An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota, Part 10

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Luverne, Minn. : Northern History Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 924

USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 10
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 10

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deny ourselves the enjoyment of many de- sirable things than to get them on credit. trusting to the future for an easy pay day. The present winter will probably be the hard- est time We shall see in this part of the coun- try, and better times are in store for us. in common with the whole country. but the prac- tice of rigid economy now is of the utmost importance."-Rock County Herald. December 6. 1873.

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

sent to Rock county, were received by the local committee From General Sibley abont January 23.2 and distribution was com- menced at once.

Other sums were received from the state relief committee. the total amount having reached $300 early in February. Accord- ing to the first teport of the distributing committee (T. P. Grout, treasmer), made February 6. the first one hundred dollars were divided among eighteen needy fam- ilies, by precincts as follows: Three fam- ilies in Magnolia, $15.5}; three in Greg- ory, $10.09; two in Clinton, $11.48; three in Beaver Creek, $15.00; two in Inverno. $14.15: seven in Martin, $33.03.ª The funds handled by the state committee were raised by private subscription.

Rock county's share of the $5000 ap- propriated by the state was received early in February. The following letter from Governor C. K. Davis gave instructions for the distribution of the meager por- tion of the funds apportioned to Rock county :

To Messrs. P. J. Kniss and J. H. Loomis, Luverne, Minnesota: At a conference which was held at the executive office on the evening of the thirtieth instant, between the governor and the representatives and senators from the districts whose people are entitled to relief under the act appro- priating $5000 for that purpose, you were commended to the governor as proper per- sons to assist in the distribution of the appropriation in Rock county.

The act makes no provision for your compensation, and it is taken for granted that your services will be rendered gra- tuitously in such a cause.

2.St. Paul, January 21. 1874.

"P. J. Kniss, Esq., Lnverne, Minnesota. Dear Sir :- I have received your application for aid to your destitute sufferers through

Senator Freeman. It is to be regretted that the condition of the people of your county had not been made known at an earlier period, while I had at my disposal large quantities of clothing and other supplies, of which a just proportion might have been furnished to the sufferers then. These articles have been dis- tributed to a large extent in other localities. it having been understood here that your local paper denied that there was a state of things existing in Rock county calling for any outside interference or aid. and intimating that a prof- fer of assistance would be regarded as imper- tinent and unsought for. Now that the facts indicate an entirely different condition of af- fairs, we must do what we can in the way of

A remittance will be made to you at once. This money is to be used to alleviate present suffering and is not to be diverted to the purchase of seed. The legislature is now engaged in maturing a bill which will meet that case. In performing your duties you will please observe the following general instructions:

First. It is wished that you give relief only to persons whom you may know to be deserving, from personal inspection of their condition as far as practicable. To this end it is recommended that one of you go personally to the localities claiming aid unless they have been previously visited.

Second. The sum remitted is to be ex- pended only for such articles of food as are of prime necessity and for medicines. Ex- pend uo money for spirits, tobacco, tea, coffee or sugar.

Third. Do not pay money directly to parties seeking relief. Purchase and deliv- er to them the specific articles which you think they may need.

Fourth. So far as practical, make your purchases of the dealers doing business at or near the places to be aided, and in every case pay for what is bought and send to this office forthwith a receipted and item- ized bill of the articles purchased.

Fifth. Deny all applications when you are satisfied that the applicants can do without the aid. In case persons are own- ers of surplus stock which they can sell, deny relief.

Sixth. Take from each person aided, or, when this is impracticable, from the per- son to whom any articles are committed for distribution, a receipt upon the form which is herewith enclosed, and send the receipt to this office. You will please comply strictly with this request, for the reason that the governor is intrusted with the distribution of this fund, and he will require these receipts as his vouchers. Be particular to enter in the receipts the quan- tity and price of every article issued.

Seventh. As this remittance is not in- tended to buy clothing or blankets, please send to this office at your earliest oppor- tunity a statement of the least number of blankets, cloth, thread, etc., which will be

contributions. Today I send to your address. per express, a package containing $100 in currency, to be expended by your committee for the most effective relief of the most needy. You will please send me a receipt for the sun when it reaches you, and keep and dispatch to me an account of the manner in which the money has been employed. Send me also a statement of the number of families requir- ing aid and the particular articles of which they are in immediate want.

"Yours truly, "H. H. SIBLEY. "Chairman Relief Committee."

3The third report of the committee. dated February 19, showed distribution as follows: In Magnolia township, $38.65; Gregory, $37.35: Clinton. $17.81: Beaver Creek. $36.75: Luverne, $29.22: Martin, $25.53: Kanaranzi. $10.00.

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

needed in the places to which your action extends. Please reduce this estimate to the lowest possible amount.

Eighth. Make a report of your doings to this office on or before March 1, 1874, giv- ing names and places of residence of the persons who have received aid, accompany- ing such report with the vouchers required by instruction No. 6. The bills mentioned in the fourth instruction should be sent at the date of the purchase which they cover.

I have been thus explicit in these in- structions because there are many outside of your precinct who are to receive their share of this appropriation, and I am ex- tremely desirous that there shall be a fair and equal distribution of its proceeds.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, C. K. DAVIS, Governor.

The amount received from the state ex- conlive was $215. This was distributed, in supplies, among forty-one families, making an average of about $5.25 to a family. In his report, dated February 20, P. J. Kniss told of the amounts dis- tributed by precincts, as follows: Mar- tin, $51.08; Beaver Creek, $40.69; Mag- nolia, $40.09; Gregory, $32.29 ; Enverne, $22.56; Clinton, $10.15; Kanaranzi, $8.42. In addition to these amounts, Mr. Kniss reported having paid $25.00 to J. Il. Loomis for disbursement, making a total of $239.33.

Relief supplies were also received from other sources. Early in March a box of goods, containing clothing, etc., was fo- ceived from the governor and was distri- buted by Mrs. T. P. Grout. The National Grange donated $1000 for members of the order in the grasshopper devastated counties, to be used in the purchase of supplies and seeds. The Rock county committee made application for a share

4"Now that spring is here, it is ascertained that with the small appropriation a great por- tion of the plowed land will remain unseeded. as it is impossible for many of our extremely poor to obtain seed."-Rock County Herald. March 13. 1874.

""Parties applying for seed grain will have to make affidavit that the grain is to be used for seed only, and that they have no means of their own with which to purchase seed, and that they have no seed. (Dated) March 25.

of this donation, but its application was received too late. and no supplies were le- veived from that source, the money hav- ing been apportioned among the needy grangers of Cottonwood, Jackson, Martin and Nobles counties.

It was carly learned that many farmers would not have grain for seeding purposes in the spring of 1844, and the legislature. in February, appropriated $25.000 for supplying this want. This amount proved insufficient to supply the demands placed upon it.4 Rock county's share, 1200 bush- els, was received late in March, and the distribution was completed early in April."

An event of this disastrous period was the creation of the Rock county district court. The county was made a judicial district of itself upon the passage of a bill introduced by Senator E. P. Freeman in February, 1874.5

If there had been a belief that the grass- hopper scourge was to be only a tempo- rary blight on the prospects of Rock conn- ty, it was rudely dispelled. The visi- tation 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 desolation and suf- fering in 1814. the visitation being gen- cial along the whole frontier. Especially destinetive were they in southwestern Min- nesota and in Kansas and Nebraska.

A fairly large acreage was sown in Rock county in the spring of 1871. Then came anxious days. The grashopper eggs which had been deposited by the visiting hordes the year before began to hatch during

1874. (Signed) P. J. Kniss, T. P. Grout, W. O. Crawford, Committee."

"When settlers first located in Rock county the southwest corner county was attached to Martin county for judicial purposes. March 7. 1870. Jackson. Nobles and Rock counties were detached from Martin, and thereafter Rock county cases were tried in the Jackson county district court. The Nobles county dis- triet was created February 27. 1873, to which Rock county was attached until the following year.

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

the first days of May.7 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 en- tirely bare in those portions of the coun- ty where the young hoppers were most numerous. Had the ravages of the native hoppers been the only damage, the county could have borne the infliction. A fine growing season caused the erops in many places to get ahead of the young hoppers. Wheat and oats were growing splendidly, sod corn was an especially promising erop. and all garden vegetables were growing as they seldom have since. The wings of the young hoppers having fully developed. about the middle of June they began their tlight out of the country. For several days, from ten o'clock in the morning until three in the afternoon, the air was filled with the winged emigrants, all tray- eling in a northeasterly direction. It was hoped that the ravages for the year were at an end, but it was not to be.

During the first days of July came an invasion of "foreign" hoppers out of the northeast, which made it evident that the country was not to escape with the damage done by the native posts. The destroying agents remained in Rock county several days, doing great damage. But the loss by this invasion was not tolal.

About the middle of July the grasshop- pers were again seen coming out of the northeast, and this visitation resulted in almost total annihilation of erops. Bo- fore they departed the county was literally

"The process of hatching was interesting. I each nest, a half inch or more below the sur- face of the ground, invarialdy in hard earth. were from twenty to fifty eggs. When the sun warmed the ground sufficiently to hatch the oggs, the pithy covering 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 mo- ment's view of the world, each little hopper

alive with them. And what havoe they wrought ! So thick was the air with the flying pests that at times the sun was par- tially obscured. They appeared to the people below like a vast cloud, sweeping sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another-always going with the wind, but never traveling any distance to the west or northwest. At evening when they came down near the earth, the noise they made was like a roaring wind. Those that alighted on the prairies seemed to know where the grain fields and gardens were and gathered in them from all directions. Every cornstalk bent to the earth with their weight. The noise they made eating could be heard from quite a dis- tance and resembled that which might have been made by hundreds of hog> turned into the fields. In fact, such was the destruction that within four hours after they came down, whole fields of corn and small grain were as completely har- vested as though they had been ent with a reaper and hauled away. It was a dis- couraging sight.5

After gorging themselves with the crops. the hoppers sometimes piled up in the fields and along the road often to a depth of one or two feet. Horses could hardly be driven through them. Stories have been told of railway trains becoming block- aded by the pests so as to be unable to move until the insects were shoveled from the track.

This second successive crop failure was a terrible blow. A great many who had not been hard pressed by the conditions in 1828 were now reduced to the common level; their savings had been spent and

hopped away in search of something to eat. At birth they were about a quarter of an inch long and had no wings, but these developed rapidly.

"According to the report of the commissioner of statistics, the loss of the several crops in twenty-eight counties of Minnesota in 1874 Was as follows: Wheat, 2,646,802 bushels; onts. 1.816,733 bushels; corn. 738,415 bushels; barley. 58,962 bushels; potatoes, 221,454 bushels; flax seed. 52,833 bushels.

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

they had no income. Those who were not compelled to live on charity were com- petted to practice most rigid economy. Hay furnished the fuel; potatoes, pump- kins and squashes-a few vegetables left by the hoppers-supplied the bulk of the food. Meat was not on the bill of fare, except for those who could use a gun and bag the prairie chickens and ducks that were in great abundance. In this manner a large number of the settlers were obliged to pass the winter. They bore their trials more cheerfully than might have been expected and made prep- arations to try their luck again next year.

The question naturally arises: Why did the people of Rock county stay in a country in which the grasshoppers wrought such damage? It is doubtful if they would have remained could they have looked ahead and foreseen what they still had to go through, for this was not the end of the scourge by any means. A few discouraged ones did depart for their former homes. All who could went away each summer to work in the harvest fields of more fortunate communities and earn enough to supply their absolute needs.

The majority stayed with their claims and weathered the storms of adversity. Hope was abundant that each year's visi- tation would be the last. The fertility of the soil had been demonstrated, and it was known that once the country was free from the pests, it would become one of the richest spots in the west. The settlers had invesed all their accumula- tions of former years in improvements, and to desert the country meant that they must go as paupers. Many were literally

"The apportionment by counties was as fol- lows: Pinewood, $200; Martin. $1363.87; Rock, $1400; Cottonwood, $3237.02; Watonwan, $1808.83; Jackson. $2817.82; Murray. $1902.82; Nobles. $1952.82; Brown, $300; others, $768.38.

"The act was passed March 1, 1875, and pro- vided for the extension of lime of payment of

too poor to pay transportation charges out of the country.

Those requiring relief during the win- ler of 1874-25 were, of course, more num- erous than during the preceding winter. An appropriation for relief was again made by the legislature, and $15,251.56 was distributed among the needy in the grasshopper devastated counties.º Rock county's share, $1400, fell short of the re- quirements. Clothing and other relief supplies were occasionally received during the winter from private sources-sup- plies which meant much to suffering set- tlers. The United States government, in a small way, assisted in the care of the unfortunate people hy the distribution of army rations and clothing. The distri- bution was made in the vacant Howard building on Main street, Luverne. Again the legislature granted an extension of time for the payment of taxes in some of the counties, and, of course, Rock coun- iy was among the number. Times im- proving but slightly, the extension was of little benetit. People who had not money to buy food and elcthing could not pay taxes.10

Notwithstanding the terrible experien- ces of the two preceding years, the farm- ers determined to put in a crop in 1875. The ground had been prepared, but the farmers were without seed grain and with- out the means to purebase it. The legis- lature came to their rescue with an ap- propriation of $75,000, the act providing for the distribution of seed grain to that amount, with certain provisions for its re- payment. A state board of commissioners was appointed to conduct the distribution, and a local board was named in each of

personal property taxes to November 1 in the counties of Martin, Jackson, Nobles, Rock, Mur- ray, Cottonwood, Watonwan. Renville, Lyon and parts of Blue Earth, Faribault and Brown. In order to secure the extension it was neces- sary for the residents to give proof that they were unable to pay their taxes because of loss of crop in 1874 from grasshoppers or hail.

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

the stricken counties to assist in the work. The money market was constricted, and the state was not able to procure the cash to purchase more than $50,000 worth of grain. With the seed received from the state and that which was in the county, there was enough to seed a part of the prepared land in Rock county.

Days of anxiety following the appear- ance of the grain above the ground. Would the grasshopper scourge again come with its ruin and desolation? As the season advanced the people with deep concern scanned the skies for the appearance of their old enemy. As eggs had not been deposited in Rock county the preceding season, there were no young hoppers, and the only apprehension was in regard to an invasion by the "foreigners." Tidings soon came. On Monday, June 28, it was reported that a vast army was on its way to the northwest from Iowa and other states to the south, headed, it was said, for the Bad Lands of Dakota. They pass- eul over Sioux City in great numbers and extended north to Sheldon. A few strag- glers along the right flank of the army were seen in Rock county and created some apprehension and caused a great deal of upward gazing. But the settlers thanked Providence that, so far, they were in the suburbs of the movement. One curious feature of this movement was that it came from the southeast: before, the hordes generally came out of the northeast. What few were seen passing over Rock county

11"Within the past fortnight the hoppers have deployed from the Minnesota river region. . In Rock county the damage is so trifling as scarcely to deserve mention, the hoppers be- ing comparatively few in number and confined to patches here and there." Worthington Ad- vance. Ily 23, 1875.

"There was really very little that the settlers could do to destroy or check the pests. al- though many schemes were tried. Nothing availed against the invading hordes, but in the case of the native hoppers the farmers waged a more or less successful war by the use of tar. "Hopperdozers." a sort of drag made of sheet iron and wood would be cov- pred with tar and dragged over the ground. The young hoppers would be caught in the tar and destroyed. Another scheme was to per-

did no damage whatever. A report from Luverne early in July was to the effect that no damage had yet been done and that in Rock county the stand of grain was the largest ever known.

The county was free from the pests un- til Saturday, July 10. Then a part of the Minnesota valley hatch came from the northeast, feasted a few days on the grow- ing crops and departed, doing small dam- age.11 The settlers kept track of the move- ments of the grasshoppers as they would have those of an invading army of sol- diers. They knew that only by chance would they escape. They felt as though the sword of Damocles were suspended over them, ready to fall at any moment.

The respite was not long. The dreaded pests appeared again about July 22 and for several days were engaged in eating grain and depositing their eggs. They left the county during the closing days of July and spread out over northwestern lowa. The invading army of 1825 was not so numerous as thai of the year be- fore, neither did the posts eat so ravenons- ly as formerly. They appeared to be of a degenerate breed, and bushels of them died after depositing their eggs. It was a ragamuffin, Falstaffin army compared with that of 1814.12

In individual cases the loss of crops was quite severe, but generally in Rock coun- ty the damage was slight, and a big per- centage of the crop was saved.1ª The farmers eagerly began the harvest, and

vent prairie fires during the summer and fall. conserving the grass until the hoppers had hatched in the spring. Then on a given day the county would be burned over and the pests destroyed. Ditches would be dug and the hop- pers driven into them and burned: scoop nets were used, but little headway could he made with them. In some of the counties bounties

were paid for their capture. In seven such counties 58,019 bushels were captured. upon which bounties aggregating $76.788.42 were paid; still no diminution was noticed in the damage done.

13"Reports from Rock county say that most of the hoppers have left and that the crops are but slightly injured. "- Worthington Advance, July 20. 1875.

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

crops were well secured. But the anxie- ties of the season were not yet over. Dur- ing the entire week beginning August 31 there was a continual downpour of rain, which did much damage to grain in stack and shock. That in the shock sprouted, and all was more or less damaged. Blight injured some of the wheat, and instead of grading No. 1, it was second and third grade.

The conditions during the winter of 1825-76 were so much better than they had been during the two preceding win- ters that very little relief was needed. and the county was able lo supply its own sced for the next erop.

That there had been a marvelous in- crease in the population of Rock county during the two or three years of the der- ade before the grasshopper came is shown by the census returns for 1875. In spite of the fact that there had been litile immigration since 18234 and that a great many had moved away, there were found to be 1750 permanent residents in the county, an increase of about 1200 per cent in five years. By precinets, the popula- tion in 1875 was as follows :

Luverne (township and village) . 267

Beaver Creek 226

Vienna 121

Kanaranzi 152

Clinton 254

Martin 320

Magnolia 137

Springwater 110

163 Gregory15

Total 1750

14In 1874 at least eighteen families, most of whom were from Winneshick county, lowa, settled in Martin and Beaver Creek townships.

15Included the present townships of Battle Plain, Rose Dell, Denver and Mound.

16Prior to the purchase of this building the county business had been conducted in various places. For some little time after the county was organized in 1870 the various officers had their offices at their respective homes. the office of the register of deeds being within one mile of the lowa line. For a time after the construction of the Wold & MeKay store building in 1871 a desk for county officers was maintained there. Early in 1873 the upper room of the school house was fitted up and

Rock county came into possession of its first court house July 28, 1875, when it purchased from A. C. Croft for $625 lot seven of block eleven with the building occupying that lol. In this little frame structure the officers conducted the county business until the present court house was erected in 1888.16

The year 1826 brought The building of Rock county's first railroad-an event of the greatest importance to the people whose nearest railway points theretofore had been Sibley and Worthingion. The road, now a branch of the Omaha system, was completed io Luverne in the fall of 1876, 10 Beaver Creek in December, 1877, and to Sioux Falls the next spring.

The building of the railroad was brought about largely by the efforts of residents of Sioux Falls and vicinity. In the fall of 1825 several public meetings were held in that inland hamlet, the ob- jeel of which was to secure the building of a road to Sioux Falls, either by local capital or by inducing the Sioux City & St. Paul railroad officials to construct a branch from some point on its main line. The point favored by the Sioux Falls boomers was Sibley or some other station in Iowa. The matter was taken up with President Drake, of the Sioux City & St. Paul road, who announced that his com- pany was not at the time prepared to con- struct the line, but that he believed the proper place to unite with his road was

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An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota, Part 10

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970 Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Luverne, Minn. : Northern History Publishing Company Number of Pages: 924

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Luverne, Minn. : Northern History Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 924