HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE MINNESOTA RIVER VALLEY Early Settlements Along the Minnesota River

CARVER -- Below the rapids, it was the head of navigation on the Minnesota- Mississippi River system. It was named for the explorer, Jonathan Carver. A rocky shelf extends across the river and it forms a natural barrier so it became the headwaters of navigation during the steamboat period. On the nlotrth side at the rapids a trading post was established by J.B. Faribault about 1804. Acriss from Little Rapids Trading Post was an Indian village of the Wahpeton Sioux. There are some Indian burial mounds there which have been excavated.

BLACK DOG VILLAGE -- ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE Minnesota River a few miles abouve Ft.Snelling, was the village. The inhabitants were called Ma-gu-yu-tay- shnee...because they found it profitable to sell game (geese) at Ft. Snelling. Gray Iron was chief, also known as Pa-ma-ya-yaw, My Headaches.

SAVAGE -- formerly called Hamilton's Landing. Steam-boating lasted 85 years, the heyday being from 1855 to 1865. During World War II hulls of ocean-going cargo carriers were made and launched in Savage and floated to New Orleans for fitting out. After the war Cargill converted the shipbuilding plant to handle wheat, soybean, oil, coal, molasses and sulfur. The realroad bridge in savage is primarily for trains but has a single land for one-way traffic. It was to have been closed to cars in 1960.

BLOOMINGTON -- Four bridges cross out of Bloomington. The most easterly is the Cedar Avenue bridge. It must be opened by a crew when a tow goes through. Highway 35W was the old Lyndale Avenue bridge which replaced the McLeod Ferry. The Bloomington Ferry Bridge is the most westerly. This ws the major crossing before the other bridges were built. Stagecoaches came up from Mankato and crossed over into Bloomington. The Stagecoach Inn was actually a station.

SHAKOPEE -- "Shakopedan" was the name of several generations of Indian chiefs meaning "Little Six". At the time of the treaty of 1851 there were about 600 Indians and for white families. It became incorporated in 1854. Thomas Holmes built the first building on the original town site of Shakopee.

CHASKA -- During the steamboat period, there was daily service to St. Paul From Chaska the traders loaded merchandise from the boats to ox-carts and took their products west and north. "Chaska" means "first born son" in the Sioux language.

GOOD-ROAD'S VILLAGE -- Must have been where the AquaPort marina is now, at the foot of Lyndale Avenue.

BELLE PLAINE -- Ginseng was a popular cash crop that grew wild in the woods.

HENDERSON -- Joseph R Brown came to Ft Snelling as a drummer boy with Lt. Leavenworth. He married a mixed-blood Indian who helped save him during the Sioux Uprising. He succeeded Goodhue as editor of the "Minnesota Pioneer". He laid out the town of Henderson and named it after his mother. His horseless wagon had its first run in 1859 where it went down main Street under uts own steam power.

LESEUR -- During the Sioux Uprising two units from LeSueur fought at New Ulm. The women put on long pants and drilled in the streets with broomsticks to fool the Indian scouts and LeSueur was not attacked.

ST. PETER -- The home of Gustavus Adolphus College. It was founded in 1852 and was designed to be the state capitol, then later became the county seat. The bulk of the refugees form the Uprising went to St. Peter.

MANKATO -- The name is a corruption of the Sioux word Mahkato meaning Blue Earth. This is where the Blue Earth River joins the Minnesota. Chief Sleepy Eyes wouldn't move his village because he said he hadn't been paid, but for a barrel of pork he changed his mind. They thought in the 17th century that the blue clay contained copper and after much to do and traveling back and forth to France, LeSueur found it wasn't so. In 1835, George Featherstonhaugh, a British geologist, said the bluish-green earth was silicate if iron. LeSueur shipped 4000 pounds of blue clay across the Atlantic thinking it contained copper!

NEW ULM -- a Carefully planned community of German immigrants in 1854. It was built on high ground to avoid the floods. It is at the confluence of two rivers, the Minnesota and Cottonwood. It was an important town in the Sioux Uprising. The Indians buried much of the town which lay beyond the barricaded inner defense circle. Fort Ridgely, 18 miles upstream from New Ulm was also attacked at that time. The successful defense of New Ulm and Ft Ridgely saved the remaining Minnesota Valley (including Savage and Burnsville) from being ravaged. Ft Ridgely is now a state park. Descendants of the Sioux who took part in the attacks live on a reservation near Morton. There is presently a monument erected to the defenders of New Ulm between the high school and the courthouse.


Fort Snelling

In 1805 Pike camped at the Junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers and for $200 worth of rum and presents he made an agreement with the Sioux for the area of present-day Minneapolis and St. Pau;. Pike chose the site fur Ft Snelling, Major Long confirmed the choice, and Lt. Col. Leavenworth led the expedition to construct the fort. Strategically, Ft Snelling was the outermost defense of the Northwest Territory. In 1819 Leavenworth built a temporary camp near the southeast end of the present Mendota Bridge. It was called New Hope. Because of spring floods he moved the camp to a high bluff above the Mississippi and called it "Camp Coldwater". In 1820 he was replaced by Col. Josiah Snelling. Snelling laid the cornerstone down-river from Leavenworth's site on a high blufffthat Major Long had recommended. Construction began with cutting logs on the Rum River and floating them down stream. It was first called Ft. St. Anthony but in 1825 the outpost became officially Fort Snelling. A sawmill was erected on Little Falls, now called Minnehaha,, but the water was too low so they used the Falls of St. Anthony for power. The object of the military post at the mouth of the Minnesota River was to protect the fur trade and to control the Indians. President Monroe selected Major Taliaferro (Tol-i-ver) as the Indian Agent. He was the most important civil official on the upper Mississippi for 20 years. He voluntarily resigned after a 6th appointment. Taliaferro had three goals: (1) peace between the Sioux and Chippawa, (2) protect the Indians from white man's lust and greed, and (3) induce the Indians to cultivate the soil. The influence of the English was still strong and he had to convince the Indians that the President was the Great Father and not George III.

Originally the main body of the fort lay in the fork of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers to half a mile abouve the falls, including Lakes Calhoun and Harriet on the west and up the Minnesota River about miles. A smaller area lay east of the rifers. In the reservation was reduced in sixe to the Mississippi River on the east, Minnehaha Creek on the north, and south to the Minnesota River.

The first school opened in 1823 at the fort and the first Protestant church in the area opened in 1835. Zachary Taylor was the commandant from 1828-1829.

Gathering wood for fuel took a great deal of time, and time away from ‘drill and discipline". Boredom was a problem especially in cold winter months. They had 400 books in the librry, the first in Minnesota, and overdue fines ran to 12 1/2 cents per day. They had the area's first thearer and perforned weekly plays. The civilian population was made up of traders, Indians, Swiss refugees from Selkirk's Red River Colony and some slaves, among them Dred Scott.

Liquor became a problem to all, not only trying to keep traders from selling it to the Indians, but it was a problem to the troops who conseumed much of the whiskey they were trying to keep away from the Indians!

Some Suatters settled downstream near the claim of Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant, a one-eyed whiskey seller. It was called Pig's Eye until renamed St. Paul's for the log chaple named for the apostle Paul in 1841. Ft. Snelling became a supply depot and its band provided music for social functions. During the Civil War the fort was used for a rendevouz place for as many as 2,000 soldiers and it had to be enlarged. In 1857 Ft. Snelling was sold to Franklin Steele by Floyd, the Secretary of War because it was believed to be no longer needed for military purposes. They sold him 7000 acres of $90,000. Until 1866 it was still in possession of the United States but Stewele had ferry privileges over the Mississippi. Bedause the United States was using the land that Steele had purchased he charged the government rent to offset what he owed on the purchase price. The govennment deeded Steele 6,400 acres and retained 1,520 acres for military uses. In 1858 there was an investigation of the sale at a cost of $20,000 (48 sessions). The government concluded that the sale of Ft. Snelling was against the law and the sale was void. The compromise was that the sale was "injudiciously made"; the government would retain the reservation and compensate the purchasers for monies applied toward the purchase. After another investigation by a board of Army officers, the decision was again reversed and Steele got possession (July 1858). 640 acres were laid out in lots of 50 to 150 feet @ $100/lot, but sales were soon stopped byh the panic of 1857. Steele and his company deferred payments and defaulted. In 1860 the government sued and in 1865 the suit was suspended. Steele's plan of founding a city was dissipated. A compromise with Steele was made for the retention of the fort. The said they only needed one square mile but General Sherman wanted Ft. Snelling held by the United States forever. In 1868 Steele charged the government $162,000 rent from 1861 and wanted to offset whatever claim the government had against him and asked for a deed for the entire reservation. After another board investigation Steele was deeded 6,394 acres and in later years the government repurchased a portion of the land.

In the 1860's and 1870's the fort became a training center for officers and an induction-discharge station for Minnesota troops in World Wars I and II. In 1926 the Mendota Bridge was buuilt and in 1946, Ft. Snelling was retired as an army post. The entire facility was turned over to the Veterans Administration. In 1960 the site was recognized as a national historical landmark and in 1958 the legislature granted $25,000 to the Minnesota Historical Society for an archaeological exploration of the walled area. Ft. Snelling State Historical Park including Pike Island. Reconstruction began in 1966 and by 1970 half of the original structures were rebuilt.


Early Geo-political Development

West of the Mississippi River was part of the Louisiana Territory until 1812, then Missouri territory until 1821 when Missouri became a state. For 13 years the Minnesota territory had no status, but in 1834 it became first Michigan territory, then Wisconsin territory, then Iowa territory and in 1846 became no man's land again. In 1849 Minnesota territory was organized and it included both North and South Dakotas.

Mendota is the oldest village in the state. It was called New Hope, then St. Peter, and finally, Mendota. Some of the early fur traders were Joe Snelling, a writer and son of the commander, and Sibley, chief of the trading company. The Sibley and Fairbault houses are restored and can be visited in the summer months. Senator Douglas had made Mendota the capital of the territory but Sibley preferred St. Paul and he moved his family to St. Paul in 1862. Sibley was responsible for the decision to make two sections, instead of one, of public land in every township being set aside being set aside for public schools. He used the Oregon Territory as a [resident in making this decision. Preemption laws were codified in 1841 allowing occupation of surveyed land only. Surveys west of the Mississippi didn't begin until 1853. Gov. Ramsey asked for an extension of preemption privilge to settlers on un-surveyed lands. Delegate henry Rice secured passage of the act of 1854 granting privilege to squatters in Minnesota. Preemptions were illegal until 1854 and lands couldn't be sold until surveys had been completed. The financial boom in 1856 and 1857 brought about a lot so speculation and people poured into the territory. The weren't enough hotels to house them. Land values spiraled until the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company of New York failed. Then the house of cards tumbled down and the Panic was extreme. Banks closed their doors and there was a mass exodus of people. One historian said the population decreased by 50%.

Henry Sibley was the first delegate from the Territory of Minnesota. He secured the passage of a bill reserving two townships of land for a university and another bill to reduce Ft. Snelling to one square mile. He also denounced the government for breaking treaties with the Indians.

After the Treaty of Mendota in 1852, the settlement of Dakota County began. Previously it was sparsely settled by sqatters.

Dakota County was one of the 9 original counties created by the first territorial legislature from Clear Water River to the Missouri River in the south to the line of Wabasha County on the north. In 1852 Hennepin County was formed out of Dakota territory. In 1853 the boundaries were from the mouth of the Credit River at the Minnesota River in the direct line to tjhe upper branch of the Cannon River to a point in the Mississippi River opposite the mouth of the St. Croix, up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Minnesota River. In 1858, the boundary between Scott and Dakota Counties was changed for political reasons. Irish farmers occupied the eastern part of Scott County and the western part of Dakota County. The present northern boundary was fixed in 1873. \the county seas was first at Kapota (South St. Paul) in 1853, moved to Mendota in 1854, and in 1857 it was moved to Hastings.

The first territorial legislature evolved in 1849. Gideon Pond represented the 7th District. The first justice of the peace was H, Sibley.


Indian Treaties

In 1851 the Treaty of Traverse Des Sioux was signed. The first session was at Mendota but they moved to Pilot Knob, an elevated plain overlooking the Minnesota Valley because of the heat. Some of the signers of the treaty were Little Crow, Chief Shakopee and Stands Astride. The Siseton and Wahpeton bands of the Sioux sold all their lands in Iowa and Minnesota east of the Red river to Lake Traverse, down the Minnesota and south of the river. The Dakota Indians didn't settle on the reservations alloted to them by the treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota until late in 1853. Each summer some of the Sioux would return to their ancient homes and they were tolerated and sometimes welcomed. The treaties opened up the land west of the Mississippi and the valley of the Minnesota River to immigrant settlement.

Little Crow was the first chief to sign the Treaty of Mendota. Many of the chiefs who couldn't write just touched the pen but Little Crow had gone to mission school and could sign his name. The treaty was interpreted to them by Gideon Pond. What the Indians got in return was a gin, the average width of 10 miles, on either side of the Minnesota River and annuities for 50 years. The treaty was ratified by the Senate in 1852. Population growth was rapid from 1853 on. In 1856 Hastings had a population of about 700 people.


The Indian Massacre of 1862

There were many reasons for the Sioux Uprising--they had much provocation. Among them was the general Indian policy of granting annuities, the paternalistic policy of making the Indians dependent on the Great Father for their very existence, placing Indians on reservations after signing treaties which they really didn't understand, severing ancient tribal relationships which one would imagine would contibute to undermine the whole culture dissipating their hunting grounds, and removing them from their lands with which they were familiar.

In 1860 Episcopal Bishop Whipple sent an analysis of the Indian situation to President Buchanan and 6 months before the Sioux War to President Lincoln. Bishop Whipple called for honest Indian agents, controls of the liquor situation, and a federal program for advancing the civilization of the Indian.

The character of the Sioux Indians was proud, warlike; they took glory in fighting and took honors by taking scalps and "counting coup." Other contributing factors were; white men had gone to fight for the Union in the Civil War and they knew that the remaining defenses were weak. There was a delay in paying them their annuities and when they were paid most of money with to the traders. There was animosity between the farmer Indians--the "short-hairs" and blanket