USA > Minnesota > Otter Tail County > History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 11
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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
"Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Minnesota :
"Section I-That the county seat of Otter Tail county be and the same is hereby established at the town of Tordenskjold, in said county, situated on the southwest quarter of section number 32, township number 132, of range 41.
"Section 2-The acts of the commissioners and other officers of said county are hereby legalized. and said county is hereby detached from Doug- las county for judicial purposes.
"Section 3-This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage."
This act failed to include a provision for allowing the people of the county to vote on the question, and as a result it was rescinded by the next Legislature. However, before that time the commissioners had ordered a thousand-dollar court house and jail built at Tordenskjold, but the act of 1871, removing the county seat to Otter Tail City, became effective before any steps were taken to build.
ACT OF FEBRUARY 16, 1871.
As has just been stated, the act establishing the county seat at Tordensk- jold was unconstitutional because it did not provide for the submission of the question of the removal to the qualified voters of the county. The act, re-establishing the seat of justice at Otter Tail City, is as follows :
"An act to amend chapter ninety-four of the Special Laws of 1870, relating to the county seat of Otter Tail county.
"Whereas, By an act of the Legislature of the state of Minnesota, approved March 18, 1858, the county seat of Otter Tail county was estab- lished at Otter Tail City; and,
"Whereas, An act of the Legislature of the said state was passed Feb- ruary 28, 1870, establishing the county seat of said county at the town of Tordenskjold. in said county, and no provision having been made in said last-mentioned act for submitting said law to a vote of the electors of said county, as prescribed in the Constitution of this state, and no vote having been had thereon ; now, therefore,
"Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Minnesota :
"Section I-That section one of chapter ninety-four of the Special Laws of 1870 be and the same is hereby repealed.
"Section 2-That the county seat of said county of Otter Tail be and the same is hereby re-established and confirmed at Otter Tail City.
"Section 3-This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved, February 16, 1871."
The county seat was but fairly established at Otter Tail City when affairs in the county took a turn which was ultimately to cause the aspiring
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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
village not only to lose the seat of justice, but its very existence as well. The year prior to the location of the county seat in Otter Tail City the Northern Pacific Railroad had planned to extend its line through the county by way of the village, but when it came to getting the right of way it encountered violent opposition on the part of Thomas Cathcart, one of the largest landowners in that vicinity. In fact, the stubbornness of this man was undoubtedly the cause of the railroad leaving the village many miles from its line, and eventually resulted in the county seat being transferred to Fergus Falls. Within one year an act of the Legislature proposed the remo- val of the seat of justice to the latter place, and in a very short time Otter Tail City was as truly a deserted village as any Goldsmith ever dared to depict.
THE ACT OF MARCH 4, 1871.
The same Legislature which re-established the county seat at Otter Tail City passed an act (March 4, 1871), providing for the organization of a new county to be known by the name of Holcomb, with its county seat at Fergus Falls. It requires no stretch of the imagination to see why this second act was passed. Most of the people of the county lived nearer to Fergus Falls than to Otter Tail City, and were in favor of the organization of the new county provided that Fergus Falls should be its county seat. George B. Wright and Ernest Buse were undoubtedly the prime movers in the agitation to divide Otter Tail county and form the new county. The opposition centered at Otter Tail City and Clitherall. and E. E. Corliss was the chief spokesman for those opposed to the division. In fact, nearly all of the settlers east of range 41 opposed the division, among them being Marcus Shaw, county treasurer; William M. Corliss, clerk of the district court; Ole Jorgens, county auditor; William H. Beardsley, sheriff ; S. A. Beardsley, county coroner, and E. E. Corliss, county attorney. This proposed new county embraced all of the then existing Otter Tail county west of the line dividing ranges 40 and 41, and, in addition, the six town- ships of range 44, then a part of unorganized Wilkin county, and later a part of Otter Tail county. The complete act follows :
"An act to establish the county of Holcomb and provide for its organi- zation.
"Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Minnesota :
"Section I-That so much territory of the counties of Otter Tail and Wilkin as is embraced in the following boundaries, be and the same is hereby established, as the county of Holcomb: Beginning at the southeast corner of township 131 north, of range 41 west, and running thence north along the range line between ranges 40 and 41, to the northeast corner of township 137, of range 41; thence west along the line between townships
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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
137 and 138, to the northwest corner of township 137, range 43; thence south along the range line between ranges 43 and 44, to the southwest cor- ner of township 137, of range 43; thence west along the township line to the northwest corner of township 136, of range 44; thence south alon } the range line between ranges 44 and 45, to the southwest corner of township 131, of range 44; thence east along the township line between townships 130 and 131, to the place of beginning.
"Section 2-The name of the above included county shall be Holcomb, and the county seat of said county shall be at the village of Fergus Falls, on the northwest quarter of section 3, of township 132 north, of range 43 west.
"Section 3-At the time of giving notice of the next general election it shall be the duty of the officers in Otter Tail and Wilkins counties required by law to give notice of such general election, to give notice in like manner, that at said election a vote will be taken on the question establishing the county of Holcomb in accordance with the provisions of this act. At said election the voters in each of said counties in favor of establishing the county proposed in this act shall have distinctly written or printed on their ballots, 'For establishing the county of Holcomb,' and those opposed to the estab- lishing of said proposed county, 'Against establishing the county of Hol- comb.' The votes upon said question shall be canvassed in the same manner and returned to the same office by the judges of election of the several townships. as votes for county officers.
"Section 4-The county officers to whom the returns are made, in each of said counties, shall. within ten days after said election, canvass the votes returned for and against establishing the proposed county, and shall forth- with certify the result of such canvass to the governor, who, if it appears that a majority of the voters in said counties, present at said general elec- tion, and voting upon the question of establishing the county proposed in . this act, shall have voted in favor thereof, shall make proclamation thereof by causing to be published in two daily newspapers in the city of St. Paul, that the establishing of said county of Holcomb proposed by this act has been ratified by a majority of the voters of said counties.
"Section 5-That in case the establishing of the county proposed by this act shall be ratified by the voters of said counties as herein provided, the governor shall appoint three qualified electors of said county of Hol- comb as commissioners of said county, and the said commissioners shall, as soon as may be after their appointment, meet at the county seat and qualify. and enter upon the duties of their offices, and they shall hold their offices until the next general election occurring more than thirty days after their qualification and until their successors are elected and qualified.
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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
"Section 6-The county commissioners appointed and qualified accord- ing to the provisions of section five of this act, shall, at their first meeting. or at any meeting thereafter, appoint qualified persons to fill all the county office in said county, except clerk of the district court, who shall be appointed by the judge of said court, which persons, so appointed and having qualified. shall hold their offices until the next general election occurring more than thirty days after their appointment, and until their successors are elected and qualified.
"Section 7-All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act be and the same are hereby repealed.
"Section 8 -- This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved, March 4, 1871."
Pursuant to this act, an election was held and the result in Otter Tail county showed a majority of one hundred and forty-nine against the estab- lishment of the proposed county. The vote in the village of Fergus Falls showed two hundred and one for and only seven against the proposition.
While the vote in Wilkin county is not definitely known, it is certain that it voted by a large majority to detach range 44 from Wilkin county and make it a part of the proposed Holcomb county. However, the citizens of Otter Tail county who were anxious to make Fergus Falls a county seat were not to be denied as subsequent events were to prove.
THE TWO ACTS OF FEBRUARY 28, 1872.
(1) Proposing the removal of the county seat to Fergus Falls.
(2) Attaching range 44 to Otter Tail county.
The removal of the county seat from Otter Tail City to Fergus Falls by the legislative act of February 28, 1872, is largely due to the fact that it seemed certain at that time that a railroad would not pass through Otter Tail City. The Northern Pacific was built through the county and had missed the county seat by several miles, but still the Otter Tail City folks insisted that there was still a chance for them to get a railroad. They con- tended that the St. Vincent extension of the St. Paul & Pacific Railway must, under the terms of their land grant, go by way of Otter Tail City. However, any hopes they may have entertained in this direction were blasted when the Secretary of the Interior announced in January, 1872, that the road could comply with the terms of its grant if it built by way of Fergus Falls. This route would follow the provision in the grant which specified that the road was to be built through the county "At a point, at or near Otter Tail Lake." and that Fergus Falls was considered such a point.
Otter Tail county was represented in the lower house of the Legislature during the session of 1872 by Hon. E. E. Corliss, now the custodian of
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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
the state capitol. As soon as Mr. Corliss was convinced that Otter Tail City would not be reached by a railroad in the near future, he took a decisive step toward removing the county seat from Otter Tail City to Fergus Falls. In answer to an inquiry as to the steps in the removal, Mr. Corliss prepared the following statement :
"When it became known to me that the Secretary of the Interior had ruled that to build their road (that is the St. Paul & Pacific) via Fergus Falls complied with the terms of the grant, which was 'At a point, at or near Otter Tail Lake,' and that the company would build by Fergus Falls, then I went home from St. Paul to see what our friends in eastern Otter Tail and especially the persons above mentioned (referring to county officials) thought of the matter. When I laid the matter before them, all advised me to remove the county seat to Fergus Falls, which I did without ever speaking to George B. Wright, the owner of the townsite, or to anyone in Fergus Falls, or to anyone living nearer to it than Jorgens of Wall Lake. We, the former opponents of the division, would rather move the county seat to Fergus Falls than have the county divided. We knew we could not long hold the county seat at Otter Tail so far from any railroad." The Otter Tail City followers urged that the location of the ambitious village on the Red river was an altogether sufficient reason why the county seat should remain where it was. And it is very apparent that Corliss and his backers felt the sufficiency of the argument of the Otter Tail City advocates, as evi- denced by the second act passed on the same day. Corliss conceived the idea of offsetting the argument of those opposed to Fergus Falls on the ground of its location by detaching a tier of townships from unorganized Wilkin county and attaching them to Otter Tail county. This move would, in a measure at least, refute the charge that the village was in the extreme west- ern part of the county, while, at the same time, it would add a considerable population certain to vote in favor of the change of county seats.
Consequently, it appears that Mr. Corliss is not only responsible for the location of the county seat at Fergus Falls, but also for the attach- ment of range 44 to this county. The act providing for the removal of the county seat from Otter Tail City to Fergus Falls was as follows :
MOVING OF COUNTY SEAT TO FERGUS FALLS.
"Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Minnesota :
"Section I-The county seat of Otter Tail county is hereby removed from Otter Tail City to the village of Fergus Falls, in said county, and the same is hereby located upon the northwest quarter of section 3, township 132, range 43, as hereinafter provided.
"Section 2-At the time of giving notice of the next general election, it shall be the duty of the officers in said county required by law, to give
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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
notice in like manner, that at said election the question will be submitted to the electors of said county, as to whether this law shall be adopted.
"Section 3-At said election. the electors of said county in favor of the adoption of this law, shall have distinctly written or printed, or partly written and partly printed on their ballots, 'For removal of the county seat.' Those opposed to such adoption, the words, 'Against the removal of the county seat.' Such votes shall be received and canvassed at the same time, in the same manner, and returned to the same officers by the judges of elec- tion as votes for county officers.
"Section 4-The county canvassing board of said county to whom the returns of election are made, shall canvass the returns upon said question in the same manner and at the same time as returns for county officers, and the abstracts thereof shall be made out on one sheet, and signed and certified in the same manner as in the case of abstract votes for said officers, and shall be deposited in the county auditor's office immediately thereafter and a copy thereof duly certified by the said auditor forwarded by him to the seeretary of state, and the governor shall thereupon forthwith, if this law is adopted, make proclamation to that effect in such manner as he may deem advisable, and within sixty days thereafter all the officers who are required by law to hold their offices at the county seat of said county shall remove to and hold their office at said village of Fergus Falls.
"Section 5-All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.
"Section 6-Section I of this act shall take effect and be in force from and after the ratification hereof as aforesaid, and the other sections of this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved, February 28, 1872."
The vote on the question of removal was submitted to the qualified voters of the county at the October, 1872, election and Fergus Falls was declared the county seat by a majority of one hundred and fifty-four. The November, 1872, session of the grand jury met in the new county seat, and in this connection an interesting incident is related by G. A. Lindquist, one of the oldest citizens of the county and now a resident of Fergus Falls. About a month before the November meeting of the grand jury, Lindquist, who had been drawn for service, received notice to appear at the county seat at Otter Tail on November 10, 1872. for the regular session of the grand jury. At the appointed time, he, with two others, appeared at Otter Tail City and were then informed that the county seat was no longer there. but that it had been just removed to Fergus Falls.
The other act of February 28, 1872, provided for the attachment of certain townships of range 44 to Otter Tail county. It follows :
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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
RANGE 44 ATTACHED TO OTTER TAIL COUNTY.
"An act to change the county lines of Otter Tail county: Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Minnesota :
"Section 1-Townships 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 and 136, in range 44 west, are hereby detached from the county of Wilkin and the same hereby attached to and made a part of Otter Tail county, as hereinafter provided.
"Section 2-At the time of giving notice of the next general election it shall be the duty of the officers in Otter Tail county whose duties are to give notice of general elections to give notice in like manner that at said election a vote will be taken upon the question as to whether this law shall take effect. At said election the voters in said county in favor of the adoption of this law shall have distinctly written or printed or partly written and partly printed upon their ballots, 'For change of county lines,' and those opposed to the provision of this act, 'Against the change of county lines.' The votes upon said question shall be canvassed in the same manner and returned to the same officer by the judges of election, as votes for county officers.
"Section 3-The county officer to whom the returns are made shall canvass the votes upon said question in the same manner and at the same time as votes for county officers, and shall forthwith certify the result of such canvass to the governor, who, if it appear that a majority of the legal voters in said county have voted in favor of said law, shall make proclama- tion thereof. as he may deem advisable.
"Section 4-All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.
"Section 5-Section one of this act shall take effect and be in force from and after the ratification thereof as aforesaid, and the other sections shall take effect and be in force from and after their passage. Approved, February 28, 1872."
The vote on the addition of these six townships has not been found. but it is certain that it carried and it is reasonable to presume that it car- ried by a large majority. There was no good reason why the people of the county should vote against a proposition to increase the limits of the county and especially in view of the fact that much of the territory was excellent farming land. Within a year three townships-Norwegian Grove. Trondh- jem and Oscar-had been organized by the commissioners of Otter Tail county and if there was any suspicion that the attachment of six townships of range 44 was illegal or unconstitutional at the time no hint of it crept into the local papers.
Four and twenty years after the much discussed townships were atached to the county a singular circumstance arose. A man living in Oscar
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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
township actually defied the county to sell his land for taxes on the ground that he had never lived in Otter Tail county, that he was a resident of Wilkin county, and consequently not subject to the jurisdiction of the authori- ties of Otter Tail county. This case ( State of Minnesota v. Lars O. Hone- rud, 66 Minn. 32, and also in 68 N. W. 323) attracted wide attention at the time it was in the courts and many counties of the state rested easier after the final decision of the supreme court of the state had been handed down on September 18, 1896.
This interesting case may be briefly summed up as follows: In the list of delinquent taxes of Otter Tail county for the year 1893, there was included certain land in section 6, township 134 north, range 44 west, belong- ing to Lars O. Honerud. In answer to the application for judgment against his land for the delinquent taxes, Honerud appeared in court and denied its jurisdiction on the ground that the land was not within the terri- torial limits of Otter Tail county, but was. forsooth, a part of Wilkin county. The district court found that the land was a part of Otter Tail county, ordered judgment for the taxes, and. upon the application of Hone- rud, certified the matter to the supreme court of the state. The decision of the supreme court covers eight pages and sustains the decision of the infer- ior court in all points. The supreme court held that Wilkin county was not organized in 1872, when the act was passed attaching part of its territory to Otter Tail county, and that, therefore, the Legislature had the right to act as it did. Furthermore, since the county of Wilkin was not organized it could not have voted on the question of the cession of the territory in ques- tion, a point which had been advanced by the attorneys for Honerud. The contention that the law of 1872 was unconstitutional because it was not sub- mitted to the voters of Wilkin, falls to the ground when it is established that the said county was not organized. The lengthy decision closes by saying that "the law whereby townships 131 to 136, both inclusive, of range 44. were made a part of Otter Tail county, being valid, it follows that the defendant's (Honerud) land is subject to taxation in that county, and that the order for judgment for the taxes against it must be affirmed."
It must not be thought that this suit was backed by only one man, for it is certain that some citizens of Wilkin county were giving Honerud their moral if not financial support. Notwithstanding the lapse of more than twenty years. Honerud, or at least his attorneys, thought that there was a chance to prove unconstitutional this act of 1872, attaching part of range 44 to Otter Tail county. Honerud was a man of wealth and it was not through poverty that he allowed his taxes to become delinquent. Thus ended the last fight over the western limits of the county.
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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
ACT OF MARCH 10, 1873.
It was a bitter pill for Otter Tail City to swallow-this moving of the county seat from its quiet precincts to the bustling little hamlet of Fergus Falls. The saddest day the erstwhile county seat had ever known was the day when it was definitely announced that the grandeur of the little county seat was no more. But. like Fergus Falls in 1871, the deserted village was determined to assist in bringing about a division of the county. For the fifth successive year the Legislature was called upon to pass special legislation for Otter Tail county relative to a change in its territorial limits. This act of 1873 proposed to divide the county so that over one-third of the town- ships on the eastern side would be attached to Wadena county. These townships were Hobart, Gorman, Corliss, Butler, Paddock, Blowers, Home- stead, Pine Lake, Perham, Rush Lake, Otto, Newton. Bluffton, Compton, Deer Creek, Leaf Lake, Henning, Inman, Oak Valley, Woodside, Elmo. Folden, Effington, Parkers Prairie and Eastern. The act of March 10. 1873, which, by the way, was the last act to pass the Legislature providing for the division of Otter Tail county, reads as follows :
LAST EFFORT TO DIVIDE OTTER TAIL COUNTY.
"An act to detach certain territory from the county of Otter Tail, and attach the same to the county of Wadena. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Minnesota :
"Section 1-That all of that part and portion of the territory of the county of Otter Tail, as the same is now constituted, which lies east of range 39, and also townships 135, 136 and 137, of range 39, and township 137. of range 40, be and the same hereby is detached from the said county of Otter Tail and attached to the county of Wadena, and said above described terri- tory shall hereafter form and be a part of said county of Wadena.
"Section 2-At the time of giving notice of the next general election it shall be the duty of the officers of the said counties of Otter Tail and Wadena, required by law to give notice of the general election, to give notice in like manner that at such election a vote will be taken on the ques- tion of detaching the territory mentioned and described in section one of this act from the said county of Otter Tail, and attaching the same to the county of Wadena: At said election the legal voters in each and both of said coun- ties in favor of detaching said territory from the said county of Otter Tail and attaching the same to said county of Wadena. shall have distinctly written, or printed. or partly written and partly printed, on their ballots the words, 'In favor of detaching all of that part and portion of the territory of the county of Otter Tail, as the same is now constituted, which lies east of range 39, and also townships 135. 136 and 137, of range 39. and township
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