The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-09-13

tlan civilization.
Hardly had the ink dried on the
treaty paper, before the settlers began
to pour into the country, and long be-
fore the government had approved of
the act, dozens of towns had been
planted and hundred of claims had
been located all along the Missi ssippi
and Minnesota valleys.
:. Soon after the ratification of the
treaty, the Indians were removed to
their reservations, upon whose eastern
boundary Fl. Ridgley was established
in the spring of 1868 for the protection
of the frontier.
The regular transportation of sup
plies for both soldiers and Indians to
the upper Minnesota. stimulated greatly
the navigation of that river and neces-
STATED the construction of military
| roads, both results of inestimable
value to the pioneer in the early de-
velopment of the country.
The yearly payments to the Indians
ed the money circulation of the terri
tory and encouraged trade in those
trying days of frontier life.
These good results, however, were
not unmixed with evil.
The actual surrender of his country
to the white man was trying ordeal
to the Dakota, as it violated every
patriotic sentiment of his being. To
see himself thrust out of the home of
b S fathers, endeared by many a tender
| association, and in the defense of
| which he had split his blood so freely,
naturally awakened in his breast feel
! ings of bitter regret and jealousy.
! Then the restraints of an agency
life were most irksome to a liberty
| loving people, like the Dakotas, accus-
toned to rove at their own sweet will,
and to pass their days in the excite
ment of the chase or the glory of war.
Again, to people who had always
been taught, to regard any labor other
than hunting and war as unmanly, an
agency with it's annuity system prac-
tically meant life of idleness and de-
pendence-a condition directly tending
TO degeneracy.
The putting, also, of large sums of
| savages, who had as little conception
of its value or how to spend it, than
so many children, rendered them a
tempting prey to dishonest white men,
who took every advantage of their
WodhucsS anu
/ But the evil which proved the most
DISASTROUS Of all to the whites was the
concentration of so many savages at
one point, for thus, not only were
. their evil propensities fostered and
cultivated by idleness, contamination
and constant agitation of their griev-
ances, and the better opportunity was
afforded them to plot mischief, but,
, thus, also, were they enabled when,
owing to the exigencies OF the Civil
war, there was distressing delay in
the payment of their annuities, and
the necessary restraining military
force was rematurely withdrawn to
sweep down with the power of an
avalanche upon our helpless frontier,
, in the awful massacre of 1862.
The most of these evils, however,
were due, not SO much TO the treaty,
as to the untoward circumstances in
carrying it out, and to unavoidable
necessity, for it was impossible for the
Indian and his land TO remain as they
were. and civilization and savagery
cannot long remain in contact with
out irritation for they are naturally
antagonistic.
But these few evils, even if indi-
rectly attributable to the treaty, pale
before the noontide splendor of its
good results as seen in the light of to-
. day.
Had the treaty been faithfully kept
and all its provisions allowed their
natural fruition, the evils doubtless,
would have been mostly averted and
the results might have been still more
glorious.
Be that as it may, vet the terrible
Indian massacre was not an unmitti-
gated evil, for the rude shock broke the
thick crust of heathendom aboIt many
Dakota heart and in the great prison
revivals at Mankato and Fit. Smelling
in the winter of 1923 the seeds of
new life planted by the faithful mis-
sionaries began to be manifested,
which by today has transformed the
miserable savage of forty years ago in
to an intelligent, thrifty citizen-a
noble Christian character
In view, therefore, of all its splen
did results, we conclude that the
treaty, which the first governor of our
great commonwealth, today the hon
ored president of our Historical So
ciety, and his worthy colleague took
such conscientious pains in framing,
and whose signing was such signal
triumph of peaceful diplomacy, and
which has added to civilization such a
magnificent domain, is an event Sec
ond to none in our history, and is in
deed we'll worthy the commemoration
of grateful posterity.
Addendum, Gov. Doty's Treaty.
The treaties made by Gov. Doty in
July, 1S41, and by Col. Lea and Gov.
Ramsey in July 1851, though differi ng
widely in their main purposes and
methods, yet had many points in COM
mon.
Not only were both made at the
same place, with the same Indians for
the purchase of the same lands, but
both contained special features looking
to the civilization of the Indian.
1t is curious to note further that
both were made under Wing admins
tlations-one under President Tyler,
and the other under President Fill
more, both of whom had come to the
executive chair under very similar Cir
While Gov. Doty's scheme for the
and government of the
Indians was doubtless very Utopian,
still these features would likely have
been amended and the treaty confirm
ed had it net been sent to the senate
just when the unfortunate strife be-
tween the president and his own party
was at its height, and only few days
before the resignation of the cabinet,
including the Hon. John Bell, secre-
tary of war, under whose special di- ,
rection the treaty had been negotiated.
In the turmoil of that hour, it is !
no wonder that such an unimportant !