USA > Minnesota > Cottonwood County > History of Cottonwood and Watonwan counties, Minnesota : their people, industries, and institutions, Volume I > Part 25
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The first capital was ten thousand dollars, the same as today. The first officers were as follow : Board of directors, John Henderson, P. K. McMur- try, Jolin J. Rupp, E. J. Gove, D. U. Weld, Henry Goertzen and N. P. Min- ion ; E. J. Gove, president ; John J. Rupp, vice-president, and P. K. McMur- try, cashier. The present (1916) officers are: J. A. Redding, president ; N. P. Minion, vice-president ; D. J. Voth, cashier. The 1916 board of direct- ors are as follow : N. P. Minion, A. J. Wicklund, V. E. Rogers, J. A. Red- ding, A. J. Goertzen, J. J. Rupp and Earl Marshall.
The motto of this bank is "Active, Alert, Alive." This concern owns its own bank building. It was robbed on June 15, 1907, by Chester and White, who were tried and sentenced to Stillwater prison for nine and ten years respectively.
The deposits have grown as follow : 1905, $10,280.30; 1906. $15 .- 506.82; 1907, $19,504.39; 1908. $20,966.31 ; 1909. $27.531.11 : 1910, $29,- 045.61 ; 1911, $36.965.51 ; 1912, $36,634.50; 1913. $40.562.57: 1914, $46,- 743.82; 1915, $65,875.88; January 1, 1916, $74.609.93; August 1, 1916, $88,261.34. On June 30, 1916, the resources and liabilities amounted to
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$99,363.77. On that date the surplus was $1,650; notes rediscounted and bills payable, $8,000; deposits, $79.686.77; banking house and fixtures, $2,792.90, overdrafts, $271.43. The policy of this bank is conservative management, ample resources, courteous treatment and superior facilities.
STATE BANK OF DELFT.
This bank-the last established in Cottonwood county-was given a corporate existence on July 1, 1916, and was chartered to continue for thir- teen years. The first board of directors are T. A. Perkins, W. J. Clark, H. D. Peters, Cornelius Goetzen, Jacob Rupp, Henry Hokanson, C. Blier. The capital is ten thousand dollars, fully paid up. The president is T. A. Perkins; vice-president, H. D. Peters ; cashier, Henry Hokanson.
RECAPITULATION OF BANKS.
The following shows the number of banks, the date of establishment, capital and present deposits of each one in Cottonwood county :
Bank of Windom-Organized in 1881; authorized capital, $100,000; out of business.
First National Bank of Windom-Organized in 1897; capital, $150,000; deposits, $1,000,000.
Windom National Bank-Organized in 1902; capital, $35,000; deposits, $507,000.
Farmers State Bank of Windon-Organized in 1907; capital, $35,000; deposits, $362,247.83.
Peoples Bank of Windom-Organized in 1892; out of business now.
Cottonwood County Bank-Organized in 1889; capital, $100,000; suc- ceeded by the Farmers State Bank of Windom.
State Bank of Jeffers-Organized in 1900; capital, $25,000; deposits, $210,000.
Farmers Bank of Jeffers-Organized in 1915 ; capital, $15,000; deposits, $58,614.58.
First State Bank of Storden-Organized in 1904; capital, $15,000; de- posits, $198,321.
Farmers State Bank of Storden-Organized in 1916; capital, $10,000; deposits, $35,659.1I.
First National Bank of Mountain Lake-Organized in 1908; capital, $25,000 ; deposits, $165,000.
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First State Bank of Mountain Lake-Organized in 1889; capital, $28,- 000; deposits, $398,752.06.
Citizens State Bank of Westbrook-Organized in 1902; capital, $32,000; deposits, $154,676.28.
First National Bank of Westbrook-Organized in 1900; capital, $30,- 000 ; deposits, $270,000.
First National Bank of Bingham Lake-Organized in 1904; capital, $10,000 ; deposits, $88,261.34.
The State Bank of Delft-Organized July 1, 1916; capital and surplus, $12,000.
Total amount of present capital in all banks, $422,000; total amount of present ( 1916) deposits, $3,448,532.20; total number of banks in county, August, 1916, thirteen.
CHAPTER XV.
RAILROADS AND TRANSPORTATION.
Cottonwood county was fortunate in one particular in its settlement in that it did not have to wait long for railroad facilities after the first settlers made their advent. In many localities the pioneer band went into the wilder- ness ten and twenty years before the sound of the locomotive's shrill whistle was heard there. Hence they had to haul supplies from fifty to one hundred and more miles and also had no market where they could dispose of the stock and crops which they raised, except at faraway cities on some stream or rail- road line.
About 1870 the railway now known as the Chicago, St. Paul, Minne- apolis & Omaha (then the Sioux City & St. Paul) was constructed through this county en route from Sioux City at the southwest to St. Paul at the northeast. This was Cottonwood's first steam rail thoroughfare. It soon established stations at the villages of Mountain Lake, now in Midway town- ship; Bingham Lake, in Lakeside township, and Windom, the county scat, in Great Bend township. Thus the first railway facilities were in the extreme southeastern portion of the county. There was but little settlement made in this county until late in the sixties, so that even the earliest band of pioneers had to wait but a very few years for the arrival of a railroad. In the re- mainder of the county-the real homestead and pre-emption section-many years longer elapsed before they had a railroad near at hand.
"THE CURRIE BRANCH."
What is styled the Currie branch of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha road extends from Bingham Lake, Cottonwood county, north and west to Curric, in central Murray county, Minnesota. It was constructed in 1900 and during that and the succeeding three years the company established town plats and built stations at the now sprightly villages of Delft, situated in Carson township: Jeffers, in Amboy township; Storden, in Storden town- ship. and Westbrook in Westbrook township, near the western line of this county. This railroad line has greatly enhanced the value of the central and western part of the territory, and has caused these four villages to spring up
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as if by magic, while the junction with the main line at Bingham Lake has added greatly to the importance of that village.
TIIE CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN LINE.
The extreme northeastern corner of this county-sections 3, II and 13, of Selma township, is traversed by a branch of the great Northwestern system extending from a point in northern Redwood county to central Iowa. In Brown county, just to the north of Cottonwood county, is a station on this road, on the county line, known as Comfrey, the major part of which is situated in Brown county, while some of the residences, etc., are in Cotton- wood county. This affords the people of this county who reside in the north-' eastern portion an opportunity to trade and do marketing there. So, strictly speaking, there are only eight out of the eighteen civil townships of Cotton- wood county which have a railroad station. But there are small villages in the several adjoining counties to Cottonwood which accommodate its citizens.
By reason of these railroads having been constructed through the coun- ty at about the time the heaviest settlement was effected, a majority of the lumber for residence building, the wire for fencing and other heavy freight did not have to be drawn by teams scores of miles, as was the case in many another western county.
While the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha road is but a part of the Chicago & Northwestern system and the Currie branch also belongs to this road, it may be said that every mile of railroad within the borders of Cottonwood county is under the control of the Chicago & Northwestern system, one of the best railway properties in all the great northwestern country.
HOW CONSTRUCTED.
In many counties of the West the people have been obliged to put up large subsidies in way of taxes and subscriptions in order to obtain a road, but the first road here was built under the old land grant system, granted by Congress in 1857 and later. By the terms of this grant, every other section of land within certain limits of the road was given to the construction com- panies. While, as a matter of fact, it was an expensive proposition in the end and placed a large amount of the eminent domain in the hands of rail- road corporations, yet the actual settler was not obliged to be taxed directly for such internal improvement of the country.
Of more recent years the railroads of the West have had to build their
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feeders and branches without public aid and were glad to do so, for it was and ever will be a paying investment, as the vast harvest field products of the territory through which they run are annually shipped over each line to the markets of the East.
By these various lines of steam railroad in Cottonwood county the lum- ber of the northern country, the coal from the southeast and the general merchandise of manufactured goods, farm implements, furniture and hard coal from the faraway mines of Pennsylvania, are brought hither to the very door of the farmer and townsmen of this county, making it a prosperous country. The "homesteader" and the "steam horse" have made the prairie wilderness of forty-five years ago to blossom like the rose.
CHAPTER XVI.
MILITARY MATTERS.
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.
The great military organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, is represented in Cottonwood county at only one place, Windom, where the only post the county has ever had exists. The first post here was known as Stephen Miller Post No. 38, organized December 3. 1874, and which existed a few years and then disbanded. It had a membership of fifty soldiers.
The present post is LaGrange Post No. 79, organized March 15, 1884, with a charter membership of forty-nine comrades of the Civil War, as follow: S. M. Espey, deceased; Charles Winzer, deceased; W. \V. Barlow, C. F. Warren, deceased; Freeman Trowbridge, deceased; James W. Hayes, deceasd; Thomas S. Potter, deceased; John Malmstein, deceased; David P. Langley, W. B. Williams, W. W. Frost, deceased; A. J. Hall, deceased; D. C. Ashley, deceased : T. S. Brown, deceased; Zed. Day, deceased; M. Chase, deceased ; Jerome Cutler, deceased; J. A. Brown, C. A. Chandler, deceased : William Copp, H. A. Cone, deceased; Z. B. Chatfield, W. B. Fry, deceased ; Allen Gardner, deceased; J. F. French, deceased; J. F. Force. H. S. Ellis, A. J. Frost, deceased; S. S. Gillam, A. Ingalls, deceased; E. Leonard, A. W. Jolison, deceased ; John Tilford, deceased; E. M. Peterson, Orrin Nason, deceased; J. E. Mace, deceased; W. A. Potter, A. A. Miles, deceased ; R. R. Janness, S. O. Taggart, deceased, A. A. Start, deceased; J. M. Root, de- ceased: C. W. Seely, Paul Seegar, deceased; W. W. Zuel, deceased; Ezra Winslow, E. W. Vanhorn, deceased; C. A. Wood, S. J. Woodward, de- ceased : J. W. Cogley, deceased.
The total present membership of the post is seventeen. About a year ago it was as low as six members, but the plucky commander, W. H. Jones, kept it alive, got members re-instated and new members until the present seventeen were secured. Mr. Jones has been commander for sixteen years in succession. The post meets twice each month at the post rooms in the court house ( the jury room being allotted to the Grand Army).
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The first commander was S. M. Espey and the first adjutant was J. J. Kendall. The 1916 officers are: W. H. Jones, commander; C. W. Seely, senior vice-commander: W. A. Potter, junior vice-commander ; William S. Skellie, chaplain : J. A. Brown, adjutant and quartermaster. The post has had enrolled on its books one hundred and twenty-two names.
WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS.
As a very helpful auxiliary to the Grand Army post at Windom is the Woman's Relief Corps No. 36, organized August 27, 1887. with eighteen charter members. It now has a membership of only thirteen. Its president is Mrs. H. M. Goss: secretary, Mary Robison ; treasurer, Mrs. A. P. Jones, wife of the present commander of the post.
SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.
In the city cemetery stands a very imposing granite shaft about eighteen feet high, surmounted by a bronze American eagle with outstretched wings. This was erected about 1910 and the cost was twelve hundred dollars, seven hundred dollars being donated by the post; three hundred dollars by the Woman's Relief Corps: one hundred dollars by the First National Bank and one hundred dollars by the Cemetery Association of the city of Windom. It is situated in what is known as "Soldier's Square" at the cemetery.
HELPED CAPTURE JEFF DAVIS.
In a recent issue of the Westbrook Sentinel the following article was contributed by C. W. Seely, a Civil War veteran, who aided in the capture of the Confederate president, Jefferson C. Davis :
On Sunday, April 2, 1865, at ten o'clock in the morning, General Lee, commander of the Rebel army around Petersberg and Richmond, Virginia, sent Davis a dispatch containing very nearly these words: "My lines are broken in three places; Richmond must be evacuted this evening." That message found Mr. Davis in church at eleven o'clock in the morning where it was handed to him amid an awful hush, and he immediately went quietly, soberly out, never to return as president of the Confederacy. No word was spoken, but the whole assemblage felt that the message he had so hastily perused bore words of doom. Though the handwriting was not blazoned on the wall, it needed no Daniel to declare its import, but no one. at this date. can understand what that message meant to those in the doomed city. Men,
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women and children rushed from the church, word passing from lip to lip the news of the impending fall of Richmond and it was difficult to believe it. It was late in the afternoon when signs of evacuation became apparent to the incredulous. Wagons on the streets were being hastily loaded at the rebel capital with boxes and trunks and driven to the Danville depot. Vehicles sud- denly rose to a value that was astonishing ; as high as one hundred dollars in gold was offered for a conveyance and all over the city it was the same. Night came and all was confusion. There was no sleep in Richmond that night. Morning broke upon a scene such as those who saw it can never forget. Jefferson Davis left Richmond, Virginia, at ten o'clock at night for Danville, Virginia, where he halted and where he hoped Lee to follow with the remnant of his army and form a junction with General Johnson. Mr. Davis, with his staff, halted at Danville and set up government, issuing orders and so forth. Here he waited several days in hopes of Lee's approach, but, instead, re- ceived word of the surrender of Lee's army.
The Confederacy thereupon took to wheels again and retreated by rail to Greensborough, North Carolina, where another considerable halt was made, the days and nights being spent mostly in the cars by the president and his cabinet and followers. Since very few of the citizens saw fit to throw open the doors to him, when Johnson talked of surrendering, he was com- pelled to make another flight, this time in wagons and on horseback (the rail- roads having been torn up) by way of Salisbury to Charlotte, North Carolina, where his ark again rested for a few days and where he was received with great hospitality. Reports of Stoneman's cavalry coming that way caused another flight, via Yorkville and Abbeyville, South Carolina.
Being now compelled to take entirely to horse and escorted by two thousand cavalry, who, as well as the presidential cortege, gradually dwindled away, they reached Washington, Georgia, where the formal dissolution of a government was dispensed with, most of the cabinet itself having by this time abandoned the sinking craft, leaving Davis, attended by Regan, his late postmaster-general, and his military staff and the remaining fugitives, with a small but selected escort of mounted men who took their way southward, hoping to make some small port on the coast and thence out of the country.
Mr. Davis had separated from his family for greater safety, but on an alarm of peril to which they were said to be exposed from a conspiracy to rob them of the gold they were supposed to be carrying, had rejoined them over night at Doublin, Georgia, this being the place where the First Wiscon- sin Cavalry struck his trail some twenty-four hours later. From here Davis went to Hawkinsville, Georgia, and on the same side of the river, thence
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south about twenty-five miles to Evansville, Georgia. There he was cap- tured on May 10, 1865, and was taken back to Macon, whence he was taken, via Savannah and the ocean, to Fortress Monroe, where he was long closely and rigorously imprisoned, while his family was returned by water to Savan- nah and there set at liberty.
Davis was finally released on bail, Horace Greeley and others going on his bond. He then went to England, finally returning to the United States for trial and was let go as a disfranchised citizen. He then went to Missis- sippi and there spent the remainder of his life.
WE ARE GROWING OLD, JOHN.
The following poem was written in 1908 by J. S. McDaniel, late first lieutenant of Company B, Second Wisconsin Cavalry, and dedicated to the author of this history, John A. Brown, his comrade during the days of the Civil War. The names used are well-known in Windom; for example, the name "Dave" refers to D. A. Noble, who enlisted the same day Mr. Brown did and fought on the same fields, and is among the few survivors of that great conflict :
We're growing old and gray, John, We're growing old and gray; I've passed the three score and ten, And you're far on the way.
Some are in advance, John, And some are close behind; Many have fallen by the way- Life's battles they've resigned.
But still I see you all, Jolin, As in the long ago- As in the days of "sixty-one," Ere we had met the foe.
I see you young and strong, John,, "With heart for any fate," Resolved, our fathers' starry 1lag Shall wave o'er every state.
I see you on the march, John, Through swamp and through bayou; I see you in the Vicksburg siege, And near the dread Yazoo.
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I see yonr men at Big Black, Holding Johnson there at bay; Now I see you crossing over, And see Johnson run away.
Then you follow him to Jackson, "Here," he says, "I'll make a stay."
But he did not like the Yankees, So, he "fights and runs away."
I called the roll today, John, As I called it long ago, But the names forever silent It would pain your heart to know.
Called Bishop, Whytock and La Flesh, Called Reppy, Stone and Scott,
Called Tom and Sam and Brad and Lon- Called, but they answered not.
Of all the four or five score men Who once stood up in line; Save you and Dave and me, John, The roll call shows but nine.
Nor is it strange; you know, John Long years have passed away-
It is not strange so few are left, Left till this later day.
A few more months or years, John, A roll call then will tell That those who answered "Here" today, Have said their last "farewell."
Then why, why shed a tear, John O'er comrades now no more, When we soon will meet them, On Canaan's happy shore. SIXTY-ONE.
SOLDIERS WIIO PLEDGED THEIR VOTE TO GRANT AND WILSON.
When U. S. Grant ran for President the second time ( 1872) the follow- ing veterans of the Civil War pledged themselves, by a notice in the Windom Reporter, to support him for President at the election that fall, and as it will serve the double purpose of recording the names of many of the returned veterans who had settled in Cottonwood county, as well as what regiment they were in, besides showing how they voted at that day, it is here inserted in list form :
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D. W. Working, Fourth Minnesota Infantry.
Samuel MI. Espey, First Ohio Light Artillery. George P. Johnston, United States Reserve Marines. C. L. Hubbs, First Minnesota Infantry. N. H. Manning. Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Paul Seeger, Ninth Minnesota Infantry.
W. J. Leisure, Twenty-eighth Vermont Volunteer Infantry, Illinois.
L. M. Wilson, Second Vermont Volunteer Infantry.
T. C. Richmond, Third Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.
L. L. Ordwell, Thirteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. W. C. Banks, Second Ohio Heavy Artillery.
J. W. Benjamin, Eleventh Volunteer Minnesota Infantry. Addison Hall, Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.
IV. W. Frost, Third Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. D. M. Sheldon, Nineteenth Wisconsin Infantry.
K. W. Sheldon, Nineteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Asa A. Start, Tenth Vermont Volunteer Infantry.
J. Cutler, Second Vermont Volunteer Infantry. J. K. McLain, Sixth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. Frank Parso, Twenty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry.
Lamont Gilbert, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. Joel A. Clark, Fifth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. A. Anderson, First Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. George A. Greenfield, First Minnesota Battery. Jacob Isaacson, Sixth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry.
Karl Oleson, Thirty-first Volunteer Iowa Infantry.
J. H. Ewing, Eleventh Wisconsin Volunteer Veteran Infantry. George L. Loope, Ninth New York Volunteer Cavalry.
A. J. Frost, Eighteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. C. Nixon, First M. M. Brigade.
Leonard Aldrich, Eighth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.
F. M. Byran, One Tundred and Twenty-second Illinois Volunteer In- fantry.
O. C. Anton, Forty-second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. I. H. Reisdorf, Eighty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. J. F. Mace, Twelfth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Thomas S. Brown, Fifth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. WV. B. Williams, Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.
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M. DeWolf, Tenth New York Volunteer Cavalry. James C. Brown, Eleventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. George Hubbs, First Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry. Ezra Winslow, Second Maine Cavalry. Peter W. Oakley, Ninth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR SOLDIERS.
At the time of the Spanish-American War in 1898 there was no regular militia company organized in Cottonwood county, and it was from such that the troops were largely made up for that short but truly decisive conflict, hence those who went from this country enlisted in other Minnesota com- mands.
The list of soldiers serving in this war from here was as follows: P. G. Redding, G. Redding, the former in Company H, Twelfth Minnesota Regi- ment, at New Ulm, and the latter in Company B; Ernest Dow, Company H, two Quiring brothers, John Savage, son of the late Reverend Savage. All but Dow were discharged from camps in the South and never saw service out of the United States, while he re-enlisted and was sent to the Phillipine islands. All served in the Twelfth Minnesota save Mr. Savage, who was in the Fifteenth Minnesota. He enlisted at Worthington.
CHAPTER XVII.
CITY OF WINDOM.
Windom, named in honor of United States Senator William Windom, a native of Ohio, but long an honored resident of Minnesota, is situated on the banks of the Des Moines river, one hundred and fifty miles southwest of St. Paul and one hundred and twenty-two miles northeast from Sioux City, Iowa. Windom was declared the county seat of Cottonwood county in the autumn of 1872, the county officers having maintained their offices at a point a few miles up the river at what was known as Great Bend, for a short period after the county was organized.
The population of Windom, according to the United States reports for 1890, 1900 and 1910 was as follow : In 1890 it was 835; in 1900 it had reached 1,944, but in 1910 had fallen to 1,749. It is now supposed to have about two thousand-possibly twenty-one hundred.
The first building really worth mentioning on the plat was the one erected on lot 8, block 18, about the middle of June, 1871, by S. M. Espey, which was used by Espey & Lukens as a hardware store. Among the early buildings, one of importance was the Windom hotel, erected on the corner of Third avenue and Ninth street by Clark & Bell. E. C. Huntington estab- lished the Reporter as the first newspaper of Windom and Cottonwood county, issuing volume 1, number I, on September 7. 1871.
Perhaps the description of Windom given by Editor Huntington in his paper will give a clearer understanding of the surroundings and first events than any other account that can be now reproduced.
WINDOM AS VIEWED IN 1893.
Editor Huntington, of the Windom Reporter, in his paper in April, 1893, speaks of Windom and its prospects after the following fashion :
"The history of Windom is not one of the precious relics of the ancient world, which the capricious centuries have let drift to us, nor is it one of the precious treasures which lies buried beyond recovery under the 'tide whose waves are years.' There is no spirit of Attica breathing through the records, telling of the valor of barbarian founders; no pre-historic ruins or relics of
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dead ages encumber the site of the growing city. The city and surrounding country are but a chapter of American life, with its push and energy. The pioneers, many of whom are still living happily in the retrospect of labor well done, were not the 'sons of holy gods, culling the fruits of illustrious wisdom from unharried land,' but were the sons of the unconquerable Anglo- Saxon, who gave to the world the Magna Charta, political and religious liberty, and whose onward march has planted civilization and the Cross wherever its sturdy sons have gone. There is but little romance connected with the early days of this prosperous town and county. Its lowly history deals more largely in the modest yet manly experiences of the ones who toiled and laid the foundations of a prosperity that has continued and widened, and will continue to grow until the brightest dreams of the most hopeful have been realized.
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