USA > Minnesota > Wabasha County > History of Wabasha County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. : gathered from matter furnished by interviews with old settlers, county, township, and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources > Part 22
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It is difficult to ascertain the exact date of the arrival of very many of the early settlers who, as members of the association, located in this county. The greatest number and largest bodies of them arrived in May, but they continued to come during June and until about the middle of July, after which but few if any of the immigrants in this part of the territory were members of that organ- ization.
Among those who located in the colony in Rolling Stone whose arrival has not been specially mentioned were the following. The most of these came in May. The list might be largely extended by adding the names of those who remained so short a time that with propriety they should be classed as a part of the transient population of the colony. Prominent among the more permanent settlers were Wm. T. Luark, John Iams, S. D. Putnam, S. A. Houk, O. H. Houk, George Foster, Egbert Chapman, Harvey Stradling, P. D. Follett, Samuel Hancock, John Cook and V. G. Wedon. The last is but the nom de plume of Robert Pike, Jr.
The time set by the association for drawing numbers for the choice of farming lands was May 15. The drawing took place at that date, although the survey was not completed ; neither was there a full representation of members present. The selections of claims
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
were afterward made as fast as the reports of the surveyor were received, which were almost daily. All of the available farming land in each of the valleys of the Rolling Stone were surveyed and assigned to the colonists. Some made choice of lands and made claims which they retained and still occupy as farms, but the most of the selections made by the numbers drawn were abandoned. The selections first made were not in all cases satisfactory, and ex- changes were effected without disturbing the harmony of the settlement.
By special action of the association before they left New York, exemptions were given certain members who were unable to move in the spring, by which their rights and privileges were protected by proxy. These exemptions were, however, but temporary arrange- ments. The limit of this extension of time was fixed to expire on July 15, at which date a general meeting of the association was to be held for the purpose of determining which village lots and farming lands had been forfeited.
The following extract from the diary of Mr. E. B. Drew notes this general gathering : "Thursday, July 15, 1852. The Western Farm and Village Association all met at Mr. Lord's new house to transact important business pertaining to individual interests in city lots and farms. Some interesting times. The population is now over three hundred." "July 16. To-day O. M. Lord arrived with his family, bringing with him a horse-team and a cow."
Mr. Lord's new house, mentioned by Mr. Drew, was located on the same table, but about a hundred rods above where (). M. Lord now lives in Minnesota City. The "interesting times" was the scramble for forfeited village lots and farms. The horse-team brought by Mr. Lord was the first span of horses brought into the colony.
The village lots of the colony, which embraced over 1,000 acres, covered the land from below the farm now owned by Robert Duncan to the bluffs near the farm of D. Q. Burley and up the valley above the fork of the stream, including the Waterman farm. The bottom lands and a part of the Denman farm were plotted as suburban lots.
The most of the improvements on village lots were from where James Kennedy now lives to about half a mile above where Troost's mill stood. It was here that a large number of the settlers who wintered in the colony made their homes. Although all had claims, but few occupied them until the following spring.
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THE ASSOCIATION AT ROLLING STONE.
Some members of the association made claims outside the juris- diction assumed for the colony. In June Mr. D. Hollyer made a claim in what is now the town of Utica, which he abandoned in the fall when he left the territory. Dr. J. W. Bentley took possession and moved on it in the spring following. It was afterward known as "Bentley's." Dr. Bentley was not a member of the association, although he came to Minnesota City in the fall of 1852 and lived there during the winter with H. B. Waterman, a relative. While living at Minnesota City Mrs. Bentley increased the population of the colony by the addition of a daughter to her family. This was the first white child born in Rolling Stone. The first male child born in Minnesota City was the eldest son of Mrs. H. B. Waterman, January 5, 1854. This child was the first born in the colony whose parents were members of the association. George B. Waterman died in 1881.
S. E. Cotton made a claim near Hollyer's, a little east from where the Utica railroad station now stands. He had ten acres of breaking done on it by Charles Bannon. Mr. Burley was in the employ of Mr. Bannon and drove the team for this job. This was the first breaking done back of the bluffs-the first breaking done within the boundaries of the county back from the Mississippi, except in the valley of the Rolling Stone.
Robert Taylor made a claim of what is now the village of Stock- ton, on the east side of the valley. D. Q. Burley made a claim adjoining Robert Taylor's on the west. Mr. Taylor abandoned his location the following year, when Mr. Burley absorbed it by moving his claim to the center of the valley. Mr. Burley traded this claim for a house and lot in Minnesota City to S. A. Honk, who in 1854 sold it to J. B. Stockton, the original proprietor of the village of Stockton. Mr. Burley then made a claim of the farm on which he now lives. His family did not come here until the spring of 1854.
Above Stockton, on the south fork of the Rolling Stone, Mr. Hunt made a claim. He was a proxy or substitute in the employ of a wealthy member living in New York city, who furnished him with two yoke of oxen and all necessary supplies. Mr. Hunt did some breaking and put up about fifty tons of hay. This hay was cut with scythes by Mr. Burley and Mr. Thorp, who helped put it in the stacks. They camped on what is now the L. D. Smith farm while at this job, but made their homes in Minnesota City.
Mr. Hunt went back to New York in the fall and left the cattle
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
and claim in charge of Mr. Burley. A few days after he left the fifty tons of hay were burned by a fire which swept through the valley. Mr. Burley wintered the stock in Minnesota City. The following spring the oxen were taken up the river by a Mr. Bertram to another association colony in the vicinity of Lake Minnetonka. The claim made by Mr. Hunt was abandoned.
Egbert Chapman made a claim on Sweet's prairie and built a cabin, in which he lived with his family through the winter. He is yet a resident of the county, living in Minnesota City. His son, Edgar Chapman, is now living in Dakota Territory.
Harvey Stradling also selected a location on Sweet's prairie near Chapman's. He was then a young man. In June, 1853, he mar- ried Anna Chapman, a daughter of Egbert Chapman. The Rev. William Sweet officiated at this marriage ceremony. This was the first wedding among the colonists.
Mr. Stradling afterward located in the valley above Minnesota City. He died there many years ago. His widow (now Mrs. John Nieklin) is living in Dakota Territory.
In July, 1852, John Cook made a claim in the White Water valley about a mile above White Water Falls. He built a comfort- able log house and lived here during the winter and for several years after. His brother, David Cook, also made a claim in this vicinity, which he occupied the following year.
S. D. Putnam selected his claim about a mile below Stockton and built a comfortable log house the following spring near where he now resides. This was on the farm owned and occupied by J. J. Mattison for about twenty years. Mr. Putnam occupied the log house about four years. It was a favorite stopping-place for excur- sionists. travelers, explorers and claim-hunters, and had the reputa- tion of being the best "hotel" in the county. Mr. Putnam is a prosperous farmer, and quietly enjoys his comfortable liome.
O. H. Houk made a claim next below Putnam's, which he held for a year or two. He built a log house on it. The location was long known as the Evans place.
Charles Bannon chose a location about a mile below Putnam's, and is yet living on the claim selected by him as a member of the association in 1852. He did not occupy or make any improvements on it until the following spring. During this time he looked with longing eyes on another claim in the valley about a inile below. The claim which disturbed his contentment had been chosen by a
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THE ASSOCIATION AT ROLLING STONE.
member of the association for Miss Amidon on a number drawn by or for her. She was not a resident in the colony, and no improve- ments had been made to indicate that it was occupied.
Mr. Bannon, supposing that the claim had been abandoned, went on to it and took possession by cutting house-logs enough to build a comfortable log house, which he drew together preparatory to calling his friends to his house-raising.
A night or two before the contemplated "raising" was to have taken place, the friends of Miss Amidon, or Miss Amidon's claim, got together and cut each of the house-logs in two, and notified Mr. Bannon not to jump the claim of an unprotected female.
This was the first clash among "the faithful members," and to prevent a serious collision, which apparently threatened, the friends of the parties indneed Mr. Bannon to abandon the idea of making a change of location and settle on his own claim. All parties united and moved the crippled honse-logs up to his original choice of loca- tion by number, and there constructed an octagon log house for him as a compromise of the difficulty.
Having no desire to encourage contention, Mr. Bannon acquiesced in the movement, although satisfied in his own mind that he had a just right to the claim and could have held it without wronging any person. Suffice it to say of this matter that Miss Amidon never made her appearance in the valley. The disputed claim was after- ward disposed of by the friend or agent of that lady to Henry W. Driver. Mr. Driver pre-empted it as a homestead, and after living on it for five or six years sold his farm and moved to Winona, where he resided for a year or two and then went south.
Mr. Bannon moved on his claim in the spring of 1853, and has occupied it as a farm for over thirty years. He has been a success- ful farmer. His comfortable buildings, fine stock and well cultivated fields represent that as a member of the Western Farm and Village Association he found that "home in the west" for which he aban- doned his business as a carman in New York city and helped to form a colony in the Territory of Minnesota.
Lawrence Dilworth made choice of his claim in accordance with his number drawn as a member of the association, and selected the one next below and adjoining that of Mr. Bannon's. He moved on his claim in the spring of 1853, and has lived there from that time to the present. His good buildings and the well-tilled fields of his fine farm indicate the prosperous farmer and demonstrate that he too
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
secured the farm for which he came to Rolling Stone. Mr. Dilworth and family were of the party that landed at the colony from the wood-boat on the evening of May 2. They are Catholics. Religious faith was not a test of friendship in the Rolling Stone colony. The high respect entertained by the early settlers for Mr. and Mrs. Dil- worth has never been dimmed by the years that have passed since their pioneer days as colonists. The writer hopes for pardon if tres- passing on their private affairs, but a remarkable peculiarity in manner of doing business is worthy of mention as an uncommon incident in pioneer life. It is said by one familiar with his affairs that Mr. Dilworth has not during the past thirty years allowed an account to be opened against him. He has paid cash down for whatever he has bought or gone without articles required.
On a farm about a mile below Mr. Dilworth there is now living another member of the association, who, like his neighbors above. remained in the colony. and has secured the home in his old age for which he left New England and came west more than thirty years ago. This farm is now owned and occupied by S. E. Cotton. When the members of the association made choice of farms by their numbers, this locality was chosen by John Iams, and purchased from him by E. B. Drew. This was the first claim sale in the colony. Mr. Drew as assistant surveyor had taken a liking to the place, and when he learned that it had been selected by Mr. Iams he offered him $10 for his number, or right to it. The offer was accepted and the claim given up to Mr. Drew, who held it and entered it at the United States land office when the land was sur- veyed. It was held by Mr. Drew until 1857, when he sold it to Mr. Cotton.
When Mr. Cotton first landed at Rolling Stone he built a log house on his village lot previously selected, and made it his home. After the collapse of the association he retained his location, and when the land was surveyed by government he made a claim of eighty acres and pre-empted the village lots as a homestead. He sold it in 1857 and moved to his present home. His claim in Min- nesota City is now the farm of James Kennedy.
Between the "Drew claim" (where Mr. Cotton now lives) and Minnesota City a claim was made by Hezakiah Jones, who occupied the locality for several years, and then sold the homestead he there pre-empted. Mr. Jones is yet a resident of Minnesota City. He is the oldest settler in that part of the county north of the city of
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THE ASSOCIATION AT ROLLING STONE.
Winona. He came here on April 14, 1852, as one of the ** pioneer squad" (the only one now living), and was one of the first members of the association to locate in Rolling Stone. Mr. Jones has not been as fortunate as some who came later in the season.
North from the "Drew claim" and west from the present village of Minnesota City were the claims of T. K. Allen and A. A. Gilbert. These claims were parts of the grounds of the original village site. They held claims in the valley above. but when the survey of public lands was made they located themselves here, and each pre-empted a quarter-section of the land surveyed for the village of the colony. Neither of these men are now residents of the county. Both were successful in acquiring the homes in the west for which they helped to organize the association in New York city in 1851. The first grist mill in the county was started by Allen and Gilbert, one of Burr's horse-power mills, in 1853.
Mr. Allen was the recording secretary from the first meeting of the association in New York city, until its last meeting in Minne- sota city. He is now a clergyman of the Episcopal church, living in Alexandria, Douglass county, Minnesota.
Mr. Gilbert lived for several years in the city of Winona. His present residence is unknown.
The farm now owned and occupied by Mr. E. B. Drew was held by Mr. Drew as a claim, but it was the choice of W. H. Coryell on his number drawn as a member of the association. It was on this claim that E. B. Drew, C. R. Coryell and W. H. Coryell made their camp when they first came to Rolling Stone. This was their home- stead, where they lived and made their first beginning in farming operations in the Territory of Minnesota. By mutual agreement they worked together and held property in common.
When these men first came here it was not their design to settle in the valley. From the description given by Mr. Lord of the country lying west they expected to locate themselves on prairie farms back from the Mississippi. They selected this location to keep up their connection with the association and as their headquarters until they found claims that were more satisfactory.
They explored the country west and made selections of locations in what is now known as the town of Saratoga, in the western part of the county, in the vicinity of what has since been called the Blair settlement. With their teams and big wagon they spent about a week in prospecting and marking their claims with the customary
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
marks and a small pile of logs for each location, but never made any further improvements, their interests in the valley engaging their attention until their prairie claims were taken by others.
Mr. Drew broke about twenty-five acres, on the farm where he now lives, in the spring of 1852, and planted some corn and culti- vated a garden. In the fall he sowed a small patch of wheat by way of experiment. The following year, 1853, he harvested the first crop of wheat ever raised by the settlers in southern Minnesota. From one sack of seed wheat, about two bushels, sown on about two acres of breaking, he secured seventy bushels of superior winter wheat, which he threshed and cleaned by hand-labor.
The following extract is copied from "The Democrat," published at St. Paul, August 3, 1853 :
O. M. Lord, Esq., of Filmore county, a delegate to the late democrat con- vention, has deposited in this office a sample of winter wheat of the red chaff bearded variety, raised on the farm of Messrs. Drew and Coryell, in the Rolling Stone valley, which we regard as the finest specimen of this grain that we have ever seen. Messrs. D. & C. have harvested several acres of this wheat, and good judges estimate that it will yield at the rate of forty bushels to the acre.
This is the first winter wheat ever sown in that vicinity, but Mr. Lord informs us that a large quantity will be put in the ground this fall. There is little doubt that wheat is to become one of the great staple productions of Minnesota, and that flour of the best quality will soon form the most important item in the lists of our exports. Up with your mills, gentlemen.
In 1853 Mr. Drew increased his cultivation by another field of breaking, and raised a large crop of corn. In the fall he sowed about eight acres of winter wheat. In the spring of 1853 he sowed a sack of spring wheat, and harvested about fifty bushels. About thirty bushels of this he sold to Sanborn & Drew, in the spring of 1854. This was the first load of wheat ever sold in the city of Winona, or in southern Minnesota.
In the season of 1854 Mr. Drew harvested, from the eight acres sowed to winter wheat the fall before, about two hundred and fifty bushels. Some of this he sold to the settlers for seed, reserving enough for his own seed, and about eighty bushels which was ground into flour. The first wheat raised in southern Minnesota that was made into flour was a part of this crop.
During the winter W. R. Stewart and Albion Drew took two loads of this wheat, of forty bushels each, to a mill in La Crosse valley, about sixty miles distant, where they waited until their grist was ground, when they returned home with their flour. They were
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THE ASSOCIATION AT ROLLING STONE.
about a week making the trip, the teams going on the ice to La Crosse and thence up the La Crosse valley. The loads were much lighter on their return, for one fourth of the wheat was taken as toll. The wheat was of No. 1 grade and the flour proved to be of supe- rior quality, fully equal to the best now made by improved mills and more modern processes.
Mr. Drew increased the size of his farm, extended his breaking and cultivation, and increased his acreage of wheat, but at the same time growing large crops of other kinds of farm produce without making a specialty of any particular branch of his business. He has given his attention to the cultivation of fruit, and engaged con- siderably in stock raising, horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. Although he has extensive ranges of fine pasturage on his large farm, he abandoned sheep farming, on account of the extreme care necessary to protect his flocks from the wolves that infested the vicinity.
Mr. Drew has been a prosperous farmer. He has given his per- sonal attention to all of his farming operations and has made it a practical business occupation. He has hield official positions in the town of Rolling Stone, in' which he resides ; has served as county commissioner, and was a member of the state legislature in 1875, and also in 1876.
C. R. Coryell remained with Mr. Drew for about a year and then went back east to live. W. H. Coryell staid with him about two years, when he married and settled on a claim on the upper part of Wabasla prairie, where W. L. Burr now resides. After a resi- dence here of about a year he left the territory.
Robert Thorp is living on the farm chosen for him on his num- ber drawn. It adjoins that of Mr. Drew. Mr. Thorp's family lived in Minnesota City about two years before they moved to their pres- ent location. To hold the claim, and prevent others from jumping it while Mr. Thorp was absent working at his trade as a blacksmithı, he built a small shanty, which Mrs. Thorp sometimes occupied temporarily.
Mr. Thorp is now occupying his comfortable stone cottage and broad acres of cultivated fields, for which he abandoned his black- smith shop in New York city. He has held the office of treasurer of the town of Rolling Stone, in which he lives, for the past fifteen years.
Although Mr. Thorp brought to the colony a large supply of material, stock and tools, he never opened a shop in Minnesota
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
City. He left his family there in a comfortable hewed log house about 14×16, and went down to Galena, where he worked a part of the years 1852 and 1853. When he moved on his farm he built a small shop in which he sometimes does blacksmithing for himself or to accommodate a neighbor.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CRYSTALLIZATION.
FROM personal observations made during the extreme high water in the spring of 1852, and from the course of events and progress of affairs generally at Wabasha prairie, Captain Smith decided or consented to locate his contemplated town site on claim No. 4, at the upper landing, instead of on claim No. 1, as he had at first intended. Circumstances apparently compelled him to change his original plans. He did not, however, at once abandon his first impressions, that claim No. 1 was the most valuable on the prairie.
From letters now in the hands of the writer, correspondence between old settlers, who were then holding claims on the prairie, it is evident that for awhile Captain Smith was suspicious of his agent and partner in this speculation, and feared that he might attempt to appropriate the upper landing as an individual posses- sion. With the rush of immigration into the territory, Johnson's ideas were considerably inflated, and he apparently assumed the entire control of affairs at Johnson's landing, but no evidence of treachery was ever developed.
About the first of June Captain Smith brought up a surveyor from Iowa, whose services he secured to lay out a town at the upper landing. To Jolın Ball, United States deputy surveyor, he in- trusted the business of laying off and plotting claim No. 4 into lots, streets, etc. The original survey of the town plat of what is now Winona was accordingly made by John Ball for the proprietors, Smith and Johnson.
No government survey of lands had been made on the west side of the river by which to locate the plat of the new town. Mr. Ball took its bearings from a point established by government surveyors
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CRYSTALLIZATION.
on the opposite side of the river. Its location was described by him as follows: "From the northwest corner of Block 9, the meander post in Wisconsin on the Mississippi river, between Secs. 1 and 6, T. 18 N., R. 10 and 11 W., 4th M., bears 35° east, 39 chains distant."
After due consideration of the matter it was decided to lay off the streets parallel with and at right angles to the river, which at this place runs a little south from an east course (21° south of east). It therefore became necessary that the boundaries should be estab- lished satisfactorily with the holders of the adjoining claims. Each of the claims along the river were half a mile square. The division lines between them were a direct north and south course.
The corner stake between No. 4, the Johnson claim, and No. 3, the Stevens claim, stood on the bank of the river, about midway between Walnut and Market streets. The corner stake between No. 4 and No. 5, the Hamilton claim, stood on the bank of the river about midway between Winona and Huff streets.
Several days were spent in general measurements and negotia- tions before the boundaries of the plat were established, extending on the river from the corner stake of the Stevens claim to the center of Washington street, and running back to the center of Wabasha street. The proprietors of the claims on the river were to retain their rights to their claims as originally made without regard to the "survey and plat made by Mr. Ball.
The boundary line on Wabasha street was established by special agreement with the holders of the claims on the south. An agree- ment, made a matter of record, is as follows :
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