History of Fillmore County, Minnesota (Volume 1), Part 3

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1912
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 726

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Water Beech. Carpinus Americana. Michx.

Shag-bark Hickory. Carya alba. Nutt. [Seen in the valley of Root River, and in the tributary gorges at Rushford.] Smooth Sumac. Rhus glabra. L.

Cornel. Cornus paniculata. L'Her.

Cornel. Cornus circinata. L'Her.

Wolfberry. Symphoricarpus occidentalis. R. Br.

American Woodbine. Lonicera grata. Ait.

Juneberry. Amelanchier Canadensis. Torr. and Gray.

Hazlenut. Corylus Americana. Walt. High blackberry. Rubus villosus. Ait. Red Raspberry. Rubus strigosus. Michx. Black Raspberry. Rubus occidentalis. L. Dwarf Wild Rose. Rosa lucida. Ehr. Pipe Vine. Aristolochia Sipho. L'Her. (?) Grape. Vitis Cordifolia. Michx. Virginia Creeper. Ampelopsis quinquefolia. Michx. Nine Bark. Spiraea opulifolia. L.

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HISTORY OF FILLMORE COUNTY

Sheep-berry. Viburnum lentago. L.

Staghorn Sumac. Rhus typhina. L.

Bittersweet. Celastrus scandens. L.

Rose. Rosa blanda. Ait.

In addition to the timbered areas, portions of the county are covered with brush. It seems to be the general history of southern Minnesota that after the prairie fires were stopped a species of low willow started to grow. After the willow grew, the hazel, oak and aspen came in, which in time, unless the land was broken and cultivated, gradually converted the original prairie into a bushy or timbered region.

Geological Structure. The rocks of the county belong to the Devonian and to the Upper and Lower Silurian ages. The Cre- taceous also appears in Sumner township, in the extreme north- western corner of the county. They occur as arranged in the following order, with their approximate thickness :

1. Cretaceous. Thickness unknown, perhaps 100 feet, lying unconformably on the older rocks. 2. Upper Devonian. Hamil- ton, 100 feet (?). 3. Lower Devonian. Corniferous (?), 100 feet. 4. Niagara of the Upper Silurian, 200-250 feet. 5. Maquoketa (Cincinnati) of the Lower Silurian, 75-100 feet. 6. Galena, of the Lower Silurian, 75-100 feet. 7. Trenton, of the Lower Silurian, 160 feet. 8. St. Peter, of the Lower Silurian, 122 feet. 9. Shakopee, Lower Magnesian of the Lower Silurian, 75 feet. 10. Jordan, Lower Magnesian of the Lower Silurian, 25-40 feet. 11. St. Lawrence, Lower Magnesian of the Lower Silurian, 200 feet. 12. St. Croix, of the Lower Silurian, exposed, 375 feet.

With the exception of the Cretaceous these formations have a "strike" across the county northwest and southeast. They have a gentle dip, at least theoretically, toward the southwest, though no general dip is perceptible. The oldest rock in the county is the St. Croix sandstone, which appears in the northeastern cor- ner of the county. The latest, except the Cretaceous, is the Devonian, in the southwestern part of the county. The boundary between the Trenton and the St. Peter is the most accurately defined, owing to the terrace which marks it. The boundary between the St. Peter and Shakopee it is impossible to ascertain certainly, because of the universality of the loam, which acts, in that respect, just the same as a heavy drift deposit, and also because of the persistency of the Shakopee compared to that of the St. Peter. When the friable rock is below a hard and per- sistent one, as the St. Peter below the Trenton, the boundary between them can be traced out easily by the resulting topog- raphy; but when the soft one is uppermost it wedges out imper- ceptibly under the loam, or drift, and one cannot say when it is all gone. In the western part of the county the boundary lines

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are all obscured by the prevalence of the drift. The Maquoketa shales have not been seen in the county. They are visible in the bluffs of the Upper Iowa river, at Lime Springs, about three miles south of the state line, and very probably continue through Fill- more county, in the strike of the Lower Silurian.

The geological structure of the county, with a record of out- croppings and exposures, is fully treated in the "Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota," prepared by N. H. Win- chell and Warren Upham, distinguished Minnesota savants, and published by the state of Minnesota. The article has appeared so many times that it will not be reproduced here. The student will find useful material for study in the scholarly work just men- tioned. That work also forms the basis of the article here presented.

Material Recources. Fuel. In addition to the products of the soil, which will always be her chief source of wealth, Fill- more county cannot expect any important mineral discoveries to augment her material prosperity.

There is a marked absence of peat in this county. Some, how- ever, occurs on the southeast quarter of section 26, Spring Valley, and is said to be about four feet thick, covering four or five acres. In other parts of the county there are scattering areas of turf-peat.

Quicklime. All the limestones of the county are suitable for quicklime, but by far the greater quantity is made from the upper Trenton. In the townships of Sumner and Spring Valley, all the circumstances necessary for the cheap and rapid production of quicklime of the best quality co-exist, viz: a suitable lime- stone, abundant exposure and plenty of fuel. The Trenton there forms some of its characteristic outcrops, constituting the bluffs of the streams continuously for many miles, and rising a hundred or a hundred and fifty feet above the valleys.

Some is still burned in Spring Valley. At one time many people were engaged in the business. The following list of lime- burners in 1880, in one vicinity, will give some idea of the extent of the business then carried on : Palmer and Miller, Bear Creek, three kilns. N. E. Fetterly, Bear Creek, three kilns. L. G. Odell, Bear Creek, three kilns (one draw-kiln). Charles Gorton, Bear Creek, one kiln. Allen Brothers, Bear Creek, one kiln. J. Finley, Bear Creek, one kiln. Isaac Kegley, Bear Creek, one kiln. L. Stout, Bear Creek, one kiln. T. J. Hammer, Bear Creek, one kiln. Elder Cyrus Young, Bear Creek, two kilns. Harvey McQuillan, Bear Creek, two kilns. Olds & Braley, section nine, Spring Valley, one kiln. I. N. Cummings, section eleven, Spring Valley, one kiln. J. H. Hall, section twelve, Spring Valley. These all burned the upper Trenton. Throughout the county, where

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HISTORY OF FILLMORE COUNTY

the Trenton limestone appears, there have at various times been lime-kilns to supply the local demand.

Building Stone. With this necessary article Fillmore county is well supplied, and it has been put to an extensive use. Prob- ably three-fourths of the building stone which has been used in the county is derived from the Trenton, the other fourth being made up of the Galena and the St. Lawrence. The Lower Trenton is most frequently employed. This is largely owing to the prom- inent manner of its out-crops, as shown under the head of "Drain- age and Surface Features." The Upper Trenton has been used in the construction of several schoolhouses and private residences. At Spring Valley the Galena is principally used. At Lanesboro, Whalan, Peterson and Rushford, the St. Lawrence. The Shako- pee and Jordan are but rarely resorted to.

Near Fountain the Lower Trenton supplies the "blue lime- stone." The beds are usually less than six inches in thickness, and they are easily broken to any desired size. It is a hard stone, not easily cut, but can be dressed if necessary. It is not injured by disseminated shale, as much of the Lower Trenton is, and hence makes a very durable material. At Fountain are several buildings constructed of this stone.

From the St. Lawrence limestone a very fine building stone is obtained. It is a fortunate circumstance that very much of this formation is in regular and often in heavy layers. These are also not so firm as to resist the usual means for quarrying. When the beds are broken the blocks are found to possess often a finely vesicular texture. Their color is a very light yellow, or buff, resembling that of the well known "Milwaukee brick."

Brick. There is no lack of materials for making common red brick. In some places the surface of the drift clay is used, con- taining some fine gravel, and at others the loess-loam. Consider- able brick has been made in the county at various times.

Sand for Mortar and Concrete. Wherever the St. Peter sand- stone is accessible it is employed for making mortar. It is equally good for hard finish, being, when taken from some depth, purely white and of very uniform fineness. There are, however, some portions of the county where it is much more difficult to obtain a sand suitable for common mortar. In the western part of the county a white sand, or one nearly white, is obtained from deposits referable to the Lower Cretaceous. They are found in the south- east quarter of section 8, in the northwest quarter of section 22 and in the northeast quarter of section 36 in Bloomfield as well as in section 17, Spring Valley. Besides these sources of mortar- sand, the Jordan sandstone, which is often as incoherent as the St. Peter, can be used to advantage, though it is rather more apt to be cemented by iron. There can be no question but that the

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HISTORY OF FILLMORE COUNTY

compact and impervious nature of the green shales of the Lower Trenton has preserved the incoherency of the St. Peter, by pre- venting the downward percolation of ferriferous and calcarous waters, which certainly would have left their impurities in the form of cement among its beautiful white grains.

Lead. While the Galena limestone, which is eminently lead- bearing at Dubuque and Galena, passes, in its northwestern trend, across the southwestern portion of Fillmore county, it has not been discovered to afford the same amount of lead as in Iowa and Illinois. Indeed, at points more remote from the Mississippi river, in Iowa, no remarkable deposits of lead have been obtained from it. There is not a total absence of lead from its layers, since a few localities are known to have afforded it in limited quan- tities. The same is true of the Lower Trenton; which seems to indicate that the presence of lead in the limestone of this region does not depend on the kind or age of the formation, but rather on some later, superimposed conditions that prevailed over the region, subjecting various formations to the same influences.

Iron. Throughout the western portion of the county there is a great deal of surface iron, manifesting itself generally in the form of a cement in gravel, forming a dark-colored "crag." There is also much evidence of the existence of a heavy continuous layer or deposit of limonite iron ore a few feet below the surface, in Bloomfield and Beaver townships. This bed consists of a loose textured hydrated peroxyd, with ochery impurities, and bears a close resemblance to some bog-ore deposits; but its occurrence on high land, instead of in swamps, necessitates some other expla- nation for its existence than that ascribed to the occurrence of most bog-ore deposits. It may have originated during that swampy condition of southern Minnesota when the peat grew that is embraced in the drift deposits. It is not probable that it will ever be found valuable for the manufacture of iron. Before the opening up of the vast and richer iron ore beds of Michigan and Missouri, the bog-ores were considerably used in the produc- tion of iron, on a small scale, in several of the western states, but the small furnaces that smelted them have all ceased operations many years ago.

Gold, Copper. In small quantities gold has been washed, by rude methods, from the drift at several points in the county. It was found in gravel, in the northeast quarter of section twenty- six, Spring Valley, and in section thirty-one, Jordan. There are accounts also of fragments of native copper having been found in the drift. It is hardly necessary to say that these discoveries do not indicate any valuable deposit of the kind in the rocks of the localities where they may be found. They pertain to the drift, and have been transported hundreds of miles along with the

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HISTORY OF FILLMORE COUNTY

other foreign substances in which they occur, from the northern part of the state. Such discoveries have sometimes awakened an interest that has culminated in stock companies formed for mining, and in the wasting of thousands of dollars. Similar small quantities of gold can be got by a minute washing of the drift at almost any place where the drift sheet is attenuated, or where the older glacial drift has been denuded, leaving the gold, which is indestructible, either by the lapse of time or by the chemistry of the elements, on the rock surface underlying. Practically every geological report in the country makes mention of them, and the evidences are common in all our neighboring states.

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ANCIENT LANDMARK

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CHAPTER II. THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

The Mound Builders-Evidence of Their Existence in Fillmore County-An Ancient Battlefield - Other Indian Remains- Modern Indians-Interesting Items Concerning Those Whom the Early Settlers Succeeded.

At some period of the earth's history mankind in some form took up its abode in what is now Fillmore county. A discussion as to the existence of man in Minnesota during Glacial and Pre- Glacial ages is beyond the scope of this work. The Mound Build- ers have left undisputed evidence of their occupancy. Specula- tion as to the origin, life and habits of these Mound Builders is also beyond the scope of this work. Scholars are of the opinion that of the mounds in this vicinity, some at least were constructed by the immediate ancestors of the Indians found along the upper Mississippi by the earliest explorers. The thoughtful student is referred to the library of the Minnesota Historical Society at St. Paul, for volumes treating of this interesting question.

A volume entitled "The Aborigines of Minnesota," published by the Minnesota State Historical Society in 1911 contains the fol- lowing notes on the archaeology of Fillmore county :

Rushford Mounds. (a) N. E. 1/4, S. E. 1/4, Sec. 15, Township 104, 8; about twenty feet above the bottomland, in plowed ground. The group embraces nine tumuli, or ordinary size. Surveyed June 11, 1884. (b) W. 1/2, N. E. 14, S. W. 1/4, Sec. 23, Township 104, 8. The flat is about twelve feet above the slope. These mounds have been cultivated for years, and some have been entirely obliterated. They are of ordinary size, about thirty feet in diameter and from one foot to two feet in height. The group contains twenty-two, only one being elongated. (c) N. E. 1/4, S. W. 1/4, Sec. 14, Town- ship 104, 8, about 425 feet above the river. Group contains six mounds, of which two are elongated, but all rather small. Num- bers 1, 2, 3 and 5 have been opened and show rock burials. No. 1 is nearly all rock. No. 5 is 32 feet by 20 feet by 31/2 feet. Surveyed June 11, 1884. These mounds are on the brow of the outer bluffs of the river, which are essentially rock-formed, and very precipitous, or even perpendicular in many places.

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When Alfred J. Hill was examining this region of Minne- sota for pre-historical remains B. D. Sprague said to him of the Rushford Mounds that a piece of pottery was found four or five feet below the surface in making excavations for his mill dam, in sand and gravel, associated with stones that had been burnt. The curved earth work from which he took this, and which he mapped, was from eight to ten rods long, and about a foot high.

Lanesboro Group. Besides the Rushford Mounds, others were noted in the geologic examination of Fillmore county made by Prof. N. II. Winchell. These are mentioned in Vol. 1 of the final report of the Geological and Natural History of Minnesota, page 673, as follows: At the junction of the north branch of Root river with the main river a few miles below Lanesboro, sections 1 and 12, Carrolton, are a great many mounds, probably forty in number. Several years since (1879) on the discovery of human bones in plowing the field in which they lie, about twenty of these mounds were examined by some citizens of Lanesboro. The human relics discovered on excavation consist of large human bones, several stone hammers, a copper spearhead, several clay pipes and beads, as well as a small clay image of the human face and head, the latter with a circlet of radiating feathers passing over the top. For a representation of this image of the human face, consult the Popular Science Monthly, Vol. XIX, page 609. Other earthworks are near Houston, in the Yucatan valley.

Ancient Battle Ground. The Lanesboro group is on a ter- race which had been plowed over for many years. The Ameri- can Antiquarian, Vol. III, page 153, has an editorial abstract of statements found in the Lanesboro Journal (Nov., 1879), and Preston (Minn.) Republican, giving an account of remarkable discoveries three miles northeast of Lanesboro, as follows:

"Mr. Newell was plowing on his farm and turned up a skull, which he took to town and exhibited to Dr. D. F. Powell. The doctor went out the following day, accompanied by others who assisted in the excavations, and as a result of their labors several wagon-loads of bones were found, indicating that the mound had been the burial place of fully 600 human beings. The bones were all of full-grown men, there being no remains of women and chil- dren, indicating clearly that these were the remains of men killed in battle. A copper spearhead, harder than steel of mod- ern times, a handsome pipe, and other articles were secured by the editor of the Lanesboro Journal; also many stone knives and a stone maul, of harder material than exists in this vicinity, were found. Big Fire, great Medicine Man of the Winnebagoes, says that a great battle occurred in that place many centuries ago between the Chippewas and the Sioux, the former coming out victorious and nearly annihilating their enemies. After the bat-

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HISTORY OF FILLMORE COUNTY

tle a trench was dug and some 600 warriors were piled therein. Big Fire's version of the matter looks very reasonable."

This is apparently the same discovery as referred to in the Popular Science Monthly, Vol. XIX, mentioned above. The statement that the Chippewa penetrated so far south and inflicted such a blow on their hereditary foe, can apply only to some pre- historic warfare-perhaps to the traditional migration of the Lenni Lenape from the Northwest when they made their grand incursion on the early mound builders.

In the "Transactions of the Department of American His- tory of the Minnesota Historical Society," Minneapolis, 1879, page 123, is further account of the remarkable mound group and bone deposit found near Lanesboro in form of a letter from Dr. D. F. Powell (White Beaver), dated November 28, 1879, from which the following is condensed :

Five of the larger mounds were each about thirty-five feet in diameter, the larger from ten to twenty-five feet, without any order of arrangement, on the small bluff which there runs almost due north and south. Number 1 was exactly on the verge of the bluff. No. 5 was isolated. Numbers 2, 3, 6 and 7 contained in aggregate fully three hundred or four hundred skeletons, but No. 5 which was very large, contained but few bones and no imple- ments. About five feet below the surface was a gravel bed, and in this nothing was found, although dug into more than two feet. In No. 3 were found a copper point and a stone pipe, also rem- nants of a shell necklace and several pieces of pottery. In No. 6 was found part of a stone hatchet. In No. 9 was a pipe of burnt clay, shaped something like a common clay pipe of today. Its color was a dull red. The teeth were almost perfect in the upper and lower maxillae of all specimens, but the skulls and all the bones easily crumbled, the skulls also distorted by pres- sure of the earth above. There was no order of deposit, some having been apparently thrown in, feet uppermost, others sitting, some with heads east, others in every direction.

"As soon as possible," said Dr. Powell, "I sent for one of my Indian friends and my interpreter, a half-breed, well educated and intelligent. They claim that the bones are the remains of a large band of Sioux warriors killed in battle by the Chippewas many generations ago.

"The traditional history of the battle is now being written by my interpreter, who went to Trempeleau and Black River Falls three days ago for that purpose. He claims that many old men from his tribe clearly remember the legend handed down from generation to generation. I will give you the story when written. I accept the stories 'cum grano salis.'"

Nothing further is known of this proposed history of this

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traditional battle, but there are some general statements that can be based on the facts that are known. 1 .- If the Chippewas were victorious, they did not remain in possession of the country, for they had no such custom of bone burial. 2 .- The bones must have been deposited by a mound-building tribe, hence either by Dakota, Iowa or Omaha, or by the Winnebago. 3 .- The victors must have remained in possession of the field, hence : 4 .- Either the battle was by the Iowa in defense against the Sioux, and resulted in the retirement of the aggressors, or; 5 .- it was a vic- torious onset of the Sioux against the Iowa and resulted in the Sioux gaining the land. 6 .- But the battle may have been one of the first of the great traditional wars of the Northwestern Algonquins against the Mound Builders.

Similar conclusions are warrantable if one of the parties were Algonquins of the Sac or the Illinois tribes. The Sac (or Outa- gamies) are shown on some old French maps as then occupying lands on the west side of the Mississippi. These were non-mound builders.

In April, 1907, N. H. Winchell made an effort to learn the facts as to the preparation of a writen account of the traditional battle, and was aided by O. M. Levang, editor of the Lanesboro Leader; O. G. Wall, former publisher of the Lanesboro Journal; Dr. George E. Powell, La Crosse, Wis .; B. A. Man, of Winona, and Dr. J. C. Hvoslef, of Lanesboro. It appears that such a manu- script was prepared by White Beaver (Dr. D. Frank Powell) and that it embraces other legendary matter concerning the Win- nebagoes, but that, if preserved, its whereabouts are unknown.

The statement of Dr. George E. Powell, as below, gives the essential facts as far as they can be ascertained. O. G. Wall has repeated in the Lanesboro Leader, May 18, 1907, the events of the discovery and examination of the mounds by Dr. Powell and himself, on November 14, 1879. In a letter to N. H. Winchell he has outlined the form of a clay pipe, which he still had in his pos- session. Another of the same size and material was presented to the University of Minnesota museum by B. A. Man in 1879. The pipe found by Mr. Wall is a most interesting relic. The bowl is large and deep. The hole in the top of it is nearly an inch and a quarter in diameter, and tapers to a point at the bottom of the pipe, where it connects with a hole in the stem. The stem is short, about an inch and a quarter in length, and it tapers to a point in the end, and was thus smoked, to all appearances The workmanship is excellent ; in fact, could not be improved.

The following letters were written to Prof. Winchell in 1907 by Dr. George E. Powell, of La Crosse :

"White Beaver had uncommon opportunities to secure the legends of the Winnebago. He was preparing a manuscript of

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this kind, but I know not if it was completed or where it is. The great Winneshiek told me that in the legendary lore of his people the 'Mighty Chippewas' surprised his tribe at their home in middle Wisconsin. Though outnumbered, the Winne- bagoes made a mighty battle, in which the loss on both sides was enormous. The Winnebagoes took to their canoes down a tribu- tary of the Mississippi, were overhauled, and another fierce bat- tle was fought upon its banks in Wisconsin. Again taking to their canoes, the remnant reached the Mississippi, and went up the Root river, camping upon a bottom east of Lanesboro, in the fork of a stream, or in between the junction of this stream from the north, and the Root river, just about where they joined. Here again the Chippewas overtook and nearly exterminated them. This is about all I know of the story, which many years ago seemed to be the common legend of the older Winnebagoes. Winneshiek also insisted while he lived that the Mississippi, when he was in the prime of manhood, was a trout stream, and that squaws caught trout abundantly anywhere. When I ventured that trout were caught only at or near the mouth of tributaries, he rejected the proposition with vigor, insisting that 'squaws caught them wherever camp was made.' The Mississippi was never muddy, even when very high. The waters were always clear, clearer than its tributaries.

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History of Fillmore County, Minnesota (Volume 1), Part 3

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Number of Pages: 726

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1912
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 726