On September 1, 1829, there arrived at the fort, the Reverend Alvan Coe and the Reverend Jedediah I. Stevens, two missionaries on a religious exploring expedition to locate a site for an establishment. They bore with them letters of introduction from Joseph M. Street, the agent at Prairie du Chien, who commended them to Taliaferro's care with a convincing array of scriptural quotations.[409] The agent offered them the use of the buildings connected with the grist mill and the saw mill at the Falls and his own colony at Eatonville. After preaching a few times to the garrison, the ministers left. It was not until 1835 that Mr. Stevens located permanently near the post.[410]
Major Taliaferro was left alone to carry on the difficult enterprise of civilizing the natives. In 1830 he wrote to the Secretary of War telling of the progress he had made and of his plans for a log village in which the Indians could live, instead of in the flimsy bark houses, and a log house for the protection of the Indians' property. He begged for financial aid, saying that “Six or eight hundred dollars would mature what has happily been begun, and this sum from the Civilization fund would enable me to progress with great efficiency, and without further tax on the Government.”[411] The need for his supervision was constant. From his diary can be seen how continual was his interest in the experiment. On April 18, 1831, he ordered the hoes and plows repaired, and on May 1 he went to the colony taking the implements with him. Here he found “most of them at work—Cuting down trees, Grubbing out the roots &c—What was more encouraging some few of the Men were at this unusual kind of labour for them—they laughed when they saw Me—I praised them, in every agreable way that could be conveyed to them in their language.” Again on June 8th he was pleased to see the Indians all at work hoeing their corn and potatoes.[412]
The success of the colony was gratifying. In 1833 they raised from eight hundred to a thousand bushels of corn, and the population of the village was one hundred and twenty-five. Only one death had occurred in three years.[413] There was much to contend with, however, since the traders were “violently opposed to Indians commencing to seek a living in this way.”[414] One trader stated that it was a loss to him of five hundred dollars whenever an Indian learned to read and write.[415]
With all his duties it is no wonder that the agent was anxious to receive the help of the missionaries, and although he was himself “a Deacon in the ‘Old School Presbyterian Church’”,[416] his basis for aiding the red men, as he expressed it in a report, was that he had “endeavored to impress all missionaries with the true fact that Christianity must be preceded by civilization among the wild tribes. I hazard nothing in this, for an Indian must be taught all the temporal benefits of this life first, before you ask him to seek for eternal happiness; teach him to worship the true and living God through the self-evident developments of his mother earth. In fine, let agriculture and the arts precede the preaching of the gospel, after which, Christianity inculcate if practicable.”[417]
The men who were to be Taliaferro's first helpers were living in the little village of Washington, Connecticut—two brothers, one twenty-three years old and the other twenty-one. Here a great revival occurred and among those whose lives were changed were Samuel Pond and Gideon Pond. The next year the older of the two went to the West and drifted into the frontier town of Galena. Hearing from a traveller from Red River of the Sioux about Fort Snelling he decided to dedicate his life to uplifting them. Upon broaching the subject to his brother the latter agreed, and on May 1, 1834, they left Galena on the “Warrior”. No missionary society was supporting them; they had only a little money; they did not know a word of the “Dakota” tongue; they were uneducated for missionary work. Living the roving life of the Indians as members of the tribe, they hoped to be able to gradually influence their lives and religion.[418]
On May 6, 1834, the “Warrior” reached Fort Snelling. At the agency house, Mr. Grooms, who was the acting agent in the absence of Major Taliaferro, rented them a room. Major Bliss, then in command at the fort, immediately summoned them to appear before him and explain their presence in the Indian country without permission.[419] When he heard of their plans, they fitted immediately into a problem that had been puzzling him. Big Thunder, chief of the Kaposia village, wanted to raise more corn. But by using the customary Indian method of hoeing up the ground before planting, it was impossible to get much land under cultivation. At Fort Snelling were oxen and a plow, but there was no one to do the plowing or teach the art to the Indians. Accordingly Samuel Pond volunteered to take charge of the proposition.
The plow was taken down the river in a canoe, while the oxen were driven by land. But the warriors were reluctant about touching the plow until Big Thunder, chief of the band, had seized the handles himself. For a week Samuel Pond continued the work. But the dogs had stolen the provisions he had taken from the fort, and so he was obliged not only to sleep in the Indian tepee, but also to live upon the ordinary Indian fare.[420]
This task of plowing had just been performed when Major Taliaferro returned from the East. The success of the work done by Big Thunder led him to ask the Ponds to take charge of the Eatonville colony. As this would give them an opportunity of carrying out their plans, the brothers accepted. Their position is indicated by the following entry in Taliaferro's diary: “I am to furnish out of my private funds—Hay for the Oxen—belonging to the Indians, & those young men are to have Charge of them for the Winter—They will plough some this fall and again in the Spring for the Indians, & go on thereafter to instruct them in the arts & habits of civilized life.”[421]
Cloud Man, chief of the Calhoun band of Indians, chose a site near the lake, where a cabin was erected which cost a shilling—for nails. The walls were of tamarack logs from a neighboring grove; slabs obtained at the mill at the Falls of St. Anthony furnished a roof; and Major Taliaferro presented the missionaries with a window. Major Bliss gave them some potatoes, and Mrs. Bliss presented them with a ham. Knowing the thievishness of the natives, the Indian agent also added a padlock to the newly-finished cabin.[422]
Near the house about four acres of land were cleared and fenced with logs. A quarter of a mile distant was the Indian village of fourteen bark lodges, each containing two or three families. This village was surrounded by corn fields and was reached through a narrow lane made by putting up posts and tying poles to them with strips of bark.[423] According to Featherstonhaugh, who visited the establishment a year later, thirty acres were under cultivation and the yield of corn amounted to eight hundred bushels. It is interesting to note that this critical traveller found only one thing about Fort Snelling to commend and that was the self-sacrifice of the two Pond brothers.[424]