St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-29
ChippeWas Insist That They
Were Never More Peace
able Than Now.
They Say the Ghost Dance
Scare Originates With
Timber Thieves,
Who Make a Great Noise to
HoodWink Officers OF
the Law.
Interview With Alexis jour-
dain, an Old Red Lake
Settler.
Special to the Globe


WHITE EARTH, Mimi, Jan. 2S.-
Alexis Jourdain, one of the oldest set
tiers OF Red Lake, arrived here to-day.
He came as special messenger from
the sub-agency office and bearing docu-
ments pertaining to matters connected
with the general office here. Mr.. Jour-
dain, being interviewed, stated that he
left Red Lake on the 25th inst, that there
was sufficient snow in that vicinity
to furnish excellent roads and good
sleighing, and that the different logging
camps, of which there are nine, oper-
ated by Indians, were doing a thriving
business, several million feet of logs
being already banked and skidded. He
further stated that all the able-bodied
men who could consistently leave home
were busily employed in the diff
ferent logging camps and earning
good wages. When questioned in re-
gard to the wild rumors recently pub
llShed concerning 'ghost dances" " "vis-
iting Sioux" ETC., on the Red Lake
reservation, the venerable gentleman's
face lit up with pleasant smiles, and
amid intervals of fragrant puffs of kim
a-kinnick, said that such news was not
surprising to him, as they had heard SO
much of the same nature within the past
few weeks at the agency that the intel
ligent population of the reservation
thought that something must surely be
wrong with their palefaced neighbors
or either several of them (paleface) were
going or had gone crazy and were in
distressing need of quarters in the in
sane asylums, where they would cease
to annoy the public with sensational
trash and where they could do them
selves or their friends no harm. And
surely if any one is in need of protec-
tion the people of the Red Lake Ieserya-
ton deserved the first attention against
the restless hordes of cunning land
sharks, timber thieves and lawless ad
venturers that now swarm like uncanny
buZZards along its western border.
Stealing Timber.
Intelligence has just been received
here that timber treSpaSsing is being
carried OH ''withOut stint or limit" OH
the western border of the Red Lake
reservation, and this by the settlers lIv-
ing adjacent to the reservation line.
From ten to twelve teams and fifteen to
twenty men form the usual party
when making a ''sneak," as it is
termed, OH the reservation, the trip oc-
cupying generally two days. The best
of live oak, elm, tamarack and all kinds
of soft wood are indScriminately cut
down, and the best only is hauled away.
These parties, when on their piratical
incurSiOnS, are always well supplied
with firewater, aud many an lndlan'S 81
lence has been purchased with dram
or two of that vileSt of draughtS-alcOhOl
and water, and it is owing to the protest
of some of the Indians against this brig
andage and timber piracy that the hue
and cry of ''ghoSt dances," blood and
thunder squeals wells up its diScordant
notes ali along the western bOr1er of
the Red Lake reservation. That is the
sum and substance of the whole matter,
and it would be not only to the interest
of the Indians, who, as wards of the
government, should be rendered protec-
tion from lawless encroachment, but to
the peace and quiet of the country in
general, did government officials inveS-
tigate these lawless inroadS upon its do
main and bring some of the pilfering
wretches to justice.
They May Remove.
A party of sixty persons, forty men
and twenty women from Leech Lake
and Cass Lake Indian reservations ar
rived here yesterday. They come here
by invitation of their White Earth
kindred and under the rules embodied
in the "act for the relief and civilization
of the Chippewas of Minnesota"
especially to look over the country and
with the view tO ultimately remove
and take up their allotments on this
reservation. The party are headed by
Day-tah-tah-bung-ay-Henry Martin, an
intelligent and progressive man. In a
short interview with a GLOBE cor
respondent and Col. G.. IL. Beaulieu
they expressed themselves we'll pleased
with the country and much inclined to-
ward removal and the pursuit of argri-
culture. Their head chief, We-gaw-
warh:be- was-Flat Worth, left few
days ago for Lake of the Woods, where
he goes to bring his family down here
where he will live and reside in the
Fat,