Sarony & Major Lith. 117 Fulton St. New York.KING HENDRICK
THE
AMERICAN INDIANS.
THEIR HISTORY,
CONDITION AND PROSPECTS,
ORIGINAL NOTES AND MANUSCRIPTS.
BY HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
NEW REVISED EDITION.
ROCHESTER:
WANZER, FOOT AND CO.
1851.Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851,
by GEO. H. DERBY& CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Northern District of New York.
JEWETT, THOMAS & CO., PRINTERS, BUFFALO.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.
It is now twenty-six years since I first entered the area of theMississippi valley, with the view of exploring its then but imperfectlyknown features, geographical and geological. Twenty-two years of thisperiod have elapsed since I entered on the duties of an Executive Agentfor the United States Government in its higher northern latitudes amongthe Indian tribes in the west. Having devoted so large a portion of mylife in an active sphere, in which the intervals of travel left mefavourable opportunities of pursuing the languages and history of thisbranch of the race, it appears to be a just expectation, that, insitting down to give some account of this people, there should be somepreliminary remarks, to apprise the reader how and why it is, that hisattention is recalled to a topic which he may have supposed to be wellnigh exhausted. This it is proposed to do by some brief personalreminiscences, beginning at the time above alluded to.
The year 1814 constituted a crisis, not only in our political history,but also in our commercial, manufacturing, and industrial interests. Thetreaty of Ghent, which put a period to the war with England, was ablessing to many individuals and classes in America: but, in itsconsequences, it had no small share of the effects of a curse upon thatclass of citizens who were engaged in certain branches of manufactures.It was a peculiarity of the crisis, that these persons had beenstimulated by double motives, to invest their capital and skill in theperfecting and establishment of the manufactories referred to, by theactual wants of the country and the high prices of the foreign articles.No pains and no cost had been spared, by many of them, to supply thisdemand; and it was another result of the times, that no sooner had theygot well established, and were in the high road of prosperity than thepeace came and plunged them headlong from the pinnacle of success. Thisblow fell heavier upon some branches than others. It was most fatal tothose manufacturers who had undertaken to produce fabrics of the highestorder, or which belong to an advanced state of the manufacturingprosperity of a nation. Be this as it may, however, it fell withcrushing force upon that branch in which I was engaged. As soon as theAme