Fifty Years In The Northwest

Eugene M. Wilson was born in 1834, in Monongalia county, Virginia. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish, who came to this country at an early date. His grandfather served in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Wilson graduated at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1852, read law with his father, was admitted to practice in 1855, and came to Minneapolis in 1857. He served as United States district attorney during President Buchanan's administration. During the Rebellion he was captain of Company A, First Minnesota Cavalry, serving on the frontier until 1853, when the company was discharged by the completion of term of enlistment.

Mr. Wilson was a member of the United States house of representatives in 1871-72 and state senator in 1879. He served four years as mayor of Minneapolis, from 1872 to 1876. Mr. Wilson was married Sept. 6, 1865, to Mary E. Kimball, of Minneapolis. They have three children, Mary O., Helen K. and Eugenia.

R. B. Langdon, born in Vermont in 1826, received an academic education, and at twenty-two years of age commenced railroading on the Rutland & Burlington road. He has since been continuously engaged in superintending the construction of railroads in ten states of the Union, and in 1858 supervised the grading of the St. Paul & Pacific, the first railroad enterprise in Minnesota. He served as state senator for seven terms, commencing in 1873 and closing in 1881 (excepting the term of 1879). He has a wife and three children.

Wm. M. Bracket, the originator of the Minneapolis fire department, was born in Maine in 1843. His father served six years as consul at Halifax, Nova Scotia, during which time William resided at that place. During the Rebellion he served two years as a musician in the Sixth Maine Volunteers, and was then appointed paymaster's clerk at Washington, District of Columbia. In 1865 he came to Minneapolis, where he has since been continuously connected with the fire department.

Thomas B. and Platt B. Walker are natives of Ohio. Thomas B. came to Minneapolis in 1862, and engaged in surveying, railroad engineering and examining lands. By close application and sound judgment he has accumulated wealth, from which he dispenses liberally to worthy enterprises. He has contributed largely to the building of the athenæum. His wife is a prominent contributor to, and upholder of, the charitable enterprises of the city.

Platt B., a younger brother of Thomas, is a fluent speaker, a popular lecturer and a kind hearted, genial man. He has been till lately editor and publisher of the Mississippi Valley Lumberman, and has taken an active part in the improvements of the waterways of the West.

Austin H. Young, a native of Fredonia, New York, born Dec. 8, 1830, received his education at Waukegan, Illinois; removed to Prescott, Wisconsin, in 1854; commenced the practice of law in 1862 and served as state senator in Wisconsin in 1863. He came to Minneapolis in 1866 and practiced law. He was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial district in 1877.

Henry G. Hicks was born in Wyoming, New York, in 1838. He learned the trade of harness maker; was educated at Oberlin, Ohio; served as a soldier during the war of the Rebellion, and was wounded at the battle of Missionary Ridge. In 1865 he came to Minneapolis. He was admitted to the bar in 1875; has served as sheriff, as city justice and as a representative in the twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second state legislatures. He was elected district judge in 1886.

John P. Rea was born Oct. 13, 1840, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. He received a common school education. In 1861 he enlisted in Company B, Eleventh Ohio Volunteers, and was breveted major for meritorious services. In 1867 he graduated at Ohio Wesleyan College; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1869. In 1875 he removed to Minneapolis; edited the Tribune one year; continued his law practice in 1877; was elected probate judge, served four years, and in 1886 was elected district judge without opposition.

He has been an active Grand Army man, a member of Geo. N. Morgan Post, and has served as commander of Minnesota state department, also as senior vice commander-in-chief of the national department. In 1887 he was elected commander-in-chief of the national department of the Grand Army. In 1869 he was married to Miss Emma Gould, of Ohio.

John Martin was born in Caledonia county, Vermont, in 1820. His educational advantages were limited to the common schools. He was raised on a farm, but at eighteen years of age bought his time of his father for sixty dollars. For twelve years he followed steamboating, seven on the Connecticut river and five on the Neuce river in North Carolina. In 1851 he went to California, but returned to Vermont the following year, and for two years engaged in farming. He came to Minneapolis in 1854, where he engaged in lumbering and dealing in pine lands. In the past twelve years he has been interested in railroad enterprises. He has been vice president of the Minneapolis & St. Louis, and Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway companies. Mr. Martin is an enterprising and sagacious business man, and is highly esteemed for his many excellent qualities. He was married in Vermont in 1849, to Jane Gilfillan, and has one daughter.

John Dudley was born in Penobscot county, Maine, in 1814. He came to Minneapolis in 1852, where he engaged in business, dealing in logs and lumber. He built mills in Prescott in 1861. The flour mill at Prescott has a capacity of one hundred barrels per day, and the saw mill a capacity of 3,000,000 feet per annum. He recently purchased the saw mill at Point Douglas built by A. J. Short. This mill has a capacity of 6,000,000 feet.

CHAPTER XX.

RAMSEY COUNTY

Ramsey county, named in honor of Gov. Ramsey, includes an area of about four whole towns lying between Anoka county on the north, Washington on the east and the Mississippi river on the southwest. It was organized by the first territorial legislature. Its surface is undulating, and somewhat abruptly hilly along the Mississippi. It is well watered and drained by the tributaries of the Mississippi, and has besides many beautiful lakes. Its first officers were: Register of deeds, David Day; sheriff, P. C. Lull; judge of probate, Henry A. Lambert; treasurer, James W. Simpson; county attorney, W. D. Phillips; county surveyor, S. P. Folsom; coroner, J. E. Fullerton; clerk of court, J. K. Humphrey; auditor, Alexander Buchanan; court commissioner, Oscar Malmros; district judge, E. C. Palmer; common pleas judge, W. S. Hall; county commissioners, Ard Godfrey, Louis Robert; senator, W. H. Forbes; representatives, B. W. Brunson, John L. Dewey, Henry Jackson, Parsons K. Johnson.

Rev. Lucian Galtier, a Catholic priest who visited the Upper Mississippi in the spring of 1840, has the honor of naming the then unpromising city of St. Paul. Others had been on the site before him. A few families had been banished from the vicinity of Fort Snelling and had found homes a few miles further down the river. These were not all reputable people, for amongst them was one Pierre Parrant, who, on account of the appearance of one of his eyes, which was sightless, was known as "Pig's Eye." Parrant sold whisky, and was, from all accounts, an unscrupulous and worthless fellow. As a matter of course, his establishment being to many the chief attraction of the place, it was called by his nickname. The Indians would travel hundreds of miles to the place where they sell Minne waukan (whisky). The location was near the once well known Fountain Cave. The name of "Pig's Eye" might have been perpetually fastened upon the young city but for the timely arrival of Father Galtier, who gave to it the name of St. Paul, because, as he says in a letter to Bishop Grace, referring to the fact that the name St. Peter (Mendota) had already been affixed to a place some miles above, "As the name of St. Paul is generally associated with that of St. Peter, and the Gentiles being well represented in the new place in the persons of the Indians, I called it 'St. Paul.'"

It does not appear that Father Galtier was ever a resident of St. Paul, as he only came at stated times to hold services and administer the sacraments. The name Pig's Eye was subsequently transferred to a place several miles below, where it is still retained. The best known of the first settlers of St. Paul are B. Gervais, Vetal Guerin and Pierre Bottineau. The two former gave to Father Galtier the ground necessary for a church site and cemetery. "Accordingly," writes the good father, "in the month of October logs were prepared and a church erected so poor that it would well remind one of the stable at Bethlehem. It was destined, however, to be the nucleus of a great city. On the first day of November in the same year I blessed the new basilica and dedicated it to St. Paul, the apostle of nations. I expressed a wish at the same time that the settlement would be known by the same name, and my desire was obtained." During the fall of 1841 Father Augustin Ravoux arrived from below and became a resident of Minnesota and later of St. Paul. In 1841 Rev. B. T. Kavanaugh established a mission at Red Rock. Henry Jackson came from Galena the same year, established a trading post and did well. He was afterward a member of the first territorial legislature and of the first town council. Jackson street perpetuates his name. Sergt. Mortimer and Stanislaus Bilanski also came in 1842.

The accessions of 1843 were John R. Irvine. C. C. Blanchard, J. W. Simpson, A. B. Coy, Wm. Hartshorn, A. L. Larpenteur, Scott Campbell, Antoine Pepin, Alexander Mege, A. R. McLeod, Alexis Clautier, Joseph Gobin, David T. Sloan, Joseph Desmarais, Louis Larrivier and Xavier Delonais. These mostly engaged in trade. Messrs. Irvine, Blanchard, Hartshorn and Coy, and later, Mege, were associated together. Some of the last named accessions of 1843 were Canadian French, half-breeds, or allied by marriage to the Indians. There were other settlers of whom we can find only casual mention, probably transients or adventurers.

The prominent accessions of 1844 were Capt. Louis Robert, Charles Bazille, Wm. Dugas, Francis McCoy and Joseph Hall. Louis Robert was a trader, Bazille was a carpenter and built this summer for Capt. Robert the first frame house in St. Paul. This house was built of hewn lumber, sawed lumber not being obtainable. It was on the lower levee, and was used as a warehouse but was moved to East Fourth street, where, as No. 58, it was still standing a few years ago. Dugas was a millwright and built a saw and grist mill on Phalen's creek (spelled in an old deed Faylin's creek). The mill was a failure. Dugas was a man of some prominence and represented the New Canada precinct in the first territorial legislature.

McCoy and Hall were carpenters. This year the governor of Wisconsin Territory appointed Henry Jackson a justice of the peace. Jackson, before his commission arrived, married an eager couple by bond, they giving bond to reappear when he should receive his commission and be legally united. Jackson was justice of the peace, postmaster, hotel keeper, legislator, and clerk of court combined in one.

This fall Father Galtier was transferred to Keokuk and Father A. Ravoux took charge of the churches at Mendota and St. Paul. Rev. J. Hurlbut, a Methodist missionary, held the first Protestant service, using the house of Henry Jackson for that purpose.

The first deed on record bears date of April 23, 1844, and transfers from Henry Jackson, St. Croix county, Wisconsin Territory, to William Hartshorn, of St. Louis, Missouri, for a consideration of $1,000, half of the following tract of land in St. Croix county, Wisconsin Territory, being the place where the said Jackson now lives, situate immediately on the Mississippi river and known as the St. Paul landing, containing three acres, with all buildings and improvements thereon. The permanent accessions of 1845 were Francis Chenevert, David Benoit, Leonard H. La Roche, Francis Robert, Augustus and David B. Freeman, W. G. Carter and Charles Cavileer. La Roche was a carpenter, but engaged in trade. He bought the land on which the Merchants Hotel now stands for $165, and the year following built a cabin of tamarack logs, which was known as the St. Paul House. This property he sold to S. P. Folsom. La Roche died at Crow Wing in 1859.

W. G. Carter, better known as "Gib" Carter, was a member of the Stillwater convention in 1848. He died in 1852. Francis Robert was a younger brother of Louis Robert. He died in 1849, from an injury received while running the St. Croix rapids in a birch canoe. Chenevert clerked for Capt. Robert. He was unmarried, and died in 1865. Of Benoit little or nothing is known. The Freeman brothers were engaged in trade in connection with Hartshorn and Randall. David died in 1850, and was buried by the Odd Fellows, the first Odd Fellow funeral in the Territory. Augustus Freeman died in New York. Cavileer was a saddler, and was connected at first with the Red Rock mission. He was territorial librarian for awhile, and is now a resident of Pembina. Miss Matilda Ramsey opened a school (the first in St. Paul) and taught a short time, when she was married to Alexander Mege, and the school was abandoned.

Alexander R. McLeod, who came from Selkirk settlement in 1837 with Pierre Bottineau, erected in 1845 and 1846 a log house between the Catholic church and Jackson's store. This was the first house built in St. Paul expressly for a hotel. It was afterward enlarged and called the Central House, and was kept by Robert Kennedy and others. The second deed on record bears date of May 1, 1845, and transfers, for a consideration of $500, from William Douglass to H. H. Sibley, of Clayton county, Iowa, lands situate on what is known as Faylin's (Phalen's) creek, and more fully known as Faylin's falls, 100 acres, where said Douglass now lives. This was a mortgage deed. A subsequent deed conveys the same premises from Edward Faylin to Wm. Douglass, for a consideration of $70. In February, 1846, a quitclaim deed conveys the same tract to Alexander McLeod.

The settlers in 1846 were William H. and William Randall, Jr., father and son, James McBoal, Thos. S. Odell, John Banfil, Harley D. White, David Faribault, Louis Denoyer, Jo Monteur, and Charles Roleau. Randall, Sr., engaged in trade and became immensely rich, but was wrecked in the financial panic of 1857. He died in 1861. Randall, Jr., is best remembered as an artist and caricaturist of no mean ability. He died in 1851. McBoal was also an artist, the first who pursued that calling in St. Paul. He was a member of the territorial council in 1849-50, and was adjutant general of the Territory during Gov. Ramsey's administration. He died in Mendota in 1862.

Odell had been a soldier, but on being mustered out at Fort Snelling came to St. Paul. He died in 1879. We have made mention of White in biographical sketches. Crittenden went to Crow Wing and represented the Twenty-first district in the first state legislature. Denoyer married a sister of Louis Robert and in 1850 removed to Belle Plaine. David Faribault was a son of Jean Baptiste Faribault. He now resides in Dakota. Banfil removed to Manomin, and represented his district as senator in the first state legislature.

The writer of these sketches visited St. Paul in 1846, and was entertained at Jackson's hotel, which he well remembers as a log building, one story high, with store and post office in the east end, a dining room in the west end, with small, low sleeping rooms in the rear. The hotel stood on a romantic elevation, a precipitious bluff, and commanded a magnificent view of the river and valley. Louis Robert's tamarack pole store was located east of Jackson's, under the bluff, and directly on the bank of the river, a good steamboat landing in front. West of Jackson's was J. W. Simpson's store, and still further west the store of Faribault & Co., beyond which were two small dwellings, all these buildings fronting the river. Still further west, Alexander McLeod was building a handsome hewed log house. On the next rise of ground stood the Catholic church. On the next plateau the store of Wm. Hartshorn, and near a small creek the dwelling of John R. Irvine. There were two residences on a plateau a short distance north of Jackson's hotel. There were in all five stores, one tavern and a few dwellings, mostly built of logs. A few United States soldiers and Indians were lounging about the stores, some drunk, some sober. Such was St. Paul in 1846. The settlers of 1847 were Jacob W. Bass, Harriet E. Bishop, Benj. W. Brunson, Dr. J. J. Dewey, G. A. Fonrnier, Simeon P. Folsom, W. H. Forbes, Aaron Foster, Daniel Hopkins, Parsons K. Johnson, C. P. V. Lull, and W. C. Renfro. Bass and Johnson had been in the lumber business at Chippewa Falls. On arriving at St. Paul Mr. Bass leased a hotel on the corner of Third and Jackson streets, known as the St. Paul House. He was appointed postmaster in 1849, and in 1852 opened a commission and forwarding warehouse on the levee. Mr. Brunson was a surveyor, and, assisted by his brother, Ira B., laid off the town plat of St. Paul, also a plat known as Brunson's addition, in the fall of 1847. He was a member of the first and second territorial legislatures, and justice of the peace for several years.

Miss Bishop was one of the company of teachers sent West by Gov. Slade. She organized the first permanent day school and the first Sunday-school in St. Paul. The school house was a cabin on the corner of Third and St. Peter streets. Miss Bishop, later Mrs. McConkey, was the author of a valuable book of frontier sketches entitled "Floral Homes." She died in 1884.

Of Mr. Forbes mention is made in biographical sketches. Aaron Foster came from Stillwater. He was a carpenter by trade. He married Fanny Mortimer, daughter of Sergt. Mortimer. He died in 1864. S. P. Folsom is mentioned in biographical sketches. Dr. Dewey, the first practicing physician in St. Paul, was a member of the first territorial legislature, and established the first drug store in Minnesota. Parsons Johnson, a descendant on his mother's side of Jonathan Carver, engaged in tailoring, the first of his trade in St. Paul. He was a member of the first territorial legislature.

Cornelius V. P. Lull was a carpenter. He served as sheriff in 1849, and still lives in the city. Daniel Hopkins engaged in general merchandising. He died in 1852. W. O. Renfro, a cousin of Henry Jackson, had studied medicine, was a young man of ability but addicted to drinking habits. The winter after his arrival he wandered forth, suffering from mania a potu, and froze to death near the bend in Phalen's creek.

This year was memorable for the organization of a regular steamboat line from Galena to Mendota and Fort Snelling. The steamer Argo was purchased for the trade. M. W. Lodwick was made commander and Russell Blakely, clerk. The Argo was designed to make weekly trips, but sank before the close of the season, and the Dr. Franklin was purchased to take her place the ensuing year. St. Paul had not increased largely in population this year. One hotel and two dwellings had been built. Some progress had been made in farming and gardening, and there was much lively talk on the subject of making claims. The prospective separation of Minnesota into a territory, and the opening of the country for settlement gave a new impetus to business. The Wisconsin convention for the adoption of a state constitution was held Dec. 13, 1847. Its effects, however, were not greatly felt until toward the middle of the ensuing year.

Among the prominent accessions in 1848 to the population were Henry M. Rice, Henry C. Rhodes, David Olmsted, W. D. Phillips, E. A. C. Hatch, Bushrood W. Lott, W. H. Nobles, Nathan Myrick, A. H. Cavender, Benjamin F. Hoyt, William Freeborn, David Lambert, W. C. Morrison, Lot Moffett, and W. D. Brown. Of these Rice, Noble, Hoyt and Myrick are referred to in biographical sketches. Mr. Olmsted was a trader, and in the summer of the year 1848 established a trading post at Long Prairie, whither the Winnebagoes had removed. He was a member of the first and second territorial councils, and the first mayor of St. Paul, in 1854. He removed to Winona in 1855, and died in 1861. Olmsted county, Minnesota, is named in his honor. W. D. Phillips, better known as "Billy" Phillips, was a somewhat eccentric character who passed for awhile as a lawyer in St. Paul, and in 1856 drifted off into a clerkship at Washington, since which time nothing has been heard of him. E. A. C. Hatch was appointed Indian agent to the Blackfeet Indians by President Pierce in 1856. In 1863 he was commissioned as major in the volunteer service, and acquitted himself creditably. While stationed at Pembina, by strategy he captured the insurgent Indians, Shakopee and Medicine Bottle, who were hanged at Fort Snelling in 1865. He died in 1881. H. O. Rhodes was engaged in trade with David Olmsted. He died in California some years ago. A. H. Cavender was a blacksmith and wagonmaker on Robert street in 1849.

Wm. Freeborn was quite a prominent citizen and member of the town council. He is better known as one of the founders of Red Wing, to which place he removed in 1853. He represented his district in the territorial councils of 1854, 1855, 1856 and 1857. He removed to California in 1862. Freeborn county is named for him. David Lambert, a prominent member of the Stillwater convention, was a young man of promise, but addicted to drink. In 1849, while suffering from a delirious paroxysm induced by drink, he jumped from the deck of a steamer and was drowned. W. C. Morrison originally came from New York, thence to Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Galena, Dubuque, and other places and lastly to St. Paul, where he is widely and favorably known as a business man. Lot Moffett will be remembered as the builder and proprietor of the picturesque heap of rocks known as "Moffett's Castle," where he kept a temperance hotel for several years. He was a man of patriarchal appearance, wearing a long, white beard. He was known as an honest, kind hearted, benevolent man. He died in 1870. W. B. Brown came from Wisconsin and purchased the corner on which the Warner block now stands. He died some years ago. To enumerate the accessions to the population in 1849 would require more space than we are allowed. The fact that St. Paul was this year designated as the territorial capital brought in a great number of official personages, and an army of traders, boarding house keepers, builders and adventurers. Heretofore Mendota had seemed to be the objective point of steam navigation. It also aspired to be the capital of the new territory. Senator Douglas, chairman of the committee on territories, favored Mendota. Gen. Sibley, the territorial delegate, favored St. Paul, and earnestly solicited the senator to yield, which, along with the personal appeals of H. M. Rice, finally secured his acquiescence, and the bill to form Minnesota Territory, with St. Paul as its capital, finally passed March 3, 1849. The news, however, did not reach the capital until April 9th, it having been brought up on the Dr. Franklin, No. 2, the first boat of the season.

On May 27th the newly appointed governor, Alexander Ramsey, arrived with his wife, but not being able to obtain accommodations in St. Paul went for the time to Mendota, where they were entertained by Hon. H. H. Sibley. Every succeeding boat was crowded with emigrants. A newspaper was an immediate necessity. The first steps had been taken the year before by Dr. A. Randall, of Owen's Geological Survey. Dr. Randall was not immediately able to carry his project into effect, and not till April 27, 1849, did the promised paper, the Minnesota Register, appear. The first copy had, however, been printed at Cincinnati two weeks earlier. Of this paper Maj. John P. Owens was publisher.

The first number of the second paper in the city was issued April 28th. This was the St. Paul Pioneer, James M. Goodhue, publisher and editor. These papers and others established later became faithful chroniclers of the progress of the city, and invaluable as historical documents.

The first number of Goodhue's paper, the St. Paul Pioneer, bearing date of April 28, 1849, contains what we may designate as the earliest news. We cull a few items that maybe of interest to antiquarians:

It announces Congressman Sibley's return from Washington, Rev. E. D. Neill's removal to St. Paul, and that the latter would preach the following Sabbath at the school house.

An editorial paragraph calls attention to the fact that the Pioneer is printed in a building situated on Third street near Robert, and that the building has five hundred apertures through which the daylight is streaming.