Red Wing City (part 2 of 6)

After his discharge he made his home at Mendota, St. Croix and other points, as best suited his trade with the Indians and lumbering operations. "His energy, industry and ability," says a paper read before the Minnesota Editorial Association in 1871, " made him a prominent character on the frontier, and no man in the Northwest was better known. He acquired a very perfect acquaintance with the Dakota tongue, and attained an influence among that nation (being allied to them by marriage,) which continued unabated to his death. He held, at different times during his life, a number of civil offices, which he filled with credit and ability. In 1838 he was appointed a justice of the peace by Governor Dodge, of Wisconsin, and for several years had his office at his trading post, at Grey Cloud, about twelve miles below Saint Paul. He was elected a member of the Wisconsin Legislature from St. Croix county in 1840, 1841 and 1842, taking a prominent part in those sessions. He was also a leading member of the famous Stillwater convention of citizens, held in August, 1848, to take steps to secure a territorial organization for what is now Minnesota. He was Secretary of the Territorial Council of 1848 and 1851, and Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives in 1853, a member of the Council in 1854 and '55, and of the House in 1857, and Territorial Printer in 1853 and 1854. He was also a member from Sibley county in the Constitutional Convention (" Democratic Wing") of 1857, and took a very prominent part in the formation of our present State constitution. He was likewise one of the Commissioners named in that instrument to canvass the vote on its adoption, and of the State officers elected under it. He shaped much of the legislation of the early territorial days, and chiefly dictated the policy of his party, of whose conventions he was always a prominent member.

" But it is as a journalist and publisher I* desire principally to speak of him here. His first regular entrance into the printing business in Minnesota, was in the year 1852, though he had before written considerable for the press. Shortly after the death of James M. Goodhue, which occurred in August of that year, Major Brown purchased the ' Minnesota Pioneer,' and edited and published it under his own name for nearly two years. In the spring of 1854 he transferred the establishment to Col. E. S. Goodrich. During the period of his connection with the paper, he established a reputation as one of the most sagacious, successful and able political editors in the Territory, and as a sharp, interesting and sensible writer.

" In 1857 he established at Henderson, which town had been founded and laid out by him a short time before, a journal called the ' Henderson Democrat,' which soon became a prominent political organ, and was continued with much ability and success until 1860 or 1861."

J. A. Wlieelock, noticing the death of Major Brown, in the St. Paul Press, under date of November 12, 1870, paid the following tribute to his memory :

" As early as 1831, Jo. Brown, as he was then called, and has ever since been familiarly called, had an Indian trading post at Land's End, on the Minnesota River, about a mile above Fort Snelling. In 1833 4 he had established his trading post at Oliver's Grove, at the mouth of the St. Croix. At that time the only inhabitants in the country, outside the fort, were Indians, except a few traders at Mendota and elsewhere. Brown was still engaged in the Indian trade when the speculative mania of 1837 set in, and distant as this portion of what was then Wisconsin was from its scenes, some pulsation of it reached these remote' solitudes. Brown was about the only man among the Indian traders of that time with sagacity enough to distinguish, in the wild hubbub of this movement of speculation and emigration, the march of that great westward development which was soon to take in the then remote wilderness of the Upper Mississippi. He at once set about, as soon as the Indian title was extinguished, to seize what seemed to him to be the salient points of the regions hereabout. He first settled in 1838 at Gray Cloud Island, fifteen miles below St. Paul, where he had a trading post and farm. Two years afterward he formed the first settlement, or laid out the first town site, at the head of Lake St. Croix, about a mile above the present site of Stillwater, and which he called Dahkotah, and about the same time he, with James R. Clewett, bought the first claim made in St. Paul, from a discharged soldier. This claim embraced what is now Kittson's addition, and was bought for 8150. At this time Brown, whose operations were extensive, owned an interest in a trading house on the Fort Snelling Reservation, on this side of the Mississippi, which, on September 13, 1838, was destroyed by a party of Sioux.

" Major Brown was not only the pioneer town builder of Minnesota, but the pioneer lumberman, being the first to raft lumber down the St. Croix. In 1841 he was elected as representative of Crawford county, Wisconsin, which had been extended over the delta of country between the St. Croix and Mississippi. Here he succeeded in getting an act passed organizing St. Croix county, with his town - Dahkotah - as its countyseat. A judge of the district arrived one day at this county-seat to hold court, but finding that it consisted of a single claim cabin, he seems to have resigned the judicial office for this locality to Jo. Brown, who already absorbed all the other functions of government in the county of St. Croix.

" It may as well be said here that Brown, like many of the old Indian traders, had married a Sioux woman, by whom he had a numerous family, and it was perhaps this circumstance, as well as the associations of his early life, that attached him so strongly to the Indians. Fitted by his abilities and character for any position or any career in the new centers of civilization which had sprung up around him, we find him at short intervals always going back to the Indians, as agent or trader, or in some such capacity. He was, however, always planning new enterprises, - and this haunter of Indian camps, this half Bedouin, was the founder of more embryo cities, than any other half a dozen men in the State, and the planner of more schemes for its development than any other. He had a force, originality and genius of invention in him which was always propelling him in new paths. Among his inventions was his steam traction motor, or steam wagon.

" Joseph R. Brown, though not free from guile, was, in the main, an honest man. He was possessed of a cheerful and happy temper, a bon-homme which nothing could ruffle. No taint of malice or spite or spleen, lurked in his robust, warm and healthy blood. If his mental powers had been disciplined to the routine of some profession or regular occupation; if he had not been dragged down to the slip-shod, half-vagabond associations and habits of his frontier life, from the high career for which he was formed, he would have been one of the foremost men of his day.

"A drummer-boy, soldier, Indian trader, lumberman, pioneer, speculator, founder of cities, legislator, politician, editor, inventor, his career, though it had hardly commenced till half his life had been wasted in the obscure solitudes of this far northwestern wilderness - has been a very remarkable and characteristic one, not so much for what he has achieved, as for the extraordinary versatility and capacity which he has displayed in every new situation."

' ' Joseph R. Brown was a great man in many of the best senses of that term, and never a common man in any sense. Without education, according to its scholarly significance, he yet knew much of all that scholars know, and more of that of which they are ignorant."

Major Brown, it may be truthfully stated, was the first pioneer of the Minnesota country. He came here as a boy, and grew to manhood in the uncivilized wilds. When civilization claimed the country, Joseph R. Brown was here, and from the time the first white settlers came to found homes on the beautiful prairies until the day of his death, he took a prominent part in all public movements, and grew in influence with the expanding growth Qf the territory and State. So much interest did Major Brown take in public affairs, and so much importance was attached to his presence and advice upon public measures, that from the organization of the territory until the State was fairly in working order, he was rarely or never absent from a general convention of his party, or from a legislative session. And it is said that nearly all the important legislation which forms the basis of the present code of Minnesota bears the impress of his mind. This is especially so in respect to those features which are novel to our system, and are stamped with liberality, progress, and reform. It would surprise any one not familiar with the subject, to contrast the code of Minnesota with that of any leading

Eastern State, and observe the superiority of our system in every liberal, humanitarian aspect. The centers of population, wealth, refinement and culture, which are shackled by precedent and tradition, are not the sources of ameliorating laws ; these spring from the freer, fresher, more generous life of new communities. The mass of this liberal legislation, if it did not owe its paternity to Major Brown, had always in him a hearty and efficient advocate ; and his labors therein entitle him to honorable memory.

This representative pioneer citizen was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 20th day of February, 1811. His father was a native of Massachusetts, but removed to Michigan at a very early period in the history of the lake region, and was a member of the first Legislative Assembly of the Northwestern Territory, which met at Cincinnati. Subsequently he was elected as delegate to Congress, and was afterwards a member of the Supreme Court of Michigan.

Mr. Sibley came into the world in the midst of troublous times. The Northwest was in the throes of agitation and excitement consequent upon the savage warfare that desolated that region, the siege and surrender of Detroit, and the hardships experienced by the white inhabitants of that region from 1810 to 1815, in all of which the Sibley family bore a full share. It would almost seem that the subject of this sketch was launched into a career destined from the start to be one of adventure and stirring incidents, repeating the eventful pioneer life of his ancestors. " Thus hereditarily predisposed (to quote from the Minnesota Historical Collections) as it might be said, to a life of close contact with the strange and romantic elements that have always given such a charm to frontier life in the eyes of the courageous and active, his innate disposition received a still further bent from the very condition of society in his boyhood. It was passed in a region favorable for field sports, and. the hardy exploits of the hunter and sailor, where every inhabitant was a fireside bard, reciting those wonderful epics of 'hairbreadth 'scapes,1 and accidents by 'flood and field,' perils and feats of the half mythical heroes of the frontier, legends full of poetry and romance, that seem never to weary the listener.

" Young Sibley received an academical education in his boyhood, and subsequently enjoyed two years' private tuition in the classics. His father had destined him for the profession of the law, and at about the age of sixteen he commenced its study in his father's office," but abandoned it for a more active life at the end of one year, and in 1829 went to Macinac ana entered the service of the American Fur Company. He remained there until 1834, when he came to Mendota as agent of the American Fur Company's establishment at that point. This company tailed in 1842, and the inventory was purchased by P. Chouteau, Jr. & Co., of St. Louis, and Mr. Sibley was continued in charge of the business until 1848, when he was elected a delegate to Congress.

Mr. Sibley has been successively a resident of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota without changing his residence. He came to Mendota in November, 1834. The country was then subject to the jurisdiction of Michigan. In 1836 Wisconsin Territory was created, and the jurisdiction of Michigan terminated, and the Wisconsin territorial authorities exercised dominion over the country until the 30th day of July, 1838, when the act creating Iowa Territory went into effect, and all that part of Minnesota lying west of the Mississippi River, became subject to the jurisdiction of Iowa. When Iowa was admitted as a State, without very materially diminished territory, the country lying outside of the State boundaries was left without any government until the establishment of the Minnesota territorial organization. Says Mr. Sibley in bis reminiscences already quoted: "It was my fortune to be the first to introduce the machinery of the law into what our legal brethren would have termed a benighted region, having received a commission of justice of the peace from the Governor of Iowa, for the county of Clayton. This county was an empire of itself in extent, reaching from a line some twenty miles below Prairie du Chien on the west of the w Father of Waters,' to Pembina, and across to the Missouri. As I was the only magistrate in this region, and the county seat was some three hundred miles distant, I had matters pretty much under my own control, there being little chance of an appeal from my decisions. In fact some of the simple-minded people around me believed that I had the power of life and death. On one occasion I issued a warrant for a Canadian, who had committed a gross outrage, and then fled from justice. I dispatched a trusty constable in pursuit, and he overtook the man below Lake Pepin, and brought him back in irons. The friends of the culprit begged hard that he should not be severely punished, and after keeping him in durance vile for several days, I agreed to release him if he would leave the country, threatening him with dire vengeance if he should ever return. He left in great haste, and I never saw him afterwards."

sequently re-elected, and served for several years in that capacity, discharging every trust faithfully and honestly. When the constitutional convention was ordered preparatory to becoming a "sovereign and independent State," Mr. Sibley was elected a member of that body, and was selected to preside over the deliberations of the Democratic wing. Upon the admission of the territory as a State in 1857, he was elected governor, but in consequence of some delay in canvassing the vote, he was not inaugurated until the 24th day of May, 1858, although the State Legislature met on the 2d of December, 1857. Mr. Sibley served as governor until January 2, 1860.

Henry M. Rice

This distinguished pioneer was a native of Vermont, and came to Minnesota about 1839, and first stopped at Fort Snelling. After remaining there a few months he removed to Prairie du Ohien, and engaged in trade with the Winnebago Indians, and where he remained until that people were removed to the Crow Wing River country in 1847, whither he accompanied them.

"He settled here when there were no white men in the territory, except Indian traders, missionaries and soldiers; and during his long residence, has been noted as the promoter of every enterprise tending to develop the hidden wealth of Minnesota, and attract hither immigration from other portions of the country. Two years ago (in 1854) he was elected (delegate) to Congress by an overwhelming vote ; and then commenced a series of labors on his part which will make him long remembered in the territory as the most efficient of representatives. The pre-emption system he caused to be extended to unsurveyed lands ; the military reserves opened to actual settlers ; land offices to be established ; post routes opened out and offices established ; millions of acres of lands to be purchased from Indians, and thrown open to settlers; and thousands of dollars to be appropriated to the construction of government roads. Nor was this all: legislation for the benefit of individuals entitled to it was secured, and no exertion ever spared, in Congress or out of it, at the executive department, or elsewhere, that would benefit the territory. The heavy immigration of the past two years is as strong proof as could be desired that Minnesota is regarded as the chosen spot of the West, either for immigrants seeking to establish themselves, or capitalists desiring investments; and for much of this heavy immigration, we cannot help thinking our territory is indebted to the late delegate. The beneficial legislation he procured for us, rendered Minnesota indeed a land of promise.

" Mr. Rice possesses in a great degree the qualities necessary to make a good delegate. His winning manners secure him hosts of friends, and enable him to acquire great influence; his business habits, industry, and perseverance, insure the accomplishment of whatever he undertakes, while his perfect knowledge of the wants of the territory prevents his efforts from being misdirected. His political opinions are those of a National Democrat - coinciding with those of the President and heads of departments, a majority of the Senate, and a respectable and united majority in the House - which will successfully combat a divided majority."

The first legislature under State organization convened on the first Wednesday in December, 1857, when Mr. Rice and James Shields* were elected as senators from the new State. Mr. Rice served as senator until 1863, when he was succeeded by Alexander Ramsey, the first governor of the territory.

Jean Baptiste Faribault

This early French trader and subsequent citizen of Minnesota, after whom the village of Faribault was named, was born at Berthier, Canada, in 1774. At the age of twenty-four years, when he became an attache of the Northwest Fur Company, and was dispatched to his new field of labor at Macinac, in May, 1798. Soon after their arrival there, Faribault was assigned to duty at Kankakee, some fifty or sixty miles below the present site of the city of Chicago. After remaining there for about one year, during which time he displayed commendable business tact, Faribault was placed in charge of a more important post on the Des Moines River, of Iowa, about two hundred miles above its mouth. The post was named Redwood, and the Indians with whom he was to trade were the Dakota or Sioux, whose language was entirely different from that of the Pottawotamies, to which Faribault had been accustomed and which he learned to speak. A man named Debon was sent along as interpreter. Debon was an old man and had lived among the Yankton Sioux for a number of years. Faribault remained in charge of the Redwood post four years, during which time he saw no white man but his own assistants, except when on his annual tour to the mouth of the river. Mr. Sibley says, in a memoir of this gentleman :

" Having served the terra for which he had been engaged, he returned to Macinac with the intention of going back to Canada, but having learned of the sudden death of both of his parents, within fifteen days of each other, Mr. Faribault again entered the service of his former employers and was dispatched to the river St. Peters, now the Minnesota, and took charge of the post at Little Rapids, about forty miles above its mouth. * * * * During the third year of his residence at Little Rapids, Mr. Faribault married a widow, the daughter of a Mr. Hanse, who had previously been Superintendent of Indian Affairs. At the time of their marriage the groom was in his thirty-first and the bride in her twenty-second year. This event precluded any idea of Mr. F.'s return to Canada, and he was thenceforth permanently established as a denizen of the remote Northwest."

* Mr Shields has had the distinguished honor of representing two different States in the U. S. Senate. He was first elected from the State of Illinois. After the expiration of his term of service from that State, he removed to Minnesota, and was elec'ed with Mr. Rice. When the late war came on, he entered the service and made a glorious record. After the close of the war, he removed to Carrollton, Carroll county, Missouri, and in 1868 was a candidate for Congress from that district; but under the manipulations of the registry law of that State and the unjust charge of '' copperheadism," and "disloyalty," was defeated, or rather " counted out," for it was a notorious fact that he had a large majority of the votes.

" After ten years' connection with the Northwest Company, in the capacity of agent and trader, Mr. F. resolved to commence business on his own account at Prairie du Chien, which was then a mere hamlet, containing a few families. He erected a suitable house, and began trading with the Winnebagoes, the Foxes and the Sioux of the Wakpa-koota band, these several tribes being at peace with each other. He continued in this business for a number of years, and on one occasion received a dangerous wound in the side from the knife of a drunken Winnebago, to whom he had refused liquor. In addition to the regular trade with the Indians, Mr. F. entered upon an exchange of goods for lead, with a Mr. Dubuque,* at the point now occupied by the city of that name. The lead was taken to St. Louis in keel boats, and sold there at a good profit. Fifteen days was considered a good average trip up the Mississippi from St. Louis to Prairie du Chien.

" When the war of 1812 was declared, the British Government made great efforts to enlist the Indians of the Northwest against the Americans. Knowing the great influence wielded by the traders among these savages, commissions in the British army were tendered to each of them, and they were accepted by all but Messrs. Faribault and Provencalle, who declined to take any part against the American Government. The subject of this memoir was consequently arrested by a Col. McCall, of the British militia service, and held as a prisoner on a gunboat, commanded by a Capt. Henderson, on board ol which were two hundred men en route to Prairie du Chien to dislodge the Americans. He was ordered to take his turn at the oar, but absolutely refused, saying he was a gentleman, and not accustomed to that kind of work. Capt. Henderson reported him to Col. McCall for disobedience, but the latter, admiring his pluck, not only did not punish him, but received him on board his own boat, and treated him with courtesy and kindness.

" The combined force of militia and Indians, upon their arrival at Prairie du Chien, made preparations to attack the American post. The families on the outside of the fort abandoned their homes, some of them taking refuge within the stockade, and otbers, Mrs. Faribault among the number, ascended the river in canoes to what is now called Winona. Mrs. F. supposed her husband to have proceeded to Macinac, and had no idea that he was a prisoner in the hands of the attacking party. A bombardment was opened on the fort, and on the third day the Americans surrendered to greatly superior numbers. Meanwhile the deserted habitations were robbed of all their contents by the savages, and Mr. F., in addition to the losses thus sustained, received the unwelcome intelligence that lead belonging to him of the value of $3,000, which had been left in charge of Dubuque at his trading station, had been taken possession of by the hostile Indians and distributed among them.

" After the surrender of Prairie du Chien, that post was garrisoned by 200 British regulars. Mr. F. was released on parole, and repaired to his former home, but the buildings had been burnt with their contents by the savages, and his stock of horses and cattle either run off or destroyed. He was thus left almost penniless, but, with his usual energy, he set himself industriously to work to retrieve his shattered fortune. The band of Sioux with whom Mrs. F. had taken refuge had remained neutral during the war, and they manifested their warm friendship for the old trader by bringing him game in abundance, and all the furs and skins they could collect from their hunts.

" When peace was proclaimed, Col. Bolger, the British commander of the post at Praire du Chien, withdrew his forces, after having destroyed the buildings and stockade, and proceeded to Macinac. The following spring, a detachment of American riflemen under Col. Chambers rebuilt and garrisoned the fort. Mr. Faribault in due form declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and a militia company having been organized, he received the appointment of First Lieutenant. The Northwest Fur

* Dubuque commenced mining a few miles below the city of Dubuque, in 1788, and at one time held a large grant of land in that regon from Spain.

Company not being permitted to continue their business upon American territory, sold out their interests to the American Fur Company, of which John Jacob Astor was the head. Joseph Rolette was constituted the agent of the newly-formed association in the Northwest, and Mr. Faribault made arrangements with him for a supply of such merchandise as was requisite for his trade. He continued at Prairie du Chien for a period of three years, and was quite successful in business. At the end of that time he removed his trading station to Pike's Island, near the present Fort Snelling. This was done at the suggestion of Col. Leavenworth, who was en route up the Mississippi to establish a military post at or near the junction of that river with the St. Peters, now Minnesota. Having fallen in with Mr. Faribault at Prairie du Chien, Col. Leavenworth was much impressed with the intelligence and extensive knowledge of the Sioux Indians, their character and habits, displayed by that gentleman, and strongly urged him to accompany the command, promising that if he would locate near the contemplated post he should be guaranteed military protection and encouragement in business."

Leavihg his family behind, he followed the troops to their destination the succeeding spring (1820,) so that Mr. Faribault's permanent residence in Minnesota dates from that period. He established himself, as we learn from Mr. Sibley, on " Pike's Island," where his log cabins were situated. He soon had a goodly number of acres under cultivation, and was favored with good crops, so that he and his family, who had rejoined him, were contented and happy for the space of two entire years. In June of the third year there occurred a flood in the Mississippi, which covered the island, and carried off or destroyed all his moveable property. Nowise discouraged, he crossed to the east bank of the river, and erected a dwelling and storehouse on a plateau which seemed to be above high-water mark. But the fates had more ill in store for him, for in 1826, four years later, the ice gorged above the fort to such an extent that the river rose many feet beyond the highest mark previously known, and when the barrier gave way under the enormous pressure, the torrent carried with it Faribault's buildings and their contents, and his stock of animals.

In the year 1821 Col. Leavenworth called together the chiefs and head men of the Sioux bands, and procured from them a grant of land nine miles square at the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. In the same treaty was inserted an article by which the Indians donated " Pike's Island " to the wife and children of Mr. F., whose Indian name was " Cha-pa-sin-tay" or the " Beaver's Tail."

After the flood of 1826, Mr. Faribault removed to the site now occupied by Mendota, where he erected a dwelling, and where his family lived for many vears, he himself passing the winters at Little .Rapids, where he had established a trading post. He narrowly escaped death in 1833 at his station, at the hands of a treacherous Sioux Indian who became enraged because he could not procure some article he desired on credit which Mr. Faribault did not have in his store. Without say- ing a word, the savage drew a knife and stabbed Mr. F. in the back, under the shoulder blade, when, leaving the knife sticking in the wound, he turned to make his escape, but would have been shot down by Oliver, a son of the old gentleman, aged about fourteen years, had not the gun been seized by Indians standing by who were relatives of the intended murderer. The wound was a very serious one, the knife having penetrated the lungs, and a long time elapsed before Mr. F. was considered out of danger ; but his vigorous constitution and temperate habits finally carried him through, and his health was restored. Mrs. Faribault manifested her devotion to her husband by a walk during the night of thirty-five miles from Mendota to Little Rapids, so soon as she learned of the injury he had received, without any escort but that of a single Indian.

Ir. Sibley concludes: "The death of Mr. Faribault took place at his daughter's house at Faribault, on the 20th day of August, 1860, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. He closed his eyes upon things earthly, after witnessing the marvelous changes wrought by civilization in the region which had for so many years been his abiding place, sincerely mourned by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. Among the pioneers of Minnesota there are none whose memory and whose name better deserve to be respected and perpetuated than Jean Baptiste Faribault. Requiescat en pace?

David Olmsted

David Olmsted was a native of Fairfax, Franklin county, Vermont, and was born May 5, 1822. He left home in the spring of 1838, when he was sixteen years of age, his sole possessions consisting of a limited wardrobe and twenty dollars in money. He was about one month making his way to Chicago, from which place he went to Mineral Point, Wisconsin. There he purchased forty acres of land and lived in the rude style of the miners of that region, keeping "bachelor's hall." In the fall of 1839 he and a brother went to Prairie du Chien, where they remained several months, and then started on foot to explore the northern part of Iowa, then an almost unbroken, undisturbed wilderness waste. After visiting several localities in that region, they selected a claim at a place now known as Monona, about thirteen miles west of the Mississippi, and erected a cabin. The nearest white occupancy (of any note) was at Prairie du Chien. West of their new home there was no settlement. The Winnebago Indians possessed the country in the immediate vicinity north and west, and the Olmsteds found it to their interest to traffic with the natives, by which means David learned a good deal of the character, custom, habits and language of the Winnebagoes - a fact which probably more than anything else, was the cause of David Olmsted becoming subsequently identified with the Indian trade on a large scale, and a resident of Minnesota, where he became one of the most prominent and influential of her early settlers.

In the fall of 18-44, at the age of twenty-two years, he sold his claim and entered the employ of W. G. & G. W. Ewing, at Fort Atkinson, Iowa. In the fall of 1845 he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Iowa, from Clayton county. The convention assembled in May, 1846, at Iowa City, and consisted of thirty-three members. On the 18th of May the instrument was completed, and signed by the members.

Mr. J. F. Williams, in his memoir of Mr. Olmsted, says : " We might mention as a fact, showing the primitive modes of traveling in Iowa at that day, that a prominent citizen of Minnesota [Mr. Hodges] saw Olmsted on his way to the convention, riding a bare-back mule with a rope halter P It is further related by the same authority that so youthful was the appearance of young Olmsted that many of his constituents thought he was not of age, but said they " would send him anyhow, as he was so much esteemed."

In 1847, continues Mr. Williams, Mr. Olmsted, in company with H. C. Rhodes, purchased the interest of the Ewings in the Winnebago trade, and in the summer of 1848, when the Indians were removed to Long Prairie, Minnesota, he accompanied them."

In October, 1846, the Winnebagoes made a treaty at Washington City, by the terms of which they agreed to abandon their "old possessions in the soon-to-be State of Iowa, and remove to a new reservation procured for them in the Chippewa country, in the year 1848. But when the time of their removal arrived, they seemed very reluctant to go, and it required all the diplomacy and influence of Gen. J. E. Fletcher, their agent, accompanied by the presence of U. S. troops from Fort Atkinson, with the threat of coercion, to induce the savages to start. At Wabasha Prairie (now Winona) they made another stand, and having purchased that spot from Wabasha, the Dakota chief seemed determined to resist to bloodshed any attempt to move them a step farther. The situation was now critical. The first drop of blood hostily spilled would have led to a bitter war. An express was dispatched to Fort Snelling for more troops, which soon arrived under command of Capt, Seth Eastman. This, with the dragoons from Fort Atkinson, a company of volunteers from Crawford county, Wisconsin, and two pieces of artillery, made quite a formidable force. The Winnebagoes began to reconsider their first hasty resolves, and the defection of a part of their number under an influential chief, added to the arguments and persuasion of Mr. Olmsted, Hon. Henry M. Rice, George Culver and others who were present, finally convinced them that resistance would be unwise and ruinous, and they proceeded on their journey. The value of the services that Mr. Olmsted rendered in quieting the revolt can hardly be overestimated. Perhaps no man living had more influence with the tribe than he. They trusted him implicitly. Had he given any encouragement to their rebellious conduct, or said one word to urge them on, a long and bloody war with the tribe would have desolated the frontier.

" The Territory of Minnesota was organized March 3d, 1849. On the 7th of July following Governor Ramsey issued a proclamation dividing the Territory into Council Districts, and ordering an election for members of the legislature, on August 7th. Mr. Olmsted was elected a member [for two yearsj of the Council, from the Sixth District, which was constituted as follows : ' The Sauk Rapids and Crow Wing Precincts of the county of St. Croix, and all the settlements west of the Mississippi, and on the north of a due west line from the head waters of said river to the northern line of the territory.' In the absence of any surveys or well known natural lines, this was the only way in which such a district could be described. The legislature assembled on the 3d of September, and Mr. Olmsted was chosen President of the Council. The next session of the legislature was not held until January, 1851. It is unnecessary to add that Mr. Olmsted took a prominent part in both sessions."

In 1851 Mr. Olmsted married a Miss Stevens, of St. Albans, Vermont, by whom he had two children - a son and a daughter - both of whom are residents of Minnesota.

When the profits of the Indian trade began to fall off, Mr. Olmsted disposed of his interest in the business and removed to St. Paul, and in June. 1853, purchased the Minnesota Democrat establishment from Col. D. A. Robertson. The paper gained an increased circulation and influence under his management, and in May, 1854, was changed to a daily. In September, 1854, in consequence of failing health, he sold the office to Charles L. Emmerson. " His connection with the Democrat," says Mr. Williams, " made him widely known and popular with the people of the territory."

In 1855, when Winona was a village of a few houses, Mr. Olmsted removed there and devoted his energies to building up that city, now one of the handsomest on the Mississippi River. Many of its underuyoc&c-Ust^f

The Noethwest Territory

In the fall of 1855 Mr. Olmsted was a candidate for delegate to Congress, but was defeated. There were Ihree candidates before the people during that contest - Henry M. Rice, the regular Democratic candidate ; William R. Marshall, the nominee of the first regular Republican Convention held in the Territory; and David Olmsted, the candidate of the adherents of a wing of the Democratic Convention that had split off in consequence of the tenor of certain resolutions adopted by the convention. The contest was spirited. Each of the candidates was supported by ably-conducted journals, but the Olmsted party was too weak to afford him any chance of success, " although he came out of the contest with his popularity unimpaired and his honor untarnished."

In the fall of 1856 his health became so impaired that his physicians advised him to spend the winter in Cuba. He followed the advice, but the change of climate failed to afford him the desired relief, and he returned to the scenes of his early struggles and final triumphs. After visiting friends at Monona, Iowa, and at Winona, he went to St. Paul, to see his friends there. It was his last visit to the capital of Minnesota, but it afforded his friends an opportunity to secure his portrait, which now adorns the City Hall. In October, 1857, he went to the old home, in Franklin county, Vermont, to remain at his mother's house until the final summons should come, and where he died on the 2d day of February, 1861. "The news of his death was received with sincere regret by his friends in Minnesota, and the press paid generous and warm tributes to his worth and integrity. St. Paul Lodge No. 2, I. O. O. F., and Ancient Landmark Lodge No. 5, A. F. A. M., of which he was a valued member, passed heartfelt resolutions of regret, and the ' Old Settlers' Association ' of Minnesota, at their next annual reunion, placed on their records an appropriate eulogy. On the map of the State, whose ends he helped to shape, his name is well bestowed on one of the most flourishing and populous counties."

One of his friends, and one who knew him well, thus sketched the character of David Olmsted in a communication to the St. Paul Pioneer, soon after his death :

" David Olmsted had a mind of a peculiar order. His leading characteristics were firm integrity, honesty of. purpose, adhesion to friends, charity for opponents, a retentive memory, good common sense and sound judgment. He was brave, but never rash; and was as modest as brave. No man ever saw him excited. Grateful for favors, he would rather grant than receive them. Originally a Democrat, then a conservative Republican, firm in his own principles, always respecting the views of others, he was never a partisan, but always a patriot. Often absorbed in deep thought, even to absentmindedness, and without a polished address, he nevertheless won the hearts of all by his kind, straightforward and manly conduct."

Franklin Steele

Was another enterprising pioneer, and one the people of the territory delighted to honor. He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and, when a mere youth, was advised by Andrew Jackson to identify himself with the West. John H. Stevens, Esq., of Glencoe, (formerly a clerk of Mr. Steele's,) in a lecture delivered before the Hennepin County Lyceum, furnished the following brief sketch of Mr. Steele's operations in the land of his adoption :

"The day he landed at Fort Snelling, the Indians had concluded a treaty with the whites by which the St. Croix Fails were ceded to the latter. Mr. Steele went over; liked the place much; made a claim; hired a large crew of men, put Calvin A. Tuttle, Esq., now of St. Anthony, at their head, and commenced in earnest to build mills. Upon being appointed sutler to the army at Fort Snelling, he disposed of the St. Croix property, and became interested in the east side of St. Anthony Falls. He has continued to make this county his home ever since his first arrival in the territory. Mr. Steele has been a good friend to Hennepin, and as most of the citizens came here poor, they never had to ask Mr. Steele a second time for a favor. Fortune has favored him, and while many a family has reason to be thankful for his generosity, he has constantly made money."

James M. Goodhue, The Pioneer Journalist

Minnesota Territory was organized March 3, 1849, and nine days thereafter, James M. Goodhue (after whom Goodhue county was named) arrived in St. Paul, with press, type, etc., to commence the publication of a newspaper. Mr. Goodhue was a graduate of Amherst College, and a lawyer by profession, and like many another man before and since his day and generation, became a newspaper editor by accident. Says Mr. Neill : " He had been invited to take the oversight of a press, in the lead region of Wisconsin, during the temporary absence of its conductor, and soon discovered that he increased the interest of the readers in the paper. From that time he began to pay less attention to the legal profession, and was soon known among the citizens of the mines, as the editor of the Grant County Herald, published at Lancaster, Wisconsin."

While residing at Lancaster he became interested in the territory of sky-tinted waters (Minnesota.) With the independence and temerity of one Benjamin Franklin, he left Lancaster as suddenly as the ostensible editor of the New England Courant left Boston, and he arrived at the landing of what is now the capital of Minnesota, with little more money and few more friends than the young printer who landed at

" In April, 1849, he found St. Paul nothing more than a frontier Indian trading settlement, known by the savages as the place where they could obtain Minne Wakan, or whisky, and wholly unknown to the civilized world."

It was Mr. Goodhue's intention to call his paper The Epistle of St. Paul, and he had so announced in a prospectus published in February preceding. In the first issue of his paper, however, which was made on the 28th day of April, he announced a change of title, in the words following: "The paper was to be called the Epistle of St. Paul, * * * * but we found so many little saints in the territory, jealous of St. Paul, that we determined to call our paper the Minnesota Pioneer P

" The editor of the Pioneer" (says Minnesota's historian, Neill,) "was unlike other men. Every action, and every line he wrote, marked great individuality. He could imitate no man in his manners, nor in his style ; neither could any man imitate him. Attempts were sometimes made, but the failure was always very great. Impetuous as the whirlwind, with perceptive powers that gave to his mind the eye of a lynx, with a vivid imagination that made the very stones of Minnesota speak her praise; with an intellect as vigorous and elastic as a Damascus blade, he penned editorials which the people of this territory can never blot out from memory.

" His wit, when it was chastened, caused ascetics to laugh. His sarcasm upon the foibles of society was paralyzing and unequalled by Macauley in his review of the life of Barrere.

"When in the heat of partizan warfare, all the qualities of his mind were combined to defeat certain measures ; the columns of his paper were like a terrific storm in midsummer amid the Alps. One sentence would be like the dazzling arrowy lightning, peeling in a moment the mountain oak, and riving it from the topmost branch to the deepest root; the next, like a crash of awful thunder; and the next, like the stunning roar of a torrent of many waters. To employ a remark made at his funeral, ' With the ingenuity of Vulcan, he would hammer out thunder bolts on the anvil of his mind, and hurl them with the power and dexterity of Jove.'

" As a paragraphist, he was equaled by few living men. His sentences so leaped with life, that when the distant reader perused his sheet, he seemed to hear the purling brooks and see the agate pavements and crystal waters of the lakes of Minnesota, and he longed to leave the slugglish stream, the deadly malaria, and worn-out farms, and begin life anew in the territory of the sky-tinted waters. When the immigrant from week to week was disposed to despond, and give way to the distress of home-sickness, the hopeful sentences of his paper in relation to the prosperous future, chased that dismal feeling away."

Such were the characteristics of James M. Goodhue, the pioneer editor of Minnesota, who was born at Hebron, New Hampshire, March 21, 1810, and who died at St. Paul, on Friday evening, August 27, 1852, at half-past eight o'clock. His usefulness had just commenced. At the beginning of his manhood's glory, he was called to the brighter shores of the Eternal Beyond. Minnesota never had, and never will have, a truer, more ardent or enthusiastic friend than James M. Goodhue.

Early Steamboating

When Colonel Leavenworth arrived at the site of Fort Snelling, in September, 1819, steamboats had never disturbed the water of the Upper Mississippi River. His journey from Prairie du Chien to St. Peters, was made bv keelboats, and was considerablv delaved and impeded by the low stage of water which prevailed at that time. Previous to the spring of 1823, it was generally believed that the rapids at Rock Island, offered an impossible barrier to the steamboat navigation of the lt Father of Waters " above that point. In the month of April of that year, however, it was publically announced in the city of St. Louis, that, on the 2d day of May, the Virginia, a steamboat one hundred and eighteen feet in length, twenty-two feet in width, and drawing six feet of water, would leave her moorings in that city for Fort Snelling. There was no delay in the departure of the Virginia, and the trip was safely accomplished, and the vessel arrived at her point of destination not far from the middle of May. Mr. Neill says, " the arrival of the Virginia at Mendota, is an era in the history of the Dakota nation, and will probably be transmitted to their posterity as long as they exist as a people. They say that some of their sacred men, the night before, dreamed of seeing some monster of the waters, which frightened them very much."

In his published " Reminiscences ; Historical and Personal," General Sibley relates the following incident concerning the arrival of the Virginia at Mendota or Fort Snelling: k' A sentinel on duty first heard the sound made by the escaping steam, before the boat was discernible. He cried out most vociferously, and when officers and men crowded around him for information, it happened that the sounds were no longer audible. The poor fellow was in imminent danger of being put under guard, when the ' Virginia ' made her appearance, and her arrival was greeted by the booming of cannon, and by shouts of welcome from the whole command."

Among the passengers on this trial trip of the Upper Mississippi were Major Taliaferro, the agent of the Dahkotahs ; Beltrami, an Italian count, once a judge (if the Royal Court, then a political refugee; Great Eagle, a Sauk chief, returning to his village from a conference with Governor Clark; and a family from Kentucky, with their children, guns, chests, cats, dogs and chickens, emigrating to Galena, then the extreme frontier, and just beginning to be a center of great attraction by reason of the lead mines of that section.

One of the passengers, probably Count Beltrami, although Mr. Neill does not give the name, in writing of the incident of the trip, tells the following:

" After the steamer had passed the mouth of the Upper Iowa, a grand illumination greeted the appearance of the 'great fire canoe.' It was perfectly dark, and we were at the mouth of the river Iowa, when we saw at a great distance all the combined images of the infernal regions in full perfection. I was on the point of exclaiming with Michael Angelo, ' How terrible ! but yet how beautiful!'

"The venerable trees of these eternal forests were on fire, which had communicated to the grass and brushwood, and these had been borne by a violent northwest wind to the adjacent plains and valleys. The flames towering above the tops of the hills where the wind raged with most violence, gave them the appearance of volcanoes at the moment of their most terrific eruptions, and the fire, winding its descent through places covered with grass, exhibited an exact resemblance to the undulating lava of Etna or Vesuvius. Almost all night we traveled by the light of this superb torch."

When the Virginia neared the shore at Mendota, writes Mr. Neill, " men, women and children beheld it with silent astonishment, supposing that it was some enormous water spirit coughing, puffing out hot breath, and splashing water in every direction. When it touched the landing their fears prevailed, and they retreated some distance, but when the blowing off steam commenced they were completely unnerved; mothers forgetting their children, with streaming hair, sought hiding places ; chiefs, renouncing their stoicism, scampered away like affrighted animals."

Previous to this time, keelboats were used exclusively for the transportation of troops and supplies. Sixty days time from St. Louis to Fort Snelling was considered a good average trip.

The Palmyra, Captain Holland, was the first steamboat to plow the water of the St. Croix, and reached the Fall of St. Croix on the 17th of July, 1838. She carried men and machinery for the projected mills at that place.

made a pleasure excursion as far as Shakopee, in 1842, no large vessels had ever disturbed the waters of the stream. In June the " Anthony- Wayne," which a month previously had ascended to the Falls of St. Anthony, made a trip. On the 18th of July, she made a second trip, going almost to Mankato. The " Nominee " also navigated the stream for some distance.

On the 22d of July, the officers of the " Yankee,'1 taking advantage of the high water which prevailed at that time, determined to navigate the stream as far as the size of the boat would allow. The whole country west of the Mississippi was then in the possession of the people " native to the manor born," and the capacity of the stream, for purposes of navigation, were comparatively unknown. This was an experimental trip, and at night of the first day out from the fort (Snelling) the " Yankee " had only made about twenty-five miles, and when darkness began to cover the face of the country and hide the riffles and shoals, and rocks, and sand-bars, and snags from the eyes of the pilot, the officers of the boat conceived it to be the " better part of valor" to " tie up " for the night.

Wednesday morning after the " Yankee " left Fort Snelling, they passed the mouth of Blue Earth River, and from a south-easterly course, the boat bore to the northwest. When night came on the boat had reached the near vicinity of the mouth of the Cottonwood River, two hundred miles distant from Fort Snelling. The day had been intensely hot, the mercury having reached one hundred and four degrees in the shade; and as soon as the sun went down, a cloud of musquitoes enveloped the excursionists. Mr. Neill, who formed one of the party, says they looked upon the excursionists as intruders, and seemed determined to make them smart and to leave their impressions. The ice, too, had given out, and the ladies of the party began to feel there was more of reality than of poetry in an exploring expedition into an uncivilized country. A meeting was called to see if the captain should go on or turn back. A majority were in favor of continuing the trip. But few of the male members* of the party entered their state rooms that night, but wrapped in musquito bars, sought rest and sleep upon the hurricane deck. When Thursday's sun arose, the boat was not in motion. The crew, worn out by excessive heat and extra labor, and even those of the passengers who had been anxious the night before to continue the trip, were ready to come to terms and take the back track, and while at breakfast, to the satisfaction of all parties, the prow of the boat turned towards the land of civilization. Twenty-seven years before, Major Long, at the same place, suffered a similar annoyance from the musquitoes. He said in his narrative : " We never were tormented at any period of our journey more than when traveling in the vicinity of St. Peters. The musquitoes rose all of a sudden. We have frequently been so much annoyed by these insects as to be obliged to relinquish an unfinished supper, or to throw away a cup of tea which we could not enjoy. To protect our feet and legs, we were obliged to lie with our boots on."

On Friday evening the " Yankee " touched the wharf and discharged the exploring excursionists at St. Paul. Few large boats have since ascended the Minnesota as far as the Cottonwood, and only then in stages of high water; but it was demonstrated by the " Yankee " excursion that steamboats of light draught could navigate that stream at all stages of water, if a few obstructions were removed, as far as Traverse des Sioux and Blue Earth River. Since that trip, the country, then wild and untamed, and the home of savages, has passed into the occupancy of white people, and is now a garden spot of cultivated beauty and a rich grain-producing region.

Pioneer Lumbermen

Messrs. Orange Walker and his associates at Marine, and John and Jonathan McKusick, at Stillwater, have the honor of being the pioneers in the lumber business, which has since assumed such gigantic proportions, although Joseph R. Brown is believed to have been the first to descend the St. Croix with a raft of lumber.

Territorial Organization An Anomalous Condition Of Affairs

As already stated, Crawford county, Wisconsin, was organized under the jurisdiction of Michigan Territory, in the winter of 1818-19, and its machinery put in motion under direction of Col. Leavenworth, in the summer of 1819, as he was en route, with the Fifth Regiment TJ. S. Infantry, to garrison Prairie du Chien and Rock Island, and to establish a military post, etc., at Mendota.

As originally defined, the jurisdiction of Crawford county extended over the larger part of the western half of the present State of Wisconsin, and included all that part of Minnesota lying between the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers. For a period of twenty- one years, or until January, 1840, the county lines remained unchanged. At that time, however, the influence of Joseph R. Brown, who was interested in the development of the country around the present city of Stillwater, secured the passage of a bill by the territorial legislature of Wisconsin, in November, 1841, creating St. Croix county. The boundaries of the new county included all that part of Crawford lying west of a line running northward from the mouth of Porcupine River, on Lake Pepin, to Lake Superior. The county seat was fixed at " Brown's town-site of Dakota," at the upper part of the present city of Stillwater. "In the fall of this year," says Mr. Williams, " Mr. Brown was elected a member of the Assembly of Wisconsin for two years. This region then began to have a voice in the affairs of the territory, to which it had been hitherto a mere unnoticed backwoods settlement."

Notwithstanding St. Croix county was created in the late fall of 1841, it remained connected with Crawford county for judicial purposes until 1847. Stillwater had been commenced in October (the 10th,) 1843, by Messrs. John McKusick, Calvin Leach, Elam Greeley and Elias McKeon ; and when St. Croix county was reorganized for judicial purposes in 1847, Stillwater, which had overshadowed Dakotah, was named as the county seat, and in June of that year a session of the United States District Court, Judge Charles Dunn presiding, was held in McKusick's store room.

On the 6th of August, 1816, Congress passed an act by which the citizens of Wisconsin were authorized to frame a constitution and form a State government. Says Mr. Neill : " The act fixed the St. Louis River to the rapids, from thence south to the St. Croix, and thence down that river to its junction with the Mississippi, as the western boundary.

" On the twenty-third of December, 1846, the delegate from Wisconsin, Morgan L. Martin, introduced a bill in Congress for the organization of a territory of Minnesota. This bill made its western boundary the Sioux and Red River of the North. On the 3d of March, 1847, permission was granted to Wisconsin to change her boundary, so that the western limit would proceed due south from the rapids of the St. Louis River, and fifteen miles east of the most easterly point of Lake St. 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 St. Croix were desirous that the Chippewa River should be the limit of Wisconsin. The citizens of Wisconsin Territory, in the valley of the St. Croix, and about Fort Snelling, wished to be included in the projected new territory, and on the 28th of March, 1848, a memorial, signed by H. H. Sibley, Henry M. Rice, Franklin Steele,

William R. Marshall, and others, was presented to Congress, remonstrating against the proposition before the convention to make Rum River a portion of the boundary line of the contemplated State of Wisconsin." The petitioners remark :

"Your memorialists conceive it to be the intention of your honorable bodies to so divide the present territory of Wisconsin as to form two states nearly equal in size as well as in other respects. A line drawn due south from Shagwamigan Bay, on Lake Superior, to the intersection of the main Chippewa River, and from thence down the middle of said stream to its debouchure into the Mississippi, would seem to your memorialists a very proper and equitable division, which, while it would secure to Wisconsin a portion of the Lake Superior shore, would also afford Minnesota some countervailing advantages. But if the northern line should be changed, as suggested by the convention, Minnesota would not have a single point on the Mississippi below the Falls of St. Athony, which is the limit of steamboat navigation. This alone, to the apprehension of your memorialists, would be a good and sufficient reason why the mouth of Rum River should not be the boundary, as that stream pours its waters into the Mississippi nearly twenty miles above the falls. Besides this, the Chippewa and St. Croix valleys are closely connected in geographical position with the Upper Mississippi; while they are widely separated from the settled parts of Wisconsin, not only by hundreds of miles of mostly waste and barren lands, which must remain uncultivated for ages, but equally so by a diversity of interests and character in the population."

"On the twenty-ninth of May, 1848, [continues Mr. Neill,] " the act to admit Wisconsin, changed their boundary line to the present, and as first defined in the enabling act of 1846. After the bill of Mr. Martin was introduced into the House of Representatives in 1846, it was referred to the Committee on Territories, of which Mr. Douglas was chairmau. On the twentieth of January, 1847, he reported in favor of the proposed territory with the name of Itasca. On the seventeenth of February, before the bill passed the House, a discussion arose in relation to the proposed names. Mr. Wlnthrop, of Massachusetts, proposed Chippewa as a substitute name, alleging that this tribe was the principal one in the proposed territory, which was not correct. Mr. J. Thomson, of Mississippi, disliked all Indian names, and hoped the territory would be called Jackson. Mr. Houston, of Delaware, thought that there ought to be one territory named after the 1 Father of his country,' and proposed Washington. All of the names proposed were rejected, and the name in the original bill inserted. On the last day of the session, March third, the bill was called up in the Senate and laid on the table."

As defined in the act of admission, the western boundary line of Wisconsin divided St. Croix county, leaving all west of St. Croix River in the proposed Territory of Minnesota. This condition of affairs raised the question whether the old territorial government of Wisconsin did not continue in force west of the Mississippi. [And it may here be stated as a fact, and as a condition of affairs without precedent, that when Mr. Sibley appeared as a delegate in Congress at the session of 1848-9, there were senators and representatives present from the State of Wisconsin, and a delegate from the Territory of Wisconsin.]

In July, 1848, a preliminary meeting was held in Jackson's storeroom at St. Paul, to consider .the situation and determine upon some plan of united action to bring the question before the authorities at Washington for solution. At that meeting it was determined to call a public meeting of the territory to assemble at Stillwater on the 5th day of August.* Jonathan E. McCusick presided at the Stillwater meeting, and William Holcombe acted as secretary. Sundry resolutions were adopted, and the letter of Hon. John Catlin, who had been Secretary of Wisconsin Territory was read, as follows :

I have given Mr. Bowron, by whom I send this, a copy of Mr. Buchanan's opinion, by which he gives it as his opinion that the laws of Wisconsin are in force in your territory; and if the laws are in force. I think it is equally clear that the officers necessary to carry out those laws are still in office. After the organization of the State of Michigan, but before her admission, Gen. G. W. Jones was elected by the Territory of Michigan (now Wisconsin) and was allowed to take his seat.

It is my opinion that if your people were to elect a delegate this fall he would be allowed to take his seat in December, and then a government might be fully organized ; and unless a delegate is elected and sent on, I do not believe a government will be organized for several years. You are aware of the difficulty which has prevented the organization of Oregon for two years past; and the same difficulty will prevent the organization of Minnesota. If Mr. Tweedy were to resign, (and he would if requested,) I do not see anything to prevent my issuing a proclamation for an election to fill the vacancy, as the acting governor; but I should not like to do so unless the people would act under it and hold the election.

It is the opinion of most all this way that the government of the Territory of Wisconsin still continues, although it is nearly inoperative for want of court and legislation.

I write in haste, and have not time to state further tue reasons which lead me to the conclusion that the territorial government is still in being; but you can confer with Mr. Bowron, who, I believe, is in possession of the views and opinions entertained here on the subject. I shall be pleased to hear from you at your earliest convenience. Yours, very respectfully,

Judge Irvine, Mr. Martin, Gen. Jones, H. N. Wells, A. D. Smith, Chas. H. Larrabee, J. G. Knapp, and many others, entertain the opinion the territorial government of Wisconsin was not abolished by the admission of the State of Wisconsin, but is still in being in that part of the former territory not included within the limits of the State. Gov. Dewey told me he had no doubt on the subject.

in that portion of it now beyond the limits of Wisconsin. I am clearly of opinion that these laws are still in force over the territory not embraced within the limits of the State. It cannot well be supposed that Congress, by admitting the State of Wisconsin into the Union, intended to deprive the citizens of the United States, beyond its limits, of the protection of existing laws ; and there is nothing in their legislation from which any such inference can be drawn. The difficult question is, what officers still remain to carry those laws into execution? It is clear to my mind that all the local officers residing in counties without the State line, such as judges of probate, sherifts, justices of the peace, and constables, may exercise their appropriate functions as heretofore. Whether the general officers, such as Governor, Secretary and Judges, appointed for the whole of the former territory, are authorized to perform their duties within what remains of it. presents a question of greater difficulty, on which I express no opinion. Whatever may be the correct decision of this question, immediate legislation is required; because it is very certain that Congress will never consent to maintain the machinery provided by the government of the entire territory, merely for the purpose of governing the twenty-five hundred or three thousand inhabitants who reside beyond the limits of the State."

Notice

NOTICE. We, the undersigned, citizens of Minnesota Territory, impressed with the necessity of taking measures to secure an early territorial organization, and that those measures should be taken by the people with unity of action, respectfully recommend that the people of the several settlements in the proposed territory, appoint delegates to meet in convention at Stillwater, on the 26th day of August next, to adopt the necessary steps for that purpose.

Proceedings of a Territorial Convention held at the Court House at the town of Stillwater, in the county of St. Croix, and Territory of Wisconsin, on the 26th day of August, 1848, in accordance with the above notice.

On motion of Mr. Jos. R. Brown, the convention was temporarily organized by the election of M. S. Wilkinson, Esq., of Stillwater, as president, and David Lambert, of St. Paul, as secretary.

JResolved, That a committe of five be appointed to select a president, two vice-presidents and two secretaries as the permanent officers of this convention.

On motion of Henry Jackson, Esq., the report was accepted, and the committee discharged. The above named gentlemen were then unanimously elected to fill the several offices designated in the report.

Besolved, That a committee of seven members be appointed to draft a memorial to Congress for the early organization of the Territory of Minnesota, and to report such further proceedings as they may think proper for tbe action of this convention.

Which was adopted. The chair appointed the following gentlemen as members of this committee under the above resolution, viz.: Messrs. Joseph R. Brown, Calvin Leach, H. H. Sibley, S. Nelson, M. S. Wilkinson, H. Jackson and H. L. Moss.

Mr. J. R. Brown, as chairman of the committee of seven, reported a memorial to Congress, and one to the President of the United States, on the subject of the organization of the Territory, together with the following preamble and resolution:

Whereas, By the admission of Wisconsin and Iowa into the Union with the boundaries prescribed by Congress, we, the inhabitants of the country formerly a portion of said territories, are left without a government or officers to administer the laws ; and

Whereas, By the omission of Congress to organize a separate territorial government for the region of country which we inhabit, we are placed in the unparalleled position of being disfranchised of the rights and privileges which were guaranteed to us under the Ordinance of 1787 ; and without any fault of our own, and with every desire to be governed by laws, are in fact without adequate legal protection for our lives or property ; and

Whereas, Having patiently awaited the action of Congress during its late session, under the full hope and confidence that before the adjournment of that honorable body, a bill would have been passed for the organization of a territorial government to embrace our section of the country, we have been disappointed in our hopes, and cannot believe that the omission of Congress to act in the premises can proceed from any other cause than the want of an adequate acquaintance with the position in which we are placed, the character of the country, its population and resources ; therefore be it

Besolved, That a memorial be addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, and also to his Excellency the President of the United States, respectfully requesting that he will invite the attention of that honorable body, in his annual message, to action in the premises.

Besolved, That a delegate be appointed by this convention, with full power to act, whose duty it shall be to visit Washington during the ensuing session of Congress, and there to represent the interests of the proposed territory, and to urge an immediate organization of the same.

Besolved, That a committee of three persons be appointed by the president of this convention, residing upon the waters of the St. Croix, and three residing upon the waters of the Mississippi, who shall collect information relative to the amount of business

Resolved, That there shall be a committee of seven appointed by the President of this Convention, to act as a central committee, whose duty it shall be to correspond with our Delegate at Washington, and to adopt all other proper .means to forward the objects of this Convention.

On motion of Mr. Wilkinson, the convention then proceeded to the election of a delegate to represent the interests of the territory at Washington.

On the first ballot, Mr. H. H. Sibley, having received a majority of all the votes cast, was, on motion of Joseph R. Brown, declared unanimously elected by the convention.

JResolved, That the thanks of this convention be rendered to Benjamin H. Cheever, Esquire, for the exertions he used at Washington city, last winter, to procure the passage of a bill through Congress for the organization of the Territory of Minnesota.

Resolved, That the proceedings of this convention be signed by the officers thereof, and forwarded by the secretaries to the editors of the Prairie du Chien Patriot, the Madison, Dubuque and Galena papers, and the Washington Union and National Intelligencer, with a request for publication.

Resolved, That the president of this convention is required to issue a certificate to H. H. Sibley, signed by himseif, the vice presidents and secretaries, certifying that he is a duiy elected delegate under resolution and action of this convention.

Resolved, That our delegate be requested to cause the orthography of Minnesota (when the organization of the Territory shall be effected,) to be according to that used in this resolution.

Resolved, That the secretaries prepare copies of the memorials to the president of the United States, and to Congress, adopted by this convention, with the signatures of members attached thereto, and furnish the same to Mr. H. H. Sibley, our delegate, before his departure to Washington.

United States

Your memorialists, citizens of the Territory of the Northwestern boundary of Wisconsin, and of the Northern boundary of Iowa, ask leave respectfully to represent:

That the region of country which they inhabit formed formerly a portion of the Territories of Iowa and Wisconsin, subject to the laws and government of those Territories; and a judicial circuit, having within its limits a seat of justice, where sessions of the district court have been held, and the records of the court are deposited, had been established.

That this region of country is settled by a population of nearly 5,000 persons, who are engaged in various industrial pursuits; that it contains valuable pine forests, excellent arable land, mineral treasures, almost uuequaled facilities for mills and manufactories, and possessing an exceedingly healthful climate, is capable of sustaining a dense and prosperous population; that its population is now constantly and rapidly increasing, and is characterized by industry, energy and sobriety.

That by the admission of Wisconsin into the Union with the boundaries prescribed by Congress, and the omission by that body to pass a law for the organization of a new territory, embracing the portion of country inhabited by your memorialists, they and all their fellow citizens are left without officers to administer and execute the laws. That having once enjoyed the rights and privileges of citizens of a territory of the United States, they are now, without fault or blame of their own, virtually disfranchised.

They have no securities for their lives or property, but those which exist in mutual good understanding. Meanwhile all proceedings in criminal cases, and all process for the collection of debts, are suspended ; credit exists only so far as a perfect confidence in mutual good faith extends, and all the operations of business are embarrassed.

Your memorialists would respectfully represent, that even in a well ordered and lawabiding community, such as they feel pride in declaring their own to be, such a state of affairs is fraught with evils and dangers. Its continuance will tend to prevent the immigration of the more valuable class of citizens of the United States, while it will open a door of invitation and allurement to the lawless and desperate. It will foster dishonest and disorderly principles and actions among their citizens, and if suffered to exist for a long period, will bring ruin upon a prosperous and fertile region.

They would further represent, that having been disappointed in their confident hopes that Congress would by its action at the late session of that honorable body, have relieved them from the painful position in which they are placed, by the passage of a law for the organization of a new territory in the limits of which they should have been embraced, they now most respectfully lay their case before the highest executive author- ity, earnestly asking that your excellency will call the attention of Congress to their situation at the opening of the next annual session, and recommend the early organization of the territory of Minnesota.

Hon. John H. Tweedy having resigned his office of delegate to Congress on Sept. 18, 1848, Hon. John Catlin, claiming to be acting Governor of Wisconsin Territory, issued, on October 9th, a proclamation dated at Stillwater, where he was temporarily residing, ordering a special election at that place to fill the vacancy. Said election was accordingly held on the 30th day of October, 1848. Hon. H. H. Sibley being elected the delegate, attended the session of Congress of 1848-9 as such, and after the adjournment thereof published [in the Minnesota Pioneer] an address to the people of Minnesota Territory, from which we extract. Mr. Sibley says in that address :

I arrived in Washington two days before Congress convened, and I soon became convinced that my admission as delegate was extremely uncertain, in fact I may say absolutely improbable. My credentials were presented on the first day of the session by the Hon. James Wilson, of New Hampshire, in whose hands they were placed, because he had formerly resided in Iowa, and might be supposed to be better informed as to our situation and geographical position than any other member. Yet, though the case was by him set forth in a clear and strong light, and no objection was raised to my admission, my claim was referred to the committee on elections, with instructions to examine and report thereon. I will not enter into a detail of the mortifications and vexatious delays to which I was subjected from that time until the question was decided, six weeks after.

Although permitted through courtesy to occupy a seat in the house, I was allowed none of the privileges of a delegate, and indeed I was a little more than a lobby member. Meanwhile, my claim was resisted with bitter pertinacity by certain individuals of the committee, particularly by the Honorable Mr. Boyden, of North Carolina, who made a long and labored argument against my right to a seat, and ridiculed the pretension that a territorial organization still existed in the country north and west of the State of Wisconsin. I made a reply before the committee, the substance of which will be found appended to this address. You can judge whether your rights were properly sustained and defended. Finally, the majority of the committee reported in my favor, and the minority presented a strong counter protest. On the 15th of January, the subject was brought before the House, and the resolution introduced by the majority of the committee was adopted by a strong vote, which admitted me to the full enjoyment of the privileges of a delegate. I should have mentioned that my argument, in answer to the speech of Mr. Boyden, was made the basis of the report of the committee on elections, a copy having been furnished by me to the chairman at his request.

Notwithstanding the decision of the House of Representatives, which recognized me as the representative of Wisconsin Territory, it was publically stated by many members who had voted for my reception, that they did not intend thereby to admit the existence of an organization there, but had been actuated merely by motives of courtesy. Now this fact was made evident but a few days subsequently, when one of my opponents, being determined to test the question, moved to add an item to the general appropriation bill for defraying the expenses of Wisconsin Territory for the ensuing year, which motion was negatived by a large majority.

The House was then taunted with having admitted a delegate to represent a territory which had in reality no legal existence. The great object to which I turned my attention was the bill for the organization of Minnesota Territory. I was kindly allowed by the Committee on Territories of the Senate, to change certain provisions of the bill, so as to meet the wishes of my constituents, and but little difficulty was experienced in procuring its passage by that body, But with the House the case was far diflerent. The bill was there most violently opposed. The Committee on Territories had reported amendments to the Senate bill, changing the boundary of Minnesota, and making the act to take effect on the 10th of March, instead of the day of its passage, so as to preclude the administration of Mr. Polk from making the appointments. I was averse to these changes, because we had already sufficient territory, without extending our boundary to the Missouri River; and as to the appointments, I stated that Mr. Polk would only exercise the right to nominate two or three of the officers, and that under any circumstances the proposed amendment was, to my view, a breach of delicacy and propriety ; but in both points I was overruled.

An effort was made, in committee, to append the Wilmot Proviso to the territorial bill; but this I resisted, as I determined, as far as it was in my power, not to allow it to be clogged by a provision wholly superfluous, as the introduction of slavery was prohibited on the east of the Mississippi by the ordinance of 1787, and on the west of that river by the act of 1819. establishing the Missouri line. The proposition was therefore voted down before the bill was reported to the House, but was brought in as an amendment by the minority of the comm'ttee, and was only kept from being adopted, and producing consequently a fierce and angry discussion, which would have resulted in the loss of the bill, by my moving and refusing to withdraw the previous question, which cut off all amendments.

On the 22d of February, I moved that the rules of the House be suspended,* to enable me to submit a motion, that a Committee of the Whole be discharged from the further consideration of the bill for the organization of Minnesota Territory, so as to put it upon its passage. The rules were suspended by a vote of 100 to 16, and the struggle then commenced upon my moving the previous question. I turned a deaf ear to all entreaties to withdraw it, and I thereby incurred the ire of those who were inimical to the bill. But after an attempt to lay it on the table, or in other words, to defeat it, which was unsuccessful, it was finally ordered to a third reading, and all opposition to it ceased. It was finally passed on the 2d of March, and sent to the Senate, which body refused to concur in the House amendment, changing the date when the bill was to take effect. By great exertion on the part of my friends and myself, the House was at length persuaded to recede from its amendment, and the bill was passed and became a law on the 3d of March, 1849.

The removal of the Land Office to Stillwater, was only effected after much delay and difficulty, as a remonstrance had been made by the members of the Wisconsin Legislature, and to Senator Walker, against its being removed out of the limits of the State. This obstacle was eventually surmounted by the establishment of an additional Land District in Wisconsin, the location of which office has been made at Willow River. A weekly mail has been granted us by the Postmaster General, at my earnest and repeated solicitation. I was aided in obtaining this grant by the gentlemen composing the Iowa and Wisconsin delegations.

I offered a resolution in the House, which was adopted, to instruct the Committee on Post Office to inquire into the expediency of establishing a post route from Fort Snelling to Fort Gains, also to instruct the Committee on Indian Affairs to inquire into the expediency of extending the laws of the United States over the Northwest tribes, so as to make all amenable to the proper tribunals, and thereby put a stop to the murders and other crimes habitually perpetrated among them. I also drew up a bill which was presented in the Senate by Hon. Robert Smith, appropriating $12,000 for the construction of a road from the St. Louis River of Lake Superior, to St. Paul and to Point Douglass, via the Marine Mills and Stillwater.

There was not sufficient time to push these measures through Congress at this short session; but they will doubtless be effected next winter, as I do not apprehend any difficulty will be thrown in the way of their passage. Much business appertaining to individuals and to private claims have also been entrusted to me, and I have given it as great a share of my attention as other and more important duties would permit.

Having been furnished with a power of attorney, signed by a large number of Sioux mixed bloods, to dispose of their lands at Lake Pepin, I waited upon the Secretary of War and Commissioner of Indian Affairs, repeatedly, with a hope of procuring their concurrence in the furtherance of this object. It was finally decided by the former, that as a change of administration was so soon to take place, it would not be proper for him to enter into any negotiations with me ; and he likewise objected, that, as many of the signatures were in the same handwriting, and only witnessed by two persons, that the letter of attorney would not be considered valid in law. I then made the attempt to procure an item to be appended to the general appropriation bill, for a sufficient sum to

* The following circular, of which a copy is on file among the papers of the Historical Society, was placed on the desk of each member of the House, in order to aid the motion referred to.

House of Representatives, Saturday, Feb. 17, 1849. Sir : - It is not probable that the bill for the organization of Minnesota Territory, will be reached in the order of business before the Committee of the Whole. As a failure of this bill would be a most serious calamity to that territory, I take the liberty to appeal to your kind feelings in their behalf, to sustain me in a motion I shall make on Monday to suspend the rules, that the bill may be taken up and passed. It is not probable that any debate will take place upon it. I am, Sir, very respectfully, defray the expenses of making a treaty with the owners of Lake Pepin tract, and for negotiating a general treaty with the Sioux Indians. * * * * * *

In the first place, I assert as a proposition which cannot be contradicted, that your delegate would not have been admitted to a seat if he had appeared there as elected by a party, and that his defeat would have involved the failure of the Minnesota bill, and necessarily of other important projects which were committed solely to his care. I do not make this declaration in any self-gratulation or conceit. There are others among you, who, with the same advantages and the same means, would have performed as much as I have clone. But I refer to the fact to illustrate the wisdom of your deternation to draw no party lines at the late election. Chosen by the people, without regard to the distinctions of Whig or Democrat, my course here has been shaped in exact accordance with that determination. My rule was to keep my ears open and my mouth shut, whenever questions were discussed of a party character, or other matters not appertaining in any way to my own region of country.

You are all aware that I appeared before the people as a candidate opposed to drawing party lines. I believed then, and, believe now, that no such distinction should be made in a territory, the delegate of which has no vote, and whose policy is to make himself popular with all parties. When the time comes, be it sooner or later, that we shall have a population sufficient to justify us in looking forward to our admission into the Union at an early day, then, in my view, will be the proper period to mould the political complexion of the State. My own opinions on points of national policy, are as distinct and well defined as those of any other man. Minnesota now occupies no unenviable position. The government granted us, secures us all in the full possession of privileges almost, if not fully equal to those enjoyed by the people of the States. With a legislative council elected from among our own citizens, our own judicial tribunals, with a large appropriation for the construction of public buildings, and for a public library, with ample provision for defraying the expenses of the territorial government, and with the right of representation in the halls of Congress, surely we can have no cause of complaint so far as our political situation is concerned. It is for ourselves, by a wise, careful, and practical legislation, and by the improving of the advantages we possess, to keep inviolate the public faith, and to hasten the time when the star of Minnesota, which now but twinkles in the political firmament, shall shine brilliantly in the constellation of our confederated States.

"I desire that none of you shall ever experience more doubt or distress of mind than I felt, when, as a delegate elect from the Territory of Wisconsin, I took the route to Washington city, in 1848, with a view to secure a seat in the House of Representatives, and the subsequent passage of an act for the establishment of Minnesota. I was then an utter stranger to all except two or three of the public men of the country. It so happened that I fell in with some members of Congress, who were also on their way to the federal city, and among others was Hon. John Wentworth, commonly called ' Long John.' He manifested much interest in my mission, but advised me by no means to attempt to be admitted to a seat as a delegate, but rather to act as a lobby member, and by so doing, the passage of the Minnesota bill would, in his opinion, be facilitated Mr. Wentworth was a good friend of our territory, and aided much in achieving the final favorable result, but I differed with him in opinion, when he gave me the counsel I have mentioned ; and you all know that after severe struggles and considerable delay, I was allowed a seat as the delegate to Congress from Wisconsin Territory. The bill to organize Minnesota first passed the Senate and was sent to the House, the Senate being then, as now, Democratic, and the House of Representatives being composed of a majority of Whigs. The latter amended the bill so as to take effect on the 10th of March, instead of from the day of its passage, as fixed in the bill as it passed the Senate. Mr. Polk's administration was about to go out and that of Gen. Taylor to succeed it. The Senate desired to give the appointment of the officers of the new territory to Mr. Polk, while the House was as persistent in its own amendment, which would give the officers to the new administration. Thus the bill was suspended between the two bodies, and would probably be killed. The people of Minnesota should regard the Department of the Interior with peculiar interest, for the creation of that new division of the public service carried with it our bill, in the manner following:

'' The bill for the formation of a new department, called the ' Home' or ' Interior ' Department, passed the House ; and towards the close of the session its fate was to be decided in the Senate. Several of the Democratic Senators, although not decided in their opposition, cared little whether a measure which bestowed upon the incoming administration a large additional amount of patronage, would be successful or not. It was while laboring under great apprehensions lest the Minnesota bill should be defeated that I chanced to find myself in the Senate. I expressed my fears to several of the Democratic Senators, who were my personal friends, and they, to the number of five or six, authorized me to say to the Whig leaders in the House, that unless that body receded, from its amendment, and thus permitted Minnesota to be organized, they would cast their votes against the bill for the formation of the Interior Department. I hastened back to the House, called together several of the prominent Whig members, and informed them of the state of affaiis, satisfied that the votes of the senators I named would turn the whole scale for or against a measure they particularly desired should succeed. They went to work in the House, and produced so great a change in a short time, that a motion to recede from their amendment to the Senate bill was adopted the same evening, by a majority of some thirty or forty; and into our infant Territory was breathed the breath of life."

Mr. Chairman : - Having been elected by the people of Wisconsin Territory to represent their interests as a delegate in the Congress of the United States, I should consider myself as recreant to the trust reposed in me by those who have honored me with their confidence, if I did not take every proper means to secure my seat, and be thus placed in a position where I may render some service to my constituents. No question has been or cau be raised, with regard to the legality of the election. The certificate of the acting governor is prima facie evidence of that fact. It remains then only to show, if possible, that the residuum of Wisconsin Territory, after the admission of the State, remained in the possession of the same rights and immunities which were secured to the people of the whole territory by the organic law. In doing this I shall be as brief as the nature of the case will admit, but being convinced that a favorable report from your honorable committee is vitally important, I must be permitted to present all the facts bearing upon the case, and sustain by such arguments as I may, based upon the facts, the position assumed by those who sent me here.

The honorable gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Boyden,) at your previous meeting, attempted to show that the act for the admission of the State of Wisconsin was ipso facto a repeal of the organic law of the territory.