Minnesota 100 years ago, described and pictured by Adolf Hoeffler

15 Pages·2007·1.64 MB·English

by  Hoeffler, Adolf, 1825-1898.

MR. MC DERMOTT is professor of English in Washington
University, St. Louis. He identified as Hoeffler's work the
narrative here reprinted and its illustrations some time before
the Minnesota Historical Society acquired a group of the
artist's original sketches. We are presenting his Minnesota
impressions exactly a century after they were recorded.
Minnesota VO \j Years As^o
Described and pictured by ADOLF HOEFFLER
Edited by JOHN FRANCIS McDERMOTT
OF THE MANY ARTISTS who roamed the 1849 and was there at the time of the great
Mississippi Valley in the middle decades of fire in May.
the last century sampling the strangeness During the summer he ventured up the
of life on the frontier and examining the Mississippi to Fort Snelling, a great point
beauties of its scenery probably the least of attraction to tourists and to artists, and
known is Adolf Hoeffler. Yet when the full to St. Paul, capital of the new Territory of
story of his years in America is eventually Minnesota. There he painted portraits of
pulled together he may prove one of the Mrs. Alexander Ramsey and her child, for
most interesting recorders of what was then which on October 18 the governor paid him
western America. fifty dollars. On October 24, Ramsey noted
Born in Frankfurt on Main, Germany, in in his diary, Hoeffler left Minnesota on the
1825, the son of Heinrich Hoeffler, a paint "Dr. Franklin No. 1" for St. Louis.^
er, he studied under his father and other That he had kept busy during those
artists of Frankfurt until 1847. After a tour months in the North is suggested by Imlf
of Switzerland, Italy, the Tyrol, and a peri a dozen signed and dated pencil and water-
od of further study in Diisseldorf, he left color sketches recently acquired by the
for America, arriving at New Orleans on Minnesota Historical Society. Among them
December 7, 1848.^
In the United States he followed the ^ Hoeffler returned to Europe in 1853, settled in
Frankfurt in 1856, and lived there until his death
typical career of the itinerant artist, paint
in 1898. Biographical facts are from Ulrich Thieme
ing portraits for a living while he filled his and FeUx Becker, Allgemeines Lexicon der Bilden-
sketchlyooks with impressions of the land den Kiinstler, 17:191 (Leipzig, 1924), and from
scape through which he passed. He went the Hoeffler family through the courtesy of Pro
fessor Albert W. Frenkel of the University of Min
up the Mississippi by steamboat to St. Louis
nesota and Mrs. Helmut J. Sieverts of Thiensville,
and presently moved on to Belleville, Illi Wisconsin.
nois. After some months in that neighbor " The Ramsey Diary for 1849 is owned by the
hood studying English and doing portraits, governor's granddaughters, the Misses Anna and
Laura Furness of St. Paul; the Minnesota Histori
he went back to St. Louis in the spring of
cal Society has a copy.
112 MINNESOTA History
are two views of Fort Snelling, done on
August 2 and 4, which show the post from
the east bank of the Mississippi below the
Minnesota. Two others made on both sides
of a single sheet of paper on August 10 and
12 picture the Falls of St. Anthony from
the west bank. A fifth sketch, done in Sep
tember, is a view of St. Paid taken from
.some distance below on the east bank. The
Little Falls, as Minnehaha was then known,
is the subject of the sixth picture dated
1849. A handsome water color of the Falls portrait painting enough money to finance
of St. Anthony from the east bank —the a summer of traveling to sketch landscape.
most finished picture in the entire collec It was probably on a visit to New York
tion — is undated, but may belong to Hoef early in 1850 that he submitted to the
fler's first visit to Minnesota.^ American Art Union a view of the Falls of
The painter's itinerary next took him up St. Anthony. According to the catalogue
the Ohio to Cincinnati, where he made a description "the principal part of the com
short stay, and then on to Pittsburgh, Balti position is taken up by the river. In the
more, and Philadelphia. Early in 1850 Jic distance are the Fcdls. The sky is covered
was working in Trenton to accumulate by by thick drifting clouds." From this de
scription it seems possible that the water
" Twelve of the society's Hoeffler pictures — si.\ color of the falls from the east bank, men
for 1849, five for 1852, and one undated — were tioned above, served as the original for the
purchased for the society in the spring of 1952 by a
oil.''
group of its friends. They were obtained from the
artist's granddaughter, Mrs, Hilde Jaspert of The following year two more of Hoeffler's
Oberursel an Taunus, Germany, The story of their upper Mississippi landscapes were accepted
acquisition was reported in the Minneapolis Sunday
by the American Art Union. Number 6, as
Tribune for May 11. Ed.
"' In the distribution of the pictures in December, listed in the Bufletin for October, 1851,
1850, this landscape, number 179, went to Alfred represented Fort Snelling; in it "the river
Mosher of Stanfordville, New York, None of the is seen by evening light. On the broad table
Hoeffler pictures acquired by the Art Union has
land on the right are the buildings of the
been located.
Autumn 1952 113
fort, while beyond lie a line of hills." The ONE OF THE most interesting and im
other oil (number 21), a view of St. Paul, portant portions of our country, whether
shoived "in the foreground a promontory, viewed in the light of its past his
tory, its present progress, or its fu
with Indian wigwams. The river flows
ture destiny, is that region which
through the picture between low banks."
embraces the Upper Mississippi and its
All three canvases measured twenty by
higher tributaries, known as the Minnesota
twenty-seven inches.
Territory. It has a history coeval with the
Hoeffler's next explorations were to the
narratives of Marquette, Hennepin, La
south, a trip which he extended in October
Salle, and other French explorers of the
and November, 1851, to Cuba. The only
great Lake Country, a century and three
result known today is an article entitled
quarters ago. Its fertility is exuberant; its
"Three Weeks in Cuba. By an Artist" in
climate, many months of the year, delight
Harper's New Monthly Magazine for Janu
ful, and never very changeable; its indus
ary, 1853. Since three of the twenty wood
trial resources are vast and abundant; and
cut illustrations bear Hoeffler's signature as
the promises of future glory, as one of the
delineator and since the author identifies
States of our Confederation, which its pres
other sketches as his own, it is safe to as
ent progress and the great movements of
sume that both text and illustrations were
society reveal, are full of beauty, grandeur,
Hoeffler's.
and beneficence. Its soil, capable of sus
taining a population of eighty millions of
It is merely as the author of "Three
inhabitants is most agreeably diversified in
Weeks in Cuba" that Hoeffler is identified
its external aspect by hills and vales, lakes
in connection with another narrative pub
and rivers, vast rolling prairies and mag
lished in Harper's for July, 1853. This is of
nificent forests. In appearance and re
double interest for Minnesotans, since in it
sources, Minnesota has properly been called
he records both in pen and pencil his im
the New England of the West.^ From its
pressions of the upper Mississippi on a
bosom gush forth the fountains of great
second trip to the region, made in the fall
rivers which flow into the Atlantic, at points
of 1852. With it appear seventeen wood
almost the length of the Continent apart —
cuts based upon the artist's own drawings.
some through Hudson's Bay, some through
Six views in the Minnesota Historical So
the chain of great lakes and the St. Law
ciety's collection of Hoeffler sketches are
rence, and some through the Mississippi
signed and dated 1852 —one in September
and the Gulf of Mexico.
and five in October.^ Additional pictorial
records of the 1852 trip —views of Fort This region was once the broad land of
Snelling from Mendota and of the Missis the powerful Sioux, through which flows
sippi as seen from the post —are owned by the Upper Mississippi and the Mi-ni-so-tah
the State Historical Society of Wisconsin
° A view in pencil of St. Paul, sketched from the
at Madison. heights above the territorial capitol in October,
Hoeffler's "Sketches of the Upper Missis 1852, was presented to the Minnesota Historical
Society in August, 1952, by St. John's Abbey at
sippi," as he called the second article pub
Collegeville, through the courtesy of the abbot,
lished in Harper's, is a simple and vivid the Right Reverend Baldwin Dworschak. The
narrative that recreates for us today the abbey received the picture from Mrs. Jaspert in
Minnesota the artist saw exactly a century 1948, as a token of appreciation for food packages
sent to her family after the close of World War
ago. In the following reprint, sections that
II. Ed.
merely summarize upper Mississippi Valley ° E, S, Sejanour, who visited Minnesota early in
history have been omitted, but all that the summer of 1849, entitled his travel book
Hoeffler set down of his own observations Sketches of Minnesota: The New England of the
West (New York, 1850). There is evidence that
of the Minnesota country in the autumn of
Hoeffler drew a number of his "facts" from this
1852 is presented. volume.
114 MINNESOTA History
GALENA, Illinois,
in 1852
(turbid water), piously named St. Peter HOW I GOT to Rockford, in Illinois, where
by the French missionaries, , , , the raflway from Chicago ended, is of little
The Minnesota Territory was established consequence. Until then nothing had
in 1849, and St, Paul, then a hamlet of a marred the pleasure of my journey; all had
few houses (eight mfles by land below the been comfort and convenience. During
Falls of St, Anthony), was made its capital. thirty-six hours after leaving that terminus,
That hamlet, which even yet is on the bor all was mud and misery. Jupiter Pluvius
ders of civilization in that direction, is mak seemed to have upset his watering-pot; and
ing rapid strides toward the population and into the rickety stage-coach, crowded and
dignity of a city; and the Territory will soon ill-ventilated, the rain trickled in little tur
have its sixty thousand legal claimants to bid streams, , , , We reached Galena at an
the title of a sovereign State of the Con hour past midnight; and it was ten in the
federation, To that land, until lately so dark, morning before wearied limbs, and more
mysterious, undefined, and almost unknown, wearied eyelids were aroused to the enjoy
I went, with pencil and portfolio, in the ment of a warm breakfast within, and the
autumn of 1852, to gaze upon its scenery, glorious sunshine without. The storm-
and wonder at the receding tribes which clouds had rofled away to the prairies of
still linger, mere tenants at will, upon the Ilhnois, or their homes on the lakes; and
borders of the Mi-chi-si-pic and Mi-ni-so- over the hflls of Galena and the majestic
tah, and to transfer to paper, as aid to forests across the river, the sun and the rain
memory in future years, many things that had scattered diamonds and rubies, em
might seem noteworthy, I here offer a few eralds and sapphires, in profusion, , , .'^
of these jottings to the reader who, bride We left Galena in the morning — a warm,
groom-like, must take them upon trust, "for serene, and altogether lovely morning. The
better or for worse," and prove their faith headlands of the narrow and sinuous Fever
fulness by future experience. River soon placed Galena out of sight; and
after brushing the dew from many an over
hanging tree with our wheel-house for al
' The view of Galena and other woodcuts repro
most an hour, we left the narrow stream,
duced herewith are fro.m Harper's New Monthly
Magazine, 7:177-190 (July, 1853), Two little pic and were ffoating upon the bosom of the
tures showing "A Furnace" and a "Sketch of the mighty Mississippi, I now beheld the Father
Lead Region" were probably done at Galena during
of Waters for the first time, and the impres
Hoeffler's day's wait for a boat. Several paragraphs
describing the town are omitted. sion of its grandeur as its turbid volume
Autumn 1952
115
came rolling on in a still but stayless cur
rent from the far off wilderness, more than
a thousand miles away, can never fade from '*tz
memory. The aspect of the scene changed
every moment as we glided by the beauti
ful islands, heavily wooded headlands,
picturesque bluffs, beautiful green slopes,
neat hamlets, and thriving villages.
Our first landing-place was at Dubuque,
a town of Iowa, twenty-six miles from
Galena, . . .
At sunset we passed Cassville, a finely-
located town, but lying almost inert under
the incubus of a speculating monopoly.
Under more propitious circumstances it
may become a large town. During the
night, we passed many interesting spots
upon the shores of Wisconsin and Iowa, and
THE Falls
at peep of day we were greeted with the
of St. Anthony
sight of the pretty village of Prairie du
from the
Chien, lying upon the river margin of the
east bank
charming plain of that name, about four
miles above the mouth of the Wisconsin
River. The prairie is ten miles in length,
and three in width, inclosed by bold bluffs
sweeping in majestic curves around its
borders, like the shores of a lake. Here was
Sacs and Foxes under Black Hawk. It was
an early French settlement, and in its vi
the decisive stroke. Many warriors, and
cinity are rich copper-mines. Immediately
their wives and children, were slain; the
south of the village is Fort Crawford, a
great chief and his brother were made
United States military post, erected in 1819,
prisoners; and the war ended.^
but now unoccupied.^ Here the Mississippi
Our second night voyage brought us at
presents a perfect labyrinth of islands,
daylight to Praurie du Crosse [La Crosse],
crowned with cotton-wood and willows,
another of those beautiful plains which
and festooned with vines, forming a scene
abound along the Wisconsin shore of the
highly picturesque and beautiful.
Mississippi. It is a most lovely prairie, three
We did not tarry long at Prairie du Chien. miles in width and fifteen in length, level
Three hundred miles of our voyage was yet as a floor, and was formerly a place of great
unaccomplished. The beautiful and pictur resort for the Indians to enjoy their favorite
esque scenery continually increased in at game of ball-play. It now contains many
tractiveness as we ascended the river, and
the monotony of mere sight-seeing was re- " There were resident traders at Prairie du Chien
heved by occasional historical associations. as early as 1779. For the early history of the town
Toward evening we passed the famous consult Peter Lawrence Scanlan, Prairie du Chien,
French, British, American (1937). Fort Crawford
battle-ground of the Bad-Ax, five miles
was begun in 1816, and the troops were removed
below the mouth of the Bad-Ax River, in 1849. See Bruce E. Mahan, Old Fori Crawford
where the last battle of the "Black Hawk and the Frontier (Iowa City, 1926).
War" was fought between the United States 'The statement about the battle of Bad Axe is
compressed from Seymour, Sketches of Minnesota,
troops under General Atkinson, and the
72.
116 MINNESOTA History
French and German settlers, and the nucle ing the appearance of Cyclopean towers,
us of a large town. Here is to be the ter grand old castles in ruins, and grotesque
mination of a railway from Chicago, by way figures of undefinable shape. These cliffs
of Milwaukie, and across the State, In anti rise to an altitude sometimes of six hundred
cipation of this result of enterprise, quite a feet; and being highly colored by the variety
flourishing village has already burst into of materials of which they are composed,
bloom from the little bud of a few years of crowned often with lofty pines, and clumps
gentle growth, i** of birch and chestnut-trees, and hidden be
After leaving Prairie du Crosse, the scen low by dense forests of oak, they have a
ery changed from the mere beautiful and mysterious beauty and magnificence hardlv
picturesque to an aspect of grandeur. On to be described. The hand of culture has
each side of the river arose lofty bluffs — not yet approached their vicinage, and
some rocky, and some alluvial — present- those magnifiicent creations of nature stand
there in all the solitary grandeur of the
early centuries, before even the ancestors
" Settlement at La Crosse began about 1841. Eb-
enezer Childs, who settled there in 1852, declared of the Indian tribes came to the Great
its population then was 116 and in 1858 about River.
6,000. See his "Recollections of Wisconsin since
Just at dawn we passed Holmes's Landing
1820," in Wisconsin Historical Collections, 4:194.
" Wabasha's village was on the present site of and the beautiful prairie of Wapasha. We
Winona, Holmes Landing, wliich is incorrectly were now within the boundaries of Minne
placed in Minnesota in the caption for one of
sota, and this prairie was yet the habitation
Hoeffler's illustrations, is the present Fountain City,
Wisconsin, At this point, the Mississippi forms the of Wapasha (Red Leaf) and his Sioux
state boundary. band." I never beheld a more charming
Autumn 1952 117
silvan picture than this prairie presented; words reproached her friends for their
and I could well understand the feelings of cruelty to the hunter and her own heart.
the sorrowful Winnebagoes when, in 1819, She then commenced singing her dirge. The
relenting parents, seeing the perff of their
while on their way to strange homes in the
child, besought her to come down, and take
deeper wilderness, they stopped here,
her hunter-lover for a husband. But the
raised the war-whoop, and determined to
maiden too well knew the treachery that
go no further. But Messrs, Bullet and
was hidden in their promises, and when her
Bayonet from Fort Crawford persuaded
dirge was ended, she leaped from the lofty
them that the arid plains of Nebraska were
pinnacle, and fell among the rocks and
more delightful than the cool shadows of
shrubbery at its base, a martyr to true affec
Wapasha's prairie.i-
tion. Superstition invests that rock with
a voice; and often-times, as the birch canoe
TOWARD NOON we entered that grand
glides near it at twflight, the dusky pad-
expansion of the Mississippi, called Lake
dler fancies he hears the soft, low music
Pepin. Its width is from three to five miles,
of the dirge of Winona.^^
and its length about twenty-five. It is desti
Late in the afternoon we saw the top of
tute of islands, and all along its shores are
La Grange [Barn Bluff at Red Wing] and
high bluffs of picturesque forms, crowned
at sunset passed the upper entrance of Lake
with shrubbery, and commingled with
dense forests. The white man has not yet Pepin to the narrow river above. The scen
made his mark upon Lake Pepin and its ery became less picturesque along those
surroundings; and there lay its calm water, lower shores, and the coming on of night
and yonder uprose its mighty watch-towers was not so much regretted as on the pre
in all their primal beauty and grandeur. vious evening. We passed Lake St. Croix
High above all the rest loomed the bare during the darkness, and at sunrise arrived
front of the Maiden's Rock, grand in nature, at Kaposia, or Little Crow village [South
and interesting in its romantic associations. St. Paul], a few miles below St. Paul. There
It has a sad story to tell to each passer-by; I first saw an exhibition of that strange
and as each passer-by always repeats it, custom of the Sioux, of laying their dead,
I will not be an exception. It is a true tale wrapped in blankets of bright colors, upon
of Indian life, and will forever haUow the high scaffolds, instead of burying them in
Maiden's Rock, or Lover's Leap. Listen. the earth. Several of these airy sepulchres,
with flags waving from long poles over
Winona, a beautiful girl of Wapasha's
them, were seen a little in the rear of the
tribe, loved a young hunter, and promised
village, and gave me the first deep impres
to become his bride. Her parents, like too
many in Christian lands, were ambitious, sion that I was really in the midst of pagans.
and promised her to a distinguished young
'• The Winnebago removal took place in 1848,
warrior, who had smote manfully the hos
not 1819; the principal reinforcements were troops
tile Chippewas. The maiden refused the from Fort Snelling; the new reservation was at
hand of the brave, and clung to the fortunes Long Prairie, Minnesota. For a firsthand account
by John S. Robb of St. Louis, see John Francis
of the hunter, who had been driven to the
McDermott, ed., "A Journalist at Old Fort Snel
wilderness by menaces of death. The in ling," in Minnesota History, 31:211-216 (Decem
dignant father declared his determination ber, 1950).
to wed her to the warrior that very day. ^ Many versions of the Maiden Rock legend
were in circulation. In the very summer of 1852 a
The family were encamped upon Lake
river captain told a traveler that he certainly
Pepin, in the shadow of the great rock. should be able to give the "correct" version, be^
Starting like a frightened fawn at the cruel cause "there is an old fellow lives down here on
the shore who has told it to me more than twenty
announcement, she swiftly climbed to the
times — and never twice alike." Missouri Republi
summit of the cliff, and there, with bitter can (St. Louis), August 31, 1852.
118 MINNESOTA HistOTy
SOON AFTER LEAVING Kaposia, the water, and already there is a strife for
whole panorama of St. Paul and the ad supremacy between the "upper" and "low
jacent scenery burst into view, as we pas er" towns. The first sale of government
sed a headland; and in the midst of a motley lands there took place in 1848, and the
crowd we landed at the capital of the Min ground upon which St. Paul is built was
p,urchased in 1849, for the government price
nesota Territory. St. Paul is one of the
— one dollar and a quarter an acre.^* An
hundred wonders of America. Here, five
idea of the wonderful changes in progress
years ago, were only a few log huts; now
there may be obtained by reading the fol
there is a large and rapidly growing village
lowing eloquent passage from the last An
of almost four thousand white people, with
nual Message of Governor Ramsay [sic!]
handsome public buildings, good hotels,
to the Territorial Legislature of Minne
stores, mills, mechanics' shops, and every
sota: ^^
other element of prosperity. St. Paul is upon
"In concluding this my last annual mes
the north (or left) bank of the Mississippi,
sage, permit me to observe, that it is now
which here flows in an easterly direction
a little over three years and six months
from the mouth of the St. Peter. The central
since it was my happiness to first land upon
portion of the viflage is upon a beautiful
the sofl of Minnesota [May 27, 1849]. Not
plateau, almost a hundred feet above the
far from where we now are, a dozen framed
river; the remainder is chiefly near the
houses, not all completed, and some eight
or ten small log buildings, with bark roofs,
" The site of St. Paul was included in the area constituted the capital of the new Territory
opened to settlement by the treaty of 1837. The over whose destiny I have been commis
first group of settlers arrived two years later. See
sioned to preside.
William W. Folwell, A History of Minnesota,
1:219, 223 (St. Paul, 1921). For a more detailed "One county, a remnant of Wisconsin ter
description of the village at the time Hoeffler saw ritorial organization, alone afforded the or
it, see Ehzabeth F. EUet, Summer Rambles in the
dinary facilities for the execution of the
West, 74-85 (New York, 1853).
laws; and in and around its seat of justice
^' Ramsey's last annual message as territorial
governor, from which the passage that follows is resided the bulk of our scattered popula
quoted with slight variations, was delivered on tion. Within this single county were em
January 26, 1853. It was printed both as a separate
braced all the lands white men were privi
pamphlet and in Minnesota, House lournal, 1853,
p. 68-75. leged to till; while between them and the
INTERIOR
view of
Fort Snelling
Autumn 1952 119
%••
'it^'
DETAIL of
Fort SnellinP
from the north ^__ -t. ,^,.,,^l«'.:;l^±y'''-^
,'-5^
'*^ FORT Snelling
and Mendota
• (1
broad rich hunting grounds of untutored "To my lot fell the honorable duty of tak
savages rolled, like Jordan through the ing the initial step in this work by proclaim
Promised Land, the River of Rivers, here ing, on the 1st of June, 1849, the organi
as majestic in its northern youth as in its zation of the Territorial Government, and
more southern maturity. consequent extension of the protecting arm
"Emphatically new and wild appeared of law over these distant regions. Since that
every thing to the in-comers from older day how impetuously have events crowded
communities; and a not least novel feature time! The fabled magic of the Eastern tale
of the scene was the motley humanity par that renewed a palace in a single night only
tially filling these streets — the blankets and can parallel our reality of growth and
painted faces of Indians, and the red sashes progress.
and moccasins of French voyageurs and "In forty-one months the few bark-roofed
half-breeds, greatly predominating over the huts have been transformed into a city of
less picturesque costume of the Anglo- thousands, in which commerce rears its
American race. But even while strangers spacious warehouses, religion its spired
yet looked, the elements of a mighty change temples, a broad capitol its swelling dome,
were working, and civilization, with its and luxury and comfort numerous orna
hundred arms, was commencing its resist mented and substantial abodes; and where
less and beneficent empire. nearly every avocation of life presents its
120 MINNESOTA Histofy
appropriate follower and representative. In of St, Paul, The legislators are obliged to
forty-one months have been condensed a traverse pathless forests to reach the capi
whole century of achievements, calculated tal; and it is worthy of record, for future
by the Old World's calendar of progress — reference, that the member from the French
a government proclaimed in the wilderness, half-breed settlement at distant Pembina,
a judiciary organized, a legislature consti was almost a month on his way from his
tuted, a comprehensive code of laws digest home to St. Paul, to attend the last session
ed and adopted, our population quintupled, of the Legislature; and his conveyance was
cities and towns springing up on every a sleigh and dogs! ^^ A few years hence the
hand, and steam, with its revolving wings, Pembina legislator may make the journey in
in its season, daily fretting the bosom of a railway coach in twenty-four hours.
the Mississippi in bearing fresh crowds
of men and merchandise within our I REMAINED a couple of days at St. Paul
borders." and its vicinity, and then started on a visit
Yet all around this nucleus of a powerful to the Indian in his native condition. Be
commonwealth is the wilderness and its fore ascending the river to the Falls, I went
pagan inhabitants. Across the river we can up a beautiful clear stream that enters the
see the Indian in his wildness and freedom Mississippi two miles above the capital, to
upon his own soil; his canoe is darting in visit Fountain Cave, a remarkable cavern
every direction upon the waters, and his out of which this tiny river ffows. The whole
squaw, with her papoose upon her back, scenery was exceedingly picturesque. The
is mingling with the crowd in the streets entrance to the cave is an arched vault of
rocks, about twenty feet in height, and
twenty-five feet in width. The entire rock
" Tliree legislators from Pembina traveled to St.
composing the level ffoor, the margin, and
Paul by dog team for the session which convened
in January, 1852. Norman W. Kittson was a mem the roof, is of pure white sandstone. We
ber of the Council, and Joe Rolette and Antoine lighted torches at the entrance, and fol
Gingras served in the House. Clarence W. Rife,
lowed the limpid stream from chamber to
"Norman W, Kittson, A Fur-trader at Pembina,"
in Minnesota History, 6:249 (September, 1925), chamber for about seventv rods, when the
DETAIL from Hoeffler's water color of St. Paul in 1849
t0»'
., .^J>.
Autumn 1952 121