USA > Minnesota > Fillmore County > History of Fillmore County, Minnesota (Volume 1) > Part 24
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A reorganization was effected November 19, 1898, with S. M. Wilder as fire marshal and H. B. Turner as secretary, and at the annual meeting May 8, 1899, the following officers were elected: Fire marshal, Ira Judd; secretary, H. B. Turner; treasurer, Levi Watson; captains, cart 1, Joe Whitley; cart 2, Bert Olds; hook and ladder company, William D. Ingalls.
The present officers are as follows: Fire marshal and chief, W. N. Kingsley ; treasurer, S. M. Wilder; clerk, S. C. Pattridge; captains, cart 1, K. T. Soland; cart 2, W. H. Kellogg; hook and ladder company, Sam Gammell.
Waterworks and Lights. The waterworks and street light- ing system in Spring Valley both date from 1893. The lights were turned on July 23, 1893. The pumps at the waterworks plant were started September 13, 1893, and the water was turned into the mains the next day. The contract to build the water- works had been awarded to James A. Train for $10,483, on May 26, 1893; and the franchise to the Spring Valley Electric Light and Investment Company had been granted May 6, 1893, to extend for a period of thirty years. The electric light company furnished power for the waterworks under contract until 1912, when the city arranged to furnish its own power. An abundance of pure water is a question of vital importance to a growing city, and in this respect Spring Valley is indeed fortunate. The supply is ample for all needs and is pumped from an inexhaustible natu- ral spring of pure, sparkling water. There are over four miles of mains, forty hydrants and about four hundred private taps. A new steel water tower and a new pumping station were erected the past year at a cost of $10,000, and the present system is one of the best and most economical in the state and is being operated at a saving of about $1,500 per annum over the old system. The 100-foot water tower gives a natural gravity pressure of sixty- five pounds, which is ample for all needs and furnishes the city with its electric fire alarm system-excellent fire protection.
The Spring Valley Commercial Club was organized March 28, 1907, when about twenty business men of the village gathered for the purpose of perfecting plans for the "boosting" of Spring Valley. J. C. Halbkat explained the object of the meeting and W. C. Webber, of Rochester, spoke of what had been done along similar lines in other places. After a discussion of the needs of the village, J. C. Halbkat was elected temporary chairman and W. D. Hart temporary secretary. W. D. Hart, Archie Jorris and J. H. Halbkat were appointed a soliciting committee, and Frank Rafferty, Al Conklin and E. B. Davis a committee on by-laws.
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April 9 the following officers were elected: President, Frank Rafferty; vice-president, Will D. Hart; secretary, Sidney J. Huntley; treasurer, W. W. Bontecou. These officers are still serving. A few days later the following committee were ap- pointed : Executive, W. D. Hart, Roy Viall, John H. Halbkat; general arrangements and business affairs, Dr. W. N. Kendrick, Thomas Frankson, Sidney J. Huntley; claims and accounts, J. N. Graling, W. W. Bonticou, Edwin Kilburn; manufactories, B. W. Huntley, M. E. Molstad, C. E. Lawrence; railroads and freights, John Leuthold, S. H. Hale, E. B. Davis; city affairs, P. R. Jorris, E. L. Sheldahl, E. G. Washburn; insurance and legislation, S. C. Pattridge, Everett Jones, Frank J. Harris; good roads, Burdett Thayer, John Leuthold, E. W. Thayer.
The club has done everything in its power to boost Spring Valley. It has held street fairs, with premiums, for the encour- agement of every industry possible to the county and with plenty diversion to attract the people from all directions. It has held numerous market days, pumpkins shows, horse shows, cow shows, exhibits of various kinds, harvest festivals, free auctions, enter- tainments and "Booster" days. It encouraged the location of the agricultural school here. It likewise secured the location of the neckyoke factory. It encouraged the establishment of the Dan Patch Air Line route through the place, and has projected an electric line to Cresco, Ia. It has worked for better passen- ger schedules and better freight rates. It has helped keep up the race track, the Athletic Park and the band. It has encour- aged better roads and worked for better insurance rates and better fire protection in public buildings. It has given Fourth of July celebrations. It has endeavored to secure just telephone rates. It has entertained many distinguished men as individuals, as well as such bodies as the Manufacturers' and Jobbers' Association of Minneapolis, the Old Soldiers, Sailors and Settlers of Fillmore County, and the Fillmore County Business Men's Association. In fact, in every line possible it has advocated and stood for the best progress in Spring Valley life.
Spring Valley Driving Park Association. This institution was invoked into existence during the Centennial year, a lot of ground was leased and improvements made, a half-mile track graded, and several races were put on during the few years of the exist- ence of the society; but the hard times dissuaded the proprietors from investing any deeper after the $800, which the amusement cost, had been expended. The present society, the Spring Valley Driving Association, was organized in 1893. The officers: Presi- dent, Dr. F. W. Thornhill; secretary and treasurer, Charles Smith ; directors, L. B. Henderson, Charles Lawrence and H. R. Lupien.
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Spring Valley Public Library. A public library for Spring Valley had long been advocated privately, but during the sum- mer of 1901 several public meetings were held to discuss the subject. The enthusiasm shown was very gratifying and it was decided to launch the project at once. The business men agreed to finance the undertaking if provision was made for a rest room for their patrons. Accordingly the lower part of the Lawrence Building was rented. The front part was fitted up for a rest room and the back part for a reading room and library. On Octo- ber 12, 1901, these rooms were opened to the public. The library part looked very bare, as there were no books. The reading table was, however, well provided with magazines given by friends. The library board at its first meeting subscribed for thirty dollars' worth of magazines. The local county and weekly papers were kindly contributed. The first library board was as follows: B. F. Farmer, president; J. N. Graling, vice-president; F. E. Lurton, secretary ; Mrs. O. E. Thayer, collector. Nellie M. Grant was the first librarian. A book shower was given that week, which placed 112 books on the shelves, and $15 in cash was handed to the book committee. The People's Church gave the cause a big boost by giving their library of 317 volumes. The W. C. T. U. followed with thirty-six volumes, and private individuals gave ninety-four volumes. The Congregational Sunday school gave a sixteen-vol- ume set of Dickens. The W. C. T. U., Epworth League, Christian Endeavor Society and nearly every organization in town vied with each other in giving benefits for the library. The books, coming from all sources, when placed together made quite a showing, and with the fifty volumes from the state library afforded a pleasing variety. That the public appreciated the library was evident from the circulation of 7,103 volumes the first year. The rest room patrons increased steadily from week to week.
After the first year the library was supported by a 1-mill tax until the Carnegie library was built. The library board, not con- tent to have the library kept in rented buildings, took measures to secure a permanent home. F. E. Lurton, secretary, was in- structed to open correspondence with Andrew Carnegie, and at the request of President Graling and Secretary Lurton, Governor Van Sant, Senator Clapp and Representative Tawney furnished the library with recommendations to Mr. Carnegie. In April, 1904, the good news came that Mr. Carnegie would give $8,000 upon consideration of the usual tax and donation of site. To select a site proved no easy matter, but the council finally decided upon the present site and transferred the control of the same to the library board in January, 1904. The Carnegie library was
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erected during the summer of 1904 and was opened December 1, 1904.
During these early years much gratuitous work was done by the faithful members of the library board, but no one was so conspicuously generous of his time as J. N. Graling, who, as chairman of the building committee and janitor of Carnegie library for the first year, served without recompense. Some of the more conspicuous contributions to the library have been as follows: In the year 1903 an excellent gift was made to the library by Mr. and Mrs. John Leuthold. This consisted of a thirty-two-volume set of histories, including Menzel's "Ger- many," Green's "England," Prescott's "Mexico," etc. R. W. Sears, of Chicago, who had formerly lived in Spring Valley, gave thirty-four volumes. The committee were allowed to select these. In this same year the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school gave ninety-one volumes, and the W. C. T. U. gave several volumes. In 1904 the Congregational Sunday school gave sixty-seven vol- umes, the public school gave 164 volumes, Mrs. S. M. Steffens twenty-five volumes, J. B. Viall nine volumes, and E. G. H. Adams quite a collection. There were many additions from other indi- viduals. In 1905 the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school gave nine volumes, the Up-To-Date Club gave four volumes, the Tourist Club eleven volumes, G. E. Downs eighteen volumes, Rev. E. J. Dunham several volumes. In the succeeding years some particu- larly good additions deserving special mention have been made through special sources. The Up-To-Date Club has given about twenty volumes of poetical works of the best American and Eng- lish authors. The Tourist Club has given an excellent set of commentaries on Shakespeare and an excellent volume of his complete works. Mrs. C. W. Taylor gave bound volumes of "Har- per's Monthly" and the "Outlook." The latter were an excel- lent addition to the reference department and are in quite con- stant use. Nellie Grant gave, among other standard works of fiction and non-fiction, two particularly excellent works, viz., Howell's "Heroines of Fiction" and a Dickens Dictionary. Mrs. Susan Farmer gave quite a collection of valuable books. E. G. H. Adams gave a thirty-volume set of Collins' works. Lucile Schraut gave fifteen volumes and Alfred Conklin about twenty volumes. In 1907 the high school gave sixty-five volumes. In 1911 Burdick Post, G. A. R., of Spring Valley, gave a valuable collection, consisting principally of the "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies of the War of the Rebellion." A rental shelf of recent fiction is maintained by the Up-To-Date Club and these books are eventually given to the library and become fourteen-day books, free to all.
The library has sustained a severe loss through the death of
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two very earnest and active supporters, who were also members of the library board. These were Dunbar Leach, who passed on in December, 1910, and S. M. Wilder, who passed on in June, 1911.
There have been three librarians. Nellie M. Grant, of Spring Valley, Minn., resigned on account of poor health in August, 1907. Her successor, Eva G. Stevens, resigned in October, 1909, to become Mrs. Cyrus H. Vanderhoef, of Baraboo, Wis. Emma M. Hart, a university graduate, is the present librarian.
On the main floor of the library building and adjoining the reading room is a pleasant room which is used for board meet- ings. This room is also used by the public, by people waiting between trains, and by people from the country and is greatly appreciated by them.
The library contains about 2,500 volumes, which it loans. During the year of 1910 there were about 10,000 loans made and there is an average of about forty readers a day.
The library is fortunate in having a definite annual income, although there are still many needs in the line of binding of magazines for reference and the like which are still to be met.
The basement of the library building is used as a rest room, also as an assembly room for different organizations. The Civic League, Commercial Club and others use it. The ladies of the different aid societies of the different churches use it for their sales.
The library has had five presidents: B. F. Farmer, J. N. Graling, Dunbar Leach, S. M. Wilder and Dr. George McGillvray.
The present library board is as follows: Dr. George McGill- vray, president; Mrs. Frances Graling, secretary; Lyle Ham- line, Mrs. Emily Lloyd, L. M. Sturdivant, Mrs. Flora Thayer, Mrs. Orinda Thayer, H. T. Tolmie and Mrs. Nellie Washburn .- Compiled jointly by Nellie M. Grant and Emma M. Hart.
Spring Valley Public Waiting Room. The basement of the Carnegie library building is used as a ladies' rest room. There are tables here on which lunches may be eaten. It is largely patronized by people from the country and by people waiting between trains. The first quarters for this purpose were in the old Lawrence Building, in 1901, where the Spring Valley public library was also first started. The rest room was at first financed by the business men of the town. Since 1904 it is supported from the annual fund of $800 raised for the support of the library. For some time after the Carnegie building was erected the com- mittee room on the main floor and adjoining the reading room was used for this purpose. Later it was delegated principally to the basement, greatly to the advantage of the library, as it gave better opportunity for quiet reading and study, while, on
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MR. AND MRS. DRYDEN SMITH
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the other hand, there is in the basement freedom for adults to visit together and for children to work off their restlessness with less restraint. The rest room is well patronized. The committee room on the main floor is, however, still used by many for quiet waiting and is greatly appreciated .- Compiled jointly by Nellie M. Grant and Emma M. Hart.
The Spring Valley Cemetery Association was organized in 1860 by E. McCurtrie, Asa Billings, Willard Allen, Cordello Wil- kins, S. A. Hunt and T. B. Johnson, the latter of whom was appointed undertaker and sexton and retained the place for nine- teen years, burying more than 250 people in that time. Four acres were bought for $100, and the plat was later enlarged. The present officers are : President, S. C. Pattridge; secretary, H. T. Tolmie; treasurer, C. H. Smith. The cemetery is well cared for and makes a most suitable place of repose for the departed.
SPRING VALLEY TOWNSHIP.
Spring Valley, on the western border of Fillmore county, is near the headwaters of several branches of the Root river and lacks a section and a half of occupying a full government town- ship. Sumner is on the north, Fillmore on the east, Bloomfield on the south and Mower county on the west.
Bear creek winds in and out of the northern tier of sections. Deer creek meanders across the town from west to east, north of the center. Spring Valley creek cuts diagonally through the southeastern part of the town, there being also several smaller creeks.
When the settlers reached this town they found a fine open rolling prairie in the southern tier of sections, land somewhat more uneven and covered with light timber or brush in the middle tiers, and heavily timbered land in the northern tier. Even to the present day there are numerous timber claims of from two to twenty acres each in the northern part of the township.
The scenery in several parts of the township is most attractive. A spot of especial beauty is located on Deer creek in section eleven. Here the stream winds around from the west, and striking a perpendicular limestone ledge one hundred feet high, is reflected toward the north, after which it turns to the south, thus forming a loop, coming back to the east side of the ledge less than seventy feet from where its deflection occurs. The loop around the limestone ridge is a mile and a half in extent, and during this detour the river drops thirty feet. The ledge itself has sheer sides and is covered at the top with trees, thus adding greatly to the picturesqueness of the scenery.
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Early Settlement. Evidence as to the earliest settlement of Spring Valley township is unsatisfactory and conflicting. It is apparent that several of the early settlers came on foot, selected their claims and then went after their families, sometimes not returning until a year or so later, thus causing several different dates to be given as the time of their settlement here. Then, too, a number of the earliest settlers stayed but a short time and moved away before proving up on their claims, leaving so slight an impression that not even their first names have been preserved. A few settlers evidently came to Spring Valley in 1852.
1852-Simeon Phillips first staked off his claim where the Crawford Kellogg place is now located. He also located another claim the following year. Finally he sold out and went to Bloom- field. His shanty is supposed to have been the first in the town. A Mr. Johnson claimed the north half of section twenty-six, but the following year disposed of it to the Lowe brothers. Little of him is known except that he was an American, that he came here from Iowa, and returned from whence he came. Mr. Delling that year took the northeast quarter of section thirty-four, but soon sold to Mr. Cartlich and transferred himself to the section line of twenty-four and twenty-seven. His family, it is not un- likely, was the first in Spring Valley. After a time he removed to Frankford, in Mower county. In May of that year a Mr. Brown took the northeast quarter of section twenty-three and without having made any improvements sold to Norman W. Kingsley the following year. Of his previous or subsequent his- tory nothing is known here. Henry W. Perkins visited this place ยท in May, 1852, and selected a place and drove his claim stakes in the southeast quarter of section twenty-three, and then returned to some rented land in Iowa. In September he came with a team, bringing his wife, put up a shanty, and cut some hay, but returned to Iowa in the fall. He came back the next spring and began to break up his land.
1853-This year there was quite an increment to the primitive infant colony, and some of the settlers are here mentioned with- out much regard to the order of their arrival. Norman W. Kings- ley, of New York state, came from Wisconsin in June, and the available place that filled his desire was in the west part of section twenty-two. Here he made a farm and a home, where he remained until called to his eternal home in 1875. There were three sons : Solomon, Charles, and N. W. Henry Kibler came this spring from Virginia and settled in sections twenty-four and twenty-five, on which he afterwards built a sawmill. He was a noted man in his time, a representative in the legislature, and with metropolitan aspirations laid out a city and called it "Liberty." He moved to Fillmore township, where he died.
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Dr. J. Early, the father-in-law of Kibler, came with him and drove his stakes east of the Kibler claim. The doctor had quite a reputation as a medical man, but did not make many improve- ments and after a while removed to Iowa, where he afterward died.
Calvin E. Huntley, Sr., commonly called "Cal." Huntley, set- tled in the fall of 1853 and gathered a crop of hay, which he utilized by forming a shelter for the coming winter.
A man by the name of Deering came some time in 1853 and staked a claim in section thirty-three, but did not remain many months.
Zara A. Warner passed through this town in 1852, and deem- ing it a goodly land, resolved to make it his future home while he remained in this world, and so in 1853 he came back with his wife and five sons and daughters and pre-empted 160 acres in sec- tions twenty-seven and twenty-eight. Some of the children after- wards secured land in their own right. Part of Mr. Warner's claim is now within the city limits. His original cabin was de- stroyed by the wind and he erected his second cabin near where the barn of Frank Rafferty, Jr., is now located. Thomas C. Wat- son had a claim east of Warner's, which two years afterwards he sold to the Kelloggs. He had a store in Spring Valley at one time. His brother Josiah was at the Big Spring in 1853, but soon sold out there. T. F. Huntley, a native of New York, came from Allamakee county, Iowa, arrived in June, 1853, and took his claim where the village now is the same month. He brought his family in July and fixed up a hay shanty at first.
David Broxhelm and William Baker, two Englishmen, drove through from Dodge county, Wisconsin, in 1853, and Baker sur- rounded some land in section thirty-four, but in a few months sold to F. Kummer, who also arrived that year. Broxholm's ter- ritory was in section twenty-five.
Others whose names have not been preserved may have arrived at about the same time.
1854-In 1854 there began the real influx of population and the land was taken rapidly.
T. M. Chapman, from Burlington, Ill., came in November, 1854, and got a place in section thirty.
T. B. Johnson came here December 15, 1854, from Ohio via Iowa, and on July 9, 1855, he brought his family, consisting of a wife and five children, and his land was on section thirty-five. He put up a hewn log house, which was an unusual luxury in those days. He bought two hogs which weighed between two and three hundred pounds for $75, so that as long ago as that there were corners on pork. Mr. Johnson was the first mail carrier,
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bringing it up from Carimona. Winona was the most convenient market then.
Early Events. Flora, daughter of Frederick and Caroline Kummer, was born January 5, 1854. Mary Belle, daughter of J. B. Thayer, was born November 11, 1855. Orin A. Huntley was also born at a very early day in the cabin of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Calvin E. Huntley.
Hattie H. Kingsley, daughter of Norman W. Kingsley, Sr., died in the fall of 1856, and was buried on her father's farm, two miles east of the village.
The first marriage in the township was that of John M. Smith and Julietta Kingsley.
The first cemetery in the town was a lot vacated by the village company between blocks twenty-eight and twenty-nine, but the remains at first deposited there were in the sixties removed to a new cemetery which had been established.
Land Ofice Records. The first titles to land in Spring Valley township were issued by the government in 1855. Those who obtained land that year were as follows, the date of the issuance of the warrant being given first, then the name of the owner and then the section in which the land was largely located: Feb- ruary 19, Edward Buck, 1; May 5, Samuel Jolly, 2; May 8, Joseph Carter, 1; May 13, John L. Green, 3; May 30, John L. Green, 4; May 30, Russell A. Steere, 3-4; May 13, Russell A. Steere, 3; May 25, John Cozad, 12; May 28, Charles F. Hardy, 3; May 30, William Tuttle, 2-3; May 30, Joseph S. Brownell, 4-5; June 1, Augustus M. Dyson, 27; June 1, Nathaniel Hall, 1; June 2, Cephas Smith, 4; June 6, David Steere, 4; June 8, George J. Cravath, 2-3; June 11, Samuel M. Early, 24; June 13, Isaac Stewart, Jr., 5; June 16, Joseph B. Thayer, 33-34; June 16, Ed. Willard, 30; June 22, Elbridge A. True, 30; June 26, Gerry Bur- dick, 3; June 26, Isaac N. Cummings, 11; June 26, Henry C. Hart, 1; June 26, Sargeant Kingsbury, 3-10; June 26, John M. Smith, 13; July 4, Henry Low, 26; July 4, Josiah K. Watson, 26-27; Au- gust 3, Daniel Scoville, Jr., 2; August 30, William Collins, 2; September 11, John S. Crane, 31; September 11, Peter G. Tilton, 30; September 15, Harrison A. Billings, 12; September 15, Joseph Cartlich, 24; September 21, Soloman W. Kingsley, 23; September 21, Thomas C. Watson, 27; October 2, John Jolly, 10; October 9, Henry Kibber, 24-25; October 10, Legrand Lloyd, 11-12; October 11, Esra Scoville, 21-28; October 12, Elon Crane, 11-12; October 12, James Ives, 12; October 12, John Kleckler, 26; October 15, William S. Hill, 17; October 17, Wallace T. Belden, 10; October 17, Isaac H. Eaton, 29; October 17, Niels Johnson, 28; October 17, Eleaser Root, 21; October 17, Orlin Root, 29; October 17, Merit Warner, 28-33; October 17, Nelson Warner, 28; October 17, Cor-
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dello Wilkins, 33; October 18, John Cropoot, 10; October 19, Jesse Cartlich, 34-26-27; October 19, Charles H. Chamberlin, 7; October 20, James G. Chase, 33; October 20, Simeon Philips, 22-27; October 20, Dryden Smith, 34; October 26, Augustus A. Burdick, 29; October 29, Sylvester Treat, 21; November 9, David Brox- holm, 25-26-35; November 9, Allen B. Hosmer, 4; November 16, John Hill, 24; November 16, Frederick Kummer, 35; November 16, Horace J. Vesey, 15; December 10, Jesse C. French, 9; De- cember 11, William Gilbert, 35; December 21, Gilbert S. Benham, 33; December 21, Lyman Lamb, 33; December 21, Milton J. Viall, 32; December 21, William T. Wilkins, 32.
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