History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 59

Author: John W. Mason
Publication date: 1916
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 765

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Into Dane Prairie moved a few families during the summer. Most of them were Danes and settled largely on the eastern side of Wall lake. My good friend, Christian Hansen, with his large family was one of them.

I was enthusiastically pleased with the location of my claim and the surrounding country, with the beautiful lakes, the park-like timber bodies around me, and inside, the waving meadows and rich prairies. The first summer on the claim I spent in hard work, together with my hired man, in cutting and putting up hay for my cattle and in building shelter for them and a shanty for ourselves. The other work was breaking prairie for the future grain field.

We had to endure a great many inconveniences. There was not a road of a bridge in the county and the nearest flour-mill was in Alexandria, Douglas county. The nearest railroad station was at St. Cloud. We had no postoffice nearer than Clitherall or Evansville, Douglas county. To relieve this inconvenience, we organized a mail-carrying club. Each mem-

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ber agree to get our mail by turn, at the Clitherall postoffice and leave it at the house of Jeppe Mortensen, Dane Prairie. In this way we got mail once a week.

Until about the middle of October I was too busy to explore the country about us, but I had plats of many of the surrounding townships. On the Fergus Falls plat was a miniature map of the village of Fergus Falls. This little map made me believe Fergus Falls was a real village, and I planned to see it and get acquainted with my neighbors.

One day during the latter part of October ( 1869), I put my gun on my shoulder and started to follow Red river down. Nearly all the distance from my home to about a half mile east of the present city limit was a con- tinued entanglement of abandoned Indian tents. At this point I began to look about, expecting to see some of the buildings in Fergus Falls. I saw none, and walked on. I passed the falls, but not seeing a cataract, I con- tinued to walk until I should find it and the village. After walking con- siderably farther. I found the abandoned home of the Wright family at the fording place on the government road from St. Paul to Ft. Abercrombie. Here I rested a short time and then started on my return walk towards my home, where I arrived after dark, tired and disappointed.

We, the few settlers in Aurdal, had very little time for social gather- ings, and when we did meet very little was said about county organization, if it was mentioned. It was not immediately desired because it would force taxation and all were poor and feared expenses.

Unexpectedly, one evening on one of the first days of November, 1869, three men came to our hut. Two of them were acquaintances of long standing, one being Nels E. Nelson, of Aurdal, and the other Ole Peterson, of Glenwood, at that time county treasurer of Pope county. The third man was from St. Olaf, Otter Tail county. I will omit his name-it does not contribute to pleasant memories. Mr. Peterson's visit was not in the interest of Otter Tail county politics. The Otter Tail county men said they came to make me run for county auditor. I said I had never heard of Otter Tail county being organized. They said a few men in St. Olaf and Clitherall had petitioned the governor for an order creating a few election precincts and the appointment of three county commissioners and a county auditor to direct and receive reports of the election. They said further that the instigators of the county organization had held a political convention and nominated a full set of county officers. They did not want the candidate for county auditor and urged me to run independently. It was all new to me; I could not understand how I could be elected as this was less than three days before election. We conversed on the proposition nearly a whole night, and finally I consented.

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The outcome of it was that I was elected, and a few days after election I met with the temporary county commissioners and the auditor, Mr. Whit- ing. Mr. Whiting declared he had never sought the office and did not want to serve, and advised the county commissioners to appoint me for the time till my office term was to commence. The board acted on his advice and I accepted in order to get the organization into running condition. The county did not own a sheet of paper or a dollar in the treasury, and in fact there was not a qualified treasurer acting. I started at once negotations with the St. Paul Press Company for county records and assessment blanks. I received the ordered supply of tax blanks for the next spring for distribu- tion among the assessors and the blank county records came all satisfactory according to agreement. The elected county officers qualified in March, 1870, and thereby the county organization was perfected, and the modest machine in working order.

During the summer of 1870 the Northern Pacific Railroad Company sent out surveyors to survey a prospective route for the road. They sur- veyed through Otter Tail City, and on between Otter Tail and Rush lakes. We ordinary people supposed that the road would be built along this sur- vey and that the county seat would therefore be permanently located at Otter Tail City, but we were doomed to disappointment. The railroad com- pany demanded a right of way through the land of one Thomas Cathcart, one of the largest landowners in that part of the county, and the company furthermore asked that Cathcart donate them a half interest in all his land in and about Otter Tail City. Cathcart refused point blank. He supposed that the company would be obliged to build through his land in order to pass between the lakes, Otter Tail and Rush. But the railroad company fooled him. It found a passable route northeast of Rush lake and abandoned the Otter Tail City survey. This statement of Cathcart's stubborn refusal was told me by business men of Otter Tail City at the time the negotiation ended. I always believed it was nearly real inside inflammation. The refusal of the railroad company to pass through Otter Tail City virtually swept her off from her foundation-it made her impossible as a county seat for Otter Tail county.

During the summer of 1870 I was appointed assistant census marshal. as enumerators were called at that time. All the ranges of Otter Tail county west of range 38 were assigned me. That gave me thirty-five town- ships to canvass, and although nearly half of that number did not have a single settler, I went into all of them where it was possible to get in and get out. It was very much like a hunter's job to find the settlers in their covered wagons or huts in the heavy woods or in some small prairie open- ings a long distance within heavy timber surroundings. To find shelter

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under a roof for a night was a disagreeable undertaking. Many nights I had to lie down on the bare ground with my pony attached to a picket rope near me. It might truly be said that the mosquitoes nearly ate us up.

And food was some days impossible to get. I often had to get along with one meal a day. In some new settlements the language question was a special difficulty. One day in the German settlement north of Rush lake, I found in most homes the wife with her children at home alone. The men were in the woods or meadows away from the house working. At every door I frightened the women by my attempt to get in. To calm their fright I had to sing out in my imperfect German, and in every case it worked as a perfect shibboleth. I was allowed to enter and could get the information I needed without difficulty. When the evening came I could not find a house or hut that had a corner for me for my night's lodging. In my problematic situation I mustered up courage and walked over to Father Albrecht's convent for men and women.

I hurried over to the church. When I got there the brothers were just coming from their work in the field and were going toward the chapel for their evening devotions. I rushed in front of them and asked if I could stay over night with them. The abbot, Joseph Boedigheimer, answered me and said he would find a couch for me. I had not had anything for supper, but I looked the situation over and concluded it would be difficult to get anything prepared at this time of day. I slept on a couch and got up the next morning and followed the brothers into the basement of the church where they had their morning religious exercises. When they were through I asked the abbot if I could go with them to breakfast. He said their food was not fit for me. I, however, followed them down in their mess room and partook of their food, which consisted of salted potatoes and a light kind of water gravy. I wanted to pay the abbot, but he told me to report to the priest. The priest asked me if I had had breakfast. I told him I ate with the brothers. He got excited and said it was not food for me and ordered a sister cook to get butter, pancake and tea.

After I had taken the census of the inmates I offered to pay for my stay, but he refused to accept any pay. The abbot and I parted as mutual friends and we remained as such as long as I lived near where I could meet him.

Joseph Boedigheimer was a scholar in the English, French and Ger- man languages. The Rush lake German settlement had several splendid settlers. Martin Fiedler, who was county commissioner nearly all the time I was auditor, was a thoroughly honest, upright and agreeable man. The farmers, Boedigheimer, Fuchs and Gerber, were all reliable and worthy citizens. On my house-to-house visit as enumerator I called at the house

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of E. E. Corliss and according to census schedules I had to inquire if all the inmates of the house were white. This naive question Mr. Corliss never forgets to ridicule when early reminiscences are mentioned.

During the summer of 1870 I, with all my neighbors in Aurdal and Fergus Falls, sent a petition to the postoffice department at Washington, D. C., asking for a mail route from Pomme de Terre to Fergus Falls, and for postoffices at Fergus Falls, Wall Lake and St. Olaf. I drew a simple sketch of the route with marked locations of the proposed postoffices. Through the recommendation of a personal friend in Washington our peti- tion was granted and Mrs. Anna Hannigsen was appointed the first post- master of Fergus Falls. I had the honor to fill out the first monthly report of Mrs. Hanigsen to the postoffice department at Washington. Peter Frones, an old soldier and sailor, obtained the contract to carry the mail twice a week between Fergus Falls and Pomme de Terre. For a while he walked the entire distance and carried the mail on his back.

When Otter Tail City lost the railroad, as has been previously stated. all persons who interested themselves in the formation and permanent organ- ization of the county, began to look about for a location for the future county seat. St. Olaf, Tordenskjold, Tumuli and Dane Prairie contained at this time the bulk of the settlers of the county. A little sawmill was being built by the Hoff brothers on the shore of Pleasant river in Tordens- kjold township. With this little industrial plant within the best settled township in the county a few of the leading citizens felt that this particular place was the most suitable location for the county seat. In accordance with this demand a bill was drafted and placed in the hands of the representative of the boundless legislative district of which Otter Tail county was a part. I think the representative at this time was a man from Duluth. The bill passed the Legislature ( February 28, 1870) and for a few days after the passage of the act we supposed the county seat was lawfully located at Tordenskjold. Having been home on a visit, I came back to Otter Tail City and soon met Judge Reynolds, who at this time resided in Otter Tail City. In fact I boarded with the Judge's family at this time.

He said as soon as we began our conversation: "What have you fel- lows been doing down there in Tordenskjold? That act is unconstitutional. the county seat cannot be taken from Otter Tail City without a vote of the people of Otter Tail county."

F. E. Corliss was county attorney at this time and he and Reynolds looked the situation over and both declared the act was void. Nothing could be done, of course, until the Legislature met again, and although there was an effort made to locate the county seat at Fergus Falls, the act of February 16, 1871, re-established it at Otter Tail City. The same session

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( March 4) passed an act creating the county of Holcomb with Fergus Falls as its county seat. The latter village was now beginning to loom up as the coming town of the county and many citizens in the southwestern part of the county began to make plans to locate a county seat at this place. They either wanted Fergus Falls to be the county seat of Otter Tail county, or if this could not be brought to pass, to organize a new county out of the western half of Otter Tail county and make Fergus Falls its county seat. The former plan failed with the selection of Otter Tail City as the county seat of Otter Tail county on February 16, 1871. Sixteen days later the second plan was put into execution although it required a vote of the people of the county to establish the proposed county of which Fergus Falls was to be the county seat. I cannot enter into the discussion of the various factors which featured the county seat squabble of 1871 and 1872. It is sufficient to state that it was about all that the people of the county talked about those two years.

One proposition proposed the division of Otter Tail county into four counties, with county seats at Fergus Falls, Pelican Rapids, Perham and Parkers Prairie. This proposition was not carried any further than into discussion among the directly interested parties in the scheme. I opposed this plan with all the political strength I possessed. I feared a small county. I grew into manhood in a small county and was always told by the able citizens that a small county was a mistake of the organizers. So the four- county scheme was dropped and the Holcomb county proposition took its place, and, as above stated, a bill for the organization of Holcomb county with Fergus Falls as county seat was passed on March 4, 1871. The bill provided that the counties interested should vote on the question and the vigorous campaign of 1871 on this question is still remembered by old settlers now living.

Hon. E. E. Corliss took a vigorous stand against the division and I did what I could against it. As a general proposition the eastern half of Otter Tail county and practically all of the county officials were against the forma- tion of the proposed county. The total vote in Otter Tail county showed a majority of one hundred and forty-nine against the proposition, and while the vote in Holcomb county, is not known, it was not sufficient one way or the other to effect the result. Fergus Falls voted nearly unanimously in favor of the new county-two hundred and one for and seven against the question.

I frequently discussed the division schemes with George B. Wright and Ernest Buse. I proposed that we should add range 44 to Otter Tail county and locate the county seat at Fergus Falls, but Wright said we could never keep the county seat for the whole of Otter Tail county with its present

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dimensions in Fergus Falls. I always respected George B. Wright's opinion. I felt sincerely sorry I had to disagree with him. I recognized in him a keen and able business man.

During this unsettled state of affairs, I approached E. E. Corliss with my enlarging plan, the central idea of which was the removal of the county seat from Otter Tail City to Fergus Falls. A person has to know Mr. Corliss and his strong personal character in order to comprehend how he flayed me for my audacity in proposing so wicked a scheme to him, and especially in view of the fact that all of his property was on the eastern side of the Leaf mountains. We did not discuss the plan much this time; we parted in a serious mood. I suggested reflection on his part. The next time we met we painfully discussed the situation, but we agreed on only one point -- the county should not be divided.

The question was, where should the county seat be located? It was very patent that it was going to be taken away from Otter Tail City, if not by the Legislature of 1872, at least within the next few years. At the beginning of the session of 1872 it was known that the Northern Pacific could live up to its charter by going through Fergus Falls instead of Otter Tail City, and the county seat without a railroad did not have much chance of existence. Meanwhile the citizens of the county were discussing in the summer and fall of 1871 a new location for the county seat. Clitherall was mentioned, Battle Lake had its followers, a few property holders at Otter. Tail City loudly asserted that it should remain in their village, but it seemed to be the general consensus of the people of the county that Fergus Falls was the most eligible size. It had the best water facilities and it seemed to have the best prospects for a railroad of any of the suggested sites. I was convinced that it was by far the only place for the county seat. With this idea in mind I went to my friend Corliss and laid the proposition before him. We discussed the matter long and seriously and finally he yielded to my view sadly and reluctantly; not only to the proposition of moving the county seat from Otter Tail City to Fergus Falls, but also the addition of range 44 to the county. It seemed to me, and I convinced him, of the sound- ness of my reasoning, that this double plan of action was the most feasible and at the same time the most advisable thing to be done.

As for my own efforts in favor of Fergus Falls, I have no apology to offer-call it selfishness if you like. When the time came for final action in the Legislature of 1872, my friend Corliss, as representative from this county in the lower House of the Legislature, succeeded in getting all the necessary legislation passed to add range 44 and make Fergus Falls the county seat. Both acts were passed on the same day (February 28, 1872) and they were both later ratified by the citizens of Otter Tail county. Thus

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ends the story of the struggle which Otter Tail county went through to get its present boundary limits and the permanent location of its county seat. I played my part as my best judgment directed me and I trust that future generations will credit me with using my best endeavor for the wel- fare of the best county in the state of Minnesota.

THE STORY OF A STEER.

The Chippewa Indians made frequent trips through Otter Tail county in the early seventies and camped up and down the Red river near our humble settlements. Our women and children, in particular, were not with- out fear when the Indians were in the immediate neighborhood. although on the whole they were quiet and inoffensive. They were the most annoy- ang because of their intrusive begging, and many a timid young housewife baked an unwilling pancake for some poor Indian. On one occasion the Indians shot a young steer belonging to Andrew Olson, who lived near the Lapham Falls. Quite naturally, the news of the killing soon spread over the surrounding community, and we settlers took our guns and started out after the Indians but did not find the ones who did the deed. I do not know whether Olson ever got paid for his steer or not, but I know he car- ried a bill for his loss to the Indian agent, who promised he would deduct the amount from annuity of the tribe.

TRAVELING IN THE EARLY DAYS.

Traveling was a severe hardship in the early days when the roads and bridges were absolutely unknown, and even blazed trails were marked out only between the larger settlements. In the fall of 1869, in November, I think it was, some of us had to get out and get our winter supply of flour. From our immediate community went Haldor Nelson, John Anderson and myself. We had to go to Alexandria in Douglas county, and it took us three days of hard traveling to get there. It happened that it rained and snowed all the time we were on the road and we had to sleep in our wagon boxes every night. The rivers and creeks were bulging with water, making it very difficult to ford them in many instances. Anderson had a pair of young wild steers, and the fact that he was not an expert driver did not add to the gaiety of the trip. Every time he came to a stream of water he had to get out, take his wild steers by the halter, plunge in the stream and lead the stubborn creatures across. On the west and north side of the vil- lage of Brandon were two lakes. Between them was a connecting lagoon, and the water here was so deep that it flowed into the bottom of our wagon boxes. It so happened that in the road between these two lakes there was a large rock and the water practically covered the boulder, as Anderson found to his sorrow. Anderson, as usual. was out wading in water up to his waist,

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leading his steers. By the time the water was up to the bellies of his steers he could not manage them even with the ropes on their horns, and in their plunging about they pulled the wagon across the rock and upset it with the unfortunate Anderson quietly resting underneath it. This accident made it necessary for Nelson and myself to get out and help right the wagon, and the freezing weather did not add any to the pleasure of the operation. Of course the nimble Anderson crawled out in a hurry and the three of us finally got the wagon on its wheels again and out of the slough. The procession proceeded. On a steep hill northwest of Alexandria Anderson's steers got into bad temper again, broke away from him and ran down the hill right into a lake. Another stop was necessary in order to coax the "pesky crit- ters" out of the lake and back onto the road again. Finally, on the evening of that day, the third out, we reached Alexandria. Our clothes were stiff with ice and we were chilled through and through. We found a camping place in the woods near the village. We made a big log fire and spent the night quite comfortably, especially considering the fact that we were soaked through and through and it snowed violently all night. Otherwise, every- thing was pleasant. The next morning we bought our flour at the rate of eight dollars a hundred pounds and at once started on the return trip home.

Another story which shows some of the ups and downs, especially the latter, of early traveling in Otter Tail county, is connected with a trip we made to Audubon in 1873. It was the occasion of the district convention for the nomination of a candidate for the lower house of the Legislature. We hired an old expert horseman in Fergus Falls to take us. We met with no untoward accidents on the way over, and I might say that the convention that day nominated John W. Mason as the candidate of his party for the seat in the Legislature, to which he was afterwards elected. The interesting part of this story is connected with the trip back to Fergus Falls. There were two rigs in the party. John W. Mason and Sam Nichols were in a single seated buggy ; Jake Austin, O. S. King, E. E. Corliss, myself and one other whose name I do not now recall, were in a three seated platform wagon driven by a man by the name of Cole, a typical old stage driver. We left Audubon with the intention of reaching Pelican Rapids before dark, the three-seated wagon taking the lead and Mason and Nichols bringing up the rear. Some time before we reached Pelican Rapids the road went through a dense tract of timber and the driver had to be on the lookout constantly to avoid the stumps which were scattered here and there along and in the roadway. Suddenly the stentorian voice of Jake Austin cried out: "Cole; look out for that stump!" The old stage driver replied with a look of disgust on his countenance as if Jake were questioning his ability to handle the team: "I guess I can see that stump. I am adoin' the drivin'". Evi-

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dently the old driver had his attention distracted for the moment, for he had hardly got the words out of his mouth when one of the wheels of our wagon was right on top of the stump. The next moment there were six men scattered over the ground in the immediate vicinity of that stump. John and Sam afterwards admitted that they enjoyed a good laugh at our expense.

THE FIRST WORKINGS OF THE GAME AND FISH LAWS.

The rivers and lakes of Otter Tail county were filled with all kind of fish in those early days. We all caught fish of all kinds and with every con- ceivable sort of a contrivance. We supposed we had a right to fish and that no one could challenge this right. During one session of the Legislature some wise legislator had a law passed putting unreasonably heavy fines on fishing with anything but hook and line. A poor Norwegian in Tordens- kjold had made a basket to catch fish in, and did not know, of course, that he was committing an offense against the commonwealth of Minnesota. Morally, it was not a crime in Otter Tail county at that time. A certain person, whose name I will not mention, was an evil natured man who enjoyed troubling his neighbors. This trouble-maker found the poor Norwegian with a large number of fish in his possession. He laid a complaint before the authorities, the man was arrested, fined and was compelled to sell his working oxen, the only thing of value he possessed, to get the money with which to pay his fine. I leave it to my readers as to the respective merits of the two men.

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History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 59

Author: John W. Mason Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Number of Pages: 765

Author: John W. Mason
Publication date: 1916
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 765