The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1852-12-16
Cosrespondence of the N. Y. Tribune.

st. Pasa Is and L so1s three years since. st.
Psl in the wilderness. Scalp Dance. Removal
Of. the Indians. Indian Charactr. Influence Of
the Missionaries. -.- SD - -
cities is sought after with eagerness. One year ago
was among the seekers, but could, from no source,
find any reliable information. The majority Of your
readers know nothing of life the far western from
tier. l now write from an extreme border; upon a
line which separates civilization from the crudest
barbarism. Here is young community Of east
em adveuturers, just struggling into existence
Here is a rather good sized farm-an Indian pur-
chase, about the dimensions Of New York, Penn
sylvanin, and Virginia combined. upon which, this
10th of November, the first instament is paid. and
to which the original possessors renqush all right,
title and claim, as the lawyers say, forever; and
which our benefcent Uncle Sam Offers almost
gratis to his white progeny, and poor re-
| lations.
But Yesterday, and all this beautiful country a
vast, wild, solitary, unbroken wilderness. Inc ma
ked savage erected his temporary lodge, chased the
buffalo, deer and wolf, where now the air resounds
with the sounds Of industry. Upon the streams and
lakes, darkened by thick overshadowing forests he
foated silently in search Of fish game. wheel
carriage had never marked the ground, nor plough
ruffled its surface. Age rolled upon age; All the
outer world underwent successive changes, but OF
these prairies and forests may say as Byron
does of the ocean:
"Time writes wrinkles thine azure brow;
Such Creations dawn beheld, thou rOllest now"
| A pale-faced wandercr who ventured into these
remote regions, tempted by curiosity gain, while
he was filled with awe the magnitude and grandeur
of the scenic picture before him, also inspired the
superstitious savage with terror when he came to
confront Of the white war-yods of whom he had
heard such marvellous reports.
Thus stood things three years ago in all the terri
tory of Minnesota. Where the city Of St. Paul
stands the Catholics had small chapel and dwelling,
rdpd Ida nv a cd with
prairie in the rear, and looking from his lofty table
rock across the Mississippi, the pious rccluse a
dark, shaggy forest rOwning upon the sweeping wa
tiers and rising with the river hills falling back into
the praries, presenting aspect Of un'roken wood
lands to the distant sunset. These haunts Of the
wild beasts yet the haunts Of the scarcely less
wild savage. Their yells mingle with the midnight
air. Their devlsh orgies performed within
sight and hearing of Christian affairs. Yes, this
same St. Paul, with its imposing State House l39
feet by 50: its six or seven churches with lofty
spires and bells its Court House, with metallic dome
glittcring in the like huge inverted tin basin
its numerous Wholesale and retail stores its large
line Of Steamers travcrsing the nOblest Of rivers,
and of which the past season there have been 10
arrivals; its population Of thousands; its fashiona-
bile aristocracy and pennyless adventures; its 10
lawyers and 20 'doctOrs'' its splendid mail coaches
and Newark omnbusses, rafting and roaring through
the town; yes, this ST. Paul is yet in the will
derness. Look where YOU will, stir out Of it in any
direction you may, and primitive features of olden
times remain unchanged. Here dwarfed oaks
which for ought l know coeval with the Pyra-
mids of Egypt; prairies bearing the same natural
grass that sprung up when "dry land' first appeared.
Prairie hens may stray by mistake into the back
yards, and wolves speak through the walls of town
houses to the quiet inmates they cOziy sit around
the evening fire, and complain by hideous yeps OF
the scantiness of their supper. To this wild-woOds
concert, horrif!iny is, not unfrecueny is added
the bowling Of the Indian bands engaged in a war,
scalp, or medicine dance.
! SCALP DANcE.-It would be useless to try to
convey the reader unaccustomed to savage life,
Ineligible idea of the Internal noises and uncout
gestures of these red devils, when engaged in any Of
their dances. For Scalp dance, they bury them
selves in the thick secure forest, where at nightE
they light their camp fire, and with naked bodies
painted, jet black, others bright red, or buff
striped in the most fantastic manner, form circle
round the fire. holding the scalp alot, suspended in
a hoop, and when they commence to leap and bound
set up the most unearthly yelping, whooping and
bowling, twisting their ugly bodies into every con
ceivable contorton! The squaws, too, becoming ex.
cited even to frenzy, howl worse than a pack Of
from distance through the gloomy forest by the
lurid glare of the camp light, more shocking and
spectre like than the worst met by Dante in
his descent to the Inferno.
| Removal OF INDIANs.-The Indians days Of
residence about St. Paul are numbered Their land.
will take up their line of march in the direction Of
the Rocky mountains; and the forests over which
they roamed, the waters by which they dwelt vii
know of them no more. Their Mausoleums OF the
dead will be trampled under foot and forgotten,
not monument will remain to record the history o
a great nation that is passing away forever. Poo
fellows, feeling of cOmmiseration steals over on
while contemplating their actual condition. Needy
imprOvident, ignorant, superstitious. With sorrow
FIJI hearts they hear the cxung cry of the foreigner
that ''Westward the star of Empire takes its way,
and as the hungry crowd of mixed nations press for
ward with gladdened hearts at the prospect hefor
them, with this triumphant motto emblazoned thei
banners, dispOsscssing and showing onward the MOODY
savage; what tears, what suffering, what gloom
torebOdings of the future; what home attachment
broken up forever load the soul Of the helpless chile
of nature, is with the white not esteemed matte
worthy Of instant thought. The good missionar
who abors for their spiritual good, but fear labor
in vain, and who asks no home out of this stcril
portion Of Christs vineyard takes up his bible, hi
prayer book and to follow these homeless crca
lures to the still more cherries regions of the re
: mote north.
INDIAN CHARACrER.-Now that frontier war
have ceased, nothing any longer remains to develop
the real Indian character They are vet numerous
but broken down and dispirited. Here are thou
sands Of sBravcs, whose restless souls chafe then
like the fiery spirit of the unchecked war horse
eager for the sound of battle, which failing hca
they pine and sickcn and die from inactivity. Thi
same savage who if we'll mounted, armed with
trusty weapon, let loose upon expedition
against belligerent band would have evnced all tn
bravery of a warrior who knows fear, who woul.
have been fienzied with passion and wild with de
light, now crouches in his miserable wigwam, n stu
pid, dull, lfeless, inanimate creature almost re
CARELESS of time, place and destiny. The moman
the constraning influence Of civilized rule is throw
around him, the Indian character dies out and leave
the form destitute of all character. An Indian, lik
certain other inhabitants of the forest, cannot
tanned. l have visited missions established for
century, but ! have failed to meet one full-bloodc
Indian who did not remain all Indian, or degenerate
idto al automaton. They may be moulded into goo
warriors, but to good Christians, never. They low
the blood Of enemy, but the mystery Of the bloo
Of the holy sacrifice they cannot comprehend:
"His the limbs that unconfned,
Bounded through the snow.
Like the stag that's twenty timed,
Like the mountain roe,
ellis the arm that stout and tense,
Did the bOw-string twang,
See the life is parted hence.
See how loose they hang,
swell for him! that's gone his WAYS
Where are no more SHOWS;
Where the fields decked with maiZc