Fifty Years In The Northwest

FREMONT ISLAND

A peculiar feature of St. Louis bay has been the formation of floating islands, possibly the result of the collection of driftwood and other debris at the mouth of St. Louis river. The rafts thus formed in time became consolidated by the deposition of earthy materials, leaves, twigs and vegetable matter, and are covered with a rank growth of vegetation, at first shrubby, but at last arboreous. The roots of the shrubs and trees interlace, and hold the material of the raft more tightly together. These island rafts are sometimes loosened and float into the bay, and are driven about by the winds from one side of the bay to the other.

One of these islands, supposed to be stationary, known as Fremont island, was surveyed and platted in 1856, by C. P. Heustis and Chas. A. Post. On the completion of the canal it broke loose from its moorings, floated away and disappeared, in all probability going to pieces in the rough waters of the lake.

TOWER,

Located on the southern shore of Vermillion lake, was surveyed Aug. 4, 1884. The proprietors are the Minnesota Iron Company, of which Charlemagne Tower is president. The iron mines located in this vicinity are amongst the richest on the continent. Attention was first called to the Vermillion by the reported discovery of gold. Machinery for crushing and smelting was transported thither, but the thousands who rushed to the reputed gold field expecting to become suddenly rich, returned disappointed and disheartened. Attention had long before been called to the fact that there were rich iron mines in the district, but the circumstances were unfavorable for their development. They were in a remote position and accessible only by a journey of several days through woods and swamps. These mines could be reached and developed only by state aid, which was given in the shape of a grant of swamp lands, to be applied to building a railway from the lake to the mines. This grant having been obtained, Mr. Tower and other capitalists at once invested their millions in the mines, purchasing some 8,000 acres of land, covering the larger portion of the iron deposits in the district, embracing the present site of the village of Tower. A railroad sixty-eight miles in length was constructed from Tower to Two Harbors, a point twenty-seven miles north of Duluth. This road was completed in the spring of 1884, and the first shipment was made July 3d of that year, the total shipments for the year being 62,124 tons. The shipments for 1885 were 225,484 tons, and for 1886, 304,000 tons. Over $3,000,000 was paid to laborers in the Tower mines in 1887.

Col. George E. Stone, of Duluth, is deserving of praise for his foresight and energy in opening the Tower mines. Mr. Stone labored with untiring zeal after the land grant to aid in building the road was given until the road was built and the mines opened.

George R. Stuntz is well known as the government surveyor of the Lake Superior region, whose work covers thousands of miles of North Wisconsin lands, lying along the southern shore of the lake, and who has accurately mapped the meanderings of the influent streams, the bays and shaggy projecting shores of the great "Unsalted Sea." There is no better topographical authority than Mr. Stuntz, and no one better posted as to the location and value of the Northern Wisconsin areas and the Vermillion mines.

Having early made Superior City and Duluth his home, and for nearly forty years having been identified with the interests of the West Superior country, he is an oft-quoted authority. Many of his published articles contain most valuable information concerning the feasibility of connecting St. Croix and Superior waters. His assertions concerning the mineral wealth of the lake country, made before the development of the mines, have since been verified. Mr. Stuntz is a typical, sensible frontiersman, of American birth, aged about seventy years.

Charles Hinman Graves, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, born in 1839, received a liberal education, and in 1861 enlisted as a private in the Fortieth Massachusetts Volunteers, but was promoted step by step to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. In 1865 he was commissioned as a colonel in the regular army, but resigned in 1870, and located at Duluth. From 1873 to 1876 he was a member of the state senate. He has held several public positions in Duluth, and stands deservedly high as a citizen. He has labored zealously and efficiently for the prosperity of Duluth.

Ozro P. Stearns was born Jan. 13, 1831, at De Kalb, Lawrence county, New York. In his youth he was dependent upon his own resources. He graduated at Michigan University in 1858, after which he visited California, tried mining for a short time, and returning graduated in the law department of Michigan University. In 1860 he came to Rochester, Minnesota, and opened a law office. In 1862 he enlisted in Company F, Ninth Minnesota Volunteers, of which he was commissioned first lieutenant, but in 1864 was promoted to the colonelcy of the Thirty-ninth United States Infantry (colored). He served through many battles and campaigns, and was mustered out at the close of the war. In January, 1866, he returned to Rochester; in 1867 was appointed register in bankruptcy for Southern Minnesota; in January, 1871, he was elected to the United States senate for a short term to fill the vacancy caused by the death of D. S. Norton. In 1872 he removed to Duluth, and in 1874 was appointed judge of the Eleventh Judicial district, to which office he was elected in the fall of the same year, which position, by re-election, he still holds. Judge Stearns was married in February, 1863, to Sarah Burger, of Detroit, Michigan.

LAKE COUNTY

This county lies on the north shore of Lake Superior, between the counties of Cook and St. Louis, extending northward to the British line. The whole region is abrupt, broken into hills and valleys, and rich in silver, iron and other metals.

The great Vermillion iron mines of St. Louis county find an outlet through this county by the Duluth & Iron Range railroad, which finds a lake station at Two Harbors. The road was built from Two Harbors to Vermillion lake in 1885, from Two Harbors to Duluth in 1887. The entire road and extensive mines were sold in June, 1887, for $8,000,000, to Porter and others, who are now extending the road from Vermillion lake eastward to Thunder Bay and Port Arthur. It is already completed to Ely, a distance of twenty miles.

Emigration during the years 1886-7 to this county has been very extensive. The two counties, Lake and Cook, have many features in common. They are similar in geological formation, produce the same metals in the same generous abundance, and being in the same latitude, and bordering upon the same lake, differ in no wise in climate and but little in productions. Large quantities of pine timber may be found in these counties, and saw mills are located along the lake shore where an accessible harbor can be found. There are several harbors between Duluth and Thunder Bay that might be improved by the government, greatly to the advantage of the country.

The silver mines of Isle Royal and along the national boundary are extensive, and yield rich returns to the companies working them.

TWO HARBORS,

A flourishing village located on the shore of Lake Superior, takes its name from two small harbors bearing that name. The Vermillion Iron Company have built extensive piers into the lake to facilitate the shipping of ores. They have large shops for railroad purposes, with an electric light plant. The company employ about two hundred men. Two Harbors is the county seat of Lake county.

COOK COUNTY

Grand Marais is the county seat of Cook county. It is a round, land-locked harbor. It has a lighthouse, and the government has built a breakwater four hundred feet long, thus making it a harbor of refuge, so that boats can lie with safety in any storm. Grand Marais is one hundred and ten miles from Duluth, on the north shore of Lake Superior. It is the best harbor that Minnesota has except Duluth. It is thirty miles south of the international boundary line, and forty-five miles northeast of the line by Lake Superior. It is the natural outlet for the mineral deposits north. There are large quantities of iron ore within thirty-five miles of the harbor. A railroad line has been run, and men are now at work on the iron deposits with a view of shipping the ore from Grand Marais to points where it is wanted for smelting purposes.

Grand Marais was in early days one of the Northwest Fur Company's trading posts, but of late years has been used as a fishing station. Streets in the town are now being laid out, and from present indications Cook county, with its pine lands, iron ore and other mineral resources, will be one of the most thriving counties in the State, with Grand Marais as not only a harbor of refuge, but one of the competing ports for the shipment of iron ore.

H. Mayhew, to whom we are indebted for items of interest concerning Cook county, is the oldest resident of Grand Marais, and one of the town proprietors.

CHAPTER XIX.

HENNEPIN COUNTY

Hennepin county was organized March 6, 1852. Prior to the organization of Minnesota Territory it was in Clayton county, Iowa. At the organization of the Territory, in 1849, it was included in Dakota county, and so remained until set off in 1852. Hon. Bradley B. Meeker held the first court within the present limits of the county, at the old government mill, in 1849. Taylor Dudley was clerk of court, Franklin Steele, foreman of grand jury. The first board of commissioners were Alex. Moore, chairman, John Jackins and Joseph Dean. The first election was held Oct. 21, 1852, at the house of Col. John H. Stevens, on the west side. The county is a rich agricultural region, abounding with beautiful lakes, of which Minnetonka is the largest and finest. The county is bounded on the north by the Mississippi river and Wright county, on the east by the Mississippi river and Ramsey county, on the south by the Minnesota river and Carver county, on the west by Wright and Carver counties. It is subdivided into the following towns: Bloomington, Brooklyn, Champlin, Crystal Lake, Corcoran, Dayton, Eden Prairie, Excelsior, Greenwood, Hasson, Independence, Maple Grove, Medina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, Osseo, Plymouth, Richfield, and St. Anthony.

FORT SNELLING

Fort Snelling owes its origin to the encroachments of British traders on our northern frontier. As early as 1805 Lieut. Zebulen Montgomery Pike, United States Army, was sent with a detachment of troops to explore the Upper Mississippi river to expel British traders who might be found encroaching upon our territory, and to secure by treaty a military reservation. Sept. 21, 1805, he encamped on Pike island, at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, and, being pleased with the situation, forthwith made a treaty with chiefs of the Sioux nation to include all that tract of land lying from below the confluence of the two rivers, up the Mississippi, including the falls of St. Anthony, nine miles in width on each side of the river. The price paid was $2,000. The reserve thus purchased was not used for military purposes until 1819, when a detachment of the Fifth United States Infantry, commanded by Lieut. Col. Henry Leavenworth, was sent to occupy the reservation and build a fort. The building of the fort, with its various stone and wooden buildings, was the work of years. The site of the fort was selected in 1820, by Col. Josiah Snelling, who named it Fort St. Anthony, but at the suggestion of Gen. Winfield Scott, in 1824 the name was changed to Fort Snelling as a worthy compliment to its founder and builder. Notwithstanding the treaty made by Col. Pike in 1805, the Indian claim to the reservation was not extinguished until the treaty of 1837, ratified by the senate in 1838. In 1836, before the extinction of the Indian title, many settlers located on the reservation on the left bank of the Mississippi. These were forcibly removed by the United States government in 1840, under the act of March 3, 1807, an act to prevent settlements being made on ceded lands until duly authorized by law. The reservation was reduced from time to time, portions being sold. In 1857 Franklin Steele purchased the entire reservation, with the exception of two small tracts, including the fort itself, for the sum of $90,000, to be paid in three yearly installments. The first payments were actually made, the troops were withdrawn, and Mr. Steele assumed possession. Default having been made in the two remaining payments, the government resumed possession of a small portion of the reservation and fort in 1861. The year following, by act of Congress, the reservation was reduced. In 1870 it was permanently reduced to 1,531.20 acres. A suit at law between Mr. Steele and the United States government was compromised by releasing him from further payments and granting him a large tract of land lying along the right bank of the Mississippi, north of the fort, with a portion of Pike's island.

Maj. Plympton and other officers of the fort, in company with Franklin Steele, made the first land claim, by permit of the government, at East St. Anthony, in 1838. They built a shanty and hired a Frenchman to occupy it. Steele bought out the interests of the officers associated with him and in 1848 secured a title from the United States. The first saw mill built on this claim was commenced by Mr. Steele, in conjunction with Boston parties in 1847, but was not completed until the following year.

The next land claim on the river was made further up, by R. P. Russell and S. J. Findley. This was sold to Bottineau and afterward passed to other parties. The land claim adjoining Steele's, below, was purchased of a Frenchman by C. A. Tuttle in 1848. This claim is now partially occupied by the State University. W. Henry Cheever made a claim south of Tuttle's, on which, in 1849, he built a hotel and a huge wooden tower or observatory, nearly one hundred feet in height, over the entrance to which was a rhyming couplet:

"Pay your dime

And climb."

Franklin Steele, before completing his mill and dam, became sole owner of the water power on the east side of the river. During the periods following the property has often changed owners, and sometimes the change has resulted in unprofitable litigation. James J. Hill, in later years, has become the owner of most of the water power of Nicollet and Hennepin islands and of the east shore, and is making valuable improvements.

ST. ANTHONY FALLS

St. Anthony Falls was platted as a village in 1849, and was included in Ramsey county until 1856. In 1861 the legislature established satisfactory boundaries, annexing part of town 29, range 24, to Hennepin county.

Among the first settlers of the Falls was Ard Godfrey. The first white child born here was a son of C. A. Tuttle, millwright. The Luther Patch family, consisting of four sons and two daughters, was the first resident American family at the Falls. Mr. Patch's sons were Edward, Wallace, Gibson, and Lewis; the daughters, Marion, who became the wife of R. P. Russell, the first marriage at the Falls, Oct. 3, 1848, and Cora, who became the wife of Joseph Marshall. An earlier marriage was celebrated at Fort Snelling May 27, 1835, that of Lieut. Edmund A. Ogden and Eliza Edna Loomis; Rev. Thos. S. Williamson officiating. This was the first marriage north of Prairie du Chien. The first store was opened by R. P. Russell in 1847, the second, in 1849, by Joseph Marshall. We find Jacob Fisher, of Stillwater, here in 1847, building the dam from Nicollet island to the east shore. Among the operators of the mill who have been prominent citizens of St. Anthony Falls are Sumner W. Farnham, John Rollins, Caleb W. Dorr, John McDonald, and Robert W. Cummings. Some of these men brought their families here. The building of the mill was somewhat delayed by the sinking in the Erie canal of the boats containing the machinery, hardware, etc. Standing pine to be used in the mill was purchased of Hole-in-the-Day, a Chippewa chief, cut and floated down from Sauk Rapids to the Falls. Some timber was also brought from Rum river, the first cut on that stream, except for government use. At the land sale in 1848, Mr. Steele secured all the land above Tuttle's to the north limits of the city. Amongst the settlers in 1848 were the Getchells, Smiths, Rogers' and Huse. In 1849, at the organization of the territory of Minnesota, a number of others arrived, among them Judge B. B. Meeker, Dr. John H. Murphy, John W. North, J. P. Wilson, and John G. Lennon. During this year the west half of sec. 14, range 29, was surveyed and platted into town lots by W. R. Marshall, B. W. Bronson and S. P. Folsom. Anson Northrup commenced the erection of the first hotel, the St. Charles.

John Rollins was elected to the territorial council, W. R. Marshall and Wm. Dugas to the house of representatives. The district was comprised of St. Anthony Falls and Little Canada.

The first school was taught by Miss Electa Bachus, in the summer of 1849. A post office was established and Ard Godfrey was appointed postmaster. There were occasional mails brought in John Rollins' passenger wagon. In 1850 Willoughby & Powers ran a daily stage line from St. Paul and the mail thenceforth was carried regularly. John W. North built a dwelling on Nicollet island, which became a social centre, and was made attractive by a piano. In 1850 a public library was established, the first in Minnesota. Rev. E. D. Neill, the historian of Minnesota, delivered the first public lecture and preached the first sermon in 1849. The following year, the Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians organized societies, and in 1851 the Episcopalians and Universalists. Amongst the accessions to the population were Judge Isaac Atwater, W. W. Wales, J. B. Bassett, C. W. Christmas, and Joseph Dean. Col. Alvaren Allen opened a livery stable. The St. Anthony Express, the first newspaper, was established May 31, 1851; E. Tyler, proprietor, Judge I. Atwater, editor. Measures were taken to locate the university in St. Anthony Falls. Citizens contributed $3,000 aid to in the erection of the building.

Facilities of communication with the surrounding country were none of the best, yet communication was early established with the Red River country, a dog train having arrived from Pembina, distant four hundred miles, in sixteen days. On this train Kittson, Rolette and Gingras came down to attend the territorial legislature at St. Paul as representatives of Pembina county.

Franklin Steele, in 1847, established a ferry above the Falls. In 1854 the Minnesota Bridge Company was organized, consisting of Franklin Steele, H. T. Wells, R. P. Russell, and others. A handsome suspension bridge was finished in 1855. This bridge remained in the control of the company fifteen years, when by an act of the legislature the value was assessed and Hennepin county purchased the bridge, and it became a free thoroughfare.

April 13, 1855, St. Anthony Falls was incorporated as a city with the following officers: Mayor, H. T. Welles; clerk, W. F. Brawley; aldermen, B. F. Spencer, John Orth, Daniel Stanchfield, Edward Lippincott, Caleb W. Dorr, and Robert Cummings.

In 1872 St. Anthony Falls was annexed to Minneapolis, and placed under the same government, a movement which has resulted in great benefit to both cities.

ST. ANTHONY FALLS

The earliest written descriptions of St. Anthony falls were by the Roman Catholic missionaries, Hennepin and LaSalle. The former with Accault and Du Gay ascended the river in a canoe until captured by a band of Sioux Indians. These Indians left the river at a point now the present site of St. Paul and took their prisoners to Mille Lacs. In September, when the Indians set out on their annual hunt, the captives were left to go where they pleased. Accault preferred remaining with the Indians. Hennepin and Du Gay obtained a small canoe and commenced the descent of the Rum and Mississippi rivers to the falls, then called by the Indians Ka-ka-bi-ka Irara or "Severed Rock." They reached the falls about the first of October, and named them after St. Anthony of Padua. The description given by La Salle, a second hand one, was probably derived from Hennepin, Accault or Du Gay, as La Salle did not visit the falls, and these voyageurs were his subordinates, and had been sent by him to explore the Upper Mississippi.

He says: "In going up the Mississippi again, twenty leagues above the St. Croix is found the falls, which those I sent named St. Anthony. They are thirty or forty feet high, and the river is narrower here than elsewhere. There is a small island in the midst of the chute, and the two banks of the river are bordered by hills which gradually diminish at this point, but the country on each side is covered by thin woods, such as oaks and other hardwoods, scattered wide apart."

This description corresponds very well with the earliest pictures of the falls, which with "the small island in the midst of the chute" make them resemble slightly a Niagara considerably diminished in height. The historic falls have almost entirely disappeared or so changed as to become unrecognizable. Spirit island, if this be the island referred to by La Salle as in the midst of the chute, is now so far below the falls that it can scarcely be brought into the same picture with them. The falls have undoubtedly receded, by a process easily explained by a geologist, some distance up the river, and have diminished somewhat in altitude. The movement of the falls up stream, caused by the breaking off of limestone ledges, overlying sandstone, easily washed from beneath by the falling water, threatened the total obliteration of the cataract unless arrested by artificial means, as the dip or inclination of the rock is such that the altitude of the falls diminishes with the wearing away of these ledges: It has been found necessary to strengthen the ledges and prevent further erosion by means of aprons, till the present appearance of the falls is not unsuggestive of a series of dams. The entire cost of these improvements has amounted to more than $1,000,000. The shores of the islands and mainlands have been covered with mills and manufactories, while the scene is still further disfigured by a maze of railway and other bridges, waterways and flumes. Scarce a vestige of the original falls remain to recall their appearance as they were when the sandaled and robed Franciscan, Hennepin, first gazed upon them. In the midst of this solitude, and on the banks once covered by a sparse growth of trees, one of the finest cities in the West has sprung up as if by magic, and the scene is one of busy life. This marvelous change has occurred within a space of fifty years.

MINNEAPOLIS

From the establishment and occupation of Fort Snelling in 1819, to the settlement of the county in 1840, numerous traders and adventurers, generally of French or Canadian origin, and not infrequently intermarried with Indians, and semi-Indian in their habits of life, occupied transient homes on or near the military reservation; but these have exercised so little influence upon the development of the country that they merit no recognition or record from the historian. As a general thing, they disappeared before the march of civilization. A few, wiser, stronger, more far-seeing than the rest, adapted themselves to the new order, made claims, engaged in the enterprises of civilized life, and thus obtained an honorable position amongst the pioneers of the country.

Of these, Joseph R. Brown, by far the most distinguished, by permission of the military authorities, located in Hennepin county near the falls of Minnehaha, in 1829. He is the first white settler. Maj. Taliaferro, then in command of the Fort, in the same year made a farm on the shores of Lake Calhoun, and placed Philander Prescott in charge. In 1834 the Pond brothers, missionaries, located on Lake Calhoun and erected the first dwelling worthy of the name within the present limits of the county of Hennepin. In 1849 Philander Prescott made a claim on what is now Minnehaha avenue. Frank Steele obtained permission from the secretary of war to occupy this claim, whereupon Mr. Prescott abandoned it, and made another on laud adjoining. This he was allowed to retain. Charles Mosseaux, by permission of the military authorities, made a claim on Lake Calhoun in 1856. This claim is now occupied by the pavillion. Rev. E. G. Gear, chaplain at Fort Snelling, by permission of the military authorities, made a claim near Lake Calhoun and employed Edward Brissett to live upon it. Afterward a contest arose as to the ownership. Chaplain Gear, by the aid of Judge Black and H. M. Rice, secured a congressional enactment allowing him to purchase the land from the government. David Gohram made a claim on the Lake of the Isles, but subsequently sold out to R. P. Russell. John Berry, the Blaisdells, Pierce Lowell and many others located in the vicinity of Lakes Calhoun and Harriet, and in 1853 were followed by settlers on nearly all the lands lying immediately west of the Mississippi, in the vicinity of the falls. In 1854 there were twelve farm houses scattered widely from the falls to the vicinity of the lakes. It had been evident for some time that a city of considerable pretensions must arise somewhere in the vicinity of the Fort and the falls. The locality of the coming city was decided largely by advantages of situation, and these were in favor of the locality immediately adjoining the falls, the water power there afforded being a powerful attraction. For the first recognition of these advantages we must go back to a period several years anterior to the location of these claims and there find a starting point in the history of Minneapolis.