St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-28
ST. PAUL NEWS.
THE NEW NORTHWEST.
An Interesting Sketch of Early Times
by Hal a Dacofah."


most welcome contributor. or late years
but little Of the Generals graceful and enter
tanning writings have been seen
in print. bat about Christmas time
each year, his old friend, the publisher Of the
Turf, Field and Farm, induces him to make
contribution. The last issue Of the paper
accordingly contains the following:
TIE NEW YoRTHwEsT.
(By Hala DacotAh.l
Fifty years ago in November last young
man three years out OF bis teens came to this
far of region as one of the partners in the
American Fur company Of New York to take
charge of the fur trade. He has been known
since to the sporting community, or por-
ton of ii, by his manifold contributions to
I'orter's Spirit Of the Tine. and other journals
published in New York city, under the nom
de plume Of "Hal Dacotah.'' He was for
several years the only correspondent from
this part OF the Northwest, consequently his
descriptions of the country and of the chase
Of buffalo, elk and other large game, with
details Of personal adventures among the
Sioux Indians while traversing their country
on tours of inspection to the trading posts,
anu " AAAS LAnNtuE WIN kAE cdNdECbs hGIt
novel and Interesting to u large class of read
ers.
The country remained for years in its
primeval condition, not a single white set
ter 10 be found in the vast area now known
as Minnesota and northern Dakota. The
former, with its forests, its seven thousand
lakes and sparkling Streams freQuented By
the innumerable wild fowl OF every descrip-
ton, aud the latter, with its broad and fer
tile acres, were alike terra 6scogRaa to all.
except the trader, the traDper and the wild
Indian. {, unit e,s her..s Of buffalo and elk
roamed over the prAiries, undisturbed save
by the arrow of the savage when pressed for
food, or the onslaughis OF the gaunt aud
hungry wolf. Seldom was the report Of fire
arms heard, TO set in motion the immense
masses of animal life with which the pralries
tened. The sun never shOne upon fairer
or loyelier land. II was into this paradise Of
sportsmen, that HAL a Dacotah'' entered,
and for years revealed in sport such as has
rarely fallen 10 the lot of a member of the
craft.
The Transformation effected within little
more than the lifetime of a generation In tie
whole o. Id &c zion az been simply marvel
Gus. More than a hundred thousand homes
OF sturdy farmers dot the plains which were
so lately tenanted 10y wild animals and saw
age men. The great cities OF ST. Paul and
Minneapolis, with population Of more than
one hundred thousand each, aud whose cor
porate limits are but four miles apart, occupy
sites which bad not single iuhabitant pre-
vious to 1886. Other cities and towns In
Minnesota, Dakota and Montana territories,
which constitute the New Northwest" CON
tanning from three TO fifteen thousand souls.
t..
tories mentioned have already white pepa-
lation Of million and half, and are in
creasing rapidly year after year.
Minnesota is in the front rank OF wheat
producing states, aud Dskots promises at no
distant day to equal or excel her in that d.
rection. In fact, the capacity OF the ''New
Northwest in the production Of that cereal
is more than adequate ~ meet the wants OF
the civilized world.
So much for the country which an honor
able member of congress from Ohio, in OPP
posing the bill for the organization Of Min
nesota territory in 1S49, characterized as
hyperborean region, where nothing would
grow but pine trees, and to which no civil
lied man could be induced 10 emigrate.
The Dakota or Sioux Indians. the former
possessors of this magnificent domain, were
concentrated on reservations on the Mime
sofa river, after the ratification by the United
States senate of the treaties Of 1851. and
were the actors in the terrible outbreak Of
1862, when they massacred 500 white settlers
and perpetrsted many other nameless out
RACES.
They were defeated by the Minnesota troops
in September of that year, $500 OF their
number captured, and forty of the most
guilty among the warriors, sentenced by a
military com mission, were executed by
hanging. The refugees from the bat
tic fed to the camps of their
kindred, the powerful upper bands OF Siouxs,
who harbored and made common causes
with them. In 1868 a campaign was made
against their combined forces, when they
were routed in several engagements, driven
in confusion across the Missouri river, and
the frontiers of Iowa and Minnesota freed
from all danger of future raids.
The myriads of buffalo and elk have
melted away under the discharge of inuum-
cradle Winchester rifles and other arms Of
precision, being slaughtered by unserupu-
lous white hunters in hundreds OF thous-
ands tor the sake of their hides, for which
they receive paltry average of two dollars
apiece. No other nation in chrisUeudom but
our own would have permitted the wanton
butchery of such magnificent game ami
mails. As il is, in less than a decade the
prosecuted remnant will have been extermI-
mated.
Our grain fields still yield to the sportsman
good bag of pinnated grouse and the nu-
merous lakes an abundance of wild fowl In
their season, being protected by the stringent
game laws OF the state, as are the deer which
are yet numerous in our forests.
The scenes of past years are often recalled
to my mental vision like the changes OF a
panorama. but alas my old hunting com
panions, with but few exceptions, have been
gathered 10 their fathers, leaving ''Hsl D2-
cotah'' ike an old aud battered hulk to await
like final summons, which in the course of
nature cannot be long delayed. The guns
that have been my trusted friends through
many dangers aud adventures are kept clean
and bright, but 'he hand that so long welded
them has lost most of its vigor, oppressed by
the burden of years, ana other sportsmen
must hereafter attest to their excellence and
precision.
St. Paul, Dec. 90, 1854.