USA > Minnesota > Houston County > History of Houston County, Minnesota > Part 21
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In section 31 is an Indian mound where in former days the remains of an Indian chief of some distinction was buried. The body was found by the early settlers sitting on this elevation, supported by some stakes driven into the ground and a wolf-proof pen built over him. For years the Indians were accustomed to visit the spot and show their respect by leaving offer- ings of tobacco or some other present supposed to be acceptable to the deceased. The tomb was finally demolished, the chief's skull coming into possession of an ethnologist, who found that it indicated a good mental development. William Butterfield, who had taken a claim in section 31, and who died in July, 1854, was buried on the spot. A few years later, during the war, a Fourth of July celebration was held there and a liberty pole planted.
. In 1853 a Swedish settlement was started on the east bank of the South Fork of Root River, from which the place derived the name of Swede Bottom. The pioneers of this movement were John and Abraham Anderson, Ole Benson, his son, C. A. Benson, Lars Redding and others. While still in their native land they had seen an account of the Root River valley which was published in a Swedish paper and which had caused their emigration to the locality.
During the same year many others located near the "Forks," among the
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early arrivals being John Moore, Thomas Hogarty, Lawrence Lynch, Harvey McAdams, Albert Olson, H. T. Strafford and Morris Farmin.
As nearly as can be ascertained the first birth in the township was that of Jennie, daughter of David and Johanna Johnson, and took place in January or February, 1854. She died when ten or twelve years old near Red Wing, this State.
The first death, it is said, was that of Abraham Anderson, who passed away in August, 1853, soon after his arrival here. He was an old man of 73 years, and was buried in a mound in section three. Other deaths were those of Mr. Butterfield, previously mentioned, and of Augusta Johnson, a sister of David Johnson, an unmarried girl of twenty years, who was accidentally shot in her brother's house in 1854.
The earliest marriage of which any record has been found was that of Ole Benson and Mrs. Sarah Anderson, who were united at the house of Lars Johnson on the western part of Houston village.
The first business of the pioneers was to produce something to eat for themselves and families, and it was several years before they had sufficient land cultivated to raise anything for the outside market. The first crop they raised for sale was wheat, the land producing thirty or more bushels to the acre. But in time the crop grew less and more attention was paid to corn and other products, with satisfactory results.
A ferry across the Root River was established in 1858, on section 30. It was a rope ferry with a self-propeller, consisting of a lateral wing so arranged that the current would carry it over in whatever direction the boat was headed. This contrivance was later abandoned and muscular power resorted to as a substitute. Still later a bridge was erected.
The earliest manufacturing enterprise in the township was undoubt- edly a sawmill, which was built in 1855 by W. G. McSpadden on the south half of the southeast quarter of section 23. It stood on the bank of Silver Creek, at a point where there was a fine undeveloped water-power of twelve feet head, an advantage Mr. McSpadden had previously noticed. By 1856 he had the mill in operation. It was furnished with an old fash- ioned vertical-frame saw, driven directly by a crank connection with a flutter-wheel, and could run through 1,000 feet of inch boards in a day. Eli Baker bought an interest in the mill, but soon resold to Mr. McSpadden, who ran it alone for a time. It was afterwards operated by different persons up to the close of the war, when it was finally shut down as a sawmill.
In 1865-66 Mr. McSpadden put up a flouring mill at the old saw mill dam, securing about 17 feet fall. This mill was 30 by 40 feet, two stories high, with a basement, and was provided with a turbine wheel. It did good work until 1874, when it was swept away by a flood. With characteristic enterprise, Mr. McSpadden at once put up another and a superior mill of the same dimensions, providing it with three run of stones, with an oat meal attachment. It was driven by an improved turbine wheel under a 20-feet head, and had a capacity of 50 barrels a day. This mill was finally destroyed by fire in December, 1878. It was known as the Wake- field Flouring Mill.
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About 1867 a sawmill was started about one mile east of Houston village, on the South Fork of Root River in section 34, and was com- pleted two years later by E. W. and Charles Hoyt. In 1871 the property was bought by N. A. Redding, who improved it. The mill had a circular saw and could turn out about 3,000 feet a day. In 1875 Mr. Redding commenced the erection of a flouring-mill adjoining the sawmill. The new structure was 30 by 40 feet, two stories in height, and had two run of stones, with a capacity of 30 barrels a day. It had a head of six feet, the power being transmitted by a turbine wheel. In 1879 a run of feed stones was put in, and the establishment was run as a custom mill, under the name of the Redding Flouring and Saw Mill.
Another early industrial enterprise was established in 1867 or 1868, a shop being put up on the farm of Charles Smith on section 36, in the western part of the town. It was furnished as a blacksmith shop, but after a while an engine and turning-lathe were put in, converting the establishment into a machine shop, which was conducted by Simeon Todd. In 1872 Mr. Todd and Mr. Smith erected a saw mill, with a good sized steam-engine for power, which operated a reciprocating saw. After two years the enterprise was abandoned and some of the machinery sold, the rest being left along the roadside to take care of itself.
Another enterprise started by W. G. McSpadden was an amber cane syrup manufactory. For this purpose he procured a plantation cane crusher, with a capacity of 200 gallons of syrup a day, and this was con- nected with an overshot waterwheel, utilizing the old dam. He also put in a large Cook evaporator.
About four or five years after the earliest settlers had staked out their claims, the impulse of speculation caused the laying out of a number of town sites, of which much was expected. Not only was the original village of Houston started, but also a number of other hamlets.
One was in Looney Valley. A townsite company was organized by Messrs. Looney, Hunt and Wilson, and a tract of forty acres was set aside, surveyed and platted by Isaac Thompson in 1857. A postoffice, called Looneyville had been established in 1855, with D. D. Wilson as postmaster. The proposed village was located at the cross roads in the center of the west half of the northwest of section 26, and the east half of the northeast of section 27, twenty acres lying north of the east and west road and ten acres on either side of the north and south road.
In 1855 a store had been opened by Corydon Looney, with about a wheelbarrow full of goods. D. D. Wilson, who soon succeeded to the proprietorship of this mercantile emporium, materially increased the stock, and in 1856 erected a large log building. He later put up a frame building which served the double purpose of store and residence. In 1858 the business was closed out and Mr. Wilson went to Money Creek. He was an enterprising and public spirited citizen, and afterwards served his fellow citizens as state representative.
As for the village itself, the only evidence of it in after years were the corner lot stakes which the mowing machines occasionally encountered. The postoffice was discontinued in 1858.
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Soon after Looneyville had been mapped out, another town site com- pany sprang into existence, among the projectors of which were Messrs. Snow, Looney, Riley, Polleys, and Harvey Gillett. The site selected was south of Looneyville, on the southeast of section 27, and the northeast of 34. Its founders were satisfied that the railroad, which had already been projected, would pass through it on that side of the river, but it was finally built on the other side. The city was duly platted and recorded under the name of St. Lawrence, and for a long time the land was assessed as city property.
Houston Village had its beginning in 1856, when W. G. McSpadden platted a townsite on his farm which he called Winfield, in honor of Gen. Winfield Scott. It was located on the east eighty of the southwest quarter of section 33.
A practical beginning was made by the establishment of a blacksmith shop by Henry Wilson. A place of refreshment was also opened. In the same section, west of this plat, an effort was made to start a hamlet known as Crookston.
The west half of the southwest quarter of section 34 was owned by Ole Knudson, together with a small strip on section 33. West of this there was a tract of 160 acres taken by David Johnson, a Swede, in 1853, and west of this, 160 acres was taken by Lars Johnson. Both subsequently sold to Mons Anderson of La Crosse. David Johnson's claim was originally taken by William Webster, who sold it in 1853 for $30. On this tract grew up the village of Houston.
When the Southern Minnesota Railroad was laid through here, Mr. Anderson gave 70 acres of land, and thus secured the station, which caused the removal of the village to the new location. This removal began early in the autumn of 1866, being started by Andrew Forsyth. The original village "Old Houston," or "Lower Houston," was soon practically deserted, so far as business interests were concerned.
The first regular store in Houston was opened by Ole Knudson in 1854. He brought his goods up from La Crosse on a keel-boat, which he owned, and with which he also did a transportation business. In 1858 Mr. Brown started a second store, which he operated for a year. Isaac Abrahamson also opened a store in 1858, which he stocked with about $500 worth of goods, purchased from Mons Anderson, for whom he had worked in La Crosse. A blacksmith shop was started by Peter Erickson in 1856. In the following year Mr. Hoyt opened a hotel, and in 1858 another hotel was started by Lawrence Lynch. At one time a ship-yard was in active opera- tion near the bridge, and quite a number of steamers were built.
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP
Jefferson Township has the honor of having been the first settled town- ship in Houston County, the vanguard of the pioneers arriving here in 1847. It occupies the southeast corner of the county, and also of the state of Minnesota. The northern tier of sections in the original survey was
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taken to help make up Crooked Creek Township, but the loss of these was compensated for by the additions of several sections on the east, extending to the Mississippi.
The eastern portion of the township presents the characteristic topo- graphical features of the lands on the western bank of the Mississippi in this region. There are numerous sloughs extending for two or three miles inland, the intervening land being merely a mass of swampy alluvium, some of which has not yet been utilized. Back of this are ridges, bluffs, dunes, and conical shaped hills, with the intervening ravines. The greatest ravine in the township is that formed by the Winnebago River, which comes in from the west, entering by section 30, then flowing through 29 and 28, then tortuously in 27, turning south through 34, and finally emptying into a slough in the eastern part of section 35. This depression has several branches both on the north and south sides, between which are table lands of greater or less width. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad skirts the inner sloughs up and down the river, which for about two miles opposite the town is nearly a mile wide, but in section 29 narrows to less than 80 rods. A number of good springs are found, occurring mostly on the points of the bluffs near the river. In section 28 near the Catholic church, is a particularly fine spring, which in early days was so large that it was thought to furnish enough power to run a factory.
The bluffs back of the sloughs rise several hundred feet, and on their summits are some small but good farms. Along the valley, which is com- paratively narrow, the soil is a rich loam. Some of the bottom lands near the river, where not timbered, furnished perennial crops of wild meadow grass, utilized for hay. The varieties of soil throughout the township are not unlike that near the river. There is timber and prairie, ravine and ridge land, forming a picturesque landscape, devoid of monotony and pleasing to the eye.
When the state line between Iowa and Minnesota, west from the Mis- sissippi, was surveyed, no suitable place could be found to plant the iron monument designed to mark the boundary, until reaching a spot about three miles from the river, when it was placed on the line in the center of section 35. This spot is the first high ground west of the river. This line post is an obelisk of cast iron, half an inch thick, and standing five feet eight inches above ground. It is twelve inches square at the base and tapers to seven at the top. The lettering and figures are cast upon the monument, the north side bearing in a vertical line, like the characters on each side, the word, "Minnesota;" on the south side, "Iowa," on the west, "Lat. 43 degrees 30 minutes," and on the east, "1849." It was not, however, until several years after the date thus inscribed that the post was brought up the Mississippi River by a surveying party, landed at the nearest point, and with great difficulty, hauled by oxen to the spot.
The men who started the ball of civilization rolling in Jefferson Town- ship, and, incidentally, in the county, were John and Samuel Ross, two brothers, who arrived here on a steamboat from Galena in 1847, and dis- embarked at a point on the west bank of the river, whence they proceeded
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to select places of settlement. With the help of the Indians they erected cabins and began pioneer work, being engaged for the most part in lum- bering. On the survey of the state line in 1849, Samuel, whose location was some distance to the south of John's, found that his cabin was in the state of Iowa. Several years later he sold out to John, and resided at Ross's Landing, the site of Jefferson Village, and continued Jogging, running his timber down to Galena. Soon after the Rosses came a man named Smith, located a claim in the vicinity, but a little later sold it to a Norwegian who arrived, accompanied by his wife. These latter settlers had not been there long, when some one calling at their cabin, found that the man had been dead for four days, and that his wife was too sick to get up from his side. The two Rosses gave the body decent burial under an oak tree near the spring, and one of them took the woman to Lansing, where she was lost sight of. Patrick Collins, who arrived in the township in May, 1854, be- came a permanent settler, establishing in section 30. John Cauley and family came the same year and it was about the same time that Thomas Brady, Patrick Donahue, Patrick McCue, D. Friney, and Daniel Kennedy arrived. Michael Crowley, who came from Louisville, Ky., died after living here a few years; his wife survived him until 1880. The first death in the town was probably that of their son Patrick, who was drowned in September, 1854. While taking some oxen to water he was crowded by them over a high bluff, and although soon taken from the water, all efforts to resuscitate him proved unavailing.
Robert Kenny, who was prominent among the early settlers of Jeffer- son Township, was born in Kilkenny County, Ireland, in 1835, and came to America with his parents when ten years old. He came to this town- ship with his brother Thomas in the spring of 1854. In May, 1861, he married Mrs. Elizabeth Kirby, a widow, who had long been a resident of Dubuque County, Iowa. He resided in various places until 1872, when he moved to New Albin, where he built a house. For some years, while living in Houston County, he was quite prominent in local politics, but later gave his attention solely to business matters, and had a successful career. His wife died in April, 1879, and was buried in the Jefferson Catholic cemetery.
Another pioneer settler of Jefferson township was Peter McDonald, a native of Canada, who came to the township with his brother, Ensign, in October, 1855. For a number of years they had resided in New York, and in July, 1852, Peter had been married in Waterbury, this state, to Catherine McMullen. The day after arriving here he took a claim in section 7, his brother, who had been here the season before, taking one in section 28. After the arrival of Mr. McDonald's family in the following spring, he moved to section 34, where he established a permanent home. In May, 1864, he enlisted in Company C, Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war.
The first births in the township of which there are any record were those of Michael and Patrick Donahue, twin sons of Patrick Donahue. They were born in July, 1856. As already seen, the early settlement of the township was not effected without an occasional sad event occurring. To
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one of these James Mahlon fell a victim. He resided with his sister, Mrs. Hughes, and in December, 1855, started to go to Brownsville to do some trading, but, taking the wrong track, became lost in a severe snowstorm. His remains were not recovered until the following spring. He was at first buried in town, but afterwards his remains were disinterred and trans- ferred to a place in or near Brownsville. His sister died quite suddenly while on a visit to friends in Wisconsin, and her remains were brought here and buried in the Catholic cemetery. Her son, John, subsequently resided for many years on the old place in section 27.
In early days there were three markets generally used by the set- t'es on the township, the first one patronized being a placed called Victory, in Wisconsin, which was reached in the summer time by crossing the river in skiffs. The others were Brownsville and Lansing, each about 15 miles distant.
The organization of Jefferson township took place in 1858. At the first election, held at the residence of Patrick Donahue, Robert Kenny, John Ross and Patrick Donahue were chosen as supervisors, Mr. Kenny being chairman. As available men were scarce, it was found necessary to double some of the offices. Thus, Alex. Durkee was made both clerk and constable, John Ross was assistant clerk and treasurer, Patrick Donahue was road master as well as supervisor, and Robert Kenny and Michael Brady were elected justices of the peace. It is not recorded that any of the town fathers were overworked, and matters ran along quite smoothly for the first year. It was not long, however, before friction developed, even in that thinly settled community. In the following year, 1859, Robert Kenny was again elected chairman of the board, and on the last day allowed by law presented his bond, with John Ross for his surety. It seems that the clerk wished a relative of his to have the place, and persuaded the other supervisors to name him to fill what he alleged was a vacancy. Mr. Kenny, not being willing to surrender his rights, the matter was referred to the district court, then presided over by Judge Donaldson. Mr. Kenny en- gaged Hon. Daniel Norton, state senator, as counsel. The result of the affair was that the clerk was required to accept the bond as tendered, and Mr. Kenny was declared the lawfully constituted chairman of supervisors.
The village of Jefferson grew up on the site of Ross's Landing, named after John Ross, whose settlement here has been already recorded. For a number of years he was the only continuous resident in the locality. In the fall of 1868 Anton Eck arrived and started a hotel, or tavern, on a slough about three-quarters of a mile north of the state. He, too, was a resident here for many years. Soon after him came James Callihan, who also opened and kept a hotel. In the fall of the next year, 1869, Lewis Hayes located here and erected a large building, the lower story of which was arranged for a store and the upper one for a dwelling. Mr. Hayes was a native of Vermont, who had come west to Lansing, Iowa, in 1852. He had married Sophia Smith, who had been living in Baraboo, Wis., and whose father, Isaac D. Smith, a native of the state of New York, came to Jeffer- son township at the same time, in the fall of 1869.
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The land on which the village was laid out was bought of William Robinson by William and R. P. Spencer, and was surveyed and recorded as a village plat. William Robinson built a warehouse for storing grain, and was for several years in that trade. In the same fall Mr. Hayes rented his store to John Robinson and Mr. Tartt, who opened it and continued in trade for several years. After that James took the store and ran it for about a year, when he closed out, which wound up merchandising here.
What the future of the village would have been but for an unfortunate dispute with the railroad company, is a matter for conjecture. The com- pany had started to construct its line, when a dispute arose between it and the village on the subject of damages, to which some of the citizens thought themselves entitled. The case went to the supreme court, and in 1873 the company finally built their tract by the water's edge, but erected no sta- tion. Instead of doing so, they started the rival village of New Albin, which for a few years had a rapid growth, absorbing what little life had been infused into Jefferson, which fell into a moribund condition. The latter place was in time honored by a water tank, put up for the company's own convenience. In the early eighties it had but a few residents, who were engaged mostly in fishing, some cultivating small gardens at the base of the bluffs. The fishing industry assumed considerable proportions, im- mense seines being used, and sometimes 50,000 pounds being taken at one haul. Indeed, there is a story, still vouched for by the older residents, that about Christmas, 1879, a haul of nearly 100,000 pounds was secured. The principal varieties of fish thus landed were sheepshead, white bass, buffalo, pickerel, pike, and often enormous catfish, weighing 40 or 50 pounds each. As to New Albin, after some ups and downs, it is now a place of considerable importance, and is patronized as a market town by the farmers of the adjacent territory.
As a proof that literary ambition was not lacking among the early settlers of Jefferson, and that even the higher flights of poetical composi- tion was sometimes attempted, even in regard in matters of a prosaic and practical kind, the following effusion, which was received by one of the early county auditors, E. W. Trask, is herewith reproduced from an earlier publication :
"Notice is hereby given, that Jefferson John,
On the 9th day of March, thereabouts or thereon, Was duly elected to an office of trust, And by law is equipped to rake in the dust That is coming or due to Jefferson Town, From a five hundred note to a dollar bill down. His oath and his bonds are duly on file, And ready for action in case he'd beguile The good town of Jefferson of its tin; John Murphy is treasurer, so be it, Amin." "Given under my hand, March's 31st day, And the very same eve I sent it away. A. D. 1880, at the gloaming or dark, Sic Semper Tyranis; M. Crowley, Town Clark."
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LA CRESCENT TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE
La Crescent is the most northeasterly township in Houston County, and contains about 27 sections. It is bounded on the north by Winona County, on the east by the Mississippi River, on the south by Hokah township, and on the west by Mound Prairie township. Just across the river lies the flourishing city and busy railroad center of La Crosse. From the Mississippi the bottom lands extend well back into the township. Pine Creek flows diagonally through a characteristic valley from the northwest corner, and empties into Target Lake, a body of water in the southeast corner, about three-quarters of a mile long and half as wide. The stream is fed almost exclusively by springs from the hillsides. In the south- western part of the township there is a high ridge extending from Pine Creek Valley to that of Root River, but with ravines penetrating it at various points. The best farming land is in the valleys, which are excep- tionally healthful. The ridges were settled later by German immigrants who found the strong clay soil capable of producing good crops.
The civilization of the township began with the coming of Peter Cam- eron in 1851. He was a native of New York who had come west at an early age, and had become a fur trader, for a time making his headquarters at Chicago, and later operating on the Mississippi. In 1842 he settled at La Crosse, where he did some lumbering and improving. Crossing the river in the spring of 1851, he built a large double log house in section 10, also acquiring 240 acres of land, and 300 acres more along the river. He did what he could to promote the building of a village, and in the spring of 1854 he and D. Richardson started a store in the Cameron house, putting in several hundred dollars' worth of goods, Mr. Richardson attending to the customers. In 1855 Mr. Cameron returned to La Crosse, where he died July 30, 1855, while erecting a saw mill. Mr. Cameron was a man of rest- less energy and vast conceptions, but had so many different interests that some of them perforce were left uncompleted at the time of his death. Among other things, it was his ambition to establish a city on the western bank of the river that should rival La Crosse, and even pass it in the race for supremacy, and to that end he began the construction of a canal from the river to the land available for a site. This canal began at the river in the lower part of section 13 and terminated near the center of section 14, at a point in Pine Creek where a fragmentary lake or slough makes well up to the first terrace. Though the lake is quite shoal in places, the bot- tom is soft, and it was thought that the passage of the steamers would deepen and preserve a channel. One steamer, 150 feet in length, was built in La Crosse, and launched, but owing to Mr. Cameron's death, the machin- ery was never put in, and the enterprise was abandoned.
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