Part two of a two-part series
Around 1903, newlywed Grace Greener and her husband moved to Reno, Minn. Word spread that she owned a modern miracle – a sewing machine, and the Winnebago Indians living in the nearby river bottoms frequently brought clothing for her to mend. They often paid her with wild game and fish.
During the last half of the 1800s, the European-heritage pioneers in southeastern Minnesota often had contact with the Winnebago tribe of Native Americans, who had drifted back to the area after being relocated farther west.
George W. Moore told about the Winnebago living around 1900 near the Mississippi River bottoms, north of La Crescent, who would sometimes go on westward day trips through La Crescent toward a secret lead (galena) mine. It was not known exactly where they went, possibly near Pine Creek or the Root River, but they returned with lead, which they molded into bullets.
Photo courtesy of the Houston County Historical Society
W. J. Langen (1869-1960) wrote about his experiences with Native Americans, including one from when he was about four and half years old. He and his father and one-half year-old sister Mary drove in a horse-drawn buggy to La Crescent when they passed an Indian campground. As it was growing dark, campfires were burning, which frightened the horses who bolted and turned toward home. “My father managed to hold onto the reins, but they had gone quite a distance before he got them to stop. When the horses bolted, Mary and I were thrown to the ground. The Indians came out at once and carried us into a tent. I remember well how a big husky Indian rocked me gently in his arms while he half sang and half hummed “Wow-wow-wow” in a very high voice. A squaw, meantime, was doing her best to try to comfort Mary. Neither of us were hurt, but we were thoroughly frightened and yelled lustily. After a time, my father returned, and the Indians carried us out to him. We were glad to be on our way home.”
Chief Chohu, the last Winnebago chief, sat down on the log that Langen was splitting. Obviously in a bad mood, Chohu asked Langen questions about hunting and trapping. He talked for about a half hour, all the while “sizing up” Langen, paying special attention to his shoes. Finally, Chohu decided that this was not the man he was seeking… That morning, his mink traps had been stolen, one of which containing a mink.
Chohu was an effective chief, “but woe to any of his people who were dishonest.” One Winnebago boy stole a watch from a white man who lived in Hokah and reported the theft to the chief. Chohu immediately found and returned the watch, but the boy was beaten so badly that he died the following week.
The chief died in 1896 at the age of 108 and was buried in the Root River bottoms north of Hokah. The ground was frozen, and the grave was very shallow, Later that spring, eccentric, John Kitzinger approached Langen who was known for collecting Indian relics. Dogs had unearthed the Chief’s body, and Kitzinger offered to give Langen the skull. ”My sisters listened in horror, thinking I might accept, but needless to say, I didn’t.” Langen did have one Chohu souvenir – a canoe paddle that he had made and used on many canoe trips.
Langen remembered another careless burial when he was about eight years old (1877). ”The body was placed under an inverted canoe to await spring and better digging conditions.”
As a boy at age eight or nine, Langen and his sister carried a message to neighbor when they met about 15 to 20 Native Americans. With several horses, some people were mounted although most walked. Some horses had a basket on each side to carry children too small to walk. One pony had small puppies in a basket. Another pony had a 10-to-12-foot pole tied with leather straps to each shoulder. Canvas was stretched between the other ends of the poles, which dragged on the ground while carrying supplies. One woman carried on her back a baby wrapped in a red blanket.
One day when Langen was haying in the Mississippi bottom lands, a man and woman came across the prairie from Target Lake to the Root River. They were pulling a canoe, likely containing all of their belongings. On their foreheads, each had a leather strap that was fastened onto the canoe. They were pulling that load with their foreheads.
As a youth, Langen and a neighbor boy had a canoe that had been made for them by a Winnebago. “This kind of boat tipped (over) very easily,” said Langen, “but you’d never see and Indians tip in one. We had our canoe quite a while, but one spring, the flood took it. Until I was about 18 or 20 years old, I never saw an Indian with any other kind of boat.” A canoe was made by placing a log into the water and then the center part was burned out and the rest was hewed out. Native Americas used only one paddle.
“The Winnebago Indians were a peaceful tribe,” said Langen, “and no one ever had any trouble with them if they were treated rightly.” He told about a man who became such good friends with the Winnebago that he allowed them to camp on his farm and even learned enough of their language to converse. He traded with them and shared his liquor. They would accompany him to the brewery but would not enter the building. “However, their good friend on the inside never let them down.”
Only once did their relationship sour. The Winnebago had buried an old man on their good friend’s farm. Along with the body, they interred with a few things, including a $10 bill. The land owner and a friend dug up the $10, and somehow the Winnebago found out. “I don’t recall how it was settled,” said Langen, “but I do know that they were friends again.”
Sources: “Caledonia Pride “articles by David Moore and W. J. Langen
Dave Langen says
Willie Langen was my paternal Grandfather. I knew him well. He was a collector of early American and native artifacts. After he retired, his sons built the Log Cabin Museum in Hokah by the Root River bridge, with a one bedroom house attached for a dwelling.. my sister Joan and I spent time with Grandpa Willie and Grandma Catherine. I used to give tours of the museum. I remember his gun collection which included a bell shaped musket. There was an Indian made dugout canoe, an arrowhead collection, many Old German cuckoo clocks, a Victrola record player the needle of which looked like a Carpenters nail.
My grandparents played music together. Pa played the zither and harmonica. Ma played an old Stella guitar (same brand used by Robert Johnson of Crossroads fame). We still have that guitar in the family. Grandma played very well and yodeled. I asked my mother what kind of beautiful mellifluous music that was, and she said she “guessed it was Swiss mountain music.” That music imprinted on me and my cousin Larry Langen who was a lifelong professional guitarist and singer. We two were the biggest fans of our grandparents’’ music.