USA > Minnesota > Goodhue County > History of Goodhue county, including a sketch of the territory and state of Minnesota > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08192334 8
(Goodhve. History
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofgoodhue00wood
HISTORY
GOODHUE COUNTY,
INCLUDING A SKETCH OF THE
TERRITORY AND STATE OF MINNESOTA;
TOGETHER WITH
AN ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY FRENCH DISCOVERIES, INDIAN MASSA- CRES, THE PART BORNE BY MINNESOTA'S PATRIOTS IN THE WAR OF THE GREAT REBELLION, AND A FULL AND COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY FROM THE TIME OF ITS OCCUPANCY BY SWISS MISSION- ARIES IN 1838. PIONEER INCIDENTS, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRE- SENTATIVE MEN,
AND OF ITS
CITIES, TOWNS, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
RED WING, MINN. WOOD, ALLEY & CO., ST. JAMES BUILDING, 1878.
-
THE NEW YORK PUBLICLIBRARY 93255 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1898.
PIONEER PRESS CO., ST. PAUL Printers, Lithographers and Bookbinders.
-
.
PREFACE.
In the preparation of the following pages. we have aimed at conciseness and accuracy rather than elegance of diction and high- sounding phrases. We are in the midst of mighty progress and marvelous development, and men will not wait to study fine-spun theories and pore over the intricate details of the metaphysical world. They want facts plainly stated, and couched in language brief, pointed, and applicable to the 'practical affairs of life.
It has been our object to present, in a readable manner, as much information as could be given in the space allotted the several divisions of this book.
Owing to the obscure and imperfect county war record which we had to unravel, and the preponderance of foreign population with which we had to contend-many of whom could not readily compre- hend our motive-we found some difficulty in the early stages of the work in collating our data and laying the foundation upon which to build a reliable superstructure. As we progressed with the enterprise, however, and the people learned more of us, encourage- ment and words of good cheer greeted us from all classes, thence- forth we found the way plain and the work more easy.
It may be said of our township histories that we have dealt partially by some, but if it so appears it should be attributed to those possessing the facts and refusing to impart them. We made every reasonable effort to do justice . by each and all the townships. villages, county, places, and people; and we can truthfully say we
iv
have put into the hands of our subscribers in Goodhue County, a larger and better compilation of general and local historical informa- tion, than was ever before published in a single volume in the Northwest.
Among such a vast catalogue of dates and names, if errors are discovered, the intelligent reader will appreciate the complexity of such matters and make due allowance.
To as many of the people of the county as have rendered us valuable assistance-and they are not a few-we extend our heart- felt thanks ; and for the more valuable information and personal favors we desire to acknowledge the names of Rev. J. W. Hancock, Dr. W. W. Sweney, John Day. S. J. Willard, Hon. H. B. Wilson. Judge Chris. Graham, Charles Betchez, C. C. Webster, Col. Hans. Mattson. Minneapolis, L. A. Hancock, A. Seeback; B. B. Herbert, of the Advance; Charles L. Davis, of the Argus; Gen. S. P. Jennison and T. H. Perkins, of the Republican; Charles Ward, Zumbrota; Rev. E. Norelius, Vasa; Charles Parks, Cannon Falls; Dr. Chr. Gronvold, Wanamingo, and others. The newspaper publications throughout the county have encouraged us in the work, and we take this oppor- tunity to extend them our humble meed of gratitude.
WOOD, ALLEY & CO.
RED WING, November, 1878.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
The Northwestern Territory, as ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, included that district of country bounded on the one side by the Ohio River, on the other by the Mississippi River, and on the north by Canada. It is now represented by the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. At that period, the United States only extended westward to the Mississippi River. Be- yond, to the Pacific Ocean, the country was an unknown, unexplored wild, claimed by the Spanish government. In 1803, however, by the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, the domain of the United States was extended westward to the Rocky Mountains, and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The territory thus obtained come to be called the " New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old " Northwestern Territory."
As compared with the old Northwest, this is a territory of vast extent and magnitude, and covers an area of 1,887,850 square miles,-being much larger in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory, eleven sovereign States and eight Territories have been erected, which, according to the U. S. Census Reports for 1870, returned an aggregate population of 13,000,000 inhabitants-nearly one-third of the entire population of the United States and Territories.
Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the large rivers of the continent- the Mississippi, the Missouri and the Arkansas-flow for thousands of miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far-stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of a higher percentage of cereals than any other area of like extent on the globe. During the last twenty years the increase of population in this country of States and Territories has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States government.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New World, but he only prosecuted his explorations as far north as the 35th parallel
2
2
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
of latitude. The exposures and privations incident to the expedition resulted in his death and the death of more than half his men. Those who survived the trials of the expedition found their way to Cuba and thence to Spain, in a famished and greatly demoralized condition.
DeSoto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces of civilization, unless it were to awaken the hostility of the red natives of the country against the white man, or dishearten such as might have a desire to follow up the era of discovery for better purposes.
The French Government was eager and ready to seize upon any information from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by the disaster that befel DeSoto and his expedition, and to utilize the discoveries he had made, yet more than one hundred years were allowed to pass before any advantages were taken of the discoveries.
A. D. 1616, four years before the Pilgrims landed the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, LeCaron, a French Franciscan, had penetrated through the Iroquois and Wyandots (Hurons) to the streams which run into Lake Huron; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded the first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary, below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent result; and it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders attempted to spend a winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes, nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months later. In 1665, Claude Allouez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary ; and two years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor General of Canada, explored Lake Illinois ( Michigan) as far south as the present city of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the follow. ing spring, where they were taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession taken of the Northwest. This same year Mar- quette established a mission at Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.
During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St. Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied- as all others did then-that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a
3
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean, Marquette, with Joliet as commander of the expe- dition, prepared for the undertaking.
On the 13th of May, 1673, the explorers, accompanied by five assist- ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of discovery. The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose by representing that the tribes on the Mississippi were exceedingly savage and cruel, and that the river itself was full of all sorts of frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But, nothing daunted by these terrific descrip- tions, Marquette told them he was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together, they separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Marquette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the town, ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank him for the pity he had bestowed on them during the winter in giving them abundant game. This was the farthest outpost to which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary labors the year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters and was instructed in the secret of a root which the Indians said would cure the bite of the venomous rattlesnake. He assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and pointing to Joliet, said: "My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new countries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the truths of the Gospel." Two Miami guides were here furnished to conduct them to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Indian village on the 10th of June, amidst a great crowd of natives who had assembled to witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet ventured. The guides having conducted them across the portage, returned to their village. Marquette and his companions launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin River and floated down towards the Mississippi, which they entered at the site now occupied by Prairie du Chien, on the 17th of June, and proceeded down its unknown waters. What emotions must have filled their souls, as their canoes glided out of the Wisconsin and entered upon the broad bosom of the great river
4
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
of which they had heard marvelous accounts from the Indians! Their feelings of wonder and admiration as they realized that they had at last found the long-sought river, may be imagined but not described. Previous to this, there was no positive knowledge that such a mighty stream existed. But the Indian stories of its great length, and breadth, and depth, were about to be established beyond the cavil of a doubt. The mysteries that enshrouded it were to be solved, and the way to a new world-the great Northwest-to be opened to civilization and civ- ilized industry.
The scenery along the banks of the Upper Mississippi is grand (even now) beyond conception. Before white men came to destroy the natu- ral grandeur by clearing away the forests that covered the towering and majestic bluffs, and reduce its flower-bearing valleys or meadows to grain-growing fields, there must have existed here a primitive beauty that no artist's imagination could touch. While the cloud-towering bluffs still remain as monuments to the hand of the Great Architect who reared them and spread at their base the beautiful valleys and prairies, much of their primeval beauty has faded away before the march of the people who came after the intrepid explorer Marquette and his companions to occupy the land, and drive from their native haunts the wild men of the prairies and forests.
Drifting rapidly before the current, "the bold bluffs on either hand," wrote Marquette, " reminded us of the castled shores of our own beau- tiful rivers in France." By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared on the banks. Approaching the heads of the valleys, they could see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility, which, although destitute of inhabitants, presented the appearance of extensive manors under the fastidious cultivation of lordly proprietors.
On the 25th of June, the explorers went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon the sand, and a path that led out to the prairie. The men remained in the boat, and Marquette and Joliet fol- lowed the path until they discovered a village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill within half a league of the first, all inhabited by Indians. Marquette wrote: "We were received most hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white per- son." After remaining among these people a few days they returned to their boat, re-embarked and descended the river to about latitude 35°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, they turned their course and ascended the river to the mouth of the Illinois, which they entered and followed to its source. There they procured Indian guides and proceeded across the country to the lakes.
5
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
" Nowhere on this journey," says Marquette, "did we see such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as on the Illinois River." The party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay in September, and reported their discovery-one of the most important of the age, but of which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet losing his by the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec. Afterward Marquette returned to the Illinois Indians by their request, and minis- tered to them until 1675. On the 18th of May in that year, as he was passing the mouth of a stream-going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan-he asked to land at its mouth and celebrate mass. Leaving his men with the eanoe, he retired a short distance and began his devo- tions. As much time passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefully passed away while at prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place fifty years later, found the waters had retreated from the grave, leaving the beloved missionary to repose in peace. The river has since been called Marquette.
While Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were preparing to follow in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun by him. These were Robert de LaSalle and Louis Hennepin.
After La Salle's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see the narrative elsewhere) he established himself again among the French trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of those ages-a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific, when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories the idea that by following the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He applied to Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the dim, but gigantic plan. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, seeing that LaSalle's idea to connect the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf of Mexico would bind the country strongly together, and give unmeasured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose administration he earnestly hoped all would be realized.
LaSalle repaired to France, laid his plans before the King, who warmly approved of them, and made him a Chevalier. He also received from all the noblemen the warmest wishes for his success. The Chevalier
6
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
returned to Canada, and busily entered upon his work. He at once rebuilt Fort Frontenac, and constructed the first ship to sail on the fresh-water seas. On the 7th of August, 1679, having been joined by Hennepin, he began his voyage in the Griffin up Lake Erie. He passed over this lake, through the straits beyond, up Lake St. Clair and into Lake Huron. In this lake they encountered heavy storms. They were some time at Michillimackinac, where LaSalle founded a fort, and passed thence to Green Bay, the " Baie des Puans" of the French, where he found a large quantity of furs collected for him. He loaded the Griffin with these, and placing her under the care of a pilot and four- teen sailors, started her on her return voyage. The vessel was never afterward heard of. LaSalle remained thereabouts until early in the winter, when, hearing nothing from the Griffin, he collected all his men-thirty working men and three monks-and started again upon his great undertaking.
By a short portage they passed to the Illinois or Kankakee, called by the Indians, "Theake," wolf, because of the tribes of Indians known to them by that name, but commonly called Mahingons, dwelling there. The French pronounced it Keakiki, which became corrupted to Kan- kakee. "Falling down the river by easy stages, the better to observe the country," about the last of December they reached a village of the Illinois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but at that time no inhabitants. The Sieur de LaSalle being in want of some breadstuffs, took advantage of the absence of the Indians to help himself to a suffi- ciency of maize, large quantities of which he found concealed in holes under the wigwams. This village was situated near the present village of Utica, in LaSalle county, Illinois. The corn being securely stored, the voyagers again betook themselves to the stream, and toward eve- ning, on the 4th day of January, 1680, they came into a lake which must have been the lake of Peoria, at Peoria City. This was called by the In- dians Pim-i-te-wi, that is, a place where there are many fat beasts. Here the natives were met with in large numbers, but they were gentle and kind, and having spent some time with them, LaSalle determined to erect another fort in that place, for he had heard rumors that some of the adjoining tribes were trying to disturb the good feeling which existed, and some of his men were disposed to complain, owing to the hardships and perils of the travel. He called this fort "Crevecœur" (broken- heart,) a name expressive of the very natural sorrow and anxiety which the pretty certain loss of his ship, Griffin, and his consequent impoverishment, the danger of hostility on the part of the Indians, and of mutiny among his own men, might well cause him. His fears were
7
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
not entirely groundless. At one time poison was placed in his food, but fortunately was discovered.
While building this fort, the winter wore away, the prairies began to look green, and LaSalle, despairing of any reinforcements, concluded to return to Canada, raise new means and new men, and embark anew in the enterprise. For this purpose he made Hennepin the leader of a party to explore the head waters of the Mississippi, and set out on his journey. This journey was accomplished with the aid of a few persons, and was successfully made, though over an almost unknown route, and in a bad season of the year. He reached Canada in safety, and soon set out again for the object of his search.
Hennepin and his party left Fort Crevecœur the last of February, 1680. When LaSalle reached this place on his return expedition, he found the fort entirely deserted, and was obliged to return again to Canada. He embarked the third time, and succeeded. Seven days after leaving the fort, Hennepin 'reached the Mississippi, and paddling up the icy stream as best he could, reached the Wisconsin River about the 11th of April. Here he and his followers were taken prisoners by a band of Northern Indians, who treated them with great kindness. Hennepin's comrades were Anthony Auguel and Michael Ako. On this voyage they found several beautiful lakes, and "saw some charming prairies." Their captors were the Isaute or Sauteurs, Chippewas, a tribe of the Sioux nation, who took them up the river, and about the first of May they reached the falls (at Minneapolis ) which Hennepin christened . Falls of St. Anthony, in honor of his patron saint. Here they left the river and travelled across the country in a northwesterly direction for a distance of about two hundred miles, when they came to the villages of the tribe with which they were prisoners, and by whom they were treated with kindness. They were kept in captivity for a period of three months, at the end of which time they were met by a band of Frenchmen, headed by one Sieur de Luth, who, in pursuit of trade and game, had penetrated that far by way of Lake Superior. Hennepin and his companions were released to their countrymen and allowed to return with them to the borders of civilized life, in November, 1680, just after LaSalle had returned on his second expedition to the wilder- ness. Hennepin soon after went to France, where he published a book giving an account of his adventures among the wild red men of the New World.
The Mississippi was first discovered by De Soto, in April, 1541, in his vain endeavor to find gold and precious gems. In the following spring, De Soto, weary with hope long deferred, and worn out with his wander-
8
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
ings, fell a victim to disease, and died on the 21st of May. His follow- ers, reduced by fatigue and disease to less than three hundred men, wandered about the country nearly a year, in the vain endeavor to rescue themselves by land, and finally constructed seven small vessels, called brigantines, in which they embarked, and descending the river, supposing it would lead them to the sea, and came to the Gulf of Mexico in July, and in September reached the island of Cuba.
They were the first to see the great outlet of the Mississippi; but, being so wearied and discouraged, made no attempt to claim the country, and hardly had an intelligent idea of what they had passed through.
To LaSalle, the intrepid explorer, belongs the honor of giving the first account of the mouths of the river. His great desire was to possess this entire country for his king, and in January, 1682, he ånd his band of explorers left the shores of Lake Michigan on their third attempt, crossed the portage, passed down the Illinois River, and on the 6th of February, reached the banks of the Mississippi.
On the 13th of February they commenced their downward course, which they pursued with but one interruption, until, on the 6th of March, they discovered the three great passages by which the river discharges its waters into the gulf. LaSalle thus narrates the event :
·
" We landed on the bank of the most western channel, about three leagues (nine miles) from its mouth. On the seventh, M. de LaSalle went to reconnoiter the shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonti meanwhile examined the great middle channel. They found the main outlets beautiful, large and deep. On the 8th we reascended the river, a little above its confluence with the sea, to find a dry place beyond the reach of inundations. The elevation of the North Pole was here about twenty-seven degrees. Here we prepared a column and a cross, and to the column were affixed the arms of France, with this inscription :
' Louis Le Grand, Roi de France et de Navarre, regne ; Le neuvieme Avril, 1682.'"
The whole party, under arms, chanted the Te Deum, and then, after a salute and cries of "Vive le Roi," the column was erected by M. de LaSalle, who, standing near it, proclaimed in a loud voice the authority of the King of France. LaSalle returned and laid the foundations of the Mississippi settlements in Illinois, thence he proceeded to France, where another expedition was fitted out, of which he was commander, and in two succeeding voyages failed to find the outlet of the river by sailing along the shore of the gulf. On his third voyage he was killed through the treachery of his followers, and the object of his expedition was not accomplished until 1699, when D'Iberville, under the authority
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.