USA > Minnesota > Stearns County > History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 58
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92
432
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
in front of the open stove until it would thaw and then toast it, after which I would toast it on the other side, as I had to do with all until we had enough for the meal. And so it would be with the molasses, we couldn't possibly get it out of the pitcher without putting it on the stove until the rim around the bottom was nearly all off. I still keep it for the good it has done in days gone by. The next morning I was going around with a summer coat of Mr. Ketcham's on, when I heard sleigh bells. On looking out of my "peak hole" beside the door I saw they were bound for our place. It proved to be John Gibson, of Crow Wing, he bringing the plat of the town for Mr. Ketcham to record, as he was register of deeds. He was writing when Mr. Gibson came in, having his inkstand on the stove heartlı and his table as close to the stove as he could get it, still he could not write a pen full of ink without its freez- ing, so that he would have to stop and thaw it out. I sat at the other side of the stove while Mr. Gibson was there and as fast as I could get another stick of dry tamarack in the stove I did so, but still he sat and shivered over a red hot stove. From there he went down to Mr. Lamb's at the Lowry place, they having moved there the summer before. He wanted to know of them what kind of a man Charles Ketcham was. Mr. Lamb said, "Oh, pretty good sort." "Well," he said, "I think the neighbors ought to go and take his wife out of that cold place." He said it would be bad enough to keep a squaw there, but it was too bad to keep a white woman in such an awful house. One trouble was we didn't know how to dress for such cold weather and sueh a cold house. In telling some people about it they say, "Why, I should have thought you would have frozen to death," and I always reply that I didn't know of any other reason only we didn't know enough.
Mrs. J. M. Stickney. My father, John W. Goodspeed, was born in the state of Maine, and at the age of 21 came to Minnesota, making the journey to Dubuque, Iowa, by rail and from there to St. Anthony by stage, the time required for this part of the trip being six days and one night. While living at St. Anthony he learned to speak the Chippewa language quite fluently, which was the means of saving his scalp in the spring of 1857 when traveling alone from Crow Wing to Fort Ripley he was surrounded by a band of In- dians. It was about this time that he came to St. Cloud, his name appear- ing on the first registry list. In 1856 he had visited Maine Prairie, going from there to Manannah. My mother was also born in Maine, where she was a promising school teacher, having taught her first term at the age of sixteen, and when her father, a well-to-do merchant seeking better opportunities for a large family, came to Minnesota, settling on a tract of land on Monticello Prairie, she accompanied her parents to their new home. My father and mother were married in June, 1858, and a year later located on a homestead at Union Grove, Meeker county. On one side of their farm was the Crow river and on the other the Big Woods, which abounded with Indians who were almost daily visitors at their house. The first few years of their married life were years of privation. For months their only food was potatoes, with salt. Money was almost unknown. For one entire year of hard work father received only sixty cents in cash, the remainder of his earnings being paid "in trade." Mother sold her silk dresses and mantle, hand-embroidered skirts
433
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
and most of her jewelry to the teachers in the vicinity to help meet living expenses.
It was while living here that on a beautiful Sabbath day in August, 1862, at Acton, a few miles away, the Sioux Indians massaered the Jones family and their friends. The next day my father, one of the twelve jurymen empaneled by the coroner at Forest City, went to Aeton to hold an inquest and bury the dead. They were accompanied by about 70 men on horseback. They found five or six dead bodies and a little girl, who had been asleep when the tragedy occurred, all covered with the blood of her dead sister, whom she had endeav- ored to arouse. While they were holding the inquest a party of 30 Indians sur- rounded the building. In an instant guns were ready and the men in their saddles giving chase to the Indians who turned and made their escape. The Indians having become generally hostile the settlers left their homes, and traveling by ox-team our family went to Forest City, Fair Haven, Clearwater and on to Monticello, where a fort was built in my grandfather's pasture. In 1866 we went to Fair Haven and settled on a farm, where we lived for the following 37 years.
John Schaefer (1906). It was about the twentieth of May, 1856, that my parents came to Minnesota from Ohio together with the families of Niekolas Hoffman, Joseph Schoen, Frank Miller and Peter Lommel. The latter did not bring his family but went back after them later. We came on the steam- boat Gov. Ramsey, from St. Anthony. The first Catholic priests of the Order of St. Benedict that came to St. Cloud, Fathers Cornelius, Demetrius and Bruno, were also on this boat with us. The trip from St. Anthony Falls to St. Cloud was uneventful and very slow; the stage of water being low it took two days and two nights to reach our destination. On account of the low water, and the boat being heavily loaded, the captain persuaded us to consent to disembark at Killian's Landing, about two miles below St. Cloud, where Mr. Killian still lives. From there our effeets were transported by team to St. Cloud. John W. Tenvoorte was keeping a sort of a hotel, where we stopped several days, then went out to St. Joe to Mathias Schindler's, an old friend of my father's, from Ohio, and who had preceded us the year before. The sons and daughters of Mr. Schindler are still living in this city and county. We stayed at Schindler's a short time, then went to live with Frank Miller, a relative of my mother's, who had bought the improvements of the Yanker Brothers, two old bachelors, who were really the first settlers there, they hav- ing taken their claim on what is now Section 24, town of St. Wendel. My father was shown a elaim by these men made by Joseph Millbauer, and which they said he had abandoned. My father began to make improvements, in other words "Jumped the Claim," but no sooner had begun to build a shanty than a body of armed men, called the "Claim Association," appeared on the scene, tore down the shanty and threatened my father with violence if he persisted in making improvements on this land.
After this experience with the Claim Association, father eame to the con- clusion that discretion was the better part of valor, and quitting on the Mill- bauer elaim, commenced making improvements on a piece of land a short dis- tanee from it, where we were undisturbed. Our first house or shanty was
434
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
erected during the summer of 1856, and we moved into it in September of that year. I have made an exact model of it, which I will show you. The original was 18 by 18 feet square, with a shed roof covered with shakes, split from oak and held in place by poles laid on them. The cracks were chinked and plastered with mnd made of the black soil. We lived in this shanty about two years, when we built a more substantial log house, with floors and windows in it. The first shanty had no floor. After my father died, in May, 1862, I lived with my mother on this land, of which I became the owner by purchas- ing it from the railroad company, which had acquired title to it by an act of the legislature granting certain sections within a certain limit along the line of their road to be constructed. In 1868, I built the first frame house in that part of Le Sauk, on Section 19, which is now owned by August Kirchgatter.
NECROLOGY.
The following list of the names of early settlers who came to Minnesota from 1850 to 1870, who resided at or near St. Cloud and who died since Jan- uary 1, 1900, is made up from memoranda kept by Lewis Clark, of St. Cloud. As will be seen, practically all passed the three score years, many the three score and ten, others the four score and some even the four score and ten- the average age of the 270 persons on the list being more than 75 years- bearing evidence thus to the life-giving qualities of Minnesota's atmosphere. Mr. Clark himself is now in his eighty-seventh year and while retired from active business gives his personal attention to his personal affairs. In the list the date of death is given first, then the name and then the age :
1900. January 22, Henry Benmer, 64; January 23, Mrs. J. F. Wray, 60; February 4, Mrs. C. F. Davis, 65; February 19, J. P. Wilson, 77; March 1, P. L. Gregory, 90; April 18, Charles Whittemore, 92; April 22, Frank Leemay, 68; May 4, Mrs. Thomas Smith, 73; June 17, Mrs. S. Reichert, 72; June 23, Mrs. John Morris, 73; July 8, E. H. Atwood, 71; W. A. Callar, 74; July 20, T. H. Barrett, 66; October 6, Mrs. C. Bridgman, 82; November 25, C. Bridg- man, 71; November 27, Asa Libby, 75; December 20, A. E. Hussey, 72.
1901. March 11, U. M. Tobey, 75; March 12, Dennis Shields, 74; April 16, S. N. Wright, 81; April 17, Ellis Kling, 77; May 8, Nathan Lamb, 82; May 12, E. A. Garlington, 64; May 27, James S. Tileston, 82; June 3, Benjamin Allen, 80; June 12, William Bisenius, 73; June 21, J. M. Sullivan, 68; July 2, Mrs. Martha J. Shroyer, 67; July 4, Thomas Gill, 91; August 2, Samuel C. Johnson, 75; August 31, Mr. Daggett, 82; September 7, Jonathan Woll, 68; October 3, S. B. Loye, 70; November 21, Mrs. S. Prutsman, 72; December 2, Miss Lucy Gilman, 62; December 3, Mrs. Anna Hall, 74.
1902. January 4, Peter Munsinger, 60; January 7, Nathan F. Barnes, 84; January 10, E. P. Barnum, 70; January 30, Mrs. Mary A. Murphy, 75; February 2, W. W. Wright, 76; February 11, Mrs. Z. H. Morse, 78; February 24, Mrs. John Rogers, 68; March 13, George F. Brott, 70; March 19, Mrs. Fred C. Scherfenberg, 60; April 21, W. H. Hall, 64; May 31, William Dickinson, 81; June 9, Samnel Lambert, 81; July 8, Mrs. J. F. Jerrard, 70; July 22, M. Brannley, 70; August 17, A. J. French, 72; October 14, R. C. Burdick, 69;
435
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
October 26, J. R. Clark, 68; November 6, Jacob Siceley, 70; December 1, John Morris, 63. .
1903. January 11, Mrs. J. G. Smith, 70; January 31, Peter Lommel, 85; March 1, B. K. Knowlton, 77; March 6, M. Mockenhaupt, 68; March 9, Mrs. Julia A. A. Wood, 78; March 16, S. R. Foot, 88; March 26, John Rogers, 73; April 1, J. H. Rhodes, 70; April 6, Mrs. A. Lueg, 85; April 8, J. M. Rosen- berger, 61; April 10, George Smitten, 76; April 23, W. T. Rigby, 79; May 18, Henry Green, 81; June 7, Williard Spaulding, 65; June 18, Ansel Beal, 60; July 16, James Jenks, 74; July 17, John T. Marvin, 68; July 18, John Dressler, 67; July 18, Mrs. H. Dam, 85; August 24, A. J. Holes, 67; September 13, Dr. S. Marlatt, 77; September 13, J. G. Huber, 82; September 18, John Mc- Carty, 78; September 27, Mrs. Adelia Russell, 73; November 14, John P. Ham- merel, 61; December 11, George T. Cambell, 68; December 16, Mrs. E. Hart, 90; December 22, J. O. Cater, 82.
1904. February 4, Mrs. J. E. Wing, 68; February 28, John Sloan, 80; Mareh 22, Mrs. Thomas Jones, 70, George E. Fuller, 70; July 1, William Gor- don, 76; August 3, Mrs. L. A. Evans, 66; August 8, Mrs. J. A. Stanton, 65, Mrs. Charles Bowman, 70; October 7, O. Tenney, 82; November 10, Mrs. Nathan Gilman, 85; December 10, Mrs. John Goodspeed, 62; December 21, Mrs. A. Haggeman, 75; December 22, John Stanger, 85; December 27, James Pay- den, 69.
1905. January 5, Levi Ball, 68; January 10, Mrs. John Dressler, 60; Jan- uary 15, J. F. Jerrard, 75; February 23, H. C. Burbank, 71; March 29, Mrs. William Powell, 69; April 5, T. C. Alden, 76; May 29, J. V. Brower, 64; August 21, Mrs. C. S. Webber, 67; October 18, John Hurrle, 78; October 19, Oscar Taylor, 73; November 20, Mrs. J. Roberts, 75; November 25, Mrs. Martha L. Jenkins, 85; December 24, Frank Remley, 78.
1906. January 6, Anton Kersteins, 84; April 25, M. Gans, 76; May 2, Henry Krebs, 80; May 3, Thomas Jones, 79; June 3, Mrs. James Biggerstaff, 77; June 9, John Jones, 84; June 23, Frank Arnold, 85, Michael Miller, 83; August 18, M. Majerus, 65; September 2, Mrs. Joseph Hill, 71; September 28, H. J. Ranney, 82; September 29, George N. LaVaque, 63; October 19, David T. Calhoun, 53; November 7, Philip Beaupre, 83.
1907. January 9, John Cooper, 71; February 28, Thomas Foley, 67; Mareh 3, George Schaefer, 83; March 7, Mrs. John H. Raymond, 70; Mareh 25, Wil- liam F. Knowlton, 68; April 1, William Cornell, 84; May 2, Charles Seherbing, 73; May 5, John H. Raymond, 74; May 24, William Pattison, 83; September 4, J. H. Linneman, 82, September 22, Joseph Edelbrock, 84; November 3, F. J. Farrand, 75; November 14, Tim Hurrle, 75; November 23, George T. Riee, 76; December 6, Murdock Pattison, 76.
1908. January 9, Nathan Richardson, 79; January 18, Samuel Whiting, 76; January 24, B. F. Hamilton, 86; January 30, John A. McDonald, 62; March 19, Alois Tschumperlin, 61; March 25, Mrs. John M. Rosenberger, 65; May 18, John Leisen, 69; August 12, Fred Hollenhorst, 86; September 1, Charles Leagle, 78; September 28, Harman Beeker, 68; October 5, Van R. Getchell, 72; October 16, Mrs. A. E. Hussey, 83.
1909. January 7, J. F. Bradford, 75; January 30, J. G. Smith, 75; March
436
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
26, Peter Goetten, 77; April 2, Mrs. Mary E. Ketcham, 76; May 9, Mrs. Phoebe K. Boobar, 87; May 17, Charles Peterson, 68; June 11, Joseph Kindler, 78; June 24, Wesley Carter, 70; June 27, Mrs. H. C. Waite, 75; June 28, Ivory Sta- ples, 77; July 1, John Albrecht, 88; July 2, J. R. Boyd, 76; July 12, S. P. Car- penter, 70; July 18, John Palmer, 70; Angust 26, Erasmus Cross, 76; October 11, James L. Gray, 81; November 7, E. C. Smith, 75; December 12, D. B. Searle, 63.
1910. January 3, John L. Wilson, 89; January 6, Mrs. H. Z. Mitchell, 86; January 15, H. J. Rosenberger, 65; January 22, Rudolph Huhn, 77; February 16, George W. Benedict, 84; March 2, John Schaefer, 68; March 19, Mrs. C. A. Gilman, 72; April 6, Henry Brinkman, 81; April 7, Mrs. OLve Tilton, 84; April 12, William Hicks, 82; April 14, Philo Lamb, 78; August 17, George H. Rey- nolds, 58; September 29, Nathanael Getchell, 82; October 3, James F. Bell, 75; October 26, C. P. Baxter, 71; November 23, Mrs. Mary Winslade, 70; No- vember 27, Mrs. George B. Marvin, 63.
1911. February 14, Mrs. C. Richmond, 86; March 17, Mrs. W. W. Wright, 78; D. B. Stanley, 66; A. C. Robertson, 65; April 17, J. H. Johnson, 65; May 17, Mrs. Millie McCadden, 78; May 31, Mrs. J. E. West, 69, June 2, Mrs. E. Robertson, 75; June 27, Mrs. Ellen Lamb, 82; July 2, Ike Philo, 60; July 8, George McCallum, 70; July 12, Mrs. John W. Tenvoorde, 82; September 17, William Heywood, 80; September 24, Clinton C. Tobey, 76; October 8, George W. Stewart, 52; October 9, Mrs. James Colgrove, 72; October 29, Isaac Elliott. 75; November 9, Josiah E. West, 78; November 14, David Harvey, 80; Decem- ber 2, Mrs. Myra Kennedy, 67; December 26, A. L. Clement, 84.
1912. January 5, J. F. Wray, 82; January 14, Mrs. Peter Goetten, 80; January 25, Matt Weyrens, 67; February 16, William Scherfenberg, 67; April 6, Bertus Mueller, 77; April 14, John Hirt, 81, April 23, M. J. Weber, 60; May 3, A. L. Elliott, 79; May 4, Valentine Wetzel, 84; June 20, J. W. Watson, 80; June 21, Casper Capser, 84; June 29, N. P. Clarke, 76; July 12, A. Hanson, 68; August 20, William Albrecht, 84; September 1, Mrs. J. E. Hayward, 83; September 14, Mrs. John Leisen, 75; September 27, Loren W. Collins, 74; September 29, W. H. Spanlding, 72; October 3, Mrs. C. Noyes, 82; October 10, Henry Killian, 92; November 14, Henry C. Waite, 82; November 17, Dr. Samuel H. Van Cleve, 59; December 3, Mrs. Helen Moore, 80, December 25, James Abel, 83.
1913. January, Joseph Dam, 82; January 28, J. B. Sartell, 87; Feb- ruary 11, Henry Ortman, 80; April 18, B. H. Winslow, 79; June 5, Barney Messman, 80, Justus Picket, 76; July 9, H. P. Bennett, 94, J. E. Schroyer, 79; August 28, Henry Steckling, 83; October 14, William T. Clark, 83; October 19, Thomas Barrett, 73; October 29, Mrs. Celia C. Bell, 68; November 3, Andrew Fritz, 77; November 19, Thomas Van Etten, 77; December 25, John Zimmer, 84.
1914. January 2, William Stevenson, 63; February 6, John Homan, 84, James Young, 74; February 17, James R. Bennett, Sr., 82; February 22, Mrs. James R. Bennett, Sr., 79; March 8, P. E. Kaiser, 65, H. B. Smart, 95; March 13, C. Grandelmeyer, 77; March 22, Samuel Young, Jr., 89; March 24, Mrs. E. H. Boobar, 98, Oliver Dam, 68; April 7, William Capple, 88; April 28, A. T. Upham, 80; May 19, William Westerman, 70; June 11, Joseph Jodoin, 82;
437
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
July 19, Mrs. E. A. Hamilton, 85; August 17, Daniel Delaney, 84; October 5, J. D. Thomas, 79; October 8, Jacob Woll, 80; October 17, M. C. Fowler, 60; October 18, Mrs. D. A. Perkins, 77; November 14, Nicholas Lahr, 85; Novem- ber 25, Hugh Mulligan, 85; December 11, William Grimmer, 82; December 5, Gertrude E. Lang, 84.
CHAPTER XXVI.
TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION.
Red River Carts-Pemmican-Transporting Furs and Supplies-Steamboats -Stage and Express Lines-Roads-Legislature Establishes Territorial Thoroughfares-Romantic Adventures of the Surveyors-County Board Lays Out Roads-Bridges-Ferries-Licenses and Locations.
The pioneers in the work of transportation and the first to pass through Stearns county were the half-breeds from the Red River country, coming with their carts loaded with furs and taking back provisions and merchandise. The first of these made the journey from Pembina to Mendota, 448 miles, in 1842, being in the employ of Norman W. Kittson, who later acquired much wealth and became one of the leading citizens of Minnesota. The enterprise began with six of these carts, the number increasing in the next seven years to one hundred two and in 1858 there were six hundred. They created the thorough- fare known as the "Red River Trail," which passed through St. Cloud and in the early days was one of the main arteries of travel. Upon the completion of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad from St. Paul to St. Cloud, in 1858, this place remained the terminus for a number of years and the furs were re-shipped from here by rail.
A caravan of these carts presented a most unique spectacle and one which in all probability will never again be seen on this continent. The cart was made entirely of wood, not a single nail or piece of iron being used in its construc- tion, the different parts being held together by strips of rawhide. The two wheels on which the body rested were of wide tread so as not to cut too deeply into the soil, and were without a tire. Each cart was drawn by a single ox or horse (known as Red River ponies), four or more carts being usually hitched tandem and in the care of one driver, a Red River half-breed. As no lubricant was used, the screechings emitted by the slowly-moving vehicles were ear- piercing and most unearthly and proclaimed for long distances the coming of the caravan. They brought consignments of valuable furs, often sent through in bond to London. At that time a buffalo skin, now almost never to be seen, could be bought for a few dollars, and there was scarcely a man engaged in winter out-door work who did not have a buffalo overcoat, and a buffalo robe could be a part of almost any man's possessions.
One of the principal articles of food used by these half-breed teamsters, because of its nourishing qualities and the compact form in which it could be carried, was pemmican, which is still included among the supplies provided
438
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
by Aretie explorers on their long expeditions. It is not at all unpalatable as the writer can testify, after having on several occasions eaten it as prepared by these Red River visitors. In case any of the readers of this history should wake up some morning and discover a fat buffalo trespassing on his premises and should desire to add this dish to his menu, the following recipe for the preparation of pemmican, taken, with a brief introduction, from "Flandrean's History of Minnesota," is given :
"One of the principal sources of subsistence of these frontier people in their long journeys through uninhabited regions was pemmican. This food was especially adapted to extreme northern countries, where, in the winter, it was sometimes impossible to make fires to cook with, and the means of transportation was by dog-trains, as it was equally good for man and beast. It was invented among the Hudson Bay people many years ago, and undoubt- edly from necessity. It was made in this way: The meat of the buffalo, with- out the fat, was thoroughly boiled and picked into shreds or very small pieces. A saek was made of buffalo skin, with the hair on the outside, which would hold about ninety pounds of meat. A hole was then dug in the ground of suffi- cient size to hold the saek. It was filled with the meat thus prepared, which was packed and pounded until it was as hard as it could be made. A kettle of boiling hot buffalo fat, in a fluid state, was then poured into it, until it was thoroughly permeated, every interstice from center to circumference being filled, until it became a solid mass, perfectly impervious to the air, and as well preserved against decomposition as if it had been enclosed in an hermetically sealed glass jar. This made a most nutritious preparation of animal food, all ready for use by both man and dog. An analysis of this compound proved it to possess more nutriment to the pound weight than any other substance ever manufactured, and with a winter camp appetite it was a very palatable dish. Its great superiority over any other kind of food was the fact that it required no preparation and its portability."
St. Cloud was for many years the outfitting point for the country to the North and West, extending into the territories and into the Canadian provinces. Merchandise coming here by steamboat and afterwards by rail was carried forward by teams, giving luerative employment to a large number of men with their horses and wagons.
The most profitable branch of this business was the moving of Hudson Bay furs and government supplies. Trains mimbering a hundred and more loaded teams were sent out at a time, and sent week after week. Among those most largely engaged in this work of transportation were J. C. & H. C. Bur- bank, N. P. Clarke, H. C. Waite, T. C. MeClure, Henry Gager and J. P. Mills, with others whose operations were on a more limited seale. It made busy times on the streets of the city and among the merchants, and doubtless was an im- portant factor in drawing attention to and opening up the country through which the main traveled road passed.
STEAMBOATS.
The first steamboat that ever came to St. Cloud was the Governor Ram- sey, Captain Robbins, of St. Anthony, master, the trip being made in 1850, be-
439
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
fore there was any St. Cloud or any sign that there ever would be such a place. The land at that time still belonged to the Indians. This steamboat was then making trips between St. Anthony and Sauk Rapids. The engine by which it was propelled was afterwards used in the North Star, which, for several sea- sons carried passengers and freight between St. Anthony and St. Cloud. In the season of 1858 this boat was taken over Sauk Rapids and Little Falls and run up the Mississippi river to Pokegema Falls. Later the boiler was again removed, being taken from the North Star to be used in the Anson Northrup, the first steamboat to plough the water of the Red River of the North- thus being three times a pioneer on untried waters.
Other steamboats which made regular trips between the Falls of St. Anthony and St. Cloud were the Enterprise, the H. M. Rice, the Cutter, the St. Cloud, the Pilot and the Minneapolis, the latter being the last to reach the levee here and this was in the year 1874. The trip up and down the river, among the islands and between wooded banks, was a very pleasant one, and many persons preferred during the season of navigation going and coming in that way to taking the stage coaches.
After the completion of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad much dissatisfac- tion was felt by shippers regarding freight rates, which were thought to be excessive. A meeting was held at Minneapolis January 6, 1865, at which it was resolved to take steps to seeure the building of a steamboat, with barge, to transport freight between that city and St. Cloud, calling at the intermedi- ate points. It was estimated that the cost would not exceed $12,000. Committees to solicit stoek were appointed. For this part of the country, Z. H. Morse, of St. Cloud; Alexander Moore, of Sauk Centre; W. W. Webster, of Clearwater, and J. B. Blanchard, of Monticello, were selected.
In the month following, the Upper Mississippi Transportation Company was incorporated at Minneapolis, the purpose as announced being to put a line of steamboats with barges on the Mississippi river to run between St. Cloud and Minneapolis, in competition with the railroad. It was believed that the prevailing rates on grain and merchandise could be materially reduced. The incorporators were : H. T. Welles, W. W. Eastman, B. S. Bull, J. W. Johnson, S. H. Chute, Levi Butler and Edward Murphy. Nothing practical resulted from the organization, although the list of incorporators included some of the most prominent business men and capitalists of Minneapolis and St. Anthony.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.