spended over it, making
cooking easy and cleanly. In the winter, when the Indian family settles
down to remain any considerable time, they select a river bottom where
there is timber or chaparral, and set up the tepee; then they cut the
long grass or bottom cane, and stand it up against the outside of the
lodge to the thickness of about twenty inches, and you have a very warm
and cozy habitation.

The wealth of the Sioux consists very largely in his horses, and his
subsistence is the game of the forest and plains and the fish and wild
rice of the lakes. Minnesota was an Indian paradise. It abounded in
buffalo, elk, moose, deer, beaver, wolves, and, in fact, nearly all
wild animals found in North America. It held upon its surface eight
thousand beautiful lakes, alive with the finest of edible fish. It was
dotted over with beautiful groves of the sugar maple, yielding
quantities of delicious sugar, and wild rice swamps were abundant. An
inhabitant of this region, with absolute liberty, and nothing to do but
defend it against the encroachments of enemies, certainly had very
little more to ask of his Creator. But he was not allowed to enjoy it in
peace. A stronger race was on his trail, and there was nothing left for
him but to surrender his country on the best terms he could make. Such
has ever been the case from the beginning of recorded events, and
judging from current operations, there has been no cessation of the
movement. Why was not the world made big enough for homes for all kinds
and colors of men, and all characters of civilization?

As the white man progressed towards the West, and came in contact with
the Indians, it became necessary to define the territories of the
different tribes to avoid collision between them and the newcomers as
much as possible. To accomplish this end, Governor Clark of Missouri and
Governor Cass of Michigan, on the nineteenth day of August, 1825,
convened, at Prairie du Chien, a grand congress of Indians, representing
the Dakotas, Chippewas (then called Ojibways), Sauks, Foxes, Menomonies,
Iowas, Winnebagoes, Pottaiwatomies and Ottawas, and it was determined by
treaties among them where the dividing lines between their countries
should be. This partition gave the Chippewas a large part of what is now
Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the Dakotas lands to the west of them; but
it soon became apparent that these boundary lines between the Dakotas
and the Chippewas would not be adhered to, and