e of an
irruption of Indians.

Arriving at Lake Pepin, a few days were spent on its beautiful shores,
resting, during which time the stores were overhauled and rearranged
and the boats regulated and put in perfect order. The sick were
growing stronger, and the little baby who was living on pap made of
musty flour and sweetened water, tied up in a rag, which did duty for
a patent nursing bottle, grew wonderfully, and bade fair to be a
marvel of size and strength.

Sometime in September the pioneer regiment arrived in pretty good
condition at--where? No fort, no settlement, no regular landing even;
simply at the mouth of the St. Peters river, where we had been ordered
to halt, and our long march was ended.

For many weeks the boats were our only shelter, and the sense of
entire isolation, the thought that the nearest white neighbors were
three hundred miles away, and that months must elapse before they
could hope to hear a syllable from _home_, proved, at times,
exceedingly depressing to these first settlers in Minnesota. I record,
with pleasure, what has been often told me, that in that trying time
the courage of the ladies of the party did not fail them, and that
their cheerful way of taking things as they came and making the best
of them, was a constant blessing and source of strength to that little
community.

Without loss of time a space was cleared very near the site of
Mendota, trees were cut down, a stockade built enclosing log houses
erected for the accommodation of the garrison; everything being made
as comfortable and secure as the facilities permitted. The Indians
proved friendly and peaceable, and the command entered upon their
life at "St. Peters," as it was first called, cheerfully and
hopefully. A few days after their arrival Colonel Leavenworth, Major
Vose, Surgeon Purcell, Mrs. Captain Gooding and my father made a
keel-boat trip to the "Falls of St. Anthony," and were amazed at the
beauty and grandeur of the scene.

A prediction at that time that some then living would see these mighty
falls turn the machinery of the greatest mills in the world, and a
great and beautiful city arise on the adjacent shores, would have been
called a visionary and impossible dream by those early visitors who
saw this amazing water power in its primeval glory.

That first winter of '19 and '20, like all winters in this latitude,
was very cold, with heavy snows and fierce winds, but there were many
sunshiny days, and