History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 37

Author: J. Fletcher Williams
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Minnesota > Dakota County > History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota > Part 37

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The first attempts at cultivation of the soil at Hastings, to any extent worthy of mention, were made by the Baillys and Feltons in 1853. At that time the farm claim, as it was called, was partially put under the plow and quite a variety of crops brought to maturity. The first sowing was done in Lakeville in 1854, but it was com- paratively little, while the harvest was almost a failure. At Hastings considerable stock was kept, even before any plowing was done; as a rule, however, the settlers kept no more stock than was necessary for domestic purposes and to facilitate their crop growing. John Richmond,

the first settler of Randolph, brought a drove of thirty cows into that township in 1854, but this was an entirely exceptional case. The settlers of the county at this time held their lands only by the title of occupation. But, in 1855, numerous entries were made at the land office in Red Wing, which was established that year for the Red Wing land district, with W. W. Phelps as register, and C. Graham, receiver. At the land sales which followed there was not such opposition to the bids of the settlers, by speculators, as has been frequent in other counties. At one of these sales in 1856, John Van Hoeson acted as one of the settler's bidders, and the speculators present were given to understand by Dr. C. P. Adams, that any opposition on their part to the bids of the pioneers would be attended by exceedingly unfortunate consequences.

The doctor's speech, delivered with much con- centrated eloquence,from a dry-goods box, is said to have had a marked effect.

Farms had now been located and tilled in many parts of the county, and the aggregate of the crops began to be considerable. In 1857 the sub- ject of a county agricultural society began to be agitated, and in 1858 such a society was organ- ized.

- As indicative of the agricultural progress, the following report may be of interest: In 1860 the exports from the county were: From Hastings, 49,477 bushels of wheat; 59,400 bushels of oats; 3,000 bushels of potatoes; 75,000 pounds of gin- seng; 5,000 hides and skins; and 2,000 bales of wool. There were shipped from Pine Bend the same year, 3,000 bushels of wheat, and 1,000 bush- els of oats.

This indicates a growth of great rapidity; but the contrast between the report given and that of 1880, is much greater, with a longer interval be- tween them, however, than transpired between first settlement and 1860. In 1880 there were produced in Dakota county, 1,108,523 bushels of wheat; 621,312 bushels of oats; and 572,438 bush- els of corn.

Previous to 1860, so little corn was raised that the amount was not inserted in the report for that year. As to the comparative yield of wheat, although the aggregate is much greater in 1880, the average yield per acre is but 10.05 bushels for that year, against twenty bushels in 1859.

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Additional products of 1880 were 171,831 bush- els of potatoes; 10,839 tons of cultivated, and 13,- 483 tons of wild hay; 344,221 pounds of butter 1,801 pounds of cheese; 13,000 pounds of wool: 3,361 pounds of grapes; and 55,838 quarts of strawberries; there were 52,100 apple trees grow- ing, and 14,840 bearing fruit. Of the live stock in the county, there were 2,700 sheep; 10,522 cat- tle; 5,724 hogs; 7,288 horses; and 208 mules.

FINANCIAL PROGRESS.

An increase in the general prosperity is clearly evident from the statistics given above, but in addition to these, those bearing more directly on the financial condition of the county are included. The assessed valuation of real estate in 1860 was $1,429,640; of personal property, $237,702; total assessed valuation, $1,667,342. In 1880 the num- ber of taxable acres of land was 359,599; there were 1,744 farms, and the taxable valuation of real and personal property was $6,325,098.

ROADS.

There were no roads in the county worthy of the name until 1853, and even these were difficult to travel. Prior to that time the accepted courses of travel were the Indian trails. As is well known, the Indians often moved their effects by means of poles secured to each side of a pony. The ends of the poles, dragging, wore two tracks into the soil and the pony made a third. The trails became, therefore, quite passable.

Black Dog's trail extended from Mendota to the mouth of the Big Sioux river. It traversed Eagan, Lebanon, Lakeville, Castle Rock and Waterford townships, ria Black Dog's, Old Lake- ville and Waterford villages. Mr. J. J. Brack- ett of Lakeville traversed this trail to Faribault, having been appointed carrier in 1854. He drove two horses with a heavy wagon.

Another trail ran from Mendota to Wabasha, crossing the county ria Hastings. This was used by the settlers on that side of the county.

So early as 1850 the general government appro- priated $5,000 for a military road from Wabasha to Mendota, and $5,000 for one from Mendota to the Big Sioux. In 1853-4-5 and 7, appropriations were continued until a total of $40,872 had been applied to opening the first road, and $62,476 to opening the second. The first mentioned road

was surveyed by J. S. Potter, who arrived in No- vember, 1850. Captain Reno surveyed the route from the mouth of the Big Sioux river to Mendota and Fort Snelling, while Captain Dodd surveyed a road from Fort Snelling to St. Peter, known as the "Dodd road," these surveys were in progress in 1853, as well as the clearing of timber along the routes.

After the meeting of the first county commis- sioners at Kaposia, in 1853, roads and bridges re- ceived local attention. They were built wherever needed, and in due time began to multiply.

In addition to J. J. Brackett's stage-line through the western part of the county, Frink and Walker ran a stage line from St. Paul to Du- buque and received the winter mail contracts for Hastings, beginning with-1854. In 1855, C. W. Childs, the first liveryman in Hastings, estab- lished the first stage-line from that city to Fari- bault.

NAVIGATION.

In 1823 the Virginia ascended the Mississippi to Mendota and Fort Snelling. She came from St. Louis and was laden with stores for the fort. She was a stern-wheeled boat, one hundred and eighteen feet long, twenty-two in width and drawing six feet of water. Major Taliaferro, the Indian agent, was among the passengers.

The savages who lined the banks gazed at the "fire ship" in awe and astonishment. When the steam was blown off, they retreated, in the great- est consternation. They claimed their chief men had dreamed, the night before, of some such fiery monster moving upon the waters.

Navigation of the river continued from that time. In 1859 there were reported eight hundred and eight arrivals at St. Paul. Boats began to stop at Hastings from the time the Baillys and Feltons came there in 1851-'52.

Hastings became quite an important steam- boating point in later years, and maintained a large traffic until the introduction of railroads into the county. Her commerce then left the water, largely, and took to the rail. Prior to that time Hastings was the only market for the farm- ers, and the traveler in the country would meet loads of wheat, by the score, coming in, at all times of day, to the levee for shipment in the boats. Up to 1856, while settlers were coming in, in large numbers, they complain that they 1

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were charged exorbitant prices for storage at the landing, and in many cases even when their goods remained there all winter under the snow. Steamers also landed at Pine Bend and Nininger.

The traffic continues at the present day at Hastings, but is mostly between St. Paul and St. Louis and other distant points on the river.

Steamers of the Diamond Joe Line, and the Keokuk Northern Line Packet Company, still make regular trips and landings. The steamers of the latter company are soon to be superseded by those of a new line called the St. Louts and St. Paul.

A citizen of this county, H. H. Sibley was one of the first to move in the direction of organizing a packet company which should run regular boats from Galena to Mendota and Fort Snelling. This was done in 1847, and the "Argo" was the boat first purchased. Unfortunately she sank in the fall of that year, by striking a snag near Wabasha.

The Minnesota was proven navigable for steamers, in 1842, so far as Shakopee. In July, 1850, the Anthony Wayne ascended the river almost to Mankato, and soon after the Yankee reached the Blue Earth river, above Mankato and entered that stream.

The early immigrants to Blue Earth county, and beyond, always went by steamer. Arrange- ments are at present in progress to put a new and small boat on the Minnesota which shall ply be- tween Mankato and St. Paul.

RAILROADS.

These have been of great value in the develop- ment of this county. But everywhere, railroads have been great engines of oppression as well as great agents of good, and no doubt the people of Dakota county have suffered somewhat, like the people of other localities. There was considera- ble opposition in the county, to the "old state railroad bonds," and in 1873 the "anti-monopoly" and democratic parties, nominated Ignatius Don- nelly for state senator, from the county. Mr. Donnelly was elected by a large majority, which serves to show the temper of the people at that time.

Yet without the railroads the farmers would be great losers. Not so with Hastings. It is scarcely doubtful, that that city would have had

had a much greater growth without them. Not- withstanding this, Hastings originated the rail- road measures of the county, though these were not for a long time carried into effect. When a railroad was built through the center of the coun- ty, and touching at Farmington, then it followed as a matter of self-protection and preservation, that Hastings must have railroad communication also. There was no alternative. But with no railroad system in the state, or near enough to take her traffic, the growth of the city would have been greater than it is. Farmers formerly drew wheat to her levee from distances of a hundred miles or more. "We received fifty cents per bushel," say the old settlers, "and made our wagons serve as a hotel for the night. But for this last expedient we would have had little as the net money result of our journey and our labors." Now, the farmer finds a market at the railroad elevator, scarcely three or four miles from the farm. He receives ninety cents per bushel and upwards for his wheat, and thus that "great law of compensation, which runs through all things" brings him many benefits, while he complains of "oppression." Scarcely any settler would be willing to exchange the new system for the old.

The first railroad in the county was chartered March 1st, 1857, as the road of the Minneapolis and Cedar Valley Railroad Company. Subse- quently, March 6th, 1863, the above name was changed to that of the Minnesota Central Railroad Company, which completed its line from Mendota to Northfield, September 24th, 1863. Not long afterward the whole line was completed, opening the way for through eastern traffic and travel, and greatly facilitating the general growth of the county. This road, together with all its equip- ments and rolling stock, was sold to the Milwau- kee and St. Paul Railway company in 1867. It is now known as the Iowa and Minnesota division of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway.

Concerning the first railroad connection with Fort Snelling, through the northern part of this county, Mrs. Charlotte O. Van Cleve relates the following interesting coincidence: "On one pleas- ant summer day in 1864, I find myself with a party of friends, who have come to visit Fort Snelling and its many interesting surroundings, standing side by side with my mother, on the bas-

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tion of the fort, recalling days and scenes long gone by. Leaning against the railing and con- templating the river, so beautiful from that height, she remarked to me, 'Can you remember, my child, when the first steamboat came up this river?' [in 1823]. I answered: 'Yes, oh! yes, most distinctly do I remember it; when lo! a whistle, and the loud puffing and snorting of the iron horse! Capt. Newson standing near and listening to our conversation, exclaimed, pointing over to Mendota, 'and there goes the first train of cars that ever started out from Fort Snelling!' Flushed and breathless we gaze at the fast van- ishing train, feeling, as we stand there, we two alone, of all who saw that other great event, over forty years ago, like links connecting the buried past with the living present."

Other railroads, touching or crossing the coun- ty, have been built from time to time, sketches of whose history are herewith given.

May 22d, 1855, the Root River Valley and Minnesota Southern Railroad Company was in- corporated. In 1864, it was reorganized as the Minnesota Valley Railroad Company.

Work was commenced on the original line in the summer of 1857, and in November, 1865, the line was opened for traffic. In 1870, its name was changed to the St. Paul and Sioux City Company. It is now known by the name of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Company. This road makes regular connections at Mendota (St. Paul Junction) and follows the course of the Minnesota river entirely across the north-west portion of the county.

The Hastings, Minnesota River and Red River of the North Railway Company, was incorpor- ated March 10th, 1857. Dr. C. P. Adams, then in the territorrial legislature, worked vigorously for the bill. The incorporators were largely Hastings men. They were J. D. North, R. P. Allison, C. P. Adams, Thos. Foster, Michael Marsh, G. P. Winslow, A. P. Bailly, W. G. Le Duc, J. S. Belden, H .. B. Plant, W. P. Hillary, J. D. Archibald, J. J. McVay, F. B. Curtis, Alexander Ramsey, H. H. Sibley, J. C. Meloy, James Shields, M. B. Stone, S. L. Wheeler, W. Dodd, W. A. Gorman, F. Baasen, and A. Fari- bault.

At the breaking out of the war, the people of the county, heroically forgot all else and the rail-

way project was laid aside. In 1866, it was re- vived again, and Hon. I. Donnelly, then in con- gress, was visited by Gen. W. G. Le Duc, and efforts were made to secure a land grant. A memorial asking this, also passed the state legis- lature, and a grant of ten sections per mile was secured. Work was commenced on the original line May, 1868, and in November, 1868, the line was opened for traffic. In July, 1868, Oakes Ames, of Massachusetts, invested $200,000 in the road, it being stipulated that the company should complete thirty miles of it, and that he should re- ceive one-half interest in the road in return.

At the completion of the road to Farmington, the officers were: President. Gen. W. G. Le Duc; secretary and general agent, C. L. Lange; treas- urer, Stephen Gardiner; acting supt., E. A. Wil- liams; directors, J. B. Alley, Peter Butler, Oliver Ames, Boston, W. L. Ames, St. Paul, and Stephen Gardiner, W. G. Le Duc. P. Van Auken, E. B. Allen and J. C. Meloy, of Hastings.

What is now the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad company, began to assume control of this road in August, 1870, on a lease of the first twenty miles. It now controls the entire line and owns it to Glencoe. The Hastings and Da- kota company retain the lands.

Stations in the county are Hastings, Vermil- lion, Auburn, Farmington and Lakeville.

The Minnesota and Pacific Railway Company was chartered May 22, 1857. It was afterwards known as the St. Paul and Chicago Company. This line gave communication from Hastings, both north and south. Work was commenced on the original line September, 1865, and it was opened for traffic December 14, 1869. In Novem- ber, 1870, Langdon and Co., of Minneapolis, re- ceived the contract for bridging the Mississippi at Hastings. The bridge was completed in 1871, the masonry and approaches in May. It was fully completed in December. Its total length is 706 feet. The iron draw, next to the south shore, is 300 feet long, while north of this are two fixed spans, each 150 feet long, and constructed of iron, and north of these, a combination span 106 feet long, which has top chords and posts of wood. The total amount of iron used in this structure was nearly 500 tons. In December, the bridge was tested, by placing seventy tons of railroad iron on one of the spans and then running three

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locomotives over the span, each weighing thirty- eight tons. This caused a deflection of only seven-eighths of an inch. The same load, brought upon the draw, caused it to deflect only five-eighths of an inch. The bridge, with its ap- proaches. cost $200,000, and it was the first iron bridge in the state.

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company bought this route in January, 1872, the St. Paul and Chicago Company retaining the lands.

The railroad receipts and shipments will be found given with the various stations.

MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.

Though principally an agricultural county, Da- kota is not lacking in the facilities for manufac- ture. The upper and lower falls of the Vermil- lion river afford a magnificent water power, such as few counties possess. This water power was greedily watched from the first, and was first im- proved by W. H. H. Graham and W. G. Le Duc in 1854-'5.

Some litigation ensued between the early claim- ants of the Falls, but the people of the county, and especially of Hastings, were overwhelmingly in favor of their passing into the hands of a resi- dent. Not a little feeling was aroused, but a resident became their proprietor, and the settlers were furnished means for grinding their grain. Governor Ramsey and Dr. Thomas Foster built a flouring mill at the Lower Falls in 1857.

The first steam mill in the county was built at Hastings in 1855, by Hammon Stowell. It was also said to be the first steam mill west of the Mis- sissippi river, and north of Winona. It was a saw-mill, and cut little or none, but native tim- ber, and was soon succeeded by an enlarged and more efficient structure.

In 1856-7; John Blakely and partner constructed a steam mill at Nininger, and shingle and saw- mills began to multiply in Hastings.

An account of the manufacturing interests will be found under special heads.

Breweries, almost a sine qua non, in western civilization, began to rise in this county in 1856, contemporaneously with wagon-making, which was begun the same year at Hastings by Dietrich Becker. A Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, established a foundry at Hastings in 1858, and other manu-

facturing interests were developed in the season. In 1860 there were reported one steam mill at Mendota, two at West St. Paul, one at Kaposia, one at Pine Bend, and three at Hastings.

The value of articles manufactured in the county in 1870, was placed at $279,568. There were then seventeen establishments employing two hundred and one hands.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION, ETC.

The boundaries of Dakota county so frequently changed, will be found given in succession, in the succeeding chapter. As constituted at present the county is nearly held in the embrace of the three rivers, the Minnesota, the Mississippi and the Cannon. Goodhue and Rice counties com- plete its boundaries on the south and east, and Rice and Scott counties bound it on the west.

The county is irregular in shape with a maxi- mum extent of thirty-one miles north and south, and twenty-nine miles east and west. Its area is 403,130 acres. It is included by the forty- fourth and forty-fifth parallels of latitude, but lies much nearer the latter. The latitude of the county is about that of northern New York and Vermont, and the south-central portion of Maine. Its winter isothermal line, however, would fall somewhat farther to the north. The general sur- face is undulating, and in but a few localities rough. The county belongs to the southern slope of the state, and to the Mississippi valley, and is considered one of the best agricultural counties in the state.

RIVERS AND LAKES.

The county is abundantly watered, being bounded and traversed by rivers, and interspersed with crystal lakes. The advantages of this gen- erous supply of water appear, first, as conducive to agriculture. The valleys of the Minnesota and the Vermillion are rendered fertile by those streams, as is also true of some of the lands bor- dering on the Mississippi. These streams, to- gether with the numerous lakes, render stock- growing both easy and practicable in the county, and are causing an annual increase in the direc- tion of that pursuit.

Second, for navigation. The Mississippi by be- ing navigable, has hastened the growth of the county to a remarkable degree. It was the original highway for all immigration, enterprise

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and commerce, and its navigation is still a factor in the general prosperity. The Minnesota served as a means of communication with the country and settlements further west, though its present navigation is comparatively unimportant.

Third, water power. The Falls of the Ver- million furnished the first means of converting the grain of the settler into sustenance for him- self, and perchance his family, and at the present day serve greatly to enliven the business of the county. Covetously watched by early squatters, and meanly improved in the beginning, they now maintain the largest and most important private industry in the vicinity. Notwithstanding their utilization in the interests of manufacture, they have retained much of their original beauty, and are still objects of admiration to the visitor.

There are other minor water powers, on the same stream, its tributaries and the lakes, which are of benefit in swelling the general prosperity, and are of great convenience to the nearer resi- dents.

Fourth, the Mississippi is of great use in run- ning logs to the various saw-mills. This indus- try, however, is not of paramount importance in the county.

Fifth, beauty of scenery. There are nearly 100 lakes on the map of Dakota county, which add sparkle and diversity to the landscape, both in themselves and in the numerous little tributaries which form their inlets and outlets. The largest of these is Prairie Lake, while Chub Lake, Round Lake, Crystal and River Lakes follow in due order.

But the heights of the Mississippi river have been famous, since that stream was first as- cended, for a natural beauty approaching to grandeur. No more beautiful location could be desired for the site of a country villa, or a farm house, than these bluffs or heights, which rise on either side of the Father of Waters. In not a few instances such sites have been chosen, with results fully equal to those anticipated.

In the gorges of the Vermillion, also, the lover of the beautiful will find much to attract his at- tention, while scarcely a more impressive prospect can be found than that which presents itself from the bluffs above Mendota.

Sixth, health. The great distance of the county, inland, makes the presence of these lakes

and streams an element of healthfulness. The pure, untainted character of their water surface is well known, while animal matter and other im- purities, which might otherwise breed disease or death, are oxidized by them and made inoffensive.

ZOOLOGY.

Dakota county once shared with what are now newer portions of the state, a reputation for be- ing a sportsman's paradise. In fact, in the days of the elk and the bison, it is doubtful if any portion of the state, at present, has such attrac- tions for the hunter, as were characteristic of this county then. Those days ceased with the ad- vent of 1829, or a few years later, and the larger game was sought farther to the west.

However, the lakes, prairies and forests of the county are the natural haunts of the many varie- ties of game with which the state abounds. Deer were found in the county until within a few years, and bears and wild-cats are native to the soil. Gray and prairie wolves are still quite nu- merous, especially the latter, so much so that bounties are offered by the county for their de- struction. Many of these bounties were claimed and awarded during the past winter. Raccoons, foxes, rabbits, squirrels, gophers, (found in such abundance throughout the state as to cause it to be called the "Gopher State,") wood-chucks and other smaller game are still found. Some water animals, sought for their furs, are still trapped, including the otter, mink, beaver and muskrat. Grouse, (prairie-hens), partridges and pigeons, together with ducks, brant and wild geese are numerous in their season.

The small birds are chiefly noteworthy for their brilliant plumage, which everywhere delights the eye in summer. Birds of song seem not to be es- pecially numerous, though sufficiently so to re- lieve the monotony of secluded wood or prairie.

The lakes and streams abound in pickerel, pike and other fish, while some effort has been made to introduce other than native varieties. .

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History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 37

Author: J. Fletcher Williams Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: J. Fletcher Williams
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: