HINCKLEY.

The township of Hinckley was organized in 1872. It includes a large

area of land; heavily timbered with pine and hardwood. The soil is

varied, consisting of black and yellow sand loam with clay subsoil. It

abounds in meadows, marshes, tamarack swamps, pine and hardwood

ridges, and is capable of cultivation.

THE VILLAGE OF HINCKLEY

Lies midway between St. Paul and Duluth, on the St. Paul & Daluth

railroad. It was founded soon after the completion of the road. The

Manitoba railroad passes through the village, running from St. Cloud

to Superior. It was incorporated in 1885. The following were the first

officers: President, James J. Brennan; recorder, S. W. Anderson;

trustees, James Morrison, Nels Parson, John Perry; treasurer, John

Burke; justices of the peace, John Brennan, A. B. Clinch; constable,

Andrew Stone. Prior to this incorporation, Hinckley had suffered

considerably from the lawlessness of its occasional or transient

residents and visitors, and the large majority of the vote in favor of

incorporation is justly considered as a triumph of law and order. The

village has a saw mill doing a large business, a good depot, round

house, four hotels, several stores, shops, and fine residences, a

commodious school house, and two churches--a Lutheran and Catholic.

The Minneapolis & Manitoba railroad connects here with the St. Paul &

Duluth railroad, and is being extended to Superior.

JAMES MORRISON was born on Cape Breton island in 1840. Mr. Morrison

was one of the first settlers of Hinckley, having come to the

settlement in 1869, in the employ of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad.

He has followed farming and hotel keeping. He is an active and

industrious man, the proprietor of a large hotel, and a member of the

Presbyterian church.

SANDSTONE VILLAGE

Is located in the northwest quarter of section 15, township 42, range

20. It contains about forty dwellings, three large boarding houses,

two stores, one hotel and a stone saw mill with diamond-toothed saw,

built by Ring & Tobin, at a cost of $30,000. The stone quarries of the

Kettle River & Sandstone Company are located on sections 3, 10 and 15,

in township 42, range 20, and extend two and three-quarters miles on

each side of Kettle river. The first work in opening the quarries was

done Aug. 22, 1885. The village plat was surveyed in June, 1887, and a

post office established there the February preceding, W. H. Grant,

Jr., being the first postmaster. The saw mill and the quarries give

employment to about four hundred men. Sandstone is located on the old

site of Fortuna. The Kettle River railroad was built to the quarries

in 1886, from the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, a distance of five

miles. The Manitoba railroad, running to Superior, passes through the

village.

WILLIAM H. GRANT, SR., one of the founders of Hinckley, and the

proprietor and founder of the Sandstone enterprise, was born Dec. 23,

1829, at Lyndborough, New Hampshire. He received his education at

Hancock Academy, New Hampshire, and Yates Academy, Orleans county, New

York. He studied law and was admitted to practice in 1854 at

Hillsborough, New Hampshire. He came to St. Paul in 1859, where he

still resides, his property interests at Sandstone being immediately

under the super vision of his son, W. H. Grant, Jr. He sold his

interest in May, 1888, for $100,000. He was married to Martha McKean

in New Hampshire, January, 1855.

KETTLE RIVER.

The town of Kettle River, including townships 43 and 44, lying on the

west line of the county, was organized in 1874. S. S. Griggs was

chairman of the first board of supervisors. The town contains but one

school district. The first settler was S. S. Griggs, who, in company

with John S. Prince, of St. Paul, built a saw mill at the St. Paul &

Duluth railroad crossing on Kettle river, in 1871-72. This was not a

successful venture. A post office was established at the mill, and S.

S. Griggs was appointed postmaster. The Manitoba and St. Paul & Duluth

railroads pass through the town from south to north. The township now

has no settlement except about twenty-four families at the station and

village. It is heavily timbered with pine and hardwood. There are

meadows, marshes and tamarack swamps, fine streams and beautiful

lakes, and much excellent farming land besides. The Pine lakes in

township 43, range 21, are beautiful sheets of water. There are no

good roads or public improvements.

JOHN C. HANLEY was born in Covington, Kentucky, and was educated at

Oxford College, Ohio. He came to St. Paul in 1849, as a machinist and

millwright. He was married in 1853, at St. Anthony, to Sophia

Ramsdale. In 1862 he enlisted in Company M, Minnesota Mounted Cavalry,

a company recruited principally at Sunrise, Chisago county, by Capt.

James Starkey. He was commissioned second lieutenant and was with Gen.

Sibleys expedition against the Sioux. Subsequently he received a

captain's commission, and recruited Company M, Second Minnesota

Cavalry, stationed on the frontier. He was mustered out in 1865. He

resides at Kettle River.

MISSION CREEK

Was organized as a town in 1880. The first supervisors were M. Thomas,

T. Johnson, Wm. McKean; Messrs. H. A. Taylor and Philip Riley & Co.,

of St. Paul, were the first operators here. They built a saw mill with

a capacity of 3,000,000 feet per annum. This property has changed

owners, and is now held by the John Martin Lumber Company, of St.

Paul. It was burned down in 1885, but was immediately rebuilt.

PINE CITY.

The town of Pine City was organized in 1874. The first supervisors

were Hiram Brackett, H. B. Hoffman and James Griffith. The village of

Pine City was platted in 1869. The original proprietors were James and

Stephen H. Petrie, Catherine Sloan and Luther Mendenhall. The survey

was made by B. W. Brunson. Wm. Branch acted as attorney and the

acknowledgment was made by J. J. Egan, notary public, of St. Louis

county. The village was organized in 1881, but the officers did not

qualify until the following year.

The oldest settler was probably a Mr. Kirkland, of Quincy, Illinois,

who worked for some time on the banks of Cross lake, on the present

site of Pine City, hoping to be able to plant a colony there, but,

according to the testimony of Mrs. E. T. Ayer, the missionary became

disheartened by the Indian troubles, and left in 1841, abandoning his

scheme. The completion of the railroad which crosses the Kanabec river

at this point gave a great impetus to the prosperity of the village

and neighborhood. It now contains a fine court house, built at a cost

of $8,000, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches, good

buildings for graded and common schools, and three hotels. Pine City

has besides a pleasant park, the gift of Capt. Richard G. Robinson,

which has been adorned and embellished and named after the donor,

"Robinson Park."

RICHARD G. ROBINSON was born in Jackson county, Iowa, in 1829; he

moved thence with his parents to Illinois, and to St. Croix Falls in

1848, where he followed lumbering, scaling, surveying and exploring.

He lived at St. Croix and Taylor's Falls until 1872, when he received

the appointment of land examiner for the Lake Superior & Mississippi

Railroad Company. He was in the employ of the company twelve years,

making his home at Pine City, where he still lives, engaged in

lumbering and real estate. He was married to Catharine A. Fullenwider,

of Iowa. Mrs. Robinson died at Pine City in 1885.

HIRAM BRACKETT was born in 1817, in China, Maine, and came to Pine

City in 1868 from Aroostook county, Maine. He was among the first to

make improvements. He built a hotel and was the first postmaster in

the town. He died in 1883, leaving an estimable widow, three sons,

John, Albert and Frank, and two daughters, Emily, married to Henry A.

Linn, of Milwaukee, and Louise, married to Henry D. Crohurst, of Pine

City.

RANDALL K. BURROWS, a native of Connecticut, came to Pine City in

1869, and, with Adolph Munch, built a large stave mill on the shores

of Cross lake. This proved an unfortunate investment, resulting in

litigation, during the progress of which the mill was destroyed by

fire, in 1878. Mr. Burrows was an active, enthusiastic man, and worked

hard for the interests of Pine City, filling many positions of trust.

He was elected to the state senate from the Twenty-eighth district, in

1874. His seat was contested by John Hallburg, of Centre City. The

Senate referred the question to the people, but in the election that

followed (1875) he was defeated. In 1879 he removed to Dakota, where

he died three years later.

JOHN S. FERSON came from Michigan to Pine City in 1869. During that

and the succeeding year he was principal in building a first class

steam saw mill. It was located on a bay in the western part of the

city. This mill was burned in 1872, rebuilt and burned again. Mr.

Ferson has since removed to Dakota.

SAMUEL MILLET settled in Pine City in 1869, and in 1870 erected the

Bay View House, on an elevated plateau commanding a fine view of Cross

lake and Kanabec river. Mr. Millet died in 1879, leaving a widow, two

sons and three daughters.

ROCK CREEK

Was organized March, 1874. The first supervisors were Enoch Horton,

Frank England, and S. M. Hewson. Obadiah Hewsom was town clerk. Enoch

Horton and C. W. Gill were justices of the peace. Mr. Horton was the

first settler, he having come to the county in 1872. The year

following he raised the first crop. Mr. Horton was from Colchester,

New York. He was born in 1811, and came to Minnesota in 1862. He was

the first postmaster at Rock Creek. Other settlers came in slowly.

Edgerton, Gill & Co. built a saw mill in 1873, with a capacity of

3,000,000 feet. This property has changed hands several times.

CAPT. ENOCH HORTON commenced official life at the age of twenty-two

years, in New York, where he served twenty-eight years as justice of

the peace and county judge. He served during the Rebellion as captain

of a company of sharpshooters.

ROYALTON

Was organized in 1880. The first supervisors were Edward Peterson,

Alexis Kain and Joseph Heiniger. It is a good farming township with

many good farms. The first settlement was made by Elam Greely, in

1849, who made a farm and built a large barn, hauling the lumber from

Marine Mills, a distance of seventy miles. The town was named in

honor of Royal C. Gray, who located on the Greely farm in 1854, in the

northwest quarter of section 15, township 38, range 22, on the banks

of the Kanabec river.

WINDERMERE

Was organized as a town Jan. 3, 1882. The first supervisors were

August Schog, William Champlain and Frank Bloomquist.

The towns of Kettle River, Hinckley and Pine City were organized, and

Chengwatana reorganized by special act of the legislature in 1874, and

at that time embraced all the territory in the county. Since 1874,

Mission Creek, Rock Creek and Royalton have been set off from Pine

City and Windermere from Kettle River.

The following villages were platted at the dates named: Neshodana, by

Clark, Cowell & Foster, in townships 41 and 42, ranges 15 and 16, in

1856; Fortuna, by W. A. Porter, surveyor, at the crossing of Kettle

river and the military road, January, 1857; St. John's, by M. L.

Benson, surveyor, in section 26, township 41, range 17, October, 1857;

Midway, by Frank B. and Julia L. Lewis, proprietors, in the northwest

quarter of section 34, township 40, range 21, September, 1855.

A ROCK CREEK MURDER.

A man passing under the name of Harris had been arrested for stealing

horses. George Hathaway started with the prisoner to Sunrise. Five

days afterward Hathaway's dead body was found, and the inquest decided

that he probably met his death by stabbing or shooting at the hands of

his prisoner, who made his escape, and was never again heard from.

Hathaway was a native of Passadumkeag, Maine.

THE BURNING OF A JAIL.

March 22, 1884, a couple of young men, John Cope and William Leonard,

were arrested for drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and confined in

the Pine City jail, a wooden structure. About three o'clock the next

morning the jail was found to be on fire. All efforts to extinguish

the flames or rescue the unhappy prisoners were unavailing. The fire

originated from within, in all probability from the careless action of

the prisoners themselves in striking matches, either for the purpose

of smoking or of exploring their cells.

A DISFIGURED FAMILY.

Mr. Redman, the agent at the Kettle River railroad station, called my

attention to the fact that old Batice is singularly disfigured. He was

born without thumbs or big toes. The fingers and remaining toes

resemble birds' claws. Two of the fingers of each hand and two of the

toes on each foot are united to the tips but have distinct nails. Of

his four children three are disfigured like the father. His

grandchildren are many of them worse than himself, one having but one

finger.

INDIAN FAITH CURE.

A woman at Pokegama was badly burned by the explosion of gunpowder

while she was putting it in a flask. Her face became terribly swollen

and black. The missionaries did what they could for her, but thought

she must die. After two days the Indian doctors held a medicine dance

for her benefit. After they had gone through with their magic arts the

woman arose, and, without any assistance, walked around distributing

presents to the performers of the ceremony. It was truly wonderful.

She recovered rapidly.

INDIAN GRAVES.

The Chippewas bury their dead much as the whites do. The body is

deposited in a grave and covered with earth. A low wooden covering,

somewhat like the roof of a house, is reared above it, the gables

resting on the ground. The roof is covered with white or bleached

muslin, and surmounted by a board cross. An aperture about six inches

square is left in each end of the structure. The head of the grave is

toward the west, and here are deposited offerings of fruits and

trinkets of various kinds. We found at one grave a broken saucer, an

oyster can filled with blueberries, a large red apple, and a pair of

old shoes. Friends of the deceased visit the graves for one or two

years, renewing their tributes of affection, and bringing offerings of

fruit according to the season, and various foods, from acorns to dried

venison, but in time these visits are discontinued and the graves are

neglected and forgotten.

STOICISM OF THE INDIAN.

On the banks of the Kettle river a five-year-old boy burned his hand

badly. The mother, after examining the wound, decided that it was

incurable, ordered the boy to place his hand upon a block, and by a

single blow from a common hatchet severed it from the wrist. The boy

endured the suffering without flinching.

OLD BATICE, _alias_ "Kettle," lived on Kettle river in 1880. Counting

by moons he claims to have lived there ninety-nine years. He is

certainly very old. He says that he has always been a friend to the

whites, and that in the Sioux outbreak of 1862 he counseled his people

to remain quiet; that he was the enemy of the Sioux, three of whom he

had killed and scalped. To commemorate his warlike deeds in

slaughtering his enemies, he wore three large eagle feathers in his

gray hair. He claims to be half French.

AN INDIAN DANCE.

In June, 1880, the Indians were practicing a new dance near the Kettle

River railroad station, part of which it was my privilege to witness.

The dance house was a rudely constructed pole frame covered with birch

bark, fastened down with willow twigs. About thirty dancers, male and

female, and of all ages, were crowded in the dance house, sweating,

grunting, hopping and bounding at the tap of a deer skin drumhead, and

the "chi-yi-chi-yi-chi-hoo" of a quartette of boys and girls, squatted

in a corner of the bark house. The din was incessant, the chant of the

singers, or howlers, monotonous and wearisome, yet the dancers stepped

and bounded to their rude music as readily as do civilized dancers to

the more exquisite music of stringed instruments. This dance was the

same that so frightened the Burnett county people, and required at

least ten days for its complete performance. A few minutes'

observation amply satisfied us, and we gladly withdrew.

FOOTNOTES:

[E] Several years prior to this William Morrison had a trading station

upon the shores of this lake, and is probably the first white man who

visited it, but it does not appear that he identified it as the source

of the Mississippi.

CHAPTER XI.

KANABEC COUNTY.

Kanabec county, prior to 1849, was included in St. Croix county,

Wisconsin; thence until 1852 it was a part of Ramsey county,

Minnesota; until 1854 a part of Chisago county; and thence until its

organization in 1859, a part of Pine county. It was attached for

judicial purposes at various times to Chisago, Isanti and Pine

counties. In 1882 it was organized for judicial purposes, Judge Crosby

holding the first term of court at Brunswick. The second term was held

at Mora in 1884, in the new court house.

The writer, when a member of the Minnesota senate in 1858, selected

the name and introduced the bill for the formation of the county. Its

boundaries are Aitkin county on the north, Pine on the east, Isanti on

the south, and Mille Lacs on the west. It is well watered and drained

by the Kanabec and its tributaries. This river is navigable to

Brunswick, and one of its tributaries, Rice river, is navigable six

miles from its mouth to Rice lake. The soil is a rich, sandy loam,

deep, strong and productive. One-fifth of the entire surface was

originally covered with pines. About 25,000 acres are natural meadows,

while much of the remainder is covered with hardwood, and a small

portion is brush prairie, which can be easily rendered fit for

cultivation. The best crops are wheat, oats and potatoes, but Indian

corn can be grown profitably as compared with other localities in

Minnesota. Small fruits, wild and cultivated, grow luxuriantly.

Cranberries have been shipped in considerable quantities. Redtop,

clover, and timothy grow rank, and are profitably cultivated. Upward

of 5,000 tons of hay are cured annually. The lumbering interests are

still important, about 75,000,000 feet of logs being annually driven

to the Stillwater boom. This county is spotted with lakes and abounds

in streams capable of being utilized as water powers. Good building

granite is found on the Kanabec river above Mora, which will

eventually be quarried and exported.

The first permanent settlers were George L. Staples and James

Pennington, who came in 1855. They were followed by Stephen W. Tolman,

Alvin De Wolf, John L. Spence and others. Gov. Sibley appointed the

following as the first board of officers, June 10, 1859: County

commissioners, Geo. L. Staples, chairman; Daniel Gordon, Benj. L.

Gifford; clerk and register of deeds, James C. Morrison; treasurer,

Alvah Lougee; sheriff, Benj. L. Gifford. The first election was held

in October, 1859. The following were elected county officers: County

commissioners, Geo. L. Staples, chairman; James Pennington, Geo.

Morrison; auditor, Benj. Bill.

In the bill organizing the county, Brunswick was designated as the

county seat, and so remained until 1882, when by popular vote Mora was

selected. In 1883 the county built a court house at a cost of $5,000,

and a jail costing $2,000. In 1874 the county built a bridge across

the Kanabec at Brunswick, the bridge and its approaches being 1,300

feet in length, at a cost of $5,000. In 1879 the county built a bridge

across the Kanabec at Grass Lake at a cost of $4,000. As this bridge

obstructed navigation in 1884, the county, at a cost of $4,000,

rebuilt it in such a way that steamers could pass underneath. In 1883

another bridge was built across the Kanabec in the town of Arthur at a

cost of $4,000.

The first post office was established at Brunswick in 1859, Geo. L.

Staples, postmaster. The first mail was from Anoka via Cambridge to

Brunswick. In 1847 Rev. W. S. Boutwell preached the first sermon

within the present limits of the county. The first deed recorded was a

warranty deed from Ralph Potter to John A. Snyder, both of Illinois,

in June, 1857, conveying lands in sections 3 and 10, township 38,

range 25. The second deed recorded was from David Bagley to Hersey,

Hall, Whitney and Fenno, of Boston, and Isaac Staples of Stillwater,

conveying the northeast quarter of section 1, township 38, range 24,

and other lands.

ARTHUR.

The town of Arthur includes township 39, ranges 23, 24 and 25. It was

organized in 1883. The first supervisors were: Ira A. Conger, Andrew

E. Westling and Charles A. Staples; clerk, Stanton D. Seavey. The

village of Mora was the first settlement. Anna C. Larson was the first

child born in the town. The first marriage was that of Frederick G.

Turner and Edith Perkins. The first death was that of Henry Rust, in

1847, killed by Indians. There is one house of worship, at what is

known as the Swedish mission.

MORA,

A village, platted in 1882, is located in section 11, township 39,

range 24, on the Hinckley branch of the Manitoba railroad. Myron R.

Kent, owner of the town plat, made the first improvements, building a

hotel and post office, of which he became postmaster. Alvah J. Conger

opened the first store in 1882. The village now contains a court

house, school house, two hotels, five stores, three saloons, and many

fine residences. Lake Mora, a lovely sheet of deep, blue water, about

one hundred and fifty acres in extent, is located within the village

limits. The village is beautifully situated on a plateau on the east

side of Kanabec river.

STEPHEN L. DANFORTH lived in the county of Kanabec during the '70s.

His occupation was that of a farmer or lumberman. He died in

Stillwater in 1884.

N. H. DANFORTH, brother of S. L., also settled here in the '70s, and

still resides here, an active business man.

ALVAH J. AND IRA CONGER are cousins. They came from Maine to Minnesota

in 1850. Alvah J. kept the Tombler House in Wyoming. Subsequently he

removed to Cambridge, where he kept a hotel and store, and thence

removed to Pine City, where he kept a store until 1882, when he moved

to Mora. He was married to Charlotte Pennington. They have no

children. Ira Conger has been actively engaged in business at

Cambridge and other places, and moved to Mora in 1883, where he is

proprietor of a hotel and store. His oldest son, John, has charge of

his business interests.

BRONSON.

This village is yet unplatted. It is located in section 21, range 24,

on the line of the Manitoba railroad. A post office was established

here in 1884, of which Frank P. Burleigh is postmaster. Adjoining and

including this village is the large farm of Isaac Staples, including

2,000 acres, of which six hundred and fifty acres are under

cultivation. The improvements on the farm are two large barns, one

store, one blacksmith shop, one wood working shop, and commodious

dwellings for employes. This farm is headquarters for the lumbering

interests of Mr. Staples in Kanabec county.

BRUNSWICK

Includes township 38, ranges 24 and 25. The town was organized in

1883. The first supervisors were Eric Hokansen, John Rines and Haquin

Ekman. The first school was taught by Charlotte Pennington, in 1856.

The first death was that of ---- Cowan, killed accidentally, in 1857.

There are two church organizations, Swedish Baptist and Swedish

Lutheran. Stephen E. Tallman built a saw mill in 1870, and a flour

mill in 1879. The village of Brunswick is located in the southwest

quarter of section 1, township 38; range 24. It was platted in 1856,

by Isaac and George Staples. It was originally designated as the

county seat.

GROUND HOUSE CITY

Was platted by Isaac Staples for Hersey, Staples & Co., Jan 17, 1857,

in section 7, township 38, range 24.

JAMES PENNINGTON was born in Queensborough, New Brunswick, in 1799. He

lived in Houlton, Maine, fifteen years, and came to Kanabec county in

1854 with his family, who were the first permanent settlers in the

county. Mr. Pennington farmed and lumbered. He died in December, 1887.

Mrs. Pennington died in 1878. Six sons and three daughters are living.

The sons are residents of Minnesota. The daughters are married as

follows: Elisabeth to ---- Grant, of Detroit, Minnesota; Charlotte to

A. J. Conger, of Mora, Minnesota; Augusta to B. C. Newport, of

Pipestone, Minnesota.

GEORGE L. STAPLES settled in section 1, township 38, range 24, in

1855. He lived there eight years and filled various responsible

offices. He was an upright, conscientious man, much respected by all

who knew him. In 1863 he removed to Monticello, Minnesota, and died in

1877, leaving a widow, five sons and a daughter. Mr. Staples raised

the first crop in the county, opened the first store, and gave the

name of Brunswick to the town. Isaac Edwin Staples, son of George, was

the first white child born in the county. He was clerk of court in

Morrison county in 1887.

DANIEL GORDON was born in Readfield, Maine, in 1809. In 1856 he

settled in the southeast quarter of section 1, township 38, range 24.

He was married to widow Tallman in Brunswick. This was the first

marriage in the town. Mrs. Gordon died in June, 1885.

GRASS LAKE

Includes township 38, range 23. It was organized in 1883. It is

thickly settled, mostly by Swedes. They have good farms, roads and

schools. The first settler was Solomon Anderson; the second, Benjamin

Norton; both were farmers. There are in this town three houses of

worship, two belonging to the Swedish mission, and one to the

Baptists. There are five school houses.

The remainder of the county, consisting mostly of pine lands, and

including nine townships, is without organization or township

government. It is divided into three assessment districts over which

the county exercises jurisdiction, making levies and collecting taxes.

ISANTI COUNTY.

Isanti county lies directly west of Chisago and south of Kanabec. It

is bounded on the west and south by Sherburne, Mille Lacs and Anoka

counties, and contains about fourteen towns. The soil is well adapted

for agriculture. The county has no large lakes, but is well watered by

tributaries of Rum and Sunrise rivers. It is well timbered in the

north with sugar maple. The settlers are chiefly Scandinavians, who,

by their industry, have made the plains and oak ridges to blossom with

clover and the cereals. The county was organized Feb. 13, 1857. It

took its name from a tribe of Indians who some time ago occupied the

country about Mille Lacs. The first board of county commissioners

consisted of Oscar Smith, Hugh Wylie and Elbridge G. Clough. The first

county officers were: William Tubbs, auditor; F. H. Moon, treasurer;

G. G. Griswold, register of deeds; Stephen Hewson, judge of probate;

H. M. Davis, clerk; George L. Henderson, sheriff. The first court was

held by Judge C. E. Vanderburgh in October, 1871. Prior to this time

Isanti had been attached to Auoka county for judicial purposes.

CAMBRIDGE,

The county seat of Isanti, was incorporated as a village in 1876. It

is pleasantly located on the west side of Rum river. It has one

flouring mill, a newspaper office, and several stores, shops,

dwellings and churches. The county buildings are neat and convenient.

The new court house cost $7,000. It is worthy of mention that B. A.

Latta, as county treasurer, paid the first money into the hands of the

state treasurer for war purposes. The first postmasters in the county

were Van Vliet Ainsley, of Spencer Brook, and G. G. Griswold, in 1858.

NORTH BRANCH TOWN

Lies on the headwaters of the Sunrise river. It was settled, as early

as 1855, by John P. Owens, W. A. Hobbs, B. T. Huntley, and John

Schinler. It was organized as a town in 1858, John P. Owens being

chairman of the first board of supervisors. John Schinler raised the

first crop, in 1857. Schools were established in 1860.

OXFORD.

Rensselaer Grant, M. Hurley and Stephen Hewson settled within the

present limits of this town in 1855. At that time the town was not

organized. In 1865 it was included within the limits of North Branch,

but in 1878 the town of Oxford was set off as now defined. The first

supervisors were John Bachelor, P. Lillygrin and P. Berg. Stephen

Hewson was town clerk, and has retained the office ever since. A post

office was established in 1863. Stephen Hewson was postmaster, and has

held the office continuously ever since. The town is well settled by

farmers. In 1870 a cyclone passed through the town, destroying

everything in its track, which was about twenty rods wide. Not a

building was left on the homestead of Mr. Hewson. His fine large barn

was torn to pieces and the fragments scattered for the distance of a

mile.

STEPHEN HEWSON is a native of England, which he left in 1844. He

resided in Canada a few years, then came to Chicago, and later to

Minnesota. He was for awhile a partner in the publishing firm of E. S.

Goodrich & Co., then proprietors of the St. Paul _Pioneer_. He made

his present home in Oxford in 1855, and has since that time been

intimately identified with its history and that of the county of

Isanti. He was a representative from the Fourth district in the

legislature of 1865. He has filled the offices of county auditor,

county commissioner and judge of probate court. As an ordained

minister of the Methodist church he takes an active interest in

religious matters, serving as superintendent of the Sunday-school, and

occasionally filling the pulpit. Five of his daughters are school

teachers, one of whom, Mary, in 1870, taught the first school in

Oxford. He remains hale and hearty in his seventy-seventh year.

GEORGE W. NESBIT was born in 1828, in Delaware county, New York. He

received an academic education. He came in 1856 to St. Francis, Anoka

county, Minnesota, and in 1863 to Isanti county. He has been engaged

in farming and selling goods, and is an energetic, busy man. He made

the first pre-emption timber claim on the Mille Lacs reservation,

which was rejected. Mr. Nesbit was married in New York and has a

family of six children.

RENSSELAER GRANT was born in New York in 1816. His father was a native

of Scotland but emigrated to the United States and took part in the

war of 1812. Mr. Grant was married in Saratoga county, New York, in

1837, to Libiah Mitchell. The Grants moved to Illinois in 1850, and to

Isanti county in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Grant died at North Branch, in

1886, leaving, three married sons, two living in Isanti county, and

one at Rush City, and three daughters, the eldest married to J. W.

Delamater, the second to W. H. Hobbs, the third living in St. Paul.

MILLE LACS COUNTY.

This county is bounded on the north by Mille Lacs lake and Aitkin

county, on the east by Isanti, Kanabec and Aitkin, on the south by

Sherburne and on the west by Morrison and Benton counties, and

includes about 17 townships extending from south to north a distance

of 48 miles, and having a breadth of 12 miles, excepting the two upper

series of towns, which have a width of 18 miles. It is, excepting two

agricultural towns in the south, heavily timbered, chiefly with pine.

It is well watered by Rum river and its tributaries, and by the body

of water known as Mille Lacs, a large picturesque lake, which covers

over one hundred and five sections of Aitkin, Crow Wing and Mille Lacs

counties. The tributaries of the St. Croix also drain the

northeastern part of the county. The southern townships consist of

prairies and oak openings, the northern and central parts being

covered with hardwood and pine. Immense quantities have been already

marketed. The hardwood ridges and flats offer good farming lands, and

the wild meadows, scattered over the county, excellent hay and

pasturage.

Mille Lacs lake, the largest inland lake in Minnesota, is a beautiful

and picturesque sheet of water, with receding wooded shores, with but

little low land adjoining. The waters are deep and clear and

abundantly supplied with fish. This lake, when reached by railways,

will be one of the most pleasant summer resorts in the Northwest. It

already attracts the attention of the tourist. A steamer built in 1885

floats upon its waters. The lake is about eighteen miles long by from

twelve to fifteen wide, and covers about six townships. Three small

islands gem its surface, one of which, from its columnar appearance,

seems to be of volcanic or igneous formation.

The Mille Lacs reservation covers about four fractional towns,

bordering the southern shore of the lake. Since the treaty these lands

have been covered by pre-emptions, soldiers' warrants and half-breed

scrip, but are held by a doubtful tenure owing to the uncertain and

various rulings of the land department. Under the provisions of the

treaty, the Indians, a band of Chippewas, were allowed to retain

possession until ordered to remove. In anticipation of this order

settlements have been made at various periods, and patents have been

issued to the pre emptors in a few cases, but in many cases refused.

Half-breed scrip has been laid upon thousands of acres under one

administration at Washington, the permission to be countermanded by

another. Meanwhile the Indians, not having received the order for

removal, claim to be the owners of the land, and with some show of

justice. In 1882 the Manitoba Railroad Company built a road through

the county from east to west, through township 40, ranges 26 and 27.

In the early divisions of Minnesota into counties, the territory of

Mille Lacs was included in Ramsey and Benton counties. Prior to its

present organization, a county called Monroe, covering the territory

of Mille Lacs, was established but never organized. By legislative

enactment in 1857 Mille Lacs county was established and organized by

the people in 1860, the counties of which its territory was originally

a part concurring, and Princeton was made the county seat. In 1859

there had been effected the organization of one town in the county,

known as Princeton. This has since been subdivided into Princeton

Greenbush, and Milo. The officers of the town organization in 1859

were: Supervisors, C. W. Houston, Charles Pratt, Joseph L. Cater. The

first county election, held April, 1860, resulted in the election of

the following officers: County commissioners, Joseph L. Cater,

chairman; Samuel Orton, C. S. Moses; auditor and register of deeds, W.

W. Payne; clerk of court, S. M. Byers; treasurer, E. J. Whitney;

sheriff, Wm. McCauley; probate judge, Samuel Ross. The first term of

court was held June 3, 1861, E. C. Vanderburgh, presiding judge. The

first recorded deed was from E. J. Whitney to Isaac Staples, and bears

date Aug. 4, 1854.

MILACCA

Has a pleasant site on the Manitoba railroad, on the banks of Rum

river at the crossing of the Manitoba & Superior and the junction of

the Elk River & Princeton railroad. The Manitoba Company have a good

saw mill here, with a capacity of 125,000 feet per day, built at a

cost of $50,000. A planing mill is attached. There is a good three

story hotel, well kept, here.

The village was surveyed and platted March 24, 1886; Chas. Keith,

surveyor; James J. Hill, president of the Mille Lacs Lumber Company,

proprietor. It is located in the town of Greenbush.

BRIDGMAN VILLAGE,

Located in the town of Milo, has a steam saw mill, spoke and hub

factory, around which are several residences.

PRINCETON.

The village of Princeton is located at the junction of the two

branches of the Rum river, on a beautiful prairie, surrounded by rich

prairie and timber lands. The first log house was built in 1849, and

kept as a stopping place by a mulatto known as "Banjo Bill." This

house is still standing. The first permanent settlers were A. B.

Damon, O. E. Garrison, C. H. Chadbourne, Edwin Allen, John W. Allen,

Chas. Whitcomb, Joseph L. Cater, W. F. Dunham, and Samuel Ross. They

were also the first settlers in the county, and came in 1853-7. In

1855 Messrs. Damon and Allen farmed on the present site of the

village. The village was surveyed and platted Feb. 11, 1859, by S.

Ross & Co. S. Ross also built a hotel where the North Star Hotel now

stands. This year the first frame building was erected and used as a

store. W. F. Dunham built a steam saw mill. The first school house was

built, although school organization was not effected until 1858. James

M. Dayton taught the first school. A post office was established with

O. E. Garrison as postmaster. Samuel Ross brought the mail once a week

from Anoka. A Congregational church was established, of which Rev.

Royal Twichell was chosen as pastor. The Methodists organized a

society the following year.

The village was incorporated March 13, 1877, by legislative enactment.

The commissioners appointed under the organic act were E. C. Giles, H.

B. Cowles, C. H. Rines, B. F. Whiting, and Charles Keith. At the

election ordered by them the following officers were chosen:

President, C. H. Rines; trustees. F. M. Campbell, Isaiah S. Mudgett,

Thomas F. Caly; recorder, Silas L. Staples; treasurer, D. H. Murray;

justices of the peace, Scott M. Justice, Charles Keith. The Princeton

_Appeal_ was established by Rev. John Quigley in 1873, but

discontinued in 1875. In December, 1876, Robert C. Dunn started the

Princeton _Union_, which he still publishes.

The Manitoba branch railroad from Elk River to Milacca village passes

through Princeton. The first train arrived Nov. 30, 1880. The county

contributed $47,000 in bonds at five per cent interest for twenty

years, to aid in building the road. The St. Paul, Mille Lacs,

Brainerd, Leech Lake & Crookston railroad will, when completed, pass

through Princeton. An excellent school building was erected in 1885,

at a cost of about $7,000. Guy Ewing is principal of the school, which

is graded. The Grand Army of the Republic have a post here known as

the Wallace Rines post. The Masons have an organization, with a

splendid hall. A three story hotel, built by Samuel Ross, is kept by

his only daughter, Mrs. Barker. A two story brick hotel, the

Commercial House, Henry Newbert, proprietor, a handsome structure, was

built in 1887. The Mille Lacs County Bank, located here, has a paid up

capital of $20,000. Charles Erickson is president; L. P. Hyberg, vice

president; Frank Hewse, clerk. Princeton has one steam saw mill, two

flouring mills, one feed mill, two elevators with a capacity of 60,000

bushels, and one brewery. A court house and jail are in process of

erection at an estimated cost of $10,000.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

SAMUEL ROSS was born Aug. 22, 1812. He attended Western Reserve

College, but through ill health did not graduate. He came to Iowa in

1839, where he was married to Mary Vaughn in 1841. He came to

Princeton in 1855, where he took an active part in building up the

town and county, filled many prominent and responsible positions in

the village and county, and served as representative of the first

state legislature. Mrs. Ross died in 1851; Mr. Ross died in 1881,

leaving an only daughter, Olive R., widow of A. P. Barker, who was a

prominent lawyer of Princeton. Mrs. Barker was elected superintendent

of schools in 1880, to which position she has been re-elected and is

at present filling the office efficiently. She was the first female

superintendent elected in Minnesota.

JOSEPH L. CATER was born in Strafford county, New Hampshire, in 1828.

He came to Princeton in 1855 and engaged in farming. His name appears

in all the original organizations of town and county. M. V. B. Cater

and sons have also been active and prominent citizens of Princeton. M.

V. B. Cater died some years since.

EDWIN ALLEN, originally from Welton, Maine, came to Princeton in 1855

and engaged in farming.

JOHN H. ALLEN came from Maine to Princeton in 1854, engaged in farming

and became prominent as a public spirited citizen. He held various

positions of trust in the county and was appointed receiver of the

land office at Fergus Falls by President Hayes, and resides there.

A. B. DAMON came from Maine to Princeton in 1853 and made the first

claim on the town site.

C. H. CHADBOURNE was born at Lexington, Massachusetts. At the age of

sixteen he embarked in a seafaring life in which he continued nine

years. Mr. Chadbourne, wishing to abandon his seafaring ways, and to

put himself beyond danger of resuming them, came to the centre of the

continent and located on a farm near Princeton in 1856. He has since

followed farming continuously. His farm consists of 900 acres under

cultivation, 500 of which is devoted to tame grass and pasturage, on

which he feeds 150 head of blooded stock. He has a large dairy which

nets him $1,200 annually. He was a member of the state legislatures of

1874-5 and was seven years county commissioner of Sherburne county.

Mr. Chadbourne was married in 1852 to Deborah Crowell. They have three

sons and two daughters.

CHAPTER XII.

CHISAGO COUNTY.

LOCATION--SURFACE--SCENERY.

Chisago county, located on the west bank of the St. Croix river,

between the counties of Pine on the north and Washington on the south,

the St. Croix river on the east and the counties of Isanti and Anoka

on the west, presents an agreeable variety of surface, upland and

generally undulating, covered with hard and soft wood timber, well

watered by lakes and streams. Its principal streams are the St. Croix

and its tributaries, Rush and Sunrise rivers and Goose creek, and its

principal lakes are Chisago, Sunrise, Green, Rush, and Goose lakes.

Its lake scenery is unsurpassed in beauty. The county takes the name

of its largest and most beautiful lake. In its original, or rather

aboriginal, form it was Ki-chi-sago, from two Chippewa words meaning

"kichi," large, and "saga," fair or lovely. For euphonic

considerations the first syllable was dropped.

CHISAGO LAKE.

This lake is conspicuous for its size, the clearness of its waters,

its winding shore and islands, its bays, peninsulas, capes, and

promontories. It has fully fifty miles of meandering shore line. Its

shores and islands are well timbered with maple and other hard woods.

It has no waste swamps, or marsh borders. When the writer first came

to Taylor's Falls, this beautiful lake was unknown to fame. No one had

seen it or could point out its location. Indians brought fish and

maple sugar from a lake which they called Ki-chi-sago Sagi-a-gan, or

"large and lovely lake." This lake, they said, abounded with "kego,"

fish.

In 1851 the writer, with Bart Emery, made a visit to this beautiful

sheet of water. We found it what its Indian name imports, "fair and

lovely water." The government had, the year before, completed a survey

of the lake, and it was high time that it should be given a name by

which it should be designated on the map and recognized by civilized

visitors. What name more beautiful and appropriate than that which the

Indians had already given it. That name we at once recognized and used

all our influence to perpetuate under somewhat adverse influences; for

Swedish emigrants having settled in its neighborhood, a strong effort

was made to christen it "Swede Lake," but the lake is to-day known as

Chisago, and Chisago it is likely to remain. We believe in the policy

of retaining the old Indian names whenever possible. As a rule they

are far more musical and appropriate than any we can apply. The

Indians have left us their lands, their lakes, their streams; let us

accept with them the names by which they were known. Some have been

translated into English and appear on the maps as Goose, Elk, Beaver

and Snake. By all means let us retranslate them in memory of the race

that once owned them.

DALLES OF ST. CROIX.

Chisago county shares with Polk county in the ownership of the wildest

and most peculiar scenery in the valley of the St. Croix. At Taylor's

Falls, the head of navigation, the river flows between ledges of trap

rock, varying in height from fifty to two hundred and fifty feet, for

the most part perpendicular, but wildly irregular, as is common in

trap rock formations. These ledges are crowned with pine trees and a

dense undergrowth of bushes and vines. The prevailing color of the

rock is a cold or bluish gray, but broken occasionally by brilliant

patches of coloring, red, yellow or green, as they may be stained by

oxides of the metals, or covered with lichens and mosses. This

formation is known as "The Dalles," sometimes improperly styled

"Dells." The rocks composing it are porphyritic trap, an igneous rock

forced upward from the interior of the earth through crevices in the

crust while still in a liquid state and then solidifying in masses,

sometimes prismatic but oftener in irregular polygons, and broken by

parallel lines of cleavage. Some geological experts claim that these

rocks are "in place" as forming a part of the original crust of the

earth, but the balance of evidence seems to be in favor of their

having been erupted at a comparatively modern period. This is

evidenced by the presence of water-worn boulders and pebbles, imbedded

in the trap, somewhat like plums in a pudding, while it was yet

plastic; and now forming a species of conglomerate as hard and compact

as the trap itself. These rocks are supposed to be rich in copper and

silver, and miners have spent much time in prospecting for these

metals.

Whatever the origin of the rocks, it is conceded that they were once

plastic, at which time this region could not have been a safe or

pleasant dwelling place for such beings as now inhabit the world. The

theory of a comparatively recent eruption of these rocks is not a

pleasant one, for the suggestion forces itself upon the mind that that

which has been, at least in recent times, may occur again. The

occasional recurrence of earthquakes on our western coast, and the

recent severe disturbances in South Carolina and Georgia, raise the

query whether this region may not again be visited with an outburst

and overflow of trap, terrible and destructive as the first. The

foundations, however, seem firm enough to last forever. The rocks are

of unusual hardness, and the crust of the earth is probably as solid

and thick here as elsewhere. The Dalles proper are about one mile in

length. The river, in its passage through them, varies in width from

one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet. It was formerly reported

unfathomable, but in recent years, owing to a filling up process

caused by the debris of the log drivers, it is found to be not more

than a hundred feet in its deepest place. The river makes an abrupt

bend about a bold promontory of trap known as Angle or Elbow Rock. To

the first voyageurs this seemed to be the end of the river, and gave

rise to the story that at this point the river burst out of the rocks.

Much of the frontage of the rocks upon the river is smooth and

perpendicular, and stained with oxides of iron and copper. In places

it is broken. The upper rocks are disintegrated by the action of rain

and frost, and, where far enough from the river, have fallen so as to

form a talus or slope of angular fragments to the water's edge.

[Illustration: THE DEVIL'S CHAIR.]

THE DEVIL'S CHAIR.

There are some instances in which, by the breaking away and falling of

smaller rocks, larger rocks have been left standing in the form of

columns. Most notable of these are the "Devil's Pulpit," and the

"Devil's Chair." The former, owing to surrounding shrubbery, is not

easily seen. The latter is a conspicuous object on the western shore

of the river a few rods below the lower landing. It stands on the

slope formed by the debris of a precipice that rises here about 120

feet above the river. Its base is about 40 feet above low water mark;

the column itself reaches 45 feet higher. It is composed of many

angular pieces of trap, the upper portion bearing a rude resemblance

to a chair. It is considered quite a feat to climb to the summit. The

face of the rocks is disfigured by the names of ambitious and

undeserving persons. The nuisance of names and advertisements painted

upon the most prominent rocks in the Dalles is one that every lover of

Nature will wish to have abated. To spend an hour climbing amongst

these precipices to find in some conspicuous place the advertisement

of a quack medicine, illustrates the adage: "There is but one step

from the sublime to the ridiculous."

THE WELLS.

A more remarkable curiosity may be found on that bench or middle

plateau of the Dalles, lying between the upper and the lower Taylor's

Falls landings, in what has been not inaptly styled "The Wells." These

are openings, or pits, not much unlike wells, in places where the trap

is not more than 50 feet above water level, varying in width from a

few inches to 30 or 40 feet, the deepest being from 20 to 25 feet.

These seem to have been formed by the action of water upon pebbles or

boulders, much as "pot holes" are now being formed in the rocky

bottoms of running streams. The water falls upon the pebbles or

boulders in such a way as to cause them to revolve and act as a drill,

boring holes in the rock proportioned to the force of the agencies

employed. Some of these boulders and pebbles, worn to a spherical

shape, were originally found at the bottoms of these wells, but have

been mostly carried away by the curious. Some of the wells are cut

through solid pieces of trap. The walls of others are seamed and

jointed; in some cases fragments have fallen out, and in others the

entire side of the wells has been violently disrupted and partly

filled with debris. The extreme hardness of the trap rock militates

somewhat against the theory of formation above given. It is, however,

not improbable that this hardness was acquired after long exposure to

the air.

SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.

In the history of St. Croix Falls mention has been made of some of the

pioneers of Chisago county. St. Croix Falls and Taylor's Falls, the

pioneer settlement of Chisago county, though a river divides them

which is also the boundary line of two states, have much that is

common in their early history. The inhabitants were always greatly

interested in what was going on over the river. We may add, that

although they now stand in the attitude of rival cities, their

interests are still identical, and we believe that, but for the unwise

policy of making St. Croix river a state line, they might be to-day

under one city government, and as compact and harmonious as though no

St. Croix river rolled between them. The river is their joint

property; both have the same heritage of trap rocks and pines, the

same milling privileges, the same lumbering interests, and, it must be

confessed, they remain up to the present time about equally mated. J.

R. Brown was unquestionably the pioneer of the settlement. Frank

Steele says he found J. R. Brown trading, in 1837, on the spot now the

site of Taylor's Falls.

He was not, however, the first white man upon the soil. There is some

documentary evidence of the establishment by the French of a fort

forty leagues up the St. Croix some time between the years 1700 and

1703. This fort was in all probability erected on the plateau below

the Dalles, the distance given, forty leagues, being exaggerated after

the fashion of the early voyageurs. It was called Fort St. Croix.

There was also a prehistoric settlement, the ruins of which the writer

noted as early as 1851, on the school land addition to Taylor's Falls.

These were the foundations of nine houses, plainly visible. Over some

of them trees two feet in diameter were growing. The rock foundations

ranged in size from twenty to thirty feet, with the hearth containing

ashes underlying the debris of ages, on smooth hearthstones showing

years of service, being apparently a century old. These were the

homes, undoubtedly, of a civilized people, and we may claim for

Taylor's Falls, Chisago county, one of the first improvements made by

whites in the limits of Minnesota.

During the last half of the last century a prominent trading post was

established and maintained for many years on the St. Croix river,

which was founded by Pierre Grinow, and during the close of the last

century it was in the charge of one James Perlier, who afterward

became one of the most useful citizens of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Lawrence Barth was also here in 1793. The evidence of the existence of

this trading post rests upon traditions and the ruins referred to.

Recurring to the pioneer Brown, the most irrepressible of all the

advance guard of civilization, we find him only a transient

inhabitant. He stayed long enough to cut 200,000 feet of pine logs

from the present site of Taylor's Falls, when the neighborhood lost

its attractions. These were the first pine saw logs cut in the St.

Croix valley.

In 1838 a French trader, Robinet, was located at the same place, but

in the summer of the same year came Mr. Jesse Taylor from Fort

Snelling where he had been following the business of a stonemason. He

had heard of the ratification of the Indian treaty by Congress, and he

greatly coveted some of the rich lands brought into market by that

treaty. Mr. Taylor, with an Indian guide, came to the Dalles of the

St. Croix. As Mr. Steele had already claimed the east side, Mr. Taylor

concluded that he would claim the west side. Returning to Fort

Snelling he reported to an associate, Benjamin F. Baker, formed a

partnership and returned with men, boats, provisions and building

material, but on his return to the falls he found Robinet, the trader,

in a bark shanty (at the present junction of Bridge and River

streets). Robinet was in actual possession of the coveted acres.

Robinet having no other function than that of a trader, and

consequently having no serious designs on the lands was easily bought

off, and Baker & Taylor, in August, 1838, commenced improvements,

building a log house, a blacksmith shop, a mill, and commencing a mill

race which had to be blasted. They also built piers and a wing dam

just above the present location of the bridge. The mill was located at

what has since become the upper steamboat landing. Mr. Taylor named

the lower falls Baker's falls, and the settlement, Taylor's Place.

When the town was platted, in 1850, it was called Taylor's Falls. The

name came also to be applied to the lower falls.

The mill enterprise was a melancholy failure. The builders were not

practical mill men. The improvements were expensive. The work of

blasting rock and building made slow progress. There was no income as

long as the mill was in process of building. In the midst of these

embarrassments, in 1840, Mr. Baker died. Mr. Taylor took entire

possession with no other right than that of a squatter sovereign. In

1843 Mr. Taylor sold the unfinished mill to parties in Osceola, and in

1844 everything movable was transferred to that place. The double log

cabin remained, and there Mr. Taylor lived for eight years on the

proceeds of the sale, performing in all that time no work more worthy

of the historian's notice than fixing his name upon the settlement and

falls. Many of the later residents query as to why it was ever called

Taylor's Falls. It takes a keen eye to discover any fall in the river

at the point named. The falls indeed were once far more conspicuous

than they are now, owing to the fact that a large rock rose above the

water at the ordinary stage, around which the crowded waters roared

and swirled. That rock, never visible in later days, was called Death

Rock, because three hapless mariners in a skiff were hurled against it

by the swift current and drowned.

The old log house, the sole remnant of the Baker and Taylor project,

if we may except some holes in the rock made by blasting, and some

submerged ruins of the wing dam and pier, has passed through various

changes. It has been used as a store, as a boarding house, as a

warehouse, as a church, as a school house, and as a stable. Part of it

still remains and is habitable. It is located on lot 18, block 15. In

1846 Jesse Taylor sold his claim to Joshua L. Taylor for two hundred

dollars. This claim, like most of the claims made prior to the survey

of government lands, was not accurately defined. It included, however,

all the lands, on the west side of the river, extending northward to

the St. Croix Company's claim, at the upper falls, and including the

present site of Taylor's Falls.

Aside from mill building, nothing was done in the way of improvements

until 1846, when Jerry Ross and Benjamin F. Otis commenced farming on

what was subsequently known as the Morton and Colby farms. Both raised

potatoes and garden vegetables and built houses. This was the first

cultivation of the soil in Chisago county. In 1847 Mr. Otis sold his

improvements to Wm. F. Colby, who, in that year, raised the first corn

grown by white men in the county. In 1846 Thornton Bishop commenced

improvements on a farm at the head of the rapids, six miles above

Taylor's Falls. J. L. Taylor, in 1848, built a pre-emption shanty

midway between the upper and lower falls. In 1849 he proved up his

pre-emption to lots 5, 6 and 7, section 30, township 34, range 18. N.

C. D. Taylor pre-empted the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter

of section 25, and the west half of the same quarter section; also lot

1, section 36, township 34, range 19.

In 1849 Lewis Barlow and Wm. E. Bush became citizens. An abstract of

the canvassed returns of an election held November 26th shows but six

votes in the settlement. In 1850 W. F. Colby pre-empted the northeast

quarter of section 25, township 34, range 19, and W. H. C. Folsom the

southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of the same.

At a regular meeting of the St. Croix county board, held at

Stillwater, April 2, 1850, the following judges of election were

appointed within the present limits of Chisago county: St. Croix Falls

precinct, Wm. F. Colby, Wm. Holmes, N. C. D. Taylor; Rush Lake

precinct, Levi Clark, Walter Carrier and Richard Arnold. At a meeting,

held Oct. 7, 1850, the petition of Lewis Barlow and ten others, of St.

Croix Falls precinct, was presented, asking for a special election, to

elect two justices of the peace. Their petition was granted. The poll

was: Wm. E. Bush, one vote; John H. Reid, six votes; Ansel Smith, five

votes. Reid and Smith were declared elected. The first survey of town

lots was made in 1851, by Theodore E. Parker, of Stillwater, and under

this survey the village was legally established as Taylor's Falls. The

first deeds recorded in Chisago county were transcripts from

Washington county of lands consisting of town site property, dated

1851, conveyed to W. H. C. Folsom by J. L. and N. C. D. Taylor.

The movement for the organization of a new county from the northern

part of Washington commenced in the winter of 1851-52. A formidable

petition to the legislature to make such organization, drawn up and

circulated by Hon. Ansel Smith, of Franconia, and the writer, was duly

forwarded, presented and acquiesced in by that body. The writer had

been selected to visit the capital in the interest of the petitioners.

Some difficulty arose as to the name. The writer had proposed

"Chi-sa-ga." This Indian name was ridiculed, and Hamilton, Jackson,

Franklin and Jefferson were in turn proposed. The committee of the

whole finally reported in favor of the name, Chisaga, but the

legislature, in passing the bill for our county organization, by

clerical or typographical error changed the last "a" in "saga" to "o,"

which, having become the law, has not been changed.

The eastern boundary of the county was fixed as the St. Croix river;

the southern boundary, the line between townships 32 and 33; the

western, the line between ranges 21 and 22, for three townships south,

and the line between ranges 22 and 23 for the remaining townships

north. To show how little was known of the geography of the section we

refer to the record of the county commissioners of Washington county,

dated Dec. 15, 1848, at which St. Croix district, the present Chisago

county, was established as "bounded on the north by Sunrise river and

on the west by line between ranges 21 and 22"--an utter impossibility,

as the Sunrise river flows in a northerly direction entirely through

the county and at its nearest point does not come within three miles

of the range line mentioned.

The election for the first board of county officers was held at the

Chisago House, Oct. 14, 1851. Twenty-three votes were polled at this

election. The following officers were elected: Commissioners, Samuel

Thomson, chairman; N. C. D. Taylor, Thomas F. Morton; clerk of board

and register of deeds, F. W. Abbott; treasurer, W. H. C. Folsom. The

bill establishing the county provided that "the seat of justice of the

county of Chisago shall be at such point in said county as the first

board of commissioners elected in said county shall determine." In

accordance with this law, at the first meeting of the commissioners,

held at the office of N. C. D. Taylor in Taylor's Falls, Jan. 5, 1852,

the town of Taylor's Falls was chosen as the county seat, "agreeable

to the Revised Statutes, chapter 1st, section 14th."

As the population of the county increased the project of moving the

county seat to a more nearly central position was agitated. In 1858 a

vote was taken which resulted in favor of its removal to Centre City.

The matter of the legality of the vote was referred to the court, and

decided by Judge Welch adversely, on the ground that a majority of the

voters of the county had not voted. The county seat consequently

remained at Taylor's Falls. In 1861 another vote was taken by which

the county seat was removed to Chisago City, and there it remained

under somewhat adverse circumstances. Chisago City having but a small

population and no conveniences for such a purpose, and being for

several years without even a post office, repeated efforts were made

for another removal, until in 1875 a vote to remove it to Centre City

carried. In January, 1876, the records were removed. The county

authorities issued $5,000 bonds for a court house which was erected on

a point of land extending into Chisago lake, a beautiful situation.

The bonds have been paid and the county is without indebtedness, and

has a surplus of about $10,000.

The town of Amador comprises two eastern tiers of sections of township

35, range 20, and two fractional sections of township 36, range 20,

fractional township 35, range 19, and one fractional section of

township 36, range 19. The St. Croix river forms its boundary on the

north and east. The surface is undulating. The western and southern

part is covered with hardwood timber and has rich soil. The northern

part has oak openings and prairie, with soil somewhat varied, in some

places more or less sandy. It is well watered and drained. Thornton

Bishop, the first settler, came in 1846, and located a farm on the

banks of the St. Croix, at the head of the rapids, in section 34.

Richard Arnold settled on Amador prairie in 1854, and was followed by

James P. Martin, Carmi P. Garlick and others. Garlick was a practicing

physician, but engaged in other work. He built a steam saw mill and

made many other improvements, among them laying out the village of

Amador in section 9, township 35, range 20. H. N. Newbury, surveyor,

not succeeding in his undertaking, issued the prospectus of a paper to

be called the _St. Croix Eagle_ and to be published at Taylor's Falls.

This failing he removed to Osceola.

Amador was organized in 1858. The first supervisors were C. P.

Garlick, R. Arnold and James Martin. A post office was established in

1857; Henry Bush, postmaster. Mr. Bush had a small farm at the mouth

of Deer creek, where he built a large public house, two stories high.

This house burned down. He established a ferry across the St. Croix.

He had a large family of boys who roamed the woods freely until one of

their number was lost. The other boys came home as usual but of one

they could give no account. Parties were organized for the search,

which at last was given up as unsuccessful. A year afterward the bones

of the missing boy were found some miles away, by the side of a log,

where the little wanderer had doubtless perished of starvation and

exposure. Mr. Bishop raised the first crops of the town. The first

marriage was that of Charles S. Nevers and Mary Snell, by John Winans,

Esq., Feb. 23, 1860.

THORNTON BISHOP was a native of Indiana. He came to St. Croix Falls in

1841 and was married to Delia Wolf in 1842, by Rev. W. D. Boutwell, at

the Pokegama mission. This wife was a well educated half-breed. They

raised a large family of children. He came to Amador in 1846 and

farmed for some time at the head of the rapids, when he sold his farm

and moved to Sunrise. In 1880 he removed to Kettle River station. In

1883-84-85-86 he served as commissioner for Pine county.

WILLIAM HOLMES came to Amador and settled on a farm at the head of the

rapids in 1848. The farm is now held by John Dabney. Mr. Holmes

married a sister of Mrs. Thornton Bishop. She was educated at

Pokegama mission. They raised a large family of children. In 1852 Mr.

Holmes removed to Sunrise and thence to Trade River, Wisconsin, in

1875, where he sickened. His brother-in-law, Bishop, came to his

relief, removed him to his own home and cared for him till he died,

May, 1876.

JAMES M. MARTIN was one of the first settlers in Amador. He came

originally from Missouri, where he was married. He died July 17, 1887;

Mrs. Martin dying some years prior. Their sons are James M., Harvey,

Charles, Isaac, and Theodore. Their daughters are Mrs. Cowan, Mrs.

Wilkes, Mrs. Nordine and Mrs. Lanon.

BRANCH.

The town of Branch, occupying township 35, range 21, was set off from

Sunrise, and organized in 1872. The first supervisors were William

Winston, Peter Delamater and Frank Knight. A post office was

established in 1869; Geo. W. Flanders, postmaster. The surface is

mostly undulating, and the soil a sandy loam. There are oak openings,

and along the course of the north branch of the Sunrise river, which

flows through the town from west to east, there are many excellent

wild meadows. The north part originally contained pine forests; about

5,000,000 feet have been cut away. Branch contains some pretty and

well cultivated farms. The St. Paul & Duluth railroad traverses the

town from south to north.

NORTH BRANCH STATION.

The only village in the town of Branch was platted in January, 1870,

the proprietors being the Western Land Association, L. Mendenhall,

agent. The plat includes the north half of the northwest quarter of

section 21, and the northeast quarter of section 20, township 35,

range 21. The first settler was G. M. Flanders, who opened a store

here in 1868, which was burned in 1869. Henry L. Ingalls erected a

good hotel and other buildings. In 1870 Gurley & Bros. established a

store; B. F. Wilkes built a hotel; Winston, Long & Co. established a

store. In 1874 J. F. F. Swanson built a flouring mill, which was

burned in 1878. The loss was about $6,000, with but little insurance.

The village now contains two elevators, three hotels, six stores and

the usual proportion of dwellings. There are two churches, the

Episcopalian building, erected in 1883; and the Congregational, in

1884. There is also a good school house. The village was incorporated

in 1882. In December, 1884, the store of Singleton & Bonnafon was

burned; loss estimated at $15,000, with but little insurance.

HENRY L. INGALLS was born in Abingdon, Connecticut, in 1804. In 1832

he was married to Lavina L. Child, of Woodstock, Connecticut, and with

his wife and younger brother emigrated to Illinois, settling at

Chandler, Cass county. There he remained seventeen years, when, his

impaired health necessitating a change, with his son Henry he went to

California. In 1853 he returned and settled on Sunrise prairie, then

an unbroken wilderness. For seventeen years he lived on his farm and

kept a popular country hotel. In 1870 he removed to North Branch and

built a large frame residence, where he lived until his death, which

occurred Sept. 2, 1876. Mr. Ingalls left three sons, Ephraim, Henry

and Van Rensselaer.

MRS. LAVINA L. INGALLS, whose maiden name was Childs, was born in

Connecticut in 1806; was married as above stated in 1832, from which

time she cheerfully and uncomplainingly shared the fortunes of her

husband in the West, undergoing the usual toils and privations of the

pioneer. While at Sunrise, during part of the time she had no

neighbors nearer than Taylor's Falls. The first post office in Chisago

county north of Taylor's Falls was at her house, and was known as

Muscotink. She and her husband, during the later years of their lives,

were Spiritualists, and derived great comfort from their peculiar

phase of belief. Mrs. Ingalls was a talented and kind hearted woman,

charitable in act and beloved by her associates. She died Dec. 29,

1879.

CHISAGO LAKE.

The town of Chisago Lake includes the four western tiers of sections

of township 33, range 20, and township 34, range 20. A permanent

characteristic of this town is its unrivaled lake scenery, rendering

it not only attractive for residences but a favorite resort of

visitors. Its principal lake has already been described. The first

settler was John S. Van Rensselaer, who located on an island opposite

the present site of Centre City in the spring of 1851, and raised a

crop of corn and vegetables. He built him a cabin and lived there

three years. Eric Norberg, a prominent Swede, came to the lake from

Bishop's Hill, Illinois, in April, 1851, and being pleased with the

locality, came back with a colony of Swedes, including Peter Berg,

Andrew Swenson, Peter Anderson, Peter Shaline, Daniel Rattick, and

others. They came by steamboat, landed at Taylor's Falls June 24,

1851, cut a road to Chisago lake and took undisputed possession of its

shores, finding no trace of human occupancy save some deserted Indian

tepees and the claim cabin of Mr. Van Rensselaer on the island. Mr.

Berg settled on the west part of lot 3, section 35, and southwest

quarter of southwest quarter of section 26, township 34, range 20.

Peter Anderson on the east part of lot 3, and northwest quarter of

northeast quarter of section 35, township 34, range 20. Andrew Swenson

on lot 5, section 27, township 34, range 20. Mr. Norberg had come

first to the country at the invitation of Miles Tornell, who was

murdered in 1848, near St. Croix Falls, by some Indian assassins,

hired to commit the deed by one Miller, a whisky seller. Mr. Norberg

originally intended to make his home at Chisago Lake, but died at

Bishop's Hill, Illinois, while on a visit in 1853.

The colony in 1852 raised the first rye, barley and flax in the

county. They also raised potatoes, green corn and vegetables, cut out

roads, cleared timber, and made other improvements. Peter Berg raised

flax and made linen thread in 1852, the first made in Minnesota.

Settlers came in rapidly. Among the arrivals in 1852 and soon after

were the Petersons, Strands, Johnsons, Frank Mobeck, Dahliam, Porter,

and others. A post office was established in 1858; A. Nelson,

postmaster. The town was organized in 1858. The first supervisors

were: Ephraim C. Ingalls, chairman; Frank Mobeck and Daniel Lindstrom.

The first church organization in the county was that of the Swedish

Evangelical Lutheran, in 1854. Here was built the first church edifice

in 1855, a frame structure subsequently enlarged, but in 1882

superseded by a fine brick building, costing $30,000. Its dimensions

are 116 × 66 feet, ground plan, and the spire is 135 feet in height. A

fine organ was purchased at a cost of $1,500. This church building is

an ornament to the town and the State, and would be creditable even to

our great cities. The first pastor was Rev. P. A. Cedarstam. His

successors are Revs. C. A. Hedengrand and John J. Frodeen, the present

incumbent. The communicants number about 1,300.

In 1880 the St. Paul & Duluth railroad extended a branch road from

Wyoming to Taylor's Falls. This passes through the town of Chisago

Lake, from west to east, crossing three arms of the lake. To secure

this road the town gave $10,000 in twenty year bonds. It obtains in

exchange an outlet for the products of its farms and forests. The

bridge across Chisago lake was built in 1857, at a cost of $1,500. It

has since been made an embankment bridge at an additional cost of

$1,600. Of this the State furnished $1,000 and the county $600.

CENTRE CITY,

The county seat of Chisago county, was platted May, 1857, on lot 5,

section 27, township 34, range 20; Andrew Swenson, proprietor; Alex.

Cairns, surveyor. It is located on a peninsula midway on the east

shore of Chisago lake. Few villages are more beautifully situated. It

contains two hotels, three stores, a saw and feed mill, two church

buildings, a Swedish Lutheran and Swedish Methodist, a school house

and many pleasant residences. The court house was built in 1876, at a

cost of $5,000, on a promontory commanding a fine view of the lake.

The depot of the branch of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad is located

half a mile south of the village. Summer excursionists assemble here

in goodly numbers, and the location bids fair to become very

attractive as a summer resort. During the Indian outbreak in 1862, and

the period of uncertainty as to the probable attitude of the Chippewa

Indians, the people of Chisago Lake built breastworks for protection,

on the isthmus connecting Centre City with the mainland, and planted

cannon upon them for defense. The remains of these old fortifications

may still be seen.

ANDREW SWENSON.--Mr. Swenson, the founder of Centre City, came to the

shores of the lake in 1851, and made his home on the present site of

the city. He was born in Sweden in 1817; came to America in 1850, and

remained a short time in New Orleans before coming to Minnesota. He

was a farmer and a member of the Methodist church. He was married to

Catharine Peterson in 1838. He died in July, 1887, leaving two sons

and two daughters.

JOHN S. VAN RENSSELAER came to Chisago Lake in the spring of 1851, and

settled on an island, where he lived three years in hermit-like

seclusion, raising corn and vegetables. His cabin, always neat and

tasteful, was furnished with a choice library. In 1854 he removed to

Sunrise Lake, where he lived fifteen years, engaged in farming. He

removed thence to Sunrise City. Mr. Van Rensselaer was the founder of

the first cheese factories in the county, at Sunrise City and Centre

City. He is an honorable and upright man, whose high aim is to

exemplify the golden rule in his life and deportment.

AXEL DAHLIAM settled on the west shore of East Chisago lake in 1852.

Mr. Dahliam had been an officer in the Swedish Army. He was a

cultivated gentleman. He died in 1869.

NELS NORD was born in Lindhopsing, Sweden, in 1819. In his eighteenth

year he enlisted in the Swedish Army and served twelve years. He came

to America in 1855 and located on Chisago lake, in the northeast

quarter of section 32, township 34, range 20. He was married in Sweden

to Lisa Anderson. They have one son, John P., who has been for seven

years the popular and efficient auditor of Chisago county. He was

married in 1878 to Hildah, daughter of Rev. C. A. Hedengrand. They

have one daughter.

JOHN A. HALLBERG was born at Smolland, Sweden, in 1830. He came to

America in 1853 and to Centre City in 1854. In 1872 he purchased a saw

and feed mill of Shogren Brothers. In 1876 he built a hotel. He has

held the office of justice of the peace many years and has served four

years as county commissioner. He was married to Matilda E. Carlson in

1870.

CHAS. A. BUSH is of German descent. His father, Wm. H. Bush, lived in

Wyoming. His great grandfather came to this country in 1765 and fought

on the side of the colonies. Chas. A. came to Minnesota in 1869 from

Pennsylvania. He has served as treasurer of Chisago county four years.

LARS JOHAN STARK was born in Sweden in 1826; came to America in 1850,

and settled at Chisago Lake in 1852. He was married in 1865, and again

in 1870. He has eleven children living. In Sweden he served as clerk

ten years. In his American home he has followed farming chiefly. He

has served as justice of the peace and county commissioner, and has

filled some town offices. He was engrossing clerk of the house of

representatives in 1864. He was a member of the house in the sessions

of 1865 and 1875. In 1868 he moved to the town of Fish Lake, and in

1877 to Harris.

FRANK MOBECK was born in Sweden in 1814. He came to America in 1851,

and in 1853 to Chisago Lake, where he settled on lot 5, section 34,

township 34, range 20. His home is on a beautiful elevation, on a

point of land projecting into the lake. Mr. Mobeck served in the

Swedish Army seventeen years. He has raised a large family of

children, all of whom are good citizens.

ROBERT CURRIE was born in Ayrshire, Scotland. After reaching manhood

he was employed many years as superintendent of a fancy manufacturing

company. He was married in Scotland. In 1854, after the death of his

wife, he came to America, and in 1855 selected a place for a home on

the north shore of west Chisago lake, where he lived till his death by

drowning in 1883. The site of his home was well chosen. It commanded a

beautiful view of the lake, and in the summer months was luxuriantly

adorned with flowers. Mr. Currie was a man of fine intellect, well

cultivated, and an ardent admirer of his countryman Burns, from whom,

and from Shakespeare and other masters of English literature he could

quote for hours. Mr. Currie's occupation was farming, but he filled

several offices acceptably. He was superintendent of schools, judge of

probate and clerk of district court. Though somewhat eccentric, he was

a social, kind hearted man.

ANDREW N. HOLM, formerly Andrew Nelson, his name having been changed

by legislative enactment in 1867, was born in Sweden in 1829. He

learned the trade of carpenter, came to America in 1855 and located in

Centre City in 1857, of which city he was first postmaster. He served

as a soldier during the Civil War and at its close removed his family

to Taylor's Falls, which is still his home.

LINDSTROM VILLAGE,

Located on the line of the Taylor's Falls branch of the St. Paul &

Duluth railroad, on lot 4, section 33, town 34, range 20, was platted

in 1880 by G. W. Sewall, surveyor. The proprietors are James and

Elisabeth Smith. It is situated on high ground and almost surrounded

by the waters of Lake Chisago. It would be difficult to find a

lovelier site. Maurice Tombler built the first store and elevator

here, in 1881. There are now three stores, one hotel, one railroad

station and several shops and dwellings. A post office was established

at Lindstrom in 1880; Charles H. Bush, postmaster.

DANIEL LINDSTROM was born in 1825, in Helsingland, Sweden. He had no

early advantages for obtaining an education, and spent most of his

youth herding goats amongst the mountains in the north part of Sweden.

In 1854 he came to America and located on Chisago lake, choosing a

beautiful location, which has since been laid out as a village, and

bids fair to become a place of popular resort. Mr. Lindstrom was

married first in Sweden, and now lives with his second wife, the first

having died in 1864. He has a family of three children. He has filled

official positions in his town acceptably.

MAGNUS S. SHALEEN was born in Sweden in 1796; came to America in 1855,

and made a homestead near Lindstrom in section 29, town 34, range 20,

where he died in 1869. Mrs. Shaleen died in 1873. John, the oldest

son, resides on the family homestead. He has served as sheriff of

Chisago county six years, and state senator eight years. Peter, the

second son, has served as postmaster of Centre City fourteen years,

and clerk of the district court five years. Sarah, the eldest

daughter, married John Swenson. They have three sons, John H., Henry

A. and Oscar, industrious, reliable young men, all in the employ of

the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company. Mary married Andrew Wallmark

at Chisago Lake, in 1856. One daughter is unmarried.

CHISAGO CITY.

The village of Chisago City is located on a hardwood ridge, between

Chisago and Green lakes, in sections 6 and 7, township 34, range 20.

It was platted by Isaac Bernheimer & Co., of Philadelphia, on lot 4,

section 7, township 34, range 20, in 1855. They built a hotel, several

dwellings, and a saw and grist mill on the banks of Chisago lake, at

an expense of about $7,000. These mills were burned in 1872. A stave

factory was built on the site of the burned mills, which was operated

successfully for many years under the management of George Nathan,

Otto Wallmark, W. D. Webb and others. This stave mill gave a new

impetus to the prosperity of the village, under the influence of which

the county seat was transferred to it. Its subsequent growth, however,

did not justify expectations. It was for many years without even a

post office. In 1875 the county seat was removed to Centre City. The

Lutherans have here one of the finest church buildings in the county.

The branch railroad depot is located one mile north, and quite a

village has grown up around it.

OTTO WALLMARK was born Dec. 7, 1830, in the province of Halland,

Sweden. In his minority he was nine years clerk in a store. He

received a common school education. In 1854 he came to America and

directly to Chisago City, where he lived many years, making a

homestead, which has since been his permanent home. He served eighteen

years as Chisago county auditor. He served several years as postmaster

at Chisago City, and in 1886 was elected state senator for four years.

His first wife was Mary Helene, his second wife, Eva Palmgreen. They

have one son and one daughter.

ANDREW WALLMARK, brother of Otto, was born in Sweden in 1826; received

a liberal education, and came to Chisago Lake from Sweden in 1854. He

has filled several town offices; has been register of deeds for

Chisago county nineteen years; was married to Mary Shaleen in 1856.

They have two sons and three daughters.

FISH LAKE.

The town of Fish Lake includes township 36, range 22. It was

originally well timbered, chiefly with hardwood, but 25,000,000 feet

of pine timber has been cut from it and mostly manufactured in the

town. There are some fine lakes in the town, of which the largest and

finest are Horseshoe and Cedar. The soil is black clay loam with

subsoil of clay. The town was cut off from the town of Sunrise and

organized in 1868. The first supervisors were Chas. F. Stark, Benjamin

Franklin and John A. Hokanson. A post office was established in 1868;

Benjamin Franklin, postmaster. The first settlers were Peter Olaf and

Peter Bergland, in section 25. The first school was taught by Miss

Mattison. The first marriage was that of John Hokanson and Matilda

Samuelson. The first death was that of John Erickson. The population

is mostly from Sweden. There is a good Swedish Lutheran church built

near the centre of the town. There are also a Swedish Methodist and a

Swedish Baptist society. The people are a well-to-do, independent

class. Fish Lake has a saw mill with a capacity of about 1,000,000

feet. In 1877 Hosburg, the watchman of this mill, was killed by

Priestly, an Englishman. Hosburg, in accordance with the rules, had

ordered him not to smoke on the premises. The Englishman was arrested,

tried for murder and acquitted.

PETER BERG was born in Sweden in 1801; came to America in 1850, and

settled at Chisago Lake in 1851. Some time subsequently he settled on

the north shore of Fish lake. In 1886, at the age of eighty-five

years, he is still a vigorous, active man. Mr. Berg was married in

Sweden. He has one daughter, Katharine, who married Sam Hamilton, of

Taylor's Falls. Mr. Hamilton died in 1871. She married as her second

husband Swain G. Yongren.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, though he bears the name of America's most

illustrious philosopher, is a native of Sweden, whence he came with a

Swedish colony in 1852, settled at Taylor's Falls, and subsequently

removed to the northern shore of Fish lake. By way of explaining how

he came by his American name we add that soon after his arrival he

came to the writer somewhat puzzled as to how he should write his

Swedish name in English. He gave it as "Ben Franz Norel," but

pronounced it in such a way that it sounded rather like Benjamin

Franklin. We suggested that name as a happy solution of the

difficulty, telling him something about the illustrious man who had

made it honorable. He adopted it at once, and has never disgraced it.

He is still a worthy, industrious and honorable citizen of Fish Lake.

FRANCONIA

Includes the two eastern tiers of sections of township 33, range 20,

and fractional township 33, range 19, including about fifteen whole

sections, and four fractional. The soil is good, and originally

supported a growth of hardwood. The surface is undulating. It is well

watered by Lawrence and several other small creeks tributary to the

St. Croix, and has several small but clear lakes. Ansel Smith was the

first settler of the town and village, which he named after Franconia

in the White mountains. He came here in 1852, and located a claim on

the present site of the village, on the St. Croix river, section 10,

township 33, range 19. He did much for the prosperity of the village

and town. He raised the first crops and was the first postmaster

(1854). The town was organized in 1858. The first supervisors were

Ansel Smith, Leonard P. Day and A. J. Adams. The town is now well

settled and has many excellent farms. The branch St. Paul & Duluth

railroad has a depot three-fourths of a mile from the village of

Franconia. A German Methodist church is located near the centre of the

town.

FRANCONIA VILLAGE

Was platted in 1858, by Ansel Smith. It was incorporated in 1884. Paul

Munch, in 1860, erected a first class, three storied flouring mill on

Lawrence creek. A saw mill, erected in 1854 by the Clark brothers and

Ansel Smith, has passed through many changes of ownership. It is now

the property of Matthews & Jourdain. Henry F. and Leonard P. Day built

the first good dwelling in the village, on the banks of the St. Croix,

just above the steamboat landing. Margaret Smith taught the first

school. The first death in the village was that of Neil Monroe.

ANSEL SMITH came from Vermont to St. Croix Falls in 1850 and engaged

in teaching. In 1851 he helped erect the Chisago House in Taylor's

Falls. In 1852 he made a claim on the St. Croix river, in section 10,

township 33, range 19, and there platted the village of Franconia,

clearing away the worst of the timber with his own hands. He was an

energetic, active business man, and took an interest not only in the

affairs of his town and neighborhood, but in the country at large. He

represented his district in the fifth, sixth and seventh legislatures.

He was appointed register of the United States land office at Duluth

in 1870 and served till 1872. Mr. Smith died at his residence in

Duluth in 1878, leaving a wife and three promising sons, two of them

practicing attorneys in Duluth; one cashier of a bank in Duluth.

HENRY F. AND LEONARD P. DAY.--The Day brothers came from St. Lawrence,

New York, to the St. Croix valley in 1849, and settled in Franconia in

1852. Henry married Margaret Smith, daughter of David Smith. During

the Rebellion he served in Company C, Seventh Minnesota Volunteers. He

moved to Florida in 1886. Leonard P. was married to Mary Mitchell in

1856. He died in 1874, leaving a widow, two sons and two daughters.

His widow (in 1886) is the wife of Henry Wills, of Osceola.

HENRY WILLS was born in 1829, in Illinois, and married his first wife

in Missouri in 1856, who died in 1878, leaving nine children. Mr.

Wills was one of the first farmers in Franconia, and has been active

in promoting improvements in his town and county. He moved to Osceola

in 1886.

THE CLARK BROTHERS came from Maine and located in Franconia in 1854,

where they built the first mill in the village. Subsequently they

became citizens of Taylor's Falls, engaging in the mercantile, livery,

saw and stave mill business. James, the oldest, married Carrie

Jellison in 1863, and moved to Windom, Minnesota. Rufus, the next in

age, married Kate Strand in 1860, and died May, 1880, leaving a widow,

three sons and one daughter. Charles, the youngest, was married to

Martha J. Gray in 1868, and removed to Fergus Falls.

DAVID SMITH was born in Scotland. He came to Franconia in 1855, where

he has now one of the best farms in Chisago county. His youngest son,

James, lives on the old homestead with him. His second son, John, has

made his home in Rush City. Andrew, his oldest, served during the

Rebellion in company C, Seventh Minnesota. His oldest daughter,

Margaret, is the wife of H. F. Day. His daughter Nancy is the wife of

N. H. Hickerson and resides in California,. Barbary, the third

daughter, is the wife of John Grove of Burnett county.

JONAS LINDALL was for many years an enterprising and prosperous

business man in Franconia. He opened up an extensive wood trade with

St. Paul, in which C. J. Vitalis is his successor. Mr. Lindall

represented his county in the senate of the fifteenth and sixteenth

state legislatures. He was accidentally drowned from a barge of wood

at Hastings in May, 1872. His widow is married to Chas. J. Vitalis.

WM. PEASLEE came from Maine to the St. Croix valley and settled in

Franconia in 1857, and followed mercantile pursuits at that place and

at Taylor's Falls. He died at the latter place in 1876. Mr. Peaslee

was married at Palmyra, Maine, to Sophia E. Harriman, who, with

Clarence, an only son, survives him. His widow resides in Taylor's

Falls and superintends a millinery and fancy store. Clarence succeeds

his father in the grocery and dry goods business at Taylor's Falls. He

married Rosa, a daughter of Patrick Fox.

CHARLES VITALIS was born in Smolland, Sweden, in 1843; came to America

in 1868 and settled in Franconia village. He was for five years

employed as clerk. In 1873 he embarked in the mercantile and wood

business. In one year he shipped 13,000 cords of wood, and has

averaged for the last 14 years 7,000 cords, making a total of 100,000

cords. He was married to Josephine Nelson, widow of Jonas Lindall, in

1873. They have three children. Elof, John, Elias and Hans are

brothers of Charles Vitalis, residing in the town of Franconia.

AUGUST J. ANDERSON was born near Wexico, Sweden, in 1860; came to

America with his parents in 1869, and to Franconia. At thirteen years

of age he commenced clerking for C. Vitalis, with whom he continued

until 1873, when he associated himself with him in the mercantile

business. He visited Europe in 1883.

FRANK N. PETERSON.--Mr. Peterson came to America in 1865, and in 1866

settled in the valley of the St. Croix. He attended school at Carver,

Minnesota, one year, when he became a traveling salesman for Leopold &

Co., of Chicago, and in 1881 settled in Franconia. He organized the

lumbering firm of Borens Brothers & Peterson, which continued until

1886, when a new organization was formed, called the Franconia Lumber

Company, consisting of P. Jordan, Sam Mathews, of Stillwater, and the

subject of our sketch.

[Illustration: FRANK N. PETERSON.]

Mr. Peterson has been the president of Franconia since its

incorporation. In 1869 he married Miss Ingur Johnson, daughter of Eric

Johnson, a pioneer of St. Peter, Minnesota, and is the father of two

children, Axel, a promising son, who died in February, 1885, at

fourteen years of age, and Maria, now a student in the Ladies'

Seminary at Faribault, who is developing marked ability as a pencil

artist. Mr. Peterson owns one of the finest houses in the valley,

romantically situated, which is supplied with pure spring water. It is

a pride to the village and attracts general attention. He is also the

inventor and patentee of the Lindholm & Peterson adding machine.

HARRIS.

The town of Harris contains twenty-four sections of township 36, range

21, the four western tiers of sections. The soil is a sandy loam with

clay subsoil. The town is well watered and drained by Goose creek,

which entering the town from the northwest, and bending at first

southward, then eastward, leaves the town near its southeastern line

in section 22. The timber consisted originally of oak openings and

pine; 10,000,000 feet of the latter have been removed from the

southeastern portion. Luxuriant wild meadows are found along Goose

creek. The first improvement was a farm, made by W. H. C. Folsom in

sections 21 and 22 in 1854. The first permanent settler was Henry H.

Sevy, who located on this farm in 1856. The town of Harris was

organized in 1884.

HARRIS VILLAGE.

A charter organizing Harris village was granted by the district court,

under the general law, in 1882. A question arose as to the legality of

the act. A subsequent legislature, by legislative act, confirmed all

similarly organized villages in the State. The supreme court decided

the organization of such villages illegal and the legislative act

sanctioning it unconstitutional. It was subsequently organized

legally. The village was surveyed by A. D. Miller and platted in May,

1873, in the south half of section 21, township 36, range 21, Philip

S. Harris and N. D. Miller, proprietors. It derived its name from

Philip S. Harris, a prominent officer of the St. Paul & Duluth

railroad. Fred Wolf was the first settler, in 1870, and first merchant

and first railroad agent, in 1873. He acted as postmaster subsequently

and filled other offices of trust. His interests are intimately

blended with those of the village. Isaac Savage was the second settler

and merchant. He was the first postmaster, in 1873. The first school

was taught by Mary Gwinn, in 1873. The first marriage was that of M.

P. Smith and Charlotte Swenson. The first child born was Brague, son

of W. D. Sayers. The first death was that of Isaac Morrill. A good

school house was built in 1877. The village is rapidly growing. It has

an extensive trade in hay, wood, ties and piles. Wheat shipments are

large. It has four stores, two hotels, three elevators, three hay

presses, two wagon and smith shops, one agricultural warehouse, one

skating rink, one livery stable, two saloons, one meat shop and a

railroad depot.

LENT.

This town includes the whole of township 34, range 21. It is well

watered and drained by Sunrise river, but has no lakes. The soil is a

sandy loam; the timber chiefly oak openings. The early settlers were

Harvey Lent, from whom the town derived its name, William Robinson,

James Buchanan, who raised the first crops in 1855, Joshua Dawson,

Jesse Moore and others. The town was organized in 1872. The first

supervisors were Dawson, Moore and Robinson. The first post office was

established in 1875, at Stacy, a railroad station on the St. Paul &

Duluth railroad, which traverses this town from south to north. Frank

Dawson was the first postmaster.

NESSELL.

Nessell includes township 37, range 22. The surface was originally

covered with a growth of hardwood, with some pine. Of the latter,

about 10,000,000 feet has been cut. The soil is adapted to wheat

culture. It is well watered. Rush lake occupies a nearly central

position, and is a beautiful sheet of water with about fourteen miles

of meandering shore line, crystal clear, and deep, well stocked with

fish, and bordered with groves of maple, oak and linden. The town was

set off from Rush Lake and organized in 1870. The first supervisors

were Wm. H. McCray, John H. Breit and Matts Colleen. The town is

settled by a class of industrious, upright people. There are three

churches, with prosperous societies, the Swedish Baptist, the Swedish

Lutheran and German Lutheran. Martin Linnell was the first child born.

The first marriage was that of Wm. Vanetta and Anna Johnson, in 1861.

Alice Draper taught the first school. Rev. Cedarstam preached the

first sermon.

ROBERT NESSELL was the oldest settler. The town was named for him. He

was born in Germany in 1834; came to America in 1847, and to Minnesota

in 1854. He was married at Sunrise to Kate Torbert, of Shafer, in

1856, and the same year located his present home. Other early settlers

are John H. Breit, John Lindsey, P. Kelley, and the Jarchow brothers.

STEPHEN B. CLARK made Nessell his home in 1867. Mr. Clark was born in

Vermont in 1830; came to Marine in 1851. He served three years during

the Rebellion in the Second Wisconsin Cavalry. He removed to Rush City

in 1856.

RUSH SEBA.

Rush Seba comprises township 37, range 21, and fractional part of

township 37, range 20, consisting of about ten sections, irregularly

bounded by the St. Croix river. It is timbered with hardwood, has good

soil, chiefly a black clay loam, with clay subsoil, and is well

watered by Rush river and Rock creek and tributaries. Wild meadows and

marshes are intermingled with the timber. The town was organized in

1858, with George B. Folsom, Robert Newell and Timothy Ward as

supervisors. A post office was established in 1859, in section 14,

George B. Folsom, postmaster. George B. Folsom was the first settler,

raising the first crops in the town in 1855. The St. Paul & Duluth

railroad traverses the town from south to north. It was built in 1868,

and a branch road to Grantsburg, Wisconsin, was built in 1884.

Josephine Blanding taught the first school, in 1856. The first death

was that of James Ward, who died from accidental poisoning.

RUSH CITY.

In 1868, at the completion of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, a depot

was built and a station established at the crossing of Rush river,

around which rapidly grew up the village of Rush City. It was surveyed

and platted by Benjamin W. Brunson, surveyor, in January, 1870, in the

northeast quarter of section 21, township 37, range 26. The Western

Land Association, L. Mendenhall, agent, was proprietor. Thomas Flynn

was the first settler, he having in 1857 pre-empted the land which

afterward became the site of the village. Among the improvements in

1869 was a steam saw mill, built by Taylor & Co. This mill was burned

in 1879, at a loss of $13,000. Rush City was incorporated in 1874.

Frank H. Pratt was president of the first village council. Rush City

has now a commodious town hall, an exchange bank, one elevator, one

foundry, a good school house, built at a cost of $3,000; a good graded

school, under the supervision of Prof. V. D. Eddy; a lodge of Ancient

Order United Workmen (No. 42), a board of trade, a Woman's Christian

Temperance Union Association, a Sons of Temperance lodge, a post of

the Grand Army of the Republic (Ellsworth Post, No. 58), and a masonic

organization (Jasper Lodge). The following denominations have churches

and societies: Catholic, Episcopalian, German Lutheran, Swedish

Lutheran, and Swedish Evangelical. The Catholics are building a church

at a cost of $10,000.

THOMAS FLYNN was born in county Mayo, Ireland, 1828. He came to

America in 1831, and lived in Canada East until 1857; when he located

in Minnesota, pre-empting the northeast quarter of section 21,

township 37, range 21. His farm became the site of the village of Rush

City in 1868, and in 1869 he built the first frame house in its

limits. Mr. Flynn has been married three times, losing each of his

wives by death. He has two sons living, James H. and Frank A.

PATRICK H. FLYNN was born in county Mayo, Ireland, in 1829; came to

America in 1831; lived in Canada East until 1857, and coming to

Minnesota pre-empted the northwest quarter of section 21. He was

married in 1857 to Margaret Kelly, of Illinois. They have two sons and

two daughters living. Mr. Flynn, in 1880, erected the Globe Hotel in

Rush City, where he now resides.

RUFUS CROCKER was the second settler in Rush Seba. He was the first

justice of the peace and held other offices. Mr. Crocker was married

to Miss Mercy Hewson, of Isanti county. He is now a citizen of Rock

Creek.

FRANK H. PRATT was born in Skowhegan, Maine, in 1836. His father,

Henry P. Pratt, a veteran editor, who had served twenty years on the

Kennebec _Journal_, and later was connected with the Somerset

_Journal_ and Skowhegan _People's Press_, came to St. Paul in 1854

with his family, and was associated with John P. Owens as assistant

editor of the St. Paul _Minnesotian_. On Sunday, May 6, 1855, Mr.

Pratt went on board the steamer Royal Arch, which had landed at the

St. Paul levee that morning with a cargo of passengers, sick, dying

and dead of cholera. Thirteen had already died on the boat. Mr.

Pratt, Sr., went on board to alleviate the sufferings of the sick and

dying, and in consequence, within two days, himself sickened and died.

The writer and his family were passengers on the Royal Arch, and

witnesses to these scenes of suffering and death and Mr. Pratt's

heroic self-devotion. After his father's death Frank continued in the

office of the _Minnesotian_ as printer. He worked also in the offices

of the St. Paul and St. Peter _Tribune_ and the Prescott _Transcript_.

In 1858-59 he served as local editor and foreman in the _Transcript_

office. In 1860 he removed to Taylor's Falls, and established the

Taylor's Falls _Reporter_, the first newspaper published in Chisago

county. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C. of the Seventh Minnesota

Volunteer Infantry; was commissioned second lieutenant, and served

until he resigned his office in the latter part of 1864, having been

promoted to the captaincy of Company C. After the war he located in

Sunrise City, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1872 he removed

to Rush City, continued in mercantile business, and took an active

part in all enterprises looking to the welfare of the city. He built a

store, elevator and a fine residence, which was burned in 1881. Mr.

Pratt represented his district in the sixteenth legislature. He was

married to Helen A. Bossout, at St. Paul, in 1858. They have one son,

Fred, and three daughters. Mr. Pratt moved to St. Paul in 1882, where

he died, March 25, 1884. Fred, his son, succeeds him in business in

Rush City. He is married to a daughter of Jonathan Chase, of East

Minneapolis.

VOLORO D. EDDY was born in Java, Wyoming county, New York, Sept. 7,

1840; received a common school education supplemented by two years'

attendance at Griffith Institute, Springfield, New York; gave up his

school to enlist in his country's service, as a member of the

"Ellsworth Avengers" (the Forty-fourth New York Volunteers). The

regiment was mustered into service at Albany, New York, Aug. 8, 1861.

He served in this regiment until June 5, 1864, when he was taken

prisoner at Old Church, Virginia. He endured the horrors of prison

life until Feb. 26, 1865, and was discharged from service May 20,

1865. In 1868 he came to Taylor's Falls and engaged in teaching, which

he has made his profession, having taught continuously since 1869. He

has been county superintendent of schools for twelve years, during

which time he has resided at Rush City. Mr. Eddy was married to

Frances Cowley, at Taylor's Falls, Sept. 30, 1868. Mrs. Eddy died

June, 1881. He was married to Anna R. Olmstead, July 25, 1883, at

Arcadia, New York.

FERDINAND SWEEDORFF CHRISTIANSON was born in Copenhagen, Denmark,

April 18, 1837; came to the United States in 1866, to Minnesota in

1868, and to Chisago county in 1870. He was married to Selma A.

Willard, at Red Wing, Minnesota, Dec. 12, 1869. He represented Chisago

county in the legislature of 1878. He was assistant secretary of state

from 1880 to 1882. In 1882 he established the Rush City Bank. In 1883

he was appointed member of the state board of equalization, and in

1885 was one of the committee for selecting a location for the Third

Hospital for the Insane.

SHAFER

Comprises all of the territory of township 34, range 19, excepting the

plat of Taylor's Falls, and fractional sections in the northeast

corner of the township. It was at first heavily timbered with

hardwood, interspersed with marshes and meadows. The soil is good.

Lawrence and Dry creeks drain the greater part of the township. It is

now well settled, and has many fine farms. A Swedish colony settled

here in 1853, consisting of Peter Wyckland, Andros Anderson, Eric

Byland, Tuver Walmarson, and others. The town organized first as

Taylor's Falls, but the name was changed to Shafer in 1873. John G.

Peterson, John Nelson and John Carlson were the first supervisors. The

first school was taught by Ella Wyckoff, in the Marshall district, in

1859. The first marriage was that of Peter Abear to Kittie Wickland.

The branch St. Paul & Duluth railroad passes through the southern part

of this township. The township contributed to this road $3,000 in

bonds. A railroad station in the southwest quarter of section 32 bears

the name of Shafer, derived, together with the name of the township,

from

JACOB SHAFER, who, as early as 1847, cut hay in sections 4 and 5. He

seems to have been in no sense worthy of the honor conferred upon him,

as he was but a transient inhabitant, and disappeared in 1849. No one

knows of his subsequent career. The honor ought to have been given to

some of the hardy Swedes, who were the first real pioneers, and the

first to make substantial improvements.

PETER WICKLAND came from Sweden in 1853, and settled in the northeast

quarter of section 26. He moved to Anoka in 1860, and was drowned in

Rum river in 1880. His son Peter is a prominent merchant in Anoka.

TUVER WALMARSON was born in Sweden in 1812. He was a member of the

Swedish colony of 1853, settled in the northwest quarter of section

26. Mr. and Mrs. Walmarson reared a fine family of children. Nelson

Tuver Walmarson, the eldest son, inherits the industry and frugality

of both parents. By hard work and close attention to business the

family has prospered abundantly.

ANDROS ANDERSON came also from Sweden in 1853 and settled in the east

half of the northeast quarter of section 34. Mr. Anderson moved to

Taylor's Falls in 1859 and died there in 1873. He left but one child,

the wife of Daniel Fredine, of Shafer. Mr. Anderson was a born

humorist and fond of practical jokes. On one occasion his ready wit

was exercised at the expense of a man to whom he had mortgaged his

farm. Deeming the house in which he lived his own, in the absence of

the mortgagee he removed it to Taylor's Falls. The mortgagee, E. W.

Holman, told him that he had stolen the house and must replace it.

Anderson told Holman to take the house and replace it himself, but if

he took his (Anderson's) family along with it he would have him sent

to the penitentiary. Mr. Holman did not see his way clear and the

house was not disturbed.

ERIC BYLAND, another of the Swedish colony, settled in the west half

of the southeast quarter of section 23. In 1860 he sold out and moved

further west. The farm he left is now owned by John Nelson and is one

of the finest farms in Chisago county.

JACOB PETERSON was born in 1847 and came with his parents to Chisago

county in 1854. They located on a beautiful spot in Franconia, on the

shore of a small lake, where they made a farm and where Jacob passed

his boyhood and youth. In 1881 he commenced business at Shafer station

as a merchant and dealer in wood. He was the first postmaster at

Shafer. He was married in 1881 to Mary Heline.

AMBROSE C. SEAVEY was born in Machias, Maine, in 1824; was married to

Elizabeth Ayers, in Crawford, Maine, in 1846, and came to St. Croix

Falls in 1848. In 1852 he removed to Taylor's Falls, and opened the

first blacksmith shop. He was absent two years in Colorado, and when

he returned settled on a farm in the town of Shafer. He has a family

of four sons and six daughters.

SUNRISE.

The town of Sunrise includes the two eastern tiers of sections of

township 36, range 21, one whole and eight fractional sections of

township 36, range 20, and all of township 35, range 20, except the

two eastern tiers of sections. It is well watered by the St. Croix and

Sunrise rivers and their tributaries. The latter river rises in

Washington county, having for its principal source Forest lake, and

flows through the town in a northerly direction into the St. Croix. It

has three considerable tributaries from the west known as North,

Middle and South branches. St. Croix river has, as tributary, Goose

creek, which flows through the northern part of the town. The soil

varies from a rich sandy loam to a sandy soil. The town contains many

fine farms. The old government road from Point Douglas to Superior

passes through the town.

Sunrise was incorporated as a town Oct. 26, 1858; Isaac A. Parmenter,

David Lovejoy and A. C. Mattison, supervisors. A post office was

established in 1856; George S. Frost, postmaster. The first marriage

was that of Robert Nessell and Kate Torbert, by J. D. Wilcox, Esq. The

first child born was Joshua Taylor Gallaspie. The first death was of

an unknown man who died from the kick of a horse. Wm. Holmes, the

first settler, located on Sunrise prairie in 1853, and raised crops on

fifteen acres that year. John A. Brown and Patten W. Davis cultivated

thirty-five acres the same year on Sunrise prairie. Messrs. Brown,

Davis and Ingalls made a wagon road from Sunrise to St. Paul in 1853.

John A. Brown, in the same year, built a hotel and opened a store. The

hotel was built of logs, the store was a frame, the first erected in

Sunrise. In 1855 he built a saw mill. His hotel was burned in 1856.

These buildings were the nucleus of Sunrise village.

SUNRISE VILLAGE

Was platted July, 1857, in the north half of the northeast quarter of

section 8, and the west half of the southwest quarter and the

northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 4, and the

southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 9, all of

township 3, range 20. The proprietors were John A. Brown, J. S.

Caldwell and C. L. Willis; surveyor, W. F. Duffy. It contains a first

class roller flour mill, a saw mill, both owned by Caspar Spivac, two

stores, a school house and several shops and dwellings. In 1857 a

colony from Western New York settled in and around Sunrise village.

The Wilcoxes, Wilkes, Collins, Gwynne, Smith, and others were of this

colony. The village has suffered greatly from fires. The buildings

lost at various times were one flouring mill, valued at $10,000, four

hotels and several private dwellings. The flouring mill was the

property of Mrs. J. G. Mold. Two lives were lost at the burning of the

mill.

In the fall of 1862, immediately after the Sioux outbreak, and while

considerable apprehension was felt as to the attitude of the Chippewas

toward the white settlers, a company of volunteers under Capt.

Anderson was stationed at Sunrise. This company built temporary

quarters of logs, and were very comfortably fixed during the winter.

They had presumably a very good time, but repelled no savage foes.

KOST VILLAGE

Is located in the west half of section 32, township 35, range 20. It

has a first class roller flouring mill, owned by Ferdinand A. Kost,

erected in 1883 at a cost of $13,000, and a saw mill, also owned by F.

A. Kost, erected the same year. It has two stores, a number of shops

and dwellings and a post office, established in 1884, of which F. A.

Kost is postmaster.

CHIPPEWA

Was platted March, 1856, by Benj. Dinsmore, surveyor, in the northwest

quarter of section 2, and the west half of the northeast quarter of

section 2, township 36, range 21. The proprietors were James Starkey,

Charles S. Patteys, Michael E. Ames, Isaac Van Etten, and Moses

Sherburne. It makes a fair farm.

DRONTHEIM

Was platted in 1856, in the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter

and the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 1,

township 36, range 20; C. C. P. Myer, proprietor. It is still a brush

and swamp plat.

NASHUA

Was platted July, 1857, H. H. Newbury, surveyor, on lots 6 and 7 of

section 33, and lot 5 in section 34, township 34, range 20.

Proprietors, N. F. Taylor, W. H. C. Folsom, L. K. Stannard and N. C.

D. Taylor. It has made two fair farms.

WASHINGTON

Was platted August, 1856, W. F. Duffy, surveyor, in the south half of

section 35, township 35, range 21. Proprietors, James Y. Caldwell and

L. C. Kinney. On this site the Starkey Indian battle was fought.

JOHN A. BROWN.--Mr. Brown, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Sunrise

in 1853, and was for awhile quite prominent, building a store, hotel

and other buildings. In 1855 he was married to Emeline Hartwell. He

prospered in business, but owing to some domestic difficulties, in

1857 left suddenly for parts unknown. His property was sacrificed to

meet obligations, and his wife left helpless. Mrs. Brown died in

Minneapolis in 1880.

PATTEN W. DAVIS was a native of Virginia. He came to Stillwater in

1848, and soon after removed to Osceola Mills, where he lived two

years. In 1853 he removed to Sunrise, and was associated in business

for two years with John A. Brown. He has held the positions of

postmaster, town clerk, treasurer, county commissioner, supervisor,

and assessor. In 1876 he married a Virginia lady, and returned to his

native state.

JAMES F. HARVEY was born in 1820, in Penobscot county, Maine. He came

West in 1847 and settled at Marine Mills. In 1854 he removed to

Sunrise and located in the northeast quarter of section 14, township

36, range 21, at what was known as Goose Creek crossing. His first

wife, whom he had married in Maine, died shortly after their arrival

at Sunrise, leaving one daughter, Maria, wife of Leonard Clark, of

Stillwater. Mr. Harvey was married in 1856 to widow Patience Knight,

the mother of Mrs. Floyd S. Bates, Albert S. and Frank E., of Taylor's

Falls, and Ella Medora Harvey, wife of J. A. Shores, of Minneapolis.

Mr. Harvey died at his home in 1864. Mrs. Harvey died at Taylor's

Falls in 1871.

FLOYD S. BATES, originally from Maine, has been since 1854 a prominent

lumberman on the St. Croix, living first at Sunrise, and in later

years at Taylor's Falls. He owns an extensive farm in Cass county,

Dakota. Of his three brothers, E. Hines resides in Taylor's Falls, and

J. Herrick and Charles in Dakota Territory.

ISAAC H. WARNER was born in New York in 1830, was married in 1852 and

came to Sunrise in 1854, where he followed farming and selling goods.

He has served as postmaster, justice of the peace and held other

positions. He has three children. His eldest, a daughter, wife of

Samuel McClure, a lumberman of Sunrise, died February, 1885. Mr.

Warner removed to Dakota in 1883.

CHARLES F. LOWE was born in 1815 in Concord, New Hampshire, received a

collegiate education and came to Sunrise in 1855. He interested

himself in real estate but devoted about one-half of his time to

travel, of which he was passionately fond. He made one trip around the

globe, writing back interesting letters descriptive of what he had

seen. He made his last annual tour in 1873, and, while sailing in a

small boat in some of the waters of Florida, the boat was struck by a

squall, capsized and Mr. Lowe was drowned. Mr. Lowe was a member of

the Minnesota constitutional convention.

WELLS FARR came from New York State to Sunrise prairie in 1854, where

he has since lived in a comfortable home, a successful farmer. He has

a family of four sons and two daughters. His oldest daughter is the

wife of Ephraim C. Ingalls. His second daughter is the wife of Frank

Dawson, of Lent. Mr. Farr died in March, 1888.

JOHN G. MOLD came to Sunrise in 1854, where he engaged in milling,

hotel keeping and mercantile business. He was the proprietor of the

Sunrise City mills, since burned. He died in 1873, aged fifty years,

leaving a widow, two sons and two daughters.

GEORGE L. BLOOD, during his early life, was a seafaring man, spending

many years upon the ocean, and visiting during this time many foreign

ports, keeping a daily record of his journeyings. Mr. Blood had

learned the trade of house joiner, but coming to Sunrise in 1854,

attempted farming, at which he was not successful. In 1864 he removed

to Taylor's Falls, where he died in 1869. His life was an exemplary

one, and his death that of a Christian. His family returned to their

old home in Connecticut. His two sons reside in St. Paul.

JOEL G. RYDER came from New York to the St. Croix and settled in the

town of Sunrise, near the village, about the year 1855. He was

energetic and able, and was called to fill many town and county

offices. He was a representative in the fifteenth state legislature.

In 1860 he was married to Lizzie Perkins.

JOHN DEAN was born in 18--; was married to Mary Draper in 1860; came

to Minnesota in 18--; served some time as river pilot, and settled on

his farm near Sunrise City in 1860. Mr. Dean represented his district

in the house of the twenty-first and twenty-second legislatures.

TAYLOR'S FALLS.

The village of Taylor's Falls was platted in 1851, a survey of lots

having been made at that time by Theodore S. Parker, of Stillwater.

Additions were made from time to time as the increasing population

demanded. A year before the survey a frame building was erected on

what was subsequently the northwest corner of River and First streets.

In 1851 and 1852 some streets were opened, but with considerable

difficulty, on account of the trap rock, which to be removed required

blasting. Bowlders that could not be removed were buried. The work of

cutting a street to the upper steamboat landing was specially

difficult. There were no roads to the village, and the only means of

travel was by steamboat, bateaux, or birch bark canoes, until the

government road was opened sometime in 1856. A post office was

established in March, 1851, and a weekly mail was ordered from

Stillwater. Prior to this time a semi-monthly mail had been carried

between the points named. Of the office established in 1851, N. C. D.

Taylor was first postmaster. The office was in W. H. C. Folsom's

store, Folsom acting as deputy postmaster. The successors of Mr.

Taylor have been, Porter E. Walker, Edward P. Wyman, Thomas Holmes,

Oscar Roos, George W. Seymour, and N. M. Humphrey; not a long list for

thirty-five years. The location of the office was changed with each

successive incumbent. The mail carrier in 1851 was the Hon. Warren

Bristol, since then four times a representative and senator from

Goodhue county in the state legislature, and United States judge in

Arizona. The mail service has passed through all the gradations from a

semi-monthly to a semi-daily mail. The mail has been carried in canoes

or bateaux, on foot, on horseback, on steamboat and rail car. It is

now carried by rail. Of the Baker & Taylor mill an account has been

given elsewhere. The next mill, a grist mill, was built by N. C. D.

Taylor, W. H. C. Folsom and the Day brothers, in 1852. It was several

years later remodeled and changed into a carding mill, and is now the

property of Jonas Gray. Kingman Brothers built a saw mill in 1857,

with a capacity of 12,000 feet per day. Several parties succeeded to

the ownership and control of the mill, but, after doing good service

for many years, it was abandoned. Clark Brothers built a lumber and

stave mill in 1868. After ten years this mill was removed.

The first merchant was Daniel Mears, who sold goods as early as 1848.

W. H. C. Folsom opened a store in 1850; Taylor & Fox in 1852. The

Chisago House was built by Thomson & Smith in 1852, on the corner of

Bench and First streets. In 1870 the name was changed to Dalles House.

It has changed landlords many times, the last being Henry Kattenberg.

The Cascade House was built in 1853, on the corner of Walnut and Bench

streets, by Richard Arnold. It is no longer used. The Falls House was

built in 1870, on Bench street near Walnut, by Erastus Guard, and

converted into a hotel in 1880, with Henry Kattenberg as proprietor,

by whom it was conducted as a temperance house. It is now in charge of

Eugene Fitzgerald.

The first physician was Lucius B. Smith. Susan Thomson taught the

first school. The first marriage was that of Charles D. Turney and

Cecilia Ring, Ansel Smith, justice of the peace, tying the knot. Wm.

Colby was the first white child born in the village. The first death

was that of a three-year-old daughter of Ansel Smith, in 1852. Rev. W.

T. Boutwell preached the first sermon, in 1851. In 1852 three young

Episcopal ministers, Revs. Breck, Myrick and Wilcoxson, alternated in

holding services, but did not organize a society. Rev. Julius S.

Webber, Baptist, preached occasionally in 1852 and 1853; Rev. W.

Miner, Congregationalist, in 1856 and 1857 became the first resident

minister. In April, 1859, Rev. Silas Bolles, a Methodist, organized a

society, the first in the village. In June, 1859, Rev. A. M. Torbet

organized a Baptist society and served as pastor four years. The

society built a church in 1861 at a cost of $3,000.

In 1860 the Swedish Evangelical Lutherans built a church on the corner

of Mulberry and Government streets, at a cost of $1,500. Rev. C. A.

Cedarstam was pastor in 1871-72-73, Rev. ---- Tornell the three

succeeding years, and three other pastors have served since. In 1866

Rev. John G. Hall organized a Presbyterian society, and built a church

in 1868, on the corner of River and Chisago streets, at a cost of

$1,500. Mr. Hall served as pastor four years. The Roman Catholics

erected a church on the corner of Walnut and Centre streets in 1873,

at a cost of $1,000. They have as yet no settled priest or parish

school.

The St. Croix Bridge Company was organized in 1854. The incorporators

were W. H. C. Folsom, Patrick Fox, Joshua L. Taylor, W. S. Hungerford,

Wm. Kent, Nelson McCarty, John Dobney, W. F. Colby, Orange Walker,

Fred W. Lammers, and N. C. D. Taylor. The bridge was built in 1856; W.

S. Sewall, St. Paul, was the engineer. The capital stock amounted to

$4,925, and was divided into 197 shares at $25 each. The bridge was

rebuilt in 1870, on the same plan, and in 1884 was replaced by an iron

bridge, at a cost of $6,253. The bridge has a span of 150 feet and is

a light and graceful structure. It was the first bridge that spanned

the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers.

The Chisago County Bank was organized in 1858, under the state banking

law; capital stock, $25,000; Levi W. Folsom, president; S. C. Gould,

cashier. It was closed in 1859.

The Taylor's Falls Copper Mining Company was organized Dec. 15, 1874;

W. H. C. Folsom, president; George W. Seymour, secretary; L. W.

Folsom, treasurer; D. A. Caneday, mining agent. The operations of this

company extended to sinking a shaft to a depth of one hundred and

thirty feet.