BEMIDJI 鈥� A musket that once belonged to Shaynowishkung, called Chief Bemidji by early white settlers to the area, has been donated to the Beltrami County Historical Society and is now on display at the History Center.
The gun is of special historic significance, as it represents the relationship between Shaynowishkung鈥檚 family and the Carson family.
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Shaynowishkung and his family had already settled on the south shore of Lake Bemidji when two brothers, Marion Ellsworth 鈥淓ll鈥� Carson and George Earl Carson, opened a trading post in the mid-1880s on the south end of Lake Bemidji, east of the Mississippi River inlet.
Shaynowishkung greeted the brothers and a few years later, his youngest daughter Baygahmaushequay married Ell.
In 1891, the Carson brothers鈥� parents, George M. and Susannah Carson, their daughter Jessie, and youngest son Joseph Evan moved to the area.
Young Evan was in the trading post one day when Shaynowishkung entered and set his musket against the wall. Evan was fascinated by the long-barreled gun with its walnut stock and decorative carving of a serpent on its brass trigger guard.
The boy reached out to touch it, but Shaynowishkung intervened and told the boy not to touch the gun because it could discharge and he could be hurt.
In 1893, the Carsons and Shaynowishkung celebrated Christmas together at the trading post. All of the settlers in the little village were invited (about 12 people). Shaynowishkung brought the gun to the party and presented it as a gift to Evan, now deemed old enough and mature enough to handle the gun safely.
The gun has remained a treasured gift and its story, equally treasured by the Carson family. Newell Carson, grandson of Evan, lives in Kalispell, Montana, and is an avid gun collector. He contacted the Beltrami County Historical Society several months ago about donating the gun to the museum.
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Several decades ago, Newell鈥檚 grandfather had lent the gun to Dr. Charles Vandersluis, one of the founding members of the BCHS, to display in the museum.
The gun, a .75 caliber antique Indian trade musket, was manufactured by Isaac Hollis and Sons Manufacturing in England between 1850 and 1860. Such guns were often traded for fur in Canada and northern Minnesota, and it was common for these guns to be given as gifts to friends.
The musket was tagged with an accession number and, Newell says, it was put on display at the Bunyan House, an octagonal log structure on the lake side of Bemidji Avenue and Third Street.
When Evan鈥檚 son Ralph, Newell鈥檚 father, died in 1984, Newell decided to retrieve the gun, record its provenance, and then decide whether to keep it in the family or permanently donate it to the BCHS.
He checked into the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA, passed in 1990) to determine whether the Act would affect his decision, but since provenance had been established that the gun was manufactured in England and had been a gift to Evan Carson, the Act did not apply.
Newell contacted the Beltrami County History Center about his intention to donate the musket and started planning the 1,200-mile pilgrimage from Kalispell to Bemidji to return the gun to a place where both Shaynowishkung鈥檚 and the Carsons鈥� descendants could see it on display.
When Newell and his wife Barbara arrived in Bemidji they met up with Newell鈥檚 cousin, Dr. Carson Gardner of Waubun. On April 30 the two Carson descendants presented the musket and a ramrod, apparently carved from a stick, presumably by Shaynowishkung himself.
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Newell says the ramrod had come with the gun and that the musket has not been fired since his grandfather accepted the gift in 1893.
After 131 years of the Carson family owning the gift from Shaynowishkung, the 54-inch musket with a 38-inch barrel is now on display at the Beltrami County History Center in the historic Great Northern Depot at 130 Minnesota Avenue in Bemidji.
鈥淭his is where it belongs,鈥� Newell said. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad it鈥檚 home.鈥�
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