amp at a spring near the old Baker trading house,
and about two miles above the present site of Fort Snelling. This was
called "Camp Coldwater."

During the summer the men were busy in procuring logs and other material
necessary for the work. The first site selected was where the present
military cemetery stands, and the post was called "Fort St. Anthony;"
but in August, 1820, Colonel Joshua Snelling of the Fifth United States
Infantry arrived, and, on taking command, changed the site to where Fort
Snelling now stands. Work steadily progressed until Sept. 10, 1820, when
the corner stone of Fort St. Anthony was laid with all due ceremony. The
first measured distance that was given between this new post and the
next one down the river, Fort Crawford, where Prairie du Chien now
stands, was 204 miles. The work was steadily pushed forward. The
buildings were made of logs, and were first occupied in October, 1822.

The first steamboat to arrive at the post was the "Virginia," in 1823.

The first saw-mill in Minnesota was constructed by the troops in 1822,
and the first lumber sawed on Rum river was for use in building the
post. The mill site is now included within the corporate limits of
Minneapolis.

The post continued to be called Fort St. Anthony until 1824, when, upon
the recommendation of General Scott, who inspected the fort, it was
named Fort Snelling, in honor of its founder.

In 1830 stone buildings were erected for a four-company post; also, a
stone hospital and a stone wall, nine feet high, surrounding the whole
post; but these improvements were not actually completed until after the
Mexican War.

The Indian title to the military reservation does not seem to have been
effectually acquired, notwithstanding the treaty of Lieutenant Pike,
made with the Indians in 1805, until the treaty with the Dakotas, in
1837, by which the Indian claim to all the lands east of the
Mississippi, including the reservation, ceased.

In 1836, before the Indian title was finally acquired, quite a number
of settlers located on the reservation on the left bank of the
Mississippi.

On Oct. 21, 1839, the president issued an order for their removal, and
on the sixth day of May, 1840, some of the settlers were forcibly
removed.

In 1837 Mr. Alexander Faribault presented a claim for Pike Island, which
was based upon a treaty made by him with the Dakotas in 1820. Whether
his claim was allowed the records do not disclose, and it is
uni