USA > Minnesota > Otter Tail County > History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 74
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In his search for how to spend his money, he bought an interest in the First State Bank of Fergus Falls and became one of its directors. All of these enterprises having failed to relieve him of his surplus, he struck upon another plan. He determined to build a hotel.
With this end in view, he razed his frame buildings, in which for years he had conducted his business, and erected in their stead, at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, the finest and best equipped hotel in Minnesota
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north of Minneapolis, and called it "Hotel Kaddatz." This has been opened about one year, and the business has outgrown it already, and he is now planning on an extension, carrying it south, clear to the river.
No picture of the subject of this sketch would be complete without mention of Charlie at play. It would be a mistake to conclude that he is devoted entirely to "dollar chasing." Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothwithstanding his great success in a business career, it is his social side and fraternal activities which have contributed most to the wide acquaintance he enjoys. If there is any society to which he does not belong, it must be of very recent origin. . However, his chief recreations are found with the Elks and Shriners. His activities in these two organizations would require a volume to describe. He is entertainer-in-chief at all festal func- tions of these orders from Winnipeg to Panama. At each occasion he is sure to be called on for a speech, and never fails to respond. As an orator he is unique. He copies no one, and no one can copy him. His vocabulary is phenomenal. Where, when and how he learned all the polysyllabic words of the language is a mystery. The inimitable sang froid with which he misplaces them, missing their appropriate meaning and use, affords exquisite enjoyment in his unique oratorical efforts. His fluency in their use, and disregard of definitions, is one of their chief charms.
His effort in his own defense in the police court of Winnipeg, where he stood charged with disturbing the peace, by ringing a cow bell at night con- trary to orders from the police, is said to have been one of his most famous. British courts are nothing if not solemn. The prisoner declined the gener- ous offer of the justice to appoint counsel to conduct the defense, and made his own plea. Questioned by the magistrate as to who he was and where he came from, he answered: "I am an American citizen, and I am mayor of Black Duck, in the state of Minnesota." That name, unlike the water on the duck's back, has stuck to him ever since. It was the result of an inspiration. Charlie in defense of his action in ringing the cow bell, main- tained that he was a Shriner; that the Shriners had been given the freedom of the city; that such freedom meant something in an American city like Black Duck, and he had assumed that it had meant something when extended by the city of Winnipeg to the distinguished visitors of the United States. "Where," he exclaimed. "is your 'blarsted' liberty and boasted hospitality if an American citizen-" At this point the proceedings were interrupted by the magistrate being called to the telephone. The mayor of Winnipeg was on the line and inquired if there was a Shriner on trial for disorderly con- duct. The justice answered in the affirmative. "Well, discharge him," said the mayor, "the visiting Shriners can do anything short of murder." This
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cut short Charlie's speech, but he said he would keep the balance for some future occasion.
His next great triumph was his address made in Panama to a gang of negro workmen who could speak the Spanish language only. The wonderful effect of that oration is traditional, as the only reporter present was unable to understand a word of it.
Such is a picture of Charlie Kaddatz, than whom there is no man in Fergus Falls better liked or more highly esteemed. His has been no royal path to success; it has not been flowery beds of ease; his rise in the world of affairs has been accomplished by dint. of hard work and that intense application which always brings success when rightly applied. We pay this tribute to him who has done so much for his home city-the genial host of his own hostelry-the inimitable Charlie Kaddatz.
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CHAPTER XXXIV. SIDELIGHTS ON OTTER TAIL HISTORY.
WHY OTTER TAIL.
The origin of names is always an interesting study. The word Otter Tail seems to have had a peculiar fascination for the early pioneers of Otter Tail county. The name appears to be of Indian origin and to have been first applied to the narrow spit of land at the eastern extremity of the lake to which the name was afterwards applied. The scientific explanation of the reason for the application of the name to the lake has been fully explained by Warren Upham, the secretary and librarian of the Minnesota Historical Society, who has kindly prepared an article on this subject for this history.
Many years ago George B. Wright, whose history is indissolubly con- nected with Otter Tail county, wrote a humorous article in which he gave his views as to the tale of the Otter Tail. Mr. Wright gives a graphic pen picture of the origin of the name and it is very appropriately given in con- nection with the scientific article of Mr. Upham. Mr. Wright wrote his article in 1881 and incorporated it in an advertisement brochure which he issued that year. The articles of Mr. Upham and Mr. Wright are both given in full. They follow :
THE TALE OF THE OTTER TAIL. By George B. Wright.
It is related-in the Talmud, probably-that the wild Red man perpe- trated the name, Otter Tail. What he really called it before the translator got his work in, heaven only knows. We may dimly realize our narrow escape, when we look upon the polysyllabic blasphemy of names current in the benighted state of Blaine. In the centre of Otter Tail county is the largest lake in western Minnesota-ten miles long by three miles broad. It is the e pluribus unum of the "thousand lakes" of the Park Region. The Red river pours its clear waters into this lake at the northeastern point of the huge bow that, sweeping around the upper end of the lake, furnishes a smooth sandy beach three miles in length. The river current bears the sand lakeward. The lake waves, driven by southwestern winds, dash them back upon the shore. A conference committee is appointed and its report is adopted: lake and river unite in building a bar from that northeastern point southerly, sweeping around the curved shore for nearly one and a half miles. Behind this bar, the river, clear as crystal, regular in curvature and uniform in width, as if laid out by an engineer, finds its way to the lake at the still,
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quiet southeastern point of the long bow shore. Outside, the lake piles up the hard sand, till the bar has become a long curved point of land, fifteen feet above the waters, three or four rods in width, a smooth, grassy lawn shaded by a growth of old oaks.
It was a beautiful place. The aesthetic Red man so construed it, for it was a good place for fish and he camped here himself, his squaws, pap- pooses, Lares, lairs and other insect attachments. With his usual apprecia- tion of the true and beautiful. he managed to catch on, as it were, to the tail-the Otter Tail, as he called it, and the band of dusky Ojibways who infested that region were known as Otter Tails. Of course the name-by a process of morbid contagion-extended from the long, curved point of land to the lake, then to the county and to the speculative city that ten years ago (that is, in 1871), in anticipation of the Northern Pacific railroad, sprung up-a Jonah's gourd in the wilderness-on the site of the old Indian village of Otter Tail. As America's truest poet has remarked-
"Where corner lots were sold for cash
And rum,
Above the cemetery where reposed the Indian and His dog."
It was a flourishing city in its day. The natural deviltry of the Red man was supplemented by the acquired villainy of the "pale face." The dance-house, whiskey saloon and keno den became the successors of the dog feast and scalp dance of "ye dam sauvage."
But the North Pacific railroad, like the good Samaritan that it was, "passed by on the other side" of Rush lake, and Otter Tail City and its one thousand roughs and fishy nymphs "fled the scene." The city became once more a desolate waste. But the red Indian still maintained his firm hold on the Tail, until one day some years ago a party of lumbermen- Vandals of the North-to facilitate the progress of their log-drive, actually cut off the tail and the life blood of the river of redness gushed through the irreparable wound. The beautiful curved channel is grown up with reeds and wild rice, the lake sands have blocked up the old outlet and a new bar is forming between the new outlet and the lake. The old bar forms now the last of a long series of parallel curved sandy ridges surrounding the east end of the lake. Otter Tail county is past the tadpole stage, shed its tail and has assumed the attitude of dignified maturity.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF OTTER TAIL COUNTY.
By Warren Upham.
This county received its name from the Otter Tail lake and river. The lake, from which the river was named, derived this peculiar Ojibway designation, here translated, from a long and narrow sand bar, having an
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outline suggestive of the tail of an otter, formed very long ago, and now covered with large woods. which extends curvingly southeast and south between the last mile of the inflowing Otter Tail (or Red) river and the lake, at its eastern end, in section 10 of Otter Tail township. At its north- western base the bar is connected with the main shore by a gradually widen- ing higher tract between the river and lake, to which, with the prolonged bar, the Indians very fittingly, in view of their geographic outlines, gave this name. Its Ojibway form is given by the late Rev. J. A. Gilfallan as Nigagwanowe, that is, Otter Tail, both for the lake and for the outflowing river to its junction with the Bois des Sioux river. The otter was formerly frequent or common in and near the rivers and lakes of all parts of this state, but is now rare. It subsists on fish, capturing them by rapid and expert swimming.
The late Hon. J. V. Brower, who visited the locality three times, in 1863, 1882 and 1899, on the latter occasion giving it a careful examination as a part of his archaeologic survey of the region, stated that the height of the bar varies from ten to twenty-five feet above the lake; that its length slightly exceeds a mile, while its width, somewhat uniform, is only about fifty to seventy-five feet; and that it appears to have been amassed by wave and ice action of the lake. It was probably built by the waves during storms, nearly to its present extent and form, within the first few centuries after the lake began its existence, which was at the time of uncovering this region from the receding ice-sheet at the close of the Glacial period.
Lumbermen, some twenty-five or thirty years ago, cut through this bar about a third of a mile northward from its end, to provide a better channel for driving logs. Subsequently the river enlarged this cut by washing away the bar from a gap having a total length of one thousand four hundred feet, as measured in 1899 by Mr. Brower, who reported that the beach sand had then closed the old inlet at the end of the bar. A narrow lake, there- fore, now occupies the deserted channel between that point and the present debouchure of the river.
Otter Tail City, which, about the years 1850 and 1860, was an important trading post on the route from the then flourishing town of Crow Wing to Pembins and the Selkirk settlements, stood on the main shore at the north- eastern end of Otter Tail lake, adjoining the mouth of the river and the end of the Otter Tail bar. The United States land office for this district was located there during several years, and was thence removed to Alexandria in 1862. But all the buildings of the "city" were long since removed or destroyed, and only the cellar holes now remain.
The stream called by us the Red river was known to the Ojibways at the time of Owen's geological exploration, in 1848, as the Otter Tail river
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from this lake to its junction with the Red Lake river at Grand Forks. The name Red river of the North, distinguishing it from the Red river of Louisi- ana, was used by Nicollet's report and map, in 1843, for the entire extent of the river from its source near Itasca lake; but present usage by many of the older people retains the name Otter Tail for the river above the lake of this name (though other names, derived from successive lakes, are used there by the Ojibways) ; and indeed occasionally it is still called Otter Tail river along all its portion continuing below this lake to the axis of the Red river valley at Breckenridge and Wahpeton, where it receives the Bois de Sioux river and turns from a westward to a northward course.
A COMPLETE HISTORY OF OTTER TAIL COUNTY IN 1874.
An illustrated historical atlas of Minnesota, issued in 1874 by A. T. Andreas, gives a separate map and historical sketch of each county in the state. The brief sketch of Otter Tail county (page 250) is full of glaring inaccuracies and well illustrates the danger of following former accounts of the early history of the county. In the first place, the county was not organized until 1868, the act providing for its organization being passed in March, 1868, and the first meeting of the commissioners not taking place until the following September. The establishment of a mission at Otter Tail City is another point about which there is much doubt. The Northern Pacific is far from "passing through it from east to west on its northern border." The editor assumes no responsibility for this sketch, but gives it to show what was considered a history of the county in 1874-undoubtedly the first history of the county to be published :
Otter Tail county was organized under an act of the State Legislature in the fall of 1867, when the following county commissioners were appointed : Chancy Whiting, Marcus Shaw and E. L. Lacy. Donald McDonald, now living at Otter Tail lake, was the first white settler in this county. Mr. McDonald remained here during the Indian massacre of 1862. He is Scotch-Canadian by birth. In 1837 he wintered at Graham's Point, now in Wilkin county of this state, and was employed in the Northwestern Fur Company, with headquarters at Crow Wing.
Rev. Mr. Breck started an Indian mission at Gull and Ottertail lakes. Mathew Wright and sons made the first improvements five miles south of Fergus Falls in June, 1857, at a place called Dayton. Joseph Whitford, in the fall of 1857, made a claim on the site where the town of Fergus Falls now stands, and continued to occupy it until the Indian outbreak of 1862. when he was killed.
In the spring of 1868 there was a colony from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who set- tled at Leaf City, six miles east of Otter Tail lake. This settlement was also broken up by the Sioux Indians in 1862. There was a land office located at this time at Otter Tail City, with George B. C'lltherall as register. and William Sawyer, receiver. It remained there until 1862, when it was removed to Alexandria.
Otter Tail county (taking into consideration as yet being in its infancy) may be classed as one of the best in northwestern Minnesota. In size it is one of the largest, being forty-two miles north and south, by fifty-four east and west. About one-half of it is fine rolling prairie. The balance is about equally divided with good timber and beauti-
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ful lakes. In improvements it is equal to, if not ahead, of any of its sister counties in the Northwest. It is well supplied with public roads, and has the advantage of the Northern Pacific passing through it from east to west on its northern border.
As an evidence of enterprise. we will here state that are eleven churches already built, and sixty-six organized public schools. The county is well supplied with water. The Red river of the North passes through the western part of the county. Rush, Toad. Pelican, Dead Lake. Long Prairie, Pomme de Terre and Clitherall are important streams of the county. The Red river is navigable to within a few miles of Fergus Falls. This river was navigated as early as 1848 by one David Dale Owen, a United States geologist. who passed down the river from Otter Tail lake to Pembina with a couple of French half-breed companions. And it is said in his report that as he was proceeding leisurely down the river, unaware of any rapids, a sudden bend in the river (just where the upper bridge now is) brought them so near the falls that they could not gain the shore. but were drawn over the rapids by the swift current. the boat capsized. and a very wet crew, as well as a ruin among provisions, mathematical instruments and outfit generally was the result. And it is further stated that this accident necessitated an encampment on the townsite of Fergus, and as the geologist probably foresaw a city here, he thought it his duty to fix the latitude. So when his instruments were dried be made observations and reckoned the latitude of the future city to be forty-six degrees, thirteen minutes and twenty-four seconds north. The county seat is Fergus Falls. It has a popu- lation of about six hundred.
Perham, located on the line of the Northern Pacific railroad, is a beautiful place, and is one, with Fergus Falls, of the principal points of trade.
There are twelve improved water powers in Otter Tail county, and those on Red river at Fergus Falls are unequaled for the size of stream in the United States, there being a fall of about one hundred feet to the mile. Jacob Schwab, Hans Juleson, J. Zim- merman, H. Hall and A. B. Larson are the present county commissioners. The popula- tion of Otter Tail county is estimated at nine thousand.
THE FERGUS FALLS LAND OFFICE AND OTTER TAIL DEMOCRACY.
One of the earliest land offices in the state of Minnesota was established at Otter Tail City. When the Legislature of 1858 divided all of the north- ern part of the state into counties, surveyors were sent over that section of . the state to survey the land and get it ready for sale. An act of Congress had just been passed establishing a number of land offices in the territory of Minnesota, and President Buchanan, a Democrat, appointed members of his own party as registers and receivers of the offices in the territory. He appointed Major George B. Clitherall, a southern Democrat, as the first register of the land office at Otter Tail City, and William Sawyer, with the same political proclivities, was appointed receiver. Very little is known about these two men, due, in large measure, to the fact that the land office was moved from Otter Tail City at the opening of the Civil War, while at the same time Clitherall and Sawyer left the county. With the moving of the land office in 1862 the land in the county was on sale at Alexandria until 1876.
The land office was moved from Alexandria to Fergus Falls in 1876 and was stationed in this city until February, 1889, when it was removed to Crookston. While the office was located at Fergus Falls this district
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comprises all of Otter Tail county except township 37, ranges 36 to 43. inclusive, this tier of townships being attached to the Crookston district. In addition, the counties of Wilkin, Grant, Traverse, Douglas and the north half of both Stevens and Pope counties, were a part of the Fergus Falls district. No change was made in the size of the district while the land office remained in Fergus Falls.
When President Grant moved the land office from Alexandria to Fer- gus Falls it was in charge of Soren Listoe and John H. Allen, register and receiver, respectively. These two officials removed to Fergus Falls and continued in charge of the office until 1883, when they were succeeded by B. N. Johnson and Jacob Austin, respectively. Johnson had been practic- ing as an attorney before the land office by helping prospective settlers make out their papers and get located on their claims. Austin, whose interesting career in Fergus Falls is noticed elsewhere in this volume, had been a mer- chant, but at this time was proprietor of the Guttenberg dam-site and lived in that part of town. These men were both Republicans and when Cleve- land was elected in the fall of 1884 they knew that after March 4, 1895, they might be removed from office any time.
It is at this point that Otter Tail county Democratic politics entered the land office. Cleveland was the first Democratic President since the Civil War, and consequently greedy office seekers of his political faith appeared over the United States in countless swarms. This was the first time in the history of Otter Tail county that a Democrat could feel an active interest in the welfare of his party. Consequently, when the Democratic pastry was being carved in the various states, Otter Tail county put in an application for at least two slices of pie, namely: The offices of register and receiver of the local land office.
During the spring and summer of 1885 every Democrat in the county was casting longing eyes toward one or the other of these offices. The summer passed and no action had yet been taken toward the deposition of the two Republicans. The Democratic pulse of the county was beginning to get very feverish as the autumn days drew nigh and disciples of Jefferson were making frantic appeals to the heads of the Democratic party in the state to do something for Otter Tail county. The two chief machinists of the Democratic party at that time were natives of the Emerald Isle, Kelley and Doran, familiarly, if not affectionately, known as "Me and Mike."
The blow fell in November, 1885, or rather, there were two blows. The first shock was caused by the announcement that Thomas F. Cowing. of Alexandria, had been appointed register. It is probable that the Demo- crats of the county expected one of the two officials to be selected from one of the other counties in the district, but they hoped that the register would be selected from the ranks of the patriots from Otter Tail. But this shock was as nothing compared to what followed when it became known that the
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receivership had been given to L. L. Aune. Aune was at least three dif- ferent things-a Democrat. a Norwegian and a grocer. Aune was appointed, so his sponsors maintained, solely because he fulfilled to a desirable degree the first two of these qualifications, namely-he was a Democrat and it was not denied that he was a Norwegian. But the Democrats of the county, Norwegian and otherwise, asseverated that "Me and Mike" had chosen him not because he was a Democrat, and not because he was a Norwegian, but because he was a grocer. Contemporaneous accounts of the time indicate that Aune was far from being a representative Norwegian, Democrat though he might be, and this fact was duly set forth in a protest which was drawn up and liberally signed by several of the most prominent Norwegian citizens of the county. Among other things which this protest had to say about Aune, it contained the following statement which is sufficiently indicative of his standing among his fellow countrymen: "If he has any following at all, it is so diminutive as to be imperceptible to the naked eye." If the reports of the time are to be believed, Aune was chosen by Kelley for the reason that he (Aune) owed Kelley, a member of the national Democratic committee of the state. and a wholesale grocer of St. Paul, a bill of goodly proportions. This may or may not be the truth, but there is no mistake in the fact that public sentiment at the time of the appointment did not approve of the selection of Aune.
It should be mentioned in this connection that the county Democracy had united more or less on J. P. Kennedy as register and Edwin M. Wright, receiver of the land office. Kennedy had been toadying to Kelley and had pronounced the Irish pair, "Me and Kelley," "not only Irishmen but gentle- men." and consequently Kennedy was forced to swallow his discomforture with as good grace as he could show. How Wright felt over the outcome of the land office appointments history fails to record, but it is safe to say that his affection for "Me and Mike" did not increase to any great extent. Other prominent Democrats of the county-George C. Walters, Milner Lowry, Robert Miller, James Gray, M. J. Daly, Erick Frankberg, H. E. Boen, C. F. Hanson, etc .- were outspoken in their denunciation of the Democratic state machine.
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