USA > Minnesota > Redwood County > The history of Redwood County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 32
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County Ditch No. 24 is asked for New Avon, Three Lakes, Sundown, Morgan and Brookville townships. The petition was filed on July 6, 1915. Viewers were appointed on August 13, 1915 No report has yet been rendered.
County Ditch No. 25 is asked for Three Lakes and Sundown townships. The petition was filed on July 12, 1915. Viewers were appointed on August 13, 1915, and the order, establishing the West Main and branches thereto, was issued on June 8, 1916. The contract has not as yet been let.
County Ditch No. 26 is asked for New Avon, Willow Lake, Sundown and Three Lakes townships. The petition was filed on July 12, 1915. Viewers were appointed on Aug. 13, 1915. The ditch was ordered Aug. 18, 1916.
County Ditch No. 27 is located in Paxton township. The pe- tition was filed on July 12, 1915. Viewers were appointed on Aug. 13, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch, was issued on Nov. 5, 1916. Tile. Under construction.
County Ditch No. 28 is located in North Hero township. The
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petition was filed on July 15, 1915. Viewers were appointed on Aug. 13, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch was issued on May 11, 1916. Tile. Under construction.
County Ditch No. 29 is located in Waterbury township. The petition was filed on July 15, 1915. Viewers were appointed on Aug. 13, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch was issued on November 5, 1915. Tile. Under construction.
County Ditch No. 30 is asked for New Avon, Sheridan and Vail townships. The petition was filed on July 20, 1915. Viewers were appointed on August 25, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch was issued on May 9, 1916. The contract is not yet let.
County Ditch No. 31 was asked for Vail and Sheridan town- ships. The petition was filed on Aug. 21, 1915. Viewers were ap- pointed on Sept. 24, 1915. June 9, 1916, at the request of the petitioners the proceedings were dropped.
County Ditch No. 32 is located in Springdale and Gales town- ships. The petition was filed on Aug. 30, 1915. Viewers were ap- pointed on September 24, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch was issued on January 13, 1916. Tile. Under construction.
County Ditch No. 33 is asked for Vesta township. The petition was filed on Oct. 19, 1915. Viewers were appointed on November 26, 1915. This ditch is ordered but not let.
County Ditch No. 34 is asked for New Avon township. The pe- tition was filed on Oct. 22, 1915. Viewers were appointed on Nov. 26, 1915. The matter of this ditch will be considered later, as there is still considerable doubt over the question of an outlet.
County Ditch No. 35 is asked for Vesta township. The peti- tion was filed on October 26, 1915. Viewers were appointed on Dec. 15, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch was issued on June 9, 1916. The contract is not yet let. This ditch replaces Judicial Ditches Nos. 10 and 19.
County Ditch No. 36 was asked for Vail township. The peti- tion was filed on Oct. 26, 1915. Viewers were appointed on Dec. 15, 1915. Dismissed. This marks the third attempt to estab- lish this ditch, the dismissed petitions for Judicial Ditches Nos. 11 and 20 covering the same territory.
County Ditch No. 37 is located in Granite Rock township. The petition was filed on Nov. 3, 1915. Viewers were appointed on Dec. 15, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch was issued on May 11, 1916. Tile. Under construction.
County Ditch No. 38 is asked for Sundown and Willow Lake townships. The petition was filed Dec. 18, 1915. Viewers were appointed on January 13, 1916. No report has yet been rendered.
County Ditch No. 39 is asked for Kintire township. The peti- tion was filed on May 8, 1916. Viewers were appointed on June 9, 1916. The viewers have not yet reported.
Tile Ditch No. 40 is asked for Delhi township. The petition
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was filed on May 15, 1916. Viewers were appointed on June 8, 1916. The viewers have not yet reported.
Tile Ditch No. 41 is asked for Springdale township. The peti- tion was filed on May 22, 1916. Viewers were appointed July 5, 1916. The viewers have not as yet reported.
County Ditch No. 42 is asked for North Hero township. The petition was filed on June 12, 1916. Viewers were appointed on July 14, 1916. No report has yet been rendered.
County Ditch No. 43 is asked for Johnsonville, North Hero and Springdale townships. The petition was filed on July 3, 1916. Engineers and viewers were appointed Aug. 15, 1916.
Judicial Ditch No. 1 of Brown and Redwood counties is lo- cated in Three Lakes, Morgan and Brookville townships and in Brown county. The order establishing the ditch was issued June 25, 1908. The contract for dredge work was let Aug. 19, 1908, and for the tile work May 17, 1910. Nov. 27, 1911, the ditch was finished and approved. Tile.
Judicial Ditch No. 1 of Redwood and Brown counties is lo- cated in Morgan township and in Brown county. It was estab- lished by an order of Aug. 3, 1908. The contract was let April 19, 1910. Open and tile.
Judicial Ditch No. 2 of Redwood county is located in New Avon and Willow Lake townships. The order establishing the ditch was issued Jan. 9, 1909. The contract for dredge work was let March 5, 1909, and for tile work April 12, 1909. Nov. 30, 1909, the ditch was inspected and approved. The tile work on this ditch was finished July 12, 1911. Tile and open. This ditch will be amalgamated in county Ditch No 26, ordered by the county commissioners Aug. 18, 1916.
Judicial Ditch No. 3 of Lyon, Yellow Medicine and Redwood counties is located in Underwood township, and Lyon and Yellow Medicine counties. The order establishing the ditch was issued March 11, 1908. Open.
Judicial Ditch No. 3 of Redwood county is located in Sundown township. The order establishing the ditch was issued May 6, 1908. The contract for tile work on this ditch was let May 23, 1908, and for plow work was let June 11, 1908. Open and tile. The territory embraced in this ditch area will be drained eventu- ally as a part of County Ditch No. 24.
Judicial Ditch No. 4 of Redwood county is located in Water- bury township. The order establishing the ditch was issued Sept. 10, 1908. The contract for construction of ditch was let March 2, 1909. Tile.
Judicial Ditch No. 5 of Brown and Redwood counties is pro- jected in Brookville township and Brown county. The petition was filed Sept. 24, 1915. Open. The engineers have not as yet reported on this ditch.
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Judicial Ditch No. 5 of Redwood county is located in New Avon and Redwood Falls townships. The order establishing the ditch was issued May 1, 1909. The contract for construction of the ditch was let March 2, 1910. May 14, 1912, the open work on this ditch was approved and paid for.
Judicial Ditch No. 6 of Redwood county is located in Redwood Falls townships. The order establishing the ditch was issued May 3, 1909. The contract for the construction of the ditch was let Aug. 5, 1909. Tile.
Judicial Ditch No. 7 of Redwood county is located in the township of Willow Lake. The order establishing the ditch 'was issued May 4, 1909. The contract was let July 13, 1909. Nov. 30, 1909, this ditch was inspected and approved. Tile.
Judicial Ditch No. 8 of Redwood and Yellow Medicine counties was to be in Underwood township and Yellow Medicine county. The petition was filed May 19, 1909. Dismissed.
Judicial Ditch No. 8 of Lyon and Redwood counties was to be in Gales township and Lyon county. The petition was filed Jan. 20, 1910. Dismissed.
Judicial Ditch No. 9 of Redwood county is located in Gales township. The order establishing the ditch was issued Jan. 12, 1911. Tile.
Judicial Ditch No. 10 of Redwood county was asked for Vail township. The petition was filed Nov. 9, 1911. The action was dismissed. County Ditch No. 36 was later projected in the same territory but was dismissed.
Judicial Ditch No. 11 of Redwood county was asked for Vesta township. The petition was filed Nov. 9, 1911. Dismissed. County Ditch No. 35 will cover the same territory.
Judicial Ditch No. 11 of Redwood and Lyon counties is located in townships 111-40 and 110-40 in Lyon, and Gales and Westline in Redwood. The order establishing the ditch was issued on Dec. 3, 1915.
Judicial Ditch No. 12 of Redwood and Lyon counties is located in Gales and Amiret townships. The petition was filed on June 3, 1912. On Oct. 13, 1913, the ditch was approved and ordered paid for. Tile.
Judicial Ditch No. 13 of Lyon and Redwood counties will enter Springdale township and Lyon county. The petition was pre- sented Dec. 27, 1915, and the viewers report rendered July 1, 1916. Action is still pending.
Judicial Ditch No. 13 of Redwood county is located in Vail township. The petition was filed on Dec. 22, 1913, and the order of court establishing the ditch was issued on September 18, 1914. Tile.
Judicial Ditch No. 14 of Lyon and Redwood counties is in Lyon county and Gales township. The petition was presented
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March 27, 1916, and the engineers appointed July 29, 1916. Action is still pending.
Judicial Ditch No. 14 of Redwood and Lyon counties is in Lyon county and Westline township. The petition was filed on Dec. 24, 1913. The order of court establishing the ditch was issued on January 13, 1915. Open and tile. Now under construction.
Judicial Ditch No. 15 of Redwood and Lyon counties is in Lyon county and Westline township. The petition was filed on March 23, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch was issued on March 11, 1916. Open and tile.
Judicial Ditch No. 16 of Redwood county is located in New Avon and Willow Lake townships. The petition was filed on March 23, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch was issued on January 18, 1916. Tile. Now under construction.
Judicial Ditch No. 17 of Redwood and Brown counties will be in Morgan township and Brown county. The petition was filed on May 4, 1915, and the order establishing the ditch was issued on July 15, 1916. Open and tile. Ordered but not let.
Judicial Ditch No. 18 of Redwood and Brown counties will be in Morgan township and Brown county. The petition was filed on May 14, 1915. The order establishing the ditch was issued on July 15, 1916. Open and tile. Ordered but not let.
Judicial Ditches Nos. 19 and 20 of Redwood county. Petition for Judicial Ditches Nos. 10 and 11 were dismissed on a techni- cality. Petitions for Judicial Ditches Nos. 19 and 20 were then filed covering the same territory. The judge refused to grant the petition, the policy of the court being to leave ditches wholly in one county in the hands of the commissioners. Petitions were later presented for County Ditches Nos. 35 and 36, covering the same territory. Ditch 35 will be built, while the petition for Ditch 36 was dismissed.
Judicial Ditch No. 21 of Redwood and Yellow Medicine coun- ties. The petition was filed on February 4, 1916. Dismissed.
Judicial Ditch No. 22 of Redwood and Lyon Counties is asked for sections 19 and 30 of Gales and touching Lyon county. The petition was filed on June 28, 1916. Action is still pending.
Authority. Records of the county commissioners' proceedings (manuscript) in the custody of the county auditor of Redwood county.
Annual financial statements of Redwood county (printed pamphlets).
Ditching records of Redwood county (manuscript) in the custody of the county auditor of Redwood county.
Personal testimony of L. P. Larson, county auditor of Redwood county.
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HISTORY OF REDWOOD COUNTY
CHAPTER XXV.
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS
The physician, especially in a pioneer community, comes more intimately in contact with the social life of the people than any other man. He sees household life as it is without the veneer that is often put on for other visitors. His advice as to sanitation of the home and surroundings is acted upon. In the early days he, the preacher, the teacher and the lawyer were the only highly educated men in the community He was a leader in intellect and public opinion, as well as the healer of bodies and minds.
A great writer has said: "Men most nearly resemble the gods when they afford health to their fellow-men." In an age when, in the combat of man against man, and nation against nation, destruction is rife through the world, it is insipiration to pay tribute to those devoted souls who are laboring to preserve mankind and bring it to the highest degree of physical efficiency.
Jenner, Pasteur and Lister are more to be honored than all the great warriors.
"The first anaesthetic has done more for the real happiness of mankind than all the philosophers from Socrates to Mills. Society laurels the soldier and the philosopher, and practically ignores the physician except in the hour when it needs him to minister to its physical ills. Few remember his labors, for what Sir Thomas Browne said three hundred years ago is surely true: "The iniquity of oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy and deals with the memory of men without distinction to merit to perpetuity."
"Medicine is the most cosmopolitan of the three great 'learned' professions. Medicine never built a prison or lit a fagot, never incited men to battle or crucified anyone. Saint and sinner, white, black, rich and poor, are equal and alike when they cross the sacred portals of the temple of Æsculapius." No other secu- lar profession has ever reached such a consciousness of duties which it corporately owes to the rest of the world. What are the principles which a profession, more profuse in its disinter- ested charities than any other profession in the world, has estab- lished for its guidance ?
It was about 2,300 years ago that the practitioners of the art of healing began to take an oath, emphasizing responsibilities which the nobility and holiness of the art imposed upon them. Hippocrates, forever to be revered, gave the oath his name. When a Greek physician took the Hippocratic oath, and a graduate of the modern medical school takes it, the act is one not only of obligation for himself, but of recognition of a great benefactor of mankind. The Hippocratic oath assumes that when a man
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has learned the art of restoring the sick to health he has passed into a realm in which the rules of personal selfishness are im- mediately abridged, if not expunged; and he is received in a system of principles and rules governing all licensed physicians, and enforced and respected by high-minded and cultured gentle- men-a standard of professional honor so sacred and inviolate that no graduate or regular practitioner will ever presume or dare to violate it.
Robert Louis Stevenson, seeing the life of the medical man only from without, was not far wrong when he spoke of the modern scientific medical man as probably the noblest figure of the age. The noble and exalted character of the ancient profes- sion of medicine is surpassed by no sister science in the mag- nificence of its gifts. Reflecting upon its purity, beneficence and grandeur, it must be accorded to be the noblest of professions. Though the noblest of professions, it is the meanest of trades. The true physician will make his profession no trade, but will be accurate in diagnosis and painstaking in prescribing. He will allow no prejudice nor theory to interfere with the relief of human suffering and the saving of human life; and will lay under contribution every source of information, be it humble or ex- alted, that can be made useful in the cure of disease. He will be kind to the poor, sympathetic with the sick, ethical toward medical colleagues, and courteous toward all men.
The true physician is he who has a proper conception and estimation of the real character of his profession; whose intel- lectual and moral fitness gives weight, standing and character in the consideration and estimation of society and the public at large. His privileges and powers for good or for evil are great; in fact, no other profession, calling or vocation in this life occu- pies such a delicate relation to the human family.
There is a tremendous developing and educating power in medical work. The medical man is almost the only member of the community who does not make money out of his important discoveries. It is a point of honor with him to allow the whole world to profit by his researches when he finds a new remedy for disease. The greatest and best medical and surgical discov- eries and inventions have been free gifts to suffering humanity the moment their value was demonstrated. The reward of the physician is in the benefit which the sick and helpless receive, and in the gratitude, which should not be stinted, of the com- munity at large. Medical men are not angels; they are, in fact, very human creatures with hard work to do, and often many mouths to feed; but there is a strain of benevolence in all their work. From the beginning they are taught a doctrine of help- fulness to others, and are made to think that their life-work should not be one in which every service must receive its pecun-
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iary reward. The physician is a host in himself, a natural leader among his fellowmen, a center of influence for the most prac- tical good, an efficient helper in times of direct need, a trusted and honest citizen. What more can any prophet ask than honor in his own country and a daily welcome among his own friends ?
It does not take long for the waves of oblivion to close over those who have taken a most prominent and active part in the affairs of the day. The life of the pioneer doctor is no exception to this law, for, as Dr. John Browne tells us, "It is the lot of the successful medical practitioner to be invaluable when alive, and to be forgotten soon after he is dead; and this is not altogether or chiefly from any special ingratitude or injustice on the part of mankind, but from the very nature of the case." However, the pioneer physician still lives in memory of many of us, though he is now more rare as an individual than in the years gone by, and is gradually passing out of existence.
The history, written and unwritten, of the pioneer physician in Redwood county, as elsewhere, presents him to view as working out the destiny of the wilderness, hand in hand with the other forces of civilization for the common good. He was an integral part of the primitive social fabric. As such he shared the man- ners, the customs, and the ambitions of his companions, and he, with them, was controlled by the forces which determine the com- mon destiny. The chief concern of himself and companions was materially engaged with the serious problem of existence. The struggle to survive was, at its best, a competition with nature. Hard winters, poor roads were the chief impediments. Only rough outlines remain of the heroic and adventurous side of the pioneer physician's long, active and honored life. The imagina- tion cannot, unaided by the facts, picture the primitive condi- tions he had to contend with. Long and dreary rides, by day and night, in summer's heat and winter's cold, through snow and mud and rain, was his common lot. He trusted himself to the mercy of the elements, crossed unbridged streams, made his way through uncut forests, and traveled the roadless wilderness. He spent one-fifth of his life in his conveyance, and in some cases traveled as many as two hundred thousand miles in the same.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has graphically described the old doctor's daily routine: "Half a dollar, a visit-drive, drive, drive all day; get up in the night and harness your own horse- drive again ten miles in a snowstorm; shake powders out of a vial-drive back again, if you don't happen to be stuck in a drift ; no home, no peace, no continuous meals, no unbroken sleep, no Sunday, no holiday, no social intercourse, but eternal jog, jog, jog in a sulky."
He always responded to the call of the poor, and gave freely his services to those who could not pay without hardships. Who
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can narrate the past events in the life of such a man? His deeds were "written upon the tablet of loving and grateful hearts, and the hearts are now dust. The long and exhausting rides through storm, or mud, or snow; the exposure to contagions; the patient vigils by the bedside of pain; the kindly deeds of charity; the reassuring messages to the despondent; the shield- ing of the innocent; the guarding of secrets; the numberless self-abnegations that cannot be tabulated, and are soon for- gotten, like the roses of yesterday." Wealth did not flow into the old practitioner's coffers; in fact, he needed no coffers. He was a poor collector, and with all his efforts he obtained but little, and never what was his due. As an offset to the generally acknowledged abilities of the old doctor in every other line of his work, it must be admitted that he was greatly deficient in business tact. Often content with the sentiment of apparent appreciation of services rendered to his patrons, of lives saved, of sufferings assuaged, and of health restored, he was too easily satisfied with the reflection that he had a very noble profession, but a very poor trade.
Though poor in purse, he was rich in heart, in head, and in public esteem. He made at least a very measurable success of life, if success consists in being of some small use to the com- munity or country in which one live; if it consists in having an intelligent, sympathetic outlook for human needs; if it is success to love one's work; if it is success to have friends and be a friend, then the old doctor has made a success of life.
He was a lonely worker, and relied largely on his own un- aided observation for his knowledge. Isolated by conditions of his life, he did not know the educating influences of society work. He was a busy man, with little leisure for indulgence of lit- erary or other tastes. He possessed, however, what no books or laboratories can furnish, and that is: a capacity for work, will- ingness to be helpful, broad sympathies, honesty, and a great deal of common sense. His greatest fame was the fealty of a few friends ; his recompense a final peace at life's twilight hour. He was a hard-working man, beloved and revered by all. He was discreet and silent, and held his counsel when he entered the sick-room. In every family he was indispensable, important, and oftentimes a dignified personage. He was the adviser of the family in matters not always purely medical. As time passed, the circle of his friends enlarged, his brain expanded, and his heart steadily grew mellower. Could all the pleasant, touching, heroic incidents be told in connection with the old doctor, it would be a revelation to the young physician of today; but he can never know the admiration and love in which the old doctor was held. "How like an angel light was his coming in the stormy midnight to the lonely cabin miles away from the nearest neigh-
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bor. Earnest, cheery, confident, his presence lightened the bur- den, took away the responsibility, dispelled the gloom. The old doctor, with his two-wheeled gig and saddlebags, his setons, crude herbs, and venesections, resourceful, brave and true; busy, blunt and honest loyally doing his best-who was physician surgeon, obstetrician, oculist, aurist, guide, philosopher and friend-is sleeping under the sod of the pioneer region he loved so well."
"We shall ne'er see his like again; Not a better man was found By the Crier on his round Through the town."
During the winter of 1864-65 there was no physician in the Stockade at Redwood Falls. The nearest medico was at Ft. Ridgely, where an army surgeon was stationed.
Dr. D. L. Hitchcock reached the Stockade with his family early in the summer of 1865, and became the first physician in the county. He was joined in 1870 by Dr. W. D. Flinn.
For many years these two physicians ministered to the needs of the pioneers. The story of their experiences, riding over the trackless prairies to isolated cabins far beyond the limits of the county, braving the heat and mosquitoes of summer, and the bitter storms of winter, sometimes forced to spend the night in some abandoned shanty, bringing healing in their little black bags, their elever hands, and their skilled brains, would make a volume of pioneer life well worth the writing.
These two pioneers were friends and often in severe cases they traveled together, sharing sympathy, companionship and advice.
Contemporaries of Drs. Hitchcock and Flinn were Dr. J. B. Wellcome, of Sleepy Eye; Dr. T. H. Sherwin, of Beaver Falls; Dr. Henry Schoregge, of Henryville (Renville county), and Dr. C. S. Knapp, of Cairo (Renville county). Each of these men had some small practice in the edges of Redwood county.
The pioneer doctors of Redwood county had many interesting experiences. Dr. Hitchcock and Dr. Flynn endured hardships trying both to mind and body. One of their thrilling adventures took place during the blizzard of 1873. A man near Wood Lake had frozen his feet and an amputation was necessary. Accord- ingly, Dr. Hitchcock and Dr. Flynn started out across the prairie with the necessary implements. While they were on their trip the wind suddenly changed, the snow began to fall so thickly that they could not see their horses' heads in front of them and they were finally forced to take refuge in a cabin a mile before reaching the residence of their patient. For three days they were snowed up in this cabin. On the third day by much effort they broke the way through to their patient's house, performed the
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