Page 179 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

CIIILDS' RECOLLECTIONS.
175
$so. I told them that I had nothing to sell or give alray.
They said that I was cutting their timber, and stopping up
their river, and they must have their pay. I informed them
that I hacl permission to build tlie mill from thcir Great Father,
aanctioned by their head chiefs, and that I had paid the chiefs
for the privilege. They said that the chicfs had no right to
give me that privilege, that they owned that river, and that no
one had any right there but themselves. I told them plainly
that they lied, and that thcy dare not tell their chiefs what they
had told me. They said that their friend, the big British
trader, had told them that I had no right there; that they must
makc me give them whatever they wanted, and they 7~0llld have
what they called for. By this time my Ebenezer was fairly
up; I threw my pipe into the speaker's facc, jumpcd from the
bed, caught hold of a large polrer, and wcnt at thein right and
left, and soon cleared the house. Tliey went off a short dis-
bancc; held a consultation, and returned to the house, and
wanted to know if I was mad? I told them I was mad. They
expressed a strong desire to be friends; they liked me, they
aaid, because I was brave. I then invited them into tho house;
we smoked the pipe together, and shook hands; and I gave
them something to eat aud drink, and told them when they
were hungry that I would feed them. We parted good friends,
and so we continued from that time forward. Aftcr this I
went into the Indian trade, and dnnoyed thcir British trader
very much. I furnished the Indians with provisions that fall
and winter; tllcy paid me in furs and maple sugar. I pur-
chased some six tons of sugar of them.
It mas in 1827, I think, that MORGAN L. MARTIN came to
Green Bay. He and HENRY S. BAIRD were the two first laa-
gers that practised west of Lake alichigan-except to a small
H.
of
cxtent, thc late JAMES LOCKWOOD, Prairie du Chien.
In the winter of 1827-28, DANIEL WHITNEY obtained per-
mission of tlie Winnebagoes to make shingles on the Upper
Wisconsin. He employed twenty-two Stockbridge Indians,
and one white man to superintend the party ; and he eneged