USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > Personal recollections of Minnesota and its people : and early history of Minneapolis > Part 9
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MANNER OF COLONIZING.
In subsequent years, so rapidly did the country settle up, it was not an uncommon event for settlers, with a number of boys and girls, to occupy every quarter section of land in a township, and three or four school-districts would be organ- ized, and rude school-houses would be built and occupied by teachers and pupils where, the year before, there was not a farm opened for many miles from them.
In some instances a colony was made up in the east ; an advance member of it was sent to examine the country and select a favorable portion of it for the colony which would follow on advices received from him, bringing with them not only a teacher for their school, but their minister of the gospel. A colony from Angelica, N. Y., came out in this way. They arrived in June, in time to secure sufficient hay for their stock which they brought with them. They lived during the time in their prairie-schooners, which were cov- ered with canvas in such manner as to protect the inmates from the rain. After securing their hay, and starting the prairie-plows, they all joined hands and helped one another ; put up a good log or frame house on every claim, and then built their school-house at some convenient point, and started
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a church-building. In a few weeks they were comfortably settled, the school was in operation, their preacher occupied the pulpit, and a singing-school and lyceum was organized. The young men went home with the girls after these gather- ings ; everything just as stable and as permanent as if they had lived on their farms for years, instead of only months. This could hardly have occurred without the aid of the old preemption law, which gave the settler a year after settlement to pay for his land, and confined him to a quarter section. The wise provisions of this law caused nearly every quarter section of land to be owned by an actual occupant, and that is the reason that the state became so thickly inhabited.
THE PIONEER SCHOOL-TEACHER.
Miss Harriet E. Bishop accomplished a good work in Min- nesota. No lady here was more widely known and respected. Her marriage, which occurred late in life, was not a happy one. She died in St. Paul several years since. Her memory will ever be cherished by those who had the pleasure of her acquaintance.
A VISITOR'S OPINION OF THE FALLS.
Dr. Ashmead, a noted physician of Philadelphia, spent several days in making a geological survey at the falls. He expressed a fear that, at some future day, the falls would recede to such an extent as to seriously injure the water- power, unless measures were taken to protect them. He said the ingenuity of man could readily devise such protection in a manner that would be permanent.
BUFFALO-HUNTING.
On the 14th of November two British officers of high rank in the Queen's Guards, noblemen, arrived from an extended buffalo-hunt on the northern plains. Their names were Wooley and Coke. They had been successful in the chase, and were highly delighted with the appearance of the falls. Colonel Wooley thought the prairies west of the big woods would rival the steppes of Russia in the production of wheat.
CHAPTER XVII.
A NON-PARTISAN LEGISLATURE.
As the time approached for the meeting of the legislature of the territory, much interest was manifested in regard to its organization. By law the session was to be opened on Wednesday, January 1st, 1851. As there was no politics in the choice of delegates, so there were scarcely any principles involved, only personal preferences, in the election of officers of the legislature. The choice of a public printer seemed the most important. After an exciting contest James M. Good- hue was elected to that office.
A JOURNEY TO WASHINGTON.
On the 20th of January I was surprised by a visit at my home from a committee of whig members of the council and house, requesting me to proceed at once to Washington and co-operate with Hon. H. H. Sibley, the territorial delegate in congress, in matters in which they were interested. Reluc- tantly I consented to make the journey. Receiving from Governor Ramsey and others letters of introduction to the President and members of the Cabinet, I made preparations for the tedious journey. There were no stages in this part of the country at that time. At Mendota I hired a French- Canadian voyageur by the name of St. Martin, who had a good horse and train, to convey me down the Mississippi on the ice as far as Prairie du Chien, where I could meet a line of stages for Galena. With plenty of blankets and robes we
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left Fort Snelling on the 22d, the mercury nearly forty degrees below zero.
A winter journey down the river on the ice, at that day, through an almost unbroken wilderness, was not a pleasant one. We endeavored to make each day's journey to a wood- choppers' camp, or a settlement, but in this we were not always successful, and sometimes had to camp out. The voy- ageur was thoroughly acquainted with the route, having for many years traveled over it for the fur company. He claimed to know where air-holes in the ice were liable to be and, in most instances, he drove around them ; but twice during this trip he drove into one.
Everyone who passed over the route expected to drive into these open-places several times. All went prepared. The preparation was simple ; it consisted of a rope with a noose at one end which was constantly around the horse's neck, the other end being attached to the train. When a horse fell into an air-hole the rope was drawn tightly, which would choke and inflate the animal and cause it to rise like a cork. As the air-holes were generally small, it was seldom that the train went into them. The harness was attached to the horse in such a way that it could be quickly removed.
The first night brought us to Point Douglas, where we found comfortable quarters. In passing Grey Cloud island we saw one of the primitive farms of Minnesota, that of Hazen Moore and Andrew Robertson, who had in 1839 fifty acres under cultivation. A little further down the river, where Hastings now is, Joseph R. Brown had in 1831 a field of twenty-five acres of wheat, which was the first crop of wheat raised in Minnesota.
Speaking of early farming in the territory, it may be well to state here that Joseph Haskell and J. S. Norris commenced farming back of Grey Cloud as early as 1839, and Major Brown opened a farm at Traverse, near the head of Red river, and raised a fine crop of wheat in 1836. He was also the pioneer in raising tame grasses, having introduced timothy on his farm as early as 1831.
Leaving Point Douglas at daylight the next morning, we made Red Wing a resting-place, and were entertained by John Bush, the Indian farmer for Wacouta's band. Mr.
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Bush came to Fort Snelling in 1825. He has resided at St. Peter since 1864, and is the oldest white resident in the state.
The ride down Lake Pepin on the smooth ice was the least disagreeable part of the journey. We remained over night at James Wells' (long an Indian trader) where we had for a room-mate my friend Good Road, chief of the Oak Grove band of Dakotas. He was visiting his relatives on the banks of the lake. Mr. Wells had long been a resident of Minnesota. His wife was the daughter of another trader, Duncan Graham. Mr. Wells represented the lower country in the territorial legislature. He was killed by the Indians in the massacre at Red Wood, in August, 1862.
The next place that offered comfortable quarters was at Bunnell's, on the bank of the river. Mr. Bunnell was an early resident, and furnished wood to the steamboats.
There were a few cabins where Winona stands to-day. At La Crosse there was a good hotel. From there to Prairie du Chien we got along very well. Here I took the stage for Galena, where I was joined by others and took the familiar stage for Chicago. Ours was a jolly party, fully determined not to complain at whatever might happen. Cold coffee, hard brown-bread, scorched bacon, scant straw on the floor of the coach, too few blankets and robes, slow progress, capsizes, cold stopping-places, uncomfortable seats at the dinner-tables, and poor horses ; such trifles were made the best of, and we were thankful to escape broken limbs, frost-marks, and seri- ous bruises.
Upon reaching Chicago the party put aside their heavy furs, and took the Michigan Central railroad for Detroit, from there to make a long and tedious stage-ride through Canada ; thence from Niagara to New York by rail was a luxury to western men. I was just fourteen days from Fort Snelling to New York, which was considered remarkably rapid transit.
At Lovejoy's hotel in New York (which was headquarters for most western men ) I met Simeon P. Folsom of St. Paul, also en route for Washington, to which place we proceeded.
Arriving after dark at the city of magnificent distances, we put up at the United States hotel, and immediately called upon Mr. Sibley who, with his wife, was living near the hotel with the family of Senator Foote of Mississippi. Mr. Sibley
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made an appointment with us to call the next day on the Sec- retary of State, Hon. Daniel Webster. At the breakfast-table next morning we had for neighbors Howell Cobb, of Georgia, who was speaker of the house of representatives, Alexander Stephens, and Robert Toombs, members of congress from the same state, David Wilmott, member of congress from Penn- sylvania, and others whose names were known all over the country. Mr. Folsom and myself became somewhat ac- quainted with these men whose names are here mentioned, some of whom became prominent in the so-called confederate states.
Minnesota in those days was looked upon by many members of congress as a howling wilderness, which would always be the home of Indians, wild fowls, and wild beasts. Mr. Sibley, Governor Ramsey, David Cooper, Henry M. Rice, and Frank- lin Steele had succeeded to some extent in counteracting those false impressions, and substituting correct ideas in their place.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL WEBSTER.
At the appointed hour, 11 o'clock A. M., Mr. Sibley called at the hotel for Mr. Folsom and myself to accompany him to the office of the Secretary of State. Arriving at the ante- room, we found it full of senators and representatives awaiting an interview with the Secretary. Mr. Sibley introduced us to many of them and to the president of the senate. In the meantime he had sent his name to the Secretary. Soon a colored boy came from the private office and in a loud voice announced "Mr. Sibley, delegate in congress from Minnesota". Asking Mr. Folsom and myself to follow him, Mr. Sibley led the way, and passing through the door, we stood in the pres- ence of the "Great Expounder of the Constitution". Mr. Webster arose from his seat behind a long table, cordially shook hands with Mr. Sibley, and turned his face upon Mr. Folsom and myself. His very looks struck us with awe. Those deep black eyes seemed to penetrate us in such a man- ner as to cause us to be almost speechless. Mr. Sibley im- mediately introduced us. "Folsom, Stevens," he said, "these are New-England names." Mr. Folsom replied that his father was born in New Hampshire. I added that my father
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and mother were natives of Vermont. "Oh !" he replied, "I thought so." He spoke of Captain Stevens, who had taken a prominent part in the King Philip war, and after rendering a tribute to the Pilgrim Fathers, asked Mr. Sibley if Minnesota was really to be the New England of the west. Mr. Sibley replied that the territory had all the characteristics of New England, but the soil and climate were superior to it. " Well, then," said Mr. Webster, " it is proper that it should be set- tled by New England people." I then handed him my let- ters of introduction. The one from Governor Ramsey seemed to please him most. He said he was much pleased to hear from him. He had thought that transferring his home from the fertile fields of Pennsylvania to the northwest would be distasteful to him.
By this time my embarrassment had worn away. . Mr. Webster asked what he could do for us. We informed him of the object of our visit, in behalf of the whig members of the legislature of the territory. He listened attentively while I made the statement. Without a moment's hesitation he replied, "Your request shall be granted." Among the papers that I presented was one recommending Joseph W. Furber for the vacant United States marshalship for the territory. " Why," he said, " here is another New England name." I replied that Mr. Furber was a native of New Hampshire. Mr. Webster said that Mr. Furber's name would be sent to the senate the next day for confirmation. When we had finished our business with him and were about to leave, he added, "Please remember me kindly to Governor Ramsey, and convey to the gentlemen whose signatures are attached to this paper (holding up a paper I had given him) the assurance that there will not be, at least at present, any change made in the Federal appointments in your territory."
STATESMEN OF FORTY YEARS AGO.
We called upon Mr. Charles Conrad, of Louisiana, Secretary of War, in regard to the sutlership at Fort Snelling, and left with the satisfaction of knowing that there would be no change of sutler at the fort.
Having matters to lay before Mr. Thomas Corwin, Secretary
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of the Treasury, Mr. Stewart, Secretary of the Interior, and the Attorney-General, all of which business was transacted in the most satisfactory manner, we awaited further advices from St. Paul, remaining in Washington several weeks.
We heard Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, Gen. Sam Hous- ton and Gen. Rusk of Texas, Bell of Tennessee, Mangum of North Carolina, Butler of South Carolina, Benton of Mo., and other great men, speak in the Senate ; and Robt. Toombs, Alex- ander Stephens, Howell Cobb of Georgia, David Wilmott of of Pennsylvania, and several other able men in the House, including our own delegate, Mr. Sibley.
During my stay in Washington Mr. Clay's compromise measures in relation to slavery, were under discussion in both houses. In matters pertaining to our mission, much aid and encouragement were given by the venerable senator from Wis- consin, General Henry Dodge, and Hon. O. Cole, member of congress from the same state.
Mr. Folsom and I have always considered it one of the happiest events of our lives that we were enabled to see and become partially acquainted with many of these great states- men who participated in the stirring events caused by the slavery agitation of nearly forty years ago.
By the 25th of February our business was finished and we returned to New York, where I purchased goods for the sutler's store at Fort Snelling, and for a store to be opened in St. Anthony. These goods had to be shipped by sea to New Orleans, and thence up the Mississippi by steamboat to Fort Snelling. It required at least sixty days for their transpor- tation from New York to Fort Snelling. I do not know that the cost of transportation was much higher then than now.
HOMEWARD.
The journey home was attended with many difficulties. I left New-York on the 10th of March and arrived in Minne- apolis on the 4th of April, making just twenty-four days on the road. The lakes were blocked with ice, the roads were almost impassable, and a flood had swept the bridges away. Some part of the journey was made on horseback, other por- tions on foot, or in a lumber-wagon.
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At Galena I purchased for the whigs of Minnesota an entire outfit for a printing-office, to be shipped on the first steamer from that place. The good old Minnesotian, a paper of rare merit, was afterwards printed with this material, by John P. Owens, John C. Terry, and George W. Moore.
Calculating that I could reach home in a week by land, via Judge Wyman Knowlton's new route from Prairie du Chien to St. Paul, I took the stage at Galena for the former place, arriving there in time to take the weekly one-horse turn-out that carried the mail through the woods by way of Bad-Axe, Springville, Black River Falls, Clearwater (now Eau Clare ), Knapp's Mills, River Falls and Hudson, to St. Paul. This journey was attended with more difficulty than® any I ever made. At Beef river, about 10 o'clock at night, we were overtaken by the severest thunder-storm I ever experienced. It rained and hailed and rained again until the whole country was flooded. There were no houses or cabins for miles. My hat was almost destroyed by the hail. We fortunately got the horses under a big pine tree, the branches of which prevented them from being killed by the dreadful hail. After shivering all night we got an early start in the morning, and just after daylight ran into a drove of some thirty or forty elk. They seemed to have been so fright- ened by the storm as to flee to us for protection. The guns in the party were so drenched by the rain as to be useless. The elk followed us for a time and then disappeared. They were so tame we thought they might have escaped from a park belonging to a hermit whose cabin was between the head of Beef river and Black river. The remainder of the journey was attended with more comfort, but I was much chagrined on waking up the next morning after my arrival home to learn from a passenger that a steamboat had arrived at St. Paul during the night. The boat had only left Galena three days previous, and I had been so long on the way.
CHAPTER XVIII.
AGAIN IN MINNEAPOLIS.
On my return to what is now Minneapolis, I found that during the winter great preparations had been made for building in St. Anthony. Not to be behind in the good work, Mr. Steele and myself determined to erect a small block, the lower part to consist of three stores, the second-story to be for offices, and the upper part to be for a hall, We secured the services of Joseph Dean, to superintend the work. Wil- liam Worthingham and A. N. Hoyt completed the masonry, and by August the block was finished and occupied entire.
THE FIRST WHITE CHILD BORN IN WHAT IS NOW MINNEAPOLIS.
Meantime an event occurred of great moment to me and mine, and of some historical importance to others. The morning of the 30th of April, 1851, was the coldest for the time of the year ever known in the country. The wind was blowing from the north like a hurricane. The air was full of snow. The river was bank-full, and the waves were high. It was deemed almost impossible to cross the river, either in a batteau, skiff, or canoe. It was necessary that I should have communica- tion with St. Anthony, for the services of Dr. Murphy, who resided there, were required in my family. The aid of three as good boatmen as ever swung an oar, with Captain Tapper at their head, was secured. The question was anxiously discussed, "Can any water-craft at our command withstand the fierce wind, high waves, and swift current ?" Captain Tapper thought our large batteau would weather the storm,
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but we were short of hands. Fortunately Rev. C. A. New- comb, of the Methodist church on the east side, joined us. He had remained over night with my only neighbor, Calvin A. Tuttle, who had moved into the old government dwelling- house, near the present site of the Palisade mill, only two days before. The water-craft was towed up the river in the face of the wind to a point above Nicollet island in order to make the landing on the east side above that island. With much difficulty and some danger the crossing was made and they safely returned with Dr. Murphy. About noon on that bleak, cold, eventful day, my first child, and the first-born white child on the west bank at the falls, a little girl-baby, was added to my happy household. The little one was called Mary, a favorite name in the family. She lived to bloom into beautiful womanhood. At the age of sixteen she gently crossed the river of life, and we tenderly laid her loved form to rest, and it quietly sleeps in Lakewood. The sun has never shone so brightly in our household since her departure.
FIRST BOY BORN ON THE WEST SIDE.
Another interesting event, of like character, occurred on this side of the river, in the family of my new and only neighbor, Mr. Tuttle, just one week after the birth of my little daughter. A boy-baby made his appearance there. He too, just as he reached vigorous manhood, crossed the silent river from which there is no return. He was the second white child born at the west bank of the falls. Up to this time there had been two births in the two families on the west side. There had been one death, that of an infant, in the family of Mr. Bean who resided for a short time in the old government mill in the spring of 1850.
Mr. Newcomb, mentioned above, went to Missouri, became a colonel in the Union army during the civil war, represented his adopted state in congress, and was also U. S. marshal of Missouri.
Our mail on this side of the river came to Fort Snelling ; that for the east side came to St. Paul. Mr. Sibley succeeded in getting a postoffice established in St. Anthony, Ard God- frey appointed postmaster, with Joseph McAlpine as deputy,
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and a weekly mail service from St. Paul. The people were then very well satisfied with their mail facilities.
INDUSTRIES ON THE EAST SIDE.
In the spring of 1851 Alvaren Allen, from Whitewater, Wisconsin, arrived with a few horses and carriages, which he was constantly solicited to loan at good prices, and almost unconsciously he found himself in the livery-stable and stage business on the east side.
Charles T. Stearns, a native of the Berkshire hills in the old Bay state, came down from Fort Gaines, where he had been employed in the construction of that fortress, and in company with Charles Manseur, just from the lower country, started a cabinet manufactory. Immigration was pouring in, and household furniture was in demand. In the absence of seasoned lumber the material used was frequently just as it ran through the saws, full of sap and soaked in river water.
Among the industries started which were the nucleus of the present mammoth manufacturing establishments of the pres- ent day, was a carriage-factory by George F. Brott, who came from New York to introduce fancy sleighs in this part of the country. Mr. Brott was successful in business, became a politician and made free-soil speeches, a land-agent and located town-sites, built mills, was sheriff of Ramsey county, married the daughter of Charles T. Stearns, emigrated to New Orleans, became a princely merchant, and is now a resi- dent of Washington. Mr. Brott is a rustler in everything he undertakes. -
Two blacksmith-shops were established this year, and A. M. Macfarland from New Brunswick opened a shoe-store. Mr. William Spooner from Sherbrooke, Canada, opened a harness and saddle business. Being an experienced work- man of industrious habits, he soon built up a good trade. Mr. Spooner became a real-estate dealer. Very few of his acquaintances in after years knew he was the first harness- maker at the Falls of St. Anthony.
There was a great fascination about the real-estate business Men of almost every trade, to which they had served an apprenticeship, abandoned their business to engage in buy-
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ing and selling real-estate. The crisis of 1857 financially ruined many of them. If they had remained in their former business they would not probably have been seriously affected.
THE ST. ANTHONY EXPRESS.
Elmer Tyler had come to St. Anthony from Chicago and opened a merchant-tailoring establishment. Having consid -· erable capital, he speculated in town-lots. On the 31st of May, 1851, he introduced to the public the St. Anthony Express, an eight-column folio weekly newspaper, neatly printed with new material purchased in Chicago. Isaac Atwater, who came to St. Anthony from New York City the previous October, was the editor. While in Chicago Mr. Tyler engaged the services of Mr. H. Woodbury and brother, two as good practical printers as could be found in that city, to take charge of the mechanical department of the office.' The result was that the paper had a metropolitan appearance from its first issue. When we consider that at that time St. Anthony had not to exceed a population of two hundred and fifty souls, and at least one hundred of that number were lumbermen employed in the woods a good portion of the year, it must be admitted that Mr. Tyler had a good deal of moral courage to undertake such a hazardous enterprise. Aside from this, St. Anthony belonged to Ramsey county, and in St. Paul there were several papers already in existence. Mr. Atwater's able pen, with the aid of that of Shelton Hol- lister, just from Yale, made the Express second in influence to no paper west of Chicago. The patronage of the town placed it on a paying basis from the start. In those days Judge Atwater was a whig, and the Express was a whig sheet, and a strong supporter of the Fillmore administration. The paper continued to be issued by different proprietors, mana- gers and editors, until the spring of 1861, when it was dis- continued, and the material sold and distributed among dif- ferent newspaper offices in the state.
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