Fillmore County, Minnesota - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 8 of those read), 1882

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 8 of those read)

Ckrver » Grandions. - Roque, Sioux Interpreter. - Wapashaw't Village and Ita Vicinity. - A Sncrud Dance. - Indian Villas© Below Dayton's Bluff. - Carver's CaYO. - Fountain Cave. - FaUa of St Anthony Described. - Site or a Fort

Major Stephen IT. Long, of the Engineer Corps of the United States Army, learning that there was little or no danger to be apprehended from the Indiana, determined to ascend to the Falls of Saint Anthony, in a six-oared skiff presented to him by Grovemor Clark, of Saint Louis. His party consisted of a Mr. Hempstead, a native of New London, Connecticut, who had been living at Prairie du Chien, seven soldiers, and a halfbreed intei-preter, named Roque. A bark canoe accompanied them, containing Messrs. Gun and King, grandsons of the celebrated traveler, Jonathan Carver.

" When we stopped for breakfast, Mr. Hempstead and myself ascended a high peak to take a view of the country. It is known by the name of the Kettle Hill, having obtained this appellation from the circumstance of its having numerous piles of stone on its top, most of them fragments of the rocky stratifications which constitute the principal part of the hill, but some of them small piles made by the Indians. These at a distance have some similitude of kettlec arranged along upon the ridge and sides of the hill. From this, or ahnost any other eminence in its neighborhood, the beauty and grandeur of the prospect would baflle the skill of the most ingenious pencil to depict, and that of the most accomplLshed pen to describe. Hills marshaled into a variety of agreeable shapes, some of them towering into lofty peaks, while others present broad summits embellished with contours and slopes in the most pleasing manner ; champaigns and waving valleys; forests, lawns, and parks alternating with each other; the humble Mississippi meandering far below, and occasionally losing itself in numberless islands, give variety and beauty to the picture, while rugged cliffs and stupendous precipices here and there present themselves as if to add boldness and majesty to the scene. In the midst of this beautiful sceiKory is situated a village of the Sioux Indians, on an extensive lawn called the Aux Aisle Prairie ; at which we lay by for a short time. On our arrival tlie Indians hoisted two American flags, and we returned the compliment by discharging our blunderbuss and pistols. They then fired several gims ahead of us by way of a salute, after which we landed and were received with much friendship. The name of their chief is Wauppaushaw, or the Leaf, commonly called by a name of the same import in French, La FeuiUe, or La Fye, as it is pronounced in English. He is considered one of the most honest and honorable of any of the Indians, and endeavors to inculcate into the minds of his people the sentiments and principles adopted by himself. He was not at home at the time I called, and I had no opportunity of seeing him. Tlie Indians, as I suppoise, with the expectation that I had something to communicate to them, assembled themselves at the place where I landed and seated themselves upon the grass. I inquired if their chief was at home, and was answered in the negative. I then told them I should be very glad to see him, but as he w:s absent I would call on him again in a few days when I should return. I further told them that cur father, the new President, wished to obtain some more information relative to his red children, and that I was on a tour to acquire any intelligence he might stand in need of. "With this they appeared well satisfied, and permitted Mr. Hempstead and myself to go through their village. "While I was in the wigwam, one of the subordinate chiefs, whose name was Wazzecoota, or Shooter from the l^ne Tree, vohm+eered to accompany me up the river. I accepted of his services, and he was ready to attend me on the tour in a very short time. When we hove in Mght the Indians were engaged in a ceremony called the Bear Dance; a ceremony which they are in the habit of performing when any yoimg man is desirous of bringing himself into particular notice, and is considered & kind of initiation into the state of manhood. I went on to the ground wheie they had their performanoes, -which were ended sooner than usual on acoount of our arrival There was a kind of flag made of fawn skin dressed with the hair on, suspended on a pola Upon the flesh side of it were drawn certain rude figures indicative of the dream which it is necessary the young man should have dreamed, before he can be considered a proper candidate for this kind of initiation ; with this a pipe was suspended by way of sacrifice. Two arrows were stuck up at the foot of the pole, and fragments of painted feathers, etc., were strewed about the ground near to it. These pertained to the religious rites attending the ceremony, which consists in bewailing and self -mortification, that the Good Spirit may be induced to pity them and succor their imdertaking.

"At the distance of two or three hundred yards from the flag, is an excavation which they call the bear's hole, prepared for the occasion. It is about two feet deep, and has two ditches, about one foot deep, leading ^ross it at right angles. The young hero of the farce places himself in this hole, to be hunted by the rest of the young men, all of whom on this occasion are dressed in their best attire and painted in their neatest style. The himters approach the hole in the direction of one of the ditches, and discharge their guns, wJiich were previously loaded for the purpose witli blank cartridges, at the one who acts the pari of the bear; whereupon he leaps from his den. having a hoop in each hand, and a wooden lance ; the hoops serving as forefeet to aid him in characterizing his part, and his lance to defend him from his assailants. Thus accoutred he dances round the place, exhibiting various feats of activity, while the other Indians pursue him and endeavor to trap him as he attempts to return to his den, to effect which he is privileged to use any violence he pleases with impunity against

" This part of the ceremouy is performed three times, that the bear may escape from his den and return to it again through three of the avenues conmiunicating with i^. On being hunted from the fourth or last avenue, the bear must make his escape through all hi., pursuers, if possible, and flee to the woods, whei hs. tj> remain fhrough the day. This, however, is seldom or never accomplished, as all the young men exert themselves to the utmost in order to trap him. When caught, he must retire to r lodge erected for his reception in the field, where he is to be secluded from all society through tho day, except one of his particular friends whom he is allowed to take with him as an attendant. Here he smokes and performs various other rites which superstition has led the Indians to believe are sacred. After this ceremony is ended, the young Indian is considered qualified to act any part as an eflicient member of their community. The Indian who has the good fortune to catch the bear and overcome him when endeavoring to make his escape to the woods, is considered a candidate for preferment, and is on the first suitable occasion appointed the leader of a small war party, in order that he may further have an opportunity to test his prowess and perform more essential service in behalf of his nation. It is accordingly expected that he will kill some of their enemies and return with their scalps. I regretted very much that I had missed the opportunity of witnessing this ceremony, wliich is never performed except when prompted by the particular dreams of one or other of the young men, who is never complimented twice in the same manner on account of his dreams."

On the sixteenth he approached the vicinity of where is now the capital of Minnesota, and writes : " Set sail at half past four tliis morning with a favorable breeze. P^sed an Indian burying ground on our left, the first that I have seen surroimded by a fence. In the centre a pole is erected, at the foot of which religious rites are performed at the burial of an Indian, by the particular friends and relatives of the deceased. Upon the pole a flag is suspended when any person of extraordinary merit, or one who is very much beloved, is buried. In the enclosure were two scaffolds erected also, about six feet high and six feet square. Upon one of them were two coflans containing dead bodies. Passed a Sioux village on our right containing fourteen cabins. The name of the chief is the Petit Corbeau, or Little Raven. The Indians were all absent on a hunting party up the River St. Croix, which is but a little distance across the country from the village. Of this we were very glad, as this band are said to be the most notorious beggans of all the Sioux on the Mississippi. One of their cabins is furnished with loop holes, and is situated so near the water that the opposite side of the river is within musket-shot range from the building. By this means the Petit Corbeau is enabled to exercise a command over the passage of the river and has in some instances compelled traders to land with their goods, and induced them, probably through fear of offending him, to bestow presents to a considerable amoimt, before he would suffer them to pass. The cabins are a kind of stockade buildings, and of a better appearance than any Indian dwellings I have before met with.

" Two miles above the village, on the same side of the river, is Carver's Cave, at which we stopped to breakfast. However hiteresting it may have been, it does not possess that character in a very high degree at present. We descended it with lighted candles to its lower extremity. The entrance is very low and about eight feet broad, so that a man in order to enter it must be completely prostrate. The angle of descent within the cave is about 25 deg. The flooring is an inclined plane of quicksand, formed of the rock in which the cavern is formed. The distance from its entrance to its inner extremity is twenty-four paces, and tlie width in the broadest part about nine, and its greatest height about seven feet. In shape it resembles a bakers's oven. The cavern was once probably much more extensive. My interpreter informed me that, since his remembrance, the entrance was not less than ten feet high and its length far greater than at present. The rock in which it is formed is a very white sandstone, so friable that the fragments of it will almost crumble to sand when taken into the hand. A few yards below the mouth of the cavern is a very copious spring of fine water issuing from the bottom of the cliff.

" Five miles above this is the Fountain Cave, on the same side of the river, formed in the same kind of sandstone but of a more pure and fine quality. It is far more curious and interesting than the former. The entrance of the cave is a large winding hall about one hundred and fifty feet in length, fifteen feet in width, and from eight to sixteen feet in height, finely arched overhead, and nearly perpendicular. Next succeeds a narrow passage and difficult of entrance, which opens into a most beautiful circular room, finely arched above, and about forty feet in diameter. The cavern then continues a meandering course, expanding occasionally into small rooms of a circular form. We penetrated about one hundred and fifty yards, till our candles began to fail us, when we returned. To beautify and embellish the scene, a fine crystal stream, flows tlu*ough the cavern, and cheers the lonesome dark retreat with its enlivening murmurs. The temperature of the water in the cave was 46 deg., and that of the air 60 deg. Entering this cold retreat from an atmosphere of 89 deg., I thought it not prudent to remain in it long enough to take its several dimensions and meander its courses ; particularly as we had to wade in water to our knees in many places in order to penetrate as far as we went. The fountain suppUes an abmidance of water as fine as I ever drank. This cavern I was informed by my interpreter, has been discovered but a few years. That the Indians formerly living in its neighborhood knew nothing of it till within six years past. That it is not the same as that described by Carver is evident, not only from this circumstance, but also from the circumstance that instead of a stagnant pool, and only one accessible room of a very different form, this cavern has a brook runmng through it, and at least four rooms in succession, one after the other. Carver's Cave is fast filling up with sand, so that no water is now found in it, whereas this, from the very nature of the place, must be enlarging, as the fountain will CBrry along with its current all the sand that falls into it from the roof and sides of the ciivern."

On the night of the sixteenth, he arrived at the Falls of Saint Anthony and encamped on the east shore just below the cataract. He writes in his journal :

Description Of Falls Of Saint Anthony

'*The place where we encamped last night needed no embellishment to render it romantic in the highest degree. The banks on both sides of tlie river are about one hundred feet high, de<;orated with trees and shrubbery of various kinds. The post oak, hickory, walnut, linden, sugar tree, white birch, and the American box ; also various evergreens, such as the pine, cedar, juniper, etc., added their embellishments to the scene. Amongst tlie shrubery were the prickly ash, plum, and cherry tree, the gooseberry, the black and red raspberry, the chokeberry, grape vine, etc. There were also various kinds of herbage and flowera, among which w^re the wild parsley, rue, spikenard, etc., red and white roses, morning * glory and various other handsome flowers. A few yards below us was a beautiful cascade of fine spring water, pouring down from a projecting precipice about one hundred feet hight. On oiu: left was the Mississippi hurrying through its channel with great velocity, and about three quarters of a mile above us, in plain view, was tlie majestic catiiract of the Falls of St. Anthony. The murmuring of the cascade, the roaring of the river, and the thunder of the cataract, all contributed to render the scene the most interesting and magnificient of any I ever before witnessed."

"The perpendicular fall of the water at the cataract, was stated by Pike in his journal, as sixteen and a half feet, which I found to be true by actual measurement. To this height, however, four or five feet may be added for the rapid descent which immediately succeeds to the perpendicular fall within a few yards below. Immediately at the cataract the river is divided into two parts by an island which extends considerably above and below the cataract, and is about five hundred yards long. The channel on the right side of the Island is about three times the width of that on the left. The quanity of water passins through them is not, however, in the same proportion, as about one-third part of the whole passes through the left channel. In the broadest channel, just below the cataract, is a small island also, about fifty yards in length and thirty in breadth. Both of these islands contain the same kind of rocky formation as the banks of the river, and are nearly as high. Besides these, there are immediately at the foot of the cataract, two islands of very inconsiderable size, situated in the right channel also. The rapids conmience several hundred yards above the cataract and continue aVK)ut eight miles below. The fall of the water, beginning at the head of the rapids, and extending two hundi'ed and sixty rods down the river to where the portage road commences, below the cataract is, according to Pike, fiftyeight feet. If this estimate be coiTect the whole fall fi'om the head to the foot of the rapids, is not probably much less than one hundred feet. But as I had no instrument sufficiently accurate to level, where the view must necessarily be pretty extensive, I took no pains to ascertain the extent of the fall. The mode I adopted to ascertain the height of a cataract, was to suspend a line and plummet from the table rock onithe south side of the river, which at the same time had very little water passing over it as the river was imusually low. The rocky formations at this place were arranged in the following order, from the surface downward. A coarse kind of limestone in thin stmta containing considerable silex; a kind of soft friable stone of a greenish color and slaty fractui-e, probably containing lime, aluminmn and silex ; a very beautiful sati-atification of shell limestone, in thin plates, extremely regular in its formation and containing a vast number of shells, all apparently of the same kind. This formation constitutes the Table Hock of tiie catamct. The next in order is a white or yellowish sandstone, so easily crumbled that it deserves the name of a sandbank rather than that of a rock. It is of various depths, from ten to fifty or seventy-five feet, and is of the same character with that found at the caves before described. The next in order is a soft friable sandstone, of a greenish color, similar to that resting upon the shell limestone. These stratifications occupied the whole space from the low w^ater mark nearly to the top of the bluffs. On the east, or rather north side of the river, at the Falls, are high grounds, at the distance of half a mile from ' the river, considerably more elevated than the bluffs, and of a hilly aspect.

Speaking of the bluff at the confluence o^ che Mississippi and Minnesota, he writes: "A military work of considerable magnitude might be constructed on the point, and might be rendered sufliciently secure by occupying the commanding height in the rear in a suitable manner, as the latter would control not only the point, but all the neighboring heights, to the full extent of a twelve pounder's range. The work on the point would be necessary to control the navigation of the two rivers. But without the commanding work in the rear, would be liable to be greatly annoyed from a height situated directly opposite on the other side of the Mississippi, which is here no more than about two hundred and fifty yards wide. This latter height, however, would not be eligible for a permanent post, on account of the numerous ridges and ravines situated immediately in its rear."

Early History Of Red River Valley Thomas Douglas, Earl Of Selkirk, And The Red River Valley

traxelen to Lake Winnipci: - Earliest Map by tho Indian Ot«haga - llellin's allusion to it - Vercndrye's Ma|» - Do la Jemcrayo's Map - Fort La Reine - Fort on Red Rivor abandoned - ^igin of name Red Lake - Earl of Selkirk - Ossiniboi» described - Scotch immifrants at Pembina- Strife of tradinK companies- Earl of Selkirk \'isit8 America - Oovernor Semplo Killed - Romantic life of John Tanoer, and hi< son Jame» - Letter relative to Selkirk's tour tlirough Minne* fota.

"VVliile there is no evidence that Groselliers, the first whiter man who explored Minnesota, ever visited Lake Winnipeg and the Red River, yet he met the Assineboines at the head of Lake Superior and at Lake Nepigon, while on his way by a northeasterly trail to Hudson's Bay, and learned something of this region from them.

The first person, of whom we have an account, who visited the region, was an Englishman, who came in 1692, by way of York River, to Winnipeg.

Ochagachs, or Otchaga, an intelligent Indian, in 1728, assured Pierre G ual tier de Varenne, known in history as the Sieur Verendrye, while he was stationed at Lake Nepigon, that there was a communication, largely by water, west of Lake Superior, to the Great Sea or Pacific Ocean. The rude map, drawn by tliis Indian, was sent to France , and is still preserved. Upon it is marked Kamanistigouia, the fort first established by Du Luth. Pigeon River is called Mantohavagane. Lac Sasakanaga is marked, and Rainy Lake is named Tecamemiouen. The river St. Louis, of Minnesota, is R. fond du L. Superior. The French geographer, Bellin, in his "Remarks upon the map of North America," published in 1755, at Paris, alludes to this sketch of Ochagachs, and says it is the earliest drawing of the region west of Lake Superior, in the Depot de la Marine.

After tliis Verendrye, in 1737, drew a map, which remains unpublished, which shows Red Lake in Northern Minnesota, and the point of the Big Woods in the Red River Valley. There is another sketch in the archives of France, drawTi by De la Jemeraye. He was a nephew of Verendiye, and, under his uncle's orders, he was in 1731, the first to advance from the Grand Portage of Lake Superior, by way of the Nalaouagan or Groselliers, now Pigeon River, to Rainy Lake. On this appears Fort Rouge, on the south bank of the Assineboine at its junction with the Red River, and on the Assineboine, a post established on October 3, 1738, and called Fort La Reine. Bellin describes the fort on Red River, but asserts that it was abandoned because of its vicinity to Fort La Reuie, on the north side of the Assinneboine, and only about nine miles by a portage, from Swan Lake. Red Lake and Red River were so called by the early French explorers, on account of the reddish tint of the waters after a storm.

Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, a wealthy, kind-hearted but visionary Scotch nobleman, at the commencement of the present century formed the design of planting a colony of agriculturists west of Lake Superior. In the year 1811 he obtained a grant of land from the Hudson Bay Company called Ossiniboia, which it seems strange has been given up by the people of Manitoba. In the autumn of 1812 a few Scotchmen with their families arrived at Pembina, in the Red River Valley, by way of Hudson Bay, where they passed the winter. In the winter of 1813-14 they were again at Fort Daer or Pembina. The colonists of Red River were rendered very unhappy by the strife of rival trading companies.

In the spring of 1815, McKenzie and Morrison, traders of the Northwest company, at Sandy Lake, told the Ojibway chief there, that they would give him and his band all the goods and nmi at Leech or Sandy Lakes, if they would annoy the Red River settlers.

Explobebs And Pi0Neeb8 Of Minnesota

in the fall of 1815, arrived at Xew York City. Proceeding to Montreal he found a messenger who had traveled on foot in mid- winter from the Red Biver by way of Red Lake and Fon du Lac, of Lake Superior. He sent back by this man, kind messages to the dispirited settlers, but one night he was way-laid near Fon du Lac, and robbed of his canoe and dispatches. An Ojibway chief at Sandy Lake, afterwards testified that a trader named Grant offered him rum and tobacco, to send persons to intercept a bearer of dispatches to Red River, and soon the messenger wals brought in by a negro and some Indians.

Failing to obtain military aid from the British authorities in Canada, Selkirk made an engagement with f oiu: oflicers and eighty privates, of the discharged Meuron regiment, twenty of the De Watteville, and a few of the Glengary Fencibles, wliich had served in the late war with the United States, to accompany him to Red River. They were to receive monthly wages for navigating the boats to Red River, to liave lands assigned them, and a free passage if they wished to return.

AVhen he reached Sault St. Marie, he received the intelligence that the colony had again been destroyed, and that Semple, a mild, amiable, but not altogetlier judicious man, the chief governor of the factories and territories of the Hudson Bay company, residing at Red River, had been killed.

Before he heard of the death of Semple, the Earl of Selkirk had made arrangements to visit his colony by way of Fon du Lac, on the St. Louis River, and Red Lake of ^linnesota, but he now changed his mind, and proceeded with his force to Fort William, the chief trading post of the Northwest Company on Lake Superior ; and apprehending the principal partners, warrants of connnitmeut were issued, and they were foi-warded to the Attorney-General of Upper Canada.

A\Tiile Selkirk was engaged at Fort William, a party of emigrants in charge of Miles McDonnel, Grovemor, and Captain D-Orsomen, went forward to reinforce the colony. At Rainy Lake they obtained the guidance of a man who had all the characteristics of an Indian, and yet had a bearing which suggested a different origin. By his efficiency and temperate habits, he had secured the respect of his employers, and on the Earl of Selkirk's arrival at Red River, his attention was called to him, and in his welfare he became deeply interested. By repeated conversations with him, memories of a different kind of existence were aroused, and the light of other dajrs began to brighten. Though he had forgotten his father's name, he furnished sufficient data for Selkirk to proceed with a search for his relatives. Visiting the United States in 1817, he published a circular in the papers of the Western States, which led to the identification of the man.

It appeared from his own statement, and those of his friends, that his name was John Tanner, the son of a minister of the gospel, who, about the year 1790, lived on the Ohio river, near the Miami. Shortly after his location there, a band of roving Indians passed near the house, and found John Tanner, then a little boy, filling his hat with walnuts from under a tree. They seized him and fled. The party was led by an Ottawa whose wife had lost a son. To compensate for his death, the mother begged that a boy of the same age might be captured.

Adopted by the band, Tanner grew up an Indian in his tastes and habits, and was noted for bravery. Selkirk was successful in finding his relatives. After tvs^enty-eight yeara of separation, John Tanner in 1818, met his brother Edward near Detroit, and went with him to his home in Missouri. He soon left his brother, and went back to the Indians. For a time he was interpreter for Henry R. Schoolcraft, but became lazy and ill-natured, and in 1836, skulking behind some bushes, he shot and killed Schoolcraft's brother, and fled to the wilderness, where, in 1847, he died. His son, James, was kindly treated by the missionaries to the Ojibways of Minnesota; but he walked in the footsteps of his father. In the year 1851, he attempted to impose upon the Presbyterian minister in Saint Paul, and, when detected, called upon the Baptist minister, who, believing him a penitent, cut a hole in the ice, and received him into the church by inunersion. In time, the Baptists foimd him out, when he became an Unitarian missionary, and, at last, it is said, met a death by violence. Lord Selkirk was in the . Red River Valley during the summer of 1317, and on the eighteenth | of July conchided a treaty with the Creosand Saulteaux, for a tract of land beginning at the moutli of the Red River, and extending along the same as far as the Great Forks (now Grand Forks) at the mouth of Red Lake River, and along the Assinniboine Riveras far as Musk Rat River, and extending to the distance of six miles from Fort Douglas on every side, and likewise from Fort Daer (Pembina) and also from the Great Forks, and in other parts extending to the distance of two miles from the banks of the said rivers.

Having restored order and confidence, attended by three or four persons he crossed the plains to the Minnesota River, and from thence proceeded to St. Louis. The Indian agent at Prairie du Chien was not pleased with Selkirk's crip through Minnesota; and on the sixth of February, 1818, wrote the Governor of Illinois imder excitement, isome groundless suspicions :

What do you suppose, sir, has been the result of the passage through my agency of this British nobleman? Two entire bands, and part of a tliird, all Sioux, have deserted us and joined Dickson, who has distributed to them large quantities of Indian presents, together with flags, medals, etc. Knowing this, what must have been my feelings on hearing that his lordsliip had met with a favourable reception at St. Louis. The newsj^apers announcing his arrival, and general Scottish appearance, all tend to discompose me ; believing as I do, that he is plottmg with his friend Dickson our destruction - sharpening the savage scalping knife, and colonizing a tract of country, 80»remote as that of the Red River, for the purpose, no doubt, of monopolizing the fur and peltry trade of this river, the Missouri and their waters ; a trade of the first importance to oni Western States and Territories. A courier who had arrived a few days since, confirms the belief that Dickson is endeavouring to undo what I have done, and secure to tlie British government tlie affections of the Sioux, and subject the Northwest Company to his lordship.

I Dickson, as I have before observed, is situated ,near the head of the St. Peter's, to wliich place he transports his goods from Selkirk's Red River establishment, in carts made for the purpose. The trip is performed in five days, sometimes less. He is directed to build a fort on the highest land between Lac du Traverse and Red River, which he supposes will be the established lines. This fort will be defended by twenty men, with two small pieces of artillery."

In the year 1820, at Berne, Switzerland, a circular was issued, signed, R. May D*Uzistorf, Captain, in his Britannic Majesty's service, and agent Plenii)otentiary to Lord Selkirk. Like many documents to induce emigration, it was so liighly colored as to prove a delusion and a snare. The climate was represented as "mild and healthy." " Wood either for building or fuel in the greatest plenty," and the country supplying "in profusion, whatever can be required for the convenience, pleasure or comfort of life." Remarkable stiitements considering that every green thing had been devoured the year before by grasshoppers.

Under the influence of these statements, a number were induced to embark. In the spring of 1821, about two hundred persons assembled on the banks of the Rhine to proceed to the region west of Liike Superior. Having descended the Rhine to the vicinity of Rotterdam, they went aboard the ship " Lord Wellington," and after a voyage across the Atlantic, and amid the icefloes of Hudson's Bay, they reached York Fort. Here they debarked, and entering batteaux, ascended Kelson River for twenty days, when they came to Lake Winnipeg, and coasting along the west shore they reached the Red River of the North, to feel that they had been deluded, and to long for a milder clime. If they did not sing the Switzer's Song of Home, they appreciated its sentiments, and gi-adually these immigrants removed to tlie banks of the Mississippi River. Some settled in Minnesota, and were the first to raise cattle, and till the soil.