Minnesota Then
The nickname "Pig's Eye" likely came from Fort Snelling sutler Roswell P. Russell. Parrant, a former fur trader turned whiskey peddler, was described as rough-looking and foul-mouthed, a man of few words. One of his eyes had a whitish cast to it, and Russell apparently thought it looked like a pig's eye. The name stuck and became part of the local fabric.
Business wasn’t booming, but Parrant did well enough to draw the attention of Indian Agent Lawrence Taliaferro and Fort Snelling commander Joseph Plympton. Public drunkenness around the fort had become a problem, and the two men decided to remove the troublemakers—Parrant included—by redrawing the fort’s boundaries and forcing squatters beyond them. Although the 1837 treaty with the Dakota had ceded land east of the Mississippi to the U.S. government, it wasn’t yet open for public settlement. Plympton expanded the fort’s borders, and Taliaferro pushed the squatters onto the newly ceded but unsurveyed land.
In June 1838, Parrant relocated to Fountain Cave, just beyond Fort Snelling's newly recognized border. He built a small structure there, which local tradition claims was the "first building" in the city's history. The cave's steady stream of spring water flowing into the Mississippi made it perfect for whiskey production—a key ingredient in Parrant's operation. The location was ideal: close to the river but out of sight of fort officials. People loved it and stuck around. Before long, Parrant's saloon—sometimes called "Pig's Eye Pandemonium" in local legend—had a growing community of settlers gathering around it.
One story goes that in 1839, carpenter Edmund Brissett was at the saloon after a long day working at the fort, writing a letter to send to Grey Cloud Island. When it came time to address the envelope, he wasn't sure what to put. He spotted Parrant scowling at him from across the room and, realizing everyone up and down the river knew the cranky saloon owner, simply wrote "Pig's Eye." The area soon became known as "Pig's Eye Landing." It's a good story that captures how the place got its name, though historians note it's more folklore than documented fact.
Parrant was doing decent business but made little money. In November 1838 he mortgaged his property to Guillaume Beaumette for $90, with the understanding he'd pay it back by May 1839 or lose the land. He couldn't pay, and lost the claim. His second attempt was downriver at the foot of present-day Robert Street, where he built another saloon on a pleasant green slope overlooking the Mississippi. Scandinavian and French-Canadian settlers moved into the area. But Parrant was too generous with credit and remained a terrible businessman. By 1840 he was broke again. Settler Benjamin Gervais offered $10 for the claim, and Parrant took it. The pattern repeated itself, showing just how shaky land ownership was on the frontier.
Once more, Parrant moved downriver, staking a third claim near the lake that today bears his name (locals called it Point Le Claire back then). This time he ran into trouble with Michael Le Claire, who insisted he'd claimed the land long before Parrant showed up. They took their dispute to Justice of the Peace Joseph R. Brown. The popular story about them racing to the land to settle ownership is probably folklore—court records suggest a standard dispute resolution. Le Claire apparently prevailed, and Parrant left the area shortly after.
On November 1, 1841, Father Lucien Galtier dedicated a log cabin church and renamed "Pig's Eye Landing" as "Saint Paul's Landing." When a post office opened in 1846, the settlement officially became St. Paul. Not much is known about Parrant after he left the area. Most people believe the old whiskey seller died somewhere in northern Minnesota while heading back to Canada. Though he had nothing to do with actual city planning, his name and early presence became part of St. Paul's founding story.