The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1851-07-31
From the st. Anthony Express I
Literary Notice.

A Memoir the History and Physical Geography of
Minnesota BY Henry r. Schoolcrait, L. L. D.
The above memoir has been recently pub
lished in the Annals of the Minnesota His
torical Society for IS50-'5l. The author
is perhaps the best Informed in the United
States, upon the present condition of the
Aborigines Of the North West. As is well
known, in the summer of 1882, at the sug-
gestion OF the u, s. Government, he CON
Quoted an exploring expedition to the Up
per Mississippi, and was the liscovercr Of
Its actual source in ltasca Lake.
Though his memoir as a whole is n valu-
able addition to our historical literature, it
is Inaccurate and incomplete in its his; ;ory of
early discoveries in Dakota land.
! CharlevOix in his History of New France,
prepared by order of the French Govern
ment more than century ago, and upon the
whole reliable work, remarks that in 1856,
the Hurons and Dakotas were allied against
the lroquois, or New York Indians.
The Hurons a,ing had intercourse with
the French traders, felt their superiority
over tho untutored Dakota. The latter at
last felt insulted, and they began to war
with each other, and the Hurons were drv-
en- To the shores of Lake Superior. In 1859
or 60, says the same author, fur traders left
]
they met the Sioux, (Dakotas) probably al
Mile Lac. While in the country they saw
females partly lped and their noses cut
OFT, for adultery.
| MIR. Schoolcrait very truly ascrbes to
HennepIn the honor of giving the name to
the fall of St. Anthony. But the present
river marked on NcolIet's map St. Francis.
was not the ST. Francis of Hennepin bur
the river that we call by the un,neodious
name OF Rum river, is the original St
Francis, as the map prefxed TO the work he
! published on the continent OF Europe ind-
Gates, and as his words corroborate Hen
nepin states in the Amsterdam edition of his
writings that eight leagues above the falls
| o! 81. Anthony, he came 10 the river of the
issatl or Nadouessans, which was narrow
at its mouth, and issued from the Lake of
the lssati Mile Lac,) aud that he called il
the ST. Francis.
The memoir has done good service in saw
ing La Hontan, who amazed the world with
surpositious voyage up lis channel (tbe
Upper MlssissippD TO Rviere la Tongue,
''never saw it, aud discovered nothing. -
But upon the same page there is great
historical inaccuracy.
After speaking of Hennepin's travels, the
memoir goes on 10 say, that 'the actual dis
covery OF the Upper Mississippi rested here
abou, eighty three years" (page l5l Min
nesota Hist. Soc. Annals.) The learned
author has entirely forgotten tho bold and
intelligent LIE Sueur, the first 10 give the
beautiful Lake Pepin, and the river st.
CrDix, the name which they at present bear,
and also the first man on record who discov-
cred and explored the Minnesota river.
| lie Sueur, in 1893, was commissioned bv
/ Eroutpnnc the Eovarpor ,T
tabish post.at Chegoimegon, on Lake Su
perior, aud TO make an alliance with the
Sau!:eurs or Chippewas, and Sioux or Da-
kotaS.
| In the year 1895, he caused fort to he
erected on an island below Lake Pepin.-
He returned TO France, but set sail for the
Gull ct Mexico and arrived in the vicinity
OF Mobile in 1899. On the 18th of July
| 100, he comnenced the ascent of the Mis-
sissIppi. On the l4th of September, he was
at Lake Pepin; and on the 10th, che left
large river on the east side named Saint
Croix, because Frenchman of that name
was shlpwrecked at it mouth" On the
18th, he entered the Minnesota, and by the
lst of October, he was at the mouth Of the
Blue Earth.
lie was the first man also who introduced
sail boat on the waters Of The Upper Mis-
sissippi. AS this journal of lie Sueur has
been translated into English, and published
IN numbers of The Minnesota Pioneer. thar
were issued in October, 1850, we forbear
from making more extracts. The name of
still another explorer has been omitted.
About the year l12S, there was living at
New Orleans, or IN that section of country
a relation of Bienville, the Governor of
LOUISIANA, by the name of De Charlevlle.
Z ~ tnl.
the French settlement on the Mississippi,
that he had assembled the Mississippi far
above the falls Of St. Anthony. He travel
led in birch canoe with two Canadians snd
two Indians. He describes the falls as or
casioned "by fiat rock running across the
river, making fall of eight or ten feetn
This is below the truth. the actual fall ba.
ing sixteen and q half feet, aud vet it is not
so far out OF the way as the statement of
MIR. Schoolcraft, who in his narrative of
travels III this region IN 1920, says, ssthe riv-
er has perpendicular pitch Of FORTY
FEET" Charlevile also states, that having
made portage at st. Anthony, he padded
up the stream 100 leagues farther. He now
met the Sioux, who told him that thev in
habIted the country some distance from the
river on each side. Sandy Lake was an
ancient residence of the Dakotas, and he -
pears TO have been in this vicinity. He also
aids that he was told that it was long dis
tance to the sources of the stream
Among manuscripts in the Royal Library
and in the Marine and Colonial Depot, at
Paris, that have never been published, there
IS a document containing objections to a
plan proposed by lbervlle, of inviting the
Foxes and DakOtas to emigrate to the Mis-
sissip and also another paper prepared in
l72S on the means Of the Upper Mississ,p-
pi. These facts prove that in the com
nenceinent of the 18th century, there was
occasional intercourse between the Dakotas
of Minnesota, and the traders of Mobile and
New Orleans.
few remarks before we lay down the
pen, in relation to the ancient limits of the
Dakota country. This nation have ira
dition that their hunting grounds used to ex-
tend as far down as the site of St. Louis.
and that they met with white men while up.
on war expedition in the far south. These
were probably the Spaniards.
These traditions appear to be corrobora-
ted by the Chevalier Tonty, who in 1898
speaks of the Sioux or Dakotas as residing