HENNEPIN AT THE FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY. 



N. H. Winchell, Minneapolis. 



[Read June 2, 1908.1 

 In order to appreciate the personal circumstances which character- 

 ized the historic scene of Hennepin's discovery of the falls of St. 

 Anthony, it will he necessary to recall briefly the events that led up 

 to the discovery. 



It will be remembered that he was a Franciscan priest, somewhat 

 of an adventurer, who had formerly been a soldier, and who had 

 volunteered to accompany La Salle on his perilous exploration of the 

 Mississippi river. With two traveling companions he had been dis- 

 patched by La Salle in the spring of 1680 from h;'s fort on the Illinois 

 river, to ascend the Mississippi and inaugurate friendly relations with 

 the Indian tribes and incidentally to begin a trade in beaver skins, 

 for which latter purpose he was furnished with a supply of goods and 

 trinkets such as are desired by the natives. At the same time, geo- 

 graphical knowledge of the unknown regions which would serve to 

 extend the domains of the king of France, and the conversion and 

 baptism of the savages, which would extend the influence of the Roman 

 Catholic church, were subsidiary objects which were to be always 

 borne in mind. 



This party was surprised and captured, and robbed, by a roving 

 party of Sioux Indians at some point not far above the mouth of the 

 Wisconsin river. They were conducted, as captives, across the coun- 

 try from some point near Dayton's bluff, in St. Paul, to Mille Lacs in 

 Mille Lacs county, the source of the Rum river. During this arduous 

 trip the Indians quarreled amongst themselves as to the division of 

 the spoils which they had won, and which they laboriously carried 

 along with them. Hennepin became sick and exhausted, but was 

 treated by the Indians, on their arrival at the end of their journey^ 

 v/ith a hot steam bath, for which they specially constructed a suitable 

 hut, and after which repeated three times a week, he regained his 

 health and his usual strength. 



Hennepin remained several months amongst the Sioux at Mille 

 Laes, where according to his account of his captivity, he was held as 

 a captive and as a slave. It will be well to enumerate some of the 

 deprivations which he suffered: 



(a) His canoe had been broken to pieces v/hen they left the Mis- 

 sissippi at St. Paul. 



(b) His goods had been pillaged and divided amongst three of 

 the Sioux bands. 



(c) He was adopted by Aquipaguetin as his son, and was con- 

 signed to the care of his wives, with instructions to regard him as one 

 of their children, as a substitute for one that had been killed by the 

 Miami. 



(e) His sacred articles were taken away from him, and in order 

 to perform baptism on a dying child he wrested a half of a linen altar 



