USA > Minnesota > Rice County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 2
USA > Minnesota > Steele County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 2
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Early Stage and Mail Routes in Steele County-Owatonna Postoffiec --- Postmasters-Locations-Rural Routes-Free Delivery-New Building -Present Foree-Receipts-Compiled with the Assistance of J. M. Diment 988
CHAPTER XXVII.
BLOOMING PRAIRIE VILLAGE.
Modern Blooming Prairie-Its Beauties, Situation and Advantages-Com- ing of the Railroad-Early Beginnings-Municipal Improvements- Park, Waterworks, Sewer-Fraternities-Churches-Leading Stores- Elevators, Mill and Creamery-Schools-Grain Industry-Conclusion .. 992
CHAPTER XXVIII.
NEWSPAPERS.
Watchman and Register-Medford Valley Argus-Owatonna Journal- News Letter-Owatonna Representative-Owatonna Register-Owa- tonna Democrat-Vidette-Owatonna Register-Owatonna Plaindealer -Journal and Herald-Owatonna Chronicle-Journal-Chroniele-Peo- ple's Press-Our Pastime-Morning Star-Daily Herald-Owatonna Tribune-Ellendale Eagle-Blooming Prairie Times-Compiled and Edited by Benjamin F. Darby. 1008
CHAPTER XXIX.
NATIONAL GUARD.
llistory of Company I, Second Infantry, Minnesota National Guard-Its Ifonors and Efficiency-Muster In-First Officers-Changes in Officers -Erecting the Armory-Social and Disciplinary Advantages-Conelu- sion 1022
PART I RICE AND STEELE COUNTIES
CHAPTER I.
PREHISTORIC TIMES.
Introduction Relating Climatic Advantages-Geology-The Mound Builders-Discussions by Prof. E. W. Schmidt, Prof. Anton T. Gesner and Dr. W. M. Sweney-The Newly Dis- covered Lowland Mounds.
In the central part of that nature-favored stretch of rolling, or occasionally broken, prairie known as southeastern Minnesota. where the Straight river and upper course of the Cannon, pass- ing well cultivated farms, busy cities and prosperous villages, give fertility to the soil, and power to the mills, lie two sister counties, Rice and Steele, of historic past, prosperous present and promis- ing future.
The elevation of this stretch of land above the sea, its fine drainage and the dryness of the atmosphere, give it a climate of unusual salubrity and pleasantness. Its latitude gives it cor- respondingly longer days in summer, and during the growing seasons about one and a half hours more of sunshine, than in the latitude of St. Louis. This taken in connection with the abundant rainfall in early autumn, accounts for the rapid and vigorous growth of crops in this vicinity and their carly maturity. The cool breezes and cool nights in summer prevent the debil- itating effect of heat so often felt in lower latitudes. The winter climate is one of the attractive features. Its uniformity and its dryness, together with the bright sunshine and the electrical con- dition of the air, all tend to enhance the personal comfort of the resident, and to make outdoor life and labor a pleasure.
From the creation of the earth, to the time when such ideal conditions prevailed, many æons passed, and after countless ages, this locality awaited the coming of man. Primeval nature reigned in all her beauty.
"The buffalo, the elk, and the deer, for centuries roamed the wild prairies and woodlands; fishes basked undisturbed in its lakes and rippling streams; the muskrat, the otter, and the mink gamboled upon the ice in winter with no man to molest them. Ducks, geese. and other aquatic fowls, in countless mimbers, covered the lakes and streams in summer, and chattered and squawked and frolicked in all their native glory and happiness. The prairie wolves howled upon their little hillocks, and, coward-
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like, were always ready to attack and destroy the weak and de- fenseless. Pocket gophers went on with their interminable un- derground operations, all unconscious of the inroads soon to be made upon their dominions by the husbandman. Grouse and prairie chickens cackled, crowed, and strutted in all their pride. Blizzards and cyclones swept unheeded across its vast domains.
The autumnal prairie fires, in all their terrible grandeur and weird beanty, lighted the heavens by night and clouded the sun by day. Age after age added alluvial richness to the soil and prepared it to be one of the most productive fields of the world for the abode of the husbandman and for the uses of civilized man."
At some period of the earth's history, mankind in some form, took up its abode in the area that is now Rice and Steele conn- ties. The origin of human life in Minnesota has been made a subject of special study by Dr. Warren Upham, secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, and the thoughtful student is referred to his various articles on the subject ; a detailed dis- cussion being beyond the scope of this work.
Prof. E. W. Schmidt, the well known archeologist of Red Wing, Minn., is now investigating the previously undiscussed lowland mounds of southern Minnesota, and it is possible that he will demonstrate the fact that this locality may have been occupied by primitive man in glacial and pre-glacial times. Dr. Upham has already proven to scientists the existence of glacial and pre-glacial man in certain portions of this state.
The first ocenpants of this immediate vicinity, whose occu- pancy has actually been conclusively demonstrated, were the "Mound Builders," as they have long been called, but who in the light of Prof. Schmidt's discoveries, must now be called the High- land Mound Buiklers-that is, the builders of the mounds located in dry places, usually on eminences.
These mounds are familiar to practically every resident of Minnesota, as this state is especially rich in such archaeological remains. At one time it was believed that the Mound Builders were a prehistoric race, much superior to the Indians and differ- ing greatly from them in habits, life. appearance, racial char- acteristics and mental development.
Later scientists, however, believe that the Mound Builders were simply the ancestors of the present day Indians, and differed in no important characteristics from the aboriginies found here by the carly explorers. The Mound Builders of this particular vicin- ity were probably the ancestors of the Sioux and the lowa In- dians, it being well known that these two races are branches of the same great family.
Some historians have declared that the lowas formerly had
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their headquarters in the territory of the lower St. Croix, the upper Mississippi and the lower Minnesota rivers, and that they were driven out by the Sioux. On this point authorities differ, but it is possible that in pre-historic times the Iowas and the Sioux successively hunted on the prairies now embracing Rice and Steele counties. Since the date of the earliest exploration of the upper Mississippi, by Europeans, however, the occupants of this prairie were the Wapakoota Indians, the name being variously spelled, but meaning in Sioux, the Leaf Shooters, or more correctly "The Shooters in the Leaves of the Indigenous Pines."
The story of the gradual distribution of the Sioux in Mine- sota, from their ancient headquarters about Mille Lacs is an interesting one, well worthy of study, but beyond the scope of this history.
Prof. Schmidt has said :
"The mounds! The mounds! Who does not love to spend a day among the silent monuments of a vanished race? Who is not charmed while strolling among these tombs, either when the green of spring covers them as with a carpet, while all around you the hills, lakes, rivers, ponds and woods contribute their beauty to complete the picture of a glorious day in June, or while the dreamy haze of an autumnal day tinges the gorgeous panorama of the many-colored landscape with delicate tint of blue? To the charms of such a scene the lover of mounds is not a stranger, nor to the pleasant feeling of mystery that steals upon his mind as he gazes at the sepulchres that dot the terrace or stand out boldly on the promontory of a steep and rugged bluff.
"What is the meaning of the mounds? Who made them? Whence did the mound builders come? When did they live here? What sort of life did they lead? What was their state of cul- ture? Who were the first inhabitants of Rice and Steele coun- ties? These are some of the questions which archaeology is busy trying to solve.
"In regard to the origin of the mounds it may be said in brief that they are of Indian origin. The idea of a prehistoric race of mound builders distinct from the Indian has been ex- ploded by archæological research, but it is very common to find this idea expressed in books of the last generation and in the minds of those who in early childhood had the "mound builder" theory instilled into them. The real mound builder was a genuine Indian and not a member of some other race. The evidences of this are many. Indians are known to have built mounds. The articles found in the mounds are the same in kind and make as those found on the nearby village site. In-
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variably a large mound group has a village site close by. The articles found on the sites and in the mounds are such as the Indians used. Space forbids a discussion of this subject, but here is a partial list of the objects that have been found in south- ern Minnesota: Arrows, of various sizes and shapes, made of chert, quartz, quartzite, gunflint and other varieties of rock; spearheads, knives, awls, needles, hammerstones, millstones, clubs, sinkers, bone implements, fragments of pipes, scrapers in profusion, ice-axes, spuds, chungce stones, paint pots, paint cups, hammers of hematite and other kinds of rocks, fleshers, polish- ing stones, drills, hairpins, a decorated buffalo-rib knife, mauls, stone balls, flakes, chisels, lances, mullers, mortars, whetstones, decorated pieces of clam shells, also vast numbers of spalls, chips, rejects and fragmentary implements in various stages of com- pletion, a slate charm, pieces of lead probably brought up from Missouri, bones of many kinds of animals, rough tools, etc. Vast numbers of pottery fragments and a few entire vessels have also been found. Also a copper spear, large copper spuds, a small hoe made from a piece of rifle barrel deposited in one of the Indian graves at Red Wing, and shell beads from the same locality. Space forbids a detailed description of these relics. However, a few thoughts suggested by them relative to the state of culture, habits, modes of life and occupations of our prede- cessors may be mentioned. Fortified hills, tomahawks, battle clubs, spearheads, etc., mean war. Arrows signify war and the chase. We do not know what human beings first beheld the stretches of Rice and Steele counties as their home. We may never be able to look beyond the veil or penetrate the mists that enshroud the history of the past, yet we are not left in utter darkness. The relics mentioned tell us many interesting stories. The absence of great architectural ruins show that the mound builders lived in frail homes. The dearth of agricultural imple- ments does not spell waving fields of golden grain. The ashpits and fireplaces mark the bare ground as the aboriginal stove. Net- sinkers imply the use of nets; ice-axes the chopping of holes in the ice to procure water, stone axes a clumsy device for splitting wood ; stone knives for scalping, cutting meat, leather and twigs ; countless flakes mark the ancient arrow maker's workshop; cracked bones show the Indian's love for marrow ; shell beads, charms and ornaments in the shape of fish and other designs reveal a primitive desire for ornamentation ; chisels and gouges recall the making of canoes; sun-dried pottery made of clay mixed with coarse sand, clam shells or powdered granite and marked with rows of dots made with a stick, thumbnail or other objects, or else marked with lines, V-shaped figures or chevrons, all are an index of a rather crude state of pottery making. The
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hand supplied the lathe and the wheel. Inasmuch as some of the most ancient remains show great similarity to the more recent, we feel certain that no great progress was made by these early inhabitants. A copper spear of recent date shows no more signs of smelting than does the copper blade that has been much corroded by a great lapse of time. Trees hundreds of years old give us at least some measure of estimating the age of the contents of the mounds on which they stand, and it also means that the mound builder lived there several hundred years, if not longer. By such processes of reasoning we can learn a good deal of the social, individual and family life of the savage mound builder."
DR. SWENEY'S PAPER.
Dr. William M. Sweney has said:
"The general opinion, I think, prevails, that the art of chip- ping flint and stone implements is a lost one ; but as there are a number of descriptions in print. written by persons who have witnessed the operation, I will give a description or two. Catlin's description of Apache mode of making flint arrow points: 'This operation is very curious, both the holder and the striker singing, and the strokes of the mallet, given exactly in time with the music, and with a short and rebounding blow, in which, the In- dians tell us, is the great medicine of the operation.' Admiral L. E. Belcher gives an account of flint arrow head making by western Eskimo tribes. Schoolcraft describes the mode of mak- ing flint arrow heads by North American Indians. John Smith describes the making of arrow points by Virginia Indians. 'His arrow head he quickly maketh with a little bone, which he ever weareth at his brace, of a splint of a stone or glass, in the form of a heart and these they glue to the end of their arrows.'
"I have made the statement that it could never be known how many ages the Indians had flourished in southern Minnesota, and now add the opinions of others. Many writers in the past, and a few at the present time, speak of the mound builders as a van- ished race and declare that the skeletons found buried in the mounds denote that they were giants in stature. Marquis De Nadaillac, in 'Prehistoric America,' pages 113-154, says: 'The new school, with such scholars at its head as Brinton, Cyrus Thomas, Powell and Carr, hold that the present Indians are the descendants of the Mound Builders.' John Gmeiner, pastor of the Church of St. Raphael, Springfield, Minn., January 10, 1908, in 'Acta et Dicta,' published by the St. Paul Catholics' Historical Society, July. 1908, pages 221-222, says: 'The Dakota confed- eration consisted of a number of tribes whose ancestors must have been originally united in one tribe, for they spoke dialects
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of the same language.' About 800 years ago seven tribes, the Omaha, Ooehenonpa, Minnikannazo, Ttazipco, Licanga, Hunk- papa, and Yanktonnen, united to form the Dakota confederation. The very name implies this. It means 'allied nations.' The name Sioux was unknown to them; it is a corruption of an Ojibwa word, meaning enemies, as the Dakotas and Ojibwas were continually at war. The Dakota confederation gradually increased until it included forty-two tribes and extended far be- yond the limits of our present state.
"The Dakotas entered Minnesota and Wisconsin about the beginning of their confederation. Father Craft writes: 'It is quite certain they were near Lake Michigan 800 years ago, as they met there Eric Upsi, Bishop of Greenland, who had conie there from Vineland about 1121.' It is certainly a most inter- esting and surprising fact to find the long-lost, zealous Norse bishop finally reappear in the ancient traditions of the Dakotas. Any one desirous of reading more about Bishop Eric Upsi, or Gnupson, may consult P. De Roo, 'History of America Before Columbus,' Philadelphia and London, 1900, vol. 88, pp. 174-282. No doubt Eric Upsi came to the western shores of Lake Mich- igan by way of the St. Lawrence river and the Great Lakes. Ac- cording to Humboldt, the Norsemen had some of the principal settlements at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river, and it was quite natural for them to follow that great waterway to its sources, as the French did at a later period.
"Following is an article written by Lucien Carr, entitled The Mounds of the Mississippi Valley Historically Considered, which appeared in memoirs of the Kentucky Geological Survey. Vol. 11, 1183; N. S. Shaler, Director. In a paper upon the Pre- historic Remains of Kentucky, published in the first volume of these memoirs, I have expressed the opinion that it was im- possible to distinguish between a series of stone implements taken from the mounds in the Mississippi valley and a similar series made and used by the modern Indians. In fact, so alike are these objects in conception and execution that any attempt to distinguish them, based upon form or finish, must be but the merest guess work. From the rude knife to the carved and polished "Groget," they may, one and all, have been taken from the inmost recesses of a mound or picked up on the surface amid the debris of a recent Indian village, and the most experienced archaeologist, if called upon to decide as to their origin, would have to acknowledge himself at fault. Nor does the similarity stop with objects made of stone. On the contrary, it is believed to extend to all articles, of every kind whatsoever, that have thus far been taken from the mounds. Indeed. I might even go further, and as the result of some years of work, as well in the
HISTORY OF RICE AND STEELE COUNTIES
field as in the library, venture the assertion that not only has there not as yet been anything taken from the mounds indicating a higher stage of development than the red Indian of the United States is known to have reached, but that even the mounds themselves, and under this head are included all the earthworks of the Mississippi valley, were quite within the limits of his efforts. All that I intend to assert is, that, admitting every- thing that can be reasonably claimed by the most enthusiastic advocate of the superior civilization of the Mound Builders, there is no reason why the red Indians, of the Mississippi valley, judging from what we know, historically, of their development, could not have thrown up these works. This proposition is not as complete as could be desired. and yet it probably embodies all that can ever be proven on this subject.
"I quote from Marquis de Nadaillac's article, 'The Unity of the Human Species,' pp. 1-2. The arrow heads of the Dakota, Apache, and Comanche Indians show curious resemblance to those discovered on the borders of the Seine and Thames; the nuclei of Scandinavia compare well with those of Mexico, and if one exchange the hatchets or the knives of flint from Europe with similar objects from America it is difficult for even experts to separate them, however well they may be versed in petro- graph and prehistoric archaeology, and it will be extremely dif- ficult to distinguish the races to which they belong. Pottery from widely separated regions is made in the same form and by the same processes of fabrication, and even with the same ornamenta- tion. The spindle whorls in stone, bone and pottery, found in settlements succeeding each other on the hills of Hissarlik, recall those of the Swiss lake dwellings. Those of Peru, Mexico, and even those in present use among the Navajos, are the same as in our museums, whether they come from Italy. Germany, the south of France, or the north of Scandinavia."
Prof. Anton T. Gesner, of Faribault has investigated many of the mounds in the vicinity of that city and is the discoverer of hitherto overlooked series in the vicinity of the Seabury Divinity School.
PROF. GESNER'S PAPER.
Fifty miles south of St. Paul and three miles west of Fari- bault in the southern part of Rice county is a pretty sheet of water three miles in length and one in greatest breadth. The lake is one of a number which beautify the Cannon valley, and all are drained by a small stream which was once a famous waterway for the early trappers and roaming Sioux. When the early whites came to Rice county they found by the northeast
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shore of Cannon lake the wigwams and lodges of a band of Sioux. They were known as the Leaf Shooters (Wahipekuta or Wapa- kootas) and they appear to have had for many years free range of the entire valley and much of the lake region round about.
This region, however, appears to have had a more ancient history still, for beside the few mounds which have not escaped irreverent hands and which are probably quite modern, there are indications that this shore was a habitation of men who dwelt here centuries ago. One spot especially seems to confirm this view. It is a long knoll overlooking the outlet of the lake where, during the past six years, the writer has found dozens of flint arrow points, sherds of pottery, rare old stone axes, scrapers, leaf-shaped knives and fragments of bone. At a dis- tance one might mistake the knoll for an artificial mound, which it is not; for eighteen to twenty-four inches beneath the sod we come upon the sand which overlies the gravel proclaiming the loess of glacial times, and which reminds us that when that old ice cap was thawing off our north temperate zone the Minnesota river made its short cut to the Mississippi through this very valley and poured forth a few miles north of where Red Wing has been built.
How interesting it would be if one could find an arrow point or axe in that drift ! But one never does. Chips of flint lie close above it, but not below. Still the knoll as a village site must be old. There are reasons for believing it was once an island. Now only some modern road-making prevents it from being so in the spring. In the early days and within the memory of man the outlet was a famous pass for water fowl, and in the old days the fishing and trapping hereabouts was unexcelled. Those who say that the aboriginal man was wanting in sense of beauty, or fitness in selecting a home, to be convinced of their error have but to read the lines of their finely cut implements of war. to trace the plainest decoration on their crudest bowls or to stand at sunset on some commanding hill where little is left to tell of their ancient occupation but the red marks of their fires on the hearths which witness to their forsaken homes.
In studying the flint implements and remains of a people who have passed, one needs to exercise caution if he would speak of their age. But it seems to the writer that even the most cautious of students will find here evident traces of age which must throw the first occupants of this shore of Cannon Lake many hundreds of years in the past.
Very few bone implements of any kind have been found on this previously-mentioned knoll, but one-a bone needle-is well preserved. The rest are far gone. Some of the pottery is very old. and a bit of whetstone still shows the grove where
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the arrow shaft was laid. Types similar to most of these re- mains have been found on a lake shore some five miles away. J. V. Brower, so well known during his lifetime for accurate and faithful descriptions of many remains in our state, saw some of these and pronounced upon their peculiarities as de- noting great age, and there can be little doubt that we have also the scattered remains of a primitive people on this Cannon Lake shore.
Prof. E. W. Schmidt, mentioned earlier in this chapter, has written the following article in regard to the "lowland mounds" which he has in the past few years investigated with scholarly thoroughness. While the article deals with Dakota and Goodhue counties as well as Rice and Steele counties, the former refer- ences are retained in this work as being necessary to a complete understanding of the mounds in the two latter counties.
PROF. SCHMIDT'S PAPER.
In accordance with a request, the following paper has been prepared with the hope that it may contain some things of in- terest and value to the student of Minnesota archeology. If the discussion should prove in the end to contain an addition to the already existing fund of archaeological knowledge relating to our state, then the time and energy spent in collecting the facts have not been spent in vain.
During a number of years past, I have repeatedly observed a number of earth heaps in different parts of Goodhue, Dakota, Rice and Steele counties, which, though differing in character- isties of location from the commonly known Indian mounds, nevertheless to all outward appearance resemble them. Since many of the mounds observed are situated in low, level and rather wet ground, a person accustomed to mound hunting along the Mississippi valley and along the high-banked lakes of the Wisconsin might easily pass by these tumuli and think they were curious freaks of nature. The mounds that dot the inland lakes of Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as those that border the Cannon, are, as a rule, located on land that may be called high, as for example the terraces that skirt the river bluffs, or elevated shores. The mounds to be described are, on the other hand, located as a rule, on land that is low compared with the surrounding territory. Glacial outwash plains whose drainage is young and immature contain the greatest number. Only one mound has been found on a high terrace.
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