The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-11-18
Read Before State Historical
Society Last Night.
Discovery Of Old Forts Lo-
.f cation This Fall.
Writing of French Narrators
Are Substantiated.
From Tuesdays Daily.

From Tuesdays Daily. .-..
The following is the text of the paper
read last night before the State Histori-
cal society at st. Paul by Gen. j. H.
Baker 1t was written by Thomas
Hughes, who could not be present, and
who asked Gen. Baker to read it for
him. The subject is "The Site of Fort
LeHuillier." 1t will be remembered that
Mr.. Hughes was one of a party that re-
Gently located the place where the fort
is supposed to have been erected. The
paper follows:
mo event in the annals of old Louis
lana appeals more to our interest than
the founding in 100 of TT. lie Huillier.
"The daring enterprise of NJ. LIE Sueur
in pushing so far into the very heart of
the wilderness, the romantic records we
possess of the adventures he and his fol-
lowers met, and the mysterious copper
mine, which they claimed to have discov-
cred, all Contribute to our zest in the
story, and especially so since the scene
is laid in our midst.
SIN spite, however, of the attention
paid to this historical event, no special
attempt has heretofore been made to To-
cate upon the ground the exact site of
the old fort.
"To aid in determining the location we
possess three nearly contemporary au-
thorities: First, an extract from the
daily journal of LeSueur, the leader of the
expedition, which LIE Harpe copied into
his history of Louisiana; second, the
Relations of Penticaut," ship carpen-
ter, who was a member of LIE Sueur's
party, and whose account of the found
ing of the fort and life therein as given
him in Paris some years later, was
written down by friend, and preserv-
ed; Third, early French maps of this To-
cation, on which the fort is designated.
"From these original sources we learn
that the fort was situated on the Blue
Earth river, about league little less
than two and half miles, from its
mouth, on the east bank, close by and
just below where its eastern tributary
designated on one map the ST. Remi, on
another the st. Henry, and on later maps
as the LIE Sueur, empties into the Blue
To ~ int &c Nd oh
ter of league distant from the timber.
Three quarters of league above it, on
the Blue Earth, were the copper mines
of green earth.
st is also stated that the fort was
situated at A degrees and 13 minutes
north latitude, but by reason of the evil
dent inacuracy of any such calculation
which LIE Sueur could then make, it has
little value as an exact statement.
GAS the fort consisted of three or four
log cabins enclosed by log palisade, the
timber used in its construction must
have been conveniently obtained, since
LIE Sueur's party had no means to trans
- port it except by hand. 1t is also evil
dent that in selecting site for fort
it would be natural to fix upon the
strongest and most commanding position
in the vicinity where good water and
building material were handy.
"Right at the confluence of the LIE
Sueur and Blue Earth rivers stands a
large mound about sixty to seventy five
feet high, with few acres of fairly
level land on top. 1t is on the right or
east bank of the Blue Earth and just
below the mouth of the LIE Sueur. It's
side toward the LIE Snenr is so precipi-
tous that no timber can grow thereon,
and its side toward the Blue Earth is
extremely abrupt, but wooded, while in
its rear lies small fertile valley ex-
tending from one river to the other and
varying in width from quarter to
half mile or more. This valley, now
called the Red Jacket valley, in it's orig
inal state was strip of meadow land,
which cut the mound off from the tim
Der and bluffs beyond. The sides of the
mound towards this valley are also quite
steep, but were always, as now, grass
covered, with here and there few scat
tering burr oaks.
"The top of the mound is now cult
waited field, but originally it had grove
of two or three acres. of heavy timber
upon it. The highest point is imme-
diately opposite the junction of the two
rivers, where this grove once stood. 1t
is most commanding spot and affords