The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1936-01-16

Ollu VI a SC1 lCS VI al IlClCS
tory of this section which it is be-
lieved will be of interest to every
one and particularly to school
children studying history.
Prior to 1850 the region sur
rounding the upper Minnesota
river, including Redwood county,
was Indian country" Fort Ridge
ly had not been erected few
miles down the river and there
were no other military forts in
Minnesota west of Fort Smelling.
Those who ventured into the In
dian country took their lives in
their hands. Yet many traders
and missionaries took this risk.
In 1885 DR.. Thomas H. Will
hanson established q mission ut
Lac qui Parle, representing the
American Board Of Foreign Mis-
sions. His party travelled in wag-
ons from Traverse des Sioux on
the north side Of the river. DR..
Williamson was accompanied by
his wife and child and Alexander
q. Higgins and family and Sarah
Poage, . sister Of Mrs. William
son. In 1852 another mission was
established q few miles above the
mouth of the Yellowstone river in
northeastern Redwood county.
Canoes and keel boats, called
Mackinaws, were used on the
Minnesota river extensively prior
to 1850. The Mackinaw boats
were open vessels from 20 to SO
feet long and four to 10 feet wide.
They were capable of carrying
from two to eight tons. They were
propelled by oars or poles, accord
ing to conditions. The crew con-
sisted of from five to nine men.
| One acted as steersman and the
others ranged themselves in a
row on a plank placed lengthwise
on the boat and welded their
poles or oars. In polling the men
began at the prov and at the
stern returned to the front of the
boat, keeping this routine up in
order. They assembled the river
at the rate of from five to Is
miles a day. Canoes also had
great capacity. George A. Nc
Leod in April, 1853, brought down
from Lac qui Parle to Traverse
des Sioux 40 bushels of potatoes
besides a crew of five men in a
single canoe, 25 feet long and "A
inches wide, followed out of a
hug cottonwood log.
This traffic tended to encour-
age establishment of trading
posts and missions. For a few
years prior to 1885 Hazen Mooers
maintained a trading post in Red
wood county opposite the mouth
of Mud creek. In 1885 he moved
his post to the mouth of the
creek. Historians have been I'M
able to find traces of posts on the
Yellow Medicine river before the
SOS. Although the existence Of
such posts has been rumored, ira
velers of the 20's and sos make
no mention of any.
But the earliest post of all in
this region was one conducted by
Charles Patterson. Some authori-
ties, including iss-Wedge in
his History of Redwood County,
place the post in Redwood county.
He says Patterson was located at
place on the river called Patter-
sons Rapids as early as 1888 and
adds, "He was located in what is
now section 20, township ia,
range Sc Delhi township.
Grace Mute of the Minnesota
Historical society in her list of
fur trading posts in Minnesota
History, 1873, also mentions
this post. She refers to Warren
Upham's Minnesota Geographic
Names, page 458 in which Upham
places the trading post in Rem
vile county, section 90, Flora
township.
In those years furs were in
great demand. Otter, beaver,
martin, mink and muskrat were
taken as we'll as hides of wolves
and other animals. The great fur
companies maintained depots in
St. Anthony and Mendoza and
furs were shipped by water to st.
Louis and to eastern points. In
dams and mixed bloods did the
trapping and the traders bought
the furs and hides, usually ex-
changing goods for them. The
purchase of Manhattan for "a
cents was duplicated by traders
in the county who frequently OBJ
tanned valuable packs of fur for 9
few brightly colored trinkets. A
common practice that obtained as
late as the COS in the Minnesota
valley was to require an Indian or
mixed-blood purchaser of gun TO
pile furs about the weapon held
upright until the pile was even
with the muzzle. Often antiquat-
ed guns, such as f1int-locks and
other early types were sold in
this way.
Traders made vast fortunes. H.
H. Sibley, one of the most pro-
minent with headquarters at Men,
dota for a long period became a
leading figure in the territory and
early state. Norman w. Kittson,
another outstanding trader, built
100000 home in st. Paul. Jo-
seph R. Brown, for time Indian
agent on the Sioux reservation,
made several fortunes and lost
them.
1t was undoubtedly the corrupt
practices of traders that angered
the Indians and helped to bring
about the Sioux massacre of 1862.
1t was the treachery of some
traders, too, that gave the Indians
modern weapons with which they
attacked the whites in that upris-
ing. Since the reservation lay
partly in Redwood county, its
history and, of course, the upris-
ing have important places in the
county's history.