ffered me one of the forty-acre tracts
for my fee, but I declined, and accepted a twenty dollar gold piece for
my services. The land which I refused became worth a quarter of a
million of dollars a few years afterwards, but I had a good deal of fun
out of the adventure, and never regretted the outcome.

TEMPERANCE AT TRAVERSE.

The first members of the judiciary of the Territory of Minnesota were
Aaron Goodrich, chief justice; Bradley B. Meeker and David Cooper,
associates, who were appointed in 1849. They were Whigs, and held their
positions until a change of administration gave the Democrats the power,
when William H. Welch became chief justice, with Andrew G. Chatfield and
Moses Sherburne as associates. The last named judges were in office when
I arrived in the territory, in 1853. Judge Chatfield presided mostly
over the courts held on the west side of the Mississippi. I made my
residence at Traverse des Sioux, in Nicollet county, which was within
the territory purchased from the Sioux Indians by the treaty of 1851,
proclaimed in 1853. The fifth article of this treaty kept in force,
within the territory ceded, all the laws of the United States
prohibiting the introduction and sale of spirituous liquors in the
Indian country, commonly known as the trade and intercourse laws. Of
course, this inhibition was intended to prevent liquor getting to the
Indians, but as the country began to be inhabited by whites, many of the
new comers regarded it as infringing upon their rights and privileges,
and serious questions arose as to whether the treaty-making power had
any jurisdiction of such questions after the country was opened to white
settlement. The courts, however, held the exclusion valid, and
indictments were occasionally found against the violators of these laws.
Traverse des Sioux was a missionary center, and the feeling against the
liquor traffic was very strong, but, as it always has been, and
probably always will be, men were found ready to invade the sacred
precincts for the expected profits, and a saloon or two were established
in defiance of law and public sentiment.

The judges were empowered to appoint the terms of court where and when
there was any probable necessity for them, and the sheriff would summon
a grand or petit jury as the business seemed to require. The United
States marshal was Colonel Irwin, and the United States district
attorney was Colonel Dustin, both of whom lived in St. Paul, and,