USA > Minnesota > Minnesota as it is in 1870 : its general resources and attractions for immigrants, invalids, tourists, capitalists, and business men ; with special descriptions of all its counties and townsand inducements to those in quest of homes, health, or pleasure > Part 14
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169
SCENES ON THE FRONTIER.
CHAPTER XIV.
SCENES ON THE FRONTIER .- Forty Miles North of Otter- tail Lake .- " Carleton," of the Boston Journal, was in July, 1869, one of the Pacific Railroad exploring party. Speaking of what he saw in the vicinity of Detroit Lake, he says :
Ascending a hill, we came in sight of a settler, a pioneer who is always on the move; who, when a settler comes within six or eight miles of him abandons his home and moves on to some spot where he can have more elbow room, to a region not so thickly settled.
One of our party had already come up with the pioneer, who informed him that we should find the old trail we were search- ing for about half a mile ahead. He had long matted hair, beard hanging upon his breast, a wrinkled countenance, wore & slouched felt hat, an old checked cotton shirt, and pantaloons so patched and darned, so variegated in color that it would require much study to determine what was the original texture and what was patch and darn. He came from Ohio in his youth, and has always been a skirmisher on the advancing line of civilization-a few miles ahead of the main body. He is thinking now of going into the " bush," as he phrased it.
Settlers further down the trail informed us that he was a little flighty and queer, that he could not be induced to settle down, but was always on the move for a more quiet neigh- borhood.
Pioneer Settlement .- Four families have made a beginning at Detroit Lake, in which the Red River of the North has its rise.
We reached the settlement on Saturday night, and pitched tents for the Sabbath. It was a rare treat to these people to come into our camp and hear a sermon from Rev. Dr. Lord. The oldest of the colony is a woman now in her eightieth year, with eye undiminished, a countenance remarkably free from the marks of age, who walks with a firm step after fourscore years of labor. Sixty years ago she moved from the village of
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170
SCENES ON THE FRONTIER.
Lebanon, New Hampshire, a young wife, leaving the Valley of the Connecticut for a home in the State of New York, then moving with the great army of emigrants to Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa in succession, and now beginning again in Minnesota. Last year her hair, which has been as white as the purest snow, began to take on its original color, and is now quite dark. There are but few instances on record of such a renewal of youth.
The party have come from Central Iowa to make this their future home, preferring the soil and climate of this region to one where the changes of temperature are sudden and variable. The women and children of the four families lived here alone for six weeks, while the men were away after their stock. The nearest neighbors are twelve miles distant. On the Fourth of July all hands-men, women, and children-traveled forty-five miles to celebrate the day.
" We felt," said one of the women, " that we couldn't get through the year without going somewhere or seeing somebody. It is kinder lonely so far away from folks, and so we went down country to a pic-nic." .
Store, church, and school are all forty miles away, and until recently the nearest saw mill was sixty miles away. Now they can get their wheat ground by going forty miles.
The settlement is already blooming with half a dozen chil- dren. Other settlers are coming in, and these people are looking forward to next year with hope and confidence, for then they will have a school of their own.
Chippewa Indians .- In our march south from Detroit Lake we met a large number of Chippewa Indians going north to the land recently assigned them by the government, in one of the fairest sections of Minnesota. Among them we saw several women with blue eyes and light hair and fair complexions, who have the blood of la belle France in their veins, and possibly some of them may have had American fathers. Nearly all of the Indians wear pantaloons and jackets, but here and there we see a brave who is true to his ancestry, who is proud of his lineage and race, and is in all respects a savage, in moccasins, blanket, skunk-skin head-dress, and painted eagle's feathers.
They are friendly, took no part in the late war, are inoffensive and indolent. They have been in close contact with the whites for a long time, but they do not advance in civilization.
171
A BAND OF MUSIC.
A Band of Music .- At Rush Lake, near Ottertail, the party camped, and were talking and jesting before the camp fire at night, when he says :
But music is not wanting. We hear martial strains-of cor- nets, trombones, ophicleide and horns, and the beating of a drum. Torches gleam upon the horizon, and by their flicker- ing light we see a band advancing over the prairie. It is a march of welcome to the Northern Pacific exploring party.
Not an hour ago these musicians heard of our arrival, and here they are, twelve of them, standing in a circle round our camp, doing their best to express their joy. They are Germans, all young men. Three years ago three or four families came here from Ohio. They reported the soil so fertile, the situation so attractive, the prospects so flattering, that others came, and now they have a dozen families, and more are coming to this land of promise.
Now just ride out and see what they have done. Here is a field containing thirty acres of as fine wheat as grows in Minne- sota. It is just taking on the golden hue, and will be ready for the reaper next week. Beside it are twenty acres of oats, sev- eral acres of corn, an acre or two of potatoes. This is one farm only. On yonder slope there stands a two-storied house, of hewn logs and shingled roof. See what adornment the wife or daughter have given to the front yard-verbenas, petunias and nasturtions-round the door a living wreath of morning glories.
Cows chew their cuds in the stable yard, while
"Drowsy tinklings lull the distant fold "
where the sheep are herded.
We shall find the scene repeated on the adjoining farm. Sheltered beneath the grand old forest trees stands the little log church with a cross upon its roof, and here we see coming down the road the venerable father and teacher of the commu- nity, in a long black gown and broad brimmed hat, with a crucifix at his girdle. It is a Catholic community, and they brought their priest with them.
But take a good long look at these men as they stand before our camp fire, with their bright new instruments in their hands. They received them only two weeks ago from Cincinnati.
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SCENES ON THE FRONTIER.
" We can't play much yet," says their leader, Mr. Bertenhei- mer-" but we do the best we can. We have sent to Toledo for a teacher who will spend the winter with us. You will pardon our poor playing, but we felt so good when we heard you were here looking out a route for a railroad, that we felt like doing something to show our good will. You see we are just get- ting started and have to work hard, but we wanted some re- creation, and we concluded to get up a band. We thought it would be better than hanging round a grocery. We havn't any grocery yet, and if we keep sober, and give our attention to other things, perhaps we shan't have one, which I reckon will be all the better for us."
Plain and simple the words, but there is more in them than in many a windy speech made on the rostrum or in legislative halls. Just getting started ! Yet here on the frontier art has planted itself. The flowers of civilization are blooming on the border.
As we listened to the personal strains, and watched the re- ceding forms, and looked into the coals of our camp fire after their departure, we felt that there must be a bright future for a commonwealth that could grow such fruit on the borders of the uncultivated wilderness.
Woman's Rights on the Frontier .- The Model Farm of the "Seven Sisters."-Sixty miles from St. Paul, out on the Pacific Railroad, at Darsel Station, in Wright County, in the Big Woods, seven miles from the prairie, is the farm of the "Seven Sisters," which is thus sketched in Robertson's Monthly. They live in a log building which the neighbors helped them to build.
The out houses for horses, cattle, pigs, poultry, and smoke house, and the fields and fences, all indicate that the occupants of this homestead excel in husbandry and know how to live. Their farm contains 160 acres. Two years ago last April they secured here two homesteads of 80 acres each, under the home- stead law, and have since cleared forty acres, all of which is now in crop. Of their crop of last year, besides what was con- sumed in the family, they sold 900 bushels of potatoes, 500 bushels corn, 200 bushels wheat, 250 bushels turnips, 200
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GOVERNMENT LAND.
bushels beets, 1100 heads cabbage, and over $200 worth garden stuff. The potatoes they sold for fifty cents per bushel. We forgot to ask what they received for the other products.
All the work on this farm, the clearing and grubbing the land, the fencing, sowing, planting, cultivating and harvesting, and taking care of the stock, and all other work excepting splitting the rails and breaking and plowing the cleared land, was per- formed by the seven sisters.
These ladies are natives of Ohio, whence they emigrated to this State three years ago, and to this farm, then wild land, in April, 1867. The family consists of the seven sisters, the youngest aged 15 years, the eldest about 25, their mother, and their father an invalid. The family removed to this State with the hope of improving his health, and this spring, for the first time in many years, he is able to assist in farm work. In the course of conversation on the management of this model farm, the mother, a fine-looking old lady, remarked : "The girls are not proud of the hard work they have had to do to get the farm started, but they are not ashamed of it. We were too poor to keep together and live in a town. We could not make a living there, but here we have become comfortable and independent. We tried to give the girls a good education. They all read and write, and find a little spare time to read books and papers."
CHAPTER XV.
GOVERNMENT LAND FREE OF COST .- HOW MUCH STILL OPEN TO ENTRY AND THE TERMS .- In 1867 the amount of government land still unclaimed, was 36,776,171 acres. In 1870 there are still over 30,000,000 acres. The Home- stead Law of 1862 gives 160 acres of land, free of cost, to actual settlers who will reside on the land five years, whether they are foreign or native, male or female, over
174
GOVERNMENT LAND.
21 years old, or minors who have served 14 days in the army or navy. Foreigners must declare their intention to become citizens. A father may enter 160 acres for himself, and each grown child 21 years old may enter 160 more.
A decision of the General Land Office, in 1867, declares that unmarried women, whether heads of families or not, may pre-empt 160 acres of land if they will in good faith reside on it.
Land taken under the Homestead Law is not liable for any debts contracted before the patent issues.
PRE-EMPTION CLAIMS .- The same parties named above can "claim" 160 acres of land under the Pre-emption Law; and by making some little improvement on it, such as building a cabin and breaking a small tract, may secure the prior right to buy, at $1.25 per acre, over all others, when the land comes into market. As this may not occur for many years after the claim is made, settlers very often live on their farms, free of cost, for years, and when called on to pay the $1.25 per acre, find the land is actually worth $10 to $12 per acre.
The $1.25 may be paid in cash, land warrants, or agri- cultural scrip, and may not really cost the purchaser over 90 cts. or $1 per acre.
The lands are also sometimes purchased in advance of coming into market or being surveyed, with half-breed scrip.
WHERE GOVERNMENT LANDS TO BE HAD .- LOCATION OF THE LAND OFFICES AND ADDRESS OF THE OFFICERS .* -
Land Office at Alexandria, Douglas County. L. K. Aaker, Register ; J. H. Vandyke, Receiver.
* Reported by the Land Officers especially for this book.
175
WHERE TO BE HAD.
County. Acres still vacant.
County.
Acres still vacant
Douglas
250,000
Pope.
435,000
Grant.
295,000
Polk.
2,480,000
Ottertail
857,000
Becker
435,000
Wilkin
652,000
Pembina
2,263,000
Stevens
285,000
Land Office at Greenleaf, Meeker County. J. M. Waldron, Register ; J. C. Bradon, Receiver.
County. Acres still vacant.
County.
Acres still vacan t
Renville
20,000
Lac Qui Parle
52,000
Chippewa
90,000
Redwood 260,000
This includes only surveyed lands-a very small por- tion of the whole amount vacant.
Land Office at St. Peter, Nicollet County. Tillson Tibbets, Register ; J. C. Rudolph, Receiver.
County. Acres still vacant. County.
Acres still vacant.
Lincoln
31,760
Cottonwood.
12,800
Renville
39,440
Murray ..
134,680
Brown.
15,360
Redwood
139,840
Total
373,880 surveyed. 921,600 unsurveyed.
Land Office at Jackson, Jackson County. J. B. Wake- field, Register ; E. P. Freeman, Receiver.
County. Acres still vacant. County. Acres still vacant.
Martin.
75,000
Cottonwood
50,000
Jackson 150,000
Nobles ..
125,000
Watonwan
7,000 Rock, entire .. (not surveyed.)
The above includes only surveyed lands.
Land Office at St. Cloud, Stearns County. C. A. Gilman, Register ; H. C. Burbank, Receiver.
Stearns County, 50,000 acres.
Todd, 125,000 good, 125,000 second rate, mixed with pine, &c.
Pope, (see Alexandria District also,) 25,000.
Chippewa, (see Greenleaf District also,) 20,000. Stevens, nearly all.
Morrison, 100,000 good farming and stock, and 100,000 second rate, like Todd.
Clay. .
695,000
Traverse
652,800
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GOVERNMENT LAND.
Benton, 15,000 first rate.
Sherburne, (see also Taylor's Falls District,) 10,000 acres fair, brush and oak openings.
Monongalia, 15,000; and
Wright, 5000.
Cass, Itasca and Beltrami, entire, and Crow Wing and Wadena nearly so. Much good pine and cedar land.
Land Office at Taylor's Falls, Chisago County. J. P. Owens, Register ; L. K. Stannard, Receiver.
County.
Acres still vacant.
County.
Acres still vacant.
Chisago
11,688
Isanti.
60,428
Pine ...
73,314
Sherburne -.
21,088
Kanabec
63,985
(See St. Cloud also.)
Mille Lac
31,006
Anoka 25,504
Land Office at Duluth, St. Louis County. Address " Register " or "Receiver" at Duluth.
Nearly all of this district is still vacant, embracing St. Louis, Lake, Carlton, and Aiken.
NOTICE .- The above vacant lands were taken directly from the books of the land offices up to the latest dates, from Sept. 1st to Nov. 8th, 1869, (the St. Cloud report being dated Nov. 8th,) except the Taylor's Falls report, which was made in June, 1868. They reveal the fact . that good level stock farms, with fair soil, far superior to much that is farmed in the Eastern States, are still to be had, free of cost, in the counties of Anoka, Sherburne, and others, immediately adjoining Hennepin and Ramsey, of which St. Paul and Minneapolis are county seats, and easily accessible by rail in one hour's ride from either. The quality of the lands can be seen by reference to the counties in Part Second.
THE BEST WAY TO SECURE GOOD CLAIMS .- Besides an inquiry at the land office, in person or by letter, an ap- plication to the settlers in the neighborhood selected will often reveal the fact that many excellent claims that have
177
TIME AND COST OF BREAKING.
been filed on have never been occupied, or if occupied have been abandoned. The papers on the frontier are full of notices to such claimants, that the claim is con- tested and trial ordered at the land office. The cost of these trials adds $10 or $15 to the original entry fee.
HOW AND WHEN NEW LAND IS PLOWED, AND THE COST. -The prairie breaking costs $2.75 to $3 per acre; oak openings, timber, or brush land, $5 to $8, according to the amount of "grubbing" to be done (contract prices.)
Time to break prairie, June and July preferred-the sod not rotting so well earlier or later. In strictly tim- bered land, without the tenacious sod, earlier or later breaking will do. The farmer may break for himself at less cost. Two yoke of oxen or two span of horses working abreast, with " eveners" or double trees, with a 12 or 14-inch plow, and one man to manage, will break from an acre to an acre and a half per day. This pre- supposes the land to be grubbed. If not, a heavier plow and from three to six yoke of oxen are required, accord- ing to the size and number of grubs-also an extra hand to drive. On the prairie a much lighter team will answer. With an 18 or 20-inch "rod plow," with a rolling cutter, three yoke of oxen will break from three to four acres per day.
In the " brush" a favorite mode of managing is to cut down the smaller brush with a brush hook, in July or August, and grub the larger grubs, and in the fall or spring burn over the ground. After which a 16-inch plow, with a common coulter and two or three yoke of oxen, will turn it over easily.
The ordinary method among the Minnesota farmers is for neighbors to join teams and break for each other- exchanging work. Thus the expense of an extra team
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GOVERNMENT LAND.
is avoided, and poverty supplemented and made richer by the social and neighborly character of the settlers.
WHEN AND HOW THE NEW LAND IS PLANTED .- Unless it is the first year, and the farmer requires to plow in May and plant for his living, no small grain is planted, but corn, potatoes, ruta bagas, broom corn, or corn for fodder. The potatoes are plowed in, the corn inserted in the sod, in an opening made by an axe or other imple- ment. The only cultivation is generally by a cultivator or hoe. The crop is generally more than sufficient to pay for the breaking. Two or three inches is the depth preferred for new breaking, the object being to rot the sod. By the next spring the land is in order for a wheat crop, which is sowed with or without further plowing, as the farmer prefers. If cross-plowed, a heavier crop pays for the labor.
FEVER AND AGUE .- In almost every new country this is so apt to be the scourge of the new settler, that we place it under this head, rather than its generic head of " Healthfulness of the Climate." It is unknown here unless imported. In fourteen years' residence here the writer has never known a farmer to have ague and fever. As far back as 1823, Long's official report of the Minne- sota Valley says : "Our party continued all in health except one of the soldiers, who had a few chills and fits of fever which were soon checked. It was supposed that he had brought the seeds of it from the Mississippi." Long's journey to the Minnesota Valley was through Illinois.
PRICES OF LANDS .*- In almost any county in the State wild lands held by speculators may be purchased at from $2 to $5 and $10 per acre-part cash, and 3 to 5 years'
* See " Counties " and Cards of Railroad Companies.
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FISH AND THE FISHERIES.
credit ; railroad lands within six miles of any of the rail- roads, from $4 to $10-small cash payment and 5 to 10 years' credit ; school lands in almost any of the oldest settled counties, at $5 to $8-fifteen per cent. cash, and credit to suit-not over 20 years. Seven per cent. in- terest on deferred payments, on any class of lands.
The average assessed value of all the taxable lands in the State, in 1868, was $3.83. Average rate of assess- ment about half the cash value.
CHAPTER XVI.
FISH AND GAME .- NATURAL HISTORY .- BOTANY.
FISH AND THE FISHERIES .- Number of Lakes .- We stated in a preceding chapter that there were 1000 to 2000 lakes in the State. We have since, for curiosity, counted those marked on the small sectional maps in each county, and find that there are over 2650 ;* and from conversation with a government surveyor, we learn that it is not the habit of the surveyors to meander around small lakes of 40 acres or less, and they do not generally ap- pear on the map. How many there are not appearing on the map may be estimated by the fact that in Ramsey County, credited with twenty lakes on the maps, there are actually 125 marked on a large map of that county. If other counties show the same proportion, the estimate of Schoolcraft, which has generally been regarded as a great exaggeration, that there were ten thousand lakes in
* The numbers are given in all the counties except the first four or five.
180
FISH AND THE FISHERIES.
the State, is not much, if at all, out of the way. The value of these ten thousand lakes for fish, stock, bathing, pleasure, landscape beauty, and the climate is inestima- ble. From letters from almost every county in the State the same report has come of the abundance of fish in all the streams and lakes, " fish inexhaustible," " a world of fish," "fish by the wagon load." Instead of reiterating the same story in every county, we make this general statement as applicable to about every county in the State. They are caught in immense quantities, winter and summer.
Varieties .- Pickerel, pike, black and rock bass, and sun-fish are the leading varieties ; there are also mus- kelonge, perch (striped, yellow and white,) buffalo, trout (2 kinds,) suckers (red horse and white,) bullhead and cat, chubb or jack salmon, stickleback, herring or skip- per, sheep's head, gar fish, rock fish, white fish in Red Lake, Sandy Lake, Ottertail, and other northern lakes, and Lake Superior white fish, Lake Superior dog fish (3 feet long,) siscowit, salmon or Mackinaw trout, carp (several kinds,) croppies, pumpkin seed, dace (2 kinds,) devil fish or sculpin, lamprey eels, and common eels. The trout are most numerous on the Mississippi tribu- taries from St. Paul to the Iowa line, and in all the little streams emptying into Lake Superior.
Lake Superior Fisheries .- The principal fish in Lake Superior are the trout, white fish and siscowit. The pike and pickerel in the spring, and white fish in the fall, run up St. Louis River from the lake to the falls and are caught in great quantities, as high as 250 barrels some seasons.
" As a resource of trade and commerce, the fish of Lake Superior will become an item of both luxury and value. The trout, siscowit and white fish are taken in all seasons of the
181
GAME.
year fresh from the pure, cool depths of the lake; they excel in flavor, size and delicacy anything of the kind taken elsewhere from salt or fresh water. Those caught from November to March, and frozen, may be taken with all their freshness to every table in the Mississippi Valley ; but as a salted commodity, their value in trade is inestimable. Whatever may be the de- mand, the supply can be made to meet it.
"Two men, with a gang of 100 fathoms of nets, take from two to five barrels of fish a night; almost the entire Minnesota coast of 150 miles is one fishing ground ; each mile or even half mile of it may be occupied by a gang; the seasons best adapted for fishing are from September to February, and May to July, amounting to half the year. Ten thousand barrels would be a moderate estimate for the annual product of Minnesota alone, when the needed facilities shall be furnished to take them to the markets of the Mississippi Valley."*
GAME .- Wild ducks and geese, snipe, swans and peli- cans are abundant in spring and fall ; prairie chickens, pheasants and quails, in their season ; and deer are so abundant as to sell lower than beef in the St. Paul mar- ket. The black bear, grey wolf, fox, raccoon, mink, otter and wild cat are found on the frontier, and all the fur-bearing animals are abundant. The buffalo is in the Red River Valley. The field, forest and lake are not only useful for the sportsman, but a never failing resource to the frontier settler, who can live by them, with a small amount of labor to secure his bread, potatoes, and the products of the dairy. Even near St. Paul there are men who make their living as hunters. Trapping is profitable further out on the frontier.
Varieties of Birds .- Owen's Report speaks of " 95 varieties of birds that breed in the country,"-meaning Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Among these are the following-the classes separated by a dash.
* Clarke's Geological Report.
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182
BOTANY.
The golden eagle, bald eagle,-hawks (3 kinds,)-owls (3 kinds,)-whip-poor-will, night hawk,-martin, swal- lows (3 kinds,)-cedar bird,-belted king fisher, hum- ming bird,-nut hatch (white breasted,)-wood wren, mocking wren, short-billed wren,-black cap tit,-blue bird,-brown thrush, cat bird, robin, wood thrush, hermit thrush, the oven bird,-yellow throat, golden-winged warbler, spotted warbler, spotted Canada warbler, black burnian warbler, summer yellow bird, chestnut sided warbler,-American red start, wood pewee, king bird, great crested king bird,-red-eyed greenlet, yellow-crested chat,-butcher bird,-blue jay crow, black bird, golden oriole, red-winged oriole, yellow-headed black bird, cow bunting, boblink,-rose-breasted grosbeak, long and white throated sparrow, goldfinch, ground robin, indigo bird, black-winged red bird,-woodpecker (red headed, hairy, downy, yellow bellied and golden winged,)-black-billed cuckoo,-wild pigeon, Carolina turtle dove,-wild turkey (only on the Upper Iowa,)-quail, partridge or ruffed grouse, prairie hen,-plover (king, Wilson's and golden,) and great blue heron,-lark, tattler, gray plover, tell tale, marlin, sora rail and coot,-white pelican, black tern,- wild goose, mallard, wood duck, teal, hooded shelldrake, great loon, and several other kinds.
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