Sauk Rapids frontierman. [volume] (Sauk Rapids, M.T. [i.e. Minn.]) 1855-1860, 1858-04-29
NnILL,s HIsro1RY. on, MIN q neT, 80


The following extract We take from
the few sheets published ia advance III
the work 70 which ILLUSION was made II
ourpaper Of Inst week
s,5 CHARTER /.
Minnesota is the Z land Of the Dab
kotahs,' Long before their existence
was known to civilized men, they wan
dered through the forests, between Lake
Superior and the Mississippi, in quest
Of the bounding deer, and over rho prai
RES beyond ii search Of the ponderous
buffalo.
They are an entirely different group
from the Algonquin and Iroqnois, who
were found by the early settlers uf the
Atlantic States, m the banks of the
Connecticut, Mohawk, and susquehan-
ma rivers Their language is much
more difficult to comprehend and.
Will. they have many customs in COM
mon with the tribes who once dwell, in
New England, New York, PennsyIva-
MIA, and lllinois, they have pcruliari,irs
which mark them as belonging to a dis
tinct family Of the aborigiuies Of Anne
RIGA. ess
Wincna, Wabashaw, Mendoza, Ann-
kn, Kasota, Mahknhto, and other names
designating the towns, ham!ets, and
streams Of Minnesota, are words derived
from the Dacota vocabulary.
Between the head Of Lake Superior
and the Mississippi river, above the
Falls of Saint Anthony, is a country Of
many lakes. So numerous are they.
and interlaccd BY clear and sparkling
brooks, to an aeronant they would ap-
pear like a necklace Of diamonds, on
silver filamen's, gracefully thrown upon
the bosom Of Earth.
Surrounded by forests of the sugar
maple --the neighboring marshes fertile
in the growth of wild rice--the waters
Astounding in fish-the shores once alive
with the beaver, the otter, the bear. and
the fox-thry we're sights just adapted
Tor the residence Of an Indian population.
When the l'ahkotas were frs, noticed
BY the European adventurer, large num-
hers were occupying this region Of coun-
try, and appropriately called, by the
v"yagenr. {. People of the Lakes -
And tradition asserts that here was the
centre Of this tribe. Though we have
traces Of their warning and hunting on
the shores Of Lake Superior, there is
no satisfactory evidence Of their resi-
dence, east If tie Mile Lac region.
The word Dahkotab, by which they
love to Re designated. signifies allied or
joined together in friendly compact, and
is equivalent to = T. plnrihus unum, "ttIe
matto on the seal Of the United States.
Ia the history Of the mission at LA
Pointe, Wisconsin, published nearly Two
centuries ago, writer, referring to the
Dahkotahs, remarks -
. For sixty leagues from the cxtremi-
" of the Upper Lake, toward sunset
and, as it were in the centre Of the
western nations. they have all united
Me'r force By q general lragssc.''
CHAPTER v.
The trade in tfurs has produced
class of men Of marked pecul,arities
Under the French dominion, military
officers, and the descendants Of de-
cayed mobility, were licensed, BY an-
thority, to trade in a particular district
These men were well educated, polished
in their manners, and fond oi control.
Living in savage land, surrounded by
a few dependents, they acted as NON
archs Of all they surveyed. The free
dom from the restraints Of civilized life,
and the adutation received frnm the bar
barians, who are 50 easily impressed by
tinsel and glare, had a wonderful tascin-t
alton, so that a s'lodge III some vast
wilderness became preferable to the
idrawing-rooms of ancient France, and
the gay assetnblage of Quebec.
These licensed officers did not harrass
with the minuiia OF the Indian trade
In their employment were few clerks,
chiefly natives of CANADA, who had re-
ceived the rudiments of an edcaat,on.
Upon these devolyed the task OF con-
Quoting European articles Of merchan-
disc, to the tribes on the various water
courses that radiated from the centre oil
trade. with whom they wintered, and
then returned in the spring or summer
with the peltries that bad heen obtained
in exchange for powder, lead, rum, and
tobacco.
Under each clerk were few men .ofl
no cultivation, the chi dren Of poverty
or shame, who from their earliest youth
had led 4 rowing. life, and who acted as
canoe men, hewers Of wood, and draw
ers of water. u
Mercnrial 10 temperament, and with
no sense Of sppnsibility, they we're
'sjplly Set Of fellows. in their habits
apprex'tnaiing e the savage, rather than
the European. Bib
The iahnrs Of the day finished. they