History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume II, Part 107

Author: Mitchell, William Bell, 1843-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : H. S. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1110

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John Becker sold his relinquishment to a man by the name of Stokes from Ten- nessee. John Tenvoorde took charge of Stokes's claim, as the latter was a non- resident. The law at that time required that a married man must live on his land and three young men from Sauk Rapids jumped the place. Then the people got the claim association together to move the three boys off. After much urging, Mr. Schwartz and I consented to go with them. Three team loads of men started for the place, leaving the teams at Mr. Keough's, about half a mile this side of the claim, walking the rest of the way. The boys were ordered to get out of the shanty, which they did. The crowd then tore down the shanty, took out the beds, piled all together and set fire to the heap. While the demolished shanty was burning, a number of the men, against the protest of myself and one or two others, took the three boys and switched them, afterwards tying their hands behind them and march- ing them to where the teams had been left. It was freezing cold weather and the young fellows suffered from their hands being tied. They were then taken to St.

Cloud to a newly-built warehouse, where they were again whipped by one of the crowd with a black-snake whip. Later an- other fellow proposed repeating the pun- ishment and when I objected I was set upon by several of the crowd and beaten over the head with the black-snake whip and the butt of a pistol. I had great diffi- culty in getting out after my brother-in- law came to my assistance Very soon a crowd came from Sauk Rapids and threat- ened to blow up the building unless the boys were released, which was done soon afterwards. We heard nothing more about them until the land was put on the mar- ket, Stokes having filed on the claim, as had also the boys. Before Stokes could secure the land he had to pay them five hundred dollars for the whippings they had received. (This case, while typical of much of the spirit of the claim-jumping, a claim association performance of those days was somewhat extreme, and was the occasion of great local excitement with much threatened litigation .- Editor.)

In 1856 Mr. Schwartz and I raised some wheat, but there was no mill near by where we could have it ground. It so hap- pened that two old bachelors had a big coffee mill which two men could turn by hand, so we took some of the wheat and ground it into flour from which our bread was made, and it certainly tasted good when we came home tired and hungry. We made flour that way until about New Year's, when I took a load of wheat to Elk River, about thirty-five miles from St. Cloud, where there was a grist mill, and had it ground. As we were returning home I tried to get water for my oxen. Some people told me where the water hole was and I found it after I had fallen in. Before I could climb to the bank of the river my clothes were frozen stiff and I could not walk. A couple of men helped me to the house and gave me some clothes which were about half as big as those I had been wearing. The next morning we started for home and when about five miles up the line at Clear Lake we got some water, the first the oxen had in twenty-four hours. Two other men were with me, Mr. Hartman and Mr. Spinne- weber, and when we got within a mile of St. Cloud their oxen gave out, the snow being so deep, so they had to leave their

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sleds and go back after them the next morning.

From the Autobiography of the Late George F. Brott .- In 1854 I met Governor Ramsey at Sauk Rapids returning from a trip to Pembina. He gave me a descrip- · tion of the beautiful Sauk river valley, its rolling prairies interspersed with timber and many clear water lakes stocked with fish. The Sauk river flows into the Missis- sippi opposite the town of Sauk Rapids, which then was but a trading post. I concluded that at or near the mouth of Sauk river would be a good site for a town, but at that time it was included in the Winnebago reservation, which soon after was ceded to the United States. The Winnebago Indians floated down the Mis- sissippi in their "dugouts" and then pad- dled up the Minnesota to their new reser- vation.

Anton Edelbrock was the first to occupy the present site of St. Cloud above the ravine. I purchased from him an interest in his claim, also all that portion below the ravine extending to the ridge or boundary of the highlands. I also purchased an- other claim adjoining below which was covered with timber. I offered to share with my partner (Robert Cummings) in the purchase, but he declined. I then formed a partnership withı Orin Curtis, afterward mayor of St. Anthony, to be known as Brott & Curtis. In the month of April, 1855, I left St. Anthony with a two-horse wagon loaded with a cooking stove and food supplies, together with spades, carpenter's tools, blankets, etc. When we reached Emmerson's log house on the east side we found that the ice still covered the river, but was not safe for the weight of our team, so we tied a rope to our cooking stove and hauled it across by hand, and in like manner we crossed all of our load. I had with me J. C. Shepley, Newton N. Smith and a Mr. Shepherd. We first built a shelter of logs to sleep in. Soon after I erected a two-story log house which was occupied by Sisson and Sey- mour as a residence and hotel. The next improvement was a sawmill, then a three- story hotel, known as the Stearns House, kept for years by the Hon. C. T. Stearns, for whom the county is named.

John L. Wilson purchased Edelbrock's remaining interest in his claim and at a

meeting in St. Anthony with his brother (J. P. Wilson) and me he named our town St. Cloud. During this time the title to the land was still in the government, as the lands were not yet surveyed. The upper portion or Wilson's claim was held under the townsite act and my portion un- der an act of congress granting to mail contractors west of the Mississippi in ter- ritories the right to preempt 640 acres at each of their stations twenty miles apart. I had been granted a special contract from the post office department to carry the mails from Minneapolis to St. Cloud on the west side of the river, and I made St. Cloud one of my stations and claimed my rights under this act. I afterwards got a special act from Congress to enter my claim where there was no prior preemp- tion right.

About this time I became the managing owner of the steamboat H. M. Rice, which with the Governor Ramsey made regular trips from Minneapolis to St. Cloud. The owner of the Ramsey purchased the boat and made expensive repairs in order to run the boat in opposition to the steamer Rice. This resulted in cheap transporta- tion and his financial ruin.

In order that the merits of the Sauk valley and St. Cloud in particular should be well advertised I at the time purchased a. printing press and type of the Hon. Joe Brown, one of Minnesota's historical pio- neers. The paper was christened the Min- nesota Advertiser, one page of which was occupied by a map of the state, on which St. Cloud was very prominent with many imaginary railroads from all points of the compass centering there. Referring to the map, the St. Paul Pioneer stated that "Brott's gas town was like the signs of the zodiac or like the sun in the sidereal heavens, while St. Paul was no more than a fly speck." I edited the paper for about a year, but found that it took too much of my time, besides I had no fighting man to attend to that branch of the business, and on two occasions came very near hav- ing my earthly career cut short. I was for- tunate in securing the services of Henry W. Cowles, a graduate of Yale college, as editor, relieving me of that responsibility. Mrs. Jane G. Swisshelm, a very noted writer, visited our embryo city soon after- wards, and wanted to know on what terms

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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY

I would sell the Advertiser. I was looking for an opportunity to dispose of my ele- phant and suggested in reply that I would make her a present of the establishment if she would advertise by editorials, etc., our town and locality to induce immigra- tion, and that she would be free to advo- cate women's rights or anybody else's rights. On these terms the Advocate was made over to Mrs. Swisshelm, whose ad- vanced theories so wrought up James C. Shepley that he gave a lecture and had for his theme the class of women of which Mrs. Swisshelm was a type. In the next issue of the Advertiser she wiped the floor with Mr. Shepley, using him for a mop. This so angered him that he with others forced an entrance into the printing estab- lishment at night and dumped the type and press into the Mississippi river. The citizens at once bought her a new press and type and she continued the publica- tion of the paper until it was merged into the St. Cloud Journal, now one of the most influential papers in the state.

In 1856 our city of St. Cloud was grow- ing rapidly. I gave quit-claim deeds to lots, as the land was still unsurveyed and title not acquired from the government. Among the settlers had come enterprising lawyers who concluded that my claim to the townsite could be successfully con- tested, as my mail contract was a special one instead of being obtained at a regular letting. Several of the parties who had purchased city lots filed claims to forty acres each on my station claim; also the Northern Pacific railroad contested for a fractional section, which, being an odd number, they would be entitled to under the land grant act had there been no prior right. The cases were decided in my fa- vor at the local land office and afterwards appealed to the land office at Washington. This appeal to Washington caused me to go there to engage counsel and look after my land case. The property was in liti- gation eleven years before I succeeded in securing my title. The tract claimed by the Northern Pacific railroad continued in litigation and was appealed to the supreme court of the United States, and a decision was rendered in my favor after a lapse of thirty years.

In the summer of 1857 I with others formed the Red River Land company and

sent men to occupy three points as town- sites, one at the mouth of the Bois de Sioux river, one at Graham's Point, and one at the mouth of the Cheyenne river. A number of ox teams and wagons with can- vas covers were purchased, each wagon having painted on the canvas in large let- ters, "The Red River Land Company," and were paraded through the streets of St. Paul as an advertisement. The machinery for a large sawmill was ordered from Woodruff & Beach, of Hartford, Conn., to cost $15,000. I was the only one of the company who had any property subject to execution and I became alarmed at so much indebtedness, as everything had been bought on credit. It resulted in my purchasing the interest of my partners and in forming a new company composed of, including myself, Henry T. Welles, John J. Knox, Richard Chute, Franklin Steele, Henry M. Rice, H. H. Sibley and McKubbin & Edgerton. I called on the secretary of war, Mr. Floyd, with letters and documents and had Fort Abercrombie established at Graham's Point. Our loca- tion near the mouth of the Cheyenne was where the town of Moorhead, opposite the city of Fargo, is now located. We aban- doned the lower settlements and concen- trated at the junction of the Siouxwood and the Ottertail, which form the Red river. The townsite embraced about 3,000 acres, the title to which was secured with half-breed scrip. We named our city after Vice-President Breckenridge and the county after Senator Toombs (now Wilkin county). I afterwards met the vice-presi- dent at Kirkwood's in Washington and told him that if he did not change his po- litical course he would ruin our town named after him. He replied that I would live to see his course approved by the country. Afterwards he became a general in the Confederate army, which was one of his mistakes.

In March, 1857, I fitted out seven teams loaded with supplies, farming implements, seeds, etc., to go to Breckenridge. I em- ployed Pierre Botineau to guide the teams as the old Red river trail was then covered with more than a foot of snow. T. H. Bar- rett, afterwards a general in the Union army, went with the party to make the surveys for the new city. The estimated distance from St. Cloud to Breckenridge

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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY

was 170 miles. The men that were with the expedition erected quarters for their domicile not unlike a lumber camp, about 40 feet long by 20 feet wide, and this camp house was the commencement of the town of Breckenridge, now the county seat of Wilkin county. The whole county around is one vast, treeless prairie. Owens in his geological report says that it is the most level spot on earth.

The sawmill machinery purchased at Hartford arrived at St. Paul on the last boat of that year. The boilers, engines, pulleys, etc., weighed 55 tons and the bill of freight amounted to $4,000. (Mr. Brott narrates at some length the difficulties he encountered in meeting this claim and se- curing possession of the machinery.) I was two years hauling this machinery with ox teams but finally got it in running or- der. I had a lumber camp in the Otter- tail region where the logs could be floated down to Breckenridge. When I had suf- ficient lumber sawed I erected a four-story hotel with a cupola which could be seen 15 miles. During the Sioux war of 1862 this hotel and the sawmill were burned by the Indians, who at the same time had invested Fort Abercrombie and burned the outhouses.

Mr. Brott gives a history of the location of the townsite of Alexander in 1857. Alex- ander and William Kinkead, both well known during after years in St. Cloud, of which the latter became a resident, had built a cabin on the shores at White Bear lake (now Whipple lake, at Glenwood, Pope county) with a view of laying out a townsite there. Mr. Brott, being consulted in the matter, advised that they select a location on the line of the proposed state road from St. Cloud to Breckenridge. At the end of a day's journey they camped at the spot finally selected for their town and Mr. Brott christened the embryo city Alexandria in compliment to Alexander Kinkead. Mr. Brott adds, "Soon after my return to St. Cloud a commodious log house was constructed for a tavern and our townsite was surveyed into lots by a man named Ball. Peter L. Gregory oc- cupied the house with his family and re- ceived as a bonus the house and a square of ground. He subsequently sold his in- terest to a man named Brown, from Indi- ana, who became landlord for a time and

then sold out to me. He gave me a quit- claim deed, which I still have in my pos- session."

The Grasshopper Scourge .- The grass- hoppers, or Rocky Mountain locusts as they are sometimes called, made their first appearance in Minnesota in the years 1856 and 1857, when they played sad havoc with gardens and fields. Their ravages in this part of the state began at the Crow Wing agency, there being nothing west of that place for them to devour except the grass on the prairies and the leaves on the trees. They were of an unusually large size, and when they came to a field of grain the ground was quickly left bare. Some of the settlers who had gardens thought to save their vegetables by cover- ing them with blankets, but this was in vain, as the grasshoppers ate their way through the blankets to the choice green growth beneath. David Gilman, one of the first settlers at Watab, had a fine field of about fifty acres of wheat ready for the cradle. Thinking that if it were cut and lying on the ground it would escape the ravages of the pests, Mr. Gilman with a large force of men worked all night by moonlight and cut the entire lot, but dur- ing the next forenoon a cloud of grass- hoppers settled on the field and by night not a kernel of wheat was to be found. They traveled about ten to fifteen miles a day, and their whereabouts was known by the track of desolation they left behind. Great hardship was inflicted on the scat- tered settlers of those early days in Stearns county, whose fields were stripped and having no surplus from previous years to depend on, many were reduced to hard straits. But they were by no means dis- couraged, and as the grasshoppers did not deposit their eggs here there was no re- turn to the scene of devastation the next year.

The results which followed their second appearance in 1873, were altogether dif- ferent, as after devouring every green thing in the fields they deposited their eggs, which were hatched out the follow- ing spring. As the numbers of grasshop- pers multiplied, the territory they occu- pied widened. They covered not only gar- dens and fields, shrubs and trees, but houses and barns, wagons and fences, and were so thick at times on the railway

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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY

track that their crushed bodies prevented the wheels from taking hold and trains were actually stopped. When they rose for a further migration the sound of their wings was little short of deafening, and their unnumbered millions formed clouds which partially obscured the light of the sun. Their fluttering bodies reaching up and up into the air and stretching for miles, shimmering in the light, presented a most remarkable spectacle, but not a welcome one until the time came when they took their final departure, which was not until 1877. For five consecutive years had they taken possession of the land, de- vouring the substance of the people, whose courage never failed them and who con- tinued to plant and sow hoping to be able to gather and reap.

Every conceivable method of fighting the pests was employed by the farmers, among the most favored being the "hopperdozer," a simple piece of mechanism made of sheet iron with a trough filled with tar into which the insects were forced as the machine, drawn by horses, passed over the field. Deep trenches were dug in the path- way of their march, and they were gath- ered by the bushels, but without very en- couraging results in most instances.

The scourge had become so serious by 1876 that in compliance with a request from Governor Pillsbury, of Minnesota, a convention of delegates from the different states and territories affected was held at Omaha to take concerted action for the extermination of the pests and to secure from congress a thorough investigation of the means to be employed for the general protection from future incursions. In his message to the legislature of 1877, Gov- ernor Pillsbury gave this subject a large space. Appropriations were made for the purchase of seed grain for farmers whose crops had been destroyed, and the gov- ernor gave the local conditions through- out the state his personal investigation. In response to the requests of the churches in the spring of that year he issued a proc- lamation appointing April 26 as a day of fasting and prayer for deliverance from this long-continued affliction. It is a coin- cidence worthy of record that at prac- tically the time designated for these serv- ices the grasshoppers disappeared, and

have never since returned in numbers to do any serious damage.

Decoration Day .- The first observance of Decoration Day in St. Cloud was May 30, 1885, the exercises being under the di- rect charge of the newly-organized J. M. McKelvy Post of the G. A. R. A proces- sion formed at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, headed by the St. Cloud Guards, whose ranks were parted to make room for the old soldiers, forty-two in all, including sev- eral members of the Sauk Rapids organi- zation. In the procession were a hundred or more conveyances filled with citizens.

The first halt was at the Catholic ceme- tery, where the Decoration Committee, consisting of Commander Perkins, Harvey Raymond and C. T. Smith, placed flowers on the graves of the soldiers buried there: Anton Tremp, private, Company G, Fourth Minnesota Infantry; Joseph Tremp, pri- vate, Company G, Fourth Minnesota In- fantry; Michael Lauermann, private, Com- pany D, Minnesota Mounted Rangers; George Heinen, private, Company D, Min- nesota Mounted Rangers; Gerhard Lieser, private, Company D, Minnesota Mounted Rangers. Proceeding to North Star Ceme- tery, a halt was made by the grave of Judge James M. McKelvy, for whom the post was named, and here the Decoration Day ceremonies of the order were held, led by Commander G. S. Spencer and Judge L. W. Collins, and the graves of the following- named comrades were strewn with flow- ers: James M. McKelvy, captain, Com- pany I, Seventh Minnesota Infantry; Caleb West, private, Company I, Seventh Minne- sota Infantry; M. C. Tolman, surgeon, Sec- ond Minnesota Infantry; Ambrose Free- man, lieutenant, Company D, Minnesota Mounted Rangers; William Kinkead, lieu- tenant, Second Minnesota Battery; Fred Schilplin, lieutenant, Company I, Third Minnesota Infantry; Charles Leug, captain, Company G. Fourth Minnesota Infantry; Fred Wyman, private, Company A, Minne- sota Mounted Rangers. An address was delivered by the Rev. J. K. Chandler, the exercises closing with the singing of America.

Decoration Day was also observed by the F. W. Johnston Post, G. A. R., at Fair Haven, where the graves of the departed veterans were decorated with flowers, and addresses were delivered by the Rev. R.

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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY

R. Coon of St. Cloud, and the Rev. A. Ringer of Fair Haven.

During each succeeding year at St. Cloud May 30 has been observed as Memorial Day. The exercises have included a pro- cession, singing of patriotic songs, read- ing of Lincoln's Gettysburg address, invo- cation and prayer and usually a formal address. In the earlier days these exer- cises were at the North Star cemetery, but later were at Empire Park or the David- son Opera house. The decoration of the graves has followed the general exercises.

The following is a list of the speakers who dlivered the address subsequent to 1885: 1886-Lieutenant Governor G. A. Gilman, the Hon. D. B. Searle and D. W. Bruckart. 1887-A procession was formed which marched first to the Catholic and then to the North Star cemetery. Here, following other brief exercises, Judge L. W. Collins read the order instituting and calling for the observance of Decoration Day, issued May 6, 1868, by General John A. Logan, then commander of the Na- tional G. A. R. There was no formal ad- dress. 1888-D. E. Myers, of St. Cloud. 1889-Judge Henry G. Hicks, of Minneapo- lis. 1890-Rev. R. R. Atchinson, St. Cloud. 1891-A. Barto, ex-Department Comman- der, St. Cloud. 1892-Joseph Carhart, St. Cloud. 1893-Wm. Mattoon, Minneapolis. 1894-R. B. Brower, St. Cloud. 1895-Hon. Charles A. Towne, Duluth. 1896-Hon. Moses E. Clapp, St. Paul. 1897-Hon. D. B. Searle, St. Cloud. 1898-Ell Torrance, Past Department Commander, Minneapolis. 1899-Hon. Henry G. Hicks, Minneapolis. 1900-Hon. John Day Smith, Minneapolis. 1901-Col. A. F. Foster, Litchfield. 1902-

Hon. Eugene Hay, Minneapolis. 1903-

Hon. Daniel Fish, Minneapolis. 1904- Capt. W. H. Harries, Commandant of the Soldiers' Home, Minnehaha Park. 1905- Hon. R. B. Brower, St. Cloud. 1906- Mayor J. E. C. Robinson, E. A. Macdonald, Rev. J. Frank Locke, St. Cloud. 1907- Rev. A. B. Marshall, D. D., Minneapolis. 1908-Hon. A. H. Hall, Minneapolis. 1909 -Col. J. Ham Davidson, St. Paul. 1910- Daniel Lawler, Mayor of St. Paul. 1911- Capt. A. L. Sorter, Jr., Minneapolis. 1912 -Judge C. S. Jelly, Minneapolis. 1913- Judge John W. Willis, St. Paul. 1914-C. E. Faulkner, St. Paul.

The following lists give the names of the

soldiers buried in the cemeteries at St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids: North Star Ceme- tery-Capt. J. M. McKelvy, Capt. Charles Leug, Lieut. Ambrose Freeman, Lieut. Frederick Schilplin, Lieut. Kincaid, Sur- geon M. C. Tolman, Samuel Holes, Caleb West, Bradford Lufkin, Fred Schultz, Ma- thias Mickley, Major M. J. Kenyon, Lieut. Charles Ketcham, Q. M. S. George T. Pot- ter, W. L. Spooner, Surgeon William Beebe, Major D. M. Murphy, P. R. Griebler, Fred Wyman, Christ Huber, Edward Has- kins, James S. Mitchell, Milton Slosson, Samuel Dayton, James Biggerstaff, John Riley, Albert Wood, W. C. Davis, Charles Robins, A. E. Hussey, E. A. Garlington, George W. Smitten, John Dressler, Frank Hall, George Fuller, John Jones, Charles Neal, George E. Krieg, William F. Knowl- ton, John H. Raymond, Jacob V. Brower, Samuel A. Blood, Dolson B. Searle, John Schaefer, Nathaniel Getchell, Perry Bax- ter, Alfred Francis, S. G. Williams, Josiah E. West, Jos. Schroyer, David Harvey, William C. Scherferberg, George McCullom, Loren W. Collins, Mrs. A. F. Perkins (nurse).

Calvary Cemetery-John Heinen, Ger- hard Leiser, Michael Lauerman, Joseph Tremp, Barney Kersteins, B. McMahon, A. Bebensee, Antoine Tremp, Lieut. Abner St. Cyr, Joseph Pendl, Andrew B. Meyer, War- ner B. Meier, John Plattes, John B. Scherer, Timothy McCarthy, Fred Hartz, John Grandlemeier, Fred Berg, Xavier A. Honer, Ferdinand A. Weiser, Louis Deze- lar, Terrance Carr, Theo. Bauler, John Yanker, Dennis Shields, Barth. O'Brien, Michael Mitchell, George E. Heinen, John G. Fox, Joseph W. Bunt, Louis Dimler, An- ton Trask, Nicholas Gasser, Clovis Bookie, Peter Valley, Joseph Hoffman, John A. Mc- Donald, Andrew Fritz, John Steffes, John Leisen, Kasper Kinsel, Rudolph Huhn, Christian Bach, Charles Yaeger, Patrick Mckinney.

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History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume II, Part 107

Author: Mitchell, William Bell, 1843- Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago : H. S. Cooper Number of Pages: 1110

Author: Mitchell, William Bell, 1843-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : H. S. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1110