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FIFTY YEARS

IN THE

NORTHWEST.

I /

WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX

CONTAINING

REMINISCENCES, INCIDENTS AND NOTES.

BY	W. H. C FOLSOM.	-	/
	EDITED BY E. E. EDWARDS.		«
	%	^	JS	>
	<	2&-
	1 PUBLISHED BY	5c.	11'
	PIONEER PRESS COMPANY.	'
	1888.

4

PREFACE.

At the age of nineteen years, I landed on the banks of the Upper Mississippi, pitching my tent at Prairie du Ohien, then (1836) a military post known as Fort Crawford. I kept memo- randa of my various changes, and of many of the events transpiring. Subsequently, not, however, with any intention of publishing them in book form until 1876, when, reflecting that fifty years spent amidst the early and first white settlements, and continuing till the period of civilization and prosperity, itemized by an observer and participant in the stirring scenes and incidents depicted, might furnish material for an interest- ing volume, valuable to those who should come after me, I con- cluded to gather up the items and compile them in a convenient form.

As a matter of interest to personal friends, and as also tending to throw additional light upon my relation to the events here narrated, I have prefixed an account of my own early life for the nineteen years preceding my removal to the West, thus giving to the work a somewhat autobiographical form. It may be claimed that a work thus written in the form of a life history of a single individual, with observations from his own personal standpoint, will be more connected, clear and systematic in its narration of events than if it were written impersonally.

The period included in these sketches is one of remarkable transitions, and, reaching backward, in the liberty accorded to the historian, to the time of the first explorations by the Jesuits, the first English, French and American traders, is a period of transformation and progress that has been paralleled only on the shores of the New World. We have the transition from barba- rism to civilization; we have the subjugation of the wilderness by the first settlers; the organization of territorial and state

governments; an era of progress from the rude habits of the pioneer and trapper, to the culture and refinement of civilized states; from the wilderness, yet unmapped, and traversed only h^ the hardy pioneer in birch barks or dog sledges, to the cultivated fields, cobwebbed by railways and streams furrowed by steamers. It is something to have witnessed a part, even, of this wonderful transformation, and it is a privilege and a pleasure to record, even in part, its history.

I have quoted from the most correct histories within my reach, but the greater part of my work, or of that pertaining to the fifty years just passed, has been written from personal observation and from information obtained directly by interview with, or rby written communications from, persons identified in some way with the history of the country. To those persons who have so freely and generously assisted me in the collection of ma- terial for this work, I hereby express my thanks. I have relied sparingly on traditions, and, where I have used them, have referred to them as such.

Il^TRODUCTION.

"While genealogical tables are of interest chiefly to the families and individuals whose names are therein preserved, I still deem it not amiss to insert here a brief account of my ancestry. Among the emigrants from England to the New World in 1638, came John Foulsham, then twenty-three or twenty -four years of age, and his wife, to whom he had been married about a year and a half. They came from Hingham, England, to Hingham, Mass., with a colony that probably named the settlement in loving remem- brance of the town they had left. They came on account of cer- tain ecclesiastical troubles; their rector, with whom they sympa- thized, having torn down the altar rails and leveled the altar, an act of irreverence that called down upon them the wrath of their superior, Bishop Wren, and resulted in rector and people sell- ing out their real estate at half its value and emigrating to America. John received a grant of land consisting of four acres and built himself a house, the frame being constructed of sawed oak timber. This house, built in 1640, stood until 1875, two hun- dred and thirty-five years, when it was taken down and manufac- tured into canes and chairs, which were distributed as relics to the American descendants of the family. The family, however, had increased so greatly that the supply was not equal to the demand.

The wife of John Foulsham was Mary Oilman. Prom this couple the American Folsoms and their allies from marriages with the female descendants of the family have sprung. The ancestors of John Foulsham may be traced backward a period of near six hundred years, and many of the family have honor- able mention in English history. The earliest mention is con- cerning John Foulsham of Foulsham, prior of a Carmelite monastery in Norwich, and ^'prseses provincialise? of all Eng-

Viii INTRODUCTION.

land. This Foulsham is spoken of in Bayle's catalogue of emi- nent worthies as "no mean proficient in controversial theology, knowing how, by means of syllogystic tricks, to turn white into black and men into donkeys. He died in the great plague at Norwich in 1348.

A certain John de Foulsham is sppken of in Blomefield's His- tory of Norfolk as an "eloquent, unflinching opponent of the corruptions of the times. ^' It is possible that this may be the Carmelite prior above mentioned, though the prefix de leaves the matter somewhat in doubt.

As to the original derivation of the family name, Hon. George Folsom, of Philadelphia, in one of the manuscripts left by him, says: "It arose upon the adoption of surnames in England, from the town of Foulsham, a village in the county of Norfolk, six or eight miles north of Hingham, in which county the family was seated for many centuries, possessing estates in fifteen different places. Thus John de, or John of Foulsham, be- came John Foulsham.

The orthography and pronunciation of the name have varied in the family itself, as well as among those writing and pronounc- ing it. The first Anglo-American bearing the name spelled it "Foulsham." His son, Deacon John, spelled it "FuUsam" in 1709, and it is signed "FouUsam" in his last will — 1715. In one instance, in the Hingham town records, it is spelled "Ful- sham," but always afterward, "Foulsham." In the Exeter records it is written uniformly * ' Folsom" with but one exception, when it is written by the town clerk "Foulshame." In the rec- ords of the first parish, Haverhill, Massachusetts, it is written "Foulsham," "Foulsam," "Folsham" and "Fulsom." Origin nally it was doubtless spelled "Foulshame," its etymological sig- nificance being the folds' home, a breeding place or mart. It was probably at first written with a hyphen, as Fouls-hame, but the final syllable was eventually shortened. Everywhere it is now written Folsom by those having the name, and is pronounced like wholesome.

The characteristics of the family have been quite uniform. Far as known they were a religious family, and prominent as such in both Catholic and Protestant circles, with a strong disposition toward dissent from the established order of things. Thus John de Foulsham wrote a treatise quite at variance with

INTRODUCTION. ix

the doctrines of the church, advocating the marriage of priests. John Foulsham, the Anglo-American, left England on account of his dissent, preferring a home in the wilderness with freedom to worship God, to dwelling under the rule of a haughty and tyrannical bishop. Many of the family espoused the doctrines of Whitfield. Many of them became Baptists, becoming such at a time when the Baptists were most unpopular, and afterward becoming Free Will Baptists, in which communion more of the family may to-day be found than in any other.

The occupations of the family were mostly, in the early days, mechanical. Many were joiners and millwrights. The children and grandchildren were farmers, landholders and lumbermen. Of the many who removed to Maine, after the Revolution, most engaged in lumbering, but turned their attention also to milling and storekeeping.

The family have also shown a military tendency, and during the various wars visited upon the country since the early colo- nial times, this family has borne its full share of the dangers, toils and expense.

My father, Jeremiah Folsom, was born in Tamworth, 'New Hampshire, Sept. 16, 1780, and was married to Octavia Howe, April 5, 1805. My mother was born in Machias, Maine, Oct. 12, 1786. My father was a prominent business man, and was en- gaged in shipping and mercantile pursuits, he owning vessels that plied from St. Johns to Machias and other American ports. To facilitate his business, St. Johns was his home four years, dur- ing which time he was associated with William Henry Carman. This temporary residence and business association account for my being born on British soil, and for the names by which I was christened. According to the record in the old family Bible, I was born at St. Johns, Kew Brunswick, June 22, 1817. When I was six months old my parents moved to Bangor, Maine, thence to Foxcroft, Maine, thence to Ascot, Lower Canada.

When I was five years old my parents moved to Tamworth, Kew Hampshire. Young as I was, I am still able to recall events that occurred while I lived in Canada. I remember falling into a well and being badly bruised. I remember also an adventure with a bear. My parents had gone to church, leaving me at home, greatly against my will. I attempted to follow, but missed the road and wandered off into a wood, perhaps three miles

X INTKODUCTION.

away. When my parents returned they were much alarmed, and parties immediately went in pursuit. When I knew I was lost I set up a vigorous screaming, which had the effect of at- tracting attention from two very different parties. The first was a huge bear in quest of food, and doubtless delighted at the pros- peict before him. The second was one of the rescuing parties in quest of the lost boy. Both simultaneously approached the screaming youngster and Bruin fought stubbornly for his prey, but was vanquished by the clubs of my rescuers, and I was car- ried home intriumph. I do not clearly recall all the incidents of this scene, and, strangely enough, do not remember seeing the bear. Perhaps the terror of being lost drove out every other impression. An excuse for the narration of this appar- ently trifling incident may be found in the fact that but for the prompt arrival of the rescuing party, this history would never have been written.

When I was ten years of age my parents removed to Bloom- field, Maine. While in Tam worth I had excellent opportunities of attending school, which I improved to the utmost. After leaving Tamworth my school privileges were well nigh ended, as I never received from that time more than six months' schooling. My father followed lumbering on the Kennebec river. During the first winter in Maine, he took me to the logging camp as camp boy. During the second winter he hired me to Matthew and Lewis Dunbar as a cook for their wood camp. I cooked for six men and received five dollars a month. I was used very kindly by the Dunbars, but that winter in the woods seemed a long, long winter. The only book in camp was the Bible. There were, however, newspapers and playing cards. In the spring my father used the fifteen dollars received for my three months' work to purchase a cow. I served the Dunbars the third winter, as cook, for six dollars a month, and worked the ensuing summer on farms at about twenty-five cents per day. During the fourth winter I worked for the Dunbars and Timothy Snow at seven dollars per month, and the summer following worked on a farm for Benjamin Cayford at seven dol- lars. Cayford was a merciless tyrant, and sometimes compelled his men to work in the field till nine o' clock at night. These details of wages paid and work done, uninteresting in themselves, serve to show the value of a boy's work (I was not yet fifteen) and

INTRODUCTION. XI

what was expected of the average boy, for mine was no excep- tional case nor was my father more exacting than others in his station in life. He was in poor health, and had a large family of boys. We were eight in number, and of these I was one of the most robust and able to assist in the support of the family.

This year I persuaded my father to sell me my time, which amounted to five years, which he reluctantly did, accepting two hundred and fifty dollars as an equivalent. It was my ambition to go West. Horace Greeley had not uttered the talismanic words, '^Go West, young man," but I believed that by going West I would be better able to advance my own interests and assist my parents. My father signed the necessary pa- per relinquishing my time, which was printed in the Skow- hegan Clarion. From this time until I was nineteen years old I worked on the river and on farms, worked continu- ously and beyond my strength. I worked another summer for Cayford, but have no pleasant recollections of him, for on his farm I was sadly overworked, being often called to work before sunrise and kept at work after sunset. I worked two winters cooking in the woods for Capt. Asa Steward, of Bloom- field, one of the best men I ever served, a kind hearted, honest Christian. He gave me good counsel and good wages besides. In the fall of 1835 I went into the woods to work for Capt. Eb. Snow, of Madison. Like Cayford, he was a merciless tyrant and abusive to his men. I left his camp before my engagement closed, not being able to endure his abuse longer. This is the only time in which I failed to keep a labor engagement. I fin- ished the winter with Capt. Asa Steward, but my eyes became so inflamed from the smoke of the camp that I was obliged to abandon cooking.

During this winter occurred an incident that came near hav- ing a serious and even fatal termination. There were three of us, Simeon Goodrich, Jimmie Able and myself, who went down the Kennebec to the Forks, a distance of twelve miles from camp, A deep, damp snow had fallen the night previous, and through this snow, reaching above our knees, we trudged wearily till Able gave out. We carried him a short distance, but becoming exhausted ^ourselves, laid him down in the snow. To remain with him would be to imperil the lives of all; by hurrying on we might be able to send a party to bring him in. We carefully

Xii INTRODUCTION.

made for Mm a bed of fir boughs and placed loose garments over him and under him, and as he was sick, weak and faint, gave him a draught of liquid opodeldoc, and leaving the bottle with him, hurried on. We traveled the last mile through an open- ing. Snow drifted deeply. We dragged our bodies through the drifts in the direction of a glimmering light, which proved to be Sturgis' hotel, which we reached at 11 o'clock p. m. A team was sent back immediately for the lost Able by a road of which we knew nothing. The rescuing party met him trudging along with all his baggage. The opodeldoc had revived him, and he had traveled a full mile when he met the rescuing party. At two o' clock the team returned bringing the lost wayfarer.

Another adventure terminated more disastrously than this. In the spring of 1835 I was employed in taking logs across Moosehead lake. The logs were in booms, and were moved by a capstan and rope. This was before the days of steamboats, and the moving of the booms was no light task. On this occasion a gale of wind struck us and drifted us across the lake. We threw out an anchor, hoping to check the course of the boom and swing it into Cowan's bay. In one of our throws the anchor tripped, or caught fast, and suddenly tightened the line. Our whole crew were in an instant hurled headlong. Some were thrown into the water. One man (Butler) had his ribs broken. All were more or less injured. The capstan went overboard. The old boom swung on ahd on, and, passing Spencer's bay, broke and went to pieces on the shore. The logs were with great difficulty regathered, but were finally brought to the out- let of the lake July 4th, the last raft of the season.

After river driving in the spring of 1835, I went to the Pe- nobscot river and found employment at twenty dollars a month at East Great Works, building a dam. John Mills, our superin- tendent, was a good man. There was a lyceum here, the first I ever attended. In December I returned to the Kennebec, and in the spring of 1836 went to Dead river to drive, but an attack of the measles and general ill health, with symptoms of pulmon- ary derangement, compelled me to abandon the work. I had lived nine years on the Kennebec, years of hard labor and exertion beyond my strength, and in that time had earned enough to pay my father two hundred and fifty dollars. I had been able to purchase a small library, and had two hundred dol- lars in cash to defray my expenses to the West.

INTRODUCTION^. xiii

Reminiscences. — He that leaves the home of his youth for a strange land carries with him memories, pleasant to recall, of scenes and incidents, the influence of which he feels to the latest hour of life. There are some things he call not forget. They may not be an essential part of his own life history, but still they have found a place in his mind and seem a part of himself, and he recurs to them again and again with ever increasing delight. There are other things, may be, not so pleasant to dwell upon, which still have a place in his memory and may be profitably recalled. IN'o one who has ever lived in Maine can forget its dark pine forests, its rugged hills, its rushing streams, cold and clear as crystal, its broad lakes, the abundant game of its forests and the fish in its waters. The Minnesota and Wis- consin pioneers, who with the author of this book claim Maine as an early home, will not object to the insertion in this chapter of a few of these reminiscences.

MoosEHEAD Lake. — My first visit to Moosehead lake was in the early winter of 1834. At that time it was still in the wilder- ness, only two settlers having found their way to its shores. We were going with a six ox team to a camp on the Brasua and our road led us across the frozen lake. Emerging from a beech and maple grove on the margin near Haskell's, our sled plunged downward, and in a moment we found ourselves on the gray ice of the lake, with a wonderful panorama spread out before us. The distant islands and the shores, hilly and mountainous, stood out plainly between the winter sky and the ice covered lake. The mirage added its finishing touches to the picture, increasing the brightness and apparent size of distant objects, or lending them brilliant hues, the whole scene sparkling in the frosty sun- lit air, making a vision of beauty that could not fade. , On we trudged over the ice, the sled creaking, the ice emitting a roar- ing Sound, not unlike the discharge of a park of artillery, sounds produced by the expansion of the ice. We trudged on past islands and craggy, rock-bound shores, passed Burnt Jacket, Squaw and Moxey mountains in the east, Lily and Spencer bays at the southeast. Misery and other mountains in the west, while far away to the north of east towered white old Katahdin. Be- fore us loomed up the flint rock Kinneo, its perpendicular face fronting west, on the lake; at the base a beautiful maple inter- val extending toward Spencer bay.

Xiv INTRODUCTION.

The following spring our boom lay wind-bound at the base of Kinneo, and we seized the opportunity of climbing the vast pile of flinty rocks composing it, and obtained thence a view of un- paralleled beauty, including the broad, bright lake, fairy islands, mountains and hills and vast stretches of pine forests. The tour- ist might seek far and wide, vainly, for a landscape rivaling this.

Moose Hunting. — The lake and surrounding country offer unrivaled attractions to the sportsman. The lake abounds in fish, of which the lake trout is the most abundant in number and delicious in flavor. Specimens are frequently taken weighing from ten to fifteen pounds. The forests at that time abounded in wild animals, chief of which was the moose, the largest and the homeliest of the deer family. With his long, narrow head, small eyes, donkey-like ears, pendant lips, the upper one curling like a small proboscis, with his high shoulders and giraffe-like hips, with his short, round body, long and clumsy legs, he is as distinguished for his want of grace and comeliness as the red deer is for its presence. No animal is better adapted for its own home and mode of life. Their heavy coat of hair adapts them to high latitudes. With their curved upper lip they taJ^e hold of the branches of the trees, and with their strong teeth and paws they are able to peel off the tender bark of saplings and small trees. The moose, when attacked, is fierce, resolute, defi- ant, and defends himself in a masterly manner, striking with his fore legs with such precision that the hunter is obliged to keep at a respectful distance. The male moose wears a remarkable pair of horns of annual growth, to which each year a prong is added. The home of the moose is the northern part of the Korth Temperate Zone.

Moose hunting is a healthy though laborious pastime. The hunter must be an expert, and it requires years of practice to become skillful. He must build his camp in the wilderness, packing thither his food, blankets, camp utensils and gun. With his pack of dogs he starts out in search of a moose yard. This is generally in some well timbered district. The snow in winter is generally from three to six feet deep, but the moose has broken paths through this to facilitate his movements through the forest, and here he roams about in fancied security, browsing on the young shrubs, but the hunter finds his hiding place. In such case he conceals himself in the snow near one of these

I

INTEODUCTION. XV

paths and waits patiently till the moose passes, when he fires upon him. If the moose is killed at once the hunter waits patiently in his hiding place till another and another comes up to share a like fate. If the moose is only wounded he starts off as rapidly through the snow as his long legs will carry him, pursued by the hunter and his dogs. The hunter has all the advantages of the position, being mounted on snowshoes, thus being able to move with comparative swiftness, while the moose plunges heavily through the snow, and at last, weakened by loss of blood, he is overtaken and easily killed.

Mount Bigelow. — This is a noble, grand, historical moun- tain, situated on the south side of Dead river, in Franklin county. For years it had been my strong desire to make the ascent, and in May, 1833, the desire was gratified. With six others, I left camp, and by evening reached Green's hotel, where we obtained lodgings for the evening. At early dawn, haviug supplied our- selves with lunch, tin cup and hatchet, we began the ascent on the northeast side. We soon passed the thrifty timber and aided our ascent of the craggy sides of the mountain by clinging to the shrubs that found roothold in the crevices of the rocks. It may not be amiss to say that we rested, that we rested fre- quently, for mountain climbing is no light work for those un- accustomed to it. While toiling wearily upward we found ourselves enveloped in mist, or a cloud, from which we soon emerged to find the heavens above us clear and bright, while leaden clouds shut out the landscape below. At twelve o'clock, noon, we were on the summit. By this time the clouds had been dispersed. The air was clear and cold and beneath us lay, as in a beautiful panorama, the lands and lakes of Maine. There are two peaks about half a mile apart, between which is a valley and a small lake. From the highest of these peaks the view was magnificent. In the far north we imagined we saw Canada. The vast, northern expanse was all unoccupied save by a few farms at the foot of the mountain, and by a few camps of lumber- men, hunters and trappers. Looking to the northeast, we saw in the blue distance, glittering with snow drifts. Mount Katah- din. A little north of the divide line to Katahdin lay Moose- head lake, the largest, most beautiful lake in Maine.

At this season of the year the snow had disappeared from the valleys and hills, but the summits of the mountains were still

XVi INTRODUCTION^.

white. In all directions the scene was grand and inspiring. We could trace the Kennebec river in its windings to the sea and fan- cied we could see in the dim distance the blue Atlantic. To the southwest mountains seemed piled on mountains, while here and thCi-'e in intermediate vales bright lakes reflected the blue of the upper deep. In this direction there were farms, but they looked like mere dots on the face of the earth. Lake TJmbagog lay coiled in the shade of distant mountains in the southwest. We fancied that we could see the rugged crest of the white moun- tain still further beyond. The scene had also its historical asso- ciations. Along the base of this mountain, on the northwestern side, ere his name had been sullied by the foulest treason in our country's history, Benedict Arnold bravely led the Colonial troops in the campaign against Canada. With him, as an aid, was Col. Bigelow, whose name is given to the mountain. The gallant little army halted on the banks of Dead ri^er at the base of the mountain, and made their camp. While the army was resting at this camp Lieut. Col. Bigelow ascended the mountain and planted his country's flag upon the highest peak, doubtless the first white man who made the ascent, and the mountain is his monument to-day. Around the site of the camp was planted the colony of Flagstaff.

While we were gazing on the magnificent scene, musing upon its varied beauties and recalling its historical associations, the sun set, and reluctantly we set out on our return, a descent the more perilous because it was growing dark. Extreme caution was necessary; nevertheless we made good headway, as we found ourselves sometimes sliding and even rolling down the path that we had ascended with so much difficulty in the forenoon. It was long after nightfall that, tired and huugry, we reached Wy- man's hotel on the banks of Dead river.

Lumbering in Maine. — The practical lumberman did not usually start his teams for the pineries until snowfall and the freezing of the lakes and rivers. The first thing was to select a place for operations. This was done in the open season. When the winter had fairly set in the lumberman, with his ox teams, generally six oxen to a sled, the sleds laden with camp plunder, would start for the pineries. The slow ox teams would consume many days making the journey. The crew of men employed for the winter generally met the teams in camp. The snow would

INTRODUCTION. XVii

be cleared away for the camp, and a fire built. The cook would prepare a supper of fried ^pork, fritters or pancakes, tea, syrup and New England apple sauce, the crew meanwhile cutting boughs, wood, etc., and preparing for permanent camp. Supper over, the cattle were tied to trees and fed. Water was secured for evening use only. A glowing fire would be kept up, around which the crew would gather to spend the evening in talking over the adventures of the day, discussing plans for the morrow or singing camp songs. Thus the evening would pass merrily and swiftly. At the hour for retiring parties of two would spread their blankets on a couch of fir or cedar boughs, and lie down to rest. Next morning the cook would rise at four o'clock to prepare breakfast, which over, as soon as it was light enough the crew would commence the work of the day. Every man goes to his assigned duties, the boss in charge having the gen- eral oversight.

The life of a lumberman is one of exposure to the elements, yet it is not necessarily unfriendly to the development of char- acter. With a well ordered camp and gentlelnanly crew the winter may pass away pleasantly, and the young man engaged in the comparatively hard toil of the camp, may, with books and papers and cheerful converse with the more thoughtful of his elders, improve the long evenings spent around the camp fire. Many a Maine boy has received here the greater part of his training for the duties of after life.

Sunday was usually occupied in reading, singing, and doing some of the lighter work of camp, such as repairing sleds, shoe- ing oxen and making axe helves or visiting neighboring camps. It was a day of rest only so far as the heavier work of the camp was suspended. Sanctuary privileges there were none. The work would often close in the sunny days of March. The men would mostly depart for home. A few would remain to drive - the logs with the first water from the melting of the snows late in April.

Driving logs in the rapid waters of Maine is hazardous work. Scarcely a day passes without imminent risk to life and limb of the hardy and venturesome men engaged in the work of break- ing log landings and jams, and rilnning boats. Men are exposed to wet and cold from dawn till dark. This work requires active and vigorous men, constitutionally fitted and carefully trained (b)

XVlll INTRODUCTION.

to the work. They are usually sociable, lively and wide awake, these qualities enabling them to endure, and even to enjoy, the life of hardship which they lead, and to which they become so accustomed, that they are unwilling to leave it until worn out by its inevitable hardship.

4^

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

W. H. C. Folsom Frontispiece

James S. Anderson opp 55

Martin Mower 60

John McKusick opp 68

Edward White Durant 74

William M. Blanding 114

Eeuben F. Little 121

Oliver Wendell Holmes Hospital , 157

John Comstock opp 170

Hans B. Warner opp 207"

Rev. Wm, T. Boutwell 273

Devil's Chair 301

Frank N. Peterson 320

Rev. E. E. Edwards 348

Smith EUison 351

Isaac Staples opp 413

Jacob Bean 416

Louis Hospes 418

Fort Snelling 498

William D. Washburn opp 517

John S. Pillsbury opp 528

St. Anthony Falls 531

Birdseye View of St. Paul opp 536

Henry H. Sibley opp 553

Alex. Ramsey opp 555

Henry M. Rice opp 558

Edmund Rice opp 560

Wm. Rainey Marshall opp 568

Wm. H. Fisher 571

John B. Sanborn opp 577

H. P. Hall 589

Hon. G. W. Le Due 594

Lucius F. Hubbard opp 597

Home of the Author » 614

State Seal 658

Seal of Old Settlers Association 732

1s^

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

BlOGEAPHICAL.

Genealogy of the American

Folsoms VII

AUTOBIOGEAPHICAL.

Parentage IX

Time and Place of Birtli IX

Earliest Eecollections IX

Removal to Bloomfield, Maine X

First Essay at Logging X

Commencing Life XI

Lost in the Snow XI

Adventure on Moosehead Lake XII

On the Penobscot XII

Reminiscences of Maine XIII

Moosehead Lake XIII

Ascent of Kinneo Monntain...XIV

Moose Hunting XIV

Mount Bigelow j XV

Lumbering in Maine XVI

CHAPTER L

Going West 1

Lakes Huron and Michigan... ' 3

Chicago and Milwaukee 5

On Foot to Galena 6

The Northwestern Territory... 7

Arrival at Dubuque 7

Reminiscences of Dubuque 8

Arrival at Prairie du Chien... 9 Early History of Prairie du

Chien 9

Ancient Document 10

Forts Shelby — McKay — Craw- ford 11

First Commissioners at Prai- rie du Chien 11

Organization of Crawford

County 12

Indian Troubles 12

Running the Gauntlet 13

Fort Crawford Robbed 13

Early Justice 14

A Southward Journey 15

New Orleans, Vicksburg 15

Return to Prairie du Chien.... 16

Privations 16

A Perilous Journey 17

Return to Maine — Mountains

of New Hampshire 17

Marriage 18

Prairie du Chien in 1837 18

American Residents 19

BlOGEAPHIES.

James Duane Doty 19

James H. Lockwood 20

Indian Troubles 21

John S.Lockwood 22

Samuel Gilbert 23

Michael Brisbois 23

Pierre La Point 24

Joseph Rolette 24

Hercules Dousman 24

Rev. David Lowry , 25

Chief Justice Charles Dunn... 25

Rev. Alfred Brunson 26

XXll

CONTENTS.

Ira Brunson 27

John H. Folsom 28

Ezekiel Tainter 28

Judge Wy ram Kno wlton 29

Eobert Lester 29

Thomas Pendleton Burnett. ... 30

General Henry Dodge 30

General George W. Jones 31

S. G. and S. L. Tainter, John

Thomas 31

CHAPTER II.

STILLWATKE AND ST. CEOIX COUNTY.

From Prairie du Chien to Still- water 32

Stniwater in 1845 33

St. Croix County 33

First Settlement in 1838 34

Dismemberment of St. Croix

Valley from CrawfordCounty 34 Judge Irwin's Court in 1840 .. 35 Events in 1840, First Commis- sioners' Meeting 35

Election Precincts in 1841 36

Early History of Stillwater 37

The First Saw MiU 37

Copy of Agreement of Mill

Company 38

Agreement of Land Claims... 40 Bateau Voyage up the St.

Croix 41

Indian Drunks 42

Skiff Voyage to Prairie du

Chien 42

Mail Carrying 43

Claim and Mill at Areola 43

Stillwater in 1846, Events 44

Overland Trip to Prairie du

Chien 44

Return, Adventure 45

A Pioneer Cat. 45

Stillwater in 1847 46

Territorial Election 46

Arrest of Nodin and Ne-she-

ke-o-ge-ma 46

Visit to Sunrise, Connor's

Camp 47

Murder of Henry Rust 47

Funeral, Indignation Meeting 48 First District Court in Still- water... 48

Nodin and Ne-she-ke-o-ge-ma

Acquitted 49

Steamer War Eagle and Raft.. 49

Society Ball in Stillwater 49

StiUwater in 1848 50

CHAPTER III

BIOGEAPHIES.

Joseph Renshaw Brown 52

Paul Carli 53

Dr. Christopher Carli 53

Lydia Ann Carli 54

Phineas Lawrence 54

Jacob Fisher 55

James S. Anderson 55

Emanuel D. Farmer 56

Col. John Greely 56

Mrs. Hannah Greely 57

Elam Greely 57

Himan Greely 57

Aquilla Greely 58

EliasMcKean 58

Calvin F. Leach 58

Socrates Nelson 58

Mrs. Socrates Nelson 59

Edward Blake 59

CONTENTS.

XXlll

Walter K. Vail 59

John E. Mower 60

Martin Mower 61

William Willim 61

Albert Harris 61

Cornelius Lyman 62

David B. Loomis 62

William E. Cove 63

John Smith 63

John Morgan 63

Anson Northrup 63

Robert Kennedy 64

Harvey Wilson 65

Andrew Jackson Short 65

James D. McComb 65

William Rutherford 66

Albion Masterman 66

Joseph N. Masterman 66 I

Mahlon Black 66

Morton S. Wilkinson 67

WilHam Stanchfield 67

Thomas Ramsdell 68

Charles Macey 68

Jonathan E. McKusick 68

John McKusick 68

. William McKusick 69

Noah McKusick 69

Royal McKusick 69

Ivory E. McKusick 69

Charles E. Leonard 69

Daniel McLean 70

Robert Simpson 70

William H. Hooper 70

James H. Spencer 71

John T. Blackburn 71

Joseph T. Blackburn 71

Horace McKinstry 71

Seth M. Saveyer 71

Henry Sawyer 72

Alvah D. Heaton 72

John McKenzie 72

George McKenzie 72

Henry Kattenberg 72

Julius F. Brunswick 73

Henry McLean 73

Hugh Bums 73

Sylvanus Trask 73

Ariel Eldridge 73

Edward White Durant 74

Oliver Parsons 75

Albert Stimson 75

Abraham Van Voorhees 75

Michael E. Owens 76

Joseph Bonin 77

Marcel Gagnon 77

Sebastian Marty 77

John Marty 77

Adam Marty 77

Michael McHale 77

George Watson 78

Rev. Eleazer A. Greenleaf..... 78

J. B. Covey 78

JohnShaesby 78

John S. Proctor 78

Barron Proctor 79

Henry Westing 79

Thomas Dunn.... 79

Charles J. Gardiner 79

Samuel Staples 79

Josiah Staples 80

Joel M. Darling 80

Early River Pilots 80

JoePerro 80

James McPhail 80

John Cormack 81

John Hanford 81

John Leach 81

Stephen B. Hanks 81

Samuels. Hanks 81

CHAPTER IV.

POLK COUNTY.

Description and History 82

Franklin Steele, the First Pio- neer 82

His Account of the Settlement. 83

The St. Croix Falls Lumber- ing Company.. 83

Orgai lization and History 83

St. Croix River, Origin of Name 84

XXIV

CONTENTS.

Treaty and Purchase of 1838.. ^ 85

History of Polk County 85

County Seat located at St.

Croix Falls 86

First Election County OflBlcers.. 86

First Happenings 87

The Liquor Traffic 87

Melancholy Results 88

Death of Hall and Livingston 88

Indian ''Jamboree." 88

Frontier Justice 89

Balsam Lake Murders 89

Execution of an Indian 89

Population of St. Croix Falls

in 1848 90

Natural Language 90

Drowning of H. H. Perkins.... 90

A Quailtown Murder 90

Mineral Permits 91

Marriage under Difficulties ... 91

An Indian Scare 92

The First Fire Canoe 92

Mill Building 92

More Indian Murders 93

Indian Battle of Stillwater.... 96

The First Loggers 96

The First Rafting 97

An Indian Payment 98

Indian Dancing and Theft 99

Other Thefts 99

Hard Times 100

Puzzled Indians, "Ugh! Ugh!" 101

Mrs. Worth and Muckatice.... 101

CHAPTER V

POLK COUNTY — CONTINUED.

BlOGEAPHIES.

Gov. William Holcombe 103

William S. Hungerford 104

Caleb Cushing 104

Judge Henry D. Barron 105

George W. Brownell 107

Col. Robert C. Murphy 108

Edward Worth 109

Mrs. MaryC. Worth 109

Maurice M. Samuels 109

Joseph B. Churchill 110

John McLean 110

Gilman Jewell 110

Elisha Creech 110

James W. McGlothlin 110

Andrew L. Tuttle 110

John Weymouth Ill

B. W. Reynolds Ill

Augustus Gaylord Ill

James D. Reymert Ill

William J. Vincent 112

Thompson Brothers 112

William Amery 112

Lewis Barlow 113

Levi W. Stratton 113

Elma M. Blanding 113

Blanding Family 113

Frederick K. Bartlett 114

Michael Field 115

Alden 115

Rev. A. B. Peabody 115

V. M. Babcock 117

Apple River 117

Balsam Lake 117

Beaver 118

Black Brook .* 118

Clam Falls 119

Daniel F. Smith 119

Clayton 120

Reuben F. Little 120

Clear Lake 122

Pineville 123

Frank M.Nye 123

Eureka 123

Charles Nevers 123

Farmington. 124

Harmon Crandall 125

Samuel Wall 125

William Ramsey 125

Hiram R. Nason 126

CONTENTS.

XXV

JoelF. Nason 126

John McAdams 126

Charles Tea 126

Garfield 126

Georgetown 127

A Double Murder 127

George P. Anderson 128

Laketown 128

Lincoln 128

• William Wilson 129

Loraine 129

William W. Gallespie 130

Luck 130

William H. Foster 130

Milltown 130

Patrick Lillis 131

Osceola 131

Scenery 132

First Happenings 132

Change of Name 133

Osceola Village 134

Daniel Mears 134

Nelson McCarty 134

William O. Mahony 135

Richard Arnold 135

William Kent, Sr 135

Robert Kent 135

Andrew Kent 135

William, James, Thomas, and

John Kent 136

Samuel Close 136

Ebenezer Ayres 136

Dr. CarmiP. Garlick 137

Johns. Godfrey 137

William A. Talboys 137

Charles H. staples .'. 138

J. W. Peake 138

George Wilson 138

Samuel B. Dresser 138

Frederic A. Dresser 139

Oscar A. Clark 139

Oscar F. Knapp 139

Mrs. Elisabeth B. Hayes 140

Cyrus G. Bradley 140

W. Hale 141

Edgar C. Treadwell 141

St. Croix Falls 141

St. Croix Falls Village 141

West Sweden 142

Sterling 142

Dr. Samuel Deneen 143

William W. Trimmer 143

Arnold Densmore , 143

CHAPTER VI,

ST. CEOIX COUNTY.

Organization, 1840 144

Division, 1848 144

County Seat Located at Buena

Vista 145

First Election 145

Division of the County, 1853.. 146

Present Limits 146

General Description 146

Monument Rock 147

Towns and Date of Organiza- tion 148

St. Croix County Agricultural Society 148

Pomona Grange 148

Agricultural Statistics 148

Manufactures 149

St. Croix Poor Farm 149

First Tax Roll of County,

1848 149

Hudson City 152

Original Claimants 153

First Survey, etc 153

First Deed Recorded 154

City Government 155

Mayors of the City 155

City Schools 155

XXVI

CONTENTS.

Military Institute 156

Mills and Manufactories 156

Banks 156

Oliver Wendell Holmes Hos- pital 157

Water Works 158

Hotels, the Great Fire, 1866... 158 Social and Benevolent Organi- zations 159

BlOGKAPHIES.

Louis Massey 159

Peter Bouchea 160

William Steets 160

Capt. JohnB. Page 160

Dr. Philip Aldrich 160

The Nobles Family 161

James Purinton 161

Ammah Andrews 162

James Walstow 162

James Sanders 162

J. W. Stone 162

Joseph Bowron 163

Moses Perin 163

John O. Henning 163

Moses S. Gibson 164

Col. James Hughes 164

Daniel Anderson 165

Alfred Day 165

Dr. Otis Hoyt , 165

S. S. N. Fuller.... 166

Miles H. Van Meter 166

Philip B. Jewell 166

John Tobin 166

Horace A. Taylor 167

Jeremiah Whaley 167

Simon Hunt 167

Johns. Moflfatt 167

James H. Childs 168

William Dwelley 168

James M. Fulton 168

Marcus A. Fulton 168

David C. Fulton 168

N. S. Holden 168

William H. Semmes 169

Sterling Jones 169

D. E.Bailey 169

Henry C. Baker 169

Mert Herrick 169

D. A. Baldwin 170

John Comstock 170

Lucius P. Wetherby 170

John C. Spooner 170

Thomas Porter 171

Herman L. Humphrey 171

Theodore Cogswell 172

Frank P. Catlin 172

Charles Y. Denniston 173

A. E. Jefferson 173

Samuel C. Symonds 173

John E. Glover 173

Lemuel North 173

Edgar Nye 173

William T. Price 113

E. B. Bundy 174

Towns and Biogeaphies.

Baldwin 174

Baldwin Village 174

Woodville Village 175

Cady 175

Cylon 175

Eau Galle 176

Emerald 176

Erin Prairie 176

Forest ..-. 177

Glenwood 177

Hammondf 177

Hammond Village 178

John Thayer 178

Eev. William Egbert 178

Hudson 178

James Kelly... 178

Daniel Coit > 179

James Virtue 179

Theodore M. Bradley 179

William Dailey 179

Robert and Wm. McDiarmid. . 179

William Martin 179

Paschal Aldrich 180

Kinnikinic 180

Duncan McGregor 180

W. B. and James A. Mapes... 181

Pleasant Valley 182

Richmond 182

Boardman Village 183

CONTENTS.

XXVll

Gridley Village 183

New Richmond Village 183

New Richmond City 183

Bank, High School 184

Benjamin B. C. Foster 184

Robert Philbrick 185

Linden Coombs 185

Eben Quinby 185

Lewis Oaks 185

Henry Russell 185

Joseph D, Johnson 185

Joel Bartlett 185

Francis W. Bartlett 186

George C. Hough 186

Silas Staples 186

Dr. Henry Murdock 187

Steven N. Hawkins 187

Rush River 188

Somerset ?... 188

Somerset Village 189

Gen. Samuel Harriman 189

St. Joseph 190

Houlton Village 191

Burkhardt Village 191

Springfield 191

Hersey Village 191

Wilson Village 192

Stanton 192

Star Prairie 192

Huntington Village 192

Star Prairie Village 192

Hon. R. K. Fay 192

Troy 193

James Chinnock 193

William L.Perrin 193

Warren 194

James Hill ". 194

Village Plats 195

CHAPTER VIL

PIERCE COUNTY.

Descriptive 196

History, First Events 197

County Seat Changed to Ells- worth 198

Railroads 199

Miscellaneous Statistics 1 99

Village Plats 199

Organization of Towns 200

Clifton 200

George W. McMurphy 201

Osborne Strahl 201

Charles B. Cox 201

Ephraim Harnsberger 201

Diamond Blufi". 202

Capt. John Paine 202

John Day ....; 202

Sarah A. Vance 203

Allen R. Wilson 203

E. S. Coulter 203

James Bamber 203

Jacob Mead 203

Charles Walbridge 203

Charles F. Hoyt 203

Enoch^Quinby 203

The FirstSettler 203

El Paso * 204

Ellsworth 205

Ellsworth Village 205

Anthony Huddleston 206

Perry D. Pierce 206

HansB. Warner 207

Gilman 207

Hartland 208

Lsabelle 208

Maiden Rock 209

Christopher L. Taylor 209

Martell 209

OakGrove 210

Lewis M. Harnsberger 210

Prescott City 210

History 211

Platted in 1857 212

XXVlll

CONTENTS.

First Official Board 212

Statistics, First Events 212

Churches 212

Fair Grounds 213

Cemetery 213

Destructive Fires 213

Philander Prescott 214

George Schaser 214

William S. Lockwood 215

James Monroe Bailey 215

Adolph Werkman 215

Joseph Manese 215

Hilton Doe 215

Lute A. Taylor 215

John Huitt 216

John M. Eice 216

An Indian Battle 216

River Falls 217

First Happenings 217

Water Powers 217

Schools'at River Falls 218

River Falls Academy 218

Churches 219

Associations 219

Bank, Railroad 220

Fires 220

River Falls City, Organization... 220

Falls of Kinnikinic 220

The Cave Cabin 221

The Fourth State Normal

School 221

Joel Foster 224

Jesse B. Thayer 224

A. D. Andrews 224

Joseph A. Short 225

Prof. Allen H. Weld..... 225

Allen P.Weld 225

George W. Nichols 225

W. D. Parker 226

William Powell 226

Lyman Powell 256

Nathaniel N. Powell 226

Oliver S. Powell 226

Nils P. 'Haugen 227

H*. L. Wadsworth 227

Rock Elm 227

Salem 227

Spring Lake 228

Trenton 228

Trimbelle 229

M. B. Williams 229

Union 292

CHAPTER VIII.

BUENETT, WASHBUEN, SAWYEE AND BAEEON COUNTIES.

BuENETT County.

Location and Description 230

Organization 231

Pine Barrens 231

Murders 232

Old Geezhic 233

The First Mission 234

The Chippewas of Wood Lake... 236

Grantsburg 237

Canute Anderson 237

The Hickerson Family 238

The Anderson Family 238

Robert A. Doty 238

The Cranberry Marshes 239

Washbuen County.

Description, Town Organization. 240

First Events 240

Shell Lake, Summit Lake 241

First Board of County Officers. 241 Shell Lake Lumber Company. . . . 241

Sawyer Creek 242

Spooner Station..., 242

Veazie Village 242

Sawyee County.

Organization, Description 242

County Indebtedness 243

Town of Hayward 243

Village of Hayward 243

CONTENTS.

XXIX

First Events, Schools, Churches, etc 244

Bank, Lumber Company 244

Malcomb Dobie 245

Milton V. Stratton 245

Barron County.

Description, Organization 245

Turtle Lake, Town and Village. 245

Barron, Perley Village 246

Cumberland Village 246

Sprague 246

Comstock and Barronett Villages 247 Charles Simeon Taylor 247

CHAPTER IX.

ASHLAND, BAYFIELD AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES.

Ashland County. History, Location, 'Description . . 248

Isles of the Apostles 248

Claude Allouez at Madeline

Island 249

Early History of La Pointe 249

Eemarkable Epitaph 249

La Pointe County Election 249

John W. Bell 250

Ashland 250

' History, First Events 250

Asaph Whittlesey 251

J. P. T. Haskell 251

G. S. Vaughn 251

Dr. Edwin Ellis 252

Martin Beaser 252

Hon. SamS. Fifield 252

Bayfield County.

Location and History 253

Bayfield Village 253

Washburn, Drummond, etc 254

Douglas County.

Description and History 254

First Election 254

Superior City 255

History 255

Early Speculation 256

Period of Depression 257

West Superior 258

The Bardon Brothers 258

William H. Newton 258

Judge Solon H. Clough 258

Vincent Roy 259

D. George Morrison 259

August Zachau 259

CHAPTER X.

pine county.

History 260

Description 260

First Events 261

Finances, Railroads 261

Losses by Fire.. ..1 262

Pokegama Lake and Mission 262

Thomas Conner's Trading Post. . . 262

Presbyterian Mission 263

Mushk-de-winini 263

Battle of Pokegama 264

Cannibalism 265

A Noble Chief. 267

Frank Confessions 267

A Cowardly Deed 268

An Unj ust Accusation 268

Indian Magnanimity 269

Rev. Frederic Ay er 269

Rev. William T. Boutwell 272

Discovery of Itasca 274

Mrs. Hester C. Boutwell 276

XXX

CONTENTS.

Chengwatana 276

First Settlers 276

Chengwatana Village Platted.... 277 Chengwatana Town Organized... 277

Louis Ayd 277

Duane Porter 277

S. A. Hntchiinson 277

Hinckley, Town of. 278

Hinckley, Village of. 278

James Morrison 278

Sandstone Village and Quarries. 279

Wm. H. Grant, Sr 279

Kettle River, Town of. 275

JohnC. Hanley 280

Mission Creek 280

Pine City, Town of. 280

Pine City, Village of. 281

Richard G. Robinson 281

Hiram Brackett 281

Randall K. Burrows 281

John S. Person 282

Samuel Millet 282

Rock Creek 282

Enoch Horton 282

Royalton 282

Windermere 283

Neshodana, Fortuna, St. John' s 283

A Rock Creek Murder 283

Burning of a Jail 283

A Disfigured Family 284

Indian Faith Cure 284

Indian Graves 284

Indian Stoicism 285

Old Batice 285

An Indian Dance 285

CHAPTER XL

KANABEC, ISANTI, AND MILLE LACS COUNTIES.

Kanabec County.

History, Boundaries, etc 286

Description 286

First Settlers, First Election 287

First Events 287

Arthur 288

Mora, Village of. 288

Stephen L. Danforth 288

N. H. Danforth 288

Alvah J. Conger 288

V Ira Conger 288

Bronson, Village of 288

Brunswick, Town of. 289

Brunswick, Village of 289

GroundHouse City 289

James Pennington 289

George L. Staples 289

Daniel Gordon 290

Grass Lake, Town of. 290

Isanti County. Organization 290

Cambridge 291

North Branch, Town of 291

Oxford, Town of 291

Stephen Hewson 291

George W. Nesbit 292

Rensselaer Grant 292

MiLLE Lacs County.

Description 292

Mille Lacs Reservation 293

County Organization in 1860 293

First Election and Officers 293

Milacca, Village of. 294

Bridgman, Village of. 294

Princeton, Village of. 294

Samuel Ross 296

Joseph L. Cater 296

M. V. B. Cater 296

Edwin Allen 296

JohnH. Allen 296

A. B. Damon 296

C. H. Chadboume 296

CONTENTS.

XXXI

CHAPTER XII.

CHISAGO COUNTY.

Location, Surface, Scenery 298

Chisago Lake 298

Dalles of the St. Croix 299

Origin of the Formation 300

The Devil's Chair 300

The Wells 301

Settlement and Organization 302

Joe R. Brown to the Front 303

Prehistoric Remains 303

Robinet tn Possession 303

Robinet Bought Off, First Im- provements 304

Death of B. F. Baker 304

The First Log House Built 305

First Crops Raised 305

First Election 305

Chisago County Named 306

First Commissioners 307

County Seat Located at Taylor's

Falls 307

Removed to Centre City 307

Amador 307

First Supervisors 308

Thornton Bishop 308

William Holmes 308

James M. Martin 309

Branch 309

North Branch Station 309

Henry L. Ingalls 310

Mrs. Lavina L. Ingalls 310

Chisago Lake, First Settlers 310

First Crops 311

Swedish Lutheran Church 311

Centre City 312

Andrew Swenson 312

John S, Van Rensselaer 312

Axel Dahliam 313

Nels Nord 313

Join A. Hallberg 314

Charles A. Bush 313

Lars Johan Stark 313

Frank Mobeck 313

Robert Currie 314

Andrew N. Holm 313

Cemetery and other Associations 334

Incorporation 334

Indian Dance 335

Lindstrom Village 314

Daniel Lindstrom 315

Magnus S. Shaleen 315%

Chisago City 315

Otto Wallmark 316

Andrew Wallmark 316

Fish Lake 316

Peter Berg 317

Benjamin Franklin 317

Franconia 317

Franconia Village 318

Ansel Smith 318

Henry F. and Leonard P. Day 318

Henry Wills 318

The Clark Brothers 319

David Smith 319

Jonas Lindall 319

William Peaslee 319

Charles Vitalis 319

August J. Anderson 320

Frank N. Peterson 320

Harris 321

Harris Village 321

Lent 322

Nessell 322

Robert NesseU 323

Stephen B. Clark 323

RushSeba 323

Rush City 323

Thomas Flynn 324

Patrick Flynn 324

Rufus Crocker 324

Frank H. Pratt ,.. 324

Voloro D. Eddy 325

F. S. Christianson 326

Shafer 326

Jacob Shafer 326

Peter Wickland 327

Tuver Walmarson 327

XXXll

CONTENTS.

Andros Anderson 327

Eric Byland 327

Jacob Peterson 327

Ambrose C. Seavey 327

Sunrise 328

Sunrise Village 328

Kost Village 329

Chippewa 329

Dronthiem 329

Nashua 330

Washington 330

John A. Brown 330

Patten W. Davis 330

James F. Harvey 330

Floyd S. Bates 330

Isaac H. Warner 331

Charles F. Lowe 331

Wells Farr 331

JohnG. Mold .' 331

George L. Blood 331

JoelG. Ryder 332

John Dean 232

Taylor's Falls 332

First Post Office and Mail Service 332

Mills, First Events 333

Religious Organizations 333

Bridge Company 334

Banks, Mining Companies 334

CHAPTER XIII.

BIOGEAPHICAL.

Jesse Taylor.,... 336

Joshua L. Taylor 336

Nathan C. D. Taylor 337

Thomas F. Morton 337

Henry N. Setzer 337

Patrick Fox 338

William F. Colby 339

Oscar Roos 339

Samuel Thomson 339

Susan Thomson Mears 339

George De Attly 340

Jacob Markley 340

John Dobney 340

William Dobney... 340

Henry H. Newbury 340

Emil Munch 340

A. M. Wilmarth 341

Lucius K. Stannard 341

James W. Mullen 342

David Caneday 342

George B. Folsom 343

Aaron M. Chase : 343

Peter Abear 343

Levi W. Folsom 344

Eddington Knowles 344

Dr. Lucius B. Smith 344

William Comer 354

E. Whiting and Brothers 345

Frederic Tang, Sr 346

Ward W. Folsom 346

George W. Seymour 346

James A. Woolley 346

Patrick Carroll 347

Joseph Carroll 347

E. E. Edwards 347

Stephen J. Merrill 348

Noah Marcus Humphrey 348

Royal C. Gray 349

John P. Owens 349

Andrew Clendenning 350

Smith Ellison 350

Wyoming — Settlement and Or- ganization 350

Wyoming Village 352

Deer Garden 352

L. O. Tombler 352

Dr. John Woolman Comfort... 353

Isaac Markley 353

Joel Wright 353

Randall Wright 353

Frederic Tepel 353

Charles Henry Sauer 354

CONTENTS.

xxxm

CHAPTEE XIV.

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

Organization in 1849 355

First Board of Officers 355

Afton 356

Afton Village 357

South Afton 357

Valley Creek 357

St. Mary Village 357

Joseph Haskell 358

Lemuel Bolles 358

Taylor F. Randolph 358

Elijah Bissell 358

Andrew Mackey 358

Bay town Settlement 359

Baytown Village 359

Bangor 360

Middletown 360

South Stillwater 360

Mills, etc 360

Docks, Factories, Cemeteries.. 360

Cottage Grove 361

Cottage Grove Village 361

Langdon 362

Joseph W. Furber 362

Samuel W. Furber 362

Theodore Furber 363

James S. Norris 363

Lewis Hill 363

Jacob Moshier 363

William Ferguson 363

John Atkinson , 363

Denmark 364

Point Douglas 364

Levi Hertzell 365

Oscar Burris 365

David Hone 365

William B. Dibble 366

George Harris 366

Harley D. White 367

Thomas Hetherington 367

James Shearer 367

Simon Shingledecker 367

Caleb Truax 367

Abraham Truax 368

George W. Campbell 368

(c)

Forest Lake, History of 368

Captain Michael Marsh 369

Forest Lake Village 366

Grant, History of. 369

Dellwood 370

Eagle City 370

Mahtomedi 370

Wildwood 370

William Elliott 371

Frederick Lamb 371

James Rutherford 371

Jesse H. Soule 371

Lakeland, Description and His- tory of. 372

Lakeland Village 372

Henry W. Crosby 373

Reuben H. Sanderson 373

Newton McKusick 373

Captain John Oliver 373

Captain Asa Barlow Green 374

L. A. Huntoon 374

Marine, Origin of Settlement. . . . 374

First Settlers 375

The Mill Completed 375

Marine Mills Village 376

First Lawsuit 376

Churches, Improvements 377

Losses by Fire 378

Vasa Village 378

Orange Walker 378

Lewis Walker 379

Samuel Burkelo 379

AsaS. Parker 379

Hiram Berkey 380

George B. Judd 380

James Hale 380

John Holt 380

George Holt 381

William Town 381

Matthias Welshance 381

Benj. T. Otis 382

William Clark 382

James R. Meredith 382

John D. and Thomas E. Ward 382

xxxiv

CONTENTS.

Samuel Judd 382

Frederic W. Lammers 382

James R. M. Gaskill 382

Newport, Town of. 383

Isle Pelee 383

Red Rock 383

Mission at Red Rock 384

Gray Cloud City 385

Newport Village 385

John Holton 385

John A. Ford 385

Daniel Hopkins, Sr 385

William R. Brown 386

William Fowler 386

Oakdale, Town of. 386

Lake Elmo Village 387

E. C. Gray 387

Arthur Stephens 388

Oneka, Town of 388

Oneka Station 389

Shady Side Village 389

Daniel Hopkins, Jr 389

Stillwater, Town of. 389

Oak Park 390

David P. Lyman 390

Henry A, Jackman 390

Frederic J. Curtis 391

David Cover 391

John Parker 391

Woodbury, Town of. 391

Jacob Folstrom 392

Alexander McHattie 393

John McHattie 393

The Middleton Family 393

Newington Gilbert 394

Ebenezer Ayers 394

CHAPTER XV.

WASHINGTON COUNTY — CONTINUED.

City of Stillwater.

Stillwater in 1850 396

The Freshet of 1850 397

A Real Estate Movement 397

Incorporation of Stillwater... 398

List of Marshals 398

Post Office, Mail Routes 398

Statistics 399

Hotels 399

City Banks 400

Board of Trade, Water Com- pany 402

Fire Department 402

Gas Light, Telegraph, Tele- phone 403

Elevator, Express Companies,

Bridge 403

Lumbering Interests, Flour

Mills 404

Manufactories 404

Building Association 405

Churches, etc 406

Public Buildings 408

Societies, etc 409

Cemeteries 410

Agricultural Society 410

State Prison 410

Fires, Bonds, Indebtedness.... 412 Biographies.

Isaac^taples 413

Samuel F. Hersey & Sons 415

Jacob Bean 416

Charles Bean 416

Rudolph Lehmicke 417

HollisR. Murdock 417

George M. Seymour 417

Frank A. Seymour 410

Louis Hospes 418

David Tozer 419

David Bronson 420

John Maloy 420

Mrs. Susannah Tepass 420

William E. Thorne 420

Edmund J. Butts 420

A. B. Easton 421

Edwin A. Folsom 421

John B. H. Mitchell 421

Joseph Scbupp 422

CONTENTS.

XXXV

Cliflford A. Bennett 422

Samuel Mathews 422

John and James Mathews 423

Peter Jourdain 423

James Rooney 423

James N. Castle 423

Abraham L. Gallespie 423

John C. Gardiner 423

V. C. Seward 424

Ealph Wheeler 424

Edward S. Brown 424

William Lowell 424

Albert Lowell 425

Nelson H. VanVoorhes 425

Andrew J. Van Voorhes 425

Henry C, Van Voorhes 452

C. A. Bromley 426

Charles J. Butler 426

Levi E. Thompson 427

George Davis 427

William M. McCluer 427

JohnN. Ahl 427

Samuel M. Register 428

J. A. Johnson 428

GoldT. Curtis 429

Harley D. Curtis 429

Francis R. Delano 429

Henry W. Cannon 430

DwightM. Sabin 430

CHAPTER XVI.

STEAENS, ANOKA AND SHEEBUKNE COUNTIES.

Stearns County.

Organization and History of. 432

St. Cloud 434

Newspapers and PostOfl&ce... 435 Village and City Organization 435

Land Office, Expenditures 435

The St. Cloud Dam, Improve- ments 436

Banks, Public Buildings 436

St. John's University 437

La Sauk, Town of. 438

Peter Schaeler 438

John L. Wilson 438

Charles T. Stearns 438

Henry G. Fillmore 438

Nathaniel Getchell 438

James Keough 438

Loren W. Collins 438

Henry C. Waite 439

Gen. S. B. Lowry 439

A. and Joseph Edelbrock 439

John Rengel 440

Louis A. Evans 440

" Ambrose Freeman 440

Nathan F. Barnes 440

Nehemiah P.Clark 441

Oscar E. Garrison 441

Charles A. Oilman 441

Other Citizens 442

Anoka County.

Organization 442

First Settlers, Commissioners... 443

Anoka, Town of 443

Anoka, City of 443

Incorporation 444

Fires, Public Buildings 445

Manufactures, Banks 445

Bethel, Town of 446

Blaine, Town of. 446

Burns, Town of. 446

Centreville, Town of 446

Centre ville Village 446

Columbus, Town of. 447

Fridley, Town of 447

John Banfil 448

Grow, Town of 448

Ham Lake, Town of 448

Linwood, Town of 448

L. S. Arnold 449

S. Ridge 449

J. G. Green 449

S. W. Haskell 449

M. M. Ryan 449

Hurley Family 449

XXXVl

CONTENTS.

Oak Grove, Town of. 449

Ramsey, Town of 449

St. Francis, Town of 450

An Indian Riot 450

Jared Benson 451

James C. Frost 451

A. J. McKenney 451

John Henry Batzle 452

John R. Bean 452

A. McC. Fridley 452

William Staples 452

Capt. James Stark ey 453

Sherburne County.

Description 453

Organization 453

Towns of Sherburne County 454

Villages of Sherburne County... 455

Orono, Elk River 455

East St. Cloud 456

Clear Lake 456

Becker 456

Big Lake '. 456

J. Q. A. Nickerson 456

Henry Bittner 456

Francis DeLille 457

Mrs. F. De Lille 457

Howard M. Atkins 457

B. F. Hildreth 458

Samuel Hayden 458

Joseph Jerome 458

Joshua O. Cater 458

J. F. Bean 458

J. H. Felch 458

James Brady 458

Joshua Briggs 458

Robert Orrock 458

John G. Jamieson 458

A. B. Heath 458

Dr. B. R. Palmer 459

Judge Moses Sherburne 459

Charles F. George 459

Royal George 459

W. L. Babcock 459

CHAPTER XVIL

BENTON, MOEEISON AND CROW WING COUNTIES.

Benton County.

Description 460

First Settlers, Organization 461

Towns of Benton County 461

Villages 461

Sauk Rapids, Incorporation 461

Dam and Public Buildings 462

The Cyclone of 1886 462

Watab Village 462

Philip Beaupre 462

David Oilman 463

James Beatty 463

Ellis Kling 463

George "W. Benedict 464

J. Q. A. Wood 464

William H.Wood 464

Mrs. Wm. H. Wood 465

A. DeLacy Wood 465

P. H. Wood 465

Rev. Sherman Hall 465

Jeremiah Russell 466

Edgar O. Hamlin 467

Morrison County.

Description 468

History 468

Indian Feuds 469

Organization 469

Winnebago Indians 470

Towns of Morrison County 471

Little Falls Village 471

Little Falls Water Power 472

Incorporation 473

Schools and Churches 473

Royalton Village 473

Incorx)oration, First OflS.cers... 473

Peter Roy 473

William Sturgis 474

James Fergus 474

Nathan Richardson 475

Moses La Fond 475

CONTENTS.

XXXVll

O. A. Churchill 475

John M. Kidder 476

Warren Kobe 476

Ola K. Black 476

IraW. Bouch 476

Robert Russell 476

Peter A. Green 476

Rodolphus D. Kinney 476

John D. Logan 476

Crow Wing County.

Description 477

First Settlers 477

Organization 478

Reorganization 478

Murderers Lynched 478

Brainerd 478

First Settlers 479

Northern Pacific Sanitarium... 480

The Kindred Dam 480

L. P. White 480

Allen Morrison 480

Charles F. Kindred 481

CHAPTER XVIII

AITKIN, CARLTON, ST. LOUIS, LAKE AND COOK COUNTIES.

Aitkin County.

Description 482

Organization, Officers 482

Aitkin Village 483

William A. Aitkin 483

Alfred Aitkin 483

Nathaniel Tibbett 484

Carlton County.

History and Organization 484

Towns of Carlton County 485

Thomson Village 485

Cloquet Village 485

Moose Lake Station 485

Barnum Station 486

Mahtowa Station *.... 486

North Pacific Junction 486

Francis A. Watkins 486

St. Louis County.

Description 486

Picturesque Scenery 487

Commissioners' Meetings 487

List of Commissioners 488

Duluth, Early History 488

Growth, Population 489

Mills, Warehouses, Shipments

Duluth Harbor

Fish Commission

Fond du Lac Village

Oneota Village

Clifton Village

Portland Village

Endion Village

Middleton Village

Montezuma Village

Buchanan Village

St. Louis Falls Village

Fremont Island

Tower

George R. Stuntz

George E. Stone

Charles H. Graves

Ozro P. Stearns

Lake County.

Description

Two Harbors

Cook County.

History and Organization

489

490

490

491

492

492 •

492

492

492

492

492

492

493

493

494

494

494

494

495 496

496

CHAPTER XIX.

HENNEPIN COUNTY.

Organization and History, Towns 497

Fort Snelling 497

Treaty of 1837 499

First Land Claims, 1838 499

Cheever's Tower 500

St. Anthony Village Platted 500

First Marriage in the Territory.. 500 First Courts, School, Post Office.. 501

XXXVlll

CONTENTS.

Church Organizations 501

The Suspension Bridge Built 502

St. Anthony Incorporated 1855... 502 Annexation to Minneapolis, 1872 502

St. Anthony Falls 502

La Salle's Description 502

Minneapolis, Early Settlers 503

Early Land Claims 504

Business Enterprises 505

Mills Erected 505

St. Anthony Water Power Company 506

Minneapolis Named, Land Office 506 Incorporation as a City, 1867.. 506 Annexation of St. Anthony... 506

List of Mayors 507

Water vs. Steam 507

Terrific Explosion at the Flour

Mills 508

Suburban Resorts 508

List of Public Buildings 509

Post Office Statistics 510

Lumber Manufactured 511

Bonded Debt, Taxes, Expenses 511

West Minneapolis 511

Biographies. ,

Calvin A. Tuttle 512

Cyrus Aldrich 512

Dr. Alfred E. Ames 514

Dr. Albert A. Ames 514

Jesse Ames 515

Cadwallader C. Washburn 515

William D. Washburn 517

Joseph C. Whitney 517

Charles Hoag 618

Franklin Steele 518

RoswellP. Russell 519

• Horatio P. Van Cleve 520

Charlotte O. Van Cleve 520

Ard Godfrey ." 520

Richard Chute 521

Lucius N. Parker 521

Captain John RoIUds 521

John G. Lennon 521

John H. Stevens 522

Caleb D. Dorr 522

Rev. Edward D. Neill 522

John Wensignor 523

Robert H. Hasty 524

Stephen Pratt 524

Capt. John Tapper 524

R. W. Cummings 524

EliasH. Conner 524

C. F. Stimson 524

William Dugas 524

David Gorham 525

Edwin Hedderly 525

Louis Neudeck 525

Andrew J. Foster 525

A. D. Foster 525

Charles E. Vanderburgh 525

Dorillius Morrison 526

H. G. O. Morrison 526

F. R. E. Cornell 526

Gen. A. B. Nettleton 527

Isaac Atwater 527

Rev. David Brooks 527

Prof. Jabez Brooks 527

Johns. Pillsbury 528

Henry T. Welles 528

Oavid Blakely 528

William Lochren 528

Eugene M. Wilson 528

R. B. Langdon 529

William M. Bracket 529

Thos. B. and Piatt B. Walker 529

Austin H. Young 530

Henry G. Hicks 530

John P. Rea 530

John Martin 530

John Dudley 531

CHAPTER XX.

RAMSEY COUNTY.

Organization, First Officers 532

St. Paul in 1840, Known as Pig's

Eye 532

First Settlers 532

Father Ravoux, 1841 533

Henry Jackson Established a

Trading Post 533

Accessions of 1843 533

CONTENTS.

XXXIX

AccessioDS of 1844 534

First Deed 534

Accessions of 1845 534

First School 535

Second Deed, Phalen's Tract... 535

Accessions of 1846 535

Eeminiscences 536

Accessions in 1847 536

St. Paul Platted 537

Miss Bishop's School 537

First Steamboat Line «. 537

Accessions of 1848 538

Progress in 1849 539

St. Paul Made the Capital of

the State 539

The First Newspapers 539

Early Items and Advertisements 540 Pioneers of 1849 540

Some Comparisons 541

Statistics of Population, Schools,

Buildings 542

List of Mayors 543

West St. Paul 544

Towns of Ramsey County 544

White Bear 545

First Settlers 545

Indian Battle Ground 546

Town Organization 547

White Bear Lake Village 548

Hotels and Cottages 548

Daniel Getty 549

South St. Paul 549

North St. Paul 550

Population of St Paul 550

Post Office History 551

CHAPTER XXI.

BIOGEAPHICAL.

Henry Hastings Sibley 553

Alexander Ramsey 555

William H.Forbes 557

Henry M. Rice 558

Edmund Rice 560

Louis Robert 561

Auguste L. Larpenteur 562

William H. Nobles 562

Simeon P. Folsom 563

Jacob W. Bass 563

Benjamin W. Brunson 564

Abram S. and Chas. D. Elfelt 564

D. A. J. Baker 565

Benjamin F. Hoyt 565

John Fletcher Williams 566

Dr. John H. Murphy 566

William H. Tinker 567

George P. Jacobs 567

Lyman Dayton 567

Henry L. Moss 567

William Rainey Marshall 568

David Cooper 569

Bushrod W. Lott 570

W. F. Davidson 570

Wm. H. Fisher 571

Charles H. Oakes 572

C. W. W. Borup 572

Capt. Russell Blakely 573

Rensselaer R. Nelson 573

George L. Becker 574

Aaron Goodrich 575

Nathan Myrick 575

John Melvin Oilman 576

Charles E. Flandrau 576

JohnB. Sanborn 577

John R. Irvine 579

Horace R, Bigelow 580

Cushman K. Davis 580

S. J. R. McMillan 581

Willis A. Gorman 581

JohnD. Ludden 582

EliasF. Drake 582

Norman W. Kittson 583

Hascal R. Brill 583

Ward W. Folsom 584

Goidon E. Cole 584

xl

CONTENTS.

James Smith, Jr 584

William P. Murray 585

Henry Hale 585

James GilfiUan 585

Charles Duncan Gilfillan 586

Alexander Wilkin 586

Westcott Wilkin 587

S. C. Whitcher 587

T. M. Newson 587

Alvaren Allen 588

Harlan P. Hall 589

Stephen Miller 589

CHAPTER XXII.

DAKOTA, GOODHUE, WABASHA AND WINONA COUNTIES.

Dakota County.

Description 591

Hastings 591

Farmington 591

Ignatius Donnelly 591

Francis M. Crosby 592

G. W. Le Due 593

Goodhue County.

Redwing, Barn Bluff. 595

Cannon Falls 595

Indian Burying Ground 596

Hans Mattson 596

Lucius F. Hubbard 597

William Colville 599

Martin S. Chandler 599

Charles McClure 600

Horace B. Wilson.

600

Wabasha County.

Wabasha Village 601

Bailey and Sons 602

Nathaniels. Tefft 602

James Wells 602

Winona County.

Scenery 602

Winona City 603

Daniels. Norton 603

William Windom 603

Charles H. Berry 604

Thomas Wilson 604

Thomas Simpson 605

Wm. H. Yale 605

CHAPTER XXIII.

miscellaneous biographies.

Pierre Bottineau 606

Andrew G. Chatfield 606

Hazen Mooers 607

John McDonough Berry 607

Mark H. Dunnell 608

James H. Baker 608

Horace B. Strait 609

Judson Wade Bishop 610

John L. McDonald 610

Thomas H. Armstrong 611

Augustus Armstrong 611

Moses K. Armstrong 611

James B. Wakefield 611

William Wallace Braden 611

Reuben Butters 612

Michael Doran 612

Andrew McCrea 613

John W. Blake 613

Knute Nelson 613

William R. Denny 613

APPENDIX.

MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS, INDIAN TREATIES, ETC.

Beief History of the North- west Territory 616

Spanish Claims 616

French Claims 617

Louisiana in 1711 618

Settlement of Marietta, Ohio 618

Ohio Territory 619

Statistics 619

Boundary Question 625

Wisconsin Constitutional Con- vention, 1846 625

Wisconsin Constitutional Con- vention, 1847 626

Some Resolutions 627

Under What Govern ment ? 628

H. H. Sibley Elected Congres- sional Delegate 628

Queries 629

Minnesota Territory Created 629

Land Office at Stillwater 629

Indian Treaties 629

Treaty with the Sioux (Mendota)

1805 629

Treaty with the Chippewas (Men- dota) 1837 630

Treaty with the Sioux (Wash- ington) 1837 : 630

Treaty with the Winnebagoes

(Washington) 1837 631

Treaty with the Chippewas(Fond

du Lac) 1847 631

Treaty with the Pillager Band

(Leech Lake) 1847 632

Treaty with the Sioux (Traverse

des Sioux) 1851 632

Treaty with the Sioux (Mendota) 1851 632

(d)

Treaty with the Chippewas (La

Pointe) 1854 634

Treaty with the Pillagers (Wash- ington) 1855 634

Treaty with the Chippewas ( Red

Lake Eiver) 1863 634

Gen. Pike and the Indians... 635

Treaty of 1805 636

Pike's Address to the Council 636

Details of Treaty 636

Pike Hospitably Entertained.. 637 United States Surveys in the

Northwest 637

Establishment of Land Offices... 638 Establishment of the Present

System of Surveys 638

The First Surveyor General's

Office at Marietta, 0 638

United States Land Offices

IN THE Northwest 639

List of Registers and Receivers,

Wisconsin 639

First Entries 640

First Auction Sale of Land 641

List of Registers and Receivers,

Minnesota 641

List of Wisconsin Territorial and State Officers, Governors, Sen- ators, and Representatives

from St. Croix Valley 641

Legislative Representation 642

First and Second Constitutional

Conventions 643

Governors of Wisconsin 643

United States Senators 643

United States Representatives... 644 District Judges 644

xlii

CONTENTS.

State Legislature 644

List of Minnesota Territorial

and State Officers 647

Census of the Territory in 1849. 647

First Territorial Legislature 648

First Prohibition Law 649

Constitutional Convention 649

List of State Officers and Judicial 649 Senators and Representatives.... 650 Minnesota State Legislatures.... 651 Constitutional Convention of

1857 654

Division of Convention 655

Union of Conventions on a Con- stitution 656

Have We a Constitution 656

First Minnesota State Legisla- ture 667

Protests Against Legislation 657

Five Million Bill Passed and

Adopted 657

State Seal Adopted 658

State Seal Design 659

Adjourned Session of Legislature 660 Protests Against Recognizing

Gov. Medary 660

Reports on Protests 66!

Land Grants — Railroad Surveys

and Construction 665

Northern Pacific Railroad 665

Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis

& Omaha Railroad 667

St. Paul & Duluth Railroad 668

Minnesota & Manitoba Railroad 669 Stillwater, White Bear & St.

Paul Railroad 670

St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's

Falls Railroad 671

, Wisconsin Central Railroad 671

Taylor's Falls & Lake Superior

Railroad 672

Chicago, ]Viilwaukee & St. Paul

Railroad 672

A Memorial for " Soo " Railroad 673 prganization of Minneapolis,

Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic

Railroad 674

Mileage of Railroads Centring

in St. Paul and Minneapolis... 675 Chicago, Burlington & Northern

Railroad 675

Congressional Appropriations.... 675

Inland Navigation 676

George R. Stuntz on Lake Su- perior and St. Croix Canal 680

Waterways Convention, 1885.... 682 E. W. Durant's Valuable Statis- tics 683

Resolution for St. Croix and Su- perior Canal 685

Early Steamboat Navigation.... 686

Steamboat Accommodations 687

First Mississippi Steamboat Of- ficers 689

First Mississippi Steamboat Or- ganizations 689

List of Steamboats 690

Later Navigation on Northwest

Rivers 691

Steamboating on the St. Croix.... 692

Ice Boats 693

James W. Mullen's Reminis- cences, 1846 694

St. Croix Boom Company 696

Surveyors General of Logs 696

Organization 696

Conflict over State Boundary 697

Language of Logs 698

Logs Cut from 1837 to 1888 700

Chartered Dams 701

Lumbering and Lumbermen in

1845 702

Lumbering and Lumbermen in

1887 705

St. Croix Dalles Log Jams 706

Population of Northwest Terri- tory in 1790 709

Population of Wisconsin Terri- tory in 1836 709

Subsequent Census 709

Population of Minnesota in 1849 709 Minnesota State Capitol 710

CONTENTS.

xliii

Burning of State House Til

Selkirk Visitors 712

Cyclones 713

Isanti and Chisago Cyclone 713

Cottage Grove and Lake Elmo

Cyclone 715

Washington County and Wiscon- sin Cyclone 717

St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids Cy- clone 718

Curious Lightning Freaks 721

Asiatic Cholera on the Royal Arch 721 First Decree of Minnesota Citi- zenship 722

International Hotel, St. Paul,

Burned 723

Grasshoppers 723

Ancient Mounds 724

Lake Itasca, Schoolcraft and Boutwell Form the Name Itasca. Description of Itasca... 726

Elk and Boutwell Lakes 727

Capt. Glazier's False Claim 727

Copper Mining on St. Croix 728

Rev. Julius S. Webber; Reminis- cences 729

Judge Hamlin — Amusing Inci- dent 730

Minnesota Old Settlers Associa- tion 731

St. Croix Valley Old Settlers Association »... 740

Newspaper History 741

Gen. Scott, Maj. Anderson, and Jeff. Davis 752

Jeff. Davis' Marriage at Fort Crawford 753

Dred Scott at Fort Snelling 754

Incidents in Dred Scott's History 755

Old Betz and Descendants 757

Addenda.

Military History of the Rebel- lion, 1861 to 1865 759

Gov, Alex. Ramsey's Address to Loyal Legion 759

Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Legislative Sessions of Wis- consin 762

/

A/

ERRATA.

Chapter II, page 32, read Stillwater and St. Croix County, instead of Counties.

Page 140, read Cyrus G. Bradley, instead of Cyrus Q.

Page 166, read Philip B. Jewell, instead of Philip P.

Page 422, read Clifford A. Bennett, instead of Clifton.

Page 432, read Stearns, Anoka and Sherburne Counties, in stead of Stearns, Anoka and Morrison Counties.

Page 420, read Edmund J. Butts, instead of Edward J. Butts.

CHAPTER I.

Going West. — In June, 1836, 1 again visited the Penobscot in quest of employment, in which I was unsuccessful. At Still- water, above Bangor, I met my kind friend Simeon Goodrich, also out of employment. After mature deliberation we con- cluded to go West. Returning to Bloomfield, I collected the money held for me by Capt. Ruel Weston and was soon in readiness for the journey. But a few days before the time agreed upon for leaving, I received a letter from Simeon Goodrich, which contained the unpleasant information that he could not collect the amount due him and could not go with me. Truly this was a disappointment. T was obliged to set out alone, no light undertaking at that early day, for as yet there were no long lines of railroad between Maine and the Mississippi river. The day at last arrived for me to start. My companions and acquaintances chaffed me as to the perils of the journey before me. My mother gave me her parting words, "William, always respect yourself in order to be respected.'^ These words, ac- companied with her farewell kiss, were long remembered, and^ I doubt not, often kept me from evil associations.

The stage took us directly to the steamboat at Gardiner. The steam was up and the boat was soon under way. It was the New England, the first boat of the kind I had ever seen. I felt strangely unfamiliar with the ways of the traveling world, but observed what others did, and asked no questions, and so fancied that my ignorance of traveling customs would not be exposed. It was sunset as we floated out into the wide ex- panse of the Atlantic. The western horizon was tinged with fiery hues, the shores grew fainter and receded from view and the eye could rest at last only uj^on the watery expanse. All

1

2 FIFTY YEAES

things seemed new and strange. I^ext morning a heavy fog hung over the scene. The vessel was at anchor in Boston harbor and we were soon on shore and threading the crooked streets of the capital of Massachusetts. I was not lost in the wilderness maze of streets, as I had feared I should be, but on leaving Bos- ton on the evening train I took the wrong car and found myself uncomfortably situated in a second or third class car, crowded and reeking with vile odors, from which the conductor rescued me, taking me to the pleasant and elegant car to which my first class ticket entitled me. On arriving at Providence I followed the crowd to the landing and embarked on the steamer Presi- dent for New York, in which city we remained a day, stopping at the City Hotel on Broadway. I was greatly impressed with the beauty of part of the city, and the desolate appearance of the Burnt District, concerning the burning of which we had read in our winter camp. I was not a little puzzled with the arrange- ment of the hotel tables and the printed bills of fare, but closely watched the deportment of others and came through without any serious or mortifying blunder. Next morning I left New York on the steamer Eobert L. Stevens for Albany, and on the evening of the same day went to Schenectady by railroad. Some of the way cars were hauled by horses up hills and inclined planes. There were then only three short lines of railroad in the United States, and I had traveled on two of them. At Sche- nectady I took passage on a canal boat to Buffalo. I had read about "De Witt Clinton's Ditch," and now greatly enjoyed the slow but safe passage it afforded, and the rich prospect of cities, villages and cultivated fields through which we passed. At Buffalo we remained but one day. We there exchanged eastern paper for western, the former not being current in localities further west. At Buffalo I caught my first glimpse of Lake Erie. I stood upon a projecting pier and recalled, in imagination, the brave Commodore Perry, gallantly defending his country's flag in one of the most brilliant engagements of the war, the fame whereof had long been familiar to the whole country and the thrilling incidents of which were the theme of story and song even in the wilderness camps of Maine.

The steamer Oliver Newberry bore me from Buffalo to Detroit. From Detroit to Mt. Clemens, Michigan, I went by stage and stopped at the last named place until October 14th, when, being

IN THE NORTHWEST. 3

satisfied that the climate was unhealthy, fever and ague being very prevalent, I returned to Detroit, and on the fifteenth of the same month took passage on the brig Indiana, as steamers had quit running for the season. The brig was aground two days and nights on the St. Clair flats. A south wind gave us a splen- did sail up the Detroit river into Lake Huron. We landed for a short time at Fort Gratiot, at the outlet of the lake, just as the sun was setting. The fort was built of stone, and presented an impressive appearance. The gaily uniformed officers, the blue- coated soldiers, moving with the precision of machines, the whole scene — the fort, the waving flags, the movement of the troops seen in the mellow sunset light — was impressive to one who had never looked upon the like before. A favorable breeze springing up, we sped gaily out into the blue Lake Huron. At Saginaw bay the pleasant part of the voyage ended. The weather became rough. A strong gale blew from the bay outward, and baffled all the captain's skill in making the proper direction. Profane beyond degree was Capt. McKenzie, but his free-flow- ing curses availed him nothing. The brig at one time was so nearly capsized that her deck load had rolled to one side and held her in an inclined position. The captain ordered most of the deck load, which consisted chiefly of Chicago liquors, thrown overboard. Unfortunately, several barrels were saved, two of which stood on deck, with open heads. This liquor was free to all. The vessel, lightened of a great part of her load, no longer careened, but stood steady against the waves and before the wind. It is a pity that the same could not be said of captain, crew and passengers, who henceforth did the careening. They dipped the liquor up in pails and drank it out of handled dip- pers. They got ingloriously drunk; they rolled unsteadily across the deck; they quarreled, they fought, they behaved like Bed- lamites, and how near shipwreck was the goodly brig from that day's drunken debauch on Chicago free liquor will never be known. The vessel toiled, the men were incapacitated for work, but notwithstanding the tempest of profanity and the high winds, the wrangling of crew and captain, we at last passed Saginaw bay. The winds were more favorable. Thence to Macki- naw the sky was clear and bright, the air cold. The night be- fore reaching Mackinaw an unusual disturbance occurred above resulting from the abundance of free liquor. The cook, being

4 FIFTY YEARS

drunk, had not provided the usual midnight supper for the sail- ors. The key of the caboose was lost; the caboose was broken open, and the mate in the morning was emulating the captain in the use of profane words. The negro cook answered in the same style, being as drunk as his superior. This cook was a stout, well built man, with a forbidding countenance and, at his best, when sober, was a saucy, ill-natured and impertinent fellow. When threat after threat had been hurled back and forth, the negro jumped at the mate and knocked him down. The sailors, as by a common impetus, seized the negro, bound him tightly and lashed him to a capstan. On searching him they found two loaded pistols. These the mate placed close to each ear of the bound man, and fired them off. They next whipped him on the naked back with a rope. His trunk was then examined and several parcels of poison were found. Another whipping was administered, and this time the shrieks and groans of the victim were piteous. Before he had not even winced. The monster had prepared himself to deal death alike to crew and passengers, and we all felt a great sense of relief when Oapt. McKenzie de- livered him to the authorities at Mackinaw.

Antique Mackinaw was a French .and half breed town. The houses were built of logs and had steep roofs. Trading posts and whisky shops were well barred. The government fort, neatly built and trim, towered up above the lake on a rocky cliff and overlooked the town, the whole forming a picturesque scene. We remained but a few hours at Mackinaw. There were ten cabin passengers, and these, with two exceptions, had imbibed freely of the Chicago free liquor. They were also con- tinually gambling. Capt. McKenzie had fought a fist fight with a deadhead passenger, Capt. Fox, bruising him badly. What with his violence and profanity, the brutality of the mate and the drunken reveling of crew and passengers, the two sober passengers had but a sorry time, but the safe old brig, badly officered, badly managed, held steadily on its course, and Oc- tober 30th, fifteen days from Detroit, safely landed us in Chicago.

After being so long on the deck of a tossing vessel, I experi- enced a strange sensation when first on shore. I had become accustomed, to the motion of the vessel, and had managed to hold myself steady. On shore the pitching and tossing move- ment seemed to continue, only it seemed transferred to my head,

IN THE NORTHWEST. 5

which grew dizzy, and so produced the illusion that I was still trying to balance myself on the unsteady deck of the ship.

Chicago, since become a great city, had at that time the ap- pearance of an active, growing village. Thence I proceeded, I^ovember 1st and 2d, by stage to Milwaukee, which appeared also as a village, but somewhat overgrown. Idle men were numerous, hundreds not being able to obtain employment. Here I remained a couple of weeks, stopping at the Belleview House. After which I chopped wood a few days for Daniel Wells. Xot finding suitable employment, I started west with a Mr. Rogers, December 2d. There being no other means of conveyance, we traveled on foot. On the evening of the second we stopped at Prairie Village, now known as Waukesha. On the evening of the third we stopped at Meacham's Prairie, and on the fifth •reached Rock River, where I stopped with a Mr. St. John. The evening following we stopped at an Irish house, where the sur- roundings did not conduce to comfort or to a feeling of security. Several drunken men kept up a continuous row. We hid our money in a haystack, and took our turn sleeping and keeping watch. We ate an early breakfast, and were glad to get away before the men who had created such a disturbance during the night were up. We moved onward on the seventh to Blue Mound, where we found a cheerful resting place at Brigham^s. The eighth brought us to Dodgeville, where we stopped at Mor- rison's. On the ninth we reached Mineral Point, the locality of the lead mines, where I afterward lost much time in pros- pecting. Mineral Point was then a rude mining town. The night of our arrival was one of excitement and hilarity in the place. The first legislature of the territory of Wisconsin had been in session at Belmont, near Mineral Point, had organized the new government and closed its session on that day. To cele- brate this event and their emancipation from the government of Michigan and the location of the capital at Madison, the people from the Point, and all the region round about, had met and prepared a banquet for the retiring members of the legislature. Madison was at that time a pg-per town, in the wilderness, but beautifully located on Cat Fish lake, and at the head of Rock river. The location had been accomplished by legislative tact, and a compromise between the extremes. In view of the almost certain division of the Territory, with the Mississippi river as a

6 FIFTY YEARS

boundary, at no very distant day, it was agreed that Madison should be the permanent capital, while Burlington, now in Iowa, should be used temporarily. Milwaukee and Green Bay had both aspired to the honor of being chosen as the seat of govern- ment. Mineral Point, with her rich mines, had also aspirations, as had Cassville, which latter named village had even built a great hotel for the accommodation of the members of the as- sembly. Dubuque put in a claim, but all in vain. Madison was chosen, and wisely, and she has ever since succeeded in maintaining the supremacy then thrust upon her.

In my boyhood, at school, I had read of the great Korthwest Territory. It seemed to me then far away, at the world's end, but I had positively told my comrades that I should one day go there. I found myself at last on the soil, and at a period or crisis important in its history. The great Northwest Territory, ceded < by Virginia to the United States in 1787, was no more. The im- mense territory had been carved and sliced into states and ter- ritories, and now the last remaining fragment, under the name of Wisconsin, had assumed territorial prerogatives, organized its government, and, with direct reference to a future division of territory, had selected its future capital, for as yet, except in name, Madison was not. In assuming territorial powers, the boundaries had been enlarged so as to include part of New Louisi- ana, and the first legislature had virtually bartered away this part of her domain, of which Burlington, temporary capital of Wisconsin, was to be the future capital.

Two more days of foot plodding brought us to Galena, the city of lead. The greeting on our entering the city was the ringing of bells, the clattering of tin pans, the tooting of ox horns, sounds earthly and unearthly, — sounds no man can describe. What could it be ? Was it for the benefit of two humble, footsore pedestrians that all this uproar was produced? We gave it up for the time, but learned subsequently that it was what is known as a charivari, an unmusical and disorderly serenade, generally gotten up for the benefit of some newly married couple, whose nuptials had not met with popular approval.

At Galena I parted with Mr. Rogers, my traveling companion, who went south. On the fifteenth of December I traveled to Dubuque on foot. When I came to the Mississippi river I sat down on its banks and recalled the humorous description of old

IN THE NOKTHWEST. 7

Mr. Carson, my neighbor, to which I had listened wonderingly when a small boy. ''It was,'^ he said, ''a river so wide you could scarcely see across it. The turtles in it were big as barn doors, and their shells would make good ferryboats if they could only be kept above warer.'' Sure enough, here was the big river, but covered with ice, scarcely safe to venture on. Several per- sons desiring to cross, we made a portable bridge of boards, sliding them along with us till we were safe on the opposite bank. I was now at the end of my journey, on the west bank of the Mississippi, beyond which stretched a vast and but little known region, inhabited by Indians and wild beasts.

As I review the incidents of my journey in 1836, 1 can not but contrast the conditions of that era and the present. How great the change in half a century! The journey then required thirty days. It now requires but three. I had passed over but two short lines of railroad, and had made the journey by canal boat, by steamer, by stage, and a large portion of it on foot. There were few regularly established lines of travel. From Michigan to the Mississippi there were no stages nor were there any regu- lar southern routes. Travelers to the centre of the continent, in those days, came either by the water route, via 'New Orleans or the Fox and Wisconsin river route, or followed Indian trails or blazed lines from one settlement to another. The homes of the settlers were rude — were built principally of logs. In forest regions the farms consisted of clearings or square patches of open ground, well dotted with stumps and surrounded by a dense growth of timber. The prairies, except around the margins or along certain belts of timber following the course of streams, were without inhabitants. Hotels were few and far between, and, when found, not much superior to the cabins of the settlers; but the traveler was always and at all places hospitably entertained.

DUBUQUE.

Dubuque was a town of about three hundred inhabitants, at- tracted thither by the lead mines. The people were principally of the mining class. The prevailing elements amongst them were Catholic and Orange Irish. These two parties were antago- nistic and would quarrel on the streets or wherever brought in contact. Sundays were especially days of strife, and Main

8 FIFTY YEARS

street was generally the field of combat. Women even i^artici- pated. There was no law, there were no police to enforce order. The fight went on, the participants pulling hair, gouging, biting, pummeling with fists or pounding with sticks, till one or the other party was victorious. These combats were also accom- panied with volleys of profanity, and unlimited supplies of bad whisky served as fuel to the flame of discord. Dubuque was certainly the worst town in the West, and, in a small way, the worst in the whole country. The entire country west of the Mississippi was without law, the government of Wisconsin Ter- ritory not yet being extended to it. Justice, such as it was, was administered by Judge Lynch and the mob.

My first employment was working a hand furnace for smelting lead ore for a man named Kelly, a miner and a miser. He lived alone in a miserable hovel, and on the scantiest fare. In Janu- ary I contracted to deliver fifty cords of wood at Price's brick- yard. I cut the wood froili the island in front of the present city of Dubuque, and hired a team to deliver it. . While in Dubuque I received my first letter from home in seven months. What a relief it was, after a period of long sus- pense, spent in tediously traveling over an almost wilderness country, — amidst unpleasant surroundings, amongst strangers, many of them of the baser sort, drinking, card playing, gambling and quarreling, — what a relief it was to receive a letter from home with assurances of affectionate regard from those I most esteemed. • ,

Truly the lines had not fallen to me in pleasant places, and I was sometimes exposed to perils from the lawless characters by whom I was surrounded. On one occasion a dissolute and des- perate miner, named Gilbert, came to Cannon's hotel, which was my boarding house while in Dubuque. He usually came over from the east side of the riv^er once a week for a spree. On this occasion, being very drunk, he was more than usually offensive and commenced abusing Cannon, the landlord, applying to him some contemptuous epithet. I thoughtlessly remarked to Can- non, "You have a new name," upon which Gilbert cocked his pistol and aiming at me was about to fire when Cannon, quick as thought, struck at his arm and so destroyed his aim that the bullet went over my head. The report of the pistol brought others to the room and a general melee ensued in which the bar

IN THE NOETHWEST. 9

was demolished, the stove broken and Gilbert unmercifully whipped. Gilbert was afterward shot in a drunken brawl.

I formed some genial acquaintances in Dubuque, amongst them Gen. Booth, Messrs. Brownell, Wilson and others, since well known in the history of the country. Price, the wood con- tractor, never paid me for my work. I invested what money I had left for lots in Madison, all of which I lost, and had, in ad- dition, to pay a note I had given on th<^ lots.

On February 11th I went to Cassville, journeying thither on the ice. This village had flourished greatly, in the expectation of becoming the territorial and state capital, expectations doomed, as we have seen, to disappointment. It is romantically situated amidst picturesque bluffs, some of which tower aloft like the walls and turrets of an ancient castle, a characteristic that attaches to much of the bluff scenery along this point.

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN.

I reached this old French town on the twelfth of February. The town and settlement adjacent extended over a prairie nine miles long, and from one to two miles broad, a beautiful plateau of land, somewhat sandy, but for many years abundantly pro- ductive, furnishing supplies to traders and to the military post established there. It also furnished two cargoes of grain to be used as seed by the starving settlement at Selkirk, which were conveyed thither by way of the Mississippi, St. Peter and Eed rivers. The earliest authentic mention of the iDlace refers to the establishment of a post called St. Nicholas, on the east bank of the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Wisconsin, by Gov. De La Barre, who, in 1683, sent Nicholas Per rot with a garrison of twenty men to hold the post. The first ofi&cial document laying claim to the country on the Upper Mississippi, issued in 1689, has mention of the fort. This document we transcribe entire:

"Nicholas Perrot, commanding for the king, ^t the post of the Nadouessioux, commissioned by the Marquis Denonville, governor and lieutenant governor of all New France, to man- age the interests of commerce amongst the Indian tribes and people of the Bay des Puants (Green Bay), Nadouessioux (Da- kotahs), Maseontins, and other western nations of the Upper Mississippi, and to take possession in the king's name of all the places where he has heretofore been, and whither he will go.

10 FIFTY YEARS

*^ We, this day, the eighth of May, one thousand six hundred and eighty-nine, do, in the presence of the Eeverend Father Marest, of the Society of Jesus, missionary among the Na- douessioux; of Monsieur de Borieguillot (or Boisguillot), com- manding the French in the neighborhood of the Oaiskonche (Wisconsin), on the Mississippi; Augustin Le Gardeur, Esq., Sieur de Caurnont, and of Messeurs Le Sueur, Hibert, Lemire and Blein:

''Declare to all whom it may concern, that, being come from the Bay des Puants, and to the lake of the Ouiskonches, and to river Mississippi, we did transport ourselves to the country of the l^adouessioux, on the border of the river St. Croix, and at the mouth of the river St. Pierre (Minnesota), on the bank of which were the Mantantans; and further up to the interior to the northeast of the Mississippi, as far as the Menchokatoux, with whom dwell the majority of the Songeskitens, and other Nadouessioux, who are to the northeast of the Mississippi, to take possession for, and in the name of, the king of the countries and rivers inhabited by the said tribes, and of which they are proprietors. The present act done in our presence, signed with our hand and subscribed.''

Then follow the names of the persons mentioned. The docu- , ment was drawn up at Green Bay.

There is little doubt that this post was held continuously by the French as a military post until 1696, when the French authorities at Quebec withdrew all their troops from Wisconsin, and as a trader's post or settlement, until the surrender in 1763 to the British of all French claims east of the Mississippi. It was probably garrisoned near the close of the latter period. It remained in the possession of the French some time, as the Eng- lish, thinking it impossible to compete for the commerce of the Indian tribes with the French traders who had intermarried with them, an^ so acquired great influence, did not take actual possession until many years later.

The post is occasionally mentioned by the early voyageurs, and the prairie which it commanded was known as the " Prairie du Chien," or praire of the dog, as early as 1763, and is so men- tioned by Carver. It was not formally taken possession of by the United States until 1814, when Gov. Clarke with two hundred men came up from Sb. Louis to Prairie du Chien, then under

IN THE NORTHWEST. 11

English rule, to build a fort and protect American interests at the village. At that time there were about fifty families, descended chiefly from the old French settlers. These were en- gaged chiefly in farming, owning a common field four miles long by a half mile wide. They had outside of this three separate farms and twelve horse mills to manufacture their produce. The fort, held by a few British troops under Capt. Deace, surrendered without resistance, but soon after the British traders at Macki- naw sent an expedition under Joe Rolette, Sr., to recapture the post, which they did after a siege of three days, the defenders being allowed to withdraw with their private property on parole. They were followed by the Indians as far as Rock Is- land.. Meanwhile, Lieut. Campbell, with reinforcements on his way from St. Louis, was attacked, part were captured and the remainder of his troops driven back to St. Louis. Late in 1814 Maj. Zachary Taylor proceeded with gunboats to chastize the Indians for their attack on Campbell, but was himself met and driven back. The following year, on the declaration of peace be- tween Great Britain and America, the post at Prairie du Chien was evacuated. The garrison fired the fort as they withdrew from it.

The fort erected by the Americans under Gen. Clarke in 1814 was called Fort Shelby. The British, on capturing it, changed the name to Fort McKay. The Americans, on assuming posses- sion and rebuilding it, named it Fort Crawford. It stood on the bank of the river at the north end of St. Friole, the old French village occupied in 1876 by the Dousmans. In 1833 the new Fort Crawford was built on an elevated site about midway in the prairie. It was a strong military post and was commanded at this time by Gen. Zachary Taylor. Many officers, who subse- quently won distinction in the Florida Indian, Mexican, and late Civil War, were stationed here from time to time. Within a time included in my own recollections of the post, Jefferson Davis spirited away the daughter of his commanding officer. Gen. Taylor, and married her, the '^ rough and ready" general being averse to the match.

Prairie du Chien derived its name from a French family known as du Chien, in English ''The Dog." By this name the Prairie was known long prior to the establishment of the French stockade and post. By that name it has been known and recog-

12 ' FIFTY YEARS

nized ever since. It has been successively under the French, English and United States gcrv^ernments, and lying originally in the great Northwestern Territory, in the subsequent divisions of that immense domain, it has been included within the bounds of the territories of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wiscon- sin. Gov. Wm. H. Harrison, of Indiana Territory, recognized Prairie du Ohien by issuing commissions to Henry M. Fisher and Campbell as justices of the peace, the first civil commis- sions issued for the American government in the entire district of country including West Wisconsin and Minnesota east of the Mississippi. Prior to this time, about 1819, the inhabitants had been chiefly under military rule. In 1819 the county of Craw- ford was organized as a part of Michigan Territory, and blank commissions were issued to I^icholas Boilvin, Esq., with author- ity to appoint and install the officers of the new county govern- ment. Gov. Lewis Cass established by proclamation the county seat at Prairie du Chien, and John W. Johnson was installed as chief justice of the county court. The entire corps of officers were qualified. In January, 1823, Congress passed an act pro- viding for circuit courts in the counties west and north of Lake Michigan, and James Duane Doty was appointed judge for the ■district composed of Brown, Mackinaw and Crawford counties, and a May term was held in Prairie du Chien the same year.

Indian Troubles. — There were some Indian troubles, an ac- count of which is given in the biographical sketch of J. H. Lock- wood. There were other incidents which may be worthy of separate mention. In 1827 an entire family, named Methode, were murdered, as is supposed, by the Indians, though the mur- derers were never identified. The great incentive to violence and rapine with the Indians was whisky. An intelligent Winne- bago, aged about sixty years, told me that "paganini,'' ^' fire- water'^ (whisky), was killing the great majority of his people, and making fools and cripples of those that were left; that before the pale faces came to the big river his people were good hunt- ers and had plenty to eat; that now they were drunken, lazy and hungry; that they once wore elk or deer skins, that now they were clad in blankets or went naked. This Indian I had never seen drunk. The American Fur Company had huts or open houses where the Indians might drink and revel.

At an Indian payment a young, smart looking Indian got

IN THE NORTHWEST. 13

drunk and in a quarrel killed his antagonist. The friends of the murdered Indian held a council and determined that the mur- derer should have an opportunity of running for his life. The friends of the murdered Indian formed in a line, at the head of which was stationed the brother of the dead man, who was to lead in the pursuit. At a signal the bands of the prisoner were cut, and with a demoniacal yell he . bounded forward, the entire line in swift and furious pursuit. Should he outrun his pur- suers, he would be free; should they overtake and capture him, they were to determine the mode of his death. He ran nearly a mile when he tripped and fell. The brother of the dead Indian,, heading the pursuit, pounced upon him and instantly killed him with a knife.

Considering the fact that the Indians were gathered together under the guns of a United States fort, and under the pro- tection of a law, expressly forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquors to them, the people of the United States were certainly justified in expecting better results, not only in regard to the protection of the frontier settlers but for that of the Indians themselves. All came to naught because of the non-enforcement of law. Liquors were shamelessly said to the Indians and they were encouraged to drunken revelry and orgies by the very men who should have protected and restrained them.

The prosperity of Prairie du Chien depended upon the Indian trade, and upon government contracts which the presence of a military force rendered necessary. The Indians gathered here in great numbers.

Here the Winnebagoes, part of the Menomonies and some Chippewas received their annuities, and here centred also an immense trade from the American Fur Company, the depot being a large stone building on the banks of the Mississippi,, under the charge of Hercules Dousman. . ,

FORT CRAWFORD ROBBED.

Two discharged soldiers (Thompson and Evans) living at Patch Grove, thirteen miles away, visited the fort often. On a morning after one of their visits a soldier on guard noticed a heap of fresh earth near the magazine. An alarm was given, an examination made, and it was found that the magazine had been burst open with bars and sledge hammers, entrance having been

14 FIFTY YEARS

obtained by digging under the corner picket. Three kegs of silver, each containing $5,000, were missing. The kegs had been x)assed through the excavation underneath ^the picket. One keg had burst open near the picket, and the silver was found buried in the sand. The second keg burst on the bank of the Mississippi, and all the money was found buried there ex- cept about six hundred dollars. The third keg was found months after by John Brinkman, in the bottom of the river, two miles below the fort. He was spearing fish by torchlight, when Jie chanced to find the keg. The keg he delivered at the fort and received a small reward. On opening the keg it was found to contain coin of a different kind from that advertised as stolen. Brinkman, however, made no claims on account of errors. Thompson, Evans, and a man named Shields were arrested by the civil authorities on suspicion ; their trial was continued from term to term and they were at last dismissed. One man, who had seen the silver in the sand during the day and gone back at night to fill his pockets, was seized by a soldier on guard, im- prisoned for a year, and discharged.

EARLY JUSTICE.

A Frenchman shot andTiilled a couple of tame geese belonging to a neighbor, supposing them to be wild. Discovering his mis- take, he brought the geese to the owner, a Dutchman, who flew into a great rage, but took the geese and used them for his own table, in addition to which he had the goose-killer arrested and tried before Martin Savall, a justice of the peace. The defend- ant admitted the killing of the geese, the plaintiff admitted re- ceiving them and using them for food, nevertheless the justice gave judgment in favor of plaintiff by the novel ruling that these geese, if not killed, would have laid eggs and hatched about eight goslings. *The defendant was therefore fined three dollars for the geese killed, and eight dollars for the goslings that might have been hatched if the geese had been permitted to live, and costs besides. Plaintiff appealed to the district court which reversed the decision on the ground that plaintiff had eaten his geese, and the goslings, not being hatched, did not exist. Plaintiff paid the costs of the suit, forty-nine dollars, remarking that a Dutchman had no chance in this country; that he would go back to Germany. The judge remarked that it would be the best thing he could do.

IN THE NORTHWEST. 15

A SOUTHWARD JOURNEY.

My original plan on leaving Maine was to make a prospect- ing tour through the West and South. I had been in Prairie du Chien for a season, and as soon as my contract to cut hay for the fort and my harvesting work was done, I started, with two of my comrades, in a birch bark canoe for New Orleans. This mode, of traveling proving slow and tedious, after two days, on our arrival at Dubuque, we sold our canoe and took passage on the steamer Smelter for St. Loais, which place we reached on the seventeenth of October. We remained five days, stopping at the Union Hotel. St. Louis wae by far the finest and largest city I had yet seen in the West. Its levee was crowded with drays and other vehicles and lined with steamers and barges. Its general appearance betokened prosperity. On the twenty-second, I left on the steamer George Collier for New Orleans, but the yellow fever being reported in that city, I re- mained several days at Baton Eouge. On the second of Novem- ber I re-embarked for New Orleans, where I found a lodging at the Conti Street Hotel*. New Orleans was even then a large and beautiful city. Its levee and streets were remarkable for their cleanness, but seemed almost deserted.* Owing to a recent visi- tation of the yellow fever and the financial crisis of 1837, busi- ness was almost suspended. These were hard times in New Orleans. Hundreds of men were seeking employment, and many of them were without money or friends. It was soon very evi- dent to me that I had come to a poor place to better my fortunes. After a thorough canvass, I found but one situation vacant, and that was in a drinking saloon, and was not thought of for an instant. I remained fifteen days, my money gradually diminish- ing, when I concluded to try the interior. I took steamer for Vicksburg, and thence passed up the Yazoo to Manchester, where I spent two days in the vain search for employment, offering to do any kind of work. I was in the South, where the labor was chiefly done by negroes. I was friendless and without letters of recommendation, and for a man under such circum- stances to be asking for employment was in itself a suspicious circumstance. I encountered everywhere coldness and distrust. I returned to Vicksburg, and, fortunately, had still enough money left to secure a deck passage to the North, but was obliged to

16 FIFTY YEARS

live sparingly, and sleep without bedding. I kept myself some- what aloof from the crew and passengers. The captain and clerk commented on my appearance, and were, as I learned from a conversation that I could not help but overhear, keeping a close eye upon me for being so quiet and restrained. It was true that the western rivers were infested with desperate char- acters, gamblers and thieves such as the Murrell gang. Might I not be one of them. I was truly glad when, on the fifth of December, we landed at St. Louis. It seemed nearer my own country; but finding no employment there, I embarked on the steamer Motto for Hennepin, Illinois, where I found occasional employment cutting timber. There was much talk here of the Murrell gang, then terrorizing the country; and I have good reason to believe that some of them at that time were in Henne- pin. After remaining about two months, I left, on foot, valise in hand or strapped upon my back, with J. Simpson, for Galena, which place we reached in four days. Finding here Mr. Put- nam, with a team, I went up with him on the ice to Prairie du Ohien, where, after an absence of five months of anxiety, sus- pense and positive hardships, I was glad to find myself once more among friends.

During the summer 0^1838 I cultivated a farm. I had also a hay contract for the fort. My partner was James 0. Bunker. I had worked hard and succeeded in raising a good crop, but found myself in the fall the victim of bilious^ fever and ague. I contin- ued farming in 1839 and furnishing hay to the fort, but continued to suffer with chills and fever. Myself and partner were both affected, and at times could scarcely take care of ourselves. Help could not be obtained, but ague comes so regularly to torture ita victims that, knowing the exact hour of its approach, we could prepare in advance for it, and have our water, gruel, boneset and quinine ready and within reach. We knew when we would shake, but not the degree of fever which would follow. The delirium of the fever would fill our minds with strange fancies. On one occasion I came home with the ague fit upon me, hitched my horses with wagon attached to a post and went into the house^ Bunker had passed the shaking stage, and was delirious. I 'threw myself on the bed, and the fever soon following, I knew nothing till morning, when I found the team still hitched to the ^post, and, in their hunger, eating it.

IN THE NORTHWEST. 17

In November of this year I made a somewhat perilous trip with team to Fort Winnebago, at the portage of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. The weather was cold and the military road, much of the distance, covered with snow. There was scarcely a trail over the rolling prairie to guide me. Exposure brought on the chills as I was returning. Fatigued, sick and suffering, I coiled myself on the top of the load. The second day, as the surt was setting, I came in sight of Parish's Grove, but the horses were ftnwilling to obey my guidance. Coming to a fork in the road they insisted on going to the right. I pulled them to the left. Had I been guided by their ''horse sense'' they would have brought me in a few moments to the door of Parish's hotel. As it was, I drove on until far in the night, when we came to a steep hill, two steep for descent in the wagon. I unhitched the team, loaded them with the portable things in the wagon to keep them from the wolves that were howling around, mounted one of the horses and descended the hill and found myself at Parish's door, the very place I had been trying to. find for a day and a night. Lieut. Caldwell, quartermaster at Fort Crawford, re- ceived the load, and learning something of the perils of the jour- ney, gave me eighty dollars instead of the forty he had promised.

RETURN TO MAINE.

During the spring and summer of 1840, I fulfilled heavy hay and wood contracts for the fort, and in the autumn of that year concluded to revisit my early home in JVIaine. I set out September 23d, and reached Chicago in seven days, trav- eling with a team. I traveled thence by steamer to Buffalo, by canal boat to Rochester, by railroad and stage to Albany and Boston, by railroad to Lowell, and by stage to Tamworth, New Hampshire. After spending four years amidst the prairies of the West it was indeed a pleasure to look again upon the grand ranges of mountains in this part of Kew England. When eleven years of age I had lived where I could look upon these mountains, and now to their grandeur was added the charm of old associ- ation. I looked with pleasure once more upon ''Old Ossipee," Coroway Peak, and White Face. Time had written no changes upon these rugged mountains. There were cottages and farms on the mountain side. Sparkling rivulets gleamed in the sun-

2

18 FIFTY YEARS

light, as they found their way, leaping from rock to rock, to the valleys beneath. Tamworth is situated on beautiful ridges amongst these mountain ranges. Near this place is the old family burying ground containing the graves of my grand par- ents and other near relatives. These mountain peaks seemed to stand as sentinels over their last resting place. I remained at Tamworth a short time, visited the graves of my kindred, and on October 20th pursued my journey to Bloomfield, Maine, my old home. I found great changes. Some kind friends remained, but others were gone. The old home was changed and I felt that I could not make my future home here. The great West seemed more than ever attractive. There would I build my home, and seek my fortune. I found here one who was willing to share that home and whatever fortune awaited me in the West. On January 1st I was married to Mary J. Wyman, by Eev. Arthur Drinkwater, who gave us good counsel on the eve of our depar- ture to a new and still wilderness country. On February 16th we bade adieu to our friends in Maine, visited awhile at Tam- worth, and March 20th reached Prairie du Chien, having trav- eled by private conveyance, stage and steamer, passing through ]N"ew Haven, !N'ew York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Frederick City, Maryland, over the National road to Wheeling, Virginia, by steamer down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to our destina- tion. Here we made our home until the autumn of 1845, I con- tinuing in the business in which I had been previously engaged. At this time a failure in my wife's health rendered a change of climate necessary.

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN IN 1836-37.

Our history of Fifty Years in the Northwest commences properly at Prairie du Chien in the years 1836-37. The entire country west and north was at that time but little better than a wilderness. Prairie du Chien was an outpost of civilization. A few adventurous traders and missionaries had penetrated the country above, planting a few stations here and there, and some little effort had been made at settlement, but the country, for the most part, was the home of roving tribes of Indians, and he who adventured among them at any distance from posts or settle- ments did so at considerable peril. Prairie du Chien, as we have

IN THE NORTHWEST. 19

shown, had been for an indefinite period under various govern- ments, at first a French, and later an American settlement, generally under the protection of a military force. It was a primitive looking village. The houses were built for the most part of upright timber posts and puncheons, and were sur- rounded by pickets. There was no effort at display. Every thing was arranged for comfort and protection.

AMERICAN RESIDENTS.

There were living at Prairie du Chien in 1837 the following Americans with their families: Alfred Brunson, Thomas. P. Burnett, Joseph M. and Thomas P. Street, Ezekiel Tainter, John Thomas, Milo Richards, John H. Fonday, Samuel Gilbert, and William Wilson. The following were unmarried: James B. Dallam, Ira B. Brunson, William S. Lockwood, and Hercules Dousman. In addition to these were perhaps near a hundred French families, old residents. Among the more noted were the Brisbois, La Ohapelle, Rolette and Bruno families.

We include in the following biographical sketches some names of non-residents, prominent in the early territorial history, and others who came to Prairie du Chien later than 1837. »

BIOGRAPHIES.

James Duane Doty. — The life of this eminent citizen is so interwoven with the history of Wisconsin that it might well claim more space than is here allotted to it. The plan of this work forbids more than a brief mention, and we therefore give only the principal events in his life. Mr. Doty was born in Salem, Washington county, New York, where he spent his early days. After receiving a thorough literary education he studied law, and in 1818 located at Detroit, Michigan. In 1820, in com- pany with Gov. Cass, he made a canoe voyage of exploration through Lakes Huron and Michigan. On this voyage they nego- tiated treaties with the Indians, and returning made a report on the comparatively unexplored region which they had trav- ersed. Under his appointment as judge for the counties of Michigan west of the lake, which appointment he held for nine years, he first made his h6me. at Prairie du Chien, where he re- sided one year, thence removing to Green Bay for the remainder

20 FIFTY YEARS

of his term of ofi&ce, at which place he continued to reside for a period of twenty years. In 1830 he was appointed one of the commissioners to locate military routes from Green Bay to Chi- cago and Prairie du Chien. In 1834 he represented the coun- ties west of the lake in the Michigan legislative council at De- troit, at which council the first legislative action was taken affect- ing these counties. At that session he introduced a bill to create the state of Michigan, which was adopted. The result of this action was the creation of the territory of Wisconsin in 1836. In 1838 Mr. Doty was chosen territorial delegate to Congress from Wisconsin, in which capacity he served four years, when he was appointed governor. He served as governor three years. He acted as commissioner in negotiating Indian treaties. In 1846 he was a member of the first constitutional convention. In 1848 he was elected member of Congress, and was re-elected in 1851.

Somewhere in the '50s he built a log house on an island in Fox river, just above Butte des Mortes, and lived there with his family many years. There he gathered ancient curiosities, con- sisting of Indian implements, and relics of the mound builders. This log house still stands and is kept intact with the curiosities gathered there by the present owner, John Roberts, to whom they were presented by Mrs. Fitzgerald, a daughter of Gov. Doty, in 1877. The cabin overlooks the cities of Menasha and [N'eenah, and the old council ground at the outlet of Lake Winne- bago, where the Fox and Sioux Indians held annual councils, also the old battle ground where the Fox Indians routed the Sioux in one of the hardest fought battles on record.

In 1861 Judge Doty was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs, and subsequently was appointed governor of Utah Terri- tory, which place he held until his death in 1865. Wisconsin had no truer friend nor more faithful and efficient servant. His aims were exalted, and he deservedly held a high place in the affec- tions of his fellow citizens.

James H. Lockwood. — Mr. Lock wood was the only practic- ing lawyer at the organization of Judge Doty's court. He was the pioneer lawyer in Prairie du Chien, and the first lawyer ad- mitted to the bar in what is now Wisconsin. He practiced in Crawford, Brown and Mackinaw counties. He was born in Peru, Clinton county, IS'ew York, Dec. 7, 1793. He married Julia Warren in 1822. She died at Prairie du Chien in 1827.

IN THE NORTHWEST. 21

He married his second wife, Sarah A. Wright, in St. Louis, Mis- souri, in 1834. She died at Prairie du Chien in 1877, much esteemed as one of the pioneer women of the Upper Missis- sippi, and respected as a devout Christian, whose faith was proven by her works. The early years of Mr. Lockwood were spent on a farm. He had not the privileges of a classical educa- tion, and he may be said to be self educated. In 1810 he com- menced the study of law. In 1814 he was sutler in the United States army, and in 1815 at the post at Mackinaw. From 1816 to 1819 he was an Indian trader, his home being at Prairie du Chien. In 1826 orders came to abandon the fort at Prairie du Chien. The soldiers were transferred to Fort Snelling, but arms and ammunition were left in charge of John Marsh, sub-Indian agent. Mr. Lockwood' s family was the only American family at the post. On June 25th of the ensuing year he left for New York by the Wisconsin River route, Mrs. Lockwood remaining at home. The Winnebagoes were a little troublesome at this time, the more so as the soldiers were removed from the post, but no serious disturbance was anticipated. The first night after leaving Prairie du Chien Mr. L. met some Winnebagoes, and all camped together for the night; but the Indians, under their chief. Red Bird, left the camp stealthily before morning, and, proceeding to Prairie du Chien, entered the house of Mr. Lockwood with loaded rifles. Mrs. L., greatly frightened, fled to the store, then in charge of Duncan Graham, an old English trader. The Indians followed Mrs. L. into the store. Graham counseled with them and they left. As they were acting sus- piciously a messenger was sent after Mr. Lockwood in haste. He returned on the twenty-seventh and found the inhabitants as- sembled, but without ammunition or means of defense. The In- dians told the people not to go into the fort, as they would destroy it. As the day passed pickets and embankments were built around an old tavern. About sundown a keelboat came down the river and landed, bearing three dead bodies and sev- eral wounded. The sides of the boat had been riddled by bul- lets. This ghastly arrival increased the panic. Mr. Lockwood urged organization for defense. He was selected as captain but declined, and Thomas McNair was chosen, who ordered an im- mediate removal to the fort. Repairs were made and prepara- tions for successful defense. On the day the fighting commenced

22 FIFTY YEAES

Eed Bird and his companions shot and killed Gagner and Lip- cap. Mrs Gagner, with rifle in hand, held Eed Bird at bay till she escaped with one child into the rushes, whence she was res- cued by a soldier on patrol duty. The soldier went to the house, where he found Gagner and Lipcap lying dead upon the floor, and an infant child, scalped and with its throat cut, lying under the bed. Gov. Cass, of Michigan, arrived on the fourth of July, greatly to the relief of the besieged garrison, which he mustered into the service of the United States, appointing Mr. Lockwood quartermaster. Another company, under Capt. Abner Field, was sent from Galena to their relief. Mr. Lockwood sent a messenger to Col. Snelling at Fort Snelling, who promptly sent down a company in a keelboat. The force thus concentrated at the fort was sufficient to overcome the Indians, who were in no plight to engage in a war with the JUnited States. As the result of a council held by the Winnebagoes in the presence of the officers of the garrison, the Indians agreed to surrender Eed Bird and Kee-Waw to Maj. Whistler, the Indians asking that the prisoners should not be ironed or harshly treated. Maj. Whistler promised that they should be treated with considera- tion, and Eed Bird, rising from the ground, said, *^I am ready, '^ and was marched off with his accomplice, Kee- Waw, to a tent in the rear and placed under guard. The prisoners were handed over to Gen. Atkinson, and given into the hands of the civil authorities. They were chained and imprisoned, which so chafed the proud spirit of Eed Bird that he drooped and soon died of a broken heart. Kee- Waw was afterward pardoned by the president of the United States. For this and other out- rages perpetrated upon the settlers, not a single Indian suffered the penalty of death, excepting Eed Bird, whose pride may be said to have been his executioner.

Mr. Lockwood continued in mercantile business at Prairie du Chien many years. He held many positions of honor and trust, acquitting himself with credit. He built the first saw mill north of the Wisconsin river, on the Menomonie river. The famous Menomonie mills now occupy the same site. A small mill had been commenced prior to this on Black river, but the Indians had burned this mill before it was completed. Mr. Lockwood died at his home, Aug. 24, 1867.

John S. Lockwood. — John S., the brother of James H. Lock-

IN THE NORTHWEST. 23

wood, was born in 1796 in New York; came to Prairie du Chien in 1838, and thereafter engaged in merchandising. He was a man of exemplary habits and a member of the Presbyterian church most of his life. He raised an interesting family. He died at his home at Prairie du Chien in 1858.

Samuel Gilbert settled at Prairie du Chien in 1830. He was of Kentucky birth, a blacksmith by trade, and a model man in habits. Mr. Gilbert, in 1842, became one of the proprietors of the Chippewa Falls mill. He afterward lived at Albany. He followed Mississippi river piloting, removed to Burlington, Iowa, and died in 1878. Mr. Gilbert left four sons, Oliver, lum- berman in Dunn county, Wisconsin, John and I. Dallam, lum- ber merchants at Burlington, Iowa, and Samuel.

Michael Brisbois. — We find the names of Brisbois and some others mentioned in the proceedings of the commission held by Col. Isaac Lee in 1820, to adjust claims to land in Prairie du Chien and vicinity. Michael Brisbois testified that he had been a resident of the Prairie thirty-nine years, which would date his settlement as far back as 1781. Mr. Brisbois lived a stirring and eventful life. He died in 1837, leaving several children. Joseph, the oldest, became a man of prominence and held many offices in state and church. Charles, the second son, while yet a boy went to McKenzie river, British possessions, in the employ of the I^orth western Fur Company, where he lived thirty years beyond the Arctic circle, and raised a large family. In 1842 he returned to Prairie du Chien, but his children, reared in the cold climate of the frozen zone, soon after his return sick- ened, and most of them died, unable to endure the change to a climate so much milder. Bernard W., a third son, was borU at Prairie du Chien, Oct. 4, 1808. He was well educated and grew up a leading and influential citizen. As a child he had witnessed the taking of Fort Shelby by the British in 1814, and its recap- ture as Fort McKay by the United States troops in 1815. Dur- ing the Bed Bird Indian war he served as second lieutenant, and for several years was stationed at Fort Crawford. He was also a prominent agent or confidential adviser in the fur company which had its headquarters at Prairie du Chien. He was sheriff of Crawford county and held the office of county treasurer and other positions of trust. In 1872 President Grant appointed him consul to Vernier, Belgium, but ill health compelled an early

24 FIFTY YEAES

return. Mr. Brisbois married into the La Chapelle family. He died in 1885, leaving an interesting family.

Pierre Lapoint was also before the commission of Col. Lee as an early resident, having lived at the Prairie since 1782. The testimony of these early citizens served to establish the ancient tenure of the lands by French settlers, a tenure so ancient that no one could definitely give a date for its commencement. Mr. Lapoint was a farmer. He reared a large family of children, and died about 1845.

Joseph Eolette. — Joseph Eolette was at one time chief jus- tice of the county court of Crawford county. He was of French descent and was born in Quebec, L. C, in 1787. He was edu- cated for the Catholic priesthood. In 1804 he came to Prairie du Chien. In the early part of his mature life he was an active and successful trader with the Indians on the Upper Mississippi. He was a man of keen perceptions and considerable ambition. He joined the British at the siege of Detroit, and was an officer at the capture of Mackinaw. He was in command of a company in the campaign of the British from Mackinaw to Prairie du Chien, and aided in taking the American stockade. His early education and associations inclined him to espouse the British cause during the war of 1812, which he did with all the ardor and enthusiasm of his nature. To his family he was kind and indulgent, giving his children the best education possible. One daughter, married to Capt. Hoe, of the United States army, was a very superior woman. One son, Joseph, received all the aid that money could give, and might have risen to distinction, but he early contracted intemperate habits which became in later life tenaciously fixed. This son was at one time a member of the Minnesota legislature. Joseph Rolette, Sr., died at Prairie du Chien in 1842.

Hercules Dousman. — The leading Indian trader of the Up- per Mississippi, the prominent adviser at Indian treaties and payments and the trusted agent of the American Fur Company, was Hercules Dousman, a keen, shrewd man, and universally influential with the Indians, with whom it might be said his word was law. He understood all the intricacies involved in the Indian treaty and the half-breed annuities and payments. His extended favors and credits to the Indians, properly proven, of course, would be recognized and paid at the regular payments.

IN THE NORTHWEST. ' 25

He accumulated through these agencies great wealth, which he retained to his dying day. He came to Prairie du Chien, in the employ of Joseph Eolette, in 1828. He afterward married the widow of Rolette. He died in Prairie du Chien in 1878.

Rev. David Lowry. — A noble, big hearted Kentuckian, a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, he was located by the government as farmer and teacher of the Indians on Yel- low river, near Prairie du Chien, in 1833. For years this good man labored with unquestioned zeal for the welfare of the un- tutored Indian. Mr. Lowry informed me, while at his post, that he was fearful that all his labor was labor lost, or worse than useless. The Indian pupil learned just enough to fit him for the worst vices. The introduction of whisky was a corrupting agency, in itself capable of neutralizing every effort for the moral and intellectual advancement of the Indian, with whom intoxication produces insanity. He felt quite disheartened as to the prospect of accomplishing any good. He died at St. Cloud some time in the '50s.

Chief Justice Charles Dunn. — When Wisconsin Territory was organized in 1836, Charles Dunn was appointed chief jus- tice. He served as judge until Wisconsin became a state in 1848. He was of Irish descent and was born in Kentucky in 1799. He studied law in Kentucky and Illinois, and was admit- ted to practice in 1820 at Jonesboro, Illinois. He was chief clerk of the Illinois house of representatives five years. He was one of the commissioners of the Illinois and Michigan canal. In 1829 he was one of a party which surveyed and platted the first town of Chicago, and superintended the first sale of town lots there. He was captain of a company during the Black Hawk War in 1832, and was severely wounded through mistake by a sentinel on duty. In 1835 he was a member of the Illinois house of repre- sentatives.^ In 1837, as judge, he held his first court in Crawford county. In this court, in 1838, indictments were found against certain individuals for selling liquor to whites and Indians con- trary to law, when, by evasions, continuances and technicalities, the suits would go by the board. In one case the charge given to the jury by this dignified and courteous Judge Dunn was as fol- lows: ''Gentlemen of the Jury: Unless you are satisfied that the defendants in this case did deal out, in clear, unadulterated quanti- ties, intoxicating drinks, it is your imperative duty to discharge

26 FIFTY YEARS

them.'^ The jury, of course, discharged the defendants. Aside from his drinking habits, which interfered much with his useful- ness, he was a genial gentleman and regarded by his associates as an eminent jurist. He sometimes kept the court waiting till he should become sober, and on one occasion came near losing his life in a drunken spree. He jumped through an upper window of Tainter's hotel, and escaped with only a broken leg. Judge Dunn was a member of the second Wisconsin constitutional convention. He was state senator in 1853-4-5 and 6. He died at Mineral Point, April 7, 1872.

Eev. Alfred Brunson, a distinguished pioneer preacher in the West, was born in Connecticut, 1793, and received there a common school education. His father died while he was yet a minor, and with commendable zeal and filial love he devoted himself to providing for his mother and her bereaved family, working at the trade of a shoemaker till he was seventeen years of age, when he enlisted as a soldier under Gen. Harrison and served under him until the peace of 1815, when he entered the Methodist ministry, in which, by industry and close application, he became quite learned and eminent as a divine. His active ministry extended to the long period of sixty-seven years. He was the first Methodist minister north of the Wisconsin river. In 1837 he established a mission at Kaposia and thence removed to Eed Eock (Newport), in Washington county, Minnesota. In 1840 he was a member of the Wisconsin legislature. In 1842 he was Indian agent at Lapointe, on Lake Superior. Mr. Brunson was very prominent in the councils of his own church, having represented his conference several times in the general con- ference of that body. He is also the author of many essays and other publications, among them ''The Western Pioneer,'' in two volumes, a most entertaining and instructive account of life in the West.

Mr. Brunson was married to Eunice Burr, a relative of the famous Aaron Burr. She was a woman of great intelligence and of excellent qualities of heart as well as mind. Her heart over- flowed with sympathy for the sick and distressed, and she won by her care for them the affectionate title of '' Mother Brunson.'' She died in 1847.

Eev. Alfred Brunson, though an itinerant, was so favored in his various fields of labor that he was able to have his perma-

IN THE NORTHWEST. 27

nent home at Prairie du Chien, where he lived from 1835 until the time of his death in 1882.

Many incidents in Mr. Branson's career are worthy of per- manent record. He was among the most hardy and daring of the pioneers. He came down the Ohio and up the Mississippi in a barge to Prairie du Chien in 1835, the barge laden with liousehold furniture and the material for a frame building which, on landing, he proceeded immediately to erect. This house, which he and his family occupied till his death, is still standing.

When he established his mission at Kaposia he was greatly in need of an interpreter. An officer at Fort Snelling owned a negro slave who had been a Methodist before going into the army in the service of his master. Afterward he had married a Dakota woman and by associating with the Indians had learned their language. This young negro, James Thompson, was a slave, and Mr. Branson could only secure his services by pur- chasing him outright, which he did, paying the price of $1,200, the money for which was raised by subscription in Ohio. *' Jim'' was presented with his ^^free papers," and was soon interpreting the Gospel to the Indians at Kaposia. This is the only instance on record of a slave being sold on Minnesota soil. It will be remembered, however, that the historical "Dred Scott" was also the property of an officer at the Fort, Surgeon Emerson. James Thompson resided in St. Paul in the later years of his life, and died there in 1884.

Ira Brunson. — Ira, the eldest son of Eev. A. Branson, was born in Ohio in 1815, and came to Prairie du Chien in 1836. He was a member of the legislature during the years 1837-38-39 and 40. He was also postmaster many years. He was con- tinuously in office in Crawford county until his death in 1884. In 1840 he was appointed special deputy United States marshal for the purpose of removing the settlers from the Fort Snelling reservation. These settlers were mostly from Selkirk, Mani- toba. They had been driven out by the grasshoppers and, fleeing southward, had settled about Fort Snelling to be under the pro- tection of the Fort. The government, however, considered them intruders and ordered Mr. Branson to remove them outside the reservation, and to destroy all their dwellings and farm improve- ments, which disagreeable duty he performed as well, perhaps, as it could be performed; he, as he afterward told me, being

28 FIFTY YEARS

satisfied in his own mind that the removal would be for their ultimate good, the influences of the Fort and of the associations of the motley crowd of hangers on around it being somewhat demoralizing. At any rate the eviction of these western Acadi- ans has never aroused the sympathies of the poet and sentimen- talist as did that of the Acadians of the East.

John H. Folsom, brother of W. H. 0. Folsom, was born in Machias, Maine, Dec. 27, 1813. He was engaged during his youth in clerking. In 1835 he made a voyage as supercargo of a vessel to the Congo coast. In 1836 he came to Michigan, and in 1837 to Prairie du Chien, where he has since continuously re- sided. He was married in 1839 to Angelica Pion, who died in 1878, leaving no children. He has a very retentive memory, and is quoted as an authority in the local history of Prairie du Chien. The writer is indebted to him for many particulars re- ferring to the early history of that city.

EzEKiEL Tainter. — Mr. Tainter came to Prairie du Chien in 3 833 from Vermont. He had at first fort contracts, but after- ward engaged in merchandising, farming and hotel keeping. He also served as sheriff. He was eccentric and original in his meth- ods, and some amusing stories are told of his prowess in arresting criminals. On one occasion he was about to arrest a criminal. Having summoned his posse, he followed the man until he took refuge in a cabin with one door and two windows. Stationing his men before the door, he thus addressed them: ^^ Brave boys, I am about to go through this door. If I fall, as I undoubtedly will, you must rush over my dead body and seize the ruffian.'^ Giving the word of command, he plunged through the door and captured the criminal, apparently much astonished at finding himself still alive. At his tavern, one morning, a boarder an- nounced that he had been robbed. Uncle Zeke quieted him, and, quickly examining his rooms, found one boarder missing. It was gray twilight. He ordered all to retire but the man who had been robbed. The two sat quietly down as they saw a man ap- proaching the house from the bluffs. To their surprise it was the absentee approaching. As he stepped on the piazza, Uncle Zeke dexterously tripped him up with his stiff leg, and seizing him by the throat, shouted to the astonished miscreant: ''Where is the money you stole? Tell me at once, or you will never get up.'^ The prostrate culprit, thoroughly frightened, tremblingly

IN THE NORTHWEST. 29

answered, "I hid it in the bluff." They marched him to the spot, recovered the money and generously allowed the thief his freedom on the condition of his leaving the country. Uncle Zeke lived to a good old age, and died at the residence of his son Andrew, in Menomonie, Wisconsin.

Wyram Knowlton. — Mr. Knowlton was born in Chenango county, New York, in 1816, came to Wisconsin in 1837, and com- menced the study of law. He was admitted to practice in Platte- ville, and in 1840 came to Prairie du Chien and opened a law of- fice. In 1846 he enlisted and served in the Mexican War, after which he resumed practice. In 1850 he was appointed judge of the Sixth Judicial district of Wisconsin, and served six years. He held the first court in Pierce county in 1854. He was a man of fine ability. He died in the north part of the State in 1873.

Egbert Lester. — A melancholy interest attaches to the memory of this man on account of his early tragical death. He had come to Prairie du Chien in 1840, and in 1842 had been elected sheriff. Kext year his official duties called him to the Menomonie and Chippewa valleys. On his return he had left Lock wood's mills on the Menomonie, and had passed through Trempealeau and was coasting along the west shore, when an In- dian hailed him, calling for bread. Lester passed on without responding. As he reached a point of land the Indian ran across the point and, awaiting his approach, shot him through the heart. Lester rose as the ball struck him, and fell over- board. Mr. Jean Bruno, proprietor of the Chippewa mills, was on his way up river in a canoe, and witnessed the whole transaction. Mr. Bruno described the whole tragic scene. Popu- lar excitement ran high at Prairie du Chien. A party of men volunteered to search for Lester's body, which was found at the place of the murder and brought back for interment at Prairie du Chien. The Indian, a Sioux, was arrested and kept in jail a long time, and although he had acknowledged to some of his Indian friends that he had killed Lester, he was acquitted. It was a cold blooded and atrocious murder, and the proof of the Indian's guilt was overwhelming, as he was, by his own confes- sion, the murderer; still he was not punished. In this case the prisoner did not languish and die in jail of a broken heart as did Eed Bird, the murderer of Gagner and Lipcap. As a rule the courts dealt very leniently with Indian criminals.

30 FIFTY YEARS

Thomas Pendleton Burnett was born in Virginia in 1800. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Paris, Kentucky. He was appointed sub-Indian agent under J. M. Street, in 1829. He came to Prairie du Chien in 1830 and entered upon the duties of the agency. He also practiced law. In 1835 he was a mem- ber of the Michigan territorial council and its president. In 1836, after his term of office expired, he married a daughter of Alfred Brunson and, continuing the practice of law, became quite eminent for his skill, and acquired an extensive practice. He was a fluent speaker, well skilled in the management of the cases intrusted to his care. In 1840 he removed to a farm at Patch Grove, Grant county. He was a member of the Wiscon- sin constitutional convention which met in 1846. He served but a few weeks when he was called home by the death of his mother and the sickness of his wife. The fatigue of a twenty - four hours^ ride of eighty-five miles in a rude lumber wagon was too much for his not very rugged constitution, and four days after his mother's death he followed her to the world of spirits. His devoted wife survived him but three hours. Under circum- stances of such unusual sadness did this brilliant and promising lawyer and citizen take his departure from earth. His death created a profound sensation throughout the entire Northwest, where he was so well and favorably known.

Henry Dodge, the first governor of Wisconsin Territory, was born in Vinoennes, Indiana, Oct. 12, 1782. He came to the lead mines of Wisconsin in 1828. In 1832 he took part in the Black Hawk War, an uprising of the Sac and Fox Indians against the United States government. Mr. Dodge participated as a general at the battle of Bad Axe, his regiment occupying the front rank in that battle. April 30, 1836, he was appointed governor of Wiscon- sin by President Andrew Jackson, re-appointed in 1839 by Presi- dent Van Buren, and by President Polk in 1845, serving three terms. From 1841 to 1845, during the presidency of Harrison and his successor (Tyler), he served as terrritorial delegate to Con- gress. In 1848 he was elected United States senator for the short term, and re-elected in 1851, Senator Walker being his colleague. On the occasion of the motion to admit California, the Wisconsin senators were instructed by the legislature to vote against the measure. Senator Walker disregarded the instruction and voted for the measure. Senator Dodge, although extremely ill at the

IN THE NORTHWEST. 31

time, had himself carried to' the senate chamber that he might record his vote adversely to the bill. Gov. Dodge rose to the highest position in his State, and chiefly by his own unaided efforts. As a soldier he was brave and efficient, as a governor, congressional delegate and senator he was clear headed, cautious and wise, and altogether a citizen of whom the State might justly be proud. He died in Burlington, Iowa, June 19, 1867.

George W. Jones was born in Vincennes, Indiana. He graduated at Transylvania University, Kentucky, in 1825. He was educated for the law, but ill health prevented him from practicing. He, however, served as clerk of the United States district court in Missouri in 1826, and during the Black Hawk War served as aid-de-camp to Gen. Dodge. In 1832 he was ap- pointed colonel of militia, and was promoted to a major gener- alship. After the war he served as judge of a county court. In 1835 he was elected delegate to Congress from the territory of Michigan, or from that part of it lying west of Lake Michigan, and remained a delegate until the formation of Wisconsin Terri- tory, in 1836, when he was elected delegate from the new terri- tory. In 1839 he was appointed surveyor general for Wisconsin. He was removed in 1841, but reappointed by President Polk, and continued in office until elected senator from the state of Iowa, which position he held for six years, and was then ap- pointed by President Buchanan minister to IN'ew Granada. Dur- ing the Civil War his sympathies were with the South and he was imprisoned for awhile at Fort Warren under a charge of disloyalty. He has resided in Dubuque, Iowa, since the forma- tion of Iowa Territory. He still lives, a hale and hearty old gentleman, and served as a delegate to the waterways conven- tion held in St. Paul, September, 1880.

S. G. AND S. L. Tainter and John Thomas (father of Hon. Ormsby Thom^, representative from Wisconsin in the Congress of 1887-88) with their families came to Prairie du Chien in 1837. The Messrs. Tainter and Thomas died many years ago.

32 FIFTY YEAES

CHAPTER II.

STILLWATER AND ST. CROIX COUNTIES.

c

In September, 1844, reluctantly I bade adieu to Prairie du Chien with its picturesque bluffs and historic associations, and embarked on the steamer Highland Mary, Oapt. Atchison, to seek a home and more salubrious climate further north. The voyage was without incident worthy of note, till we reached St. Croix lake, in the midst of a crashing thunder storm and a deluge of rain, which did not prevent us from eagerly scanning the scenery of the lake. The shores were as yet almost without inhabitants. The home of Paul Carli, a two story house at the mouth of BoUes creek, was the first dwelling above Prescott, on the west side of the lake. A few French residences were to be seen above on the west side. On the east bank, below the mouth of Willow river, where Hudson is now situated, were three log houses owned by Peter Bouchea, Joseph Manesse, and Louis Massey. On the high hill west, nearly opposite Willow river, stood the farm house of Elam Greely, and on the same side, on the point, in full view of Stillwater, stood the farm house of John Allen. With the exception of these few dwellings, the shores of the lake were untouched by the hand of man, and spread before us in all their primitive beauty. There were gently rounded hills sloping to the water's edge, and crowned with groves of shrubby oak, amidst which, especially at the outlet of streams into the lake, the darker pines stood out boldly against the sky. We passed on over the clear, blue expanse of water on which was no floating thing save our boat and the wild fowl which were scared and flew away at our approach, till we reached the head of the lake at Stillwater, the end of our journey. No- vember 30th my family arrived on the steamer Cecilia, Capt. Throckmorton.

IN THE NOJiTHWEST. 33

STILLWATER IN 1845.

We landed just in front of the store of kelson & Co. Just below the landing was a clear, cold spring, bubbling out of the earth, or the rock rather. It was walled in and pretty well filled with speckled trout. On the opposite side of the street Walter R. Vail had a house and store; north of Yail's store the house and store of Socrates IN'elson. Up Main street, west side, stood Anson l^orthrup's hotel and Greely & Blake's post office and store. One street back was the residence of John E. Mower, and north of this the mill boarding house, and in the rear the shanty store of the mill company, where the Saw- yer House now stands. Up a ravine stood the shanty residence of John Smith. In a ravine next to kelson & Co.'s store was the residence of Wm. Cove. On Main street, opposite Greely & Blake's store, was the residence of Albert Harris. On the shore of the lake, north of Chestnut street, was John McKusick's saw mill. Sylvester Stateler's blacksmith shop stood just south of the mill. In Brown's Dakotah, now Schulenberg's addition, near the old log court house, was a log hotel, kept by Robert Kennedy. This was Stillwater in 1845.

ST. CROIX COUNTY.

From 1819 to 1836 this valley was under the jurisdiction of Crawford county, Michigan, there being no white inhabitants save Indian traders. There was no law dispensed in this region, excepting the law that might makes right. In 1836 the terri- tory of Wisconsin, comprising all of Michigan west of the great lakes; also all that portion of Missouri Territory out of which was formed the state of Iowa, which was organized as a territory in 1838, and admitted as a state in 1846; also that portion of Minnesota which lies west of the present state — yet unorganized — known as Dakota, was organized.

The year 1837 forms a new era in our history. Gov. Henry Dodge, of Wisconsin, on the part of the national government, was appointed to negotiate with the Ojibways. They met at Fort Snelling. A treaty was made, the Indians ceding to the United States all their lands east of the Mississippi, to near the headwaters of the St. Croix and Chippewa rivers. 3

34 FIFTY YEAKS

A deputation of Dakotas at Washington, the same year, ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi to the parent government, thus opening to settlement all this portion of Minnesota and Wisconsin. But few adventurers made their way into this far off region, however, for many years. A steamer once in two months was the only mode of travel, excepting by birch canoe.

In October, 1837, at Prairie du Chien, I met a party who had ascended the Mississippi and the St. Croix as far as St. Croix Falls. According to their account they had found the place where creation ended, where a large river, capable of bearing a steamer, burst out of a rock like that which Moses smote. They had seen ^'the elephant with his quills erect, '^ and were return- ing satisfied to their Ii^ew England home. They had entered the since famous Dalles of the St. Croix, located at the head of navigation on that river.

In the year 1838, being the year succeeding the purchase of the lands bordering on the St. Croix river and a portion of her tributaries, may be dated the commencement of the settlement of the St. Croix valley; but with the exception of the Hon. Jos- eph E. Brown, the parties that I shall enumerate as opening busi- ness, came here for the purpose of lumberiog, and in no instance as permanent settlers. The valley was considered too far north and the soil too sterile for cultivation, but many of those who came here in 1838 found out their mistake and made choice of the valley for their permanent homes. They were afterward abun- dantly satisfied with the healthfulness of the climate and the fer-' tility of the soil. Several companies were formed this year for the ostensible purpose of lumbering, many members of which became permanent settlers.

The first dismemberment of the St. Croix valley from Craw- ford county was by the organization of the county of St. Croix. Joseph R. Brown was elected representative to the legislature, from the north part of Crawford county. His residence at that time was Gray Cloud, now in Washington county. Mr. Brown introduced the bill for the organization of St. Croix county, which passed and was approved by the governor of Wisconsin, Jan. 9, 1840. The writer of these sketches was employed by Messrs. Brown and Brunson (the representatives from this dis- trict^, in December, 1839, to take them with a team from Prairie du Chien to Madison. One of the indispensable requirements

IN THE NORTHWEST. 35

for traveling in those days was a large ^^ Black Betty,'' which was the butt of much wit and humor. Mr. Brown said the con- tents of Old Betty must establish a new county away up in the ]!^orthwest. The deed was done ^^ the act did pass. I don't know whether Old Betty came back to assist in organizing the county or not. It is well to say Mr. Brown acquitted himself with honor to his constituents, and was successful in the one great object for which he sought the election. This was the precursor to coming events — a shadow cast before. For it was under this organiza- tion that IN'orthwest Wisconsin and Minnesota first obeyed the mandates of law and order.

Under the provision of the act of organization, Hazen Mooers, of Gray Cloud, Samuel Burkelo, of Marine, and Joseph E. Brown, of Dakotah, were constituted a board of county commissioners with county seat located at Dakotah.

This town was located at the head of Lake St. Oroix, on the west side, on unsurveyed government lands, known as 'Moe Brown's Claim." When the Wisconsin legislature of 1840 made this the county seat of St. Croix county it was named Dakotah.

JUDGE IRWIN'S COURT IN 1840.

The first district court north of Prairie du Chien was called at Dakotah, St. Croix county. This county had been assigned to Judge Irwin's district (Green Bay). The time assigned for the court was June, 1840. Judge Irwin wended his way up Fox river to the portage, down the Wisconsin to Prairie du Chien, up the Mississippi to St. Paul, and across from St. Paul to Da- kotah with guides. At Dakotah the regular officers were all absent, but he found at the court house two young men named Brown and six Frenchmen from St. Paul and Little Canada, summoned as juroVs by Sheriff Lawrence. Judge Irwin re- mained one night, slept in deer skins in the county building, subsisting meanwhile on venison and bear steak. Ko calendar was to be found and the judge and jurors left for home.

The first commissioners' meeting was held Oct. 5, 1840. At this meeting much important work was done. An acre of ground at the county seat was selected for county buildings. A con- tract to erect a court house according to specifications was let to J. E. Brown, he to receive for the same eight hundred dollais.

36 FIFTY YEARS

The parties*agreed upon a deed or conveyance of ground, a syn- opsis of which we append. The conveyance cites and reiterates a Wisconsin legislative law establishing St. Oroix county, giving to the people the right to locate the county seat by vote and to the county commissioners power to erect county buildings, the se- lected location to be the permanent seat of justice of said county. It further provides that the county commissioners shall carry into effect the law of Congress of the United States, entitled "An act granting to counties or parishes, in which public lands are situate, the right of pre-emption to one-fourth section of land^ for seats of justice within the same." Approved May 20, 1824. It then cites the vote taken Aug. 5, 1840, locating the county seat at ''Brown's warehouse, at the head of Lake St. Croix." Farther conditions are set forth in compliance with the law, con- firming the location on Joseph E. Brown's land claim. This is the first recorded deed in St. Croix county.

Thirty dollars was allowed to J. E. Brown and W. B. Dibble, each, for carrying election returns to Prairie du Chien. The first abstract of votes polled in St. Croix county was for delegate to Congress and for county officers. For delegate to Congress the following vote was cast: Henry Dodge, seventeen; Jonathan E. Arnold, ten. Samuel Burkelo, Hazen Mooers and W. B. Dibble were elected county commissioners; William Holcombe, county treasurer and register of deeds; Phineas Lawrence, sheriff"; J. E. Brown, county clerk and clerk of court, and Philander Prescott^ assessor.

The first recorded deed of property in Stillwater was from Wal- ter E. Vail to Eufus S. King, transferring for a consideration of $1,550 a tract bounded east by Lake St. Croix and south and north by lands owned by Churchill and ^N'elson.

Three election precincts had been established in this portion of Crawford county prior to the organi^tion of St. Croix county: Caw-caw-baw-kank, embracing the county adjacent to St. Croix Falls; Dakotah, the county at the head of Lake St. Croix, and Chan-wak-an the Gray Cloud settlement, on the Mississippi.

On July 5, 1841, the commissioners held a meeting and estab- lished voting precincts as follows:

Gray Cloud — Judges of election, Hazen Mooers, David Ho we^ Joseph Haskell.

IN THE NORTHWEST. 37

Mouth of St. Croix Lake — Judges of election, P. Prescott, Oscar P. Burris, John Burke.

Marine Mills — Judges of election, Asa Parker, Samuel Burk- clo, T. Harrington.

Falls of St. Croix — Judges of election, Joseph W. Furber, Joshua L. Taylor, Jesse Taylor.

FoTcegama — Judges of election, Jeremiah Eussell, E. Myers, E. L. Ely.

Feb. 2, 1844, St. Paul and Stillwater were made election precincts by the Wisconsin legislature, and Stillwater was made the county seat. The constituted authorities were not success- ful in making out assessments and collecting county revenues. The first estimate of expenditures for the county was for 1842, and amounted to $482. This included the estimate for holding one term of court. Up to the time of changing the county seat to Stillwater much dissatisfaction existed as to the manner in which the county finances had been managed, and there was a general revolt, a refusal to pay taxes. In consequence, the county building at Dakotah remained unfinished and was finally abandoned by the county authorities. J. E. Brown lost on his contract on account of this failure and abandonment. The first successful collection of taxes in St. Croix county, considered legal, was in 1845. Oapt. Wm. Holcombe acted during this period as clerk of the commissioners, and register of deeds. In 1846 he deputized W. H. C. Folsom as deputy clerk and regis- ter of deeds, and transmitted the records from St. Croix Falls to Stillwater. . >

* EARLY HISTORY OF STILLWATER.

In the spring of 1843 Jacob Fisher made a claim on unsurveyed lands at the head of Lake St. Croix, immediately south of Da- kotah, spotting and blazing the trees to mark the limits of his claim. Mr. Fisher thought it a good site for a saw mill, and made an offer to Elias McKean and Calvin F. Leach of the entire claim on condition that they would build a mill. McKusick and Greely were looking for a mill site; Mr. Fisher referred them to McKean and Leach. It was agreed that the four should take the

*For the facts in this history I am indebted to John McKusick, Jacob Fisher, Elias McKean, and Elam Greely.

38. FIFTY YEAES

claim and erect the mill. Greely improved and held the claim, while McKusick went to St. Louis and procured mill irons and supplies. McKean and Leach operated in the pinery. By April 1, 1844, the mill was finished and in operation. This was the first frame building erected in Stillwater. It stood on the lake shore, east of Main street, lot 8, block 18. The second frame building was McKusick' s boarding house, west of Main street, on block 18. John Allen's family was the first to locate in Still- water. Mr. Allen came in the spring of 1844, and subsequently removed to California. The second family was that of Anson Northrup coming soon after. Mr. l!^orthrup built a public house on the west side of Main street, just north of Nelson's alley. Soon afterward came widow Edwards and family from Ohio, relatives of the Northrupsj Mrs. Northrup being a daughter of widow Edwards. Socrates Nelson came about this time and built the first store in Stillwater. His family joined him soon afterward. The first marriage was that of Jesse Taylor and Ab- bie Edwards, J. W. Furber, Esq., officiating justice. The second marriage was that of William Cove to Nancy Edwards in May, 1845. The first white child born was Willie Taylor, son of Jesse Taylor, in 1845. A daughter, Maud Maria, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Carli in Dakotah (Schulenburg's addition to Still- water), in 1843. .

Stillwater derives its name from its appropriate location on the banks of the still waters of Lake St. Croix. A post office was established in 1845, and Elam Greely was appointed post- master. The first business partnership was that of the saw mill company, already noted. We give here in full the articles of agreement as the first written and the oldest on record in Wash- ington county. This document is important not only as fixing a date for the origin or founding of Stillwater, but as an impor- tant event, as it thus early laid the foundation of the future prosperity of the city, and indicated the direction in which its energies should be chiefly turned:

[Copy of Agreement.']

This agreement, made and entered into this twenty-sixth day of October, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and forty-three, by the following named individuals, viz.: John McKusick, Elias McKean, Elam Greely, and Calvin F. Leach, for the purpose of

I

IN THE NORTHWEST. 39

building a saw mill near the head of Lake St. Croix, Wisconsin Territory, and for carrying on the lumbering business in all its various branches.

Article first — It is understood by this agreement, that the heretofore named individuals form themselves into a company to continue and exist by the name of the Stillwater Lumber Company.

Article second — It is agreed to by the heretofore named in- dividuals, that the whole amount of property owned and business done by the aforesaid company shall be included in fifteen shares, and to be divided and owned by each individual of the aforesaid company as follows, viz. : John McKusick, five-fifteenths; Elias McKean, three-fifteenths; Elam Greely, four-fifteenths; and Cal- vin F. Leach, three-fifteenths.

Article third — It is furthermore understood, that each proprie- tor of the aforesaid company shall pay his proportion of all the expenses arising from all the business done or transacted by the aforesaid company, and to continue the same ratio, so long a time as said company shall exist and continue to do business under the present form, and likewise anj^gain or loss, arising or accruing from any or all of the business done by the aforesaid company, shall be shared or sustained by each proprietor of the aforesaid company, in the same ratio as above named, in propor- tion to each above named proprietor's share of stock owned in the aforesaid company.

Article fourth — It is furthermore agreed to, that the whole amount of money or property that each or either of the proprie- tors of the aforesaid company shall invest,, advance, or pay for the benefit or use of the aforesaid company, the same amount shall be credited to the separate credit of the proprietor or either of the proprietors of the aforesaid company making such investments, on the books of accounts kept by the aforesaid com- pany.

Article fifth — It is furthermore understood, that for the amount of money or property that any one of the proprietors of the afore- said company shall invest, advance, or pay for the benefit or use of the aforesaid company, more than his proportional share of the whole amount of money or property invested by the afore- said company, the same amount of money, with interest, shall be paid or refunded back to said proprietor by the aforesaid

40 FIFTY YEARS

company, out of the first proceeds arising from the business done by the company aforesaid.

Article sixth — It is furthermore understood, that in case any one of the aforesaid proprietors should at any time hereafter be disposed to sell, transfer or dispose of his share of stock owned in the aforesaid company, he shall first pay to said company all the liabilities or indebtedness of said share of stock, and then give said company the preference of purchasing and owning said share of stock, at the same rates by which said proprietor may have an opportunity to sell said shares of stock.

Article seventh — It is furthermore understood that the proprie- tors of the aforesaid company, individually, shall have no right, or power, to sign any obligation or due bill, make any contract, or transact any business of importance in the name of, or bind- ing on, the aforesaid company, except some one proprietor of the aforesaid company should hereafter be fully authorized by the aforesaid company to act and transact business as agent for the aforesaid company.

In testimony whereof, we hereunto set our hands and seals this twenty-sixth day f f October, Anno Domini, eighteen hun dred and forty-three. John McKusick,

Elam Greely, Eli AS McKean, 0. F. Leach.

Attest: C. Simojstds.

This agreement and dates are taken from the original book of records in the possession of John McKusick.

After this agreement was signed, until Mr. McKusick became the sole owner, the business was conducted by mutual agreement, there being no constituted agent, except in case of an emer- gency.

The mill boarding house, a two story building, erected in 1845, was burned in 1846, and immediately rebuilt. In 1846 J. H. Brewster built a small store. McKusick' s store was built the same year, on the southwest corner of Main and Myrtle streets. Some smaller buildings were erected this year.

In 1845 a verbal agreement was made with regard to land claims, by which Brown's claim was recognized as extending along the lake shore north of Battle Hollow, where the Min-

IN THE NORTHWEST. 41

nesota state prison now stands. South of Battle Hollow, along the lake shore to Nelson, extending three-fourths of a mile west, was the claim of the mill company, originally held by Fisher. South of I^elson's alley, one-half mile down the lake, three-fourths of a mile west, was S. Nelson's claim. When the government survey was made these claims and lines were amicably adjusted and confirmed. A congressional law was in existence making pro- visions for villages and cities built on unsurveyed lands, that such lands should be equitably divided and surveyed into lots, and the actual settler or occupant should be protected in his rights.

In May, 1846, a desire was expressed by citizens of St. Paul and Stillwater for the opening of new roads between these cities. The traveled road up to that time was by Haskell's and Bis- sell's Mounds. Louis Eoberts and the writer examined a route by White Bear lake. A road was established south of this route in June.

In July I started up the St. Croix river with Joseph Brewster, in a batteau, to put up hay for Elam Greely on Kanabec river. We poled our batteau with outfit and camped where now stands the village of Franconia. The next morning early we entered the picturesque Dalles of the St. Croix, then cordelled our boat over Baker's falls, and landed at the village of St. Croix Falls. This village, the first American settlement on the St. Croix, had one large mill with six saws. The water power was utilized by means of a permanent dam with massive piers. A warehouse was perched in a romantic situation amidst the cliffs of the Dalles and furnished with a tramway or wooden railway extending to the summit of the cliffs, for the transportation of goods. A board- ing house dubbed the "Barlow House," another the '^Soap Grease Exchange," and a few small tenement houses, constituted the village. The leading business men were James Purinton, Wm. Holcombe, Joseph Bowron and Lewis Barlow. We spent half a day in making a portage around the St. Croix falls. The wind being fair, on the third day we sailed as far as Sunrise island. At Wolf creek we passed an Indian trading post. In front of Sunrise island and on the west side of the St. Croix river, a lit- tle below the mouth of Sunrise river, stood the trading post of Maurice M. Samuels, long known as one of the most remarkable and notorious men on the frontier. He was a Jew, but had

42 FIFTY YEARS

married a Chippewa woman, claiming that he had married one of his own people, the Indians being, according to his theory, de- scendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel.

On the sixth day we came to the farm of Jeremiah Russell, on Pokegama lake. We found him a pleasant gentleman, en- gaged as an Indian farmer. We paddled across the lake to the Presbyterian mission. Mr. Boutwell, the superintendent, was absent. The mission was pleasantly located, the management was excellent, the crops were in fair condition, and well culti- vated. Everything about the mission betokened good manage- ment. Next day we went to a hay meadow opposite the mouth of Ground House creek, where we put up on this and adjacent meadows sixty tons of hay. We left on the twenty-fourth, camp- ing the first night at Chengwatana. On the morning of the twenty-fifth, while passing down Kanabec river, our ears were greeted with some most horrible and unearthly noises. On turn- ing a bend in the river we saw a large body of Indians cutting indescribable antics, in the river and on the shore, chasing each other, reeling and staggering to and fro, yelling and firing guns. They seemed a lot of Bedlamites turned out as if to dispute our passage down the river. Pass them now we must. It was too late to retreat. Our batteau was light. I was in the bow, Brews- ter was in the stern. The yelling and uproar grew each moment more horrible. Brewster said: "Keep the bow in the best water and pass them in a hurry.'' He was of great strength; every set of his pole would almost lift the boat from the water. While we were passing several guns were leveled at us, but such was the noise that if any were fired we did not hear them. We were glad when we passed out of range and hearing. While passing we caught a glimpse of the cause of the unusual dis- turbance, some whisky barrels, and drunken savages around them, staggering, fighting or lying on the ground in drunken stupor. Landing at Samuels' camp, we learned of him that one Myers had hidden a couple of barrels of whisky on Kanabec river, that the Indians had found them, and the jollification we had witnessed would last till the whisky was all gone. We arrived at Stillwater without further adventure.

In July I made another visit to Prairie du Chien. The mail packet for Fort Snelling, on which I expected to return, broke her shaft and returned to St. Louis for repairs. The postmaster

IN THE NORTHWEST. 43

at Prairie du Chien offered me seventy dollars to carry the mail to the Fort, which offer I accepted. I bought a skiff, blankets and provisions, hired one man and started. We poled, paddled and rowed against a strong current, the low water compelling us to keep near the centre of the river. We arrived at Bully Wells^ on Lake Pepin on the fifth evening and politely asked the privi- lege of stopping with him and were promptly refused. It was raining very hard at the time. We drew our skiff up on the shore, turned it over for a shelter, and crawled beneath it with the mail. As it was a cold, wet night, we suffered severely. As we were passing an island above Bed Wing, the day following, we saw some Sioux Indian wigwams, and, as we had no fire- water and no food to spare we kept close to the opposite shore. We were, however, observed. An Indian appeared on the shore near the wigwams and beckoned to us to cross over. We made no reply but kept steadily on our course, observing, meanwhile, that the Indian, with his gun, was skulking along through the brush, apparently bent on overtaking and waylaying us. We kept a respectful distance, and fortunately were able to increase it, but not till we were beyond rifle shot did we dare to pause for rest. That night we camped without striking a light, and next day arrived at Point Douglas. I went no further. The hardship and exposure of this trip brought on a severe illness. Mr. David Hone, at whose house I remained for two weeks, un- der the care of Dr. Carli, of Stillwater, took the mail to Fort Snelling. Soon as able I returned to Stillwater.

In May of this year I had made a claim of government un- surveyed land, covering springs sufficient for a water power. While I was sick at Point Douglas, Joseph Brewster, Martin Mower and David B. Loomis formed a company to build a mill and carry on a logging business. They had agreed upon me as a fourth partner and to build on my claim; Mower and Loomis to attend to getting logs, Brewster and Folsom to build the mill. We moved to our claim Oct. 6, 1846, and went to work in earnest. We agreed upon the name of Areola for the new settlement. The mill was not finished until April 3, 1847, at which time Brewster and Folsom sold out their interest and returned to Stillwater.

44 FIFTY YEARS

STILLWATER IN 1846.

Living in Stillwater, Jan. 1, 1846, were the following married men: Cornelius Lyman, Socrates Nelson, Walter R. Vail, Rob- ert Kennedy, Anson Northrup, Albert Harris, John E. Mower, William E. Oove, John Smith, and W. H. C. Folsom. Among the unmarried men were: John McKusick, C. Carli, Jacob Fisher, Elam Greely, Edward Blake, Elias McKean, Calvin F. Leach, Martin Mower, David B. Loomis, Albion Masterman, John Morgan, Phineas Lawrence, Joseph Brewster, John Carl- ton, Thomas Ramsdell, William Rutherford, William Willim, Charles Macey, and Lemuel BoUes.

Here follows a list of the pioneers of the St. Croix valley, in 1846, not mentioned elsewhere: IsTelson Goodenough, who be- came a river pilot and settled at Montrose, Iowa; James Patten, Hugh McFadden, Edwin Phillips, a millwright, an ingenious, ec- centric man, who left the valley in 1848; Joseph Brewster, who left in. 1848, and settled in Earlville, Illinois; Sylvester State- ler, blacksmith, who removed to Crow Wing county, Minnesota, and O. H. Blair, who followed lumbering, a man of talent, but eccentric. He died in 1878. The first school was taught in 1846, by Mrs. Ariel Eldridge, formerly Sarah Louisa Judd. The second school was taught in 1847, by Mrs. Greenleaf; the third in 1848, by Wm. McKusick. A school house was built in 1848. Rev. W. T. Boutwell, a Presbyterian minister, preached occasionally in the reception room of Northrup's hotel. Rev. Eleazer Green- leaf, an Episcopalian, came the next summer and established regular services. Prior to the organization of Stillwater, Rev. J. Hurlbut, a Methodist minister, had preached in Dakotah, St. Croix Falls and Marine, but organized no societies.

The winter of 1845-46 was very open. All teaming business was done on wheels, except for a few days in December, in which there was snow enough for sledding. A new feature in the trade of the valley this year was the rafting and running of logs to St. Louis.

In December, 1845, Dr. Borup. of La Pointe, and others went by ice and overland with teams to Prairie du Chien, I accom- panying them. The first day we came to Point Douglas, at the confluence of the St. Croix and the Mississippi. Between Still-

IN THE NORTHWEST. 45

water and Point Douglas, on the route we followed, some dis- tance west of the lake, we found but one settler, Joseph Haskell. At Point Douglas there were David Hone, a hotel keeper; Hertzell & Burris, merchants, and Wm. B. Dibble, farmer. We reached Red Wing the second day. At this place lived the famous Jack Frazier, a Sioux half-breed and Indian trader, one

Presbyterian missionary, Eev. Denton, and a man named

Bush. James Wells, more familiarly known as "Bully Wells, '^ lived with an Indian squaw on the west shore of Lake Pepin, where stands the town of Frontenac. On the third day we went as far as Wabasha, on the west side, three miles below Lake Pepin, where we found several French families. We stopped at Cratt's hotel. On the fourth day we reached Holmes' Landing, now Fountain City. There were then but two houses, both un- occupied. About noon we passed Wabasha prairie, now the site of Winona. It was then covered with Indian tepees. At Trempealeau, in the evening of the fifth day, we found two French families. On the next day we reached La Crosse and found there two American families. Two days more brought us to Prairie du Chien. On the way we passed a few French fami- lies, and these, with those previously named, constituted the en- tire white population between Stillwater and Prairie du Chien. We started on our return with four two horse teams. We took the river road, passing over the ice. In our company was one Tibbetts, from Fort Crawford, and Jonathan E. McKusick, emigrating from Maine to St. Croix valley. They were a social, jovial pair. At Capilaux bluff, Dibble's team was ahead, and my team second. At this place all halted to allow the thirsty an opportunity of liquoring up, which was done at the rear team. Dibble, in going back, left his team unfastened, and while he was "smiling" with his jovial companions the team ran away. The horses soon broke loose from the sled. One horse made for the shore, the other plunged into an air hole in the ice. The entire company rushed to the rescue, and with ropes and poles managed, at last, to float the horse upon the ice in an unconscious condition. All the whisky left by the "smil- ing ' ' throng was poured down the horse' s throat, but in vain. The animal was dead. No other event of interest occurred except some difficulties experienced in the transportation of the first cat ever brought to Stillwater. "Tom" was caged in a narrow

46 FIFTY YEARS

box, and the confinement so chafed his proud spirit that he sickened and at one time was reported dead. At the Inquest held over his remains by Capt. McKusick, signs of life were dis- covered, and by liberal blood-letting the cat was restored to consciousness and lived several years afterward, a terror to the rats in Stillwater.

STILLWATER IN 1847.

For about a year the writer had been officiating as justice of the peace with but little official business, but now and then a marriage to celebrate. On one occasion I walked to Marine to marry W. 0. Penny to Jane McOauslin. The marriage was cele- brated at Burkelo's boarding house. The wedding supper con- sisted of cold water and cold pork and beans. The following morning I did not wait for breakfast but returned to Stillwater as I had come, on foot. Another day I rode to Bissell's Mounds and united in marriage John Kenny and a mulatto woman. Friend Kennedy threatened to disown me for thus aiding misce- genation. "Such things are intolerable," he said, but from aught I have ever known to the contrary the couple were well assorted.

TERRITORIAL ELECTION.

On the sixth day of April an election was held for the ratifica- tion or rejection of the constitution adopted by the late terri- torial convention for the anticipated state government; also a resolution relative to negro suffrage, and an election was or- dered for sheriff. The vote resulted as follows:

For the constitution, 65; against, 61. For equal suffrage to colored persons, 1; against, 126. For sheriff, Walter E. Yail, 58; ^y. H. C. Folsom, 72.

There were five precincts that held elections — Stillwater, St. Paul, Gray Cloud, Marine, and St. Croix Falls.

I immediately gave bonds and qualified as sheriff, and the same day took charge of two criminals, Chij)pewa Indians, who had been committed by me for murder, while acting as justice. I had previously deputized Ham Gates to take care of them. While in Stillwater they were confined in the basement of the post office building. Their names were Nodin and ]^e-she-ke-

IN THE NORTHWEST. 47

o-ge-ma. The latter was the son-in-law of Nodin. They were very obedient and tractable, and I treated them kindly, for which Nodin repeatedly told me he would show me a copper mine on Kanabec river. Nodin died not long after his trial, and before he could redeem his promise. The copper mine is yet undiscovered. Fort Snelling was, at that time, the recepta- cle for criminals in this region, and to the Fort I carried these prisoners with a team, — Ham Gates being driver, — unshackled, unbound, my only weapon a pistol without a lock. In May I summoned jurors and visited Kanabec river to procure wit- nesses in the case against Nodin and Ne-she-ke- o-ge-ma for the murder of Henry Eust. The first night I stopped with B. F. Otis, on the St. Croix, where Taylors Falls is now situated. On the second day I crossed the river and proceeded up the east side to Wolf creek, thence crossing to the west side, up as far as Sunrise river. There was no inhabitant, Samuels having vacated his shanty. I crossed the river with great difficulty. The water was high, the current was strong and swift, and I could not swim. I found a fallen tree, partly under water, cut a pole, waded out as far as I could into the current, and then by the aid of the pole floated down some distance, until by pawing and splashing I was able to reach the other shore. That night I stopped with an old Indian trader, Mr. Connor, who, with his Indian wife, welcomed me to his bark shanty, divided into rooms by handsome mats, and made me quite comfortable. He had plenty of good food, and entertained me besides by a fund of anecdotes, incidents in Indian history, and adventures of traders, trappers and missionaries in the Lake Superior and St. Croix region. He was a very intelligent and genial man. Next day I went to Eussell's farm, paddled a canoe to Ground House river, and traveled thence on foot to Ann river, where I found the parties of whom I was in quest, Greely, Colby, Otis and others, a jolly log driving crew, with whom I spent a very pleas- ant evening. On the return journey, about two miles above the mouth of Ground House river, I saw the ruins of the trading house in which Henry Eust was killed. Eust, at the time of his murder, was selling whisky for Jack Drake. Eev. W. T. Bout- well gives the following account of the murder: ' ' In the winter of 14:6 and '47 I visited the camps of Kent & True and Greely ■& Blake. On one occasion I met Eust, and asked him to come

48 FIFTY YEARS

and hear me preach. He did not attend. On this day I preached at three camps. On the following night, at Greely's camp, came a midnight visitor with word that Eust had been shot. Seventy- five men armed themselves with all kinds of weapons, proceeded to the scene of the tragedy, removed the body of Eust and all valuables from the house, knocked out the heads of two whisky barrels and fired the house, the whisky greatly aiding the com- bustion. I removed the body to Pokegama and buried it there. Forty men attended the funeral. They held a meeting and resolved to clear the country of whisky. They commenced by destroying two barrels of it for Jar vis. He begged hard for his whisky, saying he was a poor man, and in debt to Frank Steele at Fort Snelling. The response was, 'Out with your whisky,' and it was destroyed before his eyes. The whisky of two other trad- ing stations followed. For a brief period there was peace, but the whisky soon put in an appearance again."

The first term of district court held in Minnesota, then Wis- consin, was convened in Stillwater, the county seat of St. Croix county, June 1st. It was held in the upper story of John Mc- Kusick's store southwest corner of Maine and Myrtle streets, Hon. Charles Dunn presiding. The session lasted one week. The bounds of St. Croix county then included Crawford county, Wisconsin, on the south. Brown county, Wisconsin, and the Lake Superior country on the east, the region as far as the Brit- ish possessions on the north, and to the Mississippi river on the west. The jurors were found within a circuit of a hundred miles.

The grand jury was composed of the following gentlemen:

Jonathan McKusick, J. W. Furber, J. L. Taylor, W. E. Brown, Chas. Cavalier, J. A. Ford, Hazen Mooers, C. Lyman, C. A. Tuttle, Hilton Doe, Elam Greely, Martin Mower, Jr., Edward Blake, W. B. Dibble, Harmon Crandall, Jerry Eoss, James Saunders, Joseph Brown, J. E. Irving, J. W. Simpson, John Hoi ton, Pascal Aldrich, and Albert Harris.

Joseph E. Brown acted as clerk of court, Jonathan E. McKu- sick as foreman of the grand jury, and Morton S. Wilkinson as prosecuting attorney.

The attorneys present were: M. S. Wilkinson, of Stillwater,- A. Brunson, of Prairie du Chien; Ben C Eastman, of Platte- ville, Crawford and Frank Dunn, of Mineral Point. There were

I

IN THE NORTHWEST. ' 49

"but few civil cases. Kodin and Ke-she-ke-o-ge-ma were indicted for murder, tried and acquitted on the ground that the killing was the result of a drunken brawl.

This season, in addition to attending to my duties as sheriff, I went to St. Louis with a raft of logs. The steamer War Eagle, Capt. Smith Harris, towed through the two lakes, St. Croix and Pepin, a fleet containing ten acres of logs. During the winter of 1S47-8, I was engaged in logging. It was difficult to get supplies to the pineries before the swamps were frozen over. This season my goods were taken by batteaus from Stillwater to Clam lake.

AMUSEMENTS. — SOCIETY BALL IN STILLWATER.

A writer in the Stillwater Lumberman, April 23, 1877, gives a sketchy account of an old time ball, from which we select a few items:

Anson Xorthrup kept what we called a first class hotel. If a man had blankets he could spread them upon the floor and sleep till the bell rang. If he had none he spread himself on the floor and paid for his lodging by tending stove and keeping the dogs from fighting. It was one of the aristocratic rules of the house that a man who slept in blankets was not to be disturbed by dogs.

At one time our popular landlord got up a ball. He sent round a copper colored card, — a half-breed Indian boy, — to tell all the folks to come. Everybody was invited. At the appointed hour they began to assemble. Soon all in town arrived except one Smith. Frequent inquiries were made for Smith, and at lafet a deputation was sent to inqui«"e the cause of his absence; when it transpired that he had broken his leg. He said he was helping the landlord roll a barrel of Avhisky from the landing when the barrel slipped, and, rolling back on his leg, broke it. Northrup said that he had bet him one gallon of whisky that he could not lift the barrel to his lips and drink from the bung. In attempting to do this the barrel had slipped from his grasp with the result before mentioned. The wife regretted the acci- dent very much, and said that if it had not been for that barrel of whislvy, or some other whisky, they might have both attended the dance. She could have put out the fire, locked up the house^

4

50 FIFTY YEAKS

tied up tlie dog and taken her nine days' old baby with her. '•There would be younger babies at the dance,"' she said.

Everything was ready. The ball opened with three "French fours," or two over. They danced a French two, the music con- sisting of one old violin with three strings, played by a half- breed from St. Croix Falls. He j)layed but one tune and called it, -'Off she goes to Miramachee." This carried a "French four" well enough, but when we danced a cotillion or hornpipe there w-as a great deal of rolling around instead of dancing. We often called for a new tune. "Oh, yes, gentlemen, you shall liave him," but when we got him it was the same old "Oif