USA > Minnesota > Renville County > The history of Renville County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
We found that evening we were camped on a patrol line and that there was no need of fearing Indians, so we three older boys went away to work after entting hay for father five days.
We went in the eastern part of the state and harvested, threshed and did various other kinds of work. My brother Clark went with me aeross the country to Yankton, and brother George went out to the Missouri river and did not return until 1884. Brother Clark and I worked in the pineries and returned to our homesteads in July, 1866, where I met Martha Barkey, who beeame my wife in 1867.
We went through many hardships. Hour was $9 a hundred, sugar $4 for one dollars' worth, tea $7.80 per pound. There was very little tea used in the house, excepting what mother had. A hundredweight of flour and fourteen in the family only lasted abont ten days.
Father often said we would have starved to death had it not. been for the wild game. We brought a number of cows with us, so had our own milk and butter; we. no doubt. did not see as hard times as some that did not have these things. After two or three years settlers began coming and settling up the country. Some brought money and we got breaking to do, and got a little money to help us until we got a crop.
We were getting along l'airly well when the grasshoppers came, and for four years we saw worse times than ever, It looked so discouraging that many left their claims, but those who remained were the best off and today it is one of the best coun- ties in the state.
Charles Kenning. In the spring of 1877. myself. brother Fred and two of my men then working for me as carpenters concluded we would visit some of our Chaska friends who had settled in Renville county several years before and had given up city life for the farm. We rigged up my light wagon into a prairie schooner and with two good horses hitched on we started to sail for the prairies in the wild west. As I had never been farther west than seven miles west of Glencoe in 1862 at the time of the Indian attack at Hutchinson I had seen very little of prairie life and my comrades had seen none, so that all was new to us. All went well until we left Glencoe. From there on the road was but
292
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
a track around sloughs and through ereeks, as this was in April and plenty of rain, and we had the opportunity more than once to pull our outfit ont of the mud, but as we all were young and had seen considerable hard work we pulled through in good spirits and landed safely at the home of Ferd Wolff. two miles east of Bird Island, and found them struggling along as best they could to make a home and recover from the grasshopper plagne of the last two years.
After a good night's rest we started ont next morning in com- pany with Mr. Wolff to locate and see the country. as we really had no intention of ever making our homes here, and no home- steads were left to be taken. Railroad and state lands were selected from. I located the southeast of section 6, Melville and my comrades selecting from other sections in Melville, making arrangements with Mr. Wolff to do a little breaking on each traet. We remained about a week and returned home. with more experi- ence on our return trip. as it rained all day. Although we tried hard to find a place to stop over night we could not and tramped on to Glencoe, landing there at midnight. As it was very dark one of us had to carry a lantern ahead of the horses for the last ten miles to enable us to keep the trail. When we arrived at the Eheim hotel we were all wet through and covered with mud. But after putting in some good spirits and a cold supper we were ready for bed, waking up the next morning with a smile all around and by the time we had breakfast were the same jolly boys again, ready to start for home and take up the old task again of earning our daily bread by the old route, and evenings entertaining our friends by reciting our experiences in the West.
Although I said little about going west I was thinking seriously of becoming a farmer in Renville county and in the fall made another trip, taking along enough huber from Glencoe, then our nearest point, to build me a small shack, 40 by 12. which I erected and used for a week. That decided my future. In the spring I picked up what I could, having built a house in February, hauling my lonber through the mud in that soft winter of 1878. paying freight on a car to Glencoe at the same rate we do to Bird Island today, and hiring teams at $10 a trip to haul from Glencoe, the teams loading at an average of 500 feet to a load, making an addition of $20 per thousand extra freight. Those Farmers certainly did know how to charge for transportation when they had no competition. But we still had the same old smile and after a series of struggles landed with our family on our choice of location. April 16, 1878. Although my friends in my former home had given me but six months to stay on the farm in Renville county we are still at the old stand, and in my travels have found no place that I wish to exchange for. Those pioneer days were truly pioneer days, yet to me happy days. having good
293
IHISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
health I could see a future home for myself and family in what I believed the best county, not only in the state, but in the entire West. We speak of hardships now; then we never thought of them but went on in our ambition to make Renville county all it could be made and today hear with pleasure the compliments given this county and its builders.
The writer, during the winter of deep snows, when the rail- road was bloekaded for thirty days at a time, hanled passengers and mail between Bird Island and Glencoe, being on the road in nearly every storm that winter, but a good team and a clear head pulled me through withont a seare. I was hardened and aceli- mated to Minnesota, having settled in Minnesota in April, 1868. I am twice a pioneer and look back to those days with joy, wish- ing I could live them over again. Those were happy days; no political tricksters to cause neighborhood troubles, and no news- paper combines or lumber trusts. Peace on earth and good will to all men reigned over the vast prairies of Renville county. Our dreams are fulfilled ; we can boast of beautiful homes and plenty and need not fear contradiction. Let the good work go on.
Michael Holden. The following is a graphic account of the experiences of a party of five settlers, four of whom perished on the prairie near Roseland, near Willmar, Minnesota, in the great snowstorm of 1873. At that time we hauled wheat from our homes near Beaver Falls, Renville county, to market at Willmar. Willmar was thirty-five miles north of where we lived. As that was too long a trip to make in two days at the end of the first day we usually stopped with a farmer named John Maher, ten miles south of Willmar. On the second day we would go to Willmar, sell our loads and return to Maher's place, returning on the third day.
On Tuesday morning, January 7, 1873, we left home before daylight, and by sunrise were five miles from home. My com- panions were John, Charley and Stephen O'Neil, and my brother, Thomas Holden. At noon we arrived at a place called Long Lake, which was fifteen miles from home. Here we fed our horses and ate our Inneh. As we arrived there a train of eight. ox teams started off ahead of us, having already stopped for feed. Driving these eight teams were Owen Heaney and his son, William, and six other men from Flora township. There still remained twenty-two miles of wild prairie before reaching Willmar, with only one settler. a Mr. Erickson, living in a sod shanty four miles north of Long Lake, between us and Maher's place. Having proceeded about two miles north of the lake, we noticed a storm coming from the northwest. It appeared like a hailstorm, so dense that it covered everything in its path. As soon as it struck us we were unable to see anything. Part of the time we could not see the teams we were driving. We
294
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
pushed on, however, and when we reached Mr. Erickson's sod shanty we found the ox teams and their drivers ahead of us. Mr. Erickson had no stable room even for those teams.
We stopped at Erickson's and I suggested that we unhitch our horses, blanket them. turn them to Mr. Erickson's hay stack, and get shelter in the shanty for ourselves. The shanty was only about 16x16 feet in size. There were six children in the family and eight men already ahead of us. John O'Neil settled the matter by declaring there was no danger, and five such strong vonng men could safely reach Maher's place. As the road was high on top of a deep snow, he thought we would have no trou- ble in keeping the road. John Maher's place was seven miles away. After a time the road became so drifted that the head team could not keep the road, so we changed and Charley O'Neil drove ahead. He had an old team which we thought would keep the road. JJohn followed, my brother was next, I was fourth, with Stephen following me. We had proceeded but a short distance when I saw the storm was getting worse and the road getting so drifted that I called all to stop and suggested that we unload, which we did. The bottom tiers of sacks were well filled and we could not get them out with our mitts on. so nine sacks were left in each load, and we pushed on.
We had snereeded in making about five miles when John O'Neil's team refused to go further against the storm. We then proceeded by having Stephen O'Neil walk ahead of John's horses. leading them. John went back to drive Stephen's team. ] kept looking back for John. but soon saw that he was not following. so I ran ahead and told Stephen to stop. We returned to my sleigh and called to John and after a short time he answered us from a southwesterly direction. We waited a few minutes, but he did not come, so Stephen went in search of him. being guided by his call. Ile had lost the road and in turning, when he heard us call. one of his horses stumbled and fell. John and Stephen had a hard time in getting the team np, and half an hour must have elapsed before they came back to my sleigh. Stephen was leading the team without the sleigh or harness. John, in the meantime, had lost his cap. He had tied a long neckscarf around his head and neck. During this time Charley was not with ns. he having driven on ahead, but when he found that we were not coming he had stopped and called and received no answer, so he turned his team east of the road to come back and look for us. He did not find the road again until he struck against my sleigh. Charley, I believe, would have reached Maher's place if he had continued on at that time. We had lost a great deal of time and it was getting dark. We were now all together, but we could not see the road ahead, nor did we believe that we could follow it. We supposed that we
295
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
were within two miles of Maher's place. We talked the situa- tion over and coneluded to make a shelter for ourselves, blanket the horses and tie them to a sleigh, thinking that the storm would be over in a short time, and we would then be on the road ready to push on at the first opportunity. We had plenty of blankets, so we unhitched and put the blankets under the harness of the horses. We put about two and a half bushels of oats in the box of the sleigh we tied the horses to. About sixteen feet west of this we arranged our shelter.
We took one wagon box off one of the sleighs, and, turning it over, lay it on top of the box on my sleigh, the front end to- wards the north. We had taken out the tail boards and this lelt an entrance. Over this we hung a blanket and placed sacks of wheat to hold it down. Then we crawled into our cold bed. John O'Neil and my brother Tom went in first, Stephen, Charley and myself lay down in the back end of the box at the feet of the others. Before long Stephen and Charley said their feet were freezing and they left the box and stamped around on the lee- ward side of the horses to get their feet warm. Charley soon eame back and lay down beside me in the box. Stephen said he would have to keep tramping all night to keep his feet from freezing, as he wore boots. He came to the sleigh every fifteen or twenty minutes to inquire as to how we were getting along.
About 10 o'clock lohn began to smother in the box, and he thought it was from the snow that was filling the box. We then tried to get out of the box so as to permit him to get out and get more air, but found the snow so packed that we could not. Neither could we lift the box. We called to Stephen but we could not make him hear, although we could hear his tramp. We waited until he eame again to inquire about us. Then we asked him to lift the box from the east which he did. I stepped out and assisted John to get ont. In the darkness and the fury of the storm we were unable to see anything, and the cold was something terrible. It seems that the scarf John had put about his head and neck had closed down over his mouth and had prevented him from breathing, as we had no difficulty in breath- ing in the snow. so we got back into the box again. We had been saying our rosary together all the evening. Before long John got eramps in his legs. Again we called upon Stephen to assist us, but could not make him hear, neither could we lift the box. As soon as John got on his feet he got over the eramps and we put him back in the box. It was only with difficulty that we put John baek in the box as the snow had drifted in and packed hard. I did not get back, but kicked a hole in the snow along the east side of the sleigh and lay down.
In this manner we fought the cold. The chills were some- thing terrible. I was afterwards told that the mereury was 40
296
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
degrees below zero and the wind blew 75 miles an hour. About midnight the horses drifted around the sleigh. so Stephen and I turned all except one that we could not untie loose. 1 lay down in my bed beside the box, and soon one of the horses began to freeze and he stepped back and lay down on my legs. I then be- lieved that I was trapped, but after a few minutes the horse moved so I could get up. I took him by the halter and moved him away. Ile was afterwards found dead about twenty feet away.
The morning found the storm still unabated and the cold more intense. Both John and Tom wanted to get out of the box, but Stephen and I advised them to stay where they were. They insisted that they must come out, so I took my brother Tom and Stephen took John, and we tried to have them walk, but they could not stand up in the storm. We were obliged to place them down beside the box where I had lain all night. Charley remained in the box, and soon he did not talk to us any more. We called to him, but got no answer. We thought him dead.
Soon after this my brother Tom died. The last prayer we said together was the rosary. lle could hardly finish before he fell asleep. Then we tried our best to revive John O'Neil. We took him to the side of the horse that was still tied, to have him stamp his feet. He fell against the horse, knocking it over and taking Stephen and I with it. We got up with difficulty. Then we decided to cover John up. We got the blankets from the box where Charley lay, and wrapped John up in them. Then we undertook to take the top box and lay it over John. but we could not. We had now lost the use of our hands, as they were frozen. We gave up that plan, and soon John was covered with snow. Ile did not answer us so we thought him dead. Then Stephen and I were left. In a short time he gave out and lay down along side the wagon box. Soon he did not speak. I was alone.
I was terribly lonely. and started to look for the road. It was very indistinet and I was uncertain in my mind whether to at- tempt to follow it or not. Then I thought of the long night ahead. We had supposed we were within two miles of Maher's place. I knew the wind was from the northwest, and I also knew that Maher had a forty acre field fenced. If I could get to that I might follow it to the house. I followed the road about a mile. At times I could see the road and then again I could not. I walked with my head down. I watched the angle of the snow drifting across my path and in that way kept my course due north. I knew that Maher's house was north by the road. Soon I lost the road entirely, but continued in the same way watching the direction of the blowing snow. In a short time I struck the
297
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
fence. An exclamation of "Thank God" eseaped my lips. I found the plowing bare, something I had hardly expected after such a storm. I selected a sod of plowing and followed it north, and soon reached a small grove near Maher's house and found a small shanty. After a few minutes I could see the house like a shadow. I went to the door and rapped and fervently thanked God when I was let in. The Maher family were frightened when I walked in, and grieved to hear of the fate of my companions. I was nearly exhausted, having been out in the storm for thirty hours with nothing to eat. My mittens were frozen fast to my hands like limps of ice, and had to be thawed off. My hands and arms were badly frozen to my elbows. It was night when I came to Maher's place-Wednesday evening. Mrs. Maher was getting supper. Thursday it stormed all day and until midnight.
On Friday morning Mr. Maher, with a couple of men, went to where we had camped. They met Owen Heaney and the other teamsters that had been sheltered at Erickson's, coming with Charley O'Neil, still alive. It had been impossible to hear through the snow, and we had not heard him speak for that rea- son. Mr. Maher took Charley to Willmar at once to secure med- ieal aid. In taking off the upper wagon box to cover John with we had bared Charley's legs and arms. Thus it was that he froze his arm to the elbow and both his legs. Eight days after the storm the railroad was opened and Charley was taken from Will- mar to St. Paul. He died there three days afterwards under the operation when his arm and limbs were amputated. Two of our neighbors, John Morgan and George Nicholson, who had been at Willmar during the storm, came by and took the bodies of my dead brother and his companions to their homes.
On Saturday John Morgan came to me. I had suffered in- tense pain in drawing out the frost from my hands. My weight was cut down fearfully during those days and I carry a crippled hand to remind me of the frightful experience. Five of the horses perished in the storm.
The remains of these four victims of the storm are buried in the Birch Cooley cemetery of Renville county.
Joseph H. Feeter. I arrived at New Ulm, Minn., about April 8, 1872, at midnight with but one dollar left. paid my hotel bill which was seventy-five eents, and started on foot for West Newton, which was nine miles distant, and paid ten cents to get over the Minnesota river, which left me fifteen cents, when I reached my destination. I secured work in a grist mill at West Newton. The latter part of May, 1872. 1 filed on a homestead, the northwest quarter of section 14, in township 115, range 34, Renville county. I broke about ten acres that year. The fol- lowing spring I helped a neighbor seed and thereby obtained a team to seed my land. At this time my family arrived from
298
IIISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
Michigan, consisting of wife and two children. In the summer of 1873 I managed to get a few more aeres broken, still not being able to own a team myself I had a very poor crop in 1873, which I managed to get harvested and stacked. but failed to get threshed. I had one small stack which stood over till the next fall of 1874. In the year of 1874 a neighbor seeded my land. I had another poor erop, but got it threshed. I was able to buy a yoke of oxen, but had no wagon or plow. I hor- rowed a plow, but it would not work. Finally a merchant took pity on me and trusted me for a new plow. I then did my plowing and late in the fall I moved to West Newton with a borrowed wagon and cut cordwood during the winter. I also eut cordwood the winter before at West Newton. This I had to do in order to support myself and family. I moved back to my homestead the following spring and put in a crop and did some breaking. I had another poor erop and stayed on my homestead the following winter and trapped musk rats, mink, ete .. for a living.
Then the hoppers came and we had them two years, and harvested two very poor crops. At this time I had to go bare- foot for want of something to wear on my feet, until after frost when a neighbor fixed up an old pair of boots for me to wear. During this time sugar, coffee and tea were out of the question. There is a weed that grows on the prairie which I gathered and made tea out of. About this time I proenred a cow and a few chickens which was quite a treat after I had been having poor crops. I had to haut my wheat thirty miles to the nearest rail- road station which was Atwater, Minn. It took four days to make the trip. I would here state that in the spring of 1875 I could not see where I was to get four for my family for the following year. Providence here smiled on me once more. A party from the eastern part of the state had a timber claim near by, and hired me to plant trees, so I earned enough to buy flour for the season. I had to haul wood fifteen miles from the Minnesota river, which took two days to make the trip with my oxen. Sometimes I had a little money to buy with, other times l had to manage another way. Our nearest neigh- bor, outside of our small settlement was eight miles south and twelve miles north. This was my experience in starting to open up a farm on the wild prairie. Out of our early settlement I am the only one left. Some have gone to their long home and the others have moved away.
Frank Wallner. In the Fall of 1891 on my way back from the western part of the state. I stopped off at Buffalo Lake. There were then about a dozen houses and the town had no sidewalks. I went to the only boarding house and took lodging over night. The next morning I was told that the village was
299
HISTORY OF RENVILLE COUNTY
in Renville county and located on the east end of the county. At that time this part of the county was very thinly settled. and over half of the land was virgin prairie. I made inquiries as to the productiveness of the soil and the price of prairie land. After staying two days I returned home firmly convinced that the land in Renville county is as good as can be found any- where in the state, and then and there made up my mind to buy land in Renville county, if I could arrange matters at home.
I was staying at home with my parents that fall and winter. and during the mouth of February, 1892, I induced my father to make a trip back to Renville county with me ; my oldest sis- ter's husband also came with us. We stayed two weeks and all three of us bought land before we went home. I bought the southwest quarter of section 17, in Preston Lake township: the price paid was $17.25 per acre; it was all raw prairie. On March 17, 1892, I reached Renville county and settled on my farm. With me came my parents, three brothers, three sisters and my sister's husband. I still own a farm in the same town- ship where I live and have prospered farming, and I have never regretted moving to Renville county.
Mr. Wallner was born November 1. 1866, in the township of Minnesota Lake. Faribault county, Minnesota. He was raised on the farm, went through the common and graded schools and stayed with his parents until twenty-two years ohl, with the ex- ception of time that he taught school a few terms. After that time he turned to farming and took possession of his farm in Renville county as stated above. On June 15, 1893, he was mar- ried to Mary Matzdorf. Their children, Lillian and Harry, are home. The people in his counmity have honored him with various trusts and publie offices, and at present he is town clerk.
W. C. Keefe. In 1866 my parents. Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah O. Keefe, with their five children, left Columbus. Wis., and came to Owatonna, Minn., where they remained a short time. Then they moved to Mankato, remaining there about two years, my father working as a day laborer. In the spring of 1868 he obtained 160 aeres on section 24, Birch Cooley township, Ren- ville county and moved the family from Mankato in the fall. The family then consisted of five boys and two girls, the oldest girl being fourteen years old and the youngest child, a baby boy. They came by horse team and the trip was a hard one. . Father brought the household effects with an ox team, which he had hired. We stopped at New Ihm the first night and traveled all the next day before reaching Ft. Ridgely, staying over night there with Sergeant Howard, and came to Birch Cooley the next night. It was about the middle of December when we settled in our rude shack in Birch Cooley, and there was a great deal of snow, about four feet on the level. Our
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.