USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 9
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 9
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The game lover found himself in a paradise. Birds abounded. There were ducks, wild gersse, brant, curlew, pelican and prairie chickens, Occasionally glimps- es were caught of some of the big game that formerly roamed the prairies in vast. mimbers. The summer was fine. The days and nights were frequently glorified by electrical storms of ferrifie and inef- able grandeur. At night the settlers often sat till midnight watching the frolic of sheet-lightning playing over miles of cloud banks, vividly suggesting the possible glories of another world. Vegetation grew rank. The newcomers rode along the creek bottoms or on the edges of the ponds through seas of wild bluejoint grass up to the horses' backs.
It was the experience of a life time. this breaking up the virgin lands and
building a conumunity from the ground up, and many were the probable and im- probable stories told of those days. Let- ters went back to the old homes in the cast telling how the homesteaders planted corn with an ax and caught tish with a pitch- fork, and how the pianos were set up in the shanty and the library stacked up un- der the bed.
The county was visited by a severe wind, rain and hail storm on July 6, 1872, which did considerable damage. For an hour the wind blew with hurricane force. accompanied by terrific torients of rain and hail. The growing crops were dam- aged considerably in portions of the county. some farmers not having enough erop left to pay for the harvesting. A few houses were moved off their foundations by the wind and one farm house was demolished.
Another event of the year 1822 was the effort to enlarge the county's bound- aries. It will be remembered that when Rock county was created in 1857 ils west- ern boundary line was some ten miles farther west than at present, so that it had an area equal to that of the other counties of southwestern Minnesota. When Dakota territory was formed in 1861 Min- nesota's western boundary was moved eastward and part of the original Rock county was given to the new territory, leaving the county with its present limited area. In an effort to remedy this dispro- portion, the legislature on February 29, 1872, passed two bills, one providing that the four townships in range 13 of Nobles county (the present townships of Leota. Lismore. Westside and Grand Prairie) should be given to Rock county, the other that the four western townships of Jackson county be given to Nobles county. Neither act was to be put in force until both coun- ties interested in each case should, by a majority vote, ratify the acts at the gen- eral election in November, 1892.
72
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.
The proposition was almost a farce. In order to add the Jackson county townships to Nobles county both the counties must vote in the affirmative. Nobles county naturally favored the bill, but just as nat- urally Jackson county voted not to give away any of its territory. In order to give Rock county the western tier of Nobles county townships, both these counties must so vote. Before election time, the Ohio colony had settled in Nobles county, and, knowing that they were outnumbered, the people of Rock county did not bring the matter to a vote. In Nobles only eleven electors were found who favored the sur- render of territory. Rock county was destined to always remain one of the smaller divisions of the state. A few years after this abortive attempt to gain more territory another scheme failed, in which it was desired to bring about the di- vision of Pipestone county and procure the southern half for Rock.
The county assessment for 1892 gives us an insight into conditions in that early day. When the assessment was made the only organized townships were Clinton, which included the southern tier of town- ships, and Inverne, which included the rest of the county. The valuations were nearly equally divided between the two precincts. The valuation placed on all property was $84,119, of which $15.712 was on real estate and $68,107 was for personal property. Of the latter figure $21.161 was exempt from taxation. In the whole county only 7925 acres (about one-third of one congressional township) wore subject to taxalion, the average value of which was placed at $1.96 per acre.7
An agricultural statistics table for the year shows that ?189 aeres were sown to crop in 1872, from which were harvested 54.419 bushels of grain. The acres sown,
the bushets produced and the average yield per acre of the various crops were as fol- lows:
GRAIN
Acres
Bushels
Average
Wheat
992
13,824
13.4
Oats
510
15,620
30.6
Corn.
561
13,755
24.5
Barley
33
480
14.9
Buckwheat
8
45
5.
Potatoes
77
10,677
137.0
Beans
8
148
18.5
TOTAL
2189
54,449
The winter following the year of rapid settlement-the winter of 1822-23-must go down in history as a most severe one. It brought the most terrible blizzard in the county's history before or since, in which the settlers received their first ex- perience of real hardships.
Winter began November 12. The day had been fine, but toward nightfall those who knew the northwest saw indications of a blizzard. At dark a gale from the northwest struck the houses with a whack as distinct as if it had been a board in the hands of Old Boreas. One of the famous northern blizzards was on, and there was a series of storms until the afternoon of the third day. Thenceforth it was winter. Snow fell to a great depth, probably not less than two feet, but it was so blown about and drifted by the wind thal in some places there were drifts of twenty feet or more. From the time winter so set in there was little let-up in the severity of the weather. One storm followed another, and when not storming the weather was cold and severe. while the deep 'snows. almost constantly drifting, made travel difficult and sometimes dan- gerons. During that long winter the in- habitants of this part of the state were
"Among the items of personal property as- sessed: Horses, 271; cattle. 868 (of which 265 were under two years old, 313 milch cows, and
290 fat and working cattle): mules. 25: sherp. 72; hogs, 107; carriages, 2; watches, 32; pi- anos, 2.
73
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.
practically shut out from the world. At one time there were no' mails for six weeks.8 Many people were inconvenienced for want of necessary food, fuel and eloth- ing. The sufferings and horrors of that long and dreadful winter will never be effaced from the memories of those who experienced them.
The ill-fated year 1873 began with the most violent storm in the history of the state from the time of its first settlement to the present date. For three days, be- ginning January 7, the blizzard raged, ex- tending over the whole northwest. The temperature was abont eighteen degrees below zero during the whole period of the storm. The air was filled with snow as fine as flour. Through every crevice, keyhole and nailhole the fine snow penc- trated, puffing into the houses like steam. Seventy human lives were lost in the storm in Minnesota, but by a miraculous turn of fate none of these was in Rock county. li was the only county in the vicinity that escaped without loss of life.
The forenoon of Tuesday, January }, was mild and pleasant : the sky was clear and there was no wind. It seemed as though a "January thaw" was imminent. The pleasant weather had induced many farmers to start to town on business or to the neighboring farm houses with their families to visit. About 11 o'clock a change was apparent. The sky lost its crystal clearness and became a trille hazy. Toward noon a white wall was seen bear- ing down from the northwest. The front of the storm was distinct and almost as clearly defined as a great sheet. In a few minutes a gale, moving at the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour, was sweep- ing the country ; a full-fledged blizzard had supplanted the bright sunshine in a few minutes. The air was so completely
""Owing to the snow blockade on the rail- road and the high water between here and there we have had a very irregular mail for the last two weeks and expect to be treated
filled with flying snow that it was impos- sible to see objects a short distance away.
Forty men were in Luverne when the storm struck, and. although many of them had families at home illy prepared to meet such a storm, none ventured to reach his own place but all remained in town until the storm abated. They found shelter with friends or at the hotels. Even some who were caught away from home in the village, only a few block away. did not at- lempt to brave the dangers of getting home. All Tuesday night, Wednesday and Wednesday night the storm raged with un- abated fury. Not until Thursday was there any perceptiele let-up. and not until Fri- day was the storm over. Several Rock county residents were caught on the prairie in the storm, and some were obliged to spend two or three days in deserted claim shanties, but all were found alive after the storm.
Several Martin township farmers were caught in the storm while on a trip for wood on Rock river and had narrow es- capes from meeting death in the storm. One such party was composed of Ole O. Rue, Sr., Ole O. Rue, Jr., Nels Ander- son and John Goldberg. Just as they reached the edge of the timber the storm broke. The men got their cattle within the grove, and there the unfortunate mon were obliged to pass the night. Mr. Rue states that he had all be could do to keep the other members of the party on the move; they begged to be permitted to sit down and rest, which, of course, wonkl have been fatal. About daylight Messrs. Anderson and Goldberg went out of the grove to seek a place of sheffer, but they could find none and returned with badly frozen faces.
About noon the weather cleared a little -enough to permit the storm-bound men
in the same manner for some time to come."- Letter from Luverne, dated March 29, 1873. (It was April 12 when the first mail arrived.)
74
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.
to see the sun and get their bearings. Then they set out for the west in an effort to reach their home -. Ole O. Rue. Jr., led one yoke of oxen and the other members of the party chuing to the lails of the oxen and kept close together. In that man- ner they safely reached the home of Hen- ry Martin, where they secured shelter for the night. During the night Mr. Gold- berg, who was more badly frozen than the others, was in great agony, and, bo- Heving himself lo be dying. he bade his contrades good-bye. He subsequently re- covered. All the members of the party reached home after spending the night at Mr. Martin's.
Erick Colby was another Martin lown- ship farmer who went to Rock river alter wood that awful day. He reached the timber just as the storm struck, but, brav- ing the dangers of the blizzard, he at once set out for home and reached it in safety.
Another adventure that is worthy of record befell Mrs. Goodman Anderson, of Martin township, while her husband was with the party after wood on the Rock river. She was washing when the storm struck, and so intent was she with her work that she failed to notice the severity of the storm until the fine snow con- menced to drift in beneath the door and fill the room. Then she thought of the cattle outside and made an attempt to get them into the stable. All went in willingly except one headstrong two-year- old critter, which chased of down Mud creek with Mrs. Anderson in pursuit. She finally gave up the chase, only to discover that she was lost in the blizzard. After half an hour's wandering, whither she
0"Big loads of lumber and goods go through Luverne every day for Beaver Creek and that part of the Beaver valley just this side of the state line."-Herald, June 20, 1873.
"We have lively times in our town now. The west end is filling up fast. The houses of a substantial kind are springing up all over the prairie."-Beaver Creek Correspondent, June 27. 1873
"Mr. G. Anderson says that there are nearly
knew not, she ran into the stove pipe which extended from the roof of the dug- out in which the family lived. This acci- dental collision with the stove pipe saved the lady's life. She was then able to find The door of the dug-out and reach safety.
Despite the ushering in of the year 1823 with the terrible January storm, the year opened auspiciously. New seitlers arrived in the spring, and the setlements of Rock county were indeed in a flourish- ing condition. As estimate of the popu- lation made in the first issue of the Rock County Herald (May 23, 1873) placed the number of inhabitants at 1200. This would indicate an immigration of about 150 during the early spring months. Most of the new comers located in the western part of the county, principally in Beaver Creek and Martin townships.º Before this time all woodland claims had been laken. and the choice prairie claims were sought out. On nearly all lands taken were planted fast-growing and hardy trees. including the Lombardy poplar, colion- wood, soft maple and other varieties. It was estimated that between eight hun- dred thousand and a million entiings were planted in Rock county during 1823.
The settler arriving in the spring of the year could secure homestead lands in portions of the county farthest from the earlier settlements without cost, 1º he could secure pre-emptions in the same localities for $1.25 and $2.50 per acre, or he could buy the railway lands (odd mimbered sections in Kanaranzi, Magnolia and the south half of Vienna townships) at prices ranging from $5.00 to $2.50 per acre. de- cording to location.
200 voters in the town of Martin, and nearly all are Norweglans."-Herald, October 10. 1873.
10"I saw a statement in the Rock Rapids Journal, saying that this county was all taken up by homesteaders. In justice to Rock county. I will state that there are yet thousands of acres of government land in this county sub- ject to homestead or pre-emptjen rights."- Rock County Correspondent to Jackson Repub- lic. April 5. 1873.
75
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.
Those who had come the preceding years set to work with a will to break out the raw prairie land, and great were the expectations for the crop of 1813, the first erop of any size planted in the county. The grain grew beautifully dur- ing the spring months; the faith in the soil was justified. Everybody was enthus- iastie over the prospects. Then came the never-to-be-forgotten plague-the grass- hoppers-and the country that had looked so prosperous was wrapped in gloom. Ad- versity followed adversity. The frowns of fortune overwhelmed those who had come with so much hope and east them into the slough of despond. Immigra- tion ceased : farmers, mechanics, merchants, everybody, became discouraged at once. The picture could hardly be painted too dark.
Prosperous as Rock county is today. one can imagine the suffering a series of ahnost total erop failure would bring. Pic- fure, then, a settlement of some 2000 peo- ple with practically no means-people who had come because they were poor and be- cause they believed the new country of- fered opportunities for securing a home and a competence-devastated by a scourge which took away the only means of carning a livelihood. Some of the Rock county settlers had left their old homes in the cast with a railroad ticket as their only asset, and even before the grasshopper days a few were in sorry plight. For a series of years beginning with 1873 the people of Rock county, in common with those of all southwestern Minnesota. suffered as few pioneer set- tlers in any country ever suffered.
It was during the first part of June, 1873, that the plague came. A peculiar appearance was noted in the sky; the sun seemed to have lost some of its brilliancy, as though darkened by clouds of fine specks floating high in the air from west
to east. Some believed that the specks were the fluff from cottonwood seeds. They kept increasing in number, and after a while a few scattering ones began fall- ing to the earth, where they were found to be grasshoppers, or Rocky Mountain locusts-forerunners of a scourge that for several years devasied this part of the country and resulted in the retardation of settlement for many years. The flight kept up several days, and a great many came down and feasted on the growing crops and deposited their eggs, although the damage done in this initial invasion was comparatively slight. The Rock Coun- ty Herald of June 13 announced the ar- rival of the first flight of grasshoppers :
"The grasshopper shall be a burden." Possibly the writer of these words had his lettuce and sweet corn eaten by the ances. tors of these jerk-gaited insects which are nów arriving on a visit to us and our neigh- bors. He knew them like a book. Some of our neighbors fear that the few millions which have put in an appearance here are but the scouts or advance guard of an over- whelming force which is coming to "occupy the land." They predict ruin and devasta- tion of the crops. We hope these forebod- ings are not to be realized.
Within a week after their arrival all the pests had disappeared. The gardens were nearly ruined and there was some small damage to spring wheat; otherwise the visitation resulted in little loss.
On Tuesday, July 29, the raiding hordes swooped down on the country in count- less millions. They spread out over the wheat, oat and corn felds and ate raven- ously, the cats being the worst damaged. Thanks to weather conditions, their stay was only five days, and the damage to crops was not total. On the night of July 31 there was a heavy rainfall. and a brisk breeze sprang up from the south- east. On the first of August the hoppers began taking flight with the wind, and on the following day all had disappeared. Farmers began to cut their grain to save
76
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.
it, literally snatching it out of the grass- hoppers' months. The outlook was gloomy. The Herald on August 1 told of the second invasion :
The worst of Minnesota's pests is at last among us, and clouds on clouds of grass- hoppers are around us, and the air is filled with them, and the earth is covered with them. It is impossible to describe the in- jury they are doing to the crops. The only word we have heard yet that approximates the extent of this affliction was repeated to us last night-"awful." Today they are the only subject of conversation on our streets, and the question is. will they leave before everything is gone? This question finds a ready answer: Should they stay twenty-four hours longer, they will eat up everything.
We visited a number of fields of grain last night, and have just returned from visits to others this morning, and our pen is too feeble to give anything like a fair description of what they are doing. We saw grain that looked at a distance as though the black blight had enveloped it; on a nearer view nothing but grasshoppers was seen, the stalk and head being entirely covered. Corn we saw completely covered with them, and this morning we hear of many fields that present nothing but the bare stalks; in a few hours all had been destroyed. We learn that their lines ex- tend from Beaver Creek on the west to and beyond the east line of the county. They vary in numbers in different localities, be- ing thicker in and about Luverne and the Beaver Creek settlement than east of here.
The damage done by the locusts in 1813 was great, but the loss was not total by any means. While the pests were in the fields the gloomy anticipations led to ex- aggerated reports, which were not verified later. On the other hand. the county newspaper, in accordance with the euslom of pioneer journals to report nothing that would tend to retard settlement, reported good erops and prosperous times.11 The continued reiteration of these glowing ac- counts of Rock county's prosperity resulted in hardship to many of the needy the following winter when they asked for as- sistance from the state relief organiza- tions. Added to the general despondency was the stringency of the money market following the panie of 1823.
The assessment for the year 1813 fur- mishes figures illustrating the conditions in the spring of the year and the develop- ment of the county. While the total as- sessed valuation in 1872 had been less than $85,000. the following year showed over $166,000 valnation. Following is shown the number of acres of land faxed in each precinct. the assessed value of real estale. personal property and the total valualions :12
TOWNSHIPS
Acres Taxed
Real Estate
Personal Property
Total Value
Luverne
4937
$25,168
$29,319
$54,487
Clinton
3051
10,637
16,159
26,796
Beaver Creek
1760
4,246
12,187
16,433
Kanaranzi
1120
2,296
9,518
11,814
Gregory
4040
10,247
18,724
28,971
Magnolia
875
2,555
14,265
16,820
Martin
1920
4,368
6,639
11,007
TOTAL
17,703
$59,517
$106,811
$166,328
·Including north half of the county,
11""l'o all in neighboring counties who are unfortunate in having had their erops scorched with the drouth, devoured by grasshoppers or drowned by floods, we will say that they ought to have settled in Rock county, where rich fields of gollen grain reward the husbandman. We want it to be remembered that while pen- ple not a hundred miles from us have no crops to speak of, owing to some of the eauses aforo- said. here in Rock county, Minnesota. are good crops generally, and especially of wheat. Oats are excellent, but were somewhat damaged by the grasshoppers. It does one's heart good to ride over the prairies and see the rich grain fields."-Herald, August 15, 1873.
"The fact is there were a great number of grasshoppers here at one time. It was impos- sible to tell what the extent of their ravages would be, and people were badly frightened and exaggerated the damage to the erop. After they had gone it was found that wheat was not materially injured and that there would be a two-thirds crop of oats. No injury was done to the grass and very little to the corn. In substance: The oat erop of Rock county is fully a two-thirds crop, and the wheat and corn are not materially injured by the grass- hoppers or anything else."-Herald. September 12, 1873.
12Less the $100 exemptions.
77
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.
Other statistics gathered by the assessor show the development in one year. In 1843 there were 29; farms. The live stock consisted of 365 horses, 499 milch cows, 392 beef and working cattle, 152 sheep and 259 hogs. The wheat acreage was nearly four times as large as the pre- vions year, the oat acreage more than double and the eorn nearly double. Fol-
13The schools, teachers and number of pu- pils enrolled were as follows, according to the superintendent's report: No. 2 (Luverne), Miss Jennie Grout. teacher, thirty pupils; No. 11 (Gregory). Miss Rosa Farry, teacher, twelve
lowing was the acreage of the several crops: Wheat, 3450: oats, 1306; corn, 1140: barley. 153; buckwheat, 56; pota- toes, 124: beans, 20 : sorghum, 812 : flax, 34; other crops, 60.
Five schools were conducted in Rock county during the summer of 1823, in which were enrolled a total of ninety-three pupils.13
pupils: No. 6 (Magnolia), Miss Ella A. Love- land. teacher, fifteen pupils: No. 9 (Beaver Creek), Miss Ella Grout, teacher. twenty-four pupils: No. 3 (Clinton), Miss Jennie Knight, teacher, twelve pupils.
CHAPTER V.
-
CALAMITOUS DAYS-1824-1847.
N OT until winter set in did the peo- ple of Rock county realize the gravity of the situation resulting from the grasshopper visitation of 1823. Then, even the local newspaper, which be- fore had maintained that Rock county had harvested an abundant erop and that conditions were excellent, admitted that . most rigid economy must be practiced to prevent suffering during the winter months.1 As a result of the destruction of crops and the tightness of the money market (particularly in the grasshopper devastated regions), many families in Rock county were in destitute circum- stances. although their number was not so great as in some of the neighboring connties.
Petitions from all the stricken counties were poured into the legislature, asking for appropriations for relief. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the Minnesota law-making body. late in January, 182.4. appropriated $5000 for the relief of the destitute in the frontier connties and en- aeted a law extending the time of pay- ment of personal property taxes until
1"We are not desirous of meddling with our neighbors' business or volunteering to give advice, but we think that a few words of cau- tion in one respect may not be amiss. There- fore, in view of the multitude of small debts ontstanding against the citizens of Rock coun- ty and the scarcity of money wherewith to pay the same, we urge our readers to prudence in business matters and the use of caution in contracting debts. Better to economize and
November 1 in the counties of Jackson, Cottonwood, Murray, Nobles, Rock, Wa- tonwan, Lyon and Lae qui Parle.
No concerted action for the relief of the destitute was taken locally until JJann- ary 11, 1844. On that day a meeting of residents of Rock county .was held in the school house in Luverne to devise means of caring for those suffering for want of the necessaries of life. George W. Kniss presided over the meeting and W. O. Crawford was secretary. There was a general discussion of ways and means of meeting the crisis. For the purpose of soliciting, receiving and distributing con- tributions, a committee composed of P. J. Kniss, W. O. Crawford and T. P. Grout was named. Those gentlemen at once en- tered upon their duties. By conferring with the township officers in each precinct, they obtained the names of all persons in the county requiring immediate aid. Ap- plication was made to the state relief eom- mittee, of which General H. Il. Sibley was chairman, for a share of the funds that had been privately donated. One hundred dollars, the first of the relief funds to be
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