MIGRATIONS—ARGUMENT FROM HISTORY. 177 
writer of this sketch heard him spoken of by those who claimed to be his 
descendants, then on the Minnesota River. 
Becoming impressed with the idea that there were valuable mines in 
the land of the Dakota, Le Sueur obtained a royal license to work them. 
He was hindered in various ways, and not until the summer of 1700 do we 
find him ascending the Mississippi. On the 30th of July he met a war party 
of Dakota in seven canoes, who were on the warpath against the Illinois. 
Le Sueur bought them off with presents and turned them back home. Ad- 
vancing up as far as the Galena River he called it the River Mino. On the 
19th of September he entered the mouth of the Minnesota, or as he proba- 
bly named it then, and long afterwards it continued to be called, the “St. 
Pierre.” And by the 1st of October he had reached the Blue Earth River, 
where he built a trading post and expected to make his fortune out of the 
blue earth of its shores. 
While Le Sueur was building his stockade on the Blue Earth he was 
visited by Dakota from the east of the Mississippi, who desired him to 
locate at the mouth of the St. Peter or Minnesota, since the country of the 
Blue Earth, they said, belonged to the western Dakota and to the Iowa and 
Oto. However, a short time after this Le Sueur was informed that the 
Towa and Oto had gone over to the Missouri River to join the Omaha. At 
this time it is recorded that the Lowa and Oto planted corn, but the Dakota 
did not. Le Sueur offered to furnish corn to the latter for planting. 
At the beginning of the eighteenth century we have the Dakota 
nation, so far as known, described by bands. Some of the names it is now 
impossible to read with certainty. Some have disappeared or given place 
to others, while some of them are old landmarks by which we can read the 
history of their migrations. Living at that time to the east of the Missis- 
sippi, whose headquarters were about Knife Lake, were the Spirit Lake 
Village (Mdewakantonway), Great Lake Village (Matanton—perhaps origi- 
nally Mdetayk-toyway), Wild Rice Gatherers (Psin-omani-toy wan), River 
Village (Watpatonway), Boat Village (Watomanitoyway), Fortified Villaze 
(Cankaskatonway). The Western Dakota are thus given, viz: Pole Village 
(Canhuasinton?), Red Wild Rice Village (Psinéatoywan), Small Band Vil- 
lage (Wagalespeton?), Great Wild Rice Village (Psinhutaykin-toy wan), 
Grand Lodge Village (Titanka-kaga-toy?), Leaf Village (Walipetonwan), 
Dung Village (Unkéekce-ota-tonway), Teton Leaf Village (Walpeton- 
Teton), and Red Stone Quarry Village (Hinhaneton). This last must be 
the Red Pipe Stone, and the Dakota who guarded it were doubtless the 
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