The Birth of a Town
of Sleepy Eye
How Do You Do' Where
Is My Home? Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. You say I'm kidding you, there is no town by
that name. Well, believe it or not,
that's the eyebrow raising reception a Sleepy Eye Resident gets when traveling.
I never get tired of hearing of the beauty of the Sleepy Eye
Area. As you come over the small hill east
of town, you see nestled in the woods a beautiful lake, with two smaller takes
on each side of them as far as the eye could see, the waving grass of the
prairie broken only by small clumps of poplar trees.
In and around this area lived the Prairie Sioux or Dakota
Indians. The Prairie Sioux were composed of small tribes roaming the Dakotas
and Southern Minnesota. The tribe that
we are interested in lived along the Minnesota Rive and was under the
leadership of a chief called "Isk-Tak-Ha-Ba, meaning "Eyelid
Drooping".
Here is an interesting Face to me. "Ish-Tak-Ha-Ba was
born to a non chief family in 1780, and by Indian standards he couldn't become
a chief, so what did they do, just like today, he went with a "Delegation
to Washington!" and the Big White
Chief President Monroe in 1824 Officially Declared Him A Chief! It was while he was in Washington that his
picture was painted by an artist named Zimmerman, this picture is owned by the
Minnesota Historical Society, but everyone in this area is family with and has
seen copies of it on postcards, letterheads and trademarks such as the one we
are all so familiar with.
About the time that Chief Sleepy Eye was in Washington
another part of our history had its beginning in Canada. A French Canadian by the name of Alec Demerce
had the wanderlust and drifted south into the Dakotas and Minnesota. The Sioux
were friendly and agreeable so he hunted and trapped with them finally marrying
an Indian girl and never returned to his home in Canada. Traveling with a roving bandof Sioux he
settled down for awhile by what is now known as Sleepy Eye Lake. The Indian name for the lake was
"Bedatasche" interpreted by some to mean "Big Wood Lake"
and by others "Pretty Water With The Big Trees" it is assumed that
Demerce was one of the first white man to see Sleepy Eye Lake.
By this time there were many forts and settlements in
southern Minnesota and the white man was gradually taking over, the Indian was
being driven out of his own county with little understanding or fairness. Chief Sleepy Eye was a good leader, he had
most of his tribe under control and he was friendly with the whites at all
times. He was very reluctant to sign the
Treat of Traverse De Sioux in 1851. This
treaty ceded (gave up) all the land in the area to the whites except for a
strip ten miles on each side of the Minnesota River. This strip was called a
"Reservation" and the Indian, like ourselves, did not like to be told
where he could live. Only after receiving permission for his tribe to live in
the Traverse De Sioux area near St. Peter did he sign the Treaty.
A short time after this, there was an Indian Massacre in
Iowa (1857) and permission for Chief Sleepy Eye and his tribe to live off the
reservation was revoked. He moved his
family and tribe westwards and settled on the banks of Sleepy Eye Lake.
We know that Chief Sleepy Eye lived on the shores of Sleepy
Eye Lake with his white friends until 1859 when he traveled to South Dakota to
visit a friend Red Eagle, while he was there he was thrown from his horse and
died of his injuries (Chief Sleepy Eye was 80 years old then.)
Chief Sleepy Eye was buried near Big Stone Lake, but in
1902, Chief Sleepy was allowed to be removed and was reburied in Sleepy Eye
where today stands a fifty foot granite monument in his memory and his own cemetery
is set aside for Chief Sleepy Eye.
After Chief Sleepy Eye's Death, the Indian village was abandoned,
leaving a few Indians and "French Cap" and a trader names Ross, after
which Ross Lake was named.
The Indians were becoming restless, they didn't like the
idea of living on a reservation, and who would blame them? They had guns and
ammunition and there was much talk of driving the white man out of their land.
In 1862, the year of the famous Indian Uprising, French Cap
and Ross were tipped off by a friendly Indian squaw, that the Indians were on
the rampage. Even if they were friends of the Indians, they knew of their lust
for blood when incited, so French Cap took his family to New Ulm, the nearest
settlement and Ross went into hiding along the Cottonwood, working his way to
Mankato.
After the Indian fighting had died down, only French Cap
came back to his home on the East short of Sleepy Eye Lake, Soon the Government surveyors arrived and Cap
made his selection of a homestead, making him the first resident by government
records.
From time to time a new settler arrived, built a house and
sent for his family in 1872 the town site was platted. By 1875 there were Log schools, business
places and a hotel and the village was incorporated under the name Sleepy Eye
Lake. Just as today, there was
dissatisfaction, they didn't like the name in fact, they were so dissatisfied
that they went to the Legislative session in 1879 and had the town name changed
to "Loreno", now as romantic as it may sound.... Others asked why
that name.... what's that meaning.... there was none, it was just a plain
name.... no historical meaning behind it... Soooooo, the citizens went back to
the 1881 Legislative session and had the town renamed, "Sleepy Eye
Lake". So basically for 2 years our
town was named a different name other than what we know it today. To arrive at the name we have today, Finally
in 1904 the town was chartered as "The City of Sleepy Eye" a name
that has stood the test of whys and wherefores and jokesters.
That's the story of a birth of a town ..............