Wright County, Minnesota - Chapter 3: Indian Occupancy and Treaties, 1915

Chapter 3: Indian Occupancy and Treaties

The North American Indian - The Dakotas - Migrations - Occupancy of the Mille Lacs Region - The Ojibwas - The Ojibwa- Dakota Conflict - The Winnebagoes - The Sauks and Foxes - Indians in Wright County - Indian Treaties - Wright County Passes into the Possession of the Whites - Coming of the Winnebagoes - Life of the Indian.

Tho arc'lit'oloiry and aiitliropolofry of the American Iiuliaii is still iu its infancy. ]5ut a few fundamental facts stand out in bold relief. We are told by scientists that man is of {jreat anticjuity in America: and that thout;h the aborigines' blood is doubtless mixed with later arrivals in many localities and tribes, still, barring the Eskimo, the fundamental race charactei'istics are the same from Hudson Bay to Patagonia. Hence a common American ancestry of great antiquity must be predicated of the whole Indian race.

If an imaginary line is drawn east and west through the southern boundary of Virginia, then except for the northwest corner of British America, the Red Men in the territory north of this line and east of the Rocky mountains, including the larger part of the United States and British America, are and have been for centuries almost exclusively of just three linguistic stocks: Iroquoian, Siouan, and Algonquin. The one reason for classing these Indians into three ethnic stocks is that the vocabularies of their lansjuages do not seem to have a common orie:in. Otherwise these Indians are so familiar physically and psychically that even an expert will at times tind it hard to tell from appearan<'e to which stock an individual belongs. These three stocks are in mental, moral, and pliysical endowment the peers of any American aborigines, though in culture they were far behind the Peruvians, Mexicans, and the nations in the southwestern ITnited States. But their native culture is not so insignificant as is the popular impression. Except the western bands who subsisted on tht> buffalo, they practiced agriculture: and in many, if not in most tribes, the products of the chase and fishing supplied less than half their sustenance: their moccasins, tanned skin clothing, bows and arrows, canoes, pottery and personal ornaments evinced a great amount of skill and not a little artistic taste. Their houses were not always the conical tipi of bark or skins, but were often very durable and comparatively comfortable and consti'ucted of timber or earth or even stone.

The Dakotas. As to how these stocks came originally into this territory, there is no certain knowledge but much uncertain speculation. Here we shall be content to start with the relatively late and tolerably probable event of their living together, in the eastern part of the United States, some five centuries ago. Algonquians lived on the Atlantic slope, the Iroquois perhaps south of Lake Erie and Ontario, and the Siouaus in the upper Ohio valley. These Siouan peoples had possibly previously occupied the upper Mississippi region, but for some reason had left here. At any rate, a century or so before the arrival of Columbus, found them for the most part in the upper Ohio valley. What peoples, if any, were in the meantime living on the plains of the upper Mississippi is not definitely known. Of the Siouan peoples we are interested in the main division of the Sioux, more properly the Dakotas. Probably because of the pressure of the fierce and well organized Iroquois, the Sioux, perhaps about 1400 A. D., began slowly to descend the Ohio valley. Kentucky and the adjacent parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were certainly at that time a primitive man's paradise, and the anabasis begun under compulsion was enthusiastically continued from choice. They reached the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi. Probably here they first encountered the buffalo, or bison, in large numbers. The spirit of adventure and the pressure of an increasing population sent large bands up the Mississippi. When the Missouri was reached no doubt some followed that stream. Those who kept to the Mississippi were rewarded as they ascended the stream by coming into what was from the viewpoint of primitive man a richer country. Coming up into Minnesota a forest region was encountered soon after passing through beautiful lake Pepin. Soon a "wakan," a spiritual mystery, blocked the way of the Dakota canoes. St. Anthony Palls, of which now scarce a remnant is left, thundered over its ledge among the leafy boskage of banks and islands. Slowly but surely up the stream puslied the Dakotas. Rum river was reached, and its friendly banks were doubtless for many seasons dotted with the Dakota's tipis. But when the hunter-explorer's eyes first rested on the wide expanse of Mille Lacs, he rightly felt he had found a primitive paradise. M'dewakan, the Spirit lake, the lake of spiritual spell, soon became the site of perhaps the largest permanent encampment or headquarters of the Sioux. This with the Mississippi as their great waterway, Wright county must have become a famous hunting and fishing ground. Whether these Sioux, returning to wluit we believe to have been the home of their ancestors, found another people who had occupied the land during their long sojourn in the upper Ohio region, we do not know, though possibly there were scattering bands of Algonquin peoples here. These returning Sioux, it is believed, were the builders of all or nearly all of the Wright couuty mounds, though some may have been built by their ancestors before they were expelled many centuries eai'lier. Tlie Wright eoiuity mounds, though less in size and smaller in number, have the same interest as those found in Oliio, and which this same people are believed to have constructed.

Wright founty lies in the western half of what was the most glorious hunting region in the world. In a zone extending northnorthwest we have a series of beautiful lakes. The most southerly is the jM'dewakan of the Dakotas, ]\Iille Laes, some twenty miles long, then Gull, Pelican, and Whitetish lakes, each from eight to twelve miles long, magnificent sheets of water, small only in comparison with such giants as Leech lake, which comes next in the series. This body of water has as close neighbors, Cass, Winibigoshish, and Bemidji, lesser but still very large lakes. Continuing in the same direction, we come to Red lake, the largest body of fresh water entirely in the United States. Some eighty miles further north we find the largest lake of the series, the Lake of the Woods. This zone is two or three lumdred miles long and was, and to a great extent yet is, a magnificent natural park and game preserve. Well watered and with every variety of surface, spangled with lakes and covered with forests of all kinds and eombinatious possible in this climate, with here and there a prairie thrown in for good nu^asure, this indeed was the land of Seek-no-Further for the Indian. Of this region Wright formed a part and a favored part.

In this empire of forest, lake and streams, the Dakotas learned to be forest dwellers. Let us picture the life of the Dakotas in Wright as it was, say at the time when the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth. The Dakota dressed in skins and furs, tanned and prepared by the squaws, and sewed with bone needle and sinew thread. He lived then in the Stone Age. His arrow heads, axes, knives and kelts were made of stone, preferably flint or quartz. His house in summer was the familiar tipi, and sometimes this was all he had even in winter. But more substantial houses of wood, stone and earth were not unknown. Such were often built for several families.

The social structure of the Dakotas was the primitive tribal one, but of the simplest variety. Though many Siouan tribes have an elaborate tribal system, as for example the Omaha, the Dakota lived in bands of the loosest description. Chieftainship devolved on him wlio could grasp it, though in some cases, one dynasty maintained the chieftainship for several generations. Marriage was prohibited only within close blood relationships. No totem system or true clan system obtained. W^ar parties were made up by ambitious individuals very much the same as hunting parties are among us. The word "Dakota" (variously spelled) means joined together in friendly compact, the Dakota

The religious cult and cosmic notions of the Dakotas were essentially the same as those of other primitive people. They explained all strange, mysterious, powerful, beneficent or malevolent beings, objects, or events, by assuming that a spirit lived and expressed himself in each of them. Every lake, waterfall, tree, animal, cloud or cliff that excited their wonder, admiration, fear or awe, was "wakan," a term that can scarcely be translated by any one English word. It means mysterious, elfish, bewitched, spirit-possessed, having supernatural powers. These spirits-inthings were conceived half as personal and half as impersonal. Like all primitive men they believed tliat these spirits coidd be controlled by magic. Some spoken formula, some symbolic ceremony, some charm or amulet was supposed to ward off evil influences or even secure active co-operation of spirit powers.

The Ojibways. By far the most numerous of the Indian stocks referred to is, and was, the Algonquin. It was probably peoples of the Algonquin stock who had driven the early Mound Builders from Minnesota, and occupied Minnesota during their absence. But for some time previous to the coming of Columbus, Algonquins were living on the Atlantic slope. Wlien the French came to Canada they found these Indians in possession of the St. Lawrence up to Lake Ontario, and of an indefinite region north of the Great Lakes. For centuries the Algonquin Indians worked their way westward, following the Great Lakes. Possibly they had previously worked their way eastward and in this westward migration were merely returning to the homes of their own ancestors, just as the Sioux Indians in coming up the Mississippi some five hundred years ago, probably likewise returned to the home of their own ancestors. In their westward migration, the vanguard of the Algonquin host was the large and gifted tribes known as the Chippewas or Ojibways. Many were the sanguinary conflicts they had with the Iroquois, the "Nadowe," or "Adders," who possessed the south shore of Lake Erie and other regions. Farther west they came in contact with the Dakotas, whom they called the "Nadoweisiv" (the French wrote it Nadowessioux or Nadowaysioux, from the last syllable of which we have Sioux) or "Little Adders," and some other Indian tribes, both Siouan and Algonquian, like the Sauks, Foxes and Winnebagoes. Some three centuries ago we find them in full control of both the south and north shore of Lake Superior. This is a region rich in fur bearing animals, and very early in the seventeenth century the Indian hunter of the Great Lakes and the white fur trader discovered each other, and maintained ever afterwards a continuous trade relation. Firearms, the iron kettle, the knife and

Early in the eighteenth century, so scholars believe, the Ojibways were in possession of even the western shores of Lake Superior, and liunted as far west as the St. Louis river could serve them as a highway. The Dakotas were in [)ossession of the wonderful lake-aud-river region we have described. The highway of this region was the ^Mississippi. Where the Mississippi in its great swing eastward comes nearest to Lake Superior we tind just east of the river a beautiful lake, called, from its sandy beach, Sandy lake. The Savanna river empties into this lake, and from this river to the East Savanim river which empties into the St. Louis river, is the jiortage between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes; and at Sandy lake, according to tradition, the two iiowerful tribes, the Dakota and tlii^ Ojibway, fiivst met.

The Ojibway-Dakota Conflict. It was a case of, not love, but hate and war at tirst sight. Though the boundless forest could easily have supported them both, grasping human nature would not permit peace. Still, we must not imagine that the war was uninterrupted. Periods of peace, or rather truce, abounded. The two tribes often hunted and gathered rice together. They even intermarried. But whenever a member of one tribe injured or killed a person belonging to the other, the tribal feud law, common among primitive peoples, and not extinct among the "mountain whites'' of our own day and nation, demanded that the injured man's family and tribe take vengeance on the offender's kin. Thus two rival tribes found almost constant cause for war, as there was no lack of degenerate or careless people whose deeds of violence or guile must be revenged, in addition to tribal jealousy and rivalry over possession of hunting grounds.

The Ojibways, while perhaps not the match of the Dakota in skill, strength and cunning, were the stronger because in their contact with the whites they had obtained a plentiful supply of firearms and iron implements. Slowly but surely they expelled the Dakotas from the great hunting zone of northern Minnesota. The great Dakota village at Mille Lacs fell into the hands of the Ojibway. J. Y. Brower thinks the date was about IT'jO. All of the Jlississippi region above Brainerd was in the hands of the Ojibways. Still they pressed southward. Stearns county, just north of Wright county, was for over a century in the frontier between the Dakotas and the Ojibways. An attempt was made by the treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1825 to stop the age-long feud between the Dakota and the Ojibway; and the United States, acting as a friendly conciliating and arbitrating power, got the hostile tribes to agree to a division of their territory. This boundary line ran diagonally across ilinnesota from the neighborhood of Marine, a few miles south of Tailors Falls on the St. Croix, in an irregular line to Georgetown on the Red river, the general direction being northwest. The portion of the boundary between the Dakota and the Ojibway, extending from Chippewa river to Otter Tail lake, was surveyed in 1835 by S. A. Bean. The line enters Stearns county where the Watab empties into the Mississippi, and according to treaty, follows this stream to its source; but by this surveyor, according to Winchell, in "The Aborigines of Minnesota," "the head of the Watab river was assumed to be a small lake located in the N. E. corner of T. 124 N., R. 30 W., which is in reality the head of a tributary to that stream, the actual main source of the river being a number of miles to the southwe.st." This lake chosen by the surveyor must be one of the lakes near St. John's College, at Collegeville, in Stearns county. From here the line runs almost parallel with the Great Northern main line, diverging, however, slightly from it, so that the boundary crosses the western edge of the county some three or four miles from its northwest corner. North of this line we have Ojibway Stearns and south of it is Dakota Stearns. The Indians were never known to respect this line to any appreciable extent, but in all its subsequent treaties with the Indians, the United States government religiously recognized this line as dividing the territorial rights of the "Sioux" and "Chippewa" "nations."

In these raids of the two hostile tribes, the Mississippi was often the highway. Thus, about the time of the great French and Indian war, when the English and the French were fighting on three continents, the Ojibways and the Dakotas imitated their civilized brethren as well as they could, but their slaughter was only a small affair in comparison. However, what they lacked in magnitude of slaughter they made up in ferocity and truly savage heartless cruelty.

Let us trace briefly one series of attacks. Some time near the middle of the eighteenth century a gay and powerful flotilla of Dakota canoes paddled up the river, and leaving it at the Crow Wing confluence, went to Leach lake and began a cii'cuit of murder of women and children in the populous communities of Ojibways living on the great initial loop of the Mississippi. The expedition ended disastrously for the assailants, however, for in the battle of Crow river they were routed by their adversaries. As a result, the Dakotas thought best to evacuate the Rum river country and move their villages farther south.

The belt of timber known as the Big Woods, extending southwest from the Mississijjpi about one hundred miles, and comprising the greater part of what is now Wright county, was evidently, even in historic times, the scene of many a fierce conflict between the Sioux and the Chippewas. The Chipi)e\vas from their territory to the northeast of this county would watch for tlie Sioux when the hitter came here to hunt, fish and gather cranberries, and by sudden raids captured many a Sioux scalp. But the Sioux in turn would watch for the Chippewas at the Otsego, Clearwater and ]\Ionticello prairies, and wreak terrible vengeance. D. R. Farnham is responsible for the following:

"In attemjiting to cross the Mississippi river, just above the present village of Montieello, at the head of the island in the river, in the year 1820, a large party of raiding Chippewas were overtaken by the enfuriated Sioux, when they were about to cross the river, and many were killed, the band of Chippewas being nearly annihilated. The bones of the victims of these Chippewa raiders are scattered through the timbers and on the edges of the prairie. The arrowheads and tomahawks are turned up by the plow in many places."

The Sioux or Dakotas of the Spirit lake, the M'dewakanton (commonly rendered Medawakanton) Sioux as they are called in history, had nmde canoe trips as far south as the Illinois country even in the days of their residence at Mille Lacs. Consequently, after being driven from the Mille Lacs region, and later forced from the Rum river region, they were perfectly familiar with the desirable sites in southern Minnesota. Therefore these Medawakantons, with whom were probably mingled the Mantantons and otlu-r subsidiary bands, gradually established villages at various points from what is now Lake Calhoun in Hennepin county down the Mississippi nearly to the Iowa state line and up the Minnesota a considerable distance. Possibly in thus locating their villages they drove the lowas from around the region of the mouth of the Minnesota. This is not certain. Even when the Sioux were in the Mille Lacs region they hunted in Wright county, and when the Lake Calhoun band took up its residence in Hennepin county, Wright county was the scene of frequent journeys. Later the Lake Calhoun band moved to Oak Grove, eight miles up the Minnesota river from Ft. Snelling, but the region between the Crow and Clearwater rivers continued to be a general hunting ground.

In the time of Hennepin the Mantauton Sioux territory seems to have extended from the Crow river northward, and it is likely that they, as well as their kinsman of the Medawakanton and subsidiary bands, hunted in this region, before the tribes became commingled.

So far as modern research has learned, Wright county contained no permanent Indian villages from the time when the aborigines ceased to build mounds up to the time that Minnesota was admitted as a territory. Its lakes and prairies and forests were favorite hunting grounds, the Crow and Clearwater rivers were well-known water-paths, and the Mississippi was a great highway of war and of the chase, but no band made its headquarters here permanently, until the coming of the Winnebagoes. The vicinity of Buft'alo lake in particular in historic times was a famous camping ground of the Sioux where tliey came in summer to fish and gather cranberries and in the winter to hunt deer. In still earlier times they came to hunt buffalo and catch beaver. Rockford was another favorite camping place.

The Winnebago Indians actually occupied Wright county for a while, and had large villages in several localities. They made strenuous efforts to have the area along the northwest side of the Crow river in Wright county and westward assigned to them as a reservation. The Ho-tchun-graws, or Winnebagoes, belong to the Siouan family of aborigines. Champlain, although he never visited them, mentions them. Nicollet, who had been in his employ, visited Green Bay about the year 1635, and an early Relation mentions that he saw the Ouinipegous, a people called so, because they came from a distant sea, which some French erroneously called Puants. Another writer speaking of these people says: "This people are called 'Les Puants' (The Stinkers) not because of any bad odor peculiar to them, but because they claim to have come from the shores of a far distant lake, towards the north, whose waters are salt. They call themselves the people 'de I'eau puants,' of the putrid or bad water." The Winnebagoes were many times removed by the United States, first from central Wisconsin to Iowa, then from Iowa to Minnesota, and subsequently from Minnesota to the Missouri river. The story of their subsequent wanderings is beyond the limits of this work.

The Last Sioux Encampments. After the Winnebagoes were removed in 1855, tlie Sioux continued to roam through Wright county, hunting, fishing, trapping, making maple sugar, and gathering various fruits and berries. They established large temporai-y villages at various places. Of their last villages in this county, George W. Florida, Secretary of the Wright County Old Settlers' Association, who as a boy was the playmate of the young Indians, has written the following:

In December, 1857, Little Crow's band of Sioux Indians camped on the edge of Rockford village on the ground now occupied by the fifty feet embankment of the "Soo" line. In many ways this was an interesting experience, having this large encampment of picturesque Indians, with their tribal customs, spending the winter only two village blocks from our house. We found them good neighbors at that time. The ice on the mill pond furnished good play grounds for the young Indians and the village boys. We were all equipped with moccasins and could

We would visit their eainj) and wateli tlie jtow-wows and danees with <rreat interest. I think they were honest as a rule. Bishop Whipple, in speaking of the integrity of the Indians, said that he was visiting one of their most northern villages, and wished to go to a remote band, whieh lie eould reaeh only by eanoe and walking. He felt anxious about leaving his vestments, robes and jewels, fearing they might be stolen. He asked his Indian guide if it would be safe to leave them there. "Oh yes, Bishop," said his guide, "there is not a white man within one hundred miles of this place."

Clinton Crandall, superintendent of the Indian srliools at Pierre, South Dakota, says he is acquainted with a number of Indian families who say that they were with Little Crow at Rockford in 1857. They have good farms and well educated and refined families. They say that they regret the outbreak of 1862. Catherine Cassidy, a teacher at the Sisseton Reservation, has talked with Indians who told her that they were in Rockford with Little Crow's band. She says that they are good citizens, and have educated families.

In September, 1858, the Indians were to go to their reservation on the IMinnesota river below the Redwood river, but Big Star, with his band of about ninety lingered in the vicinity of Bufli'alo. The white hunters were not willing to divide the game with them and took measures to remove them from Wright county. An order was secured, and taken to them by J. M. Powers. Their camp was near the site of Chatham. The order limited the time to ten days. As they still remained at the end of this time, the hunters, ten in number, from Buffalo, Rockford and Greenwood, armed with rifles, marched to the Indian camp to enforce the order. They found the camp broken up and the Indians moving west. The ultimatum of the hunters was that they should go through Hennepin county by crossing at Rockford. The braves were not in evidence when the hunters overtook the heavily laden squaws and ponies, and turned them back through Buffalo to Rockford. This town was reached just at sunset. During the afternoon, the braves, in war paint, carrying rifles, joined the band, marching haughtily behind the train in front of the hunters. Crow river was the county line. When the middle of the bridge was reached the young braves stopped and fired their rifles, skipping the bullets on the water up and down the county line. The squaws and ponies were tired from carrying their heavy packs, and all rested on the east bank. They made their camp on Edgar creek, one-half mile south of the village, near the big temple mound built by the Mound Builders, and overlooking the river, at the mouth of the creek. Fearing retaliation for this humiliation, our mother sat up all night. The Indians did not forget, and in 1862, at the time of the outbreak, promised to burn the village. We had the deepest sympathy for them in being obliged to leave the blue lakes and beautiful woods of this county.

Sauks and Foxes. The Sauks and the Foxes seem at one time to have ranged the region of the Crow, Clearwater, Sauk and Watab rivers, and have left their names in such designations as Osakis, Osakis lake, Sauk river, Sauk Rapids and Sauk Centre. Possibly their period here was just before the Sioux left the Mille Lacs region, as there are traditional accounts of a battle in which the Chippewas defeated the Sioux and the Foxes combined, after which the Sioux never again attempted to live in the northern part of the state. Within historic times the Sauks and the Foxes lived south of Minnesota, and were bitter enemies of the Sioux, making many murderous attacks on their villages.

Another theory as to the existence of Sauks in this region was advanced by L. W. Collins in a paper read before the Stearns County Old Settlers' Association in 1897. He said in part:

"Five Sacs (Sauks), refugees from their o\\ti tribe on account of murder which they had committed, made their way up to what is now known as Osakis lake, and settled near the outlet, upon the east side. Three had wives of their own people, but the other two ultimately took wives of the Fond du Lac band of Chippewas. The men were great hunters and traded at the post of the Northwestern Fur Company, located on the lower Leaf lake, about six miles east of the eastern extremity of Otter Tail lake. This post was visited by bands of Sioux and Chippewas, and the traders were frequently entertained by deadly conflicts among their visitors. The Sac Indians were known to the Chippewas as 0-zau-kees. On one of the excursions made by some of the pillager bands of Chippewas to the asylum of the 0-zaukees, it was found that all had been killed, supposedly by the Sioux." This story has the same flavor possessed by most of the tales told to the white questioners by the modern Indian. Even if it is true, the main body of the Sauks from whom these five are supposed to have fled might have been in this region. As to the location of the main band, Judge Collins' informant had no knowledge.

Summary. Possibly Eskimos once lived in Wright comity, and followed the last retreating glacier northward. Possibly they were followed by peoples of the Siouan stock, who built a few of the mounds. The Siouan peoples were probably driven out by Algonquian peoples, and settled for the most part in the upper Ohio region. Some five hundred years ago, Siouan peoples returned to this region, possibly drove out such scattering Algon- quian peoples as they found here, and built most of the mounds. These returning Siouan peoples, the Jlound Builders, were probably the ancestors of the Sioux (Dakota) Indians, whom Ileuuepiu found ranging the upper Mississippi region with headquarters at Mille Lacs. After Hennepin's time, the Chiiipewas (Ojibways) drove the Sioux from Jlille Laes, and they established villages further soutli. Wright county, wliich thus lay between the two nations, became a battlegrmnid. In the fifties, after the arrival of the white settlers in IMiiuiesota, bands of Winnebagoes and of Sioux hat! villages in Wright county.

The Life of the Indian. Here may be the proper place to notice the gi-e;it anil sad change which has conu' over the life of the Indian since the far-otV days of which we have spoken. The life of the red barbarian before he came in contact with civilization, and even later when he got no more from the whites than his gun, knife, kettle and blanket, was, though primitive, poor and coarse, still not mean aiul base. Tlie Indian was healthy and sound in body and mind, and true and loyal to his standai'ds of morality. To be sure, his standards were not our standards, aiul we often consider them crude and low: but as they were the best the Indian knew, his fidelity to his moral code is worthy of all honor.

But evil days came for the simjde child of the forest, when as scum on the advancing frontier wave of civilization came the firewater, the vices and the diseases of civilized man. Neither his physical nor his spiritual oi'ganization is pi-ej)ared to withstand these powerful evils of a stronger race, and the lu'imitive red man has often, perhaps generally, been reduced to a pitiful parasite on the civilized comnuniit.y, infested with the diseases, the vernun and the vices of the white man and living in a degradation and squalor that oidy civilization can furnish.

The white man took from the Indian all his jirimitive virtues, and gave him none of the virtues of the white nmn in rettirn. He taught the red nuui all of the evils of civilization before he was advanced enough to accept its advantages, and tried to make him conform suddenly with those habits of life which with the race has been the development of ages. Thus burdened with the white man's vices, his own natural mode of living suddenly made impossible, driven here and there by the onrush of civilization, cheated and defrauded by traders and government officials alike, the Indian has degenerated initil he is only a travesty on the noble kings of the forest who once held sway in the upper Mississippi valley. But a change is now coming with an awakened public conscience. And the results are encouraging. The census seems to indicate that the Indian is no longer a vanishing race. Steady and considerable progress is made in his civilization, and his physical condition is improving.

Coming Of The Winnebagoes

By various treaties, airioug which may be mentioned those of September 15, 1832, and November 1, 1837, the Winnebagoes reliuqnislied their lands in Wisconsin, and agreed to remove to a reservation in a certain portion of the "neutral strip,'' in northeastern Iowa. The removal, in part, was accomplished. October 13. 1846, they signed a treaty agreeing to remove from Iowa to Minnesota. In furtherance of this project the United States obtained land from the Chippewas immediately adjoining a part of the Sioux territory on the north. The land thus selected took in portions of Morrison, Todd and Stearns county, and generally speaking may be said to have been bounded by the Mississippi, Crow Wing, Long Prairie and Watab rivers. The tract became known as the Long Prairie reservation. The removal to this reservation was accomplished in 1848. There were many desertions from the main body of the tribe, and at Winona the Indians absolutely refused to go further. Bloodshed was narrowly averted. However, the danger passed, and by August 1, 1848, the main bod}^ of the Winnebagoes was encamped on the north bank of the Watab, within their new reservation. But there was still much dissatisfaction among them, and many more desertions. The seven years, 1848 to 1855, during which the Long Prairie reservation was supposed to be the home of the Winnebagoes, were filled with turmoil and discontent. The agency was located on Long Prairie river, forty miles from the Mississippi river. Only a few, however, located near the agency post. Many were scattered along the Mississippi, and some returned to Wisconsin and Iowa. Many roved about in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota with no settled abode.

The Sioux treaties of 1851 were no sooner negotiated than the Winnebagoes, aided by interested whites, endeavored to secure a part of the land ceded. October 26, 1852, Governor Alexander Ramsey presented to the government a proposition from the Winnebagoes that they would relinquish their Long Prairie reservation, with which they were dissatisfied, if the government would grant them a tract of some 500,000 acres "lying immediately north of the Crow river," that is, on the west bank of the Mississippi river, including much of Wright county. In case this was granted, all the scattered Winnebago bands agreed to settle in Wright county. Governor Willis A. Gorman, ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs in Minnesota, reported in 1853 that by General J. E. Fletcher (who had come with the Winnebagoes from Iowa) and himself, an exchange had been eomplete<l by which the Winnebagoes' new home on the Crow river (in Wright" county) would yield them permanent satisfaction. He reported, however, that there were some whites who objected to the change.

as those whites tU'sired to inak<' liopns eliiiins in Wrifjht eouiily and cut olY tlie valuabh- timber with no intent of nialcinf^ their actual residence thei-e. The oeeupaney liy tiie Winnebaf^oes wonld prevent tliis profitable and dishonest luniheriii};. (JovH'rnor (lornian in his report further states that the huul north of tiie Crow river abonndrd in wild riec in atnindancr and was ]iientifully su])- plied with ^anie. lie also ileelared that except loi' strips alonj; the Mississippi and a few prairies, tht> land now einbraeed in Wrij^ht county was lit only for the Indians, and not adapted to white settlement.

On September S, 1853, only 300 of the orij,'inal band of 2,r)00 Winnebagoes remained on tiie Long Prairie reservation. Although' the government had not ratified the (lorman-Fletciier arrangement, many of the Winnebagoes liail already moved to Wright county. The principal village was established on the shores of ButValo lake, on the present site of the village of ButTalo, where as late as 1855, the cabins and tepees of the Winnebagoes covered a wide tract. Other imjiortant villages were in what are now Otsego and Rockford. Tlu're was mucli ob.ieetion on the ])art of the whites to allowing the Indians to remain here, and it was proposed that the Winnebagoes be again removed to the southern branch of the Crow river, to include the Red Cedar Island lake, or even to a location still farther west. Finally, however, another location was selected for them. So, on February 127, 1855, another treaty was made with them, and that spring they removed to lands on the Blue Earth river. Owing to the panic caused by the outbreak of the Sioux in 1862, Congress, by a special act, witliout consulting tliem, in 1863, removed them from their fields to I\Iinuesota to the Missouri river, and in the words of a missionary, "they wer(>, like the Sioux, dumjied in the desert, one hundreil miles above Fort Randall."

Indian Treaties

FVora prehistoi'ic days up to the time of the treaty signed at Mendota, August 5, 1851, ratified and amended b.v the Unite«I States Senate, June 23, 1852, and proclaimed by President Millard Fillmore Februarj^ 24, 1853, the land now embraced in Wright county remained in the nominal possession of the Indians. Before this treaty, however, several agreements were made between the Indians of this vicinity and the United States government, regarding mutual relations and the ceding of lands. The first of these was the treaty with Pike in 1805, by wliich land at the mouths of the Minnesota and St. Croix rivers was ceded to the government for military purposes.

Visit to Washington. In 1816, the War of 1M12 having been brought to a close, the Indians of this vicinity made peace with the United States and signed treaties placing the Sioux of this ueighborliood "in all things and in every respect on the same footing upon which they stood before the late war. ' ' Perpetual peace was promised, and it was agreed that "every injury or act of hostility committed by one or the other of the contracting parties against the other shall be mutually forgiven and forgotten." The tribes recognized the absolute authority of the United States. After Ft. Snelling was established, the officers at various times engineered peace pacts between various tribes, but these were usually quickly broken.

In the spring of 1824 the tirst delegation of Sioux Indians went to Washington to see their "Great Father," the president. A delegation of Chippewas accompanied, and both were in charge of Major Lawrence Taliaferro. Wabasha, then properly called Wa-pa-ha-sha or Wah-pah-hah-sha, the head chief of the band at Winona ; and Little Crow, head of the Kaposia band ; and Wahuatah, were the principal members of the Sioux delegation. When the delegation had gone as far as Prairie du Chieu, Wabasha and Wahnatah, who had been influenced by traders, desired to turn back, but Little Crow persuaded them to continue. The object of the visit was to secure a convocation of all of the upper Mississippi Indians at Prairie du Chien, to define the boundary line of the lauds claimed by the separate tribes and to establish general and permanently friendly relations among them. The party made the trip in keel boats from Fort Snelling to Prairie du Chien, and from there to Pittsburgh by steamboat, thence to Washington and other eastern cities by land.

Prairie du Chien Treaty of 1825. This treaty, signed August 19, was of importance to the Indians who ranged Wright county in that it fixed certain general boundaries, and confirmed the fact that tlie present county lay entirely in Sioux territory. The treaty was participated in by the Chippewa, Sauk (Sac) and Fox; Menominee, Iowa, Sioux, Winnebago ; and a portion of the Ottawa, Cliippewa and Potawatomi tribes living on the Illinois.

The line between the Sioux and the confederated Sauks and Foxes extended across a part of northern Iowa. It was declared in the treaty to run up the ITpper Iowa (now the Oneota) river to its left fork, and up that fork to its source ; thence crossing the Cedar river to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines, and in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet (Big Sioux) river, and down that river to the ]\Iissouri river. On both sides of this line extended a tract which came to be known as the "Neutral Strip," into which the Winnebagoes were later moved as a buft'er between the Sioux and their enemies to the south.

The eastern boundary of the Sioux territory was to commence on the east bank of the Mississippi river opposite the mouth of the "loway" river, running back to the bluifs and along the bluffs to th(> Bad Axe river, thence to the mouth of the Black river, and thence to half a day's march, below the I'alls of liie Chippewa. East of this line, generally speaking, was tiie Winnebago country, though the Menominee country lay about Green Bay, Lake ilieliigan and the Milwaukee river, aiul the Menominees claimed as far west as the Black river. The Chippewa country was to be to the north of the Winnebagoes and Rlenominees, and east of the northern line of the Sioux country, the line between the Chippewa and the Sioux beginning at a point a half a day's march below the falls of the Chippewa, thence to the Red Cedar river immediately below the falls, thence to a point on the St. Croix river, a day's paddle above the lake at the mouth of that river, and thence northwestward across the present state of Minnesota. The line crossed the Mississippi at the mouth of the Watab river just above St. Cloud. Thus both sides of the Mississippi during its course along Wright county were included in Sioux territory.

The boundary lines were certainly, in many respects, rjuite indefinite, and whether this was the trouble or not, in any event, it was but a few months after the treaty when it was evident that none of the signers were willing to be governed by the lines established, and har<lly by any others. The first article of the treaty provided: "There shall be a firm and jierpetual peace between the Sioux and the Chippewas ; between the Sioux and the confederated tribes of Sacs and Fo.xes; and between the 'loways' and the Sioux."' But this provision was more honored in the breach than the observance, and in a little time the tribes named were tlying at one another's throats and engaged in their oldtime hostilities.

Sioux Treaty of 1837. The second Treaty of Prairie du Chien, signed in 1830, and the Wabasha Treaty of 1836, were not important to Wright county, but were steps toward the final cession of the territory including this county. The treaty of 1837, however, ceded to the United States the islands lying in and along Wright county in the ]\Iississippi, and also the land across the Mississippi river from Wright county. Thus civilization was gradually approaching.

In the spring of 1837, x\gent Lawrence Taliaferro was instructed to organize an authoritative and reliable delegation of Medawakanton Sioux to proceed to Washington and make a treaty ceding all the lands claimed by them east of the west bank of the Mississippi. These lands were a strip on the east side of the Mississippi, varying in width from the mouth of the Bad Axe to the mouth of the Watab, and also the islands in the river. A delegation of about twenty Sioux chiefs and head men accordingly went to Washington, accompanied by various white men then living in the Northwest, and signed the treaty. The Sioux were to receive goods, and an annuity of goods and moneys. Cer- tain moneys were also to be expended l)y the government for civilization, that is for the support of a physician, farmers and blacksmiths, and for the purchase of medicines, agricultural implements, mechanics' tools, cattle and other goods. A part of the payment was to be withheld and expended at the discretion of the President of the United States. Certain annuities were to be paid for twenty years.

The Doty Treaty. The Doty Treaty, made at Traverse des Sioux (St. Peter), in July, 1841, failed to be ratified by the United States Senate. This treaty embodied a Utopian dream that a territorj^ of Indians could be established, in which the redmen would reside on farms and in villages, living their lives after the style of the whites, having a constitutional form of government, with a legislature of their own people elected by themselves, the governor to be appointed by the president of the United States, much along the plan long followed with the Cherokees in what is now Oklahoma, except that it embodied for the Indians a much higher type of citizenship than was found in Oklahoma. The Indians were to be taught the arts of peace, to be paid annuities, and to be protected by the armies of the United States from their Indian enemies on the west. In return for these benefits to be conferred upon the Indians, the United States was to receive all the lands in what is now Minnesota, the Dakotas and northwestern Iowa. This ceded land was not to be opened to the settlement of the whites, and the plan was to have some of it reserved for Indian tribes from other parts of the country who should sell their lands to the United States, and who, in being moved here, were to enjoy all the privileges which had been so beautifully planned for the native Indians. But no one can tell what would have been the result of this experiment, for the senate, for political reasons, refused to ratify the treaty, and it failed of going into effect. This treaty was signed by the Sisseton, Wahpeton and Wahpakoota bands at Traverse des Sioux, July 31, 1841, and by the Medawakanton bands at Mendota, August 11 of the same year.

Preliminaries to Final Session. After Minnesota was admitted as a territory the necessity of obtaining from the Indians the title to the land was apparent. The first territorial legislatiu-e, at the recommendation of Governor Alexander Ramsey, presented a petition to Congress in October, 1849, asking that measures be taken toward that end. But the government had already made efforts in the same direction. In June, 1849, Orlando Brown, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, had addressed an official letter on the subject to Thomas Ewing, then United States secretary of the interior. Secretary Ewing appointed Governor Ramsey and John Chambei-s, the latter of whom had been territorial governor of Iowa, to conduct the negotiations. As Congress failed to make an ap[)ropriation for the puri)ose. Commissioner Brown determined to pay the expense out of tlie "small current approj)riations"' fund of his office. Coniniissioiier Hrown, however, had no true idea of tiie value of the land he wished the government to secure.

The proposed treaty of 1849 was never made. A call was issued to the Sioux to meet at Ti'averse des Sioux and Mendota, but when ("ommissioners Ramsey and Chambers readied those places, the Indians were engaged in other parts of the country hunting after game and wild rice.

At Jlendota, however, a treaty was nuide with some of the chiefs of the ]\Iedawakanton and Wapakoota bands for the purchase of the Half-Breed tract, which had been set asiile July 15, 1830, for the Siou.x mixed bloods. This ti'eaty was forwarded to Washington but was not ratilied by the senate. However, the agitation for the opening of ilinnesota continued, and resulted iu 18")! in the treaties now so familiar to all students of history.

Treaty of Traverse des Sioiix. In the spring of 1851 President Fillmore appointed Governor Alexander Ramsey and Luke Lea as commissioners to open negotiations with the Indians for the purpose of opening to settlement what is now the greater part of Minnesota. The conference was held at Traverse des Sioux (now St. Peter), between the chiefs and head men of the Sisseton and Wahpeton, or L^pper Bauds, as they were called, and the two commissioners. The Indians were accompanied by their families, and many prominent pioneers were also present. The meeting held under a brush arbor erected by Alexis Bailly, and one of the incidents of the procedings was the marriage of two mixed blood people, David Faribault and Nancy Winona McClure, the former the son of Jean Baptist Faribault, and the latter the daughter of Lieutenant James McClure. The treaty was signed July 22, 1851, and provided that the upper bands should cede to the United States all their land in Iowa as well as their lands east of a line from the Red river to Lake Traverse and thence to the northwestern corner of Iowa.

Treaty of Mendota. From July 29, 1851, to August 5, IMendota was the scene of the conference which opened Wright county and so large a portion of ilinuesota to settlement. The chiefs and head men of the lower bands were thoroughly familiar with the proceedings of the Indians and the representatives of the United States at Traverse des Sioux and all were on hand that bright August day, waiting for the negotiations to open at Mendota. The first session was held in the warehouse of the fur company at that place, but the Indians found the atmosphere stifling, and not in accord with their usual method of outdoor councils, so the consideration of the treaty was taken up under a large brush arbor, erected by Alexis Bailly, on an elevated plain near the high prominence known as Pilot Knob. Dr. Thomas

Foster was secretary for Commissioners Lea and Ramsey; the interpreters were Alexander Faribault, Philander Prescott and Rev. G. H. Pond ; the white witnesses were David Olmsted, W. C. Henderson, Alexis Bailly, Richard Chute, Henry Jackson, A. L. Carpenter, William H. Randall, A. S. H. White, H. L. Dousman, Fred C. Sibley, Martin McLeod, George N. Faribault and Joseph A. Wheelock.

At the opening of the first day's session the white commissioners explained the object of the gathering. Wabasha, the head chief of the Medawakantons, made a speech in which he said that the Indians had not yet received the money due them under the treaty of 1837 and that they did not feel inclined to make any new agreements with the United States until the government had kept its former agreements and paid for the land already obtained- The comnussioners explained to him that there was an agreement in the 1837 treaty that a portion of the money was to be paid them at the pleasure and discretion of the president, and that the president was withholding it. Colonel Lea said there would be no trouble about the money then due the Indians if they would sign this new treaty. Governor Ramsey said that the president thought that the money due the Indians should be expended for the education of the Indian children. There was some further discussion, and then the council adjourned for the day.

The next day when the council opened, Wabasha, as head chief, rose and said that he would sit and listen that day and let the other chiefs talk. After a long silence Little Crow, whose band was at Kaposia, now South St. Paul, made a lengthy and eloquent speech, in which he reiterated Wabasha's demand that the money already due them be paid before they made any more treaties. There was then a long discussion, but Little Crow declared that the Indians would talk about nothing else but the money already due them. The council then adjourned until it should be called by the Indians.

The next afternoon the Indians assembled at the council house and sent for the commissioners, but none of the red men would talk, and after going over the matter again the commissioners left, apparently in great anger.

There was then an interval of four days spent by the whites in preparing a treaty whieli woidd be acceptable to the Lidians. In the meantime the Indians had become reconciled to a certain extent. Wabaslia still opposed the new treaty, but many of the others favored it.

August 5, the council again assembled. After the opening ceremony, the papers were spread out for the Indians to sign. "Who will sign first?" asked Governor Ramsey. Colonel Lea

Then "Wabasha arose. Tie was the head eiiief of the IMedawakantons and the one who should pi'oiH'rly sign first. lie said: "You have requested us to sign these papers and you have told these jieople standing around that it is for their benefit; hut I do not think so. In the treaty you have prepai-ed you have said a lot about farmers, schools, i)hysieians, traders and half-breeds who are to be paid out of oin- monej'. To all of these I am opposed. You see these ehiefs sitting around here. They - and some others who are dead - weut to Washington sonu' years ago and made a treaty in whieh the same things were said : but W(> were not benefited by them and 1 want them struck out of this one. We want nothing but cash for our lands. Another thing; You have named a place for our home, but it is a praii'ie country. I am a man used to the woods and do not like the prairie ; perhaps some of those who are here will name a place we will all like better. Another thing ; When I went to Washington to see our Great FaTlier, he asked us for our land and we gave it to him, and he agreed to furnish us goods and provisions for twenty years. I wish to remain in this country until that time expires.

But Colonel Lee, knowing Wabasha's influence and recognizing the truth of what he said made an indignant and severe reply to Wabasha. He declared that the chief was neither a friend of the white man nor the Indians, that he had been foolish in advising the Indians to ask .$6,000,000 for their land, that he had been deceitful in wishing that the IMedawakantous should make a treaty of their own with the government instead of joining with the other tribes in making the treaty, and that the whites did not expect to be able to make a treaty that would suit his views, for he was opposed to any kind of a treaty at that time.

Then there was another discussion in which the Indians endeavored to secure acknowledgment for some papers by which they had given lands to certain individuals. The commissioners refused to consider this proposition. Then there was still another long discussion, especially as to the location of the reservation. After speeches by several chiefs, Wabasha asked if the chiefs and second chiefs were to be distinguished froTu the warriors, or if they were to receive more money than the common Indians. Colonel Lee declared that each chief ought to receive a medal and be provided with a good house. Wabasha then arose and turning his back to the commissioners spoke to the warriors. He told them that the young men among them had declared that they would kill the first man that signed the treaty, but that they had at the same time secretly agreed among themselves to sell the land. One of the young Indians denied that there was any intention of killing any of the chiefs. He acknowledged, however, that the warriors had decided to sell the land and that they had a right to for the land belonged to them and not to the chiefs. Then there was another discussion.

Finally after a speech to the warriors Little Crow signed the treaty. To the general surprise of all, Wabasha was the next to sign. He affixed his mark. Then the other chiefs, head soldiers and principal warriors crowded about and affixed their marks, there being sixty-five Indian signatures in all.

At Mendota, as at Traverse des Sioux, when the treaty was concluded, each Indian signer stepped to another table where lay another paper which he signed. This was called the traders' paper, and was an agreement to pay the "just debts," so called, of the Indians, including those present and absent, alive and dead, owing to the traders and the trading company. Some of the accounts were nearly thirty years old, and the Indians who had contracted them were dead, but the bands assumed the indebtedness and agreed that it might be discharged out of the first money paid them. Wabasha had asked that an itemized bill be presented, saying that he wished to know what he owed for each article purchased. The territory ceded by the two treaties was declared to be: "All their lands in the state of Iowa, and also all their lands in the territory of Minnesota lying east of the following line, to-wit : Beginning at the junction of Bufi'alo river with the Red River of the North (about twelve miles north of Morehead, at Georgetown station, in Clay county) ; thence along the western bank of said Red river of the North, to the mouth of the Sioux Wood river; thence along the western shore of said Sioux Wood river to Lake Traverse ; thence along the western shore of said lake to the southern extremity thereof; thence, in a direct line, to the juncture of Kanipeska lake with the Tehan-Ka-Sna-Duka, or Sioux river ; thence along the western bank of said river to its point of intersection with the northern line of the state of Iowa, including all islands in said rivers and lakes."

The lower bands were to receive $1,410,000, to be paid in the manner and form following : For settling debts and removing themselves to the new reservations, $220,000, one-half to the Medawakanton bands, and one-half to the single Wahpakoota band ; for scliools, mills and opening farms, $30,000. Of the principal of $1,410,000, the sum of $30,000 in cash was to be distributed among the two bands as soon as the treaty was ratified, and $28,000 was to be expended annually, under the president's direction, as follows: To a civilization fund, $12,000; to an educational fund, $6,000; for goods and provisions, $10,000. The balance of the principal, or $1,160,000, was to remain in trust with the United States at 5 per cent interest, to be paid annually to the Indians for fifty years, commencing Julv 1, 1852. The

$58,000 aiimiity iiiti-ivst was to \w oxpcndocl as the first installment - $30,000 in easli, $12,000 for civilization, $6,000 for education, and $10,000 for goods and provisions. The back aiumities under the treaty of 1837 remaining unexpired were also to he paid annually. Their reservation was to extend from the mouth of the Yellow Medicine and Hawk creek southeasterly to the mouth of Rock creek, a tract twenty miles wide and about fortyfive miles in length. The lialf-breeds of the Sioux were to receive in cash $150,000 in lieu of lands allowed them under the Prairie du Chien treaty of 1830, but which they had failed to claim.

The written copies of the Traverse des Sioux and the Mendota treaties, duly signed and attesteit, wore forwarded to Washington to be acted ujion by the senate at the ensuing session of congress. An unreasonably long delay resulted. Final action was not had until the following summer, when, on July 23, the senate ratified both treaties with important amendments. The provisions for reservations for both the upper and lower bands were stricken out, and substitutes adopted, agreeing to pay 10 cents an acre for both reservations, and authorizing the president, with the assent of the Indians, to cause to be set apart other reservations, which were to be within tiie limits of the original great cession. The provision to pay $150,000 to the half-bloods of the lower bands was also stricken out. The treaties, with the changes, came back to the Indians for final ratification and agreement to the alterations. The chiefs of the lower bauds at first objected very strenuously, but finally, on Saturday, September 4, 1852, at Governor Ramsey's residence in St. Paul, they signed the amended articles, and the following Monday the chiefs and head men of the upper bands affixed their marks. As amended, the treaties were proclaimed by President Fillmore, February 24, 1853. The Indians were allowed to remain in their old villages, or, if they preferred, to occupy their reservations as originally designated, until the president selected their new homes. That selection was never made, and the original reservations were finally allowed them. Congress on July 31, 1854, having passed an act by which the original provisions remained in force. The removal of the lower Indians to their designated reservation began in 1853, but was intermittent, interrupted, and extended over a period of several years. The Indians went up in detachments, as they felt inclined. After living on the reservation for a time, some of them returned to their old hunting groiuuls, where they lived continuously for some time, visiting their reservation and agency only at the time of the payment of their aniuiities. Finally, by the offer of cabins to live in, or other substantial inducements, nearly all of them were induced to settle on the Redwood Reserve, so that in 1862, at the time of the outbreak, less than twenty families of the Medawakantous and Wahpakootas were living off their reservation. With the subsequent history of these Indians this volume will not treat in detail; the purpose of dealing with the Indians thus far in tliis chapter having been to show the various negotiations by which Wright and other counties came into the possession of the whites and were thus opened for settlement and development.