Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/548

 468 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY to keep the same direction. But the sun shaded with clouds and a storm came on at about 4 o 'clock. The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed. Soon the rain fell in torrents and I could no longer see the trail. The prairie grass covered it. There was a grove apparently at some distance on the left, and I made toward it. The distance was greater than I expected, but I finally reached, not a grove, but a few oak trees scattered widely apart, affording no shelter from the wind and rain. I rode on. Shower followed shower; night came on, and still it rained. Finally I reached a grove where the trees stood near together and were filled in by underbrush. Jt was now so dark that it was impos- sible to go further with safety. I stood there under the forest through several thunder showers, holding my horse by the bridle, waiting for morning. The ground was too wet to think of lying down, and I leaned my back against a tree and got some sleep. My horse was still near me, biting the herbage. Reconnoitering the ground. I found a path, and by a streak of light which showed where the sun was going to rise 1 knew the points of the com- pass. Following the path in a northwesterly direction about a mile, I should judge, I came to the village of Mendota, at that time a trading post of the American Pur Company. There I was shown a full trail thai Led to Kaposia, some five or six miles below on the Mississippi river. 1 took thai trail and soon after arrived at the Kaposia mission. Both horse and rider were weary, wet and hungry, and thanks to missionary hospitality, our wants were supplied. For the remainder of the trip I had the company of those who knew the way and had experience in the methods of traveling. Many strange incidents occurred to me during that journey, but the trials of that first day were the most severe. It was the occasion of the annual meeting of the Dakota mission. Once a year all the missionaries to that tribe were accustomed to meet for two or three days and consult together at one of the stations. At this meeting at Traverse des Sioux I first made acquaintance with the older missionaries and learned much of their methods of procedure. "I learned afterward that oxen were more safe and reliable for traveling through the country than a horse. The Red river trade was then carried on between the United States and Canada chiefly by means of oxen. For transportation they used two- wheeled carts, each drawn by an ox. "In the spring of 1852 I started for Lac qui Parle, the mission station among the Dakotas farthest distant from Red Wing. A young man who was engaged to go there to assist the mission- aries accompanied me. Having some baggage, consisting of a small cloth tent and a few blankets for night rests, some car- penter's tools, provisions for ten days, and the mail for the