Fifty Years In The Northwest
by William H. C. Folsom · English · Gutenberg #36375 · 1,852,073 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Fifty Years In The Northwest
Author: William H. C. Folsom
Editor: E. E. Edwards
Release date: June 11, 2011 [eBook #36375]
Most recently updated: March 3, 2015
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIFTY YEARS IN THE NORTHWEST ***
Produced by Mark C. Orton, Nathan Gibson, Josephine Paolucci
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net.
FIFTY YEARS IN THE NORTHWEST.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX
CONTAINING
REMINISCENCES, INCIDENTS AND NOTES.
BY W. H. C. FOLSOM.
EDITED BY E. E. EDWARDS.
PUBLISHED BY
PIONEER PRESS COMPANY.
1888.
TO THE OLD SETTLERS
OF
WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA,
WHO, AS PIONEERS, AMIDST PRIVATIONS AND TOIL NOT KNOWN TO THOSE OF
LATER GENERATION, LAID HERE THE FOUNDATIONS OF TWO GREAT
STATES, AND HAVE LIVED TO SEE THE RESULT OF THEIR
ARDUOUS LABORS IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE
WILDERNESS--DURING FIFTY YEARS--INTO A
FRUITFUL COUNTRY, IN THE BUILDING
OF GREAT CITIES, IN THE
ESTABLISHING OF ARTS
AND MANUFACTURES,
IN THE
CREATION OF COMMERCE
AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR, W. H. C. FOLSOM.
PREFACE.
At the age of nineteen years, I landed on the banks of the Upper
Mississippi, pitching my tent at Prairie du Chien, then (1836) a
military post known as Fort Crawford. I kept memoranda 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 interesting volume, valuable to those who should come after me,
I concluded 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 barbarism 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 by 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 by 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 material 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.
INTRODUCTION.
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 remembrance of the town they had left. They came
on account of certain ecclesiastical troubles; their rector, with whom
they sympathized, 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 selling
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 hundred and thirty-five
years, when it was taken down and manufactured 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 Gilman. From 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 honorable mention in English history. The earliest
mention is concerning John Foulsham of Foulsham, prior of a Carmelite
monastery in Norwich, and "præses provincialis" of all England. This
Foulsham is spoken of in Bayle's catalogue of eminent 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 spoken of in Blomefield's History 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, became John Foulsham.
The orthography and pronunciation of the name have varied in the
family itself, as well as among those writing and pronouncing it. The
first Anglo-American bearing the name spelled it "Foulsham." His son,
Deacon John, spelled it "Fullsam" in 1709, and it is signed "Foullsam"
in his last will--1715. In one instance, in the Hingham town records,
it is spelled "Fulsham," 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
records of the first parish, Haverhill, Massachusetts, it is written
"Foulsham," "Foulsam," "Folsham" and "Fulsom." Originally it was
doubtless spelled "Foulshame," its etymological significance being the
_fowls' 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 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 colonial 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 engaged 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,
during 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, New 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, New 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 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 attracting attention
from two very different parties. The first was a huge bear in quest of
food, and doubtless delighted at the prospect 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 carried home in triumph. 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 apparently
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 Bloomfield, Maine.
While in Tamworth 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 dollars. 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 what was expected of the average boy, for mine was no
exceptional 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
paper relinquishing my time, which was printed in the Skowhegan
_Clarion_. From this time until I was nineteen years old I worked on
the river and on farms, worked continuously 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 Bloomfield, 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 finished 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 having 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
made for him 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 opening. 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 and 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 outlet of the lake July 4th, the last raft of the season.
After river driving in the spring of 1835, I went to the Penobscot
river and found employment at twenty dollars a month at East Great
Works, building a dam. John Mills, our superintendent, 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 pulmonary 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 dollars in cash to defray my
expenses to the West.
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 can 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. No 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 Wisconsin 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 wilderness, 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
sunlit air, making a vision of beauty that could not fade. On we
trudged over the ice, the sled creaking, the ice emitting a roaring
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. Before us loomed up the flint rock Kinneo,
its perpendicular face fronting west, on the lake; at the base a
beautiful maple interval extending toward Spencer bay.
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 unparalleled beauty,
including the broad, bright lake, fairy islands, mountains and hills
and vast stretches of pine forests. The tourist 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 take 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, defiant, 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
North 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 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 mountain, 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, having supplied ourselves 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
frequently, for mountain climbing is no light work for those
unaccustomed 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 lumbermen, hunters and trappers.
Looking to the northeast, we saw in the blue distance, glittering with
snow drifts, Mount Katahdin. A little north of the divide line to
Katahdin lay Moosehead 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 white. In all
directions the scene was grand and inspiring. We could trace the
Kennebec river in its windings to the sea and fancied we could see in
the dim distance the blue Atlantic. To the southwest mountains seemed
piled on mountains, while here and there 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 Umbagog lay coiled in the shade of distant mountains in the
southwest. We fancied that we could see the ragged crest of the white
mountain still further beyond. The scene had also its historical
associations. 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 river 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 hungry, we reached Wyman'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 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 general
oversight.
The life of a lumberman is one of exposure to the elements, yet it is
not necessarily unfriendly to the development of character. With a
well ordered camp and gentlemanly 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, shoeing 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 breaking log landings and jams,
and running boats. Men are exposed to wet and cold from dawn till
dark. This work requires active and vigorous men, constitutionally
fitted and carefully trained 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.
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
Reuben 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 Ellison 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 Duc 594
Lucius F. Hubbard opp 597
Home of the Author 614
State Seal 658
Seal of Old Settlers Association 732
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Genealogy of the American Folsoms VII
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.
Parentage IX
Time and Place of Birth IX
Earliest Recollections 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 Mountain XIV
Moose Hunting XIV
Mount Bigelow XV
Lumbering in Maine XVI
CHAPTER I.
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--Crawford 11
First Commissioners at Prairie 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
BIOGRAPHIES.
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
Ira Brunson 27
John H. Folsom 28
Ezekiel Tainter 28
Judge Wyram Knowlton 29
Robert 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.
STILLWATER AND ST. CROIX COUNTY.
From Prairie du Chien to Stillwater 32
Stillwater in 1845 33
St. Croix County 33
First Settlement in 1838 34
Dismemberment of St. Croix Valley from Crawford County 34
Judge Irwin's Court in 1840 35
Events in 1840, First Commissioners' Meeting 35
Election Precincts in 1841 36
Early History of Stillwater 37
The First Saw Mill 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 Arcola 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 Stillwater 48
Nodin and Ne-she-ke-o-ge-ma Acquitted 49
Steamer War Eagle and Raft 49
Society Ball in Stillwater 49
Stillwater in 1848 50
CHAPTER III.
BIOGRAPHIES.
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
Elias McKean 58
Calvin F. Leach 58
Socrates Nelson 58
Mrs. Socrates Nelson 59
Edward Blake 59
Walter R 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
Mahlon Black 66
Morton S Wilkinson 67
William 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 Sawyer 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 Burns 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
John Shaesby 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
Joe Perro 80
James McPhail 80
John Cormack 81
John Hanford 81
John Leach 81
Stephen B Hanks 81
Samuel S Hanks 81
CHAPTER IV
POLK COUNTY
Description and History 82
Franklin Steele, the First Pioneer 82
His Account of the Settlement 83
The St Croix Falls Lumbering Company 83
Organization and History 83
St Croix River, Origin of Name 84
Treaty and Purchase of 1838 85
History of Polk County 85
County Seat located at St. Croix Falls 86
First Election County Officers 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.
BIOGRAPHIES.
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. Mary C. 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 111
B. W. Reynolds 111
Augustus Gaylord 111
James D. Reymert 111
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 G. 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
Joel F. 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. Carmi P. Garlick 137
John S. 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. CROIX 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 Organization 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
Military Institute 156
Mills and Manufactories 156
Banks 156
Oliver Wendell Holmes Hospital 157
Water Works 158
Hotels, the Great Fire, 1866 158
Social and Benevolent Organizations 159
BIOGRAPHIES.
Louis Massey 159
Peter Bouchea 160
William Steets 160
Capt. John B. 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
John S. Moffatt 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. R. 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 173
E. B. Bundy 174
TOWNS AND BIOGRAPHIES.
Baldwin 174
Baldwin Village 174
Woodville Village 175
Cady 175
Cylon 175
Eau Galle 176
Emerald 176
Erin Prairie 176
Forest 177
Glenwood 177
Hammond 177
Hammond Village 178
John Thayer 178
Rev. 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
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 VII
PIERCE COUNTY.
Descriptive 196
History, First Events 197
County Seat Changed to Ellsworth 198
Railroads 199
Miscellaneous Statistics 199
Village Plats 199
Organization of Towns 200
Clifton 200
George W. McMurphy 201
Osborne Strahl 201
Charles B. Cox 201
Ephraim Harnsberger 201
Diamond Bluff 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 First Settler 203
El Paso 204
Ellsworth 205
Ellsworth Village 205
Anthony Huddleston 206
Perry D. Pierce 206
Hans B. Warner 207
Gilman 207
Hartland 208
Isabelle 208
Maiden Rock 209
Christopher L. Taylor 209
Martell 209
Oak Grove 210
Lewis M. Harnsberger 210
Prescott City 210
History 211
Platted in 1857 212
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. Rice 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 226
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 229
CHAPTER VIII.
BURNETT, WASHBURN, SAWYER AND BARRON COUNTIES.
BURNETT 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
WASHBURN 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
SAWYER COUNTY.
Organization, Description 242
County Indebtedness 243
Town of Hayward 243
Village of Hayward 243
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
Remarkable 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. Sam S. 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 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 Unjust Accusation 268
Indian Magnanimity 269
Rev. Frederic Ayer 269
Rev. William T. Boutwell 272
Discovery of Itasca 274
Mrs. Hester C. Boutwell 276
Chengwatana 276
First Settlers 276
Chengwatana Village Platted 277
Chengwatana Town Organized 277
Louis Ayd 277
Duane Porter 277
S. A. Hutchinson 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 279
John C. 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. Ferson 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 XI.
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
Ira Conger 288
Bronson, Village of 288
Brunswick, Town of 289
Brunswick, Village of 289
Ground House 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
John H. Allen 296
A. B. Damon 296
C. H. Chadbourne 296
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 in Possession 303
Robinet Bought Off, First Improvements 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 314
Incorporation 314
Indian Dance 314
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 Nessell 323
Stephen B. Clark 323
Rush Seba 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
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
John G. Mold 331
George L. Blood 331
Joel G. Ryder 332
John Dean 332
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.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
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 344
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 Organization 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
CHAPTER 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
Baytown 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
Forest Lake, History of 368
Captain Michael Marsh 369
Forest Lake Village 369
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 History 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
Asa S. 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
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 Company 402
Fire Department 402
Gas Light, Telegraph, Telephone 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 Staples 413
Samuel F. Hersey & Sons 415
Jacob Bean 416
Charles Bean 416
Rudolph Lehmicke 417
Hollis R. Murdock 417
George M. Seymour 417
Frank A. Seymour 418
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 Schupp 422
Clifford 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
Ralph Wheeler 424
Edward S. Brown 424
William Lowell 424
Albert Lowell 425
Nelson H. Van Voorhes 425
Andrew J. Van Voorhes 425
Henry C. Van Voorhes 425
C. A. Bromley 426
Charles J. Butler 426
Levi E. Thompson 427
George Davis 427
William M. McCluer 427
John N. Ahl 427
Samuel M. Register 428
J. A. Johnson 428
Gold T. Curtis 429
Harley D. Curtis 429
Francis R. Delano 429
Henry W. Cannon 430
Dwight M. Sabin 430
CHAPTER XVI.
STEARNS, ANOKA AND SHERBURNE COUNTIES.
STEARNS COUNTY.
Organization and History of 432
St. Cloud 434
Newspapers and Post Office 435
Village and City Organization 435
Land Office, Expenditures 435
The St. Cloud Dam, Improvements 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. Gilman 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
Centreville 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
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 Starkey 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. DeLille 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 XVII.
BENTON, MORRISON 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 Gilman 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 Indiana 470
Towns of Morrison County 471
Little Falls Village 471
Little Falls Water Power 472
Incorporation 473
Schools and Churches 473
Royalton Village 473
Incorporation, First Officers 473
Peter Roy 473
William Sturgis 474
James Fergus 474
Nathan Richardson 475
Moses La Fond 475
O. A. Churchill 475
John M. Kidder 476
Warren Kobe 476
Ola K. Black 476
Ira W. 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 489
Duluth Harbor 490
Fish Commission 490
Fond du Lac Village 491
Oneota Village 492
Clifton Village 492
Portland Village 492
Endion Village 492
Middleton Village 492
Montezuma Village 492
Buchanan Village 492
St. Louis Falls Village 492
Fremont Island 493
Tower 493
George R. Stuntz 494
George E. Stone 494
Charles H. Graves 494
Ozro P. Stearns 494
Lake County.
Description 495
Two Harbors 496
COOK COUNTY.
History and Organization 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
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 502
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 518
Franklin Steele 518
Roswell P. Russell 519
Horatio P. Van Cleve 520
Charlotte O. Van Cleve 520
Ard Godfrey 520
Richard Chute 521
Lucius N. Parker 521
Captain John Rollins 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
Elias H. 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
John S. Pillsbury 528
Henry T. Welles 528
David Blakely 528
William Lochren 528
Eugene M. Wilson 528
R. B. Langdon 529
William M. Bracket 529
Thos. B. and Platt B. Walker 529
Austin H. Young 530
Henry G. Hicks 530
John P. Rea 530
John Martin 520
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
Accessions of 1844 534
First Deed 534
Accessions of 1845 534
First School 535
Second Deed, Phalen's Tract 535
Accessions of 1846 535
Reminiscences 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.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Henry Hastings Sibley 553
Alexander Ramsey 556
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 Gilman 576
Charles E. Flandrau 576
John B. Sanborn 577
John R. Irvine 579
Horace R. Bigelow 580
Cushman K. Davis 580
S. J. R. McMillan 581
Willis A. Gorman 581
John D. Ludden 582
Elias F. Drake 582
Norman W. Kittson 583
Hascal R. Brill 583
Ward W. Folsom 584
Gordon E. Cole 584
James Smith, Jr. 584
William P. Murray 585
Henry Hale 585
James Gilfillan 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 Duc 593
GOODHUE COUNTY.
Red Wing, 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
Nathaniel S. Tefft 602
James Wells 602
WINONA COUNTY.
Scenery 602
Winona City 603
Daniel S. 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.
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST 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 Convention, 1846 625
Wisconsin Constitutional Convention, 1847 626
Some Resolutions 627
Under What Government? 628
H. H. Sibley Elected Congressional 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 (Mendota) 1837 630
Treaty with the Sioux (Washington) 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
Treaty with the Chippewas (La Pointe) 1854 634
Treaty with the Pillagers (Washington) 1855 634
Treaty with the Chippewas (Red Lake River) 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, O 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,
Senators, andRepresentatives 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
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 654
Union of Conventions on a Constitution 656
Have We a Constitution 656
First, Minnesota State Legislature 657
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 661
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, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad 672
A Memorial for "Soo" Railroad 673
Organization 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 Superior and St. Croix Canal 680
Waterways Convention, 1885 682
E. W. Durant's Valuable Statistics 683
Resolution for St. Croix and Superior Canal 685
Early Steamboat Navigation 686
Steamboat Accommodations 687
First Mississippi Steamboat Officers 689
First Mississippi Steamboat Organizations 689
List of Steamboats 690
Later Navigation on Northwest Rivers 691
Steamboating on the St. Croix 692
Ice Boats 693
James W. Mullen's Reminiscences, 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 Territory in 1790 709
Population of Wisconsin Territory in 1836 709
Subsequent Census 709
Population of Minnesota in 1849 709
Minnesota State Capitol 710
Burning of State House 711
Selkirk Visitors 712
Cyclones 713
Isanti and Chisago Cyclone 713
Cottage Grove and Lake Elmo Cyclone 715
Washington County and Wisconsin Cyclone 717
St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids Cyclone 718
Curious Lightning Freaks 721
Asiatic Cholera on the Royal Arch 721
First Decree of Minnesota Citizenship 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; Reminiscences 729
Judge Hamlin--Amusing Incident 730
Minnesota Old Settlers Association 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 Rebellion, 1861 to 1865 759
Gov. Alex. Ramsey's Address to Loyal Legion 759
Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Legislative Sessions
of Wisconsin 762
ERRATA.
[Transcriber's note: Errata corrected in the text.]
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, instead of
Stearns, Anoka and Morrison Counties.
Page 420, read Edmund J. Butts, instead of Edward J. Butts.
CHAPTER I.
Going West.--In June, 1836, I again visited the Penobscot in quest of
employment, in which I was unsuccessful. At Stillwater, above Bangor,
I met my kind friend Simeon Goodrich, also out of employment. After
mature deliberation we concluded 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. I 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,
accompanied 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
expanse 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 upon the watery expanse. All things seemed new and
strange. Next 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 Boston 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 President 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 arrangement 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 Robert 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 Schenectady 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 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 splendid 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-flowing 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 dippers. They got ingloriously drunk; they rolled unsteadily
across the deck; they quarreled, they fought, they behaved like
Bedlamites, 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 Mackinaw the sky was clear and bright, the air cold. The
night before reaching Mackinaw an unusual disturbance occurred above
resulting from the abundance of free liquor. The cook, being drunk,
had not provided the usual midnight supper for the sailors. 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 Capt. McKenzie delivered 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 continually
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 October 30th, fifteen days from Detroit, safely landed us
in Chicago.
After being so long on the deck of a tossing vessel, I experienced 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 movement seemed to continue, only it seemed
transferred to my head, 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 appearance of
an active, growing village. Thence I proceeded, November 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. Not 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 surroundings 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 Morrison's. On the ninth we reached Mineral Point, the
locality of the lead mines, where I afterward lost much time in
prospecting. 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 celebrate 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 paper 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 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 government. 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 assembly. 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 Northwest 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 immense territory had been
carved and sliced into states and territories, 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 Louisiana, 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 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 water." Sure enough, here was the big
river, but covered with ice, scarcely safe to venture on. Several
persons 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, I 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 regular 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, attracted
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 antagonistic and would quarrel on the
streets or wherever brought in contact. Sundays were especially days
of strife, and Main street was generally the field of combat. Women
even participated. 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 accompanied 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 Territory 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 January I contracted to
deliver fifty cords of wood at Price's brickyard. I cut the wood from
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 suspense, 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 desperate 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 river 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 Cannon,
"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 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 contractor, 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 addition, to pay a note I had given on the
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 productive, 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 Red rivers. The earliest authentic mention
of the place 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 Perrot
with a garrison of twenty men to hold the post. The first official
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, at the post of the
Nadouessioux, commissioned by the Marquis Denonville, governor and
lieutenant governor of all New France, to manage the interests of
commerce amongst the Indian tribes and people of the Bay des Puants
(Green Bay), Nadouessioux (Dakotahs), 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.
"We, this day, the eighth of May, one thousand six hundred and
eighty-nine, do, in the presence of the Reverend Father Marest, of the
Society of Jesus, missionary among the Nadouessioux; of Monsieur de
Borieguillot (or Boisguillot), commanding the French in the
neighborhood of the Ouiskonche (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 Nadouessioux, 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 document 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 English, thinking it impossible to compete
for the commerce of the Indian tribes with the French traders who had
intermarried with them, and 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 mentioned 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 St. Louis to
Prairie du Chien, then under 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 engaged 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 Mackinaw
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 Island. 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
between 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 possession 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
subsequently 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 recognized ever since. It has been
successively under the French, English and United States governments,
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 Wisconsin. Gov. Wm. H. Harrison, of Indiana Territory,
recognized Prairie du Chien by issuing commissions to Henry M. Fisher
and ---- Campbell as justices of the peace, the first civil
commissions 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 Crawford was
organized as a part of Michigan Territory, and blank commissions were
issued to Nicholas Boilvin, Esq., with authority to appoint and
install the officers of the new county government. 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 providing 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 account of which
is given in the biographical sketch of J. H. Lockwood. 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 murderers were never identified. The great
incentive to violence and rapine with the Indians was whisky. An
intelligent Winnebago, aged about sixty years, told me that
"paganini," "firewater" (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
hunters 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 drunk and in a
quarrel killed his antagonist. The friends of the murdered Indian held
a council and determined that the murderer 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
pursuers, 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 protection 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 sold
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 obtained by digging under the corner picket.
Three kegs of silver, each containing $5,000, were missing. The kegs
had been passed 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 except 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 he 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, imprisoned for a year, and discharged.
EARLY JUSTICE.
A Frenchman shot and killed a couple of tame geese belonging to a
neighbor, supposing them to be wild. Discovering his mistake, 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 defendant admitted the killing of
the geese, the plaintiff admitted receiving 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.
A SOUTHWARD JOURNEY.
My original plan on leaving Maine was to make a prospecting 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. Louis, which
place we reached on the seventeenth of October. We remained five days,
stopping at the Union Hotel. St. Louis was 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 remained several days at Baton Rouge.
On the second of November 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 visitation of
the yellow fever and the financial crisis of 1837, business 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 evident 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 diminishing,
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 circumstances 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
live sparingly, and sleep without bedding. I kept myself somewhat
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 characters, 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 Hennepin. 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. Putnam,
with a team, I went up with him on the ice to Prairie du Chien, where,
after an absence of five months of anxiety, suspense and positive
hardships, I was glad to find myself once more among friends.
During the summer of 1838 I cultivated a farm. I had also a hay
contract for the fort. My partner was James C. 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 continued 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 its 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. Banker 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 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 sun was setting, I came in sight of Parish's Grove, but
the horses were unwilling 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, received the load, and learning something of the perils of
the journey, 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 Maine. I set out September 23d, and reached
Chicago in seven days, traveling 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 New 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 association. 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 sunlight, 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 parents 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 Rev. Arthur Drinkwater, who gave us good counsel
on the eve of our departure to a new and still wilderness country. On
February 16th we bade adieu to our friends in Maine, visited awhile at
Tamworth, and March 20th reached Prairie du Chien, having traveled by
private conveyance, stage and steamer, passing through New Haven, New
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 destination. Here we made our home until the
autumn of 1845, I continuing 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 settlements did so at considerable peril. Prairie du Chien, as we
have shown, had been for an indefinite period under various
governments, 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 surrounded 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 Chapelle, 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
company with Gov. Cass, he made a canoe voyage of exploration through
Lakes Huron and Michigan. On this voyage they negotiated treaties with
the Indians, and returning made a report on the comparatively
unexplored region which they had traversed. 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 home at Prairie du Chien,
where he resided one year, thence removing to Green Bay for the
remainder of his term of office, 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 Chicago
and Prairie du Chien. In 1834 he represented the counties west of the
lake in the Michigan legislative council at Detroit, at which council
the first legislative action was taken affecting 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, consisting 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 Neenah, and the old council ground at the outlet
of Lake Winnebago, 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 Territory, 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 affections of his fellow citizens.
JAMES
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