REMINISCENCES OF MINNESOTA DURING THE

TERRITORIAL PERIOD.*

BY HON. CHARLES E. FLANDRAU.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I have always supposed that the legitimate province of a historical society is to record and preserve past and current history; and, so believing, I feel as if I were perpetrating a wrong in offering to you this evening the collection of anecdotes, jokes, and frivolous sayings and doings that I have strung together in this paper. My only excuse is, that it was not originally prepared for this dignified body, but for the amusement of a much lighter audience, and that it does contain some matters relating to our early days, although of a character that can hardly be brought under the designation of history. I never made any pretense to being a historian; but much is expected of a western man, and he is never justified in declining to do anything that the emergencies of the situation demand of him. To give you an illustration of what appalling straits he is sometimes driven to: Once, in the very early dawn of civilization on our frontier, I had the hardihood to get up a thanksgiving celebration, the principal part of the programme being a sermon from a neighboring missionary. For some reason, he failed to put in an appearance, and I was compelled to do the preaching myself. As my audience was easily imposed upon in the article of sermons, I succeeded quite creditably.

PECULIAR EARLY IMMIGRANTS.

I thought at first of chatting about the early days of St. Paul, and relating some of the many anecdotes which exist about our pioneer residents; but, on reflection, recalling what

*Read before the Society, April 25, 1898.

my old friend, Joe Rolette, once said, "If these old settlers ever collide with me, I'll write a book," I deemed it delicate ground to tread upon, although extremely fertile in fun and amusing incidents, as we had a most curious agglomeration of interesting characters here in the early times. I may, however, mention some without treading on any one's toes.

There was a Scotch gentleman here, whom I knew very well, who seemed to have plenty of means to gratify all his whims. He had the reputation of having once been a minister of the gospel,-what he was doing here no one seemed to know definitely,—and, as was usual in those days, no one cared very much. After living here some time he conceived the idea of going over to the Pacific country by way of British Columbia; his objective point may have been the Fraser river gold diggings, but I forget. He fitted out a party, and when in the wilds of the north country he became frozen in and was compelled to spend a long winter in camp; provisions soon gave out and the party were compelled to eat their pack animals for support. My friend selected a fat young mule for his especial eating, and allowed no one to share it with him. In the course of the winter he consumed the whole animal. He preserved one of its dainty hoofs, and when he got back to civilization he had it beautifully polished and a silver shoe put on it, and always at his meals he placed it by the side of his plate. People thought it was a salt cellar, or some article of table furniture, but when asked by some one what part it played in his menu, he would relate his adventure and say, that he had eaten so many awfully bad dinners out of that mule that he always kept its hoof near by to remind him of them so that his present dinners might be improved by con

trast.

He was very fond of sherry, and could not get just what he wanted here, so he sent to London and imported an immense hogshead of the best he could purchase. He decanted it into large demijohns, and placed them all around his room. He then went to bed and never left it until we carried him out feet foremost. I did my best to avert this calamity, but my powers of absorption were too limited to get away with the sherry in time.

The original population of all this country was of course the Indians. The next people to arrive were the whites, who

were either traders or soldiers, and in referring to the inhabitants they were always designated either as white men or Indians. At quite an early period an officer of the army from the South was stationed at Mackinac, or some other northwestern post, and brought with him two black servants, George and Jack Bonga. When he was ordered away, these two men remained behind and took service in the American Fur Company as voyageurs. They married into the Chippewa tribe, and George became quite a prominent trader and a man of wealth and consequence. I was his guest for two weeks at Leech lake just forty-two years ago, when I made a canoe voyage to the source of the Mississippi. He was a thorough gentleman in both feeling and deportment, and was very anxious to contribute to my pleasure during my stay with him. He loved to dwell upon the grandeur of the chief factors of the old Fur Company, and, to show me how royally they travelled, he got up an excursion on the lake, in a splendid birch bark canoe, manned by twelve men who paddled to the music of a French Canadian boat song, led by himself. George was very popular with the whites, and loved to relate to the newcomers his adventures. He was about the blackest man I ever saw, so black that his skin fairly glistened, but was, excepting his brother Jack, the only black person in the country. Never having heard of any distinction between the people but that of Indians and white men, he would frequently paralyze his hearers when reminiscing by saying, "Gentlemen, I assure you that John Banfil and myself were the first two white men that ever came into this country."

CELEBRATION OF NEW YEAR'S DAY.

I am rather inclined to think that in the early days we had a good deal more fun than we do now, but perhaps our pleasures were not curbed with the same bit as they are at present. The early settlers brought out with them the old fashioned way of celebrating New Year's day, and when that event occurred, the whole town was alive with sport. Everybody kept open house and expected everybody else to call and see them. No vehicle that could carry a party was allowed to remain idle, and from morning until late in the night the entire male population was on the move. The principal houses were those of the Ramseys, the Gormans, the Borups, the Oakeses,

the Warrens, the Coxes, the Robertsons, and the Rices. The Reverend Dr. Andrew Bell Paterson, rector of St. Paul's Church, lived out where Hamm's brewery now stands. Mrs. Goodhue, widow of Minnesota's first editor, lived on the west side, about opposite the foot of Jackson street, and there were many others well worthy of mention who now escape me. We also had Fort Snelling, with its Old School Army officers, famous for their courtesy and hospitality, and the delightful household of Franklin Steele, the sutler; and there was Henry H. Sibley, at Mendota, to whom the finest amenities of life were a creed: all of whom assisted on New Year's day. There was great strife among the entertainers as to who should have the most elaborate spread, and the most brilliant and attractive array of young ladies to greet the guests. A register of the callers was always kept, and great was the victory of the hostess who recorded the greatest number.

My first New Year's day in St. Paul was in January, 1854, forty-four years ago; it was my entrée to St. Paul society. Four of us, all young frisky fellows, started out together with a good team and made one hundred and fifty calls by midnight. The party was composed of Mr. Henry L. Moss, Horace R. Bigelow, who was my old partner, Mr. Charles H. Mix, and myself. Whether we drank at every fountain that gushed for us on that day, I will leave to the imagination, after saying that only the most delightful impressions of the event linger in my memory. The custom died out only a dozen years ago.

While speaking of New Year's day, I must not forget my first New Year's day among the Indians. It was in 1857. The Sioux know the day and celebrate it. How they discovered it I am unable to say, but probably they learned it from the French missionaries. They call it "Kissing day." I was the United States Agent for the Sioux, and was detained up at the Yellow Medicine river for some reason, I forget what. I was informed that it would be expected of me to give all the women who happened to be about the Agency a present. So I had several barrels of gingerbread baked, and purchased many bolts of calico, which I had cut up into dress pieces, ready for delivery. About ten in the forenoon the squaws began to assemble near the Agency, and I seated myself in the main room to await events. At first they were shy (I was

not the grizzly old fellow then that I am now). Soon an old wa-kon-ka came sidling up like a crab, and gave me a kiss; then came another, and another, until, young and old, I had kissed and been kissed by forty-eight squaws. I kept an exact tally, especially of the young and pretty ones. They all got their gingerbread and dresses, and went away very happy; whether their joy rested wholly on the cakes and calico, I never was exactly satisfied in my own mind. So you see the civilized and the savage do not differ very much in their methods of amusing themselves. It is a serious question whether modern innovations will be an improvement over the past in such matters.

enon.

EARLY SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

St. Paul from its earliest settlement was a social phenomOur ideas of a frontier Mississippi river town of forty years ago, naturally suggest everything but culture, refinement and elegance; yet St. Paul possessed them all in a very marked degree. By a singularly happy combination of circumstances, differing absolutely from all other remote frontier towns that I know of, the earliest settlers, who gave the place its social tone and character, were cultivated gentlemen and ladies. Dr. Borup was a Dane; he was a fine musician; he had a charming family; he erected a spacious and, for that day, elegant mansion, and entertained profusely. I have attended musical soirées at his house, led by himself with the violin, accompanied by two grand pianos played by members of his family.

Mr. William Sitgreaves Cox, an old navy officer, was a charming gentleman, at the head of one of the most interesting, cultivated and refined families it was ever my good fortune to become acquainted with. One of his daughters, Miss Hitty, was so accomplished a musician, that it was said she never played anything but music of her own composition. Another daughter, Mrs. Pope, who presided in his household, used to entertain the friends of the family at grand dinners and petits soupers, that would have made the habitués of Washington and Newport green with envy.

Mr. John E. Warren, and his brilliant and beautiful wife, maintained an establishment, to enjoy the privileges of which was a liberal education, and a joy forever. The mere recol