"A History of Western Murray County" by Robt. B. Forrest, Pages 4-13, Murray Co., MN Published 1947 ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Robert B. Forrest III ========================================================================= Note: Use your "Find and Replace" option under "Edit" to search this file. Where there is noted (Picture) there is a picture or darwing that you can view. The file name (ex: 004.jpg) can be found on the TOC in the description box next to the file you are viewing. Just click on the picture file name or you can view the book in HTML format at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/murray/history/home.htm where the pictures are placed within the book. Special thanks go to Robert B, Forrest for sharing his Grandfather's works. Be sure to read: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mn/murray/history/western/preface3.txt Early W. Murray Co. MN Hist., pages 4-13 (Picture 004.jpg) Murray County Court House, Slayton, Minnesota Built 1902. Cost $22,300.00 Officers elect for 1947: Auditor............Claire D. Peterson Judge of Probate..G. T. Kolander Treasurer..........John Knutson Surveyor..........Ole Ford Register of Deeds..L. C. Christensen Coroner...........Dr. W. D. Maher Sheriff............Geo. L. Nelson Clerk of Court....Fred Helweg Attorney...........J. T. Schuler Supt. of Schools..Audrey James County Commissioners: 1st Dist. Geo. W. Hafner 2nd Dist. H. J. Carlson 3rd Dist. Chas. F. Sierk 4th Dist. J. E. Shirley 5th Dist. Archie McHarg —4— WESTERN MURRAY COUNTY HISTORY This area known as Western Murray County was visited by white men in 1688. In that year J. B. Franquilen charted and mapped the Des Moines River as it is now known, as "The R. DesMoingona." He mapped the river to its source and in so doing must have passed through Leeds and other townships as the Beaver Creek is the true source of the Des Moines. Fifteen years later another Frenchman, Guillaume DeLisle, whose records state, charted and mapped the river to its source. Maps of these explorations still exist in Paris, France. White men are supposed to have visited this section again in 1701. Le Sueur was investigating the alleged copper deposit in what is now Blue Earth County. Records show that he went on a big buffalo hunt west of the Minnesota River and as this section was a favorite hunting ground, it was assumed that they got their four hundred buffalo along "Buffalo Ridge" first known as "The Coteau Des Prairies." There was a lapse in Murray County History until 1833 when the American Fur Company built a trading post. The post was named Crooked (Big Sioux) River Post by Indian agent Taliaferro. Bailly, agent for the fur company, used that designation but Joe Laframboise who was in charge called it "Grande Lisiere." Joseph Laframboise, one of the best known traders during the American Fur Company regime, directed the building of the post which was located east of the Bear Lakes at the isthmus. He remained there as long as the post was in operation. A log cabin served as a store for trade goods and as a warehouse for pelts. Another small cabin was the living quarters of Laframboise and his family. A crude shelter for horses and several small buildings were also built. The two log buildings were surrounded by a high stockade. Voyageurs attached to the post dwelt in lodges near by, with the Indian women they took as wives. Over the stockade flew the flag of the United States, flown to remind the Indians that they owed allegiance to the United States and not to Great Britain. The Grande Lisiere post was the first civilized habitation in what is now Murray County. More than that, it was the first —5— store, the first bank, the first hotel and the first postoffice. Not even one building had been built on the site of the future St. Paul or Minneapolis, when Grande Lisiere was built. The post stood on the NE1/4 of Section 10 in Lowville township. You can still find dark yellow clay ash, Indian beads, little pieces of pipestone after a very heavy rain. The Fur Trading Post at Bear Lake (Picture 006.jpg) The American Fur Trading Post was built at Bear Lake in 1833. Charred stumps of the stockade could be seen as late as 1878 Joe Laframboise was a lifelong trapper and trader. He knew every landmark from the Mackinac to the Missouri River. When Catlin visited this section on the way to the Pipestone Quarries, he stopped at the Laframboise home. —6— Catlin was 41 years old when he came west. He was the greatest Indian painter of his day as well as a writer and explorer. History credits him with being the first white man to visit the Pipestone Quarries. The soft pipestone, a sample of which he took with him, was named Catlinite in his honor. While there may have been white men at the quarries and no doubt there were, as independent traders roamed the prairies in defiance of the fur trading posts, Catlin was given the credit. Nicollet and Lieut. John C. Fremont, who came west with a government expedition in 1838, were also guests at the Laframboise home. This expedition explored the country between the Minnesota River and the Missouri. Of Nicollet Colonel Folwell, Minnesota's great historian, says, "The splendid map of his explorations in the northwest, standing for years of travel, observation and deliberation, will remain his sufficient monument." John C. Fremont, second in command, was the most colorful of all Americans. He was an engineer when he made his first trip west which was the stepping stone to a most brilliant career in American history until blasted by political and military enemies. The party was a large one and spent three days at the post. Nicollet who had plenty of time to study the wild fowl and game and the natural beauty of the nearby woods and lake named the Bear Lake, timber "The Great Oasis." In his travels Nicollet mentions the "Lost Timber." The Sioux called these woods "Tchan-na tambe" which means hidden woods. The French called it "Bois Cache." Laframboise was comparatively literate. He could write and some of his letters from this post can be found in the records of the Minnesota Historical Society. His contract called for four hundred dollars a year and he was to be charged l2 1/2 per cent above invoice for all goods purchased. As part of the agreement the fur company gave him a blue capote, a fine frock coat, and a pair of fine trousers and vest. Laframboise left Mendota for the west. He went by the Minnesota River to Traverse des Sioux (St. Peter). His wife —7— Early W. Murray Co. MN Hist., pages 8-9and four voyageurs and he went overland to Grande Lisiere (Bear Lakes). He took eleven horses with him. There are many letters in the Historical Society from Grande Lisiere. Joe wrote only in French and he used Indians as mail carriers. Here is a translation of one written on Oct. 13, 1833. It was addressed to Bailly, the fur factor. Monsieur: This little Indian wishes to go hunting in the spring. I beg of you to give him sixteen rat traps. He has given me at least six hundred fifty rats in a month. His name is Cha-hee-deak, son of Little Fever. Jos Laframboise The next letter was sent Feb. 4th, 1834, and was also in French. Translated it reads: Grande Lisiere, Feb. 4, 1834 Monsieur: I received your letter of November 15th, and the goods. I had ordered five sacks of wheat, but received only two. I beg of you to send me two horses. I have about eight packs of rats in the warehouse—also sixty otters. Please send me 60 pounds of sugar and one pound of tea. I am sending you a broken pick axe and a hoe to be repaired. I also send you back the box of cartridges—they are too big for my gun. I have sold a three-point blanket to myself for a hundred and twenty rats. Your friend, Joe Laframboise Sibley was in charge of the main post at Mendota when the next letter was written. Grande Lisiere October 26, 1834 Monsieur: I send you by Humerce (a voyageur) seven thou- sand, two hundred rats, six sacks and two bales. I have —8— no more of the red rock (pipestone) because my crow bar is broken. I have no more in my shop. That is all I have made this autumn. All the Indians have left for the Missouri. Joe Rock is going with them. As you told me to prevent him hunting, it is too bad. He has lost nine of my traps. if you will make him pay, it will do me a great favor. He has killed seven hundred, twenty six rats and five minks. I have found a yoke of oxen on the nearby prairie, monsieur, and no owner has been found for them. I think I shall have to kill them, as they are not worth their keep. They have eaten up all my hay and I must have a man to look after them all the time. I am sending you Jibeau, as you recommended last summer. He wishes to have one hundred bunches of wampum, a green blanket, a red belt, an ornamental, and a pair of wrist bands. You can give them to him and charge to my account. He has eight hundred rats in my warehouse here. Nothing new to tell you. Please accept the small gift I am sending. I expect to hear news from you. Your friend, Joe Laframboise Laframboise was hired the next year at an increase of $100.00. The items charged to Laframboise's personal account during the period he was stationed at Grande Lisiere are not without interest. So extravagant were his purchases in 1835 that he ended the year owing the company $130.23. Here are a few things he bought during the year: leggings, French prints, ear bobs, indelible ink, shirts, hose pumps, compass, fancy soap, seidlitz powders, drum of figs, box raisins, loaf sugar, moccasin smoothing iron, frock coat, sperm candles, dried apples, snuffers and a table cover. The following year Laframboise had a balance due him of $19.01. During this year he bought a Spanish dagger, carriage whip, dressed dolls and toys, porter, palm leaf hat and a medicine chest, the last costing $42.00. —9— The year 1837 was the last year of activity for the Grande Lisiere post. The muskrat market, always discouraging, declined further during the fall of that year. Pelts became almost valueless. Trade at Grande Lisiere post was almost entirely in muskrat pelts, and late in the year Sibley ordered Laframboise to quit the station, move his entire invoice of goods to the Little Rock post on the Minnesota River and serve the balance of his year's contract there. All but three posts, those on the Minnesota, were closed at this time by Sibley in a move to effect economies. "I have withdrawn prairie posts on account of rat prices," Sibley wrote to Crooks on July 2, 1838. Even if rat prices had not declined in 1837, it is likely that Grande Lisiere post would have been abandoned at that time. Smallpox, always a fatal plague to the Indians, had appeared in the Village at Grande Lisiere, as it had in other villages of the plains. The redmen died in great numbers; in some villages more than half the population was swept away. Because of their diminished numbers, survivors of the plague at Grande Lisiere deemed it prudent to move nearer to the Minnesota River. They feared Sac and Fox warriors would attack their weakened village. Commercial transactions of the county's first business institution ended on May 21, 1838, when an invoice of $3211.41 was transferred to the Red Rock post, and pelts to the value of 1,099.95 were credited upon the American Fur Company books. Although a trading post was never again established in Murray County by the American Fur Company, representatives f the company continued to trade with the Indians when they made their villages in the area. The removal of the Sac and Fox tribes from Iowa in 1842 permitted Sioux bands to hunt on these prairies without fear of hostile attack, and once more smoke curled from lodges at Grande Lisiere. Laframboise, from a post on the Minnesota, visited the village at intervals. Writing from Little Rock, October 1, 1845, Laframboise advises Sibley to get a permit for Francois to winter at Grande Lisiere and try to make the Indians stay at that place if there are any means." On November 11, 1845, Laframboise wrote to Sibley, "I arrived from the Grande Lisiere last week. I made a very good trip. I came back with nine packets of rats." Rat pelts were made up —10— in packs, one thousand pelts to the pack, so Laframboise's receipts for that trip were approximately nine thousand rats. In another letter to Sibley, dated July 30, 1846, Laframboise writes, "I wrote to you about putting Henry Auge at the Grande Lisiere and I am of your opinion. I have not much confidence in him." Winterers, such as Laframboise advised Sibley to place at Grande Lisiere, did not have trading posts. They were trusted voyageurs sent to an Indian village only for the hunting seasons, and their duty was to keep the hunters industrious so that they would be able to liquidate their credits. Their small stock of goods was made up of necessities for hunting. The winterer lived in a lodge the same as the Indians, though at times a rough log shelter was built. The Indian population at Grande Lisiere, during the years the trading post was operated there, fluctuated, but ordinarily three hundred and more Indians might be found in lodges in the timber. Wapekutas, Sissetons and Five Lodges, all Sioux Bands, made up the village. Trade at the post was not confined to this village. Indians, who hunted at Lake Shetek, Lake Benton and near the Pipestone Quarry, and in all the territory west to the Big Sioux River, received credits from Laframboise. The trader at the post did not attempt to follow these Indians in their wanderings other than to pay them periodic visits and check the progress of their hunts. Voyageurs attached to the post would at times "assist" the savages in bringing in furs. All business was transacted at the post. Credits extended during the summer and fall were expected to be paid by the end of the spring hunts. Profits of the Grande Lisiere post contributed to build up the great fortune of the Astor family in New York. In fairness, it must be said that intoxicants were not used at this post to make profits. At some posts of the company whiskey was used to enslave the redmen, but there is no evidence that Joseph Laframboise ever dispensed a drop. Not until the arrival in the late 'fifties of the county's first settlers—the men, a curious combination of farmer-trapper-trader—were Indians in Murray County debauched with liquor. —11— Profits at the Grande Lisiere post fluctuated sharply, depending on the number of pelts received and the prices credited for the pelts. The post in 1835 paid a profit of $1,912.02 on a business of $5,532.24; in 1836 the profit was only $477.59. Since invoices to the posts were placed high so as to pay a profit, and credits of peltries were placed low enough to make a profit for the Mendota establishment, the true profit of the post was much higher. Following is an abstract from the American Fur Company ledger account of the post for 1835: Inventory transferred from 1834 outfit.............$ 743.56 Invoice as per invoice book.........................1,869.99 Miscellaneous charges and credits.....................98.00.......19.00 Wages of 3 men for 1 yr., less F. Dumerce.............408.67 Laframboise salary....................................500.00 Peltries: 30,132 muskrat@15½¢............................................4,727.96 94 otters @ $5.00................................................470.00 8 minks @ 2/0......................................................2.00 1 raccoon @ 2/0......................................................30 By inventory to new outfit.......................................312.98 Profit........................................................$1,912.02 $5,532.24.$5,532.24 An abstract of the "Grande Lisiere Outfit" account of 1836: Inventory 1835, plus interest......................$ 334.89 To two horses, $110; mare, $55.......................165.00 By Geo. Catlin, Sept. 5.........................................20.00 Miscellaneous invoices...............................413.91 Invoice per invoice book...........................2,090.67 Laframboise account assessment..................................43.19 Dumerce's due, $54.75; J. Bellona's due, $116.43...............171.18 Joseph Laframboise salary, $500; due 2 men, $330.....830.00 Sending boat for peltries, proportion.................20.00 By peltries.....................................................3,243.43 Invoice to new outfit.........................................................854.26 Profit...............................................477.59 $4,332.06.$4,332.06 —12— INVOICE—— Taken at the American Fur Trading Post at Bear Lake in 1836 TRADE GOODS ITEMS TAKEN FROM GRANDE LISIERE INVOICES 5 prs. blankets, 5/9/7 2 bales rope 1.00 3-point 1 do, 3-1/1 point 17/8 3 window sash 1.00 8 prs. b. c. strouds 23/16/8 20 rat spears 8.00 1 pc. white cotton 2/17/5 1 keg tallow, cwt. 10.00 3 pc. blue cotton 5/14/10 45 lbs. ham 6.97 3 pc. scarlet cloth 16/12/1 1 box soap 1.20 1 doz. scalping knives 3/5 1 keg tar .38 2 dozen cartouch 5/9 3 pr. oxhide shoes 2.40 1/2 pc. calico 1.80 2 lbs. pepper .20 2 N. W. guns 11.10 1 stock sack .63 6 bbls. flour 45.00 1 phial Turlington .10 3 bbls. pork 36.50 3 pipe tomahawks 3.75 1 bbl. salt 4.00 6 lbs. cut nails .60 1 bbl. sugar 243 lbs. 36.45 1-1/2 lbs. putty .15 1 keg lard, 54 lbs. 8.33 1 dressed elk skin 2.00 40 bu. corn 40.00 2 gal.linseed oil 3.50 20 lbs. coffee 3.60 3 horse collars and harness 7.50 3 bags wheat 3.50 3 lbs. Spanish brown .30 20 pigs lead, 1320 lbs.69.30 2 bales cloths 2.00 12 kegs powder 120.00 20 bags 5.00 60 I-spring rat traps 60.00 2 boxes 1.50 **9lbs. vermillion 8.10 1/2 oxhide 1.50 114 lbs. plug tobacco 11.40 1-1/2 dozen horse bells .50 24 panes of glass@8¢ 1.92 1 tea cannister .25 1 oil cloth 12.00 Other items, of which there are too many to list separately, included handkerchiefs, garters, foxtails, feathers, wampum, beads, brooche, ear bobs, imitation jewels, looking glasses, gun flints, lances and combs. The above list includes materials used in building the post. **Vermillion was used by war parties and in tribal dances The research work on the American Fur Company's activities was made by the late Robt. J. Forrest, an only son of the writer. He died in 1935. He was a deep and thorough student of the early fur trade in this section. —13—