Part 6 (1/2)

Mrs Richard Chute--1851

I came to Minnesota a bride in 1851 and with my husband shortly afterwards took the steareat treaty with the Indians was to be signed With us we took a tent, provisions and a French man to cook I was the only woman in all the company

It was all so wonderful to h which we passed and the preparations reat concourse of them were down to see the boat coht to be remembered Soet themselves out I think this was the first steahtened and curious at the same time

Ten years before, at my home in Ohio, I had seen the Indians often as they would stop at our house for food on the way to Fort Wayne My ave them milk to drink

They loved her and knew she was their friend They always gave lass beads I think I had one of every color

These Indians at Traverse ave thelances they returned were shy, but friendly Their painted faces and breasts and gaudy clothes were different from our Indians Their tepees stretched as far as the eye could see It seemed that the squaws must have had instruction in embroidery from some civilized teacher Their patterns were so intricate Their colors so well placed Their moccasins were always beautifully done with beads and colored porcupine quills; their best petticoats, too As for their liege lords, their best suits, if suits theysquaw, instead of pouring out her love in song, would pour it out in eay, indeed

Mrs Hopkins, wife of the missionary, met us and took us home with her where ere very well cared for She was a charreatly loved I never heard her coreatly beloved by the Indians

We took our stores and cooked there and with fresh vegetables froame, we had choice meals

I used to ride horseback, or rather ”pony back,” every day, alith my husband and frequently with Mr Sibley My pony was borrowed froe horses Every Indian brave, who caoods and children were drawn by one There were so rass Literally thousands of these ponies were grazing some distance back of the encampment We three rode out to see them As we neared them, and they smelled my pony, that vast herd, with one accord, started towards us and alulfed et off Hold on for your life” I took the pony around the neck with both arms and did hold on Thehorses on either side of me The Indians rushed in on their ponies and after so the prisoner escape I was cool and collected while the danger menaced, but when it was over, tre at Traverse was gone

Mr Sibley, Mr Chute and I, with a guide, went to see athere and back--crossing the little stream many times My husband took off his boots to ford the stream He always carried et to the coo to the Hopkins', but to stay there, but Mr Chute wanted to go It was bright ht, and I walked three quarters of a et a pony to take my husband back I passed a little lake on the prairie Mr Chute and I alalked arm in arm as was then the custom for married people

Mirrored in the lake I could see reflectedas they had seen the pale faces do I laughed to ht whatthe custoraded thereat celebration The Indians were to have all their dances Early in the , Mr Hopkins went out to bathe in the river He did not return A little Indian girl said she had seen hio under the water and only two hands coreat crowd of squaws surrounded the house, showing by their sad looks what the loss was to the the hymns in Sioux

This funeral, way off in the wilderness, with these crowds of savage otten

Mr Charles Bohanon--1851

Iin '53 My father first took up a claim in 1851 where the Central Market now stands, but while he was in the woods, Old Man Stimson squat on that, so he took a claim at what is now Camden Place He built a small house there The farm was covered with brush and ”oak openins” Everyone of these trees had to be grubbed out One of my earliest recollections is the Red River carts that used to go squawking by on this side of the river as well as on the St

Anthony side They were called the Red River Band They were one of the loudest bands ever brought together, as their ainst wood, could be heard three miles While my father was in the woods, the Indians used to come and sleep in the dooryard Sometimes it would be full of painted Sioux They never stole anything or begged, but would gratefully take anything offered them They were very friendly and kind and full of curiosity, as their looking in the s at all tiht a fine pair of horses fro wild hay on a meadow, he left thehbor that they had got in the river He ran and saw one swi near the other shore but as the other had turned over with his feet in the air, the coon was too much for hiear of the wagon later when all came upon a sandbar, but the harness had been stolen What the loss of this team was to a pioneer fareons whichcould never be estiie, Pigie,” could be heard They could be seen in countless numbers on the ”slab trees,” that is, old, dead trees Anyone could kill hundreds in a day and thousands killed, seely made no impression

They flew very low and in dense ly plentiful I have never seen wild swan here, but many in Minnesota in the Red River country

On our farm was a thicket of plums which probably came up from the stones from one tree Some were blue, some red, others yellow and red

Some were sour, some bitter, others tasteless, while others still, were sweet and of an exquisite flavor These trees soon ran out and I think all of this best variety are gone I re raspberries, blackberries and wild strawberries in quantities Every su and picking blueberries

We sold our corn which was our first crop, to Alexander Moore in St

Anthony At that ti corn Two bushel baskets er baskets than those ordinarily in use and measured the corn in these

When the farmers demurred, he said, ”If you don't like my measure, take your corn home” He knew there was no one else for us to take it to, so was very brave There were very few scales so farenerally sold by measure

I never saw a pair of shoes until after the war Everyone wore boots

In the northern part of the State I have seen ht, blind thenat The reat clouds and were everywhere