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THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF
CAPT. STEPHEN B. HANKS,
FIRST TRIP UP THE ST. CROIX
June 4, 1921
The first night out we camped
on the headwaters of Rush river, a stream that has its outlet
in Lake Pepin near Maiden Rock. I happened to find the head
of a recently killed elk which I stood up the tips of the
horns resting on the ground, and I could stand upright under
the head and between the horns. At that time I was twenty
years old and must have been at least five feet nine or ten
inches high. Here were hundreds of rushes and the cattle were
in abundant feed, the rushes being exceedingly nutritious.
Later this section was used for many years thereafter by
McKinstry’s of Stillwater as a cattle range. The guide
pointed out an interesting object, enroute, known as “Hat
Rock,” it being a large rock resembling a man’s hat and not
far from Lake St. Croix. The most of the time on this trip
from Menomonie we were on the finest forest of hard wood
timber I ever saw.
We struck the lake at Cat Fish bar and
some of the people on the other side came over in canoes to
meet us, the village or settlement on the other side being the
home of our guide. The stock was driven out on the dry bar
and they were ale to wade most of the distance across the
water being quite low, and we were soon all safely on what is
now the Minnesota shore but it was all Wisconsin at that
time. We had a meal at this half breed camp, whether dinner
or supper, I do not remember. They had a big dish of shovel
nosed sturgeon put up in first class Indian style. I tried it
for curiosity, but I was not very hungry.
Next day we went up the west bank of
the lake to what is now Stillwater and there we spent the
night with a Mr. Carley, the first white settler there. It
was a great comfort to me to sleep in a house and be with
white people once more, Shortly before reaching here a most
dastardly outrage had occurred of which we could see plenty of
evidence.
The Chippewa and Sioux Indians had long
been at variance, but the chiefs had come to an understanding
and made a treaty of peace. The night after the treaty was
made a party of Sioux came over from the vicinity of Fort
Snelling and surprised the Chippewa in horse Shoe coulec,
about a mile or so above the present Stillwater, and massacred
the entire part, men women and children, except two or three
men who escaped. In all some seventy-five, of all ages were
killed and their bodies mutilated in every possible manner,
all of course being scalped. The condition of some of the
bodies we saw will not bear the telling about.
The first settler at this point,
Stillwater, then called Brown Creek, was a man by that name,
and son after his sister, who had been married to Mr. Carley
in Chicago, came to join her brother. This Carley was
afterward drowned while hunting and the widow married a
brother of his for her second husband. This latter Carley
was physician. Mrs. Carley is now (1905) living in
Stilllwater.
We went on our way after one days rest.
About twelve miles above Stillwater we came to Marine Mills.
This mill was built about 1839 and from it was sent the first
lumber out of the St. Croix river, I think in 1840. We camped
that night at Copperas creek and arrived at the falls of the
St. Croix the next night. When we delivered our stock to the
Company’s representatives we were short one ox. Another day,
the guide and myself were sent back to find him. The guide
by some means, had secured a bottle of whiskey and as we
traveled he was unable to keep the track and finally sat down
by a tree and went into a drunken stupor. We left him there
and soon found we were lost in the woods. It was a dark misty
day and we had completely lost our sense of direction and
discovered that for some time we had been traveling in a
circle. So after some dispute as to the way to go and
deciding that we must keep together even though we did not
agree as to directions, we started out again this time
breaking twigs to show our route. After a little while we
came around to the place we commenced to break the twigs. I
then recalled my previous knowledge of the woods; the finding
of the moss on the side of the tree etc., and after consulting
a pocket compass we decided upon a north and south direction.
Then remembering we were on the east side of the trail when
last we saw it, we started west and soon came to the trail,
which we followed south and before long we came to our last
camp. Here we found the lost ox. He was lame and had lain
down in the bushes and we did not miss him when we commenced
our last day’s march. It was too late to think of getting
back to camp so we tied our ox and put in the night the best
we could and got the ox back to St. Croix the next day. |
