History of the Ojibway People, Second Edition

11 Taking of Mille Lacs by the Ojibways

  Taking of Mille Lacs by the Ojibways Mille Lacs,the M’dé Wakan,or Spirit Lake of the Dakotas,and the Missisag -i-egan or “the lake that spreads all over” of the Ojibways,is one of the largest and most beautiful sheets of water in Minnesota Territory. It lies embedded in deep forests, midway between the Mississippi and the head of Lake Superior. Its picturesque shores are skirted with immense groves of valuable sugar maple, and the soil on which they grow is not to be surpassed in richness by any section of country in the northwest. The lake is nearly circular in form, though indented with deep bays, and the view over its waters broken here and there by bold points or promontories. It is about twenty miles across from shore to shore, and a person standing on its pebbly beach on a clear, calm day, can but just discern the blue outlines of the opposite side, especially as the country surrounding it is comparatively low and level.Its waters are clear and pure as the waters of Lake Superior, and fish of the finest species are found to abound therein.Connected with it is a string of marshy,or mud-bottomed, lakes in which the water is but a few feet deep,and wherein the wild rice of the north grows luxuriantly,and in the greatest abundance. Possessing these and other advantages,there is not a spot in the northwest which an Indian would sooner choose as a home and dwelling place, than Mille Lacs. It is not then to be wondered at, that for nearly two centuries , it has formed a bone of strife and contention between the Ojibways and Dakotas. The name of the still large and important band of Dakotas known as the Mdé wakantons, has been derived from this lake; they now dwell on the Mississippi and the lower portions of the Minnesota River. Their ancestors were dwellers on Spirit Lake, and their bones have enriched the soil about its shores. I gather from “A sketch of the early trade and traders of Minnesota,” by the Rev. Edward D. Neill, of St. Paul, published in the Annals of the Minnesota Historical Society for , that in the year , the Franciscan priest Hennepin,with two companions named Michael Ako and Picard du 104 Schenck bk p i-xxiv 1-318_Layout 1 5/13/11 10:54 AM Page 104 Gay, were taken captive by the Dakotas of Mille Lacs.
This fact is mentioned here to show that at this date, this tribe still held possession, and resided on or near this lake. It is further stated that through the influence of the early French traders who first built posts in their country, among whom may be mentioned as most conspicuous the names of Nicholas Perrot and Le Sueur, “the Dakotas began to be led away from the rice grounds of the Mille Lacs region.” Tradition among the Ojibways says otherwise. They deny that the influence of the traders could induce the Mde-wakantons to evacuate such a desirable point in their country as Mille Lacs, a spot covered with their permanent earthen wigwams, and the resting place of their forefathers. Our own experience of the great love and attachment which the red race has ever shown to their ancient village sites,would cause us to doubt this assertion on the part of the Dakotas.It is sooner to be believed that the sameforcewhichhascausedthemtorelinquish,stepbystep,alltheirformer countryeastoftheMississippiduringthecourseofthepasttwoorthreecenturies ,operated to drive them from this,their strongest hold of olden times. The manner in which the Ojibways first came into possession of Mille Lacs,is vividly related by their old men,and this event forms a prominent item in the course of their past history. The tradition of this occurrence is briefly as follows, taken by the writer from the lips of one of their most truth-telling sages, who is now a resident of Mille Lacs, and who is the descendant of a long line of noted chiefs. Tradition of the Taking of Mille Lacs by the Ojibways Five generations ago, shortly after the Ojibways residing on the shores of Lake Superior had commenced to obtain fire-arms and ammunition of the old French traders, a firm peace existed between them and the Dakotas, who then resided on the head waters of the Mississippi and the midland country which lay between this river and the Great Lake. Good-will existed between the two tribes...