Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/620

 538 EI STORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY surprise and murdered all the inhabitants in a single night had they been so disposed. The distance between Red Wing and their new home was not great. Very few white settlements then intervened. The Indians were fully acquainted with the country, but greatly dissatisfied with the change that they had been com- pelled to make. But their patience was not quite exhausted and the settlers were not molested. One man was badly scared, how- ever. Awakened suddenly in the night by a hideous noise, he thought the Indians had certainly come and that the work of death was going on at his neighbors' houses. Believing that all was lost, he resolved nevertheless to sell his life as dearly as possible. Snatching his revolver, which was ready loaded, he bounded into the street in his night dress, and, rushing to a clump of bushes which stood between his house and the others, he awaited the attack, hoping to kill at least three or four Indians before they should kill him. An interval occurred in the noise, revealing the sound of familiar voices among those who were imitating the savage war whoop, and he was convinced of his mistake. It was only a party of boys paying their respects to a newly married couple. The winter of IS.")!-.").") was very mild for this latitude, and the usual intellectual and social enjoyments of the season were passed with all the pleasures incident to such scenes. But though mild and pleasant, it. seemed to extend unusually long into the spring. The first boal from below was never waited for more anxiously than at that time. With a large majority of the in- habitants it had been the first winter of their experience in Minnesota. Along in the spring the winter supply of meat, flour, vegetables and fruit began to fall short. There was money enough, but for a month or so pork and flour could not be had in Red Wing for money. The ice in the river was too weak for traveling. No one was in actual danger of starvation, fish were plentiful, and as the ice began to melt in places, wild ducks came to the rescue, yet the settlers eraved a change of meat and more bread. The proprietor of the Red Wing House had his diffi- culties in supplying his guests. With a flour pail in his hand he was frequently seen calling on some private family to borrow in full when the first boat should arrive. The puffing steamboat came at last and landed a stock of groceries and provisions for the firm of Jackson and Enz, a firm which had just opened a store on Bush street. Among the goods landed at this arrival were eleven barrels of flour and a large hogshead filled with smoked hams and shoulders. These articles found so ready a sale that, although they did not arrive until Friday evening, they were all sold out before Monday. Under the circumstances, the
 * i few pounds of stuff to make bread of, promising to return it