Old Rail Fence Corners | Page 4

Sibley's home just
about noon. He told me he had a boat leaving in two weeks and that I
could go on her. He said he had several of these boats plying to
Traverse des Sioux. He was a gentlemanly looking man and very
pleasant spoken. With the courtliness that always distinguished him, he
asked me if I had dined and being informed that I had not, invited me to
do so; I replied, "I am obliged to you sir." I was told that the furniture
of massive mahogany had been brought up the river by boat.
The table was waited upon by an Indian woman. The meal was
bountiful. I had a helping of meat, very juicy and fine flavored, much
like tenderloin of today, a strip of fat and a strip of lean. My host said,
"I suppose you know what this is?" I replied, "Yes, it is the finest roast
beef I have ever tasted." "No," said Mr. Sibley, "this is what we call
'boss' of buffalo and is the hump on the back of a young male buffalo."
"Whatever it is, it is the best meat I have ever tasted," I declared.
Some dried beef on a plate on the end of the table was also delicious.
Mr. Sibley again challenged me to tell what this was;--My reply being
"dried beef." "No," said Mr. Sibley, "This too, is something you have
never tasted before--it is boned dried beaver's tail. Over five thousand
of them, as well as the skins have been brought in here during the
year." There was also O'Donnell crackers and tea, but no bread. The tea,
I was told, had been brought hundreds of miles up the river.
I bade my host farewell, thanking him for his entertainment and
thinking I had never met a more courteous gentleman. Mr. Sibley, too,
had told me that the St. Louis house was the best place I could stay, so I
returned there.
For my journey down the river, I had brought with me a tarpaulin and a
few of my worldly goods. I hired a man with an ox-cart to take these to
the boat before dawn the day it was to leave, preparatory to my early
start at sunup. The boat was about sixty feet long and propelled only by
hand power, furnished by French half breeds who pushed it with long
poles from the front, running rapidly and then taking a fresh start to

push it again. These boats could make about twenty miles a day. They
almost reached Shakopee the first day. At ten o'clock the boat tied up
and breakfast was served. This was a very hot, thick soup made of peas
and pork which had been cooked all night over hot coals in a hole in
the ground, covered snugly over with earth. It had been wrapped in a
heavy tarpaulin and buffalo robe and when served was piping hot, as it
came from this first fireless cooker. Hardtack was served with this soup
and made a most satisfactory meal. The other meal consisted of bacon
and hardtack and at the end of the eighth day, had become quite
monotonous. Whenever these meals were prepared, the boat was tied to
the bank.
The mosquitoes, even in the daytime were so terrible that it was almost
impossible to live. I looked forward to the time when we would tie up
for the night, with great apprehension on this account. However, the
clerk of the boat came to me and asked me if I had a mosquito net with
me and when I said, "No" invited me to sleep under his as he said it
would be unbearable without one. Just before they tied up for the night
the clerk came to me saying that he was sorry, but he had forgotten that
he had a wife in this village. I spent the night in misery under my
tarpaulin, almost eaten alive by the mosquitoes. The half breeds did not
seem to mind them at all. I again looked forward to a night under the
mosquito bar and was again told the same as the night before. During
the eight days which this journey consumed, I was only able once to
sleep a night under the friendly protection of this mosquito bar, as it
was always required for a wife.
When the boat tied up at Traverse des Sioux, Mr. Williamson met me.
The trader sent a man to invite the three white men to dine with him.
The invitation was accepted with great anticipation. The trader's house
was a log cabin. The furniture consisted of roughly hewn benches and a
table. An Indian woman brought in first a wooden bowl full of maple
sugar which she placed on one end of the