Part 30 (1/2)

Barnum, Cooley & Co, capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, 5,000

Barnum, Bliss & Co, capacity 10,000,000 feet yearly

Northern Pacific Junction, Payne & Co, two mills burned; loss, 50,000; rebuilt the third time

POKEGAMA LAKE

This beautiful lake lies in townshi+p 39, range 22 It is about five th by one in breadth and finds an outlet in Kanabec river It is celebrated for its historical associations Thomas Conner, an old trader, informed the writer of these sketches, in 1847, that he had had a trading post on the banks of this lake thirty years before, or about the year 1816 This was before Fort Snelling was built Mr Conner said that there was a French trading post at Pokega of 1847, after a wearisome day's tramp, that I made his acquaintance and shared his unstinted hospitality His post, at that tio county, on the banks of the St Croix

His rude, portable house was built of bark, subdivided with h at an advanced period in life, his ence which caused me to ask hies of a civilized life His reasons, some of them, were forcible; he liked the quiet of the wilderness, away from the turmoils of the envious white race I learned fro facts connected with travelers, traders and explorers of our St Croix valley This was the last season he spent on the river

In 1847, when I visited Pokegama, Jeremiah Russell, an Indian farmer, had a very pretty farm on a point of land on the southwest side of the lake, and between the lake and the river A Frenchman, Jarvis, lived a short distance from Russell Across the lake froardens of the Presbyterianof 1836, by Rev

Frederic Ayer and his associates, under the auspicies of the A at Yellow Lakeunfriendliness of the Indians, had been re to the araphies of the principal missionaries We eneral interest For many of these incidents we are indebted to Mrs Elisabeth J Ayer, of Belle Prairie, theof Rev

Frederic Ayer, for a long time missionary to the Ojibways This estihty-fifth year, but her mind is still clear and her hand steady, herthe appearance of the work of a precise young schoolmistress She mentions an old Canadian, who had been in the country sixty years, and for seven or eight years had been entirely blind He was known as Mushk-de-winini (The-old-blind-prairie-man), also the old trader, Thomas Conner, the re house may still be seen on the southern shore of the lake

Franklin Steele was the first whiteof 1837 the

February, 1837, Rev Mr Hall, of the La Pointe anized a church of seven members,--three of ere natives,--adht persons, and solees, probably the first in the valley of the St

Croix Revs Boutwell and Ely came to the mission in 1837 A school had been opened, soed, and the future of theaccount of the

BATTLE OF POKEGAMA

In 1811 the Sioux selected this settles of the Ojibways--so of two sons of Little Crow (done in self defense) between Pokegaaht, and stopped on the opposite side of the lake, two miles from the mission Thethe ground where they intended to operate, hid aardens, with orders that all keep quiet on both sides of the lake till a given signal, when the Indians were busy in their gardens, and then make quick work But their plans failed Most of the Ojibways of the settlement had, from fear of the Sioux, slept on an island half a mile out in the lake (I ardens In thethe opposite shore and the few Sioux who had reht atteave the alarm, and saved the Ojibways The chief ran to Mr Ayer's door and said, expressively: ”The Sioux are upon us,” and was off The Indians seemed at once to understand that the main body of the enemy was at hand The missionaries stepped out of the door and had just ti of water across the lake when bullets ca about their ears, and they went in The Sioux had left their hiding place and the battle commenced in earnest Most of the women and children of the settlement were yet on the island The house of the chief ell barricaded and e in a house e The eneun wasindented by a ball The owner retired to a corner and spent the time in prayer The mother of the house, with her small children, was on her way to the island under a shower of bullets, calling aloud on God for help

Thefrom their s quantities of bloody flesh upon stuht surely that several of their friends had fallen It proved to be a cow and calf of an Ojibway The htened and asked many questions, and for apparent safety went up stairs and were put behind some well filled barrels In the heat of battle two Ojibways came from the island and landed in front of Mr Ayer's house They drew their canoe ashore and secreted the after three Sioux ran down the hill and toward the canoe They were fired upon and one fell dead The other two ran for help but before they could return the Ojibere on the way back to the island Not having time to take the scalp of their enemy, they hastily cut the powder horn strap fro with blood, as a trophy of victory The Sioux drew the dead body up the hill and back to the place of fighting The noise ceased The battle was over The missionaries soon heard the joyful words, quietly spoken: ”We still live” Not a warrior had fallen The two school girls ere in the canoe at the first firing in the h half the ht ounded The Sioux women and boys who had corin of returning as empty as they came

The Ojibere careful that no canoe should be left within reach of the Sioux From necessity they took a canoe, made by Mr Ely, and rely) in the best the party could furnish, with each a double barreled gun, a toe trees and went on their way So their head-dresses, were sent to thescene thethe difference between those Indians who had listened to instruction and those who had not The second day after the battle the pagan party brought back to the island the dead bodies of their enemies, cut in pieces, and distributed parts to such Ojibways as had at any time lost friends by the hands of the Sioux One wohter was killed and , when she saw the canoes co pole, waded out into the water, grabbed it like a hungry dog and dashed it repeatedly on the stones with savage fierceness Others of the pagans conducted themselves in a siht in their kettles of rice Eunice (as she was named at her baptism) was offered an arm At first she hesitated; but for reasons, sufficient in her own hter-in-la of her son who had recently been killed and chopped into pieces by the Sioux, took another, and they went into their lodge Eunice said: ”My daughter, weWe have been taught better,” and taking some white cloths from her sack they wrapped the arave them a decent burial About this time a Mr Kirkland was sent from Quincy, Illinois, by a party ished to plant a colony not far froa what had happened he selected a location on Cross lake, just where a railroad has now been in operation for soorously for two or three weeks, and then went to consult the Indian agent and the ement that the two tribes would ever live in peace; and he went home The Ojibways lived in constant fear, and the place was soon deserted This was a great trial to the e them to stay They separated into s for the present and be out of danger

The teachers re the Indians in their retreat, hoping they ht soon think it safe to return to their homes In this they were disappointed These visits were not always very safe On one of these trips Mr Ayer was lost, and fro the party he sought, he wandered about for a day or two In theto cah for oneKettle river on a self- ice on the opposite shore, he got wet The Indians, anticipating his visit, had sent a young uide him to, their new locality He returned in haste, fell on Mr Ayer's track, and a light sprinkle of snow enabled him to follow it until he was found

Mrs Ayer relates several incidents illustrative of Indian character

As her husband had been stationed at Yellow Lake, and afterward at Red Lake, these incidents are not necessarily located at Pokegama:

A nobLE CHIEF

The Red Lake Indians were a noble band--they had a noble chief In civilization he led the way, in religion he did not oppose He shouldered a heavy axe, and could be seen chopping on one side of a large tree, in perspiration, while his as on the other side, helping all she could with her hatchet This chief was also an advocate of temperance Not that he didn't love whisky, but he hated the effect of it on his band He dictated a letter to the president, begging hi anyas one reason that they had teachers a them who must be protected, and if they had whisky he did not knohat ht happen

FRANK CONFESSIONS

In the church there wason the eighth co an answer, said: ”Noho is there aan to confess--another followed, then another

One thought she had stolen about seven ti the things she had stolen, till the scene was quite a Another rose to confess, but was cut short by her husband, who said: ”Who kno many times he has stolen? We are a nation of thieves” And with a few re closed

A COWARDLY DEED