USA > Minnesota > Douglas County > History of Douglas and Grant counties, Minnesota : their people, industries, and institutions, Volume I > Part 4
USA > Minnesota > Grant County > History of Douglas and Grant counties, Minnesota : their people, industries, and institutions, Volume I > Part 4
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
On the 2nd of October, 1863, a treaty was concluded at the old cross- ing of Red Lake river, about twelve miles east of the present city of Crookston by Alexander Ramsey and Ashley C. Morrill, and the chiefs and head men of the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Ojibway Indians, for the cession of a large tract of country, being the same land embraced in one of the treaties of 1851, but not ratified at that time, of which the
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
boundaries are as follow: Commencing at the intersection of the national boundary with the Lake of the Woods; thence in a southwest direction to the head of Thief river; thence following that stream to its mouth; thence southeasterly in a direct line toward the head of Wild Rice river; and thence following the boundary of the Pillager cession of 1855 to the mouth of said river ; thence up the channel of the Red river to the mouth of the Cheyenne; thence up said river to Stump lake, near the eastern extremity of Devil's lake; thence north to the international boundary; and thence east on said boundary to the place of beginning. It embraced all of the Red River valley in Minnesota and Dakota, except a small portion previously ceded, and was estimated to contain 11,000,000 acres. This treaty was ratified by the Senate, with amendments, March 1, 1864. The Indians, on the 12th of April, 1864, assented to the amendments, and President Lincoln, by his proclamation of the 5th of May, 1864, confirmed the treaty.
A PERIOD OF RAPID DEVELOPMENT.
The close of the Civil War in the spring of 1865, and the return of the soldiers, and the assurance of no further depredations from the Sioux Indians, started a new era of prosperity and rapid growth. The Legislature, in the meantime, had granted charters on the foreclosed roadbeds and lands to new railroad companies, and the construction of roads was furnishing abundant labor to all who were coming to the state. The population at this time was 250,099, and in 1870 the ppoulation had increased to 439,706, nearly doubling in five years. The railroad companies had within the same period constructed nearly 1,000 miles of railroad, and continued their build- ing with even greater vigor until the financial crisis of 1873 brought all pub- lic enterprises again to a stand, and produced stagnation in all the growing towns. The farmers had been active in developing the country, and were adding largely to the productions of the state when the grasshopper raids, for the time being, destroyed the growing crops, and caused great financial distress for two or three years.
The census of 1875 gave the state a population of 597,407, still showing a fair increase, but small in comparison with the five years following the close of the rebellion. By 1878 the state had fairly recovered from the financial crash of 1873, but speculation has at no time since 1878 been so reckless as during the two periods ending in 1857 and 1873.
Along with the prosperity of the state, caused so largely by the rapid railroad building, the state pride began to assert itself with more force,
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and the prominent citizens continued to urge an adjustment of the dis- honored railroad bonds. In 1877 a proposition setting aside the proceeds of 500,000 acres for internal improvement lands in settlement was by act of the Legislature submitted to a vote at a special election called for the 12th of June, and was voted down by the decisive vote of 59,176 against to 17,324 votes for, the proposition. This vote was largely owing to the fact that the state at that time had almost an entire new population that had come into the state long after the bonds were issued and had no definite knowledge of the history of the original indebtedness.
In 1881 the Legislature enacted a law providing for the adjustment of these bonds and designating the judges of the supreme court as a com- mission to make the settlement. The constitutionality of this law was questioned, a writ of injunction was served, and the final determination of the supreme bench was that the law was unconstitutional, as also the amendment of 1860, prohibiting any settlement without a vote of the people. This latter act had previously been determined unconstitutional by the supreme court of the United States. An extra session of the Legislature was called in October of the same year, when the final adjustment was authorized by act of the Legislature, on a basis of fifty per cent. of the amount nominally due, and, after a careful examination of all the claims presented, the bond question was forever set at rest by the issue of adjust- ment bonds, to the amount of $4,282,000, to parties entitled to receive them. For the payment of these bonds the proposition of setting aside the proceeds of the 500,000 acres of internal improvement lands was again submitted to the general election in 1881, and by a vote of 82,435 votes in favor, and 24,526 votes against, the action of the Legislature was ratified and the stigma of repudiation removed, which had been fastened upon the state by the popular vote of 1877.
In 1880 the national census gave the state a population of 780,773, and the state census of 1885 swelled these figures to 1,117,798, indicating the extraordinary growth of forty-three per cent .; but an examination of the figures shows that the growth was mainly confined to the cities, being nearly eighty per cent. of increase, while in the farming community and small towns the percentage of increase was only twenty per cent.
During the ten years between 1880 and 1890 there was a period of great activity in the railroad building, and 2,310 miles of road were put in operation. This alone gave great energy to the business of the state, and caused a large increase in the population of the cities, and gradually cul- minated in a most extravagant real estate boom, and an era of the wildest
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
speculation. In the country the growth was normal over the entire state, although large numbers of farmers in the southern half of the state were attracted to the plains of Dakota, where great activity was being developed by the pushing of railroads into different sections of the territory.
DIVERSIFIED FARMING INTERESTS.
The settlement of the Dakotas and the consequent breaking up of the virgin land, after the year 1885, almost doubled the wheat yield of the north- wester:1 states, so that the farmers of Minnesota were soon confronted with the question whether wheat should continue to be their leading staple. In the southern part of the state the wheat return was not enough per acre to yield any profit to the farmer at the reduced prices; and gradually meth- ods have changed, so that the leading agricultural industries now include dairying, stock raising, and general diversified farming. It seems probable that Minnesota will hold her place as the greatest wheat-producing state, and will also earn a greater reputation as the best all-round farming state in the Union.
The national census of 1890 gave the state a population of 1,301,826, an increase of 184,028 in five years, of which amount about 70,000 increase went to the cities and 114,000 to the country districts, showing eighteen per cent. increase in the cities and fifteen per cent. increase in the country. The state census of 1895 showed an increase of 272,793, or 21.95 per cent., in the preceding five years, giving a total population of 1,574,619.
According to the census of 1910 the population of Minnesota was 2,075.708, showing an increase of 17.8 per cent. during the preceding decade. The population of the five largest cities was as follow: Minnea- polis, 301,408; St. Paul, 214.744; Duluth, 78,466; Winona, 18,583; and Stiliwater, 10,198.
Minnesota was the first state of the Union to respond to the call of the President for volunteers at the beginning of the war with Spain, in April, 1898. Three regiments, designated as the Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Regiments of Minnesota Volunteers, were mobilized at St. Paul, April 29, and were mustered into the United State service on May 7 and 8. The Fifteenth Regiment was mustered into service on July 18. In total this state furnished 5.315 officers and enlisted men for the volunteer army. At the close of the war the Twelfth and Fourteenth Regiments returned to Minnesota, and were mustered out of service in November. The Fifteenth Regiment continued in service until March 27, 1899; and the Thirteenthi
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DOUGLAS AND CRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Regiment, after more than a year of service in the Philippine Islands, was mustered out on October 3, 1899.
NAME.
Minnesota derives its name from the river which was named "Minisota" by the Dakotas, pronounced "Min-nee-sotah," applied to the stream, in its natural state in the summer season, after the waters were cleared from the roiling caused by the spring floods. Mini, water; sotah, sky-colored. Apparently to secure the correct pronunciation in English letters, the ·con- vention called at Stillwater, in 1848, for the purpose of procuring a terri- torial organization, instructed their delegates to see that the name of the territory should be written Min-ne-sota.
GEOGRAPHY.
Geographically, Minnesota occupies the exact center of the continent of North America, midway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and also midway between Hudson bay and the Gulf of Mexico. This state is bounded on the south by Iowa, on the west by South and North Dakota, on the north by Manitoba and Ontario, and on the east by Wisconsin. It extends from latitude 43 degrees 30 minutes, to 49 degrees 24 minutes, and from 89 degrees 29 minutes, to 97 degrees 15 minutes, west longitude. From its southern boundary to the northern is about 400 miles, and from its most eastern to the extreme western point about 354 miles.
AREA.
Minnesota is, in area, the tenth state of the Union. It contains 84,287 square miles, or about 53,943,379 acres, of which 3,608,012 acres are water. In altitude it appears to be one of the highest portions of the continent, as the headwaters of three great river systems are found in its limits, those of streams flowing northward to Hudson bay, eastward to the Atlantic ocean, and southward to the Gulf of Mexico.
About half of this surface, on the south and west, consists of rolling prairie, interspersed with frequent groves, oak openings and belts of hard- wood timber, watered by numberless lakes and streams, and covered with a warm, dark soil of great fertility. The rest, embracing the elevated district immediately west and north of Lake Superior, consists mainly of rich min-
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eral ranges and of the pine forests which clothe the headwaters of the Mis- sissippi, affording extensive supplies of lumber. There is but a very small percentage of broken, rocky or worthless land in the state. Nearly all is arable.
RIVERS.
Numerous rivers and watercourses give the state excellent drainage. But few states are so well watered as Minnesota. Its navigable rivers are the Mississippi, the Minnesota, the St. Croix, the St. Louis, the Red River of the North, and the Red Lake river, all of which, near their sources, have extensive water powers; while a number of smaller streams such as Rum river and Snake river, both valuable for lumbering, the Cannon and Zumbro rivers, the Vermilion, Crow, Blue Earth, Des Moines, Cottonwood, Chip- pewa, LeSueur, Root, Elk and Sauk rivers, also furnish fine water powers. These with their tributaries and a host of lesser streams penetrate every por- tion of the state. Some of the water powers furnished by these streams are among the finest in America, and many of them have been utilized for manufacturing purposes.
LAKES.
The lakes of Minnesota are more numerous and varied in form than in any other state in the Union. Bordering on the northeast corner' of the state for one hundred and fifty miles, the waters of the great Lake Superior wash its shores. Within the state there are about ten thousand lakes, the largest of which is Red lake, in the central northern part of the state, bor- dering partly by dense pine forests, with its overflow through Red Lake river, by a devious course, into the Red River of the North. On the same northern slope, in St. Louis county, is the beautiful Vermilion lake, with its tributaries, at the edge of the great Vermilion iron range, and flowing into Rainy lake, on the northern boundary, and then through Rainy Lake river into the Lake of the Woods, and thence into Lake Winnipeg, and finally into Hudson bay. On the southern slope of the state is Itasca lake, the source of the Mississippi, with Cass lake, Lake Winnibigoshish, Leech lake, and other innumerable lakes, all adding volume to the water of the Mississippi, eventually flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Then there is Mille Lacs, the source of Rum river, and the picturesque Lake Minnetonka. These are the largest lakes in the state. Of these, however, only Minnetonka, White Bear, Bald Eagle and Chisago lakes have so far been much utilized as summer resorts. The incomparable park region, traversed by the Great Northern
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
and Northern Pacific railroads, is the paradise of summer idlers, of hunters and fishermen; but it is not in this portion alone that all the beautiful lakes are found. The northeastern and the southwestern sections each have numerous lakes to attract the summer visitor.
- There is an undoubted modification of the climate of the state, caused by these numerous bodies of water, giving a most delightful summer tem- perature.
Fine varieties of fish are abundant in all these lakes; and the state expends annually thousands of dollars, through a game and fish commission, to improve the varieties and to prevent their wanton destruction.
ELEVATION.
Surveys with leveling from the sea show that the shore of Lake Supe- rior is the lowest land in the state, 602 feet above sea level. The waters of the northeastern part of the state south of the Mesabi iron range flow into Lake Superior, and are carried to the Atlantic ocean. The Mississippi river, having its chief source in Lake Itasca, at 1,466 feet elevation, runs in a southerly direction, leaving the state at 620 feet above sea level.
The Red River of the North, rising in the north, near Itasca lake, at a height of 1,600 feet above the ocean, after a circuitous route south and west to Breckenridge, in Wilkin county, and then flowing north along its great valley, leaves the state at an elevation of 750 feet. The average elevation of the state is given at about 1,275 feet. The highest elevation is the Misquah hills, in Cook county, 2,230 feet.
CLIMATE.
The elevation of Minnesota above the sea, its fine drainage, and the dryness of the atmosphere give it a climate of unusual salubrity and pleas- antness. It has an annual mean temperature of 44 degrees, while its mean summer temperature is 70 degrees, the same as that of middle Illinois and Ohio, southern Pennsylvania, etc. The excessive heats of summer often felt in other states are here tempered by the cooling breezes. Its high latitude gives it correspondingly longer days in summer than states further south, and during the growing season there are two and one-half hours more sun- shine than in the latitude of Cincinnati. This, taken in connection with the abundant rainfall of early summer, accounts for the rapid and vigorous
(4)
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
growth of crops in Minnesota, and their early maturity. The cool breezes and cool nights in summer prevent the debilitating effects of heat often felt in low latitudes. The winter climate is one of the attractive features of the state. Its uniformity, and prevailing freedom from thaws and excessive spells of cold, severe weather or heavy snow storms, and its dryness, together with the bright sunshine and electrical condition of the air, all tend to enhance the personal comfort of the resident, and make outdoor life and labor a pleasure.
These features tend to make this climate the healthiest in the Union. It gives life and briskness to those performing manual labor, enabling them to do more work than in a damper or duller climate.
CHRONOLOGICAL.
In the following list some of the more important events in the state, from the earliest explorations to the present time, are set forth in chronolo- gical order :
1635. Jean Nicollet, an explorer from France, who had wintered in the neighborhood of Green Bay, brought to Montreal the first mention of the aborigines of Minnesota.
I659-60. Grosseilliers and Radisson wintered among the Sioux of the Mille Lacs region, Minnesota, being its first white explorers. In a previous expedition, four years earlier, they are thought to have come to Prairie Island, west of the main channel of the Mississippi, between Red Wing and Hastings.
1661 Father Rene Menard left Kewennaw, on Lake Superior, to visit the Hurons, then in northern Wisconsin, and was lost near the sources of the Black and Chippewa rivers. His breviary and cassock were said to have been found among the Sioux.
1679. July 2, Daniel Greyselon Du Lhut (Duluth) held a council with the Sioux at their principal settlement on the shore of Mille Lacs. Du Lhut, in June, 1680, by way of the St. Croix river, reached the Mississippi and met Hennepin.
1680 Louis Hennepin, after captivity in the village of Mille Lacs Sioux, first saw the Falls of St. Anthony.
I689 May 8, Nicholas Perrot, at his Ft., St. Antoine, on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Pepin, laid formal claim to the surrounding country for France. He built a fort also on the Minnesota shore of this lake, near its outlet.
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA,
1095. LeSueur built a fort or trading post on Isle Pelee, now called Prairie Island, above Lake Pepin.
1700. LeSueur established Ft. L'Huillier, on the Blue Earth river (near the mouth of the LeSueur), and first supplied the Sioux with firearms.
1727 The French established a third fort on Lake Pepin, with Sieur de La Perriere as commander.
1728. Great flood in the Mississippi.
1763 By the treaty of Versailles, France ceded Minnesota, east of the Mississippi, to England, and west of it to Spain.
1766 Capt. Jonathan Carver visited St. Anthony falls and Minnesota river. He claimed to have made a treaty with the Indians the following spring, in a cave afterward called "Carver's Cave," within the present limits of St. Paul, at which he said they ceded to him an immense tract of land, long known as "Carver's Claim," but never recognized by the government.
1796.
Laws of the Ordinance of 1787 extended over the Northwest terri- tory, including the northeastern third of Minnesota, east of the Mississippi river.
1798-99. The Northwestern Fur Company established itself in Minnesota. 1800. May 7, that part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi became a part of Indiana by the division of Ohio.
1803. April 30, that part of Minnesota west of the Mississippi, for the preceding forty years to possession of Spain as a part of Louis- iana, was ceded to the United States by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had just obtained it from Spain.
1803-04. William Morrison, the first known white man to discover the source of the Mississippi river, visited Elk lake and explored the streams entering into the lake forming the head of the river.
1805. Lieut. Z. M. Pike visited Minnesota to establish government rela- tions there, and obtained the Ft. Snelling reservation from the Dakotas.
1812. The Dakotas, Ojibways and Winnebagoes, under the lead of hostile traders, joined the British during the war. Red river colony established by Lord Selkirk.
1819. Minnesota, east of the Mississippi river, became a part of Crawford county, Michigan. Ft. Snelling established, and a post at Mendota occupied by troops, under command of Col.
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Leavenworth. Maj. L. Taliaferro appointed Indian agent, arriving on April 19.
1820. Corner stone of Ft. Snelling laid on September 10. Governor Cass visits Minnesota and makes a treaty of peace between the Sioux and Ojibways at Ft. Snelling. Col. Josiah Snelling appointed to the command of the latter post.
1823. The first steamboat arrived at Mendota, May 10, Major Taliaferro and Beltrami being passengers. Maj. Stephen H. Long explored Minnesota river, the Red river valley, and the north- ern frontier. Beltrami explored sources of the Mississippi.
1826 Great flood on the Red river ; a part of the colony driven to Minne- sota, settling near Ft. Snelling.
1832. Schoolcraft explored sources of Mississippi river, and named Lake Itasca ( formerly called Elk lake).
1833
First mission established at Leech lake by Rev. W. T. Boutwell.
1834. The portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi attached to Michi- gan. Gen. H. H. Sibley settled at Mendota.
1835. Catlin and Featherstonhaugh visited Minnesota.
1836. The territory of Wisconsin organized, embracing the part of Minne- sota east of the Mississippi, the part on the west being attached to Iowa. Nicollet visited Minnesota.
1837
Governor Dodge, of Wisconsin, made a treaty at Ft. Snelling with the Ojibways, by which the latter ceded all their pine lands on the St. Croix and its tributaries; a treaty was also effected at Washington with a deputation of Dakotas for their lands east of the Mississippi. These treaties led the way to the first actual settlements within the area of Minnesota.
1838. The treaty ratified by Congress. Franklin Steele makes a claim at St. Anthony falls. Pierre Parrant makes a claim and builds a shanty on the present site of St. Paul.
1839. St. Croix county established.
1843.
Stillwater settled.
1846.
August 6, the Wisconsin enabling act.
1847.
The Wisconsin Constitutional Convention meets. . The town of St. Paul surveyed, platted and recorded in St. Croix county regis- ter of deeds' office. First improvement of the water power at the Falls of St. Anthony.
1848. May 29, Wisconsin admitted, leaving the area of Minnesota without a government. August 26, the "Stillwater Convention" held,
.
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taking measures for a separate territorial organization, and asking that the new territory be named Minnesota. October 30, H. H. Sibley elected delegate to Congress.
1849. January 15, H. H. Sibley admitted to a seat. March 3, the bill organizing Minnesota passed. March 19, its territorial officers appointed. June 1, Governor Ramsey declared, by proclama- tion, the territory organized. September 3, the first terri- torial Legislature assenibled.
1850. Great flood this year; highest water ever known. Minnesota river first navigated by steamboats. Census shows 6,077 inhabi- tants.
1851. Location of the capitol, university and penitentiary; another flood. July 23, treaty of Traverse des Sioux completed and August 5 the treaty of Mendota, opening the territory west of the Mississippi to settlers.
1852. June 23, the treaties ratified by the United States Senate.
1853. Pierce's administration. W. A. Gorman appointed governor. The capitol building completed.
1854. Celebration of the opening of the Rock Island railroad, the first road to the Mississippi river, by a mammoth excursion, reaching St. Paul, June 8. Large immigration this season and the three succeeding ones, and the real estate mania commences. 1857. Enabling act passes Congress, February 26. Gov. Samuel Medary (appointed by Buchanan), arrives on April 22. Legislature passes a bill to remove the capital to St. Peter, but it fails to accomplish the object. Ink-pa-du-to massacre, April. Land grant passes Congress. April 27, extra session of the Legis- lature to apportion land grant. July 13, Constitutional Con- vention assembles. Real estate speculation reaches its height, and is checked by the financial panic, August 27. Great revulsions and hard times. Census shows 150,037 population. October 13, Constitution adopted and state officers elected.
1858. State loan of $250,000 negotiated. Five million loan bill passed by the Legislature, March 9; ratified by vote of the people, April 15. Great stringency in money market. State admitted, May II. State officers sworn in, May 24.
1859. Hard times continue to intensify. "Wright County War." "Glen- coe" and "Owatonna" money issued. Work on the land grant road ceases. Collapse of the five million scheme. First
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
export of grain this fall. Hard political struggle; the Repub- licans triumph.
I860. Another warm political canvass Federal census, 172,023.
1861. April 15, President proclamation for troops received; the first regi- ment recruits at once; June 22, it embarks at Ft. Snelling for the seat of war.
I862.
Call for 600,000 men. August 17, massacre at Acton; August 18, outbreak at Lower Sioux Agency, eight miles east of Red- wood Falls; 19th, New Ulm attacked; 20th, Fort Ridgely attacked; 25th, second attack on New Ulm; 30th, Fort Aber- crombie besieged; September 2d, the bloody attack at Birch Coulee. September 19, first railroad in Minnesota in opera- tion, between St. Paul and Minneapolis. September 23, bat- tle of Wood Lake; 26th, captives surrendered at Camp Release; military commission tries 321 Indians for murder, rape, etc .; 303 condemned to die; December 26, 38 hung at Nankato.
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