and of which they are proprietors."

This post was the first French establishment in Minnesota. It was called
Fort Bon Secours, afterwards Fort Le Sueur, but on later maps Fort
Perot.

In 1695 Le Sueur built the second post in Minnesota, between the head of
Lake Pepin and the mouth of the St. Croix. In July of that year he took
a party of Ojibways and one Dakota to Montreal, for the purpose of
impressing upon them the importance and strength of France. Here large
bodies of troops were maneuvered in their presence, and many speeches
made by both the French and the Indians. Friendly and commercial
relations were established.

Le Sueur, some time after, returned to Minnesota and explored St.
Peter's river (now the Minnesota) as far as the mouth of the Blue
Earth. Here he built a log fort, and called it L'Hullier, and made some
excavations in search of copper ore. He sent several tons of a green
substance which he found, and supposed to be copper, to France, but it
was undoubtedly a colored clay that is found in that region, and is
sometimes used as a rough paint. He is supposed to be the first man who
supplied the Indians with guns. Le Sueur kept a journal in which he gave
the best description of the Dakotas written in those early times, and
was a very reliable man. Minnesota has a county and a city named for
him.

Many other Frenchmen visited Minnesota in early days, among whom was Du
Luth; but as they were simply traders, explorers and priests, among the
Indians, it is hardly necessary in a work of this character to trace
their exploits in detail. While they blazed the trail for others, they
did not, to any great extent, influence the future of the country,
except by supplying a convenient nomenclature with which to designate
localities, which has largely been drawn upon. Many of them, however,
were good and devoted men, and earnest in their endeavors to spread the
gospel among the Indians. How well they succeeded, I will discuss when I
speak of these savage men more particularly.

The next arrival of sufficient importance to particularize was Jonathan
Carver. He was born in Connecticut in 1732. His father was a justice of
the peace, which in those days was a more important position than it is
now regarded. They tried to make a doctor of him, and he studied
medicine just long enough to discover that the profession was
uncongenial, and abandoned it. At the age of eighteen he purchased an
ensign's commission in a Con