Page:The first and last journeys of Thoreau - lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts 2.djvu/78

 earthen pot, and a stone &quot;of blue granite&quot; as he said,—which might have been used in skinning game.

The first white man's house was built at Redwood seven years before [in 1854], and in 1855 there were often as many Indians there as there are whites now. The principal capital there, and in St. Paul, is invested in groceries, in dry goods, and Indian goods.

On June 1, I copied from the Annals of the Minnesota Historical Society for 1853, at St. Paul, the following (No. 4.): &quot;Previous to the year 1695, the canoe laden with trinkets, tobacco, and knives had entered the Minnesota, or 'sky-tinted' River; and in 1700 trading houses were erected on the banks of the Mankato or 'Blue Earth. Professor Keating was the historian of Long's Expedition to the Minnesota and Red Rivers in 1823, and is said to have written an interesting account of the Dakota Indians in it. Neill says that one-third band of the M'dewakaston is called (1853) &quot;Pegataotonwe&quot; (Island [Inland?] People), and so called because until a very few years since