The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-06-30
INDIAN LOVE STORY
-
Beautiful Legend As Told to
"" the Old Settlers.
HI al
Thomas Hughes Delights an
Audience at SibIey.
War Eagle; Beautiful Maid Who
Won His Heart.
IHiTI
Gen. J. H. Baker Pays Tribute
to Dead Pioneers.
From Thursdays Daily.
CZlIi8

From Thursdays Daily.
Thomas Hughes delighted those at
tending the Old Settlers picnic at Sib-
ley park this afternoon, by reading the
following paper
This beautiful country about the
mouth of the Blue Earth, where so
many rivers gather in charming valleys,
where lovely lakes cluster on every side,
where boundless prairies and mighty
forests meet in loving embrace, where
luxuriant Nature spreads her table with
lavish hospitality for every living crea-
ture, has ever been the favorite abode
of man. Ages before the advent of
civilizatio generation after generation
Of men mad loved to call this favored
spot their home. Here they had been
born, here they had played through
childhood's happy hours, here they loved
and mated, here they achieved success
in hunting, in war, and at the council
fire, and it was on these scenes their
eyes closed at last, when they depart
ed to the spirit world.
"These hills, valleys and plains have
witnessed many splendid act of mar
tial courage and loves devotion. The
brave Dakotah tribes, who possessed
this region until hardly a generation
ago, left no written records, and the
complete and violent manner in which
they were swept from their ancient
home and scattered far and wide in
remote regions by the hurricane of the
great massacre, precluded the gather
ing of but little of their traditional
lore. The great body of their tales and
traditions have disappeared as complete
ly as their tepees. The few scattered
fragments / have found indicate how
rich the treasure, must have been and
how. it mostly centered about this beau
tiful country of the Mankato, To us,
who have witnessed the horrors Of two
massacres, there is the danger of only
seeing in the Indian a cruel, treacher-
Gus and bloodthirsty foe. But, while
war with all its attendant evils of
savage vengeance had CONSPICUOUS
place in Indian life, still this child of
nature was not devoid of noble traits,
and these legends and folklore stories
of the wigwam help us to perceive these
better aspects of his character.
'The Indian spent most of his time
during the summer season and especial
ly during the long rigors of our north
ern winter in social converse about the
campfire; and the gifts of the story
teller were ever in great demand, and
in high honor The native tales reveal
the real red man and his life mucn more
fully than mere pictures of Indian hor-
rors, however, true to fact they may be-
The hideous details of prison life in
Andersonville or of the burning of ne
gro wretches, however, true, would not
be sufficient data for full estimate of
the character of our southern people,
So cruel deeds on the warpath do not
by any means give a complete portrait
of our Dakotah Indian. We prize there
fore these Indian tales not only be-
cause of their value as stories, though
that is not small, nor because of the
added interest they confer upon our be-
loved locality, but also because of the
glimpses they give into the mind and
liaart of the Indian himself. They show
how universal are the chords that touch
and bind our common humanity.
81 have been asked to present to
the old settlers one of these tales, and
have selected from the half dozen, which
/ have been able to gather, legend told
by an old voyager of the Minnesota in
the early fifties, entitled "The Haunted
Valley"
"a few miles south of Mankato there
is beautiful valley located in the an
gular piece of land formed by the con-
uutuct VI TIE NdUOHWaH anu Due
Earth rivers. It's romantic position and
beautiful scenery impart to it an in
describable loneliness 1t nestles mid
lofty hills covered with sturdy oaks,
"monarchs of the Forest" which shade
1t from summers heat and shelter it
from the stormy blasts of winter. In
its center transparent lake mirrors
the beauty of its wooded banks, almost
everywhere festooned with vines of
bitter sweet and wild grape. A small
sparkling stream, the outlet of the lake,
gently meanders through lovely
groves, until it reaches and is lost in
the turbid waters of the Wtonwan
Springs of the purest water gush here
and there from the hill-sides refresh
ening all the verdure as they trickle
down to feed the silvery lake.
"The Indians told of dark deeds done
in this valley and feared to go near Il,