one of its principal business streets and boulevards, Hennepin Avenue. Many Frenchmen journeyed to Minnesota, and in 1689, Nicholas Perot, with a large body of men, took possession of all the counties of the Dakotas in the name of his king. Perot established the first French post in Minnesota on Lake Pepin, calling it Fort Bon Secours. In 1695, Le Seur built the second post a few miles distant from the one built by Perot. By a treaty made at Versailles in 1763, the French ceded their land in the Northwest to England. Jonathan Carver, a native of Con the land west of the Mississippi was then taken by Wisconsin and held until 1838. When the territory of Iowa came into political life, this land came in turn under its jurisdiction. Iowa became a state in 1845, and this territory was thus left without a government. There was much dissatisfaction among the handful of settlers, but with the resourcefulness for which the inhabitants of Minnesota have become famous, they set about to secure a territorial government. When Wisconsin entered the statehood in 1848, the first public meeting held in Minnesota convened at Stillwater. A memorial was pre PILLSBURY "A" MILL pared asking for for a government, and Henry H. Sibley having been selected as delegate went to Washington at his own expense to present it to the United States government. Franklin Steele labored with Mr. Sibley and Mr. Henry Rice in Washington to gain the passage of this act. In 1849 they succeeded in having the Territory of Minnesota recognized, and Alexander Ramsey of Penn CHARLES A. PILLSBURY sylvania vas sent as its Governor. In 1858, Minnesota was the means of adding one more star to her country's flag. To go back to the year 1805, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike had been detailed by the government to the upper waters of the Mississippi, to explore the country, to expel the British traders who were violating the laws of the United States, and to make necessary treaties with the Indians to secure a site on which a fort could be built. He used excellent judgment, securing a tract of land extending nine miles on each side of the Missis THE OLD AND THE NEW GRAIN ELEVATORS WASHBURN-CROSBY "A" MILL sippi River, including the Falls of St. Anthony. The government paid the Dakota nations $2,000 for this reservation, which was called Fort St. Anthony. Later it was learned that this site was not effectually acquired, and in 1837 the United States secured a clear title. The year 1819 marked the advent of the the white men, Lieutenant Leavenworth coming with his Colonel troops to build the fort. Joshua Snelling came as commander in 1822,"to cause the power of the United States government to be POWER HOUSE T. C. R. T. CO. miles down the river. Flour was ground in this little mill also. When General Scott visited Fort St. Anthony in 1824, he recommended changing the name to Fort Snelling in honor of the founder, whose name it has since retained. The present city of Minneapolis is the result of an alliance formed in 1872 between St. Anthony, the settlement on the east bank of the Mississippi, which came into corporate existence in 1855, and Minneapolis on the west bank, which was organized as a township during the year 1858. There was a general feeling as early as the year 1860 in St. Anthony and Minneapolis in favor of uniting. But the citizens of St. Anthony were determined that the united city should bear the name of St. Anthony. And the citizens of Minneapolis were likewise firm in their resolve that the name Minneapolis, which was coined by Charles Hoag, a school teacher and writer on the "St. Anthony Express," from Minne, the Indian word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city, should not be cast aside. The towns were not allied until Minneapolis could firmly claim the retention of her name by reason of her greater population. No more beautiful or practical location location could be found to build a great city. The Mississippi River, with its unrivalled water power for unlimited manufacturing, courses through the centre of the city as a dividing line, while the Minnesota River and several smaller streams are at its very door; the land forms a level plain on one side and a succession of hills on the other, and is dotted with picturesque lakes, five good-sized lakes being within the city limits. There are in all two hundred lakes in Hennepin county, and a thousand in the State, in fact Minne A large portion of Minnesota is covered with exceptionally good timber. Minneapolis has been as fortunate in her sturdy, intelligent, progressive, clear-sighted citizens as in the physical attractiveness with which she has been so generously endowed by mother nature. The names of Franklin Steele and Colonel John H. Stevens are indelibly inscribed on the earliest history of Minneapolis. As public spirited pioneers they were active in laying the foundation for the present great city. When the Chippewas sold their lands between the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers to the gov ernment in 1838, Franklin Steele, then a settler at Fort Snelling, made the first permanent claim at St. Anthony. He built the first dam on the east side of the river, the first ferry, the first bridge, and was an incorporator or director of every movement for the town's welfare. Mr. John H. Stevens first visited the region in 1849. In his "Personal Recollections" he wrote: |