Fifty Years In The Northwest

Martin Beaser, one of the pre-emptors of the site of Ashland, was born in Erie county, New York, Oct. 22, 1822. For many years he was a seafaring man. He spent seven years in whaling, at the close of which time he came to Ontonagon in a sailing vessel, and thence with three companions in a dog sledge to Ashland, arriving February, 1856. Here he pre-empted land, and assisted in laying out the village. He engaged in the mercantile business. He was drowned in November, 1866, while trying to cross Chequamegon bay in an open boat during a storm. Mr. Beaser was a public spirited man and freely used his wealth in attempting to build up Ashland. He never lost faith in the ultimate prosperity of his adopted home.

Hon. Sam S. Fifield was born in Corinna, Penobscot county, Maine, June 24, 1839. His early days were spent in Bangor, and he had but limited school privileges. He was early thrown upon his own resources and learned lessons in the rough school of life. He spent his time variously, as errand boy, hotel clerk, night watch on a steamboat, toll keeper; but finally, having served a brief apprenticeship in a printing office, he became the proprietor of the Polk County Press in 1862. In 1872 he and his brother Hank O. established the Ashland Press, of which he is now sole editor and publisher. Mr. Fifield entered the political arena as a Republican and has been remarkably successful. His record from the Wisconsin blue book is as follows:

1868-69 – Assembly proof-reader and assistant sergeant-at-arms.

1871-72 – Assembly sergeant-at-arms.

1874-75-76 – Member of assembly from Ashland, Barron, Burnett, Douglas, and Polk counties.

1876 – Speaker of the assembly.

1877 – Member of the senate.

1880-81 – Member of the senate.

1882-86 – Lieutenant governor.

Mr. Fifield was married to Stella Grimes, at Prescott, 1863. Considering the disadvantageous circumstances of his youth, Mr. Fifield's career has been a notable one.

BAYFIELD COUNTY

Bayfield county includes townships 43 to 52, except as affected by the irregular outline of its lake boundary on the north, and ranges 5 to 9. It has seventy-five miles of lake shore, with some fine harbors, the finest of which are those in the shelter of the Apostle islands, on the northeast. The country is covered with dense growths of evergreen and hardwood timber. Numerous streams flow into the lake on the north, and into the tributaries of the St. Croix on the south. The Chippewa Indians formerly occupied the country. The Red Cliff Indian reservation is located at Buffalo Bay, a short distance north of Bayfield City. The territory of Bayfield county has been successively in the bounds of Crawford, St. Croix and La Pointe. By subsequent subdivisions Douglas and Ashland counties were set off from La Pointe, and the Apostle islands given to Ashland, and the remaining part of La Pointe was organized as Bayfield county, with the county seat at Bayfield, in 1868. Aside from traders and adventurers and the occasional advent of a missionary, the first settler was Elisha Pike, who came with his family in 1855, and settled in section 21, township 50, range 4, not far from Bayfield. Bayfield was named in honor of Admiral Bayfield of the British Navy, who made a survey of Lake Superior in 1822-23.

BAYFIELD

The village of Bayfield was platted in 1856, by H. M. Rice. It has since been incorporated. It is beautifully situated. The site slopes gently from high timbered regions to the shores of the bay. The waters of the bay are deep, clear, and, from the shelter afforded by the Apostle islands, almost unruffled. The harbor thus afforded is among the best on the lake. Bayfield was made a port of entry in 1858. The city is well supplied with stores, mills, hotels, school houses, and churches. There are many pleasant homes, with fountains playing in front, lawns, shade trees and ornamental shrubs. The landscape, especially to those residing in the rear of the city on the higher grounds, is exquisitely beautiful. There are many beautiful trout brooks and ponds in the suburbs. As a summer resort Bayfield is becoming every year better appreciated. The Bayfield Press, established in 1874, is the local newspaper. It is edited and published by Currie C. Bell.

WASHBURN

Is a new town on the west side of Chequamegon bay. It is the lake terminus of the Omaha railroad. It has a fine harbor, large mills and other enterprises that mark it as a growing town.

DRUMMOND, PRATT AND MASON

Are prosperous manufacturing villages, with large saw mills, located on White river, on the line of the North Wisconsin railroad.

CABLE STATION,

On the railroad, in township 43, range 7, contains about a dozen buildings. Mathews, Olson & Co. are working a silver mine near Cable which yields twenty-three dollars per ton. There are several other villages and stations on the line of the two railroads passing through this county.

DOUGLAS COUNTY

This county occupies the extreme northwestern corner of the State, having a frontage of six townships on the lake by six on the Minnesota state line, making a total of thirty-six whole townships and five fractional, the latter lying along the lake. The northern part of the county is drained by the tributaries of St. Louis river and Lake Superior, the principal streams being the Nemadji, Middle and Brule rivers. The southern part is drained by the St. Croix and tributaries. The Omaha railroad intersects the county from south to north, having its northern terminus at West Superior. The Northern Pacific crosses the upper tier of towns, having its principal station at Superior. Thriving villages are growing up along these lines of railroad, and the county is being rapidly settled. It was organized as a county in February, 1854, from territory originally belonging successively to Crawford, St. Croix and La Pointe counties.

The first election was held Nov. 7, 1854. The following officers were elected: County judge, J. A. Markland; sheriff, Asa A. Parker; district attorney, R. R. Nelson; register of deeds, F. A. Whitaker; county treasurer, Bradley Salter; supervisors, Frank Perfect, Chas. H. Kimball and Alexander Paul; supervisors' clerk, C. H. Kingsbury; superintendent of schools, J. J. Post; coroner, R. H. Barrett. Judge J. A. Markland held the first term of court, June 4, 1854. The first deed filed in the county was from William Herbert to Geo. L. Becker, being a warranty in section 14, township 47, range 14. Consideration, $250. The deed was recorded February, 1854. At the organization of the county, Superior was made the county seat.

SUPERIOR CITY

The site is on a beautiful plateau originally covered with pine, lying on the southern shore of Lake Superior, separated, however, from it by the waters of Superior bay, a fine natural harbor shut in from the lake by tongues of land called Minnesota and Wisconsin Points. These approach within a half mile of each other, the space thus left being the original outlet of the bay. Between Wisconsin Point and the main land lie the waters of Allouez bay, extending in length a distance of three miles, and in width in its widest part about one mile. The Nemadji river flows into Superior bay near its outlet. The bay of St. Louis finds an outlet into Superior bay between Rice's Point and a tongue of land a mile or more in length, projecting from the Wisconsin main land. Minnesota Point, which separates Superior bay from Superior lake, is a strip of land seven miles in length, with an average width of seven hundred feet, beautifully fringed with pines. At the outlet of Superior bay two piers have been constructed, extending into the lake three-fourths of a mile. On one of these piers is a forty-day lighthouse, constructed by the government. The bay forms one of the finest harbors in the world.

The plateau on which Superior City is located is about thirty-five feet above the waters of the bay. The site occupies the triangular space lying between St. Louis bay and the bays of Allouez and Superior, and has at least eleven miles of frontage on these bays, along which numerous docks and piers have been built and projected, some of them costing as much as $200,000. The government surveys were made in 1853, by George R. Stuntz. In July of the same year J. Addison Bulmer made a location on Allouez Point. In August, John T. Morgan settled at the mouth of the Nemadji river. They were followed by Wm. H. Newton, George E. Nettleton, Benjamin Thompson, Col. D. A. Robertson, R. R. Nelson, and D. A. J. Baker, of St. Paul. In September the Roy brothers and – Cadott came. The same autumn Frank Roy, Abraham Emmuit and Louis Souvenard made pre-emptions of frontage on Superior bay. Several buildings were erected. Mr. Roy and others give to Col. Robertson the honor of building the first house in Superior. It is still standing.

In the fall of 1853 mineral explorations were made, and mines were worked during the ensuing winter. An Indian trail was widened and a road opened into the St. Croix valley by which supplies were brought from St. Paul. This road was not wide enough for wagons, but was traveled during the winter in dog sledges and on snowshoes. The winter following the opening of the road, Messrs. Robertson, Nelson and Baker went over it to St. Paul on foot. In the spring of 1854 Newton and others made additional surveys of the town site of Superior City, and the same was recorded Nov. 6, 1854. Settlers came in rapidly. O. K. Hall built a hotel. At the organization of Douglas county, in 1854, Superior was made the county seat, the proprietors donating twelve acres of land for county buildings. Two lots for every eight blocks were donated for schools, twenty lots for churches, and a square for a park. A weekly mail to and from St. Paul was established in July of that year. A saw mill was erected. A land office was established at Superior that year. Rev. David Brooks, a pioneer Methodist minister, preached the first sermon, using a carpenter's shop as an audience room.

An old settlers' association was organized September, 1855, known as the Fond du Lac Historical Society. Its officers were: R. B. Carlton, president; W. H. Norton and E. F. Ely, vice presidents; E. W. Perry, secretary. The Superior Chronicle issued its first number June 12, 1855. It was the first newspaper published at the head of Lake Superior. Ashton & Wise were the publishers. The second number contained the announcement of the opening of the Ste. Marie canal and the passage through it of the first boat, the steamer Illinois. It contained also the astonishing announcement, from the St. Anthony Express, that a salt lake had been discovered by W. H. Ingersoll, one hundred and fifty miles west of St. Cloud. The salt was said to be of good quality, and in such quantity that it could be gathered by the bushel. Large beds of coal had also been discovered near the lake. The Chronicle was discontinued in 1863 and succeeded by the Superior Gazette in 1864. The Gazette has been succeeded by the Superior Times, now edited by J. Lute, Thomas Bardon, proprietor.

Superior City has passed through periods of depression as well as of advancement. At an early period speculators were lured to the spot by the manifest advantages it presented for the building of a great city. The favorable site attracted attention throughout the Union. Wealthy men and men prominent in the political history of the country invested largely. Amongst these we find the names of W. W. Corcoran, of Washington; Robert J. Walker, of New York; G. W. Cass, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Horace S. Walbridge, of Toledo, Ohio; the Breckenridges of Kentucky; the Rice brothers, of St. Paul; and James Stinson, of Chicago. With the influence of these names, and the means furnished, the new city had a rapid, if not healthy growth. The prosperity was short lived. The adjacent country was not sufficiently developed, the shipping interests languished, and those who had been attracted hither by dreams of becoming suddenly rich, were discouraged and moved away, till, in 1858, the city was half deserted. The period of depression continued through the Civil War, and for years afterward, until, by the building of railroads and the consequent development of the country, the claims of Superior as a centre of trade were again acknowledged, and the tide of emigration was turned back. With Allouez, Superior and Duluth bays for its harbor, with its railroads already built, building or projected, its enterprising people are ready to contest with Duluth for the sovereignty of the Unsalted Seas.

Superior, being a combination of Old Superior and West Superior under one municipality, was organized as a village Aug. 27, 1887, and held her first village election Sept. 24, 1887, with a population of 6,000 people. It was organized with the following officers: President, L. F. Johnston; trustees, Wm. Munro, Neil Smith, L. G. Moran, A. Lederman, A. A. Cross, and Howard Thomas.

WEST SUPERIOR

Was platted in 1884. The first buildings were erected in October of the same year. The city has now a population of 3,000. It has excellent graded schools, under the supervision of Prof. G. Glen Williams. The Catholics, Presbyterians and Congregationalists have church buildings, and the Methodists are about to build. A hotel is in process of building that will cost when completed $100,000. West Superior is supplied with water works, the electric light, extensive coal docks and elevators, and has three newspapers, the Superior Inter-Ocean, established June 3, 1886; the West Superior News, established June 24, 1886; and the Sunday Morning Call, established July, 1887.

The Bardon Brothers. – James, Thomas and John A. Bardon came early to Superior City and upheld her doubtful fortunes in the days of trial, never losing faith in her prospective greatness. They have not toiled and watched and waited in vain. The expected railways have been built; the improved harbor, with dredge boats, well built piers and lighthouse, has been completed. Surveys and terminal approaches of other roads insure the commercial prosperity of the city. Thomas has for some years been a resident of Ashland, Wisconsin.

Wm. H. Newton, an early citizen of Superior City, is among those who have never lost faith in its future prosperity, believing the head of the lake to be the natural terminus of European trade and a centre of American commerce. He is an engineer, surveyor, real estate dealer, and is interested in some of the converging lines of railroad at Superior City.

Solon H. Clough. – Mr. Clough was born in Madison county, New York, Aug. 31, 1828; was educated at Fulton Academy, since known as Falley Seminary, Oswego county, New York. He attended for a short time Hamilton College, New York, studied law, and was admitted to the bar at Syracuse in 1851. He came to Hudson, Wisconsin, in the fall of 1857; in 1861 was elected mayor of Hudson; in 1864, judge of the Eleventh circuit, and removed to Osceola. In 1869 he removed to Superior City; in 1876 returned to Hudson, but removed again to Superior in 1881, where he still resides. He was re-elected circuit judge in 1870, and in 1882 was appointed by Gov. Rusk to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Barron. At the conclusion of his term he was re-elected for the ensuing term. Judge Clough was married in 1851 to Kate Taylor, of New York.

Vincent Roy, a brother of Peter Roy, well known among the pioneers of the Northwest, was born in Fort Francis in 1825; came to La Pointe in 1839; attended school a few terms, and engaged in the fur trade. In 1854 he came to Superior, where he still resides, and is an active, enterprising merchant.

D. George Morrison, a son of William Morrison, the discoverer of the source of the Mississippi, resides at Superior City, where he has served as register of deeds for Douglas county since 1856, a period of thirty-one years. He came to Superior an 1854.

August Zachau came to Superior in 1852, from Chicago, where he had been for three years, working at the carpenter's trade. He was then twenty-seven years of age, and a Prussian by birth. He was engaged by the Superior Town Site Company to superintend the building improvements going on at what is now the East End. When he came up, no Ste. Marie canal had been dug, and a portage was necessary between Lakes Superior and Huron, involving a change in the line of vessels. He built the first hotel in Superior, the old Pioneer House, which burned in 1857, and also the present Nicollet House, which was built of logs, cut on what is now Tower Slip. He also built the Quebec pier, the first dock ever built at the head of Lake Superior. He also assisted in cutting the old government trail through to the St. Croix river. He was an active participant in the defense of the town site people in their battles with the claim jumping pre-emptioners, who had settled on the lands adjoining, and who filed contests on much of the town site as soon as the plats were returned to the land office at Willow River, now known as Hudson. In cutting the sixty miles of trail to the St. Croix, every able-bodied man turned out, except enough to guard the homes and cut kindling wood. The axemen ground their axes at Fond du Lac, the only trading station of importance at that time on the St. Louis river. He pre-empted, in the interest of his fellow sufferers on the town site, eighty acres of land, now part of Superior. He has always led a quiet, laborious life; now runs a small general store at the East End, and does a little general contracting for ties and bridge timbers and dock piling. He has a family of five boys and one girl now living, all in Superior.

Among the first settlers were Judge Hiram Hayes, – Ritchie and – Gates.

CHAPTER X.

PINE COUNTY

Prior to the organization of Minnesota Territory, in 1849, Pine county was included within the limits of St. Croix county, Wisconsin. Until the organization of Chisago county, in 1852, it was within the limits of Ramsey, and from thence until 1854, within the limits of Chisago, when it was organized under its present name. Until 1858 it included the territory of the present counties of Kanabec and Carlton. It is bounded on the north by Carlton county, on the east by the St. Croix river and the state line, and on the west by Aitkin and Kanabec counties. It is well watered by the St. Croix, Kettle and Kanabec rivers with their numerous tributaries. There are many fine lakes within its borders. The finest of these are Cross, Pokegama, Pine and Sturgeon lakes. This county was originally heavily timbered with pine, from which fact it derived its name. Though immense quantities have been removed, the supply is still great enough to make this region a lumberman's paradise for years to come.

The facilities for floating logs to the St. Croix are scarce equaled elsewhere. Since 1837 the Kanabec river has been a principal feeder to the lumber trade of the St. Croix valley. In some of the forests a new growth has succeeded the old, and should the land be not otherwise used, the lumberman may yet reap successive harvests in periods ranging from eight to fifteen years. Much of the land in this county is well adapted for agriculture. The soil is chiefly a sandy loam with clay subsoil. Much of the county will eventually become a good grazing and cereal growing region. The southern townships are heavily timbered with hardwood and are rapidly being converted into good wheat farms. A large quantity of cordwood, piles and ties is annually marketed by means of the railroad. Kanabec river is navigable from Chengwatana and Pine City to Brunswick, in Kanabec county. The same steamboat that since 1881 has navigated the Kanabec, also makes trips, six miles up the Rice and Pokegama rivers. The first crops raised in the county, except those raised by traders and missionaries, were raised on the Greeley farm, Kanabec river, near the western limits of the county, by Royal C. Gray.

At the organization of the county, Herman Trott, George W. Staples and Royal C. Gray were appointed commissioners. The county was attached for judicial purposes to Chisago until 1872, at which date the county seat, located at Chengwatana by legislative enactment, was changed by a popular vote to Pine City. The first district court was held in October, 1872, Judge Crosby, presiding; John D. Wilcox, clerk; Edward Jackson, sheriff.

The first marriage license, issued in 1872, was to John Kelsey and Mary Hoffman. The first board of county officers, after the removal of the county seat, were: Commissioners, Hiram Brackett, George Goodwin and Edward Jackson; auditor, Adolph Munch; register of deeds, Don Willard; county attorney, treasurer and superintendent of schools, John D. Wilcox. The first article recorded by the register of Pine county was a military land warrant, No. 12702, in the name of Prudence Rockwell, located by William Orrin Baker upon the southeast quarter of section 32, township 38, range 20, subject to forty days' pre-emption, dated Stillwater, June 19, 1855; T. M. Fullerton, register. Assigned, June 14, 1856, to Enos Jones. The second record is of a warranty deed from John F. Bradford to W. A. Van Slyke, of Ramsey county, of the west half of the northwest quarter of section 30, township 39, range 19, and the west half of the northwest quarter of the same section.

The finances of the county were in good condition until 1872, from which time, owing to heavy expenditures for new roads, with possibly injudicious management, and two defalcations of county auditors, considerable embarrassment ensued. In 1876 the state legislature bonded the county indebtedness of $10,000, in ten year bonds, at ten per cent interest. These bonds were readily received by the creditors, and the county is now free from debt. During the last year a bridge 800 feet long was built across the Kanabec river near Pine City, at a cost of $3,350, for which the State appropriated $1,500 and the county $1,850.

The Lake Superior & Mississippi railroad was completed to Kanabec river in 1868, and in 1869 extended northwest to the county line. The building of this road was speedily followed by the erection of numerous mills along its line, a list of which is appended, with the very remarkable statistics of the losses by fire, from which but four of these mills were exempt:

North Branch, Swenson & Co., flour mill; burned; loss, $8,000.

Rush City, Taylor & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $3,000.

Rock Creek, Edgerton & Co., capacity 2,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $8,000; rebuilt.

Rock Creek, Strong & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $1,500; rebuilt.

Rock Creek, Long & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly; removed.

Pine City, Ferson & Co., capacity 10,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $50,000; rebuilt.

Pine City, Ferson & Co., capacity 10,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $25,000; rebuilt.

Pine City, Munch & Burrows, stave mill; burned; loss, $10,000.

Pine City, Brackett & Co., capacity 3,000,000 feet yearly.

Mission Creek, Taylor & Co., capacity 3,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $12,500; rebuilt.

Mission Creek, Taylor & Co., capacity 3,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $12,500.

Hinckley, Grant & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $3,000.

Hinckley, McKean & Butler, capacity 3,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $7,000; rebuilt.

Miller Station, Robie & Co., shingle mill; burned; loss, $3,000.

Kettle River, S. S. Griggs & Co., capacity 3,000,000 feet yearly; never operated; loss, $5,000.

Moose Lake, McArthur & Co., capacity 2,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $30,000.

Barnum, Cooley & Co., capacity 1,000,000 feet yearly; burned; loss, $5,000.

Barnum, Bliss & Co., capacity 10,000,000 feet yearly.

Northern Pacific Junction, Payne & Co., two mills burned; loss, $50,000; rebuilt the third time.

POKEGAMA LAKE

This beautiful lake lies in township 39, range 22. It is about five miles in length by one in breadth and finds an outlet in Kanabec river. It is celebrated for its historical associations. Thomas Conner, an old trader, informed the writer of these sketches, in 1847, that he had had a trading post on the banks of this lake thirty years before, or about the year 1816. This was before Fort Snelling was built. Mr. Conner said that there was a French trading post at Pokegama long before he went there. It was in the spring of 1847, after a wearisome day's tramp, that I made his acquaintance and shared his unstinted hospitality. His post, at that time, was located at the mouth of Goose creek, Chisago county, on the banks of the St. Croix. His rude, portable house was built of bark, subdivided with mats and skins into different apartments. Although at an advanced period in life, his mind was clear and he conversed with a degree of intelligence which caused me to ask him why he lived thus secluded, away from all the privileges of a civilized life. His reasons, some of them, were forcible; he liked the quiet of the wilderness, away from the turmoils of the envious white race. I learned from him many interesting facts connected with travelers, traders and explorers of our St. Croix valley. This was the last season he spent on the river.