Rice County, Minnesota - Chapter 21: Events Preliminary to the Organization of the 3i1n.nks0ta Territory, 1882

ffliconsin State Bouml;iries - First Bill for ttie Ori;;iiiization of Minnesota T.rritory, A. D. 1840 - Chaiise of Wisconsin Bouiulaiy - Memorial of Saint Croix Valley citizens - Various names proposed for the New Territory - Convention at

Three years elapsed from the time that the territory of Minnesota was proposed iu 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 Samt Croix, and thence down that river to its junction with the Mississippi, as the western boundary.

On the twenty - tliird of Decembei', 1846, the delegate from Wisconsin. Morgan L. Martin, introduced a bill in Congress for the organization of a territory of Muuiesota. This bill made its western boundary the Sioux and Eed Eiver of the North. On the third of March, 1847, permission was granted to Wisconsm to change her boimdary, 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 river 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, hi the valley of the Samt 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, WilUam 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 tlie twenty-ninth of May, 1<S48, thi3 act to admit Wisconsin changed the boiuuhiry 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 iu 1846 it was referred to the Committee on Territories, of which JNIr. Douglas was chairman. On the twentieth of January, 1847, he reported iu 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 pruicipal in the proposed territory, which was not correct. Mr. J. Thompson of Mississippi disliked all Indian names, and hoped the tenitory would be called Jackson. Mr. Houston of Delaware thought that there ought to be one territory named after the Father of Ids country," and proposed Washington. All of the names proposed were rejected, and the name in the origmal bill inserted. On the last day of the session, Jlarch 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 l)luff. This meeting was held in July, and a convention was proposed to consider their position. The first public meeting w-as held at Stillwater on August fourth, and Jilessrs. Steele and Bibley were the only persons present from the west side of the Mississippi. This meeting issued a call foi 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. Laipenteur, J. M. Boal, and others from Saint Paul. To the convention a letter was presented from Mr C'atlin, who claimed to be acting governor, giving his opinion that tlie '\\'!seonsin territorial organization was still in force. Tlie 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 II. 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 inti-oduced by the majority passed and Mr. Sibley took his seat as a delegate from -Wisconsin Tei'ritory on the hfteenth of January, 184i).

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

Mr. Sibley, in an interesting commmiication to the Miimesota 1 1 istorical Society, wi-ites : " Wheii my credentials as Delegate, were presented by Hon. James Wilson, of New Ilampshii'e, 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 woidd make liis debut, if not in full Indian costume, at least, with some peculiarities of dress and manners, characteristic of the rude and semi-civiUzed people who had sent him to the Capitol."

The territory of JliuHiesota was named after the largest tributary of the Mississippi within its limits. The Sioux call the Missouri Minneshoshay, muddy water, l)ut the stream after which this region is named, Minne-sota. Some say that Sota means clear ; others, turbid ; Schoolcraft, l.)luish green. Nicollet wrote. " The adjective Sotah is of diflicidt 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 e^.pression Ishtali-sotah, 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, jMiunesota has been defined to mean the sky tinted water, which is certainly poetic, and the late Eev. Gideon II. Pond thought quite correct.