n it did the Indian
trail that led along the bank of the Mississippi. So I took this as
advised. There were many Indians on the trail going and coming. All at
once I heard a great commotion ahead of me. Indians were running from
every direction. When I came to the place where they all were, I heard
lamentations and fierce imprecations. I saw the reason there. Two of
their warriors were lying dead and scalped, while clambering up the
opposite bank of the river, three of the Sioux's sworn enemies, three
Chippewas, could be seen. The slain were head men in the tribe. The guns
and arrows of the Sioux could not carry across the river, so they
escaped for the time being. I was afraid the Sioux vengeance would fall
on me, but it did not.

I soon came to the St. Louis house. While there, I saw Walter McLeod,
then a baby.

McLeod, the father, had fled from Canada at the time of one of the
rebellions, in company with others, but was the only one to survive a
terrible blizzard and reach Mendota. Mr. Sibley at once employed him as
he was well educated. When he was married later, he gave him some fine
mahogany furniture, from his own home, to set up housekeeping with.

While at the St. Louis House, I walked with a soldier along the Indian
trail that followed the river bank to the government mill at the Falls
of St. Anthony. On our way, we went down a deep ravine and crossed the
creek on a log. We could hear the roaring of falls and walked over to
see them. They were the most beautiful I had ever seen and were called
Brown's Falls, but General LeDuc in 1852 gave them the name Minnehaha. I
thought I had never seen anything quite so pretty looking as the river
and woods. The deer were everywhere and game of all kinds bountiful. The
soldier told me that no white man could settle here anywhere for ten
miles as it was all in the Fort Snelling reservation. That is why the
town of St. Anthony was built on the east side of the river instead of
on the west side and why there was no town on this side of the river for
many years after. We saw some Sioux tepees and met the Indians
constantly. They were a fine sturdy race, with fine features and smiling
faces. The soldier said they could be depended on and never broke a
promise. The old mill was on the river bank about where we used to take
the cars in the old Union Station. It was not then in use, as the rocks
had broken off, leaving it perhaps forty or fifty feet from the Falls. A
flume had