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 8
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PREHISTORIC.
remain undisturbed, but along the public road several very sym- metrical mounds have been leveled in construction and repairs of the thoroughfare.
Upon the table of West Burns valley the Rheibeau boys plowed up some of the most elegantly-shaped stone implements ever dis-
covered in any country. To my chagrin, after a vain attempt to purchase them, I was told that a gentleman from Milwaukee had
induced Mrs. Rheibeau to part with them, and thus were lost to the museums of Winona a few celts not surpassed by any in the large collection at the Centennial Exposition.
My niece, Mrs. Louise Page, found a number of arrow and spear heads and a few fragments of pottery in Homer, and near the Keys
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
mansion she picked from the river bank a large stone hammer, which is now in the museum of the Winona normal school. The hammer was imbedded about two feet in the soil, and was most likely buried, like the silver ornaments found near it, in the grave of some dead warrior. The Catholic emblems in silver were those in common use among the Catholic Indians and half-breeds of Can- ada within my recollection, and most probably belonged to some Canadian voyageur, or perhaps was buried, after the Indian custom, with the body of some Indian (or squaw) convert to the Catholic faith. The high point at Keys' was a favorite burying-ground, be- cause of its extreme height above the river during an overflow of the lower land of the prairie. The sites selected for their burying- grounds indicated to the old traders the Indian's anticipations of a possible overflow of the prairie.
Upon the farm of Myles Roach, in the town of Homer, a nun- ber of stone arrow and spear heads have been found by the sons of Mr. Roach, and one of copper was found which was purchased by R. F. Norton, now of the village of Homer. There have also been found along the river front in Winona copper implements, one of which, found by Geo. Cole, is in the possession of his father, Dr. James M. Cole, of Winona.
Most of the implements found on the surface have, no doubt, been lost while in use, but those found in mounds and in ossuaries have been placed there with the remains of the dead. The ossuaries of Barn Bluff and of Minnesota City were, no doubt, places of interment of the bones of the dead, which had been divested of their flesh by exposure upon scaffolds or trees.
In the early days of my first acquaintance with the Dah-ko-tahs, no other mode of burial would satisfy their ideas of a proper sepul- ture, but after a time the example set by the white people of burying their dead had its influence, and in modern times, except among the wildest bands, the Sioux began to bury their dead soon after their demise. The body of Chandee, son of Wah-kon-de-o-tah, the war- chief of Wah-pa-sha, was buried upon my brother's property at Homer by special request of his relatives. His sister, Shook-ton-ka, the champion girl racer of the band, and some children of Wah-pa- sha, were buried near the site of the Huff house. After the treaty was decided upon by the band, many bones of the dead were removed and buried in secret places at night, lest they should be disturbed by white settlers, whom the Indians knew would eventually occupy the
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PREHISTORIC.
country. Some of the ancient mounds have been used by modern tribes as receptacles for their dead, but in such cases the fact is readily discernible, as no regard has been paid by the modern In- dians to the strata of earth, clay and sand, or gravel, of which the burial or sacrificial mounds have been composed. It is believed by some that the circle of seulls found in an ancient ossnary at Minne- sota City were the crania of victims to some religious sacrifice around the altar-pole, or else of captives slaughtered and left, as puppies are left in modern times, with heads to the pole, which might account for the position the sculls were found in. At Bluff Siding, opposite Winona, along the wagon-road to Galesville, a number of mounds may be seen, occupying an admirable position for defense.
The limits of my paper have been reached, and I must hasten to a close ; but I crave my readers' interest in behalf of my brother Willard, in connection with his settlement in Winona county. As for myself, it will suffice for me to say that, dissatisfied with what appeared to me as time thrown away upon the frontier, I returned to Detroit and recommenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Scoville, an eminently successful physician and surgeon. Upon the appointment of Adrian R. Terry, uncle of Gen. Terry, to the surgeoncy of the 1st Mich. reg. during the Mexican war, I was given the hospital stewardship of that regiment, and served to the close of that war. While quartered in Cordova, Mexico, I was
placed in full charge of the post hospital during the illness of Drs. Terry and Lembke, and returned to Detroit, Michigan, at the close of the war in medical charge of one detachment. Having acquired a taste for a free life when the gold discovery in California became a fact, I went overland through Mexico to Mariposa, where, com- pelled at first to fight Indians in self-defense, I finally became a member of the Mariposa battalion. While on duty in that organi- zation I became one of the discoverers of the now famous Yosemite valley, the name of which was given by myself. as will appear in my book, "Discovery of the Yosemite," published by F. H. Revell, of Chicago.
During the war of the rebellion I served in the ranks as a pri- vate, and through successive promotions (having had conferred upon me a degree) reached the rank of major by a commission as surgeon of the 36th reg. Wis. Inf. Assigned to detached duty on March 27, 1865, with the 1st Minn., I served in that regiment as its sole medical officer until its return to Washington at the close of the war.
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
I will close this paper with an extract from a series of articles furnished the "La Crosse Chronicle," that I hope may be deemed a fitting close to my subject.
In 1848 and later, my brother Willard was employed in moving the Indians. Some of them, the Winnebagoes especially, were very much dissatisfied, and declared they would not leave for the home selected for them on the Minnesota river. Will's influence was great among them at that time, and he succeeded in collecting about three hundred of them. Having arranged with Miller for the use of the ware- house of his old firm, he quartered them in it. They seemed contented enough until a short time before the steamer came to carry them up the river, when they set up a most unearthly yell, broke through their guard, seized their ponies from an adjacent corral and disap- peared. Other means were then resorted to, and they were removed in smaller squads or details ; but they would return again and again to their native haunts as if drawn back by some occult force. Will's discernment would penetrate all disguises of paint, red, green or blue blankets, until at last they yielded to his persisted efforts and remained upon the new reservation.
My brother has assured me that many of the Indians receipted for by the officers at Fort Snelling he had removed over and over again. With Indian cunning they would assume a new name with each new disguise, and the officers were unable to discover or remedy it. .
With the Indians went Asa White and Tom Holmes, both of whom had squaws for wives. Miller & Myrick had already dis- solved partnership before the Indians were removed, and were vir- tually out of the Indian trade, but their influence was still more or less potent in Indian affairs, and they were advised with as to their management. My brother's persevering energy in removing the Winnebagoes was awarded by a permit to trade with the Wabasha band, and he settled upon their reservation.
This gave him great advantages, and obtaining the consent of Wah-pa-sha, rewarding him liberally, Will planted old Mr. Burns and his remaining family upon what has since been known as the Burns' farm, providing each member old enough with a claim.
Will was unable to choose as well for himself as he had for the Burns family, for being under the impression that the site of Winona was subject to overflow, he located at Homer, which he named after his birthplace, the village of Homer, New York state. Here he
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PREHISTORIC.
built the first house in 1849, and in 1850-51 made a large addition to the building and moved into it. Peter Burns and himself became interested in a scheme to control the trade of the interior, by secur- ing the nearest "high-water landing" below Winona, and for that purpose, in conjunction with Borup, an old trader and a brother of Senator Alex. Ramsey, of St. Paul, they laid out the village of Minne-o-way, building a large hotel and storehouses to accommo- date the very large business destined to reward their enterprise. By some oversight they had neglected to comply with some provision of the law, and a keen-sighted man by the name of Dougherty, dis- covering their neglect, pounced down upon their claim, and in a suit that followed secured land, hotel and storehouses as his homestead. Burns was lucky enough, before the final decision was rendered, to sell his interests for $4,000.
As to the site of Winona, known to the Dah-co-tahs as Keoxa, it was firmly believed by the old traders and lumbermen to be subject to overflow in the highest water. From the deck of a steamer pass- ing at the highest stage, the space left dry really appeared very small. In very high water all of the low land of the prairie was submerged and a volume sufficient to run a steamboat ran down south of the city, before the railroad embankment was raised. The Indians laughed at the supposed folly of the white men in building on the " island," and it was an anticipated joke that Will would sometime be seen, pikepole in hand, rescuing the floating property of this embryo city and hauling it out upon his higher landing.
Poor Will! He had been out so long upon the frontier that he failed to realize what money and enterprise would do to improve and protect a city so advantageously situated as Winona. Ile and his brave wife are both gone now from the scenes of their early hopes and perils. He left in August, 1861, and she in 1868, leaving a family of two sons and four daughters.
CHAPTER IX.
GEOGRAPHICAL.
THE geographical position of Winona county is between parallels 43 and 45 north latitude. 44 passing through the center of the county, and between meridians 91 and 92 west, a small portion of the county lying west of 92. It is organized from townships Nos. 105, 106, 107 north, of ranges No. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 west, and contains twenty organized townships, fifteen of which are full townships, containing thirty-six sections. One is organized from half a township, and one is formed of townships Nos. 107 and 108, of range No. 8. Four are irregular in form on the northern boundary, and are fractional. The county is located in the southeastern part of the State of Minnesota, and is bounded on the north by Wabasha county and partly by the Mississippi river, and on the east by the Mississippi, which flows here in a southeasterly direction, and on the south by Houston and Fillmore counties, and on the west by Olmsted and Wabasha coun- ties. In shape, nearly a right-angled triangle, longest on the south- ern boundary, being about forty miles or six and a half townships in length, and twenty-four miles or four townships in width from north to south. It is regular in form on the southern and western boundaries, the Mississippi river forming nearly the hypothenuse of the triangle from northwest to southeast.
The surface, within the distance of about twelve miles from the Mississippi river, is bluffy or broken, the river being about five hundred feet below the general surface. Houston county is a trifle higher in altitude ; with that exception this county is the highest on this side, and contiguous to the river from its source to its mouth. Bold perpendicular ledges of rock form the sides of the bluff in many places along the river, and a considerable portion of the southi part of the county contiguous to the Root river is of the same char- acter. Four townships of the northwest part of the county along the Whitewater are also rough and rocky. The remainder of the surface is undulating prairie, irregular in extent, comprising not far from six townships, and located in the central and western parts of the county.
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GEOGRAPHICAL.
When the altitude is reached there is great uniformity in the appearance of the surface, and any other highland may be visited without materially ascending or descending, the high lands being all connected by a series of ridges which form the divides between the streams which flow into the Mississippi and those which flow into the Root river on the south and the Whitewater on the north.
There are no swamp lands in the county, and not a regular quarter-section that would be benefited for agriculture by artificial drainage. There are a few acres in patches along the Mississippi and along the margins of some of the smaller streams of marsh or bog lands, liable to overflow, but producing excellent grass. The waters of the county all find their way to the Mississippi ; those in the north part of the county furnish the south branches of the Whitewater. On the north and east each township contributes a stream to the Mis- sissippi. The largest and most important of these is the Rolling- stone, which drains nearly one hundred square miles of surface, and affords water-power for six large flouring mills. There are also several unoccupied powers on the different branches of the stream.
Each township of the southern tier also furnishes a stream to Root river. All these streams are formed by springs, and are nearly uniform throughout the year as to supply of water, and, having considerable fall, afford water-power which in the future may be developed.
The surplus water of the county finds its way to these streams through the ravines and small valleys reaching out toward the prairie in all directions.
Utica, or town 106, range 9, occupies the summit, being drained on the northeast into Rollingstone, on the northwest into White- water, and on the south into Rush creek ; and this township is also nearly the center of the prairie surface.
The longest, largest, main ridge of the county begins in the southeastern part, on the divide between the waters which flow in- to the Mississippi and those which flow into Root river, and extends in a northwesterly direction through the townships of Dresback, New Hartford, Pleasant Hill, Wilson and Warren into Utica. From this main ridge branches innumerable extend in every direc- tian. The most important ones are Homer ridge between Cedar and Pleasant Valley creeks, and Minneiska ridge between White- water and Rollingstone, both ridges leading to the Mississippi river.
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
In the south part of St. Charles in Saratoga, and the northwest part of Fremont, are to be found some broken ridges or hills, none of them rising above the general surface of the county. The valleys surrounding these hills are not so deep as the valleys along the streams in other parts of the county, and in some places they gradu- ally rise and extend into broad upland prairies.
In this part of the county, or among these hills, there are several fine groves of timber. Cheatem's grove in the southwest part of Utica, Blair's grove in the northeast part of Saratoga, and Harvey's grove on the line between Saratoga and St. Charles, are the most notable. They contain a fine thrifty growth of oak, poplar and butternut, with a dense growth of underbrush in some places.
At the heads of all the streams, or along their margins, timber of various kinds is found. As we approach the top of the bluffs it consists mostly of white and red oak, with patches of white birch. In the valleys are found burr oak, hard maple, white ash, rock and red elm, basswood, hackberry, black walnut, butternut and poplar. The bluff lands, which include the parts of the county lying along the Mississippi, the Whitewater and the brauches of Root river, and the ridges connecting them, are generally well timbered, especially on their sides facing the north, the fires of early spring burning the south sides before the snow has left the north sides, or before they become sufficiently dry to burn. Where the fire is kept out timber rapidly springs up.
As the line of the county extends to the middle of the channel of the Mississippi, and the channel sometimes passes next to the Wisconsin side, there is in the townships of Rollingstone and Winona a large amount of bottom-lands covered with timber. Oak. ash, elm, birch, cottonwood, willow and maple are most abundant.
In the two townships last mentioned, there is lying between the bluffs and the river a sand or gravel prairie six or seven miles in length and about three-quarters of a mile in width, which is a few feet above high water, and of nearly uniform level surface. Con- tiguous to this prairie, and next to the bluffs, is a series of terrace or table lands, which are timbered with the three kinds of oak before mentioned. The same character of table-lands also occur at the mouths of all the streams that flow into the Mississippi.
As we leave the timber and ridges approaching the prairie throughout the whole county, there is more or less grub or brush land, which is usually a small growth of oak, red and white. There
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GEOGRAPHICAL.
are also patches of brush land consisting of hazelnut, wild plum and crab-apple.
The bluff and ridge lands throughout the county, especially the part that is timbered, consist of a clay loam varying from one foot to twenty feet in depth. As the Mississippi and the larger streams are approached, the sides of the bluffs are in many places quite precipitous, the rocks cropping out to the surface. As the bluffs are descended, the soil changes in composition by an admixture of sand and lime from the decomposed rocks.
Lands lying close by the river at the mouth of the valleys have little or no clay at the surface, but the soil is underlaid by a stratum of clay or loess almost impervious to water before reaching the gravel or sand rock of the bed of the river.
As we ascend the streams that flow into the Mississippi, if the valleys are broad the soil is a stiff, tenacious clay of bluish cast, but darkens in color on exposure to the air.
This clay is evidently local drift, as it is stratified and does not contain any boulders, drift coal, nor other matter indicating true northern drift. Where the valleys have retained the wash of the bluffs, and the water-courses have not interfered, the clay is covered and mixed with vegetable mould, sand and lime, in some places several feet deep.
The soil of the upland prairie is a deep dark loam, and is under- layed by stiff clay or by rock. This soil does not materially change in color nor in texture by cropping. Among the broken ridges or hills of the south-central and west parts of the county the rocks come very near to the surface of the upland, and the lower ground, though gradually rising into upland prairie, is in places quite sandy. There is upon the surface of this sandy land an accumulation of decomposed vegetable matter very dark in color, indicating the presence of lime in its composition.
The soil of the brush or grub lands is similar in appearance to that of the timber lands, but contains a much greater amount of crude vegetable matter.
Spring wheat has been considered as the staple crop, but oats, corn, barley and potatoes in the order named are largely grown.
The timbered or ridge lands have produced good crops of winter as well as spring wheat for twenty-five years, and winter wheat was also grown in the valleys near the Mississippi for several years very successfully. It has not, however, succeeded on the prairie.
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
Though this county does not claim to be the banner county of the state in wheat-raising, it is entitled to its full share of the credit for the popularity to which Minnesota wheat has attained for quality and amount to the acre under cultivation. It is said to be a fact that any soil which will produce good crops of wheat will also grow good crops of any of the cereals adapted to the climate. Whatever failures may have occurred in the production of the common cereals in this county, in no case can the failure be attributed wholly to the character of the soil. For the production of these grains the average vield compares favorably with any portion of the state. One instance of the marvelous productiveness of the soil may be given. Upon the first farm opened in the Rollingstone valley there was sown, in the first week in October, 1852, some winter wheat. It was har- vested the first week in July of the next year, threshed upon the ground with a flail and cleaned with a sheet in the wind, and yielded thirty-seven bushels to the acre. The same ground produced nine successive crops of wheat, and the ninth was the best that had been raised. This ground has now been under cultivation for thirty years without any particular rotation of crops and without artificial manure, and is apparently as productive as ever for any crop except wheat, yielding large crops annually of corn, oats, barley or grass. The average yield of wheat has, however, materially decreased in this, as well as in other counties of the state for a few years past. It is believed to be owing entirely to climatic reasons, as there has been no diminution in the yield of other grains. The grass product ranks next to oats in acreage, being somewhat more than corn, and within the last few years stock of all kinds is receiving much atten- tion, and so far no general diseases have appeared among swine. cattle and horses.
Of other productions than those already named there is found in our market rye, buckwheat, beans, flax-seed, timothy and clover seed, grapes, tobacco, onions and honey.
In the vicinity of the bluffs contiguous to the Mississippi, and along the margins of the smaller streams, crab-apples, wild plums and grapes are abundant.
In the timbered belt, about the groves, and in sheltered locations, several varieties of the cultivated apples are grown. As reported by the assessors. there are at present growing in the county about 51,000 apple-trees.
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GEOGRAPHICAL.
Of the smaller fruits, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, currants, etc., are grown in all parts of the county, and yield abundantly.
In character and variety of wild plants and flowers, this county does not differ materially from others similarly situated. The up- land prairie produces grass mainly. There is, however, during the summer, a great profusion of wild flowers. Upon the warm hill- sides, or on sandy land, in early spring, sometimes before the snow has disappeared, the well-known anemone is the most conspicuous ; during May and June, blue or violet and scarlet are the predomi- nating colors ; in July and August, white and yellow adorn the roadsides and uncultivated places. In the fall the moist grounds are literally covered with purple and white.
In the whole timbered belt and along the margins of the streams the ground is loaded with a dense growth of rank vegetation.
Wild deer had been kept out by the Indians, but for a few years after the first settlements were made they gradually increased in numbers; a few are yet seen every winter.
The black bear, being somewhat migratory, has been occasion- ally seen. Both timber and prairie wolves were at first quite common ; the prairie-wolf is still annoying the flocks, but the timber-wolf is rarely seen. Foxes, red and gray, stay about the rocky ravines and bluffs. Beaver were quite plenty in many of the streams. Several otters have been caught, also mink, weasel, and large numbers of musk-rats.
The badger, raccoon, woodchuck and polecat are common.
The large gray wood-squirrel and the prairie gray squirrel, the red squirrel, the chipmuck (the black squirrel has visited us, but is not at home), and both varieties of gopher are numerous.
Of the rabbit the gray is most common.
Of the migratory feathered species that remain here a short time in the spring, but do not nest, the wild goose, the brant, and several varieties of ducks, are the most plenty. These confine themselves mostly to the immediate vicinity of the Mississippi river. The curlew is occasionally seen, also the pelican. Of those that remain during the summer and nest here, the wild pigeon and blackbird are most numerous. The bittern, the sand-hill crane and bald- eagle are conimon. The mallard and wood-duck frequent the small streams and nest here, but not abundantly.
All the migratory birds common to this latitude are to be seen here.
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HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.
Of those that remain all winter the prairie-hen is most general ; the partridge, the quail, the bluejay, and several varieties of owls, are usually about the sheltered places in the timber.
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