USA > Minnesota > Cottonwood County > History of Cottonwood and Watonwan counties, Minnesota : their people, industries, and institutions, Volume I > Part 5
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
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died subsequently of injuries and fright, and six missing : total loss. $150,000.
1881. March I, the state capitol destroyed by fire.
1884. January 25, state prison partially burned.
1886
April 14, a tornado strikes the cities of St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, demolishing scores of buildings and killing about seventy people.
1887.
Important legislation regarding the liquor traffic, common carriers, and elections.
1889.
The Legislature enacts the Australian system of voting in cities of 10,000 and over. The first electric street railway started in the state at Stillwater.
1890.
United States census shows a population of 1,301,826. July 13, an excursion steamboat returning from Lake City encampment foundered on Lake Pepin, and 100 people drowned. July 13. tornado swept across Lake Gervias, in Ramsey county, demolishing several buildings and killing six people.
1891
June 15. a series of tornadoes started in Jackson county, near the town of Jackson, traversing Martin, Faribault, Freeborn, Mower and Fillmore counties, on a line nearly parallel with, but 'from five to fifteen miles north of, the Southern Minnesota division of the Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, doing a large amount of damage to farms and farm buildings, and causing the death to about fifty people along the track of the storm.
1892. June 7. Republican national convention held at Minneapolis. The Australian system of voting used at the November general election.
1893.
The Legislature authorizes the appointment of a capitol commission to select a site for a new capitol, and providing a tax of two- tenths of a mill for ten years to pay for the site and the erection of a building. A great financial crisis causes the failure of several banks and many mercantile and manufactur- ing establishments in the larger cities of the state.
1894.
September 1. forest fires start in the neighborhood of Hinckley, in Pine county, carrying death and destruction over nearly four hundred square miles of territory, destroying the towns of Hinckley and Sandstone, causing the death of 417 people, rendering homeless and destitute 2,200 men, women and chil- dren, and entailing a property loss of about $1,000,000.
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
1895. A census of the state was taken during the month of June, and the total population of the state was found to be 1,574,619.
1896. The Red Lake Indian reservation was diminished to about a quarter part of its former area, and on May 15 a large tract of agri- cultural and timber lands formerly belonging to that reserva- tion was opened for settlement.
1897. July 2, the monument at Gettysburg to the First Minnesota Regi- ment was dedicated.
1898. July 27, the corner stone of the new capitol was laid. Minnesota supplied four regiments for service in the Spanish-American War, being the first state, May 7, to respond to the president's call. October 5, the Pillager Indians attacked United States troops near Sugar Point, Leech lake.
1899. Semi-centennial of the territory and state celebrated by the Old Set- tlers' Association, June I, and by the Historical Society, November 15.
1 900. Population of Minnesota, shown by the national census, 1,751,394. Death of Senator C. K. Davis, November 27.
1901. In the Pan-American Exposition, at Buffalo, New York, the superior exhibits of wheat, flour, and dairy products of Minnesota caused her to be called "the Bread and Butter State."
1902. August 23, the fortieth anniversary of the Sioux War celebrated at New Ulm. Monuments and tablets erected there and at other places in the Minnesota valley.
I903. Tide of immigration into Minnesota, particularly in northern and western sections. April 22, death of Alexander Ramsey, first territorial governor, later governor of the state, United States senator, and secretary of war.
I904. Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Minnesota exhibits win many first prizes for flour, butter, fruits, iron ores, work of pupils in schools, etc.
1905. January 3, Legislature convenes in the new capitol. The population, according to the state census, June I, was 1.979.912.
1906. September 3, live stock amphitheater on the state fair ground dedi- cated, withi address by James J. Hill. Attendance at the fair on that day, 93,199; during the week, 295,000.
1907. Folwell Hall, the new main building for the College of Science, Literature and Arts, of the University of Minnesota, com- pleted at cost of $410,000 for the building and its equipment.
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
The total number of students of this University enrolled in all departments for the year was 4,145.
190S. The fiftieth anniversary of the admission of Minnesota to statehood was celebrated in connection with the state fair, its attendance during the week being 326,753.
1909.
Death of Gov. John A. Johnson as the result of an operation, at Rochester, Minnesota, September 21, 1909. Lieut .- Gov. Adolph O. Eberhart sworn in as governor by Chief Justice Start, in the Supreme Court retiring room, at II o'clock the same day.
1910.
Population of Minnesota, shown by the national census, 2,075,708. Death of State Treasurer Clarence C. Dinehart, June 8. E. S. Pettijohn appointed to succeed, June 11. Forest fires in northern Minnesota during the second and third week in Octo- ber, results in death to about thirty people and the destruc- tion of about $20,000,000 of property. Spooner and Baudette wiped out.
I9II. The Legislature ratified the proposed amendment to the United States Constitution for election of United States senators by popular vote. October 18, George E. Vincent was inaugurated presi- dent of the University of Minnesota.
1912. The Legislature in special session enacted a new primary election law and "corrupt practices" act. October 19, the statue of Governor Johnson on the capitol ground was unveiled.
1913. June 16-20, the American Medical Association held its sixty-fourth annual session in Minneapolis United States postal savings bank and parcel post inaugurated in Minnesota. Practical reforins in state road laws enacted. Work begun on the new building of the St. Paul Public Library and Hill Reference Library. New postoffice and new railroad depot building in Minneapolis. November 5, the historic Carver's cave, all trace of which had been lost for forty years or more, was definitely located.
1914. March, Minneapolis inade the reserve city in the Northwest for the system of regional national banks. Remarkable impetus to building operations in Minnesota cities. April 4, Frederick Weyerhauser, extensive lumber operator, died in his winter home at Pasadena, California. April 15, plans adopted for St. Paul's new terminals and union depot. May 9, a bronze statue of Gen. James Shields, tendered by the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
of the Republic to the state of Minnesota, for a niche in the capitol. Unveiled in November; formally presented to the state by Commander Samuel Appleton, of the Loyal Legion; accepted by Governor A. O. Everhart; eloquent memorial address by Comrade and Companion John Ireland, archbishop. July 4-II, the National Educational Association held its annual convention in St. Paul. November. Winfield Scott Hammond, Democrat, elected governor of Minnesota, defeating William E. Lee, Repub- lican nominee.
1915.
January 2, session of the thirty-ninth Legislature opened at the state capitol: Hon. J. A. A. Burnquist, lieutenant-governor, president of the Senate; H. H. Flower, speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives. January 3, Winfield Scott Hammond inaugurated governor of Minnesota. February 12, birthday of Abraham Lincoln observed by Minnesota Commandery of the Loyal Leg- ion by a banquet at the West hotel. Minneapolis. Oration by Bishop William A. Quayle, of the Methodist Episcopal church. February 19-20, forty-ninth annual convention of the Minnesota Editorial Association assembled at the St. Paul hotel, St. Paul, President H. C. Hotaling, presiding. December 30, death of Governor Hammond. December 31, Lieutenant-Governor Burn- quist assumed the office of governor.
1916.
February, discovery of discrepancies in the office of Walter J. Smith treasurer of the state, and his subsequent resignation.
CHAPTER H.
GEOLOGY. TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL FEATURES.
Situation and Arca. Cottonwood is one of the second tier of counties north of the Iowa line, from which it is separated by Jackson county. From St. Paul and Minneapolis southwest to Windom is about one hundred and thirty miles. From La Crosse and the Mississippi river west to the eastern boundary of this county is one hundred and eighty miles. It is thirty miles long from east to west, and from its west line onward to the east line of Dakota. is fifty miles.
Cottonwood county has a length of five townships, and a width from north to south of four; except that on the northeast line, two of the townships that would be included in this county if it were a complete rectangle, belong to Brown county. With this reduction, Cottonwood county has eighteen- townships, each six miles square. The main towns and villages of the county are situated in the southeast part, on the line of the St. Paul & Sioux City railroad. These are Windom, the county seat, situated in Great Bend township; Bingham Lake, in Lakeside, and Mountain Lake. Cottonwood county has an area of 650.39 square miles, or 416,250 acres, of which about eight thousand acres are covered with water.
Natural Drainage. The northwest part of Cottonwood county, includ- ing Germantown, Highwater, Ann, Westbrook, Storden, northwestern Amboy, and most of Rose Hill, is drained to the Cottonwood river, which flows through southern Redwood county, only a few miles farther north, and enters this county for a short distance in the northeast part of Germantown township. Its tributaries from Cottonwood county, in their order from west to east. are Dutch Charley's. Highwater. Dry and Mound creeks. The largest of these is Highwater creek, whose sources are several lakes in Rose Hill township, only three to seven miles from the Des Moines river. Its course in this county is east-northeast, about eighteen miles.
The little Cottonwood river, tributary to the Minnesota, a few miles below the Cottonwood river. rises nearly at the center of Cottonwood county. and its first ten miles, flowing northeast, are in Amboy and Delton town- ships. Its farther extent of about thirty miles eastward through Brown county is approximately parallel with the Big Cottonwood, and mainly three
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
to six miles distant to the south from that river. A tract in the east part of Cottonwood county, reaching west to its center, including Selma, Mountain Lake, Carson, the south half of Delton, and the northeast part of Dale, is drained by the headstreams of the Watonwan river, tributary to the Blue Earth, and, by that, to the Minnesota. The area in Cottonwood county, in- cluded within the basin of the Minnesota river, is approximately four hun- dred and fifty square miles.
The remainder of this county, including its southwestern townships, an area of about two hundred miles, is drained by the Des Moines river, which flows in a zigzag course, crossing South Brook, Springfield, diagonally. hav- ing a general southeast direction in South Brook and Great Bend, but mak- ing an offset in Springfield by running eight miles northeasterly. Harvey creek, the outlet of Lake Augusta in northeastern Amo township, entering the Des Moines at its big bend in the southwest corner of Dale township, is its largest tributary from the north in this county; from the south it receives the outlet of a string of lakes, which lie in the southwest part of Great Bend, and the outlet of Heron lake.
Among the lakes of Cottonwood county, in the reports of 1882, the fol- lowing merited enumeration: Mountain lake, two miles long and from a half mile to one mile wide, two miles southeast from the depot and town of this name, has long since been drained and farmed; Bingham lake, one mile long from northeast to southwest, close north of the town to which its name is given ; Clear, Cottonwood, Wolf, Summit and Glen lakes, one-third to two- thirds of a mile long, in the west and southwest portions of Lakeside town- ship, one to three miles eastward from Windom, beautiful lakes of clear water, divided by irregular, hilly or rolling areas of prairie, and skirted by narrow woods; Fish lake, nearly two miles long from northeast to south- west, and one-fourth to two-thirds of a mile wide, crossed by the south line of Lakeside township, and having about half its arca in Jackson county; the String lakes, reaching two and one-half miles from north to south, four miles west of Windom ; the Three lakes, and Swan lake, cach about one mile long, in Dale ; Rat, Long, Eagle and Maiden lakes, from one-third to one mile long, in the south half of Carson township; Lake Angusta, about one and one-half miles long and a half mile wide, in Amo township; Hurricane lake, more than a mile long from north to south, lying in section 31, Highwater township, and section 6, Storden township; Double lake, of similar extent and trend, in sections 23 and 26, Westbrook township; Berry and Twin lakes, with others, varying from a quarter of a mile to about one and a half miles in length, trending to the south or southeast, in Rose Hill township; Oaks lake,
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
one and a half miles long from north to south, but narrow, lying in section 32. Rose Hill, and sections 5 and 8, Southbrook: and Talcott lake, in sec- tions 19 and 30, South Brook, a mile long from north to south, with the Des Moines river flowing through its northern end.
Topography. In northern Cottonwood county a massive ridge of the red Potsdam quartzyte extends twenty-five miles from west to cast through Storden, Amboy, Delton and Selma, terminating in the west edge of Adrian, the northwest township of Watonwan county. This highland is mostly cov- ered by a smooth surface of till, but has frequent exposures of the rock. Its altitude increases from one hundred feet at its east end to three hundred feet westward, above the broad, slightly undulating sheet of till, which, excepting a morainic tract, is stately, covers the region toward the north. The height reached at the top of this quartzyte ridge, thirteen hundred to fifteen hundred feet above the sea, is a permanent rise of the land, which to the south and southwest holds nearly this average clevation, with a general ascent west- ward.
This ridge was probably considered by the early French explorers as the northeast border of the Coteau des Prairies, which name, meaning the High- land of the prairies, they gave to an elevated tract, extending about two hun- dred miles from north-northwest to south-southwest in eastern Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. Of this highland in Cottonwood county, Nicollet says : "Under the forty-fourth degree of latitude, the breadth of the coteau is about forty miles, and its mean elevation is here reduced to fourteen hun- dred and fifty feet above the sea. Within this space its two slopes are rather abrupt, crowned with verdure and scalloped by deep ravines thickly shaded with bushes, forming the beds of rivulets that water the adjacent plains." It is not continuously recognizable as a great topographic feature south of this quartzyte ridge.
The Little Cottonwood river and the north branch of the north fork of the Watonwan river flow northeasterly through gaps in the range of quartzyte a hundred feet or more below its crest, the former finding its passage at the middle of the north half of Delton township, and the latter about a mile west from the center of Selma township. Excepting at these points, the ridge is unbroken and uplifts a broad, smoothly-rounded top, covered with till. through which the quartzyte has occasional outcrops. It extends in its course a little to the north of west twelve miles from the north part of sec- tion 25. Selma township; to the north part of sections 9, 8 and 7, Delton township, and thence a little to the south of west ten miles to Highwater creek at the middle of Storden township. In its east half, through Selma
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
and Delton, this ridge has a width that increases toward the west from a half mile to one or two miles, elevated fifty to one hundred feet above the aver- age of the land for the next five or six miles to the south, and twice this height above the country which it overlooks northward to the horizon. Both slopes of the range have a gentle descent, that to the north occupying a width of one to two miles, and reaching from section 7. Delton, to the falls formed by this quartzyte on the headstreams of Mound creek, in the southwest cor- ner of Brown county, and in the northeast quarter of section 36, German- town township. In the central and southwest part of Amboy township and the east half of Storden, this highland, besides slowly increasing in elevation westward, expands to a greater width, and forms an approximately level plateau of till, one to three miles wide, with outerops of the quartzyte only upon the slope which descend from it. The most southern exposures of this rock in Cottonwood county are in the west part of sections 6 and 7, Dale, and in section 12, Amo, on the western descent from the most southern part of this plateau, which here in northwestern Dale is seventy-five or one hun- dred feet above the remainder of this township and its Three lakes, and about one hundred and fifty feet above Lake Augusta on the west.
This area of Potsdam quartzyte is the only part of Cottonwood county which has exposures of the bed-rocks, the remainder being moderately undu- lating or rolling and sometimes hilly glacial drift. The general slope, as al- ready stated, rises from east to west, and at the west side of Amo and in Rose IJill, this drift attains as great an altitude as the quartzyte range eight miles northeast in Amboy and Storden.
The townships of Westbrook, Ann, Highwater and Germantown, lying north of this height of land in Rose Hill, Amo and the ridge of quartzyte, have mostly a smoothly rolling contour, with the crests of swells fifteen to thirty feet above the depressions. The creeks which drain this district north- ward to the Cottonwood river, flow in valleys that they have eroded twenty to forty feet below the average surface.
The valley of the Des Moines river in South Brook township. the most southwest township of Cottonwood county, is less distinct in its outlines, and its depth is less, than in any other part of its extent below Lake Shetek. South Brook has mostly a rolling contour of massive swells, variable in their forms, trends and extent, rising twenty to fifty feet above the Des Moines river, which flows among them in an irregular course, generally without any well-defined valley of bottomland and bluffs, but turned here and there by small undulations. In section 19 it passes through the north end of Talcott
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
lake, which lies in a shallow basin of the drift-sheet. covering nearly a square mile, but only five to eight feet deep.
In Springfield township, where the Des Moines flows northeast, at right angles to its course both above and below, it again occupies a definite valley, channeled fifty to seventy-five feet below the average height of the rolling surface on either side. At the northeast corner of this township is the great bend of the Des Moines. Here it enters a valley transverse to its course through the last eight miles, and is carried in it thence to the southeast. This valley has a nearly flat alluvial bottom-land, a third to a half of a mile wide, enclosed by bluffs fifty to sixty feet high. It continues two or three miles northerly from the great bend, with the same width and depth; and is less distinctly marked three or four miles further, along the upper part of Harvey creek to Lake Augusta. The excavations of this channel were probably ef- fected by floods discharged from glacial melting, while the receding ice-sheet still covered the county farther east. In the central part of Great Bend town- ship the river is bordered on the west by morainic knolls and small ridges of rocky till, which rise successively one above another to the top of the Blue mounds, one to one and a half miles distant, and in the vicinity of Windom the ascent from the river eastward has a similar contour.
Distances along the Des Moines river, measured in direct lines between its principal bends, are as follow: From its source to the foot of Lake Shetek (this portion being commonly called Beaver creek), twenty-four miles; to a point on the south line of Cottonwood county, two miles north to the north end of Heron lake, in Jackson township, forty-eight miles; to its great bend, fifty-six miles; to Windom, sixty-three miles; to the state line, ninety- one mile ; and to its mouth at Keokuk, Iowa, about three hundred and eighty- five miles. Thus, a little less than one-fourth of its length lies in Minnesota.
Elevations, St. Paul & Sioux City railway, from profiles in office of T. P. Gere, former superintendent, St. Paul :
Feet.
Mountain lake, depot
1,300
Bingham lake, depot
: I 1 1 I 1 1
1,420
Summit, grade
1
I
1.437
Windom
1
1
1
1
1
1
1.353
Des Moines river, water
1
1
I
1,331
Bluff siding
.1,125
The highest portions of Cottonwood county, about fifteen hundred feet above the sea, are in Rose Hill township, in western Amo, and the plateau
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
upon the west part of the quartzyte ridge in southeastern Storden and south- western Amboy, and the tops of the Blue mounds, which are fourteen hundred and fifty to fifteen hundred and twenty-five feet above the sea. The lowest land of this county, nearly five hundred feet below these tracts, is where the Cottonwood river enters the northeast corner of Germantown township, at a height of about ten hundred and thirty feet above the sea. The elevation of the Little Cottonwood river where it leaves the county, is estimated to be eleven hundred and fifty feet; and of the most northern tributary to the Watonwan river, at the east line of Selma township, eleven hundred feet. The Des Moines river descends into this county approximately from fourteen hundred to thirteen hundred and thirty feet above the sea.
Estimates of the average height of the townships of Cottonwood county are as follows: Selma, twelve hundred and twenty-five feet above the sea; Mountain Lake, including two governmental townships, thirteen hundred feet ; Delton, thirteen hundred and twenty-five; Carson, thirteen hun- dred and seventy-five; Lakeside, fourteen hundred and ten; Germantown, twelve hundred; Amboy, fourteen hundred; Dale, fourteen hundred and fifty ; Great Bend, fourteen hundred and ten; Highwater, twelve hundred and twenty-five; Storden, fourteen hundred; Amo, fourteen hundred and fifty; Springfield, fourteen hundred and thirty; Ann, thirteen hundred; Westbrook, fourteen hundred and twenty; Rose Hill, fourteen hundred and fifty; and South Brook, fourteen hundred and twenty-five. The mean elevation of Cot- tonwood county, derived from these figures, is thirteen hundred and sixty feet.
Soil and Timber. The soil of Cottonwood county has the same nearly uniform fertility that characterizes all southern and western Minnesota. A black, sandy clay, with some intermixture of gravel, and containing occa- sional boulders, forms the soil, which has been colored to a depth of about two feet below the surface by decaying vegetation. Unmodified glacial drift or till, the same as the soil, excepting that it is not enriched and blackened by organic decay, continues below, being yellowish-gray to a depth of ten or twenty feet, but darker and bluish beyond, as seen in wells. This deposit contains many fragments of magnesian limestone, red quartzyte, granites and crystalline schists ; and its fine detritus is a mixture of these rocks pulverized, presenting in the most advantageous proportions the mineral clements needed by growing plants. Wheat has been the principal crop, but stock-raising has also received much attention during several years past. A large variety of crops is profitably cultivated in this region, including wheat, oats, corn, garden fruits and vegetables, potatoes and hay.
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COTTONWOOD AND WATONWAN COUNTIES, MINN.
From 1873 to 1876 Cottonwood county, in company with all south- western Minnesota, was distressed by the ravages of the Rocky Mountain locust. To many the work of plowing and sowing, and the wheat sown, were total losses during those years. In 1880 frequent groves were noticeable in the county, which had been set out to shield farm houses from the wind, and still remained, though the buildings were gone, and the farms deserted, telling where in this struggle the grasshoppers had conquered. Though the wheat was nearly everywhere eaten by them so that no harvest could be saved, the prairie grass suffered only slightly, and from this epoch herding has taken an important place in the agriculture of the county.
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