Freeborn County, Minnesota - Chapter 22: Minnesota Fr03i Its Okganizati on As a Territory, A. D. 1849, to A. D. 1854, 1882

Chapter 22: Minnesota Fr03i Its Okganizati on As a Territory, A. D. 1849, to A. D. 1854

Appearance of the Country, A. I>. 1S49 - Arrival of first Editor - Governor Ramsey an'ives - Guest of H. H. Sihley - Froclnination issued - Governor Ramsey and H. M. Rice move to Saint Paul - ^Fourtli of July Celebration - First election - Early newspape'rs - First Courts - Kirst Legislature - Pioneer News Carrier's Address - Wedding at Fort Snelling - Territorial Seal - Scalp Dance at Stillwater - First Steamboat at Falls of Saint Antliony - Presbyterian Chapel burned - Indian council at Fort Snelling - First Steamboat above Saint Anthony - First boat at the Blue Earth River - Congressional election - Visit.of Frcdrika Bremer - Indian newspaper - Otlier newspapers - Second Legislature - University of Minnesota - Teamster killed by Indians - Sioux Treaties - Third Legislature - Land slide at Stillwater - Death of first Editor - Fourth Legislature Baldwin School, now Macalester College - Indian fight in Saint Paul.

On the third of March, 1849, tlie bill was passed by Congress for organizing the territory of Minnesota, wbose boimdary ou the west, extended to the ilissonri River. At this time, the region was little more than a wilderness. The west bank of the Slississippi, from the Iowa line to Lake Itasca, was unceded by the Indians.

At the foot of Lake Pepin was a store house kept by ilr. F. S. Richards. On the west shore of the lake lived the eccentric Wells, whose wife was a bois brule, a daughter of the deceased trader, Duncan Graham.

The two unfinished buildings of stone, on the beautiful bank opposite the renowned Maiden's Rock, and the surrounding skin lodges of his wife's relatives and friends, presented a rude but pictiuesque scene. Above the lake was a cluster of bark wigwams, the Dahkotah village of Raymneecha, now Red AVing, at which was a Presbyterian mission house.

The next settlement was Kaposia, also au Indian village, and the residence of a Presbyterian missionary, the Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D. On the east side of the Mississippi, the first settlement, at the mouth of the St. Croix, was Point Douglas, then as now, a small hamlet.

At Red Rock, thesite of a former Methodist mission station, there were a few ftirmers. Saint Paul was just emerging from a collection of Indian whisky shops and birch roofed cabins of half-breed voyageurs. Here and there a frame tenement was erected, and, under the auspices of the Hon. H. il. Rice, who had obtained an interest in the town, some warehouses were constructed, and the foundations of the American House, a frame hotel, which stood at Third and Exchange street, were laid. In 1849, the population had increased to two hundred and fifty or three hundred inhabitants, for rumors had gone abroad that it might be mentioned in the act, creating the territory, as the capital of ilinnesota. More than a month after the adjournment of Congress, just at eve, on the ninth of April, amid terrific peals of thunder and torrents of rain, the weekly steam packet, the first to force its way through the icy barrier of Lake Pepin, rounded tlie rocky point whistling loud and long, as if the bearer of glad tidings. Before she was safely moored to the landing, the shouts of the excited villagers were he;ird announcing that there was a territory of Minnesota, and that Saint Paul was the seat of government.

Every successive steamboat anival poured out on the landing men big with hope, and anxious to do something to mould the future of the new state.

Nine days after the news of the existence of the territory of Minnesota was received, there arrived James M. Goodhue with press, type, and printing apparatus. A graduate of Amherst college, and a lawyer by profession, he wielded a sharp pen, and wrote editorials, which, more than anj-thing else, perhaps, induced immigration. Though a man of some faults, one of the counties properly bears his name. On the twenty-eighth of April, he issued from his press the first number of the Pioneer.

lie houses, immediately proceeded in the steamer to the establishmetit of the Far Company, kuowii as Meudota, at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi, and became the guest of the lion. H. U. Sibley.

On the first of June, Gtovemor Ramsey, by proclamation, declared the territory duly organized, with the followiiif; oflicers : Alexander Kamsey, of Pennsylvania, Governor ; C. K. Smith, of Ohio, Secretary ; A. Goodrich, of Tennessee, Chief Justice ; D. Cooper, of Pennsylvania, and B. B. Meeker, of Kentucky, Associate Judges ; Josliua L. Taylor, Marshal ; II. L. Moss, attorney of the United States.

On the eleventh of June, a second proclamation was issued, dividing tlie territory into three temporary judicial disti'icts. The first comprised the county of St. Croix ; the county of La Pouite and the region north and west of the ilississippi. and north of the ]Minnesota and of a Une rumiing due west from the headwaters of the Minnesota to the ilissouri river, constituted the second : and the country w^stof the Mississippi and south of the Minnesota, formed the third district. Judge Goodrich was assigned to the first, Meeker to the second, and Cooper to the tliird. A court was ordered to be held at Stillwater on the second Monday, at the Falls of St. Anthony on the thii-d, and at Mendota on the fourth Monday of August.

Until the twenty -sixth of June, Governor Ramsey and family had been guests of Hon. H. If. Sibley, at Mendota. On the afternoon of that day they arrived at St. Paul, in a birch-bark canoe, and became permanent residents at the capital. The house first occupied as a gubernatorial mansion, was a small frame building that stood on Third, between Robert and Jackson streets, formerly known as the Xew England House.

A few days after, the Hon. II. M. Rice and family moved from Mendota to St. Paul, and occupied the house he had erected on St. Anthony street, near the corner of Market.

The anniversary of our J^ ational Indepenaence was celebrated in a becoming manner at the capital. The place selected for the address, was a grove that stood on the sites of the City HaU and

On the seventh of July, a proclamation was issued, dividing the territory into seven council districts, and ordering an election to be held on the first day of August, for one delegate to represent tlie people in tlie House of Representatives of the United Stales, for nine councillors and eighteen representatives, to constitute the Legislative Assembly of Miimesota.

Ill this month, the Hon. H. M. Rice despatched a boat laded with Indian goods from the the Falls of St. Anthony to Crow Wing, wliich was towed by horses after the maimer of a canal boat.

Tlie election on the first of August, passed off with little excitement, lion. 11, II. Sibley being elected delegate to Congress without opposition. David Lambert, on what might, perhaps, be termed the old settlers" ticket, was defeated in St. Paul, by James M. Boal. The latter, on the night of the election, was honored wth a ride through town on the axle and fore-wheels fif an old wagon, which w^as drawn by his admiring but somewhat undisciplined friends.

J. L. Taylor having declined the office of United States Marshal; A. M. Mitchell, of Ohio, a graduate of West Point, and colonel of a regiment of Ohio volunteers in the Mexican war, was appointed and arrived at the capital early in August.

There were three papers published in the territory soon after its organization. The first was the Pioneer, issued on April twenty-eighth, 1849, imder most discom'aging circumstances. It w^as at first the intention of the witty and reckless editor to have called his paper " The Epistle of St. Paul." About the same time there was issued in Cincinnati, mider the auspices of the late Dr. A. RandaU, of California, the first number of the Register. The second number of the paper was printed at St. Paul, in July, and the office was on St. Anthony, between Washington and Market Streets, About the first of June, James Hughes, afterward of Hudson, Wisconsin, arrived with a press and materials, and established the Minnesota Chronicle. After an existence of a few weeks two papers were cUscontinued ; and, in theii' place, was issued the " Cluonicle and

Description Of The Temporary Capitol

The first courts, pursuant to proclamation of the governor, w ere lield in tlie month of August. At Stillwater, the court was organized on the thirteenth of the month. Judge Goodrich presiding, and Judge Cooper by courtesy, sitting on the bencli. On the twentieth, the second iudicial district held a court. The room used was the old government mill at Minneapolis. The presiding judge was B. 13. Sleeker; the foreman of the grand jury, Franklin Steele. On the last Monday of the month, the court for the third judicial district was organized in the large stone warehouse of the fur company at Mendota. Tlie presiding judge was David Cooper. Governor Eamsey sat on the right, and Judge Goodrich on the left. Hon. H. II. Sibley was the foreman of the grand jury. As some of the jurors could not speak the English language, W. II. Forbes acted as interpreter. The charge of Judge Cooper was lucid, scholarly, and dignified. At tlie request of the grand jury it was afterwards published.

On Monday, the third of September, the first Legislative Assembly convened in the " Central House,'" in Saint Paul, a building at the corner of Mimiesota and Bench streets, facing the Mississippi river which answered the double purpose of capitol and hotel. On the first floor of the main biulding was the Secretary's oflBce and Representative chamber, and in the second stoiy was the library and Council chandler. As the flag was run up the stafl; ui front of the house, a number of Indians sat on a rocky bluff in the vicinity, and gazed at what to them was a novel and perhaps saddenuig scene ; for if the tide of immigration sweeps in from the Pacific as it has from the Atlantic coast, they must soon dwindle.

The legislatiue having organized, elected the following permanent officers: David Olmsted, President of Council ; Joseph R. Brown, Secreary ; H. A'. Lambert, Assistant. In the House of Representatives. Joseph ^V. Furber was elected Speaker ; W. D. Phillips, Clerk ; L. B. Wait, Assistant.

On Tuesday afternoon, both houses assembled m the dining hall of the hotel, and after prayer was offered by Rev. E. D. NeUl, Governor Ramsey delivered his message. The message was alily

The first session of the legislature adjourned on the first of November. Among other proceedings of interest, was the creation of the following counties: Itasca, Wapashaw, Dalikotah, "\Vahnahtah, Mahkahto, Pembina Washington, Ramsev and Benton. Tlie three latter counties comprised the country tliat up to that time had been ceded by the Indians on the east side of the Mississippi, Stil.'water was decla'.'cd the county seat of Washington, Sahit Paul, of Ramsey, and '- the seat of justice of the county of Benton was to be within one-quarter of a mile of a poinLoii the east side of the Mississippi, directly opposite the moutb of Sauk river."

By the active exertions of the secretary of th» territory, C. K. Smith, Esq., the Historical Society of Minnesota was incorporated at the first session of the legislature. Tlie opening annual addi-ess was deUvered in the then Metliodist (now Swedenborgian) church at Saint Paul, on the first of January, 1850.

The follo\\ing account of the proceedings is fi-om the Chronicle and Register. "The first public exercises of the Minnesota Historical Society, took place at the Methodist church. Saint Paul, on the first inst., and passed off higlily creditable to all concerned. The day was pleasant and the attendance large. At the appointed hour, the President and both Vice-Presidents of the society being absent ; on motion of Hon. C. K. Smith, Hon. Chief Justice Goodrich was .called to the chair. The same gentleman then moved that a committee, consistmg of Messrs. Parsons K. Jolmson, John A. Wakefield, and B. W. Brunson, be appointed to wait upon the Orator of the day. Rev. Mr. Neill, and inform him that the audience was waiting to hear his address.

"Mr. Neill was shortly conducted to the pulpit; and after an eloquent and approriate prayer by the Rev. Mr. Parsons, and music by the band, he proceeded to deliver his discourse upon the early French missionaries and Voyageurs into ilinnesota. We hope the society wUl provide for its liublication at an early day.

Hobart, upon the objects and ends of histoi y. the ceremonies were concluded witli a prayer by that gentleman. The audience dispersed highly delighted with all that occurred.'

At this early period the Minnesota Pioneer issued a Carrier's New Year's .Vddress, which was amusing doggerel. The reference to the future greatness and ignoble origin of the capital of Minnesota was as follows : -

The cities on this river must be three, Two that are bu: t and one that is to be. One, is the mart of all the tropics yield, The cane, the orange, and the cotton-fleld, And sends her ships abroad and boasts Her trade extended to a thousand coasts; Thb other, central for the temperate zone, Garners the stores that on the plains are grown, A place where steamboats from all quarters, range, To meet and speculate, as 'twere on 'change. Tlie third will ht, where rivers confluent How From the wide spreading north through plains of snow ; The mart of all that boundless forests give To make mankiiul more comfortably live, The land of manufacturing industry, The workshop of the nation it shall be. Propelled by this wide .stream, you'll see A thousand factories at Saint Anthony : And the Saint Croix a hundred mills shall drive, And all its smiling villages shall thrive ; IJut theii mij town - remember that high bench With cabins scattered over it, of French ? A man named Henry Jackson's living there. Also a man - why eveiy one knows L. Kobair, Below Fort Snelling, seven mi'.es or so, And three above the village of Old Crow 'i* Pig's Eye 'i* Yes ; Pig's Eye I That's the spot I A very funny name ; is't not y I'ig's I<;ye's the spot, to plant my city on. To be remembered by, when 1 am gone. I'ig's Eye converted thou shalt be, like Saul : Thy name henceforth shall be Saint Paul.

On the evening of New Year's day, at Fort Snelling, there was an assemblage which is only seen on the outposts of civilization. In one of the stone edifices, outside of the wall, belonging to the United Slates, there resided a gentleman who had dwelt in Minnesota suice the year 1819, and for maii> years had been in the employ of the govenmient, as Indian interpreter. In youth he had been a member of the Columbia Fur Company, and conforming to the habits of traders, liad purchased a Dahk<»tah wife who was wholly ignorant of the English language. As a family of children gathered around him he recognised the relation of husband and father, and conscientiously discharged his duties as a parent. His daughter at a proper age was sent to a boarding school of some celebrity, and on the night referred to was married to an intelligent young American farmer. Among the guests luesent were the ofllcers of the garrison in full uniform, with their wives, the United States Agent for the Dahkotahs, and family, the bois bndes of the neighborhood, and the Indian relatives of the mother. The mother did not make her appearance, but, as the minister proceeded with the ceremony, the Dahkotah relatives, wia|)ped in their blankets, gathered in the hall and looked in through the door.

The marriage feast was wortliy of the occasion. In consequence of the numbers, tiie ofTicers and those of Eui^pean extraction partook first ; then the bois brules of Ojibway <and Dahkotah descent; and, finally, the native Americans, who did ample justice to the plentiful supply spread before them.

Governor Kamsey, Hon. H. H. Sibley, and the delegate to Ctmgress devised at Washington, this winter, the ten-itorial seal. Thedcsign was Falls of St. Anthony in the distance. An immigrant ploughing the land on the borders of the Indian coinitry, full of hope, and looking fonvard to the possession of the luniting grounds l)eyond. An Ind'an,'amazed at the sight of the plough, and fleeing on horseback towards the setting sini.

The motto of the Earl of Dunraven, "(iuse sursum volo videre" (I wish to see what is above) was most appropriately selected by Mr. Sibley, but by the blunder of an engraver it appeared on the tenitorial seal, "Quo sursum velo videre," which no scholar could translate. At length was substituted, "L' Etoile du Nord," "Star of the North," while the device of the setting sim remained, and this is objectionable, as the State of Maine had already placed the North Star on her escutcheon, with the motto " IJirigo," "I .!?uide.'' Perhai)s some future legislature may

In the montii of April, tliere was a renewal of hosUHties lietween the Dalikotalis and Ojibways, on lands tliatliad been ceded to the Tiiited States. A war prophet at Red Wing, dreamed that he ought to raise a war party. Announcing the fact, a number expressed theirwilliugnesstogoon such an expedition. Seveial from the Kaposia village also joined tlie jiarty, under the leadership of a wortliless Indian, who bad been confined in the guartl-bouse at Fort. Snelling, the year previous, for scalping his wife.

Passhig up the valley of the St. Croix, a rew miles above Stillwater the party discovered on the snow the marks of a keg and footprints.* These told them that a man and woman of the Ojibways had been to some whisky dealer's, and were returning. Following their trail, tliey found on Apple river, about twenty nnles from Stillwater, a Ijand of Ojibways encamped in one lodge. Waituig till daybreak of Wednesday, April second, the Dahkotahs commenced firing on the unsuspecting inmates, some of whom were drinlung from the contents of the whisky keg. The camp was composed of fifteen, and all were murdered and scalped, with the exception of a lad, who was made -a captive.

On Thursday, the victors came to Stillwater, and danced the seal]) dance around tlie cai)tiv(^ boy, in tlie heat of excitement, striking liini in the face with the scarcely cold and bloody scalps of his relatives. The child was then taken to Kaposia, and adopted l)y the cliief. Governor Ramsey immediately took measures to send the boy to his friends. At a conference held at the Governor's mansion, the boy was delivered up, and, on being led out to the kitchen Iiy a little son of the Governor, since deceased, to receive refreshments, he cried bitterly, seemingly more alarmed at being left with tlie whites than he had been while a captive at Kaposia.

From the iirst of April the waters of the Mississii>pi began to rise, and on the thirteenth, the lower floor of tlie wai'elioiise, tlien occupied by William Constans, at the foot of Jackson street, St. Paul, was submerged. Taking advantage of the freshet, the steamboat Antliouy Wayne, for a purse of two hundred dollars, ventured through the swift current above i^'ort Snelling, and reached the Falls of St. Anthony. The boat loft the fort after dinner, with Governor Ramsey and other guests, also the band of the Sixth Regiment on board, and reached the falls between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. The wliole town, men, women and chihlren, lined the shore as the boat approached, and welcomed this first arrival, wnth shouts and waving handkerchiefs.

On the afternoon of May fifteenth, there might have been seen, huiTying through the streets of Sahit Paul, a number of naked and painted braves of the Kaposia band of Uahkfitahs, ornamented with all the attire of war, and panting for the scalps of their enemies. A few hours before, the warlike head chief of the Ojibways, young Ilolein-the-Day, having secreted his canoe in tlie retired gorge which leads to the cave in the upper suljurbs, with two or three associates had crossed the river, and, almost in sight of the citizens of tho town, had attacked a small iiaity of Dahkotahs, and murdered and scalped one man. On receipt of the news, (iovernor Ramsey granted a parole to the thirteen Dahkotahs confined in Fort Snelling, for participating in tlie Apple river massacre.

On the morning of the sixteenth of May, tlu^ first Protestant church edifice completed in tlie white settlements, a snii'll frame building, built for the Presbyterian church, at Saint Paul, was destroyed by fire, it being the first conflagi-ation that had occurred since the organization of the teiritory.

One of the most interesting events of the year 1850, was the Indian council, at Fort Snelling. Governor Ramsey had sent runners to the diiferent bands of the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, to meet him at the fort, for the purpose of endeavouring to adjust their diniculti(^s.

On Wednesday, the twelfth of June, after much talking, as is customary at Indian councils, the two tribes agreed as they had frequently done before, to be friendly, and Governor Ramsey presenting to each party an ox. the council was dissolved.

On Thursday, the Ojibways visited St. Paul for the first time, young lIole-m-the-Day being dressed in a coat of a captain of United States infantry, which had been iiresented to him at the fort. On Friday, they left hi the steamer (governor Ramsey, which had been built at St. Anthony, and just commenced running between

Tlie summer of ISoO was the commencement of the navigation of the Minnesota River by steamboats. With the exception of a steamer tliat made a pleasure e.xciirsion as far as Shokpay, in 1841, no large vessels had ever disturbed the waters of this stream. In June, the '-Anthony Wayne," which a few weeks before had ascended to the Falls of St. Anthony, made a trip. On the eighteenth of Juiy she made a second trip, going almost to Mahkahto. The " Nominee " also navigated the stieam for some distance.

On the twenty-second of July the o(lici?rs of the " Yankee," taking advantage of the high water, determined to navigate the stream as far as possible. The boat ascended to near the (liittouwood river.

As the time for the general election in September approached, considi-ialile e,\citement was manifested. As there were no political Issues before the people, parties were formed based on personal preferences. Among tlio.se nominated for delegate to Congress, by various meetings, were 11, II. Sibley, the former delegate to- Congress, David Olmsted, at that time engaged in the Indian trade, and A. M. Mitchell, the United States marshal. Mr. Olmsted williilrew his name before election day, and the contest was between those interested in Sibley and jMitchell. The friends of each betrayed the greatest zeal, and neither pains nor money were spared to insure success. Mr. Sibley was elected by a small majority. For the first time in the territory, soldiers at the garrisons voted at tliis election, and there was considerable discussion as to the propriety of such a course.

During November, the Dahkotah Tawaxitku Kin, or the Dahkotah Friend, a monthly paper, was commenced, one-half in the Dalikotah and one-half in the English language. Its editor was the Rev. Gideon II. Pond, a Presbyterian missionary, and its place of publication at Saint Paul. It was published for nearly two years, and, though it failed to attract the attention of the Indian mind, it conveyed to the English reader nmcli

On the tenth of December, a new paper, owned and edited by Daniel A. Roliertson, late United I States marshal, of Ohio, and called the Minnesota Democrat, made its appearance.

During the summer there had been changes in the editorial suiicrvision of the "Chronicle and Register." For a brief period it was edited by L. A. Babcock, Esq., who was succeeded by \Y. a. Le Dr.c.

About the time of the issuing of the Democrat, C. J. Ilenniss, formerly reporter for the Ignited States (ia/.ette, Philadelphia, became the editor of t!ie Chronicle.

The lirst proclamation for a thauksKiving day was issued in IS.jO by the governor, and the tweuty-sixtli of December was the time appointed and it was generally observed.

On AVednesday, January first, 1851, the second Legislative Assembly assembled in a three-story brick building, since desti'oyed by fire, tliat stood on St. Anthony street, between Washington and Franklin. D. 15. Loonus was chosen Speaker of the Council, and M. E. Ames Speaker of the House. This assembly was characterized by more bitterness of feeling than any that has since convened. The preceding delegate election had been based on personal preferences, and cliques and factions manifested themselves at an early i)eriod of tlie session.

The locating of the iienitentiary at Still\\ater, and the capitol building at St. Paul gave some dissatisfaction. By the efforts of J. W. North, Esq., a bill creating the University of ^Minnesota at or near the Falls of St. Anthony, was passed, and signed by the Governor. This institution, by the State Constitution, is now the State University.

,\bout the middle erf May, a war party of Dahkotahs discovered near Swan River, an Ojibway with a keg of whisky. The latter escaped, with the loss of his keg. The war party, drinking the contents, became intoxicated, and, firing upon some tcamrters they met driving their wagons \\ ith goods to tlie Indian Agency, killed one of them, Andrew Swartz, a resident of St. Paul. The news was conveyed to Fort Kipley, and a party of soldiers, with Hole-ia-the-day as a guide, started in pursuit of the murderers, but did not succeed in capturing them. Through tlie influence of Little Six, the Dahkotah chief, whose village was at (and named after him) Shokpay, five of the oflfenders were arrested and placed in the guard house at Port Suelliug. On Monday, June ninth, they left the fort in a wagon, guarded by twenty-five dragoons, destined for Sauk Rapid.s for trial. As they departed they all sang their death eong, and the coarse soldiers amused themselves by making signs that they were going to be hung. On the first evening of the journey the five culprits encamped with the twenty-five dragoons. Handcuffed, they were placed in the tent, and yet at midnight they all escaped, only one being wounded by the guard- What was more remarkable, the wounded man was the first to bring the news to St. Paul. Proceeding to Koposia, his wound was examined by the missionary and physician. Dr. Williamson; and then, fearing an arrest, he took a oanoe and paddled up the Minnesota. The excuses offered by the dragoons was, that all the guard but one fell asleep.

The first paper published in Minnesota, beyond the capital, was the St. Anthony Express, which made its appearance during the last week of April or May.

The most important event of the year 1851 was the treaty with the Dahkotahs, by which the west side of the Mississippi and the valley of the Minunesota River were opened to the hardy immigrant. The commissioners on the part of the United States were Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Governor Eamsey. The . place of meeting for the upper bands was Traverse des Sioux. The commission arrived there on the last of June, but were obliged to wait many days for the assembling of the various bands of Dahkotahs.

Oa the eighteenth of July, all those expected having arrived, the Sissetons and Wahpayton Dahkotahs assembled in grand council with the United States commissioners. After the usual feastings and speeches, a treaty was concluded on Wednesday, July twenty-third. The pipe having been smoked by the commissioners, Lea and Eamsey, it was passed to the chiefs. The paper containing the treaty was then read in English and translated into the Dahkotah by tlie Kev. S. E. Kiggs, Presbyterian Missioaary among this people. This finished, the chiefs came up to the secretary's table and touched the pen; the white men present then witnessed the document^ and nothing remained but the ratification of the United States Senate to open that vast country for the residence of the hardy immigrant.

During the first week in August, a treaty was also concluded beneath an oak bower, on Pilot Knob, Mendota, with the M'dewakantonwan and WaUpaykootay bands of Dahkotahs. About sixty of the chiefs and principal men touched the pen, and Little Crow, who had beeen in the rnisssionschool at Lac qui Parle, signed his own name. Before they separated Colonel Ijea and Governor Eamsey gave them a few words of advice on various subjects connected with their future wellbeing, but particularly on the subject of education and temperance. The treaty was interpreted to them by the Eev. G. H. Pond, a gentleman who was conceded to be a most correct speaker of the Dahkotah tongue.

The- day after the treaty these lower bands received thirty thousand dollars, which, by the treaty of 1837, was set apart for education; but, by the misrepresentations of interested halfbreeds, the Indians were made to believe that it ought to be given to them to be employed as they pleased.

On the seventeenth of September, a new paper was commenced iu St. Paul, under the auspices of the "Whigs," and John P. Owens became editor, which relation he sustained until the fall of 1857.

The election for members of the Legislature and county officers occurred on the fourteenth of October; and, for the first time, a regular Democratic ticket was placed before the people. The parties called themselves Democratic and Antiorganization, or Coalition,

In the month of November Jerome Fuller arrived, and took the place of Judge Goodricli as Chief Justice of Minnesota, who was removed; and, about the same time, Alexander Wilkin was

The third Legislative Assembly commenced its sessions ia one of the <;4i{>cp,<i on Tl'.ird below Jackson street, which became a portion of tlie Merchants' Hotel, ou the seventh of January, 1852.

This session, compared with the previous, formed a contrast as great as that between a boisterous day in ilanh and a calm June morning. The minds of the population were more deeply interested in the ratiDcatiou of thetre.ities made A\-ith the Dahkoluhs, tluni in poUtical di.-> cussions. Among otl>pr le^isljition of interest was the creation of Ileiir.epin county.

On Saturday, the .fc-irtoenth of February, a dog-traui arrived at S' Vaid from the north, with the distinguished Arctic explorer, Dr. Rae. He had been in search of the long-missing Sir John Franklin, by of the Mackenzie river, and was now on liis way to Europe.

Ou the fourteentli of ilay, an interesting lusus natura3 occurred at Stillwater. On the prairies, beyond the elevated blulTs wliicli encircle the business portion of the town , tliere is a lake which discharges its waters through a ravine, and suppUcd McKusick's mill. Owing to heavy rairis, the hills became saturated with water, and the lake very fuU. Before daylight tlie citizens heard the " voice of many waters," and looking out, saw rushing down through the ravine, trees, gi^avel and dUnvium. Xothing impeded its course, and as it issued from the ravine it spread over th.e town site, covering up barns and small tenements, and, continuing to the lake shore, it materially improved the landing, by a deposit of many tons of earth. One of the editors of the day, alluding to the fact, quauitly remarked, that "it was a very extraordinary movement of real estate."

During the summer, EUjah Terry, a young man Mho had left St. Paul the premuis March, and went to Pembina, to act as teacher to the mixed bloods in that vicinity, was murdered m\- der distressing circumstances. "With a bois bnile he had started to the woods on the morning of his death, to hew timber. A^^lile there he was fired upon by a small party of Dahkotahs ; a ball broke liis arm, and he was ]>ierced witli anows. His scalp was wrenched from his head, and was afterwards seen among Sissetoii Dalikotahs, near Big Stone Lake.

At the November Term of the United States District Court, of Ramsey county, a Dalikotah, named Yu-ha-zee, was tried for the murder of a German woman. "\\'ith others she was traveling al>ove Shokpay, when a party of Indians, of whom the prisoner was one, met them ; and, gathering about the wagon, were much excited. The prisoner punched the woman firet with ids gun, and. being tlueatened by one of the party, loaded and fired, killing the woman and wounding one of the men.

On the day of his trial he was escorted from Fort Suelling by a company of mounted dragoons in full dress. It was an impressive scene to witness the poor Indian half hid in his blanket, in a buggy with the civil oflicer, surrounded with all the pomi> and circumsUmee of war. Tlie jury found him guilty. Ou being asked if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed, he replied, through the uiterpreter, that the band to which he belonged would remit their amuiities if he could be released. To tlus Judge Hayner, the successor of Judge Fuller, replied, that he had no authority to release Lini : and, ordering him to rise, after some appropriate and impressive remarks, he pronounced the first sentence of death ever pronounced by a judicial officer in ilinnesota. The prisoner treml)led while the judge spoke, and was a piteous spectacle. By the statute of Minnesota, then, one con%icted of murder could not be exicutcd until twelve months had elapsed, and he was confined until the governor of the terorrity should by waiTant order his execution.

The fourtli Legislative Assembly convened on the fifth of January. 1853, in the two story brick edifice at the corner of Tliird and Minnesota streets. The Council chose Martin McLeod as presiding officer, and the House Dr. David Day,

Indian Fight In Streeis Of St. Paul

On the ninth of April, a party of Ojibways killed a Dalikotah. at the village of Shokpay. A war party, from Kaposia, then proceeded up the valley of the St. Croix, and killed an Ojibway. On the morning of the twenty-seventh, a band of Ojibway warriors, naked, decked, and fiercely gesticulatmg, might have been seen in the busiest street of the capital, in search of their enemies. Just at that time a small party of women, and one man, who had lost a leg in the battle of Stillwater, arrived in a canoe from Kaposia, at the Jackson street landing. Perceiving the Ojibways, they retreated to the building then known as the " Pioneer " office, and the Ojibways discharging a volley through the windows, wounded a Dahkotaji woman who soon died. For a short time, the infant capital presented a sight similar to that witnessed in ancient days in Hadley or Deerfleld, the then frontier towns of Massachusetts. jSiessengers were despatched to Fort Snelling for the dragoons, and a party of citizens mounted on horseback, were quickly in pursuit of those who with so much boldness had sought the streets of St. Paul, as a place to avenge their wrongs. The dragoons soon followed, with Indian guides scenting the track of the Ojibways, like bloodliounds. The next day they discovered the transgressors, near the Falls of St. Croix. The Ojibways manifesting what was supposed to be an insolent spirit, the order was given by the lieutenant in command, to lire, and he whose scalp was afterwards dagueireo

During the summer, the passenger, as he stood on the hurricane deck of any of the steamboats, might have seen, on a scaffold on the bluffs in the rear of Kaposia, a square box covered with a coarsely fringed red cloth. Above it was suspended a piece of the Ojibway's scalp, whose death had caused the affray in the streets of St. Paul. Within, was the body of the woman who had been shot in the " Pioneer " buildmg, while seeking refuge. A scalp suspended over the corpse is supposed to be a consolation to the soul, and a great protection in the journey to the spirit land.

On the accession of Pierce to the presidency of the United States, the ofHcers appointed under the Taylor and Fillmore administrations were removed, and the foUowmg gentlemen substituted : Governor, W. A. Gorman, of Indiana ; Secretary, J. T. Kosser, of Yirguiia ; Chief Justice, W. 11. Welch, of Minnesota ; Associates, Moses Sherburne, of Maine, and A. G. Chatfield, of Wisconsin. One of the first official acts of the second Governor, was the making of a treaty with the Winnebago Indians at AVatab. Benton county, for an exchange of country.

On the twenty-ninth of June, D. A. Robei-tson, who by his enthusiasm and earnest advocacy of its principles had done much to organize the Democratic party of Alinnesota, retired from the editorial chair and was succeeded by David Olmsted.

At the election held in October, Henry M. Rice and Alexander Wilkin were candidates for deligate to Congress. Tlie former was elected by a decisive majority.