USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > Personal recollections of Minnesota and its people : and early history of Minneapolis > Part 8
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Hon. Joseph R. Brown, who came with the troops in 1819, said that the flood of 1850 was the greatest since the occupa- tion of the country by the government forces.
FIRST TOWN-ELECTION IN ST. PAUL.
Duirng my absence St. Paul held a town election. Dr.
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
Thomas Potts was elected president. The organization was not completed too early, for the march of improvement was almost beyond belief. It far exceeded the expectation of the most sanguine and enthusiastic of those who had predicted that a great city was to be built there in the near future. St. Anthony and Stillwater were closely following in the footsteps of St. Paul.
CHIPPEWAS SCALP DAKOTAS IN ST. PAUL.
Hole-in-the-Day, blood-thirsty chief of the Chippewas, with some of his warriors, made a raid upon the Sioux encamped in the precincts of St. Paul and scalped some of the unfortu- nate Dakotas, and took others prisoners. Governor Ramsey called the chiefs and head-men of each tribe to meet him in council at Fort Snelling, on the 11th of June, to determine if there was any possibility that an end could be put to the frequent butcheries between the two savage tribes. A treaty of peace was agreed upon only to be broken at the first con- venient opportunity.
ST. PAUL AND ST. ANTHONY IN GENEROUS RIVALRY.
Ice-, bread-, butcher- and milk-carts appeared on the streets of St. Paul and St. Anthony for the first time this early summer. Although the two places were then in the same county, there was a generous rivalry between them. Some- times they "made faces at one another".
CHAPTER XV.
MOVING INTO THE LITTLE HOUSE UNDER THE HILL.
The humble house under the hill being ready for occupa- tion, we moved into it August 6th, 1850, soon after our return from the expedition in Iowa. The only way we could reach the house from St. Anthony was by taking a small boat, with two sets of oars, above Nicollet Island. The volume of water was so great, and the current so strong, we were for- tunate if the landing was made any considerable distance above the rapids.
Captain John Tapper, with his sinewy arms, required a strong assistant, with a capacious pan for bailing purposes, to make a sure crossing above the cataract. There were big rivers in those early days in Minnesota.
Pioneer housekeeping was not new to me, for I had long kept bachelor's-hall in the lead-mines, but it was a novelty to my wife, who had been accustomed to the refining influences and conveniences of a well-regulated New York household. Sometimes for weeks we would not see a white person : our only visitors were Indians. The ferry was suspended, which cut off all travel on the west side of the river.
Mosquitoes surrounded the house in such swarms that smoke would not banish them. The windows and doors were barricaded with netting, but that did not suffice to protect us from them. The beds also required bars. With all this protection, Captain Tapper was so annoyed by their depreda- tions that one morning, after a night's duration of suffering, just before daylight he gathered some blankets and took refuge on the brow of the hill back of the house, hoping to get a little
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BRMLETT & BYGEN EGRS
A-fournier. ]
FIRST HOUSE IN MINNEAPOLIS-ON THE WEST BANK OF THE FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY-1850.
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
sleep before breakfast. He rolled himself in his blankets and was just entering dream-land, when the hot breath of an animal on his face startled him, and thoroughly ended his inclination to sleep. A large timber-wolf, with several com- panions near by, was in search of a breakfast in the early twilight. With a voice that drowned the roar of the near cataract, Captain Tapper sprang to his feet, and shaking the blankets-his only weapons of defense-at the wolves, he made a misstep, rolled down the precipice, and with a single bound entered the door of the house, thinking he was followed pretty closely by the wolves. He declared he would rather be bled by mosquitoes than devoured by wolves.
MY OLD FARM WHERE MINNEAPOLIS NOW IS.
The time had come to commence preparing the land for the plow. August, September, and October were considered good months for grubbing out the black jack-oak which abounded in such numbers that it was with difficulty a man could make his way through the thicket. The land selected to be cleared bordered on the river, running back eighty rods from the bank, and extending about half-way up to the creek. Captain Tapper had charge of the work. He secured men who had experience in grubbing. The trees were all cut off ; the roots were then grubbed out and burned with the trees. It was expensive in clearing the land this way, but when finished the plow moved more easily than on the prairie. The soil was as mellow as an ash-heap. The crops that were produced on this land in after years were so heavy that it encouraged immigrants who saw the fields to settle in the territory. This ground is now mostly covered with solid blocks of buildings. The owners have large annual returns from the investments they have made in my old grain-fields in Minneapolis, but they cannot feel more grateful for such favors than I did for the bountiful crops harvested so many years ago.
NATIVE GROVES THAT WERE ON THE WEST BANK OF THE FALLS.
There being many beautiful groves of hard-wood in the immediate neighborhood, but mostly outside the precincts of my claim, which I was anxious to preserve for the benefit of
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future generations, it was with much regret that I observed, one bright September day, a party of men engaged in felling trees in the midst of one of the finest of the groves near where Fifth avenue now crosses Washington avenue. I protested against such vandalism, when the foreman informed me that he was there by direction of the chief of the authori- ties at Fort Snelling, for the purpose of making charcoal for the use of the government blacksmiths of the post ! As many of the prettiest trees had fallen by the hands of the axmen, it was too late for making a journey to the fort in their behalf ; and probably if a commencement had not been made, I could not have changed the result. It would not have made much difference any way, for in a few short years nearly all the primitive groves within the present boundaries of the city were destroyed.
EARLY MAIL FACILITIES.
At this time there was no postoffice in St. Anthony, and if there had been, it would have been of little use to us, on ac- count of the difficulty in crossing the river. There were only three mail-routes in the territory. ; one from St. Paul to Fort Snelling and back once a week ; from St. Paul to the Falls of St. Croix via Stillwater and Marine mills and back weekly ; and a weekly between St. Paul and Stillwater. Our nearest postoffice on this side of the river was Fort Snelling ; on the other side St. Paul. There were only sixteen post- offices in Minnesota, most of them on the banks of the river below St. Paul. We usually received our letters and papers once a week.
OUR NEIGHBORS.
Fortunately I had a pretty good library, and Mrs. Stevens had a piano and other musical instruments, which had a ten- dency to banish from the little house most of the lonesome- ness naturally incident to pioneer life so far from neighbors. At that time the old government-house was unoccupied, and remained in that condition until the 25th of the following April, when Calvin A. Tuttle moved over from St. Anthony and occupied it. During the last part of 1850 and the first part of 1851 we were alone on the west bank of the falls.
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
Ambrose Dyer, a native of Oneida county, New York, a bachelor, was at one time during the year employed to look after the mill-property, which had been transferred in 1849 to Robert Smith, member of congress from Illinois. The different tribes of Indians were never so numerous in the neighborhood as in 1850. A constant stream of Winnebagoes were coming and going. The different bands of Sioux remained in camp several months on the high-lands just above the falls. They did not interfere with my stock, but made sad havoc with my garden. As a general rule the Indians respected the private property of the whites residing outside of their own lands, but would occasionally confiscate the property of the missionaries. For instance, Rev. M. N. Adams, then at Lac-qui-parle, in a letter to me says : "The "general aspect of things here at present is pretty much as "usual. The natives have again recently been guilty of an "outrage upon our property. On last Sabbath they slaugh- " tered one of our best cows. The mere loss is but a small "matter compared with other considerations touching moral "principles and the public good. If this was the first offense "then perhaps it might be looked upon with some degree of "allowance ; but for some fourteen years the missionaries " have suffered such outrages at the hands of this lawless and " savage people. We have not yet appealed to the civil " authorities for special interference, although legally we have " a right to do so : for we are personally here each one of us "not only with the sanction of the United States government " but with guarantees of protection and all the assistance that "is in the power of the civil authorities to render us in the "prosecution of our work among this people."
There can be no question but that the cussedness of these savages was frequently annoying to the missionaries.
POLITICAL.
I had hardly become settled in my new home before I was called upon, in common with most everyone else, to take part in the selection of a candidate for delegate to congress. Then as now there was a strong feeling against what was termed monopolies. Some persons on the St. Anthony side of the
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river were prejudiced against the mill-company. There was no special reason for this. Every man's, woman's and child's bread and butter depended on the success of this industry, which at that time was the only one we had ; and while there was only an average of about twenty thousand feet of lumber sawed each day, it was our all. We could not fall back, as our St. Paul friends did, on the resources gathered from the Indian payments. In that village if a bill was to be collected the collector understood very well that he would have to wait for his money until after the payment of the annuities by the general government to the different Indian nations. Even at that early day St. Paul was commercial : we were manufac- turing. If the mill-company wanted a particular man to run for delegate, there were others who wanted some one else. Party lines were not thought of by the people. The different factions in the Indian trade had their favorites. Several names were mentioned to succeed Hon. H. H. Sibley as dele- gate. Among them were David Olmsted, Colonel A. M. Mitchell the U. S. marshal, and Captain N. Greene Wilcox of the land-office at Stillwater : all good men. I was appointed chairman of a committee to correspond with those residing in different parts of the territory for the purpose of an early meeting in St. Paul for consultation in regard to the matter. Among others Rev. G. H. Pond was solicited to be present on the occasion. He replied to the letter of invitation :
LETTER FROM REV. G. H. POND.
"Oak Grove, August 6, 1850. John H. Stevens, St. Peter, . "Minnesota-Dear Sir : Your note of yesterday requesting "me to inform yourself and others whether or not I would be " willing to attend as a delegate, the proposed convention at "St. Paul next Saturday, was duly received.
"My reply is, that it will not be practicable for me to go to "St. Paul on that day.
"As regards the nomination of a delegate to represent "Minnesota in Congress, I think party feeling ought to have " very little to dowith it. We want our territory represented, " and not a party, nor a company, nor a society. We want a " man of respectable abilities, a man of character, a man who
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" will faithfully represent us all, and one of whom we shall " not be ashamed.
"I should be ashamed to be represented by the nominee of "a clique. I should have been better pleased with Mr. Sibley "if he, as a representative of the territory, had kept himself "entirely above party and company interests ; but notwith- " standing what he has done, his mistakes and blunders to " which we are all liable, I would still, on the whole, prefer "H. H. Sibley to any other man who has yet been named to " me as suitable to represent our territory in the national " council. Perhaps we have a better man : if so I hope he " will be found and elected; but it should be borne in mind " that those who are most earnest to obtain the office may not " be best qualified to fill it.
"Let us endeavor to name a good man, and if we fail to " elect him, we shall not be ashamed of what we attempted to " do. Better to fail in a good cause than to succeed in a bad " one. Truly yours. G. H. Pond."
Mr. Pond had reference to Governor Sibley during the early summer of 1849 espousing the cause of the democracy, when he said he " should have been better pleased if he had kept himself entirely above party". While Governor Sibley had previously been active in everything that could possibly benefit the territory, his politics, to the mass of the people previous to June 1849, were unknown ; hence the announce- ment that he believed in the democratic party of the day was received with regret by several of us old whigs ; and yet we had no reason to censure him ; only we were in hopes he was a whig.
A conference was held by the friends of the different can- didates, and when election-day came there were only two can- didates in the field-Governor Sibley and Colonel Mitchell- the former being re-elected. Whigs voted for Mr. Sibley and democrats for Mr. Mitchell. There was no party contest in the election. The people were well satisfied with the result, and were glad the election was over.
A non-partisan election creates more strife and bad blood than when strict party lines are observed. What added to the excitement was the interest taken by the different houses engaged in trading with the Indians. Colonel Mitchell, the
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defeated candidate, was a gentleman of fine abilities, a native of Ohio, and succeeded J. L. Taylor as U. S. marshal of the territory-Mr. Taylor declining to retain that office after the organization of the territory in 1849. Colonel Mitchell commanded one of the Ohio regiments in Mexico, during the war of the United States with that republic. The election campaign was fortunately made in about three weeks, so there was not time for any great demonstrations on either side, and the bad blood engendered during the time soon passed away, and a united people joined with heart and hand again in earnestly laboring for the development of the agricultural, horticultural, manufacturing, and commercial resources of the territory.
A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR.
Minnesota was honored, during the early autumn of this year, with a visit from Miss Fredrika Bremer, the world-wide known Swedish authoress. In those colonial times, when the country was mostly occupied by the red men, the Indian summers (so called ) were splendid. Miss Bremer was charmed with the one that year. On one of those choice days she vis- ited the site which now includes the city of Minneapolis proper, when the foliage of the trees, in their beautiful autumnal tints, the forests brilliant in their mantles of crimson and gold, glowed in the autumn sunlight. She was enthusiastic in regard to the picturesque scenery on the west bank of the falls, declaring it was the most lovely wilderness she ever saw. Such scenery, after the first frosts, when the leaves of the native trees seem all ablaze with celestial flame, so new to visitors, is a familiar, annually-recurring sight and source of delight to every resident of this state.
Little did Miss Bremer think that in a little more than one generation the site of that unbroken wilderness that so charmed her would contain within its limits the sixth-greatest popu- lation of her Scandinavian people in any city in the known world ! Miss Bremer was perhaps among the first of her countrywomen who visited us ; and it would seem that she has been a guardian-angel to her people in the city, for they have prospered in the new land of their adoption.
CHAPTER XVI.
IMPROVEMENTS.
The improvements made in St. Anthony during the summer and fall of 1850 were satisfactory, though not as extensive as anticipated in the spring. Anson Northrup finished in June the erection of the St. Charles hotel, and for the times it was a large house, but not too commodious for the wants of the traveling public.
ARRIVALS IN 1849.
The village had been fortunate the year previous - that of 1849-by the addition to its numbers of such men and their families as John W. North, Dr. John H. Murphy, Reuben Bean, Judge Bradley B. Meeker, Dr. Ira Kingsley, Elijah Moulton, Charles Kingsley, James McMullen, Joseph M. Marshall, John Jackins, William P. Day, Silas and Isaac Lane, Francis Huot, L. Bostwick, Owen McCarty, Moses W. Getchell, Isaac Gilpatrick, J. G. Spence, Lewis Stone, Rufus Farnham, senior, Rufus Farnham, junior, Albert Dorr, William Worthingham, Elmer Tyler, L. N. Par- ker (who hauled the lumber from St. Croix for Governor Marshall's store ), William Richardson, Eli F. Lewis, Charles A. Brown, A. J. Foster, Charles T. Stearns, Stephen Pratt, William W. Getchell, Isaac Ives Lewis, J. Q. A. Nickerson, Ira Burroughs, Samuel Fernald, William H. Welch, F. X. Creapeau, N. Beauteau, John Bean, and Amos Bean : all far above the average in regard to merit and enterprise ; and those who settled in St. Anthony in 1850 were men of equal merit ; citizens who would be an honor to any partof the Union.
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ARRIVALS IN ST. ANTHONY IN 1850.
The following is a pretty full list of persons who arrived in 1850 : Judge Isaac Atwater, Edward Murphy, John Wensinger, Allen Harmon, C. F. Harmon, John S. Mann, Charles W. Christmas, William Harmon, Stephen E. Foster, George T. Vail, A. R. Young, E. A. Harmon, Justus H. Moul- ton, Charles Miles, Colonel William Smith, Judge Joel B. Bassett, Rufus S. Pratt, William Finch, Chandler Harmon, Reuben B. Gibson, Simon Bean, Chris. C. Gavey, Joseph Le Duc, William Stevens, G. G. Loomis, Joseph P. Wilson, Ezra Hanscomb, A. C. Murphy, R. P. Upton, Thomas War- wick, Eben How, Stephen Cobb, Joseph Dean, Peter Poncin, Thomas Chambers, Horace Webster, Henry Chambers, Geo. W. Chowen, W. W. Wales, Warren Bristol, William L. Larned, Simon Stevens, Captain Benjamin B. Parker, Water- man Stinson, Charles Gilpatrick, Hon. Baldwin Brown, John Hinkston, Charles Mansuer, William Smiley, and G. W. Tew.
SOME OF THE FIRST PASTORS.
Rev. Enos Stephens and Rev. C. W. Newcomb of the Methodist church, and Rev. W. P. Brown of the Baptist church, administered with much acceptability to the wants of the people in a spiritual way. Mr. Newcomb was a particular favorite. He subsequently became a colonel in the army, a member of congress for several terms, and then U. S. marshal for Missouri.
Mrs. Worthingham, wife of Wm. Worthingham, introduced into her grounds beautiful ornamental shrubbery and flowers. That excellent lady, long since deceased, was the pioneer at the falls in making her home beautiful, attractive and pleasant with choice flowering plants, shade and ornamental trees and shrubbery.
EDUCATIONAL.
The public schools, first inaugurated by Miss Electa Backus, were never more prosperous than during this season. The scholars came from the four corners of the globe, nearly all nations being represented. They rapidly fell into the man- ners, and readily observed the rules, the art, and the ways in which western schools were conducted. Those from foreign
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
lands vied with the native-born from the different states of the Union in learning that which would be useful to them through life.
It could hardly be expected that boys and girls brought together for the first time, whose nationalities were so varied, would make as rapid progress in mastering their books and studies as in an old-settled school-district where pupils had been acquainted with each other almost from the time they left the cradle ; but a few weeks sufficed for an acquaintance and, strangers as they were, in a month they became happy members of the same school : but it was laborious for the teachers, at the commencement of the school-term, to properly manage their pupils.
St. Anthony was fortunate in the early days in securing such educators as Professor Merrill and his associates.
LEGISLATIVE.
There was some little excitement at the fall election for members of the legislature, but John W. North and Edward Patch were returned to the house of representatives. Both members were elected as democrats, though Mr. North was generally known as a free-soiler or anti-slavery man ; but both gentlemen were supported by those who were known as anti-monopolists. At the election held the year before W. R. Marshall and-William Dugas were elected to the house, and John Rollins to the council. Captain Rollins held his seat for two years. Citizens at the falls are greatly indebted to Governor Marshall for his services in securing the seat of the university in their midst. He was at that time a prominent citizen here and, in company with his brother Joseph M. Marshall, now of Colorado, had a general-store. For valuable services in both an official and a private capacity St. Anthony cannot be too grateful to Governor Marshall. He was mar- ried in 1854 to Miss Abby Langford, a daughter of a promi- nent citizen of Utica, New York. He has resided in St. Paul since 1852.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
Among the interesting events of the previous year was the arrival of Dr. David Dale Owen and Dr. Norwood who,
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under the auspices of the United States government, made a very thorough geological survey of the immediate vicinity of the falls. They camped on the west bank of the river for more than a week. About the same time General Pope, then lieutenant in the topographical corps of engineers, took the latitude and longitude of the falls. The former is near 45 degrees north. All of these distinguished men were favorably impressed with the great possibilities of the future in regard to the water-power. They agreed that when the water was controlled by the proper improvements, that a large indus- trial city would exist in the neighborhood. General Pope acted upon this belief by purchasing, through a second party, several lots in St. Anthony.
THE LUMBER TRADE.
Large preparations were made during the summer and early fall for lumber operations during the winter in the Rum river pineries. Owing to the bad-faith of Hole-in-the-day, the Chippewa chief, logging which had been prosecuted the pre- vious winter by Joseph R. Brown on one of the tributaries of the upper Mississippi, was abandoned, and the cut necessary for the consumption of the mills was confined exclusively to the pine on the two forks of Rum river. In addition to the logs required at the falls others were in demand for a steam- sawmill that had been projected at St. Paul by the fur com- pany. This encouraged the lumbermen who had mostly left that business in Maine and emigrated to this new region, to re-embark in the same enterprise. They observed the same rules and habits here, in regard to that industry that were practiced in the east. As they had served an apprenticeship to the lumber business, their experience gave them great advantage over western men, who in some instances attempted to cut logs in the Rum river pineries. The former frequently made money ; the latter seldom, if ever.
VISITORS AND IMMIGRANTS.
During the beautiful autumn weather there were numbers of visitors to the falls. Many were from the lower country ; others from St. Paul, Stillwater, and Fort Snelling. Among
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those who spent several weeks with us was Miss Harriet E. Bishop of St. Paul. This lady, a native of Vermont, was one of the pioneer school-teachers in the territory. She accom- panied Governor Slade, a noted philanthropist of that day, with several other teachers from her native state, to the west, for the purpose of teaching, and improving the moral condi- tion of the people. Only three of those ladies reached this territory ; the others were distributed at different places east of us where their valuable aid was more necessary than here ; for the reason that there were scarcely enough children in the whole territory, in convenient school-districts, to warrant the services of more than three teachers. The country was sparsely settled at best, and more than half the settlers were bachelors, or recently married persons who did not have children old enough to attend school. This was before the immigration of those who had large families.
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