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Show MINNESOTA. 381 the dark- red complexion of the half breeds. They and the Mexicans constitute, I believe, the only permanent types resulting from the union of Europeans with our Aborigines. As near as I can de-termine from their appearance and history, they are about half white, half Indian, and have long maintained this blood in a condition of purity. They live both in our Territory and over the line, number thousands, and are a polite, gay and hospitable people, more musical than thoughtful, more lively than intelligent. The neighboring whites have corrupted the name into " Bob Ruly," as their Bois Blancs ( White Woods), slang for white men, has in turn become " Bob Long; " so the original population of Pembina is made up of the two classes, Bob Rulys and Bob Longs. These are to be mentioned first, as the original settlers of Minne-sota. Save the occasional missionary, Indian trader, hunter or gov-ernment official, the country contained but few white men before 1845. The Chippeways ( Ojibbeways) dominated the northern section, the Sioux the southern; and the " divide," between the drainage of Red River and Minnesota, was their border and battle- ground for ages. At last the whites began to crowd the Sioux, from the south ; and the Chippeways, under the lead of the great Pahya Goonsey red Napo-leon of the North- west drove them beyond Red River, which re-mains the boundary of the two races. Then French settlements slowly stretched down from the north, and American up from the south; and in 1850-' 55 came the great speculative era of Minnesota. Every new country must have such a rise and, alas ! such a fall. There was for years the humbug and hurrah of the " glorious free and boundless West ; " and in 1856 and ' 57 every thing was selling at three or four times its actual value, and every third man was a mill-ionaire in town lots. The crash came, and the wealthy, who had indorsed for each other, fell like a row of bricks, each knocking down the next. Every man rushed off to his lawyer to sue his neighbor, compromise with his creditors, or put his property out of his hands. The laws of different legislatures were in conflict; judges construed them one - vay in one court, and in another directly the opposite. The Democratic administration of 1858 burdened the young State with a heavy railroad debt, which the next administration, Republican, repu-diated, and on top of all this came the grasshoppers. The crop of 1856 was half destroyed; the next year every green thing was eaten, the insects leaving the country black behind them. The crop of 1858 did not half pay taxes and debts, and when I arrived, in May, 1859, the mass of the people were living on corn- |
