Fifty Years In The Northwest

Sebastian Marty was born in Switzerland in 1809, came to America in 1836, to Stillwater in 1845, and located on a farm in section 32, town of Stillwater, now known as the Jackman homestead. In 1850 he made his home in section 30, town of Lakeland, where he resided until his death, Nov. 3, 1885. His widow was formerly Christine Mamsche. He was a quiet, unobtrusive, thoroughly honest and reliable man.

John Marty was born in Switzerland in 1823. He learned the art of manufacturing straw goods in France. He came to America in 1846, to Stillwater in 1848 and not long after settled on his farm in Baytown. He was married to Anna M. Henry, in St. Paul, 1852.

Adam Marty. – Mr. Marty was born in Switzerland in 1839. In 1846 he came with his grandparents to America and located at St. Louis. In 1849 he came to Stillwater and learned the printer's trade. He was employed one year by John McKusick. He enlisted April 29, 1861, in Company B, First Minnesota Volunteers, was severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, and honorably discharged. He resides in Stillwater, where he has held responsible positions, and has taken a deep interest in the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he has been post commander.

Michael McHale. – Mr. McHale came from Ireland in 1836; located first in Quincy, Illinois; then, 1840, in Galena; in 1842 in Potosi, Wisconsin, and in 1849 at Stillwater. He was interested in a saw mill (McHale & Johnson's), and operated also as a contractor in prison work. He was married to Rosanna McDermott in Wisconsin, 1847. She died in 1856.

George Watson. – Mr. Watson is, in common parlance, a self-made man. Left alone in the world and dependent entirely on his own exertions for a livelihood, he learned the carpenter's trade, learned it well, and followed it industriously through life. Mr. Watson was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, Sept. 13, 1823, and came to the St. Croix valley in 1849. He lived a few years in Hudson, and then removed to Stillwater, where he has the credit of building many fine structures. He was married in 1860 to Frances Lyman, of Stillwater.

Rev. Eleazer A. Greenleaf was educated at Bangor Theological Seminary. He came to Stillwater in 1846, and became pastor of the first Protestant Episcopal church organized north of Prairie du Chien, excepting at Fort Snelling and some Indian mission charges. Mr. Greenleaf was married to Susan P. Greely, of Williamsburg, Maine, in 1838. He became a great sufferer in the later years of his life. He died in Stillwater in 1878. Mrs. Greenleaf died in Minneapolis in 1881.

J. B. Covey. – Dr. J. B. Covey came to Stillwater in 1844. He was born in Duchess county, New York, in 1784. He practiced medicine many years in Missouri. He died in Stillwater in 1851.

John Shaesby was born in Warwick, England, in 1811; came to America in 1836, to Stillwater in 1848; removed to St. Croix county in 1850, thence to St. Joseph, to Rush River and to Baldwin in 1874, where he died in 1880, leaving two children and his widow in comfortable circumstances. His eldest daughter was the wife of Capt. Isaac Gray.

John S. Proctor. – Mr. Proctor is of English descent, and was born in Cavendish, Windsor county, Vermont, Feb. 26, 1826. He was favored with a common school education. In 1846 he came to St. Louis, Missouri, and served as mercantile clerk until 1849, when he came to Stillwater and engaged in lumbering and mercantile pursuits. He was a member of the firm of Short, Proctor & Co., hardware merchants. In 1860 he was appointed warden of the Minnesota state prison, which office he held until 1868. In 1860 he was also appointed secretary and treasurer of the St. Croix Boom Company. He performed the duties of both positions, but continued to serve the boom company twenty years. His experience and reliability made him almost the umpire of this company. He was appointed surveyor general for the years 1881 to 1884, inclusive. Mr. Proctor was married to Caroline Lockwood, daughter of John Lockwood, of Prairie du Chien, in 1854. They have one son, Levi.

Barron Proctor, brother of John S. Proctor, came to Stillwater when a young man, but after a few years removed to New Orleans, whence he returned to Stillwater, and in 1873 engaged in flour manufacturing as one of the firm of Cahill, Townshend & Co. He disposed of his interest in 1880. Mr. Proctor was married to Hettie Carson, adopted daughter of Socrates Nelson and widow of John A. Hanford. He lives in St. Paul.

Henry Westing is a native of Hanover. He emigrated to America in 1840 and came to Stillwater in 1848. He commenced his business career as a day laborer and by industry, perseverance and tact, rose to a position of wealth and influence. He died in Stillwater, Feb. 26, 1885, much esteemed by his associates for his sterling qualities of character.

Thomas Dunn was born in 1823, in Queens county, Ireland. He emigrated to America in 1826, locating at Miramachi, on the northeast coast of New Brunswick. He came thence to Maine, where he spent two years. He came to the St. Croix valley in 1846, located in Stillwater, where he has since lived and been engaged in lumbering. He is the owner of a valuable land property at Yellow Lake, Burnett county, Wisconsin. He has been a member of the Catholic church since infancy.

Charles J. Gardiner was born at Charlotte, Maine, in 1826, and came to Stillwater in 1849, where he followed lumbering and farming. He served as surveyor of the First Minnesota district five years. He was married in 1853 to Pamela Jackman. They have five children.

Samuel Staples was born in Topsham, Maine, September, 1805. He came west from Brunswick, Maine, in 1854, and located in Stillwater, where he died, Dec. 26, 1887. He is the elder brother of Isaac, Silas and Winslow Staples. He leaves a widow (his second wife), two daughters, Mrs. E. A. Folsom and Mrs. G. M. Stickney, and two sons, Josiah and Winslow, besides a step-son, William Langly.

Josiah Staples, son of Samuel, was born in Brunswick, Maine, June 20, 1826. He received a good common school education. At the age of thirteen his family removed to Penobscot county, and later to the province of New Brunswick, but returned to Maine in 1840. In 1848 he came to Stillwater, and has since been continuously engaged in milling and lumbering operations, and, latterly, in steamboating. He was married to Lydia McGlaughlin in 1853. His children are six sons and one daughter.

Joel M. Darling was born in Madison county, New York, in 1842. He came to Galena, Illinois, in 1840, and to Stillwater in 1848, where he engaged in farming. He served three years during the Civil War in Company F, Seventh Minnesota, and has since been pensioned for disabilities incurred in the service. He is unmarried. He lives in South Stillwater.

EARLY RIVER PILOTS

Joe Perro. – "Big Joe" as he was familiarly called, was large of frame and big-hearted as well, honest, manly, of good report for courage and honesty. He was fearless and prompt in taking the part of the weak and oppressed. We were once passing together up Broadway, St. Louis, when we passed a peanut stand. A small negro boy was crying piteously and begging the peanut vender to give him back his money, to which appeal the peanut vender was obdurate. We halted. Joe Perro organized a court, heard the testimony of man and boy, and satisfied himself that in making change the man had wrongfully withheld a dime due the boy. Joe decided in favor of the boy and ordered the vender of peanuts to pay him the ten cents. He replied insolently: "It is none of your d – d business." That was enough to kindle the magazine of Joe's wrath. A sudden blow of his fist, and the man was prostrate on the sidewalk and his peanuts and apples scattered. The last seen of the discomfited street merchant he was on his hands and knees scrambling with the boys for the possession of his scattered fruits, and casting an occasional vengeful glance at the towering form of "Big Joe" departing slowly from the scene of conflict. Mr. Perro is of French parentage, and a native of Kaskaskia, Illinois. He has been a resident of Stillwater since 1844.

James McPhail. – Mr. McPhail, as his name indicates, is of Scotch parentage. He was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1824, and came to America in early life. He was one of the first log pilots on the waters of the Mississippi and St. Croix. He settled in Stillwater in 1848, was married to Eliza Purinton in 1849, and died in St. Louis in 1857. Mrs. McPhail died in Stillwater in 1885. They left no children.

John Cormack. – Mr. Cormack commenced piloting on the St. Croix in 1845. He was married in 1860 to Miss Jackins. He made his home in Stillwater continuously for thirty years, during which time he served as pilot. He died at Princeton, Mille Lacs county, in 1885.

John Hanford. – Mr. Hanford was a St. Croix river pilot in the '40s. He married an adopted daughter of Socrates Nelson, of Stillwater. He died at Stillwater. Mrs. Hanford subsequently married Barron Proctor.

John Leach. – Mr. Leach made his home at Marine many years, during which time he engaged in piloting on the St. Croix; subsequently he removed to Stillwater. In the later years of his life he has been blind.

Stephen B. Hanks. – Mr. Stephen B. Hanks, formerly of Albany, Illinois, piloted the first raft from St. Croix Falls to St. Louis in 1842. He followed piloting rafts and steamboats until 1885.

Samuel S. Hanks. – Samuel, a brother of Stephen B., commenced piloting in the '40s, and is still active.

Among the early pilots on the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers were Antoine Lapoint, Augustus Barlow, Richard Whiting, James Hickman, George M. Penny, and Daniel McLean.

CHAPTER IV.

POLK COUNTY – DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY

Polk county contains 700,000 acres of land, well diversified with timber and prairie, uplands and valleys, rivers and lakes, and fertile enough to sustain a large population. The county was established by the Wisconsin legislature in 1853, and originally included much more territory than it now contains, new counties having been formed north and east of its present domain. Indian traders had visited it at an earlier period, but the first permanent white settlement was made in 1837, and the first pioneer who came with the serious intention of making permanent improvements was Franklin Steele. As Mr. Steele's history is in a great part the history of the early settlement, we insert it here, and very nearly in the language of Mr. Steele himself, as he communicated it to the writer some years since:

"I came to the Northwest in 1837, a young man, healthy and ambitious, to dare the perils of an almost unexplored region, inhabited by savages. I sought Fort Snelling (which was at that time an active United States fort) as a point from which to start. In September, 1837, immediately after the treaty was made ceding the St. Croix valley to the government, accompanied by Dr. Fitch, of Bloomington, Iowa, we started from Fort Snelling in a bark canoe, also a scow loaded with tools, supplies and laborers, descended the Mississippi river and ascended the St. Croix to the Dalles. We clambered over the rocks to the Falls, where we made two land claims, covering the Falls on the east side and the approach to it in the Dalles. We built a log cabin at the Falls, where the Upper Copper trap range crosses the river and where the old mill was afterward erected. A second log house we built in the ravine at the head of navigation. Whilst building, four other parties arrived to make claim to this power. I found the veritable Joe Brown on the west side of the St. Croix, trading with the Indians, a few rods from where Baker & Taylor built their mill (near the end of the present toll bridge). Brown had also cut pine logs, part of which, in 1838, were used by Baker & Taylor, but most of them were burned by forest fires on the ground where they were felled. In February, 1838, I made a trip to the Falls with a dog team for the relief of one Boyce, who was cutting logs at the mouth of Snake river, and had had some trouble with the Indians. I helped him until he left the country. Peshick, a chief of the Chippewas, said, 'We have no money for logs; we have no money for land. Logs can not go.' He said he could not control his young men and would not be responsible for their acts.

"In the spring of 1838, from Fort Snelling we descended the Mississippi river to Prairie du Chien in bark canoes, thence by steamer to St. Louis, Missouri, where a co-partnership was formed by Messrs. Fitch, of Muscatine, Iowa, Libbey, of Alton, Illinois, Hungerford and Livingston, of St. Louis, Hill and Holcombe, of Quincy, Illinois, and myself. We chartered the steamer Palmyra, loaded her with all the materials with which to build a saw mill, including mechanics to do the work, and started for the scene of operations. Plans for procedure, rules and by-laws were discussed and adopted during the journey on the steamer, and the new organization was christened the St. Croix Falls Lumbering Company. Calvin A. Tuttle was the millwright."

The trip was made in safety, our immediate plans executed, and the Palmyra was the first steamboat that ever sailed the St. Croix river and lake. Mr. Steele made an estimate for the construction of the mill and dam at $20,000, which he submitted to the company. It was accepted, and Calvin A. Tuttle, a millwright, was placed in charge of the work, but Mr. Steele sold his interest to the company before the mill was completed. On examination of the records we find that W. Libbey was the first agent of the company. We find also from the same record that Libbey knew little or nothing of the business he had undertaken. With a few barrels of whisky and one of beads he busied himself trading with the Indians. This was the first whisky sold in the valley, and it was sold in defiance of government law.

Much could be written about this old pioneer company of the Northwest, and its history, could it be truly written, would contain many thrilling incidents and scenes worthy of remembrance; but much is already forgotten and many of the most prominent actors have passed away, leaving no record of their lives. The company, as a corporation, passed through many changes of name and ownership. Its history would be a history of litigations, of wranglings and feuds, of losses and gains, of mistakes, of blunders and of wrongs. In the first place, the mill was planned by men practically unfitted for such work, inexperienced in lumbering and unacquainted with the vast expenditures requisite for the opening up of a new country, hundreds of miles from labor and the supplies needed for manufacturing. There were three requisites present, a splendid water power, abundance of timber at convenient distances and a healthful climate; but these alone did not and could not make the enterprise a success. Had practical, experienced lumbermen been employed the result might have been different, but impractical methods, enormous expenses, with no profits or dividends, caused most of the company to withdraw, forfeiting their stock in preference to continuing with the prospect of total bankruptcy. Goods were brought annually, at great expense, from St. Louis by the large steamers which then controlled the trade of the Mississippi and the St. Croix. The navigation of the St. Croix grew annually more difficult, the immense number of logs floated down since 1838 wearing away the banks and increasing the number and area of sand bars and not infrequently obstructing the channel with jams.

It is not known exactly how or when the name of St. Croix came to be applied to the beautiful river bearing it, but La Harpe, in his "Louisiana," gives the most plausible account of its origin: "This name is not ecclesiastical in its associations, but named after Monsieur St. Croix, who was drowned at its mouth." Le Sueur, who explored the Upper Mississippi in 1683, says he left a large river on the east side, named St. Croix, because a Frenchman of that name was drowned at its mouth. As Duluth was the first white man to embark in the waters of the St. Croix, descending it in canoes, from near Lake Superior, which he did in 1680; and as Hennepin and La Salle ascended the Mississippi the same year, the name could not have had an earlier origin, but may be fixed as given sometime between 1680 and 1683. An old map in my possession, one hundred and twenty-five years old, gives the present name of the river and lake. The St. Croix valley embraces an area of territory from 20 to 90 miles in width, and about 120 miles in length. Its northern water, Upper Lake St. Croix, is about 20 miles from Lake Superior. The southern portion is a rich prairie country, interspersed with groves of hardwood timber. The more northern portion is interspersed with groves of pine, tamarack, cedar, balsam and hardwoods. The whole district, with a small exception, is a cereal country. It abounds in wild meadows, and much of the swampy portion will ultimately be utilized by ditching, which will transform it all into a good stock raising country. About eight-tenths of this entire valley is fitted by nature for agriculture.

Wheat, the leading cereal, averages ten to thirty bushels per acre; the growth of tame grasses can not be excelled; vegetables grow to wonderful size; native wild fruits abound; cultivated fruits are being successfully introduced; cranberries are being cultivated in the northern part. Wheat, stock, and pine lumber are the principal articles of export. The southern portion is well watered by the St. Croix and its tributaries – Kinnikinic, Willow, Apple, Sunrise, and smaller streams, lakes and springs. The northern portion is abundantly watered by the St. Croix and tributaries – Wolf, Trade, Wood, Clam, Yellow, Namakagan, Rush, Kanabec and Kettle rivers. Small streams and lakes are numerous, of which only the largest are named on the maps. The valley is abundantly supplied with water power, capable of running enough manufactories to work up all the products of the country. The soil is, as a general thing, dry and arable. April and May are the seeding months. Crops mature, and are seldom injured by frosts. The whole country adjacent to this valley will answer to this general description.

On the twenty-ninth day of July, 1837, our government purchased the valley of the St. Croix of the Indians at a treaty held at Fort Snelling, Gov. Henry Dodge and Gen. Wm. R. Smith acting as commissioners. The purchase was ratified in Congress in the spring of 1838. Polk county, originally a part of Crawford, in 1840 became a part of St. Croix, and in 1853 received its present organization and name, the latter in honor of James K. Polk, eleventh president of the United States. This country occupies the eastern part of the valley of the St. Croix lying between Burnett and St. Croix counties on the north and south, and Barron on the east, the St. Croix river forming its western boundary. The surface is agreeably diversified with forest and prairie land, and is supplied with excellent springs, rivers and lakes. Most of the underlying rock is sandstone. This rock crops out along the banks of the St. Croix and is extensively used for building purposes. Lime rock is also found along the river banks, some of which is of a superior grade, notably that below Osceola, which is manufactured into lime and exported. The natural scenery can scarcely be surpassed in the West. The towering, precipitous bluffs along the St. Croix, the picturesque trap rocks of the Dalles, and the bright clear lakes of the interior have long been an attraction to the tourist. The lakes and smaller streams abound in fish, and the latter are famous for their abundance of brook trout.

The county seat at the organization of the county was located at St. Croix Falls. The first election held in the limits of the present county of Polk, prior to its organization, was at St. Croix Falls, then a voting precinct, known as Caw-caw-baw-kang, a Chippewa name, meaning waterfall. The returns of this election were made to Prairie du Chien. I was present at the canvassing of these returns. They were found to be accurate. Annually since then elections were held at this point and returns made, first to Prairie du Chien, Crawford county, then to Stillwater, St. Croix county, to Hudson, St. Croix county, and to Osceola Mills, Polk county. By an election held in Polk county just after its organization the county seat was removed to Osceola Mills, by a unanimous vote. The records of the first elections can not be found, they having been stolen from the safe in 1864. The following county officers were elected in 1853: Isaac Freeland, clerk of court and register of deeds; E. C. Treadwell, sheriff; Oscar A. Clark, surveyor; Wm. Kent, county treasurer; Harmon Crandall, coroner; Nelson McCarty, district attorney; J. Freeland, clerk of board of supervisors. The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held in Osceola, in Isaac Freeland's building, where the offices were located for many years. The first court was held in the school house, Wyram Knowlton presiding. Both petit and grand juries were in attendance. Isaac Freeland was the first attorney admitted to practice. Isaac W. Hale was the first county judge. The first marriage was that of Lewis Barlow to – , at St. Croix Falls. The first birth in the county was that of Charles Northrup, son of Anson Northrup, at St. Croix Falls (1844). The first death was that of John Kelly, by drowning (1839), at St. Croix Falls. The first school in the county was established at St. Croix Falls by Miss Tainter, from Prairie du Chien, in 1848. The first school house was built in Osceola in 1852, the second at St. Croix Falls in 1861. The first mail, established in 1840, was carried up the St. Croix river by batteaus in summer and by sleds over the ice in winter. The mail was weekly; the carrier was Dr. Philip Aldrich. The first land mail route was in 1847, from Willow River to St. Croix Falls. The mail was carried by Dr. Aldrich through the woods. The first stage route was established in 1855. The first deed we find of Polk county property is recorded at Prairie du Chien Sept. 2, 1845, from James Purinton to John Witherell, of St. Louis, Missouri, for $4,933, – a deed of trust covering a saw mill at St. Croix Falls. The second deed is from Benj. T. Otis to Edmond Johnson, conveying an undivided interest in a pre-emption claim, known as the Northrup or Jerusalem claim, about one mile east of St. Croix Falls, for $200. The first deed recorded in the county of old St. Croix was Sept. 29, 1845, from James Purinton, of St. Croix Falls, to John H. Ferguson, of the city of St. Louis, Missouri, – consideration $1,552, – of St. Croix Falls water power property. The first store was built in St. Croix Falls in 1839 and stocked with goods by the St. Croix Falls Company. The first blacksmith shop and the first hotel were built at St. Croix Falls. The first grist mill was built at Osceola in 1853. The first crops were raised at "Jerusalem," the first farm in the county, in 1839. "Jerusalem" was the farm now owned by Wm. Blanding, and was early noted as a resort for pleasure seekers, as a place for picnics and base ball games. The first pre-emption and entry of land was made in 1848, by Harmon Crandall, of Farmington. Settlers came into the county slowly until about 1866, since which time the population has more rapidly increased.

THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC

Undoubtedly the greatest curse to the pioneers of a new settlement, and to the aborigines as well, is the liquor traffic. The Indians, under the influence of whisky, became infuriated and were capable of committing any atrocity; the effects upon the whites were not so violent but just as surely demoralizing, and in time as fatal. Among dealers in the vile fluid there was no one more persistent and unscrupulous than Capt. M. M. Samuels. During the summers of 1848 and 1849 there was no other whisky selling house at the Falls. The character of the whisky sold was vile beyond description. Mrs. H – and son informed me that they were employed by Samuels during the summer in compounding various roots with tobacco and boiling them, for the manufacture of a strong drink that was sold for whisky. Many, both whites and Indians, were poisoned by this compound. As an emphatic evidence against the vileness of the liquor, I append some of the blighting results:

A talented young lawyer, Hall by name, from Philadelphia, became infatuated with the peculiar whisky furnished by Samuels, and when insane from its effects ran from Barlow's boarding house to a high rock overhanging the St. Croix river, just below the falls, plunged in and was drowned.