USA > Minnesota > Otter Tail County > History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 76
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In those days there was some money in the country but it was largely in muskrat skins. The country was full of muskrats and they were the principal means of barter. When we saw a man coming with a bag of rats on his shoulder we would run two blocks to get a chance to buy from him. It was profitable, for we usually paid in trade and then sold the skin at a large advance, thus making money both ways.
In the spring of 1875 we sold ten thousand skins, which we had been buying all winter. We paid from five cents to eighteen cents per skin, according to the quality and size, but when they were sold a skin was a skin and all were sold at the uniform price of thirty-two cents. A mink was worth from three to seven dollars. Some days we took in as many as two hundred skins. There was some money, too. We hauled wheat to Camp- bell, although it was sometimes hauled to Perham. There were only small patches of land cultivated anywhere in the county. We dealt in cattle also. Hammer usually sold them to Fort Garry ( Winnipeg, Canada), and drove them overland to that place. Some years it paid and some years it did not. The duty had to be paid in St. Vincent (on the Canada-United States bor- der) in gold. The great trouble in those days was to get the goods. The freight rates were high and sometimes there would fairly be a famine on some one thing. I remember one Saturday night we got a lot of boots and shoes. There had not been any in town for weeks and half of the people were walking on their uppers waiting for that invoice. When we opened the boxes it looked like a side show. The people crowded around and there was no use in trying to mark the goods or do anything else except handing out and taking the money that was offered. We tried to charge enough.
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We sold forty pairs that night after supper. My record does not include any hair-breadths nor adventures, but I cannot say that I remember any hardships except those inevitable to such a new country.
THE STORY OF T. A. HUFF.
I had heard of the Red river country of Minnesota before 1871, and when I reached St. Paul and learned that there was a land office at Alexan- dria, I concluded to make that my next point in the hope of finding out more about the government lands. This was in March, 1871. The St. Paul and Pacific railroad, as it was then called, was completed as far as Benson. From there I went on foot to Alexandria. There I found Sam H. Nichols, who was occupying a position in a land office, and he kindly gave me the information desired, and directed my attention to the coming city of Fergus Falls and the country round about. At Pomme de Terre I fell in with George B. Wright, W. C. Bacon and Bert Melville, who were on their way to Fergus and had engaged a man by the name of Heald to drive them over. I was glad to make one of the party and took passage with them. This was the only time I ever met Mr. Wright, but I saw Mr. Bacon often and found him a fine business man. Mr. Melville was a lawyer and a somewhat erratic character, whose stay in Fergus was short. At Fergus I put up at Buse's hotel and here formed the acquaintance of one Reed, who had taken a claim in Elizabeth east of Condaux's and near a small lake which was afterwards called Reed lake.
THE GREAT INDIAN SCARE OF 1876.
In the week of July 16. 1876, a remarkable Indian scare occurred in western Minnesota, extending the entire length of the state. It was strange and remarkable because it was entirely without good reason. The explana- tion of this fright was the presence of parties of the Chippewas and other bands of Indians strolling through the country at a time when the people had just heard of the defeat and massacre of Custer's command, a thousand miles to the west of the state. The presence of these Indians, though it was not unusual at that season of the year, naturally caused nervousness and fear on the part of the citizens. This section of the state was at that time sparsely settled by people of various nationalities, all of whom, more espe- cially women and children, had associated the name of Indian with the most cruel barbarities. At a time like that, therefore, the news of the Big Horn disaster being just received, it is not to be wondered at that there should be a panicky feeling, especially, when a nervous settler comes driving home from a neighboring village with the most exaggerated reports of dep- redations of Indians. It is not to be wondered at that the average farmer, in his lonely situation, should be mindful of the fears of his wife and chil-
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dren, and hastily pack up and leave for a safer location, carrying panic and exaggeration with him. Such was the condition of things in this section at that time. In many cases houses and fences were left open and the fleeing refugees were entirely without the necessities of life.
On this occasion one hundred families fled to Herman one night, mostly from Grant county, when a dispatch was sent to the St. Paul Pioneer Press announcing "Indians at Pomme de Terre; depredation reported in St. Olaf; Fergus Falls alive with savages." About the same number started for Alexandria, mostly from Otter Tail county, some of whom were turned back by citizens of Douglas county, who assured the refugees there was no danger. The people of Aurdal and Friberg townships mostly came to Fer- gus Falls for protection. In this village some nervous men and women passed several sleepless nights. The Pelican valley was in a state of alarm and settlers gathered in the villages. And yet there were no depredations committed by the Indians anywhere in this state so far as the record shows.
While some were fleeing from an imaginary foe, a few of the hardy and courageous citizens, among whom were several ex-soldiers of Tordensk- jold, including Hans Juelson and Berg O. Lee, rallied their neighbors, and selecting a commanding position on the north of the road, between Berg O. Lee and Hancke's, constructed a substantial sod fortification on scientific plans. This fortification was a structure of one hundred and twenty by one hundred feet with a cross section wall through the center. The walls of this fort were from four to four and a half feet high, and four feet thick, squarely and compactly built from the sods cut by a sixteen-inch breaking plow. The hilltop occupied by the work had less than half an acre of com- paratively level ground. all of which was plowed up and the sod used in construction. The entire work was inclosed by a fence to keep the cattle away. This remarkable fortification stood on a hill at the west end of Tur- tle lake.
It was said by those who have seen fortification that it was a more formidable earthwork than many of those constructed by the armies in the Civil War. The force within this fortification consisted of about fifty or one hundred men under command of Captain Juelson, with arms, ammuni- tion, provision and water. and sufficiently manned and equipped to keep the entire Sioux nation at bay. The building of this fort, as an exhibition of military skill and courage, was far better than running away from home and fireside. It reflected credit upon the yeomanry of Tordenskjold and Norman, of whose pluck and energy it stood as an enduring monument. In turning the sod of this fort historic relics of early ages were disclosed by the breaking plow, when it unearthed some Indian graves, breaking the bones of the buried dead into small fragments.
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At this time the citizens of Norwegian Grove, the northwestern town- ship of the county, held a meeting and as a preliminary measure sent abroad for arms with which to defend themselves. They also employed a scout at big wages, whose duty it was to traverse the country to the west and north and warn the people of any approaching danger.
There was a good deal of indignation in this county against the parties responsible for setting afloat the false reports about the presence and depre- dations of Indians, a report which caused thousands of people serious fright and great inconvenience.
Some families actually sold their possessions for a song and left the country. It was said by a prominent public official of the county at that time that this Indian scare damaged Otter Tail county more than fifty thou- sand dollars.
A PRAIRIE FIRE.
One of the most remarkable instances of suffering and loss by prairie fire occurred October 18, 1876. The Fergus Falls Journal, in giving an account of this fire, said :
"Auden Johnson and H. P. Stevens, who resided near Wall lake, in Dane Prairie, while on their way to Campbell station with an ox team loaded with wheat, saw a furious prairie fire coming from the southeast. They thought it quite distant, but deemed it prudent to set a back-fire. But the advancing flames came upon them so rapidly that before they succeeded in lighting a match in the wind the demon was upon them. Their fright- ened teams became unmanageable and ran from the fire and the men at first directed their efforts to save their teams as well as themselves. Seeing their attempts were in vain, they finally threw themselves on their faces in the grass, and the roaring mad sea of fire passed over them. It was a terrible moment. Mr. Stevens gives a very intelligent account of the case. He says they deliberately fell on their faces, knowing it was their only hope, but for some time they abandoned all hope of their lives.
"The fire having passed, the men were in the most pitiable condition. They were badly burned all over their bodies, particularly on their hands and faces, which were a mass of blisters, while their eyes were swollen shut. In this suffering condition, they were found in the evening by a man passing with a horse team, who brought them into Fergus Falls to the homes of friends for medical attention.
"One of the teams was overtaken in high grass and prostrated by the fire and so badly burned that they will probably die. The other team reached a point where the grass was lighter and was not so seriously burned. The wagons were more or less injured and the wheat badly damaged."
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GOLD IN OTTER TAIL COUNTY.
There are few people in Otter Tail county who remember the excite- ment caused by the report that gold had been found in paying quantities in Leaf Mountain township. In the spring of 1877 the county papers and the state papers as well were carrying an item to the effect that gold had been discovered in the "Leaf mountains." An extract from the St. Paul Dis- patch, reprinted in the Perham Independent on May 2. 1877, has the fol- lowing to say of the reported discovery :
"Samuel H. Nichols, clerk of the supreme court, is in receipt of a let- ter from a friend at Fergus Falls, in which he says of the reported gold discoveries near there: 'Great gold discoveries in the Leaf mountains. Post- master Dahlmer, a miner for four years, takes out fifty cents to the pan, pure gold. He says he is satisfied that there is a large amount of gold there, and proposes to make a call for old miners to prospect. Don't go to the Black Hills.' Dahlmer is here today and says the color is in paying quan- tities."
How long the excitement lasted and who was responsible for the dis- covery that the reported gold was nothing but "fool's gold" has not been ascertained. However, it is safe to say that the man who blasted the hopes of those who thought an El Dorado had been found in the county was looked upon as little short of a traitor. Otter Tail county has produced plenty of gold since that time, but it has not come from mining. It is from its fertile hillsides and valleys that the farmer has reaped that which he looked for in vain in the bowels of the earth.
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THE FIRST LAW FIRM IN FERGUS FALLS.
Lawyers may come and lawyers may go, but some go sooner than others. It was forty-five years ago this summer that the first law firm in Fergus Falls came into existence and one member of this first firm is still practicing in the city. In an old ledger, yellow with age and mellow with time, the historian found the following interesting. document, a contract which carries with it its own explanation :
Fergus Falls, July 5. 1871.
Be it remembered. on this 5th day of July. A. D. 1871. that we. the undersigned. attorneys-at-law. have entered into a general co-partnership under the firm name and style of Melville & Mason. on the following conditions: 1st, said firm to commence busi- ness on the day above written: 2nd. to remain the same under said name and style for one year from said date: 3rd. each member to receive an equal share of all fees: 4th, to defray equally all necessary expenses for the maintenance and convenience of said firm: 5th. to engage strictly in the practice of law: 6th, each pledges himself upon his honor to attend strictly to business in an honorable manner.
BERT MELVILLE. J. W. MASON.
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This firm was not destined to remain intact for the reason that he whose name headed it failed to live up to the sixth condition of the con- tract. Wine and women, if not song, were responsible for the dissolution of the firm and, while Mason proved his right to be classed as one of the best lawyers in the city, his partner severed his allegiance with Blackstone and became a follower of Bacchus. Long years ago he left the city where he might have become a useful citizen and a leading lawyer, but the other member of the firm has lived to become one of the best lawyers and at the same time one of the most highly respected citizens of Fergus Falls. Today Hon. John W. Mason is the oldest member of the local bar and a man whose career has been such that future chroniclers may say of him-"The life of such a man does not go out; it goes on."
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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 3 1951 P01 161 370 Q
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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 3 1951 P01 161 370 Q
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