first one convening at Stillwater. But before I relate what there
occurred, I will mention an attempt that was made by Judge Irwin, one of
the territorial judges of Wisconsin, to hold a term in St. Croix county,
in 1842. Joseph R. Brown, of whom I shall speak hereafter as one of the
brightest of Minnesota's early settlers, came to Fort Snelling as a
fifer boy in the regiment that founded and built the fort in 1819. He
was discharged from the army about 1826, and had become clerk of the
courts in St. Croix county. He had procured from the legislature of
Wisconsin an order for a court in his county for some reason only known
to himself, and in 1842 Judge Irwin came up to hold it. He arrived at
Fort Snelling, and found himself in a country which indicated that
disputes were more frequently settled with tomahawks than by the
principles of the common law. The officers of the fort could give him no
information, but in his wanderings he found Mr. Norman W. Kittson, who
had a trading house near the Falls of Minnehaha. Kittson knew Clerk
Brown, who was then living on the St. Croix, near where Stillwater now
stands, and furnishing the judge a horse, directed him how to find his
clerk. After a ride of more than twenty miles, Brown was discovered, but
no preparations had been made for a court. The judge took the first boat
down the river, a disgusted and angry man.
After the lapse of five years from this futile attempt the first court
actually held within the bounds of Minnesota was presided over by Judge
Dunn, then chief justice of the Territory of Wisconsin. The court
convened at Stillwater in June, 1847, and is remembered not only as the
first court ever held in Minnesota, but on account of the trial of an
Indian chief, named "Wind," who was indicted for murder. Samuel J.
Crawford of Mineral Point was appointed prosecuting attorney for the
term, and Ben C. Eastman of Plattville defended the prisoner. "Wind" was
acquitted. This was the first jury trial in Minnesota.
It should be stated that Henry H. Sibley was in fact the first judicial
officer who ever exercised the functions of a court in Minnesota. While
living at St. Peters (Mendota), he was commissioned a justice of the
peace in 1835 or 1836 by Governor Chambers of Iowa, with a jurisdiction
extending from twenty miles south of Prairie du Chien to the British
boundary on the north, to the White river on the west and the
Mississippi on the east. His prisoners could only be committed to
Prairie du Chien. Boundary lines were very dimly defined in those days,
and minor magistrates were in no danger of being overruled by superior
courts, and tradition asserts that the writs of Sibley's court often
extended far over into Wisconsin and other jurisdictions. One case is
recalled which will serve as an illustration. A man named Phalen was
charged with having murdered a sergeant in the United States army in
Wisconsin. He was arrested under a warrant from Justice Sibley's Iowa
court, examined and committed to Prairie du Chien, and no questions
asked. Lake Phalen, from which the city of St. Paul derives part of its
water supply, is named after this prisoner. Whatever jurisdictional
irregularities Justice Sibley may have indulged in, it is safe to say
that no injustice ever resulted from any decision of his.
The first court-house that was erected within the present limits of
Minnesota was at Stillwater, in the year 1847. A private subscription
was taken up, and $1,200 was contributed. This sum was supplemented by a
sufficient amount to complete the structure, from the treasury of St.
Croix county. It was perched on the top of one of the high bluffs in
that town, and much private and judicial blasphemy has been expended by
exhausted litigants and judges in climbing to its lofty pinnacle. I held
a term in it ten years after its completion.
This court-house fell within the first judicial district of the
Territory of Minnesota, under the division made by Governor Ramsey, and
the first court under his proclamation was held within its walls,
beginning the second Monday of August, 1849. It was presided over by
Chief Justice Goodrich, assisted by Judge Cooper, the term lasting one
week. There were thirty-five cases on the calendar. The grand jury
returned thirty indictments, one for assault with intent to maim, one
for perjury, four for selling liquor to Indians, and four for keeping
gambling houses. Only one of these indictments was tried at this term,
and the accused, Mr. William D. Phillips, being a prominent member of
the bar, and there being a good deal of fun in it, I will give a brief
history of the trial and the defendant.
Mr. Phillips was a native of Maryland, and came to St. Paul in 1848. He
was the first district attorney of the county of Ramsey. He became quite
prominent as a lawyer and politician, and tradition has handed down many
interesting anecdotes concerning him. The indictment charged him with
assault with intent to maim. In an altercation with a man, he had drawn
a pistol on him, and his defense was that the pistol was not loaded.
The witness for the prosecution swore that it was, and added that he
could see the load. The prisoner, as the law then was, was not allowed
to testify in his own behalf. He was convicted and fined $25. He was
very indignant at the result, and explained the assertion of the
witness, that he could see the load, in this way. He said he had been
electioneering for Mr. Henry M. Rice, and from the uncertainty of
getting his meals in such an unsettled country, he carried crackers and
cheese in the same pocket with his pistol, a crumb of which had gotten
into the pistol, and the fellow was so scared when he looked at it, that
he thought it was loaded to the muzzle.
Another anecdote which is related of him shows that he fully understood
the fundamental principle which underlies success in the practice of
law--that of always charging for services performed. Mr. Henry M. Rice
had presented him with a lot in St. Paul, upon which to build an office,
and when he presented his next bill to Mr. Rice there was in it a charge
of four dollars for drawing the deed.
The territorial courts as originally constituted, being composed of only
three judges, the trial terms were held by single judges, and the
supreme court by all three sitting in bank, where they would review each
others decisions on appeal.
When the state was admitted into the Union the judiciary was made to
consist of a chief justice and two associate justices, who constituted
the supreme court, with a jurisdiction exclusively appellate, and a
district judge for each district. As the state has grown in population
and business, the supreme court judges have been increased to five and
the judicial districts to eighteen in number, two of which, the second
and the fourth, have six judges each, the eleventh three, the first and
seventh two each, and the remainder one each.
The practice adopted by the territorial legislature was generally
similar to that of the New York code, with such differences as were
necessary to conform it to a very new country. From a residence in the
territory and state of forty-seven years, nearly all of which has been
spent either in practice at the bar or as a judge on the bench, I take
pride in saying that the judiciary of Minnesota, in all its branches,
both territorial and state, has, during its fifty years of existence,
equalled in ability, learning and integrity that of any state in the
West, which is well attested by the seventy-seven well filled volumes of
its reported decisions.
Nearly all of the old lawyers of Minnesota were admitted to practice at
the first term held at Stillwater, among whom were Morton S. Wilkinson,
Henry L. Moss, Edmund Rice, Lorenzo A. Babcock, Alexander Wilkin,
Bushrod W. Lott, and many others. Of the whole list, Mr. Moss is the
sole survivor.
FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.
The first legislature convened at St. Paul on Monday, the 3d of
September, 1849, in the Central House, which for the occasion served for
both capitol and hotel. The quarters were limited, but the legislature
was small. The council had nine members and the house of representatives
eighteen. The usual officers were elected, and on Tuesday afternoon both
houses assembled in the dining-room of the hotel. Prayer was offered by
the Rev. E. D. Neill, and Governor Ramsey delivered his message, which
was well received both at home and abroad.
It may be interesting to give the names of the men constituting this
body, and the places of their nativity. The councillors were:
James S. Norris, Maine.
Samuel Burkleo, Delaware.
William H. Forbes, Montreal.
James McBoal, Pennsylvania.
David B. Loomis, Connecticut.
John Rollins, Maine.
David Olmsted, Vermont.
William Sturgis, Upper Canada.
Martin McLeod, Montreal.
The members of the House were:
Joseph W. Furber, New Hampshire.
James Wells, New Jersey.
M. S. Wilkinson, New York.
Sylvanus Trask, New York.
Mahlon Black, Ohio.
Benjamin W. Bronson, Michigan.
Henry Jackson, Virginia.
John J. Duvey, New York.
Parsons K. Johnson, Vermont.
Henry F. Stetzer, Missouri.
William R. Marshall, Missouri.
William Dugas, Lower Canada.
Jeremiah Russell, Lower Canada.
L. A. Babcock, Vermont.
Thomas A. Holmes, Pennsylvania.
Allen Morrison, Pennsylvania.
Alexis Bailly, Michigan.
Gideon H. Pond, Connecticut.
David Olmsted was elected president of the council, with Joseph R. Brown
as secretary. In the House, Joseph W. Furber was elected speaker, and
W. D. Phillips clerk.
Many of these men became very prominent in the subsequent history of the
state, and it is both curious and interesting to note the varied
sources of their nativity, which shows that they were all of that
peculiar and picturesque class known as the American pioneer.
The work of the first legislature was not extensive, yet it performed
some acts of historical interest. It created eight counties, named as
follows: Itasca, Wabashaw, Dakota, Wahnahtah, Mankato, Pembina,
Washington, Ramsey and Benton. The spelling of some of these names has
since been changed.
A very deep interest was manifested in the school system. A joint
resolution was passed ordering a slab of red pipestone from the famous
quarry to be sent to the Washington monument association, which was
done, and now represents Minnesota in that lofty monument at the
national capital.
This was done at the suggestion of Henry H. Sibley, who furnished the
stone. It will be remembered that I have referred to the visit of George
Catlin, the artist, to Minnesota, in 1835, and that his report was
unreliable. Among other things, he said that he was the first white man
who had visited this quarry, and induced geologists to name the
pipestone "Catlinite." Mr. Sibley, in his communication to the
legislature presenting this slab, in answer to this pretension, says:
"In conclusion, I would beg leave to state, that a late
geological work of high authority by Dr. Jackson, designates
this formation as Catlinite, upon the erroneous supposition that
Mr. George Catlin was the first white man who had ever visited
that region; whereas it is notorious that many whites had been
there and examined the quarry long before he came to the
country. The designation, therefore, is clearly improper and
unjust. The Sioux term for the stone is Eyan-Sha (red stone), by
which, I conceive, it should be known and classified."
In my opinion, the greatest achievement of the first legislature was the
incorporation of the Historical Society of Minnesota. It established
beyond question that we had citizens, at that early day, of thought and
culture. One would naturally suppose that the first legislative body of
an extreme frontier territory would be engaged principally with saw
logs, peltries, town sites, and other things material; but in this
instance we find an expression of the highest intellectual prevision,
the desire to record historical events for posterity, even before their
happening. And what affords even greater satisfaction to the present
citizens of Minnesota is, that from the time of the conception of this
grand idea there have never been men wanting to appreciate its
advantages, and carry it out, until now our state possesses its greatest
intellectual and moral treasure in a library of historical knowledge of
sixty-three thousand volumes, which is steadily increasing, a valuable
museum of curiosities, and a gallery of historical paintings.
This legislature recommended a device for a great seal. It represented
an Indian family with lodge and canoe, encamped; a single white man
visiting them, and receiving from them the calumet of peace. The design
did not meet with general approval, and nothing came of it. The next
winter Governor Ramsey and the delegate to congress prepared a seal for
the territory, the design of which was the Falls of St. Anthony in the
distance, a farmer plowing land, his gun and powder horn leaning against
a newly cut stump, a mounted Indian, surprised at the sight of the plow,
lance in hand, fleeing toward the setting sun, with the Latin motto,
"Quae sursum volo videre," ("I wish to see what is above"). A blunder
was made by the engraver, in substituting the word "Quo" for "Quae," in
the motto, which destroyed its meaning. Some time after, it was changed
to the French motto, "L'Etoile du Nord" ("Star of the North"), and thus
remains until the present time.
While speaking of seals, I will state that the seal of the supreme court
was established when the first term of the court convened, in 1858. The
design adopted was a female figure, representing the goddess of liberty,
holding the evenly-balanced scales of justice in one hand and a sword in
the other, with the somewhat hackneyed motto, "Fiat justitia ruat
coelum" ("Let justice be done if the heavens fall"). I remember that,
soon after it appeared, some one asked one of the judges what the new
motto meant, and he jocularly answered, "Those who fy at justice will
rue it when we seal 'em."
The seal was changed to the same device as that of the state, with the
same motto and the words, "Seal of the Supreme Court, State of
Minnesota."
IMMIGRATION.
When the first legislature convened, the governor, on the second day of
the session (Sept. 4, 1849), delivered his message. It was a well-timed
document, and admirably expressed to attract attention to the new
territory. After congratulating the members upon the enviable position
they occupied as pioneers of a great prospective civilization, which
would carry the American name and American institutions, by the force of
superior intelligence, labor and energy, to untold results, he among
other things said:
"I would advise you, therefore, that your legislation should be
such as will guard equally the rights of labor and the rights of
property, without running into ultraisms on either hand; as will
recognize no social distinctions except those which merit and
knowledge, religion and morals unavoidably create; as will
suppress crime, encourage virtue, give free scope to enterprise
and industry; as will promptly and without delay administer to
and supply all the legitimate wants of the people--laws, in a
word, in the proclamation of which will be kept steadily in view
the truth that this territory is designed to be a great state,
rivalling in population, wealth and energy her sisters of the
Union, and that consequently all laws not merely local in their
objects should be framed for the future as well as the
present....
"Our territory, judging from the experience of the few months
since public attention was called to its many advantages, will
settle rapidly. Nature has done much for us. Our productive soil
and salubrious climate will bring thousands of immigrants within
our borders; it is of the utmost moment that the foundation of
our legislation should be healthful and solid. A knowledge of
this fact will encourage tens of thousands of others to settle
in our midst, and it may not be long ere we may with truth be
recognized throughout the political and the moral world as
indeed the "Polar Star" of the republican galaxy....
"No portion of the earth's surface perhaps combines so many
favorable features for the settler as this territory,--watered
by the two greatest rivers of our continent, the Missouri
sweeping its entire western border, the Mississippi and Lake
Superior making its eastern frontier, and whilst the States of
Wisconsin and Iowa limit us on the south, the possessions of the
Hudson Bay Company present the only barrier to our domain on the
extreme north; in all embracing an area of 166,000 square miles,
a country sufficiently extensive to admit of the erection of
four states of the largest class, each enjoying in abundance
most of the elements of future greatness. Its soil is of the
most productive character, yet our northern latitude saves us
from malaria and death, which in other climes are so often
attendant on a liberal soil. Our people, under the healthful and
bracing influences of this northern climate, will never sink
into littleness, but continue to possess the vigor and the
energy to make the most of their natural advantages."
This message, while not in the least exaggerating the actual situation,
was well calculated to attract immigration to this region. It was
written in a year of great activity in that line. Gold had been
discovered in California, and the thoughts of the pioneer were attracted
in that direction, and it needed extraordinary inducements to divert the
stream to any other point. It was extensively quoted in the eastern
papers, and much commented upon, and succeeded beyond all expectations
in awakening interest in the Northwest. It was particularly attractive
in Maine, where the people were experienced in lumbering, and many of
them flocked to the Valley of the St. Croix and the Falls of St.
Anthony, and inaugurated the lumbering business, which has since grown
to such immense proportions. The valleys of the St. Croix, the Rum, and
the Upper Mississippi rivers, with their tributaries, soon resounded
with the music of the woodman's axe. Saw mills were erected, and
Minnesota was recognized among the great lumber producing regions.
Although immigration continued to be quite rapid during the years
1850-54, it was not until about the year 1855 that it acquired a volume
that was particularly noticeable. The reader must remember that
Minnesota was on the extreme border of America, and that it represented
to the immigrant only those attractions incident to a new territory
possessing the general advantages of good climate, good soil and good
government as far as developed. There was no gold, no silver, nor other
special inducements. The only way of reaching it was by land on wheels,
or by the navigable rivers. There was not a railroad west of Chicago. To
give an idea of the rush that came in 1855, I quote from the "History of
St. Paul," by J. Fletcher Williams, for many years secretary of the
Minnesota Historical Society, published in 1876. Speaking of the
immigration of 1855, he says:
"Navigation opened on April 17th, the old favorite, 'War Eagle,'
leading the van with 814 passengers. The papers chronicled the
immigration that spring as unprecedented. Seven boats arrived in
one day, each having brought to Minnesota two hundred to six
hundred passengers. Most of these came through St. Paul and
diverged hence to other parts of the territory. It was estimated
by the packet company that they brought thirty thousand
immigrants into Minnesota that season. Certainly 1855, 1856 and
1857 were the three great years of immigration in our
territorial days. Nothing like it has ever been seen."
In the early fifties, the Mississippi up to, and even for a long
distance above, the Falls of St. Anthony was navigable for steamboats. A
fine boat, the "Ans. Northrup," once penetrated as far as the Falls of
Pokegama, where she was dismantled and her machinery transported to the
Red River of the North, and four or five boats regularly navigated the
stream above the falls.
The Minnesota river, during all the period of our early history, and far
into the sixties, was navigable for large steamers up to Mankato, and in
one instance, a steamboat carrying a large cargo of Indian goods was
taken by Culver and Farrington, Indian traders, as far as the Yellow
Medicine river, and into that river, so that the goods were delivered at
the agency, situated a few miles above its mouth. I mention this fact
because a wonderful change has taken place in the watercourses and lakes
of the state in the past twenty odd years, which I propose to account
for on the only theory that seems to me to meet the conditions. Up to
about twenty years ago, as soon as the ice went out of the Minnesota
river in the spring, it would rise until it overran its banks and
covered its bottoms for miles on each side of its channel, and would
continue capable of carrying large steamers until late in August. Since
that time it has rarely been out of its banks, and navigation of its
waters has entirely ceased. The same phenomenon is observable in
relation to many of our lakes. Hundreds of the smaller ones have
entirely dried up, and most of the larger ones have become reduced in
depth several feet. The rainfall has not been lessened, but, if
anything, has increased. My explanation of the change is, that in the
advance of civilization, the water sheds or basins of these rivers and
lakes having been plowed up, the rainfall which formerly found its way
quickly into the streams and lakes over the hard natural surface is now
absorbed into the soft and receptive ground, and is returned by
evaporation. This change is generally attributed to the destruction of
forests, but in this case that cause has not progressed sufficiently to
have produced the result, and our streams do not rise in mountains.
The trend of immigration toward Minnesota encouraged the organization of
transportation companies, by boat and stage, for passengers and freight,
and by 1856 it was one of the liveliest communities to be found
anywhere, and, curious as it may seem, this era of prosperity was the
cause of Minnesota's first great calamity.
The object of the immigrant is, always, the betterment of his condition.
He leaves old communities, where competition in all branches of industry
is great, in the hope of "getting in on the ground floor," as we used to
say, when he arrived in a new country, and every American, and, in fact,
everybody else, wants to get rich by head work instead of hand work, if
he can. The bulk of the immigration that first came to Minnesota
remained in the cities; there was no agriculture worthy of the name. I
may say that we had nothing at all to sell, and everything we needed to
buy. I can remember that as late as 1853, and even after, we imported
hay in bales from Dubuque to feed the horses of St. Paul, when there
were millions of tons of it growing in the Minnesota valley, within a
few miles of the city.
In the progress of emigration to the West, the territories have always
presented the greatest attractions. The settler expects to have a better
choice of lands, and at original government prices. Society and politics
are both in the formative condition, and very few emigrants omit the
latter consideration from their hopes and expectations. In fact,
political preferment is a leading motive with many of them.