Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/83

BISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY 53 of travels in L766 he observed the ruins of a French factory (trading post), where, it is said, Captain St. Pierre resided, and carried on a very great trade with the Naudowessies before the reduction of Canada. •'Lieutenant Pike, the first officer of the United States army to pass through Lake Pepin, writing in 1805 of Point au Sable, or Sandy Point, which he reached on the same day of the same month as La Perriere in 17127. observes: "The French, under the government of M. Frontenac, drove the Renards, or Otaguainies, from the Ouisconsing, and pursued them up the Mississippi; and as a barrier built a stockade on Lake Pepin on the west shore just below Point au Sable; and. as was generally the case with that nation, blended the military and mercantile professions by making their fort a factory for the Sioux.' "A short distance from the extreme end of the point, near the mouth of what Pike, on his map. calls Sandy Point, there is an eminence from which there is an extensive view of Lake Pepin below and above the sandy peninsula." There is evidence that there had been once a clearing there,, and it is the most suitable spot in the vicinity for a stockade, and visible to anyone coming up in a boat from the bend near where Lake City is now situated. By the valley of the creek the Sioux of the prairies could readily bring their peltries to the post. The cannon balls found in the ground at Frontenac station may have been discharged in some engagement with hostile Indians, or they may have been taken from the fort, after its abandonment, and placed in a cache. In the meantime, there were probably many explorers and traders who passed Goodhue county; but the next one of whom we have an authentic record is Jonathan Carver, the first native white American to explore the Mississippi. He did not, however, . land at Red "Wing, but passed by on the other side of the island, through what is known as the back channel. Then came the sturdy sailor, Zebulon M. Pike, who carried the American flag, and informed the Indians that the President of the United States, and not a European monarch, was now their great father. Pike passed Red Wing on September 18, 1805 T on his way up the river. Of Pike's visit to Red Wing he himself wrote: "Embarked after breakfast. Mr. Cameron with his boats came on with me, crossed the lake, rounded it, and took an obser- vation at the upper end. I embarked in one of his canoes, and we came up Canoe river (Cannon river), where there was a small band of Sioux, under the command of Red Wing, the second war chief of the nation. He made me a speech and presented a pipe, punch and a buffalo skin. He appeared a man of sense, and prom- ised to accompany me to St. Peters." I think that on September