Now we celebrate the life and life giving of a town which exists only in memories.
The townsite of Buena Vista is twelve miles north of Bemidji along Beltrami County 15 and twenty-five miles south of Red Lake and the Red Lake Indian Reservation villages.
He entered the St. Louis River, and packing their canoes and equipments over the nine-mile, or "grand portage," which leads around the tremendous rapids and falls on this river, they poled up its rapid current, and proceeded by the old or prairie portage route, into Sandy Lake....From this point, my informants differ as to which route the party took. Some state, that they ascended the Mississippi to Leech Lake, crossed over to Cass Lake by a short portage, proceeded to Red Lake, thence into Red River, up which stream they proceeded a short distance and finally located their winter quarters at "Prairie Portage," where they were met by two traders who had come by the Grand Portage, or Rainy Lake route, one of whom was Cameron, noted as being among the earliest pioneers into these then remote northwestern regions. This is the account as given by Mr. Bruce, a half-breed Ojibway who was born at Grand Portage on Lake Superior, and is now [1842] seventy-eight years of age, still possessing a perfect and surprising memory.
Thompson's great accomplishment was his map of the Northwest. One sheet included the area from Ft. William (now Thunder Bay) and Grand Portage on Lake Superior west to the present border of Manitoba and Saskatchewan near Riding Mountain and south to the Missouri (including the present location of Bismark, North Dakota). In addition to the Red River and the Red Lake River, his map included a fairly accurate representation of the route from Red Lake, through Buena Vista, to Turtle Lake, Red Cedar (Cass) Lake, Lake Winnipeg (Winnipegoshish) and showed the portage from Lake Winnipegoshish up to the Rainy River. The section below shows his map from Red Lake to Winnipegoshish. Turtle Lake is in the center, and the portage, marked carry on his map, is the location of Buena Vista. (25K)
Turtle River, which cuts its way through this slope and plain, constitutes the direct line of intercourse, for the Indian trade, through Turtle and Red Lakes to the Red River Valley of Hudson's Bay. On inquiry, we learned that this river had constituted the ancient Indian line of communication by canoes and portages, from time immemorial, with that valley, the distance to the extreme plateau or summit, being about sixty miles. On this summit, within a couple of miles of each other, lie Turtle and Red Lakes, the one having its discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and the other into Hudson's Bay.
Thompson considered Turtle Lake the source of the Mississippi.. In Thompson's notes to his Narrative, furnished by his editor J.B.Tyrrell, there is this reference to Turtle Brook:
This is the source of the famous Mississippi river in the most direct line. All the other little sources are reckoned to be subordinate to this, as they are longer in forming so considerable a stream. The brook that furnishes water to this lake comes in on the right hand, from the south bay of the Turtle Lake. (p.269)
The latitude of Turtle lake is given as 47' 38' 21" N.
Discover the Scource of the Mississippe., was Thompson's title for Chapter XVIII (pp.262-272) describing his trip from the Clearwater River to Red Lake to Turtle Lake in his Narrative.. (14K)
Beltrami was an intrepid explorer whose great goal was to find the source of the Mississippi. He described his explorations in northern Minnesota first in a volume published in New Orleans in 1824 La Découverte des Sources du Mississippi et de la Rivière Sanglante. Then, in 1828 in London, he published in English A Pilgrimage in Europe and America, leading to the Discovery of the Mississippi. . . 2 volumes.
In 1823, Beltrami, after being entertained by Col. Snelling and his wife, left Fort Saint Anthony (now Fort Snelling) with the expedition of Major Stephen Long. He separated from the expedition (with strong adverse feeling on both sides) on the Red River at Pembina, and with Indian guides, who deserted him part way along, traveled east to the Red Lake River. He maintained the Red Lake River should have been identified as the Red River rather than a tributary. He also believed that Red should be translated Bloody. Arriving at Red Lake, Bloody Lake, as he calls it, he secured the services of a Méti, who guided him to the lake he named Lake Julia. Beltrami announced that Lake Julia was the source of both the Red River (which he called the Bloody river) and of the Mississippi.
Beltrami believed that the waters of Lake Julia filtered southward through its banks to Summit Lake and from there to Little Turtle Lake. Northward the waters flowed through what is now called the Mud River.
This lake, therefore, supplies the most southern sources of Red, or as I shall in future call it (by its truer name) Bloody River; and the most northern sources of the Mississippi -- sources till now unknown of both.
When one considers the early expeditions of Long, Pike, and Schoolcraft, financed by the government, and supported by the army, Beltrami's exploration on his own stands out as most remarkable. He left Pembina with guides whose Ojibwe language he did not speak. Then he was deserted by them, left alone on the Red Lake River, pulling his canoe up the river since he could not maneuver it against the current. He stayed with the Red Lake and Leech Lake Bands, whose language he did not speak, and he persuaded a Méti to guide him on to the Mississippi, without protection and trusting to his gun to feed them. All this with limited means. The fact that he was an Italian whose expedition was not sponsored by the United States would work against him so far as recognition was concerned. He was an intelligent, courageous, and dedicated man.
It is history that Henry Schoolcraft, with the help of his guide Ozawindib, found the lake he named Itasca and proclaimed it to be the true source of the Mississippi. Turtle Lake, the northernmost source of the Mississippi, at its farthest point, washes the shores of Buena Vista. Following Beltrami's lead and Schoolcraft's use, writers often call Turtle Lake the Julian source of the Mississippi. Beltrami knew from being told that there was what he called a western source of the Mississippi. The English translation of its name was Elk Lake; the French called it Lac La Biche; Beltrami called it Doe Lake; Schoolcraft renamed it Itasca.
Beltrami, after some adventures, returned to St. Paul, journeying down the Mississippi.
Beltrami describes his trip in his Pilgrimage Volume 2. Major Taliaferro, the U.S.Agent for the Northwestern Indian tribes accompanied Beltrami in to Fort Anthony and met him on his return. His recollections are included in A.J.Hill's article.
Through the courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society Constantine Beltrami by A.J.Hill is available. (24K). It is taken from Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, II, (1860-67) reprinted 1889.
The frontispiece of volume 2 of the 1828 edition of a Pilgrimage is the only contemporary likeness of Beltrami. Professor Scuri's portrait is more finished and more striking, but the frontispiece very likely represents Beltrami as he saw himself and as he would have liked to be remembered. (71K)
Norwood's section of the larger report was called Geological Report of a Survey of Portions of Wisconsin and Minnesota Made During the Years 1847, '48, '49, and '50 under the Guidance of David Dale Owen, M.D. United States Geologist by Joseph G. Norwood Assistant Geologist. Norwood's report on the Buena Vista area was called "The Northern Mississippi, including a Reconnoisance between Red Lake and Cass Lake." His account began as he left Lake Winibigoshish on Sept. 21, 1848. (p. 322). He traveled north, ascending the Turtle River from Cass Lake, arriving at Gnat Lake portage. (Gnat Lake has been renamed Lake Beltrami..)
Gnat Lake Portage is three thousand six hundred paces long, and leads through a cedar swamp for the first four hundred yards, after which the ground is high, and timbered with pine, cypress, oak, and birch. The soil is sandy, and there is little undergrowth.Between Gnat Lake and the dividing ridge, the river passes through four other lakes, the last two of which, Turtle Lake and Lac des Morts, are of considerable size. The portage from Lac des Morts is eleven hundred and forty paces long, and leads to Hill Lake, the waters of which flow into Red Lake. The highest point of the portage path was estimated to be fifty-two feet above the level of Lac des Morts, and the highest ground seen on the east of the portage, was not over twenty feet higher. To the left of the portage is a small pond, connecting with Lac des Morts, and between this and Hill Lake is a low swamp, through which the waters flowing north and south of the dividing ridge must connect in times of high water. The dividing ridge is timbered with oak, ash, aspen, birch, soft maple, bass-wood, and elm.
Hill Lake is about three quarters of a mile long, and half a mile wide, and is the source of the Red Lake River. It is not, however, navigable for canoes at its exit from Hill Lake, and a portage is made to Papushkwa Lake. This portage passes over a ridge in all respects like the dividing ridge, except that it is wooded principally with aspen, and has more maple and less oak on it.
Norwood's account is an accurate description of the trip from the present Lake Beltrami [earlier Gnat Lake] to Lake Julia. He gives names for the lakes that do not occur elsewhere. He calls Lake Julia by the name of Hill Lake, and he calls Little Turtle Lake by a name that raises interesting questions, Lac des Morts, or, on his map, Lac du Mort. Papushkwa is his spelling of Puposky.
His map, as might be expected, is a good representation of the area.(35K)
The process of divesting the Red Lake Band of its territories began with the Old Crossing Treaty of 1863. [The treaty and its aftermath have been described in detail by Ella Hankinson in her manuscript term paper for a history class at the University of Minnesota, Summer, 1933: "The 'Old Crossing' Chippewa Treaty of 1863."] That treaty set the boundaries of the Reservation, the other lands going to the U.S.government. The Old Crossing Treaty was confirmed and amended by Treaty with the Chippewa - Red Lake and Pembina Bands, 1864. The name for the treaty comes from the fact that deliberations were held at the Old Crossing of the Red Lake River.
The new reservation line, which cut diagonally, southwest to northeast, across the land between Little Turtle Lake and Lake Julia, considerably diminished the holdings of the Red Lake Band. But even the narrower boundaries were still too extensive for settlers' and the timber companies' appetite for land; so in 1889 Commissioner Rice treated with the Red Lake Band to diminish the Reservation agreed to in 1863.
The Red Lake Band agreed, as Chief Dan Needham recalls in To Walk the Red Road, with two stipulations: 1) There would be no individual allotments. All land would be held in common by the Red Lake Nation, and 2) Red Lake itself would be within the reservation. At first, part of Lower Red Lake was left outside, but eventually the entire area of lower Red Lake was placed within the Reservation.(pp.5f.) The final boundaries, as drawn by the United States, gave part of upper Red Lake to the United States; while the diminished Reservation boundaries moved the southern line to approximately its present position; so the reserved area between Lake Julia and Little Turtle was opened to homesteading.
The new trail, a land route following the high ground, could be traveled by walking or by horse or by pony cart. According to Arthur Larsen in The Development of the Minnesota Road System, the trail was built under the auspices of the Interior Department (p.115). Euclid "Ernie" Bourgeois, at one time a surveyor working for the Halverson- Richards railroad survey, described the trail as "just a country road picked out through the woods following high ground, avoiding stream crossings, and avoiding the cutting of trees with the resulting stumps." He adds: "This trail was marked on the government survey maps prepared as far north as Puposky Lake in 1878. . . ." (Mainly Logging, p.21).
This cleared trail was not only a convenience for the Red Lake Band and for the government; it was also to become a thoroughfare for loggers, settlers, and tote teams.
Any history of Native Americans in the Red Lake Area is hard to come by. Their history was not a written history; so it does not fit the mold into which history is cast by European and American historians. Occasionally there is a brief general glimpse as in part of the speech before the Old Settler's Association in 1905 by Nay-nah-e-gwon-abe (Man of fine feathers). He, introduced as one of those who had met Beltrami [in 1823], said in part in his speech, addressing J.W.Speelman:
. . . tell my white friends I am glad to meet you here. This land you live on was once our land. I hunted moose and deer and caught fur in this country many years ago. I know all the lakes and rivers and all the trails that lead through this country the same as you white people know your roads. . . . I fought the Sioux and never did a white man any harm.
I was conducted to a hut covered with the bark of trees, like those which I have already described to you as belonging to the Cypowais, but on a larger scale. I found there fourteen Indians, male and female, nineteen dogs, and a wolf. The latter was the first to do the honours of the house; however, as he was fastened, he could not attack me so effectively as he was evidently desirous of doing, and merely tore my pantaloons, which were, indeed, the only pair I had still serviceable. This wolf was one of their household gods.. . . . not having power to help myself, I lay down in the corner assigned to me in this intolerably filthy stable. When I got up again, you will easily believe that I did not rise alone: thus I incurred an addition of wounds and inflictions on a body which the pointed flints and cutting shells of the river, and the boughs of trees, thorns, brambles, and musquitos, had previously converted into a Job.
Beltrami does tell us the tribe numbered about five hundred and was presided over by a chief named the Great Hare (Kitci-Wahoouse). He also described the custom of the burning of the dead and showed interest in the miserable condition of the Bois-Brulé who was to be his guide, whose family lived apart from Great Hare's group.
Two Native Americans who reported they had met with Beltrami in 1823, Man-of-Fine-Feathers and Man-Who-Stands-Firm, had their picture taken at Buena Vista, probably by J.W.Speelman, in 1904. (71K)
We reached Red Lake on the 24th of September, and were most kindly received by Mr. and Mrs. Ayer, Mr. and Mrs. Wright, and Dr. and Mrs. Lewis, of the Mission here.The lake—which is the largest of all the small lakes in the Territory, being about thirty miles in diameter—is a double one. It is divided by two long peninsulas, which project into it from its eastern and western sides . . . .The eastern peninsula is represented as being the site of Indian gardens, and bears northeast and southwest, and is, therefore, parallel with the high ridges south of the lake.
The Mission, which was established at this place in 1840, has been of great service to the Indians. Under the instruction and example of the missionaries, and by their assistance, a large tract of land has been cleared by the Indians, in which they cultivate fields of corn and potatoes. In 1848, three thousand bushels of corn, and two thousand bushels of potatoes, were raised by them, besides squashes and other vegetables in abundance. A number of the Indians have good log houses; and their bark lodges are larger and better appointed than in the generality of Indian villages.
The strip of fine land on which the farms are situated is about eight miles long, and from a quarter to three quarters of a mile wide, and is situated along the south shore of the lake. South of this belt, the soil is sandy and covered with pine and cypress, but is said to grow excellent oats.
The houses of the missionaries are good and comfortable; and their farm is kept in as good order and is as well cultivated as any farm in the States. It is really what it is intended to be, a " model farm," and the happy results of their example are seen all around them, in the well-cultivated fields of the Indians, and the excellent cabins of many of them. We left Red Lake on the morning of the 26th, and returned to Lake Winibigoshish over the route already described. (Norwood, pp. 326f.)
Norwood was a scientist. His visit to Red Lake gave him an excellent opportunity to say something about the Red Lake band and its culture. Instead of describing the local band for what it was in itself, he described it in terms of what the missionaries had accomplished. Like most observers of the time, Norwood saw the influence of the white man as the way to progress.
Two surveyors, Ayer and McGuigan, working for the U.S.Indian Inspector, surveyed some of the same forty-acre tracts that had been surveyed earlier. The discrepancies are startling.
On one forty, the before estimate was 65,000 feet. The after estimate was 865,000 feet.
On another forty the before estimate was 11,000 feet of Norway Pine. The later estimate was 222,000 feet of White Pine.
On 5 forty-acre tracts the before estimate ran from 11,000 to 15,000 on each tract. The later estimate for the U.S.Indian Inspector estimated 200,000 to 275,000 feet on each tract.
Civilization had come to the Red Lake Indian Reservation.
(These figures are from an unpublished manuscript EARLY MINNESOTA LOGGING DAYS by Thomas J. Walsh.)
Whatever went on in other parts of the county, the relations between Buena Vista and the Red Lake Band seem to have been good; certainly they were with J.W.Speelman, who did not object to their portaging over his land from Lake Julia to Little Turtle. But what the members of the Red Lake Band actually thought has not been recorded.