Recently I’ve been perusing an old accounts book from a fur trader, Ashley Crowl Riggs. On the first page, Riggs titled it, “Winnebago* accounts for the 1852 and 1853 at Watab and Cold Spring.” That piqued my interest for 2 reasons: because Cold Spring is only 5 miles down the road from me and Watab maybe 10, and because I didn’t realize that tribe lived here. 

Cold Spring Area Historical Society Museum acquired the ledger some years ago. Cliff Johnson, a past president of the CSAHS, shared a bit of its history when he showed it to me and I immediately had questions. Luckily, he told me how to access the ledger online at Minnesota Digital Library. I’ve spent many hours perusing it.

I’ve really had fun digging. However, it’s raised as many questions as answers. Here’s what I’ve discovered so far.

Numbers:

Trading counter at Snake River Fur Post, near Pine City, Minnesota.

At Watab, 25 people separate traded, but at Cold Spring only 10 did. The Cold Spring band were quite separated from a much larger group of the tribe at Long Prairie, 60 miles away.
Of those who traded, it included 5 women: at Watab, Lady Koons, Kitty Lightfoot and Whooping Hannah;
at Cold Spring, Squaw Penslyvania and Good Thunder’s Niece (sic), who is also listed as George Humphry’s wife.
[Question: Who was George Humphry?]

Their names speak deeply:

  • Epeinkah and Cozzoco are the closest to indigenous spellings that I can perceive.
  • Traditional names: Big Bear, Little Walker, Green Grass, Rabbit, Little Calf, Good Heart, Little Thunder…
  • American names — Frank Tebo, Billy Gleason, Capt. Jim, Squaw Pensylvania [What was her connection there?]
  • Personal characteristics: Moon Eye, Broad Face, Big Head, Cut Nose Jack, Small Pox Marked Jo, Whooping Hannah, One Eyed Dick. [Did Riggs need reminders to keep them straight? This group also includes many American names ]
  • Their style: Old Rogue, Prophet, Horse Thief, Little Priest, Old Scooty, Past Cocker, One Eyed John … [read the rest of his title on your own]

How often did they trade?

  • Riggs must have had assistants — on 14 different days, trades happened at both posts.
  • Watab’s 25 people made a total of 60 visits — 3 people visited once, 15 traded twice, 5 men made 3 visits and 3 came 4 times.
  • In contrast, Cold Spring’s smaller number of people (10) traded 37 times.
  • Only two men traded at both sites Good Thunder and Cut Nose Jack. Because they did, I more closely compared their trades.

Good Thunder 

Good Thunder at Watab Dec. 7

The only day Good Thunder traded at Watab, Dec. 7, he took home basic needs, valued at $11.75.

Then, because he traded 4 times at the Cold Spring post after that and in close succession, I’m guessing he lived in Cold Spring. [How did he haul a half-barrel of flour, 5# sugar, 3# powder and 2 1/2# buck shot back to Cold Spring, at least 25 miles away? By dogsled?]

Good Thunder at Cold Spring

In Cold Spring, Good Thunder continued trading for flour, sugar and powder and caps. Most of what he took debt for is food — 3½ barrels of flour, sugar and coffee; and tools — powder, matches, lead, caps, mink traps.
He also chose gifts: a skirt for his wife, flour for his father and mink traps for a brother-in-law. Perhaps his last trade, a broad cloth coat, was for himself.
With the exception of his first trade at each location, Good Thunder brought in pelts in payment: otter $5; 2 mink $2; otter $5, 7 ratskins $.70; buckskin $2.
While an otter had significant value in the European market, 7 muskrat skins required as much work in trapping, and only paid him a dime each!
The pelts repaid $14.70, but his total debt at the end of the season was $75.75.** [It hurt to see the great disparity for his effort.]

Cut Nose Jack

Cut Nose Jack at Watab in December and February

Cut Nose Jack visited Watab Dec. 29 for basics: powder and buckshot plus crackers and 1 pair of moccasins.

Cut Nose Jack in Cold Spring, twice  in January


Jan. 11 at Cold Spring: Besides staples, Cut Nose Jack got 10 loaves of bread!
Jan. 20 at Cold Spring: A few nice surprises — raisins, tobacco and papers, a buck skin and two 3-point blankets, one in white and one in red for his wife.
Feb. 27, back at Watab: a deck of cards $.25; a double-barreled shot gun $18 and
6 steel traps $6.
He paid down his debt once at Watab in cash $1.50; in Cold Spring he brought in 2 Koon skins $1 and 1 mink $1. His total indebtedness came to $39.75, and he brought in $3.50 to repay it. **
 [About that bread: Riggs sold 70 loaves between early December and mid-January, usually in lots of 10s! How would he get bread in winter, bread that might last for a couple of weeks?]

Paying down their debt:

Riggs’ ledger doesn’t mention gifts he’d given, but traditionally he would have begun the season with gifts, to cement relationships. Perhaps by the 1850s it wasn’t done anymore.
On their first visit, the Ho-Chunk took debt. At subsequent visits, most brought something to pay that down, before adding new debt. Unless they didn’t return.

Pelts displayed at Snake River Fur Post, near Pine City, Minnesota.

As we might expect, at Cold Spring, debt was paid in pelts. Men brought in otter, mink, wolf, muskrats, marten, fisher and raccoon but those skins brought little in value for the work they involved. An otter was worth $5, a fisher or marten $3, a mink $1, a wolf $.50, a muskrat $.10. Good Thunder traded for mink traps at $1.50, and brought in 2 mink pelts a few days later.

In contrast, at Watab, the Ho-Chunk paid in CASH! [Did cash come from annuity payments? How much was allotted to each household? Did residents of Watab have greater access to annuity payments from the treaty? Why didn’t the Cold Spring group pay in cash? Was trapping much poorer there? Or at Watab?]

I looked at the values of different trade goods as opposed to the value of pelts. One otterskin equaled $3, or one 3-point blanket. But it doesn’t take into account the amount of work needed to trap and process the skins, whether a mink, a muskrat or a wolf.

** From past reading, it was not unusual for to end the season with debt — that encouraged the trader with an incentive to return to that area. Every one of the Ho-Chunk ended this season owing debt.

A few mysterious (to me) trades:

Things most tribes could produce themselves: [Why were the Ho-Chunk not able to hunt, fish or harvest wild rice instead of trading for them? If someone locally had successfully hunted or fished, why didn’t they share the venison (or buckskin or fish or wild rice) directly?]

  • Buckskin: Good Thunder brought in a buckskin for $2 credit. Good Heart and Moon Eye bought 2 buckskins at $3 each, but Little Priest for $2.50. [Why the discrepancy in prices? Were some of lesser quality, or smaller? A mistake in bookkeeping?]
  • A venison ham by Old Rogue for $.50
  • 3 whitefish $.25 each
  • Three men traded for quarts of wild rice $1
  • Moccasins: One person paid $.75 but three others were charged $1 and two $1.25. [Why would they have traded for moccasins when they could produce them? Or didn’t they have access to moose or deer hides to make moccasins, due to poor hunting? Did differences in size, weight or decoration account for price variations?]
  • Wampum had a value of $.50 a yard. Eleven people in Watab traded for a total of 243 yards.
  • Bead belt: Whooping Hannah and Kitty Lightfoot each traded for one. [Were the bead belts to take apart or items already designed and beaded by another?]
  • Little Priest traded for a red stone pipe for $2.

a red stone pipe, possibly similar to the one Little Priest traded for

The prices of blankets varied — a 2 1/2-point and a 3-point blanket were often both $3, but several paid $4 for their 3-point blankets.
Guns: These were the most expensive items Riggs carried, with a rifle valued at $17, a single-barreled shotgun at $8 and a double at $15, $18 and $25. Cozzoco traded for two shotguns, paying $15 and $25. [Why the difference? Since most men also traded for lead, shot or powder, it seems they already owned various hunting weapons.]

Caring for their kin:

Riggs listed some family connections — Good Thunder’s niece (who was George Humphry’s wife), Big Bear’s Brother, John, Cut Nose Jack’s Brother.
He sometimes listed for whom items were intended. [Why? did he do that?] The tribes obviously looked out for each other:

  • Good Thunder — 1/2 barrel of flour “for his Father and others” and 3 mink traps for his brother-in-law.
  • Little Thunder — broadcloth skirt for his “wife, daughter of Moon Eye”
  • Big Bear — a broadcloth skirt, unspecifically “for young squaw”
  • Big Head, Little Calf and Good Thunder — skirts for their wives
  • Big Bear’s Brother — a skirt

trading counter at Fort Union Trading Post in North Dakota

The person who received a blanket might be identified in Riggs’ entry:

  • Moon Eye — a 2 1/2-point red blanket for his daughter
  • Good Heart — a 3-point blanket for his wife
  • Green Grass —2 1/2 red blanket for his wife
  • One Eyed Dick —a 3-point blue blanket for his wife
  • Cut Nose Jack —3-point red blanket for his wife
  • Good Thunder’s Niece — a 2-point white blanket “for girl.”

Old Scooty, Lady Koons and Kitty Lightfoot took debt for 2 blankets, which suggests a gift for another.
For their wives, Past Cocker brought home a pair of leggins, while Cozzoco brought a pair of bead garters.
Old Rogue took debt for oats for his horse. [He had a horse! Did others?]

Riggs’ end-of-season accounting:

accounting for Watab in 1853

penciled in accounting for Cold Spring, 1853

On the last pages of Watab and Cold Spring, Riggs did the math:

  • Total Watab debts: $227.46 less $75.25 in cash = $202.21 due
  • Total Cold Spring debts: $326.05 less $84.90 in pelts = $241.15 due
  • Combined, the debts totaled $443.37.

Then Riggs did another accounting years later. In 1858, he listed goods that the Ho-Chunk from Watab [but not Cold Spring?] had stolen from him. Among them, clothing, point blankets, ear bobs and a red stone pipe for $2.50 (more than he charged Little Priest). [Stolen! Did he leave items there? Was this because he hadn’t received full compensation? Perhaps this was when he copied over the ledger, as the entries aren’t in time order.] 

  • 271 yards of wampum $108.50
  • 23 buckskins at 3 each [Where did Riggs get buckskins if not brought in by the Ho-Chunk?]
  • 1 double barreled shot gun London Twist $25 [Cozzoco’s last trade?]
  • 6 pair of moccasins at $1 per pair — he’d traded 6 pair. [Was this because their debt hadn’t been paid?]

This total was $315.50, a significant increase from what he’d listed in 1853.

[My French-Canadian grandfather sold Watkins products door-to-door, retiring in the 1950s. His customers were farmers and small townspeople in southern Minnesota, not tribesmen. At his retirement, he had about $20,000 of uncollectable debt owed him, according to my brother.]

* The tribe prefers the name Ho-Chunk as more historically accurate. Bcause this ledger and the ensuing questions were so interesting, my husband and I drove to the Todd County Museum in Long Prairie to peruse their print resources, which included newspaper mentions, maps and more.
My next blog will be focus on the Ho-Chunk tribe in Minnesota, who were promised land by treaty but it didn’t match what they needed.

Final Thoughts

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