USA > Minnesota > Stearns County > History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 2
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE GRANITE INDUSTRY.
Location of Deposits-Quality and Availability-Early Efforts at Quar- rying-Present Quarry Firms-Manufacturers' Association- Texture and Color-Importance and Possibilities-Opinions of the Newspapers 453-494
CHAPTER XXIX. BENCH AND BAR.
Fourth Judicial District and Its Judges-Seventh Judicial District and Its Judges-The Probate Court-Municipal Courts-Early Cases and Lawyers-Bar Association-Leading Cases-Conclusion -By James E. Jenks. 494-540
xiv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXX.
TRAGIC EVENTS.
PAGE
Unhappy Incidents in the Life of Stearns County-Murder and Suicides- Accidents Which Have Resulted in Death-Rivers and Lakes Prove Fatal to Many Youths-Railroads and Unruly Horses Claim Their Share of Victims-The Tragedics of Nearly Six Decades. . .540-575
CHAPTER XXXI.
FIRE LOSSES.
Damage Wrought by the Destroying Element in Stearns County During Half a Century-Dwellings, Stores, Hotels, Barns and Business Blocks Reduced to Ashes-Estimate of Damages and Insurance ... 575-599
CHAPTER XXXII.
CYCLONE DISASTERS.
Cyclone of 1886-Ruin and Disaster Follow in Wake of Terrible Storm -List of Those Killed-Acts of Heroism-Minor Atmospheric Dis- turbances-Severe Damage Done at Various Times by Wind and Storm 599-605
CHAPTER XXXIII.
SIOUX UPRISING.
Inception of the Outbreak-Agency Attacked-Country Devastated- Fort Ridgley Attacked-Situation in the Minnesota Valley-Min- nesota Aroused-Birch Coulie-In Northwestern Settlements- Anxiety as to Chippewas-Need of Supplies-Sioux Driven from the State-By C. F. MacDonald-Stearns County Events-Hole-in- the-Day Murdered-Early Indian Encounters. 605-628
CHAPTER XIV. STEARNS COUNTY SOLDIERS.
Service Rendered the Nation in the Civil and Indian Wars-Early Debates-Call for Troops-List of Those Who Enlisted from the Various Townships-Regiments in Which They Served-Other Items-By J. I. Donohue. 628-635
CHAPTER XXXV.
MINNESOTA STATE REFORMATORY.
Location Selected-First Board Appointed-Administrations of Super- intendents Meyers, Lee, Houlton, Randall, Reed, and Scott-Build- ings, Grounds, and Equipment-Ideals and Inspirations-Daily Life of the Inmates-System of Parole-Starting Life on a Higher Plane-By Principal Keeper F. H. Whitney 635-642
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXXVI.
ASSESSED VALUATIONS.
PAGE
Compilation of Statistics, Showing the Wonderful Progress in the Development of Stearns County-Totals for the County and Indi- vidual Statements of the Three Cities-Moneys and Credits. ..... 642-645
CHAPTER XXXVII.
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW.
Interesting Facts Gleaned from the Life and Career of Many of the County's Leading Men-Pioneers Who Helped to Subdue the Wilderness-Citizens Who Have Come Later and Taken Their Share in the Growth and Progress of the County-Leading Men. . 645-704
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
CHAPTER I.
NATURAL PHENOMENA.
Advantages-Situation and Area-Natural Drainage-Lakes-Topography- Altitudes-Soil and Timber-Geological Structure-Cretaceous Beds- Glacial and Modified Drift-Material Resources-Waterpowers-Aborig- inal Earthworks-Archaean Rocks.
On its splendid course from Itasca to the Gulf, the mighty Mississippi passes no fairer land than that which it touches in the central part of Minne- sota, where, drained by the Watab, the Sauk, the Crow and the Clearwater, Stearns county stretches away in sightly prospects.
A fertile country of rich black soil, its surface divided into hills and roll- ing land and prairie, beautified by meandering streams and interspersed with natural and domestic groves, the county has advantages of location and sur- face which have made it an excellent agricultural and grazing district, and which have helped make its largest city one of the most important points on the upper Mississippi.
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 pleas- antness. Its latitude gives it correspondingly 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. The refreshing breezes and cool nights in sum- mer prevent the debilitating effect of the heat so often felt in lower latitudes. The winter climate is also one of the attractive features. Its uniformity and its dryness, together with the bright sunshine and the electrical condition of the air, all tend to enhance the personal comfort of the resident, and to make outdoor life and labor a pleasure.
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 have been 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.
St. Cloud, its principal city, is the fifth city in the state, and the other cities and villages have had their part in the general commercial upbuilding of the community, furnishing excellent trading and shipping facilities for the rural districts as well as for their own people.
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
The agricultural neighborhoods are the scenes of peace, prosperity and contentment. The homes are substantially built, and furnished with the com- forts 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 prosperous people.
It is indeed in its men and women, rather than in its factories and com- merce, its grains and vegetables, its live stock and fruits, that Stearns county takes its greatest pride. From her cities, from her villages and from her farms have gone forth those who have taken an important part in the activi- ties 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 true Stearns county men and women wherever they may be found.
Unusually blessed by nature with deep soil and abundant natural re- sources, and endowed with a wealth of historic and prehistoric lore, the county is a fitting home for the sturdy people who have here made their dwelling place. Hard-working, progressive, educated and prosperous, they have ap- preciated the gifts which nature has spread for them, and have added their own toil, and the fruit of their intellect, to the work of the elements, making the county one of the beautiful spots of the earth. On the slopes graze cattle and sheep, while the tilled lands respond to the efforts of the spring time sower and planter with a wealth of harvest in the summer and autumn. On nearly every quarter section is reared a comfortable home and commodious barns, while from the crest of every swell of land are visible the churches and schools wherein the people worship the Giver of All Gifts and educate their children. Thus blessed by God and beloved by man, the county, today, stands for all that is ideal in American life, and is forging ahead to wider influence and more extended opportunity.
Stearns county, surpassed by few lands in the state for the fertility of its soil; its bountiful supply of timber and pure water; its numerous water powers; its diversified surface of hills, valleys and rolling prairies; and its adaptation to every variety of agricultural product has furnished to the citi- zens material wisely improved by them for substantial wealth, good homes and sound public institutions, economically and prudently administered; where law and good order, industry and sobriety have always been upheld and ob- served; where the comforts and provisions for the enjoyment of life are evenly distributed, and where, in the future, as in the past, "peace and happiness, truth and justiec, religion and piety, will be established throughont all gen- erations."
Situation and Area. Stearns county is situated a short distance south of the center of Minnesota, on the west side of the Mississippi river. It is the largest county in the south half of the state. St. Cloud, its largest city, and county seat, is about sixty and seventy-five miles northwest, respectively, from Minneapolis and St. Paul. Sauk Centre, the second town in importance, is forty miles west-northwest from St. Cloud. The length of Stearns county from east to west, measured from Clearwater to its west line is fifty-two
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
miles; and its width is from twenty-five to thirty-four miles. Its area is 1,330.07 square miles, of 851,241.36 acres, of which 37,021.27 acres are cov- ered by water.
Natural Drainage. This county is drained to the Mississippi river by the following tributaries, arranged in their order from north to south; the south branch of Two Rivers, Spunk brook, Watab river, Sank river, St. Angusta creek, Clearwater river, and Crow river. The largest of these is the Sank river, whose basin includes about half of this eounty, its principal affluents being Adley and Getchell creeks from the north, and Silver, Ashley, Stony, Cole and Mill creeks from the south. The North branch of Crow river drains the southwest part of the county.
Lakes. Eighty lakes equaling or exceeding a half mile in length appear on the map, and about a hundred and twenty-five of smaller size. The most noteworthy are Sauk lake, crossed by the north line of Sauk Centre; Birch Bark Fort lake, on the north line of Millwood; Two River lake, in the south- west corner of Holding; the Spunk lakes in Avon; Cedar or Big Fish lake in Collegeville ; Lake George, Crow lake, Lake Henry and Eden lake which give names to townships; Lake Koronis in the south part of Paynesville; Grand lake in Rockville; Pearl lake in Maine prairie; and Clearwater lake, through which the Clearwater river flows a few miles east of Fair Haven.
Topography. Though Stearns county contains numerous rock-outcrops, these rarely form conspicuous elevations, and the contour is due almost wholly to the overlying deposits of glaeial and modified drift. Glacial drift or till is spread with a moderately undulating or rolling surface on the area between the Sauk river and the north branch of the Crow river northwest from Rich- mond and Paynesville. Its elevations here are 10 to 30 or 40 feet above the lakes and small streams; but its general height above the rivers on each side is 75 to 100 feet southeastward, decreasing to 40 or 50 feet in the west part of the county. Its most rolling portion extends from west to east through Ray- mond, Getty and Grove townships. With this area should be included also the undulating and rolling till, having similar contour and average height, on the northeast side of the Sauk river in St. Martin, the western two-thirds of Farming, Albany, except its eastern edge, the southwest part of Krain, and the southern half of Millwood and Melrose. The greater part of North Fork, Crow Lake and Crow River townships, southwest rom the North branch of the Crow river, are nearly level or only slightly undulating gravel and sand of the modified drift, 10 to 20 feet above the lakes, sloughs and water- courses; but sections 31 to 34 on the southern border of Crow lake are chiefly kame-like knolls and ridges of gravel and sand 25 to 50 or 75 feet high. The remainder of this county is greatly diversified with partly undulating and partly knolly and hilly till, the latter being morainic accumulations, which on some areas have a very irregularly broken surface, though not rising to much height, while elsewhere they form hills from 50 to 200 feet high.
Morainic hills, about 100 feet above the adjoining modified drift or 150 above the Mississippi river, occur one to three miles south-southwest of St. Cloud and a mile west of the river. In the southeast part of St. 'Joseph, about five miles farther west, a series of morainic deposits begins west of
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
Mud lake, and extends thence along the southeast side of Sauk river to Rock- ville and Cold Spring. Northeast of Rockville it is separated from the Sauk river by a tract of nearly level modified drift averaging a half mile wide and about 25 feet above the river ; and the width of this part of the moraine is about one mile, with elevations 50 to 75 feet above the adjoining country. Between Rockville and Cold Spring morainic till borders the Sauk river and occupies a width of three miles to the south, rising in hills 100 to 200 feet above the intervening hollows, attaining the greatest elevation, nearly 300 feet above the river, in section 36, Wakefield, and section 31, Rockville. Thence a low morainic belt reaches south through sections 6 and 7, Maine Prairie, and 13, 24 and 25, Luxemburg; next it extends east through Maine Prairie, forming conspicuous hills, about 150 feet high, in section 27; and from a point half- way between Maine Prairie and Fair Haven it turns northeastward, con- tinuing through the north part of Fair Haven and into the southeast quarter of St. Augusta. In the latter portion its elevations are 50 to 75 feet above the plain of modified drift, six miles wide, which occupies the northeast part of Maine Prairie and reaches thence northward in a continuous belt, nowhere less than a mile wide, through the west part of St. Augusta and St. Cloud to the Mississippi river. On the east it is separated from the Clearwater and Mississippi rivers by flat or moderately undulating modified drift one to two miles wide in Fair Haven and Lynden.
West from the high morainic hills in the southeast corner of Wakefield, a roughly broken belt of morainic till extends through the south edge of Wakefield and Munson and the north edge of Luxemburg and Eden Lake, thence southwest diagonally across Paynesville, and averaging one and one- half miles in width, with elevations 50 to 75 feet above the hollows and 75 to 125 fect above the Sauk river, the North branch of the Crow river, and Lake Koronis. South of this moraine, most of Luxemburg and Eden lake, with the southeast edge of Paynesville are moderately undulating or rolling till; and on its northwest side a belt of nearly level modified drift, two miles wide and about 25 feet above the North branch of Crow river, extends from Roseville in Kandiyohi county northeast by the village of Paynesville to the head of Cole creck in sections 34 and 35, Zion.
North of the Sauk river, hills of morainic till, 100 to 250 feet high, extend northwest from a point one mile west of Cold Spring, through sections 21, 16, 17, 18, 7 and 8, Wakefield, and 12, 11, 2 and 3, Munson. They are very con- spicuously seen from Richmond on the plain of modified drift one to two miles wide and five miles long, which lies southwest of this moraine between it and the Sauk river. Near the north line of Munson the moraine changes its course to the north-northeast, and passes through the east part of Farming and northwestern Collegeville to the Spunk lakes, forming a roughly hilly belt two or three miles wide, with elevations 100 to 150 feet above the smoothly undulating or rolling till on each side. Thence it continues north through the west part of Avon to Two River lake, consisting of hills and ridges 40 to 100 feet high, and northwesterly through Krain in a low knolly belt. Farther west, till with typically morainie contour extends from Birch Bark Fort lake through the north half of Melrose to Sauk lake. One of the more prominent
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
elevations of this tract is Cheney hill, about 100 feet high, in the north part of section 1, Melrose. This moraine continues northward in Todd county.
Morainic till also extends from the Sauk river in the northwest part of Rockville northward through the west half of Saint Joseph, the east edge of Collegeville, and southeastern Avon; it occupies the southern third of St. Wendel, west from the Watab river; and continues northeast in a belt one or two miles wide from sections 17, 18, and 19, St. Wendel, to near the center of Brockway, and thence north to the county line at the east side of Spunk brook. The elevations in these townships are 50 to 100 feet, or rarely more, above the adjoining land; in northwestern Rockville they rise about 150 feet above the Sauk river, and in northern Brockway their height is fully 200 feet above the Mississippi. Nearly all of Holding township, northeastern Krain, the greater part of Brockway and Le Sauk, and much of the northern two-thirds of St. Wendel and Avon, are moderately undulating till.
Level gravel and sand of the modified drift forms a belt a half mile to one and a half miles wide along the Mississippi river through Brockway and the north part of Le Sauk. Its broad southern portion, some three miles long, is the Winnebago prairie, about 40 feet above the river, but in the north part of Brockway its height is 50 or 60 feet. Moderately undulating till borders the west side of the Mississippi from the mouth of the Watab river to St. Cloud, soon ascending 40 to 60 feet, and thence maintaining the height west- ward. From St. Cloud to Clearwater the Mississippi is again bordered by a plain of modified drift, which increases in this distance from a half mile to two or three miles in width and from 50 to 75 feet in height above the river.
Along the Sauk river modified drift occupies a width that varies from a half mile to two miles through Sauk Centre, Melrose, Grove and Oak town- ships. It is mostly flat, and from 25 to 40 feet above the river; but one to two miles south from Sauk Centre, on the west side, it is partly in kame-like knolls and partly in massive swells, 15 to 40 feet above the hollows and 40 to 60 feet above the river. The plain of modified drift at Richmond and in the west part of Wakefield has a height of about 30 feet. East of this the Sauk river is bordered by morainic till for a short distance about one mile west of Cold Spring, as also again through nearly three miles, beginning one and a half miles east of Cold Spring and extending to Rockville.
A very remarkable belt of modified drift reaches from the Sauk river at Cold Spring northeast and north to the Watab river in section 30, St. Joseph, and continues thence northeasterly along this stream to the extensive plain of modified drift in the northeast quarter of St. Joseph and the north- ern third of St. Cloud. The village of Cold Spring is on valley drift about 20 feet above the river, and some portions of the alluvial bottoms bordering the river are only 5 or 10 feet above it, being subject to annual overflow. Next north and west of the village is a terrace of modified drift nearly three miles long and one-fourth to three-fourths of a mile wide, about 50 feet above the river, probably formed at the same date with the Richmond plain and the modified drift in Paynesville and westward along the southwest side of the North branch of Crow river. A mile north from Cold Spring there is a further ascent of 40 feet along an escarpment coinciding nearly with the south line
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
of sections 10 and 11, Wakefield, to a plain which occupies the southeast part of section 10, and all of section 11, and the northwest part of section 12, ele- vated 90 feet above the river. This tract, consisting of sand and coarse gravel, often with a foot or two of clay next to the soil, reaches northeast through the south part of section 1, Wakefield, and section 6, Rockville, and thence north two miles, with a width varying from a sixth to a third of a mile, to the Watab river in the N. E. 1/4 of section 30, St. Joseph. Onward it has a width of about a half a mile along the Watab river for three miles northeast to near St. Joseph village, where it expands into the plain that stretches east to St. Cloud. Between Cold Spring and St. Joseph this modified drift, marking a former water-course, is bounded on each side by morainic till 40 to 60 feet higher. Its descent in these eight miles is about 75 feet, and the plain of similar modified drift between St. Joseph and St. Cloud, also eight miles, descends 50 fect, making the whole slope in sixteen miles approx- imately 125 feet, or an average of nearly eight feet per mile.
Altitudes. The highest land in Stearns county is in its northwest part, where portions of Millwood, Melrose, Sank Centre, Ashley, Getty and Ray- mond are 1,350 to 1,400 feet above the sea-level. The tops of some of the morainic hills in Farming, northeastern Munson, and the southeast corner of Wakefield, are about 1,350 feet above the sea, being 150 to 250 feet above adjoining areas. The lowest land in the county is the shore of the Mississippi river at Clearwater, 938 feet above the sea.
Estimates of the average heights of the townships are as follows: Brock- way. 1,125 feet; Le Sauk, 1,060; St. Cloud, 1,060; St. Angusta, 1,040; Lynden, 1,020; Fair Haven, 1,100; St. Wendel, 1,120; St. Joseph, 1,100; Rockville, 1,120; Maine Prairie, 1,140; Holding, 1,140; Avon, 1,150; College- ville, 1,175; Wakefield, 1,160; Luxemburg, 1,180; Krain, 1,225; Albany, 1,210; Farming, 1,200; Munson, 1,175; Eden Lake, 1,180; Millwood, 1,275; Oak, 1,210; St. Martin, 1,180; Zion, 1,210; Paynesville, 1,175; Melrose, 1,275; Grove, 1,240 ; Spring Hill, 1,240; Lake Henry, 1,260; Sank Centre, 1,280; Getty, 1,320; Lake George, 1,300; Crow River, 1,225; Ashley, 1,340; Raymond, 1,340; North Fork, 1,270, and Crow Lake, 1,240. The mean elevation of Stearns county, de- rived from these figures, is 1,195 feet above the sea.
Soil and Timber. The black soil is generally one to two feet deep throughout this county. It is the surface of the glacial or modified drift en- riched and blackened by the decay of vegetation during many centuries. The subsoil for the greater part is the pebbly and stony clay called till; but con- siderable tracts along the Mississippi, Clearwater and Sauk rivers, and south- west of the North branch of Crow river, as also the northeast part of Maine Prairie township and adjoining portions of St. Augusta and Rockville, have a subsoil of gravel and sand. Wheat, oats, barley, rye, corn, sorghum, pota- toes, other garden vegetables, live stock, and milk, butter and cheese, are the chief agricultural products. Nineteen-twentieths of this county are probably fitted for cultivation, the exceptions being frequent sloughs, which yield good hay, the bluffs along creeks and rivers, and roughly knolly or hilly and stony portions of the morainic belts, which are valuable for pasturage.
Abont a third of Stearns county is prairie, including most of the area
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
west of Richmond and southwest of the Sauk river; also, tracts one to two miles wide along the northeast side of this river ; the greater part of the plains of modified drift in St. Joseph, St. Cloud and Maine Prairie; Winnebago prairie on the Mississippi river in southeastern Brockway and northern Le Sauk; and limited areas of the modified drift in St. Augusta, Lynden and Fair Haven. Most portions of the modified drift which are not prairie bear only a scanty growth of timber, in which black and bur oaks are the leading species. Fully half of the county was originally covered by large timber, con- siderable of which still remains, though much wooded land has been cleared to make farms. Basswood, and species of oak, elm, maple, ash, birch and pop- lar, are the principal trees. A grove of white pines occurs on the bluff of the Mississippi river in St. Cloud; and both white and jack pines grow on the plain of modified drift that borders this river in Brockway. Tamarack flour- ishes in swamps, and supplied the name of the Watab river, and thence of Watab township in Benton county, this being the name given by the Chippe- was to the long threads obtained by splitting tamarack roots, used by them in sewing their birch canoes.
Geological Structure. Outcrops of Archaean rocks, chiefly syenite, occur in Ashley, Sank Centre and Melrose in the northwest part of this county ; and in Wakefield, Rockville, St. Joseph, St. Augusta, St. Cloud, Le Sauk and Brockway in its eastern half. Cretaceous beds, containing thin seams of lignite, are exposed in the banks of the Sank river near Richmond in Mun- son township, and at other localities a few miles from Richmond both to the north and south. Other portions of this county, and even the greater part of the county, are covered by the glacial and modified drift, having no exposures of the underlying formations.
Cretaceous Beds. Before the ice age Cretaceous strata probably covered the western two-thirds of Minnesota, and on this area the greater part of the material of the drift is derived from these beds. The remnants of them that escaped the glacial erosion are now nearly everywhere concealed by the drift. In Stearns county their only exposures are found in the neighborhood of Richmond.
Mr. Eames observed the following section, horizontally stratified, near this village, in the banks of the Sauk river: Sand and gravel (modified drift), 40 feet ; blue clay with crystals of selenite, 4 feet; impure coal (lignitic clay, including three inches of lignite), 21/2 feet; bituminous limestone, forming the bed of the river, 10 feet.
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