USA > Minnesota > Rice County > History of Rice County, including explorers and pioneers of Minnesota and outline history of the state of Minnesota > Part 56
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The flouring mills of Rice county, in 1874, pro- duced 208,000 barrels of flour.
In 1878, there was a regularly organized wolf hunt, which shows how hard the old occupants of the country hold on, and how difficult it is to completely dislodge them.
On Thursday, the 4th of April, 1865, the region of Rice county was visited by a terrible blizzard, which did an immense amount of injury to the crops and buildings.
The total number of farms in Rice county in 1866 was 1,200.
GOPHER HUNT .- The amusements on the fron- ticr are peculiar, and sometimes combine the most important utility with festive occasions. At this day it is hardly possible to realize the number of wild animals, including many whose habits were inimical to agricultural interests, and whose pres- ence in such infesting swarms it became necessary to abbreviate with as little delay as possible. To illustrate these several points, an account of a gopher hunt instituted by the young men of East Prairie, early in June, 1866, will be given.
The two towns, Walcott and Richland, entered into the contest with a view to ascertaining which could secure the largest amount of this precious game in a given time, the defeated party to pay for the supper ordered at the close of the hunt. At the appointed time the two parties took the field under Captains W. Carter and Theodore
Close, respectively. On the 9th of June the con- testants and their friends met at a picnic, and among the other delicacies served up on the occa- sion was a gopher pie, with a huge pocket go- pher crouched in the center, and rats with gray and striped gophers around the margin, with their heads peeping through holes in the crust; but other viands prepared were so eagerly sought after that this rare and appetizing dish was totally neg- lected. The number of animals secured on both sides footed up as follows:
Gray gophers. 1,358
Striped gophers 1,083
Rats . 1,168
Pocket gophers 464
Making the almost incredible number of 4,073
GENERAL REMARKS.
The pioneers of this whole region were partic- ularly fortunate in their contact with the Indians; the scenes of massacre which began with the planting of the English colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts, and moved with the advancing civilization in a crimson line along the frontier, with the most heart rending atrocities, seem to have stopped at the Mississippi, leaving this sec- tion in peace and quietness, to reappear, however, in all its original fierceness to the west of us in that terrible Sioux massacre, so truthfully depic- ted in this work.
Although the tomahawk and scalping knife were not a constant menace to the early comers, it must not be imagined that there was not toil, privation, cold, and hunger to undergo, for there was nothing in these wilds of Minnesota, except the intrinsic merit of the location, to attract peo- ple from their more or less comfortable homes in the East, or on the other continent, from whence so many of them came. Those who first came were inspired with hope, which indeed "Springs eternal in the human breast," but they were re- garded by their friends who were left behind, as adventurers, soldiers of fortune, who, if they got through alive, would certainly never be able to return, unless they were particularly fortunate. They were a sturdy race, who realized the inequal- ity of the struggle in the old States or Countries, where humanity on the one hand, claiming a right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- ness," and the accumulations of labor in vast ag- gregations in sordidly avaricious clutches on the other, hedged in with traditional precedents and
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GENERAL REMARKS.
barriers, with every facility for receiving, but with few outlets for distribution, and they resolved to establish themselves where merit would not be sup- planted by antiquated relics of feudalism, which afflict all the old communities.
The men who came here to establish homes for themselves and their posterity, were, as a rule, enterprising, open-hearted, clear headed and sym- pathizing; they were good neighbors and so good neighborhoods were created, and they made a practical illustration of the great doctrine of the " brotherhood of man," by example rather than by quoting creeds, or conforming to outward obser- vances which may or may not spring from motives of purity, with a bravery that never blanched in the midst of misfortune or danger, however appalling, they were nevertheless tender, kind, and consid- erate in the presence of disaster and adversity, and their deficiences in the outward manifesta- tions of piety, were more than compensated by their love and regard for the claims of humanity.
We, who enjoy the blessings resulting from the efforts of these men, many of whom are still in active life, would be less than human if we were not filled with gratitude to these esrly settlers who paved the way and made the condition of things we now find a reality. The value of what they accomplished can not be overestimated, and it should be constantly remembered that whatever of romance adhered to the hardy colonists, was more than compensated for by hard work.
If this meed of praise is justly due to the men, as it certainly is, what shall be said in commenda- tion of the heroic women who braved the vicissi- tudes of frontier life, endured the absence from home, friends, and old associations, whose tender ties must have wrung all hearts as they were severed ? The devotion which would lead to such a breaking away, to follow a father, a husband, or a son, into the trackless waste beyond the Mississippi, where gloomy apprehensions must have arisen in the mind, is above all praise. The value of the part taken by the noble women who first came to this uninhabited region cannot be overestimated. Although by nature liberal, they practiced the most rigid economy, and often at critical times preserved order, reclaiming the men from utter despair during gloomy periods; and their example of frugal industry and cheerful- ness, constantly admonished him to renewed ex- ertions, the instincts of womanhood, constantly encouraging integrity and manhood.
As to the effects of frontier life, socially and morally, upon those who have secured homes west of the Mississippi, a few observations may not be inappropriate.
During the last generation a noted divine in the East, Rev. Dr. Bushnell, preached a sermon on the barbarous tendencies of civilization in the West, and on this the Reverend gentleman predicated an urgent appeal to Christianity to put forth re- newed and strenuous efforts to save this region from a relapse into barbarism. This tendency was supposed to result from the disruption of social and religious ties, the mingling of heterogeneous elements, and the removal of the external re- straints so common, and supposed to be so potent in older communities, It is evident, however, that Dr. Bushnell did not have a sufficiently ex- tended view of the subject, for the arbitrament of time has shown that his apprehensions were groundless, for if he had carefully surveyed the history of the past, he would have found that in a nomadic condition there is never any real pro- gress in refinement. Institutions for the elevation of the race must be planted deep in the soil, be- fore they can raise their heads in beauty and majesty toward heaven and bear fruit for the en- lightenment of the nations. The evils that so alarmed Dr. Bushnell were merely temporary in their character, without a lasting impression. The planting of a new colony where everything has to be constructed, involves an obvious increase of human freedom, the conventionalities of society are necessarily disregarded to a great extent, but the elements of sincere regard for the feelings and welfare of others, and of self government every- where, largely predominates, and the fusion of the races modifies the asperities and the idiosyn- cracies of each, and certainly will in due time create a composite nationality in which it is hoped, in conformity to the spirit of this remarkable age, will produce a nationality or a race as unlike, as it must be superior to those that have preceded it. Even now, before the first generation has passed away. society here has outgrown the irritation of the transplanting, and there are no more vicious elements in society, if as many, as there are in the old communities, as the criminal statistics abundantly show.
Besides the West is already "pointing with pride," to her educational institutions, where the teaching is of an elevating and ennobling charac- ter.
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HISTORY OF RICE COUNTY.
CITY OF FARIBAULT.
CHAPTER L.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION -- EARLY SETTLEMENT - EARLY EVENTS-INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES-STATE INSTITUTIONS-SHATTUCK SCHOOL-SEABURY DI- VINITY SCHOOL-CHURCHES-PUBLIC SCHOOLS- FRATERNAL AND OTHER SOCIETIES.
This is an independent political subdivision of `the county of Rice, with a city government, and embraces a fraction from Cannon City, from Wells, from Walcott, and from Warsaw, the pro- portionate quantity of territory being in the or- der named, and three miles square, which gives, of course, nine square miles.
Its position brings the center of the city within three miles of the geographical center of the county of which it is the capital. It originally possessed advantages of a high order, whichi have been so well appreciated that it is one of the finest and most prosperous cities in Minnesota. It is situated with a prairie coming up from the south and leaving it in the concave of a lunette of tim- ber called the "Big Woods," extending north and west for a great distance.
It is on the Straight River, on the peninsula formed by its confluence with Cannon River. The water-power is large and reliable, and its utiliza- tion has been one of the important elements con- tributing to its growth and prosperity. The ex- tent of the timber above mentioned was at least 1,800 square miles, or 1,152,000 acres, consisting of oak, maple, bass, elm, poplar, and in some places black walnut, butternut, cedar, and syca- more; and immediately around Faribault it would out a handsome amount of lumber to each acre, and leave good material for fences and fuel. The Straight River timber, which laid to the south and east, running into Steele county, comprised an area of from three to four thousand miles. The Can- nou River belt came in at an acute angle, so that both bodies were ready to be drawn from, not with that extreme economy which is practiced in com-
munities where, from its scarcity, timber is fully appreciated, nor has it been wasted, as in the local- ities where the getting rid of it is the problem that exercises every new comer. The Cannon and Straight Rivers run with strong currents, the Straight being the smaller of the two, and this, it is estimated, at the lowest stages passes 1,600 cubic feet in a minute.
Three lime stone quarries were opened at an early day, one by Mr. A. Faribault, operated by Mr. Whipple, one by Charles Wood, and one by M. N. Pond.
In 1856, two lime kilns were opened, Levi Nut- ting had one, and Mr. Woodman the other. Take these natural resources, associated with a county having a rich and valuable soil which was rapidly occupied with an industrious and intelligent popu- lation, and you have the elements for the growth and prosperity of the city of Faribault. All this being supplemented by the advent in the city of an unusual proportion of enterprising and public spirited men and women, and there is no wonder at what has been accomplished toward bringing the shire town of Rice county so far along in the race for metropolitan distinction.
In preparing the history of a connty in which the city plays such a prominent part as does Fari- bault in that of Rice county, the difficulty of drawing lines of demarcation between what should appertain to the one or the other, excepting in mere political or governmental affairs, can be readily appreciated after a moment's thought, and in this work it will be seen that a sketch of the early settlers of the city would be a simple reca- pitulation of the county article, which is so full in this regard. An attempt is made, however, to group the items clearly belonging to the city in this part of the book.
The first proprietors of what was kuown as the "Old Town," were Alexander Faribault, Luke Hulett, W. Morris, H. H. Sibley; and afterwards
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CITY OF FARIBAULT.
came the names of J. W. North, Porter Nutting, J. H. Mills, R. Sherwood, Sen., Samuel Walcott; and in the fall of 1855, Gen. James Shields, of Mexican war fame, who had been a United States Senator from Illinois, and was afterwards Senator from Minnesota for the first short term after the State was admitted into the Union. He was sub- sequently a Senator from Missouri, the only in- stance in this country where a man has represent- el three different States in the American Senate. He purchased an interest in the town site, and be- came the agent and attorney for the company, re- ceiving his deed from Judge Chatfleld, who form- ally entered the town according to the act making provisions therefore, on the 29th of May, 1855, and for several years General Shields issued titles to all the lots sold.
The original town, as surveyed and platted by B. Densmore, contained 280 acres, but additions were soon made as follows: Paquin's, surveyed by C. C. Perkins and recorded December 7th, 1855, and April 16th, 1856, eighty acres; Cooper's, surveyed by A. H. Bullis, and recorded April 3d, 1856, forty acres; McClelland's, surveyed by S. Wade, and recorded April 30th, 1856, forty-two acres; South Faribault, surveyed by C. C. Perk- ins, Shields and Faribault, proprietors, and re- corded May 1st, 1856, fifty acres; North Fari- bault, surveyed by A. H. Bullis, F. Faribault, pro- prietor, forty acres, making in 1856, a total of 532 acres. All the lots were four by ten rods, making one-fourth of an acre each, except the business lots, which were two rods shorter.
In the winter of 1857, the lots were selling at from $500 to $3,000, which ought to have been a satisfactory advance on thirty-one and one-quarter cents, paid the government a year or two before.
The tidal wave, or avalanche, whichever is most appropriate to designate an oncoming of human- ity and wealth, was in the spring and summer of 1856, for at the beginning of that period there was not a score of buildings in town, while in the fall there were more than 250, and the population had swelled up to be 1,500 or more. There were in the town early in 1857, twenty- three stores, four good hotels, five wagon shops, with blacksmith and shoemaker shops, two livery stables, two meat markets, and three steam mills, and surrounded by a rich country, fast filling up, its growth and prosperity was an assurance which has been well realized.
In the winter of 1856, Faribault had a literary association, and published a paper called "The Pioneer."
Goods at first had to be hauled from Hastings, making a round trip of about 140 miles, although in some seasons of the year supplies were landed on the Mississippi at Reed's landing, at the foot of Lake Pepin.
The first frame building put up here was by Mr. Faribault, quite a good one and in striking contrast with the log cabins, hovels, and shanties which were extemporized by the pioneers on their first arrival, to meet the imperative demands for shelter. The cost of this first building was $1,000. The lumber for its construction was brought from St. Paul; a part of it was left on the road, as the team was unable to get through with such a load, and this was burned by a prairie fire. The next frame was erected by the Messrs. Barnard, at a cost of $1,000, which was afterwards occupied by J. H. Mills. This was in August, 1855, and during that season quite a number of others went up. Faribault's house still stands, not far from the Barron house. The Post-office, which was kept by Mr. E. J. Crump, the deputy, was oppo- site where the Arlington House stands.
At first there was a struggle between the two ends of the village, the sonth and the north. Mr. Faribault lived at the south, and the French Ca- nadian settlement was at the north end, and in any contest where there was a vote on the ques- tion, the countrymen of Mr. Faribault would go with him, apparently against their own interest.
Mr. Crump had a pre-emption claim which he was induced to waive in consideration of the company's giving him the entire block upon which the Arlington house stands.
General Shields had several thousand dollars, and procuring a pair of horses and a carriage, he traveled all over this country finally bringing up in Shieldsville, where he was getting quite a settlement when Mr. Faribault offered him such liberable inducements to act for the town site company, that he at once came here. The trouble as to the ownership, and the adjustment of the rival pre-emption claims, was considerable, but the General went to Washington where his ex- perience in the land office enabled him to secure a clear title. It is supposed that the disappoint- ment attending his political aspirations led to the sudden abandonment of his property here to his nephew.
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HISTORY OF RICE COUNTY.
One of the first meetings for religious instruc- tion was in April, 1854, in the grove near Luke Hulett's, north of the bridge, on the Solomon Atherton place, by an itinerant evangelist. The audience was made up mostly of the Wau-pa-ku- ta-Dakotas who were here in considerable num- bers. The first denominational service was by Jonathan Morris, a follower of Alexander Camp- bell.
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The village lots were surveyed in April, 1854, and there were five claims covering the town at that time. Mr. A. Faribault had the upper claim; J. B. Faribault, the father of Alexander, had another; Mr. N. Paquin had the lower part of the town; while H. H. Sibley held the central part, which, at that early day, Mr. Faribault in- formed his particular friends sub rosa, was to finally make a city with that as a center.
It was found that under the pre emption law, town sites could be laid out in advance of the land sale, and so it was arranged to lay out the town at once, and the west, or prairie half, was surveyed and platted, and filed in the recorder's office at Mendota, in the name of A. Faribault, H. H. Sibley, Walter Morris, and Luke Hulett. This survey was subsequently cancelled, and, under the auspices of J. B. North, a re-survey was made in the spring of 1855. This became per- manent. In the fullness of time, Judge Chat- field was induced to become the trustee; the land of Gen. Sibley was pre-empted, and through the paramount influence of Gen. James Shields, who, · as mentioned elsewhere, had dawned upon the scene, the title was finally vested so as to be lasting.
The city of Faribault proper is mostly in the cul de sac, formed by the coming together of the Straight and the Cannon Rivers on the northern boundary. A part of the platted city lays east of the Straight River including the Shattuck School, the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, St. Mary's New Hall, the Divinity School, the Asylum for the Blind, and the Institute for the Idiotic and Feeble Minded, and quite a number of residences. These two parts of the city are connected by four bridges. The east side is on a bluff which rises abruptly from the river and overlooks the rest of the city and country beyond, affording a fine view from the public institutions located there. The direction of the streets are coincident with the cardinal points of the compass. The east and west street crossing the river at the uppermost
point is Front street, and south of this, in the same direction are Hickory, Pine, and South streets. North of Front, the streets are numbered consecutively, First, Second, and so on up to Fifteenth, which is at the confluence of the two rivers. The north and south streets are, Main, the principal business street, which, commencing at the south end, goes north to near the junction of the two rivers. Willow is east of this, and next to the river; next is Water, which, on account of a curve in the river is on both sides of it, then comes Oak, Walnut, Vine, and Ash. On this side the Hastings' road is a continuation of Second street which deflects to the left. West of Main street, and parallel with it, the streets are Elm, Chestnut, Maple, Cherry, Cedar, Plum, Sycamore and Buckeye, which is next east of the railroad. West of the railroad are Irving, Cross, and Lin- coln streets. This represents the street system of Faribault, and there are several other short diag- onal streets particularly at the south end of the city. The streets are of good width and have sidewalks, some of the outlying ones, however, only on one side. They are usually of plank. All the resident streets have shade trees which are young and thrifty, and the common mistake is made of allowing them to limb out too low down, so that they obstruct the light and the passage way, as in many streets an average man cannot walk without getting his hat brushed, which is anything but agreeable, especially in a wet time, but this is evidently a result of a facetious conspiracy against the glossy integrity of the few remaining silk hats, or it may be from simple thoughtlessness, which attention to the subject will correct without the interposition of a city ordinance. The blocks are laid out without alleys which will be missed more and more as the city gets solidly built up. A few, however, have been opened up. The city is admirably situated, with good drainage facilities, and high and dry above possible inundation by river floods. As to healthfulness, there are seldom any prevailing diseases.
In addition to the regular residents of the city, there is a transitory population, brought hither by the schools which have such a wide reputation, and who remain for longer or shorter periods, pending the education of their children. While the city is metropolitan as far as churches, schools, public halls, mercantile establishments, and the
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CITY OF FARIBAULT.
various concomitants of an advanced civilization are concerned, it is nevertheless a rural city, where the advantages of urban and suburban life can be enjoyed together, without the annoyances inci- dent to conditions where they have to be sought separately.
The business houses and manufacturing estab- lishments are commodious and well adapted for their several purposes. The residences are in ac- cordance with prevailing ideas as to what consti- tutes a home, and there is a gratifying absence of those extremes met with in older communities, where the palaces with their columns, pilasters, caryatides, entablatures, cornices, towers, and minarets, in the midst of ornamented grounds, with trees, flowers, fountains, and statuary en- closed by lofty walls, and gates guarded by por- ter's lodges, which suggest and point with un- erring certainty to miserable hovels and abodes of squalor and wretchedness, which are the counter- part, or the other picture, upon which it is not so pleasant to look. The luxuriance and ease on the one hand being procured by the labor and depri- vation on the other. These extremes are not met with here, the people are all well honsed and com- fortable, showing that our republican institutions are not a failure, but that they have realized the idea that all men are created free and equal, and also established the possibility of their remaining so after they are born.
VARIOUS EVENTS OF INTEREST CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED.
A ladies' benevolent association was formed in 1855, and the first annual meeting held on the 14th of January, 1856. Mrs. Charles Jewett was the president, and the other officers were, Mrs. Armsby, Mrs. Rising West, Mrs. Tower, Mrs. Stevens, and Mrs. Edwin Armstrong. This shows that the noble women who first came here brought with them a regard for humanity in its dependent moods.
THE YEAR 1857.
On the 7th of January the Congregational church was dedicated, and Rev. Lauren Armstrong was installed as pastor of the church. Those as- sisting were, Rev. Mr. Cressey, of Cannon City; Rev. Mr. Barnes, of Cannon Falls ; and Rev. Mr. Secombe. The people adhering to this faith ex- hibited great energy in thus providing, at such an early day, for their spiritual wants.
The lard office was removed here from Winona some time toward the last of January. The teams were eight days on the road with the documents.
On the 24th of February three young men started to drive to the lake, and on their way were hailed by a young Indian with a gun, who asked for a ride, and without slacking up they beckoned him to " come on," which he did. As he reached the carriage, and was about clambering in, his musket was discharged, and the. ball penetrated the arm of one of the young men, Godfrey Xa- vier, breaking the bone above the elbow, and sev- ering an artery. The Indian was arrested, but on an examination the accidental character of the shooting was shown, and he was discharged.
On the 17th of February two children of Mr. Frederick Faribault, residing in an addition to the city, while he was away from home, were burned to death in the house, which was con- sumed, it having caught or been set on fire, the other members of the family escaping with great difficulty, one or two of them being seriously burned.
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