Zebulon Pike and Fur Trader James Aird: The Explorer and the ‘Scottish Gentleman’ Page 17 Summer, 2005 Volume 40, Number 2 Rendezvous at the Riverbend Pike’s Seven Days in the Land of Little Crow— The Wilderness that Later Became St. Paul —Page 4 A view of Pike Island with Fort Snelling in the distance as painted by Seth Eastman. The fort, of course, did not exist at the time of Pike’s 1805 expedition, but Pike had recommended its site as the location for a military fort. Minnesota Historical S ociety collections. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Executive Director Priscilla Famham Editor Virginia Brainard Kunz RAMSEY COUNTY Volume 40, Number 2 Summer, 2005 HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS THE MISSION STATEMENT OF THE RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Howard Guthmann President ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IN JULY 2OO3: W. Andrew Boss The Ramsey County Historical Society shall discover, collect, First Vice President preserve and interpret the history of the county for the general public, Judith Frost Lewis Second Vice President recreate the historical context in which we live and work, and make Joan Higinbotham available the historical resources of the county. The Society’s major Secretary responsibility is its stewardship over this history. J. Scott Hutton Treasurer Duke Addicks, Charles L. Bathke, W. An­ CONTENTS drew Boss, Norlin Boyum, Joseph Camp­ 3 L etters bell, Norbert Conzemius, Anne Cowie, Charlton Dietz, Charlotte H. Drake, Joanne 4 Rendezvous at the Riverbend A. Englund, Robert F. Garland, Howard Pike’s Seven Days in the Land of Little Crow— Guthmann, Joan Higinbotham, Scott Hutton, Judith Frost Lewis, John M. Lindley, George The Wilderness that Later Became St. Paul A. Mairs, Laurie Murphy, Richard H. Nich­ Gary Brueggemann olson, Marla Ordway, Marvin J. Pertzik, Jay Pfaender, Penny Harris Reynen, David 17 Zebulon Pike and James Aird: The Explorer and the Thune, Paul Verret, Glenn Wiessner, Richard Wilhoit, Laurie Zenner. ‘S co ttish G e n tlem a n ’ Richard T. Murphy, Sr. Duke Addicks and James Aird Director Emeritus 19 Lots of St. Paul: A Photo Essay on Downtown Parking EDITORIAL BOARD And W hat Urban History Can Tell Us About a City John M. Lindley, chair, James B. Bell, John Steve Trimble Diers, Thomas H. Boyd, Tom Kelley, Laurie Murphy, Richard H. Nicholson, Paul D. Nelson, 23 Growing Up in St. Paul Jay Pfaender, David Riehle, C. Richard Slade, I Remember My Aunt: Frances Boardman-Music Steve Trimble, Mary Lethert Wingerd. Critic, Who Covered an Archbishop’s Funeral HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Alexandra (Sandy) Klas Olivia I Dodge, Charlton Dietz, William Finney, William Fallon, Robert S. Hess, D. Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from W. “Don” Larson, George Latimer, Joseph S. Micallef, Robert Mirick, Marvin J. Pertzik, Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory of Henry H. Cowie, Jr. James Reagan, Rosalie E. Wahl, Donald D. and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon Wozniak. A Message from the Editorial Board RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, chairman eptember 23, 2005, marks the 200th anniversary of the signing of what is known as Pike’s Commissioner Tony Bennett STreaty—an agreement between a number of Mdewatkanton leaders and Lieutenant Zebulon Commissioner Toni Carter M. Pike in which the Native Americans granted an area that includes today’s historic Fort Snel- Commissioner Rafael Ortega ling to the United States in return for what eventually was about $2,000. Historian Gary Bruegge­ Commissioner Janice Rettman Commissioner Jan Wiessner mann leads off this issue with a carefully drawn account of Pike’s visit to Minnesota in 1805 and Commissioner Jim McDonough the consequences of this treaty. Complementing Brueggemann’s article is a short piece by Duke Addicks, who is a historical David Twa, manager, Ramsey County re-enactor. Addicks tells readers how he, as a modem-day storyteller, portrays the nineteenth- Ramsey County History is published quarterly century Scottish fur trader James Aird, who met Pike just days before the Pike party arrived in by the Ramsey County Historical Society, Minnesota. 323 Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. Readers may remember that in our Winter 2005 issue, we carried an essay reconstructing the his­ Paul, Minn. 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in tory of the DeLoop Parking Ramp using building permits in the RCHS’s St. Paul Building Permits U.S.A. Copyright, 2005, Ramsey County His­ Collection. In this issue, Steve Trimble gives us a photo essay in which he uses photographs to dem­ torical Society. ISSN Number 0485-9758. All onstrate the many ways in which parking garages helped shape the urban landscape of St. Paul. rights reserved. No part of this publication This issue concludes with a “Growing Up” piece in which Alexandra (Sandy) Klas fondly may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission from the pub­ remembers her aunt, Frances Boardman, the long-time journalist for the St. Paul Dispatch. Fran­ lisher. The Society assumes no responsibility ces Boardman was a colorful and compelling St. Paul writer whose death in 1953 was mourned for statements made by contributors. Fax 651- by many friends as well as others who had simply enjoyed reading her many theater, music, and 223-8539; e-mail address [email protected].; other reviews in the newspaper over the years. web site address www.rchs.com John M. Lindley, Chair, Editorial Board 2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Rendezvous at the Riverbend Pike’s Seven Days in the Land of Little Crow the Wilderness That Later Became St. Paul Gary Brueggemann n an early Saturday morning, September 21, 1805, two years after President would require more evidence than actu­ Jefferson’s celebrated Louisiana Purchase and two months before the Lewis ally exists. The mere fact that the treach­ Oand Clark expedition reached the Pacific, Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery erous Wilkinson was involved in both Pike—leader of the first American expedition to explore Minnesota—approached a endeavors is not enough to prove the im­ beautiful bend in the Mississippi River. Two hundred years later the bend now marks propriety of the first American expedition the southern edge of the City of St. Paul and includes its oldest, most identifying into Minnesota. Although it is reasonable districts. to view anything originating from Gen­ eral Wilkinson with suspicion, it may be The twenty-six-year-old lieutenant—a would ultimately approve of Pike’s ex­ in the end that the Pike expedition was as blue-eyed, light-haired, light-skinned, ploration of the upper Mississippi, the legitimate a pursuit of the national inter­ five-foot-eight inch, slender, “good fea­ expedition was launched without the au­ est as the universally praised Lewis and tured” man—was riding the “remarkably thorization of the president.2 Clark expedition. red” river on a thirty-foot bateau—a com­ Was Pike’s trip up North in 1805 en­ The recorded mission of the Pike ex­ bination sail and oar boat developed by tangled in the Burr-Wilkinson scheme pedition was, from the standpoint of the the French Canadians and distinguished down South during the same period? The national interest, quite legitimate. Accord­ by its flat bottom, raked ends and flaring fact that Wilkinson was a scoundrel and ing to his order from Wilkinson, Lieuten­ sides. Accompanying him and provid­ a traitor, as well as one of the most cor­ ant Pike was “to trace the Mississippi to ing the oar power for not only his boat rupt officials to ever reach high office in its source,” gather information about the but also a second thirty-foot bateau (both the history of the United States, is beyond land, Indian inhabitants, and fur traders, of which were equipped with cannons), doubt. But to link the Pike expedition to and perform various other appropriate were Sergeant Henry Kennerman, Cor­ the shadowy, convoluted Burr conspiracy geographical and military missions, includ- porals Samuel Bradley and William E. Mack, “seventeen privates,” and Indian interpreters Joseph Renville and Pierre Rousseau. A few of the privates were also fiddle players, who upon command would enliven the troops with some music—anything to ease the monotony of all the rowing the men had to do.1 Pike and the twenty-two men under hi s command were a special military expedi­ tion, that would last almost nine months. It was authorized and conceived by the infamous General James Wilkinson— the intriguing, double-dealing, governor of the new upper Louisiana Territory, who was also the commanding general of the United States Army. (Wilkinson later would be exposed as not only a paid spy for the Spanish government, but also a coconspirator in Vice President Aaron Burr’s sensational plot to seize Span­ ish territory in Texas and New Mexico in hopes of creating a new country.) Al­ Map of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 with the routes of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804 and Zebulon Pike’s in 1805 clearly marked. From the Minnesota Historical Society’s col­ though President Jefferson—the origina­ lections. Unless otherwise noted, all illustrations used with this article are from the Minnesota tor of the Lewis and Clark expedition— Historical Society collections. 4 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY and polished, rather reserved in general related tribes (the Teton, Yankton, Yank- and somewhat taciturn... his habits were tonai, Sisseton, Wahpeton, Wahpakute, in keeping with his character, uniformly and Mdewakatwon). Once the dominant abstemious and temperate, his attention to Indian nation in the Minnesota