Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-01-31

Sloux' was doing a steady fur business
Until l8i5 Sibley made this little town
famous by his leadership.
The house that has been kept bv
the Daughters of the Revolution as n
museum OF early Minnesota life was
built by Sib!ey in 1884 for his beautiful
and able wife. the sister of another
energetic pioneer, Franklin Steele
VINO erected the first mill in St An
thony.
The visitor to this most interesting
mouse notices, first of ALL that its
frame Is made of great trees hewn
IN the forest. and then that the plas-
Ter Is OF mud from the Minnesota
river packed on willows instead of
laths, in a very skillful manner. Over
thiS mud is mortar coat which,
however, was not put on until much
later when the Sibleys were well over
their pioneer period. In the basement
Is the great ice room with the hooks
from which hung the whole carcasses
OF bears and deer for the guests and
dependents of the wilderness mansion.
Some Of the rooms in this house that
seems small as one approaches 1t up
the railroad track are 20 feet square
In this house Sibley lived like
baron OF the middle ages. The Indians
by this time had become dependent
on the whites for their provisions and
part of their clothing. and for this
reason they brought in immense guam
titles of furs, chiefly beaver, but also
bearskinS and buffalo robes Behind
the house is the ruin of the ware
house. the basement of which, 20 feet
deep. was used for the storage of ice.
In this warehouse provisions and furS
were carefully guarded The posses
sion Of these provisions gave Sibley
his great power over the Sioux, who
had been driven far south of their
ancient homes by the well equipped
Chippewas, to humble whom they
would almost sell their souls for a
few grains of powder and an ounce or
two of lead. Because they we're de-
pendent on Sibley for both food and
ammunition, the Sioux were virtually
his serfs, bound to him by hunger and
hatred to range the forests for a radi-
us of hundred miles and bring him
their furs, which he sent on to swell
the Aston fortune.
Because Sibley was powerful. those
who wanted to come into the Indian
country for any reason whatsoever
thought it eXpedient to come by way
of the Sibley house. Missionaries on
their way to their posts. traders under
Sibley's direction, travellers desiring to
rough it in the Minnesota wilds. scien-
fists wanting to know the secrets of
the great silence beyond the Missis-
sippi-all these we're entertained with
generosity and grace by Sibley and
his charming wife.
There is a legend that once Sibley
pushed Captain Marryat, the English
novelist. off the balcony that overlooks
the front yard, because of his refusal
- t1,a ,A,-,, ,,,it
spect; but this seems so at variance
with the testimonies of Sibley as
hospitable gentleman that it is not to
be depended upon.
Sibley's accounts with the fur COM
pany show us that he lived like a
gentleman - as doubtless he had
dreamed of living when he was a
clerk studying Latin. The company
filled his orders for fine china. silver
and furniture; he kept trained horses
and dogs for hunting: he filled his
library with the best books. some of
which he passed on to other traders
pondence records his sending to
Gabriel Renville several volumes Of n
history of civilization and the life Of
Napoleon.
He was quiet in manner, temperate
in habits, forbearing in speech. He
was the man to become a leader in
pioneer community, for the rough
men who largely compose such COM
munity respect power and ability in
any man and despise conceit wherever
it shows itself.
1t was. hence, no wonder that Henry
Sibley became the first delegate TO
congress from the wilderness of Min
nesota, and no wonder that, having
entertained many of the influential
men Tn the United States, he was able
to win the right Of a territory for his
beloved district. In 1858 the territory
demanded statehood. and Sibley, who
had once been justice of the peace Of