The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1852-12-04
Correspondence of the New York Tribune.
MlNNESOTA


Influence of Missionaries.
In the East information of Minnesota, and her
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
on the far western frontier. l now write from
an extreme border; upon line which separates
civilization from the crudest barbarian. Here
is young community of Eastern Adventures.
just struggling into existence. Here is rath-
er good sized farm-an Indian purchase, about
the dimensions of New York, Pennsylvania and
Virginia combined, upon which, this 10th of
November, the first nstalment is paid, and to
which the original possessors relnquish all
right, title and claim as the lawyers say, for
ever and which our benefccnt Uncle Sam now
offers almost gratis to his numerous white pro-
geny, and poor relations.
But yesterday, and all this beautiful country
was avast, wild, solitary. unbroken wilderness.
The naked 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 game or fish. A whcel-carriage had
never marked the ground, nor plough rufHed
its surface Age rolled upon age all the outer
world underwent successive changes, but Of
these vast prairics and forests We may say as
Byron does of the ocean:
eTime writes no wrinkles on thine brow;
Such Creations dawn beheid, thou rolest now.''
A pale-faced wanderer who ventured into these
remote regions, tempted by curiosity or gain,
while he was filled with awe at the magnitude
and grandeur of the scenic picture before him,
also inspired the superstitious savage with ter
ror when he came to confront one of the white
war-gods of whom he had heard such marvel
| Gus reports.
h,,ttb in oil
the Territory of Minnesota. Where the city of
st. Paul stands, the Catholics had small chap
ell and dwelling. surrounded on one side by
stuntcd cOpse, with open prairie in the rear,
and looking from his lofty table rock across the
Mississippi, the piOus recluse saw dark, shay
gy forest frowning upon the sweeping waters
and rising with the river hills. falling back into
the prairies, presenting an aspect of unbroken
woodlands to the distant sunset. These haunts
of wild beasts are as yet the haunts Of the
scarcely less wild savage. Their yells mingle
with the midnight air. Their devilish orgies
are performed within sight and hearing of chris
tian affairs. Yes. this same St. Paul, with its
imposing State House l39 feet by 53 its 6 or
churches with lofty spires and bells; its Court
House. with metallic dome glittering in the sun
! like huge inverted tin basin ; its numerous
wholesale and retail stores its large line of
steamers, traversing the noblest of rivers, and
of which the past season there have been 40
arrivals; its population of thousands its fash
ionable arstocracy and pennylcss advcnturers;
its 40 lawyers and 20 doctors :" its splendid
mail coaches and Newark omnibusses. rafting
and roaring through the town; yes, this same
st. Paul is yet in the wilderness. Look where
you will, stir out of it in any direction you may,
and the primitive features of oldcn times re-
main unchanged. Here are dwarfed oaks
which for aught l know are coeval with the
Pyramids of Egypt; prairies bearing the same
natural grass that sprung up when dry land''
first appeared. Prairie hens may stray by mis-
take into the back yards, and wolves speak
through the walls OF town houses to the quiet
inmates as they cozly sit around the evening
fire, and complain by hdeous yelps of the scan
concert. horrifying us il is not unfrequently is
added the bowling of Indian bands engaged in
a war, scalp or medicine dance.
SCALP DANCE.-It would be useless to try to
convey to the reader unaccustomed to savage
life, an Ineligible idea of the internal noises,
and uncouth gestures of these red devils when
engaged in any of their dances. For Scalp
dance, they bury themselves in the thick secure
forest, where at ghtfall they light their camp
fire. and with naked bodies painted, some jet
black, others bright rcd, or buff, or striped in
the most fantastic manner, form a circle round
the fire, holding the scalp alOft, suspended in
hoop, and when they commence to leap and
bound. set up the most uncarthly yelping,
whoOpng and bowling, twisting their ugly
bodies into every conceivable cOntortiOn!-
The squaws. too, becoming excited even to
frenzy, howl worse than pack of famished
wolves. creating pandemonium as seen from
a distance through the gloomy forest by the
lurld glare of the camp light, more shocking
and spectrc-likc than the worst scene met by
Dante in his descent to the Inferno.
REMOVAL OF INDANs.-The Indians days of
residence about st. Paul are numbered. Their
lands arc all purchased, so that in very short
time they 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 will know of them no more
Their MausOlums of the dead will be trampled
under foot and forgotten, and not monument
Will remain to record the history of great ma
ton that is passing away forever. Poor fellows,
a feeling OF cOmmiscratiOn steals over one while
contemplating their actual condition Needy.
imprOvident, ignorant, supersttious With
sOrrowful hearts they hear the exulting cry of
the foreigner, that :. Westward the star of En-
pire fakes its way and as the hungry crowd
OF mixed nations press forward, with gladdened
hearts at the prospect before them, with this
triumphant motto cmblaZoEed on their banners,
dispOssessing and showing onward the moody
savage what tears, what suffering what gloomy
forebodings of the future what homc-attaci-
mcnts broken up forever load the soul of this
helpless child of nature, is with the white not
esteemed matter worthy of instant thought.
The good missionary who labors for their spir-
ltual good, but fear labors in vain and who
asks no home out of this sterile portion of
Chrlst's vineyard, takes up his bible, his prayer
book and cross to follow these homeless crea-
lures to the still more cherries regions of the
remote north.
INDIAN CHARACrER.-NOw that frontier wars
have ceased, nothing any longer remains to de-
velop the real Indian character. They are vet
numerous, but broken down and dispirited.-
Here are thousands of Braves whose restless
souls chafe them like the fiery spirit of the nm
checked war horse, eager for the sound of hot.
tie. which failing to hear they pine and sicken
and die from inactivity. This same savage who
IL, wen mounted armed with trusty weapon,
let loose upon war expedition against bel.
ligerent band would have evinced all the bra
very OF warrior who knows no fear, who would
have been frenzied with passion and wild with