USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > Personal recollections of Minnesota and its people : and early history of Minneapolis > Part 36
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"St. Paul, October 3d, 1860 .- I went to the Fair for the purpose of meeting you, but you had left. I did wish to have a long talk with you. You are one of the old guard-you who have sacrificed much for the good of Minnesota. I did wish to see you to ascertain what has caused a separation between us. My conscience tells me that I am right. I know that I am in the minority-but were I alone, and yet sustained by conscience, I would fight to the last. Political ties are strong but personal ones are stronger. A thousand new-comers may, disagree with me, and not a sleepless night will I psss-but when one of the old guard says I am wrong, I cannot sleep. Now, my friend, if your heart says that Douglas is right, that he has been consistent, continue to support him. I think Breckinridge is right-I shall support him. This is a private letter, written to a friend, in a friendly spirit. I say to you that a Douglas organization cannot be kept up ninety days. He has gone-he is working with the South Americans-and they cannot stand the light of day. Douglas now occupies the sixth position upon the subject of Slavery. Douglas is out of the question, and why waste powder upon him. Lincoln I do not believe can be elected. Therefore let us keep our forces together. God bless you."
"St. Paul, April 9, 1876 .- Yours of the 7th came yesterday. Its tone struck a chord that has been dormant a long time. By it I can see that in you the milk of human kindness is as fresh and copious as in times long past. I thank you for it, and will try and visit your place this week. HENRY M. RICE."
FROM HON. IGNATIUS DONNELLY.
"Nininger, Minn., August 8th, 1859 .- I perfectly agree with you, that politics should not make us lose sight of our material interests. Honor and wealth are two very distinct things, and one cannot supply the want of the other.
"Is there no way of trading lots in Nininger, or Louisville, for five hundred or one thousand acres of land, timber, lake, etc., near Glencoe ? I could throw in five hundred dollars in , money. If so, I would improve the whole tract, and move on
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to it, and then set myself to work to advance the interests of McLeod county with all my strength and will. I want to get a good big farm. We could lay our heads together and either build a tram railroad from Carver or a plank road. That thirty miles of timber is the curse of McLeod county at present. It takes considerable hardihood to travel through it twice. You will never advance rapidly until you have a good road.
"By all means go into the legislature. I think there is a future of prosperity before both of us ; there are new towns to be laid out, and new counties to be settled.
" A poverty-stricken politician is one of the most miserable objects alive ; and it is the duty of every sensible man, by all means to place himself beyond the reach of want. There is no degree of intellect that can resist the deadening influence of an empty pocket."
"Nininger, Dec. 20, 1873 .- If you had not made that unfortunate protection speech we could have nominated you for Governor and have elected you. But there is a future in which we can all correct our mistakes.
" Be assured that although compelled to opposed you then, it was on no personal ground, and I shall seize the first opportunity to show you how sincerely I am your friend.
IGNATIUS DONNELLY.
AN EARLY BOOM-WITH A PROTEST-FROM FRANKLIN STEELE.
"Fort Snelling, August 20th, 1854 .- Dear Stevens : I have received your two letters, and write this with the hope that it may reach you in Galena. We have had our own troubles since you left, with the people claiming to have purchased lots from you, to the extent of about half of all that is valuable. Mr. Sampson returned from St. Paul the day that you left, and told everybody that you had authorized him to say that any one could go and select a lot where they pleased at one hundred and fifty dollars per lot. The consequence was that half the town was claimed, and they began to haul on the lumber to build. Northrup came down for me when, with the assistance of Mr. Lewis and Mr. Case, most of them were induced to desist until you should return. Some of them, having deeds from you, remained. Now it is absolutely nec -- essary that we should refuse to sell or permit a single indi
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vidual to come on to the premises before the day of sale. Upon your return you will be beset on all hands, but you must make but one rule to all, to refuse to do a thing before you get a title. In this way you will escape a world of trouble. I have taken the advice of our mutual friends, Case and Ames, and have acted as your agent in the affair."
"Fort Snelling, Sept. 22d, 1854 .- Dear Stevens : Now for your own sake and mine, remember our arrangement and do not give away all you have or expect to get. I may be doing you an injustice ; if so, what I now write will go for nothing. Now I implore you not to promise a single lot before a title accrues. Your friend, FRANKLIN STEELE."
"Fort Snelling, Dec. 11, 1859 .- Dear Col .: I shall ever cherish the most grateful feeling toward you and our mutual friends Cowan and Adams, for honest effort to promote my interest, although not successful. If all who have made pro- fessions of friendship had acted as you have done, I might have been gratified to the full extent of my ambition, and have been in a position to help my friends ; but I have found that those I have served most faithfully have been the first to desert me when I required their assistance. I will leave for the East immediately and obtain all the information possible in regard to Pike's Peak, and other places now resorted to for recuperation. I am of the opinion that a very large emigra- tion will set in toward Minnesota in the spring, and that affairs will improve. If I did not entertain this belief I should take my final departure immediately, for I would not go through for another year what I have the past for any con- sideration. If I can find any place in which you can do better than at home upon your farm, I will write you. Your old and faithful friend, FRANKLIN STEELE."
FRATERNAL LETTERS FROM DR. ALFRED E. AMES.
Dr. Alfred E. Ames was one of the earliest and most prom- inent pioneers of Minneapolis. From notes made at the request of his children, it appears that he was a native of Vermont. His grandfather Ames had fourteen children, his father eight, and the doctor himself seven. In youth he struggled for an education, taught school, studied medicine, and worked inces- santly. In boyhood, on his way from Vermont to Ohio, by the Erie Canal, at Schenectady he first saw a railroad train.
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"A rude engine, with three cars attached, made several efforts " to start, when bystanders pushed, and off it went." He rode from Detroit to Chicago in a stage. "Chicago then had 3,000 "inhabitants of half breeds and all others." From Chicago he followed an Indian trail sixty-five miles northwest to Boone county, Illinois, where he made a claim of one hundred and sixty acres and built a log house ; passing through severe trials, in relation to which he says "there is nothing so good "for such dark days as a firm resolution-a sure determination " and reliance upon God." Putting a pack on his back, he " took an Indian trail and went to Vandalia, then the seat of "government. Thanks to Heaven," he writes, "I soon found " employment. Hon. Stephen A. Douglas and Captain James " Craig interceded and introduced me to Alex. B. Field, who "was then secretary of state, who employed me as his deputy, "and Governor Thomas Carlin made me his private secretary." He afterwards went to Springfield, Illinois, and was employed by Stephen A. Douglas as his deputy secretary of state. About this time he was " raised to the Sublime degree of Masonry," and also gave medical lectures. He was elected first to the house and then to the senate of Illinois. In 1851 he came to Minneapolis, and in 1852 brought his family here. He records that " Minneapolis was then called and known as All Saints." He was present at the organization of Hennepin county, and was the first physician in Minneapolis. In 1854, his journal says, "an effort was made to sell the Reserve to the highest " bidder, but the plats did not arrive in time to make the sale. "By the request of friends I went to Washington, took an " appeal from the Commissioner to the Secretary of the Inte- "rior, which stayed proceedings until the meeting of Congress, "when a law was passed giving the settlers a preemption." Dr. Ames was a member of the Minnesota Constitutional Con- vention. During the civil war, while his sons were enlisting, he recorded his "hope and trust that God would overrule the " storm and again bring our fair land to rest and our people to "peace and happiness." He died in 1874. Some character- istic letters of his are given :
Washington, Jan. 5, 1855 .- Dear Col .: To-day Rice and myself will go all around and see how the boys feel. Be assured that it is up hill work. My communications are not
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for the public eye. Henceforth let me only be known in quiet life. I have already met with too many besetments on life's journey. Illy am I prepared for vexations and troubles. At my period of life, I am weary, and rest would not be dis- tressing to my thoughts. Speak not of me to any but my friends. To my friends I am indebted for what life is to me.
Washington, Jan. 7, 1855 .- The chiefs of the Winnebago tribes and the upper Chippewa chiefs have been ordered on here to treat with them. So you see there will soon be more public land in Minnesota for settlement and cultivation. We are going at a snail's pace. I have been here a week this evening. The way looks dark and doubtful. Keep shady. Don't let our enemies know what our thoughts are. I hope Steele and Case will be here this week. Steele's procrastina- tion endangers our equities. When Case, Steele and Smith get here we will do something or die.
Colonel, tell our enemies that the Reserve will be sold under the direction of the War Department. Tell them anything but the facts. But stick to what you tell them. Fraternally.
Washington, Jan. 14 .-. Dear Col .: To-day has been a lone- some day to me. The mind has viewed the panorama of my life and prognosticated the future. Nothing in the past very interesting or useful ; in the future much darkness and con- fusion, judging from the manifestations. Your expectations of me are too high. I am but a feeble man. However, I am always ready to labor for the best interests of my friends and Minnesota. I cannot yet make a favorable report to you. During the week there will be something done, but I fear and tremble for the result. Our hopes are very low. For God's sake and our interests, don't drop a word that I write to you ; it would be hazardous. Our enemies have injured us r-ch, and stand ready at their posts to carry forward their __ uel work. So soon as there is anything final had as to our interests you shall be advised. Your brother.
Washington, Jan. 21 .- My dear Col .: This is the tenth let- ter I have written to you. Why I write, can't say, only that you are often in my mind ; also my regard for you and the recollection of the many kindnesses that have been bestowed upon me by you and yours makes the impression and demands a manifestation of recollection. My mission here has not yet
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manifested anything good for us. We shall make big efforts the coming week. All is darkness and doubt to me. Keep my letters from the public eye. Faithfully and fraternally.
Washington, Jan. 31, 1855 .- My dear Brother and Com .: You speak of an excitement-political, postoffice, &c. Little do I care for such storms ; give me a title to my claim, and everything else may go. Your attachments to your party- Whig-is known to me. Go it. I will not quarrel with you about that. Your labors in grand lodge will, no doubt, be approved by the overseer's square. As yet I know nothing of affairs in the Minnesota legislature-don't care to know.
You say that I must not show my head there again, if I fail in obtaining a law for the security of the settlers on the Reserve. Colonel, you are too stringent on me. You know very well that I will do all I can to secure our equities and those of our good neighbors. It is very little that an outsider can do. If nothing else, to promote my own interest would make me work. We have a bill in committee of the whole house ; if it passes it will go to the senate ; it will secure all the settlers on the Reserve in their equities.
Washington, Feb. 28th, 1855 .- Col. Stevens : The Reserve bill passed this morning without amendment. We are safe. All is well. Rejoice ! We have great rejoicing here to-day. Mr. Rice has worked hard for us-don't forget him. Our people are under great obligations to him. A. E. AMES.
Minneapolis, M. T., March 11, 1857 .- We are glad to hear from you and your dear family. May our God ever bless you and yours at the "Monticello" of your soul, alias the " Home farm" of comfort and happiness. I have nothing to communicate that will be interesting, excepting the glorious intelligence, the passage of the Railroad bill. It passed Con- gress on the 3d inst. A new day has dawned on this fair land. The most sanguine expectations of the sons of Minnesota will be more than realized. Our fair maiden will soon put on her attire of sister. Her chains are already being designed. She will be the fairest of the family. Blessed be God, she has not a blemish, and will never grow old. How often we have talked over her graces and future wealth. Beautiful land- scapes, and running, laughing waters. How inviting. "Say on, brother !" Fraternally. A. E. AMES.
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FROM JUDGE MEEKER.
Bradley B. Meeker was one of the first Federal Judges in Minnesota, and in 1849 held the first court in Hennepin county in the old government mill on the reservation (now Minneap- olis), and appointed Franklin Steele foreman of the grand jury. He was one of the organizers of the old settlers' associ- ation. . Here is a letter from him dated
Terra Haute, Nov. 7th, 1857 .- Col. Stevens : Dear Sir -I intended to have made you a visit passing through Clearwater and Forest City to Glencoe, but pressing engagements will make my absence necessary. I congratulate you on your election. It was a just tribute to a worthy, warm-hearted old pioneer that has done as much to settle Hennepin as any fifteen men that can be found within her borders. You are now in a position to do Minnesota good service, and I know you well enough to know that you will do all in your power to promote her best interests. Now something has to be done, can be done, and must be done, or northern Minnesota will be a pauper country in two years. I have thought much about the matter, and have at last fallen upon the following relief measures :
In the first place, I want you to pass a law prohibiting all our courts of justice rendering any judgments for debts due by contract or judgment contracted or rendered out of Min- nesota for the term of five years from the passage of such law. Now the effect of such a legislative act would be this : all the embarrassed men of business, whether manufacturers, mer- chants or mechanics, would wend their way with their fami- lies and friends to Minnesota in the spring, where they could enjoy legal repose from the clamors of their creditors until they had had an opportunity to establish themselves anew. This step, so merciful in these days of pecuniary depression and oppression, would revive immigration again to Minnesota, and fill it with enterprise and money. Your friend.
FROM A. G. CHATFIELD.
Judge Andrew G. Chatfield was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of Minnesota in 1853. His first appear- ance in a judicial capacity in Hennepin county was at a spe- cial term of court held that year in the parlors of Col. Stevens' house. From the town he laid out and named he writes :
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Belle Plaine, Jan. 12th, 1860 .- Col. Stevens : Dear Sir- While I was in Mankato, a few days ago, Mr. C. L. Taylor of Shelbyville called on me and requested me to write to some member of the legislature, in his behalf, which I promised to do ; and to that circumstance you must charge the trouble that this letter will give you.
Mr. Taylor has a little daughter about twelve years old who is a deaf mute. He says she is very bright and intelligent, and spoke with much feeling of his inability to send her abroad to be educated. He is poor. Though the state is deeply embarrassed, cannot some plan be devised by which the incipient or preparatory steps towards the establishment of an institution for the education of deaf mutes may be taken? Cannot a school, even on a limited scale, be opened ? Such an institution the state must have, sooner or later, and this one case impresses upon the legislature the necessity of com- mencing now, if any plan can be devised.
I write to you because I know you are always ready to listen to appeals from the unfortunate, and that if there are any means of relief within your reach, relief will be had.
FROM MRS. E. E. CHATFIELD.
Belle Plaine, Dec. 1875 .- Col. Stevens : My dear Sir-The only light which has dawned above the thick darkness which has surrounded me, since my dear husband's death, has ema- nated from the beautiful tokens of respect and esteem which his friends have paid to his memory ; and foremost among those, I place your beautiful tribute published in the Press. From my sad heart I thank you ; and at this festival season beg your acceptance of the accompanying photograph, as a memento of your friend, and an acknowledgment of my grati- tude to you for your fidelity to him. I am truly your friend. JUDGE ATWATER'S TESTIMONY AS TO THE HARD TIMES OF '57.
St. Anthony, Oct. 31, 1857 .- Dear Colonel : I am rejoiced that you are elected. With you there, things will go right. Such old wheel-horses are just what we need in such a body.
Martin has returned dead broke. Instead of bringing out more money, he has been obliged to borrow money to send there. It is utterly impossible to collect a dollar. For my own part I have entirely suspended. I have between two and three thousand dollars now due on the last payment on my
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. house, and where it is to come from I don't know. I cannot get money enough to buy provisions for my family. You are a lucky dog if you have raised enough to eat to get you through the winter. It is because I have been so harrassed about money matters that I have not been out to see you.
FROM H. T. WELLES.
Minneapolis, April 30, 1860 .- Dear Colonel : I thank you very kindly and am grateful for the interest you manifest in Mr. Steele and myself in the sore troubles that are now upon us. Both of us would be glad to reciprocate this feeling by something more substantial than words.
No man can be named in this state whom I should prefer to you for representative in congress. I know all men do not want that position, but then some one must take it, although he does so at a sacrifice. If you can make up your mind to run for the nomination, it is my earnest desire, and will be Steele's, that you should do so. Most truly yours.
February 1st, 1881 .- Dear Sir : Before I left home, the gentlemen who are compiling a history of Hennepin county called for my subscription, and for a brief notice. I do not know much about the book, but so far as any notice of myself is concerned, I propose to have you prepare it. In fact you ought to have put out the proposed history yourself, and under your own name. No stranger can do that work as well as you can. Better if you had been the father of the whole of it. You will do me a favor if you will say what is to be said about me exclusively.
Hennepin county owes as much to you, if not more than to any other man. You were the corner-stone on which Mr. Steele's fortune was built. You shaped the early beginnings of what is now the City of Minneapolis ; and in any history of the county you ought to have credit accordingly. Ever yours.
THE FIRST AND MOST NEEDY OF THE OLD SETTLERS.
St. Peter, Nov. 7th, 1875 .- Dear Col .: You will recollect our old friend, John Bush, the old Indian farmer of Red Wing, and the oldest white settler in Minnesota-so says the Atlas. As you keep, trace of all the early ones, you are probably aware that for many years he lived on the road between here and Fort Ridgely, at Lafayette. The Indian war ruined him financially, and after living on his place two or three years
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after, he bought a house in this place, and to assist a young man to secure his creditors, mortgaged his house. Of course this was the last remnant left himself and wife, and they were left with nothing-he too old and sickly to work, and she unable to make more than a bare living.
They removed to Redwood in '70, to New Ulm last fall, and now have brought up here again, in very straightened cir- cumstances, with nothing to live on, and barely enough cloth- ing for this mild weather. I have just been to see them. Of course the county will do something for them, if called on, but they will try to get through without this if possible ; and I write to ask you if among the old settlers and those who knew them formerly, you could not make up something for them. A little from a few would be a great deal for them.
Bush is eighty-seven years old, and has always been sick. His wife weighs about three hundred pounds, and of course don't get about as lively as a cricket by a good deal. It is of no use to quote scripture to you, but let me know if you think it is not a good object for charity. B. H. RANDALL.
AN EARLY VISITOR'S VIEWS OF MINNESOTA.
August 3, 1849 .- Mr. Stevens : From what I have seen and heard I have a few general objections to this country. The prairies are too large, timber too scarce, winters too long, and consequently summers too short. Yet it may be tolerably good to grow most small grain, as oats, barley, rye and wheat, but wheat will hardly do as well. The soil is rather too sandy, hence drouth soon effects vegetation. You have doubtless observed before this time the enthusiasm with which people in various parts of Minnesota Territory are engaging in the various enterprises ; she lives five years in one now ; the rush by and by will subside ; and how many will be astonished ; many will be or feel a little like Job's turkey-that had to lean against the fence to gobble. M. KRIS KLENNER.
A VIEW TEN YEARS AFTER THE FOREGOING.
Cold Spring, July 6th, 1859 .- Dear Sir : I earnestly and honestly believe that with your climate, and with your people, nothing is impossible. I see that you are pushing yourselves far into the wilderness, if that expression can be used of a people who plant their corn to-day and explore some untried field to-morrow. In the energy and enterprise of your peo-
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ple lies the gold already coined. It is this that forbids any limit to what you can accomplish. You laugh at impossibili- ties, and while mere supine men are conjecturing how a thing is to be done, you do it. I am yours truly. E. J. MCGHEE. KIND WORDS FROM AN OLD SETTLER.
Minneapolis, Feb. 1st, 1858 .- Dear Sir : We have the best feeling existing between upper and lower town. I have watched your course and action in the legislature this winter, and am proud to say that your positions are reasonable and just generally, and no man in that body would I sooner trust with important measures. Yours. EDWARD MURPHY.
" LO !"-WHAT WILL BECOME OF HIM ?
Itasca, March 16th, 1864 .- Col. Stevens : Having a great desire to spread the glories of Minnesota far and wide, I have become a regular correspondent of the National Republican at Washington. Permit me to place your valuable corre- spondence on my list. Though I never met you, I claim you as an old acquaintance from reputation-just as a hawk claims a chicken. If nothing better crosses your mind, give me your opinion as to the best method of Christianizing and civilizing the Sioux-or any other red men. Eastern philanthropists are in a peck of trouble as to the proper manner of putting them on the track to kingdom come and letting white folks occupy the whole of the continent-and the question pops up " what will become of the poor Indian ?" O. H. KELLY.
HAZLEWOOD REPUBLIC.
Oomahoo, Minnesota, Pajutaze P. O., Nov. 11, 1859 .- Hon. J. H. Stevens : My Dear Sir-I take the advantage of my slight personal acquaintance with you, to make an application, in which I flatter myself you will feel some interest. I refer to the passage of such a law as is contemplated by the consti- tution in reference to admitting to the rights of citizenship such Indians as may have made some progress in the track of civilization. You have probably heard something of the Hazlewood Republic. As an index of the progress made here, I send you a copy of the Constitution of Minnesota in the Dakota language. You are aware that in order to have any Indians raised to the status of men, there must be a law of the legislature regulating the mode. I have written to Governor Sibley, who will doubtless recommend the requisite legisla-
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