The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-09-27

airy expedition in September. 1841. He
was commissioned to establish missions
among the Sioux Indian tribe AS soon
as assigned to his field of labor, Mgr
Ravoux set out for Mendoza.
An Interesting Narrative.
In an interesting and instructive mar
rative, Mgr. Ravoux, tells of his mis-
sionary. work. He says
Before leaving Prairie du Chen, in
1S41, 1 had received much information
regarding the Sioux Indians from per-
sons who knew well their character and
their disposition towards the Chris tan
religion. From the beginning 1 knew
that could accomplish little. until I
could speak their language.
A few words regarding the winter
or 1S4l-1S42. 1t was hard winter, the
snow was deep. the cold intense and
provisions were scarce. In the begin
ming of January sent four men from
Lac qui Parle to Mendoza for the
necessities of life. So cold was the
weather that when returning from
Mendoza the men lost one of their
horses, and the others almost starved
In the spring of 1912, while at the
foot of hill near the log church at
Mendoza, / saw several Sioux Indians
carrying their guns and running as
fast as possible Whittier dost thou
go? asked. The Chippewas are kill
ing the Sioux was the reply, as they
continued their wild fight.
/ "A little later | was told that the
Chippewa warriors had come in great
numbers and had killed several of the
Sioux Indians who lived in Little Crow
village. and that the fight was not yet
over. l also learned that all the In
dams of the village were in danger Of
being massacred, as the men were un-
der the influence of liquor. Some mes
sengers, however, had been sent to
Black Dog village. and to other places
further up the Minnesota river, to let
them know OF the sad state of affairs
at KapOsia. Such news electrified the
Sioux and they ran Immediately to
the place of slaughter to repulse the
common enemy or to die with their
friends and relations.
fastened to Their Aid.
81 at once FASTENED to Kaposia to
aid the poor men and women injured in
the attack. Many of the poor unfor-
tunates were unbaptized and my spir-
itual as we'll as physical assistance was
needed When / arrived l found that
my services We're needed.
In April, 1843, a mail carrier and
myself left Mendoza. We were anx-
iouS to arrive at Prairie du Chen on
Easter Sunday. The journey was a
difficult one, because the winter was
just breaking up, which made travel
difficult, When We arrived at Winona,
which was then a prairie without any
inhabitants, we thought we would meet
there the mail carrier from Prairie du
Chen, but the carrier had not yet come
and my companion had to bring the
mail to Trempealeau, where he expect
ed that we would arrive before dark
vain expectation We passed that
night on the bank of the river, which
we did not dare cross until morning. At
Trempealeau the two mail carriers met
and exchanged mail Two or three
families only lived at that place.
1t was impossible to travel by land
or water for two or three days, but on
Good Friday, April IA, we left Prairie
du Chen in a canoe, with the expecta-
ton that we would arrive there before
Easter Sunday. We had scarcely gone
down the river three or four miles
when we were entrapped by floating
cakes of fee, which, piling up in great
quantity, had become jammed, max
ing the river rise and placing US in
great danger. We found all endeavors
to open passage for our canoe use
less.
Renewed the Journey.
I'VE had to wait until Saturday
morning before We were able to pro-
coed any further. The night was cold
and we had no fire, and / could not
sleep. The Journey was renewed afoot
the next morning. AT the Bad AK
river we borrowed another canoe and
continued our river trip. The river
was high, the current was strong and
We went very fast, which afforded me
great pleasure, as / desired very much
TO celebrate mass at Prairie du CHEN
Eastern morning.
But new anxieties appeared. My
companion, Xavier Desmarais, who
guided the canoe, was almost overcome
by sleep. and feared that he would
upset it or. break it by running 1t
against some floating trees. When
saw that the danger grew more and
more imminent, / requested him to
land, and so We did, Ne rested for
two hours on an island, when we