Old Fort Snelling Part 21

"The Indians say they had dreamed of seeing some monster of the deep the night before, which frightened them very much. It appears they did not discover the boat until it had got into the mouth of the St. Peter's, below Mr. Sibley's. They stood and gazed with astonishment at what they saw approaching, taking the boat to be some angry G.o.d of the water, coughing and spouting water upwards, sideways and forward. They had not courage enough to stand until the boat came near them. The women and children took to the woods, with their hair floating behind them in the breeze, from the speed they were going, in running from supposed danger.

Some of the men had a little more courage, and only moved off to a short distance from the sh.o.r.e, and the boat pa.s.sed along and landed.

Everything being quiet for a moment, the Indians came up to the boat again, and stood looking at the monster of the deep. All at once the boat began to blow off steam, and the bravest warriors could not stand this awful roaring, but took to the woods, men, women and children, with their blankets flying in the wind; some tumbling in the brush which entangled their feet as they ran away--some hallooing, some crying, to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of the people on board the steamboat."--Quoted in the _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. III, p. 104, note 1.

[441] Beltrami's _A Pilgrimage in Europe and America_, Vol. II, p. 199.

[442] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. II, pp. 191-193.

[443] Beltrami published an account of his travels in French in New Orleans in 1824. The English version is ent.i.tled _A Pilgrimage in Europe and America, leading to the Discovery of the Sources of the Mississippi and b.l.o.o.d.y River_, and was published in London in two volumes in 1828.

It is composed of twenty-two letters addressed to "My Dear Countess" and dedicated "to the Fair s.e.x".

[444] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. VI, p. 101.

[445] The story of this exploration was published under the t.i.tle of _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, Etc. performed in the year 1823, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, under the command of Stephen H. Long, U. S. T. E._ It was written by Professor Keating from the notes of the party. An English edition appeared in London in 1825.

The references given are to this publication.

[446] J. C. Calhoun to Major Long.--_Taliaferro Letters_, Vol. I, No.

41.

[447] Keating's _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River_, Vol. I, p. 324, Vol. II, p. 112.

[448] Keating's _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River_, Vol. I, pp. 306-310.

[449] Keating's _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River_, Vol. I, p. 356.

[450] _Auto-biography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro_ in the _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. VI, p. 241.

[451] Beltrami's _A Pilgrimage in Europe and America_, Vol. II, p. 414.

[452] "My head was covered with the bark of a tree, formed into the shape of a hat and sewed with threads of bark; and shoes, a coat, and pantaloons, such as are used by Canadians in the Indian territories, and formed of original skins sewed together by thread made of the muscles of that animal, completed the grotesque appearance of my person."--Beltrami's _A Pilgrimage in Europe and America_, Vol. II, p.

481. For a short summary of Beltrami's work see the _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. II, pp. 183-196.

[453] Keating's _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River_, Vol. II, p. 200.

[454] Catlin's _North American Indians_, Vol. II, pp. 599-602.

[455] Catlin's _North American Indians_, Vol. II, pp. 602-607. This quotation is from page 607.

[456] _Senate Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 24th Congress, Vol. IV, Doc.u.ment No. 333.

[457] Featherstonhaugh's _A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor_, Vol. I, p. 262.

[458] _Auto-biography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro_ in the _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. VI, p. 246.

[459] Featherstonhaugh's _A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor_, Vol. I, pp. 261, 266, 288.

[460] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. I, pp. 187, 188.

[461] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 28th Congress, Vol. II, Doc.u.ment No. 52, p. 53.

[462] Brower's _The Mississippi River and its Source_ which comprises Vol. VII of the _Minnesota Historical Collections_. See p. 162.

[463] _Auto-biography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro_ in the _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. VI, pp. 242-245; _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. I, p. 189.

[464] In his reminiscences John C. Fremont has left a very interesting account of these two expeditions.--Fremont's _Memoirs of My Life_, Vol.

I, pp. 30-54.

[465] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. I, p. 183.

[466] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. II, pp. 129, 133, 134.

[467] Neill's _The History of Minnesota_ (Fourth Edition), pp. 914, 915.

[468] _North Western Gazette and Galena Advertiser_, June 26, 1840.

[469] _North Western Gazette and Galena Advertiser_, June 5, 1840.

[470] _Louisville Journal_ quoted in the _North Western Gazette and Galena Advertiser_, June 14, 1838.

[471] Jackson Kemper was appointed missionary bishop of the Northwest in 1835 and held the position until 1859 when he accepted the bishopric of Wisconsin. His papers and diaries are in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society. For an account of his work see Tiffany's _A History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States_, pp. 448, 493.

[472] _Kemper Papers_, Vol. XXVII, No. 113.

[473] _Kemper Papers_, Vol. XXVII, No. 116.

CHAPTER XII

[474] _Journals of Congress_, Vol. III, p. 589.

[475] _United States Statutes at Large_, Vol. I, p. 138.

[476] _United States Statutes at Large_, Vol. XVI, p. 566.

[477] _Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs_, 1890, p. xxix.

[478] These figures are taken from an account of the proceedings of the council published in _Niles' Register_, Vol. XXIX, pp. 187-192.

Taliaferro gives the number of his party as being 385 "Sioux and Chippewas, including the interpreters and attendants."--_Auto-biography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro_ in the _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. VI, p. 206.

[479] The text of the treaty is printed in Kappler's _Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties_, Vol. II, pp. 250-255.

[480] These are the reasons given by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in his report on December 1, 1837.--_Senate Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 25th Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 1, pp. 526, 527.

[481] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. II, p. 129.

[482] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. II, p. 131; Vol. VI, p.

214.