The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1906-08-01
FORTY YEARS AGO.
Excerpts Taken from St. Paul Papers Of
Forty Years Ago.

on the steamer Favorite via the
Missouri river. This is one of the
greatest voyages ever made on any
Western river, as Capt. Hutchinson
succeeded in taking the Favorite to
a point higher up than any steamer
had ever before reached. He left
St. Louis April 1st, with forty-seven
passengers and 100 tons of freight.
and reached Fort Benton on June
II, distance of 5000 miles. He
only ran in daylight, tying up at
night. Among the passengers were
Maj. Cullen and Frank Goodrich.
Esq, of St. Paul, who got off at
Fort Benton and went by stage to
Helena. On the trip up they came
upon herd of buffalo wading in the
river and killed sixteen. 1t was rare
sport and gave fine supply of fresh
beef. He landed freight and pas
sengers at Fort Benton. At that
post there were nineteen boats. He
then pushed on upstream until an
impossible rapids stopped his pro-
gress. He reached a point higher
than ever reached by steamboat.
Fort Benton is near the mountains
and just on the border of the gold
mining region of Montana, being
only 100 miles from Helena. New
diggings had been just discovered
at Sun river, and miners were
prospecting all over the country.
New mines were being found in all
directions. The rates charged for
the trip were: For cabin passengers,
5000; for freight, 125 cents per
pound. On account of the great
distance boat can only make one
trip each season. The Favorite made
the return trip in eighteen days, an
unparalleled quick trip. She brought
down sixty-seven returned miners
and 100000 in gold.
Navigation on the upper Mis-
sissippi river has completely dried
up Capt. Davidson has a large
team Of wagons engaged ia trans
porting wheat from Mankato to
Henderson, the present head of
navigation. An OK team, consisting
of twenty wagons, belonging to Hon.
J. P. Wilson, of St. Cloud, is en-
gagged in this business, besides fifty
other teams.
The Chippewa Falls yesterday
brought up barge loaded with
eight box cars for the Minnesota
Central railroad and delivered them
at Mendoza.
A bill in the Canadian parliament
provides for the admission of Mime
sofa, Wisconsin, Michigan and
Maine into the new Canadian con-
federation. The bill provides for
assuming all debts and the compile
ton of internal improvements in the
states named. The Canucks point
out that it would be to our advant-
age to belong to a country which
has cheap coal and few manufac-
tories instead of being joined to
country with plenty of factories and
dear coal.
A St. Paul man, just back from
Fort Rice, on the Upper Missouri,
where the Indian commission were
completing a treaty with the sur
rendered bands of the rebellious
Sioux from Minnesota, says: cat
this place was again perpetrated the
horrible performance of the sun
dance. One hundred dancers in
white robes with flags, shields,
spears, feathers, drums, whistles,
sprigs of green sage and head
wreaths of flowers and paint danced
all night and day to propitiate the
spirit of the sun. The young men
were mutilated on the breasts and
arms by the old medicine man and
tied by cords thru the bleeding
wounds to the tall center sun pole,
where they danced till the flesh
broke from the bonds, when the
Great Spirit was supposed to be
appeased by the sacrifice of blood
o,,d c,1fforiy,cr oyoJ