The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1936-01-09

| FkOl WHILE MAN
| TO VISIT COUNTY
In this historical series dealing
with Redwood county we begin
with the first visits of white men
to the area that now comprises
the county. We have no evidence
that Hennepin, LeSueur or other
early explorers set foot in the
county. In 1865 Jonathan Carver
assembled the Minnesota river
above New Ulm and also ascend
ed Little Rock river (later called
Mud Creek) in Renville county. 1t
is not improbable that he set foot
on Redwood county soil. But he
learned little of the country, for
he assumed that the Missouri and
the Minnesota had their sources
in the vicinity of Big Stone lake
within mile of each other. Of
the country he visited on the up
per Minnesota Carver wrote:
"The River st. Pierre Mime
sota)' which runs through the ter
ritory of the Nadowessies, flows
through a most delightful coun-
try, Astounding with all the nee
essaries of life that grow spon-
taneously, and with a little cul-
tivation it might be made to pro-
duce even the Injuries of life.
Wild rice grows here, in great
abundance; and every part is fill
ed with trees bending under their
loads of fruit, such as plums,
grapes and apples; the meadows
are covered with hops and many
! sorts of vegetables; whilst the
ground is stored with useful
roots, with angelica, spikenard
and ground nuts as large as hens
eggs"
Major Stephen H. Long, who
headed a government expedition
as far north as Pembina in 1928
led his party from Fort Smelling
up the Minnesota valley and
through Redwood county, cross
ing the river at New Ulm. Prof
William H. Heating of the Uni.
versity Of Pennsylvania and the
celebrated Constantine Beltram
were members Of the party. Keat.
ing mentions the Redwood river
in his journal of the trip and re.
ports that red pipestone was said
to exist on it's banks three days
journey from it's mouth. Mention
is made in the journal of Patter-
sons rapids, the Grand portage
the Pjehata Zeze Watapan Vel
low Medicine) river and Beaver
rivulet Lac qui Parle) river.
In 1920 members of the Penn
bina colony at the Canadian Dor
der travelled on snow shoes to
Prairie du Chen, Wisconsin, to
buy seed wheat. They probably
went through Redwood county. In
the spring they transported ESQ
bushels of wheat up the Minneso-
ia in fiatboats to the Lake Trav-
erse portage and then on the Red
river to Pembina. We cannot be
sure which side of the river some
of the early travellers followed,
but it appears that the trail on
the south side was the most pop
ular.
The Pembina refugees, Swiss
and French Canadian, passed
down the Minnesota in 1927 in
canoes and fiat boats. In the
summer of 1885, 100 years ago
last summer, G. w. Featherston-
haugh, an Englishman employed
by the United States as geolo-
gist, and William Williams Math-
er travelled up the Minnesota to
it's source. The Englishman wrote
"a Canoe Voyage up the Minnay
Sotar", published in London in
1S47.
In 1887 George Catlin, noted
traveller and Indian scholar, with
Robert Serril Wood of England
and an Indian guide, O-kup-kee,
travelled up the Minnesota valley
on horseback. They traversed
Brown, Redwood and Lyon coun-
ties and passed several Indian vii
lagos. From 1886 to 1843 Joseph
Nicolas Nicollet and John c. Ere
mont made a geographical survey
of the upper Mississippi country.
While there are no specific re-
ports of visits to Redwood coun-
ty, it is probably that they camp
ed within the county's borders. On
his map Nicollet called the Min
nesota valley region the "Warpe-
ton country"
In 1874 Captain j. Allen
brought an expedition up the Des
Moines river to chart that stream
and others. With Lake Shetek as
his headquarters he proceeded due
north from that lake and crossed
the Cottonwood river and later the
Redwood near the present site of
Marshall. Thirty-seven miles
north of Lake Shetek he crossed
the Redwood again near the site
of Redwood Falls. From the
mouth of the Redwood he explor-
ed the south shore of the Mime
sofa river several miles up and
down.
eve say a great many elk and
killed many of them, Allen wrote
"They were sometimes seen In
droves of hundreds, but were al
ways difficult to approach and
very difficult to overtake in chase,
except with a fleet horse and over
good ground"
These men were explorers, not
directly. interested in the fur
trade or in colonization. The
fur traders followed them and, be-
fore 1850 there were number of