flowers. There was not a tame flower known to us whose counterpart we
could not find in our woods. Of vegetables I remember best a small pink
eyed potato, the most delicious I have ever tasted. As they baked, they
could be heard popping in the oven. They are not raised now. The wild
plum found in the woods my father cultivated and they were as large as
small eggs and looked like small peaches.

One day as I glanced from the window, I saw a body of Indian warriors
coming on the trail that led around the lake near us. As they came up, I
saw they were in full war paint and feathers. They entered, examined
everything, but took nothing. They asked for and ate bread and molasses,
as they had seen the children doing when they came in. They all had guns
and, big bowie knives sticking in their belts. One particularly
villainous looking one took out his knife and felt the edge, looking
wickedly at us. One was exceptionally pleasant looking and I thought he
would protect us if the rest got ugly. They finally went away. They
were followed in the afternoon by a band of Chippewa braves who asked if
the Sioux warriors had been that way that day. When told they had, they
rode hurriedly after them. They said the Sioux had taken some Chippewa
scalps.

[Illustration: SURVIVORS WHO WERE AT TRAVERSE DES SIOUX AT THE TIME OF
THE TREATY IN 1851. Mrs. Richard Chute, General William G. Le Duc and
Mrs. Gideon Pond. Mrs. Morris is standing by General Le Duc. Taken at a
Celebration given in their honor July 17, 1914, by the Old Trails
Chapter, at the home of Mrs. M. W. Savage.]

Mrs. Richard Chute--1851.

I came to Minnesota a bride in 1851 and with my husband shortly
afterwards took the steamer for Traverse de Sioux, where a great treaty
with the Indians was to be signed. With us we took a tent, provisions
and a French man to cook. I was the only woman in all the company.

It was all so wonderful to me--the beautiful country through which we
passed and the preparations made for all the company on landing.

The Indians, a great concourse of them were down to see the boat come
in. To see them scamper when the boat whistled was a sight to be
remembered. Some fell in the water, but fled as soon as they could get
themselves out. I think this was the first steamboat they had ever seen.
They were frightened and curious at the same time.

Ten years before, at my home in Ohio, I had seen the Indians often as
they would stop at our house for food