Part 2 (2/2)

The Red River carts used to come down from Fort Garry loaded with furs

There had been a white population in that part of the country and around Pe before there was any settlement in what is now Minnesota

The drivers were half breeds, sons of the traders and hunters They always looked more Indian than white In the early days, in remote places, where a white man lived with the Indians, his safety was assured if he took an Indian woenerally wore buckskin clothes, tricked out so as toplaces from twelve to fifteen miles apart, as that was a day's journey for these carts

As there was not much to amuse us, ere always interested to see the carts and their squawking was endured, as it could not be cured It could be heard three miles away They came down the Main Road, afterwards called the Anoka road

The lumber to face the first dam in '47 came from Marine There had been a mill there since 1834, I believe

We used to tap the uard to see that the Chippewas did not steal the sap

The messhouse where I boarded, was of tiht or ten beds in one room

Mrs Mahlon Black--1848

When I caot to the end of the line I came up on the Sentinel with Captain Steve Hanks He was captain of a raft boat then It took ten days to co to parade over in those days We took it as it co village under the bluffs--just one street A little later a few people built in the bluffs and ould cli onto the hazelbrush to help us up Stillwater was headquarters for Minnesota luether and in about twoThe est floor to dance on and we used to go there often We used to waltz and dance contra dances None of these new jigs and not wear any clothes to speak of We covered our hides in those days; no tight skirts like now

You could take three or four steps inside our skirts and then not reach the edge One of the boys would fiddle awhile and then soet a dance Sometimes they would dance and fiddle too

We would often see bears in the woods They were very thick

When we staged it to St Paul down the old Governain before we really got started We paid a dollar each way Once they chargedin an's

Once we an's It was a lonesome place The Chippewas and Sioux were on the warpath as usual A large party of Sioux ca after, a war dance, and were all painted and feathered They were looking in the ays It used to one round and round the house

My husband was on the survey reat deal One Sunday I was all alone when a lot of bucks cohtened I took my baby's little cradle and set it on the table She had curly hair and they would finger it and talk in their lingo When they left I took the baby and hailed the first tea by and made them come and stay with me It was the Cormacks from St Anthony I made my husband move back to Stillwater the next day

The Sioux killed a Chippewa father and mother and took the son, twelve years old, captive They had the scalp dance in Stillwater and had the poor child in the center of the circle with his father's andfro one

Old Doctor Carli was our doctor Our bill was only one dollar for a whole year If he had not had money laid back, he could never have lived

Once in the winter, Mrs Durant and I were going along, I was behind her The boys were coasting and went 'way out onto Lake St Croix They struck ht down in one of their laps and aent I have always gone pell-ood luck, I take it--if bad luck, I take it Mrs Durant went right on talking to me Finally she looked around and I had disappeared She was astonished Finally she sawback on that sled drawn by the boys and could not understand it She only said, ”Lucky it did not break your legs,” when I explained

Mr James McMullen--1849

Mr McMullen, in his ninetieth year says--I started frousta As I look back now, I see what a comical train that was, but when I first saw those cars, I was overpowered To think anylike that, that could push itself along on the land It see, much faster than any horse could run The rails ith an iron top and after we had buh the floor One lady was so scared that she dropped her traveling basket and all the s of the toilet rolled out She just covered the skirt and picked them up from under that The piece of iron was in the coach, but we threw it out

We went by boat to Boston, then by rail to the Erie canal We were ten days on a good clean canal boat and paid five dollars for board and our ticket I don't re ere on the lakes or e paid

I should say teeks We landed at Chicago It was an awfulas Anoka A ons and teams to Galena, so I hired theers over We got pretty stiff before we got there I was glad to get that ht ht tickets to St Paul Three of us took passage on the Yankee

She was really er boat She onlythe way, anywheres we could see a few sticks that some settler had cut The Indians always came down to see us wherever we stopped I did not take much of a fancy to them devils, even then It was so cold the fifteenth day of October that the Captain was afraid that his boat would freeze in, so would go no further and dumped us in Stillwater Cold! Well, I should say it was pretty durned cold!

I had been a sailor, so knew little about other work On the way up, I kept wondering, am I painter, blackses, the sailors always got together and discussed the farm they were to have when they saw fit to retire Said fare street Having talked this question over so h I had never used shovel, hoe or any farm tool I said to myself, I must find out what I as My brother-in-law borrowed this, for it was agreed that he should go on to St Paul As I walked along the one street in Stillwater with its few houses, I saw a blacksmith shop with the ss over There were three yoke of oxen standing ready to be shod They were used to haul square ti one up in the sling 'way off the ground I did not see my way clear to shoe this ox, so saas not a blacksh around to ave that up too In a little leanto I saw athat looked possible to me so said toSaid he, ”You can't raise nothing in this here country It would all freeze up; besides the soil is too light” Well, thinks I, it takes uess I'ht My brother-in-law had left a tool chest with me I was much afraid they would ask for board in advance, but they did not In the , the proprietor said, ”I have a job of work I want done--is that your chest?” I said, ”Here is the key” ”Then”, said he, ”you are a carpenter” I had worked a little at boat building so I let hi an addition out of green timber At the end of that tiave or, Maine ot it, I hiked out for St Anthony, where I took to building in earnest I helped build the Tuttle mill on the west side in '50 and '51 Tuttlecabin while it was building and I boarded with them there I also built the mill at Elk River

The first Fourth of July I was driving logs up above what is now East Minneapolis We had a mill with two sash saws, that is, saws set in a sash Settlers aiting to grab the boards as they cah a log! A mill of today could do the same work in one-tenth the ti both saws all the time