LAND GRANTS, RAILROAD SURVEYS AND CONSTRUCTION.

In May, 1857, Congress gave to Minnesota, then a territory, a

magnificent grant of about 9,000,000 acres of land, to aid in the

construction of several projected trunk roads through her bounds. The

roads specified were: From Stillwater, by way of St. Paul and St.

Anthony Falls, to a point between the foot of Big Stone lake and the

mouth of the Sioux Wood river, with a branch via St. Cloud and Crow

Wing to the navigable waters of the Red River of the North; from St.

Paul and St. Anthony via Minneapolis to a convenient point of junction

west of the Mississippi to the southern boundary of the Territory in

the direction of the mouth of the Big Sioux river, with a branch via

Faribault to the north line of the state of Iowa, west of range 16;

from Winona to a point on the Big Sioux river south of the forty-fifth

parallel of north latitude; also from La Crescent via Target lake, up

the valley of Root river, to a point of junction with the last

mentioned road, east of range 17, every alternate section of land

designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of

said road and branches. It was enacted that the lands granted were to

be subject to the disposal of the legislature.

An extra session of the legislature was convened in June, 1857, to

accept the grant and devise means to build the road.

The financial crisis of 1857 and unwise legislation in 1858, notably

the attempt to issue $5,000,000 in bonds to aid in building the roads,

served to delay the various enterprises projected, and for many years

but little work was done, notwithstanding persistent effort at every

state legislature to effect favorable changes in the condition of

affairs.

A few of the $5,000,000 bonds were issued, but the general

dissatisfaction, and feeling that they were not issued on a legal or

rational basis, depreciated their value, and they were sold at a

sacrifice and afterward redeemed by the State.

THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.

The idea of a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific was openly

discussed as early as 1837, in which year Dr. Hartwell Carver

memorialized Congress on the subject and promulgated his views through

the press and by pamphlets. In 1845 Asa Whitney evolved a plan for

the northern route, and awakened considerable popular enthusiasm, but

by many the project was considered as a swindling scheme, or at best a

visionary enterprise. Mr. Whitney made a preliminary survey from

Prairie du Chien as far as the Rocky mountains. Mr. Josiah Perham,

afterward the first president of the Northern Pacific Railroad

Company, in 1857 projected a road from Maine to Puget Sound, to be

known as the People's Pacific Railway, and obtained a charter from the

Maine legislature, but on bringing his scheme to the attention of

Congress was prevailed upon by Thaddeus Stevens to abandon this scheme

for another, agreeing to aid him in the passage of a bill for the

construction of the present Northern Pacific route. The bill passed

both houses and was signed by President Lincoln, July 2, 1864. The

first permanent officers were: Josiah Perham, president; Willard Sear,

vice president; Abiel Abbott, secretary; J. S. Withington, treasurer.

The grants of land voted by Congress were accepted, and in the

following year the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota granted right of

way. Not much was done until 1869, when Jay Cooke & Co. became

financially interested in the road, and might have been successful in

placing the bonds of the road upon the eastern markets but for the

European war, during which time the firm of Jay Cooke & Co. went down

overburdened with railroad securities. The financial panic of 1873

which followed found the company in possession of 555 miles of

completed railroad, of which 450 reached from Duluth to Bismarck, and

105 from Klamath to Tacoma on Puget Sound; but embarrassed by want of

funds the enterprise made but little headway, and in 1875 Henry

Villard was appointed receiver, and a decree of sale obtained by which

the bondholders were enabled to become the preferred stockholders.

Under the new arrangement and by the powerful aid of Henry Villard and

Thomas F. Oakes, the public, and especially the capitalists of the

country, regained faith in the enterprise, and the work was pushed

steadily forward until September, 1883, when the golden spike was

driven at Gold Creek by Henry Villard. Mr. Villard resigned the

presidency of the road in December of the same year, and Robert Harris

succeeded him. The main line of this road extends from Duluth to

Tacoma, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles, and the number of miles on

the main and branch lines aggregates 3,395.

The magnitude of the work, the leagues of wilderness to be traversed,

the mountain ranges to be crossed, the streams to be bridged, the

supposed obstructions from wintry storms to be overcome, all these

were of such a nature as to make the project seem impossible. It was,

nevertheless, through the liberality of the government and the

enthusiasm and executive ability of its managers, accomplished in a

comparatively short time.

The government contributed to this road a land grant of forty sections

to the mile. With this liberal basis, bonds for the required amount of

money were speedily furnished to build and equip the road from Lake

Superior to the Pacific coast. This road has, however, the advantage

of southern roads, in that it traverses a rich agricultural and

mineral region throughout almost its entire extent, passing through

belts of timbered land not excelled in the quantity and quality of

their production. The mineral regions are rich in gold, silver,

copper, lead and coal.

The country along the road is being rapidly settled, and the property

in its possession, and that of those who have made improvements along

its line, has increased to many hundred times its original value.

THE CHICAGO, ST. PAUL, MINNEAPOLIS & OMAHA RAILROAD.

The Wisconsin legislature in 1854 chartered a company to construct and

operate this road, then called the St. Croix, Superior & Bayfield

railroad. May 3, 1856, Congress granted twelve sections of land to the

mile to aid in building a railroad from Hudson in the St. Croix valley

to Bayfield on Lake Superior, with a branch to Superior City. July 5,

1864, this grant was increased to twenty sections per mile, with

indemnity lands to make up deficiencies. These lands were ceded

directly to the State. A company was created by the state legislature

of Wisconsin, to which were consigned the lands and franchises granted

by the government for the purpose of building the road. The lands and

franchises passed through several organized companies. Impediments to

construction arising, extension of time was asked and obtained from

the United States and Wisconsin governments, complications arose,

delaying the construction still further, other companies claimed part

of the indemnity lands, and litigation ensued. The state legislature

upheld the chartered right, and appointed agents to watch the timber

and protect the interests of the company. A sum amounting to $200,000

was collected from trespassers and at once applied to the building of

the roads in 1879.

The St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls Company in 1872 had built a

line of railroad from Hudson to New Richmond. In 1874 the St. Croix,

Superior & Bayfield Company obtained possession of this line of road

and continued it in the direction of Superior, completing it in 1883

to Superior City, Bayfield, Washburn, and Ashland. The company have

built a road from Hudson by River Falls to Ellsworth in Pierce county.

The main line to Lake Superior passes through a rich agricultural and

immense pine region. The company have constructed at Washburn, on

Chequamegon bay, extensive docks, elevators, warehouses and shops.

There are on the main line 20 wooden bridges from 25 to 100 feet long,

10 from 100 to 300 feet, 10 from 300 to 500 feet, one of them on a

branch of White river being 90 feet high. The amount of logs and

lumber carried over this road amounts (1888) to 1,240,000,000 feet,

and 1,500,000,000 feet remain. There are few trips more enjoyable to

the tourist than the one over this road, terminating as it does on the

north, in a region attractive for its beautiful scenery, including the

lovely bays of Ashland, Washburn and Bayfield, with their picturesque

shores, hills green with spruce pine and balsam, and the Apostle

islands, favorite haunts of summer travelers. The road is splendidly

equipped and well officered.

THE ST. PAUL & DULUTH RAILROAD (FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE LAKE SUPERIOR &

MISSISSIPPI).

The first land grant for Minnesota was made in 1854, for a road from

St. Paul to Lake Superior. This bill gave twenty sections per mile to

the company building. While the bill was in the hands of the enrolling

committee, some fraudulent changes were made in its provisions, as a

consequence of which, after it had passed both houses and was in the

hands of the president, it was recalled by the house of

representatives, which had originated it, the fraudulent passages were

pointed out, and the further consideration of the bill was

indefinitely postponed.

Railroad enterprise received a check from which it did not recover in

many years. May 5, 1864, Congress gave ten alternate sections on each

side of lands to aid in building the Lake Superior & Mississippi

railroad. This grant was increased to twenty sections per mile, and

indemnity lands were given. The state of Minnesota has also given

seven sections of swamp land per mile. The city of St. Paul also gave

a bonus of $250,000 in city bonds, to run twenty years, and St. Louis

county gave $150,000 in bonds for a like period. From the proceeds of

these lands and bonds an excellent thoroughfare has been built and

maintained. The franchises pertaining to this road changed holders

many times before the road was completed.

The original incorporators were mostly citizens of Philadelphia who,

under the name and title of the "Nebraska & Lake Superior Company,"

obtained their charter from the territorial legislature May 25, 1857.

Their chartered rights were amended and their name changed to that of

"Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad Company." The times for building

were extended by Congress and the state legislature from time to time,

as asked for by the company. The road was commenced in 1867 and

completed to Duluth in 1870, and the name changed to "St. Paul &

Duluth" in 1875. The first cost of building was $7,700,000. The

company have in addition built branch roads from White Bear to

Minneapolis, from White Bear to Stillwater, from Wyoming to Taylor's

Falls, from Rush City to Grantsburg, from North Pacific Junction to

Cloquet, and a branch in Pine county to Sandstone City. The Taylor's

Falls & Lake Superior branch road received seven sections per mile of

swamp lands from the State, $10,000 in ten per cent bonds from the

town of Chisago Lake, $5,000 from the town of Shafer, and $18,600 from

the town of Taylor's Falls.

Presidents of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad: Lyman Dayton, W. L.

Banning, Frank Clark, John P. Illsley, H. H. Porter, James Smith, Jr.,

and Wm. H. Fisher.

MINNESOTA & MANITOBA RAILROAD.

Under the land grant of 1857 a road was projected between St. Paul and

St. Anthony Falls, and completed in 1862, the first railroad in

Minnesota, though others had been projected at an earlier period. This

road was afterward extended to Breckenridge on Red river, and branches

were built to St. Cloud, and from St. Cloud via Fergus Falls and

Crookston to the national boundary at St. Vincent, and from

Brekenridge through Dakota to the Great Falls in Montana. Subordinate

branches to various points in Northern Minnesota, Dakota and Montana

were also built. The roads from Minneapolis to St. Cloud and

Breckenridge were built with German capital.

After the completion of the main lines a financial depression

occurred, the bonds were sold at a low figure and subsequently passed

into the hands of J. J. Hill and others. The aggregate mileage of this

road and its branches amount to 2,685 miles. It traverses a wheat

growing region not surpassed on the continent. The present terminus,

the Great Falls of Missouri, is a mining centre for gold and silver.

The country tributary to the road can not fail to make it one of the

most important highways of commerce in the great West, and thus far

the energy and ability of its managers has made it equal to the

immense demands upon it.

STILLWATER, WHITE BEAR & ST. PAUL RAILROAD.

Under the grant of 1857, a road from Stillwater to St. Paul was

projected, the road to commence at Stillwater and to proceed via St.

Paul and Minneapolis to the western boundary of the State. The company

holding the grant, through legislative action effected a change in the

conditions of the grant allowing them to commence at St. Paul,

building west and northwest, as a result of which the road from

Stillwater to St. Paul was not built. After ten years of inactivity

upon this portion of the road, the Stillwater people demanded, through

their representatives in the legislature of 1867, legislation

compelling the building of the road as originally devised. At this

session Hon. John McKusick, not then a member of the legislature, but

still an influential man, and representing public sentiment,

importuned the company holding the franchises, through the president,

Hon. Edmund Rice, either to build the road or to transfer the

franchises to some responsible company who would build it. Hon. Henry

A. Jackman and the writer, members of the ninth legislature, after

conference with the president of the company, introduced a bill

conveying the franchises from the original company to a company of St.

Croix valley men, to be organized forthwith, with the conditions that

they at once proceed to build the road from Stillwater to White Bear,

connecting with the St. Paul & Duluth at that point. A section was

placed in the bill locating the railroad lands near Kandiyohi lake.

These lands were among the most valuable in the grant and were to

inure to the new company at the completion of the road. The bill was

passed and approved by the governor. The road was completed to

Stillwater Dec. 20, 1869.

The legislature of 1869 transferred 44,246 acres, or one-half of the

Kandiyohi lands, to the St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls

railroad.

THE ST. PAUL, STILLWATER & TAYLOR'S FALLS RAILROAD.

Part of the lands originally granted to the Stillwater, White Bear &

St. Paul railroad were transferred by the legislature of 1869 to the

St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls railroad. The proceeds of the

sale were to be applied to the construction of the above named road.

The company was organized under the general laws of the State and

incorporated Sept. 23, 1869. The route of the road defined in the

articles of incorporation is between St. Paul and Taylor's Falls by

way of Stillwater, passing through or near Marine, with a branch road

to Hudson, Wisconsin. Length of main line from St. Paul to Stillwater

is seventeen and fifty-four one hundredths miles. Hudson branch line

from Stillwater junction to Lake St. Croix, three and one-fourth.

South Stillwater branch line from Stillwater to South Stillwater,

three miles. The first train by this line reached Stillwater from St.

Paul Feb. 9, 1872. The capital stock, $1,000,000, may be increased at

pleasure. The number of shares of capital stock is 10,000 of $100

each, limit of indebtedness, $1,500,000.

That part of the road to be built from Stillwater to Taylor's Falls up

to the present date has not been completed.

THE WISCONSIN CENTRAL (BRANCH) RAILROAD.

In 1884 the Wisconsin Central built a branch road from Chippewa Falls

via New Richmond to St. Paul, passing into Ramsey county east and

south of White Bear. The bridge over the St. Croix river about four

miles above Stillwater, belonging to this road, is a fine piece of

workmanship, built entirely of iron and resting on solid stone piers.

The total length of the structure is 2,400 feet, there being ten

spans, each 160 feet long, and a viaduct, 800 feet long, on the

Wisconsin side.

The track is 87 feet above low water mark. The entire cost of the

bridge was about $197,000. It was damaged by a cyclone in 1885 to the

amount of $10,000.

TAYLOR'S FALLS & LAKE SUPERIOR RAILROAD.

The franchises and swamp land grant of the Lake Superior & Mississippi

railroad pertaining to the Taylor's Falls branch were in 1875, by

legislative enactment, transferred to the Taylor's Falls & Lake

Superior Company. In 1879 these franchises and lands were transferred

to the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad Company. In the fall of 1879

the St. Paul & Duluth Company built a branch road to Centre City. In

the spring of 1880 the Minneapolis & St. Louis Company built three

miles of road southward from Taylor's Falls, accomplishing in that

distance as difficult and expensive work of its kind as had been done

in the State, the grading being made through the trap rock ledges of

the Dalles, and along the face of the nearly perpendicular bluffs

overlooking the river. In the summer of 1880 they transferred their

franchises and one-half their swamp land grant to the St. Paul &

Duluth Company, by whom the road was completed from Centre City to the

road already built at Taylor's Falls, Oct. 29, 1880.

CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL RAILROAD--RIVER DIVISION.

The river division of this road follows the west bank of the river

from Dubuque to Hastings, passing through all the river towns.

Crossing the river at Hastings it passes through the towns of Newport,

Cottage Grove and Denmark, and the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis,

terminal stations. The line from St. Paul to Hastings was built in

1869, by the Chicago & St. Paul Railway Company, under charter granted

to the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company in 1857. The present

management obtained control of the line in 1872. The bridge across the

Mississippi at Hastings was constructed in 1878, and was the first

iron railroad bridge in the State. In respect to cost and workmanship

it ranked with the important structures of the Northwest. The total

length of the river bridge is 706 feet, and consists of an iron draw

span 300 feet long, two fixed spans each of 150 feet in length, and a

combination span on the north shore 106 feet in length. The cost of

the structure was $200,000. In 1884 a branch line was extended from

Point Douglas to Stillwater.

MINNEAPOLIS, SAULT STE. MARIE & ATLANTIC.

The following memorial, introduced by the writer while a member of the

state senate of 1877, is the first public mention or suggestion of

this road as far as we are aware. It was adopted by the legislature,

forwarded to Washington, read and duly referred to the committee on

railroads:

STATE OF MINNESOTA.

NINETEENTH SESSION. S.F. NO. 36.

A MEMORIAL

_Introduced by Mr. Folsom, Jan. 12, 1877._ TO CONGRESS FOR

RIGHT OF WAY AND GRANT OF LAND FOR RAILROAD PURPOSES.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United

States in Congress assembled:_

Your memorialists, the legislature of the state of Minnesota,

respectfully represent that the rapidly increasing settlements of the

Northwest, the surplus agricultural products and material developments

demand greater and cheaper facilities than now existing, and a more

direct transit to the Atlantic seaboard and European ports, and

eastern products transported to the Northwest.

That the saving in the distance to eastern markets of three hundred

miles, by a railroad route from St. Paul and Minneapolis to Sault Ste.

Marie, will tend to more fully develop the great wheat growing region

of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakota, and Montana. The surplus of wheat,

which forms one of the most reliable exports from our government, in

shortening the distance to European markets three hundred miles will

give encouragement to this great source of wealth to our whole land,

and deserves aid and protection.

That by reason of the facts set forth in this memorial, and many

other considerations, the nearest transit makes cheap transportation

and thereby develops the country and increases prosperity.

To further these objects, we ask Congress to donate land to aid, and

the right of way through government land to build, a railroad from the

cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis to the falls of St. Marie's river.

Sept. 20, 1879, a large mass meeting was held at St. Croix Falls, the

object being to consider the feasibility of the "Soo" route. Over five

hundred persons were present, among them delegates from Minneapolis,

St. Paul, Stillwater, and Superior City. The subject was discussed and

resolutions passed favoring the building of the road to Sault Ste.

Marie via the Dalles of St. Croix.

Not, however, till Sept. 12, 1883, were the articles of incorporation

filed in Wisconsin and Minnesota by W. D. Washburn and others of

Minneapolis, for the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railroad

Company.

The road was completed to the "Soo" in December, 1887. At that point

it connects with a branch of the Canadian Pacific. The St. Marie river

is to be crossed on a union bridge built by the roads centring at that

point. It is now under construction, and will cost when completed over

a million dollars. The length of the line is about 225 miles. The

capital stock is $12,000,000, divided into 80,000 shares of common

stock, and 40,000 shares preferred. The board of directors for the

first year is composed of the following persons, all residents of

Minneapolis: W. D. Washburn, president; H. T. Welles, John Martin,

Thomas Lowry, George R. Newell, Anthony Kelly, M. Loring, Clinton

Morrison, J. K. Sidle, W. W. Eastman, W. D. Hale, C. A. Pillsbury, and

Chas. J. Martin.

The following comparison of distance will be of interest to the people

of the Northwestern States:

MILES. MILES.

St. Paul to Chicago 411

Chicago to New York City 962

New York to Liverpool 3,040

----- 4,413

St. Paul (via Sault) to Montreal 997

Montreal to Liverpool 2,790

----- 3,787

-----

Difference in favor of Montreal route 626

CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & NORTHERN RAILROAD.

The Chicago, Burlington & Northern Company constructed a road from

Chicago to Savannah, Illinois, and from that point up the Mississippi,

along its east bank to St. Paul, crossing the St. Croix at Prescott.

The road from Savannah to St. Paul is two hundred and eighty-five

miles in length, and was completed in 1886. The cost complete,

including rolling stock, was $30,000 per mile. The road was built on a

grade of nine and eight-tenths feet to the mile, and its curvature

nowhere exceeds three degrees in one hundred feet. The St. Croix,

Chippewa, Wisconsin, Platte, Grant, and Fever rivers are crossed by

iron bridges.

MILEAGE OF ROADS CENTRING IN ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS IN 1887.

MILES.

Manitoba 3,200

Northern Pacific 2,200

Hastings & Dakota 344

Pacific division of the Minneapolis & St. Louis 223

Minneapolis & Pacific 230

Omaha, Western division 627

Milwaukee, River division 100

Milwaukee, Iowa division 100

Minneapolis & St. Louis 100

Burlington & Northern 100

Northwestern, Omaha section 176

Minnesota & Northwestern (now Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City) 200

Wisconsin Central 100

Soo Ste. Marie 210

North Wisconsin 250

St. Paul & Duluth 216

-----

Total 8,476

CONGRESSIONAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE ST. CROIX

RIVER.

As early as 1858, when the writer was a member of the Minnesota

senate, he introduced a memorial to Congress for the improvement of

the St. Croix river, and of the Mississippi at Beef Slough bar, below

Lake Pepin. This was the first memorial presented on this subject.

Subsequent legislatures continued to memorialize Congress, but it was

twenty years of continuous pleading before any attention was paid to

the subject. In 1878 Thaddeus C. Pound, representing the St. Croix

valley in Congress, secured the first appropriation. Mr. Pound also

secured the first appropriation for the Mississippi reservoirs.

The following appropriations were made from time to time: 1878,

$8,000; 1879, $10,000; 1880, $8,000; 1881, $10,000; 1882, $30,000;

1883, $7,500.

This money has been expended under the supervision of Maj. Farquier

and Charles J. Allen of the United States engineering corps, with

headquarters at St. Paul. The improvements carried out consisted in

removing snags and all impediments in the channel or along shore,

removing sandbars, thus deepening the channel, building wing dams, and

riprapping the shores. The work has been well done, and the

expenditure is a most judicious one.

INLAND NAVIGATION.

As the prosperity of a country depends, next to its natural resources,

upon the avenues of communication with other countries, the people of

the Northwest naturally took a great interest in the improvement of

their waterways. The states lying along the Mississippi and its

tributaries found by these streams an advantageous southern outlet for

their produce. But much needed to be done in the direction of

improving navigation by clearing away obstructions, deepening the

channels, and affording facilities for crossing rapids. As the

settlements extended toward the great lakes, it became evident that

the prosperity of the country would be greatly enhanced by

communication with the lakes. In the absence or scarcity of navigable

streams this communication, if obtained, must be by the improvement of

navigation of the upper portion of these streams having their source

near the lakes and their connection by canals with the lakes or their

tributaries. By this means it was thought a better route to the

Atlantic and to the Eastern States would be afforded for grain and

other products than that afforded by the Mississippi. In the Minnesota

state legislature of 1875 a bill was introduced making an

appropriation of $10,000 for a survey of the route connecting the

waters of Lake Superior with those of the St. Croix. This bill met

with much opposition, but was finally passed, the amount having been

reduced by amendment to $3,000. Lucas R. Stannard and Robert B. Davis

were appointed commissioners, and with the meagre amount did all that

was possible to be done in surveying the route. As the author of the

bill, I insert here, as a matter of history, and as a sufficient

explanation of my own views and those of the friends of the measure, a

synopsis of the arguments presented to the senate advocating the

measure:

"The route from Duluth via the lakes and St. Lawrence, and the

Atlantic to England, according to correct computation, is about six

hundred miles shorter than the route via Chicago and New York. The

northern route is being made feasible by the improvements made by the

British government on the Welland canal and Lachine rapids, and by the

improvements made by our own government on the St. Clair flats and the

Sault Ste. Marie canal, by which a depth of water is obtained

sufficient to float vessels drawing twenty feet. This route to Europe

will be traversed in much less time than the New York route. Vessels

will be constructed for this inland American trade, and starting from

the west end of Lake Superior with a cargo of grain that two weeks

before was waving in the sunlight on northwestern prairies, will pass

direct to Europe without breaking of bulk or reshipping, while the

southern route requires reshipments at Buffalo and New York. Figures

can scarcely do justice to the vast business that will be transacted

on this open route as the northern part of the United States and the

adjacent British possessions are settled.

"The opening of this route will tend to create new treaty stipulations

and unlooked for interpretations of the old with the Dominion

government, and establish commercial confidence and secure trade not

realized to-day. Cheap transportation is the demand of the age, and

this route will afford to the hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat

and the commerce of Central North America the desired outlet to the

best markets of the world. To many these ideas may seem chimerical,

but we believe that the progress of the country and the development of

her commerce in the not distant future will justify them, and that

predictions now regarded as fanciful will be fulfilled to the letter.

"Minnesota as a state is just in the age of development. She is rising

to power and influence. Much depends upon our legislature, more than

depended upon the legislature of New York when, actuated by good

counsels it connected the waters of the Hudson with those of Lake

Erie by the 'Clinton Ditch,' so called in derision by the enemies of

the measure. But the wisdom of Dewitt Clinton, the originator of that

famous waterway, advanced the settlement of the great West at least a

quarter of a century.

"Minnesota in her location holds the key that will unlock the largest

body of fresh water on the globe, and open to it one of the most

fertile and extensive wheat growing districts on the continent, a

country that will soon vie with the country around the Black sea in

the quantity and quality of its grain production.

"Shall we stand idly by whilst our neighboring states are moving to

secure cheaper communications with the seaboard states? Cheap

transportation, the lever that moves the world, is claiming the

favorable attention of Congress, and men and means have been provided

to ascertain the most feasible routes on which to bestow her aid for

the transferring of the surplus products of the country to the markets

of the East.

"The reports made thus far by the national committee make no allusion

to Minnesota's great gateway to the East by Lake Superior, nor to the

improvement of the Sault Ste. Marie canal. The committee dwelt

somewhat elaborately upon the project of connecting the Mississippi

with the lakes by means of a canal between the waters of Wisconsin and

Fox rivers, neither of them good navigable streams. No authorized

survey has ever commended this as a cheap route. Only one plan can be

adopted by which a thoroughfare can be made profitable to the

government and to the Northwest over this route, and that is to

construct a ship canal along the Wisconsin river from the portage to

the mouth.

"If the government can be prevailed upon to open up this route no one

will deny that it will be of incalculable benefit to the people of

Wisconsin, and to those further up the valley of the Mississippi. Let

its friends do all they can to push forward the great movement.

"To Minnesotians I would say, let Wisconsin have much of our aid. I

trust it will not take thirty-five years of the future to open up what

thirty-five years of the past has projected. Wisconsin alone and

unassisted ought to have accomplished this great work years ago, if

the work could have been accomplished as cheaply as it has been

represented.

"Let Minnesota look nearer home. The headwaters of the St. Croix are

nearer to Lake Superior than those of any other navigable stream.

Large Mississippi boats, whenever occasion has demanded, have made

their way to the Dalles of the St. Croix. The falls and rapids above

this point for a distance of four miles have a fall of but

seventy-four feet, an elevation that could be overcome by means of

locks. By means of wing dams at Kettle River falls, and other

improvements at no very great cost, the river could be made navigable

to the mouth of the Namakagon. This river, though put down as a

tributary, is in reality the main stream, and can be navigated to

Namakagon lake, which is but thirty miles from Ashland, and can be

connected by a canal with Chequamegon bay, or with White river, a

distance of only a few miles.

"If we pass up the St. Croix from the mouth of the Namakagon river, we

shall find no serious obstructions to navigation till we reach the

great dam built by the lumbermen twenty miles below Upper Lake St.

Croix. The conformation here is of such a character that an

inexhaustible supply of water can be held--more than three times what

is held in the celebrated Summit lake in Ohio, which feeds the canal

connecting the waters of the Ohio and Lake Erie. It is but a mile from

the former lake to the source of Brule river, an affluent of Lake

Superior, but as the waters of the Brule are rapid and the channel

rocky, and its outlet is on a bleak and unhospitable stretch of lake

shore, destitute of any harbor, we prefer the route from the Upper St.

Croix lake to the bay of Superior, a distance of about thirty miles, a

route well supplied by reservoirs of water, and with no difficult or

insurmountable hills to overcome.

"Hon. H. M. Rice, who was one of the commissioners to survey the St.

Marie's canal, pronounces this the most feasible and direct route for

our contemplated canal.

"Other routes have been proposed, as from the St. Croix to the Nemadji

and St. Louis rivers, but of the feasibility of these I am not so

definitely informed.

"Believing, gentlemen of the senate, that you are in full accord with

me that this great Northwest demands not only state aid in developing

our natural resources, but the assistance of the general government, I

recommend the proper presentation of this subject before Congress by

our senators and representatives until our prayers are granted for

the improvement of the same."

In the session of the Minnesota legislature of 1876 I again introduced

a memorial to Congress asking for an appropriation of $10,000 to make

a government survey of the St. Croix and Lake Superior routes.

George R. Stuntz, the veteran explorer, surveyor and civil engineer,

who accompanied the United States reservoir commission to the Upper

St. Croix waters, and who had made previous scientific examinations

for the purpose of forming a correct idea of the contour of the summit

dividing the waters flowing north and south, and of the practicability

of constructing reservoirs, and of the cost of connecting the Lake

Superior and St. Croix waters, makes the following report, which is

valuable for the reliable data given:

"There are evidences that in the glacial period this was the channel

through which flowed a river of ice, and that subsequently for a long

period a vast volume of water coursed through this channel from Lake

Superior to and down the Mississippi. The valley is everywhere of

great width in proportion to the present volume of water, showing

evidences of currents of great velocity fifty feet above the high

water marks of the present time. These ancient banks of the river are

composed of heavy drift gravel and boulders bearing the marks of the

glacial action and having their origin north of Lake Superior. This

valley extends across the height of land in township 45, in range 11

west, and in the northern part of it the Brule river rises and flows

north into Lake Superior.

"At the copper range in township 48, range 10 west, section 23, a

ledge of trap rock stands in the valley. In the eddy of this rock and

extending to the southward or up the present stream is a well defined

moraine of large boulders and gravel showing that the glacial river

ran south. To the north of this point the Brule river makes a straight

cut to the lake through sandy red clay deposits peculiar to that

region.

"In this ancient valley the lowest point on the summit at the

headwaters of these two streams is about 460 feet above Lake Superior

[Lake St. Croix, at Stillwater, is 117 feet higher than Lake Superior]

and 346 feet above Lake St. Croix. Upper Lake St. Croix is 12 feet

below this summit. The St. Croix river one mile above the mouth of

Moose river is 25 feet below this summit. The St. Croix river

discharges 15.360 cubic feet of water per minute at the mouth of Moose

creek. The Brule river discharges about 5.805 cubic feet of water per

minute in the north part of township 46, range 10. The distance from

Taylor's Falls to Lake Superior by the valley of the St. Croix and the

valley of the Brule river is nearly 150 miles.

"There are several exposures of trap rock along these streams and an

abundance of brown sandstone of good quality for building purposes,

being easily worked.

"Can Lake St. Croix, at Stillwater, be connected with Lake Superior by

canal and slackwater navigation? Yes. This question has been

definitely settled by the recent examination of the United States

engineers, under the direction of Maj. Chas. J. Allen, of the sources

of the St Croix river, with reference to the construction of

reservoirs to improve the navigation of that river and the

Mississippi.

"By constructing a dam one mile above the mouth of Moose creek, on the

St. Croix, of sufficient height to raise the water 25 feet, cutting a

canal 75 feet wide, 12 feet deep, 1-1/2 miles long, across the summit,

and building a dam in township 46, range 10, across the Brule river,

high enough to raise the water to the same height as the dam on the

St. Croix, and you construct a lake over thirty miles long, affording

uninterrupted navigation across the summit for that distance, and

utilize the waters of the St. Croix and its branches and the Brule,

and by the capacity before given the amount of water is sufficient to

pass vessels through locks 75 feet wide, 300 feet long, 12-1/2 feet

lift, at the rate of 3 per hour, or 73 in 24 hours, at the dryest

season of the year. This settles the question of practicability.

"The whole improvement will cost less than $8,000,000, and by placing

the lowest dam and lock at Prescott so as to always hold Lake St.

Croix at the high water mark will give two hundred miles of slackwater

navigation connecting the Mississippi river with Lake Superior,

accommodating boats of large size and deep draft, propelled by steam,

at the usual rates of speed used on the rivers. Average cost per mile,

$40,000.

"It would accomplish another object. The improvement of navigation on

the Mississippi river by a system of reservoirs on its tributaries

would be most effectually accomplished by holding one or two feet of

extra head upon each of the thirteen dams proposed, thus storing up

during the spring freshets vastly more water than can be held in the

small reservoirs on the tributaries of the St. Croix. There are no

very large natural reservoirs in the Upper St. Croix valley.

"Hold a three foot head on the lake as a reserve from the spring

freshets and you have stored up 34,073,000 cubic yards of water to be

used in the dry season in August and September. Continue this plan to

the source and you have in the St. Croix valley a continuous reservoir

one hundred and fifty miles long. Connect the two systems as proposed

above and you have a route furnishing the cheapest transportation that

can be had and at the same time obtain a system of large reservoirs to

improve the navigation of the Mississippi river.

"This is one of the improvements that the Northwest needs for its

present, future and more perfect development.

"The proposition and figures are given, after a series of examinations

extending through a period of over twenty-five years, for the purpose

of calling out investigation."

THE WATERWAYS CONVENTION OF 1885.

Public discussions of the matter in the legislature and in conventions

were not entirely in vain. Public attention was aroused and interest

awakened in the great question of inland navigation. In 1885 the great

waterways convention convened in St. Paul, at the call of Gov.

Hubbard, of Minnesota. This convention was attended by over 1,000

delegates from the states of Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas,

Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and from the

territories of Dakota and Montana. Ex-Gov. Bross, of Illinois, acted

as temporary chairman. The permanent organization elected Maj. Wm.

Warren, of Kansas City, president, Gen. G. W. Jones, of Iowa, vice

president, and Platt B. Walker, of Minnesota, secretary.

Various schemes for internal improvement were brought before the

convention and ably advocated, but each in the interest of a

particular section. The members from Florida wanted a ship canal for

that State. Illinois and Eastern Iowa advocated the Hennepin canal

scheme. Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Western Iowa, Dakota, and Montana

demanded the improvement of the Missouri river. Wisconsin and

Northern Iowa the completion of the Fox and Wisconsin canal. Minnesota

and Wisconsin agreed with all for the improvement of the Mississippi

from the falls of St. Anthony to the Balize, for the improvement of

the Sault Ste. Marie canal, and for the internal improvements asked

for generally in the states and territories represented.

The result was the passage of a series of resolutions recommending a

liberal policy in the distribution of improvements, and favoring every

meritorious project for the increase of facilities for water

transportation, but recommending as a subject of paramount importance

the immediate and permanent improvement of the Mississippi and

Missouri rivers and their navigable tributaries. It was recommended

that the depth of the Mississippi be increased to six feet between

Cario and the falls of St. Anthony. The Hennepin canal was strongly

indorsed, as was also the improvement of the Sault Ste. Marie, and of

the navigation of Wisconsin and Fox rivers, of the Red River of the

North, and of the Chippewa, St. Croix and Minnesota rivers. The

convention unanimously recommended as a sum proper for these

improvements the appropriation of $25,000,000.

Some of the papers presented were elaborately prepared, and deserve to

be placed on permanent record. The memorial of Mr. E. W. Durant, of

Stillwater, contains many valuable statistics. We quote that portion

containing a statement of the resources and commerce of the valleys of

the Mississippi and St. Croix:

"The Northwestern States have not had the recognition that is due to

the agricultural and commercial requirements of this vast and poplous

territory, whose granaries and fields not only feed the millions of

this continent, but whose annual export constitutes a most important

factor in the food calculation of foreign nations. During the past

decade the general government has expended $3,000,000 on the waterways

of the Upper Mississippi. The improvements inaugurated by the general

government in removing many of the serious impediments to navigation

warrants the belief that still more extensive improvements should be

made. It is an error to suppose that the palmy days of steamboating on

western rivers has passed. In demonstration of this take the quantity

of lumber sent down the Mississippi. There was shipped from the St.

Croix river during the year 1884 to various distributing points along

the Mississippi river 250,000,000 feet of lumber, 40,000,000 of lath,

37,000,000 of shingles, 2,000,000 of pickets; from the Chippewa river

during the same period, 883,000,000 feet of lumber, 223,000,000 of

shingles and 102,000,000 of lath and pickets; from Black river during

the same period was shipped 250,000,000 feet of lumber, 40,000,000

shingles, and 32,000,000 lath and pickets, aggregating 1,383,000,000

feet of lumber, 300,000,000 of shingles and 176,000,000 of lath. The

tonnage of this product alone foots up over 3,000,000 tons. The lumber

value of raft and cargoes annually floated to market on the

Mississippi will not vary far from $20,000,000. The capital invested

in steamboats, 100 in number, used for towing purposes is $1,250,000;

while the saw mills, timber plants and other investments incidental to

the prosecution of this branch of industry will foot up fully

$500,000; while the labor and their dependences engaged in this

pursuit alone will equal the population of one of our largest western

states. There are sixteen bridges spanning the river between St. Paul

and St. Louis, and it is important that some additional safeguards be

thrown around these bridges to afford greater safety to river

commerce."

Mr. Durant says there has been a general cry for some time past that

the days of steamboating on the Northern Mississippi and tributaries

were over; but he thinks it will be forcibly shown in the coming

convention that, if they are, the only cause for it is the extremely

short and uncertain seasons for steamboating, resulting from the

neglected and filled up channels. If the channels can be improved, so

that steamers can be sure of five months' good running each year, he

thinks they will prove to be one of the most important means of

transportation in the Upper Mississippi valley. They will then be used

for the transportation up and down stream of all heavy and slow

freights in preference to railroads, on account of cheapness. It would

prove a new and the greatest era in upper river steamboating.

It appears from a report made at the convention, that during the year

1884 there were 175 steamboats plying on the Mississippi from St.

Louis to points above. Two thousand seven hundred rafts from the St.

Croix and Chippewa passed the Winona bridge, and the total number of

feet of logs and lumber floated down the Mississippi from the St.

Croix, Chippewa and Black rivers was 1,366,000,000. The total

passages of steamers through the Winona bridge for 1887 was 4,492. On

the St. Croix, above Lake St. Croix, during the season of 1887 there

were 3 steamers and 25 barges engaged in freight and passenger traffic

only. The steamers made 141 round trips between Stillwater and

Taylor's Falls, 75 round trips between Marine and St. Paul, and 20

round trips between Franconia and St. Paul.

The following is a showing of the lumber, logs, rafting, and towing

business on the St. Croix during 1887: There were 51 steamers engaged

in towing logs and lumber out of the St. Croix and down the

Mississippi, the total number of feet handled by them being

250,000,000, board measure: The total number of feet of logs (board

measure) which passed through the St. Croix boom in 1887 was

325,000,000. The lumber manufacture of the St. Croix during that year

was valued at $2,393,323.

RESOLUTION INTRODUCED AT THE WATERWAYS CONVENTION HELD IN ST. PAUL,

SEPTEMBER, 1885.

WHEREAS, The North American continent is penetrated by two great water

systems both of which originate upon the tablelands of Minnesota, one

the Mississippi river and its tributaries, reaching southward from the

British line to the Gulf of Mexico, watering the greatest body of

fertile land on the globe,--the future seat of empire of the human

family on earth,--the other the chain of great lakes flowing

eastwardly and constituting with the St. Lawrence river a great water

causeway in the direct line of the flow of the world's commerce from

the heart of the continent to the Atlantic; and

WHEREAS, Between the navigable waters of these continental dividing

systems there is but a gap of ninety miles in width from Taylor's

Falls on the St. Croix, to Duluth on Lake Superior, through a region

of easily worked drift formation, with a rise of but five hundred and

sixty feet to overcome, and plentifully supplied with water from the

highest point of the water-shed; therefore,

_Resolved_. That we demand of Congress the construction of a canal

from Taylor's Falls to Duluth, using the Upper St. Croix and the St.

Louis rivers as far as the same can be made navigable, the said canal

to be forever free of toll or charge, and to remain a public highway

for the interchange of the productions of the Mississippi valley and

the valley of the great lakes; and should the railway interests of the

country prove powerful enough to prevent congressional action to this

end, we call upon the states of the Northwest to unite and build, at

their own cost, such a canal, believing that the increased value of

the productions of the country would speedily repay the entire outlay.

EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION.

The Pennsylvania was the first steamer that descended the Mississippi.

She came down the Ohio from Pittsburgh, creating the utmost terror in

the minds of the simple-hearted people who had lately been rather

rudely shaken by an earthquake, and supposed the noise of the coming

steamer to be but the precursor of another shake. When the

Pennsylvania approached Shawneetown, Illinois, the people crowded the

river shore, and in their alarm fell down upon their knees and prayed

to be delivered from the muttering, roaring earthquake coming down the

river, its furnaces glowing like the open portals of the nether world.

Many fled to the hills in utter dismay at the frightful appearance of

the hitherto unknown monster, and the dismal sounds it emitted. It

produced the same and even greater terror in the scant settlements of

the Lower Mississippi.

In 1823 Capt. Shreve commanded the Gen. Washington, the fastest boat

that had as yet traversed the western rivers. This year the Gen.

Washington made the trip from New Orleans to Louisville, Kentucky, in

twenty-five days. When at Louisville he anchored his boat in the

middle of the river and fired twenty-five guns in honor of the event,

one for each day out. The population of Louisville feted and honored

the gallant captain for his achievement. He was crowned with flowers,

and borne through the streets by the huzzaing crowd. A rich banquet

was spread, and amidst the hilarity excited by the flowing bowl, the

captain made an eloquent speech which was vociferously applauded. He

declared that the time made by the Gen. Washington could never be

equaled by any other boat. Curiously enough, some later in the season,

the Tecumseh made the trip in nine days. The time made by the Tecumseh

was not beaten until 1833, when the Shepherdess carried away the

laurels for speed.

We have but little definite information as to navigation on the

Mississippi during the ten years subsequent to the trip of the

Pennsylvania. The solitude of the Upper Mississippi was unbroken by

the advent of any steamer until the year 1823. On the second of May in

that year the Virginia, a steamer 118 feet in length, 22 in width,

with a draught of 6 feet, left her moorings at St. Louis levee for

Fort Snelling laden with stores for the fort. She was four days

passing the Rock Island rapids, and made but slow progress throughout.

It is heedless to say that the Indians were as much frightened at the

appearance of the "fire canoe" as the settlers of the Ohio valley had

been, and made quick time escaping to the hills.

Judge James H. Lockwood narrates (see Vol. II, Wisconsin Historical

Collections, page 152) that in 1824 Capt. David G. Bates brought a

small boat named the Putnam up to Prairie du Chien, and took it thence

to Fort Snelling with supplies for the troops. The steamer Neville

also made the voyage to Prairie du Chien in 1824. The following year

came the steamer Mandan and in 1826 the Indiana and Lawrence. Fletcher

Williams, in his history of St. Paul, says that from 1823 to 1826 as

many as fifteen steamers had arrived at Fort Snelling, and that

afterward their arrivals were more frequent.

During this primitive period, the steamboats had no regular time for

arrival and departure at ports. A time table would have been an

absurdity. "Go as you please" or "go as you can," was the order of the

day. Passengers had rare opportunities for observation and discovery,

and were frequently allowed pleasure excursions on shore while the

boat was being cordelled over a rapid, was stranded on a bar, or

waiting for wood to be cut and carried on board at some wooding

station. Sometimes they were called upon to lend a helping hand at the

capstan, or to tread the gang plank to a "wood up" quickstep. When on

their pleasure excursion they strayed away too far, they were recalled

to the boat by the firing of a gun or the ringing of a bell. It is

doubtful if in later days, with all the improvements in steamboat

travel, more enjoyable voyages have been made than these free and easy

excursions in the light draught boats of the decades between 1830 and

1850, under such genial captains and officers as the Harrises,

Atchinson, Throckmorton, Brasie, Ward, Blakeley, Lodwick, Munford,

Pim, Orrin Smith and others.

Before the government had improved navigation the rapids of Rock

Island and Des Moines, and snags, rocks and sandbars elsewhere were

serious obstructions. The passengers endured the necessary delays from

these causes with great good nature, and the tedium of the voyage was

frequently enlivened by boat races with rival steamers. These

passenger boats were then liberally patronized. The cost of a trip

from St. Louis to St. Paul was frequently reduced to ten dollars, and

considering the time spent in making the trip (often as much as two or

three weeks) was cheaper than board in a good hotel, while the fare on

the boat could not be excelled. The boats were frequently crowded with

passengers, whole families were grouped about the tables or strolling

on the upper decks, with groups of travelers representing all the

professions and callings, travelers for pleasure and for business,

explorers, artists, and adventurers. At night the brilliantly lighted

cabin would resound with music, furnished by the boat's band of sable

minstrels, and trembled to the tread of the dancers as much as to the

throbbing of the engine.

The steamer, as the one means of communication with the distant world,

as the bearer of mails, of provisions and articles of trade, was

greeted at every village with eager and excited groups of people, some

perhaps expecting the arrival of friends, while others were there to

part with them. These were scenes to be remembered long, in fact many

of the associations of river travel produced indelible impressions. In

these days of rapid transit by rail more than half the delights of

traveling are lost. Before the settlement of the country the wildness

of the scene had a peculiar charm. The majestic bluffs with their

rugged escarpments of limestone stretched away in solitary grandeur on

either side of the river. The perpendicular crags crowning the bluffs

seemed like ruined castles, some of them with rounded turrets and

battlements, some even with arched portals. Along the slopes of the

bluffs was a growth of sturdy oaks, in their general contour and

arrangement resembling fruit trees, vast, solitary orchards in

appearance, great enough to supply the world with fruit. On the slopes

of the river bank might have been seen occasionally the bark wigwams

of the Indian, and his birch canoe gliding silently under the shadow

of the elms and willows lining the shore. Occasionally a deer would be

seen grazing on some upland glade, or bounding away in terror at sight

of the steamer.

A complete history of early steamboat navigation on the Upper

Mississippi would abound with interesting narratives and incidents;

but of these, unfortunately, there is no authentic record, and we can

only speak in general terms of the various companies that successively

controlled the trade and travel of the river, or were rivals for the

patronage of the public. During the decade of the '30s, the Harrises,

of Galena, ran several small boats from Galena to St. Louis,

occasionally to Fort Snelling, or through the difficult current of the

Wisconsin to Fort Winnebago, towing barges laden with supplies for the

Wisconsin pineries. Capt. Scribe Harris' favorite boat from 1835 to

1838 was the Smelter. The captain greatly delighted in her speed,

decorated her gaily with evergreens, and rounding to at landings, or

meeting with other boats, fired a cannon from her prow to announce her

imperial presence.

The Smelter and other boats run by the Harris family held the commerce

of the river for many years. In 1846 the first daily line of steamers

above St. Louis was established. These boats ran independently, but on

stated days, from St. Louis to Galena and Dubuque. They were the

Tempest, Capt. John J. Smith; War Eagle, Capt. Smith Harris; Prairie

Bird, Capt. Niebe Wall; Monona, Capt. ---- Bersie; St. Croix, Capt.

----; Fortune, Capt. Mark Atchinson. These boat owners, with others,

subsequently formed a consolidated company.

In 1847 a company was formed for the navigation of the Mississippi

above Galena. The first boat in the line, the Argo, commanded by

Russell Blakeley, was placed upon the river in 1846. The boats in this

line were the Argo, Dr. Franklin, Senator, Nominee, Ben Campbell, War

Eagle, and the Galena.

In 1854 the Galena & Minnesota Packet Company was formed by a

consolidation of various interests. The company consisted of the

following stockholders: O. Smith, the Harrises, James Carter, H.

Corwith, B. H. Campbell, D. B. Morehouse, H. M. Rice, H. L. Dousman,

H. H. Sibley, and Russell Blakeley. The boats of the new company were

the War Eagle, Galena, Dr. Franklin, Nominee, and the West Newton. In

1857 a new company was formed, and the Dubuque boats, the Itasca and

Key City, were added to the line. This line continued until 1862, and

the new boats, Dr. Franklin, No. 2, and the New St. Paul, were added.

The Galena had been burned at Red Wing in the fall of 1857.

The following is a list of the earliest arrivals at St. Paul after the

opening of navigation between the years 1843 and 1858: April 5, 1843,

steamer Otter, Capt. Harris; April 6, 1844, steamer Otter, Capt.

Harris; April 6, 1845, steamer Otter, Capt. Harris; March 31, 1846,

steamer Lynx, Capt. Atchison; April 7, 1847, steamer Cora, Capt.

Throckmorton; April 7, 1848, steamer Senator, Capt. Harris; April 9,

1849, steamer Highland Mary, Capt. Atchison; April 19, 1850, steamer

Highland Mary, Capt. Atchison; April 4, 1851, steamer Nominee, Capt.

Smith; April 16, 1852, steamer Nominee, Capt. Smith; April 11, 1853,

steamer West Newton, Capt. Harris; April 8, 1854, steamer Nominee,

Capt. Blakeley; April 17, 1855, steamer War Eagle, Capt. Harris; April

18, 1856, steamer Lady Franklin, Capt. Lucas; May 1, 1857, steamer

Galena, Capt. Laughton; March 25, 1858, steamer Gray Eagle, Capt.

Harris.

The following list includes boats not named in the packet and company

lists with date of first appearance as far as can be ascertained:

Virginia May 20, 1823

Rufus Putnam April 5, 1825

Mandan 1825

Neville ----

Indiana 1825

Lawrence May 18, 1826

Versailles May 12, 1832

Missouri May 5, 1836

Frontier 1836

Palmyra 1836

Saint Peter's 1836

Rolla 1838

Sciota 183-

Eclipse 183-

Josephine 183-

Fulton 183-

Red River 183-

Black Rover ----

Burlington 1838

Ariel 1839

Gypsy 1839

Fayette 1839

Warrior 1840

Enterprise 1840

Volant 1840

Glancus 1840

Pennsylvania 1840

Knickerbocker 1840

Otter 1841

Highland Mary 1849

Gov. Ramsey (above the falls) 185-

Anthony Wayne 185-

Yankee 185-

Black Hawk 185-

Ben Accord 185-

Royal Arch 185-

Uncle Toby 185-

Indian Queen 185-

Di Vernon 185-

Osprey 185-

Lamartine 185-

Fannie Harris 185-

Asia 185-

Equator 1860

The following made their appearance some time in the '40s: Cora, Lynx,

Dr. Franklin, No. 2, and St. Anthony.

The Northern Line Company organized in 1857 and placed the following

steamers upon the Mississippi, to run between St. Louis and St. Paul:

The Canada, Capt. Ward; Pembina, Capt. Griffith; Denmark, Capt. Gray;

Metropolitan, Capt. Rhodes; Lucy May, Capt. Jenks; Wm. L. Ewing, Capt.

Green; Henry Clay, Capt. Campbell; Fred Lorenz, Capt. Parker;

Northerner, Capt. Alvord; Minnesota Belle, Capt. Hill; Northern Light

and York State, Capt. ----.

Commodore W. F. Davidson commenced steamboating on the Upper

Mississippi in 1856 with the Jacob Traber. In 1857 he added the Frank

Steele, and included the Minnesota river in his field of operations.

In 1859 he added the Æolian, Favorite and Winona. In 1860 he organized

the La Crosse & Minnesota Packet Company, with the five above named

steamers in the line. In 1862 the Keokuk and Northern Belle were

added.

In 1864 the La Crosse & Minnesota and the Northern Line Packet

companies were consolidated under the name of the Northwestern Union

Packet Company, with the following steamers: The Moses McLellan, Ocean

Wave, Itasca, Key City, Milwaukee City, Belle, War Eagle, Phil

Sheridan, S. S. Merrill, Alex. Mitchell, City of St. Paul, Tom Jasper,

Belle of La Crosse, City of Quincy, and John Kyle. This line

controlled the general trade until 1874.

There were upon the river and its tributaries during the period named

the following light draught boats: The Julia, Mollie Mohler, Cutter,

Chippewa Falls, Mankato, Albany, Ariel, Stella Whipple, Isaac Gray,

Morning Star, Antelope, Clara Hine, Geo. S. Weeks, Dexter, Damsel,

Addie Johnson, Annie Johnson, G. H. Wilson, Flora, and Hudson.

LATER NAVIGATION ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI.

The Northwestern Union Packet Company, more familiarly known as the

"White Collar Line," from the white band painted around the upper part

of the smokestacks, and the Keokuk Packet Company, sold their steamers

to the Keokuk Northern Line Packet Company, which continued until

1882, when the St. Louis & St. Paul Packet Company was organized. Its

boats were: The Minneapolis, Red Wing, Minnesota, Dubuque, Rock

Island, Lake Superior, Muscatine, Clinton, Chas. Cheever, Dan Hine,

Andy Johnson, Harry Johnson, Rob Roy, Lucy Bertram, Steven Bayard, War

Eagle, Golden Eagle, Gem City, White Eagle, and Flying Eagle.

STEAMBOATING ON THE ST. CROIX.

The steamer Palmyra was the first boat to disturb the solitude of the

St. Croix. In June, 1838, it passed up the St. Croix lake and river as

far as the Dalles. The steamer Ariel, the second boat, came as far as

Marine in 1839. In the fall of 1843, the steamer Otter, Scribe Harris,

commanding, landed at Stillwater. The steamer Otter was laden with

irons and machinery for the first mill in Stillwater. Up to 1845

nearly every boat that ascended the Mississippi also ascended the St.

Croix, but in later years, as larger boats were introduced, its

navigation was restricted to smaller craft, and eventually to

steamboats built for the special purpose of navigating the St. Croix.

Quite a number of these were built at Osceola, Franconia and Taylor's

Falls. The following is a list of boats navigating the St. Croix from

the year 1852 to the present time: Humboldt, 1852; Enterprise, 1853;

Pioneer, 1854; Osceola, 1854; H. S. Allen, 1857; Fanny Thornton, 1862;

Viola, 1864; Dalles, 1866; Nellie Kent, 1867; G. B. Knapp, 1866;

Minnie Will, 1867; Wyman X, 1868; Mark Bradley, 1869; Helen Mar, 1870;

Maggie Reany, 1870; Jennie Hays, 1870; Cleon, 1870.

A number of raft steamers, built at South Stillwater and elsewhere,

have plied the river within the last ten years. A number of barges

were built at South Stillwater, Osceola and Taylor's Falls.

The passenger travel on the St. Croix has decreased since the

completion of the railroad to Taylor's Falls and St. Croix Falls.

An interesting chapter of anecdotes and incidents might be compiled,

illustrating the early steamboat life on the St. Croix. We find in

"Bond's Minnesota" a notice of one of the first boats in the regular

trade, which will throw some light on the subject of early travel on

the river. It describes the Humboldt, which made its first appearance

in 1852:

"In addition, some adventurous genius on a small scale, down about

Oquaka, Illinois, last year conceived the good idea of procuring a

steamboat suitable to perform the duties of a tri-weekly packet

between Stillwater and Taylor's Falls, the extreme point of steam

navigation up the St. Croix. It is true he did not appear to have a

very correct idea of the kind of craft the people really wanted and

would well support in that trade, but such as he thought and planned

he late last season, brought forth. * * Indeed, the little Humboldt is

a great accommodation to the people of the St. Croix. She stops

anywhere along the river, to do any and all kinds of business that may

offer, and will give passengers a longer ride, so far as _time_ is

concerned, for a dollar, than any other craft we ever traveled upon.

She is also, to outward appearances, a temperance boat, and carries no

cooking or table utensils. She stops at the 'Marine,' going and

returning, to allow the people aboard to feed upon a good, substantial

dinner; and the passengers are allowed, if they feel so disposed, to

carry 'bars' in their side pockets and 'bricks' in their hats. A very

accommodating craft is the Humboldt, and a convenience that is already

set down on the St. Croix as one indispensable."

The Diamond Jo line of steamers was established in 1867. Jo Reynolds

was president of the company and has served as such continuously to

date. Under his general supervision the company has been quite

successful. The business has required an average of six steamers

yearly. In 1888 the line consists of the boats the Sidney, Pittsburgh

and Mary Morton.

The St. Louis & St. Paul Packet Company, successors of the various old

transportation companies, is in successful operation in 1888,

employing three steamers. There are but few transient boats now on the

river.

ICE BOATS.

Several attempts have been made to navigate the river during the

winter months by means of ice boats, but the efforts have uniformly

failed. Of these attempts we mention the two most notable:

Noman Wiard, an inventor of some celebrity, made an ice boat in 1856

and placed it on the river at Prairie du Chien, intending to run

between that point and St. Paul. It was elaborately planned and

elegantly finished, and resembled somewhat a palace car mounted on

steel runners. It failed on account of the roughness of the ice, never

making a single trip. It, however, proved somewhat remunerative as a

show, and was for some time on exhibition within an inclosure at

Prairie du Chien.

Martin Mower, of Osceola, Minnesota, invented a boat to run on the

ice between Stillwater and Taylor's Falls, in the winter of 1868-9. It

made several trips, carrying passengers and freight. The rough ice

prevented regular trips and the project was abandoned.

STEAMBOAT LIFE--1846.

James W. Mullen, of Taylor's Falls, spent much of his early and middle

life on the river, and cherishes many pleasant recollections of the

early days. We have been favored with a few of these, which will give

the reader a vivid idea of the scenes depicted:

"A. D. 1816 found me a cabin boy on the War Eagle at the St. Louis

levee, with sign board up for Stillwater and Fort Snelling. The levee

was a wonder to behold. It was thronged with teams, policemen keeping

them in rank. Piles of freight were awaiting shipment. Steamboats for

three-quarters of a mile along the levee were discharging and

receiving freight; passengers were rushing frantically to and fro;

bells were ringing, and boats leaving for the Cumberland, Tennessee,

Missouri and Illinois rivers; and New Orleans, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh,

Keokuk, Galena, Stillwater, and Fort Snelling.

"It was a delightful June day on which we pulled out from this busy

scene and commenced our voyage to the far off north land, then known

as Wisconsin Territory. Capt. Smith Harris gave the last tap of the

bell; the lines were loosened; the wheels of the War Eagle revolved

slowly at first, and we were soon on the broad bosom of the

Mississippi, heading northward in the wake and black smoke of the

steamers Ocean Wave, Tobacco Plant and Western Belle. The Luella, the

Alton packet, followed us closely, racing with us. All was enjoyment.

We pass the steamers Osprey and Di Vernon. At Nauvoo we note the

magnificent Mormon temple on the high ground, and also long files of

Mormons going westward. We pass many fine farms, much beautiful

scenery, and many growing towns, among them Rock Island and Davenport,

the latter the home of Antoine Le Clair, a half-breed Indian trader

and heavyweight, tipping the beam at three hundred and fifty pounds

avoirdupois. He lives there in sumptuous splendor from his profits

made in trade. The villages, or tepees, of Sac and Fox Indians are

seen along the shores; their bark canoes glide silently over the

waters. Further on we ascend for seven miles the sluggish and narrow

channel of Fever river, and find ourselves at Galena, the home of the

Harrises, river captains.

"We find at the levee here the steamers Falcon and St. Croix, laden

with lead for St. Louis. Back through Fever river to the Mississippi

and past Dubuque, an active, rising town; past Cassville, the expected

but disappointed capital city of Wisconsin Territory, a lovely

location, its castellated hills frowning above it and its fine three

story brick hotel and other buildings; past Prairie du Chien and Fort

Crawford, with soldiers drilling on the green. Here Amable Moreau, a

French Upper Mississippi pilot, came on board. Squads of Indians were

hanging around begging for whisky and tobacco. Resuming our way,

stemming the current of the river we pass other scenes, other birch

canoes gliding over the waves, other tepees and Indian villages along

the shore. At La Crosse we find a few whites and lots of Indians on an

unimproved prairie, with a background of high bluffs. We pass

Trempeleau and then Winona prairie, on which we find an old Indian

village, dating back to unknown time. Opposite the mouth of the

Chippewa river we pass Nelson's Landing with its two log warehouses

and mackinaw boats loading for the Chippewa river. We pass into lovely

Lake Pepin, Maiden's Rock or Lover's Leap rising into a battlement on

the right, and the famous Point-no-Point on the left. Out of the

beautiful lake again into the river, between low, forest covered

islands, till we pass Barn Bluff or Mount La Grange, a bold, abrupt

and isolated hill just below Red Wing. We passed more Indian tepees,

villages and burying grounds,--not that, for the dead bodies of the

Indians were not buried but fastened upon scaffolds and the limbs of

trees, according to Sioux custom. At the mouth of St. Croix river we

pass Prescott Landing, where lives the old pioneer trader Philander

Prescott. Across the St. Croix, opposite Prescott Landing, is Point

Douglas. Some miles above Point Douglas we pass Little Crow village, a

missionary station, where young Indian boys ran down to the landing

and greeted us with such yells as have not rung through these wilds,

perhaps, for ages past.

"We find St. Paul to be a small village. There are a few houses on a

high, almost perpendicular bluff, overlooking the river. At the base

of the bluff on the river shore stands a warehouse with the sign

'Choteau & Valle.' We are soon at Mendota and Fort Snelling. A squad

of soldiers guard the freight over night. We have ample time in the

morning to visit the post before starting down the river, and the

following morning finds the prow of the War Eagle resting against the

Stillwater landing. Here Capt. Harris greets his friends and is warmly

welcomed. So far, Stillwater seemed the most active and enterprising

village on the whole route. Joe Brown's town, Dakota, lies a short

distance above at the head of the lake. Capt. Harris on his return

towed a raft comprising ten acres of logs. Big Joe was one of the

pilots on the raft."

ST. CROIX BOOM COMPANY.

Previous to the organization of the boom company, in 1857, the logs

were floated down the St. Croix and caught in side booms by individual

owners, and owners of lake booms would raft them indiscriminately,

regardless of log marks, but with the mark side up for the convenience

of scaling. The scaling was done by some responsible party in the

interest of the various owners, and balances were settled by

exchanges, or if not balanced by cash or by note, to be paid out of

the profits of the next year's logs. Instances of fraud seldom

occurred. When Minnesota became a territory this system was superseded

by another method of handling, assorting or delivering. The

legislature established surveyor general districts, of which the St.

Croix valley was designated as the First. The surveyors general were

elected in a joint convention of the two houses of the legislature,

and the candidacy for this office, together with questions of salary,

became a leading feature in the politics of the district.

The surveyors general of the First district have been, Robert Harsy,

Samuel Winship, Charles J. Gardiner, Ivory McKusick, James D. McComb,

Z. Wilder Chase, John S. Proctor, and Al. Hospice. The law defining

the duties of the surveyors general has been awarded from time to

time, and the system of scaling improved till it has reached its

present form, in which it meets with very general approval. In 1867 a

law was passed giving to the governor the power of appointing

surveyors general.

The boom company was organized by the territorial legislature, Feb. 7,

1851, with a capital stock of $10,000, with privileges of increase to

$25,000. The incorporators were Orange Walker and George B. Judd, of

Marine; John McKusick, Socrates Nel son and Levi Churchill, of

Stillwater; Daniel Mears and William Kent, of Osceola; and W. H. C.

Folsom, of Taylor's Falls. Fred R. Bartlett was the first secretary,

but was superseded by David B. Loomis.

The first boom was built near an island lying opposite and above

Osceola. The surveyor general had his office at Stillwater, an

arrangement that gave great satisfaction, but as the boom was not

advantageously located, the channel of the river above being too

narrow for the annually increasing production of logs, the company, in

1856, obtained a new charter with power to construct booms from the

head of Lake St. Croix to Taylor's Falls. The capital stock was

increased to $25,000 with the privilege of increasing it to $50,000.

It was subsequently increased to $100,000. The incorporators of the

new company were Martin Mower, W. H. C. Folsom, Isaac Staples,

Christopher Carli and Samuel Burkelo.

The company placed a second boom a mile and a half above Stillwater.

The increase of their business compelled them from time to time to

build side booms and shear booms to prevent the logs from lodging

against the banks or passing bayous or secondary channels, and also to

keep the primary channel free from obstructions to navigation. They

built firm and expensive piers, drove piling and made canals for the

use of steamboats when the main channel was wanted for booming

purposes.

Notwithstanding all this care, navigation was frequently obstructed by

the accumulation of logs. Litigation ensued, and heavy expenses were

incurred in defending the rights of the company or paying damages.

These controversies were not unattended with ill feeling. Public

meetings were frequently held and denunciating resolutions adopted. In

one case, when navigation had been interrupted for fifty-seven days,

the damages were estimated at $146,525. Some controversies also arose

as to jurisdiction. St. Croix river being the boundary line between

two states, the Wisconsin authorities claimed concurrent jurisdiction.

The boom company was organized under Minnesota law and its members

were residents of Minnesota. The surveyor general of the First

district claimed entire jurisdiction and scaled the logs irrespective

of the state in which they were cut. The action of the surveyor

general had been accepted both by the original owners and purchasers

of the logs.

In January, 1885, Gov. Hubbard, of Minnesota, appointed A. L. Hospes

surveyor general, and the appointment creating some dissatisfaction, a

lumberman's board of exchange was organized, and Judson McKusick was

appointed as private scaler. He proceeded, under the direction of the

exchange, to scale logs that had already been scaled by Hospes. When

the members of the exchange proceeded to take possession of their logs

and run them out into the lake, Hospes commenced a series of

injunction cases to prevent them from so doing. The exchange brought

suit against Hospes in Wisconsin courts to prevent him from scaling

logs owned by the exchange. The exchange also declared that McKusick

was a deputy of the general surveyor of the Fourth district,

Wisconsin. Pending these suits, Hospes commenced a _quo warranto_

proceeding in the Minnesota supreme court to have the articles of

incorporation of the exchange annulled, but was defeated on the ground

that the exchange could employ a private scaler at will, but held that

such scaler could not interfere with the claims of Hospes, he being

recognized as surveyor general. In July of the same year the claims of

the conflicting parties were settled by the parties themselves,

outside the courts, and the question of conflicting jurisdiction has

therefore never been legally determined. It is true that some courts

have passed upon the question, and appeals have been taken to higher

courts. The decision of Judge Nelson of the supreme court has been

given, a decision that the surveyor general of the First district of

Minnesota has a right to scale all logs in his district, yet by his

own decision Wisconsin has equal rights under concurrent jurisdiction.

Should both state authorities under their surveyors general claim

jurisdiction at the same time, concurrent jurisdiction would lead to a

double taxation upon log owners. It seems, however, to be an admitted

principle that when suits between the same parties, in relation to the

same matter, are pending at the same time in different courts of

jurisdiction, a judgment in the one may act as a bar to further

proceedings in the other. The question ought to be more definitely and

satisfactorily settled.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE LOGS.

It may not be amiss to explain somewhat in detail the system of

marking adopted by the lumbermen. Owners of logs must be able to

identify their property or lose the reward of their labor. A system of

marking each log has, therefore, become a feature of the lumbering

business, and has been in existence ever since lumbering has been

prosecuted. When the business was confined to a limited number of

firms it was an easy matter, and one of mutual arrangement, to select

the property. But firms change; from a score the number of lumber

firms increased to hundreds. A record of ownership of log marks is

necessary, and a law has been enacted protecting the ownership of a

mark as thoroughly as a trade mark is protected. This system of marks

in the process of time has become a language in itself deep and

intricate to the average mind, but as plain as the alphabet to every

man having to do with the manufacture of logs. It is the aim of every

lumberman originating a mark to make it simple, containing as many

straight lines as possible, so that it can be put on the log speedily.

These marks are cut on the logs, through the bark and a few inches

into the body of the timber, soon after the tree is felled, by a

skilled axeman who is charged with the duty. The cut is made deeper

than the bark so it will be preserved after the bark comes off. The

mark is made upon the side of the log.

This system of marks is a language in itself. Every prominent firm has

a particular character, which, in a general way, is indicative of his

ownership or interest in the log. This mark may be varied by

additional or supplementary characters, indicating who cut the log, on

whose land it was cut, or under what particular contract it was put

into the stream. Some idea of the extent and variety of these marks

can be formed from the statement that there is recorded in the St.

Croix district--only a small portion of the entire lumber region of

the Northwest--over 1,700 different and distinct characters. Many of

these are quaint and interesting, and the whole etymology curious in

the extreme.

In the books in the surveyor general's office these marks and figures

are the only characters used except in the recording of the marks

themselves and of instruments and agreements. The identity of mark and

its association of ownership necessarily calls into play the utmost

familiarity. To one not thoroughly familiar with the method the books

are about as intelligible as the figures on the side of a Chinese tea

chest to the average American. Once a man becomes thoroughly familiar

with the marks on a river where lumbering is so extensively carried on

as on the St. Croix, he becomes invaluable in the surveyor general's

office, or in the booms, identified in some capacity with the scaling

process. The fact that some particular character runs through the

varied marks of all the leading firms is a key to the readiest

understanding, just as the twenty-six characters in the alphabet are

necessarily understood before one can read readily or intelligently.

When the logs reach the booms the marks serve as a guide in their

distribution by the scaler, whose business it is to measure the logs,

call out the number of feet in each log to the tallyman, who records

it in a book kept for the purpose, the record, together with the mark

attached, to be forwarded to the surveyor general's office, there to

be posted and footed. A small army of men is engaged in bringing logs

to the gap, a narrow passage admitting scarcely more than one log at a

time.

A catch mark is a mark representing the original mark and is so placed

as to appear always upon the upper side when the log floats at rest.

Once through the gap, experienced men gather the logs, as they are

floated downward by the current, into brills. These are subsequently

gathered together in rafts, laid, as a rule, with the logs headed in

the direction of the current. Rafts may be transported to any distance

southward by the current of the stream, and through the waters of the

lake, and not infrequently the whole distance by tow boats.

AMOUNT OF LOGS CUT FROM 1857 TO 1888.

The earliest statistics in the following table are from persons

operating, and the later from record books. We have given the figures

in round numbers. The table includes logs cut and floated down the St.

Croix river and tributaries:

YEAR. FEET.

1837-38 300,000

1838-39 700,000

1839-40 1,500,000

1840-41 2,500,000

1841-42 3,000,000

1842-43 3,500,000

1843-44 8,500,000

1844-45 14,000,000

1845-46 25,500,000

1846-47 26,000,000

1847-48 37,000,000

1848-49 50,000,000

1849-50 75,000,000

1850-51 87,000,000

1851-52 90,000,000

1852-53 110,000,000

1853-54 125,000,000

1854-55 165,000,000

1855-56 187,000,000

1856-57 200,000,000

1857-58 135,000,000

1858-59 156,000,000

1859-60 175,000,000

1860-61 160,000,000

1861-62 175,000,000

1862-63 150,000,000

1863-64 140,000,000

1864-65 144,000,000

1865-66 137,000,000

1866-67 174,000,000

1867-68 183,000,000

1868-69 194,000,000

1869-70 209,000,000

1870-71 170,000,000

1871-72 224,000,000

1872-73 108,000,000

1873-74 188,000,000

1874-75 178,000,000

1875-76 197,000,000

1876-77 183,000,000

1877-78 225,000,000

1878-79 242,000,000

1879-80 230,000,000

1880-81 247,000,000

1881-82 295,000,000

1882-83 302,000,000

1883-84 230,000,000

1884-85 235,000,000

1885-86 285,000,000

1886-87 350,000,000

1887-88 370,000,000

CHARTERED DAMS.

The Namakagon Totogatic Dam Company obtained a charter in 1869 from

the Wisconsin legislature empowering them to construct two dams for

sheering logs, one to be at the outlet of Namakagon lake, the other on

Totogatic river, a stream tributary to Namakagon river, entering that

stream about eight miles above its junction with the St. Croix. In

1870, by legislative act, the charter was amended by permission to

erect sixteen dams, to be built severally on the waters of the Upper

St. Croix, Moose, Eau Claire, Namakagon, Totogatic, Yellow, and Clam

rivers. The name was changed to the "St. Croix Dam Company," and the

capital stock was fixed at $50,000. The incorporators were A. M.

Chase, Joel Nason, Henry D. Barron, Wm. Kent, and S. B. Dresser. A. M.

Chase was the first president. The company had permission under the

charter to hold the water during the seasons when it was not necessary

to navigation on the St. Croix. These dams were usually shut down to

gather a head during the months of March and April, with the exception

of the dams on the Namakagon and Eau Claire, which have the privilege

of gathering and retaining a head of water during any part of the

year. The head of water above these dams varied from seven to ten

feet, and the average cost of construction was $4,000. The tolls per

1,000 feet at these dams were as follows: Namakagon and Clam, 25 and

20 cents; at Totogatic, 20 and 15 cents; St. Croix, 20 and 15 cents;

other dams, 3 to 10 cents.

A. M. Chase was the original mover in organizing the corporation and

forwarding its interests. He was foreman in selecting sites and

building the various dams. He was also owner and general agent until

within the last few years, when he transferred his interests to other

parties. The charter expires in 1893.

The dam on Clam river, built at a cost of $10,000, was, in 1886, blown

up by dynamite and destroyed by Robert Davidson, who claimed that the

flowage interfered with his meadow lands.

LUMBERING ON THE ST. CROIX IN 1845.

The progress of civilization involving the building of railways, the

transformation of the wilderness into cultivated fields, the growth of

villages and cities, the increased facilities for manufacturing and

the bringing the forest domain under law, has created such changes in

the business of lumbering as to justify the insertion of a chapter

relating to the life and surroundings of the early lumberman. Let us

go back to the year 1845. The country, save a few sparse settlements

on the navigable streams, is as yet an unbroken wilderness, and

tenanted only by wild beasts and roving Indians. There are vast

regions, densely wooded, in which the sound of the woodman's axe has

never been heard, lying about the headwaters of the Chippewa, St.

Croix and other streams. These pineries can only be reached by

stemming the currents of the minor streams in bateaux or birch bark

canoes, or by traversing the country on foot or with teams. Parties

operating must purchase their outfit, consisting of teams, supplies of

flour, pork, etc., in Illinois or Missouri. Sometimes they drive their

teams through unsettled country, without roads, swimming and fording

streams, clearing away obstructions, and camping where night overtakes

them. Sometimes they ship their supplies by steamer to Stillwater or

St. Croix Falls. When landed at Stillwater the supplies are packed

upon flatboats and poled to Taylor's Falls, where they are to be

portaged to the head of the rapids, a distance of six miles, and

transferred to bateaux. The portage is a difficult one. The goods are

to be hoisted up over the rocks of the Dalles and placed upon sleds

calculated to run upon the bare ground. Considering the inequalities

of the surface from the Dalles to the head of the rapids, the portage

is an immensely difficult one. They are then taken to their place of

destination, the bateaux returning to the Falls for successive loads,

the whole transfer requiring considerable time. Sometimes, if late in

the season, part or whole of the fleet of bateaux may be caught in the

ice, in which case a bushed road must be made, and the supplies

transported by teams and men.

Arriving on the ground, the operators blaze trees on lines surrounding

the region which they wish to work during the winter. These claims are

generally respected by others. The first work to be done is making a

camp, building stables, clearing streams of obstructions, and making

roads. Incidentally the Indians, certain to be visitors at the camps,

are to be propitiated with presents of flour, pork and tobacco. These

pacified and out of the way, the lumberman may say with Alexander

Selkirk--

"I am monarch of all I survey;

My right there is none to dispute."

Trespassing is unknown. The lumberman is not conscious that he himself

is a trespasser on the domain of Uncle Sam. Nor is he. Has he not the

best title in the world? Who is there to dispute it? No government

agent ever troubles him, or questions his right to fell the royal

trees and dispose of them as he may choose. He is earning by his

strong right arm his title to the trees. He endures much, accomplishes

much and is the advance courier of civilization. He spends long months

away from the common haunts of men. He is cut off from the mails and

from home pleasure. He lives an industrious life. Cold is the day when

the stroke of his axe is not heard. The snow deepens around him, the

temperature sinks lower and lower, till it would not discredit

Labrador; still he toils on unceasingly, and at night builds high his

blazing fire, wraps himself up in his buffalo robe and blankets, and

sleeps through the night the sleep of the tired and the just.

Meanwhile his appetite is marvelous. The cooking (done by one of the

crew) maybe of the rudest, and the provisions none of the daintiest,

but exercise and the cold gives a relish to the food not often found

in the fashionable restaurants. The members of the crew have each

allotted duties. To one is intrusted the cooking department, to

another the position of teamster, to another that of sled tender;

some are choppers, some are swampers, some are sawyers. The records of

the camp are kept by the foreman or some person detailed for that

purpose.

The winter over, the teams are returned to the settlements. The log

driving crew succeeds the choppers and other workers. The logs, having

been hauled upon the ice of the driving streams, with the melting of

snow are afloat on the swollen streams, and the drivers commence their

work, following the logs in their downward course to the mills or

booms, dislodging them when they are driven upon shore, and breaking

jams when they occur. This work is difficult and attended by

considerable exposure, as the driver is often obliged to go into the

stream. It therefore commands higher wages than other work. The

drivers are without tents, but a wangan, or small flat boat,

containing bedding, provisions and a cooking kit, is floated down the

stream so as to be convenient at night. The wangan is managed by the

cook alone, and his work, when he ties up for the night, is to take

ashore the bedding, cooking material, etc., build a fire and provide a

meal for the hungry crew. His cooking utensils are of the rudest kind,

consisting of a tin reflector and a few iron pots and pans. The savory

repast is scarce finished before the arrival of the crew, cold, wet,

tired, and hungry. They are not particular about a table with its

furniture, but are satisfied to eat from a tin plate, sitting or lying

on the ground. Hunger satisfied, they spend their evenings by the

blazing fire, drying their clothing, jesting, story telling, or

recalling the events of the day, or scanning the open or clouded sky

for indications of weather changes. When the sky is clear they trace

the constellations, locate the principal stars and planets, or follow

the devious windings of the milky way. Some of them have studied

astronomy, and some have learned from others, and all are intent,

though without books or teachers, on learning the wisdom that Nature

teaches, and some are found who have learned to look "from Nature up

to Nature's God."

Occasionally some rougher specimen mars the order and pleasantness of

this wild-wood converse by an oath or coarse remark, heard, perhaps,

but unheeded by the more serious and thoughtful. Such men are found

everywhere, in the streets, saloons, and even in the wilderness, men

who pollute the air in which they move with profanity and obscenity.

These are not the men who succeed and build up great fortunes; these

are not the true conquerors of the wilderness. The sober, thoughtful

man is the man who succeeds. It is not necessary that he have the

learning acquired from books, or a smattering of science from the

schools. He may acquire great knowledge by close study of men, and

observation of the phenomena of nature, and so make himself a peer of

the book worm and scholar of the library and schools.

The acquaintances formed in these camp scenes and toils often result

in life long friendships, and the scenes of camp, river and forest

become cherished reminiscences to the actors, who are as fond of

recalling them as veteran soldiers are of recounting the hairbreadth

escapes and stirring incidents of campaign life.

The drive ends with the delivery of the logs at the booms and mills,

the men are paid off and devote themselves for the remainder of the

summer to other work.

LUMBERING ON THE ST. CROIX IN 1886.

The St. Croix lumberman, after the lapse of nearly fifty years, is

still a picturesque figure, clad, as he is, in coarse, strong woolen

garments, these of brilliant red, yellow, blue and green, or in some

cases as variegated as Joseph's coat of many colors. He is usually a

man of stalwart frame, which is set off to advantage by his close

fitting garments. His circumstances are, however, widely different

from his old time predecessor.

The rough, hard work of the wilderness, including the building of

dams, the construction of reservoirs and roads, and the improvement of

the streams, has been accomplished chiefly by his predecessors. He is

abundantly supplied with food, produced almost in the neighborhood of

the scenes of his winter's work. He travels by rail almost to his

destination or drives blooded teams over comparatively good roads,

where his predecessors tediously blazed the way and cleared it of

underbrush. His camp accommodations are far superior. He is housed in

comfortable cabins, warmed with large stoves and heaters, whereas the

cabin of the lumberman of 1845 had a fire built on the ground in the

centre of the room. The modern camp is well furnished with tables and

other conveniences. The cook has a separate room furnished with a

cooking stove and modern appliances for cooking. He has his assistant,

known as the "cookee" or second cook. The table is spread with a

variety of food, and delicacies that would have astounded the

lumberman of 1845. Each operator is limited to his own special work.

His bounds are set and he can go no further, except at the risk of the

loss of his labor.

The work goes on with clock-like precision and is comparatively easy.

Everything is done on a larger scale and more economically. The crews

are larger and the life is not near so solitary. The various crews

employed for the spring drive combine and thereby greatly increase

their efficiency. They are supplied with better and covered boats. The

cook in the drive has in addition to his "cookee" a wangan man to

assist in managing the boat. The drives are larger and yet more easily

handled, the conveniences are greater and the expenses less. The men

are more independent, and owing to the number employed, and the

nearness of settlements and villages, more sociable, and possibly more

hilarious and less thoughtful. We shall nevertheless find among them

men of character, thoughtful, industrious and earnest men, who would

have shone in the associations of the earlier camps and who will

doubtless in the future be ranked among the successful and capable

men, worthy successors of the veterans now leaving the stage of

action.

Conjecture as to the future of the lumbering industry, and

consequently as to the character of the men engaged in it, would be

idle. Who can tell what a day or another fifty years may bring forth?

The pine woods will not last always; already the camps are being

pushed further and further to the north and west, and whereever the

denuded pine lands are arable the farmer is making his home. The

lumbering industry is also passing into the hands of corporations, and

with their extensive means and the armies of men employed by them the

forests are disappearing more rapidly than ever. It is possible that

the present generation of lumbermen may be the last in the valley of

the St. Croix, and that before another fifty years have passed the

last of the number may have shouldered his axe or peavy and passed

"over the divide."

THE LOG JAMS OF THE ST. CROIX.

The St. Croix river in its passage through the Dalles is compressed

into a comparatively narrow channel, by which means the logs driven

down the stream are crowded closely together, so closely as to

sometimes become firmly wedged or jammed together. The jam generally

occurs at a point known as Angle Rock, a huge promontory of massive

trap rock extending into the middle of the channel from the Minnesota

side, and opposite to the St. Croix landing. The river makes a bend

around this rock nearly at a right angle with the channel above. At

this point jams are, under certain conditions, almost inevitable.

Sometimes they are of small dimensions and are easily broken.

Sometimes the logs gather in such quantity and become so tightly

wedged that it is a labor of weeks to break them.

The first jam worthy of note occurred in 1865, during the prevalence

of high water. It is, in fact, only during high water that jams can

occur, the current being at such time swift and strong, and the logs

apt to accumulate in greater number than in the regular drives, from

the fact that logs that have been stranded in former seasons or at low

water are floated off, and the river is thus filled with logs from

bank to bank. These are crowded into the narrow channel of the Dalles

faster than they can be discharged, and a jam results. An obstruction

once formed, the logs continuing to come in from above fill the

channel. The tide of logs arrested, crowd downward until they rest

upon the bottom of the river, and are heaped upward sometimes to a

height of twenty or thirty feet above the surface. The river thus

checked in its course rises, wedging the logs more closely and heaping

them higher.

In the jam of 1865 the river channel was filled nearly to the St.

Croix dam, a distance of a mile and a quarter above Angle Rock. This

being the first of the great jams excited unusual attention.

Excursionists came up daily in the boats to look upon it. It was

indeed a wonderful sight. The logs were heaped together in the wildest

confusion, and wedged in at all angles. Men and horses were employed

to break the jam, which at that time, owing to the inexperience of the

workers, was no light task. The _modus operandi_ of jam breaking is to

remove logs from the lower part of the jam till some log which serves

as a key to the jam is reached. This being removed the logs above

commence moving, and, if the haul be a long one, in a short time the

movement is extended to the head of the jam. Perhaps the logs are so

heaped above that no water is visible. It matters not; the tremendous

current beneath sweeps downward, carrying the logs along, and the

spectator beholds a wonderful scene, a river of logs, the current

swiftest in the centre of the stream, the logs rolling, tumbling,

crashing, grinding, sometimes snapped in sunder like pipestems. The

jam breakers are in the wildest excitement, cheering and hurrahing,

and some may be seen out in the current of logs, jumping from one to

another, or making their escape to the shore. Others on the lower part

of the jam at the moment of breaking are carried down the river.

Though apparently a scene of great danger, comparatively few accidents

occur. The workers are cool, experienced men with steady nerves and

stalwart arms, a race of men not surpassed for muscular development.

In 1877 another jam took place nearly as large as that of 1865. This

jam came near destroying the beautiful bridge that spanned the river

at the head of the Dalles. Many of the logs carried high in air by the

pressure of the logs below struck the bridge, and at times its

destruction seemed inevitable. This bridge has since been replaced by

an iron structure, much higher than the first, but even this

occasionally received a blow from some log carried along by the

current at a "present arms."

In 1883 another jam of considerable dimensions occurred, but it was

removed with less labor and expense than its predecessors, and

steamboats anchored below were used to aid in breaking it. It cost

from $5,000 to $10,000 to break these jams.

By far the greatest of the jams occurred in June, 1886. The water was

high, the current strong and the river above so full of logs that a

log driver might have crossed upon them. This abundance was owing to

other causes than those mentioned in the account of the jam of 1865.

The dams at Snake, Kettle and other rivers had been simultaneously

opened, and the logs in these streams all set free at once in the

current of the St. Croix. On they came in long procession with but

little obstruction till they reached Angle Rock, where they were

suddenly arrested, and, owing to the force of the current, wedged more

tightly and heaped higher than on any previous occasion, and the river

channel was filled with logs to a point two miles above the St. Croix

falls formerly known as the dam. To break this jam, two steamers, two

engines, several teams of horses and over two hundred men were

employed, and during the six weeks that occurred before it was broken,

thousands of visitors came by rail and steamboat to look upon it. This

jam was estimated to hold during its continuance 150,000,000 feet of

logs.

POPULATION OF WISCONSIN.

The first census of the Northwest Territory, taken in 1790, does not

show the population of the region now known as Wisconsin. The census

of 1800 gave the following figures: Ohio, 45,363; Indiana Territory,

5,641; Green Bay, 50; Prairie du Chien, 65. According to the census of

1880, the original Northwest Territory contained a population of

12,989,571, or more than one-quarter of the population of the United

States. The population of Crawford county in 1820 was 492; in 1830,

692; in 1834, 810; in 1836, 1,220; in 1838, 850; in 1841, 1,503; in

1847, 1,409.

In 1836, when Wisconsin Territory was organized, the population of the

Territory was, 11,883. The whole number of votes cast at the election

in 1836 was 2,462. The population, according to the census taken at

the close of every five years, was as follows: In 1840, 30,945; in

1845, 155,275; in 1850, 305,301; in 1855, 552,109; in 1860, 775,881;

in 1865, 868,325; in 1870, 1,054,670; in 1875, 1,236,729; in 1880,

1,315,480; in 1885, 1,563,423.

The official compilation of the census of Wisconsin gives the

following details: Total population, 1,563,423; white, males, 806,342;

females, 748,810; negroes, in full, 5,576; Indians, 2,695. The

nativities are divided as follows: United States, 1,064,943; Germany,

265,756; Scandinavia, 90,057; Ireland, 36,371; Great Britain, 32,731;

British America, 21,887; Bohemia, 15,838; Holland, 7,357; France,

3,963; all other countries, 20,030; subject to military duty, 286,289;

soldiers of the late war, 29,686.

POPULATION OF ST. CROIX, PIERCE, POLK, BURNETT, AND SAWYER COUNTIES.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

|1840.|1845.|1850.| 1855.| 1860.| 1865.| 1870.| 1875.| 1880.| 1885.|

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

St. Croix | 618 | 809 |624 | 2,040| 5,392 |6,255 |11,039|14,957|18,838|22,389|

Pierce | | | | 1,720| 4,672 |6,824 |10,004|15,101|17,685|19,760|

Polk | | | | 547| 1,400 |1,677 | 3,422| 6,736|10,095|12,884|

Burnett | | | | | 12 | 238 | 705| 1,436| 2,980| 4,607|

Sawyer | | | | | | | | | | 2,481|

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POPULATION OF MINNESOTA.

In 1849 the Territory had a population of 4,680. The census taken at

periods of every five years shows the following population: In 1850,

6,077; in 1855, ----; in 1860, 172,073; in 1865, 250,099; in 1870,

439,706; in 1875, 597,403; in 1880, 780,773; in 1885, 1,117,798.

The following table gives the population of the counties on the St.

Croix waters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

| 1850. | 1855. | 1860. | 1865. | 1870. | 1875. | 1880. | 1885.|

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Washington | 1,066 | ---- | 6,123 | 6,780 | 11,809 | 9,994 | 19,562 | 29,763|

Chisago | ---- | ---- | 1,743 | 2,175 | 4,378 | 6,046 | 7,982 | 9,765|

Pine | ---- | ---- | 92 | 64 | 648 | 795 | 1,365 | 2,177|

Kanabec | ---- | ---- | 30 | 31 | 93 | 311 | 605 | 1,119|

Isanti | ---- | ---- | 281 | 453 | 2,035 | 3,901 | 5,063 | 7,032|

Carlton | ---- | ---- | 51 | 28 | 286 | 495 | 1,230 | 3,189|

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MINNESOTA STATE CAPITOL.

By the organic act of Minnesota Territory, $20,000 were appropriated

for a capitol building. At the time the Territory was organized,

however (June 1, 1849), the _permanent_ seat of government had not

been determined on, and the money was therefore not available. The

Central House in St. Paul, a log tavern weather-boarded, situated at

the corner of Bench and Minnesota streets, where the rear of the

Mannheimer block now is, was rented for the public offices and

legislative assembly. It was for some months known as "The Capitol."

On the lower floor was the secretary of state's office, and the house

of representatives chamber. On the second floor was the council

chamber and the territorial library. Neither of these legislative

halls was over sixteen or eighteen feet square. The rest of the

building was used as an inn. The Union colors, floating from a flag

staff on the bank in front of the building, was the only mark of its

rank. During his entire term of office, Gov. Ramsey kept the executive

office in his private residence, and the supreme court met in rented

chambers here and there.

On Sept. 3, 1849, the first session of the legislature assembled at

the above temporary capitol. Gov. Ramsey delivered his message to the

two houses in joint convention assembled, in the hotel dining room.

The whole fitting of the assembly rooms was of the plainest

description.

Considerable discussion ensued during the session on this subject, as

to whether the Territory had a right to expend the $20,000

appropriated in the organic act, for a capitol building. The question

having been submitted to Hon. Wm. Meredith, secretary of the treasury,

he replied that the "Department can not doubt that the public

buildings in question can only be erected at the _permanent_ seat of

government, located as described."

The second session assembled Jan. 2, 1851, in a brick building, since

burned, which occupied the site of the Third street front of the

Metropolitan Hotel. At this session the seat of government was fixed

at St. Paul, as above noted. D. F. Brawley, Jonathan McKusick, Louis

Robert and E. A. C. Hatch were elected building commissioners. Charles

Bazille, a pioneer resident and large property owner of St. Paul,

donated to the government the block of ground since known as "Capitol

Square," and plans drawn by N. C. Prentiss were adopted. The contract

was let to Joseph Daniels for $33,000, but the building finally cost

over $40,000. It was commenced at once, but not completed until the

summer of 1853. The third and fourth sessions of the legislature were

compelled, therefore, to meet in rented buildings. That of 1852

assembled in Goodrich's block on Third street below Jackson, and that

of 1853 in a two story brick row on Third street, where the front of

the Mannheimer block now is.

BURNING OF THE CAPITOL.

At nine o'clock on the evening of March 1, 1881, while both houses of

the legislature were in session, and all the halls and departments

were crowded with visitors, the dome of the building was found to be

on fire. The flames spread with too great rapidity to be checked, and

all that could be done was to save the contents of the building. The

most valuable records and papers of the various offices, and of the

legislature, with some of the furniture, were carried out, but the

greater part of the contents of the building, including the valuable

law library, the supply of state laws, documents and reports, and all

the stationery in the secretary of state's store rooms, etc., were a

total loss. The Historical Society's library was mostly saved. The

entire loss to the State was fully $200,000.

Fortunately the city of St. Paul had just completed a fine and

spacious market house, which was still unoccupied, and its use was at

once tendered the State by the city authorities, and while the flames

were still burning the furniture and effects saved from the old

capitol were removed thither. At nine o'clock next morning the state

departments and both houses of the legislature were again at work in

their new quarters. But two days of the session yet remained. Gov.

Pillsbury immediately secured estimates for rebuilding the burned

edifice, using the old walls, and an act appropriating $75,000 for

that purpose was passed. Work was commenced at once. It was then found

that the old walls were too unsafe to use, and at the extra session in

September, 1881, the further sum of $100,000 was appropriated for the

completion of the building. Its total cost was about $275,000. The

dome of the building is two hundred feet above the ground, giving a

noble view to the visitor who ascends it. The exterior of the edifice

is neat and tasty, and it is altogether creditable to the State,

considering its comparatively small cost.

SELKIRK VISITORS.

In the early days a somewhat primitive people inhabited the Northwest,

making their homes on the banks of the Red River of the North and on

the shores of Winnipeg, in what was known as the Selkirk settlement,

now included in the province of Manitoba. They were a mixed race of

Scotch, French and Indian stock, born and raised under the government

of the Northwest British Fur Company. They were a peaceable, partly

pastoral and partly nomadic, trading people. They cultivated the

ground quite successfully considering the high latitude of their home

and the absence of machinery for farm work, raising wheat, vegetables,

cattle and horses. They engaged in hunting and trapping and yearly

visited St. Paul with the surplus products of their labor to be

disposed of for money or goods. They came usually in caravans

consisting of files of carts drawn by cows, oxen and ponies, and

commanded by a captain elected to the position who exercised over them

a rigid military rule. Their carts were rude, creaking affairs, made

entirely without iron, all the fastenings being sinews and leathern

thongs. This harness was made of raw hides, Indian tanned, and sewed

with animal sinews. Their costume was a happy cross between the

civilized and savage. Their caravans included from 100 to 600 carts,

which were laden with furs, buffalo robes, buffalo tongues, dried

pemmican, etc. As they came a distance of 450 miles, the journey

required many days, but was made in good military order. The raising

of a flag was the signal for starting, the lowering, for stopping. At

night the carts were ranged in a circle about the encampment, and

sentinels posted. Their encampment within the suburbs of St. Paul

attracted great crowds of the curious. In 1857 their train consisted

of 500 carts, and in 1858 of 600, but later, as railroads were built

northward and steamers were placed upon the Red River of the North,

their number gradually diminished and finally their visits ceased

altogether.

CYCLONES.

Recorded and unrecorded, Minnesota and Wisconsin have had their full

share of those atmospheric disturbances that have wrought so much

destruction in the Western States. In the early days, when the country

was sparsely settled and villages and towns were few and far between,

they came and went unnoted, or attracting but little attention. They

left no traces on the plain, and in the forests only a belt of fallen

timber, known as a "windfall." These belts are sufficiently numerous

to establish the fact that these storms were probably as frequent in

early, even in prehistoric, times as at the present. Their movements

are more destructive in later times because of the improvements of

civilization, the increased number of human habitations and the growth

of towns and cities. The tornado has more to destroy, and as a

destroying agent, its movements are better known and more widely

published.

Scientists are not agreed as to the cause of these destructive

phenomena, but enough is known to overthrow the theory so persistently

advanced that it is in consequence of the cutting away of the forests

and the substitution of farms. In fact much of the country was already

prairie land and abundant evidences of tornadoes are found in the

midst of old forests in which have since grown up trees of

considerable size, and this at a period long before the lumberman

commenced his destructive work.

We append a few sketches of cyclones that have occurred in

comparatively recent times.

THE ISANTI COUNTY CYCLONE.

This storm occurred in September, 1865, and spent its fury chiefly in

Isanti county, but extended beyond and was felt even in Wisconsin.

The tornado gathered its wrath in the southwestern region of Isanti

county, in what is called the "Lake Typo settlement," some forty miles

north of St. Paul. It was first discovered in the shape of "two

clouds," as the people there residing expressed it, "approaching each

other from different directions." Suddenly the mingling of these

counter currents of strong winds appeared to form the blackened

heavens into a funnel-shaped mass. The direction of the whirlwind was

from southwest to northeast, and after crossing the St. Croix river

passed through an unsettled portion of timber lands known as "pine

barrens," a growth of scattering pines interspersed with black oaks of

medium size.

On Wood river, Burnett county, Wisconsin, the trunks of pine trees,

three feet in diameter and eighty feet high, were twisted into "broom

splints" and carried high in air. The intervening oaks were also

served the same way; and the whole track of the tornado, from thirty

rods to three-fourths of a mile in width, had left no tree standing.

Pines and oaks were all prostrate, and promiscuously heaped up in

winrows over the ground, their branches and trunks interlocked, and in

some places piled to the height of thirty feet.

The author of this work lost about 10,000,000 feet of pine logs in

Wood river in this cyclone. On Clam river, Wisconsin, for four miles

in length and about half a mile in width, the forest was laid in

winrows, and parties who came through soon after the tempest had to

cut their way.

The tornado, traveling with the velocity of lightning to the

northeast, overtook Dr. Comfort, of Wyoming, as he was crossing

Sunrise prairie with a mule team, accompanied by a hired man. The

doctor and man saved themselves by clinging to some shrubs near by,

but when the fury of the whirlwind had passed, all they could find of

their outfit was the poor mules, half frightened to death, and the

fore wheels and tongue of the wagon. The hind wheels, box, and the

rest of the outfit, together with the doctor's medicine kit, which he

had along, when last seen, were bound zenithward.

Wm. A. Hobbs, late quartermaster sergeant of the Third Minnesota

Battery, Light Artillery, and Orville Grant and brother--sons of R.

Grant, Esq., a farmer living in Isanti county--were out hunting, and

happened to be caught where the storm passed through the heaviest

timber. They saw it approaching, and at first attempted to take

shelter in an old school house near by, but soon saw that was no place

for them and made for an old pine log which they got behind; soon that

commenced to move. Hobbs seized hold of an oak, some ten inches in

diameter, which immediately commenced to be loosened at the roots and

to spin around like a top. The tree was prostrated and he with it--he

receiving very severe injuries. The Grant boys, were also injured, but

none near so badly as Hobbs. The log school house shared the fate of

the surrounding forest. A resident near by states that he saw one-half

the roof sailing upward at least four hundred feet above the tops of

the tallest trees.

THE COTTAGE GROVE CYCLONE.

On June 15, 1877, a terrific cyclone visited the town of Cottage

Grove, Washington county, Minnesota. We append the correct and vivid

description taken from the "History of Washington County:"

"At 9 o'clock P. M. there arose in the southwest a dark and heavy

cloud, attended with loud thunder, vivid lightning and a strong wind.

The cloud moved forward rapidly; soon the rain began to fall in

torrents, when suddenly the wind came dashing with great violence,

sweeping everything before it. There seemed to be two currents of

wind, one coming from the west and the other from the southwest. These

two currents came together in section 22. The stronger current being

from the southwest, the storm took a northwestern direction, and did

some damage in section 27, taking away a portion of the roof of Ethan

Viall's house, and a trunk out of the chamber, no trace of which could

be found. A corn cultivator was taken up, some portions of which were

never found, while other parts were found two miles from the place of

its taking. In section 22, when the currents met, the destruction of

property beggars description. The timber in its track was prostrated;

fences were torn up and scattered in every direction; E. Welch's house

came in the line of desolation; Mr. and Mrs. Welch had stepped out to

look after some chickens in which Mrs. Welch was specially interested,

and, startled by the roar of the wind, were in the act of returning to

the house. When near the door the wind took up the house, bearing it

away, and a stick of timber struck both Mr. and Mrs. Welch, knocking

them down. When Mr. Welch recovered he had hold of his wife, but she

was dead. The stick of timber struck her on the head and caused

instant death. The next object in the path of destruction was C. D.

Tuttle's two story dwelling, located in the northwest corner of

section 26. The main part of the house was torn to pieces and

scattered in every direction, while the wing was left unmoved. The

family, consisting of six persons, fled to the cellar and were

miraculously preserved. The large barn a few rods further on was

completely destroyed. Next in its course was Mr. J. C. Tucker's barn,

the roof of which suddenly passed along on the breeze. At this point

the storm turned, taking a northeasterly direction, and struck the

house of Robert Williams, damaging the house and entirely destroying

the barn. A horse tied to a girder in the barn was found, uninjured,

sixty feet outside of the limits of the building, with the girder

lying across him, and the strap still tied to it. Next in line was a

small lake in the southwest corner of section 23. It was almost robbed

of its treasure. The water and mud was carried a long distance up the

bluffs, fifty feet above the level of the lake. Next came the fine

house of John Morey, giving a portion of its roof to the excited wind;

then passed into the town of Denmark, continuing its destructive

course, killing a horse for W. G. Wagner, near the town line. A man

known as Michael Schull, a farm hand, was taken up by the wind and

dashed against a pile of wood, injuring his brain, causing him to

become dangerous. He is now at St. Peter in the insane asylum. The

destruction of property was great. No accurate account of the amount

of damage done has been compiled. Mr. Tuttle, living in section 26,

suffered the most. He estimated his loss at $7,000. His house was

situated in a valley surrounded by oak trees, and we would suppose was

protected by the strong bulwarks of Nature, and yet house, barn,

farming utensils, and machinery were scattered over the country. The

next morning sheets of tin two feet square, found in Mr. Tuttle's

yard, were supposed to have come from a church in Dakota county.

Portions of Mr. Tuttle's house were found miles away."

The same cyclone visited Lake Elmo and did great damage, blowing down

the depot buildings, Lake Elmo Hotel and other structures. The

buildings and trees of the agricultural fair grounds were destroyed.

Some parts of the buildings were carried miles away by the storm.

THE CYCLONE AT WHITE BEAR AND MARINE, MINNESOTA, AND CLEAR LAKE,

WISCONSIN.

Sept. 9, 1884, a storm arose in Hennepin county and did some damage;

continuing to White Bear lake, Oneka and Grant, in Washington county,

it gathered force and proved very destructive to life and property. As

it passed through Oneka and Grant its path was about ten miles in

width. Churches, school houses, dwellings, barns, grain stacks, and

fences in its way were either partially or wholly destroyed, and the

wrecked property was distributed for miles around. The cyclone passed

on over Marine, Big Lake and Scandia, crossed the St. Croix, passed

over the town of Somerset, Star Prairie, New Richmond, in St. Croix

county, and over Black Brook, Clear Lake, Pineville and Clayton in

Polk county and Turtle Lake in Barron, pursuing the usual

northeasterly direction common to these cyclones, and disappearing in

terrific thunderstorms, in the timbered lands of Barron and Chippewa

counties. An eye witness, Mr. Ivory Hatch, of Oneka, thus describes

the approach of the storm:

"I was standing near a shed in the barnyard, when suddenly the sky

became black and threatening. In about five minutes I saw two

funnel-shaped clouds descend and approach each other. I started for

the house to warn my family, when, as quick as a flash, I was

enveloped in the cloud, and while clinging to a post for safety my

grain stacks and buildings disappeared. The storm did not continue

over a minute and a half. I escaped almost miraculously without a

bruise." The testimony of others in the neighborhood is substantially

the same. In the town of Oneka the destruction was worse than in any

other locality.

In the track of the storm through Washington county not less than

fifty houses were demolished. The loss on each averaged $600, making a

total of $30,000. Losses on barns, machinery and stock raised this sum

to $50,000. The loss at Marine was computed roughly at $75,000, which

made a total of $135,000, not including hay and grain. The entire loss

to Clear Lake was estimated at $200,000. Three persons lost their

lives, Mrs. P. Burdick, Willie Kavanagh and John Saunders. The

Methodist, Congregational and Swedish churches were leveled with the

ground. The timber losses were close to $1,000,000; private property

in villages, loss near $500,000, and all other losses, such as farm

property and the like, in the hundred thousands. The total loss in

Wisconsin has been placed at six lives and $4,000,000 in property.

THE ST. CLOUD AND SAUK RAPIDS CYCLONE OF 1886.