History of Wabasha County, Minnesota, Part 9

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Winona, Minn. : H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1222

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All the delegates from the Ninth District sat in the Republican wing. They were: St. A. D. Balcombe, of Winona; William H. Mills, of Olmsted County; Charles Gerrish, of Saratoga, Winona County, later of St. Charles ; Simlow Harding; Nathan B. Robbins; William J. Duley; Samuel A. Kemp;

HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY

Thomas Wilson, of Winona; Rev. David L. King, of Olmsted County; Benjamin C. Baldwin, of Lake City.

St. A. D. Balcombe, a newspaper man of Winona, was president of the Republican wing, and Thomas Wilson, also of Winona, was one of its most prominent members. Benjamin C. Baldwin was among the seventeen in the Republican wing who favored a clause in the constitution granting negro suffrage.

By the apportionment of 1857, set forth in the state constitution adopted October 13, 1857, Wabasha County was constituted the Twelfth District, with one senator and three representatives. The apportionment of 1860 made Wabasha County the Tenth District, with one senator and one representative. It still constituted the Tenth District under the apportionment of 1866, with one senator, but was granted two represenatives. Under the apportionment of 1871 Wabasha County was constituted the Fifteenth District, with one senator and four representatives. The apportionment of 1881 .made Wabasha County the Twenty-third District, with one senator and three representatives. By the apportionment of 1889 Wabasha County became the Twenty-second District, with one senator and two representatives. The apportionment of 1897 made Wabasha County the Third District, with one senator and one rep- resentative, and no change was made with respect to this county and district under the last apportionment, of 1913.

The first state legislature assembled December 2, 1857. On March 25, 1858, it took a recess until June 2, and finally adjourned August 12. The state was admitted May 11, 1858. It will, therefore, be seen that, although this legislature is called the first state legislature, it assembled in territorial times. No session was held in the winter of 1858-59, mainly owing to the protracted session of 1857-58, which was believed to render unnecessary another one fol- lowing so soon, the legislature of that year having so provided by enactment.

In 1862, on account of the Indian outbreak, an extra session was called by the governor, which assembled September 9 and adjourned September 29. The officers and members were the same as at the regular session, with one exception not affecting Wabasha County. The next extra session occurred in 1881, commencing October 11 and closing November 13. It was called for the purpose of considering the legislation of the regular session relating to the state railroad bonds, which was declared unconstitutional by the supreme court. In 1902 an extra sesson was called for the purpose of considering' the report of the tax commission created by Chapter 13, General Laws of A. D. 1901. It convened February 4, 1902, and adjourned March 11, 1902. The offi- cers and members were the same as at the regular session. In 1912 an extra session was called for the purpose of enacting a state-wide direct primary law applicable to all state officers, a corrupt practices act and a reapportionment law. It convened June 4, 1912, and adjourned June 18, 1912. The officers and members were the same as at the regular session, with two omissions, due to deaths, not directly affecting Wabasha County.

The men who have represented the district containing or comprising Wabasha County, in the state senate have been as follows: James Redpath, 1857-58; John T. Averill, 1859-60; John H. Pell, 1861; Linus Richards, 1862; R. Ottman, 1863 and 1864; Millville C. Smith, 1865; N. F. Randolph, 1866; J. L. Armstrong, 1867 and 1868; W. W. Prindle, 1869; W. S. Jaskson, 1870; N. S. Teft, 1871; Hugh P. Wilson, 1872; J. Waste, 1873 and 1874; J. E. Doughty, 1875 and 1876; James McHench, 1877 and 1878; P. H. Rahilly, 1879; James G. Lawrence, 1881, 1883 and 1885; Henry Burkhardt, 1887, 1889, 1891 and 1893; Allen J. Greer, 1895, 1897, 1899 and 1901; L. O. Cooke, 1903, 1905, 1907, 1909, 1911 and 1913; James A. Carley, 1915, 1917 and 1919.

The representatives in the house from the district containing or com- prising Wabasha County, since the organization of the state, have been as follows: Ira O. Seeley and N. S. Teft, 1857-58; J. W. Burnham, W. J. Arnold

HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY

and F. M. Skillman, 1859-60; N. S. Teft, 1861; O. D. Ford, 1862; S. L. Camp- bell, 1863; J. J. McKey, 1864; John B. Downer, 1865; William Brown, 1866; S. A. Kemp and J. W. Knapp, 1867; George Bryant and Frank W. Seeley, 1868; George Bryant and A. Thibbets, 1869; John Gage and A. J. Fowler, 1870; F. J. Collier and A. J. Fowler, 1871; James Thompson, John Vandyke, George Bryant and A. Boss, 1872; N. A. Gesner, T. S. Vandyke, Frank L. Meacham and William H. Campbell, 1873; P. H. Rahilly, Edward Drury, James Lawrence and J. K. Smith, 1874; Edward Drury, William P. Dunnington, W. S. Baxter and John A. Jackson, 1875; W. R. Murray, S. L. Campbell, E. D. Southard and H. D. Wedge, 1876; Lewis S. Garrard, George R. Hall, G. Maxwell and S. L. Camp- bell, 1877; William P. Lutz, S. L. Campbell, W. H. Feller and P. H. Rahilly, 1878; W. B. Lutz, S. L. Campbell, E. C. Geary and M. J. Fuller, 1879; G. D. Post, H. H. B. McMasters, E. C. Geary and E. D. Southard, 1881 (F. H. Milli- gan served in the special session in place of H. H. B. McMasters) ; P. H. Rahilly, S. M. Emery and Henry Baumgarten, 1883; Henry Baumgarten, Fedi- nand Hempel and John Wear, 1885; S. M. Emery, M. H. Quigley and H. H. Dickman, 1887; G. D. Post, Seymour Jones and G. W. Harrington, 1889; Allen J. Greer and Andrew French, 1891, and 1893; G. D. Post and William Foreman, 1895; W. A. Munger and W. F. Milligan, 1897; W. A. Munger, 1899; L. O. Cooke, 1901; M. J. O'Laughlin, 1903 and 1905; William Foreman, 1907; James A. Car- ley, 1909; Carl S. Nygren, 1911; C. D. Burchard, 1913; Hugh Leonard, 1915, 1917 and 1919.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE EARLY TRADERS.

The fur trading days constitute a picturesque feature of early life in what is now Wabasha County. Situated as the county is in a region which was teeming with fur-bearing animals and ideal for Indian occupancy, it naturally attracted the attention of the adventurous whites. It was accessible to the upper Mississippi and Minnesota River region, ranged by the Dakota, and to the Chippewa Valley ranged by the Chippewa. Nearby, at Winona, was that important Dakota band ruled by Wabasha, who in addition to being chief of his own band was also over-chief of all the river Dakota.

There are numberless traditions in regard to the location and dates of some of the early trading posts in this vicinity, as Read's Landing and Wabasha were both favorite sites of the traders. One such tradition, which cannot now be substantiated, locates a post at the present site of Read's Landing, built about 1800, and ascribes its ownership to one of the Rocques.

In 1816 Augustine Rocque had a trading post somewhere below the foot of Lake Pepin. He pointed it out to Stephen H. Long in 1817. It was near the mouth of the Beef (Buffalo) River, but whether on the Wisconsin or Minne- sota side is not known.

L. H. Bunnell in 1844 discovered the ruins of a chimney in Buffalo County, Wisconsin, near the mouth of Buffalo River, which may have belonged to Rocque's cabin, though Dr. Bunnell found growing out of it a tree which he believed to be seventy years old. The suggestion as to this having been the remains of Perrot's fort is discussed earlier in this work. Rocque had various posts in the upper Mississippi region. It was in 1826 that he established a post at Wabasha, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Of this post Governor Henry H. Sibley says : "Some idea can be formed of the great changes which have occurred since 1834, when I state that when I performed the journey from Prairie du Chien to St. Peters, now Mendota, in the autumn of that year, a distance of nearly 300 miles, there was but one house between these points, and that was a log cabin occupied by a trader named Rocque, situated below Lake Pepin, near the present town of Wabasha."

Augustin Rocque was the son of Joseph Rocque. Both were fur traders, and both were interpreters in the service of the British. At the conclusion of the war, Augustin took up his home with Wabasha's band of Indians, and established a number of posts on the upper Mississippi, extending his opera- tions from the foot of Lake Pepin up the Chippewa River as far as the Falls, and down the Mississippi and into Turkey River and Cedar River countries in Iowa. In 1817 and in 1823 he accompanied Long up the Mississippi, and in 1826, as noted, came to Wabasha. Featherstonhaugh found him here in 1835, and gives his Indian name as Wahjustahchay, or the Strawberry. When Gen. Dodge, at the conclusion of the Fort Snelling treaty with the Chippewas, July 29, 1837, requested the Indian agent to select a delegation of Sioux and proceed to Washington, Augustin Rocque accompanied the chiefs and, in consort with Alexis Bailly, Joseph Laframboise, Francois Labathe, and others, represented the fur-traders' interests. During this visit the portraits of these representa- tives of the far west were taken, and that of Augustin Rocque now adorns the walls of the Indian gallery at the national capitol. When he came here he brought his family of four sons and four daughters. Two of the sons, Joseph and Baptiste are extensively quoted as to early Indian traditions. Rocque died in 1856. His body was buried at his own request on the bluff overlooking the

HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY

river and town, that his spirit might have a free outlook over the scenes of his earlier career.

The remains of an early trading post were long visible at Wabasha. Cap- tain F. W. Seeley examined a portion of the earthworks a year or so before the Civil War, and later, after ten years' experience in the United States Army, confirmed his previous observations. His first discovery was in a dense growth of young oak, where he found an artificial earthwork ridge some eighteen inches in height, running in a straight line, and parallel to the crest of the slope over- looking the river. Further investigation showed him that the work com- menced on the crest of the slope, ten rods south of what was then the Van Dyke residence, bent westward for about eight rods, then made an obtuse angle and extended parallel to the crest and directly through the location of the house, for a distance of ten rods or more.

Rocque had lived at Wabasha a short time, when he was joined by Duncan Campbell, who built on the same side of the slough.

Oliver Cratte settled within the present city limits of Wabasha in the fall of 1838. On being appointed as blacksmith to the Wabasha band, he came here and built a shack of logs on the levee, clinking it with mud and sand, and occupying it for the winter as a shop and dwelling. Unlike the majority of the white men in this region, who were French Canadians, Mr. Cratte was an Englishman. In the spring he erected a lean-to, as an addition to his former building, and brought his family here from Fort Snelling.

Oliver Cratte was born in Liverpool, England, in 1801. He was early left an orphan, and when he was still a young boy came with his sister to Canada. He learned the blacksmith trade at Montreal, and finally found his way to Mackinaw. From there he went with some traders to Prairie du Chien where he found government employment. In 1828 he was sent to Fort Snelling, and from there in 1838 he came to present site of Wabasha.

Joseph Buisson, a trader, erected a house and brought his family to Wabasha the same season as Cratte.

Francois La Bathe built a log cabin on the levee sometime after the Black Hawk war, and occupied it for some years as one of his trading posts. He sold to Alexis Bailly. LaBathe was of mingled French and Dakota blood, being a nephew of Wabasha III, and a grandson of Wabasha II. Entering the fur trade as a youth he soon established a large business, and was confidential agent of various prominent representatives of the American Fur Company. His rela- tionship with the Wabasha band gave him a commanding position with Indians and whites alike. At various times he maintained different posts and wood yards in this vicinity. The early settlers of 1852, found the ruins of a large cabin some four miles below the mouth of the Whitewater. This may have belonged to La Bathe, Grignon, or Rolette. La Bathe was killed in the Indian massacre of 1862.

Alexis Bailly was one of the younger generation of fur traders. He was born at Mackinac in 1798, a son of Joseph Bailly. Alexis entered the fur trade as an employee of Joseph Rolette. Later he was established as agent of Rolette and the American Fur Co., at Mendota, Minn. There he married Lucy, daugh- ter of Alexander Faribault. In consequence of some dispute with the Indian agent, Bailly was in 1835 superseded at Mendota by H. H. Sibley, and later removed down the river to Wabasha, where he had a store and warehouse and also conducted some Indian trade. He was a member of the first Minnesota territorial legislature, and died at his home in Wabasha, June 3, 1861.

In the winter of 1821-22, Augustin Grignon and Joseph Rolette, Sr., rival fur traders, had trading posts not far from the mouth of the Zumbro River, the exact location being unknown. Rolette was not here in person but was represented by an agent. At the instigation of Rolette, the cabin of Grignon was destroyed by Wabasha's Indians and his goods scattered. Thereupon Grignon established himself twenty-five miles below his original post.

HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY

Nelson's Landing, in Wisconsin, near the mouth of the Chippewa, was established as a trading-post in 1841 or earlier, by the man for whom it was named.

It was in 1840 that an Englishman, Edward Hudson, who had been a soldier at Ft. Snelling, came to the present site of Read's Landing, and located here. His wife, a daughter of Duncan Campbell, was one of the mixed bloods for whom the "Half-Breed Tract" had been set apart, and although no procedure for the division of the land among the half-breeds had at that time been inaugu- rated, it was ostensibly in pursuance of her rights, that Hudson occupied land here. Hudson found himself without the means to build any considerable-sized house, and as the lumbering operations on the Chippewa were growing into importance, and it was desirable to establish some base of supplies on the Mississippi at the mouth of the Chippewa, a proposition was made to Hudson, by H. S. Allen, the lumberman. In accordance with this proposition Hudson proceeded to the lumber regions, after a short stay at Read's, and the follow- ing season returned with lumber for his warehouse, no doubt a moderate one, in which he conducted business until his death in 1843, in which year John Campbell arrived here. Hudson's widow married Louis Rocque, son of Augustin the younger.

Charles R. Read had come up the river from St. Louis in 1844, and took service with Messrs. Churchill and Nelson at Nelson's Landing, near the mouth of the Chippewa on the Wisconsin side. For the first year he was cook, after- ward in charge of their business at Nelson's Landing, buying furs and trading with the Indians. In 1847 Mr. Read having secured permission from the United States authorities, crossed the river into Minnesota, rented the old Hudson warehouse from Louis Rocque, and opened trade. From that date the place has been known as Read's Landing. In 1849, Mr. Read built a new and larger warehouse. Thus after an interval of a quarter of a century the old trading-post began to be transmuted into a modern trading-post for whites and half-breeds, as well as natives. This change soon became more manifest and became distinctively a trade with the whites, but not without some oppo- sition and at times the danger of sanguinary strife. The coming of Mr. Read to Minnesota soil, and his establishment of a trading-post for Indian traffic, was strongly opposed by Alexis Bailly, of Wabasha, who had been Indian trader at that point for some years, and was, by virtue of his early marriage relations with the Sioux chiefs, in condition to make his opposition felt.

When Mr. Read went to Fort Snelling to secure his license from the Indian agent at that point, he took steamer up the river. Wabasha had secured a numerously signed remonstrance against Read's securing government license, and this remonstrance was forwarded by United States mail on the same steamer with Read. This boat only went to Stillwater, and Read carried the mail (a small one, which he put in his pocket) on foot to Fort Snelling, a distance of twenty-six miles. Read handed his mail to the Indian agent, Col. Bruce, and at the same time his request for license as an Indian trader. The colonel opened the letter of remonstrance in Read's presence, told him the nature of its contents, and how difficult it would be for him, as agent of Indian affairs there, to overlook the remonstrance. Fortunately for Read, he had a friend at court in the person of post sutler Franklin Steele, and through his representations and influence the license was granted, and Read returned to the landing. He was allowed to pursue his business one year only in peace, when the opposition to his trading took definite form, and the Indians, insti- gated thereto, began to give him trouble. One day in June, 1848, Read was sitting on a log which he had been sawing for shingles, when a strapping Indian came up and, seating himself on the log, told Read he (Read) would have to leave there at once, that the tract he was on belonged to the half-breeds, and that he had no business there, and if he did not go they would make him. For reply Read raised his hand and, giving the Indian a hard back-handed

HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY

blow, knocked him off the log; at which the Indian took himself off. One even- ing in the following October, after supper, Read was sitting in his shanty, when he was surrounded by Little Crow, a chief of the Kaposia band of Sioux, and twelve of his braves. These Indians had been on a visit to Chief Wabasha, and it is supposed were instigated by him to get Read out of the way. These, with one exception, were all on horseback, and members of Little Crow's band; the Indian on foot was a member of Wabasha's band, and entering the cabin informed Read they had come to kill him, and clean him out. Read had learned that promptness in dealing with an Indian is the only strategy, and seizing a chair he felled the Indian to the floor, and set one of the legs through his upper lip, tearing it out, and four teeth with it. The savage sprang to his feet with a yell, and darted through the door, the blood spurting from his mouth. Read's blood was up, and he dared another one of them to enter his cabin at peril of his life. In the meantime, William Campbell, an educated half-breed Sioux, and warm friend of Read's, came up, and being informed of the trouble, armed himself with an axe, and taking sides with Read stood in the doorway, and told Little Crow he could only get at Read over his dead body. The pros- pect was not inviting, and Little Crow drew off his band, leaving Read in peace, and no further attempt to drive him away by force was resorted to. Upon the organization of the territory, the following year, 1849, Gov. Alexander Ramsay was requested to remove Read, on the ground of his being the cause of all the Indian disturbances in that region, and also because, as was alleged, he was selling liquor to the Indians. The investigation was ordered, and after a care- ful examination the charges were dismissed. All that could be substantiated was that Read had sold an empty barrel, formerly containing whiskey, to an Indian, who claimed that there was some whisky in the barrel at the time he purchased it. This was the last attempt to interfere with Read's trade at the landing ; the following year other persons came, and the life of a solitary trader ended for him.

Charles R. Read from whom Read's Landing afterward derived it name, was an adventurous young Englishman, who at the early age of ten years crossed the seas with his brother's family and settled near the forks of the Chippewa River and the old Niagara peninsula. After some years spent in Canada, young Read left his brother's household and came over the lines into the United States. He was at Cleveland, Ohio, when the Canadian rebellion broke out in 1837, and the following year, though only seventeen years of age, enlisted in the American army of invasion for the liberation and annexation of Canada. This army crossed the frontier near Windsor, opposite Detroit, and after routing the Canadian militia and capturing the barracks at Amherstburg, were in turn routed by the British regulars under Gen. Erie, and Read, with many others, made prisoner. His devil-may-care appearance and youth won upon his captors, he was decently treated, and though tried and sentenced to be hung, was pardoned by the queen's clemency and returned to the United States in June, 1839. After five years' service in the American army in the Indian Territory and Texas, where he formed an acquaintance with the Indian character and habits that after stood him in good stead, young Read found himself at St. Louis in the summer of 1844, and from there was induced to come to this region.

Charles R. Read is often confused with the Reeds who were also active in this region in the fur trading days. James Reed was the father of Trempealeau, which for a while was known as Reed's Landing. One of his associates there was Antoine Reed. John Reed had a cabin and wood yard in Winona County below Dakota. Charles R. Read is the one who gave his name to Read's Land- ing in Wabasha County.

In 1850 Fordyce S. Richards, a native of Genesee County, New York, who had been at Prairie du Chien for some years, came to Read's Landing and opened trade with the Indians, also supplying the lumber camps up the Chip- pewa Valley.

CHAPTER IX

EARLY COURTS AND LAWYERS.

Alexander Ramsey, first territorial governor of Minnesota, arrived in St. Paul, May 27, 1849. June 1, of the same year, by proclamation, he declared the territory fully organized. June 11, he issued another proclamation, dividing the territory into three temporary judicial districts.

The first supreme court of the territory, appointed by the president, con- sisted of Aaron Goodrich, chief justice; and David Cooper and Bradley M. Meeker, associate justices. Each of these supreme court judges was to sit as district judge in one of the three judicial districts into which the territory had been divided.

David Cooper was assigned to the bench of the Third District. This dis- trict had rather vague outlines, but in general took in all of the southern part of the state, its southern boundary being the northern boundary of Iowa; its eastern and northern boundary being the Minnesota river; and the Mississippi river from the mouth of the Minnesota to the Iowa state line; and its western boundary being the western boundary of the territory.

Judge Cooper held the first court for the Third District at Mendota, August 27, 1849. Henry H. Sibley, afterward governor, was foreman of the grand jury. Judge Cooper, a gentleman of the old school, then but 28 years of age, delivered a most scholarly and finished charge, which for many years was quoted as an authority on the duties of jurors. He also delivered an address of a more personal nature to the lawyers assembled. No business was transacted by this court. It is said that of the members of the jury, only three could write their names, and that eleven could not understand the English language. The court was held in a large stone warehouse belonging to the fur company.

Before further terms of the court were held, the first territorial legislature convened. On October 27, 1849, the territory was divided into nine counties. Accordingly the judicial districts were arranged to conform to the new county divisions. Under the new arrangement the First District was made up of the counties of Washington, Wabasha and Itasca, these counties then embracing the eastern border of the territory. Judge Cooper was assigned to this district.

Under this division Judge Cooper held this second court at Stillwater in February, 1850. At this court the first murder trial in the territory was held, a thirteen year old boy being sentenced to ninety days in the guardhouse at Ft. Snelling for shooting a companion, the charge being manslaughter.

Aaron Goodrich was succeeded as chief justice by Jerome Fuller, who served from November 13, 1851, to December 16, 1852. Henry Z. Hayner, who served as chief justice from December 16, 1852, to April 7, 1853, never presided at a term of the supreme court.

April 7, 1853, William H. Welch was appointed chief justice, and Moses G. Sherburne and Andrew G. Chatfield, associate justices. Andrew G. Chatfield was assigned to the district south of the Minnesota and west of the Mississippi.

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History of Wabasha County, Minnesota, Part 9

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. cn Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Winona, Minn. : H.C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1222

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Winona, Minn. : H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1222