USA > Minnesota > Rice County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 67
USA > Minnesota > Steele County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 67
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be forever used for such purposes. On this block, the building from which sprang the Shattuck and Seabury schools was built in 1858, with Dr. Breck in charge, assisted by Miss Mills, now Mrs. George B. Whipple, and the late Miss S. P. Darlington.
In 1889, H. Chaffee was elected to take the place of M. H. Keeley, who was returned the next year, when A. D. Keyes resigned after twelve years' service as treasurer of the district, A. E. Haven being elected to that office.
Since 1882, John Hutchinson, H. F. Kester, A. T. Brandvold, C. H. Wagner, A. L. Keyes, A. Blodgett, Jr., F. Laufenberger, F. Jepson, F. Beach, Benson Brown, S. F. Donaldson, Dr. W. P. Ten Broeck, E. N. Leavens and E. K. Clements have served various terms, the last five constituting the board since 1906. George A. Franklin served the district faithfully as superintend- ent for twelve years, beginning in 1894. He was followed by Virgil L. Jones, who resigned in 1909. L. J. Montgomery, the present superintendent, followed Mr. Jones.
The Mckinley school, at the north end, a six-room building fully equipped and modern, was completed in 1898.
The Washington school, on the east side, and the Lincoln school, on the west side, each occupying a generous tract of land, were completed in February. 1907.
PART III STEELE COUNTY
ITPE NEW YORK Haray UBRARY
CHAPTER I.
NATURAL PHENOMENA.
Situation-Advantages-Watershed of Southeastern Minnesota-
NativeTrees-Mineral Springs-Paper by E. W. Hadley- Formation of the Earth-Surface Drift and Till-Margin of the Ice Cap of the Glacial Period-Morainic Area-Large Bounders-Strata at Central Park, Owatonna.
Situated on the watershed of southeastern Minnesota, dis- tributing its surface waters north, east, south and west, lies a fertile county which has taken its name from that sturdy old pioneer, Franklin Steele, of honored memory. A rolling prairie, interspersed with natural and domestic groves, beautified by meandering streams, and blessed with rich, deep soil, the county has advantages which has placed it in the foremost ranks of Minnesota's agricultural and grazing districts.
Embracing as the county does, so pleasing a prospect to the eye, and so fruitful a field for successful endeavor, it is natural that the people who from the earliest days were attracted here. should be the possessors of steady virtues, ready to toil and to sacrifice, that their labors might be crowned with the fruits of prosperity and happiness.
The cities and villages of the county have had their part in the general commercial upbuilding of the state, and furnish ex- cellent trading and shipping facilities for the rural districts. In these centers, manufacturing is carried on to a greater or less extent ; the milling business is naturally important ; and the dairy and creamery interests are paramount.
The rural districts are the scene of peace, prosperity and contentment. The homes are substantially built, and furnished with the comforts and conveniences of modern life, stock is humanely housed and well pastured, the farm land is extensively tilled and productive, and the churches and schools which are seen on every side testify to an interest in the higher things of life by a law-abiding, progressive and loyal people.
It is moreover, in its men and women, rather than in its grains and vegetables, its live stock and fruit, its factories and com- merce that Steele county takes its greatest pride. From her farms, from her cities, and from her villages, have gone out
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those who have taken an important part in the activities of the world, and who whether in commerce or diplomacy, in the pro- fessions or in the trades, have maintained that steadfastness of purpose and staunchness of character that mark a true Steele county man or woman, wherever they may be found.
Steele county lies east of Waseca, which in the early days was detached from it; south of Rice, of which it was at one time a part; west of Dodge, from which it has annexed four town- ships; and north of Freeborn. It comprises twelve complete government townships, and thirteen organized townships, viz., Deerfield, Medford, Clinton Falls, Merton, Meriden, Owatonna, Havanna, Lemond, Somerset, Aurora, Berlin, Summit and Blooming Prairie. The land area is 426 miles and the popula- tion between 18,000 and 20,000.
Geologically, the county is peculiarly situated. The town of Summit, some over 1,300 feet above the sea, was named from its relation to the surface of Steele county, but it is equally the summit of Minnesota, and the country north and south of this state. Surface water from Steele county flows north through Straight river, cast through the Zumbro, south through the Cedar, of Iowa, and west through the Le Sucur.
The water that flows through the Le Sueur to the Minnesota, thence to and down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Cedar, has traveled 500 miles to meet the water that has started from the same neighborhood and come down the Cedar.
The county contains several beautiful lakes. These, as well as the streams, in an early day were bordered with quite heavy timber, trees of maple, oak, elm, hickory, walnut, butternut, ash, boxelder, basswood, plum, cherry, crabapple, cottonwood, poplar and probably others.
While the county is the source of many rivers, none except Straight furnish any waterpower.
Another important feature of the county is its mineral springs, of which there are a large number. Those in Mineral Springs park in the northeastern part of the city limits, have be- come quite noted for their mineral properties.
A notable feature of this spring water is its similarity in ingredients to that of the celebrated "Vichy" springs of France. There are also a number of similar springs about two miles up Straight river.
PROF. HADLEY'S PAPER.
The following article on the geology of Steele county is from the pen of C. W. Hadley :
The study of geology unconsciously enters into the every day
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affairs of the lives of most of us. Every sand pit, stone quarry, railroad cut or road grade is a leaf in the history of the earth, written literally by the hand of God. The records therein writ- ten, are in a universal language. The facts therein stated, are as interesting as the latest scandal or accident. "In the begin- ning the earth was without form and void," says Genesis. With- out form and void, says the book of nature. But what a won- derous story is the record of its development from the chaotic mass of whirling moulten matter, vapor encased, flaming, cool- ing, cracking, vast ages, till God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered in one place and the dry land appear, and it was so." Then under the immutable laws of nature, air, water, heat and cold fitted the earth for habitation, from pro- tozoans, the simplest and earliest forms of life to the creature made "in the image of God."
The history which has been so faithfully and indelibly writ- ten is open to all. Each stratum is a leaf, each period is a chapter and each page is a volume. The Archean age is a volume 1, then follows the Silurian, Devonian, Carbonifedous, Mesozoic, Tertiary and Quarternary ages. Each leaf of this history is beautifully illustrated with preserved specimens of animal and plant life from the earliest to the present time-all arranged in the order of their existence. This record is always at hand and opened to some paragraph. Some people never read, some would not miss a line.
A person who has but a smattering of earth lore need never be lonesome. The first stone that comes to hand has a history, and a thimble full of earth with a magnifying glass can well repay an hour of study.
The earth that appears upon the surface of Steele county, and for that matter, the lower half of the state, is drift and till. Drift is earth or stone, dropped or pushed by ice to its present location. Till is earth, originally drift, but which by running water from the melting glacier, has been carried away and de- posited in a more or less laminated condition. These deposits in Steele county are largely drift and are of about 100 feet in thickness, composed of clay, sand, gravel, stones and boulders. This drift overlies regular stratified rocks, limestone and sand- stone of different periods and ages. These strata have been deposited by the waters of ancient oceans and seas, the surface- lying drift by glacial action.
There was a time when it is supposed that the land of British America, and extending somewhat into the United States, was many hundred feet higher than at present. It is known that formerly, ten thousand years ago or more, that that part of the
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earth north of the fiftieth parallel of latitude was covered with an immense ice sheet of thousands of feet of thickness. We know that it extended south to an irregular line running through about central Iowa, east and west. This constituted the "Great Glacier" of the "Ice Age."
This ice had a flowing motion in the direction of the least re- sistance, which was to the south. A great thickness of earth and stone was frozen to the bottom of this ice sheet and moved with it. The lower margin of warmer latitude melted and re- leased the earth. The resultant water distributed it over the lower country.
The heavier portions, gravel stones and boulders would re- main where the melted ice left them and so form what is called Terminal Moraines, which lie in thicker deposits or ridges, mark- ing the extreme limits of the glacier at different periods of its existence.
It so happened that one margin of this great ice-cap lies through the eastern part of this county. The resultant moraine extends through the towns of Merton, Havanna, Aurora and Blooming Prairie, thence sonth to about Des Moines, lowa. From that point the moraine trends northwest.
A later and parallel moraine lies about twenty miles west of the first mentioned. These moraines are very noticeable as you approach the eastern and southwestern borders of the county. The land is raised from twenty to fifty feet above the average level of the surrounding country. No stratified rock are ever found "in place" in these hills.
There are a great number of large boulders in the county- one in Springs Park, one in the northeastern Summit and one at the Rock School House in Merton, each about twelve to fif- teen feet in diameter. These rocks are all of granite and their home was far in the north. It is a fact that the very large boulders are, as a rule, found on the surface and it is a question whether they were not brought here later than the glacial period. by floating ice in which they had become frozen on the shores of the then northern seas.
From the record kept of the strata passed through in the drilling of the Central Park well. we have a sure means of know- ing of the stratification of the underlying rocks to the depth of 387 feet, and below that we have other data. The altitude of the country around Owatonna is about 1,210 feet. The altitude of Central Park is 1,150 feet above the sea.
In boring the well, the drill, for the first thirty-nine feet, passed through drift. The next fifty-nine feet is of Cretaceons formation, or rather, deposits, clay, soft limestone and sandstone.
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The twenty feet of Trenton lime rock followed by a softer stratum of shale and clay intermingled for 144 feet and then twenty-eight feet of Lower Trenton lime rock. All of this last 192 feet is Trenton formation. The last ninety-seven feet of the well is in St. Peter sandstone. The last thirty-five feet of the Cretaceous formation was of white sand rock, which is unique as to location. "A like strata in a like position is unknown on the continent," says Prof. Upham.
CHAPTER II.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Coming of the White Men-Settlement in Medford in 1853-A. L. Wright, Chauncey Lull, Smith Johnson, Orlando Johnson and L. M. Howard-First Land Broken-First Cabin Built -First Woman Arrives-Influx of Settlement in 1854- Names of the Early Pioneers-Settlement in Townships.
Being away from the great water courses, Steele county pos- sesses but few archæological remains in the shape of Indian mounds, though several have been discovered and mapped by in- vestigators. So far as is known none of the early French ex- plorers, with the possible exception of Le Sueur and his men who were located near the present site of Mankato in 1700, ever traversed this county. From time immemorial the Wapakoota band of the Sioux hunted over this region, but, it is believed, had no permanent villages within the present limits of Steele county. In the days of the early settlement a few Winnebagoes wandered this way from their reservation near Mankato. It is possible that fur traders traversed this region before the coming of the settlers, and records have been preserved of hunting trips in the vicinity, made by the officers from Fort Snelling. The ease with which the portage between the Cedar, Zumbrota and Straight rivers could be made caused the county to be frequently traversed long before its settlement.
The county remained practically an unbroken wilderness until the summer of 1853, when A. L. Wright, Chauncey Lull, Smith Johnson, Orlandof Johnson and L. M. Howard staked off claims in what is now Medford township. Some of the party began to make improvements. In the fall L. M. Howard turned over the first sod in what is now Steele county. In the same month, Sep- tember, 1853, Chauncey Lull and A. L. Wright erected a cabin on what is now Section 5, in Medford township. This was un- doubtedly the first house put up within the limits of the county. These two gentlemen spent the winter of 1853-54 in their cabin, being the only residents of the county that winter.
The influx of population came in 1854. Among those who arrived that year were: W. W. Wilkins, William Allen, John Sanborn, William K. Colling, Edwin Drake, Orlando Barthol- omew, David Sanborn, A. W. Adams, F. F. Adams, W. W.
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Arnold, F. W. Fisk, James Huginan, A. B. Cornell, WV. F. Pettit, G. W. Green, J. W. Park, and S. B. Smith.
Mrs. John Sanborn, who came with her husband in the spring of 1854, and located in the southern part of the present Medford township, is believed to have been the first white woman to Icoate in this county.
In 1855-56, the land in the county was taken up rapidly. Among those who came whose names are still remembered by the old settlers are: David Lindersmith, Nelson Morehouse, Dr. E. M. Morehouse, James Hayes, Sanford Hayes, - - Crehore, P. P. Carlton, John Odell, James Cole, N. Winship, J. H. Ab- bott, Ezra Abbott, C. Ellison, J. Ellison, J. W. Morford, A. Phelps, James Connell, M. A. Dailey, L. B. Town, B. L. Arnold, Rev. A. Town, Obed Gains, P. Sandford, Basil Meek, J. Wilson, John Wilcox, Edward McCartney, - Hobaugh, Ezra Cran- dall, F. J. Stevens, A. M. Fitzsimmons, C. H. Walker, W. J. Drum, Thomas Thompson, E. W. Levi, Albert Bailey, Savins, Dr. Thomas Kenyon, T. J. Clark, O. A. Barnes, Dexter Smith, E. Lagro, David Burns, O. Fisher, H. Catlin, John Catlin, Charles Knowlton, Warren Fisher, J. E. Hughs, Manna Case, Charles McCarty, William Burns, William Close, Robert Adair, George Dennis, Newton Parker, D. C. Tiffany, Samuel Thomp- son, Sanford Kinney, E. Teed, Samuel Hastings, William Man- son, G. W. Knapp, John Bennett, R. Heath, Capt. John Ball, A. B. Clark, G. W. Grinshaw, Charles Adsit, Amos Coggswell, S. A. Sargent, Harvey Eastman, Oscar King, P. Erham, William Shea, C. V. Brown, Hiram Pitcher, Levi Chase, Thomas McCor- mick, Robert Reynolds, H. S. Howen, Enfin Enfinson, J. Gordon, D. T. Gordon, M. Warren, - Winchell, F. B. Davis, C. W. Curtiss, L. E. Thompson, - - Magoon, David Bayley, Thomas Bray, John Blythe, Levi Annis, J. J. Brackett, and Ira Foster.
Merton township was settled in 1855. Among the first set- tlers were G. W. Dresser, William and David Deets, Paul Wil- liams, John Coburn, William Miller, J. W. Adams, David Casper, T. B. H. Brown, Thomas Hortop, Fred Irwin, Andrew Reed and Lewmon G. Reed.
Medford township was settled in 1853. Among the first set- tlers were A. L. Wright, Chauncey Lull, Smith and Orlando Johnson, L. M. Howard, W. W. Wilkins, William Allen, John Sanborn, William K. Colling, Edwin Drake, Orlando Bartholo- mew and David Sanborn.
Clinton Falls township was settled in 1854. Among the first settlers were A. W. and F. F. Adams, W. W. Arnold, D. Sanborn, F. Wilbur Fisk, F. L. Ludd, Fletcher DuBois, Samuel and Isaac Morrison, Daniel Morrison, Sylvester McNitt, R. R. Stout, Rev. O. A. Thomas, James Finch and family, William,
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HISTORY OF RICE AND STEELE COUNTIES
Samuel and Nathan Williamson, Charles Deming and Moses Hutchinson.
Deerfield township was settled in 1855. Among the first settlers were Edward McCartney, Andrew Wertzler, Nicholas Stearns, Conrad Reineke, E. Crandall, John and James Condoh. E. J. Lilly, H. Hodgson, Arthur McMillen, John H. Morse, Washington Morse, Charles Birch, Mr. Austin, L. Anderson, E. I. Stocker, Shephard Moses.
Meriden township was settled in 1855. Among the first settlers were A. M. Fitzsimmons, A. G. Harris, C. H. Wilker and family, including his sons, John H. and Conrad H. Wilker : Lysander House, Anton Shultz, William Shultz, Henry Abbe, William Mundt, John Drinking, F. J. Stevens, John Waumett, Thomas Andrews, David House. A. F. Tracy and others.
Owatonna township was settled in 1854. Among the first settlers were A. B. Cornell. W. F. Pettitt, G. W. Green, J. W. Park and S. B. Smith.
Havanna township was settled in 1855. Among the first settlers were John and Robert Adair, Charles McCarty, William Burns, Robert Page, George Squires, George Baird and Mr. Johnson.
Aurora township was settled in 1856. Among the first set- tlers were Charles and A. C. Adsit, George W. and B. J. Grim- shaw, John Ball and John Perham.
Somerset township was settled in 1855. Among the first settlers were Thomas Thompson, Levi, William and Albert Bailey, Jesse Healey, William B. Higgins, Jacob J. Harris, Thomas Kenyon, E. Lagro, Joseph Irvin, Dexter Smith, O. Fisher, Charles Dunster, J. Leslie, Cornelius Dumham, Mr. Hart- shorn, Samuel Greenwood, C. Borchart, F. Borchart, H. Borchart, Charles Wilcox, Phelps Case, William Case, George Vincent, Gilbert Gross, Calvin Gross, Oscar Gross, Daniel Gross, Elias Hahn, T. J. Clark, O. A. Barnes, David Barnes, Henry and John Catlin, Charles Ellison, Charles R. Knowlton, John A. Knowlton, Warren Fisher, James E. Hughes and T. C. Minthorn.
Lemond township was settled in 1856. Among the first set- thers were Samuel Thompson, John Thompson. W. F. Manson, Sandford Kinney, E. Teed, and E. J., J. B. and E. B. Coon, and S. M. Kinney.
Berlin township was settled in 1856. Among the first set- tlers were Iliram Pitcher, Nathan Cheeney, Charles W. Gardner, James S. King, Mr. Warren, S. Hull, Joseph Gordon, John Dock. Barney Banks, William Shea, Thomas Brick, Halver Howen. Enfin Enfinson, M. Wright, E. Johnson, Phio Sawyer, Thomas Brown. Francis J. Trowe, Robert H. Reynolds, John Culver. J. Winchell, and Levi Chase.
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Summit township was settled in 1856. Among the first set- tlers were John Bennett, Mr. Dribilibus, Hiram Fredenburg, H. W. Ruliffson, D. A. Loomis, Mr. Heath, G. W. Knapp, William Cooley and A. C. Colquhoun.
Blooming Prairie township was settled in 1856. Among the first settlers were John Blythe, Dennis Moran, Thomas Bray, Mr. Whaley, Mr. Ewers, J. H. McDaniels, James Carey, Joseph Branning, George Topliff, Andrew Cole, Thomas Sweeney, Miles Flannagan, G. Stoddard, S. Roberts, C. E. Hancock, Patrick Fallon, John Anderson, P. P. Thimsen, N. P. Thimsen and T. Feeney.
CHAPTER III.
ORGANIZATION AND BOUNDARY LINES.
Wabasha, Dakota and Rice County Affiliations-Steele County
Organized, 1855-Old Time Boundaries-Various Points Suggested as the County Seat-Annexations from Dodge County-Setting off of Wabasha County-Ogil's Narrative -Child's Narrative-Dodge County.
The area that is now Steele county was a part of Wabasha (then spelled Wabashaw) county from 1849 to 1851. From 1851 to 1853 it was a part of Dakota (then spelled Dakotah) county. When Rice county was created in 1853 practically all the present area of Steele county was included in its borders, the possible exception being small portions of the northeastern corner, which by reason of a rather indefinitely given boundary line, may have been more or less vaguely included in Goodhue county. Owing to the fact that Steele county was not settled until 1853, these early county affiliations were not important, except as an interesting bit of history. In February, 1854, the government survey having been made, the south and west boundaries of Goodhue county assumed their present form, thus definitely including all the present Steele county in the then Rice county.
Stecle county was created by act of the territorial legisla- ture, approved February 20, 1855. Section 7, Chapter VI. (Laws of Minnesota, 1855), gives the boundaries of Steele county as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of township 105 north, range 19 west; thence running west thirty miles on said township line, to the township line between ranges 24 and 25 west; thence north twenty-four miles on said township line to the township line between townships 108 and 109; thence east on said township line thirty miles to the township line be- tween range 19 and 20 west ; thence south on said township line to the place of beginning.
The county remained attached to Rice county for civil and judicial purposes.
The county thus defined included all of the present Waseca county, and the cight western townships of the present Stecle county. It excluded Merton. Havana, Aurora and Blooming Prairie townships, which area was then included in Dodge
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county. (Dodge county as created by the act of the territorial legislature approved February 20, 1855, included the present area of Dodge county and also the four townships mentioned above.)
This arrangement left Owatonna in the northeast corner of the county, three miles from the east and seven miles from the north line of the county. It was evident that this was not the spot to be readily chosen as the county seat, and it was still more apparent that it would be difficult, as the years should pass and settlement increase, to keep the county seat at a point so far from the geographical center of the county. Even then there were other hamlets being settled at various places which were becoming active rivals for county seat honors.
Wilton had a splendid location, and John C. Ide was already putting up a hotel and sawmill, and attracting considerable attention toward that point.
Meriden, a village in the present township of Meriden, was much nearer to the geographical center of the county that Owa- tonna, and a number of capable men had located there and were actively advancing the interests of that location.
Besides these, a number of other points were being settled, which constantly menaced the future of Owatonna's county seat interests. After the county was organized in August, 1855, and from that time through the following months, the matter was occasionally discussed, and finally a plan was matured which proved a success in settling the matter favorably to Owatonna's interests. This plan was to have one tier of townships set off from Dodge county and attached to Steele; then to detach the western half of Steele county and organize that as Waseca county. This suited the people of Mantorville, as that village had been located too far east in Dodge county; and it gave Wilton a chance to become the county seat of Waseca county.
In February, 1856, an act was passed by the legislature, mak- ing the desired change, and townships 105, 106, 107 and 108, range 19, became a part of Steele county.
February 27, 1857, an act was passed by the legislature cre- ating Waseca county, and locating the county seat of the new county at Wilton . This arranged the lines as they have re- mained to the present time.
OGLE'S NARRATIVE.
Rev. Joseph C. Ogle, in a previous history of Steele county, has given the following narrative of the organization of the county.
Steele county was created February 20, 1855, at the sixth session of the territorial legislature, which was held in St. Paul.
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When it was set off as a county it was attached to Rice county (of which it had previously, for a short time, been a part), for civil and judicial purposes.
The settlement in the territory from which Steele county was created was only fairly commeneed at that time. A few set- tlers who had gathered about Medford, a few at Owatonna, and a few settlers here and there through the balance of the county comprised its population at that time. During the early part of the year 1855 a great many additions were made to the vari- ous settlements.
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