The Mankato free press., 1922-06-23
EARLY DAYS OF TRAvERS DIES sioux
RECALLED BY GOPHER HISTORIANS
Spot Where Treaty Was Entered Into With
Indians Scene of Gathering On
Saturday Afternoon

History, lengend and the Stories
of pioneer settlers are all that re-
main to tell the present generation
of the many spots OF historical in
terest in this state. which are rich
in Indian lore and the deeds of dar-
ing of brave men and women, who
had the hardihood TO face the dang
ers of the frontier In order to blaze
the trail for civilization. One such
spot is Tteverse des Sioux, which
is located but a short distance down
! the Minnesota river below st. Peter.
dians ceeded to the United States
over twenty four million acres of
land, including large portion OF
Minnesota, Iowa and part of South
Dakota. 1t was to this interesting
spot that large numbers of the
members of the State Historical So
ciety and members of the Blue
Earth County Historical society
drove in automobiles Saturday after
noon to look over the site OF the
signing of that treaty.
Among the members of the State
Historical Society there, were: Pro-
dent of the state historical society,
Professor C. w. Alvord of the
state university at Minneapolis.
Professor l. B. Shippee and wife
OF Minneapolis, Professor George
Stephenson of the state university,
Mr.. and Mrs. W. Babcock Sr., and
Mr.. w. Babcock Jr., curator of the
museum of the state historical So
ciety, DR.. Warren Upham, archeo-
logist of the state historical society,
Miss Grace Mute, curator of the mu
scum, Miss Mary Wheelhouse, as
sistant curator of the museum, Mr..
| field secretary of the state society.
Blue Earth County Represented
! Blue Earth County historians pres
ent were: Mr.. and Mrs. Thomas
Hughes. Raymond Hughes. Miss
Elizabeth Lewis, Mr. and Mrs. F.
| M. Currier, Mrs. ]. H. Baker, Mrs.
E. M. Pope, Mrs. Benjamin Taylor,
Judge and Mrs. Lorin Cray, Miss
! Florence Snowden, Merritt Sugden,
Mr.. and Mrs. George PaimeE Miss
Eleanor Bates. Miss Glenning Fin
gerson, Mr.. and Mrs. Fred o. True,
Mr.. and Mrs. D. G. Willard. Mr.. and
Mrs. George W. Sugden and"Frank
1 Franciscus.
After the visitors from the St.
Paul were shown over the historic
ground at Traverse des Sioux by
! Thomas Hughes who explained the
many interesting features in con-
nection of the signing of the treaty.
| the historians drove back to st.
Peter where they assembled in Cor
] man park, where the speaking of
! the, day was held. The day was
brought to close by the serving of
Ia picnic dinner in the park. Every
one enjoyed themselves.
/ E..Ix, Lieta~., oE GaN4fesa
| Thomas Hughes, the leading his
torian of Blue Earth county. and
prominent as historical writer in
this state dwelt at some length on
the very early history Of the region
i in and about Traverse des Sioux.
He said that records show that that
! post was occupied by French traders
as far back as 1882 by trader by
/ the name of Jack Frazier. At the
time of the beginning of the treaty
1 of Traverse des Sioux, the speaker
said that 24,000,000 acres OF land
was ceeded by the Indians to the
United States and over 1000 indians
took part in the ceremonies attend
ing the signing OF the treaty, which
took place July f3 1851. st. Peter
he said is a historical city. 1t has
the distinction of being the home
of Governors German, Swift, Austin,
McGill and Johnson, and was also
| the home OF Judge Flandereau,
whose residence still stands an inn
+, posing structure near the sight of
the signing of the treaty of Ira
verse des Sioux. 1t was at st. Pc
ter that General Il. H. Sibley gath :
cred most of his troops to fight the
| Sioux Indians. hf.
| Western History Developing
| DrAfnconr rlornnnat Alunv6 nf
the most prominent authorities on
' history in the United States, and
one of the members of the faculty of
/ the University of Minnesota, said
! that western history Is just now de-
veloping. Previous to this time his
torians in the United States had
centered their activities east of the
Appalachian mountains, which gave
the impression that the greatest de-
velopment of the country took place
in that part of the United States.
! He said that the largest proportion
of the history of the United States
has been written north of the Mason
and Dixie line. Seventy five per
cent of the So called history Of the
\ United States comes from the region
known as the New England states.
! This has given the history a New
! England or Yankee cast, and some
OF the people of New England can
not realize that some of the peoples
of other nations have gone to make
up a new race, common union OF
all races of people.
l The western school of history, the
speaker said, places another en-
phasis on history, which the h1s-
torians of former days failed to
take into consideration. In the past
historians took their stand at the
revolutionary war and looked back
! to the time of the freedom or the
original thirteen colonies from the
mother country. Farther to the
north, the> historians took the civil
war as the starting point and devel-
oped the causes of the war. West
erners have a different point OF
view. They regard as the greatest
event in the history Of the United
States, and the world, the occupa-
ton of the Mississippi valley by a
people who speak the English lang
uage. The revolutionary war was
only a part OF the development lead :
ing up to the development OF the
great Mississippi valley. 1t lis the
/ work of the western school OF his
tory to put forth this thought.
Buck Seeks Increased Interest
i Professor s. ]. Buck, supertnten-
dent Of the Minnesota State Histort-
cal society, said tnat he would like
to see the Increased interest in local
historical work kept up. He compli
mented the Blue Earth county His
torical society as one OF the most