NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 153 



CHAPTEK XIII. 



Position of the military post established at the mouth of the St. Peter's — Beauty, 

 salubrity, and fertility of the country — Pictographic letter — Indian treaty — The 

 appearance of the offer of frankincense in the burning of tobacco — Opwagonite — 

 native pigments — Salt ; native copper — The pouched or prairie rat — Minnesota 

 squirrel — Etymology of the Indian name of St. Peter's River — Antiquities — 

 Sketch of the Dacota — Descent of the Mississippi to Little Crow's village — Feast 

 of green corn. 



In favor of the soil and climate, and of tlie salubrity of tlie 

 position, tlie officers speak in terms of tlie highest admiration. 

 The garrison has directed its attention to both horticulture and 

 agriculture. About ninety acres of the choicest bottom land 

 along the St. Peter's Valley, and the adjacent prairies, have been 

 planted with Indian corn and potatoes, cereal grains, and escu- 

 lents, inclusive of a hospital, a regimental, and private gardens. 

 At the mess-table of Col. Leavenworth, and in our camp, we were 

 presented with green corn in the ear, peas, beans, cucumbers, 

 beets, radishes, and lettuce. The earliest garden peas were eaten 

 here on the 15th of June, and the first green corn on the 20th 

 July. Much of the corn is already too hard for the table, and 

 some of the ears can be selected which are ripe enough for 

 seed corn. Wheat, on the prairie lands, is found to be entirely 

 ripe, and melons in the military gardens nearly so. These are 

 the best practical commentaries on the soil and climate.* 



The distance of the St. Peter's from the Gulf of Mexico is esti- 

 mated to be about two thousand two hundred miles. Its position 

 above St. Louis is estimated at nine hundred miles. Its elevation 

 above the Gulf is but 744 feet. The precise latitude of this point 



* This is now (1854) the central area of JNIinnesota Territory — a territory in a 

 rapid process of the development of the population and resources of a State. 



