n 1821 five families made the journey to Fort
Snelling, and their success inspired others. In 1823 thirteen families
made the perilous journey of four hundred miles. From year to year, as
families became discouraged they left the colony. Four hundred and
eighty-nine persons had arrived at Fort Snelling up to 1835.[505]

The many hardships endured by these travellers, and their pitiful
condition, appealed to the sympathy of the Americans,[506] and they were
welcomed and aided by the officers at Fort Snelling. During their stay
one party was granted the use of the old barracks at Camp Cold Water.
Employment was given the men upon the reservation, and those who
preferred to remain were allowed to settle upon the military
grounds. Comparatively few, however, made their homes here, the greater
number proceeding to Galena, Illinois, and Vevay, Indiana. On one
occasion provisions for the down-river journey in government keel-boats
were issued by Colonel Snelling.[507]

A third class of settlers around the fort was composed of discharged
soldiers. Men stationed at Fort Snelling saw the agricultural value of
the surrounding lands, or the possibility of riches in the fur trade.
Joseph R. Brown, who came as a drummer boy with Colonel Leavenworth in
1819, entered the employ of the post sutler when he ceased his
connection with the army, and later he became an Indian trader.[508]
Edward Phelan, John Hays, and William Evans, whose terms of service at
Fort Snelling expired about this time were among the first settlers on
the land ceded in the treaty of 1837.[509]

In the fall of 1837 it was revealed by a survey that there were one
hundred and fifty-seven white persons, not connected with the fort,
living on the reservation. Of these, eighty-two had their homes in the
vicinity of Camp Cold Water and seventy-five at the fur trading
establishments. Approximately two hundred horses and cattle were owned
by these persons.[510]

For many years pleasant relations existed between the officers at the
post and the civilians. The physician of the garrison willingly
responded to calls for his aid made by the people living outside the
fort.

"I am compelled", wrote Joseph Renville to H. H. Sibley, "to ask you for
some assistance in regard to a disease which is very bad here--the
whooping cough. I pray you to ask the doctor for some medicine,
particularly for some camphor."[511] Many a time Lawrence Taliaferro
presided at a frontier wedding,