bitations were teepees, made of tamarack bark or of skins of wild
beasts. Their burial ground covered a part of lovely Lakewood, the
favorite cemetery of the city of Minneapolis. This band recognized
Cloudman or Man-of-the-sky as their chief, whom they both respected and
loved. He was then about forty years of age. He was an intelligent man,
of an amiable disposition and friendly to the approach of Civilization.
Here, under the auspices of this famous chieftain, they erected for
themselves a snug, little home, near the junction of Thirty-fifth
street and Irving Avenue South, Minneapolis.

It was built of large oak logs. The dimensions were twelve feet by
sixteen and eight feet high. Straight tamarack poles formed the timbers
of the roof. The roof itself was the bark of trees, fastened with
strings of the inner bark of the basswood.

A partition of small logs divided the house into two rooms. The ceiling
was of slabs from the old government sawmill at St. Anthony Falls. The
door was made of boards, split from a tree with an axe, and had wooden
hinges and fastenings and was locked by pulling in the latch-string.
The single window was the gift of the kind-hearted Major Taliaferro,
the United States Indian agent at Fort Snelling. The cash cost of the
whole was one shilling, New York currency, for nails, used about the
door. The formal opening was the reading of a portion of Scripture and
prayer. The banquet consisted of mussels from the Lake, flour and
water. This cabin was the first house erected within the present limits
of Minneapolis; it was the home of the first citizen settlers of
Minnesota and was the first house used as a school-room and for divine
worship in the state. It was a noble testimony to the faith, zeal and
courage of its builders. Here these consecrated brothers inaugurated
their great work. In 1839 it was torn down for materials with which to
construct breastworks for the defense of the Sioux, after the bloody
battle of Rum River, against their feudal foes, the Ojibways. Here amid
such lovely natural surroundings were the very beginnings of this
mighty enterprise.

The first lesson was given early in May, by Samuel Pond to Big Thunder
chieftain of the Kaposia band, whose teepees were scattered over the
bluffs, where now stands the city of St. Paul. His chief soldier was
Big Iron. His son was Little Crow, who became famous or rather
infamous, as the leader against the whites in the terrible tragedy of