he
legislature presenting this slab, in answer to this pretension, says:

"In conclusion, I would beg leave to state, that a late
geological work of high authority by Dr. Jackson, designates
this formation as Catlinite, upon the erroneous supposition that
Mr. George Catlin was the first white man who had ever visited
that region; whereas it is notorious that many whites had been
there and examined the quarry long before he came to the
country. The designation, therefore, is clearly improper and
unjust. The Sioux term for the stone is Eyan-Sha (red stone), by
which, I conceive, it should be known and classified."

In my opinion, the greatest achievement of the first legislature was the
incorporation of the Historical Society of Minnesota. It established
beyond question that we had citizens, at that early day, of thought and
culture. One would naturally suppose that the first legislative body of
an extreme frontier territory would be engaged principally with saw
logs, peltries, town sites, and other things material; but in this
instance we find an expression of the highest intellectual prevision,
the desire to record historical events for posterity, even before their
happening. And what affords even greater satisfaction to the present
citizens of Minnesota is, that from the time of the conception of this
grand idea there have never been men wanting to appreciate its
advantages, and carry it out, until now our state possesses its greatest
intellectual and moral treasure in a library of historical knowledge of
sixty-three thousand volumes, which is steadily increasing, a valuable
museum of curiosities, and a gallery of historical paintings.

This legislature recommended a device for a great seal. It represented
an Indian family with lodge and canoe, encamped; a single white man
visiting them, and receiving from them the calumet of peace. The design
did not meet with general approval, and nothing came of it. The next
winter Governor Ramsey and the delegate to congress prepared a seal for
the territory, the design of which was the Falls of St. Anthony in the
distance, a farmer plowing land, his gun and powder horn leaning against
a newly cut stump, a mounted Indian, surprised at the sight of the plow,
lance in hand, fleeing toward the setting sun, with the Latin motto,
"Quae sursum volo videre," ("I wish to see what is above"). A blunder
was made by the engraver, in substituting the word