on any given day. By the second year, average daily attendance was up to 30 students a day. One of the late Joseph Renville's daughters, Marguerite Renville, taught most of the classes. However, trouble began after Indian agent Bruce recommended in 1847 that the government offer its own educational programs in the Mdewakanton villages. The 1837 land cession treaty signed with the United States had specified that US$5,000 a year would be set aside in an educational fund for the Mdewakanton Dakota controlled by the government, instead of being paid out in annuities. Very little of this money had been spent, and soon there were disputes over how exactly the educational fund should be allocated. As word spread that schools would be built, the traders encouraged the Dakota to oppose them, hoping that if enough people complained, the government would have no choice but to distribute the funds to individuals rather than investing in schools, which would in turn benefit the traders. Suspicion also grew as to whether the missionaries had been benefitting from the educational fund all along. Williamson denied that he was interested in any government support, although he had received small grants in the past. Little Crow once again threw his support behind the mission school in January 1849, but by the spring of 1849, even the chief and his supporters seemed to have lost interest, and stopped attending classes. Williamson, with the support of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, then decided to experiment with boarding schools as a means of encouraging more Dakota children to stay in school. Little Crow supported his efforts and sent two of his children to live with Williamson, including his eldest son, Wowinape, and his daughter Emma. Wowinape was two or three years old when he first entered the boarding school in 1849, but Little Crow temporarily withdrew him, explaining that some villagers had threatened to poison his son if he were permitted to stay with the missionaries. Wowinape returned to the boarding school along with Emma from 1850 to 1851, but the children were taken out of school again after one year. Historian Anderson writes, "Little Crow was never able to win over the opponents to education in his village, and as the debate over schools brought threats to his children's safety, the Kaposia chief began to vacillate in his support of education." Trading and hunting With