lling with his wife, a child,
Miss Sarah Poage, and Alexander G. Huggins. At about the same time Rev.
Jedediah I. Stevens returned to the post he had visited in 1829, and
with the help of the Pond brothers built a mission school at Lake
Harriet. Dr. Williamson went up the Minnesota River to Lac qui Parle,
where another station was established. On May 19, 1837, Rev. Alfred
Brunson came to Fort Snelling for a similar purpose, and after
consulting with the agent and the commandant he chose the village of
Kaposia for his headquarters. But these mission stations and their
personnel were not permanent. The work of the Ponds was soon amalgamated
with that of Mr. Stevens. In 1839 when the Sioux-Chippewa feuds were at
their height and the Indians were afraid to remain at Lake Calhoun, Mr.
Stevens tore down the little cabin the Ponds had built and used the
material for breastworks and moved down the river to Wabasha's
village--outside the influence of Fort Snelling. At the same time
the Ponds moved nearer the fort, where they remained until in 1842 they
established a mission at Oak Grove, eight miles up the Minnesota River.
This same war spirit and the hostility to the missionaries who preached
against it led to the abandonment of the Kaposia enterprise in 1841. In
1846, however, Little Crow asked for a school, and Dr. Williamson came
from Lac qui Parle to take charge of it. These missions remained in
existence throughout the period of Old Fort Snelling.[426]

The activities of the missions took on two forms--industrial and
educational. By the treaty of 1837 a farmer was provided for the Sioux
about the fort. This position was offered to Gideon Pond who in 1838
accepted. In return for his salary of six hundred dollars he had to plow
the cornfields, cut hay for the cattle and feed them during the winter,
and build such shelters as the animals might need. As he could not do
all this work alone--and he wanted it thoroughly done--much of his
salary was spent in hiring others to help him. His services were offered
in the same spirit of sacrifice which first brought him to the
region.[427]

Blacksmiths were maintained at some of the villages. In 1849 Mr. Chatel,
blacksmith for Good Road's village, made among other things, 73 chains
to hang kettles on for cooking, 23 traps, 230 axes, 50 rat spears, 208
pairs of fish spears, 24 pairs of stirrups, 63 crooked knives, and 199
hoes. During the same year, Mr. Robertson, the farmer for Little