USA > Minnesota > Wabasha County > History of Wabasha County, Minnesota > Part 25
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The river at Read's was the meeting-place of those hereditary foes the Chippewas and the Sioux, and to their mutual hate was often added a common enmity against their white neighbors, whose presence on both sides of the river was frequently resented. The old settlers still tell an interesting story illus- trative of this: Late in November, 1856, two white men, Sam Sutton and Jerry Landerigan, were paddling down the river in a canoe past Nelson's Landing, where a party of whites, half-breeds and natives were sitting near the shore. Among the bucks was the son of old Ironcloud, second chief of Wacoutah's
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band. Young Ironcloud had for some time aspired to the honors of chieftain- ship, and on being taunted by the young men of his tribe with having done nothing to deserve such distinction, had declared he would shoot the first white man or Chippewa he met. The present seemed a fitting occasion to display his prowess, and remarking that he wondered if his gun would carry that far, drew bead on the men in the boat and shot them both. Sam Sutton was mortally wounded, surviving, however, about twenty-four hours. Jerry Landerigan was severely wounded in the breast, but recovered after being laid up several months. Wahshechah-Soppah, known by the English name of John Walker, was in the company with young Ironcloud, and immediately crossing the river o Read's Landing, gave information of the affair. As both the wounded men resided at Read's the excitement was intense. Sutton had made his home at Charlie Read's for more than a year, his principal occupation being the manu- facture of ox-bows for the lumbermen in the pineries. Landerigan had recently come to the landing. It was not considered prudent to allow the matter to pass, as young Ironcloud was known to be a dangerous character. A party was soon started across the river who captured the murderer and brought him to Read's for trial. He was arraigned before Justice Richards, but the justice was powerless in the case, the crime having been committed in another terri- tory. To obviate this difficulty resort was had to Indian law. The culprit, of whose identity there was not the smallest doubt, was quietly escorted to the place from whence he came by a band of determined whites, led by Charles R. Read, and was there lynched. The squaws tracked the party by their imprint in the snow, and the next day cutting down young Ironcloud's body, brought it across the river and buried it. The snow lay deep upon the ground at the time. The margin of the river was frozen on either side, the current in the main channel only open. Wrapping the body in blankets, the squaws tied a rope around the feet and dragged it to the margin of the stream, placed it in a canoe and brought it over to the Minnesota shore. A ball was in progress at Read's Landing the evening of the lynching, and the excitement was most intense among the young people there assembled, many of whom had only that summer come to the county, and were totally unused to such scenes of blood, or to such a summary mode of dealing with a murderer.
Read's achieved its first importance as a convenient point for the fur traders. Next it became a steamboat point of wide fame. In the steamboat days of the fifties and sixties, the period of about two weeks in the early spring between the opening of the Mississippi River and the opening of Lake Pepin, . changed the hamlet into an active metropolis.
The steamers arriving from below, a score or so in number, loaded with north-bound passengers, were impatiently awaiting the opening of the lake. The crews had no better business on hand than to make the most of their time on shore, and the passengers, those of them who did not take stage northward, only served to swell the tide of impatient discontent. Bets would accummu- late, and money was freely wagered daily on the question of an opened or closed lake within a given period. Burbank's stage route, which connected La Cross with St. Paul during the winter season, was fully utilized at this season by those desirous of making their way northward for opening naviga- tion, without delay; and as the rattling vehicles clattered over the gravel and cobble-stones with which the streets of Read's are so plentifully sprinkled, the little town took on an appearance of active business.
The building of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway along the Mississippi in 1871 robbed Read's of its importance as a steamboat center. It still continued a busy place as a center of supplies for the lumbermen of the Chippewa Valley, but this business was taken away by the building of the Chippewa Division in 1882. For many years the town was a favorite resort for lumber jacks, and many scenes of violence and lawlessness were staged on the streets, but in time this trade was also diverted to other points.
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It was during the season of Read's greatest prosperity, before the opening of the railway to Eau Claire, that the incorporation of the village was deemed advisable by the inhabitants of the little big trading and freighting post, and steps accordingly taken to accomplish that object. This incorporation was effected under an act of the state legislature approved March 5, 1868, and the election to fill the various offices created by said act was held on the second day of the following month, April 2, 1868. The officers to be elected were five trustees, one clerk, one treasurer, one marshal, one justice of the peace and one assessor. The judges of election were: J. Sauer, C. R. Read and Wm. B. Haines; the clerks were: P. B. Cline and Claude R. Haines. The highest num- ber of votes cast was for the office of trustee, ninety-seven being polled. The successful candidates were-trustees: F. S. Richards (president), D. W. Wil- son, Joe Dieterich, Jacob Sauer, Christ. Neihardt; clerk, Joseph Warszawski; treasurer, B. Brass; marshall, Wm. F. Clock; justice of the peace, Wm. B. Haines; assessor, Chas. Hornbogen. After several years of municipal gov- ernment the incorporation was abandoned, and the hamlet merged in its original affiliation with Pepin Township.
Methodist Episcopal Church .- The planting of the church in this place was a proceeding of no small difficulty, and it was more than a decade after the first attempts were made before the seed had germinated sufficiently to predicate a fact of life in the case at all. As Read's Landing and Wabasha have always been connected for church purposes, save during those years from 1856 to 1866, in which it does not appear that Read's Landing was even thought of in connection with the religious work of the Wabasha circuit, with which from 1854 to 1856 it was connected as a missionary station. In 1857, by vote of a quarterly conference held at Wabasha for the Lake City and Wabasha circuits of the Red Wing district, it was decided that the Wabasha circuit should include Wabasha, Read's Landing and Cook's Valley, but there is no record of any services at Read's, nor, as before said, is there authentic account of further work there until 1866. The importance attached to Read's at this time may be inferred from the fact that in the fall of this year, when the annual estimates for minister's salary were made up, it was hoped that a deficiency of seventeen dollars, remaining after other apportionments had been allotted, might be sup- plied by Read's. Whether this modest hope was realized or not, does not appear from the record, and in fact for ensuing two years no promise of life appeared for Church organization at Read's. Its life as a lumber depot, and center of rafting operations, called together the wrong class of people for any very marked interest in church work. Exceptions of necessity there were, but so little hold had all attempts hitherto made taken upon the life of the place, that at this time the church had neither class nor organization of any kind, nor did it have for the ensuing two years. In 1868 Rev. S. G. Gale was transferred from the New York East conference to the Minnesota conference, and appointed to the Wabasha and Read's Landing circuit. His salary was fixed at eight hun- dred dollars, six hundred and fifty dollars of which to be paid by the churches,
the remaining one hundred and fifty dollars from the missionary fund. In the following winter, 1868-69, Rev. Gale entered vigorously upon his work of build- ing up a church at Read's, as the village incorporated the previous spring was called. A series of meetings was held with gratifying success, and steps taken to build a church. A lot was secured in a central location, one street back from the main business street of the village, and on this property, the gift of some generous-hearted Christian whose name is not recorded, a comfortable frame church, 30 by 60, with spire and bell, was erected. The original board of trustees, incorporated according to state law and church usage were: W. W. Slocum, B. F. Welch, W. W. Cassady, W. B. James, S. Bullard, Geo. J. J. Crich- ton, W. F. Kennicott, Daniel Dansion and Franklin Berins. Rev. W. C. Rice was pastor of the church from the fall of 1869 to 1870. Rev. B. Y. Coffin was his successor, and in the fall of 1871, Rev. S. G. Gale was reappointed. During
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this, his second pastorate, a substantial frame parsonage was erected on the lot adjoining the church on the east, commanding a pleasant view of the river and the Wisconsin bluffs. Rev. Gale remained two years, leaving behind him as monuments of his three years' ministry, a commodious church, a comfort- able parsonage and a flourishing "class." Other early pastors were: Revs. W. C. Shaw, M. O. M'Niff, W. H. Soule, James Door, W. A. Miles and D. J. Higgins.
PEPIN TOWNSHIP.
Pepin Township is a fractional township lying along the shores of Lake Pepin and the Mississippi River. Pepin Township is virtually a ridge or narrow tableland, lying between the Mississippi river and the Zumbro, at an elevation of from three hundred feet to five hundred feet above the level of the Missis- sippi river. This tableland breaks off abruptly on the north or lake side, but. descends more gradually on the south toward the valley of the Zumbro; but this. southern declension does not begin within the limits of Pepin Township, so that the high character of the ground is preserved to its extreme southern limit. The surface of this tableland is quite rolling, at times even broken, but. all lies elevated, and is, with the exceptions of some ravines jutting up from the lake, of tillable character. There are no streams crossing the face of the township, though a small one, in which water is found running at nearly all seasons of the spring, summer and fall, empties into the lake near the north- eastern corner of the township, through the ravine technically known as King's cooley. There are two of these "cooleys" within the limits of Pepin township- King's cooley in the northeast, and Smith's cooley in the southwest. Through both of these the water rushes, an impetuous torrent, after copious rains, or when the deep snows, lingering late on the uplands are suddenly melted by the ascending sun of late spring, but at other times they are dry, and in Smith's. cooley for most of the time no water is found running.
The soil of Pepin Township is a friable clay, yellowish in color, and with a very slight admixture of sand. It was originally covered with scrub oak.
The first claims outside of Read's Landing were taken in the middle fifties, but the first permanent settlers outside the village did not come until 1859. They were Henry Schmauss and Ben Lager. Henry Schmauss settled on the northwest quarter of section 30, buying out the original claimant. Ben Lager settled on the northwest quarter of section 28, also buying out the original claimant. In after years he said that in 1859 there were not more than fifty acres of ground broken on the ridge between Schmauss' and Read's Landing, which is virtually to say there was not more than that amount under cultivation in the entire township. The fact that the elevation above the lake was high, no streams affording water for stock, and the situation naturally exposed to. the wind, seemed to overbalance. the considerations of productiveness of soil and nearness to market, to such an extent that the lower-lying and well watered. valleys of the interior of the county were settled from four to five years before Pepin was really taken for farming purposes.
The formal organization of Pepin Township was effected in common with that of the other townships in the county, May 11, 1858. This meeting of the electors of the township for the purpose of formal organization was held in the hamlet of Read's Landing, at the office of S. A. Kemp.
CHAPTER XXII.
LAKE TOWNSHIP AND LAKE CITY.
Lake is a rather small township, both on account of Lake Pepin, which lies partly within its boundaries, and because the city of Lake City was carved out of its original territory. Most of it lies back of the bluffs which form a kind of ampitheater within which the city is situated. Its surface is rolling, diversi- fied by ravines and bluffs, from the summit of which fine views of Lake Pepin and the Mississippi Valley may be had. The soil is largely of yellow clay, and produces the finest crops of wheat; other crops, as potatoes, barley, rye, corn, etc., are also raised in abundance, but the best proof of the fertility of the soil is found in the tasty farm houses and large barns that dot the landscape in every direction, evidently the homes of intelligent and prosperous people. It was settled largely by the Irish, and the present population is composed mostly of Irish, Germans and Americans.
Lake Township was first officially known as the town of Lake City, and as such included within its limits Lake City proper, which settlement, however, soon obtained special powers to be hereinafter described. It was not so much beauty of location, as it was opportunity for trade, that was sought by the early settlers along the upper Mississippi, else the beautiful location this city now occupies would not so long have remained unclaimed by white settlers. The Indian ports at Red Wing and at Wabasha, the inlet and outlet of Lake Pepin, had been the home of half-breeds for years previous to any settlement at this point, and white traders had also been resident there for no incon- siderable time prior to the coming of any white settlers to this immediate vicinity. The mouth of the Chippewa River on the Wisconsin shore, and Read's on this, had been occupied as trading ports by whites, the former for eighteen years, the latter for nearly as long, before Jacob and Philip Boody laid claim and settled upon lands now within the corporate limits of this city. This settle- ment was effected in the autumn of 1853, the claims in all amounting to 328 acres, lying up the lake from the central part of the city. In May of the spring following, Mr. Patrick Conway and his two sons, James and William, arrived, and took claims back of the present city, near the old territorial road. In June, Mr. Abner Dwelle and his family, together with John Boody, cousin of the first claimants, came and took claims down the lake, and these were the only settle- ments prior to the year 1855. The spring of 1855 brought quite a reinforcement to the little settlement, and from that time forward frequent accession to the number of settlers occurred, until in the fall of 1856 it was estimated that about 300 persons were settled in the neighborhood. Among the arrivals of 1855 whose names have become household words were Abner Tibbetts, William Berry, Seth Skinner, who brought a small stock of goods which he retailed from a board shanty belonging to Abner Tibbetts, and Mr. Samuel Doughty, who bought the claims of Jacob and Philip Boody, and in June of this year erected the first frame dwelling in the place, bringing his lumber by raft from Read's Landing. This building, originally intended as a kitchen for the more con- siderable dwelling he proposed to erect, was 18 by 26 feet, and stood very nearly upon the site of the present dwelling of Mr. Doughty on High street. He also brought a few blacksmithing tools with him and though his shop was not very commodious, its usefulness to the pioneers as a place where their plows might be sharpened, amply compensated for its lack of windows and chimney. Although the country was still a wilderness, and Indians were constantly pass- ing back and forth from Red Wing to Wabasha, camping on the shores of the
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lake near the houses of the early settlers, and occasionally inviting themselves to dinner, yet they were generally civil, and the settlers knew very little of the privations that oft are suffered by pioneers in sections far removed from the highways of trade. Provisions were brought from Prairie du Chien by the steamers that were constantly plying up and down the river, for these were the days when trade was booming upon the Mississippi, as many as nine steamers having been seen in the lake at one time. The beautiful plain, encircled by bluffs on three sides and fronted by Lake Pepin, was at this time covered with burr oak, white and black oak, maple, hazel brush, etc., interspersed with little stretches of prairie as smooth as the most finely-kept lawns. Game was abundant, and the lake and creeks teemed with fish. Currey creek was espe- cially noted for deer, there being several runways upon it, and a drove of nineteen elk was at one time seen by Mr. Doughty on the prairie back of the town.
Nothing but sheer laziness would prevent a man from obtaining as many prairie chickens and ducks as desired. Wolves, too, were common, and were frequently seen in numbers playing upon the ice of the lake. In the year 1856, large numbers arrived, and buildings of a permanent character were rapidly pushed. Messrs. Tibbetts, Dwelle and Baldwin erected a large store building in 1855 and 1856, which was occupied by H. F. Williamson, who opened quite a large stock of goods. This building stood near the foot of Washington street, where the old grange warehouse now is. Mr. Patten also built a store, and the steamers, which previously objected to landing at this point, began to make regular stops. A town was surveyed and platted this year, Messrs. Tibbetts, Dwelle, and Doughty being proprietors, and the lots sold rapidly to the new- comers. Mr. Doughty donated four of his best lots, in what is now the central portion of the town, to Messrs. Jacobs and Sigler, in consideration of their erecting a hotel thereon. The City Hotel, the result of this transaction, stood on the corner now occupied by Stout, Dwelle and Hassinger's clothing store, and was a good-sized and popular house. It was converted into a store afterwards, and finally destroyed by fire in 1882. In the year, also, a sawmill was erected by Messrs. Gillett, Thompson, Starr, and A. H. Gaylord at the foot of Main street, the frame of which is still standing.
Abner Tibbetts built a grain warehouse, which was occupied by J. Í .. Armstrong and L. H. Maples, who started the forwarding and commission busi- ness. During this year the Congregationalists built a small church, which was destroyed by a windstorm while in process of erection, but was immediately rebuilt. The materials for building were rafted from above, principally from Stillwater and Hastings. The town grew rapidly. In 1857, John T. Averill put a run of stone into the planing-mill of Tupper & Sons, which was the first move toward a gristmill. The postoffice was established in 1856, and H. F. Williamson appointed postmaster. The first child born upon ground included in the town plat was a girl born to John Boody and wife, in the summer of 1854. The first death in the settlement was in the same family, Mrs. John Boody, who died sometime in 1855. The first marriage was that of G. W. Hathaway and Miss Abbey Langley, in the year 1857. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Silas Hazlett, who also taught the school. Matters continued to improve in the little colony until the lands were legally entered and title properly acquired, soon after which the formal organization of the county into townships was effected, and the history of the colony here becomes a part of that of Lake City Township, May 11, 1858, the time of the first town meeting, to be resumed as separate history in 1864, when by special act of legislature the city was endowed with special and corporate privileges. The first town meeting was held at the City Hotel, May 13, 1858, at which there were 103 votes polled and the following- named gentlemen were elected town officers: Supervisors-Charles W. Hackett, Abner Dwelle, Samuel Doughty; town clerk-Dewitt C. Sterry; assessor-Henry Collins; collector-H. M. Hulett; overseer of the poor-John McNeil; con-
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stables-Henry O. Perry, Levi Collins, Jr .; justices of the peace-D. C. Estes, G. L. Porter; pound master-A. K. Gaylord.
The period of early settlement was not without its tragedies, which every now and then cast a gloom over the community. One of these occurred in June, 1858, when Julia and Rebecca Stout, and two sisters named Stowell, members of a picnic party to Maiden Rock, Wis., were drowned during a squall on Lake Pepin by the upsetting of their sailboat. Another notable accident occurred in the spring of 1859, when the steamer Aeolian was crushed by the ice and sunk, two men and an old lady being drowned.
By special legislative enactment, of date March 3, 1864, the supervisors of the town of Lake City were given special powers, which were equivalent in general terms to those usually exercised by the board of trustees of an incor- porated village, or the common council of an incorporated city, but these special powers were only made applicable to a particularly specified section of the town of Lake City, to wit: The S. W. 1/4 of S. W. 1/4 and lots Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Sec. 4; and the E. 1/2 and N. W. 1/4 of S. E. 1/4 of Sec. 5; the E. 12 of N. W. 1/4 and the S. 1/2 of N. E. 1/4 and lots Nos. 1 and 2 of Sec. 5; and the E. 1/2 of N. W. 1/4 and the N. W. 1/4 of N. W. 1/4 and lots Nos. 1 and 2 of Sec. 9, all in T. 111 N., of R. 12 W., according to United States survey. This tract, as above described, included that portion lying between the railroad track and the lake, with the addition of some small territory on the south side of the railway tracks about the depot, and also in the lower part of the village. It was a strip of land lying along Lake Pepin, a distance of a little over one and a half miles in length and extending backward from the lake a distance varying from one-half to three-fourths of a mile. It was this portion of Lake City township, that while still continuing an integral part of that township, was practically cut off from it, by the special act of March 3, 1864, above referred to.
It was made the duty of the township supervisors to enforce the regulations and the manner of procedure in such cases was duly set forth. The justices of the town of Lake City were given original and exclusive jurisdiction in all cases arising under the act, and no appeal could be taken in any case where the fine imposed did not exceed twenty dollars. The supervisors of the town of Lake City were also empowered to appoint a marshal, who was required to furnish bond, and given all the authority of constable under the statute of the state. The supervisors were also authorized and required to vote a tax upon the tax- able property of the district thus governed sufficient to pay the expenses in- curred in carrying out the provisions of the act; that tax was to be by majority vote of the town supervisors, and the town clerk was required to file a copy of record of such vote upon which the tax was to be levied and collected, as all other township taxes were. The assessor of the town of Lake City was also required to make a separate list of the persons and personal property of all residents of the specified district in the same manner as was required to be done in the case of residents of incorporated towns. The act took effect from and after its passage, and thenceforth the town supervisors of Lake City had a corporation to look after, which was not incorporated, and the district above described had all the honors and privileges of an incorporated village or city without its liabilities and many of its burdens. The legislature of 1866 made some additional provisions, concerning the building of sidewalks, and the town supervisors were authorized to direct so much of the poll and road tax, derived from the tax of the special district, as they deemed to be best, to the main- tenance of bridges and highways in adjacent townships.
By act of legislature, approved March 9, 1867, some material additions were made to the powers of the supervisors of the town of Lake City, chiefly relating to licenses, the prohibition of gaming and card-playing, and the establishment of fire limits, with restrictions in regard to the construction of wooden buildings; also in regard to the confinement of arrested persons, the construction of a street through the center of Block 1, and the leasing of part of the levee.
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