Houston County, Minnesota - Chapter 21: Events Preliminary to the Organization of the Minnesota Territory, 1882

Chapter 21: Events Preliminary to the Organization of the Minnesota Territory

Bill forth* Organisation of Minnesote Terri* of Wiaooosin Boundary Momorial of Saint Croix nam proposed for the Now fonitory - ConTontion at oloetod DolagaU to Oongrwa. - DariTation of word

Three years elapsed from the time that the territory of Minnesota was proposed in Congress, to the final passage of the organic act. On the sixth of August, 1846, an act was passed by Congress authorizing the citizens of Wisconsin Territory to frame a constitution and form a state government. The act fixed the Saint Louis river to the rapids, from thence south to the Saint Croix, and thence down that river to its junction with the Mississippi, as the western bonndary.

On the twenty -third of December, 1846, the delegate from Wisconsin, Morgan L. Martin, introduced a bill in Congress for the organization of a territory of Minnesota. This bill made its western boundary the Sioux and Red River of the North. On the third of March, 1847, permission was granted to Wisconsin to change her boundary, so that the western limit would proceed due south from the first rapids of the Saint Louis river, and fifteen miles east of the most easterly point of Lake Saint Croix, thence to the Mississippi.

A number in the constitutional convention of Wisconsin, were anxious that Rum liver should be a part of her western boundary, while citizens of the valley of the Saint Croix were desirous that the Chippeway river should be the limit of Wisconsin. The citizens of Wisconsin Territory, in the valley of the Saint Croix, and about Fort Snelling, wished to be included in the projected new territory, and on the twenty-eighth of March, 1848, a memorial signed by H. H. Sibley, Henry M. Rice, Franklin Steele, William R. Marshall, and others, was presented to Congress, remonstrating against the proposition before the convention to make Rum river a part of the boundary line of the contemplated state of Wisconsin.

On the twenty-ninth of May, 1848, the act to admit Wisconsin changed the boundary line to the present, and as first defined in the enabling act of 1846. After the bill of Mr. Martin was introduced into the House of Representatives in 1846 it was referred to the Committee on Territories, of which Mr. Douglas was chairman. On the twentieth of January, 1847, he reported in favor of the proposed territory with the name of Itasca. On the seventeenth of February, before the bill passed the House, a discussion arose in relation to the proposed name. Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts proposed Chippewa as a substitute, alleging that this tribe was the principal in the proposed territory, which was not correct. Mr. J. Thompson of Mississippi disliked all Indian names, and hoped the territory would be called Jackson. Mr. Houston of Delaware thought that there ought to be one territory named after the " Father of his country," and proposed Washington. All of the names proposed were rejected, and the name in the original bill inserted. On the last day of the session, March third, the bill was called up in the Senate and laid on the table.

When Wisconsin became a state the query arose whether the old territorial government did not continue in force west of the Saint Croix river. The first meeting on the subject of claiming territorial privileges was held in the building at Saint Paul, known as Jackson's store, near the corner of Bench and Jackson streets, on the bluff. This meeting was held in July, and a convention was proposed to consider their position. The first public meeting was held at Stillwater on August fourth, and Messrs. Steele and Sibley were the only persons present from the west side of the Mississippi. This meeting issued a call for a general convention to take steps to secure an early territorial organization, to assemble on the twenty-sixth of the month at the same place. Sixty-two delegates answered the call, and among those present, were W. D. Phillips, J. W. Bass, A. Larpenteur, J. M. Boal, and others from Saint Paul. To the convention a letter was presented from Mr. Catlin, who claimed to be acting governor, giving his opinion that the Wisconsin territorial organization was still in force. The meeting also appointed Mr. Sibley to visit Washington and represent their views ; but the Hon. John H. Tweedy having resigned his office of delegate to Congress on September eighteenth, 1848, Mr. Catlin, who had made Stillwater a temporary residence, on the ninth of October issued a proclamation ordering a special election at Stillwater on the thirtieth, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation. At this election Henry H. Sibley was elected as delegate of the citizens of the remaining portion of Wisconsin Territory. His credentials were presented to the House of Representatives, and the committee to whom the matter was referred presented a majority and minority report; but the resolution introduced by the majority passed and Mr. Sibley took his seat as a delegate from Wisconsin Territory on the fifteenth of January, 1849.

Mr. H. M. Rice, and other gentlemen, visited Washington during the winter, and, uniting with Mr. Sibley, used all their energies to obtain the organization of a new territory.

Mr. Sibley, in an interesting communication to the Minnesota Historical Society, writes : " When my credentials as Delegate, were presented by Hon. James Wilson, of New Hampshire, to the

House of Representatives, there was some curiosity manifested among the members, to see what kind of a person had been elected to represent the distant and wild territory claiming representation in Congress. I was told by a New England member with whom I became subsequently quite intimate, that there was some disappointment when I made my appearance, for it was expected that the delegate from this remote region would make his debut, if not in full Indian costume, at least, with some peculiarities of dress and manners, characteristic of the rude and semi-civilized people who had sent him to the Capitol."

The territory of Minnesota was named after the largest tributary of the Mississippi within its limits. The Sioux call the Missouri Minneshoshay, muddy water, but the stream after which this region is named, Minne-sota. Some say that Sota means clear; others, turbid; Schoolcraft, bluish green. Nicollet wrote. "The adjective So tan is of difficult translation. The Canadians translated it by a pretty equivalent word, brouille, perhaps more properly rendered into English by blear. I have entered upon this explanation be cause the word really means neither clear nor turbid, as some authors have asserted, its true meaning being found in the Sioux expression Ish tab-so tab, blear-eyed. " From the fact that the word signifies neither blue nor white, but the peculiar appearance of the sky at certain times, by some, Minnesota has been denned to mean the sky tinted water, which is certainly poetic, and the late Rev. Gideon H. Pond thought quite correct.

Minnesota In The Beginning Chapteb Xxh

Appearance of the Country, A. D. 1849 - Arrival of first Editor - Governor Ramsey arrive* - Quest of H. EL. Sibley - Proclamation issued - Governor Bamsey and H. M. Rice move to Saint Paul - Fourth of July Celebration- Pint election - Early newspapers - First Court* - First Legislature - Pioneer Hews Carrier's Address Wedding at Fort Snel ling - Territorial Seal - Scalp Dance at Stillwater - First Steamboat at Falls of Saint Anthony - Presbyterian Chapel burned - Indian council itt Fort Snel ling - First Steamboat above Saint Anthony - First boat at the Blue Earth River - Congressional election - Visit.of Fredrika Bremer - Indian newspaper - Other newspapers - Second Legislature - University of Minnesota - Teamster killed by Indians - Sioux Treaties - Third Lagtelatnre - 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, the bill was passed by Congress for organizing the territory of Minnesota, whose boundary on the west, extended to the Missouri River. At this time, the region was little more than a wilderness. The west bank of the Mississippi, from the Iowa line to Lake Itasca, was u needed by the Indians.

At the foot of Lake Pepin was a store house kept by Mr. 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 picturesque scene. Above the lake was a cluster of bark wigwams, the Dahkotah village of Raymneecha, now Red Wing, at which was a Presbyterian mission house.

The next settlement was Kaposia, also an 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, the site of a former Methodist mission station, there were a few farmers. Saint Paul was just emerging from a collection of Indian whisky shops and birch roofed cabins of half-breed voyageura. Here and there a frame tenement was erected, and, under the auspices of the Hon. H. M. 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 Minnesota. 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 the 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 heard announcing that there was a territory of Minnesota, and that Saint Paul was the seat of government.

Every successive steamboat arrival 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 anything 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.

Explobebs And Pi0Neeb8 Of Minnesota

lie houses, immediately proceeded in the steamer to the establishment of the Fur Company, known as Mendota, at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi, and became the guest of the Hon. H. H. Sibley.

On the first of June, Governor Ramsey, by proclamation, declared the territory duly organized, with the following officers : Alexander Ramsey, 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 ; Joshua L. Taylor, Marshal ; H. L. Moss, attorney of the United States.

On the eleventh of June, a second proclamation was issued, dividing the territory into three temporary judicial districts. The first comprised the county of St. Croix ; the county of La Pointe and the region north and west of the Mississippi, and north of the Minnesota and of a line running due west from the headwaters of the Minnesota to the Missouri river, constituted the second ; and the country west of 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 third. A court was ordered to be held at Stillwater on the second Monday, at the Falls of St. Anthony on the third, 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. II. 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 New England House.

A few days after, the Hon. H. 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 National Independence 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 Hall 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 the people in the House of Representatives of the United States, for nine councillors and eighteen representatives, to constitute the Legislative Assembly of Minnesota.

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

The election on the first of August, passed off with little excitement, Hon. H, H. Sibley being elected delegate to Congress without opposition. David Lambert, on what might, perhaps, be termed the old settlers9 ticket, was defeated in St. Paul, by James M. Boal. The latter, on the night of the election, was honored with a ride through town on the axle and fore-wheels of an old wagon, which was 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, under most discouraging circumstances. It was 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, under the auspices of the late Dr. A. Randall, 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 discontinued; and, in their place, was issued the " Chronicle and

Description Of The Temporary Capitol

The first courts, pursuant to proclamation of the governor, were held in the 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 bench. On the twentieth, the second judicial district held a court. The room used was the old government mill at Minneapolis. The presiding judge was B. B. Meeker ; 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. The presiding judge was David Cooper. Governor Ramsey sat on the right, and Judge Goodrich on the left Hon. H. H. Sibley was the foreman of the grand jury. As some of the jurors could not speak the English language, W. H. Forbes acted as interpreter. The charge of Judge Cooper was lucid, scholarly, and dignified. At the request of the grand jury it was afterwards published.

On Monday, the third of September, the first Legislative Assembly convened in the 44 Central House," in Saint Paul, a building at the corner of Minnesota and Bench streets, facing the Mississippi river which answered the double purpose of capitol and hotel. On the first floor of the main building was the Secretary's office and Representative chamber, and in the second story was the library and Council chamber. As the flag was run up the staff in 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 saddening scene ; for if the tide of immigration sweeps in from the Pacific as it has from the Atlantic coast, they must soon dwindle.

The legislature 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 W. Furber was elected Speaker: W. D. Phillips, Clerk; L. B. Wait, Assistant

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

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, Dahkotah, Wahnahtah, Mahkahto, Pembina. Washington, Ramsey and Benton. The three latter counties comprised the country that up to that time had been ceded by the Indians on the east side of the Mississippi, StiVwater was declared the county seat of Washington, Saint Paul, of Ramsey, and the seat of justice of the county of Benton was to be within one-quarter of a mile of a point on the east side of the Mississippi, directly opposite the mouth of Sauk river."

Event8 Of A. D 1850

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 tbo legislature. The opening annual address was delivered in the then Methodist (now 8wedenborgian) church at Saint Paul, on the first of January, 1850.

The following account of the proceedings is from 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 highly 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, consisting of Messrs. Parsons K. Johnson, 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 Minnesota. We hope the society will provide for its publication at an early day.

Hobart, upon the objects and ends of history, the ceremonies were concluded with 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 Address, 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 art built and one that is to be. One, is the mart of all the tropics yield, The cane, the orange, and the cotton-field, And sends her ships abroad and boasts Her trade extended to a thousand coasts ; The other, central for the temperate zone, Garners the stores that on the plains are grown, A place where steamboats from ail quarters, range,

To meet and speculate, as twere on 'change. The third trill be, where rivers confluent flow From the wide spreading north through plains of snow ;

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 wail, belonging to the United States, there resided a gentleman who had dwelt in Minnesota since the year 1819, the government, as Indian interpreter. In youth he had been a member of the Columbia Fur Company, and conforming to the habits of traders, had purchased a Dahkotah 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 present were the officers of the garrison in full uniform, with their wives, the United States Agent for the Dahkotahs, and family, the bo is brules 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, wrapped in their blankets, gathered in the hall and looked in through the door.

The marriage feast was worthy of the occasion. In consequence of the numbers, the officers and those of European 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 Ramsey, Hon. H. H. Sibley, and the delegate to Congress devised at Washington, this winter, the territorial seal. The design was Falls of St. Anthony in the distance. An immigrant ploughing the land on the borders of the Indian country, full of hope, and looking forward to the possession of the hunting grounds beyond. An Indian, amazed at the sight of the plough, and fleeing on horseback towards the setting sun.

The motto of the Earl of Dunraven, "Qua sursuin 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 territorial seal, uQuo 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 sun remained, and this is objectionable, as the State of Maine had already placed the North Star on her escutcheon, with the motto " Dirigo," "I guide." Perhaps some future legislature may

Scalp Dance In Stillwater

In the montn of April, there was a renewal of hostilities between the Dahkotahs and Ojibways, on lands that had been ceded to the United States. A war prophet 'at' Bed Wing, dreamed that he ought to raise a war party. Announcing the fact, a number expressed their willingness to go on such an expedition. Several from the Kaposia village also joined the party, under the leadership of a worthless Indian, who had been confined in the guard-house at Fort Snelling, the year previous, for scalping his wife.

Passing up the valley of the St Croix, a tew 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, they found on Apple river, about twenty miles from Stillwater, a band of Ojibways encamped in one lodge. Waiting till daybreak of Wednesday, April second, the Dahkotahs commenced firing on the unsuspecting inmates, some of whom were drinking 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 scalp dance around the captive boy, in the heat of excitement, striking him in the face with the scarcely cold and bloody scalps of his relatives. The child was then taken to Kaposia, and adopted by the chief. 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 by a little son of the Governor, since deceased, to receive refreshments, he cried bitterly, seemingly more alarmed at being left with the whites than he had been while a captive at Kaposia.

From the first of April the waters of the Mississippi began to rise, and on the thirteenth, the lower floor of the warehouse, then occupied by William Oonstans, at the foot of Jackson street, St Paul, was submerged. Taking advantage of the freshet, the steamboat Anthony Wayne, for a purse of two hundred dollars, ventured through the swift current above Fort 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 whole town, mea, women and children, lined the shore as the boat approached, and welcomed this first arrival, with shouts and waving handkerchiefs.

On the afternoon of May fifteenth, there might have been seen, hurrying through the streets of Saint Paul, a number of naked and painted braves of the Kaposia band of Dahkotahs, 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 Holein-the-Day , having secreted his canoe in the retired gorge which leads to the cave in the upper suburbs, with two or three associates had crossed the river, and, almost in sight of the citizens of the town, had attacked a small party of Dahkotahs, and murdered and scalped one man. On receipt of the news, Governor Ramsey granted a parole to the thirteen Dahkotahs confined in Fort Snelling, for participating in the Apple river massacre.

On the morning of the sixteenth of May, the first Protestant church edifice completed in the white settlements, a small frame bnilding, built for the Presbyterian church, at Saint Paul, was destroyed by fire, it being the first conflagration that had occurred since the organization of the territory.

One of the most interesting events of the year 1860, was the Indian council, at Fort Snelling. Governor Ramsey had sent runners to the different bands of the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, to meet him at the fort, for the purpose of endeavouring to adjust their difficulties.

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 Hole-in-the-Day being dressed in a coat of a captain of United States infantry, which had been presented to him at the fort. On Friday, they left in the steamer Governor Ramsey, which had been built at St. Anthony, and just commenced running between

The summer of 1850 was the commencement of the navigation of the Minnesota River by steamboats. With the exception of a steamer that made a pleasure excursion 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 July she made a second trip, going almost to Mahkahto. The "Nominee" also navigated the stream for some distance.

On the twenty-second of July the officers of the " Yankee," taking advantage of the high water, determined to navigate the stream as far as possible. The boat ascended to near the Cottonwood river.

As the time for the general election in September approached, considerable excitement was manifested. As there were no political issues before the people, parties were formed based on personal preferences. Among those nominated for delegate to Congress, by various meetings, were II. H. 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 withdrew his name before election day, and the contest was between those interested in Sibley and Mitchell. 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 this 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 Dahkotah and one-half in the English language. Its editor was the Rev. Gideon H. 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 much

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

During the summer there had been changes inthe editorial supervision of the " Chronicle and Register." For a brief period it was edited by L. A. Babcock, Esq., who was succeeded by W. G. Le Due.

About the time of the issuing of the Democrat, C. J. Henniss, formerly reporter for the United States Gazette, Philadelphia, became the editor of the Chronicle.

The first proclamation for a thanksgiving day was issued in 1850 by the governor, and the twenty-sixth of December was the time appointed and it was generally observed.

On Wednesday, January first, 1851, the second Legislative Assembly assembled in a three-story brick building, since destroyed by fire, that stood on St Anthony street, between Washington and Franklin. D. B. Loomis 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 period of the session.

The locating of the penitentiary at Stillwater, 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 Fails of St. Anthony, was passed, and signed by the Governor. This institution, by the State Constitution, is now the State University.

About the middle of 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 teamrters they met driving their wagons with goods to the Indian Agency, killed one of them, Andrew Swartz, a resident of St. Paul. The news was conveyed to Fort Ripley, and a party of soldiers, with Hole-in-the-Day as a guide, started in pursuit of the murderers, but did not succeed in capturing them. Through the influence of Little Six the Dahkotah chief, whose village was at (and named after him) Shokpay, five of the offenders were arrested and placed in the guard-house at Fort Snelling. On Monday, June ninth, they left the fort in a wagon, guarded by twenty-five dragoons, destined for Sauk Rapids for trial. As they departed they ail sang their death song, 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 Kaposia, his wound was examined by the missionary and physician, Dr. Williamson ; and then, fearing an arrest, he took a canoe and paddled up the Minnesota. The excuse offered by the dragoons was, that ail 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 Minnesota 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 Ramsey. 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.

On the eighteenth of July, ail those expected having arrived, the Sissetoans and Wahpaytoan 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 Ramsey, it was passed to the chiefs. The paper containing the treaty waa then read in English and translated into the Dahkotah by the Rev. S. R. Riggs, Presbyterian Missionary 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 Wahpaykootay bands of Dahkotahs. About sixty of the chiefs and principal men touched the pen, and Little Crow, who had been in the missionschool at Lac qui Parle, signed his own name. Before they separated, Colonel Lea and Governor Ramsey 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 Rev. 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 in St. Paul, under the auspices of the "Whigs," and John P. Owens became editor, which relation he sustained until the fail of 1867.

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 Goodrich as Chief Justice of Minnesota, who was removed; and, about the same time, Alexander Wilkin was

The third Legislative Assembly oommenoed its sessions in one of the edifices on Third below Jackson street, which became a portion of the Merchants' Hotel, on the seventh of January, 1852.

This session, compared with the previous, formed a contrast as great as that between a boisterous day in March and a calm June morning. The minds of the population were more deeply interested in the ratification of the treaties made with the Dahkotahs, than in political discussions. Among other legislation of interest was the creation of Hennepin county.

On Saturday, the fourteenth of February, a dog-train arrived at St. Paul from the north, with the distinguished Arctic explorer, Dr. Bae. He had been in search of the long-missing Sir John Franklin, by way of the Mackenzie river, and was now on his way to Europe.

On the fourteenth of May, an interesting lusus naturae occurred at Stillwater. On the prairies, beyond the elevated bluffs which encircle the business portion of the town, there is a lake which discharges its waters through a ravine, and supplied McKusick's mill. Owing to heavy rains, the hills became saturated with water, and the lake very full. Before daylight the citizens heard the " voice of many waters," and looking out, saw rushing down through the ravine, trees, gravel and diluvium. Nothing impeded its course, and as it issued from the ravine it spread over the 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, quaintly remarked, that " it was a very extraordinary movement of real estate."

During the summer, Elijah Terry, a young man who had left St. Paul the previous March, and went to Pembina, to act as teacher to the mixed bloods in that vicinity, was murdered under distressing circumstances. With a bois bnile he , had started to the woods on the morning of his death, to hew timber. While there he was fired upon by a small party of Dahkotahs ; a ball broke his arm, and he was pierced with arrows. His scalp was wrenched from his head, and was afterwards seen among Sisseton Dahkotahs, near Big Stone Lake.

At the November Term of the United States District Court, of Bamsey county, a Dahkotah, named Yu-ha-zee, was tried for the murder of a German woman. With others she was traveling above 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 first with his gun, and, being threatened 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 Snelling 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 officer, surrounded with all the pomp and circumstance of war. The jury found him guilty. On being asked if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed, he replied, through the interpreter, that the band to which he belonged would remit their annuities if he could be released. To this Judge Hayner, the successor of Judge Fuller, replied, that he had no authority to release him; 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 Minnesota. The prisoner trembled while the judge spoke, and was a piteous spectacle. By the statute of Minnesota, then, one convicted of murder could not be executed until twelve months had elapsed, and he was confined until the governor of the terorrity should by warrant order his execution.

Event8 Of A. D.

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

Indian Fight In 8Tree18 Of 8T. Paul

The Baldwin school, now known as Macalester College, was incorporated at this session of the legislature, and was opened the following June.

On the ninth of April, a party of Ojibways killed a Dahkotah, 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 gesticulating, 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 Stallwater, 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 Dahkotah woman who soon died. For a short time, the infant capital presented a sight similar to that witnessed in ancient days in Hadley or Deerfield, the then frontier towns of Massachusetts. Messengers 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 bloodhounds. 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 fire, and he whose scalp was afterwards daguerreo

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 " building, 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 officers appointed under the Taylor and Fillmore administrations were removed, and the following gentlemen substituted : Governor, W. A. Gorman, of Indiana ; Secretary, J. T. Rosser, of Virginia ; Chief Justice, W. H. 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 Watab, Benton county, for an exchange of country.

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

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