USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 36
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 36
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In the summer of 1868 a small party of Sioux City gentlemen visited the quarry and one of their number had an exciting experience with Indians. The party was composed of Mahlon Gore, then editor
18Interview with Judge Swan in Pipestone County Star, January 19, 1894.
1ºProf. James ITall read a paper on the geol- ogy of the rocks at the Pipestone quarry be-
and proprietor of the Sioux City Journal, now a retired capitalist of Orlando, Flor- ida : Hon. A. W. Hubbard, then congress- man from the Eleventh Towa district : Charles Kent, a Sioux City druggist : and a young man named Tripp, who was em- ployed as cook, teamster and utility man.
The party spent several months on the trip and visited Sioux Falls. Luverne, the Pipestone quarries, Lake Shetek, Graham Lakes, Spirit Lake and intermediate points. They took with them two saddle horses, a light spring wagon hauled by two other horses, a camp outfit hauled by a yoke of oxen, and a cow. They spent two or three days at the quarries, secured several speeimens of the stone, and then proceeded to Lake Shetek. Of the events which occurred during this part of the trip Mahlon Gore has written :20
We left Pipestone early in the morning, going in a northeasterly direction, following an old trail made by teams hauling corn and other supplies from the settled portion of Minnesota to the outposts on the Mis- souri river. We had proceeded some seven or eight miles when we espied a band of five or six elk half a mile ahead of us on the prairie.
Seeking a little depression on the prairie which would partially conceal our wagons and animals, Mr. Kent and I prepared to stalk the game by shedding all superfluous clothing and pocketing some extra car- tridges. While we were doing this the judge looked in its accustomed place for our ax. It was not there. A hasty search through the wagons revealed the fact that it had been overlooked and left at our last camp- ing place, at the quarry. Kent instructed Tripp to take his horse and ride back for it while he and i went ahead and killed an elk. We all left the outfit at the same time, and after a couple of hours the hunters suc- ceeded in getting a fine stag. We returned to the wagons to make ready to care for our meat.
As we approached within a quarter of a mile of the outfit we saw Tripp coming from the opposite direction, Kent's horse on a dead run, the rider leaning far forward as the horse did not go fast enough and he seemed to think if he leaned far out in
fore the American Philosophical society in June, 1866. Ile did not see the quarry, having proceeded. in 1865, only so far as Lake Shetek.
20In a letter to C. H. Bennett, April 23, 1911.
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HISTORY OF PIPESTONE COUNTY.
front he would get there sooner. Kent was very careful of his horse. He also some- times indulged in language. In this in- stance he seemed to desire to make Tripp haldheaded. I looked for a serap when the two should come together. But just then three other persons on horseback rode up to the top of a ridge behind Tripp; we saw a puff of smoke from a gun and saw the dust fly close to Tripp, where the bullet struck the ground; then another and an- other shot followed. Then the three Indians who were after Tripp evidently saw us, for they wheeled their horses and took the back track.
Wild eyed, Tripp rode into camp and Mr. Kent was considerate enough not to say a word derogatory of Tripp's character, par- entage or judgment. Tripp explained that he had secured the ax and had covered about a mile of the return trip when his peace of mind was disturbed by a shot from an In- dian on horseback, and from that time nn- til he came in sight of us he had a run for his money. He dropped the ax and could not be persuaded to go back for it.
Our party went on almost a mile, when we came to a creek where we halted, brought in our meat and spent the remain- der of the day in caring for it.
"For the purpose of enforcing civil rights and criminal justice" on the fron- tier, Pipestone county and thirteen other unorganized counties were organized into a judicial district by an act of March 1. 1866, and attached to Brown county.21
Surveying parties visited Pipestone county on several occasions from 1867 to 1872. T. B. Walker, a United States surveyor, ran the section lines for a few
21By legislative acts, Pipestone county was attached for judicial purposes to Watonwan county in 1872, to Cottonwond county in 1873, to
of the townships in 1867. The Southern Minnesota Railroad company in 1820 ran a line through the county, passing between the quarries and the site of the city of Pipestone, and established their teu and twenty-mile limits. In 1871 Messrs. Walker and Miller completed the survey of the section lines ; Pipestone county was ready for settlers.
The surveyors who ran the section lines of Sweet township neglected to mark the reservation limits on their plat, which he- came the official map of the land office. On July 15, 1871, Angust Clauson was permitted to file a claim to land upon which the famous quarries are located. and later he received a government patent to the tract. The Indian's Garden of Eden passed to the ownership of a white man, despite the provisions of the Indian treaty! Bul only for the time being. Clauson sold the quarries to Herbert M. Carpenter. When the Washington au- thorities learned the condition of affairs they revoked the patent. The case found its way to the courts, and the Indian's rights were maintained, and have been to this day. In 1822 the boundaries of the reservation, one mile square, were resur- veyed and plainly staked.
Rock county in 1876, and was formed into a dis- trict of itself in 1881.
CHAPTER XIX.
FROM BARBARISM TO BALLOT BOX-1823-1898.
F ROM time immemorial Pipestone county was the red man's land. For centuries it was the rendez- vous for all the tribes of the northwest. For nearly two hundred years civilization had known of the existence of the Pipe- stone quarries and for nearly forty years white men had been in the habit of visit- ing it on flying trips. But no move had been made looking to its recovery from the wild state that had existed since its creation-if we except the attempt of the wily pre-emptor to obtain title to the famed quarries in 1841. Pipestone was behind all the neighboring counties in receiving settlers. In 1820 settlements had been established on all sides of it; Lyon county was so far developed that the county was organized : in the future Lincoln county were settlers, on Lake Benton and al ofher points; there were flourishing settlements at Flandrean and Sioux Falls; Rock county had a popu- lation of 138 people; Nobles, 117; Nur- ray, 209. Even the great rush of home- seekers of 1822, when all the surrounding territory was rapidly settled and develop- ed. did not bring a single inhabitant to Pipestone county. There was a reason.
The reputation of the quarries as In- dian headquarters, the legends and tradi-
tions connected with the spot, the writ- ings of the explorers, the fact that within its boundaries was a reservation, all tend- ed to delay its occupation. The very name of the county suggested Indians, and the pioneers had not yet so complete-" ly forgotten the terrible days of 1862 that they cared to take the chances of lo- cating in close proximity to the treacher- ons Sioux. So, while the newcomers lo- rated to the north, south, east and west, the Pipestone county boundary lines were a veritable wall, over which none had the hardihood to climb. Not until 1874 was a human habitation established within the county. Even then, unreasonable fear of the savages and ignorance of the condi- tions prevailing held in check ils settle- ment, and it was not until the iron horse -that great instrument of civilization -. was seen approaching that Pipestone county came into its own.
Not so timid as those who founded homes were the early frappers, and dur- ing the sixties and early seventies those nomadic people frequently found their way to the "Indian country." The rec- ords they left. however, are meager. Only occasionally do we tind evidence of their operations, in the form of ruins of rude
261
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HISTORY OF PIPESTONE COUNTY.
shelters or the bones of some unfortunate one of their class.1
The plan for bringing about the settle- mient of the country adjacent to the Pipe- stone quarry was conceived by, and the liest movement toward its execution was made by, C. H. Bennett. For many years previous to his first visit to the quarries. Mr. Bennett, who was engaged in the drug business at LeMars. lowa. had contem- plated a trip to the region. about winch he had read. for the purpose of seeing the sights and possibly of securing land for a fownsite." About the middle of Sep- tember. 1823. Mr. Bennett. accompanied by Frank Flint. then of LeMars, and their wives and a sister of Mr. Bennett, Mrs. Silas B. Wright, and her infant son. set out from the lowa town for the ro- mantic' region. They passed through Sioux Falls and over the site of the pres- ent village of Dell Rapids, whence Mr. Bennett piloted the party, over a region of unbroken prairie without road or track, to the quarries, where they arrived about dusk on September 20. The party camp- ed for the night, and the next day inspect- ed the charms of the falls and the rocky formations. Mr. Bennett, after examin- ing many sites in the vicinity, selected the one on which the city of Pipestone now
1In the spring of 1878 the skeleton of a man was found under a steep bank on section 2. Rock township, by Major D. E. Runals, who was guiding a party of land seekers, including Noah Bisby, Charles Bisby, Andrew Henderson and Scott Turner. Apparently the body had lain there for years. Beside the skeleton were found twelve steel traps, a tobacco hox and some buttons from a soldier's blouse. In the left side of the skull was a short piece of iron. about one-eighth of an inch in length, which had prob- ably been a nail point inserted by accident years before his death.
It was afterwards learned that the skeleton was that of a member of a family, three of whom met death in the blizzard of 1873. A widow living near Lake Benton lost her hus- band, son and son-in-law in the blizzard of January. 1873. The husband was found frozen to death in Nobles county on his way 10 Worthington; the son had been to the timber at Lake Benton for a load of wood. and. re- turning, was caught in the storm and perished with his ox team: the son-in-law had started for Flandreau to trade his traps for four and when the storm struck had apparently sought shelter in the lee of the hill where his skele- ion was found in 1878.
In 1904 a mail carrier on a Woodstock route found a field-glass which had been embedded
slands as the most favorable one in prox- imity to the quarries, deciding that there he should found a city.
Only one day was spent at the quarries, the party returning to LeMars by way of Luverne and the newly founded town of Rock Rapids. In the latter place Mr. Bennett met several acquaintances, who were destined to play a most important part in the future of Pipestone county. They were Daniel E. Sweet. D. C. White- head and John Lowry. Mr. Bennett in- terested them in the new-found land, and Mr. Whitehead stated that for some time he had intended making such a trip.
The casual meeting between Mr. Ben- nett and the Rock Rapids residents re- sulted in the earlier settlement of Pipe- stone county than might otherwise have been the case, the plans of Mr. Bennett being delayed by illness and death of his wife and their infant boy at LeMars that spring. On March 23. 1871, D. C. White- head. D. E. Sweet. Job Whitehead and .J. F. Eckleston left Rock Rapids for the Pipestone quarries.3 At Luverne they were joined by Mike McCarthy. They en- countered severe storms on the way, but spent parts of three days at the quarries. located some of the government stakes. and decided to take up their residences at the
under a three-inch layer of sod. The leather had long since rotted away, and the instru- ment bore evidence of having lain in its resting place for many long years. It had probably been lost by one of the early explorers.
"Much of the data from which I have compiled the story of the early settlement of Pipestone county is secured from a thorough and reli- able account written by C. II. Bennett in 1878 and read by him at a Fourth of July celebration at the quarry that year. This data has been supplemented by numerous interviews with Mr. Bennett and the perusal of numerous public and private documents in his possession, as well as added to from other sources of information.
3"March 23. 1874. started from Rock Rapids with D. C. Whitehead, Job Whitehead and J. F. Eekleston to visit the Pipestone quarry. where we arrived on the twenty-fourth and stayed two nights."-D. E. Sweet's Diary.
"Mr. D. C. Whitehead & Co .. of Roek Rapids. lowa, passed through this place one day this week to Pipestone county. Mr. Whitehead in- formed us that they intended to establish a mission up there, organizo the county and make numerous improvements for the benefit of gen- erations yet unborn."-Rock County Herald (Luverne), March 27, 1874.
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HISTORY OF PIPESTONE COUNTY.
romantic and picturesque spot later in the season. They agreed that the site sonth of the quarries selected by Mr. Bennett was the most favorable one for the loca- tion of a townsite. Messrs. Sweet and Lowry again made the trip to Pipestone county April 21,' and Mr. Sweet, who was a surveyor, ran the quarter-section lines of section 12, township 106, range 16 (Sweet township), which was the section selected for the site of The future city of Pipestone.
Upon the return of the party which visited the quarries in March, D. C. Whitehead went to Le Mars and concluded negotiations with (. Il. Bennett, whereby that gentleman associated himself with the others for the purpose of platting a fownsite at the quarries and bringing about the settlement of Pipestone county. The beginning of operations was not long delayed. Early in May, 1874. (: H. Bon- nett and his brother. O. W. Bennett, went from Le Mars to Rock Rapids, and on May 8 they, in company with D. C. Whitehead. Job Whitehead. D. E. Sweet and John Lowry, set out for Pipestone county.3 The little caravan, traveling with two of teams, went by way of Luverne, where each of the Bennett brothers purchased a load of lumber, with which to erect cabins. At Luverne John Gillard was em- ployed to help haul the lumber, and he accompanied the party to Pipestone. All spent the night under the projecting sides of the granite boulders known as the "Three Maidens." The next morning the whole party, excepting C. H. Benneit and John Gillard, set out for New Whn, where was located the government land office. io
""April 27. in company with John Lowry. started for Pipestone, Dell Rapids, etc. Gone one week."-D. E. Sweet's Diary.
"D. E. Sweet and party, of Rock Rapids, lowa, passed through this place on Monday [April 27] for Pipestone county. this state. for the purpose of making a permanent loca- tion. Mr. Sweet informs us that twenty fam- ilies will follow soon."-Rock County Herald. May 1, 1874.
make filing on the claims selected. The claims were all in the vicinity of the quar- ries. From Now U'Im the first Pipestone county homesteaders returned to their lowa homes.
Upon the morning of the departure of the rest of the party for New Ulm, C. 11. Bennett, with the assistance of John Gillard, set to work to erect the first build- ing over put up in Pipestone county.ª The building was a pine shanty, six feet wide, eight feet long and five feet high. It had no windows and only one small door. This pioneer claim shanty was in the exact center of section 12, township 106. range 46, on the present lot fourteen of block twelve, of the original plat of Pipe- done (ity. Otherwise described, it was the northeast corner of the intersection of lliawatha and Centennial streets, just east of the ruins of the old Calumel hotel. The construction of the house is said to have taken the two men nearly the whole forenoon ! They ate dinner in it and then set out for Luverne, Mr. Bennett continu- ing the journey to LeMars.
The work so far done was preliminary to actual settlement. June 4. 1874, was the first day in history on which a while person could justly lay claim to the honor of being a resident of Pipestone county. At that time D. E. Sweet, his wife and little son, Henry, and John Lowry, by consent of the owner, moved into the Ben- nett cabin and established the first iem- porary home in the county. In Mr. Sweet's diary is this modest announce- ment of the arrival of the first seitler : "June 4. Moved to Pipestone with .. Lowry." D. C. Whitehead also came at
5"May S. started on the third trip and went to New Ulm. Present, D. C. and Job White- head, J. Lowry. O. and C. Bennett and self. Gone nine days."-D. E. Sweet's Diary.
6"In April, 1874. there was not a soul living in the county. nor a house or other sign that there ever had been. save the spots which marked the camping places of Indians, trappers and tourists as they tarried a few days in their visitation of the quarries."-Pipestone County Star. June 19, 1879.
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HISTORY OF PIPESTONE COUNTY.
the same time, assisting Mr. Sweet in hauling lumber from Luverne. but he ro- mained only a short time. Messrs. Sweet and Lowry at once commenced the erec- tion of a house for the former on the pres- ent lot one of block twenty-one, original płat (now occupied by Denhart's grocery store on Olive street). Mr. Bennett do- nated the lumber in his claim shanty, which was torn down and the material used in the new home. On August 1. according to Mr. Sweet's diary, "moved in new house."7
During the month of June. while the Sweet family and Mr. Lowry were living in the Bennett cabin, Dr. W. J. Taylor, who later became, and still is, a resident of Pipestone county, came to the quarries accompanied by his brother-in-law, Rev. E. H. Bronson.º The new arrivals made their camp beside the shanty. Dr. Taylor became enamored of the country and determined to make settlement at some future time. He selected as a claim the northwest quarter of section 18, Gray township, adjoining the other claims, and made his filing in August. becoming one of the earliest homesteaders of the county.
Several of those who had filed on elaims sent men up to their possessions during the season of 1824 and had breaking done. ( !. II. Bennett and O. W. Bennett, to- gether, had eighty acres broken on soc- lions 10, 14 and 12, Sweet township, and 32, Troy township,9 D. C. Whitehead had ten acres plowed.10 and D. E. Sweet
"The Sweet house was the first habitable and permanent building in Pipestone county and was occupied by the family for several years. The building still stands and is occupied as a resi- dence, being the second honse west from the southwest corner of the intersection of Catlin and Frances streets.
Dr. Taylor was on a return trip to his old home in Wisconsin from Nebraska. He had stopped off at Beaver Creek for a visit with his sister, and there heard of the beautiful and romantic country at the Pipestone quarry and decided to visit the spot.
"These were the first pieces of land broken in Pipestone county. C. H. Bennett paid five dol- lars per acre for his breaking. To pay for it he borrowed $100 of a LeMars banker, on which he paid Interest at the rate of sixty per cent a year until he paid the same.
the same amount. No grain was sown un- til the following year. Through the repre- sentations of Mr. Sweet. in August, 1871, a postoffice was established at Pipestone with Mr. Sweet as postmaster, and a mail route established from Luverne to the new office, and thence to Lake Benton. The postoffice building being the only house of any description in Pipestone county, the mail carriers were not over- burdened with work. A man named King infrequently brought the mail from Lake Benton by ox team. but there was no reg- ular mail service until July, 1875. An- other event of the year 1874 was no less important than the creetion of the coun- ty's second building, erected not far from Mr. Sweet's cabin by John Lowry. It was completed December 8.
D. E. Sweet and family and John Low- ry spent the winter of 1874-45 in their new homes, and they were the only per- sons in the county that winter, their near- est neighbors being at Flandrean. They laid in a stock of provisions for the win- ter, and Mr. Sweet contracted with a man at Lake Benton to deliver a supply of fuel. The fuel was not delivered, and the lonely pioneers were obliged to burn hay. C. HI. Bennett in 1878 wrote of the experiences of his friends that long win- ter :
Who can picture the loneliness, the anx- iety, the monotony, of such a life as they lived here during the rigid winter of 1874-75, during which for two months they saw only two trappers, who became lost in a storm and wandered to this place?" Few of you
10Where the Milwaukee depot and elevators now stand. W. W. Whitehead and Henry White- head did the work.
Win an old hotel register Mr. Sweet recorded the names of the visitors to Pipestone during that winter and the next spring. Under date of January 8. 1875, is this entry: "Frank T. Lam- bert and Ira W. Gibson, of Worthington .- snow- bound two days." In the hook are also recorded the facts that the last day of the year 1874 was warm enough to thaw, and that on March !. 1875. was a thaw. the first in ninety-one days. "J. F. Chamberlin, of Granite Falls,-bound for the Black Hills," was recorded under date of April 17, 1875, and on June 1, 1875, "minis- ter's party of nine camped at Pipestone."
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HISTORY OF PIPESTONE COUNTY.
who are before me know anything of what it is to pioneer. For two months they had nothing to burn except hay, as it was at the risk of one's lite to venture far away from one's home, for fear of being caught in a blizzard. The spring of 1875 found the four actual settlers who had wintered in the county alive and well, and poor prospect ahead for immigration to the county.
Pipestone county's population was not greatly increased during 1875, but events occurred that year which promised new settlers for 1876. Dr. W. J. Taylor, who had paid a brief visit to the new county in 1874 and had spent the winter in his old home in Wisconsin, organized a party of men and in the spring drove to Pipe- stone. The new arrivals were Dr. Taylor. H. D. Sanford. Fred Rogers, Col. J. M. Bull, Hiram Flick and Mr. Main. The doctor built a cabin on his claim and broke some land. Some of the others took claims and broke land, about 100 acres being broken in the county in the spring of 1895. After this work most of the party, in June, returned to their old homes, leaving Mr. Sweet and his family and Mr. Lowry the only inhabitants. Mr. Sweet sowed ten acres of his land on section 12 to corn and oats. This was the first crop planted in Pipestone county and the only one planted in 1875. The grasshoppers did the harvesting. In July, 18:5, a weekly mail service was establish- ed between Pipestone and Lake Benton, the mail being carried under contract by a Mr. Snyder, of Lake Benton. During the same summer Messrs. Sweet and Low- ry made a diagonal road across the coun- ty. it forming a part of the projected road from Marshall to Sioux Falls.
When winter set in it found in Pipe- stone county only Mr. Sweet and his fan- ily, determined to spend the winter sca- son in the new country and prevent it from being said the county was deserted. Owing to the stringeney of the times, the
1In Mr. Sweet's diary is found the informa- tion that the first hard frost of the season occurred September 10, 1875, and the second one
head of the family was obliged to make occasional trips to adjoining neighbor- hoods to earn money for the maintenance of his family. During these periods Mrs. Sweet with her child remained alone in the lonely home, many long miles from the nearest neighbor.12
Those who came to Pipestone county with the intention of later becoming per- manent residents were a determined set of men, and many schemes for the ad- vancement of the community were dis- cussed. So early as 1875 D. C. White- head, who was interested in the proposed town at the quarries, and who the follow- ing year sold his interests lo Mr. Ben- nett, suggested to his co-workers that they should try to secure from congress an appropriation of $50,000 for found- ing an Indian school, similar to that at Carlisle, to be constructed of native stone. From this early day suggestion developed the plans which later led to the founding of the school. Several other propositions which the boomers thought would tend to bring settlement to the county were seri- ously discussed. Among them was one of no less importance than the organiza- Lion of Pipestone county. It was through the activities of Dr. Taylor, C. H. Ben- neli, D. E. Swett and Il. D. Sanford that the plan developed farther than some of the others. Mr. Bennett spent two weeks in St. Paul, lobbying in the interests of a bill which provided that the county should be organized at any time when there were twenty legal voters residing in the county. The bill was introduced in the house by Representative W. H. Mel- len, of Murray county, and passed that body. Mr. Bonnett, having been assured that the bill would pass the senate, return- ed to Le Mars, but it met defeat in the senate, owing largely to the efforts of a
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