superintendent of the county (or if the county
superintendent has not jurisdiction, then the nomination
shall be made by the city superintendent) in which such
candidate may reside, and shall be at least sixteen years of
age, of sound bodily health and good moral character. Each
person so nominated shall receive a certificate setting
forth his name, age, health and character.
_Third_--Upon the presentation of such certificate to the
president of a normal school, the candidate shall be
examined, under the direction of said president, in the
branches required by law for a third grade certificate,
except history, theory and practice of teaching, and if
found qualified to enter the normal school in respect to
learning, he may be admitted after furnishing such evidence
as the president may require of good health and good moral
character, and after subscribing to the following
declaration:
I, ---- ----, do hereby declare that my purpose in entering
this State Normal School is to fit myself for the profession
of teaching, and that it is my intention to engage in
teaching in the schools of the State.
_Fourth_--No person shall be entitled to a diploma who has
not been a member of the school in which such diploma is
granted, at least one year, nor who is less than nineteen
years of age; a certificate of attendance may be granted by
the president of a normal school to any person who shall
have been a member of such school for one term; provided,
that in his judgment such certificate is deserved.
As an addition to the work of the normal schools, the board of regents
are authorized to expend a sum not exceeding $5,000 annually, to
sustain teachers' institutes, and may employ an agent for that
purpose. Institutes are regarded as important auxiliaries and feeders
to the normal schools. At present one professor from each normal
school is employed conducting institutes every spring and fall.
The normal school fund now amounts to over $1,250,000, and yields an
annual income of about $100,000. It will be increased by the further
sale of swamp lands, and will prove ample for the objects for which it
is set apart.
In 1865 the legislature divided the swamp lands and swamp land fund
into two equal parts, one for drainage purposes, the other to
constitute a normal school fund. The income of the latter was to be
applied to establishing, supporting and maintaining normal schools,
under the direction and management of the board of regents of normal
schools, with a proviso that one-fourth of such income should be
transferred to the common school fund, until the annual income of that
fund should reach $200,000. During the same year, proposals were
invited for extending aid in establishment of a normal school, and
propositions were received from various places.
In 1866 the board of regents was incorporated by the legislature.
JOEL FOSTER.--Judge Foster was born at Meriden, Connecticut, Dec. 15,
1814. He was liberally educated. He came to Edwardsville, Illinois, in
1830, and to Hudson, then known as Buena Vista, in 1848. After a
careful exploration of the country he made choice of the valley of the
Kinnikinic, and made him a home in the fall of 1848, at the junction
of the two branches of that stream, and within sound of its beautiful
cascades. He was the pioneer settler of the River Falls of to-day. He
built the first dwelling house, raised the first crops, and ever
proved himself a worthy citizen, first in every good work and
enterprise. He was a man of far more than ordinary intelligence and
moral worth, was temperate, industrious, public spirited, sagacious
and independent. He has filled many positions of responsibility,
amongst them that of judge of St. Croix county. During the Mexican War
he served as a quartermaster in Col. Bissell's Second Illinois
Regiment. Judge Foster was married at Chicago in 1856 to Charlotte
Porch. He died at his home in River Falls, Aug. 9, 1885.
JESSE B. THAYER was born Oct. 11, 1845, in Janesville, Wisconsin; was
educated at Milton College in 1870, and is by profession a teacher.
During the Rebellion he served in the Fortieth and Forty-ninth
Wisconsin Volunteers as a private. He served five years as principal
of the public schools in Menomonie, and since 1875 has been connected
with the State Normal School at River Falls as conductor of
institutes. In 1885 he was elected to represent Pierce county in the
state assembly.
A. D. ANDREWS.--Dr. A. D. ANDREWS was born in Lowell, Maine, Sept. 21,
1830. He graduated at the Chicago Medical College in 1860, and in 1861
was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry, of
the famous Iron Brigade, with which he served up to the battle of
Gettysburg. After retiring from the army he came to River Falls and
engaged in milling, in which business he successfully continued until
1880, when he retired. He was elected state senator in 1878. He was
appointed a regent of the Fourth State Normal School in 1877. He died
at his home an River Falls, after a short illness, July 23, 1885. He
was mayor of the city at the time of his death.
JOSEPH A. SHORT.--Mr. Short was born in Madison county, New York,
April 16, 1806. He learned the trade of a millwright. He visited the
East and West Indies. He came to Milwaukee in 1842. In 1849 he went to
California, but returned in 1854, and settled in River Falls, where he
built a saw and planing mill, laid out an addition to the village and
in various ways promoted the interests of the settlement. Mr. Short
was a member of the Methodist church sixty years, and of the Masonic
fraternity fifty years. He was married Aug. 25, 1831, in New York, to
Olive Prossen. He died at his home, May 6, 1886, aged eighty years,
leaving a son and three daughters.
ALLEN H. WELD.--Prof. A. H. Weld, widely known as a pioneer educator,
and as the author of an excellent grammar, was born in Vermont in
1810. He graduated at Yale College. He came to River Falls in 1858 and
taught the first graded school in the village. For two years he was
principal of the high school at Hudson, and for six years was
superintendent of schools in St. Croix county. He was a member of the
state board of regents nine years, and was prime mover in securing the
location of the State Normal School at River Falls. The excellent
character of the schools in St. Croix county, and the high educational
position of River Falls, are due to his untiring effort and wise
direction. Mr. Weld was a member of the Congregational church and a
consistent Christian as well as a progressive, public spirited man. He
died in 1882, at his home in River Falls, leaving a widow and one son,
Allen P.
ALLEN P. WELD was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, in 1839. In 1859 he
graduated at Dartmouth College. He studied law and was admitted to
practice in 1867, at Albany, New York. He taught school at Albany
three years, and came to River Falls in 1859, where he is a dealer in
real estate. He was married in 1872 to Alice Powell, daughter of Lyman
Powell.
GEORGE W. NICHOLS was born in 1795, at Braintree, Vermont. His father
was a soldier in the Revolution. At the age of seventeen he enlisted
and served in the war of 1812. He lived in Vermont fifty years, in
Massachusetts ten years, and in 1855 came to River Falls, where he
engaged in farming until he was eighty years of age. He was married in
Vermont to Deborah Hobart, who died in 1874. His sons George H. and
William H. reside in River Falls. They were soldiers during the war of
the Rebellion. His son Isaac N. was a member of Capt. Samuels'
company, and was killed at Perrysville, Kentucky. The Grand Army of
the Republic post at River Falls has his name. He died in 1887.
W. D. PARKER--Prof. Parker was born in Bradford, Orange county,
Vermont, in 1839. He received a common school and academic education.
At the age of sixteen years he entered the Janesville High School, and
four years later graduated. He taught two years in Janesville, four
years at Delavan, and one year in Monroe, Green county, Wisconsin. In
1867 he visited Europe, after which he taught two years at Lake
Geneva, Wisconsin. He was superintendent of schools five years at
Janesville. In 1875 he was elected to the presidency of the Fourth
State Normal School at River Falls. In 1886 he was elected state
superintendent of public instruction. Prof. Parker was married to
Justine B. Hewes, of Chicago, in 1869.
THE POWELL FAMILY.--William Powell, the father, came to River Falls in
1849, where he lived with his sons until his death, Nov. 30, 1865. His
second wife was the widow of ---- Taylor, and the mother of Horace and
Lute Taylor, the well known journalists. Mrs. Powell died in July,
1884.
LYMAN POWELL came to River Falls with his family in 1855. He was
married to Lucinda Taylor, sister of Horace and Lute Taylor. Mr.
Powell died at River Falls, Nov. 9, 1872, leaving a wife, two sons and
five daughters.
NATHANIEL N. POWELL, the second son, born May 11, 1827, in St.
Lawrence county, New York, came to River Falls in 1849, and pre-empted
the northeast quarter of section 1, now a part of the site of River
Falls city. He was married to Martha Ann Hart, Sept. 28, 1842, at
Hudson. He died at River Falls, Sept. 28, 1862, leaving one son and
one daughter.
OLIVER S. POWELL, the youngest son, was born June 19, 1831, and came
to Hancock county, Illinois, in 1843, where he lived eight years. He
had no great opportunities for gaining an education. He came to
Stillwater in 1849, bringing with him the first threshing machine
north of Prairie du Chien. He threshed the first grain threshed in the
county in the fall of that year, for Fiske, on a farm three miles
below Stillwater. In November, 1849, he located in River Falls,
pre-empting the south half of the southeast quarter of section 36,
town 28, range 19, lands lying just north of those claimed by his
brother, and which afterward became a part of River Falls. Mr. Powell
was a representative in the state assembly in 1870-71-72, and was a
county commissioner many years. He was married in 1860 to Elmira
Nichols. They have three sons, Harvey C., Newell N. and Lyman T., and
four daughters, Lucy M., Sarah H., Amy E., and Miriam.
NILS P. HAUGEN was born in Norway in 1849; came to America in 1853 and
to River Falls in 1854. He graduated in the law department of Michigan
State University in 1874. Mr. Haugen was phonographic reporter of the
Eighth and Eleventh Judicial circuits for several years, and a member
of the assembly from Pierce county in 1879 and 80. He was elected
railroad commissioner for Wisconsin in 1881, and re-elected in 1884.
In 1886 he was elected representative to Congress.
H. L. WADSWORTH was born July 10, 1821, in Erie county, New York. He
learned the trade of a shoemaker, came West in 1846, and settled at
River Falls some time in the '50s, and engaged in farming. He has
filled many positions of trust in the St. Croix valley, and in 1867
represented St. Croix county in the assembly. In 1841 he was married
to Miss A. R. Baldwin. Eight children have been born to them.
ROCK ELM
Includes township 26, range 15. It was organized as a town Nov. 16,
1866. The first town meeting was held at the house of J. Prickett. The
first commissioner was Sylvester Fox, chairman. The post offices are
at Rock Elm, on the western line of the town, section 19, and Rock Elm
Centre, sections 16 and 17. At the latter place is located Rock Elm
Institute, a school of high grade, founded in 1880. Harrison Lowater
is the principal. The town is well supplied with schools, there being
as many as nine within its limits. Among its first settlers were
Loomis Kellogg, Charles A. Hawn and Sylvester Fox.
SALEM.
Salem occupies township 25, range 16. It is drained by Rush river. It
was organized as a town Jan. 13, 1862. First board of supervisors, C.
C. Carpenter, Eben White and J. H. Shults. The first school was taught
in 1857, by Thompson McCleary. The first marriage was that of Harvey
Seeley and Kate McKinstry. The first child born was Sarah Fuller. The
first death was that of John McCleary, Sept. 2, 1863. The first post
office was established at Rush River, May 1860, Joseph Seeley,
postmaster. The first settlers were Jeremiah Fuller, from Ohio, and W.
Wells, 1846; Harvey Seeley, 1848; Thomas Boyle and James White, 1854;
John F. Davis from Ireland, 1856 (town clerk twenty years); John H.
Brasington, from Pennsylvania (town treasurer fifteen years); Eben
White, James Walsingham, John Strong, H. M. Hicks, from Pennsylvania,
1858; John Foley and brothers, from Ireland, 1856; James H. Shults,
Joseph Seeley, H. C. Brown, John McClure, from Ireland; C. C. and Ira
W. Carpenter, from Connecticut, 1858.
Mrs. Fuller, the wife of the pioneer, was here over six months, during
which time she did not see a white woman.
SPRING LAKE
Is the extreme northeastern town of the county, occupying township 27,
range 15. The post offices are Oak Ridge and Spring Valley. The town
was organized Nov. 10, 1868. The first town meeting was held at the
house of A. M. Wilcox. The first supervisors were: W. D. Akers,
chairman; Jonas Nebb; Levi Hess, clerk. The first school was taught in
1866, by Agnes Harriman. The Methodist and Baptist churches have
organizations, and the Methodists have a building worth five hundred
dollars. The first marriage was that of H. M. Wilcox to Mrs. Kate
Rice, of Lake City, by W. D. Akers, justice of the peace. The first
child born was a daughter of Ole P. Gardner. The first death was that
of Leota Wilcox, in 1864. The first postmaster was B. H. Preston,
1871. The first settlers in the order of their coming were James
Gilmore, O. P. Gardner, George Wilcox, John Francisco and W. D. Akers.
TRENTON.
Trenton contains about twenty-eight sections, those on the Mississippi
having very irregular boundaries. Twenty-four whole sections lie in
township 25, range 18, and the remainder in township 24, range 18.
Trenton, in section 33, township 25, is its post village. Trenton was
organized in 1857; James Akers, chairman of supervisors. Wilson
Thing, the pioneer settler, came in 1848.
TRIMBELLE.
Trimbelle includes township 26, range 18. Its post villages are
Trimbelle and Beldenville. It was organized March 2, 1855. Its
supervisors were F. Otis, chairman, and Aaron Cornelison. Among its
earliest settlers were the Cornelisons, F. Otis and M. B. Williams. It
has four saw mills and one flouring mill, five school houses and one
church (Methodist).
MARTIN B. WILLIAMS was born in New York in 1812. He received a common
school education, and at the age of sixteen years was thrown upon his
own resources. He learned the trade of blacksmith. He was married in
New York, and has four sons, Clark M., Frank T., G. Glen and A. Judd.
Mr. Williams is one of the pioneer settlers of Trimbelle, and has held
many public town and county positions. He served as treasurer of
Pierce county four years. He has been a local preacher in the
Methodist Episcopal church for over thirty years.
UNION.
Union consists of township 25, range 15. It is drained by Plum creek.
It has two post offices, Plum Creek, in section 24, and Ono, section
6. It was organized Aug. 15, 1863. Among its first settlers were
Eleazer Holt, Hiram N. Wood, and Capt. Horst, who made their homes
here in the early '50s.
FOOTNOTES:
[B] In 1849 the town of Elisabeth was organized by St. Croix county,
and included what is now Pierce county. The first board of supervisors
were William Thing, chairman; Aaron Cornelius, and L. M. Harnsberger;
clerk, Hilton Doe; treasurer, Geo. W. McMurphy. In 1851, by
legislative enactment, the name Elisabeth was changed to Prescott.
[C] A member of the well known Faribault family, after whom the town
of Faribault has been named.
[D] NOTE.--When I touched at Prescott in 1845, it was generally known
as the "Mouth of St. Croix," though by some called "Prescott's
Landing." The residents were Hilton Doe, a farmer; Geo. Schaser,
boarding house keeper; W. S. Lockwood, merchant; Joseph Mosier, an
Indian trader or storekeeper. The principal trade was with Indians.
CHAPTER VIII.
BURNETT, WASHBURN, SAWYER AND BARRON COUNTIES.
BURNETT COUNTY.
Burnett county was named in honor of a genial, kind hearted and
eccentric lawyer, Thomas Pendleton Burnett, of Prairie du Chien. It is
somewhat irregular in outline, and is bounded on the north by Douglas,
on the east by Barron, on the south by Polk and Barron counties, and
on the west by the St. Croix river. It includes townships 37 to 42,
range 14; from 38 to 42, range 15; from 38 to 41, ranges 16 and 17;
from 37 to 40, ranges 18 and 19; from 37 to 38, range 20. Seven of
these townships bordering on the St. Croix are fractional. Much of the
soil of the county is a sandy loam admirably suited to cereals and
vegetables. Some townships in the southeast are first class wheat
lands. The timber is mostly a thicket-like growth of small pines,
constituting what is called pine barrens. The southeast portion of the
county is timbered with hardwoods. It is drained by the St. Croix,
Trade, Wood, Clam, Yellow, and Namakagon rivers, with their
tributaries, and with the Wood lakes (Big and Little), Mud Hen, Trade,
Yellow, Spirit, and numerous other lakes. There are besides many
thousand acres of marsh land. These marsh lands are by no means
valueless, as they have given rise to a very important industry--the
growing of cranberries. There are fine deposits of iron. Large tracts
of bog ore are found in townships 38 to 41, ranges 16 to 19. There is
an abundance of wild meadow land, easily drained and profitable to
stock growers.
The settlers of this county are, for the greater part, Swedish and
Norwegian emigrants, an intelligent, moral and religious class of
people who, while they cherish the traditions, manners, customs and
language of their native country, still readily adapt themselves to
American institutions, taking kindly to our common school system and
to other distinctive features of their adopted country. A liberal
spirit has characterized these people in building roads, bridges,
school houses, churches, and making other public improvements. They
have succeeded well also in their private enterprises, the cultivation
of farms and the building of homes.
ORGANIZATION.
The county, originally a part of Polk, was set off March 1, 1856, and
included also at that time, and till the year 1877, the present county
of Washburn. It was organized in 1865. The first county officers,
appointed by the governor, were: Judge, Nimrod H. Hickerson; clerk of
court, Canute Anderson; register of deeds, Peter Anderson; treasurer,
S. Thompson; sheriff, Martin B. Johnson; district attorney, Jacob
Larson. Grantsburg was selected as the county seat. The first county
supervisors, consisting of Michael Jenson, chairman, Thore Ingebritson
and Peter Anderson, met Jan. 24, 1865. The first election was held at
the house of Nimrod H. Hickerson, Nov. 7, 1865. The first frame house
in the county was built at Grantsburg in 1865, by W. H. Peck. The
first crops were raised in township 39, range 18, by Charles Ayer. The
finances of the county have been managed discreetly. The state
drainage fund was judiciously expended. The first deed recorded in
Burnett county was a tax deed from Polk county to Simon Estonson, of
the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 35, township
38, range 19. It bears date Jan. 20, 1866.
THE PINE BARRENS.
So prominent a feature in Burnett and other counties in Northwest
Wisconsin, consist of sandy stretches of undulating, though sometimes
of level lands, sparsely covered with a growth of young pines,
generally of the Black Prince variety. In some places, where the trees
are crowded thickly together, they are not unlike immense cane-brakes.
The trees, from their proximity, have grown very tall and slender. The
lateral branches, crowded together and deprived of sunshine, have
perished early and the growth of the young trees is chiefly vertical.
The lower dead limbs remaining attached to the trunks give the young
forest a peculiarly ragged and tangled appearance. There is abundant
evidence to prove the existence of ancient pine forests where these
pine barrens are now the only growth. In fact some of the larger trees
are still standing, and the charred trunks and decaying remnants of
others. The gradations from the younger to the older growth may be
very plainly seen. Fire is undoubtedly the efficient cause of the
stunted and irregular growth of the pine barrens. The matured forests
are destroyed by fire, and are succeeded by the young pines which are
further reduced and injured by annual fires. It is a mistake to
suppose that the soil of these barrens is necessarily poor. Many of
them have a black, sandy soil, capable of producing fine crops. In
most of them there is a dense undergrowth of blueberry bushes,
producing annually millions and millions of bushels of their small but
luscious fruit.
MURDERS.
Burnett county is not without the traditions of lawlessness and murder
that tarnish so many frontier settlements, and here, as elsewhere, the
primal cause of most of such crimes is whisky. Whisky maddens the
brain and nerves the arm of the assassin. Whisky hardens the heart and
blinds the eyes to what is right, and the sale of whisky on the
frontier, authorized or unauthorized, in nearly all cases the latter,
is the bartering of the human life for gold. The money received for it
is the price of blood, although in some instances the seller himself
may be the victim. It is whisky that does the work.
Jack Drake, a whisky seller at Wood Lake, whose outfit was supplied by
Samuels & Partridge, naturally of a quarrelsome disposition, was
especially so when under the influence of liquor. On one of these
occasions he was killed by a half-breed known as Robideau, and his
body was buried on the shores of Little Wood lake. Robideau was
imprisoned a short time at St. Croix Falls, but being carelessly
guarded, easily made his escape and was not heard of afterward. What
did it matter? It was only the result of a drunken row.
The body of a murdered stranger was found by a crew of men working on
Little Wood river, in the spring of 1843. He had left Superior City
with an Indian guide for St. Paul, and was not afterward seen alive.
His land warrants and watch, which had been taken from him, were
afterward recovered, and the Indian who had been his guide was
himself mysteriously assassinated the following spring.
GEEZHIC.--At Wood Lake, Burnett county, Wisconsin, lived in 1874 an
aged and blind Indian woman who calculated her pilgrimage on earth by
moons. All traces of her traditional beauty as an Indian maiden had
long since departed. Shriveled, decrepit, bent, she was the
impersonation of all that is unlovely and repulsive in age. Taciturn
and sullen, her mind lethargic and dull, she seemed but little more
than half alive, and could not easily be aroused to the comprehension
of passing events, or to the recognition of those around her. She must
have been very old. When aroused to consciousness, which was but
seldom, she would talk of things long past. A light would come into
her sightless eyes as she recounted the traditions, or described the
manners and customs of her people, and spoke with evident pride of
their ancient power and prowess when her people planted their tepees
on the shores of the "Shining Big Sea Water" (Lake Superior) and drove
their enemies, the Dakotahs, before them. Her people wore blankets
made from the skins of the moose; elk and buffalo, with caps from the
skins of the otter and beaver. There was then an abundance of "kego"
(fish) and "wash-kish" (deer). There were no pale faces then in all
the land to drive them from their tepees and take their hunting
grounds. Of course there had been occasional whites, hunters, trappers
and missionaries, but the formidable movements of the now dominant
race had not fairly commenced. Counting the years of her life on her
fingers, so many moons representing a year, she must have numbered a
score beyond a century, and she had consequently witnessed, before her
eyes were dimmed, the complete spoliation of her people's ancestral
domain.
The physical features of the country have undergone a change. The
towering pines have decayed or been leveled by the woodman's axe. Some
of the small lakes have receded, and tall grasses wave and willows
grow where once the "kego" sported in the clear blue waters. "The sun
drew the waters up into the heavens," but the old shores may still be
traced, by the fresh water shells that are crushed by the foot of the
explorer, and by the ineffaceable mark of the water breaking upon the
beach and undermining the rocky ledges.
A few Indians still linger on the old hunting grounds and about the
graves of their fathers, but as a race they are doomed, and the time
is not far distant when their only memorials will be the printed or
striped rocks that are found along the streams and lakes, and here and
there the sunken graves of the vanquished race.
THE FIRST MISSION.
In the autumn of the year 1833 the first mission was established in
the St. Croix valley, at the outlet of Yellow lake, in Burnett county.
This may be considered the first actual movement in opening the way
for white settlements in the St. Croix valley. The good and
indefatigable laborers, who came away into these western wilds, spent
many years in this valley endeavoring to improve the benighted
aborigines. Their labors were successful, until the bane of the human
family--alcoholic drinks--was introduced by the corrupt border
traders. Rev. Fred Ayer (since a resident of Belle Prairie, Minnesota,
and a member of the convention that framed our constitution), Mrs.
Ayer, with Miss Crooks (afterward Mrs. Boutwell) as teacher, arrived
at Yellow Lake Sept. 16, 1833. Miss Crooks opened her school on the
twenty-fourth, with eight scholars. This was evidently the first
school in the St. Croix valley. This mission was under the patronage
of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Thirty or
forty Indians came to the trading house, a mile from the mission, for
the purpose of obtaining ammunition and moccasins for making what is
called the fall hunt. During their visit at the traders', Mr. Ayer had
the opportunity of explaining the object of his mission--schooling
their children, and aiding them in agriculture, planting their
gardens, and furnishing them with seeds. To the objects of the mission
all listened with interest, but, as the chiefs were not present, no
reply was made to Mr. Ayer. After obtaining their supplies from the
traders, they dispersed for their fall hunt. The school in the
meantime progressed, and frequent opportunities occurred for giving
religious instructions to adults during the winter. In April some
twenty-five families encamped near the mission; many were interested
in the objects which the mission proposed. In the spring of 1834 four
families made gardens by the mission and schooled their children;
three of the families belonged to the influential in the band. One of
these, the chief who visited Washington during the administration of
Adams, was Gis-kil-a-way, or "Cat Ear."
The Indian mind is suspicious of the white man. Waiingas, "The Wolf,"
another chief of considerable note, was prejudicing the minds of his
friends against the whites. He openly declared that if the Indians
would join him, he would burn the mission house and drive the teachers
from his country. On one occasion a party of Indians, including this
hostile chief, passed the evening at Mr. Ayer's. The chief closed his
speech at midnight with these words: "The Indians are troubled in mind
about your staying here, and you must go--you shall go; not only I say
so, but all here present say so!" The next morning all the Indians
assembled. The trader, the late Dr. Borup, and his wife were present.
The Wolf and his party were determined to expel all the whites. The
friend of the white man, Cat Ear, took the floor and shaking hands
with Dr. Borup and Mr. Ayer, began a speech of half an hour's length.
Pointing to The Wolf and to two other chiefs sitting side by side, he
says: "I speak for them. Look at them. To them belong this land. Since
last evening we have considered this subject. We have changed our
minds. The Great Spirit made us all--made us red--you white. He gave
you your religion, manners and customs--he gave us ours. Before we saw
white man we dressed in skins and cooked with stones. You found our
land on the map and come--since then you have clothed and provided for
us. Why should we send you away? We only should be the sufferers--all
of us tell you to stay--again we say, stay. We do not wish you to go;
no, no--we say to you all, stay; you may plant and build, but the land
is ours. Our Great Father has sent you here--we are glad--we will tell
you why we fear the whites--we fear you will get our land away. If
this room were full of goods we would not exchange our lands for them.
This land is ours and our children's; it is all we have."
The mission at Yellow Lake had been in progress two years. Several
families had listened with glowing interest to religious instruction,
schooled their children, and cultivated gardens near the mission, when
Mr. Ayer visited the band of Indians at Pokegama. Here were some
thirty-five or forty families in the year 1835. The chief and two or
three families expressed to him a desire to settle down and school
their children. They requested him to come and bring all with him who
wished to come from Yellow Lake. The reasons that induced him to
Pokegama were, first, the means of subsistence were more abundant,
both for the Indians and the mission family--wild rice and fish in
particular; this being the case the Indians could be more stationary
and send their children to school. Second, the soil for agricultural
purposes was superior to that of Yellow Lake. As one of the leading
objects of the mission was to induce the Indians to settle down and
adopt habits of civilization, this object could be better attained at
this place than at Yellow Lake, where it was comparatively sterile and
sandy. A third object gained would be to locate in the midst of a
larger number of Indians, with whom we could come in more frequent
contact, and last, but not least, put the mission in a nearer point of
communication with St. Peter, from whence all the family necessaries
were obtained at that day. These reasons, together with the
solicitation of one of the chiefs, and his permission to build on his
land, and use his wood, water and fish, led Mr. Ayer, in the fall of
1835, to remove to Pokegama.
For the continued history of this mission the reader is referred to
the history of Pine county.
CHIPPEWAS OF WOOD LAKE.--A small band of Chippewas, as late as 1870,
lingered about Big Wood lake, unwilling to leave their old hunting
grounds. Though brought directly in contact with civilization, they
adopted its vices, otherwise remaining savages, taking no part in
cultivating the soil or educating their children, contented to live
and die in the old fashion of their race. They subsist, as far as
possible, by hunting and fishing, and are by no means above begging
when occasion may offer. They retain their annual dances and
festivals, at the occurrence of which other bands join them from a
distance. A dance with its accompanying feasts occupies generally
about ten days, and is conducted according to rigid formulas. These
dances are intended as representations of hunting, fishing or
fighting, and are honored accordingly. They are accompanied with music
upon rude instruments, and a weird chant in guttural and nasal tones,
which may be understood as a poetic recital of their deeds or
expression of their feelings. Their dead are buried in conspicuous
places. The graves are decorated with splints of timber. A pole with
rags and trinkets is planted near the graves. There is nothing that
can long mark their resting places or keep them from being desecrated
by the share of the plowman.
GRANTSBURG
Was founded by Canute Anderson, in 1865, in section 14, town 38, range
19. He built a flour and saw mill, the first in the county, a good
hotel, and opened a store. It became the centre of trade for the
county, prospered continuously, and now (in 1886) contains a good
court house, built at a cost of $7,000 (burned December, 1887), a
school house, four churches, two hotels, five stores and numerous
shops and dwellings. There are two resident lawyers and one physician.
Grantsburg is the terminus of the St. Paul & Duluth (branch) railroad,
completed in 1884. The scheme of building a branch road to connect
with the St. Paul & Duluth railroad at Rush City was long cherished by
Canute Anderson, and through his efforts the road was finally built.
The county voted $20,000 bonds, at seven per cent interest, which
bonds the state of Wisconsin cashed. The road was graded from
Grantsburg to the St. Croix river in 1878, from Rush City to St. Croix
in 1882. The St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company built the railroad and
assumed the bonded indebtedness, payable in fifteen annual
installments. Cars ran to the St. Croix river in 1883. The bridge over
the St. Croix, completed in 1883, cost $20,000. The road was opened to
Grantsburg Jan. 22, 1884. At this opening over a thousand persons were
present, five hundred of whom came in on the train. Canute Anderson
made an address of welcome, followed by James Smith, president of the
road. Congratulatory letters were read from Hons. S. S. Fifield, Henry
M. Rice, and W. H. C. Folsom, the tenor of which was highly
complimentary to Mr. Anderson, and full of hope for the future of the
railroad and its terminus.
CANUTE ANDERSON was born in Norway, 1830. He came to America in 1851,
and three years later settled in the northeast quarter of section 2,
township 37, range 19, making a large stock farm, part of it being a
fine natural meadow, with running stream. In 1858 the first post
office in the county (called Anderson) was established at his house,
and he was appointed postmaster. In 1878 he represented Ashland,
Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and Polk counties in the
legislature. He is and ever has been a master spirit in his county,
using all his influence to further the interests of his adopted home.
Many of the early settlers were poor,--strangers in a strange
land,--and for them Mr. Anderson's house was ever a resort. It was
also an intelligence office, where the inquiring immigrant could
obtain reliable information as to the country and its resources, and
facilities to the settler. In 1860 Mr. Anderson was married to
Catharine Nelson, daughter of Magnus Nelson, one of Burnett county's
first settlers.
THE HICKERSON FAMILY came from Ohio to Wisconsin. Nimrod H., the
oldest brother, settled on Wood river in 1859, built a saw mill, kept
a hotel and established a post office on the St. Paul and Bayfield
stage route in 1860. Mr. Hickerson went to California in 1875, and
died there. Joel, the second brother, is a merchant at Grantsburg. He
served during the later years of the Civil War as a soldier, Company
C, Seventh Minnesota Volunteers, and was pensioned for disabilities.
He was married in 1868 to Mary Anderson. Perry D., the third brother,
keeps a hotel in Grantsburg. He was also a member of Company C,
Seventh Minnesota Volunteers, and with his brother was mustered out at
the close of the war, and has received a pension for disabilities. He
was married to Ellen M. Anderson, daughter of Peter Anderson. They
have eleven children. Newton, the fourth son, lives in Grantsburg. He
was a soldier in Company D, Twenty-first Ohio, during the war. Was
wounded and totally disabled. He has no pension. He is unmarried.
THE ANDERSON FAMILY.--The four brothers, Peter, George, Hans and
Martin, with their aged parents, came from Norway and settled in
Grantsburg in 1883. The father but recently died. The mother is still
living, having reached the extreme age of ninety-seven years. During
the last six years she has been blind. Peter Anderson was married in
Norway in 1846. His wife died in 1877, leaving three sons and four
daughters. He was married to his second wife in 1878. Peter has served
as county supervisor, and filled other offices. The brothers have been
active in promoting the interests of their town and county.
ROBERT A. DOTY was born in Niagara county, New York; lived some years
in Genesee county, Michigan, and settled in Sterling, Polk county, in
1865. He subsequently became the first settler in the town of
Marshfield, Burnett county. He was accidentally killed in 1879 by
being thrown from his wagon. His widow and two sons live in
Grantsburg. John H., the oldest son, resides on the old homestead in
Sterling.
THE CRANBERRY MARSHES.
The cultivation of the cranberry is an important industry in Burnett
county. The berry is raised chiefly in townships 38 and 39, ranges 17
and 18. The writer of these sketches visited the localities named in
1873, and although there have been many changes and improvements since
then, the description quoted from an essay read before the
Horticultural Society will still be generally applicable:
"The scene on approaching these marshes, where the native
cranberry was found, before the white man had commenced to
improve them, was picturesque in the extreme to those who
have a taste for Nature's handiwork. There are extensive
tracts of land covering thousands of acres, dotted here and
there with islands of young pine and points of highland
projecting in various shapes into the marshes. It reminded
me of an ocean bay, in a calm, only changing the ocean water
color to endless green. There are in these marshes somewhere
from one to two townships of land, on which cranberries were
then growing, or susceptible of being improved so that
cranberries can be raised thereon. One township contains
23,040 acres. The parties operating on the marshes I visited
already have some 30 or 40 miles of ditch made, averaging 5
feet at the top, 3 feet at the bottom, with an average depth
of 4 feet, at a cost of about 75 cents per rod. These
ditches are to drain the water from the marshes when
desired. They have dams across these ditches, to flood the
marshes when desired. The flooding of the marshes aids in
subduing the wild grasses and other incumbrances, also is
essential to the growth of the berries. On these marshes,
wherever the flowage is killing the grass, the vine is
rapidly spreading, without transplanting. Undoubtedly they
would yield a quicker return by transplanting. Large tracts
of these lands, which, at this time have no vines, are
bought by companies, mostly from the cranberry lands in
Eastern Wisconsin, who are experienced in this business, and
know what they are doing. They openly declare that vines can
be grown on these marshes, where sufficient water can be
obtained and controlled to flow the lands. Mr. Irvine
informed me that this flooding process, and the manner in
which it was controlled, was the key to success. I examined
the effect which one year alone had accomplished, as these
companies commenced operations in 1872. It surprised me when
I saw the mode, and heard it explained, that so little was
generally known of this business. After the marshes are
subdued, dams and ditches built, there is comparatively
small cost in raising the fruit until the harvest, when men,
women and children flock in from the farming countries to
pick, to pack, to store, to dry, to box, and convey to
market. An expert will pick from five to ten bushels per day
by hand, no rakes being allowed. In 1873 these marshes had
an abundant yield. These companies paid to outsiders one
dollar and fifty cents per bushel. There are several
companies operating in Burnett county. They have made and
are making substantial improvements, in building roads, dry
houses, dwelling houses, etc. The past year a saw mill was
erected for sawing staves for barrels, lumber for boxes,
etc. These marshes are about twenty miles east of the
Superior railroad."
WASHBURN COUNTY.
Washburn county was organized in 1883, and embraces townships 37 to
42, inclusive, and ranges 10 to 13, inclusive, a total of 24
townships. It is drained by St. Croix waters with the exception of the
southeast corner, which is drained by a branch of the Chippewa river.
It has been a rich timbered region and large forests of pine still
remain. The greater part of the county is adapted to agriculture, and
is settling rapidly. Two lines of railway traverse the county, one
from south to north, and the other from southwest to northeast, giving
the county excellent facilities for transportation and marketing of
products. The county is divided into two towns, Bashaw in the south
and Veasie in the north. These towns were organized in 1877, while
Washburn was a part of Burnett county. The first supervisors of Bashaw
were: L. E. Thomas, chairman; John Arbuckle and John McMullen. The
town of Bashaw was the first settled. John McMullen settled in
township 38, range 13, in 1872, in Bashaw valley. He married a member
of the Hart family, old settlers of the town. He died in 1878. L. E.
Thomas was the second settler in Bashaw and in Washburn county, and
has been officially connected with the town and county organization.
He is a native of Michigan, and has followed lumbering and farming. L.
E. Thomas built the first house. Nellie Raberge taught the first
school in Bashaw, in 1881. Miss Raberge has since become the wife of
Milton Stratton. The first post office was established in 1880, Mrs.
Malcolm Dobie, postmistress. The first sermon was preached by Rev.
Ellingwood. G. P. Pearly was the first physician; A. L. Bugbee, the
first lawyer. Messrs. Hart, Baker, Gardner and others have large farms
in Bashaw valley. By the act organizing the county,
SHELL LAKE
was made the county seat. It is beautifully located on the shores of
Summit lake. It has a court house, built at a cost of $11,000, in
1885, one of the most tasteful buildings of the kind in the St. Croix
valley. The town is built on railroad lands, purchased by the Shell
Lake Lumber Company, and by them surveyed into lots. The streets are
from sixty-six to eighty feet wide. A restriction in the deeds to the
lots and lands against the sale of alcoholic drinks has been
continuously violated. In 1883 the town board fixed license at five
hundred dollars, a plain violation of the original agreement.
A fine school building with four apartments was built in 1885, at a
cost of $5,000. Prof. Halphyde is principal of the schools. The
Episcopalians and Catholics have church buildings. The Baptists,
Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians have church organizations. The
Masons, Good Templars and Knights of Labor have organizations.
Summit lake, on the west bank of which the town is situated, is about
two and a half miles broad by three and a half long. It has bold,
gravelly shores. The water is deep, clear and pure. The slopes
surrounding it are covered with evergreen, and hardwood timber. One
small steamer floats upon its waters.
The first board of county officers was as follows: Treasurer, Leander
E. Thomas; clerk, Frank B. Nelson; sheriff, James Wynne; attorney,
Frank Gudette; register of deeds, Albert L. Bugbee; judge, L. H. Mead;
clerk of court, A. Gibson; superintendent of schools, Clara Stratton;
surveyor, Patrick Kelly. The first circuit court was held in June,
1883, Hon. S. S. Clough, presiding. The county has two court terms for
the year, in June and December.
The Shell Lake Lumber Company was organized in 1880, under Iowa laws.
It is composed of C. Lamb and David Joice and sons, of Clinton, Iowa;
Laird, Norton & Co., of Winona; Weyerhauser & Dinkeman, of Rock
Island, Illinois; S. T. McKnight, of Hannibal, Missouri; D. R. Moore,
Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Their mills are located on the northwest side
of Summit lake. They have a capacity of 50,000,000 feet per year. The
capital stock amounts to $500,000. Employment is furnished to 250 men.
In 1880 the hour system of labor was adopted. A narrow gauge railroad,
twelve miles long, supplied with two locomotives and fifty cars, is
used for bringing logs to mill. This road has a steel track and 3,000
feet of piling. The refuse burner of the mill is 20 feet in diameter
and 102 in height. There are 63 tenement houses to accommodate the
laborers. A. H. Earle superintends this vast concern.
Sawyer creek obtained its name from Seth M. Sawyer, of Stillwater.
This stream flows into Yellow river, five miles from Summit lake. It
rises from springs three hundred feet from the lake, and one hundred
feet lower down, and may be considered its subterranean outlet, as
visible outlet there is none. The lake, literally a summit lake, the
receding and descending slopes, the springs uniting to form a larger
stream, form a peculiar landscape, quite park-like in some of its
features, and worthy of being converted into a park.
SPOONER,
In the township of Veazie, on the north branch of the Yellow river,
township 39, range 12, is a dinner station on the North Wisconsin
railroad. The railroad company have fitted up an elegant eating house,
and a few neat buildings, the nucleus of a much larger village,
cluster around it.
VEAZIE VILLAGE
Is in township 41, range 10, and has a post office. The town of
Veazie, occupying the northern part of the county, was organized in
1877. Millions of feet of pine timber have been gathered and marketed
from this town, and it is estimated that 150,000,600 feet still
remain. Ames and Sinnot station are in the township of Veazie.
SAWYER COUNTY.
Sawyer county was organized March 9, 1883. It is comprised of
townships 37 to 42, and ranges 5 to 9, inclusive. Of these townships
twenty-five are drained by Chippewa waters and five by Namakagon
river. The county is heavily timbered with pine, though vast
quantities have been taken and marketed. The county seat was located
at Hayward in the bill organizing the county. The county officers,
appointed by Gov. Rusk, were: Sheriff, A. Blaisdell; clerk, C. H.
Clapperton; register of deeds, H. E. Ticknor; treasurer, R. L.
McCormack; county judge, H. W. Hart; attorney, N. E. Ticknor;
superintendent of schools, Miss M. Mears; surveyor, W. J. Moulton;
coroner, E. G. Gregg.
The court house was built in 1885, at a cost of $18,000. The county at
its organization assumed the following indebtedness:
To Ashland county $25,000
To town of Ashland, Ashland county 1,870
To town of Butternut, Ashland county 2,050
To Chippewa county 1,900
To town of Flambeau, Chippewa county (disputed claim) 5,000
To town of Big Bend, Chippewa county 3,000
To town of Sigel, Chippewa county 2,000
Outside indebtedness, total $40,820
All this indebtedness, with the exception of the unsettled claim of
Flambeau, Chippewa county, has been paid. Since its organization the
county has expended $30,000 on roads to Chippewa waters. This, added
to the cost of the court house, $18,000, a school house for the town
of Hayward, $6,500, town hall for Hayward $5,000, makes a total of
expenditures for the county within the past three years of $106,420, a
remarkable sum for a new county with so sparse a population to pay,
but not so remarkable when we take into account the immense value of
its lumber products and standing timber.
Hayward is the only town in the county. Its first board of supervisors
were: A. J. Hayward, chairman; Thos. Manwarin and Michael Jordan. A.
L. McCormack was first treasurer, and C. C. Claghorn, clerk. The
village is situated in sections 21 and 22, township 41, range 9, upon
a level pine plateau on the north side of Namakagon river, a tributary
of the St. Croix. The village was platted in 1883, but a post office
had been established the year before, C. H. Clapperton being the first
postmaster. The first marriage in the town of Hayward and county of
Sawyer was that of Fred Emmons and Mary Lindmark, in 1883. The first
birth was that of a daughter to Al. Blaisdell. The first death was
that of Nels J. Eggin. Rev. A. Safford preached the first sermon. Anna
Shafer taught the first school. E. G. Gregg opened the first store.
H. E. Ticknor was the first lawyer and J. B. Trowbridge the first
physician.
The first school house, built at a cost of $5,000, was burned. There
was an insurance of $4,500. A new building was erected at a cost of
$6,000, with three departments, and with steam heating apparatus.
Prof. F. A. Nichols was the principal.
The Congregational church at Hayward is one of the finest church
buildings in the Northwest. It is built in the Queen Anne style, with
circular seats, the whole finished in exquisite taste. Senator Sawyer,
after whom the county was named, contributed a town clock and bell
worth $1,000. The Catholics have a church here, and the Lutherans an
organization. The Odd Fellows and Knights of Labor have organizations.
The Sawyer County Bank was organized March 9, 1884, with a capital
stock of $200,000, divided equally between three stockholders, R. L.
McCormack, A. J. Hayward and E. H. Halbert, the latter being general
manager and cashier. The bank deals in real estate, abstracts,
insurance and general monetary business. The business transacted for
the year ending June 6, 1886, amounted to $3,000,000. The bank
building is a substantial brick. The Hayward Lumber Company has a mill
on the Namakagon river. The water power has a fall of eighteen feet
and a flowage of about three miles. A sixty foot channel has been left
through the flowage for slucing logs. The saw mill has a capacity of
35,000,000 feet per annum. It has a planing mill attached. The company
is composed of T. F. Robinson, Weyerhauser & Dinkeman and R. L.
McCormack. Mr. Weyerhauser is president of the company. Mr.
Weyerhauser is also president of the Rock Island Lumber Company and of
Weyerhauser, Dinkeman & Co., of Rock Island, and is a stockholder in
Renwick, Crosset & Co., Cloquet, Minnesota, Shell Lake, Barronett,
Masons, White River, and Chippewa Falls Lumber companies, and is
president of the Beef Slough Boom and Chippewa and Mississippi Logging
companies. Mr. Weyerhauser is the most extensive holder and owner of
unoperated pine lands in the West, or probably on the continent. The
stockholders of the Hayward Lumber Company are all men of wealth
accumulated by their own industry. Mr. R. L. McCormack, the resident
stockholder and manager, is admirably adapted for the position he
holds. Mr. McCormack was a citizen of Minnesota for fourteen years,
and a member of the Minnesota legislature in 1881. He was born in
Pennsylvania in 1847.
Dobie & Stratton, contractors for pine stumpage on the Lac Oreilles
Indian reservation, reside in Hayward. They cut 28,000,000 feet of
logs in the winter of 1885-86.
MALCOMB DOBIE, of this firm, is a native of Canada. He came to the St.
Croix valley in 1864, and was married to Harriet Stratton, at St.
Croix Falls, in 1874.
MILTON V. STRATTON, brother of Mrs. Dobie, was raised at St. Croix
Falls, and engaged in business with Mr. Dobie. In 1886, his health
failing, he removed to California.
BARRON COUNTY.
Barron county was formerly a heavily timbered tract of country, but is
now being rapidly cleared and settled. It is well watered by the Red
Cedar and its tributaries, and has many beautiful lakes, among them
Turtle, Beaver, Chetek, Red Cedar, Rice, Bear, and Long lakes. The
county was first established as Dallas county, in 1859, and attached
to Polk for judicial purposes. In 1868 it was organized for county and
judicial purposes, and the county seat was changed from Manhattan to
Barron, section 26, township 34, range 12. By act of legislature in
1869, the name of the county was changed to Barron, and the county
seat was called by the same name, in honor of Hon. Henry D. Barron,
then judge of the Eleventh circuit. It comprises townships 32 to 36,
inclusive, and ranges 10 to 14, in all 25 townships. Barron county has
three railroads, on the lines of which thriving settlements have
sprung up. The railroads are three, the North Wisconsin, a branch line
of the Omaha, and the Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic. The
North Wisconsin railroad passes through the northwestern part of the
county. The Chippewa Falls & Superior City branch of the Omaha enters
the southeast corner, and traverses the county in a direction west of
north. The Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic passes through the
middle of the county in a direction from east to west.
TURTLE LAKE TOWN
Was organized in 1879. The village of Turtle Lake is situated in
sections 30 and 31, township 34, range 14. It contains a large saw
mill with a capacity of 40,000,000 feet per annum; a union depot, used
by the North Wisconsin, and Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic
railroads, and stores, shops and dwellings, all new. The Minneapolis,
Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic railroad was built through the county in
1885, and completed in 1887.
BARRON,
The county seat, is a growing lumber town, with farming lands to the
south. It has a population of over 1,000. The "Soo Line" railway has a
station here.
PERLEY VILLAGE
Is located also in Turtle Lake town, in section 8, township 34, range
14, and on the line of the North Wisconsin railroad. It has a large
saw mill with a capacity of 16,000,000 feet per annum. The village is
beautifully located on Horse Shoe lake.
CUMBERLAND VILLAGE
Is situated in the town of Cumberland, section 7, township 35, range
15, on Beaver Dam lake. It is pleasantly situated, and is the largest
village on the line of the Northwestern railroad. Its appearance gives
evidence of enterprise and thrift on the part of its citizens. The
Beaver Dam Lumber Company have here a saw mill with a capacity of
24,000,000 feet per annum. Cook & Co. have a saw mill (burned and
rebuilt) with a capacity of 6,000,000 feet. The village has a bank and
one newspaper, the Cumberland _Advocate_, first issued in 1880 as the
_Herald_.
Cumberland was organized as a village in 1881, and organized under a
city charter in 1885. The population is now about 1,700. The
mercantile business will aggregate about $500,000 annually. The
aggregate output of lumber is 30,000,000 feet, while other industries
aggregate $200,000 per annum. There are four churches, one graded
school of five departments in which students are prepared to enter
college. There is here one banking house.
SPRAGUE
Is a village in Cumberland, on the Northwestern railroad. It has a saw
mill with a capacity of about 15,000,000 feet per annum.
COMSTOCK,
In Cumberland, on the Northwestern railroad, has a shingle mill and
saw mill, the latter having a capacity of about 5,000,000 feet.
BARRONETT,
In Cumberland, is located in township 36, range 13, in the midst of a
well timbered region. Its saw mill, directly on the county line, has a
capacity of 25,000,000 feet. M. Bowron has a farm adjoining the
village of 250 acres, improved and yielding tame grass.
De Graw and Granite Lake Mills are also located on the Northwestern
railroad.
Turtle Lake, Scott's Siding, Cosgrove, Barron, the county seat,
Cameron and Canton, are on the Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic
railroad.
Chetek, Cameron Junction, Rice Lake and Bear Creek are located on the
Omaha branch.
CHARLES SIMEON TAYLOR.--Mr. Taylor was born in Geneva, Wisconsin,
October, 1851; graduated at the Wisconsin State University; studied
law and settled at Barron, Barron county, in 1876, where he practices
his profession and edits the _Barron County Shield_. He was elected
member of the Thirty-seventh Wisconsin assembly in 1885-86 and
represented the counties of Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and
Washburn.
CHAPTER IX.
ASHLAND, BAYFIELD AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES.
ASHLAND COUNTY.
Ashland was originally a part of Crawford county, afterward of St.
Croix and La Pointe, and was set off from the latter March 27, 1860.
It is bounded on the north by Lake Superior and Montreal river, on the
east by Oneida, on the south by Price and Chippewa, and on the west by
Bayfield and Chippewa counties. It includes townships 41 to 47, ranges
1, 2, and 3 east of the fourth principal meridian, and townships 41 to
48 west of the same; the northern towns bordering on Montreal river
and Lake Superior are fractional. The group of Apostle islands belongs
to this county. The surface is generally level except where broken by
the iron and copper ranges in the middle and southern part of the
county. The Gogebic range, southeast of Ashland, is especially rich in
iron. A railroad along this range connects Ashland with the Michigan
roads. The soil is somewhat varied, ranging from sandy loam in the
interior, to red clay on the lake shore. The county is drained by Bad,
White and Montreal rivers and their tributaries, and the headwaters of
the Chippewa. The timber is pine, fir, birch, etc.
The Apostle islands, situated in Lake Superior at the mouth of
Chequamegon bay, form a fine natural harbor. The group consists of
twenty-two islands, the most considerable of which are Madeline,
Oatez, Oak, Hemlock, Rice, Basswood, Presque, Bear, Sand, and
Michigan. The islands range in area from a very few acres up to
14,804. They are heavily timbered with hardwood, have fertile soil,
and are well adapted to farm and garden culture. The largest of these
islands is Madeline, situated directly at the entrance to Chequamegon
bay, and noted as containing the oldest settlement on the lake. Claude
Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, landed at Madeline island Oct. 1, 1665,
and erected a bark chapel at the place now known as La Pointe, and
commenced instructing the Indians of the Algonquin and Huron tribes.
Since that time the island has been held by missionaries and trading
companies, with some pretty long intervals of abandonment. In 1800, M.
Cadot, a French trader, came to La Pointe, erected fortified dwellings
and lived here till his death, in 1837. At the commencement of the
present century the American Fur Company made its headquarters on the
southern part of the island, and occupied a post there until 1835,
when they removed to La Pointe. Rev. Sherman Hall, of the Presbyterian
church, established a mission here in 1830. In 1835 Rev. Father
Baraga, a Catholic missionary, arrived, and built a church which he
occupied until 1841, when he built a better one, which still stands in
the inclosure of an ancient burying ground. This church contains a
painting said to be over two hundred years old. Some of the graves are
quite ancient, and have quaint inscriptions upon their tombstones. One
that has often been copied and commented on by tourists is as follows:
"ERECTED
TO THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM BEAULIEAU
WHO WAS ACCIDENTALLY SHOT
AS A MARK OF AFFECTION
BY HIS BROTHER."
These islands are becoming a fashionable resort for tourists, and many
of them have been utilized as pleasant summer residences. Some of them
are occupied by lighthouses of which there are five in all. The
islands abound in brown stone, which is being quarried extensively for
building purposes. The stone for the Milwaukee court house was taken
from the quarries on Basswood island.
LA POINTE COUNTY ELECTION.--In 1848 La Pointe county was set off from
St. Croix county, and at an election held Nov. 10, 1848, John H. Wells
and Leonard Wheeler were elected justices of the peace, and J. F.
Hughes was elected clerk of the board of county commissioners. Returns
of their election and that of members of the legislature were made to
Hudson, county seat of St. Croix county.
HON. JOHN W. BELL, born in New York City in 1805, in his eighth year
went to Canada with his parents, learned to be a watchmaker, a ship
builder and a cooper, and came to La Pointe in 1835, where he has
since resided. He carried on the coopering business first, for the
American Fur Company, and then for himself established a trading post,
became interested in mining stocks, and filled various county offices,
having served as county judge and register of deeds a great many
years. In later life he was postmaster at La Pointe. He was married in
1837 to Miss Margaret Brahant, in the Catholic chapel, by Bishop
Baraga. He died in 1888.
ASHLAND
Is situated on a plateau of about thirty feet elevation, on the south
shore and near the head of Chequamegon bay. The first house, a cabin,
was built in 1854. Other cabins were added the same year. In the cabin
erected by Mr. Asaph Whittlesey, in the winter of 1854-55, was
preached the first sermon in Ashland by Rev. L. H. Wheeler, of the
Odanah mission. A post office was established in March, 1855, Mr.
Whittlesey, postmaster. The first American child born was the second
daughter of Asaph Whittlesey. The name of Ashland was conferred upon
the town by Martin Beaser, an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, it being
the name of Mr. Clay's homestead. The village and post office was
first known as Whittlesey, but on the organization of the county in
1860, the name of Ashland was applied to both. The new town was not
destined to immediate and continuous prosperity, and at one time, in
1863, had decreased so much in population that its post office was
discontinued for a period of nine years. After that date it entered
upon an era of prosperity.
Julia Wheeler taught the first school in 1859. The Methodists
organized the first Protestant society in 1872. The Catholics
commenced a church building in 1873. In 1872 the first newspaper in
Ashland, the _Press_, was established by Sam S. and Hank O. Fifield,
under whose charge it remained until 1874, when S. S. Fifield bought
his brother's interest in the paper and has since published it
continuously, and in 1888 established a daily.
In 1872 the Wisconsin Central railroad commenced work at the bay, and
the outlay for improvements that year amounted to $244,800. The
Wisconsin Central railroad built the Hotel Chequamegon in 1877. It is
built in the form of an L, 120 feet front and 80 feet deep with 400
feet of veranda, and accommodations for 100 guests. There are numerous
other hotels in the city, and several boarding houses receive guests
during the summer season. Ashland has vast lumber interests. The
Ashland Lumber Company built the first mill, in 1872, which had a
capacity of about 15,000,000 feet per annum. The Union mill, built in
1878, has a capacity of about 18,000,000 feet. Mueller & Richie's
mill, built in 1881, has a capacity of about 20,000,000 feet. There is
also a planing mill belonging to Geo. White. Ashland has become a
railroad centre. The Wisconsin Central, St. Paul & Omaha, Milwaukee &
Lake Shore and Northern Pacific concentrate a heavy freight for their
elevators and lake docks. The largest dock in the world was built in
Ashland in 1887. It was built almost expressly for iron ore shipments
from Penoka and Gogebic ranges.
ASAPH WHITTLESEY selected the site of Ashland in 1854, and in
conjunction with George Kilborn built the first dwelling. He was the
first postmaster. He was appointed in 1855. He represented Ashland,
Burnett, Douglas, La Pointe, Polk, and St. Croix in the Wisconsin
assembly in 1860.
J. P. T. HASKELL was the second settler in Ashland. He came with his
wife, Nov. 2, 1854, but did not long remain.
S. S. VAUGHN was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, Sept. 2, 1830. He came
with his brother to La Pointe in 1852, and engaged in the fishing and
fur trade until 1855, when he returned to Ohio. After taking a course
in a commercial college, he returned to Wisconsin in 1856, took a
claim of one hundred and sixty acres at Ashland and opened a store at
Bayfield. In 1856 he surveyed and platted what is known as Vaughn's
addition to Ashland. In 1871 he represented Ashland, Barron, Bayfield,
Burnett, Douglas, and Polk counties in the Wisconsin assembly. At
Ashland he built docks, warehouses and a store, and in later years
dealt largely in iron mines and in lumber. He was married to Miss E.
Patrick, of Ohio, in 1864. He died at Ashland, February, 1886. He
induced the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company to make Ashland their
lake terminus. He did more for that city than any other man.
EDWIN ELLIS, M.D., was born in Oxford county, Maine; was educated in
Farmington Academy, Colby University and Bowdoin College, where he
graduated and afterward completed a medical course at the University
of New York. He came West in 1854, and located first at St. Paul, but
in 1855 removed to Ashland where he made a claim, which, in part,
became in 1873 Ellis' addition to Ashland. He practiced his profession
at Ashland and Ontonagon, Michigan. He was married in 1850 to Martha
B. Baker, of Sharon, Maine.
MARTIN BEASER, one of the pre-emptors of the site of Ashland, was born
in Erie county, New York, Oct. 22, 1822. For many years he was a
seafaring man. He spent seven years in whaling, at the close of which
time he came to Ontonagon in a sailing vessel, and thence with three
companions in a dog sledge to Ashland, arriving February, 1856. Here
he pre-empted land, and assisted in laying out the village. He engaged
in the mercantile business. He was drowned in November, 1866, while
trying to cross Chequamegon bay in an open boat during a storm. Mr.
Beaser was a public spirited man and freely used his wealth in
attempting to build up Ashland. He never lost faith in the ultimate
prosperity of his adopted home.
HON. SAM S. FIFIELD was born in Corinna, Penobscot county, Maine, June
24, 1839. His early days were spent in Bangor, and he had but limited
school privileges. He was early thrown upon his own resources and
learned lessons in the rough school of life. He spent his time
variously, as errand boy, hotel clerk, night watch on a steamboat,
toll keeper; but finally, having served a brief apprenticeship in a
printing office, he became the proprietor of the _Polk County Press_
in 1862. In 1872 he and his brother Hank O. established the Ashland
_Press_, of which he is now sole editor and publisher. Mr. Fifield
entered the political arena as a Republican and has been remarkably
successful. His record from the Wisconsin blue book is as follows:
1868-69--Assembly proof-reader and assistant sergeant-at-arms.
1871-72--Assembly sergeant-at-arms.
1874-75-76--Member of assembly from Ashland, Barron, Burnett, Douglas, and
Polk counties.
1876--Speaker of the assembly.
1877--Member of the senate.
1880-81--Member of the senate.
1882-86--Lieutenant governor.
Mr. Fifield was married to Stella Grimes, at Prescott, 1863.
Considering the disadvantageous circumstances of his youth, Mr.
Fifield's career has been a notable one.
BAYFIELD COUNTY.
Bayfield county includes townships 43 to 52, except as affected by the
irregular outline of its lake boundary on the north, and ranges 5 to
9. It has seventy-five miles of lake shore, with some fine harbors,
the finest of which are those in the shelter of the Apostle islands,
on the northeast. The country is covered with dense growths of
evergreen and hardwood timber. Numerous streams flow into the lake on
the north, and into the tributaries of the St. Croix on the south. The
Chippewa Indians formerly occupied the country. The Red Cliff Indian
reservation is located at Buffalo Bay, a short distance north of
Bayfield City. The territory of Bayfield county has been successively
in the bounds of Crawford, St. Croix and La Pointe. By subsequent
subdivisions Douglas and Ashland counties were set off from La Pointe,
and the Apostle islands given to Ashland, and the remaining part of La
Pointe was organized as Bayfield county, with the county seat at
Bayfield, in 1868. Aside from traders and adventurers and the
occasional advent of a missionary, the first settler was Elisha Pike,
who came with his family in 1855, and settled in section 21, township
50, range 4, not far from Bayfield. Bayfield was named in honor of
Admiral Bayfield of the British Navy, who made a survey of Lake
Superior in 1822-23.
BAYFIELD.
The village of Bayfield was platted in 1856, by H. M. Rice. It has
since been incorporated. It is beautifully situated. The site slopes
gently from high timbered regions to the shores of the bay. The waters
of the bay are deep, clear, and, from the shelter afforded by the
Apostle islands, almost unruffled. The harbor thus afforded is among
the best on the lake. Bayfield was made a port of entry in 1858. The
city is well supplied with stores, mills, hotels, school houses, and
churches. There are many pleasant homes, with fountains playing in
front, lawns, shade trees and ornamental shrubs. The landscape,
especially to those residing in the rear of the city on the higher
grounds, is exquisitely beautiful. There are many beautiful trout
brooks and ponds in the suburbs. As a summer resort Bayfield is
becoming every year better appreciated. The Bayfield _Press_,
established in 1874, is the local newspaper. It is edited and
published by Currie C. Bell.
WASHBURN
Is a new town on the west side of Chequamegon bay. It is the lake
terminus of the Omaha railroad. It has a fine harbor, large mills and
other enterprises that mark it as a growing town.
DRUMMOND, PRATT AND MASON
Are prosperous manufacturing villages, with large saw mills, located
on White river, on the line of the North Wisconsin railroad.
CABLE STATION,
On the railroad, in township 43, range 7, contains about a dozen
buildings. Mathews, Olson & Co. are working a silver mine near Cable
which yields twenty-three dollars per ton. There are several other
villages and stations on the line of the two railroads passing through
this county.
DOUGLAS COUNTY.
This county occupies the extreme northwestern corner of the State,
having a frontage of six townships on the lake by six on the Minnesota
state line, making a total of thirty-six whole townships and five
fractional, the latter lying along the lake. The northern part of the
county is drained by the tributaries of St. Louis river and Lake
Superior, the principal streams being the Nemadji, Middle and Brule
rivers. The southern part is drained by the St. Croix and tributaries.
The Omaha railroad intersects the county from south to north, having
its northern terminus at West Superior. The Northern Pacific crosses
the upper tier of towns, having its principal station at Superior.
Thriving villages are growing up along these lines of railroad, and
the county is being rapidly settled. It was organized as a county in
February, 1854, from territory originally belonging successively to
Crawford, St. Croix and La Pointe counties.
The first election was held Nov. 7, 1854. The following officers were
elected: County judge, J. A. Markland; sheriff, Asa A. Parker;
district attorney, R. R. Nelson; register of deeds, F. A. Whitaker;
county treasurer, Bradley Salter; supervisors, Frank Perfect, Chas. H.
Kimball and Alexander Paul; supervisors' clerk, C. H. Kingsbury;
superintendent of schools, J. J. Post; coroner, R. H. Barrett. Judge
J. A. Markland held the first term of court, June 4, 1854. The first
deed filed in the county was from William Herbert to Geo. L. Becker,
being a warranty in section 14, township 47, range 14. Consideration,
$250. The deed was recorded February, 1854. At the organization of the
county, Superior was made the county seat.
SUPERIOR CITY.
The site is on a beautiful plateau originally covered with pine, lying
on the southern shore of Lake Superior, separated, however, from it by
the waters of Superior bay, a fine natural harbor shut in from the
lake by tongues of land called Minnesota and Wisconsin Points. These
approach within a half mile of each other, the space thus left being
the original outlet of the bay. Between Wisconsin Point and the main
land lie the waters of Allouez bay, extending in length a distance of
three miles, and in width in its widest part about one mile. The
Nemadji river flows into Superior bay near its outlet. The bay of St.
Louis finds an outlet into Superior bay between Rice's Point and a
tongue of land a mile or more in length, projecting from the Wisconsin
main land. Minnesota Point, which separates Superior bay from Superior
lake, is a strip of land seven miles in length, with an average width
of seven hundred feet, beautifully fringed with pines. At the outlet
of Superior bay two piers have been constructed, extending into the
lake three-fourths of a mile. On one of these piers is a forty-day
lighthouse, constructed by the government. The bay forms one of the
finest harbors in the world.
The plateau on which Superior City is located is about thirty-five
feet above the waters of the bay. The site occupies the triangular
space lying between St. Louis bay and the bays of Allouez and
Superior, and has at least eleven miles of frontage on these bays,
along which numerous docks and piers have been built and projected,
some of them costing as much as $200,000. The government surveys were
made in 1853, by George R. Stuntz. In July of the same year J.
Addison Bulmer made a location on Allouez Point. In August, John T.
Morgan settled at the mouth of the Nemadji river. They were followed
by Wm. H. Newton, George E. Nettleton, Benjamin Thompson, Col. D. A.
Robertson, R. R. Nelson, and D. A. J. Baker, of St. Paul. In September
the Roy brothers and ---- Cadott came. The same autumn Frank Roy,
Abraham Emmuit and Louis Souvenard made pre-emptions of frontage on
Superior bay. Several buildings were erected. Mr. Roy and others give
to Col. Robertson the honor of building the first house in Superior.
It is still standing.
In the fall of 1853 mineral explorations were made, and mines were
worked during the ensuing winter. An Indian trail was widened and a
road opened into the St. Croix valley by which supplies were brought
from St. Paul. This road was not wide enough for wagons, but was
traveled during the winter in dog sledges and on snowshoes. The winter
following the opening of the road, Messrs. Robertson, Nelson and Baker
went over it to St. Paul on foot. In the spring of 1854 Newton and
others made additional surveys of the town site of Superior City, and
the same was recorded Nov. 6, 1854. Settlers came in rapidly. O. K.
Hall built a hotel. At the organization of Douglas county, in 1854,
Superior was made the county seat, the proprietors donating twelve
acres of land for county buildings. Two lots for every eight blocks
were donated for schools, twenty lots for churches, and a square for a
park. A weekly mail to and from St. Paul was established in July of
that year. A saw mill was erected. A land office was established at
Superior that year. Rev. David Brooks, a pioneer Methodist minister,
preached the first sermon, using a carpenter's shop as an audience
room.
An old settlers' association was organized September, 1855, known as
the Fond du Lac Historical Society. Its officers were: R. B. Carlton,
president; W. H. Norton and E. F. Ely, vice presidents; E. W. Perry,
secretary. The Superior _Chronicle_ issued its first number June 12,
1855. It was the first newspaper published at the head of Lake
Superior. Ashton & Wise were the publishers. The second number
contained the announcement of the opening of the Ste. Marie canal and
the passage through it of the first boat, the steamer Illinois. It
contained also the astonishing announcement, from the St. Anthony
_Express_, that a salt lake had been discovered by W. H. Ingersoll,
one hundred and fifty miles west of St. Cloud. The salt was said to
be of good quality, and in such quantity that it could be gathered by
the bushel. Large beds of coal had also been discovered near the lake.
The _Chronicle_ was discontinued in 1863 and succeeded by the Superior
_Gazette_ in 1864. The _Gazette_ has been succeeded by the Superior
_Times_, now edited by J. Lute, Thomas Bardon, proprietor.
Superior City has passed through periods of depression as well as of
advancement. At an early period speculators were lured to the spot by
the manifest advantages it presented for the building of a great city.
The favorable site attracted attention throughout the Union. Wealthy
men and men prominent in the political history of the country invested
largely. Amongst these we find the names of W. W. Corcoran, of
Washington; Robert J. Walker, of New York; G. W. Cass, of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; Horace S. Walbridge, of Toledo, Ohio; the Breckenridges
of Kentucky; the Rice brothers, of St. Paul; and James Stinson, of
Chicago. With the influence of these names, and the means furnished,
the new city had a rapid, if not healthy growth. The prosperity was
short lived. The adjacent country was not sufficiently developed, the
shipping interests languished, and those who had been attracted hither
by dreams of becoming suddenly rich, were discouraged and moved away,
till, in 1858, the city was half deserted. The period of depression
continued through the Civil War, and for years afterward, until, by
the building of railroads and the consequent development of the
country, the claims of Superior as a centre of trade were again
acknowledged, and the tide of emigration was turned back. With
Allouez, Superior and Duluth bays for its harbor, with its railroads
already built, building or projected, its enterprising people are
ready to contest with Duluth for the sovereignty of the Unsalted Seas.
Superior, being a combination of Old Superior and West Superior under
one municipality, was organized as a village Aug. 27, 1887, and held
her first village election Sept. 24, 1887, with a population of 6,000
people. It was organized with the following officers: President, L. F.
Johnston; trustees, Wm. Munro, Neil Smith, L. G. Moran, A. Lederman,
A. A. Cross, and Howard Thomas.
WEST SUPERIOR
Was platted in 1884. The first buildings were erected in October of
the same year. The city has now a population of 3,000. It has
excellent graded schools, under the supervision of Prof. G. Glen
Williams. The Catholics, Presbyterians and Congregationalists have
church buildings, and the Methodists are about to build. A hotel is in
process of building that will cost when completed $100,000. West
Superior is supplied with water works, the electric light, extensive
coal docks and elevators, and has three newspapers, the Superior
_Inter-Ocean_, established June 3, 1886; the West Superior _News_,
established June 24, 1886; and the _Sunday Morning Call_, established
July, 1887.
THE BARDON BROTHERS.--James, Thomas and John A. Bardon came early to
Superior City and upheld her doubtful fortunes in the days of trial,
never losing faith in her prospective greatness. They have not toiled
and watched and waited in vain. The expected railways have been built;
the improved harbor, with dredge boats, well built piers and
lighthouse, has been completed. Surveys and terminal approaches of
other roads insure the commercial prosperity of the city. Thomas has
for some years been a resident of Ashland, Wisconsin.
WM. H. NEWTON, an early citizen of Superior City, is among those who
have never lost faith in its future prosperity, believing the head of
the lake to be the natural terminus of European trade and a centre of
American commerce. He is an engineer, surveyor, real estate dealer,
and is interested in some of the converging lines of railroad at
Superior City.
SOLON H. CLOUGH.--Mr. Clough was born in Madison county, New York,
Aug. 31, 1828; was educated at Fulton Academy, since known as Falley
Seminary, Oswego county, New York. He attended for a short time
Hamilton College, New York, studied law, and was admitted to the bar
at Syracuse in 1851. He came to Hudson, Wisconsin, in the fall of
1857; in 1861 was elected mayor of Hudson; in 1864, judge of the
Eleventh circuit, and removed to Osceola. In 1869 he removed to
Superior City; in 1876 returned to Hudson, but removed again to
Superior in 1881, where he still resides. He was re-elected circuit
judge in 1870, and in 1882 was appointed by Gov. Rusk to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Judge Barron. At the conclusion of his
term he was re-elected for the ensuing term. Judge Clough was married
in 1851 to Kate Taylor, of New York.
VINCENT ROY, a brother of Peter Roy, well known among the pioneers of
the Northwest, was born in Fort Francis in 1825; came to La Pointe in
1839; attended school a few terms, and engaged in the fur trade. In
1854 he came to Superior, where he still resides, and is an active,
enterprising merchant.
D. GEORGE MORRISON, a son of William Morrison, the discoverer of the
source of the Mississippi, resides at Superior City, where he has
served as register of deeds for Douglas county since 1856, a period of
thirty-one years. He came to Superior an 1854.
AUGUST ZACHAU came to Superior in 1852, from Chicago, where he had
been for three years, working at the carpenter's trade. He was then
twenty-seven years of age, and a Prussian by birth. He was engaged by
the Superior Town Site Company to superintend the building
improvements going on at what is now the East End. When he came up, no
Ste. Marie canal had been dug, and a portage was necessary between
Lakes Superior and Huron, involving a change in the line of vessels.
He built the first hotel in Superior, the old Pioneer House, which
burned in 1857, and also the present Nicollet House, which was built
of logs, cut on what is now Tower Slip. He also built the Quebec pier,
the first dock ever built at the head of Lake Superior. He also
assisted in cutting the old government trail through to the St. Croix
river. He was an active participant in the defense of the town site
people in their battles with the claim jumping pre-emptioners, who had
settled on the lands adjoining, and who filed contests on much of the
town site as soon as the plats were returned to the land office at
Willow River, now known as Hudson. In cutting the sixty miles of trail
to the St. Croix, every able-bodied man turned out, except enough to
guard the homes and cut kindling wood. The axemen ground their axes at
Fond du Lac, the only trading station of importance at that time on
the St. Louis river. He pre-empted, in the interest of his fellow
sufferers on the town site, eighty acres of land, now part of
Superior. He has always led a quiet, laborious life; now runs a small
general store at the East End, and does a little general contracting
for ties and bridge timbers and dock piling. He has a family of five
boys and one girl now living, all in Superior.
Among the first settlers were Judge Hiram Hayes, ---- Ritchie and ----
Gates.
CHAPTER X.
PINE COUNTY.
Prior to the organization of Minnesota Territory, in 1849, Pine county
was included within the limits of St. Croix county, Wisconsin. Until
the organization of Chisago county, in 1852, it was within the limits
of Ramsey, and from thence until 1854, within the limits of Chisago,
when it was organized under its present name. Until 1858 it included
the territory of the present counties of Kanabec and Carlton. It is
bounded on the north by Carlton county, on the east by the St. Croix
river and the state line, and on the west by Aitkin and Kanabec
counties. It is well watered by the St. Croix, Kettle and Kanabec
rivers with their numerous tributaries. There are many fine lakes
within its borders. The finest of these are Cross, Pokegama, Pine and
Sturgeon lakes. This county was originally heavily timbered with pine,
from which fact it derived its name. Though immense quantities have
been removed, the supply is still great enough to make this region a
lumberman's paradise for years to come.
The facilities for floating logs to the St. Croix are scarce equaled
elsewhere. Since 1837 the Kanabec river has been a principal feeder to
the lumber trade of the St. Croix valley. In some of the forests a new
growth has succeeded the old, and should the land be not otherwise
used, the lumberman may yet reap successive harvests in periods
ranging from eight to fifteen years. Much of the land in this county
is well adapted for agriculture. The soil is chiefly a sandy loam with
clay subsoil. Much of the county will eventually become a good grazing
and cereal growing region. The southern townships are heavily timbered
with hardwood and are rapidly being converted into good wheat farms. A
large quantity of cordwood, piles and ties is annually marketed by
means of the railroad. Kanabec river is navigable from Chengwatana and
Pine City to Brunswick, in Kanabec county. The same steamboat that
since 1881 has navigated the Kanabec, also makes trips, six miles up
the Rice and Pokegama rivers. The first crops raised in the county,
except those raised by traders and missionaries, were raised on the
Greeley farm, Kanabec river, near the western limits of the county, by
Royal C. Gray.
At the organization of the county, Herman Trott, George W. Staples and
Royal C. Gray were appointed commissioners. The county was attached
for judicial purposes to Chisago until 1872, at which date the county
seat, located at Chengwatana by legislative enactment, was changed by
a popular vote to Pine City. The first district court was held in
October, 1872, Judge Crosby, presiding; John D. Wilcox, clerk; Edward
Jackson, sheriff.
The first marriage license, issued in 1872, was to John Kelsey and
Mary Hoffman. The first board of county officers, after the removal of
the county seat, were: Commissioners, Hiram Brackett, George Goodwin
and Edward Jackson; auditor, Adolph Munch; register of deeds, Don
Willard; county attorney, treasurer and superintendent of schools,
John D. Wilcox. The first article recorded by the register of Pine
county was a military land warrant, No. 12702, in the name of Prudence
Rockwell, located by William Orrin Baker upon the southeast quarter of
section 32, township 38, range 20, subject to forty days' pre-emption,
dated Stillwater, June 19, 1855; T. M. Fullerton, register. Assigned,
June 14, 1856, to Enos Jones. The second record is of a warranty deed
from John F. Bradford to W. A. Van Slyke, of Ramsey county, of the
west half of the northwest quarter of section 30, township 39, range
19, and the west half of the northwest quarter of the same section.
The finances of the county were in good condition until 1872, from
which time, owing to heavy expenditures for new roads, with possibly
injudicious management, and two defalcations of county auditors,
considerable embarrassment ensued. In 1876 the state legislature
bonded the county indebtedness of $10,000, in ten year bonds, at ten
per cent interest. These bonds were readily received by the creditors,
and the county is now free from debt. During the last year a bridge
800 feet long was built across the Kanabec river near Pine City, at a
cost of $3,350, for which the State appropriated $1,500 and the county
$1,850.
The Lake Superior & Mississippi railroad was completed to Kanabec
river in 1868, and in 1869 extended northwest to the county line. The
building of this road was speedily followed by the erection of
numerous mills along its line, a list of which is appended, with the
very remarkable statistics of the losses by fire, from which but four
of these mills were exempt:
North Branch, Swenson & Co., flour mill; burned; loss,
$8,000.
Rush City, Taylor & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $3,000.
Rock Creek, Edgerton & Co., capacity 2,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $8,000; rebuilt.
Rock Creek, Strong & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $1,500; rebuilt.
Rock Creek, Long & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly;
removed.
Pine City, Ferson & Co., capacity 10,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $50,000; rebuilt.
Pine City, Ferson & Co., capacity 10,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $25,000; rebuilt.
Pine City, Munch & Burrows, stave mill; burned; loss,
$10,000.
Pine City, Brackett & Co., capacity 3,000,000 feet yearly.
Mission Creek, Taylor & Co., capacity 3,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $12,500; rebuilt.
Mission Creek, Taylor & Co., capacity 3,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $12,500.
Hinckley, Grant & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $3,000.
Hinckley, McKean & Butler, capacity 3,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $7,000; rebuilt.
Miller Station, Robie & Co., shingle mill; burned; loss,
$3,000.
Kettle River, S. S. Griggs & Co., capacity 3,000,000 feet
yearly; never operated; loss, $5,000.
Moose Lake, McArthur & Co., capacity 2,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $30,000.
Barnum, Cooley & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly;
burned; loss, $5,000.
Barnum, Bliss & Co., capacity 10,000,000 feet yearly.
Northern Pacific Junction, Payne & Co., two mills burned;
loss, $50,000; rebuilt the third time.
POKEGAMA LAKE.
This beautiful lake lies in township 39, range 22. It is about five
miles in length by one in breadth and finds an outlet in Kanabec
river. It is celebrated for its historical associations. Thomas
Conner, an old trader, informed the writer of these sketches, in 1847,
that he had had a trading post on the banks of this lake thirty years
before, or about the year 1816. This was before Fort Snelling was
built. Mr. Conner said that there was a French trading post at
Pokegama long before he went there. It was in the spring of 1847,
after a wearisome day's tramp, that I made his acquaintance and shared
his unstinted hospitality. His post, at that time, was located at the
mouth of Goose creek, Chisago county, on the banks of the St. Croix.
His rude, portable house was built of bark, subdivided with mats and
skins into different apartments. Although at an advanced period in
life, his mind was clear and he conversed with a degree of
intelligence which caused me to ask him why he lived thus secluded,
away from all the privileges of a civilized life. His reasons, some of
them, were forcible; he liked the quiet of the wilderness, away from
the turmoils of the envious white race. I learned from him many
interesting facts connected with travelers, traders and explorers of
our St. Croix valley. This was the last season he spent on the river.
In 1847, when I visited Pokegama, Jeremiah Russell, an Indian farmer,
had a very pretty farm on a point of land on the southwest side of the
lake, and between the lake and the river. A Frenchman, Jarvis, lived a
short distance from Russell. Across the lake from Russell's were the
neat and tasteful log buildings and gardens of the Presbyterian
mission. The mission was established in the spring of 1836, by Rev.
Frederic Ayer and his associates, under the auspicies of the American
Board of Foreign Missions. Mr. Ayer had been laboring at Yellow Lake
mission, but, owing to the growing unfriendliness of the Indians, had
been removed to Pokegama. Much pertaining to the mission work, both at
Pokegama and elsewhere, will be found in the biographies of the
principal missionaries. We mention here only such incidents as may be
of more general interest. For many of these incidents we are indebted
to Mrs. Elisabeth J. Ayer, of Belle Prairie, the widow of Rev.
Frederic Ayer, for a long time missionary to the Ojibways. This
estimable lady has passed her eighty-fifth year, but her mind is still
clear and her hand steady, her manuscript having the appearance of the
work of a precise young schoolmistress. She mentions an old Canadian,
who had been in the country sixty years, and for seven or eight years
had been entirely blind. He was known as Mushk-de-winini
(The-old-blind-prairie-man), also the old trader, Thomas Conner, the
remains of whose mud chimney and foundation of the old trading house
may still be seen on the southern shore of the lake.
Franklin Steele was the first white man to visit the mission. In the
spring of 1837 the mission aided three or four families in building.
February, 1837, Rev. Mr. Hall, of the La Pointe mission, visited
Pokegama, and organized a church of seven members,--three of whom were
natives,--administered the ordinance of baptism to eight persons, and
solemnized two marriages, probably the first in the valley of the St.
Croix. Revs. Boutwell and Ely came to the mission in 1837. A school
had been opened, some Indian houses built, and gardens enlarged, and
the future of the mission seemed assured. Mrs. Ayer relates the
following account of the
BATTLE OF POKEGAMA.
In 1811 the Sioux selected this settlement as the place to avenge the
wrongs of the Ojibways--some of recent date; the principal of which
was the killing of two sons of Little Crow (done in self defense)
between Pokegama and the falls of the St. Croix. The Sioux arrived at
Pokegama in the night, and stopped on the opposite side of the lake,
two miles from the mission. The main body went to the main settlement,
and, after examining the ground where they intended to operate, hid
among the trees and brush back of the Indian gardens, with orders that
all keep quiet on both sides of the lake till a given signal, when the
Indians were busy in their gardens, and then make quick work. But
their plans failed. Most of the Ojibways of the settlement had, from
fear of the Sioux, slept on an island half a mile out in the lake (I
mean the women and children), and were late to their gardens. In the
meantime a loaded canoe was nearing the opposite shore and the few
Sioux who had remained there to dispatch any who, in time of battle,
might attempt to escape by crossing over, fired prematurely. This gave
the alarm, and saved the Ojibways. The chief ran to Mr. Ayer's door
and said, expressively: "The Sioux are upon us," and was off. The
Indians seemed at once to understand that the main body of the enemy
was at hand. The missionaries stepped out of the door and had just
time to see a great splashing of water across the lake when bullets
came whizzing about their ears, and they went in. The Sioux had left
their hiding place and the battle commenced in earnest. Most of the
women and children of the settlement were yet on the island. The house
of the chief was well barricaded and most of the men gathered in
there. The remainder took refuge in a house more exposed, at the other
end of the village. The enemy drew up very near and fired in at the
window. One gun was made useless, being indented by a ball. The owner
retired to a corner and spent the time in prayer. The mother of the
house, with her small children, was on her way to the island under a
shower of bullets, calling aloud on God for help.
The missionaries seeing from their windows quantities of bloody flesh
upon stumps in the battle field, thought surely that several of their
friends had fallen. It proved to be a cow and calf of an Ojibway. The
mission children were much frightened and asked many questions, and
for apparent safety went up stairs and were put behind some well
filled barrels. In the heat of battle two Ojibways came from the
island and landed in front of Mr. Ayer's house. They drew their canoe
ashore and secreted themselves as well as the surroundings would
permit. Not long after three Sioux ran down the hill and toward the
canoe. They were fired upon and one fell dead. The other two ran for
help but before they could return the Ojibways were on the way back to
the island. Not having time to take the scalp of their enemy, they
hastily cut the powder horn strap from his breast, dripping with
blood, as a trophy of victory. The Sioux drew the dead body up the
hill and back to the place of fighting. The noise ceased. The battle
was over. The missionaries soon heard the joyful words, quietly
spoken: "We still live." Not a warrior had fallen. The two school
girls who were in the canoe at the first firing in the morning were
the only ones killed, though half the men and boys in the fight were
wounded. The Sioux women and boys who had come with their warriors to
carry away the spoils had the chagrin of returning as empty as they
came.
The Ojibways were careful that no canoe should be left within reach of
the Sioux. From necessity they took a canoe, made by Mr. Ely, and
removed their dead two miles up the river, dressed them (seemingly) in
the best the party could furnish, with each a double barreled gun, a
tomahawk and scalping knife, set them up against some large trees and
went on their way. Some of these articles, including their
head-dresses, were sent to the museum of the American board, in
Boston.
In the closing scene the missionaries had the opportunity of seeing
the difference between those Indians who had listened to instruction
and those who had not. The second day after the battle the pagan party
brought back to the island the dead bodies of their enemies, cut in
pieces, and distributed parts to such Ojibways as had at any time lost
friends by the hands of the Sioux. One woman, whose daughter was
killed and mutilated on that memorable morning, when she saw the
canoes coming, with a head raised high in the air on a long pole,
waded out into the water, grabbed it like a hungry dog and dashed it
repeatedly on the stones with savage fierceness. Others of the pagans
conducted themselves in a similar manner. They even cooked some of the
flesh that night in their kettles of rice. Eunice (as she was named at
her baptism) was offered an arm. At first she hesitated; but for
reasons, sufficient in her own mind, thought best to take it. Her
daughter-in-law, widow of her son who had recently been killed and
chopped into pieces by the Sioux, took another, and they went into
their lodge. Eunice said: "My daughter, we must not do as some of our
friends are doing. We have been taught better," and taking some white
cloths from her sack they wrapped the arms in them, offered a prayer,
and gave them a decent burial. About this time a Mr. Kirkland was sent
from Quincy, Illinois, by a party who wished to plant a colony not far
from the mission station. He arrived at Pokegama very soon after the
battle. Notwithstanding what had happened he selected a location on
Cross lake, just where a railroad has now been in operation for some
years. He worked vigorously for two or three weeks, and then went to
consult the Indian agent and the military at Fort Snelling. They gave
him no encouragement that the two tribes would ever live in peace; and
he went home. The Ojibways lived in constant fear, and the place was
soon deserted. This was a great trial to the missionaries; but they
did not urge them to stay. They separated into small parties and went
where they could get a living for the present and be out of danger.
The teachers remained at their post, occasionally visiting the Indians
in their retreat, hoping they might soon think it safe to return to
their homes. In this they were disappointed. These visits were not
always very safe. On one of these trips Mr. Ayer was lost, and from
cold and hunger came near perishing. Not finding the party he sought,
he wandered about for a day or two. In the meantime the weather became
much colder. Not expecting to camp out he took only one blanket and
food enough for one meal. In crossing Kettle river on a self-made
conveyance, and there being ice on the opposite shore, he got wet. The
Indians, anticipating his visit, had sent a young man to the mission
station to guide him to, their new locality. He returned in haste,
fell on Mr. Ayer's track, and a light sprinkle of snow enabled him to
follow it until he was found.
Mrs. Ayer relates several incidents illustrative of Indian character.
As her husband had been stationed at Yellow Lake, and afterward at Red
Lake, these incidents are not necessarily located at Pokegama:
A NOBLE CHIEF.
The Red Lake Indians were a noble band--they had a noble chief. In
civilization he led the way, in religion he did not oppose. He
shouldered a heavy axe, and could be seen chopping on one side of a
large tree, in perspiration, while his wife was on the other side,
helping all she could with her hatchet. This chief was also an
advocate of temperance. Not that he didn't love whisky, but he hated
the effect of it on his band. He dictated a letter to the president,
begging him not to let the white faces bring any more firewater to his
people, giving as one reason that they had teachers among them who
must be protected, and if they had whisky he did not know what might
happen.
FRANK CONFESSIONS.
In the church there was much childish simplicity. Once when Mr. Ayer
was lecturing on the eighth commandment, he paused, and without
expecting an answer, said: "Now who is there among you who has not
stolen?" One woman began to confess--another followed, then another.
One thought she had stolen about seven times. Another entered more
into particulars, mentioning the things she had stolen, till the scene
was quite amusing. Another rose to confess, but was cut short by her
husband, who said: "Who knows how many times he has stolen? We are a
nation of thieves." And with a few remarks the meeting closed.
A COWARDLY DEED.
After a medicine dance, according to Indian custom, they proposed a
feast, but there was nothing on which to feast. There was a large
company and all were hungry. Mr. Ayer's cow was in the barnyard near.
Three daring fellows sitting by themselves began to taunt each other
in regard to their comparative prowess. After an excitement was
created, one of them, to show his bravery, shot the cow. Mr. Ayer was
in his garden and witnessed the performance. Two or three of the
leading men in this pagan party came immediately to Mr. Ayer to learn
whether he would take the cow for his own use. While they were talking
(perhaps twenty minutes) the cow was cut in pieces, and in the
Indians' kettles preparatory to a good time. After the Indians had
sold their land they paid for the cow.
AN UNJUST ACCUSATION.
Indians are said to be revengeful. They are. So are white men. They
fight for their rights. So do white men. They are thieves and liars.
So are white men. Quarrelsome, envious, jealous. So are white men.
Experience teaches that according to their knowledge they compare
favorably with Anglo-Saxons. Sin is none the better, nor less
mischievous, for being civilized.
A missionary, a good man, too, he was, accused an innocent woman of
stealing his shirts that were laid out on the snow to whiten. His
wife, not remembering that she had brought them in early in the
morning, asked him to go out and get them. But they were not to be
found! "Who has been here this morning?" was asked. "Ekwazans; I don't
remember any other." "Well, she shan't have those shirts. I'll
overtake her before she gets home." He followed her four miles,
determined to have his shirts. The woman declared her innocence, and
told him to search the wigwam. He did so, but said himself that it was
done rather roughly. In the meantime the wife espied the shirts just
where she had put them. This affair was ever after a source of regret
to them.
Some of the Indians laughed heartily; others made remarks rather
sarcastic. The woman herself felt disgraced by the accusation, but
never manifested signs of wanting to "pay back," or in any way to
avenge the wrong.
INDIAN MAGNANIMITY.
An employe of the American Fur Company, a "green hand," was crossing a
portage. The load on his back was topped off with a bag of flour. The
hill was steep and long. Steps were cut in it like a flight of stairs.
As he reached the top a mischievous Indian touched the bag, and it
went tumbling to the foot of the hill. The Frenchman immediately sent
the Indian tumbling after it. Some of the company advised the
Frenchman to run away, for the Indian might kill him. He told them
boldly that he would not run away. The Indian gathered himself up,
came to the top of the hill, told the Frenchman he had done just
right, offered his hand and they were firm friends. Magnanimous had it
been a white man.
REV. FREDERIC AYER was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1803.
When he was two years old the family moved to Central New York. His
father was a Presbyterian minister, and they intended that their son
should follow the same profession; but before he was prepared his
health failed and he turned his attention to other business.
He commenced his labors for the Indians in 1829, by teaching the
mission school at Mackinaw, under the superintendency of Rev. M.
Ferry. The pupils of this school were not all Ojibways but were from
many different tribes, and spoke different languages. Mackinaw was
then a general depot of the North American fur traders. They brought
not only their own children to the school but such others as parents
among whom they were trading wished to send. They were gathered from
Lake Winnipeg, British America north, to Prairie du Chien and the head
of Lake Michigan south. They were taught in English only.
In the summer of 1830 Mr. Ayer went to La Pointe, Lake Superior, with
Mr. Warren, opened a school and commenced the study of the Ojibway
language. In 1831 he met at Mackinaw, Revs. Hall and Boutwell, who
were sent out by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions to the Indians, and he returned with Mr. and Mrs. Hall and
their interpreter to spend another winter at La Pointe.
The next year, 1832, Mr. Ayer wintered with another trader at Sandy
Lake. He opened a school there and completed a little Ojibway
spelling book which was commenced at La Pointe. In the spring of 1833
he left Sandy Lake for Utica, New York, to get the book printed. Mr.
Aitkin, with whom he had wintered, gave him eighty dollars, and with a
pack on his back and an experienced guide, he started on his journey.
Before they reached Sault Ste. Marie the ice on Lake Superior was so
weak that Mr. Ayer broke through and was saved only by carrying
horizontally in his hands a long pole to prevent his sinking.
Mr. Ayer hastened on to complete the object of his journey, that he
might return to Mackinaw in time to go up Lake Superior with the
traders. Mr. Ayer, hitherto an independent worker, now put himself
under the direction of the "American Board," and was sent to Yellow
Lake, within the present bounds of Burnett county, Wisconsin. Miss
Delia Cooke, whose name should never be forgotten among the early
missionaries of the American board to the Indians, and Miss Hester
Crooks, a girl educated at Mackinaw, and who had some experience in
teaching, were among the number who coasted up Lake Superior in a
Mackinaw boat; the former to La Pointe mission, the latter to Yellow
Lake with Mr. and Mrs. Ayer. They wintered in Dr. Borup's family. Mrs.
Borup also had, for some years, been a pupil at Mackinaw. The next
year Miss Crooks married Rev. Mr. Boutwell and went to Leech lake, and
J. L. Seymour and Miss Sabrian Stevens, also Henry Blatchford, an
interpreter from Mackinaw, were added to Yellow Lake mission. When Mr.
Ayer told the Indians his object in coming among them, they gave him a
welcome. But six months later, seeing two or three log houses in
process of building, they were much troubled, and met in a body to
request him to go away. A Menomonie from the region of Green Bay had
stirred them up, not against the missionaries, but against the general
government.
The speaker said: "It makes the Indians sad to see the white man's
house go up on their land. We don't want you to stay; you must go."
Further on he said: "You shall go!" Mr. Ayer answered him. The party
left at midnight, and the missionaries went to bed with heavy hearts,
thinking they might be thurst out almost immediately. But before
sunrise the next morning about two-thirds of the same party returned,
and said they had come to take back what they said the night before.
The war chief was speaker, but his words were mild. "Why," said he,
"should we turn these teachers away before they have done us any
harm?" They would like to have us stay, he said, but added that they
did not want any more to come, for the result might be the loss of
their lands. We might use whatever their country afforded, but they
would not give us any land, or sell us any. "For," said the speaker,
"if we should sell our land where would our children play?"
Mr. Ayer finished his school house, and went on with his work as
though nothing had happened. But evidently things were not as they
should be. The chief seemed to "sit on the fence," ready to jump
either way. The war chief was always friendly, but he had not so much
control over what concerned us. He did what he could without giving
offense, and was anxious that his daughter of fourteen years should be
taken into the mission family. Mr. Ayer remained two years longer at
Yellow Lake. In the meantime the chief of the Snake River band sent
messages inviting the teachers to come and live among them.
Accordingly in the spring of 1836 the mission was removed to Pokegama
lake, eighteen miles up the river. The chief did all he had promised,
and showed himself a man. Nothing was said here to remind the
missionaries that they were using the Indians' wood, water and fish.
On the contrary, when they sold their land, it was urged that the
teachers' children should be enrolled for annual payment, the same as
their own. The chief said that as they were born on the land it was no
more than right, and he wished it might be done.
In 1842 Mr. Ayer went with his family to the States; and in Oberlin
was ordained preacher to the Ojibways. He soon returned to the Indian
country, and David Brainard Spencer, an Oberlin student, with him.
They spent the winter of 1842-3 in traveling from one trading post to
another, selecting locations for missionary labor. For their own field
they chose Red Lake. When Mrs. Ayer, with her two little boys, six and
eight years old, went to join her husband at the new station, Alonzo
Barnard and wife and S. G. Wright, all of Oberlin College, went with
her. Other missionaries soon followed, and that station was for many
years supplied with efficient laborers. More recently the work there
was assigned to Bishop Whipple, and is still carried on.
Mr. and Mrs. Ayer, in 1865, offered their services to the freed-men of
the South and were employed at Atlanta, Georgia.
Mr. Ayer organized a Congregational church and a baptistry connected
with the house of worship, that he might baptise by immersion or
otherwise, according to the wishes of the candidate. He also formed a
temperance society, which some months before his death numbered more
than six hundred members.
There was great grief at his death amongst all classes. An aged man,
who had lost a small fortune in his devotion to the Confederacy,
embraced the corpse, and said: "If he had not holpen me, I should have
before gone him." Many others, in word or action, expressed a similar
feeling. All classes of people were represented at his funeral. His
remains were buried in the Atlanta cemetery, Oct. 1, 1867. Thus passed
away one who had spent a life for the benefit of others.
Mr. and Mrs. Ayer in some instances taught three generations of
Ojibway blood, and North and South, they were, in the course of their
labors, associated for a longer or shorter time, with more than eighty
different missionaries,--a noble band,--with few exceptions worthy the
name they bore. Most of them have passed away, and their graves are
scattered here and there from British America to Georgia.
REV. WILLIAM T. BOUTWELL, who figures so prominently in the history of
the early missions in the St. Croix valley, was born in Hillsborough
county, New Hampshire, Feb. 4, 1803. He was educated at Dartmouth and
Andover colleges, and in 1831, the year of his graduation at Andover,
he came to the Northwest as a Presbyterian missionary. He spent one
year at Mackinaw, learning the Chippewa language, under the
instruction of Rev. W. M. Ferry, father of Senator Ferry, of Michigan.
In 1832 our government sent an embassy of thirty men, under the
control of the Indian agent at Ste. Marie, Henry R. Schoolcraft, to
tranquilize the tribes and effect some advantageous treaties. The
embassy was accompanied by an outfit of soldiers under the command of
Lieut. Allen, Dr. Houghton, physician, George Johnson, interpreter,
and Mr. Boutwell. The embassy had a liberal outfit of provisions,
equipages and trinkets for the Indians, and was conveyed in a large
bateau of several tons capacity, and some birch canoes, the largest of
which was thirty feet long, and capable of containing nine persons. On
arriving at Fond du Lac, the head of navigation on the St. Louis
river, Mr. Boutwell wrote as follows to the missionary board:
[Illustration: WILLIAM T. BOUTWELL.]
"On arriving here I was not a little surprised to find four hundred
souls, half-breeds and white men. The scene at our landing was such as
I never before witnessed, and enough to fill one, unaccustomed to the
like as myself, with wonder, if not with fear. The yelling of Indians,
barking of dogs, crying of children, running of the multitude,
discharge of musketry, and flourish of flags, was noise in the
extreme. At ten o'clock I preached to about forty in English, the
first sermon ever preached here, and at 4 P. M. I addressed, through
Mr. Johnson, more than twice that number of French, half-breeds and
Indians; many of the latter of whom for the first time listened to the
word of Life. All listened with attention and interest. My interpreter
sat on my right, while a chief occupied a seat at my left. Around and
below me, on the floor, sat his men, women and children, in a state of
almost entire nudity, many of whom had no more than a cloth about the
loins, and a blanket, but some of the children not even a
blanket,--all with their pipes and tobacco pouches, painted with all
the variety of figures that can be imagined."
From Fond du Lac he proceeded with the expedition up the St. Louis
river, crossing the falls by a portage, and ascending to the point
nearest Sandy lake, which was reached by a portage. The expedition
proceeded up the Mississippi to Leech lake. Learning from the Indians
at this point that Cass lake, the reputed source of the Mississippi,
was not the real source, the expedition proceeded, under the guidance
of a chief and a number of his tribe, to ascend the river further.
When they reached the lake, now known as Itasca, five of the party,
Lieut. Allen, Schoolcraft, Houghton, Johnson, and Boutwell, were sent
in canoes with Indian guides to explore the shores of the lake. No
inlet being found the party came to the conclusion that this was, as
the Indians claimed, the true source of the Mississippi river. Mr.
Schoolcraft being satisfied as to the correctness of the observations,
landed his party on an island near the middle of the lake.
He was puzzled to know what name to give the lake, and asked Mr.
Boutwell if he knew of any word that would express the term "true head
of the river." Mr. Boutwell said he could think of no single word that
would express it, but there were two Latin words that would answer the
purpose, and those were _veritas_--true, and _caput_--head. Mr.
Schoolcraft immediately wrote on a piece of paper the two words, and
then erasing the first syllable of the first word and the last
syllable of the latter, joined the remaining syllables. He then
planted the stars and stripes on a little eminence, and formally
christened the lake "Itasca." They then proceeded to descend the
Mississippi. "As we were passing through the outlet of the lake," said
Mr. Boutwell, "I stopped my canoe on the shore and jumped across the
Mississippi. I considered that a great thing to relate in after
years."
The party with their own boats descended the Mississippi, distributing
tobacco, medals and flags to Indians on their way.[E] "When I see the
great cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul now," said Mr. Boutwell, "I
have to reflect that when we made our memorable trip down the river in
1832 we stopped at St. Anthony falls, and I stood on the east bank and
looked across the river in profound admiration of the most beautiful
landscape I had ever seen, with only a few head of government cattle
belonging at Fort Snelling grazing upon it. The whole country on both
sides of the river was as God had made it. When we passed the locality
of St. Paul there was not even an Indian tepee to be seen."
The party halted at a Sioux Indian village at Kaposia, a few miles
below St. Paul, and after a short consultation proceeded to the mouth
of the St. Croix, and ascending the St. Croix to its source, made a
portage of two miles to the source of the Burnt Wood river, which they
descended to Lake Superior, and thence returned to their starting
place. In the following year Mr. Boutwell established a mission at
Leech lake. In giving an account of his reception by the Indians, he
says: "When I arrived the men, with a few exceptions, were making
their fall hunts, while their families remained at the lake and its
vicinity to gather their corn and make rice. A few lodges were
encamped quite near. These I began to visit, for the purpose of
reading, singing, etc., in order to interest the children and awaken
in them the desire for instruction. I told them about the children at
Mackinaw, the Sault, and at La Pointe, who could read, write and sing.
To this they would listen attentively, while the mother would often
reply: 'My children are poor and ignorant.' To a person unaccustomed
to Indian manners and Indian wildness it would have been amusing to
have seen the little ones, as I approached their lodge, running and
screaming, more terrified, if possible, than if they had met a bear
robbed of her whelps. It was not long, however, before most of them
overcame their fears; and in a few days my dwelling, a lodge which I
occupied for three or four weeks, was frequented from morning till
evening by an interesting group of boys, all desirous to learn to
read, sing, etc. To have seen them hanging, some on one knee, others
on my shoulder, reading and singing, while others, whether from shame
or fear I know not, who dared not venture within, were peeping in
through the sides of the cottage, or lying flat upon the ground and
looking under the bottom, might have provoked a smile; especially to
have seen them as they caught a glance of my eye, springing upon their
feet and running like so many wild asses colts. The rain, cold and
snow were alike to them, in which they would come, day after day, many
of them clad merely with a blanket and a narrow strip of cloth about
the loins. The men at length returned, and an opportunity was
presented me for reading to them. The greater part listened
attentively. Some would come back and ask me to read more. Others
laughed, and aimed to make sport of both me and my mission."
He continued to labor here until 1837, when the Indians becoming
troublesome, and having murdered Aitkin, an agent of the fur company,
he deemed it advisable to remove the mission to Pokegama lake. He
labored here faithfully, much respected by the Indians for his
firmness and christian devotion. In 1847 he removed to Stillwater and
settled on a farm near the city, where he is spending the remainder of
his days, cared for by his affectionate daughter Kate and her kind
husband, ----Jones. Though infirm in body on account of advanced age
his mind is clear and his memory retentive. He enjoys the respect
accorded to venerable age, and that which pertains to an early and
middle life spent in unusual toils and hardships in the noblest work
intrusted to the hands of man.
MRS. HESTER CROOKS BOUTWELL deserves honorable mention as the early
companion of the devoted missionary. She was the daughter of Ramsey
Crooks, of New York, an Indian trader. Her mother was a half-breed
Ojibway woman. Hester Crooks was born on Drummond island, Lake Huron,
May 30, 1817. Her father gave her a superior education at Mackinaw
mission. She was a woman of tall and commanding figure, her black hair
and eyes indicating her Indian origin. She was a fluent
conversationalist, and careful and tidy in her personal appearance.
She died in Stillwater in 1853, leaving a family of seven children.
CHENGWATANA.
This town derived its name from the Chippewa words, "cheng-wa" (pine)
and "tana" (city), applied to an Indian village which from time
immemorial had been located near the mouth of Cross lake. This
locality had long been a rallying point for Indians and traders. When
the writer visited it, in 1846, it had the appearance of an ancient
place of resort. Half-breeds and whites with Indian wives settled
here, and in 1852 there were several log houses, and a hotel kept by
one Ebenezer Ayer. There was also a dam built for sluicing logs. Among
the early settlers were Duane Porter, George Goodwin, Herman Trott,
John G. Randall, Emil, Gustave and Adolph Munch. Mr. Trott built a
fine residence on the shore of Cross lake, afterward the home of S. A.
Hutchinson. The Munch brothers built a store and made other
improvements. John G. Randall, in 1856-7-8, manufactured lumber, ran
it down the Kanabec and St. Croix rivers to Rush Seba, Sunrise and
Taylor's Falls. In 1852, and soon after the building of the government
road to Superior City, a post office and a stage route from St. Paul
to Superior City were established. The dam, to which reference has
been made, was built in 1848, by Elam Greely. It is at the outlet of
Cross lake and has ten feet head. The flowage covers many thousands of
acres. The ownership has changed several times. The tolls levied
amount to from ten to fifteen cents per thousand feet. The chartered
operators control the flowage completely, opening and shutting gates
at their pleasure. Many of the first settlers removed to other
localities. Mr. Trott and the Munch brothers to St. Paul, J. G.
Randall to Colorado, and Louis Ayd to Taylor's Falls.
In 1856 an effort was made to found a village on the site of the old
Indian town of Chengwatana. Judd, Walker & Co. and Daniel A. Robertson
surveyed and platted the village of Alhambra, but the name was not
generally accepted, and the old Indian name of Chengwatana superseded
it. The town of Chengwatana was organized in 1874. The first
supervisors were Duane Porter, Resin Denman and Ferdinand Blank.
LOUIS AYD was born in Germany in 1840; came to America in 1852 and
settled in Chengwatana. He served three and a half years as a soldier
during the Rebellion, and was seriously injured in the service. On his
return he settled in Taylor's Falls. He is a well-to-do farmer and
dealer in live stock for the meat market. He has been a member of the
Roman Catholic church from childhood. He was married to Rosabella
Hoffman, of Hudson, Wisconsin, in 1871.
DUANE PORTER, the son of a surgeon in the United States Army in the
war of 1812, was born in Washington county, New York, in 1825; came
West as far as Illinois in 1852, and to St. Croix Falls in 1844. He
was married in 1848 to Mary Lapraire, and in the same year located at
Chengwatama. His occupation is that of an explorer and lumberman. He
has ten children living.
S. A. HUTCHINSON.--Mr. Hutchinson was a native of Maine, and while
yet a youth came to the valley of the St. Croix, and located at
Chengwatana, where he married a Chippewa woman, and raised a family of
half-breed children. "Gus" Hutchinson, as he was familiarly called,
had many noble traits of character and was very popular with his
associates. He had a well trained mind; was skilled as a lumberman and
explorer, and was of a genial disposition, honest in heart and true in
his friendships. He was elected sheriff of Pine county, and served
four years. On the night of Aug. 16, 1880, he was found in a sitting
posture on his bed, lifeless, a rifle ball having pierced his heart.
It appeared, on investigation, that his oldest son wanted to marry an
Indian girl, to which his father objected. On the night after the
murder the marriage took place in Indian style. Suspicion pointing
strongly toward mother and son, they were arrested, and an indictment
found by the grand jury against the son. He was tried and acquitted.