Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
i. ... THE HISTORY OF
MORRISON COUNTY

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MORRISON COUNTY.
WRITTEN IN 1915 BY ORDER OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY coMMIss1oNERs AND
PUBLISHED IN THE TRANSCRIPT IN THE
SAME YEAR. REVISED AND BROUGHT
DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME, -
By NATHAN RICHARDSON.
TContinued from last weeks TRANSCRIPT I
In order to give an intelligent under.
standing of the history of any portion of
a country it is necessary to travel little
outside. I therefore propose to give a
sketch of the life and travels of Louis
Hennepin, Catholic priest who visited
Minnesota with two companions in 1880,
but probably did not come nearer to
Morrison county than Mile Lacs Lake.
EARLY in the spring ofthatye he started
up from the lower Mississippi in compa.
ny with two men, with a wooden boat
we'll stocked with provisions and such
things as the Indians used to quirv,
such as pipes and hatchets, for the pur-
pose Of exploring the upper Mississippi
river. On reaching point near where
Prairie du Chien now stands, he and his
men stopped on shore to take dinner, and
while there they saw 200 Indian warriors,
wearing nothing but breech clouts, COM
ing down the river in birch bark canoes.
Seeing Father Hennepin and his men on
shore, they all landed where he was.
They were intending to 60 further down
and attack their enemies, who they sup
posed were gathered together at a point
not far below, but learning from them
that the Indians theywished to fl ght had
disbanded, they returned up river with
Father Hennepin. When they arrived
at the point where st. Paul now stands
(as is supposeD, the Indians destroyed
his boat, robbed him Of all his goods and
divided them among themselves, and hid
their own canoes in the rushes or brakes.
A council was then held over him and
the two men, some Of the Indians being
frantic and determined to kill them, and
when majority decided to let them live
and to give them to the three head chiefs,
each taking one of them, those who were
so anxious to kill them cried like child
ren over their defeat. He calls this place
six leagues below St. Anthony Falls,
which falls he named at that time, he be.
ing the first white man who ever saw
them. His narrative is somewhat blind
in some respects. His own language in
reference to starting from St. Paul is as
follows:
$50 that though we might have gone
conveniently enough quite up into their
country by water, yet we were obliged
by their conduct to travel not less than
sixty leagues afoot."
He said the Indians, which he calls
Issati and Fadovessians, resided in mo-
rasses inaccessible to their enemies The
chief who took him presented him to his
six wives when he arrived at home, and
told them that he had adopted him as
his son and that therefore they should
treat him kindly, which they did. AS to
the fate of his two men who went with
other chiefs, he says nothing. He ar
rived at his Indian home in May, 1850.
He remained there about three months,
and was fed Oh wild rice, which he calls
wild oats, and dried fish. ltbeing a diet
to which he had been but little accus-
toned, he was quite out of health the
most of the time. BE speaks of the chief
sending him on an isle with his wives
and servants to plant tobacco and other
seeds that he had brought from Europe.
This statement Of bis about going on an
isle to plant makes it clear that the chief
lived on or near Mile Lacs Lake, as there
are islands in that lake and at no other
place in this region of country. About
a week after he arrived at the home of
the chief, there came from the far west
four Indians, who had been four moons
in making their journey, They said
they saw no great lakes, the streams all
ran to the south, and there was but little
timber in the country. About the last
OF July messenger came through from
Canad by the great lakes to where he
was. They proposed to the Indians that
they would 60 to Montreal and get a
stock of goods and return, meeting the
Indians halfway and exchange the goods
for furs. The Indians thereupon called
large council and consented to the
proposition. They We're furnished with
canoes, and they loaded up and went
down the st. Francis river (Which must
be Rum river) to the Mississippi river,
then down to river coming from the di.
rection of the great lakes and then they
ascended that river and by making a
portage got into the lakes and followed
them down until they got as far as Mont
real. From there he went and explored
the southern coast of the United States
and after he returned to Europe he pub
,lished map of America, which map &C.
companies his history, copy of which
is ontained in the State Library of Min
nesota. 1t differs very materially from
the maps Of the present day, made since
the country has been surveyed.
The next adventurer up the Mississippi
OF whom we now have an account, was
zebulon M. Pike, U. s. officer. He
came up with squad of men to look
after the fur traders on the head waters
of the upper Mississippi and Red rivers
who in those days came into Northern
Minnesota to trade and brought all of their
goods in by the way Of Lake Superior
He intended to ascend with his boats as
far up as the mouth of Crow Wing river
but on arriving at the mouth of Swan
river, Oct. 18th, 1905, the weather turned
cold during the night and he found ii
impossible to proceed farther, He went
to work and erected block house and
small stockade, wherethe most of his men
remained durinr tho winfar x,,b;Ia he