he soldiers, they were at first not compelled to attend the
services. In 1841, however, the chaplain reported that all the soldiers
attended regularly, but answered feebly to the responses, although the
chaplain believed they were attentive to what was said. These movements,
which were undertaken to elevate the character of the soldiers, could
not but have an effect upon the success of the missionaries.[437]

Under the protection of Fort Snelling efforts were also made to do
religious work among the fur traders. The inhabitants of Mendota were
old voyageurs and traders, French and half-breeds, and most of them,
having lived long without the ministrations of the church, remembered
the faith of their childhood days in Canada. When in 1838 the
Minnesota country west of the Mississippi was made a part of the
Territory of Iowa, the Diocese of Dubuque was extended to correspond
with the political area. In the following summer Bishop Loras of Dubuque
visited the upper Mississippi and was entertained at the fort and by the
faithful Catholics at Mendota. These amounted in number to one hundred
and eighty-five, fifty-six of whom were baptized, eight were confirmed,
and four couples were given the nuptial benediction. The need for
permanent work was great. Plans were made to bring one or two Sioux to
Dubuque to pass the winter and teach the language to some worker. In the
spring of 1840 Rev. Lucian Galtier was sent up to be the pastor of this
flock.[438]

It was often with despair that the missionaries saw the Indians still
clinging to their heathen rites, and the few additions to the churches
do not indicate any great transformation of an Indian nation. But if the
lives of the natives were not elevated by their contact with the whites
it was not because they had no opportunity. The forces which led to
their degeneration had the start of the civilizing forces, and they also
appealed more to the Indian's nature. At the same time both romance and
lustre is added to the relations of Old Fort Snelling with the
surrounding Indians by the story of the attempts of the men who had a
vision of what Indian life could be, and who unselfishly tried to make
that vision a reality, encouraged and supported by the military men at
the fort.

XI

THE FASHIONABLE TOUR

George Catlin, whose wanderings in the West had acquainted him with the
most beautiful and the most accessible scenic spots of the country,
urged upon his readers the ad