USA > Minnesota > Renville County > The history of Renville County, Minnesota, Volume II > Part 90
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Even at this early hour the village was well filled by farmers and their families. and when we marched down the hill lead- ing into the village that morning to the tunes of Yankee Doodle, Dixie and St. Patrick's Day in the Morning, one could not believe otherwise than that the Fort Ridgely Drum Corps was the only martial band in the world, and that Beaver Falls was the most important place in the United States.
On the return of the Drum Corps to Fort Ridgely after the day's celebration, we lost our way. Some time in the night, after traveling many miles not knowing where we were going, we were brought up short by a woman's screams, who, rushing out of her dugout, commanded us in broken English to get off of her house. Then it was found our head team had stopped on the sod roof of her house. After we got straightened around she informed us we were several miles north of the Fort Ridge- ly road.
We then started south, and after reach- ing the right road continued, arriving at Fort Ridgely at the break of day, and in time to play "We won't go Home till Morn- ing" to a goodly number of settlers that had been celebrating the Fourth by having a dance in the old soldiers' garrison that was then in good condition.
Years after Miles P. Clark (Drum Major) and his boys moved to Duluth; and Chas. H. Hopkins and his two sons, Hayward and Frank, and Harvey Stevens, a son of Seymour Stevens, an old soldier, and Jerry P. Patten of the 6th Minnesota In, fantry, with George Buschers as drum major, composed the organization for many years. It may appear as it is now con- stituted, something like the old Revolu- tionary musket that one of the descendants prided himself on owning. Upon being asked about the different parts of the mus- ket that looked as though they were of a later date he admitted that parts had been
replaced until there was no part of the original musket left. In the same manner the name of the Fort Ridgely Drum Corps has been preserved, though none of the three original members now belong to it. Possibly this is in keeping with the pres- ent conditions pertaining to Fort Ridgely, for nothing but a part of a stone building is left to remind one of the fort of olden days, though we still have the historical data, the splendid monuments, the ceme- tery, the beautiful scenery and the state park. And if in the future the reader de- sires to stand on historic ground and enjoy the most magnificent scenery in the whole Northwest, he should make a pilgrimage to the old historic site of Fort Ridgely, where he may once more hear the music of the Old Fort Ridgely Drum Corps. (By Charles H. Hopkins.)
Renville County Politics. Political life when 1 settled in Renville county was a one-sided affair. There were about four Republican voters to one Democrat. Sev- eral of the most populous towns were set- tled by people of Norwegian or Swedish birth or extraction who uniformly voted the Republican ticket. The town of Hawk Creek hadn't a Democrat in it. Wang had only one Democrat and some others were nearly as bad off. The county contained but one newspaper and that was Repub- lican. There was some kicking against the Norsks and Swedes monopolizing the offices, and threats to combine against them were heard, but nothing came of it as the officials were mostly popular and generally well qualified for their positions.
There is a tradition that one H. E. Wads- worth. a Democrat, broke into the legisla- ture of 1872 and George H. Megquier, Democrat, turned a like trick on county attorney; both, however, for only one term. The grand jury took no notice of it, how- ever.
In 1876, my fellow Democrats thought 1 needed exercise, so they nominated me for representative. Hans Gronnerud kindly gave me a list of influential farmers in the western part of the county and i struck out with horse and buggy to interview them in my own behalf. At Hawk ('reek I ran up against a big schoolhouse midday meeting which was being addressed by Hon. J. W. Arctander and Hon. A. E. Rice, of Willmar. There was not a Democrat inf the crowd. 1 walked in and took a seat by the middle aisle. Arctander was show- ing why Major Strait should go to con- gress and Sammy Tilden to a much worse place. He was in the act of telling a story of a certain young unmarried woman who was a candidate for membership in the church, but who was strenuously objected to by some of the brethren. The rest of the story might not look well in print, so Iomit it. He took me for the Lutheran minister of the neighborhood and was somewhat nonplussed, but went on and finished the story. During a recess 1 was
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introduced to the speakers and many of the farmers. Rice and Arctander very generously gave me an opportunity to ad- dress the meeting and invited me to go along down to Sacred Heart where they held a rousing meeting that night and gave me a chance to speak there. It was one of the amenities of politics, not any too often met with. They lost nothing by it and 1 gained a favorable introduction which was helpful to me in after years. Their courtesy convinced me that they were broadminded men, a fact which long years of intimate acquaintance have con- firmed.
The next year I was nominated again. I was too busy on the farm to make a cam- paign. I made a brief speech at Beaver Falls and paid D. J. Deasy's expenses for distributing my tickets through the west- ern towns. About two weeks after election my hired man, returning home from Beaver Falls with a load of wood, brought the news of my election. To this day I do not know who was responsible for it, but have always believed that I owe a debt of grati- tude to some influential, generous friends, which it is now too late to discharge.
In 1878 Edmund O'Hara, Democrat, was elected to the House and I was defeated for the Senate. I never ran for office again in Renville county except as candidate for Representative in Congress in 1894 and as candidate for Lieutenant-Governor in 1896 and 1898. The county seat removal ques- tion was up until it was settled in 1899. It was the field against Bird Island which rendered it politic for her close friends to refrain from seeking office at the hands of the county. The old timers at Beaver Falls, being at the county seat, had the advantage of wide acquaintance, were most always able to dictate nominations and still more surely to decide the elections.
I may state here that we had one Demo- crat in the person of P. H. Kirwan, of Beaver Falls, a very likable and popular man, who held the office of County Auditor for twelve successive years. Another Democrat, Billy McGowan, was Clerk of Courts for several terms and ought to have been continued in office indefinitely.
But the Farmers' Alliance wave acquired momentum in 1888, and in 1890, by fusing with the Democrats, elected Ferdinand Borchert. of Bird Island, to the Senate, and Henry A. Peterson, of Renville, to the House. Borchert and Peterson asked me to manage their campaign. 1 advised Borchert to go out with his horse and buggy and camp with the voters and see as many of them as he could, right up to election day, not to contend with them but to leave them feeling better when he left than when he came. He followed my advice and besides held some schoolhouse meetings. He came back with the state- ment that he believed the democratic en- dorsement was doing him more hurt than good. He was cautioned to bottle that
notion up and not let the Democrats hear of it before election.
Peterson was assigned to certain parts of the county where he had the best pros- pect of getting votes. He came back to me twice with his head filled with fictions of our opponents. that I was not true to him, had sold him out, etc. I set him right and sent him back with the assur- ance that, if he listened to his opponents, it meant sure defeat for him. He went to one of my bitterest political opponents to find out whether the stories he had heard about me could be true and was told that he could rely upon my word as to that. That was one of the few things I ever got out of politics to be grateful for.
Meantime, I stirred our friends up by interviews and correspondence and felt amply rewarded by the success of the can- didates for whom I had put in my best licks.
The Farmers' Alliance movement was confined to farmers. It made rapid prog- ress in all parts of the country, more espe- cially in the South and West. It developed into the People's party open to all voters without regard to their calling. It soon bade fair to become one of the two leading parties in the country. In 1892 it cast more than one million votes for Gen. J. B. Weaver for president. In 1894 it took the lead in Renville county and elected James Hanna to the Senate and O. L. Brevig to the House.
But in 1896 the Bryan wave practically absorbed the People's party and it grad- ually disappeared. However, it injected the spirit of progress into both the old par- ties which manifested itself later in both state and national legislation. (By J. M. Bowler.)
Naming of Olivia. Olivia, the present county seat town, was not much in evi- dence, along the Milwaukee railroad, when Hector, Bird Island, Renville and Sacred Heart had been placed on the map in fairly good shape. Some one of the rail- road folks was bright enough to see that the plot of ground where Olivia now stands was so near the very center of the county that eventually, when railroads had all cut off Beaver Falls, the then county seat, it would be just about the place to locate that important county governing town.
At the time Olivia was located as a town- site, named and put upon the map, Albert Bowman Rogers was chief engineer of the Hastings and Dakota, as that division of the Milwaukee road was then called. Albert was a brother of L. Z. Rogers, a prominent man of Waterville, this state, at that time. Albert B. Rogers made his home with his brother at Waterville, much of the time. He was the whole thing about that road in early days; he had the say where towns and stations should be lo- cated and he had the naming of them; he was a celebrated civil engineer; he was chief in the building of the lowa and Min-
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nesota division of the Milwaukee road into the cities, was with the M. & St. L., going from there to the Canadian Pacific, where he made his reputation as a civil engineer in building that road through to Selkirk and the Canadian Rocky Moun- tains. His last work was with J. J. Hill and the Great Northern. He died in May, 1889, at the home of his brother in Water- ville.
The first station agent to be placed at Ortonville, Minn., was a woman. Her name was Olive. She was a particular
friend of Chief Engineer Rogers, and it was for her he named Olivia, and it was thus that the county seat town of Renville county happened to be christened with such a beautiful name.
Judge L. L. Baxter, late of Fergus Falls, was at that time attorney for the Hastings & Dakota railroad, and both he and Mr. Rogers have more than once told Darwin S. Hall all about the naming of Olivia. All of the other parties are dead, but Mr. Hall still lives in Olivia to authenticate this historical item.
CHAPTER XLV.
PIONEER DEVELOPMENT.
Nels O. Berge, a Pioneer, Tells the Story of the Progress of County, with Par- ticular Reference to the Pioneers of the Southeastern Townships-Looking Over the Land-Decision to Settle in Camp-The Colony Arrives-Names of the Pioneers-Early Discomforts-Storms-Stores and Mills-Thrilling Incidents-Wonderful Changes-Retrospection.
To properly relate for future generations the story of the early settlement of the southeastern part of Renville county, the names of the early settlers, the routes they took to get here, the conditions they found upon their arrival. the terrible hardships some had to endure, the privations of the early days, the blizzards. the hurricanes. the floods, the grasshopper ravages and the prairie fires; the influence the coming of the settlers had on the country, and the wonderful development and prosperity that has followed; it is necessary that 1 should start at my old boyhood home in the township of Ettrick, Trempealeau county, Wisconsin.
Nearly all the able bodied men in that township enlisted in the Civil war. In 1866 they were again at their homes. Much talk was at that time heard of the won- derful possibilities of the country further northwest. The great conflict being over there was every opportunity for agricul- tural development, the Indians having been subdued there was no longer any danger of barbarous massacres. The time was ripe for a great westward legira. Two colonies were therefore projected in Ett- rick township, one colony desiring to in- vestigate the advantages of settling in Pope, Stearns and Kandiyohi counties. while the other colony favored Renville, Yellow Medicine and Nicollet counties.
Accordingly, in the fall of 1867, Louis Hanson and Ole E. Berge set out for the land office at St. Peter, going by way of Trempealeau, Red Wing and Kenyon. Be- tween Kenyon and Faribault, however, they were overtaken by a heavy snowstorm and the trip was abandoned.
In the spring of 1868 another party was formed, consisting of Louis Hanson, Syl- vester Olson, Iver K. Sysee, Ole 1. Dale, with Nels O. Berge (myself ) going in place of his father. Ole E. Berge, who was too busy. Hanson, Olson and Sysee, all sol- diers. and splendid looking men, were dressed in their uniforms, and this insured us good treatment everywhere. From Winona we went by rail to Waseca, and from there by stage to St. Peter, where at the land office we obtained much valuable information, and plats to several townships in Yellow Medicine county.
Then we set out on foot along the old military road, via Swan Lake and LaFay- ette, and found the route well settled. We slept the first night at a farmhouse and reached Fort Ridgely, forty-five miles from St. Peter. about 1 o'clock the next noon. The buildings of the fort were still stand- ing, though pierced with countless bullets. A Mr. Clark kept a hotel there. Henry Simmons was postmaster and merchant. The government officer. Sergeant Howard, was, for the time being, absent.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon we started out to the northeast, walked about a mile along the old government road, and then turned east and crossed Ford creek, a name which, owing to the nearness of the fort was gradually changed to Fort creek. Now we were in Cairo township. South we could still see the trees east of the fort. but everywhere else rolling prairie stretched as far as the eye could reach, On the southeast quarter, section 8, we found William Height, with whom we spent the night. He was anxious for neighbors and showed us some vacant claims where
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Fairfax is now located. But the land was low and poorly drained and the ponds and sloughs discouraged us.
Here Iver K. Sysee left us, and started alone toward St. John (Willmar), near where he had some relatives. Over and through sloughs and marshes he went and found a claim near Norway Lake in Kandi- yohi county, onto which he moved his fam- ily in June.
The other four of us kept on, reached Camp township and came to the cabin of Charles Monney, who was married to au Indian woman. Continuing on our way we walked to the top of a hill which is the highest point in Camp. There as we looked back toward Fort Ridgely, and our eyes swept the Minnesota bluffs with their tim- bers, we-fonnd the location to our liking. But we passed on, and toward evening reached the place where Magnus Johnson was building a shack. We spent the night at Iver Iverson's, two miles further west, on the north side of Purgatory creek, southwest quarter section 2, south Birch Cooley. Mr. Iverson was at Beaver Falls buying provisions, but he returned that evening. He encouraged us to locate in Camp, saying the land was just as rich as it was in lowa.
However, we had maps of Yellow Medi- cine county, and we were still inclined to locate there, though we were told that we had yet more than fitty miles to travel. and that as Minnesota Falls and Granite Falls had no steamboats or railroads the nearest market would be at New Ulm, sixty or seventy miles away. So in the morning we continued along the govern- ment trail. The country we passed was splendid and there seemed no end to the great prairie, the bluffs hid the timbers and settlers' cabins of the Minnesota bot- toms, and a fringe of brush along the creek was all that could be seen except grass and flowers. At Birch Cooley creek we held a council, and acting on the sugges- tion of Ole I. Dale turned back toward Fort Ridgely. He said we could not find a better looking country than that we had examined in Camp, timber was near and the mills at New Ulm were said to be good.
Following the road on our way back, we came to a hotel kept by Mrs. Elizabeth Graff, northeast quarter section 17, Camp. and there mot Mrs. Graff as well as a young man named Thomas Smith.
Mrs. Graff's first husband, Max Haack, had been killed by the Indians, though she and her children were saved. Mr. Graff had been killed by accident the year be- fore we arrived. Later she married An- drew Schott. She outlived him several years and died two years ago, leaving three sons, Otto laack, of Olivia, and Oscar and Andrew Schott, farmers in Camp township.
When we met Thomas Smith he was preparing to go to New Ulm. with his horse team, after some material for Mrs. Graff.
He told us that he was the son of a man killed by the Indians. He had a home- stead three miles southeast of Mrs. Graff's, and he stated that he knew of a half sec- tion of land with timber and running water, that we could buy of Werner Baesch, of New Ulm, who had lived in Camp before the massacre. So with Mr. Smith we started out in his wagon.
On the way we passed a number of dug- outs, houses dug partly in the earth and built up with logs, with neat hay roofs, and usually with a door and two windows in front. The first place about a mile or so from the hotel was that of John Zahn, the next was that ot Henry Knoff; they had moved onto their claims the year be- fore.
Not far away were the homes of Thomas Tweet and Thomas Hill. Tweet had been there about two years: Hill had been there about three years and owned a half section. Later he sold out to Anders Korsmo and Jens Skarnes and took a homestead in Birch Cooley township. Further down the road we met the brothers, Andrew and Siver Nelson, countrymen of ours, who had claims in sections 12 and 22.
Soon we approached Three Mile creek, called by some histories the Little Rock creek, though the real Little Rock creek was many miles further down the Minne- sota. The Baesch half section which Mr. Smith showed us consisted of prairie and some sixty acres of timber. The creek ran through each of the forties, and there was also a fine spring there. Where the flat crosses to the river bluffs we found lines of trenches and breastworks. and were told that after the massacre a number of French and half-breed soldiers had been entrenched here. First the place was called French Camp, and from this the name Camp was given to the township. A little further east we found a log building, 36 by 20, badly wrecked, in which the soldiers had lived. We also passed just west of the old crossing on Three Mile creek, the ruins which were all that the Indians had left of Werner Baesch's hotel, store, big barns and outbuildings, which before the massacre had almost made a small village. On this land we decided to locate, Sylvester Olson and myself to pur- chase Mr. Baesch's half section, and Lewis Hanson to locate on a quarter section in section 23, adjoining.
It is interesting to note that the original owners of this piece of land were William R. La Framboise and Thomas A. Robertson. These two gentlemen, George Quinn and others, had Indian family connections, and secured land by the laying of half-breed script. Thus in the land office records there appear many names of French and half- bloods who secured the original title frow the government, but who never actually lived on the land.
Of course we heard many interesting stories of the massacre. Of the people in
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this vicinity Halleck Peterson and his family, John Halvorson and family, John Anderson and Hans Jorgen Halvorson were saved. Werner Baesch and family and several others in the vicinity escaped to New Ulm. The father of Thomas Smith was killed at the mouth of Three Mile creek, section 27, and several more people were killed further np the creek. Ole Sampson and several children were killed, but his wife and infant escaped.
As we continued our journey we came to more breastworks on the little hills, half a mile northwest of the fort. We also saw the heaps of earth where the Indians were buried.
Reaching the fort, our soldier comrades made friends with Sergeant Howard, and secured his permission, which he did not give in many cases, to "squat" on the land we had chosen, which was within the fort reservation.
In dne time we reached New Ulm, made arrangements with Mr. Baesch, purchased his land, attended to the legal aspects of the case, and before many days were safe back home in Ettrick.
Iver K. Sysee brought back favorable reports of Kandiyohi county, so two colonies were formed, one bound for Kandi- yohi county and one for Renville county. Ole 1. Dale, of the original Renville colony, joined the Kandiyohi colony because his son, Iver Dale, had purchased land for him there, but later he came to Renville coun- ty and purchased a quarter section in Camp township.
Our Renville colony started out about June 5, 1868, with prairie schooners, oxen, cattle, goods and ample provisions. By way of Winona, Rochester, Kenyon, St. Peter and Ft. Snelling we reached our destination. Upon settling in Camp we started constructing dugouts. Sylvester Olsen and myself tore down the big log house before mentioned, and my uncle, Louis Hanson, and l, managed to build two comfortable underground cabins.
Having five yoke of oxen, by using two yoke on each breaker, we managed to break 70 acres (35 acres on each of our claims), and also to help break for others. Then we built shelter for our stock, cut plenty of grass with our scythes, and made ready for the winter. This done, I went back to Wisconsin to help my father with the harvesting, thus ending my second trip to Renville county.
About the time 1 arrived home my father, Ole E. Berge, sold his farm, and we spent the winter in making preparations to move to Renville county. The spring was late, the green grass on which it was necessary for the cattle to feed along the way was slow in growing, and it was Jnne 7. 1869, before we got started. In the meantime 1 had married.
This third trip was not so arduous as the others for 1 was now well informed and experienced. We traveled with a span of
horses, four yoke of oxen, a lot of live stock, and three well-loaded prairie schoon- ers. Crossing the Mississippi at Winona we followed our old route, reached the Camp settlement, and found all our friends busy at work. Soon after our arrival I deeded to my father who had furnished me the money for my original trips, the 160 acres 1 had purchased from Werner Baesch, and then I located a claim on the northeast quarter of section 23.
I was now settled in Renville county, ready to take my share in its development.
Before proceeding with the general story of the development of the county, it is fitting that I should here give the names of some of the early settlers whom I re- member in the townships in the south- eastern part of the county.
In the summer of 1868 the people already living in Camp were: Mathias Johnson, Peter Lahti, Mathias Bogema, John Tweet, Thomas Hill: Thomas Tweet, southeast quarter section 17: Hans Peterson, south- west quarter section 10; Emmanuel Otto. northeast quarter section S: John Zalın. southeast quarter section 8; Henry Knuff, sonthwest quarter section 9; Elizabeth Graff (hotel), northeast quarter section 17;
- Jones, northwest quarter section 14 (sold to K. Elefson) : Thomas Smith, south- west quarter section 14 (sold to Jens Olson): Peter Nelson, who bought land from Christ Slumberger and Dennis O'Shea in section 27; and the early pioneers, A. J. Anderson, Helleck Peterson and John Hal- vorson.
Those who came to Camp township dur- ing the summer of 1868 were: Mathias O. Lee and his father-in-law, Nels O. Orre; Hans O. Boyum, Andrew Nesseth, Siver Nelson, Andrew Nelson, Ole O. Nesburg, William Foley, Daniel O'Neil, Jr., Dennis O'Neil, Hagen Elstad, Ole Hogstad, Eric Lokken, James Maxwell, James Cannon; Louis Hanson (my uncle), east one-half of southwest quarter and south one-half of southeast quarter section 23: Patrick Jor- dan, southwest quarter section 2; James Smith, southeast quarter section 2; John Galleher, northwest quarter section 12: Pat. Devaney, northeast quarter section 12: John M. Lunde, northeast quarter sec- tion 4: Andrew Elden, southeast quarter section 4; Ole Klingenberg, southwest quarter section 25: John Halin. south one- half southeast quarter section 27; Thomas Floren: Sylvester Olson.
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