Houston County, Minnesota - Chapter 7: Le Sueur, Explorer of the Minnesota River, 1882

Chapter 7: Le Sueur, Explorer of the Minnesota River

Le Sueur Yisito Lake Pepin. - Stationed at La Pointe. - Establishes a Post on an bland Above Lake Pepin. - Island Described by Penicaut. - First Sioux Chief at Montreal. - Qjibway Chiefs' Speeches. - Speech of Sioux Chief. - Teeoskah* lay's Death. - Le Snenr Goes to Trance. - Posts West of Mackinaw Abandoned - Le Sueur's License Revoked. - Second Visit to Prance. - Arrives in Gulf of Mexico with D'Iberville. - Ascends the Mississippi. - Lead Mines. - Canadians Fleeing from the Sioux. - At the Mouth of the Wisconsin. -Sioux Robbers -Hk Hunting. - Lake Pepin Described. - Rattlesnakes. - La Place Killed. - St. Croix River Named After a Frenchman. - Le Sueur Reaches St. Pterre, now Minne* sota River. - Enters Mankahto, or Blue Earth, River. - Sioux of the Plains. - Fort L'Huillier Completed. - Conferences with Sioux Bands - Assinaboines a Separated Sioux Band. - An Indian Feast - Names of the Sioux Band*. - Charlevoix's Account. - Le Sueur Goes with D'Iberville to France. - D'Iberville's Memorial. - Early Census of Indian Tribes. - Penicaut 's Account of Fort L'Hutt Her. - Le Sueur's Departure from the Port. - D'Evaqe Left in Charge. - Return* to Mobile. - J uchereau at Mouth of Wisconsin. - Bondor a Montreal Merchant. - Sioux Attack Miamis. - Boudor Robbed by the Sioux.

Le Sueur was a native of Canada, and a relative of D'Iberville, the early Governor of Louisiana. He came to Lake Pepin in 1683, with Nicholas Perrot, and his name also appears attached to the document prepared in May, 1689, after Perrot had re-occupied his post just above the entrance of the lake, on the east side.

In 1692, he was sent by Governor Frontenac of Canada, to La Pointe, on Lake Superior, and in a dispatch of 1693, to the French Government, is the following : " Le Sueur, another voyageur, is to remain at Chagouamagon [La Pointe] to endeavor to maintain the peace lately concluded between the Saulteurs [Chippeways] and Sioux. This is of the greatest consequence, as it is now the sole pass by which access can be had to the latter nation, whose trade is very profitable ; the country to the south being occupied by the Foxes and Maskoutens, who several times plundered the French, on the ground they were carrying ammunition to the Sioux, their ancient enemies."

Entering the Sioux country in 1694, he established a post upon a prairie island in the Mississippi, about nine miles below the present town of Hastings, according to Bellin and others. Penicaut, who accompanied him in the exploration of the Minnesota, writes, u At the extremity of the lake [Pepin] you come to the Isle Pelee, so called because there are no trees on it It is on this island that the French from Canada established their fort and storehouse, and they also winter here, because game is very abundant. In the month of September they bring their store of meat, obtained by hunting, and after having skinned and cleaned it, hang it upon a crib of raised scaffolding, in order that the extreme cold, which lasts from September to March, may preserve it from spoiling. During the whole winter they do not go out except for water, when they have to break the ice every day, and the cabin is generally built upon the bank, so as not to have far to go. When spring arrives, the savages come to the island, bringing their merchandize."

On the fifteenth of July, 1695, Le Sueur arrived at Montreal with a party of Ojibways, and the first Dakotah brave that had ever visited Canada.

The Indians were much impressed with the power of France by the marching of a detachment of seven hundred picked men, under Chevalier Cresafi, who were on their way to La Chine.

" That he was come to pay his respects to Onontio [the title given the Governor of Canada] in the name of the young warriors of Point Chagouamigon, and to thank him for having given them some Frenchmen to dwell with them; to testify their sorrow for one Jobin, a Frenchman, who was killed at a feast, accidentally, and not maliciously. We come to ask a favor of you, which is to let us act. We are allies of the Sciou. Some Outagamies, or Mascoutins, have been killed. The Sciou came to mourn with us. Let us act, Father; let us take revenge.

Explobebs And P10Neebs Of Minnes01A

Teeoskahtay, the Dahkotah chief, before he spoke, spread out a beaver robe, and, laying another with a tobacco pouch and otter skin, began to weep bitterly. After dryiug his tears, he said:

" All of the nations had a father, who afforded them protection; all of them have iron. Bnt he was a bastard in quest of a father; he was come to see him, and hopes that he will take pity on him."

He then placed upon the beaver robe twentytwo arrows, at each arrow naming a Dahkotah village that desired Frontenac's protection. Resuming his speech, he remarked:

" It is not on account of what I bring that I hope him who rules the earth will have pity on me. I learned from the Sauteurs that he wanted nothing; that he was the Master of the Iron; that he had a big heart, into which he could receive all the nations. This has induced me to abandon my people and come to seek his protection, and to beseech bim to receive me among the number of his children. Take courage, Great Captain, and reject me not; despise me not, though I appear poor in your eyes. All the nations here present know that I am rich, and the little they offer here is taken from my lands."

Count Frontenac in reply told the chief that he would receive the Dahkotahs as his children, on condition that they would be obedient, and that he would send back Le Sueur with him.

Teeoskahtay, taking hold of the governor's knees, wept, and said: "Take pity on us; we are well aware that we are not able to speak, being children; but Le Sueur, who understands our language, and has seen all our villages, will next year inform you what will have been achieved by the Sioux nations represented by those arrows before you."

Having finished, a Dahkotah woman, the wife of a great chief whom Le Sueur had purchased from captivity at Mackinaw, approached those in authority, and, with downcast eyes, embraced their knees, weeping and saying:

" I speak like a man penetrated with Joy. The Great Captain; he who is the Master of Iron, assures me of his protection, and I promise bim that if he condescends to restore my children, now prisoners among the Foxes, Ottawas and Hurons, I will return hither, and bring with me the twenty-two villages whom he has just restored to life by promising to send them Iron."

On the 14th of August, two weeks after the Ojibway chief left for his home on Lake Superior, Nicholas Perrot arrived with a deputation of Sauks, Foxes, Menomonees, Miamis of Maramek and Pottowatomies.

" I see that you are a young man; your nation has quite turned away from my wishes; it has pillaged some of my young men, whom it has treated as slaves. I know that your father, who loved the French, had no hand in the indignity. You only imitate the example of your father who had sense, when you do not co-operate with those of your tribe who are wishing to go over to my enemies, after they grossly insulted me and defeated the Sioux, whom I now consider my son. I pity the Sioux; I pity the dead whose loss I deplore. Perrot goes up there, and he will speak to your nation from me for the release of their prisoners; let them attend to him."

Teeoshkahtay never returned to his native land. While in Montreal he was taken sick, and in thirty-three days he ceased to breathe; and, followed by white men, his body was interred in the white man's grave.

Le Sueur instead of going back to Minnesota that year, as was expected, went to France and received a license, in 1697, to open certain mines supposed to exist in Minnesota. The ship in which he was returning was captured by the English, and he was taken to England. After his release he went back to France, and, in 1698, obtained a new commission for mining.

While Le Sueur was in Europe, the Dahkotas waged war against the Foxes and Miamis. In retaliation, the latter raised a war party and entered the land of the Dahkotahs. Finding their foes intrenched, and assisted by " coureurs des bois," they were indignant; and on their return they had a skirmish with some Frenchmen, who were carrying goods to the Dahkotahs.

Le Sueur Ascends The Missisippi River

friendly Foxes. The Miamis, after this, were disposed to be friendly to the Iroquois. In 1696, the year previous, the authorities at Quebec decided that it was expedient to abandon all the posts west of Mackinaw, and withdraw the French from Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The voyageurs were not disposed to leave the country, and the governor wrote to Pontchartrain for instructions, in October, 1698. In liis dispatch he remarks:

"In this conjuncture, and under all these circumstances, we consider it our duty to postpone, until new instructions from the court, the execution of Sieur Le Sueur's enterprise for the mines, though the promise had already been given him to send two canoes in advance to Missilimackinac, for the purpose of purchasing there some provisions and other necessaries for his voyage, and that he would be permitted to go and join them early in the spring with the rest of his hands. What led us to adopt this resolution has been, that the French who remained to trade off with the Five Nations the remainder of their merchandise, might, on seeing entirely new comers arriving there, consider themselves entitled to dispense with coming down, and perhaps adopt the resolution to settle there; whilst, seeing no arrival there, with permission to do what is forbidden, the reflection they will be able to make during the winter, and the apprehension of being guilty of crime, may oblige them to return in the spring.

" This would be very desirable, in consequence of the great difficulty there will be in constraining them to it, should they be inclined to lift the mask altogether and become buccaneers; or should Sieur Le Sueur, as he easily could do, furnish them with goods for their beaver and smaller peltry, which he might send down by the return of other Frenchmen, whose sole desire is to obey, and who have remained only because of the impossibility of getting their effects down. This would rather induce those who would continue to lead a vagabond life to remain there, as the goods they would receive from Le Sueur's people would afford them the means of doing so."

execution of the license granted to the man named Le Sueur to proceed, with fifty men, to explore some mines on the banks of the Mississippi. He has revoked said license, and desires that the said Le Sueur, or any other person, be prevented from leaving the colony on pretence of going in search of mines, without his majesty's express permission."

Fortunately for Le Sueur, D'Iberville, who was a friend, and closely connected by marriage, was appointed governor of the new territory of Louisiana. In the month of December he arrived from France, with thirty workmen, to proceed to the supposed mines in Minnesota.

On the thirteenth of July, 1700, with a felucca, two canoes, and nineteen men, having ascended the Mississippi, he had reached the mouth of the Missouri, and six leagues above this he passed the Illinois. He there met three Canadians, who came to join him, with a letter from Father Marest, who had once attempted a mission among the Dahkotahs, dated July 13, Mission Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, in Illinois.

" I have the honor to write, in order to inform you that the Saugiestas have been defeated by the Scioux and Ayavois [Iowas]. The people have formed an alliance with the Quincapous [Kickapoos], some of the Mecoutins, Kenards [Foxes], and Metesigamias, and gone to revenge themselves, not on the Scioux, for they are too much afraid of them, but perhaps on the Ayavois, or very likely upon the Paoutees, or more probably upon the Osages, for these suspect nothing, and the others are on their guard.

"As you will probably meet these allied nations, you ought to take precaution against their plans, and not allow them to board your vessel, since they are traitors, and utterly faithless. I pray God to accompany you in all your designs."

Twenty-two leagues above the Illinois, he passed a small stream which he called the River of Oxen, and nine leagues beyond this he passed a small river on the west side, where he met four Canadians descending the Mississippi, on their way to the Illinois. On the 30th of July, nine leagues above the last-named river, he met seventeen Scioux, in seven canoes, who were going to re- venge the death of three Scioux, one of whom had been burned, and the others killed, at Tamarois, a few days before his arrival in that village. As he had promised the chief of the Illinois to appease the Scioux who should go to war against his nation, he made a present to the chief of the party to engage him to turn back. He told them the King of Prance did not wish them to make this river more bloody, and that he was sent to tell them that, if they obeyed the king's word, they would receive in future all things necessary for them. The chief answered that he accepted the present, that is to say, that he would do as had been told him.

From the 80th of July to the 25th of August, Le Sueur advanced fifty-three and one-fourth leagues to a small river which he called the River of the Mine. At the mouth it runs from the north, but it turns to the northeast. On the right seven leagues, there is a lead mine in a prairie, one and a half leagues. The river is only navigable in high water, that is to say, from early spring till the month of June.

From the 25th to the 27th he made ten leagues, passed two small rivers, and made himself acquainted with a mine of lead, from which he took a supply. From the 27th to the 80th he made eleven and a half leagues, and met five Canadians, one of whom had been dangerously wounded in the head. They were naked, and had no ammunition except a miserable gun, with five or six loads of powder and balls. They said they were descending from the Scioux to go to Tamarois, and, when seventy leagues above, they perceived nine canoes in the Mississippi, in which were ninety savages, who robbed and cruelly beat them. This party were going to war against the Scioux, and were composed of four different nations, the Outagamies [Foxes], Poutouwatamis [Pottowattamies], and Puans [Winnebagoes], who dwell in a country eighty leagues east of the Mississippi from where Le Sueur then was. - The Canadians determined to follow the detachment, which was composed of twentyeight men. This day they made seven and a half leagues. On the 1st of September he passed the Wisconsin river. It runs into the Mississippi from the northeast. It is nearly one and a half miles wide. At about seventy-five leagues up this river, on the right, ascending, there is a portage of more than a league. The half of this portage is shaking ground, and at the end of it is a small river which descends into a bay called Winnebago Bay. It is inhabited by a great number of nations who carry their furs to Canada. Monsieur Le Sueur came by the Wisconsin river to the Mississippi, for the first time, in 1683, on his way to the Scioux country, where he had already passed seven years at different periods. The Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Wisconsin, is less than half a mile wide. From the 1st of September to the dth, our voyageur advanced fourteen leagues. He passed the river " Aux Canots," which comes from the northeast, and then the Quincapous, named from a nation which once dwelt upon its banks.

From the 5th to the 9th he made ten and a half leagues, and passed the rivers Cachee and Aux Ailes. The same day he perceived canoes, filled with savages, descending the river, and the five Canadians recognized them as the party who had robbed them. They placed sentinels in the wood, for fear of being surprised by land, and when they had approached within hearing, they cried to them that if they approached farther they would fire. They then drew up by an island, at half the distance of a gun shot. Soon, four of the principal men of the band approached in a canoe, and asked if it was forgotten that they were our brethren, and with what design we had taken arms when we perceived them. Le Sueur replied that he had cause to distrust them, since they had robbed five of his party. Nevertheless, for the surety of his trade, being forced to be at peace with all the tribes, he demanded no redress for the robbery, but added merely that the king, their master and his, wished that his subjects should navigate that river without insult, and that they had better beware how they acted.

The Indian who had spoken was silent, but another said they had been attacked by the Scioux, and that if they did not have pity on them, and give them a little powder, they should not be able to reach their villages. The consideration of a missionary, who was to go up among the Scioux, and whom these savages might meet, induced them to give two pounds of powder.

M. Le Sueur made the same day three leagues; passed a stream on the west, and afterward another river on the east, which is navigable at all times, and which the Indians call Bed River.

Battlesna Kes On Shores Of Lake Pepin

On the 10th9 at daybreak, they heard an elk whistle, on the other side of the river. A Canadian crossed in a small Scioux canoe, which they had found, and shortly returned with the body of the animal, which was very easily killed, " quand il est en rut," that is, from the beginning of September until the end of October. The hunters at this time made a whistle of a piece of wood, or reed, and when they hear an elk whistle they answer it. The animal, believing it to be another elk, approaches, and is killed with ease.

From the 10th to the 14th, M. Le Sueur made seventeen and a half leagues, passing the rivers Raisin and Paquilenettes (perhaps the Wazi Ozu and Buffalo.) The same day he left, on the east side of the Mississippi, a beautiful and large river, which descends from the very far north, and called Bon Secours (Chippeway ), on account of the great quantity of buffalo, elk, bears and deers which are found there. Three leagues up this river there is a mine of lead, and seven leagues above, on the same side, they found another long river, in the vicinity of which there is a copper mine, from which he had taken a lump of sixty pounds in a former voyage. In order to make these mines of any account, peace must be obtained between the Scioux and Ouatagamis (Foxes), because the latter, who dwell on the east side of the Mississippi, pass this road continually when going to war against the Sioux.

Penicaut, in his journal, gives a brief description of the Mississippi between the Wisconsin and Lake Pepin. He writes: "Above the Wisconsin, and ten leagues higher on the same side, begins a great prairie extending for sixty leagues along the bank; this prairie is called Aux Ailes. Opposite to Aux AHes, on the Jeft, there is another prairie facing it called Paquilanet which is not so long by a great deal. Twenty leagues above these prairies is found Lake Bon Secours " [Good Help, now Pepin.]

In this region, at one and a half leagues on the northwest side, commenced a lake, which is six leagues long and more than one broad, called Lake Pepin. It is bounded on the west by a chain of mountains; on the east is seen a prairie; and on the northwest of the lake there is another prairie two leagues long and one wide. In the neighborhood is a chain of mountains quite two hundred feet high, and more than one and a half miles long. In these are found several caves, to which the bears retire in winter. Most of the caverns are more than seventy feet in extent, and two hundred feet high. There are several of which the entrance is very narrow, and quite closed up with saltpetre, It would be dangerous to enter them in summer, for they are filled with rattlesnakes, the bite of which is very dangerous. Le Sueur saw some of these snakes which were six feet in length, but generally they are about four feet. They have teeth resembling those of the pike, and their gums are full of small vessels, in which their poison is placed. The Scioux say they take it every morning, and cast it away at night. They have at the tail a kind of scale which makes a noise, and this is called the rattle.

Le Sueur made on this day seven and a half leagues, and passed another river, called Hiambouxecate Ouataba, or the River of Flat Rock. [The Sioux call the Cannon river Inyanbosndata.]

On the 15th he crossed a small river, and saw in the neighborhood several canoes, filled with Indians, descending the Mississippi. He supposed they were Scioux, because he could not distinguish whether the canoes were large or small. The arms were placed in readiness, and soon they heard the cry of the savages, which they are accustomed to raise when they rush upon their enemies. He caused them to be answered in the same manner; and after having placed all the men behind the trees, he ordered them not to fire until they were commanded. He remained on shore to see what movement the savages would make, and perceiving that they placed two on shore, on the other side, where from an eminence they could ascertain the strength of his forces, he caused the men to pass and repass from the shore to the wood, in order to make them believe that they were numerous. This ruse succeeded, for as soon as the two descended from the eminence the chief of the party came, bearing the calumet, which is a signal of peace among the Indians. They said that having never seen the French navigate the river with boats like the felucca, they had supposed them to be English, and for that reason they had raised the war cry, and arranged themselves on the other side of the Mississippi; but having recognized their flag, they had come without fear to inform them, that one of their number, who was crazy, had accidentally killed a

The Frenchman they brought was Denis, a Canadian, and he reported that his companion was accidentally killed. His name was Laplace, a deserting soldier from Canada, who had taken refuge in this country.

Le Sueur replied, that Onontio (the name they give to all the governors of Canada), being their father and his, they ought not to seek justification elsewhere than before him; and he advised them to go and see him as soon as possible, and beg him to wipe off the blood of this Frenchman from their faces.

The party was composed of forty-seven men of different nations, who dwell far to the east, about the forty-fourth degree of latitude. Le Sueur, discovering who the chiefs were, said the king whom they had spoken of in Canada, had sent him to take possession of the north of the river; and that he wished the nations who dwell on it, as well as those under his protection, to live in peace.

He made this day three and three-fourths leagues; and on the 16th of September, he left a large river on the east side, named St Croix, because a Frenchman of that name was shipwrecked at its mouth. It comes from the north-northwest. Four leagues higher, in going up, is found a small lake, at the mouth of which is a very large mass of copper. It is on the edge of the water, in a small ridge of sandy earth, on the west of this lake. [One of La Salle's men was named St. Croix.]

From the 16th to the 19th, he advanced thirteen and three-fourths leagues. After having made from Tamarois two hundred and nine and a half leagues, he left the navigation of the Mississippi, to enter the river St. Pierre, on the west side. By the 1st of October, he had made in this river forty-four and one-fourth leagues. After he entered Blue river, thus named on account of the mines of blue earth found at its mouth, he founded his post, situated in forty-four degrees, thirteen minutes north latitude. He met at this place nine Scioux, who told him that the river belonged to the Scioux of the west, the Ayavois (Iowas) and Otoctatas (Ottoes), who lived a little farther off; that it was not their custom to hunt on ground belonging to others, unless invited to do so by the owners, and that when they would come to the fort to obtain provisions, they would be in danger of being killed in ascending or descending the rivers, which were narrow, and that if they would show their pity, he must establish himself on the Mississippi, near the mouth of the St. Pierre, where the Ayavois, the Otoctatas, and the other Scioux could go as well as they.

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

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

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

On the third of October, they received at the fort several Scioux, among whom was Wahkantape, chief of the village. Soon two Canadians arrived who had been hunting, and who had been robbed by the Scioux of the East, who had raised their guns against the establishment which M. Le Sueur had made on Blue Earth river.

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

On the twenty-fourth, six Scioux Oujalespoitons wished to go into the fort, but were told that they did not receive men who had killed Frenchmen. This is the term used when they have insulted them. The next day they came to the lodge of Le Sueur to beg him to have pity on them. They wished, according to custom, to weep over bid head and make him a present of packs of beavers, which he refused. He told them he was surprised that people who had robbed should come to him ; to which they replied that they had heard it said that two Frenchmen had been robbed, but none from their village had been present at that wicked action.

Le Sueur answered, that he knew it was the Mendeoucantons and not the Oujalespoitons ; " but," continued he, " you are Scioux ; it is the Scioux who have robbed me, and if I were to follow your manner of acting I should break your heads ; for is it not true, that when a stranger (it is thus they call the Indians who are not Scioux) has insulted a Scioux, Mendeoucanton, Oujalespoitons, or others - all the villages revenge upon the first one they meet?"

to them, they wept and repeated, according to custom, " Ouaechissou ! ouaepanimanabo !" Le Sueur told them to cease crying, and added that the French had good hearts, and that they had come into the country to have pity on them. At the same time he made them a present, saying to them, " Carry back your beavers and say to all the Scioux, that they will have from me no more powder or lead, and they will no longer smoke any long pipe until they have made satisfaction for robbing the Frenchman.

The same day the Canadians, who had been sent off on the 22d, arrived without having found the road which led to the Ayavois and Otoctatas. On the 26th, Le Sueur went to the river with three canoes, which he filled with green and blue earth. It is taken from the hills near which are very abundant mines of copper, some of which was worked at Paris in 1696, by L'Huillier, one of the chief collectors of the king. Stones were also found there which would be curious, if worked.

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

On the 15th the two Mantanton Scioux, who had been sent expressly to say that all of the Scioux of the east, and part of those of the west, were joined together to come to the French, because they had heard that the Christianaux and the Assinipoils were making war on them. These two nations dwell above the fort on the east side, more than eighty leagues on the Upper Mississippi.

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

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

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

Le Sueur granted them their request, but as the Scioux never answer on the spot, especially in matters of importance, and as he had to speak to them about his establishment he went out of the lodge without saying a word. The chief and all those within followed him as far as the door of the fort; and when he had gone in, they went around it three times, crying with all their strength, " Atheouanan! " that is to say, " Father, have pity on us." [Ate unyanpi, means Our Father.]

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

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

On the first of December, the Mantantons invited Le Sueur to a great feast. Of four of their lodges they had made one, in which were one hundred men seated around, and every one his dish before him. After the meal, Wahkantape, the chief, made them all smoke, one after another, in the hatchet pipe which had been given them. He then made a present to Le Sueur of a slave and a sack of wild rice, and said to him, showing him his men: " Behold the remains of this great village, which thou hast aforetimes seen so numerous! All the others have been killed in war; and the few men whom thou seest in this lodge, accept the present thou hast made them, and are resolved to obey the great chief of all nations, of whom thou hast spoken to us. Thou oughtest not to regard us as Scioux, but as French, and instead of saying the Scioux are miserable, and have no mind, and are fit for nothing but to rob and 8 teal from the French, thou shalt say my brethren are miserable and have no mind, and we must try to procure some for them. They rob us, but I will take care that they do not lack iron, that is to say, all kinds of goods. If thou dost this, I assure thee that in a little time the Mantantons will become Frenchmen, and they will have none of those vices, with which thou reproachest us."

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

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

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

Names Of The Bands Of 8Cioux Of The

Ouadebatons - The River Village. Ouaetemanetons - Village of the Tribe who dwell on the Point of the Lake. Songasquitons - The Brave Village,

The Sciottx Of The West

In the narrative of Major Long's second expedition, there are just as many villages of the Gens du Lac, or M'dewakantonwan Scioux mentioned, though the names are different After leaving the Mille Lac region, the divisions evidently were different, and the villages known by new names.

Charlevoix, who visited the valley of the Lower Mississippi in 1722, says that Le Sueur spen^a winter in his fort on the banks of the Blue Earth, and that in the following April he went up to the mine, about a mile above. In twenty-two days they obtained more than thirty thousand pounds of the substance, four thousand of which were selected and sent to France.

On the tenth of February, 1702, Le Sueur came back to the post on the Gulf of Mexico, and found D'Iberville absent, who, however, arrived on the eighteenth of the next month, with a ship from France, loaded with supplies. After a few weeks, the Governor of Louisiana sailed again for the old country, Le Sueur being a fellow passenger.

On board of the ship, D'Iberville wrote a memorial upon the Mississippi valley, with suggestions for carrying on commerce therein, which contains many facts furnished by Le Sueur. A copy of the manuscript was in possession of the Historical Society of Minnesota, from which are the following extracts:

" If the Sioux remain in their own country, they are useless to us, being too distant. We could have no commerce with them except that of the beaver. M. Le Sueur, who goes to France to give an account of this country, is the proper person to make these movements. He estimates the Sioux at four thousand families, who could settle upon the Missouri.

" He has spoken to me of another which he calls the Manas, composed of more than twelve hundred families. The Ayooues (Ioways) and the Octoctatas, their neighbors, are about three hundred families. They occupy the lands be- tween the Mississippi and the Missouri, about one hundred leagues from the Illinois. These savages do not know the use of arms, and a descent might be made upon them in a river, which is beyond the Wabash on the west. * * *

" The Assinibouel, Quenistinos, and people of the north, who are upon the rivers which fall into the Mississippi, and trade at Fort Nelson (Hudson Bay), are about four hundred. We could prevent them from going there if we wish."

" In four or five years we can establish a commerce with these savages of sixty or eighty thousand buffalo skins; more than one hundred deer skins, which will produce, delivered in France, more than two million four hundred thousand livres yearly. One might obtain for a buffalo sl^n four or five pounds of wool, which sells for twenty sous, two pounds of coarse hair at ten sous.

In the third volume of the 44 History and Statistics of the Indian Tribes," prepared under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian affairs, by Mr. Schoolcraft, a manuscript, a copy of which was in possession of General Cass, is referred to as containing the first enumeration of the Indians of the Mississippi Valley. The following was made thirty-four years earlier by D'Iberville:

44 The savage tribes located in the places I have marked out, make it necessary to establish three posts on the Mississippi, one at the Arkansas, another at the Wabash (Ohio), and the third at the Missouri. At each post it would be proper to have an officer with a detachment of ten soldiers with a sergeant and corporal. All Frenchmen should be allowed to settle there with their families, and trade with the Indians, and they might establish tanneries for properly dressing the buffalo and deer skins for transportation.

44 No Frenchman shall be allowed to follow the Indians on their hunts, as it tends to keep them hunters, as is seen in Canada, and when they are in the woods, they do not desire to become tillers of the soil *******

44 1 have said nothing in this memoir of which I have not personal knowledge or the most reliable sources. The most of what I propose is founded upon personal reflection in relation to what might be done for the defence and advancement of the colony. * * * * * * * * It will be absolutely necessary that the king should define the limits of this country in relation to the government of Canada. It is important that the commandant of the Mississippi should have a report of those who inhabit the rivers that fall into the Mississippi, and principally those of the river Illinois.

44 The Canadians intimate to the savages that they ought not to listen to us but to the governor of Canada, who always speaks to them with large presents, that the governor of Mississippi is mean and never sends them any thing. This is true, and what I cannot do. It is imprudent to accustom the savages to be spoken to by presents, for, with so many, it would cost the king more than * the revenue derived from the trade. When they come to us, it will be necessary to bring them in subjection, make them no presents, and compel them to do what we wish, as if they were Frenchmen.

Penicaut Describes Life At Fort Vhuillieb

trade with them, and threaten to draw down the hostility of other Indians. We rectify the difficulty by having missionaries, who will bring them into obedience secretly.

44 The Illinois and Mascoutens have detained the French canoes they find upon the Mississippi, saying that the governors of Canada hsv* given them permission. I do not know whether this is so, but if true, it follows that we have not the liberty to send any one on the Mississippi.

Penicaut's account varies in some particulars from that of La Harpe's. He calls the Mahkahto Green River instead of Blue and writes: " We took our route by its mouth and ascended it forty leagues, when we found another river falling into the Saint Pierre, which we entered. We sailed this the Green River because it is of that color by reason of a green earth which loosening itself from from the copper mines, becomes dissolved and makes it green.

" A league up this river, we found a point of land a quarter of a league distant from the woods, and it was upon this point that M. Le Sueur resolved to build his fort, because we could not go any higher on account of the ice, it being the last day of September. Half of our people went hunting whilst the others worked on the fort. We killed four hundred buffaloes, which were our provisions for the winter, and which we placed upon scaffolds in our fort, after having skinned and cleaned and quartered them. We also made cabins in the fort, and a magazine to keep our goods. After having drawn up our shallop within the inclosure of the fort, we spent the winter in our cabins.

" When we were working in our fort in the beginning seven French traders from Canada took refuge there. They had been pillaged and stripped naked by the Sioux, a wandering nation living only by hunting and plundering. Among these seven persons there was a Canadian gentleman of Le Sueur's acquaintance , whom he recognized at once, and gave him some clothes, as he did also to all the rest, and whatever else was necessary for them. They remained with us during the entire winter at our fort, where we had not food enough for all, except buffalo meat which we had not even salt to eat with. We had a good deal of trouble the first two weeks in accustoming ourselves to it, having fever and diarrhoea and becoming so tired of it as to hate the smell. But by degrees our bodies became adapted to it so well that at the end of six weeks there was not one of us who could not eat six pounds of meat a day, and drink four bowls of broth. As soon as we were accustomed to this kind of living it made us very fat, and then there was no more sickness.

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

. '* This mine is situated at the beginning of a very long mountain, which is upon the bank of the river, so that boats can go right to the mouth of the mine itself. At this place is the green earth, which is a foot and a half in thickness, and above it is a layer of earth as firm and hard as stone, and black and burnt like coal by the exhalation from the mine. The copper is scratched out with a knife. There are no trees upon this mountain. * * * After twenty-two days' work, we returned to our fort. When the Sioux, who belong to the nation of savages who pillaged the Canadians, came they brought us merchandize of furs.

"They had more than four hundred beaver robes, each robe made of nine skins sewed together. M. Le Sueur purchased these and many other skins which he bargained for, in the week he traded with the savages. * * * * We sell in return wares which come very dear to the buyers, especially tobacco from Brazil, in the proportion of a hundred crowns the pound; two little horn-handled knives, and four leaden bullets are equal to ten crowns in exchange for skins ; and so with the rest.

Explorers And Pioneers Vf Minnesota

earth that had been taken out of the river, and with the furs we had traded for, of which we had three canoes full. M. Le Sueur before going held council with M. D'Evaque [or Eraque] the Canadian gentleman, and the three great chiefs of the Sioux, three brothers, and told them that as he had to return to the sea, he desired them to live in peace with M. D'Evaque, whom he left in command at Fort L'Huillier, with twelve Frenchmen. M. Le Sueur made a considerable present to the three brothers, chiefs of the savages, desiring them to never abandon the French. Afterward we the twelve men whom he had chosen to go down to the sea with him embarked. In setting out, M. Le Sueur promised to M. D'Evaque and the twelve Frenchmen who remained with him to guard the fort, to send up munitions of war from the Illinois country as soon as he should arrive there ; which he did, for on getting there he sent off to him a canoe loaded with two thousand pounds of lead and powder, with three of our people in charge."

Le Sueur arrived at the French fort on the Gulf of Mexico in safety, and in a few weeks, in the spring of 1701, sailed for France, with his kinsman, D'Iberville, the first governor of Louisiana.

In the spring of the next year (1702) D'Evaque came to Mobile and reported to D Iberville, who had come back from France, that he had been attacked by the Foxes and Maskoutens, who killed three Frenchmen who were working near Fort L'Huillier, and that, being out of powder and lead, he had been obliged to conceal the goods which were left and abandon the post. At the Wisconsin River he had met Juchereau, formerly criminal judge in Montreal, with thirty-five men, on his way to establish a tannery for buffalo skins at the Wabash, and that at the Illinois he met the canoe of supplies sent by Bienville, D'Iberville's brother.

La Motte Cadillac, in command at Detroit, in a letter written on August 31st, 1703, alludes to Le Sueur's expedition in these words: "Last year they sent Mr. Boudor, a Montreal merchant, into the country of the Sioux to join Le Sueur. He succeeded so well in that journey he transported thither twenty-five or thirty thousand pounds of merchandize with which to trade in all the country of the Outawas. This proved to him an unfortunate investment, as he has been robbed of a part of the goods by the Outagamies. The occasion of the robbery by one of our own allies was as follows. I speak with a full knowledge of the facts as they occurred while I was at Michillimackianc. From time immemorial our allies have been at war with the Sioux, and on my arrival there in conformity to the order of M. Frontenac, the most able man who has ever come into Canada, I attempted to negotiate a truce between the Sioux and all our allies. Succeeding in tins negotiation I took the occasion to turn their arms against the Iroquois with whom we were then at war, and soon after I effected a treaty of peace between the Sioux and the French and their allies which lasted two years.

" At the end of tha" time the Sioux came, in great numbers, to the villages of the Miamis, under pretense of ratifying the treaty. They were well received by the Miamis, and, after spending several days in their villages, departed, apparently perfectly satisfied with their good reception, as they certainly had every reason to be.

" The Miamis, believing them already far distant, slept quietly; but the Sioux, who had premeditated the attack, returned the same night to the principal village of the Miamis, where most of the tribe were congregated, and, taking them by surprise, slaughtered nearly three thousand(V) and put the rest to flight..

uThis perfectly infuriated all tne nations. They came with their complaints, begging me to join with them and exterminate the Sioux. But the war we then had on our hands did not permit it, so it became necessary to play the orator in a long harangue. In conclusion I advised them to 4 weep their dead, and wrap them up, and leave them to sleep coldly till the day of vengeance Bhould come;' telling them we must sweep tbe land on this side of the Iroquois, as it was necessary to extinguish even their memory, after which the allied tribes could more easily avenge the atrocious deed that the Sioux had just committed upon them. In short, I managed them so well that the affair was settled in the manner that I proposed.

ki But the twenty-five permits still existed, and the cupidity of the French induced them to go among the Sioux to trade for beaver. Our allies complained bitterly of this, saying it was injust- ice to them, as they had taken up arms in our qualrrel against the Iroquois, while the French traders were carrying munitions of war to the Sioux to enable them to kill the rest of our allies as they had the Miami a.

" I immediately informed M. Frontenac, and M. Champigny having read the communication, and commanded that an ordinance be published at Montreal forbidding the traders to go into the country of the Sioux for the purpose of traffic under penalty of a thousand francs fine, the confiscation of the goods, and other arbitrary penalties. The ordinance was sent to me and faithfully executed. The same year [1699] I descended to Quebec, having asked to be relieved. Since that time, in spite of this prohibition, the French have continued to trade with the Sioux, but not without being subject to affronts and indignities from our allies themselves which bring dishonor on the French name. * * * I do not consider it best any longer to allow the traders to carry on commerce with the Sioux, under any pretext whatever, especially as M. Boudor has just been robbed by the Fox nation, and M. Jucheraux has given a thousand crowns, in goods, for the right of passage through the country of the allies to his habitation.

" The allies say that Le Sueur has gone to the Sioux on the Mississippi; that they are resolved to oppose him, and if he offers any resistance they will not be answerable for the consequences. It would be well, therefore, to give Le Sueur warning by the Governor of Mississippi.

"The Sauteurs [Chippeways] being friendly with the Sioux wished to give passage through their country to M. Boudor and others, permitting them to carry arms and other munitions of war to this nation; but the other nations being opposed to it, differences have arisen between them which have resulted in the robbery of M. Boudor. This has given occasion to the Sauteurs to make an outbreak upon the Sacs and Foxes, killing thirty or forty of them. So there is war among the people."