USA > Minnesota > Morrison County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 12
USA > Minnesota > Todd County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 12
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MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
were swung off of one scaffold, in the presence of a large concourse of people. The rest of the murderers were imprisoned until spring, then taken to Davenport, Iowa, where they were confined a few months, after which they were removed to a reservation on the Missouri river and set at liberty. Thus ended the last Indian outbreak in Minnesota, and settlers then com- menced coming back to all of the counties that had been deserted, including parts of Morrison and all of Todd county.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
Concerning those who were residents of Morrison county at the break- ing out of the Spanish-American War in April, 1898, who enlisted at their country's call, there is but little information now to be had. Indeed there were only a few who were finally mustered into the United States serwice. As near as can be learned, the list included these : Otto Varner. Will Lamay, Harry W. Donovan, Chris Christianson, Antt, Matt and Leo Fishback, and Young Virnig. But few of these are still residing in the county at this time, and several are deceased, including young Christianson.
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CHAPTER XV.
PHYSICIANS OF MORRISON COUNTY.
In times of health and bodily vigor, we sometimes speak lightly of the "family doctor"; but not so in times of sickness, when the cheek is hectic with burning fever, and life is held as if by a slender thread. Ever since the days of Galen, in all civilized portions of the world men and women have believed in medicine and doctors. Some give them too intich credit and others do not give them enough. The fact is, medicine is a science, and he or she who is best educated and has had most experience in the science is best fitted to treat diseases. The profession is alongside the other honorable callings among men. With the advance of other sciences, the medical fraternity is keeping pace with the world of new and more rational thought. There are excellent, skilful physicians in all parts of the land, and though in this fraternity, as in all others, there are those practicing who are not qualified and should not be allowed to take the life ' of human-kind into their care and keeping. Yet, on the whole. the physi- cians of today rank equally with their fellow-workers in any of the other spheres of human activities. Especially in surgery has the world moved on rapidly in its recent strides. Operations once called impossible are now easily performed. The world is now filling up with splendid hospitals, wherein thousands of lives are saved, and where many bodily deformities and ailments are remedied.
It goes without saying that in Morrison county the people have had their share of good and bad physicians, but they have averaged with their profession elsewhere. There are "old schools" and "new schools" in med- ical practice, as well as in religious sects, but all are greatly improved. in later decades, over the old saddle-bag practice of fifty and eighty years ago.
Among the earliest physicians who practiced in Morrison county were Doctors Smith, Jordon and Metcalf, who were in Little Falls as resident physicians in 1856. It is said that all were quite eminent in their profes- sion, but all left within three years after arriving, probably on account of
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not having sufficient practice to keep them here longer. The county had but few residents at that date and people, as a general rule, were young, strong and seldom ill. Their habits of life, the fresh air and non-heated sleeping and living rooms, had something to do with the case. But when "civilized life" really set in, Morrison county needed its share of doctors, and then it was that they made their appearance.
After the three physicians named above had left the county, those need- ing medical attention had to go to Ft. Ripley, up in the edge of Crow Wing county, for a doctor. Dr. E. E. Braun, who had served as army physician and surgeon at Ft. Ripley up to 1866, his time having then expired, located at Little Falls, from which place he had quite a practice, even while con- nected with the military post at the old fort. He was a good, careful, tender and well-read physician. He died of a tumor on the right thigh, which growth weighed fifty-two pounds.
The next physician in Little Falls was Dr. E. Fletcher, who remained three years. He was succeeded by Dr. A. Guernon, who came here from St. Paul. He married a daughter of Doctor Braun and continued in med- ical practice here from 1872, being still an honored physician in 1876, as will be seen by reference to some historic items found among the writings of County Historian Nathan Richardson.
It was in 1875 when Dr. J. O. Simmons, the first homeopathic physi- cian, entered this county. One of the first physicians in the county (some authorities say he practiced first of all) was Doctor Lewis, who came in with Rev. Frederick Ayer and located at Belle Prairie. He died and was first buried there, but was subsequently reinterred at Little Falls.
In an interview with an old resident of Little Falls, it is learned that since 1882 the physicians who practiced here in the eighties and nineties were as follow: Doctor Simmons; Doctor Guernon : Dr. J. A. Macmannis, of Ohio, who died at a St. Cloud hospital in April, 1886: Dr. G. M. A. Fortier, who arrived from Canada in 1884 and is still practicing; Dr. J. C. Buchanan, of Montreal, Canada, was here two or three years, about 1885. and located at Wadena, Minnesota; Dr. O. C. Trace, who came in 1890, moved to Clear Lake, Minnesota, in 1909: Dr. Will Tupper came in about 1885, remained until 1888 and located at Minneapolis, where, at last accounts, he was still practicing the profession ; Dr. Paquin (eclectic school) came about 1889 and in 1896 moved away and died, having practiced at Minneapolis for a time: he was buried at Little Falls. He was a soldier of the Civil War and highly respected both as physician and citizen.
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LIST OF REGISTERED PHYSICIANS.
The subjoined is a list of the various physicians who have from time to time registered as being competent, under the board of state medical examiners, to practice, and did practice in Morrison county since such law went into effect early in the eighties: C. Johnson, 1883; George C. Buch- anan, of Stearns county. 1883; William C. Cuff, St. Paul, 1887; William Davidson Rea, of Hennepin county, 1898; T. S. Schweiger, of Morrison county, 1904; Alexander McLean Watson, 1905; Martin A. Nelson, 1894; A. J. McMannis, of Ohio, 1883; G. M. A. Fortier, of Canada, 1883; .A. Guernon, Canada, 1884; James W. Barnard, of Todd county, graduate of Michigan University, 1883; James Lonsdale, Rush Medical College. here in 1884; William G. Tupper, Goodhue county, University of Minne- sota, here in 1886; John H. Kinney, Miami Medical College, 1876, came here in 1883; E. Boek, University of New York City, 1869, came here in 1887; H. W. Wells (homeopath), Redwood, Minnesota, 1887; J. G. Hous- ton, Anoka, Western Reserve Medical College, Ohio, 1874, and here in 1884; Cyril O. Paquin, Grant county, medical department Iowa University. 1872; here in 1883; Noe Dumont, Stearns county, came from Canada and registered here in 1887; Joseph C. R. Charest, of Canada, University of Victory, 1884, and here in 1885; J. G. Millspaugh, here in 1893: A. A. Noyes, Keokuk Medical College, Iowa, 1850, here in 1883; S. Harvey Cor- rigan, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, here in the nineties; Edward Seqin, Ramsey county, here 1900; Erastus Y. Arnold, Polk county, of Rush Med- ical College, Chicago, 1879, here 1883; John Edmund Darrow (homeo- pathic), here in 1898; Henry P. Richard, here in 1900; Elmer E. Hall, Washington, Maine, here in 1902; Norman W. Chance, 1898; Edward Charles Beer, province of Ontario, 1903: John B. Holst, Goodhue county, here 1895; Claude F. Holst, Hennepin county, here 1901 ; Charles E. Bry- ant, of Cleveland, Minnesota, here 1902; E. E. Schafer, Grey Eagle, 1902; Otis J. Brown, Goodhue county, Minnesota, medical department of West- ern Reserve College, Ohio, 1882, registered here in 1886; George McCol- lough, Ramsey county, here in 1904; Lemuel M. Roberts, Crow Wing county, Minnesota, Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, 1883. here in 1885; Orville C. Trace, Benton county, University of Michigan, here in 1884; John L. Landry, Crow Wing county, came from Canada, located here 1884: William J. Warren, Hennepin county, here in 1897; Clement A. Westhoelter, Wright county, here in 1896; Robert Wilson Campbell,
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MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Hennepin county, 1905; Edward Louis Fortier, of Morrison county, admitted here 1908; Samuel Graham Knight, of Delaware, 1910; James Davidson, here in 1892; Arthur M. Wooster, 1911; Raymond T. Healy, 1909; S. B. Newell, here in 1883; Eugene W. Young, Hennepin county, 1896; Joseph Gumper, Nebraska, here in 1909; C. L. Hughes, here in 1910; Irving George Wiltrout, St. Croix county, Wisconsin, here in 1912.
PRESENT PHYSICIANS.
The following is a list of the physicians practicing in the county at the present time-1915-with possibly a few more in some of the small vil- lages: At Motley, George McCollough; at Royalton, A. W. Watson; at Pierz, E. H. Kerkhoff and R. T. Healey; at Swanville, I. G. Wiltrout; at Little Falls, Doctors G. M. A. Fortier and son, E. L. Fortier (the elder came to Little Falls about 1880), O. J. Brown, L. M. Roberts (homeo- pathic), J. B. and C. F. Holst, N. Dumont, N. W. Chance and J. G. Mills- paugh.
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CHAPTER XVI.
COMING OF THE RAILROADS.
Perhaps no state in the Union has been more advanced by the construc- tion of steam railways than Minnesota. In May, 1857, Congress gave Minnesota, then still a territory, a magnificent grant of about nine million acres of land, to aid in the construction of several projected trunk lines through her bounds. The roads specified were: From Stillwater, via St. Paul and St. Anthony Falls, to Big Stone lake, with a branch via St. Cloud and Crow Wing, to the navigable waters of the Red River of the North; from St. Paul and St. Anthony, via Minneapolis, to a point on Big Stone lake, and other lesser lines. An extra session of the legislature was con- vened in June, 1857, to accept the land grant and devise some means of constructing these railroads.
The idea of a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans was openly discussed as early as 1837, by Dr. Hartwell Carver, who memorial- ized Congress on the subject. In 1845 Asa Whitney evolved a plan for the northern route. He was called a visionary swindler, but he went ahead for all that, and made a preliminary survey from Prairie du Chien as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Josiah Perham, afterward first president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in 1857 projected a line from Maine to Puget Sound, to be known as the People's Pacific Railroad, and obtained a charter from the Maine Legislature, but Thaddeus Stevens talked him out of the scheme, though he agreed to aid him in securing a bill for the construction of what is now known as the Northern Pacific route. This bill passed both houses of Congress and was signed by Presi- dent Lincoln, July 2, 1864. The first permanent officers were: Josiah Per- ham, president ; Willard Sear, vice-president; Abiel Abbott, secretary: J. S. Withington, treasurer.
The first land grant gave six sections to the mile, but in 1864 the grant was extended to ten sections per mile, taking the odd-numbered sec- tions for ten miles on each side of the right-of-way, and reserving the odd sections in the next ten miles to make up the deficiency where the odd sec-
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tions of land on the first ten miles had previously been sold. By this con- dition nearly all the odd sections in Morrison county were held to fill the railroad grant.
After the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company had forfeited their rights to this grant, the Legislature of Minnesota, by an act approved in March, 1862, turned it over to the St. Paul & Pacific Company. This com- pany completed the line of road from St. Paul to Sauk Rapids, where it stopped for several years. In 1871 the company commenced this line to Brainerd, to connect with the Northern Pacific, continuing the effort into 1872, when the grading was nearly completed and about three miles of track laid south from Brainerd. On the failure of Jay Cooke & Company, of New York, the work was stopped, and was never resumed by the same company. After failing to fulfill a number of promises looking to a com- pletion of the road, the Legislature, by an act approved March 1, 1877, declared the right of the St. Paul & Pacific Company to build the line from Sauk Rapids to Brainerd forfeited, with all aid appointed for its construc- tion. The same act specified the conditions on which any other company might build the road and enjoy the emoluments arising from the land grant. One section of that act provided that persons who had settled upon any portion of the land of the grant, and who resided upon the same at the time of the passage of the bill, should have the right to enter their claims under the homestead act or pre-emption laws. Under this provision, two hundred and twenty-five claims were filed in the governor's office in St. Paul, one hundred and fifty-eight of which were allowed; and those who for any cause were not entitled to enter lands they claimed, and had improved them, were allowed to purchase them of the railroad company at government price. On May 2, 1877, the Western Railroad of Minnesota informed the governor of the state that it was ready to construct the road in accordance with the terms named in the act of March 1, 1877, and, on receiving his approval, commenced work and completed the road in the month of November of that year, establishing three stations in this county, one at Royalton, one at Little Falls and one at Belle Prairie, since which time the road has been in active operation.
The Little Falls & Dakota railroad, a line leading from Little Falls westward, by the way of Sauk Center, Glenwood and Morrison, to Brown's Valley, on the western border of the state, was projected in 1872. The Legislature of the state passed an act in the latter part of that year, author- izing the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company to construct this line of road as a branch line. It failed to build the road in the specified time, and
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no further action was taken until in the autumn of 1878, when a conven- tion was called to meet at Sauk Center on January 22, 1879. On the day following a company, called the Little Falls & Dakota Railroad Company, was organized, with J. G. Whittemore, of Glenwood, president; N. Rich- ardson, of Little Falls, vice-president; E. P. Barnum, of Sauk Center, sec- retary, and J. M. Moore, of Morrison, treasurer. By special legislation, all the towns and counties along the line, except Morrison county, submitted the proposition for aid in construction, at the fall election, in November, 1879, which election authorized the issuing of bonds. The amount asked was two hundred thousand dollars. The amount to be raised by Morrison county was thirty-five thousand dollars. The following spring Morrison county decided to issue bonds by a majority vote of seventy-five. A par- tial survey of the line was effected during the fall of 1879. The same com- pany reorganized on September 17, 1879, at which time Hon. William Crooks, of St. Paul, was chosen president; Charles A. De Graff, of Janes- ville, vice-president; E. P. Barnum, of Sauk Center, secretary, and L. E. Reed, of St. Paul, treasurer. By the energy of the president, arrangements were made with capitalists whereby the building of the road was assured. In accordance with the contract, work must be commenced prior to July 1, 1880. In obedience to this requirement ground was broken on this road, at Little Falls, June 25, 1880.
The above lines of railroad are now all included within the Northern Pacific system, and are the only railroads within Morrison county, except the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie line, which runs from Duluth southwest, through the counties between there and Morrison county. It enters the last named in the central eastern portion and continues to its Dakota line, forming junction at Brooten. It crosses the Mississippi between Royalton and Little Falls. Its title is abbreviated to the "Soo" railroad. The original idea of such a railway system was conceived by the brain of State Senator W. H. C. Folsom, of the Minnesota Legislature, who intro- duced a bill in the Legislature in 1877; the same was passed and sent on to Washington in way of a memorial to Congress, which body was asked to make a right-of-way and land grant for the purpose of constructing such a railroad, the same to run from St. Paul and Minneapolis to Sault Ste. Maric falls. Its object was to shorten the route by rail from Minnesota. Dakota and Wisconsin to the scaboard of the Atlantic ocean, thus giving greater and better facilities for shipping grain, coal and lumber. It really shortened the route to the Atlantic about three hundred miles. Congress looked with much favor on the proposition, but nothing was effected in the
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matter, practically, until September 12, 1883, when the road was incorpo- rated in both Minnesota and Wisconsin by W. D. Washburn and others at Minneapolis, the title being Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Rail- road Company.
The road was completed to the "Soo" in December, 1887, and there connected with the Canadian Pacific. Its total length between points named is about two hundred and twenty-five miles. By using this route, six hun- dred and twenty-six miles transportation is saved in shipping to Liverpool via Montreal, instead of by the former route via Chicago and New York.
RAILROAD MILEAGE IN COUNTY.
The present mileage of railroads within Morrison county is about as follows: The main line and branches of the Northern Pacific railroad have sixty miles and the "Soo" line has thirty-six miles, making a total of main line tracks within Morrison county of ninety-six miles.
CHAPTER XVII.
TOWNSHIPS OF MORRISON COUNTY.
BELLE PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP.
As now constituted, Belle Prairie township comprises all of township 41, range 31, and all that part of range 32 east of the Mississippi river in Morrison county. Originally it extended from the river through to Mille Lacs county, and then contained more than 153,000 acres. It took on its present boundaries prior to 1886, in which, in 1910, there was a population of eight hundred and eighty-six. In 1880 it was described thus: "A strip of prairie, varying from one and a half to two and a half miles in width, skirts the river, back of which the surface is more rolling, and in places quite broken. Progressing eastward, heavy timber appears, mostly of the hardwood varieties, except in the north and eastern parts, where there is considerable timber."
A portion of this township was included in the Ft. Ripley reservation until the spring of 1878, when it was thrown open to settlers. Frank How- ard obtained permission from the war department to open a farm on sec- tion 3, in 1858, and availed himself of the privilege that year. This was but a short distance from the fort, and there he remained until 1862.
SETTLEMENT.
Belle Prairie township was settled first by that faithful Congregational missionary, Rev. Frederick Ayer, a native of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He immigrated to this point in 1848 and established an Indian school, which was also attended for a time by white children. The Indians there at that time were of the Winnebago tribe, a high class of Indians, who soon dressed and followed other customs of the white race.
Harrison Fletcher made a claim in section 6, of township 41, range 31,
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MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
remained a number of years and moved to Minneapolis. In 1851 Asher Adams settled in section I and died there in 1864. Dr. William Lewis settled near the men above named in 1851 and remained several years. Prominent among those who followed those mentioned were O. A. Coe, F. J. Farrand and T. Hamilton. Anton Bisson came in 1853, being the first French Canadian to locate in the township. He was soon followed by others of his countrymen, who made up the principal settlement in the eighties and even later.
The first death in this township was a son of Frederick Ayer, who died on August 6, 1849. The first marriage was Benjamin Fletcher and Miss Jane Forbes, in either 1852 or 1853.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.
Belle Prairie was organized by the county commissioners on March 25, 1859, and the first officers appointed were as follow: F. Ayer, supervisor; S. T. Hamilton, justice of the peace; E. Taylor, clerk. The first election was held on April 5, when the following officers were elected: Supervisors, J. E. Aimot, chairman; F. Ayer and T. Bellefeialle; justices of the peace, William Lewis and J. E. Aimot; clerk, E. Taylor; assessor, D. Mason ; collector, S. T. Hamilton ; constables, D. Mason and H. Houde; road over- seer, O. A. Coe.
VILLAGES.
Belle Prairie township has had two hamlets within its borders, Gravel- ville and Belle Prairie. The former was effected by the claim taken in 1876 by Charles Gravel, on Platte river, in the southeastern portion of the town- ship, where a grist and saw-mill was soon put in operation. There had also been a saw-mill at the old mission as early as 1855, operated by a mill- ing company, who later sold to F. Ayer, but it was later removed. A gen- eral store was opened at Gravelville in the seventies and was doing a good business in the eighties.
Belle Prairie, the seat of the Catholic school and church, is also a good small trading place, with a population of about twenty-five persons. Among the persons who had lived, or were living, within the township in 1881 may be recalled : Frederick Ayer, Lyman W. Ayer, Michael Aroux, Albert Barbeau, G. Bisson, John W. Ball, Anton Bisson, Felix Baistien, O. A. Coe, A. B. Coe, Moses E. Coe, Onesimus Chandonnet, John Clark, Joseph
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Doucet, John Demars, Cyriac Du Fort, Rev. J. Fortier, F. J. Ferrand, N. Gravel, Charles Gravel, F. X. Goulet, William Harrison, O. King, George G. Kimball, James F. Kimball, Michael Ladoux, Joseph Ladoux, John B. Lafond, Edward W. Malburn, David Morin, Charles Pelkey, Samuel Trebby and Thomas M. Wilcox.
MOTLEY TOWNSHIP.
Motley is the extreme northwestern township in Morrison county and is one of its smallest subdivisions. It comprises only about sixteen sec- tions of land, on the south and west side of the Mississippi, in township 133, range 31 west. Originally it belonged to Green Prairie, but was detached and then extended north from the north line of township 131, but in 1895 was cut down to its present limits. It was organized in 1879, in the spring of which year an election was held and the first officers chosen as follow : H. B. Morrison, chairman; Frank Weston and J. A. McMillen, supervisors ; H. Hawkins, clerk; J. R. McMillen, assessor, and H. B. Morrison, treas- urer. The township was given its present boundaries in 1893.
But little is now to be learned of its early settlers, most of whom have passed away. The list that is on record includes many who settled in what was originally Motley, but now within Scanda Valley and adjoining town- ships, but will be here inserted, for their names should not be lost sight of in the annals of the county. They included these: Walter H. Benson, of Vermont ; Owen Davis, of Ohio; Henry Hawkins, of Canada; Peter Knud- son, of Danish parentage; Henry B. Morrison, of Vermont; S. A. Mc- Millen, of Ohio; David J. Wilson, of New York state: Franklin L. Wilson, of Illinois, and Frank Weston, of Maine.
MOTLEY VILLAGE.
This sprightly village is in the extreme northwest corner of the town- ship and is a station point on the Northern Pacific railroad. It was, when first established, the only station in Morrison county on this division, and enjoyed a large trade, although there were few settlers within several miles of it. The position was most favorable for distributing lumber and lumber camp supplies. A station and large freight house were immediately erected. Grain was bought here and shipped as soon as the station was ready to
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receive it. It was hauled many miles and dumped into the freight cars, before the building of elevators. The first elevator was completed in 1874, by Chandler, Fisher & Waite, of Long Prairie. Another was erected in 1879 by Barnes & McGill.
Motley village was platted, originally, by the Lake Superior & Puget Sound Company. The oldest settler here was Calvin Priestly, who came for the railroad company in the autumn of 1872. No extended settlement was effected until the advent of H. B. Morrison. A postoffice was estab- lished in 1874, with William Johnson as postmaster.
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