USA > Minnesota > Freeborn County > History of Freeborn County, Minnesota > Part 53
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January day. The wind from the northwest attained a velocity of some forty miles an hour, and within sixty minutes the mer- cury touched thirty degrees below zero. After raging for fifty- two hours, the blizzard passed away as rapidly as it came. Sev- eral people in the county perished. One woman lost her way between her house and her barn and was found frozen to death fully two miles away. In some places in the state people per- ished in their beds.
"Red Eye" and "Old Tom." George S. Ruble, in the early days, had a famous race horse, and he knew that he could beat the earth. He had challenged the world to race with him for ten miles and repeat. The sheriff's office was in a little shanty where the Barlow and Spicer drug store stands. Gray's saloon was further down Broadway on the east side. Prairie grass and a few surveyor's stakes occupied Broadway, but there was no road along that thoroughfare. Red Eye, Mr. Ruble's horse, groomed to a finish, was out in front of the saloon, and Sheriff Heath's "Old Tom" stood over on the corner, hitched to a one-horse wagon, half asleep, with his under lip hanging down and looking very tired and sorry. Mr. Gray said to Mr. Ruble, "Oh, pshaw, George, I'll bet $25 even the 'Old Tom' there can beat "Red Eye." The money was put up in a moment. The race was to be from a corduroy bridge across the mill race at the foot of the hill on Bridge street. The horses were to stand with their feet on the bridge and run to a certain point on Clark street. Mr. Heath led "Old Tom" over the track by a rope halter, while "Red Eye" pranced along sidewise, like the high-mettled thoroughbred that he was. Chance Haskell, a trained jockey from Wisconsin, rode "Red Eye." wearing jockey coat and cap and riding a fancy saddle. The horses were at the score. "Old Tom" seemed to be dreaming about something as he stood there with the old rope halter around his neck and no rider on his back. "Red Eye" reared and pawed the air and was a beautiful sight. At last David Colvin whispered "Go," and away they went. The first jump "Tom" took the lead by about forty feet and was straight ahead of "Red Eye." By the time that they reached Stacy's office there were several rods between them and "Tom" looked back to see if the thoroughbred was coming. As "Tom" passed the poles at the outcome, he slowed down, stuck his tail up in the air and was eating grass by the time that the thor- oughbred, "Red Eye," came out.
"Old Tom" and "Itasca Fly." The Itasca statesmen knew that Albert Lea would bet her last dollar on "Old Tom" in a horse race, so they went down to Iowa and bought a horse that was supposed to be the fastest quarter horse in the North-
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west. The Albert Lea men stole "Itasca Fly" out in the night and ran a trial race, and "Old Tom" beat the old mare out of her boots, so the bets were made. The Itasca people were bet- ting on a "sure thing," and they bet all they had. A race track was made on the smooth prairie with two paths, so far apart that it was supposed that "Old Tom" could not jump across into "Fly's" tracks. The great day came. The friends of Itasca bet on "Fly" and the friends of Albert Lea bet on "Tom." This time "Old Tom" had a rider. When the word was given he made for his antagonist's track, and by the time a few rods were passed he was just ahead of the Itasca beauty; and when the end was reached, the judges gave Albert Lea the race by about forty feet. Those who had lost their money and cattle and horses and plows and chairs and pigs and chickens and knives and coats and hats and cows and guns and boats on the Itasca horse began to get tired of Itasca and its "sure thing" and voted for Albert Lea. The county seat question was settled by "Old Tom," and he deserves the credit.
Dr. Chas. W. Ballard, who was one of our old settlers, im- mnortalized the famous race in lines, which he read at the Old Settlers' meeting in 1880. A selection follows: So, conning o'er the aspect of the case,
They came unanimously to this conclusion :
That public morals required another race ;
Advantage should be taken of the delusion
That Sheriff. Heath's Red Tom could always win.
By beating him they'd bring to dire confusion
The folks in Albert Lea; 'twould be no sin,
They said, to cheat those sinners,
Especially if Itasca's men were winners.
They'd buy Old Fly, a mare of reputation,
Whose four white feet for years had earned the fame
Of being the fleetest feet in all creation.
They'd paint those feet, and then they'd change her name,
And shave her tail, and otherwise adorn her
Until she looked like misery's last mourner,
And then they'd challenge Heath's Red Tom to run,
And banter Albert Lea to betting high;
They'd let the country people in the fun,
And take with them all bets against Old Fly.
They'd win that race in just a half mile heat-
They'd bankrupt Albert Lea, and with the money Buy votes enough to win the county seat.
Early Deaths. At a reunion of the old settlers some year ago, A. H. Bartlett spoke of some of the early deaths in the county. The speech is here preserved, both for its historic value and as
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an example of the style of eloquence which was then in vogue : "Mrs. Fannie Andrews, wife of William Andrews, Esq., a well- known and prominent early settler of the county, and the mother of a large family of stalwart pioneers, who accompanied her and her husband and settled in the county in July, 1855, after a brief residence of several months, living in their wagon while their habitation was being erected, was suddenly called for by the inexorable tyrant, death, and her immortal spirit, so lately filled with grand and hopeful expectations, winged its flight to its eternal home above, while the entire community, as weeping mourners, followed her earthly remains to their last resting place, the grave, to be known no more on earth, forever. The sculptured marble (now to be seen in Greenwood Cemetery, in the town of Shell Rock) has for years reared up its front, proud to perpetuate her name and virtues, and rehearse to the passing traveler that the earthly remains of death's first victim from the pioneers of Freeborn county, was here consigned to its last resting place, the tomb.
"On the third of December, 1856, William Rice, while carry- ing the mail across the broad and bleak prairie, lying between the Cedar and Shell Rock rivers, was caught in a severe snow storm, and lost his way. He wandered around over the trackless prairie without shelter or protection from the severity of the storm, until he froze to that extent that he died of his injuries, some three or four days afterward.
"This calamity was followed in quick succession, on the twentieth day of the same month, by Byron Packard and Charles Walker (a part of the company who laid out and founded Shell Rock City) being caught in a terrific storm on the same broad prairie, while hauling a steam boiler to its destination at Shell Rock, and both perished from the severity of the storm and the extreme cold. Their bodies, frozen stiff and cold in death, were found four days afterwards, lying upon the frozen crust of the deep snow. Their bodies were carried to Shell Rock, and there buried upon the town site they had so lately helped to lay out and form. No relatives were there to attend the funeral obsequies and mourn their sad fate, yet sorrowing friends and brother pioneers, composing the entire community, assisted in performing the last duty to the untimely departed. No preacher of the gospel could be found in the county to speak words of consolation to the sorrowing and bereaved friends and associates, and our friend, Jacob Hostetter, one of Free- born county's earliest pioneers, feelingly and eloquently ad- dressed the early pioneers there gathered upon the sadness and suddenness of their bereavement; upon the mysterious and inscrutable ways of an overshadowing providence, in which no
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one can tell why, in the prime of vigorous and useful manhood, when hope, the ministry of life is most buoyant, and future expectations in the coming life of usefulness is most prominent, that a mysterious power should step in with its dread man- dates and the brightest and most promising life should be con- signed to oblivion and the grave. These sad bereavements and others which happened in the county about that time, caused by the unparalleled severity of the winter of 1856, cast a sad and sorrowing gloom over the young settlement of Freeborn county. Some few of the settlers became disheartened and dis- couraged and early the following spring returned to their former eastern homes."
Elias Stanton came to Freeborn Lake, probably as early as 1855. He was a bachelor, and little or nothing was known of his previous history. During the winter of 1857 he was caught in a furious snow storm and froze his feet. This, after several amputations, caused his death. He died in March, 1858, and was buried at his own request on "the school section at Albert Lea," in the vicinity of what is now the Luther Academy. There his grave was lost for many years, but bones believed to have been his were found in the spring of 1911, when exca- vations were being made for the new building of that institu- tion. Stanton was an advanced thinker and requested that his tombstone should have the following inscription: "Here lies Elias Stanton, Deist." But no tombstone was ever erected to mark his grave. The people of Albert Lea made preparations for the funeral when it was learned that the remains were to be brought to that village and school was dismissed in order that the services might be held in the schoolroom. But when the remains arrived from Freeborn, twelve miles away, they were taken directly to the grave, and no opportunity given the good people of Albert Lea for the proposed observances.
Some Excellent Men. In a conversation recently Martin V. Kellar called to mind some of the earthly pioneers. A part of his remarks were as follows: "Perhaps one of the finest men the county has ever known was the Rev. D. H. Palmer. He came to Freeborn county as a Baptist clergyman, being sent by the American Bible Society. He lived at Glenville and preached regularly there. Later he received a regular appointment to Albert Lea .. He was beloved by all, irrespective of denomina- tion or creed. It was around his sepulcher that Western Star Lodge, A. F. & A. M. made its first public appearance with its ritual, and it was to the solemn words of the Masonic funeral service that his remains were laid away, while the county felt that it had lost a man great in faith and in works. Samuel M. Thompson was a man of pleasant address, frank and open
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HISTORY OF FREEBORN COUNTY
in conversation and manner. He was regarded as a model Chris- tian young man; his partner LyBrand being a Unitarian, and consequently looked upon by the early settlers as not being of sound theological opinions. Jacob LyBrand was short of stature, with thin features and Roman nose. He was unusually neat of appearance, and wore gold rimmed eye glasses, keeping his clothes immaculate, although living in a community where care- lessness of dress was the rule. Without being a fop, he always had the appearance of being freshly laundered and tailored, keeping clean shaved and wearing expensive broadcloth. He had uncommonly pleasant manners, was beloved by all, and made an especially good impression upon people who were con- templating taking up their homes in this county. Oliver Andrews was another pioneer greatly beloved and admired. He was a strong Methodist and worked for the progress of that church. In 1880 he moved to about ten miles south of Mason City, in Iowa, and later moved into that city, where he died some ten years ago. Peter Beighley was the first settler on the site of Gordonsville, his home being south of the village. He came to the county at an early day. His son, John, was the first mail carrier between Northwood and Albert Lea, William Rice, who was frozen to death, having been the carrier on the route from Mitchell and St. Ansgar, Iowa, to Glennville and St. Nicholas. Walter Stott was an important man in the early days. He came to Freeborn county in 1856 and settled two miles northeast of Glenville. A year later he was licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church, but was not author- ized to perform marriages. When asked to perform this duty he sent the applicants to 'Squire Andrews, who was a justice of the peace and duly qualified to act in such cases. Stott stayed in Freeborn county a number of years, then moved to Northwood and opened a harness store. He died in 1877 at the age of fifty-three years, leaving a wife and six children. He was one of the first three assessors in Freeborn county."
The Neutral Strip. The boundary between the Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes, described in the Prairie du Chein treaty of 1825 has never been definitely settled. It was ill defined, was never traced out, and is not represented by Charles C. Royce, in his memoirs published in 1899, as a part of the Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. In the treaty this line was declared to run up the Upper Iowa river to its left fork, and up that fork to its source, thence crossing the Cedar river to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines river, and in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet (Big Sioux) river, and down that river to the Missouri river. This may be understood to mean : Up the Upper Iowa river (now the Oneota) )
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HISTORY OF FREEBORN COUNTY
to the vicinity of Taopi, in Mower county; crossing the Cedar river a little south of Austin, and thence westward to the second fork of the Des Moines river (Beever creek), in Murray county, near Currie, and thence westward to the Big Sioux river and down that river to the Missouri. The validity of this definition between the Des Moines and the Missouri was left contingent on the assent of the Yancton band. If this is a correct placing of the line, then the boundary between the Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes, entered Freeborn county at the southeast corner of Oakland and left the county near the middle of the western line of Carlston township. If on the other hand the second fork of the Des Moines be understood to be at Dakotah, Hum- boldt county, Iowa, then the boundary would run mainly within the state of Iowa, and would not touch Freeborn county, thus leaving this county entirely in Sioux territory. The location of the Neutral Strip depends entirely on where this boundary should properly be drawn. The Sioux in the treaty of 1830 ceded a strip twenty miles wide from the Mississippi to the Des Moines, north of this boundary of 1825, and the Sacs and Foxes ceded a similar strip south of that line. If the line crossed Freeborn county, then this county lay entirely within the Neutral Strip. But Royce draws the strip to the southward in Iowa, and on Lea's map the strip also appears entirely in Iowa. The early hunters from Fort Snelling refer to the Neutral Territory as hav- ing been south of Austin and of the lakes in Freeborn county. Therefore a definition of that strip as extending along the north- ern boundary of Iowa seems to be as exact a description as can be reached.
Freeborn County Archeology. The following description of the mounds in Freeborn county appears in "The Aboriginies of Minnesota," published in 1911:
Lake Albert Lea mounds, southeast side, south half, south- east quarter, section 19, township 102-20, about twenty feet above the lake. This group contains thirteen mounds, one of which is broad-elongated, having dimensions eighty feet by forty-eight feet by six and one-half feet. The rest vary from twenty feet to forty feet in diameter. Surveyed October 18, 1889.
Northeast quarter, northwest quarter section 30, town- ship 102-20, about twenty-five feet above the lake. This group contains seven mounds, one of which is broad-elongated, with dimensions fifty-four by thirty by three feet. Surveyed Octo- ber 18, 1889.
Lake Albert Lea mounds at the outlet northeast quarter section 25, township 102-21, about twenty-five feet above the lake. This group contains twenty-two mounds, of which two
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HISTORY OF FREEBORN COUNTY
are broad-elongated and one is more simply elongated. The tumuli are generally of larger size than the average, the largest being sixty by four and one-half feet. Another is fifty-eight by six and one-half feet. Several have been excavated. Sur- veyed October 18. 1889.
Lake Albert Lea mounds, northwest end of lake, southeast quarter, northwest quarter section 9, township 102-21, about thirty-five feet above the lake, on cultivated land near Fountain lake. This group embraces eight simple tumuli of about average size. Surveyed October 23, 1889.
Mounds at the east end of Fountain lake, north half, south- east quarter section 9, township 102-21, about thirty feet above the lake in cultivated land. Group consists of two tumuli, each forty-five feet in diameter, one four feet and the other three feet high. Surveyed October 23, 1889.
There is a lone mound near Shell Rock river, southwest quarter, northeast quarter section 25, township 102-21, about twenty-five feet above the river, on the north side, thirty by one and one-half feet. Surveyed October 22, 1889.
Mounds in Mansfield have been noted by Dr. Warren H. Upham, northwest quarter section 13, at the south side of sec- tion 34, close to the state line. In the former place are "two or three," and in the latter place, "two or more," small mounds.
On the Gulbrandson farm near the outlet of Albert Lea lake two mounds were opened, according to the "Albert Lea Enterprise" July 10, 1879, and at five feet below the top, in a larger mound, a great number of human bones were found thrown together promiscuously. . The smaller mound had two, or at the most, three skeletons in a better stage of preservation. They embraced skull, femur, fibula, and humerus, together with jaw and teeth. The skull had a low standing forehead. There were found also an imperfect flint arrow head and a sharp thin flint which might have been a knife.
T. H. Lewis collected two grooved axes in Freeborn county. Capt. A. W. White and Gilbert Gulbrandson also gathered con- siderable collections of prehistoric relics.
Reminiscences of Thomas R. Morgan. May 8, 1855, R. G. Speer, Thomas Ellis. Thomas R. Morgan and David C. Morgan, the latter twelve years old, left Union, near Mineral Point, Wis., to seek a new home in the wilderness. Ellis and young David Morgan drove the three yokes of wild steers, Speer drove two yokes of oxen. and Thomas R. Morgan drove the loose cattle. After various adventures, they reached Otranto, Iowa, and there met Messrs. Wilder and Been, both early pioneers of Mower county. These people told the party of the timber land to the west of Austin. Hanibal Bickford also met the party there
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and told them that he was soon going into what is now Free- born county to hunt. Near Austin the famous pioneer, Pinker- ton, was encountered. In speaking of early days Mr. Morgan says :
"When half a mile west of Austin we met Pinkerton. He said to us, 'Now, gentlemen, you can take your choice of all the land between here and the Blue Earth river, and from the Iowa line, thirty miles north, except one farm on the first sec- tion north of the Iowa state line, on which lives a Norwegian named Gulbrandson. I know because I have been all over the country hunting a number of times, and was with the surveyors last year when they laid out the township, range and section lines.'
"When we reached section 23, Moscow, on our westward trip, we saw a man and team ahead of us. I whistled and he stopped. His name was Nathan Hunt. He said that he had met a man named Morey going to New York state, and that he was going to some land that Morey had spoken of, some fifteen or twenty miles northwest from Austin. When he found, however, that we were going to stake out claims and go back to Austin after our families, he and his wife decided to locate in the locality we selected, so the settlement of Moscow was started with us four families. Next day we brought our things from Austin. Mr. Hunt plowed two furrows around forty acres.
"Mr. Morey passed through our settlement later with his family on his way to Geneva lake. In the winter his hay roof caught fire and this burned the family out. Mr. Carpenter took the family to Lansing through the deep snow, the cold being so intense that it froze his feet.
"During the first two winters many cattle were lost. Some lost a half, some three-quarters and some all that they had. In two years nearly all the good land was taken up, but in 1858 many left. That year was very wet and the crops were a failure. At first wheat, oats and potatoes were a dollar a bushel. Later such things were hardly to be secured at any price.
"We saw much of the Indians during the early days. They were great beggars. But there was one sure way of getting rid of them. The Sioux and the Winnebagos were enemies. When the Sioux came about we would talk about the Winne- bagos that were camping nearby in large numbers, and then we would see no more of the Sioux for some time. When the Winnebagos came we told them of the large parties of Sioux in the neighborhood. Thus we got rid of some of their begging.
When the time came to prove up on our land, Robert Wil- cox, Ellis and I went to Brownsville to the land office. We had
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one horse and a "jumper." Two could ride in comfort. So we took turns. While one walked two would ride. The snow was so deep the horse could not run away.
The journey home was a frightful one. I left the others and expected to reach home first, on foot. At old Le Roy I stopped with Wentworth Hayes. After I left there the snow was two or three feet deep. The crust was hard in some places, but in others it broke through, making traveling very difficult. A cloudy night came on and the thermometer sank below zero. I could not distinguish any land marks, but tried to steer my course for Austin, twenty miles away. But hunger and cold told me I could not stand it. After turning back I noticed some marks in the snow which had apparently been made by snow shoes. This made me believe that there was a house near. But after going some distance, I decided that the person with the snow shoes must have gone far to the North. So I turned back, with the wind, and decided to follow the Little Cedar until I came to a house. This was fifteen miles out of my way, but it was a matter of life and death. After follow- ing the Cedar half an hour, I found a big snow drift of soft snow covering the river. I turned to go around it but went through the thin ice in water up to my neck. Then I concluded to die in the water, because then my body would be found by my relatives when the river thawed and I would not be eaten by wolves. But when the awful pains began to run up each side of my neck I changed my mind, and decided that I had rather be inside of a warm wolf. I tried hard to get out but the snow and ice would break under me. Then tearing down snow toward shore I found a willow limb. Following it up, it became large enough to draw myself out. Then what? I screamed with all my power. I could hear the echoes roll down the valley and I expected an answer, but none came. Then I talked that any one might know that it was not wolves. I said "Any one that saves my life will get eighty acres of land," but no answer came. All hope was gone, so I fell back on the last resort and called God in a loud voice (not that I thought He was deaf, but some one to hear that it was some person). I told my Maker that if He would save my life, I would stand by. His teachings even if I were opposed by the whole world. I did the shouting, then rolled in the snow to absorb the water in my clothes. It soon froze. Off went my boots and socks and then I tore the shawl from my neck to wrap my feet in it. Then I got one boot on quite easy, but the other was frozen. I worked till cold sweat fell on my hands. But it was on at last. Then I walked a little ways from the creek, and passed through a grove, carrying a six-foot stick to feel my way in bad places. I wanted
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to commence falling, then I would wake up and go on only to repeat the same thing many times. At last I thought I saw something that looked square, like a house, so I tried to cross the stream. There was a 15-inch space open above the run- ning water, so I stepped back, dropped down in my ice armor and then moved to the opening and laid my stick across it. When on the stick, head on one side, feet on the other, I got a little timid, and thought my stiff clothes might drag me down 8 or 10 feet. It took a long time to back off inch by inch. Then I traveled ahead about twenty rods and came to where they watered cattle, and I stepped across the running water, then went up to a stable. There was two inches of new snow and the haystacks looked as though they had not been used lately. I opened the stable door and the warmth of the cattle settled doubt. I went in the dark between two cattle and put my arms over their back awhile and began to sleep. Then I went out for the house. It was icy, so I could not get at the door. So I got a pole at the woodpile and punched the door. A man came out, barefoot, took my hand, and led me in. He took hold of me and laid me slanting in the chair. I was going to sleep. I saw him pull out a shovel of coals and place a basin of milk on it. When it was warm he shook me and made me drink. It was the best drink of my life. He gave me dry clothes to sleep in. I slept till 9 the next morning. My clothes were dried nicely. I ask John Olson, who was the man who had received me, if the little folks there were his little children. He told me they were his brothers' children, and I learned the sad tale of his two brothers who had been frozen to death during the previous blizzard. They were driving with a load of potatoes and a yoke of oxen when the storm overtook them. One had frozen to death and the other had covered him with straw and placed the seat board in such a position that the body would be found. His own body was found a short distance away, and the oxen were found in a grove, still alive. The two widows and the young children were left to battle with pioneer life without the husbands and fathers to look after them.
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