USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 11
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Seeond Precinct (Stanley, Lueas, Vallers and Clifton)-R. D. Barnes, Moses Barnes, C. A. Cook, F. Dillman, G. P. Ladenburgh, H. Newhouse, M. Wilson, P. J. Truax, Reuben Beasley, T. W. Castor, C. T. Taylor, James White, Ansen Anderson, J. R. Benjamin, Thomas Bell, Allend Christian, J. Durham, J. P. Brod, J. C. Lines, Antoine Meron, R. W. Price, Chris Peterson, Nels Rosvold, Michael Rosvold, F. Strosham, E. T. Thompson, James Wardrop, John Anderson, Knudt Anderson, Ole O. Brandon, Ole Olson, John O .. Stensrud, M. K. Snartum.
Third Precinct (Grandview, Westerheim and Eids- vold)-Halvor Aadson, T. Aadson, Lewis Anderson, H. Burlingame, James Budson, T. J. Barber, A. L. Baldwin, C. Chamberlin, G. W. Carpenter, F. MI. Collins, J. G. Cook, A. H. Chamberlin, Ole Esping, J. M. English, G. O. Gilbertson, Nels Hanson, John Ilstad, H. A. Irish, G. Johnson, Knud Knudson, Andrew Lee, George Lee, H. B. Loomis, O. MeQuestion, William Markell, Isaac Olson, Nels Syverson.
Fourth Precinet (Rock Lake, Shelburne, Coon Creek and Island Lake)-John A. Van Fleet, Orville Persons, Cyrus L. Osborne, G. W. Linderman, Chester Bullock, Emery Hamm, Edson Weeks, J. T. Croueh, Lueius Town, J. and R. Town, J. W. Lester, William Living- ston, Lyman Fellows, Dallas T. Burt, H. H. Hodgkins, J. R. Burgett, W. T. Ellis, Joseph Williams, John MeKay, William Hamm.
Fifth Preeinet (northern Lineoln county)-Frank Apfield, Frank Applebee, A. Anderson, Henry Bagley, James Collins, John Dall, Daniel Dennison, D. Daniel- son, Or. Gunderson, Hans Johnson, Jacob Jacobson, John Jacobson, John Kelley. Anton Martinson, Thomas Maekey, John Nelson, Daniel Omley, Orsman Oleson, M. S. Phillips, William Ramsey, Like Randall, Ole A. Rige, Benjamin Sampson, Helner Simpson, Ole Severson, Off. Shedland, Caw Telfson, Elias Van Eaton, M. L. Wood, Henry Worden.
73
HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.
away and hopes of a prosperous future budded and bloomed under the stimulus of the growing boom.
With the new order of things came two important changes in Lyon county: the creation of Lincoln county from the fifteen western townships and the re- moval of the county seat from Lynd to Marshall. The settlement of western Lyon county had been quite rapid and the people there demanded a county of their own. Marshall, the only railroad town in the county, became ambitious and demanded the county seat.
It is doubtful if either of these changes, singly, would have been au- thorized by vote of the people, but, together, they were put through without great difficulty. The electors of the future Lincoln county agreed to vote for Marshall for the county seat if the people of Marshall and vicinity would vote for the new county, and vice versa. The coalition was a strong one and the returns show that each party fulfilled its promises.
The bill for the creation of Lincoln county passed the Legislature in the spring of 1873. According to its pro- visions the fifteen western townships of Lyon county were set off and formed into Lincoln county, the county seat of which should be Marshfield, but the act should not become operative unless a majority of the voters of the whole of
Il Vallers and Westerheim. *
12Eidsvold.
13Stanley and Clifton.
14Included also Island Lake and Coon Creek.
15 Monroe, Custer, Amiret and Sodus.
16 Rock Lake and Shelburne.
17Composed of two townships in southern Lincoln county.
18Composed of the northern tier of townships of Lincoln county.
19Composed of ten townships in eentral and southern Lincoln county.
20Thirty-nine votes of this total were worded "Against Division of County" instead of "Against Lincoln County."
Lyon county should ratify the aet at the general election in November, 1873. Considering the importance of the ques- tion, the campaign was not an excep- tionally hard fought one. Those favor- ing the creation of the new county won at the polls by a vote of 254 to 214. The vote by precincts was as follows:
PRECINCTS
For Lincoln County
Against Lincoln County
Canton (Lucas)
20
1
Northeast District11
·
Upper Yellow Medicine 12
18
Nordland.
18
3
Fairview
26
!
1
East Precinct 13
18
Marshall (Lake Marshall)
112
1
Lynd 14
6
46
Lyons
6
27
Saratoga 15
14
52
South District 16
1
10
Lake Benton 17
15
2
Yellow Bluff18
15
Marshfield 19
18
Tota
254
21420
On December 5, 1873, Governor Horace Austin issued a proclamation declaring the county of Lincoln formed21 and on that date Lyon county was reduced to its present area. 22
The bill providing for the removal of the county seat from Lynd to Marshall passed the Legislature March 6, 1873. It too provided that the voters must
21The first meeting of the Board of County Com- missioners of Lincoln county was held at the home of M. S. Phillips in Marshfield in January, 1874, the commissioners being N. F. Berry, A. C. Burdiek and Henry Bagley. They appointed the following first officers: Charles Marsh, anditor; John Jones, treas- urer and superintendent of schools; William Ross, sheriff; M. L. Wood, register of deeds; John Snyder, judge of probate; A. C. Leach, county attorney; M. S. Phillips, clerk of court; James Berry, court com- missioner; John Cooley, coroner; Mr. Taylor, surveyor; Ole Swenson and J. W. Lawton, justices of the peace; Benjamin Sampson and Frank Applebee, constables.
22In 1877 a petition was circulated in the northern part of Lineoln county and quite liberally signed, asking that Lincoln county be annexed to Lyon county, but the opposition defeated the prayer of the petitioners. The following spring a scheme was devised for the formation of a new county, composed of parts of Yellow Medicine, Lincoln and Lyon, with Canby as the county seat, but was abandoned.
38
Grandview
74
HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.
ratify the act at the general election in November, 1873, before it should be put in force. The people of the Lynd settlement fought for the honor of holding the seat of government, but they were overwhelmed. The Lincoln county country voted almost solidly for Marshall, as did the people in the vicinity of Marshall and in the country to the north of that village.
Many votes were won for Marshall on the promise that a tract of land should be given for county purposes and that there would be furnished. free of cost, for a period of ten years, buildings for county offices and court purposes. 23 The Prairie Schooner, published at Marshall, on October 25, 1873, said: "When any one tells you that the people of Marshall are in favor of building county buildings at the county expense, brand it as a lie. Marshall proposes to furnish all buildings neces- sary and suitable for county purposes just as long as the county sees fit to occupy the same, and the county will not be taxed one cent for buildings if the county seat is moved to this place."
23 A legal document, dated October 28, 1873, made the promise binding and was in the following words: "Received a bond running to the county of Lyon, signed by John W. Blake, Charles H. Whitney, D. Wilcox, J. Bagley, W. Wakeman, Coleman & Company, M. E. Wilcox, R. J. Monroe, L. B. Nichols, J. W. Williams and S. Webster, properly acknowledged, conditioned in the penal sum of $2000, to furnish to said Lyon county offices or buildings for county
At the election Marshall won over Lynd by a vote of 397 to 101, the vote by precincts being as follows:
PRECINCTS
For Removal
Against Removal
Canton (Lueas)
21
Northeast District
16
. .
Upper Yellow Medicine. .
18
Nordland .
17
21
Grandview
20
1
Fairview
27
East Precinct.
18
Marshall (Lake Marshall)
115
1
Lynd
14
38
Lyons
27
14
Saratoga.
54
18
South District
8
1
Lake Benton
16
1
Yellow Bluff.
9
6
Marshfield.
17
. .
Total.
397
101
By proclamation of Governor Horace Austin, dated December 5, 1873, Mar- shall was declared to be the county seat of Lyon county. The county commis- sioners met for the first time in the new seat of government January 24, 1874, and the county officers began conducting business there soon after.
officers, county commissioners and district court for the period of ten years, and the bond of J. W. Blake, properly executed, conditioned in the penal sum of $1000, to deed said county certain described lots in the village of Marshall for county purposes, both bonds conditional upon the removal of the county seat to Marshall, and request that the county commissioners will accept the same on behalf of said county."
CHAPTER V.
THE GRASSHOPPER SCOURGE -- 1873-1876.
N TOW come the dark days of Lyon county's history- the grasshop- per days. For several years, beginning with 1873, grasshoppers, or Rocky Mountain locusts, swept down upon the country in countless millions, devouring the crops and bringing dis- aster to nearly every resident. The people of Lyon county, in common with those of all Southwestern Minnesota. suffered as few pioneers of any country ever suffered. Adversity followed ad- versity. The frowns of fortune over- whelmed those who had come with such high hopes the preceding years and cast them into the slough of despond. The picture could hardly be painted too dark.
The country became bankrupt. Im- migration ceased; migration began. All who could mortgaged their property and many left the county. Some got into such straitened circumstances that they were literally without the means to pay their railway fare out of the county. It was impossible to make a living from the farm, and many sought work during the summer seasons in their old homes in the East; others attempted to earn a livelihood by trapping. In time land became valueless; it could not be sold
or mortgaged. After the first or second year eastern capitalists refused to con- sider loans in the grasshopper infested country.
Prosperous as Lyon county is today, one can imagine the suffering a series of almost total crop failures would bring. Picture, then, a settlement of some two thousand people with practically no means-people who had come because they were poor and because they be- lieved the new country offered oppor- tunities for securing a home and a competence-devastated by a scourge which took away the only means of earning a living. Such were the con- ditions in the times about which we are now to tell.
The people who had come the pre- ceding year set to work with a will to break out the prairie land, and great were the expectations for the crop of 1873, the first crop of any size planted in the county.1 The grain grew beauti- fully during the spring months; the faith in the soil was justified. Every- body was enthusiastic over the prospects. Then came the plague.
The grasshoppers first made their appearance in Lyon county about the seventeenth of June, 1873, and the
corn, 54 in barley, 36 in buckwheat, 85 in potatoes, 10 in beans, 2 in sorghum, and S in other products.
1The acreage sown to grain in 1873 was 1983, nearly three times as large as that of the year before. Of the total acreage, 1139 were in wheat, 330 in oats, 319 in
76
HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.
county was not entirely free from them during the remainder of the season. Their arrival was first made known by the appearance of the sky; the sun seemed to have lost some of its bril- liance, as though darkened by clouds of fine specks floating high in the air. Some believed that the specks were the fluff from cottonwood seeds. They kept increasing in number, and after awhile a few scattering ones began falling to the earth, where they were found to be grasshoppers, or Rocky Mountain lo- custs-forerunners of an army that devastated this part of the country and resulted in the retardation of its settle- ment for many years.2
The invading hordes feasted upon the growing grain and gardens and did great damage. In the Saratoga settle- ment along the Cottonwood in south- eastern Lyon county they were particu- larly voracious and left practically no grain. Along the Redwood, also, they brought destruction to crops, but there were some parts of the county that were not visited.3 Most of the grasshoppers left after a few weeks, but enough were left and deposited their eggs during the months of August and September to make certain that the county would be infested the next year.4 The harvest, of course, was light, but good yields were reported in the few communities that had not been visited.
In addition to the grasshopper dev-
2The grasshoppers were first noticed by a small party of pieniekers at Watson's grove in Lynd township. Their attention was attracted by the sudden clouding of the sun on a clear, bright day. There appeared to be a great cloud that was described as resembling a sheet of dull silver. For some time the cloud moved about in eircular form and gradually neared the earth. As it came closer its animation was observed and before long the whole cloud settled upon the earth. These first arrivals did not extend farther north than the Lynd settlement and many residents were skeptical of the stories told of the invasion. A party of Marshall people was deputized to investigate and went up to the Lynd settlement. When they reached the Redwood river at the plaee then known as the Muzzy flat their progress was stopped. The horses refused to approach the usual fording place, and there before them, covering a space twenty rods wide and for a considerable distance along the bank, the locusts were piled up two inches deep, a moving, undulating
astation, the panic which held the country in its grip in 1873 added to the hard times which followed. The loss of crops left many families in destitute circumstances, and there was some suffering during the next winter.
The state authorities took prompt action to relieve the suffering in the frontier counties. Petitions from the stricken districts were poured into the Legislature, asking appropriations for relief. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the Minnesota law-making body, late in January, 1874, appro- priated $5000 for the relief of the desti- tute and enacted a law extending the time of payment of personal property taxes until November 1 in the counties of Jackson, Cottonwood. Murray, Nobles, Rock. Watonwan, Lyon and Lac qui Parle. 5
Lyon county did not receive much benefit from the state aid, owing largely to local pride. In accordance with the custom of pioneer journals to report nothing that would tend to retard settlement. the local newspaper reported fair crops. A perusal of the files of the Prairie Schooner for 1873 discloses not a word of the grasshopper visitation of that year. Many people of the county denied the existence of destitu- tion and denounced those who sent out requests for aid.
For the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the people of the county a
mass of animation. The insects had there piled up by the million and where they covered stumps and brush they gave the appearance of being several feet deep.
3The damage to crops in 1873 in Minnesota was officially estimated at $3,034,000.
4Eggs were deposited preferably in solid ground and to a depth of from one-half to one inch. The tail of the female grasshopper is a hard, bony, cone-shaped substanee, and this was easily bored into the solid ground and the eggs deposited.
5''The bill postponing the collection of taxes on personal property in Lyon and several other south- western counties passed the Legislature a little too late to benefit many taxpayers of this county, as most of them paid all taxes against them prior to the first of this month, to prevent extra cost."-Prairie Schooner, February 19, 1874.
77
HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.
mass meeting was held at Marshall on the last day of January, 1874.6 It was the sense of that meeting that there were no persons in Lyon county in actual want and a resolution was passed denouncing the reports that had been sent out to that effect. Another reso- lution was passed to the effect that Lyon county would be able to take care of any case of destitution that might arise, without outside aid. The com- mittee that reported the resolution was composed of J. W. Blake, Jacob Rouse, J. G. Bryan, O. C. Gregg and J. H. Buchanan. The meeting ascertained, however, that some families had moved in from the grasshopper devastated districts who would probably want seed grain in the spring, and the governor and Legislature were petitioned to make a just distribution of funds for free seed grain when it was needed.
The people of southern Lyon county took exception to these optimistic reso- lutions of the Marshall meeting. On February 17 a mass meeting attended by two hundred people was held at Saratoga station. The opinion of those people was that there were many people in the southern part of the county that needed substantial aid at once, that much would be needed before another crop could be raised, that they were at that moment in pressing need of bread, meat and clothing, and would be later of seed grain. Committees were ap- pointed to canvass the community and report to the Board of County Com- missioners.
Before the matter was taken up by the county officials, in February a subscription paper was circulated and
6"We, the undersigned, do hereby request that a meeting of the citizens of the county be held at Con- gregational Hall in Marshall at two o'clock p. m. Saturday, January 31, for the purpose of more defi- nitely ascertaining whether there are any destitute persons in Lyon county, and if so, whether there are any more than can be provided for by the county. A general attendance is requested, particularly of
$92 raised for relief. A disbursement committee on February 17 reported that $37.62 of this amount had been dis- tributed among the needy, mostly in the Saratoga country.
The county was without funds to take care of the needy and it was obliged to pledge its faith to one of the Marshall merchants to raise by taxation and pay back the sum of $100 and interest advanced in supplies. The following resolution-a forceful reminder of the dark days of Lyon county's history- was passed by the Board of County Commissioners February 24, 1874:
Resolved that the faith of the county is hereby pledged to William Everett & Company to levy a special tax and to pay them one hundred and seventeen dollars and have the same placed upon the next roll and collected with the other county taxes in consideration that they shall advance to the county one hundred dollars for the relief of the destitute of the county, provided that the said William Everett & Company shall furnish provisions upon the requisition of the commissioners to the amount not more than one hundred dollars and if less than said amount, pro rata.
The following resolution passed relative to disbursing aid to the destitute: Resolved
First. That the applicant shall be a resident of this county.
Second. That there shall be no tea, coffee, sugar, spirits, molasses or fruits furnished.
Third. No person shall be furnished who has more stock than one team and one cow.
Fourth. No exception to the above save in case of sickness.
Fifth. The circumstances of the applicant must be set forth in an affidavit before aid is given.
Sixth. This aid shall be disbursed by William Everett & Company upon the order of James Mitchell, Jr., A. D. Morgan and W. M. Pierce, relief commissioners.
The people of Lyon county were finally forced to admit that they must have state aid and made application for a portion of the $5000 appropriated. S. S. Truax, of the Saratoga settlement. received $250 from the governor early
those who may have knowledge of any destitution in any part of the county. (Signed): J W. Blake, S. Webster, Wilbur Coleman, Stanley Addison, C. H. Whitney, C. W. Andrews, G. E. Nichols, M. V. David- son, S. V. Groesbeck, E. B. Jewett, M. E. Wilcox, J. A. Coleman, W. M. Todd, L. B. Nichols, J. P. Watson, W. Wakeman, J. W. Williams."
78
HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.
in March and distributed it among the needy.
It was early learned that many farmers would not have grain for seeding purposes in the spring of 1874, and the Legislature in February appropriated $25,000 for supplying the want. Lyon county's share, 1128 bushels, was re- ceived in March and the distribution was completed early in April. The com- mittee that had charge of this work was composed of S. S. Truax, Jacob Rouse and J. W. Blake. The demand for the grain was so great that each applicant received only a part of the grain asked for.7 The grain, all wheat, was dis- tributed to the farmers of the county as follows: Lake Marshall, 102 bushels; Lynd. 102; Lyons, 102: Saratoga (Mon- roe, Custer, Sodus and Amiret), 318; Rock Lake, 30; East Precinct (Stanley and Clifton), 30; Canton (Lucas), 78; Northeast Precinct (Vallers and West- erheim), 42; Upper Yellow Medicine (Eidsvold), 66; Nordland, 96; Grand- view, 96; Fairview, 66.
If there had been a belief that the grasshopper scourge was to be only a temporary blight on the prospects of Lyon county, it was rudely dispelled. The visitation of 1873 was as nothing compared with what followed. The story of the years to follow is one of heartrending misery. From Manitoba to Texas the grasshoppers brought deso- lation and suffering in 1874, the visita- tion being general along the whole frontier. Especially destructive were
they in Southwestern Minnesota and in Kansas and Nebraska.
A large acreage was sown in Lyon county in the spring of 1874, there being 4245 acres sown to wheat alone. 8 Then came anxious days. The grass- hopper eggs which had been deposited the year before began to hatch during the early days of May.9 While the pests had been considered numerous the year before, there were now more than ten times as many. The appetites of the youngsters were good, and they began their ravages as soon as the first tender blades of grain appeared. Whole fields were stripped entirely bare in those parts of the county where the hoppers were most numerous, notably along the Cot- tonwood in the Saratoga country and along the Redwood in the Lynd country.
Had the ravages of the native hoppers been the only damage, the county could have borne the infliction, for there were portions in which little or no damage was done. During the closing days of June most of the Lyon county hatch departed. Several days were spent in swarming and collecting, and then they rose in vast clouds, filling the air as far as the eye could reach, and sailed away to discover new worlds to conquer. During this period, each day from ten o'clock in the morning until three in the afternoon, the air was filled with the winged emigrants. With their depar- ture it was hoped the ravages of the year were at an end, but it was not to be.
During the early days of July came
§ 7"We do not know the number of applications from different parts of the state for seed wheat, nor the extent of the territory to be supplied, nor the rules governing the distribution, but it appears to us that this county should have at least three times the amount of seed wheat that has been apportioned."- Prairie Schooner, March 19, 1874.
8The wheat acreage in 1874 by preeinets was as follows: Nordland, 236; Lake Marshall, 323 14; 109-41 (Custer), 433 12; Upper Yellow Medicine (Eidsvold), 141 12; Lyons, 457 12; Canton (Lucas), 516 12; Fairview, 456; Lynd, 546; 111-40 (Clifton), . 112; Madison (Amiret), 282 12; 110-43 and 111-43 (Island Lake and Coon Creek), 69 12; 112-40, 113-41
and 113-42 (Stanley, Vallers and Westerheim), 299; 109-42 (Rock Lake), 122; 110-41 (Sodus), 250.
9The process of hatching was interesting. In each nest, a half inch or more below the surface of the ground, invariably laid in hard earth, were from twenty to fifty eggs. When the sun warmed the ground sufficiently to hatch the eggs, the pithy cover- ing of the nest popped off and a squirming mass of little yellow hoppers poured out. Each was encased in a sort of shell or skin, which it immediately began to pull off. Then, after taking a moment's view of the world, each little hopper hopped away in search of something to cat. At birth they were about a quarter of an inch long and had no wings, but these developed rapidly.
79
HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.
an invasion of "foreign" hoppers from the southern counties, which made it evident that the county was not to escape with the damage done by the native pests. They appeared in cloud- like formations, drifting with the wind, sometimes entirely disappearing, and again returning with a change of wind. While the depredations before had been committed only where the hatch had been, the invaders now attacked fields in parts of the county theretofore un- molested and some fields were literally eaten bare to the roots. Still the damage was not total, and before the middle of July the army had almost entirely disappeared.
At this time, when it was hoped the pests had departed for good, the Prairie Schooner estimated the damage:
First. From Coburg [Amiret], along and near the Cottonwood river, to the southern boundary of the county and west to Lake Yankton, in- formation received indicates that on an average two-thirds of the wheat and oats sown have been destroyed and much injury done to corn and potatoes.
Second. A strip of country about three miles wide and extending from Lake Marshall on the east to the Redwood river on the west, including Upper Lynd, will average about half a erop of wheat and oats.
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