than an inch, and steamboat navigation was impossible. Even keelboats
found difficulty in ascending the river; sixty days were spent by
Lieutenant Reynolds in bringing up a load of supplies. A sand bar at
Pine Bend was impassable, so half of the load was taken off and the rest
hurried up the river. When the crew arrived the garrison was upon its
last barrel of flour.[228]

"Bread and soup", runs a clause in the _General Regulations for the
Army_, "are the great items of a soldier's diet, in every
situation".[229] The bread was made from the wheat grown by the
soldiers, and was ground in the mill at the Falls of St. Anthony. For
some reason the crop of 1823 had become mouldy and the bread was black
and bitter. When forced to eat it, the troops almost mutinied, bringing
it out upon the parade ground and throwing it down.[230] Nor does it
seem likely that the soup was more appetizing when one reads the
following recipe which guided the company cooks: "To make soup, put into
the vessel at the rate of five pints of water to a pound of fresh meat;
apply a quick heat to make it boil promptly; skim off the foam, and then
moderate the fire; salt is then put in, according to the palate. Add the
vegetables of the season one or two hours, and sliced bread some
minutes, before the simmering is ended. When the broth is sensibly
reduced in quantity, that is, after five or six hours cooking, the
process will be complete."[231]

Fortunately the soldier did not have to depend entirely on these
rations. Out of his modest cash income of six dollars per month he could
buy at the sutler's store small necessities and some luxuries. The
sutler was the authorized merchant of the post, and in order that his
monopoly might not lead him to demand unreasonable sums for his wares,
the prices were fixed by a "council of administration" composed of three
officers. For every officer and enlisted soldier serving at the post the
sutler paid into the "post fund", from ten to fifteen cents per month.
This sum was to be used for the relief of the widows or orphans of
soldiers, the maintenance of a post school and band, and the purchase of
books for a library.[232]

The books of Franklin Steele, who was the sutler at Fort Snelling from
1838 to 1858, may still be examined; and from their dreary lists of
accounts, the human wants of a soldier at Old Fort Snelling are clearly
indicated.[233] On March 12, 1849, Private Brown bought a pound
of currants and a p