There Mr. Franklin Steele awaited the arrival of the party with carriages to convey us across the waving prairie to St. Anthony falls. I rode with Mr. Steele in a two-wheeled cart, and he entertained me by describing his claim at the falls, and the improvements contemplated for the following autumn. At the end of our ride, he pointed out the site of the dam and the sawmill he intended to build, while the steward of the boat was preparing dinner for the party on the grass, between the spring and the old gristmill.

When all the carriages had arrived, every one was anxious to secure the best view of this magnificent body of water as it plunged and seethed over the rocks on its long journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Thousands of people had gazed on this grand spectacle, but no man with capital as yet had attempted to utilize this wonderful natural water power. The bell rang

There were prepared by

for dinner, and the party gathered to the feast. luxuries prepared by the steward, and delicacies the ladies and distributed by their own hands. There were good wines in abundance, which made the crowd merry, and two hours were spent in feasting and drinking. But clouds were gathering and indicated a shower very soon, and that the party would get a drenching before they could reach the boat. The horses were urged on, and the party reached Min. nehaha falls as the rain began to pour down. Those in open carriages found shelter under the shelving rock, where they were secure until the storm passed over, when all returned to the steamer. The captain had invited the officers and their wives from the fort to join in the dance in the evening, and all had a good time.

I rode back to the steamer with Mr. Steele, and we discussed more thoroughly his claim at the Falls of St. Anthony, and the improvements he wished to make on it. He wanted me to examine the claim, and, as soon as he should hear favorably from Hon. Caleb Cushing and other eastern capitalists forming a company for the manufacture of lumber at the falls, he wanted me to explore the upper Mississippi for pine. When the dance was over, I bade the company good-night and the excursion party adieu, and had my baggage put ashore and removed to the hotel kept by Philander Prescott, where I tarried until I started on my exploring trip.

In the morning the steamer was gone, when Mr. Steele and I crossed the ferry at the fort and went up the east side of the Mississippi to the falls. Everything was just as nature had made it, and the scenery of the islands and river bluffs was indeed beautiful. Civilized man had seen it, but had left no evidence that it had ever been visited before. The falls looked abandoned. No new improvements could be seen any. where. A few weather-beaten buildings marked the sites of Minneapolis, St. Paul and Stillwater. At St. Croix Falls a mill and hotel had been recently built, and these were the only new improvements or new buildings in the whole country.

Benjamin Cheever, Cushing's agent, came from St. Croix Falls to Fort Snelling to finish up the agreement for the improvements to be made on the Franklin Steele water-power claim at St. Anthony falls. Cushing had written to Mr. Cheever what he would do, and that, if Mr. Steele was satisfied, the writings should be drawn up. The conversation took place in Mr. Steele's front parlor, and the argument lasted all day. I was also present. The contention was that the claim was not adequate security for the capital necessary for the improvements, as it was on unsurveyed land, and it was settled in the following manner.

Franklin Steele, of Fort Snelling, Wisconsin Territory, and Caleb Cushing, Robert Rantoul, and their associates, of Massachusetts, entered into an agreement to make the improvements for the manufacture of pine timber at the Falls of St. Anthony, on the Steele claim on unsurveyed government land. It was agreed, between the capitalists and Mr. Steele, that, before the advancing of capital, the Mississippi river and its branches above the falls should be explored by me, and that a written report should be made by me of the estimated amount of pine found, and of the navigation of the river and its tributaries. On the receipt of my report, Cushing and Company were to decide on the amount of capital they would invest in the improvement for lumber manufacturing on Mr. Steele's claim.

Soon after this agreement was made, Benjamin Cheever returned east, and within a year he died. His brother, William A. Cheever, was one of the pioneers of St. Anthony, settling there in the same year, 1847.

EXPLORATION OF THE PINERIES ON THE RUM RIVER.

It was near the end of summer when the outfit was in readiness for my exploring voyage. On the first day of September, 1847, there were seen, by Pierre Bottineau and others, three men, his younger brother, Severre Bottineau, Charles Manock, and myself, paddling in a bark canoe up the east shore of the Mississippi river above St. Anthony falls. When opposite what is now called Boom Island, we were hailed by Pierre from the shore, saying, "How far do you expect to travel in that canoe at this low stage of water? The bottom will be out of the canoe in less than a week." We answered, "To Mille Lacs, the source of Rum river;" and the canoe and party moved on up the Mississippi. This little exploring party's report, the money consequently supplied from the east, and Franklin Steele's perseverance and unlimited will, made it possible to make the improvements on unsurveyed government land. My written report secured the capital from Caleb Cushing and his associates; and his influence in Congress secured the survey of the government land adjoining the falls and including this claim. The discovery by the exploring party of the almost inexhaustible pine timber above the falls of St. Anthony, heralded throughout all the states and Canada, brought immigration from every state, and changed this part of the territory from barbarism to civilization.

When the exploring party went up the Mississippi river, half of the present state of Wisconsin was the hunting ground of the Ojibway Indians, three-fourths of what is now Minnesota was owned by the same people, and all the area of the Dakotas was owned by the Sioux Indians. Since 1847 four states have been carved out of that territory and admitted to the Union.

Returning to the exploring party in the canoe, we find them camped at the mouth of Rum river, with the timber crew that came up the road. This crew of twenty men or more were to advance with the exploring party until the first pine was discovered; and then they were immediately to proceed to hew and bank timber until the return of that party. They pushed on the second day to the head of the rapids, about fifteen miles. The canoe had to be carried a part of the