USA > Minnesota > Olmsted County > History of Olmsted County, Minnesota > Part 9
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J. P. Moulton settled in Saratoga, Winona county, in 1856, where he kept a store and a hotel. He came to Marion village in 1859. where he was a merchant and afterward landlord of the village hotel. He moved to Rochester and kept a shoe store several years, and served as an alderman. He was elected to the legislature and in 1876 was appointed receiver of the United States land office at Worthington, Minnesota, and became a resident of that place and a real-estate dealer. His health failing, he moved to California, and died at Los Angeles in 1893. He was of cordial manners, and very popular.
In the session of 1863 Zabina Handerson, of Salem, and J. P. Moulton, of Marion, were representatives in the legislature. Both Republicans. Mr. Moulton served two terms.
The chinchbug ( Blissus leucopterus), the fragrant, untamed cousin of the domestic bedbug, made itself manifest in the wheat fields as early as 1863, but was most destructive from 1878 to 1881, and has since been an occasional discouragement to grain growing. It has remained in the fields, dormant or destructive, according to the weather conditions of the season.
The following county officers were elected in the fall of 1863: Judge of probate, M. W. Fay; sheriff, Horace Loomis; treasurer, O. P. Whitcomb; register of deeds, L. R. Bliss; surveyor, A. J. Olds; county attorney, Lloyd Barber; court commissioner, M. W. Fay; county commissioners, William Carson, of High Forest, and F. Day. of Pleasant Grove-all Republicans. Mr. Carson served two terms.
Horace Loomis was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Ohio with his father's family in his youth. He came to Rochester in 1857 and worked at his trade of carriage-making about a year, when he became deputy to Sheriff Baker, serving four years, after which he was elected sheriff for three terms. (His father was sheriff for fifteen years in Ohio.) In 1870 he was appointed deputy warden in the State prison, where he was two years and a half. He was next landlord of the Bradley House in Rochester. After that
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he was for several years a horse trainer. He died in Rochester. As an officer he was most efficient, prompt and fearless, and a terror to the unruly, and thoroughly respected by the public.
Lloyd Barber came to Rochester in 1858, from the State of New York, where he received his legal education. He formed a partner- ship with Peter M. Tollert, from the same place, who came the same season, and they had a large and successful practice. He was, in the fall of 1864, elected judge of the district court for the Third district, which included Olmsted county. and held the office one term of six years, after which he removed, in 1874, to Winona for the practice of his profession, and is now living there.
William Carson settled on a farm near High Forest village at an early day and became a large land proprietor and money loaner. He was of fine business qualifications and highly respected.
In 1864 Capt. Abram Harkins was elected county auditor and served two terms.
The legislature of 1864 elected Col. O. P. Stearns United States senator, to fill out the term of Senator Daniel S. Norton, deceased.
In the session of 1864 Thomas H. Armstrong. of High Forest, Republican, was a representative in the legislature. He was re- elected to the session of 1865 and was made speaker of the house.
The Winona & St. Peter (now the Chicago & Northwestern) Railroad was built across the county from east to west in the sum- mer of 1864, reaching Rochester that fall. The conductor of the first through train was George Shannon, who, after years of that service, moved to Washington Territory, where he died several years ago.
In 1864 the county commissioners had the erection of a new court house commenced, the business of the county having out- grown the "old court house" on Broadway. The location of the new structure was the subject of a bitter controversy. Persons interested in property in the vicinity were urgent for its location alongside the old jail, the present site of Schuster's Brewery. The controversy was settled by locating it on the handsome lot of three acres in the addition to the city platted at that time by William Mccullough, a wealthy Rochester dry goods merchant. The build- ing, which was a very fine one for that time, was erected under the supervision of County Commissioner Hurlbut. It is a brick with stone trimmings, and with a narrow skirted figure of Justice on the dome. It has the lower story devoted to the county offices and the upper story a court room and anterooms. The upper part of the building was badly racked by the cyclone of 1883, and several alterations have been made from time to time, adapted to the changes in the times, notably a handsome reconstruction of the court room a few years ago. The original cost of the building was $32,000, and the sum had been saved from the tax levies of
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several years, so that no bonds or special tax was necessary for its payment. The new court house was finished and occupied in Janu- ary, 1867. It is scarcely large enough for present uses, and some board of commissioners of not many years hence may expect to wrestle with the problem of providing for an ampler and more modern county building. Counties, as surely as boys, outgrow their clothes.
The change from sowing grain by hand to the use of machinery took place in 1864 or 1865, when the seeder was brought into market and readily supplanted hand labor.
Corn planters came into use about the same time.
In the session of 1865 William Teachout, of Quincy, was a repre- sentative in the legislature. He was a farmer of much local promi- nence and was justice of the peace several years. He moved to Granite Falls, Minnesota, in 1876, and was living at Owatonna in 1879.
In 1865 the county commissioners were William D. Hurlbut, Amos Parks, William Carson and Richard S. Russell, of Pleasant Grove. Mr. Russell served two terms.
Richard S. Russell was born in London, England, and came to this country when a young man. He lived several years in New York City, removed to Pennsylvania, and came to Pleasant Grove township in 1858, where he was engaged in farming. He was held in much esteem by his neighbors for his high character, and was prominent in local affairs. He died in 1878.
In October, 1865, the county commissioners appointed Sanford Niles county superintendent of schools, the office having been estab- lished by the legislature. He was born in Connecticut. His parents removed to Indiana when he was seven years old, where he was edu- cated in the common schools and at an academy, and taught in the common schools. In 1856 he moved to Salem township and culti- vated a farm and taught in the country schools. He was re-elected county superintendent eleven consecutive times, holding the office twelve years. As, when he was appointed, roads were poor and stables not always to be had, he made the round of the county eighteen times on foot. He kept in his office a teachers' library, one of the first in Minnesota. He was foremost in the support of county institutes, and in 1871 he held at Rochester the first summer training school held in the State. He prepared a Teacher's Guide and Course of Study for district schools, the first in Minnesota. At the close of his service as county superintendent he established the Rochester English and Classical School. In 1885 he purchased the paper School Education, removed it to Minneapolis and was its editor till 1892. He was one of the committee of three ap- pointed to approve the school text-books selected under the Merrill Text-Book Law. He wrote a number of school text-books, in-lud
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ing a Geography of Minnesota; a series of Common School Geog- raphies; a History of the United States, and the History and Gov- ernment of Minnesota. The Common School Geographies were adopted and used by the State of Indiana for many years. He was for fifteen years a member of the Normal School Board. He was a man of thorough practical education and of the highest character, devoted his life to the cause of common-school education, and was in the front rank of institute instructors. He was the father of the common-school system of Olmsted county, which is one of the best in the State. He died in Minneapolis in July, 1905, and was buried at Rochester.
The first Teachers' Institute was held by Superintendent Niles in Rochester, November 13, 1865, and since then they and Teachers' Training Schools have been held every year and often twice a year, generally at Rochester, as the most central point, but sometimes at Eyota, Dover, Byron, Oronoco, High Forest, Chatfield and Marion. They have always been ably conducted and largely attended, and have contributed much to keeping up the high standard of the schools of the county.
In the fall of 1865 Alfred Blanchard, of Rochester, was elected clerk of the court; Reuben Reynolds, of Rochester, judge of Pro- bate; O. P. Stearns, of Rochester, county attorney; and Hector Galloway, of Rochester, coroner-all Republicans. Judge Reynolds served two terms.
Alfred Blanchard came to Rochester from Wisconsin and was for several years a blacksmith. He was also several years city justice. He moved to Missouri in 1876. .
That perpetual pest, the potato bug, or Colorado beetle (Doryph- ora decemlineata ), in its deliberate migration from the sandy plains of the West to the Atlantic seaside, reached Olmsted county, as nearly as can be ascertained, in 1865, and is, and probably always will be, still with us, making eternal vigilance the price of potatoes.
In the legislative session of 1866 Roderic D. Hathaway, of Pleas- ant Grove, and Benjamin F. Perry were representatives-both Republicans. Mr. Perry served two terms.
Roderic D. Hathaway was a native of the State of New York, born in 1826, and was reared a farmer. He was a graduate of the Albany State Normal School. He came to Wisconsin in 1850, where he was four years a county judge, and to Pleasant Grove in 1859. He served twice in the legislature and served the village and township as justice of the peace and in other capacities. He was postmaster for several years. In 1888 he removed to Austin, Min- nesota, where he died in 1895. He had unusual business capacity and was genial and popular.
In 1866 Thomas Hunter, of Rochester, was elected county sur- veyor. He came to Rochester in 1854. as a surveyor, and made the
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first surveys of the city. Most of the grades of the city were estab- lished by him, and for several years he was the only surveyor of the city. He was deputy postmaster under John W. Everstine in 1860 and 1861. He served several times as county and city surveyor. He enlisted in the Third Regiment and was promoted to first lieutenant of Company F. In the battle of Wood Lake, in charging the Sioux, he had the unique experience of escaping death by a bullet striking his cartridge box with such force as to flatten every cartridge in the box, but penetrating no farther. He returned to Rochester at the close of the war, followed his profession several years, and then removed to his early home at Weedsport, New York, in 1891, and died there in 1897. He was a quiet and estimable man, and left a kindly memory.
J. K. Randall was elected a county commissioner in 1866. He came to Eyota township about 1860 and became a prosperous farmer and highly esteemed. He was representative in the legisla- tive session of 1867. He died in 1870, aged forty-four years.
The Rochester market prices, as quoted September 1, 1866, were: Wheat, $1.40; corn, 60 cents; oats, 35 cents; butter, 25 cents; eggs, 121/2 cents; beef, per hundred, $5; lard, 20 to 25 cents; pota- toes, 40 cents; hides, 5 cents; wool, 30 to 40 cents.
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RAILROAD PROJECTS.
F ROM the first settlement of Rochester it was realized that its prosperity and that of the surrounding country would be dependent on its acquisition of one or more railroads. The completion to that point of the Winona & St. Peter railroad in 1864 established the city as the center of a large surrounding area and its benefits were undeniable, but the road had not been long in operation before its exclusive control over traffic was felt and resented, and a desire for one or more competitive lines was aroused which has lasted to this day, and for years the leading subject of local interest has been the acquisition of other roads, and nearly every year some project of that kind has been proposed, agitated and abandoned. In most cases the new lines were surveyed, but the money for their construction was not procured. All of these projects were advocated by citizens of Rochester and were expected to make it a great business center.
In 1867, less than three years after the entrance of the Winona & St. Peter road to Rochester, the Lake Pepin & Omaha Railway Company was organized with flattering prospects. In 1873 a propo- sition to aid the road by issuing bonds for $50,000 was carried in Rochester by a majority of eighty-eight, but the road was not built. Companies were also formed in 1867 to build the St. Paul & Rochester railroad and the Green Bay & Lake Pepin railway to run to Rochester.
In 1869 a branch of the Southern Minnesota road was projected from Lanesboro to Chatfield. and the township of Elmira voted by a majority of 31 out of 137 to issue $15,000 in bonds in aid of it, and later another issue of $5,000 was carried by a vote of nearly two to one. Orion township voted down a proposition for a $5,000 issue. The road was not built and the bonds were never called for.
The legislature of 1870 passed a law chartering the Lanesboro branch of the Southern Minnesota railroad to run by way of Chat- field, Rochester and Pine Island to St. Paul, Hastings or Farm- ington.
In 1871 the Davenport & St. Paul and the Dubuque & St. Paul railroad companies were organized. In 1872 Oronoco voted a bonus of $30,000 in bonds to the Davenport & St. Paul company. The same year High Forest township voted down a proposition to issue bonds to the same company by a vote of 90 to 18.
In January, 1871, a company of Rochester men was organized
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under the name of the St. Paul & Iowa Railroad Company to build a road to connect Rochester with Duluth by way of St. Paul. It ceased to exist.
In 1872 the Minneapolis, Rochester & La Crosse Railroad Com- pany was organized to build a narrow-gauge road.
By the year 1872 Rochester was the center of imaginary rail- roads, and the Rochester Post of March 23 of that year gave a list of ten proposed roads, namely, the Davenport & St. Paul, the Lake Pepin & Omaha, the Minneapolis, Rochester & La Crosse, the Dubuque & St. Paul, a branch of the Southern Minnesota, the Lanesboro branch road, the Chicago, Dubuque & St. Paul, the McGregor & St. Paul, the Dubuque, Rochester & Minneapolis and a branch of the Chicago & North-Western from Rochester to St. Paul. But of all those proposed roads the paper could speak hope- fully of only two, the Davenport & St. Paul and the Lake Pepin & Omaha, and neither of them was ever realized. After years of waiting, hoping and half trying for another road, partial relief was afforded by the Chicago & North-Western Company building three branch roads in the county in 1878.
The Rochester & Northern Minnesota road runs from Rochester to Zumbrota through Pine Island. For this branch Rochester paid a bonus to the company of $30,000 in bonds. Bonuses were also paid by Zumbrota and Pine Island. The township of New Haven, in Olmsted county, through which the road runs, was asked for a bonus of $10,000, but the proposition was voted down. A station was established at Douglass, on the edge of New Haven township, and another three miles from Oronoco.
It was the understanding of the communities along the line, and the expectation of those voting the bonuses, that this would be a line from St. Paul to Rochester, but when finished it extended no farther than from Rochester to Zumbrota, and afforded only a roundabout and unsatisfactory connection with St. Paul by way of Red Wing.
The so-called Rochester & Plainview road is a line running from Eyota to Plainview. A station was established at Viola. The township of Viola voted a bonus of $10,000 and Plainview $50,000 in bonds for the road.
The Chatfield railroad is a line running from Eyota to Chatfield, making with the Plainview road a continuous line from Plainview to Chatfield. The only station between Eyota and Chatfield is Plank's Crossing. The village of Chatfield and township of Elmira voted a bonus of $45,000 in bonds for the road. A proposition for Orion township to vote $5,000 in bonds for the road was voted down by 85 votes against 30 in its favor.
In 1879 the Midland narrow-gauge railroad was built from Wabasha to Zumbrota. It runs along the Zumbrota river through a wonderfully picturesque valley. When first proposed it was in-
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tended that the road should run to Rochester, but Zumbrota inter- ests got control of it and Rochester was left outside. It has recently been changed to a standard-gauge road.
In 1884 a road called the Decorah, Rochester & Red River rail- road was surveyed from Decorah, Iowa, to Rochester, by way of Spring Valley and Stewartville, and the question of issuing bonds for $56,000 for its construction was submitted to the voters of Rochester and carried by a majority of 775 in a vote of 845, and High Forest township voted 154 in favor to 28 against a proposi- tion to issue $10,000 in bonds. Marion township voted $10,000 in bonds by 79 to 26 votes. But the road was never built.
In the summer of 1889 the project was agitated of building a road from Wasioja to Rochester. A road had already been built from Eden, on the St. Paul & Kansas City road, a few miles north of Dodge Center, to Wasioja, and it was proposed to connect with that line a road called the Rochester & St. Paul railroad, running through Mantorville to this city. The new line would have been eighteen miles long, and it was proposed to aid it by voting $45,000 in bonds by the city of Rochester and $10,000 in bonds by Kalmar township and $5,000 by Cascade township. There was a good deal of opposition in Rochester to bonding the city to that amount, and a lively campaign of meetings and newspaper controversies was carried on with a great deal of personal animosity. About the time that the vote on bonds was proposed another project was started to build what was called the Soo road, to connect at Rhinelander, Wisconsin, with the Sioux, St. Marie & Southwestern railroad and run to Omaha, crossing the Mississippi at Alma, Wisconsin. This road wanted a bonus from Rochester of $35,000 in bonds. The principal advocates of the Rochester & St. Paul road were Dr. W. W. Mayo and Andrew Nelson, and of the Soo road Hiram T. Hor- ton and William D. Hurlbert. Elections were held in October on the Rochester and St. Paul proposition on Friday, the eighteenth, and on the Soo proposition on Saturday, the nineteenth. They resulted in Rochester in a majority of 252 votes in favor of the Rochester & St. Paul road out of a total of 726; in Kalmar a majority of 98 against out of 130 votes, and in Cascade a majority of 12 in favor out of 72 votes. In Rochester, the only place voting on the Soo bonus, there was a majority of 263 against the issue of the bonds out of 609 votes.
When the question of the issuing of the bonus voted by Rochester to the Rochester & St. Paul road came before the Common Council a majority of the council insisted on incorporating in the bonds promises that had been made by the railroad company that the proposed road should not be transferred to or controlled by the Chicago & North-Western road and other promises that had been made by the promoters of the road but were not incorporated in the election notice. This modification of the bonds was insisted on by
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Aldermen George D. Parnish, William H. Knapp, Henry R. Hymes, Milo Jacks and William W. Churchill, while Alderman Noah Wilkins was in favor of the railroad company, as was also Mayor Porter. The railroad company insisted on having bonds in the usual form with no such limitations, and presented to the city attorney, E. C. Gettie, such bonds and demanded that they should be executed by the mayor and clerk. The council by the vote of all but Alderman Wilkins refused to approve the· bonds and in- structed the clerk to withhold them until further instructions from the council. While the matter was thus hung up the bonds were signed by Mayor Porter and Clerk Getter and deposited in escrow with Mayor Smith, of St. Paul, as had been provided in the election notice. On hearing of that action the council, except Alderman Wilkins, voted instructing the city attorney, Royal H. Gove, to demand the bonds from Mayor Smith and cancel them, or in case of his refusal to bring suit at law for their recovery. This action making the bonds worthless in the market caused the railroad com- pany to give up the fight. Mayor Smith, who was perfectly neutral, returned the bonds and the effort of Rochester to get the stub road ended as had all other efforts to secure opposition to the Chicago & North-Western road-in failure.
The refusal of Rochester to vote the bonus to the Soo road ended that project and thus another north and south railroad project "went a-glimmering."
An attempt was made in the fall of 1890 to revive the project of building this railroad from Wasioja to Rochester, and a proposi- tion was again submitted to the voters of Rochester to issue $45,000 in bonds in aid of the road. It was voted down by a majority of 368 out of a total vote of 936.
The Duluth, Red Wing & Southern railroad was agitated and surveyed in 1887 and 1888. It was at first proposed that it should run from Red Wing to Albert Lea by way of Rochester, and high hopes were entertained of getting it here, but it was built by way of Zumbrota and again Rochester was a disappointed community. The history of Rochester projects for obtaining railroads has been a record of failures.
While Rochester had been grasping after elusive railroads, one of actual promise for the county, if not for Rochester, was built. The scheme of running a railroad from Winona to Omaha was devised in the former city and pushed through actual completion in 1890 and 1891. It was called the Winona & Southwestern railroad and ran by a tortuous course from Winona through the bluffs to St. Charles and from there parallel with the Chicago & North- Western road through Dover, and from that point southwesterly across Olmsted county to Spring Valley. Rochester was anxious for the road and would no doubt have voted a liberal bonus for its construction through that city, and for a while the company seemed
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likely to build it there, but the foolish fear of the Winona pro- moters of the road that Rochester might draw trade away from the town on the river prevailed and when built it was run within twelve miles, but no nearer.
Bonuses were asked for and voted. Six thousand dollars in bonds in aid of the road was voted by Dover township, the vote being 137 for to 79 against. In Marion township the proposition for issuing bonds for $4,500 was defeated, the vote being 51 for to 79 against it. In Pleasant Grove township the vote on issuing $3,000 in bonds was 136 for to 51 against. In High Forest township the vote on issuing $10,000 in bonds was 151 for and 59 against. In Elmira township the vote on issuing $5,000 in bonds was a tie, there being IIO votes for and the same number against the issue. That vote destroyed the hope that Chatfield had of the road running to that place.
The road as built runs diagonally in a southwesterly direction through the township of Dover and Eyota, across the southwest corner of Marion township and the northwest corner of Pleasant Grove and through the center of High Forest township to the south line of the county. Its route in this county is through one of the best farming districts in the state.
The building of the road changed the geography of the southern part of the county. New stations were established and small towns started. Near the southeast corner of Eyota township is Laird; Predmore is in the southeast corner of Marion township; Simpson is a thrifty village near the northeast corner of Pleasant Grove township. One of the most important results of the building of the road was the development of Stewartville, which from a village consisting of but little else than a good mill in the center of a rich farming neighborhood has grown into a flourishing and pretty town of nearly a thousand population, with business houses, residences and other improvements of much better average grade than would be expected in a place of the size. The skipping of Rochester and building up of Stewartville was at first an apparent disadvantage to the central city by drawing away the trade of the rich farmers tributary to the latter town, but in the lapse of time Rochester has got its full share of the added prosperity. and while the wealth and prosperity of the county has been greatly increased by Stewartville's growth, we are inclined to believe that from its central location Rochester has also benefited by that development. It certainly has not been appreciably injured by the growth of its neighbor.
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