CHAPTER IV.

POLK COUNTY--DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY.

Polk county contains 700,000 acres of land, well diversified with

timber and prairie, uplands and valleys, rivers and lakes, and fertile

enough to sustain a large population. The county was established by

the Wisconsin legislature in 1853, and originally included much more

territory than it now contains, new counties having been formed north

and east of its present domain. Indian traders had visited it at an

earlier period, but the first permanent white settlement was made in

1837, and the first pioneer who came with the serious intention of

making permanent improvements was Franklin Steele. As Mr. Steele's

history is in a great part the history of the early settlement, we

insert it here, and very nearly in the language of Mr. Steele himself,

as he communicated it to the writer some years since:

"I came to the Northwest in 1837, a young man, healthy and ambitious,

to dare the perils of an almost unexplored region, inhabited by

savages. I sought Fort Snelling (which was at that time an active

United States fort) as a point from which to start. In September,

1837, immediately after the treaty was made ceding the St. Croix

valley to the government, accompanied by Dr. Fitch, of Bloomington,

Iowa, we started from Fort Snelling in a bark canoe, also a scow

loaded with tools, supplies and laborers, descended the Mississippi

river and ascended the St. Croix to the Dalles. We clambered over the

rocks to the Falls, where we made two land claims, covering the Falls

on the east side and the approach to it in the Dalles. We built a log

cabin at the Falls, where the Upper Copper trap range crosses the

river and where the old mill was afterward erected. A second log house

we built in the ravine at the head of navigation. Whilst building,

four other parties arrived to make claim to this power. I found the

veritable Joe Brown on the west side of the St. Croix, trading with

the Indians, a few rods from where Baker & Taylor built their mill

(near the end of the present toll bridge). Brown had also cut pine

logs, part of which, in 1838, were used by Baker & Taylor, but most of

them were burned by forest fires on the ground where they were felled.

In February, 1838, I made a trip to the Falls with a dog team for the

relief of one Boyce, who was cutting logs at the mouth of Snake river,

and had had some trouble with the Indians. I helped him until he left

the country. Peshick, a chief of the Chippewas, said, 'We have no

money for logs; we have no money for land. Logs can not go.' He said

he could not control his young men and would not be responsible for

their acts.

"In the spring of 1838, from Fort Snelling we descended the

Mississippi river to Prairie du Chien in bark canoes, thence by

steamer to St. Louis, Missouri, where a co-partnership was formed by

Messrs. Fitch, of Muscatine, Iowa, Libbey, of Alton, Illinois,

Hungerford and Livingston, of St. Louis, Hill and Holcombe, of Quincy,

Illinois, and myself. We chartered the steamer Palmyra, loaded her

with all the materials with which to build a saw mill, including

mechanics to do the work, and started for the scene of operations.

Plans for procedure, rules and by-laws were discussed and adopted

during the journey on the steamer, and the new organization was

christened the St. Croix Falls Lumbering Company. Calvin A. Tuttle was

the millwright."

The trip was made in safety, our immediate plans executed, and the

Palmyra was the first steamboat that ever sailed the St. Croix river

and lake. Mr. Steele made an estimate for the construction of the mill

and dam at $20,000, which he submitted to the company. It was

accepted, and Calvin A. Tuttle, a millwright, was placed in charge of

the work, but Mr. Steele sold his interest to the company before the

mill was completed. On examination of the records we find that W.

Libbey was the first agent of the company. We find also from the same

record that Libbey knew little or nothing of the business he had

undertaken. With a few barrels of whisky and one of beads he busied

himself trading with the Indians. This was the first whisky sold in

the valley, and it was sold in defiance of government law.

Much could be written about this old pioneer company of the Northwest,

and its history, could it be truly written, would contain many

thrilling incidents and scenes worthy of remembrance; but much is

already forgotten and many of the most prominent actors have passed

away, leaving no record of their lives. The company, as a corporation,

passed through many changes of name and ownership. Its history would

be a history of litigations, of wranglings and feuds, of losses and

gains, of mistakes, of blunders and of wrongs. In the first place, the

mill was planned by men practically unfitted for such work,

inexperienced in lumbering and unacquainted with the vast expenditures

requisite for the opening up of a new country, hundreds of miles from

labor and the supplies needed for manufacturing. There were three

requisites present, a splendid water power, abundance of timber at

convenient distances and a healthful climate; but these alone did not

and could not make the enterprise a success. Had practical,

experienced lumbermen been employed the result might have been

different, but impractical methods, enormous expenses, with no profits

or dividends, caused most of the company to withdraw, forfeiting their

stock in preference to continuing with the prospect of total

bankruptcy. Goods were brought annually, at great expense, from St.

Louis by the large steamers which then controlled the trade of the

Mississippi and the St. Croix. The navigation of the St. Croix grew

annually more difficult, the immense number of logs floated down since

1838 wearing away the banks and increasing the number and area of sand

bars and not infrequently obstructing the channel with jams.

It is not known exactly how or when the name of St. Croix came to be

applied to the beautiful river bearing it, but La Harpe, in his

"Louisiana," gives the most plausible account of its origin: "This

name is not ecclesiastical in its associations, but named after

Monsieur St. Croix, who was drowned at its mouth." Le Sueur, who

explored the Upper Mississippi in 1683, says he left a large river on

the east side, named St. Croix, because a Frenchman of that name was

drowned at its mouth. As Duluth was the first white man to embark in

the waters of the St. Croix, descending it in canoes, from near Lake

Superior, which he did in 1680; and as Hennepin and La Salle ascended

the Mississippi the same year, the name could not have had an earlier

origin, but may be fixed as given sometime between 1680 and 1683. An

old map in my possession, one hundred and twenty-five years old, gives

the present name of the river and lake. The St. Croix valley embraces

an area of territory from 20 to 90 miles in width, and about 120 miles

in length. Its northern water, Upper Lake St. Croix, is about 20 miles

from Lake Superior. The southern portion is a rich prairie country,

interspersed with groves of hardwood timber. The more northern portion

is interspersed with groves of pine, tamarack, cedar, balsam and

hardwoods. The whole district, with a small exception, is a cereal

country. It abounds in wild meadows, and much of the swampy portion

will ultimately be utilized by ditching, which will transform it all

into a good stock raising country. About eight-tenths of this entire

valley is fitted by nature for agriculture.

Wheat, the leading cereal, averages ten to thirty bushels per acre;

the growth of tame grasses can not be excelled; vegetables grow to

wonderful size; native wild fruits abound; cultivated fruits are being

successfully introduced; cranberries are being cultivated in the

northern part. Wheat, stock, and pine lumber are the principal

articles of export. The southern portion is well watered by the St.

Croix and its tributaries--Kinnikinic, Willow, Apple, Sunrise, and

smaller streams, lakes and springs. The northern portion is abundantly

watered by the St. Croix and tributaries--Wolf, Trade, Wood, Clam,

Yellow, Namakagan, Rush, Kanabec and Kettle rivers. Small streams and

lakes are numerous, of which only the largest are named on the maps.

The valley is abundantly supplied with water power, capable of running

enough manufactories to work up all the products of the country. The

soil is, as a general thing, dry and arable. April and May are the

seeding months. Crops mature, and are seldom injured by frosts. The

whole country adjacent to this valley will answer to this general

description.

On the twenty-ninth day of July, 1837, our government purchased the

valley of the St. Croix of the Indians at a treaty held at Fort

Snelling, Gov. Henry Dodge and Gen. Wm. R. Smith acting as

commissioners. The purchase was ratified in Congress in the spring of

1838. Polk county, originally a part of Crawford, in 1840 became a

part of St. Croix, and in 1853 received its present organization and

name, the latter in honor of James K. Polk, eleventh president of the

United States. This country occupies the eastern part of the valley

of the St. Croix lying between Burnett and St. Croix counties on the

north and south, and Barron on the east, the St. Croix river forming

its western boundary. The surface is agreeably diversified with forest

and prairie land, and is supplied with excellent springs, rivers and

lakes. Most of the underlying rock is sandstone. This rock crops out

along the banks of the St. Croix and is extensively used for building

purposes. Lime rock is also found along the river banks, some of which

is of a superior grade, notably that below Osceola, which is

manufactured into lime and exported. The natural scenery can scarcely

be surpassed in the West. The towering, precipitous bluffs along the

St. Croix, the picturesque trap rocks of the Dalles, and the bright

clear lakes of the interior have long been an attraction to the

tourist. The lakes and smaller streams abound in fish, and the latter

are famous for their abundance of brook trout.

The county seat at the organization of the county was located at St.

Croix Falls. The first election held in the limits of the present

county of Polk, prior to its organization, was at St. Croix Falls,

then a voting precinct, known as Caw-caw-baw-kang, a Chippewa name,

meaning waterfall. The returns of this election were made to Prairie

du Chien. I was present at the canvassing of these returns. They were

found to be accurate. Annually since then elections were held at this

point and returns made, first to Prairie du Chien, Crawford county,

then to Stillwater, St. Croix county, to Hudson, St. Croix county, and

to Osceola Mills, Polk county. By an election held in Polk county just

after its organization the county seat was removed to Osceola Mills,

by a unanimous vote. The records of the first elections can not be

found, they having been stolen from the safe in 1864. The following

county officers were elected in 1853: Isaac Freeland, clerk of court

and register of deeds; E. C. Treadwell, sheriff; Oscar A. Clark,

surveyor; Wm. Kent, county treasurer; Harmon Crandall, coroner; Nelson

McCarty, district attorney; J. Freeland, clerk of board of

supervisors. The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held in

Osceola, in Isaac Freeland's building, where the offices were located

for many years. The first court was held in the school house, Wyram

Knowlton presiding. Both petit and grand juries were in attendance.

Isaac Freeland was the first attorney admitted to practice. Isaac W.

Hale was the first county judge. The first marriage was that of Lewis

Barlow to ---- ----, at St. Croix Falls. The first birth in the county

was that of Charles Northrup, son of Anson Northrup, at St. Croix

Falls (1844). The first death was that of John Kelly, by drowning

(1839), at St. Croix Falls. The first school in the county was

established at St. Croix Falls by Miss Tainter, from Prairie du Chien,

in 1848. The first school house was built in Osceola in 1852, the

second at St. Croix Falls in 1861. The first mail, established in

1840, was carried up the St. Croix river by batteaus in summer and by

sleds over the ice in winter. The mail was weekly; the carrier was Dr.

Philip Aldrich. The first land mail route was in 1847, from Willow

River to St. Croix Falls. The mail was carried by Dr. Aldrich through

the woods. The first stage route was established in 1855. The first

deed we find of Polk county property is recorded at Prairie du Chien

Sept. 2, 1845, from James Purinton to John Witherell, of St. Louis,

Missouri, for $4,933,--a deed of trust covering a saw mill at St.

Croix Falls. The second deed is from Benj. T. Otis to Edmond Johnson,

conveying an undivided interest in a pre-emption claim, known as the

Northrup or Jerusalem claim, about one mile east of St. Croix Falls,

for $200. The first deed recorded in the county of old St. Croix was

Sept. 29, 1845, from James Purinton, of St. Croix Falls, to John H.

Ferguson, of the city of St. Louis, Missouri,--consideration

$1,552,--of St. Croix Falls water power property. The first store was

built in St. Croix Falls in 1839 and stocked with goods by the St.

Croix Falls Company. The first blacksmith shop and the first hotel

were built at St. Croix Falls. The first grist mill was built at

Osceola in 1853. The first crops were raised at "Jerusalem," the first

farm in the county, in 1839. "Jerusalem" was the farm now owned by Wm.

Blanding, and was early noted as a resort for pleasure seekers, as a

place for picnics and base ball games. The first pre-emption and entry

of land was made in 1848, by Harmon Crandall, of Farmington. Settlers

came into the county slowly until about 1866, since which time the

population has more rapidly increased.

THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

Undoubtedly the greatest curse to the pioneers of a new settlement,

and to the aborigines as well, is the liquor traffic. The Indians,

under the influence of whisky, became infuriated and were capable of

committing any atrocity; the effects upon the whites were not so

violent but just as surely demoralizing, and in time as fatal. Among

dealers in the vile fluid there was no one more persistent and

unscrupulous than Capt. M. M. Samuels. During the summers of 1848 and

1849 there was no other whisky selling house at the Falls. The

character of the whisky sold was vile beyond description. Mrs. H----

and son informed me that they were employed by Samuels during the

summer in compounding various roots with tobacco and boiling them, for

the manufacture of a strong drink that was sold for whisky. Many, both

whites and Indians, were poisoned by this compound. As an emphatic

evidence against the vileness of the liquor, I append some of the

blighting results:

A talented young lawyer, Hall by name, from Philadelphia, became

infatuated with the peculiar whisky furnished by Samuels, and when

insane from its effects ran from Barlow's boarding house to a high

rock overhanging the St. Croix river, just below the falls, plunged in

and was drowned.

Another, named Douglas, under the same influence, tried repeatedly to

drown himself, when his friends bound him securely with cords. He then

managed to stab himself.

Alexander Livingston, a man who in youth had had excellent advantages,

became himself a dealer in whisky, at the mouth of Wolf creek, in a

drunken melee in his own store was shot and killed by Robido, a

half-breed. Robido was arrested but managed to escape justice.

Livingston, once, when on his way from Wolf creek to Clam falls,

sought refuge in my camp, having with him two kegs of whisky. The

Indians soon collected at the camp in fighting trim and sung and

danced madly about the door of the cabin, and clamored for

scoot-a-wa-bo (whisky). I refused to allow any whisky to be issued.

The Indians were furious. Livingston cowered with fear. Foreseeing

trouble I ordered Nat Tibbetts and Jonathan Brawn to take the kegs and

follow me. The Indians stopped their gymnastic performances and gazed

intently. With an axe and with a single blow on each keg I knocked in

the heads, and the whisky was soon swallowed up in the snow. The

Indians sprang forward with demoniac yells and commenced licking up

the saturated snow, after which they danced around me, calling me

"Oge-ma" (captain). I gave them food and they went away sober and

apparently satisfied.

FRONTIER JUSTICE.

In the spring of 1848 there were two rival whisky sellers at or near

Balsam lake. Miles Tornell, a Norwegian, was located midway between

the lake and the Falls. Miller, a German, had his post at the lake.

Miller was an older trader, and claimed exclusive rights. A bitter

feeling sprang up between them, which resulted, as the testimony

afterward proved, in the murder of Tornell. His house was burned, and

his body found concealed in a coal pit. One McLaughlin, who was

stopping with Tornell, was also murdered. An investigation was set on

foot. Samuels and Fields acted as detectives, and fixed the crime upon

an Indian, whom they arrested on an island in Blake's lake, and

brought to the Falls for trial. H. H. Perkins acted as judge, a jury

of good men was impaneled, and the trial was held in Daniel Mears'

store. A prosecuting attorney and counsel for the accused were

appointed. The Indian frankly confessed the killing, and said that he

had been hired to do the bloody work by Miller. Another Indian

testified to being present on the occasion of the murder. After brief

remarks by the lawyers, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty. There

was no formal sentence. The Indian was kept under guard till next

morning, when, by the unanimous consent of all present, he was hanged

to a tree, since blighted, that stood near the old burying ground

(later Louisiana street), and was hanged, Samuels officiating as

sheriff. The Indians present were permitted to take the body, which

they buried with Indian rites. Toward Miller, who ought to have been

held as principal, the crowd were unexpectedly lenient. Instead of

being hanged upon the same tree, he was merely lashed to it, and

flogged, Pat Collins administering fifteen strokes on the bare back

with a beech withe. He was then placed on a steamboat and ordered to

leave the country, never to return. Of the more active participants in

the hanging, Pat Collins, who officiated as hangman, and who flogged

Miller, was undeniably a hard citizen. He had a bitter grudge against

Miller, and administered the strokes with a will. He was himself

hanged some years later in California for highway robbery. Chas. F.

Rowley, who assisted in the hanging, lived for some years on a farm

at Wolf creek, enlisted in 1861 in the Union army, and was killed in

battle.

POPULATION OF ST. CROIX FALLS IN 1848.

The following heads of families resided in St. Croix Falls in 1848: H.

H. Perkins, Edward Worth, G. W. Brownell, Otis Hoyt, J. Saunders, R.

Arnold, L. Barlow, A. L. Tuttle, M. M. Samuels, Geo. De Attley, Moses

Perin, and W. H. C. Folsom.

The following single men claimed this as their home: D. Mears, J. L.

and N. C. D. Taylor, P. Kelly, A. Romain, J. and W. R. Marshall, W. F.

Colby, Dr. De Witt, W. J. Vincent, C. Dexter, A. Youle, H. H.

Newberry, J. and O. Weymouth, Geo. Field, W. W. Folsom, J. H. Tuller,

J. Dobney, J. Paine, and some others whose names I can not readily

recall.

NATURAL LANGUAGE.

The Indians, when unable to talk English, nevertheless managed to

express themselves intelligibly by gestures, picture writing, and

vocal utterances, imitating the sounds which they wished to describe.

A kind old Chippewa occasionally visited my camp. He would sit by the

camp fire and mark out in the ashes the outlines of lakes and streams.

In tracing South Clam river, at a certain point he drew a line across

the stream, and blew his breath between his teeth and lips in such a

way as to perfectly imitate the sound of falling water. Sometime

afterward, in exploring Clam river, on rounding a curve I heard the

sound of falling water, and found the fall just as he had located it.

THE DROWNING OF HAMLET H. PERKINS.

Mr. Perkins had been in the village since 1847, acting as agent for

the Falls company until the winter of 1850-51, when he was

accidentally drowned while attending to his duties. He was engaged in

repairing the dam, and was standing on a block of ice. In an unguarded

moment he lost his foothold and was carried by the swift current under

the ice. It was two days before his body was recovered. His family

left the valley, taking the body with them.

A QUAILTOWN MURDER.

St. Croix Falls. The buildings consisted of a dwelling house, whisky

shop, bowling alley, Indian house and stable, the whole

inappropriately styled Quailtown, as the name was a gross slander upon

the innocent birds. The quails in this "Partridge" nest were evil

birds. The resort was noted for its riotous disorder. The worst

classes met there for revelry and midnight orgies. In the summer of

1849 Alfred Romain and Patrick Kelly met at Quailtown, disputed,

fought, were parted, and the neat day met by agreement to continue the

fight with pistols. They were to meet at sunrise in front of Daniel

Mears' store. An attempt was made to pacify them, but in vain. Only

Romain appeared at the appointed place, and not finding Kelly, hunted

through the village for him. About 9 o'clock A. M. he found him at the

house of Kimball, a mulatto man. Romain shot him at sight, fatally. At

the inquest, held by Dr. Hoyt, it was proven that Romain fired four

shots into the body of Kelly, each taking effect, and then crushed his

skull with the pistol, and that Kelly fired one shot at Romain. Romain

was held for murder, but was never brought to trial. After two years'

confinement he escaped from the jail at Prairie du Chien.

Romain afterward removed to St. Louis, reformed his mode of life and

became a steady and respectable man. Kelly was a native of Ireland,

and at the time of his death was engaged to be married to an estimable

lady, one of the corps of teachers sent out by Gov. Slade.

MINERAL PERMITS.

In 1846 a party of speculators, composed of Caleb Cushing, Rufus

Choate, Robert Rantoul, and others, located a mineral permit, one mile

square, covering part of the site of the two towns of St. Croix and

Taylor's Falls, with the water power as the centre. Their permit was

filed in the general land office at Washington. They located another

permit at or near the mouth of Kettle river. As no money was ever

expended in improving them, these permits were never respected.

Subsequently the government resurveyed the lands and sold them. The

present title to these lands is perfectly good.

MARRIAGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

In the olden time officers could not always readily be found to

execute the laws. Parties desiring to be married, being unable to

secure the services of a minister or justice of the peace, would seek

for an officer on the other side of the river, get on a raft or boat,

cast off the fastenings and under the concurrent jurisdiction of the

state and territorial authorities, would be pronounced "man and wife."

Parties have had the same rite performed in the winter season while

standing on the ice of the St. Croix midway between the two shores.

AN INDIAN SCARE.

During the excitement following the Indian outbreak, there was a

general feeling of insecurity and alarm. The half-breeds were

especially apprehensive of some kind of violence. One bright moonlight

evening, at St. Croix, a surveyor was taking some observations, and as

his instrument glittered brightly in the moonlight, the half-breeds

saw it and fled, badly frightened, fancying a Sioux behind every bush.

The whites seeing them running, as if for their lives, caught the

panic, and fled over to the Minnesota side. The Taylor's Falls people

were aroused from their peaceful slumbers to find, soon after, that it

was a false alarm. Some of the fugitives hid underneath the bridge and

clung to the trestle work till morning.

THE FIRST FIRE CANOE.

I am indebted to Calvin A. Tuttle for the following reminiscence: In

July, 1838, the steamer Palmyra, Capt. Middleton, of Hannibal,

Missouri, in command, the first steamer on St. Croix waters, brought

me to St. Croix Falls, landing in the Dalles, east side, opposite

Angle Rock. The snorting of the Palmyra brought many curiosity seeking

Indians to the Dalles. They gathered on the pinnacles of the trap

rock, peered curiously over and jumped back, trembling with fright at

the "Scota Cheman" or "fire canoe," the first that had ever floated on

the placid waters of the St. Croix. I had been employed as millwright

to erect mills in the new, and, as yet, almost unknown settlement. On

the Palmyra came the proprietors, Steele, Fitch, Hungerford, Libbey,

Livingston, Hill, and Russell, with mill irons, tools and provisions

for the enterprise.

MILL BUILDING.

After climbing over the cragged rocks we came to an Indian trail which

led to the Falls, where we found two men, Lagoo and Denire holding

the claim for Steele. The fanciful scheme of building a mill up in the

wild land looked now like a reality. The men lived in a log cabin just

below the Falls, in a small clearing in the timber, near a copper rock

range. Boyce and his men had been driven in by Indians from above.

Andrew Mackey and others of Boyce's men went to work with us.

Thirty-six men had come from St. Louis on the steamer Palmyra. We

moved our machinery from the Dalles to the Falls by water and

commenced work immediately. Steele's men had been hindered by the

Indians from procuring timber for the building of the mill. We

obtained a supply from Kanabec river, which arrived September 15th.

Building the mill and blasting the rock occupied our attention during

the winter. The mill was soon completed and running. During this

period the work was often interrupted and the men were greatly

demoralized by the threatening behavior of the Indians. Many of them

were frightened into leaving the settlement, but their places were

supplied by the company whenever practicable. During 1840 we received

some reliable accessions, among them J. L. Taylor, John McKusick,

Joseph Haskell, Elam Greely, J. W. Furber and A. McHattie. Some frame

houses were built near the mill. Washington Libbey was our first

agent, Darnes our second (1839), Capt. W. Frazer our third (1840),

Capt. Wm. Holcombe our fourth (1841). The first death was of a man

drowned in 1840. The first white woman who visited the Falls was Mrs.

David Hone. Rev. Boutwell preached here in 1839. A. Northrup and

family came in 1840.

INDIAN MURDERS.

In 1840 Jeremiah Russell, the Indian farmer at Pokegama, Pine county,

Minnesota, sent two Chippewa Indians to St. Croix Falls for supplies,

who arrived in safety. A band of fifty Sioux Indians were concealed at

this (St. Croix Falls) settlement for some days. Within an hour after

the arrival of the two Chippewas, the settlement was surrounded by

these Sioux. The whites, seeing that trouble was brewing, secreted the

Chippewas for two days, the Sioux closely watching. The white men were

restless, and afraid to go to work. Capt. Frazer, Rev. Ayers and

myself held a council and explained the situation to the Chippewas,

who replied that they would not expose the whites to trouble. They

resolved on leaving and started in open day north over the trap rock

ridge, thence through the bushes, where they discovered two Sioux. The

Chippewas were armed and fired on the Sioux, killing them instantly.

The Chippewas then started to run. The report of the guns brought

squads of Sioux immediately in pursuit, who, firing on the Chippewas,

killed one. The two dead Sioux were sons of Little Crow. They were

placed by the Sioux in a sitting posture, with backs to a tree, facing

the enemy's country, on the second bench near where the mill dam was

subsequently built, a double barreled gun standing on the ground

between them. They decorated the corpses with war paint, ribbons and

mosses. The two Chippewas who killed Little Crow's sons bore the

titles Julius and Wezhaymah. The Sioux in pursuit killed Julius, and

his head was hung up in a kettle before those he had slain. His body

was chopped in pieces and scattered to the four winds.

From an historical letter, written by Mrs. E. T. Ayer, who lives at

Belle Prairie, Minnesota, and whom we have elsewhere mentioned, we

have the following description of the death of the sons of Little

Crow:

"Julius was of medium height, stout build, very neat, and when in full

dress very few Indians would favorably compare with him. Being a good

hunter he had the means of gratifying his taste. His hair was long and

abundant, and was kept clean and shining by the frequent use of comb

and brush, with the help of a little marrow or bear's oil. Three or

four of his numerous long braids, studded with silver brooches, hung

gracefully on both sides of his face and over his arms--the rest of

his dress in a manner corresponding. His hair, like Absalom's, did not

save him from his enemies. The Dakotas may dance around it for

generations and never see its equal.

"Wezhaymah made his appearance at Pokegama. As he drew near the houses

he gave a salute from his double barreled gun. The Ojibways were much

frightened. They believed the Sioux had returned to make another trial

for scalps and plunder. The first impulse of the women was to hide.

The chief's wife and oldest daughter being at the mission house, went

through a trap door into a dark cellar. But when the supposed dead

stood before them, alive and well, there was great rejoicing.

"Wezhaymah said that Julius killed both of Little Crow's sons; that

the Sioux followed him but a short distance, then all turned after

Julius. He took a circuitous route home, traveling in the night and

hiding in the day. Julius' parents, Joseph and Eunice, and other

members of their family, were members of the mission church. He and

his wife made no profession, though they sometimes attended religious

worship."

About twenty days after, about one hundred Sioux came from little

Crow's band at Red Rock for the bodies of their dead comrades and the

gun, having first, by means of spies, satisfied themselves that there

were no Chippewas in the vicinity. One morning, as the whites were

going to work, they were surprised by the sudden appearance of these

Indians, who rushed suddenly down upon them from different trails,

gorgeously painted and without blankets. Their movements were so

sudden that the whites were completely surprised, and at the mercy of

the Indians, who, however, satisfied themselves with searching the

camp and appropriating all the victuals they could find, ostensibly

searching for the gun which was not to be found where they had left

it. Complaining bitterly of its loss, they withdrew to a trap rock

ledge near by, where they formed a circle, danced, sung and fired

several guns into the air. They then asked to see "Oge-ma," the agent,

and formally demanded the gun. Everyone in camp denied any knowledge

whatever of the missing article. The Indians were at first much

dissatisfied, but finally Little Crow advanced, smoked a pipe and

offered it to. Capt. Frazer, shook hands and withdrew, apparently in

peace.

As it is not the custom for Indians to molest the dead, they firmly

believed a white man had taken the gun. Little Crow applied to Maj.

Plympton at Fort Snelling, charging the theft upon the whites. The

major in turn wrote to Capt. Frazer at the Falls to make an

investigation, as a result of which the gun was found in a tool chest

belonging to Lewis Barlow, concealed under a false bottom. Barlow

professed entire innocence and ignorance of the matter, suggesting

that his brother must have placed the gun there. Capt. Frazer severely

reprimanded him for imperiling the lives of all the whites in the

settlement by his foolish and thievish act. The gun was sent to Maj.

Plympton, who wrote to Capt. Frazer cautioning him to be on his guard,

as the Indians were much irritated. Barlow had earned the contempt and

dislike of his fellow workmen.

INDIAN BATTLE OF STILLWATER

Mr. Tuttle was at the Falls at the time of the famous battle between

the Sioux and Chippewas, which was fought in the ravine where the

Minnesota state prison now stands, July 3, 1839, and has given me the

following account:

The Chippewas of the St. Croix had been invited by the officer in

command at Fort Snelling to a council, the object of which was to

effect a treaty of peace. Two hundred and fifty or three hundred

Chippewas, including their women and children, passed down the St.

Croix in canoes, rested in fancied security in the ravine near the

present site of Stillwater, and made a portage thence to Fort

Snelling, where, under protection of government soldiers, the council

was held. The pipe of peace had been smoked and the Chippewas were

quietly returning home, and had encamped a second time in the ravine,

expecting to re-embark the next morning on the waters of the St.

Croix. Just at the dawn of the ensuing day, and while they were still

asleep, a large body of Sioux, who had stealthily followed them, fell

upon them suddenly, and with wild yells commenced an indiscriminate

slaughter. The Chippewas rallying, drove the Sioux from the ground,

thereby retaining possession of their dead, to the number of about

thirty. After the smoke of peace at Fort Snelling it was reported that

a Sioux had been killed. This incensed them so that they followed in

two parties, one party pursuing the St. Croix band and another the

Mille Lacs band up Rum river. The latter party overtook the Chippewas

at the point where Princeton is now located, and slew sixty of their

number. It was afterward ascertained that the Sioux killed near Fort

Snelling was killed by a Pillager of the Upper Mississippi, an Indian

of a band that was not in the council. The Sioux and Chippewas, it is

true, are bitter, relentless, hereditary foes, but this slaughter

occurred through a grievous mistake. The Chippewas, on their return,

rested at the Falls. Capt. Frazer gave them medicine, dressed their

wounds and fed them. The Indians gave way to the wildest grief at

their losses, and when they heard of the sixty killed of the Mille

Lacs band, their mourning cries and moans baffled description.

THE FIRST LOGGERS.

The first logs were cut by J. R. Brown on the Taylor's Falls flat in

the winter of 1836-37, but the first regular outfit and camp was that

of John Boyce, who came up in a mackinaw boat from St. Louis with

eleven men and six oxen, landing at St. Croix Falls late in the fall

of 1837. Mr. Andrew Mackey, who was in his party, has furnished me

with some items regarding this adventure. The boat was cordelled over

the rapids, and, with poles and lines, taken as far as the mouth of

Kanabec river, where a camp was established. Boyce had considerable

trouble with the Indians. Little Six, a Chippewa chief, came to the

camp with two hundred warriors in a defiant, blustering manner,

telling him to "go away," to "go back where they came from." Boyce

proceeded to the Indian mission at Lake Pokegama and invoked the aid

of Rev. Mr. Boutwell, Ely, Ayers and Seymour, who came back with him

to the camp and had a "talk" with Little Six, who claimed that the

whites had paid no money. Mr. Seymour explained to them the provisions

of the treaty, of which they would soon hear; that under its

provisions the whites had a right to the timber; that they were not

usurpers, that they would live peaceably and not disturb their game.

The Indians granted assent, but refused to allow the whites to remove

any of their chingwack (pine). Mr. Seymour, apprehending trouble,

advised Mr. Boyce to leave. He determined to remain. The Indians being

still troublesome, Mr. Boyce descended the river to the falls, the

Indians following. On going over the falls the boat filled and Mr.

Boyce lost nearly all he had. The Palmyra shortly after broke the

silence of the Dalles with its shrill whistle and brought the news of

the ratification of the treaty by Congress. Boyce sent his boat down

the river, built small boats and made haste to return to his camp on

Kanabec river, where he remained through the fall and winter cutting

logs.

THE FIRST RAFTING.

In April and May of 1839, Boyce rafted his logs with poles and ropes

made of basswood strings. The high water swept them away. He gathered

from the broken rafts enough for one raft, made it as strong as

possible, and continued the descent. The raft struck upon the first

island and went to pieces. Boyce saved the canoe and a part of the

provisions. Boyce was by this time in a furious rage at his want of

success, but tried a third time to make a raft. The crew, tired and

hungry, refused to work. A new contract was made and written on a

slate, there being no paper. The logs were left in the river. Some of

them floated down and were sold to the Falls company and to the

company at Marine. Boyce lost all his labor and investment; the men

got but little for their work. Frank Steele had assisted in supplying

provisions and clothing for the men, the value of which he never

received. Boyce was disgusted and left the country.

AN INDIAN PAYMENT.

Levi W. Stratton, who came up on the Palmyra, July, 1838, gives a few

reminiscences from which we select an account of a payment made to the

Chippewa Indians the year of his arrival. The crew and passengers of

the Palmyra had been greatly annoyed by the Indians, who expected

their first payment in July, and besieged the boat in great numbers,

demanding it at the hands of the first whites who had come up the

river, unable to understand the difference between the regularly

constituted authorities and those immigrants who had nothing to do

with the payments. It was not until the first week of November that

their goods came for payment. The place where Stillwater now stands

was selected as the place where they should assemble.

The old stern wheel Gipsey brought the goods and landed them on the

beach. The Chippewas came there to the number of 1,100 in their

canoes, nearly starved by waiting for their payment. While there

receiving it the river and lake froze up, and a deep snow came on;

thus all their supplies, including one hundred barrels of flour,

twenty-five of pork, kegs of tobacco, bales of blankets, guns and

ammunition, casks of Mexican dollars, etc., all were sacrificed except

what they could carry off on their backs through the snow hundreds of

miles away. Their fleet of birch canoes they destroyed before leaving,

lest the Sioux might have the satisfaction of doing the same after

they left.

Many of the old as well as the young died from overeating, they being

nearly starved. Thus their first payment became a curse rather than a

blessing to them, for their supplies soon gave out, the season for

hunting was past, they were away from home and had no means of getting

there, except by wading through deep snow. Many perished in the

attempt. As is usual in such cases, I suppose, no one was to blame,

but the poor Indians had to suffer the consequences of somebody's

neglect. The old Gipsey had scarcely time to get through the lake

before the ice formed.

INDIAN DANCING AND THEFT.

In the rough log cabin at St. Croix Falls were three females, the

wives of Messrs. Orr and Sackett, employes of the company, and Miss

Young, daughter of a widower of that name. Life in that cabin was by

no means a dream of bliss, for in consequence of the mosquitoes, more

relentless persecutors than the Indians, a smudge had to be kept

burning night and day, or at least by day when the sun was not

shining. The old cabin served for a kitchen, while an arbor was

improvised outside for a dining room. Shortly after the arrival of the

immigrants, and before they had learned all the peculiarities of

Indian character, they were visited by a party of fifteen or twenty

braves, who set about adorning themselves, and spent the forenoon in

painting and getting themselves up in gorgeous rig, regardless of

expense, preparatory to giving a free entertainment. Just before

dinner was called, they arranged themselves near the table and gave a

dance, which was very much applauded, after which they were given

presents of bread and meat, and dismissed, apparently highly pleased

with the success of their exhibition. The household gathered about the

table to enjoy their repast, but to their consternation, not a knife,

fork or spoon could be found. While the majority of the Indians were

riveting the attention of the new comers by their extraordinary

antics, the remainder were quietly abstracting the tableware. They

were afterward charged with the theft, but protested innocence. The

missing articles were never heard of again. A pig of lead, left

outside, disappeared at the same time. The poor Indians denied ever

having seen the lead. Mr. Stratton remarked, however, that all their

war clubs, pipes and gun stocks had been lately and elaborately

ornamented with molten lead.

OTHER THEFTS.

At another time, shortly before payment, when the Indians were

unusually hungry and troublesome, two barrels of pork and one of

butter mysteriously disappeared. The pork barrels were found empty in

the river, and also the butter barrel with one-third of the contents

missing. The Indians lay all day in camp sick, but protested their

innocence. Nevertheless, at payment day a claim of two hundred dollars

for the pork and one hundred and fifty for the butter was allowed and

kept back. They made no objections to paying for the pork, but

protested against paying for the butter, as it did them no good and

made them all sick.

In September, an old Indian came to the cabin, begging for something

to eat. The agent went to the pork barrel and held up a fine piece of

pork weighing about twelve pounds, to which the tail was still

attached. At sight of this his countenance fell and he went away

silently and sullenly.

Shortly afterward a yoke of oxen was missing. They had been driven off

over some bare ledges of trap to break the trail. An Indian was hired

to hunt for them. He found that this same beggar who had been so

disgusted with the offer of a piece of pork with the tail attached had

driven them off and slaughtered them. Payment day made all right, and

the Indians were compelled to pay a good price for rather poor beef.

HARD TIMES.

Mrs. Mary C. Worth communicated to the writer the following incidents,

illustrating some of the vicissitudes of the early settlers:

It was in the fall of 1842. There were about two hundred people in the

village, most of them in the employ of James Purinton, company agent.

They were already short of provisions and the winter was rapidly

coming on, and the expected boat, with its cargo of provisions for the

winter supply, was long delayed. September passed, October came and

nearly passed, and still no boat. Snow covered the ground, and thin

ice the river. The ice, in finely broken pieces, floated down the

rapids and was beginning to gorge in the Dalles, and still no boat.

Provisions were allotted to the resident families, and the gloomiest

anticipations filled all minds at the prospect of the long, dreary

winter without food; when, on the twenty-eighth of October, the long

expected whistle was heard from the coming steamer. The people rushed

frantically down to the old warehouse, but the ice was so gorged in

the Dalles that no boat could make the landing. No boat was in sight,

nor was the whistle heard again. Had it all been an illusion? The

eager throng were again in despair. Another night of cold would

blockade the river. Just then the voices of white men were heard from

the rocks of the Dalles, and to their great joy they perceived the

boat's officers and passengers clambering down from the rocks, with

the glad tidings that the boat had reached the landing, half a mile

below, and was then unloading her cargo. The boat, as soon as

unloaded, hurriedly departed to avoid being frozen in. The winter

passed merrily enough, but clouds and darkness gathered in the spring.

Provisions were again short, and had to be apportioned sparingly and

equally. Occasionally a deer or a fish eked out the supply, but

starvation was again imminent. On this occasion they were relieved by

the reception of condemned pork from Fort Snelling. The St. Louis

proprietors sent up another boat load of supplies after the opening of

navigation, and all seemed well, when, during the prevalence of high

water, the boom and mill race gave way and the logs, their main

dependence, were swept down the river and beyond their control. This

important occurrence, as it then seemed to be, opened up for the

company and people a new trade from the valley below, which has been a

source of immense profit. It suggested the idea of booming and rafting

their logs for points down the river, and led to the building of the

first saw mill at Stillwater.

UGH! UGH!

Mr. Purinton at one time invited a few noted Indians who were begging

for food to be seated at his table. He politely asked them if they

would have tea or coffee. "Ugh! Ugh!" (equivalent to yes, yes) replied

the whole party. So Mr. Purinton mixed their tea and coffee.

MRS. WORTH AND MUCKATICE.

Muckatice, a Chippewa chief, heard that a barrel of whisky had been

stored for safe keeping in the cellar of Mrs. Worth, at Balsam Lake.

Muckatice forced himself into the house and attempted to raise the

cellar trap door. Mrs. Worth forbade him and placed herself upon the

door. Muckatice roughly pushed her aside. He raised the trap door,

and, while in the act of descending, fell. While falling Mrs. Worth

suddenly shut the trap door upon him, by which one of his legs was

caught. Mrs. Worth held the door tightly down. When at last Muckatice

was released, gathering a crowd of Indians he returned and demanded

the whisky. Thayer, with ropes, managed to get the barrel out of the

cellar and out upon the ground, and seeing the peril of giving so much

whisky to the Indians, knocked in both heads of the barrel with an

axe, and the earth drank the poisonous fluid. Muckatice then shook

hands with Mrs. Worth, called her very brave, and departed.