An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota, Part 30

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 30
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 30

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480,83 square miles, or 302,436.11 acres, are land, and only 1.84 square miles, or 1114.04 acres, are water. Of the land area, with the exception of small tracts of waste lands on the mounds, every foot is tillable.

A glance at the map of Minnesota and the political division designaled thercon as Rock county will furnish most of the information given above. But there will be found nothing to distinguish Rock county from the other divisions in the vicinity except the presence of many water- courses, indicating excellent possibilities for drainage. The lithographed piece of paper does not convey much idea of the country : personal inspection is required to learn what it really is.

In general the surface of Rock county is a high, broadly undulating plateau. though considerably diversified by streams, some of which have blutl'y shores and scan- ty growths of natural timber. The undula- tions of the prairie are gradual, in no places being sufficiently abrupt to inter- fore with cultivation, except at the mounds and along the streams. There are no lakes and sloughs and no flat expanses of territory such as characterize some por-

1"Rock county. in the extreme southwestern corner of the state, holds the enviable position of being the richest agricultural county in the T'nited States. According to the census of 1900. the per capita deposits in Rock county were found to be $82.79. or $413.18 for each fam- ily in the county. The census of 1900 gave Rock

county a population of 9668. There are de- posited in the various banks $800.405.59. Prac- tically all of this belongs in the county."-Min- neapolis Times, February, 1902.

"Minnesota Geological Survey. 1884.

217

218

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

tions of southwestern Minnesota; conse- quently there is no waste land from this source. The only exceptions fo the general description are the mounds, located near the center of the county, and the strip of country extending northwestward there- from, in which are frequent rock outerops and over which soil is thin.

Geologists tell us that the physical fea- tures of Rock county were fashioned to a considerable extent by the action of the ice during the glacial period thousands of years ago. Basing an estimate on the known resisting force of the red quartzite found at the mounds and the marks made on the rocks by the action of the ice, if is figured that the ice-sheet that at one time covered Rock county may have been eleven miles thick. But the markings left on the rocks are not the only things fo bo considered in making the calculation. Prof. N. H. Winchell has written of this estimate: "The import of this calcula- tion, therefore, cannot be much more than to warrant the statement that the ice was very thick. perhaps several miles." Of the evidences of glacial action in Rock county. the Minnesota Geological Survey (1884) says:

There is evidence of glacier action, or what has been recognized as evidence of glacial action, in Rock county south of the coteau. The quartzite is polished, stri- ated and sculptured superficially on the tops

of the ridges in the central part of the coun- ty as only glacier ice is known to do. . . At another point, about ten miles . north of Luverne, glacial marks were ob- served running south 10 degrees west. On the rock at the mound they run 25 degrees to 30 and 35 degrees west. In many places they are conspicuous and abundant, and perfectly preserved, covering considerable areas.

It seems almost impossible that in so level and open a country, and on the same rocks, withont apparent cause, the glacier which must have been hundreds of miles wide, if it existed here at all, could have taken such diverse directions in so short distances. It cannot be doubted, however, that this marking was done by the force that exerted a great pressure at the same time that the marks were made. This pressure is evinced not only in the marking itself, which is on the hardest formation found in the state, but in the minute cross-fractures that cover the surface where this rasping has taken place, and yet leave it in the main a smooth and moutonned surface. These cross-fractures run curvingly downward at varying angles with the surface, and to all depths less than an inch, but usually to less than one-sixteenth of an inch, and indicate perhaps an incipient crushing to the depth of at least an inch. They show in what manner the rasping reduced the orig- inal projecting knobs. Where the natural seams or planes of jointage cross the rock, causing the quartzite to chip off sooner and deeper with a curving and conchoidally fracture, these little checks are larger. Their prevailing direction is transverse to the rasping force, so that the rock, along some grooves, has short conchoidally frac- tured structure traverse to the grooves, penetrating it to a depth of a quarter to half an inch, exhibited now in a series of little curving furrows where the laminae broke off successfully, the convexities of the laminae being toward the north. . a

3Hon. Warren Upham has told of specific in- vestigations in Rock county. He wrote as fol laws (Geological Survey, 1884):

"Very interesting glacial striae were seen on the quartzite, one rod cast of the road about a mile north of where the cast road from Lu- verne to Pipestone City rises upon the quart- zite of the mound, probably in the southwest quarter of section 23, Mound. At its west eige a width of two feet . is striated from north to south, while the rest is striated south 35 degrees west. The line dividing these areas marks a definite change of plane in the rock surface, which is inclined downward at the west 1 or 5 degrees, and at the cast about half as much: making a beveled angle of 5 de- grees or perhaps 7 degrees. It seems to me that these striae were probably engraved at different dates by one ice-sheet which had con- stantly covered the district. When the ice at- tained its maximum area. the current of this portion would be nearly from north to south; but during the final melting, as its retreating

western border came nearer and nearer to this place, the current must have been deflected southwestward, approximating to a direction perpendicular to the ice-border. That the striae bearing south 35 degrees west belong to A later date than those from north to south, is made quite certain by the fact that the former is approximately the prevailing course of striation in this region; for the last glacial erosion upon any area must obviously efface the greater part of the carlier strine.

"About a mile farther north. perhaps in the southeast quarter of section 15. Mound, on a similar small, low exposure of quartzite, also one rod east of the same road. similar striation was observed, the larger (west) part of the ex- posed rock surface being striated from north to south: and the smaller (east) portion. south 35 degrees west. A slight difference in slone of these differently striated portions of the ruck surface is also seen here, forming a hoveled angle. These observations agree in all respects with the preceding."

219

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

The soil of Rock county is a drift de- posit. It is dark-colored, fine-textured. abounds with organic matter-ingredients derived from the accumulation of decom- posed vegetable matter through long ages of growth and decay-and is of unexcelled fertility. It has a wonderful capacity for the absorption of moisture and an equally wonderful, and perhaps consequent, ability to withstand drought. It has come to be recognized as a distinguishing char- acteristic of Rock county that its soil will stand more wet weather and more drought -and produce good crops under either condition-than most any other known agricultural country.4 In the northwest portion of the county, particularly in parts of Mound, Denver and Rose Dell town- ships, rocks appear on the surface and the soil covering is thin, but only in occa- sional spots is the land unsuited to cul- tivation. All through the northern prirt occasional stones are found in the soil. but these become less frequent toward the south, and in the southern part no stones at all appear on the surface.

The soil composition of Rock and Pipe- stone counties presents some peculiaritie- not common in the neighboring counties of southwestern Minnesota. they lying mainly outside of what in geology is termed the morainie belt, which includes most of southwestern Minnesota. Rock county is till-covered, the deposit exhibiting a thick- ness and general uniformity in its fea- tures equal to, if not greater than, most of the counties that lie within the mo- rainie belt. Its composition does not change so frequently to gravel and sand.

These counties [Rock and Pipo- stone] are among the best in the state for all farming."-Minnesota Geological Survey, 1884.

"Prof. N. H. Winchell has mapped Rock county as to its soil formation. On the map the different formations are made to include territory as follows: All of Rose Dell and Springwater. nearly all of Mound and about one-third of Denver townships are Potsdam quartzite formation: nearly all of Battle Plain. Vienna. Magnolia, about two-thirds of Denver and the greater part of Kanaranzi, Luverne and Beaver Creek townships are till, smooth

and its upper surface is not so frequently broken by hillocks or depressed by short valleys. Toward the south, however, the soil exhibits features that seem to indi- cate a greater age than that of the north. There the gravel stones, particularly those of lime stone, are rotted. Its boulders become less conspicuous and less numerous and it assumes a pebbly, rather than stony. composition. Within it appear limy concre- tions that are common to the Mississippi and Missouri valleys. These coneretions accompany this pebbly composition, until by gradual withdrawal of the pebbles. there is found a fine clavey loam which cannot be distinguished from the loess loam of the Missouri valley. This tran- sition does not involve the whole thick- ness of the till. but pertains to its upper portions. At a few feet below the sur- face the till. even in the southern part of Rock county. is stony.5

The soil analyses indicate exceptional fertility and durability, but the magnifi- cent crops which the soil of Rock county produces speak more eloquently than the scientist can. The testimony of farmers who have accumulated wealth and inde- pendence affords unquestionable proof of the richness of the soil. Rock is an agri- cultural county. The principal products are corn, barley, oats, wheat, rye, flax, hay. livestock, dairy products, poultry, fruit and vegetables. In the early days the settlers confined their energies almost ex- elsively to grain farming and largely to wheat raising. Now diversified farming is the rule." Every farmer raises stock

and undulating: small parts of Battle Plain. Vienna, Magnolia. Kanaranzi, Luverne and Beaver Creek townships-along the streams- are loess, magnified drift; practically all of Martin and Clinton townships are loess, mag- nified drift.

"Said N. H. Winchell in the publication of the Minnesota Geological Survey, edition of 1884: "The main material product of these counties [ Rock and Pipestone] is now, and will always remain, wheat. of which they will produce as much to the acre as any county in the state."

220

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

and many engage in dairying on a large scale.

The estimated mean elevation of Rock county above sea level is 1510 feet. The mean elevations of the several townships in feet are as follows: Battle Plain, 1550 ; Vienna, 1520: Magnolia, 1490: Kana- ranzi, 1495: Denver, 1620: Mound, 1575: Luverne, 1480; Clinton, 1440 ; Rose Dell, 1600: Springwater. 1525: Beaver Creek, 1150: Martin. 1440. The height of the several points on the line of the Rock Is- land railroad, as determined by the sur- veyors, is as follows: Kanaranzi river. 1421 : divide. 1521 : Elk creek. 1444 : sun- mit Rock railroad grade, 1521 : Rock river, 1111: Luverne depot. 1422: foot of Blue mounds. 1532: Mound creek, 1496, 80m- mit Mound creek grade. 1612: highest point on divide, 1635: headwaters Mound creek. 1222: divide (near county line). 1:22. On the line of the Omaha the altitudes are as follows : Drake ( Magnolia ), 1516: Elk slough (grade). 1169 : summit (grade). 1515 : Rock river (water), 1123: Luverne, 1451; summit (five miles west of Luverne ). 1543: Bea- ver Creek depot. 1143: Beaver creek (wa- for), 1385; state line, 1383. The eleva- tion of Ashereck station is 1396 feet above sea level, and where the Doon branch crosses the state line the elevation is 1371 forl.

Rock county has one of the most per- fort systems of drainage of any section of the west, there being rivers or ereeks ol importance in every township. All the streams which enfer the county discharge their waters to the Missouri river, and Rock county is the only one in the state of Minnesota of which this is true." The principal streams are Rock river, Kana- tanzi crock. Chanpepedan creek. Split Rock river and Beaver creek.

¡Nearly all of the streams of Pipestone county and a part of those of Nobles and Jackson

The largest and most important of these streams is Rock river-the Inyan Reakah of the explorers. The Rock river system, which is tributary to the Missouri river, through the Big Sioux, includes about 1202 square miles of territory. The Rock has its sources in Pipestone, Murray and Nobles counties. It enters Rock county at an elevation of 1500 feet above sea level. flows in a southerly direction through Battle Plain, Vienna. Laverne and ('lin- ton townships, and leaves the county at an elevation of 1350 feet. Its volume is augmented by springs and it is a stream of clear water, with a gravelly bed. It varies in width from fifty to one hundred feet and its depth is from two to five feet. It meanders through a beautiful valley, one-half mile in width, and is enclosed by bluffs along a part of its course. In the southern part of the county the bluffs do not have the usual steepness. but rise by moderate slopes to the general level of the undulating upland. Flowing into Rock river within the county are the Chanpepedanand Elkereeks, from the cast, and Mound and Ash creeks, from the west. The two former flow through deeply cul valleys and are from fifty to one hundred feet below the general level. Another trib- utary of the Rock, which, however, enters it beyond the boundaries of Rock county. is the Kanaranzi. flowing through the cast- ern and southern parts of Kanaranzi township in a deep-ent channel.

From the vicinity of Luverne to the state line and farther south timber is near- ly continuous in a narrow belt along Rock river. Its most abundant species are cot- tonwood, soft maple, white elm and white ash : box-elder and bur oak occur less fre- quently: and bass is absent. Wild plums. grapes and gooseberries are plentiful. Many beautifully spreading elms, fully six-

counties do, but Rock is the only one which sends all its waters lo the Missouri.

THE BLUE MOUNDS

221

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

ty feet in height, grow beside the river near Luverne. Farther to the north tim- ber is found sparingly and in occasional groves along the Rock river. On the trib- utaries of this stream in Rock county. and on Split .Rock and Beaver creeks. timber is absent or very scanty.8

Beaver creek drains a large part of the western portion of Rock county, and, like nearly all the streams of the county, is cut deep below the general surface of the land. It has its sources in Rose Dell and Denver townships, flows sonth and south- west and empties into the Big Sioux he- vond the county's boundaries. In its course it receives the waters of several unim- portant streams. Mud creek drains a small territory of southwestern Rock eoun- ty and empties into the Big Sioux.

A most picturesque stream is the Split Rock river, which drains the northwestern part of Rock county and finds its way to the Big Sioux. It is formed in Rose Dell township by several small streams-Rose Dell, Mnd and Pipestone creeks. It has a swift current and has worn its way many feet below the level of the surrounding country.

Rock county was so named because of immense quantities of rock within its borders. The mind is inclined to associate a rocky country with a barren, unproduc- tive one, but this ean not be done with Rock county. Although millions and mil- lions of tons of rock are exposed to view. its area on the surface is limited and re- sulis in little waste land. The whole of Roek county is underlaid with rock. The exposures, which terminate in the Blue mound near Luverne, are from the same source as those at the Pipestone quarries. The rock disappears from the surface at the Pipestone quarries and does not ap- pear again until near the village of Jas-

{J. F. Shoemaker in an early day reported having observed the following trees and shrubs in Rock county: White elm, white ash, cotton- wood. willow. soft maple. box-elder, hackberry. bur oak, prickly ash, smooth sumach, frost

per. On the Split Rock are frequent ex- posures, white in the townships of Rose Dell. Springwater and Mound, rock ap- pears above the ground in many places. There is a very large rocky outerop in the northwestern part of Mound township. the rock dipping northwest with a throw or twist, which, changing slightly, soon brings it below the surface.

At a point about ten miles north of Lu- verne this rock becomes frequently ex- posed, both in the valleys and on the hills. and continues so to the mound near Lu- verne, where it suddenty breaks off, along the west side of Rock river, and is not known to the south of that place. Throughout this distance it forms a high plateau, three or four miles wide and about a hundred feet higher than the prairies east and west, but the surface. though frequently rocky, is not rough. It is undulating, and the plateau sinks grad- ually down to the level with the rest of the country on either side. This plateau terminates abruptly in the rocky and pre- cipitous bluff facing southeastward, three miles north of Luverne, in what is known as "the mound." On the plateau which terminates in "the mound" are a succes- sion of ridges. or swells, with low. change- able dip, though the most observable is to the northwest. These ridges are not cov- ered with gravel or sand like some ridges in southwestern Minnesota, under the operation of glacial forces (ice and wa- ter), but. while they occupy the grand divide of the county, they are nearly bare on their tops and along their slopes, or are thinly covered with a gravelly loam. while the drift. even the stony clay that has been attributed to ice, occupies the val- leys between to the thickness of at least thirty or forty feet.

grape. Virginia creeper, climbing bittersweet. wild plum, choke-cherry, black raspberry (com- mon on the mound), wild rose, thorn. June berry, prickly wild gooseberry, black currant, wolf-berry, elder.

222

HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

All over these ridges, which vary from a quarter of a mile to three or four miles in length, and are for the most part thinly covered with soil and turf, there are little nests of large blocks of quartz- ite so piled together that they seem to have been thrust up from below by some force. The edges of these blocks are squarely broken off and slope toward each other, i. e. toward the center of the pile. while the blocks themselves lie so their upper surfaces slope in all directions away from the center. These upheaved spots vary from five to fifteen feet in diameter. or perhaps more. They may have been caused by ice, i. e. alternate freezing and thawing with the change of seasons, aided by the foree of vegetation and a little soil gradually getting into the openings.

The high table land terminates abrupt- ly at a point about three miles north of Luverne and forms a precipice-the Blue mound-a wonderful work of nature. The precipice. facing the east, is about two miles in length and is a vast wall of jagged rocks. The elevation is about 125 feet above Rock river. which flows not far from its base. and the perpendicular bluff is from forty to sixty feet high. Owing to a dip of about ten degrees from the horizon, nearly west, and to the breaking off of the upper layers, cansing a gradual slope from the brow of the hill backward through several rods, the actual thickness of beds visible may be 150 feet. The rock here also appears to be ahnost en- tirely a reddish or pink, heavy-bedded quartzite. The main bluff curves west- wardly at both ends. and by reason of the dip and ravines that enter the valley from the west. its exposed layers gradually dis- appear under the soil in that direction. and the rock is lost on the prairie. From the base of the perpendicular wall of rock. which is about a hundred feet above the Rock river, a talus of blocks and frag-

ments of quartzite, mingled with the gla- cial drift. curves gracefully down to the bottomland. At points in this slope the quartzite beds are seen in place.

The mound is a conspicuous landmark from the cast. south and north. From its summit a grand view of the surround- ing country can be obtained and its ro- mantie fastnesses have been the scenes of many pienie parties.

The red quartzite has been quarried for building purposes from early days, and many of the finest buildings in Luverne and Jasper are built from Rock county stone. During the eighties. quarries at the mound near Luverne were operated quite extensively, and some of the ma- terial was shipped to the cities for build- ing and paving purposes. Where the rock onterops in the northwestern part of the county, at Jasper. the rock has been quar- ried extensively since 1888. the industry being the leading one in Jasper. Large forces of men are constantly employed and there is a big payroll.

Rock county is developed beyond the point reached by many counties of south- western Minnesota. With transportation facilities it is well supplied. every town- ship in the county being touched by one or more railways. The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railroad traverses the county from east to west and a branch of that road extends southward from Lu- verne. The Chicago. Rock Island & Pa- cific railroad passes through the county north and south and is fed by a branch line from Hardwick to Worthington. The county has excellent wagon roads, and local and long distance telephone lines form a complete network. reaching every community. . Each village has from one to five rural delivery mail routes, and there are few farms to which mail is not delivered daily.

CHAPTER XV.

THE NEWSPAPERS.

A T THE date of the publication of this volume six weekly newspa- pers are published in Rock coun- ty, namely: Rock County Herald at Lu- verne by the estate of the late H. J. Mil- ler, A. O. Moreaux, editor and manager ; Laverne Journal by R. H. Ross, manag- ing editor; Magnolia Advance by I. M. Cady, Beaver Creek Banner by H. H. Peters, Hills Crescent by A. A. Hanson. and Hardwick Star by W. R. Minard. Only these six journals survive out of a total of nineteen that have been founded since the newspaper history of Rock coun- ty began. Of the nineteen, seven were county seat journals, the Herald, Gazette, Times, Democrat, News, Journal and Western Literary Journal : five were pub- lished at Beaver Creek, the Graphic, Bee. News-Letter, Magnet and Banner; one, the Crescent, at llills : three. the Citizen, Advance and Initiator, at Magnolia: the News and Star at Hardwick ; and the Pio- neer at Kenneth. The period of life of these papers varied from a few weeks to thirty-eight years.

In pioneer communities of the west the establishment of the first paper was al- ways an item of great importance. A new settlement required a champion, and not until the settlement boasted a news jour- mal was its permanency assured. . After the founding of the pioneer journal it be-

came "our paper" to all the residents-an institution in which to take pride --- and everybody assumed the duty of seeing that it was properly supported. Sentiment entered largely into the new enterprise, and it has seldom occurred that the pio- neer paper did not have a long life of use- fulness. Notable examples locally are the Rock County Herald, Windom Reporter, Jackson Republic, Worthington Advance and Pipestone County Star.

The little settlement at Luverne was no exception to the general rule, and I find that in the spring of 1872. when the town boasted little except a determination to become greater, the people were clamor- ing for, and offering a bonus for. a news- paper. A correspondent signing himself "Settler" wrote the following, which ap- peared in the Jackson Republic of May 29, 1812:

The citizens are very anxious to have a county paper established here and there is no doubt that it would receive good support. There is a bonus offered of about $400. One gentleman offers $150 cash and will sub- scribe for fifty copies; many others will take from three to ten; therefore come along, Mr. Editor, and we will cordially welcome you, one and all.

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An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota, Part 30

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