Wright County, Minnesota - Chapter 5: The Explorers, 1915

Groseilliers and Radisson - Hennepin and Duluth - Le Sueur and Charrille - Carver - Pike - Ft. SneUing Established - Cass and Schoolcraft - Beltrami - NicoUet - Surveys - Chronology.

The Frencli explorers from the settlements in Canada and about the Great Lakes gradually began to penetrate toward Jlinnesota. At various times traders, adventurers and priests disappeared from these settlements. What deaths they met or what experiences they luulerwent will never be known. What places they visited in the wilderness of the upper Mississippi remains a mystery. With the seventeenth century, however, the area that is now I\Iinnesota began to be known to the civilized Avorld.

Groseilliers and Radisson. The meager accounts which these two explorers have left of their two expeditions which are supposed to have penetrated into Minnesota, are capable of more than one interpretation. Dr. Warren Upham believes that Groseilliers and Radisson, the first known white explorers of Minnesota, entered it near the southeast corner, and proceeded up the Mississippi through Lake Pepin to Prairie Island. Here the French explorers and the Indians that accompanied them, together with other Indians, spent the year 1655-1656. Thus when Cromwell ruled Great Britain and Ireland, when the Puritan theocracy was at the height of its glory in New England, and when the great emigration of Cavaliers was still going on to Virginia, Minnesota saw its first white man - unless indeed the Scandinavians visited this region centuries before, as the Kensington Stone avers.

About New Years, 1660, if we may trust Radisson 's narration and its interpretation, our two "Frenchmen" are again in Minnesota. Traveling with a big band of Indians, they passed a severe January and February, with attendant famine, probably (according to Prof. Winchell) at Knife lake, Kanabec county. According to Hon. J. V. Brower (in his monograph "Kathio," 1901) the lake was called Knife lake and the Dakota tribe of this region the Knife tribe (Issanti) because early that spring deputations of Dakotas came to the encampment and here for the first time procured steel knives from the white men and from the Indian band that was with them. Until this time the Stone Age had ruled supreme in the realm of Wright, but now we may well suppose that witliin a short time manj' an enterprising brave cherished as his most precious possession one of these magic knives that cut like a stroke of lightning. Very soon after meeting these Dakotas at Knife lake, Uroseilliers and Radisson went to the great Dakota village at Mille Lacs, and were there receivecT with every mark of friendship and respect.

Now follows the story of a seven days' trip to the prairie home of the "nation of the Boefe" (buffalo), that is to say, the Dakotas living farther west and south. This story seems likelj' to be fiction, but if it is true, there is a fair chance that it was to the region just north of the "Big Woods," the journey went. This was the nearest and most accessible buffalo country from Mille Lacs. So it is possible that tiiese two Frenchmen were the first wliite men to approach Wright county. But the supposition favored by Winchell is that they went due south. However that may be, it is certain tliat with Uroseilliers and Radisson the first glimmer of European civilization reached Wright county.

Hennepin and Du Luth. In journeying from the Mille Lacs region, down what is now the Rum river into the ilississippi river, Hennepin and Du Luth anil their companions in 1680 passed within a few miles of Wriglit county.

Robert Cavelier, better known in history as the Sieur de la Salle, who had built a fort near Lake Peoria, Illinois, decided in February, 1680, to send from there an expedition up the Mississippi. For this task he selected three of his associates. Accordingly, on February 29, 1680, Father Hennepin, with two companions, Picard du Gay (Anthony Auguelle) and Michael Accault (also rendered d 'Accault, Ako, d'Ako and Dacan), the latter of whom was in military connnand of the party, set out in a canoe. They paddled down tlie Illinois to its mouth, where they were detained by floating ice in the Mississippi until Marcli 12. On the afternoon of April 11, while on their way up the Mississippi, they were met by a band of Sioux on the warpath against the Illinois and Miami nation. Being informed, however, that the Miamis had crossed the river and were beyond their reacli, the Indians turned northward, taking the Frenchmen with them as captives. The journey up the river occupied nineteen days.

At the end of the nineteen days, the party landed near the present site of St. Paul, and tlien continued by land five days until they reached the Mille Lacs region. There Aquipaguetiu, the chief who had previously been unfriendly to a certain extent, adopted Hennepin in place of the son he had lost. The other two Frenchmen were adojited by other families. After several months in the Mille Lacs region, Hennepin and Pickard were given permission in July, 1680, to go down the Mississippi to the mouth of

Oil their southward journey, aeeoiniuinied h.\' a Sioux ehiet', Ouasicoude (Wacoota) and a band of Indians, the Krenehmen descended the Rum river, and camped on an eminence ojiposite what is iiow the city of Anoka. Accault was left as a liostaii;e. Contiiiuini; down the river with the Indians, Hennepin ami Pickard came to St. Anthony Falls, which Hennepin named in honor of his jiatron saint. On July II, 1680, while huntin>i for the mouth of the Wisconsin river, the party was overtaken by Hennepin's savafje adopted father, Aquii)agiu'tin, with ten warriors. The two Frenchmen and the Indians then spent some time in the vicinity of Winona, hidint; their meat near the mouth ot the Chippewa, and tlicn hunting on the praiiies further down the river, the old men of the tribe watching on the river blutt's for enemies while the wai-riors killed buffaloes.

July 25, 1G80, the paj'ty encounteretl Daniel (iraysolon, Du Luth and five French soldiers. There is some doubt about the exact sjjot where this meeting took place, but it was probably near the southeast corner of JMinnesota, or possibly a little further south. After the meeting, the eight white men, accompanied by the Indians, went up the river. l)u Luth iiad been exploring the country of the Sioux and the Assiniboines, west of Lake Superior, for two years, and had secured the frienilshi]> of these ver.v Indians who had cajitured Hennepin. ('onse()uently, when he learnetl what had luippened since he last saw them, he rebidced them for their ti'eatnu'iit of the priest, saying that Hennepin was liis brother. The party reached tlie Issanti villages (the Mille Lacs region) August 14, 1680. No mention is made of the route which they took.

Toward the end of September the Frenchmen left the Imlians to return to the French settlements. A chart of the route was given them by Ouasicoude, the great chief. Tlie eight Frenchmen then set out. Hennepin gives the number as eight, though it would seem that the number was nine, for Hennepin and Pickard had met Du Lutli with five soldiers, and when reaching the Issanti villages they must have been re,joined by Accault, though possibly the last named sta.yed with the Indians and jnirsued his explorations. The party passed down the Rum river in the fall of 1680, and started the descent of the Mississippi. After reaching the Wisconsin they went up that river to the portage, thence up the Fox river, thence to Green Bay, and thence to the settlements in Canada.

Thus Hennepin and Du Luth, in their trips in this vicinity, missed what is now W^right county. Accault, one of Hennepin's companions, had been left with the Indians near the present site of Anoka, when Hennepin and Arguille took the memorable down- the-river trip on which they met Du Liith. Accault took many journeys with the Indians, even visiting the Itasca region, and it is not improbable that he may have passed Wright county, or even hunted within its present borders.

Le Sueur and Charleville. From 1681 to 1699, Nicholas Perrot made numerous trips to the country of the upper Mississippi river. Several of his posts were located in the vicinity of the lower end of Lake Pepin. From there he sent out numerous expeditions. One of these expeditions was probably that of Le Sueur and Charleville, who, with the possible exception of Accault, are believed to have been the first white men who ever gazed upon the fair prospect that is now Wright county. This trip was taken about 1690.

Le Sueur wrote an account of this trip to refute certain fictitious narrations by Mathieu Sagean. Le Sueur passed Wright county, in his trip above the Falls of St. Anthony, and possibly went as far up as the outlet of Sandy Lake. Very probably Charleville, whose narration of a similar early expedition of a hundred leagues on the part of the Mississippi above St. Anthony Falls has been preserved, was a companion of Le Sueur, so that the two accounts relate to the same canoe trip. Charleville declares that he was accompanied by two Canadian Frenchmen and two Indians. It is of interest to note that Charleville and Le Sueur were relatives. As in Le Sueur's description of the sources of the great river, Charleville also states that the Indians spoke of the Mississippi as having many sources.

Dr. Warren Upham, secretary of the Minnesota State Historical Society, in a letter says: "Doubtless numerous French and British fur traders and explorers had voyaged along your part of tlie Mississippi many times during more than a century preceding the expedition of Pike, whose narrative journal is our first detailed record of travel on that part of our great river. Probably the earliest explorers were Le Sueur and Charleville, about the year 1690 or earlier. They made a canoe voyage far up the Mississippi, probably, as Brower and Hill have supposed, to a northern limit at the outlet of Sandy lake."

In his excellent and monumental work, "Minnesota in Three Centuries," in Vol. I, pp. 253-4, Upham says: "Brower and Hill come to the conclusion that on the Mississippi at the outlet of Sandy lake, a village of Sioux doubtless then existed, as it has also been during the last century or longer the site of an Ojibway village. The estimates noted, that the distance traveled above the Falls of St. Anthony was about a hundred French leagues, and that an equal distance of the river's course still separated the voyageurs from its sources, agree very closely with the accurate measurements now made by exact surveys, if Le Sueur's journey ended at Sandy lake.

"Very probably Cluirleville, whose narration of a similar early expedition of a hundred leagues on the part of the ]\Iississippi above these falls is pi-eserved by Du Pratz in his 'History of Louisiana,' was a companion of Le Sueur, so that the two accounts relate to the same canoe trip. Charleville said that he was accompanied by two Canadian Frenchmen and two Indians; and it is remarkable that Charleville, like Le Sueur, was a relative of the brothers Iberville and Bienville, who afterwards were governors of Louisiana.""

Le Sueur's subsequent explorations were interesting. In the spring of 1695 he and his followers erected a trading post or fort on Isle Pelee, now Prairie Island, just above Red Wing. Early in the summer of 1695 he returned to Montreal with some Indians, among whom was a Sioux chief named Tioscate, the latter being the tirst Sioux chief to visit Canada. Tioscate died while in Montreal.

In September, 1700, Le Sueur and a party of Frenchmen, in a sailing and rowing vessel ant! two canoes, came up the ]\Iississippi from its mouth, on his way to a place near the present site of Mankato, where he believed copper was to be found. He spent the ensuing winter on the Blue Earth river, and in the spring of 1701 he started down the river with a part of his followers and with a load of green earth which he believed to be copper. In due time he reached the Gulf of ^lexico. The party whom he had left at the garrison on the Blue Earth followed him down the river soon afterward. The fact that seven French traders who had been stripped naked by the Sioux took refuge in Le Sueur's fort on the Blue Earth, and the further fact that those whom he left at the fort, encountered while going down the ^Mississippi a party of thirty-six Frenchmen from Canada at the mouth of the Wisconsin, shows that aside fi'om the explorers recorded in history, various Frenchmen, now unknown, penetrated this region from time to time even at that early day.

Carver. By the treaty of 1763 FYance divided its possessions in the Mississippi valley between England and Spain, England taking the land on the east of the river, nearly to the mouth, and Spain the land on the west. This ended FVench domain in the Mississippi valley, though the French traders still maintained their activities, some unlawfully and some under the pretense of having transferred their allegiance to the British. But the period of French exploration had ended. Jonathan Carver was born in Connecticut in 1732, served in the French and Indian wars and in 1766 was sent by the British government to explore the Northwest. He reached Minnesota from the Great Lakes by way of the Fox, Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. He was probably the first man of English blood to see Wright county. He was accompanied by a French Canadian and several Mohawk Indians. He spent the winter of 1766-67 among the Sioux of the Northwest. In the fall of 1766 when he reached the mouth of the Minnesota he was compelled to leave his canoe by reason of the ice. With a young Winnebago chief he continued his trip on foot up the Mississippi river as far as the mouth of the Elk river, in Sherburne county, opposite Otsego township in Wright county. He turned back November 21. In his travels he calls the Elk river the St. Francis river and confuses it with the Rum river which Hennepin had called the St. Francis. He remarks that no other white men but he and Hennepin have ever ascended the Mississippi river so far. In this he was mistaken and the trips of Le Sueur and Charleville were already on record.

After various explorations. Carver, in the spring of 1767 started for Prairie du Chien where he hoped to purchase goods and supplies. Failing in this object he gave up the idea of returning to the central Minnesota region and reached Lake Superior by way of the Chippewa river and the upper streams of the St. Croix.

He afterward claimed that he made a treaty with the Sioux granting him a tract of land about a hundred miles wide along the east bank of the Mississippi from the Falls of St. Anthony to the southeastern end of Lake Pepin. Before he could get this deed acknowledged in England the Revolutionary war broke out. On the strength of this treaty many claims were from time to time presented to the United States government, but congress has always refused to recognize the claim of Carver's heirs and successors.

Pike. The Revolutionary war coming soon after Carver's trip interrupted English exploration of the Northwest. The Spanish government during its years of nominal possession of the upper Mississippi sent no explorers to this region. The Louisiana pui'chase was transferred to the LTnited States in 1803, and efforts were soon made to explore the new possession. Zebulon M. Pike was born in what is now Trenton, N. J., January 5, 1779, entered the army at fifteen, and became a first lieutenant at twenty. In 1805 Pike received orders to conduct an expedition to the upper rivers and lakes for several purposes. He was to negotiate treaties with the Indians, to secure a conformity with the laws of the United States by the agents of the Northwest company and others engaged in the fur trade and to extend geographical exploration. He started from St. Louis, August 9, 180-5, with twenty soldiers. September 23, 1805, Pike made a treaty with the Indians ceding tracts of land for military purposes at the mouth of the Minnesota and at the mouth of St. Croix. He continued north, reached Pike Rapids in Morrison county, October 16, stayed a part of the winter there, started again December 10, 1805, went as far north as Sandy, Leech and Cass lakes, explained the object of his visit to the fur traders and retunicd to Pike Rapids, JIareli .">, 180G. April 7, he started down the river and reached St. Louis on the last of April, ISOfi.

Pike kept a diary of his adventures. In writiiif^ of tlie lirst few days above St. Anthony P''alLs, which included their trip past Wright county, Pike indites the following particulars :

"October 4, Friday. Rained in the morning but the wind serving, we embarked, though extremely raw and cold. Opposite to the mouth of the Crow river we found a bark canoe, cut to pieces with tomahawks, and the paddles broken on shore: a short distance higher up we saw live more, and continued to see the wrecks until we found eight. From the form of the canoes, my interpreter pronounced them to be Sioux ; and some broken arrows to be the Sauteurs. Tlie paddles were also marked with the Indian sign of men and woiiu'u killed. F'rom all these circumstances we drew this inference, that the canoes had been the vessels of a party of Sioux wlio had been attacked and all killed or taken by the Sauters (also spelled Saulters, meaning the O.iibways, likewise called the Chippewas). Time may di'velop this transaction. Jly interpreter was much alarmed, assuring me that it was probable that at our first <'ncounter with the Chippewas they would take us for Sioux traders, and fire on us before we could come to an explanation ; that thej- had murdered three Frenchmen whom they found on the shore about this place last spring; but notwithstanding his information I was on shore all the afternoon in pursuit of elk. Caught a curious little animal on the prairie which my Frenchman termed a prairie mole (a gopher) hut it is very different from the mole of the states. Distance sixteen miles.

"October 5, Saturday. Hard water and ripples all day. Passed several old Sioux encampments, all fortified. Found five litters in which sick or wounded men have been carried. At this place a hard battle was fought between the Sioux and the Sauters in the year 1800. Distance eleven miles.

"October 6, Sunday. Early in the morning discovered four elk, they swam the river, I pursued them, and wounded one who made his escape into a marsh ; saw two droves of elk. I killed some small game, and .joined the boats near night. Found a small 'red capot' hung upon a tree; this my interpreter informed me was a sacrifice by some Indians to the 'bon Dieu.' I determined to lay by and hunt the next day. Killed three prairie hens and two pheasants. This day saw the lirst elk. Distance 12 miles.

"October 7, Monday. Lay by in order to dry my corn, clothing, etc., and to have an investigation into the conduct of m.y sergeant, against whom some charges were exhibited. Sent several of my men out hunting. I went towards evening and killed some prairie

"October 8, Tuesday. Embai-ked early, and made a very good day's march, had but three rapids to pass all day. Some woodland on the west side, oak ; but the whole bottom covered with the prickly ash. I make a practice to oblige every man who complains of indisposition to march, by which I had some flankers on both sides of the river who were excellent guards against surprise ; they also served as hunters. We had but one raccoon killed by all. Distance twenty miles.

"October 10, Thursday. Came to large islands and strong water early in the morning. Passed the place at which Mr. Reinville and Mons. Perlier wintered in 1797; passed a cluster of islands, more than twenty in a course of four miles ; these I called Beaver islands, from the immense sign of those animals, for they have dams on every island, and roads from them every two or three rods. Encamped at the foot of the Grand Sauk rapids. Distance sixteen and a half miles."

Dr. Coues, in the edition of Pike's Joui'ual, published in 1895, and edited by him, identifies the place of Pike's camp for the night of October 4 as "half way between Elk river and Monticello." The camp on the night of October 5 he places in the "vicinity of Monticello;" the camp on the night of October 6 "about one-third of the way from Monticello to Clearwater," the camp on the night of October 8 in the "vicinity of the Clearwater river," and on October 9 only "three miles" further, between Plum creek and St. Augusta.

"April 7, Monday. Loaded our boats and departed forty minutes past ten o'clock. At one o'clock arrived at Clear river, where we found my canoe and man. Although I had promised the Fols Avoins chief to remain one night, yet time was too precious, and we put off; passed the Grand (Sauk) rapids, arrived at Mr. Dickson's just before sundown ; we were saluted with three rounds, and he treated all my men with a supper and a dram. Mr. Dickson, Mr. Paulier (Porlier) and myself sat up until four o'clock in the morning.

"April 8, Tuesday. Were obliged to remain this day on account of some information to be obtained here. I spent the day in making a rough chart of St. Peters, making notes on the Sioux, etc., settling the affairs of the Indian department with Mr. Dickson, for whose coimnunications, and those of Mr. Paulier,

"April it, Wednesday. Rose eai'ly in the morninf; and commenced my arrangements. Havings observed two Indians di-nnk, during the night, and finding that the liquor had been furnished them by a Mr. Greignor, or Jennesse, I sent my interpreter to them to request that they would not sell any strong liquor to the Indians, upon which Mr. Jennesse demanded the restrictions in writing, wliieh were given to him. On demanding his license, it amounted to no more than merely a certificate that he had paid the tax recjuired by law of the Indiana territory on all retailers of mercliandisc, but it was by no means an Indian license: liowever, I did not tliink proper to go into a more close investigation. Last niglit it was so cold that tlie water was covered witli floating cakes of ice of a strong consistence. After receiving every mark of attention from ^Messrs. Dickson and Paulier, I took my departure at eight o'clock. At four p. m. arrived at the house of Mr. Paulier, twenty-five leagiu's, to whose brother I had a letter. Was received with politeness by him and a Mr. Veau ; wintered along side of him on the very island at which we had camped in ascending.

"April 10, Thursday. Sailed at half past five o'cock; about seven passed Rum river, and at eight were saluted by six or seven lodges of Fols Avoins, amongst whom was a clerk of Mr. Dickson's. Those people had wintered on Rum river, and were waiting for their chiefs and traders to descend, in order to accompany them to the Prairie Des Chein. Arrived at the Falls of St. Anthony at ten o'clock.

Ft. Snelling Established. With the establishment of Ft. Snelling, the area of Wright county became more widely known, as the soldiers, traders and visitors there made many trips up the river past the county, and also conducted many hunting expediditions in the tracts lying between the Crow and the Clearwater rivers.

February 10, 1819, the Fifth Regiment United States Infantry was ordered to concentrate at Detroit preparatory to a trip which was to result in the maintaining of a post at the mouth of the St. Peter's (now Minnesota) river. After establishing various garrisons at difFerent places, the troops started up the river from Prairie du Chien, Sunday, August 8, 1819. The troops numbered ninety-eight, rank and file. They were accompanied by twenty hired boatmen. There were fourteen keel boats for the troops, two large boats for stores, and a barge for Lieut. -Col. Harry Leavenworth, the commander, and Ma,]. Thomas Forsyth, the Indian agent. This expedition established at Meudota the military post now moved across the river and now known as Ft. Snelling.

May 10, 1823, the "Virginia," the first steamboat to navigate the upper Mississippi, arrived at Ft. Snelling, and thus what is now Wright county was placed in still closer communication with the outside world. On board, among others, were Ma,]. Lawrence Taliaferro and James Constance Beltrami, the Italian explorer.

Cass and Schoolcraft. Cass and Schoolcraft and their followers passed Wright county on July 29 or 'SO, 1820, on their way down the Mississippi river. On July 23 or 24, 1832, the Schoolcraft expedition, after having explored and named Lake Itasca, passed Wright county in the same direction.

General Lewis Cass was a remarkable man, having been a lawyer, brigadier general of 1812, governor of Michigan territory, minister to Prance, secretary of war in two cabinets, senator, and in 1848 Democratic candidate for the presidency. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was an explorer, mineralogist, historian, author of some thirty books, and the holder of several Indian offices under the government. The Cass-Schoolcraft expedition left Detroit, May 26, 1820, accompanied by several distinguished men, and a number of Indians. The party reached the St. Louis river by way of Sault Ste. Marie, and the southern shore of Lake Superior. They made extensive explorations in the northern part of this state, and visited Red Cedar lake, now Cass lake, which they called the "source of the Mississippi." It was on their way to Pt. Snelling that the explorers passed Wright county.

When Schoolcraft and his companions explored and named Lake Itasca, July 13, 1832, they had reached northern Minnesota by way of Sault Ste. Marie as before, but, as on the previous journey, they started home by coming down the Mississippi to Pt. Snelling, and thus passed Wright county. It is probable that on the night of July 24 the party camped in Wright county. They embarked at 5 o'clock on the morning of July 25, and reached St. Anthony falls at noon.

Beltrami. Major Stephen H. Long ascended the Mississippi river to the Palls of St. Anthony in a six-oar skiff in 1817. In 1823, Major Long, accompanied by William H. Keating, and others, as well as by a detachment of soldiers, made a trip to Lake Winnipeg under orders from the War Department. Ascending the Mississippi river from Prairie du Chien to Pt. Snelling. At Pt. Snelling the party received reinforcements. It was there that Beltrami joined the expedition. Beltrami, an Italian, was one of the most picturesque of the early Minnesota explorers. His Italian name was Giacomo Constantino Beltrami but this was anglicized into James Constantine Beltrama. He was six feet higli, of commanding appearance and high spirits. He traveled extensively in Europe, the United States and Mexico, and was the author of numerous books. The party ascended the Minne- sota and the Red River of tlie North. At Ponibina there was a change in the make-up of the expedition. The main party went from there to Lake Winnipeg, np Winnipeg river to the Lake of the Wood.s, along the Rainy river to Rainy lake, and finally to Thunder bay on Lake Superioi-. Thus tiiey did not pass Wright county. But Reltrami, accompanied by Indian conipanion.s, left the party at Pembina and started back to Ft. Snelling. lie explored the sources of the IMississippi and then descended that river. He passed Wright county on September 29 or 30.

Nicollet. Joseph Nicolas Nicollet was the author of a map published after his death in 1843. Nicollet acting undci- the United States War Department and Bureau of Engineers, made extensive exploring ti-ips in the Northwest, ami in 18.'56 made a canoe trip from Ft. Snelling up the Mississippi, ami by portages beyond Leech lake, to Itasca lake, thence descending down the whole course of the upper Mississippi to the fort. He thus passed Wright county twice. The Crow and Clearwater rivers and niinor Wright county streams appear on his map.

Surveys- The Third Guide ileridian is a straight line from the Iowa state line to the Mississippi river near Monticello. It does not cross the river there onto the east side, b\it starts again on the west side of the ilississippi river at Pine Knoll, about six miles west of Aitkin, and I'uns thence north to the International boundary crossing the Mississippi river at White Oak Point, about ten miles northwest of Pokegama falls.

This Third Guide Meridian, in its earliest part surveyed, from the state line north to near Monticello, was required to be run during the winter when the lakes and rivers were frozen, so that the distances could be measured on the ice and not be liable to the errors liable to triangulation.

From near Monticello, the Fifth Meridian surveys were carried north along the west side of the Mississippi by offsets from the Third Guide Meridian past St. Cloud, Little Falls and Crow Wing as far as to the Ninth Standard Parallel.

Hardin Nowlin surveyed five Congressioiuil townships in 1855. They were township 120, ranges 23 and 24; township 121, ranges 23 and 24; township 120, range 24.

1635. Jean Nicollet, an explorer from France, who had wintered in the neighborhood of Green Bay, brought to Montreal the first mention of the aborigines of Minnesota.

1659-60. Groseilliers and Radisson wintered among the Sioux of the Mille Lacs region, Minnesota, being its first white explorers. In a previous expedition, four years earlier, they are thought by some to have come to Prairie island, west of the main channel of the Mississippi, between Red Wing and Hastings.

1661. Father Rene Menard left Kewennaw, on Lake Superior, to visit the Hurons, then in northern Wisconsin, and was lost near the sources of the Black and Chippewa rivers. His breviary and cassock were said to have been found among the Sioux.

1679. July 2, Daniel Greyselon Du Lhut (Duluth) held a council with the Sioux at their principal settlement on the shore of Mille Lacs. Du Lhut, in June, 1680, by way of the St. Croix river, reached the Mississippi and met Hennepin.

1689. May 8, Nicolas Perrot, at his Fort St. Antoiue, on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Pepin, laid formal claim to the surrounding country for France. He built a fort also on the Minnesota shore of this lake, near its outlet, as well as other posts.

1700. Le Sueur established Fort L'Huillier, on the Blue Earth river (near the mouth of the Le Sueur), and first supplied the Sioux with firearms.

1727. The French established a fort on the present site of Frontenac on Lake Pepin. Forts were also erected on nearly the same site in 1727 and 1750.

1766. Captain Jonathan Carver visited St. Anthony falls and Minnesota river. He claimed to have made a treaty with the Indians the following spring, in a cave, afterward called "Carver's Cave," within the present limits of St. Paul, at which he said they ceded to him an immense tract of land, long known as "Carver's Claim," but never recognized by government.

1803. April 30, that part of Minnesota west of the Mississippi, for the preceding forty years in possession of Spain as a part of Louisiana, was ceded to the Ihiited States by Napoleon Uonaparte, who had just obtained it from Sjiain.

1803-04. ^Yilliam Morrison, the first known white man to discover the source of the ^Mississippi river, visited Elk lake and explored the streams entering into the lake forming tiie head of the river.

1812. The Dakotas, Ojibways, and Winnebagoes, under the lead of hostile traders, joined the British" during the war. Red river colony established by Lord Selkirk.

1819. Minnesota, east of the Mississippi river, became a part of Crawford county, Michigan. Fort Snelling established and a post at Mendota occupied by troops, under command of Colonel Leavenworth. JIaj. L. Taliaferro appointed Indian agent, arriving April 19.

1820. Corner stone of Fort Snelling laid September 10. Governor Cass visited IMinnesota and made a treaty of peace between the Sioux and Ojibways at Fort Snelling. Col. Josiah Snelling appointed to the command of the latter post.

1823. The first steamboat arrived at Mendota, IMay 10, Major Taliaferro and Beltrami being passengers. Maj. Stephen H. Long explored Minnesota river, the Red river valley, and the northern frontier. Beltrami explored sources of the Mississippi.

1836. The territory of Wisconsin organized, embracing the part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi, the part on the west being attached to Iowa. Nicollet visited Minnesota.

1837. Governor Dodge, of Wisconsin, made a treaty, at Fort Snelling, with the Ojibways, by which the latter ceded all their pine lands on the St. Croix and its tributaries ; a treaty was also effected at Washington with a deputation of Dakotas for their lands east of the Mississippi. These treaties led the way to the first actual settlements within the area of Minnesota.