e Eatonville colony. As this
would give them an opportunity of carrying out their plans, the brothers
accepted. Their position is indicated by the following entry in
Taliaferro's diary: "I am to furnish out of my private funds--Hay for
the Oxen--belonging to the Indians, & those young men are to have Charge
of them for the Winter--They will plough some this fall and again in the
Spring for the Indians, & go on thereafter to instruct them in
the arts & habits of civilized life."[421]

Cloud Man, chief of the Calhoun band of Indians, chose a site near the
lake, where a cabin was erected which cost a shilling--for nails. The
walls were of tamarack logs from a neighboring grove; slabs obtained at
the mill at the Falls of St. Anthony furnished a roof; and Major
Taliaferro presented the missionaries with a window. Major Bliss gave
them some potatoes, and Mrs. Bliss presented them with a ham. Knowing
the thievishness of the natives, the Indian agent also added a padlock
to the newly-finished cabin.[422]

Near the house about four acres of land were cleared and fenced with
logs. A quarter of a mile distant was the Indian village of fourteen
bark lodges, each containing two or three families. This village was
surrounded by corn fields and was reached through a narrow lane made by
putting up posts and tying poles to them with strips of bark.[423]
According to Featherstonhaugh, who visited the establishment a year
later, thirty acres were under cultivation and the yield of corn
amounted to eight hundred bushels. It is interesting to note that this
critical traveller found only one thing about Fort Snelling to commend
and that was the self-sacrifice of the two Pond brothers.[424]

They entered immediately into the life of the Indians. An extract from a
letter written by one of the brothers shows the wide variety of their
duties. "One Indian," he said, "has been here to borrow my axe,
another to have me help him split a stick; another now interrupts me to
borrow my hatchet; another has been here after a trap which he left with
me; another is now before my window at work with his axe, while the
women and children are screaming to drive the black-birds from their
corn. Again I am interrupted by one who tells me that the Indians are
going to play ball near our house to-day. Hundreds assemble on such
occasions."[425]

The work that was thus started soon expanded. In the spring of 1835 Rev.
Thomas Smith Williamson arrived at Fort Sne