Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/116

 82 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY Colonel. Lea made an indignant and severe reply to AVabasha, although as a matter of fact Wabasha's request was not perhaps so very unreasonable. The colonel declared that the chief had a forked tongue, and was neither the friend of the white man or the Indians. "We know that the treaty does not meet his views, and we do not expect to be able to make one that will suit him," said Colonel Lea. "We know that he tried to deceive the Indi- ans and us. He wanted to have the Medawakantons and Wah- pakootas make a treaty by themselves — a separate treaty — and leave out the upper bands altogether. He did not want them to have a good treaty unless he could dictate just how it should be. He advised you to ask $6,000,000 for the land, which he knew was a foolish proposition. We are surprised to find a chief like him, whose father and grandfather were great chiefs. We have talked much about this treaty, and we have written and signed it, and now it is too late to talk of changing it." After Colonel Lea had finished this stinging rebuke., which must have gone deep to the heart of the proud old chief, there was evident dissatis- faction among the Indians. Governor Ramsey quickly asked: "Will either of the principal chiefs sign? Do they say yes .or no?" But they said neither. They were silent for a time, and •evidently displeased. For a while it looked as though the papers would not receive a single Indian signature. At last Bad Hail, the second chief of Gray Iron's band, arose and said that if* two claims against the whites could be settled, he and others would sign. Chief Shakopee then came forward and laid before the commissioners a written deed, made and signed by the Indians in 1837. and conveying to their kinswoman, Mrs. Lucy Bailly (nee Faribault), the wife of Alexis Bailly, three sec- tions of land, including the present site of the town of Shakopee. The chief said the Indians desired that this land be secured to Mrs. Bailly by the treaty, or that, instead, the sum of $10,000 in cash be paid her. Bad Hail presented another paper, providing that a provision be made in the treaty for the reservation of sev- eral hundred acres for the'heirs of Scott Campbell, the noted old interpreter at Fort Snelling. Stands Astride, the second chief of Shakopee 's band, demanded that the request made in both papers be complied with. But Colonel Lea replied: "Our Great Father will not allow us to write such things in treaties. If you wish to pay Mrs. Bailly $10,000 you can do so out of your own money when the treaty is ratified, and you can pay Scott Camp- bell's heirs as much as you please; the money will be yours." Little Crow again spoke, and was, as before, listened to with the deepest attention. He said he had been raised in a. country where there were plenty of trees and extensive woods, in which wild game could be found. If the Indian reservations were made