His band increased in numbers, and they eventually held the Crow Wing country without incurring the yearly and continued attacks of the Dakotas, who were thus finally forced to give up this portion of their hunting grounds and retire further down the Mississippi. The present Mississippi and Gull Lake band proper, now[1] numbering about six hundred souls, are the descendants of this hardy band of pioneers.
Curly Head became the third principal chief on the Upper Mississippi. He ruled the "men of the great river," while Ka-dow-aub-e-da (Broken Tooth), son of Bi-aus-wah, ruled the Sandy Lake village, and Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, better known as Flat Mouth, presided over the Pillagers.
These three noted chiefs are mentioned by Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike, in his narrative of a journey to the sources of the Mississippi in 1805. The visit of this officer is an event of considerable importance to the Ojibways of the Upper Mississippi, as they date from it their first intercourse with the "Long Knives," or citizens of the United States. Previous to this time, they had been altogether under British influences, and all their chiefs wore the badges and medals of Great Britain, and her flag. They held intercourse only with British traders of the Northwest and Hudson's Bay companies, as the Americans had not as yet commenced to compete with these powerful companies in the fur trade. The object of the United States government in sending this expedition to the sources of the Mississippi, was to explore the country and take formal possession.
Lieut. Pike proceeded up the Mississippi with a party of soldiers in batteaux. Cold weather and ice prevented his further progress at the foot of Pike's Rapids, about thirty miles below the confluence of the Crow Wing with
- ↑ A.D. 1852.
