USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Dayton > History of Anoka County and the towns of Champlin and Dayton in Hennepin County, Minnesota > Part 5
USA > Minnesota > Anoka County > History of Anoka County and the towns of Champlin and Dayton in Hennepin County, Minnesota > Part 5
USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Champlin > History of Anoka County and the towns of Champlin and Dayton in Hennepin County, Minnesota > Part 5
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THE FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION.
"Fifty-fivers" relate with pleasure the events attend- ing the first celebration of the Fourth of July in their new home. A picnic dinner was spread under the shade of a little grove on the bank of the Mississippi a block or more west of Ferry street. Dr. Giddings owned the only horse and buggy in town, and in this equipage he drove to the residence of Deacon J. F. Wheeler, and took Mrs. Wheeler to the grove, where she directed the
69
THE FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION.
arrangement of the tables. "Elder" Twitchell. as he was universally called, was the owner of a wagon, which served tolerably well for hauling hay and wood, but was hardly fitted for passenger service, and on this oc- casion it was not used. Thomas B. Richards, a recent arrival, had a yoke of oxen, and these he hitched to a sled, upon which kitchen chairs had been placed for seats, and by driving on the grass he brought to the scene of festivities a considerable party of the more favored ones in a style which doubtless aroused the envy of all beholders.
Settlers about Elm creek crossed the Mississippi in row boats and took an active part in the proceedings. Jo- seph B. Holt, the Elm creek merchant, read the Declara- tion of Independence, and Rev. Winthrop Hayden de- livered the address. In the midst of his speech Mr. Hav- den was interrupted by the firing of an anvil, which son.c enthusiastic patriot had set off.
"We had hoped," said the speaker when he could be heard again, "that we had gotten far enough west so that we could celebrate the Fourth of July without the aid of rum or gunpowder."
His auditors laughed at this sally, and Mr. Hayden continued his speech without further interruption, dwell- ing chiefly upon temperance and slavery-the two topics which were then uppermost in the public mind.
The same week an unusually long Red river train made its appearance from the north. There were 300 carts in the train and twenty-six days had been consumed in making the trip.
About the first of August ( 1855) E. H. Davis started a hardware store in Anoka. A few weeks later Heman L. Ticknor opened a dry goods and grocery store. Up
.
70
HISTORY OF ANOKA COUNTY.
to this time all the merchants had located on the west side of Rum river, but having looked over the situation with some care, and noting the strong trend of settlement toward the lands afterward included in the town of Round Lake (Grow), Mr. Ticknor came to the conclu-
HEMAN L. TICKNOR.
sion that the east side would eventually be more favor- able for trading purposes, and accordingly made over- tures to the town site proprietors for the purchase of twenty-five feet on the corner of Main street and First avenue, now occupied by the grocery of McCauley Broth-
71
THE FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION.
ers. The spot was still covered with its primitive growth of hazel brush. A high price was named, and Mr. Tick- nor declined to pay the amount, securing an inner lot. upon which a building was erected. Some years later Mr. Ticknor bought the lot where the Goodrich & Jen- nings drug store stands, and put up another building. into which he moved his stock.
During the summer of 1855 the "Elm Creek and Anoka Ferry Company," organized by J. B. Holt, James W. Groat and others, prepared to make use of the fran- chise which was granted to them by the county com- missioners of Benton and Hennepin counties. Mr. Groat built the ferry boat and it made its first trip across the Mississippi Sept. 11, 1855.
In November the first school house was built. It stood on Third avenue just south of where the new Library building now stands at a point about opprsite the front door of the court house. Besides being used for school purposes, this building was utilized as a place of worship by all denominations that held religious ser- vices. .
November 22, 1855, a description of the town of An- oka appeared in the St. Anthony Republican, from which a very fair idea of the place as it then existed may be gathered. Doubtless some allowances should be made for the evident desire on the part of the writer to make a favorable showing. both as to the size of the town and the capacity of the various mills and factories. The es- sential parts of the article are as follows :
"The first blow was struck here in the summer of 1853; but in consequence of a break in the dam the work was not completed nor the saw mill running until August, 1854, from which time the town with propriety might
72
HISTORY OF ANOKA COUNTY.
date its growth. The proprietors, Messrs. Woodbury's, Shaws and Farnham, have expended a large amount of money on the dam and mills.
"In the dam are four apertures for mills.
"On aperture No. I Messrs F. B. Dunn & Co. have in operation an upright saw cutting from 6,000 to 8,000 feet of lumber daily. A siding and flooring mill with all its equipments, a lath mill, a shingle mill, and a well arranged rotary saw for fitting materials for lath mill and cutting the blocks for the shingle mill while all ref- use timber is cut into stove wood.
"On aperture No. 2 the Messrs Woodburys have an upright saw, which manufactures from 6,000 to 8,000 feet of lumber per day, and a lath mill for working their slabs into laths.
"Aperture No. 3 is unoccupied and belongs to S. W. Farnham, who is one of the owners in No. I and the mills attached.
"On aperture No. 4 Mr. J. P. Woodbury has erected a saw mill frame which will be finished and put in run- ning order as soon as possible and will aid in supplying the demand at this place for lumber, which during the low stage of water the past summer has been very great, from St. Anthony, Minneapolis, and the settlers in the northern part of Hennepin county, as well as those in and around Anoka.
"Aperture No. 5 supplies a race twenty feet in width and several hundred feet long, which will ultimately be lined with the various kinds of machinery, which the accessibility of both pine and hardwood timber must in- duce.
"First on the race stands the shingle manufactory of O. A. Smith, who has a newly patented machine which
73
THE FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION.
makes a shingle nearly as smooth as if planed, and to all appearances as good as the common shaved shingle. Next is the establishment of O. Smith & Co., with its turning lathe, bedstead machine, planing mill and man- ufactory of sash, doors and blinds.
"At the lower end of the race is located the new flouring mill of Woodburys and Lane, which in appear- ance and the thoroughness of its construction and finish would do no discredit to any town in the Northwest. Less than nine months ago a flouring mill was burned to the ground, subjecting the owners to a loss of some $12,000, besides being no inconsiderable loss to the place and the surrounding country. On the ruins the present mill is erected ,and in all its appointments is full fifty per cent better than its ill fated predecessor, whose short existence had enabled it to secure a reputation second to none in the territory. *
"On the west side of the river stands the Farnham House, a large and commodious hotel; also the post- office, three stores-dry goods and groceries by J. Foster, groceries and provisions by E. P. Shaw, and dry goods and clothing by - : a livery stable is kept by Mr. Shuler, which with one physician's, two shoemakers' and one tailor's signs, greet the hungry, the naked, the weary and the sick. Here twenty-one buildings in a town of scarcely fifteen months' age. enliven the western banks of Rum river.
"On the east side of the river are located the mill. the Anoka House, kept by Mr. Lufkin-and formerly presided over by W. B. Fairbanks-the hardware store of E. H. Davis & Co., the dry goods and grocery of H. L. Ticknor & Co., which with dwellings. &c., swell the number of buildings to fifty and over in the town.
74
HISTORY OF ANOKA COUNTY.
A comfortable school house is in process of erection, for which we are indebted to the public spirit of C. Wood- bury."
During the fall Dwight Woodbury began the erection of a dam and mill at "the new town," which had been
John R. Bean.
Daniel W. Mclaughlin.
Horace W. Taylor.
Sylvanus Stookwoll.
Goo. W. Branch.
A GROUP OF PIONEERS.
started but not yet surveyed or named, at "Rum river rapids." After a time the name "Otona" was applied to it, but the place was more commonly referred to as "St. Jonathan." It was several years later that St. Francis was finally fixed upon as the official name.
75
A PERIOD OF SPECULATION.
Notwithstanding the abundant crops, it began to be apparent early in the winter (1855-56) that there would be a scarcity of provisions in the territory. After nav- igation closed in the fall no further supplies could be obtained from without, and the population had so largely increased that what to the dealers in those days seemed large stocks melted away with astonishing rapidity. Corn at Anoka brought $1 to $1.50 per bushel and salt pork $25 to $30 a barrel. At Ball's store Dwight Wood- bury bought from S. C. Robbins seven bushels of beans at $7 per bushel, for the use of his men who were at work on the new mill at "St. Jonathan," and was ir .- clined to be angry because he could not buy all there was in the store at that price, until Mr. Robbins explained to him that he had promised to keep some beans for his cus- tomers.
A PERIOD OF SPECULATION.
The large profits which had accrued to those who had put in crops in 1855, arising from the unusual combina- tion of bountiful harvests and very high prices, presaged a great increase in farming operations for 1856. Many farmers hastened to put their last season's profits into horses and machinery, and the new comers bid eagerly for chances to get at the land. Prices of farm lands rose by leaps and bounds, and the high prices which had been demanded for town lots were marked up another notch. For example, George W. Branch held the five lots on Branch street between Park and Main streets, where John S. McGlauflin afterward built his home, at $500 each.
The country generally had been enjoying a decade of prosperous times. Railroad building had been very ex- tensive, and it frequently happened that more money
76
HISTORY OF ANOKA COUNTY.
was made by those who bought the land along a proposed route and held it for sale until the railroad brought pop- ulation and consequently purchasers of the land, than by those operating the road after it was built. This fact had a tendency to induce the building of railroads for the purpose of increasing land values, with little reference to the actual demands of trade. Heavy mortgages must usually be given both on the lands and on the railroads, and the prompt payment of interest in such cases de- pended on an immediate influx of population. Sometimes immigrants were capricious and chose to go elsewhere. In such cases adroit financiering must be resorted to in order to ward off bankruptcy until population could be attracted.
Speculation in farming lands went on with increas- ing intensity as population advanced. An old device which consisted in hiring men to take up land and then buying their rights was extensively practiced. After 1854, when the laying out of town sites was seen to be a profitable speculation, towns with and without inhab- itants multiplied with surprising rapidity.
In 1855 Captain James Starkey of St. Paul under- took the task of building up the village of Columbus. It was situated in the southern part of the present town of that name. A saw mill was built, and also a commo- dious hotel. In 1857 the place was large enough to poll 69 votes. Twenty years later only a few decaying logs in the brush and a cellar full of rubbish served to mark the spot.
Much less of a reality was the town of "Glencarey," "Glen Carie" or "Glen Garey," as it was variously writ- ten, which was located in the southern part of what is now Ham Lake on land now owned by Berger Titterud.
77
A PERIOD OF SPECULATION.
A few houses were erected, and elegantly engraved lith- ographs proclaiming the names of streets and numbers of blocks circulated in the cities; and titles to lots and mortgages on lots were offered for sale, and no doubt
ATTIR
41- 191
....
.
FIRST WHITE CHILDREN BORN IN ANOKA COUNTY.
Fernando Shumway, born March 22, 1851; Georgia Taylor (Mrs. Judson Davis), born July 24, 1851; Samuel C. Milliman, born March 19, 1854; Abigail Frost ( Mrs. C. L. Norton), born Oct. 1, 1854; Angus W. Varney, born Nov. 19, 1854: Hannibal Groat, born Jan. 3, 1855.
found purchasers. A bill to remove the county seat to Glencarie was introduced in the legislature, but was killed by the timely opposition of a delegation of citizens of Anoka.
"Lexington," "Manchester." and "Riverside," were
78
HISTORY OF ANOKA COUNTY.
some of the paper towns which were laid out on Rum river above St. Francis, and "Sterling" was platted on the southeast shore of Mille Lacs.
This is but a sample of tendencies which were at work throughout the West. Mortgages based on inflated values, and often on practically no values at all, drifted eastward into the hands of trust companies and private investors, and across the ocean. For a time interest charges might be met by making bigger mortgages, but there could be but one ending to such a state of affairs -a financial panic.
During 1857 grasshoppers spread over the greater part of the state and Anoka county settlers were among the worst sufferers. The insects flew over in such num- bers as to hide the sun from view. In a single day they would strip a wheat field bare of kernels, and while a few billions, more or less, lingered to cut up and lunch on the straw, the rest invaded the farmer's garden and door yard in search of dessert. Corn fields were left with bare straight stalks standing. Pumpkin, squash, melon and potato vines disappeared like magic, and cabbages were devoured down to the stem. Where the farmer's wife threw out dish water they crawled over each other two inches deep to get a taste. Matched lumber being an unknown luxury, the walls of many cabins had been covered with old newspapers, pasted on to cover the cracks. The grasshoppers ate the cracks out clean again to get the paste, and thus let in their brother pests, the mosquitoes. The grasshoppers even attacked articles of wood in some cases, and boards were: often found with edges rounded off. In 1858 they dis- appeared as suddenly as they came, reappearing to some extent in states farther south.
CHAPTER VII.
THE PANIC OF "FIFTY-SEVEN."
Before the settlers had begun to recover from the effects of the grasshopper raid, the financial panic of 1857 was upon them. A recent writer thus describes the beginning of the panic in the East :
"In August the suspended blow fell: on the 24th the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company of Cin- cinnati and New York failed, with reported liabilities of $7,000,000. The announcement of the failure on the New York Stock Exchange caused a panic ; stocks fell : many bankers and brokers were unable to meet their engagements. Money rose to three, four and five per cent a month. * *
"All eyes were on New York. During the first part of October the Illinois Central Railroad company made an assignment, the notes of the New York and Erie Railroad went to protest and the Michigan Central Rail- road company suspended payment on its floating debt. Amid wild excitement, a heavy run began on all of the New York banks. It was impossible for them to stand the drain. October 13. at half past ten in the evening. the New York City banks resolved to suspend specie payments on the following day."
A contributing cause of the panic lay in the unsat- isfactory condition of the currency. A great part of the circulating medium of the country consisted of bank notes, secured only by the assets of the bank itself, and
80
HISTORY OF ANOKA COUNTY.
these were almost universally tainted with the prevailing infection of inflated values.
The panic did not reach Minnesota immediately. But the first week in October two banks in St. Paul sus- pended, and a meeting of the merchants of that city was held to devise means of relieving the financial difficulties. In Minneapolis and St. Anthony, where an attempt was made to keep the bank notes in circulation, "wildcat" money drove all other forms of currency nearly out of circulation.
Under the pre-emption law settlers had to pay for their claims at the rate of $1.25 per acre within a certain time or forfeit their rights. Interest rates had risen to three per cent. a month and more. An Anoka county farmer living on Cedar creek found it necessary to raise some money to make a payment to the government, and is said to have gone to a money lender in St. Paul, a certain Colonel M-, to borrow $100. Five per cent. a month was demanded, and the borrower decided that he must have it even at that rate. He signed the note and was handed $40.
"What is this for," he asked.
It was explained to him that the interest amounted to $60, which was collected in advance.
"Well now," said he, scratching his head, "if I'd borrowed $200, I'd be owin' ye somethin', wouldn't I?" On October 8th the St. Anthony News said :
"Financial .- There are no new failures reported in to-day's papers. We judge things are more 'quiet,' as we met a man on the street to-day who had half a dollar in cash-all in twenty-five cent pieces. They looked very lonely, were round, and about the color of silver spoons. We heard of another eccentric genius
8I
THE PANIC OF "FIFTY-SEVEN."
yesterday who paid his note when it became due. Prob- ably a case of mental aberration. With these excep- tions the market is without any change."
But the situation very soon became too serious to joke about. Before the month was out the News printed this comment :
"Never since Minnesota was 'discovered' was cur- rent money so scarce as now. Almost everybody has a pile of bills, but the banks which issued them have suspended or failed, and the paper pictures no longer represent the 'tin.' The West was sound, Minnesota sounder, and St. Anthony and Minneapolis soundest until the great banks of the East slammed their iron doors in the long faces of creditors, but now confidence has gone down and the whole country is afloat like the deck-lumber of the Central America. Every man is overboard, struggling manfully with the waves, and though one of the wrecked may succeed in getting upon a larger plank than his fellows, yet all are straining their eyes for a light at the foretop of some rescue ship ahead. The United States of America has suspended payment. Thousands are thrown out of employment throughout the country, and many will go to bed supperless before an- other April. Men chase each other up and down the streets to collect 'bills payable,' and honest debtors who own $50,000 worth of land, cannot raise money enough to pay foot-toll at the bridge. What we are coming to we are unable to say, but one thing is evident-however unpalatable the aggrarian fact may be, 'Tight Times,' is mowing the financial acres East and West with a keen scythe, and the beggar and the broker will change coats before Spring without either losing his respect- ability."
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HISTORY OF ANOKA COUNTY.
"Gosport," "Tekama," "Omaha City," "Platte Val- ley," "Florence," De Soto," "Lyons City Scrip," and "Western Exchange Fire and Marine Insurance Co.," were some of the bank notes whichi circulated largely in the territory.
But banks were failing in all directions, and as soon as the failures became known notes of these banks were refused. Notes of banks that were under suspicion cir- culated at discounts which often increased with alarming rapidity. Smiley & Woodbury, who operated the flour mill at Anoka, sent three ten-dollar bank notes one after the other to St. Anthony for the purpose of making some small purchase. The messenger was unable to pass any of them at par, and on the third trip was ordered to take what he could get. He finally succeeded in passing the last bill for $8.50.
But this was mild compared with some discounts that quickly followed.
In the spring of 1858 Frank Zahler worked with a surveying party in the Sauk Valley and received for his services $84 in state bank notes. He paid his hotel bill and stage fare to Anoka out of the amount and a few days later went into a store in Anoka to make some purchases. He picked out some shoes and wearing ap- parel to quite an amount, and the proprietor asked about the pay.
"Oh, I have got the money," said Zahler, pulling out his roll.
"I don't doubt that you have the money," said the proprietor, "but what kind is it?"
Zahler displayed one of the bills, and the storekeepe remarked :
83
THE PANIC OF "FIFTY-SEVEN."
"That money is only worth fifteen cents on a dollar this morning."
A "bank detector" was issued frequently from New York, showing which bank notes were worth their face, which notes were at a discount and how much, and which notes were worthless. But the quotations fluctuated more and more violently, and merchants received daily reports whenever possible.
Sylvanus Stockwell bought a yoke of oxen from a man named Nicholls, paying him $110 in "Glencoe money." Nicholls succeeded in passing the money, but very soon after the "Bank of Glencoe," which had issued it, was reported to be wholly without assets, and its bills became worthless. Harvey F. Blodgett bought a cow of Jacob Milliman for $35 or $40, and before Milliman could get to town to spend the money the bank had failed, and he could not buy his dinner with the entire amount.
S. C. Robbins taught school in the town of Grow in the winter of 1857-8, and in the spring got his entire winter's pay in money which was only valuable for kindling a fire. Matthew F. Taylor worked several months for Staples & Hersey at Stillwater in the spring of 1858, for fifty cents a day and board. Plenty of men out of work were eager to take the places of any who were dissatisfied with these wages. He received his pay in state bank notes. He succeded in purchasing a pair of boots from Daniel Robbins on the basis of $4 of good money, and Mr. Robbins took some of these state bank notes for the amount at about sixty per cent. discount. That was all Taylor ever got for his money, as the notes soon after became worthless.
The newspapers printed long lists of broken banks
84
HISTORY OF ANOKA COUNTY.
whose notes were refused by merchants. People were afraid to go to bed at night with money in their pockets, for fear it might be worthless next day. The only safety was to deposit it in a solvent bank, if one 'could be found, or convert it into merchandise of some sort at the earliest opportunity. Some Canadian money circulated at twenty per cent. premium.
In December, 1857, the Chicago Tribune said: "St. Anthony and Minneapolis appear to be the headquarters of the uncurrent money in Minnesota. Large quantities of the broken 'Farmers Bank of North Carolina,' quoted" in Chicago at 75 per cent. discount, circulate at par up there. Citizens' Bank, which is bursted; Tekama of Nebraska, which is a swindle; and Florence, which is little" better; together with Fontenelle, constitute about all the currency in circulation north of St. Paul. The same villainous trash has spread over many of the west- ern counties, and driven out every dollar of current money."
An attempt was made on the part of certain brokers to boycott the St. Anthony Republican, which had the temerity to reprint the above paragraph. "But the ma- jority of people soon came to the conclusion that the wretched substitute for money would reach zero sooner or later, and that those who clung to it longest would be the greatest sufferers.
Having paid out the "wildcat" money as long as anybody could be found who would receive it, the people were lett practically without a circulating medium. Trade took the form of barter. "The merchants traded their goods for farm products, and the wholesale merchants were obliged to take their pay in these or make no' sales. But wholesale grocers found it impossible to stock up
85
THE PANIC OF "FIFTY-SEVEN."
except for cash, and the grocery trade came almost to a standstill. Farm products were largely traded for dry goods.
Ammi Cutter, who was operating a tub and pail fac .. tory on the east side of Rum river at Anoka, near where the railroad bridges now are, made strenuous efforts to
AMMI CUTTER.
keep his factory going. He also had a general store, and paid his men chiefly in store orders, whereat some of them grumbled. But nothing better could be done. On one occasion when the men complained that they were without meat he traded goods out of the store for a hog and having cut it up, divided the pork among them.
1
86
HISTORY OF ANOKA COUNTY.
Business men were often driven to the greatest straits for a little cash. A man came down from Elk River to get some lumber planed at Frank Blodgett's planing mill at Anoka. Blodgett told him that if he would advance sixty-five cents to buy machine oil for the mill he would do the work-otherwise it would be impossible. Another man who had considerable property borrowed ten cents on one occasion from S. Stockwell to buy some crackers for a meal for himself and wife. One of the Woodbury brothers, a man with large property interests, said one day to a friend :
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