoirs:"

"The Traverse des Sioux is a crossing place about thirty miles long, where the river makes a large rectangular bend, coming down from the northwest and turning abruptly to the northeast; the streams from the southeast, the south and southwest flowing into a low line of depression to where they gather into a knot at the head of tliis bend, and into its lowest part as into a bowl. In this great elbow of the river is the Marahtanka, or Big Swan Lake, the summer resort of the Sisseton Sioux." After describing their camp at the mouth of the Big Cottonwood he proceeds, "We were occupied quietly among the Indians, Mr. ISTicollet, as usual, surrounded by them, with the aid of the interpreter getting them to lay out the form of the lake, and the course of the streams entering the river near, and after repeated pronunciations, entering their names in his note book ; Geyer, followed bv some Indians, curiously watching him while digging up plants; and I more numerously attended, pouring out the quicksilver for the artificial horizon, each in his way busy at work; when suddenly every thing started into motion, the Indians running tumultuously to a little rise w^hich commanded a view of the prairie, all clamor and excitement. The commotion was caused by the appearance of two or three elk on the prairie horizon. Those of us who were strangers, and ignorant of their usages, fancied there must be at least a war party in sight." He further states, "AVhile Mr. Nicollet was occupied in making a survey of the Le Sueur river, and identifying localities, and verifying accounts of preceding travelers, I was sent to make an examination of the Mankato or Blue Earth rivers, which bore on the subject he had in view."

The results of this expedition were incorporated by Mr. Nicollet in a very interesting and instructive report, which was accompanied by a large and most valuable map, the most complete and accurate of the upper Mississippi country, which up to that time had been produced, and for years was the basis of most maps of the region. General J. K. Warren, a high authority, declares it to be; "One of the greatest contributions ever made to American geography." It probably did as much as any one thing in directing the attention of settlers to the Blue Earth region. Many of our pioneers attribute their coming to this part of the land to this map.

In July, 1841, Gov. James D. Doty of Wisconsin, while negotiating a treaty with the Indians at Traverse des Sioux, made a visit to the country of the Blue Earth to which he refers in a report the fojlowing year in these words: 'TTou are aware that at the mouth of the Mahkato river there was, a hundred years ago, a copper smelting establishment erected by a Frenchmen. I visited the ruins last summer. There is no. doubt in my mind that extensive beds of copper ore will be found in the valley of the Minisoto," etc. We wonder what the governor really saw to make him believe that they were the "ruins of a copper smelting establishment," or to make him so sure that there was copper in the country.

Early in October, 1844, Captain B. V. Sumner and Lieut. J. Allen with a company of dragoons from Fort Atkinson, while on an expedition to Lac qui Parle to arrest some Indians, who had murdered three cattle drovers, passed tlirough Blue Earth Count}', cutting a road for tlieir supply wagons through the timber, following an old Indian trail from the present town of Decoria to where now stands the city o'f Mankato. They descended" into the valley over Bunker hill and camped one night near the south end of Front street.

They passed down the valley to the crossing at Traverse des Sioux. In two or three weeks they returned by the same route with four or five Indian prisoners, but they did not prove tj be the real guilty ones. The following June therefore, Captain Sumner led a second expedition over the same road. Henry M. Eice was sutler to these military campaigns. Seven years later the first settlers at Mankato discovered this old militar}' road and used it for a time. Beside it in the timber the)', also, found a broken and abandoned military wagon.

During 1847-50 a geological survey was made of the IMinnesota and Blue Earth rivers under direction of Dr. D. D. Owen. IMost of the work in Blue Earth County was done by Prof. B. F. Shumard. Extended reports of these surveys were published by the government. The year 1850 was mainly noted in the history of our ccmmonwealth because of its steamboat excursions up the Minnesota river. Prior to this year no steamer had ever ascended our sky-tinted river more than a few miles above its mouth. It was supposed to be unnavigable except for irackinaw boats and Indian canoes, especially beyond the Eapids at Carver. In the latter part of June, 1850, a big freslict occurred in tliC river just as the Anthony Wayne, a Mississippi boat, in charge of Captain Able, arrived at St. Paul. The Wayne was a fairly good sized, side-wheel boat and had an excursion aboard of seventy persons from St. Louis. They a jolly crowd and had brought with them a string band from Quincy, Illinois, to help enliven the trip. Seeing so much water in the ^rinnesota, someone suggested an excursion upon it with the Wayne. After consultation with river pilots, who had been up the ]\Iinnesota in Mackinaw boats, Captain Abies concluded to make the venture. The people of St. Paul generally took a great interest in the project through the efforts of Henry L. Tilden and David 01mstead, and a purse of $225.00, to defray the expenses, was quickly raised. So on Friday, June 28th, 1850, the Anthony Wayne with over 150 of St. Paul's most prominent citizens and their seventy St. Louis guests on board, turned her prow up the unknown waters of tlie ilinnesota. At Fort Snelling the military band joined the jiarty. The day was [)erfect, the scenery, adorned with the luxuriant vegetation of the season was mag-nificent. The boat went as far as the rapids and returned to St. Paul by night without a single mishap. The success of the trip, the beauty and fertility of the great valley surpassed all expectations. Other boats grew envious of the sudden popularity of the Wayne. Two weeks later, another steamer, the ISTominee, thinking she could do as much and n:ore than her rival, got up another big excursion and ascended not only to the rapids,, but through them, and having planted her shingle two or three miles above them returned in triumph. The Anthony Wayne, not to be outdone by the "Xominee" got tip another monster excursion and on Thursday, July 18th. ascended the river to the big bend, a mile or two below the city of ]\Iankato. Animated by a spirit of emulation, Captain ^I. K. Harris of the 'TTankee" concluded to out do all the other boats. With the help of Colonel Goodhue and others hf, got up a big excursion party and on July S2nd, started up the now famous river. At Fort Snelling the military band was taken on board to help entertain the gala crowd. The "Yankee" had the advantage of being a smaller boat than the other two, and was a stern wheeler. Passing the shingles of the three former excursions, she arrived on the third night with her tlirong of sischtseers opposite the present village of Judson. The want of provisions, the excessive heat - 104 in the shade - and the pestiferous attacks of myriads of mosquitoes finally on the morrow induced our explorers to turn back. At noon they tarried a few minutes at the mouth oP the Blue Earth, where they found a log trading post, belonging to H. H. Sibley in charge of a Frenchman. It stood at the base of Sibley 5[ound - at its northwest corner. Some of the party picked up a small lump of ligTiite coal from among the bed of pebbles found at the junction of the rivers. The Frenchman assured them that a few miles up the Blue Earth there was: a vein three or four feet thick of the same substance. Perhaps he inferred so from the Indian name "ila^yasapa'' (Black Banks) applied to the mouth of the Blue Earth in distinction to Mayaskadan (white banks) the Indian name for the mouth of the Minnesota, or it may be this coal mine lies buried in the same lost moiTutain as Le Sueur's copper mine.

These excursions fully demonstrated the navigability of the ilinnesota, and the hundreds of people who had participated in them were all completely captivated by the beauty and fertility of the country, and went everywhere proclaiming it. St. Paul went wild about it. Her papers were full of glowing accounts of its wonderful wealth and splendor. Her citizens could talk of nothing else and every home seeker and fortune hunter was immediately inocculated with the idea that here was the land of promise. Having spied the land and found it so good and so accessible by boats, the white people became anxious to go in and possess it, and the result was the great event of the following year, namely : the treaties of Traverse des Sioux and ilendota. By these important treaties, negotiattd in Jul}- and August, 1851, the Sioux or Dakota Indians, transferred to the whites all of }linnesota. south of St. Cloud and Morehead and west of the Mississippi, taking in also portions of Iowa and of South Dakota - an empire in area - an Eldorado in wealth and a Paradise in beauty.

Xo sooner was the treaty signed than settlers began to pour into the country, and the winter of 1851-2 witnessed the founding of many townsites along the Minnesota valley. Most of the proprietors of these towns were citizens cf St. Paul, and were thus most advantageously located to direct the tide of immigration toward their new possessions; for St. Paul then was the gateway of Minnesota. Shakopee, Le Sueur, Traverse des Sioux, St. Peter as well as Mankato and other valley towns of that date were so founded.